Entre renglones y al margen (de libros y monjas cistercienses en los siglos XII y XIII)

Abstract

Conocer la envergadura de las colecciones, el aspecto, los contenidos y el uso de los libros de las comunidades femeninas cistercienses de los reinos de León y Castilla entre mediados del siglo XII y el segundo tercio del XIII, es hoy, salvo excepción, casi imposible, debido a la escasez de estudios rigurosos, la transmisión en la bibliografía científica de afirmaciones sin base sólida y el pequeño corpus superviviente accesible a los investigadores. Además, hay que acercarse a estos pocos testigos con extrema cautela, interrogarlos con especial atención y examinarlos íntegramente, dirigiendo la mirada a los textos aparentemente secundarios, buscando lo escrito entre renglones y al margen,At the present time, and with few exceptions, the serious study of the phe­nomenon of the collections, appearance, contents and uses of the books belonging to Cistercian nuns in the kingdoms of Leon and Castile, between the mid-12th and the latter part of the 13th centuries, is practically impossible. This is because of the lack of serious research on the subject, the tendency in scientific bibliographies simply to repeat affirmations devoid of any so lid basis, and also the scanty surviving corpus available for present-day researchers to examine. Moreover, it is important for us to approach the meagre material at our disposal with extreme care, playing close attention to the texts in their entirety, while not neglecting certain elements that, at first glance, may seem to be of secondary importance, as well as trying to glean details from reading between the lines and in the margins.