Giving a medieval hug

I've written in this space before about International Hug a Medievalist Day, which occurs every year on March 31st.

This happens to be the 10th year for the event, which was started in 2011 on a Facebook page by Sarah Laseke, who at that time was an MSt student at Oxford in late medieval palaeography and codicology.

(Click here to find out what Sarah is up to now.)

I don't think she or anyone else realized that the "event" would continue on, but prominent medievalists still mark the day on social media. And it's a wonderful, if humorous, way to remind those of us who work on the Middle Ages that we and our scholarship are valued.

Given the current situation, although our hugs may be virtual, these hugs are appreciated nonetheless.