I’m thrilled to share that my book Carolingian Ecological Sovereignty is out now with @archumanities.bsky.social ! You can order physical copies now, and the open access versions will be available sometime in early October. www.arc-humanities.org/978180270283... Keep an eye out for updates here 📚

Carolingian Ecological Sovereignty - Arc Humanities Press

During the early Middle Ages, the ecological was political—as it is today. For the Carolingians, the governance of nature was integral to the making of emp...

arc-humanities.org

Just got the proofs back for this baby, now to check through and index (the publisher keeps checking that I actually want to index it myself, which makes me feel like I have some weird indexing kink) Publication in April #medievalsky

The Vikings in Britain and Ireland

The impact of Scandinavian invaders on the peoples of the Britain and Ireland was incalculable. Raiders on a sometimes large scale, they initially attacked coastal and river settlements, but ended up ...

penguin.co.uk

As I prepare to teach about Charlemagne, here's a translation of his Thionville capitulary of 805, famous for its list of eastern border posts that regulated trade: blogs.ed.ac.uk/cwest3/2026/...

The book I’m currently reading for research was printed in the 1920s on cheap, tear-if-you-so-much-as-look-at-it paper, so I’m turning the pages with utmost delicacy while fantasising about having a nice robust medieval manuscript in front of me instead.

The one thing I can say is that I’m completely Suetonius pilled now. Tiberius tortured a man with a fish. Caligula declared war on the ocean and made his horse consul. Nero fiddled while Rome burned. They did all of this because they were insane and bad people.

Happy pub day to me! And to Jehanne. I hope she might be glad of my admiration for her: her jokes, her style, and her incredible grit. #medievalsky #skystorians. Come celebrate with me and @sarahweinman.com tonight or @harvardbookstore.bsky.social tomorrow @princetonupress.bsky.social

Princeton University Press@princetonupress.bsky.social · yesterday

A spellbinding narrative history that defies modern assumptions about women’s lives in the Middle Ages & informs contemporary debates about sexual violence & the limits of justice. Justice for Jehanne by @sarannmcd.bsky.social is now available. Learn more: buff.ly/4oG7fvL #History

I think the emphasis on bigger grants is counterproductive in the humanities, where you can do a huge amount just by providing a salary and reasonable overhead. Forcing people to apply for vast sums they don’t actually need for their core project adds to the pressure and reduces resources elsewhere.

Dr. Erika Graham-Goering@jeanneologist.bsky.social · 2d ago

For the record, "fewer larger grants" is the opposite of how to fund good research. Give a bunch of researchers financial stability and basic funding, without wasting their time on increasingly competitive applications and widening the have/have-not gap, and look how far we'll go.

For the record, "fewer larger grants" is the opposite of how to fund good research. Give a bunch of researchers financial stability and basic funding, without wasting their time on increasingly competitive applications and widening the have/have-not gap, and look how far we'll go.

This is a marriage contract ('ketubba') from Ramla for the wedding of Sarwa bat Mevorakh and Marwan ben Toviyya, dating to 1052 CE. It was the second time the pair had married each other, but the vertical lines through the document suggest it also led to their second divorce. @theul.bsky.social

Reconstructed village mosque from 11th-century al-Andalus (La Graja)

Writing up a paragraph exploring the possibility that an eighth-century Patriarch of Jerusalem might have been faking relics of martyrs to sell to westerners and realising that the way I’ve phrased it implies that he was shanking people in dark alleys for their bones.

A ghost goes to see an exorcist, says “I’m so depressed, for I linger on this plane, my purpose yet unfulfilled.” Exorcist says “I know what will allow you to leave mortal ties behind …”

Colin Dickey@colindickey.com · 3d ago

I swear to fucking god if any of you ever refer to my final resting place as “a place of pilgrimage for clowns” my ghost will haunt you for the rest of your days

Looking for something else, I ran across this, which I drew some time back:

I'm tired of hearing this stuff from politicians. 'McDonald said prime minister Andy Burnham had personally told him he wants more of the UK’s “world-class research” to foster growth and jobs.' www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

New science minister: funding system ‘destroying’ value of research - Research Professional News

Chris McDonald says he wants fewer and longer-term grants, plus a “smoother and simpler system”

researchprofessionalnews.com

Early medievalists may be happy to know that Simon Keynes’s collection of maps of Anglo-Saxon England has now been made freely available via @trincolllibcam.bsky.social These were commissioned by Simon and drawn (by hand) by Reg Piggott between 1991 and 2012. archives.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php/ma...

Want to learn how early medieval people living on the coast in Scotland hunted seals and seabirds? Or how collecting sea snails on the beach was part of new Christian practice? You should check out my new article in Water History! link.springer.com/article/10.1... #medievalsky

Wild animals, small practices, and the formation of an early medieval coastal landscape on the Firth of Forth - Water History

The large-scale landscape changes that occurred in northern Britain from roughly 400–800 C.E. were built on a vast array of smaller shifting practices which reflected the realities of local environmen...

link.springer.com

Kilger's 2008 map of coin hoards with Islamicate coins, ie dirhams (undated, but I guess c. 850-1000).

‘The Russian Orthodox church has sent a fragment of a medieval warrior prince’s remains to troops fighting in Ukraine, saying the relic would “spiritually strengthen” soldiers and help them achieve victory.’ www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

Orthodox church sends medieval prince’s remains to Russian troops in Ukraine

Part of Dmitry Donskoy’s right hand sent to ‘spiritually strengthen’ soldiers

theguardian.com

I don't circulate this again with much hope, but as we have had a speaker drop out, there is one last opportunity to send me something by 6 PM CEST today; at that point, the submission is being sent "sí o sí". #medievalsky #imc2026

Samuel Rowe@samdrowe.bsky.social · 4w ago

Final call! We already have some interesting papers lined up, so it's all looking very promising. #medievalsky #IMC2027

Proofs! More on this when it comes out but I'm feeling very happy about it.

New blogpost from me, in which I dive down the rabbit hole of folklore. Featuring nails, Christmas trees, piglet month, and bedstraw (among other things). longhairedkingsblog.wordpress.com/2026/09/10/w...

Was the Codex Ragyndrudis subjected to a Germanic pagan nailing ritual?

It’s a truism that any article which has a question for a title will contain the answer ‘no’. I’ve even done this myself before. And this is going to be another example. Or at least a firm ‘maybe b…

longhairedkingsblog.wordpress.com

📣 new #bear paper! Dr Liam Lewis and I gathered the evidence for bears and bear-baiting in #medieval England and northern France. We looked at bones, literature and archival accounts. We found that evidence for live bears increased after the #Norman Conquest 🧵

Proofs! Great to see the first contours of our article 'Law and Marriage'. It discusses the canonical tract known as the 'De Ratione Matrimonii' and offers its first critical edition + translation. Soon in Traditio, volume 81! See: canones.org/topics/news/

Out of nowhere - or to celebrate finishing the proofs of my book - here's a public appreciation message for @rogerpearse.bsky.social and his blog at www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/. So much good stuff there, from musings & analyses to simply sharing data. Including on Saint Nicholas. Thanks for that!

Roger Pearse

Thoughts on Antiquity, Patristics, putting things online, information access, and more

roger-pearse.com

if it took you 5 seconds of contemplation to think of an alternative you should take at least another 5-10 to at least consider the possibility that it at least crossed the minds of 1 or 2 of the people who dedicate their lives and research careers to dealing with the problems we post about on here

#NewPublication 👀 #OpenAccess #EthiopicBible #Patristics @sophiademue.bsky.social "The Ethiopic Version of the Introduction to the Psalms by Eusebius of Caesarea (CAe 6719): Preliminary Remarks on its Manuscript Transmission and Vorlage"

Minor gripe of the day: I don't like the word 'popularizer' as a term for a scholar who communicates with the public. It sometimes isn't badly meant, but I've heard it said with venom (often with the word 'mere') too many times and it downplays the work that goes into actually doing it.

Day 8,000 as a third-century Roman emperor. Fuck these cabbages are great

Sam Ottewill-Soulsby@samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social · last wk.

Inevitably the tourists destroy the authentic experience they’re in search of☹️