El motivo de las defensoras barbudas: su pervivencia desde tiempos germánicos hasta la Edad Media española

Abstract

This article will attempt to demonstrate the survival of a Germanic motif in 13th century Spain and its continuity over the centuries by means of three surviving examples: the Origo gentis Langobardorum, a 7th century Lombard text; the lost chronicle of al-Razi, a 10th century Muslim chronicler from Cordoba; and the First General Chronicle, based on 13th and 14th century texts. The literary motif we are concerned with is the stratagem of a military leader who, being harassed by an army larger than his own, chooses to make the women he has with him let their hair down to look like warriors, turning them into bearded female defenders.