20 Redressing Images: Conflict in Context at Abbess Humbrina’s Scriptorium in Pontetetto (Lucca)

Abstract

According to this chapter, like so much of Lucca in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, the female Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria at Pontetetto was caught up in the politics of reform. The argument in this article recognizes for the first time that Italian nuns of the eleventh and twelfth centuries were makers of works of art. This explains how Humbrina's administrative concerns and conflicts with the male clergy of the region shaped some characteristics of the style and iconography in four manuscripts produced in the monastery during the years of Humbrina's leadership. While the written documents record the impact of Humbrina's actions on the world outside Pontetetto, artistic evidence gives insight into the impact of this struggle inside the monastery. A close analysis of the products of the scriptorium of pontetetto thus provides an interesting case study of how politics, religion, and art were tightly intertwined. Keywords:conflicts; Humbrina; Lucca; Pontetetto; scriptorium