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Dr Dean Irwin

@medievaljews.bsky.social
2.2K followers 509 following 650 posts

Does what it says on the tin: medieval and Jews (often at the same time). Medieval Anglo-Jewry generally. Dyslexic. Visiting Fellow at University of Lincoln; Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies.

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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This! Having spent the last year working on Edward's reign, there's still a tendency to omit Jews, or only pay them lip service. Conversely, there can also be an alarming lack of engagement with England in the material that approaches the topic from the Jewish perspective. We need to have both!
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Lovely little reference in the 1275 Pipe Roll to the 1262 rotulo de puramento. The Exchequer being the Exchequer, the debt itself was removed from the London archa, but because the debtor was from Yorkshire, the debt was listed in the Yorkshire section of the PR. TNA E 372/119
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I've clearly missed something and, just to be on the safe side, have muted Simon of Trent...
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
With the possible exception of Holy Week - when Jewish creditors were at their most active and most visible - Michaelmas (29 September), and the following week, was the busiest time for Jewish business in medieval England.
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The first part was excellent! The book too!
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Me every time I have to deal with a German style guide:
static.klipy.com
Conan O'Brien Crying 'WHYYYYY'
ALT: Conan O'Brien Crying 'WHYYYYY'
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Correcting a draft article, I find that I have accused the Exchequer of 'persecuting', as opposed to 'prosecuting', those who it thinks has wronged it... Another one for the 'bits we don't say out loud' folder! * The medieval Exchequer, obviously. Clearly we live in more enlightened times today...
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
How would you describe your social media reach?
static.klipy.com
Please Disperse - Nothing to See Here
ALT: Please Disperse - Nothing to See Here
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This evening's conundrum - writing about a case in the 1277 Plea Roll of the Exchequer of the Jews that everybody (including the Justices of the Jews) thinks is a case of forgery... I, in contrast, think that the abbot of Pershore was pulling a fast one and nobody bothered to check.
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Real word implications!
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
With all of the emphasis on the Bayeux Tapestry this week, and with Rosh Hashanah about to start, it's reflecting that the world of William the Conqueror wasn't just a Christian one. The centuries before prior to 1066 had seen Jewish communities gradually expand North through Germany and France. 1/
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Leonie V. Hicks @lvhicks.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Just in case you've lost the link to donate to the RNLI rnli.org. The sea does not discriminate, neither does the RNLI and nor should we.
rnli.org
RNLI - Royal National Lifeboat Institution - Saving Lives at Sea
The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. We do this through lifeboat search and rescue, lifeguards, water safety education and international interventions.
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Trying to find a serious source for the so-called 'Jewish lamp' in the Lincoln Museum. I need it for an article on Lincoln's medieval Jewish heritage but can only find it discussed in low-quality webpages. Does anybody know if it's received any academic attention? Coming up stumps.
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Leonie V. Hicks @lvhicks.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Yesterday @artefactual.eurosky.social asked 'Who were the Normans?' particularly with regard to the norsemen myths taught in primary school. So here's a thread to address this question. First off 'Norman' = North man, i.e. man from the North 1/
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Vikki Sands @vikkisands.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Some words from me about the martyrdom of the Carthusian Monks at the London Charterhouse: www.historytoday.com/archive/hist...
historytoday.com
How the Carthusians Resisted the Reformation
The consequences of Carthusian defiance showed the brutality of the dissolution of the monasteries.
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Looking forward to this lecture!
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Always a pleasure to get back to Lincoln to talk about the medieval Jewish community! On 15 October, I'll be with the Cambridge Society of Lincoln to think speaking on: 'On the doorstep, Jewish experiences of medieval Lincoln' Booking details can here: www.alumni.cam.ac.uk/events/linco...
alumni.cam.ac.uk
Lincoln, 'On the doorstep, Jewish experiences of medieval Lincoln'
Hosted by the Cambridge Society of Lincoln
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Hannah S-R @hannahsrwriter.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Excited to announct a (slightly belated) call for papers for @imc-leeds.bsky.social! @vikkisands.bsky.social and I look forward to hearing your abstracts for our session on Communities and Outsiders! Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2026. #medievalsky #imc2027 #cfp
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
The 1191 Pipe Roll - the world is crying out for Aaron of Lincoln: The Moneylending Years! Failing that, I'd be prepared to settle for a docu-drama of the Scaccarium Aaronis...
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Sam Riding @medievalpeasants.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Do you study medieval manors? Do you want to speak at @imc-leeds.bsky.social? Then we have the Call for Papers for you! Medieval Manorial Research: Community in the Manor. We welcome researchers of all disciplines and career stages. Deadline 4th September 2026. #IMC2027 #Skystorians #Medievalsky
Call for papers poster for IMC 2027.

From juries to tithing-groups, from haywards to cowherds, from the lord’s steward to the harvest workers in the field: the institution of the manor played a key role in shaping rural medieval communities. Research into such populations has traditionally looked to court rolls, accounts and surveys to understand how ordinary people lived their lives. Yet, the scale and complexity of manorial documentation preserved in modern archives presents a significant challenge and much remains critically under-studied. At the same time, other methodologies incorporating archaeological, landscape, and material culture evidence have much to contribute to our understanding of medieval manorial communities, although multi-disciplinary approaches remain under-explored.

We would like to invite papers from researchers who work with manorial documents, either as a means of understanding medieval life and community, or as archival objects in their own right. We also welcome papers focused on non-documentary source bases, comparative studies combining material and documentary evidence, or studies comparing manorial communities across a broad chronological and geographical range. If you research the medieval manor, we would like to hear from you!

Approaches to communities may include (but are not limited to):
Daily peasant life
Manor courts, custom, customary law
Lordship and seigneurial agency in the manor
Communities in the landscape
Manorial material culture
The use and materiality of manorial documents in the archive

Please send a title and abstract of no more than 250 words, and a short biography including name, institutional affiliation, and email address to jenni.lane@york.ac.uk and samuel.riding@history.ox.ac.uk. The deadline for proposals is Friday 4th September 2026. 
We welcome proposals from researchers in any discipline and at all career stages. Please indicate in your submission whether you intend to present virtually or in-person.
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Hannah S-R @hannahsrwriter.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
My article in EPOCH, speaking on modern Poland, medieval Jews, and the noise surrounding Polish Jewish history. www.epoch-magazine.com/post/the-bur...
epoch-magazine.com
The Burned Statute: Medieval Jews, Modern Poland
In 2021, at a white nationalist rally in Kalisz, Poland, a statute issued over eight centuries ago was burned to cheers from the assembled crowd.
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Does anybody have experience of navigating the Norfolk Record Office catalogue? I'm trying to locate a document from the Cathedral collection, printed in a PRS vol., but coming up stumps for it now. Any help greatly appreciated!
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
A brief trip into the fourteenth century this evening, finalising a piece on memory of the Jews in the Later Middle Ages... Like removing a plaster, the fourteenth century probably better if you just get it out of the way in one go! TNA E 199/36/14
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Josh Coulthard @joshcoulthard.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Featuring papers by @morbidmae.bsky.social, Anna Pririe @celinaberill.bsky.social, Poppy Philligreen, George Fowles, Jomar de Vrind, @emma-nelson.bsky.social, James Davison, @dr-r0bert.bsky.social, @edjfm.bsky.social, me, and Anna Probert!
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Leonie V. Hicks @lvhicks.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Normans at #IMC2027! Call for papers sponsored by the Battle Conference. Full details in the alt text and pasted in successive posts. Deadline for abstracts 15 Sept. #medievalsky #archaeology #skystorians @imc-leeds.bsky.social
Communities, Change and Collaboration in Norman History
Organised by Dr Mark Hagger (Lincoln) and Prof. Leonie Hicks (Canterbury Christ Church University)
Sponsored by the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies

2027 marks two significant anniversaries: the 50th anniversary of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies and the millennial anniversary of William the Conqueror’s birth in 2027. It also marks the European Year of the Normans. We hope to organise sessions reflecting communities, change and collaboration in Norman history and welcome proposals that draw on historical, literary, archaeological, and art-historical approaches and sources. Potential contributors might like to think about the following themes although these are not exclusive:

-	communities of practice: writing, researching and teaching the Norman past in the middle ages and now
-	comparative approaches across different areas conquered and settled by the Normans to communities and change
-	communities of different sorts, e.g. financial, administrative, religious, ecological, social and cultural etc.
-	landscapes 
-	tools and theories for understanding change, communities and collaboration as applied to the Normans e.g. digital humanities, knowledge exchange, mapping, etc.
-	modelling collaborative approaches to Norman history
-	how Norman historiography has change/is changing the way we understand the Normans

Please send abstracts for 20 minute papers (in person or virtual) to Prof. Leonie Hicks (leonie.hicks@canterbury.ac.uk) by no later than 15 September 2026. 

Proposals should include
•	Title
•	Abstract (max 200 words)
•	Your name, institution, and role
•	Full contact details (these will be used by Leeds IMC to contact you)
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
18 July, marks the anniversary of the Edict of Expulsion in 1290, which commanded that Jews leave England by All Saints Day (1 Nov.). Although the original charter doesn't survive, here's the charter from Newcastle in 1234. Despite popular opinion, it's a charter of exclusion rather than expulsion.
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Emilie K. M. Murphy @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
LOL just reading through comments from the copy-editor and, well, let's just say I'm not convinced that the copy-editor has really been doing much actual reading of my text here with these queries.. Screenshot of my paragraph for context here... Snort.
Screenshot of copy-editor queries, where they ask:

AU: 'Armada (1588)' is cited in the text, but not provided in the list. Please provide complete reference details.

AU: 'Gunpowder Plot (1605)' is cited in the text, but not provided in the list. Please provide complete reference details.

The screenshot includes my replies, which explain that 'Ha, the Armada is an event, not an author. Readers will understand this'. And 'Another haha from me - the Gunpowder Plot is an event, not a reference.... Readers will understand this'. This providential script is intensified in the central panel. Below, scenes of the Armada (1588) and the Gunpowder Plot (1605) figured national deliverance. Above, under the citation of Numbers 9:17, the Israelites are visualised as an early modern army wielding pikes and muskets. At the summit, Apocalypse 21 and Hebrews 11 (‘Thes were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. God hath prepared for them a city’) presented a New Jerusalem as the eschatological horizon. Read bottom to top, the central panel invited viewers to see recent English preservations and future arrival in the heavenly city as a
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Cheery reading for a Tuesday evening...
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Things now well underway @imc-leeds.bsky.social with @alecmimoun.bsky.social talking about visual representations of Jews in the 13th and 14th centuries in session #244
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Next week @imc-leeds.bsky.social we'll be celebrating the inimitable Professor Miri Rubin with four panels, and a round table, exploring Jews and Christians in medieval Europe. Featuring a great many of those whose careers have been shaped, or benefitted, from the Prof. Hope to see you on Wednesday!
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Does anybody have any recommendations for a decent Indian restaurant next week for @imc-leeds.bsky.social that can accommodate a reasonably sized party?
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
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ochjs.bsky.social @ochjs.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
This Thursday, May 28th, Natasha Jenman and Dean A. Irwin will give the next #davidpattersonlecture: 'In the Footsteps the Lincoln Jewry: Walking Tour/Book Launch'! Join us online or in person at 6pm on Thursday! us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi... #medieval #booklaunch #Oxford
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medievalJewishStudiesNow! @med-ljewishstnow.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
New Book: The Medieval Lincoln Jewry, ed. by Dean A. Irwin. #jewishstudies #medievalsky mjsnow.hypotheses.org/21729
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Super excited that The Medieval Lincoln Jewry has now been published by ARC Humanities Press! Featuring myself, Christopher Johnson, Emily Rose, Julie Mell, and Natasha Jenman. Collectively, we explore some of the sources for the most important of England's medieval provincial Jewish communities.
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
M’learned colleague @rorymaclellan.bsky.social explaining the medieval Church…
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
To mark finishing 'The Medieval Lincoln Jewry', it's great to make the research in that vol available to all through 'The Medieval Jewish Lincoln Walking Tour' (by Natasha Jenman and me). Sponsored by @ochjs.bsky.social @jewishhistorical.bsky.social @lincolnmedieval.bsky.social shorturl.at/lwm7S
medievaljewishlincoln.co.uk
Walking Tour – Full Descriptions
Photo copyright of Howard Morris, chair of the Jewish Square Mile Project. The printed walking tour will be available from 25 June 2026. This includes short description (c. 50-80 words each) for ea…
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Borders, Boundaries, Barriers Conference @bordersboundaries.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
A week on, the Borders, Boundaries, and Barriers team are still recovering and looking for some much needed time off! We’ll be signing off for a bit of rest but thanks to everybody who supported, attended, and contributed to the conference!
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Proofs time!
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
It seems a shame to ruin such an exciting day by doing some work myself… perhaps I should skip the introduction!
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Borders, Boundaries, Barriers Conference @bordersboundaries.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
After nearly a year of planning, today’s the day! Kicking off “Borders, Boundaries, and Barriers: Real and Imagined in the Middle Ages” with a walking tour of Oxford and the Jewry, designed by Natasha Jenman and Naomi Reiter.
media.tenor.com
a man in armor with the words so it begins written below him
ALT: a man in armor with the words so it begins written below him
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
I'll also be a speaker, but less eloquently than m'learned colleague.
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Can confirm: my office isn’t big enough for this conference…
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
I for one am astonished that I remembered to register for the conference!
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Not all medieval Jews were moneylenders.
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Delighted that 'Medieval Jewish London Weekend' (10 May) has launched. Organised by The Jewish Square Mile, there'll be walking tours, activities, and talks from historians: Me, Toni Griffiths, Emma Cavell, Rory MacLellan, Paul Dryburgh, and Natasha Jenman. Book now! tinyurl.com/fj5erru6
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Live images of one of the organisers…
media.tenor.com
a baby is sitting on a couch with the words `` im sooo sleepy '' written on it .
ALT: a baby is sitting on a couch with the words `` im sooo sleepy '' written on it .
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Dr Dean Irwin @medievaljews.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
I have nothing meaningful to contribute to this conversation but will follow with interest and take notes…
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Borders, Boundaries, Barriers Conference @bordersboundaries.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
In 3 weeks time, we’ll be getting ready to hear the inimitable Prof Miri Rubin hear about Borders, Boundaries, and Barriers in the Medieval European City! Over 70 have registered to attend in person, with 13 joining virtually. Still time to register for the latter: buytickets.at/bordersbound...
buytickets.at
Register here – Borders, Boundaries, and Barriers: Real and Imagined in the Middle Ages – Rewley House
Borders, Boundaries, and Barriers: Real and Imagined in the Middle Ages – Rewley House, Mon 20 Apr 2026 - Tue 21 Apr 2026 - ** Please note: Registration for in person attendance formally closes at 5pm...
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