medieval spain
"From Iberian Kingdoms to Atlantic Empires: Spain, Portugal, and the New World, 1250-1700"
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010 at 1:00 PM - Saturday, September 18, 2010 at 5:00 PM (ET)
The Nanovic Institute for European Studies announces an interdisciplinary, international conference on the history and literature of the Iberian empires from the High Middle Ages through the conquest of the New World. Although many scholars have acknowledged similarities between late-medieval Iberia and its colonies in the New World, few have offered precise answers to the questions that arise from these similarities. What is the relationship, for example, between “inquisition” in a medieval context and in the New World? Is it meaningful to compare minority Muslim communities in fifteenth-century Spain to indigenous peoples in the New World? How were the legal and political instruments of late medieval kings foundational for early modern Europe and Latin America? This conference encourages new ways of approaching the topic, based on the conviction that medievalists, early modernists, and Latin Americanists can make meaningful contributions to each other’s fields.
Panels will likely include the following topics:
On Friday, September 17, the Medieval Institute will host a dinner and reception in honor of Jocelyn Hillgarth, Professor Emeritus of History, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of Toronto in celebration of the acquisition of his personal collection by the Hesburgh Libraries of Notre Dame.
Featured speakers:
The Nanovic Institute for European Studies announces an interdisciplinary, international conference on the history and literature of the Iberian empires from the High Middle Ages through the conquest of the New World. Although many scholars have acknowledged similarities between late-medieval Iberia and its colonies in the New World, few have offered precise answers to the questions that arise from these similarities. What is the relationship, for example, between “inquisition” in a medieval context and in the New World? Is it meaningful to compare minority Muslim communities in fifteenth-century Spain to indigenous peoples in the New World? How were the legal and political instruments of late medieval kings foundational for early modern Europe and Latin America? This conference encourages new ways of approaching the topic, based on the conviction that medievalists, early modernists, and Latin Americanists can make meaningful contributions to each other’s fields.
Panels will likely include the following topics:
- Medieval and early modern Inquisition
- Global exploration and conquest
- Law, politics, and administration
- Language, literature, and translation
- Race, minority populations, and identity
- Evangelization, “Christianization,” and conversion
On Friday, September 17, the Medieval Institute will host a dinner and reception in honor of Jocelyn Hillgarth, Professor Emeritus of History, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of Toronto in celebration of the acquisition of his personal collection by the Hesburgh Libraries of Notre Dame.
Featured speakers:
- Felipe Fernández-Armesto, University of Notre Dame
- Paul Freedman, Yale University
- Michael Gerli, University of Virginia
- Sabine MacCormack, University of Notre Dame
- Kenneth Mills, University of Toronto
- João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, New University of Lisbon
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Professor Haim Beinart, author of The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, has died...
Monday, 22 February 2010
There is news today that Professor Haim Beinart has died.
H-Judaic reports:
“We mourn the passing last week of Prof. Haim Beinart (1917-2010), a towering figure in the study of Iberian Jewry. Prof. Beinart spent his entire career at the Hebrew University, where he received his doctorate in 1955, rose to become full professor, and had been emeritus professor since 1988. During the course of a long and fruitful career, he published some 300 books and articles including his definitive THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN. Many of the foremost scholars of Sephardic Jewry were Beinart's students and all students of Sephardic Jewry are indebted to Beinart's scholarship. We extend deepest condolences to his family.”
I first learned about Jewish culture and society in medieval Spain, specifically the Extremadura in his book, Trujillo: A Jewish Community in Extremadura on the Eve of the Expulsion from Spain (Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1980). There I learned about the Carvajal family, of which I am a descendent, and its relationship to Extremaduran Jewish families. Curiously, from Beinart’s work I would continue my own family research in Spanish archives and learn that the Carvajals were also conversos, or Jewish converts to Christianity.