It is with great sadness that we share the recent death of Robert J. Knecht, Emeritus Professor of French History at the University of Birmingham, UK, author of publications on French Renaissance and Early Modern History and, over more than twenty years, an active participant in conferences and projects involving European Festivals Research. He will be much missed.

CfP: International Conference on Art History & Visual and Material Culture, ‘Celebrations at Court Ephemeral Objects, Materials, and Machineries in the Early Modern Period’. 2–3 November 2023 at the University of Copenhagen and at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, Denmark. Deadline 20 March 2023. Project website here;  CfP link here.

The Centre for Comparative Literature, Goldsmiths in collaboration with the Society for European Festivals Research, University of Warwick, (8-9 June 2022). To be held via Zoom.

Full details, including conference programme, abstracts and speaker details, are on the Goldsmiths' website, https://sites.gold.ac.uk/comparative-literature/spectacular-orientalism-in-early-modern-europe/

The registration form for the conference can be accessed via the link below. Registration is free but essential. Please note that you will need to register in order to receive the link needed to attend. Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/spectacular-orientalism-in-early-modern-europe-1529-1683-tickets-332707124967

The Society for European Research (SEFR), in collaboration with the Historic Coventry Trust and Medieval Coventry, is pleased to announce a conference to celebrate Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture 2021. 'Celebrations, Communities and Performances' will be held 20-22nd April 2022 at the Drapers' Hall, Coventry. This conference will see (SEFR) collaborate with academics, curators, independent researchers, industry professionals, students, and community groups.

The online conference on 'Spectacular Orientalism in Early Modern Europe (1529–1683)', organised by the Centre for Comparative Literature, Goldsmiths, University of London, in collaboration with the Society for European Festivals Research, has been postponed. The new dates are 8-9 June 2022. Full programme and registration details will be available in early May, 2022.

On 17th April 2020, the 385th anniversary of the Joyous Entry of Cardinal-Infant Ferdinand of Spain into Antwerp, which had taken place on this day in 1635. This conference had originally been planned to mark the anniversary. This event, which includes a number of SEFR members among the speakers, was originally scheduled to take place in April 2020 at the Rubenianum in Antwerp and has been postponed. Now, due to the dynamic situation of the Covid-19-pandemic, the two-day conference will take place in a digital format. DATE: 10 and 11 December 2020, 15:30 - 18:40

Individuele bezoekers

This event brings together the leading scholars of this field of art and ritual history whose contributions have made it possible to gain a deeper understanding of the early modern festivities held in the Netherlands to assert and negotiate power between the ruler and the ruled. Together with (young) colleagues and specialists from adjacent disciplines, we aim to discuss the challenges and opportunities of studying such significant moments in history. Full details of the programme are available at https://www.rubenianum.be/nl/activiteit/step-step. Please register for the conference via email to sabrina.lind@UGent.be and ivo.raband@uni-hamburg.de to receive further information and access to the event.

Update concerning the recent call for papers for the journal Arti dello Spettacolo / Performing Arts: ‘Performance and Spectacle in Early Modern Europe’. Please click here for full details.

Donatella Gavrilovich has invited Margaret Shewring to co-edit, with Silvia Carandini and Leila Zammar, the 2020 issue of the journal Arti dello Spettacolo / Performing Arts. The issue will be titled Performance and Spectacle in Early Modern Europe and is intended as a tribute to Ronnie Mulryne. Please do consider offering an article. It will be a great way not only to celebrate Ronnie’s contribution to Festival Studies but, of course, to make the cross-disciplinary study of festivals more widely known. Full details here https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/festivals/news/zzzz_call_for_papers_2020_2.pdf