The Trinity Network

Reviving the Trinity: New Perspectives on 15^th-Century Scottish Culture

This collaborative, interdisciplinary project looks again at the Trinity Altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes, Trinity Collegiate Church, and Trinity Hospital as emblems of Scotland’s inventive and ambitious cultural milieu, and its active, outward looking engagement with Europe and beyond. The network will re-examine the Trinity, and  establish its cultural relevance today. Taking innovative approaches to materialities, geographies, and the wider artistic, intellectual, and cultural networks that connect them during the reigns of James II, III and IV, and the regency of Queen Mary of Guelders, it seeks to identify contemporary networks and reassess the significance of knowledge exchange.

With the Trinity Altarpiece c.1476, Trinity Collegiate Church and Trinity Hospital as central points of reference, the project will open scholarly debates on all aspects of 15^th-century Scotland.

In the first of a series of events we invite academic colleagues and students, and those working in the heritage sector, museums and galleries to submit papers for a

Virtual Symposium on 27th March 2021

We welcome twenty minute papers which focus on any aspects of the Trinity – altarpiece, church, or hospital or which take them as a point of departure. Topics could include art, politics, trade, architecture, diplomacy, material and court culture, the idea of a Scottish Renaissance, gender, medicine and botany, heraldry, music, religion, and related networks.

Papers may be pre-recorded and submitted in advance or delivered live but virtually. The symposium will consist of live (virtual) and pre-recorded papers, live virtual discussion, and a virtual drinks reception.

Please submit proposals of c.300 words with your preference for live or pre-recorded, to Trinitynetwork1460@gmail.com by 1st February 2021. We will notify accepted proposals by 8th February.

We expect to curate a selection of papers from the symposium, which demonstrate the breadth of the topic and yet make a coherent volume, into a book proposal.