Description: The Book of Donors for Strasbourg cathedral is an extraordinary medieval document dating from ca. 1320-1520, with 6,954 entries from artisan, merchant and aristocratic classes. This study is the first to comprehensively analyse the unpublished Book of Donors manuscript and show the types and patterns of gifts made to the cathedral. It also compares these gift entries with those in earlier obituary records kept by the cathedral canons, as well as other medieval obituary notices kept by parish churches and convents in Strasbourg. Analysis of the Book of Donors notes the increase of personal details and requests in fifteenth-century entries and discusses the different memorial opportunities available to the devout. This study draws a vivid picture of life in late medieval Strasbourg as seen through the lens of devotional and memorial practices, and will be of particular interest to scholars of art history, memory, and medieval urban life.
Review Quotes: 'It is a very useful book and an important addition to a small Anglophone literature of late medieval religiosity of Strasbourg, but more importantly as a study of commemorative practices in a late medieval cathedral and, as such, a useful comparative case for future studies of a similar kind.' H-France '... this is more than just a microstudy of one particular manuscript. Although the author admits that this is not an exhaustive investigation, she does much more than introduce the Book of Donors to a wider scholarly audience: with her meticulous scrutiny she provides valuable insights into the social history of medieval Strasbourg, the piety of its citizens, and the importance of memoria in medieval society.' Church Monuments