The Price of Peace

Lancaster University, Friday, 10 June, 2011

The discourse of peacemaking in the early modern period emphasised the benefits or commodities of peace. In peacetime the arts flourished, trade expanded, camaraderie and tranquillity reigned. Nevertheless, peace always came with a price, and not everyone in every occasion was willing to pay it. What was the price of peace in early modern Europe? What did peace require? What did parties entering into peace have to sacrifice in order to arrive at it? What was lost when peace was gained, and why were so many people on so many occasions unable to lose it? Answers from the records of art, music, history and literature are all encouraged.

Please submit proposals for 20-30-minute papers, in 200 words or less, by 1 February 2011, to Robert Appelbaum, Department of English and Creative Writing, Lancaster University, r.appelbaum@lancaster.ac.uk