FROM THE PULPITS OF CARDINALS TO THE CHAIRS OF JURISTS: THE USE OF THE COLOR RED IN THE LITURGY OF VIRTUE OF THE ACADEMIC ORDO IURIS BETWEEN MIDDLE AGE AND MODERNITY

Abstract

Chromatic elements played a significant role
in the symbolic field of medieval and modern
universes, with an impact on politics and
law, delimiting categories and highlighting
hierarchies. Crossed by one and the other,
the academic ordo iuris would not be able
to remain insensitive to such an impact,
constituting a space for the consolidation of
a “law of colours”. Inspired by the canons of
the Church and noble ceremonies, professors
of law, who were often given the role of
organizing facts and accommodating them
in ancient or recent norms, knew how to
transplant chromatic elements present in those
ceremonies to academic solemnities, using them
as an instrument of legitimacy in university
life. The use of red, a colour that in Catholic
liturgy recalls the blood of martyrdom, but
also the gifts of the Holy Spirit, is granted by
the pontiff to law professors, becoming also
a symbol of the academic virtues of jurists.
Using the theoretical assumptions offered by
Paolo Grossi’s conception of medieval order, António Manuel Hespanha’s “law of colours”
and Georges Martyn’s legal iconography, this
article aims to analyze the stages taken by the
historical itinerary of transplanting elements
symbolic of the purple colour from the pulpits
of the church’s cardinals to the chairs of jurists
in universities, serving as an instrument of
distinction for law professors. To this end, the
canons that govern the liturgy of colours in
the Church and the role of the colour red will
be analyzed first, followed by its legitimization
and use in medieval universities by professors
of law and, finally, its consolidation in the
Modern Age in rites and academic vestments
of the legal profession.