Juan Pedro Aparicio subtitle this book National episode of the 12th centuryand that Galdosian wink invites us, from the outset, to value his work from the memory of Ricardo Gullón, who so appreciated Don Benito and his narrative techniques —Galdós, modern novelist (Gredos, 1973)—. But I must add right away that it is more than just a wink, it is a very serious attempt to shine a light on that century that was so decisive in understanding—as Aparicio himself writes in his “Author’s Note”—why, as a nation, We are like this and not otherwise. And it is that The Emperor’s Dream It is not an imaginary set of adventures that could happen, disguised in the 12th century in terms of time, and in Italy and Spain in terms of place, but a meticulous reconstruction of the political and social interests that were bubbling at that time in Europe, and of the shady dealings that some dominant powers had in the matter, in this case the papacy and the French monastic orders, mainly the Cistercian of Bernard of Clairvaux.
In the prologue to the edition of a novel of my own, the professor and essayist Ángeles Encinar —The dark shore (Cátedra, 2011)—recalled that Joseph Turner, in his essay The Kinds of Historical Fiction “distinguishes three kinds of historical novels: those that invent a past, those that mask a documented past, and those that recreate a documented past.” In these times, when mere invention, or outright falsehood, tends to permeate many so-called “historical novels,” we must be grateful for this new and magnificent novel by Aparicio—presented as the first of a trilogy—which reconstructs the episode with meticulous certainty. history in line with which The kingdom of Castile and Portugal will end up being born, separated from the kingdom of Leóna profitable division for certain extra-peninsular interests, from a fictional perspective, but rigorously supported by documentation through three parts, with a prologue, an epilogue and forty-one chapters.
“The novel delves into several important aspects. One of the most significant is the death of the heir to the Leonese throne, the teenager Sancho Alfonsez, in the battle of Uclés.“
In it Foreword (Opening) We witness, as a distant precedent for the rest of the book, the departure from Toledo of Infante Sancho, barely 14 years old, son of Alfonso VI of León, the emperor, and his Muslim wife Zayda – Isabel after her Christianization – towards a risky warrior mission that does not seem to be based on the express will of his parents, the kings, heading to Uclés, where he will die in suspicious circumstances that traditional Spanish historiography has always preferred to tiptoe over.
In the First part (Rome) We will meet Cardinal Jacinto Bobone and Pope Anastasius IV, who sends him to Spain as a very special legacy —a latere — to encourage the spirit of crusade against Muslims. We will also know that among his companions is the very young aspiring troubadour Marcello, nephew of Arnaldo of Brescia, who asks Bobone, with whom he seems to have a good relationship, since both once shared the teachings of Pedro Abelardo, the great philosopher. , French theologian, poet and monk.
The Second part (Spain) —the longest of the novel— is made up of the story that the young Marcello writes for his uncle Arnaldo, in which the most important events that he witnesses throughout the trip, which lasts the entire duration, are meticulously noted. one year.
“In The Emperor’s Dream underlying the evolution of the era like a permanent background sound: the clear distinction between the Spanish Muslims and the Almohads and Almoravids“
In the Third part (Rome) We will learn about the return of the young Marcello, accompanied by his new friend, Enzo, to Rome, where they experience some terrible collective and family events as a consequence of the bitter struggle that the Roman commune of Arnaldo of Brescia maintains with the papacy, to which he aspires to cut back on his temporal power.
Finally, in the brief Epilogue We have news of the grotesque death of Pope Hadrian IV, the only English pope in history, successor to the brief pontificate of Anastasius IV. A certainly curious death, supported by History.
The novel delves into several important aspects. One of the most significant is the death of the heir to the Leonese throne, the teenager Sancho Alfonsez, in the battle of Uclés. There are numerous versions of the event, but none of them can rule out the murder, and it even seems the most logical, given the evident rejection of the papacy and the French bishops installed in Spain to the ideal of coexistence between “the two religions” (Christian and Muslim). which was proclaimed by Leonese policy after the taking of Toledo by Alfonso VI.
“This makes the reference to the crusades, launched by the Cluniac Pope Urban II, not trivial, since it will motivate certain directions in Spanish history.“
In The Emperor’s Dream Underlies the evolution of the era like a permanent background sound: the clear distinction between the Spanish Muslims and the Almohads and Almoravids who came from Africa, with a fanaticism that is repugnant to the former, in whose fields vines are also grown. At one point, one of the characters states: “the crusade imposes on Christians the extermination of Muslims, in the same way that the Almohad emir—formerly an Almoravid—imposes on Muslims the extermination of Christians.” This makes the reference to the crusades, launched by the Cluniac Pope Urban II, not trivial, since it will motivate certain directions in Spanish history, which are faithfully referred to in the novel…
Following the comings and goings through Spain and Rome of the young Italian Marcello – nephew, as I already pointed out, of Arnaldo of Brescia, the main opponent of the temporal power of the papacy -, we will get to know the world of the troubadours, the troubadour Zayda – a Muslim girl who has the same name of Zayda/Isabel, princess of Al-Andalus, wife of Alfonso VI and with whom he had that son who died almost as a child in the battle of Uclés, as I also already said. For the latter, Queen Zayda, without having met her, young Marcello had felt since he was a teenager that love from afar, called from lonhdana, predecessor of romanticism; But a first encounter with the young troubadour, whom the Temple is persecuting, supposedly possessing a compromising document for the papacy, was enough for him to feel the loving impulse of the other love, which we can call, in contrast to the first, close love. , already full of sensuality and desire.
“We will witness the progressive increase in the power of the Templars and the solidification of their spirit, so linked to the will of the papacy.“
We will also meet many decisive figures of that time for the history of Spain and Europe: the main one, Cardinal Jacinto Bobone, as lucid as he was accommodating—in his day pope under the name of Celestine III—whose trip through Spain was for The main thing is to act in such a way that the ideal of “the two religions” fades, even at the risk of the kingdom decomposing, and whose actions will finally result in its dismemberment, from which the kingdoms of Castile and Portugal will be born; Likewise we will witness the relentless march on Rome of Frederick Barbarossawith the purpose of being anointed emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the pope, to which Hadrian IV is not willing if it is not in exchange for the life of Arnold of Brescia, who will end up hanged first and his body burned on the pyre later. .
In the novel – I already pointed out that it is composed in its longest part of a writing that the young Marcello sends to his uncle Arnaldo – we will travel through significant spaces, such as Segovia in which a race between the children of Alfonso VII –Imperator Totius Hispaniae—, concludes with one of the brothers staying with the other’s horse, and we will cross other spaces, such as Tudela, Zaragoza, Sahagún, Tuy… and we will meet characters such as Alfonso VII’s sister Doña Sancha – titled “queen” by express desire of his brother the emperor—who gains a lot of trust with the young Marcello and even takes care of him when he is attacked by a sudden and mysterious illness; and we will have news of the Council of Valladolid in 1155, in which the Vatican will manage to recover the first fruit of the Toledo episcopate over the rest of the Spaniards and will decisively influence the emperor’s will, giving rise to the division of the kingdom…
We will witness the progressive increase in the power of the Templars and the solidification of their spirit, so linked to the will of the papacy; the impudent confrontation of Hadrian IV with the also ambitious and arrogant Frederick Barbarossa. And we will always see it nuanced by the memory of some privileges and popular customs that would end up crystallizing in 1188 in the Decree of Alfonso IX, an indisputable precedent of parliamentarism… All of this gives the book a rigorous historical sense, “which recreates a documented past”, without ever losing its excellent novelistic conformation.
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Author: Juan Pedro Aparicio. Qualification: The Emperor’s Dream. Editorial: Eolas.
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