The Mediaeval Journal

The present study seeks to analyze works in Castilian from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that aimed not only to prepare clergy for their catechetical missions but also to educate laypeople, as these works circulated among literate nobles. Confessors’ manuals, collections of sermons, and exempla were not confined to clerical circles; they were also intended for lay audiences during that period. This research aims to examine the role of laypeople in the process of establishing Christian beliefs. More specifically, it focuses on examining the rhetorical techniques used for the moral formation of laypeople.

This study examines the sociological interest of a series of works belonging to the vernacular penitential literature of Castile in the Late Middle Ages. The special attention these sources devote to the sins committed by people of various professions and social statuses opens perspectives for analysis on the consideration and image of different conditions and social groups at the time, each with its own specific moral characteristics and particular spiritual needs. Within this theme, the contrast between ecclesiastical and noble mentalities is particularly appealing, with their respective criteria for assessing moral behaviour, sometimes contrasting. The result is a suggestive panorama of sin within the framework of late medieval society as seen and understood at the time.

With an emphasis on this production, especially on the sermons delivered by Saint Vincent Ferrer in Castile, the aim of this work is to analyze the extent to which these moralizing guides helped to normalize a specific vocabulary of exercises designed for the correction of sins. In other words, this study seeks to examine how these works aimed to teach the faithful about the salutary role of contrition in the process of redeeming faults, that is, the very act of externalizing repentance. Starting from the words used to describe the forms of contrition prescribed at that time, another goal of this work is to explore how believers could understand these words and expand their vocabulary regarding terms related to the spiritual realm.

This study focuses on the analysis of the notion of the divine right of kings in medieval Christianity and, specifically, in diplomatic sources from the Crown of León and Castile in medieval Spain, as manifested in the preambles of royal documents. Starting with a general characterization of the main ideological and thematic features surrounding the divine origin of royal power, the focus is then shifted to trying to assess these features against a selection of specific examples extracted from the preambles of royal documentation from Asturias-León and Castile throughout virtually the entire period of the Reconquista. This broad temporal perspective allows for the observation of the consistency and permanence of a genuine propagandistic discourse on royalty, while also enabling to ascertain the modulation of telling changes and renewed emphases arising from each moment within this evolution.