The Bianchi of 1399 in Central Italy

Download or read book The Bianchi of 1399 in Central Italy written by Alexandra R.A. Lee and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-07-15 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing new insights into the Bianchi devotions, a medieval popular religious revival which responded to an outbreak of plague at the turn of the fifteenth century, this book takes a comparative, local and regional approach to the Bianchi, challenging traditional presentations of the movement as homogeneous whole. Combining a rich collection of textual, visual, and material sources, the study focuses on the two Tuscan towns of Lucca and Pistoia. Alexandra R.A. Lee demonstrates how the Bianchi processions in central Italy were moulded by secular and ecclesiastical authorities and shaped by local traditions as they attempted to prevent an epidemic.