This is wonderful.

This is also why teaching history even at school needs to deal with questions of source bias. I show my first years the classic image of Jeanne de Montbaston illuminating manuscripts in the family Paris workshop in the 14c and point out that we only know about her work because her husband died...

I'm looking forward to presenting some new work at the Oxford TORCH Enviro Humanities Research Hub on 4 December and discussing it with Danny Dorling. My talk will feature state planners, population anxieties, and photographs of smiling men in wheat fields

Very much this. The IHR really is open to everyone and this includes our common room and our library as well as our wonderful seminars. All free, all welcome!

@uclearlymodxcha.bsky.social @uclhistory.bsky.social @ucl-ias.bsky.social

New open access British Academy Monograph ‘On the Edges of Christendom’ explores the life and thought of Bishop Maurice of Burgos, and through him, what it meant to live on the border between the Latin West and Islamic al-Andalus in the thirteenth century. 👇 https://bit.ly/4gOHerD

A fascinating piece of detective work with Senate House Library to confirm the owners of a looted manuscript that found its way into the library collection.

if you're interested, you can read it (for free!) in this new open access book, ed. Christoph Haack, Annette Grabowsky and Steffen Patzold www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/book/afte...

Before they left our rather brilliant trainees, Lara Short and Sarah Admans, created a blog highlighting some of the titles you can find in our collections on South Asian and South Asian diaspora history blog.history.ac.uk/2025/09/sout... Further titles can be searched for via the catalogue.

An actual quote from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’ Look forward to Wes S saying 'too often people go to hospital to have operations' or Heidi Alexander saying 'too often people go to the station to catch a train'

“Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’." Perish the thought... www.lbc.co.uk/article/brit...

The @ihr.bsky.social Late Medieval Seminar series for autumn 2025 is now published. Themes from ladies in waiting to the custom house, and a roundtable on editing sources. All seminars are hybrid (or fully online), also, I'm now one of the convenors! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Very much enjoying the culture of trust and respect implicit in the installation of room usage monitoring devices on academics' office doors today. Imagine my shock on discovering that managers' doors remain unsullied…

👨‍🏫 🧭 We’ll be kicking off the new academic year with the return of the Denys Hay lecture to @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social, as we welcome @philippebuc.bsky.social from @unileiden.bsky.social to deliver a talk on his recent comparative historical research looking at both medieval Europe and Japan.

I think about this poem by Ian Duhig — about Jo Cox, the Labour MP assassinated by a man shouting ‘Britain first’ — every day at the moment. No other contemporary poet has looked so clearly at the political reality of the far right as a minority who must always be appeased

‘Our democracy is too precious to be a plaything for foreign tech barons. Elon Musk doesn’t care about the British people or our rights. He only cares about himself and his ego.’ Said a politician on the platform owned by said tech baron.

Loath though he is to alienate floating racists, perhaps Starmer could rouse himself to condemn a violent fascist rally teeming with people who want him overthrown and/or killed

Research should always be funded broadly. That is the only way any “quality” research is produced. Breakthroughs stand on the shoulders, not only of giants, but also modest insights, disappointments and dead ends. Research is a community effort that needs all of us, and more of us.

Bit more coverage of our report today on the loss of provision of arts, humanities and social science courses www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/uk...

Hmmm, my argument against this was going to be something different, but now I've read it, my question is: what's the evidence research IS NOT specialised in institutions?! 50 years of the joint funding model means it looks pretty specialised to me 🤷

We want robust, enormous research that is SUCH good research, you already know how important and right and insightful it is before you even start it. We want research so predeterminedly world-changing that there is hardly any point actually doing the research at all.

Well, this nuanced framing of a big structural issue in HE research is going down well this morning.

Exciting to hear that QMUL will then again be a very humanities university, as our humanities departments are the ones scoring high in REF, well above our science departments... [Sarcastic. This kind of language is coverage for cuts and misunderstands the cumulative role of small-scale research.]

'Of the undergraduate courses at low-tariff universities, 12 per cent have been struck off. This compared with 6 per cent at medium-tariff providers and 5 per cent at high-tariff institutions.' Worth reading in the context of the evidence and analysis in the BA's Cold Spots report. 2/3

"hobbyist research"

Want to know more about publishing your work and applying for research grants? The @ehswomcom.bsky.social is organising an online training session on 10th Oct. Save the date! ⬇️

The inaugural meeting of the new African History Seminar at London's Institute of Historical Research will take place on October 14 from 5:30-7:30 PM. Zeinab Badawi will talk about her fantastic book, An African History of Africa. You can register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... Join us!

📢 Today the Academy launches a major new report urging action to tackle a growing crisis in our universities. Cuts to courses mean more regions than ever are ‘cold spots’ for access to many SHAPE subjects - with even more at risk. 🧵 📍Read the full report: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/policy-and-r...

And a super essay on it:

Chapeau! Something for @enghistrev.bsky.social to review!

These two volumes would be interesting to read alongside one another, if I may.

📢 "Temporalities and Anachronisms of Medieval Art" Appel à communications pour trois sessions au prochain congrès de Leeds. De quoi réfléchir aux temps de l'art médiéval, à sa durée, aux enjeux de sa circulation dans le temps. Deadline: 25/09! #cfp #imc2026 #Medievalsky @imc-leeds.bsky.social

I guess the question is, if you were going to design a joined-up approach to skills, training and higher education in the middle of the biggest HE crisis for however long, would you do this?

Happy to share the launch of the new, hybrid African History Seminar @ihr.bsky.social . Check out our fall program here: history.ac.uk/news-events/... If you're in London and want to present new research on Africa, get in touch!

'Le bestiaire sauvage du #vivant. Anatomie d'un moment éditorial (note critique)' par Franck Poupeau (@cnrsshs.bsky.social) Une note critique à propos du succès de la collection 'Mondes sauvages' chez Actes Sud À lire dans le dernier numéro des #Annales 👇 dx.doi.org/10.1017/ahss...

Mance is on a roll with the exclusives this afternoon.

SHOCK FT EXCLUSIVE!

How burdensome were financial penalties on 13th-C villages & tithing groups? How effective was the frankpledge system? These are questions I’ve discussed before briefly, but I’m finally getting back to now. In time it’ll be a book on social control in 13th-C England. academic.oup.com/histres/arti...

This is excellent. My teenagers sarcastically vibed to this at dinner last night, but the point was their compulsive vibing (which is not continuous), rather than their sarcasm (which is).

🏛️Join my academic team at UCL. Still time to apply for: * Lecturer Humanities Data Science * ✅Full time ✅Open ended ✅In lovely London 💂‍♀️ ✅Closes 15 Sept. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOI089/l...

Surprising sources of medieval environmental archives no. 1.

Our June/August issue is out, in paper and here: academic.oup.com/ehr/issue

From the Carolingians to the Northern Ireland Peace Process, from Yorkshire to the Middle East and beyond, from civil war to cricket to the agency of cattle, EHR is open to the full range of historical inquiry. academic.oup.com/ehr/issue

Peter J. Marshall (1933-2025) and the Royal Historical Society: an appreciation bit.ly/4mSADyn We are very grateful to @petermandler.bsky.social for his reflections on Peter Marshall, former President of the Society (1996-2000), which are published today on the RHS blog #Skystorians

Join us on Thursday 9th October for our Late on the theme of Living with the Planet. You’ll be able to hear from great speakers including @edithmayhall.bsky.social @wanderinggaia.bsky.social @jwwsabapathy.bsky.social @guyshrubsole.bsky.social www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/livin...

pika!

Presumably, there's no link between this ESRC policy and the 'Centre for British progress: A Non-Partisan Think Tank Accelerating and Shaping an Era of British Growth and Progress. Evolved from UK Day One.' britishprogress.substack.com/about

WOW. No, no, no, not THAT sustainability—/THIS/ sustainability.