Conferences
SCS Conferences
The Society regularly organises and co-sponsors an annual conference on a variety of subjects connected or relevant to court studies. The conferences are overseen by the Society’s Conference Secretary, with support from the European branch’s Conference Officer, with the organising committee and the handling of logistical arrangements alternating between the UK and European branches.
These conferences aim to highlight the latest research in the field of court studies and cultivate the next generation of court studies scholars. Over the course of the Society’s history, the annual conferences have taken place throughout the UK, across Europe (France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Spain and the Czech Republic), and the US (Boston and San Marino).
If you would like to propose a conference or a collaboration, please send an email to the Conference Secretary, Dustin M. Neighbors, via conferences@courtstudies.org.
2026 Conference
Storytelling at Princely Courts, c. 1200 – 1800: Narration, Performance, Social Discourse
27 – 29 August 2026
University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland
Organised by the European branch of the Society for Court Studies and the Institute of History at the University of Wrocław, in collaboration with the Institute of History at the University of Pardubice
The conference programme is available below. Registration is now open!
Conference overview
According to Roland Barthes, narrative is a medium and a meta-code that transcends cultural boundaries, and like life, this medium is transcultural and transhistorical. Premodern princely courts, as epicentres of life and culture, were major producers, sponsors, mediators, and recipients of various accounts and stories. Chronicles recorded the official, sanctioned political and dynastic memory; chivalric poems preserved and passed on the ethos and value system to future generations; printed booklets of major courtly festivals projected a language of power and displayed symbols to subjects and other courts. Accounts of various court events, disseminated via princely or ambassadorial dispatches, were crucial for political decisions and planning, or to establish precedents for the future. Art and architecture were created and built to communicate an identity and stories of princely space and the people that occupied them. Ballads and literature featured stories that criticised court life and added to the social discourse about excess and corruption at court. Rumours and gossip, like invisible threads of networks and interactions, helped to make connections and facilitate power relations. All these forms of storytelling were intricately woven and carefully crafted, ultimately defining and shaping court cultures.
During this conference, we would like to shed light on the multifaceted role of narratives and stories at princely courts. Our focus is not only on every account or narrative source connected with monarchs or princely figures, but also on the type and form of narration itself as a key element of courtly dynamics.
Conference details
Keynote: Dr Jonathan Spangler (Manchester Metropolitan University), “Clickbait for the Court of Louis XIV: The Publication of ‘Shock Memoirs’ to Titillate and Entertain”
Conference programme: The preliminary conference programme can be downloaded by clicking the button below. Note: The conference programme will be updated as the conference approaches. The revised date will be indicated in the title of the file.
Conference fees:
Early Bird rates
(until 20 June 2026)
In-person (Professors): €35.00
In-person (PhDs/ECRs): €20.00
Virtual: €8.00
Bursaries: €0.00
SCS Member rates
(verified by SCS)
In-person: €15.00
Virtual: €5.00
Normal rates
In-person (Professors): €40.00
In-person (PhDs/ECRs): €25
Virtual: €15.00
- A publication of the conference proceedings is planned with DeGruyter-Brill.
- Please be aware that while the conference will be livestreamed, conference presentations will be in-person only.
All questions should be directed to the organisers via email to storytelling.court2026@gmail.com.
Registration: Registration is now open! Click on the button below to register for the conference. Note: Registration is being managed by our partner institution, the University of Pardubice.
Organising Committee and Partners
Aleksandra Ziober
University of Wrocław, Institute of History
Dustin M. Neighbors
University of Helsinki/SCS Conference Secretary
Jiří Kubeš
University of Pardubice, Institute of History
Patrik Paštrnák
Palacký University Olomouc/SCS-European Branch, Conference Officer
Past Conferences
Below is the list of the Society’s past conferences, detailing (where possible) the conference themes, location and presentations.
2025
Reconsidering Courtly Environments, c. 1200-1800: Interconnecting European Court Cultures and the Role of Natural Environments and Landscapes
20 -21 November 2025
Academy Conference Centre, Prague, Czechia
Co-Organisers: Household and Environmental Studies (HES), the Centre for Research on Courts and Residences (DaR) of the Institute of History at the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Society for Court Studies
Keynotes:
Luc Duerloo (University of Antwerp)
The full programme of speakers can be found here.
2024
Courtly Experiences in the Premodern World, c. 1200-1800: Cultural, Material and Sensory Experiences in the World of the Court
22 -24 August 2024
Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia
Organisers: Patrik Pastrnak (Palacký University Olomouc/SCS-European Branch Conference Officer) and Dustin M. Neighbors (University of Helsinki/SCS Conference Secretary
Keynotes:
Karl Kügle (University of Oxford/ Utrecht University)
Leah R. Clark (University of Oxford)
The full programme of speakers can be found here.
2023
Female Succession in Late Medieval and Early Modern Monarchy – Contestation, Conflict and Compromise
26 -26 May 2023
Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid
Organisers: José Eloy Hortal Muñoz (URJC), Jonathan Spangler (Manchester Metropolitan), Silvia Z. Mitchell (Purdue), Felix Labrador Arroyo (URJC)
Keynotes:
Ana Eschevarría Arsuage (UNED)
Bethany Aram (University of Seville)
The full programme of speakers can be found here.
2022
The Embodied Court: Procreation – Sexuality – Lifestyles – Death
1–3 September 2022
University of Helsinki/Turku (hybrid format)
Organisers: Janet Dickinson (New York University, London and the Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford/Society for Court Studies (SCS), Conference Secretary), Erika Graham-Goering (Ghent University/SCS – European Branch, Conference Secretary), Dustin M. Neighbors (University of Helsinki/SCS – European Branch, Chair), and Anu Lahtinen (University of Helsinki)
Keynote speakers:
Helen Watanabe O’Kelly (University of Oxford)
Svante Norrhem (Lund University)
Anu Lahtinen (University of Helsinki)
The full programme of speakers can be found here.
2021
No conference was organised due to COVID
2020
Privacy at Court? A Reassessment of the Public/Private Divide within European Courts (1400-1800)
10-12 December 2020
Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen/ Society for Court Studies (Digital conference)
Speakers:
Mette Birkedal Bruun (Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen), Early Modern Notions of Privacy
Professor Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin/Institute for Advanced Study), Privacy at Court? Reconsidering the Public-Private Dichotomy
Elena (Ellie) Woodacre (University of Winchester), Influence and Interference in the Queen’s Private Sphere: The Case of Joan of Navarre
Barbara Arciszewska (University of Warsaw), Architecture, Gender and the Private Sphere: Women and Early Modern Court Residences around 1700
Britta Kägler (Universität Passau), Institutionalized Privacy? – The Need to Achieve and Defend Privacy in the Frauenzimmer
Fabio Gigone (Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen), The gilded balustrade: the Architecture of the Ban at the Court of Louis XIV
Karin Schrader (Independent Scholar), Intimate Tokens and Public Emblems – Portrait Miniatures in Eighteenth-Century European Court Culture
Christine Jeanneret (Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen), Soundscapes of Rosenborg Castle: Hearing Privacy at Court
Jonathan Spangler (Manchester Metropolitan University/Society for Court Studies), Not Always on Display? The Hybrid Public/Private Life of the Court of Lorraine at the Palace of Lunéville, 1698-1736
Oskar Jacek Rojewski (Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen), Spreading of Court Culture from the Burgundian Court to the Kingdom of Castile: Sovereign’s Privacy and its Relationship with Court Artists
Mirella Marini (Independent Scholar), From the Privacy of Death to the Public Ritual of Mourning: the Testamentary Dispositions of Anne of Croy (1564-1635), duchess of Aarschot and the Reversal of the Burgundian Court Ritual
Cathleen Sarti (University of Oxford), Court, Historiography, Historical Fiction, and Privacy?
Heta Aali (University of Turku), Narrating the Private Sphere in France: Reinterpreting the Early Modern Royal Family through Eighteenth-Century Notions of Privacy
Vasileios Syros (University of Jyväskylä), Venice and the Ottoman Court: Revisiting the Public/Private Divide in 16th-Century Europe
Dries Raeymaekers (Radboud University), The Monarch Exposed. Privacy in Practice at the Early Modern Court
Lars Cyril Nørgaard and Bastian Felter Vaucanson (Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen), The Portrait of Louis XIV’s Privacy
Dustin M. Neighbors (Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen), Maximilian II’s Visit to the Court of Elector August of Saxony: Private Politics or Politics of Privacy?
My Hellsing and Kristine Dyrmann (The Danish Research Centre for Manorial Studies / Stockholm University and Aarhus University), Privacy and Political Sociability in the Suburbs of Stockholm and Copenhagen in the Late Eighteenth Century
Ineke Huysman (Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands), Silent Power: Privacy Practices of the Dutch and Frisian Stadholder’s Wives (1605-1725)
Paige Emerick (University of Leicester), Seeking Privacy within the Royal Visits of George III, c. 1760-1805
Michael Brauer (University of Salzburg), Royal Presence and the Framing of Privacy Observations on Charles V “the Wise” of France (1364-1380)
Bram van Leuveren (University of St. Andrews), Negotiating the Public and the Private: Dispatches of European Diplomats at the Late Valois and Early Bourbon Court
Anna Penkała-Jastrzębska (Pedagogical University of Kraków), Noble Matrimonial Policy at the Royal Court in Dresden during the Reign of King August the Strong (1697-1733): Public Affairs, Individual Interests
Søren Frank Jensen (Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen), Private Devotion in Public? Mapping The Book of Psalms at the Electoral Court of Saxony 1553-86
Marta Wojtkowska-Maksymik (Warsaw University), Where I’m not… About the Lack of Privacy at Court in 16th-Century Anticourt Literature
Anne Gallewicz (Warsaw University), Castiglione and Górnicki – Literary Perspectives of Otium at Court
Jolanta Dygul (Warsaw University), Court Ceremonies and Performative Arts at the Courts of the Last Jagiellonians
Anna Horeczy (Polish Academy of Sciences), Intellectuals at the Court of the Last Jagiellonian Kings – Between Public and Private Spheres
Fabian Persson (Linnæus University/University of Oxford), Public Displays of Affection: Creating Spheres of Royal Intimacy in Public
Jose Eloy Hortal Muñoz (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos), Regulating Access to the Rulers: the Codification of the Royal Chamber of the Spanish Monarchy at the Seventeenth Century
Sara Ayres (Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen), The Madness of Christian VII: The Uses of Privacy at the Danish Court, 1766-1772
Agnieszka Pawłowska-Kubik (Medical University of Gdańsk), Be as close to the ruler as possible: The Royal Physician at Court in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Michaël Green (Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen), Privacy Aspects of the Household Instructions by Henry VIII Concerning the Infant Prince Edward
Bethany Bourn Williams (University of Bristol), Performing and Representing Domesticity at the Protectoral Court of Oliver Cromwell
George IV: First Gentleman of Europe
6 March 2020
Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London
A day symposium, co-organised with the Royal Collection to accompany their recent exhibition, ‘George IV: Art and Spectacle’, 6 March 2020 at the Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace, with speakers including Flora Fraser and Philip Mansel.
2019
Performance, Royalty and the Court, 1500-1800
11-12 April 2019
The Society for Court Studies, with the support of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and Birkbeck College School of Arts and Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, held this conference on 11-12 April 2019, ‘Performance, Royalty and the Court, 1500-1800’. The conference programme can be found here.
2018
Horses and Courts
21-23 March 2018
Organisers: Donna Landry and Philip Mansel
Speakers:
Tobias Capwell (Wallace Collection), The Armoury of Peace: Equestrian Harness and Accoutrements for Renaissance Courtly Spectacles in the Wallace Collection
Francisco LaRubia-Prado (Georgetown University), Literal and Literary Power: Horses, Gift-Giving Diplomacy and Restoring the Balance of Power in ‘The Song of Cid’(c. 1207)
Peter Edwards (University of Roehampton-Emeritus), Equine Imagery and the Field of the Cloth of Gold: 7-24 June 1520
Marie-Louise von Plessen (European Cultural Parliament), Dancing with Horses: Equestrian Ballet and Carrousels at European Courts
Pia F. Cuneo (University of Arizona), The Reformation of Riding: Protestant Identity and Horsemanship at North German Courts
Sarah R. Cohen (State University of New York at Albany), Noble Spirit in the Garden: The Gray Horse in the Paradise Landscape of Jan Brueghel the Elder and his Contemporaries
Sally Mitchell, Museum of the Horse, Tuxford – The Perception of Power and the Influence of the Bit
Kasper Lynge Tipsmark (Aarhus University), A Guilded Coronation Trophy: Memory and Materialized Masculanity at the Court of Christian IV of Denmark (1588-1648)
Simon Adams (formerly Strathclyde University), Providing for a Queen: The Earl of Leicester and the Elizabethan Stables
Philip Mansel (Society for Court Studies), Louis XIV and the Politics of the French Royal Stables
Tülay Artan (Sabancı University), Late 17th and early 18th century Ottoman dignitaries and their account books: Where do the trappings of office end, and horse collecting and connoisseurship begin?
José Eloy Hortal Muñoz (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos), The Public Image of Hispanic Monarchs in Early Modern Times: The Role of the Royal Stables
Sally Goodsir (Royal Collection Trust, London), The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace
Julian Munby (Oxford Archaeology), Men in the Saddle and Women on Wheels: The Transport Revolution in the Tudor and Stuart Courts
Alexandra Lotz (Cultural Heritage Centre, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and Horses & Heritage, Germany) Noble coarch horses for the court: The Hapsburg imperial stud at Kladrub on the Elbe and the ‘Oldkladruby’ horse
Diana Krischke (LOEWE-Network for Human-Animal-Studies, University of Kassel) and Fürstliche Hofreitschule (Bückeburg, Schaumburg-Lippe) Horse Breeding: From Wild Ancestors to Multi-Purpose Tool and Luxury Object?
Tessa Murdoch (Victoria and Albert Museum, London), Foubert’s Riding Academy in London and Paris, 1668-1768
Catherine Girard (Eastern Washington University), From Experience to Representation: Horses in Depictions of Eighteenth-Century French Hunting
Monica Mattfield (University of Northern British Columbia), Changing the Reins of Power: From Cavendish’s Centaur to Eighteenth-Century Riding Houses and Horses
Stefano Saracino (University of Vienna), Horses and Political Theory in Seventeenth-Century England: The Case of William (1592-1676) and Margaret (1623-1673) Cavendish
Jasmine Dum-Tragut (Centre for the Studies of the Christian East, University of Salzburg; University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna), “This medical book for horses was written on behalf of my king…”: Armenian manuscripts and their royal commissioners.
Elizabeth I: The Armada and Beyond, 1588 to 2018
19-21 April 2018
Royal Museums Greenwich, London
Organisers: Janet Dickinson and Jackie Riding
This international conference marked the conservation and re-display of the Armada Portrait at the Queen’s House, titled ‘Elizabeth I: The Armada and Beyond, 1588 to 2018’. Papers explored aspects of Elizabeth’s representation and reputation through history, from the crisis of the Armada until the present day. Speakers included Tracy Borman, Jackie Eales, Helen Hackett, Hiram Morgan, Dustin Neighbors, and others, with a keynote paper from Susan Doran on the ‘Memory and commemoration of Elizabeth in the early years of her successor’.
Courts and Capitals 1815–1914 (V)
10 November 2018
Art Workers’ Guild, 6 Queen Square, London
Speakers:
A N Wilson, Prince Albert’s London
Jane Ridley, The British monarchy and London 1839-1914
Talitha Ilacqua, The Creation of an Imperial Summer Capital: Napoleon III, the Basques and Biarritz
David Gelber, Rio Grande: The making of an imperial capital for Brazil, 1822-1889
Philip Mansel, Imperial Apogee: Constantinople and Abdulhamid II, 1876-1909
Andrea Merlotti, Ancient capitals for a new monarchy. The ‘itineranza’ of the Italian Court, 1861-1938: Turin, Florence, Rome, Naples, Venice
George Eckert, From Riches to Rags: the decline and fall of royal Stuttgart (film presentation in speaker’s absence)
2017
European Court Culture & Greenwich Palace, 1500-1750: Queen’s House Conference
20-22 April 2017
National Maritime Museum and the Queen’s House, Greenwich
Royal Museums Greenwich and the Society for Court Studies are holding a major international conference on the 20-22 April 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary year of the Queen’s House, Greenwich. The conference programme can be found here.
2016
Animals at Court
8-10 December 2016
Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
Speakers:
Philip Mansel, The Pursuit of Courts: Courts and the Making of Europe
Nadir Weber (Konstanz), Animals at Court
Elena Taddei (Innsbruck), Animals as Instruments for Networking and Cultural Transfer at the 16th Century Este-Court
Annemarie Jordan Gschwend (Lisbon), Animals fit for Emperors. Hans Khevenhüller and the Creation of Habsburg Menageries in Vienna and Prague
Catarina Simōes (Lisbon), Non-European Animals in the Portuguese Court in the Renaissance and the Construction of an Image of Royalty
Julia Weitbrecht (Kiel), Of Good Breeding: Animals and Noble Self-fashioning in Medieval Courtly Literature
Mackenzie Cooley (Standford), I Would Have Our Courtier Be a Perfect Horseman. Creating Nobility and Fashioning Horses between Mantua and Naples, 1461-1571
Armelle Fémelat (Tours), Portraits of horses and dogs and the Renaissance Gonzaga Court
Arenas of Competition
Christian Jaser (Berlin), Ipsi equi barbarici currere tantum sciant. Racehorses and the Competitive Representation of Italian Renaissance-Courts, ca. 1500
Maike Schmidt (Trier), Staghounds and Narratives of Excellence in French Renaissance Court Culture
John Villiers (London), The corrida de touros as theatre and ceremony: royal bullfights at the courts of Pedro II and Joao V of Portugal
Marco Iuffrida (Rome), Symbols and Sounds of ‘Hunting’. The Musical Interaction between Men and Animals from the Courts of Middle Ages to Romanticism
Elena Taddia (Versailles), The Real and the Imaginary. Animals Inside and Outside Versailles Palace
Magdalena Bayreuther (Munich), Ceremonial Coach Culture. A Human-Animal Hierarchy Study at the 18th Century Munich Court
Giovanni Forcina (Sevilla), The Black Francolin. Food for Gourmets, Game for Nobles, Lust for Lovers. Reawakening the Memory and Assessing the Origin of a Prized Courtly Bird
Thierry Buquet (Caen), Cheetah Hunting in European Courts. From the Apogee to the End of a Fashion (14th-17th Century)
Fabian Persson (Lund/Kalmar), Unruly Display. Animals at the Early Modern Scandinavian Courts
Katherine MacDonogh (London), A Woman’s Life. The Role of Pets in the Lives of Royal Women at the Courts of Europe from 1400
Maria Aresin (Rome), Ein ganz hurtig und unruwig thier. Pet Squirrels in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times
Andreas Erb (Dessau), Ein Triton als Freund. A Dog’s Life at the Dessau Court
Contingency and Liminality
Julia Burbulla (Bern), Animals in Early Modern Court Entertainments
Nadeije Laneyrie-Dagen (Paris), Projection physiognomonico-politique ou exploration des confins humains? A propos de l’association nains – bêtes dans les portraits des grands à la Renaissance
Fabian Jonietz (Florence), Death and Memoria of Animals at Early Modern Courts
Mieke Roscher (Kassel), Comment
Mark Hengerer (Munich) and Nadir Weber (Konstanz), Closing words
2013
Gifts and Perquisites
15 April 2013
Knole, Kent
Convener: Janet Dickinson
Speakers:
Felicity Heal, Court gifts and their contexts: Elizabeth to Charles I
Olivia Fryman, Rich pickings: The royal bed as a perquisite 1660-1760
Catherine Daunt, Galleries of fame: assembling portrait collections through gifts and requests in Tudor and Jacobean England
Alden Gregory, In the Bishop’s Gift: Knole and the Establishment of Political Affinities in 15th-Century Kent
Chris Woolgar, Gifts, perquisites and the late medieval great household
Maria Hayward, Continuity and change: New Year’s gifts at the court of James I
Tracey Sowerby, Negotiating with gifts: the meaning and significance of gifts in Tudor diplomacy
Heirs and Spares
19-20 September 2013
Kellogg College, Oxford
Convener: Jonathan Spangler
Speakers:
Glenn Richardson, The Spare who became the Heir: Henri II of France
Charles Gregory, Louis XIII’s Heirs as Political Points d’Appui
Philip Mansel, Cousins from Hell: The Orléans as Heirs to the Bourbons, from the Regent to ‘Philippe VII’
Sarah Kinkel, Princes and Pamphlet Wars: The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cumberland, and the Struggle to Shape British Society, 1740-1765
Catherine Chou, ‘For the Right which Pertaineth unto Her’: Mary Stuart’s Parliamentary Case for the English Succession
Janet Dickinson, Securing the Succession in Late Elizabethan England
Alexander Dencher, Imagining William III of Orange in the First Stadtholderless Era: Representation, Rhetoric and Theatricality
Alex Greer, The Evolution and Disappearance of the Spare, the Duke of Orleans, in Rubens’ Medici Cycle
Nathan Perry, Investing the Spare: Court Ceremonial for the Princes of Wales in Early Stuart England
Catriona Murray, Public Display at a Private Funeral: Managing the Death of Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester
Anne Somerset, Princess Anne of York: An Unexpected Heir
Mathieu Lahaye, Heir Obedience, Heir Disobedience: Two Generations of Dauphins for Louis XIV
Graham Williams, ‘Such writing is not my will’: Language and Self-representation in the Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland
Liesbeth Geevers, Habsburg Spares: the Princes of Savoy and the Spanish Court (ca. 1585-1630)
Michael Schaich, Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, in Hanover
Jonathan Spangler, The Family Man: Monsieur as Brother, Husband, Father (and Lover?) in the Service of Bourbon Diplomacy
Marlen Schneider, ‘Much lesser than the Sun’: The Self-fashioning of Philippe I of Orleans
Don Fader, Music in the Service of the King’s Brother: Courtly Patronage and Philippe I’s d’Orléans’s Musical Posterity
Megan Reddicks, Portraits of Margaret of Austria as ‘Pseudo-heir’ of the Holy Roman Empire
Giora Sternberg, The Fabrication of Heirs: Status Legitimating Power in Louis XIV’s France
Blythe Sobol, Family Ties: The Patronage of the Children of Madame de Montespan in the Golden Age of Bastards
2012
Rubens and the Thirty Years War: Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Arts, c. 1618-1635
10-11 May 2012
Rubenium, Antwerp
Speakers:
John Adamson
Nicola Courtwright
Jean-Marie Dubost
Erin Griffey
Antien Knapp
The Key to Power? The Culture of Access in Early Modern Courts, 1400-1700
8-9 November 2012
Antwerp, Belgium
Convenors: Dries Raeymaekers and Sebastiaan Derks
Speakers:
Ronald G. Asch (Albert Ludwigs Universität Freiburg), Patronage, Friendship and the Politics of Access: The Role of the Early Modern Favourite Revisited
Christina Antenhofer (Universität Innsbruck), Meeting the Prince between the City and the Family: The Resignification of Castello San Giorgio in Mantova (14th-16th Century)
Encarnación López (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Symbolic Spaces in Madrid’s Alcázar: Doors and Keys Providing Access to the Planet King
Neil Murphy (Northumbria University), The Court on the Move: Royal Entries and Access to the Monarch in France, c. 1400-1560
Alexandra Beauchamp (Université de Limoges), ‘Estant nós en la dita rambla ab tota aquella gran multitud.’ Direct Contacts between the Kings of Aragon and their Subjects (14th century)
Katarzyna Kuras (Jagiellonian University, Krakow), Was it Easy to Get to the King? Access of the Nobles to the Monarch during the 16th and 17th Centuries in Poland
Charles C. Noel (New York University, London), Access – Privileged and Unprivileged at the Changing Spanish Court, 1665-1788
Michael Talbot (SOAS – University of London), Accessing the Shadow of God on Earth: Gifts, Feasts, and Humiliation in Ottoman Diplomatic Ceremonial
Maartje Van Gelder (University of Amsterdam), Rebel Diplomats: The Dutch Envoys’ Access to the Court of Henry IV of France, 1598- 1609
Neil Younger (University of Essex), Access, Favour and Religious Division at the Court of Elizabeth I of England
Florence Berland (Université Lille 3 – IRHiS), Access to the Prince’s Court in Late Medieval Paris
Orsolya Réthelyi (Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest), Access to the King and Queen in Late Medieval Hungary. Conflicting Conceptions of Order in Princely Households
Audrey Truschke (Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge), European Experiences and Interpretations of Access at Indian Courts
Eric Hassler (Université Paris I – Sorbonne), Quantifying the Approachability of the Emperor: The Question of the Number of Chamberlains on Duty in the Court of Vienna (1670-1720)
Anna Kalinowska (Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of History), The King, the Favourite and the Ambassador. Sir Thomas Roe at the Polish Court, 1629
Fabian Persson (Linnaeus University, Kalmar), The Battle for Access: Access During a Royal Minority, 1660-1672
Jonathan Spangler (Manchester Metropolitan University), Those Who Hold the Keys: Princes, Grand Chamberlains, and Grand Equerries and the Rivalry of Access at the Early Modern French Court
Aubrée David‐Chapy (Université de Paris IV – Sorbonne), Anne de France, Closeness to the King and Power
Steven Thiry (University of Antwerp), Forging Dynasty. The Politics of Dynastic Affinity in Burgundian-Habsburg Baptism Ceremonial (1430-1505)
Klara Pako (Academy of Sciences, Babeş – Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania), Access to Power at the Confines of Europe. The Case of the Princely Court of Alba Iulia in Transylvania in the 16th and 17th Centuries
Sara J. Wolfson (Manchester Metropolitan University), Distinguished Guests, Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the Caroline Court, 1638-1641.
2011
Courts & Capitals, 1815–1914 (IV): From Alexandria to Tokyo
8 October 2011
Art Workers Guild, London
Conveners: Steven Brindle, Philip Mansel and David Gelber
Speakers:
John Breen, Tokyo: The Capital, The Palace and Modern Japan’s Sacred Centre
Philip Mansel, The Rise and Fall Of Royal Alexandria: From Mohammed Ali to Farouk
Keith Pratt, The Gyeongbok Palace, Seoul, as a Barometer Of Korea’s Political Fortunes in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Gavin Stamp, New Delhi: The Creation of a Vice-Regal Capital
John Villiers, A New Capital for a New Dynasty: Bangkok, from Rama I to Rama V (1782-1910)
Bill Woodburn, From The Bala Hissar to the Arg: How Royal Fortress-Palaces Shaped Kabul
Princes Consort in History
16 December 2011
Chancellor’s Hall, Senate House, London
Conveners: Janet Dickinson and Miles Taylor
Speakers:
David Abulafia, Ferdinand of Aragon – Ferdinand the Catholic: a consort with six crowns
Luc Duerloo, Upstairs, Downstairs: Archduke Albert, consort of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, 1598-1621
Elena Woodacre, The kings consort of Navarre; 1284-1512
Derek Beales, Francis Stephen: Duke of Lorraine 1729-37, grand-duke of Tuscany 1737-65, co-regent of the Austrian Monarchy 1740-65, Holy Roman Emperor 1745-65
Charles Beem, Why Prince George of Denmark Did Not Become a King of England
Paul Keenan, ‘The misfortune to be German’: Ernst Johann von Biron and the Russian Court, 1730-40
Fabian Persson, From ruler in the shadows to shadow king
Hugo Vickers, Prince Philip: The life and work of a modern consort
Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Prince Philip: sportsman and youth leader
Daniel Alves, Ferdinand II of Portugal: A conciliator king, in a turmoil kingdom
Roderick J. Barman, Gaston d’Orleans, Comte d’Eu: Prince Consort to Isabel of Brazil
Karina Urbach, The Creative Consort: New Sources on Prince Albert
Simin Patel, Commemorating the consort in colonial Bombay
2010
Charles II: King, Court and Culture
28 May 2010
Royal Hospital, Greenwich, London
Convener: Andrew Barclay
Speakers:
Ronald Hutton, Charles II in the Twenty-First Century
Diana Dethloff, Peter Lely and the Royal Image
Karen Hearn, John Michael Wright (1617-1694), ‘Picture Drawer in Ord[inary]’
Robert Bucholz, Restoration Courtiership: The Evidence of Three Diaries (Pepys, Evelyn and Reresby)
Stephen Brogan, Medicine, Politics and Sin: The Rationale for the Royal Touch During the Stuart Restoration, 1660-85
Helen Jacobsen, Bringing it Home: English Diplomats as Cultural Intermediaries, 1660-85
2009
Courts in Europe: A Historiographical Survey
24-26 September 2009
Chateau of Versailles, France
Convener: Marcello Fantoni
Speakers:
Werner von Paravicini, Germany
Maria Antonietta Visceglia, Italy
Amedeo Quondam, Court Literature
Chantal Grell and Peter Campbell, Courts and Power
Jose Martinez Millan, Spain
Jeroen Duindam, Comparative Studies of the Courts of Europe and Asia
Philip Mansel, The Nineteenth Century
Courts and Capitals, 1815-1914 (III)
7 November 2009
Art Workers’ Guild, London
Conveners Steven Brindle and Philip Mansel
Speakers:
Giles MacDonogh, The Slow Death of Royal Dresden
Juan F. Remón Menéndez, Madrid from Ancien Regime to the Bourgeois Restoration: The Parque del Oeste and the Augmentation of the Capital
George Vassiadis, Athens: The Creation of a Royal Capital, 1834-1914
John Villiers, ‘It is the Sovereign who makes the Palace, as a stone in a field may become an altar’: Bucharest under Carol I and the Building of Peleş
David Blow, From Islamic Small Town to Westernised Metropolis: The Development of Tehran under the Qajars and the Pahlavis
Khaled Fahmy, The Essence of Cairo
Henrietta Maria and European Politics
13 November 2009
Bonham’s, London
Conveners: Malcolm Smuts and Robert Oresko
2008
The Court and the Country House
21 November 2008
Mellon Centre, London
Convener: Emily Cole
Speakers:
Caroline Adams, Impact of the Royal Progress of 1591 on the social network of West Sussex and Hampshire
Emily Cole, The Jacobean Royal Progress and the Country House State Apartment
Michael Pearce, Progressive Adaptations: Royal Presence and Pastime in Scotland to 1602
Jeremy Pearson, George III’s visit to Plymouth, 1789
Jane Ridley, Edward VII’s visits to country houses
Christopher Ridgway, New Technologies and Old Ceremonies at Castle Howard for the Visit of Queen Victoria
James Rothwell, ‘Great Company’ at Lyme Park, Cheshire: The Visit of the Duke of York in 1676
2007
The Politics of Space: Courts in Europe and the Mediterranean, c.1500-1750
26-27 January 2007
Huntington Library, San Marino, California
Conveners: Professor Malcolm Smuts and George L. Gorse
Speakers:
Marcello Fantoni
Monique Chatenet
Simon Thurley
Anna Keay
Nicola Courtright
Hillary Balon
John Beldon Scott
Patricia Waddy
Tracy Ehrlic
Jesus Escobar
Courts and Capitals, 1815-1914 (II)
29 September 2007
Wallace Collection, London
Conveners: Steven Brindle and Philip Mansel
Speakers:
Roderick J Barman, Imperial Cities and Seasonal Residences: Petrópolis, Summer Capital of Brazil (1843-1889), and its European Counterparts
Gavin Stamp, Budapest 1867-1914: A Dual Capital for the Dual Monarchy
Terry Kirk, The Image of King Vittorio Emanuele II and the Remaking of Rome
Giles MacDonogh, ‘Nothing Is Too Colossal, Nothing Too Expensive’: William II and Berlin
Jack Hamilton, False Starts and Failed Hopes: The Rise and Fall of Royal Sofia 1878-1946
Emmanuel Ducamp, The Romanovs and Saint Petersburg: The Second Phase
The Palace of Westminster
4-5 October 2007
Westminster Hall, London
Conveners: Edward Impey, Andrew Barclay, Rosemary Hill and Robert Lacey
Speakers:
Paul Binski
David Carpenter
John Crook
Chris Thomas
Simon Carter
Jason Peacey
Mark Collins
Malcolm Hay
Gavin Stamp
Sir John Sainty
David Starkey
Daniel Brittain-Catlin
Ian Denver
Monarchy and Exile
14-15 December 2007
German Historical Institute, London
Conveners: Philip Mansel and Torsten Riotte
Speakers:
Toby Osborne, A Queen Mother in exile: Marie de Medici
A Hughes, Gender, exile and The Hague courts of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia and Mary, Princess of Orange
Ferenc Toth, Emigrated or Exiled? Ferenc Rákóczi II
William O’Reilly, A life in exile: Charles VI
Anna Keay, “The shadow of a king”? Charles II of Great Britain in exile
John Jeremiah Cronin, The Irish royalist elite of Charles II and the Caroline Stuart Court in exile, c. 1649-1660
Karen Britland, Exile or homecoming? Henrietta Maria in France, 1644-1660
Edward Corp, The extended exile of James III
Philip Mansel, From Exile to the Throne: The Europeanisation of Louis XVIII
Peter Hicks, Napoleon on Elba
Heidi Mehrkens, The Politics of Waiting: Empress Eugenie
Guy Stair Sainty, The Bourbons of Naples in exile
Torsten Riotte, Hanoverian exile and Prussian governance: George V and Ernst August of Hanover
James Rettallack, Johann of Saxony
John Röhl, The Unicorn in Winter. Kaiser Wilhelm II in Amerongen and Doorn 1918-1941
2005
Greenwich Palace
25 April 2005
Greenwich, London
Conveners: Anna Keay and Simon Thurley
Speakers:
Philip Dixon, The Tudor Palace at Greenwich
Thom Richardson, The Greenwich Armouries
Simon Thurley, Architecture and Diplomacy: Greenwich Palace under the Stuarts
Gordon Higgott, The Design and Setting of Inigo Jones’s Queen’s House, 1616-40
David Jacques, Garden Works in Greenwich Park, 1662-1728
Julian M.C. Bowsher, The Chapel Royal at Greenwich Palace
Court and Capitals, 1815-1914 (I)
1 October 2005
Wallace Collection, London
Conveners: Steven Brindle and Philip Mansel
Speakers:
David Watkin, The Transformation of Munich into a Royal Capital by Kings Maximilian I Joseph and Ludwig I
Stephen Parissien, George IV, Regent and King, and London c. 1811-1830
Philip Mansel, Paris: Court City of Europe, c. 1800-1870
Tom Verschaffel, King and City: Brussels under Leopold I and Leopold II
Alan Sked, Franz Joseph and the creation of the Ringstrasse
Steven Brindle, Buckingham Palace, the Victoria Memorial and the Mall, 1901-1914
2004
Coronations Conference
27 March 2004
Senate House, London
Convener Robert Lacey
Speakers:
Jinty Nelson, Carolingian Coronation Rituals: a model for Europe?
Richard Wortman, The Russian Coronation: rite and representation
Sir Roy Strong, The English Coronation – a call for a wider perspective
Philip Mansel, From Constantinopole to Cairo: Ottoman inaugurations and their successors
Dougal Shaw, Scotland’s Place in Britain’s Coronation Tradition
Graham Gendall Norton, The Budapest Habsburg Coronation of 1916
Jeffrey Richards, The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and Film
A Tale of Two Crowns: The Courts of England and France 1066-1904
19-20 November 2004
Institut Français, London
Conveners: Glenn Richardson and Philip Mansel
Speakers:
David Bates, The Norman Conquest in the Context of Anglo-French Relations
David Carpenter, The Meetings of Henry III and Louis IX
Rachel Gibbons, The Background of the Marriage of Isabelle of France and Richard II, 1396
Anne Curry, Henry VI’s Coronation and Anglo-French relations, 1420-1432
David Potter, Politics and Faction at the Court of France from the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance: the development of a political culture, 1300-1600
Charles Giry-Deloison, Edward IV, Henry VII and France
Robert Knecht, The Nobilities of France and England in the Sixteenth Century
Cédric Michon, Pomp and Circumstances: the courtly prelates of France and England, 1515-1547
Glenn Richardson, Postcards from the Edge: Francis I and England’s break with Rome
Susan Doran, Elizabeth I and Catherine de Médici
Simon Thurley, Henrietta Maria and England
Loic Bienassis, Richelieu and England, 1634-1642
Sonja Kmec, Playing the International Card: the networks of noble women in seventeenth-century France and England
Anna Keay, Charles II and Lessons Learned in France
Tony Claydon, William III and Louis XIV
David Onnekink, Anglo-French Negotiations on the Spanish Partition Treaties (1698-1700): a revaluation
Peter Campbell, Fleury, Horace Walpole and Anglo-French relations
Nigel Aston, Two Courts, one Courtier: the third Duke of Dorset as British Ambassador to France, 1784-1789
Clarissa Campbell Orr, Scandal, morality, intellect and virtue at Versailles and Windsor, 1760-1800
Philip Mansel, From War to Peace: the House of Hanover and the Crown of France, 1783-1855
Edward Royle, British Radicals and French Revolutions, 1789-1848
2002
Golden Jubilee Conference: Royal Ritual in the Media Age
11 May 2002
Institute of Mechanical Engineers, London
Convener: Robert Lacey
Speakers:
Richard Brown, “It is a Very Wonderful Process…” Film and British Royalty 1896-1902
John Wolffe, The People’s King: the crowd and the media funeral of Edward VII, May 1910
Robert Lacey, Made for the Media: the twentieth century investitures of the Princes of Wales, with commentary and recollections of the Investiture of July 1969 by Lord Snowdon
David Reed, What a Lovely Frock: royal weddings and the illustrated press in the pre-television age
Daniel Brittain-Catlin, Presenting and Explaining the Constitutional Crown to the Twenty-first Century
Luke McKernan, The Finest Cinema Performers We Possess: British royalty and the newsreels, 1910-37
Philip Ziegler, Edward VIII: the modern monarch?
Nigel Dacre, The Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales
Hugo Vickers, The Man Who was Helen Cathcart
2001
Somerset House: Architecture, Religion and Etiquette 1547-1692
28 September 2001
Courtauld Institute, Somerset House, London
Speakers:
David Starkey
Maurice Howard
Simon Thurley
David Baldwin
Caroline Hibbard
Roy Sherwood
Peter Leech
Frances Harris
2000
Courts without Kings? The Political Center in Colonies, Provinces and Republics
21-23 September 2000
Bayside Exposition Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Convener: Malcolm Smuts
Speakers:
Lawrence Bryant, The Collapse of Ducal Burgundy and New Configurations of French Royal Ceremonies; 1476-1484
Kristen Neuschel, French Noble Households in the Sixteenth Century: the evidence of material culture
Timothy Raylor, A Prince in the Provinces? William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle
Catherine Wilkinson-Zerner, The Duke of Lerma and his Town
Luc Duerloo, From Sovereignty to Viceregality: the Netherlands court of the widowed Infanta Isabella and the revolt of 1632
Alejanda Osorio, The King in Lima: the power of simulacra in seventeenth-century Lima
Alejandra Caneque, Royal Authority, Viceregal Patronage and the Specter of Corruption in Seventeenthp-Century New Spain
Nancy Fee, King versus Kingdom: Juan de Palafax y Mendoza and the controversy over the Puebla Cathedral retable arms
Linda Curcio-Nagy, The Concept of the Good Vassal: Amerindians and Africans in the Habsburg viceregal entry of Mexico City
James Robertson, Here his Grace Resides: Spanish Town and the place of the royal governor in English Jamaica, 1661-c.1720)
Linda Sturtz, Dining Room Politics: Lady Berkeley of Virginia
Mridu Rai, From Hindu Rulers to Hindu State: territorializing religion and political control in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir
Manu Bhagavan, Demystifying the ‘Ideal Progressive’, resistance through mimicked modernity in princely Baroda, 1900-1913
Thomas Arnold, Courts on Campaign: military adventures and the great captains of the sixteenth century
George Gorse, A Court in a Republic: art and pageantry at the villa of Andrea Doria in Genoa
Derek Hirst, Heroism and the English Republic
Lorraine Madway, The Remaking of Majesty: Oliver Cromwell and the visual imagery of monarchy
Nigel Smith, Purified Form: literary culture in the Commonwealth courts, 1649-1660
Thomas Willette, Art History as Patriotic Memory: the promotion of civil society in Naples in the time of the Austrian viceroys, 1707-1734
Daniel Gordon, Courtliness and Civility: the Elias thesis revisited
Fredrika Teute & David Shields, The Confederation Court
Catherine Allgor, Aristocratic Longings, Aristocratic Anxieties: Dolly Madison and the White House
Pamela Scott, A Comparison of P. L’Enfant’s and Thomas Jefferson’s Plans for the Federal City
Philip Mansel, The Court of the First Consul, 1799-1804
British Orders of Chivalry
Thursday, 21 September 2000, Society of Antiquaries, The Order of the Bath and the Nineteenth-Century Expansion of Chivalric Orders
Friday, 22 September 2000, College of Saint George, Windsor Castle, The Orders of the Garter and the Thistle
Speakers:
Rev. Dr Peter Galloway, Anglo-Irish Relations and the Demise of the Order of St Patrick
Andrew Hanham, History of Parliament Trust, The Refoundation of the Order of the Bath
Fionn Pilbrow, The Medieval Knighthood of the Bath
David White, Rouge Croix, College of Arms, Projects for New Orders and the Early Nineteenth-Century Expansion of the Bath
Charles Burnett, Ross Herald, The Order of the Thistle in the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries
Nicholas Cranfield, The Politicization of the Garter under Charles I
Hannes Kleinecke, History of Parliament Trust, The Garter in Crisis: the Late Middle Ages and the Problem of Peace
Shelagh Mitchell, Ladies of the Garter in the Late Middle Ages
1999
Reponses to Regicide
1 February 1999
Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies
Convener: Malcolm Smuts
Speakers:
Joyce Malcolm, The Missing Mob. Why Charles I was not Rescued
Howard Nenner, January 30 Commemorations: the responses to regicide
Steven Zwicker, Passions and Occasions: Milton, Marvell and the politics of reading, c. 1649
David Smith, Oliver Cromwell, Religious Reform and the First Protectorate Parliament
The Role of the Consort
16-18 September 1999
Institute of Historical Research/Kew Gardens, London
Convener: Clarissa Campbell Orr
Speakers:
Janet L. Nelson, Consorts in the Middle Ages: the origins of the European role
Sally Hickson, Isabella d’Este
Eric Ives, Consorts and Mistresses: Anne Boleyn
Robert Knecht, Royal consorts & ‘privados’ in seventeeth-century Spain
Lis Granlund, Hedwiga Eleonora of Sweden
Mark Bryant, The Unofficial Consort: Mme de Maintenon
Helen Payne, Anne of Denmark as a Mother
Frances Harris, Catherine of Bragança
Simon Thurley, Mary II
Caroline Hibbard, Henrietta Maria: establishing the role of consort
Joanna Marschner, Queen Caroline as a Collector
Christine Gerrard, Queen in Waiting: Caroline of Ansbach & Augusta of Saxe-Gotha as Princesses of Wales
Clarissa Campbell Orr, Charlotte, Scientific Queen
Marcia Pointon, Maternal Paragon or Luxurious Consumer? Queen Charlotte in Portraiture and Caricature
Bill Purdue, The Consort Maligned: Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
John Bullion, Princess Augusta: the consort as contrast
John Rogister, Maria Leszczynska and Court Faction at the French Court
Curt Noel, Barbara of Bragança and Isabella Farnese
Melissa Calaresu, The Queen and the Philosophers: Maria Carolina and the Neapolitan Enlightenment
Richard King, Anne of Hanover and Orange
Michael Brengsbo, Danish Consorts: Louisa, Caroline Matilda and Juliana Maria
Aubrey Newman, Sophia of Hanover, her daughter and grand-daughter-in-law
Thomas Biskup, Hohenzollern Consorts
Peter Wilson, Württemberg Consorts
The Court Painter in Seventeenth-Century Europe: Van Dyck and his Contemporaries
26-27 November 1999
The National Gallery, London
Speakers:
Jonathan Brown, Velazquez and the Conventions of Portraiture in Spain
Malcolm Smuts, The Structure of the Court and the Role of the Artist
Jeremy Wood, Van Dyck, Hamilton and Bortolo della Nave
Gabriele Finaldi, Gentileschi and the patronage of Queen Henrietta Maria
Diana Dethloff, Van Dyck’s Legacy: Lely and the court of Charles II
David Howarth on Van Dyck
Jonathan Israel on the court of Frederik Hendrik Prince of Orange
Arabella Cifani and Toby Osborne on painters at the court of Savoy
Marcello Fantoni on Justus Susterman and the Medici
Emanuel Coquery on the court of Louis XIII
Friedrich Polleross on the court painters of the Austrian Habsburgs in the seventeenth century.
1998
From Castiglione to Kennedy: Courts, Courtiers and Power, 1500-1963
2-4 April 1998
Society of Antiquaries, London and Chapter Library, St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle
Speakers:
Malcom Smuts, The English Court
Robert Frost, The Vasa Kings of Poland
Marcello Fantoni, The Grand Dukes of Tuscany
Ronald Asch, Images of Power
Tim Blanning, George I and Augustus II
Toby Barnard, The Lord Lieutenants of Ireland
Hugh Roberts, George IV
Thomas Biskup, The Dukes of Brunswick
Simon Adams, Elizabeth and Leicester
David Edwards, The 10th Earl of Ormonde
John Guy, Mary I
Jeroen Duindam, Louis XIV
Olivier Chaline, Factions at Versailles
Caroline Hibbard, The Politics of Honour at the Stuart Court
Michael Bentley, Queen Victoria
Luc Duerloo, Seventeeth-Century Brussels
Niall Ferguson, The Rothschilds
Dominic Lieven, Nicholas II
Ferdinand Mount, Mrs Thatcher
Jeremy Noakes, Hitler
1997
Chapels Royal: Politics, Doctrine and the Arts at the Early-Modern Court 1400-1720
13-15 February 1997
The Society of Antiquaries; The Institute of Historical Research; St James’s Palace; Hampton Court Palace
Speakers:
Werner Jacobsen, The Carolingian and Ottonian Palace Chapels
Thomas Campbell, Tapestries and the English Chapel Royal
Robert Bucholz, The Officers and Servants of the Chapel Royal, 1660-1714
Monique Chatenet, The Chapel Royal in Valois France
Edward Corp, The Jacobite Chapel Royal at St-Germain-en-Laye
Henry Fernandez, Julius II’s Palatine Chapel: the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Palace
David Watkin, Monarchy and Liturgy: The Chapels Royal of Louis XIV at Versailles, Marly and Fontainebleau
(and many others)