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.
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.
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. [...]
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.
Paid a special visit to what’s left of the tomb of Balduin of Luxembourg, archbishop of Trier (1307-54) - relative of three kings, elector and emperor-maker, Machiavellian administrator, ruthless warlord and territorial magnate, ecclesiastical reformer, and patron of the arts.
July 21, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Paid a special visit to what’s left of the tomb of Balduin of Luxembourg, archbishop of Trier (1307-54) - relative of three kings, elector and emperor-maker, Machiavellian administrator, ruthless warlord and territorial magnate, ecclesiastical reformer, and patron of the arts.
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.
The cathedral is also beautiful - another extraordinary example of well preserved Romanesque church architecture. I hadn’t realized how abundant it is in Westphalia, but it stands to reason given the region’s proximity to Carolingian and Ottonian power centres.
July 13, 2025 at 2:25 PM
The cathedral is also beautiful - another extraordinary example of well preserved Romanesque church architecture. I hadn’t realized how abundant it is in Westphalia, but it stands to reason given the region’s proximity to Carolingian and Ottonian power centres.
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.)
“Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)
Detail from an altarpiece depicting the raising of Lazarus, c. 1490. Diözesanmuseum Osnabrück.
Detail from an altarpiece depicting the raising of Lazarus, c. 1490. Diözesanmuseum Osnabrück.
July 12, 2025 at 11:56 AM
“Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)
Detail from an altarpiece depicting the raising of Lazarus, c. 1490. Diözesanmuseum Osnabrück.
Detail from an altarpiece depicting the raising of Lazarus, c. 1490. Diözesanmuseum Osnabrück.
I wonder what Margrave Albrecht “Achilles” of Brandenburg, haughtiest defender of noble privileges and conduct in the 15th-century Holy Roman Empire, would make of this.
July 12, 2025 at 11:25 AM
I wonder what Margrave Albrecht “Achilles” of Brandenburg, haughtiest defender of noble privileges and conduct in the 15th-century Holy Roman Empire, would make of this.
The reconstruction of the high medieval palace houses an exhibition on the 1250th anniversary of the first mention of “Westphalia” in a primary source (Germans do love their Jubiläen…) Not to be missed if you enjoy early medieval charters.
July 5, 2025 at 11:47 AM
The reconstruction of the high medieval palace houses an exhibition on the 1250th anniversary of the first mention of “Westphalia” in a primary source (Germans do love their Jubiläen…) Not to be missed if you enjoy early medieval charters.
Also one for people interested in female education in the later Middle Ages: the Teaching of Mary by her mother Anna (Unterweisung Mariens), from the Cistercian nunnery in Paderborn, c. 1400-1425.
July 5, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Also one for people interested in female education in the later Middle Ages: the Teaching of Mary by her mother Anna (Unterweisung Mariens), from the Cistercian nunnery in Paderborn, c. 1400-1425.
The cathedral treasury is a feast for any medievalist. Plenty of late medieval stuff for me, of course, but also much earlier artifacts: 10th-century candlesticks, a mid-11th century Madonna and Child, and this exquisite Mary Magdalene statue. I could hardly believe that she’s from the late 13thC.
July 5, 2025 at 11:37 AM
The cathedral treasury is a feast for any medievalist. Plenty of late medieval stuff for me, of course, but also much earlier artifacts: 10th-century candlesticks, a mid-11th century Madonna and Child, and this exquisite Mary Magdalene statue. I could hardly believe that she’s from the late 13thC.
Westphalia is a region I don’t know well, so Paderborn has been a revelation. Once a Carolingian palace settlement where Charlemagne and Pope Leo III conspired in 799, it is full of wonderful Romanesque and Gothic architecture iterated over the centuries under the patronage of its prince-bishops.
July 5, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Westphalia is a region I don’t know well, so Paderborn has been a revelation. Once a Carolingian palace settlement where Charlemagne and Pope Leo III conspired in 799, it is full of wonderful Romanesque and Gothic architecture iterated over the centuries under the patronage of its prince-bishops.
I’m in Bielefeld for a couple of weeks for a workshop with some brilliant colleagues to think about big questions of social and political change in the pre-modern world.
Tangentially, I’m enjoying being at a university that still understands the value of open stacks - heaven for historians.
Tangentially, I’m enjoying being at a university that still understands the value of open stacks - heaven for historians.
July 4, 2025 at 2:33 PM
I’m in Bielefeld for a couple of weeks for a workshop with some brilliant colleagues to think about big questions of social and political change in the pre-modern world.
Tangentially, I’m enjoying being at a university that still understands the value of open stacks - heaven for historians.
Tangentially, I’m enjoying being at a university that still understands the value of open stacks - heaven for historians.
Also a nice little exhibition on the history of the printed Bible in German. Contrary to the narrative one can still find in many textbooks, Luther’s 1522 translation was *very* far from being the first. Alongside medieval manuscript Bibles, a dozen German translations were printed before that date.
June 28, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Also a nice little exhibition on the history of the printed Bible in German. Contrary to the narrative one can still find in many textbooks, Luther’s 1522 translation was *very* far from being the first. Alongside medieval manuscript Bibles, a dozen German translations were printed before that date.
This being the quincentenary of the Peasants’ War, there’s also an exhibition about that (as there is in virtually every town in central and southern Germany in 2025). And a dark reminder that the leaders of the local peasant uprising were executed here 500 years ago almost to the day.
June 28, 2025 at 12:10 PM
This being the quincentenary of the Peasants’ War, there’s also an exhibition about that (as there is in virtually every town in central and southern Germany in 2025). And a dark reminder that the leaders of the local peasant uprising were executed here 500 years ago almost to the day.
The town is very proud of the heritage of the Schmalkaldic League. The Renaissance castle (itself a heritage site dating from the 1590s) has an entire museum dedicated to every twist and turn in the League’s history, compete with interactive audiovisual media.
June 28, 2025 at 12:07 PM
The town is very proud of the heritage of the Schmalkaldic League. The Renaissance castle (itself a heritage site dating from the 1590s) has an entire museum dedicated to every twist and turn in the League’s history, compete with interactive audiovisual media.
Schmalkalden: a well-preserved late medieval to early modern town nestled in the beautiful Thuringian forest. Once an exclave of Hessen (jointly ruled with the counts of Henneberg), it was the mid-point of early Protestantism and hence the founding site of the famous evangelical league of 1531.
June 28, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Schmalkalden: a well-preserved late medieval to early modern town nestled in the beautiful Thuringian forest. Once an exclave of Hessen (jointly ruled with the counts of Henneberg), it was the mid-point of early Protestantism and hence the founding site of the famous evangelical league of 1531.
Finally read a 15th-century book in an original binding with the library chain that used to hold it to its shelf still attached. #medievalsky
(Heavily annotated copy of the Sermones magistri Leonardi de Utino, 1490s. Forschungsbibliothek Gotha Ink. 87.)
(Heavily annotated copy of the Sermones magistri Leonardi de Utino, 1490s. Forschungsbibliothek Gotha Ink. 87.)
June 24, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Finally read a 15th-century book in an original binding with the library chain that used to hold it to its shelf still attached. #medievalsky
(Heavily annotated copy of the Sermones magistri Leonardi de Utino, 1490s. Forschungsbibliothek Gotha Ink. 87.)
(Heavily annotated copy of the Sermones magistri Leonardi de Utino, 1490s. Forschungsbibliothek Gotha Ink. 87.)
It’s often claimed that diplomatic - the study of documentary forms and protocols - began with Mabillon in the 17th century. Here, however, is a template for a letter to a pope from the 1430s. #medievalsky
(Forschungsbibliothek Gotha Chart. B 445 fol. 108v-108r)
(Forschungsbibliothek Gotha Chart. B 445 fol. 108v-108r)
June 16, 2025 at 9:27 AM
It’s often claimed that diplomatic - the study of documentary forms and protocols - began with Mabillon in the 17th century. Here, however, is a template for a letter to a pope from the 1430s. #medievalsky
(Forschungsbibliothek Gotha Chart. B 445 fol. 108v-108r)
(Forschungsbibliothek Gotha Chart. B 445 fol. 108v-108r)
I thought of you yesterday in Mühlhausen - the 500 Jahre Bauernkriegsausstellung in the Marienkirche has some materials from Thuringian shooting contests!
June 15, 2025 at 10:45 AM
I thought of you yesterday in Mühlhausen - the 500 Jahre Bauernkriegsausstellung in the Marienkirche has some materials from Thuringian shooting contests!
But there are non-Luther-related reasons to visit Bad Langensalza: its charming old town and several kilometres of 13th/14th-century town walls.
June 15, 2025 at 10:01 AM
But there are non-Luther-related reasons to visit Bad Langensalza: its charming old town and several kilometres of 13th/14th-century town walls.
“Martin Luther spent two hours here in 1516” gets you a coveted spot on the Lutherweg.
June 15, 2025 at 9:44 AM
“Martin Luther spent two hours here in 1516” gets you a coveted spot on the Lutherweg.
I wonder how Hermann von Salza (1165-1239), zealous crusader to the Holy Land and the Baltic and leading mediator in the bitter dispute between the papacy and Emperor Frederick II, would feel about his name being given to a budget hotel.
(Bad Langensalza, Thuringia)
(Bad Langensalza, Thuringia)
June 15, 2025 at 9:41 AM
I wonder how Hermann von Salza (1165-1239), zealous crusader to the Holy Land and the Baltic and leading mediator in the bitter dispute between the papacy and Emperor Frederick II, would feel about his name being given to a budget hotel.
(Bad Langensalza, Thuringia)
(Bad Langensalza, Thuringia)