Article

1. Women and the supreme power in Byzantium (5th-11th centuries). Numismatic approach

   José María de FRANCISCO OLMOS

   Original title: Las mujeres y el poder supremo en Bizancio, siglos V-XI. Aproximación numismática

   Published in Mulier aut Femina. Idealism or reality of women in the Middle Ages

   Keywords: 5th-11th centuries, Byzantium, Empresses, Numismatics.

   This paper studies the evolution of the role of Byzantine women in relation to the Empire government, with special attention to the numismatic evidence. The analyzed period goes from the beginning of the Empire in the 5th century to the middle of the 11th, with a detailed analysis of those reigns that seem most significant in the evolution of this issue, that is those of Pulcheria, Irene and the sisters Zoë and Theodora, with whom women finally became able to assume the government in their own names, without any shade of fiction, as seen on the previous cases.

2. The medieval feminine writing: mystic, passion and transgression

   Maria Simone Marinho NOGUEIRA

   Original title: A escrita feminina medieval: mística, paixão e transgressão

   Published in Mulier aut Femina. Idealism or reality of women in the Middle Ages

   Keywords: Feminine, Mystic, Passion, Transgression., Writing.

   In this paper, we try to present some of the medieval feminine mystic, concentrating mainly on the thought of Marguerite Porete. Among other things, our intention is to show that the studied women had a strong literary culture, and also that their works oscilate between transgression and passion.

3. Shouting at the Angels: Visual Experience in Angela of Foligno’s Memoriale

   Pablo GARCÍA-ACOSTA

   Published in Mulier aut Femina. Idealism or reality of women in the Middle Ages

   Keywords: Angela of Foligno, Devotion, Franciscan Art, Memoriale, Vision..

   This article is part of the scholarly revival in Angela of Foligno (c. 1248-c. 1308) studies in relation to images. With the exhibition entitled Dal visibile all’indicibile. Crocifissi ed esperienza mistica in Angela da Foligno (Foligno, October 6th, 2012 – January 6th, 2013) and the publication of the catalogue, relations between Angela’s visions and her artistic context have been examined in greater depth. However, despite the excellent essays included in the book, there is still lacking a theoretical basis to explain Angela's devotional relationship with some images and, in particular, her reception of them. The main aim of these pages is therefore to develop that theoretical background and to interpret from such a basis the events that occurred in Assisi in front of the so-called “vetrata degli angeli” (the stained glass window of the angels).

4. Idealism or reality of women in the Middle Ages

   José María SALVADOR GONZÁLEZ

   Original title: Mulier aut Femina. Idealidad o realidad de la mujer en la Edad Media

   Published in Mulier aut Femina. Idealism or reality of women in the Middle Ages

   Keywords: Edad Media, Idealidad, Mujer, Realidad.

5. Naturalism in Averroes and its implications for the relationship between Philosophy and Religion

   Luiz ASTORGA

   Original title: El naturalismo en Averroes y sus consecuencias para la relación entre Filosofía y Religión

   Published in Monastic and Scholastic Philosophy in the Middle Ages

   Keywords: Averroes, Fideism, Naturalism, Philosophy, Religion.

   The purpose of these pages is to present Averroes’ opinion concerning the possibility of supernatural events, as well as its consequences to the relationship that, according to that wise Cordobese, should exist between philosophy and religion. To this end, we will take into account certain central aspects of Averroes’ thought, especially his famous debate with Algazel (the Tahafut al Tahafut) and his Decisive Treatise (Fasl al Maqal).

6. The Scholasticism – considerations about your internal unity and diversity

   José D’Assunção BARROS

   Original title: A Escolástica – considerações sobre sua unidade e diversidade interna

   Published in Monastic and Scholastic Philosophy in the Middle Ages

   Keywords: Medieval Culture, Scholasticism, University.

   The mainly purpose of this article is to discuss comparatively some historiography positions concerning to the interaction between Scholastic and the social-historical developments of the medieval period, examining this interaction on the point of view from the Cultural History. Among the questions examined, an important point is the relation between Scholastic and University, as also the correspondence between the transformations inside the Scholastic thought and the passages from the medieval period of feudal expansion (XI-XIII centuries) to the feudal crisis from the XIV and XV centuries.

7. The Cluny Unicorn from Sero te amavi

   Silvia MAGNAVACCA

   Original title: El unicornio de Cluny desde el Sero te amavi

   Published in Monastic and Scholastic Philosophy in the Middle Ages

   Keywords: Cluny, Sero te amavi, Unicorn.

   The author tested a reflection on the role of sensuality in Augustinian thought about a work of art medieval tapestries “The Lady and the Unicorn” in the National Museum of the Middle Ages, in Cluny. To do this, first, remember the bill of the work, its dating and arrangement, noting also the main interpretations of which was the object. Secondly, on the basis of medieval symbolism, describes and analyzes each of the six tapestries that comprise, in which, according to the traditional interpretation, see represented the external senses, reserving for the end the enigmatic sixth tapestry, In third, it refers also to other parts of the Augustinian work, the book X of the Confessions, centered on Sero te amavi you to highlight some points of Augustine's thought, some underlined, and shows that they agree a variant in the traditional interpretation of these famous medieval tapestries. Finally, summarizes his conclusions, emphasizing the character of mere exercise proposed hermeneutic interpretation.

8. The concept of contemplation in medieval monastic education: reflections on Bernard of Clairvaux

   Terezinha OLIVEIRA, Rita de Cássia PIZOLI

   Original title: O conceito de contemplação na educação monástica medieval: reflexões sobre Bernardo de Claraval

   Published in Monastic and Scholastic Philosophy in the Middle Ages

   Keywords: Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercians, Monastic Education.

   This article reflects on the thought of Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) in order to understand the dynamics of the Cistercian monastic education and its influence in the educational process in century XII. In light of social history, the first part presents some aspects of the social structures of medieval christian west, relating the broader context with the Cistercian monastic reform proposal that forwarded the Church for an important moment against the temporal power, with Pope Innocent III (1198-1216). Bernardo of Clairvaux became a part key of the church reform that was in course, from the gregorian reform and has in contact with all the importants points of the conflicts politicians of its time. Its letters and its writhings disclose the dynamics between action and contemplation that if became its life and, by means of them, we can perceive the influence in the direction of the society, that if wants guided in the values of the authenticity of the love, conscience of itself, taste for the pureness spiritual and the affirmation of the dignity of the man as image and similarity of God. This vision Christian humanist and the valuation of the knowledge as conscience of itself, were the basis for the mystical movement developed by the Cistercians. Finally, the text presents reflections on the Sermon on the Vigil of Christmas to explain the devotion to the humanity of Jesus as one of the theological basis for learning the route of ascent to contemplation, as understood by the monks developed psychic ability to achieve affection and unity between reason.

9. The Disdacalicon of Hugh of St. Victor – Rules of reading as norms of life

   Maria Simone Marinho NOGUEIRA

   Original title: O Didascálicon de Hugo de São Vítor – Regras de leitura enquanto normas de vida

   Published in Monastic and Scholastic Philosophy in the Middle Ages

   Keywords: Reading − Rules − Method − Moral Discipline..

   In the present text looks to make a reflection about some established norms in the Didascalicon of Hugh of St. Victor, seeking to show that these overwhelm the idea of a simple normativity and, in turn, recover themselves as a true moral discipline.

10. Reflections of a woman before Hildegard – Christian martyrdom aspects in the work of Rosvita von Gandersheim

    Álvaro Alfredo BRAGANÇA JÚNIOR, Christiane de RESENDE MARQUES

    Original title: Reflexiones de una mujer antes de Hildegarda – aspectos del martirio cristiano en la obra de Rosvita von Gandersheim

    Published in Monastic and Scholastic Philosophy in the Middle Ages

    Keywords: Christian martyrdom, Medieval Culture, Medieval Literature, Roswhita von Gandersheim, The Holy Roman Empire.

    Roswhita von Gandersheim (tenth century) is considered, the magistra bingensis earlier, the first female voice in literature in German-speaking lands. During its existence, the canonisa wrote epic texts, legends and six theatrical plays, to be represented within the convents, and perhaps also an external audiences. Her classical theater latin culture, specifically of Terence, it was quite helpful in their theatrical texts, in which the artistic knowledge was united their purpose of evangelization. Among the various themes that we noted in Roswhita theatrical plays, calls our attention to the presentation of the concept of martyrdom. Leaving, therefore, a discussion about the ecllesiastical meaning of the word, will get a brief exemplification in Gandersheim theatrical texts, with the intention of showing only with religious language, but mainly with the linguistic record of their texts, an indisputable tool to solidify the Christian virtues in the world in which he lived.