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Making History
New Website
Making History
Making History, developed by the Institute of Historical Research, is dedicated to the history of the study and practice of history in Britain over the last hundred years and more, following the emergence of the professional discipline in the late 19th century.
Contents
This website contains cross-referenced entries...
Making History
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Eleanor of Aquitaine’s journey
Historian article
Danielle E.A. Park takes us on a journey across the Pyrenees and Alps with a redoubtable woman.
Eleanor of Aquitaine has acquired a reputation as something of a femme fatale. Her considerable inheritance of Aquitaine, marriages to two kings, the allegations of an affair with her uncle Raymond of Poitiers,...
Eleanor of Aquitaine’s journey
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The Ancient Kingdom of Nabataea
Historian article
The Kingdom of Nabataea was an important independent entity in the Arabian desert from the third century B.C. to the early second century A.D. Written records are very sparse, so historians need to draw their conclusions from surviving buildings, archaeological excavations and a study of coins. Here Tom Dunstan analyses the extent to which...
The Ancient Kingdom of Nabataea
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Bolton Branch History
Branch History
The Bolton Branch of the Historical Association, having been founded in 1927, celebrated its 80th birthday suitably spectacularly in October 2007. Not only did it have, for the occasion, a distinguished Chief Guest as visiting lecturer, and an audience of nearly 200, but it also had a large, decorative and...
Bolton Branch History
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The Jews of Medieval England
Historian article
The diversity of the history of the British Isles continues to be a subject of discussion in academic circles and in popular culture. Some communities have been around for hundreds of years, while others have been part of our societies and then disappeared or been eroded. One of the communities...
The Jews of Medieval England
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The Irish historians' role and the place of history in Irish national life
Historian article
The debate on the nation and its history is new to England; and there is, perhaps, a tendency to assume that what is new in England is new everywhere. In Ireland, the debate has been going on since the 1970s, fuelled by what is called ‘revisionism’; or rather, by a...
The Irish historians' role and the place of history in Irish national life
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The peace treaties of 1919
Historian article
Over the last five years the Historical Association has run a regular feature in this journal about the First World War from some lesser-known perspectives. Its purpose has been to capture some of the stories not always told about that life-changing, society-transforming conflict. As the centenary of the Armistice has...
The peace treaties of 1919
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Membership for curious minds
Information
Do you love history? Discover a community that shares your passion
The Historical Association specialises in bringing together people who love history and providing high quality history content for variety of historical interests.
Expand your historical horizons with a subscription to our quarterly magazine The Historian delivered directly to your door and access to...
Membership for curious minds
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The Scottish dream of Darien
Historian article
John McKendrick considers how Scotland’s wish to create a trading empire was dashed and made the Act of Union of 1707 almost inevitable.
The Scottish dream of Darien
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Empires of Gold
Historian article
In 1660, the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa was established under the leadership of Charles II's brother James, the Duke of York. Founded as a slaving company, the Royal African Company, as it became known, also traded in gold. African gold was mined in the interior before being...
Empires of Gold
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Immerse yourself in history
Information
Historical Association membership is an enjoyable way to learn and expand your history knowledge, take part in local and national events, gain access to expertise and meet others with a similar interest in history.
Membership includes a subscription to our quarterly magazine The Historian delivered directly to your door and access to the...
Immerse yourself in history
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Private Lives of the Tudors
Historian article
Tracy Borman explores the distinction between the public and private lives of the Tudor monarchs.
The Tudors were renowned for their public magnificence. Perhaps more than any royal dynasty in British history, they appreciated the importance of impressing their subjects with the splendour of their dress, courts and pageantry in order to reinforce their authority. Wherever...
Private Lives of the Tudors
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1968: the year of reckoning
Historian article
Hugh Gault explains why, 50 years later, 1968 is still remembered as a dramatic year.
1967 was 'the summer of love', and that spirit continued into 1968; but there were also many events in 1968 that were of a different sort, when the liberty of 1967 was accompanied by a...
1968: the year of reckoning
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A tale of two Turings
Historian article
Among the posthumous attempts to celebrate his scientific importance, alongside recognition of the unwarranted injustices to which he was subjected, two important statues to Alan Turing are highlighted by Dave Martin.
A tale of two Turings
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The Undergrowth of History
Classic Pamphlet
We can do all kinds of things with the past - examine it analytically, or question whether it ever existed, or churn it up inside ourselves until it turns into personal experience. We can dream it as we lounge amidst a heap of ruins, or petrify it into a museum;...
The Undergrowth of History
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A tale of two statues
Historian article
Dave Martin relates how the statue of one of our imperial ‘heroes’ prompted a campaign to have it taken down while the statue of another imperial ‘hero’ prompted a fund-raising campaign for its repair.
As the tide of Empire ebbed across the globe vestiges of British rule remained, some great,...
A tale of two statues
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The making of Magna Carta
Historian article
Magna Carta provided a commentary on the ills of the realm in the time of King John. Sophie Ambler looks at what grievances were addressed in the Charter, how the Charter was made, and what the Charter tells us about King John himself.
The world from which Magna Carta came...
The making of Magna Carta
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Interpretations of the French Revolution
Classic Pamphlet
The French Revolution raises many questions not least: What sort of Revolution was it - one of "poverty" or "prosperity" ? a bourgeois revolution that overthrew feudalism? A national struggle for liberty, democracy, or "eternal Justice" ? or, again, a criminal conspiracy against the old social order? What did it...
Interpretations of the French Revolution
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The nature of Charles I’s government
Historian article
Charlotte Brownhill explores the nature of Charles I’s government. Rather than dismissing this as a disaster, she argues that there were many positive features of his government before the outbreak of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and suggests that we should consider the difficulties caused by the complexities of...
The nature of Charles I’s government
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Images of Ukraine through western lenses
Historian article
How has the understanding of what Ukraine is and, therefore, its image changed through the centuries? What did the word ‘Ukraine’ mean in the Middle Ages, the early modern times, or in the twentieth century? Even during the last four decades, this image has transformed dramatically, and the first association...
Images of Ukraine through western lenses
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Varieties of Reformation
Classic Pamphlet
The most significant change to have occurred in our view of the Reformation in recent years is the growing acknowledgement of historians that it was no unitary phenomenon whose triumph was assured and inevitable. What we refer to in short-hand as ‘the' Reformation was a many-sided affair which began with...
Varieties of Reformation
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Virtual Branch Recording: The House of Dudley
Article
The Dudleys thrived at the court of Henry VII, but were sacrificed to the popularity of Henry VIII. Rising to prominence in the reign of Edward VI, the Dudleys lost it all by advancing Jane Grey to the throne over Mary I. That was until the reign of Elizabeth I,...
Virtual Branch Recording: The House of Dudley
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The League of Nations
Classic Pamphlet
It is common to see the failure of the League of Nations in its inability to stand up to the crises of the inter-war years.Peter Raffo shows that the League was flawed from the start. Never more than a voluntary association of sovereign states hoping to create ‘an atmosphere capable...
The League of Nations
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Robert Branford: a faithful servant of Southwark
Historian article
Stephen Bourne explains how he pieced together the story of Robert Branford, the earliest known mixed-race officer in the Metropolitan Police, who faithfully served the people of Southwark in the Victorian era.
Robert Branford: a faithful servant of Southwark
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Virtual Branch recording: Empires of the Normans
Virtual Branch Film
How did descendants of Viking marauders come to dominate Western Europe and the Mediterranean, from the British Isles to North Africa, and Lisbon to the Holy Land and the Middle East?
In this Virtual Branch talk Levi Roach, author of Empires of the Normans, tells a tale of ambitious adventures...
Virtual Branch recording: Empires of the Normans
