Projectos

Espiritualidade e Corte (sécs XVI-XVIII)
Spirituality and the Court (16th to 18th century)

Resumo do projecto

Through several lines of research and approaches, this project will focus on the dynamics of the court(s) during the «Ancien Régime», and, in particular, that of the Portuguese court within the context of the Iberian Peninsula, considering not only the cultural but also the political and social dimensions from the 16th to 18th century. During this period, as the consequences of the Counter-Reformation developed in many different ways and forms, spirituality, for several reasons, involved and shaped – or attempted to shape – men and institutions. The Peninsular courts at the time maintained ties and alliances which they naturally identified with from 1580 to 1640. This explains the peninsular scope of the project as well as of the research team.
This project is divided into three parts – 1: how courtly behaviour was formed and organized; 2: spirituality as performance; 3: the ladies’ «looking glasses» – and proposes to explore and edit a number of key documents for the analysis of the subject-matter which we intend to approach from an Iberian perspective. 

In the first place, we expect to develop the following:

1. Seminar on the «state of the art» - spirituality and the court from the 16th to 18th century

2. How courtly behaviour is formed and organized
2.1. Ethics and spirituality in the instruction of the «fine courtier» 
2.2. Treatises on the education of children
2.3. «Instructions» given to sons and daugherts who are to attend at court
2.4. The Portuguese «lineage» of the Instrucciones by Juan de Veja to his son, Fernando de Veja
2.5. From «instructions» to «advices»: the Avisos para o paço (Lisbon, 1659) by Luís Abreu de Melo

3. Spirituality as performance
3.1. International seminar on spirituality as performance at court
3.2. The sermon
3.3. The theatre
3.4. Religious festivals at court
3.4.1. Baptisms of princes and great lords
3.4.2. Great ladies taking the veil
3.4.3. Exequies
3.4.4. Canonization Festivals
3.5. The court saint and the court prophet
3.5.1. Spirituality, censorship and political moments

4. Through the looking glass
4.1. The image of the Lady in the literature of spirituality
4.2. Carta by Hernando de Talavera to the Countess of Benavente
4.3 Spiritual works dedicated to the Ladies at court
4.4. Poetic celebration of the Lady: from case to gender
4.5. Consecration of the traditional looking-glass: Arte de galanteria (Lisbon, 1670, yet prior to 1623) by D. Francisco of Portugal 
4.6. The image of the married lady in the letters by D. Joana de Meneses to her husband during the campaign of the Portuguese Restoration

5. International colloquium presenting the results in collaboration, to be proposed with the Centre «L’Europa delle Corti» in Ferrara. 

Objectivos

Based on the experience of the C.I.U.H.E. and the research team - cf.  8.3. (State of the Art) – we expect to effectively accomplish the following objectives:

1 – Promote and organize research centred on manifestations and specific forms of spirituality in the court whose influence can be analyzed based on several different fields of study – religious, cultural, social, institutional, literary, artistic, musical, etc. – on the basis of a three-year programme in which all the fields of study herein mentioned are not – nor are presently proposed to be – analyzed at this stage (cf. 8.1. Abstract)    

2 – Encourage multidisciplinary debate on the perspectives announced through the organization of seminars/conferences and colloquia with the participation of national and foreign specialists, namely from similar research centres (Seminario de Estudios Medievales y Renacentistas, SEMYR - University of Salamanca; Centre d’Études de la Renaissance, Tours; Centro L’Europa delle Corti, Ferrara)

3 – Disseminate documents – manuscript and printed – considered fundamental for the study of spirituality and/or of the court, including through their publication and study.

4 – Establish relations which may come to be useful and necessary with similar cultural and scientific institutions that develop or have developed scientific work centred on the issue of the court and/or spirituality.

Da Memória dos Livros às Bibliotecas da Memória

Resumo do projecto:

Phase 3 of this vast project - transcription and study of the "Inventário da Livraria do Convento de S. Domingos de Viana do Csstelo" ("Inventory of the Library of the Convent of Saint Dominic of Viana do Castelo") - represents the continuation and the use of the results already obtained and published of the study of the inventories of the convents' libraries of Saint Francis of Caminha and Saint Anthony of Ponte de Lima, also made at the same time as the extinction of the religious orders (1834).

Objectivos do projecto:

Transcription and indexing of the "Inventário" ("Inventory"), drawing on specialized bibliography, available at some European libraries both by means of the Internet and by direct visit - for which some missions are expected -, authors, works and editions will be identified and indexed. This is an extremely complicated and long task due to the procedures used by those in charge of the inventories who, in many cases, have simply noted down shortly the identifying elements, if not even altered them beyond remedy. To proceed with the identification referred in 2 and, if possible, making of the respective indexes of authors, dates and religious orders as they appear in the "Inventory".

Relação com o estado da arte

Even without judging it necessary to mention the numerous works that have been devoted to the study of the books and the libraries in the Early Modern Age, it would seem appropriate, due to the similarity of goals, to recall the works of Diego Ciccarelli about "La circolazione libraria tra i francescani di Sicilia", Palermo, 1990, and Rita Zanardi, "Bibliotheca Francescana. Gli incunaboli e le cinquecentine dei Frati Minori dell'Emilia-Romagna conservate presso il Convento dell'Osservanza di Bologna", Firenze, 1999.

 
Espiritualidade e Púlpito: gesto, palavras e devoções na pregação nos séculos XVI e XVII

Attempt to approach one dimension (the spirituality) of one of the most powerful means of Christian indoctrination - specially Catholic - which underwent a boost after the Council of Trent.

Objectivos do Projecto

To produce and publish a set of studies on sermons in which spirituality (Eucharistic, for example) and devotion (celebration of some devotions - the Rosary, for example) and the celebration of some saints and beatified people will be its main object, and including other types of social implications.

Relação com o estado da arte

It should be pointed out the attention that in whole Europe and even in the United States has been given to the importance of the art of preaching and the fact that, among us, its study has been getting special attention even though, almost always, from the point of view of the rhetorical skills and the political propaganda. If what is stressed may by itself express the originality and relevance of this project, the studies now proposed will allow to add to those dimensions a new perspective concerning the true essence of preaching.


Bíblia e Poesia nos séculos XVI-XVII

Resumo do projecto

This research project has its roots in the importance the 16th and 17th centuries have given to the commentaries and paraphrases of the Bible at a time when access to the text itself was difficult. The "literary" universe of the centuries owes a lot to the commentaries on biblical passages, to paraphrases of psalms, to sacred and penitential rhymes, as ways of reflecting on and commenting upon the biblical text. The proposed research will be completed with the publication of the religious works of D. Manuel of Portugal (?-1606).

Objectivos

The main goal of the project will be to publish the religious works of D. Manuel of Portugal. The preliminary research will identify sources for the study of the relationships between Bible and Poetry in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its results will be presented in a series of monthly seminars to be held during 2005, at the CIUHE.

Relação com o estado da arte

Despite of some pioneering studies on Camões and on the religious poetry of D. Francisco Manuel de Melo, research on this area hasn't had a significant development in Portugal. Considering the huge historical and cultural importance of a phenomenon which has to be understood as it is inscribed in its time, the project seeks to carry out a systematic inventory of sources that will allow a deeper knowledge of the 16th and 17th centuries, as far as this area of the relationships between Bible and Poetry is concerned.