Author: Ferreira, Ma Do Rosário

Source: Portuguese Studies, Volume 25, Number 2, 15 September 2009 , pp. 182-198(17)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

Abstract:

The concept of `Spain' as an entity endowed with an inherent unity, transcending geographical aspects, has its roots in late antiquity, and persists into the period of the Moorish presence in the Iberian Peninsula, projecting itself at the level of the imaginary into the fate of the land and its inhabitants. This study concludes that, in the historiography of Portugal and Castile in the second half of the thirteenth century and the first half of the fourteenth, this conception is linked ideologically to the process of territorial appropriation known as the `Reconquista', and with the collective memory of an original sin that had led to the loss of the land. It further suggests that the `Reconquista' would have been implicitly taken as a lengthy military expiation of that sin, generating messianic expectations embodied in some warrior figures of mixed Christian and Moorish descent.

Portuguese
A concepção de `Espanha' como uma entidade dotada de uma unidade imanente que transcende os aspectos geográficos tem raízes na Antiguidade tardia e permanece no período de presença Moura na Península Ibérica, projectando-se imaginariamente no destino da terra e dos seus habitantes. Este estudo verifica que, na historiografia Portuguesa e Castelhana da segunda metade do século XIII e primeira do século XIV, esta concepção se articula ideologicamente com o processo de apropriação territorial chamado `Reconquista' e com a memória colectiva de uma culpa causadora da perda inicial da terra. Sugere ainda que a `Reconquista' teria sido implicitamente assumida como uma longa expiação militar dessa culpa, originando expectativas messiânicas encarnadas por algumas figuras de guerreiros de ascendência mista Cristã e Moura.

Keywords: Spain; Portugal; Castile; `Reconquista'; Moors; Christians; Espanha; Portugal; Castilha; `Reconquista'; Mouros; Cristãos

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Universidade de Coimbra

Publication date: 2009-09-15

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• The only English-language journal devoted to the literature, culture, and history of Portugal, Brazil, and the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa. Launched in 1985, it received the 'Best New Journal Award' of the Conference of Editors of Learned Journals in 1987. It publishes articles, translations, previously unpublished historical and literary texts, bibliographical information, and a survey of research and reviews.

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