La fi d'una llegenda: Arnau de Vilanova davant la màgia i l'astrologia

This article revises Arnau’s thoughts and practice regard-ing magic and astrology, two core aspects in the creation of an enduring legendary image. If apocryphal works are disregarded, the attitudes he sustains in his writing are in line with those of contemporary intellectuals: a rejec-tion of necromancy coupled with the acceptance of oc-cult astral properties as the foundation of natural magic. These properties are put to use in his medical treatises, where astrology is also the basis for some remedies. However, none of the treatises on medical astrology that have been transmitted under his name are his.

Arnau Vilanova i la concepció de la medicina com a ciència aristotèlica

Arnau considered medicine to be an Aristotelian science, grounded on natural philosophy. However, he did not link medicine to philosophical speculation but rather con-ceived it as an art, a technique to be practiced by following Aristotelian principles. The ability and experience of the physician were fundamental to producing knowledge.

Somnis i visions en l'obra espiritual d'Arnau de Vilanova

Arnau de Vilanova’s works include references to dreams or visions on six occasions. Two visions are concerned with the genesis of his own treatises, while two moralis-ing dreams by two nuns, as well as dreams by King Fred-eric of Sicily and King Jaume II of Aragon, are reported in his Interpretatio de visionibus in somniis. His personal in-volvement differs, according to the source: he recounts and interprets his own dreams, merely narrates the nuns’ dreams, and interprets the royal dreams. The pur-pose, always pragmatic, also varies, from legitimization in his visions to the exemplary function of the nuns’ dreams and the political intent of the royal dreams, where a re-form of the Church and Christendom is the objective.

Les activitats econòmiques dels jueus del comtat d'Empúries (1321-1325)

The county of Empúries was undoubtedly one of the wealthier and more dynamic lands in the Crown of Aragon, and its capital, Castelló, enjoyed a period of splendour from the mid-13th century. The Jews were one of the groups that contributed to the economic and commercial growth, as this article analyses, focus-ing in particular on the Jewish community of Castelló and their role in the trade in cereals and coral. The data presented underlines the economic importance of this group, as well as their integration into the so-cial life of Castelló.

'Lo dous joc qu'emetre amigua et aman se fai': la metàfora del joc en les pastorel·les occitanes i franceses

This paper explores the use of game (joc) as a meta-phor in both French and Occitan pastourelles. One of the most interesting authors in this respect is the 13th-century troubadour Johan Esteve. Comparing Occitan pastourelles with those composed by north-ern French trouvères, this analysis suggests both con-nections and diverging directions in both traditions.

Por real i reial por: el temor a morir emmetzinat a les corts reials mallorquina i catalana

A widespread fear of dying from poison seized the upper classes of European society in the 14th cen-tury, as the inventories of the wealthy and a growing number of treatises on this subject attest. This arti-cle surveys the social context that probably gave rise to this fear and the contents of specialised works on this subject. It also examines the range of precautions against an attempt to poison the king contained in the ordinances that ruled domestic life in the royal courts of Mallorca and the Crown of Aragon.

Un paisatge urbà medieval a final del segle XIII: Castelló d’Empúries i les viles del seu entorn

Castelló d’Empúries, a small town in Old Catalonia, capital of the county of Empúries, may be considered a regional example of that process we know as medieval small scale urbanization. Its history, from the 12th century on, is that of the build-up of a particular economy which will function as starting-point of those circuits of exchange relationship which are necessary for medieval urbanisation. In functional terms the town of Castelló, connected to the major Mediterranean comercial circuits, has to be considered not only as a local centre but also as a node in a network of linked urban centers. Competition between lords of towns and cities has to be considered as a major element in definining the specific place of every center in a regional network. <br /><br />

Identificació de dues cançons franceses i el seu context literari al «Procés de Corona d’aur» (c. 1406) de Francesc de la Via

This paper explores the French references in Francesc de la Via’s narrative poem "Procés de Corona d’aur". The French songs mentioned in the poem are close to some rondeaux that were probably sung at the court of King Martin I of Aragon.

Manuscrits com amulets: un nou fragment de la «Vida de santa Margarida» en vers català (BC, ms. 9605/2)

Edition and study of a new witness of Saint Margaret’s Life in Catalan, related to the short Occitan verse redaction. The manuscript, a small quaternion kept inside Rubió’s family papers, seems to be a textual amulet used to prevent sudden death.