Event Type: Branch

Takes Place: 10th February 2026

Time: 7pm

Venue: Room 1.09, Park Building, King Henry I St, Portsmouth, PO1 2BZ

Description: Dr Ross's lecture will focus on Henry VI, king of England from 1422-61, and the ways in which his priorities as king diverged sharply from what was expected of medieval monarchs, and how his fitful engagement with government - in an age of personal kingship - was perhaps the worst of all worlds for the realm he ruled. The extent to which this led to the bloody outbreak of the Wars of the Roses will be evaluated. Dr James Ross is Reader in Medieval History at the University of Winchester. He works on English political society in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, particularly on the nobility and on kingship. Amongst other publications, he has written biographies of John de Vere, Thirteenth Earl of Oxford, 1442-1513 (2011) and Henry VI: A Good, Simple and Innocent Man (2016) for the Penguin English Monarch Series.

How to book: No need to book, just turn up

Price: £4

Email: portsmouthhistorybranch@gmail.com

Organiser: Kate

Lecturer: Dr James Ross, University of Winchester

Region: South-East England

Branch: Portsmouth