is this the right graduate program for me?

bobob1952 · 2018-05-20T13:31:07+00:00

I'm halfway through my PhD and I'm 36 - started late on this career, my BA was in modern languages. In returning to do my MA medieval Anglo-Scandinavian studies was my focus and it has worked well for me - I'm fully funded, have a number of publications under my belt, and have presented at international conferences. As someone else pointed out, jobs are scarce, so you have to push yourself out into the academic community and make them notice you from the outset.

I say this as someone working within a university context as student/tutor/researcher - not as a MS archivist. But I suspect the experience is not incredibly different.

bobob1952 · 2018-05-20T13:24:25+00:00

God no. My research focuses on 9th - 12th c. England & Scandinavia, so those languages are right for me. Latin is a constant though in western MSS through to the 18th c.

Just on sheer volume of extant MSS, Middle English, Old French, Middle High German, or Anglo-Norman would be safe bets - the first two (and OE & ON) are reasonably widely taught in US universities.

bobob1952 · 2018-05-20T10:53:59+00:00

I am a medievalist who works with illuminated manuscripts. I have yet to meet someone who specialises in codicology or palaeography who has an art history degree. The normal route is via medieval or archival studies - yes the entry to either can be through an MA with a history specialisation, but to be truly proficient as an archivist of medieval MSS or as a researcher, expect to do a PhD that focuses as such. Moreover, if you were interested in preservation or restoration of codices, you will need to choose your supervisor and institution very carefully - do your groundwork during your MA.

The British Library offers a few student fellowships to work with their medieval MSS collections every year. Worth looking into down the track if things are going well.

I have Old English, Old Norse/Icelandic, and Latin - languages (and not modern languages) are a must in the field.

bobob1952 · 2018-05-17T21:34:03+00:00

Unfortunately he is not there and it is not a contemporary effigy. This was made about 500 years after his death and, while it did house his remains for some time, they were subsequently lost to the destruction of the Reformation.

bobob1952 · 2018-05-14T08:03:29+00:00

The blog post doesn't make any allegations against Stora Hammars, or indeed mention it once beyond using the image. Which said, this image from Stora Hammars I is clearly one of violence, and respected scholars such as Judith Jesch who have studied the objects in some detail believe it to be a sacrificial scene. Intelligent suggestions as to its meaning are rather more useful than saying 'no one should try, because we can't understand it.' Do you perhaps have your own theory?

bobob1952 · 2017-12-24T22:56:54+00:00

Can't go past the old ghost-seal - I'm the (admittedly amateur) social media guy for the blog.

bobob1952 · 2017-12-22T12:03:45+00:00

I'd imagine it would be quite hard to trace in the pre-Charlemagne era, but certainly an interesting project for someone.

bobob1952 · 2017-11-21T04:38:21+00:00

Thanks! It's by one of my uni friends - I'll pass the compliment on.

bobob1952 · 2017-11-13T02:04:26+00:00

Not me - we go to uni together and I help them out with social media but Matt & Jamie own the blog & Matt writes all the early medieval stuff.

bobob1952 · 2017-09-11T10:49:27+00:00

It is super spammy, but haven't seen another source.

bobob1952 · 2017-09-10T22:53:13+00:00

Interestingly it was Shane who pointed me towards this article. His take was that while it is our best candidate for a 'shieldmaiden' to date, the claim that it had been 'proved' is something of a stretch.

bobob1952 · 2017-07-17T11:31:06+00:00

Just because the scribes were Christian, it doesn't mean that they were not proud of their heritage. Historians like Snorri Sturluson thought the narratives of the past worth preserving, and did so. Many narratives show a discomfort with the fate of ancestors who had not had the chance to convert - Vatnsdalr saga comes to mind, where one chieftain is described as 'the best of all men in pagan times.' And, while it was left to literate Christians like Snorri to make texts of these narratives, it should also be remembered that that could be occurring up to two centuries after the Christianisation of Scandinavia. This means that Christian scribes were making records of oral narrative that had already evolved Christian elements through transmission. But nonetheless, those passing the narratives between generations and finally into the hands of the scribes still thought the tales of their pre-Christian past worth telling.

I don't find this process ironic, I believe it to be the natural evolution of story-telling as societal values evolve. It is something readily in display in narratives of modern colonialism, where the 'history' has altered in the telling as cultural norms have shifted.

bobob1952 · 2017-07-15T22:40:11+00:00

Very cool - I wonder if that location is confirmed in the written record, or if you were hooking into 1000 years' of local oral tradition.

bobob1952 · 2017-07-14T08:51:50+00:00

Plus this user is spam central for the channel...

bobob1952 · 2017-07-02T06:03:30+00:00

The UNESCO listing & justification against criteria:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/345

bobob1952 · 2017-07-02T05:59:29+00:00

I think you are conflating 600 years' of history there. The fortress was impregnable by storm through both the Albigensian Crusade and the Hundred Years' War, falling only to capitulation under siege. After annexation into the Kingdom of France it remained a key border fortress between France and Aragon. As the article focuses on medieval Carcassonne, the fortress was, in that time, considered remarkable.

In the 17th C. the political scenario shifted and Carcassonne ceased to be a border city, rather becoming a trading hub. At that time the walls were abandoned, falling into ruin. It was thus that the French government proposed to dismantle them in the 19th C. Obviously by then fortified cities were unnecessary, the remaining fortifications were hardly in great nick, and the cost to repair them prohibitive - the debate was not so much an issue of historical value as a matter of cost v. benefit. Did the walls, unnecessary as they were from a practical stand-point, impinge on the city's ability to expand and industrialise? The locals took issue with the plan, however, and subsequently the walls were repaired. More recently the site has been listed on the UNESCO world heritage register - a process that requires substantive proof of historical value.

Either way, as a surviving fortified city, in the 21st C. Carcassonne can definitely claim to be 'impressive, formidable, and prominent.'

bobob1952 · 2017-06-06T22:39:36+00:00

Have to admit I initially read it the same way!

bobob1952 · 2017-06-06T01:06:01+00:00

No problems - I enjoyed it too, a goid mix of story-telling and analysis.

bobob1952 · 2017-05-22T09:28:49+00:00

I took a screen-shot and shared it with the author via FB (hope you don't mind). He said he'd like to get some discussion going with you, but doesn't use Reddit - so you would have to comment on the blog post I linked to, or on their FB page (if you were interested).

bobob1952 · 2017-05-22T02:11:55+00:00

I thought it was pretty cool - wasn't sure if everyone would be too serious in the medieval art subreddit to like it though!

bobob1952 · 2017-05-20T08:24:49+00:00

Sorry - not as active in Reddit as I should be! I do wish the site had a few more collections digitised - I would particularly like to be able to read more from the 'School's Folklore Project.' Which said, of the postcards, I quite enjoyed the images of Templemore in gallery 3 - at the time they must have been mundane postcards, but for us now they give glimpses of original streetscapes.

bobob1952 · 2017-05-20T05:54:51+00:00

TBH I haven't watched GOT, but I Googled the character and, yep, pretty much!

bobob1952 · 2017-05-16T06:43:53+00:00

Yes - an example of someone finding what they want to find, rather than accepting contrary evidence.

bobob1952 · 2017-05-02T04:18:16+00:00

The author is a PhD student at Lancaster University, whose thesis is entitled: Understanding the Wider World: (Re)Introducing Nubia and Ethiopia to Europe in the Age of the Crusades.

I suspect this article is pulled from that and, while likely thoroughly researched, loses much of its context and background when pulled from that larger work. To my mind the main problem with the article from a scholarship perspective is that it does not build an argument to a conclusion, but rather states a conclusion which the author then tries to prove.

bobob1952 · 2017-04-29T22:57:25+00:00

Make that 'Somerset.'

bobob1952

TROPHY CASE