English aristocratic women and the fabric of piety, 1450-1550 / Barbara J. Harris.

"The role played by women in the evolution of religious art and architecture has been largely neglected. This study of upper-class women in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries corrects that oversight, uncovering the active role they undertook in choosing designs, materials, and locations for monuments, and commissioning repairs and additions to many of the parish churches, chantry chapels, and almshouses characteristic of the English countryside. Their preferred art, Barbara J. Harris shows, reveals their responses to the religious reformation and signifies their preferred identities."--Back cover

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed September 18, 2018).

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Abbreviations -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Tombs: Honoring the Dead -- 2. Chantries: The Quest for Perpetual Prayers -- 3. Building for the Congregation: Roofs, Aisles, and Stained Glass -- 4. Adorning the Liturgy: Luxury Fabrics and Chapel Plate -- 5. Almshouses and Schools: Prayers and Service to the Community -- 6. Defining Themselves -- 7. Epilogue: Destruction and Survival -- Conclusion -- Appendix 1. Patrons of the Fabric of the Church -- Appendix 2. Patrons of Tombs -- Appendix 3. Location of Tombs in Churches -- Appendix 4. Choice of Burial Companion -- Appendix 5. Women Who Commissioned Chantries -- Appendix 6.Commissions of Stained-Glass Windows -- Appendix 7. Additions or Major Repairs to Churches -- Appendix 8. Bequests of Vestments -- Appendix 9. Patrons of Almshouses or Schools -- Glossary -- Select Bibliography -- Archival Sources

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