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Reposted by Dr Matt Firth

ANZAMEMS @anzamems.bsky.social · 12d

Registration Open: Conference of the Australian Early Medieval Association #medieval #earlymodern www.anzamems.org/?p=...

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Reposted by Dr Matt Firth

Gabriele Passabì @gabpassabi.bsky.social · 14d

The much-anticipated news is now here. I am very excited to announce that my book, soon out with York Medieval Press, is now available for pre-order! Hats off to @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social and the awesome Mont-Saint-Michel design team for the cover!

boydellandbrewer.com/book/robert-...

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 15d

The way this article is framed positions the loss of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences as of secondary importance. This both reflects and entrenches attitudes towards these as 'lesser' disciplines, which is what got us into this mess in the first place.

Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 15d

Six internationally recognised marine scientists who are researching South Australia's toxic algal bloom are set to lose their jobs at Flinders University, the ABC understands.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Flinders University jobs under threat as news of proposed restructure spreads

Six internationally recognised marine scientists who are researching South Australia's toxic algal bloom are set to lose their jobs at Flinders University, the ABC understands.

www.abc.net.au

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 16d

Thanks Deborah, it really is. At least we have him home for the night. It's amazing to think how long he's been with us.

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 16d

Such fun choices for tomorrow morning! I can attend a meeting to discuss the impending dissolution of the college of HASS at my university. Or I can take a cat who has been with me since my 20s - three cities and careers ago - to be euthanised. I will, naturally, be farewelling my boy.

A handsome tabby cat named Nüss - a venerable old gentleman at 17 years of age who has, sadly, reached the end of his life.

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 25d

Early English Queens, 850-1000 has just been reviewed in @jaema.bsky.social 20.2. McLeod states that it 'finds an ingenious structure to tell a difficult and timely story' & 'is highly recommended'.

Links to the review & the book (all formats):

Review → search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/...

Book ↓

Early English Queens, 850–1000: Potestas Reginae

This book offers a comprehensive, biography-led examination of queenship in England between 850 and 1000, tracing the development of the queen’s role from bed companion to institutional office. The pe...

www.routledge.com

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Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association @jaema.bsky.social · Aug 23

While the Call for Papers for our annual conference may be closed, we are still open to submissions for our Journal!

JAEMA publishes scholarly articles on the Late Antique and Early Medieval world, see our website for details: aema.org.au/journal/

This call for submissions states that the Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association seeks submissions of scholarly articles on the early medieval period and late antiquity, from anywhere around the globe, between the fall of the Roman Empire and the end of the eleventh century. The Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association publishes articles that appeal to those interested in our period, whether these are focused on the historical, political, social, literary, cultural, religious, ethnic, geographic, and interpretive crossovers between.

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Erin Sebo @erinsebo.bsky.social · Aug 22

Fabulous guest lecture in #ENGL3115 Medieval and Early Modern Women's Writing from @flindersuniversity.bsky.social DECRA Fellow, @mattfirth.bsky.social

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Aug 11

My latest article is out in the a Journal of Medieval History (open access). It examines depictions of viking activity in the Sagas of Icelanders and the perceived moral implications of raiding in pre-/post-conversion settings. Quickest proofs turnaround ever...

Víking Across Conversion: Depictions of Víkingar in the Sagas of Icelanders

Vikings commonly feature in the Íslendingasögur (Sagas of Icelanders). The words víking (the act of raiding) or víkingr (a raider) appear over 180 times across the forty-some texts of the corpus. H...

www.tandfonline.com

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Jane Kershaw @jk-viking.bsky.social · Aug 11

www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-08...

Pleased that this is now out! See the Bedale hoard as part of the Viking North exhibition at York Museum.

@yorkmuseumstrust.bsky.social @unioxarchaeology.bsky.social

Viking silver hoard reveals far-reaching trade links between England

New research into a remarkable Viking-Age silver hoard discovered in North Yorkshire, led by Dr Jane Kershaw,  Associate Professor of Viking Age Archaeology, School of Archaeology, has shed light on

www.ox.ac.uk

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Aug 11

My latest article is out in the a Journal of Medieval History (open access). It examines depictions of viking activity in the Sagas of Icelanders and the perceived moral implications of raiding in pre-/post-conversion settings. Quickest proofs turnaround ever...

Víking Across Conversion: Depictions of Víkingar in the Sagas of Icelanders

Vikings commonly feature in the Íslendingasögur (Sagas of Icelanders). The words víking (the act of raiding) or víkingr (a raider) appear over 180 times across the forty-some texts of the corpus. H...

www.tandfonline.com

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Aug 11

Proofs! One of my increasingly rare forays into saga literature. I question how pre- and post-conversion settings affect the social acceptability of viking activity in the Sagas of Icelanders. Look for it in the next issue of the Journal of Medieval History.

Abstract for a forthcoming article: Vikings commonly feature in the Íslendingasögur (Sagas of Icelanders). The words víking (the act of raiding) or víkingr (a raider) appear over 180 times across the forty-some texts of the corpus. Here, they are a ubiquitous part of the cultural landscape of the late ninth- to mid-twelfth-century North Atlantic. The Íslendingasögur are not contemporary sources such as those from England and Francia that report experiences of viking raids. The sagas do, however, represent stories of the societies from which the vikings came. Here there are nuances to the depictions of the raiders that contrast with the accounts of their victims. This article examines the intersection of viking activity and the Icelandic conversion in the year 1000 (kristnitaka) in the Íslendingasögur. It posits that while, in the saga worldview, víking could be lauded prior to kristnitaka, with the coming of Christianity, Icelandic heroes could no longer easily pursue víking without censure.

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Aug 6

I sent a strongly worded email...

Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Aug 5

I did!

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Aug 5

The production editor of a T&F journal just sent me proofs in which they had deleted every parenthetical dash in the article (and hasn't replaced them with brackets or commas either). Is this a reaction to the 'AI uses hyphens' thing? Is my honour being impugned?

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Aug 5

Side note that the reviewer gets themselves deeply muddled between Edward the Elder and Edgar the Peaceful (and, as such, confuses the relationships between various figures) - these are their errors, not the book's!

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Parergon Journal @parergon.bsky.social · Aug 5

Issue 42.1 is in press! Cosimo I de' Medici graces the cover in full armour, giving some side eye. This is an open issue so there are great articles on a range of topics. Follow the link for the TOC and book reviews. We'll feature each article over the coming month.

www.parergon.org/index.php/pa...

Agnolo Bronzino (Italy 1503–72) Cosimo I de' Medici in armour c1545, oil on poplar panel, 86 x 66.8 x 3.5 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased with funds provided by the Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation 1996, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Aug 5

Links! To Parergon 42.1 which contains the review:
www.parergon.org/index.php/pa...

And to the publisher site for the paperback of the book:
www.routledge.com/Early-Englis... (2/2)

Early English Queens, 850–1000: Potestas Reginae

This book offers a comprehensive, biography-led examination of queenship in England between 850 and 1000, tracing the development of the queen’s role from bed companion to institutional office. The pe...

www.routledge.com

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Aug 5

The first review of Early English Queens has appeared! Dr Tomas states it 'provides new methodological approaches to the study of histories with limited surviving sources and adds much to the growing research on female rule and representations of female power'. Can't ask for more than that! (1/2)

Cover of the book Early English Queens, 850-1000 by Matthew Firth. Depicts a late-medieval miniature of Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, enthroned as a queen.

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Dr Basil Arnould Price @basilaprice.bsky.social · Jul 29

Ready for @imc-leeds.bsky.social 2026? Submit an abstract to Dan Reeve and I's CFP: "BEYOND TOUCH: New Queer and Trans Temporalities" We invite submissions for 15-20 minute papers that examine queer and trans temporalities from new and unexpected angles. #IMC2026. Full CFP below 👇

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Reposted by Dr Matt Firth

Ellen Gallimore @emgallimore.bsky.social · Jul 30

CFP for @imc-leeds.bsky.social for July 2026: "Old English in the Long Nineteenth Century". Please share widely! Deadline for abstracts 1 September 2025. #IMC2026

Call for papers for the 2026 Leeds IMC for "Old English in the Long 19th Century". Deadline 1 Sept. 2025. Description reads:
Throughout the long 19th c., various advances were made in the study of Old English, ranging from the 1st edition of Beowulf (1815) the outlining of OE metre by Eduard Sievers, as well as discoveries of such OE texts as the Vercelli Book, the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary and the Brussels Cross. When approaching OE in the 21st c., it is impossible to deny the impact of 19th-c. scholarship. When we refer to titles of such OE poems as The Wanderer, The Seafarer and The Wife’s Lament, we are using titles bestowed on these texts by 19th-c. scholars. Several standard editions of OE texts were made in the 19th c. or heavily rely on earlier, 19th-c. editions. Lexicographical tools with a relevance for OE, including Bosworth and Toller’s An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, A Thesaurus of Old English and the Oxford English Dictionary, also have their roots firmly in 19th-c. philological practices and how OE is taught still relies on paradigms and set texts from the 19th c. Thus, when studying OE, we often have to engage with material on multiple temporal levels, considering not just our own concepts of the early medieval period but also how that period was understood by 19th-c. scholars. Paper proposals are welcome from scholars from all academic backgrounds. Possible topics include but are not limited to:
- Discoveries of OE texts
- Disputes about linguistic or literary interpretations of OE
- Disciplinary developments in the field of OE studies
- Personal, religious, political and ideological motivations for the study of OE
- Biographical contributions about scholars of OE
- Scholarly correspondence on OE matters
- Editing and printing of OE texts
- Teaching of OE
Please send an abstract (300 words) to Rachel A. Fletcher (r.a.fletcher@hum.leidenuniv.nl), Ellen Gallimore (ellen.gallimore@york.ac.uk) and Thijs Porck (m.h.porck@hum.leidenuniv.nl).

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Jul 29

Thanks Erika - email sent.

Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Jul 29

Do I know anyone that currently has access to the DUO Research Archive (Oslo)? They have recently shut down external access pending a migration to Nasjonalt vitenarkiv. I need copies of two master's theses that I was foolishly accessing direct through DUO but never downloaded.

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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · Jul 11

Ha! Well, from your description, perhaps they start earlier in the day than the youngsters.

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