Dr. Verena Krebs
@krebsverena.bsky.social
Medieval Historian. North-East Africa & Ethiopia. German. Professor. GIF lover, Sci-fi fan. Getting better at remembering this app exists. More info: VerenaKrebs.com.
Team Golden Retriever and Black Lab for the win!
November 7, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Team Golden Retriever and Black Lab for the win!
"Something happened in Northeast Africa in the early thirteenth century.
It was swift, violent, destructive, and perpetrated by non-Muslims.
It might have been accompanied by an outbreak of disease; it might have had apocalyptic overtones; it might have been several events rolled into one."
It was swift, violent, destructive, and perpetrated by non-Muslims.
It might have been accompanied by an outbreak of disease; it might have had apocalyptic overtones; it might have been several events rolled into one."
September 27, 2025 at 8:18 PM
"Something happened in Northeast Africa in the early thirteenth century.
It was swift, violent, destructive, and perpetrated by non-Muslims.
It might have been accompanied by an outbreak of disease; it might have had apocalyptic overtones; it might have been several events rolled into one."
It was swift, violent, destructive, and perpetrated by non-Muslims.
It might have been accompanied by an outbreak of disease; it might have had apocalyptic overtones; it might have been several events rolled into one."
I tend to think my name's pretty basic — 'Verena' is very much an 80s girls' name from the German-speaking regions of Europe (although we're all named for a 4th-ct Coptic saint from Thebes in Upper Egypt— القديسة فيرينا).
And then there's weeks where I'm constantly called ...Veronika, Vera, Verona.
And then there's weeks where I'm constantly called ...Veronika, Vera, Verona.
August 19, 2025 at 7:11 AM
I tend to think my name's pretty basic — 'Verena' is very much an 80s girls' name from the German-speaking regions of Europe (although we're all named for a 4th-ct Coptic saint from Thebes in Upper Egypt— القديسة فيرينا).
And then there's weeks where I'm constantly called ...Veronika, Vera, Verona.
And then there's weeks where I'm constantly called ...Veronika, Vera, Verona.
Oh look!
More evidence that people and things have been mixing up between medieval Europe' and 'Africa" all along ...
...which *only now* becomes visible as the field's epistemological and methodological frameworks continue to change (for the better, if you ask me)!
More evidence that people and things have been mixing up between medieval Europe' and 'Africa" all along ...
...which *only now* becomes visible as the field's epistemological and methodological frameworks continue to change (for the better, if you ask me)!
August 13, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Oh look!
More evidence that people and things have been mixing up between medieval Europe' and 'Africa" all along ...
...which *only now* becomes visible as the field's epistemological and methodological frameworks continue to change (for the better, if you ask me)!
More evidence that people and things have been mixing up between medieval Europe' and 'Africa" all along ...
...which *only now* becomes visible as the field's epistemological and methodological frameworks continue to change (for the better, if you ask me)!
They are, aren't they? The tiny one in the middle was no larger than my Lab, and I assume no older than a few days.
August 2, 2025 at 5:48 PM
They are, aren't they? The tiny one in the middle was no larger than my Lab, and I assume no older than a few days.
It's August, which means the semester break is finally upon us in Bochum (sorry, American colleagues!).
Starting my 14-month post-appointment sabbatical (🤯!) as befits my rural roots: with long rambling walks through the hilly Hessian countryside, my tried and tested method for starting a new book.
Starting my 14-month post-appointment sabbatical (🤯!) as befits my rural roots: with long rambling walks through the hilly Hessian countryside, my tried and tested method for starting a new book.
August 2, 2025 at 5:41 PM
It's August, which means the semester break is finally upon us in Bochum (sorry, American colleagues!).
Starting my 14-month post-appointment sabbatical (🤯!) as befits my rural roots: with long rambling walks through the hilly Hessian countryside, my tried and tested method for starting a new book.
Starting my 14-month post-appointment sabbatical (🤯!) as befits my rural roots: with long rambling walks through the hilly Hessian countryside, my tried and tested method for starting a new book.
Third set of proofs for a piece I really, really, really struggled to write, but now am actually very happy with (even if my affiliation, mysteriously, now language-switches between German and English).
Part of the Journal of Medieval History's 50th anniversary issue, to be published sooooon.
Part of the Journal of Medieval History's 50th anniversary issue, to be published sooooon.
July 10, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Third set of proofs for a piece I really, really, really struggled to write, but now am actually very happy with (even if my affiliation, mysteriously, now language-switches between German and English).
Part of the Journal of Medieval History's 50th anniversary issue, to be published sooooon.
Part of the Journal of Medieval History's 50th anniversary issue, to be published sooooon.
What even was I doing (from a hellish intensive all day Arabic for weeks course all summer course 2019). I haven't actively written anything beyond the odd word on a blackboard for years.
May 29, 2025 at 2:50 PM
What even was I doing (from a hellish intensive all day Arabic for weeks course all summer course 2019). I haven't actively written anything beyond the odd word on a blackboard for years.
Kiki, Still Life with a Broken Ear.
April 19, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Kiki, Still Life with a Broken Ear.
Perfect meme is perfect.
March 13, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Perfect meme is perfect.
Kiki is equally useless when it comes to fighting rats, but would like to communicate her appreciation for his very fine form. A most excellent Lab.
March 12, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Kiki is equally useless when it comes to fighting rats, but would like to communicate her appreciation for his very fine form. A most excellent Lab.
Phone just reminded me: 13 years ago today, we were at one of the coolest monasteries I've had the honour to visit—in the middle of a dense forest, at the very eastern edge of the Tigrayan Highlands (at 9.000 feet ASL!), run by a young nun who'd studied engineering in India before taking orders.
February 25, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Phone just reminded me: 13 years ago today, we were at one of the coolest monasteries I've had the honour to visit—in the middle of a dense forest, at the very eastern edge of the Tigrayan Highlands (at 9.000 feet ASL!), run by a young nun who'd studied engineering in India before taking orders.
Gerne doch! Zur Ablenkung an diesem Tag erlaube ich mir noch ein Hundebild: Kiki der Labrador in ihrem absurd übergroßen "Hundebett".
February 23, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Gerne doch! Zur Ablenkung an diesem Tag erlaube ich mir noch ein Hundebild: Kiki der Labrador in ihrem absurd übergroßen "Hundebett".
Two years later, it still feels surreal that I had the (quite literally) once-in-a-lifetime honour of giving a keynote at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds.
Turning that talk into an essay—whose proofs arrived today—is just the icing on the absurdity cake.
Turning that talk into an essay—whose proofs arrived today—is just the icing on the absurdity cake.
February 20, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Two years later, it still feels surreal that I had the (quite literally) once-in-a-lifetime honour of giving a keynote at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds.
Turning that talk into an essay—whose proofs arrived today—is just the icing on the absurdity cake.
Turning that talk into an essay—whose proofs arrived today—is just the icing on the absurdity cake.
Nice! Holmstedt's is also fun and medievalist-fun, think comic-strips with dialogue in Ge'ez, and reading from actual manuscript pages ('circle every 7th-order letter', read a page of the late antique Abba Garima Gospels...!)
February 3, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Nice! Holmstedt's is also fun and medievalist-fun, think comic-strips with dialogue in Ge'ez, and reading from actual manuscript pages ('circle every 7th-order letter', read a page of the late antique Abba Garima Gospels...!)
Sharing my 2012 photo of a cannon tables page from the Garima Gospels because I never get tired of it and also it's hard to overstate just *how gorgeous* these colours are — despite being painted about 1500 (yes, one-thousand-five-hundred!) years ago.
January 1, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Sharing my 2012 photo of a cannon tables page from the Garima Gospels because I never get tired of it and also it's hard to overstate just *how gorgeous* these colours are — despite being painted about 1500 (yes, one-thousand-five-hundred!) years ago.
Sorry, I was away from my computer for a glorious week! This is what the IES Catalogue says, with a rather different reading. Interesting that it has a dedicatory inscription at the back and Walatta Hawaryat seems to ring a bell, but I can't quite place her off the top of my head. Will look at EAE.
January 1, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Sorry, I was away from my computer for a glorious week! This is what the IES Catalogue says, with a rather different reading. Interesting that it has a dedicatory inscription at the back and Walatta Hawaryat seems to ring a bell, but I can't quite place her off the top of my head. Will look at EAE.
Ha, it reminded me of several icons from Yohannes IV in Mekelle (see first pic) and then I looked through the IES catalogue and immediately my eyes picked out the panel on the left in the second image -- which, it turns out, is turns out is from the same icon as your scene 😀 16th century, indeed!
December 27, 2024 at 11:14 AM
Ha, it reminded me of several icons from Yohannes IV in Mekelle (see first pic) and then I looked through the IES catalogue and immediately my eyes picked out the panel on the left in the second image -- which, it turns out, is turns out is from the same icon as your scene 😀 16th century, indeed!
Sh*t really went down, fast. By the 620s we already struggle to be 100% sure about the names of kings — e.g. local sources don't say much about the najashi who gave shelter to the Muslim community in the First Hijra. Here's an excerpt from our recent book that summarises a series of calamities.
December 22, 2024 at 4:37 PM
Sh*t really went down, fast. By the 620s we already struggle to be 100% sure about the names of kings — e.g. local sources don't say much about the najashi who gave shelter to the Muslim community in the First Hijra. Here's an excerpt from our recent book that summarises a series of calamities.
Join us later today / early tomorrow (depending on your timezone): an anniversary conference to celebrate two years of the Forum for Medieval Studies in Ethiopia and the Horn lecture series! Friday, December 6th, from 9am Berlin / 11am Addis Ababa time, online and in-person at the CFEE, Addis Ababa!
December 6, 2024 at 12:05 AM
Join us later today / early tomorrow (depending on your timezone): an anniversary conference to celebrate two years of the Forum for Medieval Studies in Ethiopia and the Horn lecture series! Friday, December 6th, from 9am Berlin / 11am Addis Ababa time, online and in-person at the CFEE, Addis Ababa!
These are delightful.
Also, uncanny resemblance to how I tend to look at the end of a long semester.
Also, uncanny resemblance to how I tend to look at the end of a long semester.
November 28, 2024 at 9:01 PM
These are delightful.
Also, uncanny resemblance to how I tend to look at the end of a long semester.
Also, uncanny resemblance to how I tend to look at the end of a long semester.
Yes we do, and it's decades before Florence! Their names were latinised as "Petrus, Bartholomeus and Antonius". This is the relevant passage from my 2021 book that looks at all the known sources (which are many, if fragmentary).
November 26, 2024 at 8:03 AM
Yes we do, and it's decades before Florence! Their names were latinised as "Petrus, Bartholomeus and Antonius". This is the relevant passage from my 2021 book that looks at all the known sources (which are many, if fragmentary).
Ah, I'm an idiot, you need to actually press on the button on the side to see the contents of the "Lists". Turns out I am on sever starter packs and I'll take the compliment lol.
November 12, 2024 at 7:28 AM
Ah, I'm an idiot, you need to actually press on the button on the side to see the contents of the "Lists". Turns out I am on sever starter packs and I'll take the compliment lol.
Unter 15km daneben. Und: ich lebe schon seit 20 Jahren nicht mehr im Marburger Land. Faszinierend, indeed. You can take the girl out of Hessen, but you cannot take Hessen out of the girl. Ever.
October 29, 2024 at 9:48 PM
Unter 15km daneben. Und: ich lebe schon seit 20 Jahren nicht mehr im Marburger Land. Faszinierend, indeed. You can take the girl out of Hessen, but you cannot take Hessen out of the girl. Ever.
I get a few of these every week (as do many other academics, I'm sure), but this AI feverdream is nearly poetic.
Vague longing for a manuscript I have never submitted? Check.
Words that are nearly, but not quite, appropriate? Check.
Mysterious sense of obligation to make sure I'm ok? Check.
Vague longing for a manuscript I have never submitted? Check.
Words that are nearly, but not quite, appropriate? Check.
Mysterious sense of obligation to make sure I'm ok? Check.
October 25, 2024 at 2:36 PM
I get a few of these every week (as do many other academics, I'm sure), but this AI feverdream is nearly poetic.
Vague longing for a manuscript I have never submitted? Check.
Words that are nearly, but not quite, appropriate? Check.
Mysterious sense of obligation to make sure I'm ok? Check.
Vague longing for a manuscript I have never submitted? Check.
Words that are nearly, but not quite, appropriate? Check.
Mysterious sense of obligation to make sure I'm ok? Check.