Article
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The Interaction of Ambrose of Milan with the Emperor Theodosius the Great over the Dignity of Human Life
Eirini ARTEMI
Published in Mirabilia Journal 34
Keywords: Ambrosius of Milan, Byzantine Greek Macedonia, Massacre in Thessalonica, Theodosius the Great.
When Theodosius the Great became emperor, the influence of Christianity had expanded throughout the Roman Empire. The Christians gained the upper hand in the Empire mainly after the death of Julian and when they became in majority. This power led the emperor Theodosius to behave to pagans with cruelty that didn’t match to a Christian emperor. He was responsible for the massacre in Thessalonica of the province of byzantine Greek Macedonia. There 7000 thousand people were killed. In this paper, we will examine which was the attitude Ambrosius of Milan to the emperor, when the bishop though that the Church was just be used as a political prop or fig leaf. Which is the importance of the letter of Ambrose that was written to Theodosius? How did this Ambrose’s criticism to Theodosius for his ruthless slaughter, barring the emperor from entering church or taking communion for several months, and ordering him to do penance for several months before he could enter again and receive the host, change Theodosius’ behaviour as Christian? Did the letter of Ambrose to Theodosius have a catalytic role to later sanctity of the emperor? Ambrose’s penance should not be accepted as a win of the church over the emperor but only as a demonstration of the power of atonement over the penitent sinner. This power should not discriminate people according to their political power but according to their actions as Christians.
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Dreamscape in La leyenda del caballero del Cisne: the creation of a lineage and the promotion of chivalrous values in oneiric episodes
Natacha CROCOLL
Original title: El espacio de los sueños en La leyenda del caballero del Cisne: la creación de un linaje y la promoción de los valores caballerescos en los episodios oníricos
Published in Mirabilia Journal 34
Keywords: Chivalrous values, Dreams, La leyenda del caballero del Cisne, Lineage.
In La leyenda del caballero del Cisne, the account of the eponymous hero’s exploits and those of his grandson, Godofredo de Bouillon, is often interrumpted by oneiric and wonderful episodes of different kinds (prophetic dreams, angelic appearances, etc.). Such episodes play a crucial role in the text’s structure, for they announce future scenes and take part in the characters’ portrayal. In this essay, we aim to study this variety of functions through textual analysis; we will focus on the dreams and visions that accompany the story and contribute to the literary creation of a lineage predestined to wear Jerusalem’s crown and participate in the characterization of a new chivalrous figure promoted by the Castilian kings in the 13th and 14th centuries
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Medieval latin manuscript culture of the Crown of Aragon. Transcription and study of the parchments of the 12th-13th centuries of the Archive “general b” of the Borja Library (Sant Cugat del Vallès)
Enric MALLORQUÍ-RUSCALLEDA
Original title: Cultura medieval llatina manuscrita de la Corona d’Aragó. Transcripció i estudi dels pergamins dels segles XII-XIII del Fons General b de la Biblioteca Borja (Sant Cugat del Vallès)
Published in Mirabilia Journal 34
Keywords: Borja Library, Crown of Aragon, Edition, Latin, Manuscript Culture, Medieval, Sant Cugat, Transcription.
Father Antoni Borràs i Feliu, archivist of the library of the Borgia Center of Sant Cugat del Vallés, announced in 1994 the acquisition of a series of parchments by the library of this center. Father Borràs classified these parchments of varied typology, grouping them in four categories: A, B (“General Fons”), C (“Fons Ripoll-Sant Joan de les Abadesses”), D (“Fons Berga”), and E (“Fons vari”). This article presents the transcription and a brief codicological and paleographic study of B (“Fons General”). Among the parchments in question are pontifical documents (“butlles”), royal documents, university degrees, and a few documents classified by centuries: from the 12th to the 17th century. Here I study the latter; more specifically, the documents catalogued with the numbers 4.1 (number 1 for us) and 4.2 (numbers 2 and 3).
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A look at the alterity between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age. The perception of the other in some medieval and modern texts (1200-1600)
Marica COSTIGLIOLO
Original title: Uno sguardo sull’alterità tra Medioevo ed Età Moderna. La percezione dell’altro in alcuni testi medievali e moderni (1200-1600)
Published in Mirabilia Journal 34
Keywords: Alterity, Colonialism, Diversity, Islam, Middle Ages, New World, Renaissance.
The concept of otherness is complex and layered. To understand how the Western world has received, rejected, or dominated the Other is crucial for the understanding of the construction of the Western cultural identity and for trying to find the motivations that have brought Europe to a politics of colonialism that has characterized social, economic, and political relations up to modern times. In this short essay I analyse some medieval and modern works to trace the textual strategies that testify the passage from the perception of difference as a possible source of threat, of danger, to its delegitimization to existence and consequently to the “justified” dominion over the other.
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The divine ordering of Will and Power in the Book of Contemplation in God by Ramon Llull (1232-1316)
Gabriel Tebaldi MEIRA; Ricardo da COSTA
Original title: O ordenamento divino da Vontade e do Poder no Livro da Contemplação em Deus de Ramon Llull (1232-1316)
Published in Mirabilia Journal 34
Keywords: Book of Contemplation on God, Divine Ordering, Medieval Philosophy, Power, Ramon Llull, Will.
The objective of the work is to analyse the concepts of Will and Power according to Ramon Llull (1232-1316) in the Book of Contemplation in God, Chapter 47, in its XI Distinction, as well as to understand the author’s proposal for practical application of such principles in the Christian life.
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The missio ad intra and la missio ad extra in the thought of Ramon Llull
Manuel ORTUÑO ARREGUI
Original title: La missio ad intra y la missio ad extra en el pensamiento de Ramon Llull
Published in Mirabilia Journal 34
Keywords: Missio, Missionary, Ramon Llull, Thought.
In this article we present the thought of Ramon Llull in his literary production about the missio ad intra and missio ad extra, which admits a double meaning to the meaning of mission, and of course, integrates the sense of crusade. Mission and crusade are not two separate realities, but fully integrated. His work must be studied from an overall perspective, because it synthesizes missionary action through a missio ad intra and a missio ad extra that seeks to encompass the entire Mediterranean and European context of his time. This action cannot be traced only in doctrinal works, treatises or proposals to the monarchs or the pontificate, but also in works of a non-Crusader character. In conclusion, Llull’s various works illuminate his idea of mission, which has already been present since his conversion in 1263, and this means that the concept of missio can be integrated into a single sense as missio ad gentes.
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The process of islamization in Western Africa under the rulership of the Empire of Mālī
Ahmed-Salem Ould Mohamed BABA; Vicente CASTRO MARTÍNEZ
Original title: El proceso de islamización de África occidental bajo el Imperio de Mālī
Published in Mirabilia Journal 34
Keywords: Animism, Black Africa, Haŷŷ, Islam, Saadies, Trade.
In this article, it is analyzed the role that had the best-known sub-Saharan empire, Mālī, in the acceleration of the process of islamization which took place in the southern part of the Sahara Desert between the XIIIth and XVIth centuries. However, it proves to be useful for the mentioning of the fact that the adoption of the Muslim religion by the Western Africa peoples do not cause the abandonment of their traditional beliefs, but a syncretism between them, despite the intentions of their rulers. On the other hand, apart from religious aspects, it will be very important the investigation of the commercial exchanges as one of the essential elements in the development of the penetration of Islamic values along this region of the African continent, in conjunction with the importance of the art as an indicator of this process advancement. To do that, it will be paid close attention to the development of the peculiar Sudanese art that was implemented in the main cities of the empire, around which is related this investigation, Timbuktu.
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Deciphering Lo somni and its literary techniques
Julia BUTIÑÁ
Original title: Descifrando Lo somni y sus técnicas literarias
Published in Mirabilia Journal 34
Keywords: Italian Trecento authors, Lo somni, Ramon Llull, Rhetoric, Troubadour Poetry.
The message that, in Lo somni, the spirit of the king secretly entrusts to the author –the great humanist Bernat Metge– commissioning him to spread it in the future, given its dangerous nature, is encrypted through literary sources. After following –especially those of Boccaccio– in the four books, by means of tables published in 2002, his links between the different books are represented in a diagram. This allows verifying that said layout is not only harmonic and makes the logic of said sources explicit, but also seems to reveal techniques typical of verse –coming from the troubadour heritage– and of prose –the framework used by the Italian Trecento authors–, which would contribute to artistically encrypt the message. This consists of rejecting the misogynistic doctrine of the Petrarchian Secretum, which has contaminated Boccaccio, and adhering to Llull, who has the most intricate artifice of concealment. The investigation is completed by a contrast with the Apologia, which confirms these results.
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Gauberte Fabricio de Vagad (author of the first Crónica del reino de Aragón) and his poetic work in the repertoires and songbooks of his time
Jesús Fernando CÁSEDA TERESA
Original title: auberte Fabricio de Vagad (autor de la primera Crónica del reino de Aragón) y su obra poética en los repertorios y cancioneros de su tiempo
Published in Mirabilia Journal 34
Keywords: Chronicle of Aragon, Dolce stil nuovo, Gauberte, XVth century.
This study links the creator of the first Chronicle of Aragon with the one who appears with his name in the songbooks of his time, establishing the common identity of both. It traces his biography –family origins, his birth in Zaragoza between 1415 and 1420, his military and clerical life and his relationship with the printer Pablo Hurus–. It fixes his poetic corpus and analyzes his compositions, especially those collected in the Cancionero de Vindel. Among the themes he deals with, his attacks on stilnovism, his defence of the feminine condition and some forms of literary and poetic divertimento stand out.
