The URJC co-organizes a congress at the Fronteira Palace in Portugal

Raul Garcia Hemonnet

The International Conference 'Nobility and Virtue in an Iberian Context' is being held in the Portuguese capital from this Thursday, with the aim of bringing together Spanish and Portuguese historiography on issues related to nobility.

The DEXVIR research group is one of the promoters of this Congress, which is the thirteenth conference on nobility organised by this team. “This is the first time we have taken them abroad,” says José Antonio Guillén Berrendero, professor of Modern History and researcher of the group. The professor adds that they want to take advantage of the event so that “some conferences can be held both in Lisbon and at the URJC, especially in Aranjuez, due to the Royal Sites.”

The Lisbon venue is also steeped in history, as the colloquium is taking place at the Fronteira Palace, one of the most beautiful noble buildings in Europe dating back to the 17th century (and the setting for films such as El Perro del Hortelano) and home to the Fundação das Casas de Fronteira e Alorna, which is also involved in the organisation.

The 'Colloquium' also serves to "present the national project in Portugal to open ourselves to this reality, since we will have the participation of relevant Portuguese experts and establish a dialogue between the two historiographies. The main contribution of the group is the study of nobility from the moral and ethical values. The Dexvir project focuses on the study of virtue as an essential value and how nobility patrimonializes virtues such as temperance, justice or magnanimity, among others," says Jose Antonio Guillén.

This Congress The colloquium is the result of the collaboration between the URJC (areas of Modern History and Medieval History) and the IEM of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and the Palácio Fronteira de Lisboa Foundation.

For us, Guillén points out, this colloquium “represents an opportunity for internationalisation and interdisciplinarity, opening a historiographical path with Portugal, which strengthens academic ties and reinforces another institutional aspect.”

An example of the advantages of inter-university collaboration that, in this case, crosses borders.