OH MY! It may be March, but turns out it's Christmas! (and I'm even quoted in the article ☺️) #BuryStEdmunds #historyofmagic
Hitherto the only magical manuscript known from Bury St Edmunds was a version of the Ars Notoria designed to help monks gain the ability to magically learn shorthand medieval.utoronto.ca/research-publi…
Bury has thus been overshadowed by other monasteries such as St Augustine's, Canterbury and St Mary's, York as a centre of magical learning. But clearly this new analysis of Harley MS 2874 changes all that!
The text this manuscript is based on, the Coniuration malignorum spirituum, was not (in spite of its name) written as a ritual magical text but as a book of exorcism
BUT the Coniuratio was often used as by ritual magicians (because exorcism can easily be repurposed for ritual magic), and the simple letter substitution in this MS is pretty much definite evidence that it was being used magically
I wrote about monks using magic (including some monks at Bury St Edmunds) in this article a few years ago mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/4…
*Coniuratio, thank you autocorrect 🙄
Hope you've seen this very M.R. Jamesey news @jmainpidd @Richard_Hoggett @NunkieTheatre
Somewhere, James is kicking himself that he never found this one...

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More from @DrFrancisYoung

Mar 29
Summato Lituano tandem renato
arma coniunxit cum sociis in NATO
#WeAreNATO
(With Lithuanian sovereignty at last reborn,
She joins her arms with allies in NATO)
I made the epigram even better, so 'in NATO' now has a punning double meaning as 'innato', i.e. innate, inborn

Summato Lituano tandem renato
Armaque coniunxit robore in NATO
Read 4 tweets
Mar 23
This is great, but there are more hillforts than this in Suffolk; the map marks only two (Barnham and Burgh near Ipswich). What about Clare Camp? Or Thorington's Fairy Hill? Or are those unlisted because we can't date them or definitively identify them as hillforts?
And yes I admit that hillforts aren't all that plentiful in Suffolk - it's the whole 'hill' part that we struggle with
Cambridgeshire: "Akshually Stonea Camp is the lowest-lying hillfort in the country..."
Suffolk:
Read 4 tweets
Mar 22
I genuinely have no strong opinions on this. Depends what audience I'm writing for and what I think they'll expect
Of course, there's always the option of messing with everyone and using BP for all dates
It's not like time is even real anyway, what does it matter
Read 4 tweets
Mar 3
@Robin_C_Douglas @19Averil Well, it depends whether you define Christianisation as formal adoption of the faith by a society, or most (or all?) people in that society being Christians. Or the functional cessation of pagan worship, I suppose
@Robin_C_Douglas @19Averil For Britain I would say 394, the decree ordering the end of pagan altars. That was the end of the pagan cult in a formal sense. But by what date were most people baptised? We don't know
@Robin_C_Douglas @19Averil Picking another society entirely at random (say, Lithuania), I'd place formal Christianisation around 1440, the date of the last pagan revolt. After that date most people were baptised and Christianity was the undisputed official religion
Read 4 tweets
Feb 27
Many people (and many commentators) seem to have an archaic view of the world as dominated by great powers and spheres of influence, with every smaller nation assumed to be a client state and its people little puppets (and therefore not really human at all)
The independence of the countries of East-Central Europe is real. Their sovereignty is real. Their capacity and right to make decisions about their defence policy is real.
I can't stand people bloviating about the expansion of NATO as some conflict between great powers while not even mentioning that NATO membership is the decision of the countries who join. Because apparently those countries can't make real decisions
Read 4 tweets
Feb 16
On 🇱🇹's Restoration of the State Day, I'm excited to announce a new project: the first history of the relationship between Lithuania and Britain, in both English and Lithuanian! But to publish in both languages, we need your support via @Kickstarter: kickstarter.com/projects/60199… Image
The aim of the book is to be a resource for the Lithuanian community in the UK, as well as for Britons in Lithuania, and to foster mutual understanding between the two nations by revealing a largely untold history of interaction between Lithuania and Britain
Publishing the book in both languages will make it accessible to the widest possible audience, both in Lithuania and the UK. And if you pledge £10 or more to the campaign, you can even have your name printed in the back of the book!
Read 4 tweets

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