Dr Matt Firth
@mattfirth.bsky.social
Research Fellow @ Flinders Uni. Early English Queens, 850-1000 (https://t.ly/Q395d); Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders (https://t.ly/So2-E); & Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception (https://t.ly/jeqql) all out now.
Very pleased to have received a Flinders University Vice Chancellor's Award for Research last week. It's been a busy year of research and writing. Next projects: a biography of Gunnhildr konungamóðir (Arc, 2026/27) and a biography of Edgar the Peacemaker (Yale, 2027/28).
December 5, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Very pleased to have received a Flinders University Vice Chancellor's Award for Research last week. It's been a busy year of research and writing. Next projects: a biography of Gunnhildr konungamóðir (Arc, 2026/27) and a biography of Edgar the Peacemaker (Yale, 2027/28).
The challenges of packing to go to a conference...
November 29, 2025 at 6:48 AM
The challenges of packing to go to a conference...
Just in: the first review of my edited collection, Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception: Writing England's Past. The reviewer states 'the variety of approaches and diverse materials discussed in this collection spark exciting possibilities and avenues for future research'. Perfect! (1/2)
November 28, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Just in: the first review of my edited collection, Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception: Writing England's Past. The reviewer states 'the variety of approaches and diverse materials discussed in this collection spark exciting possibilities and avenues for future research'. Perfect! (1/2)
The first review of Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders has appeared! In Dr Kennedy's positive (yet critical) assessment, it is 'almost unfailingly interesting and insightful' and 'scholars of the Íslendingasögur, and especially the skáldsögur, will 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 this book'. (1/2)
November 28, 2025 at 4:55 AM
The first review of Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders has appeared! In Dr Kennedy's positive (yet critical) assessment, it is 'almost unfailingly interesting and insightful' and 'scholars of the Íslendingasögur, and especially the skáldsögur, will 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 this book'. (1/2)
The next issue of @parergon.bsky.social is on its way, guest-edited by me, @erinsebo.bsky.social and Cassandra Schilling. There's a great group of scholars here who collectively consider, from multiple perspectives, questions of how medieval England perceived its place in a wide and complex world.
November 18, 2025 at 8:48 AM
The next issue of @parergon.bsky.social is on its way, guest-edited by me, @erinsebo.bsky.social and Cassandra Schilling. There's a great group of scholars here who collectively consider, from multiple perspectives, questions of how medieval England perceived its place in a wide and complex world.
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.
September 22, 2025 at 5:29 AM
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.
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.
August 11, 2025 at 1:13 PM
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.
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)
August 5, 2025 at 3:57 AM
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)
A copy of my edited collection in the (sort of) wild, at the @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social stand at @imc-leeds.bsky.social. You too could own a copy of 𝘗𝘳𝘦-𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 - 50% off and free shipping at the B&B website with code BB094.
July 7, 2025 at 10:57 AM
A copy of my edited collection in the (sort of) wild, at the @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social stand at @imc-leeds.bsky.social. You too could own a copy of 𝘗𝘳𝘦-𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 - 50% off and free shipping at the B&B website with code BB094.
Manuscript research is done. IMC paper is written (and I get it out of the way on Monday afternoon). So a relaxing week of catching up with people in Leeds lies ahead. Six weeks away from home has been a long time...
July 5, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Manuscript research is done. IMC paper is written (and I get it out of the way on Monday afternoon). So a relaxing week of catching up with people in Leeds lies ahead. Six weeks away from home has been a long time...
Oh oh, here come the vikings. The martyrdom of King Edmund of East Anglia in pictures and Anglo-Norman verse (Manchester John Ryland, French MS 142). Side note: I wonder why Hinguar is balding in contrast to everyone else's luxurious locks.
July 4, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Oh oh, here come the vikings. The martyrdom of King Edmund of East Anglia in pictures and Anglo-Norman verse (Manchester John Ryland, French MS 142). Side note: I wonder why Hinguar is balding in contrast to everyone else's luxurious locks.
The Leiden Glossary and Leiden Riddle on display for the second day of the Leiden Ælfric conference.
June 27, 2025 at 12:00 PM
The Leiden Glossary and Leiden Riddle on display for the second day of the Leiden Ælfric conference.
Oxford yesterday, Leiden today. Here for a two-day Ælfric-a-thon (which is exactly as niche as it sounds).
www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...
www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...
June 25, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Oxford yesterday, Leiden today. Here for a two-day Ælfric-a-thon (which is exactly as niche as it sounds).
www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...
www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...
This is fun: Roger Alban's mid-15th c. roll chronicle (Ox Queen's MS 168). A real shift in presentation with the ascension of Ecgberht to the West Saxon throne. There is a real trend in 14th/15th c. chronicles of positioning him as the progenitor of English kingship.
June 24, 2025 at 11:46 AM
This is fun: Roger Alban's mid-15th c. roll chronicle (Ox Queen's MS 168). A real shift in presentation with the ascension of Ecgberht to the West Saxon throne. There is a real trend in 14th/15th c. chronicles of positioning him as the progenitor of English kingship.
Very strong suspicion that Bodleian Laud 730 (1st pic) is a less than spectacular copy of Queen's College 304 (2nd pic). Both Peter of Ickham, into whose rabbit hole I appear to have descended...
June 24, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Very strong suspicion that Bodleian Laud 730 (1st pic) is a less than spectacular copy of Queen's College 304 (2nd pic). Both Peter of Ickham, into whose rabbit hole I appear to have descended...
Peter of Ickham says hello from this fabulous illuminated initial that opens Ox Queen's College MS 304.
June 24, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Peter of Ickham says hello from this fabulous illuminated initial that opens Ox Queen's College MS 304.
William of Malmesbury's autograph of Gesta pontificum Anglorum (Oxford Magdalen MS Lat 172). Nice to meet it in person...
June 23, 2025 at 2:20 PM
William of Malmesbury's autograph of Gesta pontificum Anglorum (Oxford Magdalen MS Lat 172). Nice to meet it in person...
This scribe is not my friend. Don't like him at all...
June 23, 2025 at 1:44 PM
This scribe is not my friend. Don't like him at all...
Alfred with a giant illuminated 'A' to start chapter 6 of Higden's Polychronicon - Ox Lincoln Lat 107 (all the chapters start with an illuminated letter). Probably a presentation copy of the text given to the college by its founder, Richard Flemming.
June 21, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Alfred with a giant illuminated 'A' to start chapter 6 of Higden's Polychronicon - Ox Lincoln Lat 107 (all the chapters start with an illuminated letter). Probably a presentation copy of the text given to the college by its founder, Richard Flemming.
Marginal evidence of a bored history student? Medieval doodles from the margins of Ox Lincoln Lat. 151 (a prose Brut). I'd like to think they got caught by their teacher just as they got to work on their third creature (there are about 15 of these guys doodled throughout the manuscript).
June 21, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Marginal evidence of a bored history student? Medieval doodles from the margins of Ox Lincoln Lat. 151 (a prose Brut). I'd like to think they got caught by their teacher just as they got to work on their third creature (there are about 15 of these guys doodled throughout the manuscript).
Alfred's family is of particular interest for writer and reader in this copy of Peter of Ickham's Chronicle. An index inserted at a later date also terms Alfred 'primus monarchia Anglie'.
Another part of the historiographical tradition I discuss in my EHR article.
academic.oup.com/ehr/article/...
Another part of the historiographical tradition I discuss in my EHR article.
academic.oup.com/ehr/article/...
June 21, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Alfred's family is of particular interest for writer and reader in this copy of Peter of Ickham's Chronicle. An index inserted at a later date also terms Alfred 'primus monarchia Anglie'.
Another part of the historiographical tradition I discuss in my EHR article.
academic.oup.com/ehr/article/...
Another part of the historiographical tradition I discuss in my EHR article.
academic.oup.com/ehr/article/...
William the Conqueror's lineage in BL Royal 20 A.XVIII - one of three copies of the Anonimalle Chronicle, a northern version of the Anglo-Norman prose Brut distinct enough to need its own edition...
June 16, 2025 at 12:12 PM
William the Conqueror's lineage in BL Royal 20 A.XVIII - one of three copies of the Anonimalle Chronicle, a northern version of the Anglo-Norman prose Brut distinct enough to need its own edition...
Finding a copy of my queenship book in the wild never gets old (this one at Waterstones Gower St). But it is also 20% cheaper to buy it through the Routledge website with the code 25SMA2. Don't tell Waterstones, I guess?
June 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Finding a copy of my queenship book in the wild never gets old (this one at Waterstones Gower St). But it is also 20% cheaper to buy it through the Routledge website with the code 25SMA2. Don't tell Waterstones, I guess?
I'm always struck by he glorious subtlety of a British Museum stamp, in this case adorning a 12th c. copy of Osbern's Vita Dunstani. At least Dunstan's looking good...
June 10, 2025 at 10:37 AM
I'm always struck by he glorious subtlety of a British Museum stamp, in this case adorning a 12th c. copy of Osbern's Vita Dunstani. At least Dunstan's looking good...
