Chris Callow's Avatar

Chris Callow

@chriscallow

Medievalist at the University of Birmingham, fan of Iceland, Vikings, running and other things

631
Followers
593
Following
141
Posts
29.10.2023
Joined
Posts Following

Latest posts by Chris Callow @chriscallow

Not necessarily. It might be worth sending an email to our general admissions email address to see what they say. People take Access courses but not always.

06.03.2026 15:03 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This book will be excellent. But if you really love Mercia I’d recommend coming to study History in the heart of Mercia, at the University of Birmingham!

06.03.2026 12:12 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Detail of a Roman tomb wall with a semicircular painted lunette showing faded red and blue figures on a white background.

Detail of a Roman tomb wall with a semicircular painted lunette showing faded red and blue figures on a white background.

New discovery: A large burial ground dating from the Early Imperial Age to Late Antiquity has been uncovered in Rome’s Ostiense Necropolis during pre-construction works.

cultura.gov.it/comunicato/2...

05.03.2026 08:25 πŸ‘ 236 πŸ” 39 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Lead-alloy weight (image credit: St Albans council)

Lead-alloy weight (image credit: St Albans council)

#FindsFriday

Time for trading; this week's trinket is a lead alloy weight used in the mixed coin / bullion economies of ninth-century viking army camps

BH-1DA0A5 (finds.org.uk/database/art...)

06.03.2026 06:12 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

The real Dubai

04.03.2026 19:22 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Pity Me – really? - SNSBI Many place-names are deceptive, so it's not surprising that many people have assumed that the striking name Pity Me (best known from County Durham, but found more widely) can't really be what it seems...

Many place-names are deceptive, so it’s not surprising that many people have assumed that the striking place-name Pity Me can’t really be what it seems. What is it, though?
Today's name story is written by Emeritus Professor Diana Whaley of @newcastleuni.bsky.social.
www.snsbi.org.uk/exploring-na...

03.03.2026 10:16 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2
Preview
RÚV English Radio - THE WEEK IN ICELAND, FROM AKUREYRI: WEATHER, DAVÍÐ ODDSSON, FLIGHTS, GRINDAVÍK, PEPTIDES - RÚV.is Today on RÚV English Radio, a new episode of The Week In Iceland, from RÚV's Akureyri studio.

RÚV English #Radio - THE WEEK IN #ICELAND, FROM #AKUREYRI: #WEATHER, DAVÍÐ ODDSSON, #FLIGHTS, #GRINDAVÍK, #PEPTIDES

https://www.ruv.is/english/2026-03-03-ruv-english-radio-the-week-in-iceland-from-akureyri-weather-david-oddsson-flights-grindavik-peptides-468582

03.03.2026 17:06 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
West Midlands annual pedestrian deaths 'nearly double in four years' Figures show 48% of road deaths across the West Midlands last year were that of pedestrians.

The response must be a safe system approach, not guardrail. We emphasise subsequent lines in the report: "We are also assessing common contributory factors in pedestrian KSls to establish appropriate interventions", "excessive or inappropriate speed remains the most prevalent contributory factor".

03.03.2026 17:08 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Predictably (for me) I’d suggest addressing what historians do with them. You’re ideally placed to talk about Anglophone and other scholarship.

26.02.2026 20:33 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Glasgow University computers connected to ChatGPT 64 million times in 2025 An investigation by student newspaper The Glasgow Guardian found that the servers recorded 63,720,751 connections to ChatGPT last year.

Such a huge environmental impact for so little gain.

www.heraldscotland.com/news/2588713...

26.02.2026 10:50 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It looks like the job is to replace someone moving into a fixed-term management/leadership role so my guess is this really is very likely a seven-year post and definitely years not months.

26.02.2026 10:37 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

A β€˜temporary’ but seven-year post in Medieval English literature.

25.02.2026 19:17 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 14 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Update: Einstein cheatbot is "real" in that you can download an agent, but v. expensive, and it is a wrapper for openclaw so likely a massive, scary, data scrape/phish. With apols for substack link, couldn't find anyone elsewhere who'd done the test
michellekassorla.substack.com/p/the-first-...

25.02.2026 08:16 πŸ‘ 33 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

Today was the first day in 2026 when I cycled home in the light, dry and without a fierce wind or aggressive driving. It felt good!

24.02.2026 18:12 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Join the Irish Historical Society on Tuesday, 24 February (7pm) for a panel on: β€œNew Directions in the Study of Early Medieval Ireland”

Speakers: Dr Elva Johnston (UCD) Dr Immo Warntjes (TCD)
Chair: Prof DΓ‘ibhΓ­ Γ“ CrΓ³inΓ­n

Boston College, 43 St Stephen’s Green or online: tinyurl.com/mr59w9k2

17.02.2026 21:02 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
Preview
Tutorial Fellowship in History, and Associate Professorship (or Professorship) of Medieval British and European History at University of Oxford Explore an exciting academic career as a Tutorial Fellowship in History, and Associate Professorship (or Professorship) of Medieval British and European History. Don't miss out on other academic jobs....

We are hiring ....
Because John Nightingale is retiring...
for a Tutorial Fellowship in European History 400-1000...

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQP650/t...

24.02.2026 07:19 πŸ‘ 43 πŸ” 56 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3

And you?

23.02.2026 18:52 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

BBC with occasional excursions to ITV.

23.02.2026 17:14 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

It is self-evident looking around cities, towns and the smallest villages that there are places of worship no longer used by those that built them. πŸ—ƒοΈ

Some, of course, are houses. Others remain in devotional use. Some examples from our volumes, supplemented by other information - a short thread 🧡

23.02.2026 11:52 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 3

For more ship-moving excitements, check out the #Vikingtidsmuseet YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@vikingtidsm...

23.02.2026 08:59 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
How far back in time can you understand English? An experiment in language change

If you liked this experiment, I published a full piece today in the same vein: a text that gets 100 years older with every section, from a modern blog post to a medieval chronicle.

It's a single story spanning 1000 years of English. See how far you get.

www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/how-far-ba...

18.02.2026 18:40 πŸ‘ 3562 πŸ” 1297 πŸ’¬ 194 πŸ“Œ 479
Preview
Intermediate Old Norse: Reading BÑrðar saga SnæfellsÑss Living Latin and Ancient Greek

A chance to study this fascinating text.
www.paideiainstitute.org/intermediate...

20.02.2026 20:19 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
A scribe sits in a chair working on a book open before him. The book rests on a pedestal. From a copy of Gerald of Wales's Topography of Ireland in National Library of Ireland MS 700, fol. 29r

A scribe sits in a chair working on a book open before him. The book rests on a pedestal. From a copy of Gerald of Wales's Topography of Ireland in National Library of Ireland MS 700, fol. 29r

"Now that our leaders are no longer literate, no one, they say, has any time for humane letters."

- Gerald of Wales, c. 1193-94, in his Descriptio Cambriae
(trans. Lewis Thorpe, "The Journey Through Wales and The Description of Wales" (London, 1978) p. 216)

19.02.2026 07:30 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 2

I regularly see people wondering how it's possible that there are so many musicians and writers and film makers and artists from a tiny nation like Iceland.

And the answer is really simple: State funding for art education and artists. I literally get a salary from the government to write books.

18.02.2026 14:23 πŸ‘ 20817 πŸ” 5585 πŸ’¬ 217 πŸ“Œ 376
Preview
Benedictines and Lay Society in Fourteenth-Century Iceland: The Family of Benedikt Kolbeinsson This study investigates the lives, relationships, and religious activities of the fourteenth-century Icelander Benedikt Kolbeinsson and his immediate family members, especially his mother, aunt, br...

I’m glad to see that a former PhD student of mine is still producing good work on a period that’s hugely under researched.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

18.02.2026 18:25 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

bΓΊΓ°arvist (sb. f.): 3 cits, e.g. stay in a booth/(fisherman’s) hut // ophold i bod/(fisker)hytte β€˜BΗ«Γ°varr hafΓ°i bΓΊΓ°arvist meΓ° ÞórΓ³lfi Sigmundarsyni ok hafΓ°i meiri rÑð yfir ΓΎingmΗ«nnum ok bΓΊΓ°arliΓ°i en ÞórΓ³lfr’ (Stu in AM 440 4Β°) onp.ku.dk/o12013 #OldNorse

17.02.2026 09:07 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

To bring some sunshine to your timeline, an imitation gold solidus minted in Frisia in the 860s/870s, probably by Scandinavians, and ending up in Bickmarsh (Worcs.) in a hoard with coins of Burgred of Mercia. πŸ“· Treasure Hunting magazine

17.02.2026 08:05 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Ill be clear about why I am so angry and critical about it: Im seeing a good portion of my students who have imbibed the notion that they dont have to read, think or write for themselves because ChatGPT/CoPilot will do their thinking for them, and its terrifying. It should scare all of us.

12.02.2026 13:21 πŸ‘ 1523 πŸ” 276 πŸ’¬ 18 πŸ“Œ 28
A street scene dominated by a building on the left of the photo with a neo – classical frontage including columns and a pediment. A union flag aloft the top of the building. Other buildings further along the street. Crowds of people on either side of the road.

A street scene dominated by a building on the left of the photo with a neo – classical frontage including columns and a pediment. A union flag aloft the top of the building. Other buildings further along the street. Crowds of people on either side of the road.

#PhotoFriday today is this photo of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists when located on New Street. Photographed by Percy J. Deakin of 19 Digbeth at precisely 10.12 hours on 27 June 1902. Ref: WK/B11/113 #LibraryofBham #Brumpic @rbsagallery.bsky.social

13.02.2026 08:15 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Jenny Wormald Junior Research Fellow in Women’s History at University of Oxford Discover an exciting academic career path as a Jenny Wormald Junior Research Fellow in Women’s History at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!

Fellowship Opportunity!

Jenny Wormald Junior Research Fellow in Women’s History
University of Oxford - St Hilda’s College

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQL341/j...

13.02.2026 04:50 πŸ‘ 23 πŸ” 39 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2