Gloucester History Festival
An excellent weekend well-spent with history-lovers
Gloucester History Festival is one of the largest and most well-respected celebrations of heritage we have in the UK, growing year-on-year and providing an excellent showcase of the finest historians. Though hosted in the centre of a bustling cathedral city, GHF retains a strong sense of community, one comprising the historians, the volunteers, and the hundreds of festival goers, who all freely mix and enjoy each other’s company. There is always a fascinating exchange of ideas and thoughts between the parties, invariably accompanied by much laughter and smiling. A pervading sense of camaraderie is the order of the day. History-lovers, united.
This past weekend was my second consecutive appearance at the History Festival (and third overall if we include the 2020 Online Festival) and I sincerely hope it is not my last. There was palpable excitement as my train rolled into Gloucester Station and I searched out my hotel, the 15th century New Inn, which is anything but new these days and which may in fact have a valid claim to be England’s oldest inn.
After dropping my bag off and grabbing my talk, I headed to the festival venue, the splendid Blackfriars Priory, founded in 1239, dissolved in 1539, and restored in 1960. Nobody quite does a green room like GHF, a comfortable historic chamber with overflowing fridges full of every drink conceivable and a table groaning beneath its range of sandwiches, cakes, chocolates and all the good stuff we shouldn’t eat too much off but do, anyway.
It is here that I was able to become reacquainted with two incredible history podcasters, Paul Bavill of the humorous History Rage Podcast, and Jackson van Uden from the insightful History With Jackson series. Also present and meeting for the first time was Shauna from Shauna Does History, and with all three I recorded a range of content, which you can find on each of their channels.
I was also able to meet up with Amy Rodriguez, who hosts a growing YouTube, Substack and Instagram empire called FairTheeWell, and we recorded some content together that I’m hoping you’ll get to see soon. As for the beers that night all of us shared, the less said the better! I’m still hungover.
As for my talk, well; about 10 minutes before it was due to begin, there was a biblical outbreak of thunder and lightning and a deluge of rain unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I did fear the event would have to be postponed, particularly when lightning struck so close to the venue that the entire foundations shook.
In the event, we were all able to make it into the priory without incident, though much of the talk was given to the background of thunder, which was an experience. I gave my talk titled ‘Son of Prophecy: The Rise of Henry Tudor’, which looked at the origins of the Tudor dynasty, covering living under English conquest as Welsh rebels, Owen Tudor’s remarkable relationship with a widowed queen, Henry Tudor’s struggle to survive as a boy, and his astonishing rise to the throne as a foretold messiah.
Books were sold, books were signed, and hopefully everyone had a good time. Thank you everyone who came. And no visit to Gloucester is, of course, complete without popping along to the cathedral to check out the evocative cloister, one of my favourite historical sites in Britain. Until next time, Gloucester.
Below is a small snippet from my talk ‘Son of Prophecy’, courtesy of the Gloucester History Festival.
Son of Prophecy: The Rise of Henry Tudor
'Son of Prophecy: The Rise of Henry Tudor' is a 300-year history of one Welsh family. It tells how they emerged from the wilds of Gwynedd, navigated the murky and violent waters of Welsh-Anglo politics, and eventually found their way, almost improbably, onto the English throne. This story involves war, treason, escapes and love.
Fourteen years in the making, from defiant Welsh rebels to unlikely English kings, this is the story of the Tudors, but not how you know it.
Son of Prophecy is available around the world NOW by ordering through a UK outlet called Blackwell Books, who ship WORLDWIDE for free of charge. So to get your copy early, head HERE
The booming thunder and torrential rain while you spoke of the journey from Henry Tudor's welsh ancestors to the battle of Bosworth added an immersive effect your talk - but in a spooky twist, just at the point in the talk when the "welsh bard's finally put down there quills" because the Son of Prophecy had finally arrived, the rain suddenly stopped and the sun peaked out... was it a coincidence? Perhaps not 😉
Pleased to listen to some of it. As usual excellent.