Medieval Religious Patronage: A Study of the Anglo-Welsh Marcher Lords and their Connections to Religious Houses, 1066 – 1300
In a world where religion played a far greater role in society than it does in the modern day, it is no surprise that those living in the medieval period desired a close association with the church. Nowhere is this association clearer than with the aristocracy of the time.
The Decline of the Aristocracy in Eleventh and Twelfth Century Sardinia
Beginning in the eleventh century, Pisa and Genoa — both as communes and in the persons of individual Pisans and Genovese, — followed by Catalans and Aragonese, exhibited an increasing, and increasingly covetous, interest in Sardinia and (especially) its resources; and, already during the twelfth century, the island had fallen largely under continental domination.
Donor Portraits in Late Medieval Venice c.1280-1413
Although the donor portrait was extremely popular throughout Europe and mainland Italy during the late Middle Ages, the few art historians who have addressed the subject have concluded that the motif was not popular in fourteenth-century Venice.