The International Colloquium “Nobreza e virtude em contexto ibérico: teoria e prática entre os tempos medievais e modernos” will take place on November 21st and 22nd at Palácio Fronteira, Lisbon.

This Portuguese-Spanish colloquium constitutes a space for debate on this topic within the scope of the DEXVIR project “De Excellentia: theory and praxis of virtue in the monarchy of Spain (15th-17th centuries)”. This project, based at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid), is coordinated by José Antonio Guillén Berrendero and has the participation of two IEM researchers (Miguel Metelo de Seixas and Paulo Catarino Lopes).

Therefore, the scope of this colloquium consists of laying the foundations for a reflection on the relationship between virtue and nobility. Such relationships are modelled on the theoretical framework originating from classical antiquity: they were indeed already present in Greek culture, but it was with Roman culture that they reached greater expression. The Roman aristocracy, both in the republican period and later in the imperial regime, constantly oscillated between a genealogical foundation and a moral foundation that allowed it to justify its existence as a privileged social segment. What mattered more: blood or virtue?

Classical Rome’s theoretical framework and concrete practices had repercussions throughout the Middle Ages and the Modern Age, adapting to the Iberian kingdoms’ diverse political and social circumstances. This colloquium aims to assess this diversity, comparing the reality and theoretical production existing in the Iberian kingdoms in a diachronic perspective between medieval and modern times.

In addition to the essential collaboration between the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and the IEM, this colloquium also has the participation of the Fundação das Casas de Fronteira and Alorna as the organizing institution, under the coordination of Joel Moedas-Miguel. Let us remember, in this regard, how much the creator of the Foundation, D. Fernando Mascarenhas, 11th Marquis of Fronteira, was concerned with this same issue, which led him to publish the book Sermão ao meu Sucessor – Notas para uma ética da sobrevivência.