Rory Naismith

The date and context of the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious The Astronomer's Life of the emperor Louis the Pious (814–40) is a canonical source for scholars of Frankish history. It sits at the centre of recent debates about the nature and tone of Carolingian ....

Enmeshed in marking, but just thought I'd point out that this article is now out, open access: Simon MacLean, arguing that the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious could be rather later than historians have assumed: might 'the Astronomer' be Jonas of Orleans?
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Herzlichen Glückwunsch!

Glad you all enjoyed it and found so much to talk about!

Pieces of Viking silver, coins and hack silver laid out on steppers mounts with a black base and a white top. The pot sits in the centre of the image on a higher mount.

Folder silver Viking arm rings, with a variety of stamped decoration lying in a pile on a white background.

54 years and a day apart this week two Early Medieval hoards were discovered in Cheshire.

The Castle Esplanade hoard of Viking silver & Anglo-Saxon pennies, AD900-950 found #OTD in 1950 & the lovely Huxley Hoard of Viking arm rings, an ingot & lead fragments found in 2004, AD850-950
📸 me & NML

Probably not, I’m afraid.

For anyone interested in vikings: a symposium on the impact of the viking Great Army, to be held at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge on 24 April 2026.

Third-year ASNC students visiting the Wren Library (@trincolllibcam.bsky.social) to look at medieval manuscripts with @rorynaismith.bsky.social - many thanks indeed for being such gracious hosts!

Publication – « Aristocratic networks. Elites and social dynamics in Italy in the age of Lothar I », éd. Giuseppe Albertoni, Manuel Fauliri, Leonardo Sernagiotto This volume collects the proceedings of a conference held at the Department of Humanities of the University of Trento from 13 to 15 October 2022, as part of the initiatives of the PRIN 2017 project…

Publication – « Aristocratic networks. Elites and social dynamics in Italy in the age of Lothar I », éd. Giuseppe Albertoni, Manuel Fauliri, Leonardo Sernagiotto

rmblf.be/2025/11/25/p...

Dorestad and Everything After @ Sidestone Press Dorestad was the largest town of the Low Countries in the Carolingian era. As an inland port on the edge of the Frankish Empire, it functioned as an international hub, connecting the North Sea World w...

Interested in early medieval history? Read the proceedings of the latest Dorestad conference online FREE here, including my chapter about gold and silver in Frisia after Dorestad's disappearance in the 850s. For a .pdf of my chapter, DM/email me. #medievalsky
www.sidestone.com/books/dorest...

Economic Change, Silver, and the Plague of 664–687 in England* Abstract. Bede and other authors describe a destructive wave of plague sweeping across Britain and Ireland in the period 664–87. In the decades around and

On advance access: "Economic Change, Silver, and the Plague of 664-687 in England"

by @rorynaismith.bsky.social (University of Cambridge)

#OpenAccess

doi.org/10.1093/past...

Looks good, but says forbidden when I click the link ...

The titlepage for a special issue of the Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies. The title of the collection is "Environmental Challenges in Premodern Eurasian and Medi-terranean Narratives." Cover image: Illuminated Manuscript, Book of kings (Shāhnāma), Rustam kills a dragon (the third feat), Walters Art Museum Ms. W.602, fol. 76b,by Walters Art Museum Illuminated Manuscripts.

Oh wow, major work of interest to #MedievalSky #GlobalMiddleAges #EnvironmentalHistory. A new special issue devoted to "Environmental Challenges in Premodern Eurasian and Mediterranean Narratives": journals.uio.no/JAIS/article.... Kudos to the editors for bringing this work so quickly into print!

Solid silver Saxon cross found in Leeds field goes on show The gilded cross can be seen at Leeds City Museum following its discovery in the city last year.

BBC News - Solid silver Saxon cross found in Leeds field goes on show - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Feeding Medieval England: A Long ‘Agricultural Revolution’, 700–1300 Abstract. As in the rest of Europe, the population of medieval England grew steeply, especially between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. This volume inv

Very exciting news for those interested in early medieval England: a hugely important new volume on crops and food supply (by Helena Hamerow, Mark McKerracher & the FeedSax team) is now available Open Access academic.oup.com/book/61548?l...

Feeding Medieval England: A Long ‘Agricultural Revolution’, 700–1300 Abstract. As in the rest of Europe, the population of medieval England grew steeply, especially between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. This volume inv

New 📖 & stocking filler 🎁 from the FeedSax project team - Feeding Medieval England: A Long ‘Agricultural Revolution’, 700–1300

Congratulations to the FeedSax team!

You can get it in print from Nov 21st.

@archanchistleic.bsky.social academic.oup.com/book/61548?l...

"IT IS AGREED AND MOST EVIDENT THAT ALL MASTERS ARE EVIL..."

So begins the speech of the slave character Pantomalus in the Querolus, the only extant late antique comedy.

It will feature in a slavery sourcebook that we are working on.

Read more in our newest blog post: tinyurl.com/zrmc4a6s

A new mint for Charlemagne (768-†814) ? An investigation into the earliest history of Bruges Suggestions for you

For a limited time only - a digital offprint of our interdisciplinary article rewriting the early history of Bruges and the coast of Flanders, and proposing it and Boulogne as mints of Charlemagne.
shs.cairn.info/revue-revue-...

The first find of Viking age dirhams on the Danish island of Falster - in 🇩🇰
www.tv2east.dk/guldborgsund...

Chris Wickham's 'Framing the early Middle Ages, Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800' (2005) is widely seen as a milestone in early medieval studies.

New research published by Robert Portass, Peter Sarris and Caroline Goodson (@cjg70.bsky.social) now offers a critical response to Wickham’s ideas ⬇️

Now available Open Access! academic.oup.com/past/advance...

Many congratulations! I've enjoyed reading it tremendously, and it will be making its way onto at least a couple of reading lists.

Hurrah! My new book, Europe in the Eleventh Century: Beyond Revolution and Reform is officially published today by Oxford University Press. 1/5 global.oup.com/academic/pro...

YouTube video by Tarbat Discovery Centre Stories on Skins: Calligraphy

Thomas Keyes demonstrating how manuscripts like the Book of Kells and Lindisfarne Gospels were made. Videos from a Lottery funded project based at the Tarbat Discovery Centre. Thanks to @victoriawhitworth.bsky.social for the link www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSJd...

Many congratulations @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social on this superb new book - I look forward very much to reading it!

The Sir David Wilson Lecture in Medieval Studies 2025 The Sir David Wilson Lecture, the first event in the 2025-26 UCL Institute of Archaeology/British Museum Medieval Seminar Series, will be given by Rory Naismith (University of Cambridge) on 8 October.

THIS WEEK: Please join us and @uclioabmmedieval.bsky.social for the Sir David Wilson lecture, with @rorynaismith.bsky.social on 'From Mesoamerica to Early Medieval England: Money, Materiality and Society'. Weds 8 Oct, 6.15pm, Archaeology Lecture Theatre G6. All welcome! www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo...

This year's Brixworth Lecture will be given by Joyce Hill on Pastoral Provision and the Benedictine Reform. Tickets: www.friendsofbrixworthchurch.org.uk/2025/09/03/b...

The 2025 Dorothy Whitelock Lecture @engfac.bsky.social will be given by Prof. Jane Roberts. All welcome. In person and online. Registration details below.
👇

Autumn 2025 schedule for the Institute of Historical Research's Earlier Middle Ages seminar. Full information available at https://www.history.ac.uk/news-events/seminars/earlier-middle-ages

📣 The Earlier Middle Ages seminar @ihr.bsky.social is now on Bluesky! Here's our autumn term schedule. First up is @rorynaismith.bsky.social on 8 October, giving the annual David Wilson Lecture (with @uclarchaeology.bsky.social). All welcome! Please sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

A feast for the eyes! 😍 One of the finest Carolingian coins ever seen, à gold solidus of Louis the Pious, minted in the 810s, in an auction with Jean Elsen. 💯% genuine as die-linked with previously known coins.
elsen.bidinside.com/en/cat/156/2...

Cambridge is *hiring* in post-1920 US political history and/or history of the US in the world. Closing date October 27. Please spread the word or, if you're an early career scholar in those fields, TELL NO ONE but please apply!

networks.h-net.org/jobs/69140/u...