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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Finally got to visit the EUI today — what a campus, and what a view..!

Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

And that’s a wrap! Plenary discussion, final remarks and network plans by Brian Kjær Olesen & Jonas Gerlings for closing the workshop « Abolitionist movements: freedom and slavery in European political thought, 1770-1820 » in Florence 🇮🇹

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Last paper of our Abolition workshop in Florence, with Iwan-Michelangelo D’Aprile (University of Postdam) presenting his research on abolitionism and Jewish emancipation through the case of Saul Ascher (1767-1822) as a German abolitionist in the Prussian reform era

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Jonas Gerlings (University of Göttingen) now presenting the workshop’s penultimate paper on the emergence of anti-slavery sentiment in the German public

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Second day of our Abolition workshop in Florence with Giulia Bonazza (University of Bologna) presenting her paper on Italian abolitionism and its transnational networks

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Had a great time presenting my work-in-progress research on Wadström’s political-economic thought in Revolutionary France, closing the first day of our Abolition workshop in Florence. Thanks for the insightful feedback and kind encouragements! Now off to aperitivo 🇮🇹

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Second paper of the first day in Florence by Pärtel Piirimäe & Kadi Kähär-Peterson (University of Tartu) on « conceptualizing freedom in Baltic debates on serfdom and reform, ca 1770-1820 »

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

First paper in Florence of the workshop « Abolitionist movements: freedom and slavery in European Political Thought 1770-1820 » introduced by Brian Kjaer Olesen & Jonas Gerlings with Prof. Andrew Kahn (Oxford) on the serfdom question & public opinion in the Age of Catherine the Great

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Had fun writing on Carl Bernhard Wadström in Revolutionary France recently; looking forward to going to Florence soon for the workshop « Abolitionist movements: freedom and slavery in European political thought m, 1770-1820 » led by J. Gerlings, @briankolesen.bsky.social & Martin Van Gelderen

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Throwback to last week’s archives in London, going through primary & secondary sources for my book project on Swedenborg’s political and economic thought. Third picture is from G. Trobridge’s ‘Life and Teaching’, 4th edition.

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

How wonderful it was to be back in Oxford last week; catching up with old friends and colleagues, checking some archives.. and finally got to visit the new Schwartzman centre

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

And that’s a wrap! Closing remarks from Dr Ella Vitaniemi (Tampere) of the exec committee of the Finnish society for eighteenth century studies. Then off to lunch & travels

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Last keynote of the 4th Nordic conference for 18th century studies with Prof. Sabrina Ebbersmayer (Copenhagen) on Nordic women philosophers in early modern Europe and their reception, introduced by Dr Lotta Nylund.

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Double opera panel with strong talks from Profs. Marie-Christine Skuncke (Uppsala) Charlotta Wolff (Turku), Martin Wålhberg (NTNU/Trondheim) & Johanna Ilmakunnas (Åbo Akad.)

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

2nd keynote lecture (på svenska) at the Nordic conference for C18 studies in Turku with Alfred Sjödin on geografi och poetiskt världskapande från Dajlstierna till Oxenstierna

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

It was a pleasure to see so many people for our opening panel! Gave a broad strokes overview of Swedenborg’s political economy; other talks showcases improvement perspectives in Sweden, Lapland and Iceland; good Q&A & pleasant conversations at lunch

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Going old school today with fully handwritten paper to the Nordic conference of 18th century studies in Åbo/Turku 🇫🇮 I haven’t done this in a while; love the slow pace of it. Paper will be in the 1rst panel of the day, “Visions of Reform” chaired by Sophie Holm. Come say hi!

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Two new books of Swedenborgian scholarship arrived in the mail today. Had not seen a 900-page book in a while..! Very German.

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Getting ready for the fourth nordic conference of eighteenth century studies in Turku later this week 🇫🇮 ☕️ excited to test+discuss some work-in-progress arguments

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Full house yesterday for our history of science workshop at JYU, thanks to everyone who came! Great discussion led by Larry Principe around evolving trends in the history of science; I also discussed August Nordenskiöld and the place of alchemy in Sweden’s culture of improvement

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Yesterday I gave the inaugural William Bruce Lecture at @barnardcollege.bsky.social , @columbiauniversity.bsky.social on Swedenborg’s views on slavery & their abolitionist legacy. Responses given by Carl Wennerlind, Barnard’s vice-provost for research, & moderated by Dell J. Rose. Such a pleasure!

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Had a great time in Boston 🇺🇸 presenting on Babson College’s beautiful campus for the Swedenborg Convention 2026; saw the city & drove all up to Dartmouth to see colleagues. Now heading to New York City!

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Prof. Elizabeth Lunbeck (Harvard) now presenting her latest research in Helsinki on the history of psychiatry from Freud to ChatGPT, chaired by Stefan Nygård

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Had a great time this morning presenting my ongoing work on the discourse of improvement in early modern Swedish colonialism at the 2nd day of our annual @depe-erc.bsky.social workshop. Grateful for the encouragements and the insightful feedback!

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Coffee, @thetls.bsky.social Hegeliana and some eighteenth century diplomatic correspondence this morning in Helsinki

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Had a great time last week concluding the Religious embodiment & conversion practices in EM Europe & beyond at @ucph.bsky.social as final talk. Quite a packed programme with 24 papers other 2 days! Congrats to J. Engelhardt & @threadofariane.bsky.social for organizing | (📷 by Ariel Hessayon)

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Dr Lennart Gard (Free University Berlin) discussing representations of Böhme’s large forehead and their possible meanings, using Lyndal Roper’s 2010 AHR analysis of Luther’s chin and stout portraits as representations of the latter’s break of monastic vows.

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Prof. Emily Michelson (St Andrews) now opening the second & final of the religious embodiment and conversion practices in early modern Europe & beyond, with a keynote on conversion and the body in a multi faith reformation.

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Prof. Joanna Kodzik (Université Paris Saclay / Versailles) closing the day on conversion of the Inuit in Moravian indigenous life stories & the arctic life stories database

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Ariel Hessayon (Goldsmiths, London) on mutable religious identities in early modern England: Judaizing Christians, crypto-Jews and Jewish apostates

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Kickstarting the religious embodiment & conversion practices conference in Copenhagen with a Keynote from Prof. Rebekka Voß (Goethe University, Frankfurt) on “Conversion and Translation in the Pietist Mission to the Jews”

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Welcome from Prof. Juliane Engelhardt, opening the religious embodiment & conversion practices conference at Copenhagen University

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Some library / archival research writing today on C18 Swedish political materials at Helsinki Uni @helsinki.fi before heading to Copenhagen next week for the Religious embodiment & conversion in EM Europe conference organized by Juliane Engelhardt and @threadofariane.bsky.social

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Prof. Karine Durin @univ-nantes.fr , presenting her research at the Helsinki centre for intellectual history on the early modern scientific knowledge and political reform projects

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Love teaching on JYU’s snowy campus

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

And that’s a wrap for the In and Out of the canon in int. history conference in Helsinki! Final words from the organizers after a last panel this afternoon on publishing in intellectual history led by Martin Burke (New York)

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Now attending the last keynote of the intellectual history conference by Richard Sertjeanson (Trinity College, Cambridge) on Universities and the State, with a case study based on unpublished sources from 16th century Oxford scholar John Case.

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Had a great time yesterday presenting my paper; got some encouraging feedback. Now attending the 2nd keynote by Banu Turnaoğlu Açan (Istanbul/Cambridge) on rethinking the canon, global intellectual history & boundaries of political thought.

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

First keynote of the intellectual history conference in Helsinki, with Prof Alicia Montoya (Radboud University) on « the common reader »: libraries, canon making, and the book trade in the eighteenth century

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Now wrapping the NHSC10 🇳🇴 conference, with final remarks from board chair Annette Lykknes and the general assembly meeting of the newly founded Norwegian association for the history of science / Norsk Vitenskapshistorisk Forening. See you in Oslo in 2027!

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Last panel of the day, with Andreas Jüttemann on leprosy in the Baltic, Jenny Sure on yellow fever in early C19 Germany, Shan Jiang & Ulrike Spring on C. P. Thunberg & bloodletting, and Thomas Brandt on ship modelling knowledge in C20 Norway.

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Gave a remote talk at Swedenborg House, London (@swedenborghouse.bsky.social) this morning on ‘Swedenborg and slavery’, based on my article on the topic in the Intellectual History Review. Thanks very much to the organizers for their invitation and for accommodating me! Exciting line up and program

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Second keynote of NCHS10 in Bergen 🇳🇴 by Staffan Bergwik (Stockholm) on historical time & scientific knowledge.

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

It was a pleasure to present my paper on Abraham Bäck in the history of medicine panel at NCHS10! Interesting discussions. And kudos to my fellow panelist Camilla Ruud (Uni. of South Eastern Norway) for a fascinating talk — on a rather intriguing case study!

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Second panel of the day, with Philip Roth (Aachen, @preprintculture.bsky.social) on preprints in 1960s physics, Hari Sidhar on natural history in ecology+evolutionary biology, and Marius Buning (UiOslo) on printing privileges & power in early modern Europe

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

First panel of NCHS10’s 2nd day, with Ageliki Lefkaditou and Jon Røyne Kyllingstad on historicizing IQ testing in Norway, and Harriet Palfreyman & Elizabeth Toon on the place of history of science in science communication.

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

First keynote by Anne Eriksen (UiOslo) at the beautiful Bergen University Museum, on knowledge for the public sphere there in 1825, preceded by a short tour in celebration of the Museum’s 200 years.

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Afternoon session on the sciences and the Sami in 19th & 20th century, with Jykka Nyyssönen on the Skolt Sámi, Astri Andersen on scientists, Sámi culture & land use, and Svein Atle Skålevag on Roland Bonaparte & Sami anthropology in 1884

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Vincent Roy-Di Piazza @roydipiazza.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Opening address from Annette Lykknes for the NCHS10🇳🇴 — 50 participants this year, incl. 29 from Norwegian institutions — First panel now chaired by Magnus Vollset, with Vera Schwach, Per Lundin & Ingemar Pettersson on research policy in post-war Norway & Sweden.

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