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Dr Matt Firth

@mattfirth.bsky.social
2.2K followers 892 following 215 posts

Research Fellow @ Flinders Uni. Early English Queens, 850-1000 (t.ly/Q395d); Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders (t.ly/So2-E); & Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception (t.ly/jeqql) all out now.

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Reposted by Dr Matt Firth
Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
What was the Danegeld, and what legacy did the English payments to the Vikings leave? I'm in The Conversation discussing exactly that (in under 800 words!). #medieval #medievalsky
theconversation.com
The English paid off the Vikings for almost a century. But was the Danegeld such a bad idea?
It’s easy to say now that paying the Vikings to go away ‘didn’t work’. But this obscures the fact paying off one Viking band didn’t ensure another would stop coming.
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Reposted by Dr Matt Firth
The Conversation AUNZ @aunz.theconversation.com · 25/09/2026
It’s easy to say now that paying the Vikings to go away ‘didn’t work’. But this obscures the fact paying off one Viking band didn’t ensure another would stop coming.
theconversation.com
The English paid off the Vikings for almost a century. But was the Danegeld such a bad idea?
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
What was the Danegeld, and what legacy did the English payments to the Vikings leave? I'm in The Conversation discussing exactly that (in under 800 words!). #medieval #medievalsky
theconversation.com
The English paid off the Vikings for almost a century. But was the Danegeld such a bad idea?
It’s easy to say now that paying the Vikings to go away ‘didn’t work’. But this obscures the fact paying off one Viking band didn’t ensure another would stop coming.
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Reposted by Dr Matt Firth
Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Very grateful to the reviewer of my Gunnhildr book, both for the assessment that they 'can’t imagine anyone improving on this', and for the 4 pages of typo corrections! Now, I need a cover image. I've narrowed it to three strong options from Storm's Heimskringla, but which one? Opinions welcome.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Very grateful to the reviewer of my Gunnhildr book, both for the assessment that they 'can’t imagine anyone improving on this', and for the 4 pages of typo corrections! Now, I need a cover image. I've narrowed it to three strong options from Storm's Heimskringla, but which one? Opinions welcome.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
CFP: IMC Leeds (5–8 July 2027) Conquest, Invasion, Colonisation: Experience and Memory in Early Medieval Britain. Keen for more papers on the experiences and legacies of conquest in early medieval Britain and Ireland. Abstracts to matthew.firth@flinders.edu.au by 31 August 2026.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Normally this would call for wine. But as I've ended the day with surgery for a complete distal bicep tendon rupture, Endone it is!
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Very happy to have sent my 'minigraph' on Gunnhildr konungamóðir off to Arc Humanities yesterday. It’s written as a biography, but not a traditional one. I’ve brought together all the stories about Gunnhildr in medieval Scandinavian literature and followed them through her life, from youth to death.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Reminder! CFP: IMC Leeds (5–8 July 2027) Conquest, Invasion, Colonisation: Experience and Memory in Early Medieval Britain. Papers are invited for panels on the experiences and legacies of conquest in early medieval Britain and Ireland. Abstracts to matthew.firth@flinders.edu.au by 31 August 2026.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
On the way home to Adelaide, but already planning a busy European summer in 2027! Pleased to be one of what ISSEME has declared to be 'a pretty formidable triad of keynote speakers' for their conference at Udine next year. Hope I can live up to the billing!
isseme.org
Udine 2027
Crossing Borders 23rd Biennial Conference of the International Society for the Study of Early Medieval England 30 June—2 July 2027 Udine, Italy The 23rd Biennial Conference of the International Soc…
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Sihong Lin @sihonglin.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Glasgow is hiring a lecturer in medieval history (c.800-1500) on an open-ended basis. We are a lovely bunch in the medieval area, would be great to have a new colleague! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSF052/l...
jobs.ac.uk
Lecturer in Medieval History (Research & Teaching Track) at University of Glasgow
Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Lecturer in Medieval History (Research & Teaching Track) on jobs.ac.uk!
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Tomorrow in IMC session 1325 at 4.30pm I'll be speaking about late medieval roll chronicles, the transition from Brut legend to early English history, and King Ecgberht's place in medieval English historical memory. I'll also be speaking in the royal studies round table at 7pm.
Presentation slide: King Ecgberht and the Founding of England in Late Medieval Roll Chronicles Session 1325 (4.30pm) and 1424 (7pm)
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Looks like the latest @haskinssociety.bsky.social journal is out today. You can find me in it talking about the tenth century queenship (how surprising) making the case that the political changes encompassed in that century were foundational to the how the office of the Queen developed in England.
Article: the tenth century as a locus for institutional queenship in EnglandFlyer for Haskins Society Journal 35 - use code BB135 for 35% off.
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Dr Rebecca Tyson @tyguson.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
My first article is published today in the @haskinssociety.bsky.social Journal. I'm so pleased to finally see it out in the world. My article outlines the maritime dimension to William fitzOsbern's lordship in the southern Welsh March in the years after 1066. doi.org/10.2307/jj.4... #MedievalSky
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
The @jaema.bsky.social conference is coming up at the end of September, to be hosted at University of Newcastle(Aus). Themed 'faces of the early medieval world', submissions are invited for in-person or online papers that speak to the topic in the broadest possible sense.
CFP for the conference of the Australian Early Medieval Association conference. The CFP closes at the end of July. Proposals can be sent to aemaconference2026@gmail.com.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Out now in paperback! My book Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders is suddenly much more affordable. Especially as Routledge have it at 20% off with free shipping (25% for ebook). If you wanted to know what the sagas say about early medieval England, it's time to find out.
routledge.com
Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders
This book provides an in-depth study of depictions of England in the Saga of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), examining their utility as sources for the history of Viking Age Anglo-Scandinavian cultural ...
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
My book Early English Queens, 850-1000 pretty much does what it says on the cover! It's a biography-led exploration of how queenship developed in an important period of political evolution in England. And the book is currently 20% off with free shipping at Routledge (or 25% off for the ebook).
routledge.com
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...
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
CFP: IMC Leeds (5–8 July 2027) Conquest, Invasion, Colonisation: Experience and Memory in Early Medieval Britain. Papers are invited for panels on the experiences and legacies of conquest in early medieval Britain and Ireland. Abstracts to matthew.firth@flinders.edu.au by 31 August 2026.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Ecgberht, first king of England. Well according to BL Add 63009 and about 15 other roll chronicles I've viewed this week anyway. This is a striking visual example though. The Roger of St Albans rolls are always a bit fancy...
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Imagine getting this ambitious and then the portrait guy just doesn't show up. But the guy who paints the little churches did? In French, roll chronicle of popes, emperors, French and English kings. BL Harley Roll O 1.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Roll Chronicles. Increasingly struck by Ecgberht's centrality to the founding of England/English kingship in later medieval history writing. This is BL Add 8101 that dates to c. 1375. Ecgberht is the first blue roundel. Picking up on threads of research from last year.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Can anyone help me out with this one? The below passage is incorrect (or at least overstated) in regard to Germania. I suspect it is the same with Snorra Edda, but I cannot even work out what passage the author might be referring to. Any guesses? Am I wrong?
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Can anyone help me out with this one? The below passage is incorrect (or at least overstated) in regard to Germania. I suspect it is the same with Snorra Edda, but I cannot even work out what passage the author might be referring to. Any guesses? Am I wrong?
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
News! Coming out in paperback: my book on Viking Age England, medieval Icelandic cultural memory, and the transmission of historical narrative across time and place. It's now much less unaffordable. You can pre-order - it's due out in June.
routledge.com
Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders
This book provides an in-depth study of depictions of England in the Saga of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), examining their utility as sources for the history of Viking Age Anglo-Scandinavian cultural ...
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Reposted by Dr Matt Firth
Rory Naismith @rorynaismith.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Officially released TODAY!!!
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
The hardcover of my edited collection, Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception, is 60% off on the @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social website. So, if you wanted to read some fascinating studies of how the early English past was reinvented in a Norman world... boydellandbrewer.com/book/pre-con...
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Delighted to say I've been awarded a 2026/27 Bodleian Libraries Humfrey Wanley visiting fellowship. I'll be looking at many, many copies of the prose Brut and their representations of the early English past. But not until Trinity term next year (this year's UK research trip is already planned).
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Another review of my edited volume Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception has just appeared. Menendez runs a thorough eye over each chapter: scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/ind... The ebook is downright affordable from @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social. boydellandbrewer.com/book/pre-con...
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Yesterday's meeting couldn't even have been an email, because emails need content...
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Ceræ @ceraejournal.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
On the sidelines of #anza25 in Melbourne, it was wonderful for past, present, and incoming members of the Ceræ committee to meet in person and talk about our own research. L-R: @ohwowbee.bsky.social @mattfirth.bsky.social @mlcseah.bsky.social @ericasteiner.bsky.social Natasha Bailey Andrea Wait
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Very pleased to have received a Flinders University Vice Chancellor's Award for Research last week. It's been a busy year of research and writing. Next projects: a biography of Gunnhildr konungamóðir (Arc, 2026/27) and a biography of Edgar the Peacemaker (Yale, 2027/28).
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Erin Sebo @erinsebo.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
New issue of @parergon.bsky.social edited by @mattfirth.bsky.social, Dr Cassandra Schilling and me!
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Erin Sebo @erinsebo.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
@flindersuniversity.bsky.social ARC DECRA Fellow in Medieval History, @mattfirth.bsky.social speaking at @anzamems.bsky.social on political friendships in Wessex!
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
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)
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.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
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)
Cover of Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders. Generic design.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
The challenges of packing to go to a conference...
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Parergon Journal @parergon.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
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...
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
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)
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.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
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)
Cover of Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders. Generic design.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
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.
tandfonline.com
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...
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
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.
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
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Erin Sebo @erinsebo.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
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!
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Have been asked to do a review of King and Conqueror, but that would then require me to watch King and Conqueror. Not sure it's worth it?
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
I'll be on ABC Nightlife's 'This Week in History' at 11.00pm (AEDT) on Sunday - 30 minutes on the life of Edgar Ætheling and the political landscape of 1066. You could make a drinking game out it: a beverage whenever I muddle my Edwards, Edgars, Harolds, and Williams. But it might get dangerous!
abc.net.au
History with Philip Clark and Suzanne Hill | Nightlife with Philip Clark and Suzanne Hill - ABC listen
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
When I finished writing Early English Queens, I didn't think I had much left to say about ninth- and tenth-century English queenship. Ha! Since then, I've written four more essays on the topic - it has me captive. Anyway, the ebook of Early English Queens is currently 25% off at Routledge.
routledge.com
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...
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ANZAMEMS @anzamems.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Registration Open: Conference of the Australian Early Medieval Association #medieval #earlymodern www.anzamems.org/?p=...
Logo of the Australian Early Medieval Association
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Gabriele Passabì @gabpassabi.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
The much-anticipated news is now here. I am very excited to announce that my book, soon out with York Medieval Press, is now available for pre-order! Hats off to @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social and the awesome Mont-Saint-Michel design team for the cover! boydellandbrewer.com/book/robert-...
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
The way this article is framed positions the loss of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences as of secondary importance. This both reflects and entrenches attitudes towards these as 'lesser' disciplines, which is what got us into this mess in the first place.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Such fun choices for tomorrow morning! I can attend a meeting to discuss the impending dissolution of the college of HASS at my university. Or I can take a cat who has been with me since my 20s - three cities and careers ago - to be euthanised. I will, naturally, be farewelling my boy.
A handsome tabby cat named Nüss - a venerable old gentleman at 17 years of age who has, sadly, reached the end of his life.
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Dr Matt Firth @mattfirth.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
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 ↓
routledge.com
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...
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