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Samuel Rowe @samdrowe.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Final call! We already have some interesting papers lined up, so it's all looking very promising. #medievalsky #IMC2027

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Samuel Rowe @samdrowe.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Re-circulating this with 2 weeks to go; don't hesitate to send me a proposal (at samueldavid.rowe@studenti.unipd.it) as we still need submissions! #medievalsky #IMC2027

Call for papers for the IMC session "Redefining early medieval gentes"; proposals should be sent to samueldavid.rowe@studenti.unipd.it

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Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I did work on my birthday, which means I wrote an absolutely unhinged review of Beauty and the Beast (1991) that actually comes to a solid argument about how widespread the fuckery of toxic masculinity is in society. (Fair warning: the title absolutely does not match the tone of this review.)

blackwhiteandread.com

The Social Costs of Toxic Masculinity – Black and White and Read All Over

A Marxist Approach to Beauty and the Beast (1991)

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Samuel Rowe @samdrowe.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I had a fantastic time at this year's @imc-leeds.bsky.social, and the sessions on the #Lombards I co-organised with @worthjrw.bsky.social and Kaiyue Zhang were a great, well-attended success. All the papers, including the case-study I presented from my own thesis, led to interesting discussion.

Screenshot of the video recording of my paper. The Altar of Ratchis can be seen.

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Alex Harvey @alexharvv.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Delighted to be returning to the @imc-leeds.bsky.social in 2026 - quite a busy one this year, too! I'll be joined by my good friends @karanthir.bsky.social and @history-w-hilbert.bsky.social across 2 panels dedicated to the Early Medieval Frisians, perhaps a first for the IMC!

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James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

One of the greats, and among her many other accomplishments, author of what imho remain two of the greatest introductory books available to anyone wanting to learn about the late Roman world (namely, "The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity" and "The Later Roman Empire").

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

It was an absolute pleasure to speak at @bristolcmspgr.bsky.social on Monday on the socio-linguistic aspects of charter names as performances of power in Langobard Italy, chaired by Dr. Anna Havinga. Admittedly, I hadn't been intending on imitating Hozier's fabulous hair quite so closely...

Picture of the slide, saying "The Power of a Langobard Name: Ethnicity and Onomastic Practice as Expressions of Power in 8th-century Italy", with the chair, Dr. Anna Havinga (Bristol), on the (perspectival) left and me on the right.

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Emily Rowe @emilyrowe1.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

In person early modern metals event in London next month with me, @laurenworking.bsky.social, and Lubaaba Al-Azami. Please repost and share widely! And register here -- forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

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Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele @drdragases.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

♬ Hello MS my old friend, I've come to tackle you again ♬

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Revealing the paper that might tank any credibility I have left #IMC2026

521-c - Making a Langobard Language: The Creation of Linguistic Unity in Philological Onomastics

Abstract

Until recently, Philological studies of the Langobards have often focused upon the names - anthroponyms and toponyms - as evidence for a spoken Langobard language, "Langobardic". From Bruckner's 1895 Die Sprache der Langobarden and Gamillscheg's Romania Germanica (1935) to Francovich Onesti's Vestigia Longobarde (1999) and beyond in papers by Haubrichs (2015) and Stoffella (2021), studies have presumed upon a unity of a spoken "Langobardic"; manifest in different ways and subject to variable influences, but nonetheless evidence of a supposed 'Trümmersprache' (Everett, 2003). However, the use of onomastic evidence is problematic, often being mischaracterised or overly borne in service of a supposed unity which may never have existed à la Paul the Deacon. As such, this paper seeks to deconstruct such philological models and frameworks and highlighting the difficulties inherent in this evidential basis. In turn, this will allow us to realign our perspectives through the literary and onomastic evidence by highlighting how the names - as agentially constructed vestiges of the spoken word - actually reflect a far more complex picture of responses to Langobardic and its various linguistic influences not only across Italy but through time.

Presenting Author

James Worth
Department of History, University College London

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Sabrina Inowlocki @sabrinainowlocki.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

🥁🥁🥁Hello academic blueskyers, we are hiring again. We are looking for a proactive, communicative, motivated post-doc 🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️ for our ISF project Josephus Christianus (sinowloc.wixsite.com/josephus-chr...). Feel free to circulate!

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

The Lombards are travelling through Time (not via TARDIS) to @imc-leeds.bsky.social for 2026! Especial thanks to @samdrowe.bsky.social and Kaiyue Zhang for their significant efforts in bringing this together. We can't wait to see you all!

Four sessions are noted for the Lombard Panel on Tuesday 7th July 2026:

521. 9:00-10:30: The Lombards through Time, I: Historiography.
621. 9:00-10:30: The Lombards through Time, II: Gender.
721. 9:00-10:30: The Lombards through Time, III: Southern Italy.
821. 9:00-10:30: The Lombards through Time, IV: Networks.

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Finally recovered my copies of the English Historical Documents from home. An older purchase (thanks to those who sold them for cheap!) but I've never been happier to own something so wonderfully resourceful and infinitely useful (even, dare I say, aesthetic?).

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Thoroughly enjoy the fact that this year has been (almost) topped and bottomed by Gothic Horrors: Nosferatu in January with Frankenstein in November? A phenomenal year for cinema (for me).

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Giulia Zornetta @gzornetta.eurosky.social · 08/10/2025

Ms. 4, Leges Langobardorum (11th century): Lombard / Latin legal vocaboulary 💙 Biblioteca statale del monumento nazionale della Badia di Cava dei Tirreni #medievalsky

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Only 10 days left! If you know of anyone who might be interested in joining us to this coming IMC ("long beard" not a requirement), then please forward this over!

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Giulia Zornetta @gzornetta.eurosky.social · 09/09/2025

if you know anyone who might be interested, please circulate this Call for Papers: "Rethinking Popular Religion from Late Antiquity to the Early Medieval Period" 📍Venezia / Università Ca' Foscari / 12-13th March 2026 💣 deadline: 30th September 2025 #medievalsky #cfp #Venice @rmblf.bsky.social

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Samuel Rowe @samdrowe.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Circulating this CfP for Leeds #IMC2026 on the evolution of the Lombards and Lombard identities through time. #MedievalSky #skystorians

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

The Lombards - not to be confused with the Lumbar - form the backbone of this panel. Whether you specialise in Late Antiquity or the Renaissance, we'd love to hear from you! After all, who *are* the Lombards to you? #IMC2026 #MedievalSky

Call for Papers
Identifying the Lombards through Time:
Constructing Lombard Identities and Social Norms

The place of the Lombards within the history of Medieval Italy is remarkably ambiguous and mired by the ideas of legacy. Machiavelli, in posing the “Lombard Question”, stated that by the fall of the Kingdom, ‘they retained nothing of their foreignness except their name’ (Istorie Fiorentine, I.11). It is of no surprise therefore that earlier, often nationalistic, treatises had tended to dismiss the Lombard settlement as a temporary disruption, after which Italian history returned to its “natural course”. However, more recent research has often emphasised the complex, multifaceted impact of Lombard rule across Italy. In deconstructing the image of Lombards as “Germanic barbarians”, studies into Lombard religion, law, language, and customs have highlighted distinctions between the various polities (the Northern Kingdom and the Duchies of Spoleto and Benevento). But Lombard identity was not simply geographically determined: both prior to the AD 568 settlement and after the 774 Carolingian conquest, the referent intended by the term “Lombard” transformed in various ways. This strand aims to consider this diachronic perspective: to understand these changes, not just of who the Lombards were to themselves, but how in turn we and others have perceived them.

We welcome papers on, but not limited to, the following topics:
- Memory and Historicisation
- Social or Familial Stratification
- Gender and the structuring of Power
- “Romanising” the “Germanic”
- Political Dynasties and Legacies
- The Language of Legal Dialectic
- Religious Syncretism and Isolationism
- Linguistic Development and Survivalism

Prospective speakers are asked to send prospective titles and abstracts of 300 words with a short bibliography and biography to James Worth (james.worth.18@ucl.ac.uk) and Kaiyue Zhang (kaiyue.zhang@history.ox.ac.uk) by Friday 19th September 2025.

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Something odd in older philological texts are the wild presumptions being made. Gamillscheg (1935, p. 62), for instance, simply throws out that the Lombards entered Italy 'fast ohne Kenntnis des Lateinischen' (barely knowing Latin), and bases it on Germanic toponyms.

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Thanks to @seaxeducation.bsky.social for the opportunity to speak at the @imc-leeds.bsky.social #onomastics panel. It was wonderful to participate in such a vibrant field, and hear so many fascinating papers!

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

Excited to talk on the Associative Naming practices of Names as "Lombard Histories Beyond Paul the Deacon" at Tuesday's 14:15 @imc-leeds.bsky.social #onomastics panel as chaired by @seaxeducation.bsky.social.

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

It was a pleasure chairing and speaking today at @themamoconf.bsky.social as part of the panel at @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social Strand Campus. Thanks to all the organisers for making this happen!

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MAMO Conference 2027 @themamoconf.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Our final panel in the Middle Ages in Modern Games thread at MAMO is Wednesday's 'Education and Exploration'! Feat. Josip Mihaljević (Old Church Slavonic Institute), James Worth (@worthjrw.bsky.social, UCL), and Thom Gobbit (@booksoflaw.bsky.social, Graz). 👇 #MAMOmonth

Session 2B: The Middle Ages in Modern Games (IV): Education and Exploration [Room K018]
Josip Mihaljević (Old Church Slavonic Institute): Web Games for Learning and Promoting the Glagolitic Script
James Worth (University College London): Creating the Age of Apocalypse: Game Mechanics as Pedagogical Tools for imparting a Historiographical Periodisation of West Roman Collapse in Total War: Attila
Thom Gobbitt (Karl Franzens Universitat, Graz): Rules Lawyers’ Time: Early Medieval Laws, Plot, and Gamification

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

One of my favourite cinematic scenes will always be Théoden's crisis just before the climax of The Two Towers. His struggle with personal insecurity and the weight of responsibility for the lives of those he lead to this point, all whilst facing an inevitability, is powerful and moving.

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International Medieval Congress Leeds @imc-leeds.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

If you’ve registered for #IMC2025, you can securely check the details of your booking via the confirmation email sent to you from our registration site or by emailing imc@leeds.ac.uk. We released a statement on our website regarding the phishing attempts: www.imc.leeds.ac.uk

imc.leeds.ac.uk

International Medieval Congress

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James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Any #medievalsky members heading to the Leeds International Medieval Congress take care about emails from Global Travel Experts (ops@gtravelhost.com) asking you to 'confirm your booking.' Seems to be an elaborate scam & has targeted other international conferences: www.faops2024.org/gnuboard/bbs...

faops2024.org

FAOPS 2024

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

One of my favourite Latin misunderstandings comes from Paul the Deacon's story about the Lombards leaving Pannonia for Italy and taking with them 'all their household possessions'. Cue the mental image of a group of Lombards bearing their beloved Aloe Veras, Sea Monkeys, and Lava Lamps into Italy.

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Sent over a chapter, and the relief is overwhelming. Unpicking ~150 years worth of philological assumptions (no guys, not all anthroponyms confer equal linguistic data) and their critics (yes, some are influenced by pronunciation) through Derridean Écriture and Différance was not a picnic.

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Finally getting around to seeing the Medieval Women Exhibition! Although, par for the course, I seem to have chosen the literal last moment to do it...

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Rereading a section of my thesis, just to find out I've used the same phrase ("in a similar fashion") five times in the same paragraph really has me wondering if my brain actually functions or if it's just one big sentence regurgitation machine.

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James Worth @worthjrw.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

I might love Le Creuset pots far too much for my own good. Stews have, so far, never been easier*. *previous attempts courtesy of my long-suffering "sauce"pan.

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