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.

*LIVE - Thursday 25 March, 7.30pm 

Building St James's Spire: Louth's Guilds and Popular Piety in the Later Middle Ages with Dr Claire Kennan

We are pleased to welcome medieval historian Dr Claire Kennan to the HA Virtual Branch this March. In her talk Kennan will trace the important role that the town’s major guilds of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Holy Trinity played in the building of the St James’s spire. Throughout the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries, the guilds dominated the town and parish and were involved in decision making at the highest level. These associations were inextricably linked with the church and this talk will explore the myriad ways in which they managed and maintained various aspects of town and parish life, throwing a spotlight on local community activities during this often-overlooked period and region.

Book here

Look out for a talk in April on Anglo-Saxon hoards, and in May we are pleased to be joined by Martyn Whittock, historical speaker and writer of numerous history books, including titles on Viking and Anglo-Saxon history.

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 (recording available in spring)

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. We will be featuring some of those Zoom lectures delivered by the branches here. Check in regularly for further information or view 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.