Ed Roberts
@ecroberts.bsky.social
Early medieval historian at the University of Kent. Carolingian and Ottonian Europe (c.750-1050)
Great Friday afternoon read! Even more intriguing is the suggestion the Astronomer may have been Rudolf of Bourges...
Enmeshed in marking, but just thought I'd point out that this article is now out, open access: Simon MacLean, arguing that the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious could be rather later than historians have assumed: might 'the Astronomer' be Jonas of Orleans?
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The date and context of the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious
The Astronomer's Life of the emperor Louis the Pious (814–40) is a canonical source for scholars of Frankish history. It sits at the centre of recent debates about the nature and tone of Carolingian ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 5, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Great Friday afternoon read! Even more intriguing is the suggestion the Astronomer may have been Rudolf of Bourges...
Looking forward to this lecture next week!
Save the date of the last GHIL lecture in our winter series given by Stefan Esders (@freieuniversitaet.bsky.social) on 'Ethnicity and Legal Pluralism in the Early Middle Ages':
📅 9 December 2025
📍Pushkin House, London
⏰ 5:30pm GMT
🔗 Sign up: www.ghil.ac.uk/event...
1/7
📅 9 December 2025
📍Pushkin House, London
⏰ 5:30pm GMT
🔗 Sign up: www.ghil.ac.uk/event...
1/7
December 4, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Looking forward to this lecture next week!
Reposted by Ed Roberts
New Name In Print post on the blog: my latest article is an important study of tenth-century Normandy and the micropolities it came from; but shepherding it into print was a bit of a weird time:
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/n...
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/n...
Name in Print XVII
This one is a little late to the party, although in my defence that’s because it’s one of the oddest publication experiences I’ve ever had. Still, I am pleased to announce that my…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
New Name In Print post on the blog: my latest article is an important study of tenth-century Normandy and the micropolities it came from; but shepherding it into print was a bit of a weird time:
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/n...
salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/n...
Reposted by Ed Roberts
Unfortunately the HE 2025 ballot failed at 39% turnout. I have written about why and about what desperately needs to change in UCU's national structures off the back of this result. Some HEC members need to chi up and understand their role in all this, and how disconnected they are from members.
The HE Ballot failed, now what?
If you’re reading this it is because today the UCU’s 2025 national ballot over pay and conditions in universities has failed. The last time…
hitchcockian.medium.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Unfortunately the HE 2025 ballot failed at 39% turnout. I have written about why and about what desperately needs to change in UCU's national structures off the back of this result. Some HEC members need to chi up and understand their role in all this, and how disconnected they are from members.
Reposted by Ed Roberts
And here is the table of contents: our topics range from multilingualism in chancery documents to medieval work and Syriac historiography (doi.org/10.1553/medi...)
December 1, 2025 at 10:28 AM
And here is the table of contents: our topics range from multilingualism in chancery documents to medieval work and Syriac historiography (doi.org/10.1553/medi...)
Reposted by Ed Roberts
Did you ever wonder how the Early Medieval state worked? (And what it was ...?) - Here is my take on it. doi.org/10.1080/0304...
The Common Good: Military Service as Community Organisation in the Carolingian World
The Carolingian empire under Charlemagne (768–814) and Louis the Pious (814– 840) was a polity deeply shaped by war, or, more specifically, the organisation of warfare. Taking the – for its time – ...
doi.org
November 28, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Did you ever wonder how the Early Medieval state worked? (And what it was ...?) - Here is my take on it. doi.org/10.1080/0304...
Reposted by Ed Roberts
We are back at @ihr.bsky.social this week on Wednesday, 26 Nov, 5.30pm, in Wolfson Room NB02, where we welcome Ella Kirsh (Cambridge) to speak on "Ipsissima verba? The limits of shorthand under the Roman empire". All welcome, but please register in advance here! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Ipsissima verba? The limits of shorthand under the Roman empire
Earlier Middle Ages Seminar- Session 4
www.history.ac.uk
November 24, 2025 at 11:14 AM
We are back at @ihr.bsky.social this week on Wednesday, 26 Nov, 5.30pm, in Wolfson Room NB02, where we welcome Ella Kirsh (Cambridge) to speak on "Ipsissima verba? The limits of shorthand under the Roman empire". All welcome, but please register in advance here! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Reposted by Ed Roberts
Can't get enough of local priests? I hope not, because my book 'Pastoral Works. Priests, Books, and Compilatory Practices in the Carolingian Period' has just been published by Brepols (doi.org/10.1484/M.US...). You can read the book's introduction on my website (libripendis.eu/posts/26past...).
November 24, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Can't get enough of local priests? I hope not, because my book 'Pastoral Works. Priests, Books, and Compilatory Practices in the Carolingian Period' has just been published by Brepols (doi.org/10.1484/M.US...). You can read the book's introduction on my website (libripendis.eu/posts/26past...).
Reposted by Ed Roberts
And the news is... We're recruiting! Applications are now open for our 2026 @leverhulme.ac.uk Doctoral Scholarships. So, if you want to study at PhD level pre-modern handwritten cultures and the organisation of knowledge and power within them, do investigate our refreshed website.
November 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM
And the news is... We're recruiting! Applications are now open for our 2026 @leverhulme.ac.uk Doctoral Scholarships. So, if you want to study at PhD level pre-modern handwritten cultures and the organisation of knowledge and power within them, do investigate our refreshed website.
Reposted by Ed Roberts
Applications are now invited for the Society's 2026-27 Centenary PhD Fellowships for early career historians completing a doctorate bit.ly/48pWB72
Fellowships provide support of £8500 per award for 6 months and are held jointly with @ihr.bsky.social. Closing date: 31 January 2026 #Skystorians
Fellowships provide support of £8500 per award for 6 months and are held jointly with @ihr.bsky.social. Closing date: 31 January 2026 #Skystorians
Applications invited for the Society's Centenary PhD Fellowships, 2026-27 - RHS
Applications are now invited for the Royal Historical Society’s Centenary PhD Fellowships to support postgraduate historians to complete a doctorate. Two Fellowships, of six months each, are offered f...
bit.ly
November 20, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Applications are now invited for the Society's 2026-27 Centenary PhD Fellowships for early career historians completing a doctorate bit.ly/48pWB72
Fellowships provide support of £8500 per award for 6 months and are held jointly with @ihr.bsky.social. Closing date: 31 January 2026 #Skystorians
Fellowships provide support of £8500 per award for 6 months and are held jointly with @ihr.bsky.social. Closing date: 31 January 2026 #Skystorians
Reposted by Ed Roberts
It’s publication day for Law, Society and Political Culture in Late Medieval and Reformation Germany! At last, the key sources from the Holy Roman Empire - laws, treaties, and polemics - are available in English translation. #medievalsky #earlymodern
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526165893/
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526165893/
November 18, 2025 at 2:56 PM
It’s publication day for Law, Society and Political Culture in Late Medieval and Reformation Germany! At last, the key sources from the Holy Roman Empire - laws, treaties, and polemics - are available in English translation. #medievalsky #earlymodern
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526165893/
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526165893/
Reposted by Ed Roberts
Good to see the problems facing our colleagues @britishlibrary.bsky.social being raised here by @hetanshah.bsky.social (of @britishacademy.bsky.social). If this had happened in France it would be considered a national problem to be urgently addressed! www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Good to see the problems facing our colleagues @britishlibrary.bsky.social being raised here by @hetanshah.bsky.social (of @britishacademy.bsky.social). If this had happened in France it would be considered a national problem to be urgently addressed! www.cityam.com/the-british-...
Reposted by Ed Roberts
In association with the @ghilondon.bsky.social - the GHS is pleased to invite papers for the 2026 'Medieval Germany Workshop'
Workshop date: 29 May 2026
Submissions due: 15 February 2026
www.germanhistorysoc...
Workshop date: 29 May 2026
Submissions due: 15 February 2026
www.germanhistorysoc...
November 17, 2025 at 12:46 PM
In association with the @ghilondon.bsky.social - the GHS is pleased to invite papers for the 2026 'Medieval Germany Workshop'
Workshop date: 29 May 2026
Submissions due: 15 February 2026
www.germanhistorysoc...
Workshop date: 29 May 2026
Submissions due: 15 February 2026
www.germanhistorysoc...
Looking forward to this next week - a terrific line-up!
📣 Next week we are delighted to host a book launch for Local Priests in the Latin West, 900-1050, by Alice Hicklin, Steffen Patzold, @jbwaagmeester.bsky.social & @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social, who will be joined by John Arnold, Julia Barrow & Conrad Leyser. Weds 19 Nov, 5.30pm, King's. All welcome!
Book Launch: Local Priests in the Latin West, 900-1050
Earlier Middle Ages Seminar- Session 3
www.history.ac.uk
November 14, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Looking forward to this next week - a terrific line-up!
Reposted by Ed Roberts
New #OnHistory blog, IHR Fellow Chris Lewis writes about new publication, "Making Domesday: Intelligent Power in Conquered England" by Stephen Baxter, Julia Crick, and C. P. Lewis, and Domesday scholarship in the IHR.
blog.history.ac.uk/2025/10/dome...
blog.history.ac.uk/2025/10/dome...
Domesday at the IHR - On History
IHR Fellow, Chris Lewis, writes about new publication, 'Making Domesday'.
blog.history.ac.uk
November 11, 2025 at 12:55 PM
New #OnHistory blog, IHR Fellow Chris Lewis writes about new publication, "Making Domesday: Intelligent Power in Conquered England" by Stephen Baxter, Julia Crick, and C. P. Lewis, and Domesday scholarship in the IHR.
blog.history.ac.uk/2025/10/dome...
blog.history.ac.uk/2025/10/dome...
Sad to see that the DigiZeitschriften is shutting down at the end of this year. I've used this for many years for journals such as Deutsches Archiv... will DA be available anywhere else online? @monumenta.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Sad to see that the DigiZeitschriften is shutting down at the end of this year. I've used this for many years for journals such as Deutsches Archiv... will DA be available anywhere else online? @monumenta.bsky.social
Reposted by Ed Roberts
Compulsory team teaching on every module is perhaps the biggest ever threat to the quality of teaching in UK universities.
It causes chaos on the ground for timetabling, ruins course coherence and turns lecturers into permanent supply teachers. It is pedagogically incoherent… 1/
It causes chaos on the ground for timetabling, ruins course coherence and turns lecturers into permanent supply teachers. It is pedagogically incoherent… 1/
November 6, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Compulsory team teaching on every module is perhaps the biggest ever threat to the quality of teaching in UK universities.
It causes chaos on the ground for timetabling, ruins course coherence and turns lecturers into permanent supply teachers. It is pedagogically incoherent… 1/
It causes chaos on the ground for timetabling, ruins course coherence and turns lecturers into permanent supply teachers. It is pedagogically incoherent… 1/
Reposted by Ed Roberts
Wider engagement on this disaster-by almost all media, government but also universities themselves-has been self-indicting for the last two years. No one does indeed seem to care about our national library.
Turns out this news was in the public domain yesterday but no one has covered it as far as I can tell. Does no one care about our national library anymore? It was much the same with the cyberattack. If this was a bit of 'science' infrastructure can you imagine?
www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/...
www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/...
British Library chief executive quits midway through PCS strike
The British Library has been thrown into further turmoil midway through a two-week PCS strike with the resignation of its chief executive Rebecca Lawrence.
www.pcs.org.uk
November 4, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Wider engagement on this disaster-by almost all media, government but also universities themselves-has been self-indicting for the last two years. No one does indeed seem to care about our national library.
Reposted by Ed Roberts
The Special Issue of the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Orosius Through the Ages, is out!!
Co-edited with Elisabeth Manzo & Cameron Wachowich, on the boil since 2019, we're so pleased with the final output. Both Dr M. & Dr W. have completed their PhDs since then too!
Co-edited with Elisabeth Manzo & Cameron Wachowich, on the boil since 2019, we're so pleased with the final output. Both Dr M. & Dr W. have completed their PhDs since then too!
November 4, 2025 at 10:07 AM
The Special Issue of the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Orosius Through the Ages, is out!!
Co-edited with Elisabeth Manzo & Cameron Wachowich, on the boil since 2019, we're so pleased with the final output. Both Dr M. & Dr W. have completed their PhDs since then too!
Co-edited with Elisabeth Manzo & Cameron Wachowich, on the boil since 2019, we're so pleased with the final output. Both Dr M. & Dr W. have completed their PhDs since then too!
Reposted by Ed Roberts
Five years, four authors, one book. Out now (fully open access), our new book on local priests in the tenth century 🌟 www.cambridge.org/core/books/l... @jbwaagmeester.bsky.social
Local Priests in the Latin West, 900–1050
Cambridge Core - European Studies - Local Priests in the Latin West, 900–1050
www.cambridge.org
November 3, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Five years, four authors, one book. Out now (fully open access), our new book on local priests in the tenth century 🌟 www.cambridge.org/core/books/l... @jbwaagmeester.bsky.social
Reposted by Ed Roberts
New on History for Atheists: my long awaited and rather long critical review of Alice Roberts' new book *Domination*:
historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...
historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...
October 30, 2025 at 9:08 PM
New on History for Atheists: my long awaited and rather long critical review of Alice Roberts' new book *Domination*:
historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...
historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...
Reposted by Ed Roberts
A neat tool I just came across: Viabundus, a digital road map of northern Europe 1350-1650, that lets you calculate contemporary travel routes/times. In 1500, going Amiens → Köln by horse took almost 7 days and 13 toll payments.
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
October 24, 2025 at 10:58 PM
A neat tool I just came across: Viabundus, a digital road map of northern Europe 1350-1650, that lets you calculate contemporary travel routes/times. In 1500, going Amiens → Köln by horse took almost 7 days and 13 toll payments.
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
Reposted by Ed Roberts
Here comes another open access article, "Ottonian Notions of imperium and the Byzantine Empire", published in "Frühmittelalterliche Studien" 59.1 www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Ottonian Notions of imperium and the Byzantine Empire
This study re-examines the Ottonian Empire’s self-conception and its relationship with its eastern counterpart in the context of the empire’s re-establishment in the West. Building on earlier Roman, B...
www.degruyterbrill.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Here comes another open access article, "Ottonian Notions of imperium and the Byzantine Empire", published in "Frühmittelalterliche Studien" 59.1 www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Reposted by Ed Roberts
'New proposals by Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Wiley and Sage were sent to universities this week after their initial offers were decisively rejected by institutions in a sector-wide consultation run by Jisc,...negotiating jointly with Universities UK on behalf of universities.' 1/3
New offers from big five ‘still too costly’ for UK universities
‘Significant’ number of institutions predicted to drop deals with main scholarly imprints, leaving journal access much reduced
www.timeshighereducation.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:43 AM
'New proposals by Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Wiley and Sage were sent to universities this week after their initial offers were decisively rejected by institutions in a sector-wide consultation run by Jisc,...negotiating jointly with Universities UK on behalf of universities.' 1/3
Reposted by Ed Roberts
I am reading the Labour Education whitepaper and it is absolutely awful on universities. It's going to take a "10-minute read" of an article to set out why. But the "vision" set out in it for HE is frankly horrendous, and is remarkably anti-growth for a government so obsessed with it.
October 21, 2025 at 1:19 PM
I am reading the Labour Education whitepaper and it is absolutely awful on universities. It's going to take a "10-minute read" of an article to set out why. But the "vision" set out in it for HE is frankly horrendous, and is remarkably anti-growth for a government so obsessed with it.