@amandamadden
Asst Prof of History/affiliate fac @chnm and GMU. Author of Civil Blood: Vendetta Violence and the Civic Elites in Early Modern Italy (Cornell UP, 2025). Co-PI of Mapping Violence in EM Italy and La Sfera. Rock climber, heavy metal enthusiast, KPop fan
magazén - Call for Abstracts 2026! Due Feb 28 2026
The journal welcomes abstract proposals that highlight recent research and experiences in the field of Digital and Public Humanities. See more here: edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4...
Thrilled to chair and co-organize three EMoDiR panels at RSA San Francisco 2026 on The Devil and Dissent: from demonology and Reformation polemic to political demonization and gendered stage representations #RenTwitter #earlymodern #RenTwitter #earlymodern
Every class I took in college taught me something whether it was string theory (see #1, still can't explain it), the debates informing Protestant Reformation, and broadened my view on the world (#2 prof was a legend and I still think about his lectures and the the scape-chicken).
I was a high school drop out from suburban Kansas (long story) and for me, college was like being a kid in a candy store. Five classes I took:
1. Theoretical physics
2. Anthropology of East Asia
3. Japanese 1 and 2
4. From Goddesses to Witches: Women in Pre-modern Europe
5. Renaissance Philosophy
Recently I took a break from research, course prep, and *gestures around* to have a lovely conversation about my recently published book with Miranda Melcher at @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social You can now listen here! megaphone.link/NBNK8414335727
Thank you for coming! I love that sticker.
#unintentionallymetal
It was amazing.
The Center for Humanities Research at GMU is hosting a hybrid book talk for my monograph Civil Blood: Vendetta Violence and the Civic Elites in Early Modern Italy this upcoming Friday from noon-12:30. Register at this link: chr.gmu.edu/events/17595
I ordered a cake to celebrate my book launch. It turned out kinda epic. 😆
Bonus, @cornellupress.bsky.social is having a sale so now is a great time to grab it!
Today is the day! Civil Blood: Vendetta Violence and the Civic Elites in Early Modern Italy is officially out! I'll be posting about the book and the digital project it launched in the upcoming weeks. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/
Grazie mille ❤️
While not an exploding box (you'll have to read the book ;-)), something equally exciting was waiting for me on my doorstep today. My advance copies for Civil Blood arrived! A hearfelt thanks to my wonderful editor at @cornellupress.bsky.social @bethanywasik.bsky.social for making this day possible!
Chapter 5 has sus nuns.
Thank you so much Ziga!
Grazie, Mike! :-)
The image is from the Master of the Appollini Sacrum's "The Assassination of Julius Ceasar" My website with accompanying data and material will be launching soon. Stay tuned for more info on forthcoming talks!
Why does having a cover for your book make it feel more official? Thrilled to share mine for Civil Blood: Vendetta Violence and the Civic Elites in Early Modern Italy out Nov 15 with @cornellupress.bsky.social This book has some things to say about the intersections between violence and statecraft.
Thrilled to be giving a book talk later this year at the Italian-German Historical Institute for my forthcoming book with @cornellupress.bsky.social Civil Blood: Vendetta Violence and the Civic Elites in Early Modern Italy! Information below.
4) Whatever the translation, I'm taking this was meant as a warning to remove the poem from wherever it was placed at your own considerable risk. Picture of document in 17th c. script attached.
3) The poem generally insults the manhood of the Venetians, their wives, their government.... That's not the most interesting bit, however. The cartello ends with the line: "Chi lo strazzarà sarà ammazzato." My rough translation of this is: "Whoever tears this up, will be killed"
2) This poem from 1615, which was apparently posted publically all over Verona, is a dialogue and pasquinata (a satrical poem) and says some shall we say insluting and NSFW things about the Venetians (for context, Verona was part of the Republic of Venice and wasn't always happy about it).
1) Finally back in the research trenches and working on the next book (and the project Mapping Violence) and the Venetian material I've collected continues to delight. Today's find from the archives of the Council of Ten: An investigation of a 'cartello' of a treasonous poem from Verona.
The girl in the middle looks she's thinking: "if one of these dudes tries to mansplain the gulag archipelago or Chicago-school economics to me one more time..."
I'm not sure how much I can add beyond what has already been deciphered. It's a fascinating text!
*first day of class
“Hey, everyone, if you liked K-Pop Demon Hunters, you will LOVE our first text!*”
*Milton’s Paradise Lost
Thank you!
So....I've just learned that there are women on TikTok dressing up as Alexander Hamilton and sneaking out of windows to get to the dueling ground.
This made my morning.