This is the homepage for Carnivalesque, a blog carnival dedicated to pre-modern history.
Blog carnivals are regular showcases of recent blogging, usually focused on particular themes, which usually circulate around a range of host blogs, giving each carnival a variety of perspectives.
Carnivalesque was originally launched in September 2004 as a carnival for early modern history. It took much of its inspiration from the Philosophers' Carnival and Tangled Bank. Carnivalesque filled its special niche so successfully that in 2005, it was decided to expand its coverage. Since July 2005, Carnivalesque has run monthly, alternating between early modern (c.1500-1800CE) and ancient & medieval topics (up to c.1500CE).
Carnivalesque is certainly not just for academics. We welcome perspectives from a variety of fields, especially history, literary studies, archaeology, art history, philosophy - in fact, from anyone who enjoys writing about anything to do with the not-so-recent past. You can nominate your own writing and/or that of other bloggers, but please try not to nominate more than one or two posts by any author for any single edition of Carnivalesque, and limit nominations to recent posts.
Recent Carnivals ~ Next ~ Nominations ~ Hosting ~ Contact
~~~~~~~~~~22 January 2012: Carnivalesque 81 (ancient/medieval) has been posted at In Pursuit of History.
26 November 2011: Carnivalesque 80 (early modern) has been posted at Anchora.
24 October 2011: Carnivalesque 79 (ancient/medieval) has been posted at She-Wolf.
25 September 2011: Carnivalesque 78 (early modern edition) has been posted at Harlots, Harpies and Harridans.
28 August 2011: Carnivalesque 77 (ancient/medieval) has been posted at Pure Medievalry.
26 July 2011: Carnivalesque 76 (early modern) has been posted at Madame Guillotine.
All Past Carnivals
18 February 2012 (early modern): Demography and the Imperial Public Sphere
Schedule for 2012:
ancient/medieval: January | March | May | July | September | November
early modern: February | April | June | August | October | (likely to take a break in December)
If you’re interested in hosting in 2012, please do get in touch!
To submit nominations at any time please use the appropriate nomination form for the chronological content of the post:
1. ANCIENT/MEDIEVAL
2. EARLY MODERN
(Please take care to pick the right one - there's no guarantee that misdirected nominations will get forwarded to the right place.)
Individual hosts may also provide alternative options for sending nominations.
Potential hosts should be regular bloggers with some knowledge of and interest in pre-modern history (though, again, not necessarily academics). If you are interested in hosting an edition of Carnivalesque, please send us an email (see further down page for details), noting whether you are particularly interested in early modern or ancient/medieval, and telling us a little about your background and historical interests.
The Mistresses of Misrule co-ordinate the carnival, selecting hosts and helping to publicise upcoming editions, and keeping this webpage up to date:
Sharon Howard is primarily responsible for the early modern side of the carnival. She lives in Yorkshire; her research interests are in crime in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Britain.
Julie Hofmann is in charge of things ancient and medieval. Her research interests are early medieval. She's based in the USA.
You can contact us using this email form; or @historycarnival on Twitter.