Workshop Batalha: lieu de mémoire de la dynastie d’Avis: À la recherche d‘une compréhension intégrée du monument et de son décor héraldique et emblématique.
Veranstaltet in Kooperation mit Miguel Metelo de Seixas und João Portugal im Rahmen des gemeinsamen internationalen Forschungsprojektes.
Abstract:
The Monastery of Batalha was an expression of King John of Portugal’s political theology: In stone, wood, metal and glass, iconography, portrait and heraldry, the dynasty fashioned itself as intermediaries between God and its subjects. Especially heraldry was used heavily in the tombs of John and Edward. So far, these heraldic representations have been used as means of identifying the burried, or interpreted as a simple expression of identity. However, the relationship between the heraldic signs, the artistic programme employed in Batalha, as well as its connection to the political doctrines of the dynasty, has remained largely unstudied. The workshop ‘Batalha : lieu de mémoire de la dynastie d’Avis’/’Batalha: Place of memory of the Avis dynasty’ sets out to change this. It aims to understand the role the monastery played in representing a self-image the new dynasty wanted to fashion for themselves in a variety of media (architecture, paintings, sculptures, stained glass, jewelry, icnography, heraldry, currency), and how this visual display relates to political ideas. In this effort, the conference aims to bring together historians, art historians and heraldists to establish new interdisciplinary perspectives for their respective research. The conference is meant to be a space for debate and innovative points-of-view on the propagandist strategies of the Portuguese monarchy in the late Middle Ages. The workshop, organized by Miguel de Seixas Metelo, Torsten Hiltmann and João Portugal will take place at Batalha Monastery on 25 and 26 September 2015 with the support of: Mosteiro da Batalha/Direcção do Património Cultural; Município da Batalha; Centro de Estudos do Património da Estremadura. The workshop is the initital event of the international project ‘In the service of the Crown: The use of heraldry in royal political communication in late medieval‘, funded by VolkswagenFoundation.