Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the creation of specific forms of lay associations, called confrarie dello Spirito Santo, in the urban area of Turin between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries. Through the analysis of the documents produced by these brotherhoods and still unknown to scholars, the study aims at highlighting the social composition of the confrarie in Turin, their economic management and the main aspects of everyday life in the community. This essay thereby seeks to illustrate the presence of such lay associations, for the first time in an important urban area: the confrarie played a major role in establishing bonds of solidarity between lay people and, differently from pious confraternities, were not controlled by ecclesiastical authorities.