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Doing history: Remembering the Wars of the Roses
Historian feature
This article examines how the Wars of the Roses have been remembered through memorials and presents the Battlefields Trust’s Wars of the Roses Memorial Database Project, launched in 2023. The open-access, crowd-sourced database maps monuments, plaques, battlefield markers and local commemorations linked to the conflicts. David Grummitt shows that remembrance...
Doing history: Remembering the Wars of the Roses
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Making and breaking Britain’s national energy order
Historian article
British history flows through energy. Changes to fuel sources, technologies, workplace organisation and power along with government policy and ownership have been defining turning points in British economic history. In this article Ewan Gibbs traces the making, development and subsequent breaking of a national British energy order across the second half of...
Making and breaking Britain’s national energy order
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The Historian 168: Economic History
The magazine of the Historical Association
4 Ask The Historian
5 Editorial (Read article)
6 A stimulating journey along the ‘weary paths of Dryasdust’: using financial records to gain insights into medieval society – Alisdair Dobie (Read article)
11 Letters
12 Women who stirred the pot: female protagonists in early East India Company history – Karin Doull (Read...
The Historian 168: Economic History
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What caused the decline of trams in West Yorkshire?
Historian article
In an article based on his award-winning essay for the Young Historian competition, Christopher Barnett describes the development, decline and potential resurrection of West Yorkshire’s tram network...
What caused the decline of trams in West Yorkshire?
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Imperial spaces of a ‘miniature world’: the case of Rugby School, c.1828–1850
Historian article
English public schools in the nineteenth century were training grounds not just for society’s elites but also for careers in Britain’s imperial service. In this article, Holly Hiscox explores the ways in which schools such as Rugby provided pupils with a miniature world of domestic and professional life which prepared...
Imperial spaces of a ‘miniature world’: the case of Rugby School, c.1828–1850
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Real Lives: A German captain’s perspective on the end of WWI
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 sto greater and lesser degrees by the big events that happen on a daily...
Real Lives: A German captain’s perspective on the end of WWI
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Real Lives: Alexander Stewart
Historian feature
Our series ‘Real Lives’ seeks to put the story of the ordinary person into our great historical narrative. If you have any people that you think might also fit this category and would like to write about them, please do contact: martin.hoare@history.org.uk
Alexander Stewart’s life combined hardship, resilience and moral conviction....
Real Lives: Alexander Stewart
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The Historian 167: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 167: Science
2025 is a memorable year for scientific anniversaries: it is 350 years since the foundation of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich; 200 years since the start of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures and Michael Faraday’s discovery of benzine; and for the contemporary historians among our...
The Historian 167: Out now
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The Historian 167: Science
The magazine of the Historical Association
4 Ask The Historian
5 Editorial (Read article)
6 Social Darwinism: the myth and its reinvention – Geoffrey M. Hodgson (Read article)
10 White heat or hot air? The politics of science in 1960s Britain – Steve Illingworth (Read article)
14 More than skin deep: unmasking the history of cold cream – Farhana...
The Historian 167: Science
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Caroline Court Women, 1625–1669
Historian article
Aristocratic women at the court of Queen Henrietta Maria from 1625–69 were integral to court life and actively involved in royal service; in court family networks; in dispensing and seeking patronage; and, in political and religious politics. As Sara J. Wolfson shows, it is important to study women at the apex of power...
Caroline Court Women, 1625–1669
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The Historian 166: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 166: Crime and Punishment
Last summer, crime and punishment made the headlines as Britain’s prisons came close to full capacity. In response, the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, ordered the release of nearly 10,000 prisoners who had served a significant portion of their sentence. The aim was to...
The Historian 166: Out now
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The Historian 166: Crime and Punishment
The magazine of the Historical Association
This edition of The Historian is free to access for all HA members. Find out about membership here.
Contents
5 Editorial (Read article)
6 Coroners, communities, and the Crown: mapping death and justice in late medieval England – Stephanie Emma Brown (Read article - open access)
11 Mercurial justice: a...
The Historian 166: Crime and Punishment
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Connecting poetry, philosophy and landscapes in Ancient China
Historian article
It is unusual for historians to focus primarily on poetry to provide insights into the past societies they are studying. Here Nicholas Tyldesley explains the value of poetry to help us understand the ideas, values and some important historical events in Ancient China, with a particular focus on poets Li...
Connecting poetry, philosophy and landscapes in Ancient China
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In conversation with Ulinka Rublack
Historian feature
The Historian discusses with Ulinka Rublack her latest book, Dürer’s Lost Masterpiece: Art and Society at the Dawn of a Global World (2023), which takes a fresh look at this major Renaissance artist, telling the story of his life and times, and reassessing some of his best-known works...
In conversation with Ulinka Rublack
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The Historian 164: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 164: Ancient Worlds
A couple of generations ago an edition of a history publication on the theme of ancient worlds would probably just have included features on the Greeks and the Romans. It is now widely accepted that ancient history should have a broader focus, embracing developments in...
The Historian 164: Out now
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The Historian 164: Ancient Worlds
The magazine of the Historical Association
This edition of The Historian is open-access to all (including all linked articles). For a subscription to The Historian (published quarterly), plus access to our library of high-quality podcasts and films, free short courses and Virtual Branch talks, membership of a thriving community of history-lovers and much more, join the HA today.
4 Ask The Historian
5...
The Historian 164: Ancient Worlds
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Five stones in St Albans: life in Verulamium
Historian article
In this article, based on a prize winning essay for the Historical Association’s Young Historian competition, Alice Finnie explores aspects of the important Roman town of Verulamium, on the site of the modern city of St Albans. Her focus is on five stones that survive from the Roman period. She...
Five stones in St Albans: life in Verulamium
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Sophisticated living in sub-Roman Britain
Historian article
It has been assumed for a long time that sub-Roman Britain, the period between the Romans leaving the island in the early fifth century and the settlement of the Anglo-Saxons in the sixth century, was a period of rapid cultural and economic decline. Recent archaeological discoveries at Chedworth Villa in...
Sophisticated living in sub-Roman Britain
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The Historian 163: Ukraine
The magazine of the Historical Association
To mark the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have opened up this edition of The Historian that contains a number of articles by Ukrainian academics. This edition is a reminder of culture and history of Ukraine and explores some of the ways the unprovoked attack has had on...
The Historian 163: Ukraine
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Recruiting volunteers to fight in the First World War
Historian article
‘Your Country Needs You’ and other posters are still remembered today as a prominent vehicle by which men were encouraged to fight in the First World War. Virtually absent from the literature, however, is analysis of the impact of thousands of recruitment meetings and their speakers. Robert Bullard explores the contribution...
Recruiting volunteers to fight in the First World War
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The Historian 163: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 163: Ukraine
The third year of Russia’s full-scale invasion into Ukraine is slowly drawing to a close, with no end to it in sight. Putin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine in hope of a quick capitulation was, however, only the last stage of a longer process...
The Historian 163: Out now
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Exploring murals and graffiti in modern Ukraine
Historian article
Kateryna Petrova explores the history and evolution of street art, especially graffiti and murals in Ukraine from the Soviet era to the present day. She traces the transformation of street art from a forbidden and persecuted activity to one coordinated with city authorities and embraced by the public. She also...
Exploring murals and graffiti in modern Ukraine
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The Historian 162: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 162: Environment
Environment, broadly defined as the surroundings in which one lives, is an essential component of the study of past societies. Its importance has given rise to a number of fields of study. In Britain, landscape history was pioneered by W.G. Hoskins in the 1950s, and...
The Historian 162: Out now
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‘Since singing is so good a thing’: William Byrd on the benefits of singing
Historian article
As the value of music education is again a topic of societal debate, Tudor composer William Byrd, the four hundredth anniversary of whose death is celebrated this year, was a powerful advocate of singing in early modern England, writes Katherine Butler.
Tudor composer William Byrd (c.1540–1623) is recognised today not only...
‘Since singing is so good a thing’: William Byrd on the benefits of singing
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Art and ecology
Historian article
Artworks and objects from the past provide us with a compelling record of human interaction with the natural world. In this article, art historians Carla Benzan and Samuel Shaw explain how they are using collections from galleries and museums to bring environmental history to new audiences and to increase awareness...
Art and ecology
