Sound and Space in Early Modern Valencia c. 1400–c. 1700

Tess Knighton, Eduardo Carrero Santamaría, Francesch Orts Ruiz (eds)

Pages: approx. 320 p.
Size:178 x 254 mm
Illustrations:9 b/w, 47 col., 2 tables b/w., 12 maps b/w

Language(s):English, Spanish
Publication Year:2026

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During the fifteenth century Valencia was transformed into an impressive urban complex which over the course of time became renowned for its highly developed ceremonial practices involving emblematic buildings and public spaces that shaped and were shaped by a wide variety of sounds: this dynamic and multifaceted relationship between sound and space created the city’s identity and characterised the daily life of its inhabitants.

Subject(s)

BIO

Eduardo Carrero Santamaría is Senior Lecturer of Medieval Art History at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. His research focuses on the relationship between space and function in the architecture of cathedrals and monasteries in medieval Europe, changes in their use throughout history, the influence of liturgy on the spatial configuration of architecture, and how we view these aspects from a 21st-century perspective. He is the author of several books and journal articles on these topics.

Tess Knighton is an ICREA Research Professor based at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and an Emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. She was Editor of the OUP journal Early Music, and founded the series Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music for The Boydell Press. Her research focuses on the music and culture of the Iberian Peninsula from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries and she has published widely in this field.

Francesc Orts-Ruiz is a postdoctoral researcher in the SOUNDSPACE project at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, combining approaches from art history and musicology to explore relationships between visual culture, sound and urban space. His Ph.D. examined the visual and sonic dimensions of royal entries in late medieval and early modern Valencia. Currently his research focuses on the analysis of different kinds of processions, exploring their sonic and visual impact on the urban environment.

Summary

By the later Middle Ages Valencia had become a major urban centre close to the Mediterranean and surrounded by fertile plains. From Jaume I’s conquest of the city in 1238, ecclesiastical and civic institutions were founded in rapid succession and built elegant churches and palaces to reflect their permanence and prestige. From at least the time of Francesc Eiximenis (d. 1409), the city’s authorities became increasingly aware of the importance of opening new public spaces within the web of narrow streets characteristic of Muslim conurbations in the interest of developing the representation of a Christian civic religion. These spaces, notably those in front of the royal palace, cathedral and Dominican and Franciscan monasteries, quickly established themselves as focal points for urban ritual, especially for the processional activity that marked the liturgical calendar and the devotional practices of confraternities and guilds. Sounds of all kinds shaped and were shaped by the urban complex and were generated by both the festive and non-festive events that, whether recurrent or exceptional, held deep significance for the inhabitants of the city. This interdisciplinary collection of fifteen essays explores the relationship between the sounds and spaces of late medieval and early modern Valencia to gain greater insight into how the city’s inhabitants interpreted the soundspace in which they moved and which influenced their daily lives, creating a sense of community – albeit one full of rivalry and conflict – and resulting in a coherent Valencian identity.

A finales de la Edad Media, Valencia se había convertido en un importante centro urbano, abierto al Mediterráneo y rodeado de una fértil huerta. A la conquista de la ciudad por Jaume I en 1238 siguió la rápida fundación de instituciones eclesiásticas y cívicas y la construcción de elegantes templos y palacios que reflejaban su presencia y prestigio. Desde la época de Francesc Eiximenis (m. 1409), las autoridades de la ciudad fueron tomando cada vez más consciencia de la importancia de abrir nuevos espacios públicos dentro de la red de calles estrechas característica del urbanismo musulmán, con el fin de desarrollar la representación de una religiosidad cívica cristiana. Estos espacios, en particular los situados frente al palacio real, la catedral y los monasterios dominico y franciscano, se convirtieron rápidamente en puntos focales para los rituales urbanos, especialmente para las procesiones que marcaban el calendario litúrgico y las prácticas devocionales de cofradías y gremios. Sonidos de todo tipo, generados tanto por eventos festivos como no-festivos, recurrentes o excepcionales, tenían un profundo significado para los habitantes de la ciudad y fueron moldeados a la vez que contribuyeron a configurar el espacio urbano. Esta colección interdisciplinar de quince ensayos explora la relación entre los sonidos y los espacios en la Valencia tardomedieval y moderna para comprender mejor cómo los habitantes de la ciudad interpretaban el espacio sonoro en el que se movían y que influía en su vida cotidiana, creando un sentido de comunidad —aunque lleno de rivalidades y conflictos— y dando lugar a una identidad valenciana coherente.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Tess Knighton

The City

Un paisaje en transformación: Valencia en el siglo XV (1391–1521)
Amadeo Serra Desfilis

Imagen, música y espacio en la Valencia medieval
Arturo Zaragozá Catalán

Valencia Áurea. Paisajes urbanos y espacios sonoros en la ciudad en los siglos XVI y XVII
Víctor Mínguez

Orden en desorden: Procesiones tumultarias en la Valencia barroca
Emilio Callado Estela

Teatralidad tradicional y música en la fiesta de Corpus Christi valenciana c. 1700
Francesc Villanueva Serrano

Prácticas devocionales y ambiente sonoro en torno a los oficios de la ciudad de Valencia: La corporación de carpinteros en el siglo XVII
María José Iglesias Pastén

The Cathedral

Rising from the Ashes: The Main Chapel of Valencia Cathedral Between the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
Eduardo Carrero Santamaría

Dignity, Movement and Music: The Choir of Valencia Cathedral in the Mid-Seventeenth Century
Sergi Zauner

Processions and Urban Space in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries according to the Consueta of Valencia Cathedral
Sergi González González

A Devotional Network. Minor Litany Processions in Valencia as an Example of Visual and Sonic Transformation of the Urban Landscape from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries
Francesc Orts

Civic Religion

Paisajes Sonoros en conflicto: las Fiestas por las Canonizaciones de San Francisco de Borja y San Luis Bertrán en Valencia (1671)
Ferrán Escrivà-Llorca

The Relationship between Space, Sound and Liturgy in the Dominican Church in Early Modern Valencia
Chiara Mazzoletti

Processions for the Theft of the Globe from the Convent de Predicadors: Urban Ceremonial and Eucharistic Devotion (Valencia, 1698)
Mireya Royo

Duelo y conflicto en las procesiones del Real Convento de Predicadores de Valencia (1647–1662)
Andrea Bombi

Bibliography
Index