iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Fans, friends, and followers of Herodotus — any thoughts about my college student repeatedly mentioning “Native Americans” in their assignment about Histories III.99? Passage pictured here for reference.

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Look, Mom! They’re making comics about medievalists! #medievalsky

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Looking for help. I'm having trouble with the word in the image. "Per se p...am presentem et sequentem." The ending is "am," following "ecclesiam" in the next line, but I can't piece together something sensible from the rest. "Per se patrimoniam"? The lower stroke in "a" is missing elsewhere.

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

This letter, addressed to a spice merchant in Montpellier, is dated to the 1250s and written mostly in medieval Occitan. The most compelling part to me is that it's written on paper rather than parchment. Remarkably early example of paper in this region, especially among merchants! #medievalsky

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Source: BNF fr. 60 f. 77. Full folio here. Bonus: f. 117v with a depiction of Thomas Becket’s assassin—I mean, Paris killing Achilles!

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Have a friend, relative, or anonymous internet adversary complaining about the “historical accuracy” of the costumes in Nolan’s upcoming Odyssey film? Let ‘em see how medieval artists depicted ancient subjects—including Homeric stories! This 14th-c. portrayal of the Trojan war will melt their brains

A medieval illumination depicting the Trojan war with anachronistic medieval elements (clothing, armor, buildings, etc.)

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Please pay your comic artists so they can keep drawing panels like this. #AbsoluteBatman

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

I should be grading, which of course means I have exhausted every possible route on the internet to learn about arrowheads made from meteorites, including the Mörigen Arrowhead, found in Estonia and thought to have been made from one of the Kaali meteorites nearly 3,000 years ago.

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

I spent far too much time trying to figure out why there was a photo of Benicio del Toro in a story about a Nintendo veteran.

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Dr. Marie Kelleher was an incredible scholar who mentored me at CSU Long Beach for ~8 years. I studied under her for my bachelor's and master's degrees in history. Like everyone who knew her, I was devastated by her sudden passing last year. I'm thrilled that her final book, The Hungry City, is out.

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Eyewitness Dinosaur Hunter (1996)

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

A local account I follow for the city of Montpellier in France posted the January 2025 meal calendar for school kids. It’s genuinely disorienting comparing the quality of this food to the processed pizza bagels, chicken nuggets, and Hot Cheetos on offer for us at my school in the US in the 1990s.

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Here is a grumpy fish creature with a leaf tail drawn by a notary to serve as the letter “I” in 1372. Am I right that the fish has a mustache? #medievalsky

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

As a bonus, here is a real photo of an average client in the Middle Ages waiting for a notary to finish signing their document.

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

I love medieval notarial signatures. Some are more glamorous than the one pictured, but I like how the notary—named Berengarius Rogarius—embedded his initials into his mark of authenticity. Dated 1284. The document is a mom getting permission to sell her son's property...More below. #medievalsky

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

My students are often surprised to learn that medieval quills 🪶 typically had no decorative plumes. The barbs were almost completely stripped off, as depicted in this 13th-century manuscript. So, I’m curious: how did the fully plumed quill become a mainstay of pop media? #medievalsky

A 13th-century illumination showing a scribe at work. In this case, the figure is Petrus Comestor, author of the Historia scholastica, which is the content of this manuscript. The figure’s right hand holds a calamus or a quill.

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

In 1348, a notary doodled this castle at the bottom of a merchant's will. The doodle had a purpose, though. Notaries in the Middle Ages created personalized symbols to authenticate the documents they drafted. This notary chose a castle because of his name: Johannes de Castello. #medievalsky

A 14th-century parchment manuscript with a doodle of a castle at the bottom. The Latin document is written in crabbed notarial hand.

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

This little manuscript is a king’s order from the year 1272 to pay his court jester. King James I of Aragon paid around 100 pieces of silver to Martynus, labeled in the document as a “joculator”—literally, “a person who jokes.” The king’s royal seal is affixed to the back. #medievalsky

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

This is a marriage contract from the year 1260. A notary drafted this for a couple in southern France. The groom, Andreas Delmas; the bride, Ermessand... Notarial contracts are so fun. I've seen thousands. Not often glamorous, they're glimpses into the tantalizingly mundane. (1/2) #medievalsky

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

In honor of Marc Bloch’s entry into the Panthéon, some encouraging words from The Historian’s Craft, which he wrote nearly 80 years ago while fighting with the French Resistance, just months before the Nazis captured and later executed him. #medievalsky

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Glad my YouTube algorithm recommended this and not "3+ hours of medieval scholastic polemics concerning nominalist epistemology," which would have had me tossing and turning.

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

A favorite manuscript from my collection: A law student's diploma from the University of Paris, 1568. The student received a degree in canon law after being "rigorously examined" by the faculty on August 24. The school's wax seal is attached. Faculty signatures under the plica. #medievalsky

A 16th-century manuscript with a wax seal hanging from the bottom.

Close-up photo of a wax seal attached to the bottom of a 16th-century manuscript.

Close-up of some signatures on the bottom of a 16th-century manuscript.

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Shahrouz, PhD @parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

I’m a medieval historian specializing in law & notarial culture in the Mediterranean region. My PhD research focused on the rise of the legal profession in the city of Montpellier, c. 1200-1400. Manuscripts & paleography 📜! Also a professor of World History. Some of my courses below: 🗃️ #medievalsky

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