EMECC » News

Messages to Posterity - Tower Capsules in the German Lands

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 16:53:00 GMT

During a year of research leave, Prof. Beat Kümin has investigated the phenomenon of depositing chronicles and objects into tower spheres on top of prominent buildings like churches, town halls and fortifications. Documented from the Middle Ages to the present, seemingly only in and around territories of the erstwhile Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, the custom provides fascinating insights into how local societies saw themselves and what they wished to pass on to successive generations. The project, supported by the German Gerda Henkel Foundation, has so far identified over 1600 sites and thousands of separate deposits (at one Zurich church, there were no fewer than 20 between 1505 and 1996). The funder has just released a video series of six episodes (accessible in both English and German) documenting field work in Switzerland in autumn 2003.

[English Trailer] [Episodes] [Project Homepage]

Call for Papers - The Cultural Legacies of Corruption in Europe, 1500-today

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 13:09:00 GMT

The conference addresses the material, literary and visual culture associated with ‘corruption’ (broadly conceived). Relatively little attention has been paid to these dimensions of corrupt practices: to the gifts given as bribes, to the various material, artistic and cultural forms of public displays of corrupt wealth, and to the literary and visual representations of corruption. Nor has there been much debate about how to curate material bought or created with ‘corrupt’ money and how explain it to modern audiences.

A Tribute to Natalie Zemon Davis (1928-2023)

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 22:45:00 GMT

It is with much sadness that we have learned about the passing of Professor Natalie Zemon Davis on October 21, at the age of ninety-four. A Canadian-American, Professor Davis helped pioneer the genres of cultural and micro-history. Specialising in early modern period, she remained active in the field until her death, publishing a book in 2022 and nearly completing another in September of this year. Over the course of her career, she received numerous accolades and prizes. In 2012, she was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, and in 2013, she was honoured with a National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama in 2013.

Read a short tribute by members of the ��TV History department on Natalie's life, work and influence on our research community.

Visiting Professor Dena Goodman, University of Michigan

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:27:00 GMT

EMECC is happy to host Visiting Professor Dena Goodman (University of Michigan) in June 2023.

Professor Dena Goodman is Lila Miller Collegiate Professor of History and Women’s Studies (emerita) at the University of Michigan and co-director of ‘The Encyclopedia of Diderot and d’Alembert Collaborative Translation Project’. She is a cultural historian of eighteenth-century France, with particular interests in women and gender, material culture, writing and sociability. Her current project involves a family history during the French Revolution. It explores Enlightenment legacies in the domains of science and technology, intellectual sociability and state service. During her visit, she will work with cultural historians and literary scholars interested in conceptualising the links between sociability and political change

Events surrounding her visit include

A lecture, ‘Peace Dividends: Why French Scientists Travelled to Britain during the Peace of Amiens (1802-1803) and What They Brought Home’ (tba)

A keynote address for a conference on sociability: ‘Exploring the Political Implications of the Family/Friendship Binary for the History of Sociability, 1750-1850’ (June 9)

A meeting with PGRs and Postgraduates - open to all Humanities departments (tba)

A meeting with IAS Fellows (tba)

If you would like to meet with Professor Goodman to discuss research, please feel free to contact Charles.Walton@warwick.ac.uk.

Call for Papers, Sociability in Politics, Food and Travel in the Early Modern Era

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 14:53:00 GMT

The Early Modern and Eighteenth-Century Centre at the University of ��TV, together with GIS Sociabilités/Sociability network in France, aims to explore the intersection of sociability with the themes of food, politics and travel in the early modern period (1550-1850). The conference coincides with the Visiting Professorship of Dena Goodman (University of Michigan), who has devoted much of her career to studying sociability in eighteenth-century France. In her keynote, she will reflect on the political implications of the family/friendship binary for the history of sociability between 1750 and 1850.

Midlands4Cities Collaborative Doctoral Award with Lord Leycester Hospital

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 13:10:08 GMT

Funding call for full Midlands4Cities Collaborative Doctoral Award studentship at ��TV History for 'Almshouse, Guild & Town Community: The Lord Leycester Hospital in its Urban Setting.' In partnership with The Lord Leycester Hospital. Co-supervised by Dr Naomi Pullin, Prof. Beat Kumin b.kumin@warwick.ac.uk, & Dr Heidi Allen. Deadline 11 January 2023.

Exhibitions & Displays, Tiny Traces: African & Asian Children at London's Foundling Hospital

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 10:21:32 GMT

Explore newly uncovered stories of African and Asian children in the care of the eighteenth-century Foundling Hospital.

Hannah Dennett is co-curator

30 Sep 2022 - 19 Feb 2023

Dr Henry Cohn (1936-2021)

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 09:05:00 GMT

"The History Department is deeply saddened by the passing of its Emeritus Reader, Dr Henry J. Cohn. Henry grew up in London and entered University College, Oxford, as a scholar, in 1954. Having taken his BA in 1957 and DPhil in 1963 (with a thesis on the government of the Rhine Palatinate in the fifteenth century), he moved on to a temporary post at Glasgow and a Lectureship in History at Leicester before coming to ��TV in 1967, two years after the foundation of the university. Here, he immediately gained the respect of his colleagues, serving as acting head in 1969 when still a lecturer and leading the department formally from 1986-89. As he told Bernard Capp and Fred Reid respectively, the latter proved a 'doddle' early on but then turned into a demanding job that required all his managerial and administrative skills. He convened a second-year module on ‘Germany in the Age of the Reformation’ and a Year 3 special subject on ‘The German Peasants’ War 1524-25', taking all his academic duties extremely seriously and setting exacting standards in all student-facing activities right up to his retirement in 2003. At the same time, however, Henry remained a distinguished researcher, drawing not least on his knowledge of multiple languages. He had particular interests in the political history of the Holy Roman Empire on the eve of the Reformation (the subject of a monograph on The Government of the Rhine Palatinate in the Fifteenth Century, translated into German in 2013), the German Peasants’ War of 1525 (where he identified anticlericalism as a central factor in a seminal 1979 Past & Present article) and latterly the Imperial Diet (the subject of several recent essays). As a recognized authority in the field of Reformation studies, he served as external examiner to Lyndal Roper, now Regius Professor of History at Oxford. Alongside, Henry took a life-long interest in Jewish history, most recently with a focus on the contested pontificate of Pius XII. At this moment, our thoughts are with his wife Loretta, family and friends. The History Department will remember Dr Henry J. Cohn as an esteemed colleague, dedicated teacher and eminent scholar."

For personal recollections by friends and former colleagues see:

/fac/arts/history/ecc/people/henryjcohn/

"The Uses of History in Religious Controversies from Erasmus to Baronio"

Wed, 03 Feb 2021 12:48:49 GMT

Dr Stefan Bauer has published a special issue on The Uses of History in Religious Controversies from Erasmus to Baronio, with articles from 7 authors (Renaissance Studies, 35, 2021, no. 1). ��TV students and staff can access the volume through this link, others can access it here.

6 & 8 January 2021 - The annual conference of the British Society for Eighteenth-century Studies

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 10:44:57 GMT

They welcome panel proposals from Eighteenth-century Centres throughout the UK and seek to encourage penal proposals involving postgraduates, research fellows and senior faculty members. The deadline to receive proposals is November 30. If you have an idea for a panel theme, please feel free to get in touch with me so that we can coordinate our proposals. For information about BSECS and the conference, please click here.