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The restored castle at Almodóvar del Río looks the way Chincoya might have in 1264.
Photo by Jessica Knauss 2009 |
Spain’s thirteenth-century Cantigas de Santa Maria are a treasure of medieval culture. Many of
their stories recount events that had just happened in familiar places. This is
especially the case for the songs that take place in Andalucía.
Cantiga 185 begins, “I heard a miracle that took place a
while ago, over in Chincoya.” This may be the first time the event was written
about. Such immediacy gives the song a partiality and emotional weightiness the
miracles about far-off lands lack. Any thirteenth-century Spanish listener
would have understood the implications inherent in the reference to Chincoya,
in modern Jaén, at the border of what was at the time the Muslim kingdom of
Granada.
Both Chincoya and its corresponding castle on the
Muslim side, Belmez, would have been responsible for maintaining security in a
sensitive border region. The story focuses on the castles’ two alcaides,
castellans appointed personally by their respective kings for upkeep, defense,
and general administration. The Christian alcaide of Chincoya has been
identified in real life as a man named Sancho Martínez de Jódar.
Sancho’s fictional double
has a character flaw in spite of his best intentions: “the alcaide there protected it well, but he lacked the good sense to
protect it completely” (lines 11-12). The concept of good sense recurs in the Cantigas time and again as the most
important virtue. Sancho’s sin would seem innocent enough: “He had a great
friendship with a Moor who was the alcaide
of Belmez” (15-16a). Making friends with other castellans in the region could
even be a good strategy, but this alcaide’s location across the enemy
border makes it a bad idea.
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| From Cantiga 187 (185) of the Códice rico |
The alcaide of
Belmez conspires with the King of Granada, Ibn al-Ahmar, founder of the Nasrid
dynasty, and a vassal of Castile since the time of Fernando III in 1246. The
Moor explains to his king that he can deliver Chincoya Castle to Granada by using the alcaide’s trust to lure him out and capture him.
Sancho, unsuspecting, goes out to meet his friend, bringing two squires with
him. The stage has now been set to show the gap between proper conduct and the
irresponsible behavior of the alcaide of Chincoya.
The squires say they are
afraid of the alcaide of Belmez and offer reasonable arguments against
going to meet him: Unarmed and not dressed for self-defense, Sancho has
failed to take even the minimal precautions. Because we have seen the alcaide
of Belmez plotting to betray Sancho’s friendship, we are obliged to believe the
squires in this instance. When the squires turn back to their castle, they not
only do what is right, but also show themselves to be more sensible than their alcaide,
who displays his stubborn intentions by proceeding to contravene a law in which
anyone who has charge of a castle specifically on the border may not leave it
without the king’s mandate. In line 51, Sancho crosses a river, which is presumably
the border into Granada.
The alcaide of
Belmez wastes no more time duping his supposed friend, and captures the
Christian alcaide. Under threat of
beheading, Sancho informs his captors that only fifteen Christians defend his
castle, and that they have nothing to eat. Sancho then returns to Chincoya to
ask the Christians to hand it over to the Muslims. This is the last time we
hear anything about the alcaide of Chincoya. Because the second stanza
indicates that he almost lost the castle, and the laws only indicate
punishments for such behavior when the castle is lost to the enemy, we may
guess that he assumes guardianship again after this incident. However, ignoring
the man who is supposed to be in charge of the castle, especially during its
victorious moments, is a serious criticism of his actions, not unlike the kind
of insults so frequent in the cantigas de escarnno y de maldizer.
His conduct throughout the cantiga is in direct opposition to the
fearlessness recommended in the law books
of the time.
A more appropriate
response comes from those inside the castle. In spite of what would appear to
be the hopelessness of their situation, they heroically refuse to give up on
their duty to keep King Alfonso’s castle safe from invasion. They comply with
the heroism legally suggested for the people who might find themselves inside a
besieged castle.
When the alcaide is
threatened by the King of Granada, he folds immediately and betrays Chincoya.
Similarly defenseless against the King of Granada, the men inside the castle
show what separates them from their incompetent leader by thinking of the
Virgin Mary as protector rather than giving in to fear. They place a statue of
Our Lady, which in the miniatures appears as a majestic enthroned Virgin and
Child, on the outside walls and bargain with her, remind her that she, too, is
under threat, and reiterate their devotion (“somos teus,” line 76).
Instantly, they see results.
The host turns back, and the three Moors who get through are thrown over the
castle walls, merely to make the King of Granada see that he should retreat because
he knows that those protected by St. Mary cannot be defeated.
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| Defending Chincoya in the Códice rico |
Such a swift turn of
events in such hopeless circumstances, directly after the people inside the
castle enlist Mary’s help, clearly indicates the intervention of the Blessed Virgin
in their favor. If the castellan of Chincoya had asked for her help, he might
well have received it, but he lacked the good sense. Throughout the song, the
unthinking alcaide, who trusts an enemy and abandons the castle to its
fate, contrasts sharply with those of good sense, who stay to defend their
king’s castle and who place their faith in St. Mary, the only being who is
truly worthy of it.
Although it would be
impossible to legislate faithfulness in the hearts of his soldiers, King
Alfonso praises it as a common trait of the people of his kingdom and offers it
as the best example of his soldiers’ potential. All of the laws concerning his
citizens’ duties toward their king’s fortifications amount to suggestions for
achieving this state of ultimate loyalty. A dependable armed force is the only
one of real use to a king. The alcaide of Chincoya in 185 is an
anti-example.
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| Chincoya Castle today. Photo from applicajaen.com |
The ending functions as a
moral to the story, poising itself purposefully as the concept anyone listening
should take away: It is right to praise Mary; she takes care of her own (and it
is only too clear who they are in Cantiga
185); and her enemies will always be defeated. These are useful lessons for
anyone, and perhaps especially for military men who find themselves in similar
situations.
It is spectacular that only
fifteen men without provisions successfully defend themselves against an army,
but not completely incredible, because well-staffed castles turned back armies
on a regular basis. By never straying far from everyday, almost prosaic, events
that really occurred, such miracles invite the devotion of even the most
skeptical. Here, the audience is absorbed in the story because its location is
readily identifiable by the listeners and features situations someone they know
will probably encounter in their lives. It is easy to look up to the defenders
of Chincoya, close in space and time to the potential audience, and to identify
their behavior as an ideal model.
I’ve written about the
legal implications of the alcaide’s
actions in Law and Order in Medieval Spain. I’m also working on a
short story based on the incident in Cantiga
185—stay tuned for more Cantigas
stories!
J. K. Knauss earned her
PhD in Medieval Spanish with a dissertation on the portrayal of Alfonso X’s
laws in the Cantigas de Santa Maria,
which has been published as the five-star-rated Law and Order in Medieval Spain. A driven
fiction writer, Jessica Knauss has edited many fine historical novels and is
currently a bilingual copyeditor. Find out more about her historical
novel, Seven Noble Knights, and her other writing and bookish
activities here.
Follow her on Facebook and Twitter, too!
Selected Resources
Alfonso X, el Sabio. Cantigas
de Santa María. 3 vols. Walter Mettmann, ed. Madrid: Clásicos Castalia,
1986-1989.
—. Cantigas de Santa
María: Edición facsímil del códice T.I.1 de la Biblioteca de San Lorenzo el
Real de El Escorial, siglo XIII. Madrid: Edilán, 1979.
—. Las Siete Partidas del
Rey don Alfonso el Sabio cotejadas con varios códices antiguos por la Real
Academia de la Historia y glosadas por el lic. Gregorio López. Nueva
edición. 3 volumes. París: Librería de Rosa y Bouret, 1861.
An anthology of essays from the second year of the English Historical Fiction Authors blog, this book transports the reader across the centuries from prehistoric to twentieth century Britain. Nearly fifty different authors share the stories, incidents, and insights discovered while doing research for their own historical novels. 
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