The written power: problems and meaning of the Arabic inscriptions in the palaces of Pedro I of Castile (1350-1369)

Abstract

Peter I’s use of Arabic inscriptions lies within the scope of a wider architectonic project which draws its inspiration straight from patterns inherited from al-Andalus –as shown by Antonio Almagro Gorbea y Juan Carlos Ruiz Souza– and raises a series of questions. Indeed, the assimilation by a Christian king of Islamic codes representative of power leads us to think about the meaning and the function of these inscriptions since epigraphy is closely related to Islam and the Koranic message. Moreover, it raises the problem of the reception of a language different from that which is commonly used by the originator of the inscriptions and his environment. We will try to show, from various angles, how the symbolical value of these Arabic inscriptions can serve the king’s attempts of reinforcing his political power in Castile: through the general effect they are intended to produce on the reader, through the ideological content of the epigraphic discourse and through the discursive act itself, i.e. the mere fact of resorting to Arabic epigraphy.