| Paper 1129-b | The Confraternity of Orsanmichele: A Holy Wall of Protection for the 14th-Century Florentine Grain Market
(Language: English)
Marie D'Aguanno Ito, Georgetown University / Department of History, Catholic University of America, Washington DC
Index terms: Economics - Trade, Economics - Urban, Lay Piety, Social History |
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| Paper 1129-c | A Queen Reigns: The Example of Elionor of Sicily, Queen of Aragon, 1349-1375
(Language: English)
Sebastian Roebert, Departament d'Història Medieval, Diplomàtica i Paleografia, Universitat de Barcelona / Fakultät für Geschichte, Kunst- und Orientalwissenschaften, Universität Leipzig
Index terms: Administration, Archives and Sources, Women's Studies |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
This communication proposal reflects the researches which I have been conducting for six years within the framework of a doctorate thesis in medieval art history, at the University Paris IV-Sorbonne, supervised by Pr. Dany Sandron. The communication has for objective to present a simple outline, based on the setting in parallel of the respective artistic patronage of two active members of the wide circle of political acquaintances of the French King at the beginning of the 14th century. A joint presentation of the artistic action of Hugues II de Bouville and Enguerran de Marigny, two royal councillors of equivalent importance in the reign of Philip the Fair, will allow to glimpse the specificities of buildings and works of art commissioned by political advisors in the French kingdom, in the Late Middle Ages. This artistic action appears to be particularly diversified in its demonstrations, covering all the fields of architecture and figurative arts.
Paper -b:
My paper will examine the late 13th and early 14th-century Confraternity of Orsanmichele in relation to the Florentine grain market. The confraternity shared space with the grain traders under the loggia at the piazza of Orsanmichele. Grain traders worked there by day, and the lay confraternity met as a laudesi group in the evenings and on Sundays and feast days, when the market was closed. My thesis is that the confraternity was more than a prayer, praise, and charitable group honoring the image of the Virgin under the loggia; rather, it provided essential physical and political protection for the grain market, and in this regard, the confraternity served larger economic and societal functions. My paper will explore the confraternity and its ties with the communal government and grain traders, the way in which it formed a wall of protection for the market, and the larger significance of the confraternity's relationship with the grain market.
Paper -c:
The study of medieval queens and queenship is very popular at the moment. Yet in most cases, the conditions are rather unfavourable for research due to a lack of direct sources referring to queens and their reigns. An exception is the Crown of Aragon. The Archive of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona conserves the documentation of the royal chancellery of this realm. Its records permit reconstruction of the detailed actions of its sovereigns, including the queens. This lecture shall discuss the reign of Elionor of Sicily, third wife of Peter IV (The Ceremonious), through these sources, particularly the registers of her chancellery - thereby tracing not only the possibilities and limits of queenly action in the 14th-century Crown of Aragon, but also the limits for its contemporary understanding due to the characteristics of the source material.
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