Illustrations from the
Cantigas de Santa Maria
MS T. I. 1 -
Códice Rico.

"The Cantigas de Santa Maria is one of the most notable literary productions of the court of Alfonso X. The Cantigas consist of more than four hundred poems set to music extolling the virtues of the Virgin Mary, and many of the poems derive from events of Alfonso's reign. While the poems were written in 1280, before the illustrations, which were completed on or around 1284, the illustrations have drawn scholars into a world of crosscultural references and literary parallels. There are four surviving Cantigas manuscripts: two live in the Biblioteca de San Lorenzo el Real at the El Escorial palace near Madrid - MS T.I. 1, also known as the Códice Rico, and the MS B.1.2 - the third manuscript is in Madrid at the Biblioteca Nacional, MS 10.069, and the last example is in Florence, Italy at the Biblioteca Nazionale, MS Banco Rari 20." Sarah. A. Cosgrove