Posted by Edward Mills
14 October 2024Last week, we uncovered entries ten to six on our not-at-all-arbitrary ‘top ten’ list, celebrating ten years of posts on the Centre for Medieval Studies blog. This week’s post rounds out our selection, as we look at the top five most interesting, pertinent, or otherwise relevant posts that have stood the test of time.
The blog’s seen a few ‘vote of thanks’-style posts over the years, but Tom’s post from January 2020 — expressing all of our gratitude to Emma Cayley as she left to take up a chair at Leeds — set the tone for those to follow. Quite apart from demonstrating how valuable Emma has been to the Centre for Medieval Studies over the years, the comments found throughout the post showcase the sense of community and collaboration that we all work to foster.
This fascinating post saw James Clark recount his work as a historical consultant on The White Princess, a mini-series based on Philippa Gregory’s novel. As ever in James’s posts, fascinating details abound, but there’s nevertheless something particularly brilliant about the story of recording late medieval spoken Latin and emailing it to the producers.
Undoubtedly the saddest moment in the past decade of the Centre for Medieval Studies at Exeter was the unexpected loss of former Centre Director, Simon Barton, at a tragically young age. Catherine Rider’s post brought together reflections and memories from his many colleagues, students and friends at Exeter, serving as a fitting tribute at a difficult time.
Given the importance of his contribution to the Centre blog over the years, I don’t think any of us could begrudge James a second appearance in his list. His post appeared during another difficult time for the Centre, as we were working through the implications of lockdowns for our research and teaching, but worked to remind us all that with the help of colleagues and (sometimes-new) acquaintances, our work could (and indeed did) continue on.
Could it really be anything else at number one? Those of us with long memories will recall Tom Chadwick’s post from the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, when he took a decidedly ‘hands-on’ approach to his doctoral research on Norman identity. Quite aside from being the most-viewed post on the blog for quite some time, this post provided (a Tom neatly put it) a ‘new way of engaging with the past’.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this little foray into the past decade of Centre for Medieval Studies content, and can’t wait to keep sharing our passion for the Middle Ages with you. In the meantime, we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for a 20th anniversary post in 2034 …