ABSTRACT
The 10th century saw the culture of Islamic Spain (Al-Andalus) at its most splendid. During this period, Christian scriptoria experienced an artistic revolution, and Spanish manuscript illumination of the 10th century possesses the strongest personality of the entire Middle Ages. Among the manuscripts then illuminated are Bibles, copies of Beatus’s Commentary on the Apocalypse, versions of Moralia in Job, and collections of Synodal Acta from the Visigothic period. Some of the illuminators (Vigila, Emeterio or En) are known by name and were aware of an oriental repertoire of monstrous creatures used to embellish Islamic sumptuary objects. These became known in northern Spain as a result of broader cultural exchange between Christians and Muslims, in Iberia as in the wider Mediterranean. The ivory, silk or silver treasures were obtained by means of trade, donation or tribute. In addition to manuscripts, this article examines the decoration of contemporary monastic churches in the kingdom of Leon. The appropriation of Oriental models is also evident here, in monumental art, evidence for which can be traced back to the Asturian period (especially at the Royal Palace of Santa Maria del Naranco). This continued into the 10th century in ivory carving in La Rioja. These figural trends and interests come together in work done for the two most important promoters of sumptuous works of art in the kingdoms of León and Navarre, Fernando I (d. 1065) and his wife Sancha (d. 1067) at a crucial moment in the rise of the Spanish Romanesque.
