Conversion in Alfonso's Cantigas de Santa Maria

In his fourth Cantiga de Santa Maria, Alfonso narrates the conversion of a Jewish mother and son to Christianity after the father attempts to burn the son alive for receiving communion from the Virgin Mary. Mary acts as a guide towards the vera vía of Christianity by giving the Jewish boy communion; although she still acts as a powerful domna, she is much less sexualized and physically idealized than the domnas of previous troubadours. She presents an image that Alfonso describes as "resplendent" as she cradles her son in her arms. Whereas Bertran de Born and his peers lavish attention on the blonde hair, white skin, and well-formed limbs of their domnas, Alfonso addresses both the maternal and the virginal aspects of Mary. She acts as a desexualized, ephemeral mother figure rather than an object of sexual (and social) desire. Her decision to save the Jewish boy underscores this parallel with a nurturing but authoritative figure as she protects him from harm and guides his decision to convert to Christianity. Like the domnas of previous troubadours, Mary acts as a manifestation of moral virtue, but unlike them she uses her place at God's side to guide her devotees towards the vera vía of complying with these virtues. Her moral and spiritual authority allows her to influence the goings-on in her followers' lives, unlike the remote, inactive domna of previous troubadours.    Of course, Alfonso has his own political agenda to encourage Jewish people to convert to Christianity in order to cement his power. The Jewish father's death in the furnace at the end of the cantiga provides a model for others who don't believe in the Virgin Mary's miraculous deeds. The video on the Cantigas de Santa Maria included a story of a Jewish man who defecated on an image of the Virgin Mary who also met a gruesome end. Both cantigas reveal Alfonso's use of fear to convert Jewish people to Christianity as a means of ensuring the diffusion and duration of his own Christian rule, which forms part of the vera vía towards which the Cantigas guide their devotees. This religious, political and moral impulse sets Alfonso apart from the previous troubadours.