The École Française in Rome, together with CIHAM-UMR 5648 and the University of Erfurt are organizing an academic workshop on medieval and early modern history to be held in Rome from 24-28 October 2011.

This workshop continues a series of meetings for junior research staff which successively focused on the topics «La circulation des biens au Moyen Âge. Entre histoire de l’économie et l’histoire des idées» (Lyon, October 2008), «Storia e archivi : percorsi di ricerca in storia medievale (secoli XII-XV)» (Bologna, September 2009) and «Autour du prince, XIVe-XVIe siècle» (Turin, October 2010).

The topic chosen for this year, «Cultures of Trade (12th -18th century)», has been kept deliberately broad to equally accommodate research on the merchant and his vocational training, commercial practices on local, regional and international levels, modes of trading (bookkeeping, business correspondence, trading expeditions), financial aspects (loans and confidence) and the expansion of trade activities into various political and legal contexts. The main guidelines for the submission of research proposals are:

1- Time and Space Management
2- Merchants' documents and records
3- Juridical culture and negotiation practices
4- Religious and political demeanor of merchants

The sessions will include lectures by experts in the field as well as presentations of current research projects by junior research staff. Excursions in Rome are scheduled for Friday, 28 October 2011.

The École Française offers 12 scholarships for junior researchers (doctoral and post doctoral students of History from across the European Union). The grants cover board and lodging (at Piazza Navona in Rome). The official workshop languages are Italian, French and English.

Applications should be sent by email to secrma@efrome.it, quoting the reference «atelier doctoral 2011» (deadline: 8 July 2011). Applicants should include a statement of purpose, a short CV specifying relevant language competences, a list of publications where applicable, a summary of the research project of no more than 2 pages (6,000 characters) and an academic reference. Applicants who may have difficulty getting their travelling expenses reimbursed by their research institution should point this out in their application, giving an estimate of the costs involved. Selection of candidates is based on their research projects and the lecturers’ field of expertise. The successful candidates will then be asked to submit a paper on their research project of approx. 10 pages (30,000 characters) in one of the languages stipulated (deadline: 1 September 2011) to be reviewed prior to the workshop by an expert and a fellow PhD student.

The best contributions will be suggested for publication in the École Française’s review (Mélanges de l’École française de Rome, Moyen Âge).

Academic committee
Jean-Louis Gaulin (Université Lyon 2, CIHAM-UMR 5648)
Luciano Palermo (LUISS “Guido Carli”, Roma)
Susanne Rau (Universität Erfurt)

Lecturers
Nicole Bériou (Université Lyon 2, directrice de l’IRHT, Paris)
Andrea Bonoldi (Università di Trento)
Jean-Louis Gaulin (Université Lyon 2, CIHAM-UMR 5648)
Luciano Palermo (LUISS “Guido Carli”, Roma)
Susanne Rau (Universität Erfurt)
Dominique Valérian (Université Lyon 2, CIHAM-UMR 5648)
Andrea Zorzi (Università di Firenze)