THE IBERIAN PENINSULA AND THE TRANS-PYRENEAN WORLD: ASSESSING CULTURAL CHANGE THROUGH THE REPRESENTATIONS OF DRESS AND HORSEMANSHIP IN MANUSCRIPT ILLUMINATION LA PENÍNSULA IBÉRICA Y EL MUNDO TRANSPIRENAICO: ANALIZANDO TRANSFORMACIONES CULTURALES A TRAVÉS DE LAS REPRESENTACIONES DE INDUMENTARIA Y TÉCNICAS DE EQUITACIÓN EN LOS MANUSCRITOS ILUMINADOS

Images preserved in medieval manuscripts can provide invaluable insights not only into the artistic and technical developments of a past society but also into its culture and identity. They are crucial forms of evidence for the examination of cultural and social change when documentary and archaeological sources are scarce. This article examines the representations of dress and horsemanship in illuminated manuscripts produced in the Iberian Peninsula from the 10 to the 13 century and explores how they shed light onto critical cultural shifts across the period. It discusses how the transformations observed in the treatment of these elements refl ect the accommodation of new trends into Iberian visual and material culture as a consequence of the intensifi cation of the political and ecclesiastical connections between the Peninsula and the trans-Pyrenean world.


INTRODUCTION 1
Eleventh-century Iberia was characterised by momentous shifts in politics, religion and culture. The increasing temporal and spiritual alliances forged between the Iberian kingdoms and institutions outside the Peninsula led to the opening of this territory to the trans-Pyrenean world on an unprecedented scale 2 . The offi cial abandonment of Hispanic liturgical and monastic practices in favour of the Roman customs at the councils of Coyanza (A.D. 1055) and Burgos (A.D. 1080) -a process mediated in this region by Cluniac monasticism-is held to be one of the principal contributors to the profound transformations witnessed in this period 3 , strengthening relations between the central and westernmost peninsular kingdoms with both the papacy and French monastic houses 4 . The concurrent intensifi cation of pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James in Compostela, accompanied by the development of stronger trade routes connecting northern Europe to the far west of the Peninsula, have also been posited as another key factor behind this phenomenon 5 : the camino has been regarded as a gateway to external trends that reached Iberia not only through the mediation of ecclesiastics and pilgrims but possibly also through the movement of skilled professionals who found in this route a source of labour opportunities 6 . These shifts, however, surpassed the ecclesiastical, political and intellectual spheres, having had a critical impact on Iberian visual and material culture. ANUARIO  What new light, then, can images preserved in manuscript sources shed on broader cultural transformation in this period of Iberian history? This article complements the discussion about change in intellectual and cultural paradigms explored in this special issue of the Anuario de Estudios Medievales by looking into the pictorial evidence offered by medieval manuscript sources from this milieu. While considering the broader panorama of Iberian manuscripts preserving pictorial cycles, particular attention is given to the illustrated copies of Beatus of Liébana's Commentarium in Apocalypsin from the late ninth to the thirteenth century as the most informative case studies. Their pictorial richness, relative iconographic coherence, and the fact that the extant twenty-nine illustrated witnesses are spread over a period of four centuries, commend them as prime documents for such an enquiry, enabling closer comparisons across the tradition as a whole to be made. The following sections analyse transformations in the representation of dress, especially military impedimenta, and equestrian fi gures in Iberian illuminated manuscripts over this period, viewing them against the general backdrop of western medieval fi gurative art, in order to explore their signifi cance in the broader context of Iberian cultural history 7 .

REASSESSING VISUAL EVIDENCE: DRESS AND MILITARY IMPEDIMENTA
In her seminal work from 1956 -Indumentaria Medieval Española-Carmen Bernis Madrazo provides a comprehensive survey of dress throughout the Iberian Middle Ages, identifying and cataloguing types of costumes based on the combined evidence of iconographic and textual sources 8 . Here as in subsequent works, greater detail is offered in relation to the better documented high and late Middle Ages than the period before A.D. 1200, for which material sources are scant 9 . While the basic transformations that occurred in this 7 For previous studies on representations of elements of Iberian material culture in early and late medieval manuscript, see Guerrero Lovillo 1949;Hernández Ferreirós 2016a, 2016b. For similar approaches in relation to the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman world, see Carver 1986;Gameson 1993, pp. 24-26;Lewis 2008. 8 This article focuses primarily on the mechanisms of change in the visual representation of dress and horsemanship in Iberian illuminated manuscripts. A systematic analysis of the different types of dress and textiles used in this milieu is outside the scope of this work. For studies on medieval Iberian dress, see Bernis Madrazo 1956;Martínez 2003Martínez , 2012Sousa Congosto 2007. On textiles, see Cabrera-Lafuente 1995;Feliciano 2014;Rodríguez Peinado 2013, 2019. Bernis Madrazo's work remains the principal special issue on the subject to analyse in depth early medieval Iberian dress. 9 Concerning dress in the early and late Iberian Middle Ages, see Aragonés Estella 1999;Fresneda González 2013;García Marsilla 2007;Guerrero Lovillo 1949;Martínez 2003Martínez , 2012Mené ndez Pidal, Bernis Madrazo 1981 respect during the early and high Middle Ages were well outlined in modern scholarship 10 , the mechanisms that contributed to the changes in question received little sustained attention. The illuminations preserved in medieval manuscripts, rich in representations of human and anthropomorphic fi gures exhibiting varied garb, provide signifi cant evidence for the examination of these transformations and their importance in more detail.
The comparison between the earlier illuminated manuscripts (here considered as dating from the late ninth to the fi rst half of the eleventh century) and later ones (from the late eleventh to the thirteenth century) reveals subtle but critical transformations in the representation of dress. Despite the schematic and often anti-naturalistic qualities of their illustrations, greater variety of designs can be identifi ed in the earlier specimens 11 . This diversity has been explained by the unparalleled confl uence of different cultures in the Peninsula which contributed to the emergence of a symbiotic approach to dress, one in which classical and late Roman designs (which formed the basis of Western medieval dress more generally) coexisted with putative native developments deriving from the Visigothic and Islamic dress styles 12 . Illuminations preserved in tenth-century manuscripts provide numerous examples of such coexistence. Both saintly and high-status fi gures are mostly shown in long loose-fi tting tunics combined with cloaks or mantles, closely resembling the dress styles of antiquity, in particular the Roman pallium and the chlamys 13 (fi g. 1 c).
Other miniatures reveal what seems to be a combination of superimposed tunics varying in design and length, a trend which, according to Bernis, was characteristic of medieval Iberian dress 14 .
Secular and lower-ranking fi gures, by contrast, reveal a more pronounced variety of dress. The Morgan Beatus alone features several corroborative examples: in the episode of Christ's epiphany on the cloud (f. 26r), the Christian onlookers wear knee-length tunics with loose sleeves, general works on dress in the western Middle Ages, see Owen-Crocker 1986;Paterson 2011;Tramontana 2012;Miller 2014;Martin, Weetch 2017. 10 Bernis Madrazo 1956Sousa Congosto 2007. 11 As also noted by Bernis Madrazo 1956, p. 15. 12 Bernis Madrazo 1956 These two types of outer garments have been identifi ed in Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae, XIX. Their modern translation into English has been qualifi ed as pallium = cloak, and chlamys = mantle, see Barney, et al. 2006, p. 386; see also Bernis Madrazo 1956, p. 10. For examples of this type of dress, see RBME,Cod. d. I. 2,f. 428r;RBME,Cod. d. I .1,f. 129v;ACL,Cod. 8,ff. 39v,79r,103r;ASIL,Ms. II,ff. 129r,138v. Further examples may be found throughout the illuminations of the tenth-century Beatus manuscripts. For facsimile editions, see García Turza 2000;Vinayo Gonzá lez 1999;Vive, Brou 1953-1959 14 Bernis Madrazo 1956, p. 12 combined with short mantles and leggings (fi g. 1 a). Similar types of tunics can be observed in other illuminations in this manuscript; however, these present marked variations not only in their fi tting (some worn loose, others girded with a belt), but also in their sleeves (some loose and voluminous, others sleek and close-fi tting at the wrists, while others are sleeveless) 15 . This last type is also found in the tenth-century Girona Beatus as a garb of laymen 16 . The tunic in question has been identifi ed as the costume described in coeval Christian documentary sources as the mutebag: a garment of Islamic provenance but which was also worn within the context of the northern Christian communities of Iberia 17 . Further examples of dress styles of possible Islamic origin are found in this manuscript used both for sacred and secular fi gures. In the paraapocalyptic illumination of Christ's crucifi xion (f. 16v), the Roman soldiers wear girded tunics with pronounced clefts that reveal their bare legs; this clothing has been tentatively identifi ed as the mofarrage (fi g. 1 b) 18 .
Worn together with these shorter tunics, hose or leggings also form part of the attire of secular fi gures. While some are tight and straight, a more distinctive type of legwear resembling the sirwal (a type of widelegged trousers worn by both male and female across the Middle East) can also be observed in the earlier manuscripts (fi gs. 1 c; 2). Similarly, to the tenth-century counterparts, the Facundus Beatus (A.D. 1047) includes several depictions of this garment. The miniature representing the slaughter of the two witnesses (f. 246v) offers a suitable example: the Antichrist and his entourage are depicted wearing short loose tunics combined with short cloaks (possibly a type identifi ed by Bernis as the mantum hispani 19 ) and a knee-length version of the wide-legged trousers (fi g. 1 d). Similar dress can be found in a variety of manuscripts from the tenth century, including in the First Bible of León (A.D. 960) and the Antiphon of the Cathedral of León (mid-tenth century) 20 . Although no specifi c term for this garment is found in the extant coeval sources, Francisco de Sousa Congosto suggests that these may be a regional development of the Roman femoralia 21 . A more compelling case can, however, be made for a link with Islamicate dress style: similar pieces can be found not only in contemporary Islamic fi gurative art from al-Andalus, but also in late medieval textual sources describing Muslim dress in Granada 22 . Yet more signifi cant than the question of the origin of such garb is perhaps the fact that there is no visual and/or material evidence that they were current in north of the Pyrenees in this period 23 .
Iberian illuminated manuscripts produced from the last decades of the eleventh century onwards show signifi cant differences with regard to dress. Perhaps the most evident change is the overall lack of variety in comparison with the earlier specimens 24 . While the dress of holy and high-status fi gures does not differ greatly from what was represented in earlier pictorial works, that of secular characters reveals considerable transformations. It is now characterised by greater uniformity 25 : most fi gures wear tightly fi tted tunics, particularly in the neckline and wrists, often girded with belts, creating a pleated effect in the abdominal area 26 (fi g. 1 g). Hose are still part of this new attire; however, the sirwal (wide-legged trousers) has been invariably replaced by leggings (fi g. 1 e, f, h). Once again, the Beatus manuscripts offer important corroborative evidence that illustrate these shifts. The fi rst extant Iberian copy to include these new features is the Osma Beatus: a manuscript produced in the monastery of Sahagún in A.D. 1086, the period immediately preceding the offi cial adoption of the new liturgical rite in the Peninsula 27 . While preserving one of the oldest pictorial models within the Beatus tradition 28 , this manuscript is the fi rst within the corpus to exhibit a more "modern" aesthetic, having been 21 Sousa Congosto 2007, p. 56. 22 Representations of this type of garb can be observed in a variety of Islamic Andalusi artefacts, such as the "Burgo de Osma silk" (ca. A.D. 1100), the "Arqueta de Silos" (ca. A.D. 1026), and the so-called capital of the musicians (late tenth-century) held in the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum of Córdoba. For the corresponding images, see O'Neill 1993, pp. 86, 108-109, 273-276, catalogue n.º 31, 60, 132 (respectively). For a fi fteenth-century account of Granadan dress style, see Martínez 2012, pp. 197-198. 23 This is further corroborated by Bernis' investigation which also concludes that Iberian dress in the tenth and early eleventh centuries was considerably different from what was current in the trans-Pyrenean world, see Bernis Madrazo 1956, p. 11. Concerning the particular aesthetic vocabulary of early medieval Iberia, see Williams 1993b. 24 As also noted by Bernis Madrazo 1956, pp. 14-15. 25 Bernis Madrazo 1956, pp. 14-15. 26 A clear depiction of this type of tunic is found in the Lorvão Beatus in a variety of lengths, demonstrating that they could also be shortened with the aid of a belt: ANTT ML 44, ff. 49r, 54r, 149v. For facsimile edition of this manuscript, see Klein 2003. 27 ACBO, Cod. 1. For facsimile edition, see Shailor, et al. 1993. Concerning the relationship between Sahagún and Cluny, see Walker 1998, pp. 141-142, 196, 217. 28  described as the fi rst Romanesque Beatus, in which the schematism and rigidity characteristic of the earlier copies was abandoned in favour of more sinuous and elongated forms 29 . In addition to its pictorial style, the representation of dress in this manuscript is one of the features that shows the clearest signs of iconographic updating in relation to the previous copies 30 .  These transformations become all the more evident when analysing related manuscripts, such as mother-daughter copies of Girona and Turin Beatus and the two Bibles of San Isidoro of León. The Beatus in question, produced in A.D. 975 and in the early twelfth century respectively 31 , demonstrate that, despite their almost identical iconographic programmes, they differ markedly in terms of the representation of several elements that were part of the material culture in which they were produced. Dress style is one of such elements, having been visibly updated in the later copy 32 . Similar adaptations are also visible in yet later Beatus copies which arguably followed much earlier exemplars. The Lorvão Beatus (A.D. 1189) is one of them: while preserving one of the most archaic pictorial models within the tradition 33 , it shows that its makers strived for the modernisation of dress and other material elements depicted therein (fi g. 3).
More striking are the differences in the rendition of military accoutrements. While in most of the extant miniatures preserved in early Iberian manuscripts horsemen are represented as spiritual or visionary riders, the details and the nature of their garb change signifi cantly from the end of the eleventh century onwards. For instance, knights and horsemen in earlier illuminated manuscripts, such as the First Bible of León (A.D. 960) and the early Beatus, wear long and loose garb, including the wide-legged trousers as part of their riding attire (fi g. 2). This mode of representation was apparently current in the central and western parts of the Peninsula until at least the mid-eleventh century, as the last extant Beatus manuscript to feature them is the Leonese copy of Facundus (A.D. 1047) 34 . Substantial variations are visible thereafter. Horsemen are now rendered in two distinctive ways: either wearing a long tight tunic (similar to that worn by other secular fi gures in these manuscripts) combined with leggings and pointed shoes 35 (fi gs. 1 h; 3) or, alternatively, with knee-length chainmail hauberks -possibly lorigascombined with leggings; in a number of instances, some fi gures wear what 31 Respectively: MCG, Num. Inv. 7 (11); BNUT; ASIL, Ms. II; ASIL, Ms. III. 3. For facsimile edition of the Beatus copies, see Cá mon Aznar, et al. 1975;Herrero Jiménez 2000. 32 These iconographic variations between the two copies are briefl y highlighted in Cid, Vigil 1965. On the historical and codicological features of these copies, see Williams 1994b, pp. 50-64 and2002, pp. 26-30. 33 ANTT ML 44. On the antiquity of the model of the Lorvão Beatus, see Klein 2003, pp. 39-42;2014, pp. 14, 23. 34 BNE, MS. VITR 14/2; see facsimile edition Garcia Leal 2007; see also Williams 1998, pp. 34-40. 35  have been identifi ed as chainmail hose 36 . Conical helmets with nasal guards, unwitnessed in earlier Iberian illuminated works, also become part of the impedimenta associated with these characters 37 . Once again, the Girona and Turin Beatus and the two Bibles of San Isidoro of León offer striking evidence for these transformations: in the earlier manuscripts (Girona Beatus and the First Bible of León), these equestrian fi gures are depicted wearing wide and voluminous garb, including the sirwal trousers, while those in the later manuscripts (Turin Beatus and Second Bible of León) are rendered with the new impedimenta characteristic of the later copies 38 . Another signifi cant source through which to examine these transformations is the San Millán Beatus: a manuscript which was partially illustrated in the tenth century and resumed and completed in the mid-twelfth, thus exhibiting illustrations from two distinct periods. While no depictions of horsemen survive in the tenthcentury images, the remaining fi gures broadly refl ect the style and modes of representations observed across the tenth-century Beatus specimens. By contrast, the later miniatures in this copy demonstrate that horsemen are rendered with the new accoutrements observed in later illuminated manuscript 39 .
When considering the broader panorama of medieval fi gural art, close parallels can be drawn between details in the images preserved in later Iberian manuscripts and non-Iberian works from the ninth century onwards. Knights and warriors wearing different types of chainmail hauberks -which are only observed in the twelfth and thirteenth-century Iberian manuscripts-are already present in Carolingian manuscripts, including the Stuttgart Psalter and the Golden Psalter of Saint Gallen 40 .Yet images produced in the regions corresponding to the former Marca Hispanica introduced these features earlier 36 Powers 1988, p. 128. 37 Regarding the evolution of medieval military helmets and their depiction in manuscript sources, see Lewis 2008, pp. 113-114;Powers 1988, p. 129. The former author states that there is no evidence in the Anglo-French context for the use of conical helmets with nasal guards in manuscript sources prior to the twelfth century; however, the eleventh-century Saint-Sever than did those in the western and north-central parts of the Peninsula 41 . The two Bibles produced in the Catalonian monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll in the fi rst half of the eleventh century testify to this phenomenon, featuring the dress styles and the accoutrements which were seemingly only introduced in the manuscript illumination produced in the central and western peninsular kingdoms decades later 42 . In fact, of the Beatus manuscripts dating from the fi rst half of the eleventh century, only the copies of Saint-Sever (ca. A.D. 1028-1072) and of Geneva (mid-eleventh century) already present these "new" dress styles and accoutrements 43 . However, these seemingly precocious features can be justifi ed by the fact that these are two of the very few witnesses to have been produced outside the Iberian Peninsula, originating from the monastery of Saint-Sever sur l'Adour in Gascony and southern Italy (respectively), which therefore does not alter the pattern we see there, but rather highlights the marked differences between the modes of representation in Iberia and the trans-Pyrenees before the end of the eleventh century.

HORSEMANSHIP
While the representations of horsemen and knights in medieval Iberian manuscripts do not permit a detailed assessment of equestrian equipment due to their schematic quality, they show signifi cant transformations over time that extend beyond dress and impedimenta of their riders 44 . There would seem to be two distinct manners of portrayal corresponding to the date of production. In early Iberian manuscripts, horsemen are generally depicted in one particular riding posture: they are perfectly placed in the centre of the saddle, being well supported by the pommel and cantle, their knees bent, their legs withdrawn, and their feet resting close to the horses' abdomens. This type of depiction appears in several tenth-century illuminated manuscripts, including the First Bible of León, the Beatus copies of Morgan, Valladolid, Urgell, Escorial and Girona, as also in the eleventh-century Facundus Beatus 41 On the development of artistic trends in the region of Catalonia in this period, see Klein 1993, pp. 185, 189-190. 42 Sclafer, Laffi tte 1997, pp. 80-90. 44 Changes in riding postures due to transformations in martial techniques in eleventhcentury Iberia have been briefl y mentioned in Powers 1988, pp. 128-129 (fi g. 2), whose illuminator also included stirrups (set high and attached by fi ne leather straps) and occasionally spurs in the equestrian fi gures. Whatever the degree of naturalism achieved, knights and horsemen are invariably depicted in the same position in the extant pre-A.D. 1100 works.
Horsemen in copies dating from the fi rst years of the twelfth century, by contrast, were rendered according to a different convention and often with a greater sense of naturalism. Whilst still showing some fl exion in their knees (as is natural to the riding movement), they now have straighter legs, resting their feet in much lower stirrups that reach below the horses' abdomens; in several images the knights project their feet, and themselves, forward on the horses' bodies (fi gs. 1 h; 3). Even in cases where stirrups were not represented, the horsemen display a straight-legged posture. The Silos Beatus exhibits several instances of this type, seen in the illustrations of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse (f. 102v), of the knights in the siege of Jerusalem in the Daniel cycle (f. 223r), and in other equestrian fi gures in this manuscript (ff. 136v, 170r) 45 .
A comparison between the tenth-century Girona and the twelfthcentury Turin Beatus offers telling evidence about the changes in the representation of horsemen over time: the "bent-knee" posture present in the former was replaced with the "straight-legged" technique in the later specimen, even in depictions of fantastical riders, when knights ride beasts instead of horses (f. 123r). The two León Bibles provide yet another suitable example to compare earlier and later approaches. As mother and daughter copies produced almost two centuries apart, differences in the form in which horsemen are represented are also conspicuous: in the tenth-century specimen they are represented in a "bent-legged" posture (ff. 118r, 119r, 142r), whilst in the twelfth-century one they are depicted in a "straight-legged" position (ff. 130v, 131v, 141v).
Evidence about equestrian techniques and gear in the early medieval West is scant. The dearth of early works presumably refl ects the fact that most knowledge was possibly transmitted orally. One of the earliest specialised treatises on equestrianism to survive from an Iberian context dates from ca. A.D. 1430 and was composed by Dom Duarte, king of Portugal (d. A.D. 1438) 46 . Albeit late in date, this work offers invaluable insight into the features observed in the 45 Unfortunately, it was not possible to include images of the Silos Beatus when this article was sent to print due to the closure of the imaging services at the British Library (London), owing to Covid 19. To access the digital facsimile visit: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer. aspx?ref=add_ms_11695_f005v. 46 Although earlier Iberian works survive, namely the Libro del fecho de los Cavallos (dating from the thirteenth century) and Manuel Díeç's Llibre de Menescalia (ca. mid-fi fteenth century), they are primarily veterinary manuals for the care of equines. A modicum of information about horse riding can, however, be found in these texts. See Cifuentes, Ferragud 1999;Montoya 1994;Sachs 1938 Iberian illuminated manuscripts. In his Livro da Ensinança de Bem Cavalgar Toda a Sela, the monarch compiles traditional knowledge of this "art" for the instruction of new knights in the different disciplines of horsemanship 47 . Amongst the various techniques described therein, two seem to correspond to what is observed in the medieval illustrations: fi rst, a technique described as Dos que andam fi rmes e alto nas strebeiras (those who stand fi rmly and high on the stirrups); and second Do cavalgar com pernas encolhydas (riding with withdrawn legs) 48 . Accordingly, the fi rst technique referred to consisted of riding fi rmly with a straight body and outstretched legs and leaning slightly forward while supported by the pommel of the saddle 49 . The second was described as a technique in which the horseman is supported by short stirrups in order to keep both legs and knees contracted 50 , enabling the rider to sit perfectly in the centre of the saddle; this specifi c type of saddle was named gineta, a term of Arabic origin 51 .
Recent studies by Carlos Henriques Pereira have established correspondences between this late medieval treatise and early modern sources in which two terms arose for these techniques: a la gineta (corresponding to the withdrawn-legs riding technique) and a la brida (the straight-legs style), both terms coined due to the type of saddles used 52 . The a la gineta style has been interpreted to be of Maghrebi origin, and possibly dating back to the early Middle Ages; it was suited to lighter cavalry which, in a martial context, privileged speed and manoeuvrability 53 . In fact, parallels to this riding technique may be observed in Muslim Andalusi art, such as in the carvings of the eleventh-century Játiva basin and in the ivory panels of the Leyra and Silos caskets (ca. A.D. 1004-05 and A.D. 1026, respectively) which include Muslim knights and hunters. Moreover, Otto Karl Werckmeister has argued that the posture in which some of these horsemen are represented in the First Bible of León (turning backwards in the saddle in a fashion apparent in Sassanid art) should be interpreted as a conscious allusion to Islam and, therefore, to the Christian-Muslim confl ict 54 . Here, the illuminator even exaggerated the feature of the withdrawn legs to an unrealistic (and physically impossible) degree in some of these fi gures, possibly as an identifi er for the Muslim riders, thus strengthening this hypothesis, as well as supporting the association of the 47 Piel 1986; for the English translation, see Forgeng 2016. 48 Piel 1986, pp. 17-19. 49 Piel 1986Pereira 2001, pp. 89-90. 50 Piel 1986 Ibidem. 52 Pereira 2001, pp. 89-94. 53 Pereira 2001, p. 92;Powers 1988, p. 133. 54 See, for instance, ASIL, Ms. II, ff. 119r, 131v; see also Werckmeister 1993, p. 122 riding style with a north African origin. Yet the other horsemen depicted in this Bible also share the posture seen in the early Beatus manuscripts associated with Christian and righteous knights: legs withdrawn, knees realistically bent and kept close to the horse in short stirrups (fi g. 2) 55 . In Dom Duarte's treatise, the north African origin of this technique is also implied 56 ; however, perhaps more signifi cant is the fact that recent scholarship has identifi ed that this riding style was historically considered to be an Iberian technique until the early modern period, when it was adopted in other parts of Europe 57 . Although the fi rst written evidence about the a la gineta technique in the Peninsula is found in the Chronicle of Alfonso X, commissioned by Alfonso XI (A.D. 1311-1350) 58 , earlier pictorial monuments reveal that this, or at least a similar riding style, was already practised in this milieu in an earlier period.   1986, p. 20. 57 Concerning the different types of saddle, how they determined the different riding techniques and when they were adopted, see Pereira 2001, pp. 11, 92, 131-132. 58  The origin of the a la brida technique (the outstretched legs style) has been assigned to a completely different context. Pereira remarked that it was developed in northern Europe as a manner suited to heavy cavalry 59 . He goes on to state that this technique was already known in Iberia in the eleventh century; however, no further corroborative evidence is provided 60 . Iberian illuminated manuscripts refl ect this change at a slightly later date: for instance, the only two complete eleventh-century illustrated Beatus produced in the Peninsula -Facundus (A.D. 1047) and Osma (A.D. 1086)-still exhibit horsemen riding in a bent-knees position 61 . As far as the extant witnesses are concerned, the "new" riding technique fi rst appears in this corpus, as in medieval Iberian manuscript illumination more generally, from the early years of the twelfth century, as testifi ed by the case of the Silos Beatus, whose illuminations were completed in A.D. 1109. Some of the most accurate depictions of this technique can be observed yet in later copies, such as the Second Bible of León (A.D. 1162), the Lorvão Beatus (A.D. 1189), and the Bible of San Millán de la Cogolla (ca. 1200) 62 . In the fi rst manuscript, king Solomon rides towards the city with perfectly outstretched legs and feet resting on low stirrups (f. 141v), while in the Lorvão Beatus, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse (f. 108v) as well as an unidentifi ed knight holding a bow (f. 115r) are represented in a series of postures that this riding style would permit when adopting different gaits: some riders stand fi rmly in the stirrups with outstretched legs and raise their bodies slightly from the saddle, while others ride leaning forward with their legs resting straight in long stirrups when cantering (fi g. 3).
Comparison of these manuscripts with trans-Pyrenean visual sources supports the association of this equestrian technique with northern Europe. It can already be clearly identifi ed, for example, in the illuminations of the aforementioned Golden Psalter of St. Gallen as well as in an eleventhcentury copy of Hrabanus Maurus's De Rerum Naturis from Montecassin 63 . Furthermore, later representations preserved in different media, such as the Bayeux Tapestry and the ivory fi gures of the so-called "Charlemagne chess set" also show their knights a la brida, while exhibiting heavy armour and 59 Pereira 2001, p. 90. 60 Pereira 2001 The case of the Osma Beatus is less clear than that of Facundus, given that horsemen exhibit long draped tunics which prevent a clear assessment. The position of their lower limbs nevertheless suggests the bent-knees position and their feet rest at the level of the horse's abdomen, corresponding to what we observe in the earlier copies. 62 RAH,Cod. 2,ff. 170v,181v,198v,213v,214r. 63 Respectively: SStG, Cod. 22, ff. 132v, 140v, 141r; ABM, 132, ff. 383r, 474r. On the latter manuscripts see Orofi no 2000, pp. 50-86; see also Powers 1988, p. 133 weaponry 64 . The currency of the technique north of the Pyrenees prior to the late eleventh and early twelfth century is further underlined by the fact that the only Beatus copies that exhibit it are those of Saint-Sever and of Geneva: both specimens produced outside the Peninsula, the former in Gascony ca. A.D. 1038-1072, and the latter in late eleventh-century southern Italy 65 . In addition, akin to the case of dress and military accoutrements, it is in the region of Catalonia -the area south of the Pyrenees most exposed, and from an earlier period, to Frankish infl uence-that these fi rst appear in the Iberian pictorial repertoire: both Ripoll Bibles represent their knights and horsemen thus 66 . From this evidence we may therefore infer that, at some point in the transition to the twelfth century, a change occurred in the iconography of the knight in the Peninsula, refl ecting perhaps the arrival of new "realworld" practices from across the Pyrenees. Once again, the two mother and daughter León Bibles offer important evidence: while the earlier specimen shows horsemen riding with their knees bent and contracted legs, refl ecting the Iberian tradition -possibly la gineta style-its direct copy from A.D. 1162 updates both the material elements and the riding techniques, exhibiting knights with heavy armour and riding a la brida 67 . Further visual evidence for this phenomenon can be observed in a variety of artistic media, though most conspicuously in monumental sculpture. A ninth-century relief in the belvedere of Santa Maria del Naranco in Oviedo, albeit highly schematic, apparently shows two knights riding with withdrawn legs (a la gineta), while the carvings of knights on the capitals of the twelfth-century palace of the dukes of Granada in Navarra, and in the twelfth-century triumphal arch in the church of Santa María de Retortillo, in Cantabria, are represented in a straight-leg posture, a la brida 68 . One of the ivory plaques of the reliquary of San Aemilian offers yet another example of a knight represented a la brida and wearing a chainmail hauberk. The production of the piece in question has been ascribed to the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla ca. A.D. 1060-80. These features can be contextualised by the marked French infl uence that is patent in this piece, which was also possibly carved by French artisans. For image and description, see O'Neill 1993, pp. 12, 260-266, cat. n

CONCLUDING REMARKS
Analysing the modes of representation in manuscript illumination not only provides an overview of the evolution of fi gural art in the Iberian Peninsula but also offers important insight into transformations in its visual and material cultures. Despite earlier interactions between Iberia and other parts of Europe 69 , the most conspicuous transformations are detected from the fi nal decades of the eleventh century onwards 70 . The offi cial adoption of the Roman Rite in A.D. 1080 unquestionably marked a watershed in the process, leading to a greater exposure of the Peninsula to new trends and customs: it is indeed striking how close to this date changes of the sort discussed here can fi rst be observed. Across the board, the remarkable variety in dress that refl ected the idiosyncratic nature of early medieval Iberia seems to disappear from the pictorial repertoire, 69 Williams 1994a, pp. 93-94. 70 As also argued by Walker 2015, p. 79 giving way to a more uniform attire. Although extant material and documentary evidence indicates the survival of some traditional Iberian dress types in later centuries 71 , garb that refl ected Islamic infl uences seems to have faded away from manuscript illumination. This is particularly conspicuous in the representations of horsemen and knights whose attire changed radically, and to which new elements were introduced. Henceforth, Iberian modes of representation became almost indistinguishable from what is visible in contemporary French visual sources 72 .
By the same token, signifi cant changes in the depiction of knights and their riding styles can fi rst be observed in the extant Iberian manuscripts from the beginning of the twelfth century. Here political developments may provide further contextualisation: the alliances forged between Iberian and French royal and comital families (the marriages between the daughters of Alfonso VI and Raymond and Henry of Burgundy, as well as his own marriage to Constance of Burgundy, niece of Hugh of Cluny, being cases in point) strengthened international relations, contributing to cosmopolitan connections 73 . While the extent of the infl ux of foreign knights into Iberia during the "Reconquista" remains uncertain, considering the extant visual evidence we may reasonably assume that new practices and accoutrements found their way into the Peninsula where they seem to have been adopted to suit the new requirements of heavy cavalry 74 . Overall, the broader context thus likewise highlights the turn of the eleventh to the twelfth century as a period marked by the growing exposure to, and assimilation of, various aspects of trans-Pyrenean culture, which reshaped local traditions 75 .
The particular changes in fi gural representation I have highlighted raise important questions: were these striking transformations in manuscript illustrations motivated by the new requirements of the ecclesiastic reform, were they prompted by the access to new iconographic models introduced to the Peninsula at this stage, or were they a result of progressive change in the local social-cultural behaviour which informed visual culture? Were they even the consequences of some or all these factors combined? While changes to script type as well as to liturgical and monastic customs were mandated as part of the ecclesiastical reform, there is no concrete evidence for similar 71 Concerning the continuity of some types of traditional dress and the use of Muslim fabrics and designs by Iberian Christians in later periods, see Bernis Madrazo 1956, p. 19;Martínez 2012. 72 Concerning the decreasing infl uence of Islamic style in Iberian medieval art and the progressive adoption of French models, see Williams 1993b, p. 22. 73 Bishko 1980, pp. 1-3. On the specifi c infl uence in horsemanship, see Pereira 2001, p. 119;Powers 1988, pp. 132-133. 74 As also suggested by Powers 1988, pp. 132-133;Reilly 1988, p. 376. 75 Bernis Madrazo 1956, p. 19;Williams 1993b, p. 22 strictures in relation to book illumination. There is, however, evidence that, directly or indirectly, the reform promoted a new repertoire of models and iconographic programmes in Iberia, which facilitated the introduction of new artistic conventions, not to mention of foreign professionals 76 . Representations of armoured knights, as milites Christi battling the enemy, seem to have been amongst these, having enjoyed considerable popularity in secular and religious monumental art during this period of transition. This phenomenon has been justifi ed by Arturo Quintavalle as a reference to the physical and spiritual battle against Islam, which had gained new impetus, being then waged on western as well as on eastern frontiers 77 . However, while the apparent popularity of this theme across the medieval West may have contributed to a shift in the knightly image in Iberian visual culture, the representations found in this context do not seem to have, at least prima facie, evident ideological connotations, as both the good knights and evil horsemen are, to a greater or lesser extent, portrayed alike (wearing similar garb and riding in identical fashion) in several illuminated manuscripts and other artistic media 78 . If we consider the origin and background of the scribes and illuminators responsible for the production of these manuscripts, the information preserved in their colophons is, sadly, not very revealing, as little is presented regarding illuminators in post-1100 manuscripts. The Silos Beatus is one of the few exceptions, offering us the illuminator's name, Petrus, and his ecclesiastical status, prior, but telling us nothing about his background 79 . Again, there is no concrete documentary evidence that foreign secular professionals, whom one would expect to have been more open than cloistered monks to changes in the world around them, were involved in the execution of these works 80 . 76 Quintavalle 2015;Walker 1998, pp. 194-196;2016, pp. 305, 310;Williams 1998, p. 22. 77 Quintavalle 2015, pp. 33-34. It was also at this stage that Calixtus II (d. A.D. 1124) and, subsequently, Diego Gelmírez, archbishop of Compostela (d. ca. 1140), declared that the military action of the Christian kingdoms of Iberia should be envisaged as a crusade; see Fletcher 2013, pp. 80-83. 78 As seen in the Arroyo Beatus (BNF, nouv. acq. lat. 2290) in which the Antichrist (f. 106v) and other evil agents (f. 157v) are represented as armoured knights and foot soldiers. The same approach is found in the Cardeña Beatus (MAN, MS. 2, f. 106r). It is also believed that the south-side capital in the palace of the dukes of Granada in Navarre presents a Christian and a Muslim knight in combat, possibly Roland and Ferragut. They are, however, represented in identical fashion and both ride their horses a la brida. Only their shields differentiate them: the circular one has been associated with Islam and the kite-shaped one with Christianity. On this subject, see also Powers 1988, p. 130 (plate 14). 79 Concerning the craftsmen of the Silos Beatus, see Williams 2002, pp. 31-40. 80 See Yarza Luaces 2007, pp. 69-76. Despite having been produced in the scriptorium of San Isidoro at León, the Second Bible of León may be an exception to this trend. Hernández Ferreirós 2016b, pp. 144-150 has argued that the Bible was possibly illuminated by an itinerant group of secular artists due to the stylistic similarities between its miniatures and the wall Accordingly, assessing the motivations that led to these particular changes is diffi cult and interpretations have to be tentative. There is insuffi cient evidence to establish whether these illuminators were responding to changes in artistic conventions as part of a newly inherited visual tradition, or whether they had empirical knowledge of these transformations in everyday life. While it is plausible that they engaged with iconographic models which conveyed these new pictorial trends 81 , the detailed nature of these changes, especially horseriding techniques, may also suggest exposure to, and occasional understanding of, "real-world" practices 82 . The Silos Beatus is, once again, a case in point: while recalling the aesthetics and the script of the earlier tradition (showing greater affi nity with tenth-century Castilian manuscripts than with its coeval counterparts 83 ), this manuscript includes knights depicted with chainmail hauberks, conical helmets with nasal guards, and riding with straight legs a la brida: that is, refl ecting the practices and the impedimenta observed in trans-Pyrenean pictorial sources, which seems to have become current in Iberia from the early twelfth century onwards 84 . If illuminators were responding to "realworld" experience, it is diffi cult to establish how exactly they had access to this new and highly specifi c information and, perhaps most importantly, what may have motivated such evident iconographic changes. While it is reasonable to assume that there were strong connections between monasteries and the militia during the "Reconquista" 85 , and hence that monastic communities (and presumably their scribes and artists, such as Petrus of Silos) may have been more acquainted with military equipment than perhaps expected 86 , the exact paintings in a church in Roda de Isábena. Additionally, Walker 1998, p. 57 does not reject the possibility that the scriptorium of Santo Domingo of Silos may have also welcomed foreign scribes and artists. 81 On the arrival of foreign manuscripts in the Peninsula in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries, especially the offering of the Cluniac illuminated copy of Ildephonsus of Toledo's De Virginitate Sanctae Mariae (BPP, Ms. lat. 1650) to Alfonso VI, see Yarza Luaces 2007, pp. 70-74. Concerning the possible work of foreign scribes and illuminators in Iberia, see Walker 1998, pp. 192-196. 82 Evidence of ecclesiastic book makers engaging with the world outside the monastery walls is offered in the colophon of the Second Bible of León, in which the scribe stated that one of the members of the community had travelled to France to obtain high-quality parchment for the commission in question, see O'Neill 1993, p. 297. 83 Schapiro 1939, pp. 313-314, 317;Williams 2002, pp. 31-40. 84 Pereira 2001Powers 1988, pp. 132-133. For other pictorial elements which demonstrate French infl uence in the scriptorium of Silos, see Boylan 1990. 85 Concerning the close relationship between medieval monastic communities and the military world, see Smith 2011, pp. 39-71, 197-199. 86 Evidence for the understanding of the military dynamics of their time by Iberian monastic houses is yielded in the colophon of the tenth-century Girona Beatus, which states that the manuscript was completed when Fredenando Flaginiz was fi ghting the moors in Toledo -MCG, Num. Inv. 7 (11), f. 284r. Smith proposes that these connections were strengthened in the ANUARIO DE ESTUDIOS MEDIEVALES, 50/2, julio-diciembre 2020, pp. 799-825 ISSN 0066-5061, https://doi.org/10.3989/aem.2020.50.2.06 nature of these connections has yet to be adequately explored. The balance of probabilities, giving appropriate weight to the detail in the imagery examined, suggests that, while the reform may have been a trigger for these material and cultural transformations through the introduction of new iconographic models, personnel and customs, at least some scribes and illuminators had had fi rst-hand experience of the material and martial world in question.
Similarly to what is observed in relation to the system of Iberian scripts in this period -which refl ects not just mechanical and practical transitions, but also cultural and ideological ones-visual sources, especially illuminated manuscripts, offer a fertile ground for refl ection on the profound changes that occurred in the aftermath of the liturgical reform. These go beyond artistic idioms to details of material culture of when they were produced, refl ecting a turning point in the history of the medieval West, and characterised not only by the religious and cultural unifi cation of the medieval West but also the devitalisation of native Iberian traditions.