AHVC Research Seminar - Elizabeth L’Estrange (University of Birmingham)
Wednesday, 21 October 2026 at 12:30
The Prison of Love and its Readers in the Early Sixteenth Century
Event details
This Art History and Visual Culture research seminar will be given by Dr Elizabeth (Liz) Lestrange from the University of Birmingham. The title of her talk is 'The Prison of Love and its Readers in the Early Sixteenth Century'.
Key Details:
- Date: Wednesday 21 October
- Time: 12:30-14:00
- Location: Old Library 134
- Option to join remotely via MS Teams - please email LCVS@exeter.ac.uk if you would like the link.
This paper explores the Prison of Love – first written in Spanish by Diego de San Pedro and printed in 1492 before being translated into Italian, French and English in the early years of the sixteenth century. The tale is a hybrid one of chivalry, love, tyrannical kingship and women’s honour. It was extremely popular, especially in France where, in addition to the printed editions, it also survives in eleven high-quality manuscripts associated with women in the circle of Queen Claude of France, wife of Francis I. I explore the work’s potential appeal to a female audience by situating it in relation to the on-going debate about women, the querelle des femmes, arguing that the Prison participated in this debate despite not being a straightforward defence of women. As such, it opens up questions about the nature of the querelle itself and how it was experienced.
Elizabeth L’Estrange is associate professor in the department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies at the University of Birmingham. She has published widely on late medieval and early modern manuscripts and books, with a particular focus on the patronage of women in and around the French court. She has published two monographs, Holy Motherhood: Gender, Dynasty and Visual Culture in the Later Middle Ages (Manchester, 2008) and, in 2023, Anne de Graville and Women’s Literary Networks in Early Modern France (D.S. Brewer) which won the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender’s ‘best book’ prize 2024. She is currently preparing an edition of Anne de Graville’s poetry with Joan E. McRae (Tennessee) which has been funded by the British Academy and, off and on thanks to the current administration, by the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is also working on manuscripts and books associated with Claude of France, including the Prison, and this paper draws on that research which she is finalising as an article.
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/historyofart/lestrange-elizabeth
Organiser
Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies
Location
Old Library