A growing curiosity about the history of animals invites further study and an interdisciplinary approach to animals at court.

Argument

Whoever does research on courts encounters, if only peripherally, animals: from horses to hounds, falcons to fleas. Animals at court included animals for food production and consumption; for transport; for the hunt; for equestrian sports; for defence; for companionship; or simply for exhibition as exotica. Animals had symbolic functions too, as indicators of power and rank for princes and courtiers (in crests and coats of arms, for example the double-headed eagle of Austria), and as representations of life at court (as in La Fontaine’s phrase Peuple cameleon, people singe du maitre).

A growing curiosity about the history of animals invites further study and an interdisciplinary approach to animals at court.

We welcome proposals that analyse the functions of animals for courts, from basic ones, such as livestock and game to animals as companions or as part of symbolic representation. The period covered is from 1400 to 1918.

Submission guidelines

Proposals should comprise an abstract of no longer than one page.

Papers can be delivered in English, German, or French.

The deadline is on December the 8th 2015

A conference volume is planned.

This Conference will be the first conference of the German branch of the London-based Society for Court Studies, from 8th to 10th December 2016

For further information, or to send abstracts, please contact:

Dr. Annette C. Cremer
Historisches Institut
Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10 C
35394 Gießen
Tel.: +49.641.99 28196
Tel.: +49.641.99 28171 (Sekretariat)

annette.cremer@geschichte.uni-giessen.de

Or: Prof. Dr. Mark Hengerer
Historisches Seminar der LMU
Frühe Neuzeit
Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
80539 München
Tel.: +49 (0) 89 / 2180 - 5557
Fax: +49 (0) 89 / 2180 - 5663

E-Mail: Mark.Hengerer@lrz.uni-muenchen.de

Scientific coordinators

• Dr. Annette C. Cremer, Historisches Institut, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
• Prof. Dr. Mark Hengerer, Ludwig-Maximilian University