The Material Culture of Religious Change and Continuity, 1400-1600
11-12 April 2017 at the University of Huddersfield, UK
2017 marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses on the Wittenberg Church. From that date, religion in Europe had profound changes. One such change was how people viewed, interacted and created visual and material objects related to religious devotion. This conference aims to bring together medievalists and early modernists approaching religion on either side of the Reformation through a visual and/or material examination.
By bringing together scholars from different disciplines, curators and heritage sector representatives it is hoped that a more holistic discussion of visual and material objects will come to light. Topics for papers may include but are certainly not restricted to:
- Commemoration of the dead
- Household or individual devotion
- Accessories of devotion (e.g. crucifixes, clothing, jewellery, books, etc.)
- Books, manuscripts and paintings as religious objects
- Religious space, architecture, landscape
- The destruction or salvage of religious iconography
- Change/continuity of religious objects
- Region, national, or international comparisons of material culture through different disciplines: art history, archaeology, architecture, literature, history, etc.
- (Un)Gendered objects
- Intercessory objects (e.g. Books of Hours, Bibles, rosaries, relics, etc.)
- Religious objects from the New World; colonial territories; religious missions
Please send a short abstract (c. 200-300 words) to Audrey Thorstad (a.m.thorstad@hud.ac.uk) no later than 15 July 2016.
