Y’all. I’m at wits end. The lack of reading (let alone being able to read for anything beyond content). How are you handling this? How do we do our jobs? Do we have to just teach … reading now? Literacy? Content comprehension?

“Cities and civilizations rise and fall, but the sea is always the sea.” Philip Hoare “Leviathan, or The Whale” photo by Kristians, 16

The #whales are back at the #IMC in Leeds! 🐳 Many thanks to our wonderful speakers for accepting the invitation! Details of our two panels are available here: imc-leeds.confex.com/imc/2026/pre... #IMC2026 #medievalsky #oceanspast #histwhale

"this is fine" British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r

Die Geschichte lehrt, aber sie hat keine Schüler.

Man gibt Faschisten keine Bühne. Was hat sich die Redaktion von #CarenMiosga dabei gedacht? Fragt die Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg - Carl von Ossietzky.

Zur Diskussion über die Abschaffung des Lateinunterrichts: Ich habe im Lateinunterricht 2 wichtige Dinge gelernt: 1. einen kulturhistorischen Überblick über die Fundamente unserer europäischen Kultur, 2. eine analytische Betrachtungsweise von Sprache und Grammatik. Beides brauche ich täglich.

I know that these things generally make little difference, but I would advise medievalists to sign the petition to save Classics and Medieval Studies at the University of Calgary. #medievalsky c.org/gGvyrHcwYt

mood aboard

The study of the environmental impact of hanseatic trade and is a truely novel approach. If only you feel just a tingle of interest, do it. Not only is Sander quite a sharp thinker, Ghent is a great place to be, too!

The part in the Harry Potter series where the Death Eaters take over the Ministry of Magic so that it does whatever Voldemort demands is very useful when I’m explaining to my young boys what’s currently happening in the United States Government.

Jack Kerouac’s 37 metre-long, first draft scroll of On the Road to be auctioned www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j... #books #literature

Great contributors all of them, opening a European perspective. Andya goid bit of #maritimehistory, too

A couple of new open-access titles of possible interest to scholars of medieval Europe -- this one on merchants, legal pluralism, and predictability in commerce: www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/themen-entde... #MedievalSky

A bloated, much-married, philandering, orange-coloured megalomaniacal narcissist, possibly mentally impaired later in life, Henry VIII died #OnThisDay 1547.

Quaderni di Storia Religiosa Medievale (QSRM) seminar, University of Bologna Valentina Costantini, presentation of our research project on testaments’ management and inventories from the Florentine hospital of Santa Maria Nuova (14th c.) Beyond the Will: The Execution of Pious Dispositions in the…

It‘s fantastic to hear that some history undergrads at my university are learning a second language. Too often languages are overlooked when people train to become a historian – even at the PhD level in Canada! Seeing undergrads appreciate the value of a second language is wonderful.

🥳New #medievalsky #earlymodern Open Access Article! It's about the roles and lives of women in the Alps, including: - How generic male language in sources hides the presence of women - ⛏️ Female construction workers building roads across the Alps -⚖️ A lord turning women into men (legally speaking)

If you are a grad student or early career scholar, consider applying for the @histocean.bsky.social 2026 Jacqueline Carpine-Lancre Early Career Scholars Prize in Ocean History. Details here: oceansciencehistory.com/2026/01/06/c... #oceanhist #envhist

Academics are far too relaxed about writing for two years and having three people read it

zum Thema hier "wem gehören die Meere" kurze Erinnerung an "unseren" Hugo Grotius und sein Mare Liberum („Das freie Meer“), 1609: "an den Meeren könne niemand Eigentum begründen (res extra commercium). Sie dürften als internationale Gewässer von allen Nationen zur Handelsschifffahrt genutzt werden."

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Publication – « Markets, Mints, and Merchants. Royal Economic Policy and Towns in Medieval Hungary », éd. Boglárka Weisz, István Kádas, Judit Gál rmblf.be/2026/01/14/p...

Whence did all that fury come? W. B. Yeats, 1939

was tun angesichts der massiven Herausforderungen für die demokratischen Grundlagen freier Wissenschaft? Vor allem das Risiko auch für Deutschland ernst nehmen! @hist4dem.bsky.social zenodo.org/records/1762...

Damn Rabbit Hole! Such a great resource!

#maritimehistory, sort of...

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell, 1984

Medievalists getting dressed for a new semester

We're pleased to report that Tim Soens' 2013 article 'Flood Security in the Medieval and Early Modern North Sea Area: A Question of Entitlement?' is now #openaccess, thanks to @vuamsterdam.bsky.social. You can read the piece here: www.doi.org/10.3197/0967... #envhist #northsea @eandhwhp.bsky.social

Studierende der Hanse, der norddeutschen Geschichte und Literatur: keine Ausreden mehr wegen Lasch/Borchling-Lieferung immer noch beim Buchbinder - ran an die Texte, Rezesse, Lieder, Testamente, Chroniken und Urkunden! Dar wille wy jwer ersamheit vruntliken umme dancken!

CFP: Reisen – pilgern – migrieren https://www.hsozkult.de/event/id/event-159671 Kiel, 12.06.2026-13.06.2026, Christoph Mauntel, Osnabrück; Christian Hoffarth, Kiel, Bewerbungsschluss: 10.03.2026 Reisen – pilgern – migrieren. Zweiter Workshop zur Mobilität in der Vormoderne

Endnotes are Beelzebub's instrument.

Good article about the 15th century medieval Øresund shipwreck, looks like it will keep on giving for quite some time.

"Ich bin Politiker. Ich leite nicht das Institut für internationales Recht, sondern das Außenministerium". Wadephul macht sich gerade im Deutschlandfunk in der Bewertung zu Venezuela das Leben unfassbar leicht. Paradebeispiel des ruchlosen "Realismus" für politikwissenschaftliche Seminare.

Thought Boaty McBoatface was a funny name? Meet the Mary Rose's sister ship, the Peter Pomegranate. maryrose.org/discover/his...

In just 20 years, we moved from truly experiencing events to merely being there to take a photo or record a video. A humanity lost in the mirage of so-called social networks, where connection replaces presence and appearance eclipses meaning. Rehumanising life is urgent! 🚨 <Happy & Real Proximity>

Nekrolog auf ein Jahr  Nun starb das Jahr.  Auch dieses ging daneben. Längst trat es seinen Lebensabend an. Es lohnt sich kaum, der Trauer hinzugeben, Weil man sich ja ein neues leisten kann. Mascha Kaléko

Um um um! herum um um! ists nun. Lassen Sie sich das nächste auch wohl seyn, und rechnen Sie mich zu Ihrer Welt, wie ich Sie zu meiner, und so bleibts vice versa im alten. ▪️Goethe [Brief an Betty Jacobi am 31. 12. 1773, Frankfurt]

Heute vor 500 Jahren starb Jakob #Fugger der Reiche (1459–1525). Als Kaufmann, Bankier und Montanunternehmer prägte er die europäische #Geschichte. Zugleich wirkte er regional nachhaltig: Mit der #Fuggerei schuf er in #Augsburg eine bis heute bestehende Sozialsiedlung.

29th December is the feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered on that day in 1170 CE in Canterbury Cathedral. BnF NAF 16251; Images de la vie du Christ et des saints; 13th century; f.81r @gallicabnf.bsky.social

If you don’t want to listen to myself or other academics trying to warn that fascism is seeping into every facet of your life and people are being radicalized at light speed as the west is remade as a fascist regime listen to the news trying to scream it out as well.

Make a Bond movie academic No Time To Write

Day 24 and we’ve reached the final window of this year’s Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar! Today’s word is: 🌊 tide — the rising and falling of the sea twice each lunar day A Common Germanic inheritance concerned with time; cognate with German "Zeit", Dutch "tijd", Norwegian/Danish "tid". 1/3

Offre d’emploi – Stellenausschreibung: Wissenschaftliche:r Mitarbeiter:in in Mittelalterlicher Geschichte (6.-12. Jh.) § 28 Abs. 1 HmbHG rmblf.be/2025/12/24/o...

there's got to be a story to tell about academics under siege held together by eduroam, and the original republic of letters. google thinks no one has ever made this link, which is how you can tell google is not the republic of letters.

Day 23 and we've reached penultimate window of this year’s Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar! Today’s word is: 🌊 strand — 'the land bordering a sea, a shore or beach' Common to Germanic, strand being the default ‘beach’ word in Dutch, German, Danish and Norwegian.

Day 22 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is: 🌊 eddy — water that runs contrary to the direction of the tide or current, a small whirlpool "Those great eddees...that suck into them and overwhelm whatever comes within their reach" (T. Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth, 1684)