Winter morning scenes in Australia: early walk, catching the first rays of sun on the gum trees, smelling the wattle and hand feeding the rainbow lorikeet.
Francois Soyer
@fsoyer.bsky.social
Associate Prof of European History, the Inquisition, Antisemitism and Gender/Sexuality at the University of New England in Australia. Hispanophile and Lusophile.
A reminder that AI, even the supposedly more advanced and dependable AI systems that your institution/university pushes you and your students to use will make stuff up (aka lie to you). Don't depend on it.
When asked by an inquisitor in sixteenth-century Lisbon why he never married, a Christian from India responded "because he wanted to see the world" (disse que elle numqua casou porque tinha tenção de ver o mundo).
When asked by an inquisitor in sixteenth-century Lisbon why he never married, a Christian from India responded "because he wanted to see the world" (disse que elle numqua casou porque tinha tenção de ver o mundo).
"don't cite what you haven't read" remains the basic entry level academic responsibility; & if your discpline "doesn't have that as a norm" then sorry, your discipline needs reforming for this new world. Citations are structural parts of trust and knowledge building, not trinkets or optional extras
Miles Klee 🦉@milesklee.bsky.social · 8mo agoAcademics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.
Amid the 2026 World Cup excitement, let's remember Monty Python's Germany vs Greece International Philosophy World Cup Final www.youtube.com/watch?v=i21O...
Germany vs Greece International Philosophy FINAL
YouTube video by Radu O
youtube.com
September 1550: the Augustinian Sebastião Toscano is denounced to the Lisbon Inquisition by scandalized churchmen for claiming in a sermon preached in the presence of the king that “after Christ no soul was more perfect in grace and virtue than that of Saint Augustin.”
September 1550: the Augustinian Sebastião Toscano is denounced to the Lisbon Inquisition by scandalized churchmen for claiming in a sermon preached in the presence of the king that “after Christ no soul was more perfect in grace and virtue than that of Saint Augustin.”
January 1537: an enslaved African named Francisco Fernandes came to the Lisbon Inquisition and accused a 15-year-old boy named Braz Caldeira of having said that he did not know whether God was present in the consecrated host. Interestingly, Francisco signed his name in his own hand.
I am once again begging universities to realise that staff - academic, professional services, estates, all of them - are the product they are trying to sell. Without staff there is nothing to sell. No amount of flashy buildings will replace staff in universities. UKHE is in freefall.
Carlo Ginzburg est mort, annonce la presse italienne. Immense historien, il a su construire une oeuvre originale entre micro-histoire et anthropologie historique qui a considérablement renouvelé la discipline. www.repubblica.it/cultura/2026...
Carlo Ginzburg è morto, addio al grande storico italiano
Aveva 87 anni. Era famoso in tutto il mondo per le sue ricerche sulla stregoneria e le credenze popolari
repubblica.it
12 May 1543: a husband-and-wife couple denounce Marcos Gil to the Inquisition in Lisbon for having supposedly said “by our stork” (por nossa cegonha) instead “by our lady” (por nossa senhora) when swearing a legally binding oath.
12 May 1543: a husband-and-wife couple denounce Marcos Gil to the Inquisition in Lisbon for having supposedly said “by our stork” (por nossa cegonha) instead “by our lady” (por nossa senhora) when swearing a legally binding oath.
Some snark from 1542: asked her age by the inquisitor, Ana de Leão responded that "she did not know because she did not see herself being born" (nam sabia porque nam se vyu nacer) but admitted she was probably 19, "more or less."
Some snark from 1542: asked her age by the inquisitor, Ana de Leão responded that "she did not know because she did not see herself being born" (nam sabia porque nam se vyu nacer) but admitted she was probably 19, "more or less."
That moment when someone started to talk much faster and the inquisitorial notary transcribing the oral testimony in 1542 had to shift into turbo mode.
Absolutely stunned to hear of the passing of Rosamond McKitterick, who did me (like many others) a number of good turns at crucial points in my career. My thoughts are with her family and her many devoted students. May she rest in peace and rise in glory. #MedievalSky #Skystorians
A long interview with the early medieval historian Rosamond McKitterick, reflecting on her life and work, ably conducted by Richard Pollard youtu.be/pvBdJyUAwyY?...
Interview with Rosamond McKitterick (Dec. 2025)
YouTube video by rmp422
youtu.be
Another woman, this time from 1542, with strong feelings about the Inquisition. Denounced in Lisbon for having said: "f*ck the Inquisition, f*ck those in charge of it and f*ck those who brought it [to Portugal] " (respondeu: merda pera a inquisicao e pera quem a manda e pera quem a tras).
Francois Soyer@fsoyer.bsky.social · 2mo agoIn June 1541, a woman loses her temper during an argument over dinner. According to the different witnesses present she exclaimed alternatively “the Inquisition can drink shit!” or screw the inquisitors!" Three dinner guests denounced her to the Inquisition in Lisbon.
In June 1541, a woman loses her temper during an argument over dinner. According to the different witnesses present she exclaimed alternatively “the Inquisition can drink shit!” or screw the inquisitors!" Three dinner guests denounced her to the Inquisition in Lisbon.
Another woman, this time from 1542, with strong feelings about the Inquisition. Denounced in Lisbon for having said: "f*ck the Inquisition, f*ck those in charge of it and f*ck those who brought it [to Portugal] " (respondeu: merda pera a inquisicao e pera quem a manda e pera quem a tras).
Francois Soyer@fsoyer.bsky.social · 2mo agoIn June 1541, a woman loses her temper during an argument over dinner. According to the different witnesses present she exclaimed alternatively “the Inquisition can drink shit!” or screw the inquisitors!" Three dinner guests denounced her to the Inquisition in Lisbon.
In June 1541, a woman loses her temper during an argument over dinner. According to the different witnesses present she exclaimed alternatively “the Inquisition can drink shit!” or screw the inquisitors!" Three dinner guests denounced her to the Inquisition in Lisbon.
January 1538. A family is denounced to the Inquisition in Lisbon for remaining Jewish & keeping kosher. Evidence? The matriarch of the family refused to eat lamprey eels "because they disgust her and look like snakes." (nam comia lamprea por que tenia nojo della por lhe parecer cobra).
January 1538. A family is denounced to the Inquisition in Lisbon for remaining Jewish & keeping kosher. Evidence? The matriarch of the family refused to eat lamprey eels "because they disgust her and look like snakes." (nam comia lamprea por que tenia nojo della por lhe parecer cobra).
German scholar of Japanese history writes a book about slavery in Korea despite the fact that he doesn't have adequate Korean reading skills so instead of collaborating with an actual human Korean expert, he turns to AI to translate thousands of pages of source material. 🤯😡
배뢰아@baessi.bsky.social · 2mo ago일본사 전공한 독일 역사학자가 한국사의 노예제에 관한 책을 냈는데 한국어와 중국어를 못 해서 AI로 번역시켜서 자료를 읽었다고 써 놓음. 😡 무려 De Gruyter Brill 출판사에서… 📖 Zöllner, Reinhard. Slavery and Servile Societies in Korean History: The Hidden Background of Modern Korea, De Gruyter, 2025. doi.org/10.1515/9783...
