Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

From Convenient Ally To Right-Hand Man: Christian-Muslim Alliances In the Legend of Bernardo del Carpio

2017; Volume: 46; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/cor.2017.0027

1947-4261

K Oswald,

Medieval and Early Modern Iberia

One of the ubiquitous features of the legend of Bernardo del Carpio is the hero's presence in the defeat of Charlemagne's troops at Roncesvalles, often in alliance with Marsilio, Muslim King of Zaragoza. Lucas de Tuy's Chronicon mundi (c. 1239) is the first textual witness to Bernardo's participation in the battle, with Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, the anonymous author of the Poema de Fernán González, and Alfonso X's chroniclers making similar connections. Later authors continue to link Bernardo to Roncesvalles, with poets such as Gabriel Lobo Lasso de la Vega dedicating several romances to the battle. However, despite rather consistent representations of Bernardo's participation in the battle, descriptions of the Muslim army's role vary widely. The present study analyzes how thirteenth-and sixteenth-century chroniclers and authors manipulated the Muslim presence in the battle of Roncesvalles according to their overarching purposes, ideologies, and cultural milieus.