Confraternity Studies

Durante il II convegno internazionale di studi dedicato a s. Francesco di Paola (7-9 dicembre 1990) fu posto in evidenza il contributo derivante dalla storia delle confraternite in rapporto con il culto, con la pietà popolare e con la devozione riservati al Santo paolano. Per iniziare l'indagine su questa forma associativa di vita cristiana, evocatrice dell'eremita calabrese, venne esaminato un campione, costituito dalle tredici confraternite pugliesi intitolate a s. Francesco di Paola e individuate grazie alla possibilità di disporre di un dettagliato censimento delle confraternite sorte sul territorio della regione in epoca moderna e contemporanea 1 .

This book presents a provocatively new interpretation of one of New Orleans' most enigmatic traditions, the Mardi Gras Indians. By interpreting the tradition in an Atlantic context, Dewulf traces the " black Indians " back to the ancient Kingdom of Kongo and its war dance known as sangamento. He shows that good warriors in the Kongo kingdom were per definition also good dancers, masters of a technique of dodging, spinning and leaping that was crucial in local warfare. Enslaved Kongolese brought the rhythm, dancing moves and feathered headwear of sangamentos to the Americas in performances that came to be known as " Kongo dances. " By comparing Kongo dances on the African island of São Tomé with those in Latin America, the Caribbean and Louisiana, Dewulf demonstrates that the dances on New Orleans' Congo Square were part of a much broader Kongolese performance tradition. He links that to Afro-Catholic mutual-aid societies that honored their elected community leaders or " kings " with Kongo dances. While the public rituals of these brotherhoods originally thrived in the context of Catholic procession culture around Epiphany and Corpus Christi, they transitioned to carnival as a result of growing orthodoxy within the Church. Dewulf's groundbreaking research suggests a much greater impact of Kongolese traditions and of popular Catholicism on the development of African-American cultural heritage and identity. His conclusions force us to radically rethink the traditional narrative on the Mardi Gras Indians, the kings of Zulu and the origins of black participation in Mardi Gras celebrations.

http://www.ulpress.org/item_224/From-the-Kingdom-of-Kongo-to-Congo-Square.php

Franciscan confraternities were indispensable charitable institutions in early colonial Mexico. Confraternities encouraged Indigenous self-governance within Catholic spheres, and, most notably, they built social structures where the poor were not only recipients of assistance but also, through their voluntary participation, providers of community care. While the Franciscans saw the potential of confraternities as a vehicle for evangelization, indigenous people themselves used them as a tool for their own protection and survival. Whether it be in their hospital work or economic transactions, Indigenous people ultimately became advocates of their own hybrid forms of Christianity to advance their social status and power, and to negotiate their community positions.

Based on a long tradition of confraternities in Europe, Franciscan missionaries built an extensive network of indigenous confraternities in early colonial Mexico (Chapter 1: The Context of Confraternal Charity). Laura Dierksmeier investigates these confraternities within the religious context of their founders’ goals and strategies (Chapter 2: Franciscan Missionary Strategies), through an analysis of their constitutions, finances, and record books, as well as lawsuits, last wills, missionary correspondence, catechisms, visitor reports, and parish records.

As confraternities were largely self-run, they provided opportunities of inclusion, voluntary participation, and self-governance (Chapter 3: Confraternity Aims, Self-governance, and Operations). Despite attempts by Church authorities to control confraternal life, especially following the Council of Trent, indigenous customs were by no means completely eradicated, and evidence of hybrid practices can be seen in confraternal activities (Chapter 4: Religious Autonomy and Local Religion in Confraternities). Throughout colonial Mexico, confraternities established an extensive network of hospitals and orphanages to protect, aid, and comfort the growing number of people affected by epidemics (Chapter 5: Confraternal Hospital Care). Confraternities also contributed to the ‘moral economy,’ providing small loans for times of adversity and aiding people imprisoned for the inability to pay off debts by paying for their release via confraternity funds (Chapter 6: Cofrades and the Moral Economy). This book ends with conclusions on the role of indigenous confraternities for colonial Mexican society at large, in addition to providing extensive suggestions for future research.

CFP: Beyond the Microcosm: The Impact of Confraternities on the Civic Sphere.

Since the formation of the Society for Confraternity Studies, which celebrates it 30th anniversary in 2019, the subject of Confraternity Studies has moved on from what Konrad Eisenbichler once described as an “invisible history” to become an authoritative sub-field of late medieval and early modern scholarship. Accordingly, in order to encourage a discourse that places confraternities at the center of essential historical developments rather than at their periphery, we invite proposals for papers that explore the amplitude and impact of lay sodalities in Europe, the Americas, the East and Asia in relation to the activities of wider late medieval and early modern society. Papers might focus on, but are not limited to the following topics:
• The reach and range of lesser traversed sodalities. For example, slave confraternities.
• The relationships between lay companies and non members. For instance, confraternal liaisons with artisans, food merchants or second-hand clothes sellers.
• Confratelli and consorelle entrusted with public service, healthcare and the custody of people or objects.
• The influence of confraternal ritual and recreation on urban spaces.
• Individual and familial investment in lay companies in order to garner social influence or to gain political power.
• Associations between the devotional lives of non-clerics and the ordained: how these affinities played out in rituals, drama and music.
• The impact of art, architecture and ephemera commissioned by confraternities on public spaces and/or the popular conscience.
Papers should concentrate on confraternal activities between 1300 and 1700. We are however, also particularly interested in proposals that discuss retrospectively, the value of studies that have emerged since the conference in 1989 and consider how Confraternity Studies will advance into the twenty-first century.
Proposals should include the presenter’s name, academic affiliation, email, the paper title (no longer than 15 words), the abstract of the paper (no longer than 150 words), a brief academic C.V. (not longer than 300 words), and a series of key-words that suit the presentation. Please be sure all nine (7) categories of information are clearly provided.
Please submit your proposal to Dr Samantha J.C. Hughes-Johnson at [email protected] by 1 August 2018.

In the ancient confraternity of San Niccolò del Ceppo, Florence - one of the rare lay companies still in existence thereat - is preserved an unusual vanitas. The macabre theme of death is represented by a skeleton smashing musical instruments. Both partbooks (with legible notation) and scrolls provide a rich set of paratexts, with the overall motto according to Psalm 45 [46] ("He breaks the bow and shatters the spear"), and a clue to the painting's original function ("A group of musicians assembled for the sake of salvation"). Erroneously considered up till now a seventeenth-century anonymous work, the stylistic impact of Jacopo Ligozzi, a master of the vanitas genre, is strong. Among the iconographic models, a drawing recently attributed to Ligozzi can be identified, furthermore Federico Zuccari's Giudizio universale for the dome of Florence Cathedral. Based on archival evidence, the original context of the vanitas painting as 'apparatus'nwithin the collective rituals of a musicians' confraternity can now be determined, furthermore its author (Michele Lepri) as well as the year of tis creation (1721). Compliant with the new dating are also organological details, such a s the characteristic features of the early eighteenth-century oboe.

A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Malta in part fulfilment for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History.  Analyzing the the religious and social aspect of one of the most old Confraternities in Europe which is still very active today, with a special focus on the period 1800 to 1970.

This paper deals with the famous fresco known as the “Virgin of Mercy” or “Allegory of Mercy” in the Oratorio del Bigallo in Florence. The date of the fresco is uncertain, between 1342 and 1352. Its iconography and chronology are here taken into consideration within an historical perspective. The city image – first of all, the presence of the four coats of arms on the city gate and the representation of a second bell on the Palazzo Vecchio – contains important clues to date the fresco after 1344 and to make us propose 1352, as its date. The hypothesis that the frescoes should be dated after the Black Death is checked on the basis of the historical context, paying attention to the question of the ‘moda’ (considering the dresses of the laics represented in prayer) in keeping with the trends of those years in mid-14th c.
At the end a parallelism is proposed between this image, properly recognizable as an “Allegory of Mercy”, and the Madonna di Sermoneta di Benozzo Gozzoli (1456), itself a “Virgin of Mercy”.

Il lavoro esamina le situazioni nazionali e regionali delle realtà confraternali in generale prima e della Confraternita della SS. Trinità di Giovinazzo in particolare poi, e degli studi su di esse dall’indomani del Concilio di Trento (1545-1563) ai giorni nostri. Il Concilio di Trento nella XII sessione del 17 settembre 1562 stabiliva un maggior controllo dei Vescovi sulle confraternite e sui loro beni. Papa Clemente VIII rese questo controllo più rigoroso con la costituzione apostolica Quaecumque del 7 dicembre 1604. Anello di congiunzione tra la normativa generale e le realtà diocesane furono i Concilii provinciali e i Sinodi diocesani. In Terra di Bari un Concilio fu convocato già nel 1567, mentre l’ultimo di cui si ha notizia fu convocato nel 1628. Nella diocesi di Giovinazzo il primo Sinodo post-tridentino fu indetto in Cattedrale nel 1566. L’applicazione delle disposizioni vescovili da parte del clero e dei laici è testimoniata sia dagli atti delle Visite pastorali dei vescovi, sia dalle relationes ad limina inviate da essi a Roma. Proprio le relationes testimoniano della presenza in Giovinazzo delle Confraternite che, obbligate all’osservanza di disposizioni dell’Autorità ecclesiastica, furono poi regolamentate nel Regno di Napoli nel 1741 dal Concordato siglato tra la Santa Sede e il re Carlo III di Borbone. Il lento processo di laicizzazione delle Confraternite, che continuò in periodo napoleonico, si concretizzò nel 1984 dopo la revisione del Concordato del 1929 con l’iscrizione di questi Enti nel Registro delle persone giuridiche. Il lavoro analizza poi la diffusione del culto alla SS. Trinità; la devozione trinitaria in Giovinazzo, e per la storia della Confraternita di Giovinazzo si sofferma sull’analisi degli oneri cultuali e dell’attività caritativo assistenziale, che la stessa esercitava attraverso il proprio patrimonio economico, grazie al quale fu anche committente di opere d’arte. Della stessa vengono esaminate anche alcune vicende giudiziarie. Il lavoro, corredato da un’ appendice documentaria e da quella fotografica, si chiude con l’elenco dei priori e la ristampa anastatica delle preghiere per novena alla SS. Trinità edite nel 1917.

The devotion of the people, church and the royal family, to Saint Elizabeth, the Queen of Portugal was intense throughout the centuries, due to the many miracles obtained through her intercession, but it increased after her beatification in 1516. King João III, who transferred the University from Lisbon to Coimbra in 1537, felt a great devotion for Elizabeth. The somewhat miraculous birth of the future King Sebastião in 1554 was understood as a blessing of God through the intercession of the Holy Queen. After King João’s death, the abbess of the monastery of Saint Clare at Coimbra, with the support of the Queen Mother Catherine of Austria founded the “Confraternity of Saint Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal” in 1560, with the purpose of organizing at least two solemn processions every year, among other acts of worship. The members of this Confraternity were not only laypeople of Coimbra, but also regular and secular religious men and women, and teachers and students of the University. After her canonization in 1625 and the construction of a new monastery for the religious community of Saint Claire in Coimbra, to shelter the tomb of the Holy Queen, the cult increased considerably.
The A. discusses the role of the Confraternity in the preservation and development of the cult and history of the Holy Queen and the cultural heritage around the monastery, in the city of Coimbra and all over the country and over the centuries, until the great celebrations of the 600th anniversary of her death, in 1936.

When Johan Maurits of Nassau, Governor-General of Dutch Brazil (1630-54), sent out expeditions against the maroons of Palmares, he was informed by his intelligence officers that the inhabitants followed the “Portuguese religion,” that they had erected a church in the capital, that there were chapels with images of saints and the Virgin Mary and that Zumbi, the king of Palmares, did not allow the presence of “fetishists.” Portuguese sources confirm that Palmares had a priest who baptized children and married couples and that its inhabitants followed Catholic rite, although according to Governor Francisco de Brito, they did so “in a stupid fashion.” Many more examples of the existence of Afro-Catholic elements in maroon communities in Latin America can be found. They question the widespread assumption that Catholicism had been forced upon all African slaves and that, even among those who seemingly embraced the colonizer’s faith, it functioned merely as a veneer underneath which their truly African, indigenous beliefs remained hidden. As the case of Palmares indicates, slaves did not necessarily wish to liberate themselves from all “Catholic ballast” once they ran away but sometimes remained strongly attached to it. 
This conclusion corresponds to the assumption by the Brazilian historian Marina de Mello e Souza that upon arrival in the Americas, many slaves did not perceive Catholic elements as something foreign since “Catholicism represented a link to their native Africa.” Souza is but one of several scholars who in recent years contributed to a shift in the study of black performance culture in the New World. The new paradigm essentially consists in the acknowledgment that our understanding of black performance culture can be bettered if we take into consideration that many Africans had already adopted certain European—predominantly Portuguese—cultural and religious elements before they were shipped as slaves to the Americas.
In the context of this shift, there has been an increased interest in Afro-Iberian brotherhoods (irmandades/hermandades) and confraternities (confrarias/cofradías). While it was long assumed that these so-called “black brotherhoods” were associated with slave culture on the Iberian Peninsula and in Latin America only, it can now be confirmed that Afro-Catholic fraternities also flourished in parts of Africa during the Atlantic slave trade era. As Linda Heywood has argued, “many Kongos and not a few Angolans had been Christians before their enslavement in Brazil. Thus they would have been familiar with the brotherhoods in Luanda, Soyo, and Kongo, and the central role they played in the creole society of Kongo, Angola and São Tomé.” Nicole von Germeten’s research on black brotherhoods in Mexico also concluded that “some Central Africans probably took part in social and religious brotherhoods and sisterhoods before crossing the Atlantic.” 
Ira Berlin also observed that black brotherhoods played a crucial role in the intercontinental networks that developed in the context of the transatlantic slavery. However, like most scholars, Berlin perceives brotherhoods as an essentially Iberian phenomenon that was crucial to the development of black identity the Iberian World, differing from North America, where “numerous informal connections between black people” developed, but not brotherhoods. Although Berlin confirms that slaves “created an intercontinental web of cofradias … so that, by the seventeenth century, the network of black religious brotherhoods stretched from Lisbon to São Tomé, Angola, and Brazil,” he believes that those slaves who ended up in Dutch, French or English colonies refrained from developing brotherhoods since there were no “comparable institutional linkages” that allowed them to do so. Berlin’s assumption thus presupposes that brotherhoods could only be established with institutional support and excludes the possibility that slaves themselves may have taken the initiative to create such organizations.
This article questions this conclusion and explores the possibility that slave organizations modeled upon Iberian brotherhoods have existed in North America. In doing so, it follows a reasoning by Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, Matt Childs and James Sidbury, editors of The Black Urban Atlantic in the Age of the Slave Trade (2013), according to whom “approved institutional structures authorized by the Catholic Church were not always necessary for Africans and their descendants to build fraternal structures.”  A first section provides an overview of the characteristics of Afro-Iberian slave brotherhoods. The following section presents a comparative analysis between king celebrations in Afro-Iberian brotherhoods and those at African-American Election Day and Pinkster festivals in New England and New York. The article ends with a reflection on the origins of Afro-Iberian cultural and religious elements among slave communities outside of the Iberian realm in the American diaspora.

This article, published in the Bollettino della Deputazione di Storia Patria per l'Umbria (vol. 103, 2006), focuses on a special gonfalone painted by Niccolò di Liberatore in 1466 for the confraternity of the Annunziata in Perugia. Transcribed for the first times are archival documents including confraternal inventories that document the existence of multiple banners within the lay company that was affiliated with the Servites.

This article introduces the content of "Fondo Annunziata" at the Archivio diocesano of Perugia as well as its new classification, undertaken by the author in June 2016. The archives of this confraternity cover the 14th-20th centuries. The author also explores the role of di Don Canzio Pizzoni (1885-1969) in the preservation of the archives and liturgical objects of this confraternity; the end of this sodality, ca. 1940; and the problematic conservation of its paraphernalia.

O. SERGI, Il seicentesco Oratorio della Reale Arciconfraternita di Maria SS. del Rosario di Catanzaro: tra stucchi e intagli lignei, in «Obiettivo Calabria», XLVII, 4, 2009, pp. 48 - 51.
Rivista bimestrale della Camera di Commercio di Catanzaro.

During the Modern age, in Italy and throughout Europe, we find several Jewish congregations for charitable purposes. In particular, in Modena, we witness the first, and today only, entirely female Jewish congregation, the So’ed Holim Sisterhood. Established in 1735 with the aim of giving the poor Israelites economic assistance, medical aid and all kinds of help, this Sisterhood still holds his Statutes in two registers, the So’ed Holim register kept in Modena and in the register of the most important male brotherhood of the time, the Hevrat Rahamim u-Gemilut Hasadim, kept in the Central Archives for the History of Jewish People in Jerusalem. Through an accurate examination of these rules, we can under- stand the essential aspects of this confraternity. This all female Sisterhood still remains a rarity in the European scene.

Dentro del mosaico de instituciones que el clero español implantó en el Nuevo Mundo para propagar la cristiandad ocuparon un rol destacado las cofradías o congregaciones, unas asociaciones piadosas y benéficas fundadas bajo una advocación religiosa que jugaron un destacado papel en la vida pública. Una de las escasas cofradías de músicos conocidas en Nueva España fue la congregación de Nuestra Señora de la Antigua de la Catedral de México, fundada a instancias del compositor español Fabián Pérez Ximeno en la década de 1640. A partir de la información de las constituciones y de la bibliografía pertinente, el presente trabajo analiza el contexto fundacional y el funcionamiento de esta congregación, así como la manera en que el colectivo de músicos de la catedral logró cohesionarse profesionalmente y proyectar su identidad peninsular a través de una devoción mariana. // Among the mosaic of institutions that the Spanish clergy implanted in the New World to spread Christianity, the confraternities or brotherhoods developed an important role as pious and charitable associations under a religious advocation and with an important role in urban public life. One of the few musicians’ confraternity known in New Spain was the congregation of Nuestra Señora de la Antigua of Mexico Cathedral, founded by the Peninsular composer Fabián Pérez Ximeno in the 1640s. Based on the information from the constitutions and relevant bibliography, this article examines the foundational context and the functioning of this congregation, as well as the way in which the group of cathedral musicians managed to cohesion professionally and to project its Peninsular identity through Marian devotion.

La chiesa di San Pietro, il monastero femminile e la confraternita di Maria Santissima del Carmine, strettamente congiunti, costituiscono un segmento particolarmente interessante della storia della città di Molfetta, nonché della medesima diocesi. L’indagine storica, per la prima volta, affronta le vicende concernenti la chiesa di San Pietro, forse già aperta al culto prima del 1176 dal momento che è testimoniato un episcopium intorno al quale stava avvenendo la tessitura della città stessa. La storia del luogo si interseca con quella del monastero cistercense femminile presente a Molfetta e che trovò in questa struttura la nuova sede. La soppressione del monastero si verifica nel 1815 a causa dell’inagibilità della struttura e il conseguente trasferimento nel convento dei Domenicani. Seguì l’insediamento nella chiesa di San Pietro della Confraternita di Maria S.ma del Carmelo, costituita nel 1816. La nascita di questo sodalizio, avulso da legami con l’Ordine Carmelitano, risale al 1813 e la tradizione locale lo riconduce ad un evento straordinario verificatosi nell’estate del 1812, allorquando un gruppo di marinai udì una voce soave che diceva  “Io sono la Stella del Mare” e lo invitava a perpetuare la speciale devozione mariana.

Si può parlare di arte confraternale? Si distinguono le opere realizzate per il mondo dell'associazionismo laicale da quelle destinate a chiese, conventi o palazzi? Sono accomunate da caratteri distintivi? Queste le domande suscitate dal tema, che non è stato oggetto di analisi specifiche destinate a esaminare le opere realizzate per i sodalizi 1 : se si sono approfondite le commissioni artistiche di questo o quel gruppo, manca infatti tuttora una visione d'insieme della materia. Anche i testi che offrono un panorama complessivo sull'associazionismo laicale 2 , hanno dedicato all'argomento solo poche pagine, in genere lontane dalle problematiche storico artistiche e talora non corrette 3 . Alcune mostre -o sezioni di esse -hanno affrontato il tema 4 , e forniscono probabilmente le prime risposte agli interrogativi posti dall'arte confraternale.

Appel à communications pour le colloque international de la
Société Suisse d’Histoire Rurale (SSHR)
"SANTÉ DES CORPS, SALUT DES ÂMES :
SOINS ET RELIGION EN MILIEU RURAL
(EUROPE OCCIDENTALE, XVE - XIXE SIÈCLES)"
Université de Lausanne, 1er et 2 septembre 2022

The principal genre of non-liturgical religious song in Italy during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. In its monophonic form, the lauda also constitutes the primary Italian repertory of late medieval vernacular song, and is distinguished from most neighbouring repertories in its strictly urban, non-courtly context. The religious lauda endured into the 19th century, and extant repertory remains an important source of popular Italian texts and music.

In 1555, just six years after arriving in Japan, missionaries from the Society of Jesus founded a small medical clinic in the city of Funai (modern-day Ōita). This was the first European hospital in all of East Asia, and historians have often regarded it as the beginning of a scientific revolution, a revolution which would eventually see the official adoption of Western medicine in Japan along with the marginalization of Eastern techniques. This article seeks an alternative perspective. It argues that there is some misunderstanding as to the nature
of the Jesuit hospital. The historical sources in fact indicate that it was largely designed by, directed by, and staffed by the local Japanese Christians. Because of this, it functioned much like a Buddhist temple sanatorium. It had buildings of a similar architectural style, and its patients were treated in a similar way, receiving both Chinese medicine and Western surgery. The primary goal of the Jesuit hospital was not to introduce exotic medical techniques, but rather to offer appropriate social and spiritual support to the community.

O. SERGI, Arte, architettura e fede tra il XV e il XIX secolo. Per un quadro storico della chiesa di S. Giovanni Battista della Reale Arciconfraternita dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista dei Cavalieri di Malta ad Honorem di Catanzaro, in «Obiettivo Calabria», XLVIII, 5, 2010, pp. 48 - 51.
Rivista bimestrale della Camera di Commercio di Catanzaro.

For his compilation of the Life or Legend of Saint Margaret
of Cortona (1247–1297), the Franciscan friar Giunta Bevegnati (thirteenth century) was guided by texts found in a collection of laude
belonging to the Confraternity of Santa Maria delle laude in Cortona
and the iconography associated with it. The hymns the confraternity sang are to be found in the Laudario di Cortona. This article
shows that not only is there a strong link between the hagiography
of St Margaret and the confraternity’s laude, but also that the hagiographical text is closely linked with the iconography supported by
the confraternity with whom the saint was in contact. In the first part
we will compare the text composed by Giunta Bevegnati with the
laude sung by the Compagnia di S. Maria delle laude to show how
the laude influenced the saint’s Legenda; in the second part, we will
compare the texts of the Legenda with the contemporary iconography of St Margaret.

O. SERGI, “’A Cunfrùnta e ‘A Parrèra”. Le antiche processioni di Pasqua a Catanzaro. Espressioni di “fede” tra liturgia, pietà popolare e identità dei luoghi, in «Obiettivo Calabria», XLVII, 2, 2009, pp. 56 - 59.
Rivista bimestrale della Camera di Commercio di Catanzaro.

Kapitola v knize o dějinách farního kostela a farnosti sv. Mikuláše ve Velkém Meziříčí sleduje náboženské korporace (literátské bratrstvo a posléze konfraternitu Nejsvětějších jmen) v rozmezí 15. až 18. století.

Chapter in the book about the parish church and parish in Velké Meziříčí. It reflects religious brotherhoods during the 15th up to the 18th centuries.

This article examines the theatrical productions mounted in a Florentine youth confraternity from the fifteenth to the early seventeenth century with an eye to the relationship between spectacle and corporate identity, that is, to how youth confraternities used spectacle in general and theatre in particular to identify and promote themselves in the context of Florentine society and culture. In so doing, the article points to the growing elaboration of both the theatrical and the corporate identity of youth confraternities.

Au cours du XIe siècle, la famille ducale normande a entretenu des liens privilégiés avec l'abbaye de la Trinité de Fécamp. Restauré comme collégiale par Richard Ier (942-996) en 990 puis réformé sous l'impulsion de Richard II (996-1026) en 1001, l'établissement fait partie intégrante du projet visant à faire de Fécamp le deuxième centre politique et religieux des Richardides (après Rouen, capitale historique). Pourvu d'une résidence princière et d'une imposante église, le site castral est un lieu de pouvoir organisé autour de deux pôles, l'un laïque, l'autre religieux. Avant l'émergence d'une chancellerie officielle sous Guillaume le Conquérant (1035-1087), ce sont les moines qui assurent la rédaction des diplômes ducaux produits à Fécamp. Ce rôle politique, un temps dévolue à l'abbaye, reste néanmoins marginal et disparaîtra rapidement. Le monastère, dirigé par de grands abbés réformateurs tels que Guillaume de Volpiano (1001-1028) et Jean de Ravenne (1028-1078), est avant tout perçu par la famille ducale comme un haut lieu de spiritualité et de mémoire : l'abbatiale accueille, en présence des élites aristocratiques, les grandes festivités pascales ; elle sert surtout de nécropole dynastique, c'est-à-dire de lieu de sépulture et de commémoration des Richardides. Grâce à la prière, ce sanctuaire était sensé favoriser, plus que tout autre, le passage des défunts du monde terrestre au monde céleste. En entrant en association spirituelle avec la communauté fécampoise, la famille ducale bénéficiait non seulement de la prière des moines de ce lieu, mais aussi de celles de religieux relevant de son réseau de confraternité. Cela explique la commémoration de certains de ses membres dans les nécrologes de plusieurs abbayes étroitement liées à Fécamp, comme par exemple Jumièges et le Mont Saint-Michel (en Normandie), ou encore Saint-Bénigne de Dijon, Saint-Arnoul de Metz et Saint-Germain-des-Prés (hors du duché).

The Bianchi of 1399, a popular religious revival in Northern and Central Italy, were inspired by divine visions whose witness reported that the populace was to participate in a series of devotions, or face certain death by plague. The rules for these devotions were set out in the visions, and included the singing of laude and a focus on pacification, as well as fasting and self-flagellation. The activities of the Bianchi have been described as a ‘picnic’ and this paper will consider the importance of adherence to the rules for the Bianchi. This recreational presentation will be questioned, examining the application of the rules, especially regarding self-abnegation, within the whole gamut of Bianchi activities.
Bianchi activities in Lucca and Pistoia, two hubs of activity for the movement, will be used as case studies to discuss the significance of these rules. The degree of application of the rules in each city will be considered, as well as the implications of following the rules for participants. The rewards of indulgences and salvation from the impending epidemic were reliant on full participation. Focus will also be drawn to the problematic nature of public self-flagellation, which was usually confined to flagellant religious confraternities. Moreover, different modes of participation will be considered, looking at the segregation of activities defined by gender, age and social standing.
This examination of the application of the rules set out for the Bianchi in Lucca and Pistoia will draw out the different methods of participation for different social groups, and in different cities, to demonstrate the necessity of varying degrees of regulation for different situations. This will determine whether the Bianchi should be considered as a picnic, or as something much more regulated.