On the Spot: Alice Hunt
‘What is the most common misconception about my field? That the republic was an absolute failure and the Restoration inevitable.’
Why are you a historian of 17th-century Britain?
Because there is nothing more compelling, and moving, than revolution.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
That we can never be sure, and that the protagonists were also often not sure.
Which history book has had the greatest influence on you?
Ernst Kantorowicz’ The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology. I’ve been grappling with monarchy ever since.
What book in your field should everyone read?
John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Which moment would you most like to go back to?
I would like to have been in the crowd watching the execution of Charles I.
Which historian has had the greatest influence on you?
Patrick Collinson for the way he wrote about religion, and for his generosity of spirit.
Which person in history would you most like to have met?
Oliver Cromwell. I’d like him to clarify a few things.
How many languages do you have?
French, Italian, working Latin and rusty Spanish.
Is there an important historical text you have not read?
I’m still to get through parts of the Bible.
What historical topic have you changed your mind on?
I am constantly changing my mind about the Restoration.
What is the most common misconception about your field?
That the republic was an absolute failure and the Restoration inevitable.
Who is the most underrated person in history…
Mary I.
… and the most overrated?
Elizabeth I.
What’s the most exciting field in history today?
The history of emotions.
What’s your favourite archive?
The Rare Books room at the British Library.
What’s the best museum?
The Victoria and Albert Museum. I find it anchoring to be among the stuff of history.
What technology has changed the world the most?
Printing, obviously, but reading glasses enabled the reach of that technology.
Recommend us a historical novel...
George Eliot’s Middlemarch .
... and a historical drama?
Shakespeare’s Richard II.
You can solve one historical mystery. What is it?
To find the copy of the bill that MPs were debating in Parliament in April 1653, which made Cromwell so angry that he turfed them all out. The bill has never been seen since.
Alice Hunt is Professor of Early Modern Literature and History at the University of Southampton and the author of Republic: Britain’s Revolutionary Decade, 1649-1660 (Faber and Faber, 2024).
