Publicação
Books as Performative Objects
| Resumo: | This article examines how liturgical and normative books func-tioned as performative objects within reformed women’s religious communities in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Portugal. Focusing on Dominican and Cla-rissan convents shaped by the Observant and Colettine reform movements, it argues that books were not merely textual repositories but dynamic instruments of identity formation, ritual practice, and the construction of women’s religious authority. Reform generated an increased need for regulatory and liturgical texts, with female prelates playing a pivotal role in acquiring these volumes. Many were marked with colophons, illuminations, or heraldic insignia that asserted legitimacy, memorialised their agency, and embedded their leadership within the material culture of reform. Books also acted as empowering ritual objects: some volumes were passed on during investiture ceremonies and used in profession rites, embodying continuity, authority, and communal memory. By analysing the textual content, material features and ritual uses of these books, this study reveals the active strategies through which religious women negotiated power and spiritual leadership, highlighting the centrality of books as instruments of authority and memory. |
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| Autores principais: | Cardoso, Paula |
| Assunto: | Women’s religious authority Reform Materiality Monastic ritual Late Medieval Portugal Arts and Humanities(all) SDG 5 - Gender Equality |
| Ano: | 2026 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade Nova de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório Institucional da UNL |
| Resumo: | This article examines how liturgical and normative books func-tioned as performative objects within reformed women’s religious communities in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Portugal. Focusing on Dominican and Cla-rissan convents shaped by the Observant and Colettine reform movements, it argues that books were not merely textual repositories but dynamic instruments of identity formation, ritual practice, and the construction of women’s religious authority. Reform generated an increased need for regulatory and liturgical texts, with female prelates playing a pivotal role in acquiring these volumes. Many were marked with colophons, illuminations, or heraldic insignia that asserted legitimacy, memorialised their agency, and embedded their leadership within the material culture of reform. Books also acted as empowering ritual objects: some volumes were passed on during investiture ceremonies and used in profession rites, embodying continuity, authority, and communal memory. By analysing the textual content, material features and ritual uses of these books, this study reveals the active strategies through which religious women negotiated power and spiritual leadership, highlighting the centrality of books as instruments of authority and memory. |
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