Anales de Historia Antigua, Medieval y Moderna

Preliminares

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Introducción

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Nature and Free Will in the Theology of Martyrdom of the First Discourse on Martyrs

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This paper aims to analyze the use of the ecclesiological metaphor of the stones and the Temple in the context of the symbolic theology of the Syriac Christian tradition. Then it proposes to understand the tension between Nature and Free Will in the theology of the First Discourse on the Martyrs, an encomium on Martyrs written by an anonymous author belonging to the Church of the East. In particular, we will argue that this theology was a direct response to dualistic cosmologies that understood the impulse towards martyrdom as the result of an absolute opposition to the material world.

Work and Nature in Syrian Monasticism, from Theodoret of Cyrrhus’ Religious History

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In this work, we propose to analyze how nature, embodied in the social spaces of production, conditions and structures the forms of representation of Syrian asceticism towards the 5th century AD. In that sense, this paper analyzes stories of saints compiled by Bishop Theodoret of Cyrrhus, who builds an ascetic ideal and example to imitate. However, within that ideal, we can access the subjects he leaves aside: free and unfree peasants. This must be understood from the complex relationship that monasticism and Christianity had with the notion of work as well as with the matter in its generality. Thus, we maintain as a hypothesis that, although rejected by Syrian asceticism, manual work is part of the bishop’s ideological structure when writing the lives of saints. In other words, work and nature are an inseparable binomial from the Christian practice of renouncing all material things.

Materiality and Communal Bondage. The Archaeological Evidence of the Jewish Communities in Syria in the Second Half of the Fourth Century.

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Little is known about the Jewish communities of Syria at the end of the 4th century. We have literary sources such as John Chrysostom and Libanius but they provide little information about their practices and ideas. This paper aims to address the problem of Jewish identity in Syria from the epigraphic and archaeological sources of two of the most relevant cities in the area which we know had at least one synagogue: Antioch and Apamea. Based on the contributions of the “material turn” that suggests that objects are not mere representations or symbols but rather have agency and act by modifying the experiences of men, we will maintain that this material evidence –epitaphs in Beth She' arim and the diaspora, as well as the mosaic floor of the Apamea synagogue– are configured as social agents that build community bond. Local identity in late antiquity undergoes a transformation, from which the religious component becomes quite relevant in its formation. In this sense, it also becomes supralocal and the Jews of these cities are interested in relating to spaces that are significant to them, generating a kind of social networks that are shaped and produced, in turn, by the action of the objects and places linked to them.

Materials and Cohesion. Rituals and Elements as a part of a Military Identity in Early Medieval Francia

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The presence of the Franks within Late Roman sources became more relevant due to their contacts with the empire. Such contacts took place through the foredera with which these groups served the Western Roman army as foederati. This phenomenon would be repeated several times during the fourth and fifth centuries. In such a manner, the Franks settled at the empire's Northern frontier, this is, the Rhenish limes During the fifth century, they were part of the contingents that participated of the Battle of the Catalaunian fields, in Aetius’s side. Later, the Salian leaders began to concentrate power and consolidate their position in Northern Gaul: These were the cases of Childeric I (457-481), and Clovis (481-511). This last achievement allowed them to secure their dominion in most of Gaul, even defeating the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouillé. In this context, the Franks were depicted as savage and stubborn by contemporary writers. The descriptions allow us to understand that there was a military identity inherited probably from the participation of the Franks in the late Roman army, an identity that was manifested through symbols and rituals. The aim of this article is to highlight the relation between certain materials as bearers of a kind of identity connected to military matters, and the construction of social cohesion within the context of Merovingian Gaul. In order to do this, I will focus on the analysis of narrative, legal, and canonical sources.

The Sign in Conduct and The Sign in Objects: Two Ways of Institutionalising The Church in Ambrose of Milan and Isidore of Seville

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When Ambrose of Milan (374-397) and Isidore of Seville (c. 600-636) assumed their bishoprics, the baptism of the faithful, the Eucharist and the ordination of bishops constituted main sacramental devices for ordering the Ecclesia, while giving institutional consistency to their communities. In both cases, however, the sacraments were not the only institutionalisation devices in force: indeed, ecclesiastical architecture, scripture, council meetings and territorial organisation were major works in the institutionalisation of Christian communities. These did not aim to organise the Church in the same way, and they often proposed different patterns of organisation. In this paper we will analyse how Ambrose and Isidore devolved different instruments in order to promote different ecclesiological models. The bishop of Milan, for his part, developed a programme of institutionalisation and disciplining of the clergy based on a pastoral of the clerical decorum. Two hundred years later, his reader, admirer and colleague in the episcopate, Isidore, sought support in less ambiguous signs and proposed an object-based recognition of the hierarchies and the various ecclesiastical officia.

Tunic and Coins: Contrasting Materialities and Agency of Singular Objects in the Medieval Legendary

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This work traces medieval references to the origin and supernatural characteristics of a relic, Christ’s seamless tunic. The survey leads to the inclusion of some tales concerning this garment in the medieval Christian legendary: in some versions of the legend about the origin of Judas’ thirty pieces of silver, the story threads with that relating to the tunic and its origin and this occurs in both Eastern and Western versions of the legend. The analysis of the Christian legendary about these objects focuses on the conceptions of materiality and agency of things, raising the idea of an ongoing reflection on different types of materiality and the role of artifice in Christian society. This article proposes the hypothesis of a possible contrast between the materialities of these singular objects and from there formulates the following questions. With respect to the tunic and the thirty coins, heterogeneous but narratively linked entities, is it possible to speak of two different and/or opposing agencies? If answered affirmatively, would such agency be in relation to a different materiality? This work presents some lines of exploration on these themes.

Metonymy, Materiality and Agency. Reflections on the Centrality of the Book in the Political Project of Alfonso X (1252-1284)

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The centrality of the book in the political and cultural project of Alfonso X has received increasing attention in recent years, especially from the perspective of codicology. These studies have allowed us to learn much more about the production and circulation process of the Alfonsine codices. However, the mechanisms through which the book acquires its fundamental meaning and function in Alfonso’s political and cultural plan have been only partially addressed, from perspectives that oscillate between a symbolic interpretation and a more pragmatic one. In the present work, we will try to problematize some aspects linked to this centrality, through an analysis of the metonymic foundations of the king-book relationship and its discursive articulation. We will propose that this foundation constitutes the key that allows us to think of the book as a material manifestation of the king's agency.

The Notarial Possession Letters: Instituted and Instituting Materiality (Madrid, 15th c.)

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Between the 13th and 15th centuries, a specific type of private notarial documentation expanded in Castile: the letters of possession. The aim of this research is to analyze based on new contributions from the “material turn” a set of private notarial letters found in the monastery of Santo Domingo del Real in Madrid. The article proposes the hypothesis that letters function as graphics objects as an instituted materiality whose production and exchange had as its purpose visualize and establish a new relationship both between people and between people and things. In this sense we will consider that the letters are both instituted and instituting.