Companion to Medieval and Early Modern Confraternities

Konrad Eisenbichler (University of Toronto) works on the intersection of literature, politics, and religion in Renaissance Italy, with a special focus in how this intersection operates within early modern confraternities.

“Konrad Eisenbichler has brought together a team of scholars that details the development and strength of confraternity studies as well as showcases the lacunae in scholarship in certain aspects of confraternity studies. A Companion to Medieval and Early Modern Confraternities provides a guide to scholars interested in the study of the religious practices of the laity, the social assistance provided by confraternities, and the arts they sponsored. As a whole, it illustrates the richness and complexity of premodern confraternities and the many opportunities still open for further research. Scholars of medieval and early modern European culture will find this volume particularly useful for its detailed introduction to confraternity studies and its array of articles on various aspects of premodern lay religious associations." Nilab Ferozan, McMaster University. In Confraternitas, Vol. 31, No. 1 (2020), pp. 52–53.“This is an excellent volume. […] Any student of confraternities will profit from reading this book.”D. Henry Dieterich, in: The Medieval Review, 21.01.10.“The essays in this volume reveal the undeniable centrality of confraternities between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. Each contribution raises possibilities for further research. Early modern political and legal history might benefit from considering confraternal influence on statutorylaw.”Bianca Lopez, Southern Methodist University. In: Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Spring 2020), pp. 371–373.“A brief review cannot do full justice to such a rich collection about the growing field of confraternity studies as approached from so many perspectives. Even with this rich tapestry, almost every chapter ends by suggesting areas for further research.”Kenneth Jorgensen, Albertus Magnus College. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 73, No. 3 (Fall 2020), pp. 1085–1087 (doi:10.1017/rqx.2020.183)“Confraternity studies have grown tremendously in the last thirty years and A Companion to Medieval and Early Modern Confraternities reflects the depth and width of that growth […]. The team of scholars brought together by Konrad Eisenbichler for this volume highlights the strength and maturity of the scholarship of confraternity studies. A Companion to Medieval and Early Modern Confraternities providesan important guide into this important field of research.”Mark A. Lewis, S.J., Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome). In: Journal of Jesuit Studies, Vol. 6, No. 4 (2019), pp. 707–710 (doi:10.1163/22141332-00604007-04)

• List of IllustrationsNotes on Contributors1 Introduction: A World of ConfraternitiesKonrad EisenbichlerPart 1: Birth and Development2 Confraternities as Such, and as a Template for Guilds in the Low Countries during the Medieval and the Early Modern PeriodPaul Trio3 Change and Continuity: Eucharistic Confraternities in Ticino and Switzerland before and after TrentDavide Adamoli4 The Development of Confraternities in Central Europe in the Middle Ages and Early Modern PeriodBeata WojciechowskaPart 2: Devotion and Prayer5 The Ethics of ConfraternitiesGervase Rosser6 “A Single Body”: Eucharistic Piety and Confraternities of the Body of Christ in Sixteenth-Century Italy: Texts, Images, and DevotionDanilo Zardin7 Confraternities and the Inquisition: For and AgainstChristopher F. BlackPart 3: Good Works8 Guides for a Good Life: The Sermons of Albertano da Brescia and other Instructions for Citizens and Believers in Italian Medieval ConfraternitiesMarina Gazzini9 Cities of God or Structures of Superstition: Medieval Confraternities and Charitable Hospitals in the Early Modern WorldDavid D’Andrea10 Confraternities in Late Medieval Ireland: The Evolution of Chantry CollegesColm Lennon11 Confraternities and Capital Punishment: Charity, Culture, and Civic Religion in the Communal and Confessional AgeNicholas TerpstraPart 4: Confraternities in a Transcultural World12 National Confraternities in Rome and Italy in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period: Identity, Representation, CharityAnna Esposito13 At the Crossroads of Cultures: The Orthodox Confraternities of Central and Eastern Europe from the 16th to the 18th CenturyDominika Burdzy14 Confraternities in Colonial New Spain: Mexico and Central AmericaMurdo J. MacLeod15 The Generative Space of Jewish Confraternities in Medieval and Early Modern EuropeFederica FrancesconiPart 5: Arts and Letters16 Singing Praises to God: Confraternities and MusicJonathan Glixon17 Serio Ludere: Confraternities and Drama in Central Italy, 1400–1600Nerida Newbigin18 Faith on Stage: The Chambers of Rhetoric and Civic Religion in the Low Countries, 1400–1700Anne-Laure Van Bruaene19 Confraternities and Poetry: The Francophone PuysDylan Reid20 Iconography, Spectacle, and Notions of Corporate Identity: The Form and Function of Art in Early Modern ConfraternitiesAlyssa Abraham21 Art as Confraternal Documentation: Homeless Children and the Florentine Misericordia in the TrecentoWilliam R. LevinIndex