A Thirteenth-Century Anonymous Commentary on the Song of Songs

In this paper I study and edit in an appendix an anonymous commentary on the Song of Songs which dates back to the 13th century and in all likelihood was copied in the Iberian Peninsula. This commentary, in particular, and the codex which contains it in general are of a remarkable interest for the history of medieval Jewish exegesis. On the one hand, they allow us to document the reception of Rasi's exegesis in the Iberian Peninsula. They constitute, on the other hand, a key piece in the history of medieval romanceamientos, as the codex displays a remarkably high number of Castilian glosses (le'azim), in addition to an also significant but lesser number of Arabic glosses. This article focuses on the first aspect and aims to analyze the author's exegetical choices by rapport to those made by Rasi and by former and contemporary Jewish commentators on the book.