The Historian
Published in London at QMUL
Featuring posts from staff and student historians
Humanities Thrive in the Digital Era
Can science and technology support research in humanities? A yearly event in Cambridge University Library endeavours to find out. This year’s edition was joined by four postgraduate students from Queen Mary University. Ana Roda Sánchez, who was among them, reflects on her experience.
The Aromatic Journey of Camphor Through the Medieval Indian Ocean Trade
A ‘fragrant footnote’ or something more? Postgraduate student Hussain Hashim Dalal explores the medieval trade in camphor resin. The story reveals that maritime networks, socio-economic dynamics and commerce in the middle ages were more complex and changeable than we sometimes imagine.
‘Britain at Bay’ – a conversation between Alan Allport and Dan Todman
Alan Allport is Associate Professor of History in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. The author of acclaimed books on demobilisation (Demob, 2009) and the British army (Browned Off and Bloody-Minded, 2015), Alan has now published the first of a two volume history of Britain in the Second World War, Britain at Bay. To mark its publication, Alan talked to Dan Todman, who published the second of his two volume history of Britain in the Second World War, A New World in March this year.
Black Lives Matter
A statement from the Head of the School of History. This text was first sent to all staff and students in the School of History on Friday June 5th, 2020.
An Art Historian Reads Huizinga
Johan Huizinga's Autumn of the Middle Ages offers an immersion in the late medieval world that encompasses all senses. An art historian reflects on Huizinga's assessment a century on. This is the fifth post in our series celebrating the centenary of Huizinga’s work.
Huizinga’s Herfsttij (1919) pupates once more: Autumntide, a new translation (2019).
Since its first appearance a century ago, Johan Huizinga's Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen has gone through multiple English editions. Graeme Small is one of a team of four responsible for the new edition and translation to mark the centenary. In this blogpost he places the latest translation in its line of interpretations and reflects on the continued conversation. This is the fourth post in our series celebrating the centenary of Huizinga’s work.
The ‘Hammer of Witches’: An Earthquake in the Early Witch Craze
The ‘Malleus Maleficarum’ (Hammer of Witches) is a text like no other. Published in the late 15th century, it provided a guide for hunting and persecuting witches that would heavily influence the next 200 years of the European witch craze. It is one of the great landmarks in the history of witchcraft. This post exploring the history and impact of that text is adapted from coursework completed for Peter Denley’s ‘Frontiers of the Medieval Imagination’ module.