عنوان

Many Waters: An Environmental History of Valencia, 1300-1500

Number

TL48882

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Many Waters: An Environmental History of Valencia, 1300-1500

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Abigail Newton Agresta

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Freedman, Paul H.

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Yale University

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2016

Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item

388

Text of Note

Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-369-05336-4

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

Yale University

Text preceding or following the note

2016

Text of Note

How did medieval people think about the environments in which they lived? In a world shaped by the hand of God, how did they understand their own capacity for action? This dissertation is an analysis of the relationship between God, human beings, and nature, as imagined by the city council of Valencia in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It argues, first, that the landscape of Valencia was understood to be a human construction, shaped primarily by human will. Second, that the ways in which the city council sought to shape this landscape, particularly within the city, reflect their understanding of its religious past and present. And third, that the council's religious responses to natural disaster were not the result of ignorance or helplessness, but rather moves to stake a claim for the city on a special relationship with God. This relationship was best articulated by Dominican preacher and Valencia native Vicent Ferrer, who described Christians as the legitimate children of God, Jews and Muslims as his bastard children, and nature as a surly slave girl charged with their care. Though nature was understood to act independently of her master, her agency was not considered legitimate, and her whims presented opportunities for Christians to claim their status as God's true-born children.

European history; Medieval history

Subject Term

Social sciences;Environmental History;Jews;Medieval Spain;Natural Disasters;Water Projects

Makke, Racha

Freedman, Paul H.

Yale University

Call Number

1813539642; 10150423

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y