The Libro de Alexandre: a Repository of Geographical Knowledge

Abstract

The voyage as a literary topic is very recurrent in medieval texts. One of them is the Libro de Alexandre, which introduces its main character, Alexander the Great, as a protagonist of multiple journeys around unknown and astonishing sites; furthermore, the stanzas dedicated to the Macedonian’s travels allow the text receivers (readers) to participate in medieval amazement; on the other hand, not only do these aspects concern the narrative structure but they also convey the best sample of encyclopedic wisdom in the field of geography. Therefore, in this paper I will analyze some chapters of the Libro de Alexandre that prove to be a truly repository of the geographical knowledge of the Middle Ages. I intend to focus on three scenes from the medieval hispanic book: 1) the world’s general description (cc. 216-281), 2) the earth’s division, the continents and their shape (cc. 2509-2513) and Asia’s praise (cc. 288-294), and 3) the mapamundi in the tent (cc. 2576-2585). The former will show that far from diminishing the communicative functionality, the recapitulation of information concerning the terrestrial globe favors the review of ancient geography, still prevailing in the Middle Ages. Finally, I will put emphasis on the discursive strategy that provides knowledge through encyclopedic sources; scientific thought as a credible model of the verifiable; and the formulation and evidence provided by the graphic representation of the mapamundi.