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Orders of chivalry were key institutions of aristocratic and courtly society. And they proved remarkably adaptable. From their origins in the middle ages to their final efforescence in the European empires of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, they were successfully refounded and remodelled to suit changing social, political, military and adminstrative circumstances.
This year is the 275th anniversary of the refoundation of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1725. To mark it, the Society for Court Studies is organising a two-day conference on British Orders of Chivalry. The first day, 21 September 2000, at the Society of Antiquaries in London, will deal with the Bath and the nineteenth-century expansion of chivalric orders; the second day, 22 September 2000, at St. George's House, Windsor Castle, with the Garter and the Thistle.
The papers will focus on the broad political context of the foundation and granting of British Orders, on the one hand, and, on the other, on their 'iconography' of insignia and ceremonial. Speakers will include Peter Galloway, Andrew Hanham, Fionn Pilbrow, David White (Rouge Croix), Charles Burnett (Ross Herald), Nicholas Cranfield, Hannes Kleinecke and Shelagh Mitchell. There will be specially guided visits to the Stalls of the Bath at Westminster Abbey and to the Garter Stalls and Throne Room at Windsor and the Royal Collection of Orders and Decorations.
The conference rates are £40 for 21 September and £45 for 22 September. Discounts are available for students and for members of the Society.
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