Projects

Lead Researcher: Maria João Branco
Research Team: Cristina Cunha – Medieval and Diplomatic History, (CITCEM-FL-UP), Isabel Barros Dias – Medieval Literature, Historiography (IELT-IEM-NOVA FCSH and UAb), Rodrigo Furtado – Classical Studies (CEC-FLUL), André E. Marques – Medieval History (IEM-NOVA FCSH), Alícia Miguelez Cavero –Medieval Art, Iconography (IEM-NOVA FCSH), Filipe Alves Moreira – Medieval Literature, Historiography (IF-FLUP), Maria João Silva – Medieval History, Palaeography (CITCEM-FLUP and CEHR-UCP), Covadonga Valdaliso – Medieval History, Historiography (CHSC-FLUC), Diana Martins – Medieval History, Paleography and Diplomatic History (IEM-NOVA FCSH), Nuno Ivo – Medieval History (IEM-NOVA FCSH)
Consultants: Francisco Bautista – Medieval Peninsular Historiography (Universidad de Salamanca), José Mattoso – Medieval History (IEM-NOVA FCSH)
Duration: 2015-2019

The APVETERES Project – Witness, Memory and Identity of the Annales Portugalenses Veteres and the construction of the longest historiographic tradition of Portuguese territory, which has now received approval for co-financing by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, will be formally launched in January 2015 and is due for completion in 2019.

Outputs:

1. From the project outset, a website to raise the project profile in the competent fora.
2. On project completion, hold a Conference on peninsula analysis featuring the results of the project and the final product,
3. A new critical edition of the APV, the respective translation into Portuguese, made available online through open access as well as the digitalisation of the respective documents and a dossier of interpretative and introductory articles.

Project summary:

At a time when the semantic density of identities and memories is undergoing a rethinking and renewed questioning, there is a need to revisit the first accounts made by those with a will to establish a memory of the deeds that occurred in the territory that would become Portugal.

The project applies state-of-the-art scientific procedures and textual analysis.

This field has progressively emerged as fundamental to historical, literary, philologic and cultural knowledge, both as regards the texts studied as well as the cultural and political contexts for which and in which they were produced as well as any specific conditions surrounding their production, which has led researchers in recent decades to revisit the critical textual methodologies within the scope of perceiving them as tools that reach far beyond merely determining the closest possible text to that of the original. Given the clear potential of rigorous textual criticism and stemming from alternative readings, the study of texts in all of their complexity, the critical text, as well as the respective variants, represents an absolute essential instrument for approaching the medieval cultural and political environments and mentalities.

This constitutes the methodological framework for the implementation of this project.

Host institution: IEM-FCSH/NOVA
Collaborative Entity(s): CESEM-FCSH/NOVA; National Library of Portugal
Financing: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Lead Researcher: Graça Videira Lopes
Research Team: Manuel Pedro Ferreira, Ana Raquel Baião Roque
Duration: 2015-2016

Rendering continuity to the work involved in producing the Galician-Portuguese Troubadour Songbook database and website, the objective of the “Cantigas – Models and variations” project involves analysing and depicting the networks of relationships that the Galician-Portuguese troubadours and their artistry established with their European peers (above all Provencal and French), seeking to detect models, study and explain the variations but also taking into account the European circulation of these artists both within and beyond the Iberian Peninsula and to eventually locate the circuits they formed part of.

At the practical level, this project seeks to: 1) build up a Database, made available through open access, from the research gathered data and that specifically brings together, on a comparative basis and foreseeing translations, all of the Galician-Portuguese, Provençal, French and others (lyrics and music) that are in some way mutually interconnected; 2) publish in both e-book and paper formats, a book containing the entire Galician-Portuguese troubadour corpus, accompanied by setting out the Occitan and French metric-rhythmic models, whether proposed or identified through the project, as well as the musical publication of the contrafactum cases for which there is musical documentation, a publication taking place in collaboration with the National Library of Portugal.

Project bookmark

Host institution: IEM-FCSH/NOVA
Collaborative Entity(s): CESEM-FCSH/NOVA, CL/UL; CITCEM-FL/UP e UM, CIDEHUS-EU, IF-FL/UP, CHSC-FL/UC, CEC-FL/UL, CEHR/UCP, CEPESE, LEME, LEPEM, Mnemosine, NEMED, PEM-UnB,  PEM-UFRJ,  Translatio Studii, ABREM

Lead Researcher: Maria de Lurdes Rosa
Technical advisor: Daniel Alves
Research Fellow: Ricardo Naito
Duration: 2012-2013

HISTMEDPORT is a database in bibliographic management software, hosted on an open-access site, available without registration and free of charge to all users, with or without downloading the Zotero Program (all functionalities available with download, completely free of charge).

Participant Institutions: IEM NOVA FCSH; Câmara Municipal de Vouzela

Lead Researchers: Catarina Tente; António Faustino Carvalho
Research Team: Daniel Melo, João Pedro Tereso, José Almeida, Maria José Roxo, Sylvia Valenzuela, Tiago Santos, João Rocha, CatarinaMeira, João Luís Veloso, Gabriel de Souza
Duration: 2022-2025

The plurisecular landscape of the Serra do Caramulo, with its history and heritage, is the subject of this project. The multidisciplinary methodology combines archaeology with history, geography and ethnography in a pioneering approach in Portugal to understanding the mountains of Beira Alta.

The focus of the research is three parishes in the municipality of Vouzela: Cambra and Carvalhal de Vermilhas, Fornelo do Monte and Ventosa. Here we find examples of various traces of an ancient and persistent human presence in this mountain range. Some take us back thousands of years, others date back to the time of our grandparents.

The project favors close interaction with people as living repositories of the recent past.The testimonies of the men and women of Vouzela, recorded on video, are an invaluable source of information for understanding the mountains in their former lives, and today constitute an authentic archive of memories.

Research goals:
Globally, the aim of this project is to provide a coherent and systematic overview of the interactions between the human past and the local landscape.

In this sense it is an approach made in the long diachrony and intended to: characterize the evolution of settlement; identify the transit routes of the populations; study the origin of wasteland and agro-pastoral practices; and evaluate the human impact on the mountain landscape.

The project also aims to train undergraduate and master ‘s archaeology students in fieldwork. The Mons project results from a partnership between IEM and Vouzela Municipal Council.

Research Unit: IEM-NOVA FCSH
Participant Institutions: Idanha-a-Nova Municipal Council; University of Coimbra and NOVA University

Lead Researchers: Pedro C. Carvalho and Catarina Tente
Research Team: Tomás Cordero Ruiz, Brais X. Currás, Ricardo Costeira da Silva, Adolfo Fernández, Patrícia Dias, José Cristóvão, Gabriel de Souza, Sofia Tereso, João Pedro Tereso, José Ruivo, Vera Pereira, Lídia Fernandes, Armando Redentor, Catarina Meira, Bruno Franco Moreno, Paulo Almeida Fernandes and Saul Gomes
Duration: 2017-2021

Idanha-a-Velha provides one of the most relevant of all Portuguese archaeological sites and brings together various particular scientific and heritage characteristics that reflect the long period of research ongoing in the city. Despite this, much about the site remains a mystery and there are still far more questions than answers that we have about the history of this unique site. The IGAEDIS project therefore seeks to undertake an integrated, long term study of the city and its surrounding territories. Only this type of approach will enable an understanding of the uniqueness of the site and this territory. One without the other prevents any complete understanding as the city reflects the territory and with the latter organised according to the greater or lesser capacity of the city to act upon its extent.

The project results from collaboration between the Idanha-a-Nova Municipal Council and the Universities of Coimbra and Nova of Lisbon, which enabled the bringing together of a multidisciplinary team that integrates various specialists in areas that span classical and late-medieval archaeology, medieval history, paleo-metallurgy, physical anthropology, paleo-botany, zoo-archaeology and the history of art.

This multidisciplinary approach will return an understanding of how this territory was configured, identifying the factors of development and the main axes of articulation of this space. Furthermore, this seeks to establish the continuities and ruptures in the occupation of this landscape over the course of these centuries and how this process projected onto the organic evolution of the city.

The project deploys four axes:
Configuration and evolution of the classical city of Idanha-a-Velha;
The territories: the rural world through to mineral resource exploitation;
Regularising research: study and publication of previous interventions;
Social dissemination of the knowledge and patrimonial valuation.

Implementation is to involve a series of campaigns of archaeological excavation in the area of the forum of classical Egitânia and the adjoining urban area. This also involves continuity of the study of the contexts restored through excavation in the baptistries as well as studying the archaeological materials and eco-facts of previously excavated contexts by the municipality archaeological team.

In terms of the territory, this aims to carry out targeted and systematic prospecting to identify the strategies to the spatial occupation, define the focuses of interest and explore the natural resources, and identify the spaces of local power and the daily life styles of the rural populations. The study of the classical exploitation of mineral resources plays a highly relevant role in this axis.

The project also seeks to socially convey the research work carried out, transferring the knowledge to society, both to school communities and to tourists seeking out these lands, involving the local population and contributing to the valuation of the Idanha heritage. The archaeological and historical patrimony associated to the lands of Igaedis and Egitania encapsulates potentials that, from the outset, ensure this takes a leading role in the social and economic development policies at the local and regional level. In turn, this cultural heritage may contribute to dynamically boosting the local economy, diversifying the regional economy and ensuring the settlement of population, thus combating the aggravated asymmetries in intra-regional development, such as the low demographic density of this council.

Finally, the project also provides training opportunities to university students within the context of practical work, thus contributing to strengthening their competences and thereby enhancing their skills for better future integration into the labour market.

Project bookmark

Research Unit: IEM-NOVA FCSH
Participant Institutions: EGEAC/ São Jorge Castle
Lead Researchers: Amélia Aguiar Andrade (IEM) and Susana Serra (EGEAC/S. Jorge Castle)

In 2014, the Institute of Medieval Studies of the School of Social and Human Sciences, NOVA University and EGEAC/São Jorge Castle established a scientific and technical cooperation agreement for the research, study and promotion of the historical heritage of the São Jorge/Alcáçova Castle of Lisbon and its surroundings that enabled the development of an activity program, pioneering in the national context, that brings together research units and cultural institutions within the framework of leveraging academic research to obtain new knowledge about Lisbon’s castle/fortified palace that may then be  made available to the broader public.

Within this scope, EGEAC/São Jorge Castle financed the study fees for master’s and doctoral degrees on themes related to Lisbon’s landmark fortification, in addition to short term research grants.

The dissemination activities (workshop and congress) sought not only to present the preliminary and final results of the scientific work carried out but also to engage in moments of knowledge sharing, reflection and multi-disciplinary discussion around the study, promotion and utilisation of Portuguese medieval fortifications.

Activities carried out:

Research grants:
– Awarding of two research grants for surveying the documentation;
– Study fee grants for undertaking academic works: 1 doctoral degree thesis under development [date of delivery 2020]: 1 master’s degree dissemination completed and publicly defended in January 2018: Diana Neves Martins, “The Alcáçova Castle of Lisbon: a Manueline intervention“. Master’s Degree in History Dissertation – specialist field of Medieval History, NOVA FCSH, 2017.

Dissemination activities:
1 workshop (2015) – I Workshop about the Alcáçova Castle of Lisbon;
1 congress (2017) – Medieval fortifications – history, conservation and benefits;
Presentation of 7 papers by grant holders at different scientific events.

Publications:
– publication of the Minutes of the Congress on Medieval fortifications – history, conservation and benefits [date of publication 2019];
– publication of the Núcleo Antigo 580 codex in the Torre do Tombo Archive [date of publication 2019];
– publication of the master’s degree dissertation by Diana Martins, The Alcáçova Castle of Lisbon: a Manueline intervention [date of publication 2019].

Research Unit: IEM-NOVA FCSH
Participant Institutions: Lisbon Municipal Council (Municipal Department of Culture / Department of Cultural Heritage / Municipal Archive Department)
Researchers: Amélia Aguiar Andrade (IEM), Mário Farelo (IEM), Helena Neves (AML), Marta Gomes (AML)

The implementation of this project involved exploring and promoting the enormous wealth of Medieval documents on the history of the city held by the Lisbon Municipal Archive. The project spanned two axes of action:

The first developed around research activities, among which we would highlight the seminars held by NOVA FCSH students on specific themes as well as the research grants subsidised by the IEM for the documental surveying of the Archive’s collections.

The objective of the second facet was to promote knowledge dissemination activities around the medieval documents in this archive as well as contributing to reflections on the problems surrounding the conservation of medieval documents and exploring and popularising their scientific contents.

Key results:

Research

Granting by the IEM of semestral research grants for the study of documents conserved in the medieval collections of the Lisbon Municipal Archive;

Development of the research works in the archive by students attending the “History of Medieval Lisbon” seminar on the Master’s Degree in History / Specialisation in Medieval History at NOVA FCSH and the “Medieval Studies Research Workshops” on the Undergraduate Degree in History at NOVA FSCH, with a view to exhibiting and drafting the respective catalogue.

Sources of financing/support:
IEM Strategic Project (UID/HIS/00749/2013)
Granting of a semestral research grant by IEM.

Research Unit: IEM-NOVA FCSH
Participant Institutions: Viseu Municipal Council; NOVA University and Geodrone

Lead Researcher: Catarina Tente
Duration: 2016-2021

In 2016, Viseu Municipal Council engaged in strategic reflection on its historical legacy. Within this scope, the Viseu Patrimony Working Group, made up of experts from different backgrounds, defined a 10-year plan to promote and value the city’s patrimony and heritage. Following a first phase of implementation, focused on the Historical Centre and urban rehabilitation, work began on the second phase focused on the promotion of knowledge, safeguarding and disseminating the council’s historical and archaeological heritage. To coordinate this phase, the municipality invited the researcher Catarina Tente. The collaboration agreement reached between IEM – NOVA FCSH and Viseu Municipal Council was signed and publically presented in Viseu on 21 January.

The mission of this collaboration is to endow the council with the tools and knowledge to safeguard, value and promote its history and historical and archaeological heritage.

The second phase of the Viseu Patrimony program, for implementation over the forthcoming two years incorporates three main axes:

1) Research – that aims to deepen historical knowledge, establishing an articulated and multifaceted research and safeguarding plan. This strives to ensure research through the development of specific projects, such as that approaching the Cava de Viriato fortification, and setting out an incentive plan for young researchers (grants for post-graduate study fees) and the publication of not yet released studies;

2) Safeguarding and valuing – this program interrelates various council services with the objective of establishing legal instruments (regulations, detailed plans, a heritage charter and reviewing the Municipal Development Plan) and internal procedures to prevent the destruction of historical and archaeological heritage while simultaneously enhancing its scientific and tourism value.

3) Promotion – which reflects the need to return the acquired knowledge and promote the historical and archaeological heritage as a fundamental facet of the local history, memory and identity. This seeks to reach out to highly diversified publics, spanning every age group and both local inhabitants and visitors. This program interlinks with the actions of the museums of Viseu, in particular with the Archaeological Pole of Viseu and the Historical Museum of Viseu, correspondingly staging conference cycles, guided visits to monuments and sites, cultural routes and actions held in schools and museums for younger age groups. This also highlights the development of the project for the future Cava Interpretation Centre.

In order to implement these objectives, we defined some of the most emblematic projects, for example the aforementioned research project into the Cava de Viriato, but also the program to restore the Fontelo Renaissance set (castle, gardens and grounds), building up the historical and archaeological knowledge about the landmark buildings in the Historical Centre (such as Orfeão and Casa das Bocas) as well as the dictionary of the history and people of Viseu.

This represents a somewhat different partnerships to the others that the IEM has undertaken with other institution as, in addition to developing research and the dissemination of its results, this also involves promoting instruments for safeguarding historical and archaeological heritage. The program reflects the principle that you may only protect what you know and that what researchers learn requires returning to society. Within this scope, the historical and archaeological heritage represents an asset, a clear benefit for sustainable development, requiring leveraging to strengthen the local identity and culture and foster the specific characteristics of the history and heritage of Viseu beyond its regional boundaries.