Mixed Courts: Dynasty, Politics, and Religion in the Early Modern World

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Mixed Courts: Dynasty, Politics, and Religion in the Early Modern World

Veranstalter
Forschungszentrum Gotha der Universität Erfurt / Deutsches Historisches Institut London; Organizers: Benjamin Marschke (Humboldt State), Michael Schaich (Deutsches Historisches Institut London), Alexander Schunka (Forschungszentrum Gotha der Universität Erfurt); Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Veranstaltungsort
Konferenzraum der Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Schloss Friedenstein, 99867 Gotha
Ort
Gotha
Land
Deutschland
Vom - Bis
14.03.2013 - 16.03.2013
Deadline
04.03.2013
Website
Von
Schunka, Alexander

European monarchies in the early modern period legitimized their rule largely in terms of dynasty and religion. This is most apparent in religious ceremonies at familial and political occasions. In this ideal type scenario, the divine right of a ruler correlated with the official confession of his territory, and early modern politics were oriented towards the goal of a confessional unity of dynasty, court, and subjects - this has been seemingly incontrovertible since the triumph of the confessionalization paradigm. It is thereby assumed that at the royal courts themselves only a single confession was practiced. What, though, if this was not the case, and multiple confessions (or even different religions) came together there?

In recent years the challenges which accompanied the presence of multiple confessions in one society have been thematized in various ways, though hardly any emphasis has been placed on rulers' courts. In fact, in the early modern period mixed courts with more than one confession were a common phenomenon - especially because of dynastic strategies such as marriage alliances. Typically such bonds stood in diametrical opposition to the presumed norm of early modern mono-confessionalism. If even the ruling family (supposedly a role model) obviously cast doubt on their confession's exclusive claim to the God-given truth, then this could not remain otherwise unchallenged. From this followed new challenges regarding dynastic legitimation and monarchical self-representation. In many cases new and special ceremonies were required at court, resulting, for instance, in multiple wedding celebrations. Such marriages were often preceded by lengthy political and theological negotiations, which could lead to public controversies and diplomatic confrontations. Where both partners kept their old confessional allegiances new religious spaces and clerical establishments had to be created. Mixed courts could raise the populace's fears of confessional alterations as well as hopes for interconfessional collaboration, institutionalized religious coexistence, and the end of confessional disputes.

The conference "Mixed Courts" is dedicated to exploring in a comparative context the political and religious effects of bi-confessional royal marriages and courts on dynastic, representative/symbolic, diplomatic, theological, and epistemological levels. Another goal is to bring together multifarious perspectives of early modern European studies that have heretofore generally been discussed only separately - such as domestic and international politics, court culture, church history, and the history of ideas - by examining an issue where they all intersect. Finally, the conference aims to break up a purely European perspective by integrating case studies from non-European courts into its wider conceptual framework.

Programm

Thursday, 14 March, 2013

9.00-9.15 hrs
Welcome:
Kai Brodersen, President, Universität Erfurt
Andreas Gestrich, Director, German Historical Institute, London
Martin Mulsow, Director, Forschungszentrum Gotha der Universität Erfurt

9.15-9.30 hrs
Introduction (Ben Marschke/Michael Schaich/Alexander Schunka)

9.30-10.00 hrs
Coffee Break

Session 1: The Holy Roman Empire

10.00-10.45 hrs
The Imperial Court in Vienna: Confessional Politics and Family Relations at the Center of a Composite Monarchy in the Early 18th Century (Ines Peper, Vienna)

10.45-11.30 hrs
Uniting the Thames and the Rhine: The Palatine Match Revisited (Howard Louthan, Florida)

11.30-11.45 hrs
Coffee Break

11.45-12.30 hrs
Bi-Confessional Marriages and Religious Conflict at the Courts of Saxony in the Eighteenth Century (Anne-Simone Rous, Gotha)

12.30-14.00 hrs
Lunch Break

14.00-14.45 hrs
Confessional Identity, Pan-Protestantism, and Secularization: Cross-Confessional Marriage Projects in the House of Hohenzollern in the Eighteenth Century (Benjamin Marschke, Humboldt State)

14.45-15.30 hrs
Minor German Courts and Confessional Irenicism in the Eighteenth Century (Alexander Schunka, Gotha)

15.30-16.00 hrs
Coffee Break

Session 2: The Global Perspective

16.00-16.45 hrs
Pluralism of Religions or Religious Competition? The Indian Mughal Court under Akbar (Antje Fluechter, Heidelberg)

16.45-17.30 hrs
Religious Pluralism at the Siamese court (16-18 c.) (Sven Trakulhun, Zürich)

17.30-18.00 hrs
Coffee Break

18.00-19.30 hrs
Keynote: Courts, Rulers, and Religion: A Global and Comparative Perspective (Jeroen Duindam, Leiden)

Friday, 15 March, 2013

Session 3: Northern and Western Europe

9.00-9.45 hrs
"Now the King will turn a catholic": The Mixed Marriage of Henrietta Maria and Charles I as a Projection Space of Religious Difference (Dagmar Freist, Oldenburg)

9.45-10.30 hrs
Multiconfessional Courts in the British Composite Monarchy around 1700 (Michael Schaich, London)

10.30-11.00 hrs
Coffee Break

11.00-11.45 hrs
Dynastic and Religious Ambitions in the Confessionally-Mixed Marriage Projects at the Early Modern Swedish Court (Daniel Riches, Alabama)

11.45-12.30 hrs
Wild Boars and Englishmen. The Archdukes Albert and Isabella and the Neighbouring Mixed Courts (Luc Duerloo, Antwerp)

12.30-14.00 hrs
Lunch Break

Session 4: Western and Southern Europe

14.00-14.45 hrs
Monsieur is Worth a Mass: The Changing Emphasis of Personal Confessions in Bourbon Royal Marriages, 1599 to 1671 (Jonathan Spangler, Manchester)

14.45-15.30 hrs
Mixed Courts, Mixed Feelings: The Papal Perspective on Multi-Confessional Courts in Europe (Birgit Emich, Erlangen)

Saturday, 16 March, 2012

Session 5: Central and Eastern Europe

9.00-9.45 hrs
Protestants at Catholic Courts in Sixteenth-Century Poland (Maciej Ptaszyński, Warsaw)

9.45-10.30 hrs
Calvinist Confessionalism and the Transylvanian Court (Graeme Murdock, Dublin)

10.30-11.00 hrs
Coffee Break

11.00-11.45 hrs
Mixed Marriages at the Russian Court During the First Half of the 18th Century (Lorenz Erren, Moscow)

11.45-12.45 hrs
Concluding Remarks and Discussion (Andreas Gestrich, London)

Kontakt

Kristina Petri
Forschungszentrum Gotha der Universität Erfurt
Schloss Friedenstein
Pagenhaus
99867 Gotha
http://www.uni-erfurt.de/forschungszentrum-gotha/
https://www.facebook.com/ForschungszentrumGotha
Phone +49 (0)3 61 737 1712
Fax +49 (0)3 61 737 1739
Email: kristina.petri@uni-erfurt.de