The Cultural Agency of Chaplains in Early Modern Britain

A One-Day Colloquium
Saturday 26 June 2010
The Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon

The University of Birmingham Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies (CREMS) 2010 Colloquium, also supported by the Society for Renaissance Studies, will take as its theme The Cultural Agency of Chaplains in Early Modern Britain, and will take place at the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, on Saturday 26 June 2010 (10.30 am - 5.45 pm).

The aim of the colloquium will be to explore the important, but often hidden, contributions made by chaplains of the nobility and gentry to early modern culture, taking in not only the spiritual guidance and companionship they offered to their patrons, but also their literary and sometimes political activity, through full participation in the manuscript and print economies of poetry, letters, sermons, treatises, and translations.

The one-day colloquium will comprise seven 30-minute papers, divided into three 90-minute panels and one concluding 45-minute session. The first panel will offer a broad introduction to the different types, categories, and identities of chaplains at work in early modern Britain, the range of activities performed by them, and the places chaplaincy occupied in the careers of Anglican clergy. The two remaining panels will feature case studies of chaplains in the households of the nobility and gentry, and the role of chaplains in press and pulpit censorship.

Confirmed speakers:
Dr David Crankshaw (King's College London)
Professor Kenneth Fincham (University of Kent)
Professor William Gibson (Oxford Brookes University)
Dr Tom Lockwood (University of Birmingham)
Dr Erica Longfellow (Kingston University)
Dr Mary Morrissey (University of Reading)
Dr Angus Vine (University of Sussex)

A registration fee of £20 includes colloquium fee, morning coffee, lunch, and afternoon tea. Postgraduate students are invited to apply for SRS bursaries that cover the cost of travel and attendance. Please book by Friday 27 March. For details of registration, travel and further information, please email:

Dr Hugh Adlington (h.c.adlington@bham.ac.uk),
Dr Tom Lockwood (t.e.lockwood@bham.ac.uk), or
Dr Gillian Wright (g.wright.1 @bham.ac.uk).