National Maritime Museum, 24-25 July 2015
The Tudor and Stuart Age saw England and later Britain, emerge as one of Europe’s major maritime and naval powers, in the process transforming its trade, culture, politics, financial structures, society and self-image.
Over the next few years the National Maritime Museum will begin to re-explore this rich and complex period. In November 2015 it will open a major exhibition centring on Samuel Pepys. Looking further forward, a permanent gallery on Tudor and Stuart seafarers will open in 2018.
In advance of these offerings, the present conference aims to bring together scholars from the broadest possible range of perspectives to consider Britain’s relationship with the sea in the early modern era.
Friday 24 July 2015
09.00–09.30: Registration and refreshments
09.30–10.00: Welcome and Introduction – James Davey, Curator of Naval History, National Maritime Museum
10.00–11.30: Law, Empire and the Maritime World: Comparative Perspectives on the 17th Century
- Sovereigns of the Seas: Maritime Law and State Formation in Stuart England – Richard Blakemore, University of Oxford
- On Whose Authority? Negotiating Maritime Legislation in the United Provinces, 1580–1680: A Comparison with England. – Tijl Vanneste, University of Exeter
- Sovereignty of the Sea, Sovereignty on Seamen: Some Considerations on State Intervention and Maritime Employment in the 17th Century – Maria Fusaro, University of Exeter
11.30–12.00: Coffee and Tea
12.00–13.00: Navigation, Science and Map-Making
- The Vast Depths of Nature’s Sea’: The ‘New Science’ and Maritime Research in Late-Stuart England – Philippa Hellawell, King’s College, London
- The Cartography of Commerce and Empire: 17th-Century English Nautical Cartography as Instruments of Acquisition and Reflections of Imperial Ambition – Alistair Maeer, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
13.00–14.00: Lunch
14.00–15.30: Merchants, trade and trading companies
- The Internal Dynamics and Geographical Distribution of the Tudor Merchant Fleet – Craig Lambert, University of Southampton
- Scottish Merchant Intermediaries during the Anglo-Spanish War, 1585–1603 – Claire McLoughlin, University of St Andrews
- A ‘Long and Tedious Voyage’ of ‘Infinite Perils’: Evidence of Shipboard Stress in the Early Voyages of the English East India Company – Cheryl Fury, University of New Brunswick and IHR Visiting Fellow
15.30–16.00: Coffee and tea
16.00–17.30: Pirates, Piracy and British Culture
- The Legal Processes of Pirate Executions in the Early Modern Atlantic: Changes in British Law and Colonial Identities, 1670–1730 – Rebecca Simon, King’s College, London
- ‘English Bess Abroad’: Privateering, Politics and Gender in The Fair Maid of the West – Sue Jones, Birkbeck, University of London
- ‘Pretending Liberty to a Free Election’: Mutiny and Hierarchy on Board a 17th-Century Pirate Ship – Daniel Lange, Freie Universität Berlin and University of Kent
17.45–18.45: Keynote Lecture
- Sailing to Guinea in the 16th Century: the English Experience – Bernhard Klein, University of Kent
18.45-20.30: Reception
Saturday 25 July 2015
09.00–09.30: Arrival and Refreshments
09.30–11.00: Exploration and Empire in the Atlantic World
- Rediscovering Cabot: The Bristol Voyages of Discovery, c.1470–1508 – Evan Jones, University of Bristol
- John Guy: The Forgotten Pioneer – Richard Stone, University of Bristol
- Atlantic Contingency: Negotiating the Uncertainties of the Atlantic Marketplace at the Turn of the 18th Century – Jason Daniels, Knox College, Illinois
11.00–11.30: Coffee and Tea
11.30–13.00: The Royal Navy and Conflict at Sea
- A Transformation at Sea: Guns on Royal Ships in the Reign of Henry VII – Dan Spencer, University of Southampton
- ‘A Water Bawdy House’: Women and the Navy in the British Civil Wars – Elaine Murphy, University of Plymouth
- France as Foil: Domestic Turmoil and Politicization of Naval Power in the Mid-17th Century – Alan James, King’s College, London
13.00–14.00: Lunch
14.00–15.00: Keynote Address
- Drama at Sea: the Cultural Politics of Sea-Captains in Early Modern Britain – Claire Jowitt, University of Southampton
15.00–15.30: Coffee and Tea
15.30–17.00: Representations of Ships and the Sea
- ‘Thy sceptre to a trident change/And straight, unruly seas thou canst command’: Contemporary Representations of King Charles I and the Ship Money Fleet from within the Cultural Imagination of Caroline England – Rebecca Bailey, University of Gloucester
- Vessel Embodiment and National Identity in England and France: the Case of the Sovereign of the Seas and La Couronne – Benjamin Redding, University of Warwick
- ‘Proud Symbols of Prospering Rural Seamen’: Scottish Church Ship Models and the Shipmasters’ Societies of North-East Scotland in the Late 17th Century – Meredith Greiling, Aberdeen Maritime Museum and University of Hull
17.00: Close
Conference fee: £90 and concessions £75 (people over 60 and students)
To book a place call 020 8312 6716 or contact research@rmg.co.uk
