British Coronations and the Royal Image

The media attention given to Charles III’s recent coronation brings up a number of significant questions.  Were coronations always as important as they seem to be today?  Were they public events?  Where did the rituals come from, what did they originally mean, and how has that meaning changed over time?  As this lecture will discuss, coronations have served different purposes since the Middle Ages, and have been periodically revived or altered by monarchs eager to publicize a particular image of themselves.

GUEST SPEAKER:
Paul Monod has taught at Middlebury College since 1984. He grew up in Montreal and was educated at Princeton and Yale Universities.  He has offered courses in British History from 1485 to the present, European History from 1500 to 1800 and the History of the Atlantic World.  In addition, he has advised more than 100 senior theses on various topics.  His own area of specialization is 17th -18th century Britain, and he is now working on a study of the occult (alchemy, astrology, ritual magic) in the British Enlightenment.  He has been the recipient of fellowships from the NEH, the Huntington Library, the Getty Research Institute and the Leverhulme Trust.