SPARTA History Society

The SPARTA History Society has a varied programme of talks with leading historians from major universities covering Ancient Rome, English Civil War, How World War Two is remembered and the Global Middle Ages.

Wed 14^th January The Blood in Winter: A Nation Descends, 1642 - Jonathan Healey                Online Talk from GMH 5.7 1pm

In 1642, England fell into Civil War. Before this epoch-making collapse, there was a political crisis in the winter of 1641 that saw King Charles I lose control of his capital. It was a time of political intrigue, the gathering of armed forces, and mass protests on the streets of London and Westminster. This talk tells the story of that crisis - the breakdown that brought on the English Civil War.

Why did the English Civil War break out? The Blood in Winter tells the story of an English people's great political awakening, and of a nation that splintered into bloodshed at a terrifying speed. Jonathan Healey recreates the claustrophobic atmosphere of the day, with rowdy protestors in the streets and London blanketed in coal smoke. It is a story of remarkable but flawed characters, all faced with unpalatable choices, and a frightening picture of a society in profound distress.

Jonathan Healey is a historian of the 16th and 17th centuries. His writing focuses on ordinary people – their lives, loves, culture and politics. He is Associate Professor in Social History at Kellogg College, University of Oxford. His previous book, ‘The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England’, was selected as a book of the year by ‘The Telegraph’, ‘The Economist’ and ‘The New Yorker’.

Mon 26^th January      The Global Middle Ages - Catherine Holmes Online Talk 12.30pm

Until very recently the focus of 'global history' has been on the origins of the modern world. Yet several features associated with 'modern' and 'early modern' global history (e.g. long-distance commercial interaction, voluntary and forced migration, multi-ethnic empires, and the transmission of cultural forms) were clearly also present in the centuries before 1500. Some of those features connected Europe to a wider world, as can be seen in the rise of Venice and the global spice trade.

But in thinking about a global Middle Ages, historians also see connections and comparisons across the entire globe in the medieval period. In this sense, the Global Middle Ages can encompass topics such as the creation of the Mongol empire, trading links forged along the Silk Roads, long-distance connections in the Indian Ocean between China and east Africa, and the existence of large scale urban settlements in the Americas, including the extraordinary site of Cahokia on the Mississippi. This talk will illuminate some of these dimensions of the Global Middle Ages on the basis of a research project conducted by historians at the Universities of Oxford, Birmingham and Newcastle. 

Website: http://globalmiddleages.history.ox.ac.uk

Catherine Holmes is Professor of Medieval History and a Fellow of University College, Oxford. Catherine recently edited The Global Middle Ages (Oxford, 2018), a Past and Present supplement volume which draws together the findings of a collaborative project funded by the AHRC.

Thur 29^th January      Crispina Peres: The Heretic of Cacheu – Toby Green Online Talk 12pm

Toby Green will give a talk on the extraordinary story of seventeenth-century West African slave trader Crispina Peres.

Toby Green is professor of precolonial and Lusophone African history and culture at King’s College, London. A Fellow of the British Academy, he is the author of The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300–1589 and, most recently, A Fistful of Shells, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Wed 11^th February     Twentieth Century Seaside Architecture - Kathryn Ferry                   Online Talk from GMH 5.7 1pm

Talk based on Kathryn’s new book of the same title, this talk explores how seaside buildings changed between 1920 and 2000. Though this period covers both the heyday and the dramatic decline in popularity of the British seaside holiday Kathryn will show that new attractions were created throughout the century to try and meet shifting expectations. The talk includes everything from hotels, lidos and entertainment pavilions to beach huts, amusement arcades and leisure centres.’

Dr Kathryn Ferry is an architectural historian. She has published on numerous seaside subjects and is a founder member of the Seaside Heritage Network. She regularly contributes to TV, radio and podcasts.

Tue 17^th February      The 1946 WW2 Victory Parade – Jenny Grant Online Talk 1pm

In this talk Jennifer Grant explores why the motivation and timing of the event resulted in the Parade failing to gain a foothold in British narratives of the aftermath of the war and is now largely forgotten except that the Parade is only remembered today by the UK Polish community, with the Polish absence from the Parade remaining a 'wound which has not been cleaned at all.'

Jennifer Grant is a historian of WW2. Her research focuses on the Polish role in the war, she is keen to raise awareness of the Polish experience of the Second World War.

3^rd March        Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth and Power – Victoria Bateman Online Talk from GMH 5.7 1pm

Economic Historian Victoria Bateman will talk about her new book Economica which weaves a thrilling, globe-spanning narrative that proves women weren't 'missing' from economic life, they were merely hidden from view. We discover the female workers who helped to build the Great Pyramid of Giza, and to plumb the city of ancient Rome; the silk weavers who made a vital contribution to the development of the Silk Road and global trade; the women who dominated London's brewing trade during medieval times; and the brave twentieth-century pioneers who fought to make our economies not just richer but fairer.  Economica rewrites our understanding of women's role in the economy, and tells a more accurate economic history of us all.

Dr Victoria Bateman is an economic historian and author of books including Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth and Power (Headline Press, August 2025), Naked Feminism: Breaking the Cult of Female Modesty (Polity, 2023) and The Sex Factor: How Women made the West Rich (Polity, 2019). She has twenty years’ experience teaching economics and economic history at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. 

Victoria was resident economic historian for BBC Radio 4’s “Understand: the economy” and has written for Bloomberg, Times Higher Education, The Guardian, CapX and The Telegraph, offering longer-form perspectives on history and the economy.

Wed 11^th March             The hidden history of women's football in England - Carrie Dunn Online Talk 1pm

England's Lionesses are on the front and back pages; their stars feature on prime-time television; they are named in the national honours lists for their contribution to their sport and to society.  These women are top athletes – and top celebrities. But in 1921, the Football Association introduced a ban on women’s football, pronouncing the sport 'quite unsuitable for females'.

That ban would last for half a century - but despite official prohibition the women’s game went underground. From the Dick, Kerr Ladies touring the world to the Lost Lionesses who played at the unsanctioned Women's World Cup in Mexico in 1971, generations of women defied the restrictions and laid the foundations for today's Lionesses - so much so that in 2018 England's Women’s Super League became the first fully professional league in Europe...when just a few decades previously women were forbidden to play the sport in England at all.

This book tells the story of women’s football in England since its 19th-century inception through pen portraits of its trailblazers. The game might have once been banned because of its popularity – find out about the subversive women who kept organising their teams and matches despite the prohibition, who broke barriers and set records – the legends of the game who built the foundations of the stage upon which today’s stars flourish.

Carrie Dunn is a sports writer.  She has covered events from the Ashes to the Olympics for national and international publications and is a regular broadcaster on TV and radio. She is an expert on women's football history; her book 'Unsuitable for Females' was shortlisted for Football Book of the Year at the 2023 Sports Book Awards, and more recently 'Woman Up' was nominated for the 2024 Vikki Orvice Award for Women's Sport Writing.

Mon 23^rd March         African Emperor - Septimius Severus - Simon Elliott Online Talk 1pm

Septimius Severus was born into the richest family in a North African spring in Leptis and came to power at the height of Rome’s might. The emperor led the largest army to ever campaign in Britain as part of a Roman military establishment, but he also left a might legacy in the built environment.

Severus used his North African upbringing as the template for, the Severan reset. This was the first major post-Augustan reformation of the Roman world and established the emperor’s dynasty, which lasted almost half a century.  

Dr Simon Elliott is an author, historian, archaeologist and broadcaster. He has worked with outlets as varied as History Hit and Channel 5 and has published several books on Roman history.

Wed 1st April             Culture Wars in Ancient Rome - Christopher Burden-Strevens Online Talk from GMH 5.7 1pm

'Culture Wars, Then and Now: Immigration and Xenophobia in Julius Caesar's Rome' with Dr Christopher Burden-Strevens of the University of Kent

Christopher will share his brand new research on the Roman Republic and examine the treatment of foreigners and migrants in Ancient Rome.

Tue 14th April            How the Second World War is remembered – Keith Lowe Online Talk from GMH 5.7 1pm

Why are we so obsessed with World War II? Historian Keith Lowe thinks the answer lies in what we choose to remember and what we choose to forget about history. In his talk, Keith Lowe describes the grey areas of an epochal event often considered in black and white terms, and argues that we need to challenge our assumptions to avoid repeating historical mistakes.

Keith Lowe is widely recognised as an authority on World War Two and its aftermath. He is the bestselling author of several prize-winning works of history, including ‘Inferno’, ‘Savage Continent’, and ‘The Fear and the Freedom’. A regular contributor to newspapers and journals.