Your branch from home

The HA Virtual Branch is a great way to keep your history up-to-date, whether you are working or relaxing, all from the comfort of your home. The branch is available to everybody, and recordings of the talks are made available online after the event for HA members.

Upcoming talks 

 * LIVE - Wednesday 18 May, 7.30pm

Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe with Professor Judith Herrin

Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402 CE until 751 CE, then later, the capital of the immense kingdom of Theoderic the Goth and finally the centre of Byzantine power in Italy. In this talk Professor Judith Herrin will explore the history of the city, its peoples and its contributions to the world then and now. The talk is based on her award winning book Ravenna. Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe (Penguin Books, 2020), which was awarded the Duff Cooper/Pol Roger Prize for History 2020, and shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize.

Judith Herrin is Professor Emerita and Constantine Leventis Senior Research Fellow attached to the Classics Department at King’s College London. Her major books include The Formation of Christendom (Princeton University Press, 1987), now reprinted as a Princeton Classic (2022); Byzantium. The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire (Penguin Books, 2007), translated into twelve languages, and Ravenna. Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe (Penguin Books, 2020). In 2002 she was awarded the Gold Cross of Honour by the Hellenic Republic; in 2011 she was made a Corresponding Fellow of the Centre for Byzantine Research at the Aristotle University of Thessalonike, and in 2016 she won the Heineken Prize for History.

Book here

Past lecture recordings

If you missed our Virtual Branch talks from earlier this year, recordings of a number of the talks are available here:

• Michael Wood on The Making of Early England 500-1066
• Peter Mandler on The Origins of Mass Society: Speech, Sex and Drink in Urbanising Britain, 1780-1870
• Jo Fox on Reimagining the Blitz Spirit: the mobilisation of World War II propaganda in our own times
• Anne Curry on Henry V – Henry the conqueror
• Katja Hoyer on Weltkrieg: the German home front during World War I 
• Rana Mitter on China's good war: how World War II is shaping a new nationalism 
• Jonathan Phillips on The life and legend of Sultan Saladin
• Stephen Bourne on Writing Black British histories
• Clare Kennan on Building St James's Spire: Louth's Guilds and Popular Piety in the Later Middle Ages 
• Martyn Whittock on Mayflower Lives: building a New Jerusalem in the New World
• Meet the author: Marc Morris on the Anglo-Saxons
• Toby Green: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution
• Robert Pike: Silent Village: Life and Death in Occupied France
• Karin Friedrich:the Partitions of Poland, their Repercussions for German-Polish Relations and their Legacy
• Robert Sackville-West on The Searchers: The Quest for the Lost of the First World War
  
• Anna Cusack on What a strange place to be buried: Unique burial locations in London, c. 1600-1800
• Paula Kitching on Why does the massacre of the Armenians in the First World War still get overlooked?
• Marcus Collins on “The Talk Should Not Be Broadcast”: Homosexuality and the BBC before 1967
• Bob Morris on Why has monarchy survived in Europe?
• Dean Irwin on A Jewish divorce case in medieval England (coming in late May)

Local HA Branches at the Virtual Branch

The HA has over 45 local branches around the country. Some of these have been able to return to their venues for their monthly talks around lockdown. Others have decided to make their branch programmes online via Zoom – this provides a wonderful opportunity for you to see some of the great lectures that occur across the country as part of the HA. Check our branch calendar for full listings.

About the HA Virtual Branch talks

Your HA virtual branch is open to all – whether you are a member or not; for general interest, teachers and students alike. Some of the talks are pre-recorded, and others allow you the opportunity to listen live and pitch your questions to the historian presenting. This page will be updated as new talks are agreed.

If you're a teacher don't forget that we will also continue to run our regular calendar of CPD webinars - view the secondary webinar calendar here and the primary calendar here.