Julia Hillner

@writinghelena.bsky.social

1.1K followers 230 following 300 posts

Writing about imperial women to understand late antiquity:
history - ideology - dynasty - violence - agency - memory

Also working on: crime, punishment, prosopography, digital humanities, and the city of Rome
@dependencybonn.de .. more

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Julia Hillner is Professor for Dependency and Slavery Studies at the University of Bonn. She was previously Professor of Medieval History at the University of Sheffield. She is an expert on late antiquity, applying digital methods of social network analysis to large data sets drawn from a wide variety of late antique and early medieval sources. .. more

History 61%

Philosophy 13%

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Mar 18

At the Connecting Late Antiquities project we've compiled a list of digital projects on late antiquity - one step to, erm, connecting late antiquities!
Huge thanks to @bnduman.net & @laurahartmann.bsky.social

Take a look, the variety is mindblowing!

www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/research/...

Related Digital Projects

www.dependency.uni-bonn.de

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 5h

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPI101/d...

Doctoral Researcher Position in “History of Knowledge of the Medieval World” at Kiel University

Discover a PhD Studentship: Doctoral Researcher Position in “History of Knowledge of the Medieval World” Explore more PhD opportunities and apply today!

www.jobs.ac.uk

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 7d

Looking forward to seeing you...if you make it :)

Reposted by Julia Hillner

Aleksander Paradziński @akjp89.bsky.social · 7d

This week I am taking a crack at gender, heterarchies and military retinues at the workshop I helped organising: Heterarchies and Power Dynamics in Post-Roman Europe. If you want to join us online it is possible by subscribing to the mailing list here:
listen.uni-bonn.de/wws/subscrib...

Reposted by Charles West, Julia Hillner

Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies @dependencybonn.de · 8d

📬 In our November blog post, Jamie Wood, former BCDSS Guest Researcher and Prof. of History and Education at Lincoln University (UK), shares insights into the research he conducted during his stay in Bonn: buff.ly/XBlQiLo
#Intermediaries #Christianity #Visigoths
@unibonn.bsky.social @dfg.de

Reposted by Scott G. Bruce, Pauline Stafford, Julia Hillner

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 8d

Five years, four authors, one book. Out now (fully open access), our new book on local priests in the tenth century 🌟 www.cambridge.org/core/books/l... @jbwaagmeester.bsky.social

Local Priests in the Latin West, 900–1050

Cambridge Core - European Studies - Local Priests in the Latin West, 900–1050

www.cambridge.org

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 10d

It reconstructs how creeds, and the two main Christian creeds in particular , the apostolic and the nicene came into being, so traces the story from early christianity up to 16th century Ethiopia! Eusebius is in it, but mainly as one of the many actors who were involved in the crafting these texts

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 10d

Yep - late antiquity, famously invented by the Carolingians!

Jokes aside, it does pay off knowing a bit about the centuries post Roman rule to understand the Romans!

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 11d

Such a fascinating Carolingian source ;)

DoSSE Project @dosse-project.bsky.social · 11d

"IT IS AGREED AND MOST EVIDENT THAT ALL MASTERS ARE EVIL..."

So begins the speech of the slave character Pantomalus in the Querolus, the only extant late antique comedy.

It will feature in a slavery sourcebook that we are working on.

Read more in our newest blog post: tinyurl.com/zrmc4a6s

Reposted by Julia Hillner

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 11d

Such a fascinating Carolingian source ;)

DoSSE Project @dosse-project.bsky.social · 11d

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 13d

A taster of our special issue on gender and segregation, due out in a few weeks.

Thank you also to @dependencybonn.de for funding the conference during which many of these ideas were first discussed.

Daniel Grey @djrgrey.bsky.social · 13d

Critical introduction to forthcoming "Gender & Segregation" special issue of @genderandhistory.bsky.social by Lisa Hellman, @writinghelena.bsky.social, Rachel Jean-Baptiste & me is now out and #OpenAccess! Issue itself to follow shortly... 🌟

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Gender and Segregation: An Introduction

This introduction to the Special Issue explores the ways in which a gendered analysis illuminates histories of segregation. It argues three key points. First, it is essential to understand segregatio....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Lesley A. Hall, Margot C. Finn , and 1 more Joanna Bourke, Lesley A. Hall, Margot C. Finn, Julia Hillner

Daniel Grey @djrgrey.bsky.social · 13d

Gender and Segregation: An Introduction

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 15d

www.zeit.de/2025/45/bisc...

Bischofskirche von Ostia: Als die Kirche protzen lernte

In Ostia bei Rom legen deutsche Archäologen eines der ältesten christlichen Gotteshäuser frei – und entdecken, wie die Religion zum Luxus fand.

www.zeit.de

Reposted by Charles West, Rory Naismith, Julia Hillner

Cambridge University History Faculty @camhistory.bsky.social · 19d

Chris Wickham's 'Framing the early Middle Ages, Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800' (2005) is widely seen as a milestone in early medieval studies.

New research published by Robert Portass, Peter Sarris and Caroline Goodson (@cjg70.bsky.social) now offers a critical response to Wickham’s ideas ⬇️

Vol. 43 Núm. 2 (2025): El modo de producción campesino: un replanteamiento de la sociedad rural de la Europa altomedieval | Studia Historica. Historia Medieval

Con la colaboración de la Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología | Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades.

revistas.usal.es

Reposted by Charles West

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 25d

Just submitted a review of Wolfram Kinzig's amazing book A History of Early Christian Creeds.
It was such a joy reading it and discussing it back in the summer at the book launch.
Go read it or perhaps, given the length, browse it - you will never think about the Nicene creed in the same way again.

cover of Wolfram Kinzig, A History of Early Christian Creeds, De Gruyter 2024

Reposted by Charles West, Holger Nehring, Julia Hillner

History: The Journal of the Historical Association @hisjournalha.bsky.social · 26d

#History #SkyStorians Very timely blog by Julia Moses and @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social on 'Using Large Learning Models in the History Classroom: Practical Perspectives' www.history.org.uk/higher-ed/re...

Using Large Learning Models in the History Classroom: practical perspectives

www.history.org.uk

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 26d

congratulations!!!! 🍾🍾🍾

Reposted by Rory Naismith, Holger Nehring, Margot C. Finn , and 1 more Rory Naismith, Holger Nehring, Margot C. Finn, Julia Hillner

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 26d

Hurrah! My new book, Europe in the Eleventh Century: Beyond Revolution and Reform is officially published today by Oxford University Press. 1/5 global.oup.com/academic/pro...

global.oup.com

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 27d

Congratulations 🥳

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Oct 11

I gave it to my child to read when they were applying to university

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Oct 11

This here is amazing. Granted, not medieval (though one case study is St Peter at the Vatican ) but so so good on the challenges of interdisciplinary work and extremely well written press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Artifact and Artifice

Is it possible to trace the footprints of the historical Sokrates in Athens? Was there really an individual named Romulus, and if so, when did he found Rome? Is the tomb beneath the high altar of St. ...

press.uchicago.edu

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Julia Hillner

Daniel Grey @djrgrey.bsky.social · Oct 11

Delighted that latest article from forthcoming Special Issue of @genderandhistory.bsky.social is now available, co-edited by @writinghelena.bsky.social, Lisa Hellman, Rachel Jean-Baptiste & me! Elisabetta Iob explores purdah & resistance in 1950s Pakistan 🌟

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The Girls Are in Town: Purdah, Emotions and Everyday Resistance in Urban Pakistan

Pakistan, mid-1950s. Many upper-class women had already left or were about to leave purdah (or its remnants). This article investigates how these women challenged seclusion, redefining relations of p...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Oct 9

Yeah perhaps not consciously. But limiting resources for specific groups of people has this effect. I can testify, the patriarchy works like this :)

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Oct 9

Actually isn’t this exactly the intention of the powers they are decrying: creating divisions so we have a go at each other. Walking into a trap, every time.

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Oct 9

I did not see the previous post but I was surprised and taken aback already by this one, including by the large and positive feedback it received, some straight ad hominem. In my view, social media is not the place to attack colleagues, whatever scientific, political or personal opinions we hold.

Reposted by Julia Hillner

De Gruyter Brill History @dgb-history.bsky.social · Oct 9

Druckfrisch und #openaccess: Das neue Heft der HZ, u.a. mit Beiträgen zu Antiochos dem Großen, #Rassismus im Mittelalter, Pharma-Industrie und #Kolonialismus sowie zum Ende der Weimarer Republik: www.degruyterbrill.com/journal/key/...
@kim-todzi.de @writinghelena.bsky.social #skystorians

Das Cover von Heft 312.2 der Historischen Zeitschrift

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Oct 7

in general though, even my index is majority male - we just haven't mastered yet how to make the nameless findable! I stubbornly list nameless daughters, wives etc as "nameless daughter of...", but it's rather unsatisfactory

Reposted by Andrew Jacobs

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Oct 7

I'm indexing a large edited volume & finding so many instances of women indicated only as "daughter of", "and his wife" etc - a bit of research shows that often we actually know their names (yes, even for late antique/early medieval women)!
Time to repost
writinghelena.wordpress.com/2019/01/08/t...

The Art of Naming Women

This past Christmas something magical happened to me which put my faith back into the importance of writing History (not that I had ever lost it, but in these times, when the value of History as an…

writinghelena.wordpress.com

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Oct 4

And here some objects from a probably royal Thuringian female chariot burial that has been associated with Radegund’s mum, wife of Bertachar.
Not sure these are originals though as they seem very shiny.
Also from Stadtmuseum Erfurt

Silver bowl, silver ladle, golden hairpin, gold plated decorations of a vessel

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Oct 4

Continuing my quest to trace postroman connections through grave goods associated with royal wives.
Here some objects from Ostrogothic Italy found in then-Thuringia, perhaps arrived there when or after Theoderic’s niece Amalaberga married Thuringian king Hermanifrid in 507
Now in Stadtmuseum Erfurt

A selection of grave goods, including silver, gold and garnet brooches

Reposted by Julia Hillner

Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies @dependencybonn.de · Oct 3

📢 Call for Applications!
The BCDSS is inviting applications for the Heinz Heinen Fellowship Program 2026/2027.

📅 Apply by Jan 10, 2026
📍 Start date: from Oct 1, 2026
👉 Full details here: buff.ly/8aH1Fy0

@unibonn.bsky.social
@dfg.de

A poster calling for application for Heinz Heinen Fellowships for the next academic year 2026/2027
-The deadline is on January 10, 2026

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Oct 3

Not sure about the link I inserted here 🤨

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