An Oxford Historian Apr 8, 2021 3 min read Three free online resources to explore the people and places mentioned in Domesday Book. Domesday Book, written after William the Conqueror’s extensive survey of lands and people in England likely produced in 1086, is a foundational and crucial text in British history. However, it’s a famously […]
Archaeology is a fascinating subject, but is often quite difficult to get into. There’s an awful lot of complex jargon associated with it, scientific wizardry, and illegible publications. However, with a little bit of background reading, it’s absolutely possible for even the most casual enthusiast to develop a deep and complex understanding of the fundamental […]
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 […]
An Oxford Historian May 16, 2021 4 min read Updated: May 23, 2021 A dominant question in late ‘Anglo-Saxon’ history and archaeology is how and why the newly solidified thegnly class establish themselves, and what material culture we can use to track their presence. It is broadly agreed that ‘thegnly culture’ is a useful and […]
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 […]
An Oxford Historian Nov 11, 2021 3 min read A must-watch for archaeology enthusiasts, or anyone with a love of the history of Egypt, this stunningly-shot documentary takes us inside an untouched tomb. Egyptology is a complex and controversial topic for Western audiences. For so long, it’s been wrapped-up so tightly in a complex narrative […]
An Oxford Historian Nov 15, 2021 4 min read The smash-hit musical made available to the world, Hamilton tells the story of the ill-fated founding father through hip-hop. But how good is its historical content? If the production loses a little of its charm when transitioned from the stage to the screen, it still pulls […]
An Oxford Historian Dec 13, 2021 7 min read This year’s interviews are drawing to an end, and so I thought I’d write up some of the advice I compiled this year for people asking questions about how the process works. It’s important that information get out to everyone, not just people who can pay […]
An Oxford Historian Mar 28, 2021 3 min read Updated: Apr 26, 2021 Tengvik’s ‘Old English Bynames’ is a towering contribution to the study of early medieval nicknames, and is equally valuable to both the historian and the linguist. Although perhaps held back by its early date, and well in need of a new edition […]
Textiles – lost forever? How do we explore material culture that is lost to the past through decay and destruction? Is it a lost cause to try and reconstruct the textile world of history? If we can reconstruct it, what can it tell us about past societies and cultures? A History of Food Do we […]
An Oxford Historian Jan 3, 2021 2 min read Updated: Apr 26, 2021 The Story of Kullervo is a book of amazing scale and myth, and well worth a read to any fantasy fan. #ComissionsEarned. This post includes Amazon Affiliate links- as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. In honour of Professor Tolkien’s […]
The Complaint Tablet of Ea-nasir is a remarkable archaeological artefact, recounting a trade dispute over copper ingots. The British Museum is full of all sorts of things that shouldn’t be there. One less well-known example, beyond the Elgin Marbles and the Rosetta Stone, is an initially inconspious clay tablet, traditionally referred to as ‘The Complaint […]
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 […]
An Oxford Historian Jun 4, 2022 5 min read Recently, St Cross College ran their yearly history prize. This involved, among other things, producing a plain English explanation of your current research. I thought I’d take this opportunity to share the result, and a little bit more about my research. How can we use nicknames […]