{"title":"在圣经与政治之间:12世纪参孙的颠覆León-Castile","authors":"Elizabeth Lastra","doi":"10.1086/723228","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The region of Palencia in northern Spain straddled an unstable border between medieval kingdoms. Within this territory of shifting allegiances, a group of churches features a curious variant of a common motif, traditionally identified as Samson fighting the lion. Carved capitals inside each church depict the familiar scene of a man wrestling a lion. However, in this Palencian group, additional assailants aggressively besiege the beast from both sides. The demise of the lion—its fearsome jaws wrenched open and rendered useless, claws immobilized, and tail severed by a sharp blade—overshadows the triumph of the hero. The iconographic variant, which proliferated across northern Palencia around the year 1200, seems to communicate a partisan message promulgated in the local community. The lion, representing the kingdom of León, is one of the earliest examples of heraldry, with the beast’s body serving as a proxy for the king’s body in visual culture. In this border zone between the warring kingdoms of León and Castile, the iconographical departure offers a political commentary, denouncing León as an enemy of the Church.","PeriodicalId":43922,"journal":{"name":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Between Biblical and Political: The Subversion of Samson in Twelfth-Century León-Castile\",\"authors\":\"Elizabeth Lastra\",\"doi\":\"10.1086/723228\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"The region of Palencia in northern Spain straddled an unstable border between medieval kingdoms. Within this territory of shifting allegiances, a group of churches features a curious variant of a common motif, traditionally identified as Samson fighting the lion. Carved capitals inside each church depict the familiar scene of a man wrestling a lion. However, in this Palencian group, additional assailants aggressively besiege the beast from both sides. The demise of the lion—its fearsome jaws wrenched open and rendered useless, claws immobilized, and tail severed by a sharp blade—overshadows the triumph of the hero. The iconographic variant, which proliferated across northern Palencia around the year 1200, seems to communicate a partisan message promulgated in the local community. The lion, representing the kingdom of León, is one of the earliest examples of heraldry, with the beast’s body serving as a proxy for the king’s body in visual culture. In this border zone between the warring kingdoms of León and Castile, the iconographical departure offers a political commentary, denouncing León as an enemy of the Church.\",\"PeriodicalId\":43922,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.8000,\"publicationDate\":\"2023-03-01\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1086/723228\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"艺术学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"0\",\"JCRName\":\"ART\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"GESTA-INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1086/723228","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"ART","Score":null,"Total":0}
Between Biblical and Political: The Subversion of Samson in Twelfth-Century León-Castile
The region of Palencia in northern Spain straddled an unstable border between medieval kingdoms. Within this territory of shifting allegiances, a group of churches features a curious variant of a common motif, traditionally identified as Samson fighting the lion. Carved capitals inside each church depict the familiar scene of a man wrestling a lion. However, in this Palencian group, additional assailants aggressively besiege the beast from both sides. The demise of the lion—its fearsome jaws wrenched open and rendered useless, claws immobilized, and tail severed by a sharp blade—overshadows the triumph of the hero. The iconographic variant, which proliferated across northern Palencia around the year 1200, seems to communicate a partisan message promulgated in the local community. The lion, representing the kingdom of León, is one of the earliest examples of heraldry, with the beast’s body serving as a proxy for the king’s body in visual culture. In this border zone between the warring kingdoms of León and Castile, the iconographical departure offers a political commentary, denouncing León as an enemy of the Church.
期刊介绍:
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