Rey que non tiene vasallos nunca bien puede regnar: Phraseological Uses at the Service of Royal Legitimation in the Poema de Alfonso XI

Abstract

After the publication of the different studies carried out by Carolina Michaëlis (1902 and 1909), Menéndez Pidal (1914 and 1924), Diego Catalán (1953 and 1977) or Yo Ten Cate (1956), there is not much research concerning the Poema de Alfonso XI (c. 1344-1348). The defective state of the only preserved testimony, characterized by metrical alterations as well as by rhymes that seem to have been modified by the alleged textual «dialectalization», presents difficulties to ensure its linguistic ascription. The most current studies on historical phraseology have contributed to clarify the process of textual construction of the preserved late medieval testimonies; therefore, it seems pertinent to analyze the phraseological units which configure the Poema de Alfonso XI in order to shed light not only on its constitutive process, but also on its linguistic characterization.