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marcmorris.bsky.social
Medieval historian. 'If it works for Marc Morris, it works for me.' (Scarlett Johansson)
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#OnThisDay 1239 the future King Edward I was born in Westminster. He grew to be 6'2", hence his contemporary nickname, Longshanks.

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Tell your friends that Leonora Neville's new book is available for free download for two weeks only: www.cambridge.org/core/element...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Not only does “AI” produce mediocre garbage, it has a huge environmental footprint *that we cannot measure*. The government is allowing these companies to act like literal outlaws. They steal our data, they will enjoy relaxed building regulations and they refuse to disclose their water consumption.

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

#OnThisDay 1215 King John was forced to concede Magna Carta. A contemporary chronicler summed up the problem with him.

submitted 5 days ago • 6 comments

#OnThisDay 1215 King John was forced to concede Magna Carta. A contemporary chronicler summed up the problem with him.

submitted 5 days ago • 6 comments

#OnThisDay 1215 King John sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede. The negotiations were in tents.

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

Was William the Conqueror guilty of genocide? A free-to-read article I wrote about the Harrying of the North for @historyextra.bsky.social. www.historyextra.com/period/anglo...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

What do we think?🤔 Hmm…. A Daily Mail headline so clearly designed to make you furious. Being shared by salivating Tory MPs who love a good rage farming story! So, what’s going on here? Let’s take a look!👀 🧵 1/13

submitted 12 days ago • 68 comments

Trump is starving Ukraine of some vital defensive systems. Again, it needs to be said, the US government is now acting in such a way that it is helping the Russians kill Ukrainians.

submitted 12 days ago • 29 comments

#OnThisDay 1042 King Harthacnut died "as he stood at his drink" at a wedding feast in Lambeth. "He never did anything worthy of a king while he reigned", said the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

submitted 12 days ago • 2 comments

On 18 July I'll be talking about The Anglo-Saxons: Myth and Reality in Southwark Cathedral. cathedral.southwark.anglican.org/visiting/sou...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

On 18 July I'll be talking about The Anglo-Saxons: Myth and Reality in Southwark Cathedral. cathedral.southwark.anglican.org/visiting/sou...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

On 9 July I'm giving a lunchtime talk in Westminster about Edward I. www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-events...

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd. It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.

submitted 20 days ago • 464 comments

Musk should be asked about this in every interview he does now and forever. To ignore it is a dereliction of duty. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...

submitted 21 days ago • 1301 comments

King John was crowned in Westminster Abbey #OnThisDay 1199. "He was a very bad man," said a contemporary, "more cruel than all others. He lusted after beautiful women and... shamed the high men of the land, for which reason he was greatly hated. Whenever he could he told lies rather than the truth."

submitted 24 days ago • 8 comments

#OnThisDay 1199 King John was crowned at Westminster. It was Ascension, a moveable feast. This means - uniquely - that all John's regnal years, by which his documents are dated, are different lengths. And so, even 800 years later, he continues to irritate.

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

King John was crowned in Westminster Abbey #OnThisDay 1199. "He was a very bad man," said a contemporary, "more cruel than all others. He lusted after beautiful women and... shamed the high men of the land, for which reason he was greatly hated. Whenever he could he told lies rather than the truth."

submitted 24 days ago • 8 comments

#OnThisDay 1199 King John was crowned at Westminster. It was Ascension, a moveable feast. This means - uniquely - that all John's regnal years, by which his documents are dated, are different lengths. And so, even 800 years later, he continues to irritate.

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

On 9 July I'm giving a lunchtime talk in Westminster about Edward I. www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-events...

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

In memoriam Prof. Sir Rees Davies (d. 16 May 2005).

submitted 35 days ago • 2 comments

Huge if true.

submitted 35 days ago • 4 comments

It sounds better in the original Japanese.

submitted 37 days ago • 7 comments

Very rare to discover Magna Carta trending for non-insane reasons. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 36 days ago • 5 comments

In two months' time I'll be giving a talk in Westminster about Edward I. www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-events...

submitted 40 days ago • 1 comment

William Marshal died #OnThisDay 1219. "The greatest knight that ever lived" (according to the biography commissioned by his sons... ).

submitted 37 days ago • 8 comments

My thoughts on the disgraceful removal of Dr Carla Hayden as Librarian of Congress (and the Archivist of the United States too). LC and NARA are part if the infrastructure of democracy in America, and are under attack. on.ft.com/4mdynBU The US Library of Congress is under attack

submitted 39 days ago • 10 comments

In two months' time I'll be giving a talk in Westminster about Edward I. www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-events...

submitted 40 days ago • 1 comment

Pete Hegseth’s culture war hits West Point. Books banned, syllabuses scrubbed, two professors resign in protest, the librarian quit. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/u...

submitted 42 days ago • 70 comments

Just writing about Matilda of Boulogne, queen of King Stephen, and I notice that today is the anniversary of her death in 1152. Matilda is of course not to be confused with her aunt, Matilda, queen of Scots, or Stephen's rival for power, the Empress Matilda, or the Empress's mother, Queen Matilda...

submitted 48 days ago • 10 comments

Friday 2 May, 5pm, @regentsox.bsky.social and on zoom I'll be talking after the AGM of the Henry Bradshaw Society @oxmedstud.bsky.social. #medievalsky

submitted 53 days ago • 2 comments

UK political funding laws are not just a disgrace. They're actively anti-democratic. They openly encourage foreign wealth, which is not answerable to the laws of this country, to buy influence over people who should be responsible only to our own democracy. Labour's failure to act is indefensible.

submitted 55 days ago • 7 comments

Contrary to popular belief, the introduction of St George to England had nothing to do with Richard the Lionheart. www.historytoday.com/archive/slay...

submitted 58 days ago • 3 comments

The tradition of pointing out that St George wasn't English goes back at least as far as the tenth century, when Ælfric of Eynsham described him as "a rich ealdorman from the shire of Cappadocia".

submitted 58 days ago • 3 comments

Contrary to popular belief, the introduction of St George to England had nothing to do with Richard the Lionheart. www.historytoday.com/archive/slay...

submitted 58 days ago • 3 comments

#OnThisDay 1016 King Æthelred the Unready made an invaluable contribution to the English struggle against the Vikings by dropping dead.

submitted 58 days ago • 8 comments

The tradition of pointing out that St George wasn't English goes back at least as far as the tenth century, when Ælfric of Eynsham described him as "a rich ealdorman from the shire of Cappadocia".

submitted 58 days ago • 3 comments