Steven John GunnFRHistS^[1] is an English historian and fellow ofMerton 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 atMerton College, Oxford, matriculating in 1979.^[2] Prior to this he attended theWhitgift School inSouth Croydon.^[3] Gunn's doctoral thesis, a study of the life and career ofCharles 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 atNewcastle 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 theTitle of Distinction of Professor of Early Modern History by the University of Oxford in October 2015.^[7]

Gunn delivered the 2015James 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 ActingWarden of Merton College in the period between the retirement ofMartin 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 theRoyal Armouries byOliver Dowden, theSecretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, serving a four-year term.^[11]

Gunn has appeared as a panelist on two editions of theBBC Radio 4 programmeIn Our Time, discussing theField of the Cloth of Gold in 2005^[12] and theBattle of Bosworth Field in 2012.^[13] In 2008 he appeared onGreat Lives discussingHenry VII withGeorge Osborne.^[14] In 2009 he appeared on an episode of the Radio 4 seriesThe Hidden Henry discussingHenry VIII's intellectual development and scholarly ambitions with Andrea Clarke.^[15] In June 2025 Gunn appeared in an episode ofSuzannah Lipscomb's podcastNot Just the Tudors discussing his bookAn Accidental History of Tudor England alongside his co-author Tomasz Gromelski.^[16] He has also contributed articles to the magazineHistory Today.^[17]

Gunn is married to Jacquie,^[18] and together they have two daughters.^[19]

• Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales: Life, Death and Commemoration, Edited with Linda Monckton (Woodbridge, 2009)^[20]
• War and the Emergence of the State: Western Europe 1350-1600, inEuropean Warfare 1350-1750, edited by Frank Tallett and David Trim (Cambridge, 2010), 50-73^[20]
• Henry VII’s New Men and the Making of Tudor England, Oxford University Press, August 2016^[20]
• The English People at War in the Age of Henry VIII, Oxford University Press, January 2018^[20]
• An Accidental History of Tudor England: From Daily Life to Sudden Death, co-authored with Tomasz Gromelski,John Murray, June 2025^[21]

• 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

• Living people
• People educated at Whitgift School
• Alumni of Merton College, Oxford
• Academics of Newcastle University
• Fellows of Merton College, Oxford
• Wardens of Merton College, Oxford
• Historians of the University of Oxford
• Tudor historians
• English military historians
• 20th-century English historians
• 21st-century English historians
• 20th-century English male writers
• 21st-century English male writers
• Fellows of the Royal Historical Society
• History Today people

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