Amélie De Las Heras
2022-2023
Marcel Bataillon fellow
EHEHI-Casa de Velázquez
The Bible in Practice from the 11th to the 13th century in the Iberian Peninsula
Amélie de las Heras’s research focuses on Iberian ecclesiastical culture and biblical culture of the 11th-13th centuries.
She holds an agrégation (2005) and a Ph.D. in history she defended in 2013 at the EHESS, on the little-known work of Martin de León (d.1203), the Veteris ac Novi Testamenti Concordia. Subsequently, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes (CNRS-Fondation Thiers, 2015-2018).
She dedicated this first phase of her work to identify the institutional, cultural and spiritual conditions in wich exegetical writing could flourish from the 12th to the 13th century; and to identify reciprocally what is at stake for the Leonese royalty and Church with this scholarly practice. She also studied the history of the Church as well as the history of minorities and religious dissidence in the Iberian Christian kingdoms. Therefore, she examined a large range of documents: scholarly writings (sermons, commentaries), literary writings (chronicles, vitae) and pragmatic literacy (charters)
Projet de recherche
Amélie de las Heras’s MIAS project is part of a new investigation into interfaces between Holy Scripture (text and object) and pragmatic scripture (any writing relating to the materiality of daily life or the exercise of power) in the Iberian Peninsula from the 11th to the 13th century.
In this era of crucial transformations in the West, the overall objective is to discern the extent to which social practices were rooted in the Bible; and to examinate the initial hypothesis about the potential biblical matrix in textual actions and literate mentality.
After a second post-doctorate (Casa de Velázquez, 2021-2022), Amélie De las Heras keeps analysing the presence of the profane in the sacred by listing the inscriptions of practical texts (deeds of sale, drafts of administrative letters) in biblical and liturgical manuscripts, so as to provide a database. Conversely, she lists and studies biblical quotations in Iberian charters.
Sélection de publications
- 2020. Écrit, pouvoirs et société. Occident, XIIe-XIVe siècle, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Atlande, co-rédaction avec Nathalie Gorochov (dir.), Arnaud Fossier, Sara Fourcade et François-Olivier Touati.
- 2019. Œuvrer pour le salut. Moines, chanoines et frères dans la péninsule Ibérique au Moyen Âge, Madrid, Casa de Velázquez —co-direction, avec Florian Gallon et Nicolas Pluchot.
- 2019. Dossier Exégèse et lectio divina dans la péninsule Ibérique médiévale, Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez, 49/,1 co-direction, avec Cándida Ferrero.
- 2019. « El Contra Judaeos de Isidoro de Sevilla en la predicación regular ibérica del final del siglo XII. Entre identidad confesional y estatutaria », in Linda Jones and Adrienne Hamy (éd.), Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Preaching in the Mediterranean and Europe. Identities and Interfaith Encounters, Turnhout, Brepols, p. 147-174