Matthías Ólafsson
@matthiasaolafsson.bsky.social
PhD student, Department of History, Trinity College Dublin—State building with early modern investigative commissions; governing the Danish Oldenburg Empire across the Atlantic World and Asia
Pinned
When I order documents from various #c18th investigative commissions at the archives, I most often receive a modest assortment of protocols, petitions, and numerous letters. But occasionally, I get something like this. It’s only about 2300 pages (RA 236 F4-17).
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
A reminder that there are still a few days left to apply for this funded PhD, working on literary and cultural reception of the Vikings. University fees and a budget for conference attendance included in addition to the stipend: it's a great opportunity for someone! www.ucc.ie/en/hr/vacanc...
Research Vacancies | University College Cork
Learn, Study and Research in UCC, Ireland's first 5 star university. Our tradition of independent thinking will prepare you for the world and the workplace in a vibrant, modern, green campus.
www.ucc.ie
November 5, 2025 at 11:39 AM
A reminder that there are still a few days left to apply for this funded PhD, working on literary and cultural reception of the Vikings. University fees and a budget for conference attendance included in addition to the stipend: it's a great opportunity for someone! www.ucc.ie/en/hr/vacanc...
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
We are thrilled to announce this year's rendition of the Prize Papers Talks Special Edition - an online lecture series organised by the German Maritime Museum and the Prize Papers Project! The first talk will be on November 10th, with Jane Ohlmeyer, Tom Truxes, and John Shovlin on the Amity Papers!
November 3, 2025 at 12:29 PM
We are thrilled to announce this year's rendition of the Prize Papers Talks Special Edition - an online lecture series organised by the German Maritime Museum and the Prize Papers Project! The first talk will be on November 10th, with Jane Ohlmeyer, Tom Truxes, and John Shovlin on the Amity Papers!
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
Mind-numbing how many layers of history there can be to a single manuscript page: Syriac upper text (10th c.), Armenian undertext (pre-10th c.), Arabic material used for binding (11-12th c.?), Coptic foliation in the margin (date?), modern foliation at the bottom. Image: Leiden UL Or. 14236, link ⬇️
October 16, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Mind-numbing how many layers of history there can be to a single manuscript page: Syriac upper text (10th c.), Armenian undertext (pre-10th c.), Arabic material used for binding (11-12th c.?), Coptic foliation in the margin (date?), modern foliation at the bottom. Image: Leiden UL Or. 14236, link ⬇️
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
Pleased to see my interview with the BBC History Extra podcast has now gone live! Had great fun chatting with Emily Briffett about my book on 'Serious Crime in Late Seventeenth-Century Scotland'. www.historyextra.com/membership/c...
Bandits & blasphemers: crime in 17th century Scotland
Allan Kennedy unpacks what looking at crime and punishment can reveal about Scottish values in the 17th century
www.historyextra.com
October 15, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Pleased to see my interview with the BBC History Extra podcast has now gone live! Had great fun chatting with Emily Briffett about my book on 'Serious Crime in Late Seventeenth-Century Scotland'. www.historyextra.com/membership/c...
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
Missið ekki af erindi Péturs Húna í dag!
#DHAfterHours fyrirlestraröð
Pétur Húni Björnsson, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum
"Miðlun mynda með IIIF"
📅 Þriðjudaginn, 14. október kl. 16:30
📍 Í Eddu 209 & á Youtube @MSHLIceland
Pétur Húni Björnsson, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum
"Miðlun mynda með IIIF"
📅 Þriðjudaginn, 14. október kl. 16:30
📍 Í Eddu 209 & á Youtube @MSHLIceland
October 14, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Missið ekki af erindi Péturs Húna í dag!
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
Final reminder about Lyndal Roper's talk on Thursday at the @ihrscb.bsky.social on 'Turbulence and the German Peasants' War of 1524-6'.
Register here for in-person or online attendance: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Register here for in-person or online attendance: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
October 14, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Final reminder about Lyndal Roper's talk on Thursday at the @ihrscb.bsky.social on 'Turbulence and the German Peasants' War of 1524-6'.
Register here for in-person or online attendance: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Register here for in-person or online attendance: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
After seven weeks at my residency here in Jónshús, Copenhagen and numerous hours spent at the Danish National Archives and Saxo Institute, I head back to Dublin. This stay has been a privilege, enriching my research and allowing me to meet new people and spend time with dear friends and family here.
October 9, 2025 at 6:10 PM
After seven weeks at my residency here in Jónshús, Copenhagen and numerous hours spent at the Danish National Archives and Saxo Institute, I head back to Dublin. This stay has been a privilege, enriching my research and allowing me to meet new people and spend time with dear friends and family here.
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
Today is publication day for PAPER AND THE MAKING OF EARLY MODERN LITERATURE! Available in paper or digital form www.pennpress.org/978151282744... @pennpress.bsky.social
September 30, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Today is publication day for PAPER AND THE MAKING OF EARLY MODERN LITERATURE! Available in paper or digital form www.pennpress.org/978151282744... @pennpress.bsky.social
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
At #AHA26, historians are exploring new approaches to research, teaching, professional development, and public engagement through panels, workshops, meetups, poster sessions, networking events, and much more. The annual meeting program—featuring 460+ sessions and events—is now available online.🗃️
AHA26 Program
139th Annual Meeting January 8-11, 2026 in Chicago
aha.confex.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:24 PM
At #AHA26, historians are exploring new approaches to research, teaching, professional development, and public engagement through panels, workshops, meetups, poster sessions, networking events, and much more. The annual meeting program—featuring 460+ sessions and events—is now available online.🗃️
Surgeon Christian Løvendahl’s 1768 letter of certification from Flensburg. A beautiful piece of work, produced on official, stamped paper (RA 232 F77).
October 7, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Surgeon Christian Løvendahl’s 1768 letter of certification from Flensburg. A beautiful piece of work, produced on official, stamped paper (RA 232 F77).
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
Gossiping is both an art and an annoying practice. In #earlymodern Europe, a gossipmonger would often be depicted as a person with three mouths. Like these three fellas that made it on a title page of a pamphlet in 1605, a Turk, a Hungarian, and a German. #skystorians #gossip
October 7, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Gossiping is both an art and an annoying practice. In #earlymodern Europe, a gossipmonger would often be depicted as a person with three mouths. Like these three fellas that made it on a title page of a pamphlet in 1605, a Turk, a Hungarian, and a German. #skystorians #gossip
Incredible.
The Pushkin job: unmasking the thieves behind an international rare books heist
The long read: Between 2022 and 2023, as many as 170 rare and valuable editions of Russian classics were stolen from libraries across Europe. Were the thieves merely low-level opportunists, or were bi...
www.theguardian.com
October 7, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Incredible.
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
Through Oct. 31st, @princetonupress.bsky.social has a 70% off sale on a wide range of titles -- Susan Dackerman on Albrecht Dürer, Judith Herrin on Ravenna, Jed Buchwald & Diane Greco Josefowicz on the Rosetta stone, James Costa on Alfred Russel Wallace, and more: press.princeton.edu/sale/70-off
October 6, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Through Oct. 31st, @princetonupress.bsky.social has a 70% off sale on a wide range of titles -- Susan Dackerman on Albrecht Dürer, Judith Herrin on Ravenna, Jed Buchwald & Diane Greco Josefowicz on the Rosetta stone, James Costa on Alfred Russel Wallace, and more: press.princeton.edu/sale/70-off
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
Globalizing the Baltic in the Early Modern Period:
Conference CfP
'The Baltic Sea and Global Currents: 400 Years After the Battle of Oliwa. Maritime Expansion, Domination, and Water Spaces in a Globalizing World'
networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
#earlymodern #History
Conference CfP
'The Baltic Sea and Global Currents: 400 Years After the Battle of Oliwa. Maritime Expansion, Domination, and Water Spaces in a Globalizing World'
networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
#earlymodern #History
October 6, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Globalizing the Baltic in the Early Modern Period:
Conference CfP
'The Baltic Sea and Global Currents: 400 Years After the Battle of Oliwa. Maritime Expansion, Domination, and Water Spaces in a Globalizing World'
networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
#earlymodern #History
Conference CfP
'The Baltic Sea and Global Currents: 400 Years After the Battle of Oliwa. Maritime Expansion, Domination, and Water Spaces in a Globalizing World'
networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
#earlymodern #History
When I order documents from various #c18th investigative commissions at the archives, I most often receive a modest assortment of protocols, petitions, and numerous letters. But occasionally, I get something like this. It’s only about 2300 pages (RA 236 F4-17).
October 6, 2025 at 9:37 AM
When I order documents from various #c18th investigative commissions at the archives, I most often receive a modest assortment of protocols, petitions, and numerous letters. But occasionally, I get something like this. It’s only about 2300 pages (RA 236 F4-17).
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
Many thanks to the editors at the @historicaljnl.bsky.social blog for publishing this short piece, and to @ellasbaraini.bsky.social for her help with it. My recent article, and one of the central ideas of the book manuscript I’m currently working on, in a nutshell.
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
October 2, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Many thanks to the editors at the @historicaljnl.bsky.social blog for publishing this short piece, and to @ellasbaraini.bsky.social for her help with it. My recent article, and one of the central ideas of the book manuscript I’m currently working on, in a nutshell.
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
A pleasant surprise to discover this stunning #c18th map of the Duchy of Holstein (then part of the Danish Oldenburg Empire) among the documents of an 1781 investigative commission which was to determine whether the surgeon Christian Løvendahl was indeed entitled to use his own name. (RA 232 F77).
October 2, 2025 at 10:16 AM
A pleasant surprise to discover this stunning #c18th map of the Duchy of Holstein (then part of the Danish Oldenburg Empire) among the documents of an 1781 investigative commission which was to determine whether the surgeon Christian Løvendahl was indeed entitled to use his own name. (RA 232 F77).
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
There's stuff leaking out on social media about breakthrough research in the Apostolic Library of the Vatican that has apparently yielded a mention of Lithuania datable to 451AD, 558 years earlier than the previously accepted earliest mention 😱 #LithuaniaMentioned
October 2, 2025 at 8:57 AM
There's stuff leaking out on social media about breakthrough research in the Apostolic Library of the Vatican that has apparently yielded a mention of Lithuania datable to 451AD, 558 years earlier than the previously accepted earliest mention 😱 #LithuaniaMentioned
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
Who did what in early modern England?
New #OpenAccess book, 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England' by @jwhittle.bsky.social, @markhailwood.bsky.social, @hkrobb.bsky.social & @aucointaylor.bsky.social, based on thousands of #EarlyModern court depositions 🗃️
Read it: doi.org/10.1017/9781...
New #OpenAccess book, 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England' by @jwhittle.bsky.social, @markhailwood.bsky.social, @hkrobb.bsky.social & @aucointaylor.bsky.social, based on thousands of #EarlyModern court depositions 🗃️
Read it: doi.org/10.1017/9781...
October 2, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Who did what in early modern England?
New #OpenAccess book, 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England' by @jwhittle.bsky.social, @markhailwood.bsky.social, @hkrobb.bsky.social & @aucointaylor.bsky.social, based on thousands of #EarlyModern court depositions 🗃️
Read it: doi.org/10.1017/9781...
New #OpenAccess book, 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England' by @jwhittle.bsky.social, @markhailwood.bsky.social, @hkrobb.bsky.social & @aucointaylor.bsky.social, based on thousands of #EarlyModern court depositions 🗃️
Read it: doi.org/10.1017/9781...
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
First page of 18th century Basque-Icelandic dictionary. A Basque-Icelandic pidgin was spoken between locals and Basque whalers from ~1600 including the well-known expression "Fenicha for ju" meaning F**k you! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque%...
September 19, 2025 at 5:29 PM
First page of 18th century Basque-Icelandic dictionary. A Basque-Icelandic pidgin was spoken between locals and Basque whalers from ~1600 including the well-known expression "Fenicha for ju" meaning F**k you! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque%...
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
My latest article now out in Eighteenth-Century Ireland my first and probably last foray into Swift Studies liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/toc/10.3828/...
September 18, 2025 at 6:13 PM
My latest article now out in Eighteenth-Century Ireland my first and probably last foray into Swift Studies liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/toc/10.3828/...
Reposted by Matthías Ólafsson
Editing revised chapters for the forthcoming 2nd edition of our guide to #EarlyModern 🗃️ sources today👌
The revised volume will also include 3 new chapters:
Part 1 'Sources':
- Digitised Sources
Part 2 'Histories':
- Race
- The Body, Mind & Emotions.
The revised volume will also include 3 new chapters:
Part 1 'Sources':
- Digitised Sources
Part 2 'Histories':
- Race
- The Body, Mind & Emotions.
August 22, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Editing revised chapters for the forthcoming 2nd edition of our guide to #EarlyModern 🗃️ sources today👌
The revised volume will also include 3 new chapters:
Part 1 'Sources':
- Digitised Sources
Part 2 'Histories':
- Race
- The Body, Mind & Emotions.
The revised volume will also include 3 new chapters:
Part 1 'Sources':
- Digitised Sources
Part 2 'Histories':
- Race
- The Body, Mind & Emotions.
Juat arrived at my academic residency in Jónshús, Copenhagen. I’m really looking forward to spending the next seven weeks here doing research and digging in the Danish National Archives and the Royal Library. If you’re around, hit me up, and we can grab coffee!
August 21, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Juat arrived at my academic residency in Jónshús, Copenhagen. I’m really looking forward to spending the next seven weeks here doing research and digging in the Danish National Archives and the Royal Library. If you’re around, hit me up, and we can grab coffee!
Great to be back home in Iceland to take part in the 31st Congress of Nordic Historians where I met some brilliant people working on fascinating projects.
I had the honour of presenting a paper at a session organised by a few of us on reimagining the #c18th Danish Oldenburg Empire.
Takk! #nhm2025
I had the honour of presenting a paper at a session organised by a few of us on reimagining the #c18th Danish Oldenburg Empire.
Takk! #nhm2025
August 16, 2025 at 9:56 AM