Ryan Kemp
Historian exploring the Speaking of Truth to Power in High Medieval Europe
- Reposted by Ryan KempJust published! Our special issue of JOLCEL (@relicsresearch.bsky.social), 'Tangling with the Classics: Rethinking Reception in the Middle Ages'. Feat @maryhitchman.bsky.social, Paul Vinhage, @ivowolsing.bsky.social, Philippa Byrne, Ramani Chandramohan & Alfred Hiatt jolcel.ugent.be/issue/26787/...
- Pleased to see this is out and very proud to be featured alongside some truly superb colleagues classiques-garnier.com/pensee-polit...
- Reposted by Ryan Kemp"ratio of chinese to Indian restaurants near military bases" good grief, that's literally a bit from a 1970s BBC sitcom youtu.be/oJ-9R6NCZ0A?...
- Awful, awful news. St Peter's has lost a great historian and the students a wonderful teacher. I only met Stephen a few times, but on each occasion he was remarkably generous, warm, and insightful (including during two interview occasions that he managed to turn into real fun). Just devastating.
- It is with deep sadness that the Master and Fellows of St Peter’s College share news of the death of Professor Stephen Baxter, Fellow and Tutor in Medieval History. Our full tribute will be shared soon. ow.ly/cy8J50Y0yrB
- Reposted by Ryan KempDas Programm für unser diesjähriges Forum zum britisch-irischen Mittelalter (19.–20.3.2026, Innsbruck) ist da: fobim.hypotheses.org/forum-2026. Eine Online-Teilnahme ist möglich, alle Infos auf der verlinkten Seite. #medievalsky #skystorians
- Reposted by Ryan KempSad news. While I disagreed with much of what he wrote in his later years, Fried was a true scholar and stylist, from whose work I always benefitted (esp when I disagreed with it).
- Nachruf von @pbahners.bsky.social auf Johannes Fried, der am 17.01.2026 in Heidelberg verstorben ist: www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...
- I still miss doing A-Level Physics past papers (not a sentence I ever dreamed I would write). Something about the finality of the 'correct' or 'incorrect' answers...
- Reminder: the deadline for proposals for the panels @drkrisztinailko.bsky.social and I are running on high medieval political culture is next Tuesday! Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions
- Delighted to announce that Krisztina Ilko and I are organising a set of panels for next year's IMC as a continuation of the some of the themes of the Bonn workshop back in January, this time focusing on chronological shifts in high medieval political culture. Details below and do feel free to share!
- Reposted by Ryan KempThis is basically the range of the emotions that you experience if you catch a train from Cologne to Berlin. You will live all of this in the space of four hours.
- Delighted to announce that Krisztina Ilko and I are organising a set of panels for next year's IMC as a continuation of the some of the themes of the Bonn workshop back in January, this time focusing on chronological shifts in high medieval political culture. Details below and do feel free to share!
- Been meaning to post this for a while but, as some of you already know, I heard in May that I was successful in applying for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship from the Gerda Henkel Stiftung. After what had been a very difficult year, I am enormously grateful to the Stiftung for their support
- Shall be celebrating the news at Leeds next week (hopefully this time without breaking a foot...)
- Reposted by Ryan KempI’m not saying this is a cover up for Otto I coming back from the dead. I’m just saying that if the Holy Lance in Vienna goes missing we’ll know why.
- In the run up to Leeds, I am indeed feeling quite chicken-like today (from Carlo Ginzburg's 'Our Words, and Theirs A Reflection on the Historian’s Craft, Today')
- From Björn Weiler's cousin Jens. Do feel free to share the photos with those who will wish to see them. The phrase we used was a favourite one of Matthew Paris as Björn had examined in some detail. We hope he would have found it fitting.
- Does anyone happen to have a pdf. of Nigel L. Ramsay and Margaret Sparks' 'The cult of St. Dunstan at Christ Church, Canterbury' in St. Dunstan. His Life, Times and Cult pp. 311-323? Would be very grateful for a copy!
- Reposted by Ryan KempVery excited to be involved with this alongside my Exeter colleagues!
- Absolute genius www.youtube.com/watch?v=28vZ...
- Your 'pro-growth' government deliberately designing policy to put off international students from studying in the UK. As usual these days when Labour announces a new white paper, I am reminded of that Malcolm Tucker line. 'Think the unthinkable?! You can't even cope with thinking the thinkable!'
- Reposted by Ryan KempThere is something bordering on abusive in the way ministers today are talking about public services – Jacqui Smith on universities, and Yvette Cooper on care homes. They are blaming institutions for decisions forced on them by government, without admitting they or changing anything.
- Reposted by Ryan KempThere are plenty of proposals out there for a system which could secure broad consent, based on the country's needs and vulnerabilities on the one hand and the dignity of immigrants on the other. A government with a big majority, four years out from an election, could pursue that kind of plan.
- Would any colleagues happen to have access to 2022 issue of the Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte, specifically 'Der deutsche Episkopat im Alexandrinischen Schisma' Boshof, Egon. (2022), pp. 159-196. The online availability (and Bonn's physical copies) don't include the last five years...
- Permit me Lord to read about this cardinal at least once without immediately thinking of...
- A quote direct from Thomas Becket if ever I've seen one
- And down the rabbithole
- Admonitio
- Reposted by Ryan KempFantastic news.
- Reposted by Ryan KempToday marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe. Earlier this year at the GHIL, Lucy Noakes (@universityofessex.bsky.social / @royalhistsoc.org) and Frank Trentmann (@bbkhistorical.bsky.social) reflected on how the war has fundamentally shaped Germany and Britain after 1945. 1/3
- I don't suppose any kind colleagues happen to have access to a pdf of Mainzer Urkundenbuch. Bd. 2: Die Urkunden seit dem Tode Erzbischof Adalberts I. (1137) bis zum Tode Erzbischof Konrads (1200)? The first volume is online but alas not the second (as far as I can tell)
- Watching Conclave and can't help but be reminded of Leeds
- Reposted by Ryan KempA lovely a worthy tribute to a fine scholar and dear friend.
- Would I be right in thinking that the new dmgh doesn't have OCRed copies of the texts available (a useful feature of the old system)? Can OCR texts myself but would be grateful if anyone knows if the old html texts are available somehow...
- Reposted by Ryan KempStudierende und Promovierende deutscher und französischer Universitäten können sich bis zum 1. Juni für die vom @dhiparis.wisskomm.social.ap.brid.gy organisierte Studienreise "Mediävistik in München 2025" bewerben. Die RI-Arbeitsstelle München ist auch dabei. www.dhi-paris.fr/aktuelles/de...
- Reposted by Ryan Kemp📣The TRA Present Pasts invites interdisciplinary contributions from archaeology, history, art history & related fields to uncover the diverse and nonlinear processes that influenced the transition from antiquity to the medieval world. ℹ️More info: www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/...
- Reposted by Ryan KempEs ist wieder Zeit für einen Call for Papers: Auch dieses Jahr findet unser Forum zum britisch-irischen Mittelalter statt, diesmal am 29. September 2025 in Innsbruck. Die Frist zur Einreichung von Vorträgen endet am 28. Mai 2025. Alle Infos unter www.fobim.de/forum-2025. #medievalsky #skystorians
- Reposted by Ryan KempToday, my review of @catjarman.bsky.social’s book ‘River Kings’ (or, rather, its German translation ‘Flusskönige’) has been published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In short: go and read the book (if you haven’t already)!
- While I love this passage from Robert Caro describing the difficulty of boiling down a book to its essentials by writing an outline first, I do always wince at the last few words. Seven years...
- Lovely to see this review of the Addressing Injustice in the Medieval Body Politic volume (superbly edited by @kbneal.bsky.social and Constant Mews) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
- Reposted by Ryan Kemp“Picts or It Didn’t Happen: Evidential Uncertainty in Early Medieval Scotland” #TitlesSearchingForAnArticle
- Reposted by Ryan Kemp[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Ryan KempOh this will be very useful: a database for which saints lives are in which manuscripts.
- That was exactly what I hoped it would be. A fantastic set of papers and predictably brilliant keynote lectures. Björn and Alheydis would have loved every minute of it. Incredibly grateful to @dependencybonn.de for making it happen and to all the staff there who enabled the event to run so smoothly
- Very excited for the next two days and the wonderful programme we have lined up. For those of you attending online, the Zoom link should have landed in your inbox (or possibly junk folder!) on Friday. Do feel free to get in touch if you need it sent again!
- Off to Björn and Alheydis fest in Bonn. Looking forward to seeing both new and old faces there! www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/...
- Programme can be viewed via the link on this page www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/events/ca...
- Reposted by Ryan KempOff to Björn and Alheydis fest in Bonn. Looking forward to seeing both new and old faces there! www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/...
- Reposted by Ryan KempExcited to receive my off-print for this ahead of the launch on Thursday. DM me for a PDF of my article. Otherwise, the full thing will go Open Access after the launch. If you want a hard copy, you can purchase it at www.sidestone.com/books/cremat...
- As emphasised in this book among many others:
- "How do you write so much stuff?!" The key to #writing, I’ve found, is writing. Without actually writing, it’s highly likely you’ll never have written anything. Planning is not writing. Brainstorming is not writing. Reading is not writing. Writing is writing. Go write.
- Reposted by Ryan KempThe Geschichtsquellen site was already brilliant, but now has a new map feature, so you can see what was written where (yes, there are a few gremlins) geschichtsquellen.de/ort?geo#~-0a-
- 'The study of high medieval royal sacrality, and the depiction of royal-episcopal relations in general, would instead benefit from a far broader and in-depth comparative study.'
- Reposted by Ryan KempWas delighted to be asked to write this short obituary of Jinty Nelson, one of my great academic heroes, who did much for my career (as that of countless others), for the latest @historytoday.com.
- It is a bold move, to say the least, to publish something on medieval German history, to not cite (and presumably to not read) anything published on the subject in German, and then to lament that the said topic has been understudied
- Does anyone have any recommendations for resources they have found useful regarding letter collections and Latin hagiography (esp. episcopal vitae) produced in Iberia circa 1000-1300? Esp. on hagiographical front everything is pointing me to vernacular texts
