Monarchy on the Move: Performing Kingship in Renaissance England and France

The kings and queens of Renaissance Europe were constantly on the move, to connect with regional communities and to demonstrate - or 'perform' - their power.  Travel was essential to the assertion of personal monarchy, but it also imposed major logistical challenges.  Adopting a comparative perspective on England and France, this talk contrasts the strategies of Henry VIII (ruled 1509-47) and François Ier (ruled 1515-47) in terms of the mobility of kingship.  Direct contemporaries and intensely aware of one another, the two kings were also huge personal rivals.  Itineraries compiled by the UK 'Henry VIII on Tour' and French 'Cour de France' projects enable the two regimes to be compared.  In both kingdoms, royal tours brought the magnificence of the court to towns and countryside and made the monarchy more visible to the people.  Underlying the apparent similarities, however are some fundamental differences between the Renaissance kingship practised by François Ier of France and Henry VIII of England.

Speaker

John Cooper

LE STUDIUM Visiting Researcher

FROM: University of York - UK 
IN RESIDENCE AT: Centre for Advanced Studies in the Renaissance (CESR)  / CNRS, University of Tours - FR