2019 Thomas Harriot Lecture: 'Both to love and fear us – how to found an empire in Harriot’s day'
The lecture will be followed by an informal drinks reception at 6 pm.
Harriot’s reference to love and fear captures the paradox of pre-industrial empires. They were hard to found and manage because rulers lacked the resources to communicate and enforce their commands. Resisters had to be cowed, and quislings and collaborators cultivated. How did durable or viable empires – exemplified by the Spanish monarchy in much of the New World – cope and why did emulators and even imitators often fail? The lecturer will attempt to challenge received wisdom in adumbrating approaches to the problem.

For further details, please contact Professor Robert Fox, robert.fox@history.ox.ac.uk

All welcome
Date: 23 May 2019, 17:00 (Thursday, 4th week, Trinity 2019)
Venue: Oriel College, Oriel Square OX1 4EW
Venue Details: Champneys Room
Speaker: Professor Felipe Fernández-Armesto (University of Notre Dame)
Organiser: Robert Fox (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: robert.fox@history.ox.ac.uk
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Laura Spence