IMC 2006: Sessions
Session 1623: Gifts, Identity, and Community, and the Role of Small Religious Houses, c. 1350-1500
Thursday 13 July 2006, 11.15-12.45
| Sponsor: | Canterbury Centre for Medieval & Tudor Studies, University of Kent |
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| Organiser: | Sheila Sweetinburgh, Canterbury Centre for Medieval & Early Modern, University of Kent |
| Moderator/Chair: | Emilia Jamroziak, Forschungsstelle für Vergleichende Ordensgeschichte (FOVOG), Technische Universität Dresden / Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds |
| Respondent: | Andrew F. Butcher, Aberystwyth University |
| Paper 1623-a | Identity and Written Memory: Connecting the Living and the Dead in the Register of St Laurence (Language: English) Index terms: Lay Piety, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Mentalities, Religious Life |
| Paper 1623-b | Communal Drinking and the Guy of Warwick Mazer: Sustaining Relationships at St Nicholas’ Hospital (Language: English) Index terms: Lay Piety, Local History, Mentalities, Religious Life |
| Abstract | Using gifts, benefactors created bonds of affection with their chosen institution. Gifts were physical reminders, storehouses of memories where the identities of donor and recipient were intertwined, the symbolism embodied therein linking the living and dead. This time-depth concept encapsulated within the gift extends to the recording of the house’s assets. By naming long-dead benefactors and their gifts, the scribe produced a spatial memorial on the page. The papers consider gifts and recording practices. Sweetinburgh explores the giving of a maser. Brayshaw examines the production of the St Lawrence’s register. In his response, Butcher will consider comparative theoretical dimensions, drawing widely on current literatures about gifts. |