Well, in retrospect, August was a 🤬 flaming dumpster fire of a month. Spent most of it in various hospitals with my dad, fighter extraordinaire, now in his 6th year of obliterating Glioblastoma statistics. Things are looking up, but ... phew. Man plans, God laughs, academic sabbatical edition.

I just did this—followed the steps below to stopAcademia's AI-fication of my work. Thanks but no thanks. I've gone on enough real podcasts, done real interviews and written my own public facing essays that I really don't need an auto-generated version that likely distorts what I actually wrote.

Excited to share the article that @mmonier.bsky.social and I wrote on the Introduction to the Gospels by ibn al-Assal and its Arabic and Ethiopic traditions 🤩 brill.com/view/journal...

I tend to think my name's pretty basic — 'Verena' is very much an 80s girls' name from the German-speaking regions of Europe (although we're all named for a 4th-ct Coptic saint from Thebes in Upper Egypt— القديسة فيرينا). And then there's weeks where I'm constantly called ...Veronika, Vera, Verona.

Well, it's finally *really* out: habemus full citation — Krebs, V. (2025). ‘People and Things Have Always Been Mixed Up’: Notes on the So-Called Global Middle Ages. Journal of Medieval History, 51(4), 581–585. doi.org/10.1080/0304... 50 free downloads at: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RAEXD...

Well, it's finally *really* out: habemus full citation — Krebs, V. (2025). ‘People and Things Have Always Been Mixed Up’: Notes on the So-Called Global Middle Ages. Journal of Medieval History, 51(4), 581–585. doi.org/10.1080/0304... 50 free downloads at: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RAEXD...

In the year 1071 CE, an envoy from the East African island of Cengtan (層檀, ie, Zangistân/Zanzibar in Tanzania) named Cengjiani visited the court of the Song dynasty ruler Shenzong (r. 1067–85): www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-i...

Oh look! More evidence that people and things have been mixing up between medieval Europe' and 'Africa" all along ... ...which *only now* becomes visible as the field's epistemological and methodological frameworks continue to change (for the better, if you ask me)!

Oh look! More evidence that people and things have been mixing up between medieval Europe' and 'Africa" all along ... ...which *only now* becomes visible as the field's epistemological and methodological frameworks continue to change (for the better, if you ask me)!

Really exciting new archaeology report showing that two people who died in 7th century Kent had West African grandfathers. It’s suggested they’d travelled here as traders and settled thanks to the Byzantine Empire’s trade network that linked North Africa to Britain

A new #OpenAccess resource for teaching world/global history is almost ready. The module "The Black Death: The Medieval Plague Pandemic through the Eyes of Ibn Battuta," is in final editing & should be "live" by the beginning of September. A preview here: www.arc-humanities.org/blog/2025/07...

It's August, which means the semester break is finally upon us in Bochum (sorry, American colleagues!). Starting my 14-month post-appointment sabbatical (🤯!) as befits my rural roots: with long rambling walks through the hilly Hessian countryside, my tried and tested method for starting a new book.

…and this one’s out too: «So, Who Killed the Elephant?» Tracing African-European Entanglements in the ‘Global Middle Ages’! An essay adaptation of my 2023 @imc-leeds.bsky.social keynote — two case studies, four thoughts on how we might move forward in telling more global medieval (hi)stories.

…and this one’s out too: «So, Who Killed the Elephant?» Tracing African-European Entanglements in the ‘Global Middle Ages’! An essay adaptation of my 2023 @imc-leeds.bsky.social keynote — two case studies, four thoughts on how we might move forward in telling more global medieval (hi)stories.

...and it's out! "‘People and Things Have Always Been Mixed Up’: Notes on the So-Called Global Middle Ages", my very short essay for the Journal of Medieval History's 50th-anniversary special issue, is now published; limited free access at the link below! www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RAEXD...

...and it's out! "‘People and Things Have Always Been Mixed Up’: Notes on the So-Called Global Middle Ages", my very short essay for the Journal of Medieval History's 50th-anniversary special issue, is now published; limited free access at the link below! www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RAEXD...

Third set of proofs for a piece I really, really, really struggled to write, but now am actually very happy with (even if my affiliation, mysteriously, now language-switches between German and English). Part of the Journal of Medieval History's 50th anniversary issue, to be published sooooon.

Hard copies of my book arrived a few days ago, and I've finally found the time to write a bit about it and why you should read it (or get your library to buy it). indomedieval.medium.com/bujangga-man...

I did, in fact, 'find' a body while running in the woods in rural Germany. Did CPR that, very obviously, would do little to help until the ambulance finally arrived (took a while, because... woods). Turns out: CPR is really hard, and it's worthwhile to brush up on your First Aid knowledge, kids.

Great news for #GlobalMiddleAges out of Bochum: news.rub.de/leute/2025-0... #MedievalSky #AfricanHistory 🗃️ Congratulations @krebsverena.bsky.social! 🍾🍾🍾

My timeline is full of Medievalists on their merry way to Leeds. Meanwhile, I'm sat in my Bochum apartment, down with a nasty head-cold, wallowing a serious case of FOMO — this is the first year in a decade I won't be at the IMC... until I remembered that I *am* on the program. Virtually. 😬🫠

A thing has happened — after 8 years as a contingent, non-TT "junior" professor, I'm now a regular professor at @ruhr-uni-bochum.de. It feels surreal. Thank you to everyone who believed in (the value of) my research, near & far — and helped make create this reality. 🤯🤗 news.rub.de/leute/2025-0...

1. that “Byzantium” and “Byzantine Empire” are both anachronistic terms to avoid the fact that the Roman empire kept going until 1453. 2. that they weren't the first terms people came up with to do this. 3. that this terminology actually creates *more* confusion, not less. A thread!

The ruined stone towns of medieval Somaliland and the empire of Adal (ca. 1415–1577) www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined...

If I hadn't gone to that conference I nearly skipped, & if I hadn't gotten that question that changed *everything* about how I saw my sources... my research (and life) would be VERY different. Sometimes your (academic) future indeed hinges on someone asking the right question at the right time.

An amazing day learning about Korean printing - some of the worlds oldest moveable type, centuries before Gutenberg

Meine Woche bei @realscientists.de geht zu Ende — heute in Deadline-Land, ab morgen auf Konferenzreise. Zum Abschluss ein Recap 🧵: Wie 15 Jahre Fragen, Forschen & Umwege von einer Masterarbeit zur eigenen Professur führten — und ein Teil der Antworten schließlich in SPIEGEL Geschichte landete.❓👩‍🏫📰

Ein sehr schönes Beispiel, warum Durchbrüche in der Forschung sich nicht planen bzw. auf 3 oder 5 Jahre begrenzen lassen - und warum es nicht so eine gute Idee ist, wenn wir Leute nach ihrer "Qualifizierung" gehen lassen, bevor sie die Antworten finden, die die Forschung weiterbringen. #IchBinHanna

So, Seminar gehalten, Vorlesung geschrieben — los geht’s mit der Antwort auf die Frage, die ich auch nach 600 Seiten Dissertation immer noch nicht beantworten konnte: 🧵 Warum, warum, warum schickten die äthiopischen Könige zwischen 1400 und 1530 ein gutes Dutzend Gesandtschaften nach Europa???❓❓❓

Dog content for anyone who needs it today. 🐾🖤

Und nochmal für all die, die mir in den letzten Tagen von @realscientists.de gefolgt sind & sich für ein 'globaleres' Mittelalter interessieren: der von Daniel König herausgegebene Band "Geschichte der Welt. 600-1350: Geteilte Welten" bietet eine in weiten Teilen hervorragende deutsche Einführung!

I wrote a thing about a very timely and in large parts truly excellent book.

Soooo, ein erster Marathon-Thread ist online, oder: meine akademische Origin Story, Teil 1.

Hallo🙋‍♀️! Ich (@krebsverena.bsky.social) übernehme ab heute den Account—freue mich, euch in den nächsten Tagen mit auf eine Reise zu nehmen: Vom Königreich der Salomoniden in Äthiopien ins spätmittelalterliche Rom, Venedig & Valencia. Und von meiner Dissertation zur Professur! #Historian in the house!

Wen es interessiert — ich poste diese Woche vor allem als Gastkuratorin auf @realscientists.de über meine Forschung, akademischen Alltag und Werdegang, und alles, was mir sonst noch so in den Sinn kommen mag!

...und nochmal mit neuem Geschenk-Link, da die letzten zwei Schon 'aufgebraucht' sind! 🤗 www.spiegel.de/geschichte/a...

Mamaaaaaaaa, meine Forschung hat es in den SPIEGEL Geschichte geschafft!* 💃🥳 (bzw. man hat mich sogar eingeladen, einen —langen— Artikel für die neue Ausgabe zum Mittelalter beizusteuern) *Für Bildungsaufsteiger besonders krasse Sache. www.spiegel.de/geschichte/a...

"Hello there, newest successor!" 🦁 /St Peter Ethiopia, 15th c. #peter #apostle #pope #leo #leoxiv #africanart

"Law, Justice, and Society in the Medieval World" has been officially published! The code LJS25-FI is good for 25% off + free shipping on the paperback ($29.95) or eBook ($28.99) if purchased through Fordham Press's website: www.fordhampress.com/978153151013... QR code below. #medievalsky

"Stop procrastinating" in cuneiform: "Why don't you write your tablet and do your homework? If you don't, they will say: "Is *this* the sister of Sheru'a-eṭirat, eldest daughter of the Succession Palace of Ashur-etel-ilani-mukinni, the great king, mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria?"

The participation of women in pre-colonial African politics was determined by historical processes unique to a given society In medieval Ethiopia, Queen Eleni (d. 1524) became the de facto ruler of the empire and the first woman to hold such a high office www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles...

Described by the historian Verena Krebs as “the single most outstanding female political figure of medieval Solomonic Ethiopia,” Eleni presided over a period of revolutionary change in Ethiopia's international standing. www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles...

Publication day 🤩 I am excited to share the good news with you – our volume "Manuscript Treasures from Afro-Eurasia. Scribes, Patrons, Collectors, and Readers" has been published! It is open access and you can download and share it from DeGruyter's website. www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

This is the sort of high caliber, robust reporting that the ongoing, tragic cycle of migrant domestic worker abuse in the Middle East needs. Abdi's must read NY Times probe into the trafficking, exploitation and deaths of Ugandan and Kenyan women in Saudi Arabia. Thank you Abdi! ____ cc: FIFA.

Surreal to think that it's exactly 4 years this week since the book was first published — what a wild ride it's been. Gratifying to see it reach so very many more readers than the 5-10 specialists the publisher expected 😂😬😂. Interested to learn more? ➡️ www.smithsonianmag.com/history/new-...

Today, I’d like to introduce you to a woman named La-tubashinni, who fought for her children in Babylon in October of 560 BCE.

"People and things have been mixed up for a very long time, rarely conforming to the boundaries imposed on them by modern anthropologists and historians." --Art historian Finbarr Flood as quoted by @krebsverena.bsky.social (Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, & Diplomacy w/Latin Europe, 3).

Brilliant friend wrote an undoubtedly brilliant book alert! Learn about the origins of customary law — that is, "this is how we've always done XYZ" — in medieval England!

Phone just reminded me: 13 years ago today, we were at one of the coolest monasteries I've had the honour to visit—in the middle of a dense forest, at the very eastern edge of the Tigrayan Highlands (at 9.000 feet ASL!), run by a young nun who'd studied engineering in India before taking orders.

There's a surprising amount of people who, after a DNA test that revealed unexpected "African" results, want me to explain or even investigate their "hitherto unknown family history". (It's mostly in the 2-3% range, so 🤷🏼‍♀️. Also, DNA test kits in Europe are really a niche thing compared to the US).