Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦
banner
kfduggan.bsky.social
Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦
@kfduggan.bsky.social
Professor | Historian of crime, law, living standards, & social control in Western Europe, 7th-13th centuries | Dog lover | Pasta addict.

Background picture is of Nanaimo.
Portrait is from the 14th-century Luttrell Psalter.
Pinned
Strange men on golf courses distributing tariffs is no basis for a system of government. Bring back the women lying in ponds.
5 authors I’ve read 5+ books by:

Norman Bridwell
Roald Dahl
Beatrix Potter
Mercer Mayer
Robert Munsch
5 authors I’ve read 5+ books by:
Dickens
Le Carre
Iain (M) Banks
Le Guin
Me
5 authors I've read 5+ books by
Clive Barker
Brian Lumley
Robert Jordan
Stephen King
J.R.R. Tolkien
November 25, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦
TOMORROW! Nov. 25, 4 PM PST - come to my FREE virtual talk about pirates in colonial North Carolina and their connection to the Outlander series!
Do you like Outlander? Do you like pirates? Then come to my virtual presentation to discuss piracy in the Outlander series and Colonial America for the Wake County Public Library on Tuesday, Nov 25 at 4/7 PM PST/EST. It will be over Zoom and registration is FREE!
wakegov.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
November 25, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦
This exactly. Indeed the more you're committed to reading and substantively commenting on student work, the more LLM content sucks away time and emotional energy.
Schoolslop. Yes! That's exactly what it is. A great breakdown of what teaching is like in high school rn.
www.tiktok.com/@busynessgir...
November 24, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Want to learn about medieval coroners, tithings & the frankpledge system, crime & punishment, peacekeeping, the hue & cry, amercements, etc? Then check out my article “The limits of strong government: attempts to control criminality in thirteenth-century England”.

academic.oup.com/histres/arti...
The limits of strong government: attempts to control criminality in thirteenth-century England*
Abstract. This article examines how far centrally-directed structures of peacekeeping influenced communal reactions to criminality in thirteenth-century En
academic.oup.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦
Polish your prose, signpost your paragraphs, and check your references, because just one week remains for graduate students and those who have recently graduated with a higher degree to submit their work to the Medium Ævum Essay Prize 2026🖋️

Find out more by visiting mediumaevum.org.uk/essayprize
November 24, 2025 at 2:54 PM
For years I’ve been helping at a student conference in British Columbia. This year they chose not to share information about it with me or my department. When I inquired, the response I got was like the person smelled shit, but couldn’t quite identify from where it came.
a man in a brown sweater is drinking from a white cup
ALT: a man in a brown sweater is drinking from a white cup
media.tenor.com
November 23, 2025 at 6:30 PM
My infant has slept very well, which means I have time to catch up on some work. I’ve nearly finished grading assignments for one of my classes.
November 22, 2025 at 2:14 PM
A fantastic opportunity to work with amazing people on a spectacular project.
And the news is... We're recruiting! Applications are now open for our 2026 @leverhulme.ac.uk Doctoral Scholarships. So, if you want to study at PhD level pre-modern handwritten cultures and the organisation of knowledge and power within them, do investigate our refreshed website.
November 21, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Instead of offering Putin territory that doesn’t belong to the US, Trump should offer him US territory. Why not give the Russians Wyoming?
November 21, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦
Two-year postdoc at Queen’s University for historians of Classical &/or Medieval Europe.

~$70,000/year (CDN); requirement to teach 2 semester-long courses per year; teaching experience & scholarly publications are an asset.

Per donor’s bequest, “only candidates who identify as women are eligible”.
November 20, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Two-year postdoc at Queen’s University for historians of Classical &/or Medieval Europe.

~$70,000/year (CDN); requirement to teach 2 semester-long courses per year; teaching experience & scholarly publications are an asset.

Per donor’s bequest, “only candidates who identify as women are eligible”.
November 20, 2025 at 7:05 PM
For a second I thought the red leaf was an amazing piece of tuna.
I had a pretty fun frost this morning.🌱🍁🌿❄️
November 20, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Some high school students attended my “Living standards before the Black Death” lecture at @viuniversity.bsky.social yesterday. The lecture included a bit about coins, so I had an opportunity to show off some medieval silver pennies, including this one from King John’s reign (1199–1216).
November 19, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Can’t wait to get/read this.
There’s a 30% off discount code in the comments.
It’s publication day for Law, Society and Political Culture in Late Medieval and Reformation Germany! At last, the key sources from the Holy Roman Empire - laws, treaties, and polemics - are available in English translation. #medievalsky #earlymodern

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526165893/
November 18, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Me trying to explain to my wife that I need to buy more books.
November 16, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Committee work is so much easier when people listen, are open minded to possible changes, and don’t think only about themselves.

But also, committee work is difficult because it requires members who will listen, are open minded to possible changes, and don’t think only about themselves.
November 14, 2025 at 5:52 PM
For those who don’t want to click the link, the movies are:
1) Troop Beverly Hills
2) Rookie of the Year
3) The Devil Wears Prada, and
4) 300.
Pope Leo has shared his four favorite movies of all time, as the Vatican prepares to host dozens of actors and directors in a “World of Cinema” gathering on Saturday at his official residence. See which films made the pope's list. nyti.ms/4p3exK9
Pope Leo Shares His Favorite Movies Ahead of Vatican Event
The list leans heavily on uplifting classics.
nyti.ms
November 11, 2025 at 11:57 PM
A damn good point. ⬇️
So it turns out... the US air travel system was incredibly, deeply dependent on federal funding to just run day-to-day all this time, to the benefit of private airline shareholders, when everyone thinks that state-run trains are leeching off the government. Weird!
November 9, 2025 at 3:45 AM
I’m getting raise-the-roof vibes from @profgabriele.com and 6-7 vibes from @lollardfish.bsky.social .
Are you a palms in or palms out historian. @profgabriele.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:17 PM
I’m increasingly annoyed with people who think lack of planning on their part necessitates an emergency on mine. It doesn’t. Don’t expect me to stop or delay my work just because you can’t get your shit done in a timely manner.

And no, this is not related to students; my students are great.
November 7, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Getting told I look too young to be teaching at a university is not something I take as an insult – even if it’s intended as one. However, telling the story and hearing someone say “They thought you looked too young?!” is.
a man wearing glasses and a silver shirt is pointing at the camera
ALT: a man wearing glasses and a silver shirt is pointing at the camera
media.tenor.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:42 PM
What historians see when people claim AI is solving mysteries that have baffled historians for years.
just....enjoy this
November 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Made a comment about Tennyson today. My wife's response:
"Come on; you know no Tennyson. You only know Sendak: I told you once, I told you twice are seasons of the year are nice for eating chicken soup with rice".
November 4, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦
Getting away with crime or getting justice?

Sometimes medieval criminal court records reveal instances in which localities and/or individuals took the punishment of crime into their own hands. The castration case of Tom, son of Leofwin, from the year 1202 is one such case. 🧵1/5
December 10, 2024 at 3:13 PM
Talked about coroners last week in my @viuniversity.bsky.social history of crime class. This week we’re talking about gaol (not “jail” autocorrect!) & bail. I find the topic fascinating a have been reworking a publication on this topic since 2017 (I can’t stop adding to it, but I’ll let it go soon).
a black and white photo of a man in a prison cell .
ALT: a black and white photo of a man in a prison cell .
media.tenor.com
November 3, 2025 at 1:14 PM