Material prayers : the use of text in early modern Italian domestic devotions
While scholarship often focuses on how early modern Italians used images in their devotions, particularly in the post-Tridentine era, little attention has been placed upon how laypeople engaged with devotional text during times of prayer and in their everyday lives. Studies of early modern devotional texts have explored their literary content, investigated their censorship by the Church, or concentrated upon an elite readership. This thesis, instead, investigates how ordinary devotees interacted with holy words in their material form, which I have termed âmaterial prayersâ. Since this thesis developed under the aegis of the interdisciplinary research project, Domestic Devotions: The Place of Piety in the Italian Renaissance Home, 1400-1600, it focuses primarily on engagement with these material prayers in domestic spaces. Using an interdisciplinary approach drawing from material culture studies, literary history, social and cultural history, and art history, it brings together objects, images and archival sources to illuminate how devotees from across the socio-economic and literacy spectrums accessed and employed devotional text in their prayers and daily life. From holy words, Biblical excerpts, and
Tycz, Katherine Marie
material culture ; material text ; early modern Italy ; domestic devotion ; history of devotion ; Italian Renaissance ; Renaissance Italy ; history of domestic life ; Italian Renaissance literature and culture ; social history ; cultural history ; sixteenth century ; fifteenth century ; piety ; practices of prayer ; objects of devotion ; devotional practices ; Italian Renaissance Home ; European Renaissance ; everyday life ; printed prayers ; early modern art ; prayer books ; jewellery ; architecture ; amulets ; material prayers ; paintings ; printed images ; holy words ; Sacred Monogram ; manuscripts ; inscribed objects ; inscriptions ; Roman Inquisition ; Venice ; the Marche ; Veneto ; Naples ; Tuscany ; Emilia-Romagna ; life and death ; illness ; protection
Material prayers : the use of text in early modern Italian domestic devotions. While scholarship often focuses on how early modern Italians used images in their devotions, particularly in the post-Tridentine era, little attention has been placed upon how laypeople engaged with devotional text during times of prayer and in their everyday lives. Studies of early modern devotional texts have explored their literary content, investigated their censorship by the Church, or concentrated upon an elite readership. This thesis, instead, investigates how ordinary devotees interacted with holy words in their material form, which I have termed âmaterial prayersâ. Since this thesis developed under the aegis of the interdisciplinary research project, Domestic Devotions: The Place of Piety in the Italian Renaissance Home, 1400-1600, it focuses primarily on engagement with these material prayers in domestic spaces. Using an interdisciplinary approach drawing from material culture studies, literary history, social and cultural history, and art history, it brings together objects, images and archival sources to illuminate how devotees from across the socio-economic and literacy spectrums accessed and employed devotional text in their prayers and daily life. From holy words, Biblical excerpts, and
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