An Embodied Religion: Materialities and Devotion in Medieval Europe

From the images carved and painted to the buildings edified, from liturgical objects to reliquaries and tombs, from books to personal objects of piety, this volume reflects the many domains where the relation between materiality and devotion can be a prospect and a problem. It intersects the material, functional, performative and aesthetic dimensions with the different readings it calls for, the cognitive and emotional apprehensions, the representations (erudite and popular) it associates with, the practices that it sustains, the memories that polarize and legitimize, the powers that were affirmed through it. It discloses the diversity of variants such as wealth and social position, literate training, and gender differences.

João Luís Fontes is an Assistant Professor in Medieval History at NOVA University, Lisbon, and a researcher at the Institute for Medieval Studies. He also collaborates with the Centre of Studies on Religious History at the Catholic University, Lisbon. His research is focused on late medieval spirituality, in particular hermitic and female religious experiences.
Diana Martins works as a researcher at the Institute for Medieval Studies at NOVA University, Lisbon, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Medieval Studies at NOVA University and University Aberta, Lisbon, and EPHE, Paris, on medieval diplomacy, with a fellowship granted by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.
Catarina Fernandes Barreira holds a PhD in Art Sciences and is a research fellow at the Institute for Medieval Studies at NOVA University, Lisbon. She is the principal investigator of projects related to the history of the Cistercian Order, an area in which she specialises.
Mário Farelo is an Assistant Professor in Medieval History at the University of Minho. He obtained a M.A. at the University of Montreal and a M.A. and a PhD from the University of Lisbon, and specializes in researching Papal intervention in Medieval Portugal.