Duncan Hardy
@hrehistorian.bsky.social
Associate Professor. 🇬🇧🇨🇭 in 🇺🇸. Holy Roman Empire & other medieval/early modern history. ucf.academia.edu/DuncanHardy
Views expressed here are my own and do not represent any institution or employer.
Views expressed here are my own and do not represent any institution or employer.
Pinned
Duncan Hardy
@hrehistorian.bsky.social
· Mar 24
My forthcoming sourcebook has a webpage! If you're interested in reading primary sources from a crucial period in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, mark your calendars for the November release! #medievalsky #reformazing
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526165893/
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526165893/
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
Chapeau to @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social for his wonderful new book which has just arrived, an amazingly global and ecumenical volume, in all senses! Beautifully produced by OUP (and before publication day!?).
A spur to others!
A spur to others!
October 9, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Chapeau to @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social for his wonderful new book which has just arrived, an amazingly global and ecumenical volume, in all senses! Beautifully produced by OUP (and before publication day!?).
A spur to others!
A spur to others!
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
Agree. In the best case, it's even a bit like having a reasonable conversation with other scholars who tried to have a reasonable conversation with the old self that was doing the screaming.
Writing a first book feels like screaming into the void. Beginning to write a second book feels a lot like trying to have a more reasonable conversation with the old self that was doing the screaming.
October 5, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Agree. In the best case, it's even a bit like having a reasonable conversation with other scholars who tried to have a reasonable conversation with the old self that was doing the screaming.
By the mid-fifteenth century, gunpowder weapons (both bombards and arquebuses) were so widespread in German-speaking Europe that they might be casually illustrated in a manuscript on completely unrelated topics.
Hans Vintler, Blumen der Tugend (1469). Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Chart A 594.
Hans Vintler, Blumen der Tugend (1469). Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Chart A 594.
October 1, 2025 at 3:36 PM
By the mid-fifteenth century, gunpowder weapons (both bombards and arquebuses) were so widespread in German-speaking Europe that they might be casually illustrated in a manuscript on completely unrelated topics.
Hans Vintler, Blumen der Tugend (1469). Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Chart A 594.
Hans Vintler, Blumen der Tugend (1469). Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Chart A 594.
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
I too prefer the text over the video, and over the podcast for that matter. I can read much faster than I can watch or listen. But then I'm a 20th-century fossil in an increasingly post-literate culture.
I do not want the video. I will never watch the video. I usually won’t even give the video the effort of complaint.
I just want to read the news story. Give me the text. This would be my Ted Talk but that would be text too.
I just want to read the news story. Give me the text. This would be my Ted Talk but that would be text too.
September 29, 2025 at 12:31 PM
I too prefer the text over the video, and over the podcast for that matter. I can read much faster than I can watch or listen. But then I'm a 20th-century fossil in an increasingly post-literate culture.
How to reconcile crusading and anticlerical sentiments in one humanist funeral oration:
"Oh, if only Maximilian were still alive! He would have mustered such wide-ranging efforts that it would already be over with the rough neck of the Turks. [...]
"Oh, if only Maximilian were still alive! He would have mustered such wide-ranging efforts that it would already be over with the rough neck of the Turks. [...]
September 20, 2025 at 5:04 PM
How to reconcile crusading and anticlerical sentiments in one humanist funeral oration:
"Oh, if only Maximilian were still alive! He would have mustered such wide-ranging efforts that it would already be over with the rough neck of the Turks. [...]
"Oh, if only Maximilian were still alive! He would have mustered such wide-ranging efforts that it would already be over with the rough neck of the Turks. [...]
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
The title of this book is 419 words long. Authors, become ungovernable.
September 5, 2025 at 4:22 PM
The title of this book is 419 words long. Authors, become ungovernable.
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
#CallforApplications 📣
The GHIL awards a number of #scholarships to #postgraduate students, Habilitanden and #postdocs at German universities to enable them to carry out research in Britain. Scholarships are generally awarded for a period of up to three months. 📜
1/3
The GHIL awards a number of #scholarships to #postgraduate students, Habilitanden and #postdocs at German universities to enable them to carry out research in Britain. Scholarships are generally awarded for a period of up to three months. 📜
1/3
September 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM
#CallforApplications 📣
The GHIL awards a number of #scholarships to #postgraduate students, Habilitanden and #postdocs at German universities to enable them to carry out research in Britain. Scholarships are generally awarded for a period of up to three months. 📜
1/3
The GHIL awards a number of #scholarships to #postgraduate students, Habilitanden and #postdocs at German universities to enable them to carry out research in Britain. Scholarships are generally awarded for a period of up to three months. 📜
1/3
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
My job now is to go school to school, university to university trying to help them sort through the challenge of teaching in a world with AI and the first thing I recommend to improve the teaching of writing is cut the number of students per instructor in half. No one is going to do that, though.
I understand why people in education say they're turning to this technology because they have too much to do and they think it can ease the burden, but this is not an AI problem. It's a labor problem that the AI is only going to make worse over time.
August 28, 2025 at 8:28 PM
My job now is to go school to school, university to university trying to help them sort through the challenge of teaching in a world with AI and the first thing I recommend to improve the teaching of writing is cut the number of students per instructor in half. No one is going to do that, though.
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
Looking forward to teaching a short course on digital approaches to (medieval) history in the autumn. Does anyone have any favourite things they'd recommend the students read?
August 20, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Looking forward to teaching a short course on digital approaches to (medieval) history in the autumn. Does anyone have any favourite things they'd recommend the students read?
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
All of this is not to say that transcription software can't be useful, but that you actually need to know something about the context in which a document is produced. This is what historians specialize in. 9/?
August 18, 2025 at 1:45 AM
All of this is not to say that transcription software can't be useful, but that you actually need to know something about the context in which a document is produced. This is what historians specialize in. 9/?
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
For anyone interested in a just-the-documents-and-books focused study of Johannes Gutenberg, this new biography by Eric Marshall White for the Reaktion's "Medieval Lives" series is very good: bookshop.org/p/books/joha... #medievalsky #BookHistory
August 15, 2025 at 4:30 PM
For anyone interested in a just-the-documents-and-books focused study of Johannes Gutenberg, this new biography by Eric Marshall White for the Reaktion's "Medieval Lives" series is very good: bookshop.org/p/books/joha... #medievalsky #BookHistory
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
As always, Ted Chiang is great in this interview.
cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...
cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...
August 14, 2025 at 1:24 AM
As always, Ted Chiang is great in this interview.
cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...
cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
Yes! Humanities majors get jobs!
Which is quite separate from humanities *departments* getting funding. We're under-funded for ideological reasons, alongside mistaken cultural assumptions about employability.
But our majors get jobs! At a high rate! History is a *good* major, so is Classics!
Which is quite separate from humanities *departments* getting funding. We're under-funded for ideological reasons, alongside mistaken cultural assumptions about employability.
But our majors get jobs! At a high rate! History is a *good* major, so is Classics!
August 8, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Yes! Humanities majors get jobs!
Which is quite separate from humanities *departments* getting funding. We're under-funded for ideological reasons, alongside mistaken cultural assumptions about employability.
But our majors get jobs! At a high rate! History is a *good* major, so is Classics!
Which is quite separate from humanities *departments* getting funding. We're under-funded for ideological reasons, alongside mistaken cultural assumptions about employability.
But our majors get jobs! At a high rate! History is a *good* major, so is Classics!
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
A very interesting new article out in @enghistrev.bsky.social from Ingrid Rembold on the discourse around orphans, widows and protection in the Carolingian World. academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
Widows, Orphans and Churches: Protection and Virtue Signalling in the Carolingian World*
Abstract. This article fundamentally reassesses the interpretation of grants of protection within the Carolingian world. The established view of such grant
academic.oup.com
August 8, 2025 at 7:57 AM
A very interesting new article out in @enghistrev.bsky.social from Ingrid Rembold on the discourse around orphans, widows and protection in the Carolingian World. academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
In London for the afternoon, so decided to pay a visit to my 15th-century friends in the V&A - Mehmed II, Emperor Maximilian, and Mary of Burgundy.
August 4, 2025 at 4:06 PM
In London for the afternoon, so decided to pay a visit to my 15th-century friends in the V&A - Mehmed II, Emperor Maximilian, and Mary of Burgundy.
And this is why Weistümer are the zaniest genre of primary source.
Favourite source of my work day: If someone wanted to drive logs down a hill in Breitenbach (Austria) in the Late Middle Ages, they first had to yell out warnings for 3 hours, after which they could only work as long as it took for someone to eat an egg and a piece of bread - Tirol. Weis. I, Nr. 25
July 31, 2025 at 6:10 PM
And this is why Weistümer are the zaniest genre of primary source.
Heading west via one of Germany’s oldest cities: Trier. Of course it’s most famous for its Roman and late antique history. And sadly much of the medieval heritage was destroyed by bombs in WW2. But the dual cathedral/basilica complex is still amazing - the entry point of Gothic art into Germany.
July 21, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Heading west via one of Germany’s oldest cities: Trier. Of course it’s most famous for its Roman and late antique history. And sadly much of the medieval heritage was destroyed by bombs in WW2. But the dual cathedral/basilica complex is still amazing - the entry point of Gothic art into Germany.
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
I like it when German websites give you the options of Herr, Frau or Firma (Mr, Ms or Company), the three genders of capitalism
July 16, 2025 at 9:04 AM
I like it when German websites give you the options of Herr, Frau or Firma (Mr, Ms or Company), the three genders of capitalism
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
...and it's out!
"‘People and Things Have Always Been Mixed Up’: Notes on the So-Called Global Middle Ages", my very short essay for the Journal of Medieval History's 50th-anniversary special issue, is now published; limited free access at the link below!
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RAEXD...
"‘People and Things Have Always Been Mixed Up’: Notes on the So-Called Global Middle Ages", my very short essay for the Journal of Medieval History's 50th-anniversary special issue, is now published; limited free access at the link below!
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RAEXD...
July 14, 2025 at 7:37 AM
...and it's out!
"‘People and Things Have Always Been Mixed Up’: Notes on the So-Called Global Middle Ages", my very short essay for the Journal of Medieval History's 50th-anniversary special issue, is now published; limited free access at the link below!
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RAEXD...
"‘People and Things Have Always Been Mixed Up’: Notes on the So-Called Global Middle Ages", my very short essay for the Journal of Medieval History's 50th-anniversary special issue, is now published; limited free access at the link below!
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RAEXD...
The city hall and town square of Osnabrück - famous for being the site where the Peace of Westphalia was proclaimed in 1648.
(My inner late medievalist is most drawn to the Gothic and “proto-Renaissance” design of the Rathaus itself - a stunning piece of late fifteenth-century architecture.)
(My inner late medievalist is most drawn to the Gothic and “proto-Renaissance” design of the Rathaus itself - a stunning piece of late fifteenth-century architecture.)
July 13, 2025 at 2:18 PM
The city hall and town square of Osnabrück - famous for being the site where the Peace of Westphalia was proclaimed in 1648.
(My inner late medievalist is most drawn to the Gothic and “proto-Renaissance” design of the Rathaus itself - a stunning piece of late fifteenth-century architecture.)
(My inner late medievalist is most drawn to the Gothic and “proto-Renaissance” design of the Rathaus itself - a stunning piece of late fifteenth-century architecture.)
Reposted by Duncan Hardy
Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.
July 13, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.