| 7 Jul 2003 - 8 Jul 2003 | All day | Penshurst Place, Kent | |
- Description
Description
Penshurst Place, Kent
By invitation only
Colloquium sponsored by CRASSH (University of Cambridge) in association with Penshurst Place
and the Paul Mellon Fund.
Penshurst Place was given by Edward VI to Sir William Sidney in 1552. Succeeding generations consolidated their court positions, becoming Earls of Leicester until the failure of the title with the death of the 7th Earl in 1743. Their accumulation of prestige was supported by early and extensive additions to the medieval house, and frequent renewal of the lavish and fashionable furnishings within. The evidence of a luxurious environment conflicts with the restraint portrayed by Ben Jonson in his famous contribution to the genre of country house poetry, “To Penshurst”. The colloquium will explore interdisciplinary approaches to the material culture of authority in early modern England. While the Sidney family have received enormous attention from literary scholars, the theme of this project favours a material culture approach to the architecture, artefacts, and estate governance of this elite family.
Conveners:
Dr Susie West, formerly University of Cambridge
Professor Germaine Warkentin, University of Toronto
