Writing on Tombs. Narratives, Rules, Inscriptions in Medieval and Early Modern Times

Conference

Start: Jun 13, 2022 09:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
End: Jun 14, 2022 06:00 PM
Speaker: Conference
Location: Roma (Via Gregoriana 22, 00187 Roma) and Naples (Via Mezzocannone 8, Sala Giovanni Pontano, 80134 Napoli)
Contact: rossi@biblhertz.it

Writing on Tombs. Narratives, Rules, Inscriptions in Medieval and Early Modern Times

How were tombs conceived, narrated and represented in writings in medieval and early modern times? What was the contribution of writing in the actions that immediately followed the death? What rules determined the shape and the position of tombs?

This conference aims to answer to some questions reflecting on texts and writings related to tombs from multiple points of view. The first one concerns narration: it includes literary and periegetic descriptions, texts produced for funerals, private charters (wills, donations pro anima, contracts between patrons and artists) and the institutional ones (pastoral visits, health surveys). The second one invests normative aspects: the regulations issued by institutions but also the non-formal rules consolidated by social practices. The last element of interest is the epigraphic component of tombs, that is, writings displayed on tombstones and sepulchral monuments, but also on the catafalques and the mourning decorations employed to adorn houses and churches in funeral ceremonies, before the deposition in the tombs.

Scientific Organization: Vinni Lucherini, Tanja Michalsky, Diego Carnevale

_{Caption: Tino di Camaino, Funerary monument of Mary of Hungary (d. 1323), detail of the epigraph. Naples, church of
Santa Maria Donnaregina Vecchia (photo Bibliotheca Hertziana/Marco Pedicini)}