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Karen Desmond

@karendesmond.bsky.social
204 followers 223 following 36 posts

Medieval Musicologist. Professor of Music, Maynooth U. 🇮🇪 🇪🇺 Music and the moderni, 1300-1350: The ars nova in Theory and Practice (Cambridge, 2018). PI, BROKENSONG (ERC Consolidator Grant, 2023-28) www.maynoothuniversity.ie/people/ka…

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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
The ERC-BROKENSONG project at Maynooth University, Ireland, is hiring (two positions - this is the second)! I'm also looking a new research assistant/postdoc to conduct image analysis of the medieval Insular music corpus recovered within the project. See: www.timeshighereducation.com/unijobs/list...
timeshighereducation.com
Research Assistant / Post-Doc Researcher, Music - Maynooth, Ireland job with MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY | 408256
The Music Department at Maynooth University invites applications for a 12-month position as either a Research Assistant (Level 2) ...
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
The ERC-BROKENSONG project at Maynooth University, Ireland, is hiring (two positions - this is the first)! I'm looking a new postdoc/senior postdoc to conduct analysis of the medieval Insular music corpus recovered within the project. Full details here: www.timeshighereducation.com/unijobs/list...
timeshighereducation.com
Postdoctoral / Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, Music - Maynooth, Ireland job with MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY | 408255
The Music Department at Maynooth University invites applications for a 22-month position as a Postdoctoral Researcher ...
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British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
We’re excited to share our new main catalogue, making it easier for you to find and request the majority of our published collection. We’ve also launched an interim version of our Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue. Find out how to start searching and requesting on our website bit.ly/BLNewCatalogues
British Library catalogue search page displaying the new main catalogue, designed to make finding and requesting published items easier.
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Delighted to see this and it was such a great experience working with my co-authors Lisa Colton and Jared Hartt! #fragmentology
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British History Online @bho.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
#Wikidata really needs to be better known - and more widely used - by historians. #DigitalHistory
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
CFP update! The CFP deadline for the upcoming ERC-BROKENSONG (Maynooth University, Ireland, 15-16 May, 2026),has been extended to Oct 24, 2025. We will cover 2-3 nights' accommodation, and a contribution towards travel. Pls be in touch with questions ahi.maynoothuniversity.ie/brokensong/i...
ahi.maynoothuniversity.ie
Call for Papers – BROKENSONG
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
"We're going to create superintelligence" How about making outlook search work first. How about that
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Presented yesterday on soundscapes of the alleluya at Worcester Cathedral in the Middle Ages at the En plain air conference in beautiful Siena (second pic is view from open windows in conference rm at U. dI Siena) #brokensong
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Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
The elephant in the room....🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘 Bodleian Library Arch. G b.6; Historia naturale di Caio Plinio Secondo, tradocta di lingua latina in fiorentina per Christophoro Landino; 1476 CE; Italy (Venice); f.93v @bodleian.ox.ac.uk
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Outside my office window right now
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Rebecca Sutton Koeser @suttonkoeser.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
I'm very pleased to share my new article on the python library undate, which is an ambitious in-progress effort to make it easier to work with incomplete dates and multiple calendars, building on work from Shakespeare and Company Project, Princeton Geniza Project, etc. doi.org/10.1017/chr....
doi.org
Undate: humanistic dates for computation | Computational Humanities Research | Cambridge Core
Undate: humanistic dates for computation - Volume 1
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
Congrats to @maynoothuniversity.ie postdoc Johanna (team member @brokensong2023.bsky.social), awarded a Bodleian Library fellowship! www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowsh...
bodleian.ox.ac.uk
2025–26 Awarded Visiting Fellowships
Awarded Visiting Fellowships for the Bodleian Libraries, 2025-26
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Elaine Treharne @etreharne.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Fantastic find. Medieval slate initially scored for music and reused for accounts in Middle English (cost of ink, 2d; repair of King William’s painting, 1/ 2d). (Abbey gatehouse exhibition.)
Medieval slate scored for musicMedieval slate reused for accounts in Middle English
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Elizabeth Boyle @thecelticist.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
If you're in Dublin between now and late October, don't miss the Words on the Wave exhibition at the National Museum on Kildare St. Some of our most important medieval Irish manuscripts are on loan from the Abbey of St Gallen & are back in Ireland for the first time in c. 1200 years. #MedievalSky
A close-up of a decorated initial P, with human and zoomorphic figures, in the early medieval Insular style, from the St Gall Priscian. Some of Priscian's Latin text is visible as are interlinear and marginal glosses in Old Irish. A close-up of a letter P in a highly decorated and colourful style characteristic of early medieval Insular Gospel books, with dots, geometric designs and zoomorphic figures.A highly decorative early medieval Irish Gospel book, open at the beginning of the Gospel of John: "In principio erat uerbum ...", with interlace and zoomorphic designs. Four manuscript fragments, dated to the seventh century, which formed part of the earliest known copy of Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae.
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Seb Falk @sebfalk.com · 17/07/2025
Nice to see the Song of Wade featured in the newspapers! I'm happy to be an "academic sleuth" – but I'm not a "scientist". *Humanities scholars can make discoveries too!*
Brief article in Daily Telegraph - "Chaucer's elvish mystery was 900-year-old typoHeadline: "elvish trickery"
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BROKENSONG @brokensong2023.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
CFP!! Come to beautiful @maynoothuniversity.ie for the #BROKENSONG conference! 14-16 May 2026: 'Fragmented Musical Cultures c.1150–c.1350'. CFP deadline 30 Sept 2025. More info and the full CFP: ahi.maynoothuniversity.ie/brokensong/i... @erc.europa.eu
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Professor Lisa Johnson (known as Lisa Colton) @lisacolton.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Signed a publication agreement for an article I've co-authored with @karendesmond.bsky.social & Jared Hartt, for Plainsong & Medieval Music this autumn, based on work we shared two MedRens ago (in Munich 2023). Conferences are vital to making good collaborations and sharing our work!
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BROKENSONG @brokensong2023.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
In early June, Karen traveled to London where #BROKENSONG convened a very productive pre-MEC workshop to move forward on encoding pre-mensural notation in MEI - thanks to all involved! She also presented a paper at the 2025 MEC conference #music-encoding ‪@music-encoding.bsky.social‬
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Joey Cross @jjjjjjjjjjcross.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Can we maybe leave the watermarks off this time guys
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
edition.cnn.com/2025/05/09/s...
edition.cnn.com
Medieval tale of Merlin and King Arthur found hiding as a book cover | CNN
Researchers have found pages of a rare medieval manuscript masquerading as a cover and stitched into the binding of another book, according to experts at the Cambridge University Library in England. T...
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
NYT: “Ms. Leavitt did not offer any evidence of “D.E.I.” pursuits Dr. Hayden engaged in. She accused Dr. Hayden of allowing “inappropriate books in the library for children.” The Library of Congress does not lend books to adults or children” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Fired Librarian of Congress Over D.E.I.
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DACT Fragments @dact-fragments.bsky.social · 08/11/2024
lots of layers to this chant fragment: -Lenten collects in writing that suggests it was made in Ireland, possibly in the 8th century -Musical notation added several centuries later, possibly in Germany somewhere? but it doesn't match the words? fragmentarium.ms/view/page/F-...
image of a manuscript fragment with prayers in ye-olde-Irish-pubbe writing and some squiggly musical indications between the lines
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Dr Simon Trafford @simontrafford.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Scans of 18 ancient papyri that were buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius look ‘very promising’, and there are plans to digitally unroll many more. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Inside the quest to digitally unroll ancient scrolls burnt by Vesuvius
Mission to decipher Herculaneum scrolls using high-resolution scanning and artificial intelligence scales up rapidly.
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Yes it is insulting, to say the least (said as a NEH reviewer and awardee): ‘NEH has also taken programmatic steps to ensure that all future awards will, among other things, be merit-based…’
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Fabian C. Moss @fabianmoss.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Proud to share the latest work from our group! We liberate musicological data from their printed form and provide a novel machine-readable resource for computational analysis! #digitalhumanities #musicscience www.linkedin.com/posts/timeip...
linkedin.com
Corpus Troporum Dataset: A Digital Catalog of Trope Elements in Medieval… | Tim Eipert
Excited to share that my paper on a Dataset I created with Corinna Bongartz and Fabian C. Moss has just been published! It could be interesting to everyone who works with medieval chant, tropes, and m...
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
insidehighered.com
A Logical Gap Behind Attacks on the Humanities (opinion)
Two main arguments are used to attack the humanities. They can’t both be true, Katina L. Rogers writes.
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David Stifter 🍵📄🦊 @davidstifter.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
"Words on the Wave" in @nmireland.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
theguardian.com
Millennium-old monks’ manuscripts return to Ireland for exhibition
Books include religious scriptures and scribbled jokes, giving glimpse of daily lives of early medieval Irish monks
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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
2/4. The entire practice of the Holocaust of the Jews involved zones of statelessness. It is easier to move people away from law than it is to remove law from people. Almost all of the killing took place in artificially created stateless zones.
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Elaine Treharne @etreharne.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/s...
nytimes.com
The Skin on Mysterious Medieval Books Concealed a Shaggy Surprise
The material on the covers of books from a French abbey was too hairy to have come from calves or other local mammals. Researchers identified its more distant origin.
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BROKENSONG @brokensong2023.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
This week, the #BROKENSONG team enjoyed a very good time studying the medieval fragments and books preserved in the Worcester Cathedral Library. #medievalbluesky @erc.europa.eu @worcestercathedral.bsky.social
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Agenda des médiévistes @rmblf.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Joyeux/Happy « Hug a Medievalist Day 2025 » ! rmblf.be/2025/03/31/j...
rmblf.be
Joyeux/Happy « Hug a Medievalist Day 2025 » !
International Hug a Medievalist Day, celebrated on March 31st. These connoisseurs in medieval history and culture can specialize in various disciplines, including architecture, literature, music, a…
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
@eeleach.bsky.social’s insightful & straightforward method for analyzing 14th-c. music that I’ve taught & had my students apply in many contexts: Leach, Elizabeth Eva. “Counterpoint and Analysis in Fourteenth-Century Song.” Journal of Music Theory 44/1 (2000): 45–79. doi.org/10.2307/3090...
doi.org
Counterpoint and Analysis in Fourteenth-Century Song
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
They are just disappearing people off the street. Having a hard time thinking about literally anything else.
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Dr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
End & beginning: Betrayal of Christ faces Annunciation to Mary in Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux, 1325. Love how bodies of son and mother echo one another. For feast day of the Annunciation, which is today.
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
If you’re interested in doing a PhD under my supervision on medieval music (including notation, MSS, digital approaches) this is a great opportunity: four years incl EU fees, 25k euro stipend & 2k research per year. Apply now & DM for details: www.maynoothuniversity.ie/graduate-res... #medievalsky
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Gerry Canavan @gerrycanavan.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
every college, corporate, and nonprofit president right now
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European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · 17/03/2025
#StPatricksDay ☘️ Ireland is known for storytelling, traditional music, & recently, for rap! "Just as Celtic bards used rhyme & meter to captivate and connect audiences, rhymed connections help us remember stories and spark new associations." Griff Rollefson @ucc.ie #HipHopStudies 👉
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Street science
Hip hop is a vibrant global culture, featuring rap, DJing, graffiti art, and breakdancing. J Griffith Rollefson explores this dynamic world, revealing hidden gems of knowledge and examining its…
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Cambridge University Library @theul.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
☘️ A St. Patrick's Day special for #MedievalMonday! ☘️ This fine illustration of St. Patrick preaching is part of Cambridge University Library MS Ff.1.27 (Part II), a collection of 14th and 15th-century manuscripts from Bury St. Edmunds. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social
A fine medieval illumination of St. Patrick preaching to a small crowd of people. We also see medieval script and decorative borders.
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David Stifter 🍵📄🦊 @davidstifter.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
...clerical repression and economic isolationism, almost everyone in Ireland agrees that the past was, to use a technical term, shit." /2
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
No cheating. Post the last photo of your pet.
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BROKENSONG @brokensong2023.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Last weekend, Professor Karen Desmond attended the Leading Women in Medieval Religious Communities conference, with a paper titled 'Networks of Polyphony in 14th-Century England, and Possible Connections to Shouldham’. The event took place at the University of Notre Dame London, UK.
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Trump drain brain
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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
French Senator Claude Malhuret: "Washington has become Nero’s court, with an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers and a jester high on ketamine... We were at war with a dictator, we are now at war with a dictator backed by a traitor."
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Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Discussing this 2017 article on digital medieval history with MSc students later. 8 years after publication, 18.5% of its digital links no longer work. What implications does that have? www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....
journals.uchicago.edu
The Digital Middle Ages: An Introduction | Speculum: Vol 92, No S1
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Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her) @moudhy.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
He did not bend his neck
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Karen Desmond @karendesmond.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Delighted to be giving a talk today at the #DCU musicology seminar series and introducing my #ERC BROKENSONG project!
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