Alfonso the Magnanimous

Alfonso the Magnanimous
Author: Alan Frederick Charles Ryder
Publisher:
Total Pages: 488
Release: 1990
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

This is the first complete biography of one of the most brilliant fifteenth-century monarchs, Alfonso V of Aragon. Ryder traces Alfonso's life from his childhood in the chivalric world of Castile to the newly-acquired states of Aragon and his subsequent accession to the Aragonese throne. In addition to being a shrewd politician, Alfonso is revealed to have been an accomplished diplomat, acutely aware of the power of commerce, and one of the greatest patrons of the early Renaissance. He brought humanism to life in Southern Italy and made his court the most brilliant in Europe. Offering not only an insightful look at Alfonso's life but a vivid portrait of political and cultural life during his reign, this volume will hold special appeal for scholars and students of early modern European history, fifteenth-century Italian and Spanish history, and Renaissance studies.

The Crusade in the Fifteenth Century

The Crusade in the Fifteenth Century
Author: Norman Housley
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2016-06-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317036883

Increasingly, historians acknowledge the significance of crusading activity in the fifteenth century, and they have started to explore the different ways in which it shaped contemporary European society. Just as important, however, was the range of interactions which took place between the three faith communities which were most affected by crusade, namely the Catholic and Orthodox worlds, and the adherents of Islam. Discussion of these interactions forms the theme of this book. Two essays consider the impact of the fall of Constantinople in 1453 on the conquering Ottomans and the conquered Byzantines. The next group of essays reviews different aspects of the crusading response to the Turks, ranging from Emperor Sigismund to Papal legates. The third set of contributions considers diplomatic and cultural interactions between Islam and Christianity, including attempts made to forge alliances of Christian and Muslim powers against the Ottomans. Last, a set of essays looks at what was arguably the most complex region of all for inter-faith relations, the Balkans, exploring the influence of crusading ideas in the eastern Adriatic, Bosnia and Romania. Viewed overall, this collection of essays makes a powerful contribution to breaking down the old and discredited view of monolithic and mutually exclusive "fortresses of faith". Nobody would question the extent and intensity of religious violence in fifteenth-century Europe, but this volume demonstrates that it was played out within a setting of turbulent diversity. Religious and ethnic identities were volatile, allegiances negotiable, and diplomacy, ideological exchange and human contact were constantly in operation between the period's major religious groupings.

The King's Other Body

The King's Other Body
Author: Theresa Earenfight
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2012-02-24
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0812201833

Queen María of Castile, wife of Alfonso V, "the Magnanimous," king of the Crown of Aragon, governed Catalunya in the mid-fifteenth century while her husband conquered and governed the kingdom of Naples. For twenty-six years, she maintained a royal court and council separate from and roughly equivalent to those of Alfonso in Naples. Such legitimately sanctioned political authority is remarkable given that she ruled not as queen in her own right but rather as Lieutenant-General of Catalunya with powers equivalent to the king's. María does not fit conventional images of a queen as wife and mother; indeed, she had no children and so never served as queen-regent for any royal heirs in their minorities or exercised a queen-mother's privilege to act as diplomat when arranging the marriages of her children and grandchildren. But she was clearly more than just a wife offering advice: she embodied the king's personal authority and was second only to the king himself. She was his alter ego, the other royal body fully empowered to govern. For a medieval queen, this official form of corulership, combining exalted royal status with official political appointment, was rare and striking. The King's Other Body is both a biography of María and an analysis of her political partnership with Alfonso. María's long, busy tenure as lieutenant prompts a reconsideration of long-held notions of power, statecraft, personalities, and institutions. It is also a study of the institution of monarchy and a theoretical reconsideration of the operations of gender within it. If the practice of monarchy is conventionally understood as strictly a man's job, María's reign presents a compelling argument for a more complex model, one attentive to the dynamic relationship of queenship and kingship and the circumstances and theories that shaped the institution she inhabited.

Italy

Italy
Author: Henry Smith Williams
Publisher:
Total Pages: 724
Release: 1907
Genre: World history
ISBN:

The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms

The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms
Author: David S H Abulafia
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2014-06-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317897412

A pioneering account of the dynastic struggle between the kings of Aragon and the Angevin kings of Naples, which shaped the commercial as well as the political map of the Mediterranean and had a profound effect on the futures of Spain, France, Italy and Sicily. David Abulafia does it full justice, reclaiming from undeserved neglect one of the formative themes in the history of the Middle Ages.

Gerhard on Music

Gerhard on Music
Author: Roberto Gerhard
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2019-06-04
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1351779494

This title was first published in 2000: Catalan-born composer Roberto Gerhard (1896-1970) left significant legacies - both musical and documentary. Exiled in Cambridge with the onset of the Spanish Civil War, he gradually achieved wide recognition by performers and conductors, in both Britain and America, as a composer whose music was essential to the modern repertoire. In this work, the author collects many of the composer's articles, reviews, lectures and broadcasts to demonstrate the full extent and continuity of Gerhard's artistic and creative thinking. The writings have been arranged thematically to emphasize the evolution of Gerhard's musical interests. His attachment to Spanish and Catalonian traditions broadened into a fascination with folk music of all kinds. His studies with Schoenberg in the mid 1920s gave him the key to his own creative individuality; thereafter, his imaginative vitality led him eventually to experiment with electronic and concrete music and he continued breaking new ground, even in his final years.

Remembering Parthenope

Remembering Parthenope
Author: Jessica Hughes
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 389
Release: 2015-03-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191655449

This edited collection focuses on how the ancient past of the city of Naples has been invented, shaped, transmitted, and received in literature, art, and material culture since the time of the city's foundation. Adopting a chronological approach, chapters examine important moments in Naples' reception history from the Roman period (when the city was already several centuries old) to the present day. Among the topics covered are representations of the city's early history and mythology in texts and temples of the Roman period; later uses of Roman spolia (marble sculptures and architectural elements) in Christian churches; the importance of antiquity to the rulers of the Angevin and Swabian periods; the appropriation of the city's classical heritage by Renaissance humanists; the image of the 'local' poets Virgil and Statius in later eras; humanist images of the ancient aqueducts and catacombs that ran beneath the city; representations of classical monuments in early modern city guides; images of ancient ruins in contemporary Catholic nativity scenes; and the archaeology and philosophy of the city's Metro system. Featuring contributions from an interdisciplinary range of scholars, this comprehensive volume provides a highly accessible point of entry into the vast bibliography on ancient Naples.

Writing Medieval Women’s Lives

Writing Medieval Women’s Lives
Author: C. Goldy
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2012-08-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1137074701

A collection of essays representing the growing variety of approaches used to write the history of medieval women. They reflect the European medieval world socially, geographically and across religious boundaries, engaging directly with how the medieval women's experience wa reconstructed, as well as what the experience was.