INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "Constructing the Other and the Self. Representations of identity and otherness in the Middle Ages"

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Description

Paper title: «Identity construction or deconstruction? The States of the Church through the eyes of a Portuguese traveller in the late Middle Ages»
Session II
Presentation day: 13th October 2022

Abstract: At the dawn of the 16th century, Rome is a cosmopolitan and international city. Its centrality extends, above all, to the fields of religion, culture and politics. It was here that diplomacy took on new and important features, raising European international politics to a new level. At the same time, with greater co-evolving powers, in particular Spain and France, as protagonists, Italic soil became the privileged stage of the dispute for hegemony in the Old Continent. All this was witnessed by a Portuguese traveller in the service of the House of Braganza, who went to the capital of Christendom as an unofficial
agent of his master, the 4th Duke of Braganza. During the seven years he will stay in Italy, especially in Rome, the Portuguese traveller will experience with shock, but also amazement, the direct contact with the reality of the contemporary Catholic Church, especially its dome: popes and cardinals. The difference between what is and what should be leaves an impressive mark on him, which results in a unique travel writing in the Portuguese literary panorama of the medieval twilight.
Period13 Oct 2022
Event typeConference
LocationLisbon, PortugalShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Keywords

  • Identity
  • Otherness
  • Travel
  • Church States
  • Diplomacy
  • Late Middle Ages