Steven Gunn (historian)

Steven John Gunn FRHistS^[1] is an English historian and fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford. He teaches and researches the history of late medieval and early modern Britain and Europe, and is the author of a number of academic texts.

Gunn was an undergraduate and doctoral student at Merton College, Oxford, matriculating in 1979.^[2] Prior to this he attended the Whitgift School in South Croydon.^[3] Gunn's doctoral thesis, a study of the life and career of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, was supervised by C. S. L. Davies and completed in 1986.^[4] Prior to being elected a Tutorial Fellow at his alma mater, Gunn held a research fellowship at Newcastle University.^[5]

Gunn's research interests lie in the political, social, cultural and military history of England and its European neighbours, spanning the mid-fifteenth to the late sixteenth century.^[6]

Gunn was awarded the Title of Distinction of Professor of Early Modern History by the University of Oxford in October 2015.^[7]

Gunn delivered the 2015 James Ford Lectures in British History at the University of Oxford, taking as his subject 'The English people at war in the age of Henry VIII'. A book of the same title based on the lectures was published in 2018.^[8]

Between 2018 and 2019 Gunn served as Acting Warden of Merton College in the period between the retirement of Martin J. Taylor and the arrival of his successor, Irene Tracey.^[9] He had previously served as Sub-Warden from 2010 to 2012.^[10]

In 2021 Gunn was appointed to the board of trustees of the Royal Armouries by Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, serving a four-year term.^[11] He was reappointed for a second four-year term by Lisa Nandy in 2025.^[12]

Gunn has appeared as a panelist on two editions of the BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time, discussing the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 2005^[13] and the Battle of Bosworth Field in 2012.^[14] In 2008 he appeared on Great Lives discussing Henry VII with George Osborne.^[15] In 2009 he appeared on an episode of the Radio 4 series The Hidden Henry discussing Henry VIII's intellectual development and scholarly ambitions with Andrea Clarke.^[16] In June 2025 Gunn appeared in an episode of Suzannah Lipscomb's podcast Not Just the Tudors discussing his book An Accidental History of Tudor England alongside his co-author Tomasz Gromelski.^[17] He has also contributed articles to the magazine History Today^[18] and appeared as an expert commentator in the 2018 mockumentary series Cunk on Britain.^[12]

Gunn is married to Jacquie,^[19] and together they have two daughters.^[20]

• Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, c.1484–1545 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988)
• Cardinal Wolsey: Church, State and Art (co-editor with Phillip Lindley; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991)
• Early Tudor Government, 1485–1558 (Basingstoke: Macmillan Publishers, 1995)
• Authority and Consent in Tudor England: Essays Presented to C. S. L. Davies (co-editor with George W. Bernard; Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2002)
• The Court as a Stage: England and the Low Countries in the Later Middle Ages (co-editor with Antheun Janse; Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2006)
• War, State, and Society in England and the Netherlands, 1477–1559 (co-authored with Hans Cools and David Grummitt; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007)
• Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales: Life, Death and Commemoration, (co-editor with Linda Monckton; Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2009)^[21]
• Treasures of Merton College (editor; London: Third Millennium Publishing, 2013)
• Charles Brandon: Henry VIII's Closest Friend (Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2015)
• Henry VII’s New Men and the Making of Tudor England (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016)^[21]
• The English People at War in the Age of Henry VIII (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018)^[21]
• An Accidental History of Tudor England: From Daily Life to Sudden Death (co-authored with Tomasz Gromelski; London: John Murray, 2025)^[22]

• Roger Highfield
• John Roberts
• Philip Waller
• Robert Gildea

• Steven Gunn at Oxford Faculty of History Retrieved 5 August 2020
• Steven Gunn at Merton College website Retrieved 5 August 2020
• Steven Gunn at YouTube Retrieved 5 August 2020