Poetry of an amorous nature, composed and performed by troubadours, played an important role in the courtly spheres of Europe from the 11th to the 14th centuries. This importance is reflected in various sumptuary objects whose function is closely related to their own iconography, with the gallant and playful themes typical of the troubadour universe taking precedence. The most outstanding known pieces are analysed, such as amatory boxes and chests, made of various materials such as polychrome wood or covered with embossed metal sheets, as well as the most sumptuous pieces made of ivory, among which we also find other important objects such as mirrors.
HistoryLab
for Civic Engagement
HistoryLab
for Civic Engagement
11. Science and culture as representation in Europe.
In Pamplona Cathedral, an image of Christ Crucified is venerated which presides over an original altarpiece from the beginning of the 16th century – no doubt recomposed in the 19th century – made up of sixteen patriarchs from the Old Testament wearing phylacteries, whose texts reveal their inspiration in the French late medieval Mysteries. The altarpiece of the Christ of Caparroso originally appeared, together with the altarpiece of Saint Thomas, in the funerary chapel of Pedro Marcilla de Caparroso, whose tombstone has recently been recovered. The extensive representation of prophets and other characters from the Old Law in the altarpiece of Santo Cristo has led me to propose as a possible source the Mystery Secundum legem debet mori, by Denis Roce, or some other lost text. This text forms part of the large number of Moralities and Mysteries throughout Europe, but which originated in France, based on verse 7 of chapter 19 of the Gospel of John Nos legem habemus et secundum legem debet mori. In the aforementioned Mystery, the theatrical foundation was sought for the prophets of the “well of Moses” of the Charterhouse of Charnprnol, some of whose verses appear in the Myst&e de Rouergue, whose main source is the Preces de Bélia, written in Aversa (Naples). The Virgin plays an extraordinarily active role in the process. She pleads with the prophets, as judges, the cause of her Son condemned to die. She hoped to obtain a favourable sentence from them in order to spare him death. The prophets, however, pronounced inexorable verses taken from their books. They all answer, by their respective prophecies, that in order to save men, Christ must die. Throughout this study I make an excursus on the various medieval sources of the Mysteries in Sermons and Meditations, which stirred society in the autumn of the Middle Ages.
Debate by a group of specialists on the astrolabes made in al-Andalus and in the Hispanic medieval kingdoms as a paradigmatic example of symbiosis between art and science.
The central theme will be two recently published books: “Astrolabios en al-Andalus y los reinos medievales hispanos” and “Catálogo razonado de los astrolabios de la España medieval” by Azucena Hernández Pérez, who will be accompanied by science historians David A. King (Univ. Frankfurt) and Julio Samsó (Univ. Barcelona) and art historians Susana Calvo, Javier Martínez de Aguirre and Juan Carlos Ruiz Souza, all from the Complutense University of Madrid.
The multiple dimensions of the astrolabe will be highlighted: scientific, cultural, symbolic and artistic, emphasising the connections between the astrolabes, the architectural spaces “of knowledge” and the cultural reality in which Andalusian production and that of the Hispanic Christian kingdoms intertwined and which, in the books mentioned, dialogue and meet again. Aspects such as the manufacture of an astrolabe, from its conception and design to its materialisation, or the presence of the astrolabe in madrasas, mosques, monasteries and universities, will also be dealt with.
As part of Science Week, the MAN’s Department of Medieval Antiquities proposes to show how the development of technology and science had a positive impact on everyday life in the Middle Ages and favoured greater social equality. In this historical period, especially in al-Andalus, a series of innovations were introduced with interlinked effects: new means of water management, such as the waterwheel with arcaduces, had an impact on the production of paper, a technique imported to the Peninsula at this time. This, in turn, brought about a real revolution in written and scientific culture, contributing to the development of medicine and pharmacopoeia.
The aim of this conference is to explore different aspects of the construction of spaces and artistic production related to medieval knowledge and learning, covering different geographical, cultural and social areas of the Mediterranean.
6th Seminar on Medieval Archaeology, Art and History. The aim of this seminar is to reflect on the value of material culture in the construction of identities in frontier societies or in processes of acculturation. Through a comparative study of the material culture associated with the different religious groups and social strata of the Peninsula, as well as inventories of secular and religious buildings, archaeological finds and the production and circulation of objects, we will analyse attitudes such as reuse, the meaning of spolia, appropriation or resemantization, in a long-term spectrum. Only through a multidisciplinary and diachronic approach can we understand these phenomena and advance our knowledge of our heritage. Topics such as the household furnishings of Mudejars, Old Christians and Moors; the trade and exchange of objects (textiles, books, weapons, scientific equipment, etc.) in the Mediterranean context, with its centres of production and consumption; spolia, the destruction and reuse of these objects, and the relations between centres of power and centres of knowledge through their material culture will be dealt with.
The University of Salamanca, like other European centres, was constituted before the process of royal concession of c. 1218, so that the knowledge preserved in the cloisters would be the seed of the cultural recomposition.
In addition to the books identified and other elements that provide information on the cultural universe in which the protagonists who would eventually make up the Estudio General de Salamanca moved, it is the preserved sculptural representations that confirm the relevance of the knowledge within its walls, by recognising the personification of the Liberal Arts in several Romanesque capitals in its battered cloister.
According to what has been analysed to date, these are the most remote figurations located on the Peninsula, a milestone in close agreement with those observed in the rest of Europe.
These cultural manifestations confirm that, prior to the foundation of the Studio, a powerful and highly qualified cultural elite existed in the Cathedral during the 12th and 13th centuries and that knowledge was given great importance.
This conference will bring together leading specialists in the field of music and sound in Prehistory and Protohistory. Sound is one of our sources of perception, which is why its importance is universal and timeless. We cannot pinpoint when and how music arose, but archaeological remains show that it has been with us since our most remote past, at least as long as we have been sapiens.
Through the analysis of both the preserved pieces and their archaeological context, and with the support of ethnoarchaeology, experimental archaeology, iconographic sources and, where possible, also written sources, we approach the soundscapes of Prehistory and Protohistory, times when music and sound formed part of the daily and ritual life of their societies.
Several recent research projects, including the European Music Archaeology Project (2013-2018), have made significant progress in the study of music in Prehistory and Antiquity. The interdisciplinary requirements to address such disparate aspects as the technological study of archaeological musical instruments, their experimental reconstruction, their performance (necessary for acoustic and musical characterisation) and their socio-cultural contextualisation have demanded not only significant funding, but also the collaboration of scholars and specialists from all over the world. Despite the long history of the discipline, this work has made it possible to trace technological relationships, cultural borrowings and local innovations that lie at the roots of the various European musics.
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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