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Real Lives: Flora Sandes
Historian feature
Our series ‘Real Lives’ seeks to put the story of the ordinary person into our great historical narrative. We are all part of the rich fabric of the communities in which we live and we are affected to greater and lesser degrees by the big events that happen on a daily...
Real Lives: Flora Sandes
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History Abridged: Publishing
Historian feature
History Abridged: This feature seeks to take a person, event or period and abridge, or focus on, an important event or detail that can get lost in the big picture. See all History Abridged articles
For centuries the only way the written word could be communicated was by it being...
History Abridged: Publishing
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Exploring local sources
Historian article
Tim Lomas was correct when he said, in his article in the Summer 2019 edition of The Historian, that historians can see much more in medieval documents than the scribes intended.
Lay manors in Bedfordshire are a good example. Eggington manor, in the south-west, was part of a larger estate and held...
Exploring local sources
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The Historian 143: Literature
The magazine of the Historical Association
4 Reviews
5 Editorial (Read article – open access)
8 Linking Law: Viking and medieval Scandinavian law in literature and history – Keith Ruiter (Read article)
13 The Memory of a Saint: managing the legacy of St Bernard of Clairvaux – Georgina Fitzgibbon (Read article)
17 Blurred Lines: the ever-decreasing...
The Historian 143: Literature
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Short course: Witchcraft, Werewolves and Magic in European History
HA short course, 10 September–10 December 2024
Led by Jonathan Durrant, Laura Kounine, Jan Machielsen, Lisa Tallis, Juliette Wood
Book Now
(Registration is via Cademy which opens in a new window. Please read the course terms and conditions before registering)
What does the course cover?
This Historical Association short course is an introduction to European witchcraft...
Short course: Witchcraft, Werewolves and Magic in European History
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Short course: Witchcraft, Werewolves and Magic in European History – live talks and workshops
HA short courses
Short course: Witchcraft, Werewolves and Magic in European History
Live talks and workshops
Thank you for registering to take part in our short course Witchcraft, Werewolves and Magic in European History. (If you have not already registered you can do so via this page.)
Please find the dates and details for our live...
Short course: Witchcraft, Werewolves and Magic in European History – live talks and workshops
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Out and About in Chester
Historian feature
This ‘aide memoire’ to Chester’s local history has been prepared to enable 2019 Annual Conference delegates – and other visitors – to gain a ‘flavour’ of what Chester has to offer.
A visitor to Chester encounters the bustle and excitement of a busy cathedral city but behind this façade lies...
Out and About in Chester
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Kilpeck Church: a window on medieval 'mentalite'
Historian article
In the village of Kilpeck, about eight miles south-west of Hereford, may be found the small parish church of St Mary and St David, justifiably described by Pevsner as ‘one of the most perfect Norman village churches in England’ (Pevsner 1963, 201). Seemingly remote today, in the twelfth century the...
Kilpeck Church: a window on medieval 'mentalite'
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Historian events calendar - Autumn 2024
27th March 2024
One of the HA’s aims is to bring you accessible and enjoyable history wherever you are based and whatever amount of time you have to dedicate to it. That's why we work to put together a regular programme of events with a variety of formats and delivery. You might prefer the social element of...
Historian events calendar - Autumn 2024
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HA short courses: Terms and conditions
Information
Please read the short course terms and conditions carefully before you register for a place on the short course. By booking a place, you agree to adhere to these terms and conditions.
Please note that these terms and conditions are only applicable to the HA’s short course and do not...
HA short courses: Terms and conditions
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Out and About with homing pigeons in the Great War
Historian feature
Trevor James emphasises the role and importance of ‘messenger’ pigeons on the Western Front.
Amidst the one-hundredth anniversary commemorations of the ending of the Great War, there has been a sudden burst of interest, in such varying locations as both Houses of Parliament and the Antiques Roadshow, in the role...
Out and About with homing pigeons in the Great War
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Hitler’s British Isles: The Real Story of the Occupied Channel Islands
Book Review
Hitler’s British Isles: The Real Story of the Occupied Channel Islands, Duncan Barrett, Simon and Schuster, 2018, 413p, £20-00. ISBN 978-1-4711-6637-2
Having just read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Bloomsbury 2008), this very interesting book has now extended considerably my understanding of the nature of the experiences of...
Hitler’s British Isles: The Real Story of the Occupied Channel Islands
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Popular revolt and the rise of early modern states
Historian article
In the 1960s and 1970s, historians and sociologists who were not specialists in the Middle Ages constructed models of pre-industrial crowds and revolt to understand the distinctiveness of modern, post-French Revolutionary, Europe. Foremost among these scholars were George Rudé, a historian of eighteenth century England and France, and Charles Tilly,...
Popular revolt and the rise of early modern states
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A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: The Forgotten William Dampier
Historian article
In September 1683 in the Cape Verde Islands William Dampier lay 'obscured' among the scrubby vegetation to do some bird watching. He was excited for he had just caught his first sight of flamingos. The detail and delicacy of his description would gladden any modern ornithologist. They were, he wrote,...
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: The Forgotten William Dampier
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Twickenham as a Patriotic Town
Historian article
Twickenham from the 1890s onwards grew as a town with a special sense of history. Nobody in authority on the local council could quite forget the reputation which the district had acquired as a rural arcadia. The aristocrats and gentry who built villas in the parish in the late 17th...
Twickenham as a Patriotic Town
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The Falklands War anniversary
1st April 2022
This month (April 2022) is the 40th anniversary of the start of the Falklands Conflict. On 2 April 1982 an Argentinian Force of 3,000 men invaded the Falkland Islands taking the Islanders and the 80 Royal Marines stationed there by surprise. Despite pressure from the United Nations to withdraw the Argentinians attempted...
The Falklands War anniversary
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Cheshire Country Houses
Article
The popular image of Cheshire is of a flat green landscape dotted with cows, of black and white houses, a county remote from the great events that have shaped the nation's history. This reflects the endurance of the old manorial class that maintained its hold on the land and ensured...
Cheshire Country Houses
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Thomas Muir and the 'Scottish Martyrs' of the 1790s
Article
From the 1750s, after more than a century of intense political and religious disputes and of economic stagnation, Scotland began to enjoy several decades of almost unprecedented political stability, religious harmony, economic growth and cultural achievements. Jacobitism had been crushed and most propertied and influential Scots rallied to the Hanoverian...
Thomas Muir and the 'Scottish Martyrs' of the 1790s
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Film: London’s Dreaded Visitation – Epidemic disease in Restoration London
Presidential Lecture - HA Annual Conference 2016
This lecture explored the epidemiology of disease in metropolitan London, exploring by reconstructions of local impact in the various parishes north, south east and west of the City from Bills of Mortality, burial registers and the Churchwardens’ accounts which often allow a day by day if not hour by hour...
Film: London’s Dreaded Visitation – Epidemic disease in Restoration London
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1066 in 2016
Historian article
David Bates explores modern-day research into the complexities behind the politics and conflict of 1066, providing us with some new interpretations and perspectives.
The many activities that took place around the time of the 950th anniversary of the battle of Hastings have shown that the year 1066 continues to have...
1066 in 2016
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Making the most of your Historian membership
Information
Making the most of your HA membership
HA membership offers more than just your subscription to The Historian. As a member can you enjoy a range of benefits designed to help you explore all you love about history. As a reminder, we’ve highlighted some key benefits available here. If you...
Making the most of your Historian membership
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The development of the Department of Health
Historian article
Health as a specific feature of central government strategy is a relatively recent phenomenon and Hugh Gault identifies how this feature of everyday headlines in our newspapers has been managed until the present time.
At the start of the twentieth century Lord Salisbury’s Cabinet comprised four Secretaries of State –...
The development of the Department of Health
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The Great Yarmouth Suspension Bridge Disaster of 1845
Historian article
Many communities have cataclysmic disasters which tend to dominate or define their local history. Gareth Davies reveals that the sudden collapse of the Great Yarmouth Suspension Bridge is a telling example of this trend.
Beside the waters of the River Bure in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk stands a shiny black memorial...
The Great Yarmouth Suspension Bridge Disaster of 1845
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My Favourite History Place - Nuneaton's Old Grammar School
Historian article
Near the centre of the largest town in Warwickshire, an oasis of calm encompasses the area of Nuneaton parish church, vicarage and Old Grammar School. Of the three buildings, the Old Grammar School may be the least impressive but its history is just as eventful. Nuneaton’s Boys’ Free Grammar School,...
My Favourite History Place - Nuneaton's Old Grammar School
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A precious jewel: English Calais, 1347–1558
Historian article
For 200 years the English Crown held the town and fortress of Calais, thereby providing a gateway into France for English exports and influence.
The conquest of Calais
On 26 August 1346 an English army led in person by King Edward III was confronted by a French army commanded by...
A precious jewel: English Calais, 1347–1558