R. Jovita Baber
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794850
- eISBN:
- 9780199919291
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794850.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, World Early Modern History, World Modern History
This chapter examines the changing legal rhetoric of an indigenous community as it sought to assert land claims during the sixteenth century in the colonial Spanish courts. The community that I ...
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This chapter examines the changing legal rhetoric of an indigenous community as it sought to assert land claims during the sixteenth century in the colonial Spanish courts. The community that I examine, Tlaxcala, became frustrated by the behavior of a handful of Spanish settlers, and sued to evict them from their province. Concurrent with their court case, the native leaders petitioned the Crown to issue royal mandates on their behalf. To effectively assert their legal and political agenda, Tlaxcalans accessed Castilian rhetoric. They adopted it to their own purposes, and adjusted their arguments to the changing political milieu of the empire. Although one cannot neatly fit the legal rhetoric of the Tlaxcalans into rigid stages or boxes, three identifiable strategies are evident in their petitions and court cases. First, immediately following the conquest, the native elite relied on the rhetoric of loyal service and noble subjects. By mid-century, the rhetoric of loyal service gave way to a second rhetoric which appealed to Castilian notions of good government or buen gobierno. Finally, toward the end of the sixteenth century, arguments of buen gobierno were replaced by arguments regarding the misery and suffering of the common native population. Through their strategic legal and political activities, the Tlaxcalans effectively preserved much of their lands and natural resources.Less
This chapter examines the changing legal rhetoric of an indigenous community as it sought to assert land claims during the sixteenth century in the colonial Spanish courts. The community that I examine, Tlaxcala, became frustrated by the behavior of a handful of Spanish settlers, and sued to evict them from their province. Concurrent with their court case, the native leaders petitioned the Crown to issue royal mandates on their behalf. To effectively assert their legal and political agenda, Tlaxcalans accessed Castilian rhetoric. They adopted it to their own purposes, and adjusted their arguments to the changing political milieu of the empire. Although one cannot neatly fit the legal rhetoric of the Tlaxcalans into rigid stages or boxes, three identifiable strategies are evident in their petitions and court cases. First, immediately following the conquest, the native elite relied on the rhetoric of loyal service and noble subjects. By mid-century, the rhetoric of loyal service gave way to a second rhetoric which appealed to Castilian notions of good government or buen gobierno. Finally, toward the end of the sixteenth century, arguments of buen gobierno were replaced by arguments regarding the misery and suffering of the common native population. Through their strategic legal and political activities, the Tlaxcalans effectively preserved much of their lands and natural resources.
Janina M. Safran
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451836
- eISBN:
- 9780801468018
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451836.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Al-Andalus, the Arabic name for the medieval Islamic state in Iberia, endured for over 750 years following the Arab and Berber conquest of Hispania in 711. While the popular perception of al-Andalus ...
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Al-Andalus, the Arabic name for the medieval Islamic state in Iberia, endured for over 750 years following the Arab and Berber conquest of Hispania in 711. While the popular perception of al-Andalus is that of a land of religious tolerance and cultural cooperation, the fact is that we know relatively little about how Muslims governed Christians and Jews in al-Andalus and about social relations among Muslims, Christians, and Jews. This book takes a close look at the structure and practice of Muslim political and legal-religious authority and offers a rare look at intercommunal life in Iberia during the first three centuries of Islamic rule. The book makes creative use of a body of evidence that until now has gone largely untapped by historians—the writings and opinions of Andalusi and Maghribi jurists during the Umayyad dynasty. These sources bring to life a society undergoing dramatic transformation. Obvious differences between conquerors and conquered and Muslims and non-Muslims became blurred over time by transculturation, intermarriage, and conversion. The book develops an argument about how legal-religious authorities interpreted the social contract between the Muslim regime and the Christian and Jewish populations. Providing a variety of examples of boundary-testing and negotiation and bringing judges, jurists, and their legal opinions and texts into the narrative of Andalusi history, the book deepens our understanding of the politics of Umayyad rule, makes Islamic law tangibly social, and renders intercommunal relations vividly personal.Less
Al-Andalus, the Arabic name for the medieval Islamic state in Iberia, endured for over 750 years following the Arab and Berber conquest of Hispania in 711. While the popular perception of al-Andalus is that of a land of religious tolerance and cultural cooperation, the fact is that we know relatively little about how Muslims governed Christians and Jews in al-Andalus and about social relations among Muslims, Christians, and Jews. This book takes a close look at the structure and practice of Muslim political and legal-religious authority and offers a rare look at intercommunal life in Iberia during the first three centuries of Islamic rule. The book makes creative use of a body of evidence that until now has gone largely untapped by historians—the writings and opinions of Andalusi and Maghribi jurists during the Umayyad dynasty. These sources bring to life a society undergoing dramatic transformation. Obvious differences between conquerors and conquered and Muslims and non-Muslims became blurred over time by transculturation, intermarriage, and conversion. The book develops an argument about how legal-religious authorities interpreted the social contract between the Muslim regime and the Christian and Jewish populations. Providing a variety of examples of boundary-testing and negotiation and bringing judges, jurists, and their legal opinions and texts into the narrative of Andalusi history, the book deepens our understanding of the politics of Umayyad rule, makes Islamic law tangibly social, and renders intercommunal relations vividly personal.
Eric Lawee
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195137279
- eISBN:
- 9780199849482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195137279.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter investigates the deployment in medieval Hebrew exegetical literature of various exordial topoi (accessus ad auctores) used in high and late medieval Christian schools and universities to ...
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This chapter investigates the deployment in medieval Hebrew exegetical literature of various exordial topoi (accessus ad auctores) used in high and late medieval Christian schools and universities to introduce authoritative secular and sacred texts studied therein. As time-honored certainties concerning Hebrew scripture crumbled in the post-medieval period and as the need to probe questions of biblical authorship, dating, original historical setting and the like was felt with unprecedented intensity in “modernity”, it was in “introductions” to the Hebrew Bible (or rather the “Old Testament”) that biblicists typically sought to address such issues. This chapter begins with aerial surveys of the genre of the introduction in earlier medieval Jewish exegetical literature and of the Latin accessus in its historical development. It then reconsiders what has been seen as an initial stratum of Jewish awareness of Latin prologue formats in 13th-century southern France. It also explores the less ambiguous yield of a handful of Hebrew texts from Italy and Iberia.Less
This chapter investigates the deployment in medieval Hebrew exegetical literature of various exordial topoi (accessus ad auctores) used in high and late medieval Christian schools and universities to introduce authoritative secular and sacred texts studied therein. As time-honored certainties concerning Hebrew scripture crumbled in the post-medieval period and as the need to probe questions of biblical authorship, dating, original historical setting and the like was felt with unprecedented intensity in “modernity”, it was in “introductions” to the Hebrew Bible (or rather the “Old Testament”) that biblicists typically sought to address such issues. This chapter begins with aerial surveys of the genre of the introduction in earlier medieval Jewish exegetical literature and of the Latin accessus in its historical development. It then reconsiders what has been seen as an initial stratum of Jewish awareness of Latin prologue formats in 13th-century southern France. It also explores the less ambiguous yield of a handful of Hebrew texts from Italy and Iberia.
Sam Conedera, SJ
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823265954
- eISBN:
- 9780823266968
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823265954.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Ecclesiastical Knights is a spirituality study of the three military orders of Santiago, Calatrava, and Alcántara in León-Castile from the twelfth to the early fourteenth centuries. It explores the ...
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Ecclesiastical Knights is a spirituality study of the three military orders of Santiago, Calatrava, and Alcántara in León-Castile from the twelfth to the early fourteenth centuries. It explores the fundamental problem of the military orders: how the seemingly incongruous traditions of knighthood and monasticism were combined into a single way of life. Ecclesiastical Knights rejects the term “warrior monks” as inaccurate and misleading, and proposes the alternative “ecclesiastical knighthood.” According to this model, the military brethren sought to consecrate the exercise of arms in service of the Church by taking religious vows and appropriating those aspects of the monastic tradition that served their mission. While the Templars were the pioneers of this way of life, pious knights in Iberia followed their example, responding to local circumstances and needs, and taking advantage of the support of civil and ecclesiastical powers, to form their own communities. Ecclesiastical Knights offers three perspectives on how the Iberian orders lived: from the standpoint of their internal organization, devotion, and discipline; from the standpoint of their mission to fight, care for the sick, and ransom captives; and from the standpoint of their relations with one another and the friendships they sought to establish through formal pacts of cooperation. The evidence reveals communities of men and women for whom the exercise of charity was the coordinating ideal behind their various activities, and who made a crucial contribution to the ultimate success of Reconquest and crusade in Iberia. Their hybrid way of life made the military orders the greatest of those who fought, and the least of those who prayed, in the European Middle Ages.Less
Ecclesiastical Knights is a spirituality study of the three military orders of Santiago, Calatrava, and Alcántara in León-Castile from the twelfth to the early fourteenth centuries. It explores the fundamental problem of the military orders: how the seemingly incongruous traditions of knighthood and monasticism were combined into a single way of life. Ecclesiastical Knights rejects the term “warrior monks” as inaccurate and misleading, and proposes the alternative “ecclesiastical knighthood.” According to this model, the military brethren sought to consecrate the exercise of arms in service of the Church by taking religious vows and appropriating those aspects of the monastic tradition that served their mission. While the Templars were the pioneers of this way of life, pious knights in Iberia followed their example, responding to local circumstances and needs, and taking advantage of the support of civil and ecclesiastical powers, to form their own communities. Ecclesiastical Knights offers three perspectives on how the Iberian orders lived: from the standpoint of their internal organization, devotion, and discipline; from the standpoint of their mission to fight, care for the sick, and ransom captives; and from the standpoint of their relations with one another and the friendships they sought to establish through formal pacts of cooperation. The evidence reveals communities of men and women for whom the exercise of charity was the coordinating ideal behind their various activities, and who made a crucial contribution to the ultimate success of Reconquest and crusade in Iberia. Their hybrid way of life made the military orders the greatest of those who fought, and the least of those who prayed, in the European Middle Ages.
BRUCE M. METZGER
- Published in print:
- 1977
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198261704
- eISBN:
- 9780191682209
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198261704.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Early Christian Studies
This chapter discusses the introduction of Christianity into Georgia and the translation of the New Testament in that region. Within the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics and by the Russians, ...
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This chapter discusses the introduction of Christianity into Georgia and the translation of the New Testament in that region. Within the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics and by the Russians, Gruziya, in the country of Georgia, was anciently known as Iberia. The earliest tradition regarding the introduction of Christianity among the Iberians tells of the missionary work of a Christian slave woman named Nino who was taken by the pagan king of Georgia. Apart from the legendary details concerning the miracles performed by Nino, historians are inclined to accept the date of about the middle of the 4th century for the introduction of Christianity among the Georgians. This chapter also examines the early manuscripts of the Georgian version, the origins and the evolution of its style and language, its textual affinities, and examples of limitations of the Georgian language in representing Greek under the headings of phonetics, morphology, and syntax.Less
This chapter discusses the introduction of Christianity into Georgia and the translation of the New Testament in that region. Within the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics and by the Russians, Gruziya, in the country of Georgia, was anciently known as Iberia. The earliest tradition regarding the introduction of Christianity among the Iberians tells of the missionary work of a Christian slave woman named Nino who was taken by the pagan king of Georgia. Apart from the legendary details concerning the miracles performed by Nino, historians are inclined to accept the date of about the middle of the 4th century for the introduction of Christianity among the Georgians. This chapter also examines the early manuscripts of the Georgian version, the origins and the evolution of its style and language, its textual affinities, and examples of limitations of the Georgian language in representing Greek under the headings of phonetics, morphology, and syntax.
Nuria Silleras-Fernandez
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801453830
- eISBN:
- 9781501701641
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801453830.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This book traces the development of devotion and female piety among the Iberian aristocracy from the late Middle Ages into the Golden Age, and from Catalonia to the rest of Iberia and Europe via the ...
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This book traces the development of devotion and female piety among the Iberian aristocracy from the late Middle Ages into the Golden Age, and from Catalonia to the rest of Iberia and Europe via the rise of the Franciscan Observant movement. A program of piety and morality devised by Francesc Eiximenis, a Franciscan theologian, royal counselor, and writer in Catalonia in the 1390s, came to characterize the feminine ideal in the highest circles of the Iberian aristocracy in the era of the Empire. As Eiximenis's work was adapted and translated into Castilian over the century and a half that followed, it became a model of devotion and conduct for queens and princesses, including Isabel the Catholic and her descendants, who ruled over Portugal and the Spanish Empire of the Hapsburgs. The book uses archival documentation, letters, manuscripts, incunabula, and a wide range of published material to clarify how Eiximenis's ideas on gender and devotion were read by Countess Sanxa Ximenis d'Arenós and Queen Maria de Luna of Aragon and how they were then changed by his adaptors and translators in Castile for new readers (including Isabel the Catholic and Juana the Mad), and in sixteenth-century Portugal for new patronesses (Juana's daughter, Catalina of Habsburg, and Catalina's daughter, Maria Manuela, first wife of Philip II). The book casts light on a neglected dimension of encounter and exchange in Iberia from the late fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries.Less
This book traces the development of devotion and female piety among the Iberian aristocracy from the late Middle Ages into the Golden Age, and from Catalonia to the rest of Iberia and Europe via the rise of the Franciscan Observant movement. A program of piety and morality devised by Francesc Eiximenis, a Franciscan theologian, royal counselor, and writer in Catalonia in the 1390s, came to characterize the feminine ideal in the highest circles of the Iberian aristocracy in the era of the Empire. As Eiximenis's work was adapted and translated into Castilian over the century and a half that followed, it became a model of devotion and conduct for queens and princesses, including Isabel the Catholic and her descendants, who ruled over Portugal and the Spanish Empire of the Hapsburgs. The book uses archival documentation, letters, manuscripts, incunabula, and a wide range of published material to clarify how Eiximenis's ideas on gender and devotion were read by Countess Sanxa Ximenis d'Arenós and Queen Maria de Luna of Aragon and how they were then changed by his adaptors and translators in Castile for new readers (including Isabel the Catholic and Juana the Mad), and in sixteenth-century Portugal for new patronesses (Juana's daughter, Catalina of Habsburg, and Catalina's daughter, Maria Manuela, first wife of Philip II). The book casts light on a neglected dimension of encounter and exchange in Iberia from the late fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries.
Robin Frame
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206040
- eISBN:
- 9780191676949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206040.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, Political History
Since leadership in war remained a prime function of kingship, developments in government are visible above all in the military field. It is ...
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Since leadership in war remained a prime function of kingship, developments in government are visible above all in the military field. It is thus appropriate to begin a discussion of politics and government in the British Isles during the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by stressing war and its implications: for this was to be an age of constant military activity. From the time of Edward I and Philip IV of France north-west Europe, which had known few large wars since the defeat of King John's coalition by Philip Augustus at Bouvines in 1214, saw a series of conflicts which often overlapped. The British Isles were increasingly locked into alliances and wars that sprawled from Ireland and the Hebrides to the Rhineland and Iberia. The consequences were both profound and many-sided.Less
Since leadership in war remained a prime function of kingship, developments in government are visible above all in the military field. It is thus appropriate to begin a discussion of politics and government in the British Isles during the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by stressing war and its implications: for this was to be an age of constant military activity. From the time of Edward I and Philip IV of France north-west Europe, which had known few large wars since the defeat of King John's coalition by Philip Augustus at Bouvines in 1214, saw a series of conflicts which often overlapped. The British Isles were increasingly locked into alliances and wars that sprawled from Ireland and the Hebrides to the Rhineland and Iberia. The consequences were both profound and many-sided.
Jill Edwards
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198228714
- eISBN:
- 9780191678813
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198228714.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
For Dean Acheson and Harry S. Truman, the ascendancy of military planners appeared to mark an admission of defeat on the Spanish question. The removal of the United Nations recommended sanctions on ...
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For Dean Acheson and Harry S. Truman, the ascendancy of military planners appeared to mark an admission of defeat on the Spanish question. The removal of the United Nations recommended sanctions on Spain facilitated the United States' pursuit of negotiations with Spanish leader Francisco Franco. Britain's negative response about the possible role of Spain in relation to the general defence of Western Europe was not simply a matter of socio-political factors, but military and economic as well. British defence chiefs placed the importance of Iberia high in the new NATO defence structure, but had more immediate and engrossing considerations in the Mediterranean than popular opinion or union pressure, had it so endeavoured, could alone have influenced. Like their American counterparts they had the politico-strategic dilemma presented by Spain under constant review. This chapter looks at the issue of military bases, accords, and the British armament industry in relation to Spain.Less
For Dean Acheson and Harry S. Truman, the ascendancy of military planners appeared to mark an admission of defeat on the Spanish question. The removal of the United Nations recommended sanctions on Spain facilitated the United States' pursuit of negotiations with Spanish leader Francisco Franco. Britain's negative response about the possible role of Spain in relation to the general defence of Western Europe was not simply a matter of socio-political factors, but military and economic as well. British defence chiefs placed the importance of Iberia high in the new NATO defence structure, but had more immediate and engrossing considerations in the Mediterranean than popular opinion or union pressure, had it so endeavoured, could alone have influenced. Like their American counterparts they had the politico-strategic dilemma presented by Spain under constant review. This chapter looks at the issue of military bases, accords, and the British armament industry in relation to Spain.
Shayne Aaron Legassie
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226442563
- eISBN:
- 9780226442730
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226442730.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter discusses the Andanças (“Wanderings”) of Castilian knight Pero Tafur, a travel narrative with a conflicted vision of the Mediterranean and of knightly travel. Torn between the ...
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This chapter discusses the Andanças (“Wanderings”) of Castilian knight Pero Tafur, a travel narrative with a conflicted vision of the Mediterranean and of knightly travel. Torn between the territorial stance of reconquista and courtly traditions of inter-confessional hospitality, Tafur's account anticipates two modern archetypes: the conquistador and the Grand Tourist.Less
This chapter discusses the Andanças (“Wanderings”) of Castilian knight Pero Tafur, a travel narrative with a conflicted vision of the Mediterranean and of knightly travel. Torn between the territorial stance of reconquista and courtly traditions of inter-confessional hospitality, Tafur's account anticipates two modern archetypes: the conquistador and the Grand Tourist.
Camilo Gómez-Rivas
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780197265697
- eISBN:
- 9780191771897
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265697.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter argues for establishing a connection between the ransoming of captives and the hosting of refugees as a politically legitimising practice. It considers twelfthcentury military and ...
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This chapter argues for establishing a connection between the ransoming of captives and the hosting of refugees as a politically legitimising practice. It considers twelfthcentury military and demographic changes that led to an increase in capture and ransom, the legal framework and social response to the ransoming industry, and leaders’ involvement in the release of captives as a high concern of state. An example of large-scale conquest, enslavement, and ransom in the thirteenth century illustrates how ransom and refuge were causally related and predicated upon the reciprocal social expectations of frontier societies.Less
This chapter argues for establishing a connection between the ransoming of captives and the hosting of refugees as a politically legitimising practice. It considers twelfthcentury military and demographic changes that led to an increase in capture and ransom, the legal framework and social response to the ransoming industry, and leaders’ involvement in the release of captives as a high concern of state. An example of large-scale conquest, enslavement, and ransom in the thirteenth century illustrates how ransom and refuge were causally related and predicated upon the reciprocal social expectations of frontier societies.
