How were Spanish commanders fighting in the Low Countries between 1567 and 1577 portrayed in Spanish and Dutch narrative sources during the Eighty Years War?

A study into the investment and impact of construction projects on Mycenaean communities in Late Bronze Age Greece

The first decade of excavations at Oss

Rembrandt experts have been puzzling over this painting from 1626 for years. The work may have been commissioned by someone from University circles and may depict a judgment. It can be seen at Gravensteen, a building that served as a prison between 1463 and 1955. This historical building later became…

The motto of the Institute for History is: ‘Global questions, local sources.’ Its researchers use local sources to find answers to major historical questions. Without historical analysis, it is impossible to understand and explain the issues in society today. Leiden itself has a rich history, with big…

The combination of global questions and a wide range of local sources characterizes the Leiden University Institute for History.

The Hague is a real student city and has everything you’ll need to turn your time as a student into the time of your life

From 15 augustus 2014 onward, Leonor Álvarez Francés is appointed as PhD student on Raymond Fagels NWO project ‘Facing the Enemy. The Spanish Army Commanders during the First Decade of the Dutch Revolt (1567-1577)’

The Urban Studies bachelor’s programme is taught at Leiden University's location in The Hague, a vibrant city offering many cultural activities and sporting opportunities, and close to the beach at Scheveningen. The Hague was also awarded the title ‘greenest city in The Netherlands’ in 2017.

On 6 October 2021, Simone van der Hof gave a lecture on age verification and age appropriate design.

Archaeologist Dr Gerrit Dusseldorp's research project was covered by a South African newspaper. Dusseldorp and his team investigate the evolution of human behaviour through artefacts dug up in South African caves.

Joanita Vroom, Associate Professor Archaeology, regularly tries out old recipes, together with a group of Archaeology students. 'You really need to love garlic.'

Three years ago, on 13 October 2017, the Leiden Medievalists Blog was established. In their blogs, Leiden researchers from all disciplines talk about the Middle Ages in a fun and interesting way. Editors Jip Barreveld, Marlisa den Hartog and Thijs Porck talk about the blog and why the Middle Ages are…

The role of domestic and wild resource exploitation in Bronze Age subsistence

Today’s performances of medieval polyphony have a lot in common with those of other ‘classical’ or ‘early’ music. Ensembles perform pieces written by known or lesser known composers, which the listener can revisit by listening to recordings or reading a score.

Princeton University has officially launched its website, MAFE: Middle Ages for Educators. MAFE is aimed at university and secondary students and educators and, more broadly, at anyone who is interested in studying, teaching, or learning more about Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The Australian Research Council funded a truly ‘global archaeology’ project comparing the archaeologies of southwest Tasmania and southwest France during the last Ice Age.

Prof. David Fontijn’s Economies of Destruction team was invited by Museum Midtjylland to participate in this year’s excavation in Boest, Jutland (Denmark). The exceptional site of Boest includes burial mounds, an alignment and depositions, consisting of axes, spearheads and rings, dating to the Bronze…

On the 6th of July, wood specialists, members of the canoe club Natsec, a professional boat builder, volunteers of the Vlaardingen Broekpolder and students and staff of the Faculty of Archaeology of the Leiden University gathered on the waterfront in Vlaardingen. Two reconstructions of prehistoric canoes…

Large-scale forest fires started by prehistoric hunter-gatherers are probably the reason why Europe is not more densely forested. This is the finding of an international team, including climate researcher Professor Jed Kaplan of the University of Lausanne and archaeologist Professor Jan Kolen of Leiden…

People in the Early Bonze Age used bronze artefacts as a means of payment. This is the conclusion reached by archaeologists Maikel Kuijpers and Catalin Popa in a PLOS ONE article published on 20 January. The discovery led to a surge of media reports.

Op 2 juni verscheen ter gelegenheid van ‘900 jaar Utrechtse stadsrechten’ een stripboek van het Utrechtse stripcollectief "De Inktpot" over een paar eeuwen middeleeuwse Utrechtse (familie)geschiedenis. Als inhoudelijke adviseurs waren daarbij de mediëvisten Kaj van Vliet en Martine Meuwese betrokken…

More information on the PhD Regulations, Guidelines and Golden Rules.

Children in the Netherlands develop prejudices based on ethnicity at an early age. Ymke de Bruijn (27) came to this conclusion in her dissertation ‘Child Interethnic Prejudice in the Netherlands: Social Learning from Parents and Picture Books’. For her PhD project she took a closer look at the behaviours…

On Wednesday 27 March, 17.00 - 18.30, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen will present their book: 'The Bookshop of the World. Searching for markets in the Dutch Golden Age’ at the Lipsius-Building (Cleveringaplaats 1, room 11). Anton van der Lem, curator at the Leiden University Library will introduce…

Bronze Age settlement sites in the Dutch river area (c. 2000-800 BC)

A large multidisciplinary team of experts on ageing has secured over €8.5m for a major study of which factors and solutions promote healthy ageing and increase vitality. The LUMC and the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) are two of the centres involved in this national research projec…

To bring the academic field closer to the professionals working in the field of Vitality and Ageing, the master’s Vitality and Ageing organises its first network event on November 22nd at the Boerhaave Plein of the LUMC.

Want to find out more about our master’s programme? Or are you wondering what questions are asked during the Q&A about the content or careers of Vitality and Ageing? Than watching our webinar would suit your curiosity!

The aim of this project is to study the influence of Longinus’s treatise ‘On the sublime’ on practice and theory of architecture and theatre in seventeenth-century Paris and Amsterdam.

Professor David Fontijn is fascinated by the question why people destroy objects that are dear to them. It is a phenomenon that you find everywhere in the world, gaining particular strength in the European Bronze Age. Fontijn wrote a book on this ‘economy of destruction’, published by Routledge.

Early cave paintings of hunting scenes may give the impression our Stone Age ancestors lived mainly on chunks of meat, but plants were just as key to their survival. Plants rich in starch helped early humans to thrive even at the height of the last Ice Age, Leiden archaeologist Amanda Henry tells Horizon…

The Faculty of Archaeology has appointed Dr Marie Louise Sørensen as Professor in Bronze Age Studies in the European Prehistory research group from 1st September 2012. Prof. Sørensen is a Reader in Archaeology at the University of Cambridge (Fellow of Jesus College).

Cultural biographies of persons, objects and 'natural' places in the Bronze Age of the Southern Netherlands, c. 2300-600 BC.

Master Vitality and Ageing’s (V&A) alumnus Willeke Ravensbergen conducted for her master’s thesis research on the impact of combinations of future trends on healthcare utilisation of older people in collaboration with the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (Rijksinstituut voor…

The Middle Ages are becoming increasingly more popular: just look at the popularity of such ‘medievalist’ TV series as Game of Thrones and Vikings, and let’s not forget popular re-enactments of medieval battles. Leiden University is home to many specialists of this fascinating period and this new blog…

From 16 to 19 September 2021 a hybrid conference will take place on animation in the Middle Ages. This conference is a cooperation between the University of Bergen (Norway) and the A. Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, Branch Campus in Bialystok (Poland).

At the end of 2020, the Advisory Committee on Aliens Affairs issued the report 'Nadeel van de twijfel' (The Doubt) on the way the (age) registration of asylum seekers in another EU member state is dealt with.

Manon van der Heijden and Leo Lucassen have been awarded funding from the NWO's Free Competition Humanities. They received the grant for their research on conflicts and jurisdiction over migrants and natives between 1600 and 1900.

In 2017 Sasja van der Vaart-Verschoof defended her dissertation on Early Iron Age elite burials of the Low Countries at the Faculty of Archaeology. Out of 36 applications from ten different countries, her dissertation was awarded the Prix Européen D’Archéologie Joseph Déchelette on June 15th.

How the systematic destruction of valuables created value in Bronze Age Europe, c. 2300-500 BC

In August 2010 the Faculty of Archaeology conducted an excavation in the Maashorst-area, situated in the northeastern part of Brabant.