From Great Muslim Heroes to Good Christian Subjects: Converting the Legend of the Seven Infantes of Lara

The inclusion of the legend of the infantes of Lara in the thirteenth-century Estoria de España unsettles some of the chronicle’s ideological foundations, which defended the rights of Christian kings to rule the Peninsula and presented Muslims as illegitimate invaders. The story of the infantes of Lara, instead, depicts Andalusi Muslims as heroic figures that selflessly protect and avenge the victims of a family feud among Christians. Later versions of the legend, and especially its fourteenth-century Portuguese adaptations in the Livro de linhagens and the Crónica geral de 1344, reconstruct its plot by eliminating or modifying those elements that contested Christian supremacy. In this way, a story that highlighted the alliances between Iberian cultural groups ends up glorifying the colonization of Muslims by Christians.