Confraternities and the Spaces of the Renaissance City (RSA 2014)

From running hospitals to ransoming captives, from dowering poor girls to staging penitential processions, confraternities and their myriad activities were everywhere in the cities of the Late Medieval and Early Modern World. With the interpenetration of confraternal life and urban spaces in mind, the Society for Confraternity Studies solicits submissions for a series of panels for the RSA 2014 Annual Meeting in New York. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, confraternity-run hospitals, charitable performances, oratory decorations, artistic commissions, sacre rappresentazioni, urban processions, execution rites, relic translations, funeral ceremonies, and devotional practices. Submissions are especially welcome from scholars using innovative methodologies to frame and characterize the relationship between confraternal devotion and the urban environment. Submissions from all geographical areas and through the time period of 1350-1700 are welcome.

Please email a brief abstract (maximum 150 words), keywords, and a 300-word CV to Diana Presciutti (dpresciuttiwooster.edu) The submission deadline is 20 May 2013.

Sponsored by the Society for Confraternity Studies.