Amicitia and Caritas in the 7th Century: Isidore of Seville and His Sources (original) (raw)
Related papers
Qui manet in amicitia manet in Deo: Friendship in a Latin Christian tradition
Pacifica: Australasian Theological Studies, 2016
I explore the discourse on friendship in four Latin Christian authors, Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo, John Cassian and Aelred of Rievaulx, and how it occurs in the intersection of Cicero and biblical models and maxims. I conclude that friendship is not only central to the authors’ view of a fulfilled human life, but also to their understanding of the relationship between God and human beings.
Visigothic Symposia 4, 2020
Gregory the Great's Moralia in Job was well known in the Visigothic kingdom thanks to the efforts of Taio of Zaragoza and his Sententiarum libri V. The aim of the present essay is to study the ways in which Gregory's text was used by Taio to build his. As a case-study example, I focus specifically on the Taio's engagement with Gregory's concepts of judge and judgement because of their religious centrality. Taio, who dedicated to the judge a chapter of the fifth book, presents thee ideal judge not as one with the "technical" qualities of the knowledge of law, for example, but rather is one who must be a pious and God-fearing man. Isidore of Seville in his Sententiae described the ideal judge in sufficient detail, yet Taio did not use the treatise of Isidore. Instead, he preferred to follow fragments of the Moralia concerning the way of living of the righteous man. In fact, Taio used Gregory's text like a collection of bricks for his own treatise, embedding them in his own structure. Sometimes he shortened or altered the words of the original text, thus changing the content-and, in doing so, for instance, the righteous man of Gregory became the ideal judge.
Networks and Neighbours, 2020
Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Job was well known in the Visigothic kingdom thanks to the efforts of Taio of Zaragoza and his Sententiarum libri V. The aim of the present essay is to study the ways in which Gregory’s text was used by Taio to build his. As a case-study example, I focus specifically on the Taio’s engagement with Gregory’s concepts of judge and judgement because of their religious centrality. Taio, who dedicated to the judge a chapter of the fifth book, presents thee ideal judge not as one with the “technical” qualities of the knowledge of law, for example, but rather is one who must be a pious and God-fearing man. Isidore of Seville in his Sententiae described the ideal judge in sufficient detail, yet Taio did not use the treatise of Isidore. Instead, he preferred to follow fragments of the Moralia concerning the way of living of the righteous man. In fact, Taio used Gregory’s text like a collection of bricks for his own treatise, embedding them in his own structure. Sometimes he shortened or altered the words of the original text, thus changing the content – and, in doing so, for instance, the righteous man of Gregory became the ideal judge.
Ciceroniana On Line (COL), 2017
While amicitia in both Cicero s philosophical works and the Letters has been the subject of intense scholarly interest, it is only recently that the significance of amicitia for Roman society at large has warranted critical-historical studies. In rejecting outdated notions of amicitiae as political factions, modern scholarship has left a key question unanswered: if amicitia was not, in fact, instrumental in shaping policies and voting majorities, then what was its importance? This paper attempts to show the importance and function of amicitia in Roman aristocratic society by analyzing its influence on a variety of individual sectors of private and public day-to-day life. The rules of amicitia, as propounded by Cicero in his philosophical works, can be observed in action in his letters, where considerations of amity and friendship govern his interactions with aristocrats and non-aristocrats alike. From a close reading of his Letters (among other sources), the article draws up a catalogue of amical orthopraxy within the Roman aristocracy. What were the rules that governed friendships? In which areas of social life did they operate and how? What, precisely, were the actual benefits that Roman nobles could and did gain from them? In compiling the ample evidence for these benefits, the article contends that we can arrive at a new appreciation of amicitia and the fundamental role it played in generating and maintaining aristocratic social consensus. The amici of a Roman noble were not (only) important because of their value as political allies. They were important because almost every aspect of aristocratic life was governed by amicitiae, and vital parts of it could only function because of them.
2019
The study of Spanish ecclesiological thought on the powers of the pope and the general council is in need of a conceptual and methodological update. This collection of five essays represents a starting point for further research in this direction. The essays assembled here examine the presence of conciliar doctrine—both of its defenders and its critics—in the Spanish world from the time of the Council of Constance until the end of the Council of Trent. Darcy Kern challenges the view that Jean Gerson was unpopular and unread in the Peninsula by exploring the circulation of Gerson’s works in the Spanish kingdoms in manuscript and print form. Jesse Mann examines for the first time the relations between Juan de Segovia and Alfonso de Madrigal, the two most important theologians emerging from the University of Salamanca in the first half of the fifteenth century. Emily O’Brien studies the personal and professional relationship between Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, the future Pope Pius II, and Cardinal Juan de Carvajal, two men whose careers were forged during the years of the Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence. Xavier Tubau studies the relationship between conciliar theory and diplomacy in Francisco de Vargas, a jurist in the service of Charles V and Philip II during the Council of Trent. Finally, Thomas Izbicki’s contribution on fifteenth-century councils in Vitoria, Cano, and Carranza highlights the progressive closing of ranks in the Dominican world after Vitoria with respect to pontifical authority and the general councils. Although conciliarism did not take root in Spain to the extent that it did in other ecclesiastical and political circles in Northern Europe, it was not in itself a foreign doctrine, subject only to the influence of the experiences of a few theologians and diplomats at the Council of Basel. These essays challenge the current monolithic view of Spanish ecclesiological thought by showing the enduring presence of conciliar doctrine in the intellectual and political world of early modern Spain.
Cahiers d’études hispaniques médiévales 2019/1 (n° 42), pages 107 à 122, 2019
Friendship, with its plethora of expressions, was—and still is—central in political and diplomatic communication. Focusing on the fluctuating relationships between the thirteenth-century Iberian rulers, Alfonso X of Castile and James I of Aragon, this study will examine how the rhetoric, discourses and performance of friendship, which were based upon widespread cultural models, functioned as powerful communication tools, especially in peacemaking and diplomatic negotiations. The analysis of legal records, literary and narrative sources from both Castile and Aragon will shed light on the multiple discursive functions of their rhetoric of friendship which, for its historical and cultural legacy constituted a cross-cultural tool to legitimise the establishment and preservation of social networks and of the power structures that they contributed to shape and strengthen.