History
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Owain Gwynedd
I am very pleased to share the news that I have recently had an entry on Owain Gwynedd published in the World History Encyclopaedia. A link to the entry can be found below.
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Trump’s Israel Policy: How ‘Bad History’ Shapes Politics
What is ‘bad history’, and what dangers does it pose to international politics? A look at ‘Biblical Rights’, Zionism, the Crusades, and how they all influence the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.
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What Was The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle?
Most medieval European chronicles share a fairly common formula. You’d be forgiven for confusing one with another, forgetting their names, ignoring their details. Yet the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle sits so far outside the norm of a typical chronicle that it demands close attention. So what makes the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle so special?
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Anglo-Saxons, Racists, Instagram Reels
The weaponisation of history is nothing novel. It has always been, unfortunately, almost inseparable from history itself. As long as the study of the past has existed, so too have people that will dig up the past and invoke chosen aspects to support their own aims, ideals, or views. Even today we are still shaking…
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An Italian Egyptian in Croatia: Who was the Zagreb Mummy?
Some time around 1848, a man named Mihajlo Barić found himself in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Few records on the details of Barić’s life remain. By the time he died in 1859, no one could have guessed the accidental contribution he had already unwittingly made to history. What we do know, is that during…
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Can We Trust English Accounts of a Welsh Hero?
For a long time Owain Glyndwr has been depicted by historians as a leader of a great national revolt, a freedom fighter, the last native prince of Wales, a man who stirred his people to rise against their English colonisers. Recent scrutiny of the contemporary evidence by has suggested, however, that this image may be…
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In Spiritus —The Linguistic Link Between Life and Breath
The connection between life and breath can be found within cultures and languages across the globe and through time. But how did it develop, and where can it still be found?
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Arthur of Brittany: The King That Could Have Been
In 1166, the Duke of Brittany was in trouble. Across his duchy, powerful nobles were rising up in revolt against him. Desperate, he turned to Henry Plantagenet, King of England and ruler of the Angevin Empire, which at its zenith stretched from the forests of Northumberland to the vineyards of Bordeaux. Henry responded. He rode…
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Where Did the Phoenix Come From, and Why Does It Keep Coming Back?
“A mysterious fire flashes from its eye, and a flaming aureole enriches its head. Its crest shines with the sun’s own light and shatters the darkness with its calm brilliance. Its legs are of Tyrian purple; swifter than those of the Zephyrs are its wings of flower-like blue dappled with rich gold.”
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How to Slay the Snake That Eats Itself
The serpent is a creature that suffers from a somewhat imperfect, volatile PR strategy. Throughout our history the animal has populated our lands, thoughts and tales, a denizen of the cosmic realm as often as the earthly. As best said by Okuda & Kiyokawa; “no animal has been more worshipped yet more cast out, more…
Telling Time 