On Friday 6 February the Society hosted the first lecture in its 2026 programme. Our great thanks to Professor Charles West (University of Edinburgh) who spoke on: ‘”Alike in Appearance but not in Scope”: Queens and the Making of Medieval Europe’.
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Charles’s lecture considered the mobility of queens in early medieval Europe. Whereas medieval kings tended to rule in the same place they were born, queens were routinely foreigners within their own realm.
This mobility ensured that queens, and their retinue, held a central place in the ‘making’ of post-Carolingian Europe, alongside that of the knights and clerics on whom historical attention has often focused.
Charles’s lecture explored the considerable extent of, and connections forged by, royal women travelling to become queens in realms outside those of their birth. Central to the lecture was the early medieval fascination with chess in which then, as now, it is the queen who possesses greater mobility on the board.
Through a set of case studies, Charles’s lecture looked at the role played by queens as cultural ambassadors in creating, both deliberately and unwittingly, a human network that transcended political borders.
Our great thanks to Charles for his lecture, and to all who attended this event in person and online. The recording of the lecture will be available shortly.
RHS Events Archive
Charles’s lecture is one of many recent Royal Historical Society events now available to watch or listen to again via the RHS Events Archive.
Recent speakers include the historians Jane Ohlmeyer on early modern Irish women, Yasmin Khan on empire and war, Peter Gatrell on refugees in the twentieth century, and Mark Stoyle on Tudor rebellion.
Forthcoming RHS lectures in February 2026
On Tuesday 10 February the Society partners with the German Historical Institute, London, to host its 2026 Global History Lecture. Our speaker is Professor Vinita Damodaran (University of Sussex) whose subject is: ‘Decolonising the Natural History Collections of Empire’.
Vinita’s lecture, with a focus on India, seeks to understand this important archive of knowledge of the natural world collected and organised in the context of the empire in the light of recent historiography on botany and empire. It highlights the importance of creating an inventory and digitally repatriating botanical specimens held primarily in British institutions, and highlights efforts for cultural remediation.
The lecture will examine neglected literature and networks in the imperial scientific network, which were crucial to what was a prodigious scientific renaissance in natural history and environmental understanding in the imperial context from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century.
In-person and online booking for this lecture, which takes place at Mary Ward House, London, is now available.
On Wednesday 18 February, the Society hosts the first of its 2026 Visits to historians in universities across the UK. February’s visit, to Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield, includes a public lecture by Professor David Stack (University of Reading) on ‘Well-being: a Historian’s Perspective’.
David’s lecture considers how historians might engage with contemporary discussions of well-being? What does history have to tell us about the term and its use? Does the study of history contribute to or detract from well-being?
This lecture argues that history can and should make a unique contribution, both to the concept and the practice of well-being. The study of history can deepen our understanding of the structural forces that shape well-being, and, by self-consciously integrating a well-being agenda into our research and teaching, we can simultaneously enhance the well-being of ourselves and our students and demonstrate the relevance of history to one of the most important public policy debates of our time.
This public lecture is part of the Society’s visit to historians at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield.
In-person booking for this lecture, which takes place at Sheffield Hallam, is now available.