Sant Llorenç del Montsec (La Noguera): un despoblat medieval

The medieval deserted village of St. Lloreng, a fortified place in the west lands of Catalonia, in Lleida, near Aragon, is studied from its origins in 11th. century unti1 14th.C. The growth and evolution of population during this time is shown by the houses, placed between the castle and the church, some so simply with only one room, some wider. The authors don't know why the village became deserted, but they indicate the possible move of the population into the limits of the Ager valley.

La noció d'Espanya a la Catalunya medieval

A partir de la necessitat de conèixer les bases del propi present i d'assolir puntals on arrelar els discursos de futur, ara i adés les diferents col·lectivitats es remeten als orígens, "l'obsessió pels orígens" deia Marc Bloch. I aquests, en una Europa que parla de l'Edat Mitjana com la infantesa de la pròpia identitat, s'aboquen a una època medieval on conflueixen -en el que des de la llunyania de la nostra quotidianitat pot semblar una amalgama poc destriada- tant les realitats gresoladores dels actuals signes d'identitat culrurals, socials i lingüístics, com les projeccions que delerosament hi cerquen les justificacions del present i els condicionants del furur. Així doncs, convé apamar bé l'espai físic i conceptual per definir adientment la realitat existent en aquells moments que han alimentat les arrels d'identitats que, travessant diferents estímuls al llarg de la història, han menat fins als nostres dies.

El naixement d'un vilar medieval: Moredell (Gironès) en època carolíngia

This is the description of the birth, development and transformations of a small rural community in carolingian epoch through the written documentation and the analysis of the landscape.

Entorn al testament de Brunissèn d'Alentorn i alguns costums funeraris de la Lleida medieval

In this research from the late medieval period, we want to analyze diferent aspects related to funerary world through Brunissèn d’Alentorn’s will. The document is compared with other wills from Lleida’s area that acquire knowledge to these customs, for instance, the draps d’or’s uses. These were provided of deceased’ heraldry, and were comissioned to cover the tomb. Also, in Lleida’s case, they were used to decorate the ancient cathedral’s presbitery during the main festivities, and the patrons’ wedding bed. Artistic patronage, social prestige, family arms ostentation, pomp and devotion are other aspects that would be emphasized in this tour, just as the private devotions in the chapels and altars that were founded regarding this topic.

De la guerra de l'Empordà (1128) a la mortaldat de 1131: gènesi, extensió i extinció d'una fam. Per a una història de les crisis alimentàries a la Catalunya medieval

In the history of food shortages and subsistence crises which affected the Catalan counties during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the famine of 1129-1131 deserves special mention. Originating in the war of 1128 involving the Empordà and neighboring counties, this famine affected the city of Barcelona and other points of Catalonia (Winter, 1131) and created conditions for the spread of a deadly epidemic (July 1130 -January 1132).

La historia medieval en las escuelas: ¿una visión deformada?

A menudo se acusa a los libros de texto escolares de transmitir una imagen falsa, peyorativa, de la Edad Media. Aunque semejantes reproches puedan parecer nuevos, las protestas contra la hostilidad a la Edad Media, que rechazan el tópico del oscurantismo medieval, han estado a la orden del día durante los dos últimos siglos. Sin embargo, es muy difícil encontrar en los modernos libros de historia nada que justifique la acusación de haber exagerado las tinieblas medievales. En general, los historiadores modernos, tanto liberales como socialistas, han mantenido una opinión favorable de las instituciones y la cultura medievales, llegando incluso a encomiar la obra de la Iglesia como resguardo de la civilización, pero sin ocultar sus aspectos irracionales y reaccionarios. Las acusaciones que Jacques Heers y Jeffrey Burton Russell dirigen contra una presunta falsificación de la historia medieval apuntan explícitamente contra la influencia del darwinismo y el anticlericalismo, lo cual nos pone sobre la pista de sus verdaderas motivaciones ideológicas.

Del castillo al mercado y al silo. La gestión de la renta cerealista de la Almoina de Barcelona en la castellanía de Sitges (1354-1366)

A partir de una fuente extraordinaria, los libros de cuentas de la Almoina de la catedral de Barcelona en la castellanía de Sitges, se examina la gestión que hizo su representante de uno de los componentes más importantes de la renta señorial de Sitges, los excedentes de cebada y trigo que confluían anualmente en los graneros y silos del castillo. El análisis se centra en los doce primeros cuadernos contables conservados en el archivo de la Pía Almoina de Barcelona (entre 1354 y 1366). Se analiza cuándo y en qué medida el trigo y la cebada son consumidos, enviados a la Almoina de Barcelona, vendidos, cedidos a crédito o guardados en los graneros y silos del castillo. Se concluye que el procurador recurre a la comercialización y almacena-miento de los cereales y en particular de la cebada –más del 75% de la renta de Sitges– para sacar el máximo partido a la renta cerealista y optimizar así el rendimiento económico del señorío, por encima del objetivo de subvenir a las necesidades de la Almoina de Barcelona.

La "Materia de Bretaña" en las culturas hispánicas de la Edad Media y el Renacimiento : textos, ediciones y estudios

La publicación en 1977 de "A critical bibliography of Hispanic Arthurial material", de Harvey L. Sharrer (Londres, Grant & Cutler) contribuyó a un mejor conocimiento de los textos conservados, ediciones y estudios de la literatura artúrica y tristaniana medieval en España y Portugal. Treinta años después, este artículo amplía los contenidos de aquel volumen, al recoger los resultados del descubrimiento de nuevos testimonios y de las últimas investigaciones sobre este ámbito, en lengua catalana, gallego-portuguesa y castellana de la Edad Media.

"Quien pone su esperanza en mujer flaca": una lectura de los sonetos de Lope de Vega

En este trabajo se ofrece un análisis de las representaciones femeninas en los sonetos de Lope de Vega a partir de la lectura de tres de sus obras mayores -Rimas (1602), Rimas sacras (1614) y Rimas humanas y divinas del licenciado Tomé de Burguillos (1634)- con el propósito de valorar su relación con la tradición medieval y renacencista, así como la originalidad de su tratamiento.

Making Space for Festival 1400-1700. Interactions of Architecture and Performance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Festivals

Las relaciones entre actos festivos y espacios arquitectónicos, y las modalidades con que las ceremonias cortesanas llegaban a modificar los centros urbanos y las residen- cias palaciegas, han sido los temas principales del congreso internacional Making Space for Festival, 14001700. Interactions of Architecture and Performance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Festivals, que tuvo lugar del 21 al 24 de marzo de 2013 en el Palacio Pesaro-Papafava de Venecia, residencia de la Universidad de Warwick en la Laguna. La Society for European Festivals Research (SEFR), entidad vinculada a esta universidad, ha promovido el encuentro junto con la Red PALATIUM financia- da por el Research Networking Programme de la European Science Fundation (ESF) (2010-2015), dedicada al estudio de las residencias palaciegas de la Edad Moderna como espacios de intercambios políticos y culturales. El tema de las jornadas nacía de la unión de los intereses científicos de los grupos organizadores, dejando lugar a temáticas diferentes como: la articulación de un mensaje festivo a lo largo del recorri- do de procesiones y entradas públicas, la financiación y los aspectos más prácticos de la puesta en escena de un evento festivo, la tipificación de ceremonias y decoraciones en determinados contextos, el intercambio cultural a través de la fiesta, o la recepción de las modificaciones de los espacios por parte de los espectadores

Usos del sòl i activitats productives a Barcelona a partir de l"anàlisi paleoambiental de la llacuna litoral medieval del Pa de Palau

[cat]Els treballs arqueològics duts a terme al solar localitzat entre la plaça de Pau Vila i els carrers del Dr. Aiguader i de la Marquesa, al peu del baluard del Migdia, han permès descriure l'evolució geoarqueològica d'un tram del front marítim de Barcelona i generar dades fiables de la configuració de la façana litoral. Sota una potent capa de sorres, s'identificà un paquet de llims i argiles orgàniques característiques d'un medi de baixa energia; és a dir, protegit de l'onatge marí probablement per barres sorrenques. Aquesta seqüència presenta una cronologia entre finals del segle IX i ca. 1440, moment en què es realitzaren els primers intents de construcció d'estructures portuàries. En aquest nivell llimoargilós s'han dut a terme analítiques paleoambientals consistents en l'estudi pol·línic, sedimentològic i geoquímic dels sediments que han posat en evidència els canvis ambientals del front marítim barceloní, del paisatge vegetal del pla, com també de les activitats agrícoles i productives urbanes en època medieval i inicis de l'edat moderna. La informació així obtinguda ha estat contrastada amb la informació històrica. [eng]The archaeological work conducted at the site located at the foot of the Baluard del Migdia bastion between Plaça Pau Vila and Carrer Dr. Aiguader and Carrer Marquesa has provided the opportunity to describe the geoarchaeological evolution of a stretch of the seafront of Barcelona and to generate reliable data on the configuration of the coastline. A layer of silt and organic clays typical of a low-energy environment was found below a thick layer of sands. In other words, this packet was protected from the swell of the sea, probably by sandbars. This sequence presents a chronology spanning from the late 9th century BC to around 1440, the time when the first attempts were made to build port structures. This layer of silt and clay has been subjected to palaeoenvironmental analyses consisting of the study of the pollen, sediment and the geochemistry of the sediments. The results of this analysis provide evidence of the environmental changes in the seafront of Barcelona and the landscape in the plain, as well as the urban agricultural and production activities in medieval times and the early modern age. The information obtained has been compared with historical information.

Contrast : a concept in language and its development in Medieval Spanish

The purpose of this PhD thesis is to investigate a semantic relation present in the connection of sentences (more specifically: propositional units). This relation, which we refer to as contrast, includes the traditional categories of adversatives - predominantly represented by the connector but in English and pero in Modern Spanish - and concessives, prototypically verbalised through although / aunque. The aim is to describe, analyse and - as far as possible - to explain the emergence and evolution of different syntactic schemes marking contrast during the first three centuries of Spanish (also referred to as Castilian) as a literary language, i.e., from the 13th to the 15th century. The starting point of this question is a commonplace in syntax, whereby the semantic and syntactic complexity of clause linkage correlates with the degree of textual elaboration. In historical linguistics, i.e., applied to the phylogeny of a language, it is commonly referred to as the parataxis hypothesis A crucial part of the thesis is dedicated by the definition of contrast as a semantic relation. Although the label contrast has been used in this sense, mainly in functional grammar and text linguistics, mainstream grammaticography and linguistics remain attached to the traditional categories adversatives and concessives. In opposition to this traditional view, we present our own model of contrast, based on a pragma-semantic description proposed for the analysis of adversatives by Oswald Ducrot and subsequently adopted by Ekkehard König for the analysis of concessives. We refine and further develop this model in order for it to accommodate all, not just the prototypical instances of contrast in Spanish, arguing that the relationship between adversatives and concessives is a marked opposition, i.e., that the higher degree of semantic and syntactic integration of concessives restricts some possible readings that the adversatives may have, but that this difference is almost systematically neutralised by contextual factors, thus justifying the assumption of contrast as a comprehensive onomasiological category. This theoretical focus is completed by a state-of-the-question overview attempting to account for all relevant forms in which contrast is expressed in Medieval Spanish, with the aid of lexicographic and grammaticographical sources, and an empirical study investigating the expression of corpus in a corpus study on the textual functions of contrast in nine Medieval Spanish texts: Cantar de Mio Cid, Libro de Alexandre, Milagros de Nuestra Sehora, Estoria de Espana, Primera Partida, Lapidario, Libro de buen amor, Conde Lucanor, and Corbacho. This corpus is analysed using quantitative and qualitative tools, and the study is accompanied by a series of methodological remarks on how to investigate a pragma-semantic category in historical linguistics. The corpus study shows that the parataxis hypothesis fails to prove from a statistical viewpoint, although a qualitative analysis shows that the use of subordination does increase over time in some particular contexts.

El sonido de la guerra: Las trompas de la Fortaleza Medieval de Ausa (Zaldibia, Guipuzcoa)

During the fieldwork in the medieval fortification of Ausa (Gipuzkoa), a vast amount of sherds from several pottery artifacts featured by a cylindrical body has been found out. They presumably had the same function in contexts dated from the first half of xiv century. Although it has not been possible to reconstruct any of these artefacts, the study of the sherds allows us to think that they would have formed some sort of big-sized horn. This high-sounding instrument, which has been frequently reproduced in iconographic references, does not have at this moment any direct parallelism in Hispanic contexts, despite being plentiful of references to similar objects in medieval ranges from Provence and Languedoc. By introducing these artefacts from different approaches, we aim to go over the scarce knowledge of these instruments, whose evidence lets us to believe in their widespread distribution all over the landscape in several material contexts from Medieval Ages.

El sonido de la guerra: Las trompas de la Fortaleza Medieval de Ausa (Zaldibia, Guipuzcoa)

During the fieldwork in the medieval fortification of Ausa (Gipuzkoa), a vast amount of sherds from several pottery artifacts featured by a cylindrical body has been found out. They presumably had the same function in contexts dated from the first half of xiv century. Although it has not been possible to reconstruct any of these artefacts, the study of the sherds allows us to think that they would have formed some sort of big-sized horn. This high-sounding instrument, which has been frequently reproduced in iconographic references, does not have at this moment any direct parallelism in Hispanic contexts, despite being plentiful of references to similar objects in medieval ranges from Provence and Languedoc. By introducing these artefacts from different approaches, we aim to go over the scarce knowledge of these instruments, whose evidence lets us to believe in their widespread distribution all over the landscape in several material contexts from Medieval Ages.