Reviving the forma vitae: identity, authority and material culture in the first Portuguese convents of Colettine Clarisses

Cardoso, Paula

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17546559.2023.2299812

Reviving the forma vitae: identity, authority and material culture in the first Portuguese convents of Colettine Clarisses

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Citation

Cardoso P. Reviving the forma vitae: identity, authority and material culture in the first Portuguese convents of Colettine Clarisses. J Mediev Iber Stud. 2024;16(2):212-37. DOI: 10.1080/17546559.2023.2299812

Abstract

Initiated in Burgundy in the early fifteenth century by Colette of Corbie (1381–1447), the Colettine reforms soon expanded to eastern Iberia, reaching Portugal by the end of the century. In this paper I show how the context in which the first Colettine convents were founded in Portugal – a time when Clarissan reform was struggling to take the first steps in this territory and Colette’s endeavours were still a novelty – was reflected in the efforts developed by these communities and their patrons to promote a Colettine identity through the translation and use of a set of normative and para-normative texts, which would become the Colettines’ textual support in Portugal. I also demonstrate that these efforts were accompanied by the promotion of Colette of Corbie’s figure and sanctity through art.