- Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Medieval Archaeology, Medieval Literature, Book History, Medieval Islam, and 71 moreHagiography, Language and Ideology, Crusades, Medieval Latin Literature, Medievalism, Medieval Islamic History, Medieval Islamic, Frontier, Medieval Iberian History, Portuguese History, Medieval Historiography, Medieval Spain, Political Discourse Analysis, Nordic History, Medieval Spanish Literature, Archaeology of Medieval Monasteries, Historia Medieval, Medieval Chronicles, Portuguese Medieval History, Sagas of Icelanders, Alfonso X el Sabio, Literatura Medieval, Baltic Crusade, Finnish History, Medieval Economic and Social History, Spanish Medieval Chronicles, Historia Medieval de Asturias, Medieval and Early Modern Hispanic literature, Viking Age Finland, Medieval Livonia, Portuguese Reconquista, Asturian Kingdom, Medieval and Early Modern historiography, Portuguese Medieval Literature and History; D. Afonso Henriques, Norse poetry, Iberian Islam, Norse myth, Norse magic, Crónicas, Medieval European Genealogy, Medieval annals, Medieval Houses, Sumários de Crónicas; Portuguese Medieval and Early Modern historiography, Narratio de itinere navali, Medieval political discourse, Conquest of Silves, Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Chronicles, Romancero, Zamora, Castilla, Leon, Castile, Feudalismo, Reconquista, Historiografia Medieval, Cronística Medieval, Afonso Henriques, Historiografia medieval portuguesa, Crónica De Portugal De 1419, D. Fuas Roupinho, Portuguese Medieval Chronicles, History, Medieval Portuguese Genealogy, Medieval genealogy, Gramsci and Cultural Hegemony, Cultural Hegemony, Pierre Bourdieu, Gramsci, Antonio Gramsci, and Neo-Gramscianismedit
- Pdf documents of my papers can be found at Humanities Commons through the following link:
https://hcommons.org/members/tiago/edit
This dissertation deals with aristocratic historiography and political legitimation in late-medieval Portugal (late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries). It offers a perspective into the historical imaginary of the late-medieval... more
This dissertation deals with aristocratic historiography and political legitimation in
late-medieval Portugal (late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries). It offers a
perspective into the historical imaginary of the late-medieval Portuguese
aristocracy; an imaginary that underlay the argumentation of members of this
social class in defence of their traditional rights and jurisdictions against political
centralisation. It examines how the medieval Portuguese aristocracy utilized
memories of past interactions with Islam to justify its privileged social status and
defend its traditional prerogatives at a time when this social group opposed the
royalist policy of political centralization. This research is included into wider
debates on the role of culture — in this case, historical culture — as a resource to
justify, reinforce, reproduce, and transform an existing social order.
The present dissertation is comprised of an introduction and four articles. In the
introduction, besides presenting the conclusions of the research, I provide a short
historical contextualisation for the chronology in question. A survey on medieval
Portuguese historiography is given the first article, while the others discuss the
building of an Iberian Christian aristocratic identity based on Islamic otherness,
depictions of Christian-Muslim interaction other than military, and the role of the
Iberian Visigothic past in aristocratic historiographical memory. The thesis’ main
sources are chronicles and genealogical compilations written in Galician-
Portuguese language. Its primary concern is the socio-cultural dimension of these
texts, i.e., their ideological implications and effects upon the social world.
This research shows that, when confronting royalty over the ongoing process of
monarchical centralisation, the Portuguese aristocracy invoked the war against
Islam as the primary argument for its social prominence and the source of its class
privileges. The sources studied in this thesis were part of the aristocracy’s political
legitimation discourse. They provided the nobility with an indispensable social role
for the equilibrium of an idealised social order, while reality was ridden with
contradictions and in rapid transformation
late-medieval Portugal (late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries). It offers a
perspective into the historical imaginary of the late-medieval Portuguese
aristocracy; an imaginary that underlay the argumentation of members of this
social class in defence of their traditional rights and jurisdictions against political
centralisation. It examines how the medieval Portuguese aristocracy utilized
memories of past interactions with Islam to justify its privileged social status and
defend its traditional prerogatives at a time when this social group opposed the
royalist policy of political centralization. This research is included into wider
debates on the role of culture — in this case, historical culture — as a resource to
justify, reinforce, reproduce, and transform an existing social order.
The present dissertation is comprised of an introduction and four articles. In the
introduction, besides presenting the conclusions of the research, I provide a short
historical contextualisation for the chronology in question. A survey on medieval
Portuguese historiography is given the first article, while the others discuss the
building of an Iberian Christian aristocratic identity based on Islamic otherness,
depictions of Christian-Muslim interaction other than military, and the role of the
Iberian Visigothic past in aristocratic historiographical memory. The thesis’ main
sources are chronicles and genealogical compilations written in Galician-
Portuguese language. Its primary concern is the socio-cultural dimension of these
texts, i.e., their ideological implications and effects upon the social world.
This research shows that, when confronting royalty over the ongoing process of
monarchical centralisation, the Portuguese aristocracy invoked the war against
Islam as the primary argument for its social prominence and the source of its class
privileges. The sources studied in this thesis were part of the aristocracy’s political
legitimation discourse. They provided the nobility with an indispensable social role
for the equilibrium of an idealised social order, while reality was ridden with
contradictions and in rapid transformation
Research Interests: Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Historiography, Iberian Studies, Medieval Iberian History, and 15 moreHistory Portuguese and Spanish, Nobility, Islam, Medieval Nobility, Iberian History, Medieval Aristocracy, Genealogia, Portugal, Medieval Chronicles, Late Medieval History, Legitimation, Chronicles, Medieval genealogy, Cronística Medieval, and Crónicas hispanas
A presente dissertação enquadra-se no âmbito da história da historiografia e da cultura medieval. Através do exame sistemático de fontes cronísticas medievais, procurámos estabelecer um percurso evolutivo das imagens do primeiro rei luso,... more
A presente dissertação enquadra-se no âmbito da história da historiografia e da cultura medieval. Através do exame sistemático de fontes cronísticas medievais, procurámos estabelecer um percurso evolutivo das imagens do primeiro rei luso, D. Afonso Henriques, relacionadas com as suas actividades militares, ocupando um lugar privilegiado a guerra de expansão contra os muçulmanos, conflito convencionalmente designado de Reconquista. Desta forma, esta pesquisa foi norteada pelo objectivo de compreender, ao longo do período medieval, qual o papel assumido pelo reavivamento da memória da guerra de conquista na prossecução dos propósitos políticos que geralmente se encontram subjacentes aos textos historiográficos medievais.
Research Interests:
This text consists of the 'lectio praecursoria' given at the defense of my doctoral dissertation "The Good Noblemen Who Conquered the Kingdom: Islam, Historiography, and Aristocratic Legitimation in Late-Medieval... more
This text consists of the 'lectio praecursoria' given at the defense of my doctoral dissertation "The Good Noblemen Who Conquered the Kingdom: Islam, Historiography, and Aristocratic Legitimation in Late-Medieval Portugal". This dissertation deals with aristocratic historiography and political legitimation in late-medieval Portugal (late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries). It offers a perspective into the historical imaginary of the late-medieval Portuguese aristocracy; an imaginary that underlay the argumentation of members of this social class in defence of their traditional rights and jurisdictions against politicalcentralisation. It examines how the medieval Portuguese aristocracy utilized memories of past interactions with Islam to justify its privileged social status and defend its traditional prerogatives at a time when this social group opposed the royalist policy of political centralization. This research is included into wider debates on the role of cu...
Research Interests: Medieval History, Medieval Iberian Literature, Medieval Studies, Historiography, Iberian Studies, and 15 morePolitics, Medieval Islam, Medieval Iberian History, Medieval Portuguese Literature, Islam, Portugal, Late medieval Portugal, Legitimation, Pierre Bourdieu and symbolic violence, Medieval Portuguese Genealogy, Portuguese Medieval Chronicles, Literatura Portuguesa Medieval, Portugal History, História de Portugal, and Medieval Portuguese
A brief survey of chronicle-composition activity in medieval Portugal.
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Research Interests:
This article deals with representations of Christian-Islamic confluence in the medieval Portuguese genealogical compilation known as Livro de Linhagens do Conde D. Pedro (Count Pedro's Book of Lineages), assembled in the... more
This article deals with representations of Christian-Islamic confluence in the medieval Portuguese genealogical compilation known as Livro de Linhagens do Conde D. Pedro (Count Pedro's Book of Lineages), assembled in the mid-fourteenth century by Count Pedro of Barcelos. Several narratives dealing with the non-military interaction of Christians and Muslims are analysed in this article, which discusses their role in the aristocratic discourses of political legitimization. The article's main argument is that, when evoking ancestors who reinforced the family's prestige, medieval Portuguese aristocratic families considered ethnic and cultural origin as secondary to their ancestors' social status.
Research Interests: History, Cultural History, Medieval History, Portuguese Studies, Medieval Studies, and 15 moreIberian Studies, Portuguese Medieval History, Medieval Islam, Medieval Iberian History, Cultural Encounters, History of Historiography, Late Medieval History, Medieval genealogy, Medieval Portuguese Genealogy, Intercultural Dialogue and Cross Cultural Encounters, Late Medieval Iberian History, Use of the past in late medieval and early modern historiography, Medieval Iberian Historiography, Confluence, and Medieval Iberian Studies
This article introduces the reader into contemporary uses of medieval Iberian history by far-right nationalist groupings, focusing mainly on Spain and Portugal, but also exploring other contexts such as pan-European networks of far-right... more
This article introduces the reader into contemporary uses of medieval Iberian history by far-right nationalist groupings, focusing mainly on Spain and Portugal, but also exploring other contexts such as pan-European networks of far-right political activists or emergent radical right-wing forces in present-day Ukraine. I looked particularly upon uses of the concepts of Reconquista and al-Andalus as elements for political mobilisation in these discourses. The aim of the article is, in accordance with the objectives and practices underlying the Engaging the Crusades series, to showcase emergent lines of research in this newly-emerging field which is "political medievalism", i.e., the use of medieval tropes to uphold contemporary political programmes.
Research Interests: Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Politics, Al Andalus (Islamic History), Andalusia/Al-Andalus, and 13 moreUses of History, Far right politics, Ukrainian Far-Right Organisations, Far Right, Portuguese Reconquista, Far-right wing parties, far-right politics Europe, Extreme and Far Right, Reconquista, Al Andalus, Spanish Reconquista, Far Right Movements, and Far Right in Europe
This article examines aristocratic notions of otherness in fourteenth-century Portugal. I build upon previous research into Muslim ethno-religious otherness in medieval Iberia, framing it among other forms of otherness, such as political... more
This article examines aristocratic notions of otherness in fourteenth-century Portugal. I build upon previous research into Muslim ethno-religious otherness in medieval Iberia, framing it among other forms of otherness, such as political otherness. Instead of approaching otherness as a static phenomenon restricted to Muslim otherness, I explore this particular form of otherness among other forms of the phenomenon. I also consider different degrees of otherness, as well as how these disparate forms and degrees interrelate. My main argument is that otherness in the eyes of the fourteenth-century Portuguese aristocracy was primarily defined by political enmity or rivalry. I stress that, despite being ethnoreligious in origin, Muslim otherness is so conspicuous in fourteenth-century aristocratic historiographical discourse because of Islam’s political status, and not simply due to religious antagonism.
Research Interests: Portuguese Studies, Medieval Historiography, Historiography, Portuguese Medieval History, Islam, and 15 moreMedieval Nobility, Medieval Aristocracy, Portugal, Aristocracy, Otherness, Identity and Alterity, late medieval and early modern history of European nobility and courts, Portuguese medieval and early modern historiography, Symbolic Power, Medieval Portuguese Genealogy, Iberian Islam, Late Iberian Islam, Iberian Aristocracy, Othering and Alterity, and História medieval de Portugal
A presente dissertação enquadra-se no âmbito da história da historiografia e da cultura medieval. Através do exame sistemático de fontes cronísticas medievais, procurámos estabelecer um percurso evolutivo das imagens do primeiro rei luso,... more
A presente dissertação enquadra-se no âmbito da história da historiografia e da cultura medieval. Através do exame sistemático de fontes cronísticas medievais, procurámos estabelecer um percurso evolutivo das imagens do primeiro rei luso, D. Afonso Henriques, relacionadas com as suas actividades militares, ocupando um lugar privilegiado a guerra de expansão contra os muçulmanos, conflito convencionalmente designado de Reconquista. Desta forma, esta pesquisa foi norteada pelo objectivo de compreender, ao longo do período medieval, qual o papel assumido pelo reavivamento da memória da guerra de conquista na prossecução dos propósitos políticos que geralmente se encontram subjacentes aos textos historiográficos medievais.
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One of the main arguments used to legitimise Christian military expansion in medieval Iberia was the location of the origin of the Christian Iberian kingdoms in the ancient Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo (507–711), which established a... more
One of the main arguments used to legitimise Christian military expansion in medieval Iberia was the location of the origin of the Christian Iberian kingdoms in the ancient Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo (507–711), which established a notion of political continuity between these entities. The legitimacy of the Visigothic Kingdom was reflected in the polities that emerged out of the process of Christian expansion, enabling military activity against Muslims to be portrayed as the restoration of Gothic Spain. In the present study, I refer to this view of the past, especially in thirteenth-century Castilian royal historiography, as the neo-Gothic myth. The neo-Gothic myth was an asset held by royalty in the cultural enactment of these social struggles. In this article, I inquire into the reaction of the seignorial aristocracy to the royalty’s neo-Gothic claims, using the historiographical work by Count Pedro of Barcelos (c. 1285–1354). More specifically, I analyse how Count Pedro adapted ...
Research Interests:
This article examines aristocratic notions of otherness in fourteenth-century Portugal. I build upon previous research into Muslim ethno-religious otherness in medieval Iberia, framing it among other forms of otherness, such as political... more
This article examines aristocratic notions of otherness in fourteenth-century Portugal. I build upon previous research into Muslim ethno-religious otherness in medieval Iberia, framing it among other forms of otherness, such as political otherness. Instead of approaching otherness as a static phenomenon restricted to Muslim otherness, I explore this particular form of otherness among other forms of the phenomenon. I also consider different degrees of otherness, as well as how these disparate forms and degrees interrelate. My main argument is that otherness in the eyes of the fourteenth-century Portuguese aristocracy was primarily defined by political enmity or rivalry. I stress that, despite being ethnoreligious in origin, Muslim otherness is so conspicuous in fourteenth-century aristocratic historiographical discourse because of Islam’s political status, and not simply due to religious antagonism.
Research Interests: Portuguese Studies, Medieval Historiography, Historiography, Portuguese Medieval History, Islam, and 15 moreMedieval Nobility, Medieval Aristocracy, Portugal, Aristocracy, Otherness, Identity and Alterity, late medieval and early modern history of European nobility and courts, Portuguese medieval and early modern historiography, Symbolic Power, Medieval Portuguese Genealogy, Iberian Islam, Late Iberian Islam, Iberian Aristocracy, Othering and Alterity, and História medieval de Portugal
This article deals with representations of Christian-Islamic confluence in the medieval Portuguese genealogical compilation known as Livro de Linhagens do Conde D. Pedro (Count Pedro’s Book of Lineages), assembled in the mid-fourteenth... more
This article deals with representations of Christian-Islamic confluence in the medieval Portuguese genealogical compilation known as Livro de Linhagens do Conde D. Pedro (Count Pedro’s Book of Lineages), assembled in the mid-fourteenth century by Count Pedro of Barcelos. Several narratives dealing with the non-military interaction of Christians and Muslims are analysed in this article, which discusses their role in the aristocratic discourses of political legitimization. The article’s main argument is that, when evoking ancestors who reinforced the family’s prestige, medieval Portuguese aristocratic families considered ethnic and cultural origin as secondary to their ancestors’ social status.
Research Interests: History, Cultural History, Medieval History, Portuguese Studies, Medieval Studies, and 15 moreIberian Studies, Portuguese Medieval History, Medieval Islam, Medieval Iberian History, Cultural Encounters, History of Historiography, Uses of History, Late Medieval History, Medieval genealogy, Medieval Portuguese Genealogy, Intercultural Dialogue and Cross Cultural Encounters, Late Medieval Iberian History, Use of the past in late medieval and early modern historiography, Medieval Iberian Historiography, and Medieval Iberian Studies
In literate societies in the medieval era the use of historiography was essential for the ideological consolidation of the economic and political hegemony of the dominant social groups. Almost invariably historiographical texts hid more... more
In literate societies in the medieval era the use of historiography was essential for the ideological consolidation of the economic and political hegemony of the dominant social groups. Almost invariably historiographical texts hid more or less explicit ideological/political programs. As Bernard Guenée once put it, in a world where the past was the best justification for the present, it is natural that history was the best argument for propaganda, the best ideological support of power. 1 In this way, historiographical production can often be regarded as a cultural reflection of social contradictions or, in the case of the subject of this paper, of political struggles among the ruling social strata. These are groups that hold power over literary production; who have the means and the know-how to write history; who have ‘power over future memory, the power to perpetuate’ When we approach medieval Portuguese chronicles, one cannot fail to see a reflection of the relations and disputes ...
Research Interests:
One of the main arguments used to legitimise Christian military expansion in medieval Iberia was the location of the origin of the Christian Iberian kingdoms in the ancient Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo (507–711), which established a... more
One of the main arguments used to legitimise Christian military expansion in medieval Iberia was the location of the origin of the Christian Iberian kingdoms in the ancient Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo (507–711), which established a notion of political continuity between these entities. The legitimacy of the Visigothic Kingdom was reflected in the polities that emerged out of the process of Christian expansion, enabling military activity against Muslims to be portrayed as the restoration of Gothic Spain. In the present study, I refer to this view of the past, especially in thirteenth-century Castilian royal historiography, as the neo-Gothic myth. The neo-Gothic myth was an asset held by royalty in the cultural enactment of these social struggles. In this article, I inquire into the reaction of the seignorial aristocracy to the royalty’s neo-Gothic claims, using the historiographical work by Count Pedro of Barcelos (c. 1285–1354). More specifically, I analyse how Count Pedro adapted the neo-Gothic myth to an aristocratic perspective.
Research Interests:
This article deals with representations of Christian-Islamic confluence in the medieval Portuguese genealogical compilation known as Livro de Linhagens do Conde D. Pedro (Count Pedro’s Book of Lineages), assembled in the mid-fourteenth... more
This article deals with representations of Christian-Islamic confluence in the medieval Portuguese genealogical compilation known as Livro de Linhagens do Conde D. Pedro (Count Pedro’s Book of Lineages), assembled in the mid-fourteenth century by Count Pedro of Barcelos. Several narratives dealing with the non-military interaction of Christians and Muslims are analysed in this article, which discusses their role in the aristocratic discourses of political legitimization. The article’s main argument is that, when evoking ancestors who reinforced the family’s prestige, medieval Portuguese aristocratic families considered ethnic and cultural origin as secondary to their ancestors’ social status.
Research Interests: Cultural History, Medieval History, Portuguese Studies, Medieval Studies, Iberian Studies, and 15 morePortuguese Medieval History, Medieval Islam, Medieval Iberian History, Cultural Encounters, History of Historiography, Uses of History, Late Medieval History, Medieval genealogy, Medieval Portuguese Genealogy, Intercultural Dialogue and Cross Cultural Encounters, Uses of the past, Late Medieval Iberian History, Use of the past in late medieval and early modern historiography, Medieval Iberian Historiography, and Medieval Iberian Studies
This article introduces the reader into contemporary uses of medieval Iberian history by far-right nationalist groupings, focusing mainly on Spain and Portugal, but also exploring other contexts such as pan-European networks of far-right... more
This article introduces the reader into contemporary uses of medieval Iberian history by far-right nationalist groupings, focusing mainly on Spain and Portugal, but also exploring other contexts such as pan-European networks of far-right political activists or emergent radical right-wing forces in present-day Ukraine. I looked particularly upon uses of the concepts of Reconquista and al-Andalus as elements for political mobilisation in these discourses. The aim of the article is, in accordance with the objectives and practices underlying the Engaging the Crusades series, to showcase emergent lines of research in this newly-emerging field which is “political medievalism”, i.e., the use of medieval tropes to uphold contemporary political programmes.
Research Interests: Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Politics, Al-Andalus, Andalusia/Al-Andalus, and 14 moreAl-Andalus History, Uses of History, Ukrainian Far-Right Organisations, Far Right, Portuguese Reconquista, Far-right wing parties, Far-Right Politics, far-right politics Europe, Extreme and Far Right, Far-right in Europe, Far-right parties in Europe, Reconquista, Spanish Reconquista, and Far Right Movements
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Research Interests:
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Com este artigo, pretendeu-se contribuir com novos dados para a história da localidade de Almeida na época medieval. Apesar de ter sido objecto de estudos anteriores, as obras historiográficas contemporâneas consagradas à história de... more
Com este artigo, pretendeu-se contribuir com novos dados para a história da localidade de Almeida na época medieval. Apesar de ter sido objecto de estudos anteriores, as obras historiográficas contemporâneas consagradas à história de Almeida não assumiram uma postura suficientemente crítica relativamente ao que as fontes seiscentistas postulavam acerca da origem e evolução do povoado. Dedicou-se, além do mais, algum espaço à análise da relação verificável entre o percurso histórico da vila, a alteração no padrão de povoamento e a construção do castelo medieval. Foi nosso objectivo aprofundar um pouco estas questões, relevando a pertinência da utilização de fontes apropriadas para o estudo da Almeida medieval.
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Talk presented at the workshop "From Words to Deeds? Hostile Rhetoric and Violence Against Minorities in Premodern Europe," Tampere, Finland, 14.12.2023
Research Interests: Self and Identity, Medieval History, Early Modern History, Medieval Studies, Historiography, and 15 moreEarly Modern Europe, Religious Conversion, Minority Studies, History of the Jews, Jewish historiography, Religious Persecution, Portugal (History), Antisemitism, Otherness, Late Medieval History, Late medieval Portugal, Persecution, Sephardic Jews, História de Portugal, and History of Portugal
This text consists of the 'lectio praecursoria' given at the defense of my doctoral dissertation "The Good Noblemen Who Conquered the Kingdom: Islam, Historiography, and Aristocratic Legitimation in Late-Medieval Portugal". This... more
This text consists of the 'lectio praecursoria' given at the defense of my doctoral dissertation "The Good Noblemen Who Conquered the Kingdom: Islam, Historiography, and Aristocratic Legitimation in Late-Medieval Portugal". This dissertation deals with aristocratic historiography and political legitimation in late-medieval Portugal (late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries). It offers a perspective into the historical imaginary of the late-medieval Portuguese aristocracy; an imaginary that underlay the argumentation of members of this social class in defence of their traditional rights and jurisdictions against political
centralisation. It examines how the medieval Portuguese aristocracy utilized memories of past interactions with Islam to justify its privileged social status and defend its traditional prerogatives at a time when this social group opposed the royalist policy of political centralization. This research is included into wider debates on the role of culture — in this case, historical culture — as a resource to justify, reinforce, reproduce, and transform an existing social order.
centralisation. It examines how the medieval Portuguese aristocracy utilized memories of past interactions with Islam to justify its privileged social status and defend its traditional prerogatives at a time when this social group opposed the royalist policy of political centralization. This research is included into wider debates on the role of culture — in this case, historical culture — as a resource to justify, reinforce, reproduce, and transform an existing social order.
Research Interests: Medieval History, Medieval Iberian Literature, Medieval Studies, Iberian Studies, Portuguese Medieval History, and 15 moreMedieval Islam, Medieval Iberian History, Medieval Portuguese Literature, Portugal (History), Portugal, Symbolic violence, Late medieval Portugal, Social Space and Symbolic Power, Symbolic Power, Pierre Bourdieu and symbolic violence, Medieval Portuguese Genealogy, Portuguese Medieval Chronicles, Literatura Portuguesa Medieval, História de Portugal, and Medieval Portuguese
This paper deals with uses of medieval Iberian history in current political debate. The focus lies on the utilisation of memories of medieval conflicts between Iberian Christendom and Islam to justify present-day political programmes. On... more
This paper deals with uses of medieval Iberian history in current political debate. The focus lies on the utilisation of memories of medieval conflicts between Iberian Christendom and Islam to justify present-day political programmes. On one hand, the so-called Iberian Reconquista is often celebrated by European conservative and radical right-wing groups, since it serves as a historical reference for present-day anti-Islamic activism. According to this view, both the Reconquista and current Islamophobic opinion trends are expressions of the same phenomenon: a several-century old tradition of resistance against the “invading” Islamic culture. Hostility towards Islam is usually presented as one of the defining traits of European identity. On the other hand, the eight-century long existence of al-Andalus as part of the Muslim world is also used to justify the expansionist ambitions of radical Islamist groups. I start with an overlook upon the concept of Reconquista and its use in nationalist historiography, especially in the National-Catholic perspective of history dominant in Franco’s Spain and Salazar’s Portugal. I proceed with a survey of recent research on the survival of these topics in contemporary Spanish historiography, followed by an analysis of uses of the concept of Reconquista in contemporary political debate. I then extend the analysis to the present uses of medieval Iberian history by Islamic extremist groups.
Research Interests: Medieval History, Medieval Historiography, Politics, History of Historiography, Portuguese Reconquista, and 9 moreFar-Right Politics, far-right politics Europe, Extreme and Far Right, Historiografia Medieval, Reconquista, Jihadism and Radical Islamism, The Far Right: Anti-Immigration Parties, Neofascist and Extreme Right Parties in Europe, Spanish Reconquista, and Islamist extremism
Christian-Islamic coexistence in Iberia conditioned the socio-political identities of medieval Iberian elites, a process where demarcation of the ‘Self’ from ‘Others’ played a paramount role. However, such delimitations are not... more
Christian-Islamic coexistence in Iberia conditioned the socio-political identities of medieval Iberian elites, a process where demarcation of the ‘Self’ from ‘Others’ played a paramount role. However, such delimitations are not necessarily linear. I examine concepts of ‘Otherness’ in medieval Portuguese aristocratic historiographical discourses, using genealogical texts as sources. We can discern here two argumentative vectors: 1) hostility towards royal power, where the ‘Other’ is the king and powerful Muslims may be part of the ‘Self’; 2) hostility towards Islam, where the ‘Other’ is the Muslim and royal power is part of the ‘Self’. I discuss how these discourses intersect, analysing them from the perspective of the aristocratic discourses of political legitimisation during the late-thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
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This paper deals with representations of Christian-Islamic cultural confluence in 'Count D. Pedro’s Book of Lineages.' I examine a number of narratives from this genealogical compilation dealing with non-military interaction between... more
This paper deals with representations of Christian-Islamic cultural confluence in 'Count D. Pedro’s Book of Lineages.' I examine a number of narratives from this genealogical compilation dealing with non-military interaction between Christians and Muslims, discussing how they fit into the aristocratic discourses of political legitimization. I argue that, when evoking ancestors that reinforced the familial prestige, medieval Portuguese noble families considered ethnic/cultural/religious origin as something of secondary relevance, when compared to the social status of those ancestors. In other words, social background is more important than the cultural origin of those ancestors.