The James Ford Lectures in British History

The Ford Lectures in British History were founded by a bequest from James Ford, and inaugurated by S.R.Gardiner in 1896-7. Since then, an annual series has been delivered over six weeks in the Hilary term and they have long been established as the most prestigious series in Oxford and an important annual event in the History Faculty calendar.

Though sometimes elected from among the Oxford History Faculty, the Ford Lecturer is often a distinguished visitor from elsewhere in the United Kingdom, or further afield; towards the end of the series, the Lecturer generally convenes a seminar for faculty members and students, where the themes and ideas of the series are discussed. Alternating between medieval, early modern and modern history, the Lectures have provided a showcase allowing distinguished scholars to present their work to an Oxford audience, in a scholarly but accessible way; the attendance, which is often very large, habitually includes people from outside Oxford. The Lectures invariably result in important books, many of them classic and pioneering works of British history.

The James Ford Lectures in Hilary Term 2019

AFTER THE BLACK DEATH:

Society, economy and the law in fourteenth-century England

Professor Mark Bailey, University of East Anglia

5pm, South School, Examination Schools

As the single greatest catastrophe in recorded history, the Black Death of 1348-9 continues to grip both the popular and scholarly imagination. This series of six lectures reassesses the main social, economic, legal and cultural responses to the great mortality during the second half of the fourteenth century and explores how they were shaped by the prevailing institutional framework—the rules, laws and belief systems—regulating social and economic behaviour in England.

Friday 18 January - Old problems, new approaches
Friday 25 January - Reaction and regulation
Friday 1 February - A mystery within an enigma: the economy, 1355-75
Friday 8 February - Injustice and revolt
Friday 15 February - A new equilibrium, c.1375-1400
Friday 22 February - The end of serfdom and the Rise of the West

The James Ford Lectures in British History, 2018

The James Ford Lectures in British History, 2017

James Ford Lecturers, 1960-present

2018-19	Professor Mark Bailey	The Black Death: Society, economy and the law in fourteenth-century England
2017-18	Professor Alexandra Walsham	The Reformation of the Generations: Age, Ancestry, and Memory in England c.1500-1700
2016-17	Professor Stefan Collini	History in English Criticism, 1919-1961
2015-16	Dr Christine Carpenter	The Problem of the Fourteenth Century: politics, state and society in England 1307-1399
2014-15	Dr Steven Gunn	The English people at war in the age of Henry VIII
2013-14	Professor Susan Pedersen	Internationalism and Empire: British Dilemmas, 1919-1939
2012-13	Professor John Blair	Building the Anglo-Saxon Landscape
2011-12	Professor Roy Foster	Making a Revolution in Ireland c.1890-1916
2010-11	Professor P. Lake	Bad Queen Bess? Libellous politics and secret histories in an age of confessional conflict
2009-10	Professor D. Bates	The Normans and Empire
2008-9	Professor J. Brewer	The Politics of Feeling in the Age of Revolutions, 1770 – 1830
2007-8	Dr R. McKibbin	Parties, People and the State: Politics in England c.1914 - 1951
2006-7	Professor R. Bartlett	The Learned Culture of Angevin England
2005-6	Professor J. Morrill	Living with Revolution: the peoples of Britain and Ireland and the Civil Wars
2004-5	Professor M. Elliott	Religion and Identity in Modern Irish History
2003-4	Dr J.R. Maddicott	The Origins of the English Parliament c900-1327
2002-3	Professor Q.R.D. Skinner	Freedom, Representation and Revolution, 1603-1651
2001-2	Professor P.F. Clarke	Britain’s image in the world in the twentieth century
2000-1	Professor C. Dyer	An age of transition? Economy and society in the later middle ages
1999-00	Sir Keith Thomas	The ends of life: roads to human fulfilment in early modern England
1998-9	Professor T.C. Smout	Use and delight: Environmental History in Northern Britain since 1600
1997-8	Professor R.R. Davies	Beyond the English State: Power, Societies and Identities in the British Isles.
1996-7	Professor J.F. Harris	A land of lost content? Visions of civic virtue from Ruskin to Rawls.
1995-6	Mr J. Campbell	Origins of the English State.
1994-5	Dr P.A. Slack	From Reformation to Improvement: social reform and public welfare in England 1500-1740.
1993-4	Professor F.M.L. Thompson	British Society, 1780-1980: Enterprise Culture and the Gentrification Syndrome.
1992-3	Professor P.H. Sawyer	Wealth in Anglo-Saxon England.
1991-2	Professor David Underdown	The Political Nation of 17th century England.
1990-1	The Rt. Hon. Lord Briggs	Culture and Communication in Victorian England.
1989-90	Dr Paul Langford	Public life and the propertied Englishman 1689-1798.
1988-9	Miss B.F. Harvey	Living and dying in England 1200-1540: the monastic experience.
1987-8	Professor C.S.R. Russell	The Causes of the English Civil War.
1986-7	Professor K. Robbins	The Blending of Britain 1880-1914.
1985-6	Professor S.F.C. Milson	Law and Society in the 12th and 13th centuries.
1984-5	Sir John Habakkuk	The English Landed Estate 1650-1882.
1983-4	Professor I.R. Christie	Stress and Stability in late 18th Century Britain.
1982-3	Mr J.O. Prestwich	The Place of War in English History 1066-1214.
1981-2	Professor J. Scarisbrick	Religious Attitudes in Reformation England.
1980-1	Professor W.O. Chadwick	Britain, the Pope and Appeasement 1935-1940.
1979-80	Professor D.A. Bullough	Alcuin: The Achievement and the Reputation.
1978-9	Professor P. Collinson	The Religion of Protestants: The Church in English Society, 1559-1625.
1977-8	Professor F.S.L. Lyons	Culture and Anarchy in modern Ireland, 1890-1939.
1976-7	Professor G.W.S. Barrow	The Anglo-Norman Era in Scottish History.
1975-6	Professor J.P. Kenyon	The Politics of Oligarchy 1689-1720.
1974-5	Dr I.J. Thirsk	Economic Policy, Economic Projects and Political Economy, 1540-1700.
1973-4	Professor J.A. Gallagher	The Fall of British Imperialism: domestic constraints and external dangers 1916-47.
1972-3	Professor R.H. Hilton	Peasantry in late medieval England.
1971-2	Professor G.R. Elton	Policy and Police: the enforcement of the Reformation in the age of Thomas Cromwell.
1970-1	M.E. Howard	The Gouty Giant: Reflection on British Defence Policy in the era of two World Wars.
1969-70	Dr J.M. Wallace-Hadrill	Early Germanic Kingship in England and on the Continent.
1968-9	Professor C.H. Wilson	Queen Elizabeth and the Revolt of the Netherlands.
1967-8	R.N.W. Blake	The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill.
1966-7	Miss Beryl Smalley	Intellectuals and Politics in the twelfth century.
1965-6	Dr J.H. Plumb	The growth of political stability in England 1675-1725.
1964-5	Professor E.M. Carus Wilson	The rise of the English woollen industry.
1963-4	Professor Norman Gash	Reaction and reconstruction in English politics 1832-52.
1962-3	Professor D.C. Douglas	William the Conqueror: the Norman impact upon England.
1961-2	J.E.C. Hill	Intellectual origins of the English Revolution.
1960-1	Professor J.G. Edwards	English Parliament in its second century.

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