This internal political instability, and the vulnerable, though certainly courageous, character of the monarch, contrasted vividly with the intellectual and spiritual radiance of the reign of Alfonso X. The King was a historian, and wrote two important works, Primera Crónica General and General Estoria. He also finished the legal work begun by his father, St Ferdinand, Las Siete Partidas. The Castilian language, in which these works were written, owes to him its greatest expansion, to the point of becoming the official language of the kingdom in place of Latin. As a true humanist, he was also interested in astronomy, minerology (writing on this theme the Lapidario), games and numerology, writing a work on the number seven (the Setenario).
The sovereign’s thirst for knowledge was able to flourish not only in a Christian civilization at last rediscovering its identity, but also in the constant presence of Moors in the heart of the Castilian court, as doctors, wise men, translators, architects and... musicians. The dream of Alfonso X, of a unified and tolerant Spain, the Castilian language being its symbol, and integrating the different social and religious components of his land, met with much greater resistance from the Castilian nobles than from the Muslims. The King also took care to share knowledge with the greatest number possible. The celebrated Cantigas de Santa María belong completely to this context.
The troubadour of the Virgin
As a poet, Alfonso X wrote in Galician. Why did he make this choice, when he imposed the use of Castilian in theoretical writings? Because Galician, an ancestor of Portuguese, was the language of the Kingdom of Leon, where the tomb of St James was to be found, in Compostela. A symbol of Christian resistance to Islam, pilgrimage had caused the creation of a repertory of songs composed as much by natives as by pilgrims, and collected together by Galician minstrels. Alfonso X willingly took part in this tradition, desirous of creating a popular, accessible repertory, a federator of Christian devotion.
Alfonso defined himself as “the troubadour of the Virgin”. Everything in the Cantigas seems to refer to a single model, King David. The monarch composed and sang the praises of the Virgin, not hesitating to ask her intercession to resolve political problems, conflicts with neighbours, to win battles or fight illnesses. He himself appears in numerous compositions, which certainly testifies to his faith, sincere and solid, but also to his underlying desire to use the collection as an affirmation of power. Writing in order to proclaim his power seems to have been more congenial to the King than the actual administration of his lands.
|
|
|
|