Josh Baker-Cox

Thank you so much Leonie! A tad nervous about it but the excitement is definitely outweighing it which is nice haha.

Final Session Number: 1123 Session Timeslot: Wednesday, 8 July 2026: 11:15 AM-12:45 PM Paper Title: Rebellandum et resistendum: Evolving Attitudes to the Rebellions of Guy of Brionne and William of Arques in Norman Histories

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)!

We built a database of 290,000 English medieval soldiers – here’s what it reveals We created the database in order to challenge assumptions about the lack of professionalism of everyday soldiers.

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.

An unpainted cookie of Robin Hood in profile, complete with feathered cap.

An absolutely gloriously painted (if I say so myself) cookie. Obviously I had to make his shirt green, but I had eight colours to use and by god I was going to use as many as I could. Went with yellow hair, the underside of his hat is brown, the top a dark navy and the (literal) feather in his cap, is some sort of mauve, or a lilac.

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/

Bibliography of British and Irish History October 2025 update  - On History What’s new in BBIH?   The October 2025 update to the Bibliography of British and Irish History adds over 5,000 new publications. The new update includes books, journal articles, book chapters and…

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!)

I yearn for the day that AI being used for this purpose dies a sudden and terrible death quite frankly.

October 2025 really going out of its way to be crap only three days in.

You're not helping! 😂

For god's sake Tom I'm not made of bookshelves.

two men are standing in front of a monitor that says status docked ALT: two men are standing in front of a monitor that says status docked

All fun and games until you're trying to fight off 6 cliff racers but you have low weapon skills.

YouTube video by Rotten Tomatoes TV Robin Hood Season 1 Trailer

Oh...

youtu.be/S-7-EYV8CVM

Question for the medieval crowd: does anyone know of a good published map of Europe in 1066? (yes, I have googled)

Honestly. Tattoo artists should be out there having a no ai promise in the window lol.

Imagine going to get a tattoo and it's just so... clinical and impersonal.
No thanks, I'll stick to getting my ink done by someone who listens to stoner/doom metal and unironically uses the word "righteous" numerous times as a term of agreement.

Oh and in other news it looks like I will be presenting a paper at the next Leeds IMC with the 'Loyalty in the Medieval World' network. So very much looking forward to that while simultaneously mildly panicking.

Finally here is a video of me wandering around the inner tower and the walls of the earlier shell keep, on top of the motte. If I sound out of breath, it's because I am. Apologies for the shoddy camera work and basic commentary, I didn't expect to use this.