CMRC conference: Partners both in throne and grave: Mary and Elizabeth

A substantial award was granted by the School of Humanities to contribute towards one of the CMRC's first interdisciplinary conferences, ‘Partners both in throne and grave: Mary and Elizabeth', held at Chawton House Library in September 2007. Organized by Dr Alice Hunt (English) and Dr Anna Whitelock (History, University of Cambridge), the conference brought together historians, literary scholars, architects, art historians and musicians to reassess the reigns of Mary I and Elizabeth I. By focussing on such diverse aspects as politics, religion, personnel, ceremony, diplomacy, and costume across both the reigns, the conference's main aim was to suggest new ways of understanding both queens and to challenge traditional ideas of ‘queenship'. A highlight of the conference was a recital of sixteenth-century English and Spanish music by internationally acclaimed soprano, Catherine Bott, accompanied by renowned lutenist and CMRC member Elizabeth Kenny. A volume of essays generated by the conference has been accepted for publication by Palgrave Macmillan.  Tudor Queenship: The Reigns of Mary and Elizabeth will be edited by Alice Hunt and Anna Whitelock, and will be published in Palgrave's new Queenship and Power series in 2010.