Revalorización de los conceptos de pecado y delito en las Siete Partidas y en las Cantigas de Santa Maria: estrategias jurídicas y literarias de Alfonso X

Abstract

The following article examines the new notion of the terms sin, sinner and crime from the perspective of adultery in Siete Partidas and in Cantigas de Santa Maria by Alfonso X (1212–1284). The legal text shares the semantic value of sin according to the canonical moral dogma, but deviates in terms of the role played by crime as a social order transgression. We argue this allowed the monarch to utilize the ecclesiastical discourse of the Cantigas as a conduit to establish his sole authority in the regulation and interpretation of the laws. Furthermore, the artistic and visual expression of the concepts of sin and crime in the poetic framework of the Cantigas may serve as a vehicle for transmitting Alfonso’s new legal agenda to an audience wider than the public legal body.