
Preaching, Building, and Burying
Friars in the Medieval City
Caroline Bruzelius(Author)
Yale University Press
Published on 5. August 2014
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-300-20384-4 (ISBN)
Description
Friars transformed the relationship of the church to laymen by taking religion outside to public and domestic spaces. Mendicant commitment to apostolic poverty bound friars to donors in an exchange of donations in return for intercessory prayers and burial: association with friars was believed to reduce the suffering of purgatory. Mendicant convents became urban cemeteries, warehouses filled with family tombs, flags, shields, and private altars.
As mendicants became progressively institutionalized and sought legitimacy, friars adopted the architectural structures of monasticism: chapter houses, cloisters, dormitories, and refectories. They also created piazzas for preaching and burying outside their churches. Construction depended on assembling adequate funding from communes, confraternities, and private individuals; it was also sometimes supported by the expropriation of property from heretics. Because of irregular funding, construction was episodic, with substantial changes in scale and design. Choir screens served as temporary west facades while funds were raised for completion. This is the first book to analyze the friars' influence on the growth and transformation of medieval buildings and urban spaces.
As mendicants became progressively institutionalized and sought legitimacy, friars adopted the architectural structures of monasticism: chapter houses, cloisters, dormitories, and refectories. They also created piazzas for preaching and burying outside their churches. Construction depended on assembling adequate funding from communes, confraternities, and private individuals; it was also sometimes supported by the expropriation of property from heretics. Because of irregular funding, construction was episodic, with substantial changes in scale and design. Choir screens served as temporary west facades while funds were raised for completion. This is the first book to analyze the friars' influence on the growth and transformation of medieval buildings and urban spaces.
Reviews / Votes
Winner of the 2016 biennial Jaroslav Pelikan Award, administered by Yale University Press. -- Award * Jaroslav Pelican * "[A] novel perspective on the architecture of the mendicant orders during the crucial centuries that witnessed their extraordinary expansion."-Claudia Bolgia, Burlington Magazine -- Claudia Bolgia * Burlington Magazine *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
40 color + 40 b-w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 191 mm
Weight
1111 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-20384-4 (9780300203844)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Caroline Bruzelius is the A. M. Cogan Professor of History of Art at Duke University.