William III: Shifting Interpretations

In this talk, the speaker will reflect on ways in which views of William III have shifted during his career studying this monarch. Someone who was once thought to have saved English protestantism and parliamentary liberty, is now seen as a figure whose religious legacy and meaning are complex, who imbricated England in continental and Britannic politics, and whose impact on the machinery of state and popular participation in public affairs are thought to be more profound than his contribution to any long march of freedom. The talk will reflect on what this tells us about wider shifts in historiography, and our understanding of the arrival of the 'modern' in Europe.

This lecture will be delivered through the medium of English.