Alfonso y los libros mágicos

In the Cantiga de Santa Maria no. 209 a book with miraculous properties stands out: it is the very Cantigas manuscript, the apparition of which in the poem presents the original features of a mise en abîme. After having read the miniature of the cantiga, panel after panel, intermixing the figurative text with captions and with the poetical text, on a historical and autobiographical background, the author interprets the function of the magic book as related to its own symbolical-anthropological tradition and to the profane alfonsine cantiga on the dean of Cadiz.