Representations of Power: Alfonso X, the Book of Games, and the Islamic Tradition
This project uses a thirteenth-century manuscript to uncover intellectual and cultural interactions between Christians and Muslims of Iberia, North Africa, and the Near East. That manuscript is the Libro del axedrez, dados e tablas (The Book of Chess, Dice, and Tables; hereafter the Book of Games), a game manual that was one of the last Arabic-to-Castilian translation projects patronized by Alfonso X of Castile (r. 1252-1284), a ruler who pursued Solomonic, or all-encompassing wisdom. Its historical context, lavish illuminations, and philosophical themes make it a notable source for interreligious discussions about free will, wisdom, and court power. Alfonso’s other manuscripts have attracted scholarly attention for their borrowings from the Islamic tradition, but the Book of Games has been largely ignored, perhaps because its genre is so complex. It draws upon Arabic chess treatises, contains illuminations of Muslim men and women, and shares tales from the Islamic tradition of exotic Indian beasts and wise kings. All of these features work toward the representation of an intellectually powerful court—that of Alfonso X. Indeed, my research engages with ongoing discussions of Muslim-Christian relations by showing how one of the most important Christian kings in Europe relied upon often Islamic traditions in his distinctive vision of good kingship and good living.