Society for Court Studies

What was the significance of the Stuart Withdrawing Room? Come along tomorrow evening to find out!

You'll need to register by 5pm today if you want to attend!

Join us this Thursday 19 Feb 18:00 CET/17:00 GMT to hear about "A space of significance: The evolution of the Stuart Withdrawing Room"

Come along to hear about the importance of accessibility at the Stuart Court from Julia Hamilton!

Register below 👇
www.eventbrite.fr/e/feb-vss-a-...

Lily Freeman-Jones (QMUL) - "Soaring Arias and Loose Stitches" “Soaring Arias and Loose Stitches: Women as Race-Makers Between Early Modern European Courts”

Buckle up! On Monday 9 February, Lily Freeman-Jones (Queen Mary University of London) will present “Soaring Arias and Loose Stitches: Women as Race-Makers Between Early Modern European Courts”.

18:00 GMT – Online via Zoom, register here:

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lily-freem...

How are your 2026 New Year's resolutions going? If one of those was to submit an abstract for our 2026 Conference, then you're in luck! The deadline has been extended to 28 Februrary!

If you work on any topic that connects to our theme "Storytelling at the Court" we want to hear from you! Info 👇

New Podcast episode out now!

Part 3/3 on Monarchy and Money (monarchy-money.org), our hosts, Charlotte Backerra & Cathleen Sarti, interview Fabian Persson to discuss 'Court Economy'

Listen here: www.buzzsprout.com/1934722/epis...

'Clio Reframed: Women Writing History, 1500-1750' - CALL FOR PAPERS - RHS 'Clio Reframed: Women Writing History, 1500-1750' University of Oxford, 18-19 June 2016. Call For Papers deadline: 28 February 2026 Paper proposals are invited for this two-day conference to be held a...

For more info, visit royalhistsoc.org/calendar/cli...

CfP "Clio Reframed: Women Writing History, 1500-1750" exploring the role of women as writers of 'history' including chronicles, drama, and verse narratives

An interesting link to our 2026 conference theme "Storytelling at Court"!

🗓 Proposals due 28 Feb
🗓 Conference 18-19 June
📍Oxford University

By the reign of Louis XV the setablishment of the Royal Academy of Surgeons. Also included here an obstetrics model. Matthew Howles at SCS

A botanical garden was also part of Versailles. For example producing the first pineapple grown in France. Matthew Howles at SCS

A large menagerie was situated at Versailles. Used both for scientific investigation and to showcase gifts sent to the French King. "Star of the show" Louis XV's rhinoceros (died in the revolution, possibly stabbed by revolutionaries...). Matthew Howles at SCS

A large menagerie was situated at Versailles. Used both for scientific investigation and to showcase gifts sent to the French King. "Star of the show" Louis XV's rhinoceros (died in the revolution, possibly stabbed by revolutionaries...). Matthew Howles at SCS

The Marly Machine was used to pump huge quantities of water uphill. Fountaineers would whistle to each other when fountains were to be turned on as the King was strolling in the garden. Matthew Howles on “Curating Versailles: Science and Splendour at the Science Museum”.

The Versailles landscape was carefully mapped by a scientist during 1660s. Finding water sources to create reservoires. Over eight million cubic waters then channelled to the palace, largely to supply the fountains. Matthew Howles on “Curating Versailles: Science and Splendour at the Science Museum”

Louis XIV "also understood science as a tool for diplomacy". Copies of these instruments were given as diplomatic gifts to Persia, Siam, and China. Matthew Howles (Science Museum) on “Curating Versailles: Science and Splendour at the Science Museum”.

Louis XVI founding the Royal Academy of Sciences in the 1660s. Matthew Howles (Science Museum) on “Curating Versailles: Science and Splendour at the Science Museum”.

Louis XVI founding the Royal Academy of Sciences in the 1660s. Matthew Howles (Science Museum) on “Curating Versailles: Science and Splendour at the Science Museum”.

Louis XV and Louis XVI had more personal interests in science, such as botany and astronomy for the former. Matthew Howles (Science Museum) on “Curating Versailles: Science and Splendour at the Science Museum”.

Matthew Howles (Science Museum) on “Curating Versailles: Science and Splendour at the Science Museum”. Exhibition introducing the image of Versailles as a "place of serious scientific" pursuits using objects from Versailles and other institutions.

On Monday 26 January, Matthew Howles (Science Museum) will delight us with his lecture on “Curating Versailles: Science and Splendour at the Science Museum”.

18:00 GMT – Online via Zoom

Register for free using this link:

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/matthew-ho...

Check out this Postdoc position below!

Don't forget to register for tomorrow's VSS session! See details below!

www.eventbrite.fr/e/jan-vss-bl...

Our first VSS session of 2026 takes place this Thursday, 15 January, at 18:00 CET/17:00 GMT!

Inés Viaña Morato (Universidad de Zaragoza) will examine the use of the colour black at the court of the Habsburgs, especially how it became Spain's official court colour

www.eventbrite.fr/e/jan-vss-bl...

📣 CFP from Prado National Museum, Madrid, for an international conference on the theme "Gothic Mediterranean Worlds"!

🗓 Proposals due 15 January

📍The conference will take place 9–11 September 2026 in Madrid

See the below post for more details!

Additionally, see Hayward - Stuart Style: Monarchy, Dress and the Scottish Male Elite (2021 monograph) might be useful in exploring how dress was linked to court ceremony and knightly/chivalric ideals of kingship and Court structures

Hope these help!

For Charles specifically see Cust - Charles I and the Aristocracy, 1625–1642 (2017 monograph) and his article on Charles & the Order of the Garter (2013)

Also Keenan - The Progresses, Processions, and Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625–1642 (2020 monograph) for reference to Charles' and ceremony

Don't forget to sign up for the final VSS session of 2025 tomorrow!

Royal Studies Journal 12.2 is now published, featuring the RSJ Article Prize Winner 2025, a global diplomacy cluster, five research articles and seven book reviews.

📖 Read the issue here: rsj.winchester.ac.uk/31/volume/12...
🎧Listen to the prize winner podcast here: bit.ly/4s5g7xI

Get ready for our December VSS session! Come along to hear Rebecca I. Arnheim talk about "Patronage and Power: Eleanora d'Aragona and Female Networks in Renaissance Italy"

🗓 Thursday 18 December, 18:00 CET/17:00 GMT online

Register here www.eventbrite.fr/e/dec-vss-pa...

New podcast episode available! Join @ewoodacre.bsky.social and Dr Kristen Vitale Engel who discuss the Dec RSJ Feature: Cluster on ‘Diplomacy as Performative Politics in the Early Modern Courts’

Royal Studies Journal: rsj.winchester.ac.uk

Listen here: www.buzzsprout.com/1934722/epis...

📣 CFP "Politics and Culture of the Late Stuart Court, 1649-1714"

🗓 250 word abstract due 5 Jan 2026
📍Symposium at Christ Church College, Cambridge 7 April 2026

Prof Maria Hayward as keynote speaker!