Founded in March 2012 by Dr. José María Salvador-González, De Medio Aevo (ISSN-e: 2255-5889) is an biannual scientific journal published by the Research Group CAPIRE (Collective for the Pluridisciplinary Analysis of European Religious Iconography), attached to the Complutense University of Madrid. The thematic focus of this journal covers ways of life, historical events, cultural processes, religion and beliefs, social structure and customs, mentality, artistic productions, systematizations of thought, science and technology, literary expressions in Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, and medieval Romance languages, epigraphic and paleographic documents, or any other topic referring to the Middle Ages in any Western or Eastern region, culture, and society. De Medio Aevo is a multidisciplinary scientific journal and, as such, is aimed at recipients interested in the very diverse fields of knowledge above. Its sections are Monographic topic, Miscellany, and Reviews and Reports. The journal accepts Spanish, English, French, German, Italian and Portuguese papers. De Medio Aevo does not charge fees for the article's submission and evaluation, for its publication, the inclusion of color or black and white images, or for any other element required to complete the article publication process.
"Propria manu cartam hanc roboro et confirmo". The hand in the signo rodado of queen Leonor Plantagenet
This work elucidates in what way and with what intention Queen Leonor Plantagenet included her very own and singular signo rodado or diplomatic seal on two parchments of 1179. This decision to draw signos rodados on queenly documents was unprecedented in the Spanish kingdoms as in other European monarchies. Leonor was also the first queen consort to have a chancellery different and autonomous from that of the king. This study discerns the faculty of political representation performed by the signo rodado used by Leonor: a hand located in the centre of a circle and surrounded by the textual title of queen of Toledo and Castile. What does this hand mean and represent? What message and personal resemblance did Leonor’s chancellery try to project concerning her power and authority in issuing these documents? Our historical and artistic analysis suggests a proposal for understanding the corroborative nature of the signo rodado, the political and symbolic intentions, as well as the visual rhetoric that converged into the making of the manus, a political image in the authorisation of documents which would respond to four dimensions and meanings of the exercise of royal power: literal (“manuscript”), authority (“mandate”), economic (“maintenance”) and acclaiming (“manifestation”).
Copyright (c) 2021 José Manuel Cerda Costabal
Una Edad Media cromática. El color como objeto de investigación medieval: dimensiones, metodologías y perspectivas
Copyright (c) 2026 Ana María Cuesta, Ángel Pazos-López
José María Salvador González, Virga virgo est Maria. El tallo de lirio, un doble símbolo doctrinal en imágenes de la Anunciación, Madrid: McGraw-Hill / Editorial Aula Magna, 2025, 310 p. ISBN: 9791387666095. ISBN eBook: 9791387666606
Copyright (c) 2026 José María Salvador-González
Color and Devotion in the Late Middle Ages: A Scientific and Technical Study of the Wall Paintings in the Hermitage of Sant Roc de Ternils (Carcaixent).
This paper presents a scientific and technical study of the Gothic mural paintings of the Last Supper preserved in the hermitage of Sant Roc de Ternils (Carcaixent, Valencia), one of the few surviving examples of rural Valencian mural painting from the Late Middle Ages. The research provides the first comprehensive material, technical, and chronological characterization of the ensemble through an interdisciplinary methodology combining art-historical analysis, optical microscopy, FESEM-EDX, and radiocarbon dating (¹⁴C). The principal contribution of this study lies in the integration of material and contextual evidence to reconstruct painting procedures, identify the pictorial palette, and refine the chronology of the ensemble, making it possible, for the first time, to distinguish which pigments and techniques belong to the original execution and which result from later degradation processes or subsequent interventions. The results demonstrate the predominant use of a mixed technique on lime mortar, combining extensive al secco applications over partially carbonated plasters, together with a palette composed of natural earth pigments, vermilion, carbon black, lead white, and traces of indigotin, revealing a chromatically more complex rural production than traditionally assumed. Radiocarbon dating places the execution of the paintings between the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (1277–1392 AD), reinforcing their attribution to the early development of Valencian Gothic mural painting. Contrary to the historiographical perception of Valencian Gothic mural painting as austere or chromatically limited, this study demonstrates that colour played an essential role in rural contexts in constructing theological meanings, visual hierarchies, and religious emotions. The iconographic programme integrates Eucharistic references, local devotions (Saints Abdón and Senén), and a heraldic background composed of red bars over a golden field, demonstrating that colour functioned as a vehicle of territorial identity and visual prestige even in non-elite contexts. The integration of technical, material, and iconographic data allows the ensemble to be reinterpreted not only as evidence of local devotional practices, but also as proof of the technical and visual sophistication of medieval Valencian mural culture, contributing to a reassessment of established knowledge concerning this heritage.
Copyright (c) 2026 Isidro Puig Sanchis, María Antonia Zalbidea Muñoz, Miquel Angel Herrero-Cortell
Fragments of colour: Challenges and Opportunities in the Study of Romanesque Mural Painting
This article addresses the challenges posed by the study of colour in Romanesque mural painting from the perspective of the fragment. This concept is understood as a methodological tool for breaking the chromatic range down into its units to analyse them separately. To this end, the study begins with a specific case, the Romanesque paintings of Sant Quirze de Pedret, which are examined through two complementary approaches: on the one hand, the colorimetric analysis of the backgrounds; on the other, the study of pseudoverdaccio in the construction of the flesh tones, drawing on medieval technical treatises. The results show that breaking the painted surface down into its units of colour and artistic practice reveals aspects of the techniques used by medieval painters that examination of the work tends to blur. Green takes centre stage: both approaches revolve around the structural function it plays in the construction of Romanesque chromatism, perceptible in the pictorial skin of both the backgrounds and the flesh tones. In sum, it is suggested that the concept of the fragment, far from being limited to its material condition, can serve as a productive analytical starting point.
Copyright (c) 2026 Begoña Cayuela Vellido, Roser Piñol Bastida
Jet for personal adornment: black color in Iberian Middle Ages
The work analyses the role of the colour black in the Middle Ages on the basis of the study of jet used in personal adornment. It proposes a reconsideration of the status of black as a full colour within the medieval chromatic system, from a perspective that integrates material and symbolic dimensions. Jet, due to its intense blackness, its lustre, and its ease of carving, is configured as a privileged medium for analysing the interaction between colour, material, and meaning in medieval culture. The research is based on documentary and iconographic evidence, and above all on the analysis of what has been found in archaeological sites, especially funerary ones, despite the regulations that promoted austerity. It examines the continuity in the use of black material from Antiquity and its transformation in the medieval period, highlighting its connection with practices of protection, identity, and devotion. It addresses cultural differences in the interpretation of black within the plural reality of the Iberian Peninsula (Christian, Jewish, and Islamic spheres) and underscores its non-universal character.
Copyright (c) 2026 Andrea Menéndez Menéndez, Ana Labarta Gómez
Strehlke, Carl Brandon; Cascia, Stefano; Tartuferi, Angelo (eds.), Beato Angelico. Ediz. a colori (Cataloghi). Florencia: Marsilio Arte; Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, 2025, 440 pp. ISBN: 979-1254632499
Review of the exhibition catalog by Strehlke, Carl Brandon; Cascia, Stefano; Tartuferi, Angelo (eds.), Beato Angelico. Ediz. a colori (Cataloghi). Florence: Marsilio Arte; Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, 2025, 440 pp. Tel.: +49 979-1254632499
Copyright (c) 2026 Agueda Asenjo Bejarano
Colored materials as markers of meaning: the polymateriality in the Middle Ages
From Antiquity, medieval architects and sculptors inherited various technical practices to create polychrome buildings and artworks, including polymateriality, the free and easy use of combining two or more materials of different colors, independent either by nature or expressive capabilities, to address a significant effect on the perception of architecture and architectural, liturgical, and in the round sculpture, both in stone, wood, or metal. Assuming that the use of a specific material in an artifact was never accidental but determined by conscious purposes, this paper will attempt to explain the necessity and intentionality of polymateriality in the context of the Middle Ages.
Copyright (c) 2026 Grazia Maria Fachechi
Materiality, reception and symbolism of color in the monumental sculpture of the Catalan Counties: the porticoes of Ripoll and Agramunt
For a long time, Romanesque portals were interpreted as essentially monochrome stone structures, a perception largely shaped by the present condition of the monuments rather than by their original appearance. Recent restoration campaigns, together with scientific and stratigraphic analyses, have demonstrated that many of these monuments were originally covered with pigments and metallic decorations. This article examines the role of color in Romanesque monumental portals in the Catalan Counties through the analysis of two case studies: the portal of the monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll (mid-twelfth century) and the portal of Santa Maria d’Agramunt (1283). Combining technical evidence from restoration studies and stratigraphic analyses with the interpretation of medieval color symbolism, the article explores how pigments, gilding and sculptural form interacted to create complex visual programs and evolving chromatic surfaces. By situating these portals within a broader European context of medieval polychrome sculpture, the study demonstrates that color played a crucial role in structuring visual hierarchies and reinforcing the theological meanings of monumental portals. TRANSLATE with x English Arabic Hebrew Polish Bulgarian Hindi Portuguese Catalan Hmong Daw Romanian Chinese Simplified Hungarian Russian Chinese Traditional Indonesian Slovak Czech Italian Slovenian Danish Japanese Spanish Dutch Klingon Swedish English Korean Thai Estonian Latvian Turkish Finnish Lithuanian Ukrainian French Malay Urdu German Maltese Vietnamese Greek Norwegian Welsh Haitian Creole Persian TRANSLATE with COPY THE URL BELOW <!--a id="TwitterLink" title="Share on Twitter"> <a-- id="FacebookLink" title="Share on Facebook"> </a--> Back EMBED THE SNIPPET BELOW IN YOUR SITE Enable collaborative features and customize widget: Bing Webmaster Portal Back
Rafael Ramón Guerrero, Averroes. Introducción a su pensamiento. Editorial Almuzara, Córdoba, 2026, 332 pp. ISBN: 979-13-70202-17-0
Copyright (c) 2026 Santiago Escobar Gómez
Urania - Astronomy - Astrology. An iconographic problem
This study does not start from scratch. For several months, we have been studying the frescoes that cover the vault of the El Escorial library, presided over by the Seven Liberal Arts. So far, we have analyzed, without major setbacks, the iconography of the first six —Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectic, Arithmetic, Music, and Geometry—. However, when approaching the seventh, we encountered a serious problem: in principle, it should be 'Astronomy,' following a tradition dating back to Antiquity; yet, according to the inscription that identifies it, it is 'Astrology,' a more or less esoteric discipline. How can this fact be explained? Did the person who chose the name make a mistake? Or did they, on the contrary, wish to communicate their actual thoughts regarding the study of the stars?
The Islamic Defensive Complex of Calatayud: New Perspectives for Study
Between the eighth and eleventh centuries, Calatayud was one of the most important cities of the Marca Superior, since all the valleys that converge there, or in its immediate surroundings, provided natural routes of communication between the Meseta, the Ebro Valley, the Levante and the northern regions of the Iberian Peninsula. Although its privileged location brought considerable wealth during the Muslim period, its geophysical position also meant that its inhabitants had to assume the role of a gateway to different regions and kingdoms. In a sense, it can be argued that, regardless of who held power over it, its defense was always a priority for the ruling elites. This would explain the fact that the city possessed a defensive system unique in al-Andalus, described by Ibn Abī Zar, in his work Rawḍ al-Qirṭās, as the strongest stronghold in the eastern part of al-Andalus. This study aims to examine the fortified complexes of Calatayud from the dual perspective provided by written sources and the analysis of the material evidence that has survived to the present day, in order to establish construction sequences that are as clear and well-founded as possible.
Copyright (c) 2026 Roberto Hernandez Muñoz, Herbert González Zymla
Lahoz, Lucía y Caballero Escamilla, Sonia (coords.), Imágenes, espacios y públicos en el Occidente medieval. Granada: Editorial de la Universidad de Granada, 2025, 436 p. ISBN: 978-84-338-7625-6
Caballero Escamilla, Sonia; Lahoz, Lucía (coords.) Imágenes, espacios y públicos en el Occidente medieval. Granada, Universidad de Granada, 2025, 432 p. ISBN: 978-84-338-7625-6.
Copyright (c) 2026 Javier Herrera Vicente
Between Word and Image. The Miracles of St. James the Greater
The Book of the Miracles of Saint James was carefully constructed and reiterates central themes throughout the Codex: the role of the Saint along pilgrimage routes, the protection of all who implore him, the liberation of prisoners, and solidarity. Some miracles have been widely depicted, while others, though important, have not enjoyed the same iconographic success.
The Medieval Palm in the Flight into Egypt: Greek Heritage and Sacred Verticality
This article examines the iconography of the palm tree in the Flight into Egypt as a meeting point between the symbolic tradition of the ancient world and its reformulation in medieval Christianity. In Greco-Roman antiquity, the palm was invested with meanings of permanence, strength, and indomitable verticality, closely connected to solar symbolism and the cult of Apollo. Medieval Christianity inherited this imagery and reshaped it through the apocryphal narrative of the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. In this text, the palm tree bends voluntarily before the Christ Child, not only to offer its fruit but as a gesture of recognition and obedience to the Incarnation. Through a comparative analysis of textual and visual sources, this study demonstrates that the presence of the palm in the Flight into Egypt is not a universal iconographic feature. Rather, it functions as a selective marker whose role extends beyond the simple provision of dates to the Virgin. Its depiction—explicit, veiled, or condensed—reflects conscious choices made by workshops and patrons. These choices allow certain medieval images to be reinterpreted beyond a strictly literal narrative reading. The palm tree thus emerges as a symbol of transformed continuity. It articulates classical heritage with a medieval theology of grace, providence, and the obedience of creation
Copyright (c) 2026 Ana Valtierra Lacalle
Recreating a 15th-century chamber: digital humanities and research into the past
The advantages that 3D technologies provide for the reconstruction of lost heritage and the need to transfer scientific knowledge to society have led us to propose the virtual reconstruction of a 15th-century chamber within the framework of the National Plan research project "Things by Their Name: (Re)building the House with Words and Images, 15th and 16th Centuries" (2023-2027). Our objective is to focus on the architectural space, as well as the furnishings and furnishings, while also allowing for a glimpse of the emotional aspect. Our aim is not to recreate a specific location, but rather to visualize the general appearance that a chamber in a Castilian noble home from the late 15th to early 16th centuries might have had. We have chosen to select aspects that are common throughout the region, such as the confluence of the Nordic aesthetic model, in the Flemish style, with the Andalusian aesthetic, the presence of beds with walls, textiles, chests, toiletries, ceramics, amulets, as well as furniture, images, and objects intended for devotional practices.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sonia Caballero Escamilla, Miguel Valdivia García
The Marketplace of the Heart: Penance and Redemption in the Wings of the Mérode Triptych
Visual exegesis of the Annunciation Triptych’s figurative wordplay calls for a reassessment of Robert Campin’s fundamental importance to early Netherlandish Art. During the first quarter of the fifteenth century, when treatises on the art of memory began to proliferate in Southern and Central Europe, similar manuals were relatively rare in the Low Countries, where the locations (loci) and vivid images (imagines agentes) of mendicant rhetoric had become the memory prompts in devotional paintings that guided penitents on their journey to God. Following a spiritual guide through a door is an immersive sensory experience quite different from viewing the world through a picture window. The former is medieval, the latter, early modern. When Campin decided to replace the gold of eternity with blue sky and white clouds in Mary’s bourgeoise living room, he sited the Virgin’s solar at the top of the stairs, high above the courtyard of conscience and the workshop of redemption in the triptych’s respective wings. These locations and images — which follow the rhetorical rules of similarity, dissimilarity and contiguity — prompted the male votary to remember, confess and expiate his sins as he moved through the classic stages of spiritual ascent — purification in the left wing, illumination in the right wing and union in the central panel
Hispanic-Jewish homes in the 15th century: words, images and feelings
The Hispanic-Jewish house and home have never been understood as different realities in a medieval Hispania where cultural boundaries were apparently mere mental lines. However, there are differences much deeper than the architectural epidermis, derived from the experience of space and religious projections on it. Often these are feelings deposited in the objects that we can only recover from the analysis of texts and images, in an interdisciplinary way between history, philology and art history. We lack direct testimonies, but it is still possible to eradicate forever the idea of uniform dwellings without cultural personality.
Copyright (c) 2025 Miguel Ángel Espinosa Villegas
Strategic Visuality and Cross-Cultural Translation: Localization and Collaborative Networks in the Illustrations of the “Song Nianzhu Guicheng”
This article takes the late-Ming Catholic illustrated book "Song Nianzhu Guicheng" (誦念珠規程) as a case study to examine its strategic localization at the level of visual imagery. By comparing its adapted illustrations with their source in Nadal’s "Evangelicae Historiae Imagines", it reveals how the Jesuits, while maintaining theological consistency, promoted the visual translation of Christian imagery through selective adjustments in composition, setting, and symbolism. This process rested upon the theological oversight of the Jesuits, the cultural mediation of Chinese literati, and the technical execution of local artisans. The study argues that such modifications were not acts of passive compromise, but rather instances of creative cross-cultural adaptation, reflecting the interaction between Catholic doctrine and Confucian notions such as "zhenjie" (貞潔 chastity). In this way, the "Song Nianzhu Guicheng" not only testifies to the exchange and transformation of religious art between China and the West in the late Ming, but also provides a new perspective for understanding the visual strategies of Christianity’s accommodation in China.
Erhard Ratdolt: Printer and Illustrator of Jacobus Publicius’s Ars Memoriae (1482 and 1485)
This article examines the nature of the intervention by the renowned printer Erhard Ratdolt in the publication of the Ars Memorie by the Spanish humanist Jacobus Publicius, to whose editorial success he significantly contributed through the incorporation of engravings—some drawn from other texts printed in his Venetian workshop, and others devised specifically for this work. The changes observed between the first (1482) and second (1485) editions of the Ars Memorie coincide with a broader phase of reprinting by Ratdolt of other works in high demand at the time. We outline the editorial context of the period and analyse the characteristics of the engravings in Ratdolt’s edition, identifying their iconographic sources and assessing their alignment with the rhetorical doctrine expounded by Publicius. We conclude that some engravings reproduce the original images employed by Publicius himself, others are inspired by an earlier printed edition (Cologne, 1481), and a number were added directly by Ratdolt.
Copyright (c) 2025 Margarita Tornay Cabrera
Houses Draped in the Morisco Veil: Realities and Myths of the 15th Century
It is said that when things are not named, it is as if they do not exist. Evidently, they may exist, but by naming them we give them presence and visibility. The fact that, during the fifteenth century, objects were referred to with the term “Morisco” undoubtedly responds to a need to recognize them and distinguish them from others. In this sense, language is forceful: words are born and make sense because a society needs them, and they die when they are no longer useful. For this reason, in this text I focus on houses and the elements that shaped them—from wall coverings to household furnishings—that at the time were described as “Morisco” or “cosa de moros” and which contributed to giving many homes a distinctive character of the era, one that was not strange but named and acknowledged. For this aspect, my use of notarial documentation and the regulation of ordinances is key, contrasted when necessary with literary sources, essentially some chronicles. This everyday reality of the period, with the use of the term “Morisco” for certain aspects of the home, calls into question some elements that may have contributed to an excessive historiographical mythification of a supposed “Maurophilia” or “exoticism” in palaces and houses. The relevance here lies in recovering objects classified as Morisco in the fifteenth century, based on documentation in which the term is less varied and abundant than in the sixteenth century. The fifteenth century presents a socio-political situation very different from what would occur with forced conversion, and it provides fundamental clues for understanding the multifaceted nature of the term “Morisco” while also revealing the diversity of homes at the turn of the century.
Copyright (c) 2026 María Elena Díez Jorge
Behind the Door Remains the Custom: Adapting Dwellings for New and Old Inhabitans in Late 15th-Century Malaga
At the end of XV century, Málaga and its land is a frontier city whose neighbours, winners and defeated of the long war of Granada, had to adapt their way of life, the ítems they use and the houses where they live to different cultural traditions but known to both parties; anyone has to comply obligations and prohibitions impelled by the Castillian Crown. Old christians, foreigners, jews, mudejars and moorishs made exhibition of objects, furnitures and clothing, at the same time as they were concealed and hiden both at the public and at the private área. Behind the door of each home arised new ways of living together but also old ways to survive. A complex society in a world of relevants geopolitical, social and thinking changes. Records provide a glimpse of this fact and they are explicits when those ítems adopted and adapted are vehicles for the exhibition; those who need to write down facts and actions were cautious when it was a risk, it was a very difficult balance.
Presentación: Las casas de cristianos, musulmanes y judíos: atmósferas culturales en el siglo XV
Las casas de cristianos, musulmanes y judíos: atmósferas culturales en el siglo XV
Copyright (c) 2026 María Elena Díez Jorge, Christine Mazzoli-Guintard
Stratigraphy of a neighbourhood around Toledo Cathedral: The houses of the Adarve de los Canónigos
This article presents a diachronic analysis of the medieval land division in Toledo, focusing on the area to the south of the cathedral. Through the study of notarial documents, old city plans, Arabic sources, archaeological excavations and field observations, it reconstructs the urban transformations in the Late Middle Ages, with special attention to the 15th century, one of the periods of greatest construction activity around the cathedral. The study analyses how original Islamic houses were reused, enlarged, or buried following the construction of the Gothic church, and how the urban space was reorganised by the cathedral chapter. Three case studies illustrate these processes of transformation: a mosque converted into a stable and dwelling, an Islamic house enlarged and reconfigured up to the 15th century, and the creation of a square in front of the cathedral to highlight the Portada de la Oliva, linked to the sculptor Juan Alemán. The evolution of the plot structure reveals a flexible and stratified urban fabric, shaped by social practices, religious regulations and institutional appropriations. This microhistory of a neighbourhood at the heart of the city is thus proposed as a reflection of the historical evolution of urban planning in Toledo.
Copyright (c) 2025 Amalia Yuste Galán, Jean Passini
Fishing in Hispanic Society: Exploitation and consumption in Late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
Through this study we approach the treatment of Hispanic fishing in early medieval society. In particular, we will make a historiographical review through the main historical and legislative sources to understand the role and social configuration of the exploitation of fishery resources. Likewise, we turn to archaeological record to better understand the productive process of both fishing and conservation. Finally, we highlight the role of fish in the diet of Hispanic society.
Copyright (c) 2025 PATRICIA ARGUELLES ALVAREZ, LAURA CASAL FERNÁNDEZ
Amonio y Boecio, Sobre la batalla naval de Aristóteles (Comentario a Aristóteles: Sobre la interpretación, 9). Traducción, notas y estudio preliminar de David Torrijos Castrillejo y Thomas Rego. Edición bilingüe. Colección: Verbum Mayor. Serie: Clásica. Madrid: Editorial Verbum / Instituto Juan Andrés, 2025, 260 pp. ISBN: 978-84-1136-873-5
Copyright (c) 2026 Javier Bocos González
A world of colours: the houses of the Arabic manuscript 528 of the Escorial (al-Andalus, 15th c.?)
Arabic manuscript 528 in the Library of San Lorenzo de El Escorial depicts the interiors of houses, characterised by a wide range of colours that make up a world of colours. First of all, the source document of the study is presented, with the doubts expressed by the research about the time and place of the manuscript’s composition. Then, the colours used by the artist are studied, both the tints and the brightness and saturation, where possible, and a mapping of the colours in the houses is proposed, in order to distinguish between mural decorations, pavements and furnishings. And finally, the world of colours in the houses is compared with other cultural horizons of the period, Nasrid, Moorish and Castilian, to try to highlight their singularity within a cultural horizon, the Middle Ages, which made such great use of colour. It is not easy to identify precisely this singularity, undoubtedly because the world of colours of the houses in ms ár. Esc. 528 are inserted, at the end of the Middle Ages, within a very complex cultural environment, the result of centuries of cultural transfers and exchanges within the framework of the Iberian Peninsula and, beyond that, the Mediterraneanhy not see the law as a Roman tale analogically and imperialistically projected inside the study of “primitive” societies by anthropologists? This article’s main topic is firstly the capacity of law to be the science of its own rationales and practices, and secondly the biases drove into anthropological thinking while borrowing legal concepts and modes of reasoning. Altogether descriptive and prescriptive, the law depicts and organizes human realities in a single move. That thus creates a major epistemological difficulty when and where indigenous confession occurs, i.e. the phenomenon by which local cultural schemes are locally formulated in the alienating terms originated in the legal corpus. Beyond a law-dependent legal anthropology, the anthropology of law is aware of the importance of legal fictions and reaches the substance of the law as a western and westernized set of concepts, logics.
Copyright (c) 2025 Christine Mazzoli Guintard
Gifts and Trousseaus at Home: Muslim Marriages in Fifteenth Century Castille
Through the analysis of an Arabic legal document, this work studies the system of marriage transfer of property as it was established among the Castilian mudejars in fifteenth century, especially in the city of Burgos, as compared with Nasrid Granada and Christian Castille, while opening new possibilities for research into both legal and ceremonial systems. Our further study on the wedding celebrations allowed us to better understand the spaces for sociability, focusing on the bridal room, a space -maybe in the house of the new family-, where the several objects, equipment and adornments exchanged in the marriage were exposed publicly. They were also dressed and used by the bride in the passage to her new life. This work includes the edition and translation into Spanish of the original marriage contract.
Copyright (c) 2025 Amalia Zomeño Rodríguez, María Dolores Rodríguez Gómez
Fatan's house and what's inside it.An introduction to textile furnishings and Mudejar clothing
The document dated 1493 from the General Archive of Simancas which includes the inventory of four houses in Baza (Granada) in just a few pages represents, in our days, valuable information in order to examine the interior of the Mudejar houses in Granada. In this work I intend to analyze both the textile furniture and the clothing of these houses, understanding it as a concept of its own that deserves to be defined and used as an instrument of analysis in this information. For this purpose, in addition to using the document in question, I will carry out an exhaustive analysis of the terms that make up both the clothing and the textile furniture and, as far as possible, I will reconstruct the domestic interior with a group of significant words that are defined and studied. Each term is analyzed by means of contemporary lexicographic sources that, together with the academic literature, serve as support for a redefinition in which, besides specifying its meaning, origin and use, a drawing is hypothesized to serve as an illustration. The ultimate goal is to dress a Mudejar house and recreate the cultural atmosphere of its own context, showing possible differences with other Christian houses.