{"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":"62 1","pages":"63 - 94"},"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\":\"62 1\",\"pages\":\"63 - 94\"},\"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:
The Newsletter, published three times a year, includes notices of ICMA elections and other important votes of the membership, notices of ICMA meetings, conference and exhibition announcements, some employment and fellowship listings, and topical news items related to the discovery, conservation, research, teaching, publication, and exhibition of medieval art and architecture. The movement of some material traditionally included in the newsletter to the ICMA website, such as the Census of Dissertations in Medieval Art, has provided the opportunity for new features in the Newsletter, such as reports on issues of broad concern to our membership.