Early Modern Gossip, Rumour and Reputation

Gepubliceerd op door Ineke Huysman

Conference 19–20 November 2025 — Madrid

Organised by:
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid) & Huygens Institute (Amsterdam)

Location: Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Plaza Manuel Becerra 14 — Madrid

The early modern period (c. 1500–1800) saw profound transformations in society, politics, and culture. Gossip played a crucial yet often overlooked role in shaping these developments. Traditionally dismissed as trivial or immoral, gossip has long been associated with women and perceived as a form of idle chatter.

Early definitions of gossip in the sixteenth century linked it specifically to female speech, reinforcing the idea of gossip as a language of powerlessness or a subversive women’s culture. However, historical research has increasingly recognized gossip as a complex social and political tool — used to forge and police community bonds, influence reputations, shape public opinion, and enforce moral values.

Gossip was not merely a domestic concern but an instrument of power, used at all levels of society, from the elite to the marginalized. And while gossip remained closely linked to gender, new studies have revealed its importance among men as well, challenging old stereotypes. This conference aims to advance the interdisciplinary study of gossip, recognizing it as far more than idle talk.

Day 1 – Wednesday 19 November 2025

10:00–10:30 — Registration and coffee
10:30–10:35 — Welcome and opening remarks
Gijs Versteegen (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos)
Ineke Huysman (Huygens Institute Amsterdam)

10:35–11:30 — Keynote I:
Reputation: a Philosophical Approach
Gloria Origgi — Institut Jean Nicod, Paris

11:30–12:00 — Coffee break

12:00–13:30 — Session 1: Codes, Morality and Public Opinion

  • The People are a Savage Beast? Vox Populi and Gossip — Matthias Roick, Polish Academy of Sciences
  • Truths and Lies in Courtly Conversations: Flattering, Slandering, Pretending and Dissimulating — María Díez Yáñez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
  • Gossip and Courtly Love in Batallas y Quinquagenas — Gijs Versteegen, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

13:30–15:30 — Lunch

15:30–16:30 — Session 2: Women, Power and Diplomacy

  • News from the Harem — Rosanne Baars, Leiden University
  • Early Modern Interpol — Tessa de Boer, Independent researcher

16:30–17:00 — Tea break

17:00–18:30 — Session 3: Epistolary Networks and Information Circuits

  • Spies, Scandals, and Secrets: Wicquefort’s Letters — Lydia Boer, Leiden University
  • Early Modern Letters Online: Noise & Tittle-Tattle? — Miranda Lewis, University of Oxford
  • Banten Calling: Colonial News, Rumours and Diplomacy — Krijn Korsman, Amsterdam University

Day 2 – Thursday 20 November 2025

Location: Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Plaza Manuel Becerra 14 — Madrid
Evening concert: Real Oratorio del Caballero de Gracia, Calle del Caballero de Gracia 5 — Madrid

09:30–10:00 — Registration and coffee
10:00–10:05 — Opening remarks — Ineke Huysman

10:05–11:00 — Keynote II:
Fake News, Rumors, and Gossip during the Reign of Carlos II (1665–1700): Political and Diplomatic Contexts
Silvia Z. Mitchell — Purdue University (USA)

11:00–11:30 — Coffee break

11:30–13:00 — Session 4: Court Intrigues and the Politics of Reputation

  • Different Forms of Gossip Sharing at the Court of Louis XIV — Jonathan Spangler, Manchester Metropolitan University
  • The Poison of Words: Rumours, Gossip and Moral Discourse in the View of María de Guevara, Countess of Escalante (1664) — Ezequiel Borgognoni, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
  • Rumor as a Mechanism for Discrediting Female Agency during the War of the Spanish Succession — José Antonio López Anguita, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

13:00–14:30 — Lunch

14:30–16:00 — Session 5: Satire, Culture and the Senses of Gossip

  • Gossip and Political Ghosts: Satire in the Late 17th Century — Marie-Charlotte Le Bailly, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, Antwerp
  • Being in the Nose: Rumors about Smell and the Smell of Rumor in Early Modern Europe — Kerrewin van Blanken, Leiden University
  • The Field Has Eyes and the Wood Has Ears — Jeroen Vandommele, National Library of the Netherlands

16:00–16:15 — Closing remarks — Gijs Versteegen

20:00–21:30 — Evening concert — Cuerdas Conectadas: A Spanish-Dutch Musical Dialogue

Performed by: La Sfera Armoniosa — Lydia Boer (organ), Mike Fentross (theorbo, guitar), Ineke Huysman (speaker), Lette Vos (vocals)

Location: Real Oratorio del Caballero de Gracia, C. del Caballero de Gracia, 5, Centro, 28013 Madrid

  • Welcome by Roel Nieuwenkamp, ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Spain.
  • La Sfera Armoniosa will explore the world of the Dutch statesman Constantijn Huygens — a seventeenth-century homo universalis — through music, scent, and spoken word, tracing his diplomatic contacts with the Spanish court and his fascination with Spanish literature, music, and instruments: strings connecting two worlds.

Information: Ineke Huysman (Huygens Institute) and/or Gijs Versteegen (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos)

Acknowledgements

This conference has been made possible thanks to the support of:

The research project CINTER of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos; Privilegiadas, impopulares, y olvidadas reinas infértiles y princesas solteras en la España Moderna (Program URJC) and De Excellentia: Teoría y práctica de la virtud en la monarquía de España (siglos XV al XVII) Dexvir, PID 2022-139013 NB-100; Huygens Institute/NL-Lab; The Dutch Embassy in Madrid.