Oren Margolis
Jesus College
Supervisors:
Dr John Watts (Corpus Christi College)Thesis title:
The Politics of Culture in the World of René of Anjou
Research Interests
In my thesis I explore the way that René of Anjou, French prince and exiled king of Naples (1409–1480), sought, by means of his pan-European network of agents and allies, to assert his Italian political agenda chiefly through a programme of cultural politics. The project functions as a case study of the way in which politics may be conducted through the infrastructure of cultural networks and even through cultural media, ranging from public speeches to illuminated manuscripts of classical texts.
My work is particularly concerned with the politics of Renaissance humanism, to which I apply a ‘diplomatic’ approach, viewing it as a medium for political communication between ‘hyper-literate’ European elites. More broadly, I am interested in the political and cultural history of Western Europe in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance; I am also interested in the history, geography and anthropology of art and art objects.
Projects
- Teaching:
Optional Subject: English Chivalry and the French War, c.1330-c.1400
FHS General History VII (1409–1525)
FHS Special Subject 10 (Politics, Art and Culture in the Italian Renaissance: Venice and Florence,
c. 1475–1525)
The Wars of the Roses (visiting student programme)
- Historical consultant on TV drama, Medici, in development by Kudos Film and Television for the BBC
Publications
- 'Le roi René, Janus Pannonius, et la politique de la transmission culturelle en Italie à la Renaissance', in F. Bouchet (ed.), René d’Anjou, écrivain et mécène, “Texte, Codex, Contexte” series, Brepols, Turnhout, 2011, pp. 271-84.
- 'Le Strabon du roi René: biographie politique du livre', in C. Connochie-Bourgne (ed.), Les arts et les lettres en Provence au temps du roi René: Analyses, Rayonnement, Mémoire, Publications de l'Université de Provence (forthcoming)
Online
- Editor, Burckhardt's Renaissance, 150 Years Later, proceedings of the OCMH symposium, 19 April 2010, Jesus College, Oxford