Organized and hosted by the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (CMEMS).

E. Michael Gerli (Emeritus, University of Virginia; ILAC, Stanford) presents, "Imperial Anxieties: The Thirteenth-Century Castilian Vernacular 'Libro de Alexandre' and Alfonso X of Castile and Leon"

With a response from Dr. Jenna Phillips (History, Stanford). See the abstract below: 

"This study centers on the larger cultural and political significance of the vernacular Castilian Libro de Alexandre within the context of the pursuit of imperial ambitions in the Kingdom of Castile-Leon around the middle of the thirteenth century. The Alexandre is arguably a socially and ethically an engaged work of art that raises large and vital questions about medieval civic institutions and the cultural logic of thirteenth-century Castile. The book lends itself both to a moral and a political reading within a discrete historical milieu—the Castilian and Leonese Monarchy’s pursuit of imperial power--and marks the inscription of the risks empire and would be emperors in Castile and León in a long tradition of Iberian vernacular texts that continue to dwell on the risks and possibilities of emperors and the pursuit of empire in shaping political hegemonies. Through close reading and hard historical research it is possible to tie the work to the formal and political aspirations of Alfonso the Wise. In it we see the budding discourses that are the stuff of the “imagined community” of empire: the territorialization of ideology; the decline of archaic kingship; the integration of widely diverse kingdoms under one sovereign, overarching crown; and the propagation and legitimization of these notions through the glorification and institutionalization of scholarship and of texts. Finally, the work constitutes a celebration of, and an admonition for, a youthful, vigorous leader whose ambitions were limited only by his moral horizon. Probably composed with Alfonso in mind before his marriage to Violante in 1249, i.e., 1230-1249, it was also read and used at court well beyond those dates since there is evidence for this in MS O Vit-5-10 of the Biblioteca Nacional de España. The Alexandre embodies a realignment of the powers that shape civic existence as it tells the tale of the Macedonian emperor in the Castilian vernacular and fashions a cultural politics from a new alliance between the intelligentsia and the state, where the intelligentsia is both instrumental and placed at the service of constructing, and critiquing the mythologies of power for a monarchy with imperial aspirations."

The CMEMS Workshop series meets most Wednesdays during the academic year. Lunch is provided. See the CMEMS website for the list of upcoming speakers.