@joshbakercox.bsky.social
PhD at Bangor researching rebellions in 10th and early 12th century England and Normandy. Lover of Norman (and Anglo-Norman) History, and general fan of Robert Curthose & Robert de Belleme. https://medievalhistory.home.blog/
It's been eight years since I last painted a miniature, so I'm honestly pretty excited to get back into a hobby that will provide a much welcome break from being in front of a screen!
Think I might make the arch pillager himself, Robert de Bellême, the leader of this little warband.
Unfortunately some of the town, including the lovely looking pub The Robin Hood, were still closed after last year's horrendous flooding. As such I sadly had to skip getting a double vodka to aid my recovery after contending with the great keep's staircase.
We also popped into Monmouth for a wander, and who doesn't love a good fortified bridge??
I very much have a love-hate relationship with the keep. I love it, because it's a keep. I hate it, because getting to the top of it via the winding staircase consistently makes me regret my desire to see the view.
There's just something about the place. It's not the biggest, it isn't the most imposing (though I certainly wouldn't want to try and storm the place), but it never fails to impress.
I hadn't had the chance to share these, but I went to one of my favourite castles on Sunday: Goodrich! And the weather was remarkably lovely given this year's track record so far.
But wait, there's more! Now the knight is in the manuscript himself, and has been joined by... whatever the hell the guy with a face on his derriere is (I gave him a lute).
Unfortunately I am very much enjoying this, so will probably end up buying it, which is a terrible predicament to be in.
Exciting news for anyone into manuscripts: Scriptorium (from the makers of the very fun game Inkulinati) has a demo on Steam!
Congrats Rebecca! I hope the cider proved a worthy celebratory drink aha
Here it is: the end of 2025! I hope everyone who sees this post has both a tolerable end to this year, and a generally acceptable start to the next one.
An interim version of the Explore Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue is now available through the BL website: searcharchives.bl.uk
It contains all the catalogue data from the eve of the 2023 cyberattack, and features embedded links to all currently available digitised content within the records.
Thank you so much Leonie! A tad nervous about it but the excitement is definitely outweighing it which is nice haha.
A few days late to the party but I am excited to say I've been accepted for #IMC2026 as part of the fantastic Loyalty in the Medieval World network. I'll be giving a talk on cool rebellion related stuff to see if attitudes towards them changed with time, and I'm moderating a session too (spooky)!
A blast from my past - the Medieval Soldier database takes nearly 300,000 military service records from 1369-1453 and makes them available as a searchable database.
An invaluable resource for understanding medieval warfare, society and the English medieval state. Learn more in the link. 🗃️
Medieval 3 Total War has been announced. "Return to roots" and "rebirth of historical total war" have been excited and concerned in equal measure and I am going to nerd out about it way too much lol.
So I would like to preface this by saying that I have not painted anything in 7 years. And I have only ever been of modest skill (no Golden Demon awards let me put it that way). But doing this Robin Hood cookie, as silly as it sounds, has made me want to crack on with my SAGA vikings at long last.
That first one is amazing. I mean they're all amazing, it's a beautiful site, but that first picture is just something else.
But Worcester was also (I believe) the only bridge between Gloucester and Bridgnorth. There were small ferry crossings, but those wouldn't be ideal for the purpose of quickly marching an army to link up with Ralph de Guader who was Earl of East Anglia. Typical when I've got other stuff to ponder lol
For some reason I've been thinking about where Roger de Breteuil tried to cross the Severn lately. He was stopped by, among others, Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester and the Worcestershire fyrd. Worcester had a castle, so surely Roger didn't intend to bulldoze his way through/past a fortified city?
British Camp was always the highlight of the yearly walk along the Malverns my school used to do. Partially because I could sit down, mainly because it's an amazing site with equally amazing views. And the small cafe right by it selling ice cream helped as well...
Stunning pictures.
When your computer freezes on the day Crusader Kings 3's new dlc releases and this evening while trying Europa Universalis V on release day your monitor breaks and won't turn back on but you can't prove these weren't just coincidences.
Oh no.
Sharties.
I just got an email from Oxford Scholarly Editions Online that they're retiring the option to get individual subscriptions and that is, to be impressively diplomatic on my part, less than helpful. I would even go so far as to describe it as "frustrating".
Back on the trains today, this time to Norwich for a visualising Canterbury castle trip to look at the remodelled keep. Here's the latest blog on our project from Katie McGown #medievalsky castlestudiestrust.org/blog/
The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) has recently been updated with 5000+ new references. Discover further details about this update in this On History blog blog.history.ac.uk/2025/10/bibl... @brepols.net
Not medieval I'm afraid, but things are getting wonderfully autumnal at Croome Court.
That said the first image is not just a church on the grounds of the Court, but also the parish church of Croome D'Abitot. Who was the first Norman sheriff of Worcester? Urse d'Abetot.
Tell you what, this bloody cold thing that's been going around sucks. Not enjoyable, I would give it a 6/10.
Next you'll be saying it even came with pens!
MLGB is back!! Delighted that Medieval Libraries of Great Britain @bodleian.ox.ac.uk is now back online. We are also working had on plans for the next phase of the resource, enhancing & adding data & functionality. HUGE thanks to my colleagues for their hard & clever work mlgb.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Just goes to show how everyone should go through contracts with a fine toothed comb. Maybe we could make some sort of contract précising ai...? (I joke!)