Our summer series of lectures have come to an end, we are pleased to announce three special evening lectures over the winter. Our first lecture is on Thursday 9th November at Matthews Hall, Doors Open at 6.45pm for 7.30pm with a bar available. Entrance £7 payable at the door.A

‘Murderous Midsummer The Western Rebellion of 1549’: This lecture will tell the story of the Western Rising of 1549, the so-called ‘Prayer Book Rebellion’, which saw thousands of ordinary people in Devon and Cornwall rising up against the radical religious reforms of the boy-king Edward VI. The talk will draw on new evidence to explore both the causes and the course of the rebellion. It will also consider the terrible consequences which ensued when the protestors were eventually crushed by a powerful royal army and will argue that the rising was the most catastrophic event to occur in Devon and Cornwall between the Black Death and the English Civil War.

Mark Stoyle is currently Professor of early modern History at the University of Southampton and has particular research interests in the English Civil War, witchcraft, and in Tudor rebellions. He has written many books and articles and his latest book – A Murderous Midsummer: The Western Rising of 1549 – was published by Yale University Press in 2022. Mark has served on the Council of the Royal Historical Society, on the advisory board of the Victoria County History and on the editorial advisory panel of BBC History Magazine. He has also appeared on more than 50 radio and TV programmes, and in a score of podcasts.

Two more winter lectures for your diary:

11th January: ‘The Afterlife of Books’, by Emma Laws

14th March: ‘Paul Indigo from Romans to Jeans’ by Jennie Balfour