SSFH Society News

The Society for the Study of French History (SSFH) supports postgraduate research by funding students to carry out archival research as well as helping them to attend and/or present work at conferences. These awards are open to all postgraduate students registered at a UK university who are carrying out research on an aspect of French history, and reports from successful applicants clearly indicate the tremendous range of research interests supported by the Society. In this edition we present four reports from Postgraduate Research Grants, together with details of the Society’s Undergraduate Dissertation Prize and annual conference. More information on these awards is available from the Society’s website: www.frenchhistorysociety.ac.uk. My doctoral research focuses on mirrors for princes dedicated to Charles VI of France (r. 1380–1422): documents that serve as important examples of political communication during a reign marked by the mental illness of the king, internal power struggles, civil war, the Hundred Years’ War, and the ongoing papal schism. As literary participants in political conversations at the French court, these texts sought to suggest solutions to contemporary problems. So far I have consulted the manuscripts of three of these texts: Robert Gervais’ Speculum morale regium (1385), Philippe de Mézières’ Songe du vieil pèlerin (1389), and both versions of Pierre Salmon’s Dialogues (1409 and 1413–15). My analysis of these texts addresses two principal questions: what was the intended function of these works, and which audiences did they reach in manuscript form?

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