Science at Court, 1285-1450
An interdisciplinary conference at Newnham College, Cambridge
3-4 June, 2016
From the anonymous Middle English Court of Sapience to Nicole Oresme’s Livre du ciel et du monde to the lavishly illustrated copies of Pliny’s Natural History produced for the Visconti family, medieval scientific discourse was often inflected by – and constructed around – literary, musical, and artistic forms present at court. This conference invites abstracts on what it means to “do science at court” in the late medieval period, particularly in the context of literature, music, and the arts.
How do tradition, law, and power dictate the boundaries of science? How do ethics or political science affect natural philosophy? How do didactic poems or works of counsel, conduct, and governance blur the boundaries between science and mimesis? What is the relationship between empiricism and narrative or visual forms? How does music do mathematical and political work?
Science at Court welcomes proposals on any aspect of art at court in the context of late medieval science.
Due to the generous support of Newnham College, travel subsidies will be available for attendees who may have difficulty obtaining funds.
Please send abstracts to Dr. Tekla Bude (tlb33@cam.ac.uk) by 15 January, 2016.
You can follow updates on the conference here: www.scienceatcourt.com
