*3.3. The New David*

The restorer of lost order, the *renovatio mundi,* had been equated in Arnau de Vilanova's prophecies with the New David, who was to rebuild the temple on Mount Zion. These prophecies were presented to James II and Frederick III of Sicily in *Interpretatio de visionibus in somnis dominorum Iacobi secundi regis Aragonum et Friderici tertii regis Siciliae eius fratis* (1309), reworked in Catalan as *Raonament d'Avinyó* (1310), and left the identity of the *papa angelicus* and the New David ambiguous, but Frederick, then named the King of Trinacria, wasted no time in taking on this role, supported by the Fraticelli and Brother Dolcino, in particular. The Aragonese royals, meanwhile, like others, were tempted to identify themselves with the kings of the Old Testament, especially David and Solomon, as examples of wise, God-fearing monarchs. In the prologue of his chronicle, Peter IV the Ceremonious identified with David, as he believed God's will had saved him from all dangers so that he might fulfil his providential mission: 'And if we consider the grea<sup>t</sup> deeds performed in our time in the Kingdom of Aragon, as another David, whom it was said in 2 Samuel, 12: 10: "The sword shall not depart from my house." Thus, in the time of Our rule, the knife of an enemy, whether of a stranger, a vassal, or of Our counsellors, has almost never departed from Our house. And, truly, Our wars and tribulations were prefigured in the wars and deeds of David' (Peter IV 1980, pp. I, 128–29). However, the use made of the kings of Israel seems consistent with the prophetic connotations of the Aragonese monarch as the New David, not through personal identification but through association with the whole House of Barcelona. There is no visible intention to recognise a particular king in the images of David, but rather a foretelling of the dynastic will to carry out reforms and restore Christianity after the millennium. This can be perceived through David's association with James I at the beginning of the text and through the royal shield of Peter IV the Ceremonious on the frontispiece of the *Aureum opus* of Alzira (Valencia), which is, in fact, a summary of the laws and privileges granted to the city of Valencia (Alzira, Archivo Municipal, Còdexs especials, 0.0/3, f. 1r). This codex, ordered by the jurors of Valencia, was a response to the evocation of the king who founded the kingdom as an exemplary figure who had evangelised the lands conquered by the Moors, granting them their own laws. In chronicles, the king's longevity was compared to that of David and Solomon (*Llibre dels fets*, chapter 562 (Serrano 2008, pp. 62–70; Barrientos 2009, pp. 425–34; Granell 2017a, pp. 56–57)).

In the solemn *Breviary of king Martin*, the psalms are accompanied by a cycle of four scenes from David's life on every page, the first of which is surrounded by crowned Aragonese emblems with, from top to bottom, *putti*, eagles, and angels wearing tunics, while in the corners, we find unidentified male and female busts (Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. Rothschild 2529, f. 17v, Figure 4). The scenes on the left are from David's youth and depict him as the vanquisher of the lion and of Goliath, while on the other side, he is portrayed being anointed by Samuel and leading the Ark of the Covenant procession into Jerusalem. In the latter images, the monarch is characterised as an ageing man with a crown dressed with royal decorum: a stark contrast to the younger, slight man wearing a hat facing the lion and the Philistine giant (Planas 2009, pp. 61–66). On this page, we also find the royal motto *As a far fasses* ('do what you must') at the bottom of the border, which corresponded to the Order of the Belt ('Orde de la Corretja'), linked to his time as king of Sicily (Riera 2002, pp. 48–49). All of this suggests an association between David and the recipient and supporter of the illuminated manuscript, who had reached the throne 40 years after his brother John was killed accidentally, and who would bring a significant collection of relics to the royal chapel in Barcelona. When reproached by his adviser Francisco de Aranda for the pomp of the solemn coronation in Zaragoza, Martin invoked the precedent David and Solomon, among other kings of Israel (Rubió 1908–1921, pp. 2, 365–67; Serrano 2015b, p. 673). Martin was also represented on a throne with an open book in which the beginning of the *Miserere* (Ps 50, p. 3) was visible on the genealogical scroll of Poblet Monastery (Serra Desfilis 2002–2003, p. 71).

As the *Breviary* was completed under the reign of Alfonso V, it is unsurprising that this monarch also insisted on being associated with David, the author of the psalms in his Psalter and Hours now in London, British Library Additional MS 28962. Whether praying or seeking forgiveness at the beginning of the Penitential Psalms (f. 346v), and particularly in mystical visions such as that of the *duo viri*—Saint Dominic and Saint Francis praying to Christ, flanked by the Virgin and Saint John the Baptist, in a city identified as the capital as one of the king's states—at the beginning of the *Miserere* (f. 67v, Figure 5) identification of Alfonso with David is suggested (Español 2002–2003, pp. 96–97, 104–5; Planas 2015, pp. 232–36). This apocalyptic vision ties in with a common theme in Joachimite prophetism: the strength of the mendicant orders through their founders, who intercede before Christ, about to shoot arrows at the world (Arcelus 1991, pp. 21–112). This vision, refocused in the thirteenth century in favour of the Dominicans by Géraud de Frachet, retained all its popularity and relevance: so much so that it was represented on one of the carriages involved in the royal entry of Ferdinand I of Aragon, father of Alfonso V, into the city of Valencia in 1414 (Cárcel and García 2013, pp. 12–18). It was described as 'the vision Saint Dominic and Saint Francis saw with the three lances, denoting the end of the world' and is not to be confused with the one Vincent Ferrer had during his illness in Avignon (Calvé 2016, pp. 186–97). Seeing from the initial letter alongside the guardian angel, the king discreetly becomes a visionary of the imminent end of the world and a mediator between the fearsome power of God and his people.

**Figure 4.** David stories in the *Breviarium secundum ordinem Cisterciencium*, also known as Breviary of king Martin of Aragon. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. Rothschild 2529, f. 17v. Used by permission.

**Figure 5.** Psalter and Hours, Dominican use (the 'Prayerbook of Alphonso V of Aragon'). London, British Library Add MS 28962, f. 67v. Used by permission.

In that royal entry into Valencia in 1414, the dynasty's new monarch was welcomed like a New David. Saint Vincent Ferrer had argued the legitimacy of the Trastámara candidate, even though he was a descendent to the Aragonese dynasty through the maternal line, by invoking the precedent of Jesus through Mary (Gimeno 2012) and the vision of Christ with the three lances, foreshadowed by the three darts thrust by Joab through the heart of Absalom, who would not wait for the succession (2 Samuel 18, pp. 9–15). Ferdinand I, meanwhile, had been patient and entrusted the verdict on his legitimacy to divine judgement; the electors at Caspe named him the heir, with decisive intervention from Vincent Ferrer in 1412, and thanks to his victories against the Moorish kingdom of Granada, he appeared to be a promising messianic monarch (Calvé 2019, pp. 69–70). Despite this dynastic change, the royal aura of David and Solomon continued to be projected onto the image of the king of Aragon.

### *3.4. The Transfiguration: A Triumphant, Conciliatory Vision of Messiah*

While Alfonso V the Magnanimous was working on the crusade plan launched by Valencian Pope Callixtus III, the Turkish advance was reaching the gates of Belgrade, where John Hunyadi's and John of Capistrano's victory halted Mehmed II's army on 21 July 1456. News arrived in Rome on 6 August and it was commemorated with the Feast of the Transfiguration by Callixtus III, who had also requested that all churches sound their bells at midday during the siege on the Serbian capital. These events were echoed in the Crown of Aragon, where postponing sending a crusader contingent was not to hinder symbolic support for this battle against the infidels (Navarro 2003, pp. 149–50). Alfonso de Borja had been appointed bishop of Valencia in 1429 while he served as a special adviser to king Alfonso. To this backdrop, Joan de Bonastre, also a loyal adviser to Alfonso V, commissioned an altar in 1448 for Valencia cathedral with a triple dedication—to the Saviour, to Saint Michael and to Saint George—on which the Transfiguration would be accompanied by images of the two warrior saints par excellence (Saralegui 1960, pp. 5–10; Deurbergue 2012, pp. 67–70; Figure 6). A likely identification of the painter as Jacomart connects the preserved panel (Valencia, Museo de la Catedral) with the court artist of king Alfonso (Ferre 2000, pp. 1681–86; Gómez-Ferrer 2017, pp. 20–21). The use of the Transfiguration in the fight against the infidels was common in the Crown of Aragon in the fifteenth century, which explains the proliferation of the subject before and after the feast was established by a Valencian pope who had also supported Alfonso V in his campaigns and called for the Aragonese monarch to lead the crusade (Navarro 2003, pp. 81–180). Humanists like Flavio Biondo, Giannozzo Manetti, and Matteo Zuppardo in *Alfonseis* were keen to have him at the head of the crusade and attributed the Belgrade victory to the assistance given to Hunyadi and Scanderberg by Alfonso as the rightful figure who would continue the feats of Pompey the Great and Godfrey of Bouillon. Manetti attended a religious service in Naples Cathedral on 29 September 1455, Saint Michael's Day, at which Alfonso V was expected to take the cross against the Turks, although this ended up happening on All Saints Day of the same year thanks to decisive mediation from Manetti (Navarro 2003, pp. 98–100; Botley 2004; Molina 2011, p. 99). Transfiguration had come back to the forefront in the Crown of Aragon over the course of the fifteenth century, perhaps thanks to the opportunity to confirm Christ's role as the Messiah heralded by the Old Law and prophets in a context that was against Judaism but encouraged the conversion and assimilation of Neophytes; bishop Jaume Péreç of Valencia (1408–1490), in his *Tractatus contra Judaeos*, contended that the Old Covenant could not stand alone and was prefiguring the New Covenant (Peinado 1992). The parallel between transfigured Moses descending from the Sinai and the radiance of Jesus face and robe was a point of Jewish-Christian controversy (Moses 1996, pp. 20–49) and could be reinforced by the similar appearance of Christ and Moses in their portrayals, especially in the crossed nimbus of Christ and the red horns on Moses' forehead, as can be observed in the Valencian panel, let alone the major role of Elijah and Moses in the depiction of this scene, especially if compared to those of apostles Peter, John and James, overwhelmed witnesses of the theophany. It was expressed through the panel paintings of Pina (Teruel), Xiva de Morella (Castellón), an altarpiece from Barcelona Cathedral, work by Bernat Martorell (ca. 1445–1448) and another, later, altarpiece in Tortosa Cathedral

### *Arts* **2019**, *8*, 143

(ca. 1466–1480) (Molina 1999, pp. 57–87; Alcoy and Vidal 2015). This theme confirmed Christ as the Messiah and heir to a Jewish tradition to be assimilated, and perpetuated a resounding victory in the liturgical calendar for all of Christianity against its most feared enemy. The sense of eschatology in the Transfiguration as a foretaste of the glory of Jesus at the Parousia as he discloses another world was also rooted on Jewish traditions about the enthronization of the Messiah (Ramsey [1949] 2009, pp. 101–11).

**Figure 6.** Master of Bonastre (Jacomart, also known as Jaume Baçó?), Transfiguration Altarpiece. Valencia, Museo de la Catedral. Used by permission.

### *3.5. The End of Days*

The momentum behind prophetic thought depended on the sense of proximity of the millennium of peace and happiness that would last from the defeat of the Antichrist until the Final Judgement. At that time, the Emperor of the Last Days had to complete his mission: defeat the forces of evil, reform the Church with consensus from the *papa angelicus*, and convert the Jews and Muslims, by force or otherwise, to restore the holy city of Jerusalem. Such a cycle of spectacular visions of universal proportions was unlikely to find a comprehensive, eloquent visual translation, but it was not implausible for it to achieve resonance through images of the final stages liable to be investigated later.

Visual formulations created from the late-fourteenth century that heralded the coming millennium and were inspired by the work of Francesc Eiximenis renewed expectations in the upcoming millennium (Rodríguez 2005, pp. 117–21). The Final Judgement panel now in Munich, Alte Pinakothek, attributed to Gherardo Starnina, depicts among the blessed a pope, a bishop, an emperor, a king wearing the golden collar of a double crown and a queen, and some of them have been persuasively related to historical characters as king John I and queen Violant de Bar, or rather to king Martin I and queen Maria de Luna. The landscape of the doomsday has also been compared to those of Mallorca or the Charterhouse of Valldecrist, the latter reputedly reminiscent of the valley of Josaphat as the place of divine judgement (Miquel 2003, pp. 793–94; Serra Desfilis 2016, p. 66; Palumbo 2015, pp. 325–54). In any case, a late sixteenth century source described in Valldecrist a painting of the Final Judgement in the presence of king Martin and queen Maria, on Christ's right hand side, to remember the visionary insight of the valley of Josaphat who inspired the foundation of Valldecrist, and a lost inscription confirming it in the cloister next to Saint Martin's chapel (Diago 1946, pp. II, 177).

The Trinity adored by All Saints and Saint Michael altarpiece from Valldecrist (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 39.54, Figure 7) offers an evocative composition of Joachim of Fiore's passage in his *Liber figurarum* on the millennium, the unity of the Church and the conversion of the Jews (Lerner 2001, p. 31), and especially the comment from chapter 20 on the Apocalypse in Eiximenis's *Llibre dels àngels*, treaty V, chapter 37: 'the shackling of the Devil and the kingdom of saints with Christ, for one thousand years, before the Final Judgement' (Eiximenis [1392] 1983, pp. 117–19; Lerner 2001, pp. 107–9). Commissioned around 1400 by Dalmau de Cervelló i Queralt, governor of the Kingdom of Valencia and friend of King Martin, for the San Martín Chapel in the Carthusian Monastery of Valldecrist (Altura, Castellón) founded by the monarch, the piece's side panels depict the Saints' adoration of the Trinity (Serra Desfilis and Miquel Juan 2009, pp. 78–79). Here, redemption is seen in a clearly apocalyptic context: Christ's merits earned on the cross and his status as the Son of God, evident through the Trinity formula, are strengthened by the intercession of the Virgin Mary and the vision of the blessed adoring the Trinity, includes the Old Testament Patriarchs and All Saints, each identified with their individual name and organised by hierarchy, marks the start of the millennium. It was expected around that time, as stated by Francesc Eiximenis in the final stage of the Western Schism, when Benedict XIII could embody the angelic shepherd who, with the final emperor, would lead to that vision (Lerner 2001, pp. 107–9). The funerary function of the altarpiece from Valldecrist and a comparison with other, related pieces made by Valencian workshops around that time, such as the one from Portaceli now shared between New York's Metropolitan Museum (12.192) and Lyon's Musée des Beaux Arts (inv. B 1174 a/b) (Fuster 2012, pp. 75–96), or the Pedro de Puxmarín altarpiece in Murcia Cathedral (circa 1419), only emphasise the prophetic virtuality of that vision, nuanced by a kind of Marian devotion that was deeply rooted in Valencia and in the Court of Martin I the Humane, where her immaculate conception was supported through the image of the Veronica (Crispi 1996; Rodríguez 2007, pp. 169–93; Deurbergue 2012, pp. 156–89). Indeed, Virgin Mary, dressed as the Queen of Heaven, sits beside the Trinity upon the throne of grace, in a prominent place according to the sense of piety and devotion idiosyncratic of the Court of Martin and particularly of his queen, Maria de Luna, lieutenant of the kingdom of Valencia between 1401 and 1406 and dedicatee of Eiximenis' *Scala Dei*. Queen Maria made a donation of 9000 gold florins to Valldecrist Charterhouse in 1403, just a few months before she obtained a papal bull, allowing her and her ladies to attend the Mass at any Carthusian monastery in the Crown of Aragon as long as she did not spend the night at the Charterhouse (Silleras-Fernandez 2008, pp. 115–37).

In this piece, we see in nuce two main means of exaltation of the Aragonese kings' messianic mission. Firstly, Marian devotion is translated visually through ex-votos and scenes portraying the monarchs at the Virgin's feet. This distinctive way of venerating the Virgin Mary was assimilated and ramped up by the Trastámara dynasty even before they became kings of Aragon following the Compromise of Caspe (1412), as reflected in the Virgin of Tobed (Prado Museum, n◦ inv. P008117, Figure 8), following on from the exaltation of Mary exhibited by James I and other Aragonese monarchs of the House of Barcelona (Ruiz 2009, pp. 71–112). This panel, commissioned before Count of Trastámara became king Henry II of Castille, shows him and his wife, Juana Manuel, with their son John (I), and one of the daughters, maybe Joan, as donors praying at the foot of the Virgin of Santa

Maria de Tobed (Zaragoza). Both father and son are represented as kings of Castille-Leon as the crown and heraldry make it clear. However, this Marian devotion rarely reached the apocalyptic dimensions seen in the Valldecrist altarpiece, where Virgin's intercession is dramatic and spectacular.

**Figure 7.** The Trinity adored by all saints. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Used by permission.

**Figure 8.** The Virgin of Tobed with the donors Henry II of Castile, his wife Joan Manuel, and two of their children, John and Joan (?). Madrid, Prado (P008117). Used by permission.

Secondly, the angels that appeared as the kings' guardians or champions of celestial militias in the fight against evil sometimes transformed into carriers of a messianic message with roots in Judeo-Christian tradition (Horbury 2003, pp. 57–59; Potestà 2014, p. 160). The popularity of angelic themes in the decoration of spaces for worship in castles and palaces has been linked to a desire to imitate the Chamber of the Angels in the papal palace in Avignon (Español 1998, pp. 58–68). In Valencia, the Chamber of the Angels was to be one of the most representative rooms of the royal palace and is mentioned in a letter from Martin I to Pere d'Artés as part of the royal lodge in 1405 (Español 1998, p. 63). For this or an adjacent room in the same royal apartment, known as Real Vell, Martí Lobet sculpted three angels with weapons and elements of dynastic heraldry from polychrome orangewood in 1432. One of them carried a helmet in one hand and a sword in the other; the second, a helmet with a thick strap 'with a vibra or bat' and a silver rapier with a gold handle; and the third, a helmet with the Siege Perilous and enamelled silver leaves in one hand and a silver axe with wooden handle in the other. Martí Lobet also sculpted three beasts from the same wood: one half friar, half dragon; another in the shape of a griffin; and the final one an eagle, which were supposed to be fighting the angels. All of this encourages an eschatological interpretation, with malevolent creatures being overcome by angels with royal heraldry (Archivo del Reino de Valencia, Mestre Racional, record 11607, f. 38r; Sanchis 1924, pp. 19–20).

### *3.6. Prophetic Emblems: The Dragon and the Bat*

Among the symbols carried by these victorious angels are the Siege Perilous—the king's personal emblem, alluding to the seat reserved for the best knight in Arthurian legend—and a fantastical being somewhere between a dragon and a bat, which the dynasty had adopted in its heraldry and on royal seals since the time of Peter IV the Ceremonious. This winged dragon, sometimes associated with the Apocalypse and a symbol of the dynasty (*dragó* sounds like *d'Aragó*, meaning *from Aragon*), was ambiguous: enemies saw this fearsome beast as malignant and apocalyptic, while Aragonese supporters used this emblem to assert the Staufen legacy (Jaspert 2010, pp. 214–15). The symbol's identification with the figure of the Emperor of the Last Days was present since Arnau de Vilanova and his prophecy *Vae mundo in centum annis* contained in *De mysterio cymbalorum Ecclesiae* (Milhou 1982, pp. 64–75). Indeed, it was this author who declared the bat would devour the Moors on the Iberian Peninsula as though they were mosquitoes and would continue with its triumphal march until reaching Jerusalem. Francesc Eiximenis (*Lo Crestià* first book, chapters 102 and 247) declared that 'From this house [of Aragon] it is prophesied that a monarch must rule over almost all', proclaimed the dynasty unbeaten ('never has a King of Aragon been defeated on the battlefield'), praised the house's relics, interpreted the pallets on the coat of arms as rods on which the Church would be reformed, and extolled the victories over Islam in Valencia and Mallorca, hoping that this would be continued in Africa and would reach the Holy Land (Bohigas [1928] 1982, pp. 99–104).

The determination to adopt a frightful symbol and preserve its messianic connotations explains why, in heraldry, the figure becomes a dragon, snake and bat hybrid. In fact, the Catalan word *vibra* refers both to a winged dragon and a bat, as often seen in Valencian documents; indeed, the dragon that killed Saint George was also a *vibra* (Vives 1900; Ivars 1923, pp. 66–112; Duran [1987] 2004, pp. 164–74).

The crest from the Armería Real of Madrid (D.11) is one of the most outstanding pieces of this kind still preserved (Figure 9). Made from parchment, plaster and gold leather and painted to remain light on the helmet, it likely dates from the early fifteenth century and comes from Mallorca, where the winged dragon was used as a symbol of the crown at the Festa de l'Estendard, commemorating Martin I's conquest by royal decree: '*inter signia et al.ios apparatus regales nostram empresiam de la cimera sive timbre*' (Crooke 1898, pp. 139–41, Riera 2002, p. 54; Montero 2017, pp. 100–1).

**Figure 9.** Crest with a dragon, also known as king Martin's crest. Madrid, Armería Real (D.11). Used by permission.

Over time, this symbol of a monarchy with imperial, millennialist ambitions was adopted by the municipal governments of Valencia and Mallorca, which linked it retrospectively to James I the Conqueror as the founder of the kingdoms. In 1459, it was added to the royal standard of the city of the River Turia on the eve of the Saint George festival. Peter IV's desire to use the *vibra* crest on seals and heraldry following the annexation of Mallorca (1343–1344) turned the helmet with winged dragon emblem into a dynastic symbol and reference to James I, which strengthened the link to the secular fight against Islam and the prophetic destiny foretold by Arnau de Vilanova, in texts attributed to him, by Francesc Eiximenis, by *Surge, vespertilio, surge* (1455) and even by Jeroni Torrella in *De imaginibus astrologicis* (1496) at the time of Ferdinand II the Catholic (Ivars 1923, pp. 75–76).

The motif proved to be to the monarchy's liking, as the kings of Aragon used it from the time of Martin the Humane until Ferdinand II the Catholic, despite the dynastic change of 1412. Thus, it is depicted in the late fourteenth century in the famous Gelre Armorial as the crest on coat of arms of the King of Aragon [*ARRAGOEN*] (Brussels, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, ms. 15652–5, f. 62r) and in the later Armorial of the Golden Fleece (Armorial de l'Europe et de la Toison d'or, Paris, Bibliothèque national de France. Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Ms 4790 f. 108r, Figure 10). Jean de Roquetaillade had thought Infant Ferdinand of Aragon to be bound to defeat king Peter I of Castille wearing on his helmet the crest of the bat *super galeam vespertilionem gerit insigne armorum* (Aurell 1990, pp. 351–53). Later, Infant Peter of Aragon's vision of Henry of Trastámara as the embodiment of the bat foreseen in prophecies had not been in vain (Pou [1930] 1996, pp. 531–34): both Henry and his son John have just placed aside their helmets with dragon crests and royal Castilian heraldry in the Tobed ex-voto. A *vibra* or dragon appeared, fighting savages and knights, at Martha of Armagnac's royal entry into

Valencia in 1377 (Archivo Municipal de Valencia: Manual de Consells, A-16, ff. 159r-164r; Ivars 1923, pp. 103–4). Among the pageantry of his royal entry in Barcelona (1397), Martin I had particularly admired the eagle and the dragon, which were subsequently borrowed for his coronation in Zaragoza in 1399, where *una gran vibra molt bella* ('a grea<sup>t</sup> and very beautiful viper') throwing fire was fought by a group of knights, as witnessed by the chronicle of the event (Carbonell [1547] 1997, pp. 178–90). Alfonso V the Magnanimous had been portrayed as a bat in anonymous prophecies dating from 1449 onwards (Bohigas 1920–1922, p. 43; Aurell 1994; Barca 2000). As we have seen, he incorporated the symbol into his emblems on objects like medals, manuscripts, the royal tent in 1436 and his palace in Valencia (Duran 2004, pp. 217–21). Valencian notary Dionís Guiot described a vision of a king crowned with a *vibra* with a bat's wings, as the champion of the crusade following the fall of Constantinople: 'With a glorious demeanour/I saw a king wearing a crest on his head/a rampant dragon with bat wings' (Duran 2004, p. 166).

**Figure 10.** The King of Aragon, Armorial de l'Europe et de la Toison d'or, Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Ms 4790 f. 108r. Used by permission.
