The Matter of Piety

Zoutleeuw's Church of Saint Leonard and Religious Material Culture in the Low Countries (C. 1450-1620)
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-90-04-42630-6
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 16, 428 Seiten, Format (B × H): 175 mm x 251 mm, Gewicht: 1293 g

Reihe: Studies in Netherlandish Art and Cultural History

The Matter of Piety provides the first in-depth study of Zoutleeuw’s exceptionally well-preserved pilgrimage church in a comparative perspective, and revaluates religious art and material culture in Netherlandish piety from the late Middle Ages through the crisis of iconoclasm and the Reformation to Catholic restoration. Analyzing the changing functions, outlooks, and meanings of devotional objects – monumental sacrament houses, cult statues and altarpieces, and small votive offerings or relics – Ruben Suykerbuyk revises dominant narratives about Catholic culture and patronage in the Low Countries. Rather than being a paralyzing force, the Reformation incited engaged counterinitiatives, and the vitality of late medieval devotion served as the fertile ground from which the Counter-Reformation organically grew under Protestant impulses.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Suykerbuyk, Ruben

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunstgeschichte Kunstgeschichte: Renaissance, Manierismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Katholizismus, Römisch-Katholische Kirche
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Künstlerische Stoffe, Motive, Themen Künstlerische Stoffe, Motive, Themen: Religiöse Themen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

List of Illustrations

Abbreviations

Note on Currencies

Introduction: The Matter of Piety in an Age of Religious Change

A Pulverized Image? Status quaestionis

Sources, Methodology and Set-up

Part 1: Late Medieval Piety in Perspective

1 The Cult of Saint Leonard at Zoutleeuw

Saint Leonard’s Altarpiece

Protohistory of the Cult

The Fortunes of Devotion: Offerings

The Promotion of Devotion

2 The Image of Piety at the Dawn of Iconoclasm

Old Sources, New Views: Miracles and Indulgences

The Cult Circuit in the Low Countries

A Spirited Devotional Culture Materialized

part 2: Catholic Piety in Iconoclastic Times

3 1520. The Waning of Medieval Piety?

Cornelis Floris’ Sacrament House

The Introduction of Protestant Thought

The 1520-Thesis

Continuities

4 Pilgrimage

The Public Debate on Images, Miracles and Pilgrims

The Cult of Saint Leonard at Zoutleeuw: Tradition and Innovation

Miracles and Cults, Old and New

Miracles as Anti-Protestant Statements

5 Parish Liturgy

The Eucharist

Musical Embellishment

6 Patronage

The Memorial Landscape in Zoutleeuw

Van Wilre’s Project

Countering the Reformation

Sacrament Houses as Objects of Defiance

7 1566: The Beeldenstorm and Its Aftermath

Destructions and Descriptions

The Wonderyear: Facts and Theories

Les villes bonnes

Zoutleeuw and the Hageland Region

Part 3: The Miraculous Counter-Reformation

8 The Resumption of Miracles

Paulus Gautier’s Miracle Memorial Painting

A New Era?

The Rise of Votive Paintings

A Culture of the Miraculous

Zoutleeuw, 1612

9 Devotional Negotiation with the Archducal Government

The Object of Devotion: Image versus Relic

The Gift

The Translation

Conclusion: The Thin Line Between Tradition and Transformation

Appendix 1: The Churchwarden Accounts of Zoutleeuw’s Church of Saint Leonard

Appendix 2: Graphs

Notes

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Published Sources

Literature

Online Databases

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Ruben Suykerbuyk, Ph. D. (2018), Ghent University, is postdoctoral researcher at the same institution. He is the author of several works on fifteenth- to seventeenth-century religious art, material culture, and patronage in the Low Countries.