Ritual político, antropología e historiografía bajomedieval hispánica = Political Ritual, Anthropology and Scholarship on Late Medieval Spain

Abstract

The study of ritual in history was primarily fostered by the convergence of history with the social sciences and especially anthropology which contributed a theoretical scheme to social history and to the new political history responsible for the analysis of historical phenomena previously deemed tangential, marginal or anecdotal. This article begins by detailing the main foundations of ritual study established by the social sciences. Following this, we will assess how ritual study became the object of Western European medieval history, along with its breakthrough in the Iberian context. Finally, through a discussion of the major debates surrounding medieval ritual, such as the issue of the sacred nature of kingship, we will assess the scholarship of the last few decades on the history of late medieval political rituals in the Christian Iberian kingdoms.