Yvonne Seale

@yvonneseale.bsky.social

1379 Followers 269 Following

Historian of medieval women, especially the nuntastic kind; lover of tea; associate professor of history at SUNY Geneseo. yvonneseale.org

Screenshot containing the text "This was not the only test of the relic's legitimacy: as anthropologist Eric Silverman writes, "A common test for foreskinned authenticity [in medieval times] was taste. A physician, supervised by a priest, sampled the skin for the flavor of genuine holiness. The taster was called a croque-prépuce, or 'foreskin cruncher.'""
Four people standing side by side. From left to right: Mary McAleese, a woman with blonde hair in a purple dress; Catherine Connolly, a woman with grey hair in a purple pant suit; Michael D. Higgins, a man with white hair in a dark suit and purple tie; Mary Robinson, a woman in a deep red blazer over a black turtleneck and trousers.
Front cover of a book, with "Childhood and the Irish: A Miscellany" in dark font against a cream background. There is a black and white cover photo of a young boy on roller skates.
Screenshot of the Viabundus website.
Part of a title page of a book, showing the text "Saint Augustine Confessions, Translated with an Introduction by R.S. Pine-Coffin."
Brian Blessed as Piccolomini in profile, seated on the toilet while other cardinals react with embarrassment and disgust.
Brian Blessed in a truly distressing bowl cut wig which, though not visible here, is also tonsured.
Movie poster for "The Conclave" (2006)
Screenshot of the Premonstratensian Order in the Middle Ages Bibliography website, showing a searchable bibliographic database.
The cover of the May 2025 issue of BBC History Magazine, showing a black and white photo of a cheerful woman on VE Day.
A half-length portrait of a man in profile. He's wearing a white zucchetto and an embroidered brown robe studded with pearls that is held together with a gold brooch. He is rocking a very luxuriant dark brown moustache. Behind him is the papal tiara and over his head is text in Portuguese/Latin that reads in translation "Pope John 21. Dom Pedro Juliano. In the year 1272."
The green, cream and chrome exterior of the Highland Park Diner, the name of which is illuminated in neon on the roof.
A large white stone slab marking the grave of Frederick Douglass, flanked on either side by the smaller graves of family members.
There's herself now, lurking behind the base of the statue to St Patrick in the centre of Westport—a sly reference to the relative historiographical treatments of Patrick and Brigit? Probably not. Brigit is a white woman with dark hair, wearing a brightly patterned kurta-style outfit and a matching headscarf.
A gilded reliquary (relic holder) in the shape of an arm with its index and middle fingers outstretched in a gesture of blessing.
Detail of a medieval manuscript page showing a marginal illustration of St Brigit and her cow. Brigit is shown as a woman in a blue gown and white veil and with a halo. She is turning and gesturing towards the small black cow behind her.
Per the listing, this is "the Fire dining room decked with a dragon chandelier and fire sconces and lights, and a long dragon Italian carved table." The walls are painted red and orange, the ceiling is covered with a dragon-themed mural, and the floor is covered with floral-themed mosaic tiles.
Here are two pictures from my father’s head — I have kept them like secrets until now: First, the Ulster Division at the Somme Going over the top with ‘Fuck the Pope!’ ‘No Surrender!’: a boy about to die, Screaming ‘Give ’em one for the Shankill!’ ‘Wilder than Gurkhas’ were my father’s words Of admiration and bewilderment. Next comes the London-Scottish padre Resettling kilts with his swagger-stick, With a stylish backhand and a prayer. Over a landscape of dead buttocks My father followed him for fifty years. At last, a belated casualty, He said — lead traces flaring till they hurt — ‘I am dying for King and Country, slowly.’ I touched his hand, his thin head I touched. Now, with military honours of a kind, With his badges, his medals like rainbows, His spinning compass, I bury beside him Three teenage soldiers, bellies full of Bullets and Irish beer, their flies undone. A packet of Woodbines I throw in, A lucifer, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Paralysed as heavy guns put out The night-light in a nursery for ever; Also a bus-conductor’s uniform — He collapsed beside his carpet-slippers Without a murmur, shot through the head By a shivering boy who wandered in Before they could turn the television down Or tidy away the supper dishes. To the children, to a bewildered wife, I think ‘Sorry Missus’ was what he said. Poem © Michael Longley 1973. Source: An Exploded View by Michael Longley.
Three paper copies of syllabi for history courses sitting on a desk.
Aerial view of a hill-top ruined castle blanketed in snow. Beyond it are snow covered hills and a small stand of trees. Squint at the top left corner of the picture and you can just about make out the outskirts of Portlaoise.
The central figure of Philosophy, shown as an enthroned and crowned blonde woman, surrounded by other smaller anthropomorphized forms of learning.
A screenshot of page 11 of Hanawalt's "Wealth of Wives". The key sentence is "If one were looking for a "golden age" for women, [London] could not be a more depressing place to look."
A screenshot of part of an article, reading "The Economist’s Lens: Calculating Economic Disparities Before confessing my heresy, let’s start with the conventional wisdom. An Economist’s Christmas wish-list probably comprises ‘newly digitised data on some form of economic activity’. A scroll from a large manorial farm in Essex details that 27 men and 16 women were hired to bring the harvest. Female workers typically worked fewer days and earned less. In London, between 1309 and 1468, 44% of daughters (and 60% of sons) mentioned in male Londoners’ wills received some form of estate."
The front cover of Judith Bennett's "History Matters: Patriarchy and the Challenge of Feminism."
Screenshot of the article with text reading "Caution! Clearly, the above examples are just anecdotal. I will hold my horses until all medieval manuscripts are digitised and someone clever quantifies relative misogyny!"
A sword with an iron blade and wooden hilt being held up to the camera
A detail of a medieval manuscript image showing three women standing on a castle drawbridge. They're richly dressed, in gold, blue, and red gowns, and wearing black headdresses. Facing them is a man who is richly dressed, holding his hat in his hand in a gesture that can only be described as jaunty. The women look unimpressed.
A page from The Fleuron magazine, 1930, showing a specimen of the Perpetua in various sizes.
A 10th century manuscript image showing the deaths of Perpetua, Felicitas and the others in their group. Several bleeding, haloed figures lie slumped on the ground, while two figures wielding knives stab at the throats of the two last captives. The scene takes place in a rural landscape with a sky that is gilded instead of blue. From the Menologion of Basil II, Vatican Library Ms. Vat. gr. 1613.
An image showing a specimen of the Perpetua typeface, with letters from a to z and numbers from 0 to 9.
Reliquary bust of a female saint in profile, showing a pale skinned blonde woman with hair in long elaborate braids. She wears a gilt cap over her hair and a yellow dress. South Netherlandish, ca. 1520-30. Met Cloisters, 59.70.
A view of the opened sculpture from the rear. It shows the flat back of the ivory sculpture, with the two halves of the sculpted figure of Mary holding Christ facing towards the viewer. Walters Art Museum, 71.152.
A photo of a medieval Sudanese wall painting, accompanied by 6 fabric swatch samples in various colours and patterns. The wall painting shows a bearded black man wearing a long robe.
An image of the front cover of "The Joy of Cooking" by Irma S. Rombauer. It shows a dark-haired white woman with a halo, wearing a blue dress and black girdle, raising a broom with which to hit a green dragon.
Several excited students outside of the new library facade. The building is red brick, and the exterior has a large college logo and the words 'Milne Library.'
A manuscript page with text arranged in two columns in a neat uncial script. The first two words of the text are larger, spanning the page and elaborately decorated. The text is Jerome's preface to the Gospels. (pg. 3 of the Codex Aureus)
The voiceover of the video is "Discover a world of mystery, magic, and mythology in Tramore, County Waterford. Celtworld, where legend lives."
A bigger than lifesize animatronic sculpture shown against a red background. The sculpture has bulging eyes, bristling hair, and giant spindly hands.
Front cover of the Celtworld brochure, with the Celtworld logo in a green, pseudo-Celtic typeface. The subtitle is "Where Legend Lives", and there is a photo of a dolmen against an evening sky.
A seated skeleton, coated with wax and with a wig and halo, dressed in quasi-Roman armour, is seated on a throne in a very decorated alcove. At the foot of his throne is a legend that reads "Saint Deodatus, Martyr"
A long narrow page with a column of text in medieval German. In the lefthand margin is a depiction of the artist's guess at what a giraffe looks like. It's yellow and furry with a very elongated neck that stretches the length of the page.
Medieval Women’s Networks: Exploring Techniques and Tools for Digital Analysis. INTERACTIVE PUBLIC WORKSHOP, 12:00-14:30 EST VIA ZOOM DAY 1, PROJECTS: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2024 DAY 2, DATA: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2024 INTERACTIVE PUBLIC WORKSHOP, 12:00-14:30 EST VIA ZOOM DAY 1, PROJECTS: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2024 DAY 2, DATA: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2024 KATHY KRAUSE AND LAURA MORREALE, ORGANIZERS Presenting scholars include Adrienne Williams Boyarin, Elena Brizio, Tracy Chapman Hamilton, S.C. Kaplan, Samantha Katz-Seal, Mariah Proctor-Tiffany, & Yvonne Seale. DH experts include Kalani Craig, Erin McCarthy, Jeffrey Rydberg-Cox, & Sébastien de Valeriola TO REGISTER: Please visit https://tinyurl.com/DHMedievalWomen
A carved piece of creamy-coloured ivory photographed against a grey background. A winged lion with a halo and holding a book is shown between two spiral columns.
A medieval manuscript image showing a white woman in a blue hat and blue and green gown with long fair hair standing in a room. She has six arms. In front of her is a man with a red hat and blue gown. He is sitting at a desk with a book on it. On the other side of the room is a window, through which a rural landscape can be seen. A figure in a brown robe and black hat is sitting in the window.
Two paper copies of two syllabuses on a wooden desk. One is called "Europe in the World, 300-1000" and one is called "Bright Lights, Big City: Urban Life in the Middle Ages" The former has an image of a late antique cityscape in shades of pink and blue with rivers running through it. The latter has a black and white woodcut showing a late medieval city.
A screenshot of a Zotero library.
A framed image from a 15th-century medieval manuscript showing woman with a red and yellow head dress and a long white and blue dress holding a bloody knife in one hand and a decapitated crowned male head in the other. She is about to dunk the head in a barrel of blood. Next to her is a seated decapitated body in a white, blue and gold outfit.
An office with white walls and black faux marble floors. There is a bookcase on one wall, reproduction medieval tapestries on two of the walls, a sofa, and an oversized throne chair.
A parchment page with two columns of Hebrew text in a semi-cursive hand. On the right of the right-hand column, a green and gold dragon with a long tripartite tail takes up most of the length of the margin.
Medieval Women’s Networks: INTERACTIVE PUBLIC WORKSHOP, 12:00-14:30 EST VIAZOOM DAY 1, PROJECTS: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2024 DAY 2, DATA: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2024 KATHY KRAUSE AND LAURA MORREALE, ORGANIZERS Scholars of medieval women agree that the promise of DH network analysis has fallen short of providing the kinds of insights into the relationships of medieval women they hoped it could. The goal of this public and interactive webinar-workshop is to explore potentially useful approaches to the study of medieval women and to consider best practices for extracting data & building models to analyze their networks using digital tools. The workshop is structured over two days. On day one, scholars will present their experiences working with DH network tools to study medieval women & the difficulties they have encountered; all online workshop attendees will be invited to comment, contribute, and commiserate. On day two, DH consultants will respond to the challenges presented the previous d
A black-and-white photo of the sisters of Sint-Catharinadal gathered in a tiled corridor. Eight sisters stand behind; four sit in the front. All are elderly white women, wearing white habits with black veils.
A screenshot of the web page.
A church built out of pale stone silhouetted against a blue sky. It has a crossing tower and a transept but a visibly truncated nave.
A damaged medieval manuscript, now missing its covers, which has warped backwards around its spine and which has distorted, shrunken parchment pages. Some text, with initials in blue and red ink, is still visible.
Wednesday, 3 July 2024 16:30 - 17:00 1347-a - The Cartulary of Prémontré: A Case Study for the Historical Access and Use of Archival Material in Cartulary Studies Yvonne Seale, State University of New York, Geneseo and Heather Wacha, University of Wisconsin-Madison 1.05 (Maurice Keyworth Building)