iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Received an email from jobs.ac.uk saying that there have been no new jobs matching my search criteria within the last 3 months and that I should change my criteria to “ensure you don’t miss out on great opportunities”. My niche search criteria: “Historical & Philosophical Studies” and “medieval” 😅

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

I feel seen by this thread. (Pleeeeeeease give me this abbreviation in its non-abbreviated form elsewhere 🙏) *Minus running the manuscript through transkribus because my MSS are usually not hundreds of folios thankfully

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Thanks Leonie! It brightened my day

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

It’s always great receiving random emails from people who’ve enjoyed your work and found it useful. Receiving such an email today has made my day 🤗 especially as I’ve been struggling a bit recently

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Notre Dame is complete and it is beautiful! 😍 Bonus pics to show off how magnificent this set is. So intricate. So detailed. Annoyingly many typos in this thread but I blame it on the sore fingers and thumbs from trying to stick together all the tiny Lego pieces

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Bags 33 and 34. The last pieces. Notre Dame is now the tallest building in Paris until the Eiffel Tower is built. Restoration of 1843-60 adds the 12 apostles to the roof. 1 of the statues has the face of Viollet-le-Duc who faces the spire rather than watching over the rest of Paris like the others

Notre Dame is complete. Spire has been added to the roof. Also twelve statues representing the apostles look out over Paris. Except the one with the face of one of the main restorers who admires the spire. Greenery also added along the side of Notre Dame.

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Bags 31 and 32. Yup fiddly stuff. We jump 100 years to 1350 with pinnacles replaced (or added in the Lego version) on the uprights of the flying buttresses. Jumping even further forward to the 19th century restorations we have tabernacles added atop the flying buttresses along the nave

Lego Notre Dame cathedral with far more spiky pinnacles added around the rounded east end on the flying buttresses and along the nave

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Bags 29 and 30. The roof is done! We have now reached 1245 with the completion of the overall structure. 🎉 I feel like the remaining bags are now going to be fiddly decorative touches 😬

Complete construction of the Lego Notre Dame. Roof completed.

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Reposted by Dr Abby Armstrong

Dr Charlotte Pickard @drcharlottepickard.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

CfP: The Noblewomen Network @imc-leeds.bsky.social 2026. If you're working on medieval noblewomen, we'd love to hear from you! Please share widely. Deadline for abstracts: 5 September. #IMC2026

Noblewomen played a central role in medieval society. They cultivated important networks both within their families and wider society, acting as rulers and politicians, as well as cultural and religious patrons and intermediaries. This is an ever-expanding field of research, with scholars exploring the plethora of roles that noblewomen could play in medieval life, and the ways in which they were viewed and represented by wider society. This strand of sessions will bring together scholars who work on medieval noblewomen – to build on and develop the discourse that has developed over the past few decades, with the continued aim of building a global network of scholars working in this vibrant area of research.
We welcome papers spanning from across the medieval world, as well as across disciplines.
Topics could include, but are not limited to: Noblewomen in time; Noblewomen’s involvement in education and learning; Noblewomen’s roles in politics and political life; Noblewomen and society; Noblewomen and the family; Noblewomen and the law; Noblewomen and patronage; Noblewomen and material culture; Noblewomen and literature; Ecclesiastical women and interactions with religious communities; Historiographical approaches to noblewomen.

We invite proposals for 20-minute papers on all aspects of research relating to noblewomen. Expressions of interest and/or queries should be directed to NoblewomenIMC2020@gmail.com by 7pm on Friday 5 September 2025, with an abstract of no more than 250 words and a short biography.

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Bags 26, 27 and 28. Back to the bell towers. Accidentally put the ‘bells’ in upside down on the first one and had to redo it 😅

Bell towers added on top of the west end

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Bag 25. What? Not finishing the towers?! Adding on the roof over the nave instead

Roof added over the nave of Lego Notre Dame

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Okay I’ve left it on the coffee table this afternoon post build and every time I’ve walked past it I have to admit that those wand pillars look really good. Worth the faff and fiddlyness

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

It’s a beauty! I love all the tidbits of historical and architectural information provided by the instructions too

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Bag 24. Another level of the towers. Still no bells but a whole load of columns. Less fun bag this one. Those lovely columns were made using 40 tiny wands which had to be set at different angles.

Towers now a level higher than the nave. Lots of columns

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Bag 23. The towers continue. We’re somewhere between 1225 and 1245 (when the towers were complete). Towers up another level with sturdy to supports to hold the weight of the bells on the next level (I assume)

The two towers starting to protrude from the west end

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Bag 22. Another rose window added. Up we continue to build. Sadly the galley of kings represented by cones and other round elements rather than mini figures. To be honest the minifigs would have been very mini and would have had to hold a reasonable load as the towers continue up in the next bag

Continuing building the towers of the west entrance higher to the level of the nave. Another rose window added

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Returned from Leeds IMC to find the Notre Dame on display in its 1225 unfinished glory. Taking that as a hint, construction has resumed 😅 Bag 21. Returning to the west end. Building up the towers above the main portals

Returning to the west facade building up those towers and adding in some more windows

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Thanks for chairing Leonie! It was a great panel

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Just little old me and my little new book at Leeds IMC. A free copy was available at the stand when I stopped by!

Abby holding a copy of Approching Records of the Household and Wardrobe in front of the Routledge stand at the book fair

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Bag 20. Adding in a whole load more flying buttresses. The pieces actual have holes in them mimicking the water channels in the real thing. We’ve made it to 1225 now

Jumbo flying buttresses lining the nave of Lego Notre Dame

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Bag 19. Adding in the ribbed vaults and more arched windows. Such attention to detail that they follow the original with a transverse rib at every second capital

Ribbed vaulting ready to hold up the roof of Lego Notre Dame

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Bag 18. All about the north and south rose windows. Made an exception and included a picture from the side to show these beauties. Sadly lacking in colour though. May have to get my coloured pens out 😅

Minimal additions visible from birds eye view of Notre Dame as all attention of large round rose windows to the north and south

View from the south side of Notre Dame. Large round rose window above a doorway. Lots of flying buttress action on display (both big and small)

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Bag 17. More pillars went in to hold up the roof. Also added in the arches over the west doors

Roof added over pillars of first floor of Lego Notre Dame

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Bag 16. Been a busy few couple of weeks so I’m happy to be able to get back to this for a little bit this afternoon. Working on building up the roof and adding more mini flying buttresses

Lego notre dame. More roof aspects added

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

If anyone is interested in working at CSMC and has any questions, I’m happy to try and answer them

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Bag 15. Building up the front of the west end with the arches (not the best angle for this) and already putting another level on top of all those pillars

Building up the front of the west end and starting to build the next floor up on top of all the supporting pillars

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Bag 14. We’re up to 1208 with work continuing on the nave and preparing the foundations of the west towers. Lots of pillars gone in.

Pillars added to the nave and starting to build up and enclose the west end

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Bag 13. Building the walls of the nave westwards

Building up the walls from the now constructed east end towards the west along the nave

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Bag 12. Adding in the north and south doors. Supposedly we’ve reached 1182. A temporary wall was added to protect the choir from the remaining construction in the transept and nave as we build further west

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

I’m not sure yet. I got the light kit for the medieval blacksmith. While it looks cool there’s now a lot of wires running through the building which means it’s difficult to see inside. One or two had to be stuck in place too which I wasn’t too happy about. Also the flashing well is annoying 😅

The Lego medieval blacksmith illuminated with the light kit

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Bag 11. Yup. In goes the crazy paving and bases for the pillars. So much concentration needed working around those pillar bases

The checkerboard floor is now down for the length of the cathedral and the bases for the pillars

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Bag 10. She’s getting big. Foundations for the rest of the building built. I feel like next up is more checkerboard floor. While beautiful it is a bit fiddly 😅🤪

Foundations for the rest of notre dame to be built on top

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

Bag 9. We have a roof. I also thought we had some flying buttress action earlier on but now *these* are some flying buttresses. According to the book we’re up to 1177 the choir and chevet are nearly complete except for the high vaults. This build is Mr Burns excellent

Roof added to the east end with some chunky flying buttresses

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

Bag 8. We still keep building up. Another level to this east end. Roof must be next

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Bag 7. Building up another level and now time for some cheeky flying buttress action

Another level added to the East end and some flying buttresses holding up the walls

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Ooo very nice? Did I miss the build-along? 😅

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Bag 6. Oh no! We’re already covering up the ground floor of the east end now. Building up on those pillars. The intricacy and detail is astounding. Also the way these curves are being created with square-shaped bricks is *chef’s kiss

Pillars are now supporting part of the roof as we continue to build higher

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Bags 4 and 5. Needed to combine the pieces of the two bags. Adding in the pillars and building up the walls with La Porte Rouge giving access to the choir

Addition of the pillars and building up the walls with La Porte Rouge

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Bag 3. Oh I think I’m building it in “real time”. This is the east end, which was built first and used as a church while the rest of the cathedral was built. Building up nicely with the altar and chevet, which according to the instructions were constructed 1163-1170. So fiddly but looks amazing

Building up the chevet, the curved outer wall, behind what I think is the altar

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Bag 2. Adding in the checkerboard floor

Building up the floor with black and white tiles in a checkerboard fashion. Foundation for some pillars too by the looks of it

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Bag 1. Starting from the bottom with the floor

Bag 1 of the Lego Notre Dame. A lot of grey and a few green tiles starting to build up the floor

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

So I am finally starting to building this beauty 😍 Bought it on sale as a treat for submitting the last book manuscript to the publisher. That was so long ago the book is already out 😅😂 Thought I’d bring you all along for the journey. 34 bags with 4383 pieces

Giant box containing the Lego Notre Dame de Paris

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Dr Abby Armstrong @medievalabby.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Thanks Chloë! Let me know how it goes

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