Arise England: An Evening with Caroline Burt & Richard Partington

Join historians Caroline Burt and Richard Partington for a discussion about their co-authored book, Arise England - a fascinating account of the development of the nation through the six Plantagenet kings.

Date: Thursday, 2 October

Time: 7-8.30pm

Tickets: £7

Tickets can be purchased in the shop or here via Eventbrite.

Refreshments will be served.

Our Guests

Caroline Burt is a medieval historian whose research to date has focused on the reigns of Edward I (1272-1307) and Edward II (1307-27) and on English governance during that period. She is particularly interested in ideas about governance and the practical implementation of royal authority and policy within England as a whole.

She has published several articles and a monograph on Edward I with Cambridge University Press (Edward I and the Governance of England, 1272-1307). An article summarising her research in Edward II, which offers new perspectives on the reign, was published in 2015.

Her latest book Arise England: Six Kings and the Making of the English State, 1199-1399, for which she secured Newton Trust sabbatical funding in 2015-16, is due for publication by Faber & Faber in 2023-4.

She is currently working on a monograph on The Lancasters, 1267-1399.

Richard Partington grew up in Liverpool and was the first person from his family to attend university. Following undergraduate and postgraduate study in Cambridge, he was appointed first as a Research Fellow in History and later as Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Sidney Sussex College. In 2007 he became Senior Tutor of Churchill College and in 2021 Senior Tutor of St John's College. He is a longstanding advocate of widening access to and participation in higher education, and also has expertise in maximising student academic outcomes and student welfare.

His research focuses on politics and leadership in medieval Britain and Europe, state formation, crime, disorder and justice, international politics and war, and the governance of Edward III, King of England 1327-77.

Other publications include: 'Noble Service to Edward III', in Political Society in Medieval England, ed. Thompson and Watts; 'Justice, Law and Lawyers', with Michelle Bubenicek, in Government and Political Life in England and France, ed. Fletcher, Genet and Watts; 'Edward III's Enforcers', in The Age of Edward III, ed. Bothwell

About the book:

Between 1199 and 1399, English politics was high drama. These two centuries witnessed savage political blood-letting - including civil war, deposition, the murder of kings and the ruthless execution of rebel lords - as well as international warfare, a devastating national pandemic, economic crisis and the first major peasant uprising in English history.

Arise, England uses the six Plantagenet kings who ruled during these two centuries to explore England's emergent statehood. Drawing on original accounts and arresting new research, it draws resonances between government, international relations, and the abilities, egos and ambitions of political actors, then and now. Colourful and complicated, and by turns impressive and hateful, the six kings stride through the story; but arguably the greatest character is the emerging English state itself.

Reviews:

'Arise, England is a brilliant and lucid account of the emergence of the building blocks of the English nation during the Plantagenet years by two of the foremost experts in the field. From the bitter constitutional wrangling of King John and his barons to the upheavals of the Lancastrian revolution in 1399, Burt and Partington show precisely and engagingly why the Middle Ages matter - this is an essential book for anyone interested in this most fascinating era of British history.' (Dan Jones, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Plantagenets and The Hollow Crown)

'In brilliantly forensic style, Burt and Partington tell the fascinating story of the English state - kings, people and institutions - across two tumultuous centuries. Arise, England is an absorbing and eye-opening account of what the Plantagenets did for us.' (Helen Castor, author of She-Wolves, Blood & Roses and The Eagle and the Hart)