CALL FOR PAPERS: International Conference Splendid Encounters VI: Correspondence and Information Exchange in Diplomacy (1300-1750)

Nova University of Lisbon
28th — 30th September 2017

Splendid Encounters 6 is one of a series of international and interdisciplinary conferences which aim to bring together scholars from the broadest range of perspectives to consider diplomacy and diplomatic activities in the late medieval and early modern period. After successful meetings in Warsaw, Bath, Florence, Budapest and Prague, we wish to invite you to join us for another event, hosted by Nova University of Lisbon.

Collecting and transferring information is a major aim of diplomacy, and one not confined to diplomats strictly speaking. People of different ranks and functions were still connected to diplomatic activity — ambassadors, nuncios, chargés d’affaires, secretaries and agents, members of ambassadorial households, consuls and merchants, and even the aides employed as middlemen or translators.

Just as varied as the agents were the methods used to obtain access to the latest news and information useful to ruler or country. As diplomatic networks grew bigger and bigger in size and reach in this period, so did the need to find reliable sources of news and to develop ways to efficiently deliver them.

These are some of the issues that will be addressed at the upcoming conference, Splendid Encounters VI. The conference will focus on the role of news and information transmitting in diplomatic practices within and outside Europe between the fourteenth and the eighteenth centuries. In assessing the role of diplomats and networks in such exchanges, this edition of Splendid Encounters also breaks away from traditional chronological and geographical approaches.

Please email by 15 March 2017 to se6.lisbon@gmail.com your abstract for either 20‒minute individual papers or 90‒minute sessions (to comprisea panel, roundtable, project presentation, etc.).

We especially encourage proposals dealing with:

• Diplomatic correspondence: evolution, importance, cyphers, etc.
• Diplomats and diplomacy as a subject of news
• The languages, forms and performance of (written and oral) communication
• East–West/North–South encounters
• Channels of contact; Europe, Africa, Asia, America
• Diplomatic communication across cultures and the culture(s) of diplomatic communication
• Practices of information exchange in empire, states, regions
• The personnel of news networks
• Continuity and change in the long run: from ‘medieval’ to ‘early modern’

Applicants will be notified of acceptance by 15th April.

Contact for general queries Dr Anna Kalinowska: se6.lisbon@gmail.com and for Lisbon arrangements Dr Tiago Viúla de Faria: tiago.faria@fcsh.unl.pt

Premodern Queenship and Diplomacy in Europe: Workshop

Two workshops, open to the public, part of the ‘Premodern Queenship and Diplomacy in Europe’ conference, Canterbury Christ Church University, 11-13thSeptember 2014.

Friday 11 September, St Gregory’s Centre, Canterbury Christ Church University

The early modern dance workshop examines the sexual politics of early modern diplomacy by way of non-verbal codes of conduct. Dr Anne Daye’s workshop relies fully on audience participation, as she will recreate a ballet scene from The Nine Muses: A Trope for Peace in Female Diplomacy. Through the precision of dance, Anne Daye will bring to life the means by which early modern queens could engage with diplomacy, at the same time as revealing the limitations to their power.

For more information about the dance workshop, please see the dance workshop webpage: http://www.premodernqueenship.com/#!untitled/c1mij

Saturday 12 September, St Gregory’s Centre, Canterbury Christ Church University

The early modern performance workshop seeks to investigate the complex and fascinating ways in which Elizabethan dramatists theatricalised British& European Queenship. Whether they staged events from the thirteenth century, or, provided flattering portraits of Elizabeth I, early modern dramatists were keen to reimagine Queenship and diplomacy. The workshop is important in investigating three major Elizabethan dramatists, John Lyly - who introduced Queens onto the early modern stage - Shakespeare, and Marlowe, to assess how the early modern theatre contributed to cultural and social understandings of powerful Queens. Featuring a talk by Dr Andy Kesson (Roehampton), the drama workshop explores the textual and performative means available to premodern elite women to engage informally with diplomacy. It will be followed by scenes from three plays by five professionally trained actors, Sophia Kayes, Sarah Mackenzie, Stephanie Winiecki, Ruth Rundle and Brian McMahon. The aim of the workshop is to invoke audience participation via an open floor discussion at the end of the performance between the actors, literary specialists and audience members.

For more information about the drama workshop, please see the drama workshop webpage: http://www.premodernqueenship.com/#!untitled/c152x

Diplomacy and Culture in the Early Modern World

The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities 31 July to 2 August.

This conference is dedicated to diplomacy in the early modern world. It will build upon the recent ‘cultural turn’ in diplomatic studies that has seen more innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to a subject that was once viewed in heavily bureaucratic and constitutional terms. Scholars are increasingly appreciating the importance of ritual and other forms of symbolic communication in diplomatic practices and the role of diplomatic processes in cultural exchanges. Diplomats were important political brokers whose actions could have profound implications for international relations, but they played an equally important role in the transfer and adaptation of cultural ideas and artefacts through their activities as cultural agents, authors and brokers. The profound impact of diplomacy on culture in this period is, moreover, seen in the increasing prominence of representations of diplomacy in literature and a range of other media. The aim of this conference is to further our understanding of early modern diplomatic practices, of the dynamics of diplomatic exchanges both within and without Europe, and how diplomatic ideas and practices interacted with other cultural and political processes. The keynote address will be given by Professor Christian Windler (University of Bern). The conference will feature two extended panel discussions. One, led by Professor John Watkins (University of Minnesota), will be dedicated to new approaches to diplomatic studies. A second will examine Professor Timothy Hampton’s idea of a ‘diplomatic moment’ in Renaissance literature.

The conference marks the culmination of the AHRC-funded international research network ‘Textual Ambassadors’ (www.textualambassadors.org) and aims to set its findings in broader cultural context.

We will consider proposals for papers and panel on any aspect of early modern diplomacy, but we will particularly welcome proposals for papers that take innovative approaches or address the following topics:

• The impact of literary developments on, and use of literary texts in, diplomatic practice
• The role of diplomatic processes and channels in the circulation of texts and literary ideas
• Diplomacy and translation
• Representations of diplomacy in literary texts and art
• The wider cultural reception of diplomacy and evolving diplomatic practices
• The material culture of early modern diplomacy
• Ritual and protocol in diplomatic encounters
• Diplomatic personnel, training, and careers
• Diplomacy and cross-cultural exchange
• Cultures of diplomatic practice
• Gender and diplomacy
• Early modern legal and philosophical attitudes to, and influences on, diplomacy

Proposals for 20 minute papers or panels of 3-4 papers should be sent to Tracey Sowerby tracey.sowerby@history.ox.ac.uk and Jo Craigwood jeie2@cam.ac.uk by 21 March 2014. Individual paper proposals should be no more than 300 words. Panel proposals should include abstracts of all papers (max 300 words) and a brief rationale (max 100 words) for the panel. All proposals should be accompanied by a short statement of affiliation and career. Delegates will be notified by 15 April 2014. All enquiries should be addressed to tracey.sowerby@history.ox.ac.uk.

Intellectual Networks in the Long Seventeenth Century

Durham University, 30 June-2 July 2013

Durham’s Centre for Seventeenth-Century Studies – now part of the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies – has, since its foundation in 1985, organized over a dozen high-profile international conferences. Next year’s event, which both continues that tradition and celebrates the Centre’s new role within one of Durham University’s flagship research institutes, will address the topic of ‘Intellectual Networks in the Long Seventeenth Century.’

The conference will explore the emergence and consolidation of systems of intellectual and cultural exchange during the long seventeenth century, while assessing their lasting influence on the history of scholarship, literature, diplomacy, science, and religious communities. The sub-topics listed below offer some guidance for the submission of proposals. Special emphasis will be placed on the relationship between the British Isles and the wider world.

• Erudite correspondence
• Academic networks: knowledge transmission and cultural change
• Diplomacy, high and low
• Literary circles
• Scientific institutions and the history of medicine
• Intellectual exchange among/within religious communities
• Book trade and collectorship
• Counter-intelligence and the political and religious underground
• Women and intellectual exchange
• Popular cultural exchange

Proposals for 20-minute papers and full panels should be submitted to early.modern@durham.ac.uk by 15th January 2013. Replies will be sent in early February 2013. Details concerning travel and accommodation for both speakers and delegates will be made available around the same time. It is hoped that the conference will give rise to an edited volume of selected essays.

The conference is taking place at an exciting time for seventeenth century and early modern studies at Durham. Recent significant developments include:

• The re-opening of Cosin’s Library (1699) on the UNESCO World Heritage site of Palace Green following a major restoration project; the collection, now part of Durham University Library, was assembled by the great seventeenth-century book collector John Cosin, Bishop of Durham (1595-1672)
• The joint custodianship of the library and archive of Ushaw College, shared between the trustees of the archive and Durham University Library
• A related international conference on Early Modern English Catholicism taking place at Ushaw College (28 June to 1 July 2013), with which the present conference will share a joint keynote lecture from Professor Eamon Duffy (Cambridge) on the evening of 30 June

For further details visit http://www.dur.ac.uk/imrs/newsandevents/research/cfp/

Call for Papers: Intellectual Networks in the Long Seventeenth Century

Durham University, 30 June-2 July 2013

Durham’s Centre for Seventeenth-Century Studies – now part of the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies – has, since its foundation in 1985, organized over a dozen high-profile international conferences. Next year’s event, which both continues that tradition and celebrates the Centre’s new role within one of Durham University’s flagship research institutes, will address the topic of ‘Intellectual Networks in the Long Seventeenth Century.’

The conference will explore the emergence and consolidation of systems of intellectual and cultural exchange during the long seventeenth century, while assessing their lasting influence on the history of scholarship, literature, diplomacy, science, and religious communities. The sub-topics listed below offer some guidance for the submission of proposals. Special emphasis will be placed on the relationship between the British Isles and the wider world.

• Erudite correspondence
• Academic networks: knowledge transmission and cultural change
• Diplomacy, high and low
• Literary circles
• Scientific institutions and the history of medicine
• Intellectual exchange among/within religious communities
• Book trade and collectorship
• Counter-intelligence and the political and religious underground
• Women and intellectual exchange
• Popular cultural exchange

Proposals for 20-minute papers and full panels should be submitted toearly.modern@durham.ac.uk by 15th January 2013. Replies will be sent in early February 2013. Details concerning travel and accommodation for both speakers and delegates will be made available around the same time. It is hoped that the conference will give rise to an edited volume of selected essays.

The conference is taking place at an exciting time for seventeenth century and early modern studies at Durham. Recent significant developments include:

• The re-opening of Cosin’s Library (1699) on the UNESCO World Heritage site of Palace Green following a major restoration project; the collection, now part of Durham University Library, was assembled by the great seventeenth-century book collector John Cosin, Bishop of Durham (1595-1672)
• The joint custodianship of the library and archive of Ushaw College, shared between the trustees of the archive and Durham University Library
• A related international conference on Early Modern English Catholicism taking place at Ushaw College (28 June to 1 July 2013), with which the present conference will share a joint keynote lecture from Professor Eamon Duffy (Cambridge) on the evening of 30 June

For further details visit http://www.dur.ac.uk/imrs/newsandevents/research/cfp/

The conference is supported by Durham University’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Department of English Studies, Department of History, and School of Modern Languages and Cultures.

The Medici and the Levant

I Medici e il Levante: Culture e Dialoghi tra Firenze e il Mediterraneo Orientale (1532-1743)

Friday, June 7, 2013 in Florence

The Medici Archive Project is organizing a one-day conference in English and Italian at the Archivio di Stato in Florence dedicated to new research trajectories on the relations between the Medici and the wide cultural, social and geographic area that in time has come to be identified as ‘the Levant.’ The period covered will extend from 1532, when the Medici received the ducal title, until the death of the last member of the dynasty in 1743.


The House of Medici established an extensive network of mercantile, political and cultural relations connecting Florence and the Eastern Mediterranean since the time of Cosimo the Elder (1389-1464). However, the nature of that exchange evolved rapidly once the Medici became dynastic rulers of Florence and assumed an increasingly active role in Mediterranean and Eastern European politics. First as Dukes of Florence and then as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, the Medici became players in an area that extended from Safavid Persia to the Republic of Venice, passing through the era’s superpower, the Ottoman Empire. The great number of letters in the Medici epistolary collection (the “Archivio mediceo del principato”) relating to ‘Levantine’ topics bears witness to a profound and persistent vested interest that wavered between reproach and fascination, and that went beyond military, religious or diplomatic concerns.

Contributions highlighting any of the connections between the Medici state and the Levant are welcome. Preference will be accorded to papers dealing specifically with the Medici and their perception of the East/Orient, or with their reception in that part of the world.

The major themes to be addressed at this conference include:

• Material culture exchange
• Early modern mercantile routes and commercial activity
• Mediterranean warfare
• Medici Eastern diplomacy and political strategies
• The historical and philological East
• News dissemination; Mediterranean contemporaneity
• Cartography; travel literature and correspondence
• The Typographia Medicea; the use and study of Eastern languages
• Mediterranean Jewry
• Scientific exchange
• Inter-religious dialogues and conflicts
• Slavery, emigration and immigration

Contact Dr. Maurizio Arfaioli and Dr. Marta Caroscio at: conference@medici.org.
Partial travel funding may be possible.

Call for Papers: The Medici and the Levant

I Medici e il Levante: Culture e Dialoghi tra Firenze e il Mediterraneo Orientale (1532-1743)

Deadline: February 11, 2013, Florence

Begins: Friday, June 7, 2013

The Medici Archive Project is organizing a one-day conference in English and Italian at the Archivio di Stato in Florence dedicated to new research trajectories on the relations between the Medici and the wide cultural, social and geographic area that in time has come to be identified as ‘the Levant.’ The period covered will extend from 1532, when the Medici received the ducal title, until the death of the last member of the dynasty in 1743.

The House of Medici established an extensive network of mercantile, political and cultural relations connecting Florence and the Eastern Mediterranean since the time of Cosimo the Elder (1389-1464). However, the nature of that exchange evolved rapidly once the Medici became dynastic rulers of Florence and assumed an increasingly active role in Mediterranean and Eastern European politics. First as Dukes of Florence and then as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, the Medici became players in an area that extended from Safavid Persia to the Republic of Venice, passing through the era’s superpower, the Ottoman Empire. The great number of letters in the Medici epistolary collection (the “Archivio mediceo del principato”) relating to ‘Levantine’ topics bears witness to a profound and persistent vested interest that wavered between reproach and fascination, and that went beyond military, religious or diplomatic concerns.

Contributions highlighting any of the connections between the Medici state and the Levant are welcome. Preference will be accorded to papers dealing specifically with the Medici and their perception of the East/Orient, or with their reception in that part of the world.

The major themes to be addressed at this conference include:

• Material culture exchange
• Early modern mercantile routes and commercial activity
• Mediterranean warfare
• Medici Eastern diplomacy and political strategies
• The historical and philological East
• News dissemination; Mediterranean contemporaneity
• Cartography; travel literature and correspondence
• The Typographia Medicea; the use and study of Eastern languages
• Mediterranean Jewry
• Scientific exchange
• Inter-religious dialogues and conflicts
• Slavery, emigration and immigration

To apply, please submit by February 11, 2013: 1) a paper title 2) a 500-word abstract either in English or Italian explaining the contribution to current historiography 3) a curriculum vitae. Submissions should be sent via email to Dr. Maurizio Arfaioli and Dr. Marta Caroscio at: conference@medici.org.

Partial travel funding may be possible.

Deadline: February 11, 2013