How did heads of state control the narrative before social media? In this article, we look at the Swedish historiographer of the realm role – the early modern spreader of disinformation.

From Samuel Pepys to the present day, the pencil has been central to knowledge, communication, and art. But too often it’s played second fiddle to the much-celebrated pen. Until now!

People on the internet are arguing about what ‘science’ means and what properly belongs to the ‘history of science’. (Aparna Nair’s thread on Bluesky is a good introdu…

Scilicet is a blog dedicated to the history of knowledge. In the broadest terms, we’re interested in what people in the past knew, what it meant to know things, and what we as historians can learn abo...

Scilicet is a blog dedicated to the history of knowledge. In the broadest terms, we’re interested in what people in the past knew, what it meant to know things, and what we as historians can learn abo...

In celebration of the UK 2024 general election, we delve into some intriguing and intricate elections from medieval Italy. This first one comes from 14th C. Florence and involves the mysterious Duke o...

A curious set of drawings by the future king of Sweden, 10 year old Gustav IV Adolf, shed some light on a royal childhood.

After the collapse of the Swedish empire, Swedes found themselves turning to their ancient forebearers the Vikings for help. But how did it come about and how did it shape their understanding of the S...