If He Is Converted
A New Spanish Featherwork Ecce Homo in Southeastern Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3436522 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kate E Holohan (Syracuse University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 1247 |
| Publication date | 2023-09-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel14101247 |
| OpenAlex | W4387169479 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 10 |
In recent years, scholars have paid increasing attention to the material, spiritual, and collecting histories of both pre-invasion and colonial New Spanish (Mexican) featherworks. Rapidly and globally disseminated through religious and family networks, these objects traveled from Mexico to Spain, and other locations, before the end of the sixteenth century. This article explores the little-known history of a devotional featherwork Ecce Homo sent from Portugal to southeastern Africa in 1569. Originally a gift to Sebastian I of Portugal sent from the Spanish-colonized Americas, the Ecce Homo later entered the collection of Catherine of Austria, Sebastian's grandmother. Catherine presented it to the Jesuits accompanying the Portuguese evangelizing and gold-seeking mission to Mutapa, a vast kingdom that encompassed parts of present-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Its intended recipient was the Mutapa emperor. However, this was not a gift meant to grease the wheels of diplomacy, nor was it designated as a tool for conversion: it was, instead, meant for the Mutapa emperor "se se convertese"-if he is converted. That is, it was conceived as a gift from one Catholic monarch to another, for use in personal devotion. The perceived spiritual efficacy of these feather images -themselves recently assimilated to Catholic Iberia from polytheistic Mesomerica-thus extended well beyond the transatlantic Iberian realms
Ancient history · Archaeology · Colonialism · Diplomacy · Emperor · Empire · Ethnology · Genealogy · Kingdom · Political science · Politics · Portuguese · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |