Interview with Lyndal Roper: The 2026 Holberg Prize Laureate

Professor Lyndal Roper is the 2026 Holberg Laureate. Roper is the Regius Chair of History at the University of Oxford emeritus. In this interview, conducted by Matt Pickles in March 2026, Roper talks about her background, her research and the challenges and opportunities facing the humanities. Professor Roper is internationally recognized as one of the leading scholars of early modern European history. Her pioneering studies have reshaped understandings of witch persecutions, the German Peasants’ War (1524–1525), and the life and thought of Martin Luther, illuminating how gender, the body, psyche and power operated in social and religious conflicts of the sixteenth century. The interview is produced by the University of Oxford and Oxford Atelier for the Holberg Prize.