Why Court History Matters

Inigo Jones' Banqueting House in Whitehall, with its great Rubens ceiling depicting the ascent of James I to heaven, formed the setting for the launch party in September of the new Society for Court Studies.

Old-style historians regarded the rise and fall of nations, governments, religions and economies as the only proper subjects of research. Yet in recent years a dazzling array of new approaches - women's history; changing perceptions of landscape; the relationship between man and the natural world; the history of food and cooking, to name but a few -have all proved the value of broadening our range when looking at previous societies. Through them we come to a richer appreciation of our own.