Codices of the Learned King. 8th Centenary of Alfonso X
Exhibition
Codices of the Learned King. 8th Centenary of Alfonso X
Royal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial
From November 24, 2021 to February 20, 2022
On 23 November 2021, it will be 800 years since the birth of Alfonso X the Learned, the first son of Ferdinand III the Saint and Beatrice of Swabia. The thorough education he received, coupled with his natural inclination for learning, gave rise to an extraordinary cultural climate during his reign, and he was famous for the literary, historical, legal and scientific works produced under his rule. One of Alfonso X’s main contributions was to establish Spanish as the lingua franca of the kingdom, used both in chancery documents and in the works produced by the royal Scriptorium.
Alfonso’s Scriptorium performed outstanding work based on knowledge of ancient sources, especially the writings of Aristotle and Ptolemy, texts in Arabic and Hebrew, and contemporary contributions from both the Latin West and the Islamic world. A key aspect of these efforts was the joint involvement of intellectuals of different territories and religions, who translated the texts, and sometimes completed them, or produced new works.
A KINGDOM DOMINATED BY THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE
Alfonso X used his learning to draw up a government plan dominated by the pursuit of knowledge and based on thoroughness and clarity. This desire also materialised in an impressive body of literature produced under his patronage.
The programme for reforming the kingdom was underpinned by the knowledge and authority of learned men, regarded as pillars of the monarch’s power and ethical factors that made it possible to distinguish between good and evil and act justly.
Alfonso’s huge output is structured in an orderly manner; the contents of the codices are laid out attractively and harmoniously with headings, capital letters and subheadings. In addition, the revolutionary decision to use the vernacular languages instead of Latin (chiefly Spanish, but Galician too) was not only designed to ensure a better understanding of the contents but also involved a political decision to raise their status from local to international.
THE LIBRARY AT EL ESCORIAL AND ALFONSO’S LEGACY
The manuscripts produced by Alfonso’s Scriptorium were always highly regarded by the king’s successors. His great-grandson, Alfonso XI, recovered his legacy in the mid-fourteenth century and dubbed him the Learned King, identifying himself as an heir to that reign in legal and historiographic aspects, though he showed no interest in science.
Philip II permanently established the Learned King’s reputation as a political, legal, cultural and scientific role model. Like Alfonso, he had received a thorough education and was a king who was fond of the arts and sciences, as well as a notable book lover. Philip, known as the Prudent King, ensured that Alfonso’s legacy was safeguarded in the finest and most important library in the kingdom, to which the codices were transferred from 1573 to 1591.
The ceiling of the library was decorated with frescoes by Pellegrino Tibaldi based on an elaborate iconographic scheme. Alfonso X is portrayed as one of the learned men who were prominent names from Antiquity to the Renaissance, beside the figure of Astrology accompanied by four distinguished astronomers: Alfonso X, Claudius Ptolemy, Euclid and Johannes de Sacrobosco.
THE CODICES IN THE ROYAL LIBRARY
The Royal Library houses the main group of Alfonsine codices and the collection of the most important works linked to the Learned King, besides being the main repository of the monarch’s written legacy. In addition to the seven manuscripts produced by the royal Scriptorium, it holds medieval and Renaissance copies of Alfonsine works, sixteenth-century incunabula and printed editions, and seventeenth- to nineteenth-century printed works.
To commemorate the king’s eighth centenary, the seven codices produced by the Scriptorium promoted by Alfonso X, with the Learned King’s direct involvement, are being shown to the public for the first time on this exceptional occasion.
Codices
Songs of Holy Mary, Rich Codex
Alfonso X, King of Castileca. 1280-1284Parchment 256 [i.e. 257] f. : perg. ; 490 x 326 mm.Royal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El EscorialSee moreThe Cantigas de Santa María [Songs of Holy Mary] are a compilation, made at the court of Alfonso X, of more than four hundred songs dedicated to the Virgin. Various troubadours were involved in composing them, notably the king himself, who is presented as the promotor of the project in the prologue and headings. Written in Galician-Portuguese, it combines European and Spanish literary sources with newly created texts telling of miraculous stories in which the Virgin intercedes on behalf of the faithful who request her assistance. The Rich Codex, which features 190 cantigas (originally 200) and is the earliest of the four surviving manuscripts, contains text, music and images. Each poem is accompanied by an illuminated folio that illustrates the miracle – or two folios in the case of poems ending in five, a number that is closely linked to Marian worship and shapes the structure of the manuscript. The images tell the story recounted in the text, but also provide additional details that enrich it with new elements and characters. Copyists and illuminators in the service of the royal Scriptorium were involved in its execution, creating one of the most outstanding pieces of Spanish medieval art. https://rbdigital.realbiblioteca.es/s/rbme/item/11337
Songs of Holy Mary, Musicians’ codex
Alfonso X, King of CastileAfter 1280Parchment 361 f. : perg. ; 404 x 274 mm.Royal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El EscorialSee moreThe Musicians' Codex is the only manuscript in the royal songbook to include all the poems. In addition to the prologue and headings, it contains four hundred cantigas, a final prayer known as the pitiçon in which the king addresses Mary and asks her to intercede for his soul, and a group of pieces devoted to the Virgin’s feast days. In this case the illustrations are limited to the prologue – a delightful scene where the king, surrounded by members of the court, appears to be attending the performance of a cantiga – and to every tenth poem, each of which is preceded by a vignette showing musicians and singers with a broad variety of musical instruments. Cantiga 377 mentions a painter, Pedro Lourenço, who painted the books of Holy Mary well and quickly – the only specific reference we have to one of the illuminators involved in the Cantigas. This manuscript was deposited in Seville Cathedral, and was probably designed to be used in ceremonies at the Royal Chapel. https://rbdigital.realbiblioteca.es/s/rbme/item/11338
History of Spain (E1)
Alfonso X, King of CastileS. XIIIParchment cxcvij [i.e. cxcvj] f. : perg. y papel ; 416 x 290 mm.Royal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El EscorialSee moreThis is the only manuscript of the Estoria de España [History of Spain] that can be ascribed with certainty to the royal Scriptorium. It contains the so-called ‘early version’, written between 1270 and 1274, and was the first project promoted by Alfonso X with the aim of telling the history of the Iberian Peninsula from its origins to his own reign. Various Arabic and Latin sources were used to compile the text, notably De rebus Hispaniae by Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada. The manuscript itself was produced around the same time that the text was written, but it was unfortunately left unfinished, as only the illumination of the first book was completed, containing images of Noah’s Ark, Hercules fighting two lions, the Tower of Hercules lighthouse, the founding of Seville and the so-called King Rocas. Blank spaces were left, however, for other illustrations that were never executed. A few years later, around 1278, the first folio was added depicting a complex scene of the court of Castile in which the king hands over a book (a symbol of royal power) to his heir. The last two books of the manuscript were removed and used to create another codex (Ms. X-I-4) that carries on Alfonso’s project with materials produced during the reigns of Sancho IV and Alfonso XI. This manuscript, together with the volume of the Estoria de España that continues it (Ms. X-I-4), was used by Ramón Menéndez Pidal for his edition of the Primera crónica general de España [First General Chronicle of Spain]. https://rbdigital.realbiblioteca.es/s/rbme/item/13129
History of Spain (E2)
Alfonso X, King of CastileS. XIVParchment 359 f. : perg. ; 420 x 312 mm.Royal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El EscorialSee moreThis is a factitious manuscript produced during the reign of Alfonso XI, between 1321 and 1344, probably by Fernán Sánchez of Valladolid, a court official. It was designed to continue the still incomplete historical account begun by Alfonso X, taking it up to the death of Ferdinand III. It therefore includes material from different reigns: the two books of the Estoria de España written during the reign of Alfonso X that were not incorporated into the Alfonsine codex, together with the enlarged version produced during the reign of Sancho IV and, lastly, new material written in the fourteenth century. This is a large-format manuscript illuminated with two interesting depictions of court scenes. The first, on folio 1v, is unfinished and corresponds to the reign of Alfonso XI. It shows the enthroned monarch with a sword and an orb, flanked by two men-at-arms. The second, on folio 23r, dates from the period of Sancho IV. It features an enthroned king bearing a sceptre and orb and flanked by other members of the court, imitating the compositional parameters of Alfonso X's manuscripts. The manuscript displays many annotations, flourishes and reading marks, as it was widely consulted. It was used by Ramón Menéndez Pidal together with the Alfonsine codex of the Estoria de España (Ms. Y-I-2) for his edition of the Primera crónica general de España [First General Chronicle of Spain]. https://rbdigital.realbiblioteca.es/s/rbme/item/13352
Lapidary
Alfonso X, King of Castile1250-1300Parchment 119 f. : perg. ; 402x291 mmRoyal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El EscorialSee moreThe Lapidario [Lapidary] is a compendium of four treatises analysing different types of stones and their uses and properties in connection with the influence of the stars. The codex is notable for its magnificent visual repertoire, especially the first treatise, which contains illustrations of the discovery of stones and the constellations that influence their properties. The work also deals with medicinal matters, as it describes the curative uses of stones, as well as alchemical aspects. However, the idea that stones receive their properties from the stars, through God and his angels, is stressed throughout the manuscript. This is the first scientific work promoted by Alfonso X. According to the prologue, the original in Arabic was located in Toledo, where it found its way into the monarch’s hands. The king decided to have it translated into Spanish on the advice of Yehudá ben Mošé, a Jewish scientist in his service. The translation was carried out from 1243 to 1250, under the supervision of Yehudá and cleric Garcí Pérez. New content was then progressively added until the final text copied in the manuscript housed in the Royal Library of the Monastery of El Escorial was completed around 1270−75. https://rbdigital.realbiblioteca.es/s/rbme/item/13127
Book of Forms and Images
Alfonso X, King of Castile1276-1279Parchment 14 f. : perg. ; 385 x 290 mm.Royal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El EscorialSee moreThis manuscript was originally a large compendium of eleven astro-magical treatises, unfortunately no longer extant, of which only the prologue and index survive. It is not known exactly when the rest of the codex disappeared, but by the sixteenth century only the index is mentioned. Nevertheless, the inventories of the library of the Louvre palace show that the work was known at the French court and was translated into French on the orders of the Duke of Berry. Unfortunately, the French copy is no longer preserved either. The fact that only the initial part still survives caused some confusion among librarians and early scholars of the work, who thought that it was the index to the Lapidario. They are, however, two separate works, though they are related in subject matter as they both analyse different types of stones and their connection with the stars for making talismans. The first folio displays a historiated initial with an introductory image in which the monarch, richly attired, receives the book from his collaborators. Heraldic elements – castles and lions – can be made out on the stem of the letter P, along with other figures. https://rbdigital.realbiblioteca.es/s/rbme/item/13350
Book of Chess, Dice and Tables
Alfonso X, King of Castile1283Parchment 97 f. : perg. ; 400 x 280 mm.Royal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El EscorialSee moreWe know from the colophon that this manuscript was begun and completed in the city of Seville in 1283, making it one of the last works to be promoted by Alfonso X. It is a compendium of games taken from the rich Oriental tradition, especially Indian, through Arabic sources. It consists of three parts devoted to: chess, which represents the intellect; dice, which is determined by chance; and tables, a combination of both. New games are also added at the end of the manuscript, such as alquerque [a forerunner of draughts], new variants of tables, and astronomical chess. The games are each linked to different social classes and attitudes, and therefore also play an exemplary role. The manuscript is richly illuminated: highly creative and detailed scenes show the players, men and women, absorbed in their games, which can be followed as the boards with their pieces are depicted from a downward perspective. People from different territories, cultures and social classes, including the king and other members of the court, demonstrate their gaming skills. In addition, this manuscript provides us with the only surviving image of the royal Scriptorium. https://rbdigital.realbiblioteca.es/s/rbme/item/13125
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Multimedia
Códices del Rey Sabio. VIII Centenario de Alfonso X
Libro del axedrez, dados e tablas de Alfonso X el Sabio
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