Dane saga: Imagining a viking Past in the Late Medieval Low Countries
Preserved in the Dutch town of Breda, an unassuming manuscript offers exceptional insights into the way that vikings were (re)conceived during the later medieval period – their memory built on a historical bedrock that never was. In this post, Christian Cooijmans delves into the rich tale of the Dane Saga (‘Denensage’), exploring through this text the development of urban social memory in the late medieval Dutch town of Breda. Christian’s research, funded by the recent award of a Royal Historical Society Open Research Support Grant, offers a glimpse into local medieval history situated within a wider context as understood through literature and folktale. This post draws on Christian’s new article, ‘The Dane saga of Breda. A late medieval account of viking endeavour and vernacular devotion’, now published in ‘The Medieval Low Countries’ and available Open Access.
The Holograph Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots (1489-1541)
Helen Newsome-Chandler introduces her new volume in the Society’s Camden Series, ‘The Holograph Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots (1489-1541)’, published in August 2025. This volume presents the surviving holograph correspondence of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots as a stand-alone edition for the first time. The 111 holograph letters and 4 ‘hybrid’ letters form an unprecedented epistolary archive, featuring the largest collection of holograph correspondence written in English or Scots of any medieval or early modern queen. The letters chart Margaret’s life as a late medieval queen, including her dual identity as queen of Scots and an English princess, and her important role in Anglo-Scots politics and diplomacy. To mark publication of this important volume, the Introduction and full text of ‘The Holograph Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots (1489-1541)’ are now available, free to read, via Cambridge University Press, until 30 September 2025.
Four Suggestions for the Future of (Environmental) History
In April 2023, eighteen scholars from a range of disciplinary backgrounds in the humanities, natural and social sciences came together for a one-day workshop to study past environmental change and its effects on human societies. Selected conversations from this workshop have recently been published as ‘The Future of (Environmental History’, a roundtable article in ‘Transactions of the Royal Historical Society’. To mark publication, Alex Hibberts identifies four suggestions for the future of (environmental) history that arose from the workshop. These proposals consider historians’ contribution to environmental debate, the skills required by historians to consider questions of environmental change, and the need to approach environmental history as more than a sub-field of historical research.
RHS Elections 2025: Insights into the Society’s Council and the role of Councillors
Each year the Royal Historical Society holds elections to appoint three current Fellows as new members to its Council. The Council is the Society’s governing body, with responsibility for the objectives and work of the RHS. The election round for 2025 is now open, with an invitation to all RHS Fellows to submit nominations to stand in this year’s ballot. All Councillors are Fellows of the Society, and those seeking election must also be current Fellows. If you’re a Fellow, and interested in standing for election, this brief commentary offers an insight into the Council, and the activities and experiences of five current Councillors. We hope this answers the questions you might have before submitting your nomination before the closing date of Friday 11 August.
Piloting responsible and effective use of generative AI in undergraduate History Teaching
How do UK history undergraduates routinely use generative AI in the classroom? In this post David Clayton, Henrice Altink and Esther Wright (University of York) review the findings of their recent research project: ‘Piloting the responsible and effective use of generative AI in undergraduate History Teaching’. This project asked students to answer a seminar question and to generate ideas for an undergraduate dissertation using Gen AI. The study succeeded in making students aware of the shortcomings of using certain forms of generative AI in the teaching of history as a substitute for acquiring and applying specialist historical knowledge. It recommends that these activities are integrated into teaching practice and that teachers of history experiment with other forms of generative AI to support deeper student learning.
History, Policy and the Cannabis Conundrum
Historian Virginia Berridge has recently completed her term as a deputy chair of the London Drugs Commission, which published its report, ‘The Cannabis Conundrum’, in May of this year. Established by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, the commission investigated the implications of the non-medical use of cannabis in the capital and the impact of the current laws which govern it. Virginia brought a historian’s perspective to an investigation otherwise dominated by legal specialists. To be a historian in this environment was rewarding, challenging and revealing. In this post, Virginia explains how her expertise in histories of public health policy helped shape the enquiry, and how – and in what ways – others engage with history when it comes to present-day policy formation. As Virginia shows, understanding how academic history is regarded by non-specialists is key to ensuring the centrality and informed use of our discipline in the policy sphere.
Studying History and Politics at the University of Exeter’s Cornwall Campus: a student perspective
In May 2025, members of the Royal Historical Society’s Council visited the University of Exeter’s Cornwall Campus, Penryn, as part of the Society’s annual programme of visits to departments across the UK. Visits are a chance to meet not just with historians working across the university, and with university managers, but also with undergraduate and postgraduate students to learn more about their experience of study. In this post we hear from Charlotte Arthurs, a final year History and Politics student on her three years studying at the Cornwall Campus. Central to Charlotte’s hugely positive experience has been attention placed at Penryn on interdisciplinary teaching. The Society’s next two visits are to the historians and history students at the universities of Aberdeen and Suffolk, with further visits planned later in 2025 and 2026.
The Papers of Admiral George Grey – new Camden Series volume published
In this post Michael Taylor introduces his new volume in the Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series, ‘The Papers of Admiral George Grey’, published in June 2025. The volume presents the memoir, journal, and correspondence of George Grey (1809-1891), son of the Whig prime minister Earl Grey. It documents the Grey family’s experience of the Whig ministry of 1830–1834, and George Grey’s own naval career which took him from the Battle of Navarino during the Greek War of Independence, to a decisive survey of the Falkland Islands, and then to the capital cities of South America during their pivotal early decades of independence. In doing so, Michael’s volume sheds new light on the political, diplomatic, naval, and imperial histories of the early and mid-nineteenth century. The full text of ‘The Papers of Admiral George Grey’, is now available open access via Cambridge University Press, following a subvention by the Royal Historical Society.
Royal Historical Society First Book Prize, 2025 – Shortlisted Titles
The Royal Historical Society’s First Book Prize 2025 recognises the scholarly contribution and quality of history monographs published in 2024. This year’s shortlist of eight titles is now available and follows an open call for early career historians to submit a first sole-authored monograph, published last year, for consideration. Two final winners of the 2025 prize will be chosen, with the announcement to take place in July. Also now available: the shortlist of the Society’s Early Career Article Prize, 2025, for an article written by an early career historian within three years of completion of a PhD.
Royal Historical Society Early Career Article Prize, 2025 – Shortlisted Titles
The Royal Historical Society’s Early Career Article Prize 2025 recognises the scholarly contribution and quality of journal articles published in 2024. This year’s shortlist of eight articles is now available and follows an open call for early career historians to submit a article or book chapter, published last year, for consideration. Two final winners of the 2025 prize will be chosen, with the announcement to take place in July. Also now available: the shortlist of the Society’s First Book Prize, 2025, for a first scholarly monograph written by an early career historian and published in 2024.
Making the Case for History: A View from the Royal Historical Society
In April 2025, the Society’s President Lucy Noakes published the following article in History Workshop. The article is part of an occasional HW series exploring the scale, form and implications of cuts to history departments and courses in UK higher education. In her contribution, Lucy provided a perspective from the Royal Historical Society, drawing on recent surveys of RHS members on the impact of cuts for staff and students, and the wider community. We are very grateful to History Workshop for the opportunity to reproduce Lucy’s article in full on the RHS site
Reading, Gender and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England
In this post Hannah Jeans introduces her new book—’Reading, Gender and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England’—which is published in the Society’s ‘New Historical Perspectives’ series with University of London Press. Hannah’s book explores traditional views of reading in the seventeenth century and challenges the enduring binaries of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ literature or ‘active’ and ‘passive’ reading. In their place, Hannah views the activity from the multiple perspectives of seventeenth-century women readers. Through an investigation of women readers’ personal engagement with literature, the book extends our understanding of women’s reading habits and the place of reading in the development of self-identities. ‘Reading, Gender and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England’ is the 22nd title in the Society’s New Historical Perspectives series and, like other NHP titles is published free, Open Access, and in paperback print.
