This panel will convene at the Thirteenth Biennial Conference of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (#anza22), to be held in-person at The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, and online via Zoom, from 27-30 June 2022.
The idea of the ‘king’s two bodies’, a duality predicated on the idea that a monarch possessed two bodies, a natural body and a body politic – the former mortal, the latter an embodiment of both the nation and the authority of sovereignty – has long been of interest to scholars of medieval and early modern monarchies.
The body of a monarch remains a contest site, with the life, health, fertility, and sexuality of kings or queens continuing to be an important part of politics. Royal scandal graces the covers of newspapers and magazines and trends on social media, and royal weddings, births, and deaths continue to capture the public’s imagination and interest.
We seek papers that examine the significance of the royal body, in particular, the reception of the royal body across time periods, cultures, and media and how royal bodies both convey and elicit emotions.
Proposals for 20-minute conference papers should consist of:
- A title
- An abstract (max. 200 words)
- A short biography (max. 50 words)
Submissions should be emailed (as a Word document attachment) to mgerzic@gmail.com by Monday 13 December 2021.
Please see the call for papers for further information: