Since 2013, I have kept a blog at https://liamslookathistory.blogspot.com/. While I enjoyed running it, I now feel the time is right for a new beginning. I started it as a secondary school student and since then I have come a long way- I am starting an MA in Medieval Studies at the University of York in September. However, this also means that the credibility of the posts on my old blog is highly variable. I chose a bizarre topic for my first post on that one- the history of Antarctic politics. I also wrote about the interests I held as a teenager, the Swedish Empire and my undying support at the time for Edgar the Atheling as the true heir of Edward the Confessor. More recently, my posts began to narrow down a lot; focusing on early medieval history. In particular, over the last year it has acted as a journal for my undergraduate dissertation on network analysis and Ostrogothic Italy. By starting a new blog, I am not disowning the old one. It is a testament to my development from GCSE to the end of an undergraduate degree.

Nevertheless, now is the perfect opportunity to try something different. There are several motivations for doing this. I am currently in the process of preparing for a potential PhD application, so it will act as a sort of catalyst for developing ideas and concepts. My hope is to carry out research on sixth-century Italy, partially explaining the title for this blog.

I am not going to have any strict rules for the content on this blog. It will focus on my academic interests and will likely evolve depending on what I am researching, reading or learning about at the time. As the blog’s title suggests, there will likely be a bit of philosophy as well. Particularly, if I pursue one of my ideas. I may also upload some of my relevant undergraduate essays to act as an online portfolio for future applications, with the aim of demonstrating my ‘way of thinking’.

On a concluding note, it is possible someone could be wondering why the site logo shows Theoderic the Great, rather than say an actual philosopher like Boethius. I felt hesitant to imply that Boethius was an Ostrogoth by using his image. Despite, the fact that my network analysis of Cassiodorus’ Variae questioned the importance of ‘ethnicity’ in Ostrogothic Italy. Furthermore, I feel ‘Philosophical Ostrogoth’ represents my interests better than the more broad, but equally possible ‘Philosophical Roman’ blog title.

I hope this introductory post has given some insight into the thought processes behind starting a new blog and it has given insight into its possible content.