Capitolo

Wax, cash and the mass. Making candles affordable in late medieval economies

  • Alexandra Sapoznik
  • Lluís Sales i Favà

By the later middle ages wax had become an indispensable element in Christian religious observance, used throughout churches, liturgical services and lifecycle events. Wax was therefore both essential and ubiquitous. It was also valuable and easily re-cycled. This paper analyses the use, reuse and barter of wax in circular economies within cathedrals, monasteries and professional guilds in England and Italy. It further considers how the circulation of wax within and outside these institutions could act as a mechanism to cut expenses and potentially increase profits or provide opportunities for religious participation among even the very poor.

  • Keywords:
  • Wax,
  • Candles,
  • Recycling,
  • Florence,
  • England,
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Alexandra Sapoznik

King’s College London, United Kingdom

Lluís Sales i Favà

King’s College London, United Kingdom - ORCID: 0000-0002-0824-0135

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  • Anno di pubblicazione: 2024
  • Pagine: 455-574

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Informazioni sul capitolo

Titolo del capitolo

Wax, cash and the mass. Making candles affordable in late medieval economies

Autori

Alexandra Sapoznik, Lluís Sales i Favà

Lingua

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0.27

Opera sottoposta a peer review

Anno di pubblicazione

2024

Copyright

© 2024 Author(s)

Licenza d'uso

CC BY 4.0

Licenza dei metadati

CC0 1.0

Informazioni bibliografiche

Titolo del libro

Mezzi di scambio non monetari. Merci e servizi come monete alternative nelle economie dei secoli XIII-XVIII / Alternative currencies. Commodities and services as exchange currencies in the monetarized economies of the 13th to 18th centuries

Curatori

Angela Orlandi

Opera sottoposta a peer review

Numero di pagine

592

Anno di pubblicazione

2024

Copyright

© 2024 Author(s)

Licenza d'uso

CC BY 4.0

Licenza dei metadati

CC0 1.0

Editore

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0

ISBN Print

979-12-215-0346-3

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0347-0

eISBN (xml)

979-12-215-0348-7

Collana

Datini Studies in Economic History

ISSN della collana

2975-1241

e-ISSN della collana

2975-1195

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