Recent decades have experienced the development of studies on material culture, favouring an inter- and multidisciplinary approach. This has enabled a more cohesive reading of the ways in which medieval inhabitants related to their material environment, manipulating, adapting and transforming it, the uses made of the objects produced, the meanings attributed and how they interacted with them in both cognitive and affective terms.

Summoning this dimension in relation to religion, devotional practices, sensibilities and representations raises a new set of questions and necessarily calls for different knowledge in order to deepen our understanding and the interpretation of the relationship between medieval religiosity and their material translations. From the images carved and painted to the buildings constructed, from liturgical objects to reliquaries and tombs, from books to personal objects of piety, from temples to the inscription of the various forms of religious life, there are many domains where the relationship between materiality and devotion can be both a prospect and a problem. This intersects the material, functional, performative and aesthetic dimensions with the different readings of the cognitive and emotional apprehensions, the representations (erudite and popular) they associate with, the practices sustained, the memories that polarize and legitimize, the powers that were thereby affirmed. This discloses the diversity of variants such as wealth and social position, with greater or lesser levels of literacy and education as well as the gender differences.

The Conference thus aims to be a broad space for debate, both in the plurality of knowledge and in the diversity of sources on the historical, geographical and religious contexts (Christian, Jewish, Islamic and other) as well as in terms of analytical perspectives.

All the respective information is available on the Conference website, here.

PAPER PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
(Scholars from any field are welcome to apply with proposals for sessions or individual papers):

Official languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian
Deadline for the submission of proposals: 15th May, 2019

Proposals for sessions of 3 speakers:
Each session will have three papers lasting 20 minutes each. The organizer should submit the session proposal with all the relevant details: name and affiliation of the organizer, title of the session, names and affiliations of speakers and moderator, titles and abstracts of the individual papers.

Proposals for individual papers:
Individual proposals should be papers lasting up to 20 minutes and include: speaker’s name and affiliation, title and abstract of the paper.

All applications must be sent along with a title and abstract of no more than 250 words, as well as a short applicant CV, to: materialities@fcsh.unl.pt

Successful applicants will be notified by 15th June 2019.

A peer-reviewed volume of selected proceedings will be published in 2020.

Conference registration fees (per person) includes:

  • Documentation, Coffee-breaks: €30
  • Documentation, Coffee-breaks and Gala Dinner: €50
  • Documentation, Coffee-breaks, Gala dinner and three Conference lunches: €100

Accommodation is booked and paid for by participants; information about hotels and other accommodation will be provided on request by the organising committee.

Organising committee:
Institute for Medieval Studies, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, NOVA University (IEM-FCSH/NOVA) / Centre of Studies on Religious History – Catholic University of Portugal (CEHR-UCP)
Carla Varela Fernandes, Catarina Fernandes Barreira, Diana Martins, João Luís Inglês Fontes, Maria Filomena Andrade, Maria João Branco, Mário Farelo and Miguel Metelo Seixas.

Monastery of Batalha / General Directorate of Cultural Heritage
Joherem Ruivo and Pedro Redol

Municipality of Batalha
Rui Cunha