Thank you to everyone that came to my coin handling workshops at @kingjamesconf.bsky.social It was an absolute privilege to get to introduce (most of) you to James VI & Iโs coins.
The โWall of Jamesesโ votes have been counted and the winner isโฆ Nicholas Hilliardโs Lyte Jewel (c.1610-11)!!! (Modelled here by our speaker @emilyhay.bsky.social)
Thank you to our speakers and attendees for making the conference so special! Wonderful to hear from so many scholars who work on or are intrigued by James VI & Iโฆ We hope you will keep the momentum going and we look forward to seeing what the future of Jacobean studies holds!
Finally, we have the Biographers Roundtable.
Laura Stewart talks with Alex Courtney, Steven Reid, Clare Jackson and Steven Veerapen about what inspired them to write about King James, how they feel about the man himself, and how they see scholarship moving forwardโฆ
Jennifer Ng argues that Jamesโs Gentlemen of the Bedchamber were central to Jacobean diplomacy. Bedchamber spheres and spaces infiltrated the court with sites of reconciliation, and created paths to peaceful negotiations abroadโฆ
Amilia Gillies explores how James handled and responded to various โscandalsโ between 1614-21. His involvement in the Suffolk and Lake cases reveal Jamesโs role as an administrator of justice in these overlooked yearsโฆ
DAY THREE, PANEL TWO - Court Dynamics
Georgianna Ziegler looks at one remarkable letter from Esther Inglis to the king in 1620, which points to the openness of the pre-accession royal city that she rememberedโฆ
Ashlyn Cudney joins us online to discuss the issues and opportunities involved in teaching James VI/I as a queer king. She suggests that teaching James in the context of queer theory enables students to become active participants in the narrative-making processโฆ
Megan Shaw joins us online from New Zealand to discuss the adoption of the Villiers kin into the royal family. Crucially, this was reinforced when Villiers - duke of Buckingham - married Katherine Manners and James became a โgossipโ or godfather to the couple and their childrenโฆ
Elizabeth Rรฉbeillรฉ-Borgella discusses Jamesโ relationship with his first favourite, Esmรฉ Stuart, duke of Lennox. She argues that their short relationship was so successful because it was based on โreciprocity, loyalty and loveโโฆ
DAY THREE, PANEL ONE - Influential Relationships
Laura Leslie dissects Jamesโs childhood relationship with his โDeddyโ and โMinnyโ, the earl and countess of Mar. His time with the Marsโ was a formative and underappreciated aspect of Jamesโ reignโฆ
Next, Laura Bauld talks us through James in the Burrell Collection and curating LGBT+ histories.
Kate Anderson talks us through the accessibility measures of the NGS exhibition, including these two recreations of James's jewels for visually impaired visitors.
Our panellists discuss attracting target audiences, new scholarship on James and provide a wonderful insight into the choices and challenges behind the scenes of the curatorial process. So great to hear about recreating James's world for audiences through material culture.
Witches?๐ง MQS? ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ Our panelists discuss how we might recenter & reevaluate popular perceptions of James, objects and material culture, including the process of creating the current National Galleries Scotland exhibition and Glasgow Life's film on their 1618 James portrait.
DAY TWO - Heritage and Curation
Our first of two roundtables focuses on James's representation in the heritage sector, discussing our panelists' experience as curatorial professionals, popular presentations of James and how we might reshape these in the future.
And now, time for questions after three stimulating talks!
Our final speaker on the panel, Vanessa Barcelos joins us online from Miami, providing a close reading of James' pamphlet, 'A Counterblaste to Tobacco', as active racial discourse against indigenous Americans.
Next up, Alexander Courtney talks us through James' pamphlet 'The True Lawe of Free Monarchies' as an intervention into Scottish domestic politics and religion and a response to his various adversaries...
DAY TWO, PANEL THREE - James' Writings
Luca Tenneriello shares his experiences translating James' famous treatise Basilikon Doron into Italian...
DAY TWO - Coin Workshop
Cameron Maclean leads a wonderful session on Jamesโs coinage in Scotland and England at the Hunterian - Kelvin Hall.
A fantastic workshop showing the range of ways that coins were used to represent the king ๐
DAY TWO - Book Workshop
Our own Alexandra Plane leads a wonderful session on Jacobean books in University of Glasgow Library. A fantastic workshop showing James's learning influences, library and writings ๐๐
Hanna Mazheika talks us through the relationship between James and the Reformed nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. She questions how far Jamesโs influence was about to reconcile religious factions in eastern Europeโฆ
DAY TWO, PANEL TWO - Foreign Policy and Diplomacy
Rima Greenhill explains the complex relationship between James and the Russians during his English reignโฆ
Ashley Brown suggests that the relationship between James and the Scottish universities was โan exercise in patienceโโฆonce again, there was a high degree of tension!
DAY TWO, PANEL ONE - Loci of Control
Joe Ellis talks us through the political efficacy of Jamesโs royal progresses. โThe politicalโ, he suggests, was a monarchs capacity to police a spatial framework, and his subjects ability to negotiate a place within itโฆ
The King James pub quiz is hotting up!
PhD theses may be affected, careers may be brokenโฆitโs very tense ๐ฌ
Tristan Marshall shows that James recognised how politics necessitated performance. He negotiated with institutions and subjects by wearing different โmasksโ dependent on the audience. Attaining the English crown was โthe greatest performance of Jamesโs lifeโโฆ
DAY ONE, PANEL FOUR - Court Theatre
Gabriel Lonsberry argues that James came to recognise the power Queen Anna and Prince Henry instilled in Stuart court masques. As such, he started to re-centre their form and content around himself, for the same endsโฆ
Joseph Wagner untangles the competing visions of Union and transoceanic ventures around 1603. There were a number of options, one of which was to rename the archipelago โTriangliaโ! Characteristically, James himself promoted different visions for different audiencesโฆ
