Religious associations of lay people devoted to the cult of a saint or the Virgin Mary or a special feast day. Some were independent; others were attached to trade guilds (corporations), in which case the saint was usually the patron of the trade, e.g. St Éloi for the goldsmiths of Paris, St Crespin and St Crespinien for the shoemakers of Rouen. Their activities consisted principally of religious services, processions, mutual help, and charity. Their literary significance is that in the Middle Ages many confréries, especially those in Paris and the north-east of France, organized poetry competitions held at their regular meetings (puys), and occasionally performed plays, often based on the life of their patron, e.g. the Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages. The confréries flourished from the 13th c. A few unusual confréries made major contributions to medieval literature. The Confrérie des Jongleurs d'Arras included many of the most famous Arras poets, such as Jehan Bodel. The Confrérie de la Passion performed many large-scale mystery plays in Paris in the 15th and 16th c. [see Hôtel de Bourgogne].
[Graham Runnalls]
