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Simon John

@simonajohn.bsky.social

37 followers 44 following 11 posts

Historian of the Middle Ages and their reception, among other things. Cyclist, Germanophile and pun aficionado.

Posts Replies Media

Simon John @simonajohn.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Swansea - in fact right in front of the university - during the recent heatwave. That flaming yellow thing in the sky seems to have vanished again...

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Simon John @simonajohn.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Submitted to the publisher this morning: 'Contested Histories: Global Perspectives on the Past, Present and Future of Public Monuments', edited by myself, @tomasirish.bsky.social and Hannah Lyons. Could also have been titled 'Colston Five Years On' @swanseahistory.bsky.social

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Simon John @simonajohn.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

One for the Hildegard of Bingen fans out there! www.theguardian.com/music/2025/j...

theguardian.com

‘The perfect accompaniment to life’: why is a 12th-century nun the hottest name in experimental music?

A mystic who turned visions into beautiful chants, Hildegard von Bingen has inspired everyone from Grimes to David Lynch. Musicians including Julia Holter explain the hold she has on them

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Simon John @simonajohn.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

#OTD in 1099 the armies of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem, killing thousands as they did so - a fateful event with repercussions stretching down to the present. This is how one C19th French painter imagined the scene.

E Signol's painting of the capture of Jerusalem, Palace of Versailles

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Reposted by Simon John

gaposchkin.bsky.social @gaposchkin.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

am so thrilled to announce the publication of Beni Kedar’s beautiful and completely revelatory study of the culture of the Latin East. This book will change the landscape of our scholarship.

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Simon John @simonajohn.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Me: it would be cool to get students to design an action figure of a person from history as a piece of assessment. AI: I can do that, here's a Gerald of Wales action figure

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Reposted by Simon John

History at Swansea University @swanseahistory.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

👇

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Simon John @simonajohn.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Researchers in Germany have opened the tomb of Otto I (d.973) in Magdeburg Cathedral www.wissenschaft.de/geschichte-a...

wissenschaft.de

Neue Einblicke ins Grabmal Ottos des Großen

Im Magdeburger Dom ruht seit Jahrhunderten eine prägende Figur der europäischen Geschichte, Otto der Große. Jetzt haben Restaurierungsarbeiten einmalige Einb

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Simon John @simonajohn.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

While I'm disappointed that the hat of my Innocent III action figure has fallen off inside the package, I'm pleased to learn that Innocent had a shock of jet black hair.

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Reposted by Simon John

The English Historical Review @enghistrev.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Matthew Stanard reviews Medievalism in Nineteenth-Century Belgium: The 1848 Monument to Godfrey of Bouillon, by Simon John academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-... @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social

academic.oup.com

Medievalism in Nineteenth-Century Belgium: The 1848 Monument to Godfrey of Bouillon, by Simon John

This richly illustrated book reveals how elites used medievalism to strengthen the state and create a sense of nationhood in nineteenth-century Belgium. Me

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