The purpose of the seminar is to present the results of the work produced by members of the research workshop IUS ILLUMINATUM, characterised by its multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to the study of illuminated legal manuscripts and their circulation in medieval Europe; a study that has developed and deepened considerably in Portugal over the last ten years. This also presents some of the most recent results of such research in this context. This highlights the opportunities provided by the applications of digital humanity techniques, in particular the databases deeply transforming the research practices on medieval illuminated legal manuscripts.

About the author:
Maria Alessandra Bilotta is an art historian, medievalist, and researcher at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, of NOVA University and an integrated researcher at the Institute of Medieval Studies (IEM) at the same university. Currently, her research focuses on medieval illuminated legal manuscripts from the south of France, the medieval illuminated legal manuscripts preserved in Portugal and in the circulation of international legal manuscripts (in particular from the south of France) in the Iberian Peninsula. Her research interests also include the study of medieval liturgic manuscripts, analysis of the artistic transfers and archaeological aspects of medieval manuscripts. Her doctoral degree thesis approaches the production of the illuminated manuscripts produced by the Roman Curia during the Middle Ages (13th-16th centuries) and was published by the Vatican Apostolic Library in 2011. Maria Alessandra Bilotta was also the scientific curator for the  following exhibitions: “Le parement d’autel des Cordeliers de Toulouse: Anatomie d’un chef d’oeuvre du XIVe siècle” (Toulouse, Musée Paul Dupuy, 13 March – 13 June 2012); “A Circulação do Direito na Europa Medieval: Manuscritos Jurídicos Europeus em Bibliotecas portuguesas” (Lisbon, National Library of Portugal, 26 February – 31 May 2016). Among the various International workshops and conferences organised and/or coordinated include the following highlights: “O estudo dos manuscritos iluminados e dos artefactos na Arqueologia da Idade Média: metodologias em comparação” (Lisbon, 13 February 2015); “Circulations juridiques et pratiques artistiques, Intelectuais et culturelles en Europe au Moyen Âge (XIIIe – XVe siècle) – Medieval Europe in Motion 3” (Lisbon, FCSH-UNL – Nacional Library of Portugal, 25-27 February 2016).