Plague and Religious Processions in Medieval Italy
Dr Alexandra Lee
Dr Alex Lee is a Lecturer in History at Goldsmiths, University of London and Lecturer in Liberal Studies at New York University London. She works on the intersection between popular religion and epidemic disease in late medieval Europe. Her book The Bianchi of 1399 in Central Italy: Making Devotion Local was published with Brill in 2021. She has also published articles on miracles, confraternities and teaching with Twitter. Alex is also a disability activist and recently submitted an edited volume Towards an Accessible Academy: Perspectives from Disabled Medievalists which combines lived experience of disability with the contributors’ medieval specialisms.
About the event
In the summer and autumn of 1399, a plague swept through the northern and central Italian peninsula. The populace at large was persuaded to don white clothing and participate in religious processions to help ward off the disease. Those who took part were called the “Bianchi”. This talk will consider why a religious response to disease made sense in medieval Italy, and address some of the actions that people took, including singing devotional hymns and self-flagellation. The topic of miracles will also be addressed, examining the role of these divine interventions during a time of plague.