Alfonso X of Castile-León

Kennedy, Kirstin

doi:10.2307/j.ctvk8w1nh

2019

DOI: 10.2307/j.ctvk8w1nh

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Alfonso X of Castile-León

Kirstin Kennedy¹

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Cited by 4 publications

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Blacks in the Middle Ages – What About Race and Racism in the Past? Literary and Art-Historical Reflections

Classen

2023

Current Research Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

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Undoubtedly, racism is a deeply-anchored problem that continues to vex our world. There is a long history behind it, which can easily be traced back to the Middle Ages and beyond. This article, however, takes into consideration a number of medieval narratives and art works in which surprisingly positive images of Blacks are provided. The encounter with black-skinned people tended to create problems even for the best-intended white intellectuals or poets during the pre-modern era, but the examples studied here reveal that long before the modern age there was already an alternative discourse to embrace at least individual Blacks as equals within the courtly and the religious context. Since Europe did not yet know the large-scale form of slavery, as it emerged in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were much less contacts between Blacks and Whites. Nevertheless, the evidence brought to the table here clearly signals that we would commit a serious mistake by equating modern-day racism with the situation in the Middle Ages, as much as modern research (Heng) has argued along those lines. It would be more appropriate to talk about the encounter of races within the literary and art-historical context. Even the notion of Black diaspora would not fully address the issue because the evidence brought to the table here engages mostly with black or half-black knights and other individuals who enjoy considerable respect and appear to be integral members of courtly society both in the East and in the West. Instead of working with theoretical models developed for the analysis of racism in our own times, such as Critical Race Theory (CRT), this study offers close readings of literary examples of personal encounters between members of different races in medieval German and Dutch literature, and of the representation of Blacks in late medieval and early modern art history, concluding with some comments on the first Black philosopher in eighteenth-century Germany.

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Blacks in the Middle Ages – What About Race and Racism in the Past? Literary and Art-Historical Reflections

Classen

2023

Current Research Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

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Pensar el Códice de Florencia de las Cantigas de Santa María. Algunas valoraciones sobre su construcción y deconstrucción

Fernández

2021

Olivar

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El Códice de Florencia (BNCF BR 20) es el resultado de la manipulación, sustracción y reordenación de los folios de uno de los manuscritos de las Cantigas de Santa María de Alfonso X. Dicho manuscrito fue planteado en una cronología avanzada para recoger dos nuevos centenares de cantigas siguiendo las mismas pautas de composición y diseño que el llamado Códice Rico (RBME Ms. T-I-1). El fallecimiento del monarca en 1284 interrumpió su realización y parte de sus materiales quedaron sin concluir. Años más tarde sus folios fueron reordenados y algunas de sus iluminaciones completadas, dando lugar al manuscrito que hoy conocemos con ese sobrenombre. El análisis de su estructura nos permite profundizar en el estudio del cancionero alfonsí así como clarificar algunas de las singularidades de este códice.

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The Colors in Medieval Illuminations through the Magnificent Scriptorium of Alfonso X, the Learned

Vieira,

Melo,

Nabais

et al. 2024

Heritage

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This pioneering work studied the medieval color palette of four manuscripts produced in the scriptorium of Alfonso X, king of the Crown of Castile (r. 1252-84), including the Songs of Holy Mary (Cantigas de Santa Maria, in Rich Codex and Musicians’ Codex), Lapidary (Lapidario), and Book of Games (Libro de los juegos). Scientific analysis based on fiber-optics reflectance spectroscopy in the visible and Raman spectroscopy showed a color palette based on lapis lazuli, indigo, azurite, vermilion, red lead, orpiment, yellow ochre, two different greens (bottle green and vergaut), lead white, carbon-based black, and most importantly, brazilwood pinks, reds, and purples. So, it is now the first reported use of this lake pigment in European medieval manuscript illumination. The painting technique is also discussed. The diversity of colors and techniques, with the presence of lapis lazuli, brazilwood lake pigments, purple, and gold, demonstrates Alfonso X’s desire to produce sumptuous manuscripts.

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Alfonso X of Castile-León

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Blacks in the Middle Ages – What About Race and Racism in the Past? Literary and Art-Historical Reflections

Blacks in the Middle Ages – What About Race and Racism in the Past? Literary and Art-Historical Reflections

Pensar el Códice de Florencia de las Cantigas de Santa María. Algunas valoraciones sobre su construcción y deconstrucción

The Colors in Medieval Illuminations through the Magnificent Scriptorium of Alfonso X, the Learned

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