The Leonard Mellman Distinguished Lecture: Theresa Earenfight, Professor, Department of History, Seattle University

Keynote address as part of the Consortium on Women, Marriage, and the Household

In her keynote address, Earenfight uses the royal court and the household to study the transmission of culture (literary, artistic, political, religious, even fashion) across Europe as women moved from place to place. She does this with evidence from art and material culture, using household accounts, wills, and inventories. Earenfight also highlights the importance of queenship in transforming England into a more cosmopolitan court with a more European outlook. Scholars often turn to political and legal theory as sources for understanding the spread of culture, but queens played a key role in this. The English commented on the "Spanishness" of Catherine's household as as a way to mark them as different while simultaneously embracing prominent elements of Spanish culture.