Branch contact: All enquiries to Caroline Jacobs jacobscme@gmail.com tel: 07988 171 708

Venue: All talks take place at Newport Minster, St Thomas’ Square, NEWPORT, IW PO30 1BG, starting at 7.30pm and finishing at approximately 9.00pm, unless otherwise stated.  Doors open at 7.00pm

Associate membership: £10 per year.  Talks free to national HA members and students, visitors £3.

Branch Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HistoricalAssociationIW

Isle of Wight Programme 2025 

Thursday, 16^th January 2025  BY ZOOM
The Spanish Civil War Today. What we have learned and why it still matters
Dr Andrew Dowling, Reader in Hispanic Studies, University of Cardiff

Over 40 years ago, Granada TV showed a six-part documentary on the Spanish Civil War, which became greatly influential in the UK and was also shown in Spain.  This talk will consider how our understanding of the conflict has changed since then. The historiography of the Spanish Civil War has undergone significant transformation, driven by new methodologies, access to previously unavailable archives, and evolving scholarly perspectives. Researchers now place the Spanish Civil War in a transnational and comparative framework, comparing it with other civil wars and revolutionary conflicts. There is much greater interest in aspects such as cultural and social history, particularly in considering questions of gender, as well as new approaches around memory and commemoration.  The Spanish Civil War continues to be one of the most written about conflicts in human history and our aim in this talk will also be to understand why.

 
Thursday 6^th February 2025  BY ZOOM
The Sun King and the Merry Monarch: Louis XIV and Charles 11 as First Cousins Divided by a Narrow Channel
Dr Jonathan Spangler, Senior Lecturer in History, Manchester Metropolitan University

France and Great Britain have a long history of being enemies separated from a very narrow stretch of water. But for much of their shared histories, the royal families of both kingdoms were closely related, none more so than the Bourbons and Stuarts in the 17^th century. This talk will share the fascinating details of the close relationship between two of the best-known monarchs from this time period, Charles II of England and Scotland, and Louis XIV of France. They were first cousins and shared a number of familial traits; but they were also quite different in temperament and behaviour. In the end, how did one earn the nickname the Sun King and the other the Merry Monarch?

 
Thursday 13^th March 2025
Formidable Dames: The Women Behind, Beside and Beyond the Emperor Nero
Dr Carey Fleiner, Senior Lecturer, School of History, Archaeology and Philosophy, University of Winchester

The court of emperor Nero was full of influential women – his ambitious mother Agrippina, his long-suffering wife Octavia (and her formidable replacement Poppaea Sabina), and many others. Whilst he ruled as a playboy autocrat, often his decisions and actions were influenced by these women. This talk considers Nero's reign and the women in his court with a look at both contemporary sources and later-day interpretations.
  

Thursday, 3^rd April 2025 
Landscape, Ancient Monuments and Memory: Perceptions of the Prehistoric Past in Seventeenth-Century Britain
Professor Alexandra Walsham, Professor of Modern History, Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge and President of the Historical Association

This talk explores perceptions of the pre-historic past in seventeenth-century Britain. It considers how reformers and antiquaries understood and explained ancient monuments such as Stonehenge and Avebury, together with the ways in which these sites were the focus for religious and political passions and tensions before, during and after the Civil Wars. It traces how legends and myths about the making of the landscape evolved and the mark that they continue to leave on contemporary understanding of these evocative and mysterious places.