Heraldry in Contact - Perspectives and Challenges of a Connective Image Form

In this volume, we follow the coat of arms into situations and zones of contact. Since inception, communication has been in the very nature of the heraldic phenomenon. Hence its remarkable ability to adapt to the circumstances that, from the 15th century onwards, brought populations from all over the world into contact. Our overarching question serves as an attempt to learn more about the modalities of negotiation in contact zones. To what extent were local actors able to develop their own attitude towards invasive and invading colonizers and missionaries by adopting and transforming the European image form of the coat of arms? This departure point leads even further: to think of heraldic emblems as a visual instrument capable of establishing communication not only between different cultures, but also between different eras, and even between the human and divine spheres. The book's interdisciplinarity, the temporal breadth of the collected case studies, and the variety of methodological approaches reflect the dynamism and diversity of the topic itself.

About the author

Urte Krass ([e-mail]) is Professor of Early Modern Art History at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Her research focuses on political iconography, the material culture of Christian sainthood, as well as on early modern transcultural negotiation processes via artifacts and images.Miguel Metelo de Seixas ([e-mail]-pt) is a researcher at the Institute for Medieval Studies / NOVA-FCSH and teaches Portuguese Medieval History at the same University. His research focuses on the study of heraldry as an instrument of self-representation and political communication, from a diachronic point of view and privileging transdisciplinary perspectives.

Product details

• Assisted by: Laurent Hablot (Editor), Torsten Hiltmann (Editor), Urte Krass (Editor), Laurent Hablot (Editor of the series), Torsten Hiltmann (Editor of the series)
• Publisher: Thorbecke
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.01.2024
• EAN: 9783799515948
• ISBN: 978-3-7995-1594-8
• No. of pages: 216
• Dimensions: 218 mm x 18 mm x 259 mm
• Weight: 638 g
• Illustrations: Zahlreiche Farbabbildungen
• Series: Heraldic Studies
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte, Transformation, Europe, America, Communication, Genealogie, Heraldik, Namen und Titel, Colonization, Heraldry, coat of arms, ca. 1500 bis zur Gegenwart, divine spheres, missionaries, intercultural contact, humn spheres, modalities of negotiation, heraldic emblems