Una Qüistión sobre la Conçebçión de Santa María: the Cancionero de Baena Debate on the Immaculate Conception

This article examines the way in which two cancionero poets, Lope del Monte and Diego Martínez de Medina, debate the topic of the Immaculate Conception, a new doctrine being discussed in universities in the fifteenth century. The article examines the use of patristic authorities in the poems and identifies references to some fathers of the Church which had not previously been recognised. The article is seminal in showing how Immaculist poets used current theological debate to inform the content of their poetic debate. The article provides the entry to a fruitful field of research culminating in a book, 'The Serpent and the Rose' (Leiden: Brill), currently in press and due to be published in February 2008 as part of the series Church History and Religious Culture. The book incorporates primary research on conception liturgies in Hispanic archives and addresses key scriptural themes used to support the Immaculate Conception by liturgists and poets. A British Academy award in 2004 supported travel and technical assistance for the archive work and the book has been written with the support of an AHRB research leave award. Twomey has presented papers on the Immaculate Conception, at the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland Conference, and at the Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas, both in 2007.