Doña María de Padilla, de personaje histórico a figura literaria

Resumen

Doña María de Padilla is the axis of an investigation that delves, initially, into its real side to link with the fictional or legendary. Thus, from her historical curriculum, the literary and artistic discourse is then articulated. Therefore, there are two lines of research that we have faced, the historical and the literary. Starting from the late medieval world, the image of doña María de Padilla goes through different paths to the present days, in which significant animosities and attachments are distinguished, a duality that persists in all times. We have not found a unitary discourse on her person, nor conclusive arguments that corroborate the judgments that have been made at the time. Our intention has been aimed at profiling the historical character beyond the shadow of don Pedro I of Castile, to whom for nine years he was irremediably linked by links that history has not determined categorically. The study of her genealogy, her itinerary, her coat of arms, her manors and states, and the endowment nucleus that she established around the Astudillo Monastery, with the involvement of different women from her family, offers an autonomous and resolute profile of her figure, and gives us back the image of the person we think she was. On the contrary, the literary profile that is offered, in the various genres in which she is present throughout the centuries, is opposite to the historical one, but similar to the two-headed character that, historians have sometimes transmitted. Likewise, the interest aroused has crossed borders, finding a special echo in french literature in the stages and genres analyzed. However, her figure has been conditioned by the terrible image that the romancero awarded her, and that, subsequently, has been reflected in most of the texts in which she has been included, but which she has starred in on a few occasions. Nevertheless, time has mitigated this somber aspect of the character.