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Cuestas
Carlos A. Cuestas
Prof. Anne Stone
Medieval Lyric Class
Fall 2014
The Jongleur King and His Royal Songs: Centennial Organization in the
Cantigas de Santa Marias Manuscript E
The impressive collection of the Cantigas de Santa Mara (hereby CSM) collected
and produced by Alfonso X of Castile and his court are a great witness to the kings
devotion to the Marian cult as well as a testament of the every day life of thirteenthcentury Castilian society. Modern scholarship has much speculated and discussed about
the origins of the three extant manuscripts, the way these were organized by the alfonsine
scriptorium, and wether or not there could be a manuscript that can be taken as the
seminal one from whence all other germinated (or at least should have), or if the different
offices that carried out these manuscripts rendered independent codices from one another.
This paper will analyze the structural placement of five poems in one of the manuscripts
on the basis of narrative, rhyme schemes, poetic genre and overall metrical analysis.
These five poems are special because they correspond to illuminations of king Alfonso X
as a jongleur and are organized in centennials. Looked at more closely, these seem to be
interrelated on more than one level, which may have been the reasons for the clerical
decisions of strategic placement and planning around them.
The collection of the CSM are believed to have occurred between the years of 12571279

and are narratives of Marian miracles that were commonly known throughout

Europe, compiled from different known sources as well as from some local accounts of
these extraordinary events . There are four extant manuscripts, two of them housed in
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the Escorial library: Escorial J.B.2 or Cdice Princeps or de los msicos (E) and Escorial
T.I.1 or Cdice Rico (T). The main difference between these two manuscripts is that MS
E has the most poems set to music (427 total) and MS T contains the most illuminations
per miracle, with over 1200 miniatures with 194 cantigas set to music. The third MS is
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the Banco Rari of the Biblioteca Nazionale of Florence, formerly known as II.I.213 (MS
F). This MS is considered to be a continuation of MS T (the rich codex) as it contains 113
cantigas, mostly taken from the second part of MS E. Unfortunately, the staves in MS F
are empty, and the miniatures are in different states of completion. The last MS is
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commonly known as To and is housed in the Biblioteca Nacional (MS 10069). It was
once housed in the Cathedral library at Toledo (hence its To denomination) and it
contains 100 cantigas. This MS has no illuminations and only the music of the refrain and
the first strophe are written in.

The three completed facsimile and transcription editions of the music of the CSM so
far have been based on MS E for the rather obvious reason that it is the only MS that is
complete musically, poetically and pictorially. This approach has been criticized
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particularly by Stephen Parkinson and other scholars who see MS E as not the
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culmination of the [CSM] enterprise but the endgame by which a complete set of
cantigas is recorded to back up the unsustainable effort of T/F. The basis for this
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criticism is the apparent state of disorganization[ rephrase] in MS E given that it

separates, rather randomly, narratives of miracles that are found in close proximity or in
succession in MSS To and T. That MS T/F was supposed to be the exemplar
deluxe edition is not up for debate and, had it been completed, this edition would have
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been the most authoritative source of study today. Its incompletion, however, along with

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the status of poetic exercise attributed to MS To , raises the importance of MS E in
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modern editorial preferences, and the intentionality with which it was compiled should
not be overlooked.
The many elaborate aspects of medieval scriptoria demonstrate that compilation and
construction of manuscripts are not centered around one aspect, be it narrative, pictorial,
or musical, but rather that it is an architectonic construct of these three interdependent
and interacting aspects made into a book. Nor are any manuscripts related to one another
independently from the sources of their content. Because of the stylistic
consistency[ look up a better word to describe the MSS] of the CSMs manuscripts in
terms of authorial and poetic style (not content) as well as their relative geographical
proximity it is tempting to assume that the purpose for this effort should have a hierarchy
in which the relative narrational uniformity shown in MS To should take precedence and
that every other aspect needs to revolve around this purpose. Whether such hierarchy was
desired by the learned king[ passive voice] and his teams of scribes and clerks is up for
debate, but should not be assumed when studying this repertoire.
When the three manuscripts of the CSM have been compared vis--vis, scholars have
come to the conclusion that To was first and that T was based on it, giving To a high
status as the germinating seed[ lame. look for something like generator or something
that conveys the thing where all came from]

thus making of T its resulting plant. This

imposed hierarchy has left MS E in poor status, as its organizational deviations from MS
To and T make seems as tough its completion was rushed and disorderly.Yet the most
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important purpose of this collection is that of recording and setting to song Marian
miracles, not to have three identical, interrelated manuscripts. The question begs, should

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the concern be the comparison of these three manuscripts and, therefore, should academia
start ignoring the importance of MS E because of its shortcomings within this
comparison? Or, can MS E be considered an independent source with a unique
organizational structure that not only fulfilled the task of completion but that its structure
can redeem it from the scholarly suspicion with which it is looked at?
A general glance at the structure of MS E reveals five important features: 1. there are
two genres in the collection, cantigas de miragro (songs of miracles) and cantigas de
loor (songs of praise); 2. there is a collection at the end of 12 cantigas de Festas de Santa
Maria (celebrations); 3. Every tenth song is a cantiga de loor with an illumination of two
or more instrumentalists; 4. Every cantiga with the number 5 preceding it (quint) is a
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significantly longer cantiga; 5. Every hundred cantiga there is an illumination of one

instrumentalist thought to be king Alfonso X. The systematic illuminations of the
cantigas de loor suggests that this was an element that heavily influenced the structuring
of the manuscript. Moreover, the illumination of each centennial cantiga suggesting the
portrait of the king, himself distinguished by its royal attire and luxurious chair must
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indicate both a greater concern by the clerk to construct the manuscripts around these
illuminations, and the text relationship between these praise songs and the monarchs
desire to be shown in active worship to Mary and the importance of the centennial
cantigas, given that the last miniature of MS E is that of CSM 400. In addition, the
organizational concept of MS To (one hundred poems separated in two halves ) may have
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influenced the overall structure of MS E and its concept of centennial cantigas.

As previously stated, the centennial cantigas have an illumination of king Alfonso X
playing an instrument, which determines the organization of the content of the manuscript

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around it. This author will consider three aspects to determine whether or not these Royal
Songs play a more prominent role in the structure of the codex: 1. An analysis of the
poetic content of each cantiga individually will determine the purpose and poetic voice;
2. Once the poetic voice is determined, an analysis of the poems as a group will reveal
whether there is a narrative relationship between these poems; 3. An analysis of style may
suggest an authorial hand, which will explain the predetermined structure of the
manuscript itself.
The rubric to the first CSM reads De loor de Santa Maria ementando os VII goyos
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que ouve de seu fillo (Praise to Santa Maria Listing the Seven Joys Her Son Had). The
narrator refers to himself in first person on every line of the each stanza (eu, quero, ) and
assumes the role of a story teller, as, one by one, it lists the seven joys of Christ: His
annunciation, birth, praise from angels and magi, appearance to Mary Magdalene after
the resurrection, His Assumption to heaven, the spread of His story, and His reunion with
Her in heaven and Her posterior coronation and placement.
This refrain-less poem has eight stanzas, the first one serving as an introduction and
the other seven as the development of the narrative. Interestingly enough, the poetic I
so prevalent at the beginning of each stanza develops into us, splitting the role of the
narrator as observer and protagonist of the story in stanzas 1 and 8. In this way, the poem
is related to its itended audience as not only a listing of goyos but how the unfolding
events in the narrative have directly affected the lives of those who hear it. This devise
creates a narrative arch in which the first and last stanzas first person plural voice
involves the audience and the king himself in the story, placing the king on the same
status as anyone elses who hears this poem.

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The illumination accompanying this poem is a frontispiece occupying two columns
and depicts king Alfonso X at the center of it. To his right there are the musicians and to
his left there are the scribes and poets diligently working to his command. The prologue
of MS T has a very similar image of the king and his staff hard at work varying only in
number of people and background. This similarity could be significant and would give
the idea of some degree of connection between the two manuscripts, but it unfortunately
bears none. As previously discussed, MSS E and T are not only not related, but they were
constructed independently and serve different purposes.
CSM 100 is one of the most celebrated songs of this repertoire. Its relative simplicity
and contagious melody make it an accessible song for modern audiences to experience.
The rubric simply states Cantiga de loor and it celebrates the power Mary has to
intercede on behalf of her believers. In the first of the three stanzas the narrator is tacit
and just tells the story of how sinners are saved through Marys grace. In the second
stanza, just like CSM 1, the narrator uses the first person plural to include himself in the
narrative and appeal to his audience. The third stanza goes through a transition of poetic
voice from first person plural (Guiar ben nos) to third person singular (pera quen en e el
creer quiso) to first person singular in the last two verses (que prazer m-ia . . ./ que foss
a mia). The transition of the poetic voice in this song takes the audience from knowing
about the deeds of someone (sinners in the first stanza), to the collective knowledge of
redemption through Mary in the second stanza, to the personal and intimate assurance of
divine salvation, all told with remarkable beauty and craftsmanship.
CSM 200 sits in the middle of the five royal cantigas, a significant position if one
takes into account its highly symmetrical structure (each stanza and the refrain have 7

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syllables throughout). An analysis of the metrical structure of the poems will be presented
later in the paper. Another highly significant feature is that the narrator of this cantiga is
exclusively in first person both in the stanza and the refrain, distinguishing it from the
previous and latter centennial cantigas.
There is an interesting narrative curve in this particular song through the narrators
life stages. In the first two stanzas the Virgin shows the narrator the ways in which she
helps good people in general and how Mary makes him experience directly Gods
kingdom, parallel to being born in faith. The next three stanzas explain how Mary helps
the narrator through trials of sickness, envy, and poverty, which could be read as the cycle
of growing up and maturing. Stanza 6 shows the narrator in his most mature state, as he is
waging war and Mary helps him not to err, and in a show of gratitude on the next stanza
the narrator declares to nobility his wish to die for Mary if need be. The narrative closes
in the next two stanzas when the narrator becomes increasingly reflective on his faith and
deeds and wants to clearly state for the world to see that it was She the only one I
loved.

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CSM 300 is the longest one of the royal songs. It has ten-verse stanzas plus a four
verse refrain, customary repeated at the end of each stanza. The narrative and poetic
voice of CSM 300 is very different from the preceding ones. Whereas the songs leading
up to now the narrator included himself in the praises to Mary, in this poem he is
summoning his audience to praise her almost in an apologetic way, defending both the
Virgin and his devotion to her. In stanza 3 and 4 the narrator summarizes the ways in
which Mary intercedes for people, keeping mischief away from his believers. Because of
her deeds, the narrator implores directly to her not to listen to what wicked people say

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and to take comfort in his praising. In the next stanza the narrator changes his plea and
reflects as to why other learned men are disdainful of his praising, songs, razos, and
tenzos (cantares, ses, razes, tenoes) concluding that such men are the ones with false
hearts. The narrators reflection changes into a complaint, as in the last stanza he
concludes that in his efforts to spread the praise of Mary (seemingly in his court) he has
never found such evil and falsity which could be used to kill him.
The last of the royal songs makes no direct reference to the Virgin Mary, and, judging
by its content, it closely resembles secular poetic composition . The poetic voice in this
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poem tells the audience about the creative process of the poem and how it is composed
despite the poets lack of skill and poverty when compared to others who have given
praise to God. By the third verse the narrator is reassured when he concludes that some
divine praise is better than none and that by this effort God will bestow onto him one
hundred virtues to better praise Him. It is only in the last stanza that the narrator
dedicates his humble yet God-given ability to the one in whose womb the babe was
formed, thus fulfilling the expectation of Marian praise and the conclusion of his efforts.
When observing the centennial cantigas as a collection a tentative narrative may be
considered. The first song introduces, in a joyful way, the interceding power of Mary and
her privileged standing with God in heaven, listing seven joys which could be read as
seven reasons for praise that Mary has given to the world. Therefore, the subject
matter of this poem and the narrative content of it could be taken as a prologue of the
extended narrative, a prelude that exhorts the audience to engulf in Marian praise and
trust in the maternal figure of the Virgin mother.
Following the idea of a hyper-narrative, the next poem, CSM 100, is a full-fleshed

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praise to the Virgin Mary, glorifying her pity and will to help her believers before God to
achieve salvation. In short, after the giving the good news of Marian love, the narrator
praises her and exhorts the congregation to do so as well. In CSM 200, which sits at the
center of the collection, the narrative becomes more intimate and shows how the narrator,
thanks to Mary, is saved through turbulent life experiences such as sickness, war, and
poverty, yet with the happy ending for those who believe in the figure of the Virgin. CSM
300 talks about the relationship of the narrator with others, carrying the narrative from
the relationship of the narrator to the physical world to that of his social one. This long
and complex poem could be seen as the anticlimax of the whole narrative, and the
understanding of the authors mortality and loneliness in his endeavors.
Finally, in CSM 400 the author accepts the solitary nature of his life and how his
effort of ever-lasting Marian praise is, after all, a more personal intent rather than an
infectious, communal one. By telling how he trusts to please God with his song and in
exchange receive more skill for his craft, the narrator goes on about his business by
himself, in stark contrast with the original intent of communal praise and congregationforming marian cult.
Summarizing, when the royal songs are looked together as a collection, there seems
to be a narrative that binds them together and a progression from optimistic,
congregational praise to ever more isolated and intimate prayer which may reflect both a
narrative of the maim character getting older and the kings political an social situation at
court .
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The motivation behind analyzing narrative and content in the royal songs and
proposing a relationship between them is to attempt explaining the clerical reasoning

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behind choosing those poems to occupy the centennial structural backbone of MS E. If
this claim is accepted, that is of the poems being related to each other, there are other
poetic aspects worth exploring to further support the argument, such as metric, genre, and
possible authorship.
The rhyme schemes and genres of the poems may also offer another level of
interrelationship and clerical intentionality. This is most evident in the framing poems
(CSM 1 and 400), where the metrics are almost identical and are the only ones of this
collection not to have a refrain. Table No. 1 compares back to back both poems:

CSM 1
Stanza

8 6 8 6 6 8 6 6 8 6

No. of Stanzas

Rhyme Scheme
ababbabbab
Comparison CSM 1 and 400

CSM 400
8 6 8 6 8 8 6 8 6
4

Table 1
Metric

ababccdcd

As it can be observed, the first four verses of each stanza identically correspond one
another both in rhyme scheme and metrical structure, alternating between masculine and
feminine endings. Furthermore, the number of stanzas in the latter poem is half of the
former one. Even though these are not the same genre (the latter one being a Zejel ), the
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similarities between these poems need to be accounted for and could evidence the
intention of the clerks to assign these poems the framing of the royal songs.
The proposed rhyme and metric relationships between the first and last poems
predetermined the comparative analysis between the following two poems, CSM 100 and
CSM 300, which are the next poems from left to right and right to left. As it will be seen,
there are not as strong connections between these two poems as there were with the
former two, but, for the sake of the exercise, these poems will be compared:

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CSM 100

CSM 300

Stanza

8 8 8 8 9 [4 4] 11 [4 6]

7 7 7 7 3 3 7 3 3 7

Refrain

9 [4 4] 11 [4 6]

5 6 5 6

No. of Stanzas
Rhyme Scheme

AA|bbbbAA|
ABAB|cddcccBccB|
Table 2 Metric Comparison CSM 100 and 300

Despite there not being identical correspondences between these two poems, the first
four verses of each stanza are, again, similar to one another in their type of rhyme (both
feminine) and number of syllables, tough admittedly not the same. CSM 300 is an
extended Zejel, picking up the rhyme of the second verse (B) of the refrain as its vuelta.
CSM 100 could also be considered a variation of the Zejel given its return to the rhyme
scheme of the refrain, though its structure differs greatly from the Andalusian poetic
genre.
The poem that sits in the middle, CSM 200, is the most symmetric one and also the
most traditional Zejel of the centennial collection. Table 3 summarizes the metrical data
of the poem:

CSM 200
Stanza

7 7 7 7

Refrain

77

No of Stanzas

Rhyme Scheme
AA|bbbA|
Table 3 Metrical Data CSM 200
The metrical symmetry and the relative poetic simplicity of CSM 200 may have
played a major role for this poem to be sitting right in the middle of the five royal songs.
Furthermore, it offers a good narrative transition both in content and poetic voice from

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the overtly joyful, communal praising tone into the more intimate and insular one of the
next two poems. Therefore, the strategic placing of this poem has to be recognized as
such in MS E.
Accepting the structural, metric, and genre similarities suggested before leads one to
accept that an architectural structure is revealed by visualizing the placing of the
centennial cantigas, suggesting a palindrome between the the framing poems (CSM 10
and 400), the following ones to the left and right of these poems (CSM 100 CSM 300),
all being balanced by the most symmetrical of all, CSM 200. These poems form a series
of arches that could have been taken into account when constructing the manuscript:

CSM 1

CSM 100

CSM 200

CSM 300

CSM 400

Among this collection of royal cantigas, the two most similar in both style and
structure are undoubtedly the first and last ones. Manuel Pedro Ferreira has speculated
that these two poems might come from the learned kings hand itself . When analyzing
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style and comparing it to surviving secular texts known to be Alfonso Xs, particularly
the incomplete text Falavan duas irmanas,estando ante sa tia. The possibility of royal
authorship in these two poems may explain their privileged position of inaugural and
closing royal songs. In Ferreiras own words,
A proximidade entre a primeira e a ltima cantigas de loor (CSM 1 e 400) e a cantiga
de mestria praticada na tradio lrica Galego-Portuguesa, significando, atravs da sua
posio respectivamente inaugural e terminal, precedncia hierrquica na planificao
definitiva da coleco mariana, mais um sintoma do elevado estatuto artstico da
cantiga tipo trovadoresco e deve encorajar-nos a prosseguir o estudo das Cantigas de
Santa Maria tendo en mente a sia proximidade musical e potica relativamente lrica
profana, na suas diversas facetas .
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Recognizing the structural importance of the centennial cantigas and considering

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them as an independent set of poems spread out through MS E strongly suggests that
there is both a structural and a narrative connection between them, and that MS E is all
but disorganized. These connections probably lead the clerks and scribes to purposefully
reserve these poems as the foundational structure so vital for any codex, conceptually
imitating the organization of the revered To manuscript, even though the dissimilarities of
MS E point towards and independent creation of this codex.
1

Connie L. Scarborough, Women in Thirteenth-Century Spain as Portrayed in Alfonso

Xs Cantigas de Santa Maria (Edwin Mellen Press: Wales, 1993), 1.
2
For a full discussion of sources and compilation see Stephen Parkinsons and Deirdre
Jackson Collection, Composition, and Compilation in The Cantigas de Santa Maria in
Portuguese Studies Vol 22, No. 2 (2006) pp. 159-172.
3
Scarborough, Women in Thirteenth-Century Spain, 3.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
.Higinio Angls, La msica de las Cantigas de Santa Mara del rey Alfonso el Sabio, 3
vols. (Barcelona, Biblioteca Central, 1943-64). Roberto Pla Sales, Cantigas de Santa
Mara, Alfonso X el Sabio: Nueva transcripcin integral de su msica segn la mtrica
latina (Madrid, Msica Didctica, 2001). Chris ELMES, Cantigas de Santa Maria of
Alfonso X el Sabio: A Performing Edition, 4 vols. (Edinburgh, Gata, 2004-13). Taken
from Manuel Pedro Ferreira Editing the Cantigas de Santa Maria: Notational
Decisions in Revista Portuguesa de Musicologia, Nova Serie Vol. 1 No. 1 (2014) p 33.
7
Parkinson and Jackson in Composition, Compilation, and Culmination.
8
Ibid, p 160
9
Walter Mettmann in Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Cantigas de
Santa Maria of Alfonso X, el Sabio (1221-1284) in Commemoration of its 700th
Anniversary Year 1981 (New York, November 19-21), Ed. Israel J. Katz and John E.
Keller (Madison: 1987) p 356
10
Ibid.
11
Parkinson and Jackson, Composition, Compilation, and Culmination.
12
There are some exception in which the argument is that the instrument is too big to
have two people
13
Rosario Alvarez Los Instrumentos Musicales en los Cdigos Alfonsinos: Su Tipologa,
Su Uso y Su Origen. Algunos Problemas Iconogrficos in Revista de Musiscologa, Vol.
10 No. 1 (January-April 1987) p 95.

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14

Parkinson and Jackson, Composition.

All the metric analysis and most of the texts are taken from The Oxford Cantigas de
Santa Maria Database <http://csm.mml.ox.ac.uk> and cantigasdesantamaria.com. All
translations are mine.
16
CSM Oxford Site, my translation
17
Manuel Pedro Ferreira As Cantigas de Loor e a Lrica Profana Galego-Portuguesa in
Memria dos Afectos: Homenagem da Cultura Portuguesa a Giuseppe Tavani. Accesed
through
https://www.academia.edu/5169293/Afinidades_Musicais_as_cantigas_de_loor_e_a_l
%C3%ADrica_profana_galego-portuguesa on 12/20/2014
18
For an introductory discussion of the political situation of Castile in late 13th century
see Victoria Granada, Marian Devotion Through Music, Lyric, and Miracle Narratives in
the
Cantigas
de
Santa
Maria,
Masters Thesis. Accessed
through
,https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=case1365170590&disposition=inline>
on December 22, 2014.
19
According to Parkinson in the Oxford Cantigas de Santa Maria Database. A rich
discussion on zajel and muwashsha can be found in David Wulstan The Muwashsha
and Zejel Revisited in Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. 102 No. 2 (Apr.Jun., 1982), pp.247-264. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/602526>. Accessed on 12/20/2014.
Manuel Pedro Ferreira A Case of Cross Fertilization: The Medieval, Andalus, Islamic
Music, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria in Pol-e Firuzeh: Journal of the Dialogue
Among Civilization Vol. 3, No. 12 (Summer 2004) pp. 91-117. Accesed
through<https://www.academia.edu/1216013/A_Case_of_CrossFertilization_The_Media
eval_Andalus_Islamic_Music_and_the_Cantigas_de_Santa_Maria> on December 22.
2014
20
Manuel Pedro Ferreira As Cantigas de Loor e a Lrica Profana Galego-Portuguesa.
21
The similarities between the first and last cantiga de loor (CSM 1 and 400) and the
cantigas de mestria practiced in Gallego-Portuguese lyric tradition, meaning, through its
inaugural and terminal positioning respectively, a hierarchical precedence in the
definitive planning of the marian collection, is more a symptom of the elevated artistic
stature of the troubadour style cantiga and should guide us to continue pursuing the study
of the Cantigas de Santa Maria taking into account their musical and poetic proximity of
secular lyric and its diverse facets. Ibid., p 117.
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