Parergon Journal

New from me in @parergon.bsky.social "Making Excuses: The Diplomatic Anxieties of Edward I of England". Hit me up if you want to read it but don't have access. #MedievalSky

New issue of @parergon.bsky.social edited by @mattfirth.bsky.social, Dr Cassandra Schilling and me!

Issue 42.2 is upon us! As some of you have noted, our book reviews are already available. Alongside the contents page for our special issue on England and the external world, and our frankly fabulous cover. Check out our website, articles available on Project Muse soon.

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

Cover of Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders. Generic design.

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 cover of Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception: Writing England's Past with a depiction of the 7th c. Mercian king, Offa, by Matthew Paris in the 13th c.

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)

Medieval Philosophical and Scientific Manuscripts – an online short course taught by Anna Somfai This course will run online from 14:00-17:00: Monday 26 January – Thursday 29 January 2026. The course explores medieval Western philosophical and scientific manuscripts produced over the spa…

How have books shaped the way we think? In January Anna Somfai will teach an online short course on books about science and philosophy in the Middle Ages. Book now 👇 #MedievalSky @ies-sas.bsky.social @warburginstitute.bsky.social @sas-news.bsky.social palaeography.uk/study/short-...

{New book} This invaluable reference work addresses sex, gender, & sexuality in medieval Europe and North Africa, providing an important update previous handbooks from the 1990s. Save 25% with ARC25 www.arc-humanities.org/978164189224...

The Warehouse of Bamiyan: Q&A with Arezou Azad - Edinburgh University Press Blog Arezou Azad rediscovers Bamiyan’s medieval archives, revealing a diverse, literate and interconnected Islamicate society in Afghanistan.

📚 New on the blog!

@arezouazad.bsky.social rediscovers Bamiyan’s medieval archives, revealing a diverse, literate and interconnected Islamicate society in Afghanistan.

Have a read:

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...

Officially out in the Journal of Medieval History vol. 51.5, my article on the intersection of viking activity and the Icelandic conversion (c. 1000AD) and how religious concerns shaped saga conceptions of the viking past.

Carolingian Biodiversity How Interdisciplinary Can and Should Work

Wow! @lollardfish.bsky.social & @profgabriele.com going all in on a new study using pollen to document biodiversity at & around the Abbey of St Gall in the Carolingian Age. buttondown.com/ModernMediev... #MedievalSky #interdisciplinarity

Cover of Parergon 42.2 with the feature image: Reed MS10. Book of Hours, Latin with additions in Middle English; the Raising of Souls to God preceding the Commendation of Souls.

Contents of Parergon 42.2: Articles Medieval English Attitudes to the Outside World - Matthew Firth Hated Race? Attitudes to the Wider World in Beowulf - Erin Sebo The Non-Christian as Culturally Distinct ‘Other’ in the Old English Judith and Elene - Cassandra Schilling The Earliest English Almanac? Types of Information in Early Calendrical Texts - Christine Rauer Elephants in English Literature, Art, and Material Culture before the Reign of Henry III - Alison Hudson England’s Enemies? Framing Feelings about Foreigners and Mercenaries in High Medieval War Narratives - Emily A. Winkler Making Excuses: The Diplomatic Anxieties of Edward I of England - Kathleen B. Neal English Queenship from the Mid-Fifteenth to Mid-Sixteenth Centuries and England’s Place in the European World - Michele Seah Review Essay New Work on Early Medieval England: England in the Early Medieval World - Jonathan Tickle

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.

Can't wait for this special issue of @parergon.bsky.social! Always great to work with Dr Cassandra Schiling and @flindersuniversity.bsky.social DECRA Fellow in Medieval History, @mattfirth.bsky.social and of course, ANU's Prof. Rosalind Smith!

Offa An authoritative biography of Offa of Mercia, revealing his importance as the king who stood at the turning point of Anglo-Saxon history Offa ruled the Merci...

Coming next spring ... yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

Come and join us for a few days jam-packed with medieval and early modern keynotes, papers, roundtables, and events!

@anzamems.bsky.social Conference 2025 at the University of Melbourne, 3–5 December

🚨Job Klaxon🚨

Open rank Professorship in History of the Middle Ages with consideration of digital Methods

📍Institute of History, University of Bern (🇨🇭)
📆Deadline: 19 October 2025
▶️ Information: tinyurl.com/56ywncuj

#Medievalsky #DigitalHumaniities

Rubric introducing the prayer Gracias tibi ago domine found in Canberra, National Library of Australia, MS Clifford 1097/7 fol. 22v.

Late-medieval Books of Hours were tools for navigating both earthly & spiritual challenges. Elizabeth Burrell's article in @parergon.bsky.social 42.1 explores English & French examples held in A/NZ libraries, providing transcriptions & translations of some apotropaic texts.

muse.jhu.edu/pub/62/...

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...

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 ↓

The horned helmet of Henry VIII, part of a full suit of armour made by Konrad Seusenhofer between 1511 and 1514. The armour was a gift from the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. The helmet includes a face piece with protruding eyes, a toothy grimace and a stubbly chin with ram's horns rivetted to its upper part.

Henry VIII loved to receive cryptic gifts, but the so-called horned helmet given by the Emperor Maximilian I is perhaps the most bizarre! In @parergon.bsky.social 42.1, Grace Waye-Harris analyses its long-disputed iconographical significance.

muse.jhu.edu/pub/62/...

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

Issue 42.1 of @parergon.bsky.social is out, follow the link to take a look! This open issue contains articles on a range of topics, as well as a cluster on the reception of Aristotle in early modern China. Look out for our feature posts for each article over the next week.

muse.jhu.edu/issue/5...

Opening page to the Life of St Margaret in the The Auchinleck Manuscript - text in two columns with a gap in the bottom right where an illumination (from the reverse page) has been cut out.

Supernatural women in medieval literature seem to inhabit opposite ends of a moral spectrum: saints good, sorceresses bad. Kathryn Walton’s article in @parergon.bsky.social 42.1, though, shows that medieval images of female power were much more kaleidoscopic than we assume.

muse.jhu.edu/pub/62/...

A scholar examines a postcard in the Harry Ransom Center's reading room. Her photo is framed by a blue square with "FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN" written on each side. That image is positioned in front of a section of the etched windows on the Ransom Center's first floor, which showcase highlights from our collections. More info about the Ransom Center's fellowships: https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/fellowships/

Do you:
-Love #literature? 📚
-Adore #art? 🎨
-Fancy #film or #photography? 📽️📸
-Thrill to the #theater? 🎭
-Relish #RareBooks? 📖

Apply for @ransomcenter.bsky.social's 2026-27 #fellowships!

Learn more & submit a proposal by Nov. 3: www.hrc.utexas.edu/fellowships/

#Humanities #Research #CFP #CFA 🗃️📜

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...

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...

Photo of boxes containing journals ready to be packed and shipped

Hardcopies of @parergon.bsky.social 42.1 (2025) have finally arrived. They'll be arriving in your mailboxes over the next couple of months!

Speaking of our latest issue - this review of @mattfirth.bsky.social's book is in it, along with 19 others! Follow the link to read them all...

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

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...

Here are @parergon.bsky.social we are seeking proposals for our 2027 special issue: see www.anzamems.org?page_id=741

And while we're on @parergon.bsky.social, we're just sending to print issue 42.1 (2025) - and loving Agnolo Bronzino's Cosimo I de' Medici in Armour on our cover, courtesy of the Art Gallery of New South Wales

The mystery of Boerne's ancient Bible: Who brought it there? A high school librarian found an old Bible at Boerne High School dating back to 1614. No one knows who brought it to Boerne from Germany.

MORE Mysterious German Books?

We've got another copy of the 1614 Bible found at Boerne High School at #NewberryLibrary!
Or DO We?
1/?

radio.kttz.org/2025-07-02/t...

Why snappy dogs, scratchy cats, and hungry worms were part of a medieval woman’s vision of the afterlife Over the course of three nights in 1422, the woman had visions of aggressive pets and insatiable worms tormenting a beloved friend.

theconversation.com/why-snappy-d...

Bayeux Tapestry to return to British Museum on loan after 900 years Bayeux Tapestry will be shown at the British Museum, which will lend treasures to Normandy museums.

How it all started!
(and it's coming closer to home very soon!) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...