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To view any of our past lectures please visit our YouTube channel.
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William Camden (1551-1623), antiquary, historian, herald, and schoolmaster at Westminster School was a founder member of the Society of Antiquaries, and a pioneering scholar of British antiquities. Perhaps the most English famous scholar of his day, celebrated throughout the European republic of letters. Camden’s Britannia was the first comprehensive chorographical survey of Britain and Ireland, while his Annals of the reign of Elizabeth I, the earliest complete history of the Queen’s reign, was a landmark piece of historical writing, hailed as the first ‘modern’ work of history by an English author. 2023 is the four hundredth anniversary of Camden’s death, and a timely moment to revisit Camden’s life and work, and the many legacies of his scholarship.
Programme (NB: titles are provisional)
9.30am Reception (tea and coffee)
10.00am-10.15am Welcome from the Society of Antiquaries, the Centre for Intellectual History, University of Oxford, and the British Library
Session 1: 10.15am-11.15am Camden’s Annals: creation and influences
Chair: Professor Suzannah Lipscomb, FSA
Ms Helena Rutkowska (St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford), ‘The Making of Camden’s Annals of the Reign of Elizabeth I’
Dr James McNamara (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies, Innsbruck), ‘Antiquity and the Present in Camden’s Annales’
Session 2: 11.15am-12.15pm Camden’s Annals and the reign of Elizabeth I
Chair: Dr Neil Younger (Open University)
Professor Blair Worden (St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford), ‘Camden and the Second Earl of Essex’
Professor Susan Doran (Jesus College, University of Oxford), ‘Camden’s Elizabeth’
Break (Tea and Coffee), 12.15-12.30
Session 3: 12.30pm-1.30pm Manuscripts and Archives
Chair: Dr John Cooper FSA (University of York)
Professor Nicholas Popper (William and Mary), ‘Camden Visits the Tower: Rolls and Records in Early Modern Britain’
Mr Julian Harrison (British Library), ‘Camden’s Manuscripts at the British Library’
Lunch (provided) 1.30pm-2.30pm
Session 4: 2.30pm-3.30pm Britannia and Local History
Chair: Dr Robin Darwall-Smith (University College, Oxford), FSA
Dr Tom Roebuck (UEA), ‘Mihi satis superque incepisse’, Drafting and Revising Camden’s Britannia’
Dr Angus Vine FSA (University of Stirling), ‘Camden and Church Monuments’
Short break 3.30pm-4pm
Session 5: 4pm-5.15pm Camden and Political Culture
Chair: Dr Colin Haydon FSA (University of Winchester)
Dr Alexandra Gajda FSA (Jesus College, University of Oxford), ‘Camden, the Society of Antiquaries and the ‘ancient constitution’’
Professor Richard Cust (University of Birmingham), ‘Camden, heraldry and gentry politics’
5.15pm-6.30pm – Reception (wine and nibbles)
We hope you can join us on this exciting day. Tickets are free with order details below.
This event will be both in person at Burlington House and online. Please select the appropriate ticket below.
If you have any questions, please contact us on [email protected]