Early Migration and the Making of Europe Prof Peter Heather, Professor of Medieval History, King’s College London Date: 21st of October 2026 Time: 20:00 Venue: Zoom In this talk, historian Peter Heather challenges traditional narratives to re-examine the first...

The Peasants are Becoming Aware: Reflections on the Quincentenary of the Great War of 1525 in the Holy Roman Empire Professor Beat Kümin, Professor of Early Modern History, University of Warwick Date: 18th of November 2026 Time: 20:00 Venue: Zoom Following a surge of...

Under Alien Skies: Environment, Suffering and the Defeat of the British Military in Revolutionary America Prof Vaughn Scribner, Deptartment of History, University of Central Arkansas Date: 16th of December 2026 Time: 20:00 Venue: Zoom The Revolutionary War is often...

Major finding of a large Roman fort in wales Dr Mark Merrony, Supernumerary Fellow, Wolfson College, University of Oxford Date: 20th of January 2027 Time: 20:00 Venue: Zoom Dr Merrony is an accomplished field archaeologist. His recent discovery of a Roman fort in west...

A painting of Chesham in 1750

Date: 20th of May 2026
Time: 20:00
Venue: Zoom
Speaker: Prof Jenny Benham, Medieval History, School of History, Archaeology & Religion, Cardiff University

Spies were a common feature of political, diplomatic and courtly life in the period of early medieval Europe. In this article, Jenny Benham explores some interesting contemporary representations of spies, in both literature and art. These stories and images reveal key features of the culture and practices surrounding these so-called ‘little birds’ who listened to and passed on important secret information.

Date:15th of Ocotober 2025
Time: 20:00 (19:35 for AGM)
Venue: Zoom
Speaker: Martyn Whittock, Independent Researcher and Author

For a thousand years, Norse sagas (written in 13th-century Iceland) claimed that Vikings migrated from Greenland to reach a land to the West called ‘Vinland.’  It was, and is, a claim that stimulates the imagination and controversy, for it insists that Vikings influenced lands very far from Scandinavia. In this talk – based on my book American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed into the Lands and Imaginations of America – I explore the evidence for this in the literary sources and archaeology (most notably on Newfoundland); claims regarding runestones ‘discovered’ in the USA; and  the way this idea of ‘Vinland Vikings’ has fed into the cultural DNA of North America and especially the USA.  In recent times that has led to their co-option by the US far-right as seen in the ‘Unite the Right’ rally at Charlottesville (2017) and on January 6th at the US Capitol. This talk will explore both the evidence for Norse settlement in North America and why it became (and remains) so important in the ‘deep story’ of contested US identities.

Date: 19th of November 2025
Time: 20:00
Venue: Zoom
Speaker: Dr Simon Elliott, Managing Director, Sentinel Communications

Septimius Severus was Rome’s black emperor. Born in the blistering heat of a North African spring in Leptis Magna, AD 145, he died in the freezing cold of a northern British winter in York in AD 211. A giant of an emperor, whose career can be counted in superlatives, Severus was in power at the height of Rome’s might. He led the largest army to ever campaign in Britain, comprising 50,000 men, part of a Roman military establishment which peaked at 33 legions under his rule.

Date: 17th of December 2025
Time: 20:00
Venue: Zoom
Speaker: Prof Richard Whatmore, School of History, University of St Andrews

The Enlightenment is popularly seen as the Age of Reason, a key moment in human history when ideals such as freedom, progress, natural rights and constitutional government prevailed. In this radical re-evaluation, historian Richard Whatmore shows why, for many at its centre, the Enlightenment was a profound failure.