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Elise Wang

@elisewang.bsky.social
7.2K followers 1.5K following 1.3K posts

medievalist. law & history (old) | conspiracy theories (old and new) | taiwan (new and yet to be) | chicago —> los angeles carnegie fellow ‘24-‘26, writing a book on medieval conspiracy theories elisedwang.com

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Reposted by Elise Wang
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Y’all, I hate to rain on the dead bot parade, but the Yandex data center destruction doesn’t seem to have significantly impacted social media bots. I made temporal graphs of X posts about AfD around the time of the attack and there’s no sign of a sudden dip or residual impact on that conversation.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
As Elizabeth says downthread, this is just false! Women read books by men and women, it’s men who “prefer reading men.” Is it a biological reality that we just have to accept if it doesn’t go both ways?
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
He barely even looked
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Reposted by Elise Wang
Hyo Yoon Kang 강효윤 @hyoyoonkang.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
imagine a life without log-ins, passwords, multi factor authentications, platforms, and SAP CONCUR
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
The Bulls when they play badly The Bulls when they play well The White Sox (all the time)
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
In the case of land, this made sense—getting the important men of the area together and get them all to decide on where a property line was a reliable way to both determine and enforce these decisions. It made sense to move it to criminal cases too. That’s how we got the jury trial!
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
So the ordeal, as a proof procedure, had to end. You can’t get a clear sign from God without a priest. And so England turned to a method it had already been using to settle land disputes: a panel of twelve, oathworthy men who had to deliver a unanimous verdict.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
But in 1215, the church made official the direction it had been moving for centuries—the church was opposed to the death penalty, so priests could not be involved in any part of the process.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
The idea was that God would send a sign via the ordeal about the person’s guilt, which meant a priest had to interpret the message. If the accused was found guilty he would be hanged.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
The accused would perform some painful act (holding a hot iron, plunging his hand into boiling oil), and the wound would be bandaged. Some days later, the wound would be unwrapped and inspected for signs of healing—healing meant innocent, infected meant guilty.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Before 1215 in England, the capital crimes (murder, treason, etc) were tried by ordeal, which was not punishment but a proof procedure.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Fun fact: the Catholic church’s opposition to the death penalty is how we got the jury trial. It started in 1215!
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Reposted by Elise Wang
Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Medieval Executions 🧵 Hi there. One of my areas of expertise is medieval crime and punishment. If you’re interested, here are some comments on medieval executions. Note that, just as today, practices and perceptions varied widely across medieval Europe... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Medieval’ and ‘disturbing’: US plan to livestream execution elicits global condemnation
Pentagon said execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, would be broadcast live
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Reposted by Elise Wang
Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
A recent 🧵by @elisewang.bsky.social explains the difficulty of finding executioners in medieval Europe. It’s an excellent 🧵. I find a similar thing in my research: even those tasked with executing people didn't want to stick around to watch them die. They left if they could. bsky.app/profile/elis...
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
If Hegseth really wanted those in service to turn against him, in a way usually unachievable in that kind of power structure, forcing them into a firing squad is a really good way to do it!
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
In 1913 Nevada had to give it up because they couldn’t find enough volunteers. In contrast, lethal injection is the most commonly botched and usually painful. But it is far preferred, because people don’t want to actually pull the trigger.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
It turns out, we will make a spectacle of death, no problem. But once it comes down to the actually mechanics of making it happen, people get jumpy. Firing squad is by far the most humane method of execution (instant, painless if done right) but almost every state has given it up.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Who wants a job like that? No one, it turns out. There were several towns in 13th century France who offered more and more money, enough to live on for a year for a single execution—and still couldn’t find anyone to do it. They let the condemned go.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Unless you were the king’s executioner, this was a part time gig, which meant that you had to find other work. The only jobs they could get were the other undesirable ones, cleaning latrines, digging graves, and they had trouble finding wives (again, bad vibes).
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Executioners were absolved by the church, but there was always the lingering feeling that they were probably going to hell and were—at the very least—bad luck to be around. Market sellers usually wouldn’t deal with them. Bad vibes and all that.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Medieval executions, like those of Hegseth’s fever dream, were public events, and yes, people turned out for the spectacle. That did NOT mean they wanted anything to do with the executioner on other days, though.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
A return to firing squad everywhere might finally end the death penalty. Why? Because people have to be directly involved in executions (not pressing a button) it’s terrifically difficult to get them to do it. Medieval executions had the same problem!
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Genuinely laughed out loud at the Spain one
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Reposted by Elise Wang
Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.northsky.social · 08/10/2026
Punching my ticket to Kalamazoo
Graphic labelled "Types of Medievalist Paper" based on xkcd.com/2456/. 12 pictures of 'papers' appear with overlaid titles:

You Won't Believe What Nuns Were Up To
HEY, I FOUND A TROVE OF OLD RECORDS! THEY DON'T TURN OUT TO BE PARTICULARLY USEFUL, BUT STILL, COOL!
The Silk Road Is Not Just A Website for Buying LSD
Niche Tax Documents in Provence, 1370-1373
Everything That Happened in Asia, 622-1914
Ships Might Be Very Important
Introducing "Spatula' The New Journal for Medieval Studies
Globalizing the Middle Ages: An Examination of England *and* France
How l Got the University to Pay for My Trip to Venice
Did You Know? Arabs Had Science and Culture Too
We Remembered Spain And It's Right Where We Left It
More Viking Shit Found in Unexpected Place
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This gave me such a sympathetic stomach drop. I’m so sorry!
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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“Beyond two parking tickets for not moving his vehicle during snowstorms, Abdullah has no criminal record in Minnesota and was working legally as a mechanic while his asylum application was pending. He arrived in the United States in early 2023.”
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
As a medievalist, what is…”Olde English”? And if you mean Old English, who’s gonna translate Shakespeare’s thoroughly modern English? Hwaet! Can I volunteer??
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Jonathan Ladd @jonathanmladd.com · 21/09/2026
The government moving or hiding jailed people to avoid review by courts isn't some loophole in our habeas corpus rights. This government behavior has been considered a violation of the people's habeas corpus rights since at least the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_...
Jailors were forbidden to move prisoners from one prison to another or out of the country to evade the writ. In case of disobedience jailers would be punished with severe fines which had to be paid to the prisoner.[5][6]
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I read this in college and I was like ohhhhhhh that’s what history does and long story short now I’m a historian
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Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 25/08/2026
My kids and their friends know Dolly Parton because she’s the person who sends books out to everyone in the post and that’s just really nice isn’t it.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
This is my life. The person who is meant to approve travel just…doesn’t 🤷🏻‍♀️
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I don’t even mention my fellow historians because we are such low-hanging fruit. I just spent the last 3 hours arranging 100+ life records of a woman named Isabel into a spreadsheet with columns for date, event, reference, and personnel
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Hahaha how exactly are you going to staff your entire school of engineering
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
The vagueness is the point, because it terrorizes all immigrants. I’m a citizen, but bc of my background all of this has made me change my behavior. I avoid land border crossings, I’ve canceled flights going through ICE-infested airports, and I carry my passport with me when I leave the house.
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Felipe De La Hoz @felipedlh.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
For @newrepublic.com I wrote about ICE's recent campaign of airport arrests, and the intentional vagueness about who is or isn't potentially subject to detention as part of the administration's broader narrative campaign of fear, intended to drive immigrants from public life
newrepublic.com
ICE’s Airport Crackdowns Are Designed to Spread Fear
The agency is snatching and grabbing travelers without any regard for their immigration status—and with no effort to be transparent about what they’re up to.
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Mitra Sharafi @mitrasharafi.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The deadline for ASLH Projects & Proposals applications is now extended to Oct.1, 2026. It's unusual (and great) for a scholarly society to offer these small grants! Please spread the word and/or consider applying: aslh.net/award/projec... @elizabethdkatz.bsky.social
aslh.net
Projects and Proposals Funding | American Society for Legal History
The Projects and Proposals Committee of the American Society for Legal History invites proposals for the funding of new initiatives in the study, presentation, and production of legal historical schol...
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American Medieval Podcast @americanmedieval.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
another clip! here @elisewang.bsky.social reminds us how history can turn in a moment, how weird and possible everything really is... Enjoy #medievalsky! youtube.com/shorts/mHFrH...
youtube.com
Weird how history can turn in a moment. Change the world. Could've been otherwise. #podcast #history
YouTube video by American Medieval
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
This made me wonder if the pope is the only world leader position in which you’re guaranteed to get someone who has read theory. Not to mention “has read books, plural”
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 10/08/2026
instead, read theory www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
vatican.va
Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Leo XIV Magnifica Humanitas (15 May 2026)
ENCYCLICAL LETTER MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV ON SAFEGUARDING THE HUMAN PERSON IN THE TIME OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE [ Multimedia ] ___________________________
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Thanks so much!!
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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Historians may have played a decisive role last week in a judge's ruling that overturning a school board's decision to change the names of public school honoring Confederate generals ignored its impact on Black students. Historians matter. #CivilWarMemory 🗃️ kevinmlevin.substack.com/p/what-the-h...
kevinmlevin.substack.com
What the Historians Proved in Shenandoah County, Virginia
Expert testimony from two historians helped overturn a school board's 2024 decision, and showed exactly why the profession still matters.
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American Medieval Podcast @americanmedieval.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
have a little taste of the episode! the brilliant @elisewang.bsky.social explains how conspiracy theories spread for the most banal reasons... youtube.com/shorts/gsTjd...
youtube.com
Conspiracy theories spread for the most everyday reasons, even in the Middle Ages. #podcast #history
YouTube video by American Medieval
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Thanks so much! Matt’s a great host.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
This was so much fun to do! Matt has great questions and we have a good chat about stumbling into the medieval period (me) and accidentally traumatizing ourselves (also me)!
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 30/07/2026
next week on @americanmedieval.bsky.social i talk with @elisewang.bsky.social about the medieval origins of conspiracy theories
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Forget that we should all be forced to take 6th grade common core math so that the parents don’t have to suffer alone
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Law & History Review @lawandhistrev.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
We’re back! The Law and History Review is excited to announce the publication of our first article this year in our digital imprint, The Docket. Anna O. Law (@unlawfulentries.bsky.social) told us about her new book. End the week on a strong note—check it out! lawandhistoryreview.org/article/anna...
lawandhistoryreview.org
Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: An Interview with Anna O. Law – Law & History Review
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Right. That’s how we know it’s a race argument, not an argument about culture. Because what makes you unacceptable is constant, inherited, and unalterable whether you’re born here or elsewhere.
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Precisely
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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
In medieval England it was…everyone! In fact you could get in big trouble if you saw a crime and DIDN’T arrest them!
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