Secret Councils: Comparative Perspectives on Monarchies and Republics, c. 1550-1800

Thursday, 20 June 2024

14.00–14.30
Debora Heim and Nadir Weber (Bern): Introduction

14.30–15.30
Cédric Michon (Rennes): Councils and councillors in Renaissance Europe

Section 1: Secret councils in monarchies (Chair: Sarah Rindlisbacher Thomi)

15.45–16.30
Cathleen Sarti (Oxford): From the aristocratic gehejmeråd to the absolutist gehejmekonseil: The secret council in early modern Denmark

16.30–17.15
Adriano Comissoli (Santa Maria): Information policy and communication circuits in the Portuguese Monarchy, 1777 to 1812

18.00: Dinner

Friday, 21 June 2024

Section 2: Political secrecy in the Swiss Republics (Chair: Nadir Weber)

9.00–9.45
Debora Heim (Bern): Secret councils in the early modern Swiss Confederacy (16th to 18th century)

9.45–10.30
Andreas Würgler (Geneva): Open secrets? The Swiss diet and republican politics in the early modern Confederacy

Section 3: Secret councils in diplomatic relations (Chair: Andreas Berger)

10.45–11.30
Boro Bronza (Banja Luka): Secrecy in relations between the Republic of Ragusa and Austria throughout the 18th century

11.30–12.15
Dorottya Piroska Bajorné Székely (Budapest), An archbishop and his Viennese information network: Hungarian cases in the privy council and conference at the end of the 17th century

12.15–13.30 Lunch Break

Section 4: Secret councils, clerical states, and confession (Chair: Debora Heim)

13.30–14.15
Sven Dittmar (Mainz), Secret councils in clerical states: The case of the Electorate of Mainz

14.15–15.00
Hannes Ziegler (München), Confessional councils: The impact of religious divisions on the politics of secret councils in the Holy Roman Empire, ca. 1540-1620

15.30–16.45
André Holenstein (Bern), Closing comment and final discussion

For information and registration, please contact carole.mast@unibe.ch