Mudéjar revisited A prologoména to the reconstruction of perception, devotion, and experience at the mudéjar convent of Clarisas, Tordesillas, Spain (fourteenth century A.D.)! CYNTHIA ROBINSON Oh, Garden ofthe Valley, there do | find the Mistress ofthe Sanctuary! Valley Garden, she who enfolds the shining blade! Rest fora while in her shade, rest from your cares, Rest until the dew settles upon her. ‘Muhyr al-Din Ibn ‘Arabi, Tarjumén al-Ashwq? Since the nineteenth century, the history ofthe visual culture of the tberian peninsula has included the category of mudéjar art, architecture, and omament. The term is derived irom the Arabic mudayyan, which refers to those Muslimrs who “remained behind” after Christian ‘conquest of the lands they inhabited. As a descriptor, however, referring to a particular category of omament ‘oF object which “looks Islamic” but was commissioned and used by Christians, the term owes its existence to nineteenth-century Spanish art historian José Amador de los Rios.? The currently accepted mudéjar model posits the appropriation of Islamic art by Christians, and suggests @ notable intensification of the phenomenon following the (re-]conquest of the Muslim teritories of al-Andalus by Christians, with the fourteenth century constituting, for many specialists, the zenith of the style or aesthetic.* 1. | would lke to take this opportunity to thank the already considerable number of colleagues whowe Insights have enriched this ject: Gonzalo Bords, Jods Castro Toledo, Maria). Feliciano, Fernando Gutiérrez Bafos, Oleg Grabr, Renata Holod, Michelle Lamprakos, Teresa Prez Higuera, Francisco Prado Vl, José Miguel Puera Vilchez, Naser Rabbat, and jun Carls Ruiz Souza. am also {tefl forthe enthusiasm of Brendan Branley, Damon Montclae, Efzabeth Olton, Richard Pere, and Jsica Sti the students who ‘made up a seminar on mudejr art and culture which I ught atthe Univesity of New Mexico during the spring semester of 2002. Their Insights and contributions are present throughout this esay; some are footnoted where appropriate. 2. thn ‘Arabi, Tarjumin alAshwig (Bert: Dir Sider, 1998), pp (8-89. My translation 3. See José Amador de los Rio, Pero de Madraza, El extilo smudéjar en arqutectura:discuso (1872; reprint Valencia: Librertas “ParisValencia” 1996), 4. Specialists ae not in agreement as to whether the mudjar [Phenomenon constitutes a style, or merely an aesthetic choice. The ‘There are two paths generally taken to the interpretation of visual phenomena characterized as ‘mudejar. The fist entails the reading of structure and/or ‘ornament through an agonistic lens inspired by reconquista ideology, with islamic art being appropriated by Christians into their “language of power.” Alternately, this agonistic interpretation is suppressed and attention 's focused on a generalized and rather uninformed fascination on the part of Christian royalty and elites with Muslim culture, and in particular with its palatine aspects. In the case of the fourteenth-century royal convent of Clarsas, or Poor Claires, at Tordesillas (province of Valladolid, Spain), most interpretations have been made through the ‘generalized “fascination” lens.® The accepted model manifests itself in the famous friendship which existed a, 1359-1362 between Pedro | of Castile, the patron to whom we most probably owe the existence of a significant part of the structure as it stands today, and Muhammad V, Nasti sovereign of the kingdom of Granada. Implicit is that, without this friendship and the (undocumented) interchange of artisans believed by many to have resulted from it, the Islamic motifs could history ofthe debates surrounding this question are discussed in succinct detail in Goneelo Bara Gualn “late mujer: extado de la cuestion” in Mudjar bevoamericano: Una expresién cultural de dos mundos (Granada: Universidad de Granade, 1993), See alo ‘idem, “| mudejar como consante attic” Aas del! Simposio Internacional de Mudejarismo Cerel:Diputacign Provincial, 1981) 5. Whichever ofthe two inerpretive acts is chosen, most ofthe ‘exant scholashlp communicates the idea that all muda atthe Same. This assumption has resulted in a notable peucty of ‘monographic studies of individual buildings: cathe, the fs inclination ‘the art of scholars of mudjar art appears tobe to establish relationships between buildings or regional schoo. 6. For ths interpretation of Tordesils and of mudjar palaces in general, See most recently Mara Teresa Perez Higuera, "Lo alcazares ¥ palacioshispano-musulmanes:paradigmas consructives de a arqutectura mudjarcasellana” in Miguel Ange Castilo Oreja, ed 10s Aledzares Reales: Vigencia de los modelos tradiconales en la arquitecturadulcacrstana (Madtic: Fundacién Banco Bilbao de Vizcaya, 2001), pp. 37-57.52. RES 43 SPRING 2003 ‘not have been incorporated into the Christian building's ‘omamental program.” Rather than enriching the monument’ interpretation, however, Tordesillas’ association with “Islamic art” would appear to have stymied it. The majority of extant studies seem to be in tacit agreement that, once an object or a building has been accorded the label of ‘mudéjar, no further interpretation is required: the motifs in question—architectural forms and types, “pseudo”- kufic inscriptions, vegetal ornament, geometric interlace, etc —acquire their meaning through their association with Islamic art, but in paradoxical fashion this association until recently has constituted license to consider those very elements to be without meaning * Moreover, the widely accepted characterization of the 7. This direct connection cannot t present be deftly progr psieny ee hove noe 2RES 42 SPRING 2003, Figure 7. Adoration ofthe Mag Capilla Dorada, ents Maa Ia Real Teresilon Fosreenh century. Cas Amalie Foto Mas. ‘This second phase also included the constuction of rooms, now disappeared, for Queen luna as wel s for her sistein-law, Juana de Castro The srocures ofa Juans wos erecied fist possessed two formas. one for the reception of “necessary things ood, water ec.) and ore which would allow luara to sustain onversaciones espiiates withthe nuns. Itscems that ‘both Dosa luara and Queen Juana harbored ambitions to become at least parttime emparedadas (it, hermits ‘who are “walled in usually im a room attached 10 a ‘church ora shrine) a deste which would be entirely ‘consonant with the ideals of he jeroaymiteorcer, ‘hove importance to ths second phate of bulding and ‘f devtiona if a Tordesils wil be britly explained in the paragropts to follow twas, moraover, 2, Seo Care Todo, Clecn spent, Bl of Cage 1, {ated Sepertier 17%, 9010, po WOO07 ech Vaan spectically these ideals 2nd ambitions which would ave informed bath the choice ofthe iconographic and ‘omamenta| program forthe vestibule and the changes ‘earied out inthe Czpilla Dorada thet study, howeve. ‘duet limkations of space, mus be let fra futore dae Final, although they were probably nt initially constructed during the 1370s, the Baios Arabes form & key part of this second phase of activity a ores AS ‘obnerved earlier Ruiz has suzgesied thatthe coat of ‘arms displayed on the wall ofthe stuctare which has tradhionally been inerpeted as belonging to Leonor de CGuzmin, iin fact thet of Queen juare Manuel. This ‘appears all he more key in ight of the fact hat the queen went 1 great lengts, ina rueque, or exchange, Jiwolving the donation of an annual sar of 8,000 imaravecis in ax revenues tothe convent 1 acquite the baths fr herself" The easons for this become clear when, ony 2 few mnths later, she donates the “casas ‘de los bits” fo the convent of Sania Maria de Aniagp. “The importance ofthis danation as been ‘overlooked largely because the relationships which impelled it were dissolved upon the queers death. They ate however, capital it seers likely that during the Teter years ofthe 1370s, Queen luara was seriously contemplating, together wth a cetain Fray Pedro “de ‘Aniago” a eronymite reform for her corwent. Fray Pedro presence inthe documents ofthe convents archives has gone largely unremarked. This is certainly og VoL E2019. Quen hors oloned st sos acy two yr ner iil ef Urban ded 6 Oct 1378 ‘renin dome; SCT cua ee 8. stn oe te ha lect gana Creu Wnt a yea eer 2 Once "ior bute bl wat nvr duped 23 mest ape sah .129. My saison based bot on fe deren oF Ire vows ppl bl sont that bal wa ec Irie it lace single now os wos et ‘oma gu opel pom ar ae gute canon el {nd nde wore rein cy nin comers wh hey cee ‘Cinder oried On ou phenomenon pred t- ‘revit sn esti y rye Mor he ale ete [pbenmenon eben Se tacit eer eon sme chen prazed adele te ceth ‘hithe name proseadby queen arate hese Dis nth atl eree te pheowenon’ ea “yponce apace srong vemos whet i cot 30 For srg of teen deamon sources conerig ‘te mane se rte 1h Cae edn Coc dplomiica, ers 6 Oech 1378, so. ASE Cas th copy p09 Inns a wae ‘etvon up ermine the eames CaataionRobinson: Mudkjar revisited 61 due to the fact that, in the shadow of the sweeping reforms carried out by observant branches of the Franciscan order in the decades that followed, during which Tordesillas as a reformed observant convent was held up to its neighbors as an example, this fist tentative step toward change in the convent’ life has been forgotten. Fray Pedro de Aniago, however, is none other than Fray Pedro Fernéndez Pecha, one of the founders of the Jeronymite order, formally constituted in 13732” Prior to her donation of the Tordesills’s baths to nearby Santa Maria de Aniago, Juana Manuel had in fact purchased and donated the abandoned convent at Aniago to the Jeronymites, with the understanding that the new foundation would be under the leadership of Fray Pedro who, in return, promised to pray for the queen’s soul. in the documents in which these transactions are recorded, Fray Pedro appears unequivocally as “Fray Pedro de Guadalajara,” the name taken by the former courtier to Pedro | upon his spiritual conversion.” As shall be seen in the conclusion to this essay, in addition to other implications of great interest forthe study of late-fourteenth-century devotional culture in lberia, the idea of the creation of a specifically Jeronymite program (oi meaning at Tordesillas provides a second layer of signification for the patio-and-chapel complex, one which explains why these two elements of the palace Convent’ already-extant structural and ornamental program might have appealed to the queen and her spiritual counselor. together with Fray Fedro. Given that hs bull was issued on the same