The Bright Ages in Turkey
A peek into the process of translation, thanks to Ömer Şarlak
Finding Hope in History
History is about contingency, about possible worlds
Come Meet Matt and David at a Bookstore
We'll be signing books and talking about failed coups and deaths of empire (but in the Middle Ages)
New Evidence of Early Medieval English Warriors in Byzantium
And more British medieval stuff (like the UK release of our book!)
Hot To Go (Medieval) for 2025
New York, New York says it'll be a "medieval" 2025
Signed Copies of Oathbreakers - How to Get Them!
Plus a new essay by us on Elon Musk and a Carolingian phrase Musk doesn't understand
A Year in Review
A look back and a look forward at our writing (with lots of links)
Yes, Nicholas, there is a Santa Claus
Dr. Rutger Kramer tells us that there really was a medieval St. Nicholas. He has plenty of interesting stories of gift-giving, but is there a connection to Christmas?
Signs in the Sky and Fears about the End of Empire
On comets, drones, and fears manifested in looking at the night sky
Oathbreakers - Excerpt in Smithsonian Magazine
Our new book out today. Read an excerpt about a demon named Wiggo.
Update on our first giveaway (and a big thank you!)
Thanks to all our new subscribers. And a special discount code for our new book, just for you.
2 Things: NEW BOOK GIVEAWAY & (Carolingian) Princes in a Tower
Chances to win a signed book (or 2) and a related story about missing royal nephews, likely murdered
Medieval Women: In their own words
A guest post about the stunning new exhibition on "Medieval Women" now on at the British Library
A Wannabe "Crusader" in the Trump Cabinet
A troubling medievalism that calls for holy war against fellow Americans
Oathbreakers - Reviews and ... MAGIC!
Glowing Reviews about the book, in both real and imagined worlds
Discounted Preorder for Oathbreakers!
20% off our new book for subscribers!
Christopher Columbus was not Jewish
Junk science is also junk history
A Better (European) Middle Ages for Everyone
Getting the Band Back Together to Build Solidarity in Medieval Studies
NEW COVER REVEAL: OATHBREAKERS
A golden field, spattered in blood, that remade medieval Europe.
A Tang Dynasty Lion in Venice
Science stuff shows us an increasingly permeable medieval world
(Chappell) Roan d'Arc
Some thoughts on camp medievalism from Prof. Megan L. Cook.
Persian Silver in Early Medieval Scotland
A precious silver object from the Early Middle Ages reveals its origins, halfway around the world.
The "Great Tradition of the West" is Burning Books?
Tyrants take away your books "for your own good." That's what's happening at New College Florida right now.
In Memoriam: Elizabeth (Peggy) A.R. Brown
Remembering the woman who got us to rethink "feudalism"
D&D as History
Games have a (medieval) history
Judith, Jezebel, Justina
The longer medieval history of a slur, deployed once again
Proofs (and proofs?)
quick hits on our new book and a new discovery in Rome
Roland's Sword: Nostalgia, Tourism, Epic Poetry
A disappearing sword and some tall tales
Who we are! What we're reading!
A welcome for new subscribers.
Fontenoy
A monument and memory of a great medieval battle
"How did everyone know where to go for the battle in the Middle Ages?"
A really good question from a viral Tiktok that's kind of answered in our new book
Book Cover Reveal - Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers that Shattered an Empire & Made Medieval Europe
Oathbreakers is coming December 2024 and you can preorder now
1066 and 1944 ("Medieval" D-Day)
Using the Middle Ages to Remember a Modern War
Students and Faculty - Standing Together - Made the University
The long (medieval) history of the university begins with student protest - and support from their teachers
Silver Coins in a Permeable Medieval Europe
A new discovery by historians show how far things could travel (and how normal it was for them to travel), even during the European Middle Ages
"Not a Christian motive" - Remembering the Murder of Medieval Spanish Jews
Medieval Religion Matters, and isn't something we can just shrug off
Murder on the Church Floor
A story about vengeance in the midst of a 9th-century civil war
Aquinas in Alabama
On using and misusing medieval theology to attack reproductive rights
The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar
Some thoughts on TV history and expertise (and the Templars)
I (do not) like big books, and I cannot lie
Reflecting back on The Bright Ages and giving people a "way in" to the past
University budgets are moral documents
Universities are creating a(n intentional) recursive doom loop for the Humanities
Questions not Constructs - How to replace bad ideas
Fifty years ago, the medieval historian Elizabeth Brown published an article arguing that feudalism was not a useful concept. She demonstrates that few...
Happy Holidays and Site Migration Plans
Stay tuned but we're not gonna support Substack anymore
Oathbreakers (December 2024?)
Filed.
Two Elephants in Early Medieval Europe
The interwoven strands of a permeable Europe
The Apocalypse Approaches
Matt's new book "Between Prophecy and Apocalypse" is coming soon
Napoleon, Historians, and a Silly Movie
Ok, yeah, fiction is fiction but people get their history from it
The "Everyday" Middle Ages
People - actual people - lived in medieval Europe
Natalie Zemon Davis (1928-2023)
On shaping choices
The Medieval F Word
Everyone agrees feudalism is a lie, but