Conf/Prog - Spanish Royal Geographies in Early Modern Europe and America: Re-Thinking the Royal Sites/Geographies of Habsburg Politics and Religion, 4-5 May 2017, University of York, UK

Publish Date: Apr 10, 2017

Spanish Royal Geographies in Early Modern Europe and America: Re-thinking the Royal Sites / Geographies of Habsburg Politics and Religion

Spanish royal sites were a diverse and global network in early modern World making royal power visible and effectual. They expanded to other territory intermittently under Spanish rule beyond the Iberian Peninsula such as the Duchy of Milan, the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, the ten southernmost provinces of the Netherlands and the viceroyalties in America. They consisted of royal palaces and their affiliated landscapes such as forests, gardens, rural and urban centres, farms and factories. They were not only centres of administration, but also centres of innovation in culture, taste and technology. In this way, they were points for the transfer of knowledge, people and goods affording expansion and growth of the market place.

This symposium will investigate these centres as international geographies. The term ‘geography’ manifests our interest in the way the physicality of spaces and landscapes was acted upon and produced through cultural practices. This interlacing of physical and human agency is naturally wide-ranking and encompasses image-making, architectural, agricultural and administrative processes. Moreover, the religious geographies in Habsburg territories were particularly complex given that courtly forms of piety were coloured by local customs and traditions.

How were these royal geographies imagined and described? In what way do they activate histories and memories thus constructing loci of myth? How do they challenge existing interpretations of the boundaries between confessional identities and political solidarities? How do they help us to re-think the divisions between centres and peripheries of Habsburg power as kinetic and embodied spaces? For example, royal geographies beyond the kingdom of Castille within the Iberian Peninsula were ever more tightly interlinked with Madrid under Philip III and Philip IV when their respective favourites, the First Duke of Lerma and the Count-Duke of Olivares, were appointed as governors of the royal palaces in Castille and Andalusia and assumed authority over the Junta de Obras y Bosques, a committee set up by Philip II to manage the construction program of royal residences and palaces.

This workshop aims to reunite experts in this field, all from different disciplines (History of Art, History, History of Architecture, and Political Thought), with the objective of developing a comparative perspective on the complexities of royal geographies in a trans-national context.

This symposium is a collaboration of the History of Art Department and CREMS (Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies) at the University of York, the University of Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid (URJC), and the University Institute ‘La Corte en Europa’ (IULCE ) of the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM).

DAY 1 (Thursday 4 May)

15:00–16:15, Berrick Saul Lecture Theatre

  • Keynote Speaker: Prof. Helen Hills (History of Art Department, University of York), Title TBC

16:15–17:00 – Afternoon Coffee

17:00–18:30 –  Session 1: Castille

  • Chair: Simon Ditchfield (Department of History, University of York)
  1. José Eloy Hortal Muñoz (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos),
    The Political, Social and Cultural Role of Royal Sites at Europe at the Seventeenth Century: The Case of the Spanish Monarchy
  2. José Martínez Millán (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid),
    Spirituality at the Royal Alcázar of Madrid: The Triumph of Rome

19:30, The Assembly Rooms, ASK Restaurant, Blake Street – Dinner

DAY 2 (Friday 5 May)

10:00–11:15, Berrick Saul Lecture Theatre – Session 2: Catalonia and Portugal

  • Chair: José Eloy Hortal Muñoz

3. Ignasi Fernández Terricabras (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona),
Religion and Politics in Seventeenth-Century Catalan Royal Residences and Chapels

4. José Pedro Paiva (Universidade da Coimbra),
Religious Traces of the Presence of an Absent King: Philip II as King of Portugal (1581-98)

11:15–11:45 – Morning Coffee

11:45–13:00 – Session 3: The Habsburg Netherlands

  • Chair: Cordula van Wyhe (Department of History of Art, University of York)

5. Henar Pizarro Llorente (Universidad Pontificia de Comillas),
The Relevance of Rome at the Shape of the Spirituality at the Royal Convents in the Habsburg Netherlands: Juan Bautista Vives, Ambassador of Isabel Clara Eugenia and Promoter of Propaganda Fide

6. Dagmar Germonprez (University of Antwerp),
Royal Residences and Catholic Restoration in the Habsburg Netherlands: The Archdukes at Mariemont

13:00–14:15 – Lunch

14:15–15:30 – Session 4: Italian Peninsula

  • Chair: TBC

7. Giovanni Muto (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II),
Piety and Spirituality at the Sicilian Royal Residencies of the Seventeenth Century

8. Andrea Spiriti (Università degli Studi dell’Insubria),
The Religious Ceremonial Space of the Governor in the State of Milan During the Spanish Age (1535-1706)

15:30–16:00 – Afternoon Tea

16:00–17:15  – Session 5: American Viceroyalties

  • Chair: TBC

9. Guillermo Nieva (Universidad de Salta),
The Royal Chapel of Lima, Space of Ecclesiastical Promotion and Integration in the Seventeenth Century

17:15–17:45 – Round-Table Discussion with Prosecco: Book Proposal

For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.

Further Official Information

Link to Original

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Disciplines

Architecture

Art History

Culture

Geography

History

Political Sciences

Religious Studies

Eligible Countries

International

Host Countries

United Kingdom

Conference Types

Conference Programs