Article
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Building the city: the role of women in late medieval construction
Marta REDONDO DE FUENMAYOR
Original title: Construyendo la ciudad: el rol femenino en la edilicia bajomedieval
Published in Mirabilia Journal
Keywords: Architecture, Construction, Jobs on the construction site, Late Middle Ages, Women, Workshops.
Transgressors or submissive to established norms, women have been active subjects of architectural practice throughout history. This was the case in the Middle Ages, with its well-known patriarchal societies, where a clear hierarchy of the public, dominated by men, over the private, the place of women, was evident. Thus, it seems unthinkable to some that a percentage of the hands that built the great medieval buildings belonged to the gender relegated to the intimacy of the home. But nothing could be further from the truth: historical experiences show that medieval construction was a phenomenon of shared jurisdiction. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to make visible the role of women as construction workers. The starting point will be a bibliographical review, which reveals the dispersion, scarcity, and limited visibility that this subject has had in traditional historiography. On this basis, we will analyse the regulatory documents, builindg logs, statutes of professional guilds and municipal ordinances, as primary sources that have facilitated the understanding of the role of women within the social hierarchies established in the late medieval period. Subsequently, a general overview will be given of the activities carried out in the construction process, both the tasks on site and those carried out in trades and workshops. The starting point for this is the analysis of graphic and written sources. The images that accompany this chapter, unusually considered when dealing with the subject, support the documentation and become a magnificent exponent of the visual culture of the Middle Ages. Finally, the female stipend in construction work will be analysed, making it possible to ascertain the place of women in the late medieval building industry.
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Presentation
André GABY
Original title: Presentación
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
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Saint Augustine and the definition of Music as Scientia (De Musica I, IV, 5)
Luís Carlos Silva de SOUSA
Original title: Santo Agostinho (354-430) e a definição de Música como Scientia (De Musica I, IV, 5)
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
Keywords: Modulation, Music, Order, Reason, Saint Augustine, Scientia, Transcendence.
The objective of this work is to analyse the use of the term Scientia in the definition of Music proposed by Saint Augustine in the work De Musica (I, IV, 5). The Music, one of the seven Liberal Arts, was understood by Augustine as a manifestation of th order of audible realities. The Music had as its object not exactly modulatio, but bona modulatio. Many animals are capable of modulation, they fellow numerical laws: but, for Saint Augustine, the Music was a Scientia bene modulandi, and it assumed a specific, transcendent telos (τέλος). The term Scientia could not be dispensed with, since ignorance of the bona modulatio, as an exercise of Reason, could cause disorder in the use of song.
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Between sins and virtues. A look at the feminine condition in medieval daily life through sacred and secular songs
Antonio Celso RIBEIRO
Original title: Entre Pecados e Virtudes. Um olhar sobre a condição feminina no cotidiano medieval a partir de cantigas sacras e seculares
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
Keywords: Eroticism, Female condition, Joglarezas – Soldadeiras, Middle Ages, Social class, Ŷawari.
The present work intends to briefly analyze the role of the medieval woman from her social class whether she is a well-born woman, or a slave, God fearing or mistress of her needs and desires, lover or loved one, courtesan, intelectual and artist and their interest-relationships with eroticism. Therefore, we will briefly discuss on these roles and their implications for society at the time, especially for the joglarezas/soldadeiras and ŷawari – slave-singers specially trained within Arab-Muslim culture, outlining the boundaries between public and private spaces and between the sacred and the profane.
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Toward a didactic of Music in two Carolingian treatises: Musica and Scolica Enchiriadis
Julieta CARDIGNI
Original title: Hacia una didáctica musical en dos tratados carolingios: Musica y Scolica Enchiriadis
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
Keywords: Didactic features, Discursive analysis, Musica Enchiriadis, Scolica Enchiriadis.
The present paper aims to analyze the didactic features present in two Carolingian writings about music: Musica and Scolia Enchiriadis, from 9th century. Traditionally transmitted and read together, these treatises contain some of the earliest medieval reflections on polyphony, modal theory, and musical training. In addition, Musica and Scolica Enchiriadis show how the Ars Musica turns into a performative notion, while still trying to be part –at least formally– of the tradition of speculative music and the harmonia mundi. In the context of the Carolingian reforms, Music seems to be acquiring a more practical dimension, according to the needs of homogenization of Liturgy accomplished throughout the Empire. This dimension, which of course had always existed as a performative aspect of Music, needs now to be theorized and systematized for its transmission. In his attempt to teach the –until then– oral knowledge about singing, the anonymous writer(s) of Musica and Scolica Enchiriadis needs not only to explain the new concepts, but also to create a common language to accomplish this task. The result of this intent is one of the first musical notation systems which, though not of great further impact as a means of transmission, gives us however a glimpse to the metalinguistic process of creating a musical language. Departing from Discourse Analysis, we will trace and analyze these didactic strategies and resources, with the purpose of delineating the didactic project of both treatises.
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Itaque sine musica nulla disciplina potest esse perfecta: musical iconography in hispanic romanic sculpture
Alicia MANSO SAN ISIDRO
Original title: Itaque sine musica nulla disciplina potest esse perfecta: la iconografía musical en la escultura románica hispana
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
Keywords: Instruments, King David, Last Judgement, Middle Ages, Minstrels, Music, Romanesque sculpture.
The presence of musical iconography in medieval art, particularly in Romanesque sculpture, is enormous. Thus, in this article we will focus on the chronology from the 11th to the 13th century, analyzing the most important examples on the most representented topics: the Final Judgement, King David, and profane scenes. Musical instruments are represented in both non-religious and religious scenes, included as a reflection of biblical texts with a profound theological content. Analyzing the representation of instruments gives us information about iconographic influences, that begin with the miniatures in the Beatos. Moreover, this analysis is useful regarding organology and musicology, assessing the verisimilitude of these representations with a multidisciplinar methology.
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Oh Fortune! Reminiscence of the Boecian Consolatio in the moral verses of Carmina Burana
Mariano OLIVERA
Original title: ¡Oh Fortuna! Reminiscencia de la Consolatio boeciana en los versos morales de Carmina Burana
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
Keywords: Consolatio, Fortune, Philosophy, Poetry, Therapeutic.
The purpose of this article is to present reminiscences of Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy in three goliard poems by Carmina Burana. To demonstrate the identity of rhetorical and philosophical style: consolatio, between the poems of Book I-II of the Consolation of Philosophy and the selected Goliard poems. From which we will glimpse their potential to awaken consolatory and therapeutic philosophical reflection. All this in an almost abysmal leap between the 5th century AD and the 13th century AD. The survival of the consolatio, not only as a rhetorical-poetic style but also as a spiritual exercise that continues to be present in monastic and clerical life, will be substantiated. To do this, first, we will justify in general the importance of the Consolation of Philosophy in courtly and monastic life, that is, its reception in the Latin Middle Ages. Then we will elaborate on the philosophical practice and the exercises that emerge around the speeches and consoling verses, which although they lack argumentation, in their entire poetic splendour, awaken the philosophical reflection of the present towards past goods, the loss of virtue and the deceptive nature of Fortune. Everything is resolved in four movements: aegritudo or perturbatio, lethargum, avocatio mentis, revocatio mentis that make up the consolation or recovery of what makes the soul and reason “sick”. To culminate our journey on such a therapeuo, we propose the key content that all the work signifies, a comparative analysis between the Boecian verses and the Burano verses.
