Abstract Submissions by 15 August 2018
Europe’s past is overwhelmingly monarchical, yet the monarchies that remain in place today hardly resemble those that governed Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. Modernity has transformed monarchy from unquestioned and often sacred authority to an option of largely secular and usually democratic choice. If the words remain the same – along with the veneer of family names, titles, ceremonies and places of residence – their meaning has changed profoundly. Monarchies that once reigned supreme now survive at, at for, the people’s pleasure.
The academic literature, however, seldom measures the distance between monarchy’s historical meanings and its transformed manifestations today. This conference seeks to break disciplinary barriers by combining the outlooks of monarchical specialists on the one hand, and of social, cultural and political theorists on the other.
Conference themes
Contributions may address one or more of the following themes but are not limited to them:
- monarchy in political thought
- the relationship between spiritual and temporal powers
- royalism vs monarchism
- national and sovereign representation
- monarchy and property
- monarchy and its relations with religion
- theology and spirituality
- the royal imaginary
- royal rituals
- women and monarchy
- non-european monarchy.
Go to our Contact page to get in touch and submit your papers.
Conference details
The conference will be held at the University of Cambridge on 8-9 January 2019.
Further information will be available shortly.
