The Case of the Mystery Eclipse of 811
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is positioned between the Earth and the Sun. This can only happen at the New Moon (obviously) and therefore eclipses interested early medieval […]
Me Talking About Medieval ‘Science (& Belief)’
Yesterday I gave a short talk about my new project to the Late Antique Work In Progress seminar in the School of Classics at St Andrews. You can hear me […]
Yet Another Blog on UK Academic Job Applications
My department at St Andrews has a job opening for a fixed-term (3-year) lectureship in medieval history. (Details here). Although there are many good ‘how to’ blogs about applying for […]
On ‘Progress’ in Early Medieval Science
Did the “Christian Dark Ages” suppress scientific knowledge and does it matter? You can find some great graphs on the internet that suggest so. Some even suggest that Europe managed […]
Early Medieval Science is Changing
One of the many accepted assumptions about the end of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages is that Roman science died, suppressed by belief and ignorance until at best […]
What’s Wrong with Merovingian Medicine?
Merovingian Gaul – Gaul after the ‘Fall of Rome’ – was terrible. All that anarchy and violence and illiteracy and moral decline. Just read Gregory of Tours’ Histories. Sadly for […]
Starting a PhD? Some Thoughts
The new academic year is here. For PhD students, starting advice can be scary. Every supervisor has their own idea about how things really work, often either as a positive […]
Writing about Holy People, East to West
There is a productive global turn in early medieval studies. The old concerns and many problems still remain. Still, big projects have been pushing western medievalists out of their traditional […]
Medieval Alterity
The annual Leeds International Medieval Congress launches in two weeks with the theme of 'otherness'. It is also ten years since I first wrote properly about the issues of people […]
On Utz’s Medievalism Manifesto
NB This is not a review. Just in case anyone might mistake it for one. There is a proper review here. What shall we do with Richard Utz’s new book, […]
