Ius Illuminatum - Oficina de investigação

09/09/2026

📜 We are pleased to share the ANSA.it feature on tomorrow’s “Dialoghi di Hipácia” at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Lisbona, featuring Maria Alessandra Bilotta, Principal Investigator and Coordinator of IUS ILLUMINATUM.

✨ Looking forward to tomorrow’s event!

Il quinto incontro dei 'Dialoghi di Hipácia. Scienze e ricerca a confronto' si terrà domani alle 18.30 all'Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Lisbona. (ANSA)

09/09/2026

✨ IUS ILLUMINATUM at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Lisbona

Tomorrow, Maria Alessandra Bilotta, Principal Investigator and Coordinator of IUS ILLUMINATUM, will open the new season of the “Dialoghi di Hipácia” at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Lisbona.

Her lecture, “Ricostruire le rotte del diritto nel Medioevo: mobilità e circolazione dei manoscritti giuridici miniati tra Italia, Francia e Portogallo”, will explore the mobility and circulation of illuminated legal manuscripts between Italy, France and Portugal during the Middle Ages. 📜

The event will also mark the signing of a collaboration protocol between the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Lisbona and Hipácia - Associazione Ricercatori Italiani in Portogallo.

A significant occasion for research, exchange, and scholarly dialogue. ✨

Instituto de Estudos Medievais

06/09/2026

📜✨ IUS ILLUMINATUM at “The Fine Script” in Paris

On 31 August–1 September 2026, members of IUS ILLUMINATUM took part in the international workshop “The Fine Script: Comparative Approaches to Legal Marginalia Circulating in Europe and the Middle East between 1100 and 1700”, held at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris.

Organised by Héléna D. M. Lagréou, Associate Researcher of IUS ILLUMINATUM, the workshop brought together scholars working on legal marginalia across different manuscript traditions, exploring the circulation, transformation, and visualisation of legal knowledge between Europe and the Middle East.

IUS ILLUMINATUM was also represented by Maria Alessandra Bilotta, Principal Investigator and Coordinator of the research team, and Stefan Drechsler, member of the team. We were also delighted by the participation of Gero Dolezalek, member of the IUS ILLUMINATUM Scientific Committee.

Two stimulating days of manuscripts, marginalia, legal cultures, and fruitful scholarly exchange! 📚✨

02/08/2026

✨ Wishing you a pleasant summer break! ☀️

As we take a short break during the month of August, the IUS ILLUMINATUM research team would like to thank all our colleagues, collaborators, followers, and friends for their continued interest and support. 📜

We wish you a peaceful, restful, and inspiring summer break. 🍃 We look forward to sharing new research activities, events, and discoveries with you from September onwards.

See you in September! ✨

Instituto de Estudos Medievais Universidade Aberta de Portugal Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas - NOVA FCSH

31/07/2026

✨ IUS ILLUMINATUM member Eto Edisherashvili awarded a Junior Fellowship in Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks

We are pleased to share that Eto Edisherashvili, member of the IUS ILLUMINATUM research team, has been awarded a Junior Fellowship in Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks for the 2026–2027 academic year.

This prestigious fellowship recognizes the excellence of her research and will support her work on the artistic and ideological legacy of Byzantium in Georgian illuminated charters (15th–17th centuries), with particular attention to imagery, authority, and cross-cultural exchanges.

✨ We warmly congratulate Eto Edisherashvili on this outstanding achievement and wish her every success in this exciting new stage of her academic career.

🔗 Read the official announcement:

https://www.doaks.org/newsletter/news-images/announcing-the-2026-27-fellows-cohort-at-dumbarton-oaks

Instituto de Estudos Medievais Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas - NOVA FCSH Universidade Aberta de Portugal Dumbarton Oaks Eto Edisherashvili

18/07/2026

08/07/2026

📜✨ IUS ILLUMINATUM at the 61st Colloque de Fanjeaux

The IUS ILLUMINATUM research team is proud to share its participation in the 61st Colloque de Fanjeaux, dedicated to Femmes et vita religiosa dans les sociétés méridionales (12th–14th centuries).

🎙️ Maria Alessandra Bilotta, Principal Investigator and Coordinator of the IUS ILLUMINATUM research team, presented a paper examining the representation of women associated with religious life in illuminated medieval legal manuscripts from southern France, exploring the relationship between iconography, legal culture, and religious life between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

📖 The participation of IUS ILLUMINATUM in this prestigious international conference highlights the importance of illuminated medieval legal manuscripts as invaluable sources for understanding medieval society, offering unique insights into legal, religious, social, and visual culture through an interdisciplinary perspective.

🙏 Our sincere thanks to Nicole Bériou for chairing the session and for her kind attention to the presentation.

Instituto de Estudos Medievais Universidade Aberta de Portugal Cahiers de Fanjeaux

02/07/2026

📚 New Thematic Dossier Published

Ten Years of Dialogue between Archaeology and the Study of the Illuminated Manuscript (2015–2025)

[Dieci anni di dialogo tra l’archeologia e lo studio del manoscritto miniato (2015–2025)]

We are pleased to announce the publication of this thematic dossier in Medievalista, no. 40, the journal of the Instituto de Estudos Medievais (IEM), Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.

This dossier is the outcome of a decade of research devoted to fostering dialogue between archaeology and the study of illuminated manuscripts. Rather than proposing a new discipline, it highlights how the interaction between codicology, archaeology, archaeometry, archaeozoology, palaeoproteomics and conservation sciences has broadened our understanding of the medieval manuscript as a material, historical and cultural artefact.

The introductory essay, Beyond Codicology: Ten Years of Dialogue between Archaeology and the Study of the Illuminated Manuscript (2015–2025) [Oltre la codicologia. Dieci anni di dialogo tra l’archeologia e lo studio del manoscritto miniato (2015–2025)], reflects on the development of this interdisciplinary dialogue over the past decade and outlines future research perspectives.

The dossier also includes the following contributions:

• Jordina Sales-Carbonell, La eclosión del pergamino en los confines de Occidente: monasterios y soportes de escritura en la Península Ibérica tardoantigua y altomedieval (s. V–X);

• Valeria Nicolis, Stratificazioni d’uso in un manoscritto liturgico: annotazioni e aggiunte nel codice CX della Biblioteca Capitolare di Verona;

• Silvia Faccin, Riscoprire il passato. Progetti di indagini tra Archivio e Biblioteca Capitolare di Vercelli.

🌍 The dossier reflects the broader international dialogue that IUS ILLUMINATUM has sought to foster over the past decade, promoting interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the medieval illuminated manuscript.

It is also noteworthy that all contributions to this dossier are authored by women scholars, reflecting the increasingly significant role of female researchers in advancing manuscript studies and interdisciplinary research.

📖 The complete thematic dossier is available in open access:

https://revistas.fcsh.unl.pt/medievalista/article/view/2686/2397












Instituto de Estudos Medievais Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas - NOVA FCSH Universidade Aberta de Portugal Fondazione Tesoro del Duomo Vercelli La Capitolare

28/06/2026

📸 Highlights from our latest Dialogues of Art, History and Law session

What an inspiring way to conclude this semester’s programme!

Our latest session, dedicated to the Burchards Dekret Digital Project, brought together specialists in medieval legal manuscripts, digital humanities, and artificial intelligence for a stimulating exchange of ideas on one of the most influential textual traditions of medieval Europe.

📜 From manuscript traditions and textual transmission to digital scholarly editing and AI-assisted research, the discussion highlighted how innovative technologies are opening exciting new perspectives for the study of medieval legal culture.

👏 Our warmest thanks to Ingrid Baumgärtner, Daniel Gneckow, Michael Schonahrdt, and Silvia Faccin for their inspiring contributions, and to everyone who joined us for this engaging discussion.

As we close this semester, we also wish to thank all our speakers, moderators, partners, and participants for making the fifth cycle of the Dialogues of Art, History and Law such a vibrant forum for international and interdisciplinary exchange.

🌿 We look forward to welcoming you back after the summer with new ideas, new collaborations, and new Dialogues.



Instituto de Estudos Medievais Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas - NOVA FCSH Universidade Aberta de Portugal Fondazione Tesoro del Duomo Vercelli La Capitolare