Jon Dell Isola
@medievaljon.bsky.social
PhD Medieval History. I work on early medieval politics and society. I think about the meaning and purpose of history a lot. I have a blog called Among the Ruins: among-the-ruins.ghost.io
Looks interesting!
"traditional Eurocentric perspectives .. have tended to focus primarily on empires & imperial agency as the dominant analytical category. [This book argues] instead that environmental factors played a much greater role in influencing the formation of trade routes." link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Long-Distance Trade in the Ancient World
This book presents a novel perspective on long-distance trade in the ancient world that integrates network theory and environmental analysis
link.springer.com
February 6, 2026 at 9:35 PM
Looks interesting!
This week I went on a bit of a digression from what I planned to write, eventually ending up looking at wax seals and Roman gemstones. #medievalsky
Wax Seals and Roman Gemstones: A Study of Historical Digressions
Hello! I received my PhD in Medieval History in May 2025 and am using my expertise to educate interested people in the Middle Ages and the process of creating history. Subscribing as either a free or ...
among-the-ruins.ghost.io
February 6, 2026 at 5:01 PM
This week I went on a bit of a digression from what I planned to write, eventually ending up looking at wax seals and Roman gemstones. #medievalsky
Reposted by Jon Dell Isola
This week on the blog - did Charlemagne’s conquest of the Saxons kickstart the Viking Age? #medievalsky
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/s...
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/s...
Saxon Sins: Why Charlemagne did not Start the Viking Age
In his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, foe of the blog Edward Gibbon (d. 1794) began discussing Charlemagne by observing that ‘The appellation of great has been often bestowed, and sometimes …
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
February 5, 2026 at 2:56 PM
This week on the blog - did Charlemagne’s conquest of the Saxons kickstart the Viking Age? #medievalsky
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/s...
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/s...
Reposted by Jon Dell Isola
Congratulations to all the winners of this year's publication prizes from the @medievalacademy.bsky.social! Fabulous work in so many fields.
#MedievalSky #GlobalMiddleAges #History #ArtHistory #Chess
#MedievalSky #GlobalMiddleAges #History #ArtHistory #Chess
February 4, 2026 at 3:53 PM
Congratulations to all the winners of this year's publication prizes from the @medievalacademy.bsky.social! Fabulous work in so many fields.
#MedievalSky #GlobalMiddleAges #History #ArtHistory #Chess
#MedievalSky #GlobalMiddleAges #History #ArtHistory #Chess
Reposted by Jon Dell Isola
New #MedievalSky publication on early medieval bishops!
Der bischöfliche Impetus.
Individueller und kollektiver Gestaltungswille in Gesellschaft, Kultur und Wirtschaft [...], ed. Andreas Bihrer, Sebastian Scholz and Gerald Schwedler, 2025: www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/themen-entde...
Der bischöfliche Impetus.
Individueller und kollektiver Gestaltungswille in Gesellschaft, Kultur und Wirtschaft [...], ed. Andreas Bihrer, Sebastian Scholz and Gerald Schwedler, 2025: www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/themen-entde...
Der bischöfliche Impetus
Der Sammelband behandelt für den westeuropäischen Raum die zahlreichen Anstöße (impetus), die von den Bischöfen ausgingen und die Gesellschaft, die Kultur und auch die Wirtschaft in der Zeit vom 4. bi...
www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:29 PM
New #MedievalSky publication on early medieval bishops!
Der bischöfliche Impetus.
Individueller und kollektiver Gestaltungswille in Gesellschaft, Kultur und Wirtschaft [...], ed. Andreas Bihrer, Sebastian Scholz and Gerald Schwedler, 2025: www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/themen-entde...
Der bischöfliche Impetus.
Individueller und kollektiver Gestaltungswille in Gesellschaft, Kultur und Wirtschaft [...], ed. Andreas Bihrer, Sebastian Scholz and Gerald Schwedler, 2025: www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/themen-entde...
Reposted by Jon Dell Isola
Historical analogies are arguments. So when someone makes an analogy between today and the Holocaust, or today and anything, think about they are really arguing for. What is the analogy trying to get you to do?
New at @startribune.com
New at @startribune.com
Perry: When is it OK to compare aspects of what’s happening in Minnesota to Nazi Germany?
Gov. Tim Walz has made some such analogies in relation to ICE and has been criticized for it, David M. Perry writes.
www.startribune.com
February 4, 2026 at 12:48 PM
Historical analogies are arguments. So when someone makes an analogy between today and the Holocaust, or today and anything, think about they are really arguing for. What is the analogy trying to get you to do?
New at @startribune.com
New at @startribune.com
Telling the secrets Big Early Modern doesnt want you to know
I just want everyone to know that @profgabriele.com just gave an absolutely killer guest lecture in my class and now my students are all budding medievalists. His evil plan is working.
February 3, 2026 at 10:44 PM
Telling the secrets Big Early Modern doesnt want you to know
Reposted by Jon Dell Isola
Someone mentioned to me that Louis the Child used the same royal seal as Louis the German, so I tracked it down: turns out that it not only is the same seal, but was seemingly using an antique gem of Emperor Hadrian. We know it's the same because it was repaired, with a visible crack. #medievalsky
February 2, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Someone mentioned to me that Louis the Child used the same royal seal as Louis the German, so I tracked it down: turns out that it not only is the same seal, but was seemingly using an antique gem of Emperor Hadrian. We know it's the same because it was repaired, with a visible crack. #medievalsky
I really need to get around to making a chartersky feed
Very much looking forward to this #charterrific event tomorrow! If you want a copy of the Teams link, just let me know. (Formal sign-up is now passed, but I have permission to circulate the link.)
February 3, 2026 at 2:41 PM
I really need to get around to making a chartersky feed
Reposted by Jon Dell Isola
This topic frustrates me every time it comes up, because people are outraged about the thing that's not actually happening while refusing to do anything about the thing that actually is! Everyone should be running ad and tracker blocking 24/7! Everyone!
February 2, 2026 at 1:17 AM
This topic frustrates me every time it comes up, because people are outraged about the thing that's not actually happening while refusing to do anything about the thing that actually is! Everyone should be running ad and tracker blocking 24/7! Everyone!
What's cool is this happening again
Nothing sours my mood faster than having to take a $15, 4 minute long, Uber drive because the next bus wasn't arriving for 45 minutes in 20 degree weather
February 3, 2026 at 1:52 AM
What's cool is this happening again
Someone mentioned to me that Louis the Child used the same royal seal as Louis the German, so I tracked it down: turns out that it not only is the same seal, but was seemingly using an antique gem of Emperor Hadrian. We know it's the same because it was repaired, with a visible crack. #medievalsky
February 2, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Someone mentioned to me that Louis the Child used the same royal seal as Louis the German, so I tracked it down: turns out that it not only is the same seal, but was seemingly using an antique gem of Emperor Hadrian. We know it's the same because it was repaired, with a visible crack. #medievalsky
"home cooking is borderline vanity project" might turn me into the joker
Treatler-Stalinism is a real ideology and an actual, tenured crackpot historian (who used to be a quite good historian) is a true believer in it.
We live in some goddamn interesting times.
We live in some goddamn interesting times.
February 2, 2026 at 5:06 PM
"home cooking is borderline vanity project" might turn me into the joker
Needs to be emphasized: this has an original soundtrack performed by Wang Chung. It rips
this is not a drill: To Live and Die in LA, one of the greatest crime films ever made, is on Criterion this month www.criterionchannel.com/stunts/seaso...
To Live and Die in L.A. - Stunts! - The Criterion Channel
Directed by William Friedkin • 1985 • United States
Starring William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow
William Friedkin’s kinetic neonoir takes the ’80s action thriller to new heights of hyperstyli...
www.criterionchannel.com
February 2, 2026 at 1:28 AM
Needs to be emphasized: this has an original soundtrack performed by Wang Chung. It rips
Reposted by Jon Dell Isola
Thirty-five million dollars were spent marketing this! It is like someone eating spoonfuls of gold-encrusted garbage and beckoning you to watch. Look at how much gold I’ve put on it! More gold than anyone! Doesn’t it look delicious?
'Melania' Is a Horror Movie
The first lady is trapped, and she doesn’t seem to know it.
www.theatlantic.com
January 31, 2026 at 3:17 AM
Thirty-five million dollars were spent marketing this! It is like someone eating spoonfuls of gold-encrusted garbage and beckoning you to watch. Look at how much gold I’ve put on it! More gold than anyone! Doesn’t it look delicious?
A part of this, I think, is also trusting that they CAN learn and do these things. Ive seen too many professors infantilize students, which is counterproductive. Treating students like adults with yet-to-be-mastered skills makes them more invested
My hot take about the “students cannot read whole novels / watch whole films / etc.” is that they can learn to do it. None of us are born with attention spans suited for long media. It is a learned skill and can be developed with practice.
February 1, 2026 at 3:18 PM
A part of this, I think, is also trusting that they CAN learn and do these things. Ive seen too many professors infantilize students, which is counterproductive. Treating students like adults with yet-to-be-mastered skills makes them more invested
Reposted by Jon Dell Isola
Because I saw this last night and cant let it go: if you are critiquing people for how long it took them to get a PhD, grow up. Getting a PhD is hard enough without also trying to please some arbitrary speed guideline. It took me a long time in part because of covid, partially because I had to work
January 31, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Because I saw this last night and cant let it go: if you are critiquing people for how long it took them to get a PhD, grow up. Getting a PhD is hard enough without also trying to please some arbitrary speed guideline. It took me a long time in part because of covid, partially because I had to work
Nothing sours my mood faster than having to take a $15, 4 minute long, Uber drive because the next bus wasn't arriving for 45 minutes in 20 degree weather
January 31, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Nothing sours my mood faster than having to take a $15, 4 minute long, Uber drive because the next bus wasn't arriving for 45 minutes in 20 degree weather
Because I saw this last night and cant let it go: if you are critiquing people for how long it took them to get a PhD, grow up. Getting a PhD is hard enough without also trying to please some arbitrary speed guideline. It took me a long time in part because of covid, partially because I had to work
January 31, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Because I saw this last night and cant let it go: if you are critiquing people for how long it took them to get a PhD, grow up. Getting a PhD is hard enough without also trying to please some arbitrary speed guideline. It took me a long time in part because of covid, partially because I had to work
Reposted by Jon Dell Isola
This is my sub field so I know it best, and the things I’m saying are true about other fields as well. But … these decisions are not about student demand or interest.
January 31, 2026 at 2:28 PM
This is my sub field so I know it best, and the things I’m saying are true about other fields as well. But … these decisions are not about student demand or interest.
Its never been a demand problem, always a political issue. David knows this, but its something I feel compelled to emphasize every chance I get
I think we could have gotten 150. Certainly 120. Every time we added seats they filled in a day.
January 31, 2026 at 2:29 PM
Its never been a demand problem, always a political issue. David knows this, but its something I feel compelled to emphasize every chance I get
Final call for the @bsrome.bsky.social and Early Medieval Europe early career fellowship, for a month's stay in Rome plus some travel costs to get there. Deadline tomorrow.
bsr.ac.uk/awards-resid...
bsr.ac.uk/awards-resid...
January 30, 2026 at 8:26 PM
Check out this job posted *three* days ago, with review of applications starting Feb. 9th. If you caught this on day 1, you would have about two weeks to do this AND get three people to write you a letter. I can't help but feel it is designed to weed people out preemptively. Also, no salary listed
January 30, 2026 at 5:17 PM
Check out this job posted *three* days ago, with review of applications starting Feb. 9th. If you caught this on day 1, you would have about two weeks to do this AND get three people to write you a letter. I can't help but feel it is designed to weed people out preemptively. Also, no salary listed
Quite literally my one rule was that I would not take out any loans for my PhD. It was a miracle I did so, and was very lucky and privileged at different times.
never pay for your phd. unless there are specific, field-related reasons why your program isn’t funded, no program is worth paying for. and remember that not all schools will fund you all the way through. check average completion times vs. years of funding.
OP's #1 advice is also critical. DO NOT PAY FOR A PhD, esp in the humanities (but really in any field).
January 30, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Quite literally my one rule was that I would not take out any loans for my PhD. It was a miracle I did so, and was very lucky and privileged at different times.
This feels weirdly exclusionary, we shouldn't exclude people because they don't have huge networks or people placing them into favored positions. Also this is a big insult to anyone here (cough cough) who sees a job and didn't know about it for whatever reason.
January 30, 2026 at 3:42 PM
This feels weirdly exclusionary, we shouldn't exclude people because they don't have huge networks or people placing them into favored positions. Also this is a big insult to anyone here (cough cough) who sees a job and didn't know about it for whatever reason.