Medieval and Early Modern Spaces & Places Conference: Experiencing the Court

The early modern court adopted and developed exemplary cultural practices where objects and spaces became central to propagating power as well as places for exchange with other powers. This combination of images, objects, and sounds confronted the senses, making a powerful and distinctive impression of the resident family and the region they represented: flickering candlelight on glass and gold vessels adorned credenze (sideboards); musical instruments announced royal entries or provided entertainment; brightly coloured tapestries covered the palace walls along with paintings of biblical or mythological stories; cabinets displayed antiquities or rarities; perfume burners permeated the air; while the smells and tastes of rare delicacies at the centre of dining tables made for a multi-sensory spectacle.

This year the Open University’s Spaces & Places conference will address the theme of ‘Experiencing the Court’ by exploring the senses and the lived experiences of courtly life, whether based in a particular residence or defined by the travels of an itinerant ruler. This annual conference is fundamentally interdisciplinary: literary, musical, architectural, artistic and religious spaces will be the subjects of enquiry, not as discrete or separate entities, but ones which overlapped, came into contact with one another, and at times were in conflict.

Wednesday, 3 April

09:00-09:45 Registration

09:45 Introductory remarks (Leah Clark and Helen Coffey, The Open University)

10:00 Courtly Objects

Helen Hills, University of York: The Erotics of Silver: production, reproduction and shimmer

Marketa Jezkova, Czech Academy of Sciences: Light and perception of the collections of Emperor Rudolf II Habsburg in Prague

Marina Rovelli, University College London: Displaying the treasure at Ludovico Sforza’s court

11:30 Break

12:00 Cultural Interactions

Carrie Anderson, Middlebury College: Mediating Spaces: Dutch Brazil at the French Court

Mary B. Quinn, University of New Mexico: The Experience of Empire and Resistance: Celebrating Felipe Próspero in the Viceregal Court of Manila, the Philippines

13.00 Lunch

14:00 The French Court

Elisabeth Natour, Regensburg University: Impressing the Senses and Ordering the Court: The Courts of Louis XIII. and Charles I. compared

Lisa Andersen, University of British Columbia: The Enlivened Château in Early Modern France

Lilit Sadoyan, University of California, Santa Barbara: Meuble and Mobility in eighteenth-century France

15:30 Break

16:00 The Iberian Peninsula

M.A. Katritzky, The Open University: From holy hermit to court beast: the sacred and profane spaces of Juan Guarin

Ryan Prendergast, University of Rochester, USA: How to Survive and Thrive at Madrid's Court in Liñán y Verdugo’s Guía y avisos de forasteros que vienen a la Corte (1620)

Joana Antunes, University of Coimbra: “muitas envenções, abastança e gentileza”:
Feasting the senses at the 15th-century Portuguese Court

17:30 End

19:00 Conference dinner

Thursday, 4 April

09:30 Courtly Spaces

Martin Nixon: The Palazzo Biscari Ballroom in Catania. Lightness, Refinement and Aristocratic Distinction

Laura Stefanescu, University of Sheffield: Silent Soundscapes: Visual Heavenly Music at the Court of Urbino

Maria Maurer, University of Tulsa: Monstrous Manipulations: The Agency of Space at Court

11:00 Break

11:30 Travelling Courts

Dustin M. Neighbors, Historic Royal Palaces/University of York:
“Beloved she was”: Diplomacy and Courtly Spectacles on Elizabethan Royal Progresses

Maria Neklyudova, Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration: From Flying Palace to Foreign Country: Metaphoric Descriptions of the French Court

12:30 Lunch

13:30 The English Court

William Lyons, Royal College of Music: An Inconvenient Truce:
Respect and Rivalry Between Royal and Civic Musicians in Early Modern London

Audrey Thorstad, Bangor University: The Changeable Closet: Experiencing the Private Space of the King

Anne Daye, Historical Dance Society: Dancing into the Banqueting House, Whitehall 1613

15:00 Tour of the Queen’s House, Greenwich