We are now taking bookings for the 'Gifts and Perquisites' conference, to be held at Knole on 15 April 2013: http://scsconference.eventbrite.co.uk/#

This conference, organised by the Society for Court Studies, will address the customs of gift giving and perquisites during the medieval and early modern periods. Gifts and perquisites played a central role in networks of patronage and political negotiations and affirmed social bonds. They were also one of the most common means whereby royal furnishings were disseminated into courtier collections.

This conference will be held at Knole, the Kent home of the Sackville family which is cared for and managed by the National Trust. The collections at Knole include an unrivalled set of royal furnishings that were acquired as perquisites during the seventeenth century by Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex and Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset. The conference will include a tour of the house and its collections.

Speakers are: Professor Maria Hayward (University of Southampton), Dr Tracey Sowerby (Keble College, Oxford), Professor Chris Woolgar (University of Southampton), Catherine Daunt (Sussex University & The National Portrait Gallery), Dr Olivia Fryman (Historic Royal Palaces & SCS)

With a keynote lecture from Dr Felicity Heal (Emeritus Fellow, Jesus College, Oxford)

For further information, please contact Janet Dickinson: jedchesil@gmail.com