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Reposted by Dr. Erika Graham-Goering

Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 16h

It's the feast of St Michael the Archangel! But did you know it is also the feast of the Blessed Charles de Blois, erstwhile duke of Brittany? Yep, that's because he fought the final(ish) battle of the Breton War of Succession at Auray on 29 September 1364, where he died! And boy was it dramatic

The battle of Auray, 1364. Medieval illustration of two armies clashing with spears. Everyone's dressed in full plate, but on foot, standing on a pile of bleeding corpses. The two leaders wear identical ermine tunics and wave banners. The banner on the right is tipping backwards.

High-definition images courtesy of BnF's Mandragore; low-res images courtesy of the Online Froissart.

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 16h

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 17h

Kinda weird that I've gotten to a point in my academic career where owning books from the nineteenth century is no longer particularly special 😅 "Oh yeah, another old edition, cool, great, I'll put it on the shelf by the others"

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Reposted by Dr. Erika Graham-Goering

In Medias Malone @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 20h

As a professor, most of what I do is log in to things

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Behold, a fascinating quirk of data! For reasons that are best left unsaid, I found myself comparing the chronological distribution of different formats of academic publications on the International Medieval Bibliography—that is, what century does their subject matter address?

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"Asked if she had greatly wanted to be a man when she had to come to France, she replied that she had answered this elsewhere." (Joan of Arc's interrogation, 1431) (low-hanging fruit, but it's worth remembering how bluntly they talk about it!) (also massive let-down in the history of documentation!)

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Now it's just randomly turning text into bullet point lists, or bold, or whatever the hell it feels like. When I turn into a supervillain, you will know what drove me to it

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

WTF why does anyone ever use Microsoft Word?!?!?! Sure I just deleted a space between sentences, but obviously what I *really* wanted was to change the paragraph font! Ah, yes, I've removed automatic indentation—but *naturally* the line spacing of the whole document should revert, thanks MS! 🙃

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Ryan @ryanwright.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is how I remember the order of Henry VIII’s wives.

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

OK I actually love this suggestion, not only for the reasons discussed here, but because how awesome would it be to actually have the time to work through, say, all the stages of writing a research paper *with* the students? You can bet they'd learn the process better.

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

And yet again I must trot out the science major in a history of science class when I was an undergrad, who didn't understand why it was useful to know about why people had ideas that had turned out to be wrong. That was the day I learned a lot about why the world is so messed up.

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

In which I incidentally learn the answer to "how *did* aristocratic women urinate while wearing Enlightenment-era gowns?", which I guess wasn't maybe top of my list of outstanding queries but was definitely somewhere on it!

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"Research-led teaching" is a phrase that has been abused to the point of meaninglessness by university bureaucracies and their discourse/marketing. But the link between research and teaching is not only what makes a university a university, rather than school (which is a whole 'nother thread!):

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Reposted by Dr. Erika Graham-Goering

Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Trying to write up a new course description for political history through food, and regretting that I cannot in fact title it "What the heck is a feudal chicken anyhow?"

Photo of a rubber duck (not a chicken) wearing a suit of knight's armor and carrying a shield with an avian themed crest, next to a teal pen holder on an office desk.

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Reposted by Dr. Erika Graham-Goering

Merchant Adventurers’ Hall @merchantshallyork.org · 24/09/2026

We are a very old building. We have lots of keys. We have lots of keys that don’t open anything. Join us for a one off installment of, “Keys of the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall that are pretty but completely useless”. 🔑 🧵

We are looking at two pewter plates with an assortment of large brass and iron keys in various shapes and sizes.

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Reposted by Dr. Erika Graham-Goering

AskHistorians @askhistorians.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Someone linked the "9 games that shaped who I am" in the AH moderator slack. Entirely predictably, everyone who has done it so far has included Age of Empires II, except for one absolute lunatic who put Age of Empires III instead.

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Trying to write up a new course description for political history through food, and regretting that I cannot in fact title it "What the heck is a feudal chicken anyhow?"

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Reposted by Dr. Erika Graham-Goering

Rombert Stapel @rjstapel.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Yesterday, we celebrated the successful launch of the brand new HisGIS.nl website (also in English!). In HisGIS, we unlock the cadastre of 1832, by georeferencing 17K maps and digitising 3M parcels and their owners. @iisg-amsterdam.bsky.social @knawhuc.bsky.social iisg.amsterdam/en/blog/hisg...

hisgis.nl

HisGIS

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Very cool! Though also, I'm curious what debate there's been about the location? Seems to me that the Île de la Cité is really the fairly obvious candidate for pretty much anyone ever building anything in the area...

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

TFW you order Gallia Regia through Interlibrary Loan... and your library decides to go ahead and purchase the whole set instead! 😎 (Why yes these *will* be living on my shelves indefinitely, thankyouverymuch)

A stack of 5 chonkyish books with blue spines and gold lettering, and a 6th thinner book with a green spine, sitting in an office with a medieval cat-lady tapestry in the background

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I am now very obsessed with this saga and need it to resolve before I start teaching again this afternoon (plus I bet she would prefer that too!)

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Medieval people loved making lists! But are there any good overviews of medieval lists and their uses, or particularly good studies of listing practices and their significance, that are student-friendly? Help a teacher out!

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"With a chirograph" is a phrase we need to see more often in current news, who's with me

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Open Access licenses: CC BY-NC or CC BY-NC-ND? Specifically, I'm trying to understand what "derivatives" means in the context of e.g. a history article: what (legitimate) uses might I be ruling out if I add the "no derivatives" restriction, or does that not really apply here? Help!

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Extremely neat bit of gender and social history here!

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Reposted by Dr. Erika Graham-Goering

William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

When people call for critical histories to inform practice, I think they quite often misunderstand what history can do and what it is able to explain. There are benefits to a field that encourages reflection but that doesn’t always offer direct solutions.

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Protecting your reputation for excellence in something and/or ability to do something is never accomplished by, y'know, *stopping* doing that thing.

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Has anyone done a book review for the English Historical Review lately? How long was the production process after you sent it in?

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Does anyone have a non-frustrating way to record class attendance? Requiring attendance is pedagogically great, but So. Much. Paperwork. I pass around a physical sign-in sheet, but then I have to enter it online so students can keep track, and some students miss it when it goes around, and argh! 😵‍💫

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

For the record, "fewer larger grants" is the opposite of how to fund good research. Give a bunch of researchers financial stability and basic funding, without wasting their time on increasingly competitive applications and widening the have/have-not gap, and look how far we'll go.

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Me: yay, a new book in the mail! 🥰 Me: ...oh no I agreed to review this. It's WORK ☹️

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Reposted by Dr. Erika Graham-Goering

Making a Warrior @makingawarrior.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Some more candid thoughts from the Great Viking Survey:

A response from the Great Viking Survey (2025), in which the surveyee answers whether or not they admire vikings: 'It's just a job from a different culture. It would be like admiring an ancient Egyptian accountant'.

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

OK the universe is giving me a sign to stop editing this piece, the word count has achieved Roundness and can no longer be touched

Screenshot of part of a Word document, showing some text and its metrics: Page 1 of 25, 16000 words, English (United Kingdom)

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Well I already had a minor panic when I looked at my schedule for the day and saw it was way busier than I'd thought, then realized I was looking at Tuesday rather than Monday, so that's how this Monday is going so far 🫠

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Why yes this IS why I am *insanely* stressed as a parent, thank you 🙃 (Why is "leave things better for children" such a divisive social position?)

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

1) I hate grades, they can just go 2) I'm guessing a lot of these recommendations (which I hope to find time to read in working hours!) will only work if there are sufficient staff-to-student ratios: it's not feasible to scale the social aspects of learning (for obvious reasons)

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Most of the important points have already been made about this silly question, but there might be one for the reception history folks about the long-term place (or lack thereof) in cultural memory of the Harrying of the North? 🤔

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A shameful decision in the age of slop, cutting off direct access to reliable sources of information

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

"If I were king, I would redress an abuse which cuts back, as it were, one half of human kind. I would have women participate in all human rights, especially those of the mind." ― Émilie Du Châtelet, passed away #OTD in 1749 I reshare this thread. 🧪 ⚛️ #histsci #WomenInSTEM #MathSky #EduSky

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I always love discussing with my students how waterways were more connectors than barriers for premodern travel—a lot of political dynamics can be explored, for instance, by looking at where rivers go!

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Second register of documents added to my Champagne database 💪 Heading towards 100 lords! (Lords are like Pokemon, gotta catch 'em all?)

static.klipy.com

Pikachu Dancing with Top Hat and Bow Tie

Alt: Pikachu Dancing with Top Hat and Bow Tie

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

"I have 5 households [of serfs] who used to be taxed at £10, and presently I only get 20s from the lot, and it's likely that in future I'll get nothing from them; also, they can leave the place whenever they wish by paying a mere 12d annually." –Isabel de Châtillon, lady of Polisot and Polisey, 1388

static.klipy.com

Small Violin

Alt: Tiniest violin gif, captioned "aww, you poor thing"

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Accidental time travel in the French royal bureaucracy! "Considering the good services which our beloved and faithful knight and his predecessors have done for us and our successors" wait what 😂

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Fun fact: when I handed in my PhD thesis in 2016, I had to include an electronic copy on CD, of all things 🧐 Because obviously sending a file directly to the examiners over the internet was entirely infeasible?

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Hyped because this is the session in the video games course where I get to give my very favorite mini-spiel on the materiality of manuscripts in Pentiment 😎

Powerpoint slide entitled Experts react! (Manu)scripts in Pentiment, with photos of two medieval manuscripts featuring rubrication or a lack thereof, and a screenshot from the video game Pentiment featuring Brother Sebhat speaking to Andreas in the cloister

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Holy cow I wrote 3,000 words today! O.O (Shame I'm not done with the first section out of 3 and the whole thing was only meant to be 4,000 words...)

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I always read my proofs backwards, sentence by sentence, not only for this reason but because it means I can't start second-guessing the content.

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