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William Purkis

@williampurkis.bsky.social
1.5K followers 511 following 130 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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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 16/10/2026
It is with overwhelming sadness that colleagues across @unibirmingham.bsky.social learned of the death last Friday of Prof. Chris Wickham. Chris’s colleagues and friends from around the world are invited to contribute to this online Book of Condolence: www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2026/pr...
birmingham.ac.uk
Professor Chris Wickham - University of Birmingham
It is with overwhelming sadness that colleagues across the College of Arts and Law learned of the death last Friday of Professor Chris Wickham.
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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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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Great album of a great tour, full of energy and POTR totally revitalising on both old songs and new. Some great tones too: I love the heavy, sludgy guitar on Hippie Dream.
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Ooh, thanks for sharing. Right up my street. Unfortunately.
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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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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Thanks, I got there in the end but it was more stressful than I’d have liked …
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Is anyone else managing to get the presale links to work?
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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 · 27/01/2025
Likewise …
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Thanks; I hadn’t spotted, will take a listen.
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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 · 26/12/2024
I hope you had a chance to visit the Museum of the Order of St John at some point!
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Yes indeed, although I prefer the spook of the 70s to the schtick of the Gatiss reboots.
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Having known M.R. James via his descriptions of medieval library holdings etc., it was only about 10 years ago that I first read this! Absolutely love it.
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Was saving this for Christmas Eve 😉
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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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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Oooh, I had this on my list too!
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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
That’s a *great* book
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William Purkis @williampurkis.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Ha ha, don’t worry that seemed more plausible than a book about 12th-c. devotional ideals!
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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
Okay, I’ll mix it up over the weekend then 🤓
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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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