부산대학교 도서관

Alfonso X (1221–84) ruled over the Crown of Castile from 1252 until his death. Known as ‘the Wise’, he oversaw the production of a wealth of literature in his scriptorium. One of the most impressive of these literary outputs is the collection of songs known as the Cantigas de Santa Maria, which comprises over 400 songs preserved today in four manuscripts. While the Cantigas have been the subject of much scholarly attention, this book represents a major new attempt to examine the repertory in an interdisciplinary manner. Here, song is considered as a communicative medium, one that functions as a social tool within the erudite environment of the Alfonsine court. This monograph offers a new perspective to the song collection, probing how the Cantigas use their music and text, together with rhetorical devices, to communicate with their desired audiences. The compositional tools that are considered are diverse, embracing medieval rhetoric, rhyme-based play, and song’s allegorical power. The Cantigas emerge here as propaganda pieces, designed to dignify Alfonso X through an elaborately devised courtly ritual that embraces both music and poetry. In its holistic analysis of Alfonsine song, this monograph offers a new perspective to the Cantigas by probing their humanizing qualities. Their miracle songs are shown to exhibit a key communicative function, where their inherent songfulness comes to the fore in transmitting their messages to their courtly audiences.