Virtual Scholarship Series
The Society for Court Studies launched the ‘Virtual Scholarship Series’ in 2020, which is organised by the European branch. Currently, the scholarship series consists of seminars, workshops, roundtable discussions, and interviews with scholars.
The programme for the Virtual Scholarship Series can be found in the table below, with further details provided through the registration link listed next to the seminar below. It is essential that all those who wish to attend these digital seminars to register in advance.
The virtual series takes place via Zoom on a Thursday each month at 18:00 CET (17:00 GMT), unless otherwise noted below.
The 2025–6 Seminar Season has ended. The new season will begin in September 2026. The programme for the 2026–7 academic year will be uploaded here as soon as it is finalised.
Call for Proposals: Virtual Series
The European branch of the Society is always delighted to receive expressions of interest and proposals for the Virtual Scholarship Series.
If you have questions or would like to give a seminar presentation, deliver a panel seminar, organise a roundtable, recommend a scholar/exciting project for an interview, or conduct a workshop, please send an email to europe@courtstudies.org. If you are planning to submit a proposal, it should be no more than 300 words max.*
*For paper or panel abstracts, include length and arrangements, names of all participants (if a panel), and recommend a panel chair. For interviews, include a bio of recommended scholar or project, a brief statement of their impact/contribution to court studies, and a person to conduct the interview. For workshop proposals, include workshop lead, length, arrangements, and workshop content.
Past Virtual Scholarship Series seminars
2026
15 January 2026
Inés Viaña Morato (Universidad de Zaragoza) – “Black at the Court of the Habsburgs: between the European tradition of oak gall and the American innovation of ‘palo de Campeche’”.
19 February 2026
Julia Hamilton (Independent Scholar) – “A Space of Significance: The Evolution of the Stuart Withdrawing Room”.
19 March 2026
Rebecca I. Arnheim (Leibniz-Instituts für Europäische Geschichte (IEG), Mainz; Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen) – “Patronage and Power: Eleonora d’Aragona and Female Networks in Renaissance Italy”.
16 April 2026
Esther Lupón González (Centro Superior de Diseño Hacer Creativo and University of Zaragoza) – “The Garden as a Symbol of Power: Protocol at the Caliphal Court of ‘Abd al-Raḥmān III in Madīnat al-Zahrā’”.
AND
Baijayanti Chatterjee (Seth Anandram Jaipura College, University of Calcutta) – “Gardens in Late-Mughal Courtly Culture: Political Symbolism and Aesthetics underthe Nawabs of Bengal, c. 1707–1757”.
2025
16 January 2025
Federica Veratelli – “Power of Things, Efficiency of Networks: Italian Merchants and Businessmen in the Accounts of the Courts of Burgundy and Habsburg (1477-1530)”.
20 February 2025
Limor Yungman – “Savoring with the Eyes: Feasting According to Iconography in Medieval Islam”.
20 March 2025
Milan Svoboda – “The Renaissance Banqueting Table of the Hunting Lodge of Lord Wilhelm of Rosenberg: Inspirations and Obstacles”.
17 April 2025
Benjamin Ringot – “Digitization and Modeling of 17th and 18th-Century Plans of Versailles”.
15 May 2025
Ludovic Jouvet – “The Medal Cabinets in the Habsburg Monarchy”.
18 September 2025
José Eloy Hortal Muñoz (University Rey Juan Carlos) and Merlijn Hurx (KU Leuven) – Book presentation: “Building the Presence of the Prince. The Institutions Responsible for the Construction and Management of the Buildings of European Courts (14th–17th centuries)”.
16 October 2025
Elizabeth Hines (Johns Hopkins University) and Julie van den Hout (Stanford University) – “‘I Had an Honourable Place in the Traine’: Dutch Diplomacy Surrounding the Funeral of Elizabeth I”.
20 November 2025
Sri Sathvik Rayala (Harvard University) – “Transregional Aesthetics: A Tañcāvūr Nāyaka in an Early Modern Court”.
18 December 2025
Rebecca I. Arnheim (Leibniz-Instituts für Europäische Geschichte) – “Patronage and Power: Eleonora d’Aragona and Female Networks in Renaissance Italy”.
2024
19 September 2024
Jasmine Habcy (Gonzaga Archives/University of Parma) – “A ‘minor’ Dynastic Archive of the Gonzaga Hinterland: The Case of the Novellara Court (17th Century)”.
24 October 2024 – POSTPONED
Klaudia Kuchno – “Channels of Power: The Medici Court and its Networks for Political News-Gatherine”.
21 November 2024
Roundtable – “Medieval and Renaissance Banquets: A Conversation on Luxury and Diplomacy”, with Anthony Musson (Historic Royal Palaces), Julia Roumier (Université Bordeaux Montaigne), Sabrina Villani (British Museum), Hanna Sinclair (Oxford University), Soňa Černocká (Lobkowicz Collections, Nelahozeves Castle).
19 December 2024
David Brégaint – “Diplomacy and Exchanges: Norway and the West in the 13th Century”.
2023
23 February 2023
Yashawini Chandra (SOAS University of London) – “Horses as Status Symbols and Gifts in Indian Courtly Cultures”.
23 March 2023
Megan Shaw (University of Auckland), Sarah Bendall (Australia Catholic University) and Susannah Lyon (University of Auckland) – “Women at the Stuart Courts: Households, Management and Finances”.
20 April 2023
Steve Sanders (Oxford Brookes University) – “John Trotter: A Case Study of a Royal Upholsterer”.
23 November 2023
Dagmar Eichberger (University of Heidelberg) – “Princess Joanna of Castile’s First Encounter with the Culture of the Burgundian-Habsburg Netherlands: Festive Entries and Court Festivities”.
14 December 2023
José Eloy Hortal Muñoz (URJC – Madrid) – “Royal Geographies in Early Modern Europe: Concepts, Evolution and Types”.
2022
10 February 2022
Roundtable Part 2: “The History and Historiography of European Courts”, with Mark Hengerer (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Janet Dickinson (New York University, London), Charlotte Backerra (University of Göttingen), and Fabian Persson (Linnaeus University).
17 February 2022
Mariana Perez de Arcos (London School of Economics) – “European Royal Humanitarian Networks in World War II”.
17 March 2022
Jonathan Spangler (Manchester Metropolitan University) – “The Lady’s Got Potential: Female Succession in Early Modern Europe – A Comparative Approach”.
14 April 2022
Mark Hengerer (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) – “The ‘Kaiser und Höfe’ Database: Court Studies and Digital Humanities”.
26 May 2022
Roundtable: “Cultural Heritage and Academic Research – Perspectives from Court Studies”, with Simon Thurley (National Heritage Lottery Fund UK), António Nunes Pereira (Parques de Sintra), Anna Keay (Landmark Trust), and Elizabeth den Hartog (Leiden University).
15 September 2022
Roundtable: “Money and Monarchy. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Economics and Finances of Monarchial Rule”, with Charlotte Backerra (University of Göttingen), Cathleen Sarti (University of Oxford), Fatima Rhorchi (Moulay Ismail University), Torsten Riotte (University of Frankfurt/Mainz), Jonathan Spangler (Manchester Metropolitan University), and Leonard Thaler (University of Vienna).
20 October 2022
Roundtable: “Archives and Court Studies”, with Sean Cunningham (UK National Archives), Filippo de Vivo (University of Oxford), Alessio Assonitis (Medici Archives Project) and Emily Peppers (University of Warsaw).
17 November 2022
Hannah Greig (University of York) – “Supplying the Court: Trade, Commerce and Royal Warrants in the Eighteenth-Century London, c. 1714-1800”.
2021
18 March 2021
Claudia Wittig (Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenburg) – “Communities of Values: Courtly Society in North Western Europe in the High Middle Ages”.
13 May 2021
Anu Lahtinen (University of Helsinki) – “The Courts of the Vase Princesses in Sixteenth-Century Scandinavia”.
3 September 2021
Ruebén González Cuerva (Spanish National Research Council) – “There and Back Again: The Reintegration of Dowager Empress Maria of Austria in the Spanish Court (1582-1598)”.
25 November 2021
(co-organised by Åbo Akademi University)
Roundtable: “The History and Historiography of European Courts”, with Mark Hengerer (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Janet Dickinson (New York University, London), Charlotte Backerra (University of Göttingen), Joanna Orzeł (University of Łódź), and Fabian Persson (Linnaeus University).