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Christian Captives,
Muslim Maidens, and Mary
By Amy G. Remensnyder
In 1575Miguel de Cervantes,who had yet towriteDon Quijote or any of the
otherworks forwhich he became famous,headed home.He had justspentfour
yearsas a soldierinSpain's imperialarmies in Italyand the
Mediterranean,fight
ingbattleafterbattleagainstone of themost redoubtable
militarypowers of his
wounds
day, theOttoman Turks.'He had acquittedhimselfhonorably,receiving
Now itwas timeto returntoSpain.
thatwould plague him fortherestof his life.
Yet Cervanteswouldn't see his native land foranotherfiveyears.Thesewould be
yearsof intensesuffering,
of traumaeven.2The experienceshe had during this
difficulttimewould remainetched inhis psyche,profoundly
marking thenovels
and plays hewas towrite. For as Cervanteswas making hisway back to Spain,
he was capturedby theTurks and incarceratedinAlgiers.Thus he joined the
thousandsof otherChristiansheld in captivityby theTurks and theirallies in
North Africa.3Some of theseChristiansremainedpermanentlyenslaved;others
soughtto gain theirfreedomby convertingto Islam,while a fortunatefewwere
ransomedby theirfamiliesor charitablereligiousorders,as Cervanteshimself
was
in1580.
Heavy labor,chains,crowdedprisons, theconstantfearof being sent to row
thegalleysthatplied the
Mediterranean-the conditionsenduredbymanyChris
tiancaptives inNorthAfricawere harshenough thattheyinciteddark rumorsin
sixteenth-century
Spain.4No wonder captivesoftenattemptedto escape, as Cer
vantes did not justonce but four times.Painful as his desperateeffortsto flee
must have been, likehis otherexperiencesinAlgiers,they
would provide
captivity
himwith literary
fodder.In a play he composed shortlyafter
making itback safely
toSpanish soil,Cervantesdescribedwith particularpoignancycaptives'desireto
escape.He drew his subjectmatter fromhis own life:El tratode Argel is set in
in conferences held in April 2005 at New York University on the Virgin
the participants
for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this
and at Providence College on Cervantes
Tara
essay. I am also grateful to Philippe Buc, Alison Caplan, Deborah A. Cohen, Margaret Malamud,
Moshe
of theMedieval
and Early Modern
Nummedal,
Sluhovsky, the members
History Seminar at
I thank
Mary
Brown University,
All
translations
are my own.
1
trans. J. R. Jones (New York, 1990), pp. 48-65.
Cervantes,
Jean Canavaggio,
2
For Cervantes'
in Algiers: A Captive's
captivity as trauma, see Mar?a Antonia Garc?s, Cervantes
Tale (Nashville, Tenn., 2002).
3
inNorth Africa in the Early Modern
Ellen G. Friedman, Spanish Captives
Age (Madison, Wis.,
Garc?a-Arenal
and Miguel Angel de Bunes, Los Espa?oles
1983); Mercedes
y elNorte de Africa: Sighs
XV-XVIII
(Madrid, 1992), pp. 209-55.
4
and 55-76.
Friedman, Spanish Captives, pp. xxv-xxvi
642
Speculum
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82
(2007)
643
Christian
Captives
the autobiographical
see Garc?s,
Cervantes
in Algiers,
pp. 40-45
153-56.
6
Miguel
and 2067-71,
de Cervantes Saavedra, El trato de Argel, lines 1974-91,2052-56,
(Madrid, 1999), pp. 845 and 846.
completas, ed. Florencio Sevilla Arroyo
7
inAlgiers, p. 127.
Garc?s, Cervantes
8
Ibid.
9
and 2516, inObras
Cervantes, El trato de Argel, lines 295, 959-62,
completas, pp. 829,
850.
10
in Algiers, pp.
p. 850. For commentary, see Garc?s, Cervantes
Ibid., lines 2490-2521,
11
El
de laMancha
ed.
de
1.4.39-41,
Cervantes,
ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote
Miguel
Allen,
(Madrid,
1998),
1:464-502
Quijote).
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and
inObras
835, and
153-61.
John Jay
644
Christian
Captives
of the
12
de Cervantes, Los ba?os de Argel, ed. Jean Canavaggio
(Madrid, 1983). The dating of
Miguel
comments
is controversial;
the play's composition
for two opinions, see Canavaggio's
(ibid., pp. 35
39); and Helena Percas de Ponseti, Cervantes y su concepto del arte: Estudio cr?tico de algunos aspectos
2 vols. (Madrid, 1975), 1:275-76.
y episodios del Quijote,
13
Percas de Ponseti, Cervantes y su concepto del arte, 1:242-57.
14
en la obra de Cervantes,"
Bolet?n de la Real Academia
Jaime Oliver As?n, "La hija de Agi Morato
27 (1947-48),
245-339.
Espa?ola
15
Ibid., pp. 264-66.
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645
Christian
Captives
imMittelalter,
ed. Bernard
Lewis
Wolfen
Russo
Jews
(Paris, 1996),
(Philadelphia,
Tales
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Christian
Captives
646
in The Experience
ed. Robert
of Power inMedieval
Europe, 950-1350,
and Adam J. Kosto
(Aldershot, Eng., 2005), pp. 253-70;
Remensnyder,
see Klaus
On St. James and the Reconquest,
and Schreiner, Maria,
pp. 376-77.
Castile,"
Thirteenth-Century
F. Berkhofer III, Alan Cooper,
La
Conquistadora;
Die Entwicklung des politischen
auf der Iberischen Halbinsel:
"Politik und Heiligenverehrung
in Politik und Heiligenverehrung
imHochmittelalter,
ed. J?rgen Petersohn, Vortr?ge und
Jakobus,"
42 (Sigmaringen,
and Francisco M?rquez
1994), pp. 177-275;
Villanueva,
Vorsehungen
Santiago:
In general on saintly patronage of the Re
de un mito (Barcelona, 2004), pp. 183-222.
Trayectoria
Herbers,
inMedieval
and Crusade
conquest, see Joseph O'Callaghan,
Reconquest
Spain (Philadelphia, 2003),
190-99.
19
inThe Harkness
"The Harkness
1531 Huejotzingo
in the Library of Congress:
Collection
Codex,"
a Guide, ed. J. Benedict Warren
Manuscripts
1974), pp. 52,
Concerning Mexico,
(Washington, D.C.,
and 118. For discussion of this image, see Tom Cummins,
"The Madonna
and theHorse:
63,108,116,
pp.
inNew Spain and Peru," inNative Artists and Patrons in Colonial Latin America,
Becoming Colonial
7 (Tempe, Ariz., 1995), pp. 58-68.
ed. Emily Umberger
and Tom Cummins,
Phoebus
For further
see Remensnyder, La Conquistadora.
discussion ofMary and warfare in the colonial Spanish Americas,
20
as a crusade, see J.H. Elliott, Imperial Spain, 1469-1716,
rev. ed. (London, 2002),
On Lepanto
1571
p. 241. On the battle itself, see Hugh Bicheno, Crescent and Cross: The Battle of Lepanto,
(London, 2003).
21
a la sobrana magestad
de Nuestra
Gabriel de Talavera, Historia
Se?ora de Guadalupe
consagrada
de la Reyna de los Angeles, milagrosa
patrona de este santuario
(Toledo, 1597), fol. 156v.
22
Bicheno, Crescent and Cross, color plate 7.
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Christian
Captives
647
23
On
7 as a Marian
the establishment of October
feast day, see ibid., pp. 123-26;
and Marina
Warner, Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary
(New York, 1983), p. 308. On
in
the rosary, see Donna
Spivey Ellington, From Sacred Body to Angelic Soul: Understanding Mary
Late Medieval
and Early Modern
and Anne Winston
Europe
(Washington, D.C., 2001), pp. 214-16;
Allen, Stories of the Rose: The Making
of the Rosary in theMiddle Ages (University Park, Pa., 1997).
24
Memorias
del cautivo en La Goleta de T?nez
ed. Pascal de Gay
(El Alf?rez Pedro de Aguilar),
13 (Madrid, 1875), p. 129.
angos, Sociedad de Bibli?filos Espa?oles
25
Hence
battle banners were highly desirable war trophies for both Muslims
and Christians.
See,
for example, Cr?nica de Alfonso X seg?n el ms. II12777
de la Biblioteca
del Palacio Real (Madrid),
ed. Antonio
Carmara Ruiz (Murcia, 1998), 63, p. 183; Ibn 'Abd al-MunJim al-Himyar?, La p?ninsule
au
le Kit?b ar-rawd al-mi'tar, ed. and trans. ?variste L?vi-Proven?al,
moyen ?ge d'apr?s
Ib?rique
12 (Leiden, 1938), pp. 18-19 and 165; "Relaci?n
Publications
de la Fondation
de Goeje
circunstan
en la prisi?n del rey chico de Granada,
a?o de 1483,"
in Relaciones
ciada de lo acaecido
de algunos
sucesos de los ?ltimos tiempos del Reino de Granada
(Madrid, 1868), pp. 59-60; Rodrigo Amador
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del real
The Art
648
Christian Captives
to Domestic
P. Bensch, "From Prizes ofWar
and Aragon,
Viator 25 (1994),
1000-1300,"
on Christians,
see Carmen Argente del Castillo Oca?a,
"Cautiverio
63-93;
ymartirio de doncellas en
in IV estudios de Frontera: Historia,
La Frontera,"
tradiciones y leyendas en La Frontera, ed. Francisco
and Jos? Rodr?guez Molina
Toro Ceballos
(Ja?n, 2002), p. 37.
31
on the
in Crusader
Brodman, Ransoming
James William
Captives
Spain: The Order of Merced
Frontier (Philadelphia,
Christian-Islamic
1986), pp. 1-14; Abdelghaffer Ben Driss, "Los cautivos entre
y Castilla en el siglo XV seg?n las fuentes ?rabes," inActas del congreso "La frontera oriental
como sujeto hist?rico": Lorca-Vera,
22 a 24 de noviembre de 1994, ed. Pedro Segura Artero
Cult of Saint Dominic
(Alicante, 1997), pp. 301-10;
Anthony Lappin, The Medieval
of Silos, MHRA
Granada
nazar?
Texts
and Dissertations
Communities
Reconquest
inMedieval
and Crusade,
56
(Leeds, 2002),
pp. 337-41;
(New York,
Aragon
pp. 148-49.
Kathryn Miller,
in 2007),
forthcoming
Guardians
chapter
of Islam: Muslim
6; and O'Callaghan,
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Christian Captives
649
32
Gabriela
Kloster und Welt: Hagiographische
und historio
zwischen Kathedrale,
Signori, Maria
an eine hochmittelalterliche
(Sigmaringen, 1995), pp. 46,
graphische Ann?herungen
Wunderpredigt
see among others Walter
and 234-40.
On Alfonso as patron and author of the Cantigas,
222-23,
sobre la g?nesis de la colecci?n de las Cantigas de Santa Mar?a y
Mettmann,
"Algunas observaciones
sobre el problema del autor," in Studies on the Cantigas de Santa Maria: Art, Music,
and Poetry, ed.
Israel J. Katz, John E. Keller, et al. (Madison, Wis.,
1987),
33Les
au XHe
de Rocamadour
miracles de Notre-Dame
pp. 355-66.
si?cle 1.10,
Ram?rez
(Newark, Del.,
1987),
pp. 61-76.
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650
Christian Captives
freedom
with asmanyVirginsas he could thinkof.39By thelatefifteenth
century,
however,one SpanishVirginhadwon a reputationin thisrealmthatfaroutshone
thatof her sisters:theVirginofGuadalupe.40
Visitors toher shrinetuckedintotheruggedhillsofExtremaduracould hardly
helpbut be struckby thehugequantityof chainsand shacklesthatgratefulformer
captiveshad leftthereas ex-voto offerings."We saw innumerableiron fetters,
which captives freedfromtheSaracens throughthe intercession
of theblessed
Virginbroughthere,"wrote theGerman doctorHieronymusMunzer,who came
toGuadalupe in 1495.41By 1515 pilgrimshad broughtsomany chains thatthe
friars
who tendedtheshrinedecided tomelt down theaccumulated
Jeronymite
ironware-it yieldedenoughmetal that theywere able to forgea choir grille.42
Severalfifteenthand sixteenth-century
compilationsofGuadalupe's miraclespro
vided thenarrativedetails to explain theseofferings.In taleaftertale,theVirgin
helpsChristiansescape their
Muslim captors,not only inGranada, but also on
themore distantshoresofNorth Africa.43
Cervantes himselfmust have seen theheaps of rustingirons laid before the
VirginofGuadalupe, or at leastheard reportsof them:in one of hisworks, he
includedan extendeddescriptionof the thicketof chains adorningGuadalupe's
shrine.44
Yet as Cervantes'El tratode Argel and other textsreveal, in the late
sixteenthcenturyotherVirgins,too, stillhad thepower todeliverChristiansfrom
NorthAfricanprisons. InCervantes'play,a captiveprays to theVirginofMont
serratforhelp inescapinghisMuslim masters.45
The Virgin,however,
was not theonlywonder-workertowhom Christiansheld
incaptivity
mightappeal.Until at least thefourteenth
century,
othersaintsposed
a seriouschallengetoMary's talentsin thisdomain. In theeleventhand twelfth
centuriestheFrench saintsLeonard ofNoblat and Foy of Conques were much
beloved fortheirabilityto freecaptives.46
was St.
So, too, by thetwelfth
century
39
Pero
de Ayala, Rimado
and 870-86,
del Palacio
ed. Germ?n
800-809,
757, 762-70,
L?pez
Orduna
and 293-96.
(Madrid, 1987), pp. 264, 265-67,
272-74,
40
etmiracles ? Guadalupe
au XVIe
si?cle (Madrid, 2001), pp. 151
Fran?oise Cr?moux, P?lerinages
como redentora de cautivos,"
"La Virgen de Guadalupe
inLa religiosidad
53; Pilar Gonz?lez Modino,
246r-v,
293v-294v,
247v-248v,
301r-v,
260r-v,
262v-263r,
265v-266v,
268r-270v,
282r-283v,
286r-v,
and 471r-v.
For analysis see
309r-v,
315v-316v,
320v-321v,
and Gonz?lez Modino,
"La Virgen de Guadalupe
137, and 149-51;
302v,
Cr?moux, P?lerinages,
pp. 133,
como redentora."
44
Cervantes, Persiles y Sigisimunda
3.5, in Obras
completas, pp. 769-70.
45
Cervantes, El trato de Argel, lines 1980-85,
p. 845.
46
Liber miraculorum
S?nete Fidis 1.31-33;
ed. Luca Robertini,
2.6; 3.4, 5, 15, 19; and 4.4-9,
Biblioteca
di "Medioevo
latino" 10 (Spoleto, 1994), pp. 136-43,
166-68,
187-90,
203-5,
208-9,
to Social Violence
and 300-303;
Steven Sargent, "Religious Responses
in
284-87,
227-39,
277-80,
Eleventh-Century
Aquitaine,"
Historical
Reflections/Reflexions
historiques
12 (1985),
219-40.
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Christian Captives
651
James,
whose magnificentshrineatCompostela attractedpilgrimsfromall across
Europe.47But even Spain's apostle had to bow his head beforeanothersaintly
liberator:
Castilianmonasteryfamed
Dominic of Silos, veneratedat thenorthern
Dominic's commandover thepow
todayforitsexquisiteRomanesque sculpture.
well into the
ers of liberationbegan in the late eleventhcenturyand stretched
thirteenth
century,
as thepilesof shatteredchainsaccumulatingat Silos attested.48
Between 1232 and 1287 alone, thissaint freed145 people, thevastmajorityof
Muslim captors.49
The detailedstoriesof enslavement
themChristiansfleeing
and
escape that thesemen and women told to eager recordkeepersat Silos fillthe
lengthy
book ofDominic's miraclescompiled in thelatethirteenth
centuryby the
monk PeroMarin.50
Yet even thistextso intenton celebrating
Dominic as liberatorprovidedproof
of theVirgin's growingreputationin thisarena of saintlyactivity.In somewhat
more thanhalf themiracles inPeroMarin's collection,captivesdesperateforhelp
pray not toDominic alone but insteadto "God, St.Mary, and St.Dominic."'51
Perhaps thisappealwas merelya formulaicexpressioninserted
by thenote takers
at Silos-but itis justas likelyto reflectthehopes and expectationsof thecaptives
The language inone storyhas such simpledirectnessthat it leaves
themselves.52
littledoubt thatthecaptive inquestion,a man namedGoncalo de Sotavellanos,
actuallyprayed justas earnestlyto theVirgin as he did toDominic.s3Suffering
fromthehumiliationsimposedon him by hisMuslim owners,Goncalo "turned
to St.Mary and to St.Dominic," beggingfortheir"mercy"(nomention ismade
ofGod). Goncalo evenpromisedto "believemore" inMary andDominic ifthey
freedhim,a bitof pious bargainingtowhich theVirgin seemstohave responded
Early thenextmorning,Goncalo had a "vision" of "men investments
pray
first.
ingand amidstthema verytallwoman." The woman gaveGoncalo thereassuring
amessage reinforced
news thathewould escape bynightfall,
laterbyan apparition
ofDominic himself.
UnlikeDominic, however,thewoman of thevision isnever
identified
by name.Butwho else could she have been but theVirgin,answering
Goncalo's prayersevenbeforeDominic did?
in an escape thatthemonk of Siloswho shaped the
The Virgin's intervention
tale did his best to attributetoDominic foretoldthe future.By the fourteenth
Dominic's popularityas a saintlyliberator
witheredand died away,while
century,
The Virgin's triumphin thisrealmeven receivedinstitutional
Mary's flourished.
expressionwhen she displaced another local saint to become thepatron of the
of captives.
Spanish religiousorderdedicated to theredemption
47
Liber
Santos Noia
48
Gonzalo
Dutton,
95 and 275-390.
49
Cult, p. 361.
Lappin, Medieval
50
Anton (Silos, 1988).
de Pero Marin: Edici?n
Los "miraculos roman?ados"
cr?tica, ed. Karl-Heinz
51
in the Miraculos
{Medieval Cult, p. 350) notes that this formula appears consistently
Lappin
from p. 90 onward; the formula is also used on pp. 51, 78, and 82-87.
roman?ados
52
(Medieval Cult, p. 350) argues for the latter possibility.
Lappin
53
Miraculos
pp. 80-81.
roman?ados,
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Christian
Captives
652
troduction
of Mary
institutional
as the order's
patron,
Passion
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Christian Captives
653
"Advocaciones
Tarraconensia:
de la Virgen
Revista
ed. Atanasio
(1948),
sacra
Sinu?s Ruiz, Analecta
Atkinson, The Oldest
28; Clarissa
Vocation:
fol. 247v.
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654
Captives
Christian
pp.
127-28.
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655
Christian
Captives
de Santa Mar?a,
Cr?nica
de Juan II de Castilla,
Carriazo
(Madrid,
and
Spain, Medieval
190-91.
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Iberian Pen
656
Christian
Captives
78
Ibid., p. 282.
79
For themedieval
i
El Sarraihs
period: Bensch, "From Prizes ofWar"; Maria Teresa Ferrer Mallol,
en el segle XIV:
i discriminado
(Barcelona,
1987),
Segregado
Catalono-Aragonesa
and 109;
Cult, pp. 293-96; Miraculos
pp. 74-81;
pp. 65-67,
95-96,
roman?ados,
Lappin, Medieval
and Francisco de As?s Veas Arteseros and Juan Francisco Jim?nez Alc?zar,
"Notas sobre el rescate de
de
la Corona
en la frontera de Granada,"
Actas,
Bennassar
period: Bartolom?
early modern
extraordinaire
litt?raires et iconographiques
(Paris, 1984),
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Christian Captives
657
membership
their
forcomfortin theiroppressiveprisons,captiveswere affirming
in the church,theirvery identitiesas Christians.The Virgin's capacity to free
power of faith
Christiansfromcaptivityand servituderepresentedthe liberating
itself.
This thenis the longand richhistorythatliesbehindCervantes' invocationof
theVirgin inEl tratodeArgel.When Cervantescame towriteLos banos deArgel
and thechaptersofDon Quijote called the "Captive'sTale," he added further
nuance to his portraitof theVirgin's potent role in theconflictualdialogue be
tween
Muslims andChristians.As hisMuslim maidensZahara andZoraida show,
vehicle forChristians'
ifMary as mother and Ecclesia could be the triumphant
liberationfromMuslim captors, she could also extend her powers to people
Muslims to fleetheprison
trappedinspiritualdungeons:theVirginmightprompt
of Islamand embraceChristianity.
MUSLIM MAIDENS
and 251-53
and 171-73
and 2:168-69,
218-23,
192, and 205, 1:128-32
and 2:27-30
and 278-81
268-70,
117-22,
4, 25, 85, 89, and 107, 1:63-66,
in the Cantigas
"Anti-Semitism
For discussion: Vikki Hatton and Angus MacKay,
167,
conversions);
(Jewish conversions).
Bulletin
de Santa Mar?a,"
Garcia
Studies 60 (1983), 189-99,
esp. p. 195; and Mercedes
of Hispanic
Revista de estudios ?rabes
de Alfonso X el Sabio," Al-Qantara:
Arenal, "Los moros en las Cantigas
6 (1985), 133-51,
esp. pp. 145-47.
89
Dream of
in theWest: The Thirteenth-Century
Confrontation
Robert I. Burns, "Christian-Islamic
Review 76 (1971), 1386-1434.
American Historical
Conversion,"
90
toward theMuslims
(Princeton,
European Approaches
Benjamin Z. Kedar, Crusade and Mission:
N.J.,
1984).
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Christian Captives
658
"91 In late-medieval
versiondidnotdisappearalongwith the"dreamofconversion.
Spain,miracle storiessimilarto thoseof theCantigaswere repeatedand new,even
more ambitiousones added to them.The belief inMary's powers to persuade
continuedintoCervantes'day,as thesixteenth
Muslims toconverttoChristianity
A play
centurymiracle collections fromGuadalupe eloquentlydemonstrate.92
centurybyCervantes' fellow
composed in the late sixteenthor earlyseventeenth
association
Lope deVega also providesevidenceof thepersistent
literaryluminary
betweentheVirginand theconversionofMuslims. Lope's plot featuresa kingof
Morocco promptedto seekbaptismby a suddenaccess ofMarian devotion.93
The authorsof thesestoriesoftennarrateconversionusing thesame evocative
imageryof captivityand liberationthatwas so associatedwith otherMarian
miracles.Here, though,this language ismetaphoric, an expressionof spiritual
ratherthanphysicalconditions.Such is thecase inan enigmaticletternow in the
Barcelona archives,dated 1325 and addressed to Pope JohnXXII.94 Identifying
theactual authorof thisletterisnot easy,but itpurportsto be from"Bobacre,"
the
Muslim "lordof thecityofAffrica"(probablytheTunisianportofMahdia).95
womanwho identified
Bobacre relateshow one nighthe had a visionof a beautiful
Mary
herselfas theVirgin.UrgingBobacre to rejectIslam infavorofChristianity,
"commanded" thathe "come out of diabolical captivity(a diabolica capcione)"
and convertto the "true catholic faith."This descriptionof Islam as a prison
whose door theVirgin imperiously
flingsopen isarresting.It recallstheplay be
tweenthephysicaland thespiritualin theCantigas de SantaMaria, whose poets
drew explicitparallelsbetween
Mary's abilitytohelp prisonersescape fromtheir
fetters
and herpowersasmediatrixto releaseChristiansfromtheequallyweighty
iflessmaterial-bonds of sin.96
Muslims fromthespiritualsnareof unbelief,shecould
When theVirgin freed
in factalso freethemfromphysicalformsof enclosure,as a poem fromtheCan
The protagonistof thiscantiga is aMuslim man fromAlmeria
tigas suggests.97
who
91
"Dream of conversion"
92
Cr?moux,
P?lerinages,
is Burns's
Enslaved
formulation
as many Muslim
captives were,
(see n. 89 above).
Historia
de Nuestra
Se?ora de Guadalupe,
fols.
and 315v-316v.
247v-248v,
231r-233r,
289r-v, 301v-302r,
234v-235r,
273v-274r,
93
acts 2
Lope de Vega, La tragedia del rey Don Sebasti?n y bautismo del pr?ncipe de Marruecos,
8:452
ed. Manual
and 3, in Lope de Vega, Comedias,
Arroyo Stephens, 15 vols. (Madrid, 1993-98),
517.
94
Barcelona, Arxiu de la Corona
d'Arag?, C Jaume II Cartas extra series, caixa 136, no. 517. The
as "Bobaire")
text has been edited with some errors of transcription (including reading "Bobacre"
by
pp.
206-8;
Talavera,
in Acta Aragonensia:
zur deutschen,
italienischen, franz?sischen,
Quellen
spanischen,
aus der diplomatischen
3
und Kulturgeschichte
Korrespondez
Jaymes II. (1291-1327),
2:757-58.
vols. (Berlin, 1908-22),
95
see Charles-Emmanuel
ca
On the identification of "Affrica" as Mahdia,
Dufourcq,
L'Espagne
aux XHIe
et XlVe
si?cles: De
la bataille de Las Navas
de Tolosa
talane et le Maghrib
(1212) ?
Heinrich
Finke
zur Kirchen-
l'av?nement
paniques
Abou-l-Hasan
thorship,
96
Alfonso
3:76.
97
du sultan m?rinide
37
X, Cantigas
de Santa Mar?a
On
176, 227,
245,
and 291,
2:186-87,
297-99,
?tudes his
and
338-42
Ibid. 192,2:218-23.
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its au
and
Christian
Captives
659
Historia
de Nuestra
Se?ora
he the last?this
de Guadalupe,
in English
motif appears
Britain, Empire, and
fols. 247v-248v
Princess
"Moslem
Vitalis,
and 315v-316v.
inOrdericus
Vitalis
Princess."
Ecclesiastical
History
10.24,
5:376-78.
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660
Christian
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Ismerie moves
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661
centuryTangiers.107
Fatima'swealthy fatherhad decided tomarry her off to a
with theChristiancaptivesheld
powerfulfellow
Muslim. But shehad been talking
inher father'sprison,and her heartwas now seton convertingtoChristianity.
Fatima entrustedher fragilehopes of beingbaptized to two sourcesof refugethat
thecaptiveshad told her about: theVirgin ofGuadalupe and thecross.Upon
learningthather fatherhad quite otherplans forher,shewas seizedby despair.
Preparingto leap to her death froma high tower,she suddenlysaw a burstof
light"in thedirectionof the landof theCatholics." Resplendentat itsheartwas
theVirgin ofGuadalupe. Comfortedby thisvision,Fatima descended fromthe
tower,releasedthecaptivesfromtheirfetters,
andmade thearduous journey
with
themtoSpain.The VirginofGuadalupe protectedthemthewhole way. Soon after
arrivinginSpain, Fatimawas baptized and thenhurriedto thanktheVirginby
with hercompanionstoGuadalupe. The former
making a pilgrimage
captivesleft
theshrineafterofferingtheirchains toMary, but theconverted
Muslim woman
stayedatGuadalupe fortherestof her lifeas theVirgin's servant.So well in fact
did theconvertcare forMary that the townspeoplenicknamedher "the good
Christian"-la buena Christiana.
A late-sixteenth-century
historianofGuadalupe, Gabriel de Talavera, included
thisstoryinhisproud accountof hismonasteryand itsglories.108
Talaverawrote
in1597. But la buena Christianafirstappears in a handfulof laconicdocuments
dating froma fullhundredyearsearlier-exactly theera inwhich themiracle is
set.Reticentas thesetextsare, theynonethelesssuggestthatthiswoman was not
thecreatureof pure hagiographicfable thatNotre-Dame de Liesse's Ismerieso
clearlywas. These documentsreveal thata woman called la buena Christiana
actually livedat Guadalupe in the late fifteenth
century.
This woman was asso
ciatedwith themonasteryinsomeway, foran accountbook fromthe1470s notes
thatshewas grantedfood fromitskitchenfortherestof her life.109
Shewas well
offenough to own "houses" and a good enoughChristianthatshe loaned them
to the inquisitorsas an audiencehallwhen theycame toGuadalupe in 1485.110
At herdeath, she leftthesehouses to themonastery-in Cervantes'day they
were
stillcalled las casas de la buena Christiana."'1
The monastic community
evidently
cherishedthiswoman's memory,fortheyhoused her remainsin a tomb located
in theirchurch.By the latesixteenthcentury,thistombsporteda marble plaque
thatcould have been read by any literatepilgrimsuchas Cervantes.Inscribedon
itwas thestoryof la buenaChristiana'smiraculousMarian conversion."12
Justwho was thiswoman buried in state inGuadalupe's church?It ishard to
know.But it is probable thatshewas notwho themarble plaque adorningher
tomb said shewas: thedaughterof a wealthy and nobleMuslim of Tangiers
107
Se?ora de Guadalupe,
de Nuestra
fols. 231r-233r.
Talavera, Historia
108
Ibid., fols. 231r-233r.
109
Germ?n Rubio, Historia
de Nuestra
Se?ora de Guadalupe
1926), p. 219.
(Barcelona,
110
de Ecija, Libro de la invenci?n de esta Santa Imagen de Guadalupe
y de la erecci?n y
Diego
y de algunas cosas particulares y vidas de algunos religiosos de ?l 4.67,
fundaci?n de este monasterio
ed. Angel Barrado Manzano
(C?ceres, 1953), p. 345.
111
Se?ora de Guadalupe,
fol. 233r.
de Nuestra
Talavera, Historia
112
Ibid., fol. 233r.
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662
Christian Captives
113
M.
in a recent collection
even mentions
significant evidence
en Islam m?diterran?en,
"Conversioni
di musulmani
al cristianesimo,"
ed. Bartolom?
in Chr?tiens
colloque
du CESR
(1994),
Bennassar
et musulmans
? la Renaissance:
Actes
du
3
Sauzet, Le Savoir de Mantice
(Paris, 1998), p. 440. In any case, given her young age (she is described as a figliuola and an infante),
it is extremely unlikely that she herself made
the decision to convert.
114
de Cervantes,
As?n, "La hija de Agi Morato"
(above, n. 14), p. 248; and the texts cited inMiguel
37e
and Robert
n. 5; and in
10 vols. (Madrid, 1947-49),
de laMancha,
3:242-43,
ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote
in
Cervantes, Los ba?os de Argel, p. 23. For the social and religious situation of female renegades
e historia general
North Africa, see the contemporaneous
description of Diego de Haedo,
Topograf?a
El
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663
miques,
ed. Garc?a-Arenal,
pp. 193-205.
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664
Christian
Captives
on Abu Zayd,"
I. Burns, "Almohad
Prince and Mudejar
Convert: New Documentation
Iberia: Essays on theHistory and Literature ofMedieval
J.Kagay and
Spain, ed. Donald
Joseph T. Snow (New York, 1997), pp. 171-88.
122
Non-Christian
rulers on the northeastern fringes of
catalane, pp. 488-93.
L'Espagne
Dufourcq,
inMedieval
also used the promise of baptism as a political bargaining tool; see Rasa Mazeika,
"Bar
in Varieties of Religious
for Conversion,
1250-1358,"
gaining for Baptism: Lithuanian Negotiations
in theMiddle Ages, ed. James Muldoon
Conversion
(Gainesville, Fla., 1997), pp. 131-45.
123
Adam Knobler,
and Patchwork Pedigrees: The Christianization
"Pseudo-Conversions
ofMuslim
Christendom
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665
rationsin the
Maghreb would be servedby thesubmissionofMahdia and itslord
to Christianity.127
Yet whetherAbu Bakr's conversionwas a Christian literary
or a genuineexperience,thelettersrenderitan act
fabrication,
hisown invention,
as pregnant
with politicalconsequencesas itwas with religious
meaning.And on
both stages,
Mary plays a leadingrole.She impelsAbu Bakr's changeof spiritual
affiliation
and all thetriumphsforChristianityit triggers.
IfChristianscould readpoliticalvictoryintotheconversions-real, suggested,
or legendary-ofhigh-ranking
Muslim men,what did they
make of thelegendary
conversionsofMuslim maidens such as Guadalupe's la buena Christiana and
Cervantes'Zoraida and Zahara? Afterall, even in legendthesewomen could not
exercise theovertpolitical power theirmale counterpartsdid. They could not
bringarmiesand citiesover toChristendom.Yet ifanything,inChristianlegend,
the
Marian conversionsofMuslim women had evendeeper layersofpoliticaland
culturalsignificancethandid theconversionofMuslim men. For implicitin the
spiritualconquest enactedby conversionis theappropriationof theconvertby
his or hernew religion-and it isone thingto appropriatethemen belongingto
theenemycamp and entirely
anotherto appropriatethewomen.
The domination,whether real or imagined,of theenemy'swomen oftenex
won throughtheclash of armscan.
presses triumphas eloquentlyas anyvictory
As a narrativetrope,itdraws itspower inpart fromtheequivalenceso often
made
betweenthefemalebody and a territorial
Christiansof late
polityor a people.128
medieval and early-modern
Spain were well aware of this. In theballads and
romancesthatenjoyedsuchpopularity,they
would have heardChristianknights
women equallyreadyforthe
compareMuslim citiesripeforconquest tobeautiful
whose sexual unionwith Chris
pluckingand learned,too,ofMuslim princesses
tianheroes symbolizedthedefeatofMuslim territory.129
Perhaps thisabilityof
thefeminineto embodythecollectivecoloredhowChristiansunderstoodlegends
Muslim maidens, suchas Zoraida and la buenaChristiana.Ifso,
about converted
thesestoriestoldofmore than individualsembracinga new religion-theynar
ratedthesubmissionofMuslims toChristiansand of Islam toChristianity.
Whether theChristianvictoryembodiedby thesefemaleconverts
was collective
or individual,all the talesendow itwith a keen edge thatcould not have been
producedby thereligiousdefectionof aman. In each of thesestories,the
Muslim
maiden's conversioninvolvesher resoundingrejectionof theMuslim man whose
intimatepropertyshe is. Ismerie,la buena Christiana,Zahara, and Zoraida all
defytheirfathers'authorityinoneway or another.Each helpsChristiancaptives
escapeher father'sprisonand thenherselffleesbeyondhiscontrol.Their rejection
of his religion.
of thefatherand all he standsforculminatesin theirrenunciation
127
On these Aragonese
ambitions see ibid.
128
in Behind the Lines:
R. Higonnet
"The Double Helix,"
and Patrice L.-R. Higonnet,
Margaret
et
al.
Gender and the Two World Wars, ed. Margaret
(New
Haven,
Conn., 1987),
Randolph Higonnet
pp. 37-38.
129
Pedro Correa Rodr?guez, Los romances frontizeros, 2 vols. (Granada,
1999), 1:297 and 301-2.
see Louise Mirrer, Women, Jews, and Muslims
in the Texts ofReconquest
For discussion,
Castile (Ann
en los romances frontize
"La ciudad-mujer
1996), pp. 17-30; Juan Victorio Mart?nez,
15 (1985), 553-60;
and Mar?a
Soledad Carrasco Urgoiti, El
de estudios medievales
en la literatura (del siglo XV al XX)
de Granada
(Madrid, 1956; repr. 1989), p. 32.
Arbor, Mich.,
ros," Anuario
Moro
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Christian
Captives
"beautiful Mary,"
as the Virgin
is almost
"Comment
Ihymage fut trouuee"
133
Ibid., pp. 53-54.
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668
Christian Captives
such as Cer
and Christians.But theheavy emphasis thatChristian storytellers
vantesplaced on thenew name of thesefabledconvertssuggestsotherwise.For a
act, at leastas these
Muslim woman to take thename ofMary was a significant
legendsconstrueit. In acceptingtheVirgin's name as theirown, theselegendary
convertsexpress theirlikenessto thesaintlypatron of theirconversion.As they
a message stronglyreinforced
by
takeonMary's name, theytakeon her identity,
who does not taketheVirgin's
otherelementsof thesestories.Even theone convert
name-Guadalupe's la buena Christiana-is nonethelessjustasMarian a figure
of
as her sisters.Like them,la buena Christianaplays a role stronglyreminiscent
Mary's own: she is a mercifulvirginwho helpsprisonersescape.
The parallelsbetweenconvertandMary are perhapsmost pronounced in the
usesMarian
"Captive's Tale." As some criticshave noted,Cervantes skillfully
Muslim maiden
imagerytodraw hisportraitofZoraida. He describeshisvirginal
Surely,
as "Our Lady ofLiberty"and thefilethatcuts throughcaptives'chains.145
Zoraida's name-the Arabicword forstar-as an allu
too,Cervantes intended
as thestellamaris, the "starof thesea."'146
sion to theVirgin's identity
The cap
tives'frequentreferencestoZoraida as "our star" are thenwordplays inmore
Marian languagedoes not appear in theother
ways thanone.147Such explicitly
Muslim maidens. Yet the structuralsimilarity
between these
talesof converted
women and theVirgin isunmistakable.Chaste liberatorsoffering
hope toChris
ofMary herself.
tiancaptives,theMuslim maidens become somany reflections
of
Muslim
women
was
Thismirroring theVirginby
notmerelya literary
effect
with
employed to heightentheMarian natureof thesestories.Itwas freighted
meaning, as is renderedbeautifully
explicitina poem fromtheCantigas de Santa
When the
Maria thatdescribesCastilian knightsbesieginga Muslim castle.148
Christiansset fireto thecastle's tower,theMuslims who had retreatedinsiderun
out onto thebattlementsto escape thesmokeand flames.All die thereexceptfor
a woman who sitson theedge of thetowerclutchingher son inher arms.When
theChristianattackerssee her, theydraw in theirbreathswith wonder.As the
poem says: "This image seemed to themlike theway that theVirginMary is
The artistwho portrayedthescene
depictedholdingand embracingher Son. "149
did his best to bringout the likenessof theMuslim and child to theimageof the
Virgin and Child. This mother and her child are perched in thebattlementsin
Madonna andChild
exactlythesameway thatinan earliercantigaa statueof the
of a Christianfrontier
castleunderattackbyMus
nestlesbetweenthebattlements
lims. 150
145
in Algiers, p. 215.
Cervantes, Don Quijote
1.4.41, 1:495; Garc?s, Cervantes
146
Gerli, Refiguring Authority, pp. 46, 50, and 52.
147
in Algiers, pp. 214-15.
Garc?s, Cervantes
148
For the historical circumstances
Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a
described
205, 2:251-53.
in this poem, see Joseph F. O'Callaghan,
A Poetic Biog
Alfonso X and the Cantigas de Santa Maria:
and Cultures, 400-1453,16
(Leiden, 1998),
Peoples, Economies
raphy, The Medieval Mediterranean:
pp. 89-90.
149
Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a
205, 2:253.
150
For theMuslim
MS Banco Rari 20, fol. 6r. For the
and child, see Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale,
statue of Mary
de El Escorial MS
and Jesus in the battlements of the Christian castle, see Biblioteca
TI.
1, fol. 247r.
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669
The illuminations
underlinetheMarian qualityof thisconvertevenmore ex
plicitlythando thewords of thepoem.15'In one frame,theChristianslead the
pair,stillin theMarian pose ofmotherwith child,beforetheverykindof image
createdwith theirbodies: a statueofMary with Christ in
theyhad unwittingly
with one hand at thestatueandwith theotherto
her arms.A Christiangestures
the
Muslim mother,explainingthemiracle toherand indicatingto theviewerthe
continuumbetween the twomaternal figures.In thefinalframe,under the im
Marian majestas, the
passivegaze of the
Muslims, stillinmother-and-child
mode,
shiverin thebaptismalfont.
In thisstoryof religiouscolonization,the likenessbetween thewoman's ma
ternalbodyandMary's both savesand betraysher.Representedas a living
Marian
A similardynamic
icon, thisMuslim naturallyis appropriatedforChristianity.
operatesinthetalesaboutmaidenlyMuslim convertssuchasZahara andZoraida.
EmbodyingtheVirgin in attributesand oftenname, they,too, become somany
flesh-and-blood
imagesof her.The storiesabout theseconvertsthustakea stance
on a specificissueoverwhichMuslim and Christianpolemicistshad clashed for
centuries:thevalidityof representational
imagesas devotionalobjects.Christian
of course,heldwidely varyingopinionson thissubject.Vi
thinkersthemselves,
olent controversy
over imagevenerationroiledeighth-century
while
Byzantium,
inmedievalwesternEurope, respectedtheologiansand condemnedhereticsalike
about statuesand paintingsof sacredfigures.
could articulatedistinctreservations
In thesixteenthcentury,
adherentsof Protestantreformlauncheddestructiveat
tackson images,promptingtheCatholic authoritiesgatheredat theCouncil of
Trent to articulatea measured defenseof theroleof art inworship.
Despite the lackof unityofChristianopinion, thevenerationof imagescould
featureinMuslim-Christianpolemicswith Christianapologistsfervently
defend
ing thepracticeagainstMuslim accusationsof superstitiousidolatry.152
Graphic
proofof theabilityof thehuman formto representsacred figures,thestoriesof
Muslim maidens asmirrorsofMary participatein theseChristianapologeticson
writtenby apologistssuchas a Spanishpriest
behalfof images.The formaltracts
held captive in early-seventeenth-century
Tunismade theirpoints in defenseof
151
MS Banco Rari 20, fol. 6r.
Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale,
152For an
see
As?n
de C?rdoba
Palacios, Abenh?zam
example
Miguel
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Christian
Captives
imagesquite explicitly,
while thesetalesaboutMuslim femaleconvertsare nec
Yet atmoments two of thesestoriesare almost as direct
essarilymore subtle.153
as theapologists: theynot onlydepictMuslims who become iconsofMary, but
women venerating
Marian images.Ismerierespectfully
kneels
theyalso show these
before thewondrous imageof Our Lady of Liesse;when Zoraida firstreaches
Spain, she eagerlylearnshow tohonor imagesof theVirgin.154
As livingimagesofMary, these
Muslim maidens thussymbolizeone of themany
Yet iftheyservedas tri
polemicaldividinglinesbetweenIslam and Christianity.
umphantstatementsof religiousdifference,theirabilityto representtheVirgin
also demarcateda space inwhich thedistinctionbetweenMuslim and Christian
mightdissolve.Embodyinga figureat theheartofChristianity,
thesewomen sug
gest thatthedistinctionbetween
Muslims andChristianswas not indelibly
written
on thebody. Instead,theirstoriesexpressa nonracializednotionof theboundary
betweenMuslims and Christians,a sense of common humanitylinkingthem.
between thesewomen and theVirgin servesas a powerful,if
Indeed,the identity
tacit,admissionthatIslamand Christianitysharedsomething:
Mary herself.155
As many Christians inmedieval and early-modernIberiawere well aware, the
Qur'an enshrines
Maryam, as she is called in Islamic tradition,as thevirginal
mother of theprophet ISa, thewoman whom God has "chosen above all other
women" (sura3; see also suras19, 21, and 66). The authorsof learnedcommen
taryon theQur'an elaboratedon thequalitiesthatmadeMaryam so special,while
Muslim poets sangof theirlove forher.156
Maryam figured,too, in thedevotional
livesofMuslims, who couldmake pilgrimagesto see theplaces shehad stopped
duringtheflighttoEgypt-the date treethatleanedover to allow theexhausted
mother to collect itsfruits,thespringfrom
which shehad drunkand inwhich she
had washed her child's diapers.157
To be sure,Maryam asMuslims knew herwas not exactly identicaltoMary
as shewas understoodbyChristians.
Muslims vehemently
denied that
Mary was
themother of God and were no less acceptingof thenotion of her perpetual
These pointsof disagreementgave ChristiansandMuslims a powerful
virginity.
153
"The Captive
"Chosen
of All
1950); Jane D?mmen McAuliffe,
7 (1981),
IslamoChristiana
19-28;
Jane I. Smith
in Islamic Tradition
and Commentary,"
The Muslim World
and Yvonne
pp. 89-113
(Paris, 2002),
Bereich des Islam, 2 vols.
evidence of medieval Muslim
and 203-26;
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671
Le Mus?on
Holy
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Christian Captives
The identification
Zoraida and
on how one translatesthisoxymoronicphrase.163
Zahara feelwithMary and theirdeep devotiontoher inpart allow theirreligious
indeterminacy.
possibilityof theblur
Yet in theend,Cervantespulls back fromtheunsettling
ringof religiousboundaries betweenMuslim and Christian offeredbyMary/
Maryam. At crucialmoments in the action, both Zahara and Zoraida loudly
Justwhat makes themChristianand not
proclaim themselvesto be Christian.164
Marian
Muslim? Afterall,Cervantesnevershowseitherbeingbaptized. It is their
as Christians.
devotion thatallows thesewomen to definethemselves
Ifthevenerationof theVirginstandsforconversion,in theprocessMary herself
isclaimed forChristianityand her rolewithin Islamdenied.Although inanother
Mary's place in Islam,he does not
of his playsCervantesexplicitlyacknowledges
do so inhis storiesabout Zahara and Zoraida.165True,Zahara and Zoraida al
ways callMary "LelaMarien," thusgiving thesaint theyso love thehonorific
(lalla) she actually enjoyed amongMuslims.166But thismodest recognitionof
his storiestoeffectively
Maryam isovershadowedby theway Cervantesstructures
erase theMuslim Mary. He isnot alone in this-the talesfrom
Guadalupe about
Notre-Dame de Liesse about Ismeriedo thesame.
la buena Christianaand from
mentionMary. The
In thesestories,noMuslims other than the femaleconverts
Muslim maidens themselves
do not seemtoknow aboutMary because shebelongs
whetherfrom
to Islamictradition.Instead,each learnsabout her fromChristians,
male Christiancaptivesas in thecase of Ismerieand la buena Cbristianaor from
femaleChristianslavesas in thecase ofZahara and Zoraida.
Thus while Cervantes flirted
with thepossibilitiescreatedby theVirgin as a
he ultimately
figurestraddlingtheboundaries between Islam and Christianity,
in
was
This
final
her
for
the
the
series
of triumphs
claimed
Christianity.
perhaps
Muslim maid
overMuslims articulatedthroughhis storiesofChristiancaptives,
ens,andMary. And itsignaledan importantshiftin theway thattheVirgincould
be used as thedividinglinebetweenIslam and ChristianityinSpain. To be sure,
duringthelongcenturiesdown to 1501/2 inCastile and 1525/26 inAragon,when
Muslims livedin theseChristiankingdomswith a recognizedstatusasMudejars,
betweenMary andMaryam as a way to dis
Christianscould use thedifferences
Muslims. But justas theydid not denyMuslims a right
tinguishthemselvesfrom
Muslims could respect
to liveamongChristians,theydid not deny that
Maryam.
miracle storiesinwhichMus
Medieval SpanishChristianscould even recount
limsbenefitedfromtheVirgin'swondrous powers. In thesetales,
Muslims earned
Mary's favorby actingexactly likeChristians-praying to her in a church,ven
Pow
eratingher statue,and carryingbattlebannersadornedwith her image.167
163
Cervantes, Los ba?os de Argel, line 756, p. 109.
164
Ibid., line 419, p. 134; Cervantes, Don Quijote
1.4.41, 1:495.
165
La gran sultana do?a Catalina
in Obras
de Oviedo,
lines 1738-52,
Cervantes,
completas,
p. 1018.
166
pp. 322-23.
As?n, "La hija de Agi Morato,"
167
Muslims
329, 3:162-65
venerating the Virgin in a church: Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a
in a church;
(see also the illumination to no. 165, which depicts a sultan making an offering toMary
de El Escorial MS T.I.l,
fol. 222r). Muslims
Biblioteca
venerating a statue of the Virgin: Alfonso X,
Cantigas
de Santa Mar?a
183, 2:201-2;
also
version
of Benedict
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of Peter
Captives
Christian
673
erful,ifveiled,messagesof religiouscolonizationthuslurkinthesestoriestailoring
Muslim venerationofMaryam to thepatternofChristiandevotionto theVirgin.
Nonetheless, theMuslims of thesetalesdo not have to take theultimatestepof
Mar
Mary without renouncingtheirown religion.
conversion.They can venerate
maidens.
Cervantes'
unlike
into
Christians,
them
not
make
iandevotiondoes
medieval
fromtheone inwhich these
Cervanteswrote ina contextverydifferent
in
Spain
affiliations
prevailed
of religious
storiesemerged.A new configuration
and
Islam
between
and it affectedtheways thatMary servedas a boundary
therewere no moreMudejars inSpain
During Cervantes' lifetime,
Christianity.
convertedtoChristianityand theirdescen
but onlyMoriscos: Muslims forcibly
of thereligionthathad been imposed
practitioners
dants.Not alwaysenthusiastic
by theSpanish Inqui
on them,thesepeoplewere oftensubject to interrogation
While the inquisitorsstruggledtohold back thecurrentof crypto-Islam
sition.168
thattheybelievedran strongin theMoriscos, theirtribunalsalsoworked to root
out yetotherChristianswhose orthodoxywas suspect:men andwomen swept
such as Erasmus and Luther.169
up in thereligiousideasproposedby reformers
of confessionalizationthatconsumedsixteenth-century
Ifduringthefirestorm
Europe, theVirgin emergedas an iconofCatholicism,with adherentsto theold
attacks,shehad
versionofChristianitychampioningher cult against reformers'
just as largea part to play in the fightagainst thepresumed threatof crypto
Tellingly,among the litmustestsused by inquisitorsto determinethe
Islam.170
ofMoriscos accused of apostasywas preciselytheone Cer
of
degree Christianity
Marian devotion.'17Per
vantesuses to declareZoraida and Zahara Christians:
afraid
to
Moriscos
say anythingabout the
made
haps this inquisitorialstrategy
Virgin.Some authorsat any rateimaginedthatitdid.Never utterawordwhether
good or bad aboutMary lestyou fallafoul of theInquisition,oneMorisco ad
to defend the church from Protestant attack; see Ellington, From Sacred Body to Angelic Soul (above,
n. 23), p. 213. On Mary, confessionalization,
and the range of views among the Reformers about her,
in Lutheran Sermons of the
see Beth Kreitzer, Reforming Mary: Changing
Images of the Virgin Mary
Sixteenth Century (Oxford, 2004); Thomas
Freeman, "Offending God: John Foxe and English Prot
in The Church and Mary, ed. R. N. Swanson, Studies
to the Cult of the Virgin Mary,"
estant Reactions
"Marian Devotion
and
39 (Woodbridge, Eng., 2004), pp. 228-38;
Bridget Heal,
Diarmaid MacCullough,
ibid., pp. 218-227;
Identity in Sixteenth-Century Germany,"
and Jaroslav Pelikan, Mary
Protestants,"
through
ibid., pp. 191-217;
"Mary and Sixteenth-Century
the Centuries: Her Place in theHistory of Culture
1996), pp. 153-63.
(New Haven, Conn.,
171
See references below in nn. 180, 183, and 186-87.
in Church
History
Confessional
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674
Captives
Christian
172
Fer
christiana 11.23, ed. Juan Meseguer
Juan de Pineda, Di?logos
familiares de la agricultura
162:369.
de autores espa?oles,
n?ndez, Biblioteca
173
and 444-48
and 2:707
Correa Rodr?guez, Los romances frontizeros (above, n. 129), 1:407-10
in IV estudios, ed. Toro Ceballos
"Santos guerreros en La Frontera,"
and
12; Jos? Rodr?guez Molina,
de una
cultura:
334-58;
and
St. James
in Spanish
Los
Libros
the articles
in Spain
in
(London,
Art
(Cambridge,
this period, see
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Captives
Christian
675
178
Libros pl?mbeos,
p. 125.
179
as Christian while guaranteeing
intents
of these forgeries was to present theMoriscos
the
Among
"El entorno de los plomos: Historiograf?a
their ethnic identity as Arabs; seeMercedes
Garc?a-Arenal,
Revista de estudios ?rabes 24 (2003), 295-325,
esp. p. 311.
y linaje," Al-Qantara:
180
et chr?tiens, p. 269; Mercedes
Garc?a-Arenal,
Inquisici?n y moriscos: Los
Cardaillac, Morisques
Los Moriscos
Mercedes
Cuenca
de
Tribunal
del
Garc?a-Arenal,
107-8;
1978),
pp.
(Madrid,
procesos
1996), p. 207.
(Granada,
181
Cardaillac, Morisques
182
aljamiadas
Leyendas
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676
Christian Captives
186
Autos
i estrategia
Contra moros
62
(Valencia,
ijueus: Formado
p. 92; and
1981),
Cardaillac,
187
Francisco
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they are
ymoris
Captives
Christian
677
Muslims,
againstthe
aswell.And thesemen andwomen knew thatinthestruggle
Mary was
of captivity,
at Lepanto or on thebattlefield
whetheron thebattlefield
on behalfofChristians,to repeatthewords used
always readytohelp, "fighting"
by one ofCervantes'contemporaries.190
of the
The weight of centuriestold themso. For itwas not thecircumstances
incaptivity,
numbersof Spaniards suffering
century-the skyrocketing
sixteenth
with theTurks,aMuslim enemymore vigorousthanGra
and theconfrontation
nada had ever been-that firstpromptedChristianmen and women to believe
Mary held out hope inwarswith theMuslims. Instead,thiswas a role forgedfor
theVirgin in thepietyof thehighMiddle Ages. Cervantes'Muslim maidens and
medieval
could nomore have existedwithout their
Christiancaptivesthemselves
his
La
Mancha
without
Don
have
ridden
off
into
Quijote
counterpartsthancould
that
of
and
liberation
many heroic predecessors.The Marian stories captivity
culminateinCervantes' charactersreveal the long fingersof theMiddle Ages
world, crumblingchronologicalbarriersthat
reachingdeep intotheearly-modern
scholarsfartoo oftentreatas solidwalls.
Memorias
p. 647.
Captives
Postscript: I regret that I have not been able to integrate the findings of Jarbel Rodriguez's
as his study was
Crown of Aragon
in the Medieval
and Their Saviors
2007),
(Washington, D.C.,
published after this article was already in proof.
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