The Material Culture of Religious Change and Continuity, 1400-1600

11-12 April 2017 at the University of Huddersfield

Keynotes: Dr Nicolas Bell (Trinity College Cambridge, Library); Dr Glyn Davies (Victoria and Albert Museum, London); Professor Merry Wiesner-Hanks (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)

Conference organisers: Dr Sarah Bastow and Dr Katherine Lewis

2017 marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses on the Wittenberg Church. From that date, religion in Europe experienced profound changes. One such change was how people viewed, interacted and created visual and material objects related to religious devotion. This conference aims to bring together medievalists and early modernists approaching religion on either side of the Reformation through a visual and/or material examination. We welcome offers of papers from scholars working in any relevant discipline.

By bringing together scholars from different disciplines, curators and heritage sector representatives it is hoped that a more holistic discussion of visual and material objects will come to light. Topics for papers may include but are certainly not restricted to:

*Commemoration of the dead
*Household or individual devotion
*Accessories of devotion (e.g. crucifixes, clothing, jewellery, books, etc.)
*Books, manuscripts and paintings as religious objects
*Religious space, architecture, landscape
*The destruction or salvage of religious iconography
*Change/continuity of religious objects
*Regional, national, or international comparisons of material culture through different disciplines: art history, archaeology, architecture, literature, history, etc.
*(Un)Gendered objects
*Intercessory objects (e.g. Books of Hours, Bibles, rosaries, relics, etc.)
*Religious objects from the New World; colonial territories; religious missions

Please send a short abstract (c. 200-300 words) to Audrey Thorstad (a.m.thorstad@hud.ac.uk) no later than 15 July 2016.