IMC 2006: Sessions
Session 1017: Picturing Emotional Affect in Law Books
Wednesday 12 July 2006, 09.00-10.30
| Moderator/Chair: | Elina Gertsman, School of Art & Design, Southern Illinois University |
|---|---|
| Paper 1017-a | Gesturing the Law: Marginal Images and Verbal Transposition in Justinian's Digest (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Law, Manuscripts and Palaeography |
| Paper 1017-b | Gestures of Marriage: The Iconography of Marriage in 13th-Century Manuscripts of Canon Law (unconfirmed) (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - Painting, Canon Law, Mentalities, Social History |
| Paper 1017-c | Can Legal Texts Convey Emotions?: Medieval Iberian Legal Discourses on Inter-Faith Unions (Language: English) Index terms: Islamic and Arabic Studies, Language and Literature - Comparative, Language and Literature - Spanish or Portuguese, Law |
| Abstract | Abstract paper -a: The images in the Digestum vetus (Kornik Library, 824) that I shall examine represent a set of 21 historiated initials and about 230 marginal compositions, illustrating the text. In most cases, they are limited to human figures performing an action evoked by a juridical casus in the Justinian's text and providing a visual equivalent of the written 'narrative'. As quasi-linguistic components of the image, gestures play an important role in this transpositional game. In my approach, I will focalise on the different modalities of depicted gestures: the conventional ones, derived from the juridical practice, and the ones codified in the pictorial tradition. Abstract paper -b: By the end of the 12th century, the marriage legislation of canon law was established. It was in many ways, notably the theory of consent and indissolubility, contrary to secular ideas of marriage. In this paper, I study if and how this new concept of marriage was reflected in the illuminations that accompanied the legal texts. Which gestures were used to convey the idea of marriage? What symbols? Were there any regional differences, and what do they in that case reflect? My material consists of illuminations in 13th-century manuscripts of Liber Extra from northern France and Italy. Abstract paper -c: 'Muslim women shall be prevented from entering their abominable churches, for the priests are evil-doers, fornicators, and sodomites' (Ibn ‘Abdun, Hisba Manual). In his sexualized portrayal of Christian priests, Ibn ‘Abdun addresses the issue of interfaith relationships with indignation and disgust. Such outburst is in contrast to other legal texts that regulated cross-cultural unions in a more succinct manner: 'If a woman is surprised with a Moor or with a Jew, both should be burned alive' (Fuero of Cuenca). It is my aim to analyse the different ways in which Islamic and Christian legal discourses from Medieval Iberia convey feelings in dealing with the highly emotional issue of interfaith sexual relationships. |