I got my hair cut this morning and the barber was from Kosovo. The usual football chat but this time it was about GAA and Mayo V Kerry. He asked me if I’d seen the final last week and I thought he meant the World Cup the week before. But no, he’d watched the All Ireland and loved it. Amazing

Some very REQciting news. My Court of Requests pleadings (REQ 2/16-424) project is now complete. Over 28,000 items dating from c.1547-c.1625 (Edw VI to Jas I) now searchable online. Happy researching everyone 🙂 discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C...

Closing date: Wed 29 July The IMC student prize of €1,000 is awarded to a postgraduate student for editing a short historical document, which will also be considered for publication in Analecta Hibernica. Learn more at: irishmanuscripts.ie/imc-student-prize-2026/

IMC Student Prize 2026 - Irish Manuscripts

The Irish Manuscripts Commission wishes to award a prize of €1,000 to a postgraduate student for editing a short historical document. Winning entries will also be considered for publication in Analect...

irishmanuscripts.ie

for the next hydration break france have chosen a 2003 sancerre, let's see if that helps

we have some fun 4 July news over at The National Archives! a new copy of the US Declaration of Independence, with an amazing story behind it (privateers! printers! prisoners!) - but also, a find that shows the power and importance of our volunteering and cataloguing projects.

‘Vanishingly rare’ copy of US Declaration of Independence found by volunteer in UK archives

One of 11 surviving copies of ‘Exeter printing’ and only one known outside US was taken from American privateer ship

theguardian.com

📢 We've just released Text Titan II, our most accurate general-purpose model yet. It reduces transcription errors by ~47% compared to Text Titan I on our internal benchmark, with the biggest gains on handwritten documents! Find out more and try Text Titan II: www.transkribus.org/blog/introdu...

Introducing Text Titan II | Transkribus Blog

Transkribus introduces Text Titan II: a powerful, multilingual transcription model for Latin-script documents. Boost accuracy for print and handwriting today.

transkribus.org

🗓️ Mark your calendars! Our 2026 Research Showcase "Building Collections, Deepening Connections" is approaching on Tuesday 30 June at 10am in the TCD Arts Building.

On 29 May 1660, Charles II returned to England for the first time as King. In the #HistParl article linked below, Dr Andrew Barclay explores the vast choreographed procession from Dover to the capital.

The Return of Charles II, 29 May 1660

In today's blog Dr Andrew Barclay, senior research fellow in our Commons 1640-1660 project, returns to his exploration of the days leading up to the

historyofparliament.com

We’re delighted to announce our ‘Women in Revolution’ webinar Thursday 4 June 7:00-8:15 PM featuring @janeohlmeyer.bsky.social @earner.bsky.social + Catriona Kennedy. Attendance is free. All are welcome For more info + to register 👀👇 events.teams.microsoft.com/event/d2a073...

Thanks to National Archives Ireland for the invite to the launch of the 1926 Census @britishacademy.bsky.social

#OpenAccess research article highlight! 'Books for old soldiers? Creating a library at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, 1711-15', by Jason McElligott is now available through the following link: @universitypress.cambridge.org

In 1660, judges couldn't agree on which regnal year to use in the indictment against the regicides, as the crime of killing Charles I occurred on the last regnal day of Charles I's reign but also the first of Charles II's. So they just went with "30 Jan 1649" [from Sir John Kelyng's Reports]

Easter hope

‘Le Carré, driven by personal demons kept writing into his late 80s; Frederick Forsyth maintained his lucrative franchise. Deighton simply walked away into hobbies: fountain pen engineering, unpublished histories of aero engines, flying planes & cooking and living well.’ ❤️ www.ft.com/content/32e4...

Len Deighton, writer, 1929-2026

He reframed the spy novel genre with gritty cold-war thrillers but possessed an extraordinary range of talents, from graphic designer to historian

ft.com

Charles II’s Irish Great Seal from 1673. For the day that’s in it. TNA C 106/153

A+ nickname

Important work by @secondcaptains.bsky.social here podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Bonus Episode: Phantom Publics and the Reality of the Edogbo Racist Abuse

Podcast Episode · The Second Captains Podcast · 5 March · 51m

podcasts.apple.com

Publication of my short #PenguinMonarchs book on Henry VII on #WorldBookDay is wonderful. Enjoy the early #Tudor conspiracies, tragedies & @jodyhewgill.bsky.social‘s amazing cover painting. Thanks to the team @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social

In 2006 I told the late (great) Prof. Ray Gillespie that I wanted to publish every surviving scrap from the 1766 religious census, by 2016. I missed the 🎯by 10 yrs, but 😃 to report that on the 260th anniv. it's done. Everything, >50k names & population details, now online. @maynoothuniversity.ie

Just pushing up the registration link for the virtual book launch here 👇. See you there!

Joshua Byron Smith@joshuabyronsmith.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Máire Ní Mhaonaigh (Cambridge) and John McCafferty (UCD) will offer responses to the volume. Catherine McKenna (Harvard) will serve as moderator. All are welcome to attend this free virtual event. Advanced registration is required: uconn-edu.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Countdown to the 260th anniversary of Ireland's first census. 🕰️ 7️⃣ 5 March 1766 the Irish House of Lords orders a census of all householders noting 'which are protestants and which are Papists' (Catholics). They gave only 61 days to cover the whole country! virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-PRI... 👀 ALT

VRTI will be posting some information about the 1766 religious census returns over the next few days (260th 🎂 approaching). Keep an 👁️out. We'll be revealing some hidden gems 💎 among the surviving returns.

Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland@virtualtreasury.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Countdown to the 260th anniversary of Ireland's first census. 🕰️ 7️⃣ 5 March 1766 the Irish House of Lords orders a census of all householders noting 'which are protestants and which are Papists' (Catholics). They gave only 61 days to cover the whole country! virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-PRI... 👀 ALT

Welcome remarks by @micheal-martin.bsky.social at @trincolllibcam.bsky.social Irish + British histories are bound together: sometimes literally! virtualtreasury.ie/item/CamTrin... often personally - virtualtreasury.ie/item/CUL-MS-... and collaboratively 👍️ 👀 ALT text @camlibresearch.bsky.social

"On Raglan Road on an autumn day I met her first and knew That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue." After hearing Luke Kelly (d. #OTD 1984) singing in the Bailey pub, poet Patrick Kavanagh requested he interpret his poem ‘On Raglan Road’. www.dib.ie/biography/ke... #DIBLives

Our latest exhibition, Love Letters, is now open at The National Archives, revealing 500 years of love. From paupers, monarchs, queer networks & quiet acts of affection found in government records. Very proud to have been lead curator on this one, working with so many wonderful people! 💌

For any of you interested in early modern beer, Dublin Castle, or just history and food in general, this series of talks and tastings I have helped put together might be of interest 🍻🧐 #History #Heritage #Food #Beer #SpeirGorm www.eventbrite.com/cc/brewing-p...

Brewing Power: Food and Drink in Sixteenth-Century

Dublin Castle is delighted to present a six-part public lecture series exploring how food and drink shaped everyday life, social relationships and authority in sixteenth-century Ireland.

eventbrite.com

In a brand new publication in #PER online, Neil Johnston (@nejohnst.bsky.social) reviews 'Empire and enterprise. Money, power and the Adventurers for Irish land during the British Civil Wars' (Manchester University Press, 2020) by David Brown. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Needless to say I’m delighted about this. It was super to work with Simon Neal, who re-catalogued more than 70 volumes; to collaborate with Eamonn Kenny @adaptcentre.bsky.social who knocked the data into shape; and to incorporate it into the Knowledge Graph we’re building, based on @dib.ie entries

Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland@virtualtreasury.bsky.social · 8mo ago

#TNAConnections Another great Gold Seam you can explore on the VRTI is that of the State Papers Ireland, 1660–1715 (TNA SP 63), an assembled collection of official letters, private papers, and correspondence that is held at @nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy. virtualtreasury.ie/gold-seams/s...

#TNAConnections Another great Gold Seam you can explore on the VRTI is that of the State Papers Ireland, 1660–1715 (TNA SP 63), an assembled collection of official letters, private papers, and correspondence that is held at @nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy. virtualtreasury.ie/gold-seams/s...

Over 20,000 item descriptions have been added to REQ 2 (Court of Requests proceedings) since March 2024. An absolute treasure trove for Tudor historians. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/r/C...