Folios reutilizados y proyectos en curso: imagen histórica e imagen jurídica en el proyecto político alfonsí

Abstract

The MS Y-I-2 of the Royal Library of the Monastery of El Escorial occupies a crucial spot in the study of the development of the Alfonsine historiographical project and its materialization. Its analysis raises numerous questions linked both to the process of writing the ‘Estoria de España’ and to the history of this manuscript, the only one extant concerned with this topic, that we can ascribe to the royal scriptorium. One of its most significant elements is the image on folio 1v, which acts as a frontispiece of the work, a sophisticated representation of the Alfonsine court in which elements related to legal and historiographical matters converge. The image portrays the monarch surrounded by characters belonging to the clergy and the nobility, as he holds a sword in his right hand, and a book in his left hand, which he offers to a richly dressed young man sitting by his side. The action symbolizes the transfer of powers to the heir and the consequent transmission of the kingdom, all represented through the delivery of the book. This article aims to determine the identity of this figure, whether it depicts Fernando de la Cerda or Sancho IV, by analyzing the historical context and the problems surrounding the succession after 1275, alongside the material singularities of the folio itself, the different texts it depicts, and the style and technique of the illumination. However, the study of this composition also allows us to reflect in detail on the codification of the royal image within the framework of the visual culture of the time, on courtly ritual, and highlights the need to construct the historical narrative in close connection with material culture. Folio 1, which is larger than the others, presents notable differences in both illumination and writing with respect to the rest of the manuscript; its mise en page is discordant with that of the rest of the work, a fact which leads one to suspect a different origin for this folio, which at a certain moment was incorporated into the body of the MS Y-I-2. This action can be understood in relation to a sophisticated operation to legitimize Sancho IV, carried out in 1278, that can be highlighted further by the textual analysis of the ‘Siete Partidas’, and which to some extent was continued during the reign of Alfonso XI.