Fraser McNair
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ralphtorta.bsky.social
Fraser McNair
@ralphtorta.bsky.social
2K followers 150 following 350 posts
Medievalist, blogger, charter enthusiast. Currently working as a research fellow on the Music In The Shadows project at the University of Nottingham. Read my blog at:

https://salutemmundo.wordpress.com/
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ralphtorta.bsky.social
New Name In Print post on the blog: my latest article is an important study of tenth-century Normandy and the micropolities it came from; but shepherding it into print was a bit of a weird time:

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/n...
Name in Print XVII
This one is a little late to the party, although in my defence that’s because it’s one of the oddest publication experiences I’ve ever had. Still, I am pleased to announce that my…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Late-period Bruce Springsteen is best Bruce Springsteen. Specifically, 'Devil's Arcade' may be his best song.
November 20, 2025 at 10:28 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Explaining Richard the Justiciar: "He broke a lot of norms, also bishops"
October 31, 2025 at 8:22 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Can anyone help me out with an opinion about the date of this hand from Vat. Reg. Lat. 755, fol. 13v?
October 28, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Fraser McNair
beccamerkelbach.bsky.social
My blog post with the ADAM network has now been published. It's about precarity, the future of small subjects, and communal approaches to academic work. I hope it will resonate with some. #IchBinHanna #KleineFaecher #SkandiRetten
difficultmedieval.com/2025/10/23/h...
Hard Times and Trial Approaches: Old Norse-Icelandic Studies Between Precarity and the Future
Dr Rebecca Merkelbach reflects on her keynote speech at the most recent Saga Conference. Held every three years, Saga Con is the most important meeting of Old Norse scholars, bringing together acad…
difficultmedieval.com
October 24, 2025 at 6:56 AM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Turn Down For Wat
October 2, 2025 at 6:48 AM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Almost 2 weeks in East Asia and I have yet to see a single "Nett her" sticker. The Baden-Würrtembergers need to step up their game...
September 28, 2025 at 4:06 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Entirely accurate, but Contributor 1's comments made me think of something bothering me lately, and that's: God help you finding other work if you _are_ one of those people whose been sinking to the bottom of the academic demi-monde for ten years after your PhD:

frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6691/
ECR in 2025: Part One- What is it like? – SSFH
frenchhistorysociety.co.uk
September 17, 2025 at 11:10 AM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Update on the blog status: I am going on hiatus. There will still be posts from Sam, but not from me for the indefinite future.

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/09/11/h...
Hiatus (FM)
Since the beginning of June, I have managed to publish one main-line blog post. In that time, there have been four Charter A Week posts, but I wasn’t happy with at least a couple of them. And…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
September 11, 2025 at 1:43 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
This week on the blog, I discuss whether the Normans were vikings.

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/07/31/w...
Were the Normans Vikings?
No. Well, fine, I suppose given I have compelled others to elaborate in similar situations I should put a bit more here. The Bayeux Tapestry is coming to the UK from Autumn next year, and with the …
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
August 1, 2025 at 1:19 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
This week's Charter A Week: The Capetian dynasty's future is ensured with the coronation of its third king:

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/c...
Charter A Week 141: Hugh the Great II: Kidz Bop Version
Hello everyone, welcome back after a summer hiatus. If you’re wondering what happened, my editor gave me a deadline of June 30th to get the first half of my book manuscript in; I did it, but it was…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
July 29, 2025 at 6:04 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
This week on the blog, we're back after a few weeks off, and @samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social looks at the career of Heinrich Fichtenau and the impact of World War 2 upon it:

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/07/24/t...
The Luck of Heinrich Fichtenau
While in much of the world a PhD is the highest university degree one can achieve, in many European countries such as France, Germany and Italy there exists another, further, qualification, known a…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
July 24, 2025 at 4:57 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Sorry everyone, no blog post today. I've a major deadline on June 30th, so it's all hands on deck, and I'm out of buffer. This also means no Charter A Week next week, so the next post will be next Thursday, when @samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social will be talking about Charles Martel in global context.
June 19, 2025 at 3:09 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
This week on the blog: @samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social looks at the early history of Croatia:

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/06/12/t...
The Birth Certificate of the Croatians? Trpimir’s Grant to the Archbishop of Split (852?)
Texts from the early medieval world tend to be precious by default. Rarity makes diamonds of the most unlikely dross. Even a relatively well-documented period like the ninth century does not have e…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
June 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Last week on the blog: on the motif of shining light in praise poetry and the question of the poverty of Carolingian ideology:

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/06/05/t...
The Big Power of Big Powerful Kings; or Kingship in the Evocative Mode
Once again we return to the vexed question of Carolingian political thought and its relationship to practice; and also existence. Last time we talked about this, I was worrying about the banality o…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
June 9, 2025 at 8:53 AM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
For those of you waiting with baited breath, this worked! Big thanks to Dr Pecksmith!
ralphtorta.bsky.social Fraser McNair @ralphtorta.bsky.social · May 31
Sent him a contact form this morning! Unfortunately, I deleted my Twitter account so can't do it that way...
June 4, 2025 at 10:39 AM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
This week's Charter A Week: a prose writer turns his hand to diplomatic composition:

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/06/03/c...
Charter A Week 139/2: Dudo!
Short and sweet this week. It’s not that often, in the early Middle Ages, that you get multiple authors working in their signature style in literary and diplomatic genres. Hincmar, I suppose, but i…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
June 3, 2025 at 2:11 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
This week on the blog, @samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social offers some advice on how to choose a History PhD programme, should you wish to do such a silly thing:

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/05/29/h...
How to choose a PhD History Programme
Not long ago, someone asked me for advice about applying to do a PhD in History and I hesitated. My internal deliberation had nothing to do with the abilities of the person I was talking to, who in…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
May 31, 2025 at 1:42 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Update: I emailed York library, who confirmed they do not have it...
ralphtorta.bsky.social Fraser McNair @ralphtorta.bsky.social · May 29
Does anyone know about a 2020 PhD thesis from York by one R.A. Smith entitled "A Study of the Contested Practice of Ruler Praise at the Court of Charles the Bald"? I've just seen it cited in an article, but otherwise it doesn't seem to exist.
May 30, 2025 at 4:20 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Does anyone know about a 2020 PhD thesis from York by one R.A. Smith entitled "A Study of the Contested Practice of Ruler Praise at the Court of Charles the Bald"? I've just seen it cited in an article, but otherwise it doesn't seem to exist.
May 29, 2025 at 4:54 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
This week's Charter A Week: bishops and comital rights at Beauvais:

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/05/27/c...
Charter A Week 139/1: No Way Like Beauvais
You know, I thought it had been a while since I’d done a royal diploma for one of these things, and I was right. This is one of the problems with the way the preservation of documents changes betwe…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
May 28, 2025 at 9:14 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
This week on the blog: erm, pretty much just thinking out loud, I'm afraid; but perhaps you might find it interesting?

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/05/22/w...
What was the Carolingian Court?
For various reasons, I’ve lately been thinking once more about the Carolingian palace. This hasn’t been as easy as I might have hoped, and a major part of the problem is that historians’ use of ter…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
May 23, 2025 at 10:24 AM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
This week's Charter A Week: Royal diplomatic in Brittany, and reinforcing the authority of the sort-of-kings-who-once-were:

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/05/20/c...
Charter A Week 138: Still Semi-Royal After All These Years
The ideological claims (and, one dares say) political success of the Breton rulers were never so expansive as in the second half of the ninth century and the first decade of the tenth. Under the du…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
May 20, 2025 at 7:09 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
This week, @samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social looks at a world in flux on the eastern frontier of the Carolingian world:

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/05/15/d...
Dogs and Wolves: The Letter of Archbishop Theotmar of Salzburg to Pope John IX (900)
Since the start of April, I have been happily ensconced in the glorious Jugendstil offices of the Institute for Medieval Research (IMAFO) in the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, working with…
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
May 15, 2025 at 1:58 PM
ralphtorta.bsky.social
Alright, this is a question which has come up between me and my American spouse. If you are a native speaker of British English, to which crop does "corn" refer?
May 10, 2025 at 8:25 PM