The 4th RiMS Meeting, co-organized by the Institute fot Medieval Studies (IEM), will be dedicated to the theme Domestic interiors and household consumption in Europe, 1050-1550, and will take place on the 9th and 10th of November, at the University of Minho (Braga), Campus de Gualtar, at the Institute of Social Sciences (Building 15), Sala de Atos.

The fourth RiMS meeting takes place at the University of Minho. It will gather around the subject of domestic spaces and household consumption in Europe from the 11th to the 16th centuries, a period in which domestic goods multiplied and served as indicators of both economic and social power. Material culture studies are not limited to archaeological inventories of objects or artistic descriptions of buildings. Instead, recent historiography has focused on the living aspects of domestic spaces besides their materiality. Although aesthetic characteristics are important, analyzing the social function of daily objects is proving fundamental, paying more attention to the emotional relations established by the owner with the objects possessed, desired, and acquired. The study of great households and palaces inaugurated the studies in the field, but research has also been focusing on the living places of the lower social classes, such as artisans or peasants, thus deepening the knowledge of social distinction through material culture. RiMS IV will deepen these and other questions.