{"id":1635,"date":"2026-09-10T10:08:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/?p=1635"},"modified":"2026-09-10T10:08:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:08:35","slug":"mems-hosts-the-fifteenth-century-conference-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/2026\/09\/10\/mems-hosts-the-fifteenth-century-conference-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"MEMS hosts the Fifteenth Century Conference 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEMS staff, Dr David Rundle and Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh organised this year’s Fifteenth Century conference<\/strong>, an annual, itinerant (last year Durham, next year Cambridge) gathering of international academics who are especially interested in a wide range of topics linked to late medieval England and its continental neighbours. Sheila has written up the following report, also viewable on the KCHH blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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This year’s conference was a very friendly gathering with lots of opportunities for informal discussions beyond the various sessions, especially during meals, and at the wine receptions, visits and refreshment breaks. Furthermore, in addition to the intellectual stimulus provided by the broad range of papers, we had a poster display by postgraduates studying very different topics from late medieval shipbuilding in the Cinque Ports a (Angela Broomfield<\/strong>) to disputes and their resolution (or not) in medieval Kentish communities (Christine Brandl<\/strong>) by way of violence on a national scale in the Wars of the Roses and the actions of Richard Duke of York (Hannah Keller<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

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Hannah\u2019s poster<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The packed programme, which ran on parts of three days, included 15 presentations, the poster display and wine reception (sponsored by the\u00a0University of Chicago Press Journals<\/strong>, publishers of\u00a0Medium Aevum<\/em>), a visit to\u00a0Canterbury Cathedral Archives<\/strong>\u00a0to see a special display, a walking tour of the city, a visit and wine reception at\u00a0Eastbridge Hospital<\/strong>\u00a0(sponsored by\u00a0Boydell and Brewer<\/strong>), a guided tour of\u00a0Sandwich<\/strong>\u00a0and the conference dinner. Consequently, I\u2019m going to confine this report to giving you a flavour of the range of topics covered in the papers and some ideas about the other aspects of the conference.<\/p>\n

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Christine\u2019s poster<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The first two papers by\u00a0David Harrison<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Susan Rose<\/strong>\u00a0might be said to have explored travel in different ways. David looked at the network of highways across 15th<\/sup>-century England and Wales, as well as their associated infrastructure of bridges and the ways towns serviced those who were \u2018on the road\u2019. As a contrast, Susan considered sea journeys, including the impact of conflict, especially warfare in continental Europe, as well as the differences between the experiences and aspirations of those in eastern England compared to those of the western ports. For, as she discussed, the 15th<\/sup>\u00a0century saw the beginnings of Bristol\u2019s links with the Americas.<\/p>\n

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Angela\u2019s poster<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The next two pairings took us into the late medieval world of literary scholarship using a range of lens to capture the diversity of interests, knowledge and networks of writers and readers. This again brought a European, specifically Mediterranean classical (Greek and Latinate) dimension by\u00a0John Colley<\/strong>, but added the epistolary activities of English gentry women by\u00a0Assia Alami<\/strong>. Additionally,\u00a0Charlotte Ross<\/strong>\u00a0provided a fascinating assessment of the textual history of Hoccleve\u2019s\u00a0The Regiment of Princes<\/em>, while\u00a0Ryan Perry<\/strong>\u00a0took us into the mercantile and other reading communities of 15th<\/sup>-century London.<\/p>\n

The roles and activities undertaken by women from mercantile through to gentry and aristocratic families might be seen as one of the themes of the conference, as exemplified by papers from first\u00a0Virginia Davis<\/strong>, looking specifically at the wives of various chief governors in late medieval Ireland and later by\u00a0Leah Jepson<\/strong>, whose case study considered the life of Margaret Blackburn from a well-known York merchant family. As you might expect, late medieval piety was one of the features Leah considered, and this route into late medieval culture was explored further by first\u00a0Tim Clark<\/strong>\u00a0in relation to Richard Beauchamp, the 13th<\/sup>\u00a0earl of Warwick, and later by\u00a0Mary Franklin-Brown<\/strong>\u00a0concerning Henry IV. Her consideration might be seen as highly pertinent bearing in mind the king\u2019s funeral monument is just down the road in Canterbury Cathedral.<\/p>\n

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Tim\u2019s consideration of Richard Beauchamp\u2019s piety<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Leah exploring the influence of Margaret Blackburn<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Assessing the written word might be said to have bridged Friday into Saturday for first\u00a0Anne Curry<\/strong>\u00a0looked in detail at the relationship between two Latin lives of Henry V before\u00a0David Potter<\/strong>\u00a0brought us an analysis of Louise de Savoie\u2019s correspondence, a sizeable proportion being in her own hand. Much of this was to her daughter and son, Francis I of France, but she also corresponded with Cardinal Wolsey.<\/p>\n

The penultimate session moved away from letters to legal documents.\u00a0Mark Horowitz<\/strong>\u00a0explored the use of written bonds, especially in the hands of Henry VII\u2019s two chief ministers whose exploitation of such means might have been expected to spark revolt. Yet as Mark argued it didn\u2019t, indeed Henry VIII continued in his father\u2019s footsteps in this regard. Going further back in time to 1450,\u00a0James Ross<\/strong>\u00a0examined the record that a London physician had copied into his book which potentially offers further ideas about the politics of Richard, duke of York.<\/p>\n

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The group exploring documents at the Cathedral Archives (photo: Diane Heath)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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David shows the group treasures from the archives (photo: Diane Heath)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

The final paper might be seen as even more exploratory because\u00a0Julian Luxford<\/strong>\u00a0asked his audience to consider whether or to what extent contemporary English art and imagery was influenced by the Lollard sub-culture of the long 15th<\/sup>\u00a0century. This interesting proposition of heresy-angst provoked an interesting discussion that continued into lunch.<\/p>\n

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Wine reception (sponsored by Boydell & Brewer) at St Thomas\u2019s or Eastbridge Hospital (photo: Diane Heath)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

For the other aspects of the conference,\u00a0David Rundle<\/strong>\u00a0had selected a fascinating array of documents from the archives\u2019 collection, as I hope you can see from\u00a0Diane Heath\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0photo. Then later we were at\u00a0Eastbridge Hospital<\/strong>\u00a0where quite a number of the delegates explored the upper chapel, including seeing its stunning king-strut roof which incorporates a bell-turret and spirelet. Stunning architecture was also on view in Sandwich during\u00a0Robert Pay\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0guided tour, especially at\u00a0St Clement\u2019s church<\/strong>, a fitting finale to a great conference.<\/p>\n

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Robert Pay leading the group around St Clement\u2019s church<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The group explore St Clement\u2019s church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MEMS staff, Dr David Rundle and Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh organised this year’s Fifteenth Century conference, an annual, itinerant (last year Durham, next year Cambridge) gathering … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82691,"featured_media":1636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[430,251192,124,70],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82691"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1637,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635\/revisions\/1637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/memsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}