Lying abroad with Carol Chillington Rutter and Giulia Boitani

Join Carol Chillington Rutter, in conversation with Dr Giulia Boitani, to discuss her brand new book ‘Lying Abroad’.

Student, traveller, secretary, scoundrel, spy: introducing the maverick whose diplomacy saved Europe from war.

Henry Wotton had already exhausted several lives when he arrived in Venice as England’s ambassador in 1604. Yet the most remarkable phase of his career was yet to come.

In Lying abroad, Carol Chillington Rutter tells Wotton’s extraordinary story. She reveals how this one-time exile, who fled England after his employer was convicted of treason, gained favour of King James, securing a knighthood and diplomatic posting. Charged with restoring relations with Venice after a fifty-year hiatus, he drew criticism for his breaches of protocol. But when a dispute brought Europe to the brink of war, Wotton took a risk - one that changed European history.

Carol Chillington Rutter is Emerita Professor of Shakespeare and Performance Studies at the University of Warwick. She is the author of numerous books and critical editions. In 2023 she was Visiting Fellow at Ca’ Foscari, University of Venice.

Dr Giulia Boitani is Wilkinson College Teaching Officer in French and Italian at King’s College Cambridge and Affiliate lecturer in the Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics Faculty. 

This event will take place in the Provost's Drawing Room in King's College.