'Queens and the Making of Medieval Europe': RHS Lecture, in person

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‘"Alike in Appearance but not in Scope": Queens and the Making of Medieval Europe'

with Professor Charles West (University of Edinburgh)

Royal Historical Society Lecture

6.00pm, Friday 6 February 2026

Wolfson Conference Suite, Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7SH

Whereas medieval kings tended to rule in the same place they were born, queens were routinely foreigners within their own realm.

This lecture starts from this simple observation to reconsider the position of queens in the ‘making’ of post-Carolingian Europe, alongside that of the knights and clerics on whom historical attention has often focused.

Through a set of case studies, the lecture looks at the role played by queens as cultural ambassadors in creating, both deliberately and unwittingly, a human network that transcended political borders.

is Professor of Medieval History History at the University of Edinburgh with research interests in the history of Europe in the early and high Middle Ages. Charles's research focuses on changes in ideas and practices of public order with reference to three principal areas: the relationship between religious and secular fields of activity, ocal society and its relation to hegemonic authority, and comparisons of regional, regnal, European and Eurasian scales of analysis.

Charles is the author of nine monograohs, co-autjored books and edited collections. Of these the most recent are: (OUP), Local Priests in the Latin West, 900–1050, co-written with Alice Hicklin, Steffen Patzold and Bastiaan Waagmeester (CUP, 2025) and (University of Toronto Press, 2023). Prior to moving to Edinburgh in 2023, Charles taught for 15 years at the University of Sheffield.

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MAIN IMAGE: Queen from the Charlemagne chessmen: 11th-century chess pieces, Cabinet des Médailles, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France. Public domain.

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