Master Mateo – Skilled Artist or Medieval Engineer?
Master Mateo received his contract as superintendent of the works of Saint James in 1168. He undertook in the following decades several major changes in the cathedrals design, the most spectacular of which was the insertion of the famous Portíco de la Gloria.
The Sufi Influence on Spanish Jews
By reintroducing true stories of positive interactions between Muslims and Jews, we can begin to change the contemporary dialogue away from the schoolyard “you’re either with us or against us” attitude of this young millennia, towards a more Gandhian approach, where a just peace for everyone involved is the only true option…
The Secret Society: Descendants of Crypto-Jews in the San Antonio Area
The history of the converso Jews began in medieval Catholic Spain, which was constantly wracked with anti-Semitism that, many times, led to mass conversions or massacres of the Jewish population.
Dialogues between religions in Andalusia
The distinctive way of life that developed in the Umayyad and Abbasid periods lasted for eight centuries in the Muslim West, in the fertile lands of North Africa and Andalusia, until 1492.
King Pedro IV of Aragon, royal propaganda and the tradition of royal speechwriting
In the archives of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona is preserved the autograph manuscript of a speech against the rebellion of the Judge of Arborea in Sardinia made by King Pedro IV of Aragon to open the corts, probably that held in Sant Mateu, Valencia in 1369.
Templars and Confraternities: Organizational Competition in Thirteenth Century Iberia
The undoing of the Templars was in part a result of their own over-reaching, but it also came because they opened up an organizational arena that other military orders and confraternities came to fill.
Historia Baetica: Dramatic Play or Historical Document?
When the news of the capitulation of Granada reached Rome on the second of February 1492, it was marked by religious as well as public celebrations.
Moses Ibn ‘Ezra’s “Treatise of the Garden” and Maimonides’ “Guide of the Perplexed”
The Spanish poet Moses Ibn ‘Ezra (1055-1138 ca.) is also known for a Judeo-Arabic book dealing with philosophical and philological questions, the Treatise of the Garden.
Portuguese ecclesiastics and Portuguese affairs near the Spanish cardinals in the roman curia : 1213-1254
The lives, families and clienteles of Pelayo Gaitán and Gil Torres, the two cardinals whose actions I wish to analyse here (1213-1254), seem to be a good example of how instrumental, their ‘natio’ proved to be, in the management of
the affairs they were summoned to deal with.
Health and dietetics in medieval preventive medicine: the health regimen of Peter of Spain (thirteenth century)
Health and dietetics constitute the basic concepts of preventive medicine constructed by medieval and Latin Galenism, i.e. the medical theories of Galen (second century) transmitted by Arab commentators (Avicenna, among others). Over time, the concept of health with respect to the human body changed according to specific socio-historic contexts.
Former church caretaker arrested for the Codex Calixtinus theft – manuscript recovered
The Codex Calixtinus, which was stolen last year from the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, has been recovered from a garage in Santiago.
The legend of Saint Anastasia in medieval Spanish literature
This MA by Research looks into the legend of Saint Anastasia, a virgin martyr who forms part of the Legenda aurea, a thirteenth century hagiographic compilation composed by Jacobus de Voragine.
Jewish trading in Fes on the eve of the Almohad conquest
The status of Jewish communities under Almohad rule has been the subject of scholarly interest for different reasons notably in the framework of the disruption of convivencia in al-Andalus among the people of the three abrahamic faiths.
Love, Mercy, and Courtly Discourse: Marguerite de Navarre Reads Alain Chartier
Love, Mercy, and Courtly Discourse: Marguerite de Navarre Reads Alain Chartier Frelick, Nancy (University of British Columbia) Mythes à la cour, mythes pour la four (2010).…
Captives or prisoners: society and obligation in medieval Iberia
In medieval Iberia, particularly from the twelfth century onward, warfare took on some religious overtones. As a consequence, the prisoners of war that appear in the sources were for the most part defined by their religious status, as either Muslims or Christians.
The Cluniac Priories of Galicia and Portugal: Their Acquisition and Administration 1075-ca.1230
It goes without saying that two topics are central to progress on all the rest, and it is to these that the present paper will address itself. First, the problem of acquisition…Secondly, the problem of administration…
The Roman De La Rose and the Thirteenth Century Prohibitions of Homosexuality
This paper, a tentative approach by someone who is not an expert in this area or on this text, argues that Guillaume de Lorris offers a veiled description of a male to male love relationship.
Husbands, Wives, and Adultery in Late-Medieval Northern France
If painting a slightly less stark picture of gender inequality than the above account of total repression for women and total freedom for men, modern scholars generally assume that medieval European courts did not enforce the Christian prohibition against husbands’ adultery.
Contributions of Medieval Food Manuals to Spain‘s Culinary Heritage
Before Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1400–68) revolutionized printing with his discovery of moveable type, manuscripts of collected recipes from the Iberian Peninsula grew out of several traditions. Most notable are two manuscripts directed toward the urban aristocracy from the waning years of the Almohad dynasty, two works from the aristocracy of Aragon and Castile, and one woman‘s manual that weaves together recipes for food, home remedies, cosmetics, and general hygiene.
The Difference A King Makes: Religion And National Unity In Spain
It is the end of the Roman period, however, that interests us most. What happened then is a model for the relationship between Church and state that has had an enduring and powerful influence.
Experimental Archaeology at L’Esquerda – Crops, Storage, Metalcraft and Earthworks in Mediaeval and Ancient Times
The archaeological site of l’Esquerda is placed in the inlands of Catalonia, in the town of Roda de Ter, county of Osona, 70 Km north from Barcelona.