Dr Alex Mortimore

Cover image of Matthew Bell's book 'Goethe: A Life in Ideas', showing a marble bust of Goethe

Only 8 days to wait until the publication of this baby

In 1700, France was the powerhouse of Europe: 25 million people, one in five Europeans, and almost 1 in 25 people on Earth were French. Its armies, culture and language shaped the world. 🇫🇷 1/5

Today in 1715 one of the towering figures of history, Louis XIV, died.

His 72 year reign remains the longest verified reign in world history, beating our Elizabeth II by under 2 years.

He enlarged France ...... and broke it.

His last few years were marked by personal & dynastic tragedy 👇

Discussion and some close reading of Rilke's poetry via
@oxfordgermannet.bsky.social. Featuring Prof Charlie Louth, @joannaraisbeck.bsky.social ‬, @karen-leeder.bsky.social, Prof Katrin Kohl, among others:
youtube.com/@OxGerNet
Linked to sixth-form essay competition: ogn.ox.ac.uk/ogn.ox.ac.uk...

Dare you join us this autumn and come face to face with terror in Darkness & Light?

Lucky enough to have a peek at some letters from one of Marie Antoinette’s elder sisters this week: Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples, or ‘Charlotte’ in her personal life

These letters were written in autumn 1793, shortly before she found out that Marie Antoinette had been guillotined #18c

Postgraduate researchers at the University of Exeter are among the most satisfied in the UK, according to the latest Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES). The University is ranked 11th overall in UK, with an overall satisfaction score of 86.3%.

Thomas More: A Life is out in Canada and the US on the 1 July. You can pre-order now!

www.simonandschuster.com/books/Thomas... Thomas More | Book by Joanne Paul | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster

Searching for “Demokratin”? The Curious Case of Women Democrats in Early Nineteenth-Century Germany

New Blog

Read the final blog in our 'Democratic Identity' series | Anne Heyer, 'Searching for “Demokratin”? The Curious Case of Women Democrats in Early Nineteenth-Century Germany'

You can now read all the posts in this series on our website ⬇️

intellectualhistory.web.ox.ac.uk/article/sear...

YouTube video by Axess Television Virtues and Vices – Ritchie Robertson: Can Private Vices be Public Benefits?

Interview with Prof Ritchie Robertson on the Enlightenment and the relationship between private vices and public benefits. Discussion of Adam Smith, David Hume, Kant, and Hobbes, among others...
youtu.be/zNG0wq34_Nk?...

YouTube video by BBC How the English language would sound if silent letters weren’t silent - BBC

Don't know what people find so difficult about English pronunciation....

youtu.be/BrJv_wUEKko?...

Napoleonic-era caricatures still providing inspiration to today’s cartoonists

Currently indexing this. Sure am gonna miss it when it’s published.

Goethe A new intellectual biography of Goethe, examining the paradox of his thought

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... Very excited about this, and deep thanks to the fantastic folk at Princeton for making it happen.

Fair play, Pilgrims, from a Grecian. Outstanding effort.
@pafc.co.uk

Just a nice little porcelain cup, dated 1790 or 1791, bearing the motto of the short-lived constitutional monarchy in France: ‘Long live The Nation, the Law, the King’.

The motto would be replaced in 1793 with ‘Liberté, égalité, fraternité’

(Cornell University Collection) #18c

The sun disappearing for the final time in January 2025 below Widemouth Bay, Cornwall

Like a pathetic exiled kinglet, turfed off his throne and lingering at the fringes of a foreign warlord’s court to provide a fig leaf for his aggression in return for victuals, wine and a warm cloak.

A World Torn Apart: The Dissolution of the Monasteries - 1 - Season 1 - History Hit Professor Suzannah Lipscomb unravels one of the most profound transformations in Tudor society, when faith and politics collided: the dissolution of the monasteries. Over just four years in the 1530s,...

How devastating was the dissolution of the monasteries? How did the closure of 850 religious houses in four years affect ordinary people? The first part of our new series A World Torn Apart: The Dissolution of the Monasteries can now be streamed on History Hit. access.historyhit.com/a-world-torn...

A Change of Kit p1

A Change of Kit p2

A Change of Kit p3

A Change of Kit p4

A history of the French Revolution, as told by the Pip & Squeak 1938 Annual

The ruins of Easby Abbey in The Morning Mist.

Look at the utter breathtaking beauty of these ruins at Easby.

They’ve inspired many artists, including Turner. But the story behind them is not pretty.

NEW SERIES: it ‘A World Torn Apart: The Dissolution of the Monasteries’ coming very soon to History Hit TV.

Sign the Petition Save the Latin Excellence Programme - keep teaching Latin in state schools

I signed this petition to continue providing underprivileged children with Latin lessons. Please do the same.

Save the Latin Excellence Programme - keep teaching Latin in state schools - Sign the Petition!

www.change.org/p/save-the-l...

Need a quick bookish present for a history lover?

This history of the 18th-century Byrons includes shipwreck, a murder trial, adultery, approximately 100 elopements (slight exaggeration), incest, & a pig called Mad Pauline

Signed pback copies here 🎁🎄> www.foxlanebooks.co.uk/product-page... #18c

ONE WEEK TODAY! Join me and Mike Muncer @mikemuncer.bsky.social for a LIVE-STREAMED ep of The Ghost Story Book Club. We'll be discussing two Ghost Stories for Xmas films The Signalman and A View from a Hill. And we want YOUR input. Have you booked your place?

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-ghost-...

Exciting update! ‘Summoned to the Séance’ is out next Thursday 12th December! 👻 Find it at @britishlibrary.bsky.social @waterstones.bsky.social @whsmithofficial.bsky.social and many more: shop.bl.uk/products/sum...

So excited for our very first Gothic Christmas Panel! 🎄Not one to be missed! 🖤
Special guests @jendeavour.bsky.social, @foodforflo.bsky.social, @drdjohnston.bsky.social 🤩

📅Mon 9th Dec
🕔5pm–6.30pm (GMT)
📍Zoom

DM/Email @gothicauob.bsky.social 🦇to join!

Speaker at a podium discussing 'Democracy' at the Sheldonian Series event, University of Oxford, with four panelists seated onstage, engaged with the audience in the Sheldonian Theatre.

Sonia Sodha talking with the panellists listening.

Henry Zeffman talking with the panelists listening.

Group of the panelists at the Sheldonian Series event, standing in front of the stage.

Earlier this week, the University launched the Sheldonian Series.

The Sheldonian Series is a new programme of termly events aimed at promoting open discussion about the major topics of the day.

This Wednesday!

Carroll's Burke embraced - often considerable and rapid - reform to drive political and social improvement, and opposed the French Revolution because he saw it as a retrogressive event which threatened, rather than expanded, freedom.

Particularly liked the chapters on Burke's attitude towards representation and political association, political reform and constitutional change, and the relationship between freedom and revolution, though all are highly insightful!