Abstract

Specula is a scientific journal linked to the IVEMIR Research Institute (Institut Isabel de Villena d’Estudis Medievals i Renaixentistes) of the UCV. The title of the journal, Specula, refers to the medieval idea that creation is a mirror reflection of the work of God. Many works of medieval literature, such as Speculum Humanae Salvationis, Speculum naturale, Speculum moral, Speculum historiale, Speculum doctrinale, which also inspired the Valencian work Spill by Jaume Roig, all describe an ordered vision of a world made in the image of God; these are moralizing, didactic, sapiential and encyclopedic works that are inherently disciplinary. In all of these, the purpose is to teach and instruct the recipient, and there is space for content that is historical, philosophical, theological, literary, medical, scientific, etc. It is in the idea of an interdisciplinary search for knowledge, connoted by the term Specula, that the magazine is understood and will be published every four months in paper and electronic format.

The thematic scope of the studies to be published in Specula therefore includes the humanities as well as religious studies, reflecting different approaches and following the aforementioned “specular” tradition. Topics will include theology, philosophy, history, culture, literature, writing, history of art, popular devotion, innovative projects in digital humanities on medieval spiritual texts, and comparative literature, with the ultimate aim of studying the Humanities and Spirituality pairing. The periods covered in the journal will be the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, with articles in all the Romance languages.

This third volume brings together new studies in the literary, historical, hagiographic, theological and artistic fields. Andrea Alessandri’s study of textual criticism, textual interpretation and Franciscan spirituality in the 13th century begins with a reading of the Vitis Mystica of St. Bonaventure by Bagnoregio (1218-1274), known as the Seraphic Doctor, which provides a theological foundation for franciscan devotion to the Passion. The article provides an original point of view, as it analyzes the history and content of the work, with new interpretations of the problems of textual criticism.

From a hagiographic and historical point of view, Andréia Frazao studies the legend of the Blessed Saint Barbara, martyr, through the legendary abbreviation of Juan Gil de Zamora (13th-14th centuries). The cult and devotion to St. Barbara originated in the 7th-8th centuries, but increased in the late Middle Ages, when it was invoked as a protector against sudden death, lightning, and fire. The legendary abbreviation of the Franciscan Juan Gil de Zamora is one of the first texts to include a chapter dedicated to the saint.

In line with the starting point of the journal Specula, to bring together interdisciplinary studies in all Romance languages and in the late medieval European context, Thomas Luongo’s article focuses on the advice of Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) to religious women. It starts with the apparent contradiction of the uncloistered Catherine being a model for women’s cloistered monasticism during the Dominican Reform movement, which began after her death. The article discusses in detail Catherine’s letters to women in a variety of religious states, including female penitents and cloistered nuns.

Regarding the relationship between art and spirituality, Francesc Granell focuses on the relevance of Bishop Hug de Llupià (1397-1427) in the promotion of the artistic heritage of the cathedral of Valencia, through the figures of the Virgin and King James I. The author of the article analyzes the miniature of the Liber instrumentorum (Ms 162 from the Archive of the Cathedral of Valencia) and how this work stands out for its Marian devotion, in defense of the Immaculate Conception. It also analyzes how the document sets out the weapons of King James I, kept in the main chapel of the Cathedral, in order to perpetuate the memory of the monarch. In this study, therefore, aspects such as artistic heritage, the history of Valencian devotion of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and the importance of the history of King James I are combined.

In the same vein, analyzing art from European spirituality, Jaime Moraleda provides an article on the renewed art of the Toledo miniature of the early sixteenth century, Francisco de Comontes and the Gospel of Tavera. The author studies in detail the process of transformation that took place in the Castilian miniature codices. In a context in which the cathedral of Toledo had acquired considerable cultural and economic relevance, the influence of painter Francisco de Comontes is significant and little known. Likewise, the importance of the prelates of Toledo as patrons of the currents coming from Italy allowed the elaboration of the “evangeliario” of Toledo, where the flamenco influence in the Castilian miniature is diluted.

From the focus on religiosity and art history, David Sánchez’s article concentrates on the sacramental confraternities at the beginning of the 16th century. As a result of the counter-reformist spirit, brotherhoods of Corpus Christi proliferated in the first decades of the 16th century, due to Eucharistic devotion. Sánchez analyzes the relevance of Teresa Enríquez, one of the most influential female personalities in the devotion to the Eucharist in the 16th century, founder of a brotherhood, the first in the mainland, the Hermandad Sacramental del Sagrario, from 1511.

Another relevant study of this volume is the article by Ana Gómez Rabal, from the point of view of documentary analysis, theology and the epistolary genre, which studies how the writings that Miguel Servet and John Calvin exchanged in the 16th century show a specific line of thought regarding the opinion generated by the subject of death and the degree of punishment to be applied according to the offense committed. Both authors, humanists, were involved in a controversy beyond religious discrepancy: freedom of conscience and expression.

The volume closes with the article by Verónica Torres, in the field of comparative literature, literature and spirituality on the Blessed Sacrament. The study focuses on a 17th-century writer, Sister Marcela de San Félix, author of six spiritual lectures. The article analyzes Sister Marcela’s Coloquio espiritual del santísimo Sacramento, and the influence on it of Lope de Vega and José Valdivielso, the author’s father and godfather, respectively. The article shows how in spite of these influences Sister Marcela acquires her own voice in this work, and also reveals how her work was shaped by the context of the convent and her catechetical objective of instructing the nuns in the teachings of the faith.

Specula publishes works on humanistic studies and spirituality from the thir-teenth to the seventeenth century in the European context, as confirmed by the languages in which the articles in this issue are written. Languages admitted for publication are: Spanish, Valencian, French, Italian and Portuguese, in addition to English. Articles must be hitherto unpublished and original contributions. The management of the journal Specula, which will henceforth be published quarterly, in January, May and September, invites researchers to share the results of their scholarly research, always paying attention to the necessary rigor, which will be guaranteed by a review system involving external specialists.