Katechon and right of resistance: an approach from the Middle Ages
Cecilia DEVIA
Original title: Katechon y derecho de resistencia: una aproximación desde la Edad Media
Published in Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Peninsula Cultural History
Keywords: Galicia, Katechon, Late Middle Ages, Right of resistance, Violence.
The figure katechon is a complex and ambiguous character, based on a biblical quote taken from the Second Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians. Expresses the power to “slow” or “holds” the coming of the Antichrist and therefore the confrontation between the forces of good and evil, which precedes the return of the Messiah and the end of the world. In this paper we build on the analysis undertaken on the concept by different contemporary thinkers. If the figure of katechon be applied in relation to the uprisings in medieval and early modern radical character as those inspired by millenarian movements, one could consider that the daily resistance of the dominated, mostly passive features, would act as a brake for the arrival of the end of the world, necessary for the advent of a new one.
Pedro I and Enrique II of Castile: the construction of a monstrous king and the legitimization of a usurper in the Chronicle of Chancellor Ayala
Cecilia DEVIA
Original title: Pedro I y Enrique II de Castilla: la construcción de un rey monstruoso y la legitimación de un usurpador en la Crónica del canciller Ayala
Published in Relations between History and Literature in Ancient and Medieval World
Keywords: Castile, Chronicles, Enrique II of Castile, Late Middle Ages, Pedro I of Castile, Violence.
To justify the confrontation between Pedro I and Enrique II of Castile, culminating in the murder of an unquestionably legitimate king in hands of his usurper brother, the chronicler Pero Lopez de Ayala build gradually a negative and somehow monstrous of Pedro I. Meanwhile, he attempts to prove that the count of Trastámara does not dethrones Pedro because of a personal ambition and breaking the rules, instead, he seems to be prevented to carry out with the mission of saving the kingdom from the terrible ills caused by the monstrous actions of his stepbrother. We will analyze the dichotomy between the negative and irrational portrait that Chancellor Ayala, one of the biggest responsible for that Pedro will be remembered as “Rey Cruel”- builds with skill, and what the practices he reveals says themselves. A meticulous scrutiny of the documents reveals a policy of regional power building through practices in which different functions of violence. Ware involved: economic, socializing, with exchange, symbolic, of justice, foundational, cultural, etc. We present here what might be called a cross dichotomy, which would face two internally contradictories terms: a monstrous but legitimate king against a usurper who is a providence’s instrument. What the construction realized by the trastamarist propaganda would have made, which from the chancellor Ayala would be the most brilliant exponent, is the conversion of a legitimate king in a illegitimate one, by nature of its own monstrosity, and the conversion of a usurper who -as shows the definition itself, is illegitimate- in a legitimate king, in function of the realization of a divine mission.
The Dante’s Inferno and the seventh circle symbology
Solange Ramos de ANDRADE and Daniel Lula COSTA
Original title: O Inferno de Dante e a simbologia do sétimo círculo
Published in Paradise, Purgatory and Hell: the Religiosity in the Middle Ages
Keywords: Dante, Demons, Hell, Middle Ages, Violence.
The period between XI to XIII century was remarkable for the expansion of Christian hell. The belief in evil increased the fear of unknown and enabled the structure of a punitive hell. The poet, Dante Alighieri, made a geography for Christian hell, paradise and purgatory by means of collective representations of medieval man. We’ll use the concept of representation to discuss the symbolism of Dante’s inferno, focusing in the structure of its seventh circle, where the violent souls are punished.
The bad life of some, consequences for others: the rogues and their familiar surroundings in the Kingdom of Majorca (16th and 17th centuries)
Victòria BAUÇÀ NICOLAU
Original title: La mala vida d’uns, conseqüències per a les altres: els “vividors” i el seu entorn en el Regne de Mallorca (segles XVI-XVII)
Published in
Keywords: Alcohol, Bad life, Gambling game, Poverty, Violence, Wine, Woman.
The literature, the theatre, and the art of the Baroque period usually showed the archetype of the drunk man who took refuge in the tavern of his life. This figure existed in popular society, where the types were diversified, and vices expanded. If you pay attention to the documentation, there are several cases of men of bad life whose behaviour had serious consequences on the women in their environment, which would be summed up in violence and poverty. To emerge from this situation, these women used different strategies such as seeking support from acquaintances and family members, but also from the institutions of the Kingdom of Majorca.
The late medieval Castilian nobility and the king: building and redistribution of power
Cecilia DEVIA
Original title: La nobleza castellana bajomedieval y el rey: construcción y redistribución del poder
Published in Aristocracy and nobility in the Ancient and Medieval World
Keywords: Chronicles, King, Middle Ages, Nobility, Violence.
It discusses the relationships between the nobility and the king in the Chronicle of King Don Pedro by Pero Lopez de Ayala, in light of the model reproductive strategies of the dynastic State developed by Pierre Bourdieu. Emphasis is placed on the rational use of violence that govern the conduct of both the king and the nobles, especially in construction and redistribution of power.
The right of resistance of the subjugated people. An example of case: the late medieval Galicia
Cecilia DEVIA
Original title: El derecho a la resistencia de los dominados. Un ejemplo de caso: la Galicia bajomedieval
Published in Manifestations of the Ancient and Medieval World
Keywords: Galicia, Late Middle Ages, Orders, Right of resistance, Violence.
The purpose of this article is to show some of the results of an investigation in progress that pretends to examine the right of resistance exercised by the subjugated people, through a theoretical-documentary approach that uses as example of case the late medieval Galicia. It will be approached within a wide range that extends from the daily practices taken to preserve their own interests, to the study of open and declared revolts, such as the Irmandiño Revolt in 1467-1469. The theory of the three orders, considered as the prevailing worldview at the time, will be briefly discussed. Subsequently this problems will be studied through the analysis and interpretation of various sources.
