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Catholic Performance Culture in Early Modern England

Project description

How Catholics used theatre, dance, music, sports and ceremonies to create communal bonds

During the early modern period, the Protestant English state persecuted Catholics, excluding them from political life. The EU-funded CaPer project will study this marginalised community by analysing theatrical forms of recreation and sociability that English Catholics engaged in. It will undertake an innovative approach to exploring inequality, intolerance, and social exclusion, issues that also represent the main challenges for the future of Europe. CaPer will comprehensively investigate how Catholics used theatre, dance, music, sports, and ceremonies to create communal bonds, negotiate their place in a hostile society, and advance Catholic Reformation in the period between Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne in 1558 and the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Relying on a variety of archival and literary sources, CaPer will rethink the cultural history of English Catholics, introduce to historiography previously neglected historical actors and practices, and expand our knowledge of religious coexistence in early modern Europe.

Objective

CaPer is an ambitious interdisciplinary project exploring how forms of play and recreation helped shape and sustain the Catholic minority in Protestant England. In faith-divided early modern Europe, the English state persecuted Catholics for their religious allegiance, excluding them from political life. How did the marginalized Catholic minority, navigating between opposition and loyalty to their Protestant monarchs, survive in such a hostile environment? Exploring issues of religious intolerance, inequality, and social exclusion, CaPer adresses one of the main challenges for the future of Europe. Studying the English Catholic community from an innovative perspective, it examines sources and practices which historians have hitherto rarely considered. It breaks new ground by comprehensively investigating how Catholics built communal bonds and negotiated their place in English society through theatre, dance, music, sports, and ceremonies throughout the period of the most vigorous religious persecution, from the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558 to the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Tapping into underexplored archives in order to collect and analyse a vast quantity of neglected records of performance, and paying attention to both microcosms within provincial Britain and international networks of global Catholicism, CaPer will: a) produce a new cultural history of the English Catholic community, demonstrating how performance played a crucial role in education, sociability, missionary activity, private devotion, and in maintaining Catholic social standing; b) introduce to historiography previously neglected practices and actors, including women players, dancing masters, music teachers, and itinerant entertainers; c) expand our knowledge of practical religious coexistence in the early modern period, providing a blueprint for future studies of play and leisure among religious minorities, and inform contemporary European policies aimed at reducing social exclusion.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 235 490,40
Address
GOWER STREET
WC1E 6BT LONDON
United Kingdom

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Region
London Inner London — West Camden and City of London
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 235 490,40

Partners (1)

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