Anales de Historia Antigua, Medieval y Moderna
Anales de Historia Antigua, Medieval y Moderna es una revista científica con arbitraje externo editada desde 1998 por el Instituto de Historia Antigua, Medieval y Moderna (Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires). Es la continuación de Anales de Historia Antigua y Medieval, editada entre 1948 y 1997. La revista está orientada a un público académico especializado y tiene como objetivo publicar trabajos de investigación originales e inéditos del ámbito de los estudios en Historia Antigua (Clásica), Medieval y Moderna. Está abierta a especialistas e investigadores tanto del país como del extranjero, aceptando colaboraciones escritas preferentemente en español, pero también en inglés, francés, italiano y portugués. Los trabajos presentados se someten a arbitraje externo doble ciego realizado por pares expertos. Su periodicidad es semestral. Cada número cubre los períodos enero-junio y julio-diciembre.
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires
El funcionamiento burocrático y la gestión patrimonial y financiera de la cámara regia de Castilla, conforme a la Relación de efectos que Pedro Fernández recibía y entregaba por orden del rey (1397-1398)
The current work will analyse the institutional reality of the royal chamber during the reign of Henry III of Castile (1390-1406), taking as the main starting point the Relación de efectos que Pedro Fernández recibía y entregaba de orden del rey (A record of the belongings received and issued by Pedro Fernández by order of the king) (AGS, PR, file 29, document 28), a document that provides a detailed record of the workings of the royal chamber between 28 August 1397 and 19 August 1398. The study will attempt to delimit this institutional reality by analyzing its internal bureaucratic functioning and the operations carried out under the supervision of the chamberlain (camarero) Pedro Fernández concerning the entry (cargo) and exit (data) of the goods of the chamber. The work highlights the importance of this institution as a bureaucratized body, emphasizing its role as a manager of royal favor and an extraordinary financial resource for the monarchy, in contrast to its strictly domestic functions.
Crown of Castile; Court; Henry III of Castile; kingship; Royal Chamber
Copyright (c) 2025 Anales de Historia Antigua, Medieval y Moderna
Erudición y polemismo en El Tostado: el Defensorium trium conclusionum como reflejo del saber y del ser de Alfonso de Madrigal
This article analyses the Defensorium trium conclusionum, a work by the theologian Alfonso de Madrigal, who is commonly known as El Tostado. The Defensorium trium conclusionum is one of his most original treatys and one of those that best defines him. For this reason, through the analysis we will appreciate, among others, two of the author's most genuine features. Firstly, his immense and varied knowledge, knowledge that extends to almost all areas of knowledge. Secondly, his critical attitude towards any idea lacking a consistent foundation, a faithful reflection of a personality restless to obtain knowledge, whenever possible, based on rational and scientific criteria. Consequently, and due to the characteristics reflected in his writing, Alfonso de Madrigal deserves to be placed among the most distinguished figures of castilian Humanism.
Alfonso de Madrigal; Defensorium trium conclusionum; Polémica de Siena; erudición; polemismo.
Infidelity, betrayal and forced mobility: some cases of exile and banishment in the Hispano-Gothic kingdom of Toledo (VI – VII centuries).
The Hispano gothic kingdom was marked by intense conflicts between the royal power and the aristocratic segments. The result of these disputes was the promulgation of laws that punished traitors and infidels with exile or, in case of escape, banishment. We find examples of both forms of mobility in the 6th and 7th centuries, particularly in the work of Valerio del Bierzo that is analyzed in this study.
Conflicto, guerra y guerreros: una aproximación hacia los discursos sobre la violencia en los Padres de la Iglesia (siglos IV-VII)
The present work proposes, taking as fundamental sources the City of God of Augustine of Hippo, the Dialogues of Gregory The Great and Sentences of Isidoro of Seville, to elucidate the discursive strategies that three Fathers of the Church used in the presentation of the violence and the outstanding characteristics of those actors and principles to which these discourses incorporate or remit, observing the argumentative survivals, the differences and the emphases placed around the V century in one case and the VII century in another. In this context, we believe that there is a particular construction of what we might call "belief", with specific appeals not only to violence, but to mentions about "war", "struggle" and "faith"; forming a set of multiple and significant meanings.
El traslado de las divinidades a través de las cohors voluntariorum civium Romanorum de época imperial
Studies on migration in ancient Rome reveal social, political and cultural panoramas in favour of Roman mobility. Despite cultural evolution, some elements, especially in the religious sphere, endured. We focus on divinities relocated by mobilizing agents, emphasizing the role of Roman military units. Specifically, we analyse cohorts of Roman citizen volunteers (cohors voluntariorum civium Romanorum), an aspect scarcely covered by current historiography. This study demonstrates how these citizens, enlisted in auxiliary units, disseminated divinities to territories distant from their origin. We identify approximately seventeen units with these characteristics, originating from Pannonia, Syria, Germania, Numidia, Moesia, Raetia, and Cappadocia. Our objective is to examine the relocation and cult of divinities across the Mediterranean by these units during the imperial era and to employ Social Network Analysis (SNA) as a method to study this phenomenon of divinity transfer or diffusion.
cohors voluntariorum civium Romanorum, Roman religion, ARS/SNA, divinity transfer, Roman army
The Notarial Possession Letters: Instituted and Instituting Materiality (Madrid, 15th c.)
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.
Copyright (c) 2024 Anales de Historia Antigua, Medieval y Moderna
Tunic and Coins: Contrasting Materialities and Agency of Singular Objects in the Medieval Legendary
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)
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.
Materials and Cohesion. Rituals and Elements as a part of a Military Identity in Early Medieval Francia
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
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.
Materiality and Communal Bondage. The Archaeological Evidence of the Jewish Communities in Syria in the Second Half of the Fourth Century.
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.
Work and Nature in Syrian Monasticism, from Theodoret of Cyrrhus’ Religious History
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.
Nature and Free Will in the Theology of Martyrdom of the First Discourse on Martyrs
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.
Politics and Celestial Spirits in the 16th Century: the Connection between Imperial Apology and Radical Angelical Magic in John Dee’s Practices
This work proposes to study the relationship between two prominent elements of John Dee’s (1527-1608/9) work: his role as an apologist at the court of Elizabeth I, and his unique esoteric practice of angel invocation. Although both facets have already received attention from specialized historiography and have been explored to some degree of depth, these analyses have been conducted in isolation. This paper examines the political representations present in the (alleged) conferences with celestial spirits. To this end, the manuscript diaries of Dee (BL, Sloane MS 3188) in which he recorded the supposed conversations with celestial entities, are considered as the main source.
Political Violence and Emergency Powers in the Late Roman Republic: from Cicero to Guantánamo
This paper analyzes violence in the Late Roman Republic as a result of the political confrontations of the time. In this context, the different “emergency powers” (senatus consultum ultimum, hostis declaration, tyrannicide) are reviewed as an extreme product of those confrontations. Finally, a comparative exercise is proposed between ancient Rome and the present day regarding the so-called Enemy Criminal Law, around the debate on the absolute validity (or not) of civic and human rights in any political or judicial situation.
The militia of the Aetolian Confederation and its controversy (5th-2nd centuries BC).
This research examines the role played by the militia in the rise of the Aetolian Confederation, one of the most important actors in Hellenistic Greece, in parallel to the adoption of federal institutions. The evolution of the militia between the 5th and 2nd centuries BC is analysed, and a proposal for the organisation of its contingents is made on the basis of this data. The study detects a manipulation of the literary association between the Aetolian peoples and arms by the enemies of the Confederation. Similarly, despite their demographic limitations, it confirms the dual dissuasive and defensive vocation of the Confederate armies, as guarantors of political activity and territorial integrity in a context dominated by powers with far superior military capacity. With regard to the structure of the Aetolian forces, there are elements that suggest a certain level of specialisation. Nevertheless, recurrent evolutionary patterns are identified in the Greek world of these centuries, both in terms of the chain of command and military tactics. Finally, it provides a preliminary approach to the controversy over the possession of a fully constituted war fleet, arguing for its operability in parallel to the use of third party maritime assets.
Feminine and Liminal. Amazon Myths in the Anecumene: Iberia and the Northern Pontus
Attic ceramics soon became one of the main export products destined to boost the Mediterranean trade networks established since the Mycenaean Period. The increase in competition in traditional markets and the search for resources led to the first exploratory voyages beyond the known world, and the testimonies of these adventurers very soon made it possible to open new markets in places that, until then, only existed in the mythical tradition. In these lines we will try to compare the interest in this type of pieces shown by cultures considered by the Hellenes as liminal, settled at both ends of the ecumene, in the special case of pieces with Amazonian decoration. Considered as foreign, barbaric societies, without contact between them and that, despite their differences, a similar interest in these prestigious assets. Both opposite worlds occupied a common place in the Hellenic collective imagination, and that meeting space can also be traced in terms of the perception of art, of a conscious interest beyond the purely material, which is intricate with their traditions and conception of the world.
On the Permanence of the Theologico-Political: The French Revolution, the King’s Two Bodies Doctrine, and the Constitution of 1791
This article examines the permanence of the theologico-political doctrine of the king’s two bodies in the early French Revolution through the Constitution of 1791. This analysis unfolds in two parts. The first part presents a critique of the dominant interpretation in historiography of the principle of national sovereignty adopted in 1789, and posits in its place one that fits within the horizon of meaning shaped in the longue durée by the royalist tradition. The second part highlights the theologico-political nature of the Revolution and the symbolic operation carried out on the notion of sovereignty, in order to show the schemata of organization and representation belonging to the king’s two bodies doctrine that were kept in the Constitution of 1791.
Dossier: Reflexiones sobre la Modernidad política europea...
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The Hylomorphic Conception of Modern Sovereign State. A Philosophical Approach
In this paper, I propose the hypothesis according to which the modern sovereign State responds to a “hylomorphic conception” that prevailed after the Peace of Westphalia (1648) as a consequence of a long process in which the philosophical representations of the political underwent progressive reformulation. As we will see, the State conceived in this way no longer makes it possible to understand the essence of the political either as a soul capable, in extremis, of altering its territorial expression –or even of maintaining its unity in the diaspora– or as a body that admits a plurality of active or rule principles. Moreover, the “new political entity” forged by baroque philosophy –which is in evident continuity with the tradition that goes back to the Greeks– remains, despite the passage of time, the core of current international law, to such an extent that the fundamental properties that this law attributes to sovereignty are, in my view, the juridical transposition of this hylomorphic composition.
Articulaciones del poder y la cultura en la Ferrara “teatral” de los Este (siglos XV y XVI).
In the middle of the 15th century, Ferrara shone on the Italian peninsula as an important center of studies, attracting not only aspirants from neighboring cities, but also from other regions of Europe, beyond the Alps. The transformation of the city from the seat of power of a feudal family, the Este, into a center of production and dissemination of humanist culture took place precisely during these years, owing to the continuous financial backing from the Estense court. In this context, one of the greatest exponents of the cultural flourishing of Ferrara was undoubtedly Ludovico Ariosto (Reggio Emilia, 1474 - Ferrara, 1533), a relative of the Este family and one of the greatest poets of the Western tradition. The aim of this article is to examine the implications of part of the dramatic work of the author of the Orlando furioso in the context of the cultural policy drawn by the Estense family at the dawn of the Classical Modernity, showing aspects of his dramatic production where it is possible to detect tensions with political power in Ferrara, in particular with the court system. In a sphere different from that of mere reading, Ariosto will propose dramatic texts that offered a new space for critiquing certain aspects of the official culture to which, however, he himself belonged.
The Conceptions of Revolution in Two Puritan Political Movements of Seventeenth-Century England. Secular Appeal to the Ancients or Divine Justification?
This paper aims to study the conceptualization of revolution within two groups associated with Puritanism during the English Revolution of the seventeenth century, known as levellers and diggers. The focus of the analysis will be on the ideas they put forth to justify the overthrow of the Stuart regime, which would result in the proposal of a political system considered to be the only rational and just. To this end, it will be examined in particular whether the appeal to texts from Latin antiquity or the interpretation of biblical passages played a more predominant role in their theories. Within this framework, the paper will contribute to the discussions on the processes of secularization in Early Modernity. The hypothesis to be upheld is that, although the political propositions of the members of these groups have clear connections with modern ideas, their origin is not to be found in the influence of secular thought associated with the reading of authors from the pagan antiquity, but rather in a particular interpretation of the Bible. This will show how some modern political conceptualizations emerge not as a break with the medieval theological world, but rather as a product of an interpretative variation of Christian theology.
Introducción al dossier: Reflexiones sobre la Modernidad política europea a partir del diálogo entre Antiguos y Modernos (ss. XVI-XVIII)
El presente dossier se originó en la mesa temática “Reflexiones sobre la modernidad política europea y sus imperios: tradiciones, lenguajes e identidades (ss. XVI-XVIII)” que se desarrolló en el II Congreso de Ciencias Humanas de la Escuela de Humanidades de la Universidad Nacional de San Martín durante noviembre de 2022. Allí se dieron cita investigadores que, desde distintos ámbitos disciplinares (historia, ciencias políticas, filosofía y literatura), estudian los entramados conceptuales y los lenguajes que estructuran el espacio político euroamericano entre los siglos XVI y XVIII. Las cinco contribuciones reunidas aquí constituyen aproximaciones al estudio de las culturas políticas de la Europa temprano-moderna, a partir tanto del análisis de conceptos y prácticas considerados clave en la conformación de un espacio político euroamericano, como del impacto que tuvieron los procesos de recepción y reapropiación de los Antiguos ̶ en particular de las tradiciones grecorromana, hebrea y cristiana ̶ en la conformación de entramados conceptuales y lenguajes políticos
Alfonso de Liñán’ s version of Pier Candido Decembrio’ s Comparazione di Giulio Cesare e di Alessandro Magno
This paper focuses on Pier Candido Decembrio’ s (Pavia 1399-Milan 1477) Comparazione di Giulio Cesare e di Alessandro Magno in the Castilian translation by Alfonso de Liñán († 1468), kept in the Ms. 7565 at the BNE, ff. 9 r-16 v. First, I review Decembrio’ s well-known translation work and its relation to Spain. Then, I overview the content of manuscript 7565, totally dedicated to the figure of Alexander the Great. Following this, I detain to analyze Alfonso de Liñán’ s version of Comparación de Julio César y Alejandro Magno, and I contrast it with Martin de Ávila’s Castilian translation edited by Mazzocchi (2007).
Pier Candido Decembrio- Alfonso de Liñán- translation- manuscript 7565
The subject-matter of this study is liturgical law in the Czech lands in the Middle Ages, i.e. in Great Moravia, in the Duchy of Bohemia, and in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Liturgical law was shaped by the decrees of popes, ecumenical councils, Decretum Gratiani, and collections of decrees. The ordinances of the metropolitan and diocesan bishop or the statutes of a monastic order played a role at the particular church level. The customs of the metropolitan church and the cathedral church are summarised in the agenda in force within the territory of the ecclesiastical province or diocese. A new Slavonic liturgy arrived in Great Moravia in the final third of the 9th century and at the beginning of the 10th century. Popes issued several decrees regulating its use. The newly-established bishopric of Prague and subsequently the restored bishopric of Olomouc used the Latin liturgy alone. The form of the liturgy used was determined by surviving liturgical manuscripts: pontificals, missals, breviaries, lectionaries, psalters, antiphonaries, and graduals. These codices are often richly-illuminated, the most elaborate ones being used by the owner, often the bishop, for prestige promotion. A large number of these liturgical books survive in Czech libraries and manuscript collections from the Middle Ages, most of them from the 14th and in particular the 15th centuries.
Brother Alfonso de Mella and joaquinist spiritual millenarianism in the Lordship of Biscay at the end of the Middle Ages
This article analyses the intellectual origins and doctrinal theses of the leader of the Durango heretics, brother Alfonso de Mella. In relation to the first question, the emergence and condemnation of the Franciscan spiritual theses of Joaquinist roots and their subsequent assumption by groups of radical observants between the end of the 14th century and the first third of the 15th century, such as the one led by brother Felipe de Berbegal, with important links to the Durango sect, are briefly described. In relation to the second question, two documentary testimonies are analysed: the letter that brother Alfonso de Mella sent to the King of Castile, the only direct source preserved; and the reply to it by an anonymous challenger of its contents, a text published for the first time in 2022. A comparison of both documents reveals the spread of these Franciscan spiritual theses in the Lordship of Biscay between the 30s and 40s of the 15th century.