Maxime Morel

📚 New publication! 📚

On the move: mobility and Early Modern translation 👉 buff.ly/9rFFBQ5

Co-edited by our own Giancarlo Casale and Ann Thomson

The volume investigates the translators' role as agents of encounter in a world in which ideas, texts and people circulated as never before

📣 Réservez vos 5 & 6 mars pour le colloque "Mobilités contraintes et production de savoirs sur le monde à Naples, Rome et Venise au XVIe siècle" au Campus Condorcet !

La toute dernière version du programme en avant-première 👇

I am thrilled to announce that the CFP for the conference I am co-organising with Costanza Lugnani is now out! Join us next November in Paris to discuss everything about early modern naval flags. Please feel free to apply, the deadline is 30 April; ECRs very welcome!
ihmc.ens.psl.eu/flying-colou...

Help, Bluesky Historians! I'm working on a short article for my local historical society on a shipwreck from 1815. It carried a cargo of 'otto of roses'. How would this be used in that time period? I want to stay away from AI articles, so any help will be appreciated! 🗃️

tag yourself i’m I AM MANOEUVRING WITH DIFFICULTY

An envelope from the archives. The text reads "À Monsieur. Monsieur de Chammartin Capitaine de frégate légère commandant l'une des barques du Roy armée en guerre. Colbert" or, in English, "To Mr de Chammartin, light frigate captain aboard one of the king's warships. Colbert."

Seeing 17th-century envelopes really makes me realise how terrible the 21st-century Italian post is at delivering my mail. They're unable to find my address despite 5 lines of details, and this letter could just be sent to "one of the king's warships" and somehow still reach its recipient!

Doctoral Programme in History and Civilisation strongImportant note: The deadline to apply for the 202627 academic year is 15 January 2026 at 14:00 CET Time in Italy Later applications will not be accepted

Interested in pursuing a #PhD in #History in a uniquely multicultural environment?

📣 Applications for our fully-funded PhD programme are now open 👉 loom.ly/pvk17dc

⏰ Apply by 15 January 2026

Want to know more? Meet us on our:
🌐Virtual Open Day - 2 December 2025 👉 loom.ly/sp5lOKM

🎓 #academicsky

Political possibilities in a post-revolutionary world

On 26 November, 17.00 CET, join a workshop with Luis De la Peña on South America and the Balkans in the early #19thcentury 👉 loom.ly/C4S9K1I

Organised by our Political History and Diplomatic/International History working groups

The flag of Castille and Leon, normally composed of two towers and two lions, but rendered with the same level of detail, so that the lions are basically three curved lines that are vaguely animal-shaped

The actual flag of Castille and Leon for reference

I was only able to know this was supposed to be a lion because this is how he rendered the Castille flag; it's proof that you can be an absolutely brilliant cartographer and completely incapable of even remotely conveying the idea of a lion

A Venetian flag on a portolan, but the Lion of Saint Mark is just a couple of lines for the body, a crescent for the head and some parallel lines for the wings. It does not look remotely like a lion

A similar flag from the same author, somehow even more badly drawn, so that it looks even less like a lion

I found worse (of course these are winged lions, don't you see the little paws at the back?)

A 17th century depiction of the Venetian banner, with a silly-looking Lion of St Mark holding a book and a cross

A 17th-century Venetian naval flag with another silly lion and a cross

An extremely goofy-looking Lion of St Mark holding a book open in its front paws

I'm going to have no choice but start a collection of goofy-looking Lions of St Mark on early modern Venetian banners because what is this

Especially potent, and a good summary of some of my concerns about the process is this quote by @irisvanrooij.bsky.social : "No serious scholar or scientist in their right mind would want LLMs to produce their texts; and hence, also no student pursuing an academic education would want to do so."

Long train rides accross Europe have the advantage of allowing me to catch up with some reading, including this article warning against the pitfalls of forcing AI through academia. I agree with a lot of the points about the risks on the quality of research to come.
zenodo.org/records/1706...

The Column Hall of the Faculty of History at Warsaw University, where the conference took place. The room is flanked by massive colums, and sports fancy carpets and furniture, as well as 19th-century statues.

It was a pleasure to take part in #SplendidEncountersXII in Warsaw this week, investigating all the ways to "Fake it till you make it" in early modern diplomacy (perfect for one's impostor syndrome). Thank you again to the organisers for this lovely opportunity!

Our researcher Cosimo Pantaleoni defends his #PhD thesis on Venetian navy crews at the end of the #16thcentury , focusing on the condition of convict rowers on board galleys and connecting it to wider phenomena of banditry and piracy in the #earlymodern Adriatic Sea 👉 loom.ly/nOWcjao

“Cataclysmically bad”

This new series of ECR blog posts on the French History Network makes for grim reading, perhaps grimmer even than some in UK #FrenchHistory might have realised.

1st post, anon ECRs in French History on what it’s like right now out there:

frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6691/

🗃️

Mobilising knowledge as a political tool

Read the interview with our #PhD researcher Müberra Kapusuz on the political role of expertise in #17thcentury Ottoman politics, in relation with today’s debates on expertise and authority 👇

📰 #Fridayreads #Expertise

Struggling to participate in the Indian Ocean sea trade

Read the 🔓 #OpenAccess article by Michael O'Sullivan on the evolution of Ottoman shipping in the Indian Ocean from 1650 to 1900 👉 buff.ly/GN9hF8G

Part of our CAPASIA @erc.europa.eu project research 👉 buff.ly/K57rhlr

📚 #Fridayreads

Grazie tanto a Annalisa Biagianti per l'organizzazione; vi invito anche a leggere il suo contributo e quello di Andrea Addobbati sul cerimoniale marittimo, entrambi sono molto interessanti!

Sono lietissimo di annunciare la pubblicazione del mio primo articolo (sono diventato un accademico vero!), a proposto dei "battibecchi" di rango nella marina francese delle anni 1660 e del loro impatto. Potete trovarlo qui eum.unimc.it/it/catalogo/..., è disponibile in Open Access.

Thanks a lot to Annalisa Biagianti for organising this; do check out hers and Andrea Addobbati's contributions on maritime ceremony. If you cannot read Italian and are interested, do feel free to contact me for an English or French version!

I am immensely happy to relay the publication of my first article (Look Mum, I'm a real academic!), exploring how petty disputes about rank poisoned the French Navy during the 1660s. If you can read Italian, you can head to eum.unimc.it/it/catalogo/..., it's in Open Access!

Congratulations Lewis! It sounds like a fascinating topic, I'm looking forward to reading what comes out of it!

J'ai compté généreusement pour les périodes hors contemporaine, et c'est un peu à la louche car ça repose uniquement sur les titres des contributions, mais même avec une sacrée marge d'erreur ces chiffres restent ridicules

Le programme des @rdvhistoire.bsky.social est sorti! N'ayant rien de mieux à faire pendant les vacances, voici un petit décompte grossier des conférences de L'Histoire en Débat par période:
Inclassable: 24
Antique: 5
Médiévale: 8
Moderne: 13
Contemporaine: 104

Qui aurait pu prédire 🙃

How do perceptions influence intra-European relations?

📰 Read the interview by our #PhD researcher Klaudia Kuchno on perceptions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in #earlymodern Italian princedoms 👇

📚 #MyEUIResearch

I have arrived in Aix to take part in @ndh-network.bsky.social 's 6th conference, on "The World and Europe: Diplomatic Transfers, Networks, Representations and Practices". Looking forward to present on naval ceremonies in the early modern Indian Ocean later today!

🚨 CFP "Forced Mobility and the Making of Knowledge (16c Naples, Rome & Venice)"

Organised by Fiona Lejosne, Oury Goldman and myself
4-6 March 2026 @ehess.fr
Proposals in French/English/Italian welcome
Deadline: 1 July 2025

Don't hesitate to apply & share widely

ihmc.ens.psl.eu/mobilites-co...

Ceci étant le premier épisode enregistré à distance (c'est loin Florence), j'en appelle à votre indulgence sur la qualité de ma voix...

Une fois le dernier épisode fini, n'hésitez pas à parcourir les sessions des autres intervenants tous aussi passionants les uns que les autres ! Je recommande bien sûr le premier épisode avec @anastruillou.bsky.social
Merci encore à Lucie et Romane, et bonne écoute !