Presents to Princes: A Bestiary of Strange and Wondrous Beasts, Once Known, for a Time Forgotten, and Rediscovered

Nickel, Helmut

doi:10.2307/1512906

Cited by 4 publications

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“…In fact, there was a cultural predisposition in favour of the "exotic" in the Middle Ages, which was undeniably one of the factors that stimulated the Discoveries and dictated their commercial success 30 . Before the wave of Iberian expansionism, non-European commodities were already valued and seen as emblems of distinction, and the elites already used them as a symbolic display of majesty in the construction of images of personal and dynastic power 31 . Although elephants and other exotic animals were rarely imported before the 15 th century, there are several records of their presence in Europe in previous centuries.…”

Section: Catarina Santana Simõesmentioning

confidence: 99%

La importancia simbólica de lo exótico en la corte portuguesa a finales de la Edad Media

Simões¹

2015

An. Hist. Arte

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This paper aims at presenting the work in progress of our PhD thesis, entitled Images of Power. The "exotic" in the Portuguese Court in the Renaissance. It is generally accepted by the historiography that the Portuguese court seems to have been characterized by less complex and sophisticated forms of representation when compared to the French, Italian or Burgundian courts, which were undeniably more formal and refined. Our dissertation intends to evaluate the accuracy of this perspective. For this, we will focus on the importance of the "exotic" in ceremonial and politically relevant moments for the Portuguese monarchy. We will start by analysing the presence of African and Asian animals, products and objects in gift-giving practices and in political and ceremonial rituals -such as weddings, parades and banquets-of the Portuguese Monarchy in the 15 th and 16 th centuries. The figures of Henry the Navigator and Kings John II and Manuel I will be particularly emphasized as figures of transition, who used these "exotic" elements as an intrinsically medieval form of symbolic representation. The famous embassy sent by Manuel I to the Pope Leo X in 1514, which included the Indian elephant Hanno, is the most ostentatious and significant episode, but other examples will be addressed. It is important to mention that this subject will be studied in close comparison to a broader European cultural context. However, instead of adopting the 17 th century Kunstkammern of the Habsburgs as a term of comparison, we will look at previous practices of gift-giving and consumption, since we can identify a use of non-European animals as living heraldry and signs of power, ever since the Arab Abbassid Caliph Harun al-Rashid sent and elephant to Charlemagne. The main purpose of this paper is, thus, to underline the presence of "exotic" elements in the Portuguese court in the 15 th and 16 th centuries as part of a medieval cultural phenomenon, as opposed to an exclusively early modern tendency.Key words: Exotic, marvellous, material culture, animals, courtly culture. La importancia simbólica de lo "exótico" en la corte portuguesa a finales de la Edad MediaResumen Este artículo pretende presentar el trabajo en curso de nuestra tesis doctoral, titulada Imágenes de poder. Lo "exótico" en la corte portuguesa en el Renacimiento. La historiografía acepta generalmente que la corte portuguesa parece haberse caracterizado por formas de representación menos complejas y sofisticadas en comparación con las cortes de Francia, Italia o Borgoña, indiscutiblemente más formales y refinadas. Nuestra tesis pretende evaluar la exactitud de este punto de vista. Para ello, nos centraremos en la importancia de lo "exótico" en el ceremonial y los momentos políticamente relevantes para la monarquía portuguesa.

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Section: Catarina Santana Simõesmentioning

confidence: 99%

La importancia simbólica de lo exótico en la corte portuguesa a finales de la Edad Media

Simões¹

2015

An. Hist. Arte

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India’s Oceanic Circulations: Textiles, Crops, Animals, Disease and More

Mukherjee

2022

India in the Indian Ocean World

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“By means of tigers”: Jaguars as Agents of Conversion in Jesuit Mission Records of Paraguay and the Moxos, 1600–1768

Vélez¹

2015

Church Hist

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In the mid-1600s, the Jesuit Antonio Ruiz de Montoya reported that man-eating jaguars were helping to convert Guaraní Indians to Catholicism. This article tests his claim by aggregating multiple mentions of jaguars found in the accounts and letters of Jesuit missionaries in the reductions of Paraguay and the Moxos from the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, including the writing of Jesuits Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, François-Xavier Eder, Alonso Messia, and Martín Dobrizhoffer. Cumulatively, their predator sightings and references suggest that, indeed, the actions of real jaguars were transforming local religious beliefs. The presence of jaguars in Jesuit records also reveals the complexity of missionary and indigenous attitudes towards animals. Jesuits often associated jaguars with pre-Christian jaguar-shaman rituals, but also considered them to be divine instruments. Indigenous peoples sometimes preserved older practices, but also occasionally took real jaguars as an impetus to convert to Christianity. Both Jesuits and indigenous peoples reacted to jaguar incursions with violence as well as spiritual reflection. Most importantly, the prominence of active jaguars on this contested religious frontier suggests that animals should be viewed as more than symbols in Christian history. Jesuit records indicate that jaguars were key third players in zones where Europeans and indigenous populations met.

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Presents to Princes: A Bestiary of Strange and Wondrous Beasts, Once Known, for a Time Forgotten, and Rediscovered

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

La importancia simbólica de lo exótico en la corte portuguesa a finales de la Edad Media

La importancia simbólica de lo exótico en la corte portuguesa a finales de la Edad Media

India’s Oceanic Circulations: Textiles, Crops, Animals, Disease and More

“By means of tigers”: Jaguars as Agents of Conversion in Jesuit Mission Records of Paraguay and the Moxos, 1600–1768

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