…you should already be following!
Love history? Then check out these five fantastic history blogs that you should already be following!
As a history fanatic, I am constantly reading and looking for new material to stimulate my interests. By reading the blogs of fellow historians I find new places to visit, books to read and programs to watch. They even inspired me to start my own blogging journey and I have now launched Tracery Tales – a history blog with a focus on church art, architecture and conservation (check out my introductory post here).
I had to limit my list for this post because there are lots of ace history blogs out there on the web. I have chosen five (mainly because it sounds nice in the title: ‘Five Fantastic…’) that represent different styles of writer and different genre. I hope to make this a running series on Tracery Tales so look out for more posts like this one in the future.
So without further ado, say hello to these fantastic history blogs and the authors behind them:
Hisdoryan
A true inspiration and friend of mine, Claire Miles, is author of Hisdoryan. This blog focuses on Welsh, fashion and royal history with a load of book and film reviews thrown into the mix.
Among my favourites are a series of posts about Royal Mistresses – everyone loves a scandal, right? Hisdoryan explores the background of the affairs and the lady in question. She then goes on to rate the mistresses awarding them a score out of 5 based on Power, Beauty, Longevity and Scandal.
Hisdoryan has a witty, friendly style of writing that will leave you wanting more. She has also put together a properly comprehensive film and TV guide to historical viewing – which I will be following like a hawk!
The New Weird
This fascinating blog explores the weird things in history! Focusing an things that really pique our curiosity, the author Lois, explores conspiracy theories, curious artefacts, famous murders and ghostly appearances.
Her posts range from “How did they do it? Shrunken Heads” (a post about how to turn the head of your decapitated enemy into a shrunken head), to “Who was the man from Stratford?”, (an exploration of why Shakespeare probably wasn’t the glove makers’ son from Stratford-on-Avon and all the people that could actually have claimed the name) and many more in between. There is so much to discover and you’ll find yourself wondering why you never investigated these curiosities yourself!
The Augustus
Joshua Potts’ knowledge of history and wide-ranging subject matter is awe-inspiring! His topics range from Ancient Rome to the Second World War and he approaches all of them with in-depth research and in an easy to read manner.
The Augustus really breaks things down for his audience with posts like “Five (more) Commonly Asked History Questions”, while getting to the real nitty-gritty of subjects such as ‘In what ways could you be executed in medieval times?’
Joshua is clearly fascinated by all things historical and talks plain, simple facts. I am looking forward to reading and learning more.
Victoria and Albert Museum Blog
This is a blog run by staff at the Victoria and Albert Museum. They give us behind the scenes updates, news and research allowing readers to see the work behind some world famous exhibitions and artworks.
I like this blog because you can select categories that interest you most and browse through posts on those topics. I love the ‘Caring for our Collections’ category which contains detailed investigations into historic objects. For example a summary of scientific research into the composition of the colour ‘mercury-white’ used in this lacquered wooden box – an unusual ingredient to obtain the colour white.
Through this blog we can also read about new exhibitions and other exciting projects happening at the V&A.
History Hit
Ok, so this may not technically be a blog site. It is a history channel with videos to watch, podcasts to listen to and articles to read. The site was founded by Dan Snow and has a number of contributors on a wide range of subjects. (History Hit also produces ‘Histories of the Unexpected’ by Dr Sam Willis and Prof James Daybell – one of my all time favourite podcasts).
With titles like ‘Why Was Thomas Becket Murdered in Canterbury Cathedral’ and ‘Who Was a Typical Oxford Student in the 14th Century?’ what more could a history lover ask for? With help from the multitude of guest authors you can not fail to find something interesting to learn from in any kind of media.
So, these are the first lovely bunch to make it onto my Five Fantastic History Blogs list. I hope this has given you some inspiration to get reading! If you have any suggestions for future posts please let me know. Drop me a message in the comments, I’d love to hear from you!
Bye for now…