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William Purkis

@williampurkis.bsky.social
1.5K followers 505 following 129 posts

Professor of Medieval History and Deputy Head of the College of Arts and Law at the University of Birmingham | #CrusadingInContext | #DistantCamera

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Reposted by William Purkis
Hallie Rubenhold @hallierubenhold.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
The people of the past are not ‘us then’. They are aliens. Lean into that.
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Looking forward to my trip to Edinburgh tomorrow!
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Kate Smith @kateesthersmith.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Publication day! My book Keeping Hold: A Cultural and Social History of Possession in Eighteenth-Century Britain is out now. 20% discount code KEHO2026. www.cambridge.org/core/books/k...
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Jay Rubenstein @medievaljay.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Medieval History Job Alert! University of Tennessee, where I used to work. Unbelievably strong medieval studies. Unbelievable that they are hiring in this climate! Please share this post. jobs.chronicle.com/job/37862790...
jobs.chronicle.com
Assistant/Associate Professor of Medieval History (1100-1500) - University of Tenn, Knoxville job with University of Tennessee Department of History | 37862790
The Department of History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville invites applications for a tenure-track professor of medieval history (1100-1500).
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James Paz @jamespaz.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
One-Year Teaching Fellowship in Medieval English Literature at the Univ of Birmingham: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNG641/t...
jobs.ac.uk
Teaching Fellow in Medieval English Literature at University of Birmingham
Apply for the Teaching Fellow in Medieval English Literature role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.
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Arc Humanities Press @archumanities.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
A Companion to Medieval Pilgrimage edited by Andrew Jotischky and William J. Purkis - Pilgrimage to shrines and places of particular holiness was a feature of all three major religious traditions in medieval Europe and the eastern Mediterranean www.arc-humanities.org/978164189179...
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Prof. Elaine Chalus @profelainechalus.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Assistant Professor in the History of the Medieval Mediterranean World Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMQ287/a...
jobs.ac.uk
Assistant Professor in the History of the Medieval Mediterranean World at Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin
Discover Assistant Professor in the History of the Medieval Mediterranean World jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.
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Gawain's Mum @gawainsmum.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Coming up next month from the Hospitaller Research Forum online (www.um.edu.mt/.../proje......): Jochen Burgtorf speaking on 'Editing Hospitaller Material'.
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Prof. Elaine Chalus @profelainechalus.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Associate Lecturer (Teaching) in Medieval History- UCL - History Department #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMB509/a...
jobs.ac.uk
Associate Lecturer (Teaching) in Medieval History at UCL
An academic position as a Associate Lecturer (Teaching) in Medieval History is being advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Click now to find more details and explore additional academic job opportunities.
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
“Middle order batting collapse”.
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 23/02/2025
We've created a new Starter Pack of #History institutes and research centres in the UK & Ireland bit.ly/3F3Eo2M Please do share. There will be gaps and recommendations are welcome. We hope this pack helps you keep in touch with work by and for historians in the UK & Ireland #Skystorians.
bit.ly
UK institutes and research centres for historians
Join the conversation
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 15 #booksky
Cover of S. Brent Plate, A History of Religion in 5 1/2 Objects: Bringing the Spiritual to its Senses (2014).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 14 #booksky
Front cover of Simon Schama, Landscape and Memory (1995).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
The programme for this term’s @ihr.bsky.social #Crusades and the #LatinEast seminar is now available here: www.history.ac.uk/seminars/cru... #medievalsky #skystorians
history.ac.uk
Crusades and the Latin East
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 07/01/2025
ICYMI (I did), @nytimes.com says that the Middle Ages will be hot in 2025. a coincidence that this year is the centennary of the @medievalacademy.bsky.social??? #medievalsky link --> www.nytimes.com/2024/12/29/s...
Remember when all of those men were thinking about the Roman Empire? Next year, a different historical period seems poised to infiltrate minds: the Middle Ages. There have been indications that a fresh fascination with medieval times may be taking hold. Chappell Roan performed at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards in a suit of armor. Dior sent chain mail down the runway at a show inspired by Mary, Queen of Scots. A rakish, pickle-blessing priest at a Renaissance festival in New York became an unlikely TikTok star.

Instead of being “demure,” people in 2025 will start readying themselves for battle, or at least try casting away their phones to party like it’s 999. — Callie Holtermann, reporter, Styles
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 13 #booksky
Front cover of John H. Arnold, Belief and Unbelief in Medieval Europe (2005).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 12 #booksky
Front cover of Annabel Jane Wharton, Selling Jerusalem: Relics, Replicas, Theme Parks (2006).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 11 #booksky
Front cover of Paul Williams, Neil Young: Love to Burn (1997).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 10 #booksky
Front cover of M.R. James, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904).
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Midland History Journal @midlandhistory.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Our latest Special Issue is Haunted Midlands with nearly all content Open Access! Midland History: Vol 49, No 3 (Current issue)
tandfonline.com
Midland History
Haunted Midlands. Volume 49, Issue 3 of Midland History
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
The best arguments for learning Latin are not the practical ones (it helps us understand legal terms, what the Pope is saying, or how to learn German) but those which remember how engaging with cultures, literature and people very different from ourselves enriches those who do it and so all of us
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 9 #booksky
Front cover of Andrew Smith, Moondust (2005).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 8 #booksky
Front cover of Lester K. Little, Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe (1978).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 7 #booksky
Front cover of Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 6 #booksky
Front cover of Le “Liber” de Raymond d’Aguilers (1969).
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 19/12/2024
Our #medieval lecture for 2025 will be given by Dr Natasha Hodgson (Nottingham Trent University) on the lives and travels of medieval women. Join us in person (London) or online on Friday 7 February at 6:30pm GMT. All welcome. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1112882945...
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 5 #booksky
Front cover of Giles Constable, The Reformation of the Twelfth Century (1996).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Today I have been in my happy place. #medievalsky #skystorians
Photograph of St John’s Gate, Clerkenwell (London).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 4 #booksky
Front cover of Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day (1989).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 3 #booksky
Front cover of Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head (1994)
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 2 #booksky
Front cover of a paperback edition of Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou (1975).
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers Day 1 #booksky
Front cover of the 1963 edition of The Day of the Triffids (a version of which I read at about the age of 13)
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Justine Pick @justinepick.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
This week, after joining University of Birmingham as a part-time MA student in 2015, I had my #PhD graduation ceremony in the Great Hall (built 1900) - thank you to all who supported me along the way!
Photo of a woman wearing graduation burgundy and green robes with black soft cap with gold braid Photo of inside the great hall at University of Birmingham with showing stage area in red and gold with musicians on the balcony in front of large stained glass window
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Absolutely thrilled to see one of the volumes in the #CrusadingInContext series that I edit for @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social on this list. Massive congratulations to Tom Smith! #medievalsky #skystorians
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
'When Notre-Dame reopened on 7 December, it was thanks, in part, to the efforts of 175 researchers with expertise across a range of disciplines: acoustics, art, data, history, archaeology, anthropology.' Example of why blue-skies research matters for 'real-life' problems we've not yet imagined. 1/2
timeshighereducation.com
The academics who helped breathe new life into Notre-Dame
Five years after a devastating fire, the Paris cathedral has finally reopened, with the help of a vast team of researchers
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margaret beaufort fan @tudorhistetc.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
this looks so interesting
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Dr Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
My friend Marci Freedman died a week or two ago. She was great. It was nice to see her name in this contents list.
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Pilgrimage contents (by request) #newbooks #medievalsky #skystorians #pilgrimage
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Eric O. Scott @ericoscott.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
…Santa?
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Amanda Mecke @readtosurvive.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
When there was so little you could control about illness and feeding your family, pilgrimages provided hope and safety. Perhaps we need to remind ourselves that everyone deserves hope.
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
A Companion to Medieval Pilgrimage – now in 3D! #newbooks #medievalsky #skystorians #pilgrimage
Photograph of a hard-copy of A Companion to Medieval Pilgrimage against a wooden table background
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Neil Young David Crosby The Beatles David Bowie Sex Pistols Suede Radiohead Low John Coltrane Red House Painters
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Jay Rubenstein @medievaljay.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Marc Bloch revolutionized the way we study history, not just the Middle Ages, though that was his specialty. In WWII he joined the resistance & was eventually captured, tortured & executed by the Gestapo. Entry into the Pantheon means that he will deservedly rest among the greatest heroes of France
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
The University of Birmingham campus in the snow, with a tree planted in memory of Dr Marga Small in the foreground.
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Paul Webster 🌈 @webstermedieval.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
And this one: a pilgrim souvenir depicting geese, a symbol of St Werburg of Chester, again from the excellent display at Salisbury Museum.
Pilgrim souvenir depicting geese, associated with the cult of St Werburg of Chester, on display at Salisbury Museum.
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Paul Webster 🌈 @webstermedieval.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Pilgrim souvenirs on display at Salisbury Museum, depicting symbols associated with several medieval saints.
Roughly circular metal pilgrim souvenir depicting St Oswald, displayed at Salisbury Museum.Metal pilgrim souvenir depicting St Thomas Becket, showing a mitred head and shoulders of the saint, on display at Salisbury Museum.Metal pilgrim souvenir depicting St Etheldreda, on display at Salisbury Museum.Metal pilgrim souvenir depicting a scallop shell, symbol of the pilgrimage to the shrine of St James the Great at Compostela, on display at Salisbury Museum.
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Jay Rubenstein @medievaljay.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
The most fundamental medieval impression I took from my vacation in Cairo was how thoroughly Saladin transformed the city, above all through the construction of this massive citadel looming on a ridge and dominating the space. Saladin the builder is underrated.
Two round towers, ramparts, walls, palm trees, cloudy skies: Saladin’s citadel today
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Lisa @halfshiretales.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire. Founded 1135. “Buildwas is one of the most picturesque of ruins….This Abbey had a very respectable library. I have encountered a considerable number of books from it, at Cambridge, Lambeth and elsewhere.” MR James writing in 1925. #medievalmonday #medievalsky
Buildwas AbbeyThe book of Leviticus & the gospel of St John with commentary and glosses. Written at Buildwas 1176.
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Mary Boyle @maryrboyle.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Hello Bluesky. I work on medieval pilgrimage and on medievalism. My book on English and German medieval pilgrimage writing & my edited volume on international medievalism are here: boydellandbrewer.com/author/mary-... I’ve nearly finished my next book on Anglo-German medievalism in the long C19.
Book cover showing woodcut of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the fifteenth centuryBook cover showing nineteenth-century black and white image of a supposedly medieval king and princess kissing on a throne
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
It’s been an appropriately long journey to arrive at this destination, but I’m very pleased to announce this morning the publication of the Companion to Medieval Pilgrimage that I’ve co-edited with Andrew Jotischky for @archumanities.bsky.social. #medievalsky #skystorians #newbooks #pilgrimage
arc-humanities.org
A Companion to Medieval Pilgrimage - Arc Humanities Press
Pilgrimage to shrines and places of particular holiness was a feature of all three major religious traditions in medieval Europe and the eastern Mediterranea...
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