IMS Paris 2009 symposium report July 7, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Medieval.Tags: al-Idrisi, cartography, French impressionist painters, IMS Paris, Megan Cassidy-Welch, space
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I have been in writing purdah in preparation for Battle at the end of the month, so this post is rather late in they day. For what it is worth, here are my thoughts on the International Medieval Society’s, Paris annual symposium. (more…)
Looking forward to … IMC 2009 June 22, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Debate, Medieval.Tags: Angevin, Anglo-Norman, Anglo-Saxon, archaeology, IMC, landscape, Norman, space
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The middle of July, as ever, will see many medievalists descending on University of Leeds for the International Medieval Congress. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Heresy and Orthodoxy’ so what can we expect?
From universities to business: comment and roundup June 13, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Boundaries, Debate.Tags: CBI, general relativity, higher education policy, Simon Jenkins
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It is all change in higher education again, with a big emphasis on doom and gloom. A couple of years ago, I posted a cautious, but not entirely negative piece on the new department for innovation, universities and skills. Following the expenses rows, local and European elections, the department for innovation, universities and skills has been demolished and universities shifted to business. I cannot pretend to be anything other than deeply alarmed by this turn of events.
1066 or what on middle earth was that? May 19, 2009
Posted by gesta in Debate, Medieval.Tags: 1066, Anglo-Norman, Anglo-Saxon, Bayeux Tapestry, chronicles, Domesday Book, Hastings, helmets, historical docu-dramas, Viking
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Yesterday and today Channel 4 broadcast a docudrama called ‘1066: the Battle for Middle Earth’. The premise of the film is an interesting one, namely to show the effects of the battles of 1066 (Fulford, Stamford Bridge and Senlac Hill) on the ordinary people. The result is something I thought impossible – Channel 4 makes 1066 boring.
Thinking about space (and time) in chronicles May 10, 2009
Posted by gesta in Boundaries, Debate, Medieval, Uncategorized.Tags: black holes, cartography, chronicles, Dick Harrison, general relativity, Jonathan Jarrett, mappae mundi, Norman, Orderic Vitalis, space
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In my last post I commented on how the problems faced by relativists trying to show time and space in representations of black holes seemed similar to the difficulties faced by historians trying to talk about representations of space in our sources. A recent post by Jonathan Jarrett has also raised some of these questions – is this picture of Toledo in council season a depiction of the council or the relationship between Toledo and its territories? And who is in the tents? (more…)
Gesta expands her (event) horizons April 30, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Debate.Tags: black hole, BritGrav, cartography, general relativity, gravitation, Kip Thorne, mappae mundi, space
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Usually in the vacations I go to a conference or workshop. Easter 2009 was no exception to this rule, but instead of going to something medieval, I found myself in a corner of BritGrav 2009 at Cardiff – a meeting of those people who devote themselves to the study of gravitation, general relativity and other similar things. I was, of course, there with Reivers in case anyone thinks I’m planning a radical career change.
Reuter Lecture and workshop 2009 March 26, 2009
Posted by gesta in Uncategorized.Tags: Reuter lecture, Wendy Davis
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The Reuter Lecture 2009 ‘Judges and judging: truth and justice in tenth-century northern Iberia’ will be given by Prof. Wendy Davis on 8 June at 6pm Avenue Campus, University of Southampton. This will be preceded by a workshop on ‘Disputing, conflict management and negotiation in early modern Europe’ for which contributions are sought from final year Ph.D. students and recent post-docs. Further information can be found here. reuter-masterclass-flier3
Remembering the Miners’ Strike March 25, 2009
Posted by gesta in Boundaries, Debate, Politics.Tags: Geoffrey Elton, labour history, memory, Miners' Strike, practice of history, Thatcher, Tory, West Yorkshire
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This month saw the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike. When the strike began, I was only eight, but more than anything else that happened in that decade, the strike had a profound effect on me, instilling a sense of social justice, community and a lasting and deep loathing of the Tory party in general and Thatcher in particular. It also left an interest in labour history and had things turned out differently, I may have been blogging about very different things. This is an intensely personal post, but I want to try to show why the strike was so important in the way I think and do history, as well as the process of remembering.
Medievalists and the media: a short post March 19, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Medieval.Tags: Journal of Medieval History, Julian Luxford, Magistra et Mater, Robin Hood, Viking
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It has been an interesting two weeks in terms of medieval stories in the media and how they have been reported. Magistra has posted on the Viking conference in Cambridge, but we have also seen an increase in Robin Hood’s appearances in the news, both with and without bad puns.
Dr Julian Luxford of St Andrews has just published a short piece in Journal of Medieval History on attitudes to Robin Hood in chronicles. St Andrews put out a press release and since then, the news item has gone somewhat viral and has been picked up all over the place by various news agencies and bloggers as indicated by the most basic of Google searches. My favourite is Another Bloody WordPress Blog with the post entitled ‘Dr Julian Luxford, whoever you are, you made my day!’ following a sudden increase in the blog’s readership. A similar thing happened to this blog when I posted about Chris Wickham, but on a much smaller scale obviously!
