Between Official and Private Dispute: The Case of Christian Spain and Provence in the Late Middle Ages
Literary 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
Rodrigo 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!
An 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
Archaeologists 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
In 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?
In 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
Their 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
This 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
The 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
We 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
Since 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?
It 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
Although 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
This 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
In 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 Symbolic Meaning of Sword and Palio in Late Medieval and Early Modern Ritual Entries: The Case of Seville
If 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
This 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)
What 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?
Here there be no dragons: Maravilla in Two Fifteenth-Century Spanish libros de viajes
Monsters, anthropomorphs, and marvels are common ingredients in medieval travel literature, and even narratives of real medieval journeys include these creatures, to the delight of the reading audience.
Delivering stability: Primogeniture and autocratic survival in European monarchies 1000-1800
Although the dominating position of primogeniture at the end of the period might seem natural given primogeniture’s many advantages for the monarch and the ruling elite it was first rather late in history that the principle came to dominate Europe.
Images of Rodrigo: The construction of past and present in late medieval Iberian chronicles
A return to late medieval narrative accounts of the events surrounding the invasions of 711 suggests that most medieval chroniclers saw the fall of Visigothic Spain in a different light
Licit and Illicit Sexuality in Medieval Iberia: A Survey of Las Siete Partidas
This thesis examines Las Siete Partidas, a thirteenth-century Castilian legal code of laws, including on marriage and illicit sexual behaviors.
Hunting and Hunters in Medieval Aragonese Legislation
Our research on hunting in the kingdom of Aragón in the 12th-15th centuries is based on the information provided by two groups of legal texts: those for local or regional areas and those that were applied to all the kingdom after the 13th century.
The Price of Alfonso’s Wisdom. Nationalist Translation Policy in Thirteenth-Century Castile
First, how can we say where and when translation began in any country? The origins of translation are surely to be associated with the first evidence of trade, and trade was certainly carried out in the Spain of the Romans, the Visigoths, and of course the centuries of Islamic domination.