Niels Petersen

Just had to grade a bunch of students' tasks; the whole spectrum from 20 page essay via source description down to a session protocol was infested by these pompous-but-meaningless ai-phrases explaing to me in this pretentious tone how the medieval world was. I am between disgust and paranoia atm.

Y’all. I’m at wits end. The lack of reading (let alone being able to read for anything beyond content). How are you handling this? How do we do our jobs? Do we have to just teach … reading now? Literacy? Content comprehension?

“Cities and civilizations rise and fall, but the sea is always the sea.”

Philip Hoare “Leviathan, or The Whale”

photo by Kristians, 16

The #whales are back at the #IMC in Leeds! 🐳
Many thanks to our wonderful speakers for accepting the invitation! Details of our two panels are available here:
imc-leeds.confex.com/imc/2026/pre...

#IMC2026 #medievalsky #oceanspast #histwhale

A medieval manuscript illustration from the British Library royal ms 20 a ii f3r. Image shows a medieval king in a green gown and wearing a crown. He is stood within a burning castle with arms in the air and a look of 'oh dear' on his face

"this is fine"

British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r

Die Geschichte lehrt, aber sie hat keine Schüler.

Man gibt Faschisten keine Bühne. Was hat sich die Redaktion von #CarenMiosga dabei gedacht? Fragt die Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg - Carl von Ossietzky.

Zur Diskussion über die Abschaffung des Lateinunterrichts: Ich habe im Lateinunterricht 2 wichtige Dinge gelernt: 1. einen kulturhistorischen Überblick über die Fundamente unserer europäischen Kultur, 2. eine analytische Betrachtungsweise von Sprache und Grammatik. Beides brauche ich täglich.

Can you spare a minute to help this campaign? Save Classics and Medieval Studies at the University of Calgary!

I know that these things generally make little difference, but I would advise medievalists to sign the petition to save Classics and Medieval Studies at the University of Calgary. #medievalsky c.org/gGvyrHcwYt

mood aboard

They will learn to enjoy it, for sure. After I first heard about Brehon law and those peculiar cases from Dáibhí Ó Cróinín in Galway some 20 years ago, it stuck with me ever since. Never forgot the king-stinging bees.

The study of the environmental impact of hanseatic trade and is a truely novel approach. If only you feel just a tingle of interest, do it. Not only is Sander quite a sharp thinker, Ghent is a great place to be, too!

a woman sitting at a desk with the words " you 're lying " written below her ALT: a woman sitting at a desk with the words " you 're lying " written below her

The part in the Harry Potter series where the Death Eaters take over the Ministry of Magic so that it does whatever Voldemort demands is very useful when I’m explaining to my young boys what’s currently happening in the United States Government.

Jack Kerouac’s 37 metre-long, first draft scroll of On the Road to be auctioned The draft – one of the Beat Generation’s defining artefacts – will be part of a wider sale of pieces from the Jim Irsay Collection at Christie’s in March

Jack Kerouac’s 37 metre-long, first draft scroll of On the Road to be auctioned

www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

#books #literature

Great contributors all of them, opening a European perspective. Andya goid bit of #maritimehistory, too

Cover image for "How to Ensure Predictability in Legal Pluralism: Merchants and their Interaction in Late Medieval Europe," edited by Gregor Rohmann and Ulla Kypta.

A couple of new open-access titles of possible interest to scholars of medieval Europe -- this one on merchants, legal pluralism, and predictability in commerce: www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/themen-entde... #MedievalSky

A bloated, much-married, philandering, orange-coloured megalomaniacal narcissist, possibly mentally impaired later in life, Henry VIII died #OnThisDay 1547.

Wages of English, Scottish and Irish Sailors in Spain during the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century: A Comparative Analysis - Economic History Society This blog showcases the research of Andrii Pastushenko of the Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics, which was supported by the Economic History Society through the Carnevali Small Re...

ehs.org.uk/wages-of-eng...

Quaderni di Storia Religiosa Medievale (QSRM) seminar, University of Bologna

Valentina Costantini, presentation of our research project on testaments’ management and inventories from the Florentine hospital of Santa Maria Nuova (14th c.) Beyond the Will: The Execution of Pious Dispositions in the…

two men in suits and hats are dancing in a store with the words way to go written on the bottom ALT: two men in suits and hats are dancing in a store with the words way to go written on the bottom

It‘s fantastic to hear that some history undergrads at my university are learning a second language. Too often languages are overlooked when people train to become a historian – even at the PhD level in Canada! Seeing undergrads appreciate the value of a second language is wonderful.

Toil and Trouble: The Labour, Duties and Rights of Women in Alpine Communities in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period How were women perceived and treated in Alpine communities in the late Middle Ages? This study explores this question by using sources ranging from the fourteenth up to the sixteenth century and fr...

🥳New #medievalsky #earlymodern Open Access Article!

It's about the roles and lives of women in the Alps, including:
- How generic male language in sources hides the presence of women
- ⛏️ Female construction workers building roads across the Alps
-⚖️ A lord turning women into men (legally speaking)

Frodo: I wish so much unbelievably stupid shit had not happened in my time Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. This is all exceptionally stupid, though

CFP Announcement: 2026 Jacqueline Carpine-Lancre Early Career Scholars Prize in Ocean History The DHST Commission on the History of Oceanography (ICHO) announces the annual Jacqueline Carpine-Lancre Early Career Scholars Prize for outstanding papers addressing some aspect of ocean history, …

If you are a grad student or early career scholar, consider applying for the @histocean.bsky.social 2026 Jacqueline Carpine-Lancre Early Career Scholars Prize in Ocean History. Details here: oceansciencehistory.com/2026/01/06/c... #oceanhist #envhist

Academics are far too relaxed about writing for two years and having three people read it

zum Thema hier "wem gehören die Meere" kurze Erinnerung an "unseren" Hugo Grotius und sein Mare Liberum („Das freie Meer“), 1609:
"an den Meeren könne niemand Eigentum begründen (res extra commercium). Sie dürften als internationale Gewässer von allen Nationen zur Handelsschifffahrt genutzt werden."

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Publication – « Markets, Mints, and Merchants. Royal Economic Policy and Towns in Medieval Hungary », éd. Boglárka Weisz, István Kádas, Judit Gál The objective of the present volume is to provide a representative overview of the research undertaken by the Medieval Hungarian Economic History Research Group since its establishment in 2015. The…

Publication – « Markets, Mints, and Merchants. Royal Economic Policy and Towns in Medieval Hungary », éd. Boglárka Weisz, István Kádas, Judit Gál

rmblf.be/2026/01/14/p...

"Man with the moneybag and flatterers" by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, 1592. It says: So that my money slips out of my bag, all the world is creeping into my bottom

A printed poem by W B Yeats. It says: A Stick of Incense Whence did all that fury come, From empty tomb or Virgin womb? Saint Joseph thought the world would melt But liked the way his finger smelt.

Whence did all that fury come?

W. B. Yeats, 1939

was tun angesichts der massiven Herausforderungen für die demokratischen Grundlagen freier Wissenschaft? Vor allem das Risiko auch für Deutschland ernst nehmen!
@hist4dem.bsky.social
zenodo.org/records/1762...