Plors i plans de fuga al palau de la Suda (Llibre dels fets, 22-23)

Abstract

Tears and attempts to flee the Palau de la Suda (Llibre dels fets § 22-23) This is an analysis of the episode in which James I and Eleanor of Castile are shut up in the Palau de la Suda (?fortress palace?) in Saragossa halfway through 1224, as related in paragraphs 22-23 of the Llibre dels fets (?book of events?). Special attention is given to the queen?s lament over the humiliating treatment at the hands of the rebels, and her refusal to support her husband?s nocturnal escape plan. As opposed to modern interpretations, which tend to view this refusal as an act of cowardice, we suggest that it was an act of prudence. At the same time, we suggest that the word guiçado, which James I utters as he explains his escape plan to the queen, is a Castilianism ? the past participle of the verb guisar, commonly used in Mediaeval Castilian to refer to a horse prepared for combat. Thus, guiçado would be the last testimony of words addressed to the queen in Castilian by James I.