Praying for Conquest in Thirteenth-Century Castile: The Oratio in tempore belli adversus Saracenos
- Autores: Teresa Witcombe
- Localización: A Plural Peninsula: Studies in Honour of Professor Simon Barton / coord. por Antonella Liuzzo Scorpo, 2023, ISBN 9789004425460, págs. 153-182
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
The first half of the thirteenth century saw dramatic change in the geopolitical configuration of the Iberian Peninsula, as King Fernando III of Castile (r. 1217–1252) led a series of military victories against the Islamic Almohad south, expanding Castilian control into almost all of al-Andalus. Yet the rhetoric of interreligious warfare found echoes far behind the military frontline. This contribution analyses a liturgical prayer to be used “in time of war against the Saracens”, invoking divine protection for the Castilian king and his armies against the “Muslim people” or gens Maurorum. Inscribed in a thirteenth-century sacramentary in the archive of Burgos cathedral, this prayer appears to be modelled on the ‘crusading clamour’, a liturgical form associated with crusade to Jerusalem. The adaptation of this form for a Castilian context and audience brings a new, liturgical perspective from which to examine the interreligious conflict of thirteenth-century Iberia, as well as highlighting the interconnectedness of medieval Castile within wider Latin liturgical trends. A transcription and translation of the Oratio in tempore belli adversus Saracenos can be found at the end of this chapter.