Gemma Hollman
Historian, author, and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Runs the Just History Posts blog. Specialises in late medieval women and the English court. Find my links: lnk.bio/GemmaHAuthor
- A great day of talks on medieval queens! At lunch I gave a talk at Shoe Lane library in the City of London on my second book, The Queen and the Mistress, then this evening on to the @royalhistsoc.org talk on Queens and the Making of Europe by the fantastic Charles West! Feeling inspired.
- A heads up to any other authors part of the Anthropic AI class action - I've just received an email from ClaimsHero trying to get me to sue through them, but a quick check online exposes it's a very poor and misleading option - if you get the same, check this first! authorsguild.org/news/claimsh...
- With book deadline rapidly approaching my head is full of everything Richard II, so have a pic of one of my favourite medieval artefacts, the Crown of Princess Blanche - thought to have originally been owned by Anne of Bohemia, Richard's first wife. It is the oldest surviving royal crown of England.
- This amazing review of The Queen and the Mistress by @thehistorybits.bsky.social came up on my social media memories today and I just had to share it again! One of my favourite reviews from anyone 🥹 If you want to see what Sharon loved so much, try it yourself! www.amazon.co.uk/Queen-Mistre...
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- Reposted by Gemma HollmanSomething lovely for the weekend! Beautiful blue glass beads from the late Bronze Age 💙 Ploughed up by a farmer in Denmark in 1885, analysis shows the beads were made in Mesopotamia, pointing to long-distance trade in luxury goods some 3,000 years ago. 📷 National Museum of Denmark #Archaeology
- Merry Christmas for those who celebrate! Hope you've had lovely days with lots of food and warmth. One of my favourites - a fresco depicting January at Castello Buonconsiglio, Trento, Italy, c. 1405-1410 #medieval
- A really interesting point re: the rise in AI fake citations - as they become more prolific, how are they going to affect the real scholars whose names are being attributed to fake articles?
- Every winter, I love to share the story of Wilson Bentley, the first person to ever take a photograph of a snowflake ❄️🧵 #history #snow
- It's my final newsletter of the year! We take a look at the lost treasure of King John, and I also look at the spate of high-profile heritage heists this year and why our historic collections are at such risk from thieves: justhistoryposts.substack.com/p/merry-chri... #history #newsletter
- 🌟New post!🌟 King John is one of England’s most infamous kings. Shortly before his death, he reputedly lost England's Crown Jewels in The Wash in the east of the country. But how did this happen, and may the treasure be found? #history #medieval #treasure
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- Henry's penchant for lampreys and his subsequent death led to a civil war known as The Anarchy, which lasted for almost 2 decades, where England nearly saw its first Queen Regnant, over 400 years before Mary I: justhistoryposts.com/2017/06/19/t... #medieval #history
- My latest newsletter is up, and this month I share my thoughts about how historians compile history, and whether it's possible to ever reach an object truth about what happened in the past. Make sure to take a read for free: justhistoryposts.substack.com/p/compiling-... #history #newsletter
- Re-reading my second book, The Queen and the Mistress, in advance of a new version, and just hit the point where Queen Philippa of Hainault is exactly my age and pregnant with her 10th child. Once again struck by the gulf in experience between me and women past (and elsewhere today)
- Highly enjoyed tonight's @royalhistsoc.org anniversary lecture Visible | Invisible: Voices of Women in Early Modern Ireland by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, but really struck by this early slide in the presentation. Silences are everywhere in historical data and writing #Skystorians
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- 🌟New Post!🌟 Today I chat with Second World War historian and author Victoria Panton Bacon about her new children's book, Their Second World War. In time for Remembrance Day, it's important to reflect: how can we present these stories for a young generation? #history #WWII #ChildrensBooks
- The absolutely stunning Tiddy House in Exeter, Devon, England, possibly built in the late 16th century. A 4-storey brick and timber-framed house with slate tile roof, it is wonderfully wonky and was lovingly restored to glory by Bill Lovell, who bought the severely disrepaired building in the 1960s
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- The urn and gold oak wreath of Alexander IV, made in Greece c310 BC. Alexander IV was the son of Alexander the Great, king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. Born after his father had died, a series of regents ruled whilst he grew up but he was assassinated when he came of age at 14 🧵 #history
- Newsletter out now! This month I had to focus on the 9 year celebration of Just History Posts. It's so interesting to look at how far the blog has come this year in comparison to last year. Make sure to take a read for free now! justhistoryposts.substack.com/p/9-years-of... #history #blogs
- 🌟New Post!🌟 Today we have guest Talia on the blog, exploring the centuries-long origin of the Hundred Years War between England and France. Why did these two countries fight for so long? Where did it all start? #history #medieval
- Items frozen in time hit me differently. This is a tub of Ancient Roman cosmetic cream, made around 150AD, found in London during excavations in 2003. It was found in a Roman temple alongside other ritual items as an offering to the gods in the boundary ditch 🧵 #history
- I'm at that stage of writing where I misread "water side" in Froissart and thought for a second that during the Peasants' Revolt they had put a passed-out Princess Joan down a waterslide... It may be time for a break!!
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- On Wednesdays, we wear pink 💅 This is the beautiful Chesme Church, Saint Petersburg, Russia, build in the 1770s at the instigation of Catherine the Great. It was intended to serve as a memorial to the Russian victory over the Turks at the Battle of Chesme #history
- 🌟New Post!🌟 Today, guest author Catherine Williams speaks to us about the position of White women in the Early Modern American South. These women held unique positions of power and authority through their scarcity and through the slaves that they owned and managed #history #EarlyModern
- Hey authors, don't forget to check if your works are eligible for claiming on the Anthropic class action settlement! Don't let these companies get away with theft 🙌 www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com?_gl=1*558l4m.... #Skystorians #historians #authors
- It's fashion, dahhling ✨ This 4th century mosaic from the Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily, shows female athletes, some of whom are wearing outfits similar to our modern-day bikinis. The women are shown competing in a variety of sports, including weight-lifting, discus, running & ball games #history
- Wow, what a stunning find!! #medieval
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- Today is Just History Posts' 9th birthday! I can't believe it's been almost a decade of writing history. What began as a post-university passion project led to my author career and meeting countless amazing historians. So happy birthday to us 🎈💖 justhistoryposts.com #HistoryBlogs
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- In this month's newsletter I'm having a chat about the Archives and Records Association Conference, Pontefract Castle, Victorian electric fashion, heritage vandalism, jewellery auctions and Nazi-stolen paintings. Phew! Have a read: justhistoryposts.substack.com/p/electricit... #history #newsletters
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- 🌟New post!🌟 The 19th century saw an electricity craze hit, with countless companies harnessing it to sell products. Fashion soon caught on, with electric corsets and belts designed for women and men proclaiming to cure any ailment. But where did this obsession come from? #FashionHistory #history
- This is amazing 😍 both Joan of Navarre and Eleanor Cobham, women in the English royal family, were accused of using nigromancy against the king this very same century, so this was the exact kind of thing they were allegedly engaging in. Find out more about them in my book, Royal Witches!
- Our medieval curator Alison Ray introduces Rawlinson Bodleian Library MS. Rawl. D. 252...a 15th Century necromancer's journal. This manuscript contains spells written in Latin and Middle English, and would have served as a reference for a professional sorcerer. #MedievalMonday
- Hi bluesky! Sorry I've been a little quiet, I've been recovering from two conferences in two weeks 😮💨 great fun, learnt so much, but it's knackering! I want to connect with more history accounts on here - so please, who are your favourite #skystorians, podcasts, blogs? Please tag them below!
