Maurofilia y maurofobia en el Libro del conde de Castilla

The Poema de Fernán González (or Libro del conde de Castilla) is not a crusade song, nor is it an epic poem or a historical account commemorating the foundation of San Pedro de Arlanza Monastery. It is rather a hybrid text that employs all the literary and historical resources available around the middle of the thirteenth century to an educated poet who was intent on transmitting to future generations the memory of the Count who made possible the independence of Castile. All episodes in the poem point to Castile's unique place in history, describing through the protagonist's bellicose deeds its hegemonic ascendency as the most important kingdom of the Iberian peninsula. Its destiny is determined by the hero's combative character against all enemies, whether Christians or Moors, and more specifically by confronting the powerful kings of neighboring states León and Navarre.     

Lacras urbanas: Juego,prostitución y mendicidad en el entremés barroco

Abstract

The image of a courtly and cosmopolitan Madrid that enjoyed an intense cultural life where millions were spent on luxurious festivals that attracted famous artists and travelers also contained a marginal space where poor people, the crippled, thieves, soldiers, gamblers, prostitutes, and black people lived and made a living. Where the long walks along the Prado at sunset lost their gallantry and became spaces of the night where ruffians challenged each other to duels and ended up, in most cases, in the overpopulated jails of the kingdom. Where the domestic space was transformed into house brothels and gambling dens, full of gamblers and onlookers. Where in the streets, one did not go only to shop but to beg for alms, to con and rob, or where the churches, a place of knowledge and shelter, became places for amorous and clandestine meetings, and where prostitutes, thieves, and murderers hid to escape the law. In this article, I will examine the social meaning of this underworld in seventeenth-century urban Madrid from the perspective of marginality. My interpretation of the urban centers explores baroque Madrid as a space of conflict. From this conflict, new ways of speaking, living, writing, and reinventing urban landscapes arise. Many of the short pieces written in that time articulate their plots through the relationships between marginal society and the established power structures and exhibit social changes in light of the economic processes associated with the development of Madrid as the imperial capital.