Medieval Iberian Studies

In her dedication to articulating the impossibility of separate, polarized identities, María Menocal often reveled in surprising her reading public with evidence of the social and cultural intimacies that existed between peoples popularly believed to be opposed. Her writing conveys the consistent message that intimacy bridged difference without leveling discord, and that difference and dissention were far more fecund than mere tolerance. But she also sought to draw her readers close through the recognition of their own realities in the struggles, ironies, and desires of subjects from centuries ago. María Menocal thus employed strategies not only for arguing the effect of intimacy, but for creating powerful intimacies between her readers and authors millennia old.

ABSTRACT Comparing a species of codex such as the troper-proser with Cluniac charisma might at first seem somewhat contradictory. Cluny has been understood in criticism to have systematically opposed the addition of any extra-official compositions (tropes and sequences) to the liturgy and as a model of splendor and solemnity in medieval chants. Through the case of MS 4 from the Huesca Cathedral, a troper-proser from the end of the eleventh century or beginning of the twelfth, this article aims to put this axiomatic understanding to the test of reason. While the liturgy that developed at the mother house in Cluny was one thing, that which became established in the some of the monasteries that embraced reform in the spirit of the Burgundian abbey was quite another. In the latter, practices that were previous to, contemporary with and posterior to the adoption of Cluniac reforms contributed to a distinctive and particular style that preserved typical regional features, giving local flavor to the liturgical repertoire. Moreover, in order to address the question as to whether this troper-proser is a kind of book that would have belonged to a monastery or cathedral, we will take a look at the information provided by the manuscript itself. Taking all angles into account, we will inquire into codicology, the suppositions of the history of reception, cultural transfers and, of course, liturgy and chant. The attribution of the manuscript and the shaping of regional profiles will be among the issues brought into play in this analysis.

Critically discusses recent scholarship on the two fragments containing music for Galician-Portuguese songs (the Vindel MS and the Sharrer MS, both edited by the author), in particular the contributions of William Paden and Rip Cohen, among other authors involved in the 2016 commemorative edition of the Vindel MS. Paper presented to the XVII Congress of the AHLM in Rome.

Aquest article es construeix a manera de reflexió sobre la natura de la intervenció militar de Jaume I en el regnat de Múrcia a principis de la segona meitat del segle XIII. Inserit dins del procés d'eixamplament de la societat feudal a la Península Ibèrica, i convenientment contextualitzat, el treball analitza les raons que porten al rei d'Aragó a emprendre una costosa campanya militar contra un domini cristià alié, tot i que en procés de ser recuperat per l'Islam, i es conclou que es van imposar raons d'oportunitat d'orde políticodiplomàtic enfront d'altres de caràcter més banal vinculades al prestigi. | This article analizes the nature of Jaume I’s military intervention in the Kingdom of Murcia at the beginning of the second half of the 13th century. As feudal structures took hold in the Iberian Peninsula, the King of Aragon undertook a costly military campaign against another Christian Kingdom that was on the verge of being defeated by Islamic forces. The reasons for Jaume’s conquest campaign were mostly of a diplomatic nature rather than the acquisition of prestige.

In his seminal biography of Ibn Rushd al‐Hafīd, better known in the Latin West as Averroes (1126-1198 CE), Dominique Urvoy referred to the “Jewish” symbolism of Averroes’ confinement in Lucena, a city in today’s Spanish province of Cordoba. In this regard, Urvoy quoted the Maghribian historian ʿAbd al‐Malik al‐Marrākushī, according to whom the choice of Lucena was due to a rumour that Averroes had Jewish ancestors and that his family was not rooted in any Arab tribe of al‐Andalus. Urvoy does not further explore the connection between Averroes’ confinement in Lucena and his alleged Jewish ancestry, nor does he make any statement on the credibility of the rumour. This paper revisits the question of Averroes’ alleged Jewish ancestry and its consequences in the light of new evidence, which I discuss in the context of the Almohads’ treatment of the Jews who lived in their dominions under the status of dhimmīs or tributaries. I argue that the Almohads’ treatment of the Jews and the alleged insincerity of their conversions to Islam seem to have met an unexpected target in the person of Averroes, the most important Muslim intellectual of that period. To develop this argument, I will carry out a careful examination of Averroes’ genealogical chain as it is presented by a number of contemporary and non‐contemporary biographers of his grandfather, Ibn Rushd al‐Jadd (d. 1126 CE). As I show in section two, there is a chronological incoherence between the genealogical chains which might add credit to the claim that Averroes had Jewish ancestors. This claim becomes explicit in the rumour voiced by Ibn ʿAbd al‐Malik al‐Marrākushī and it is implicit in the choice of Lucena as the location of his confinement. Subsequently and after reviewing the reasons put forward by different scholars to explain Averroes’ falling into disgrace and the role that Averroes’ alleged Judaism might have played in his confinement in Lucena, I focus on some Muslim historians’ strategies to show him compassion, to compensate him for his suffering and to return him his stolen honour.

Along the following lines we unravel the suggestive history of a strange coin that is part of the celebrated discovery of the Port of San Adrián. After years of arduous research, we have managed to identify it by dusting off an unknown and intriguing episode related to the Hundred Years' War and the fratricidal struggle between Peter I (1350-1369) and Henry II (1369-1379) of Castile and Leon.

A lo largo de las siguientes líneas desentrañamos la sugerente historia de un extraño numisma que forma parte del celebérrimo hallazgo del Puerto de San Adrián. Tras años de arduas pesquisas, hemos conseguido identificarlo desempolvando un desconocido e intrigante episodio relacionado con la Guerra de los Cien Años y la lucha fratricida mantenida entre Pedro I (1350-1369) y Enrique II (1369-1379) de Castilla y León.

Case todas as anotacións de A. Colocci no Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional 10991 (B) teñen sido estudadas e valoradas polos investigadores da lírica galego-portuguesa, con frecuencia procurando respostas a diferentes problemas. No f. 35v, encóntrase o debuxo dunha manciña sinala cara á singular razo que introduce a primeira tenzón no cancioneiro B, Vi eu donas encelado (B142), dos irmáns Pero Velho de Taveirós e Paai Soarez de Taveirós. A partir da situación desta marca colocciana, deseñada entre a rúbrica atributiva Pero Velho de Taveroos (na col. a) e a razo (na col. b), J.-M. d’Heur entendeu que o sinal estaba destinado a corrixir a disposición da rúbrica atributiva, pasando a asignar B140 (Par Deus, dona Maria, mia senhor ben talhada) e B141 (Quand’ora for a mia senhor veer) ao trobador que ten a súa obra nos folios anteriores do cancioneiro B, isto é, Nun’Eanes Cerzeo. A dúbida na autoría destas dúas cantigas callou en estudos posteriores, pero en ningún caso conduciu a unha análise dos contextos de aparición e da función da manciña colocciana no interior do cancioneiro. Con intención de reavaliar a cuestión, o noso traballo derivará no exame desta singular marca.

Este artículo estudia la naturaleza de la representación del conocimiento en el Libro de Alexandre como una respuesta sapiencial por parte de los grupos claustrales frente a un aristotelismo heterodoxo de cuño hispánico, representado en el quadrivium del primer tercio del siglo XIII en Castilla. Éste habría estado representado por los grupos disidentes de Palencia y Burgos, pero, sobre todo, de León según el testimonio de Lucas de Tuy en De altera vita. El Alexandre se enmarca en una reacción a partir de las disposiciones del Concilio IV Lateranense de 1215 para la educación del clero y de los fieles. Bajo esta perspectiva, se puede comprender mejor la razón de ser del manuscrito O con claros rasgos leoneses y reforzar la hipótesis planteada por la crítica de dos redacciones del poema: una para Castilla y otra para León.

Codex miscellanies are enigmatic witnesses to the intellectual and cultural exchanges of the Middle Ages, both within the Iberian Peninsula and across the Pyrenees. Individual texts plucked for reproduction from manuscript miscellanies are often encountered as fragments in secondary literature, isolated and compiled into subsequent gatherings of texts and images with their own respective functions. The practice of isolating these texts and images, as well as its intellectual motivations, has served to obscure our view of manuscript miscellanies and composites as material objects. This paper explores the possibilities of digital platforms for the investigation of miscellaneous codices through two brief case studies—Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) MS lat. 2858 and lat. 5132—to explore tools for collation visualization and annotation.

This article deals with representations of Christian-Islamic confluence in the medieval Portuguese genealogical compilation known as Livro de Linhagens do Conde D. Pedro (Count Pedro’s Book of Lineages), assembled in the mid-fourteenth century by Count Pedro of Barcelos. Several narratives dealing with the non-military interaction of Christians and Muslims are analysed in this article, which discusses their role in the aristocratic discourses of political legitimization. The article’s main argument is that, when evoking ancestors who reinforced the family’s prestige, medieval Portuguese aristocratic families considered ethnic and cultural origin as secondary to their ancestors’ social status.

Ponencia invitada presentada en el coloquio internacional "800A: «Qual deve el Rey ser». Workshop por los ochocientos años del nacimiento de Alfonso X el Sabio" (Buenos Aires, Argentina; 9, 10 y 11 de diciembre de 2021)

https://alfonsox.com.ar/Programa/

In both medieval and modern times, al-Andalus was often seen as distinctive or even exceptional within the Islamic world and within Islamic history. Among its distinctive features figure the almost uniform Malikism and the long-lasting support for the Umayyad cause. Others are associated with the end of Muslim rule over al-Andalus. In this context, 1212 can be seen as a prelude to the iconic event, 1492. The defeat of the Almohads can also be considered responsible for other distinctive features of Andalusi culture. Another phenomenon mostly associated with Andalusis is the “intellectual” or “philosophical” Sufism of Ibn ʿArabī (1165–1240), Ibn Sabʿīn (1217–70), al-Shushtarī (1212–69) and ʿAfīf al-Dīn al-Tilimsānī (1213–91), most of whom emigrated from al-Andalus to the East. It remains unclear to what extent this branch of Sufism existed in al-Andalus before the Almohad period, not least because the works of these Sufis do not lend themselves to a reconstruction of a coherent doctrine which combines elements of philosophy and of mysticism. In fact, the phenomenon of “philosophical Sufism” may be a creation of Eastern responses to these Sufis. The exodus of Andalusi Sufis to the Mashriq in the aftermath of 1212, in particular following the Christian conquests of cities in the 1230s and 1240s, may thus have led to the development of an intellectual and religious phenomenon that is considered characteristic of al-Andalus.

This article deals with representations of Christian-Islamic confluence in the medieval Portuguese genealogical compilation known as Livro de Linhagens do Conde D. Pedro (Count Pedro's Book of Lineages), assembled in the mid-fourteenth century by Count Pedro of Barcelos. Several narratives dealing with the non-military interaction of Christians and Muslims are analysed in this article, which discusses their role in the aristocratic discourses of political legitimization. The article's main argument is that, when evoking ancestors who reinforced the family's prestige, medieval Portuguese aristocratic families considered ethnic and cultural origin as secondary to their ancestors' social status.

ABSTRACT A 937 charter now at the British Library is identified as the sole extant original issued by Fernán González, Count of Castile, and as having been written by the monk Florentius of Valeranica, the best-known scribe in tenth-century Castile. The piece's authenticity is established through detailed diplomatic and palaeographical analysis, including comparison with other works by Florentius.

One of the main arguments used to legitimise Christian military expansion in medieval Iberia was the location of the origin of the Christian Iberian kingdoms in the ancient Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo (507–711), which established a notion of political continuity between these entities. The legitimacy of the Visigothic Kingdom was reflected in the polities that emerged out of the process of Christian expansion, enabling military activity against Muslims to be portrayed as the restoration of Gothic Spain. In the present study, I refer to this view of the past, especially in thirteenth-century Castilian royal historiography, as the neo-Gothic myth. The neo-Gothic myth was an asset held by royalty in the cultural enactment of these social struggles. In this article, I inquire into the reaction of the seignorial aristocracy to the royalty’s neo-Gothic claims, using the historiographical work by Count Pedro of Barcelos (c. 1285–1354). More specifically, I analyse how Count Pedro adapted ...

This article focuses on the different types of people who became housing developers in medieval Catalonia through the assignment in emphyteusis of land for building (“ad construendum domos”). As examples, the article looks at four places of different sizes and jurisdictions which are well enough documented – in some cases with a series of emphyteutic establishments – to permit a diachronic study. In addition to identifying some of the main developers and the kinds of actions they took in each area, the article reviews the beneficiaries of the subsequently allotted or distributed plots, conditions established in the donations, size of plots or other indications regarding construction, materials used, and layout of future dwellings. Although this study is primarily based on published documentary sources, some contributions from the field of archaeology are also considered. Ultimately, it aims to determine the timeline of this phenomenon, that is, the moments when such building activit...

... 15Shadis, Berenguela of Castile, 130: “Recently, Theresa Vann has uncovered the thirteenth-century manuscript copy of the letter and argues persuasively that the version we have before us is either a later creation (unlikely) or a corrupted version of the original text. ...

ABSTRACT This article explores the involvement of Jewish women in Barcelona's business and economic affairs in the period 1348–91 through notarial records. The study reveals the tension between their self-determination and their dependence on male relatives and the patriarchal community to which they belonged. Women's involvement in three fields – moneylending, artisanal activities, and wet-nursing – will be examined. These particular roles reveal the different positions that women occupied in Jewish society, their social differences, their expectations, and the expectations placed upon them by their kin and community. The article investigates the influence of Christian society on economic trends as well as on specific professions amongst the Jews of Barcelona. It traces how this influence affected Jewish women in particular ways, giving them an enhanced profile at certain times. In summary, these women were able to prove their skills and value within the patriarchal structure – an environment in which they were usually bound to silence.

Valerius of Bierzo, a hermit who lived in northern Iberia in the last years of the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo (568–711), is considered an eccentric character by many scholars. Valerius left a rich, although not long, literary production that is surprising for its originality, equal only to its relative obscurity outside of the Iberian world. Among other things, he wrote a treatise about the “degenerate” monasticism practiced in his region and three short pieces known as his autobiographical works in which he describes his vicissitudes on the path towards an ascetic way of life. Incidentally addressing numerous topics of society, culture, power, and of course, religion, Valerius offers a precious source of information regarding early medieval society in Galicia. This article analyses his comments and impressions based on his personal opinion about the clergy and monastic life in his region. In doing so, it unveils his character and situates his behaviour – and apparent eccentricity...

Although archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada commissioned a translation of the Qur'an in conjunction the Las Navas campaign, the resulting text, Mark of Toledo's Liber Alchorani, had far less of an impact than the battle itself. Indeed, like Robert of Ketton's earlier Latin Qur'an, Mark's text scarcely circulated in Spain: intellectuals there showed virtually no interest in reading Islam's holy book in Latin until the fifteenth century. Iberia was – for most of the Middle Ages – at once the land where European intellectuals could most easily find scholars to translate the Qur'an into Latin, and the place where few were interested in reading it in translation.

Sources do not particularly attend to women and Las Navas de Tolosa, neither their direct experience of the battle, nor the impact of the battle on their status in the aftermath – although they tell us more than we might expect. More significantly, current historiography of medieval women suggests that such watershed events do not fit with the continuities and changes of women's experience over time – an experience which varied not only according to gender but also according to class and religion in the high middle ages.

This article deals with representations of Christian-Islamic confluence in the medieval Portuguese genealogical compilation known as Livro de Linhagens do Conde D. Pedro (Count Pedro's Book of Lineages), assembled in the mid-fourteenth century by Count Pedro of Barcelos. Several narratives dealing with the non-military interaction of Christians and Muslims are analysed in this article, which discusses their role in the aristocratic discourses of political legitimization. The article's main argument is that, when evoking ancestors who reinforced the family's prestige, medieval Portuguese aristocratic families considered ethnic and cultural origin as secondary to their ancestors' social status.

... Ben Shalom, “Myths of Troy.” 10Lawee, “Reception of Rashi's Commentary.” 11On the continued use of older themes by Hispano-Jewish poets see Carrete Parrondo, “Sefarad en las fuentes hebreas.” On the influence of intellectual trends from northern Europe see Grossman ...

Investment in real estate by Jews in medieval Aragon/Catalonia has been discussed by previous authors but detailed studies of their economic activities focus on finance, with some analysis of crafts and trading. No previous work analyses the economic role of real estate investment, other than stemming from secured lending, and some have challenged the idea of property as an attractive investment. In Barcelona, whilst property investment by Jews was notable up to the late thirteenth century, it declined thereafter. This study employs the case study of a prominent family of Zaragoza in the late fourteenth century, Salamon Abnarrabi and sons, to challenge these notions. It finds that real estate was a major asset, acquired and often held for long periods, sometimes leased to Christians for cash rentals, often with no clear link to lending but as an independent source of income. The events of 1391, which theory suggests might render a long-term, fixed asset less attractive to a persecuted minority, seems to have had no such effect and acquisitions persisted throughout the 1390s. These behaviours seem more consistent with modern portfolio theory, favouring diversification of assets, than with traditional views of medieval Jews as principally money-lenders.

This article focuses on the different types of people who became housing developers in medieval Catalonia through the assignment in emphyteusis of land for building (“ad construendum domos”). As examples, the article looks at four places of different sizes and jurisdictions which are well enough documented – in some cases with a series of emphyteutic establishments – to permit a diachronic study. In addition to identifying some of the main developers and the kinds of actions they took in each area, the article reviews the beneficiaries of the subsequently allotted or distributed plots, conditions established in the donations, size of plots or other indications regarding construction, materials used, and layout of future dwellings. Although this study is primarily based on published documentary sources, some contributions from the field of archaeology are also considered. Ultimately, it aims to determine the timeline of this phenomenon, that is, the moments when such building activit...