IMC 2023: Sessions

Session 1733: Networks of Charity in a Material World, c. 1200-1500

Thursday 6 July 2023, 14.15-15.45

Organiser:	Mary Anne Gonzales, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews
Moderator/Chair:	Elma Brenner, Wellcome Library, London
Paper 1733-a	'Pour cause d'amour et de carité': Material Culture and Testamentary Practice in Late Medieval Tournai (Language: English) Ariana Mae Sider, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto Index terms: Economics - Urban, Lay Piety, Mentalities, Social History
Paper 1733-b	Women's Networks, Material Culture, and Testamentary Practice in 13th-Century Kent (Language: English) Jack W. McCart, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto Index terms: Economics - Urban, Gender Studies, Lay Piety, Mentalities
Paper 1733-c	'What we geven to the pore it nedith not thee to telle': The Mendicant Vocation and Charitable Provision in Late Medieval England (Language: English) Hannah Kirby Wood, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto Index terms: Economics - Urban, Religious Life, Social History
Abstract	Caritas, broadly defined in the Middle Ages, referred to a love of God expressed through the provision of assistance to one's neighbour. Charity influenced the formation and social function of urban institutions and associations, the contents of wills, and the distribution and transfer of material objects within medieval social networks. Within these contexts, charity involved the creation, use, and movement of material culture, suggesting that materiality shaped medieval peoples' experiences and participation in charity. The papers in this session explore the interplay between networks and materiality to shed light on how objects reflected and inflected social meanings of charitable works.