The Society for European Festivals Research

Welcome to the Society’s website

Aims

The Society for European Festivals Research brings together established and early-career scholars, including archivists and curators, from across Europe, the United States and more widely, engaged in Renaissance and Early Modern Festivals research. It promotes shared activities including conferences and publications and disseminates information about research developments.

Publications

The Society’s Series, European Festival Studies 1450–1700, initially published by Ashgate (2013-2017),,then appeared under the Routledge imprint of the Taylor and Francis Group (2017-2018) and from 2019 will be published by Brepols. The Series includes both monographs and edited collections stemming from SEFR conferences. The General Editors are J.R. Mulryne (Warwick), Margaret Shewring (Warwick), Margaret M McGowan (Sussex) and Marie-Claude Canova-Green (Goldsmiths, London). For further details see: https://www.routledge.com/European-Festival-Studies-1450-1700/book-series/EFS

Membership

Membership of the Society is available without fee to interested scholars via this website, or by entering ‘Society for European Festivals Research’ in your browser. We currently have more than 200 members across a range of countries and academic disciplines.

For further details about the Society, click here

News

SEFR Annual Conference, TURIN 2019

Our conference, organised as a joint initiative with the State Archives of Turin, will take place from Wednesday 18 September (from 13:30) to Friday 20 September (closing at 13:30) in the auditorium of the State Archive. The topic is:

The Role of Courtly Spectacle in the Politics and Diplomatic Entanglements of the House of Savoy in the Renaissance and Early Modern Periods (1450–1750).

Il ruolo dello spettacolo di corte nelle politiche e nelle relazioni diplomatiche di Casa Savoia dal Rinascimento all’età moderna (1450–1750).

For further details, including a list of speakers and papers, conference registration and details for visitors to Turin, click here.

For full programme, click here.

Professor J. R. (Ronnie) Mulryne (1937–2019)

Dear SEFR Friends and Colleagues

It is with great sadness that we write to let you know that J.R. (Ronnie) Mulryne died on Monday 28 January. He had become increasingly unwell in the past two months and, although he remained mentally alert, his body had become very frail as the cancer had spread and the treatments became more difficult to cope with. He died at home in his sleep. Full obituary here

Published by Routledge, July 2018

The Politics of Water in the Art and Festivals of Medici Florence: from Neptune Fountain to Naumachia.

A monograph by Felicia Else (Gettysburg College).

SEFR CONFERENCE: 30 April and 1 May 2018

Crossing Boundaries: confessional, political and cultural interactions in early modern festivals and diplomatic encounters

Venue: Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge

A highly successful conference including excellent contributions by new and early-career as well as established scholars. Invited conference papers will lead in due course to a volume, edited by Richard Morris, in the European Festival Studies 1450-1700 series.

At Press with Routledge: due late 2018

Occasions of State: Early Modern European Festivals and the Negotiation of Power

Edited by J.R. (Ronnie) Mulryne (Warwick), Krista De Jonge (K.U. Leuven), R.L.M. Morris (Cambridge) and Pieter Martens (K.U. Leuven).

Published by Routledge: November 2017

Architectures of Festival in Early Modern Europe: Fashioning and re-fashioning Urban and Courtly Space

Edited by J.R. (Ronnie) Mulryne (Warwick), Krista De Jonge (K.U. Leuven), Pieter Martens (K.U. Leuven) and R.L.M. Morris (Cambridge).

Collections

Substantial collections of Renaissance and Early Modern festival books

Collections