The present work gathers a set of papers selected from the 2nd International Days of the Middle Ages “Espaços e Poderes na Europa Urbana Medieval / Spaces and powers in the medieval urban Europe”(Castelo de Vide, 5 to 7 October 2017) and texts presented by the majority of the teachers of the Autumn School on ” Spaces and powers in the medieval urban Europe” (Castelo de Vide, 2 to 3 October 2017).

This publication gathers 28 papers produced by 34 researchers from Portugal, Spain, France and Germany covering a wide chronology extending from Late Antiquity to the beginning of the 16th century, including not only distinct Christian political spaces but also those of the Islamic presence such as Al-Andalus and the Nazari Kingdom of Granada. This allows for diachronic perspectives and the possibility of establishing productive comparisons.

The scope of the theme proposed for the second edition of the Conference, the articulation between the powers present in the medieval city and their relationships with urban spaces as places for action and representation, was extremely conducive to interdisciplinarity, manifesting itself in fruitful debates between historians, archaeologists, specialists in archival studies, palaeography and heraldry and art historians. Hence, the sources of information underpinning the works published here are very diverse – written documents, heraldry, material remains, iconography, iconology, cartography, among others – contributing not only to the richness of the approaches undertaken, but also providing the reader with the opportunity to learn about the abundant but little known or even unpublished illustrative material.

The work can be consulted here.