Cooperation with CEU Elcano International Chair. Naval History and Culture.
Cooperation with CEU Elcano International Chair. Naval History and Culture.
On the 12th November, project director, Prof. Dr Dagmar Freist, Dr Amanda Bevan, Head of the National Archives' Prize Papers Team, and Dr Elvira Bronheim one of our volunteers at the National Archives, had the honour to speak at the residence of HE José Pascual Marco, Ambassador of Spain to the United Kingdom, in London as part of the official presentation of the cooperation with CEU Elcano International Chair. Naval History and Culture. This collaboration aims to link documents from the Prize Papers with those of the Spanish Naval Archives, providing better context and expanded research opportunities in the future.
"This exchange showed just how much the international study of the Prize Papers is reshaping our understanding of the complexity of European expansion and colonialism. We’re excited to continue strengthening these collaborations,” Freist said.
At the symposium, which brought together researchers from the UK, Spain, and Germany, she presented the Prize Papers project and new case studies on captured Spanish ships. Among them: the famous galleon Nuestra Señora de Covadonga, seized in 1743 while carrying silver worth £60 million, and La Ninfa (captured in 1747), which transported letters between Spanish migrants in Latin America and their families back home—letters that never reached their recipients.
“These documents offer an unparalleled glimpse into everyday life, migration networks, and trade practices across all social groups in the early modern Spanish Empire and its colonised regions,” Freist explained.
