Professor Lyndal Roper, Emeritus Regius Professor of History and Honorary Fellow of Balliol, has been awarded the 2026 Holberg Prize in recognition of her pioneering research on early modern European history.
The Holberg Prize is one of the world’s leading international awards in the humanities, social sciences, law and theology. Professor Roper’s work has been widely acclaimed for reshaping understanding of early modern Europe, particularly through her studies of the Reformation and social and cultural history. Her most recent publication, Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasant’ War, was awarded the 2025 Cundill History Prize.
Reflecting on her work, Professor Roper has described her commitment to writing ‘history from below’, seeking to recover voices of ordinary people rather than focusing solely on great figures and major events. ‘I wanted a history that would include the voices of ordinary people, of all kinds, colours and classes, and of women in particular,’ she explained.
The Holberg Committee Chair, Professor Ann Phoenix, commended Professor Lyndal as a highly worthy recipient of the award: ‘Lyndal Roper is one of the foremost scholars of early modern Europe and an outstandingly original historian. Her research challenges previously established assumptions about early modernity.’