Anyone entering the Patio de los Naranjos of Seville Cathedral may encounter one of the strangest curiosities preserved within the monument: a large crocodile hanging above the passage, accompanied by other unusual objects. Known to generations of Sevillians simply as “the Lizard”, its presence is explained by an old tradition that takes us back to the court of Alfonso X and an extraordinary embassy from Egypt.
THE LEGEND
Around the year 1260, Seville had already become one of the most important cities of the kingdom of Castile. Only a few years had passed since its conquest by Ferdinand III, and under his son Alfonso X the Wise the city occupied an increasingly significant position in the political and economic life of the kingdom. According to the traditional account, news of this growing power reached the court of the Sultan of Egypt, who wished to establish closer political and commercial relations with Castile.
The Sultan therefore sent an embassy to Alfonso X with an ambitious proposal: he wished to marry the king's daughter, Princess Berenguela. The ambassadors did not arrive empty-handed. They brought with them a collection of extraordinary gifts intended to impress the Castilian court, among them an elephant tusk, a living crocodile from the Nile and a domesticated giraffe equipped with its own harness and bridle.
For the inhabitants of medieval Seville, animals of this kind must have seemed almost unbelievable. A crocodile and a giraffe belonged to distant lands that most people knew only through travellers' stories, books and imagination. Their arrival at the royal court therefore became an event worthy of remembrance, especially in a city whose growing importance was beginning to connect it with territories far beyond the Iberian Peninsula.
Alfonso X, however, did not accept the Sultan's marriage proposal. Tradition tells that he rejected it courteously, treating the Egyptian ambassadors with honour and sending them home with diplomatic words and gifts for their ruler. The extraordinary animals that had accompanied the embassy, however, remained in Seville.
The crocodile was taken to the Real Alcázar and placed in one of the pools of its gardens. The giraffe also lived within the royal grounds, feeding from the trees while carrying the curious harness that had arrived with her from Egypt. For some time, these exotic creatures must have provided one of the most unusual sights in 13th-century Seville.
Eventually the crocodile died. According to the traditional story, its body was preserved, filled and suspended in the Patio de los Naranjos, where its strange appearance would continue to recall the distant embassy that had brought it to the city. Beside it was hung the large bridle associated with the giraffe, together with the elephant tusk that had formed part of the Sultan's gifts.
Another object would later join this peculiar collection. When the Castilian ambassador who had travelled to Egypt eventually returned, his staff or insignia of office was also placed there as a reminder of the diplomatic relationship between the two courts.
Thus, what had begun as an unsuccessful marriage proposal became one of Seville Cathedral's most curious traditions. For centuries, visitors have looked upwards in surprise at the strange figure hanging above them, while generations of Sevillian children have known it simply as the Lagarto de la Catedral —the Cathedral's Lizard.
The name itself became so firmly rooted in local memory that the gallery in which it is found came to be known as the Nave del Lagarto. In this way, a medieval diplomatic story, an exotic animal and the imagination of generations of Sevillians combined to create one of the most distinctive curiosities of the Cathedral.
The Sultan therefore sent an embassy to Alfonso X with an ambitious proposal: he wished to marry the king's daughter, Princess Berenguela. The ambassadors did not arrive empty-handed. They brought with them a collection of extraordinary gifts intended to impress the Castilian court, among them an elephant tusk, a living crocodile from the Nile and a domesticated giraffe equipped with its own harness and bridle.
For the inhabitants of medieval Seville, animals of this kind must have seemed almost unbelievable. A crocodile and a giraffe belonged to distant lands that most people knew only through travellers' stories, books and imagination. Their arrival at the royal court therefore became an event worthy of remembrance, especially in a city whose growing importance was beginning to connect it with territories far beyond the Iberian Peninsula.
Alfonso X, however, did not accept the Sultan's marriage proposal. Tradition tells that he rejected it courteously, treating the Egyptian ambassadors with honour and sending them home with diplomatic words and gifts for their ruler. The extraordinary animals that had accompanied the embassy, however, remained in Seville.
The crocodile was taken to the Real Alcázar and placed in one of the pools of its gardens. The giraffe also lived within the royal grounds, feeding from the trees while carrying the curious harness that had arrived with her from Egypt. For some time, these exotic creatures must have provided one of the most unusual sights in 13th-century Seville.
Eventually the crocodile died. According to the traditional story, its body was preserved, filled and suspended in the Patio de los Naranjos, where its strange appearance would continue to recall the distant embassy that had brought it to the city. Beside it was hung the large bridle associated with the giraffe, together with the elephant tusk that had formed part of the Sultan's gifts.
Another object would later join this peculiar collection. When the Castilian ambassador who had travelled to Egypt eventually returned, his staff or insignia of office was also placed there as a reminder of the diplomatic relationship between the two courts.
Thus, what had begun as an unsuccessful marriage proposal became one of Seville Cathedral's most curious traditions. For centuries, visitors have looked upwards in surprise at the strange figure hanging above them, while generations of Sevillian children have known it simply as the Lagarto de la Catedral —the Cathedral's Lizard.
The name itself became so firmly rooted in local memory that the gallery in which it is found came to be known as the Nave del Lagarto. In this way, a medieval diplomatic story, an exotic animal and the imagination of generations of Sevillians combined to create one of the most distinctive curiosities of the Cathedral.
BETWEEN HISTORY AND LEGEND
The tradition of the Cathedral's Lizard has been associated for centuries with the court of Alfonso X and with diplomatic contacts between Castile and Egypt during the 13th century. The story preserved in Seville links the arrival of exotic gifts —including a crocodile, a giraffe and an elephant tusk— with an Egyptian embassy and a proposed marriage involving the king's daughter Berenguela.
The curious collection that gave rise to the tradition has changed over the centuries. The crocodile visible today is not the preserved body of the original animal described in the story, but a later wooden representation traditionally dated to the 16th century. The disappearance of the original did not erase its memory, and the replacement continued to occupy the place associated with the old account. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
What has remained unchanged is the extraordinary place that the “Lizard” occupies in Sevillian popular culture. Even the Cathedral continues to use the historic name Nave del Lagarto for this part of the Patio de los Naranjos, demonstrating how deeply the story became attached to the building itself. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
Whether contemplated as the memory of medieval diplomacy, as a traditional account preserved through generations or simply as one of the Cathedral's most unexpected curiosities, the Lagarto continues to connect present-day visitors with the distant Seville of Alfonso X.
The curious collection that gave rise to the tradition has changed over the centuries. The crocodile visible today is not the preserved body of the original animal described in the story, but a later wooden representation traditionally dated to the 16th century. The disappearance of the original did not erase its memory, and the replacement continued to occupy the place associated with the old account. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
What has remained unchanged is the extraordinary place that the “Lizard” occupies in Sevillian popular culture. Even the Cathedral continues to use the historic name Nave del Lagarto for this part of the Patio de los Naranjos, demonstrating how deeply the story became attached to the building itself. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
Whether contemplated as the memory of medieval diplomacy, as a traditional account preserved through generations or simply as one of the Cathedral's most unexpected curiosities, the Lagarto continues to connect present-day visitors with the distant Seville of Alfonso X.
PODCAST VERSION
SOURCE AND ADAPTATION
Adapted for Sevilla Ciudad Mágica from the Sevillian tradition collected by José María de Mena in Tradiciones y Leyendas Sevillanas.
Seville is not only discovered through its monuments and streets.
Its legends are also part of its history and cultural memory.
Its legends are also part of its history and cultural memory.
| ← PREVIOUS | HOME | NEXT → |
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario