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In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews Heidi Dawson-Hobbis on her work on the mortuary chests at Winchester Cathedral. We discuss the history of the mortuary chests, the challenges of identifying which bones belonged to and the only woman whose bones were in the chests--the fascinating queen Emma of Normandy.
Guest Bio: Dr Heidi Dawson-Hobbis is a senior lecturer in Biological Anthropology at the University of Winchester and a specialist in working with human skeletal remains. She has been a researcher on the Winchester Cathedral mortuary chests project since 2012 and contributed to the Kings & Scribes exhibition at the Cathedral which opened in 2019. She is currently in the process of writing the project up for publication. Previous projects involve research on medieval children published as a book in 2014 titled Unearthing late medieval children: health, status and burial practice on southern England and she is also currently working on a 19th century cemetery population from Bristol with a book chapter published in 2024: Uncovering the lives of late-eighteenth- and nineteenth-century inhabitants of Bristol through osteoarchaeological and documentary analysis in: The material body.
Find out more/Follow Heidi on social media:
Winchester Cathedral | Mortuary Chests
Heidi Dawson-Hobbis | LinkedIn
Heidi Dawson-Hobbis (@ofbonesandearth.bsky.social) — Bluesky -
In this episode, host Megan Barber interviews Alfred Hawkins, curator at Historic Royal Palaces on his work at the Tower of London. The interview explores the many faceted role of the Tower as a palace, fortress and prison, its rich history and what royal life there was like in different eras.
Guest Bio: Alfred Hawkins is a historian, buildings archaeologist, curator, and broadcaster with a decade of experience working in the commercial archaeology, heritage, and museum sectors. As Curator of Historic Buildings for HM Tower of London, and Cathedral Archaeologist at Salisbury & Portsmouth Cathedrals, he helps to conserve, research, and share the histories of some of Englands most important sites. Alongside overseeing numerous large scale development and conservation projects he regularly makes on screen appearances on various documentaries including Channel 5’s Inside the Tower, Discovery Channel’s Unearthed and BBC’s Digging for Britain.
Select Publications:
Hayward, K. M. J., Hawkins, A. R. J., ‘The Spiral Stair in the Norman Flamsteed Turret within the White Tower at HM Tower of London: An Architectural and Petrological Examination’ Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society (Forthcoming, 2026) Hawkins, A. R. J., Faillace, K., Madgwick, R., & Sidell, J. (2025). Life, death and worship at his Majestie’s Tower of London: excavations outside the Chapel Royal and Royal Peculiar of Saint Peter ad Vincula. Archaeological Journal, 182(1), 3–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/00665983.2025.2491919Alfred Hawkins ‘The Peculiar Case of a Royal Peculiar: A Problem of Faculty at the Tower of London’ in, Ecclesiastical Law Journal, Vol 24 (3) pp. 1-19Follow Alfred/HRP on Social Media:
alfredrjhawkins.bsky.social (BlueSky)Alfredrjhawkins_history (instagram)ARJ_Hawkins (X)HistoricRoyalPalaces on InstagramHRP_Palaces / TowerofLondon on Xhistoric.royal.palaces on TikTok. -
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We are joined by Dr. Elizabeth Eltze to discuss the reign of Amannote-erike, ancient King of Kush. Elizabeth is an early career researcher in ancient northeast African studies – primarily Nubiology. Originally from South Africa, she moved to Auckland, New Zealand some years ago, and completed her studies in Ancient History at the University of Auckland with a doctoral degree in 2019.
Guest Bio:
Liz continues to research ancient Egypt and Sudan, and has recently moved into museum and heritage studies, focusing on African collections in museums and in Africa and the repatriation debate. She is passionate about researching and teaching African history and the intersectional identities at the heart of African heritages. Currently working at the Auckland University of Technology in Research Support, and generally being a nuisance to museums and other researchers around the globe, Liz publishes as frequently as her neurospiciness will allow her to. See some of her publications below:
Eltze, Elizabeth. “Putting your best foot forward: Two votive offerings of feet at Temple T at Kawa.” Der Antike Sudan. Mitteilungen der Sudanarchäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin 29 (2018): 97-105. https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/mittsag/article/download/90583/85199
Eltze, Elizabeth. “‘Nom de Guerre’ or Misnomer? Brief considerations regarding the titularies of Amannote‐erike*.” KUSH 1 (2014): 1-13.
Follow Elizabeth on academia.edu
For more on Queens of Kush:
Lohwasser, Angelika. “Queenship in Kush: Status, Role and Ideology of Royal Women.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 38 (2001): 61-76. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40000552
Lohwasser, Angelika and Jacke Phillips. “Women in Ancient Kush.” In The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia, edited by Geoff Emberling and Bruce Beyer Williams, 1015–1032. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.
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In this episode, host Dr Ellie Woodacre interviews Matthieu Mensch on his book Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France: Daughter of Marie-Antoinette and Almost Queen, which will be published in May 2026 in Routledge's Lives of Royal Women series. We discuss the trials and tribulations that Marie-Thérèse experienced during the French Revolution and her vital role, in the ever shifting landscape of monarchy in 19th century France.
Guest Bio: Matthieu Mensch is a PhD graduate of the Universities of Strasbourg and Federico II of Naples. His research focuses on queenship studies, court studies and the iconography of royal women in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He is currently a research associate at the ARCHE Laboratory in the Faculty of Historical Sciences at the University of Strasbourg. He published Les femmes de Louis XVIII at Perrin in 2024 and he is working now on the exile of the queens and princesses of France between 1789 and 1866. His last paper "The Duchess of Berry, royal widow and symbol of hope, between tradition and innovation" published in the Rivista dell'Istituto di Storia dell'Europa Mediterranea is now avalaibale on line.
Connect with Matthieu:
Instagram : matthieu.menschLinkedin : Matthieu Mensch -
In this episode, the second of our Marie Antoinette related trio, host Dr Ellie Woodacre interviews Tia Caswell on her comparative study of Marie Antoinette and Queen Victoria. We discuss the rationale for bringing these two queens together and what we can learn about both women and queenship from this study.
Guest Bio: Tia Caswell successfully defended her doctoral thesis at the University of Nottingham in December 2025, titled: Marie-Antoinette l'Autrichienne and Victoria the German Queen: Negotiating Gender and Foreignness in Satire and Portraiture. Tia also holds an MRes in Modern Langauges, from the University of Nottingham, and a BA Joint Hons in French and German from Nottingham Trent University. Tia's MRes thesis explores: "Queen Victoria and Prince Albert: Constructing a Sustainable Monarchy and Negotiating Gender and Foreignness Under conditions of Precarity".
Links:
LinkedinReview of Tate Britain Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520 - 1920 - BSECSStyle and Society: Dressing the Georgians - BSECSCrown to Couture: The Fashion Show of The Centuries - BSECSLunchtime Lectures: Queen of Style or Scandal? Negotiating Queenship, Identity, and Politics in the Portraits of Marie-Antoinette - V&A Academy Talk at V&A South Kensington · V&A -
In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews Dr Sarah Grant, lead curator for the V&A's incredibly popular 'Marie Antoinette Style' exhibition. We'll discuss the exhibition, the inspiration behind it and what it tells us about Marie Antoinette and her legacy.
Guest Bio: Dr Sarah Grant is a Senior Curator in the Department of Art, Architecture, Photography & Design at the V&A. Sarah holds a doctorate in eighteenth-century French art from the University of Oxford and a Masters in eighteenth-century French decorative arts from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her books include Marie Antoinette Style; Female Portraiture and Patronage in Marie-Antoinette’s Court; Toiles de Jouy: French printed cottons 1760–1830 and Style and Satire: Fashion in Print 1777-1927. Her exhibitions include Marie Antoinette Style; Modern Masters: Matisse, Picasso, Dali & Warhol and Fashion Fantasies.
If you missed the exhibition, you can still order and enjoy the exhibition catalogue!
Follow Sarah on Instagram: @sarahgrantcurator
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In this episode, host Victoria Barlow interviews Dr Brooke Newman about her recent book The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas. A story hereto relatively unknown to the public (though largely accepted in academic circles), the discussion delves into how, throughout the centuries, the British monarchy heavily invested into and greatly profited from the Atlantic Slave Trade. Dealing with such a contentious but important topic, Brooke explains why she wrote it for wider audiences, and the significance that this decision might have for the royal family.
Guest bio:
Dr. Brooke Newman is an Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She specializes in the history of early modern Britain and the British Atlantic, with a focus on slavery and its legacies. She is the author of the award-winning book, A Dark Inheritance: Blood, Race, and Sex in Colonial Jamaica (Yale, 2018), and The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas (Mariner, 2026). Her writing and research have been featured in the Guardian, the Washington Post, Der Spiegel, and Smithsonian Magazine, and she has served as a historical expert for HBO's Last Week Tonight, Vox, the BBC, and NPR, among others.
Follow Brooke Newman on social media:
@drbrookenewman [instagram]
@brookenewman.bsky.social [Bluesky]
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In this podcast we delve into the story of female sovereignty and chiefly women in Aotearoa New Zealand via the story of Meri Te Tai Mangakahia and Queen Victoria.
Our guest speaker Dr. Miranda Johnson is a historian of colonialism and decolonisation, focusing on issues of settler identity, race, indigeneity, citizenship, and the politics of writing history. Her research focuses on Anglophone settler societies of the South Pacific and North America. Her first book, The Land is Our History: Indigeneity, Law and the Settler State (Oxford University Press, 2016) examined the wide-ranging effects of legal claims of Indigenous peoples in the settler states of New Zealand, Australia, and Canada in the late twentieth century. It won the W. K. Hancock Prize in 2018 from the Australian Historical Association. She is currently finishing a book tentatively titled: Redeemer Nation: Myth, History, and the Limits of Biculturalism in a Settler Colonial Society. This book examines the fraught imaginary of ‘biculturalism’ in Aotearoa New Zealand, between the 1970s-2020s, paying particular attention to history-making and changing historical consciousness over the past five decades. With Associate Professor Paerau Warbrick she is collating a collection of Māori petitions to the colonial New Zealand and British imperial governments in the nineteenth century, funded by a University of Otago Research Grant.
You can find Miranda’s chapter related to this podcast under the title:
"Chiefly Women: Queen Victoria, Meri Mangakahia, and the Māori Parliament." In Mistress of Everything: Queen Victoria in Indigenous Worlds, 228-245 (Manchester University Press, 2016).
For Miranda’s full list of publications, see: https://www.otago.ac.nz/history/our-people-in-history/associate-professor-miranda-johnson
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In this episode, host Victoria Barlow interviews Lionel Arsac about the recent exhibition at the Palace of Versailles: The Grand Dauphin (1661-1711). Son of a king, father of a king and never king. This exhibition shines a light on the relatively unknown life and career of Louis of France (son and heir of the famous Louis XIV). Their discussion outlines the importance of remembering this interesting figure and explores the organisation of such an extraordinary exhibition.
Guest Bio:
Lionel Arsac has been curator of sculptures at the Palace of Versailles since 2017 and, since 2019, head of preventive conservation of the collections. In addition to numerous articles on the sculptures of Versailles, Lionel has taken an interest in subjects as diverse as the uses of oriental carpets at Court, Proust and Versailles, and, more recently, the sculpture collections of Ange Laurent La Live de Jully. Lionel has curated several exhibitions at the Palace of Versailles: Rediscovered Masterpieces. Zephyr and Flora and Abundance (2022), Louis XIV by Bernini, Genius and Majesty (2025) and, recently, The Grand Dauphin. Son of a king, father of a king and never king.
Follow Lionel on Instagram: @lionelarsac
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The mini series within the Royal Studies Podcast on Monarchy & Money is hosted by Charlotte Backerra from the University of Klagenfurt in Austria, and Cathleen Sarti from the University of Oxford in the UK. In these Monarchy & Money episodes, they are talking with scholars on why economic questions are important to understand monarchical rule, and how royals are interacting with the economies of their kingdoms and beyond their territories. They are also always happy to hear about research into economic, financial, and business activities of monarchies and dynastic rulers of all kind.
Guest Bio:
After completing his doctoral thesis Servants of Fortune in Lund, Fabian Persson is now Professor in History at Linnaeus University in Sweden. His main expertise lies in the history of the early modern Swedish court but he has also written on patronage, corruption, dynasty, royal bodies alive as well as dead and court mourning. He is currently finishing monographs on hunting at court, space at court, and “Modernizing Monarchy”. He is also editing an anthology on court ordinances and another on female succession.
His publications in English include Survival and Revival. Sweden's Court and Monarchy, 1718 to 1930 (Palgrave Macmillan 2020), Women at the Early Modern Swedish Court: Power, Risk, and Opportunity (Amsterdam University Press 2021), and Resilience and Recovery at Royal Courts, 1200–1840 (edited volume together with Cinzia Recca and Munro Price, Palgrave Macmillan 2023).
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The mini series within the Royal Studies Podcast on Monarchy & Money is hosted by Charlotte Backerra from the University of Klagenfurt in Austria, and Cathleen Sarti from the University of Oxford in the UK. In these Monarchy & Money episodes, they are talking with scholars on why economic questions are important to understand monarchical rule, and how royals are interacting with the economies of their kingdoms and beyond their territories. They are also always happy to hear about research into economic, financial, and business activities of monarchies and dynastic rulers of all kind.
Guest Bio:
Veronika Hyden-Hanscho holds the prestigious Elise-Richter Fellowship awarded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The topic of her current project is “Income, Management and Economic Thinking. Noble Entrepreneurship in the Eighteenth-Century Habsburg Monarchy” and focuses on the Habsburg aristocracy as a driving force for economic development. She is Assistant Professor at the University of Klagenfurt. In 2011, she earned a PhD at the University of Graz (Austria). She was Lecturer for Austrian Studies at the University of Wrocław (Poland) and Research Associate at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna from 2013 to 2023 as well as visiting scholar at the University of Ghent (Belgium). She is the author of ‘Reisende, Migranten, Kulturmanager. Mittlerpersönlichkeiten zwischen Frankreich und dem Wiener Hof (1630–1730)’ (Stuttgart, 2013) and co-editor of ‘Formative Modernities in the Early Modern Atlantic and Beyond. Identities, Polities and Glocal Economies’ (Singapore 2023).
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The mini series within the Royal Studies Podcast on Monarchy & Money is hosted by Charlotte Backerra from the University of Klagenfurt in Austria, and Cathleen Sarti from the University of Oxford in the UK. In these Monarchy & Money episodes, they are talking with scholars on why economic questions are important to understand monarchical rule, and how royals are interacting with the economies of their kingdoms and beyond their territories. They are also always happy to hear about research into economic, financial, and business activities of monarchies and dynastic rulers of all kind.
Guest Bio:
Katia Wright completed her PhD at the University of Winchester in 2022 with her thesis regarding five English queens across the fourteenth century as landowners, and more specifically their dower lands. Katia has worked on several joint projects and publications including co-editing a special edition of the Royal Studies Journal and her chapter on understanding the dowers of England’s medieval queens. She is part of the project on the Examining the Resources and Revenues of Royal Women in Premodern Europe (also known as the Queen's Resources). Katia is also the Assistant Curator (Archives) of the AGC Museum, Winchester.
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In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews the editor of the cluster ‘Diplomacy as Performative Politics in the Early Modern Courts’, as featured in the December 2025 issue of the Royal Studies Journal (issue 12.2). We discuss the inspiration behind this theme and delve into the contents of the cluster and its original and innovative approach to early modern diplomacy, rulership and courts.
Guest Bio/Info:
Dr Kristen Vitale Engel is an early modern historian who specializes in the early Tudor state, performative politics, and late medieval and early modern European court culture. She successfully defended her doctoral dissertation (thesis), titled “Henrician Spectacle: Courtly Festivity as Performative Politics in Early Tudor England, 1485-1533” in April 2025 at the University of Connecticut. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor of History in the School of Graduate, Online and Continuing Education at Fitchburg State University. Kristen is the Submissions Editor for the Royal Studies Journal, the Editor-in-Chief of “The Court Observer” for the Society of Court Studies, the International Ambassador (US) for HistoryLab+ in partnership with the Institute of Historical Research, a podcast host for the “Early Modern History” channel on the New Books Network, and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Forthcoming publication of interest: “The Performance of Power Relations: Early Henrician Courtly Dance,” in eds., Janet Dickinson and Diana Lucia Gomez-Chacon, The Embodied Court in the Premodern World; Understanding the Physicality, Performativity and Lifecycle of Bodies at Court in Europe and Beyond, 1400-1800, in series Courts and Courtiers in a Global Context Comparative Approaches to the Study of the Mechanisms and Personalities of Pre-Modern Court Cultures, vol. 4, Brepols, 2026.
Follow Kristen on X: @kristenmvitale
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Female Rulers Reimagined in Film and Television – A Royal Studies Roundtable (Part 2)
In this second episode of a three-part series, members of the Royal Studies Blog team, Andrea McMillin, Kurtis Pope, and Elena Teibenbacher, come together for an in-depth roundtable exploring how female rulers are reinterpreted in modern popular culture. This continuing discussion introduces the central theme of the series and examines how portrayals of queens and empresses have evolved on screen, from historical epics to satirical reimaginings. Together, the panel unpacks the delicate balance between authenticity and artistic license, questioning where historical accuracy ends and cultural storytelling begins.
Hosted by contributors to the Royal Studies Blog, a postgraduate-led platform that brings together emerging and established researchers to explore monarchy and its representations across time and media, this episode offers a lively and accessible gateway into the field of queenship studies.
Drawing on their academic expertise and personal passion for royal women, the panelists trace their own paths into this area, from early literary inspirations and family influences to gaming and media analysis. They debate the enduring appeal of historical fiction, the emotional power of costume and performance, and how figures are re-cast to reflect modern social values. Across film and television, these queens emerge alternately as icons of empowerment, objects of desire, or political strategists archetypes that mirror shifting cultural attitudes toward women and power.
The conversation also raises key questions about the ethics of storytelling in visual media. Can historical drama educate as well as entertain? Do inaccuracies matter if they spark curiosity and engagement with the past? From The Crown and The Great to The White Queen and Marie Antoinette, the speakers consider how contemporary creators navigate the tension between scholarship and spectacle. This episode sets the stage for the series’ next installments, which will move beyond the screen to explore representations of royal women in digital gaming and historical fiction.
Featured Media References
Films & Series Discussed: Cleopatra (1963), The Great, The Tudors, The White Queen, Marie Antoinette (2006 & 2022–25), The Crown, Himiko (1974), Tomb Raider (2018), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), The Virgin Queen (1955), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Bridgerton (Netflix).Read more about the Royal Studies Blog any how to get involved:
www.royalstudiesblog.wordpress.com
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Female Rulers Reimagined in Film and Television – A Royal Studies Roundtable (Part 1)
In this first episode of a three-part series, members of the Royal Studies Blog team, Andrea McMillin, Kurtis Pope, and Elena Teibenbacher, come together for an in-depth roundtable exploring how female rulers are reinterpreted in modern popular culture. This opening discussion introduces the central theme of the series and examines how portrayals of queens and empresses have evolved on screen, from historical epics to satirical reimaginings. Together, the panel unpacks the delicate balance between authenticity and artistic license, questioning where historical accuracy ends and cultural storytelling begins.
Hosted by contributors to the Royal Studies Blog, a postgraduate-led platform that brings together emerging and established researchers to explore monarchy and its representations across time and media, this episode offers a lively and accessible gateway into the field of queenship studies.
Drawing on their academic expertise and personal passion for royal women, the panelists trace their own paths into this area, from early literary inspirations and family influences to gaming and media analysis. They debate the enduring appeal of historical fiction, the emotional power of costume and performance, and how figures such as Cleopatra, Elizabeth I, Marie Antoinette, and Himiko are re-cast to reflect modern social values. Across film and television, these queens emerge alternately as icons of empowerment, objects of desire, or political strategists archetypes that mirror shifting cultural attitudes toward women and power.
The conversation also raises key questions about the ethics of storytelling in visual media. Can historical drama educate as well as entertain? Do inaccuracies matter if they spark curiosity and engagement with the past? From The Crown and The Great to The White Queen and Marie Antoinette, the speakers consider how contemporary creators navigate the tension between scholarship and spectacle. This episode sets the stage for the series’ next installments, which will move beyond the screen to explore representations of royal women in digital gaming and historical fiction.
Featured Media References
Films & Series Discussed: Cleopatra (1963), The Great, The Tudors, The White Queen, Marie Antoinette (2006 & 2022–25), The Crown, Himiko (1974), Tomb Raider (2018), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), The Virgin Queen (1955), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Bridgerton (Netflix).Learn more about the Royal Studies Blog: royalstudiesblog.wordpress.com
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In this episode, host Susannah Lyon-Whaley interviews Lorinda Cramer on her research on Queen Charlotte. In this episode they discuss Queen Charlotte's relationship with Britain's global empire, and the queen's deep interest in the flora and fauna of the colonies.
For more on Queen Charlotte, see our earlier interview with Natalee Garrett on her biography of this queen in our series.
Bio:
Dr Lorinda Cramer is a lecturer in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Deakin University, Australia. She first explored specimen collections taken by Joseph Banks from Australia in her museum work more than a decade ago. She returned to these specimens as a research fellow in the Gender and Women’s History Research Centre at the Australian Catholic University while working on the Australian Research Council Discovery Project ‘A History of Early Modern Natural Resource Management’, led by Professor Susan Broomhall.
Featured Publication: Cramer, Lorinda. ‘Queen Charlotte and the Colonies: Queenly Agency in Collecting Australia’s Flora and Fauna.’ In Queens, Queenship, and Natural Resource Management in Premodern Europe, 1400-1800, edited by Susan Broomhall and Clare Davidson, 313-334. London: Routledge, 2025.
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In this episode, the second of our feature on African Queenship, host Ellie Woodacre interviews Paula Akpan. Our discussion mirrors the same lines as the conversation in episode 1 of this mini-series, drawing deeply on her fantastic new book, When We Ruled (see links below) and the various case studies Paula examined in her research.
Guest Bio: Paula Akpan is a historian, journalist and author. Her writing has appeared in British Vogue, Teen Vogue, The Independent, The i Paper, VICE, GAY TIMES, The Bookseller, DIVA Magazine, i-D and more. Her essays have featured in Loud Black Girls, The Queer Bible and The Black History Book. Paula holds a BA in Sociology and an MA in Black British History. When We Ruled: The Rise and Fall of Twelve African Queens and Warriors is her first book.
Follow Paula on Insta @paulaakpan
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This episode is the first of a new part series on African queenship, which will connected with coming episodes on African monarchy which you can look forward to as well.
In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews two scholars who work on African queenship: Professor Nwando Achebe and Lydia Amoah. We discuss the distinctive features of African queenship with many rich and fascinating examples of powerful royal women from across African history from ancient Egypt and Kush to the recent death of the Asantehemaa in Ghana.
Guest Bios:
Nwando Achebe, University Distinguished Professor, Jack and Margaret Sweet Endowed Professor of History, and Associate Dean for Access in the College of Social Science, is a multi-award-winning historian at Michigan State University. She is the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of West African History, an elected member of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and Vice President/President-Elect of the African Studies Association.
Dr. Achebe received her Ph.D. from UCLA in 2000. In 1996 and 1998, she served as a Ford Foundation and Fulbright-Hays Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Her research focuses on the use of oral history in the study of women, gender, and sexuality in Nigeria.
Achebe is the author of six books including Farmers, Traders, Warriors, and Kings: Female Power and Authority in Northern Igboland, 1900–1960 (Heinemann, 2005), The Female King of Colonial Nigeria: Ahebi Ugbabe (Indiana University Press, 2011)—which won three major book awards and Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa (Ohio University Press, 2020).
Lydia Amoah just completed a PhD in African Studies form the Institute of African Studies, university of Ghana, Legon. She has a Masters in African Studies and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Arts. Her work focuses on critical areas such as Akan Customary Law and culture, women's agency, and female traditional leadership, with a strong emphasis on customary dispute resolution and peacebuilding in Ghana. Her doctoral thesis titled Akan Queenmothers and Conflict Resolution in Ghana, A Study of the Asantehemaa’s ‘traditional’ Court, examined how Akan Queenmothers use their customary courts for grassroots dispute prevention, resolve disputes and contribute to peace building in their communities.
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In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews three of the organizing team for the Kings & Queens 15 which will be held from September 2 to 4, 2026 in Prague, hosted by the Czech Academy of Sciences. We discuss the inspiration behind the theme of KINGS, QUEENS AND DYNASTIES IN PERIL, key moments in dynastic history and tips for those planning to attend the conference.
The call for papers for K&Q15 is open now--the deadline for submissions is 31 January 2026. For the call for papers and more information on the conference, see this dedicated page of the Royal Studies Network website.
GUEST BIOS:
Assoc. Prof. PhDr. Dana Dvořáčková-Malá, Ph.D. is a senior researcher at the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague (CAS). She is a founder and head of the Research Centre on Courts and Residences in the Institute of History CAS. She focuses on the court studies, court literature, the history of everyday life and experimental history in the Middle Ages. She has published a number of books, for example in 2011 The Royal Court of Wenceslas II, in 2014 Přemyslid court. Life Princes, Kings and Knights in the Middle Ages (with Jan Zelenka et al.), in 2019 Child and Childhood. From Middle Ages on the Threshold of Enlightenment (et al.) and in 2021 The Court as a Theme. Research of royal society in the Czech Middle Ages – historiography, concepts, considerations; in 2015 she translated the medieval epos Wilhelm von Wenden. The last topic she addresses is research into court households and general household, not only in the Middle Ages.
Mgr. Zuzana Vařáková is a PhD student in Philosophy and History of Science at the Faculty of Science at Charles University and Secretary of the Research Centre on Courts and Residences at the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. Her research focuses on animal studies, the history of science, and the transfer of knowledge. She is currently writing her dissertation on the early formation of zoological knowledge in the Bohemian Lands, while also leading a project on historical zoonoses.
Michaela Žáková, Ph.D., is a research associate at the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. She specialises in nobility, gender, and philanthropy in the long 19th century, with a focus on women’s roles and agency. Her books The Theresian Institute of Noblewomen at Prague Castle and Poor Aristocrats explore how noblewomen in the Habsburg monarchy sought to maintain their social status under changing conditions. Her research has been recognised with several distinctions, including the Josef Pekař Prize and awards supporting early-career scholars, granted by the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Errata: Keynote speakers Professors Robert Aldrich and Cindy McCreery are based at the University of Sydney, not Oxford.
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(English below)
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Cet épisode, animé en français par Victoria Barlow, est consacré au colloque « Violence à la cour française », qui s’est tenu en juin dernier au Centre Roland Mousnier à Paris. Victoria s’entretient avec Fanny Giraudier, présidente de l’association Cour de France et l’une des organisatrices du colloque, aux côtés de Caroline Zum Kolk et Nicolas Le Roux. Cet échange aborde les raisons du choix du thème « La violence à la cour » et la richesse des approches présentées lors du colloque, qu’il s’agisse du rôle des femmes dans les dynamiques de violence, de la variété des formes qu’elle pouvait prendre ou de leur impact sur la légitimité du pouvoir royal. Nous revenons aussi sur quelques découvertes marquantes et pistes de réflexion nouvelles mises en lumière par les intervenants.
Bio de l’invitée :
Fanny Giraudier est docteure en histoire moderne, professeure agrégée et chercheuse associée au Laboratoire de recherche historique en Rhône Alpes. Elle a récemment publié un ouvrage issu de sa thèse : "Sortir des guerres de religion. Henri IV, les nobles et la cour", aux Presses Universitaires de Rennes avec le soutien du Centre de recherche du Château de Versailles. Ses recherches portent sur la noblesse et la société de cour entre le seizième et le dix-septième siècle et sur les engagements nobiliaires lors des guerres de Religion. Elle s'intéresse également au rôle des femmes dans les sociétés de l'Europe moderne et notamment à la place des femmes de la famille de Nassau dans le renforcement des liens entre les Provinces Unies et la France."
https://cour-de-france.fr
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This episode, hosted in French by Victoria Barlow, focuses on the conference “Violence at the French Court”, which took place last June at the Centre Roland Mousnier in Paris. Victoria speaks with Fanny Giraudier, president of the association Cour de France and one of the conference organizers, alongside Caroline Zum Kolk and Nicolas Le Roux. The conversation explores the reasons behind the choice of the theme “Violence at the Court” and the richness of the approaches presented at the conference, whether concerning the role of women in courtly dynamics of violence, the variety of its forms, or its impact on the legitimacy of royal power. We also highlight some of the most striking discoveries and new avenues of reflection that emerged from the event.
Guest Bio:
Fanny Giraudier holds a PhD in Early Modern History, is an agrégée professor, and a research associate at the Laboratoire de recherche historique en Rhône-Alpes. She recently published a book based on her dissertation: Sortir des guerres de religion. Henri IV, les nobles et la cour (Presses Universitaires de Rennes), with the support of the Research Center of the Château de Versailles. Her research focuses on the nobility and court society between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as on noble engagements during the Wars of Religion. She is also interested in the role of women in early modern European societies, particularly the place of the women of the Nassau family in strengthening ties between the Dutch Republic and France.
https://cour-de-france.fr
- Visa fler
