To be fair, GPT-5 probably has a different PhD...not sure which, just a different one....

As I've fallen into rabbit hole of researching books of the Bible popular in later but not earlier Middle Ages, via St Elmo's fire (obviously 🤔), and how this all links to espionage, I feel this is an issue that the ChatGPT with PhD ability should resolve. Answers on a postcard fine too....

A contemporary (1334) depiction of knights battling at the Battle of Mühldorf in 1322

1/9 Reminder, we do medieval history! "Violence and Order: Past and Present", a SI edited by Warren C. Brown (Caltech‬), @rorycox.bsky.social (St Andrews‬), & Jennifer Jahner (Caltech), explores medieval "meanings of and relationships between violence and order" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Loving all these images from my part of the world. Scroll down for Archaeology. (And yes, i can confirm the wonder of now being able to buy alcohol browsing in a shop as opposed to through a counter, which was just a hole. I also remember it as being very dark! 🤣)

OUP's Women in Antiquity is such a good idea - with recent additions on Balthild, Radegund and Theodora.
global.oup.com/academic/con...

Why Do You Need to See the Manuscripts? Munich Research Files I As some of you may know, I am spending two months at the Monumenta Germaniae Historica in Munich, Germany. In essence, I am interested in a seemingly boring question: who wrote Arnulf's charters? This...

Finally had a chance to get a new post up, on what I am doing in Munich over the next two months, and why sometimes you really need to see the manuscripts in person #medievalsky

Law and History Review: A Call for an Editor [We have the following announcement from the Publications Committee of the American Society for Legal History .  DRE]  After eight years of ...

We're searching for a new Editor-in-Chief! Please see Call for Applications:
legalhistoryblog.blogspot.com/2025/08/law-...

Attleborough dad cancer survivor wins £1m in lottery Mr Harvey says he will use the money to take his two teenage children abroad for the first time.

And if you want to read the full story: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Cancer-survivor dad from Attleborough tells son they have won £1m The single parent is seen breaking the news of his lottery win in an emotional moment he filmed.

The news is a pretty bleak place at the moment but this will brighten up your day. It's local to me, a single-parent dad (cancer survivor), celebrating winning £1million on the Euromillions lottery. This will make a real difference to his family. I just love it: www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Noooooo! Torture 😂

Ah, Brexit killed off everything in Europe...

It's the same when I'm in Europe - absolute pain 🤬

Handling Leopard bites (medieval advice)

If you are bitten by a leopard then you need to stay alert because swarms of mice will try to urinate in the wound, so the best thing to do is to take refuge on a boat where they can't follow. Even then you need to be careful ...

extract from Carolingian manuscript

How did the "politics of land" really work in Carolingian Francia? Here's an insight provided by Hincmar of Reims concerning the estate at Neuilly (an old translation, now reposted) blogs.ed.ac.uk/cwest3/2025/...

Sideways - Chasing Peace - 1. Wired for War? - BBC Sounds Our long struggle with peace raises the question - are humans wired for war or for peace?

If you are interested in peace, peacemaking, and all things diplomacy and international relations, I have been enjoying this podcast (traversing time and space) on 'Chasing Peace' on BBC Sounds: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Oh, wow! This is 👌

Fresh on early view: @eddiemeehan99.bsky.social on how Pippin I of Aquitaine (d. 838) balanced kingship "as an office and as a dynastic status".
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Noblewomen played a central role in medieval society. They cultivated important networks both within their families and wider society, acting as rulers and politicians, as well as cultural and religious patrons and intermediaries. This is an ever-expanding field of research, with scholars exploring the plethora of roles that noblewomen could play in medieval life, and the ways in which they were viewed and represented by wider society. This strand of sessions will bring together scholars who work on medieval noblewomen – to build on and develop the discourse that has developed over the past few decades, with the continued aim of building a global network of scholars working in this vibrant area of research. We welcome papers spanning from across the medieval world, as well as across disciplines. Topics could include, but are not limited to: Noblewomen in time; Noblewomen’s involvement in education and learning; Noblewomen’s roles in politics and political life; Noblewomen and society; Noblewomen and the family; Noblewomen and the law; Noblewomen and patronage; Noblewomen and material culture; Noblewomen and literature; Ecclesiastical women and interactions with religious communities; Historiographical approaches to noblewomen. We invite proposals for 20-minute papers on all aspects of research relating to noblewomen. Expressions of interest and/or queries should be directed to NoblewomenIMC2020@gmail.com by 7pm on Friday 5 September 2025, with an abstract of no more than 250 words and a short biography.

CfP: The Noblewomen Network @imc-leeds.bsky.social 2026. If you're working on medieval noblewomen, we'd love to hear from you! Please share widely.

Deadline for abstracts: 5 September.

#IMC2026

Revisiting thorny issue of project acronyms, while ACHE (A Cultural History of Espionage) is on a loop in my head to symbolise how freaking painful it is to write funding applications 🤣🤣🤣

map showing find-spots with lines to point of issue

Nice visualisation of find-spots and origins of Byzantine seals from the 11th century (here, the northern find spots): byzantinefind.units.it/viewer.p/83/...

a man sits at a desk in front of a computer with a picture on it ALT: a man sits at a desk in front of a computer with a picture on it

New reel emerges of yours truly when computer breaks down while finalising publications before returning from research leave.

I've decided there is something very wholesome about listening to my OH playing cards with his friends, all singing (occasionally badly 🤪) to mostly bad rock songs, and animatedly arguing about who's winning 🥰 Writing my ERC application is not quite measuring up to the fun they seem to be having 🤔

Reframing Treaties in the Late Medieval and Early Modern West Abstract. Opening a fresh chapter in the burgeoning field of premodern diplomatic history, Reframing Treaties focuses on peacemaking through a wide geopoli

Lots of fabulous people writing about treaties, peacemaking and negotiations in the Medieval and Early Modern periods in this new publication (disclosure: I may feature too): academic.oup.com/book/60719

When I was in Sweden in July, Norrland, and specifically Lappland, where I grew up, was the hottest part of Sweden 🤯🤯🤯

Selden's Sister has launched an essay competition for undergraduates interested in legal history.

£100 @hartpublishing.bsky.social vouchers up for grabs, as well as an invitation to receive your prize at our annual lecture - this year at the University of Nottingham. #legalhistory

LOL! Well that really would be bad :-D

Did I ever tell you about that time I was meant to be introducing the very eminent Huw Pryce to deliver the biennial Henry Loyn lecture? I had all his achievements written on a piece of paper, which I couldn’t read properly because I forgot my glasses in my office! It was excruciating…

Anyone here a dab hand at localizing 15thc Dutch dialects?

Rocking out may turn into Olympic tumbling...

Dressed for the occasion