“Let no one study Arts or any Gentile doctrine ...”: censorship as an instrument of Dominican identity construction in the thirteenth century - doi: 10.4025/actascieduc.v36i1.21978

Abstract

The Order of Preachers, which emerged in the early decades of the thirteenth century, was engaged throughout the period in the formation of a model characterized by studies as its main basis. The process was characterized by clashes within and outside the Order, specifically comprising practices related to education and study. Current investigation demonstrates how censorship directed to the very thing that gave legitimacy to the Order and to scholarship reinforced its identity. Certain instrumental concepts, such as the notions of identity and censorship and the ideas on freedom and power, were investigated. Content analysis was undertaken by crossing official documents and the minutes of the General and Provincial Chapters so that the relationship between the several instances of power within the Dominican order could be understood. The contextualization of these documents within a broader intellectual scenario, especially within the university milieu of the 13^th century, could be established. Results showed that censorship worked as an identity tool even though what was censored and the intensity of censorship varied according to a greater or lesser need for institutionalization and consequently the demarcation of the Order of Preachers´ identity.