Saints as Intercessors between the Wealthy and the Divine: Art and Hagiography among the Medieval Merchant Classes
Emily Kelley, "Saints as Intercessors between the Wealthy and the Divine: Art and Hagiography among the Medieval Merchant Classes "
English | ISBN: 0815399804 | 2019 | 314 pages | PDF | 47 MB
English | ISBN: 0815399804 | 2019 | 314 pages | PDF | 47 MB
Offering snapshots of mercantile devotion to saints in different regions, this volume is the first to ask explicitly how merchants invoked saints, and why. Despite medieval and modern stereotypes of merchants as godless and avaricious, medieval traders were highly devout – and rightly so. Overseas trade was dangerous, and merchants’ commercial activities were seen as jeopardizing their souls. Merchants turned to saints for protection and succor, identifying those most likely to preserve their goods, families, reputations, and souls.
The essays in this collection, written from diverse angles, range across later medieval western Europe, from Spain to Italy to England and the Hanseatic League. They offer a multi-disciplinary examination of the ways that medieval merchants, from petty traders to influential overseas wholesalers, deployed the cults of saints. Three primary themes are addressed: danger, community, and the unity of spiritual and cultural capital. Each of these themes allows the international panel of contributors to demonstrate the significant role of saints in mercantile life.
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