Article
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The Paradise in Lo somni by Bernat Metge (c. 1340-1413)
Julia BUTINYÀ JIMÉNEZ
Original title: El Paradís en Lo somni de Bernat Metge (c. 1340-1413)
Published in Returning to Eden
Keywords: Bernat Metge, Humanism, Llibre del gentil e dels tres savis, Lo somni, Ramon Llull.
The concept of Paradise is analyzed in Lo somni, the great humanist dialogue by the notary of the chancellery of Barcelona, Bernat Metge, from the perspective of different religions and traditions (Catholic, Classical, Saracen doctrine and Christianity). The observation also makes it possible to calibrate the strong influence of the Mallorca Philosopher Ramon Llull, who is confirmed behind the origins of the humanist movement, as well as underlines the very peculiar techniques, the intensity of his critical sense and especially the intimate classicist bond. Still, he advances positions which are current issues.
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Fall and redemption of the knight in Curial e Güelfa
Sonia GROS LLADÓS
Original title: Caída y redención del caballero en Curial e Güelfa
Published in Returning to Eden
Keywords: Anthropocentrism, Chivalric novel, Curial e Güelfa, Fifteenth Century, Italian Humanism.
In this paper we propose a reading of the Catalan chivalric novel Curial e Güelfa, following the moral itinerary of the hero from the perspective of the Scriptures, with the intention of adequately assessing the profane character of the text, in our opinion, primarily anthropocentric, secular, and pagan, linked to an Italian humanistic context.
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Paradise (c. 1551-1554) as royal scenery: approach to La Gloria, by Titian, in the historical-biographical context of Charles V
Carlos Jesús SOSA RUBIO
Original title: El Paraíso (c. 1551-1554) como escenografía regia: aproximación a La Gloria, de Tiziano, en el contexto histórico-biográfico de Carlos V
Published in Returning to Eden
Keywords: Arianism, Charles V, Eschatology, Iconography, Propaganda, Religious Conflicts, Titian.
La Gloria, also called Il Paradiso by Tiziano Vecellio, its author, is perhaps the greatest pictorial creation that the Venetian created during his last years of service to Emperor Charles V. Although it has been defined as a work where the coexistence of the theological, eschatological and dynastic factors reaches the character of a paradigm, and even though its greatness goes beyond the format, there are still numerous doubts that hang around it, fundamentally related to the motif represented, the identity of quite a few characters and the reasons that led to their commission. This research compiles and expands some of the assessments made throughout the history of the canvas, trying to shed a light on doubtful aspects and, along with the religious and private motivations as the driving force of its commission, also allude to those of ideological roots, given the context of religious wars and turbulence of faith in which Titian executed his creation.
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Arcadian Edens, Edenic Paradises and Salvific Gardens
Antonio CORTIJO OCAÑA
Original title: Edenes arcádicos, paraísos edénicos y jardines salvíficos
Published in Returning to Eden
Keywords: Arcadia, Eden, Hortus Conclusus, Paradise, Utopia.
Eden or Paradise is one the most disseminated concepts in Christendom and the western world. From its Persian origin, this article traces its development through its Arcadian classical manifestations, its medieval modification as hortus conclusus and its pastoral and utopian elements in the Renaissance.
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Transactions from beyond life: wills with votes in favor of souls in Portuguese-Brazilian society in the crisis of the Ancien Régime (1700-1750)
Venceslau Tavares COSTA FILHO
Original title: Negócios do Além: testamentos em sufrágio das almas na sociedade luso-brasileira na crise do Antigo Regime (1700-1750)
Published in Returning to Eden
Keywords: Economy of Salvation, Inheritance Law, Social practices, Wills.
This article aims to discuss the use of wills with clauses on the suffrage of souls in the context of the economy of salvation in the first half of the 18th century in Brazil.
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Conversio ad creaturam and distentio animi: Considerations on non-being in the problems of evil and time in Augustine of Hippo
Bento Silva SANTOS; Adriano BERALDI
Original title: Conversio ad creaturam e distentio animi: Considerações sobre o não-ser nos problemas do mal e do tempo em Agostinho de Hipona
Published in Returning to Eden
The present article is dedicated to trace thoughts about some identifiable correspondences between Augustine of Hippo's conceptions of evil and of time through the indication of a relation between the movements of the voluntary defection of the will and the dispersion in the temporal mutability of the human creature in its link with non-being. To this end, some aspects of these conceptions will be examined both as worked out in De libero arbitrio and those elaborated in the Confessions, more specifically in Book XI (and to a certain extent in X), both works of the hyponensis where they appear, we believe, mutually implicated through the notions of conversio ad creaturam and distentio animi respectively.
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Kumbi Ṣāliḥ. An example of twin city. The zenith and the fall
Vicente CASTRO MARTÍNEZ
Original title: Kumbi Ṣāliḥ. Un ejemplo de ciudad gemela. Auge y caída
Published in Returning to Eden
Keywords: African values, Bilād as-Sudān, Ghana and Almoravids, Islam, Kumbi Ṣāliḥ.
The concept of twin city which, many times, is considered specifically African but, however, has its origin in the rise of Islam in territories such as Iraq and Egypt. The aim of this article is nothing but reflexing about this concept using the example of the ancient city of Kumbi Ṣāliḥ. Along the following lines there will be exposed some ideas as the origin of the city, its rise related to its condition of capital of the Kingdom of Ghana, the relation between Islamic and traditional African values and the causes of the decline that ends with the abandon of this place at the beginning of the 13th century. In addition, there will be used some sorts of resources such as archaeological discoveries, written records, and other piece of historical works. Finally, this essay has the proposal of using these resources in a complementary way.
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The stone vault and the ivy leaves: the Cantiga 65 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria by King Afonso X (13th century)
Bárbara DANTAS
Original title: A abóbada de pedra e as folhas de hera: a Cantiga 65 das Cantigas de Santa Maria do rei Afonso X (século XIII)
Published in Returning to Eden
Keywords: Afonso X, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Medieval Art., Vault.
This work analyses the text and images of the Cantiga 65 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria by the Castilian king Afonso X with the aim of demonstrating how the vaults of medieval sanctuaries relate to the ivy leaves and the main character of this Cantiga, an excommunicated man who wandered across half the world to receive from the Virgin herself the grace of redemption, in addition to glimpsing the immortality of faith and friendship in an abandoned church, already covered by vast foliage.
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Aquinas’ Reading of the Aristotelian Noetic Doctrine in De Anima 3, 5
Luiz ASTORGA
Original title: La Lectura de Santo Tomás de la Doctrina Noética Aristotélica en De Anima 3, 5
Published in Returning to Eden
Keywords: Active Intellect, Immateriality, Passive Intellect, Possible Intellect, Theory of intellect.
The goal of this paper is to show that Saint Thomas Aquinas’ reading of the Aristotelian text in the treatise On the Soul (Περὶ Ψυχῆς, De Anima) regarding the nature of the human intellective faculty – especially in the critical passage of Book III – is not only true to Aristotle’s intentions, but is also more correct and complete than the one put forward by many of Aquinas’ modern critics, who only admit in Aristotelian doctrine a passive intellect and an active intellect.
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A New Approach to the Biography of Pedro Jiménez de Samper, a Knight Deployed in the Border in the Service of Pedro IV of Aragon (ca. 1314-1364)
Mario LAFUENTE GÓMEZ
Original title: Una nueva aproximación a la biografía de Pedro Jiménez de Samper, un caballero de frontera al servicio de Pedro IV de Aragón (ca. 1314-1364)
Published in Returning to Eden
Keywords: 14th Century, Crown of Aragon, Military History, Nobility, Peter IV of Aragon, Social History, War.
Pedro Jiménez de Samper was a prominent member of the Aragon’s middle nobility, who lived during the central decades of the 14th century and developed an intense military career in the service of King Peter IV of Aragon, the Ceremonious. In this text, we offer a revised and expanded version of his biography, which we first published in 2008 in this journal’s number 8. The current version preserves the original text while incorporating new content, which refers to all the stages of Samper’s life and allows us to considerably widen the repertoire of issues previously addressed. Among the most important new features presented here are the location of his family origins, the identification of his clientele networks and the dating of his death. The result is a case study that provides an accurate illustration of the relationship between aristocracy and war in the Crown of Aragon in this period of the late Middle Ages.
