Research Seminar: Going deeper with the Royal Armouries
- Date: Thursday 27 November 2025, 17:30 – 19:00
- Location: Hybrid
- Type: Seminar series, Seminars and lectures
- Cost: Free. <a href="https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=qO3qvR3IzkWGPlIypTW3y74eqOLcj5VFp87PQcBkW_NUNUpFQUFKMTFHM1VHTkc3NE1FNDNDQ1gxMS4u">Registration required for online attendance</a>.
A special talk to mark the signing of a new collaborative arrangement between the Royal Armouries and the School of History.
The Royal Armouries is the UK’s national collection of arms and armour, founded as a stockpile of military material at the Tower of London in the aftermath of the Norman conquest. In the mid-nineteenth century it finally shed the remainder of its warlike responsibilities in favour of its role as the oldest public museum in the world. Since its move to Leeds thirty years ago, live demonstrations of medieval foot and horse combat have been a key part of its appeal.
This special talk is arranged to mark the signing of a new collaborative arrangement between the museum and the School of History. Museum staff will showcase some of the museum’s medieval ties: from early Islamic arms and armour, through Victorian medievalism in fakes and architecture and the oldest surviving European fight book I.33, to swords as talismans and sources of information.
About the speakers
Mark Bennett
Mark Bennett is the Research Manager at the Royal Armouries. He studied at Oxford, Warwick and Durham. His research focuses on politics, war and intellectual history in Victorian Britain with a current interest in fortifications and military tactics. He joined the Royal Armouries in 2019.
Natasha Bennett
Natasha Bennett is the Curator of Asian & African Collections at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. She studied at Durham and Leeds. Her current research is on horse armour from Africa and Asia, Sudanese arms and armour, and square-barrelled matchlock muskets from India. She joined the Royal Armouries in 2011.
Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis
Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis is the Curator of European Edged Weapons at the Royal Armouries. He studied at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and here in Leeds at the Institute for Medieval Studies. He joined the Royal Armouries in 2022.
Stuart Ivinson
Stuart Ivinson is the librarian of the Royal Armouries. He studied at Bangor, University of Wales, Bangor, and at Sheffield. He is a practitioner and teacher of historical martial arts and combat techniques, which he has demonstrated widely including at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds. He joined the Royal Armouries as a gallery host in 2000, went on to work within the museum’s Live Interpretation department, and became librarian in 2017.
How to attend
This seminar will take place in a hybrid format. In-person attendees are welcome to arrive in Parkinson Building room 1.08 from 17:00 for the seminar to begin at 17:30.
To attend online, please complete this registration form (no Microsoft account required) and you will be sent the joining link shortly before the seminar begins.
Image information
Detail of Cuisse in the Gothic style, about 1490, Austria (III.2562) © Royal Armouries.