Reminder! CFP: IMC Leeds (5–8 July 2027) Conquest, Invasion, Colonisation: Experience and Memory in Early Medieval Britain. Papers are invited for panels on the experiences and legacies of conquest in early medieval Britain and Ireland. Abstracts to matthew.firth@flinders.edu.au by 31 August 2026.

On the way home to Adelaide, but already planning a busy European summer in 2027! Pleased to be one of what ISSEME has declared to be 'a pretty formidable triad of keynote speakers' for their conference at Udine next year. Hope I can live up to the billing!

Glasgow is hiring a lecturer in medieval history (c.800-1500) on an open-ended basis. We are a lovely bunch in the medieval area, would be great to have a new colleague! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSF052/l...

Lecturer in Medieval History (Research & Teaching Track) at University of Glasgow

Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Lecturer in Medieval History (Research & Teaching Track) on jobs.ac.uk!

jobs.ac.uk

Tomorrow in IMC session 1325 at 4.30pm I'll be speaking about late medieval roll chronicles, the transition from Brut legend to early English history, and King Ecgberht's place in medieval English historical memory. I'll also be speaking in the royal studies round table at 7pm.

Looks like the latest @haskinssociety.bsky.social journal is out today. You can find me in it talking about the tenth century queenship (how surprising) making the case that the political changes encompassed in that century were foundational to the how the office of the Queen developed in England.

My first article is published today in the @haskinssociety.bsky.social Journal. I'm so pleased to finally see it out in the world. My article outlines the maritime dimension to William fitzOsbern's lordship in the southern Welsh March in the years after 1066. doi.org/10.2307/jj.4... #MedievalSky

The @jaema.bsky.social conference is coming up at the end of September, to be hosted at University of Newcastle(Aus). Themed 'faces of the early medieval world', submissions are invited for in-person or online papers that speak to the topic in the broadest possible sense.

Out now in paperback! My book Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders is suddenly much more affordable. Especially as Routledge have it at 20% off with free shipping (25% for ebook). If you wanted to know what the sagas say about early medieval England, it's time to find out.

Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders

This book provides an in-depth study of depictions of England in the Saga of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), examining their utility as sources for the history of Viking Age Anglo-Scandinavian cultural ...

routledge.com

My book Early English Queens, 850-1000 pretty much does what it says on the cover! It's a biography-led exploration of how queenship developed in an important period of political evolution in England. And the book is currently 20% off with free shipping at Routledge (or 25% off for the ebook).

Early English Queens, 850–1000: Potestas Reginae

This book offers a comprehensive, biography-led examination of queenship in England between 850 and 1000, tracing the development of the queen’s role from bed companion to institutional office. The pe...

routledge.com

CFP: IMC Leeds (5–8 July 2027) Conquest, Invasion, Colonisation: Experience and Memory in Early Medieval Britain. Papers are invited for panels on the experiences and legacies of conquest in early medieval Britain and Ireland. Abstracts to matthew.firth@flinders.edu.au by 31 August 2026.

Ecgberht, first king of England. Well according to BL Add 63009 and about 15 other roll chronicles I've viewed this week anyway. This is a striking visual example though. The Roger of St Albans rolls are always a bit fancy...

Imagine getting this ambitious and then the portrait guy just doesn't show up. But the guy who paints the little churches did? In French, roll chronicle of popes, emperors, French and English kings. BL Harley Roll O 1.

Roll Chronicles. Increasingly struck by Ecgberht's centrality to the founding of England/English kingship in later medieval history writing. This is BL Add 8101 that dates to c. 1375. Ecgberht is the first blue roundel. Picking up on threads of research from last year.

Can anyone help me out with this one? The below passage is incorrect (or at least overstated) in regard to Germania. I suspect it is the same with Snorra Edda, but I cannot even work out what passage the author might be referring to. Any guesses? Am I wrong?

Can anyone help me out with this one? The below passage is incorrect (or at least overstated) in regard to Germania. I suspect it is the same with Snorra Edda, but I cannot even work out what passage the author might be referring to. Any guesses? Am I wrong?

News! Coming out in paperback: my book on Viking Age England, medieval Icelandic cultural memory, and the transmission of historical narrative across time and place. It's now much less unaffordable. You can pre-order - it's due out in June.

Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders

This book provides an in-depth study of depictions of England in the Saga of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), examining their utility as sources for the history of Viking Age Anglo-Scandinavian cultural ...

routledge.com

Officially released TODAY!!!

The hardcover of my edited collection, Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception, is 60% off on the @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social website. So, if you wanted to read some fascinating studies of how the early English past was reinvented in a Norman world... boydellandbrewer.com/book/pre-con...

Delighted to say I've been awarded a 2026/27 Bodleian Libraries Humfrey Wanley visiting fellowship. I'll be looking at many, many copies of the prose Brut and their representations of the early English past. But not until Trinity term next year (this year's UK research trip is already planned).

Another review of my edited volume Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception has just appeared. Menendez runs a thorough eye over each chapter: scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/ind... The ebook is downright affordable from @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social. boydellandbrewer.com/book/pre-con...

Yesterday's meeting couldn't even have been an email, because emails need content...

On the sidelines of #anza25 in Melbourne, it was wonderful for past, present, and incoming members of the Ceræ committee to meet in person and talk about our own research. L-R: @ohwowbee.bsky.social @mattfirth.bsky.social @mlcseah.bsky.social @ericasteiner.bsky.social Natasha Bailey Andrea Wait

Very pleased to have received a Flinders University Vice Chancellor's Award for Research last week. It's been a busy year of research and writing. Next projects: a biography of Gunnhildr konungamóðir (Arc, 2026/27) and a biography of Edgar the Peacemaker (Yale, 2027/28).

New issue of @parergon.bsky.social edited by @mattfirth.bsky.social, Dr Cassandra Schilling and me!

@flindersuniversity.bsky.social ARC DECRA Fellow in Medieval History, @mattfirth.bsky.social speaking at @anzamems.bsky.social on political friendships in Wessex!

Just in: the first review of my edited collection, Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception: Writing England's Past. The reviewer states 'the variety of approaches and diverse materials discussed in this collection spark exciting possibilities and avenues for future research'. Perfect! (1/2)

The first review of Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders has appeared! In Dr Kennedy's positive (yet critical) assessment, it is 'almost unfailingly interesting and insightful' and 'scholars of the Íslendingasögur, and especially the skáldsögur, will 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 this book'. (1/2)

The challenges of packing to go to a conference...

Issue 42.2 is upon us! As some of you have noted, our book reviews are already available. Alongside the contents page for our special issue on England and the external world, and our frankly fabulous cover. Check out our website, articles available on Project Muse soon. parergon.org/index.php/pa...

Just in: the first review of my edited collection, Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception: Writing England's Past. The reviewer states 'the variety of approaches and diverse materials discussed in this collection spark exciting possibilities and avenues for future research'. Perfect! (1/2)