This article examines the interpretation of the Pauline Epistles within the intellectual milieu of sixteenth-century Salamanca, understood as a continuation and transformation of medieval exegetical culture. Focusing on figures commonly associated with the School of Salamanca-Francisco de Vitoria, Melchor Cano, Domingo de Soto, Domingo B & aacute;& ntilde;ez, and Fray Luis de Le & oacute;n-the study analyses how Pauline exegesis functioned at the intersection of scholastic theology, humanist philology, and ecclesiastical authority. Through close readings of commentaries, theological treatises, and methodological reflections, the article shows that Salamanca theologians developed a distinctive approach to Scripture that combined the primacy of the literal sense with a controlled use of philological tools, all within an explicitly ecclesial hermeneutical framework. Particular attention is given to Domingo de Soto's commentary on Romans, exemplifying how Pauline texts shaped Iberian debates on justification, grace, and authority during the Protestant Reformation. By situating Pauline exegesis within the cultural and institutional setting of Salamanca, marked by controversies over the Vulgate, the authority of original languages, and the legacy of medieval scholasticism, the article contributes to a broader understanding of how Scripture was read, taught, and contested in the Iberian world at the threshold between the Middle Ages and the early modern period.
The reign of Chintila has largely gone unnoticed in historiography devoted to the Visigothic period, often being interpreted as a mere transitional period between more important monarchs. He has been seen as a figure marked by political weakness and a lack of effective authority over the nobility and the power structures of the kingdom. However, this article proposes a reinterpretation of his reign that seeks to nuance this simplified view, analysing his ability to negotiate politically with the main power groups and to maintain internal balance in a context characterized by instability and fragmentation. Through an examination of conciliar sources, it is argued that Chintila was able to build a relative consensus among the noble factions, ensuring the institutional continuity of the kingdom at a particularly delicate moment. Thus, in contrast to the traditional image of a weak and resigned monarch, the figure of a prudent and skillful ruler emerges, endowed with a remarkable ability to face the political and social adversities of the 630s and to preserve, albeit briefly, the cohesion of Visigothic power.
Moneylending was a common activity for fourteenth-century Jewish physicians, who carried out this labor and invested in real estate alongside their practice of medicine. As medical professionals, Jewish physicians made valuable contacts outside of the Jewish community, including with Christian ecclesiastics, and could draw on these to promote their own interests above those of their aljames [self-governing Jewish communities]. A Jewish widow acting as guardian was understood to be doing a service and could claim that she and her children were deserving of support, and even charity. Making such a person settle a debt, which might include liquidating important assets, could prove challenging. A nuanced understanding of what it meant to be a Jewish physician in this time and place needs to take into account the communal situations, financial portfolios, and social influence of individuals.
Drawing on notarial records preserved in the Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal de Vic-including general notarial manuals (from 1230) and the Libri Judeorum (1264-1354)-this article reconstructs the credit practices and family networks of Vic's Jewish community from 1231 to 1391. It argues that lending was structurally embedded in kinship networks, shaping occupational profiles, social mobility, and Christian visual stereotypes of the "usurious Jew." Beyond the local context, the study contributes to broader debates on Jewish-Christian economic entanglements and kinship's role in Jewish livelihoods across medieval Catalonia. The documentation reveals the centrality of Jewish lending in cash and in kind, intertwined familial alliances, and marginal trade participation amid Christian elite dominance, alongside occupations such as medicine and artisanry. Drawn representations of Jews in the Libri (1310-1354) provide insight into the intersection of economic practice, visual culture, and interfaith relations in a mid-sized Jewish community of the period.
Throughout his fifty-year reign, Peter the Ceremonious, King of the Crown of Aragon (r. 1336-1387), promoted the advancement of his relatives, servants and collaborators to positions within the Church. One of the highest ecclesiastical dignities to which they could aspire were the bishoprics, a fact which was of strategic value to the monarch, as it guaranteed the presence of loyal followers in strategic ecclesiastical posts. This practice culminated with the Western Schism, which allowed Peter to arrogate to himself the power to appoint the bishops of his kingdoms, justifying this action through his stated neutrality to the two pretenders to the papacy. However, the pontiffs, in their policy of centralisation and increasing pontifical reserves, did not want to relinquish the appointment of prelates, sometimes leading to tensions or conflicts with the monarch. The knowledge of these appointments allows us to understand the intricate relationship between medieval powers.
Processions for the dead in medieval and early modern Iberian cities developed into prominent sacred and civic events, encouraged by the growing doctrinal emphasis on Purgatory and by the Church's assertion that postmortem liturgical rites could assist the souls of the deceased. In Spain, these ceremonies also became integral to royal and noble funerary practices, forming part of extended commemorative cycles that included processions and offices celebrated both at the moment of death and during exequies held weeks after burial. Endowments established by wealthy patrons for anniversary commemorations ensured the year-round presence of the liturgy of the dead. The institution of the feast of All Souls' Day on 2 November further consolidated these practices, fostering particularly elaborate processional rituals.This article presents the city of Zaragoza, in the kingdom of Aragon, as a case study, examining evidence from its reconquest in 1118 until approximately 1600. The study draws on a broad range of sources, including historical documentation and diverse liturgical books, notably music manuscripts and early printed editions, to survey the typology and contexts of funerary processions. The prominence of death rituals in Zaragoza reveals a dynamic interplay between local traditions and broader processes of liturgical transformation. An analysis of the chant Domine Deus suggests early connections between Aragon, Catalonia, and Aquitaine, later counterbalanced by increasing influence from Toledo. A Zaragoza Processionale of 1502 encapsulates this convergence of traditions within a competitive and evolving ecclesiastical landscape.
In the 1220s, eastern (Sharq) al-Andalus was plunged into upheaval following the collapse of Almohad central authority, leaving countless Muslim communities vulnerable to the expansionist ambitions of both the Kingdom of Castile and the Crown of Aragon. By 1245, most of them had negotiated their submission under Christian rule and sought to preserve communal autonomy, economic resources, and religious identity amid the far-reaching transformations that reshaped the better part of the region into the Kingdom of Valencia. This article examines these processes through the case of the Ban & umacr; '& Imacr;s & amacr;, a dynasty of Muslim commanders (quww & amacr;d) who governed X & agrave;tiva and later Montesa and Vallada. It will be shown how their flexibility and adaptability in confronting these challenges enabled them to maintain power for nearly half a century, while also revealing the structural and political limits of Muslim resilience under Christian rule.
This article explores the role of child and youth labour within the converso community of Valencia in the first half of the fifteenth century, a period marked by economic necessity and legal frameworks that shaped social mobility. Through an analysis of 267 contractes d'afermament-formal agreements that governed apprenticeships and domestic service-it examines the ways in which these two activities structured the labour market for young individuals. Male youths typically entered artisanal trades, while female adolescents were predominantly placed in domestic service, often in pursuit of dowries for marriage, but sometimes also of vocational training. The study highlights the risks faced by young female servants, including exploitation and loss of honour, and underscores the forms of economic participation available to them. Religious identity played a key role in shaping labour markets, with conversos often employing both fellow conversos and Old Christians, creating a complex web of cross-confessional interactions. The article also examines how community solidarity and kinship networks helped integrate orphans and economically vulnerable children into these labour systems.
This article aims to investigate the marital strategies of the nobility in the Kingdom of Valencia at the end of the Middle Ages, specifically in the period between 1380 and 1430, a period that coincides with a time of economic buoyancy and rapid institutional and political transformations shaped by noble feuding. To that end, we investigate how marriages were arranged, paying attention to the intervention of royal power, and the bases of marital unions. This analysis reveals that elements such as the juridical condition and the family status of the bride and groom carried more weight in marriage agreements than the material incentives such as the dowry.
This article serves as an introduction to a special issue on Jewish and converso labour in the Crown of Aragon during the late Middle Ages. The first part of the introduction examines the main areas of research on the subject, as well as the differences and problems concerning the two socio-religious groups in the light of the available sources. The second part provides an overview of the articles, focusing on the diversity of the sources, their scope and limitations, as well as the interrelationships between them, taking into account their original contexts.
This study focuses on the implications of an episode from Diego Garc & iacute;a's Planeta concerning the Antichrist's proximity, which involves the usage of innovative twelfth-century exegetical methods based on Jewish informants who are claimed to be experts in the literature produced by a certain Gamaliel. Widely used among Victorine scholars in Paris, such as Hugh and Andrew of Saint Victor, this method consists of an analysis of the literal and historical sense of the Bible. In this part of his work, Diego explicitly gives an account of a group of Jews who participate in the process of validation of Old Testament prophecies concerning the end of time and the coming of Antichrist. This participation is explained by a larger eschatological frame involving the conversion of the Jews and, ultimately, aims at their inclusion in a new exegetical system in which both Testaments are intimately and logically bonded. Although with different objectives, the Toledan archbishop Rodrigo Jim & eacute;nez de Rada, in his Dialogus libri vite (1214), features a similar approach with respect to Jewish collaboration in understanding literal passages of the Bible and the role of the Jews in relation to the end of time.
This research contributes to the historiographical debate on the spread of the first mosques in the Islamic world and their role in the expansion of Islam, specifically in the case of al-Andalus. It highlights the apparent contradictions between written sources and material evidence, and the need to construct a complementary narrative from the perspective of archaeology. The article analyses the relevance of early mosques as indicators of wider dynamics of cultural transfer and transmission of knowledge, while questioning their chronology. In addition to addressing all the known examples of early mosques in the Iberian Peninsula, two unpublished, in-depth, detailed case studies have been added: the early mosques excavated at the sites of Tossal de la Vila (Castell & oacute;) and El Mol & oacute;n (Val & egrave;ncia), which are early examples of Islamic architecture in rural and peripheral contexts. To this end, a detailed analysis of various aspects of these buildings was performed and compared with other known examples, from their morphology and construction techniques to their orientation. The article attempts to redefine our knowledge of early mosques in al-Andalus by placing them within a gradual process of religious adoption that transpired at a later date than that suggested by Islamic chroniclers and traditionists.
Juan Manuel's Libro de los estados examines the author's blending of history and fiction to defend himself and his estate against the encroachments of the monarch, Alfonso XI, on the rights and privileges of the upper nobility. This analysis considers the cultural and historical context, especially the high nobility's role in relation to the evolution of the monarchy's power. Attention is given to the rhetorical techniques and references that the author includes to promote and defend his views and place within the sociopolitical hierarchy. Juan Manuel's arguments are placed in the context of the shifting political and legal dynamics revealed by Alfonso X's Siete Partidas and Alfonso XI's Ordenamiento de Alcal & aacute;.
This article evaluates the characteristics, role, and significance of the missi dominici (royal envoys) appointed by the Carolingian kings to act as their delegates in the Spanish March during the late eighth and early ninth centuries. Several aspects of their activity are well attested, ranging from legal provisions anticipating the presence of missi dominici in this peripheral area to evidence of their involvement in judicial duties, as well as a range of other activities - including diplomatic missions, military interventions, and religious supervision - which at times occurred simultaneously. The evidence considered points to a flexible interpretation of the duties of the imperial missi, likely shaped by the specific conditions of the frontier. Moreover, the composition of the missi appointed in the Iberian Peninsula suggests that this office can serve as an indicator of the political integration of the region and its elites into the Carolingian Empire.
After the general attacks against the Jewish communities in Spain in 1391, the forced conversion of its members and the Christianisation of the Jewish quarter of Barcelona meant that new support strategies were required. Conversion was for some a temporary condition, while for others it meant new opportunities, social and work-related. Such was the case, for example, of the families of Francesc de Pedralbes or Pere de Pujol, both physicians, whom after conversion seemingly integrated into Christian society, improving their professional life and promoting the creation of a new Church and confraternity of conversos. Assistance and charity were a necessity for a weakened converso society, but the presence of conversos in Christian hospitals and other assistance networks is sometimes incidental. Social and economic status shaped the existence and survival of converso assistance networks that, over time, were diluted in Christian society.
This article examines the employment conditions among Jewish and converso girls in Barcelona from the late fourteenth century to the mid-fifteenth century, focusing on their roles in crafts and domestic service, as seen in notarial contracts. In medieval Barcelona, working life was governed by cultural and gender expectations. In the Jewish community, these appeared in two specific elements: domestic service and apprenticeships. Domestic service agreements show a contrast between young men, who often served doctors in roles offering professional prospects, and girls, who were typically employed in lower-skilled household positions. Apprenticeship records likewise reveal gender disparities, with far fewer female apprentices and limited opportunities for women to advance in skilled crafts. However, significant changes emerged after the mass conversions following the riots of 1391. The structure of domestic service shifted with a sharp decline in boys serving doctors, and the virtual disappearance of child female servants from the records, contrasting with a moderate rise in the number of female apprenticeships. These variations reflect attempts to balance existing socio-economic structures of the Jewish community to a new reality ensuing from the mass conversions, greater integration of women in the labour market, driven by economic necessity and Christian economic and cultural influences.
In the fifteenth century, Castilian politics transformed the town of Escalona into a major strategic point: many key political figures sought to possess this land as a lordship throughout much of this century. Diego L & oacute;pez Pacheco was one of them. He had highly valued his confiscated marquisate of Villena but, after its loss, had no choice other than to focus on managing his duchy of Escalona, if he wished to gain substantial income. The town had lost part of its luster, making it necessary to devise a plan to secure its recovery, especially from a demographic point of view. Like other lords, the Marquis set his sights on the Mudejar population of the town. In this case, Muslim revolts in Granada and the Archbishop of Toledo's responsibility in creating discontent among them served as an excuse for L & oacute;pez Pacheco to develop a policy of attracting Muslims to his lordship, especially those coming from the lands of the Archbishopric.
