Heroes in Dark Times

In the accounts of disaster of the early modern period, it seemed as though the heroes were missing, replaced by the anthropomorphic rage of the natural elements. Nevertheless, it did sometimes happen that singular figures emerged from the blurry mass of the people and their dramatic anecdotes, and sprang into action to address the emergency. Sometimes they were saints, sometimes local institutions: the former were invoked to mediate with heaven to placate divine anger through miracles, and the latter to manage the catastrophe and provide aid and relief.

The chapters in this volume reflect on this composite phenomenon of salvific actions, especially when they assumed the character of heroic gestures suspended between reality and fiction, human and divine, ordinary and extraordinary.

• Introduction 
• I. Conventions and Topoi
• Annachiara Monaco, People, Institutions and Saints: A Linguistic Analysis of Relazioni on the 1631 Eruption of Vesuvius 
• Maite Iraceburu Jiménez, “The Hand of God” in News Pamphlets on Disasters of Natural Origin: Lexical and Discursive Strategies 
• Gennaro Schiano, “Tú sola siempre nuestro amparo has sido”: The Prayer to the Virgin in the Llanto de Menardo by Duarte Núñez de Acosta 
• Antonio Perrone, The Hero Topos in Southern Italian Lyric Poetry on Catastrophes 
• II. Gestures, Perspectives and Images
• José A. Ortiz, Devotion and Epidemics: The Relevance of St Vincent Ferrer in Outbreaks of Plague 
• Ramon Dilla Martí, A Virgin from the Sea: The Mercedarians and the Cult of the Madonna di Bonaria, Protector of Seafarers 
• Sara Caredda, The Madonna di Bonaria: Images and Iconography from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic 
• Milena Viceconte, The Other Hero: Viceroy Monterrey in Literary and Figurative Sources on the 1631 Eruption of Vesuvius 
• III. Management and Communication
• Beatriz Álvarez García, Pro serenitate Public Prayers During the Floods of the Guadalquivir in the 17^th Century: A Study Using Relaciones de Sucesos 
• Gennaro Varriale, Heroes at the Epicentre: Our Lady and Saints in the Earthquakes of the Hispanic Monarchy (16^th-17^th Century) 
• Flavia Tudini, Narrating the 1687 Lima Earthquake: Institutions and Devotions in the Face of Catastrophe 
• Valeria Enea, Seeking the Protector Saint: Cults and Devotions in Palermo after the 1693 Earthquake 
• Marco Papasidero, “In segno della recevuta gratia”: St Angelus, Protector of Licata from Plague, Storms and Natural Catastrophes 
• Juan Manuel Luna Cruz, Digital Maps and Information Networks in the Early Modern Era: Some Cases of Disasters and Heroes 
• Contributors

Cover illustration: Anonymous, St Gennaro Halts the Lava of Vesuvius (detail), from Nicolò Carminio Falcone, L’intera istoria della famiglia, vita, miracoli, traslazioni e culto del glorioso martire S. Gennaro, Naples, nella stamperia di Felice Mosca, 1713

• Beatriz Álvarez García

• Sara Caredda

• Domenico Cecere

• Ramon Dilla Martí

• Valeria Enea

• Maite Iraceburu Jiménez

• Juan Manuel Luna Cruz

• Annachiara Monaco

• José A. Ortiz

• Marco Papasidero

• Antonio Perrone

• Gennaro Schiano

• Flavia Tudini

• Gennaro Varriale

• Milena Viceconte

• Copertina ad alta risoluzione