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The Royal Studies Podcast
This podcast is connected to the Royal Studies Network and the Royal Studies Journal and covers topics related to monarchical history as well as featuring new research and publications in the field of royal studies. Join us for interviews, roundtable discussions and more covering all things royal studies and highlighting the latest and greatest in the field!
The views, information or opinions expressed on the podcast, by the hosts and/or guest contributors are solely the views of the individuals involved. The Royal Studies Podcast does not accept responsibility or liability for the views of guest contributors and their appearance on the podcast does not imply an endorsement of their views or the entities that they represent.
The Royal Studies Podcast
RSJ Feature: Cluster on ‘Diplomacy as Performative Politics in the Early Modern Courts’
In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews the editor of the cluster ‘Diplomacy as Performative Politics in the Early Modern Courts’, as featured in the December 2025 issue of the Royal Studies Journal (issue 12.2). We discuss the inspiration behind this theme and delve into the contents of the cluster and its original and innovative approach to early modern diplomacy, rulership and courts.
Guest Bio/Info:
Dr Kristen Vitale Engel is an early modern historian who specializes in the early Tudor state, performative politics, and late medieval and early modern European court culture. She successfully defended her doctoral dissertation (thesis), titled “Henrician Spectacle: Courtly Festivity as Performative Politics in Early Tudor England, 1485-1533” in April 2025 at the University of Connecticut. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor of History in the School of Graduate, Online and Continuing Education at Fitchburg State University. Kristen is the Submissions Editor for the Royal Studies Journal, the Editor-in-Chief of “The Court Observer” for the Society of Court Studies, the International Ambassador (US) for HistoryLab+ in partnership with the Institute of Historical Research, a podcast host for the “Early Modern History” channel on the New Books Network, and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Forthcoming publication of interest: “The Performance of Power Relations: Early Henrician Courtly Dance,” in eds., Janet Dickinson and Diana Lucia Gomez-Chacon, The Embodied Court in the Premodern World; Understanding the Physicality, Performativity and Lifecycle of Bodies at Court in Europe and Beyond, 1400-1800, in series Courts and Courtiers in a Global Context Comparative Approaches to the Study of the Mechanisms and Personalities of Pre-Modern Court Cultures, vol. 4, Brepols, 2026.
Follow Kristen on X: @kristenmvitale
