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The Crown of Aragon, made up of a sum of territories, internally cohesive and institutionally autonomous under a single sovereign and later diluted within different nation-states, has bequeathed a fragmented and dispersed memory. On this basis, the unusual entry of the armed forces into a museum in Catalonia in 2017 under court order, to seize works of art claimed by the neighbouring region of Aragon, encourages an analysis of how the material patrimony and revisionism and distortion of the history of the medieval past of the Crown of Aragon are used, in the 21st century, by the regional authorities to seek cohesion within the region by provoking clashes with the neighbouring one, so breaking bonds of institutional, social and economic collaboration maintained since the 12th century. La Couronne d’Aragon, constituée d’une somme de territoires cohésifs intérieurement et institutionnellement autonomes sous l’autorité d’un même souverain et plus tard dilués sous différents États-nations, a légué une mémoire fragmentée et dispersée. Sur cette base, l’entrée insolite des forces armées dans un musée en Catalogne en 2017 pour confisquer, en vertu d’une décision de justice, des oeuvres d’art revendiquées par la région voisine d’Aragon, pousse à pénétrer dans l’analyse de la manière dont le patrimoine matériel et le révisionnisme ainsi que la distorsion historiques sur le passé médiéval de la Couronne d’Aragon sont utilisés, au XXIe siècle, sous l’impulsion décisive de certaines autorités régionales, afin de promouvoir une cohésion de leur propre région moyennant la confrontation avec la région voisine, en tentant de briser les liens de collaboration que la relation institutionnelle, sociale et économique a entretenu depuis le XIIe siècle.

The journal departs from the premise that research, in the current context, will benefit from unpublished contributions based on the study of diverse sources (to which is dedicated the section “The past studied and measured”, with nine articles per issue); an ongoing analysis of methodologies, methods, and historiographical tendencies (to which is dedicated the section “The past interrogated and unmasked”, with four arti cles per issue); and a continually updated reflection on the ways and forms of scientific dissemination and knowledge transfer to society (to which is dedicated the section “The past explained and recreated”, with two articles per issue). The journal puts great emphasis on a global approach and, consequently, on the promotion of internationalisation. In order to maintain a geographical balance we seek to ensure that no more than half of the articles published in any issue proceed from the same country. To facilitate the journal's internationalisation, English has been chosen as the common academic language. All articles are therefore published in English. If an article was originally written in another language and subsequently translated into English, the journal will publish, as well as the English version, also the original version of the text (set apart in an appendix), if requested by the author. This will ensure maximum accuracy of the original text and the language employed. The journal is published once annually within the corresponding year of each issue. It is published simultaneously in paper and electronically in free access.

Cet ouvrage est un bon apport au sujet des rapports entre les deux versants des Pyrénées au Moyen Âge. Il répond à des caractéristiques précises qui encadrent et expliquent les 15 chapitres, outre l’introduction et les conclusions, qui le composent. En premier lieu, il est le fruit d’une rencontre organisée en 2011 par le laboratoire Framespa de l’Université de Toulouse II Jean Jaurès (alors, et jusqu’en 2014, Toulouse II-Le Mirail) en collaboration avec le groupe de recherche en études médié...

Ressenya del llibre: Martínez Giralt, Alejandro, "Els vescomtes de Cabrera a la Baixa Edat Mitjana. Identitat familiar, dinàmica patrimonial i projecció sociopolítica", Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científica, 2019, 582 págs., ISBN: 978-84-00-10510-5; e-ISBN: 978-84-00-10511-2.

Although the Middle Ages are long gone, the memory of the Middle Ages is still used by academics and politicians. Some academics use their interpretation of the Middle Ages to theorise about the current social and spatial order. Initially the Middle Ages were used as the Dark Ages from which man has liberated himself. Especially modernisation theory regarded the Middle Ages as the archetype of the unchanging traditional society from which man has struggled to liberated himself. After the liberation from these traditional shackles human development could ‘take-off’ and progress through the different stages of modernisation (Rostow 1960). This linear development model of the modernisation theory was popular after the Second World War, but was challenged by the current period of economic and political problems which started at the end of the 20th century. This paper starts by discussing some aspects of these economic and political crises which challenge the nation-state. Then attention focusses on the ideas of Immanuel Wallerstein and Saskia Sassen who use the Middle Ages to better understand the current transformations of the societal and spatial order. We then focus on how the legitimation of the political order centre on the nationstate is challenged through the undermining of national identities due to globalisation and individualisation. We end this paper by discussing how new spatial identities are stabilised through positioning them between the future and the past. This shows how the memory of the Middle Ages is used to strengthen the legitimation of the political systems in these globalising and individualising times.