The Society’s 2025 conference, “Reconsidering Courtly Environments, c. 1200-1800: Interconnecting European Court Cultures and the Role of Natural Environments and Landscapes”, will take place at the Academy Conference Centre in Prague, Czechia on 20 – 21 November 2025. In collaboration with the Household and Environmental Studies network with the Centre for Research on Courts and Residences (DaR) at the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, this 2-day conference the conference brings together scholars from court studies, environmental history/historical ecology, and other relevant disciplines. The aim is to not only examine the interconnections between European courts, natural environments and landscapes in the medieval and early modern period (c. 1200-1800), but also explore the development of approaches and methodologies to study the relationship between courts and environments. The conference features a keynote by Professor Luc Duerloo, and presentations on gardens, hunting, and landscapes connected with European courts. Presentations will be in either English or German.

8:30–9:00
Workshop Programme
NOTE: All times are in Central European Summer Time (CEST).
Registration
Centre Hall
9:00–9:15
Welcome and Opening Words
Jan Zelenka
Centre Hall
Opening Keynote
Chair: Michal Vokurka
9:15–10:15
Luc Duerloo
“Unnatural Landscapes: Ecologies of Memory Under the Archdukes Albert and Isabella”
Conference Room
10:15–10:30
Coffee Break
Centre Hall
Session 1 - Gardens
Chair: Michal Vokurka
10:30–12:15
Aline Gallasch-Hall de Beuvink, “The Little Versailles of Portugal: The Importance of the Queluz Palace and its Gardens in the 18th Century”
Monika Drłíkova, “Interplay of Art and Nature: The Mannerist Garden in Ostrov and Ohří”
Nadja Horsch, “Im Wald der Wunder: Merveille und Divertissement in den Gartenbosketts des 17. Jahrhunderts”
Faith Yücel, “Gardens of Power: Natural Environments and Courtly Space in a 17th-Century Anatolian Palace”
Conference Room
12:15–13:30
Lunch (on your own)
Thursday, 20 November 2025
Akademické konferenční centrum/Academy Conference Centre (Husova 4a, 110 00 Prague, Czechia)
Session 2 – Hunting 1
Chair: Dustin M. Neighbors
13:30–15:15
Jiří Hrbek, “Between Otium and Negotium: The Use of the Landscape Below Bezděz Castle in the Early Modern Period”
František Záruba, “Sieben Jahrhunderte des Bestehens des Pürglitzer Jagdforstes und seine Verwandlungen”
Bruno Farinelli, “Territorial Balances, Hunting and Sustainability: The House of Savoy and the Turin Park (16th–17th century)”
Conference Room
15:15–15:30
Markéta Šantrůčková, “Hunting Landscape: An Example of Johann Rudolph Czernin’s Game Park”
Coffee Break
Centre Hall
Session 3 – Eating
Chair: Dana Dvořáčková-Malá
15:30–16:35
Heiner Stahl, “Diplomacy of Dishes” (presenting online)
Ewelina Sikora, “Banqueting in the Garden: Spatial Ordering and Representation in Polish-Lithuanian Diplomacy”
Conference Room
Reception
17:00–18:00 18:00+
8:30–9:00
Reception Welcome and Opening Remarks
Dana Dvořáčková-Malá, Dustin M. Neighbors, and Michal Vokurka
Dinner (on your own)
Registration
Centre Hall
Centre Hall
Friday, 21 November 2025
Akademické konferenční centrum/Academy Conference Centre (Husova 4a, 110 00 Prague, Czechia)
Session 4 – Landscape
Chair: Dustin M. Neighbors
9:00–10:25
Michal Vokurka, “Demonstration of Environmental Power: The Emperors and their Aristocracy in the 17th and 18th Centuries”
Tomáš Konečný, “Campus Martius as a Space of Monarchical Representation? The Saxon Polish Court within the Zeithain Military Encampment (1730)”
Dorothea Hutterer, “From Gardeners, Gondoliers and Greyhound keepers – An Actor-Network-Analysis on Natural Courtly Environments around Munich”
Conference Room
10:25–10:40
Coffee Break
Centre Hall
Session 5 – Hunting II
Chair: Zuzana Vařáková
10:40–12:05
Dustin M. Neighbors, “Women and the Hunt: Exploring the Interconnections of Hunting Practices, Environmental Spaces, and Performativity of Gender within Court Cultures“
Nichole Maceira Cumming, “Hunting, Animals and ‘the Court’ in the Scottish Reign of James VI, c. 1579-1603”
Koldo Trapaga Monchet and Raúl Romero-Calcerrada, “Management and Materiality of the Royal Forest of Almeirim as a Multifunctional Landscape (15th-17th centuries)” (presenting online)
Conference Room
12:05–13:30
Lunch (on your own)
2

Session 6 - Roundtable
Chair: Dustin M. Neighbors
13:30–15:30
“Reconsidering Courtly Environments: What have we learned that will help drive research forward?”
Luc Duerloo, Bruno Farinelli, Markéta Šantrůčková, and Dorothea Hutterer
Conference Room
15:30-15:45 Coffee Break Centre Hall
Conference Room
Conference Conclusion

15:45–16:00
Closing Remarks
Dustin M. Neighbors and Michal Vokurka