My contributor's copy has arrived! Publishers' details at: boydellandbrewer.com/book/the-thi...

For anyone interested in vikings: a symposium on the impact of the viking Great Army, to be held at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge on 24 April 2026.

I love these. Such a great teaching idea.

One thing with librarians is that they’re acutely aware of *who uses libraries* - many of us might go though our whole adult lives without setting foot in a library, but for people who are a little lost and need somewhere to be, they’re a lifeline.

Some encouraging noises here for HE in Wales, but also a lot of meaningless waffle about collaboration and the primacy of the economy. This isn't about minor tweaks. It's a matter of HE's survival or extinction in Wales.

Writing doesn't just help you process your thoughts. Neuroscientists have found it physically changes your brain in ways that build resilience and help you handle everyday stress and challenges. buff.ly/8PdXnTT

Have happily been deleting irrelevant emails but what do you know, the day after an email pops into your inbox making several relevant 😬🤨

Some high school students attended my “Living standards before the Black Death” lecture at @viuniversity.bsky.social yesterday. The lecture included a bit about coins, so I had an opportunity to show off some medieval silver pennies, including this one from King John’s reign (1199–1216).

Medieval bling! Fully recommend 😍

If you are interested in hearing about the results of our ERC project on Viking-Age silver, I will be giving at talk at @heasvienna.bsky.social on Monday 12.30 CET - details in link www.heas.at/events/heas-...

Justice for the victims. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I serendipitously stumble upon a new article on Carolingian border controls, by Marco Franzoni. www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

This is so super interesting, I cannot wait to read this 😍

Medievalists will be forever young...

This is an excellent🧵—and a sign of how threadbare & impoverished UK non-stem discourse is that,again and again, such cases need to be mounted in these terms in an affluent & supposedly mature polity.

Since it’s University Press Week #UPweek, a shout out to my amazing colleagues at University of London Press @uolpress.bsky.social. They are flying the flag for open humanities publishing.

OK have just arrived home in Sweden (via quick visit in Netherlands) and Graham Potter turns up in TV news. He's the new Sweden manager (⚽️) and his Swedish is actually pretty good. Top marks!

What's that? You want another Tang Dynasty camel? Here you are, then.

In case you, like me, missed @magistraetmater.bsky.social's recent post on the unmemorable queen. magistraetmater.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/t...

My OH seems to be having much more fun with his creations than I am with mine at the moment 😍

This morning I discover that there is a new university phrase for navel gazing: 'deep, discipline-centric contributions'. I think it complements well, and is not at all contradictory to, other recent university phrases, such as 'avoid silos' and 'global' in referring to disciplines...

Delighted to add this article to my publications available to download: Who ruled Frisia in the mid-ninth century? works.hcommons.org/records/n3a9...

This is very good on his murder itself.

This week we also announced plans for a new Applied History Fellowship for postdoc historians, with @ihr.bsky.social and publisher DC Thomson bit.ly/4ofWArN Fellowships will develop historical skills for use in workplaces beyond higher education. Launch event: 2.30pm, 19 Nov, online #Skystorians

We're delighted to be returning to the Institute of Historical Research's History Day again this year! Tuesday 4th November from 11:00 to 16:00. Rumour has it our stall has sweets... #HistDay25 www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... @ihr.bsky.social

New on History for Atheists: my long awaited and rather long critical review of Alice Roberts' new book *Domination*: historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...

In years gone past those pitching an envoy or spy to me were paid in gold coins. Alas, the local mint is out of gold, so this year we'll pay in dinosaur coins instead. 🤣

My final-year students are gearing up for the 'pitch a spy' event next week. It promises to be epic 😃 Code names, little birds, spy masters, and scouts all feature.

One thing I "love" about AI suggestions is that you can discover that most treaties in 12th-century Europe were witnessed by 21st-century footballers. Never knew how well my interests in treaties and football mix...😬

Enjoyed discussing with students this morning the perils of online historical databases, with this case as a key example: historymatters.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/blog-archive...

Little Venice, London, this morning 😍

Reposting for the afternoon crowd...

A man digging for worms in southeastern Sweden discovered a medieval hoard containing pearls, pendants, silver rings, and an estimated 20,000 coins. Archaeologists determined that most of the silver coins date to the 12th century.

Need cheering up on a gloomy October afternoon? The new issue of Early Medieval Europe is out! Articles on justice in Bavaria, tolls in Italy, women in 10th-c. Rome, Carolingian kingship, and child slavery: mostly available Open Access 😎https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14680254/2025/33/4

Excellent to have this one in physical form finally. So many excellent contributions. THE place for those interested in treaties in MA and EM periods. (May also have a chapter by me...😇)

Yesterday I was in Brussels for the Global Gateway Forum - a gathering of world leaders to talk about how to connect a fractured world. What I saw instead was something extraordinary - a moment when peace might have taken shape before our eyes. 🧵👇

Woohoo! It's 20:10 on Thursday of week 2 and I finally have a working computer in my office. 🎉🎊

Fantastic celebration of @gawainsmum.bsky.social festschrift. Lovely to see so many colleagues and students current and past, which speaks to Helen's contribution as a scholar, colleague, and friend. @webstermedieval.bsky.social

Peer review systems with multi-factor authorization should be banned. Literally nothing more frustrating....(well, not counting the lack of working PC in my office...) 😡

Tenure-track assistant professor "Early medieval history" (Univ. of Copenhagen) www.hsozkult.de/job/id/job-1...

This against one of History's most successful admissions cycles and a clearly thriving degree scheme (healthier than some that have been taken out of scope). This isn't 'cannot rule out' but 'chooses not to rule out' compulsory redundancies.

Join us on 20 November for the Annual Digital Lecture, a partnership between The National Archives, UK and the School of Advanced Study. The wonderful @nannathylstrup.bsky.social will be speaking about ‘When saving becomes loss: archival memory in the digital age’. Free to register!

Historian of peacemaking and diplomacy here, 👋. Rephrasing garbled quotes from Cicero, Vegetius, Augustine and Isidore do not make them more true or grounded in historical fact...

First commute to Cardiff in two years 😳 Made more interesting having returned from Germany last night 🤣 😱 Looking forward to get back into the classroom 😀

📣 The Earlier Middle Ages seminar @ihr.bsky.social is now on Bluesky! Here's our autumn term schedule. First up is @rorynaismith.bsky.social on 8 October, giving the annual David Wilson Lecture (with @uclarchaeology.bsky.social). All welcome! Please sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

The quickest way to finish an article is to start it. It also helps if you can stay away from social media, tv and the internet. And your cell phone. And other people. You should also fight urges to clean and organise spaces, and to cook big meals. In other words, it’s difficult to finish articles.

I really do hope govt is spending as much time thinking about getting the economy going and what will make a difference for communities feeling left behind as they are thinking about stopping migration. Those things are not the same, in case they had not realised...

Call for applications! 📣 The German Historical Institute London is seeking a Research Associate with a particular research interest in medieval history (with a focus on late medieval English history) for a part-time project position to start on 1 February 2026. 🤝 1/3

Einde middag nog even een rondje door Senlis, toch een beetje het Zutphen van de zuidelijke Oise😉. Als stad van Romeinse oorsprong, maar in het stedelijk museum is voldoende bewijs van leven in de bronstijd en de keltische periode🧵.

This deserves *way* more attention than it’s getting Reform’s former Wales leader admits he received corrupt payments in exchange for making statements in the European Parliament to promote Russia’s interests in #Ukraine.