Who can, should head to Płock 🇵🇱 — we’re celebrating 950 years of the Płock diocese! How do historians celebrate? With a conference, of course. My talk on the murder of Bishop Werner is already behind me. 🎤 A short recap is now available in podcast form here 👇

✨ Polish medieval liturgy goes global 🌍
After a year of discoveries, conferences in four countries on two continents & media outreach in the largest Polish and German news outlets, including Der Spiegel, DW, TVN24, and TV Republika, our research team met this weekend to plan what’s next.

Starting this summer, please do check the statistics, let say here: businessinsider.com.pl/media/rankin... I understand your unease, I am taking the risk to transmit scholarly & published data to most of those watching TV in Poland. Worthy of shaming? I do not think so.

Thank you, Charles!

📺 Prime time. Main evening news. Poland’s biggest channel. In a story that might stir unease, I had 60 seconds to share research on a newly discovered fragment of "Gaude, mater Polonia". 🎶 Even brief moments can bring medieval heritage to the spotlight!

Great news from @monumenta.bsky.social: wherever you are – at home, on the beach, or up in the mountains – you can still get your hands on all your favorite articles about the Middle Ages. 🏖️🏔️📚 Just click the button & order!
👉 mgh.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/se...

W sierpniu wszystkie drogi prowadzą… nie do Rzymu, lecz do Kielc! 🗓️ Już w ten weekend, 23–24.08, Karczówka stanie się bramą do średniowiecza podczas "Jarmarku Klasztornego". Wspólnie z prof. Krzysztofem Brachą współtworzyłem widowisko z okazji millennium koronacji Chrobrego.👑 Zapraszamy!

ND Week in Warszawa! 🇵🇱 From medieval monarchs to manuscript treasures, it was a treat to guide John Sikorski & his students through Polish history. Prof. Calvin Bower lit it up with a stellar lecture on St Michael’s sequences—plus rich conversations on liturgy & archangels. 👑📖🔥

Always a thrill to see thoughtful engagement with your work — and even better when it’s in "Speculum"! Grateful for the kind words on the volume I co-edited. 📚

The paper in which I discuss the hitherto unknown attestation of "Gaude, mater Polonia", discovered in Berlin, is available in the open-access journal "Muzyka" here: www.academia.edu/124724693/_N...

Below is a fragment of the interview. The full, multifaceted article – which also addresses issues I have not explored – is available here:
www.spiegel.de/geschichte/r...

May 8: the end of the war, the feast of St. Stanislaus, yesterday’s visit of the German Chancellor to Warsaw, and my interview in "Spiegel. Geschichte", which weaves these threads into a whole no one could have anticipated. About the unexpected discovery, and a history that is still very much alive.

Płock is also the burial place of two Polish rulers, and this year, the diocese is celebrating a major jubilee. ⛪

📜 Yesterday, I was back in Płock—home to the oldest surviving "ordo coronandi" from medieval Poland, a coronation rite found in the so-called Płock Pontifical. Likely, the manuscript was written for the Gniezno province around 1200. 👑

Dziś kolejny raz na nagraniu – znów o koronacji Chrobrego. Transmisja dokładnie w tysiąc lat po prawdopodobnym dniu namaszczenia, czyli 18 kwietnia. Tym razem o godzinie 19:00. Gdzie? W audycji „Eureka” na antenie Jedynki (Polskie Radio). Dziękuję Pani K. Kobyleckiej za rozmowę!

If I look scared, it’s because I had to speak to Polish MPs today about the significance of medieval history for contemporary society. It was the most challenging talk I’ve ever given. Academia and policymakers don’t often meet with mutual understanding—but this time, it looks like I survived.