Book of Forms and Images

Alfonso X, King of Castile

This manuscript was originally a large compendium of eleven astro-magical treatises, unfortunately no longer extant, of which only the prologue and index survive. It is not known exactly when the rest of the codex disappeared, but by the sixteenth century only the index is mentioned. Nevertheless, the inventories of the library of the Louvre palace show that the work was known at the French court and was translated into French on the orders of the Duke of Berry. Unfortunately, the French copy is no longer preserved either.

The fact that only the initial part still survives caused some confusion among librarians and early scholars of the work, who thought that it was the index to the Lapidario. They are, however, two separate works, though they are related in subject matter as they both analyse different types of stones and their connection with the stars for making talismans.

The first folio displays a historiated initial with an introductory image in which the monarch, richly attired, receives the book from his collaborators. Heraldic elements – castles and lions – can be made out on the stem of the letter P, along with other figures.

https://rbdigital.realbiblioteca.es/s/rbme/item/13350

Data sheet

Object Type
Manuscript
Author
Alfonso X, King of Castile (1221-1284)
Location
Royal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial
Date
1276-1279
Dimensions
14 f. : perg. ; 385 x 290 mm.
Material and technical
Parchment
Inventory number
RBME h-I-16
Arriba