IMC 2024: Sessions
Session 712: Causes and Outcomes of Economic Crisis
Tuesday 2 July 2024, 14:15-15:45
| Organiser: | IMC Programming Committee, |
|---|---|
| Moderator/Chair: | Daniel R. Curtis, School of History, Culture & Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam |
| Paper 712-a | Crisis within the Abbey: An Economic and Social Study of the Monastery of Las Huelgas of Burgos, 1295-1371 (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Ecclesiastical History, Monasticism and Women's Studies |
| Paper 712-b | 'Omnibus receptis et expensis factis in fabrica': What Can Late Medieval Cathedral Fabric Accounts Tell Us about the Post-1350 Economic Crisis? (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Architecture - Religious, Ecclesiastical History and Economics - General |
| Abstract | This session has been grouped by the IMC Programming Committee from individually submitted paper proposals. Paper a: The Monastery of Las Huelgas de Burgos, is conceived, in the research that is based on the doctoral thesis that is now in development, as a monastic foundation that not only existed as a religious establishment destined to welcome the daughters of the lineages that made up the Castilian aristocratic circles but also, and more significantly, as a centre which housed almost semi-permanently princesses of royal blood. We intend, through a social and economic comparative study, to understand how these ladies, as a symbol of the real presence in the monastery, acted and how the domain of the monastery was changing during their lordship. The study will focus on three key figures: Branca Afonso of Portugal (1259-1321), Branca of Aragon (1299-1347) and Branca of Castile (1319-1375). If, on the one hand, the present research allows us to contribute to the understanding of the life of these ladies of the highest nobility and royal family within the scope of two historiographical fields that in recent years have undergone a rapid development, (Queenship and Women’s Studies), on the other hand it also allows us to understand what consequences the actions of these ladies brought to the Cistercian monasteries. Paper b: Set within the ecclesiastical sphere, the paper focuses on cathedral institutions within England. A peculiarity of the British Isles, secular and monastic cathedrals represent two institutions responsible for the construction and upkeep of the mother church of a diocese. Whereas the pre-Black-Death period saw a building boom, the remainder of the 14th and the 15th century have often been characterised by social and economic challenges and changes resulting in less construction activity. Drawing on a selection of so far neglected cathedral fabric accounts, new insights into whether the respective institutions coped with these challenges differently and how they affected the administration, construction, and upkeep of their cathedrals can be gained. Thus, the paper will show how the accounts reflect the outcome of the ‘crises’ and it will be questioned whether the period can still aptly be described as a ‘crisis for cathedral construction’. |