SINTRA SUMMER SCHOOL - Women in Iberian Court Residences: Space, Power and Leisure (15th–18th centuries)
Court and queenship studies have received growing attention over the past decades and now encompass a broad range of interdisciplinary, transnational and comparative approaches. Building on academics such as Norbert Elias and Theresa Earenfight, recent historiography has analysed themes of political, cultural and economic agency, gender relations, the development of complimentary (or antagonistic) loci of power, and the dynamic (or disruptive) networks of nobles and courtiers.
This summer school will bring together specialists of royal and court histories to analyse themes encompassing court politics, gender politics, and queenship in the Iberian contexts. It provides a unique experience to learn about, and to discuss the roles and experiences of women within the courtly and palatial settings of both Spain and Portugal.
Join us for sessions on royal households (their form and function), access and networks, female spaces, devotion, correspondence, and leisure. In order to centralise the importance of the spatial dimension within these themes, these sessions will be held in the national palaces of Sintra. Furthermore, the programme includes the opportunity to peek behind the scenes of the National Palace of Sintra, to visit the rococo splendour of the National Palace of Queluz, and to explore the romantic whimsy of the National Palace of Pena. As monastic spaces were important locations for noble education and for the performance of royal piety, the programme will also include visits to outstanding early modern female convents in Lisbon, such as the convento dos Cardaes.
Audience
This course is intended for:
- undergraduate and graduate students and doctoral students of history, art history, museology, heritage;
- heritage and museum professionals;
- general public with a specific interest in the topic.
PROGRAMME
(the course will take place exclusively in English)
02/09 - National Palace of Sintra
09:00 - Reception
09:30 - Welcoming remarks
- ANTÓNIO NUNES PEREIRA (Parques de Sintra)
09:40 - Summer School presentation
- BERNARDO GARCÍA GARCÍA (ITEM-UCM; FCA)
- BRUNO A MARTINHO (Parques de Sintra, CHAM)
10:00 - Opening Lecture: Queenship Studies
- ELENA (ELLIE) WOODACRE (University of Winchester) | Queenship Studies: From its early origins to future trajectories
11:00 - Coffee break
11:30 - Session 1: Household - Structures and functions
- MANUELA SANTOS SILVA (UL-FLUL-CH) | The household of the Medieval Queens of Portugal: the institution and the community dependent on the Royal Consorts
- LLEDÓ RUIZ DOMINGO (Universitat de València) | The Queen's Chamber: A symbolic stage of power in 14th and 15th century crown of Aragon
13.00 - Lunch (not included)
14:30 - Guided visit to the palace
17:30 - Cocktails
19:00 - End of first day
03/09 - National Palace of Sintra
09:30 - Session 2: Household - Networks
- ALEJANDRA FRANGANILLO ÁLVAREZ (ITEM-UCM) | Court, patronage and female agency around the Queen of the Spanish Monarchy's Households in the first half of the seventeenth century
- BEN JAMES (Parques de Sintra) | Dynamics and Disturbances: the Queen's Household in Restoration Portugal
11:00 - Coffee break
11:30 - Session 3: Female spaces and architecture
- SERGIO RAMIRO RAMÍREZ (CSIC) | Female bodies shaping architectures: A gender perspective on the palaces of the Early Modern Age
- NUNO SENOS (UNL-IHA) | Spaces for Women in 16th-century palaces in Portugal: the royal palace of Lisbon and the ducal palace of Vila Viçosa
13:00 - Lunch (not included)
14:30 - Guided visit to the palace (behind-the-scenes)
17:00 - End of second day
04/09 - Convents in Lisbon (TBC): Cardaes, Madredeus, Sta. Teresa de Jesus de Carnide
08:45 - Bus departure
10:00 - Guided visit to Convento dos Cardaes
12:00 - Lunch (included)
13.00 - Bus departure
13:30 - Guided visit to Convento da Madredeus (TBC)
15:30 - Bus departure
16:00 - Guided visit to Convento de Santa Teresa de Carnide (TBC)
17:30 – Bus departure and end of third day
05/09 - National Palace of Queluz
09:30 - Session 4: Communication
- MARÍA CRUZ DE CARLOS VARONA (UAM) | Communication spaces and female agency
- MASSIMO C. GIANNINI (Università di Teramo - UCM) | Nuns at court. Female power and ecclesiastical condition (1600-1700)
11:30 - Session 5: Consumption, pleasure and gardens
- ANDRÉS GUTIÉRREZ USILLOS (Museo de America) | The incredible American trousseau of Dª María Luisa de Toledo in the second half of the 17th century
- ISABEL DRUMOND BRAGA (UL-FLUL-CH) | Inside and outside the palace: women and entertainment in Early Modern Portugal
- MONICA LUENGO AÑÓN (IEM; ATP) | El Capricho of the Duchess of Osuna, a space for cultural innovation in the Age of Enlightenment
13:00 - Lunch (not included)
14:30 - Guided visit to the palace
17:00 - End of fourth day
06/09 - National Palace of Pena
09:15 - Bus departure
10:00 - Roundtable: Research methodologies
- ANTÓNIO NUNES PEREIRA (Parques de Sintra)
- INÊS OLAIA (UL-FLUL-CH)
- other participants
11:30 - Coffee break
12.00 - Closing remarks
- BERNARDO GARCÍA GARCÍA (UCM)
- BRUNO A MARTINHO (Parques de Sintra, CHAM)
13:00 - Lunch (not included)
14:30 - Free visit to the National Palace of Pena
16:30 - End of fifth day