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italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies You are warmly invited to join us on Tuesday 14 November, when Dr. Alexandra Lee will be addressing the Science & Literature seminar<https://www.ucl.ac.uk/multidisciplinary-and-intercultural-inquiry/reading-and-reception-seminars/science-and-literature-series/index> organised in collaboration between the Reception of British Authors in Europe (RBAE) and UCL A&H with her paper entitled: ‘What To Do When You Know The Worst Is Coming? Religious Devotion as a Response to Plague in Medieval Central Italy’. We begin at 5:30 pm in room 351, Foster Court, UCL. Directions to this building can be found here<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/maps/foster-court-111>. Dr. Alexandra Lee's paper will be followed by questions and discussion, and the meeting will conclude with a glass of wine at 7:30 pm. A précis and speaker profile are appended below for your interest: ‘What To Do When You Know The Worst Is Coming? Religious Devotion as a Response to Plague in Medieval Central Italy’ In the summer of 1399, news spread throughout northern and central Italy of a terrible plague which would wipe out at least a third of mankind. According to the stories which were circulating, the only way to prevent this pestilential annihilation was to participate in nine-day itinerant processions. The populace at large was moved, and the Bianchi devotions were born. In this paper, I will examine the complex relationship between the Bianchi devotions and the plague at the end of the fourteenth century. The Bianchi devotions were fleeting, lasting roughly six months in their spread from Genoa towards Rome and Venice. The plague on the other hand began in 1397, and finally ran its course in 1400. I will assess the role of participating in the Bianchi devotions as a response to epidemic disease, and the way that plague was configured during these devotions. I will draw on lyric and prose textual sources alongside visual sources to analyse the reaction of the populace when they heard that the threat of an outbreak of plague was looming. Dr Alexandra Lee was awarded her PhD in March 2017 from UCL for her thesis ‘Localising Collective Devotion: The Bianchi of 1399 at Lucca and Pistoia.’ She is currently a postgraduate teaching assistant in SELCS and History at UCL. She is interested in the intersection between popular religion and epidemic disease in Late Medieval Europe. ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ --------------------- Prof Elinor Shaffer, FBA, Research Director, The Reception of British and Irish Authors in Europe, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Modern Languages Research (IMLR), University of London http://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk /rbae/RRSS-2014-2015.htm<http://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk/rbae/RRSS-2014-2015.htm> Supported by Prof Timothy Mathews, Emeritus Professor of French and Comparative Criticism, University College London https://www.ucl.ac.uk/multidisciplinary-and-intercultural-inquiry/reading-and-reception-seminars/science-and-literature-series/index ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe italian-studies YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe italian-studies to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/italian-studies