diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index ce54f976b..a77191d6b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -99,10 +99,32 @@ jobs:
           name: openapi-artifact
           path: openapi.tar.gz
 
+  generate-changelog:
+    name: "📢 Run towncrier for changelog"
+    # skip for builds of git tags
+    if: "!startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')"
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: "📥 Source checkout"
+        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: "➕ Setup Python"
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+      - name: "➕ Install towncrier"
+        run: "pip install 'towncrier'"
+      - name: "Generate changelog"
+        run: ./scripts/generate-changelog.sh vUNSTABLE
+      - name: "📤 Artifact upload"
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
+        with:
+          name: changelog-artifact
+          path: content/changelog/vUNSTABLE.md
+
   build-spec:
     name: "📖 Build the spec"
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: [calculate-baseurl, build-openapi]
+    needs: [calculate-baseurl, build-openapi, generate-changelog]
+    # run even if generate-changelog was skipped
+    if: ${{ always() }}
     steps:
       - name: "➕ Setup Node"
         uses: actions/setup-node@v2
@@ -119,9 +141,14 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           npm i
           npm run get-proposals
+      - name: "📥 Download generated changelog"
+        if: "needs.generate-changelog.result == 'success'"
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v3
+        with:
+          name: changelog-artifact
+          path: content/changelog
       - name: "⚙️ hugo"
         run: hugo --baseURL "${{ needs.calculate-baseurl.outputs.baseURL }}" -d "spec"
-
       # We manually unpack the spec OpenAPI definition JSON to the website tree
       # to make it available to the world in a canonical place:
       # https://spec.matrix.org/latest/client-server-api/api.json
diff --git a/changelogs/internal/newsfragments/1340.clarification b/changelogs/internal/newsfragments/1340.clarification
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a31804403
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/internal/newsfragments/1340.clarification
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Generate the unstable changelogs with towncrier, for consistency.
diff --git a/content/changelog.md b/content/changelog/index.md
similarity index 85%
rename from content/changelog.md
rename to content/changelog/index.md
index a84514b61..560cb43b0 100644
--- a/content/changelog.md
+++ b/content/changelog/index.md
@@ -6,13 +6,7 @@ weight: 1000
 
 {{% changelog/changelog-description %}}
 
-{{% changelog/changelog-changes %}}
-
-<!-- DO NOT REMOVE OR CHANGE - Release script puts next release here -->
-{{% changelog/changelog-rendered p="changelogs/v1.4.md" %}}
-{{% changelog/changelog-rendered p="changelogs/v1.3.md" %}}
-{{% changelog/changelog-rendered p="changelogs/v1.2.md" %}}
-{{% changelog/changelog-rendered p="changelogs/v1.1.md" %}}
+{{% changelog/changelogs %}}
 
 <h2 id="historical-versions" class="no-numbers">Historical versions</h2>
 
diff --git a/layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.1.md b/content/changelog/v1.1.md
similarity index 99%
rename from layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.1.md
rename to content/changelog/v1.1.md
index b8e0832d7..8cf438784 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.1.md
+++ b/content/changelog/v1.1.md
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+---
+date: 2021-11-09T00:00:00+0000
+---
 <!--
 This is a header file for the generated changelog.
 
diff --git a/layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.2.md b/content/changelog/v1.2.md
similarity index 99%
rename from layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.2.md
rename to content/changelog/v1.2.md
index bce9ea666..22deb1ac7 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.2.md
+++ b/content/changelog/v1.2.md
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+---
+date: 2022-02-02T00:00:00+0000
+---
 <!--
 This is a header file for the generated changelog.
 
diff --git a/layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.3.md b/content/changelog/v1.3.md
similarity index 99%
rename from layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.3.md
rename to content/changelog/v1.3.md
index eeae95f4d..bc05b1cc3 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.3.md
+++ b/content/changelog/v1.3.md
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+---
+date: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+0100
+---
 <!--
 This is a header file for the generated changelog.
 
diff --git a/layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.4.md b/content/changelog/v1.4.md
similarity index 99%
rename from layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.4.md
rename to content/changelog/v1.4.md
index 2e741e068..7d22c00ed 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/changelogs/v1.4.md
+++ b/content/changelog/v1.4.md
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+---
+date: 2022-09-29T00:00:00+0100
+---
 <!--
 This is a header file for the generated changelog.
 
diff --git a/layouts/partials/changelogs/.gitkeep b/layouts/partials/changelogs/.gitkeep
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb..000000000
diff --git a/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-changes.html b/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-changes.html
deleted file mode 100644
index 99efce085..000000000
--- a/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-changes.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,90 +0,0 @@
-{{/*
-
-  This template is used to render the set of changes in the changelog page.
-
-  It expects to find a directory "changelogs" containing a subdirectory for
-  each of the 5 APIs in the specification. Inside each of these directories
-  it expects to find newsfragments describing changes to that API.
-
-  If the `version.status` setting in config.toml is anything other than
-  "unstable", then it also expects to find additional settings under
-  `version` in config.toml:
-  - `major`: the major version number of the release
-  - `minor`: the minor version number of the release
-  - `release_date`: the date of the release
-
-  The release tag is calculated as `v<major>.<minor>`; for example `v1.5`.
-
-  It then renders this into a table displayed before the list of changes.
-
-*/}}
-
-{{ $path := path.Join "changelogs" }}
-{{ $status := .Site.Params.version.status }}
-{{ $release_tag := delimit (slice "v" .Site.Params.version.major "." .Site.Params.version.minor) "" }}
-
-{{ if ne $status "unstable" }}
-<table class="release-info">
-<tr><th>Git commit</th><td><a href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec/tree/{{ $release_tag }}">https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec/tree/{{ $release_tag }}</a></td>
-<tr><th>Release date</th><td>{{ .Site.Params.version.release_date }}</td>
-</table>
-{{ end }}
-
-<h2 id=api-changes>Changes since last release</h2>
-{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Client-Server API" "id" "client-server-api" "path" (path.Join $path "client_server")) }}
-{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Server-Server API" "id" "server-server-api" "path" (path.Join $path "server_server")) }}
-{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Application Service API" "id" "application-service-api" "path" (path.Join $path "application_service")) }}
-{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Identity Service API" "id" "identity-service-api" "path" (path.Join $path "identity_service")) }}
-{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Push Gateway API" "id" "push-gateway-api" "path" (path.Join $path "push_gateway")) }}
-{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Room Versions" "id" "room-versions" "path" (path.Join $path "room_versions")) }}
-{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Appendices" "id" "appendices" "path" (path.Join $path "appendices")) }}
-{{ partial "render-api-changes" (dict "title" "Internal Changes/Tooling" "id" "internal" "path" (path.Join $path "internal")) }}
-
-{{ define "partials/render-api-changes" }}
-<h3 id="{{.id}}">{{ .title }}</h3>
-    {{ $api_path := .path }}
-    {{ $config_file := path.Join $api_path ".." "pyproject.toml" }}
-    {{ $config := readFile $config_file | transform.Unmarshal }}
-    {{ $news_path := path.Join $api_path "newsfragments" }}
-    {{ partial "render-newsfragments"  (dict "config" $config "news_path" $news_path )}}
-{{ end }}
-
-{{ define "partials/render-newsfragments" }}
-{{ $config := .config }}
-{{ $news_path := .news_path }}
-
-{{ $types := dict }}
-{{ range $config.tool.towncrier.type }}
-    {{ $types = merge $types (dict .directory (slice)) }}
-{{ end }}
-
-{{ range (readDir $news_path) }}
-
-    {{ $pieces := split .Name "." }}
-
-    {{ $ticket := index $pieces 0 }}
-    {{ $description := readFile (path.Join $news_path .Name ) }}
-    {{ $change_info := (dict "ticket" $ticket "description" $description )}}
-
-    {{ $type := index $pieces 1 }}
-    {{ $instances := index $types $type }}
-    {{ $instances = $instances | append $change_info }}
-    {{ $types = merge $types (dict $type $instances) }}
-
-{{ end }}
-
-<ul>
-{{ range $config.tool.towncrier.type }}
-    {{ $changes_of_type := (index $types .directory) }}
-    {{ if $changes_of_type }}
-<li>{{.name | safeHTML}}
-<p><ul>
-        {{ range $changes_of_type }}
-<li><a href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec/issues/{{.ticket}}"><strong>{{ .ticket }}: </strong></a>{{ .description | markdownify }}</li>
-        {{ end }}
-</ul></p>
-</li>
-    {{ end }}
-{{ end }}
-</ul>
-{{ end }}
diff --git a/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-rendered.html b/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-rendered.html
deleted file mode 100644
index bbfd6e533..000000000
--- a/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelog-rendered.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-{{ $partial := .Params.p }}
-{{ partial $partial . }}
diff --git a/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelogs.html b/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelogs.html
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..78b5932ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/layouts/shortcodes/changelog/changelogs.html
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{{/*
+   This template is used to render all of the changelog sections under
+   "content/changelogs"
+*/}}
+
+{{ with .Page.Resources.Match "*.md" }}
+{{ range ((sort . "Params.date" "desc")) }}
+{{ .Content }}
+{{ end }}
+{{ end }}
diff --git a/meta/releasing.md b/meta/releasing.md
index 3e01dc862..7483c357b 100644
--- a/meta/releasing.md
+++ b/meta/releasing.md
@@ -37,21 +37,21 @@ release.
    release_date = "October 01, 2021"
    ```
 3. Commit the changes.
-4. Tag the branch with the spec release with a format of `v1.2` (if releasing Matrix 1.2).
-5. Push the release branch and the tag.
-6. GitHub Actions will run its build steps. Wait until these are successful. If fixes
-   need to be made to repair the pipeline or spec build, delete and re-tag the release.
-7. Check out and fast-forward `main` to the release branch.
-8. Generate the changelog. This is done *after* the tagging to ensure the rendered
-   changelog makes sense.
+4. Generate the changelog.
    1. Activate your python virtual environment.
    2. Run `./scripts/generate-changelog.sh v1.2 "October 01, 2021"` (using the correct
       version number and same `release_date` format from the hugo config).
    3. Commit the result.
+5. Tag the branch with the spec release with a format of `v1.2` (if releasing Matrix 1.2).
+6. Push the release branch and the tag.
+7. GitHub Actions will run its build steps. Wait until these are successful. If fixes
+   need to be made to repair the pipeline or spec build, delete and re-tag the release.
+   You may need to fix up the changelog file by hand in this case.
+8. Check out and fast-forward `main` to the release branch.
 9. Create a new release on GitHub from the newly created tag.
    * The title should be just "v1.2" (for example).
    * The description should be a copy/paste of the changelog. The generated changelog
-     will be at `content/partials/changelogs/v1.2.md` - copy/paste verbatim.
+     will be at `content/changelog/v1.2.md` - copy/paste verbatim.
    * Upload the artifacts of the GitHub Actions build for the release to the GitHub
      release as artifacts themselves. This should be the tarball that will be deployed
      to spec.matrix.org.
diff --git a/scripts/generate-changelog.sh b/scripts/generate-changelog.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index f66e53585..73e59940e
--- a/scripts/generate-changelog.sh
+++ b/scripts/generate-changelog.sh
@@ -1,15 +1,17 @@
 # /bin/bash
 
-# Usage: ./generate.sh v1.2 "April 01, 2021"
+# Usage: ./scripts/generate-changelog.sh v1.2 "April 01, 2021"
+# or: ./scripts/generate-changelog.sh vUNSTABLE
 
 set -e
 
-MAGIC_STRING="<!-- DO NOT REMOVE OR CHANGE - Release script puts next release here -->"
+VERSION="$1"
+DATE="$2"
 
-cd changelogs
+cd `dirname $0`/../changelogs
 
 # Pre-cleanup just in case it wasn't done on the last run
-rm -f rendered.*
+rm -f rendered.md
 
 # Reversed order so that room versions ends up on the bottom
 towncrier --name "Internal Changes/Tooling" --dir "./internal" --config "./pyproject.toml" --yes
@@ -21,18 +23,24 @@ towncrier --name "Application Service API" --dir "./application_service" --confi
 towncrier --name "Server-Server API" --dir "./server_server" --config "./pyproject.toml" --yes
 towncrier --name "Client-Server API" --dir "./client_server" --config "./pyproject.toml" --yes
 
-# Prepare the header
-cp header.md rendered.header.md
-sed -i "s/VERSION/$1/g" rendered.header.md
-sed -i "s/DATE/$2/g" rendered.header.md
-cat rendered.header.md rendered.md > rendered.final.md
-
-# Remove trailing whitespace (such as our intentionally blank RST headings)
-sed -i "s/[ ]*$//" rendered.final.md
-
-# Put the changelog in place
-mv rendered.final.md ../layouts/partials/changelogs/$1.md
-sed -i "s/$MAGIC_STRING/$MAGIC_STRING\n{{% changelog\\/changelog-rendered p=\"changelogs\\/$1.md\" %}}/" ../content/changelog.md
+{
+    # Prepare the header
+    # We include the generation date in the front matter so that we can use it
+    # to sort the changelogs at build time.
+    cat <<EOF
+---
+date: $(date -Iseconds)
+---
+EOF
+    if [ "$VERSION" = "vUNSTABLE" ]; then
+        echo "## Changes since last release"
+    else
+        sed -e "s/VERSION/$1/g" -e "s/DATE/$2/g" header.md
+    fi
+
+    # Remove trailing whitespace (such as our intentionally blank RST headings)
+    sed -e "s/[ ]*$//" rendered.md
+} > ../content/changelog/$VERSION.md
 
 # Cleanup
-rm -v rendered.*
+rm -v rendered.md