Naturally there is a wide difference between the method of thinking of the average person in the Middle Ages and that of the average person of to-day. In the 20th century every peculiar or remarkable phenomenon of nature is subjected to the scrutiny of scientific study, while with the medieval man it was accepted at its face value as being the manifestation of unseen powers, of gods or of devils. It would seem that consciously or otherwise they attempted to make everything appear supernatural whether they could explain it or not. We of today demand that the God of the universe should work thru well defined natural laws; they, on the other hand, expected that “el milagro sea contra natura”.[2] It is true nevertheless that the “call” of the supernatural in one form or another has continued to exert a powerful influence even down to our own time. Some of its forms of manifestation may have changed, but the belief is almost everywhere present. Instead of forecasting the future by Astrology many today seek aid in the séance; miraculous cures are still being sought for as of old not only in many cases abroad but also in communities nearer home—even in the city of New York, during the Novena of St. Ann; while only recently it was reported in the daily press that a young girl in a convent on the banks of the Hudson showed the marks of the stigmata so prominently associated with the history of St. Francis of Assisi.
Before entering upon the study proper of the early Spanish period it will be well to review rapidly some of the important facts in the “supernatural” history of the Iberians since the time when the Goths invaded Spain.[3]
When they came they brought with them their songs and legends, which were peculiarly Germanic. The writer Jordanes, about the middle of the 6th century, states that stories of sunken cities, subterranean voices, etc., were common in the region of the Vistula, the river which separated Scythia from Germany.[4] But we find no trace of this in the early Spanish literature owing to the fact that when the Goths conquered the Iberians they did not blend readily with the people of the newly acquired territory. Nor did they, as the Romans had done, encourage the vanquished to continue their established customs and religion giving to their own traditions an opportunity, thru friendly intercourse, to become adopted by their new subjects. On the other hand, in their effort to make assimilation still more impossible they forbade intermarriage. The result of this was, to use the words of Amador de los Ríos, that
“La Iglesia, que durante el Imperio visigodo procuró desterrar del pueblo católico las reprobadas prácticas del gentilismo, limpiándole al propio tiempo de las torpes é inmundas aberraciones á que le arrastraban los magos, encantadores, sortílegos y adivinos que plagaban la nación española, vióse forzada á condenar una y otra vez tamaños abusos, trasmitidos de edad en edad, con el auxilio de los cantos populares.”[5]
It seems, however, that in this struggle the Church was not always successful. Often the result was a compromise in which the pagan customs were remodeled and made to conform to the requirements of the Church instead of being completely abolished. For instance, according to J. A. MacCulloch, the ancient Celtic warriors used to advance dancing and singing to the fray;[6] and É. Philipon says:
“Lorsqu’ ils marchaient au combat, les guerriers ibères entonnaient à pleine voix leur chants nationaux, leur péans, comme disaient les Romains.”[7]
In the early Middle Ages this custom of the ancient inhabitants of Spain still continued under the Christian domination; and into these war cries and songs had slowly crept the names of the Christian Deity and of the Christian saints.
This habit of consciously directing the minds of the soldiers to things spiritual in such a moment may have been an important factor in the development of the numerous legends of visions seen by soldiers during battle.[8]
One would naturally expect to encounter a marked Arabic influence in the early monuments of the language, considering the fact that the Moslems with all their wealth of magic and other arts peculiar to the East, entered Spain in the early years of the 8th century, but this is not the case. When the Moslems entered Spain those who were able retreated before them, but a large part of the population, unable to do this, remained under Mohammedan rule. These mozárabes, as the conquered Christians were called, struggled bravely to keep themselves and their children free from the heresies of their conquerors and for some time were successful, but by the 9th century the Mohammedans were rapidly instilling their teachings into their captives.[9]
A reaction against this began under Abderrahman II. The Christians, becoming obsessed with a desire to be martyrs, began rashly to expose themselves everywhere. So serious did this movement become that in 852 Abderrahman constrained the bishops to call a council, presided over by Recafredo, instructing them to condemn this zeal for martyrdom, which they did, but only in a half-hearted manner. This movement was the last serious attempt on the part of the mozárabes to rebel against the teachings of the Moors. From this time on they were rapidly merged into the nation of the conquerors and it is a question whether any of them remained true to the Catholic Church at the time Spain was reclaimed by the Christians, all of which explains the lack of a very noticeable Arabic influence in the early Castillian writings.