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.
Alejandro G. Sinner and Javier Velaza (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- April 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198790822
- eISBN:
- 9780191833274
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198790822.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE, Archaeology: Non-Classical
At least four writing systems—in addition to the Phoenician, Greek, and Latin ones—were used between the fifth century BCE and the first century CE to write the indigenous languages of the Iberian ...
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At least four writing systems—in addition to the Phoenician, Greek, and Latin ones—were used between the fifth century BCE and the first century CE to write the indigenous languages of the Iberian peninsula (the so-called Palaeohispanic languages): Tartessian, Iberian, Celtiberian, and Lusitanian. In total over three thousand inscriptions are preserved in what is certainly the largest corpus of epigraphic expression in the western Mediterranean world with the exception of the Italian peninsula. The aim of this book is to present a state of the question that includes the latest cutting-edge scholarship on these epigraphies and the languages that they transmit. To do so, the editors have put together a volume that from a multidisciplinary perspective brings together linguistic, philological, epigraphic, numismatic, historical, and archaeological aspects of the surviving inscriptions. The study of these languages is essential to achieve a better understanding of the social, economic, and cultural history of Hispania and the ancient western Mediterranean. They are also the key to our understanding of colonial Phoenician and Greek literacy, which lies at the root of the spread of these languages and also of the diffusion of Roman literacy, which played an important role in the final expansion of the so-called Palaeohispanic languages.Less
At least four writing systems—in addition to the Phoenician, Greek, and Latin ones—were used between the fifth century BCE and the first century CE to write the indigenous languages of the Iberian peninsula (the so-called Palaeohispanic languages): Tartessian, Iberian, Celtiberian, and Lusitanian. In total over three thousand inscriptions are preserved in what is certainly the largest corpus of epigraphic expression in the western Mediterranean world with the exception of the Italian peninsula. The aim of this book is to present a state of the question that includes the latest cutting-edge scholarship on these epigraphies and the languages that they transmit. To do so, the editors have put together a volume that from a multidisciplinary perspective brings together linguistic, philological, epigraphic, numismatic, historical, and archaeological aspects of the surviving inscriptions. The study of these languages is essential to achieve a better understanding of the social, economic, and cultural history of Hispania and the ancient western Mediterranean. They are also the key to our understanding of colonial Phoenician and Greek literacy, which lies at the root of the spread of these languages and also of the diffusion of Roman literacy, which played an important role in the final expansion of the so-called Palaeohispanic languages.
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.
Eitan P. Fishbane
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199948635
- eISBN:
- 9780190885489
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199948635.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book studies the Zohar as a work of literature. While the Zohar has long been recognized as a signal achievement of mystical theology, myth, and exegesis, this monograph presents a poetics of ...
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This book studies the Zohar as a work of literature. While the Zohar has long been recognized as a signal achievement of mystical theology, myth, and exegesis, this monograph presents a poetics of zoharic narrative, a morphology of mystical storytelling. Topics examined include mysticism and literature; fiction and pseudepigraphy; diaspora and exile; dramatic monologue and the representation of emotion; voice, gesture, and the theatrics of the zoharic tale; the wandering quest for wisdom; anagnorisis and the poetics of recognition; encounters with the natural world as stimuli for mystical creativity; the dynamic relationship between narrative and exegesis; magical realism and the fantastic in the representation of experience and Being; narrative ethics and the exemplum of virtuous piety in the Zohar; the place of the zoharic frame-tale in the comparative context of medieval Iberian literature, both Jewish and non-Jewish.Less
This book studies the Zohar as a work of literature. While the Zohar has long been recognized as a signal achievement of mystical theology, myth, and exegesis, this monograph presents a poetics of zoharic narrative, a morphology of mystical storytelling. Topics examined include mysticism and literature; fiction and pseudepigraphy; diaspora and exile; dramatic monologue and the representation of emotion; voice, gesture, and the theatrics of the zoharic tale; the wandering quest for wisdom; anagnorisis and the poetics of recognition; encounters with the natural world as stimuli for mystical creativity; the dynamic relationship between narrative and exegesis; magical realism and the fantastic in the representation of experience and Being; narrative ethics and the exemplum of virtuous piety in the Zohar; the place of the zoharic frame-tale in the comparative context of medieval Iberian literature, both Jewish and non-Jewish.
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.
Joshua Schreier
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780804799140
- eISBN:
- 9781503602168
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804799140.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter recounts Oran’s history over the longue durée. It speaks of a city situated on the northern coast of Africa, but also on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Oran was a creation ...
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This chapter recounts Oran’s history over the longue durée. It speaks of a city situated on the northern coast of Africa, but also on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Oran was a creation of Spain and southern Europe as well as of Tlemcen, the Sahara, and the African sources of goods that lay beyond it. Indeed, in the first century or two of its existence, Oran owed its existence to its proximity to the Iberian Peninsula. The westernmost section of the Mediterranean, stretching from Cape Tenès in the east to the Straights of Gibraltar in the west, has been described as a medieval “Ibero-African English Channel,” linking North Africa and Spain with a constant flow of commercial ships. Oran’s dependence on larger circuits of western Mediterranean commerce would continue into the nineteenth century.Less
This chapter recounts Oran’s history over the longue durée. It speaks of a city situated on the northern coast of Africa, but also on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Oran was a creation of Spain and southern Europe as well as of Tlemcen, the Sahara, and the African sources of goods that lay beyond it. Indeed, in the first century or two of its existence, Oran owed its existence to its proximity to the Iberian Peninsula. The westernmost section of the Mediterranean, stretching from Cape Tenès in the east to the Straights of Gibraltar in the west, has been described as a medieval “Ibero-African English Channel,” linking North Africa and Spain with a constant flow of commercial ships. Oran’s dependence on larger circuits of western Mediterranean commerce would continue into the nineteenth century.
Joshua Schreier
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780804799140
- eISBN:
- 9781503602168
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804799140.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
After 1792, the regency of Algiers invited Jews and Muslims to settle in Oran, opened Oran to the interior, and reopened the Iberian peninsula to products shipped from Oran. As a result, many of the ...
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After 1792, the regency of Algiers invited Jews and Muslims to settle in Oran, opened Oran to the interior, and reopened the Iberian peninsula to products shipped from Oran. As a result, many of the late medieval commercial links discussed in the last chapter were renewed, with Oran increasingly seeing ships arrive from Iberian, European, and other North African ports. Drawing on commercial records of and consular notes from the years before the conquest, this chapter argues that late Ottoman Oran was well integrated into the economic life of the western Mediterranean and showed signs of growth. This runs counter to a colonial historiography that emphasized its pre-colonial marginality and insignificance. Jewish merchants were key to this small port city’s commerce and society.Less
After 1792, the regency of Algiers invited Jews and Muslims to settle in Oran, opened Oran to the interior, and reopened the Iberian peninsula to products shipped from Oran. As a result, many of the late medieval commercial links discussed in the last chapter were renewed, with Oran increasingly seeing ships arrive from Iberian, European, and other North African ports. Drawing on commercial records of and consular notes from the years before the conquest, this chapter argues that late Ottoman Oran was well integrated into the economic life of the western Mediterranean and showed signs of growth. This runs counter to a colonial historiography that emphasized its pre-colonial marginality and insignificance. Jewish merchants were key to this small port city’s commerce and society.
Joan Ramon Resina (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846318337
- eISBN:
- 9781846317880
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846318337.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
Of late the term Iberian Studies has been gaining academic currency, but its semantic scope still fluctuates. For some it is a convenient way of combining the official cultures of two states, ...
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Of late the term Iberian Studies has been gaining academic currency, but its semantic scope still fluctuates. For some it is a convenient way of combining the official cultures of two states, Portugal and Spain; yet for others the term opens up disciplinary space, altering established routines. A relational approach to Iberian Studies shatters the state's epistemological frame and complexifies the field through the emergence of lines of inquiry and bodies of knowledge hitherto written off as irrelevant. This book brings together contributions from leading international scholars who demonstrate the cultural and linguistic complexity of the field by reflecting on the institutional challenges to the practice of Iberian Studies.Less
Of late the term Iberian Studies has been gaining academic currency, but its semantic scope still fluctuates. For some it is a convenient way of combining the official cultures of two states, Portugal and Spain; yet for others the term opens up disciplinary space, altering established routines. A relational approach to Iberian Studies shatters the state's epistemological frame and complexifies the field through the emergence of lines of inquiry and bodies of knowledge hitherto written off as irrelevant. This book brings together contributions from leading international scholars who demonstrate the cultural and linguistic complexity of the field by reflecting on the institutional challenges to the practice of Iberian Studies.
Amy G. Remensnyder
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199892983
- eISBN:
- 9780199388868
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199892983.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History, World Early Modern History
This book brings together medieval Iberia, colonial Mexico, and colonial New Mexico through the largely unexplored history of the Virgin Mary as a figure of warfare and cross-cultural encounter. ...
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This book brings together medieval Iberia, colonial Mexico, and colonial New Mexico through the largely unexplored history of the Virgin Mary as a figure of warfare and cross-cultural encounter. Beginning around 1000, Mary was drawn into warfare between Muslims and Christians in Iberia, emerging as an icon of the so-called Christian reconquest, which ended in 1492. In the process, rulers of Castile and Aragon developed a Marian sense of monarchy and Mary helped define the manliness of Christian men of war. In the religiously–mixed polities of high medieval Castile and Aragon, Mary became a key figure through which Muslims, Christians, and Jews negotiated their relationships with each other, and articulated identities. Mary also became central to the Christian view of the conversion of Muslims and Jews. The Spaniards who established colonies in the Caribbean and Mexico brought with them these medieval understandings of Mary. In the New World, the conquistadors both used her in the conquest of indigenous peoples and held her out to these people in evangelical efforts, influencing how some indigenous eventually appropriated her as their own military icon. Legends about her role in the conquest of Mexico became repositories of colonial identities, Spanish and indigenous. These legends inspired men involved in the founding of seventeenth-century New Mexico. There, Mary figured prominently in how colonists, friars, and Pueblos viewed the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and the re-establishment of the Spanish colony in the 1690s. Her role in colonial New Mexico reverberates in the state’s contemporary ethnic politics.Less
This book brings together medieval Iberia, colonial Mexico, and colonial New Mexico through the largely unexplored history of the Virgin Mary as a figure of warfare and cross-cultural encounter. Beginning around 1000, Mary was drawn into warfare between Muslims and Christians in Iberia, emerging as an icon of the so-called Christian reconquest, which ended in 1492. In the process, rulers of Castile and Aragon developed a Marian sense of monarchy and Mary helped define the manliness of Christian men of war. In the religiously–mixed polities of high medieval Castile and Aragon, Mary became a key figure through which Muslims, Christians, and Jews negotiated their relationships with each other, and articulated identities. Mary also became central to the Christian view of the conversion of Muslims and Jews. The Spaniards who established colonies in the Caribbean and Mexico brought with them these medieval understandings of Mary. In the New World, the conquistadors both used her in the conquest of indigenous peoples and held her out to these people in evangelical efforts, influencing how some indigenous eventually appropriated her as their own military icon. Legends about her role in the conquest of Mexico became repositories of colonial identities, Spanish and indigenous. These legends inspired men involved in the founding of seventeenth-century New Mexico. There, Mary figured prominently in how colonists, friars, and Pueblos viewed the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and the re-establishment of the Spanish colony in the 1690s. Her role in colonial New Mexico reverberates in the state’s contemporary ethnic politics.
Nuria Silleras-Fernandez
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801453830
- eISBN:
- 9781501701641
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801453830.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This introductory chapter lays out the groundwork for a threefold study on a discourse relating to the works of Francesc Eiximenis, the women behind his books, as well as the larger scope of female ...
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This introductory chapter lays out the groundwork for a threefold study on a discourse relating to the works of Francesc Eiximenis, the women behind his books, as well as the larger scope of female virtue in the late medieval and early modern Iberia, by examining in brief the works of Eiximenis—particularly the Llibre de les dones in its three iterations (Libre de les dones, Libro de las donas, Carro de las donas), along with the Scala Dei—and how they reveal insights as to the evolution of gender discourse, female literary stereotypes, queenship, piety and devotion, and the role of translation in the Iberian Peninsula and beyond, from the fourteenth through the sixteenth century.Less
This introductory chapter lays out the groundwork for a threefold study on a discourse relating to the works of Francesc Eiximenis, the women behind his books, as well as the larger scope of female virtue in the late medieval and early modern Iberia, by examining in brief the works of Eiximenis—particularly the Llibre de les dones in its three iterations (Libre de les dones, Libro de las donas, Carro de las donas), along with the Scala Dei—and how they reveal insights as to the evolution of gender discourse, female literary stereotypes, queenship, piety and devotion, and the role of translation in the Iberian Peninsula and beyond, from the fourteenth through the sixteenth century.
Nuria Silleras-Fernandez
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801453830
- eISBN:
- 9781501701641
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801453830.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter examines Eiximenis himself and reconstructs the networks he moved in and the relationships he cultivated, his ties to the royal house, and his desire to reform the Franciscan movement in ...
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This chapter examines Eiximenis himself and reconstructs the networks he moved in and the relationships he cultivated, his ties to the royal house, and his desire to reform the Franciscan movement in an age of religious decadence and a schismatic church, torn as it was between the papacies of Rome and Avignon. In the process, the chapter throws light on the rich and complex literary history of the Crown of Aragon, and the history of the Iberian Peninsula of the late fourteenth century, offering insights into the cultural, literary, and social contexts in which his particular type of didactic literature emerged.Less
This chapter examines Eiximenis himself and reconstructs the networks he moved in and the relationships he cultivated, his ties to the royal house, and his desire to reform the Franciscan movement in an age of religious decadence and a schismatic church, torn as it was between the papacies of Rome and Avignon. In the process, the chapter throws light on the rich and complex literary history of the Crown of Aragon, and the history of the Iberian Peninsula of the late fourteenth century, offering insights into the cultural, literary, and social contexts in which his particular type of didactic literature emerged.
Anthony Grafton
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451829
- eISBN:
- 9780801471056
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451829.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This chapter discusses how European Christians confronted and tried to make sense of many different religions, particularly Judaism. Jews lived inside and outside the Christian world. They apparently ...
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This chapter discusses how European Christians confronted and tried to make sense of many different religions, particularly Judaism. Jews lived inside and outside the Christian world. They apparently possessed significant knowledge about part of the Christian Bible, and they practiced their “distasteful” rites in Christian cities as violent opponents of Christianity. Two great fifteenth-century events—the introduction of printing to the West and the expulsion of Jews from Iberia—sent both Jewish texts and Jews moving across Europe. By examining a limited number of Christian thinkers who were deeply interested in Jewish thought and life, the chapter recognizes the complexities and ironies of a vital episode in the history of both Jewish and Christian religion and culture.Less
This chapter discusses how European Christians confronted and tried to make sense of many different religions, particularly Judaism. Jews lived inside and outside the Christian world. They apparently possessed significant knowledge about part of the Christian Bible, and they practiced their “distasteful” rites in Christian cities as violent opponents of Christianity. Two great fifteenth-century events—the introduction of printing to the West and the expulsion of Jews from Iberia—sent both Jewish texts and Jews moving across Europe. By examining a limited number of Christian thinkers who were deeply interested in Jewish thought and life, the chapter recognizes the complexities and ironies of a vital episode in the history of both Jewish and Christian religion and culture.
William D. Phillips Jr.
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780824865917
- eISBN:
- 9780824875626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824865917.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This chapter examines the accounts of several Central European travelers who visited the Iberian Peninsula in the second half of the fifteenth century and pays particular attention to their comments ...
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This chapter examines the accounts of several Central European travelers who visited the Iberian Peninsula in the second half of the fifteenth century and pays particular attention to their comments on slaves and slavery. First was the Swabian Georg von Ehingen who sought adventure in latter-day crusades and fought with the Portuguese in Morocco. The Bohemian Leon von Rozmital visited Iberia in 1465–1467. Two of his companions left accounts, his secretary Shashek and the patrician Tetzel wrote accounts of the tour. Nicholas von Popplau made a short visit to Santiago de Compostela in 1484. The German Hieronymus Münzer (or Monetarius) made an extensive tour of Portugal and Spain in 1494–1495. The German knight Arnold Von Harff visited Iberia at the very end of the fifteenth century. Each account provides significant observations and detailed descriptions of the traffic and sale of slaves. Taken as a whole, they provide a window on the relations between Central Europe and the western Mediterranean at the end of the Middle Ages.Less
This chapter examines the accounts of several Central European travelers who visited the Iberian Peninsula in the second half of the fifteenth century and pays particular attention to their comments on slaves and slavery. First was the Swabian Georg von Ehingen who sought adventure in latter-day crusades and fought with the Portuguese in Morocco. The Bohemian Leon von Rozmital visited Iberia in 1465–1467. Two of his companions left accounts, his secretary Shashek and the patrician Tetzel wrote accounts of the tour. Nicholas von Popplau made a short visit to Santiago de Compostela in 1484. The German Hieronymus Münzer (or Monetarius) made an extensive tour of Portugal and Spain in 1494–1495. The German knight Arnold Von Harff visited Iberia at the very end of the fifteenth century. Each account provides significant observations and detailed descriptions of the traffic and sale of slaves. Taken as a whole, they provide a window on the relations between Central Europe and the western Mediterranean at the end of the Middle Ages.
