- Departamento de Historia da Arte
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Praza da Universidade, s/n
15782 Santiago de Compostela
SPAIN
Rosa María Rodríguez Porto
University of Santiago de Compostela, History of Art, Faculty Member
-
University of Southern Denmark, Danish Institute of Advanced Studies, Department MemberUniversity of Southern Denmark, History, Department MemberUniversity of Southern Denmark, Centre for Medieval Literature, Faculty Member add
-
Art History, Cultural Studies, Critical Theory, Gender Studies, Visual Studies, Cultural History, and 85 moreComparative Literature, Medieval Studies, Art Theory, Queer Theory, Medieval Literature, Georges Didi-Huberman, W.G. Sebald (Area Studies), Erich Auerbach, Alfonso X el Sabio, História da arte, Memory Studies, Codicology, Medieval Iberian History, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, History and Classical tradition studies, Medieval Iberian Literature, Court Culture, Perspective, Anachronism, Alhambra, Heroides, GENEALOGIES, Alfonso XI of Castile, Trojan legend in the Middle Ages, Automata, Tomb Sculpture, Teoría de la Imagen, María de Molina, Escultura Funeraria, Roman de Troie, Miniatura medieval, History, Marilynn Desmond, Troy In the Trecento, Miniature and Painting at the Court of Anjou Naples, Secular Illumination and Epic Illustrations of the Italian 14th-century, Luciano Canfora, Classics, Knightly culture, Chivalry (Medieval Studies), Jérôme Baschet, Gades, Pseudo-Turpin, Melancholy, Art History and Aesthetics of Ruins, Ruins, Wunderkammer, Roman Emperors, History of Art and Architecture, Mediterranean Studies, Medieval Mediterranean Art and Architecture, Middle Ages, Gothic architecture, Islamic Art, Gothic Art, Mudéjar Art and Architecture, Byzantine Studies, Catalan Studies, Art and Art History, Ancient Historiography, Classical Reception Studies, Ancient Greek History, Ancient History, Classical philology, Classical rhetoric, Alexander the Great, Ancient Greek Historiography, Speech In Classical Historiography, Books and Libraries in the Ancient World, Renaissance Humanism, The Classical Tradition, Roman Historiography, Greek Historiography, History of the Book, History of Historiography, Paolino Veneto, Orosius, Historiography, Historiography (in Art History), The Historical Imagination, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Frederick II Hohenstaufen, Dante Studies, Pier Candido Decembrio, and Hugh of Saint-Victor De Archa Noe edit
Research Interests:
Cet article cherche à reconstituer les collections de manuscrits aujourd’hui en partie dispersées du début de la Renaissance hispanique, en prenant comme point de départ le fonds italien de la Bibliothèque nationale d’Espagne. La... more
Cet article cherche à reconstituer les collections de manuscrits aujourd’hui en partie dispersées du début de la Renaissance hispanique, en prenant comme point de départ le fonds italien de la Bibliothèque nationale d’Espagne. La nouveauté de l’approche de la recherche réside dans l’étude de la culture matérielle, notamment l’analyse des enluminures, qui offre des indications supplémentaires, en complément de l’examen de la tradition des manuscrits. Le groupe limité de manuscrits qui peuvent être situés avec certitude en Castille pendant le xve siècle témoignent une nouvelle « esthétique du livre » et montrent également la façon particulière dont certains personnages ont fait de leur bibliothèque un miroir de leurs propres aspirations sociales et culturelles, dans le contexte social de concurrence au sein de la cour castillane.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This contribution is the response piece to a larger dialogue of three articles that form the current issue of JOLCEL. The other contributions are “‘Two Styles More Opposed’: Harriet Hosmer’s Classicisms between Winckelmann and... more
This contribution is the response piece to a larger dialogue of three articles that form the current issue of JOLCEL. The other contributions are “‘Two Styles More Opposed’: Harriet Hosmer’s Classicisms between Winckelmann and Bernini” by Melissa L. Gustin (pp. 1–31), “The Future of Winckelmann’s Classical Form: Walter Pater and Frederic Leighton” by Elizabeth Prettejohn (pp. 33–56), and “Winckelmann in Nineveh: Assyrian Remains at the Age of Classics” by Yannick Le Pape (pp.58–78).*
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article presents a detailed study of two important manuscripts of the Estoria de Espanna copied in the fourteenth century: Q (BNE ms. 5795) and T (BMP ms. 550), paying special attention to their materiality. By means of the analysis... more
This article presents a detailed study of two important manuscripts of the Estoria de Espanna copied in the fourteenth century: Q (BNE ms. 5795) and T (BMP ms. 550), paying special attention to their materiality. By means of the analysis of their mise en page, illumination, quire structure and palaeographical aspects, this paper aims at giving a more accurate picture of the production and reception context of both manuscripts, thus contributing to the study of the transmission and reformulation of the Alfonsine text in the central decades of the fourteenth century.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article presents a detailed study of two important manuscripts of the Estoria de Espanna copied in the fourteenth century: Q (BNE ms. 5795) and T (BMP ms. 550), paying special attention to their materiality. By means of the analysis... more
This article presents a detailed study of two important manuscripts of the Estoria de Espanna copied in the fourteenth century: Q (BNE ms. 5795) and T (BMP ms. 550), paying special attention to their materiality. By means of the analysis of their mise en page, illumination, quire structure and palaeographical aspects, this paper aims at giving a more accurate picture of the production and reception context of both manuscripts, thus contributing to the study of the transmission and reformulation of the Alfonsine text in the central decades of the fourteenth century.
Research Interests:
Partiendo del estudio de tres manuscritos que acabaron formando parte de la biblioteca del marqués de Santillana o que pueden vincularse con su patronazgo –la Comparatione e Istoria d’Alexandro Magno de Quinto Curcio de Pier Candido... more
Partiendo del estudio de tres manuscritos que acabaron formando parte de la biblioteca del marqués de Santillana o que pueden vincularse con su patronazgo –la Comparatione e Istoria d’Alexandro Magno de Quinto Curcio de Pier Candido Decembrio (Madrid, RAH, ms. 9/5493), la traducción castellana de la Historia romana de Paulo Diácono (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, ms. McClean 180) y la traducción castellana de la Ilíada (Londres, BL, Add. 21245)– se pretende ofrecer unas notas sobre la cultura libraria y cultura visual en el ámbito de la aristocracia castellana en las décadas de 1440 y 1450. Se analizarán
estas obras como exponentes de la política cultural llevada a cabo por Íñigo López de Mendoza en los años de su mayor ascendiente cortesano, al hilo de su controvertida participación en las luchas entre los partidarios de los Infantes de Aragón y de Álvaro de Luna. En este sentido, se tratará no solo de situar estas obras en el tejido artístico del momento, permeable a los nuevos estímulos italianos y flamencos, sino de recuperar los valores específicos –también políticos– asociados con cada una de estas opciones estéticas y con la copia/traducción de los textos aquí señalados.
estas obras como exponentes de la política cultural llevada a cabo por Íñigo López de Mendoza en los años de su mayor ascendiente cortesano, al hilo de su controvertida participación en las luchas entre los partidarios de los Infantes de Aragón y de Álvaro de Luna. En este sentido, se tratará no solo de situar estas obras en el tejido artístico del momento, permeable a los nuevos estímulos italianos y flamencos, sino de recuperar los valores específicos –también políticos– asociados con cada una de estas opciones estéticas y con la copia/traducción de los textos aquí señalados.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article re-examines the illustrations of the Codex Calixtinus (Santiago, ACS, CF 14), in an attempt to give account of its singularity, namely, its almost exclusive focus on the legendary expedition of Charlemagne to Spain. By means... more
This article re-examines the illustrations of the Codex Calixtinus (Santiago, ACS, CF 14), in an attempt to give account of its singularity, namely, its almost exclusive focus on the legendary expedition of Charlemagne to Spain. By means of a minute analysis of the materiality of the codex and of its intricate assemblage of disparate texts, together with a critical evaluation of the earliest Carolingian cycles and a discussion of the Crusading overtones they may have had in the twelfth century, new evidence is offered for a re-dating of the Calixtinus c. 1147-1154. In the midst of the conquest of Almería and a projected alliance with France, these images were intended to attract international attention towards the Apostolic shrine and to foster Compostela’s ambitions against Toledo, even at the price of displacing more
ancient and cherished myths about the discovery of the relics of St. James by the kings of Asturias.
ancient and cherished myths about the discovery of the relics of St. James by the kings of Asturias.
Research Interests:
This article aims at offering a preliminary survey of the miniatures illustrating the Biblia romanceada held at the Escorial Library under the shelf mark I.I.3, whose precise date and provenance have been a matter of dispute among... more
This article aims at offering a preliminary survey of the miniatures illustrating the Biblia romanceada held at the Escorial Library under the shelf mark I.I.3, whose precise date and provenance have been a matter of dispute among scholars for decades. The scrutiny of the stylistic features of these illustrations together with a reassessment of the scarce archival sources related to this work allows for a definite association of MS Escorial, I.I.3 with Enrique de Guzmán, 2nd Duke of Medina Sidonia († 1492). However, the contextualized analysis of this lavish manuscript—as part of a consolidated trend of aristocratic patronage and as epitome of already established traditions in the realm of Bible illustration—, may contribute not only to a re-appraisal of this singular work but also to a better understanding of the multifaceted phenomena lying behind the production and reception of the remaining fifteenth-century illustrated bibles in the vernacular, all of them translated from Hebrew but intended for a Christian audience.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT Inspired by Maria Zambrano’s essay “Una metáfora de la esperanza: Las ruinas” (1951), this article attempts to trace back the experience of ruins as described/imagined in Castilian texts and images from the thirteenth to... more
ABSTRACT
Inspired by Maria Zambrano’s essay “Una metáfora de la esperanza: Las ruinas” (1951), this article attempts to trace back the experience of ruins as described/imagined in Castilian texts and images from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. Two ideas developed by Zambrano act as the red threads behind this survey: on the one hand, the assimilation between History and vision, enhanced by the power of past remains to bring the time gone back into the present; on the other, the understanding of ruins as survivals. However, the works under scrutiny also allow us to delve into the notions of prophecy and tragedy –of Benjaminian resonances– and to excavate the complex temporal structure generated by ruins, against the grain of much of current scholarship about the supposed lack of “historical consciousness” of the Middle Ages.
Inspired by Maria Zambrano’s essay “Una metáfora de la esperanza: Las ruinas” (1951), this article attempts to trace back the experience of ruins as described/imagined in Castilian texts and images from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. Two ideas developed by Zambrano act as the red threads behind this survey: on the one hand, the assimilation between History and vision, enhanced by the power of past remains to bring the time gone back into the present; on the other, the understanding of ruins as survivals. However, the works under scrutiny also allow us to delve into the notions of prophecy and tragedy –of Benjaminian resonances– and to excavate the complex temporal structure generated by ruins, against the grain of much of current scholarship about the supposed lack of “historical consciousness” of the Middle Ages.
Research Interests:
The process of consolidation of the vernacular languages in the West runs almost in parallel with the exponential increase in the amount of manuscripts copied for lay audiences and the ever growing role played by images in profane texts... more
The process of consolidation of the vernacular languages in the West runs almost in parallel with the exponential increase in the amount of manuscripts copied for lay audiences and the ever growing role played by images in profane texts from mid-Thirteenth Century onwards. For the first time since Antiquity, secular illustration achieved a place of its own and gave rise to a fertile imagery in constant evolution, able to not only to suit the tastes and ambitions of royal patrons, aristocratic courts and urban elites, but also to permeate all levels of society.
Following a different trend than in the Byzantine Empire or the Islamic world, a substantial part of these illustrated books preserved chronicles and historiographical compendia, romances, and collections of exempla where ancient deeds or closer events were brought alive for contemporary readers in both words and pictures. However, it was the latter that more persuasively shaped either shared identities or conflicting ideas about the meaning of the past, even conditioning how history itself was envisaged, recorded and transmitted. While stemmata, diagrams and specific layouts helped to structure historical thinking, illustrations triggered affects and were intended to be treasured by memory, fuelling once and again the creation of new visual and written accounts that appropriated former times for contemporary audiences. Yet, paradoxically, this web of images in perpetual incandescence also contributed to an unprecedented awareness of the gap between past and present, paving the way to modern notions of historical distance—albeit problematical this distinction may be.
Following a different trend than in the Byzantine Empire or the Islamic world, a substantial part of these illustrated books preserved chronicles and historiographical compendia, romances, and collections of exempla where ancient deeds or closer events were brought alive for contemporary readers in both words and pictures. However, it was the latter that more persuasively shaped either shared identities or conflicting ideas about the meaning of the past, even conditioning how history itself was envisaged, recorded and transmitted. While stemmata, diagrams and specific layouts helped to structure historical thinking, illustrations triggered affects and were intended to be treasured by memory, fuelling once and again the creation of new visual and written accounts that appropriated former times for contemporary audiences. Yet, paradoxically, this web of images in perpetual incandescence also contributed to an unprecedented awareness of the gap between past and present, paving the way to modern notions of historical distance—albeit problematical this distinction may be.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In his authoritative Historia Troiana: Studies in the History of Mædival Secular Illustration, Hugo Buchthal expressed an unreserved preference for the Crónica Troyana de Alfonso XI (Escorial, h.I.6; dated 1350) that, according to his... more
In his authoritative Historia Troiana: Studies in the History of Mædival Secular Illustration, Hugo Buchthal expressed an unreserved preference for the Crónica Troyana de Alfonso XI (Escorial, h.I.6; dated 1350) that, according to his words, should be prized as ‘the most attractive Trojan cycle the Trecento has left us’. However, only in recent times the subtlety and sophistication of its miniature cycle have been highlighted, challenging also inveterate assumptions about the peripheral quality of Castilian art. A paramount example of the innovative pictorial systems developed in the realm of secular illustration since the end of the Thirteenth century, the Crónica Troyana’s carefully designed layout was intended to articulate and nuance the resulting visual account to an unprecedented extent. Although its iconographic cycle seems to have been modelled upon Italian copies of the Roman de Troie, the relocation of the Trojan War in Fourteenth-century Castile operated there might have turned this manuscript into a visual argumentum, a virtual realm where to explore the dialectical tension between text and images, pagan past and Christian present.
Research Interests:
En el presente artículo se analiza el códice Série Azul 1 de la Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, que preserva una lujosa copia iluminada de la segunda redacción de la Crónica Geral de 1344, a la luz de las empresas historiográficas... more
En el presente artículo se analiza el códice Série Azul 1 de la Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, que preserva una lujosa copia iluminada de la segunda redacción de la Crónica Geral de 1344, a la luz de las empresas historiográficas emprendidas por Alfonso X y sus sucesores. Como espero demostrar, la radical diferencia en los planteamientos que animaron los dos códices regios de la Estoria de Espanna (Escorial, Y.I.2 y X.I.4) y su lejana heredera portuguesa permiten avanzar algunas nuevas propuestas sobre la autoría y cronología del manuscrito luso, en el que se habría presentado una visión del pasado peninsular ajustada a las particulares circunstancias políticas vividas en la corte de los Avis en el momento de su confección.
Research Interests:
In the present essay, I argue that the analysis of long-neglected manuscript works from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Castile allows us to articulate “closeness” as a critical tool for the study of Iberian manuscript culture in... more
In the present essay, I argue that the analysis of long-neglected manuscript works from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Castile allows us to articulate “closeness” as a critical tool for the study of Iberian manuscript culture in manifold ways. To begin with, the study of these incomplete or ravaged manuscripts confers a new meaning to the idea of “close reading” of both texts and images (consistently segregated along disciplinary lines), since scholarly work ends up being nothing short of a sleuth-like search. On the other hand, however, this minute research also forces one to explore the subtle divide between intimacy and critical distance, between the illusion of unrestricted access to the past and the theoretical discomfort provoked by the impossible task of bringing these objects back to life.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Working version
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela served as monumental backdrop for two extraordinary solemnities in the first half of the Fourteenth Century: Queen Isabel of Portugal’s pilgrimage in 1325 and Alfonso XI of Castile’s knighting... more
The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela served as monumental backdrop for two extraordinary solemnities in the first half of the Fourteenth Century: Queen Isabel of Portugal’s pilgrimage in 1325 and Alfonso XI of Castile’s knighting ritual in 1332. Both royal ceremonies are analysed in the present article by means of a close reading of the documentary records preserved as well as of a re-evaluation of the Libro de la Coronación (Escorial, &.III.3), the so-called Santiago del Espaldarazo in Las Huelgas, and other related works preserved at the Galician see. The network of texts, images and characters linking these events will allow us to disclose deeper affinities between them and to understand what lied beneath this ephemeral attempt to rehabilitate Compostela as ceremonial centre for the Castilian and Portuguese monarchies.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In the decades after the death of Alfonso X, the kings and queens of Castile seem to have been surrounded by a variegated series of images –either real objects or mental pictures– generated around several key metaphors for the Western... more
In the decades after the death of Alfonso X, the kings and queens of Castile seem to have been surrounded by a variegated series of images –either real objects or mental pictures– generated around several key metaphors for the Western imagery of kinship. In these works –painted or sculpted galleries of kings, historiographical texts, heraldic emblems– political and family tensions arise, revealing also the role played by images in the articulation of historical narratives and dynastic memory.
Research Interests:
History and Memory, Theory of Metaphor and Rhetorics, Memory Studies, Cultural Memory, Kingship (Medieval History), and 9 moreSocial Imaginaries, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, Alfonso X el Sabio, Medieval genealogy, María de Molina, Alfonso XI of Castile, Estoria De España, Fuero Juzgo, and Stemma
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In her ground-breaking article on Alfonso X’s General Estoria, the Argentinian philologist María Rosa Lida de Malkiel alluded to a rubric found in several late manuscripts of the Histoire ancienne jusqu’à César concerning a supposed codex... more
In her ground-breaking article on Alfonso X’s General Estoria, the Argentinian philologist María Rosa Lida de Malkiel alluded to a rubric found in several late manuscripts of the Histoire ancienne jusqu’à César concerning a supposed codex offered by ‘the King of Spain’ to Charles V of France. According to her view, this lost work should be identified as a manuscript preserving the Trojan section of the Alfonsine compilation. This article takes her hypothesis as the start-point for a twofold enquiry. On the one hand, it aims at gathering some evidence of the existence of a lost *Estoria de Troya, an illuminated manuscript preserving the account of the Trojan War and related mythological episodes which would had been commissioned by the Learned King before the General Estoria. On the other, this survey tries to track down the vanishing marks left by this missing manuscript that –presumably– went almost unnoticed at the Parisian court.
Research Interests:
The MSS Escorial, Y.I.2 (before 1275) and X.I.4 (c. 1288 to1344) are the two incomplete codices of the Estoria de Espanna copied and illuminated for Alfonso X and his descendants. As such, they are invaluable testimonies of the textual... more
The MSS Escorial, Y.I.2 (before 1275) and X.I.4 (c. 1288 to1344) are the two incomplete codices of the Estoria de Espanna copied and illuminated for Alfonso X and his descendants. As such, they are invaluable testimonies of the textual and iconographic traditions related to this historiographical work. They are, moreover, witnesses to the passions arisen by Fernando de la Cerda’s passing, Sancho IV’s uprising and the events that followed. Indeed, traces of trauma surface in the pages of the Estoria de Espanna in the form of erasure, rewriting and reordering of the materials. This process has been analyzed in detail by—among others—Diego Catalán, Inés Fernández-Ordóñez and Francisco Bautista, but their research has focused on the text. However, this survey will allow me to map out the network woven by texts and images and the unstable readings they gave origin to, as well as to a reflection about the inescapable potential of images to remain impressed in the minds of the viewer as mediators between past and present. It is my contention that the frontispiece of the Alfonsine manuscript (fol. 1v) was damaged on purpose—an aspect overlooked by previous scholarship—when the symbolic and legal order conveyed by this solemn scene of traditio was abolished as a result of the dynastic conflict. With Sancho’s coming to throne, the writing Estoria de Espanna continued although the principles guiding the historiographical enterprise and its pictorial cycle implied a significant diversion from paternal auctoritas.
Research Interests:
The comparative analysis of the Alhambra ceilings and several Fourteenth-century Castilian courtly artifacts—above all, the Crónica Troyana de Alfonso XI (Escorial, h.I.6)— provides suggestive insights for thinking about the threads of... more
The comparative analysis of the Alhambra ceilings and several Fourteenth-century Castilian courtly artifacts—above all, the Crónica Troyana de Alfonso XI (Escorial, h.I.6)— provides suggestive insights for thinking about the threads of meaning associated with chivalric imagery in medieval castile and Granada. Moreover, tracing different modes of Iberization of a repertoire of motifs traditionally considered “Northern” or “Western,” in both thematic and formal terms, into the ethnic and cultural plurality of Peninsula will serve as an opportunity for scholarship to re-examine the processes of cultural formation, allowing us to avoid simplistic labels and rigid parameters. translation as a paradigm for artistic creation can be useful in this task, since it can help us to make sense, not only of the singularity of Hispanic achievements, but also of the tensions perceivable in the peninsular dynamics of artistic production.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
RESUMEN: Partiendo del ejemplo proporcionado por la Crónica Troyana de Alfonso XI (Escorial, h.I.6), se ofrece una reflexión sobre el papel de las imágenes en tanto que mediadoras en la construcción de temporalidades y espacialidades. Las... more
RESUMEN: Partiendo del ejemplo proporcionado por la Crónica Troyana de Alfonso XI (Escorial, h.I.6), se ofrece una reflexión sobre el papel de las imágenes en tanto que mediadoras en la construcción de temporalidades y espacialidades. Las imágenes condicionan no sólo la percepción del texto sino también la propia visualización del pasado. Esta circunstancia permite establecer un paralelismo entre su función en el contexto de la lectura medieval y en el de la práctica histórica actual, con la noción de anacronismo como hilo conductor.
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this article is to offer an inquiry on location and mediation, trying to analyze the role of images in thinking about history and place. The miniatures of the Crónica Troyana de Alfonso XI (Escorial, h.I.6) allow us to reflect upon the way they shape a concrete perception of the text and also a very idea of past and its meanings. The notion of anachronism links both the medieval refiguration of past and our own, and poses compelling questions about the ethics of historical writing.
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this article is to offer an inquiry on location and mediation, trying to analyze the role of images in thinking about history and place. The miniatures of the Crónica Troyana de Alfonso XI (Escorial, h.I.6) allow us to reflect upon the way they shape a concrete perception of the text and also a very idea of past and its meanings. The notion of anachronism links both the medieval refiguration of past and our own, and poses compelling questions about the ethics of historical writing.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The depictions of Troy in the Crónica Troyana de Alfonso XI (1350) - a Castilian illuminated manuscript with the Spanish version of the Roman de Troie - provide an exemplum to analize the function of anacronism as rethorical device in... more
The depictions of Troy in the Crónica Troyana de Alfonso XI (1350) - a Castilian illuminated manuscript with the Spanish version of the Roman de Troie - provide an exemplum to analize the function of anacronism as rethorical device in Arts and Literature. Moreover, these urban images show an unmistakable Islamic appearance which allows us to go deep into the comprehension of the multicultural context of the Iberian Peninsule, as well as its singular artistic consequences.
Research Interests:
The description of Hector's tomb in the Castilian translation of Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie (1350) presents interesting variations that may be considered as the result of the interaction with the artistic and political... more
The description of Hector's tomb in the Castilian translation of Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie (1350) presents interesting variations that may be considered as the result of the interaction with the artistic and political context of the Iberian Peninsula in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth centuries
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The aim of this workshop is to explore the transmission of literary culture across the translation centres and courts found all along the routes of the Silk Roads, reaching into the Medieval Mediterranean and the vernacular literatures of... more
The aim of this workshop is to explore the transmission of literary culture across the translation centres and courts found all along the routes of the Silk Roads, reaching into the Medieval Mediterranean and the vernacular literatures of North, West and Eastern Europe, in order to set the foundations for a more ambitious history of medieval literatures. As of yet, we still lack a methodological framework from which to approach the variegated dynamics governing the transformation and translocation of narratives and literary forms in time and space. It should be noted that it is during the Middle Ages that we first start to witness directly and traceable literary interaction across regions, languages and cultures far apart. As such, it is imperative for us to work across a continuous Afro-Eurasian space, setting Europe in dialogue—both diachronically and synchronically—with the Central Asia and North Africa, and to address explicitly its peripheral position in a wider global context.
As this is a trans-disciplinary project, we would like to bring together scholars working across different disciplines and languages to map out the trajectories of these narratives. It is not an easy task to trace these processes of cultural translation and even less to entangle them in a cohesive history. For that reason, we have decided to focus on the aesthetic and material circumstances that have conditioned these transformations and adaptations, dependent as they were on multilingual scholars and courtiers, scribes and interpreters, illuminators and artists, all of whom were able to adapt narratives, visual languages and motifs, technical treatises and stories from one given tradition to another: to new audiences, cultural contexts and times. In doing so, we embrace new trends in the study of material and visual cultures, in the conviction that the study of texts cannot be divorced from that of manuscript transmission on the one hand, and images and imagination, on the other. These manuscripts, we suggest, functioned as “portable worlds” that travelled, circulated and were adapted from region to region, language to language,
and religion to religion. By conceptualizing literary culture as contained within these “portable worlds” we can explore the fluidity of its multi-directional movement, which deliberately disrupts the binary conception of “East” and “West”, from whichever standpoint one takes.
One of the project’s major questions is how can we conceptualise the transfer of these “moveable worlds” when the connections that lie between place-to-place are often diffuse and difficult to describe with any distinct notion of agency or causality. Yet, while such texts were transformed across languages and cultures, other many features would have been recognizable as distant or foreign to their new audiences (either in geographical or temporal terms, or in what regards to rites, institutions or objects that required explanation in these new contexts) It is precisely in these liminal literary spaces that we aspire to locate our project.
As this is a trans-disciplinary project, we would like to bring together scholars working across different disciplines and languages to map out the trajectories of these narratives. It is not an easy task to trace these processes of cultural translation and even less to entangle them in a cohesive history. For that reason, we have decided to focus on the aesthetic and material circumstances that have conditioned these transformations and adaptations, dependent as they were on multilingual scholars and courtiers, scribes and interpreters, illuminators and artists, all of whom were able to adapt narratives, visual languages and motifs, technical treatises and stories from one given tradition to another: to new audiences, cultural contexts and times. In doing so, we embrace new trends in the study of material and visual cultures, in the conviction that the study of texts cannot be divorced from that of manuscript transmission on the one hand, and images and imagination, on the other. These manuscripts, we suggest, functioned as “portable worlds” that travelled, circulated and were adapted from region to region, language to language,
and religion to religion. By conceptualizing literary culture as contained within these “portable worlds” we can explore the fluidity of its multi-directional movement, which deliberately disrupts the binary conception of “East” and “West”, from whichever standpoint one takes.
One of the project’s major questions is how can we conceptualise the transfer of these “moveable worlds” when the connections that lie between place-to-place are often diffuse and difficult to describe with any distinct notion of agency or causality. Yet, while such texts were transformed across languages and cultures, other many features would have been recognizable as distant or foreign to their new audiences (either in geographical or temporal terms, or in what regards to rites, institutions or objects that required explanation in these new contexts) It is precisely in these liminal literary spaces that we aspire to locate our project.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
As early as 1913, Aby Warburg contended that “the exaggerated costume detail, and the fantastic air of romance” found in Burgundian tapestries depicting the stories of Alexander the Great and the Trojan War “should not close our eyes to... more
As early as 1913, Aby Warburg contended that “the exaggerated costume detail, and the fantastic air of romance” found in Burgundian tapestries depicting the stories of Alexander the Great and the Trojan War “should not close our eyes to the fact that here in the North the desire to recall the grandeur of antiquity was as vigorously felt and expressed as in Italy; and that this ‘Burgundian Antique’, like its Italian counterpart, had a role of its own to play in the creation of a modern man, with its determination to conquer and rule the world”. Despite his cautionary remark, the view of the Italian Renaissance as the definitive reconciliation of ancient forms and contents, as well as the moment when a true historical perspective develops alongside the visual perspectiva artificialis, seems as prevalent today as in Panofsky’s Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (1960) (e.g. in Peter Burke’s work, or in a subtler formulation in Wood and Nagel’s 2010 Anachronic Renaissance). This seminar aims at upsetting this narrative by investigating the many unexplored relationships linking culturally active courts and cities in fifteenth-century Europe in unexpected, untraditional ways through their appropriation of antiquity. Rather than establishing a hierarchy between the Italian (mostly Florentine) Renaissance and the ‘medieval’ “Burgundian Antique”, we will follow the lead of scholars (Johan Huizinga, Roberto Weiss, or Michael Baxandall) who consider the continuities between them and explore the conservative and reductive elements in the Italian humanistic appropriation of antiquity. But, in order to present a more nuanced analysis of the crucial issue of the Nachleben der Antike, we shall also investigate territories traditionally deemed as peripheral and passive receivers of Italian and Burgundian ‘influences’, such as the Iberian kingdoms. This seminar focuses on the circulation of ideas, objects, images, and texts engaging with classical antiquity between fifteenth-century cultural nodes across Europe, approached in ways that reshape conventional historiographical categories through chronological, geographical, and/or hierarchical displacements. By calling into question the geographical and chronological parameters that undergird scholarly narratives about this period, these papers can help redraw a richer, more accurate picture of a plurality of renaissances, displaced from their traditional anchoring points.
Research Interests:
The aim of this paper is to chart the role of the Historia destructionis Troiae at the core of the dynamic manuscript culture developed in Fourteenth-century Florence. There, Guido’s text was copied in its original Latin but also in the... more
The aim of this paper is to chart the role of the Historia destructionis Troiae at the core of the dynamic manuscript culture developed in Fourteenth-century Florence. There, Guido’s text was copied in its original Latin but also in the Tuscan volgarizzamento by Filippo Ceffi. Although the textual tradition of Ceffi’s translation has recently been scrutinized by Massimo Zaggia and Cristiano Lorenzi, it is my contention that a systematic analysis of the extant Florentine manuscripts of Guido’s Trojan narrative—in their variegated formats and codicological contexts, as well as in relation to other Trojan texts such as the Roman de Troie and the Histoire ancienne—may shed light on the reception of his work in a vibrant urban culture. There, new audiences were getting access to ancient history and generating unique patterns for book production and consumption, of which MS Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Plut. LXII 13 (1356) offers an extraordinary example.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
La estrecha relación textual e iconográfica entre las Biblias romanceadas conservadas en la Biblioteca da Ajuda (52-XIII-1; ¿Toledo?, c. 1425-1450) y en El Escorial (I.I.3; Sevilla, c. 1480-1492) fue señalada ya desde antiguo por Gerhard... more
La estrecha relación textual e iconográfica entre las Biblias romanceadas conservadas en la Biblioteca da Ajuda (52-XIII-1; ¿Toledo?, c. 1425-1450) y en El Escorial (I.I.3; Sevilla, c. 1480-1492) fue señalada ya desde antiguo por Gerhard Moldenhauer y Margherita Morreale, y más recientemente ha sido confirmada por los trabajos de Moshe Lazar, F. Javier Pueyo y Gemma Avenoza. Sin embargo, los ciclos pictóricos de estos manuscritos difieren tanto en su extensión como en su naturaleza, siendo más fácil advertir estas diferencias precisamente al comparar aquellos episodios ilustrados en ambos testimonios, como los del Diluvio, Moisés y la zarza ardiendo o el Paso del Mar Rojo. Dichas diferencias pueden achacarse a la existencia de modelos iconográficos diferenciados –una perdida tradición “conversa” en el primer caso, biblias impresas germanas en el segundo– pero, ante todo, han de considerarse fruto del contexto social y librario específico al que irían dirigidas ambas obras. En este sentido, el estudio comparado de estas dos biblias permite ahondar en el estudio de la ilustración bíblica en Castilla a lo largo del siglo XV, más allá del ámbito manuscrito, y en el análisis de las dinámicas de producción manuscrita. A modo de conclusión, se aportarán nuevas pruebas de la existencia de otra biblia romanceada muy semejante a E3 –y debida a uno de los tres miniaturistas que participaron en su ilustración–, de la que se conservan tres ilustraciones pegadas en la encuadernación de una compilación histórica de probable origen jiennense hoy en la British Library (ms. Egerton 289).
Research Interests:
A pesar de la labor pionera de Jesús Domínguez Bordona en la descripción del fondo de manuscritos miniados italianos de la Biblioteca Nacional –que venía a unirse a los trabajos de Schiff y Paz y Meliá en torno a los libros de ilustres... more
A pesar de la labor pionera de Jesús Domínguez Bordona en la descripción del fondo de manuscritos miniados italianos de la Biblioteca Nacional –que venía a unirse a los trabajos de Schiff y Paz y Meliá en torno a los libros de ilustres bibliófilos como el Marqués de Santillana o el Conde de Haro–, y de la multitud de estudios monográficos que en décadas más recientes han ampliado y refinado nuestro conocimiento de las relaciones culturales entre las cortes italianas y la Península, son muchas las sorpresas que guarda aún esta institución y mucho el trabajo por hacer para esclarecer las circunstancias precisas por las que algunos de estos manuscritos llegaron a Castilla ya en el siglo XV. En este sentido, es preciso recordar que carecemos tanto de un catálogo comprensivo de los manuscritos italianos de la biblioteca madrileña en el que se dé cuenta de aspectos codicológicos y de la iluminación de cada obra, como de un corpus exhaustivo de los libros italianos existentes cuya procedencia puede rastrearse hasta la Castilla del Cuatrocientos.
Como es bien sabido, una parte sustancial del fondo italiano de la BNE procede de los legados del Duque de Uceda, del Conde de Miranda y del Cardenal Zelada y, por lo tanto, quedan fuera de la presente indagación. Sin embargo, gracias al análisis de su iluminación, es posible identificar entre los ejemplares restantes nuevos testimonios (descartando otros señalados por la historiografía previa), así como reconstruir mejor el itinerario de los ya conocidos, ahondando en el estudio del papel determinante de estos libros en la creación de una política cultural por parte de las élites castellanas. A partir de esta renovada cartografía manuscrita será posible también señalar algún dato complementario al catálogo de incunables de la BNE compilado por Julián Martín Abad, buscando correlaciones o discontinuidades con el panorama descrito para las décadas centrales del XV.
Como es bien sabido, una parte sustancial del fondo italiano de la BNE procede de los legados del Duque de Uceda, del Conde de Miranda y del Cardenal Zelada y, por lo tanto, quedan fuera de la presente indagación. Sin embargo, gracias al análisis de su iluminación, es posible identificar entre los ejemplares restantes nuevos testimonios (descartando otros señalados por la historiografía previa), así como reconstruir mejor el itinerario de los ya conocidos, ahondando en el estudio del papel determinante de estos libros en la creación de una política cultural por parte de las élites castellanas. A partir de esta renovada cartografía manuscrita será posible también señalar algún dato complementario al catálogo de incunables de la BNE compilado por Julián Martín Abad, buscando correlaciones o discontinuidades con el panorama descrito para las décadas centrales del XV.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Traditionally considered a peripheral territory in geographical terms, the Iberian Peninsula has been further isolated in general histories of medieval literature as a sort of Orientalized realm: either an intercultural paradise of almost... more
Traditionally considered a peripheral territory in geographical terms, the Iberian Peninsula has been further isolated in general histories of medieval literature as a sort of Orientalized realm: either an intercultural paradise of almost mythical overtones, or a space where literary creations were doomed to mere mimicry of foreign models. The other side of the coin has been some anxiety on the side of local histories of medieval Iberian literature(s)—above all, after the entrance of Spain and Portugal in the EU—in their attempt to homologate their narratives to the 'European canon', no matter how imprecise the meaning conferred upon that label might be. Iberia was never 'quite the same' than other European regions, yet it was not culturally alienated from the rest of the Latin West either. For sure, the fall of the Visigoth kingdom and the Islamic conquest were to change the fate of the Peninsula and, as a consequence, they were acutely felt as turning points in historical narratives written from 756 onwards. This historiographical production—in Latin, Arabic, in several vernacular languages and to a lesser extent, also in Hebrew—is still widely unknown outside the realm of Hispanic Studies, despite the fact that some of these works showed an unparalleled ambition and cosmopolitanism. However, the construction of Spain—not so much Portugal—as an 'exotic nation' in the wider European scenario already in the Middle Ages and, above all, in the Early Modern Era, has concealed the most remarkable trait of the Iberian historiographical production, that is, its pervasive fixation with the Greco-Roman past of the Peninsula. In the Latin and vernacular tradition of the Isidorian chronicle, in the works of earlier Arabic chroniclers and even in scarce historical texts written in Hebrew or by converso authors, Greek founding heroes such as Hercules as well as Roman consuls and emperors played a crucial role as sources of all legitimacy and cultural eminence. Although this fact might be regarded as common trait with other European realms, truth is that Iberian narratives of translatio were instrumental not only in preserving the memory of a classical legacy shared by the different peoples living on the peninsular soil, but also in the institution of a collective imagined geography, that of the old Roman Hispania which, strikingly, was to function as the common frame of reference for the different kingdoms that came into being there during the Middle Ages. In these historiographical works, the intense feeling of belonging into a world once under Roman rule securely placed Iberia at the core of a familiar landscape stretching from Cádiz to Constantinople. These were the lands inhabited by the sons of Japheth from whom all
Research Interests:
In the summer of 1332, at the time of the feast of St. James, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was turned into a stage for one of the most exceptional events ever described by Castilian chroniclers: the knighting of King Alfonso XI... more
In the summer of 1332, at the time of the feast of St. James, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was turned into a stage for one of the most exceptional events ever described by Castilian chroniclers: the knighting of King Alfonso XI by an articulated life-size statue of the Apostle whose same relics were venerated at the impressive Romanesque building, its glory long ago vanished after the union of Castile and León. This unheard-of ritual preceded the unction and coronation of the king that took place in Burgos few days after and had been carefully designed in order to solve a thorny issue for the young monarch—he had come to the throne in 1325—, that of being dubbed without remaining bound to his padrino by feudal homage. All the political implications of this ingenious response to the problem posed by the disputed legitimacy of the sovereign—still haunted by the dynastic conflict arisen after the death of King Alfonso the Learned in 1284—have been masterfully analysed by Peter Linehan. However, his influential scrutiny of the 'mechanichs of monarchy' has left aside other aspects of this extraordinary mise en scene that deserve a closer look. Therefore, this paper aims at reexamining the role played by the image of St. James—already preserved—not only against the backdrop of political theology and Iberian notions of Kingship, but also in an attempt to define the experience of the audience. Besides, bearing in mind that clerical intervention was reduced to the benediction of the arms and that the ritual was of a para-liturgical nature, I would try to explore the way in which the statue mediated the uneasy relation between the sacral space and the largely secular tone of the ceremony performed.
Research Interests:
The foundation around 1290 of the Clarisan convent of Allariz (Galicia, Spain) by Queen Violante of Castile (1236-1300), wife of Alfonso the Learned, set the pattern for other royal women of this dynasty, such as her niece Isabel of... more
The foundation around 1290 of the Clarisan convent of Allariz (Galicia, Spain) by Queen Violante of Castile (1236-1300), wife of Alfonso the Learned, set the pattern for other royal women of this dynasty, such as her niece Isabel of Portugal (1271-1336) or Elisenda de Montcada (1292-1364), married to the late Jaume II of Aragón. All three created their own Clarisan communities and generously provided for the new houses, conceived as a sort of dynastic pantheons for women of their own lineage.
But there are other common traits that link them in a conscious chain of imitatio: their devotion to their ancestor St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and, above all, a self-assertive display of tokens of mutual kinship –genealogical memories, heraldry, and jewels, etc. The analysis of two of the main works commissioned by Violante –the illustrated Officium et Vita S. Elisabeth Landgraviae Thuringiae (Paris, BnF, NAL 868) and the Venetian crystal cross kept at Allariz– will allow me to partially explore the familiar and cultural networks created around these Aragonese royal women. Both the libellus and the cross are highly cosmopolitan works and can be considered as products of great artistic circuit generated "from coast to coast" in the Mediterranean. Thus, whereas the former belongs to a Tuscan Franciscan devotional milieu, the latter is one but an example of a common trend among the queens of House of Aragón, since the same crosses can be found among the liturgical furnishing of Isabel de Portugal and other sovereigns’ private chapels.
But there are other common traits that link them in a conscious chain of imitatio: their devotion to their ancestor St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and, above all, a self-assertive display of tokens of mutual kinship –genealogical memories, heraldry, and jewels, etc. The analysis of two of the main works commissioned by Violante –the illustrated Officium et Vita S. Elisabeth Landgraviae Thuringiae (Paris, BnF, NAL 868) and the Venetian crystal cross kept at Allariz– will allow me to partially explore the familiar and cultural networks created around these Aragonese royal women. Both the libellus and the cross are highly cosmopolitan works and can be considered as products of great artistic circuit generated "from coast to coast" in the Mediterranean. Thus, whereas the former belongs to a Tuscan Franciscan devotional milieu, the latter is one but an example of a common trend among the queens of House of Aragón, since the same crosses can be found among the liturgical furnishing of Isabel de Portugal and other sovereigns’ private chapels.
In his influential book Graphs, Maps, Trees (2005), Franco Moretti advocated for the use of visual means of representation in the study of literature, in an attempt to convey a sharper sense of the interconnection of events and the... more
In his influential book Graphs, Maps, Trees (2005), Franco Moretti advocated for the use of visual means of representation in the study of literature, in an attempt to convey a sharper sense of the interconnection of events and the dynamics operating behind “the large mass of facts”. Diagrammatic images are certainly able to display knowledge “literally in front of our eyes”, allowing scholars in the Humanities to analyze complex cultural phenomena in ways more akin to those of the natural and social sciences. However, the use of figures, trees and other visual schemes as cognitive tools has a long history that goes back to Antiquity and peaks in the Middle Ages, before the intrinsic textualized culture of Modernity relegated images to an epistemologically inferior status compared to words.
In this talk, I would like to explore some sophisticated diagrams created in the Middle Ages, scrutinizing their potential as vehicles of thought, memory aids and communicative devices, paying special attention to the work of the Majorcan philosopher, writer and mystic Raimon Llull (1232-1316), whose Tree of Knowledge and, above all, his Ars Magna have been vindicated as inspiration for computer scientists, logicians, linguists, and visual digital artists.
In this talk, I would like to explore some sophisticated diagrams created in the Middle Ages, scrutinizing their potential as vehicles of thought, memory aids and communicative devices, paying special attention to the work of the Majorcan philosopher, writer and mystic Raimon Llull (1232-1316), whose Tree of Knowledge and, above all, his Ars Magna have been vindicated as inspiration for computer scientists, logicians, linguists, and visual digital artists.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Følelsen af at et individ tilhører en bestemt region eller en gruppe er ikke noget, der fulgte med national staten. Den var allerede udbredt i middelalderen, da bøger og illustrationer hjalp med at give individer en følelse af, at der... more
Følelsen af at et individ tilhører en bestemt region eller en gruppe er ikke noget, der fulgte med national staten. Den var allerede udbredt i middelalderen, da bøger og illustrationer hjalp med at give individer en følelse af, at der var en faelles kultur mellem dem. I dag tjener billeder stadig den samme funktion, mener en kunsthistoriker på SDU.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
petristas.org Redes Petristas is a transnational, interdisciplinary network of scholars working on the figure and legacy of king Pedro I of Castile (r. 1350-1369). This website is an open platform for collaborative projects that... more
petristas.org
Redes Petristas is a transnational, interdisciplinary network of scholars working on the figure and legacy of king Pedro I of Castile (r. 1350-1369). This website is an open platform for collaborative projects that encourage research defining, describing and problematizing the concept of Petrism. We understand Petrism as a constellation of conflicting memories about Pedro’s life and death kept alive by his descendants and their affiliates, on the one hand, and the Trastamaran dynasty on the other.
We welcome contributions in Spanish, Galician, Catalan, Portuguese, French and English.
Redes Petristas was founded with the support of the Centre for Medieval Literature (Danish National Research Foundation grant no. DNRF102ID).
Redes Petristas is a transnational, interdisciplinary network of scholars working on the figure and legacy of king Pedro I of Castile (r. 1350-1369). This website is an open platform for collaborative projects that encourage research defining, describing and problematizing the concept of Petrism. We understand Petrism as a constellation of conflicting memories about Pedro’s life and death kept alive by his descendants and their affiliates, on the one hand, and the Trastamaran dynasty on the other.
We welcome contributions in Spanish, Galician, Catalan, Portuguese, French and English.
Redes Petristas was founded with the support of the Centre for Medieval Literature (Danish National Research Foundation grant no. DNRF102ID).
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Art History, Marxism, Contemporary Art, Modern Art, Medieval Art, and 31 moreVisual Arts, Tombs (Medieval Studies), Carolingian Art, Movimientos sociales, Historia del Arte, Marxismo, Historia del Pensamiento Político, Santiago de Compostela, Audiovisual, Franquismo, Música, Arte contemporáneo, Poder, Cluny, Arte Latinoamericano, Educación Artística, Patrimonio, Historia del Cine, Arte Medieval, Arte Barroco, Sepulcros, Miniatura medievale, Arquitectura románica, Arte Moderno, Vanguardia, Arte Carolingia, Revoluciones XIX XX, Resistencia Social, Nobleza medieval, Arte Conceptual Y Posconceptual., and Teorías de la conservación y restauración
We are starting something new and very special. Join us in Veliko Tarnovo, this summer, between 18–22 July 2022 for the Pilot Edition of the HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD SUMMER SCHOOL Deadline for submitting an application:... more
We are starting something new and very special.
Join us in Veliko Tarnovo, this summer, between 18–22 July 2022 for the Pilot Edition of the HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD SUMMER SCHOOL
Deadline for submitting an application: 29 April 2022.
There is no registration fee.
Full schedule: https://www.uni-vt.bg/res/14892/SSHistMedSci_Final_Program.pdf
Please address your informal inquiries and your application materials to Dr Divna Manolova at dvmanolova@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.
Summer School Philosophy and Vision
The School studies the wider medieval world of Afro-Eurasia and aims to shed light on Byzantium and the Slavonic world, and their intellectual heritage as agents in the development of medieval science, which, though significant, nevertheless remain largely unknown to the scholarly community. Even though current scholarship is focused on the so-called ‘Global Medieval’, the medieval Slavonic, Byzantine and Black Sea regions remain a blind spot for both the researchers and the general public outside of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Thus, the School aims at positioning Byzantium and the Slavonic world on the map of history of medieval science, thus offering the participants the rare opportunity to get acquainted with their respective heritage.
In its pilot edition, the Summer School will problematize the medieval manuscript and approach it as a space and as a territory. Building upon this conceptual premise, the School will also introduce students to the medieval epistemic fields (sciences) which study the natural world (the kosmos) as a space, namely geography, cosmography and astronomy. Students will acquire fundamental knowledge concerning the place and role of the sciences in the intellectual world of the Middle Ages. They will also develop an understanding of premodern science as a spectrum of disciplines wider than the late antique framework of the four mathematical sciences (arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy) and inclusive of all epistemic domains dedicated to the intellectual exploration of the natural world (the kosmos) and of humanity. The School relies on a discussion-based and experiential / experimental format. That is, the School includes workshops, which will guide the students into the use of medieval instruments and maps as preserved in the surviving manuscripts.
The common discussion language of the School will be English.
If the participants know a medieval scholarly language (for this pilot edition: Latin, Greek and/or Old Church Slavonic, but in the future also Persian, Arabic, Chinese, Classical Armenian, and so forth), this would be an advantage, but it is not an essential requirement for participation.
During the selection process, preference will be given to MA and PhD students, but researchers with interest in the Middle Ages and / or History of Science can also apply.
Available places: The School offers twelve places for in-person participants wishing to attend both the morning (lectures) and afternoon (workshops) sessions.
There is no limit for the number of online participants, but their registration is restricted solely to the morning sessions.
We cannot offer any financial support to cover travel and accommodation expenses.
There is no registration fee.
In order to apply, please send a short bio and description of what motivates your application (maximum one page altogether). Please indicate in your application whether you would like to attend the Summer School in person or online.
Join us in Veliko Tarnovo, this summer, between 18–22 July 2022 for the Pilot Edition of the HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD SUMMER SCHOOL
Deadline for submitting an application: 29 April 2022.
There is no registration fee.
Full schedule: https://www.uni-vt.bg/res/14892/SSHistMedSci_Final_Program.pdf
Please address your informal inquiries and your application materials to Dr Divna Manolova at dvmanolova@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.
Summer School Philosophy and Vision
The School studies the wider medieval world of Afro-Eurasia and aims to shed light on Byzantium and the Slavonic world, and their intellectual heritage as agents in the development of medieval science, which, though significant, nevertheless remain largely unknown to the scholarly community. Even though current scholarship is focused on the so-called ‘Global Medieval’, the medieval Slavonic, Byzantine and Black Sea regions remain a blind spot for both the researchers and the general public outside of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Thus, the School aims at positioning Byzantium and the Slavonic world on the map of history of medieval science, thus offering the participants the rare opportunity to get acquainted with their respective heritage.
In its pilot edition, the Summer School will problematize the medieval manuscript and approach it as a space and as a territory. Building upon this conceptual premise, the School will also introduce students to the medieval epistemic fields (sciences) which study the natural world (the kosmos) as a space, namely geography, cosmography and astronomy. Students will acquire fundamental knowledge concerning the place and role of the sciences in the intellectual world of the Middle Ages. They will also develop an understanding of premodern science as a spectrum of disciplines wider than the late antique framework of the four mathematical sciences (arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy) and inclusive of all epistemic domains dedicated to the intellectual exploration of the natural world (the kosmos) and of humanity. The School relies on a discussion-based and experiential / experimental format. That is, the School includes workshops, which will guide the students into the use of medieval instruments and maps as preserved in the surviving manuscripts.
The common discussion language of the School will be English.
If the participants know a medieval scholarly language (for this pilot edition: Latin, Greek and/or Old Church Slavonic, but in the future also Persian, Arabic, Chinese, Classical Armenian, and so forth), this would be an advantage, but it is not an essential requirement for participation.
During the selection process, preference will be given to MA and PhD students, but researchers with interest in the Middle Ages and / or History of Science can also apply.
Available places: The School offers twelve places for in-person participants wishing to attend both the morning (lectures) and afternoon (workshops) sessions.
There is no limit for the number of online participants, but their registration is restricted solely to the morning sessions.
We cannot offer any financial support to cover travel and accommodation expenses.
There is no registration fee.
In order to apply, please send a short bio and description of what motivates your application (maximum one page altogether). Please indicate in your application whether you would like to attend the Summer School in person or online.
Research Interests:
The journal Troianalexandrina: Yearbook of Classical Material in Medieval Literature invites au- thors to send their contributions by June 1st to be considered for publication for the 2022 volume, to be published in December of the same... more
The journal Troianalexandrina: Yearbook of Classical Material in Medieval Literature invites au- thors to send their contributions by June 1st to be considered for publication for the 2022 volume, to be published in December of the same year. Troianalexandrina publishes articles on medieval European works on the matter of antiquity (Trojan matter, Alexander the Great, Greek and Latin literatures and mythology) and, more generally, about the survival of classical culture in the Middle Ages. Interdisciplinary contributions focusing on the study of images and iconographic tradition, or exploring elements of medie- val visual culture related to classical themes and motives are also welcome. The journal accepts articles of up to 125,000 characters (with spaces) / 18,000 words, including notes and bibliography. All manuscripts undergo double-blind peer review.