So it turns out... the US air travel system was incredibly, deeply dependent on federal funding to just run day-to-day all this time, to the benefit of private airline shareholders, when everyone thinks that state-run trains are leeching off the government. Weird!

Tech guys six months ago: haha yes we’re cutting all this WASTEFUL spending by eliminating medical research and USAID Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine

... and Leicester... Languages, History... It's so easy to destroy, so hard to create. So much talent. So many lives. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Attention Celticists! Scholars of early medieval Britain! Old Norse enthusiasts! Only three days remaining to submit an abstract for CCASNC 2026: Women and the Weird!

A woman is killed by a man every 3 days in the UK... 78% are murdered by a partner/ex Yet not once have I heard Reform talk about this Not once have I heard them back measures to protect women’s safety In fact, they voted against them...

Author and filmmaker Justine Bateman on generative AI

Published a short piece in 'The Conversation' about Kash Patel's use of the white-supremacist dog whistle 'see you in Valhalla'. For my uncensored feelings on the subject, please just see the image below. theconversation.com/see-you-in-v...

A final reminder that the deadline for abstract submissions is the end of next week #medievalsky Details 👇

Here’s my cover story in next month’s BBC History Magazine on ‘1066: Who was the rightful king?’ Out now @historyextra.bsky.social

It’s fascinating how often those who appeal to history are woefully ignorant of history! “Saxon forefathers” is a classic 19th century racial dogwhistle. Moreover, the “ancient liberties” thing is utter tosh.

Many thanks to everyone who has helped make this possible. Ryan is much missed, and I'm glad the Society is honouring his memory in a way befitting his own ethos of generosity and curiosity.

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

One last #KingAndConqueror grumble - the Godwins kept going on about Alfred in a way that presented themselves as his successor (presumably because of their association with Wessex) when really it was Edward the Confessor who was of Alfred's line

1/20 A thread about the appearance of the ‘Papal Banner’ in episode seven of #KingandConqueror. In an article that was published in 2021 in the @haskinssociety.bsky.social Journal, I expressed some scepticism about the veracity of William of Poitiers’ claim that the papacy sponsored the Norman...

I have successfully collaborated with scientists but that's key. We collaborated. They included historians from the beginning of the project. I wasn't hostile to their methods because they listened to and respected mine. The Nature article wasn't interdisciplinary - it excluded the other discipline.

The online version of my article for BBC History Magazine '1066: who was the rightful king?' is available to subscribers ‪@historyextra.bsky.social‬. www.historyextra.com/membership/1... (written before the broadcast of #KingAndConqueror)

Finally, collaboration. If you want to do a history-focused project to try new stuff (which is great as an idea!), then you have to design the project with a historian from day one. A historian would have said using a 90 year old book as your data source misses swaths scholarship. 5/

England had such lovely lava fields in the eleventh century #KingAndConqueror

There will be many casualties from UChicago ending ('pausing') PhD admissions in Humantities, but one which I am keenly aware of: this is close to a death sentence for teaching cuneiform in the United States (esp. Sumerian, Hittite, Elamite, Eblaite, Luwian) and it will affect the whole world.

After the release of #KingAndConqueror, it seems an opportune moment to remind you that the deadline for the submission of abstracts for 'The Past, Present, and Future after Conquest: 1066, 1169' is the end of next month. #medievalsky #Normans @leverhulme.ac.uk

Other issues have been pointed out with #KingAndConqueror but my pet peeve right now – how did a sword end up under a cart wheel? Why would someone leave behind such an expensive item?

CFP REMINDER! Just a reminder that there is one week left until our deadline for Volume 4 of Apardjón - 1 September 2025. We are especially interested in interdisciplinary approaches within the field of Viking and medieval Scandinavia. Full details are in our CFP. #MedievalSky

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

July 24: Feast of Blathmac mac Flainn (†825), prior or acting abbot of Iona. He was guardian of the relics of Columba during the absence of Abbot Diarmait, and was murdered by Vikings. 📸August Schwerdfeger #medievalsky

Very much looking forward to this next year!

A crucial vacancy for an AV digitisation technician to work with the multilingual (#Gaelic, #Scots and English) collections of the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

❗ Today is the last day to apply for the position of Assistant Professor/Lecturer in Irish Cultural Heritage and Early Irish in the School of Celtic Studies! 🔗 Gach eolas | All information: buff.ly/NEigptt

Ny utstilling åpner snart på Historisk museum i Oslo sentrum. Og ormehodet fra Osebergskipet MÅ du få med deg. Flere godbiter for alle vikingtidsinteresserte før det nye Vikingtidsmuseet åpner (om et par år). www.historiskmuseum.no/utstillinger...

If you come to Oslo this summer with your family, check out this new exhibition that will open soon in the Historical Museum. A very special treat is the serpent head from the Oseberg ship, on display for the very first time. www.historiskmuseum.no/english/exhi...

Just a reminder to all interested in Viking and Medieval Scandinavia that Apardjón is currently seeking submissions for our fourth volume following the success of our third! All details in our CFP below. #MedievalSky #AcademicSky

Call for Papers! Very happy to be speaking at this event and excited to learn more about research in this area www.uis.no/nb/arkeologi... #medievalsky #academia

When I grow up I wanna be Margot Finn. Seriously, how utterly clear-eyed, no-nonsense, to the point is this? We can do all the contortions to appease the employers and grovel for funding, but if we lose this, we lose universities in all but name.

Since AI fundamentally can’t produce a 1st-class Humanities essay, how could it mark one? It can’t be creative, it doesn’t take a line, its references are fake and it can’t research anything not digitised. It makes something that LOOKS like an essay. That’s what we try to coax students out of doing.

My wee article on an aspect of medieval Irish politics and law arrived in the post! 'Fosterage in the Annals of the Four Masters: The Case of Diarmait mac Máel na mBó and Tairdelbach Ua Briain' in the latest issue of Peritia www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1...

New volume of Pertita Vol. 35 (2024) www.brepolsonline.net/toc/perit/20... @brepols.bsky.social @medivalist.bsky.social @elvabjohnston.bsky.social

Funny to be quoted in a CNN article reporting research about a place not that far from where I grew up - Harold Godwinson and his estate in Sussex edition.cnn.com/2025/02/04/s...

Thanks @medivalist.bsky.social and @samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social. It was a very exciting talk, learned a lot. It would be great if you could turn your results into an article.

I’m going to be speaking in Stockholm on Monday! Come along for falcons, vikings and the general political shenanigans in the late ninth-century caliphate. People not based in Sweden can email the Centrum för medeltidsstudier for the zoom link. #medieval #vikings #falcons

Three **salaried** PhD positions available in History at the University of Oslo, projects should relate to one of these themes: Democracy / Knowledge / Rights / Migration. Anyone interested in working on something medieval with me is welcome to email me www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

📢Job alert! Postdoc (History) on Norse links with North America at the Arctic Centre of @unigroningen.bsky.social - part of the CONTACT ERC project (1.0 FTE, 12 months with expected 1.5 year extension, deadline 31 December) www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor...

My copy has got lost in the post but my article 'The Politics of Poetic Preservation: Norse and Norman French in Ireland, Scotland and the Isles' was published last month in the volume Poésie et politique dans les mondes nordiques et normands médiévaux (IXe-XIIIe siècle)

Looking for an excuse to come to Oslo in March? CfP for student conference on 'Lost in Translation' - deadline mid December. Please share!

Featuring yours truly attempting to be nuanced in soundbite form... www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

There’s a lot of you all of a sudden!

"Our Arabic program is half a millennium old but couldn't withstand the corporatization of the contemporary university because it isn't nuclear engineering"

First published edition and translation Jóns saga leiksveins (The Saga of Jón the Player) available open access to download as part of this very cool book www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780935... We decided not to translate it as 'Jón the Playboy'...

No wonder Elon Musk is tweeting about how great the Iliad is, he must be able to relate to a text about some sketchy dudes who fuck up the world all because of one rich guy's wife leaving him

'Embark on a Scholarly *Odyssey*' eh - in that it will take a lot longer than you think and (assuming you make it) you'll be barely recognisable at the end?

'Willibrord between Ireland, Britain and Merovingian Francia (690-739). Beyond Mission' can now be pre-ordered on LUP's website, where you can also take a look at the table of contents and the summary. Many thanks to LUP for the great cooperation. www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....