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IMC 2014: Sessions

Session 1630: Franciscan Studies, II: Parchment, Paper, and Words, or Fragments from a Spiritual Empire - Franciscan Sermons during the Late Middle Ages

Thursday 10 July 2014, 11.15-12.45

Organisers:Melanie Brunner, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
René Hernández Vera, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Moderator/Chair:Melanie Brunner, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Paper 1630-aFrom Piazza to Parchment: The Sermons In Circulum Anni of Sovramonte da Varese, Omin, in Franciscan Lombardy
(Language: English)
Eleonora Lombardo, Instituto de Estudos Medievais, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Index terms: Mentalities, Religious Life, Sermons and Preaching
Paper 1630-bPapers from the Empire: Collections of Sermons from the Observant Library of San Francesco Grande, Padua
(Language: English)
René Hernández Vera, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Index terms: Manuscripts and Palaeography, Mentalities, Religious Life, Sermons and Preaching
Abstract

This session will explore parchment, paper and words as revealing fragments of the spiritual empire built by Franciscan preaching during the Late Middle Ages. Parchment manuscripts containing the sermons of Sovramonte da Varese will reveal themselves as a didactic tool as well as a keen resource to combat heresy. Paper manuscripts containing compilations of sermons in Padua were complex, flexible, and efficient artefacts that played a determinant role in the success of Observant preaching. Finally, words, employed with unique craft by preachers in their Good Friday sermons, will show the rich, multilingual, and complex background of an intriguing spiritual empire.