Mighty Protectors for the Merchant Class: Saints as Intercessors between the Wealthy and the Divine

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Special Session

Organizer Name

Cynthia Turner Camp, Emily Kelley

Organizer Affiliation

Univ. of Georgia, Saginaw Valley State Univ.

Presider Name

Cynthia Turner Camp

Paper Title 1

Holy Intercessors at the End of Times: The Altarpiece of the Buena Mañana as a Unique Merchant Commission in Early Sixteenth-Century Burgos

Presenter 1 Name

Emily Kelley

Paper Title 2

Framing Sanctity: Goldsmiths and Saintly Images in the London Parish Church of Saint Peter Westcheap, Pre-1536

Presenter 2 Name

Gary G. Gibbs

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Roanoke College

Paper Title 3

Success, Salvation, and Servitude: Tallinn's Brotherhood of the Black Heads and Their Relationship with Local and Regional Saint Cults

Presenter 3 Name

Lehti Mairike Keelmann

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of Michigan-Ann Arbor

Start Date

15-5-2015 3:30 PM

Session Location

Schneider 1355

Description

By the late medieval period, merchants formed an integral part of urban society; among their activities, they facilitated trade between city centers, participated in the governing of cities, and were patrons of churches and monasteries. At the same time, the wealth that they amassed and their sometimes morally dubious activities, such as money lending, often left merchants fearful of what the afterlife would bring, causing them to appeal directly to specific saints for intercession. This session seeks to explore the religious lives of these elite members of urban society, specifically considering the individual holy persons to whom merchants appealed for their earthly protection and heavenly salvation as well as the manner in which they made these appeals.

Emily Kelley