IMC 2022: Sessions

Rounding out the themes raised in our earlier sessions, Borderlines I and II, this round table discussion draws together several members of the 'Examining the Resources and Revenues of Royal Women in Premodern Europe' project (www.queensresources.org/) to discuss the diverse impacts of royal marriages across European borders in the Middle Ages, looking particularly of the exchange of brides, dowers, and dowries between dynasties. The panellists will draw from their own research on different areas of Europe to reflect on the movement of royal women and often extensive retinues across borders and the resultant cultural exchange and sometimes conflict from divergent customs and court protocol. They will also look at the challenges posed when women held lands as part of their dowers or inheritance across borders - a frequent issue for Holy Roman Empresses and women who remarried and held multiple dowers in different locations, like Joan of Navarre. A final theme to consider will be the economic impact of this exchange as resources and wealth moved across borders as part of the matrimonial contracts, which could results complicated currency exchange and even conflict between realms when dowers or dowries were deemed insufficient or were not fully paid.

Participants include Maria Barreto Dávila (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), Patrik Pastrnak (University of Oxford), Ana Maria S. A. Rodrigues (Universidade de Lisboa), Lledó Ruiz Domingo (Universitat de València), Elena Woodacre (University of Winchester), and Katia Wright (University of Winchester).