IMC 2015: Sessions
Session 209: Mighty Protectors for the Merchant Class: Saints as Intercessors between the Wealthy and the Divine
Monday 6 July 2015, 14.15-15.45
| Organiser: | Cynthia Turner Camp, Department of English, University of Georgia, Athens |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Jennifer Jahner, Division of the Humanities & Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology |
| Paper 209-a | Cuthbertine Hermits and North Sea Merchant Traders (Language: English) Index terms: Economics - Trade, Hagiography, Monasticism, Religious Life |
| Paper 209-b | Stolen, Hoarded, and Misplaced Saints: Visualizing the Relationship between Merchants and Their Holy Patrons in Medieval and Early Modern Venice (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Economics - Trade, Hagiography, Religious Life |
| Paper 209-c | The Sunday Saint: The Middle English Life of Erasmus and Late Medieval Mercantile Culture (Language: English) Index terms: Economics - Trade, Hagiography, Language and Literature - Middle English, Religious Life |
| Abstract | In the later medieval period, merchants formed an integral part of urban society; among their activities, they facilitated trade between city centers, participated in the governing of cities, and were patrons of churches and monasteries. At the same time, the wealth that they amassed and their sometimes morally dubious activities, such as money lending, often left merchants fearful of what the afterlife would bring, causing them to appeal directly to specific saints for intercession. This session explores the religious lives of these elite members of urban society, considering the holy persons to whom merchants appealed as well as the manner in which they made these appeals. |