PUBLICATIONS: New Blog Post over at the Wellcome Collection



I have written a new blog post for the Wellcome Collection on the use of guide dogs by blind people in the Middle Ages.  You can find it here. 


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HISTORY OF MEDICINE: The Anglesey Leg

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C/W: Contains description of surgery and amputation.  The story of prosthetics is one of human ingenuity.  Based on the existing evidence the earliest entry in this story is of an individual who would eventually be buried near the ancient city of Thebes some time between 950 and 710 BC.  This individual at some point found themselves in need of a replacement big toe, and a prosthetic was made.  Their mummified remains, complete with their prosthetic toe, were discovered in AD 2000, and ten years later a team of biomechanical engineers would discover that the design of the prosthetic was such that it did not require the individual to wear any kind of specialist shoe to hold it in place - they could walk barefoot or in normal Egyptian sandals.  The previous earliest prosthetic we have (or rather had) physical evidence for dated from 300 BC - known as the Capua leg, named for the site of its discovery - it was held by the Royal College of Surgeons, but was destroye...
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ROMA HISTORY AND CULTURE: ‘Gibberish’ was a racial slur.

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We are at tipping point in a years-long struggle against racism.  Protests have sprung up all over the world, stemming from events in the USA.  This post is not intended to provide commentary on these events – there are many people far better placed to provide such comment – but rather to highlight something which I think is not completely understood regarding the etymology of a particular word, which can in context be considered a racial slur.  It has been in my mind to write this post for some time – stemming from conversations at the IMC in Leeds in 2019.  I decided to finish it off due to a recent conversation with a student with a similar background to me which revolved around the misunderstanding and misrepresentation of minority cultures.  Gibberish.   It’s a term that’s often thrown around in discussion and criticism.   A critic may condemn a writer’s prose style as ‘bordering on gibberish’.   A politician may call their opponent’s...
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PERSONAL: So, what do you do?

This post is basically a very quick introduction to me. I'm known as Jude.  I'm a postgraduate student in Medieval Studies.  I'm currently reading for my PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London, but all views expressed here are entirely my own and unrelated to the institution where I study. My main research topic is to do with disability in miracle literature from around AD 1100 to around AD 1350.  I look at a combination of magic, miracle, medicine and palaeopathology.  My other primary research is in the archaeology of disease - particularly pathogens and pandemics. My other main interests include the civil war in England between 1135 and 1153, and the ecclesiastical politics of the Papal Reform movement. Most of my research relies on a combination of literary and archaeological evidence.  I'm passionate about sharing history in new ways. I have a wonky brain - due to oxygen starvation at birth I have motor function problems and suffer from seizur...
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