GOOD KNIGHT
🐉 Pendragons and Conquerors: The Secret Link Between Arthur and the Balearics
A few days ago, while flipping through one of my most prized possessions—a vintage edition of "King Arthur’s Knights" retold by Henry Gilbert and illustrated by the master Walter Crane—I had a revelation.
As I looked at those images of knights in shining armor, a melody began to play in my head:
"I still can't believe it / and I'm back on a satellite / that goes around in a straight line..."
These are lyrics by Joan Miquel Oliver (from his solo work and his time with Antònia Font). Suddenly, it all clicked. Oliver often sings about satellites, astronauts, and impossible aviators, but his poetry is steeped in a search for a "center of gravity" that only one's own culture can provide. And our Balearic culture is built upon the myth of the knight.
⚔️ A Visual Rhyme: The Book’s Knight and the King in the Square
In my Arthurian book, the illustrations of Sir Geraint or Enid show knights in intricate chainmail and heraldic tabards. If we compare these images with the famous painting by Ricard Anckermann depicting James I the Conqueror’s entry into Medina Mayurqa, or his iconic statue in the Plaça d’Espanya in Palma, the resemblance is overwhelming.
It is not just an aesthetic coincidence. It is the exact same archetype: the noble warrior destined to found a new world.
🐲 The Mystery of the Dragon Crest
The most striking detail is, without a doubt, the helmet.
- King Arthur (The Pendragon): In the book, Arthur is often depicted with a golden dragon atop his helmet. "Pendragon" literally means "Head of the Dragon."
- James I (The Royal Crest): Our conqueror king is also represented with the famous Cimera Reial: a winged dragon (a víbria) crowning his helmet.
To see Arthur’s dragon alongside James I’s dragon is to realize that Majorca didn't need to invent an Arthurian myth; it lived one in the flesh in the year 1229.
🛡️ Saint George: The Patron Who Unites Us
This link is completed by the figure of Saint George (Sant Jordi). He is the patron saint of England and also of the historic Crown of Aragon.
While for the knights of the Round Table Saint George was the spiritual model of courage, for us, he is the heart of our most beautiful celebration. Sant Jordi reminds us that from the dragon’s blood, roses are born—but also books, like the one I hold in my hands.
In Balearic history, James I is often seen as a historical "Saint George": the knight who arrives by sea, with his sword Tisso (our Excalibur), to defeat the beast and give birth to a culture.
🛰️ Conclusion: Astronauts and Knights
Returning to Joan Miquel Oliver’s song, perhaps the "atlas of spirals" the author asks for is what connects us to this chivalric past. We may be a satellite spinning in a straight line, but we are always orbiting these myths that are etched into our memory.
Sometimes, you have to open a book of English legends to finally understand the statues you see every day as you walk through the streets of Palma.
📜 Epilogue: The Weaver and the Knight
"I finally understood that the thread Era was spinning in her glass urn was the same one that bound my book of Arthurian legends to the stones of Palma.
Whether it is King Arthur beneath his golden Pendragon, James I entering the city with his winged dragon crest, or the boy Homero shedding his branded clothes to stand naked before the moon—the quest is the same. We are all searching for a way out of the 'Central,' away from the grey men climbing stairs to nowhere, and back to the sea that James I called 'the most beautiful thing a man could see.'
The 'anesthesia' of the modern world tries to make us forget our dragons, but as long as there is a moon to reflect the sun, the knight will always wake the princess, the satellite will find its curve, and the boy will find his name in the stars.
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"And when we came to the land of Majorca, it was the most beautiful thing in the world that man could see... And on the other side was the sun setting, and the moon rising, and the sea which was flat and beautiful." |
About the Author
The creator of this post is a weaver of modern myths and historical echoes. Through the "Homero and Sleeping Beauty" cycle, they explore the intersection of Mediterranean epic, chivalric tradition, and the surreal satellites of contemporary life, searching for the "center of gravity" that defines our shared cultural identity.
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