As regards the Muslim invaders, they had centuries before established in southern Spain an advanced agrarian economy involving complex irrigation systems which were novelties in Europe. Such innovations had given rise to prosperous towns and cities. For example Cordoba, often described by Arab historians as ‘the jewel of the world’, was the largest town in Western Europe, with a population of at least 100,000 in the thirteenth century – and this total was considerably down from its apogee when it reputedly accommodated 500,000 – a figure, it should be noted, that London did not attain until the eighteenth century.
The Muslims in Andalucia also had a much stronger intellectual heritage than did the Christian nations. Islam’s conquests of former centres of the Roman Empire had ensured that it was the heir to the knowledge of Europe’s Greco-Roman past – not least in terms of custody of books. All sorts of knowledge that would otherwise have been lost was saved, guarded and worked upon by Muslim scholars. For the rulers of Andalucia in the ninth to twelfth centuries did not just save the books, they patronised intellectuals and learning to a liberal extent. The result was that in the late twelfth century and early thirteenth century, if you wanted a piece of out-of-the-way knowledge, you were best to look for it in the libraries of the Iberian peninsula; in the thirteenth century, Gerard of Grenoble went to Toledo when he wanted to get hold of a fundamental work on astrology by the Greek astrologer Almaget. Castile was therefore a treasure house of intellectual resources.15
Nor was Muslim culture the only thriving culture in the peninsula. There was also a flourishing Jewish population both in Castile and in the reconquered Muslim territories. Overall, the Muslim incursion was probably a factor in pushing Christian–Jewish relations into a much more congenial framework than in any other country. But also in reconquered territories Christians, Muslims and Jews had already been living together in relative harmony – a tradition of convivencia wherein the Muslim rulers had offered both Jewish and Christian minorities considerable opportunities to flourish and to take part in public life. Overall, there was a closer and warmer relationship between Christians and Jews than was found elsewhere in Europe. Formally, as elsewhere, the Jewish population were the property of the Crown, and modern writers have suggested that convivencia was a mere fig leaf which does not do away with the reality of legal dependency. Yet a contemporary Jewish writer stated that in affairs of everyday life this vassalage was hardly felt. The Jewish population was well established and prosperous in a number of Castilian towns.16
From this population came a number of very well-to-do and well-educated men who distinguished themselves in the royal service. One example very close to home is that Queen Jeanne’s own personal physician was Jewish. However, there are records of many other Jewish luminaries at the courts of Ferdinand III and Alfonso X in the roles of advisers, secretaries and even ambassadors – operating at such a high level that they were gifted by the Crown with lands including houses, vineyards, olive groves, fields and mills – all in perpetuity and under their absolute control. For example, Eleanor’s brother Alfonso gifted the whole of a prosperous village called Paterna Harah outside Seville to a number of his favoured Jewish officials.
One particularly notable example may be given: Don Sol ibn Zadok of Toledo (Don Culema) was entrusted by Ferdinand III with collecting the tribute to be paid by the King of Granada, and later become both chief tax collector and ambassador under Alfonso X. On his death his extensive property included vineyards, olive groves, houses and warehouses ‘full of goods’ scattered throughout Seville, Carmona, Ecija and Toledo. His son Don Isaac thereafter became Alfonso’s chief financier until 1278. These men were true courtiers, with their own retinues, and were treated with great respect by the Christian community who feted them as men of great wealth and influence. So Todros Ben Judah Halevi describes a journey with Don Isaac and his retinue, travelling in regal style, showered with gifts by interested parties and dancing with well-born young ladies.17
Castilian kings had also encouraged Jewish businessmen to act as the vanguard of resettlement in recently reconquered areas, for example by the granting of tax breaks. More generally, the Castilian monarchs fought the corner of their Jewish subjects against papal interference. One particular bone of contention was the requirement under the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1213 that Jews wear clothing to distinguish them from Christians. This was opposed both by Ferdinand III and Cardinal Archbishop Roderigo of Toledo; interestingly, however, and chiming with the modern doubters of convivencia, they did so effectively on economic grounds. The Jews, they said, would simply move to Muslim territories and take their affluence with them. The result was a concession in 1219 that exempted the Jews of Castile from the requirement to wear a distinguishing mark.
The second vista over Eleanor’s childhood therefore shows us a world in which she saw the role of a king as both a soldier and as an administrator in the interests of the nation. The well-being of the country and the development of a cohesive national spirit was key. And, in this cause, interaction with those of other faiths as a matter of business or in the realm of the intellect was a matter of small moment.18
The third perspective over Eleanor’s life concerns the actual day-to-day surroundings and doings of her life.
It appears highly likely that her earliest memories were formed at least in part on campaign. As we have seen, Ferdinand was busy about the business of reconquest during this period. It appears that Jeanne accompanied Ferdinand on campaign most of the time, as his first wife Beatriz had also done and as Berengaria had done with both her husband and her son. Jeanne’s presence is specifically recorded in Andalucia in 1244 despite a perilous military situation; she was moved nearer to the field of operations in 1246 and she is also recorded living in camp at the Siege of Seville in 1248. One of Ferdinand’s biographers reports that he did not like to separate himself from Jeanne but took her on campaign and installed her somewhere safe but near enough the battlefield for him to visit. This, of course, would be entirely in keeping with Berengaria’s desire to ensure that Ferdinand did not ‘lower the tone’ of his reign by taking up with mistresses. While it is unlikely that the principle that an accompanied husband is less likely to stray would have been actively present to Eleanor’s mind in her early years, the idea of royalty – including royal women – on campaign would certainly have been a part of Eleanor’s accepted norms.
Whether we can conclude from this that Eleanor herself was directly familiar with the exigencies of campaign other than from passing visits is less certain. It is well established that in general children of royal and noble houses in this period were not likely to enjoy anything which the modern reader would recognise as ‘quality time’ with their parents. In their early years at least, contact was likely to be periodic and relatively formal. In addition, frequently children were substantially raised away from their parents, in an environment which was thought likely to maximise their chances of survival, since courts were justifiably considered in general unhelpful to this aim. However, the details of such fostering, even for royal heirs, are extraordinarily scanty; to use a case in point we have almost no material about Edward I’s upbringing and in particular his early years; and equally scholars lament the black hole of information about the early years and education of Alfonso X. What is known is that Ferdinand’s sons were brought up by surrogates in spartan conditions far from home; the future Alfonso X (later accompanied by his siblings) was sent to be raised in the Arlanzon lowlands near Burgos to ensure a healthy upbringing and direct contact with the people he was to rule. This served a dual purpose – the healthy upbringing in the country was there to promote survival, and the spartan conditions as a reflection of the warrior mindset of Castile, where pampered princes were not welcome.
It is doubtful that Eleanor, whose upbringing was not required to produce a warrior, was sent to the same spot as that chosen for Alfonso and the other sons, but it is quite likely that her early years were spent substantially in some pleasant
country spot under the supervision of a governor, very likely with other royal or semi-royal children as part of the household. However, it is almost inevitable that she would, during a long campaign, have made visits to her parents in camp, and may well have moved her main residence to be within easy distance of operations. One way or another, therefore, we can be confident that she would have been familiar with the dislocations of campaigning, and also intimately familiar with military camps.
But equally she saw a life of almost unimaginable luxury. The campaigns were punctuated by stops in the major towns of Castile and Jeanne is attested spending considerable periods of time both at Cordoba and Seville. The former was not only huge by medieval standards, but had many beautiful fountains and hundreds of public baths; the figures range from around 300 to 900. Its streets were paved. At night they were lit and patrolled by guardians of the peace, a system not introduced in England until the nineteenth century. The cathedral-mosque is still regarded as one of the beauties of the world, with UNESCO World Heritage Site status, and was still more so until defaced by the sixteenth-century renovation which so appalled Emperor Charles V. Commentators speak breathlessly of the forest of multi-coloured columns of jasper, granite, onyx and marble, supporting red-and-white arches inspired by the Dome of the Rock, of the intricate decoration and of the beautiful courtyard. The markets of the city were plentiful, offering a wealth of meats and fruits: oranges and lemons, of course, but also figs, cherries, pomegranates, pears and apples. In addition spices, nuts and herbs were abundant. All in all, such was the reputation of Cordoba as a prosperous area that when it was reconquered, it was inundated with Spanish settlers.19
Seville, the Almohad centre of culture and development for the century previous to its conquest, was also comfortably more affluent and artistically brilliant than any Christian town in Europe. It had been on the receiving end of a huge programme of building and improvements including palaces, towers, quays and dykes, a repaired and improved Roman aqueduct, and extensive and busy warehouses on the bank of the river, served by vessels from all around the world. Its defences had been entirely reconstructed and two magnificent centrepiece buildings had been completed within the last century. The first was the Alcazar, commenced in 1171, guarded by a tower of gold on the banks of the river. The second was the mosque (later the cathedral), built in the last thirty years of the twelfth century, which rivalled even that of Cordoba. It boasted walls painted many colours and embellished with Persian battlements and arcades and it looked onto a courtyard planted with orange trees, which combined their fragrance with the sound of constantly playing fountains. Inside the viewer was overwhelmed by the sight of hundreds of marble columns ascending to a roof comprising domes of wood and stucco, elaborately decorated. The interior was further blessed with gilded mosaic pavements and elaborate alabaster lattices. More generally, the Arab writers of the time praised Seville for its luxury and plenty, overflowing with fine foods, lovely women, talented musicians and poets. Indeed, so well provided was it that it gave rise to a proverb: ‘If you were to ask for bird’s milk in Seville you would be able to get it.’20
So, although on the whole detailed records do not survive of the design and decorations of the palaces which fell to Ferdinand as part of the Reconquista, we can therefore expect that they too would have been ravishingly beautiful and boasted the last word in modern luxuries. Elegant palaces which took the local Hispano-Roman and Visigothic idiom and transformed it with subtle shifts of elevation and complex decoration, courtyards of finest white marble, stucco latticework of the most breathtaking complexity, delicate friezes in Kufic script, running water, luxurious baths and jewel-bright ceramic tiles – all were present and would have been familiar to Eleanor.
But what is certain about these palaces is that they had the most amazing gardens, and in particular water gardens; gardens marked out with flowing streams of water, derived from the sixth-century Persian concept of the ‘paradise’ (pairidaiza), a walled garden with a water axis. While in Spain the gardens were some way short of the full wonder achieved further east, the records show clearly that beautiful gardens did exist, principally of two sorts: the ‘pavilion on pool’ type and the ‘courtyard with a central pool’ type.
The palace at Seville inherited a wonderful set of Islamic gardens from its former owners. Records survive of one part of the gardens of the Alcazar of Seville where a sunken bed surrounded four watercourses which came to meet in a central circular pool – those four watercourses being designed to echo the supposed four rivers of Eden, a not unusual concept in Islamic gardens and one which was known as chahar bagh. As modern commentators have noted, this assists the viewer in perceiving the space around him or her; thus the garden is not merely beautiful, it is also harmonious and inspires a sense of peace and relaxation. This sense of harmony would be contributed to in many cases by the use of topiary, with trees trained and clipped into double or triple decked shapes and arranged in geometric patterns.21
Other wonderful ideas were also deployed. Recent excavations have revealed in the Alcazar gardens another garden, the patio of the Qasr al-Mubarak, with parterres 5 feet below the water channels and with the walls beneath shaped into a continuous arcade which was stuccoed and painted. Thus a person walking on the path, or seated in the pavilion which overlooked it, would be above the flower bushes and even, possibly, the fruit trees, but walking below among the trees there would be cool shade and beautifully decorated walls, with the sound of water all around. The effect of the sunken beds next to the watercourses would be, when viewed from above, to give the effect of a live carpet. The full effect of these breathtaking gardens has not survived; for example the existing, much-lauded, Patio of the Doncellas at Seville gives only the most distant impression of the loveliness of the earlier gardens.22
Sometimes the use of water would not simply be confined to simple flowing streams; fountains, and chutes involving noria or waterwheels would be included to enable water to be moved from a lower level and then tipped out on a higher level, to demonstrate man’s mastery over this most valuable of commodities. Such devices were apparently very popular in Spain, being mentioned in poems as giving sounds like the wails of parted lovers. Less poetic descriptions liken the sound to a distressed camel.
Still more wonderful features appeared in some gardens; the garden at Toledo of Ismail al-Mamun, which may have survived to Eleanor’s day, had a gold-encrusted stained-glass pavilion at the centre of a lake which could be covered in a cascade of water. Another very common feature in Islamic gardens was the use of ‘zoomorphic’ fountains: fountains shaped like animals, often lions. The Fountain of the Lions in the Alhambra, which may date in part to the eleventh century, is one example, but there was another at the Munyat al-Naura near Cordoba which boasted a gilded lion fountain with jewelled eyes, the water entering at the back of the lion and cascading from his mouth.23
Eleanor thus grew up among wonderfully lovely gardens designed to create a sense of harmony by considered use of the features of shade, scent, formal planting and flowing water. A description of the effect is given in relation to a famous garden in Cordoba:
The courtyard is of pure white marble, the stream traverses it, wriggling like a snake. There is a basin into which all waters fall. The roof [of the pavilion] is decorated in gold and blue and in these colours are decorated the sides and various parts. The garden has files of trees symmetrically aligned and its flowers smile from open buds. The foliage of the garden prevents the sun seeing the ground; and the breeze, blowing day and night over the garden is loaded with scents.24
If these were the external surroundings which formed Eleanor’s horizons as a child, what of the other aspects of a child’s life – family, education, play? We can come to some conclusions on this from looking at the childhood of the most prominent of her siblings, Alfonso X. His biographers note that his early spartan rearing was tempered by family security, extensive education and cultural opportunities, and that while he served an
apprenticeship in war from a relatively young age he was also allowed much time for affairs of the mind. These factors, all important in a child’s experience, can be considered in turn.
The mention of ‘family security’ indicates that the royal family did at least meet as such on a regular basis. The closeness of the family bond implied by this phrase should perhaps not be overstated, given the quite spectacular, not to say murderous, way in which the sons of Ferdinand fell out in later years. However, there were plenty of members of the family with whom to form a relationship.
In the context of Eleanor’s experience of family, one point should be noted; the immediate family who would have been at least in regular attendance at court was predominantly male. Only one of Ferdinand’s daughters by his first marriage survived into adulthood, and, as noted above, she became a nun at Las Huelgas not long after Eleanor’s birth, having been resident there for much of her childhood after a miraculous escape from death. By contrast, Ferdinand’s sons almost all survived to adulthood. Her formidable grandmother died before Eleanor was five years old. Accordingly, it is unlikely that her childhood was one which was dominated by female ties, although she may well have been close to one cousin, Beatriz, who was very nearly the same age. It is correspondingly likely that she learnt to interact well with boys and young men from a young age and, given the warlike society of her country, that she learnt to appreciate the preoccupations of the warrior male.25
Among her brothers, her closest contacts would probably have been with the older ones rather than the younger ones, as the younger ones would be largely being raised away from court in a different location to her. Thus, her eldest half-brother, Alfonso, already twenty at the time of her birth, was an integral part of the campaign team and would be seen whenever she visited. Likewise, her next brother, Fernando, formed a part of the command structure until his death in 1248 and the third, Fadrique, was finishing his training in arms also. The other brothers who would be likely to have been close contacts are Enrique and Sancho, who were respectively ten years and eight years her senior and would have emerged from the schoolroom by the time she was old enough to form impressions. Hindsight confirms that these brothers were her closest contacts; they are the only siblings who ever visited Eleanor in England after her marriage, and it is with regard to these brothers and Fadrique that she appears to have exercised her influence both with Alfonso and elsewhere in later life.
Eleanor of Castile: The Shadow Queen Page 6
