Title

Book of Memorials and Anniversaries

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

More than a book, the work is actually a compendium of sixteen texts, all linked to the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña (Burgos), dating from the late twelfth century to the fourteenth century. Thus, the volume gathers very valuable testimonies from the library of the aforementioned monastery. Among them are: the "Evangeliarium", which is the oldest of the repertoire, the "Book of Memoirs and Anniversaries", the "Rule of the Benedictine Order", as well as the "Martyrology", which is the set with the largest number of illustrations.

The monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña had a special significance for A. M. Huntington, founder of The Monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña. M. Huntington, founder of The Hispanic Society of America, for its link with the history of the Cid, the Castilian hero who found special recognition in the library of the American magnate, and also in the institution he founded. Huntington, in his travels through Spain, followed in the footsteps of the historical figure; in fact, he became one of the main promoters of the path followed by the Cid, today consolidated as a cultural itinerary. Evidently, the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña played a fundamental role in this, as the burial place of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, at least until 1842, when his remains were transferred to the cathedral of Burgos. It should also be remembered that Archer Milton Huntignton translated into English and edited the Cantar de mio Cid . His interest in this historical figure is also reflected in his work: A Note-Book in Northern Spain (1898). On the other hand, his wife, Anna Hyatt Huntington, designed the famous equestrian sculpture: El Cid Campeador thatwelcomes visitors at the entrance to the main building of The Hispanic Society of America in New York. It was installed in 1927. Shortly afterwards, the magnate and his wife gave the city of Seville a cast of the same model; installed in Seville to commemorate the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. Another cast of the same work by Anna Hyatt was erected in Balboa Park in San Diego (California) in 1930, also as a gift from A. M. Huntington. Given A. M. Huntington's fascination with El Cid, it is not surprising that he wished to get his hands on treasures from the place where his and his wife's remains were laid to rest.

Precisely this fact, the final resting place of the Cid and Doña Jimena, appears in the part dedicated to "Memories and anniversaries" of this book. Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar entrusted the welfare of his wife and daughters to the abbot of Cardeña, and in this book there is also a reference to a miracle attributed to Sisebuto, who may have been the abbot. All of which allows us to understand the appreciation that Huntington must have had for this work, which he acquired through the bookseller Karl W. Hiersemann in 1914, and which remained for the rest of his life in his private collection. A year after Archer Milton Huntington's death in 1955, this book was added to the library of The Hispanic Society of America, where it is preserved as one of the treasures of the collection.

Description

The manuscripts collected in this compendium have a brown leather binding from the 15th century. The illustrations, according to J. O'Neill, respond to an aesthetic typical of the "12th century style", which spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula. In the "Martirologio", each month is illustrated with a Romanesque-style initial, and four of them feature figures, such as the tail of an atropomorphic dragon (O'Neill, 2017).

Locations

• Unknown date

  monastery

  San Pedro de Cardeña Monastery, Castrillo del Val (Spain)

• 1914

  dealer/antiquarian

  Karl Wilhelm Hiersemann, Leipzig (Germany) *

• 1914 - 1956

  private collection

  Archer Milton Huntington, New York (United States) *

• 1956 - present

  museum

  The Hispanic Society of America, New York (United States)