Numismatica e Antichità classiche. Quaderni Ticinesi , 2024
“Costruire Memoria in epoca moderna. Giovani rampolli e i riti di fondazione del Stadhuis di Amst... more “Costruire Memoria in epoca moderna. Giovani rampolli e i riti di fondazione del Stadhuis di Amsterdam nel 1648,” Numismatica e Antichità classiche. Quaderni Ticinesi (51, 2024), pp. 85-96
Le Arti e gli artisti nella rete della diplomazia pontificia, 2023
La distribuzione degli Agnus Dei. Una via della politica diplomatica pontificia in epoca moderna”... more La distribuzione degli Agnus Dei. Una via della politica diplomatica pontificia in epoca moderna”, in: M. Coppolaro, G. Murace, G. Petrone (eds.), Le Arti e gli artisti nella rete della diplomazia pontificia (Rome: Gangemi 2023), pp. 99-108
Mannequins in Museums. power and Resistance on Display, 2021
This chapter addresses the ethical implication of bodily reconstructions and the responses they e... more This chapter addresses the ethical implication of bodily reconstructions and the responses they elicit from visitors. Taking the reconstructions of "Lindow Man" at the British Museum (London) and "Yde Girl" at the Drents Museum (Assen) as examples, it interrogates the meaning produced by comparing forensic reconstruction to tropes of lifelikeness and indexicality, and the creation of community identity.
Celebrated at the heart of a notoriously unstable period, the Vacant See, papal funerals in early... more Celebrated at the heart of a notoriously unstable period, the Vacant See, papal funerals in early modern Rome easily fell prey to ceremonial chaos and disorder. Charged with maintaining decorum, papal Masters of Ceremonies supervised all aspects of the funeral, from the correct handling of the papal body to the construction of the funeral apparato: the temporary decorations used during the funeral masses in St Peter’s. The visual and liturgical centre of this apparato was the chapelle ardente or castrum doloris: a baldachin-like structure standing over the body of the deceased, decorated with coats of arms, precious textiles and hundreds of burning candles.
Drawing from printed festival books and previously unpublished sources, such as ceremonial diaries and diplomatic correspondence, this book offers the first comprehensive overview of the development of early modern funeral apparati. What was their function in funeral liturgy and early modern festival culture at large? How did the papal funeral apparati compare to those of cardinals, the Spanish and French monarchy, and the Medici court in Florence? And most importantly, how did contemporaries perceive and judge them?
By the late sixteenth century, new trends in conspicuous commemoration had rendered the traditional papal funeral apparati in St Peter’s obsolete. The author shows how papal families wishing to honor their uncles according to the new standards needed to invent ceremonial opportunities from scratch, showing off dynastic resilience, while modelling the deceased’s memoria after carefully constructed ideals of post-Tridentine sainthood.
Foundation, Dedication, Consecration in Early Modern Europe, 2012
Across all times and cultures, mankind has attached great importance to the foundation of buildin... more Across all times and cultures, mankind has attached great importance to the foundation of buildings, cities and communities. By means of rituals of foundation, dedication and consecration, buildings and objects are charged with meaning. At the same time, these rituals bear witness of the way communities understand their own place in history, and how they position themselves in relation to others. As such, the study of these rituals deepens our understanding of society at large.
Bringing together contributions from art history, architectural history, historiography and history of law, this volume is the first comprehensive exploration of the manifold meanings of foundation, dedication and consecration in early modern culture, which combined a renewed interest in notions of origins, history and identity with an exceptionally rich production of artefacts.
Miracle-Working Portraits of a Cardinal Saint. Managing the Devotional Medals of S. Carlo Borromeo in Early Modern Italy, 2021
"Miracle-Working Portraits of a Cardinal Saint. Managing the Devotional Medals of S. Carlo Borrom... more "Miracle-Working Portraits of a Cardinal Saint. Managing the Devotional Medals of S. Carlo Borromeo in Early Modern Italy”, in: P. Baker Bates, I. Brooke (eds), Portrait Cultures of the Early Modern Cardinal (Amsterdam UP 2021), pp. 319-342
Located some 30 km from Brussels, the shrine of Our Lady of Halle, a so-called Black Madonna, is ... more Located some 30 km from Brussels, the shrine of Our Lady of Halle, a so-called Black Madonna, is among the most important pilgrimage sites of the Low Countries (Vandamme, 2006; Foster-Campbell 2011). Testifying of her popularity, late medieval pilgrim badges with the miracle-working statue have been found all over the Low Countries (Kunera). Moreover, the shrine has always had strong ties with the Dukes of Burgundy and by extension to the Habsburgs: a portrait by Jan Mostaert of the 1520s, now in the Rijksmuseum (inv.nr. SK-A- 4986), shows a personal guard of Charles V with a pilgrim badge of Our Lady of Halle attached to his hat. In the beginning of the Dutch Revolt, with the Iconoclastic Fury in full swing, the Duke of Aerschot, Philippe de Croÿ, started going out demonstratively wearing a devotional medal of Our Lady of Halle on his hat. He did so defying the so-called Gueux, the Calvinist noblemen opposed to Spanish rule, who had started to wear medals with beggar symbols in public. Informed about van Aerschot’s initiative, Pope Pius V (d. 1572) granted indulgences to all those wearing medals of the Madonna of Halle (Catena 1590, van Loon 1714). Doing so, the pope effectively turned the medals into portable indulgenced objects, the first of their kind. Soon enough, these and other portable indulgenced objects, such as rosaries, crosses of Caravacca and Agni Dei, would be in huge demand from Catholics all over Europe and the New World (Tingle 2015). This paper will study the form and agency of portable objects (pins, badges, medals) depicting Our Lady of Halle from the late Middle Ages well into the early modern period. How did contemporaries perceive the connection between the cult statue, her shrine and the portable objects, before and after the medals became indulgenced objects? How does the indulgenced cult of Our Lady of Halle compare to that of other Marian shrines, both in the Low Countries (Scherpenheuvel, north of Brussels, so much favored by the Archdukes Albert and Isabella: Duerloo, 2002) and Italy, specifically the cult of the Madonna del Rosario, so forcefully promoted by Pius V?
Across times and cultures, mankind has marked the construction of cities and buildings with the r... more Across times and cultures, mankind has marked the construction of cities and buildings with the ritual deposition of objects. Some are deposited at the foundation ceremony, such as the first stone, or the coins shattered in the foundations; others are deposited later on in the building process, such as the talismans placed in turrets to protect them from lightning – or the poor walled-in cats, believed to keep away rodents and other pests. This paper will look at the various ritual practices surrounding the deposition of these objects, and at their magical agency, that continues despite being hidden from view.
Key words: memory and ritual practice, material magic, foundation rituals
This Colloquium looks into the materiality and mobility of small, portable devotional objects so ... more This Colloquium looks into the materiality and mobility of small, portable devotional objects so central in Catholic devotion, such as crucifixes, blessed beads, images, rosaries, medals and the wax talismans known as Agnus Dei. Taking cue from the so-called material turn and recent interests in material religion, a group of experts will explore how these objects functioned in devotional practices, and how they were instrumental in constructing identities, both on individual and collective levels. A special interest will be in the growing preoccupations of church authorities with the correct handling of these objects, both in global missionary endeavors and in areas where the authority of the pope was no longer accepted, such as Elizabethan England and the Low Countries.
To the dismay and ridicule of protestants, the Catholic church after Trent heavily promoted perso... more To the dismay and ridicule of protestants, the Catholic church after Trent heavily promoted personal devotion with rosaries, prayer beads, crucifixes, medals and small images. Across all layers of society demand of these sacramentals soared, especially for those objects that carried a blessing or indulgence. In Rome, popes indeed blessed rosaries and other devotional items in ever greater numbers for distribution among pilgrims, while sending them off by box loads to areas of confessional warfare and missionary effort. At the same time, the church was engaged in an ambitious reform
Numismatica e Antichità classiche. Quaderni Ticinesi , 2024
“Costruire Memoria in epoca moderna. Giovani rampolli e i riti di fondazione del Stadhuis di Amst... more “Costruire Memoria in epoca moderna. Giovani rampolli e i riti di fondazione del Stadhuis di Amsterdam nel 1648,” Numismatica e Antichità classiche. Quaderni Ticinesi (51, 2024), pp. 85-96
Le Arti e gli artisti nella rete della diplomazia pontificia, 2023
La distribuzione degli Agnus Dei. Una via della politica diplomatica pontificia in epoca moderna”... more La distribuzione degli Agnus Dei. Una via della politica diplomatica pontificia in epoca moderna”, in: M. Coppolaro, G. Murace, G. Petrone (eds.), Le Arti e gli artisti nella rete della diplomazia pontificia (Rome: Gangemi 2023), pp. 99-108
Mannequins in Museums. power and Resistance on Display, 2021
This chapter addresses the ethical implication of bodily reconstructions and the responses they e... more This chapter addresses the ethical implication of bodily reconstructions and the responses they elicit from visitors. Taking the reconstructions of "Lindow Man" at the British Museum (London) and "Yde Girl" at the Drents Museum (Assen) as examples, it interrogates the meaning produced by comparing forensic reconstruction to tropes of lifelikeness and indexicality, and the creation of community identity.
Celebrated at the heart of a notoriously unstable period, the Vacant See, papal funerals in early... more Celebrated at the heart of a notoriously unstable period, the Vacant See, papal funerals in early modern Rome easily fell prey to ceremonial chaos and disorder. Charged with maintaining decorum, papal Masters of Ceremonies supervised all aspects of the funeral, from the correct handling of the papal body to the construction of the funeral apparato: the temporary decorations used during the funeral masses in St Peter’s. The visual and liturgical centre of this apparato was the chapelle ardente or castrum doloris: a baldachin-like structure standing over the body of the deceased, decorated with coats of arms, precious textiles and hundreds of burning candles.
Drawing from printed festival books and previously unpublished sources, such as ceremonial diaries and diplomatic correspondence, this book offers the first comprehensive overview of the development of early modern funeral apparati. What was their function in funeral liturgy and early modern festival culture at large? How did the papal funeral apparati compare to those of cardinals, the Spanish and French monarchy, and the Medici court in Florence? And most importantly, how did contemporaries perceive and judge them?
By the late sixteenth century, new trends in conspicuous commemoration had rendered the traditional papal funeral apparati in St Peter’s obsolete. The author shows how papal families wishing to honor their uncles according to the new standards needed to invent ceremonial opportunities from scratch, showing off dynastic resilience, while modelling the deceased’s memoria after carefully constructed ideals of post-Tridentine sainthood.
Foundation, Dedication, Consecration in Early Modern Europe, 2012
Across all times and cultures, mankind has attached great importance to the foundation of buildin... more Across all times and cultures, mankind has attached great importance to the foundation of buildings, cities and communities. By means of rituals of foundation, dedication and consecration, buildings and objects are charged with meaning. At the same time, these rituals bear witness of the way communities understand their own place in history, and how they position themselves in relation to others. As such, the study of these rituals deepens our understanding of society at large.
Bringing together contributions from art history, architectural history, historiography and history of law, this volume is the first comprehensive exploration of the manifold meanings of foundation, dedication and consecration in early modern culture, which combined a renewed interest in notions of origins, history and identity with an exceptionally rich production of artefacts.
Miracle-Working Portraits of a Cardinal Saint. Managing the Devotional Medals of S. Carlo Borromeo in Early Modern Italy, 2021
"Miracle-Working Portraits of a Cardinal Saint. Managing the Devotional Medals of S. Carlo Borrom... more "Miracle-Working Portraits of a Cardinal Saint. Managing the Devotional Medals of S. Carlo Borromeo in Early Modern Italy”, in: P. Baker Bates, I. Brooke (eds), Portrait Cultures of the Early Modern Cardinal (Amsterdam UP 2021), pp. 319-342
Located some 30 km from Brussels, the shrine of Our Lady of Halle, a so-called Black Madonna, is ... more Located some 30 km from Brussels, the shrine of Our Lady of Halle, a so-called Black Madonna, is among the most important pilgrimage sites of the Low Countries (Vandamme, 2006; Foster-Campbell 2011). Testifying of her popularity, late medieval pilgrim badges with the miracle-working statue have been found all over the Low Countries (Kunera). Moreover, the shrine has always had strong ties with the Dukes of Burgundy and by extension to the Habsburgs: a portrait by Jan Mostaert of the 1520s, now in the Rijksmuseum (inv.nr. SK-A- 4986), shows a personal guard of Charles V with a pilgrim badge of Our Lady of Halle attached to his hat. In the beginning of the Dutch Revolt, with the Iconoclastic Fury in full swing, the Duke of Aerschot, Philippe de Croÿ, started going out demonstratively wearing a devotional medal of Our Lady of Halle on his hat. He did so defying the so-called Gueux, the Calvinist noblemen opposed to Spanish rule, who had started to wear medals with beggar symbols in public. Informed about van Aerschot’s initiative, Pope Pius V (d. 1572) granted indulgences to all those wearing medals of the Madonna of Halle (Catena 1590, van Loon 1714). Doing so, the pope effectively turned the medals into portable indulgenced objects, the first of their kind. Soon enough, these and other portable indulgenced objects, such as rosaries, crosses of Caravacca and Agni Dei, would be in huge demand from Catholics all over Europe and the New World (Tingle 2015). This paper will study the form and agency of portable objects (pins, badges, medals) depicting Our Lady of Halle from the late Middle Ages well into the early modern period. How did contemporaries perceive the connection between the cult statue, her shrine and the portable objects, before and after the medals became indulgenced objects? How does the indulgenced cult of Our Lady of Halle compare to that of other Marian shrines, both in the Low Countries (Scherpenheuvel, north of Brussels, so much favored by the Archdukes Albert and Isabella: Duerloo, 2002) and Italy, specifically the cult of the Madonna del Rosario, so forcefully promoted by Pius V?
Across times and cultures, mankind has marked the construction of cities and buildings with the r... more Across times and cultures, mankind has marked the construction of cities and buildings with the ritual deposition of objects. Some are deposited at the foundation ceremony, such as the first stone, or the coins shattered in the foundations; others are deposited later on in the building process, such as the talismans placed in turrets to protect them from lightning – or the poor walled-in cats, believed to keep away rodents and other pests. This paper will look at the various ritual practices surrounding the deposition of these objects, and at their magical agency, that continues despite being hidden from view.
Key words: memory and ritual practice, material magic, foundation rituals
This Colloquium looks into the materiality and mobility of small, portable devotional objects so ... more This Colloquium looks into the materiality and mobility of small, portable devotional objects so central in Catholic devotion, such as crucifixes, blessed beads, images, rosaries, medals and the wax talismans known as Agnus Dei. Taking cue from the so-called material turn and recent interests in material religion, a group of experts will explore how these objects functioned in devotional practices, and how they were instrumental in constructing identities, both on individual and collective levels. A special interest will be in the growing preoccupations of church authorities with the correct handling of these objects, both in global missionary endeavors and in areas where the authority of the pope was no longer accepted, such as Elizabethan England and the Low Countries.
To the dismay and ridicule of protestants, the Catholic church after Trent heavily promoted perso... more To the dismay and ridicule of protestants, the Catholic church after Trent heavily promoted personal devotion with rosaries, prayer beads, crucifixes, medals and small images. Across all layers of society demand of these sacramentals soared, especially for those objects that carried a blessing or indulgence. In Rome, popes indeed blessed rosaries and other devotional items in ever greater numbers for distribution among pilgrims, while sending them off by box loads to areas of confessional warfare and missionary effort. At the same time, the church was engaged in an ambitious reform
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Books by Minou Schraven
Drawing from printed festival books and previously unpublished sources, such as ceremonial diaries and diplomatic correspondence, this book offers the first comprehensive overview of the development of early modern funeral apparati. What was their function in funeral liturgy and early modern festival culture at large? How did the papal funeral apparati compare to those of cardinals, the Spanish and French monarchy, and the Medici court in Florence? And most importantly, how did contemporaries perceive and judge them?
By the late sixteenth century, new trends in conspicuous commemoration had rendered the traditional papal funeral apparati in St Peter’s obsolete. The author shows how papal families wishing to honor their uncles according to the new standards needed to invent ceremonial opportunities from scratch, showing off dynastic resilience, while modelling the deceased’s memoria after carefully constructed ideals of post-Tridentine sainthood.
Bringing together contributions from art history, architectural history, historiography and history of law, this volume is the first comprehensive exploration of the manifold meanings of foundation, dedication and consecration in early modern culture, which combined a renewed interest in notions of origins, history and identity with an exceptionally rich production of artefacts.
Papers by Minou Schraven
In the beginning of the Dutch Revolt, with the Iconoclastic Fury in full swing, the Duke of Aerschot, Philippe de Croÿ, started going out demonstratively wearing a devotional medal of Our Lady of Halle on his hat. He did so defying the so-called Gueux, the Calvinist noblemen opposed to Spanish rule, who had started to wear medals with beggar symbols in public. Informed about van Aerschot’s initiative, Pope Pius V (d. 1572) granted indulgences to all those wearing medals of the Madonna of Halle (Catena 1590, van Loon 1714). Doing so, the pope effectively turned the medals into portable indulgenced objects, the first of their kind. Soon enough, these and other portable indulgenced objects, such as rosaries, crosses of Caravacca and Agni Dei, would be in huge demand from Catholics all over Europe and the New World (Tingle 2015).
This paper will study the form and agency of portable objects (pins, badges, medals) depicting Our Lady of Halle from the late Middle Ages well into the early modern period. How did contemporaries perceive the connection between the cult statue, her shrine and the portable objects, before and after the medals became indulgenced objects? How does the indulgenced cult of Our Lady of Halle compare to that of other Marian shrines, both in the Low Countries (Scherpenheuvel, north of Brussels, so much favored by the Archdukes Albert and Isabella: Duerloo, 2002) and Italy, specifically the cult of the Madonna del Rosario, so forcefully promoted by Pius V?
Key words: memory and ritual practice, material magic, foundation rituals
Conferences by Minou Schraven
Talks by Minou Schraven
Drawing from printed festival books and previously unpublished sources, such as ceremonial diaries and diplomatic correspondence, this book offers the first comprehensive overview of the development of early modern funeral apparati. What was their function in funeral liturgy and early modern festival culture at large? How did the papal funeral apparati compare to those of cardinals, the Spanish and French monarchy, and the Medici court in Florence? And most importantly, how did contemporaries perceive and judge them?
By the late sixteenth century, new trends in conspicuous commemoration had rendered the traditional papal funeral apparati in St Peter’s obsolete. The author shows how papal families wishing to honor their uncles according to the new standards needed to invent ceremonial opportunities from scratch, showing off dynastic resilience, while modelling the deceased’s memoria after carefully constructed ideals of post-Tridentine sainthood.
Bringing together contributions from art history, architectural history, historiography and history of law, this volume is the first comprehensive exploration of the manifold meanings of foundation, dedication and consecration in early modern culture, which combined a renewed interest in notions of origins, history and identity with an exceptionally rich production of artefacts.
In the beginning of the Dutch Revolt, with the Iconoclastic Fury in full swing, the Duke of Aerschot, Philippe de Croÿ, started going out demonstratively wearing a devotional medal of Our Lady of Halle on his hat. He did so defying the so-called Gueux, the Calvinist noblemen opposed to Spanish rule, who had started to wear medals with beggar symbols in public. Informed about van Aerschot’s initiative, Pope Pius V (d. 1572) granted indulgences to all those wearing medals of the Madonna of Halle (Catena 1590, van Loon 1714). Doing so, the pope effectively turned the medals into portable indulgenced objects, the first of their kind. Soon enough, these and other portable indulgenced objects, such as rosaries, crosses of Caravacca and Agni Dei, would be in huge demand from Catholics all over Europe and the New World (Tingle 2015).
This paper will study the form and agency of portable objects (pins, badges, medals) depicting Our Lady of Halle from the late Middle Ages well into the early modern period. How did contemporaries perceive the connection between the cult statue, her shrine and the portable objects, before and after the medals became indulgenced objects? How does the indulgenced cult of Our Lady of Halle compare to that of other Marian shrines, both in the Low Countries (Scherpenheuvel, north of Brussels, so much favored by the Archdukes Albert and Isabella: Duerloo, 2002) and Italy, specifically the cult of the Madonna del Rosario, so forcefully promoted by Pius V?
Key words: memory and ritual practice, material magic, foundation rituals