Today #amwriting about women and #gender in Venantius Fortunatus. He's pretty conventional, as one would expect, but I'm uncovering some interesting wrinkles.
As I worked my way through the Bregenz nuns' manuscripts, I came upon this delightful 15th-century fellow in a (vernacular) lectionary (front section of OENB 2837)
“This video looks at the history of writing amongst the Mongols and other nomadic peoples, with special focus on the writing of Mongolian during the days of the Mongol Empire.”
#Video length: twenty two minutes and forty one seconds.
Re last boost: please do share the @MAMG introduction post widely if you're in or adjacent to the history/gamedev parts of Mastodon :) It's very much the sort of project/conference we should want the Fediverse to be a supportive place for, and I'd really like to be able to show other people in my research fields that Fedi is a viable place for engagement, discovery, and curiosity about the world and its past.
Detail of the dome of Palermo's Capella Palatina. The 12th c. chapel was constructed under the Norman king Roger II and probably employed artists from the Greek east.
Right, with couple of toots already out it's time for an #introduction!
We're the Middle Ages in Modern Games conference: we're a small independently run annual event that specialises in short-form, written papers on how medievalisms and medieval societies are used in modern games and gaming.
If that sounds good, do follow us and read along as we post links to our papers! Boosts on this welcome so we can find interested people.
The Middle Ages in Modern Games conference and associated events are starting today - join us with sponsor Slitherine Games for the Field of Glory Day at 1600 UK time
Job: Asst prof/lecturer in early Irish history at Maynooth (from Deborah Hayden):
The Departments of Early Irish and History at Maynooth University invite applications for an Assistant Professor/Lecturer in Early Irish History. The successful candidate will deliver core modules on Irish history AD 400–1200, and contribute to the development new programmes in Medieval Studies.
“In the 890s, having recently converted to Orthodox Christianity, Boris ensured his church would be independent from the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Although interested in their religion, he was clearly concerned with curtailing Byzantine influence in his newly Christianised state. The alphabet offered an opportunity: by adopting it, Boris could ensure that Byzantine culture could not arrive in Bulgaria unmediated.”
“In the 890s, having recently converted to Orthodox Christianity, Boris ensured his church would be independent from the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Although interested in their religion, he was clearly concerned with curtailing Byzantine influence in his newly Christianised state. The alphabet offered an opportunity: by adopting it, Boris could ensure that Byzantine culture could not arrive in Bulgaria unmediated.”
“The implication is that Anglo-Saxon elites had access to significant quantities of Byzantine silver, something that dramatically alters our view of how economically and politically connected they were.”
From the manuscript to you: How Old Norse manuscripts are read and edited
"A case-study in how a page from an Old Norse manuscript (in this case the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda) is edited for publication in a modern-day book. Manuscript images from the Árni Magnússon Institute at the University of Iceland (handrit.is)."
#Video length: Thirty minutes and fifteen seconds.
I'm thinking about cross-field citation asymmetries in the discipline of #history.
What I mean is that I, as a historian of the #medieval#MiddleEast, am often encouraged to read and consider works in other fields for methodological and theoretical insights. And I do (some), because we all know that humans have a lot in common across regions and periods and I want to formulate the most insightful understandings of my field. And because most historians are Americanists and Europeanists, they recommend works in their own field. So I read and cite some European and American history.
The asymmetry is that I have never seen an Americanist or Europeanist cite a non-western historian for methodological or theoretical insights (occasionally some anthropologists do slip in). No doubt, given the number of scholars in those fields, they have enough to read already!
I'm not saying this asymmetry is conscious or ill-intentioned, but some of its effects are harmful to scholarship.
1/3
Two upcoming online lectures next Tuesday, 14 May (alas, their times overlap).
Here's the first, sponsored by the Celtic Studies Association of North America: Sarah Waidler (NYU) will speak on ‘Arthur, Authority and the Saints Revisited’ at 12 noon EDT (= 5 pm BST).
"These eight cities were not necessarily the largest in terms of land area or even population in some cases, but they were large in their sense of importance to the medieval era."
Final Call for Papers, 37th Irish Conference of Medievalists, Dublin, 20-21 June 2024 (from Immo Warntjes, TCD):
Speakers from Ireland and abroad are welcome to submit c 100-word proposals for 20-minute papers on all aspects of the Middle Ages, including (but not limited to) history, art, literature, linguistics, theology, philosophy, and palaeography.
A joy to be at Clare College to unveil the stone sculpture of the 1359 seal - greatly enlarged for visibility! Wonderful workmanship by Cardozo Kindersley Workshop, http://kindersleyworkshop.co.uk