What's the best strategy to escape a heatwave? Go to a warmer place but with the sea next to it! Here is a view of Mount Vesuvius from Naples.

All 'bout the 💰! New blog post on our project "Money, History, and Moral Economies: Communicative Functions of Monetary Information in the Institutional Historiography of the Later Middle Ages" is out now! Kindly published by @ghilondon.bsky.social.

Thrilled to give a paper at the fourth Congress of Italian medieval studies. This year we are hosted by the University of Naples, founded by the one and only Emperor Frederick II below represented in a bronze statue placed at the very entrance of the university. Feeling very Ghibelline right now.

Carlo Ginzburg has just passed away. There is little I can add in memory of a scholar of his stature. I'll recall only what he said during a fortunate conversation at the Betty Behrens Seminar in Cambridge: “Read everything. Your research path will find its way". And I live by that advice.

Rosamond was a towering scholar and an unfailing source of support both during my time as PhD candidate at Sidney Sussex and long afterwards. This is truly shocking news. The whole field of medieval studies will miss her scholarship, energy and enthusiasm very much.

This has been something I've been meaning to write for quite some time and the Homer contretemps gave it the opportunity. The thing I most wanted to draw out is that it isn't one fool on Twitter with a helmet, but a radicalization pipeline designed to lead antiquity-curious young men into fascism.

Ten years on from the Brexit vote: a new @yougov.co.uk poll finds that 77% of the British public have trust in the expertise of historians bit.ly/49I9NV7 It's heartening to hear that so many value, and certainly haven't had enough of, the historian as expert. #Skystorians 1/4

This is going to be excellent.

Looking forward to speaking in Madrid on manuscript layout and the visualisation of universal history. I'll be talking about Robert of Torigni, sharing a bit from my new book with @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social, and test some new ideas on Norman Italy along with some brilliant scholars. Can’t wait!

Still thinking about last night’s conversation with David Nirenberg reflecting on the impact of his Communities of Violence 30 years after its publication. A thought-provoking evening expertly organised by the @ghilondon.bsky.social at the stunning Art Workers’ Guild in London.

Some exciting discovery here!

Exciting times for the study 11thC England: the 'lost' seal of Edward the Confessor has been rediscovered in the Archives nationales de France! #SkyStorians #MedievalSky

This is a really excellent idea that is extremely valuable!

Please share! EHR is hosting a free one-day symposium at St John's College, Oxford, on Friday 17 April, 10-6, on the theme 'When there are no sources'. Further details and how to sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/when-there...

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of 'Communities of Violence' by Prof David Nirenberg! He will be engaging in conversation with other scholars about his work and the history of religious persecution. Join us on 14 April at @ghilondon.bsky.social 😊 #skystorians #medievalsky #earlymodern #medieval

My definition of quality time in Paris. Indulging in a café noisette just outside the Sorbonne with a newly (and proudly) acquired first edition of Jacques Le Goff's Saint Louis.

I'm happy to share that I've recently joined @ghilondon.bsky.social as a Research Associate! A few weeks into this new chapter, and I'm already enjoying working with @marcusmeer.bsky.social, combing my work in historiography with new research avenues in medieval economic culture. Thrilled!

Universal chronicle-writing finally receives the international attention it deserves. Very much look forward to be giving a paper at this conference 📚

You know what makes your day? Receiving the author copies of your book at home! It's genuinely great to hold it finally in my hands, ink on paper and real weight. If you'd like a copy, the code BB135 gets you 35% off all formats when buying from boydellandbrewer.com. I’m positively chuffed✨

Original thirteenth-century pilgrim canteen found in Brindisi, southern Apulia. I am sure it contained only the least sinful of refreshments.

If you ask my favourite spot in a library, it has to be the temporary storage. This is where books pile up waiting (im)patiently for their place. No shelves yet, no topic categories, no genres. There is only a natural stratification of discovery. Here curiosity leads and the unexpected finds you.

And for graduate students wanting to edit Latin texts we have a specialist training at London International Palaeography Summer School 2026. #MedievalSky 👇 ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...

Very sad news. Professor Stephen Baxter was a remarkable scholar and I will always be grateful for the opportunity he gave me when he interviewed me for the MA in Medieval History at KCL in 2014. That moment set me on the path to my life in the UK and my career in research. May he rest in peace.

It is with deep sadness that the Master and Fellows of St Peter’s College share news of the death of Professor Stephen Baxter, Fellow and Tutor in Medieval History. Our full tribute will be shared soon. https://ow.ly/cy8J50Y0yrB

Sometimes, the devil is in the details. When scanning this book from 1531, something went wrong badly. Not one page is complete, only nonsense scans. This is #bookhistory too. A story of mistakes and #digitization gone wrong.

High quality doodles at the end of this 13 c. manuscript from Piacenza (London, British Library, Harley 3678). Here is a fine example of medieval good boi to help go through your Monday.

Munby Fellowship in Bibliography based @theul.bsky.social in Cambridge - closes on 1 February, so still time to apply.

This 👀: I run a class on late-medieval political satire and this ⬇️ is going straight in there. Visual literacy has always been important and using animals in images to underscore the abuses of the world is perennial...

Just back in Cambridge and glad to see that certain things don't change 🍂🦆

Sometimes, when browsing through a good library, the books you are looking for may have a history of their own or can contain fragments of tangential stories, often intimate ones. A brief 🧵

This is *positiv(ist)ly* cool.

This is (also) what happens when one stops making assumptions about a text and, especially, about who may have written it.

The serpent head of the Oseberg Viking ship, carved in 820, and shown for the first time to the public in the Oslo Historical Museum

There is much to look forward to in the next issue of @parergon.bsky.social. I'm keeping my eyes peeled.

🧪Hold on to your urine flasks, there are only a few weeks left to visit Curious Cures! 📍 Open until 6 December 2025 at the University Library 🔗Book your FREE ticket: https://loom.ly/kVqsPRY Music by Vlad Bakutov from Pixabay

The golden age of diversity and democracy in Oz.

Looks like an exciting read from @puc-ed.bsky.social. The Colloque de Cerisy always gathers stellar scholarship, and this book seems like it’s going to be a banger. Can’t wait to dive in. #medievalsky

📣 Next week we are delighted to host a book launch for Local Priests in the Latin West, 900-1050, by Alice Hicklin, Steffen Patzold, @jbwaagmeester.bsky.social & @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social, who will be joined by John Arnold, Julia Barrow & Conrad Leyser. Weds 19 Nov, 5.30pm, King's. All welcome!

Here is an example of what a politics of temporality looks like in practice and why it is relevant today. It's fascinating that modern Iranian nationalism, which once suppressed its pre-Islamic past, now celebrates the pagan king Shapur I as a national symbol. theconversation.com/a-roman-empe...

@kawulf.bsky.social wrote this piece in April. But if you haven't read it yet, take some time to do so now: scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/04/02/t...

Spent the morning at @theul.bsky.social with this remarkable volume from 12 c. Worcester. A fine example of medieval knowledge aggeagation for the community. It also comes with impressive decorations, which is always a plus.

So… I just learned that the Vlad III Țepeș, also known to later legend as Dracula, may be buried in Naples, Italy. 1) Is this true or clickbait? 2) Should I be worried for Neapolitans? A short🧵 between history and fiction.

What a piece. One of the best proofs that Cato was right when he said 'Rem tene verba sequentur'. Also, next time they tell me that AI must be integrated into literally everything, I'll say that this is a "bathetically unscholarly corporate-sponsored piece of risible chaff".

We're delighted to digitally contribute to @theul.bsky.social Curious Cures project Curator James Freeman highlights some of way Middle English medical writings have survived to us: specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk?p=30906 One more month to catch the physcial exhibition, do not miss it!

Proofs done. Book imminent. Panic level: yes.

Nothing to see here? Well, this is a slow moving 🧵 for #skystorians and others about #eyeglasses of the past, about how to read in the past, where to buy eyeglasses, and how to do with them in general. The hashtag is #HowToDoWithGlassesInThePast Let's roll.

Can something be equally exciting and terrifying to watch? Yes.

What a way to launch Project DEGE at UBC with a three-day deep dive into the digital edition of the Generale Historia in stunning Granada! Here are a few glimpses from the Gothic cathedral and the UNESCO-listed Albaycín, the maze-like old Arab quarters of Granada.

Peter Thiel discusses One Piece and the Antichrist, thereby single-handedly enraging both One Piece and Christian eschatology experts. That's quite impressive.