Cantigas de Santa Maria

This is a double research paper: (1) Tipology and evolution of the musical forms across the three 13th-century notated MSS. of the Cantigas de Santa Maria: the first systematic revision of the subject since Anglés (1958) [a few mistakes crept in and were corrected in the same author's paper "Jograis, contrafacta, formas musicais: cultura urbana nas Cantigas de Santa Maria", in Alcanate. Revista de Estudios Alfonsíes, nº 8 (2012-2013), pp. 43-53, where the table of musical forms was expanded from codex T to the whole collection]. (2) The notation of codex T.j.1: the first systematic analysis of the Escorial type of notation, with the differences between codices E and T outlined in detail.

Desde que hace ya algo más de un siglo se editó por primera vez, la que se ha dado en llamar cantiga de Valcavado no ha recibido la atención que merece por su singularidad e importancia. Habrá que esperar a finales del siglo pasado para encontrar algunas aproximaciones parciales y no será hasta la primera década del presente cuando se lleve a cabo una nueva edición y se re-clame la necesidad de un estudio pro-fundo del texto y de su contexto. La cantiga de Valcavado, un ejemplo indudable de cantiga mariana, pero que a pesar de ello no fue incluida en la colección patrocinada por Alfonso X, se encuentra inserta en el folio 3 recto del códice del Beato de Valcavado. Escrita de un modo sumamente precario y en un soporte por completo anómalo, presenta serios problemas que atañen no ya a la fijación textual, sino también a su datación, a su autoría, a la interpretación de su particular fisonomía lingüística, a su relación con el corpus alfonsí y a la reconstrucción de la historia de su transmisión manuscrita. El presente trabajo ofrece un nuevo texto crítico y aborda todos estos aspectos proponiendo una hipótesis de conjunto que intenta dar respuesta a la problemática mencionada.

"There is so hot a summer in my bosom,
That all my bowels crumble up to dust:
I am a scribbled form, drawn with a pen
Upon a parchment, and against this fire
Do I shrink up."
Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John, Act V, scene 7
                                              CONTENTS
1. The Invisible Jew: Blind Spots in the Art Historical Record.
2. The Birth of Iudeus Sacer: Bio-Theological Foundations of Conversion.
3. Creatures of Parchment: The King, the Jew, and the Codex.

                                                EXCERPT
...Abandoned by the father, stripped of his legal status and religious identity, the Jewish boy becomes malleable to change. Indeed, it is in his condition as iudeus sacer, that is, in his reduction to bare life, that the Jewish boy becomes susceptible to enter, through the transformative biotheology of the Incarnation, into the Christian community. As I formulate it here, the term iudeus sacer, with its double meaning of excluded and sacred, aims to capture the dialectical status of this figure, which stands at the biological, social and religious threshold of Jewish and Christian identities. From the point of view of the father/Jewish law, he is sacer (accursed) in its negative sense as a figure of exclusion, while from the point of view of the mother/Mary/Christianity, he is sacer (sacred) in the positive sense as a sacredly begotten figure. The image of the Jewish boy coming out of the oven/womb into the Christian community dramatizes the transition between iudeus sacer in its negative sense and iudeus sacer in its positive sense – a transition that is embedded in this new subject’s identity as a dynamic reversibility – a constant dialectical movement from one sense of the term to the other. Iudeus sacer is a pure figure of potentiality because it is permanently suspended in that unresolved dialectical reversibility at the threshold of Jewish and Christian identities –a dialectical bipolarity which will determine, as we will see, its fleeting historical existence beyond the parchment page...

Resumen
Las Cantigas de Santa María atribuidas a Alfonso X el Sabio, son susceptibles de estudio a partir de los diferentes códices que se han conservado. Entre ellos, el llamado Códice Rico o T.I.1 de El Escorial, recoge los relatos mariales con una indisoluble presencia de tres tipos de lenguaje: el musical, representado por la notación pautada; el lingüístico, en lengua galaicoportuguesa y el icónico-figurativo a través de las miniaturas que ofrecen la visualización de la historia. El presente trabajo toma como objeto de estudio la Cantiga 147 del códice T.I.1.de El Escorial: A madre do que a bestia y aborda su análisis de una forma integral, considerando el modo en el que el relato marial se presenta dentro del códice, es decir, un tema singular cuyo contenido se repica a través de diferentes lenguajes —textual-icónico-musical— que se sirven de diferentes códigos de construcción de significado sustentados en estructuras discursivas.
Abstract
The Cantigas de Santa María atributed to Alfonso X the Learned, are susceptible to study from the different codices which have been preserved. Among them, the Codex Rico or the Escurial T.I.1 codex, collects the Marian stories with an indissoluble presence of three types of language: the musical, represented in the by patterned notation; the linguistic, in Galician language and the iconic-figurative through the miniatures that show the history. This paper it's focused on 147 Cantiga of the T.I.1 El Escorial Codex.: A madre do que a bestia, and deals with the analysis of it in a integrative way, considering how the Marian story is presented in the codex: a singular theme whose content is repeated through different languages -textualiconic- musical- using different codes of meaning construction by discursive structures

The musicological reception of the Cantigas de Santa Maria since the early 20th century has been ideologically biased and dependent on expectations set by 13th-century French example. This paper traces the history of such reception and argues that it not only effaces the cultural contribution of the periphery, as it helps the empowerment of one-sided narratives written by central-European academics unwilling to distance themselves from hegemonic historical paradigms.
Published in ‘Estes Sons, esta Linguagem’. Essays on Music, Meaning and Society in Honour of Mário Vieira de Carvalho, edited by Gilbert Stöck, Paulo Ferreira de Castro and Katrin Stöck. Leipzig: CESEM/Gudrun Schröder-Verlag, 2015, pp. 23-39. ISBN 978-3-926196-67-5

[ITA] All’interno delle Cantigas de Santa Maria, la CSM 96 riporta il curioso dettaglio di una testa che, una volta tagliata, ritorna al corpo di appartenenza per permettere la confessione del peccatore. Il contributo si prefigge di inquadrare la relazione che la CSM intrattiene con la tradizione letteraria  che rende testimonianza di tale motivo miracolistico, come il Bonum Universale de Apibus di Thomas de Cantimpré. Al termine, verranno evidenziate le strategie retoriche e dottrinali che caratterizzano il testo alfonsino, incline all’estremizzazione della vicenda con la finalità di sottolineare il potere e la versatilità dell’intervento mariano nel contesto del ritardo della morte per la confessione.

[ENG] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria, the CSM 96 shows the curious detail of a head that, when cut, back to the belonging body of to allow the confession of the sinner. The contribution is intended to frame the relationship that the text in verse, composed in the scriptorium of Alfonso X the Wise, has with the literary tradition which testify of such miraculous reason, such as Thomas de Cantimpre’s Bonum Universale de Apibus. At the end are noted doctrinal and rhetorical strategies that characterize the text of the Alfonso's scriptorium, prone with extremes of this matter with the aim to emphasize the power and versatility of the intervention of Mary in the context of the delay of death for confession.

Entre las publicaciones recientes sobre Alfonso X destacan las de índole biográfica, si bien predomina en ellas la tendencia a estudiar su figura en el contexto de las instituciones de gobierno antes que en su dimensión humana. La obra del profesor H. Salvador Martínez, por el contrario, se ha construido en torno a seis núcleos principales. El primero, describe el tirocinio de Alfonso en su triple vertiente: ascendencia familiar y desarrollo físico (cap. I), educación intelectual como aprendiz de sabio (cap. II), y formación de príncipe que deberá asumir las responsabilidades de gobierno (cap. III); esta etapa culmina con su proclamación como rey de Castilla en la primavera de 1252, cuando Alfonso tenía ya más de treinta años y una gran experiencia diplomática y militar. El segundo núcleo (caps. IV-VI) expone la historia de sus aspiraciones imperiales y el fracaso final tras su entrevista con el papa Gregorio X en Beaucaire el año 1275. El tercero recorre un tema escasamente tratado en las biografías alfonsíes: enfermedad y quehacer intelectual (cap. VII-VIII); son bien conocidas las muchas y gravísimas enfermedades padecidas por el Rey Sabio, que deformaron su aspecto físico y le causaron profundas alteraciones psíquicas, pero no se ha subrayado lo suficiente que fue precisamente durante la década (1269-1279) de crisis política y depresiones morales cuando salieron a la luz sus obras de mayor envergadura. El cuarto núcleo (caps. IX-X) se ocupa de una de las grandes tragedias y desilusiones de su reinado: la rebeldía y desnaturación de los nobles que supuso,  para un hombre orgulloso de sus saberes jurídicos y de su clarividencia como legislador, una humillación sin precedentes, que le obligaría a dar marcha atrás en su ambicioso programa de reformas institucionales. El quinto (caps. XI-XII) se centra en torno a los problemas de sucesión, tras la muerte inesperada del heredero, don Fernando de la Cerda, en 1275; las presiones de la nobleza, de la reina y del clero –en contra de lo que había establecido en las Partidas- le hacen elegir a su hijo mayor don Sancho, pero sin convencimiento alguno. Finalmente (caps. XIII-XV), se describe la última etapa de la vida de Alfonso, abandonado por todos (esposa, hijos, nobleza, clero y concejos), depuesto y desposeído de sus poderes como rey, que sólo pudo recuperar con el apoyo de sus enemigos musulmanes: una historia absurda e incomprensible que parece fábula, mucho más terrible que la del rey Lear, que el propio Alfonso había recogido en la General Estoria.
Teniendo presente no sólo la abundante documentación de archivo y su rica correspondencia, sino también los prólogos de las obras científicas –escritos de propia mano o dictados-, numerosas cantigas y su obra historiográfica, así como la amplia bibliografía disponible, esta obra refleja con nitidez el perfil intelectual y moral de Alfonso: es Júpiter y Hermes, poderosos y sabios, y al mismo tiempo es también el bíblico Nemrod, “el primer rey del mundo”, creador de ciudades maravillosas e imperios de ensueño y promotor de una cultura laica al margen de la clase sacerdotal oficial. La alegoría, el mito, la leyenda épica o hagiográfica sirven, a lo largo de todas sus obras, para proporcionar detalles minuciosos de circunstancias muy concretas de la vida personal del rey, de su familia y de sus colaboradores que arrojan luz suficiente para reconstruir no sólo las etapas esenciales de su vida, sino su pensamiento y hasta sus gustos personales. (R.A.)

Texto completo do conjunto das 420 "Cantigas de Santa Maria", colectânea de poemas em língua portuguesa em honra da Virgem Maria elaborados na segunda metade do século XIII na corte do rei Afonso X o Sábio, rei de Castela e Leão (falecido em 1284).

This paper aims to show evidence of the existing relationship between Jews and Moors in Medieval Spain by means of a philological reading of some excerpts of the famous code if law Las siete Partidas produced in King Alfonso X´s, the Learned, scriptorium in Toledo (1254-1265).

The Middle Ages greatly valued originality and creativity, although these qualities were not only linked in the long chain of imagination (as we usually do today), but they were also framed in the field of memory. Therefore, the usual assumption that memory is an exclusive resource of an oral society does not seem to be entirely satisfactory: in the Middle Ages the memory was equally present in the more cultured and literary social strata. In fact, during the medieval period, the influence of an inherited pedagogy (from Classical rhetorical roots) meant that the cultivated memory (and the affective appropiation of preexistent material) remained fundamental to medieval literary culture because it was understood as essential not only to reading and composition, but also to the formation of character. This paper suggest some thoughts and sacred and profane examples on this issue.

"A estrutura métrica de algumas das 'Cantigas de Santa Maria'": artigo publicado na revista "Agália" (da AGAL: Associação Galega da Língua), núms. 93-94 (1º semestre de 2008), pp. 87-134. Oferece-se aqui a análise crítica de algumas das “Cantigas de Santa Maria” que apresentam algum problema relativo à sua estruturação métrica ou estrófica. São as 32 cantigas seguintes (segundo a numeração comum, e nesta ordem): 32, 33, 37, 57, 60, 87, 90, 91, 100, 102, 106, 107, 116, 160, 187, 190, 204, 210, 211, 220,  250, 276, 317, 320, 327, 340, 384, 405, 406, 407, 420 e 422. Edita-se o texto completo das seguintes: 57, 60, 87, 90, 100, 116, 250, 276, 320 e 406.

This paper presents the main interpretative problems posed by the manuscripts of the Cantigas de Santa Maria to modern musicology: the sources; the notational context; the music (notational evidence, rhythmic paradigms; mnemonic, compositional and textual constraints). It also presents the work done by the author under a research grant by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, in order to set a secure palaeographical and comparative basis for a future critical edition of the melodies, including the Lisbon CSM database.

Beginning with Occitan troubadour poetry and then focussing on the Galician-Portuguese medieval cantigas, the author argues that troubadour song means not only what it says but it also communicates-both by verbal and non-verbal means-cultural horizons, social belonging, gender hierarchy, literary authority, and individual artistry. The relationship with its male audience, which was permitted to be actively responsive to performance, is modulated through stylistic choices that sometimes value obscurity or ambiguity; and while bluntness reigns in vicious jokes, oblique expression is especially prized when fuelling the erotic imagination. Songs are also the rhetorical stage for social negotiation of creative roles between jongleurs and troubadours, and for criticism of political or poetical choices. In both cases, song form is an integral part of the intended message.

En el presente trabajo hacemos una breve presentación de los códices existentes de las Cantigas de Santa María, pero sobre todo las contextualizamos en el panorama músico-literario de Alfonso X el Sabio, un rey que hizo de baluarte de su scriptorium y elaboró un corpus que llega a la excelencia dentro de Occidente, llevando, entre otras cosas, la miniatura gótica a otro nivel. Esta última adquiere gran importancia —es renovadora y no continuadora de la miniatura medieval —por supuesto dentro del todo que supone su relación con la poesía y la notación, gracias a la presencia de un abanico de personalidades, arquitecturas, vestimentas, armas y, sobre todo, de música  —instrumentos importantísimos para la organología del siglo XIII— que recorre todo tipo de condición sin miramientos. Por ello, la colección de poemas marianos ha sido y es una de las principales fuentes arqueológicas que nos permiten acceder al conocimiento de la vida castellana del siglo XIII. En este breve estudio la biografía de Alfonso, por límites de espacio, se va a limitar aquí sólo a aspectos musicales y, junto con su contexto musical, abordaremos los dos códices escurialenses así como los instrumentos que nos ofrece el Códice Princeps o de los Músicos, acompañándonos de imágenes. En efecto, J. Amador de los Ríos no se equivocaba cuando afirmaba que las cantigas son para el siglo XIII lo que los Beatos para los siglos X y XI.

Palabras clave: Cantigas, Alfonso X el Sabio, Santa María, miniatura gótica, organología, música.

Winner of the 2018 Best Early Career Article Prize from the Association of Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies

There exist a range of crusading sources, often well-known texts, that are currently not being as extensively used as they could be. The Cantigas de Santa María, typically read as a devotional text in praise of the Virgin Mary and descriptive of miracles worked through her intercession, is a central document for understanding crusading mentalities in thirteenth-century Castile. This article will examine three particular characteristics – Mary as intercessor, Mary as warrior, and Mary as missionary – to demonstrate one avenue through which the court of Alfonso X of Castile (r. 1252–1284) projected royal ideas about crusading. Even though much of Alfonso X's crusading efforts came to naught, Alfonso's vision, encoded within the Cantigas de Santa María, is a means through which historians can more fully illuminate the rhetoric of crusade in the thirteenth century.

Las Cantigas de Santa María, en su configuración definitiva, son el resultado de la confluencia de tres corrientes paralelas y complementarias, tanto culturales como literarias: la expansión del culto a María en el Occidente europeo, una tradición de milagros de la Virgen surgida desde el interior de este mismo fenómeno y el desarrollo de la lírica trovadoresca en la Península Ibérica. El capítulo ofrece una descripción general de las fuentes y del contexto de desarrollo de la obra mariana patrocinada por Alfonso X

This paper presents at first the main methodological questions that the musical editor of the CSM must confront; then it discusses rhythmic transcription and proposes a novel approach to the notation, based on clues unwillingly provided by the copyists (hesitation and emendation) when trying to capture what they heard or sung under 13th-century notational constraints. It illustrates the use of regular or varied Parisian or Arabic patterns and instances of notational ambiguity that expose the limits of philological reasoning. It is argued that the choice of a notational figure did not necessarily depend on its performing speed, and that tension between musical input and scribal convention could imply counter-intuitive notational choices. Ternary subdivisions within a binary framework (or vice-versa) and temporal equivalence of different kinds of metre, e.g. 3/4 and 6/8 (compressed third mode), are admitted in the range of transcription solutions called for by the notation of the Cantigas. Exemplary songs are discussed to demonstrate the advantages of this approach.

The Cantigas de Santa Maria were compiled by King Alfonso X the Wise of Castile (r. 1252-1284), amidst an upsurge of Marian devotion and a simultaneous proliferation of vernacular poetry and monophonic music, all outgrowths of the twelfth century. This thesis shows not just that music, lyric, and narrative converge in the cantigas de miragro (miracle songs), but that it is specifically the form that allows the melody of the refrain to connect the moral of the song, expressed lyrically during the refrain, to the miracle narrative presented in the verses. Selections from the Toledo Codex illustrate that the cantigas’ melodies, which are deployed using two specific musical forms, virelai and Andalusian rondeau, reinforce their devotional intent. The musical structure strengthens both story and moral in each cantiga, thus joining music, lyric, and narrative to allow Cantigas de Santa Maria to be a uniquely powerful vehicle for Marian devotion.

The two Marian songs collected in the Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional have different origns.  One is a copy of a genuine cantiga de loor (CSM40),  and may be a direct copy from a folio extracted from the Códice Rico; the other is a late satirical cantiga de amor with Marian resonances,  opportunistically placed beside the real thing.

Botando man dunha ampla documentación medieval (sobre todo galega), en Amigos e sodomitas explícase como entre os séculos XI e XIV se configurou o pecado-delito de sodomía, inexistente nos mil primeiros anos de historia do cristianismo. Para analizar esta evolución da tolerancia á intolerancia, amósase a institucionalización documental máis antiga da unión entre dous homes na Península Ibérica, que se produce en Galiza no século XI (Pedro Díaz e Muño Vandilaz, 16 de abril de 1061), analízase a homofobia como arma política contra a nobreza galega que se enfronta a Afonso X e repásase a evolución dalgunhas historias moi divulgadas na Galiza medieval, como o martirio do santo galego Paio. Obsérvanse tamén desde outro prisma moitos textos do trobadorismo galego-portugués: unha enigmática cantiga amatoria entre dous homes, a sátira contra o lesbianismo en que se fala do amor de dúas prostitutas compostelás ou os indicios dunha identidade grupal homosexual análoga á estabelecida por Michel Foucault para o século XIX.

Premio Vicente Risco de Ciencias Sociais 2011. Premio Fervenzas Literarias ao mellor ensaio en galego de 2011. Primeiro finalista do premio Redelibros 2011 na categoría de non ficción. Finalista do premio Ánxel Casal 2011 ao Libro de Non Ficción.

+ info:
http://www.carloscallon.com/search/label/AeS

Resumo: Nesse artigo foi analisada a representação dos animais nas Cantigas de Santa Maria, obra poética composta por Dom Afonso X, o Sábio. Para tanto, selecionamos todas as passagens das Cantigas de Santa Maria referentes aos animais e as comparamos com textos antigos e medievais, textos tanto da tradição simbólica quanto da científica, relativos a eles. Após um estudo sistemático, tanto dos textos quanto das ricas iluminuras que os acompanham, pudemos concluir que os animais são representados nas Cantigas de Santa Maria de um modo realista, em oposição ao modo simbólico, muito comum no período medieval. Tal característica observada na obra em questão é prenhe de conseqüências. Uma delas, que é abordada nesse artigo é que resultado desse estudo sistemático corrobora a tese de que as Cantigas de Santa Maria fazem parte da literatura gótica. Por fim, tentaremos articular a visão gótica do mundo com uma visão científica do mundo. Palavras-chave: Cantigas de Santa Maria, Animais, Literatura gótica, visão científica do mundo. Abstract: In this paper we analyzed the representation of animals in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, a poetry composed by Don Alfonso X the Wise. To do so, we selected all the passages of the Cantigas de Santa Maria concerning animals and compared with ancient and medieval texts relating to them. After a systematic study of both the texts and the rich illuminations that accompany them, we concluded that the animals are represented in the Cantigas de Santa Maria in a realistic way, opposed to symbolic way, very common in the medieval period. This characteristic observed in the work in question is full of consequences. One of them is that this systematic study corroborates the thesis that the Cantigas de Santa Maria are part of Gothic literature. Finally, we try to articulate the Gothic vision of the world with a scientific worldview.

La Virgen María, en su perfección, era inimitable. Eso hizo que en la Edad Media su vita no circulase tan frecuentemente como las de los santos, estos sí propuestos como modelos de conducta. Sin embargo, la Virgen era la mujer perfecta y ella debería ser el espejo de toda mujer. Aunque no suela redactarse su biografía, sus cualidades humanas se subrayan desde cualquier obra de temática mariana y los momentos más importantes de su vida se recuerdan en textos no específicamente biográficos, como, por ejemplo, las colecciones de sus milagros. En esta ocasión, me centraré en el enorme corpus de las Cantigas de Santa María para reconstruir, a partir de los datos diseminados en los diferentes textos, qué momentos de la biografía de la Virgen se reconocen en las Cantigas y si estos retazos escogidos que se muestran podrían responder a una posición dogmática determinada de la corte alfonsí, patrocinadora de la obra.

Se presenta el dibujo de fondo que pudo animar al Rey Sabio a componer el magno marial de las Cantigas de Santa María repasando influencias, modelos, colaboradores, etc. y se proponen las etapas en las que pudo haberse desarrollado el proyecto.

Repaso del uso y significado de los animales en los textos de las Cantigas de Santa María. En esta ocasión se hace un recorrido superficial por las diversas categorías de animales con presencia en el marial, que ya han sido estudiadas con mayor detenimiento en trabajos anteriores (ya accesibles en este repositorio).

The Cantigas de Santa María is a cultural landmark in medieval Spain. This magnific work of the thirteenth century is composed of 420 praises and narratives of miracles of the Virgin Mary and written in galician-portuguese language. Furthermore, have hundreds of miniatures. Sponsored by king Alfonso X (1221-1284), is not great only for its artistic value, but, specially, for its historical value. Each song registred differents aspects of medieval sensibility. Thus, the objective of this study is to make a comparative analysis (textual and imagistic) of three philosophical-theological virtues of the Virgin Mary – Goodness, Truth and Justice – present in the praise 140 of the Cantigas de Santa María and in the Libre de Sancta Maria (c. 1290) from the Catalan philosopher Ramon Llull (1232-1316), to analyze the symbolic structures from marian spirituality, typical religious and artistic manifestation of the thirteenth century in the Medieval West.

In Interfaith Relationships and Perceptions of the Other in the Medieval Mediterranean. Essays in Memory of Olivia Remie Constable. Edited by Sarah Davis-Secord, Belen Vicens, Robin Vose (Cham: Springer Nature/Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), 125–160.

This paper argues that the rhythmic meaning of the notation in the Cantigas de Santa Maria can be only understood by confronting it with different theoretical paradigms. Julián Ribera in 1922 defended an Arabic paradigm, to the exclusion of any other, but his access to Arabic historical writings was severely limited. Higinio Anglés in 1943 and most modern musicologists have since adopted French mensural theory, but recognized that it does not fit many songs. The author has demonstrated elsewhere that songs that do not fit the French paradigm often fit the Arabic one. The applicability of both paradigms, including their superimposition, is systematically compared here. After comparison of general concepts (ordo and period), of even-time composition (modes V-VI or conjunctive rhythm), of long-short opposition in ternary time (modes I-II or Ramal) and more complex patterns, the author provisionally concludes that very few patterns point unequivocally to French models, while in most cases (first and second mode and potential forms of the third mode) both French and Arabic paradigms could apply. In many other cases, encompassing both binary and ternary meter, the Arabic rhythmic paradigm is clearly either more fitting than the Parisian one, or the only one to apply.

As Cantigas de Santa Maria (CSM) são um dos maiores monumentos da cultura medieval europeia. Trata-se de uma gigantesca coleção de canções devocionais em galego-português, num total de 419 cantigas (mais um poema introdutório), louvando a Virgem Maria ou narrando milagres a ela atribuídos. A poesia e música foram compostas ou recolhidas, aproximadamente entre 1264 e 1284, na corte castelhano- leonesa de Afonso X, o Sábio, estabelecida em Sevilha. O quarto santuário mais citado neste conjunto é o de Santa Maria de Terena, resultante de um núcleo de doze cantigas relatando milagres atribuídos a esta Virgem. Terena é uma pequena vila alentejana, localizada perto do Alandroal e Estremoz, destacando-se por ser um dos poucos exemplos de doação régia a uma família nobre, no sul de Portugal, no decorrer do reinado de D. Afonso III.
As CSM constituem um projeto indissociável da figura do seu mentor, já que ao narrarem eventos específicos da sua vida e reinado, e ao revelarem outros tantos sobre a sua personalidade e espiritualidade, funcionam como uma fonte privilegiada concedendo-nos pistas sobre o autor e a sociedade em que viveu. Neste contexto, é necessário entender as razões que levaram o rei Sábio a dedicar um conjunto de milagres a Santa Maria de Terena, naquela que era a mais íntima obra produzida no seu scriptorium. Tal conjuntura pode ser compreendida a partir das relações existentes entre os senhores de Terena, a importante família dos Riba de Vizela, e Afonso X. Esta ligação, que se confirma pela presença de membros desta família na corte do monarca castelhano entre 1264 - 1284, sugere que a sua relação era afim a uma amizade.
Apesar da sua temática cristã e da língua romance, as CSM são, de facto, um produto transcultural que, diretamente associado ao programa real de reconquista cristã no sul, procurava superar as divisões sociais adotando uma forma poética árabe- andaluza, o zajal, como base. Estas mesmas expetativas e influências podem ser entendidas ao nível do ritmo, refletindo, este breve núcleo, a extraordinária gama de possibilidades da notação das CSM. A par da utilização convencional dos modos rítmicos da polifonia parisiense, podem encontrar-se elementos específicos da música andaluza, que já haviam sido documentados na teoria musical árabe por Al-Fārābī.
A dissertação inclui a edição musical de todas as CSM localizadas em Terena, com base em edições textuais preparadas por Stephen Parkinson. Aí se pode observar o papel ativo do editor, quer na definição de ambiguidades de leitura de algumas cantigas, quer na determinação das alternativas, nomeadamente usufruindo da “elasticidade” da subdivisão dentro de um período e, por isso, permitindo a variedade métrica.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Afonso X, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Ramal, Riba de Vizela, Santa Maria de Terena, Zajal.

The Cantigas de Santa Maria (CSM) are one of the greatest monuments of medieval European culture. It is a large collection of devotional songs in galician- portuguese, with a total of 419 cantigas (plus an introductory poem), praising the Virgin Mary or narrating miracles attributed to her. Poetry and music were composed or collected, approximately between 1264 and 1284, in the Castilian-Leonese court of Alfonso X, the Learned, established in Seville. The fourth most quoted sanctuary in this collection is that of Santa Maria de Terena, resulting from a nucleus of twelve songs reporting miracles attributed to this Virgin. Terena is a small village in Alentejo, located near Alandroal and Estremoz, which stands out as one of the few examples of a regal donation to a noble family in the south of Portugal during the reign of Afonso III.
The CSM are a project inextricably linked to the figure of its mentor due not only to the narration of specific events of his life and reign, but also to the revelation of other aspects of his personality and spirituality. They function as a privileged source providing clues about the author and the society in which he lived. In this context, it is necessary to understand the reasons that led the Learned to dedicate a set of miracles to Santa Maria de Terena, in what was the most intimate work produced in his scriptorium. This scenario can be understood taking into account the existing relations between the Terena lords, the important family of Riba de Vizela, and Alfonso X. This connection, confirmed by the presence of members of this family in the court of the Castilian monarch between 1264 - 1284, suggests that their relationship was akin to a friendship.
In spite of their Christian theme and romance language, the CSM are in fact a cross-cultural product, which in connection with the royal programme of Christian restoration in the south, attempted to surpass social divisions by adopting a poetic Arab- Andalusian form, the zajal, as a model. These same influences can be understood at a rhythmic level reflecting, in this brief core, the extraordinary range of possibilities of the CSM's notation. Alongside the conventional use of the rhythmic modes of Parisian polyphony, one can find specific elements of Andalusian music, which had already been documented in Arabic musical theory by Al-Fārābī.
The dissertation includes the musical edition of all the CSM located in Terena, on the basis of textual editions prepared by Stephen Parkinson. There one can testify to the active role of the editor, either in the definition of ambiguities of interpreting some songs or in the determination of alternatives, namely by taking advantage of the “elasticity” of the subdivision within a period and thus allowing metrical variety.
KEYWORDS: Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Ramal, Riba de Vizela, Santa Maria de Terena, Zajal.

in Alfonso X El Sabio 1221-1284, Las Cantigas de Santa María, Códice Rico, Ms. T-I-1, Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial,El Códice Rico de las Cantigas de Santa Maria, coord. Laura Fernández Fernández and Juan Carlos Ruiz Sousa (Madrid, Testimonio, 2011), vol. II, pp. 79-105

El presente estudio pretende ofrecer un análisis sobre las fuentes visuales de origen árabe y su influencia en las Cantigas de Santa María de Alfonso X el Sabio. Partiendo de un estado de la cuestión donde se tienen en cuenta aquellas propuestas realizadas a lo largo de estos años en relación al marco geográfico de influencias —situadas inicialmente en Francia e Italia pero defendiendo posteriormente la necesidad de reubicar la miniatura alfonsí dentro del ámbito del Mediterráneo—  se pretenden aportar nuevas reflexiones críticas, cuestionando algunos de los vínculos concretos e intrínsecos que se han establecido entre el marial alfonsí y otros manuscritos iluminados del mundo árabe, especialmente algunos folios relativos a los Maqamat de al-Hariri.

This article tries to explore the strategies of memory manipulation typical of Castilian imperial war propaganda, developed first during the expansionist campaign against the Islamic kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula in the late Middle Ages and later in the conquest of the New Spanish territory and the expansion of the colonized land beyond the borders of the former Aztec Empire, and its role in the formation of local memories and identities, especially in the settlements located on the border. With this aim, this article proposes a contextualized interpretation of the “Códices de las Historias” of Castilian song-book the Cantigas de Santa María, produced during the Castilian campaign against the Mudejar uprising of 1264 and the resulting War of Granada, and of the murals of the Agustinian convent of Ixmiquilpan, elaborated at a critical moment of the “Chichimeca War”, conceiving both of them as prominent transmisors of the contemporaneous Castilian imperial war propaganda.

Resumen: En este artículo se discuten algunas cuestiones de carácter general sobre el concepto de propaganda y la problemática de su aplicabilidad a la Edad Media. Se toman como base otros estudios sobre el tema propuesto, tanto para el ámbito ibérico como en un contexto más amplio. Se analiza igualmente el proyecto político de Alfonso X, que consistió principalmente en los intentos de unificación jurídica y lingüística, pero que también estuvo estrechamente conectado con su pretensión imperial, con sus iniciativas en el ámbito cultural y con el deseo de dar continuidad a las obras iniciadas por Fernando III. En el tercer apartado se trata de detallar lo que se entiende por “obra alfonsina” y, para que se le pueda considerar como un posible instrumento de propaganda real, se tienen en cuenta las condiciones de producción de los textos atribuidos a Alfonso X, el grado de participación del rey en la elaboración de los mismos y sus posibles formas de difusión.

Abstract: This paper intends to share some general thoughts on the concept of propaganda and the problems related to its application to the medieval period, based on other studies dedicated to this subject not only in the Iberian area, but also on a wider context. In this connection, we shall analyse Alfonso X’s political project, which was mainly characterised by efforts for the unification of the language and the legal system of his domains, but was also closely linked to his imperial pretension, cultural enterprises and desire of continuing the work initiated by his father Fernando III. Finally, our intention is to examine the meaning of the expression “Alfonsine works” and, if we want these works to be considered as a potential instrument of royal propaganda, we shall also take into account their production, the extent of the king’s participation in their creation process and their possible forms of dissemination.