Spain Archive
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Christian Iberia: A Society Religiously Organized for War
Posted on February 15, 2014 | No CommentsReconquista society in medieval Christian Spain is all too often considered through only economic and martial eyes. In this study of the prevelant cult of Santiago de Compostela (or St. James the Greater) I will demonstrate how medieval society meshed both war and religion. -
Men Who Talk about Love in Late Medieval Spain: Hugo de Urriés and Egalitarian Married Life
Posted on February 13, 2014 | No CommentsIn the last third of the fifteenth century, Hugo de Urriés’s work can offer the modern reader a very rare and informative perspective from the points of view of social history and history of ideas. -
‘Waiting Only for a Pretext’: A New Chronology for the Sixth-Century Byzantine Invasion of Spain
Posted on February 13, 2014 | No CommentsThis article argues that the common modern version of the invasion, in which Byzantine forces arrived in 552, fought on the side of the usurper Athanagild until 555, and then fought against Athanagild for a brief period before concluding a treaty with him, is flawed and, relying on a more precise reading of the sources, proposes a new chronology and narrative, in which Byzantine forces did not arrive until 554. -
Whose Golden Age? Some Thoughts on Jewish-Christian in Medieval Iberia
Posted on February 11, 2014 | No CommentsThe medieval period in Spanish history has alternately been cast as a Golden Age of interfaith harmony and an example of the ultimate incompatibility of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities. -
‘Royal’ pediculosis in Renaissance Italy: lice in the mummy of the King of Naples Ferdinand II of Aragon (1467-1496)
Posted on February 3, 2014 | No CommentsPediculosis seems to have afflicted humans since the most ancient times and lice have been found in several ancient human remains. Examination of the head hair and pubic hair of the artificial mummy of Ferdinand II of Aragon (1467-1496), King of Naples, revealed a double infestation with two different species of lice... -
Organizing the Greed for Gain. Alfonso X of Spain’s Law on Gambling Houses
Posted on January 26, 2014 | No CommentsThe “Ordenamiento de las tafurerias” is a law code about gambling, established by a certain Maestre Roldan in 1276 or 1277 CE (1314 / 1315 era hisp.)by command of King Alfonso X of Castile. It represents the most detailed and exhaustive regulation of gambling from the Middle Ages, providing useful information about the practice of gambling, the presumed or real problems connected to it, and the measures taken by authorities. -
Between Official and Private Dispute: The Case of Christian Spain and Provence in the Late Middle Ages
Posted on January 15, 2014 | No CommentsLiterary and historical evidence of religious disputes that took place between Jews and Christians during the Middle Ages exists in a varietyof sources. -
El Cid, Cluny and the Medieval Spanish Reconquista
Posted on January 14, 2014 | No CommentsRodrigo Díaz, better known by his title El Cid, has traditionally been portrayed as one of the great heroes of Spanish history, perhaps the perhaps the Spanish national hero par excellence. -
The Most Dramatic Moment of the Middle Ages!
Posted on January 12, 2014 | No CommentsAn evil king versus a good king. They are half-brothers. It's a fight to the death. In a tent! -
Abandoned medieval settlement in Spain was devoted to growing grapes, archaeologists finds
Posted on January 1, 2014 | No CommentsArchaeologists have discovered an abandoned settlement in the Basque Country of Spain that seems to have been turned into a medieval version of a factory-farm in order to concentrate the cultivation of vineyards. -
Managing the Commons: The role of the elites in the uses of common lands in the Midlands of the kingdom of Valencia during the Middle Ages
Posted on December 21, 2013 | No CommentsIn a recent paper, Danie Curtis has given a framework for classifying preindustrial societies in accordance with four variables, these are, the property, the power, the market of basic products and the modes of production. -
Building the past through the eyes of the present: Were the Kingdoms of Medieval Spain a model of tolerance?
Posted on October 8, 2013 | No CommentsIn this paper I am going to look at the ways in which contemporary concerns have shaped historians’ depictions of Medieval Iberian societies, and how that distant past is now used by politicians. -
Illness and Disability in Twelfth and Thirteenth-Century Notarial Documents in Medieval Toledo
Posted on September 29, 2013 | No CommentsTheir documents are symbolic not only of the transition from Muslim Al-Andalus to Christian Spain, but also give us insight into the real-time everyday interactions and events of transitional Toledo after the year 1085 AD between peoples of different cultures, religions, backgrounds and identities. -
The Queen and her consort : succession, politics and partnership in the kingdom of Navarre, 1274-1512
Posted on September 29, 2013 | No CommentsThis thesis draws attention to an exceptional group of sovereigns and demonstrates the important role that these women and their spouses played in the political history of Western Europe during the Late Middle Ages. It also highlights the particular challenges of female rule and offers new modes of analysis by focusing on unique areas of investigation which have not been previously examined -
NEW TV SERIES: ISABEL
Posted on September 28, 2013 | No CommentsThe series is a fascinating look at the difficult journey Isabella of Castile endured on her way to the throne. -
The Jewish Physician in Medieval Iberia: New Directions
Posted on September 15, 2013 | No CommentsWe are thus in a far better position to capture the range and characteristics of those Jews who engaged in medical practice in medieval Iberia. -
Girls Gone Wild: Medieval Spain Edition
Posted on September 8, 2013 | No CommentsSince its publication in 1499 at the evening of the medieval era and the dawning of the early modern one critics have poured over the pages of this seminal text, hoping to shed more and more light on its various intricacies and complexities. -
Catalonia’s Mediterranean Expansion: An Instance of Colonialism?
Posted on July 22, 2013 | No CommentsIt is apparent that not all historians agree on what Catalonian expansion means, and what expansion meant to Catalonia. -
The Participation of the Military Orders in Truces with Muslims in the Holy Land and Spain during the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
Posted on June 10, 2013 | No CommentsAlthough the military orders’ primary function was to fight against the infidel, warfare in the Middle Ages was never continuous, as armies could not be kept in the field indefinitely, and when there was an imbalance of power between Christians and Muslims it was in the interests of the weaker side to seek truces, even at the expense of concessions. -
Crisis and Regeneration: the Conversos of Majorca, 1391-1416
Posted on June 10, 2013 | No CommentsThis dissertation investigates the economic, social and political factors that promoted Jewish identification among the first two generations of conversos in Majorca following their baptism in 1391. -
Converso Identities in Late Medieval Spain: Intermediacy and Indeterminacy
Posted on May 21, 2013 | No CommentsIn late medieval Spain, Christian leaders and missionaries developed conversion campaigns to bring Jews into Christianity. Some converts appear to have fully assimilated with their new religion. Those who did not effectively assimilate are known as conversos, members of a group whose beliefs and actions grew increasingly suspect. Historians disagree about conversos. Did conversos want to become Christian despite continued Jewish practices, or were they 'secret Jews' who knowingly engaged in the practice of their former religion? -
The Anecdotal Way to Santiago de Compostela
Posted on April 22, 2013 | No CommentsVideo of the Keynote Lecture by David L. Simon from the 34th Annual Plymouth State University Medieval and Renaissance Forum -
The Symbolic Meaning of Sword and Palio in Late Medieval and Early Modern Ritual Entries: The Case of Seville
Posted on April 16, 2013 | No CommentsIf I have spend some time establishing the semantic field in which these terms appear, it is because I wish to emphasize the malleability of concepts such as symbols and rituals, particularly when applied to the articulation of powers Moreover, these meanings and intents depend often on the context, temporal and geographical location. -
The Roots of Rhythm: The Medieval Origins of the New Orleans’ Mardi Gras Beignet
Posted on April 15, 2013 | No CommentsThis paper argues that the beloved Mardi Gras beignet, eaten in advance of the Lenten fast, derives from deep-fried pastries used to break the Ramadan fast by medieval Muslims living in Spain. -
“Of Arms and Men”: Siege and Battle Tactics in the Catalan Grand Chronicles (1208-1387)
Posted on April 9, 2013 | No CommentsWhat was the nature of combat as then practiced by the Aragonese? Who and what was involved? How were the practicalities of battle realized on the field?
