Lecture 3. Afonso I and Elizabeth I: Syncretism, Patronage, and Iconography in Kongo and England

Described by contemporaries as “instruments of divine will,” Afonso and Elizabeth successfully merged new religious beliefs with the traditions of royal power. Isolated from contact with other states until the Portuguese arrival in the sixteenth century, the Kingdom of Kongo underwent a massive spiritual transformation under the rule of Afonso I who converted to the Catholic faith. During the reign of Elizabeth I, England became a Protestant kingdom on its way to establishing itself as a world empire. Despite enormous cultural differences, the people and rulers of Kongo and England engaged in a similar kind of magical thinking, which sought to bring down the power of the heavens to influence the earth. This lecture looks at the palace complex and the stone cathedral in São Salvador that served to channel supernatural forces and communicate royal power. The lecture also looks at the role of patronage in each society. Elizabethan prodigy houses are put in this context. It also looks at the Globe theater as a reflection of the commercial and intellectual openness of the English Renaissance. This lecture looks at the following regions: 1) Central West Africa (1400-1700) 2) England (1500-1600)


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