Had a great time speaking at the Essex Record Office today - and getting the VCH #Essex gang together! I also had the incredible privilege to hold bladed weapons found near the site of the Battle of Maldon (991), which may well have been carried by an English warrior that day. @vch-home.bsky.social

A full house this morning at the Essex Record Office were captivated by @cathamclarke.bsky.social‘s talk about the Battle of Maldon, which features in her wonderful book #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems.

Something fun for the first week in January? Come along to #Chelmsford to hear me speak about #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems, the Battle of Maldon - and a bit about the amazing VCH #Essex, too. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ero-presen...

Great end to the year for our Oswald project with an essay in the 75th anniversary edition of @historytoday.com. #MedievalSky @kingsartshums.bsky.social

Great end to the year for our Oswald project with an essay in the 75th anniversary edition of @historytoday.com. #MedievalSky @kingsartshums.bsky.social

The English saint Oswald of Northumbria proved incredibly popular in the #medieval German-speaking world. How did he get there? 🔒 Johanna Dale and Sarah Bowden’s feature is now in the archive www.historytoday.com/archive/feat...

The 1116 🔥 at Peterborough started on the eve of Oswald's feast. According to Hugh Candidus, a sergeant in the bakehouse was struggling to light a fire so exclaimed "Come devil, blow the fire". Hugh blamed the abbot John of Seez for the disaster - earlier in the day he had cursed the monastery.

The 75th Anniversary issue of History Today is in stores from today. Featuring: #ColdWar Yugoslavia, Oswald of Northumbria, the wreck of the San José, British Raj, #AuroraBorealis, and more. Find out what else is inside and where to get it at www.historytoday.com/magazine

Call for papers for our Medieval Germany Workshop organised in cooperation with the German History Society (@germanhistsoc.bsky.social)! 📯 📅 29 May 2026 📍GHIL 1/5

Hear me speak about #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems - and the Battle of #Maldon - at the ERO in #Chelmsford, on Tues 6 January. Fascinating #history, #OldEnglish aloud, and showcasing the brilliant work of VCH #Essex. Rumours there'll also be some amazing archaeology in the room... tinyurl.com/mvke3nja

For the feast day of St Martin of Tours, the cover of the amazing Berthold Sacramentary from Weingarten, Germany (now Morgan Library MS M.710). Created 1215-17, its decoration reflects the rededication of the abbey church to St Oswald, St Martin and the Blessed Virgin Mary. #MedievalSky

Discover how the cult of saints shaped medieval faith and culture in a new open-access Proceedings of the British Academy volume: Liturgy, Literature and History: Oswald of Northumbria and the Cult of Saints in the Middle Ages. Read more ⬇️ https://bit.ly/3JoTuCH

📗New project publication📗 "Liturgy, Literature & History: Oswald of Northumbria and the Cult of Saints in the Middle Ages" is now available #OpenAccess from @britishacademy.bsky.social & @livunipress.bsky.social Free download here: liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.... #MedievalSky

Five new British Academy books out now 📚 All available 20% off at bit.ly/4oYoAQX. Three available OPEN ACCESS. @britishacademy.bsky.social

For St Cedd's day, a view of the C7th chapel at Bradwell on Sea, built on the ruined Roman Saxon shore fort of Othona. Sound on for the birdsong! 🎵🎶 #Essex #MedievalSky

This is the feast of Cedd, d. 664, brother of Chad (Ceadda) and protegé of Aidan at Lindisfarne. 🕯️ He led missions to Mercia and the East Saxons, served as a bishop and as abbot of Lastingham, where he died. Here's the entry for his day in the Old English Martyrology in CCCC 196.

Delighted that Oswald’s Head Reliquary 🤴 from Hildesheim Cathedral is part of @germanhistsoc.bsky.social’s “Glimpses of German History” series, which uses objects as a way to explore Germany’s vibrant and interesting history. 🇩🇪 #MedievalSky

📽️ Season 2 of 'Glimpses of German History', coming soon... www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFin...

Delighted that Oswald’s Head Reliquary 🤴 from Hildesheim Cathedral is part of @germanhistsoc.bsky.social’s “Glimpses of German History” series, which uses objects as a way to explore Germany’s vibrant and interesting history. 🇩🇪 #MedievalSky

Listen to Thomas Smith discussing the First Crusade with Miranda Melcher on this episode of the New Books Network podcast 👉 buff.ly/ix4Hqlz @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social #medievalsky

There will also be ski lifts ⛷️! So, if you are curious as to why a modern chair lift in the Dolomites is named after a C7th Northumbrian king, do book a ticket!

Arm relics and ravens. Who could wish for more

I'm giving an online lecture next Thursday evening, in aid of Peterborough Cathedral. I'll be talking about Oswald's cult at Peterborough and his continental connections. There will be arm relics and ravens! 💪 #MedievalSky To book tickets: peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/event/in-per...

Delighted with the cover of "Liturgy, Literature, and History: Oswald of Northumbria and the Cult of Saints in the Middle Ages", which is coming out with @britishacademy.bsky.social and @livunipress.bsky.social later this month! liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

A little snapshot into the research colleagues in #Essex are undertaking on interwar #Harwich and #Dovercourt - and the theme of the accompanying blogpost is the rise (and rise) of motor transport. #Skystorians

New draft material available from our friends at VCH Essex: all comment/feedback or corrections gratefully received and acknowledged! #LocalHistory #Skystorians

Join us online on 24 Sept to celebrate the 250th VCH Big Red Book! Founded in 1899, @vchlondon.bsky.social is writing the #history of every place in #England, with partners across the country. We'll also celebrate #LocalHistory, #communityhistory & #place based history more widely. All welcome!

Delighted that our animation will soon be available in German 🇩🇪 as part of a set of resources to support German teaching at KS3. Great to work with animator Charlie Minnion again, and with translator and children's author Kathrin Tordasi. Full English version: oswaldusrex.co.uk/animation/

Aug 31: Feast of Aidan (†651). Monk of Iona, first bishop and abbot of Lindisfarne. Prelate for whom Bede reserved arguably his highest praise. Evangelist remembered for going everywhere on foot and for his ‘gentleness, devotion and moderation’. Finan succeeded him. #medievalsky

Really looking forward to celebrating the publication of Catherine’s book at the excellent independent bookshop in #Maldon! 📕 🥂

Happy St. Oswald’s Day! To paraphrase the words of Henry of Avranches (who was commissioned to write a verse life of Oswald for Peterborough Abbey C13th), “May Oswald lay his incorrupt right arm on all your enterprises”!

Happy St. Oswald’s Day! To paraphrase the words of Henry of Avranches (who was commissioned to write a verse life of Oswald for Peterborough Abbey C13th), “May Oswald lay his incorrupt right arm on all your enterprises”!

I've now mapped 230 churches and chapels dedicated to Oswald in England, Scotland, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Czechia and Malta. Not a bad reach for a C7th Northumbrian! www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/e...

I've now mapped 212 Oswald churches & chapels and I'm sure there are more I'm still missing. Just found an interesting outlier in Malta - dedicated in 1921, it was the chapel of the Royal Naval Hospital in Mtarfa. 🇲🇹 #MedievalSky

Delighted to be a step closer to this book coming out. Honoured to be editor of a volume in the @britishacademy.bsky.social series & grateful to the contributors both for their wonderful essays & their prompt return of corrected proofs! @livunipress.bsky.social @uclhistory.bsky.social #MedievalSky

A privilege to attend the first day of this brilliant conference, as well as the Advisory Board meeting for the Literary and Liturgical Landscapes project the previous day. Wide-ranging but also wonderfully coherent topics and perspectives - lots to keep on thinking about! Thank you and congrats.

We had an amazing two days of discussions about landscapes of sanctity, literal and metaphorical, medieval and modern. Thanks to @ucl-ias.bsky.social for hosting us and to all the speakers and delegates for the thought-provoking papers and questions!

Then we heard about Hild and Whitby from Tom Pickles and Barking from Josh Davies. I flagged a bit due to migraine (which thankfully went away), hence the lack of updates. It was an absolutely amazing conference. Many thanks to Johanna and Sarah and all the speakers. 2/2

During the rest of Landscapes of Sanctity we had some art history thinking about Christian rock art in caves from Bob Mills and Byzantine wall paintings involving biblical mountains from Andrei Dumitrescu. @oswaldsraven.bsky.social #medievalsky 1/

Good reminders that islands as places of isolation is much more a modern phenomenon that a medieval one. Sea is mapped and socialised. Petts also reminding us Bede's influences were European in a correction to 'Celtic' exceptionalism of Iona and Lindisfarne. 2/2

Day 2 of Landscapes of Sanctity @oswaldsraven.bsky.social. David Petts and Mary Kate Harley keeping is cool by talking about Cuthbert's islands and Andrew's journey to Mermadonia through freezing waters respectively. #medievalsky 1/

Miranda Griffin compared 12thc versions of St Patrick's Purgatory with Onkalu, a nuclear waste facility in Finland bringing in Robert Macfarlane and Michael Madsen. Medieval Studies in the prophetic voice #medievalsky. 3/3

We've now had two papers relating to St Patrick, folklore and purgatory. Márie Ní Mhaonaigh talked about Dindshenchas as a way of reading the land. Very new stuff to me. 2/

Fantastic paper from Fiona Barsoum on inserting landscapes of sanctity into manuscripts, in this case, Wace's Brut. Pleased to hear she has fish miracles, too @oswaldsraven.bsky.social #medievalsky 1/

Really good conference so far @oswaldsraven.bsky.social. We've travelled through the Alps, across Iberia, between Rome & Cologne and heard about the movement of saintly soil, a sort of holy compost. 1/ #medievalsky

In the alps, Oswald is often prayed to as a weather saint. We're hoping he will intercede for us to ensure cooler weather for our project conference @ucl-ias.bsky.social this week! www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of... #MedievalSky

Only just noticed today that MLGB was no longer available - be great to have it back again!

Today I'm writing my paper for this week's conference on 'Landscapes of Sanctity' @oswaldsraven.bsky.social. It's about Norman chronicles, funnily enough, and I'll be looking at the chroniclers' sources, where we find such landscapes (everywhere), and why include them in history writing. 1/

On our way north, we visited this popular place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages: the cross at Heavenfield, nr Hexham, the site of St Oswald's victory in battle in 634. Miracles were attributed to the original cross. The cross (like the church) is not the original. 1/2