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Welcome to my blog!

Hello, my name is Tristan and I'm a first-year history PhD researcher at Oxford.

The aim of this blog is to share my research and wider history on the early medieval world, help give any advice on applying to university and explaining about Oxford, and generally expanding engagement with the Humanities.

So if you fall under any of those categories, why not fill out the subscription box below to stay up to date.

The Blog

Start here, or explore the Blog tab above for the latest posts

An Oxford Historian

Jul 21, 20213 min read

Studying 'Disability' in History

There have always been individuals who have physical impairments throughout history. How did past societies treat them, and does that...

An Oxford Historian

Jul 11, 20215 min read

The 'Vikings' - 'culture-sponges'

Far from the aloof ethnic group envisioned by historical misuse, the 'Vikings' show a consistent trend towards assimilation within other...

An Oxford Historian

Jul 5, 20213 min read

St Anskar, 'Apostle of the North'

This week we look at the Vita Ansgarii, the Life of Anskar - a hagiographical account of the Frankish mission to convert the 'Vikings' in...

Herman Contractus - Early Medieval Disability

An Oxford Historian

Jul 4, 20212 min read

Herman Contractus - Early Medieval Disability

How did people in the early medieval period understand 'disability' and physical difference? This weeks Nickname of the Week focuses on...

The Ashmolean Cast Gallery - do 'fakes' matter?

An Oxford Historian

Jun 28, 20214 min read

The Ashmolean Cast Gallery - do 'fakes' matter?

Continuing the Museumcraft series, we take a look at the Ashmolean Cast Gallery and the questions it raises about 'authenticity,...

An Oxford Historian

Jun 27, 20214 min read

Snape - England's Other Ship Burial

Although Sutton Hoo dominates the popular imagination of Anglo-Saxon ship burials, there is another prime example excavated substantially...

An Oxford Historian

Jun 20, 20215 min read

Ibn Fadlan and the Rus

What can the writings of a traveller of the Caliphate tell us about the Rus, an elusive and largely invisible set of 'Viking' settlers in...

An Oxford Historian

Jun 14, 20213 min read

River Kings by Cat Jarman: A Review

Cat Jarman's new book River Kings is a huge triumph, not only for the study of the Vikings in England more broadly, but for the...

An Oxford Historian

Jun 13, 20212 min read

In Our Time - early medieval history

BBC 4's long-running radio show provides some great episodes to access early medieval history, especially English history, in a...

An Oxford Historian

Jun 13, 20212 min read

Nickname of the Week - Onund 'Treefoot'

The second installment in the Nickname of the Week series we take a look at Onund 'Treefoot', a disabled Viking from the Sagas, whose...

Internet Archaeology - a free online Archaeology journal

An Oxford Historian

Jun 10, 20212 min read

Internet Archaeology - a free online Archaeology journal

Emerging from behind the paywall, the journal of Internet Archaeology provides free access to a wide range of archaeology papers for...

England’s Immigrants Database (1330-1550)

An Oxford Historian

Jun 10, 20211 min read

England’s Immigrants Database (1330-1550)

From the National Archives, the University of York and the University of Sheffield, this database provides a massive searchable index of...

Deconstructing the Echo Chamber - why arguing with the ridiculous is important

An Oxford Historian

Jun 9, 20214 min read

Deconstructing the Echo Chamber - why arguing with the ridiculous is important

In my line of study, you end up coming across a broad range of very unpalatable opinions. The 'Anglo-Saxons' and 'Vikings' are tied up...

An Oxford Historian

Jun 5, 20211 min read

The Future of Student Broadcasting

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited onto a podcast discussion group with Cherwell, Oxford University's student newspaper. A...

Nickname of the Week - Simo 'White Death' Häyhä

An Oxford Historian

Jun 5, 20212 min read

Nickname of the Week - Simo 'White Death' Häyhä

In a new weekly series Nickname of the Week, focusing on historic nicknames and their origins, we take a look at the Second World War and...

An Oxford Historian

Jun 5, 20212 min read

Nickname of the Week

This week I'm starting a new blog series - Nickname of the Week. In my research, I'm interested primarily in how nicknames work socially....

An Oxford Historian

May 30, 20212 min read

The Corpus of Early Medieval Coin Finds

Continuing the search for free online resources for those interested in history, this week we take a look at the Corpus of Early Medieval...

An Oxford Historian

May 30, 20213 min read

Tolkien's Grave

Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford holds the grave of J.R..R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, along with a broad...

An Oxford Historian

May 28, 20211 min read

Exploring the Roman Empire - travel

A quick look at the ORBIS website from Stamford, allowing fans of the Roman Empire to explore how long travel across the vast area would...

'Anglo-Saxon' thegns - Power, Image and Spectacle

An Oxford Historian

May 16, 20214 min read

'Anglo-Saxon' thegns - Power, Image and Spectacle

A dominant question in late 'Anglo-Saxon' history and archaeology is how and why the newly solidified thegnly class establish themselves,...

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