Richard Hakluyt is one of the most emblematic figures associated with England’s commercial and colonial expansion at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. A prolific translator, compiler and purveyor of geographical material and travel accounts, he was a significant contributor to the articulation and early promotion of the idea of an English — and later British — empire. These efforts took the form of his monumental printed collections Divers Voyages Touching the Discovery of America (1582) and The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589; 1598-1600), as well as his assiduous lobbying in diplomatic, scholarly, and company circles. Among the many networks of power and knowledge with which Hakluyt interacted, the connections he made during his five-year residence in Paris as chaplain to the English ambassador between 1583 and 1588 were particularly fruitful in terms of collecting and translating travel and geographical information.

The gathering, translation, and transmission of that Parisian material, and its effect on the development of imperial thought in England and France, will be the focus of this one-day event, held at the Cohen Quad, Oxford, and jointly run between the University of Oxford and the Université de Paris, funded by TORCH and the TIDE project as part of the Paris-Oxford Partnership (POP) Early Career Researcher Partnership Programme.

Schedule:

9:00-9:15 — Coffee and Introductory Remarks

9:15-10:45 — Keynote:

Anthony Payne - 'Hakluyt and France: People, Politics and Publication'

10:45-11:15 Break

11:15-12:30— Panel:

Bernard Allaire - 'The lost manuscripts of Cartier and Roberval's expedition to Canada (1541-1543)'

Pierre-Ange Salvadori - '‘Hakluyt, Guillaume Postel and the Arctic: inventing a “site of mediation” in Late-Renaissance Paris and Europe'

Katherine Ibbett - 'Certain signs: on Indigenous emotion in translation'

12:30-14:00 — Lunch

14:00-15:30 — Keynote:

Frank Lestringant - 'When Richard Hakluyt meets André Thevet (1583-1588)'

15:30-15:45 — Coffee break

15:45-16:25 — Lightning talks & Discussion:

John Carrigy - “Richard Hakluyt as historian”

Lucas Aleixo Pires dos Reis - “The Account of Richard Rainolds and Thomas Dassel: commercial competition between the English, French, and Portuguese in the late 16th century Senegambia”

Nathalie Jeter - “‘Le plus beau & le meilleur païs que j’aie encore vu’: eyewitness as device in the recruitment pamphlet of Durand de Dauphiné”

Noah Michaud - “Prompts for African Principall Navigations: Knowledge of Africa Circulating in France at Hakluyt’s Arrival”

16:35-16:40 — Break

16:40-17:00 — Closing paper:

Ladan Niayesh - “The French Mediator in English Voyage Drama: Fletcher and Massinger's The Sea Voyage (1622)"

This will be a hybrid event with both in person and online attendance: this listing is for online attendance [over Zoom]. Please make sure that you select the correct ticket option for your mode of attendance, and contact hakluyt.paris.oxford.2022@gmail.com with any queries.