COMLAWEU 2025 Conference Blog
The first year of the COMLAWEU project has been an exciting and fruitful one so far, featuring many ground-breaking research trips, much stimulating discussion, and the germination of several publication plans. Our latest endeavour has been the organisation of an annual series of conferences, exploring different aspects of the law and its communication in early modern Europe, which will continue throughout the project’s duration.
The debut conference of this series took on the theme of Government Print in the Early Modern World: Law, Politics and Printers, and was held in the Old Class Library of St John’s House in St Andrews, on 20-21 May 2025. We were privileged to host eighteen speakers from thirteen different institutions across Europe, along with upwards of twenty other attendees, from St Andrews and beyond.
Our PI, Dr Arthur der Weduwen, presents his paper on the rise of official print across Europe. Image credit: Madison Gonderman.
Over the span of two days and eight panels, our speakers delivered a fascinating and extremely cohesive array of papers, exploring the myriad forms, functions and audiences of official print, highlighting case studies of specific official printers or privileges, charting the adoption of official print over time, assessing how official print operated on the peripheries of kingdoms or empires, and considering its relationship to the church. This to say nothing of the overarching themes that emerged, such as the significance of language and form or the importance of trust in the print industry.
The geographical scope of the conference was also impressive, covering the Holy Roman Empire, the Low Countries, France, England, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Poland-Lithuania, Ducal Prussia, Scotland, Hungary, Denmark and Latvia.
Project member Dr Christophe Gillain presents on the printing of the law in Aix-en-Provence. Image credit: Catherine Statchen.
Between panels we made the most of the sunshine and the St John’s House garden in the coffee and lunch breaks. And in the evenings speakers were treated to dinners at a pair of fine St Andrews establishments: Hatch and Tailend.
The quality of questions and engagement in the panels was exceptionally high throughout, culminating in a vibrant round table discussion at the conclusion of the event, in which project members, speakers and non-speakers alike all contributed to a lively and thought-provoking discussion for forty-five minutes. It raised and reaffirmed many salient themes seen throughout the conference, and will certainly inform the volume of conference proceedings, which will be published in Open Access with Brill in 2026.
Our PI, Dr Arthur der Weduwen, chairs an animated session of questions. Image credit: Madison Gonderman.
We are extremely grateful to UKRI and the School of History here at the University of St Andrews, whose generous funding made the entire event possible. Many thanks should also go to the caterers, both the St Andrews team and those of Hatch and Tailend, for keeping us so well fuelled across the two days. And most of all, to all the speakers, chairs and other attendees for making our first conference such a fascinating and enjoyable experience.
This is only the beginning, as next year’s COMLAWEU conference will be on the theme of Proclaiming, Affixing, Distributing: Disseminating the Law in Early Modern Europe, and will take place in St Andrews on 5-6 May 2026. A Call for Papers will be issued soon, and we hope to welcome back many speakers from this year’s conference!
Dr Barnaby Cullen