Medieval Academy of America

Christian Captives, Muslim Maidens, and Mary

Author(s): Amy G. Remensnyder
Source: Speculum, Vol. 82, No. 3 (Jul., 2007), pp. 642-677
Published by: Medieval Academy of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20466003
Accessed: 08-07-2015 10:48 UTC

REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20466003?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents

You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Medieval Academy of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Speculum.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 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
day, theOttoman Turks.'He had acquittedhimselfhonorably,receiving wounds
thatwould plague him fortherestof his life.
Now itwas timeto returntoSpain.
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 Cervanteshimselfwas
in1580.
Heavy labor,chains,crowdedprisons, theconstantfearof being sent to row
thegalleysthatplied the
Mediterranean-the conditionsenduredbymanyChris
tiancaptives inNorthAfricawere harshenough thattheyinciteddark rumorsin
sixteenth-centurySpain.4No wonder captivesoftenattemptedto escape, as Cer
vantes did not justonce but four times.Painful as his desperateeffortsto flee
captivitymust have been, likehis otherexperiencesinAlgiers,theywould provide
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

I thank the participants in conferences held in April 2005 at New York University on the Virgin

Mary and at Providence College on Cervantes for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this
essay. I am also grateful to Philippe Buc, Alison Caplan, Deborah A. Cohen, Margaret Malamud, Tara
Nummedal, Moshe Sluhovsky, the members of theMedieval and Early Modern History Seminar at
Brown University, and the three anonymous Speculum evaluators for their thoughtful readings of this
piece. Thanks, too, are due the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned
Societies, and theNational Endowment for theHumanities for the fellowships that made this research

possible. All translations are my own.

1 trans. J. R. Jones (New York, 1990), pp. 48-65.

Jean Canavaggio, Cervantes,
2
For Cervantes' captivity as trauma, see Mar?a Antonia Garc?s, Cervantes in Algiers: A Captive's
Tale (Nashville, Tenn., 2002).
3
Ellen G. Friedman, Spanish Captives inNorth Africa in the Early Modern Age (Madison, Wis.,
1983); Mercedes Garc?a-Arenal and Miguel Angel de Bunes, Los Espa?oles y elNorte de Africa: Sighs
XV-XVIII (Madrid, 1992), pp. 209-55.
4
Friedman, Spanish Captives, pp. xxv-xxvi and 55-76.

642 Speculum 82 (2007)

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian
Captives 643
theslavehouse ofAlgiers; itscharactersareChristianprisonersand their Muslim
masters; itssubject,thecaptives'plight.
In themost autobiographicalepisodeCervanteswrote intothisplay,a Christian
captivemakes a break forfreedomby fleeingfrom Algiersand crossingthedesert
in order to reach theSpanish fortat Oran.5 Cervantescould vividlyevoke the
dangersawaitinga captivewho attemptedthisrouteto liberty, as he himselfhad
triedit.Unfortunately, he failed to elude hisMuslim masters and was dragged
back toAlgiers.But inEl trato,Cervantes' fictionalized overcomes
self-projection
all obstacles tohis freedom. His liberationisassuredwhen he turnsto a powerful
figureforhermiraculous guidanceand protection:theVirginMary. "Ifyou give
me liberty, I promise to be your slave"-thus concludes the long lyricalprayer
thatEl trato'scaptiveaddressesto theVirgin.6
It is entirelypossible thatwhen Cervanteshimselffaced thedesertand all its
dangers,he placed his hopes forfreedominMary justas hisplay's characterdoes.
We know thatCervantes soughtspiritualsolace in theVirginduringhis yearsof
captivity-one of his fellowprisonersnoted thatwhile inAlgiers,Cervantescom
posedMarian poetry.7 Those poems have not survived,but ithas been suggested
thatCervantesdrewon themforthe linesofMarian praise scatteredthroughout
El trato.8Marian devotion in factsuffusestheplay.A Christianwoman, grieving
because her son isabout to be sold intoslavery,imploresherchildneverto forget
theVirgin, "the queen of goodness,"while anothercaptiveentrustshis soul to
Mary's care,knowingthatin the"uncertainsea" ofhismiseryshe is theonlysure
guide.9Cervantes even chose to end El tratowith a moving scene inwhich the
prisonersall kneeland cryout one afteranotherina sad chorustoMary. Echoing
thecaptive'sdesertprayer,theybeg theVirgin to embrace themwith hermercy
and "free[them]fromthehands of these Moors."10
This earlyplaywas not theonlywork inwhichCervantesunderlinedthepower
ofMarian devotionto freeChristiancaptives.In themagical pages ofhismaster
piece,Don Quijote, the intimaterelationshipbetween theVirgin and liberation
from Muslim masters appears again.Yet hereCervantesgives ita different twist,
as can be seen in thechaptersofpart 1 (1605) collectively
knownas the"Captive's
Tale."'IIThemale protagonistof thisstory,a Spanishsoldiercapturedby theTurks
in 1571, lies inhopeless captivityat Algierswith his fellowChristians.But one
day he begins to receive money and evenencouraginglettersfroman unexpected
source:Zoraida, thedaughterofAgiMorato, a wealthy and powerful Moor. In
her lettersZoraida declaresherdevotionto theVirgin (learnedfromherChristian

5 nature of this passage, see Garc?s,

On the autobiographical Cervantes in Algiers, pp. 40-45 and
153-56.
6
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, El trato de Argel, lines 1974-91,2052-56, and 2067-71, inObras

completas, ed. Florencio Sevilla Arroyo (Madrid, 1999), pp. 845 and 846.
7
Garc?s, Cervantes inAlgiers, p. 127.
8
Ibid.
9
Cervantes, El trato de Argel, lines 295, 959-62, and 2516, inObras completas, pp. 829, 835, and
850.
10
Ibid., lines 2490-2521, p. 850. For commentary, see Garc?s, Cervantes in Algiers, pp. 153-61.
11
Miguel de Cervantes, El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de laMancha 1.4.39-41, ed. John Jay
Allen, 19th ed., 2 vols. (Madrid, 1998), 1:464-502 (hereafter cited as Don Quijote).

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
644 Christian
Captives
nurse),her desire to go to the landof theChristians inorder to "see"Mary, her
willingness to help thecaptivesescape iftheywill takeherwith them,and her
intentiontomarry thecaptivewho lendshis name to thewhole story.In their
epistolaryexchange,Zoraida and thecaptiveconstantlyinvoketheVirgin as the
protectorof theirriskyenterprise. So centralisMary to theirrelationshipthatshe
of
more oftenappears as theobject Zoraida's desirethandoes thecaptivehimself.
AfterZoraida and thecaptivesexecute theirdramaticescape and embark for
Spain, unfortunately encumberedby a distraught AgiMorato whom theyhave
been forcedto kidnap, theMarian themecontinues.To her father'shorror,Zo
raida declaresherselfto be a Christianand implorestheVirgin towatch overher
and hercompanions.When AgiMorato demands toknowwhy his daughterhas
embracedChristianity, Zoraida uttersMary's name in reply.The former captives
themselvesinvoke Mary's help inbringingtheirodysseytoa favorableconclusion.
And on reachinglandfallinSpain,Zoraida isdelightedto findimagesof theVirgin
in thefirstchurchshe enters.Though not yetbaptized, shenow insistson being
called by thename of thesaintwho has impelledall her actions:Mary.
Cervantes tellsmuch thesame storyinhis play Los banos de Argel, a work he
published in1615, althoughhemay havewrittenpartsof ityearsearlier.12 InLos
banos he calls thefemaleprotagonist Zahara ratherthanZoraida. There areother
differences of detail and staging.13
Yet Zahara is recognizablythesame character
as Zoraida: aMuslim maiden ofAlgierswhose Christiannursetaughther to love
theVirginandwho nowwants to escape toChristendomso thatshecanworship
Mary freely. Like Zoraida, Zahara carrieson an epistolaryexchangewith a Chris
tiancaptivewhom she intendstomarry.And likeZoraida, at theend of theplay
Zahara leavesIslam andAlgiersbehind.Although theaudiencedoes notwitness
her voyage to Spain, itwatches as Zahara, too, exchangesherMuslim name for
thename of thesaintwhom she so loves:Mary.
In tellingthesetalesofChristiancaptives,Muslim maidens, andMary, Cervan
tes certainly drew on his own memories of his years in Algiers. Many of the
charactersinLos baizos and the"Captive'sTale" were people he had heard of or
encounteredwhile a captive.Cervantesmodeled Zahara/Zoraida, forexample,
on thereal-lifedaughterof theman theSpanish calledAgiMorato butwho ac
tuallyexercisedhispower and influencein late-sixteenth-century
AlgiersasHayyi
Murad.14Yet Cervantes took considerableliberty with thefactsof thiswoman's
life:althoughmuchmore isknown about her fatherthanabout her,it isclear that
she neithermarried a Spaniard nor convertedto Christianity.15 InDon Quijote
and Los banos, then,as inEl tratode Argel,Cervantes used his consummate
literaryart to transmute
his traumaticexperiencesas a captive intofiction.
And

12
Miguel de Cervantes, Los ba?os de Argel, ed. Jean Canavaggio (Madrid, 1983). The dating of
the play's composition is controversial; for two opinions, see Canavaggio's comments (ibid., pp. 35
39); and Helena Percas de Ponseti, Cervantes y su concepto del arte: Estudio cr?tico de algunos aspectos
y episodios del Quijote, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1975), 1:275-76.
13
Percas de Ponseti, Cervantes y su concepto del arte, 1:242-57.
14 en la obra de Cervantes,"
Jaime Oliver As?n, "La hija de Agi Morato Bolet?n de la Real Academia

Espa?ola 27 (1947-48), 245-339.

15
Ibid., pp. 264-66.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian
Captives 645
as he did so, he placed theVirgin at the emotionalheart of his narrativesof
liberationand conversion.
Why did CervantesmakeMary so centralto thesestories?The answersto this
question lie in a centuries-old
Marian traditionthathas attractedfar too little
scholarlyattention:theways that theVirginofferedChristiansa symbolicfield
onwhich to articulatethenatureof theirencounters with non-Christians.We are
justbeginningtounderstandhowmedieval and early-modern JewsandChristians,
so dangerouslyclose toeach other insomanyways, usedMary toemphasizetheir
radical,irreconcilabledifference.16
BehindCervantes'storiesofChristiancaptives
andMuslim maidens lies theequally rich,ifeven lessexplored,historyofMary
as thesymbolic medium ofMuslim/Christianrelations.'7 These could be relations
of exchangeand dialogue,but justas oftenthey were ones of conflict,
playedout
on literalandmetaphoricalbattlefields whereMary was as presentas Cervantes
makes her inhis fiction.
Ever since the thirteenthcentury,in theIberianPeninsula theVirginhad been
an iconof an enterprise ofwhichCervanteshimselfhad abundantexperience:the
militaryconquestofMuslims. Spanishknightsand kingsprayed toMary before
settingout on campaignsagainst Muslims; theycarriedbattlebannersemblazoned
with her image;theyshoutedout hername as a battlecry;and they made thanks
givingofferingsto herwhen theycame home victorious.They even institution
alized her roleas battlepatron,establishing
militaryordersand chivalricsocieties
inhername.Elaborate legendsevolveddetailinghow theVirginhad helpedChris
tianstowin crucialvictoriesover theMuslims.Mary thenwas asmuch thepatron
of theso-calledReconquest as was a male saintmuchmore famedforthisrole,
St. James,or Santiago.'8

16For
example, Allyson F. Creasman, "The Virgin Mary against the Jews: Anti-Jewish Polemic in
the Pilgrimage to the Sch?ne Maria of Regensburg, 1519-1525," The Sixteenth Century Journal 33
(2002), 963-80; Denise L. Despres, "Immaculate Flesh and the Social Body: Mary and the Jews,"

Jewish History 12 (1998), 47-69; William Chester Jordan, "Marian Devotion and the Talmud Trial
of 1240," in Religionsgespr?che imMittelalter, ed. Bernard Lewis and Friedrich Niew?hner, Wolfen
b?tteler Mittelalter-Studien 4(Wiesbaden, 1992), pp. 61-76; Hedwig R?ckelein, "Marie, l'?glise et
la Synagogue: Culte de la Vierge et lutte contre les juifs en Allemagne ? la fin du moyen ?ge," inMarie:
Le culte de la Vierge dans la soci?t? m?di?vale, ed. Dominique Iogna-Prat, Eric Palazzo, and Daniel
Russo pp. 513-32; Miri Rubin, Gentile Tales: The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval
(Paris, 1996),
Jews 1999), pp. 7-39; Klaus Schreiner, Maria:
(Philadelphia, Jungfrau, Mutter, Herrscherin (Munich,
1994), pp. 413-62; and Peter-Michael Spangenberg, "Judenfeindlichkeit in den altfranz?sischen Mari
enmirakeln: Stereotypen oder Symptome der Ver?nderung der kollectiven Selbsterfahrung," in Die

Legende vom Ritualmord: Zur Geschichte der Blutbeschuldigung gegen Juden, ed. Rainer Erb, Doku
mente, Texte, Materialen 6 (Berlin, 1993), pp. 157-77.
17
Only a few scholars have begun to consider this question. See, for example, Albert Bagby, "Alfonso
and the Virgin Unite Christian and Moor in the Cantigas de Santa Mar?a," Cantigueiros 1 (1988),

111-18; Alexandra Cuff el, "'Henceforth All Generations Will Call Me Blessed': Medieval Christian
Tales of Non-Christian Marian Veneration," Mediterranean Studies 12 (2003), 37-60; Amy G. Remen

snyder, "The Colonization of Sacred Architecture: The Virgin Mary, Mosques, and Temples inMedi
eval Spain and Early Sixteenth-Century Mexico," inMonks and Nuns, Saints and Outcasts: Religious
Expression and Social Meaning in theMiddle Ages, ed. Sharon Farmer and Barbara Rosenwein (Ithaca,
N.Y., 2000), pp. 189-219; and Amy G. Remensnyder, La Conquistadora: The Virgin Mary, Conquest,
and Conversion inMedieval Spain and Early Colonial Mexico (book manuscript in progress).
18On as a see G. "Marian in
Mary patron of the Reconquest, Amy Remensnyder, Monarchy

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
646 Christian
Captives
The Virgin's role inbattlehardlyended in1492, when theChristianstook the
lastMuslim strongholdin theIberianPeninsula,thekingdomofGranada. In fact,
when theSpanish turnedtheir militaryattentionsto theothersideof theAtlantic,
themartialMary accompanied them.It isno accidentthatamong thefirstimages
of theVirginmade by the indigenouspeoples of theAmericaswas a war banner
fashionedbyNahuas at theorder of a conquistador sometimebefore 1531.19
Sixteenth-century Spaniardswho foughtback home against theMuslims in the
Mediterraneanalso continuedto turntoMary foraid, as Cervanteshimself must
have beenwell aware. After all, he participatedin one of thegreatest Marian
militaryvictoriesof his day: thebattleofLepanto. For therestofhis life,hewould
evenbear thescarsof thewounds he receivedthatday.
This battle,foughtonOctober 7, 1571, pittedthefamedOttoman fleetagainst
thewarships of theHoly League, a Christianalliance comprisingSpain,Venice,
and thepapal forces.The league's remarkable(ifshort-lived)triumphover the
Ottoman armadawas celebratedthroughout westernChristendomas a magnifi
centcrusadingachievementdue to theVirginMary.20The victorsmade a hand
some thanksgiving offeringtoMary, donatingone of theirprize trophiesfromthe
battle-the Ottoman flagship'slantern-to her renownedshrineatGuadalupe in
westernCastile.21From thebrushesof artistssuch as Paolo Veronese came dra
matic scenesof theengagement with theVirginpresidingover a sea bristlingwith
masts.22To commemoratethebattle's anniversary, Pope Pius V (d. 1572) even
a newMarian feast.He declaredOctober 7 thefeastday ofOur Lady
instituted
ofVictory,a Virginwith a ratherobvious connectiontomartial glory.Pius's suc
cessoron the throneof St. Peter,GregoryXIII, renamedthefeastforOur Lady
of theRosary.Gregoryacted in thebeliefthatChristendomowed thetriumphat
Lepanto to rosaryprayersthathad been recitedatRome on theveryday thatthe

Thirteenth-Century Castile," in The Experience of Power inMedieval Europe, 950-1350, ed. Robert
F. Berkhofer III, Alan Cooper, and Adam J. Kosto (Aldershot, Eng., 2005), pp. 253-70; Remensnyder,
La Conquistadora; and Schreiner, Maria, pp. 376-77. On St. James and the Reconquest, see Klaus

Herbers, "Politik und Heiligenverehrung auf der Iberischen Halbinsel: Die Entwicklung des politischen

Jakobus," in Politik und Heiligenverehrung imHochmittelalter, ed. J?rgen Petersohn, Vortr?ge und

Vorsehungen 42 (Sigmaringen, 1994), pp. 177-275; and Francisco M?rquez Villanueva, Santiago:
Trayectoria de un mito (Barcelona, 2004), pp. 183-222. In general on saintly patronage of the Re

conquest, see Joseph O'Callaghan, Reconquest and Crusade inMedieval Spain (Philadelphia, 2003),
pp. 190-99.
19
"The Harkness 1531 Huejotzingo Codex," inThe Harkness Collection in the Library of Congress:

Concerning Mexico, a Guide, ed. J. Benedict Warren

Manuscripts (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 52,
63,108,116, and 118. For discussion of this image, see Tom Cummins, "The Madonna and theHorse:

Becoming Colonial inNew Spain and Peru," inNative Artists and Patrons in Colonial Latin America,
ed. Emily Umberger and Tom Cummins, Phoebus 7 (Tempe, Ariz., 1995), pp. 58-68. For further
discussion ofMary and warfare in the colonial Spanish Americas, see Remensnyder, La Conquistadora.
20 as a crusade, see J.H. Elliott, Imperial Spain, 1469-1716, rev. ed. (London, 2002),
On Lepanto

p. 241. On the battle itself, see Hugh Bicheno, Crescent and Cross: The Battle of Lepanto, 1571
(London, 2003).
21 a la sobrana magestad
Gabriel de Talavera, Historia de Nuestra 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.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian
Captives 647
shipsof theHoly League and theOttomans clashed in thebluewaters of the
Mediterranean.23
Christiansoldierssuch as Cervanteswho foughtat Lepanto did not need the
pope to tellthemthat Mary had beenwatchingover theminbattle.On October
7, 1571, all theyhad to do was to glance at theSpanish flagship. High in its
riggingflewa bannerbearingan imageof theVirgin.24 Visible to friendand foe,
thestandardproclaimedthattheChristiansfoughtinMary's name.AsMuslims
and Christiansalike recognized, war bannerswere nomere pieces of cloth.Such
banners,conspicuouswith theirbold colors and shapes even in theconfusionof
combat,not only servedto signalmen as theyfought. Woven intotheirfabric was
also amore symbolicvalue as a statement of thearmy'scourage,persistence, and
unity.25Accordingly,Ottoman archersat Lepanto tookcare to aim theirbows at
theMarian standardcrowningtheSpanish flagship. When twoTurkisharrows
struckthebanner,theSpanishwere so angeredthattheysentalofta tamemonkey
to pluckout theseaffrontsto theirladyand theirhonor.26
The wounding of thebannerat Lepanto was witnessed by one of Cervantes'
peers, a Spanish lieutenantcapturedby theTurks in 1574. He rememberedthe
incidentvividly,describingit in a narrativethathe composed fromhisNorth
Africanprison. In his account, the lieutenantinsistedonMary's roleas a patron
of Christians in theirconflictswithMuslims, recountinghow at Lepanto she
"fought" (theverb he uses is pelear) for "us."27The memory of theglorious
triumph over theTurksobtainedwith theVirgin'saidmust have beencomforting
to thiscaptiveas he lay inprison,reminding him of a happierperiod of his life.
In theabjectionof captivity,
he also looked toMary forhope, composingdevo
tionalpoetrytoher justas Cervantesdid.28 As hewhiled away his years inprison,
thisman thenwrote of theVirgin intworoles:as a symboland sourceofChristian
militarytriumph overMuslims and as theworthyobjectof a captive'saffections.
These twoaspectsofMary really were one and thesame,althoughthelieutenant

23
On the establishment of October 7 as a Marian 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
the rosary, see Donna Spivey Ellington, From Sacred Body to Angelic Soul: Understanding Mary in
Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Washington, D.C., 2001), pp. 214-16; and Anne Winston
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 (El Alf?rez Pedro de Aguilar), ed. Pascal de Gay
angos, Sociedad de Bibli?filos Espa?oles 13 (Madrid, 1875), p. 129.
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

Ib?rique au moyen ?ge d'apr?s le Kit?b ar-rawd al-mi'tar, ed. and trans. ?variste L?vi-Proven?al,
Publications de la Fondation de Goeje 12 (Leiden, 1938), pp. 18-19 and 165; "Relaci?n circunstan
ciada de lo acaecido en la prisi?n del rey chico de Granada, a?o de 1483," in Relaciones de algunos
sucesos de los ?ltimos tiempos del Reino de Granada (Madrid, 1868), pp. 59-60; Rodrigo Amador
de los R?os, Trofeos militares de la Reconquista: Estudios acerca de las ense?as musulmanes del real
monasterio de Las Huelgas (Burgos) y la catedral de Toledo (Madrid, 1893); and Al-Andalus: The Art

of Islamic Spain, ed. Jerrilynn D. Dodds (New York, 1992), no. 92, pp. 326-27.
26
Memorias del cautivo, p. 129.
27
Ibid., p. 127.
28
Ibid., p. 133.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
648 Christian Captives
neversaysso. Inboth roles,shebecame ameans forSpanishChristianstoenvision
victoryoverMuslims. The fictioncomposed by anotherformercaptiveand par
ticipantat Lepanto,Miguel de Cervantes,shows justhowmuch theVirgin's role
in theexperienceand representation of captivitybelonged to theconflictualdia
loguebetweenChristiansandMuslims also enactedwith actualweapons ofwar.
To be sure,when Cervantescame towrite of Lepanto, unlikehis fellowcaptive,
he did notmention theVirgin.29But Cervantes didn't need to-his storiesof
Christiancaptives,Muslim maidens, andMary gave the samemessage of inevi
tableChristian triumph.In thesetales,theVirgin servesas a symbolofChristian
victoryoverMuslims on thespiritualbattlefieldsof captivityand conversion,are
nas thatwere verymuch extensionsof thephysicalbattlefield. Such is themeaning
of the longmedieval traditionsthat lay behindCervantes' storieslinking Mary
and captives,on theone hand, and, on theother, Mary and converted Muslim
maidens.

CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES

Medieval warfare,whether in theformof full-blownsiegesor small-scaleraids

or skirmishes,produced a steadystreamof captives.Taken as thehuman spoils
ofwar by thevictors,thecaptiveswere oftenheld forransomor sold intoslavery.30
Medieval Iberiawas no exception.The ever-shifting configurationsof alliances
and rivalriesamong thepeninsula'sChristiankingdoms, Muslim Granada, and
variousNorth Africanpolitiesall sowed theirown cropsof captives,as did civil
strifewithin kingdoms.3'Not surprisingly,theredemptionof captiveswas often
asmuch a centralpreoccupationforChristians(andMuslims) inmedieval Iberia
as itwas forSpaniards inCervantes'day.
Cervanteswas hardlythefirstChristianto believe thattheVirginMary was as
powerfulin thistraumaticrealmofhumanexperienceas shewas insomany other
arenas of fortuneandmisfortune.One of theearliestgreatMarian miracle col
lectionsfromtheIberianPeninsula,the late-thirteenth-century
Cantigas de Santa
Maria, providesabundant evidenceof thepervasivenessof thisconviction.This
collectioncontainsmany storiesinwhich theVirgin liberatescaptivesfromtheir
confinement. By thetimeAlfonsoX ofCastile (d. 1284) orderedthecomposition

29
Cervantes, Don Quijote 1.4.39, 1:467.
30On
Muslim captives sold into slavery, see Stephen P. Bensch, "From Prizes ofWar to Domestic
Merchandise: The Changing Face of Slavery in Catalonia and Aragon, 1000-1300," Viator 25 (1994),
63-93; on Christians, see Carmen Argente del Castillo Oca?a, "Cautiverio ymartirio de doncellas en
La Frontera," in IV estudios de Frontera: Historia, tradiciones y leyendas en La Frontera, ed. Francisco
Toro Ceballos and Jos? Rodr?guez Molina (Ja?n, 2002), p. 37.
31 on the
James William Brodman, Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain: The Order of Merced
Christian-Islamic Frontier (Philadelphia, 1986), pp. 1-14; Abdelghaffer Ben Driss, "Los cautivos entre
Granada y Castilla en el siglo XV seg?n las fuentes ?rabes," inActas del congreso "La frontera oriental
nazar? como sujeto hist?rico": Lorca-Vera, 22 a 24 de noviembre de 1994, ed. Pedro Segura Artero

(Alicante, 1997), pp. 301-10; Anthony Lappin, The Medieval Cult of Saint Dominic of Silos, MHRA
Texts and Dissertations 56 (Leeds, 2002), pp. 337-41; Kathryn Miller, Guardians of Islam: Muslim
Communities inMedieval Aragon (New York, forthcoming in 2007), chapter 6; and O'Callaghan,
Reconquest and Crusade, pp. 148-49.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian Captives 649
of theselyricpoem-songsinMary's honor,theVirginwas famedacrosswestern
Europe forher abilityto helpChristiansescape theirenemies'dungeons.32
The storiesAlfonsoX includedin theCantigas participatedin thisEuropean
wide tradition, with one significantdistinction.Inmost places inwesternEurope,
theVirgin freedher loyaldevoteesfromtheclutchesof enemieswho were them
selvesChristian.So thebellicoseknightsof twelfth-century southernFrancewho
misjudged their moves as theyfoughta rival lordand ended up inchainsmight
call onOur Lady ofRocamadour tobursttheirbonds.33InAlfonso'sCastile, too,
theVirgin freedChristiansfromChristians.34 But judgingfromtheCantigas, just
as oftenthebackdrop forthestoriesthirteenth-century Castilians toldofMary's
miraculous intervention on behalfof prisonerswas warfare betweenChristians
andMuslims.3s
Typical of these talesof the liberationof ChristianscapturedbyMuslims of
Granada and North Africa is a cantiga relatingthe fateof a Christian squire.
While offon campaign against theMuslims inAndalusia, thisMarian devotee
had themisfortuneto be takenprisoner.Yet even in themidst of brutalbeatings
by hisMuslim captors,thesquirenever forgottheVirgin.Weeping so piteously
he irritated his jailers,he prayed intentlyto her,beggingforhis freedom.Even
tuallyhis steadfastfaith was rewarded.Mary appeared and shatteredhis chains,
demonstratingthe truthof thepoem's refrain:theVirgin "can well guide pris
oners,because she freesthemfromprison."36
The saintlyheroineof thiscantigawas one ofAlfonsoX's favorites:theVirgin
ofVilla Sirga.37The songsof theCantigas also praise other IberianVirgins for
suchmiraclesof liberation,includingthe Madonnas ofEl Puertode SantaMaria,
Faro, Salas, Sopetr-an, When a futurechancellorofCastile, Pero
and Tentudia.38
Lopez deAyala,was capturedinbattleby thePortuguesein1385, he pled forhis

32
Gabriela Signori, Maria zwischen Kathedrale, Kloster und Welt: Hagiographische und historio
an eine hochmittelalterliche (Sigmaringen, 1995), pp. 46,
graphische Ann?herungen Wunderpredigt
222-23, and 234-40. On Alfonso as patron and author of the Cantigas, see among others Walter
Mettmann, "Algunas observaciones sobre la g?nesis de la colecci?n de las Cantigas de Santa Mar?a y
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), pp. 355-66.
33Les au XHe
miracles de Notre-Dame de Rocamadour si?cle 1.10, 11, 18, 50; 2.2, 17; and 3.18,
22, 23, ed. Edmond Albe (Toulouse, 1996), pp. 118-20, 126, 162, 180-82, 202, 268-70, and 272
76 (see also 1.53, p. 166, for the liberation of a captive fromMuslims). For discussion, see Signori,
Maria zwischen Kathedrale, Kloster und Welt, pp. 222-23.
34
Alfonso X, el Sabio, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 106, 158, 245, 291, 301, and 363, ed. Walter
Mettmann, 3 vols. (Madrid, 1986-89), 2:25-27,152-54, 338-42 and 3:75-77, 99-100, 236-37.
35
Ibid. 83, 95, 176, 183, 227, 325, and 359, 1:263-65, 292-94; 2:186-87, 201, 297-99; and
3:152-55,229-30.
36
Ibid. 227, 2:297-99.
37
The Virgin of Villa Sirga liberates another prisoner inAlfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 301,
3:99-100. On Alfonso's affection for this Virgin, see John Esten Keller, "King Alfonso's Virgin of

Villa-Sirga: Rival of St. James of Compostela" and his "More on the Rivalry between Santa Maria
and Santiago de Compostela," both in his Collectanea Hisp?nica: Folklore and Brief Narrative Studies,
ed. Dennis P. Seniff and Maria Isabel Montoya Ram?rez (Newark, Del., 1987), pp. 61-76.
38
See references above in nn. 34-35.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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
Jeronymite friars
who tendedtheshrinedecided tomelt down theaccumulated
ironware-it yieldedenoughmetal that theywere able to forgea choir grille.42
Severalfifteenth-and sixteenth-centurycompilationsofGuadalupe'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.44Yet 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.46So, too, by thetwelfthcentury was St.

39
Pero L?pez de Ayala, Rimado del Palacio 757, 762-70, 800-809, and 870-86, ed. Germ?n
Orduna (Madrid, 1987), pp. 264, 265-67, 272-74, and 293-96.
40 etmiracles ? Guadalupe au XVIe
Fran?oise Cr?moux, P?lerinages si?cle (Madrid, 2001), pp. 151
53; Pilar Gonz?lez Modino, "La Virgen de Guadalupe como redentora de cautivos," inLa religiosidad

popular, ed. Carlos Alvarez Santal?, Mar?a Jes?s Bux? iRey, and Salvador Rodr?guez Becerra, Autores,
Textos y Temas, Antropolog?a, 18-20 (Barcelona, 1989), 2:461-71.
41
Hieronymus M?nzer, "Itinerarium Hispanicum," ed. Ludwig Pfandl, "Itinerarium Hispanicum
Hieronymi Monetarii," Revue hispanique 48 (1920), 1-179, at p. 107.
42
Gonz?lez Modino, "La Virgen de Guadalupe como redentora," p. 467. The friars
apparently did
the same thing again in the seventeenth century; see Cr?moux, P?lerinages, p. 128.
43
See the miracles inMadrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS 1176, fols. 9r-12v, 14r-15r, and 19r-20r;
and in Talavera, Historia de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe, fols. 230r-231r, 237v-238v, 240v-242v,
244v-245r, 246r-v, 247v-248v, 260r-v, 262v-263r, 265v-266v, 268r-270v, 282r-283v, 286r-v,
292r-v, 293v-294v, 301r-v, 302v, 309r-v, 315v-316v, 320v-321v, and 471r-v. For analysis see
Cr?moux, P?lerinages, pp. 133, 137, and 149-51; and Gonz?lez Modino, "La Virgen de Guadalupe
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; 2.6; 3.4, 5, 15, 19; and 4.4-9, ed. Luca Robertini,
Biblioteca di "Medioevo latino" 10 (Spoleto, 1994), pp. 136-43, 166-68, 187-90, 203-5, 208-9,
227-39, 277-80, 284-87, and 300-303; Steven Sargent, "Religious Responses to Social Violence in

Eleventh-Century Aquitaine," Historical Reflections/Reflexions historiques 12 (1985), 219-40.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian Captives 651
James, whose magnificentshrineatCompostela attractedpilgrimsfromall across
Europe.47But even Spain's apostle had to bow his head beforeanothersaintly
liberator:Dominic of Silos, veneratedat thenorthern Castilianmonasteryfamed
todayforitsexquisiteRomanesque sculpture. Dominic's commandover thepow
ers of liberationbegan in the late eleventhcenturyand stretched well into the
thirteenth century,as thepilesof shatteredchainsaccumulatingat Silos attested.48
Between 1232 and 1287 alone, thissaint freed145 people, thevastmajorityof
themChristiansfleeing Muslim captors.49 The detailedstoriesof enslavementand
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
themselves.52 The language inone storyhas such simpledirectnessthat it leaves
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
first. pray
ingand amidstthema verytallwoman." The woman gaveGoncalo thereassuring
news thathewould escape bynightfall, amessage reinforced laterbyan apparition
ofDominic himself. UnlikeDominic, however,thewoman of thevision isnever
identifiedby name.Butwho else could she have been but theVirgin,answering
Goncalo's prayersevenbeforeDominic did?
The Virgin's intervention in an escape thatthemonk of Siloswho shaped the
tale did his best to attributetoDominic foretoldthe future.By the fourteenth
century, Dominic's popularityas a saintlyliberator witheredand died away,while
Mary's flourished. The Virgin's triumphin thisrealmeven receivedinstitutional
expressionwhen she displaced another local saint to become thepatron of the
Spanish religiousorderdedicated to theredemption of captives.

47
Liber Sancti Jacobi: Codex Calixtinus 2.1, 11, 14, 20, and 22, ed. Klaus Herbers and Manuel
Santos Noia (Santiago de Compostela, 1998), pp. 161, 168, 169-70,176, and 177.
48
Gonzalo de Berceo, La vida de Santo Domingo de Silos 354-74, 732-53, and 763, ed. Brian

Dutton, T?mesis A/74 (London, 1978), pp. 90-94,149-52, and 153; Lappin, Medieval Cult, pp. 171
95 and 275-390.
49
Lappin, Medieval Cult, p. 361.
50
Los "miraculos roman?ados" de Pero Marin: Edici?n cr?tica, ed. Karl-Heinz Anton (Silos, 1988).
51
Lappin {Medieval Cult, p. 350) notes that this formula appears consistently in the Miraculos

roman?ados from p. 90 onward; the formula is also used on pp. 51, 78, and 82-87.
52
Lappin (Medieval Cult, p. 350) argues for the latter possibility.
53
Miraculos roman?ados, pp. 80-81.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
652 Christian
Captives
This order owed itsexistenceto a Catalan laymannamed PereNolasc, who
was deeplyconcernedabout theplightofChristianscapturedbyMuslims. During
the1230s Nolasc began to raise ransom fundsinBarcelona and on thenewly
Christian islandofMajorca, effortsthatsoonwon him and his companions the
statusof a new religiousorder.At firstthesemen tookas theirpatrona local saint,
Eulalia, thefemalemartyrwho had presidedoverBarcelona's cathedralforcen
turies.They called themselves"The Brothersof theHouse of St. Eulalia ofBar
celona" or the"Orderof theRansomingofCaptives." But by the1240s theyhad
acquired a second saintlypatron:Mary. By thefourteenth century,theVirgin so
overshadowedEulalia in theorder'sdevotionaland public lifethatthebrothers
now styledthemselvesthe "Order of St.Mary ofMercy of theRedemptionof
Captives."54UnderMary's protection,thisorder continued itscharitableenter
prise into theseventeenth century,as Cervanteshimselfknew frompersonal ex
perience.Althoughhe owed his own release fromcaptivityto a rivalransoming
order foundedinFrance, theTrinitarians,he includedinLos bauos de Argel a
versionof a scenehe had witnessed inAlgiers: the redemptionof prisonersby
Mary's order.55
The waxingMarian devotionof high-medieval Europe surelywas a factorin
Eulalia's eclipseas thecelestialguardianof thisorder.Yet these
men did not adopt
Mary as theirpatron just to keep upwith the latesttrendsinpiety.As thename
theytook by the fourteenth centuryindicates,thebrothersof theOrder of St.
Mary ofMercy were also choosing a saintwhose traits made her bettersuited
thanany other towatch over their mission: theMadonna ofMercy. This Virgin
enjoyed increasing popularityin thehighMiddle Ages.56The brothers may have
selectedher in part for linguisticreasons: theCatalan word for "ransom"
merce-also meant "mercy."57 But theyalso must have thoughtof the tender
maternalqualitiesof theVirginofMercy-often depictedsheltering herdevotees
beneathhercapaciouscloak-as powerfullyembodyingtheirown compassionate
charitytowardcaptives.
The Virgin ofMercy was not theonlyMadonna to enfoldher devoteeswith
maternal love.All versionsofMary, whatever theirnames, did so. The loving
tendernessso associatedwith theVirgin in facthelps to explainnot justwhy she
aroused ever-growingaffectionin high-medievalChristiansbut also why she
played such a prominentrole as a liberatorof captives.58 More thanany other
saint,she possessed just thequalities a Christiancaught incaptivity would seek

54 see Brodman, Ransoming

On theMercedarians' institutional
development, Captives. On the in
troduction of Mary as the order's see Bruce Taylor, Structures of Reform: The Mercedarian
patron,
Order in the Spanish Golden Age, Cultures, Beliefs and Traditions, Medieval and Early Modern Peo

ples, 12 (Leiden, 2000), pp. 14-16.

55
Cervantes, Los ba?os de Argel, lines 822-32, pp. 147-48. On the actual procedures of sixteenth
and seventeenth-century ransoming missions, see Friedman, Spanish Captives, pp. 105-64.
56
Paul Perdrizet, La Vierge de Mis?ricorde: ?tude d'un th?me iconographique (Paris, 1908).
57
Taylor, Structures of Reform, pp. 14-16.
58
The best explanation of the rise of Mary's cult in the high Middle Ages is Rachel Fulton, From
Passion to Judgment: Devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary, 800-1200 (New York, 2002), pp. 204
43. On Mary as a figure of mercy in the lateMiddle Ages, see Ellington, From Sacred Body to Angelic
Soul (above, n. 23), pp. 102-41.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian Captives 653
in a heavenlyguardian: a mother's boundlesscompassionand infinite mercy.In
therealmofmother love,theVirginhad no realrivals.No othersaintcould claim
to be both God's mother and the spiritualmother of all Christians.59 As the
CastilianpriestGonzalo deBerceo sighedinhisbook ofMarian
thirteenth-century
praise: "Men andwomen,we all look to you asmother.... We shallbe as your
children.Sinnersand justalike,we hope foryourmercy."60
Mercifulmaternal intercession at Christ's celestialcourt, thesoftening
of the
heavenlyruler'sjusticethroughhismother's tenderpleas-this is exactlywhat
medievalChristianshoped forfromtheVirgin.They beseeched Mary topersuade
God to forgivetheirsinsand to smooththeirpath throughlife'sdifficulties.Count
lessmiracle storiesof thehighMiddle Ages depicther extendinghermaternal
love to human beingscaught indire situations, whether illnessorwar or natural
disasteror anyothermisfortune. As GutierreDiaz deGameswrote inhis fifteenth
centurychivalricbiographyofCount PeroNiiio, theVirginwould always "help
those ingriefand distressat thetimeof theirgreatneed."'61
Christiansheld inMuslim captivitycertainlyfellintothecategoryof "those in
griefand distress"who neededMary's mercifuland lovingprotection.So the
poems in theCantigas de SantaMaria celebratingtheVirgin's releaseof captives
repeatedlyunderscore.SometimesAlfonsoX's poets crowned theirnarrativesof
Marian liberation with praiseof "thegloriousVirgin,thecompassionatemother
ofGod" who is "always able to help those in need."62At othermoments they
describedhowMary reachedout "to freecaptivesfromprison"with thetender
power of her hands, "whichdirectlytouchedJesusChrist."63One cantigaeven
concludeswith a joyousscene inwhich a former captiveentersaMarian church,
his
brandishing shattered chains and shouting: "The Virgindid this,shewho helps
people inmisery."64 The miracle collectionsfromGuadalupe are no less insistent
about thesolace "themost mercifulVirgin,who can leaveno onewithout com
fort,"bringstoChristians languishinginMuslim captivity.65 Cervanteshimself
paints theChristiancaptivesofEl tratodeArgel as theVirgin's spiritualchildren
who implore"our intercessor, [Christ's]motherwho is ourmother" foraid in
obtaining theirfreedom.66 In comparisonwith thewarm languageofmaternal

59 en un c?dice del siglo XII," sacra

"Advocaciones de la Virgen ed. Atanasio Sinu?s Ruiz, Analecta
Tarraconensia: Revista de ciencias hist?rico-eclesi?sticas 21 (1948), 28; Clarissa Atkinson, The Oldest
Vocation: Christian Motherhood in theMiddle Ages (Ithaca, N.Y., 1991), pp. 103, 105-6, and 118;
Fulton, From Passion to Judgment, pp. 224-26; and Dominque Iogna-Prat, "Le culte de laVierge sous
le r?gne de Charles le Chauve," inMarie: Le culte de la Vierge (above, n. 16), pp. 86-87, 89, and 98.
60
Gonzalo de Berceo, "Los loores de Nuestra Se?ora" 218, in Gonzalo de Berceo, El duelo de la

Virgen; Los himnos; Los loores de Nuestra Se?ora; Los signos del juicio final, ed. Brian Dutton,
T?mesis A/18 (London, 1975), p. 108.
61
Gutierre D?az de Games, El victorial: Cr?nica de D. Pero Ni?o 62, ed. Juan de Mata Carriazo,
Colecci?n de Cr?nicas Espa?olas 1 (Madrid, 1940), p. 180.
62
Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 83, 1:265; see also 95,1:292. Similar descriptions ofMary's
mercy color the poems about the liberation of captives from other Christians: ibid. 158,291,301, and
363; 2:152-54 and 3:75-77, 99-100, 236-37.
63
Ibid. 359, 3:229-30.
64
Ibid. 227, 2:299.
65
Talavera, Historia de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe, fol. 247v.
66
Cervantes, El trato de Argel, lines 2492-93, p. 850.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
654 Captives
Christian
love suffusingtheMarian miracles of liberation,thedescriptionsof captives in
voking themercyof othersaintssuch as Dominic can only seem tepid.
Mary's maternalmercycould have an intensely personal significance forChris
tiancaptives.Hence theexpressionsof gratitudein the formof pilgrimageand
offerings bymany of thoseformercaptiveswho believed theyhad theVirgin to
thankfor theirnewfound liberty. But often therewas also a deliberatelypublic
dimensionto theirgratitude.At Guadalupe, men andwomen who had benefited
from Mary's help inescaping from Muslim captivity would recounttheirstories
to thefriarinchargeof theshrine'sever-thicker miracle books. In thesixteenth
century,twenty-seven pilgrimstoGuadalupe alsomade sure to have their mirac
ulous liberationsrecorded in theauthoritativeformof notarized certificates.67
They soughtsuch certificates fromthehighestsecularauthoritytheycould find
on reachingChristian soil.Witnessed by viceroys,corregidors, captains,or even
justthenotaryofwhicheverChristiantownfirstreceivedtheformer captive,these
certificateswere quitepublicdeclarationsof thecaptive'sreintegration intoChris
tendom and theVirgin's role ineffectingit.
As one historianhas recentlysaid, for
Christians, thesecertificates so
represented many victories
over theMuslims.68
Bothmedieval and early-modern in
Christianscould factconceiveof thewhole
enterprise of freeing
captives,whetherundertakenby saintsor religiousorders,as
one theaterin thewars againstMuslims.69Accordingly, contemporaries oftengave
quite triumphalreadingsto theVirgin's powers to liberateprisonersfromthe
Muslims.Marian deliveranceofcaptivescould, forexample,accompanyChristian
militaryvictory.Suchwas thecase when theNorth AfricancityofOran fellto
theSpanish in 1509. According to capitularyrecordsfromGuadalupe, many of
theChristianswho poured forthfromslave houseswhen theSpanish forcesen
teredthiscitymade vows to thanktheVirgin fortheir miraculous freedom.70 To
fulfilltheirpromises,theycame indroves toGuadalupe, asmany as severalhun
dred a day accordingto themonastery'sadmittedlyself-interested recordkeeper.
This coincidencebetweenChristianmilitarysuccessagainst theMuslims and
theMarian liberationofChristiancaptives takeson further resonancein lightof
anotheraspectof thevictoryatOran. Mary had helped theSpanish take thecity,
or so Count Pedro de Navarro, theman who led theassault, believed.Before
settingoff for theMaghreb, he had visited the shrineofGuadalupe to ask the
Virgin tohelp himprevailagainst theMuslims.71And afterhis successesnot only
atOran, but also TripoliandBougie, hemade an impressive thanksgiving offering
toGuadalupe: a lamp engraved in intricatedetailwith the imagesof the three
conqueredcities.72 This objecthad as itslivingcounterpartsthepilgrims who came
toGuadalupe to celebratetheirescape from Oran's prisons-lamp and pilgrims
alike renderedhomage toMary's role inChristiantriumphover theMuslims.
The Virgin's liberationof captivescould indeedforeshadowtheinevitability of

67
Cr?moux, P?lerinages, p. 46.
68
Ibid.
69
Lappin, Medieval Cult, pp. 280-81; Friedman, Spanish Captives, pp. 127-28.
70
Cr?moux, P?lerinages, p. 81.
71
Talavera, Historia de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe, fol. 155v.
72
Ibid., fol. 155r-v.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian
Captives 655
ChristianmilitaryvictoryoverMuslims, as a letterquoted in a fifteenth-century
Written in the springof 1409, the letter
Castilian chroniclereveals.73 was ad
dressed to themaster of a famousSpanishmilitaryorder,theOrder of Santiago,
who thenforwardedit to theregentofCastile himself,Ferdinand (laterkingof
Aragon). The news itbroughtbothmen as they mustered theirforcesfora cam
paignagainstthekingdomofGranada was welcome:Mary had performed a great
miracle inAntequara,one of the Muslim citiesFerdinandwas eyeingas a possible
target.According to theletter,twoChristianboys,held inAntequara as hostages
fortheiroldermale relatives,were visitedin theirdungeonone day by theVirgin.
She comfortedthechildren,tellingthemto put aside theirfearsand promising
themtheywould safelyescape fromtheircaptivity. A fewdays later,theboys
founda way out. But once beyond thecitywalls, theylosttheir way.Wandering
hopelessly,theywere about to give up and returntoAntequarawhenMary ap
peared again and led themto thesafetyof a nearbyChristiantown.
As PrinceFerdinand read the letterrecountingthisMarian miracle, hemust
have been pleased. Itwas afterall a most hopeful sign-perhaps theseevents
meant thatjustasMary had returnedthechildrentoChristian territory, soAn
tequara itself
would be deliveredto theChristians.As thechronicler
who quoted
theletter
well knew,Ferdinand'sdesireto conquer thiscitywould be fulfilledjust
one year afterthemiracle occurred.Some contemporarieseven attributedthe
spectacularvictoryof 1410 thatattachedAntequara's name to Ferdinand'sfor
centuries(historiansknowhimas FerdinandofAntequara) to thesaintwho earlier
had freedtheChristianboys fromthecity:theVirgin. In a flattering poem com
posed by thecourt poet AlfonsoAlvarez de Villasandino (c. 1345-1425), the
Virgin commandsSts. Jamesand Johnto accompanyFerdinandas he laid siege
toAntequara-their orderswere tomake sureher favoriteknightwon.74
The chroniclerwho preservedtheletterabout thecaptivesdoes not credit
Mary
directlywith Ferdinand'svictoryatAntequara, thoughhe does depict theregent
as havingher blessinginhis campaignsagainstGranada.7sBut thiswritermakes
no bones about thedeep connectionbetween theVirgin'smiraculous aid to the
younghostagesofAntequara and her abilityto helpmen on thebattlefield. He
passes immediately fromtheletterabout thecaptivesto a longdisquisitionabout
theVirgin'swillingnessto intervene on behalfof Christianwarriorswhen they
crossswordswithMuslims.76For thechronicler, bothareproofthatMary actively
supportsChristians in "theirwork ofwar against the infidel."77
Accordingly,he
framesthiswhole chapternot simplyas aboutMary's miracles, but as about
Mary's miracleson behalfofChristians.

73
Alvar Garc?a de Santa Mar?a, Cr?nica de Juan II de Castilla, ed. Juan de Mata Carriazo (Madrid,
1982), pp. 282-83.
74
Cancionero de Juan Alfonso de Baena 4, ed. Jos? Mar?a Az?ceta, 3 vols. (Madrid, 1966), 1:24
25. See also Villasandino's poem praising Ferdinand's devotion toMary; ibid. 65, 1:143. For further

discussion, see Angus MacKay, "Ferdinand of Antequara and the Virgin Mary," in Angus MacKay
and Ian Macpherson, Love, Religion and Politics in Fifteenth Century Spain, Medieval Iberian Pen

insula, Texts and Studies, 13 (Leiden, 1998), p. 134.

75
Garcia de Santa Mar?a, Cr?nica de Juan II, pp. 118, 129-31, and 190-91.
76
Ibid., pp. 283-84.
77
Ibid., p. 283.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
656 Christian
Captives
This religiousedge is sharpenedby a simplephrase theVirgin uses as shecon
soles theboys in theirdungeon atAntequara. She tellsthem"to keep the faith
(que guardassen la fee)."78
Mary's words could be read as an exhortationnot to
despair.But surelyin thisera theexpressionstillhad itsliteral
meaning: theVirgin
isalso instructing
theboysnot to renounceChristianity.Captives,whether Muslim
or Christian,were veryoftensubject to thepressure-and the temptation-to
convertto their master's faith.79The effortsby bothMuslims and Christiansto
redeemtheircoreligionistsfromcaptivitythenmight bemotivated by theneed
to remove membersof theirfaithfromsituationsthatmightprovokeconversion.80
Accordingly,theredemptionof captivesbecame a symbolicbattlefield on which
Muslims andChristiansmightaffirmtheirreligiousidentities.8' Rescuingcaptives
languishingin thehands of theunbelieverswas tantamountto the triumphof
one's own faithand thedefeatof thealien faith-as one textfromGuadalupe
declared, Mary's abilityto freecaptiveswas proof thatChristianityand not Islam
was the"trueand holy faith(ley)."82Hence therhetoricallinkbetweenmilitary
victoryand theliberationof captives.
In themiracle storiesof theCantigasde SantaMar/a and thosefrom Guadalupe,
Mary wins many such symbolicvictoriesforChristianity. Not onlydoes she an
swer theprayersofChristiancaptivesand break theirchains,but she also inter
venes to shoreup theirallegiancetoChristianityshould itwaver.As with thetwo
boys atAntequara, shepreventscaptivesfromconvertingto Islamor causes them
to returntoChristianityiftheyhave given inand becomeMuslims.83 What saint
could betterhelpChristiansimprisonedby the Muslims escape thetrapof an alien
faiththanMary? A lovingmother always ready to help her human childrenin
theirhour of need, theVirginalso embodied thefaithtowhich thecaptiveswere
to cling-she was, afterall, theChurch,Ecclesia.A4In fact,Mary's identitywith
Ecclesia may havemotivated her appearance on the symbolicbattlefieldof the
redemptionof captivesasmuch as did hermaternal tenderness.In turningtoher

78
Ibid., p. 282.
79
For themedieval period: Bensch, "From Prizes ofWar"; Maria Teresa Ferrer Mallol,i El Sarraihs
de la CoronaCatalono-Aragonesa en el segle XIV: Segregado i discriminado (Barcelona, 1987),
pp. 74-81; Lappin, Medieval Cult, pp. 293-96; Miraculos roman?ados, pp. 65-67, 95-96, and 109;
and Francisco de As?s Veas Arteseros and Juan Francisco Jim?nez Alc?zar, "Notas sobre el rescate de
cautivos en la frontera de Granada," Actas, ed. Segura Artero (above, n. 31), pp. 233-34. For the

early modern period: Bartolom? Bennassar and Lucile Bennassar, Les chr?tiens d'Allah: L'histoire
extraordinaire des ren?gats XVIe etXVIIe si?cles (Paris, 1989), esp. pp. 202-340; Friedman, Spanish
Captives, pp. 58, 77, 88-89, and 90; and Garc?a-Arenal and de Bunes, Los Espa?oles y el Norte de
Africa, pp. 212-39.
80
Ferrer iMallol, El Sarrains, pp. 71-81; Argente del Castillo Oca?a, "Cautiverio y martirio,"
p. 47; Friedman, Spanish Captives, pp. 81 and 146.
81
Miller, Guardians of Islam.
82
Talavera, Historia de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe, fol. 292r.
83
For example, Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 325, 3:152-55; Madrid, BN MS 1176, fols.
9r-12v; Talavera, Historia de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe, fols. 240v-242r.
84
On the equivalence between Mary and the Church, see Marie-Louise Th?rel, Le triomphe de la
Vierge-Eglise: A l'origine du d?cor du portail occidental de Notre-Dame de Senlis. Sources historiques,
litt?raires et iconographiques (Paris, 1984), esp. pp. 78-193.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian Captives 657
forcomfortin theiroppressiveprisons,captiveswere affirming membership
their
in the church,theirvery identitiesas Christians.The Virgin's capacity to free
Christiansfromcaptivityand servituderepresentedthe liberating power of faith
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,
ifMary as mother and Ecclesia could be the triumphant vehicle forChristians'
liberationfromMuslim captors, she could also extend her powers to people
trappedinspiritualdungeons:theVirginmightprompt Muslims to fleetheprison
of Islamand embraceChristianity.

MUSLIM MAIDENS

In relatingstoriesof howMarian devotionmade Muslims converttoChris

The popularMar
Cervantes tapped intoan old hagiographictradition.85
tianity,
ianmiracle collectionsof thehighMiddle Ages provideeloquent evidencethat
medievalChristiansloved to telltalesof how theVirgin inducednon-Christians,
particularlyJewsandMuslims, to converttoChristianity.86 This is reflected
quite
clearlyinAlfonsoX's Cantigas de SantaMaria. For theJewsandMuslims who
populatemany of thecantigas, Mary could be a terrifying punishingthem
figure,
fortheirlackof belief inher specialnature as thevirginalmotherofGod or, in
thecase of theMuslims, helpingChristiansinflictmilitarydefeaton them.87 But
in thesepoems, theVirginmost frequently with JewsandMuslims not
interacts
toharmor chastisethembut to bringthemtoChristianity.88
The evangelicalMary of theCantigaswas to someextenta creatureofher time,
embodyingthehopefulbeliefnurturedbymany thirteenth-century Christianthink
ers thatMuslims teeteredon thebrinkofmass conversiontoChristianity.89 This
ill-founded Christianoptimismsoon evaporated.90 But theVirgin's role in con

85
Francisco M?rquez Villanueva also makes this suggestion, though his analysis differs considerably
from mine; see his Personajes y temas del Quijote (Madrid, 1975), pp. 102-6.
86 see (from n. 17 above) Cuff el, "Hence
On the reasons forMary's association with conversion,

forth"; Remensnyder, "Colonization," pp. 197-98; and Remensnyder, La Conquistadora.

87
For examples of punishment inflicted on Jews, see Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 4 and 34,
1:63-66 and 143-44. For military defeat ofMuslims with Mary's aid, see ibid. 165 and 185, 2:164
67 and 204-7.
88
Ibid. 28, 46, 167, 192, and 205, 1:128-32 and 171-73 and 2:168-69, 218-23, and 251-53

(Muslim conversions); 4, 25, 85, 89, and 107, 1:63-66, 117-22, 268-70, and 278-81 and 2:27-30

(Jewish conversions). For discussion: Vikki Hatton and Angus MacKay, "Anti-Semitism in the Cantigas
de Santa Mar?a," Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 60 (1983), 189-99, esp. p. 195; and Mercedes Garcia

Arenal, "Los moros en las Cantigas de Alfonso X el Sabio," Al-Qantara: Revista de estudios ?rabes
6 (1985), 133-51, esp. pp. 145-47.
89 in theWest: The Thirteenth-Century Dream of
Robert I. Burns, "Christian-Islamic Confrontation

Conversion," American Historical Review 76 (1971), 1386-1434.

90
Benjamin Z. Kedar, Crusade and Mission: European Approaches toward theMuslims (Princeton,
N.J., 1984).

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
658 Christian Captives
versiondidnotdisappearalongwith the"dreamofconversion. "91 In late-medieval
Spain,miracle storiessimilarto thoseof theCantigaswere repeatedand new,even
more ambitiousones added to them.The belief inMary's powers to persuade
Muslims toconverttoChristianity continuedintoCervantes'day,as thesixteenth
centurymiracle collections fromGuadalupe eloquentlydemonstrate.92 A play
composed in the late sixteenthor earlyseventeenth centurybyCervantes' fellow
literaryluminary Lope deVega also providesevidenceof thepersistent association
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,"
theMuslim "lordof thecityofAffrica"(probablytheTunisianportofMahdia).95
Bobacre relateshow one nighthe had a visionof a beautiful
womanwho identified
herselfas theVirgin.UrgingBobacre to rejectIslam infavorofChristianity, Mary
"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 explicitparallelsbetweenMary's abilitytohelp prisonersescape fromtheir
fettersand herpowersasmediatrixto releaseChristiansfromtheequallyweighty
iflessmaterial-bonds of sin.96
When theVirgin freed Muslims fromthespiritualsnareof unbelief,shecould
in factalso freethemfromphysicalformsof enclosure,as a poem fromtheCan
The protagonistof thiscantiga is aMuslim man fromAlmeria
tigas suggests.97
who had been captured by Christians. Enslaved as many Muslim captives were,

91
"Dream of conversion" is Burns's formulation (see n. 89 above).
92
Cr?moux, P?lerinages, pp. 206-8; Talavera, Historia de Nuestra
Se?ora de Guadalupe, fols.
231r-233r, 234v-235r, 247v-248v, 273v-274r, 289r-v, 301v-302r, and 315v-316v.
93 acts 2
Lope de Vega, La tragedia del rey Don Sebasti?n y bautismo del pr?ncipe de Marruecos,
and 3, in Lope de Vega, Comedias, ed. Manual Arroyo Stephens, 15 vols. (Madrid, 1993-98), 8:452
517.
94
Barcelona, Arxiu de la Corona d'Arag?, C Jaume II Cartas extra series, caixa 136, no. 517. The
text has been edited with some errors of transcription (including reading "Bobacre" as "Bobaire") by
Heinrich Finkein Acta Aragonensia: Quellen zur deutschen, italienischen, franz?sischen, spanischen,
zur Kirchen- und Kulturgeschichte aus der diplomatischen Korrespondez Jaymes II. (1291-1327), 3
vols. (Berlin, 1908-22), 2:757-58.
95
On the identification of "Affrica" as Mahdia, see Charles-Emmanuel Dufourcq, L'Espagne ca
talane et le Maghrib aux XHIe et XlVe si?cles: De la bataille de Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) ?
l'av?nement du sultan m?rinide Abou-l-Hasan (1331), Biblioth?que de l'?cole des hautes ?tudes his

paniques 37 (Paris, 1966), pp. 493-94. On the circumstances of the letter's composition and its au

thorship, see below, pp. 664-65.

96
Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 176, 227, 245, and 291, 2:186-87, 297-99, 338-42 and
3:76.
97
Ibid. 192,2:218-23.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian
Captives 659
he endedup in thepossessionof a Christianwho livednearToledo. The Christian
man triedto converthim,but had no success-theMuslim stubbornlyrefused
Christianity, especiallyobdurate inhis rejectionof theVirgin.His masterpunished
him by lockinghim up. Sensingeasy prey,a demon attackedhim-here was a
soul ripeforplucking,since ithad refusedChristianity. TheMuslim foughtback
desperately. Then he receiveda new visitor: Mary. She toldhim thatto escape the
demon,hewould have to renounceIslam.TheMuslim wiselydecided toobeyher.
The nextmorning he poured forththe storyof thevision to hismaster,who
releasedhim fromconfinement. Baptized asMary had ordered,theconvertspent
therestof his lifeas a good Christian inher service.This man's liberationfrom
physicalcaptivity mirroredhis escape fromthespiritualprisonof Islam-and he
owed both to theVirgin.The poem's titleitselfsuccinctlycaptures theVirgin's
powers in both theserealms:"How St.Mary Freed a Moor Whom a Demon
Wanted toTake andMade Him Become a Christian."
Othermiracle storiesarticulatedtheVirgin'sabilityto effectbothphysicaland
spiritualliberationssomewhatdifferently. In, forexample,two storiesfrom Gua
dalupe, one set in the finalyears of thecampaign forGranada and theother
somewhereinNorth Africaduringthelate fifteenth or sixteenth Marian
century,
devotion inspires Muslim men to seekbaptismand to freeChristiancaptives.98
The structure of thesetales is reminiscentof Cervantes' own storiesofMarian
conversion.So pronounced,in fact,is theresemblancethatit isevidentCervantes
was working fromthis longhagiographictradition, which providedvividproof
of theVirgin's abilityto freesouls and bodies at once. The richnarrativepossi
bilitiesthisaspectofMary offered Cervantesas he craftedhisportraitsofZahara
and Zoraida were heightenedby an overlappingstrandof Christian tradition
equally importanttohim: thetalesclusteredaround thefigure of thefemale
Mus
limconvertwho freescaptives.
Cervantescertainly was not thefirstauthor to spin storiesofMuslim maidens
who helpChristiancaptivesescape and thenthemselves converttoChristianity
and takea Christianhusband.99 That honor belongs insteadto a Norman monk
of thetwelfth century,OrdericVitalis,who includedsuch a tale inhis sprawling
Historia ecclesiastica.100
Orderic's immediatesourcewas probablya knightcom
inghome fromcombat inwhat was thencalled theHoly Land: the tale is set in
theimmediateaftermath of theFirstCrusade, and itsmale hero,thecaptivewhom
theMuslim maiden hopes tomarry, isBohemond of Antioch.10'According to
Orderic, neitherBohemond nor theMuslim maiden who helps him escape calls
onMary or any other saint.To be sure,on regaininghis freedom, Bohemond
vows tomake a thanksgiving pilgrimageto St. Leonard ofNoblat, a promisehe
apparentlyactuallyfulfilled duringa visit toFrance in 1105-7.102Yet as Orderic

98
Talavera, Historia de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe, fols. 247v-248v and 315v-316v.
99
Nor was he the last?this motif appears in English from the late eighteenth century; see
ballads
Linda Colley, Captives: Britain, Empire, and theWorld, 1600-1850 (New York, 2004), p. 83.
100
Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History 10.24, ed. Marjorie Chibnall, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1969-80),
5:358-79; F.M. Warren, "The Enamoured Moslem Princess inOrdericus Vitalis and the French Epic,"
PMLA 29 (1914), 341-58.
101
Warren, "Moslem Princess."
102
Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History 10.24, 5:376-78.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
660 Christian Captives

describes it, therewas nothingmiraculous about thiscaptive's liberationor the

maiden's conversion.The tale is reallyabout Bohemond's braveryand thebold
cunningof theMuslim woman who loveshim. Itwas in thisformthatthestory
passed intoFrenchepic, becomingpart of thestock repertoire ofmotifs thatan
authormight exploit to enhancea hero.103
InOrderic'swake, however,itwas not only jongleurs who sang of aMuslim
maidenwho helpedChristiancaptivesescape and thenherselfconverted.Perhaps
influenced by epic as hagiographersoftenwere, theauthorsofMarian miracle
storiesalso appropriatedthischaracter.The languageand conceitsof epic firmly
shape the earliestextant instanceof such borrowing:the late-fifteenth-century
legendgildingtheoriginsof theshrineofNotre-Dame de Liesse inFranceand its
wonder-workingimageofMary.104 According to thistext,threetwelfth-century
Frenchcrusadersare takenprisonerby theMuslims and broughtto thesultanof
Egypt.105Languishing inhis prison, theyare visitedby his daughter,Ismerie.At
her father'sorders,Ismerietriesto convertthecaptives to Islam but soon falls
underthespellofwhat theytellheraboutChristianity. She isespeciallycaptivated
by theirdescriptionof the"beautifulVirginMary"-she even asks thecaptives
to sculptan imageof theVirgin,promisingthatinreturnshewill help themescape.
The captives,who as good knightshave never in theirlives touchedsculptors'
tools,are savedwhen angelsbringtheman exquisiteMarian image.Upon seeing
it,Ismeriedecidesnot only to freethecaptivesbut to accompany themback to
France and converttoChristianityso thatshemight serve Mary and her son.
Some scholarshave argued thatthisFrench legendwas Cervantes' inspiration
for the "Captive's Tale."'106It is certainlypossible. Pilgrimswho visitedLiesse
might have returnedhomewith storiesof the shrine'sstatue,storiesthatthen
passed mouth tomouth until theyreachedCervantes eitherduringhis years
abroad or inSpain itself. Yet theconsiderabledifferencesin structure and focus
betweenCervantes' storiesand theLiesse legendshould give us pause. Further
more, Ismerie moves in an epic, fantastic crusading world of the past, whereas
Zoraida and Zahara inhabita cityof thepresent,Algiers as Cervantes and his
contemporaries knew it.In fact,thereisno need to look as faraway as France to
finda storyabout aMuslim maiden convertedthroughlove of theVirgin that
could have beenCervantes' inspiration.By thelatesixteenthcentury, a talemuch
more liketheones he himselfwould writewas toldat aMarian churchthatthere
iseveryreasontobelievehehad visited:Guadalupe, thehomeof a CastilianVirgin
most famedforher role in liberatingcaptives.
InCervantes' day,pilgrimstoGuadalupe learnedof aMuslim maiden named
Fatimawho lived,not incrusaderEgypt likeLiesse's Ismerie,but in late-fifteenth

103
Warren, "Moslem Princess."
104
On the history of the shrine, see Bruno Ma?s, Notre-Dame de Liesse: Huit si?cles de lib?ration
et de joie (Paris, 1991).
105
"Comment Ihymage N[ost]re Dame de Liesse autrement ditte de Lience fut trouuee, auec les
miracles": Notre-Dame de Liesse, sa l?gende d'apr?s le plus ancien texte connu, ed. Comte de Hennezel
d'Ormois (n.p., 1934).
106
G. Cirot, "Le Cautivo de Cervantes et Notre Dame de Liesse," Bulletin hispanique 38 (1936),
378-82; Hugues Vaganay, "Une source de 'Cautivo' de Cervantes," Bulletin hispanique 39 (1937),
153-54.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian Captives 661
centuryTangiers.107 Fatima'swealthy fatherhad decided tomarry her off to a
powerfulfellow Muslim. But shehad been talking with theChristiancaptivesheld
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
making a pilgrimage with hercompanionstoGuadalupe. The former 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 This woman was asso
century.
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
Talavera, Historia de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe, fols. 231r-233r.
108
Ibid., fols. 231r-233r.
109
Germ?n Rubio, Historia de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe (Barcelona, 1926), p. 219.
110
Diego de Ecija, Libro de la invenci?n de esta Santa Imagen de Guadalupe y de la erecci?n y
fundaci?n de este monasterio y de algunas cosas particulares y vidas de algunos religiosos de ?l 4.67,
ed. Angel Barrado Manzano (C?ceres, 1953), p. 345.
111
Talavera, Historia de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe, fol. 233r.
112
Ibid., fol. 233r.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
662 Christian Captives
convertedthroughlove ofMary. InMuslim Spain andMuslim North Africa,
voluntaryconversionto Christianityby high-ranking Muslim women was ex
tremely unusual.'13To be sure,in thelatesixteenthcenturysomewomenmarried
to powerfulMuslim men inNorth Africa did eventuallyfleetheirhusbandsand
go to liveas ChristiansinChristiankingdoms.But these womenwere renegades
Christian captiveswho convertedto Islam and thenwere married off tomale
renegadesor tonatural-born Muslims.14 By escaping toChristendom,they were
not converting,as la buena Christianaand Cervantes'Zahara and Zoraida were
supposed to have done, but ratherreturning to theiroriginalreligiousidentity.
So unlikelywas theconversionofhigh-ranking Muslim women thatincontrast
to severalknown instancesinwhichmedievalMuslim princesembracedChris
tianity,thereis only one documentedcase of a medievalMuslim princessdoing
so: a late-eleventh-centurywoman relatedby blood to the taifarulersofToledo
and bymarriage to theprincesof Seville."51 Political turmoilalone ledher to the
baptismal font.Losing her husband,Al-Ma mun, during theviolentupheavals
accompanyingthe fallof one taifakingdomafteranotherto theAlmoravids,a
NorthAfricanBerberdynasty,thiswoman took refuge withAlfonsoVI ofLeon
Castile (d. 1109). At thisChristiancourt, she seems to have foundsafety-and
more. EventuallyshebecameAlfonso's concubineand thenhiswife. Itwas some
timeduringheryearswith thiskingthatshemade theexpedientdecision toadopt
his religion.
Thiswoman earned a certainnotorietyamongMuslims.Well intothefifteenth
century,juristsas faraway asMorocco would citeherconversiontoChristianity
as a cautionarytaleprovingthereligiousperilsof sexual relationsbetweenMuslim

113
M.J. Rubiera Mata, "Un ins?lito caso de conversas musulmanas al cristianismo: Las princesas
toledanas del siglo XI," in Las mujeres en el cristianismo medieval: Im?genes te?ricas y cauces de
actuaci?n religiosa, ed. Angela Mu?oz Fern?ndez, Laya 5 (Madrid, 1989), pp. 341-47, at p. 341. The
fact that none of the articles in a recent collection
about conversion to and from Islam focuses on (or
even mentions of) female converts is telling; see Conversions
significant evidence islamiques: Identit?s
religieuses en Islam m?diterran?en, ed. Mercedes Garc?a-Arenal (Paris, 2001). In 1588, a very young
female member of the ruling house of Tunisia was baptized in Palermo, but the circumstances leading
to her conversion are not at all clear given the fragmentary nature of the evidence; see Salvatore Bono,
"Conversioni di musulmani al cristianesimo," in Chr?tiens et musulmans ? la Renaissance: Actes du
37e colloque du CESR (1994), ed. Bartolom? Bennassar Sauzet, Le Savoir de Mantice
and Robert 3
(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
As?n, "La hija de Agi Morato" (above, n. 14), p. 248; and the texts cited inMiguel de Cervantes,
El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de laMancha, 10 vols. (Madrid, 1947-49), 3:242-43, n. 5; and in

Cervantes, Los ba?os de Argel, p. 23. For the social and religious situation of female renegades in
North Africa, see the contemporaneous description of Diego de Haedo, Topograf?a e historia general
de Argel 30 and 35, ed. Ignacio Bauer y Landauer, 3 vols. (Madrid, 1927-29), 1:119 and 165; and
the analysis in Bennassar and Bennassar, Chr?tiens d'Allah (above, n. 79), pp. 289-307.
115
On Muslim princes, see Burns, "Christian-Islamic Confrontation" (above, n. 89), pp. 1392-94.
On the identity of theMuslim princess and the circumstances leading to her conversion discussed in
this paragraph, see Evariste L?vi-Proven?al, "La 'mora Zaiyda,' femme d'Alphonse VI de Castille et
leur fils l'Infant Sancho," Hesp?ris 18 (1934), 1-8; Bernard F. Reilly, The Contest of Christian and
Muslim Spain, 1031-1157 (Oxford, 1992), pp. 92 and 96; and Rubiera de Mata, "Un ins?lito caso,"
pp. 343-45.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian Captives 663
women and Christianmen.116 Among Christiansshe naturallyenjoyed a much
more positive reputation.Transformedfrompolitical refugeeintoa heroineof
epic romance,byCervantes'eraChristiansevenhonoredher as a saint.117 Surely
shewould not have been singledout to receivesuchattentionfromeither Muslims
or Christians ifher behaviorhad been typicalforaMuslim woman. The mere
existenceof thesetraditionsthensuggests what theeventsofher lifereveal:ittook
rarecircumstancestomakeMuslim women freelyconverttoChristianity. Even
Muslim women livingunderChristianrulewere farless likelyto renounceIslam
in favorofChristianitythanwere their male counterparts unless theyfoundthem
selvesinone of twosituations:eitherthey were captivesofChristiansor theywere
womenwho, havingsleptwithChristianmen, could escape theharshpunishments
thatwould otherwisebe theirlotby converting.118
La buena Christiana'sMarian conversionthenprobablybelongedmore to the
realmof storythanof reality.So, too, did theconversionsof Cervantes' own
Muslim maidens: theactualwoman uponwhom Zahara andZoraida weremod
eled neverherselfembracedChristianity.119 Yet even ifthesestoriesaboutMary's
liberationsofMuslim maidens fromthespiritualprisonof Islamdid not possess
thesame degreeof verisimilitude that laybehind the talesof her abilityto free
Christiancaptivesfrom Muslim masters, theynonetheless were equallyeloquent
vehiclesfortheexpressionof triumphal Christianattitudestoward Muslims. For
conversionitselfis a formof spiritualconquestand colonization.Itrepresents the
victoryof one religionover another. Hence seventeenth-century Spaniards staged
thebaptismofMuslims as jubilantpublic ceremonies.120 Nor do thedense layers
ofmeanings clusteredaround conversionin thepremodernSpanishworld end
there.So tightly bound up with other levelsof identity was religiousaffiliation
thatthevictoriesenactedon thespiritualplane by conversioncould reverberate
loudlyinotherarenas.
In particular,spiritualsubmissionto Christianitycould signalor accompany
political submissionto Christians.The potentialpoliticalweight of conversion
ofteninfluenced actual high-level
maneuveringsbetween Muslims andChristians.
So in the1220s,Abu Zayd, the lastAlmohad rulerofValencia, bet thiscard as
he triedtogainChristiansupportinhis effortsto hold onto thekingdomslowly

116
P. S. van Koningsfeld and G. A. Wiegers, "The Islamic Statute of theMudejars in Light of a New
Source," Al-Qantara: Revista de estudios ?rabes 17 (1996), 28 (and n. 43); David Nirenberg, "Muslims
in Christian Iberia, 1000-1526: Varieties ofMudejar Experience," in The Medieval World, ed. Peter
Linehan and Janet L. Nelson (London, 2001), p. 71; Gerard Wiegers, Islamic Literature in Spanish
and Aljamiado: Y ?a of Segovia (Fl. 1450), His Antecedents and Successors, Medieval Iberian Peninsula,
Texts and Studies, 8 (Leiden, 1994), p. 6 (n. 30).
117
Rubiera de Mata, "Un ins?lito caso," pp. 342-43 and 347. The sixteenth-century vita and mira
cula are edited in "De Casilda virgine, Burgis Hispaniae," Acta sanctorum, April, 1:847-50.
118
For evidence of Mudejar female converts, see R. Ignatius Burns, S.J., "Journey from Islam: In

cipient Cultural Transition in the Conquered Kingdom of Valencia (1240-1280)," Speculum 35

(1960), 337-56, at pp. 348 and 349, n. 62. On Mudejar women who converted to escape the legal

penalty of servitude, see Ferrer i

Mallol, El Sarrdins (above, n. 79), pp. 19-24. For the conversion of
enslaved female captives, see Bono, "Conversioni di Musulmani," p. 434.
119
As?n, "La hija de Agi Morato," pp. 264-66.
120 et conversion en Espagne au XVIIe
Bernard Vincent, "Musulmans si?cle," in Conversions isla

miques, ed. Garc?a-Arenal, pp. 193-205.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
664 Christian Captives

slippingfromhis grasp.He declaredpoliticalallegiancetoJamesI ofAragon and

told thepope hewas thinking of converting-a thoughthe acted on by 1236.121
OtherMuslim rulershoping formilitaryaid fromChristian rulersalso foundit
convenientto hint thatthey were contemplating enteringtheChristianfold.The
early-fourteenth-century Hafsid sultanofTunisia, Ibnal-Lihyani, was particularly
adroit at thisgame.During themany yearsof his negotiationswith JamesII of
Aragon, Ibn al-Lihyaninot onlyplayed toAragonese imperialambitionsin the
Maghreb byproposing thatTunisia become James'sclientstatebut he also dan
gled theenticingbait of conversionbefore theexcitedeyesof his potentialally
and lord.122
The nexus between spiritualand political allegiances so deftly,ifultimately
unsuccessfully, exploitedbyal-Lihyaniappears, too, inthestoriesChristianscould
tellaboutMuslim princelyconverts, whether real or legendary.123Indeed, in the
world ofChristian legend,theconversionofMuslim princeswas rarelydevoidof
political resonance.Christianscould rhetoricallyshape such princelyrenuncia
tionsof Islam in order to create a politicalmap distinctlyaligned in favorof
Christendom.
Such is thecase ina tantalizingsetof threelettersaddressedtoPope JohnXXII
and relatingto one of al-Lihyani'simmediatedescendants,Abu Bakr,whom we
have encounteredbeforeas "Bobacre,"Marian convertand lordof theTunisian
cityofMahdia.124AnnouncingAbu Bakr's decisionnot only to embraceChris
tianitybut to bringan armyof convertswith him and to deliverhis city to a
Christian lord, theseletterscould representa cannycontinuationof thepolitics
of his relativeal-Lihyaniand therefore an effortto gain Christianmilitarysup
port againstMuslim rivals.125 Yet thepoliticalpicturepainted in thesetextsfits
suspiciouslywell with contemporaneousAragonese ambitions inNorth Africa.
PerhapsAbu Bakr's conversionand itsmilitaryconsequenceswere thenpure con
coctionsof theChristianmenwho signedtheirnames to twoof theletters: Domi
nicusSancii andAlfonsusPetri.Dominicus andAlfonsuswereMahdia's alcayts,
that is, the leadersof theCatalo-Aragonesemercenariesemployedby thecity's
Muslim ruler.126 As such, theywere also theunofficialrepresentativesof theking
ofAragon and therefore well aware of how nicelyhis continuingterritorial aspi

121 on Abu Zayd,"

Robert I. Burns, "Almohad Prince and Mudejar Convert: New Documentation
inMedieval Iberia: Essays on theHistory and Literature ofMedieval Spain, ed. Donald J.Kagay and
Joseph T. Snow (New York, 1997), pp. 171-88.
122
Dufourcq, L'Espagne catalane, pp. 488-93. Non-Christian rulers on the northeastern fringes of
Christendom also used the promise of baptism as a political bargaining tool; see Rasa Mazeika, "Bar

gaining for Baptism: Lithuanian Negotiations for Conversion, 1250-1358," in Varieties of Religious
Conversion in theMiddle Ages, ed. James Muldoon (Gainesville, Fla., 1997), pp. 131-45.
123
Adam Knobler, "Pseudo-Conversions and Patchwork Pedigrees: The Christianization ofMuslim
Princes and the Diplomacy of Holy War," Journal of World History 7 (1996), 181-97.
124
See above, p. 658, and Barcelona, Arxiu de la Corona d'Arag?, C Jaume II Cartas extra series,
caixa 136, nos. 515-17. No. 517 has been edited inActa Aragonensia, 2:757-58. For the identification
of "Bobacre" as Abu Bakr, governor of Mahdia and descendant of Ibn al-Lihyani, see Dufourcq,

L'Espagne catalane, pp. 493-94.

125
On the political problems faced byMahdia in 1325, see Dufourcq, L'Espagne catalane, pp. 493
94.
126
On alcayts see ibid., pp. 101-4, 412-13, and 436-37.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian Captives 665
rationsin theMaghreb would be servedby thesubmissionofMahdia and itslord
Yet whetherAbu Bakr's conversionwas a Christian literary
to Christianity.127
fabrication,hisown invention, or a genuineexperience,thelettersrenderitan act
as pregnant with politicalconsequencesas itwas with religious
meaning.And on
both stages,
Mary plays a leadingrole.She impelsAbu Bakr's changeof spiritual
and all thetriumphsforChristianityit triggers.
affiliation
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,
theMarian 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
presses triumphas eloquentlyas anyvictory won throughtheclash of armscan.
As a narrativetrope,itdraws itspower inpart fromtheequivalenceso often made
betweenthefemalebody and a territorial polityor a people.128
Christiansof late
medieval and early-modern Spain were well aware of this. In theballads and
romancesthatenjoyedsuchpopularity,they would have heardChristianknights
compareMuslim citiesripeforconquest tobeautiful women equallyreadyforthe
pluckingand learned,too,ofMuslim princesses whose sexual unionwith Chris
tianheroes symbolizedthedefeatofMuslim territory.129 Perhaps thisabilityof
thefeminineto embodythecollectivecoloredhowChristiansunderstoodlegends
about converted Muslim maidens, suchas Zoraida and la buenaChristiana.Ifso,
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 thefatherand all he standsforculminatesin theirrenunciation of his religion.

127
On these Aragonese ambitions see ibid.
128
Margaret R. Higonnet and Patrice L.-R. Higonnet, "The Double Helix," in Behind the Lines:
Gender and the Two World Wars, ed. Margaret Randolph Higonnet et al. (New Haven, Conn., 1987),
pp. 37-38.
129
Pedro Correa Rodr?guez, Los romances frontizeros, 2 vols. (Granada, 1999), 1:297 and 301-2.
For discussion, see Louise Mirrer, Women, Jews, and Muslims in the Texts ofReconquest Castile (Ann

Arbor, Mich., 1996), pp. 17-30; Juan Victorio Mart?nez, "La ciudad-mujer en los romances frontize

ros," Anuario de estudios medievales 15 (1985), 553-60; and Mar?a Soledad Carrasco Urgoiti, El
Moro de Granada en la literatura (del siglo XV al XX) (Madrid, 1956; repr. 1989), p. 32.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
666 Christian Captives

Despite her father'stenderpleas,Zoraida is so unshakable inherdecisionto leave

Islam thatsome literary criticshave condemnedheras a heartless,disloyalchild.130
Yet hereZoraida merelyaccompaniesher literarysistersas theyall heedChrist's
repeatedexhortationsin theNew Testamentto cast off thetiesof blood kinship
in favorof spiritualfamily(Matthew12.46-50, 10.29; Luke 14.26).
In theirquest to convert,thesewomen oftenspurnnot only theirfathersbut
othermaleMuslim authorityfigures. BothGuadalupe's la buena Christianaand
Cervantes' Zahara eludemarriage theMuslim men chosen forthemby their
to
fathers. These are not thegesturesofwomen seekingto escape patriarchyitself:
Zahara selectsa Christianhusband forherself,as does Zoraida in the"Captive's
Tale." Sexuallyand spiritually appropriatedforChristianity,Zahara andZoraida
become livingaffrontstoMuslim male honor.So, too, theconversionsof la buena
Christiana and Ismeriebringhumiliationand shame upon theMuslim men,
whetherfatheror potentialhusband,whose authoritytheyshrugoff.The inability
of thesemen tocontrolwomen supposedlyundertheirprotectionparallelsIslam's
inabilityto retainthemaidens' religiousloyalties.
Muslim men and Islam itself
are exposed as emasculated,impotentforces,incapableof commandingobedience
or arousing desire.
The Muslim maidens of thesetalesdirecttheirdesire insteadtowarda much
more worthy object: theVirginMary. All of thesewomen-Notre-Dame de
Liesse's Ismerie,Guadalupe's la buena Christiana,and Cervantes'Zahara and
Zoraida-are characterizedby intenselongingfor theVirgin.Zoraida, forex
ample, openlyyearns forMary. In contrast,her relationship with theChristian
is
captivewhom she has chosen as herhusband strikingly devoid of sexual pas
sion.'3' So pronounced is thelanguageofMarian desire in thelegendfromLiesse
thatitalmost takeson lesbianproportions.The storyreads likea loveaffairfrom
theromances, with theVirgin in theroleof lovelyladyand Ismerieas theimpas
sioned suitor."Inflamed with love" and "ravishedby love," Ismeriespendshours
shut up in her room thinking about "beautiful Mary," as the Virgin is almost
invariablydescribed in this text.'32
When Ismeriefirstsees the imageofMary
broughtby angels, she is so struckby itsbeauty thatshe fallsto her knees, the
gestureof a loveras much as a devotee. She thenhides the image inher room,
takingitout of itssilkwrapper only to kiss and hug ita hundredtimesover.133
This Marian desire could symbolizetheconvert's longingfor thechurchas
embodied by theVirgin.Yet thisreadingwould not explainwhy theseMuslim
maidens' yearningfortheVirginalsomanifestsitselfas thedetermination to take
Mary as theirChristianname. Cervantes'Zahara and Zoraida are in factquite
insistentabout being calledMary.When thecaptive recountshis storytoDon
Quijote and company,hemakes themistake of introducing Zoraida byherMus

130
M?rquez Villanueva, Personajes (above, n. 85), pp. 132-34; Percas de Ponseti, Cervantes y su

concepto del arte (above, n. 12), 1:226-42 and 261.

131
M?rquez Villanueva, Personajes, pp. 116 and 120; E. Michael Gerli, Refiguring Authority: Read
ing, Writing, and Rewriting in Cervantes, Studies in Romance Languages 39 (Lexington, Ky., 1995),
p. 53.
132
"Comment Ihymage fut trouuee" (above, n. 105), pp. 47, 48, 52, and 54.
133
Ibid., pp. 53-54.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian Captives 667
limname.Deeply upset,Zoraida isprovokedtouttertheonlywords shewill say
duringthisepisode: "No, no,Zoraida! Mary,Mary . .. yes,yes,Mary,Mary!"'134
InLos banos deArgel,Zahara's verylastlineiseven"nowmy name isnotZahara
anymorebutMary."135Notre-Dame de Liesse's Ismeriealso takesMary as her
baptismal name.'36Guadalupe's la buena Christiana,however,does not. She
chooses insteadthename Isabel,perhaps a nod to thequeen reigningat thetime
of her conversion.Yet she is theexception thatproves the rule.The crowd of
Christiansat this woman's baptismurgeher to takethenameofMary. She refuses,
declaringthat"it isnot rightthattheslave should takehermistress'sname."'137
The expectationthatliesbehindthisinterchange isclear:Muslim femaleconverts
should be calledMary. And so in theballads about frontierlifethatentertained
Spanish audiencesof thesixteenthcentury,theyoftenwere.138
Even thelegendary of theonemedievalMuslim princess
afterlife who reallydid
converttoChristianity was shapedby thisexpectation.Twelfth-century Christian
chroniclersrecordedthebaptismalnameof thisdaughteror granddaughter ofone
of thelastMuslim rulersofToledo as Isabel.139 But by thethirteenth century,she
appears insteadasMary.140 Thiswas no casual substitution, as one late-thirteenth
centurytextunderscoresin itsdramaticaccountof herbaptism.In thisstory, her
new husband,AlfonsoVI, sternlyforbidstheofficiating clericsfromgivingher
thename she so keenlywants:Mary. Yet thiswoman cleverlyfoilstheking by
persuadingtheprelatestobaptizeher asMary but to tellAlfonso thattheycalled
her Isabel.'4'
These legendary converts
who happilyshedtheiroriginalnamestobecomeMary
had at least some historicalcounterparts. Fragmentary evidencefromthirteenth
centuryValencia suggeststhatMudejar womenwho convertedtoChristianity often
did receivethisname at baptism.142 In thisthey
were littledifferent fromgirlsborn
toChristianfamilies:beginningin thethirteenth century,thenameMary enjoyed
increasingpopularityacrosswesternEurope.143 So commondid itbecome thatby
thesixteenth centuryapproximately one-quarterof theChristianwomen livingin
Spainwere calledMary.144
The Muslim maidens of legendthenmay seem to blend into thiscrowd of
Marys, theirname choicemerely a reflection of actual patternsamong converts

134
Cervantes, Don Quijote 1.4.37, 1:454.
135
Cervantes, Los ba?os de Argel, lines 1059-60, p. 155.
136
"Comment Ihymage fut trouuee," p. 60.
137
Talavera, Historia de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe, fol. 323v.
138
Correa Rodr?guez, Los romances frontizeros, 1:354.
139
Cr?nica Najerense 3.56, ed. Antonio Ubieto Arteta, Textos Medievales 15 (Valencia, 1966),
p. 118.
140
Rodrigo Jim?nez de Rada, Historia de rebus sive historia Gothica 6.30, ed. Juan Fern?ndez
Valverde, CCCM 72/1 (Turnhout, 1987), p. 214.
141
Primera cr?nica general de Espa?a que mand? componer Alfonso el Sabio y se continuaba bajo
Sancho IV en 1289 847, ed. Ram?n Men?ndez Pidal, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (Madrid, 1955), 2:521.
142
Burns, "Journey from Islam" (above, n. 118), p. 349, n. 62.
143
Robert Bartlett, The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization, and Cultural Change, 950
1350 (Princeton, N.J., 1993), p. 274.
144 et les pr?noms chr?tiens,"
Bernard Vincent, "Les Morisques in Les Morisques et leurs temps:
Table ronde internationale 4-7 juillet 1981, Montpellier (Paris, 1983), pp. 57-69.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
668 Christian Captives
and Christians.But theheavy emphasis thatChristian storytellers such as Cer
vantesplaced on thenew name of thesefabledconvertssuggestsotherwise.For a
Muslim woman to take thename ofMary was a significant act, at leastas these
legendsconstrueit. In acceptingtheVirgin's name as theirown, theselegendary
convertsexpress theirlikenessto thesaintlypatron of theirconversion.As they
takeonMary's name, theytakeon her identity, a message stronglyreinforced by
otherelementsof thesestories.Even theone convert who does not taketheVirgin's
name-Guadalupe's la buena Christiana-is nonethelessjustasMarian a figure
as her sisters.Like them,la buena Christianaplays a role stronglyreminiscent of
Mary's own: she is a mercifulvirginwho helpsprisonersescape.
The parallelsbetweenconvertandMary are perhapsmost pronounced in the
"Captive's Tale." As some criticshave noted,Cervantes skillfully usesMarian
imagerytodraw hisportraitofZoraida. He describeshisvirginal Muslim maiden
as "Our Lady ofLiberty"and thefilethatcuts throughcaptives'chains.145 Surely,
too,Cervantes intended Zoraida's name-the Arabicword forstar-as an allu
as thestellamaris, the "starof thesea."'146
sion to theVirgin's identity The cap
tives'frequentreferencestoZoraida as "our star" are thenwordplays inmore
ways thanone.147Such explicitly Marian languagedoes not appear in theother
talesof converted Muslim maidens. Yet the structuralsimilarity between these
women and theVirgin isunmistakable.Chaste liberatorsoffering hope toChris
tiancaptives,theMuslim maidens become somany reflections ofMary herself.
of
Thismirroring theVirginby Muslim women was notmerelya literary effect
employed to heightentheMarian natureof thesestories.Itwas freighted with
meaning, as is renderedbeautifully explicitina poem fromtheCantigas de Santa
Maria thatdescribesCastilian knightsbesieginga Muslim castle.148 When the
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
depictedholdingand embracingher Son. "149 The artistwho portrayedthescene
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
exactlythesameway thatinan earliercantigaa statueof the Madonna andChild
nestlesbetweenthebattlements of a Christianfrontier castleunderattackbyMus
lims. 150

145
Cervantes, Don Quijote 1.4.41, 1:495; Garc?s, Cervantes in Algiers, p. 215.
146
Gerli, Refiguring Authority, pp. 46, 50, and 52.
147
Garc?s, Cervantes in Algiers, pp. 214-15.
148
Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 205, 2:251-53. For the historical circumstances described
in this poem, see Joseph F. O'Callaghan, Alfonso X and the Cantigas de Santa Maria: A Poetic Biog

raphy, The Medieval Mediterranean: Peoples, Economies and Cultures, 400-1453,16 (Leiden, 1998),
pp. 89-90.
149
Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 205, 2:253.
150
For theMuslim and child, see Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS Banco Rari 20, fol. 6r. For the
statue of Mary and Jesus in the battlements of the Christian castle, see Biblioteca de El Escorial MS
TI. 1, fol. 247r.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian Captives 669
This poem is historicallyspecificenough to be recountinga real event.Just
imaginethescene: themen suckingin theirbreathsinastonishment, nudgingeach
other,muttering,"They'reright. Looks justlikethatstatueinthechurchathome."
The towerwas unsteady, weakened by fire,about tocollapse.So, thecantigasays,
theChristiansprayed to theVirginMary, theprototypeof the image theyhad
beforetheireyes,askingher to save these Muslims.Miraculously,when thetower
fell,theMuslim woman and her child landed
without injury.The poem's conclu
sion is foretoldin thebodies of thewoman and herchild: theyconvertedtoChris
tianity.
The illuminations underlinetheMarian qualityof thisconvertevenmore ex
plicitlythando thewords of thepoem.15'In one frame,theChristianslead the
pair,stillin theMarian pose ofmotherwith child,beforetheverykindof image
theyhad unwittingly createdwith theirbodies: a statueofMary with Christ in
her arms.A Christiangestures with one hand at thestatueandwith theotherto
theMuslim mother,explainingthemiracle toherand indicatingto theviewerthe
continuumbetween the twomaternal figures.In thefinalframe,under the im
passivegaze of theMarian majestas, theMuslims, stillinmother-and-childmode,
shiverin thebaptismalfont.
In thisstoryof religiouscolonization,the likenessbetween thewoman's ma
ternalbodyandMary's both savesand betraysher.Representedas a living Marian
icon, thisMuslim naturallyis appropriatedforChristianity.A similardynamic
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
thinkersthemselves, of course,heldwidely varyingopinionson thissubject.Vi
olent controversy over imagevenerationroiledeighth-century Byzantium, while
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.152Graphic
proofof theabilityof thehuman formto representsacred figures,thestoriesof
Muslim maidens asmirrorsofMary participatein theseChristianapologeticson
behalfof images.The formaltracts writtenby apologistssuchas a Spanishpriest
held captive in early-seventeenth-centuryTunismade theirpoints in defenseof

151 MS Banco Rari 20, fol. 6r.

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale,
152For an
example see Miguel As?n Palacios, Abenh?zam de C?rdoba y su historia cr?tica de las
ideas religiosas, 5 vols. (Madrid, 1927-32), 1.19.11, 3:112. For discussion, see Louis Cardaillac,

Morisques et chr?tiens: Un affrontement pol?mique (1492-1640) (Paris, 1977), pp. 330-31; and Ana

Echevarr?a, The Fortress of Faith: The Attitude towards Muslims in Fifteenth Century Spain, Medieval
Iberian Peninsula, Texts and Studies, 12 (Leiden, 1999), p. 163.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
670 Christian Captives

imagesquite explicitly,
while thesetalesaboutMuslim femaleconvertsare nec
essarilymore subtle.153Yet atmoments two of thesestoriesare almost as direct
as theapologists: theynot onlydepictMuslims who become iconsofMary, but
theyalso show thesewomen venerating Marian images.Ismerierespectfully
kneels
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
polemicaldividinglinesbetweenIslam and Christianity. Yet iftheyservedas tri
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.
Indeed,the identitybetween thesewomen and theVirgin servesas a powerful,if
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.156Maryam figured,too, in thedevotional
livesofMuslims, who couldmake pilgrimagesto see theplaces shehad stopped
duringtheflighttoEgypt-the date treethatleanedover to allow theexhausted
mother to collect itsfruits,thespringfromwhich 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 thatMary was
themother of God and were no less acceptingof thenotion of her perpetual
virginity.These pointsof disagreementgave ChristiansandMuslims a powerful

153 e la defen?a de la santa fe Cat?lica

"The Captive of Tunis," Tratado Christiana, respondiendo ?
los argumentos que de nuestros sagradas escrituras nos opone el Mahometano, Paris, Biblioth?que
nationale de France, MS espagnol 49.
154
"Comment Ihymage fut trouuee," p. 53; Cervantes, Don Quijote 1.4.41, 1:501.
155
For a detailed discussion of the ramifications of Mary as a figure shared by the two faiths, see

Remensnyder, La Conquistadora.
156 et l'Islam
J.M. "Abd el Jalil, Marie (Paris, 1950); Jane D?mmen McAuliffe, "Chosen of All
Women: Mary and Fatima in Qur'anic Exegesis," IslamoChristiana 7 (1981), 19-28; Jane I. Smith
and Yvonne Haddad, "The Virgin Mary in Islamic Tradition and Commentary," The Muslim World
79 (1989), 161-87; D. A. Spellberg, Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of CAHsha bint
Abi Bakr (New York, 1994), pp. 152-74.
157 account
Burchard of Strasbourg's in Arnold of L?beck, "Chronica," MGH SS 21:238 (I thank
Benjamin Kedar for this reference); Lucette Valensi, La fuite en Egypte: Histoires d'Orient et d'Occident
(Paris, 2002), pp. 89-113 and 203-26; Rudolf Kriss and Hubert Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube im
Bereich des Islam, 2 vols. (Wiesbaden, 1960-62), 1:84, 162, 172, 223, 227, and 242. For other
evidence of medieval Muslim devotional practices involving Maryam, see Cuffel, "Henceforth" (above,
n. 17); Mikel de Epalza, J?sus otage: Juifs, chr?tiens et musulmans en Espagne (VIe-XVIIe s.) (Paris,
1987), pp. 170-99; and M?nzer, "Itinerarium" (above, n. 41), pp. 61-62.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Christian Captives 671
way to proclaim theirdifference fromeach other,an opportunitytheytook ad
vantageof not only inwrittenpolemic but inphysicalgestures.According to a
late-fifteenth-century
chronicle,forexample,JuandeVera was sentfromCastile
in1482 as royalambassador to theNasrid courtatGranada.While lingeringin
theshadedpatios of theAlhambra he happened to overhearsomeMuslims dis
cussing"mattersof faith."Perhapsas deliberateprovocation,one said that
Mary
did not remaina virginafterChrist'sbirth.Enraged,deVera accusedhimof lying.
Then, drawinghis sword,he strucktheman on thehead.158 Exactly fortyyears
later,IgnatiusLoyola, futurefounderof theJesuits,had a similarrun-inwith a
Muslim ofAragonwho deniedMary's perpetualvirginity. Only divine interven
tionstoppedLoyola,who had not yet tradedhis soldier'sarms fortheweapons
of religiouslife,fromstabbingtheMuslim todeath toavengethisinsulttoMary's
honor. 159
Yet as deVera and Loyola knew,Mary belongedtoboth IslamandChristianity.
A sharedfigure, shecreatedthepotentialforreligiousproximity betweenMuslims
and Christians-a possibilitythatbotheredMuslim and Christian theologians
alike.160But italso was actualized in thedevotionalpracticesofmanyMuslims
andChristiansin themedieval and early-modern Mediterraneanworld.Members
of both faithscould be foundvenerating Mary at shrinessuch as Tentudia in
westernCastile, Saidnaya inSyria,Trapani inSicily,on the islandofLampedusa,
and all along therouteof theflighttoEgypt-a minglingofMuslims and Chris
tiansthatin some cases continuesto thisday.161
And at Saidnaya,Trapani,Lam
pedusa, and perhapsTentudia, too,Muslims joinedChristiansinveneratingjust
thoseobjects embodied by theMuslim maidenly convertsof legend:imagesof
Mary.
Faithfulreflectionsof thisfigurestandingon thebordersbetweenChristianity
and Islam,the Muslim maidens of legendat timesshare Mary's religioushybridity.
Critics have long remarkedon the ambiguityof Zoraida's religiousidentity
somehave evenseenheras amixtureofMuslim andChristian,a "fantasybridging
And Zahara, declaresone characterinLos bahos de
Islam and Christianity."'162
Argel, is a "cristianamora"-a ChristianMoor, aMoorish Christiandepending

158
Andr?s Bern?ldez, Memorias del reinado de los reyes cat?licos 47, ed. Manuel G?mez-Moreno
and Juan de Mata Carriazo (Madrid, 1962), p. 123.
159
Pedro de Rivadeneira, "Vida del padre Ignacio Loyola" 3, Biblioteca de autores espa?oles, 60:17.
160
Cuffel, "Henceforth."
161
Tentudia (thirteenth-century evidence): Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 329,3:162-65. Said
naya (evidence from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries): Burchard of Strasbourg's account inArnold
of L?beck, "Chronica," MGH SS 21:240; Paul Devos, "Les premi?res versions occidentales de la
l?gende de Sa?dnaia," Analecta Bollandiana 65 (1947), 245-78; Daniel Baraz, "The Incarnated Icon
of Saidnaya Goes West: A Re-examination of theMotif in the Light of New Manuscript Evidence,"
Le Mus?on 108 (1995), 181-91; William Dalrymple, From theHoly Mountain: A Journey among the
Christians of the East (New York, 1998), pp. 186-91; Bernard Hamilton, "Our Lady of Saidnaya:
An Orthodox Shrine Revered byMuslims and Knights Templar at the Time of the Crusades," in The

Holy Land, Holy Lands, and Christian History, ed. R. N. Swanson, Studies in Church History 36

(Woodbridge, Eng., 2000), pp. 207-15. Trapani and Lampedusa (seventeenth- to twentieth-century
evidence): "The Captive of Tunis," Tratado, fol. 76v; Ron Barka?, "Une invocation musulmane au
nom de J?sus et de Marie," Revue de l'histoire des religions 200 (1983), 264-65.
162
Garc?s, Cervantes in Algiers, p. 219.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
672 Christian Captives
The identification
on how one translatesthisoxymoronicphrase.163 Zoraida and
Zahara feelwithMary and theirdeep devotiontoher inpart allow theirreligious
indeterminacy.
Yet in theend,Cervantespulls back fromtheunsettling possibilityof theblur
ringof religiousboundaries betweenMuslim and Christian offeredbyMary/
Maryam. At crucialmoments in the action, both Zahara and Zoraida loudly
proclaim themselvesto be Christian.164 Justwhat makes themChristianand not
Muslim? Afterall,Cervantesnevershowseitherbeingbaptized. It is their Marian
devotion thatallows thesewomen to definethemselves as Christians.
Ifthevenerationof theVirginstandsforconversion,in theprocessMary herself
isclaimed forChristianityand her rolewithin Islamdenied.Although inanother
of his playsCervantesexplicitlyacknowledges Mary's place in Islam,he does not
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
Maryam isovershadowedby theway Cervantesstructures his storiestoeffectively
erase theMuslim Mary. He isnot alone in this-the talesfrom Guadalupe about
la buena Christianaand from Notre-Dame de Liesse about Ismeriedo thesame.
In thesestories,noMuslims other than the femaleconverts mentionMary. The
Muslim maidens themselves do not seemtoknow aboutMary because shebelongs
to Islamictradition.Instead,each learnsabout her fromChristians, whetherfrom
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
figurestraddlingtheboundaries between Islam and Christianity, he ultimately
claimed her forChristianity.This was perhaps the finalin the seriesof triumphs
overMuslims articulatedthroughhis storiesofChristiancaptives, Muslim maid
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,
Christianscould use thedifferences betweenMary andMaryam as a way to dis
tinguishthemselvesfrom Muslims. But justas theydid not denyMuslims a right
to liveamongChristians,theydid not deny that Muslims could respect Maryam.
Medieval SpanishChristianscould even recount miracle storiesinwhichMus
limsbenefitedfromtheVirgin'swondrous powers. In thesetales, Muslims earned
Mary's favorby actingexactly likeChristians-praying to her in a church,ven
eratingher statue,and carryingbattlebannersadornedwith her image.167 Pow

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
Cervantes, La gran sultana do?a Catalina de Oviedo, lines 1738-52, in Obras completas,
p. 1018.
166
As?n, "La hija de Agi Morato," pp. 322-23.
167
Muslims venerating the Virgin in a church: Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 329, 3:162-65
(see also the illumination to no. 165, which depicts a sultan making an offering toMary in a church;
Biblioteca de El Escorial MS T.I.l, fol. 222r). Muslims venerating a statue of the Virgin: Alfonso X,
Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 183, 2:201-2; also the twelfth-century Latin version of Benedict of Peter

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Captives
Christian 673
erful,ifveiled,messagesof religiouscolonizationthuslurkinthesestoriestailoring
Muslim venerationofMaryam to thepatternofChristiandevotionto theVirgin.
Nonetheless, theMuslims of thesetalesdo not have to take theultimatestepof
conversion.They can venerate Mary without renouncingtheirown religion. Mar
iandevotiondoes not make them into Christians,unlikeCervantes' maidens.
Cervanteswrote ina contextverydifferent fromtheone inwhich these medieval
storiesemerged.A new configuration of religiousaffiliations
prevailedin Spain
and it affectedtheways thatMary servedas a boundary between Islam and
Christianity.During Cervantes' lifetime, therewere no moreMudejars inSpain
but onlyMoriscos: Muslims forcibly convertedtoChristianityand theirdescen
dants.Not alwaysenthusiastic of thereligionthathad been imposed
practitioners
on them,thesepeoplewere oftensubject to interrogation by theSpanish Inqui
While the inquisitorsstruggledtohold back thecurrentof crypto-Islam
sition.168
thattheybelievedran strongin theMoriscos, theirtribunalsalsoworked to root
out yetotherChristianswhose orthodoxywas suspect:men andwomen swept
up in thereligiousideasproposedby reformers such as Erasmus and Luther.169
Ifduringthefirestorm of confessionalizationthatconsumedsixteenth-century
Europe, theVirgin emergedas an iconofCatholicism,with adherentsto theold
versionofChristianitychampioningher cult against reformers' attacks,shehad
just as largea part to play in the fightagainst thepresumed threatof crypto
Islam.170Tellingly,among the litmustestsused by inquisitorsto determinethe
degree Christianity
of ofMoriscos accused of apostasywas preciselytheone Cer
vantesuses to declareZoraida and Zahara Christians: Marian devotion.'17Per
haps this inquisitorialstrategymade Moriscos afraid to say anythingabout the
Virgin.Some authorsat any rateimaginedthatitdid.Never utterawordwhether
good or bad aboutMary lestyou fallafoul of theInquisition,oneMorisco ad

borough, Gesta r?gis Henrici Secundi, ed. William Stubbs in The Chronicle of the Reigns of Henry II
and Richard I, A.D. 1169-1192, Rolls Series 49/1-2 (London, 1867), 2:121-22. Muslims using a
banner of the Virgin in battle: Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Mar?a 181, 2:196-97.
168
For an introduction to the large bibliography on the complicated issue of theMoriscos' religious
beliefs, see L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500-1614 (Chicago, 2005); Mercedes Garc?a-Arenal, "El

Propuestas de discusi?n," Al-Qantara: Revista de estudios ?rabes 13 (1992), 491

problema Morisco:
503. For an introduction to the equally large literature on the Spanish Inquisition, see Henry Kamen,
The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision (New Haven, Conn., 1997).
169
Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, pp. 83-102.
170In artists could even depict Mary brandishing a sword
thewake of the Council of Trent, Catholic
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,
see Beth Kreitzer, Reforming Mary: Changing Images of the Virgin Mary in Lutheran Sermons of the
Sixteenth Century (Oxford, 2004); Thomas Freeman, "Offending God: John Foxe and English Prot
estant Reactions to the Cult of the Virgin Mary," in The Church and Mary, ed. R. N. Swanson, Studies
in Church 39 (Woodbridge, Eng., 2004), pp. 228-38; Bridget Heal, "Marian Devotion and
History
Confessional Identity in Sixteenth-Century Germany," ibid., pp. 218-227; Diarmaid MacCullough,

"Mary and Sixteenth-Century Protestants," ibid., pp. 191-217; and Jaroslav Pelikan, Mary through
the Centuries: Her Place in theHistory of Culture (New Haven, Conn., 1996), pp. 153-63.
171
See references below in nn. 180, 183, and 186-87.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
674 Captives
Christian
monishes his familyin a fictionaldialogue composed by a SpanishFranciscanof
thelatesixteenthcentury.172
In thisfriar'simaginativerendering of hisworld, thereisno room fortheMus
limMaryam, only foraMary overwhelmingly identified
withChristianity.Other
sixteenth-century Spanish textsevenmore blatantlyeffaced Mary's role in Islam
tomake her intoamarkerofChristianity. The singersofpopular ballads and the
authorsof local historiesof theReconquest inventedtalesof heroicChristians
who veneratedtheVirginand of enragedMuslims who persecutedher as a figure
Such storiesalso came to lifein theplays ofGolden Age
alien to theirfaith.173
dramaturges.174 This increasingsilencesurrounding thefactthatJesus's
motherbe
longedasmuch to Islam as she did toChristianitycould simplyshow ignorance
about a faithno longeropenlypracticedon theIberianPeninsula.But it isequally
likelyto reflecta desire to keep theboundariesbetween Islam and Christianity
crisp in thiserawhen thereligiousambiguityof theMoriscos threatenedto blur
them.
For theirpart,Moriscos were evidentlyaware of the increasinglytightlink
betweenMary and Christianity.175 In strivingto articulatetheirown religious
identitiesin thecomplexclimateof sixteenth-century Spain, someMoriscos even
contributedto thisassociationbetween theVirgin and thefaithnamed afterher
son.To proclaim themselves good Christians,Moriscos couldmakeMary intoa
symbolof theirreligiousprobity,as theydid a particularlyflamboyantfashion
in
Granada. There, someMoriscos fashionedfortheircom
in late-sixteenth-century
munity a spectacularlygrandiose role inChristian salvationhistoryof thepast
and of the future.176One of theprincipalguarantorsof thishistoryrecordedin
archaicizingArabic on lead tabletswas theVirgin,pure and immaculately con
ceived,as growingnumbersofChristianbelievedher to be.177 Mary had dictated
thetextinpersonand ordereditbe translatedintoArabic.Why intoArabic? "The

172 Fer
Juan de Pineda, Di?logos familiares de la agricultura christiana 11.23, ed. Juan Meseguer

n?ndez, Biblioteca de autores espa?oles, 162:369.

173
Correa Rodr?guez, Los romances frontizeros (above, n. 129), 1:407-10 and 444-48 and 2:707
12; Jos? Rodr?guez Molina, "Santos guerreros en La Frontera," in IV estudios, ed. Toro Ceballos and

Rodr?guez Molina (above, n. 30), pp. 456-61.

174
Lope de Vega, "Los hechos de Garcilaso de la Vega y moro Tarfe," in Comedias, ed. Arroyo

Stephens (above, n. 93), 1:1-58; "El Triunfo del Ave Maria," ed. Ram?n de Mesonero Romanos,
Biblioteca de autores espa?oles, 49:173-94. The latter play enjoyed enduring popularity; see Carrasco

Urgoiti, El Moro de Granada (above, n. 129), pp. 85-87.

175 see Cardaillac, et
On the wide range of attitudes toward Mary among Moriscos, Morisques
chr?tiens (above, n. 152), pp. 264-79.
176
Los libros pl?mbeos del Sacromonte, ed. and trans. Miguel Jos? Hagerty (Madrid, 1980). For
discussion, see Dar?o Cabanelas, "Intento de supervivencia en el ocaso de una cultura: Los Libros

pl?mbeos de Granada," Nueva revista de filolog?a hisp?nica 30 (1981), 334-58; and the articles in
the special edition of Al-Qantara: Revista de estudios ?rabes 24 (2003).
177
On the Immaculate Conception in these forgeries, see T. D. Kendrick, St. James in Spain (London,
1960), pp. 86-103; Suzanne L. Stratton, The Immaculate Conception in Spanish Art (Cambridge,
Eng., 1994), pp. 68-69. For the popularity of thisMarian doctrine in Spain during this period, see
Estella Ruiz Galvez Prigo, "M?cula y pureza: Maculistas, inmaculistas, ymaculados (Espa?a s. XV a
s. XVII)," in Les conversos et le pouvoir en Espagne ? la fin du moyen ?ge, ed. Jeanne Battesti Pellegrin
(Aix-en-Provence, 1997), pp. 139-61.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Captives
Christian 675
Arabs are one of themost excellentpeoples," saysMary, "and theirlanguageone
of themost excellentlanguages.God chose themto -supporthis law in the last
Here Mary assures theMoriscos' identityas bothArabs and Chris
times."'178
tians.179
ThoseMoriscos who soughtinsteadto remainconnectedwith thereligionof
theirancestorsalsomight turnto theChristian Mary-but only inorder to reject
her and thusproclaim theirallegiance to Islam. Some of thesecrypto-Muslims
adheredto Islamicteachings, declaringthatwhileMary was a virgin,shecertainly
was not themother of God.180Well schooled in theQur'anic interpretation of
Mary, these Moriscos tendedto come fromregionsthathad been denselypopu
latedbyMuslims until late in the fifteenthcentury.18' If theywere not familiar
with theQur'an itself,theycould glean theirknowledgeof thevirginal Maryam
fromthe legendstold andwrittendown about her in aliamiado, theversionof
Spanishused byMoriscos.182
But othercrypto-Muslims hadmuch lessknowledgeof thereligionthey wanted
to practice.Theywere not familiar with the
Qur'anic storiesabout Maryam. So
littlein factdid theseMoriscos know aboutMaryam and so strongly did they
associateChristianity with theVirgin that, in an odd echo of Cervantes, they
themselves could denyMary's role in Islam. In theireffortsto distinguishthem
selvesfromChristians,thesemen andwomen could rejectnot onlyMary's status
asmotherofGod but even somethingassertedin theQur'an-her virginity.'83 By
1525 inquisitorsexpectedMoriscos to denyMary's virginity.184 Muslims from
North Africawho came to Spain triedto teach these Moriscos theerrorof their
ways,with varyingsuccess.185
Perhaps theNorth Africanvisitorswere aware of even biggerdoctrinalerrors
beingmade byMoriscos. In order to feelthemselvesa part of theumma, some
Moriscos tookthefinalstepof expunging Mary completelyfromtheir understand

178
Libros pl?mbeos, p. 125.
179 as Christian while guaranteeing
Among the intents of these forgeries was to present theMoriscos
their ethnic identity as Arabs; seeMercedes Garc?a-Arenal, "El entorno de los plomos: Historiograf?a

y linaje," Al-Qantara: Revista de estudios ?rabes 24 (2003), 295-325, esp. p. 311.

180
Cardaillac, Morisques et chr?tiens, p. 269; Mercedes Garc?a-Arenal, Inquisici?n y moriscos: Los
procesos del Tribunal de Cuenca (Madrid, 1978), pp. 107-8; Mercedes Garc?a-Arenal, Los Moriscos

(Granada, 1996), p. 207.

181
Cardaillac, Morisques et chr?tiens, p. 279; Garc?a-Arenal, Inquisici?n y moriscos, pp. 107-8.
182
Leyendas aljamiadas y moriscas sobre personajes b?blicos, ed. Antonio Vespertino Rodr?guez
Antonio Vespertino Rodr?guez, "Las figuras de Jes?s y Mar?a en la
(Madrid, 1988), pp. 334-36;
literatura aljamiado-morisca," inActas del Coloquio internacional sobre literatura aljamiada ymorisca,
Colecci?n de Literatura Espa?ola Aljamiado-Morisca 3 (Madrid, 1978), pp. 259-94. On aljamiado
and the religious texts available toMoriscos, see Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500-1614, pp. 128-154
and 156-59.
183
Cardaillac, Morisques et chr?tiens, pp. 270-71; Garc?a-Arenal, Inquisici?n ymoriscos, pp. 107
8; Autos de fe y causas de la Inquisici?n de C?rdoba, ed. Rafael Gracia Boix, Colecci?n Textos para
la Historia de C?rdoba 4 (Cordoba, 1983), pp. 27, 90, 143, 165, 206, and 218.
184 and Difference in Sixteenth-Century
Deborah Root, "Speaking Christian: Orthodoxy Spain,"
Representations 23 (1988), 125.
185
Cardaillac, Morisques et chr?tiens, pp. 268-69 and 421-37; Garc?a-Arenal, Inquisici?n ymoris
cos, pp. 129-30.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
676 Christian Captives
ingof Islam, at least if the testimonytheyand theiraccusers gave before the
Inquisitionis to be believed. "[I] do not believe in theVirginMary, and [I] do
believe inMuhammad"; Moriscos "believe inGod but do not have theVirgin
Mary"; Moriscos should "be likethe Moors of thekingdomofGranada,who did
not believe inGod orOur Lady"; Moriscos call "St.Mary . . . St.Xaria, which
in theirlanguagemeans 'shit' 186-those statementsand others like themcede
Mary toChristianity, effacingher fromIslam justas effectivelyas Cervantesdid
inhis storiesofMuslim maidens and Christiancaptives.
It is against thisbackdrop of theVirgin's newlycharged role in thecomplex
play of religiousidentityinCervantes' day thatthewords of Franciscode Espi
nosa, aMorisco who was hauled beforetheInquisitionin the1560s,make sense.
In his confession,Franciscoheaped scornon various aspectsof Christianity,in
cludingthebeliefthatifcaptivesheld byMuslims prayedto theVirgin,shewould
freethem.187 With thisdeclaration,Francisconot onlysoughttoalignhimself with
Islam by denyingtheVirgin'smiraculous powers. In rejecting Mary's abilityto
liberateChristiancaptives,thisMorisco also refusedthenarrativeof Christian
victoryoverMuslims thatso powerfully undergirdedtheVirgin'srole intheChris
tianexperienceand representation of captivity.
Franciscoprobablyhad not learnedof thebeliefhe so disparagedby reading
themiracles of theVirgin ofGuadalupe or any other text.It seemsmore likely
thatthis Morisco had heard storiesof theVirgin'spowers to freeprisonersfrom
people he knew,whetherotherMoriscos who recountedthesetaleswith incre
dulityorOld Christianswho relatedthem with satisfaction.
Whatever his sources,
Francisco's testimony suggestsjusthow deeply rooted in thecultureof ordinary
Christianmen andwomenMary's associationwith theliberationof captiveswas
by thesixteenthcentury. Not all of them,of course,had personal experienceof
her favor in thisdomain. But theynonethelessdid not need learnedhagiogra
phers-or literary geniuses likeCervantes-to tell themthattheVirginwas the
powerfulallyofChristianssuffering in thebahos ofAlgiersor Tunis.
Itmight be wise thento askwhether thesixteenthcenturyreallysignaledthe
end of themedievalMary, as some historianshave proposed.188 True, fromthe
confessionaltumultand otherradicalchangesof thesixteenthcentury,theVirgin
emerged as a figureinmany ways quite differentfromher medieval sister.
Sixteenth-century Catholic preachersincreasingly instructed
theiraudiencesto see
Jesus'smother as a passive figure,a model of obedience toGod, ratherthan the
powerfulwonder-workerofmedieval tradition.189 But sermonscan tellonlyone
sideof thestoryof devotion.Even in theera of theCounter-Reformation, preach
ersdid not completelycontrol theVirgin. She lived in theheartsof her devotees

186
Autos de fe y causas, pp. 104,105,129, and 143; Dolors Bram?n, Contra moros ijueus: Formado
i estrategia d'unes discriminacions al pa?s Valencia, Serie "La Unitat" 62 (Valencia, 1981), p. 92; and
Cardaillac, Morisques et chr?tiens, pp. 271 and 418.
187
Francisco says that while Christian captives may pray and make offerings to Mary, they are
liberated not by her but by the ransoms they pay their captors; see Garc?a-Arenal, Inquisici?n ymoris
cos, pp. 121 and 124.
188
Ellington, From Sacred Body to Angelic Soul.
189
Ibid., esp. pp. 188-207.

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Captives
Christian 677
aswell.And thesemen andwomen knew thatinthestruggle againsttheMuslims,
whetheron thebattlefield at Lepanto or on thebattlefield Mary was
of captivity,
always readytohelp, "fighting" on behalfofChristians,to repeatthewords used
by one ofCervantes'contemporaries.190
The weight of centuriestold themso. For itwas not thecircumstances of the
sixteenthcentury-the skyrocketing numbersof Spaniards suffering incaptivity,
and theconfrontation with theTurks,aMuslim enemymore vigorousthanGra
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
Christiancaptivesthemselves could nomore have existedwithout their medieval
counterpartsthancould Don Quijote have riddenoffintoLa Mancha without his
of
many heroic predecessors.The Marian stories captivity and liberationthat
culminateinCervantes' charactersreveal the long fingersof theMiddle Ages
reachingdeep intotheearly-modern world, crumblingchronologicalbarriersthat
scholarsfartoo oftentreatas solidwalls.

Memorias del cautivo, p. 127. See above, p. 647.

Postscript: I regret that I have not been able to integrate the findings of Jarbel Rodriguez's Captives
and Their Saviors in the Medieval Crown of Aragon (Washington, D.C., 2007), as his study was

published after this article was already in proof.

Amy G. Remensnyder is Associate Professor of History at Brown University (e-mail:

[email protected]).

This content downloaded from 197.37.98.239 on Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:48:25 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions