Historiography

Despite shifting priorities in education, the study of ancient and medieval history remains as important as ever.

In the debate over the term 'Dark Ages' the importance of Tintagel in early medieval Britain should not be forgotten.

In the 18th century, when women in scholarship were not encouraged and medieval languages were little-studied even by men, Elizabeth Elstob become a pioneer in Anglo-Saxon studies, her work even finding its way into the hands of Thomas Jefferson.

Bishop William Stubbs was the last of the amateur historians and arguably the discipline’s first professional.

John Aubrey, best known for his concise and incisive pen portraits of his 17th-century contemporaries, left no diary of his own. Ruth Scurr set herself the challenge of imagining one from the remnants of his life.

While we return again and again to the proto-historians of the classical world, we neglect those pioneering figures closer to us in space and time. Why is this, wonders Mathew Lyons?

E.E.Y. Hales outlines the theories of and challenges to the British socialist historian and philosopher.

E.E.Y. Hales outlines the theories of and challenges to the British socialist historian and philosopher.

Fifty years on from Winston Churchill’s death, Chris Wrigley surveys the literature available, highlighting key works and lesser-known titles.

Every generation, writes E.E.Y. Hales, will have to consider afresh the principles of selection and the paths that may be usefully followed.