Free book download of collected papers on Knowledge Commons ‘No Horns on their Helmets? essays on the Insular Viking Age’ #medievalsky #history #vikingsky #archaeology works.hcommons.org/records/xc6k...

Only two months to go until this vsnr.org/2025/09/01/w... See you there?

Congratulations to @tcfairfax.bsky.social on his successful viva, passed with minor corrections today.

I've deleted my academia.edu. The new ToCs were totally unacceptable.

Also migrating to hcommons. I followed terms and conditions options to delete and prevent use of private data from academia.edu & received email saying to effect this I must delete my account. They profit from our research with no payment to provider and strip us of privacy & rights, now it is toxic

Exciting looking new release, pulling together the work of decades, although the framing of the "forgotten medieval kingdom" is perhaps a bit odd... #medievalsky

Exciting international #runic event in Kirkwall, Monday 20 October 2025. Free, open to all, and with refreshments! #runes #runology #Orkney

You'll soon be able to read all about fostering arrangements in the saga and their significance in @tcfairfax.bsky.social's forthcoming PhD thesis. 5/5

Þorfinnr (later the Mighty), youngest son of Earl Sigurðr of Orkney, was sent off aged five for fostering by his mother's father, king of the Scots, while Sigurðr went off to Ireland, where he died at the battle of Clontarf, carrying his own raven banner (Saga of the Earls of Orkney ch. 12). 🧵 1/5

In the news @thinkuhi.bsky.social MLitt Viking Studies student, Stephen Barnaby, discusses his research on the Norse in Caithness #viking #History #intangibleheritage tinyurl.com/4mbmx9ct

Should you happen to be in Kirkwall on Saturday the 25th of October, do come and say hello in the Orcadian Bookshop!

This was fun! We're so pleased with how they turned out!

Really pleased to see these gorgeous fruits of the @ragnasislands.bsky.social project along with core team members @shroomgirl.bsky.social and @matthew-blake.bsky.social

The Ragna's Islands Project has come to an end... but it lives on!... in these beautiful booklets (one for Fair Isle, one for North Ronaldsay, & one for Papay)... which judithjesch.bsky.social unboxed today! #Orkney #PlaceNames #OrkneyingaSaga

The best slow TV ever. www.nrk.no/kultur/flytt...

I'm excited to announce that I'll be sharing some findings of my PhD research at an online talk for UHI's Institute for Northern Studies on November 27, titled 'Families, Networks and Informants: The Making of Orkneyinga saga'. Click the link below to register!

A recent talk I gave to the Scottish Society for Northern Studies on Earl Harald of Orkney and "12th-century Scoto-Orcadian relations" has been put on YouTube. Includes a new theory about the origins of Harald's branch of the Scottish royal dynasty: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIDR...

My article 'Beyond Clontarf: links between Dublin and the earldom of Orkney' is out in the latest Medieval Dublin volume @fmdmedievaldublin.bsky.social covering political examples up to the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland with a wee bit of trade and archaeology at the end

"Management say Lancaster University’s finances are sound overall. So why is there pressure for compulsory redundancy decisions so quickly?" Read more here: lancasterguardian.co.uk/education/ne... @ucu.org.uk @lancasteruni.bsky.social

Forty years ago to the day on Monday, I walked into this building through that door as a new lecturer in #Viking Studies. Today I handed back my keys. Goodbye @uonenglish.bsky.social and @uniofnottingham.bsky.social - thanks for everything. And good luck.

There should have been some 'Common Good' initiative by government to buy historic kirk buildings and save them for community use/ public good The sell off of the most precious buildings because they don't fit modern worship priorities isn't quite the damage of a 2nd Reformation but it's still bad

Insanity. Culross is one of the best churches in Scotland. If it goes into private hands, it would be disastrous. The history of the country should outweigh any short-term cash injection for the Church of Scotland, who don't seem interested in preserving heritage. #medievalsky [1/2]

Bjarni Kolbeinsson, son of Kolbeinn Heap of Wyre, is called a 'skald' (poet) in ch. of 84 the Saga of the Earls of Orkney #OrkneyingaSaga. It doesn't quote any of his poetry, but his rollicking Jómsvíkingadrápa survives elsewhere. 🧵1/4

Hi everyone! @imc-leeds.bsky.social 2025 was a wonderful experience for me -- so I'd love to do it again! Here is a Call for Papers from Mary O'Connor and me, entitled Envisioning The Times: Writing the Past and Shaping the Future in Thirteenth-Century Norway. #medievalsky #imc2026 #oldnorse

This year, #IMC2025 was also the first anniversary of Bodies and Being! Francesca writes about her experience and our amazing matching tees. #MedievalSky #MedievalHistory #Medieval #Skystorians #AcademicSky #HistorySky #EarlyModernHistory #EarlyModern #MaterialCulture #Bodies #WhatsHistory

Very delighted to say that I graduated with my PhD in English on Monday.

As we near the end of @ragnasislands.bsky.social, I look back with pride on the last 18 months. Thanks in large part to the core team, @shroomgirl.bsky.social and @matthew-blake.bsky.social, we achieved what we planned and aspects of the project will live on: blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/ragnasisland...

Had a brilliant time leading ‘Viking Skills’ workshops for the Derbyshire Scout’s Experimental Archeology weekend in Gradbach. Adapted our usual Vikings for Schools activities for the workshop with the Scouts carving clay runic inscriptions and building their own ship burial!

An unexpected and spectacular find from Skaill farm, Rousay - a carved sandstone head. #archaeology #excavation #Orkney #ThinkUHI #UHIResearch

In usual IMC fashion, now that #IMC25 has concluded we are searching for papers exploring New Perspectives on the Viking Diaspora. Please get in touch if you are interested and share widely! #IMC26 @imc-leeds.bsky.social

Looking forward to my first #IMC25 @imc-leeds.bsky.social next week. Excited to be speaking on (tues) and chairing (wed) two brilliant panels!

Happy to share that my article on the codicology of the Exeter Book has been published Open Access in the Journal of the English Association! academic.oup.com/english/adva...

Excited to announce that my first book chapter 'Frá Birni er nær allt stórmenni komit á Íslandi: A Social Network Analysis of Bjǫrn buna’s Descendants in Landnámabók (The Book of Settlements)' has been published in Social Network Analysis and Medieval History! Let me know if you would like a copy!

More Birsay puffins - this time from my camera. Incredibly lucky to get so close to them!

Amazing views over the Stronsay Firth from the conference room at UHI Orkney. Incredibly apt location for the Mapping Identities: Geography and Cosmology workshop. Many thanks to organisers Oisín and Andrew, other speakers, and hosts @insuhi.bsky.social for a brilliant day!

Puffin, Brough of Birsay

And finally - Day 23, Wed 28th May, me and my brilliant van in Sangerði. Somehow survived 3 weeks and 4,108km together.

Day 21, Monday 26th May, Þingvellir

Day 20, Sun 25th May, Borgarnes

Day 18, Friday 23rd May, view over Þórsnes from Helgafell

Day 17, Thurs 22nd May, Laxá

Day 16, Wed 21st May, Látrabjarg Bjargtangar - (one of) the most western point(s) of Europe (depending on your metric)

oooh...not long now birlinn.co.uk/product/the-...

Day 13, Sunday 18th May, Eyjafjörður and Hrísey from Dalvík

Day 9, Wed 14th May, Baby Reindeer (10 months)

Day 8, Tues 13th May, Lagarfljót í Fljótsdalur from Hrafnkelsstaðir

Pleased to see that Dr Harriet Clark's thesis is now available to read on Nottingham e-prints: eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/78565/

Day 5, Sat 10th May, Jökulsárlón (ft. a harbour seal)

Super excited that the Proceedings of the Viking Congress for Wales and NW England has just gone to press (Liverpool University Press). David Griffiths, Nancy Edwards, Fiona Edmonds and myself as co-editors. Our cover image is to be of the lovely Viking Age cross of Maen Achwyfan #medieval

New Special Volume of the journal Viking available open access - Telling Different Stories. Combining perspectives on the Viking Age: journals.uio.no/vikingspecia...