Location
Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick (and Online)
Emanuel de Witte, ’Interior of a Protestant, Gothic Church during a Service’ (oil on panel, 1669). Extract from the painting in the Online Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Ever since the formation of a local ecclesiastical network in the Middle Ages, communication has been a principal feature of parish life. Clergymen sought to disseminate core teachings (through sermons, writings and personal conversations), artists created paintings / sculptures / compositions, lords used churches to publicize regulations, bells announced service times / warned of danger, while congregations appreciated religious gatherings for sociability and the exchange of news.
The 2025 Symposium seeks to explore a wide range of verbal, written, visual, musical, ritual, symbolic, environmental and material media linked to parish cultures in multiple regional and chronological contexts, featuring contributions on conceptual approaches, methodological aspects and case studies of different contexts / sources / figures / periods.
Provisional Programme (subject to changes)
10.30 | Registrations & Coffee
11.00 | Welcome & Intros
11.15 – 12.45 | Session 1: Directing
Nicholas Ringwood (Waipapa Taumata Rau / University of Auckland), ‘Incorrigibly Scandalous: Combatting Recidivist Sexual Misbehaviour in Late Medieval English Parishes’
Ashley Armstrong (University of East Anglia), ‘Churchwardens in Post-Reformation England: Conformity and Discipline, 1558-1640’
Kristi Flake (University of Warwick), ‘Preaching the Homilies … or not? Evaluating the Reception of the Homilies, 1547-c1860’
George Palmer (Emmanuel College, Cambridge), ‘Parish Magazines and Political Communication in England, 1885-1914’
12.45 – 13.45 | Lunch
13.45 – 15.15 | Session 2: Liaising
Robert Swanson (Shaanxi Normal University / University of Birmingham), ‘Parishes and Communication in the Bureaucratic and Disciplinary Structures of the Pre-Reformation English Church’
Marion Hardy (Independent Researcher), ‘Demands, Duties, Rates, Taxes, Tithings … Who Would be an Unpaid Parish Official in Early Modern England?’
Marek Słoń (John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin), ‘The Role of the Parish in Urban-Rural Communication’
Felicita Tramontana (Roma Tre), ‘Communicating the Parish: Information Flows between Syro-Palestinian Parishes and Rome in the 17th Century’
15.15 – 15.45 | Tea
15.45 – 17.00 | Session 3: Signalling
Christian Owen (Trinity College, Cambridge), ‘The Parish as a Battleground: Contested Visions of the English Reformation in East Anglia’
Melchior Jakubowski (University of Warsaw), ‘Multilingualism of Parishes in Latgale (Eastern Latvia) from the 1670s to the 1930s’
Béla Mihalik (HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities / Eötvös Loránd University), ‘The Jews of the Parish: Communicating the Otherness’
17.15 – 18.00 | Concluding discussion
The Symposium will be held in hybrid format. Since its inception in 2003, it has always been an inclusive forum of exchange between anyone with active research interests in parish culture from whatever background or career stage. The co-organizers now warmly invite registrations.
To take part, please book a place using the appropriate route on our homepage at: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/my-parish/parishsymposia/communication/:
1) in-person delegates (£25 regular or £15 student/unwaged);
2) virtual participants (£5 booking fee);
3) accepted speakers (free of charge).
Please note that advance registration is mandatory and that bookings close on Friday 9 May 2025.
We look forward to seeing you on 17 May!