MIME - Medieval Iberia, Modern Empire

Nobility and Fernán Pérez de Guzmán -Maristela Verástegui

Thinking about what questions I would have, related to our coming meeting on nobility, I find that they all come, in some shape or form, as offshoots of what I am currently doing. As I tried to explain during our first meeting, the largest project I am working on right now is the MS B2489 of the Hispanic Society of America, which contains poetic works by Fernán Pérez de Guzmán. In trying to find clues as to the origins of the manuscript, I wanted to see if the inventory of his library contained any items that resembled this manuscript. There are two existing inventories, one considerably larger than the other. My main source of reference for this was the study of both inventories by Mercedes Vaquero in her article “Cultura nobiliaria y biblioteca de Fernán Pérez de Guzmán” (I uploaded the citation in CiteUlike). Aside from the obvious reference in the title, this study compares Pérez de Guzmán’s library with those of other noblemen of the same period, and touches upon the material and monetary aspects linked to them. One of the interesting points that Vaquero raises is Pérez de Guzmán’s ambiguity in regards to what nobility means. On the one hand, in both poetry and prose, he emphasizes the preeminence of virtue over lineage, while on the other, he cannot help but to express his reservations against nobles of “lower origins”. His interest in genealogy evidences an “anxiety” in regards to the subject, which is materialized in the contents of his library. This leads me to a second area of interest: the role of the library as an element in the construction of a particular conception of nobility favored by Pérez de Guzmán. This conception is both material and ideal, and it also, I think, transpires in both his prose and poetry. It makes me wonder if, for instance, the manuscript I am working on, with its extremely wide margins and beautiful penmanship, is not one of the embodiments of such a concept.  These are obviously very broad areas that I have not narrowed down yet, and I hope this coming discussion will help me in doing so, and perhaps show me other areas that I should be focusing on…