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Contents. Some minor typographical errors have been corrected. (etext transcriber's note) |
The SupernaturalINEarly SpanishLiterature
STUDIED IN THE WORKS OF THE COURT
OF ALFONSO X, EL SABIO
By
FRANK CALLCOTT, Ph. D.
Department of Romance Languages
Columbia University
NEW YORK
1923{2}
Es propiedad.Derechos reservadospara todos los países.
Copyright, 1923,
by the Instituto de las Españas.
PREFACE
It has been the aim of the author in the following study to collect,classify, and analyze the various references made in the works ofAlfonso X, el Sabio, to the beliefs and superstitions, of the Spaniardof that day, with reference to the supernatural. It is hoped that itwill be possible in this way to reach a better understanding of theattitude of the Spanish people toward the supernatural in general andthus to acquire a more complete appreciation of that early period of thenation’s life.
No attempt has been made here to trace the origins of these earlySpanish traditions (many of which were common thruout Europe during theMiddle Ages), and the comparison of what has been found with thesupernatural in the early literature of other European countries hasbeen left for a later study.
The works of Alfonso el Sabio have been chosen because, to a largeextent, they represent not only their own period but all that had gonebefore them, as recorded not only in Castillian but in Latin and to agreater or less degree in Arabic and Hebrew also. Alfonso gathered tohis court a select group of scholars versed in these{6} languages; andunder his direction they produced or collected a representative libraryof works dealing with their respective subjects. It is the accessiblebooks of this collection that have furnished the material for thepresent study.
The author wishes to express sincere thanks to Professor Federico deOnís of Columbia University for sympathetic encouragement and valuablesuggestions thruout the entire period of study; to Professor Antonio G.Solalinde, of the Centro de Estudios Históricos, Madrid, for helpfulsuggestions and criticism of the manuscript as well as for the privilegeof consulting the proof-sheets of the Antología de Alfonso X, elSabio, which has recently