Conference Date: Thursday 24 – Friday 25 August 2006, Canterbury Christ Church University

This interdisciplinary conference aims to explore the ritual and rhetoric of queenship in late medieval and early modern England.

We hope to encourage debate on the image and representation of queens, and on the cultural and political narratives of queenship.

Topics might include but are not limited to:

the representation of queens in early modern drama;

texts and textiles produced by queens;

queenship and prose romance;

portraiture;

the ritual construction of queenship;

queenship, identity and power;

holy and sainted queens;

royal motherhood;

queens as intercessors and patrons;

queens in translation.

We are delighted to announce that our keynote speaker will be Professor Lisa Hopkins (Sheffield Hallam University). Our two plenary speakers will be Dr Joanna Laynesmith (author of The Last Medieval Queens) and Dr Jacqueline Eales (Canterbury Christ Church University).

Please email proposals for papers (approx. 250 words) and a brief CV to the conference organisers: Dr Liz Oakley-Brown, lecturer in Shakespeare and Renaissance Writing, and Dr Louise Wilkinson, lecturer in Medieval History