A Bwlch-based historian has been shortlisted for one of the UK’s most prestigious history writing prizes.

Lyndal Roper, Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford, is one of six authors in the running for the 2026 Wolfson History Prize.

Her book, Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War, examines the 16th-century uprising which swept across Germany, with tens of thousands of peasants eventually killed by ruling lords.

Roper’s book looks at the revolt through the experiences and voices of the peasants themselves, rather than simply the accounts left by those who defeated them.

The Wolfson History Prize judges said Roper “radically retells” the uprising, putting the “spiritual, emotional and material worlds” of the peasants at the centre of the story.

The winner will receive £50,000, while each of the other five shortlisted authors will receive £5,000.

Roper is a fellow of the British Academy, the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. She has previously written books including Martin Luther and Witch Craze, and has written extensively about witchcraft, gender and early modern Europe.

Her latest book has been named a Book of the Year by the Financial Times and BBC History Magazine.

The other shortlisted books cover subjects including ancient Mesopotamia, extinction, Alfred Tennyson, Liverpool and the survival of pre-Christian beliefs in Europe.

David Cannadine, Chair of the Wolfson History Prize judges said: “These remarkable six books remind us of the power of history writing, not just to uncover the past but to bring new perspectives and nuance to our understanding of the present.”

Previous winners of the Wolfson History Prize include Mary Beard, Antonia Fraser, Eric Hobsbawm, Simon Schama and Antony Beevor.

The winner of the 2026 prize will be announced on December 1.