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A
Bt
HISTORY
SPANISH LITERATURE.
VOLUME I.
VOL. I.
HISTORY
SPANISH LITERATURE.
BY GEORGE TICKNOB.
IN THREE VOLUMES.— VOLUME L
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1849.
rBIHTEU BY W. CU>WE9 AMD tONt, ITAMPORU ITRERT.
PREFACE.
In the year eighteen hundred and eighteen I travelled
through a large part of Spain, and spent several months in
Madrid. My object was to increase a very imperfect
knowledge of the language and literature of the country,
and to purchase Spanish books, always so rare in the great
book-marts of the rest of Europe. In some respects the
time of my visit was favourable to the purposes for which I
made it ; in others, it was not Such books as I wanted
were then, it is true, less valued in Spain than they are
now, but it was chiefly because the country was in a de-
pressed and unnatural state; and, if its men of letters were
more than commonly at leisure to gratify the curiosity of a
stranger, their number had been materially diminished by
political persecution, and intercourse with them was diflS-
cult because they had so little connexion with each other,
and were so much shut out from the world around them.
It was, in fact, one of the darkest periods of the reign of
Ferdinand the Seventh, when the desponding seemed to
think that the eclipse was not only total, but " beyond all
hope of day.** The absolute power of the monarch had
been as yet nowhere publicly questioned ; and his govern-
ment, which had revived the Inquisition and was not want-
'/!'/
VI PREFACE.
ing in its spirit, had, from the first, silenced the press, and,
wherever its influence extended, now threatened the ex-
tinction of all generous culture. Hardly four years had
elapsed since the old order of things had been restored
at Madrid, and already most of the leading men of letters,
whose home was naturally in the capital, were in prison or
in exile. Melendez Valdes, the first Spanish poet of the
age, had just died in misery on the unfriendly soil of
France. Quintana, in many respects the heir to his ho-
nours, was confined in the fortress of Pamplona. Martinez
de la Bosa, who has since been one of the leaders of the
nation as well as of its literature, was shut up in Fefion on
the coast of Barbary. Moratin was languishing in Paris,
while his comedies were applauded to the very echo by
his enemies at home. The Duke de Bivas, who, like the
old nobles of the proudest days of the monarchy, has dis-
tmguished himself alike in arms, in letters, and in the civil
government and foreign diplomacy of his country, was
living retired on the estates of his great house in Andalusia.
Others of less mark and note shared a fate as rigorous ;
and, if Clemencin, Navarrete, and Marina were permittee^
still to linger in the capital from which their friends h^i
been driven, their footsteps were watched and their Ufe
were unquiet ^W
Among the men of letters whom I earlie^^Prcw in
Madrid was Don Jose Antonio Conde, a retilH, gentle,
modest scholar, rarely occupied with events of a later date
than the times of the Spanish Arabs, whose history he
afterwards illustrated. But, far as his character and stu-
PREFACE. vii
dies removed him from political turbulence, he had already
tasted the bitterness of a political exile ; and now, in the
honourable poverty to which he had been reduced, he not
unwillingly consented to pass several hours of each day
with me, and direct my studies in the literature of his
country. In this I was very fortunate. We read toge-
ther the early Castilian poetry, of which he knew more
than he did of the most recent, and to which his thoughts
and tastes were much nearer akin. He assisted me, too, in
collecting the books I needed ; — never an easy task where
bookselling, in the sense elsewhere given to the word, was
unknown, and where the Inquisition and the confessional
had often made what was most desirable most rare. But
Don Jose knew the lurking-places where such books and
their owners were to be sought ; and to him I am indebted
for the foundation of a collection in Spanish literature,
which, without help like his, I should have failed to make.
I owe him, therefore, much ; and, though the grave has
long since closed over my friend and his persecutors, it is
still a pleasure to me to acknowledge obligations which I
have never ceased to feel.
Many circumstances, since the period of my visit to
Spain, have favoured my successive attempts to increase
the Spanish library I then began. The residence in Ma-
drid of my friend the late Mr. Alexander Hill Everett,
who ably represented his country for several years at the
court of iSpain ; and the subsequent residence there, in the
same high position, of my friend Mr. Washington Irving,
equally honoured on both sides of the Atlantic, but espe-
TUl PREFACE.
cially cherished by Spaniards for the enduring monument
he has erected to the history of their early adventures, and
for the charming fictions whose scene he has laid in their
romantic country; — these fortunate circumstances natu-
rally opened to me whatever facilities for collecting books
could be afibrded by the kindness of persons in places so
distinguished, or by their desire to spread among their
countrymen at home a literature they knew so well and
loved so much.
But to two other persons, not unconnected with these
statesmen and men of letters, it is no less my duty and my
pleasure to make known my obligations. The first of them
is Mr. O. Bich, formerly a Consul of the United States in
Spain ; the same bibliographer to whom Mr. Irving and
Mr. Frescott have avowed similar obligations, and to
whose personal regard I owe hardly less than I do to his
extraordinary knowledge of rare and curious books, and his
extraoi*dinary success in collecting them. The other is
Don Fascual de Gayangos, Professor of Arabic in the
University of Madrid, — certainly in his peculiar depart-
ment among the most eminent scholars now living, and one
to whose familiarity with whatever regards the literature
of his own country, the firequent references in my notes bear
a testimony not to be mistaken. With the former of these
gentlemen I have been in constant communication for
many years, and have received from him valuable contri-
butions of books and manuscripts collected in Spain, £ng*
land, and France for my library. With the latter, to
whom I am not less largely indebted, I first became per-
PREFACE. IX
sonally acquainted when I passed in Europe the period
between 1835 and 1838, seeking to know scholars such as
he is, and consulting, not only the principal public libraries
of the Continent, but such rich private collections as those
of Lord Holland in England, of M. Temaux-Couipans iu
France, and of the venerated and much-loved Tieck in
Germany; all of which were made accessible to me by the
frank kindness of their owners.
The natural result of such a long-continued interest in
Spanish literature, and of so many pleasant inducements
to study it, has been — I speak in a spirit of extenuation
and self-defence — a booh In the interval between my
two residences in Europe I delivered lectures upon its
principal topics to successive classes in Harvard College ;
and, on my return home from the second, I endeavoured
to arrange these lectures for publication. But when I had
already employed much labour and time on them, I found
— or thought I found — that the tone of discussion which
I had adopted for my academical audiences was not suited
to the purposes of a regular history. Destroying, there-
fore, what I had written, I began afresh my never un-
welcome task, and so have prepared the present work,
as little connected with all I had previously done as it,
perhaps, can be, and yet cover so much of the same
ground.
In correcting my manuscript for the press I have
enjoyed the counsels of two of my more intimate friends ;
of Mr. Francis C. Gray, a scholar who should permit the
world to profit more than it docs by the large resources
X PREFACE.
of his accurate and tasteful learuing ; and of Mr. William
H. Frescott, the historian of both hemispheres, whose
name will not be forgotten in either, but whose honours
will always be dearest to those who have best known the
discouragements under which they have been won, and
the modesty and gentleness with which they are worn.
To these faithful friends, whose unchanging regard has
entered into the happiness of all the active years of my
life, I make my affectionate acknowledgments, as I now
part from a work in which they have always taken an
interest, and which, wherever it goes, will carry on its
pages the silent proofs of their kindness and taste.
Park Street, Boston, 1849.
COiNTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST.
FIRST PERIOD.
The Literature that existed in Spain between the First Appear-
ance OF THE Present Written Language and the Early Part
OF the Reign of the Emperor Charlto the Fifth, or from
the End of the Twelfth Century to the Beginning of the
Sixteenth.
Origin of Modem Litcraturo
lis Origin in Siiain .
Its earliest Appearance there
Two Schools
The National School
It appears in troubled Times
CHAPTER L
Introduction.
3
4
5
5
6
6
The Arab Invasion .
Cliristian Resistance
Christian Successes .
Battle of Navas de Tolosa
Earliest National Poetry .
6
7
8
8
9
CHAPTER IL
Early National Litkratube.
Appearance of the Castilian
Poem of the Cid
Its Hero
Its Subject
Its Character .
Book of Apollonius .
Saint Mar>' of Egypt
10 lliroe Holy Kings
11 All anonymous
12 Gronzalo de Berceo
14 His Works .
15 His Versification
23 His San Domingo
24 His Milagros de la Virgen
25
25
26
20
26
27
28
CHAPTER II L
Alfonso the Wise, or the Learned.
His Birth
. 32
Castilian Prose
42
Letter to Perez de Guzman
. 33
Fuero Juzgo .
. 43
His Death
35
Setonario
. 45
His Cdutigas .
36
Esixjjo ....
45
Galician Dialect
. 36
Fuero Real .
45
Querellas and Tesoro
40
Sietc Tartidas
45
41
Character of Alfonso
50
xn
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
C n A V T K U I V.
I^OBUNZo Seoura and 1)on Juan Maxuki..
P»gt
i'.ge
Juan Lorenzo Segiira
. 51
His Works .
. 59
His Anachronisms .
. 52
liCttcr to his Brother
62
His Alexandra
. 52
His Counsels to his Sou .
63
Ix» Votes del Pavou
56
His Book of the Knight .
. 63
Sancho el Bravo
55
His Conde Lucanor
. 64
56
His Character .
68
His Life ...
56
CHAPTEK V.
Alfonso thb Eleventh. — Archpbiest of Hita. — Anonymous Poems. —
The Chancellor Atala.
Alfonso the Eleventh
70
J A Dan9a General .
82
Poetical Chronicle .
71
Feman (xonzalez .
84
Bcneficiado de Ubcda
72
l^oema de Josd
87
Archpriest of Hita .
72
Binuulo de Palacio .
91
His Works . . . .
73
Castilian Lit<»rature thus far
94
His Cliaractcr
77
Its Religious Tone .
95
Bahhi I>on Santob .
79
Its Ix^yal Tone
95
Ta Doctrina Christiana .
. 81
Its PopuUu* Character
96
Una Revelacion
. 81
CHAPTER VL
Old Ballads.
Po]mlar Literature
97
llieir Name
105
Four Classes of it
98
llieir History .
106
First ChisB, Ballads .
99
Their great Number .
108
Theories of their Origin
99
l*reserved by Tradition
109
Not Arabic
100
WTien first printed
110
National and Indigenous
101
First Ballad-Book
115
Kcdondillaa
102
Other Ballad-Ik)oks .
117
Asonantcs ....
102
Romancero General
117
Easy Measure and Structure
103
Not to be arranged by Date
118
General Diffusion
105
C
HAPTER VIL
Old Baixads— concluded.
Ballads of Chivalry .
120
On various Historical Subjec
;U ' 132
On Cliarlenmgnc .
121
Loyalty of tlie IVidlads
133
Historical Ballads
123
Ballads on Moorish SubjtHils
134
On Itemardo del ( 'arpio
123
Chi National Ifcuners
136
On Feman Ciunzalez .
126
Character of thdl|l Biillad^
139
On the Infantes do Laiii
127
Their Nationality^
HO
OntheCid
128
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
X111
CHAPTEn viri.
Chbokicles.
FHf.
ftf
Second Claaa of Popular Litera-
Its Poetical Portions .
147
ture ....
142
Its Character
151
Chronicles and their Origin .
143
Chronicle of the Cid .
151
Royal Chronicles
143
Its Origin .
152
Crdnica General .
143
lU Subject .
154
Its Divisions and Subjects .
145
Its Character
156
CHAPTER IX.
CHBOnCLBa— CONTnriTED.
Chronicles of Alfonso the Wise,
Sancho the Brave, and Fer-
dinand the Fourth . . 158
Chronicle of Alfonso the Eleventh 160
Chronicles of Peter the Cruel,
Henry the Second, John the
First, and Henry the Third
Chronicle of John the Second
Chronicles of Henry the Fourth
Chronicles of Ferdhiand and Isa-
bella ....
Royal Chronicles cease
162
167
171
172
174
CHAPTER X.
ChBONICLBS— CONCLUDED.
Chronicles of Particular Events 175
El Passo Honroso 176
El Seguro de Tonlesillas . 178
Chronicles of Particular Persons 179
PeroNiiSo .... 179
Alvaro de Luna . . 181
Oonzalvo de Cdrdova . 182
Chronicling Accounts of Travels 185
Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo
185
Columbus .
188
Balboa, Hojeda, and others
193
Romantic Chronicles .
193
Don Roderic
193
Character of the Chronicles
196
CHAPTER XL
Romances of Chivalbt.
Origin of Romantic Fiction
198
Its Character
208
Appearance in Spain .
200
Esplandian .
210
Amadis de Gaula
200
Family of Amadis
212
Its Date .
201
Influence of the AmadiH
212
Its Author, liObeira
201
Palmerin de Oliva
213
Portuguese Original lost
202
Primaleon and Platir .
215
Translated by Montalvo
203
Palmerin of England .
215
Its Success .
203
Family of Palmerin
216
ItsStorv .
204
CHAPTER XI L
Romances of Chivalry— concluded.
Various Romances
Lepolemo .
219 Translations from the French 221
220 Carlo Magno ... 222
XIV
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
P««e
v^e
Religious KomanceA .
223
Knight-errantry no Fiction .
229
ITio Celestial Chivalry
223
Romances believed to Ik? true
229
Period of Romances .
226
Passion for them
230
Their Number .
227
Their Fate ....
230
Fbunded in the State of Society 227
CHAPTER XIII.
The Eablt Drama.
Religious Origin of the Modem
The Celestma .
239
Drama .
232
First Act .
239
Its Origin in Spain
234
llie Remainder .
241
Earliest Representations
235
Its Character
243
Mingo Rovulgo .
236
Its Popularity .
244
Rodrigo Cota
238
Imitations of it .
245
CHAPTER XIV.
The Eablt Drama — oontinubd.
Juan de la Enzma
249
Portuguese Theatre
257
His Works
250
Gil Vicente
258
His Representaciones .
251
Writes partly in Spanish
258
Eclogues in Form
251
Auto of Cassandra
261
Religious and Secular .
252
OViudo .
264
First acted Secular Dramas
252
Other Dramas .
265
Their Character .
253
His Poetical Character
266
CHAPTER XV.
I'he Early Drama — ooncluded.
Slow Progress of the Drama
Escriva
Villalobos .
Question de Amor
Torres Naliarro .
His l^paladia .
His Eight Dramas
267 His Dramatic Theorj' .
267 LaTrofea ....
268 La Hymenea
268 Intriguing Storj- and Buffoon
268 His Versification
269 His Plays acted .
270 No Popular Drama founded
CHAPTER XVI.
PROVEK^AL Literature in Spain.
Provence .
Its Language
Connexion with Catalonia
With Aragon
Proven9al Poetry
Its Character
In Catalonia and Arag<in
War of the Albigenses
270
271
272
274
276
277
278
279 Proven9al Poetr>' imder Peter
280 the Second ... 285
281 Under Jayme the Conciucror 286
282 His Chronicle ... 288
283 Ramon Muntaner . . 290
283 His Chronicle . . . 290
284 I^vcn^l Poetry decays . 294
285
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
XV
CHAPTER XVII.
Catalosian and Valbncian Poetby.
p^*
P^
Floral Games at Toulouse . 297
Decay of Catalonian Poetry
306
Consistory of Barcelona . 298
Decay of Valencian
306
Poetry in Catalonia and Valencia 299
Influence of Castile
308
Ausias March ... 302
Poetical Contest at Valencia
308
His Poetry .... 303
Valencians write in Castilian
310
Jamne Roig . . . 304
Preponderance of Castile
310
His Poetry .... 304
Prevalence of the Castilian .
313
CHAPTER XVIII.
COUBTLY SOHOOL IN CaSTILE.
Early Influence of Italy
315
Castile ....
320
Religious .
316
His Poetical Court
322
Intellectual
316
Trouhadours and MinnesingGrs
323
Political and Commercial
318
Poetry of John .
324
Connexion with Sicily
318
Marquis of Villena
325
With Naples
319
His Arte Cisoria
328
Similarity in Languages
320
His Arte de Trobar .
328
Italian Poets known in Spain 320 His Trahajos de Hercules
Reign of John the Second of
Macias el Enamorado
329
331
CHAPTER XIX.
The Coubtly School— continued.
The Marquis of Santillana . 334
His Character .
,
345
Connected with Villena . 338
Juan de Mena .
,
346
Imitates the Provencals . 339
Relations at Court
,
346
His Works .
, ,
348
AVrites in the Fashionable Style 340
Poem on the Seven
Deadly Sins
349
His Comedicta de Ponza . 342
His Coronation .
.
350
His Proverbs ... 344
•His Labyrinth .
.
3r>0
His Letter to the Constable of
His Character
, ,
353
Portugal. ... 346
CHAPTER XX.
Courtly School— <x>ntinued.
Progress of the Language . 355
His letters
.
361
Villasandino . . 357
Perez de Guzman
.
363
Francisco Imperial . 359
His Friends the Cartageiuis .
364
Other Poets . 359
His Poetry .
.
365
Prose-writers ... 360
His Generaciones y
Scmblanzos
366
Gomez de Cibdareal . . 360
XT]
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
('
IIAPTER XXI.
Thr Manbiquks,
THK URREA8, AND JUAN DK PaDIIAA.
Pi««
pm«
Family of the Manriqucs
368 Family of the Urrea« .
375
Pedro Manrique .
368 Ix)pe de U rrea .
375
Kodrigo Manrique
368 Gerdiiimo de Urrwi
375
Jorge Manrique .
370 Pedro de Urrea .
375
Iliis Coplas .
371 Padilla el Cartuxano .
377
CHAPTER XXII.
l^aOBE-WRITBRS OK THE LaTTER PaBT OF THE FIFTEENTH CeNTURY.
Juan de Luoena .
379
Fernando del Pulgar
384
Ilia Vita Beata .
379
His Claros Van^iic^
385
Alfonao de la Torre
381
His Letters
386
Ilia Vision Deloytable .
381
Romantic Fiction
387
Diego do Almela .
382
Diego de San Pedro
387
His Valerio dc laa Historias
382
His Carcel de Amur
387
Alonao Ortiz
383
Question de Amor
389
IliaTratadoH .
:\ss
CHAPTER XXII L
The Cancionbbob akd the Courtly School— concluded.
Fashion of Candoneros
Cancionero of Baena .
Candoneros of Estufiiga, etc.
First Book printed in Spain
Cancionero General
Its different Editions .
Its Devotional Poetry ,
Its First Series of Authors
Its Canciones
Its Ballads .
Its Invenciones .
391
Its Motes ....
401
391
Its Villancicos .
402
893
Its Preguntaa
403
394
Its Second Series of Authors
403
395
Its Poems at the End .
404
395
Number of its Authors
405
396
Rank of many of them
405
397
Character of their Poetry .
406
399
Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella
407
400
State of I^etters .
407
400
CHAPTER XXIV.
Disooxtragemekts of Spanish Culture at the T-nd of this I*eriod,
AND ITS General Condition.
Spanish Intolerance
Persecution of Jews .
Persecution of Moors .
Inquisition, its Origin .
Ita Establishment in Si)ain
Its first Victims Jews
406
Its next Victims Moors
411
408
Its great Authority
412
408
Punishes 0])inion
413
409
State of the Press
413
410
Past Literature of Sjiaiii
413
410
Promise for the Future
414
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
XVU
SECOND PERIOD.
The Literature that existed in Spain from the Accession of the
Austrian Family to rrs Extinction ; or hiom the Beginning of
the Sixteenth Century to the End of the Seventeenth.
CHAPTER L
CoNDmoN of Spain during these Two Centuries.
Periods of Literary Glory
Period of Glory in Spain
Hopes of Universal Empire
These Hopes checked .
Luther and Protestantism
Protestantism in Spain
Assailed by the Inquisition
Protestant Books forbidden
The Press subjected .
Index Expurgatorius .
Power of the Inquisition
P.«e
419
420
Its Popularity ... 426
Protestantism driven from Spain 426
421
421
421
422
422
Learned Men persecuted
Religious Men jxjrsecuted
Degradation of Loyalty
Increase of Bigotry
Eflect of both on Letters
427
427
429
430
430
423
423
Popular Feeling .
Moral Contradictions .
431
432
424
The Sacrifices that follow .
432
425
Effect on the Country .
432
CHAPTER IL
Italian School of Boscan and Garcilasso.
State of Letters at the End of
His Coi)las Espanolas .
443
the Reign of Ferdinand and
His Imitation of the Italian
Isabella .
434
Masters .
443
Impulse from Italy
435
Its Results .
445
Spanish Conquests there
436
Garcilasso de la Vega .
446
Consequent Intercourse
436
His Works .
449
Brilliant Culture of Italy
437
His First Eclogue
450
Juan Boscan
438
His Versification .
452
He knows Navagiero .
439
His Popularity .
454
Writes Poetry .
439
Italian School introduced
455
Translates Castiglione .
441
CHAPTER II L
Contest concerning the Ital:.^ School.
Followers of Boscan and Garci-
Femando de Acuiia
Gutierre de Cetina
Opponents of Boscan and Garci-
lasso ....
VOL. I.
456
456
459
460
Christ<5val de Castillejo . 460
Antonio de Villegas . . 462
Gregorio de Silvestre • . 463
Controversy on the Italian School 465
Its final Success ... 466
XVlll
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
CHAPTER IV.
DiEQO HUBTADO DE MeNDOZA.
His Birth and Education
His Jjazarillo de Tormcs
Its Imitations
He is a Soldier .
Ambassador of Charles the Fifth 472
A Military Governor ,
Not favoured by Philip the Second 474
He is exiled from Court . 474
ft«e
Page
4(57
His Pootr}' .
474
469
His Satirical Prose
470
470
His Guerra de Granada
477
472
His Imitation of Tacitus
4711
472
His Elotjuence .
482
473
His Death .
4H4
474
His Character
■iM
CHAPTER V.
DroACTic Poetry and Prose. — Castilian Language.
Antonio de Guevara . 4(»(>
His Relox de Prfncipes . 497
His Ddcada de los Ccsarcs . 4D9
His Epfstolas . . . 499
His other Works . 501
The Didlogo de las Lcnguas 501
Its Probable Author . . 502
State of the Castilian Language
from the time of Juan de
Mena .... 503
Contributions to it . . 503
Dictionaries and Grammars . 504
The Language formed . . 505
Tlie Dialects . . . 505
The Pure Castilian . . 500
Early Didactic Poetry .
486
Luis de Escobar .
487
Alonso de Corclas
488
Gonzalez de la Torre .
488
Didactic Prose .
488
Francisco de Villalobos
489
Feman Perez de Oliva
491
Juan de Sedefio .
493
Cervantes de Salazar .
493
Luis Mexia
493
Pedro Navarra .
493
Pedro Mexia
493
GenSnimo de Urrca
495
Palacios Rubios .
496
Alexio do Vanegas
496
Juan de Avila .
496
CHAPTER VL
Historical Liter atttre.
Chronicling Period gone by . 508
Antonio de Guevara . . 508
Florian de Ocampo . . 509
Pero Mexia ... 510
Accounts of tho New World 511
Fernando Cort^Js , . . 511
Francisco Lopez de Gomara . 612
Bemal Diaz ... 513
Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo 514
His Historia de las Indias . 514
His Quinquagenas . . 517
Bartolome de las Casas 517
His Brevfsima Relacion . 519
His Historia de las Indias 520
Vaca, Xorez, and (^arate . 521
Approach to Regular History iij[2
HISTORY
SPANISH LITERATURE.
FIRST PERIOD.
The Literatitrb that existed in Spain between the First Appear-
ance OF the present Written Language and the Early Part
OF the Reign of the Emperor Charles the Fifth; or from
the End of the Twelfth Century to the Beginning of the
Sixteenth.
VOL. I.
HISTORY
SPANISH LITERATURE.
FIRST PERIOD.
CHAPTER I.
Division op thb Subject. — Origix or Spanish Litbbatubs in Times
OP GREAT Trouble.
In the earliest ages of every literature that has vindicated
for itself a permanent character in modem Europe, much
of what constituted its foundations was the result of local
situation and of circumstances seemingly accidental. Some*
timesy as in Provence, where the climate was mild and
the soil luxuriant, a premature refinement started forth,
which was suddenly blighted by the influences of the sur-
rounding barbarism. Sometimes, as in Lombardy and in
a few portions of France, the institutions of antiquity were
so long preserved by the old municipalities, that, in occa-
sional intervals of peace, it seemed as if the ancient forms
of civilization might be revived and prevail ; — hopes
kindled only to be extinguished by the violence amidst
which the first modem communities, with the policy they
needed, were brought forth and established. And some-
times both these causes were combined with others, and
gave promise of a poetry full of freshness and originality,
B 2
4 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURK Period I.
which, however, as it advanced, was met by a spirit more
vigorous than its own, beneath whose predominance its
language was forbidden to rise above the condition of a
local dialect, or became merged in that of its more fortu-
nate rival; — a result which we early recognise alike in
Sicily, Naples, and Venice, where the authority of the
great Tuscan masters was, from the first, as loyally ac-
knowledged as it was in Florence or Pisa.
Like much of the rest of Europe, the south-western
portion, now comprising the kingdoms of Spain and Por-
tugal, was affected by nearly all these different influences.
Favoured by a happy climate and soil, by the remains of
Koman culture, which had lingered long in its mountains,
and by the earnest and passionate spirit which has marked
its people through their many revolutions down to the
present day, the first signs of a revived poetical feeling
are perceptible in the Spanish peninsula even before they
are to be found, with their distinctive characteristics, in
that of Italy. But this earliest literature of modern Spain,
a part of which is Proven9al and the rest absolutely Cas-
til.ian or Spanish, appeared in troubled times, when it was
all but impossible that it should be advanced freely or
rapidly in the forms it was destined at last to wear. For
the masses of the Christian Spaniards filling the separate
states, into which their country was most unhappily
divided, were then involved in that tremendous warfare
with their Arab invaders, which, for twenty generations,
so consumed their strength, that, long before the cross was
planted on the towers of the Alhambra, and peace had
given opportunity for the ornaments of life, Dante,
Petrarca, and Boccaccio had appeared in the comparative
quiet of Lombardy and Tuscany, and Italy had again
taken her accustomed place at the head of the elegant
literature of the world.
Under such circumstances, a large portion of the
Spaniards, who had been so long engaged in this solemn
CHikP. I. ORIGIN OF LETTEBS IN SPAIN. O
contest^ as the forlorn hope of Christendom, against the
intrusion of Mohammedanism* and its imperfect civiliza-
tion into Europe, and who, amidst all their sufferings, had
constantly looked to Bome, as to the capital seat of their
faith, for consolation and encouragement, did not hesitate
again to acknowledge the Italian supremacy in letters, —
a supremacy to which, in the days of the Empire, their
allegiance had been complete. A school formed on Italian
models naturally followed ; and though the rich and ori-
ginal genius of Spanish poetry received less from its in*
fluence ultimately than might have been anticipated, still,
from the time of its first appearance, its effects are too
important and distinct to be overlooked.
Of the period, therefore, in which the history of Spanish
literature opens upon us, we must make two divisions.
The first will contain the genuinely national poetry and
prose produced from the earliest times down to the reign
of Charles the Fifth ; while the second will contain that
portion which, by imitating the refinement of Provence or
of Italy, was, during the same interval, more or less
separated firom the popular spirit and genius. Both,
when taken together, will fill up the period in which the
main elements and characteristics of Spanish literature
were developed, such as they have existed down to our
own age.
In the first division of the first period, we are to con-
sider the origin and character of that literature which
sprang, as it were, from the very soil of Spain, and was
almost entirely untouched by foreign influences.
And here, at the outset, we are struck with a remarkable
circmnstance, which announces something at least of the
genius of the coming literature, — the circumstance of its
appearance in times of great confusion and violence. For,
* August Wilhelm von Schlegel,'Ueber Dramatische Kunst, Heidelberg,
1811, Sto., Yorlesung XIV.
6 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Psbiod I.
in other portions of Europe, during those disastrous trou-
bles that accompanied the overthrow of the Boman power
and civilization, and the establishment of new forms of
social order, if the inspirations of poetry came at all, they
came in some fortunate period of comparative quietness
and security, when the minds of men were less engrossed
than they were wont to be by the necessity of provid-
ing for their personal safety and for their most pressing
physical wants. But in Spain it was not so. There, the
first utterance of that popular feeling which became the
foundation of the national literature was heard in the
midst of the extraordinary contest which the Christian
Spaniards, for above seven centuries, waged against their
Moorish invaders; so that the earliest Spanish poetry
seems but a breathing of the energy and heroism which,
at the time it appeared, animated the great mass of the
Spanish Christians throughout the Peninsula.
Indeed, if we look at the condition of Spain in the
centuries that preceded and followed the formation of its
present language and poetry, we shall find the mere
historical dates full of instruction. In 711 Boderic
rashly hazarded the fate of his Gothic and Christian em-
pire on the result of a single battle against the Arabs,
then just forcing their way into the western part of
Europe from Africa. He failed ; and the wild enthusiasm
which marked the earliest age of the Mohammedan power
achieved almost immediately the conquest of the whole of
the country that was worth the price of a victory. The
Christians, however, though overwhelmed, did not entirely
yield. On the contrary, many of them retreated before
the fiery pursuit of their enemies, and established them-
selves in the extreme north-western portion of their native
land, amidst the mountains and fastnesses of Biscay and
Asturias. There, indeed, the purity of the Latin tongue,
which they had spoken for so many ages, was finally lost,
through that neglect of its cultivation which was a neces-
Chap. I. CHRISTIANS IN ASTURIA& 7
sary consequence of the miseries that oppressed them.
But still, with the spirit which so long sustained their fore-
fathers against the power of Borne, and which has carried
their descendants through a hardly less fierce contest
against the power of France, they maintained, to a re-
markable degree, their ancient manners and feelings, their
religion, their laws, and their institutions ; and, separating
themselves by an implacable hatred firom their Moorish
invaders, they there, in those rude mountains, laid deep
the foundations of a national character, — of that character
which has subsisted to our own times. '
As, however, they gradually grew inured to adversity,
and understood the few hard advantages which their
situation afforded them, they began to make incursions
into the territories of their conquerors, and to seize for
themselves some part of the £Emr possessions, once entirely
their own. But every inch of ground was defended by
the same fervid valour by which it had originally been won.
The Christians, indeed, though occasionaUy defeated,
generally gained something by each of their more con-
siderable struggles ; but what they gained could be pre-
served only by an exertion of bravery and military power
hardly less painfiil than that by which it had been acquired.
In 801 we find them already possessing a considerable
part of Old Castile ; but the very name now given to that
country, from the multitude of castles with which it was
studd^ shows plainly the tenure by which the Christians
firom the mountains were compeUed to hold these early
firuits of their courage and constancy. ' A century later,
* Auffustin Thierry has in a few malheur, oublidrent leurs vieilles
words tiiielj described the fusion of haines, lenr vieil dloignement, leiuv
societj that originallj took plaoe in vieilles distinctions ; il n'j eut plus
the north-western part of Spain, and qu'un nom, qu'une loi, qu'un 4tat,
on which the civilization of tne ooun- qu'un langase ; tons fiirent ^gauz dans
try still rests : '^Resserr^ dans ce coin cet ezil. Dix Ans d'Etudes His-
de terre, derenu pour euz toute la toriques, Pari^^, 1836, 8vo., p. 346.
patric, Goths et Romains, vainqueurs ' Manuel Risco, La Castilla y el
et Taincus, Strangers et indigenes, mal- mas Famoso Castellano, Madrid, 1792,
tres et esclaves, tous unis dsns le mdme 4to. , pp. 14 — 1 8.
o HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
or in 914, they had pushed the outposts of their conquests
to the chain of the Guadarrama, separating New from Old
Castile, and they may, therefore, at this date, be regarded
as having again obtained a firm foothold in their own
country, whose capital they established at Leon,
From this period the Christians seem to have felt as-
sured of final success. In 1085 Toledo, the venerated
head of the old monarchy, was wrested from the Moors,
who had then possessed it three hundred and sixty-three
years; and in 1118 Saragossa was recovered: so that,
from the beginning of the twelfth century, the whole
Peninsula, down to the Sierra of Toledo, was again occupied
by its former masters ; and the Moors were pushed back
into the southern and western provinces, by which they
had originally entered. Their power, however, though
thus reduced within limits comprising scarcely more than
one-third of its extent when it was greatest, seems still to
have been rather consolidated than broken ; and after
three centuries of success, more than three other centuries
of conflict were necessary before the fall of Granada finally
emancipated the entire country from the loathed dominion
of its misbelieving conquerors.
But it was in the midst of this desolating contest, and at
a period, too, when the Christians were hardly less dis-
tracted by divisions among themselves than worn out and
exasperated by the common warfare against the common
enemy, that the elements of the Spanish language and
poetry, as they have substantially existed ever since, were
first developed. For it is precisely between the capture
of Saragossa, which ensured to the Christians the pos-
session of all the eastern part of Spain, and their great
victory on the plains of Tolosa, which so broke the power
of the Moors that they never afterwards recovered the
full measure of their former strength, * — it is precisely in
* Speaking of this decisive battle, only Arabic authorities, Conde says,
and following, as he always does, " This fearful rout happened on Mon-
Chip. I.
CHRISTIAN VICTORIES.
this century of confusion and violence, when the Christian
population of the country may be said, with the old
chronicle, to have been kept constantly in battle array,
that we hear the first notes of their wild, national poetry,
which come to us mingled with their war-shouts, and breath-
ing the very spirit of their victories. •
day, the fifteenth day of the month
Safer, m the year 609 [A. D. 1212] ;
and with it fell the power of the Mos-
lems in Spain, for nothing turned oat
well with them afler i t '' (Historia de
la Dominacion de los Arabes en £b-
pana, Madrid, 1820, 4to., Tom. II.,
p. -^5.) Gayangos, in his more
learned and yet more entirely Arabic
'* Mohammedan Dynasties in Spidn,"
(London, 1843, 4to., Vol. II. p.
323,^ gires a similar aocowit The
purely Spanish historians, of course,
state the matter still more strongly ; —
Mariana, for instance, looking upon
the result of the battle as quite super-
human. Historia General de EspaSa,
14a impresion, Madrid, 1780, fol.,
lib. XL, c. 24.
* " And in that time," we are told
in the old ** Crdnica General de Es-
paSa," (Zamora, 1541, fd., f. 275,)
" was the war of the Moors rcry grier-
ous ; so that the kings, and counts, and
nobles, and all the kniehts that took
pride in arms, stabled their horses in
the rooms where they slept with dieir
wires ; to the end that, when they
heard the war-cry, they might find
their horses and arms at himd, and
mount instantly at its summons. " ' * A
hard wad rude traimng," says Martinex
de la Rosa, in his g^racefiil romance of
'* Isabel de Sol£s," recollecting, I sus-
pect, this very passage, — ** a hard and
rude training, tne prelude to so many
glories and to the conquest of the
world, when our forefathers, weighed
down with harness, and their swords
always in hand, slept at ease no single
night for eight centuries. " DoSa m-
bd de Solfs, Reyna de Granada, No-
vela Hist6rica, Madrid, 1889, 8vo.,
Parte IL c 15.
10 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE PraioD I.
CHAPTER 11.
First Appeabakce or the Spanish as a Wbitten Language. — ^Poem
OF THE CiJ>. — Its Hero, Subject, Language, and Verse. — Stobt
OP the Poem. — Its Chabacteb. — St. Mabt op Egypt- — ^The Ado-
bation op the Thbee Kings. — Bebceo, the first known Castiliah
Poet. — His Workj and Versification. — His San Domingo de Silos
— His Miracles of the Viboin.
The oldest document in the Spanish language with an
ascertained date is a confirmation by Alfonso the Seventh,
in the year 1 166, of a charter of regulations and privileges
granted to the city of Aviles in Asturias. ^ It is important,
not only because it exhibits the new dialect just emerging
from the corrupted Latin, little or not at all afiected by
the Arabic infused into it in the southern provinces, but
because it is believed to be among the very oldest docu-
ments ever written in Spanish, since there is no good
reason to suppose that language to have existed in a written
form even half a century earlier.
How far we can go back towards the first appearance of
poetry in this Spanish, or, as it was oftener called, Castilian,
dialect is not so precisely ascertained ; but we know that
we can trace Castilian verse to a period surprisingly near
the date of the document of Avilfes. It is, too, a remark-
able circumstance, that we can thus trace it by works both
long and interesting; for, though ballads, and the other
forms of popular poetry, by which we mark indistinctly
the beginning of almost every other literature, are abun-
dant in the Spanish, we are not obliged to resort to them
* Sec Appendix (A.), on the History of the SiNUiish Language.
Chap. II.
POEM OF THE CID.
11
at the outset of our inquiries, since other obvious and
decisive monuments present themselves at once.
The first of these monuments in age, and the first in
importance, is the poem commonly called, with primitive
simplicity and directness, " The Poem of the Cid.'* It
consists of above three thousand lines, and can hardly have
been composed later than the year 1200. Its subject, as
its name implies, is taken from among the adventures of
the Cid, the great popular hero of the chivalrous age of
Spain ; and the whole tone of its manners and feelings is
in sympathy with the contest between the Moors and the
Christians, in which the Cid bore so great a part, and
which was still going on with undiminished violence at the
period when the poem was written. It has, therefore, a
national bearing and a national character throughout. *
* The date of the only early manu-
script of the Poem of the Cid is in
these words : " Per Abbat le escribio
en el mes de Mavo, en Era de Mill d
CC..XLV afioa/' There b a blank
made by an erasure between the se-
cond C and the X, which has given
rise to the question, whether this era-
sure was made by the copyist because
he had accidentally put in a letter too
much, or whether it is a subsequent
erasure that ought to be filled, — and, if
filled, whether with the conjunction ^
or with another C ; in short, the ques'
tion is, whether thb manuscript should
be dated in 1245 or in 1845. (Sanchez,
Poesias Anteriores, Madrid, 1779,
8vo., Tom. I. p. 221.) This year,
1245, qfthe Spanish era^ according to
which the calculation of time is com-
monly kept in the elder Spanish re-
cords, corresponds to our A. D. 1207 ;
— a i^iTerence of 38 years, the reason
for which may be found in a note to
Southey's " Chromde of the Cid,"
(London, 1808, 4to., p. 885,) without
seeking it in more learned sources.
The date of the poem Usdf^ how-
ever, is a very different question from
the date of this particular manuscrijjt
of it ; for the Per Abbat referred to is
merely the copyist, whether his name
was Peter Aboat or Peter the Abbot
(Risco, Castilla, etc., p. 68.^ This
question — the one, I mean, of'^the age
of the poem its^-^can be settled
only from internal evidence of style
and languaare. Two passages, w. 8014
and 3735, have, indeed, been alleged
(Risco, p. 69 ; Southey's Chronicle^
p. 282, note) to prove its date histori-
cally ; but, after all, they only show
that it was written subsequently to
A.D. 1135. (V. A. Huber, Geschichte
des Cid, Bremen, 1829, ]2mo., p.
zxix.) The point is one difficult to
settle ; and none can be consulted about
it but natives or experts^ Of these, San-
chez places it at about 1150, or half a
centiuT after the death of the Cid,
(Poes&s Anteriores, Tom. I. p. 223.)
and Capmany (Eloquencia Espafiola,
Madrid, 1786, 8vo.,Tom. I. p. 1) fol-
lows him. Marina, whose opinion is of
great weieht, (Memorias de la Acade-
mia de Historia, Tom. IV. 1805, En-
sayo, p. 34,) places it thirty or forty
years oeforc Berceo, who wrote 1220-
1240. The editors of the Spanish trans-
lation of Bouterwek, (Madrid, 1829,
8vo.. Tom. I. p. 1 12,) who give a fac-
simile of the manuscript, agree with
12
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
PfiRIOD I.
The Cid himself, who is to be found constantly com-
memorated in Spanish poetry, was born in the north-
western part of Spain, about the year 1040, and died in
1099, at Valencia, which he had rescued from the Moors.*
His original name was Buy Diaz, or Bodrigo Diaz ; and
he was by birth one of the considerable barons of his
country. The title of Cidj by which he is almost always
Sanchez, and so does Huber (Gcsch.
des Cid, Vorwort, p. xxvii.). To these
opinions may be added that of Ferdi-
nand Wolf, of Vienna, (Jahrbiicher
derlateratur, Wien, 1831, Band LVI.
p. 251,) who, like Huber, is one of the
acutest scholars alive in whatever
touches Spanish and Mediaeval liter-
ature, and who places it about 1140-
1 1 60. Many other opinions might be
cited, for the subject has been much
discussed ; but the judgments of the
learned men already given, formed at
different times in the course of half a
century from the period of the first
publication of the poem, and concur-
ring so nearly, leave no reasonable
doubt that it was composed as early
as the year 1200.
Mr. Southey's name, introduced bv
me in this note, is one that niust al-
ways be mentioned with peculiar re-
spect by scholars interested in Spanish
literature. From the circumstance
that his uncle, the Rev. Herbert Hill,
a scholar, and a careful and industrious
one, was connected with the Eng-
lish Factory at lasbon, Mr. Southey
visited Spun and Portugal in 1795-
6, when he was about twenty-two
years old, and, on his return home,
published his travels, in 1797; — a
pleasant book, written in the clear,
idiomatic, picturesque English that
always distmguishes his style, and
containing a considerable number of
translations irom the Spanish and the
Portuguese, made with freedom and
spirit rather than with great exactness.
From this time he never lost si^ht of
Spun and Portugal, or of S^ani^ and
Portuguese literature; as is shown,
not only by several of his larger
original works, but by his translations,
and by his articles in the London
Quarterly Review on Lope de Veea
and Camoens ; especially by one in
the second volume of tiiat journal,
which was translated into Portuguese,
with notes, by Miiller, Secretary of
the Academy of Sciences at Lisbon,
and so made mto an excellent compact
manual for Portuguese literary history.
• The Arabic accounts represent
the Cid as havine died of grief^ at the
defeat of the Christians near Valencia,
which fell again into the hands of the
Moslem in 1100. (Gayangos, Moham-
medan Dynasties, Vol. II. Appendix,
p. xliii.) It is necessary to read some
one of the many Lives of the Cid in
order to understand the Poema del
Cid, and much else of Spanish literal
ture ; I will therefore notice four or
^ye of the more suitable and impor-
tant. 1. The oldest is the Latin '* His-
toria Didaci Campidocti," written be-
fore 1238, and puolished as an appen-
dix in Risco. 2. The next is the
cumbrous and credulous one by Father
Risco, 1792. 3. Then we have a
curious one by John von Miiller, the
historian of Switzerland, 1805, pre-
fixed to his friend Herder's Ballaos of
the Cid. 4. The classical Life by
Manuel Josef Quintana, in the first
volume of his '* Vidas de Espanoles
Cdlebres" (Madrid, 1807, 12mo.).
5. That of Huber, 1829; acute and
safe. The best of all, however, is
the old Spanish ** Chronicle of the
Cid,'* or Southey's Chronicle, 1808 ;
—the best, I mean, for those who
read in order to eiyoy what may be
called the literature of the Cid ;— to
which may be added a pleasant little
volume by George Dennis, entiUed
'* The Cid, a short Chronicle founded
on the Early Poetry of Spain,"
London, 1845, 12mo.
Cbap. II. POEM OF THE CID. 13
known, is believed to have come to him from the remark-
able circumstance, that five Moorish kings or chiefs ac-
knowledged him in one battle as their Seidj or their lord
and conqueror ; * and the tide of Campeador, or Champion,
by which he is hardly less known, though it is commonly
supposed to have been given to him as a leader of the
armies of Sancho the Second, has long since been used
almost exclusively as a popular expression of the admiration
of his countrymen for his exploits against the Moors.*
At any rate, from a very early period, he has been called
-KZ Cid CampeadoPj or The Lord Champion. And he
well deserved the honourable title ; for he passed almost the
whole of his life in the field against the oppressors of his
country, sufiering, so far as we know, scarcely a single
defeat firom the common enemy, though, on more than one
occasion, he was exiled and sacrificed by the Christian
princes to whose interests he had attached himself.
But, whatever may have been the real adventures of
his life, over which the peculiar darkness of the period
when they were achieved has cast a deep shadow,' he comes
to us in modern times as the great defender of his nation
against its Moorish invaders, and seems to have so filled
the imagination and satisfied the affections of his country-
men, that, centuries after his death, and even down to our
own days, poetry and tradition have delighted to attach to
his name a long series of fabulous achievements, which
connect him with the mythological fictions of the Middle
Ages, and remind us almost as often of Amadis and Ar-
thur as they do of the sober heroes of genuine history. '
The Poem of the Cid partakes of both these characters.
^ Chr6nica del Cid, Bargos, 1593, ' It is amusing to compare the
fol., c. 19. Moorish accounts of the Cid with the
* Huber, p. 96. Miiller's Leben des Christian. In the work of Conde on
Cid, in Heraer's Sammtliche Wcrke, the Arabs of Spain, which is little
zur schoncn Literatur und Kunst, more than a translation from Arabic
Wien, 1813, 12mo., Theil III. p. xxi. chronicles, the Cid appears first, I
• ** No period of Spanish history think, in the year 1087, when he is
is so deficient in contemporary docu- called ** the Cambitur [Campeador]
ments." Huber, Vorwort, p. xiii. who ntfuted the frontiers of Valen-
14
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Pebiod I.
It has sometimes been regarded as wholly, or almost
wholly, historical. * But there is too free and romantic a
spirit in it for history. It contains, indeed, few of the
bolder fictions found in the subsequent chronicles and iu
the popular ballads. Still, it is essentially a poem ; and in
the spirited scenes at the siege of Alcocer and at the
Cortes, as well as in those relating to the Counts of Car-
rion, it is plain that the author felt his licence as a poet.
In fact, the very marriage of the daughters of the Cid has
been shown to be all but impossible ; and thus any real his-
torical foundation seems to be taken away from the chief
event which the poem records. • This, however, does not at
all touch the proper value of the work, which is simple,
heroic, and national. Unfortunately, the only ancient
manuscript of it known to exist is imperfect, and nowhere
informs us who was its author. But what has been lost is
not much. It is only a few leaves in the beginning, one
cia." (Tom. II. p. 166.) When he had
taken Valencia, in 1094, we are told,
" Then the Cambitur — may heheac-
cursed ofAUah ! — entered in with all
his people and allies." fTom. II. p.
183.) In other places nc is called
" Roderic the Camlntur,"—** Roder-
ic, Chief of the Christians, known
as the Cambitur," — and ** the Ac-
cursed" ; — all proving how thoroughly
he was hated and feared by his enemies.
He is nowhere, I think, called Cid
or Seid by Arab writers; and the
reason why he appears in Cmide's
work so little is, probably, that the
manuscripts used by that writer relate
chiefly to the history of events in
Andalusia and Granada, where the
Cid did not figure at all. The tone
in Gayangos's more learned and accu-
rate work on the Mohammedan Dy-
nasties is the same. When the Cid
dies, the Arab chronicler (Vol. II.
App., p. xliii.) adds, *' May God not
show him mercy I"
" Thb is the opinion of John von
Miiller and of Southey, the latter of
whom says in the Preface to his
Chronicle, (p. xi.,) ** The poem is to
be considered as metrical history, not
as metrical romance." But Huber, in
the excellent Vorwort to his Ge-
schichte, (p. xxvi.,^ shows this to be a
mistake ; and in the introduction to
his edition of the Chronicle, (Mar-
burg, 1844, 8vo., p. xlii.,) shows fur-
ther, that the poem was certainly not
taken from the old Latin Life, which
is the proper foundation for what is
historical in our account of the Cid.
* Mariana is much troubled about
the history of the Cid, and decides
nothing (Historia, Lib. X. c 4) ; —
Sandoml controverts much, and entire-
ly denies the story of the Counts of
Carrion (Reyes de Castilla, Pamplona,
1616, fol., f. 64) ;— and Ferreras (Sy-
nopsis HisttSrica, Madrid, 1776, 4to.,
Tom. V. pp. 196-198) endeavours to
settle what is true and what is fabu-
lous, and agrees with Sandoval about
the marriage of the daughters of the
Cid with the Counts. Southey (Chro-
nicle, pp. 310-312) argues both sides,
and shows his desire to believe the
story, but does not absolutely succeed
in (Joing so.
Chap. IL POEM OF THE aD. 15
leaf in the middle, and some scattered lines in other parts.
The conclusion is perfect Of course, there can be no
doubt about the subject or purpose of the whole. It is
the development of the character and glory of the Cid, as
shown in his achieyements in the kingdoms of Saragossa
and Valencia, in his triumph over his unworthy sons-in-
law, the Counts of Carrion, and their disgrace before the
king and Cortes, and, finally, in the second marriage of
his two daughters with the Infantes of Navarre and
Aragon ; the whole ending with a slight allusion to the
hero's death, and a notice of the date of the manuscript ^^
But the story of the poem constitutes the least of its
claims to our notice. In truth, we do not read it at all
for its mere facts, which are often detailed with the
minuteness and formality of a monkish chronicle ; but for
its living pictures of the age it represents, and for the
vivacity with which it brings up manners and interests so
remote from our own experience, that, where they are
attempted in formal history, they come to us as cold as
the fables of mythology. We read it because it is a con-
temporary and spirited exhibition of the chivalrous times
of Spain, given occasionally with an Homeric simplicity
altogether admirable. For the story it tells is not only
that of the most romantic achievements, attributed to the
most romantic hero of Spanish tradition, but it is mingled
continually with domestic and personal details, that bring
the character of the Cid and his age near to our own
sympathies and interests." The very language in which
1^ The poem was originally pub- not entirely faithful, showed that the
lished by Sanchez, in the first Toiume older manuscript had the samedeficien-
of his wnable '* Poesiias Castellanas cies then that it has now. Of course,
Anteriores al Siglo XV." ^Madrid, there is little chance that they will
1779-90, 4 tom., 8?o. ; reprinted by ever be supplied.
Ochoe, Paris, 1842, Svo.) It contains n i would instance the following
three thousand seven hundred and for- Knes on the famine in Valencia during
ty-foor lines, and if the deficiencies in Jtg giege by the Cid : —
the manuscript were supplied, Sanchez j|j ^ mqwxnn los de Valencia qae non nbent
thinks the whole would come up to ques'fkr;
.boatfourU.<»«»d lines But hesaw gt."!ii«SSirF2S^TA,«r-?.'«:rSP.=
a copy made m 1696, which, though ^^ * Nin
16 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
it is told is the language he himself spoke, still only half
developed ; disencumbering itself with difficulty from the
characteristics of the Latin ; its new constructions by no
means established ; imperfect in its forms, and ill frurnished
with the connecting particles in which resides so much
of the power and grace of all languages ; but still breath-
ing the bold, sincere, and original spirit of its times, and
showing plainly that it is struggling with success for a
place among the other wild elements of the national
genius. And, finally, the metre and rhyme into which
the whole poem is cast are rude and unsettled : the verse
claiming to be of fourteen syllables, divided by an abrupt
cdesural pause after the eighth, yet often running out to
sixteen or twenty, and sometimes falling back to twelve ;'"
but always bearing the impress of a free and fearless
spirit, which harmonizes alike with the poet's language,
subject, and age, and so gives to the story a stir and
interest, which, though we are separated from it by so
many centuries, bring some of its scenes before us like
those of a drama.
The first pages of the manuscript being lost, what re-
mains to us begins abruptly, at the moment when the Cid,
just exiled by his ungrateful king, looks back upon the
towers of his castle at Bivar, as he leaves them. " Thus
heavily weeping,** the poem goes on, " he turned his head
JJl3/Slfni^ir£i.S2. ^!i" ~"~^' finally addressed to some particular
Mala eaenta n, Senorei, vwn menKna de pan. o j • . j j *!. . % .
FIJoa e rnngiem ^lo morir de flunbre. persons, OF was intended — which IS
▼▼. iiss-uss. most in accordance with the spirit of
Valendan men doubt what to do, and bitterly the age — tO be recited publicly.
complain^
That, wherewe'er they look for bread, they look »■ For example : —
No fcth* hrip"^* give hie child, no eon can ^""^ Oonialex non vi6 aUi doe* aliaae nin
help hit aire, , »m -u *•« camara aUerta nin UHte.->T. SS96.
Nor friend to friend aHietanoe lend, or cheer- P«™« '^^ voe yo i vuestrai HJaa,
ftilnea inspire. Infkntee eon i de diaa chioM.— ▼▼. S6S, 86f .
* "^".Sried'taZii*"' " "^ '*•»'"'•»»«' Some of the irregularities of the
And women Ikir and children young in hunger versification may be owing to the
Join the dead. copyist, as we nave but one manu-
From the use of SenoieSy " Sirs," script to depend upon; but they arc
in this nassage, as well as from other too grave and too abundant to be
linos, like v. 734 and v. 2291, I have charged, on the whole, to any account
thought the poem was either ori- but that of the original author.
CaAF. n. POEM OF THE CID. 17
and stood looking at them. He saw his doors open and
his household chests unfastened, the hooks empty and
without pelisses and without cloaks, and the mews without
falcons and without hawks. My Gid sighed, for he had
grievous sorrow ; but my Cid spake well and calmly : * I
thank thee, Lord and Father, who art in heaven, that it
is my evil enemies who have done this thing unto me/ **
He goes, where all desperate men then went, to the
frontiers of the Christian war ; and, after establishing his
wife and children in a religious house, plunges with three
hundred faithful followers into the infidel territories, deter-
mined, according to the practice of his time, to win lands
and fortunes from the common enemy, and providing for
himself meanwhile, according to another practice of his
time, by plundering the Jews as if he were a mere Bobin
Hood. Among his earliest conquests is Alcocer ; but the
Moors collect in force, and besiege him in their turn, so
that he can save himself only by a bold sally, in which he
overthrows their whole array. The rescue of his standard,
endangered in the onslaught by the rashness of Bermuez,
who bore it, is described in the very spirit of knighthood.^'
Their shields before their breasts, forth at ooce they go,
Their knees in the rest, levelled fidr and low,
Their banners and their crests waring in a row,
Their heads all stooping down toward the saddle4x>w ;
The Cid was in the midst, his shoat was heard afar,
« I am Ruy Diaz, the champion of Bivar ;
Strike amongst them. Gentlemen, for sweet mercies' sake ! "
There where Bermuez fought amidst the foe they brake.
Three hundred bannered knights, it was a gallant show.
Three hundred Moors they killed, a man with every blow ;
When they wheeled and turned, as many more lay slain ;
You might see them raise their lances and level them again.
"Some of the lines of thi.pi«a« JgSS^'SnTJT-^'^ae'ro.'JSSJSi.
m the Onffinal (w. 723, etc.) may be Enclinanm 1m eanm de •aaode 1m anones,
cited, to show that jrravity and dicrnity Iban los fenr defti«te« oonxooe^
were among the prominent atfribut^ ^ gmn6^^ i™ ei que en boen o« r^
of the Spanish language from its first « Perid 1(m^ ravAlleros, por amor de caridad,
appearance. Yo aoy Ruy IHa« el Cid Campeador de BIbar,"
VOL. I. C
18
- HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
PebiodI.
There you might see the breast-plates how they were cleft in twain,
And many a Moorish shield lie shattered on the pkdn,
The pennons that were white marked with a crimson stain,
The horses running wild whoso riders had been sldn.^^
The poem afterwards relates the Cid's contest with the
Count of Barcelona ; the taking of Valencia ; the recon-
cilement of the Cid to the king, who had treated him so
ill ; and the marriage of the Cid's two daughters, at the king's
request, to the two Counts of Carrion, who were among the
first nobles of the kingdom. At this point, however, there is
a somewhat formal division of the poem," and the remainder
is devoted to what is its principal subject, the dissolution of
this marriage in consequence of the baseness and brutality of
the Counts ; the Cid's public triumph over them ; their no
less public disgrace ; and the annoimcement of the second
marriage of the Cid's daughters with the Infantes of Na-
^* This and the two following trans-
lations were made by Mr. J. Hook-
ham Frere, one of the most accom-
Slishcd scholars England has pro-
uced, and one whom Sir James
Mackintosh has pronounced to be the
first of English translators. He was,
for some years, British Minister in
Spain, and, by a conjectural emenda-
tion which he made of a line in this
very poem, known only to himself and
the Marquis de la Romana, was able
to accredit a secret agent to the latter
in 1808, when he was commanding a
body of Spanish troops in the French
service on the soil of Denmark ; — a
circumstance that led to one of the
most important movements in the war
against Bonaparte. (Southey*s His-
tory of the Peninsular War, London,
1823, 4to., Tom. I. p. 667.) The
admirable translations of Mr. Frerc
from the Poem of the Cid arc to be
found in the Appendix to Southey's
Chronicle of the Cid ; itself an enter-
taining book, made out of free ver-
sions and compositions from the Span-
ish Poem of the Cid, the old ballads,
the prose Chronicle of the Cid, and
the Ueneral Chronicle of Spidn. Mr.
Wm. Gkxiwin, in a somewhat sineular
^* Letter of Advice to a Young Ame-
rican on a Course of Studies," ^Lon-
don, 1818, 8vo.,) commends it justly
as one of the books best calculated to
give an idea of the aee of chivalry.
It is proper I should add here, that,
except m mis case of the Poem of the
Cid, where I am indebted to Mr.
Frere for the passages in the text, and
in the case of the Coplas of Manrique,
(Chap. XXI. of this period,) where I
am indebted to the beautiful version
of Mr. Longfellow, the translations in
these volumes are made by myself.
" This division, and some others
less distinctly marked, have led Tapia
iHistoria dela Civilisacion de Espana,
iadrid, 1840, 12mo., Tom. I. p. 268)
to think that the whole poem is but a
congeries of ballads, as the Iliad has
sometimes been thought to be, and, as
there is little doubt, the Nibelungen-
lied really is. But such breaks occur so
frequently in different parts of it, and
seem so generally to be made for other
reasons, that this conjecture is not
probable. (^Huber, Chr6nica del Cid,
p. xl.) Besides, the whole poem more
resembles the Chansons de Geste of
old French poetry, and is more arti-
ficial in its structure, than the nature
of the ballad permits.
Chap. II. POEM OF THE CID. 19
varre and Aragou, which, of course, raised the Cid himself
to the highest pitch of his honours, by connecting him with
the royal houses of Spain. With this, therefore, the poem
virtually ends.
The most spirited part of it consists of the scenes at the
Cortes, summoned on demand of the Cid, in consequence
of the misconduct of the Counts of Carrion. In one of
them, three followers of the Cid challenge three followers
of the Counts, and the challenge of Munio Gustioz to Assur
Gonzalez is thus characteristically given : —
Assur Gronzalez was entering at the door,
With his ermine mantle trailing along the floor ;
With his sauntering pace and his hardy look,
Of manners or of courtesy little heed he took ;
He was flushed and hot with breakfast and with drink.
<< What ho ! my masters, your spirits seem to sink !
Have we no news stirring from the Cid, Ruy Diaz of Bivar ?
Has he been to Riodivima, to besiege the windmills there ?
Does he tax the millers for their toll ? or is that practice past ?
Will he make a match for his daughters, another like the last ? **
Munio Gustioz rose and made reply : —
** Traitor, wilt thou ne?er cease to slander and to lie ?
You break&st before mass, you drink before you pray ;
There is no honour in your heart, nor truth in what you say ;
You cheat your comrade and your lord, you flatter to betray ;
Your hatred I despise, your friendship I defy I
False to all mankind, and most to God on high,
I shall force you to confess that what I say is true."
Thus was ended the parley and challenge betwixt these two.*'
The opening of the lists for the^ six combatants, in the
presence of the king, is another passage of much spirit and
effect
The heralds and the king are foremost in the place.
They clear away the people from the middle space ;
M A«nr Oonnles entrftba por el pdado ; A loc que du pax, tkrtMa \<m aderredor.
Maiito anaino e an Brial nitrando : Nun dices veidad amlgo ni k Sefior,
Benneio T<en«, ea era almonada Falao a todos i maa al Criador.
En lo qae fabld avie poco recabdo. En ta amistad non qaiero aver racion.
** Hya Taionea, qnien viu nnnea tal mal ? Faoertelo decir, que tal eres qual digo yo."
Qnaea noa darie noeraa de Mio Cid, el de Bibar ? Sanchei. Tom . I., p. 359.
I'S^^i^mL ^oioToefe: This passEgc, With what precedes
qAv darie eon loa de Carrion k caaar* ? " and what follows it, may be compared
EmmMunoOuatioa enpieaeievantu: ^jth the challenge in Shakspeare's
** Can, alevoao, malo, e traydor : ti o« u«-j tt »» X«a t\7
Antca almnenaa, qae bayas k oracion : Kichard 11., Act 1 V .
c2
20 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERA.TURE. Period I.
They measure out the lists, the barriers they fix,
They point them out in order, and explain to all the six :
'* If you are forced beyond the line where they are fixed and traced,
You shall be held as conquered and beaten and disgraced."
Six lances' length on either side an open space is lud ;
They share the field between them, the sunshine and the shade.
Their office is performed, and from the middle space
The heralds are withdrawn and leave them face to face.
Here stood the warriors of the Cid, that noble champion ;
Opposite, on the other side, the lords of Carrion.
Earnestly their minds arc fixed each upon his foe.
Face to face they take their place, anon the trumpets blow ;
They stir their horses with Uie spur, they lay their lances low,
They bend their shields before their breasts, their face to the saddle-bow.
Earnestly their minds are fixed each upon his foe.
The heavens are overcast above, the earth trembles below ;
The people stand in silence, gazing on the show.^
These are among the most picturesque passages in the
poem. But it is throughout striking and original. It is,
too, no less national, Christian, and loyal. It breathes
everjrwhere the true Castilian spirit, such as the old chro-
nicles represent it amidst the achievements and disasters
of the Moorish wars ; and has very few traces of an
Arabic influence in its language, and none at all in its
imagery or fancies. The whole of it, therefore, deserves
to be read, and to be read in the original ; for it is there
only that we can obtain the fresh impressions it is fitted to
give us of the rude but heroic period it represents : of the
simplicity of the governments, and the loyalty and true-
heartedness of the people ; of the wide force of a primitive
17 Los Fielm ^ el rey enwilaToii los moionM. "Knight's Tale" — the COmbat be-
B!.^rX^'.2SSi »1S:f«1^«. ^. twecn"p8lan,on and Areite (Tvrwhitf.
Que por y serie venddo qui Mdieae del moion. edit., V. 2601) — should not DC OVer-
Todas laa yentea esconhnron aderredor lookcd *
De aeii utM de lanzaa que non legMen aJ moion.
Soiteabanles el campo, ya lea partien el aol : •< The herandes left hlr prikinff up and down,
Salien loa Fieles de medio, ellot cara por cara son. Now ringen trompea loud vSi clarioun,
De«i vinien loa de Mio Cid k loe In&ntes de There is no more to say, but eat and west.
Carrion, In gon the speres sadly in the rest ;
Ellos Infantes de Carrion k\o» del Campeador. In goth the sharpe spore into the side :
Cada uno dellos mientes tiene al so. Ther see men who can just and who can ride.**
Abraxan loa escudoa delant' los conoones : . , ^ ^ ,. r -xu u *l
Abaxan las lanias aboeltaa con loa pendones : And SO On twenty Imcs tartlier, both
Enrlinaban laa caras sobre los arxones : in the English and the Spanish. But
Batien los cavalloa con los espolones : W ahnnlil hn hnrriA in Tnin<^ whpn r»nm.
Tembrar querie la Uerra dod eran moTedoies. " SDOUW DC DOnie m mina, wnen COm-
Cada uno delloe mientes tiene al a6. nanng them, that the Pocm of the
Sanches, Tom. I., p. 368. ^j^j ^^ written two ccnturies earlier
A parallel passage from Chaucer's than the " Canterbury Tales " were.
Chap. II.
POEM OF THE CID.
21
religious enthusiasm ; of the picturesque state of manners
and daily life in an age of trouble and confusion ; and of
the bold outlines of the national genius, which are often
struck out where we should least think to find them. It
isy indeed, a work which, as we read it, stirs us with the
spirit of the times it describes ; and as we lay it down and
recollect the intellectual condition of Europe when it was
written, and for a long period before, it seems certain, that,
during the thousand years which elapsed from the time of
the decay of Greek and Boman culture, down to the ap-
pearance of the " Divina Commedia," no poetry was pro-
duced so original in its tone, or so full of natural feeling,
picturesqueness, and energy."
» The change of opinion in rehition
to the Poema del Cid, and the dif-
ferent estimates of its Talae, are re-
markable dreumstances in its history.
Bouterwek speaks of it very slieht-
in^ly, — probably fiiom following Sar-
miento, who had not read it, — and the
Spanish translators of Bouterwek
almost agree with him. F. v. Schlegel,
however, Sismondi, Haber, Wolf, and
nearly or quite all who hare spoken
of it of late, express a strong aomira-
tion of its merits. There is, I think,
truth in the remark of Sonthey (Quar-
tcriv Review, 1814, Vol. XII. p. 64^ :
'* The Spaniards have not yet dis-
covered tne high value of their metri-
cal history of the Cid, as a poem;
they will never produce any thing
great in the higher branches of art
till they have cast off the false taste
which prevents them from perceiving
it."
Of all poems belonging to the early
ages of any modem nation, the one
that can b^t be compared with the
Poem of the Cid is the Nibelungen-
lied, which, according to the most
judicious among the German critics,
dates, in its present form at letat^
about half a century after the time
assigned to the Poem of the Cid. A
parallel might easily be run between
them, that would be curious.
In the Jahrbiicher der literatur,
Wien, 1846, Band CXVI., M. Fran-
cisQue Michel, the scholar to whom
theuterature of the Middle Ages owes
so much, published, for the first time,
what remains of an old poetical Span-
ish chronicle, — ''Chrdnica Rimada
de las Cosas de Espafia,"— on the
history of Spun from the death of
Pelayo to Ferdinand the Great ; — the
same poem that is noticed in Ochoa,
'*CatiUogo de Manuscritos," (Paris,
1844, 4to., pp. 106-110,) and in
Huber's edition of the Chronicle of
the Cid, Pre&ce, App. £.
It is a curious, though not impor-
tant, contribution to our resources in
early Spanish literature, and one that
immediately reminds us of the old
Poem of the Cid. It begins with a
prose introduction on the state of af-
mirs down to the time of Feman Gon-
zalez, compressed into a single page,
and Uien goes on through eleven hun-
dred and twenty-six bnes of verse,
when it breaks off abruptly in the
middle of a line, as if the copyist had
been interrupted, but with no sign
that the work was drawing te an end.
Nearly the whole of it is taken up
with the history of the Cid, hb iamily
and his adventures, which are some-
times different from those in the old
ballads and chronicles. Thus, Ximena
is represented as having three bro-
thers, who are taken prisoners by the
Moon and released by the Cid ; and
22
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Pebiod I.
Three other poems, anonymous like that of the Cid,
have been placed immediately after it, because they are
found together in a single manuscript assigned to the
thirteenth century, and because the language and style of
at least the first of them seem to justify the conjecture
that carries it so far back. **
the Cid is made to marry Ximcna, by
the royal command, against his own
will ; after which he goes to Paris, in
the days of the Twelve Peers, and per-
forms feats like those in the romances
of chivalry. This, of course, is all
new. But the old stories are altered
and amplified, like those of the Cid's
charity to the leper, which is given
with a more picturesque air, and of
Ximcna and the king, and of the Cid
and his father, which arc partly thrown
into dialogue, not without dramatic
effect. The whole is a free version
of the old traditions of the country,
apparently made in the fifteenth cen-
tury, after the fictions of chivalry
began to be known, and with the in-
tention of giving the Cid rank among
their heroes.
The measure is that of the long
verses used in the older Spanish
poetry, with a csesural pause near the
middle of each, and the termination
of the lines is in the asonante a - o.*
But in all this there is great irrepi-
larity ; — ^many of the verses rumung
out to twenty or more syllables, and
several passages failing to observe the
proper cuonante. Every thing indi-
cates that the old ballads were familiar
to the author, and from one passage I
infer that he knew the old Poem of
the Cid :—
Verede* lidiar a profla e Un flrme m dar,
Atantot pendonea obradoa al^ar • abaxar,
Atantaa lan9aa quebradaa por el primor que-
brar,
Atantoa earalloa caer e non ae leTantar,
Atanto eavalio dn doeflo por el campo andar.
▼▼. 89ft— S99.
The precedinj? lines seem imitated
from the Cid*s fight before Alcocer,
in such a way as to leave no doubt that
its author had seen the old poem : —
* For the meaning of aumatUBt and au expla-
nation ot n$oium%e rente, aee Chap. VI. and the
notaa to it.
Veriedea tantas lanxas premer i altar ;
Tanta adar^pi k foradar ^ pasar ;
Tanta loriga fUaa detmanchar :
Tantos pendonea blancoa aalir bermeioa en
langre ;
Tantoa buenoa eavalloa ain aoa daenoa andar.
▼▼. 734— TSa.
*• The only knowledge of the ma-
nuscript containing these three poems
was long derived from a few extracts
in the '< Biblioteca Espaiiola" of
Rodriguez de Castro ; — an important
work, whose author was bom in
Galicia, in 1739, and died at Madrid,
in 1799. The first volume, printed
in 1781, in folio, under the patronage
of the Count Florida Blanca, consists
of a chronological account of the
Rabbinical writers who appeared in
Spain from the earliest times to his
own, whether they ^Tote in Hebrew,
Spanish, or any other hinguage. The
second, printed in 1786, consists of a
similar account of the Spanish writers,
heathen and Christian, who wrote
either in Latin or in Spanish down to
the end of the thirteenth century, and
whose number he makes about two
hundred. Both volumes are some-
what inartificially compiled, and the
literary opinions they express are of
small value ; but their materials,
largely derived from manuscripts, are
curious, and frequently such as can be
found in print nowhere else.
In this work, (Madrid, 1786, foL,
Vol. II. pp. 504, 606,) and for a long
time, as I have said, there alone, were
found notices of these poems ; but all
of them were printed at the end of the
Paris edition of Sanchez's ** Coleccion
de Poesias Anteriores al Siglo XV.,'*
from a copy of the original manuscript
in the Escurial, mark^ there III. K.
4to. Judging by the s])ecimens given
in De Castro, the spelling of the
manuscript has not been carefully fol-
lowed in the copy used for the Paris
edition.
Chap. II. BOOK OF APOLLONIUa 23
The poem with which this manuscript opens is called
" The Book of ApoUonius," and is the reproduction of a
story whose origin is obscure, but which is itself familiar
to us in the eighth book of Gower's " Confessio Amantis,"
and in the play of "Pericles,** that has sometimes been at-
tributed to Shakspeare. It is found in Greek rhyme very
early, but is here taken, almost without alteration of in-
cident, from that great repository of popular fiction in the
Middle Ages, the "Gesta Komanorum.'* It consists of
about twenty-six hundred lines, divided into stanzas of
four verses, all terminating with the same rhyme. At
the beginning, the author says, in his own person, —
In Gkxi's name the most holy and Saint Mary's name most dear,
If they but guide and keep me in their blessed love and fear,
I will strive to write a tale, in mastery new and clear,
Where of royal Apollomus the courtly you shall hear.
The new mastery or method — nueva maestria — here
claimed may be the structure of the stanza and its rhyme ;
for, in other respects, the versification is like that of the
Poem of the Cid ; showing, however, more skill and ex-
actness in the mere measure, and a slight improvement in
the language. But the merit of the poem is small. It
contains occasional notices of the manners of the age when
it was produced, — among the rest, some sketches of a
female jongleur^ of the class soon afterwards severely
denounced in the laws of Alfonso the Wise, — that are
curious and interesting. Its chief attraction, however, is
its story, and this, unhappily, is not original. ^
** The story of Apollonius, Prince in the text should be explained. The
of Tyre, as it is commonly called, and author says, —
as we have its incidents in thb long Eatndimr quenia
TOem, is the 163rd tale of the " Gesta Componer un romance de nuera maestria.
Romanorum " (s. 1., 1488, foL). It is, Ranumce here evidently means story,
however, much older than that collec- ^nd this is the earliest use of the word
tion. (Douce, Illustrations of Shak- \^ this sense that I know of. Maestria,
speare, London, 1807, 8vo., Vol. II. nte our old English Maisterie, mean<j
p. 135 ; and Swan's translation of the ^^ or skiU, as in Chaucer, being
Gesta, London, 1824, 12mo., Vol. II. the word afterwards corrupted into
pp. 164-495.) Two words in the ori- Mystery.
ginal Spanish of the passage translated
24 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Peuod L
The next poem in the collection is called "The Life of
our Lady, Saint Mary of Egypt," — a saint formerly much
more famous than she is now, and one whose history is so
coarse and indecent^ that it has often been rejected by the
wiser members of the church that canonized her. Such
as it appears in the old traditions, however, with all its
sins upon its head, it is here set forth. But we notice at
once a considerable difference between the composition of
Its verse and that of any Castilian poetry assigned to the
same or an earlier period. It is written in short lines,
generally of eight syllables, and in couplets ; but sometimes
a single line carelessly runs out to die number of ten or
eleven syllables ; and, in a few instances, three or even four
lines are included in one rhyme. It has a light air, quite
unlike the stateliness of the Poem of the Cid, and seems,
from its verse and tone, as well as from a few French words
scattered through it, to have been borrowed from some of
the earlier French Fabliaux, or, at any rate, to have been
written in imitation of their easy and garrulous style. It
opens thus, showing that it was intended for recitation : —
Listen, ye lordlings, listen to me,
For true is my tale, as true can be ;
And listen in heart, that so ye may
Have pardon, when humbly to God ye pray.
It consists of fourteen hundred such meagre, monkish
verses, and is hardly of importance, except as a monument
of the language at the period when it was written. **
The last of the three poems is in the same irregular
«* St. Mary of Egypt was a saint Montalvan, in the drama of '* La
of CTeat repute in Spain and Portugal, Gitana de Menfis." She has, too, a
and had her adventures written by church dedicated to her at Rome on
Pedro de Ribadeneyra in 1609, and the bank of the Tiber, made out of
Diogo Vas Carrillo in 1673 ; they the graceful ruins of the temple of
were also fully dven in the ** Flos Fortuna Virilis. But her coarse
Sanctorum " oi the former, and, in a history has often been rejected as
more attractive form, by Bartolomd apocryphal, or at least as unfit to
Cayrasco de Fijrueroa, at the end of be repeated. Bayle, Dictionnairc
hi8**TemploMilitantc,"(VaIladolid, Uistonque et Critioue, Amsterdam,
1G02, r2mo.,) where they fill about 1740, fol., Tom. III. pp. 334-336.
130 flowing octave stanzas, and by
Chap. II. THE THREE HOLT KINGa 2S
measure and manner. It is called *^The Adoration of
the Three Holy Kings,** and begins with the old tradition
about the wise men that came from the East ; but its chief
subject is an arrest of the Holy Family, during their flight
to Egypt, by robbers, the child of one of whom is cured of
a hideous leprosy by being bathed in water previously used
for bathing the Saviour ; this same child afterwards turn-
ing out to be the penitent thief of the crucifixion. It is a
rhymed legend of only two hundred and fifty lines, and
belongs to the large class of such compositions that were
long popular in Western Europe. "
Thus far, the poetry of the first century of Spanish
literature, like the earliest poetry of other modem coun-
tries, is anonymous; for authorship was a distinction
rarely coveted or thought of by those who wrote in any of
the dialects then forming throughout Europe, among the
common people. It is even impossible to tell from what
part of the Christian conquests in Spain the poems of
which we have spoken have come to us. We may infer,
indeed, from their language and tone, that the Poem of
the Cid belongs to the border country of the Moorish war,
in the direction of Catalonia and Valencia, and that the
earliest ballads, of which we shall speak hereafter, came
originally from the midst of the contest, with whose very
spirit they are often imbued. In the same way, too, we
may be^persuaded that the poems of a more religious temper
were produced in the quieter kingdoms of the North, where
monasteries had been founded and Christiaillty had already
struck its roots deeply into the soil of the national cha-
racter. Still, we have no evidence to show where any one
of the poems we have thus far noticed was written.
" Both of the last poems m this s^le than the first, and appear to be
MS. were first printed by Pidal in the of a later age ; for I do not think the
Rcvista de Madrid, 1841, and, as it French Fabliaux, which they imitate,
would seem, from bod copies. At were known in Spain till after the
least, they contain many more inaccu- period commonly assigned to the
nides of spelling, versificatiGn, and ApoUonius.
26 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
But as we advance, this state of things is changed.
The next poetry we meet is by a known author, and
comes from a known locality. It was written by Gonzalo,
a secular priest who belonged to the monastery of San
Millan or Saint Emilianus, in the territory of Calahorra,
far within the borders of the Moorish war, and who is
commonly called Berceo, from the place of his birth.
Of the poet himself we know little, except that he flourished
from 1220 to 1246, and that, as he once speaks of suf-
fering from the weariness of old age, " he probably died
after 1260, in the reign of Alfonso the Wise.'*
His works amount to above thirteen thousand lines, and
fill an octavo volume.** They are all on religious sub-
jects, and consist of rhymed lives of San Domingo de
Silos, Santa Oria, and San Millan ; poems on the Mass,
the Martyrdom of San Lorenzo, the Merits of the Ma-
donna, the Signs that are to precede the Last Judgment,
and the Mourning of the Madonna at the Cross, with a
few Hymns, and especially a poem of more than three
thousand six hundred lines on the Miracles of the Virgin
Mary. With one inconsiderable exception, the whole of
this formidable mass of verse is divided into stanzas of four
lines each, like those in the poem of ApoUonius of Tyre ;
and though in the language there is a perceptible advance
since the days when the Poem of the Cid was written,
still the power and movement of that remarkable legend are
entirely wanting in the verses of the careful ecclesiastic.**
** It is in Stft. Oria, st 2 : — an anonymous pamphlet, written, I
Quiero en mi vegez, magaer so ya cumdo, believe, by PcUlcer, the (^itor of Don
De eita nnU Virgen romaiuar ra dictado. Quixote.
■* Sanchez, Poesfas Anteriores, •* The second volume of Sanchez's
Tom. II., p. iv. ; Tom. III., pp. Poesfas Anteriores.
xliv.-lvi. As Berceo was ordained *• The metrical form adopted by
Deacon in 1221, he must have been Berceo, which he himself calls the
bom as early as 1198, since deacon's quademaviaj and which is in fact that
orders were not taken before the age of the poem of ApoUonius, should be
of twenty-three. Sec some curious particularly noticed, because it con-
remarks on the subject of Berceo in tinned to be a favourite one in Siiain
the ** Examcn Crftico del Tomo for above two centuries. The follow-
Primero de el Anti-Quixote," (Ma- ing stanzas, which arc among the best
drid, 1806, 12mo., pp. 22 et seq.,) in Berceo, may serve as a mvourable
Crap. II.
GONZALO DE BERCEO.
27
" The Life of San Domingo de Silos," with which his
volume opens, begins like a homily, with these words :
roedmen of its chaiucter. They are
from the '* Signs of the Judgment,"
Sanchez, Tom. II. p. 274.
Erti wen el nno de lot ligBM dabdadoa :
Sabiim a loe nabes el mar mocluM eaUdos,
Mm alto <|ne lai rienat i matanelot oolladoe,
Tanto que en teqneio llncazan lot petodog.
Las aTea eaK> metmo menndas h granadas
Andaraa dando gritos todaa mal enMmtadat ;
Aaa fkran lai betdaa por domai^^ doooadaa,
Noa podnn k la nodie toniar & tas pondas.
AndthisalMllbeoneortheaigiu that fill with
doobt* and fricht :
The Ma its wave* ahaU gather np, and lift them,
in its might.
Dp to the eloada, end Ikr aboTe the dark sier-
ra't height,
LnTing tlae fishM on dry land, a itrange end
teifbl sight.
The birds besides that flU the air, thebiidsboth
small and great.
Shall screaming fly|and wheel about, snred by
their coming fkte ;
And qoadrapeds, both thoM we tame andthoM
in untamed state,
Shall wander round nor shelter find where ssfe
they wonned of late.
There was, no doubt, difficulty in
such a protracted system of rhyme,
bat not much ; and when rhyme first
appeared in the modem languages, an
excess of it was the natiual conse-
quence of its novelty. In large por-
tions of the Provencal poetry, its
abundance is quite ridiculous; as in
the *' Croisade centre les H^r!§tiques
Albigeois," — a remarkable poem,
dating from 1210, excellently edited
by M. C. Fauriel, (Paris, 1837, 4to.,)
— in which stanzas occur where the
same rhyme is repeated above a hun-
dred times. When and where this
quaternion rhyme, as it is used by
Mrceo, was first introduced, cannot
be determined ; but it seems to have
been very early employed in poems
that were to be publicly recited. (F.
Wolf, Ueber die Lais, Wien, 1841,
8vo., p. 257.) The oldest example
I know of it, in a modem dialect,
dates from about 1100, and is found
in the curious MS. of Poetry of the
Waldenses, (F. Diez, Troubadours,
Zwickau, 1826, 8vo., p. 230,) used by
Ra^mouard ; — the instance to which I
refer being ** Lo novel Confort,"
(Ponies oes Troubadours, Paris,
1817, 8vo., Tom. II. p. Ill,) which
begins, —
Aquest norel confort de vertnos lavor
Mando, Tos scrivent en esrita et en amor :
Prego vos earament per Tamor del wgnor,
Abandona lo segle, serie a Dio cum temor.
In Spain, whither it no doubt came
from Provence, its history is simply,
— that it occurs in the poem of Apol-
lonius ; that it gets its first known
date in Berceo about 1230; and that
it continued in use till the end of the
fourteenth century.
The thirteen thousand verses of
Berceo's poetry, including even the
Hymns, are, with the exception of
about twenty lines of the " Duelo de
la Vfrgen," in this measure. These
twenty lines constitute a song of the
Jews who watched the 8epulc£re after
the cmcifixion, and, like the parts of
the demons in the old Mystcnes, are
intended to be droll, but are, in fact,
as Berceo himself says of them, more
truly than perhaps he was aware,
** not worth three figs." They are,
however, of some consequence, as
perhaps the earliest specimen of Spa-
nish lyrical poetry that has come down
to us with a date. They begin thus :
VeUt, sliama de los Judios,
Eya velar I
Que no vos furten el f^o de Dios,
EyaTelarl
Csr fttrtarvoslo querran,
Eya Telar I
Andre i Piedro et Johan,
EyaTeUrl
Duelo, 17S-9.
Watch, congregation of the Jew,
Up and watdi I
Lest they should stMl God's Son from you.
Up and watch I
For they will seek to steal the Son,
Up and watch I
His followers, Andrew, and Peter, and John,
Up and wateh I
Sanchez considers it a ViUancicOj to
be sung like a litany (Tom. IV. p.
ix.) ; and Martinez de la Rosa treats
it much in the same way. Obras,
Paris, 1827, 12mo., Tom. I. p. 161.
In general, the versification of Ber-
ceo is regular, — sometimes it is har-
monious; and though he now and
then indulges himself in imperfect
rhymes, that may be the beginning
of the national asonaniesj (Sanchez,
28 HISTORT OF SPANISH UTERATUBE. Psriod I.
'* In the name of the Father, who made all things, and of
our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the glorious Virgin, and of
the Holy Spirit, who is equal with them, I intend to tell
a story of a holy confessor. I intend to tell a story in the
plain Romance, in which the common man is wont to talk
to his neighbour ; for I am not so learned as to use the
other Latin. It will be well worth, as I think, a cup of
good wine.*'*' Of course, there is no poetry in thoughts
like these ; and much of what Berceo has left us does not
rise higher.
Occasionally, however, we find better things. In some
portions of his work there is a simple-hearted piety that
is very attractive, and in some, a story-telling spirit that
is occasionally picturesque. The best passages are to be
found in his long poem on the " Miracles of the Vii^in,"
which consists of a series of twenty-five tales of her in-
tervention in human affidrs, composed evidently for the
purpose of increasing the spirit of devotion in the
worship particularly paid to her. The opening or in-
duction to these tales contains, perhaps, the most poetical
passage in Berceo*s works ; and in the following version
the measure and system of rhyme in the original have been
preserved, so as to give something of its air and manner : —
My friends, and faithful rassals of Almighty God above,
If ye listen to my words in a spirit to improve,
A talc ye shall hear of piety and love.
Which afterwards yourselves shall heartily approve.
I, a master in Divinity, Goozalve Berceo hight,
Once wandering as a Pilgrim, found a meadow richly dight,
Green and peopled full of flowers, of flowers &ir and bright,
A place where a weary man would rest him with delight
Tom. II. p. XV.,) still the licence he ^ San Domingo de Silos, st. 1 and
takes is much less than might be an- 2. The Saviour, according to tho
ticipated. Indeed, Sanchez represents fiishion of the age, is called, in v. 2,
the harmony and finish of his versifi- Don Jesu Christo, — the word then
cation as quite surprising, and uses being synonymous with Dominus.
stronger language m relation to it See a curious note on its use, in Don
than seems justifiable, considering Quixote, ed. Clemencin, Madrid,
some of the &cts he admits. Tom. 1836, 4to., Tom. V. p. 408.
II. p. xi.
Cbap. n. GONZAIiO DE BERCEO. 29
And the flowers I beheld all looked and smelt so sweet,
That the senses and the soal thej seemed alike to greet ;
While on every side ran fountains through all this glad retreat,
Which in winter kindly warmth supplied, yet tempered summer's heat.
And of rich and goodly trees there grew a boundless maze,
Granada's apples bright, and figs of golden rays.
And many other fruits, beyond my skill to praise ;
But none that tumeth sour, and none that e'er decays.
The freshness of that meadow, the sweetness of its flowers.
The dewy shadows of the trees, that fell like cooling showers.
Renewed within my frame its worn and wasted powers ;
I deem the Texy odours would have nourished me for hours. "
This induction, which is continued through forty stanzas
more, of unequal merit, is little connected with the stories
that follow; the stories, again, are not at all connected
among themselves ; and the whole ends abruptly with a
few lines of homage to the Madonna. It is, therefore,
inartificial in its structure throughout But in the narra-
tive parts there is often naturalness and spirit, and some-
times, though rarely, poetry. The tales themselves be-
long to the religious fictions of the Middle Ages, and were
no doubt intended to excite devout feelings in those to
whom they were addressed ; but, like the old Mysteries,
and much else that passed under the name of religion at the
same period, they often betray a very doubtful morality. **
" The Miracles of the Virgin " is not only the longest,
but the most curious, of the poems of Berceo. The rest,
" AmigtM ^ Tanlloi de Dlot omnipotent, » J^ «rood aCCOUnt of this part of
Q.Si.To.'SSln;J-b.Sr«'SSr:''~°'' Berceo's works, though, I think, some-
Tenrdeslo en cabo per baeno Terunent. what tOO Sevcre, IS tO be found in Dr.
Yd Maeitro GoniaiTo de Berceo nomnado Dunham's * * History of Spain and Por-
^?J^:7^T^.'lZ^''Uu^ ta«l," (London, 1832, l8mo Tom.
Logv cobdiciaduero inna ome auundo. IV. pp. 215-229,) a WOrk ot merit,
Daban olor sobeio laa floret bien olientet/ the early part of which, as in the Case
u^S^^ZL 'Se'SSJwtS:?,^. of Berceo, rests more frequently than
En verano bien frias, en yriemo calientea. might be expected OH original autho-
ATie hy grand abondo de buenas arboledaa, ritics. Excellent translations will be
Milgranos h flgueras, pero. i maxanedaa, f ^ j^ p^f Longfcllow's lotroduc-
P. mochas otras fruetaa de divenas monedaa; •«**"«. e ^ ^r ^^u r^ i
Ma* non a^ie ningunaa podridaa nin aoedaa. tory Essajr tO hlS VCrsiOU Of the Coplas
UTcrdoradelnado, U olor de las florea, de Mannque, Boston, 1833, 12mO.,
Laasombraadelosarborea detempradoaaaborea pp 5 gj^^ ^Q.
Refreaearonme todo, ^ perdi lea ladores : > ^*
Pbdrie ^rwit el ome oon aqaelloa olorea.
Sanchex, Tom. II. p. 285.
30
HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURK
POITOD I.
however, should not be entirely neglected. The poem on
the '^ Signs which shall precede the Judgment" is often
solemn, and once or twice rises to poetry; the story
of Maria de Cisneros, in the " Life of San Domingo," is
well told, and so is that of the wild appearance in the
heavens of Saint James and Saint Millan fighting for the
Christians at the battle of Simancas, much as it is found
in the "General Chronicle of Spain." But perhaps
nothing is more characteristic of the author or of his age
than the spirit of child-like simplicity and religious tender-
ness that breathes through several parts of the ** Mourning
of the Madonna at the Cross," — a spirit of gentle, faithfiil,
credulous devotion, with which the Spanish people in their
wars against the Moors were as naturally marked as they
were with the ignorance that belonged to the Christian
world generally in those dark and troubled times. **
^ For example, when the Madonna
is represented as looking at the cross,
and addressing her expiring son : —
Flio, siempre oriemoi io ^ tu ana Tida;
lo k ti qoM mueho, i fVti do ti qaerida ;
lo sempre te crey, d ftii de ti creida ;
La ttt piedad larga ahora me oblida ?
Flio, non me oblidet I Herame oontigo,
Non me flnea en sieglo maa do an bnen amigo ;
Jnan quem dial por flio aqui plant conmigo :
Ruegote qnem condonoa eoto que io te digo.
St. 78, 79.
I read these stanzas with a feeling
akin to that with which I should look
at a picture on the same subject bj
Perugino. Thej may be translated
thus: —
My eon, in thee and me life atiU waa felt aa
one;
I loved thee mudi^and then loredst me in.
perfectnoM, my ton ;
My fkith in thee waa aure, and I thy fkith hi^
won;
And doth thy large and pitying love forget me
now, my aon ?
My aon, forget me not, but take my aonl with
thine;
The earth holda but one heart that kindred if
with mine,—
John, whom thou gaveat to be my child, who
here with me doth pine ;
I pray thee, then, that to my pnyer thoa gia-
ciouidy incline.
I cannot pass farther without offer-
ing the tribute of my homage to two
persons who have done more than
any others in the nineteenth century
to make Spanish literature known,
and to obtain for it the honours to which
it is entitled beyond the limits of the
country that gave it birth.
The first of them, and one whose
name I have already cited, is Fried-
rich Bouterwck, who was bom at
Oker in the kin^om of Hanover, in
1766, and passed nearly all the more
active portion of his life at Gottingen,
where he died in 1828, widely re-
spected as one of the most distinguish-
ed professors of that long-favoured
University. A project for preparing
by the most competent hands a full
history of the arts and sciences from
the period of their revival in modem
Europe was first suggested at Gottin-
gen by another of its well-known pro-
fessors, John Gottfried Eichhom, in
the latter part of the eighteenth cen-
tury. But though that remarkable
scholar published, in 1796-9, two
volumes of a learned Introduction to
the whole work which be had pro*
jected, he went no farther, and most
Chap. II.
BOUTERWEK AND BISMONDI.
31
of his coadtutors stopped when he did,
or soon anerwards. The portion of
it assigned to Bouterwek, however,
which was the entire History of ele-
cant literature in niodem times, was
happilj achieved bj him between
1801 and 1819, in twelve volumes
octavo. Of this division, ** The His-
tory of Spanish Literature " fills the
third volume, and was published in
1804; — a work remarkable for its
general philosophical views, and b^
fiur the best extant on the subject it
discusses; but imperfect in many
particulars, because its author was
unable to procure a large number of
Spanish books needful for his task,
and knew many considerable Spanish
authors only by insufficient extracts.
In 1812, a translation of it into
French was printed, in two volumes,
by Madame Streck, with a judicious
prehce by the venerable M. Stapfer ;
— in 1823, it came out, together with
its author^s brief " History of Portu-
guese Literature," in an English
translation, made with taste and skill,
by Miss Thomasina Ross ; — and in
1829, a Spanish version of the first
and smallest part of it, with unportant
notes, sufficient with the text to fill a
volume in octavo, was prepared by
two excellent Spanish scholars, Josi^
Gomes de la Cortina, and Nicole
Hugalde y Mollinedo, — a work which
all lovers of Spanish literature would
gladly see completed.
Since the time of Bouterwek, no
£>reigner has done so much to pro-
mote a knowledge of Spanish litera-
ture as M. Simonde de Sismondi,
who was bom at Geneva in 1773, and
died there in 1842, honoured and loved
by all who knew his wise and gener-
ous spirit as it exhibited itself either
in his personal intercourse, or in his
great works on the history of France
and Italy, — two countries to which,
by a line of time-honoured ancestors,
he seemed almost equally to belong.
In 1811 he delivered in his native
city a course of brilliant lectures on
the literature of the South of Europe,
and in 1813 published them at Paris.
They involved an account of the
Provencal and the Portuguese, as well
as of the Italian and the Spanish ; —
but in whatever relates to the Spanish,
Sismondi was even less well provided
with the ori^nal authore than Bou-
terwek had been, and was, in conse-
quence, under obligations to his
predecessor, which, while he takes
no pains to conceal them, diminish
the authority of a work that will yet
always be read for the beauty of its
style and the richness and wisdom of
its reflections. The entire series of
these lectures was translated into
German by L. Hain in 1815, and
into English with notes by T. Roscoe
in 1 823. The part relating to Spanish
literature was published m Spanish,
with occasional alterations and copious
and important additions by Josd Lo-
renzo Figueroa and Jos^ Amador de los
Rios, at Seville, in2vols. 8vo., 1841-2,
— the notes relating to Andalusian
authors being particularly valuable.
None but those who have gone over
the whole ground occupied by Spanish
literature can know how great are the
merits of 8chohu*s like Bouterwek and
Sismondi, — acute, philosophical, and
thoughtful, — who, with an apparatus
of authors so incomplete, hiave yet
done so much for the illustration of
their subject.
32 HISTOBY OP SPANISH LITEBATUBE. Pnn>i> I,
CHAPTER III.
AxFovso THB Wm. — His Lira. — Hn Littkb to Psbis db Gdzmah. —
His CIirnaAS in the Galiciait. — Origin of that Dialbct and of thb
PoBTUQUESB. — His Tesobo. — His pROSB. — Law concebnino tbb Cas-
tilian. — His CoNQUMTA DB Ultbamab. — Old Fubbos. — ^Thb Fubbo
JuzGO. — Thb Sbtbnabio. — ^Thb Espbjo. — ^Thb Fuebo Rbai.. — The
Sibtb Pabtidab and thbib Merits. — Chabacteb of Alfonso.
The second known author in Castilian literature bears a
name much more distinguished than the first . It is Alfonso
the Tenth, who, from his great advancement in various
branches of human knowledge, has been called Alfonso the
Wise, or the Learned. He was the son of Ferdinand the
Third, a saint in the Boman calendar, who, uniting anew
the crowns of Castile and Leon, and enlarging the limits
of his power by important conquests from the Moors, settled
more firmly than they had before been settled the foun-
dations of a Christian empire in the Peninsula.^
Alfonso was born in 1221, and ascended the Ihrone in
1252. He was a poet, much connected with the Provencal
Troubadours of his time,* and was besides so greatly skilled
in geometry, astronomy, and the occult sciences then so
much valued, that his reputation was early spread through-
out Europe, on accoimt of his general science. But, as
Mariana quaintly says of him, " He was more fit for letters
' Mariana^ Hist., Lib. XII. c. 15, addressed to him by Giraud Riquier of
ad fin. Narbonne, in 1276, given by Diez, we
* Diez, Poesic der Troubadours, pp. know that in another poem this dis-
75, 226, 227, 331-350. A long poem tinguished troubadour mourned the
on the influence of the stars was ad- king's death. Raynouard, Tom. V.
dressed to Alfonso by Nat de Mons p. 171. Millot, Histoirc des Trouba-
(Raynouard, Troub., Tom. V. p. dours, Paris, 1774, 12mo., Tom. III.
269) ; and besides the curious poem pp. 329-374.
Cbaf. III. ALFONSO THE WISE. 33
than for the goyernment of his subjects; he studied the
heavens, and watched the stars, but forgot the earth, and
lost his kingdom." *
His character is still an interesting one. He appears
to have had more political, philosophical, and elegant
learning than any other man of his time ; to have reasoned
more wisely in matters of legislation ; and to have made
further advances in some of the exact sciences ; — accom-
plishments that he seems to have resorted to in the latter
part of his life for consolation amidst unsuccessful wars
with foreign enemies and a rebellious son. The following
letter from him to one of the Guzmans, who was then in
great favour at the court of the king of Fez, shows at once
how low the fortunes of the Christian monarch were sunk
before he died, and ¥rith how much simplicity he could
speak of their bitterness. It is dated in 1282, and is a
favourable specimen of Gastilian prose at a period so early
in the history of the language. *
" Cousin Don Alonzo Perez de Guzman, — My affliction
is great, because it has fallen from such a height that it
will be seen afar ; and as it has fallen on me, who was the
friend of all the world, so in all the world will men know
this my misfortune, and its sharpness, which I suffer
unjustly from my son, assisted by my fnends and by my
prelates, who, instead of setting peace between us, have
put mischief, not under secret pretences or covertly, but
with bold openness. And thus I find no protection in
mine own land, neither defender nor champion ; and yet
• Historia, Lib. XIII. c. 20. The ces,'' por Lorenzo de Sepulveda (Se-
1698 favourable side of Alfonso's cha- villa, 1584, 18mo., f. 104). The letter
racier is given bj the cynical Bayle, is found in the preface to the Acade-
Art CaMe. my's edition of the Partidas, and is
* This letter, which the Spanish explained by the accounts in Mariana,
Academy calls " inimitable," though (Hist, Lib. XIV., c. 6,) Conde, (Do-
early known in MS., seems to have minacion de los Arabes, Tom. III. n.
been first printed by Ortiz de Zufiiga 69,) and Mondejar (Memorias, Lib.
(Anales de Sevilla, Sevilla, 1677, foT., VI. c. 14). The original is said to
p. 124). Several old ballads have been be in the possession of the Duke of
made out of it, one of which is to be Medina-Sidonia. Semanario Pinto-
foond in the ** Cancionero de Roman- resco, 1845, p. 303.
VOL. L D
34 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURK Period I.
have I not deserved it at their hands, unless it were for
the good I have done them. And now, since in mine own
land they deceive, who should have served and assisted
me, needful is it that I should seek abroad those who will
kindly care for me ; and since they of Castile have been
false to me, none can think it ill that I ask help among
those of Benamarin. * For if my sons are mine enemies,
it will not then be wrong that I take mine enemies to be
my sons ; enemies according to the law, but not of free
choice. And such is the good king Aben Jusaf ; for I
love and value him much, and he will not despise me or
fail me ; for we are at truce. I know also how much you
are his, and how much he loves you, and^with good cause,
and how much he will do through your good counsel.
Therefore look not at the things past, but at the things
present. Consider of what lineage you are come, and
that at some time hereafter I may do you good, and if I
do it not, that your own good deed shall be its own good
reward. Therefore, my cousin, Alonzo Perez de Guzman,
do so much for me with my lord and your friend, that, on
pledge of the most precious crown that I have, and the
jewels thereof, he should lend me so much as he may hold
to be just. And if you can obtain his aid, let it not be
hindered of coming quickly ; but rather think how the
good friendship that may come to me from your lord will
be through your hands. And so may God's friendship be
with you. — Done in Seville, my only loyal city, in the
thirtieth year of my reign, and in the first of these my
troubles.
^Signed) *^ The King."*
* A race of African princes, who to whom this remarkable letter b ad-
rcigned in Morocco, and subjected all dressed, went over to Africa in 1276,
Western Africa. Crdnica de Alfonso with many knights, to serve Aben Jusaf
XI., Valladolid, 1561, fol., c. 219. against his rebellious subjects, stipu-
(rayangos, Mohammedan Dynasties, lating that he should not be required
Vol. II. p. 325. to servo against Christians. Ortiz de
• Alonzo Perez de Guzman, of the Zuriiga, Anales, p. 113.
great family of that name, the person
Chap. III. ALFONSO THE WISE. 35
The unhappy monarch survived the date of this very
striking letter but two years, and died in 1284. At one
period of his life, his consideration throughout Christendom
was so great, that he was elected Emperor of Germany ;
but this was only another soiu-ce of sorrow to him, for his
claims were contested, and after some time were silently
set aside by the election of Rodolph of Hapsburg, upon
whose dynasty the glories of the House of Austria rested
so long. The life of Alfonso, therefore, was on the whole
unfortunate, and full of painful vicissitudes, that might
well have broken the spirit of most men, and that were
certainly not without an effect on his. '
So much the more remarkable is it, that he should be
distinguished among the chief founders of his country's
intellectual fame, — a distinction which again becomes more
extraordinary when we recollect that he enjoys it not in
letters alone, or in a single department, but in many ; since
he is to be remembered alike for the great advancement
which Castilian prose composition made in his hands, for
his poetry, for his astronomical tables, which all the progress
of science since has not deprived of their value; and
for his great work on legislation, which is at this moment
an authority in both hemispheres. ^
' The principal Life of Alfonso X. 2. A Universal History, containing an
b that by the Marquis of Mondejar abstract of the history of the Jews.
(Madrid, 1777, fol.) ; but it did not 3. A Translation of the Bible. 4. El
receive its author's final revision, and Libro del Tesoro, a work on general
is an imperfect work. (Prdlogo do philosophy ; but Sarmiento, in a MS.
Cerda y Rico; and Baena, Hijos de which 1 possess, says that this is a
Madrid, Madrid, 1790, 4to., Tom. II. translation of the Tesoro of Bnmctto
pp. 304-312.) For the jiart of Al- Latini, Dante's master, and that it was
fonso's life devoted to letters, ample not made by order of Alfonso ; adding,
materials are to be found in Castro, however, that he has seen a book enti-
(Biblioteca Espanola, Tom. 11. pp. tied ** Flores do Filosoffa," which pro-
625-688,) and in the Repertono fesses to have been compiled by this
Americano (Ldndrcs, 1 827, Tom. III. king's command, and may be the work
pp. 67-77) ; where there is a valiia- here intended. 5. The Tabulas Al-
Me paper, written, I believe, by Salv^, fonsinas, or Astronomical Tables. 6.
who published that journal. Historia de todo el Succso de Ultramar,
* The works attributed to Alfonso to be noticed presently. 7. El Esp{;-
arc ; — In Pbosb : 1. Cr6nica General culo 6 Espojo de todos los Dercchos ;
de Esiiafia, to bo noticed hereafter. El Fuero Real, and other laws piib-
d2
«^^ HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
Of his poetry, we possess, besides works of very doubt-
ful genuineness, two, about one of which there has been
little question, and about the other none ; his " Cantigas,*'
or Chants, in honour of the Madonna, and his " Tesoro,*'a
treatise on the transmutation of the baser metals into gold.
Of the Cdntigas, there are extant no less than four hun-
dred and one, composed in lines of from six to twelve syl-
lables, and rhymed with a considerable degree of exactness.'
Their measure and manner are Proven9al. They are de-
voted to the praises and the miracles of the Madonna, in
whose honour the king founded in 1279 a religious and mi-
litary order ;^° and in devotion to whom, by his last will,
he directed these poems to be perpetually chanted in the
church of Saint Mary of Murcia, where he desired his body
might be buried.*^ Only a few of them have been printed ;
but we have enough to show what they are, and especially
that they are written, not in the Castilian, like the rest of
his works, but in the Galician ; an extraordinary circum-
stance, for which it does not seem easy to give a satisfac-
tory reason.
The Galician, however, was originally an important lan-
lished in the Opiisculos Lcgalcs del in the notes to the Spanish translation
Rey Alfonso el Sabio (ed. de la Real of Bouten*'ek*s History (p. 129).
Academia de Uistoriaf Madrid, 1836, Large extracts from the Cantigas are
2tom.,fol.). 8. Las Siete Partidas. — found in Castro, (Tom. II. pp. 361,
Ik Verse: 1. Another Tcsoro. 2. 362, and pp. 631-643,) and in the
Las Cdntigas. 8. Two stanzas of the " Nobleza del Andaluzia " de Argote
Querellas. Several of these works, de Molina, (Sevilla, 1588, fol., f. 151,)
like the Universal History and the Ul- followed by a curious notice of the
tramar, were, as we know, only com- king, in Chap. XIX., and a poem in
piled by his ortler, and in others he his honour.
must have been much assisted. But *•* Mondejar, Mcmorias, p. 438.
the whole mass shows how wide were " Ibid., p. 434. His body, how-
his views, and how great must have ever, was in fact buried at Seville,
been his influence on the language, and his heart, which he had de-
the literature, and the intellectual sired should be sent to Palestine, at
progress of his country. Murcia, because, as he says in his
• Castro, Biblioteca, Tom. II. p. testament, ** Murcia was the first
632, where he speaks of the MS. of place which it pleased God I should
the Cdntigas in tne Escurial. The one gain in the service and to the honour
at Toledo, which contains only a hun- of King Ferdinand." Laborde saw
dred, is the MS. of which a facsimile his monument there. Itineraire de
isgiveninthe**Paleograph{a£spafio- PEspttgne, Paris, 1809, 8vo., Tom.
V* (Madrid, 1758, 4to., p. 72,) and II. p. 185.
Chap. III. GALICIAN DIALECT. 37
guage in Spain, and for some time seemed as likely to
prevail throughout the country as any other of the dialects
spoken in it. It was probably the first that was developed
in the north-western part of the Peninsula, and the second
that was reduced to writing. For in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, just at the period when the struggling
elements of the modern Spanish were disencumbering
themselves from the forms of the corrupted Latin, Galicia,
by the wars and troubles of the times, was repeatedly sepa-
rated from Castile, so that distinct dialects appeared in the
two different territories almost at the same moment Of
these the Northern is likely to have been the older, though
the Southern proved ultimately the more fortunate. At
any rate, even without a court, which was the surest centre
of culture in such rude ages, and without any of the reasons
for the development of a dialect which always accompany
political power, we know that the Galician was already
sufficiently formed to pass with the conquering arms of Al-
fonso the Sixth, and establish itself firmly between the
Douro and the Minho ; that country which became the
nucleus of the independent kingdom of Portugal.
This was between the years 1095 and 1 109 ; and though
the establishment of a Burgundian dynasty on the throne
erected there naturally brought into the dialect of Portu-
gal an infusion of the French, which never appeared in the
dialect of Galicia,^* still the language spoken in the two
territories under different sovereigns and different influences
continued substantially the same for a long period ; perhaps
down to the time of Charles the Fifth.^' But it was only
in Portugal that there was a court, or that means and mo-
tives were found sufficient for forming and cultivating a re-
" J. P. Ribeiro, Disserta9oe8, etc., Sciencias, Lisboa, 1816, Tom. IV.
publioadas per drdem da Academia Parte II. Viterbo (Elucidario, Lis-
Real das Sciendas de Lbboa, Lisboa, boa, 1798, fol., Tom. I., advert. Pre-
1810, 8vo., Tom. I. p. 180. A glossary liminar., pp. viii.-xiii.) also examines
of French words occurring in Uie Por- this point
tttiruefle, by Francisco de San Luiz, is .a t> i u/ i? £! i i/i
intheMciorias da A«demia Realdc " Paloogmphla Espafiola, p. 10.
3S HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pehiod I.
gular language. It is therefore only in Portugal that this
common dialect of both the territories appears with a sepa-
rate and proper literature ;** the first intimation of which,
with an exact date, is found as early as 1 192. This is a
document in prose.^* The oldest poetry is to be sought
in three curious fragments, originally published by Faria y
Sousa, which can hardly be placed much later than the
year 1200.** Both show that the Galician in Portugal,
under less favourable circumstances than those which accom-
panied the Castilian in Spain, rose at the same period to
be a written language, and possessed, perhaps, quite as
early, the materials for forming an independent literature.
We may fairly infer, therefore, from these facts, indi-
cating the vigour of the Galician in Portugal before the year
1200, that, in its native province in Spain, it is somewhat
older. But we have no monuments by which to establish
such antiquity. Castro, it is true, notices a manuscript
translation of the history of Servandus, as if made in 1150
by Seguino, in the Galician dialect ; but he gives no spe-
cimen of it, and his own authority in such a matter is not
sufficient.^' And in the well-known letter sent to the Con-
stable of Portugal by the Marquis of Santillana, about the
middle of the fifteenth century, we are told that all Spanish
poetry was written for a long time in Galician or Portu-
guese ;** but this is so obviously either a mistake in fact, or
a mere compliment to the Portuguese prince to whom it
was addressed, that Sarmiento, full of prejudices in favour
of his native province, and desirous to arrive at the same
conclusion, is obliged to give it up as wholly unwarranted.*'
»* A. Ribciro dos Santos, Orfgom, which is A. D. 1 192, and is, therefore,
etc., dtt Pocsi'a Portugucza, in Memo- the oldest with a ilaie.
rias da Lett. Portugiieza, pela Aca- " Europa Portupueza, Lisboa, 1680,
deinia, etc., 1812, Tom. Vlll. pp. fol. Tom. III. Parte IV., c. 9; and
248-250. Diez, Grammatik der Romanischen
" J. P. Riboiro, Diss., Tom. I. p. Sprachcn, Boim, 183G, 8vo., Tom. I.
17G. It is poasible the document m p. 72.
App., pp. 273-275, is older, as it »' Bibl. Espanola, Tom. II., pp.
apiH»ars to ho from the time of Saneho 404, 405.
1., or 1185-1211 ; but the next docu- »• Sanchez, Tom. I., Prol., p. Ivii.
mcnt (p. 276) is dated ** Era 1230," » After quoting the passage of San-
Chap. III. ALFONSO THE TENTH. 39
We must come back, therefore, to the ** Cintigas" or
Chants of Alfonso, as to the oldest specimen extant in the
Galician dialect distinct from the Portuguese ; and since,
from internal evidence, one of them was written after he
had conquered Xerez, we may place them between 1263,
when that event occurred, and 1284, when he died.** Why
he should have chosen this particular dialect for this par-
ticular form of poetry, when he had, as we know, an admirable
mastery of the Castilian, and when these Cantigas, according
to his last will, were to be chanted over his tomb, in a part
of the kingdom where the Galician dialect never prevailed,
we cannot now decide.** His father. Saint Ferdinand, was
from the North, and his own early nurture there may have
given Alfonso himself a strong affection for its language ;
or, what perhaps is more probable, there may have been
something in the dialect itself, its origin or its gravity,
which, at a period when no dialect in Spain had obtained
an acknowledged supremacy, made it seem to him better
suited than the Castilian or Yalencian to religious pur-
poses.
But however this may be, all the rest of his works are
in the language spoken in the centre of the Peninsula,
while his Cantigas are in the Galician. Some of them have
considerable poetical merit ; but in general they are to be
remarked only for the variety of their metres, for an occa-
sional tendency to the form of ballads, for a lyrical tone,
which does not seem to have been earlier established in the
Castilian, and for a kind of Doric simplicity, which belongs
partly to the dialect he adopted and partly to the character of
tillana just referred to, Sarmicnto, who Espanoles, Madrid, 1775, 4to., p.
was vcnr learned in all that relates to 196.
the earliest Spanish verse, says, with 30 Qae toiiea
a simplicity quite delightful, ** I, as a ^ Mouiw Neui e Xerw,
Galician, interested in this conclusion, he says (Castro, Tom. II. p. 637) ;
should be glad to possess the grounds and Aerez was taken in 1263. But
of the Marquis of Santillana ; but I have all these Cintigas were not, probably,
not seen a single word of any author written in one period of the king's
that can throw light on the matter." life.
Memorias de la Poesla y Poetas ** Ortiz do Zuftiga, Analcs, p. 129.
40
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period L
the author himself; the whole bearing theimpress of the Pro-
ven9al poets, with whom he was much connected, and whom
through life he patronized and maintained at his court. "
The other poetry attributed to Alfonso — except two
stanzas that remain of his ^^ Complaints ** against the hard
fortune of the last years of his life ** — is to be sought in
the treatise called " Del Tesoro," which is divided into
two short books, and dated in 1272. It is on the Philoso-
pher's Stone, and the greater portion of it is concealed in
an unexplained cipher ; the remainder being partly in prose
and partly in octave stanzas, which are the oldest extant
in Castilian verse. But the whole is worthless, and its
genuineness doubtful. "
** Take the following as a speei-
mcn. Alfonso beseeches the Madon-
na rather to look at her merits than
at his own claims, and runs through
five stanzas, with the choral echo to
each, " Saint Mary, remember me !"
Non cateda oomo
Peauei aaaa,
Maia caUd o f^nn
Ben que en vos ia« ;
Ca uua me feseste*
Coxno qaen faa
Sa cooaa quita
Toda per aa>i.
Santa Mana I nenbre uoa de mi !
Non cstedet a oomo
Pequey gren,
Mais catad o gran ben
Que U08 Dena den ;
Ca outro ben we non
Uoa non ei ea
Nen oune nunca
Des qnando nad.
Santa Maria I nenbre no* de mi I
Castro, Bibl., Tom. II. p. 640.
This has, no doubt, a very Pro-
ven9al air ; but others of the Cdntigas
have still more of it. The Provencal
poets, in fact, as we shall see more
fully hereafter, fled in considerable
numbers into Spain at the period of
their persecution at home; and that
period corresponds to the reigns of
Alfonso and his father. In this way
a strong tinge of the Provencal
character came into the poetry of
Castile^ and remained there a long
time. The proofs of this early inter-
course with Provencal |)oet8 arc
abundant. Aimdric dc Bellinoi was
at the court of Alfonso IX., who
died in 1214, (Histoire Litt^raire de
la France, par des Membres dc
rinstitut, Paris, 4to., Tom. XIX.,
1838, p. 507,) and was aflterwards at
the court of Alfonso X. (Ibid., p.
511.) So were Montagnagout and
Folquet de Lunel, both of whom wrote
poems on the election of Alfonso X. to
the throne of Germany. ( Ibid. , Tom.
XIX., p. 491, and Tom. XX., p. 667;
with Raynouard, Troubadours, Tom.
IV. p. 2390 Baimond de Tours and
Nat de Mons addressed verses to
Alfonso X. (Ibid., Tom. XIX. pp.
555, 577.) Bertrand Carbonel de-
dicated his works to him ; and Giraud
Riquier, sometimes called the last
of the Troubadours, wrote an elegy
on his death, already referred to.
(Ibid., Tom. XX. pp. 559, 578,
584.) Others might be cited, bat
these are enough.
^ The two stanzas of the Querellas,
or Complaints, still remaining to us,
arc in Ortiz de Zuiiiga, (Aiudcs, p.
123,) and elsewhere.
** First published by Sanchez,
(Pocsfas Anteriores, Tom. I. pp.
148-170,) where it may still be best
consulted. The copy he used had
belonged to the Marouis of Villcna,
who was suspected ol the black art,
and whose l>ooks were burnt on that
account after his death, temp. John
Chap. III. ULTRAMAR. 41
Alfonso claims his chief distinction in letters as a writer
of prose. In this his merit is great. He first made the
Castilian a national language by causing the Bible to be
translated into it, and by requiring it to be used in all legal
proceedings;** and he first, by his great Code and other
works, gave specimens of prose composition which left a
free and disencumbered course for all that has been done
since — a service perhaps greater than it has been permitted
any other Spaniard to render the prose literature of his
country. To this, therefore, we now turn.
And here the first work we meet with is one that was
rather compiled under his direction, than written by him-
self. It is called "The Great Conquest beyond Sea,"
and is an account of the wars in the Holy Land, which
then so much agitated the minds of men throughout Eu-
rope, and which were intimately connected with the fate of
the Christian Spaniards still struggling for their own exist-
ence in a perpetual crusade against misbelief at home.
It begins with the history of Mohammed, and comes down to
the year 1270 ; much of it being taken from an old French
version of the work of William of Tyre, on the same gene-
ral subject, and the rest from other less trustworthy
sources. But parts of it are not historical. The grand-
father of Godfrey of Bouillon, its hero, is the wild and
fanciful Knight of the Swan, who is almost as much a re-
II. A specimen of the cipher is obvious difference in language and
^ven in Cortinas's translation of style between both and the rest of the
Bouterwek (Tom. I. p. 129). In king's known works, — a difference
reading this poem, it should be borne which certainly may well excite sus-
in mind that Alfonso believed in picion, but docs not much encourage
astrolo^cal predictions, and protected the pajticular conjecture of Moratin
astrology by his laws. rPartida VII. as to the Marquis of Yillcna.
Tit. xxiii. Ley 1.) Moratin the ** Mariana, Hist., Lib. XIV. c.
younger (Obras, Madrid, 1830, 8vo., 7; Castro, Bibl., Tom. !• p. 411 ;
Tom. I. Parte I. p. 61) thinks that and Mondejar, Memorias, p. 460.
both the Querellas and the Tesoro The last, however, is mistaken in
were the work of the Marquis of supposing the translation of the Bible
Villena; relying, first, on the fact pnntcd at Ferrara in 1563 to have
that the only manuscript of the latter been that made by order of Alfonso,
known to exist once belonged to the since it was the work of some Jews
Marquis ; and, secondly, on the of the period when it was publbhed.
42
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
PebxodI.
presentative of the spirit of caivalry as Amadis de Graul,
aud goes through adventures no less marvellous ; fighting
on the Khine like a knight-errant, and miraculously warned
by a swallow how to rescue his lady, who has been made
prisoner. Unhappily, in the only edition of this curious
work — printed in 1503 — the text has received additions
that make us doubtful how much of it may be certainly as-
cribed to the time of Alfonso the Tenth, in whose reign and
by whose order the greater part of it seems to have been
prepared. It is chiefly valuable as a specimen of early
Spanish prose. "
Castilian prose, in fact, can hardly be said to have
existed earlier^ unless we are willing to reckon as specimens
*" La Gran Conauista de Ultramar
was printed at Salamanca, by Hans
Giesscr, in folio, in 1503. That ad-
ditions arc made to it is apparent from
Lib. III. c. 170, where is an account
of the overthrow of the order of the
Templars, which is there said to have
happened in the year of the Spanish
era 1412 ; and that it is a translation,
so far as it follows William of Tyre,
from an old French version of the
thirteenth century, I state on the
authority of a manuscript of Sarmiento.
The Conquista begins thus : —
" Capitulo Primero. ComoMahoma
predico en Aravia: y gano toda la
ticrra de Oricntc.
** En aql. ticpo q eraclius emperador
en Roma q fuc buc Xpiano, et matuvo
gnm tiepo el imperio en justicia y en
paz, levantose Mahoma en tierra de
Aravia y mostro a las gctes necias
sciecia nueva, y fizo les creer q era
profeta y mensagero de dios, y que Ic
avia embiado al mundo por saluar los
hombres qele creyessen, etc.
The story of the Knight of the
Swan, full of enchantments, duels,
and much of what marks the books of
chivalry, begins abruptly at Lib. I.
cap. 47, fol. xvii., with these words :
** And now the history leaves off
speaking for a time of all these things,
in order to relate what concerns the
Knight of the Swan/' etc.; and it
ends with Cap. 185, f. Ixxx., the next
chapter opening thus : *' Now thb
history leaves off speaking of this,
and turns to relate how three knights
went to Jerusalem," etc. This story
of the Knight of the Swan, which
fills 63 leaves, or about a quarter part
of the whole work, appeared origin-
ally in Normandy or Belgium, begun
by Jehan Renault and finished by
Gandor or Graindor of Douay, in
30,000 verses, about the year 1300.
(De la Rue, Essai sur les Bardes,
etc., Caen, 1834, 8vo., Tom. III. p.
213. Warton's English Poetry, Lon-
don, 1824, 8vo., Vol. II. p. 149.
Collection of Prose Romances, by
Thoms, London, 1838, 12mo., Vol.
III., Preface.) It was, I suppose,
inserted in the Ultramar, when the
Ultramar was prepared for publica-
tion, because it was supposed to
illustrate and dicrnify the history of
Godfrey of Bouillon, its hero; but
this is not the only part of the work
made up later than its date. The
last chapter, for instance, giving an
account of the death of Conradin of
the Hohenstauffen, and the assassina-
tion in the church of Viterbo, at the
moment of the elevation of the host,
of Henry, the grandson of Henry
III. of England, by Guy of Monfort,
— both noticed by Dante, — has no-
thing to do with the main work, and
seems taken from some later chronicle.
Chap. III.
FUERO JUZGO.
43
of it the few meagre documents, generally grants in hard
legal forms, that begin with the one concerning Aviles in
1155, already noticed, and come down, half bad Latin and
half unformed Spanish, to the time of Alfonso." The
first monument, therefore, that can be properly cited for
this purpose, though it dates from the reign of Saint Fer-
dinand, the father of Alfonso, is one in preparing which,
it has always been supposed, Alfonso himself was per-
sonally concerned. It is the " Fuero Juzgo,*' or " Forum
Judicum,'*a collection of Visigoth laws, which, in 1241,
after his conquest of Cdrdova, Saint Ferdinand sent to that
city in Latin, with directions that it should be translated
into the vulgar dialect, and observed there as the law of
the territory he had then newly rescued from the Moors. ***
The precise time when this translation was made has
^ There is a curious collection of
(locuments published by royal author-
ity, (Madrid, 1829-33, 6 torn. 8vo.,)
called ** Coleccionde C^ulas, Cartas,
Patentes/' etc., relating to Biscay
and the Northern provinces, where
the Castilian first appeared. They
contain nothing in that language so
old as the letter of confirmation to the
Fueros of Avil^ by Alfonso the
Seventh already noted ; but they con-
tain materials of some value for tracing
the decay of the Latin, by documents
dated from the year 804 downwards.
(Tom. VI. p. 1.) There is, however,
a difficulty relating both to the docu-
ments in Latin and to those in the
early modem dialect ; e. g. in relation
to the one in Tom. V. p. 120, dated
1197. It is, that we arc not certain
that we possess them in precisely
their- original form and integrity.
Inlced, in not a few instances we are
sure of the opposite. For these
Fueros, Privilegios, or whatever they
arc called, being but arbitrary grants
of an absolute monarch, the persons
to whom they were made were care-
ful to procure confirmations of them
from succeeding sovereigns, as often
as they could ; and when these con-
firmations were made, the original
document, if in Latin, was sometimes
translated, as was that of Peter the
Cruel, given by Marina (Teorfa de las
Cortes, Madrid, 1813, 4to., Tom. III.
p. 11) ; or, if in the modem dialect,
It was sometimes copied and accom-
modated to the changed language and
spelling of the age. Such confirma-
tions were in some cases numerous, as
in the grant first cited, which was
confirmed thirteen times between
1231 and 1621. Now it does not
appear from the published documents
in this Coleccion what is, in each
instance, the tme date of the parti-
cular version used. The Avil& do-
cument, however, is not liable to this
objection. It is extant on the original
parchment, upon which the confimia-
tion was made in 1155, with the
original signatures of the persons who
made it, as testified by the most com-
petent witnesses. See /xw/. Vol. III.,
Appendix (A), near the end.
" Fuero Juz^o is a barbarous
phrase, which signifies the same as
Forum Judicum, and is perhaps a
cormption of it. (Covarmbias, Tc-
soro, Madrid, 1674, fol., ad verb.)
The first printed edition of the Fuero
Juzgo is of 1600 ; the best is that by
the Academy, in Latin and Spanish,
Madrid, 1815, folio.
44 HISTORY OP SPANISH UTERATURE Pebiod I
not been decided. Marina, whose opinion should have
weight, thinks it was not till the reign of Alfonso ; but,
from the early authority we know it possessed, it is per-
haps more probable that it is to be dated from the latter
years of Saint Ferdinand. In either case, however, con-
sidering the peculiar character and'position of Alfonso, there
can be little doubt that he was consulted and concerned
in its preparation. It is a regular code, divided into
twelve books, which are subdivided into titles and laws, and
is of an extent so considerable, and of a character so free and
discursive, that we can fairly judge from it the condition
of the prose language of the time, and ascertain that it was
already as far advanced as the contemporaneous poetry.**
But the wise forecast of Saint Ferdinand soon extended
beyond the purpose with which he originally commanded
the translation of the old Visigoth laws, and he undertook
to prepare a code for the whole of Christian Spain that
was under his sceptre, which, in its diflTerent cities and
provinces, was distracted by different and often con-
tradictory fueros or privileges and laws given to each as it
was won from the common enemy. But he did not live
to execute his beneficent project, and the fragment that
still remains to us of what he undertook, commonly known
by the name of the " Setenario," plainly implies that it is,
in part at least, the work of his son Alfonso. ^
• See the Discurso prefixed to the ** Quando el rey moire, nengun non
Acadeniy*s edition, by Don Manuel deve tomar el remio, nen &cerse rey,
de Lardizabal y Uribe ; and Marina's nen ningim religioso, nen otro omne,
Ensa^o, p. 29, in Mem. de la Acad, nen servo, nen otro omne estrano, se
de Uist., Tom. IV., 1805. Perhaps non omne dc linage de los ffodos, et
the most curious passage in the Fuero fillo dalgo, et noble et digno de
Juzgo is the law (Lib. XII. Tit costumpnes, et con el otorgamiento
iii. Ley 15) containing the tremen- de los ouispos, et dc los godos may ores,
dous oath of abjuration prescribed to et dc todo el poblo. Asi que mientre
those Jews who were about to enter que Ibrmos todos de un corazon, et de
the Christian Church. But I prefer una veluntat, et de una fd, que sea
to give as a specimen of its language cntre nos paz et justicia enno regno,
one of a more liberal spirit, viz., the et que pouamos ganar la compannade
eighth Law of the Primero Titolo, or los angeles en el otro sieglo ; et aquel
Introduction, ** concerning those who que quebrantar esta nuestra lee sea
ma^ become kings,'* which in the escomungado por scmpre.'*
Latin original dates from A. D. 643 : ^ For the Setenano, see Ctotro,
Chap. III. LAS 8IETE PARTIDAS. 45
Still, though Alfonso had been employed in preparing
this code, he did not see fit to finish it. He, however, felt
charged with the general undertaking, and seemed deter-
mined that his kingdom should not continue to suffer from
the uncertainty or the conflict of its different systems of
legislation. But he proceeded with great caution. His
first body of laws, called the " Espejo,** or ** Mirror of all
Rights," filling five books, was prepared before 1255 ; but
though it contains within itself directions for its own dis-
tribution and enforcement, it does not seem ever to have
gone into practical use. His "Fuero Eeal," a shorter
code, divided into four books, was completed in 1255 for
Valladolid, and perhaps was subsequently given to other
cities of his kingdom. Both were followed by different
laws, as occasion called for them, down nearly to the end
of his reign. But all of them, taken together, were far from
constituting a code such as had been projected by Saint
Ferdinand. '*
This last great work was undertaken by Alfonso in
1256, and finished either in 1263 or 1265. It was
originally called by Alfonso himself " El Setenario," from
the title of the code undertaken by his father ; but it is
now always called "Las Siete Partidas,** or the Seven
Parts, from the seven divisions of the work itself. That
Alfonso was assisted by others in the great task of com-
piling it out of the Decretals, and the Digest and
Code of Justinian, as well as out of the Fuero Juzgo
and other sources of legislation, both Spanish and
foreign, is not to be doubted; but the general air and
finish of the whole, its style and literary execution,
Biblioteca, Tom. II. pp. 680-684 ; ism, etc., which were afterwards sub-
and Marina, Historiade la Legislacion, stantiallv incorporated into the first
Madrid, 1808, fol., §§ 290, 291. As of the Partidas of Alfonso himself,
far as it goes, which is not through the ■* Opiisculos Legales del Rey Al-
firstofthe seven divisions proposed, it fonso el Sabio, publicados, etc., por
consists, 1. of an introduction by Al- la Real Academia de la Historia,
fonso; and2. of a series of discussions Madrid, 1836,2 tom. fol. Marina,
on the Catholic religion, on Heathen- Legislacion, § 301.
46 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
must be more or less his own, so much are they in har-
mony with whatever else we know of his works and cha-
racter."
The Partidas, however, though by fer the most im-
portant legislative monument of its age, did not become at
once the law of the land.'^ On the contrary, the great
cities, with their separate privileges, long resisted any
thing like a uniform system of legislation for the whole
country ; and it was not till 1348, two years before the
death of Alfonso the Eleventh, and above sixty after that
of their author, that the Partidas were finally proclaimed
as of binding authority in all the territories held by
the kings of Castile and Leon. But from that period
the great code of Alfonso has been uniformly respected. "
It is, in fact, a sort of Spanish common law, which,
with the decisions under it, has been the basis of Spanish
jurisprudence ever since; and becoming in this way,
a part of the constitution of the state in all Spanish
colonies, it has, from the time when Louisiana and Florida
were added to the United States, become in some cases
the law in our own country; — so wide may be the in-
fluence of a wise legislation. '*
®* " El Sctcnario " was the name entitled " The Laws of the Sietc Par-
pivcn to the work begun in the reign tidas, which are still in Force in the
of St. Ferdinand, ** because," says State of Louisiana," translated by L.
Alfonso, in the preface to it, ** all it Moreau Lislet and II. Carlcton, New
contains is arranged by sevens." In Orleans, 1820, 2 vols. 8vo. ; and a
the same way his own code is divided discussion on the same subject in
into seven parts ; but it does not Wheaton's " Rejwrts of Cases in the
seem to have been cited by the name Supreme Court of the United States,"
of ** The Seven Parts " till above a Vol. V. 1820, Appendix ; together
century after it was comixwcd. Ma- with various cases in the other volumes
rina, Legislacion, §§ 292-303. Pre- of the Reports of the Supremo Court
face to the edition of the Partidas by of the United States, e. g. Wheaton,
the Academy, Madrid, 1807, 4to., Vol. III. 1818, p. 202, note (a.) " We
Tom. I. pp. xv.-xviii. may observe," says Dunham, (Hist.
*^ Much trouble arose from the at- of Sjmin and Portugal, Vol. IV.
tempt of Alfonso X. to introduce his p. 121,) *' that, if all the other codes
code. Marina, Legislacion, §§ 417- were banished, Snain would still have
419. a respectable body ot jurisprudence ;
** Marina, Legis., § 449. Fuero for we have the experience of an emi-
Juzgo, ed. Acad., Pref., p. xliii. nent advocate in tne Royal Tribunal
^ See a curious and learned book of Appeals, for asserting that during
Chap. HI. LAS 8IETE PARTIDAS. 47
The Partidas, however, read very little like a collection
of statutes, or even like a code such as that of Justinian or
Napoleon. They seem rather to be a series of treatises on
legislation, morals, and religion, divided with great form-
ality, according to their subjects, into Parts, Titles, and
Laws ; the last of which, instead of being merely impera-
tive ordinances, enter into arguments and investigations of
various sorts, often discussing the moral principles they lay
down, and often containing intimations of the manners and
opinions of the age, that make them a curious mine of
Spanish antiquities. They are, in short, a kind of digested
result of the opinions and reading of a learned monarch,
and his coadjutors, in the thirteenth century, on the rela-
tive duties of a king and his subjects, and on the entire
legislation and police, ecclesiastical, civil, and moral, to
which, in their judgment, Spain should be subjected ; the
whole interspersed with discussions, sometimes more quaint
than grave, concerning the customs and principles on which
the work itself, or some particular part of it, is founded,
As a specimen of the style of the Partidas, an extract
may be made from a law entitled "What meaneth a
Tyrant, and how he useth his power in a kingdom when
he hath obtained it.**
" A tyrant," says this law, " doth signify a cruel lord,
who, by force, or by craft, or by treachery, hath obtained
power over any realm or country ; and such men be of
such nature, that, when once they have grown strong in
the land, they love rather to work their own profit, though
it be in harm of the land, than the common profit of all,
for they always live in an ill fear of losing it. And that
they maybe able to fulfil this their purpose unencumbered,
the wise of old have said that they use their power against
the people in three manners. The first is, that they strive
that those under their mastery be ever ignorant and timor-
an extensive practice of twenty-nine could not be virtuallpr or expressly de-
years, scarcely a case occurred which cided by the code m question."
48 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
ous, because, when they be such, they may not be bold to
rise against them nor to resist their wills ; and the second
is, that they be not kindly and united among themselves,
in such wise that they trust not one another, for, while
they live in disagreement, they shall not dare to make
any discourse against their lord, for fear faith and secrecy
should not be kept among themselves ; and the third way
is, that they strive to make them poor, and to put them
upon great undertakings, which they can never finish,
whereby they may have so much harm, that it may never
come into their hearts to devise any thing against their
ruler. And above all this, have tyrants ever striven to
make spoil of the strong and to destroy the wise ; and have
forbidden fellowship and assemblies of men in their land,
and striven always to know what men said or did ; and do
trust their counsel and the guard of their person rather to
foreigners, who will serve at their will, than to them of
the land, who serve from oppression. And, moreover, we
say, that, though any man may have gained mastery of a
kingdom by any of the lawfiil means whereof we have
spoken in the laws going before this, yet, if he use his
power ill, in the ways whereof we speak in this law, him
may the people still call tyrant ; for he turneth his mastery
which was rightful into wrongful, as Aristotle hath said in
the book which treateth of the rule and government of
kingdoms." *•
In other laws, reasons are given why kings and their
sons should be taught to read ; ^ and in a law about the
governesses of kings' daughters, it is declared : —
" They are to endeavour, as much as may be, that the
king's daughters be moderate and seemly in eating and in
drinking, and also in their carriage and dress, and of good
manners in all things, and especially that they be not given
to anger ; for, besides the wickedness that licth in it, it is
- Partida II. Tit. I. Ley 10, ed. "^ Partida II. Tit. VII. Ley 10, and
Acad., Tom. II. p. 11. Tit. V. Ley 16.
Chap. III. LAS 8IETE PARTIDAS. 49
the thing in the world that most easily leadeth women to
do ill. And they ought to teach them to be handy in per-
forming those works that belong to noble ladies ; for this
is a matter that becometh them much, since they obtain
by it cheerfuhiess and a quiet spirit ; and besides, it taketh
away bad thoughts, which it is not convenient they should
have.""
Many of the laws concerning knights, like one on their
loyalty, and one on the meaning of the ceremonies used
when they are armed,'* and all the laws on the establish-
ment and conduct of great public schools, which he was
endeavouring at the same time to encourage, by the
privileges he granted to Salamanca, ^^ are written with even
more skill and selectness of idiom. Indeed, the Partidas,
in whatever relates to manner and style, are not only
superior to any thing that had preceded them, but to any
thing that for a long time followed. The poems of Berceo,
hardly twenty years older, seem to belong to another age, and
to a much ruder state of society ; and, on the other hand,
Marina, whose opinion on such a subject few are entitled
to call in question, says that, during the two or even three
centuries subsequent, nothing was produced in Spanish
prose equal to the Partidas for purity and elevation of
style.*'
But however this may be, there is no doubt that,
mingled with something of the rudeness and more of the
ungraceful repetitions common in the period to which they
belong, there is a richness, an appropriateness, and some-
times even an elegance, in their turns of expression, truly
■• Partida II. Tit VII. Ley 11. many of the Universities of the Conti-
■• Partida II. Tit. XXI. Leyes nent. There was, however, at that
9, 13. period, no such establishment in
^ The laws about the Estudios Spain, except one which had existed
Generales, the name then given to in a very rude state at Salamanca for
what we now call Universities, — some time, and to which Alfonso X.
filling the thirty-first Titulo of the gave the first proper endowment in
second Partida, are remarkable for 1254.
their wisdom, and recognise some of ** Marina, in Mem. de la Acad.
the arrangements that still obtain in de Hist., Tom. IV. Ensayo, p. 52.
VOL. I. E
50
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE.
Pebiod L
remarkable. They show that the great eflTort of their
author to make the Castilian the living and real language
of his country, by making it that of the laws and the tri-
bunals of justice, had been successful, or was destined
speedily to become so. Their grave and measured move-
ment, and the solemnity of their tone, which have remained
among the characteristics of Spanish prose ever since,
show this success beyond all reasonable question. They
show, too, the character of Alfonso himself giving token
of a far-reaching wisdom and philosophy, and proving how
much a single great mind happily placed can do towards
imparting their final direction to the language and litera-
ture of a country, even so early as the first century of their
separate existence. "
^ As no more than a fidr specimen
of the genuine Castilian of the Parti-
das, I would cite Part II., Tit V.,
Ley 18, entitled ** Como el Key debe
ser granado et franco :" — ** Grandeza
es virtud que esttf bien ^ todo home po-
deroso et senaladamentc al rcy quando
usa della en tiempo que conviene et
como debe ; et por ende dixo AristcS-
teles ^ Alezanaro que ^I puiiase de
haber en si franqueza, ca por ella
ganarie mas aina el amor et los corazo-
nes de la gente : et porque 6\ mejor
podiese obrar desta bondat, espaladinol
qu6 cosa es, et dixo que franaueza es
aar al que lo ha menester et ai que lo
meresce, segunt el poder del dador,
dando de lo suyo et non tomando de lo
ageno para darlo ^ otro, ca el que da
mas de lo que puede non es franco,
mas desgastador, et demas haberd por
fuerza d tomar de lo ageno ouando lo
suyo non compliere, et si ae la una
parte eanare amigos por lo que les
diere, de la otra parte serle ban enemi-
gos aquellos d ouien lo tomare; et
otrosi dixo que el que da al que non lo
ha menester non le es gradecido, et es
tal come el que irierte agua en la mar,
et el que da al que lo non meresce es
como el que guisa su enemigo que
venga contra 41.**
Chap. IV. JUAN LORENZO SEGURA. 51
CHAPTER IV.
Joan Lo&cirzo Sbouba. — Coffustok or Aiicuirr avd Modkbh Makhehs. —
El Alkxandbo, its Stobt akd Mkritb. — Los Voros del Pavov. — Sancho
KL Beato. — Dov JuAir Mahuel, hm Live aitp Wobxs, published aed
UNFUBLISHED. — ^HlS CoKDE LuCAEOB.
The proof that the " Fartidas " were in advance of their
age, both as to style and language, is plain, not only from
the examination we have made of what preceded them,
but from a comparison of them, which we must now make,
with the poetry of Juan Lorenzo Segura, who lived at the
time they were compiled, and probably somewhat later.
Like Berceo, he was a secular priest, and he belonged to
Astorga ; but this is all we know of him, except that he
lived in the latter part of the thirteenth century, and has
left a poem of above ten thousand lines on the life of
Alexander the Great, drawn from such sources as were
flien accessible to a Spanish ecclesiastic, and written in the
four-line stanza used by Berceo. ^
What is most obvious in this long poem is its confound-
ing the manners of a well-known age of Grecian antiquity
with those of the Catholic religion, and of knighthood, as
they existed in the days of its author. Similar confiision
is found in some portion of the early literature of every
country in modem Europe. In all, there was a period
when the striking facts of ancient history, and the pictur-
» The Alexandro fills the third vo- ed. Ba^er, Matriti, 1787-8, fol.
lume of the Poesfas Anteriores of San- Tom. 11. p. 79, and Mondejar, Memo-
chez, and was for a long time Strongly rias, pp. 458, 459,) though tlie last
attributed to Alfonso the Wise, (Nic. lines of the poem itself declare its au-
Antonio, Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus, thor to be Johan Lorenzo Segura.
e2
52 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE. Period I.
esque fictions of ancient fable, floating about among the
traditions of the Middle Ages, were seized upon as
materials for poetry and romance ; and when, to fill up
and finish the picture presented by their imaginations to
those who thus misapplied an imperfect knowledge of
antiquity, the manners and feelings of their own times
were incongruously thrown in, either from an ignorant
persuasion that none other had ever existed, or from a
wilful carelessness concerning everything but poetical
efiect. This was the case in Italy, from the first dawn-
ing of letters till after the time of Dante, the sublime and
tender poetry of whose " Divina Commedia " is full of
such absurdities and anachronisms. It was the case too
in France ; examples singularly in point being found in
the Latin poem of Walter de Chatillon, and the French
one by Alexandre de Paris, on this same subject of Alex-
ander the Great ; both of which were written nearly a cen-
tury before Juan Lorenzo lived, and both of which were
used by him. " And it was the case in England, till after
the time of Shakspeare, whose "Midsummer Night's
Dream *' does all that genius can do to justify it. We
must not, therefore, be surprised to find it in Spain,
where, derived from such monstrous repositories of fiction
as the works of Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis,
Guido de Colonna and Walter de Chatillon, some of the
histories and fancies of ancient times already filled the
thoughts of those men who were unconsciously beginning
the fabric of their country's literature on foundations
essentially different.
Among the most attractive subjects that offered them-
selves to such persons was that of Alexander the Great
The East — Persia, Arabia, and India — had long been full
• Walter de Chatillon's Latin poem The French poem begun by Lambert
on Alexander the Great was so popu- li Cors, and finished by Alexandre de
lar, that it was taught in the rhetoncal Paris, was less valued, but much read,
schools, to the exclusion of Lucan and Ginguen^, in the Hist. Lit. de la
Virgil. (Warton's English Poetry, France, Paris, 4to., Tom. XV. 1820,
London, 1834, 8vo., Vol. I. p. clxvii.) pp. 100 127.
Chap. IV. JUAN LORENZO SEGURA. 53
of Stories of his adventures;' and now, in the West, as a
hero more nearly approaching the spirit of knighthood
than any other of antiquity, he was adopted into the
poetical fictions of almost every nation that could boast the
beginning of a literature, so that the Monk in the " Can-
terbury Tales " said truly —
*' The stone of Alexandre is so commune^
That every wight, that hath discretion,
Hath herd somewhat or all of his fortune."
Juan Lorenzo took this story substantially as he had
read it in the " Alexandreis ** of Walter de Chatillon,
whom he repeatedly cites ; * but he has added whatever
he found elsewhere, or in his own imagination, that seemed
suited to his purpose, which was by no means that of be-
coming a mere translator. After a short introduction,
he comes at once to his subject thus, in the fifth stanza : —
I desire to teach the story of a noble pagan king,
With whose valour and bold heart the world once did ring :
For the world he overcame, like a very little thing ;
And a clerkly name 1 shall gain, if his story I can singv
This prince was Alexander, and Greece it was his right ;
Frank and bold he was in arms, and in knowledge took delight ;
Darius' power he overthrew, and Poms, kings of might.
And for suffering and for patience the world held no such wight
Now the infiuit Alexander showed plainly from the first,
That he through every hindrance with prowess great would burst ;
For by a servile breast he never would be nursed,
And less than gentle lineage to serve him never durst.
And mighty signs when he was bom foretold his coming worth :
The air was troubled, and the sun his brightness put not forth,
The sea was angry all, and shook the solid earth.
The world was wellnigh perishing for terror at his birth.*
* Transactions of the Royal Society » Qatero leer un Ufaro de on ray nuble pagano,
r»f T U<»ratiirp Vol T Part Ii wn 5-23 One ^* <*« S^*^^ eeforeio, de eonion loiano,
ot Ldterature, v oi. i. ran ii. pp. o -w, ^ j^j^ ^^ ^^^io, metioi .o m m»no,
a cunous paper by Sir W . Uuseley. xeroe. w lo compnew, que ne bon eeeribano.
* Coplas 225, 1452, and 1639, ^^„. ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^^
where Icgura gives three Ladn lines S^'f^^STcVSTTdellSir.^^^^
from Walter. Vtiiei6
54 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period 1.
Then comes the history of Alexander, mingled with the
fables and extravagancies of the times ; given generally
with the duluess of a chronicle, but sometimes showing a
poetical spirit Before setting out on his grand expedition
to the East, he is knighted, and receives an enchanted
sword made by Don Vulcan, a girdle made by Dofia Phi-
losophy, and a shirt made by two sea faivies^-^iuis fadas
enna mar. • The conquest of Asia follows soon after-
wards, in the course of which the Bishop of Jerusalem
orders mass to be said to stay the conqueror, as he ap-
proaches the Jewish capital. '
In general, the known outline of Alexander's adven-
tures is followed, but there are a good many whimsical di-
gressions ; and when the Macedonian forces pass the site
of Troy, the poet cannot resist the temptation of making
an abstract of the fortunes and fate of that city, which he
represents as told by Don Alexander himself to his fol-
lowers, and especially to the Twelve Peers, who accom-
panied him in his expedition.^ Homer is vouched as
authority for the extraordinary narrative that is given ; *
but how little the poet of Astorga cared for the Iliad and
Odyssey may be inferred from the fact, that, instead of
sending Achilles, or Don Achilles, as he is called, to the
court of Lycomedes of Scyros, to be concealed in woman's
clothes, he is sent by the enchantments of his mother, in
female attire, to a convent of nuns, and the crafty Don
Ulysses goes there as a pedlar, with a pack of female or-
naments and martial weapons on his back, to detect the
fraud. ^® But, with all its defects and incongruities, the
" Alexandre " is a curious and important landmark in early
Venc{6 Poro ^ DiLrio, do« Reyes de grant po- Todol mar fue irado, la tiena tremecid,
tencia, Por poco qael miindo todo non pereci6.
Nunca conoacio ome au par en la aafrencia. Sanchex, Tom. III. p. I.
K.l infante Alexandre luego en au ninnei " Coplas 78, 80, 83, 89, etC.
(%>mensu & demoittnir que aerie de ^rant prei : 7 f^ i„„ mwc m\c\a ^t^
Nunca quIaomaraarlecRe de mugicr rafei, ^ Coplas 1086-1094, etc.
Se non ftie de linage 6 de grant gentiles. 8 (Jgplas 299-7 16.
(irandet signoa rontiron quando eit infant ^ Cop^a^» 300 and 714.
El ayre foe cambiado, el wl ewwecio, '" Coplas 386, 892, Ctc.
CuAP. IV. JUAN LORENZO SEGURA. 55
Spanish literature ; and if it is written with less purity
and dignity than the " Partidas " of Alfonso, it has still a
truly Castilian air, in both its language and its versifica-
tion.^'
A poem called " Los Votos del Pavon," The Vows of
the Peacock, which was a continuation of the " Alexandro,'*
is lost If we may judge from an old French poem on
the vows made over a peacock that had^been a favourite
bird of Alexander, and was served accidentally at table
after that hero's death, we have no reason to complain of
our loss as a misfortune." Nor have we probably great
occasion to regret that we possess only extracts from a prose
book of advice, prepared for his heir and successor by
Sancho, the son of Alfonso the Tenth ; for though, from
the chapter warning the young prince against fools, we see
that it wanted neither sense nor spirit, still it is not to be
compared to the " Partidas" for precision, grace, or dig-
nity of style/^ We come, therefore, at once to a remark-
" Southey, in the notes to his chet says, (Recueil de TOrigine de la
•* Madoc " rart I. Canto xi., speaks Langue et Po^sie Fran^aisc, Paris,
justly of the ''sweet flow of language 1581, fol., p. 88,) ** l#e Roman du
and metre in Lorenzo." At the end of Pa von est une continuation des faits
the Alexandro are two prose letters d* Alexandre." There is an account of
supposed to have been written by a French poem on this subject, in the
Alexander to his mother ; but I prefer " Notices et Ex traits des Manuscrits
to cite, as a specimen of Lorenzo's de la Bibliotheque Nationalc," etc.,
style, the following stanzas on the (Paris, an VII., 4to.,) Tom. V. p. 118.
music which the Macedonians heard in Vows were frequently made in ancient
Babylon: — times over favourite birds (Barante,
AlU«T.Uiniuiea cantoda per nuon. P»^ ^^ BourgOgne, ad an 1454,
Lm dobles Que rvfleren coitn del ooraton. Pans, 1837, 8vo., Tom. VII. pp.
Lm dolees de Im twylM, el plorant •emiton, 159-164): and the VOWS in the SlMi-
^^nS^doZ^'^ ^^"^ ' *'"•"'*" ~ nwh poem seem to have involved a
prophetic account of the achieve-
S-"d':d'?;LSS:f%r:r.itS^' ^^^^ a»J t««'Wc» of Alexander-.
MientreomeviTietM enaquelUsabor SUCCCSSOrs.
Non .Trie Kde nen (kme «« doj^r. ^^^ is rpj^^ extracts arC in CwtTO, (Tom.
' * II. pp. 725-729,) and the book, which
Za« d!oMes in modem Spanish means contained forty-nine chapters, was
the tolling for the dead ; — here, I sup- called ** Castigos y Documentos para
pose, it means some sort of sad chant- bien vivir, ordenados por el Rev Don
mg. Sancho el Quarto, intitulado el
" Los Votos del Pavon is first men- Brabo ;" Castigos being used to mean
tioned by the Marquis of Santillana advice, as in the old French poem,
(Sanchez, Tom. I., p. Ivii.) ; and Fau- ** Le Castoiement d*un P^rc k son
56 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
able writer, who flourished a little later, — the Prince Don
Juan Manuel.
Lorenzo was an ecclesiastic, — bon clSriffo S ondradoj —
and his home was at Astoi^a, in the north-western portion
of Spain, on the borders of Leon and Galicia. Berceo be-
longed to the same territory, and, though there may be half
a century between them, they are of a similar spirit We
are glad, therefore, that the next author we meet, Don
John Manuel, takes us from the mountains of the North
to the chivalry of the South, and to the state of society,
the conflicts, manners, and interests, that gave us the "Poem
of the Cid" and the code of the "Partidas."
Don John was of the blood royal of Castile and Leon ;
grandson of Saint Ferdinand, nephew of Alfonso the Wise,
and one of the most turbulent and dangerous of the Spanish
barons of his time. He was born in Escalona, on the 5th
of May, 1282, and was the son of Don Pedro Manuel, an
Infante of Spain, ^* brother of Alfonso the Wise, with whom
he always had his oflScers and household in common.
Before Don John was two years old, his father died, and
he was educated by his cousin, Sancho the Fourth, living
with him on a footing like that on which his father had
lived with Alfonso." When twelve years old he was al-
ready in the field against the Moors, and in 1310, at the
age of twenty-eight, he had reached the most considerable
Fils ;" and Documentos being taken in with King SanchOi when that monarch
its priniitivc sense o^ instructions. The was on hw death-bed, he says, ** The
sj)irit of his father seems to speak in King Alfonso and my father in his
ISuncho, when he says of kings, ** que lifetime, and King Sancho and my-
han tie govcrnar regnos e rentes con self in his lifetime, always had our
ayuda de ^icntificos sabios/^ households together, and our officers
'* Argotc (le Molina, Succsion de were always the same.*' Farther on
los Manuel(\s, prefixed to the Condc ho says he was brought up by Don
Lucanor, 1575. The date of his birth Sancho, who gave him the means of
has boon heretofore considered un- building the castle of Penafiel, and
settled, but I have found it given ex- calls God to witness that he was al-
actly by himself in an unpublished ways true and loyal to Sancho, to
letter to his brother, the Archbishop Fernando, and to Alfonso XI., add-
of Toledo, which occurs in a manu- ing cautiously, **as far as this last
script in the Nationid Librar}' at Ma- king gave me opportunities to servo
dritl, to bo noticed horoafter. him." Manuscnpt in the National
" In his report of his conversation Library at Madrid.
Chap. IV. DON JUAN MANUEL. 57
offices in the state : but Ferdinand the Fourth dying two
years afterwards, and leaving Alfonso the Eleventh, his
successor, only thirteen months old, great disturbances fol-
lowed till 1320, when Don John Manuel became joint re-
gent of the realm ; a place which he suffered none to share
with him but such of his near relations as were most in-
volved in his interests.**
The affairs of the kingdom during the administration of
Prince John seem to have been managed with talent and
spirit ; but at the end of the regency the young monarch
was not sufficiently contented with the state of things to
continue his grand-uncle in any considerable employment
Don John, however, was not of a temper to submit quietly
to affiront or neglect." He left the court at Valladolid,
and prepared himself, with all his great resources, for the
armed opposition which the politics of the time regarded
as a justifiable mode of obtaining redress. The king was
alarmed, "for he saw,** says the old chronicler, " that they
were the most powerful men in his kingdom, and that they
could do grievous battle with him, and great mischief to
the land." He entered, therefore, into an arrangement
with Prince John, who did not hesitate to abandon his
friends, and go back to his allegiance, on the condition that
the king should marry his daughter Constantia, then a mere
child, and create him governor of the provinces bordering
on the Moors, and commander-in-chief of the Moorish
war ; thus placing him, in fact, again at the head of the
kingdom.*^
From this time we find him actively engaged on the
frontiers in a succession of military operations, till 1327,
when he gained over the Moors the important victory of
Guadalhorra. But the same year was marked by the
bloody treachery of the king against Prince John's uncle,
who was murdered in the palace under circumstances of
»• Croniea de Alfonso XI., ed. »' Cronicade Alfonso XI., c. 46 and 48.
1651, foL, c. 1»-21. " Ibid., c. 49.
58 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATURE. Pekiod I.
peculiar atrocity.** The Prince immediately retired in
disgust to his estates, and began again to muster his friends
and forces for a contest, into which he rushed the more
eagerly, as the king had now refused to consummate his
union with Gonstantia, and had married a Portuguese
princess. The war which followed was carried on with
various success till 1335, when Prince John was finally
subdued^ and, entering anew into the king's service, with
fresh reputation, as it seemed, from a spirited rebellion,
and marrying his daughter Constantia, now grown up, to
the heir-apparent of Portugal, went on, as commander-in-
chief, with an uninterrupted succession of victories over the
Moors, until almost the moment of his death, which hap-
pened in 1347.^'
In a life like this, full of intrigues and violence, — from
a prince like this, who married the sisters of two kings,
who had two other kings for his sons-in-law, and who dis-
turbed his country by his rebellions and military enters
prises for above thirty years, — we should hardly look for
a successful attempt in letters. ** Yet so it is. Spanish
poetry, we know, first appeared in the midst of turbulence
and danger ; and now we find Spanish prose fiction spring-
ing forth from the same soil, and under similar circum-
stances. Down to this time we have seen no prose of
much value in the prevailing Castilian dialect, except in
the works of Alfonso the Tenth, and in one or two chro-
nicles that will hereafter be noticed. But in most of these
the fervour which seems to be an essential element of the
early Spanish genius was kept in check, either by the
nature of their subjects, or by circumstances of which we
can now have no knowledge ; and it is not until a fresh
*'' Mariana, Hist., Lib. XV., c. 19. his History, says of Don John Ma-
•* Ibid., Lib. XVI., c. 4. Crdnica nuel, that he was " de condicion
dc Alfonso XL, c. 178. Argotc de inquicta y mudable, tanto que a
Molina, Sucesion dc los Manucles. muchos ])arecia nacio solamcnte para
" Mariana, in one of those happy revolver el reyno." Uist., Lib. XV.,
hitH of character which are not rare in c. 12.
Chap. IV. DON JUAN MANUEL. 59
attempt is made, in the midst of the wars and tumults
that for centuries seem to have been as the principle of
life to the whole Peninsula, that we discover in Spanish
prose a decided development of such forms as afterwards
became national and characteristic.
Don John, to whom belongs the distinction of pro-
ducing one of these forms, showed himself worthy of a
family in which, for above a century, letters had been
honoured and cultivated. He is known to have written
twelve works; and so anxious was he about their fate,
that he caused them to be carefully transcribed in a large
volume, and bequeathed them to a monastery he had
founded on his estates at Pefiafiel, as a burial-place for
himself and his descendants. ** How many of these works
are now in existence is not known. Some are certainly
among the treasures of the National Library at Madrid,
in a manuscript which seems to be an imperfect and in-
jured copy of the one originally deposit^ at Penafiel.
Two others may, perhaps, yet be recovered ; for one of
them, the " Chronicle of Spain,"* abridged by Don John
from that of his uncle, Alfonso the Wise, was in the pos-
session of the Marquis of Mondejar in the middle of the
" Argote de Molina, Life of Don an account of the family arms, etc. ;
John, in the ed. of the Conde Loca- 2. Book of Conditions, or Libro de
nor, 1575. The accounts of Argote los Estados, which may be Argote de
de Molina, and of the manuscript in Molina's Libro de los Sabios ; 3.
the National Library, are not pre- Libro del Caballero y del Escudero,
cisely the same ; but the last is im- of which Argote de Molina seems to
perfect, and evidently omits one work, make two separate works ; 4. Libro
Both contain the four following, viz. : de la Caballeria, probably Argote de
— 1. Chronicle of Spain ; 2. Book of Molina's Libro dc Caballeros ; 5. La
Hunting ; 3. Book of Poetry ; and Cumplida ; 6. Libro de los Engenos,
4. Book of Counsels to his Son. Ar^ a treatise on Militanr Elngines, mis-
gote de Molina gives besides these, — spelt by Argote de ^iolina, Enganos,
I. Libro de los Sabios \ 2. Libro del so as to make it a treatise on Frauds ;
Caballero ; 3. Libro del Escudero ; and 7. Reglas como se deve trovar.
4. Libro del Infante ; 5. Libro de But, as has been said, the manuscript
Caballeros ; 6. Libro de los Enganos ; has a hiatus, and, though it says there
and 7. Libro de los Exemplos. The were twelve works, gives the titles of
manuscript gives, besides tne four that only eleven, and omits the Condo
are clearly in common, the following : Lucanor, which is the Libro de los
— 1, Letter to his brother, containing Exemplos of Argoto's list.
60 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
eighteenth century ; ^ and the other, a treatise on Hunt-
ing, was seen by Pellicer somewhat later. ** A collection
of Don John's poems, which Ai^ote de Molina intended
to publish in the time of Philip the Second, is probably
lost, since the diligent Sanchez sought for it in vain ; ** and
his " Conde Lucanor** alone has been placed beyond the
reach of accident by being printed. **
All that we possess of Don John Manuel is important
The imperfect manuscript at Madrid opens with an ac-
count of the reasons why he had caused his works to be
transcribed ; reasons which he illustrates by the following
story, very characteristic of his age.
" In the timie of King Jayme the First of Majorca,**
says he, "there was a knight of Perpignan, who was a
great Troubadour, and made brave songs wonderfully well.
But one that he made was better than the rest, and, more-
over, was set to good music And people were so de-
lighted with that song, that, for a long time, they would
sing no other. And so the knight that made it was well
^ Mem. de Alfonso el Sabio, p. 464. Pecados Mortales," dedicated to John
" Note to Don Quixote, ed. Pelli- II. of Portugal, (4-1496,) which are
ecr. Parte II. Tom. I. p. 284. in Bohl de Faber's ** Floresta,"
** Pocsfas Antcriores, Tom. IV. p. (Hamburgo, 1821-26, 8?o., Tom. I.
xi. pp. 10-15,) taken from Rresendc, f.
" I am aware there are poems in the 66, in one of the three copies of whose
Cancioneros Grcnerales, by a Don John Cancioneiro then existing (that at the
Manuel, which have been generally Convent of the Necessidades in Lis-
attributed to Don John Manuel, the bon) I read them many years ago.
Regent of Castile in the time of Al- Rrescnde*s Cancioneiro is now no
fonso XL, as, for instance, those in longer so rare, being in course of pub-
the Cancionero of Antwerp (1573, lication by the Stuttgard Verein.
8vo., ff. 176, 207, 227, 267). But The Portuguese Don John Manuel
they are not his. Their language and was a person of much consideration in
thoughts are quite too modem. Pro- his time, and in 1497 concluded a
bably they are the work of Don John treaty for the marriage of King
Manuel, who was Camareiro M6r of Emanuel of Portugal with Isabella,
King Emanuel of Portugal, ( + 1 624,) daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of
and whose poems, both in Portuguese Spain. (Barbosa, Biblioteca Lusi-
and in Spanish, fieure largely in the tana, Lisboa, 1747, fol., Tom. II. p.
Cancioneiro GeraJe of Garcia Rre- 688.^ But he appears very little to
sende, (Lisboa, 1616, fol.,) where his nonour in Lope de Vega's play
they are found at ff. 48-67, 148, 169, entitled " El Principe Perfeto," under
212, 230, and I believe in some other the name of Don Juan de Soseu Co-
S laces. He is the author of the medias, Tom. XL, Barcelona, 1618,
panish *' Coplas sobre los Siete 4to., p. 121.
Chap. IV. DON JUAN MANUEL. 61
pleased. But one day, going through the streets, he heard
a shoemaker singing this song ; and he sang it so ill, both
in words and tune, that any man who had not heard it
before would have held it to be a very poor song, and
very ill made. Now when the knight heard that shoe-
maker spoil his good work, he was full of grief and anger,
and got down from his beast, and sat down by him. But
the shoemaker gave no heed to the knight, and did not
cease from singing ; and the further he sang, the worse he
spoiled the song that knight had made. And when the
knight heard his good work so spoiled by the foolishness
of the shoemaker, he took up very gently some shears that
lay there, and cut all. the shoemaker's shoes in pieces, and
mounted his beast, and rode away.
" Now, when the shoemaker saw his shoes, and beheld
how they were cut in pieces, and that he had lost all his
labour, he was much troubled, and went shouting afler the
knight that had done it. And the knight answered : * My
friend, our lord the king, as you well know, is a good king
and a just. Let us, then, go to him, and let him de-
termine, as may seem right, the difference between us.'
And they were agreed to do so. And when they came
before the king, the shoemaker told him how all his shoes
had been cut in pieces and much harm done to him. And
the king was wroth at it, and asked the knight if this were
truth. And the knight said that it was; but that he
would like to say why he did it And the king told him to
say on. And the knight answered, that the king well knew
that he had made a song, — the one that was very good and
had good music, — and he said, that the shoemaker had
spoiled it in singing ; in proof whereof, he prayed the king
to command him now to sing it. And the king did so,
and saw how he spoiled it. Then the knight said, that,
since the shoemaker had spoiled the good work he had
made with great pains and labour, so he might spoil the
works of the shoemaker. And the king and all they that
6^ mSTOET or ^A^USH LrTSBATXTBE. Puod I.
were there widi him woe renr merry at diis» and laughed ;
and the king commanded the dioemaker never to sing
diat song again, nor trouble die good work of the knight ;
but the king paid the shoemaker §ar die harm that was
done him, and commanded die knight not to rex die shoe-
maker any m<H«. *^
^' And now, knowing diat I cannot hinder the books I
have made firom bemg cojHed many times^ and seeing that
in copies one thing is pot for another, either becaose he
who copies is igncnrant, or becaose one word looks so much
like another, and so the meaning and sense are changed
without any &ult in him who first wrote it ; therefore,
I, Don John Manuel, to avoid this wrong as much as I
may, have caused this volume to be made, in which are
written out aU the works I have composed, and diey
are twelve."
Of the twelve works here referred to, the Madrid
manuscript contains only three. One is a long letter to
his brother, the Archbishop of Toledo, and Chancellor
*^ A nmihr storj is tM of Dute, of the aune sort, all which he threw
who was a cootemponuy of Doo into the street. The Uacksmith
John Manuel, by Sadietti, who fired tomed round in a brutal manner^ and
about a centmr after both of them, cried out, ' What the dcTil are you
It is in his Norella 114, (Milano, doin^here? Are you mad?" Rather/
1815, 18mo.,Tom. II. p. 154,)where, said Dante, ' whatareyondoing?' «//
after giving an account of an impor- replied the blac^:smith, * /am working
tant affiur, about which Dante was at my trade ; and you spcnl my things
desired to solicit one of the city by Uurowinff them into the street.'
officers, the story goes on thus : — ' But,' said Dante, * if you do not want
^* When Dante had dined, he left to hare me spoil your things, don't
his house to go about that business, spoil mine.' *■ What do I spoil of
and, possinff through the Porta San yours?' said the blacksmith. 'You
Picro, heard a blacksmith singing as sing,' answered Dante, ' out of my
he beat the iron on his anvil. What book, but not as I wrote it ; I have no
he sang was from Dante, and he did other trade, and you spoil it.' The
it as ifit were a ballad, (tot cantare,) blacksmith, in his pride and vexation,
Jumbling the verses together, and did not know what to answer ; so he
mangling and altering them in a way gathered up his tools and went back
that was a great offence to Dante, to his work, and when he afterward
He said nothing, however, but went wanted to sing, he sang about Tristan
Into the blacksmith's shop, where and Launcelot, and let Dante alone."
there were many tools of his trade, One of the stories is probably taken
and, seizing first the hammer, threw from the other ; but that of Don John
It \nU} i\w street, then the pincers, is older, both in the date of its event
(bon the scales, and many other things and in the time when it was recorded.
Chap. IV. DON JUAN MANUEL. 63
of the kingdom, in which he gives, first, an account of his
family arms ; then the reason why he and his right heirs
male could make knights without having received any
order of knighthood, as he himself had done when he was
not yet two years old ; and lastly, the report of a solemn
conversation he had held with Sancho the Fourth on his
death-bed, in which the king bemoaned himself bitterly,
that, having for his rebellion justly received the curse of
his father, Alfonso the Wise, he had now no power to
give a dying man's blessing to Don John.
Another of the works in the Madrid manuscript is a
treatise in twenty-six chapters, called "Counsels to his
Son Ferdinand ;** which is, in fact, an essay on- the
Christian and moral duties of one destined by his rank
to the highest places in the state, referring sometimes to
the more ample discussions on similar subjects in Don
John^s treatise on the Different Estates or Conditions of
Men, apparently a longer work, not now known to exist.
But the third and longest is the most interesting. It is
*'The Book of the Knight and the Esquire," ''written,"
says the author, " in the manner called in Castile /afefo'^Wa,"
(a little fable,) and sent to his brother, the Archbishop,
that he might translate it into Latin ; a proof, and not the
only one, that Don John placed small value upon the
language to which he now owes all his honours. The book
itself contains an account of a young man who, encouraged
by the good condition of his country under a king that
called his Cortes together often, and gave his people good
teachings and good laws, determines to seek advancement
in the state. On his way to a meeting of the Cortes, where
he intends to be knighted, he meets a retired cavalier, who
in his hermitage explains to him all the duties and honours
of chivalry, and thus prepares him for the distinction to
which he aspires. On his return, he again visits his aged
friend, and is so delighted with his instructions, that he re-
mains with him, ministering to his infirmities and profiting
64 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
by his wisdom, till his death, after which the young kiiight
goes to his own land, and lives there in great honour the
rest of his life. The story, or little fable, is, however, a
very slight thread, serving only to hold together a long
series of instructions on the moral duties of men, and on
the different branches of human knowledge, given with
earnestness and spirit, in the fashion of the times. *®
The " Conde Lucanor," the best known of its author's
works, bears some resemblance to the fable of the Knight
and the Esquire. It is a collection of forty-nine tales,**
anecdotes, and apologues, clearly in the Oriental manner ;
the first hint for which was probably taken from the " Dis-
ciplina Clericalis" of Petrus Alphonsus, a collection of
Latin stories made in Spain about two centuries earlier.
The occasion on which the tales of Don John are supposed
to be related is, like the fictions themselves, invented with
Eastern simplicity, and reminds us constantly of the "Thou-
sand and One Nights" and their multitudinous imitations.**
The Count Lucanor — a personage of power and consider-
" Of this manuscript of Don John in 1106, taking as one of his names
in the Library at Madrid, I have, that of Alfonso VI. of Castile, who
through the kindness of Professor was his godfather. The Disciplina
Gayangos, a copy, filling 199 closely Clericalis, or Teaching for Clerks or
written folio pages. Clergymen, is a collection of thirty-
'^ It seems not unlikely that Don seven stories, and many apophth^ms,
John Manuel intended originally to supposed to have been g^?cn b^ an
stop at the end of the twelfth talc ; at Arab on his death-bed as instructions
least, he there intimates such a pur- to his son. It is written in such Latin
pose. as belonged to its age. Much of the
•" That the general form of the book is plainly of !&stem origin, and
Conde Lucanor is Oriental may be some of it is extremely coarse. It
seen by looking into the fables of was, however, greatly admired for a
Bidpiu, or almost any other collection long time, and was more than once
of Eastern stories ; the form, I mean, turned into French verse, as may be
of separate tales, united by some fie- seen in Barbazan (Fabliaux, ed. M<Son,
tion common to them all, like that of Paris, 1808, 8vo., Tom. II. pp. 39-
relatine them all to amuse or instruct 183). That the Disciplina Clericalis
some third person. The first appear- was the prototype of the Conde Luca-
ance in Europe of such a senes of norisprobable,Decause it was popular
tales grouped together was in the when the Conde Lucanor was written ;
Disciplina Clericalis ; a remarkable because the framework of both ^ is
work, composed by Petrus Alphonsus, similar, the stories of both beine
originally a Jew, by the name of Moses given as counsels; because a good
Sephardi, bom at Ilucsca in Aragon many of the proverbs are the same in
in 1062, and baptized as a Christian both ; and because some of the stories
Chap. IV.
EL CONDE LVCANOR.
65
ation, intended probably to represent those early Christian
counts in Spain, who, like Fernan Gonzalez of Castile, were,
in fact, independent princes — finds himself occasionally per-
plexed with questions of morals and public policy. These
questions,(as they occur, he proposes to Fatronio, his minister
or counsellor, and Fatronio replies to each by a tale or a
&ble, which is ended with a rhyme in the nature of a moral.
The stories are various in their character. '^ Sometimes it
is an anecdote in Spanish history to which Don John resorts,
like that of the three knights of his grandfather, Saint Fer-
dinand, at the siege of Seville. '* More frequently it is a
sketch of some striking trait in the national manners, like
the story of "^Rodrigo el Franco and his three faithful
Followers.** •* Sometimes, again, it is a fiction of chivalry,
like that of the " Hermit and Bichard the Lion-hearted." "
And sometimes it is an apologue, like that of the ^^ Old Man,
his Son, and the Ass," or that of the " Crow persuaded by
the Fox to sing,** which, with his many successors, he must
in some way or other have obtained from -ZEsop. " They
in both resemble one another, as the
thirty-seventh of the Conde Lucanor,
which is the same with the first of the
Disciplina. But in the tone of their
manners and civilization, there is a
difference quite equal to the two cen-
turies that separate the two works.
Through the French version, the
Discipuina Clericalis soon became
known in other countries, so that
we find traces of its fictions in the
'* Gesta Romanorum/'the ** Decame-
ron,** the " Canterbury Tales," and
elsewhere. But it Ion? remained, in
other respects, a sealed book, known
cmly to antiquaries , and was first printed
in the origmal Latin, from seven ma-
nuscripts m the Kind's Library, Paris,
by the Soci^t^ des Bibliophiles,? Paris,
1824, 2 torn. 12mo.') Fr. W. V.
Schmidt — to whom those interested in
the early history of romantic fiction
are much indebted for the various con-
tributions he has brought to it — pub-
lished the Disciplina anew in Berlin,
1827, 4to., from a Breslau manuscript ;
VOL. I.
and, what is singular for oneof his pecu-
liar learning in this department, he sup-
posed his own edition to be the first.
It is, on account of its curious notes,
the best ; but the text of the Paris
edition is to be preferred, and a very
old French prose version that accom-
panics it makes it as a book still more
valuable.
'* They are all called EnxiempioB;
a word which then meant story or apo-
logue, as it does in the Archpriest of
Hita, St. 301, and in the ** Cr6nica
General.*' Old Lord Bemers, in his
delightful translation of Froissart, in
the same way calls the fable of the
Bird in Borrowed Plumes '* an En-
sample."
« Cap. 2.
« Cap. 3.
«* Cap. 4.
» Capp. 24 and 26. The followers
of Don John, however, have been
more indebted to him than he was to
his predecessors. Thus, the story of
'* Don Ulan el Negromantico '* (Cap.
F
66 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. PnioD L
are all curious, but probably the most interesting is the
" Moorish Marriage,** partly because it points distinctly to
an Arabic origin, and partly because it remarkably resem-
bles the story Shakspeare has used in his ^^ Taming of the
Shrew." ^ It is, however, too long to be given here ; and
therefore a shorter specimen will be taken from the twenty-
second chapter, entitled **0f what happened to Count
Feman Gonzalez, and of the answer he gave to his vassals,"
" On one occasion, Count Lucanor came fit)m a foray,
much wearied and worn, and poorly off; and before he
could refresh or rest himself, there came a sudden message
about another matter then newly moved. And the greater
part of his people counselled him that he should refresh
himself a little, and then do whatever should be thought
most wise. And the Count asked Patronio what he should
do in that matter ; and Patronio replied, * Sire, that you
may choose what is best, it would please me that you
should know the answer which Count Fernan Gronzalez
once gave to his vassals.
"*The story. — Count Fernan Gonzalez conquered
Almanzor in Hazinas, ^"^ but many of his people fell there,
13) was found by Mr. Douce in two traditions of Persia by Sir John Mai-
French and four English authors, colm. (Sketches of Perna, London,
(Blanco White, Variedades, L6ndrcs, 1827, 8vo., Vol. II. p. 64.) In Europe
1824, Tom. I. p. 310.) The apologue I am not aware that it can be detected
which Gil Bias, when he is starving, earlier than the Conde Lucanor, Cap.
relates to the Duke of Lerma, (Li v. 46. The doctrine of unlimited sub-
VIII. c. 6,) and ** which," he savs, mission on the pert of the wife seems,
*' he had read in Pilpay or some other indeed, to have been a favourite one
fable writer," I sought in vain in with Don John Manuel ; for, in an-
Bidpai, and stumbled upon it, when other stcny, (Cap. 6,) he says, in the
not seeking it, in the Conde Lucanor, very spirit of Petruchio's jest about
Cap. 18. It may be added, that the the sun and moon, '* If a husband says
fable of the Sv^llows and the Flax the stream runs up hill, his wife
(Cap. 27) is better given there than ought to believe him, and say that it
it is in La Fontdne. is so."
"Shakspeare, it is well known, '? peman Gronzalez is the great hero
took the materials for his *^ Taming of of Castile, whose adventures will be
the Shrew," with little ceremony, noticed when we come to the poem
from a play with the same tide, printed about them; and in the battle of
in 1694. But the story, in its different Hazinas he gained the decisive
parts, seems to have been familiar in victory over the Moors which is well
the East from the earliest times, and described in the third part of the
was, I suppose, found there among the " CnSnica Gleneral."
Chap. IV. EL CONDE LUCANOR. 67
and he and the rest that remained alive were sorely
wounded. And before they were sound and well, he
heard that the king of Navarre had broken into his lands,
and so he commanded his people to make ready to fight
against them of Navarre. And all his people told him
that their horses were aweary, and that they were aweary
themselves ; and although for this cause they might not
forsake this thing, yet that, since both he and his people
were sore wounded, they ought to leave it, and that he
ought to wait till he and they should be sound again.
And when the Count saw that they all wanted to leave
that road, then his honour grieved him more than his body,
and he said, ^^ My friends, let us not shun this battle on
accoimt of the wounds that we now have ; for the fresh
wounds they will presently give us will make us forget
those we received in the other fight.** And when they of
his party saw that he was not troubled concerning his own
person, but only how to defend his lands and his honour,
they went with him, and they won that battle, and things
went right well afterwards.
" * And you, my Lord Count Lucanor, if you desire to
do what you ought, when you see that it should be achieved
for the defence of your own rights, and of your own people,
and of your own honour, then you must not be grieved by
weariness, nor by toil, nor by danger, but rather so act
that the new danger shall make you forget that which is
past'
" And the Coimt held this for a good history ^ and a
"• " Y el Condc tovo este por buen handsomest words I could." (Ed.
exemplo/' — an old Castilian formula. 1575, f. I, b.) Many of his words,
(Crdnica (general, Parte III. c. 5.^ however, needed explanation in the
Argote de Molina says of such reign of Philip the Second ; and on the
phrases, which abound in the Conde whole, the phraseology of the Conde
Lacanor, that *' they give a taste of Lucanor sounds older than that of the
the old proprieties of we Castilian ;" Partidas, which were jet written
and elsewnere, that ** they show nearly a century before it. Some of
what was the pure idiom of our its obsolete words are purely Latin,
tongue." Don John himself, with like eras for to-morrow , f. 83, and
his accustomed simplicity, says, *' I elsewhere.
hare made up the book with the
f2
68 HISTORY OP SPANISH UTERATURE. Period I.
good counsel ; and he acted accordingly, and found himself
well by it And Don John also understood this to be a
good history, and he had it written in this book, and
moreover made these verses, which say thus :r-
'' Hold this for certain and for hct,
For truth it is, and truth exact.
That never Honour and Disgrace
Together sought a resting-place."
It is not easy to imagine any thing more simple and
direct than this story, either in the matter or the style.
Others of the tales have an air of more knightly dignity,
and some have a little of the gallantry that might be
expected from a court like that of Alfonso the Eleventh.
In a very few of them, Don John gives intimations that
he had risen above the feelings and opinions of his age :
as, in one, he laughs at the monks and their pretensions;**
in another, he introduces a pilgrim under no respectable
circumstances ;*® and in a third, he ridicules his uncle Al-
fonso for believing in the follies of alchemy, ** and trusting
a man who pretended to turn the baser metals into gold.
But in almost all we see the large experience of a man of
the world, as the world then existed, and the cool observa-
tion of one who knew too much of mankind, and had suf-
fered too much from them, to have a great deal of the
romance of youth still lingering in his character. For we
know, from himself, that Prince John wrote the Conde
Lucanor when he had already reached his highest honours
and authority ; probably after he had passed through his
severest defeats. It should be remembered, therefore,
to his credit, that we find in it no traces of the arrogance
of power, or of the bitterness of mortified ambition;
nothing of the wrongs he had suffered from others, and
nothing of those he had inflicted. It seems, indeed, to
■• Cap. 20. about the Bible, as he cites it wrong in
*• Cap. 48. Cap. 4, and in Cap. 44 shows that he did
** Cap. 8. — I infer from the Conde not know it contained the comparison
Lucanor, that Don John knew little about the blind who lead the blind*
Chap. IV.
EL CONDE LUCANOB.
69
have been written in some happy interval, stolen from the
bustle of camps, the intrigues of government, and the
crimes of rebellion, when the experience of his past life, its
adventures, and its passions, were so remote as to awaken
little personal feeling, and yet so familiar that he could
give us their results, with great simplicity, in this series of
tales and anecdotes, which are marked with an originality
that belongs to their age, and with a kind of chivalrous
philosophy and wise honesty that would not be discreditable
to one more advanced. **
^ There are two Spanish editions
of the Conde Lucanor : the first and
best by Argote de Molina, 4to.,
Sevilla, 1575, with a life of Don
John prefixed, and a curious essay on
Castilutn verse at the end,— one of the
rarest books in the world ; and the
other only less rare, published at
Madrid, 1642. The references in
the notes are to the first A reprint,
made, if I mistake not, from the last,
and edited by A. Keller, appeared at
Stutteard, 1839, 12mo., and a German
translation by J. von EichendorflT, at
Berlin, in 1840, 12mo. Don John
Manuel, I obserre, cites Arabic twice
in the Conde Lucanor, (Capp. 1 1 and
14,) — a rare circumstance in earlj
Spanish literature.
70 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTEBATURE. Pxuoo I.
CHAPTER V.
Alfonso thb Elkyxnth. — Tesatiss on Huntimo. — PomcAL Chronicle.
— Beneficiaet of Ubeda. — Aecbpeiest of Hita ; his Life, Works,
AMD Chabactes. — Raboi Don Santos. — La Docteina Cheistiana. —
A Revelation. — La Dan^a Geneeal. — Poem on Joseph. — ^Atala;
his Rimabo de Palacio. — CHAEAGTEEunncs or Spanish Litebatuee
thus fab.
The reign of Alfonso the Eleventh was full of troubles,
and the unhappy monarch himself died at last of the plague,
while he was besieging Gibraltar, in 1350. Still, that
letters were not forgotten in it we know, not only from the
example of Don John Manuel, already cited, but from
several others which should not be passed over.
The first is a prose treatise on Hunting, in three books,
written under the king's direction, by his Chief-huntsmen,
who were then among the principal persons of the court
It consists of little more than an account of the sort of
hounds to be used, their diseases and training, with a
description of the different places where game was abundant,
and where sport for the royal amusement was to be had.
It is of small consequence in itself, but was published by
Argote de Molina, in the time of Philip the Second, witii
a pleasant addition by the editor, containing curious stories
of lion-hunts and buU-fights, fitting it to die taste of his
own age. In style, the original work is as good as the
somewhat similar treatise of the Marquis of Villena, on
the Art of Carving, written a hundred years later ; and,
from the nature of the subject, it is more interesting. ^
* Libre dc la Montcria, que mando de Castilla y de Leon, ultimo deste
cscrivir, etc., el Rey Don Alfonso nombrc, acrecentado por Argote de
Chap. V.
ALFONSO THE ELEVENTH.
71
The next literary monument attributed to this reign
would be important, if we had the whole of it. It is a
chronicle, in the ballad style, of events which happened in
the time of Alfonso the Eleventh, and commonly passes
under his name. It was found, hidden in a mass of Arabic
manuscripts, by Diego de Mendoza, who attributed it,
with little ceremony, to " a secretary of the king ;" and it
was first publicly made known by Argote de Molina, who
thought it written by some poet contemporary with the
history he relates. But only thirty-four stanzas of it are
now known to exist ; and these, though admitted by San-
chez to be probably anterior to the fifteenth century, are
shown by him not to be the work of the king, and seem,
in fact, to be less ancient in style and language than that
critic supposes them to be. * They are in very flowing
Molina, Sevilla, 1582, folio, 91 leaves,
— the text not correct, as Pellicer
says (note to Don Quixote, Parte II.
c. 24). The Discurso of Areotc de
Molina, that follows, and nils 21
leaves more, is illustrated with cunous
woodcuts, and ends with a description
of the palace of the Pardo, and an
ecli^e in octave stanzas, by Gomc2
de Tapia of Granada, on the birth of
the Infanta Dona Isabel, daughter of
Philip II.
* This old rhymed chronicle was
found by the historian Diego de Men-
doza among his Arabic manuscripts in
Granada, and was sent by him, with
a letter dated December 1, 1573,
to Zurita, the annalist of Aragon,
intimating that Argote de Molina
would be interested in it. He says
truly, that ** it is well worth reading,
to see with what simplicity and pro-
priety men wrote poetical histories in
the olden times ; adding, that '* it
is one of those books called in Spain
GestaSy* and that it seems to nim
curious and valuable, because he thinks
it was written by a secretary of Alfonso
XL, and because it differs in several
points from the received accounts of
that monarch's reign. (Dormer, Pro-
gresos de la Historia de Aragon,
Zaragoza, 1680, foL, p. 502.) The
thirty-four stanzas of this chronicle
that we now possess were first pub-
lished by Argote de Molina, in his
very curious ** Nobleza del Anda-
luzia," (Sevilla, 1588, f. 198,) and
were taken from him by Sanchez
(Poesias Anteriores, Tom. I. pp.
171-177). Argote de Molina says,
** I copy them on account of their
curiosity as specimens of the language
and poetry of that age, and because
they are the best and most fluent of
any thing for a long time written in
Spain." The truth is, they are so
facile, and have so few archaisms in
them, that I cannot believe they were
written earlier than the ballads of the
fifteenth century, which they so much
resemble. The following account of
a victory, which I once thought was
that of Salado, gained in 1340, and
described in the ** Crdnicade Alfonso
XI.," (1551, fol., Cap. 254,) but
which I now think must have been
some victory gained before 1330, is
the best part of what has been pub-
lished : —
Los Moros fUeron Aiyendo
Maldi&iendo an ventura ;
El Maeatie los aigulendo
For loa paertoa de Segura.
E feriendo e derribando
£ pnmdiendo a Ua manos,
ESanetiago
72
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period I.
Castilian, and their tone is as spirited as that of most of
the old ballads.
Two other poems, written during the reign of one of
the Alfonsos, as their author declares, — and therefore
almost certainly during that of Alfonso the Eleventh, who
was the last of his name, — are also now known in print
only by a few stanzas, and by the office of their writer, who
styles himself " a Beneficiary of Ubeda." The first, which
consists, in the manuscript, of five hundred and five strophes
in the manner of Berceo, is a Life of Saint Ildefonso ; the
last is on the subject of Saint Mary Magdalen. Both
would probably detain us little, even if they had been pub-
lished entire. '
We turn, therefore, without further delay, to Juan Ruiz,
commonly called the Archpriest of Hita ; a poet who is
known to have lived at the same period, and whose works,
both from their character and amount, deserve especial
notice. Their date can be ascertained with a good degree
of exactness. In one of the three early manuscripts in which
they are extant, some of the poems are fixed at the year
1330, and some, by the two others, at 1343. Their au-
thor, who seems to have been born at Alcala de Henares,
lived much at Guadalaxara and Hita, places only five
leagues apart, and was imprisoned by order of the Arch-
bishop of Toledo between 1337 and 1350; from all which
E Sanctiuo lUmando,
Ewndo de los ChricUanoa.
En aleanoe los lleyaron
A poder de escudo y Un^a,
E al caatillo ae tornaron
E entraron par la matania.
E machoa Moroa fallaron
Bspeda^oa jacer ;
El nombre de Dloa loaron,
Que lea moatr6 gran plaier.
The Moon fled on, with headlong ipeed,
Curring itill their bitter fate;
The Maater followed, breathing blood,
Through old Segura'a opened gate ;—
And atruek and alew, aa on he aped.
And grappled atill hia flying foea ;
While atill to heaven hia batUe^oot,
" St. Jamee 1 St. Jamea I" triumphant roae.
Nor ceaaed the victory *a work at laat»
That bowed them to the khield and spear,
Till to the castle's wall they tamed
And entered through the alaughter there ;—
Till there they aaw, to hnvoc hewn,
Their Moorish foemen proatrate laid ;
And gave their gratefVil praiae to God,
Who thus vouehaafed hia graciooa aid.
It is a misfortune that this poem is
lost.
' Slight extracts from the Benefi-
ciado oe Ubeda are in Sanchez, Poe-
Bfa3 Anteriores, Tom. I. pp. 116-
118. The first stanza, which is like
the beginning of seyeral of Berceo's
poems, is as follows : —
81 me ayndare Christo d la Virgen aagrada,
Quezria componer una fkocion rimada
De un confesor aue Hso vida honrada,
Que naci6 en Toledo, en eaa Qbd«t nombrada.
Chap. V. JUAN RUIZ DE HITA. 73
it may be inferred that his principal residence was Castile,
and that he flourished in the reign of Alfonso the Eleventh ;
that is, in the time of Don John Manuel, and a very little
later. *
His works consist of nearly seven thousand verses ; and
adthough, in general, they are written in the four- line
stanza of Berceo, we find occasionally a variety of measure,
tone, and spirit, before unknown in Castilian poetry ; the
number of their metrical forms, some of which are taken
from the Proven9al, being reckoned not less than sixteen. *
The poems, as they have come to us, open with a prayer
to God, composed apparently at the time of the Archpriest's
imprisonment ; when, as one of the manuscripts sets forth,
most of his works were written. " Next comes a curious
prose prologue, explaining the moral purpose of the whole
collection, or rather endeavouring to conceal the immoral
tendency of the greater part of it. And then, after some-
what more of prefatory matter, follow, in quick succession,
the poems themselves, very miscellaneous in their sub-
jects, but ingeniously connected. The entire mass, when
taken together, fills a volume of respectable size. "^
It is a series of stories, that seem to be sketches of real
events in the Archpriest's own life; sometimes mingled
with fictions and allegories, that may, after all, be only
veils for other facts; and sometimes speaking out plainly
and announcing themselves as parts of his personal history. ®
In the foreground of this busy scene figures the very equivo-
cal character of his female messenger, the chief agent in his
^ See, for his life, Sanchez, Tom. of the poems is a point that not only
I. pp. 100-106, and Tom. IV. pp. embarrasses the editor of the Arch-
ii.-vi. ; — and for an excellent cnti- priest, (see p. xvii. and the notes on
cism of his works, one in the VTiener pp. 76, 97, 102, etc.,) but somewhat
Jahrbiicherder Li teratur, 1832, Band disturbs the Archpriest himself.
LVIII. pp. 220 266. It is by Fer- (See stanzas 7, 866, etc.) The case,
dinand Wolf, and he boldly compares however, is too plain to be covered
the Archpriest to Cervantes. up ; and the editor only partly avoids
* Sanchez, Tom. IV. p. x. trouble by quietly leaving out long
• Ibid., p. 283. passages, as from st. 441 to 464, etc.
^ The immoral tendency of many • St. 61-68.
74 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbuod I.
love affairs, whom he boldly calls Trota^onventoSy because
the messages she carries are so often to or from monasteries
and nunneries. * The first lady-love to whom the poet sends
her is, he says, well taught, — mucho letradoy — and her
story is illustrated by the fables of the Sick Lion visited
by die other Animals, and of the Mountain bringing forth
a Mouse. All, however, is unavailing. The lady refuses
to favour his suit ; and he consoles himself, as well as he
can, with the saying of Solomon, that all is vanity and
vexation of spirit ^^
In the next of his adventures, a false friend deceives
him and carries off his lady. But still he is not discou-
raged. ^* He feels himself to be drawn on by his fate, like
the son of a Moorish king, whose history he then relates ;
and, after some astrological ruminations, declares himself
to be bom under the star of Venus, and inevitably subject
to her control. Another failure follows ; and then Love
comes in person to visit him, and counsels him in a series
of fables, which are told with great ease and spirit. The
poet answers gravely. He is offended with Don Amor for
his falsehood, charges him with being guilty, either by im-
plication or directly, of all the seven deadly sins, and for-
tifies each of his positions with an appropriate apologue. "
The Archpriest now goes to Doiia Venus, who, though
he knew Ovid, is represented as the wife of Don Amor ;
• There is some little obscurity Of their activity in the days of the
about this important personage (st. Archpriest a whimsical proof is given
71, 671, and elsewhere); but she in the extraordinary number of odious
was named Urraca, (st. 1550,) and and ridiculous names and epithets
belonped to the class of persons accumulated on them in st. 898-902.
the seclusion of women in Spain, and " When the affeir is over, he says
perhaps from the inHuence of Moorish quaintly, "jB/ comi6 la vianda, ha mi
society and manners, figures largely "So rumiar."
in the early literature of the country, " St. 119, 142, etc., J71, etc., 203,
and sometimes in the later. The etc. Such discoursing as this last
Partidas (Part VII. Tit. 22) devotes fxassa^e affords on the seven deadly
two laws to them ; and the '* Tragi- sins is common in the French Fa-
comedia of Cclestina," who is herself bliaux, and the £nglish reader finds
once called Trota-conventos, (end of a striking specimen of it in the ** Per-
Act II.,) is their chief monument, sone's Tale*' of Chaucer.
Chap. V. JUAN RUIZ DE HITA. 75
and, taking counsel of her, is successful. But the story he
relates is evidently a fiction, though it may be accommo-
dated to the facts of the poet's own case. It is borrowed
from a dialogue or play, written before the year 1300, by
Pamphylus Maurianus or Maurilianus, and long attributed
to Ovid ; but the Castilian poet has successfully given to
what he adopted the colouring of his own national manners.
All this portion, which fills above a thousand lines, is some*
what free in its tone ; and the Archpriest, alarmed at him-
self, turns suddenly round and adds a series of severe
moral warnings and teachings to the sex, which he as sud-
denly breaks ofi^ and, without any assigned reason, goes
to the mountains near Segovia. But the month in which
he makes bis journey is March ; the season is rough ; and
several of his adventures are any thing but agreeable.
Still he preserves the same light and thoughtless air ; and
this part of his history is mingled with spirited pastoral
songs in the Provencal manner, called " Cantigas de Serra-
na," as the preceding portions had been mingled with
fables, which he calls " Enxiemplos," or stories. ^^
A shrine, much firequented by the devout, is near that
part of the Sierra where his journeyings lay ; and he
makes a pilgrimage to it, which he illustrates with sacred
hymns, just as he had before illustrated his love-adventures
with apologues and songs. But Lent approaches, and he
hurries home. He is hardly arrived, however, when he
receives a summons in form from Dona Quaresma (Madam
Lent) to attend her in arms, with all her other archpriests
and clergy, in order to make a foray, like a foray into the
" St 557-559, with 419 and 548. in this portion are, I think, imitations
Pamphylus de Amore, F. A. Ebert, of the Pastoretas or Pastorelles of the
Bibliographisches Lexicon, Leipzig, Troubadours. (Raynouard, Trouba-
1830, 4to., Tom. II., p. 297. P. dours, Tom. II., pp. 229, etc.) If
Leyseri Hist. Poet. Medii ^vi, Halse, such poems occurred frequently in the
1721, 8vo., p. 2071. Sanchez, Tom. Northern French literature of the
IV., pp. xxiii., xxiv. The story of period, I should think the Archpriest
Pampnylus in the Archpricst*s version bad found his models there, since it is
is in stanzas 555-865. The story of there he generally resorts ; but I
the Arch priest's own journey is in have never seen any that came from
stanzas 924-1017. The Serranas north of the Loire so old as his time.
76 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
territory of the Moors, against Don Camaval and his ad-
herents. One of these allegorical battles, which were in
great favour with the Trouveurs and other metre-mongers
of the Middle Ages, then follows, in which figure Don
Tocino (Mr. Bacon) and Dona Cecina (Mrs. Hung-Beef),
with other similar personages. The result of course, since
it is now the season of Lent, is the defeat and imprison-
ment of Don Carnaval ; but when that season closes, the
allegorical prisoner necessarily escapes, and, raising anew
such followers as Mr. Lunch and Mr. Breakfast, again
takes the field, and is again triumphant. ^^
Don Camaval now unites himself to Don Amor, and
both appear in state as emperors. Don Amor is received
with especial jubilee ; clergy and laity, friars, nuns, and
jongleursj going out in wild procession to meet and wel-
come him. *• But the honour of formally receiving his
Majesty, though claimed by all, and foremost by the nuns,
is granted only to the poet To the poet too Don Amor
relates his adventures of the preceding winter at Seville
and Toledo, and then leaves him to go in search of others.
Meanwhile, the Archpriest, with the assistance of his
cunning agent, Trota-canventoSj begins a new series of love
intrigues, even more freely mingled with fables than the
first, and ends them only by the death of Trota-conventos
herself, with whose epitaph the more carefully connected
portion of the Archpriest's works is brought to a conclusion.
The volume contains, however, besides this portion, several
smaller poems on subjects as widely different as the
" Christian's Armour** and the " Praise of Little Women,"
" St 1017-1040. The " Bataille » St. 1184, etc., 1199-1229. It
des Vins," by D'Andeli, may be cited, is not quite easy to see how the Arch-
(Barbazan, ed. M^n, Tom. I., p. {Hiest ventured some things in the last
1 52,) but the * ' Bataille de Karesme et passage. Parts of the procession come
de Chamage '* (Ibid., Tom. IV., p. singing the most solemn hymns of the
80) is more in point. There are Chunm, or parodies of them, applied
others on other subjects. For the to Don Amor, like the JBenedictus qtd
marvellously savoury personages in the rentV. It seems downright blasphemy
Archpriest^ battle, see stanzas 1080, against what was then thought most
1169, 1170, etc. sacred.
Chap. V. JUAN RUIZ DE HITA. 77
some of which seem related to the main series, though
none of them have any apparent connexion with each
other, "
The tone of the Archpriest*s poetry is very various.
In general, a satirical spirit prevails in it, not unmingled
with a quiet humour. This spirit often extends into the
gravest portions ; and how fearless he was, when he in-
dulged himself in it, a passage on the influence of money
and corruption at the court of Rome leaves no doubt. ^^
Other parts, like the verses on Death, are solemn, and
even sometimes tender ; while yet others, like the hymns
to the Madonna, breathe the purest spirit of Catholic devo-
tion •, so that, perhaps, it would not be easy, in the whole
body of Spanish literature, to find a volume showing a
greater variety in its subjects, or in the modes of managing
and exhibiting them. ^®
The happiest success of the Archpriest of Hita is to be
found in the many tales and apologues which he has scattered
on all sides to illustrate the adventures that constitute a
firamework for his poetry, like that of the " Conde Luca-
nor" or the "Canterbury Tales." Most of them are
familiar to us, being taken from the old store-houses of
.3Esop and Phsedrus, or rather from the versions of these
fabulists common in the earliest Northern French poetry. *•
" Stan2a8 1221, 1229, etc., 1277, published in Robert, "Fables Ind-
etc., 1289, 1491, 1492, etc., 1660, dites," (Paris, 1826, 2 torn. 8vo.); and
etc., 1553-1681. as Marie de France, who lived at the
*^ Stanzas 464, etc. As in many court of Henry III. of England, then
other passages, the Archpriest is here the resort of the Northern French
upon ground already occupied by poets, alludes to them in the Prolo^e
the Northern Frencn poets. See to her own Fables, they are probably
the ** Usurer's Pater-Noster," and as early as 1240. (See Ponies de
"Credo/* in Barbazan, Fabliaux, Marie de France, ed. Roquefort, Paris,
Tom. IV., pp. 99 and 106. 1820, 8vo., Tom. II., p. 61, and the ad-
^" Stanzas 1494, etc., 1609, etc. mirable discussions in De la Rue sur
*• The Archpriest says of the fable les Bardes, les Jongleurs et les Trou-
of the Mountain that brought forth a v6rcs, Caen, 1834, 8vo., Tom. I., pp.
Mouse, that it *'was composed by 198-202, and Tom. III., pp. 47-101.)
Isopete." Now there were at least To one or both of these Isopets the
two collections of fables in French in Archpriest went for a part of his
the thirteenth century, that passed fables, — perhaps for all of them. Don
under the name of Ysopet, and are Juan Manuel, nis contemporary, pro*
78 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
Among the more fortmiate of his very free imitations is the
fable of the Frogs who asked for a King fr*om Jupiter, that
of the Dog who lost by his Greediness the Meat he car-
ried in his Mouth, and that of the Hares who took Courage
when they saw the Frogs were more timid than themselves. ^
A few of them have a truth, a simplicity, and even a grace,
which have rarely been surpassed in the same form of
composition ; as, for instance, that of the City Mouse and the
Country Mouse, which, if we follow it from JSso^ through
Horace to La Fontaine, we shall nowhere find better told
than it is by the Archpriest. **
What strikes us most, however, and remains with us
longest after reading his poetry, is the natural and spirited
tone that prevails over every other. In this he is like
Chaucer, who wrote a little later in the same century.
Indeed, the resemblance between the two poets is remark-
able in some other particulars. Both often sought their
materials in the Northern French poetry ; both have that
mixture of devotion and a licentious immorality, much of
which belonged to their age, but some of it to their personal
character ; and both show a wide knowledge of human na-
ture, and a great happiness in sketching the details of indi-
vidual manners. The original temper of each made him
satirical and humorous; and each, in his own country,
became the founder of some of the forms of its popular
poetry, introducing new metres and combinations, and
carrying them out in a versification which, though gene-
bably did the same, and sometimes A lo* pobret iiuuiju«« elpiaserloarajMn,
took the same febles; e.g. Conde P««o« d«l »«en uUnte mar da Ooadaiaun.
Lucanor, cap. 43, 26, and 49, which And so on through eight more
are the fables of the Archpriest, stanzas. Now, besides the Greek at-
stanzas 1386, 1411, and 1428. tributed to JEsop and the Latin of
~ Stanzas 189, 206, 1419. Horace, there can be found above
*^ It begins thus, stanza 1344 : — twenty versions of this fable, among
MordeGoiidaiuara un Lune. madrugabi, which are two in Spanish, one by
Fkieae k Monfenmdo, ik mereado and«b* ; Bart. Leon. de Argensola, and the
S;.?iSin^i^'"?5..!r.5!:'«.S.""'"* o^\\ S«maniego; but I thiak
Bit.b..nm«.i>obn Wn nto i Im... can, Ae Archpncst » M the best of tho
Con Is poot viand* boena ▼oluntad para, Wbole.
Chap.V.
RABBI SANTOR
79
rally rude and irregular, is often flowing and nervous, and
always natural. The Archpriest has not, indeed, the ten-
derness, the elevation, or the general power of Chaucer ;
but his genius has a compass, and his verse a skill and suc-
cess, that show him to be more nearly akin to the great
English master than will be believed, except by those who
have carefully read the works of both.
The Archpriest of Hita lived in the last years of Al-
fonso the Eleventh, and perhaps somewhat later. At the
very beginning of the next reign, or in 1350, we find a
curious poem addressed by a Jew of Carrion to Peter the
Cruel, on his accession to the throne. In the manuscript
found in the National Library at Madrid, it is called the
"Book of the Rabi de Santob," or "Rabbi Don Santob,"
and consists of four hundred and seventy-six stanzas.**
The measure is the old redondilloj uncommonly easy and
flowing for the age ; and the purpose of the poem is to
give wise moral counsels to the new king, which the poet
more than once begs him not to undervalue because they
come from a Jew.
" There are at least two manu-
scripts of the poems of this Jew, from
which nothing has been published but
a lew poor extracts. The one com-
monly cited is that of the f^curial,
used by Castro, (BibUoteca EspaSola,
Tom. I. pp. 198-202,) and bv San-
chez, (Tom. I. pp. 179-184, and Tom.
IV. p. 12, etc/) The one I have
used IS in the National Library, Ma-
drid, marked B. b. 82, folio, in which
the poem of the Rabbi is found on
leaves 61 to 81. Conde, the histo-
rian of the Arabs, preferred this manu-
script to the one m the Escurial, and
hela the Rabbits true name to be
given in it, viz. Santob^ and not SantOf
as it is in the manuscript of the
Escurial ; the latter being a name not
likely to be taken by a Jew in the
time of Peter the Cruel, though very
likely to be written so by an ignorant
monkish transcriber. The manuscript
of Madrid begins thus, differing from
that of the Escurial, as may be seen in
Castro,' ut sup. : —
Seflor Key, noble, alto»
Oy eite Sermon,
Que ryene Jeayr Santob,
Judio de Curion.
Comnnalmente trobado,
De Kloms monlmente,
De U FiluaofiA sacado,
Segant qae ▼« lyguiente.
Mr noble King and mighty Lord,
Hear a discourse moat true ;
Tis Santob bring* your Grace the word.
Of Carrion's town the Jew.
In plainest verse my thonghts I tell.
With ffloas and moral free,
Drawn from Philosophy's pure well.
As onward you may see.
The oldest notice of the Jew of
Carrion is in the letter of the Marquis
of Santillana to the Constable of
Portugal, from which there can be
no doubt that the Rabbi still enjoyed
much reputation in the middle of the
fifteenth century.
80
HISTORT OF SPANISH UTERATURE.
PmioD I.
Because upon a thoni it grows,
The rose is not less fair ;
And wine that from the vine-stock flows
Still flows untainted there.
The goshawk, too, will proudly soar,
Although his nest sits low ;
And gentle teachings have their power,
Though 't b the Jew says so. **
After a longer introduction than is needful, the moral
counsels begin, at the fifty-third stanza, and continue
through the rest of the work, which, in its general tone, is
not unlike other didactic poetry of the period, although it
is written with more ease and more poetical spirit In-
deed, it is little to say that few Rabbins of any country
have given us such quaint and pleasant verses as are con-
tained in several parts of these curious counsels of the Jew
of Carrion.
In the Esciu*ial manuscript, containing the verses of the
El agna que della tyxnern,
RflMda que nue ^ale.
Ati Toa fyncMtee del
Pax% mucho tn fkr,
Et fluser lo que el
CobdicUba libnr, eCe.
One of the philosophical verses is
▼ery quaint : —
Quando no e« lo que quiero,
Quiero yo lo que ee ;
Si peaar he primero,
Plaaer avre detpnea.
If what I find, I do not lot*.
Then love I what I find;
If disappointment go before,
Joy mue shall oome behind.
I add from the unpublished origi-
nal:—
Lm mys eanas telUlas,
Non por las avoRescer,
Ni por desdesyrlas,
Nin maneebo parescer.
Mas con miedo sobejo
De omes que bastarian*
En mi srao de ▼iefo,
£ non lo fkllarian.
M; hoary locks I d ve with care.
Not that I hate their hue.
Nor yet because I wish to seem
More yonthfU than is trae.
But *t is because the worda I dxoad
or men who apeak me fkir.
And aik within my whitened heed
Por wit that ia not there.
M Par naacer en el espino.
No Val la roaa derto
Menos ; ni el bnen rino.
For nssoer en el aarmyento.
Non val el apor menoa,
Por nascer de mal nido ;
Nin loa exemplos buenos,
Por los decir Judio.
These lines seem better given in the
Escurial manuscript as follows : —
Por nssoer en el espino.
La roaa ya non siento,
Que pierde : ni el buen vino,
Por aalir del sarmlento.
Non vale el a^r menoa,
Porque en Til nido aiga ;
Nin loa enxemploa buenoa,
Porque Judio loa diga.
The manuscripts ought to be
collated, and this curious poem
published.
After a preface in prose, which
seems to be by another hand, and an
address to the king by the poet him-
self, he goes on : —
Quando el Rey Don Alfonso
Fynd. fVncd la gente,
Como quando el pulso
Fkllespe al doliente.
Qae luego no ayudava.
Que tan grant m^oria
A elloa fyncava
Nin omen lo entendia.
Quando la roaa aeca.
En au tiempo aale
* boacarian?
Chap. V. LA DOCTRINA CHRISTIANA.— A REVELATION. 81
Jew, are other poems, which were at one time attributed
to him, but which it seems probable belong to other, though
unknown authors.** One of them is a didactic essay,
called " La Doctrina Christiana,** or Christian Doctrine.
It consists of a prose .prologue, setting forth the writer's
penitence, and of one hundred and fifty-seven stanzas of
four lines each ; the first three containing eight syllables
rhymed together, and the last containing four syllables
unrhymed, — a metrical form not without something of the
air of the Sapphic and Adonic. The body of the work con-
tainsan explanation of the Creed, the ten commandments, the
seven moral virtues, the fourteen works of mercy, the seven
deadly sins, the five senses, and the holy sacraments, with
discussions concerning Christian conduct and character.
Another of these poems is called a Revelation, and is a
vision, in twenty-five octave stanzas, of a holy hermit, who
is supposed to have witnessed a contest between a soul
aad its body; the soul complaining that the excesses of
the body had brought upon it all the punishments of the
unseen world, and the body retorting that it was con-
demned to these same torments because the soul had
neglected to keep it in due subjection. "* The whole is an
•• Castro, Bibl. Esp., Tom. I. p. rity that mentions him, calls him a
199. Suiche£,Tom. I. p. 182 ; Tom. Jew ; that no one of them intimates
IV. p. xii. that he ever was converted, — a cir-
I am aware that Don Jos^ Amador cumstance likely to have been much
delos Rio8,inhi8 **£studiosHi8tdri. blazoned abroad, if it had really
COB, PoHticos y Literarios sobre los occurred ; and that, if he were an
Judios de EspaSa." a learned and unconverted Jew, it is wholly impos-
pleasant book, pubkshed at Madrid in sible he should have written the
1848, is of a different opinion, and Dan9a General, the Doctrina Chris-
holds the three poems, including the tiana, or {he Ermita&o.
Doctrina Christiana, to be the work I ought, perhaps, to add, in refer-
of Don Santo or Santob of Carrion. ence both to the remarks made in this
(See pp. 804-335.) But I think the note, and to the notices of the few
objections to this opinion are stronger Jewish authors in Spanish literature
than the reasons he elves to support generally, that I did not receive the
it ; especially the objections involved valuable work of Amador do los Kios
in the following fiwits, viz. : that Don till just as the present one was going
Santob calls himself a Jew ; that both to press.
the manuscripts of the Conscjos call " Castro, Bibl. Esp., Tom. I. p.
him a Jew ; that the Marquis of San- 200. By the kindness of Prof. Gayan-
tillana, the only tolerably early autho- gos, I have a copy of the whole. To
VOL. I. Q
82 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATURE. Pemod I.
imitation of some of the many similar poems current at
that period, one of which is extant in English in a manu-
script placed by Warton about the year 1304. ** But both
the Castilian poems are of little worth.
We come, then, to one of more value, "La Dan9a
General,** or the Dance of Death, consisting of seventy-
nine regular octave stanzas, preceded by a few words of
introduction in prose, that do not seem to be by the same
author. ^ It is founded on the well-known fiction, so often
illustrated both in painting and in verse during the Middle
Ages, that all men, of all conditions, are summoned to the
Dance of Death ; a kind of spiritual masquerade, in which
the diflTerent ranks of society, from the Pope to the young
child, appear dancing with the skeleton form of Death.
In this Spanish version it is striking and picturesque, —
more so, perhaps, than in any other, — the ghastly nature
of the subject being brought into a very lively contrast
with the festive tone of the verses, which frequently recalls
some of the better parts of those flowing stories that now
and then occur in the " Mirror for Magistrates." *®
judge from the opening lines of guages. See Latin Poems attributed
the poem, it was probably written in to Walter Mapcs, and edited for the
1 382 :— Camden Society by T. VTright (1 841,
DMpues deU prima 1* on punda, 4to., pp. 95and 321). It was printed
En el.mes de knero la noche piimen • .l t. n j i> ^ a • i ^
En occo a T«iynte durante )a Eera. »" the ballad form m Spam as late as
Eitando acoatado alia en mi poaada, etc. 1764.
The Ist of January, 1420, of the •^ Castro, Bibl. Espanola, Tom. I.
Spanish Era, when the scene is liud, p. 200. Sanchez, Tom. I. pp. 182-
corresponds to A. D. 1382. A copy 185, with Tom. IV. p. xii. I sus-
of the poem printed at Madrid, 1848, pect the Spanish Dance of Death is
12mo., pp. 13, differs from my manu- an imitation from the French, because
script ODoy, but is evidently taken I find, in several of the early editions,
from one less carefiiUy made. the French Dance of Death is united,
■• Hist, of Eng. Poetry, Sect. 24, as the Spanish is in the manuscript of
near the end. It appears also in the Escurial, with the ** D^bat du
French very early, under the title of Corps et de TAme," just as the
** Le D<$bat du Con^ et de TAme," ** Vows over the Peacock " seems, in
printed in 1486. (Ebert, Bib. Lex- both languages, to have been united
icon, Nos. 5671-5674.) The source to a poem on Alexander,
of the fiction has been supposed to be "^ In what a vast number of forms
a poem by a Prankish monk (Hagen this strange fiction occurs mav be seen
undBiisching,Grundriss, Berlin, 1812, in the elaborate work of F. Douce,
8vo., p. 446) ; but it is very old, and entitled ** Dance of Death," (London,
found in many forms and many Ian- 1833, 8vo.,)and in the " Literaturder
Chaf.V. la DAN9A GENERAL. 83
The first seven stanzas of the Spanish poem eonstitute a
prologue, in which Death issues his summons partly in his
own person, and partly in that of a preaching friar, ending
thus: —
Come to the Dance of Death, all ye whose fate
Bj birth is mortal, be ye great or small ;
And willing come, nor loitering, nor late,
Else force shall bring you struggling to my thrall :
For since yon friar hath uttered loud his call
To penitence and godliness sincere,
He that delays must hope no waiting here ;
For still the cry is, Haste ! and. Haste to all !
Death now proceeds, as in the old pictures and poems, to
summon, first, the Pope, then cardinals, kings, bishops,
and so on, down to day-labourers ; all of whom are forced
to join his mortal dance, though each first makes some
remonstrance, that indicates surprise, horror, or reluctance.
The call to youth and beauty is spirited : —
Bring to my dance, and bring without delay.
Those damsels twain, you see so bright and fair ;
They came, but came not in a willing way,
To list my chants of mortal grief and care :
Nor shall the flowers and roses fresh they wear,
Nor rich attire, avail their forms to save.
They strive in vain who strive against the grave ;
It may not be ; my wedded brides they are.«»
Todtentinze," ron H. F. Massmann, in all languages, one of which is by
(Leipzig, 1840, 8vo.) To these, Lydgate, were undoubtedly intended
however, for our purpose, should be for religious edification, just as the
added notices from Uie Allgemeine Spanish poem was.
Deutsche Bibliothek, (Beriin, 1792, • I have a manuscript copy of the
Vol. CVI. p. 279,) and a series of whole poem, made for me bv Pro-
prints that appeared at Liibec m fessor Gayangos, and nve the fol-
1783, fdlio, taken from tbe paintings lowing as specimens. First, one of
diere, which date from 1463, and the stanzas translated in the text :—
which might weU serve to illustr^ a «t. «i D«« tr.y. d. pre^^Bte
the old Spamsh poem. See also K. ^tas do* don^llM qae Tcdes fennons ;
F. A. Scheller, BUcherkunde der ^"^""^ZTJZS^L^J^^ir^m^
Sassisch-mederdeutschen Spracne, mm non 1m vmidnn torm ny mu,
Braunschwdg, 1826, 8vO., p. 76. Nln 1*« comportum qo« poner wlUii.
The whole immense series, wWer ^^ ^^^".5:^^^
existing in tiie pamtmgs at Basle, ^ . . u u
Hamburg, etc., or in the old poems And the two following, which 'have
o 2
84 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
The fiction is, no doubt, a grim one ; but for several
centuries it had great success throughout Europe, and it
is presented quite as much according to its trae spirit in
this old Castilian poem as it is anywhere.
A chronicling poem, found in the same manuscript
volume with the last, but very unskilfully copied in a
different handwriting, belongs probably to the same period.
It is on the half-fabulous, half-historical achievements of
Count Fernan Gonzalez, a hero of the earlier period
of the Christian conflict with the Moors, who is to
the North of Spain what the Cid became somewhat
later to Aragon and Valencia. To him is attributed the
rescue of much of Castile from Mohammedan control ;
and his achievements, so far as they are matter of historical
rather than poetical record, fall between 934, when the
battle of Osma was fought, and his death, which occurred
in 970.
The poem in question is almost whpUy devoted to his
glory.'® It begins with a notice of the invasion of Spain
by the Goths, and comes down to the battle of Moret, in
967, when the manuscript suddenly breaks ofl^, leaving un-
touched the adventuresof its hero during the three remaining
years of his life. It is essentially prosaic and monotonous
in its style, yet not without something of that freshness and
not) I believe, been printed ; the first ^ See a learned dissertation of Ft.
being the reply of Death to the Dean Benito Montejo, on the Beginnings
he had summoned, and the last the of the Independence of Castile,
objections of the Merchant : — Memorias de la Acad, de Hist, Tom.
Dice la Mmerte. III. pp. 245-302. CnSoica General
Don rico aTftriento Dean muy afkno, de £spa7!a, Parte III. C. ] 8-20.
E mml detpendislM el vaestro tewro. Madnd, 1832, 12mO., Tom. II. pp.
Non quiero que estedes ya mas en el coro ; 27-39. Extracts from the manuscript
^r^^S^i^^^TyS^'- in the Escurial are to be found in
Venit, Meicadero, a la danfa del Uoro. Bouterwck, trad, por J. 6. de la
Dice 9l Mereader. Cortina, etc., Tom. I. pp. 154-161.
*St^Sliri"S!;^''rrn«? I have, manuscript copy of the ant
Con muchoa traapam e maa aotileaas part of it, made for me by Professor
Oane lo que tengo en cada logar. Gayangos. For notices, see Castro,
Qu'l'SSde'SSr^nt'qr^. Bibl.. Tom. I. p. 199, and Sanchez.
Oni«efftetn«iem,Amie«Rvanplaga. Tom. I. p. 115.
Adioa, Mereaderea, qae Toy me i nnn I
Chap. V. FERNAN GONZALEZ. 85
simplicity which are in themselves allied to all early poetry.
Its language is rude, and its measure, which strives to be
like that in Berceo and the poem of ApoUonius, is often
in stanzas of three lines instead of four, sometimes of five,
and once at least of nine. Like Berceo*s poem on San
Domingo de Silos, it opens with an invocation, and what
is singular, this invocation is in the very words used by
Berceo: **In the name of the Father, who made all
things," etc. After this, the history, beginning in the
days of the Goths, follows the popular traditions of the
country, with few exceptions, the most remarkable of
which occurs in the notice of the Moorish invasion. There
the account is quite anomalous. No intimation is given
of the story of the fair Cava, whose fate has furnished
materials for so much poetry ; but Count Julian is repre-
sented as having, without any private injury, volunteered
his treason to the king of Morocco, and then carried it into
eflTect by persuading Don Boderic, in ftdl Cortes, to turn
all the military weapons of the land into implements of
agriculture, so that, when the Moorish invasion occurred,
the country was overrun without diflSculty.
The death of the Count of Toulouse, on the other hand,
is described as it is in the " General Chronicle*' of Alfonso
the Wise ; and so are the vision of Saint Millan, and the
Count's personal fights with a Moorish king and the King
of Navarre. In truth, many passages in the poem so
much resemble the corresponding passages in the Chronicle,
that it seems certain one was used in the composition of
the other ; and as the poem has more the air of being an
amplification of the Chronicle than the Chronicle has of
being an abridgment of the poem, it seems probable that
the prose account is, in this case, the older, and ftirnished
the materials of the poem, which, from internal evidence,
was prepared for public recitation.'*
•* Cr^nica General, ed. 1604, Parte also, Cap. 19, and Mariana, Historia,
111. f. 56. b, 60. a-65. b. Compare, Lib. VIII. c. 7,with the poem. That
86 HISTX)RT OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Pibbiod I.
The meeting of Fernan Gonzalez with the King of
Navarre at the battle of Valparfe, which occurs in both, is
thus described in the poem : —
And now the King and Count were met together in the fight,
And each against the other turned the utmost of his might.
Beginning there a battle fierce in forious despite.
And never fight was seen more breve, nor champions more tmc ;
For to rise or fall for once and all they fought, as well they knew ;
And neither, as each inly felt, a greater deed could do ;
So they struck and strove right manfully, with blows nor light nor few.
Ay, mighty was that fight indeed, and mightier still about
The din that rose like thunder round those champions brave and stout :
A man with all his voice might cry and none would heed his shout ;
For he that listened could not hear, amidst such rush and rout.
The blows they struck were heavy ; heavier blows there could not be ;
On both sides, to the uttermost, they struggled manfully.
And many, that ne'er rose agun, bent to the earth the knee.
And streams of blood overspread the ground, as on all sides you might see.
And knights were there, from good Navarre, both numerous and bold.
Whom everywhere for brave and strong true gentlemen would hold ;
But still against the good Count's might their strength proved weak and cold,
Though men of great emprise before, and fortune manifold.
For God's good grace still kept the Count from sorrow and firom harm,
That neither Moor nor Christian power should stand against his arm, etc."*
the poem was taken from the Chro- que fizo." The poem has it in
nicle may be assumed, I conceive, almost the same words : —
from a comrarison of the Chro« Non enentan de Alexandra Us noehct nin ka
nicle, Parte III. c. 18, near the end, diM;
contmning the defeat and death of
Cuentaa so* buenot fechoa e sua eavalleryaa.
the Count of Toulouse, with the pas- ««Jl R«y y ei Conde ambpt ae avuntaion,
-««^ ;« ♦!»« .x»»»> «a »:./»« u„ r'^«J:«- ^^1 uno oontn el otro amboe endereoaron,
sage m the poem as given by Cortma, e u lid campai aiu u eMsomenfaran/
and beginnmg '* Cavalleros Tolesanos Non podrya mu ftierte ni mai bra^a aer,
trezicntOS y prendieron:" or the Ca alb le« yya todo levaatatoeaer;
vision of San Millan (Crdnica, Parte S^ii^J y^i^S^an^^^
III. C. 19) with the passage in the May grande ftie la fa^enda • maeho ma.
poem beginning *' £1 Cryador t6 eiroydo;
Otorga quanto pedido le as." Per- DarUeUme may grandee ▼«»■, ynonaeria
haps, however, the following, being eI qw'iydo faetewria como gnnde tro-
a mere rhetorical illustration, is a ^, ny*!®;
proof as striking, if not as conclusive, ^*»° ^^^ "^^ ^^ »*"«^ *P^*^-
as a longer one. The Chronicle says, °~"^i/„'^ *"" **^P*^ "^ "•^''~ "^"
(Parte ill. C. 18,) *^ Non CUentan dc Ixm uno« y los otroa todo su poder IkQian;
Alexandre los dias nin los anOS : mas Macho* cayan en Uerra quenuncaaeenvlan;
los buenos fcchos c las sus cavallcrfas ^' "^'^ *~ "^^"^ »»chaUena cob^a^
Chap. Y. POEMA D£ JOS&. 87
This is certainly not poetry of a high order. Invention
and dignified ornament are wanting in it ; but still it is
not without spirit, and, at any rate, it would be difficult
to find in the whole poem a passage more worthy of re-
gard.
In the National Library at Madrid is a poem of twelve
hundred and twenty lines, composed in the same system of
quaternion rhymes that we have already noticed as settled
in the old Castilian literature, and with irregularities like
those found in the whole class of poems to which it belongs.
Its subject is Joseph, the son of Jacob ; but there are two
circumstances which distinguish it from all the other
narrative poetry of the period, and render it curious and
important The first is, that, though composed in the
Spanish language, it is written wholly in the Arabic cha-
racter, and has, therefore, all the appearance of an Arabic
manuscript; to which should be added the fact, that the
metre and spelling are accommodated to the force of the
Arabic vowels ; so that, if the only manuscript of it now
known to exist be not the original, it must still have been
originally written in the same manner. The other singular
circumstance is, that the story of the poem, which is the
familiar one of Joseph and his brethren, is not told accord-
ing to the original in our Hebrew Scriptures, but according
to the shorter and less interesting version in the eleventh
chapter of the Koran, with occasional variations and addi-
tions, some of which are due to the fancifid expoimders of
the Koran, while others seem to be of the author's own
invention. These two circumstances taken together leave
no reasonable doubt that the writer of the poem was one
of the many Moriscos who, remaining at the North after
the body of the nation had been driven southward, had
forgotten their native language and adopted that of their
A««a er*n lo§ Navmrroi cavalleros esforQado* Quiio I>io§ al baen Conde erta gracia h^t.
Que en qualquier lagar aeryan boenoa y Que Moroa ni Crystyanoa non le podian ven-
priadoa, 9er, etc.
Maa ea contra el Conde todoa deaaventuradoa ; Bouterwek, trad. Cortina, p. 180.
Omea aon de gran cneuta y de cora^n lo^anoa. ^ '^
^ HISTOBT OF SPANISH UTERATCBK. Period I.
conquerors, thou^ their religion and culture still continued
to be Arabic"
The manuscript of the '^ Poem of Joseph " is imperfect,
both at the banning and at the end. Not much of it,
however, seems to be lost It opens with the jealousy of
the brothers of Joseph at his dream, and their solicitation
of their &ther to let him go with them to the field.
Then up and spake his tons : <' Sire, do not deem it so ;
Ten brethren are we here, this veiy well you know ; —
That we should all be traitors, and treat lum as a foe,
You eitlicr will not fear, or you will not let him go.
'* But this is what we thought, as our Maker knows above :
That the child might gain more knowledge, and with it gain our love.
To show him all our shepherd's craft, as with flocks and herds we move ;—
But still the power is thine to grant, and thine to disapprove.*'
And then they said so much with words so smooth and &ir,
And^promised him so laithfully with words of pious care,
That he gave them up his child ; but bade them first beware,
Andjbring him quickly back agun, unharmed by any snare.**
When the brothers have consummated their treason,
and sold Joseph to a caravan of Egyptian merchants, the
story goes on much as it does in the Koran. The fair
Zuleikha, or Zuleia, who answers to Potiphar's wife in the
Hebrew Scriptures, and who figures largely in Moham-
*' Other manuscripts of this sort Don Pascual de (^yangos, Professor
arc known to exist ; but I am not of Arabic in the University there,
aware of any so old, or of such poetical ** The passa^ 1 have translated is
value. (Ochoa, Cat^logo de Manu- in Coplas 5-7, m the original manu-
soritos Espafioles, etc., pp. 6-21. script, as it now stands, imperfect at
(luyun^os, Mohammedan Dynasties the beginning,
in 8|»in, Tom. I. pp. 492 and 603.) Pijieron .u. nihos : *«Puii«,ewnopeiiM»dM;
As to the spelling in the Poem of Somo* die* ermanos, 6W> Irien Mbed«a ;
Jo«,,,h. wc have Wr«r«fe,. cAim- S^rrcSSfi'^S ^^:'^\^« ^
fioTy certerOj marabeila^ taraydores, redes.
etc. To avoid a hiatus, a consonant .. „„ „^^ pe„«„o.; «beio ei CrUdc,
IS prcnxcd to the second word ; as Porque implew miu, I fruuM el nae«ro UBor.
** Cada J^no" repeatedly for coda Bn^jflarle aiemo« 1m obelhw, ielgAnadonu-
•wo. The manuscript of the Poema de m««, enJiJo. d no tm ?!«»,
J(wd, in 4to. , 49 leaves, was first shown nor,
M ."»« i" /*'^/"^*i^,^^^™'y ** TanloledUeron, de p.lah«. fer«««,
MMfiria, murkc<l d. g. 101, by Conde, Tanto le promeUcron, de palabras piadons,
the hil«toriail ; but 1 owe a copy of Qn» fl »« ^«S <?1 ninno, dijolea la« otaa,
•he whole of it to the kindiieVi of ^« »<>«-«»«»••» '^^iSTrd^KSTllk
Chap.V. POEMA DE JOSfi. 89
medan poetry, fills a space more ample than usual in the
fancies of the present poem. Joseph, too, is a more con-
siderable personage. He is adopted as the king^s son, and
made a king in the land ; and the dreams of the real king,
the years of plenty and famine, the journeyings of the
brothers to Egypt, their recognition by Joseph, and his
message to Jacob, with the grief of the latter that Benjamin
did not return, at which the manuscript breaks ofl^ are
much amplified, in the Oriental manner, and made to
sound like passages from "Antar,** or the "Arabian
Nights,'* rather than from the touching and beautiful story
to which we have been accustomed from our childhood.
Among the inventions of the author is a conversation
which the wolf — who is brought in by his false brethren as
the animal that had killed Joseph — holds with Jacob.**
Another is the Eastern fancy, that the measure by which
Joseph distributed the corn, and which was made of gold
and precious stones, would, when put to his ear, inform
him whether the persons present were guilty of falsehood
to him.^ But the following incident, which, like that of
Joseph's parting in a spirit of tender forgiveness from his
brethren '^ when they sold him, is added to the narrative
of the Koran, will better illustrate the general tone of the
poem, as well as the general powers of the poet
»» Rotfo Jacob al Criador, e al lobo ftie a Ik- of the period is fully recognised :
DijoeUoU)*: - No lo mando AUah,qaea ii»W» ">«} ^^ ^^^7 measure, made of gold
tium a matar. and precious stones, corresponds to the
MS. found, like that, in the sack of Benja-
•• u mtmn del pan da oro en labnula, nun» where it had been put by Joseph,
E de Di«dra« precioMs era ertreiiada, (after he had sccretly revealed himself
J,Sr<S;2.:S^.l £; "Sn^':^ *P Benjamin^ « the m«u» of seizing
Henjamin and detaimng him in Egypt,
Ellrioel ReyenUmesun eflsoUionar, ^-ith his OWn Consent, but without
I\>ne la a su orella por our e guardar ; v ri i. ^u aU
Dijoiea, e no qtti*> maa dudar, Rivipg his false brethren the reason
Seiran diie la mesara, berdad paede eatar. for it.
MS.
.^ . , 1. 1. • u II 1 1 • S7 Dijo Joaaf : ** Enaianoa* perdoneoa el Oi-
It 18 Joseph who is here called king, i^r,
a.S he is often in the poem,— once he is ^l Puerto que me tenedea. perdoneoa elSeftor,
called emperor,— though the Pharaoh "^ ^ot"*^ * ""^ -e paru el n.««n>
Abraad a cada guno, e partidae eon dolor.
* Nabi, Prophet, Arabic. MS.
90 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE. Pxuod I.
On the first night after the outrage, Jusu^ as he is
called in the poem, when travelling along in charge of a
negro, passes a cemetery on a hill-side where his mother
lies buried.
And when the negro heeded not, that guarded him behind.
From off the camel Jusaf sprang, on which he rode confined.
And hastened, with all spcKsd, his mother's grave to find.
Where he knelt and pardon sought, to relieve his troubled nund.
He cried, << God*s grace be with thee still, O Lady mother dear !
I O mother, you would sorrow, if you looked upon me here ;
For my neck is bound with chains, and I live in grief and fear,
Like a traitor by my brethren sold, like a captive to the spear.
** They have sold me 1 they have sold me I though I never did them harm ;
They have torn me from my father, from his strong and living arm ;
By art and cunning they enticed me, and iy &lsehood*s guilty charm,
And I go a base-bought captive, full of sorrow and alarm.**
But now the negro looked about, and knew that he was gone.
For no man could be seen, and the camel came alone ;
So he turned his sharpened ear, and caught the wuling tone.
Where Jusuf, by his mother's grave, lay making heavy moan.
And the negro hurried up, and gave him there a blow ;
So quick and cruel vras it, that it instant laid him low ;
** A base-bom wretch," he cried aloud, *' a base-bom thief art thou ;
Thy masters, when we purchased thee, they told us it was so.*'
But Jusuf answered straight, *' Nor thief nor wretch am I ;
My mother's grave is this, and for pardon here I cry ;
I cry to Allah's power, and send my prayer on high.
That, since I never wronged thee, his curse may on thee lie.**
And then all night they travelled on, till dawned the coming day,
When the land was sore tormented with a whirlwind's furious sway ;
The sun grew dark at noon, their hearts sunk in dismay.
And they knew not, with their merchandise, to seek or make their way.**
■• As the oriirinal has not been Boi con cadenM al cuello, eatiho oon aennor,
printed, I transcribe the following ^^^^^^^^ «»• -"»*»«• como d fu«« t«|.
stanzas of the passaire I have last ,.„, ^ v ^^ .. , i i *_ _^
* 1 4^%A " Kllo« me han bendido, no.teniendolettaerto;
transiatea : — Partieronine de mi pMlie, ante que ftieM
Dio aalto del cameUo, donde iba cabalfando ; „ ""*'^°i,^ „ ,., .. ,.
Nolo«inUoelne«o. que lo iba gaarSndo ; Con arte, con fklda, ellot «• ««««» »»»f '^l,
FaeMalafaesadetamadie, a pedirla perdon Por mal predo me ban bendido, por do boi
dobUndo, ajado e cuoito. •
Jittufalafuew tan aprie^ Uorando. B bolbioie el neffro ante la eamella.
DIfiendo : *' Madre, sennora, perdoncoa el Sen- Reqniriendo k Juauf, e no lo bido en ella ;
nor ; E bolbiose por el camino agnda an orslla,
Madfe, ti mc bidicaea, de mi abriaii dolor ; Hidolo en el foaal Uorando, que es manbella.
Chap. V. EL BIMADO DE PALACIO. 91
The age and origin of this remarkable poem can be
settled only by mternal evidence. From this it seems
probable that it was written in Aragon, because it contains
many words and phrases peculiar to the border country of
the Proven9als, •• and that it dates from the latter half of
the fourteenth century, because the fourfold rhyme is
hardly found later in such verses, and because the rudeness
of the language might indicate even an earlier period, if
the tale had come from Castile. But in whatever period
we may place it, it is a curious and interesting production.
It has the directness and simplicity of the age to which it
is attributed, mingled sometimes with a tenderness rarely
found in ages so violent Its pastoral air, too^ and its
preservation of Oriental manners, harmonize well with the
Arabian feelings that prevail throughout the work ; while
in its spirit, and occasionally in its moral tone, it shows the
confusion of the two religions which then prevailed in
Spain, and that mixture of the Eastern and Western forms
of civilization which afterwards gives somewhat of its
colouring to Spanish poetry. *®
The last poem belonging to these earliest specimens of
Castilian literature is the " Rimado de Palacio," on the
duties of kings and nobles in the government of the state,
with sketches of the manners and vices of the times, which,
as the poem maintains, it is the duty of the great to rebuke
and reform. It is chiefly written in the four-line stanzas
of the period to which it belongs ; and, beginning with a
penitential confession of its author, goes on with a discussion
E fueae alU el negro, e obolo mal ferido, AfallezioMles el sol al on de mediodia,
E luego en aqaelfa on caio amortesido ; No vedian por do ir con la mercaderia.
Dijo, ** Tu eres malo, e ladron conpilido ; POema de Joa6, MS. ^
Anai not lo dijeron tus aeilozee que te habieron ^ This is apparent also in the addi-
**^*^'^*" tion sometimes made of an o or an a
Dijo Jiuuf : " No .oi maio. ni ladron. to a word ending with a Consonant,
Mas, aani ias mi madre, e bengola a dar per- as mercciderO fOF mercador.
d4
*" Thus, the merchant who buys
Q^^Swi^^tete^ng^^'trtnbkau maldi. Joscph talks of Palestine as **the
don." Holy Land/' and Pharaoh talks of
Andaron aquella noche faaU otro dia, making JoSCph a Count. But the
Entorbioeelee el mnndo, gran bento corria. general tone IS Oriental.
92 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
of the ten commandments, the seven deadly sins, the seven
works of mercy, and other religious subjects ; after which
it treats of the government of a state, of royal counsellors,
of merchants, of men of learning, tax-gatherers, and others ;
and then ends, as it began, with exercises of devotion. Its
author is Pedro Lopez de Ayala, the chronicler, of whom
it is enough to say here, that he was among the most dis-
tinguished Spaniards of his time, that he held some of the
highest offices of the kingdom under Peter the Cruel,
Henry the Second, John the First, and Henry the Third,
and that he died in 1407, at the age of seventy-five/^
The " Rimado de Palacio,** which may be translated
" Court Rhymes,** was the production of difierent periods
of Ayala's life. Twice he marks the year in which he
was writing, and from these dates we know that parts of
it were certainly composed in 1398 and 1404, while yet
another part seems to have been written during his impri-
sonment in England, which foUowed the defeat of Henry
of Trastamara by the Duke of Lancaster, in 1367. On
the whole, therefore, the " Rimado de Palacio " is to be
placed near the conclusion of the fourteenth century, and,
by its author*s sufferings in an English prison, reminds us
both of the Duke of Orleans and of James the First of
Scotland, who, at the same time and uuder similar cir-
cumstances, showed a poetical spirit not unlike that of the
great Chancellor of Castile.
In some of its subdivisions, particularly in those that
have a lyrical tendency, the Rimado resembles some of
the lighter poems of the Archpriest of Hita. Others are
composed with care and gravity, and express the solemn
thoughts that filled him during his captivity. But, in
general, it has a quiet, didactic tone, such as beseems its
subject and its age ; one, however, in which we occasion-
** For the Rimado de Palacio, see* consists of 1619 stanzas. For notices
Routerwek, trwl. de Cortina, Tom. of Ayala, see Chap. IX.
I., pp. 138.154. The whole poem
Chjlp. V. EL BIMADO DE PALACIO. 93
ally find a satirical spirit that could not be suppressed
when the old statesman discussed the manners that ofiended
him. Thus, speaking of the LetradoSj or lawyers, he
says : — **
When entering on a lawsoit, if you ask for their advice,
They at down very solemnly, their brows fall in a trice.
** A question grave is this," they say, '* and asks for labour nice ;
To the Council it must go, and much management implies.
'* I think, perhaps, in time, I can help you in the thing,
By dint of labour long and g^evous studying ;
But other duties I must leave, away all business fling.
Your case alone must study, and to you alone must cling.*' **
Somewhat farther on, when he speaks of justice, whose
administration had been so lamentably neglected in the
civil wars during which he lived, he takes his graver tone,
and speaks with a wisdom and gentleness we should hardly
have expected : —
True justice is a noble thing, that merits all renown ;
It fills the land with people, checks the guilty with its frown ;
But kings, that should uphold its power, in thoughtlessness look down,
And forget the precious jewel that gems their honoured crown.
And many think by cruelty its duties to fulfil,
But their wisdom all is cunning, for justice doth no ill ;
With pity and with truth it dwells, and faithful men will still
From punishment and pain turn back, as sore against their will. **
*■ Letrado has continued to be used ™«' *' <^* qn«rti<m « «ta, grant tnbiyo
to mean a ktwper in Spanish down to q pie JtoiSi inengo, ea ataii« « to el eonwjo.
our day, as clerk has to mean a ivriter <• yo piento qae podrift aaai aigo ayudw,
in Enflrlish, though the original signi- Tomando grant tnb^ mb libra eatudiar ;
- ^ ° r L au Z. jzo!^,^*. ii7k^« Wa« todot mia negodoa me conviene i dezar,
fication of both was dlfierent. When g ^Um^ntm en aquaite Tueatro pleyto mti-
Sancho goes to his island, he is said to diar."
be " parte de letrado, parte de Capi- ♦* The original reads thus : —
tan;** and GuiUen de Castro, in his Aqui/abiadelaJiuticia.
''Mai Casados de Valencia," Act Jaetieia aoe es Tirtud atan noble e loada,
III., «ay» of .^^t ««ue. " engaiSo S:.S±S?^^^
COmO letrado. A descnptlOn or blendo pledn preeioaa de tu corona onrrada.
Letrados, worthy of Tacitus for its Machoa ha que por cmeea euydan insticia fer ;
Ag^n eflrirp U tn h« fniind in thft Ma« pecan en la mafia, ca juaticia ha de ser
deep satire, IS to DeiOUna m ine ContSapiednt, e U verdat Wen .aber :
first book of Mendoza S ** Uuerra de A1 fer U exeeudon ilempre ee han de doler. Z
Granada." Don Jos^ Amador de los Rioa
*■ The passage Is in Cortina's notes has given further extracts from the
to Bouterwek, and begins: — Rimado de Palacio in a pleasant
„. . . ^ , ^ J. 11 , paper on it in the Semanano Pin-
Si qulnen tobie an pleyto d' elioa arer conaejo, f^Jl.,^ im^AJiA iqat *v ^n
Pd^enee •olemnmente. laego abaxan el ecgo: tOTOSCO, Madnd, 1847, p. 411.
94 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
There is naturally a good deal in the Bimado de Pala-
cio that savours of statesmanship ; as, for instance, nearly
all that relates to royal favourites, to war, and to the man-
ners of the palace ; but the general air of the poem^ or
rather of the different short poems that make it up, is
fisdrly represented in the preceding passages. It is grave,
gentle, and didactic, with now and then a few lines of a
simple and earnest poetical feeling, which seem to belong
quite as much to their age as to their author.
We have now gone over a considerable portion of the
earliest Castilian literature, and quite completed an exami-
nation of that part of it which, at first epic, and afterwards
didactic, in its tone, is found in long, irregular verses, with
quadruple rhymes. It is all curious. Much of it is pic-
turesque and interesting; and when, to what has been
already examined, we shall have added the baUads and
chronicles, the romances of chivalry and the drama, the
whole will be found to constitute a broad basis, on which
the genuine literary culture of Spain has rested ever since.
But, before we go farther, we must pause an instant,
and notice some of the peculiarities of the period we have
just considered. It extends from a little before the year
1200 to a little aft;er the year 1400 ; and, both in its poe-
try and prose, is marked by features not to be mistaken.
Some of these features were peculiar and national ; others
were not Thus, in Provence, which was long united with
Aragon, and exercised an influence throughout the whole
Peninsula, the popular poetry, from its light-heartedness,
was called the Gaya ScienciOj and was essentially unlike
the grave and measured tone, heard over every other, on
the Spanish side of the mountains ; in the more northern
parts of France, a garrulous, story-telling spirit was para-
mount ; and in Italy, Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio had
just appeared, unlike all that had preceded them, and all
that was anywhere contemporary with their glory. On the
Chap. V. EARLY CASTILIAN UTERATURE. 95
other hand, however, several of the characteristics of the
earliest Castilian literature, such as the chronicling and
didactic spirit of most of its long poems, its protracted,
irregular verses, and its redoubled rhymes, belong to the
old Spanish bards in common with those of the countries
we have just enumerated, where, at the same period, a
poetical spirit was struggling for a place in the elements
of their unsettled civilization.
But there are two traits of the earliest Spanish literature
which are so separate and peculiar, that they must be no-
ticed from the outset, — religious faith and knightly loyalty,
— traits which are hardly less apparent in the " Partidas *'
of Alfonso the Wise, in the stories of Don John Manuel,
in the loose wit of the Archpriest of Hita, and in the
worldly wisdom of the Chancellor Ayala, than in the pro-
fessedly devout poems of Berceo and in the professedly
chivalrous chronicles of the Cid and Fernan Gonzalez.
They are, therefore, from the earliest period, to be marked
among the prominent features in Spanish literature.
Nor should we be surprised at this. The Spanish na-
tional character, as it has existed from its first development
down to our own days, was mainly formed in the earlier part
of that solemn contest which began the moment the Moors
landed beneath the Rock of Gibraltar, and which cannot
be said to have ended until, in the time of Philip the
Third, the last remnants of their unhappy race were cruelly
driven from the shores which their fathers, nine centuries
before, had so unjustifiably invaded. During this contest, and
especially during the two or three dark centuries when the
earliest Spanish poetry appeared, nothing but an invincible
religious faith, and a no less invincible loyalty to their own
princes, could have sustained the Christian Spaniards in
their disheartening stru^le against their infidel oppressors.
It was, therefore, a stem necessity which made these two
high qualities elements of the Spanish national character
— a character all whose energies were for ages devoted to
96 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. PniOD I.
the one grand object of their prayers as Christians and
their hopes as patriots, the expulsion of their hated in-
vaders.
But Castilian poetry was, from the first, to an extraor-
dinary degree, an outpouring of the popular feeling and
character. Tokens of religious submission and knightly
fidelity, akin to each other in their birth and often relying
on each other for strength in their trials, are, therefore,
among its earliest attributes. We must not, then, be sur-
prised if we hereafter find, that submission to the Church
and loyalty to the king constantly break through the mass
of Spanish literature, and breathe their spirit from nearly
every portion of it, — not, indeed, without such changes in
the mode of expression as the changed condition of the
country in successive ages demanded, but still always so
strong in their original attributes as to show that they sur-
vive every convulsion of the state, and never cease to move
onward by their first impulse. In truth, while their very
early development leaves no doubt that they are national,
their nationality makes it all but inevitable that they
should become permanent
Chap. VI. EARLY POPULAB LITERATURE. 97
CHAPTER VI.
FOUB ClASSSS of THK mobs POPULAB EABLT LlTEBATIBE. — FiBST ClA88,
Ballads. — Oldest Fobm op Castilian Poetbt.— Theobies abovt
TUEiB Obigin. — Not Ababic. — Tueib Metbjcal Fobm. — Redondillas.
— Asonaktes. — National. — Spbead of the Ballad Fobm. — Name.
— Eablt Notices of Ballads. — Ballads of the Sixteenth Centubt,
AND LATEB.-TbADITIONAL AND LONO CNWBITTEN. APPEABED FIBST IN
THB CaNCIONEBOS, THEN IN THE RoMANCEBOS. — ^ThB OLD COLLECTIONS
THB BEST.
Everywhere in Europe, during the period we have just
gone over, the courts of the different sovereigns were the
principal centres of refinement and civilization. From
accidental circumstances, this was peculiarly the case in
Spain during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. On
the throne of Castile, or within its shadow, we have seen a
succession of such poets and prose-writers as Alfonso the
Wise, Sancho, his son, Don John Manuel, his nephew, and
the Chancellor Ayala, to say nothing of Saint Ferdinand,
who preceded them all, and who, perhaps, gave the first
decisive impulse to letters in the centre of Spain and at
the North. '
But the literature produced or encouraged by these and
other distinguished men, or by the higher clergy, who,
with them, were the leaders of the state, was by no means
the only literature that then existed within the barrier of
* Alfonso el Sabio says of his fa- and knew who was skilled in them
ther, St. Ferdinand : ** And, more- and who was not." (Setenario, Pa-
over, he liked to have men about him leographla, pp. 80-83, and p. 76.)
who knew how to make verses (/ro&or) See, also, what is said hereafter,
and sing, and Jongleurs, who knew when we come to speak of Provencal
how to play on instruments. For in literature in Spain, Chap. XVI
such things he took great pleasure,
VOL. I. H
98 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
the Pyrenees. On the contrary, the spirit of poetry was,
to an extraordinary degree, abroad throughout the whole
Peninsula, so far as it had been rescued from the Moors,
animating and elevating all classes of its Christian popula-
tion. Their own romantic history, whose great events had
been singularly the results of popular impulse, and bore
everywhere the bold impress of the popular character, had
breathed into the Spanish people this spirit; a spirit which,
beginning with Pelayo, had been sustained by the appear-
ance, from time to time, of such heroic forms as Fernan
Gonzalez, Bernardo del Carpio, and the Cid. At the
point of time, therefore, at which we are now arrived, a
more popular literature, growing directly out of the en-
thusiasm which had so long pervaded the whole mass of
the Spanish people, began naturally to appear in the
country, and to assert for itself a place, which, in some of
its forms, it has successfully maintained ever since.
What, however, is thus essentially popular in its sources
and character, — what, instead of going outfrom the more ele-
vated classes of the nation, was neglected or discountenanced
by them, — is, from its very wildness, little likely to take
well-defined forms, or-to be traced, from its origin, by the
dates and other proofe which accompany such . portions of
the national literature as fell earlier under the protection of
the higher orders of society. But though "we may not be
able to make out an exact arrangement or a detailed history
of what was necessarily so free and always so little watched,
it can still be distributed into four different classes, and
will aflFord tolerable materials for a notice of its progress
and condition under each.
These four classes are, first, the Ballads, or the poetry,
both narrative and lyrical, of the common people, from the
earliest times ; second, the Chronicles, or the half-genuine,
half-fabulous histories of the great events and heroes of
the national annals, which, though originally begun by
authority of the state, were always deeply imbued with the
Chap. VI, THE NATIONAL BALLADS. 99
popular feelings and character ; third, the Romances op
Chivalry, intimately connected with both the others, and,
after a time, as passionately admired as either by the whole
nation ; and, fourth, the Drama, which, in its origin, has
always been a popular and religious amusement, and
was hardly less so in Spain than it was in Greece or in
France.
These four classes compose what was generally most
valued in Spanish literature during the latter part of the
fourteenth century, the whole of the fifteenth, and much of
the sixteenth. They rested on the deep foundations of the
national character, and therefore, by their very nature,
were opposed to the Proven9al, the Italian, and the courtly
schools, which flourished during the same period, and
which will be subsequently examined.
The Ballads. — We begin with the ballads, because it
cannot reasonably be doubted that poetry, in the present
Spanish language, appeared earliest in the ballad form.
And the first question that occurs in relation to them is
the obvious one, why this was the case. It has been sug-
gested, in reply, that there was probably a tendency to this
most popular form of composition in Spain at an age even
much more remote than that of the origin of the present
Spanish language itself;* that such a tendency may, per-
haps, be traced back to those indigenous bards of whom
only a doubtful tradition remained in the time of Strabo ; '
and that it may be seen to emerge again in the Leonine
and other rhymed Latin verses of the Gothic period, * or
• The Edinburgh Review, No. 146, * Arpote de Molina (Discurso de la
on Lockhart's Ballads, contains the Poesfa Castellana, in Conde Lucanor,
ablest statement of this theory. ed. 1576, f. 93. a) may be cited to
' The passage in Strabo here re- this point ; and one who believed it
ferred to, which is in Book III. p. 139*, tenable might also cite the <* Cr6nica
(ed. Casaubon, fol., 1620,) is to be General," (ed. 1604, Parte II., f.
taken in connexion with the passage 265,) where, speaking of the Gothic
Cp. 151) in which he says that both kingdom, and mourning its fall, the
the language and its poetry were Chronicle says, ** Forgotten are its
wholly lost in his time. songs, (caiitareSyY' etc.
H 2
100 HI§TORy OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
in that more ancient and obscure Basque poetry, of which
the little that has been preserved to us is thought to breathe
a spirit countenancing such conjectures. * But these and
similar suggestions have so slight a foundation in recorded
facts, that they can be little relied on. The one more fre-
quently advanced is, that the Spanish ballads, such as we
now have them, are imitations from the narrative and
lyrical poetry of the Arabs, with which the whole southern
part of Spain for ages resounded ; and that, in fact, the
very form in which Spanish ballads still appear is Arabic,
and is to be traced to the Arabs in the East, at a period
not only anterior to the invasion of Spain, but anterior to
the age of the Prophet. This is the theory of Conde.*
But though, from the air of historical pretension with
which it presents itself, there is something in this theory
that bespeaks our favour, yet there are strong reasons that
forbid our assent to it. For the earliest of the Spanish
ballads, concerning which alone the question can arise,
have not at all the characteristics of an imitated literature.
Not a single Arabic original has been found for any one of
them ; nor, so far as we know, has a single passage of
Arabic poetry, or a single phrase from any Arabic writer,
entered directly into their composition. On the contrary,
their freedom, their energy, their Christian tone and
chivalrous loyalty, announce an originality and inde-
* W. von Humboldt, in the Mithri- yet more positively : " In the versi-
dates of Adelung and Vater, Berlin, fieation of our Castilian ballads and
1817, 8vo., Tom. IV. p. 854, and ««^/V/i//a«, we have received from the
Argote dc Molina, ut sup., f. 93; — Arabs an exact type of their versos.'*
but the Basque verses the latter gives And again he says, " From the period
cannot be older than 1322, and were, of the infancy of our poetry, we have
therefore, quite as likely to be imitated rhymed verses accoroing to the mea-
from the Spanish as to have been them- gures used by tfke Arabs l^ore the times
selves the subjects of Spanish imitation. qfthe Koran.** This is the work, 1
' Dominacion de los Arabcs, Tom. suppose, to which Blanco White al-
I., Prologo, pp. xviii.-xix., p. 169, ludes (Variedades, Tom. II. pp. 45,
and other places. But in a manu- 46). The theory of Conde has been
script preface to a collection which he otlten approved. See Retroepectivc
called ** Poesfas Orientales traducidas Review, Tom. IV. p. 31, the Spanish
por Jos. Ant. Conde," and which he translation of Bouten»'ek, Tom. I. p.
never published, he expresses himself 164, etc.
Chap. VI. ORIGIN AND FORM OF BALLADS. 101
pendence of character that prevent us from believing they
could have been in any way materially indebted to the
brilliant, but effeminate, literature of the nation to whose
spirit everything Spanish had, when they first appeared,
been for ages implacably opposed. It seems, therefore,
that they must, of their own nature, be as original as any
poetry of modem times ; containing, as they do, within
themselves proofs that they are Spanish by their birth,
natives of the soil, and stained with all its variations. For
a long time, too, subsequent to that of their first appearance,
they continued to exhibit the same elements of nationality;
so that, until we approach the fall of Granada, we find in
them neither a Moorish tone, nor Moorish subjects, nor
Moorish adventures ; nothing, in short, to justify us in
supposing them to have been more indebted to the culture
of the Arabs than was any other portion of the early
Spanish literature.
Indeed, it does not seem reasonable to seek, in the East
or elsewhere, a foreign origin for the mere form of the
Spanish ballads. Their metrical structure is so simple,
that we can readily believe it to have presented itself as
soon as verse of any sort was felt to be a popular want
They consist merely of those eight-syllable lines which are
composed with great facility in other languages as well as
the Castilian, and which in the old ballads are the more
easy, as the number of feet prescribed for each verse is
little regarded.' Sometimes, though rarely, they are
' Argote de Molina (Discurso sobre The only example he cites in proof
la Poesia Castellana, in Conde Luca- of this position is the Odes of Ron-
nor, 1575, f. 92) will have it that the sard, — " the most excellent Ronsard,"
ballad verse of Spain is quite the as he calls him, — then at the height
same with the eight-syllable verse in of his euphuistical reputation in
Greek, Latin, Italian, and French ; France ; but Ronsard's odes are mi-
" but," he adds, "it is properly scrably unlike the freedom and soirit
native to Spain, in whose language it of the Spanish ballads. (See Odes
is found earlier than in any other deRonsard, Paris, 1573, 18mo., Tom.
modem tongue, and in Spanish alone IL pp. 62, 139.) The nearest
it has all the grace, gentleness, and approach that I recollect to the mere
spirit that are more peculiar to the wc/wiircof the ancient Spanish ballad,
Spanish genius than to any other." where there was no thought of imi-
102
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period I.
broken into stanzas of four lines, thence called redondillas
or roundelays; and some of them have rhymes in the
second and fourth lines of each stanza, or in the first and
fourth, as in the similar stanzas of other modem languages.
Their prominent peculiarity, however, and one which
they have succeeded in impressing upon a very large
portion of all the national poetry, is one which, being
found to prevail in no other literature, may be claimed
to have its origin in Spain, and becomes, therefore, an
important circumstance in the history of Spanish poetical
culture. ®
The peculiarity to which we refer is that of the aso-
nante^ — an imperfect rhyme confined to the vowels, and
beginning with the last accented one in the line ; so that it
embraces sometimes only the very last syllable, and some-
times goes back to the penultimate or even the ante-
penultimate. It is contradistinguished from the consonante,
tating it, is in a few of the old French
Fabliaux, in Chaucer's ** House of
Fame/' and in some passages of Sir
Walter Scott's poetry. Jacob Grimm,
in his ** Silva de Romances Viejos,"
(Vienna, 1816, 18nio.,) taken chiefly
from the collection of 1655, has
printed the ballads he gives us as if
their lined were origuially of fourteen
or sixteen syllables ; so that one of
his lines embraces two of those in the
old Romauceros. Ilis reason wus,
that their epic nature and character
required such long verses, which are
in fact substantially the same with
those in the old ** Poem of the Cid."
But his theory, which was not gene-
rally adopted, is sufficiently answered
by V. A. Huber, in his excellent
tract, ** De Primitiva Cantilenarum
Populanum Epicurum (vulgo. Mo-
mances) apud Hispanos Formd,"
TBerolini, 1844, 4to.,)and in his pre-
NLce to his edition of the ** Chronica
del Ci«l," 1844.
■ The only suggestion I have noticed
affecting this statement is to be found
in the Ilepertorio Americano, (L6n-
dres, 1827, Tom. II. pp. 21, etc.,)
where the writer, w^ho, I believe, is
Don Andres Belio, endeavours to
trace the asonante to the ** Vita Ma-
thildis," a Latin poem of the twelfth
century, reprinted by Muratori, (lie-
rum I^icanim Scriptores, Mediolani,
1725, fol., Tom. V. pp. 335, etc.,)
and to a manuscript Anglo-Norman
poem, of the same century, on the
fabulous journey of Charlemagne to
Jerusalem. But the Latin poem is,
I believe, sinpular in this attempt,
and was, no doubt, wholly unknown
in Spain; and the Anglo-Norman
poem, which has since been pub-
lished by Michel, (London, 1836,
12mo.,) with curious notes, turns out
to be rhymedy though not carefully or
regularly. Raynouard, in the Jour-
nal des Savants, (February, 1833, p.
70,) made the same mistake with the
writer in the Ilepertorio ; probably in
conscouence of following nim. The
impertect rhyme of the ancient Gaelic
seems to have been dif!ereut from the
Spanish asonante^ and, at any rate,
can have had nothing to do with it.
Logan's Scottish Gael, London, 1831,
8vo., Vol. XL p. 241. .
Chap. VL ASONANTES. 103
or full rhyme, which is made both by the consonants and
vowels in the concluding syllable or syllables of the line,
and which is, therefore, just what rhyme is in English. *
Thus, feroz and furor ^ cdsa and abdrca^ infdmia and corir
trdria^ are good asonantes in the first and third ballads of
the Cid, just as mdl and desledl^ voldre and caqdre^ are
good consanantes in the old ballad of the Marquis of
Mantua, cited by Don Quixote. The asonante^ there-
fore, is something between our blank verse and our rhyme,
and the art of using it is easily acquired in a language like
the Castilian, abounding in vowels, and always giving to
the same vowel the same value. ^® In the old ballads, it
generally recurs with every other line; and, from the
facility with which it can be found, the same asonante is
frequently continued through the whole of the poem in
which it occurs, whether the poem be longer or shorter.
But even with this embarrassment, the structure of the
ballad is so simple, that, while Sarmiento has undertaken
to show how Spanish prose from the twelfth century down-
wards is often written unconsciously in eight--syllable aso-
nantes^ " Sepulveda in the sixteenth century actually
converted large portions of the old chronicles into the
same ballad measure, with little change of their original
• Cervantes, in his ** Amante Libe- duced before long into the use of the
rt\" coWsihem consonancias or cotiso- asonante y 9S there had been, in an-
nantes dijiniltosas. No doubt, their tiquity, into the use of the Greek and
greater difficulty caused them to be Latin measures, until the sphere of
less used than the asonantes. Juan the asonante became, as Clcmencin
de la Enzina, in his little treatise on well says, extremely wide. Thus, u
Castilian Verse, Cap. 7, written before and o were held to be asonante^ as in
1600, explains these two forms of Venf/s and Minos ; t and e, as in Pans
rhyme, and says that the old roman- and males; adiphthong witha vowel,
ces ** no van verdaderos consonantes." as eracia and almo, cuixas and btirlos ;
Curious remarks on the asonantes are and other similar varieties, which, in
to be found in Ronjifo, ** Arte Poetica the times of Lope de Vega and G6n-
Espanola," (Salamanca, 1592, 4to., gora, made the permitted combinations
Cap. 34,) and the additions to it in all but indefinite, and the com|X)sition
the edition of 1727 (4to., p. 418) ; to of asonante verses indefinitely easy,
which may well be joined the philo- Don Quixote, ed. Clcmencin, Tom.
sophical suggestions of Martinez de III. pp. 271, 272, note,
la Rosa, Obras, Paris, 1827, 12mo., " Poesia Espanola, Madrid, 1776,
Tom. L pp. 202-204. 4to., sec. 422-430.
*• A great poetic licence was intro-
104
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Pkeiod I.
phraseolc^ ; ** two circumstances which, taken together,
show indisputably that there can be no wide interval
between the common structure of Spanish prose and this
earliest form of Spanish verse. If to all this we add the
national recitatives in which the ballads have been sung
down to our own days, and the national dances by which
they have been accompanied, *' we shall probably be per-
suaded, not only that the form of the Spanish ballad is as
purely national in its origin as the dsonante^ which is its
prominent characteristic, but that this form is more happily
fitted to its especial purposes, and more easy in its practical
application to them, than any other into which popular
poetry has fallen in ancient or modem times. **
*' It would be easy to give many
rpociincns of ballads made from the
old chronicles, but for the present pur-
{XMc I will take only a few lines from
the " Cr6nica General," (Parte III.
f. 77. a, ed. 1604,) where Velasquez,
persuading his nephews, the Infantes
de Lara, to go against the Moors,
despite of certain ill auguries, says,
'* Sobrinos estos agueros que oystes
mucho son bucnos; ca nos dan a
entender que ganaremas muy gran
algo de lo ageno, c de lo nvestro non
perderemos ; o Jfizol muy mal Don
Nuho Salido ^i non venir canUnuco,
c mande Dios que se arrepientay* etc.
Now, in SopuIve<la, (Romances, An-
vcn*, 1561, 18mo., f. 11,) in the
ballad lieginning ** Llcgados son los
Infantes," we have these lines : —
Sttbrimu emt aaufrot
Parm not ^nn bi«n nerUn^
Porque no$ dan a entemder
Que bien no* Mieedieim.
Oanaremoa gramde vietorb,
Nada no se mrdiera.
Dim NuHo to Mmo wial
Que cmvmMco non venial
iinnde Dios que se arrepwUti, ete.
'^ Duran, Romances Caballarescos,
Madrid, 1832, 12mo., PnSlogo, Tom.
I., pp. xvi.,xvii.,with xxzv., note(14).
** The |N*culiarities of a metrical
form 8o iMitircly national can, I sup-
pasc, Im» well understood only by an
example ; and I will, therefore, give
here, in the original Spanish, a few
lines from a spiritcHl and well-known
ballad of GtSngora, which I select be-
cause they have been translated into
EngUsh asonantes by a writer in the
Retrospective Review, whose excel-
lent version follows, and may serve
still further to explain and illustrate
the measure : —
Aqael rmyo de U guerrm,
Alferea mayor deliryius
Tan i^^aUn eomo Tmliente,
Y Un noble como flrrf#,
De los moio* embidiMlo,
Y admirado de los rir jps,
Y de los niAos y el rulgo
Sefialado con el di do,
CI querido de las damas,
Por cortesano v discr^ tu,
llijo hasU alii regalado
De la fortuna y el tii mpo, etc.
ObnM, Madrid, 1654, 4to., f. 83.
This rhyme is perfectly perceptible
to any ear well accustomed to Spanish
poetry ; and it must be admitted, I
think, that when, as in the ballad
cited, it embraces two of the conclud-
ing vowels of the line, and is continued
through the whole poem, the effect,
even upon a foreigner, is that of a
grracefuj ornament, which satisfies
without fatiguing. In English, how-
ever, where our vowels have such va-
rious i)ower8, and where the consonants
preponderate, the case is quite differ-
ent. This is plain in the following
translation of the preceding lines, made
with spirit and truth, but failing to
produce the effect of the Snanish. In-
deed, the rhyme can hardly be said to
bt» i»ercej»tible except to the eye,
Chap. VI. EARLY HISTORY OF BALLADS. 105
A metrical form so natural and obvious became a
favourite at once, and continued so. From the ballads it
soon passed into other departments of the national poetry,
especially the lyrical. At a later period the great mass
of the true Spanish drama came to rest upon it ; and be-
fore the end of the seventeenth century more verses had
probably been written in it than in all the other measures
used by Spanish poets. Lope de Vega declared it to be
fitted for all styles of composition, even the gravest ; and
his judgment was sanctioned in his own time, and has been
justified in ours, by the application of this peculiar form of
verse to long epic stories. ** The eight-syllable asonante^
therefore, may be considered as now known and used in
every department of Spanish poetry ; and since it has,
from the first, been a chief element in that poetry, we may
well believe it will continue such as long as what is
most original in the national genius continues to be cul-
tivated.
Some of the ballads embodied in this genuinely Castilian
measure are, no doubt, very ancient. That such ballads
existed in the earliest times, their very name, Romances^
may intimate ; since it seems to imply that they were, at
though the measure and its cadences Obras Sueltas, Tom. IV., Madrid,
are nicely managed. 1776, 4to., p. 176,) ** I regard them
" He the thunderbolt of bmttle, ^ Capable, not onljr of expressing and
He the flnt Aiferex titiwi, setting forth any idea whatever with
Z' SeToSTj*" S^iSi*; easy sweetness, tut carrying through
He who by our youth is envied, any grave action m a versified poem."
Honoured bv our gravest aMcenu. Hig prediction was fulfilled in his own
By our youth in crowds distinguished .• S ^i ., -ri i ** i* ir
bJ* thousand pointed fingirrs; tnne by the ** Fcmando of Veray
He beloved by Tsirest damsels, FigUCroa, a long cpic published in
^^J^Z :?Sr.":;3 fo««o.. 1.632. "-d .i" ours l>y the very attrac-
Bearing all their gifts divtnrst," etc. tive narrative poom of Don Angci de
Retrospective Review, VoL IV., p. 35. Saavedra, Duke de Rivas, entitled " El
Another specimen of English aso- MoroExposito,'*intwo volumes, 1834.
tmntes is to be found in Bowring's The example of Lope de Vega, in the
** Ancient Poetry of Spain " ^London, latter part of the sixteenth and begin-
1824, 12mo., p. 107) ; but tne result ning of the seventeenth centuries, no
is substantially the same, and always doubt did much to give currency to
nmst be, from the diflfercnce between the asonantes, which, from that time,
the two languages. have been more used than they were
•* Speaking of the ballad verses, ho earlier,
says, (Prologo i. las Rimas Ilumanas,
106 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period L
some period, the only poetry known in the Romance lan-
guage of Spain ; and such a period can have been no other
than the one immediately following the formation of the
language itself. Popular poetry of some sort — and more
probably ballad poetry than any other — was sung concern-
ing the achievements of the Cid as early as 1147-^^ A
century later than this, but earlier than the prose of the
" Fuero Juzgo," Saint Ferdinand, after the capture of
Seville in 1248, gave allotments or repartimieiitos to two
poets who had been with him during the siege, Nicolas de
los Romances^ and Domingo Abad de los Romances, the
first of whom continued for some time afterwards to inha-
bit the rescued city and exercise his vocation as a poet. "
In the next reign, or between 1252 and 1280, such poets
are again mentioned. A joglaressa^ or female ballad-
singer, is introduced into the poem" of " ApoUonius,"
which is supposed to have been written soon after the year
1250; ^"^ and in the Code of Laws of Alfonso the Tenth,
prepared about 1260, good knights are commanded to lis-
ten to no poetical tales of the ballad-singers except such as
relate to feats of arms. " In the " General Chronicle,"
** Sec the barbarous Latin poem as Mariana tolls us, a hundred thousand
printed by Sandoval, at the end of his Moors emigrated or were expelled, was
'* Ilistoria de los Reyes de Costilla/' a serious matter, and the doeuments
cte. (Pamplona, 1615, fol.yf. 193). It in relation to it seem to have been
is on the taking of Almeria in 1147, ample and exact. (Zuiiiga, Preface,
and seems to have been written by an and pp. 31, 62, 66, etc.) The
eye-witness. meaning of the word Romance in this
*' The authority for this is sufficient, place b a more doubtful matter. Hut
though the fact itself of a man being if any kind of popular poetry is meant
named from the sort of poetry he by it, what was it likely to be-, at so
com])osed is a singular one. it is early a period, but ballad poi^try ?
found in Diego Ortiz de Zufiiga, The verses, however, which C)rtiz de
** Anales Ecclesiasticos y Seglares de Zuniga, on the authority of Areote do
Scvilla," (Sovilla, 1677, foL, pp. 14, Molina, attributes (p. 815) to Domin-
90, 815, etc.) He took it, he says, go Abad de los Romances, are not
from the original documents of the his ; they are by the Arciprcste de
rejHirtimientoSy M'hich he describes Hita. See Sanchez, Tom. IV., p.
luirmtcly as having been used by 166.
Argote de Molina, (Preface and p. " Stanzas 426, 427, 483-495, ed.
81 5\) and from documents in the Paris, 1844, 8vo.
archives of the Cathedral. The "'PartidaII.,Tit. XXI., Lcyes 20,
repnrtimierUo, or distribution of lands 21. '* Neither let the singers (jugla-
and other spoils in a city, from which, res) rehearse before them other songs
Chap. VI. EARLY HISTORY OF BALLADS. 107
also, compiled soon afterwards by the same prince, men-
tion is made more than once of poetical gestes or tales ;
of " what the ballad-singers (Jugtares) sing in their chants,
and tell in their tales ;" and ** of what we hear the ballad-
singers tell in their chants ;** — implying that the achieve-
ments of Bernardo del Carpio and Charlemagne, to which
these phrases refer, were as familiar in the popular poetry
used in the composition of this fine old chronicle as we
know they have been since to the whole Spanish people
through the very ballads we still possess. *°
It seems, therefore, not easy to escape from the conclu-
sion, to which Argote de Molina, the most sagacious of
the early Spanish critics, arrived nearly three centuries
ago, that ^^ in these old ballads is, in truth, perpetuated the
memory of times past, and that they constitute a good part
of those ancient Castilian stories used by King Alfonso in his
history ;" ^* a conclusion at which we should arrive, even
now, merely by reading with care large portions of the
Chronicle itself."
One more fact will conclude what we know of their
early history : it is, that ballads were found among the
poetry of Don John Manuel, the nephew of Alfonso the
Tenth, which Argote de Molina possessed, and intended
to publish, but which is now lost. *^ This brings our slight
knowledge of the whole subject down to the death of Dpn
John in 1347- But from this period — the same with that
(canteires) than those of military "* The end of the Second Part of
gestes, or those that relate feats of the General Chronicle, and much of
arms." The juglares — a word that the third, relating to the great heroes
comes from the Latin ioct//am— were of the early Castilian and Leoncse
originally strolling ballad-singers, like history, seem to me to have been
the jongleurs J but afterwards sunk to indebted to older poetical materials,
be jesters and jugglers. Sec Clemen- ** Discurso, Conde Lucanor, ed.
cin*s curious note to Don Quixote, 1575, ff. 92. a, 93. b. The poetry con-
Parte II. c. 31. taincd in the Cancioncros Generales,
*" Cronica General, Valladolid, 1604, from 1511 to 1573, and bearing the
Parte III., if. 30, 33, 46. name of Don John Manuel, is, as we
** El Conde Lucanor, 1575. Dis- have already explained, the work of
curso de la Poes(a Castellana, por Don John Manuel of Portugal, who
Argote de Moluia, f. 93. a. died in 1524.
108 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Pebiod I.
of the Archpriest of Hita — we almost lose sight, not only
of the ballads, but of all genuine Spanish poetry, whose
strains seem hardly to have been heard during the horrors
of the reign of Peter the Cruel, the contested succession of
Henry of Trastamara, and the Portuguese wars of John
the First And even when its echoes come to us again in
the weak reign of John the Second, which stretches down
to the middle of the fifteenth century, it presents itself
with few of the attributes of the old national character. "
It is become of the court, courtly ; and, therefore, though
the old and true-hearted ballads may have lost none of the
popular favour, and were certainly preserved by the fidelity
of popular tradition, we find no fiirther distinct record of
them until the end of this century, and the beginning of
the one that followed, when the mass of the people, whose
feelings they embodied, rose to such a degree of considera-
tion, that their peculiar poetry came into the place to
which it was entitled, and which it has maintained ever
since. This was in the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella,
and of Charles the Fifth.
But these few historical notices of ballad poetry are,
except those which point to its early origin, too slight to
be of much value. Indeed until after the middle of the
sixteenth century, it is difficult to find ballads written by
known authors ; so that, when we speak of the Old Spanish
Ballads, we do not refer to the few whose period can be
settled with some accuracy, but to the great mass found in
the ** Komanceros Generales " and elsewhere, whose authors
and dates are alike unknown. This mass consists of above
a thousand old poems, unequal in length and still more un-
equal in merit, composed between the period when verse
first appeared in Spain and the time when such verse as
that of the ballads was thought worthy to be written down ;
the whole bearing to the mass of the Spanish people, their
** The Marquis of Santillana, in I.,) siicaks of the RtnmmcesecantareSy
his well-known letter, (Sanchez, Tom. but very slightly.
Chap.vt. ballads preserved by tradition. 109
feelings, passions, and character, the same relations that
a single ballad bears to the character of the individual au-
thor who produced it.
For a long time, of course, these primitive national bal-
lads existed only in the memories of the common people,
from whom they sprang, and were preserved through suc-
cessive ages and long traditions only by the interests and
feelings that originally gave them birth. We cannot, there-
fore, reasonably hope that we now read any of them exactly
as they were first composed and sung, or that there are
many to which we can assign a definite age with any good
degree of probability. No doubt we may still possess
some which, with little change in their simple thoughts and
melody, were among the earliest breathings of that popular
enthusiasm which, between the twelfth and the fifteenth
centuries, was carrymg the Christian Spaniards onward to
the emancipation of their country; ballads which were
heard amidst the valleys of the Sierra Morena, or on the
banks of the Turia and the Guadalquivir, with the first
tones of the language that has since spread itself through
the whole Peninsula, But the idle minstrel who, in such
troubled times, sought a precarious .subsistence from cot-
tage to cottage, or the thoughtless soldier, who, when the
battle was over, sung its achievements to his guitar at the
door of his tent, could not be expected to look beyond the
passing moment ; so that, if their unskilled verses were
preserved at all, they must have been preserved by those
who repeated them fi*om memory, changing their tone and
language with the changed feelings of the times and events
that chanced to recall them. Whatever, then, belongs to
this earliest period belongs, at the same time, to the un-
chronicled popular life and character of which it was a part ;
and although many of the ballads thus produced may have
survived to our own day, many more, undoubtedly, lie
buried with the poetical hearts that gave them birth.
This, indeed, is the great diflSculty in relation to all re-
110 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Pkbiod I.
searches concerning the oldest Spanish ballads. The very
excitement of the national spirit that warmed them into
life was the result of an age of such violence and suffering,
that the ballads it produced failed to command such an in-
terest as would cause them to be written down. Individual
poems, like that of the Cid, or the works of individual
authors, like those of the Archpriest of Hita or Don John
Manuel, were of course cared for, and, perhaps, from time
to time transcribed. But the popular poetry was neglected.
Even when the special " Cancioneros " — which were col-
lections of whatever verses the person who formed them
happened to fancy, or was able to find " — began to come
in fashion, during the reign of John the Second, the bad
taste of the time caused the old national literature to be so
entirely overlooked, that not a single ballad occurs in either
of them.
The first printed ballads, therefore, are to be sought in
the earliest edition of the '* Cancioneros Generales," com-
piled by Fernando del Castillo, and printed at Valencia
in 1511. Their number, including fragments and imita-
tions, is thirty-seven, of which nineteen are by authors
whose names are given, and who, like Don John Manuel
of Portugal, Alonso de Cartagena, Juan de la Enzina, and
Diego de San Pedro, are known to have flourished in the
period between 1450 and 1500, or who, like Lope de Sosa,
appear so often in the collections of that age, that they
may be fairly assumed to have belonged to it. Of the re-
mainder, several seem much more ancient, and are there-
fore more curious and important
The first, for instance, called " Count Claros," is the
fragment of an old ballad afterwards printed in full. It
is inserted in this Cancionero on account of an elaborate
* Cancicn Canzone, Chansos, in tori, Modena, 1829, 8vo., p. 29.) In
the Romance language, signified origi- this way, Candanero in Spanish was
nally any kind of poctiy, because all long understood to mean simply a
poetry, or almost all, was then sung. collection of i)oetry, — sometimes all
(Giovanni Galvani, Pocsia del Trova- by one author, sometimes by many.
Chip. VI. FIRST PRINTED BALLADS. 1 1 1
gloss made on it iii the Proven9al manner by Francisco
de Leon, as well as on account of an imitation of it by Lope
de Sosa, and a gloss upon the imitation by Soria ; all of
which follow, and leave little doubt that the ballad itself
had long been known and admired. The fragment, which
alone is curious, consists of a dialogue between the Count
Claros and his uncle, the Archbishop, on a subject and in
a tone which made the name of the Count, as a true lover,
pass almost into a proverb.
" It grieves me, Count, it grieves my heart,
That thus they urge thy fate ;
Since this fond guilt upon thy part
Was still no crime of state.
For all the errors love can bring
Deserve not mortal pain ;
And I have knelt before the king,
To free thee from thy chain.
But he, the king, with angry pride
Would hear no word I spoke ; ^
* The sentence is pronounced,* he cried ;
* Who may its power revoke ? *
The Infanta*s love you won, he says,
When you her guardian were.
O cousin, less, if you were wise.
For ladies you would care.
For he that labours most for them
Your fate will always prove ;
Since death or ruin none escape
Who trust their dangerous love."
** O uncle, uncle, words like these
A true heart never hears ;
For I would rather die to please
Than live and not be theirs." *•
«• The whole ballad, with a different P«*»« de vo», el Conde.
,. n^t 1 . 1 J. J Porque asm OS quieren matar ;
readmg of the passage here translated, porm,e ei yerro que hezistea
is in the Cancionero de Romances, No ftio mucho de cuipar ;
Sara^sa. 1560, 12mo Parte II. f^'^ZTS^VSr
f. 188, begmnmg ** Media noche era supiiqne por vos ai Rey,
por hilo." Often, however, as the Cw mandawe de librar ;
* 1 X !• xL Vt X /"ii Ma» el Rcy, con gran enojo,
adventurer of the Count Claros are No me quuien e«»char, etc.
alluded to in the old Sitanish poetry, ^. , . . ^ , . , „ , . ,
there is no trace of them in the old The beginnmg of this ballad in the
chronicles. The fragment in the text complete copy from the Saragossa
begins thus, in the Cancionero Gene- Romancero shows that it was com-
ral (1636, f. 106 a) :— I^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ known.
112
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period I.
The next is also a fragment, and relates, with great
simplicity, an incident which belongs to the state of society
that existed in Spain between the thirteenth and sixteenth
centuries, when flie two races were much mingled together
and always in conflict.
I was the Moorish maid, Morayma,
I was that maiden dark and iair, —
A Christian came, he seemed in sorrow,
Full of falsehood came he there.
Moorish he spoke, — he spoke it well, —
" Open the door, thou Moorish maid.
So shalt thou be by Allah blessed.
So shall I save my forfeit head."
*^ But how can I, alone and weak.
Unbar, and know not who is there ?"
** But I *m the Moor, the Moor Mazotc,
The brother of thy mother dear.
A Christian fell beneath my hand,
The Alcalde comes, he comes apace,
And if thou open not thy door,
I perish here before thy face."
I rose in haste, I rose in fear,
I seized my cloak, I missed my vest,
And, rushing to the &tal door,
I threw it wide at his behest.
The next is complete, and, from its early imitations and
ses, it must probably be quite ancient. It begins
"Fonte frida, Fonte frida," and is, perhaps, itself an
imitation of " Rosa fresca, Rosa fresca," another of the
early and very graceful lyrical ballads which were always
so popular.
«7 The forced alliteration of the first
lines, and the phraseology of the
whole, indicate the rudeness of the
veiy early Castilian : —
Yo men mom Monyma,
Morilla d' nn bel catar ;
Qiristiauo vino a mi puerta,
Cuvtada, por me engaflar.
HaUome en alganvla,
Como aqnel que la bien sabe :
** Ahima me laa pueitas. Mom,
Si Ala te guarde de mal 1 "
**Como te abrire, mesqaina.
Que no fe qui^n to wras ? *'
** Yo aoy el Moro Ma^ote,
Ilennano de la tu madre.
Que un Christiano dejo moerto ;
Tins mi venia el alcalde.
8ino me abret tn, mi vida,
A qui me verai matar."
Qnando eato oy, cnytada,
Comeneeme a levantar ;
Vistierame vn almexia.
No hallando mi brial ;
Fiienme pan la puerta,
Y abrila de par en par.
Cancionero General, 153&, f. 1 11. a.
Chap. VI. FIRST PRINTED BALLADS. 113
Cooling fountain, cooling fountain,
Cooling fountain, full of love !
Where the little birds all gather,
Thy refreshing power to prove ;
All except the widowed turtle
Full of grief, the turtle-dove.
There the traitor nightingale
All by chance once passed along,
Uttering words of basest falsehood
In his guilty, treacherous song :
'* If it please thee, gentle lady,
I thy servant-love would be.*'
*' Hence, begone, ungracious traitor,
Base deceiver, hence from me !
I nor rest upon green branches.
Nor amidst the meadow's flowers ;
The very wave my thirst that quenches
Seek I where it turbid pours.
No wedded love my soul shall know,
Lest children's hearts my heart should win ;
No pleasure would I seek for, no !
No consolation feel within ;
So leave me sad, thou enemy I
Thou foul and base deceiver, go !
For I thy love will never be,
Nor ever, fiilse one, wed thee, no !"
The parallel ballad of " Rosa fresca, Rosa fresca," is no
less simple and characteristic ; Rosa being the name of the
lady-love.
*^ Rose, fresh and fair, Rose, fresh and fiur.
That with love so bright dost glow,
When within my arms I held thee,
I could never serve thee, no !
And now that I would gladly serve thee,
I no more can see thee, no ! "
** The fault, my friend, the fiiult was thine, —
Thy fault alone, and not mine, no I
A message came, — ^the words you sent, —
Your servant brought it, well you know.
And nought of love, or loving bands,
But other words, indeed, he said :
That you, my friend, in Leon's lands
A noble dame had long since wed ; —
A lady fair, as fair could be ;
Iler children bright as flowers to see.'*
VOL. I. 1
114 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
<< Who told that tale, who spoke those words,
No truth he spoke, my lady, no !
For Castile's lands I never saw,
Of Leon*s mountains nothing know,
Save as a little child, I ween,
Too young to know what love should mean.'* **
Several of the other anonymous ballads in this little col-
lection are not less curious and ancient, among which may
be noted those beginning, " Decidme vos^pensamiento/* —
" Que por Mayo era por Mayo," — and " Durandarte,
Durandarte,** — together with parts of those beginning,
"Triste estaba el caballero," and "Amara yo una
Sefiora,** ^ Most of the rest, and all whose authors are
known, are of less value and belong to a later period.
The Cancionero of Castillo, where they appeared, was
enlarged and altered in eight subsequent editions, the last
of which was published in 1573 ; but in all of them this
little collection of ballads, as originally printed in the first
edition, remained by itself, unchanged, though in the
editions of newer poetry a modern ballad is occasionally
inserted. ^ It may, therefore, be doubted whether the
•These two ballads are in the One no quiwo •» lu waigm,
Cancionero of 1635, fF. 107 and 108 ; _ Ni c«arcontigo no.
both cvidenUy very old. The use of The other is as follows :—
carta in the last for an unwritten jjiio* ftjMtsa, Ro« ftwc«,
#> i> ^1. • T • Tkn irmiTiaa y con amor ;
message is one proof of this. I give gwmdo yo* tnrr en mla bmos,
the originals of ooth for their beauty. No vm rape ■enrJr. no I
Fonte Wda. fonte frida, <« Vuerti* fUe U culpa, amigo,
Pontc Wda, y con amor, Vueitia ftie. one mta/no I "^
Do todai la« a^eiiraf Emblartet me una carta,
V an tomar conaoladon, Con „„ ^u^t^ iervidor,
Sino en la tortolica,. y ^n luvar de recaudar,
Que tnu bmda y eon dolor. n dixera otra raion :
Vot ay fue a panar Querade. cattdo. amiffo,
P traylor del ruyaeftor ; ^lla en tierra* de L«5n ;
Laa palabras que el dezia g^e teneit mnffer hermoM,
Llenai wn de traicion ; y hijoa como ana flor."
" 8i tn qoisieaaet. Seilora, « Quj^n o. lo dixo. Sefiora,
J o "eria tu .eruidor. No voi dUo verdad. no I
»,\®^*-?f *y» «n««V^. Que yo nunea entre en CkttllU,
Malo, fkUo, engaflador, Nl alia en tierrai de Leon,
Que nl po^ en ramo Yerde si no quando era peqiioHo,
TurbU la bebia*?" *^ "** ** These ballads are in the edition
Que no quiero aver marido, of 1 635, On ff. 109, 1 1 1 , and 1 1 3.
Porqne hijoa no nay a, no ;
No quiero piaier con eiloe, ** Qnc of the most Spirited of these
Main, falM .mal traidor , begins thus (f. 3/ 3) I —
Chap. VI. OLDEST BALLAD-BOOKS. H5
General Caiicioneros did much to attract attention to the
ballad poetry of the country> especially when we bear in
mind that they are almost entirely filled with the works of
the conceited school of the period that produced them, and
were probably little known except among the courtly
classes, who placed small value on what was old and na-
tional in their poetical literature, '^
But while the Cancioneros were still in course of pub-
lication, a separate effort was made in the right direction
to preserve the old ballads, and proved successful. In
1550, Stevan G. de Nagera printed at Saragossa, in two
successive parts, what he called a " Sil va de Eomances," the
errors of which he partly excuses in his Preface, on the
ground that the memories of those from whom he gathered
the "ballads he publishes were often imperfect Here, then,
is the oldest of the proper ballad-books; one obviously
taken from the traditions of the country. It is, therefore,
the most curious and important of them all. A consider-
able number of the short poems it contains must, however,
be regarded only as fragments of popular ballads already
lost, while, on the contrary, that on the Count Claros is
the complete one, of which the Cancionero, published forty
years earlier, had given only such small portions as its
editor had been able to pick up ; both striking facts, which
show, in opposite ways, that the ballads here collected were
obtained, as the Preface says they were, from the memo-
ries of the people.
As might be anticipated from such an origin, their cha-
racter and tone are very various. Some are connected
with the fictions of chivalry, and the story of Charlemagne;
the most remarkable of which are those on Gayferos and
Ay.DiMdcmi tiemi. It was probably written by some
A^l^%Tj:i^' ' homesick follower of Philip II.
Ya no e« para mi. 8> gajv^ (Catalogue, London, 1826,
God of my native land, q^q j^q. 60) reckons nine Cancione-
O, once more set me free ! A iaU ''iri'L
For here, on England's soil. ros Gcnerales, the pnncipal of which
There ii no place for me. will be noticcd hereafter.
I 2
116
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period I.
Melisendra, on the Marquis of Mantua and on Count
Irlos. ^ Others, like that of the cross miraculously made
for Alfonso the Chaste, and that on the fall of Valencia,
belong to the early history of Spain, " and may well have
been among those old Castilian ballads which Argote de
Molina says were used in compiling the "General Chro-
nicle." And finally, we have that deep domestic tragedy
of Count Alarcos, which goes back to some period in the
national history or traditions of which we have no other
early record. " Few among them, even the shortest and
least perfect, are without interest ; as, for instance, the ob-
viously old one in which Virgil figures as a person punished
for seducing the afiections of a king's daughter. ** As speci-
mens, however, of the national tone which prevails in most
of the collection, it is better to read such ballads as that
upon the rout of Roderic on the eighth day of the battle
that surrendered Spain to the Moors, '• or that on Garci
■• Those on Gayferos begin, ** Es-
tabase la Condessa/' '^ Vamonos, dixo
nu tio/' and *^ Asscntado esta Gay-
feros." The two long ones on ihe
Marquis of Mantua and the Conde
d' Irlos begin, ** De Mantua salid el
Marquds/' and '* Estabase cl Conde
d' Irlos."
■• Compare the story of the angels
in disguise, who made the miraculous
cross for Alfonso, A. D. 794, as told
in the ballad, ** Reynando el Rev
Alfonso," in the Romancero of 1550,
with the same stoiy as told in the
"Crdnica General^' (1604, Parte
III. f. 29) ;— and compare the ballad,
** Apretada estk Valencia," (Ro-
mancero, 1550,) with the " Crdnica
del Cid," 1693, c. 183, p. 154.
•* It begins, " Retrayida est^ la
Infanta," (Romancero, 1550,) and is
one of the most tender and beautiful
ballads in any language. There are
translations of it by Bowring (p. 51)
and by Lockhart (Spanish Ballads,
London, 1823, 4to., p. 202). It has
been at least four times brought into
A dramatic form ; — viz., by Lope de
Vega, in his ** Fuerza liastimosa";
by Guillen de Castro ; by Mira do
Mcscua ; and by Jos^ J. Milanes, a
poet of Havana, whose works were
printed there in 1846 (3 vols. 8vo.) ; —
the three last giving their dramas sim-
ply the name of the ballad, — *' Conde
Alarcos." The best of them all is,
I think, that of Mira de Mescua, which
is found in Vol. V. of the " Comedias
Escogidas " (1653, 4to.) ; but that of
Miluics contains passages of very pas-
sionate poetry.
■* " Mandd el Rey prender Virgi-
lios" (Romancero, 1550). It is among
the very old ballads, and is full of the
loyalty of its time. Virgil, it is well
known, was treated, in the Middle
Ages, sometimes as a knight, and
sometimes as a wizard.
•• Compare the ballads beginning,
*^ Los Uuestes de Don Rodrigo," and
** Dcspues aue el Rey Don Rodrieo,"
with the ** Cr6nica del Rey Don Ro-
drigo y la Destruycion de Espafia"
(Alcald, 1587, foL, Capp. 238, 254).
There is a stirring translation of the
first by Lockhart, in his ** Ancient
Spanish Ballads,": (London, 1823,
4to., p. 5,) — a work of genius beyond
Chap. VI. OLDEST BALLAD-BOOKS. 1 1 7
Perez de Vargas, taken, probably, from the "General
Chronicle," and founded on a fact of so much consequence
as to be recorded by Mariana, and so popular as to be
referred to for its notoriety by Cervantes. ' '
The genuine ballad-book thus published was so successful,
that, in less than five years, three editions or recensions of
it appeared ; that of 1555, commonly called the Cancionero
of Antwerp, being the last, the amplest, and the best known.
Other similar coUections followed ; particularly one in nine
parts, which, between 1593 and 1597, were separately
published at Valencia, Burgos, Toledo, AlcaU, and Ma-
drid ; a variety of sources, to which we no doubt owe, not
only the preservation of so great a number of old ballads,
but much of the richness and diversity we find in their sub-
jects and tone ; — all the great divisions of the kingdom,
except the south-west, having sent in their long-accumulated
wealth to fill this first great treasure-house of the national
popular poetry. Like its humbler predecessor, it had
great success. Large as it was originally, it was still
fiirther increased in four subsequent recensions, that ap-
peared in the course of about fifteen years; the last
being that of 1605-1614, in thirteen parts, constituting
the great repository called the "Romancero General,"
from which, and from the smaller and earlier baUad-books,
we still draw nearly all that is curious and interesting in
the old popular poetry of Spain. The whole number of
ballads found in these several volumes is considerably over
a thousand. ^*
But since the appearance of these collections, above
two centuries ago, little has been done to increase our stock
any of the sort known to me in any cal in such matters, like nearly all of
language. his countrymen. The story of Gard
^ Ortiz de Zuniga (Anales de Sc- Perez de Vargas is in the " Crdnica
villa, Appendix, p. 831) gives this General," Parte IV. ; in the" Cronica
ballad, and says it had been printed de Fernando III.," c. 48, etc. ; and in
two hundred years. If this be true, it Mariana, Historia, Lib. XIII., c. 7.
is, no doubt, the oldest iWii/erf ballad * See Appendix (B), on the Ro-
in the language. But Ortiz is uncriti- manceros.
118 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
of old Spanish baUads. Small ballad-books on particular
subjects, like those of the Twelve Peers and of the Cid,
were, indeed, early selected from the larger ones, and have
since been frequently called for by the general favour ; but
still it should be understood, that, from the middle and
latter part of the seventeenth century, the true popular
ballads, drawn from the hearts and traditions of the common
people, were thought little worthy of regard, and remained
until lately floating about among the humbler classes that
gave them birth. There, however, as if in their native
homes, they have always been no less cherished and culti-
vated than they were at their first appearance, and there
the old ballad-books themselves were oftenest found, until
they were brought forth anew, to enjoy the favour of all,
by Quintana, Depping, and Duran, who, in this, have but
obeyed the feeling of the age in which we live.
The old collections of the sixteenth century, however,
are still the only safe and sufficient sources in which to seek
the true old ballads. That of 1593-1597 is particularly
valuable, as we have already intimated, from the aircum-
stance that its materials were gathered so widely out of
different parts of Spain ; and if to the multitude of ballads
it contains we add those found in the Cancionero of 151 1,
and in the ballad-book of 1550, we shall have the great
body of the anonymous ancient Spanish ballads, more near
to that popular tradition which was the common source of
what is best in them than we can find it anywhere else.
But, from whatever source we may now draw them, we
must give up, at once, all hope of arranging them in chro-
nological order. They were originally printed in small
volumes, or on separate sheets, as they chanced, from time
to time, to be composed or found, — those that were taken
from the memories of the blind ballad-singers in the streets
by the side of those that were taken from the works of Lope
de Vega and Gongora ; and just as they were first collected,
so they were afterwards heaped together in the General
Chaf.vi. classification of ballads. 119
Bomanceros, without affixing to them the names of their
authors, or attempting to. distinguish the ancient ballads
from the recent, or even to group together such as belonged
to the same subject Indeed, they seem to have been pub-
lished at all merely to furnish amusement to the less cul-
tivated classes at home, or to solace the armies that were
fighting the battles of Charles the Fifth and Philip the
Second in Italy, Germany, and Flanders ; so that an or-
derly arrangement of any kind was a matter of small conse-
quence. Nothing remains for us, therefore, but to consi-
der them by their subjects ; and for this purpose the most
convenient distribution will be, first, into such as relate to
fictions of chivalry, and especially to Charlemagne and his
peers ; next, such as regard Spanish history and traditions,
with a few relating to classical antiquity ; then such as are
founded on Moorish adventures ; and lastly, such as be-
long to the private life and manners of the Spaniards them-
selves. What do not fall naturally under one of these
divisions are not, probably, ancient ballads ; or, if they are
such, are not of consequence enough to be separately no-
ticed.
120 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Psbiod I.
CHAPTER VII.
BaIXADSON SUBJICCTS CONNKCTBD WITH ChIVALBT. BaLLADS FBOM SpANISH
HlSTORT. — BkBN ABDO DEL CaRPIO. — FeRKAN GoKZALKZ. — ThE Ik>RDS OF
Lara. — ^Thb Cid. — Ballads from Ascikkt Uistort akd Fable,
Sacred and Profane. — Ballads on Moobish Subjects. — Miscei^
LANEous Ballads, Amatobt, Bublbsque, Satibical, btc. — Cuabacteb
OF THE old Spanish Ballads.
Ballads of Chivalry. — The first thing that strikes us, on
opening any one of the old Spanish ballad-books, is the
national air and spirit that prevail throughout them. But
we look in vain for many of the fictions found in the popular
poetry of other countries at the same period, some of which
we might well expect to find here. Even that chivalry,
which was so akin to the character and condition of Spain
when the ballads appeared, fails to sweep by us with the
train of its accustomed personages. Of Arthur and his
Bound Table the old ballads tell us nothing at all, nor of
the **Mervaile of the Graal,** nor of Perceval, nor of the
Palmerins, nor of many other well-known and famous he-
roes of the shadow land of chivalry. Later, indeed, some
of these personages figure largely in the Spanish prose
romances. But, for a long tiijie, the history of Spain itself
furnished materials enough for its more popular poetry ;
and therefore, though Amadis, Lancelot du Lac, Tristan
de Leonnais, and their compeers, present themselves now
and then in the ballads, it is not till after the prose ro-
mances, filled with their adventures, had made them
femiliar. Even then, they are somewhat awkwardly intro-
duced, and never occupy any well-defined place ; for the
stories of the Cid and Bernardo del Carpio were much
Chap. VII. BALLADS OF CHIVALRY. 121
nearer to the hearts of the Spanish people, and had left little
space for such comparatively cold and unsubstantial fancies.
The only considerable exception to this remark is to be
found in the stories connected with Charlemagne and his
peers. That great sovereign — who, in the darkest period
of Europe since the days of the Roman republic, roused
up the nations, not only by the glory of his military con-
quests, but by the magnificence of his civil institutions —
crossed the Pyrenees in the latter part of the eighth century
at the solicitation of one of his Moorish allies, and ravaged
the^Spanish marches as far as the Ebro, taking Pamplona and
Saragossa* ' The impression he made there seems to have
been the same he made everywhere ; and from this time
the splendour of his great name and deeds was connected
in the minds of the Spanish people with wild imaginations
of their own achievements, and gave birth to that series of
fictions which is embraced in the story of Bernardo del
Carpio, and ends with the great rout, when, according to
the persuasions of the national vanity,
'* Charlemun with all his peerage fell
By Fontarabbia."
These picturesque adventures, chiefly without counte-
nance from history, in which the French paladins appear
associated with fabulous Spanish heroes, such as Montesi-
nos and Durandarte, * and once with the noble Moor Ca-
laynos, are represented with some minuteness in the old
Spanish ballads. The largest number, including the long-
est and the best, are to be found in the ballad-book of
1550-1555, to which may be added a few from that of
1593-1597, making together somewhat more than fifty,
of which only twenty occur in the collection expressly de-
voted to the Twelve Peers, and first published in 1608.
* Sismondi, Hist, dcs Fran^ais, the cave of Montesinos, that all
Paris, 1821, 8vo., Tom. II. pp. relating to them is to be found in the
257-260. notes of Pellicer and Clcmencin to
' MontesinoA and Durandarte figure Parte II. can. 23, of tho history of
so largely in Don Quixote's visit to the uuid knignt.
122 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATURE. Period I.
Some of them are evidently very old ; as, for instance,
that on the Conde d' Irlos, that on the Marquis of Mantua,
two on Claros of Montalban, and both the fragments on
Durandarte, the last of which can be traced back to the
Cancionero of 1 5 1 1 . '
The ballads of this class are occasionally quite long, and
approach the character of the old French and English
metrical romances ; that of the Conde d' Irlos extending
to about thirteen hundred lines. The longer ballads, too,
are generally the best ; and those, through large portions
of which the same asonante, and sometimes even the same
consonante or full rhyme, is continued to the end, have a
solemn harmony in their protracted cadences, that produces
an effect on the feelings like the chanting of a rich and
well-sustained recitative.
Taken as a body, they have a grave tone, combined with
the spirit of a picturesque narrative, and entirely different
from the extravagant and romantic air afterwards given to
the same class of fictions in Italy, and even from that of
the few Spanish ballads which, at a later period, were con-
structed out of the imaginative and fantastic materials
found in the poems of Bojardo and Ariosto. But in all
ages and in all forms they have been favourites with the
Spanish people. They were alluded to as such above five
hundred years ago, in the oldest of the national chronicles;
and when, at the end of the last century, Sarmiento notices
the ballad-book of the Twelve Peers, he speaks of it as
one which the peasantry and the children of Spain still
knew by heart. *
" These ballads begin, ** Estabase el Emperador/' also cited repeatedly by
Conde d* Irlos," which b the longest I Cervantes ; and " O Belerma, O Bc-
knowof; ^^Assentado esta Gayferos," lerma," translated by M. G. Lewis;
which is one of the best, and cited to which niay be added, ** Durandartc,
more than once by Cervantes ; ** Me- Durandartc," found in the Antwerp
dia noche era por hilo," where the Romancero, and in the old Cancioneros
counting of time by the dripping Generales.
of water is a proof of antiquity in ^ Mcmorias para la Poesia Espaiiola,
the ballad itself; *♦ A ca^a va el Sect. 528.
Chap. VIL BALLADS ON BERNARDO DEL CARPIO. 123
Hisiarioal Ballads. — The most important and the
largest division of the Spanish ballads is, however, the
historical. Nor is this surprising. The early heroes in
Spanish history grew so directly out of the popular cha-
racter, and the early achievements of the national arms so
nearly touched the personal condition of every Christian
in the Peninsula, that they naturally became [the first and
chief subjects of a poetry which has always^ to a remarkable
degree, been the breathing of the popular feelings and pas-
sions. It would be easy, therefore, to collect a series of
ballads, — few in number as far as respects the Gothic and
Roman periods, but ample from the time of Boderic and
the Moorish conquest of Spain down to the moment when
its restoration was gloriously fulfiUed in the fall of Granada,
— a series which would constitute such a poetical illustra-
tion of Spanish history as can be brought in aid of the his-
tory of no other country. But, for our present purpose, it
is enough to select a few sketches from these remarkable
ballads devoted to the greater heroes, — personages half-
shadowy, half-historical, — who, between the end of the
eighth and the beginning of the twelfth century, occupy a
wide space in all the old traditions, and serve alike to
illustrate the early popular character in Spain, and the
poetry to which that character gave birth.
The first of these, in the order of time, is Bernardo del
Carpio, concerning whom we have about forty ballads,
which, with the accounts in the Chronicle of Alfonso the
Wise, have constituted the foundations for many a drama
and tale, and at least three long heroic poems. According
to these early narratives, Bernardo flourished about the
year 800, and was the offspring of a secret marriage between
the Count de Saldaiia and the sister of Alfonso the Chaste,
at which the king was so much offended, that he kept the
Count in perpetual imprisonment, and sent the Infanta to
a convent ; educating Bernardo as his own son, and keeping
him ignorant of his birth. The achievements of Bernardo,
124 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
ending with the victory of Roncesvalles, — his efforts to
procure the release of his father, when he learns who his
father is, — the falsehood of the king, who promises re-
peatedly to give up the Count de Saldana and as often
breaks his word, — with the despair of Bernardo, and his
final rebellion, after the Counts death in prison, — are all
as fully represented in the ballads as they are in the
chronicles, and constitute some of the most romantic and
interesting portions of each. *
Of the ballads which contain this story, and which
generally suppose the whole of it to have passed in one
reign, though the Chronicle spreads it over three, none,
perhaps, is finer than the one in which the Count de
Saldana, in his solitary prison, complains of his son, who,
he supposes, must know his descent, and of his wife, the
Infanta, who, he presumes, must be in league with her
royal brother. After a description of the castle in which
he is confined, the Count says : —
The talc of my imprifioned life
Within these loathsome walls,
Each moment as it lingers by,
My hoary hair recalls ;
For when this castle first I saw,
My beard was scarcely grown,
And now, to purge my youthful sins,
Its folds hang whitening down.
Then where art thou, my careless son ?
And why so dull and cold ?
Doth not my blood within thee run ?
Speaks it not loud and bold ?
Alus ! it may be so, but still
Thy mother's blood i» thine ;
And what is kindred to the king
Will plead no cause of mine :
And thus all three against me stand ; —
For the whole man to quell,
*Ti8 not enough to ha?c our foes,
Our heart's blood must rebel.
•The story of Bernardo is in the winning at f. 30, in the edition of 1604.
' Crdnica General," Parte III., be- But it must be almost entirely fabulous.
Chap. VII.
BALLADS ON BERNARDO DELCARPIO.
125
Meanwhile the guards that watch mc here
Of thy proud conquests boast ;
But if for me thou ]ead*st it not,
For whom, then, fights thy host ?
And since thou Ieav*st me prisoned here.
In cruel chuns to groan,
Or I must be a guilty sire,
Or thou a guilty son I
Yet pardon me if I offend
By uttering words so free ;
For while oppressed with age I moan,
No words come back from thee. *
The old Spanish ballads have often a resemblance to
each other in their tone and phraseology ; and occasionally
several seem imitated from some common original. Thus,
in another, on this same subject of the Count de Saldaiia's
imprisonment, we find the length of time he had suffered,
and the idea of his relationship and blood, enforced in the
following words, not of the Count himself, but of Bernardo,
when addressing the king : —
The very walls are wearied there,
So long in g^ef to hold
A man whom first in youth they saw,
And now see gray and old.
And if, for errors such as these.
The forfeit must be blood,
Enough of hb has flowed from me.
When for your rights I stood. '
* Lot tiempos de mi prifion
Tan alxxnracida y Uu^
Por momentoa me lo dfien
Aoaettu mil triste* canu.
Quando entro en este caatillo,
Apenas entre ron barhas,
Y atfora por mi* peeadoa
Las ^eo crecidat y blancaa.
Que descuydo es e«te, hljo ?
Como a voM« no te llama
I.a san^re que tienea mia,
A aocoirer donde falta?
I^n duda qne te detlene
La que de tu madre alcannas.
Que por aer de la del Rey
Juzffaraa qoal el mi causa.
lodos tres sois rots conrrarioa ;
Que a un desdichado no basta
Que sus contrarioa lo sean,
iHno sns propias entraiias.
Todos loa aue aqnl me tienen
Me euentan de tus haxaRas :
Si pum tu padre no.
Dime para quien las guardas ?
Aqui eatoy en estroa liierroe,
Y pnea dell«ia no me sacas,
Mai padre deuo de ser,
O mid hijo paes me fkltaa.
Perdoname, ai te ofendo.
Que descanao en las palabraa.
Que yo como vicrjo lloro»
Y tu como ausente CHllaa.
Romanoero General. IMS, f. 46.
But it was printed as early as 1593.
7 This is evidently among the older
ballads. The earliest printed copy of
it that I know is to be found in the
** Flor de Romances," Novena Parte,
(Madrid, 1597, 18mo., f. 45,) and the
passage I have translated is very
striking in the original : —
Cansadas ya laa paredea
De guardar en tanto tiempo
A un hombrCt <1<m Tieron mo^o
Y ya le yma eano y vlejo. Si
126
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period I.
In reading the ballads relating to Bernardo del Carpio,
it is impossible not to be often struck with their re-
semblance to the corresponding passages of the " General
Chronicle." Some of them are undoubtedly copied from
it ; others possibly may have been, in more ancient forms,
among the poetical materials out of which we know that
Chronicle was in part composed." The best are those
which are least strictly conformed to the history itself; but
all, taken together, form a curious and interesting series,
that serves strikingly to exhibit the manners and feelings
of the people in the wild times of which they speak, as well
as in the later periods when many of them must have been
written.
The next series is that on Feman Gonzalez, a popular
chieftain, whom we have already mentioned when noticing
Si ys mu cnlptt nMrecsn*
Que Mngro sm en so deacuento,
HarU tuya he derramado,
Y toda en aerricio vuestro.
It is given a little differently by
Duran.
" The ballad bcpnning " En Cortc
del casto Alfonso, in the ballad-book
of 1555, is taken from the *' Crdnica
General/' (Parte III. ff. 32, 3d, ed.
1604,) as the following passage,
speaking of Bernardo's first knowledge
that his father was the Count of
Saldana, will show : —
Qutmdo Bernaldo lo smpo
Peiole a gran demaala,
Tanto que demtro em el enerpo
La sangre $e le vofota.
Yendo para su poeada
May i^nde Ilanto haeia,
Vi»tio%e pa^o$ de tmto,
Y delante el Rey ae ib*.
SI Rey qwatdo aai te xii,
Deataiuextelededa:
** Bernaldo, por aTentnra
Cobdicias la mmerte mia f "
The Chronicle reads thus: *'Eel
[Bernardo] qucmdolsupo, que su padre
era prcso, pesol mucho de cora^on, e
bollnosde la sangre en d cuerpo, e
iiiesse para su posada, fazienuo el
mayor duelo del mundo ; e vintidse
pafios de duelo, e fucsse para el Rey
Don Alfonso ; e c/ Rey, quando lo
vido, dixol : * Bernaldo, cobdiciades
la muerte mia f*" It is plain enough,
in this case, that the Chronicle is the
original of the ballad ; but it is very
difficult, if not impossible, from the
nature of the case, to show that any
particular ballad was used in the
composition of the Chronicle, because
we nave undoubtedly none of the
ballads in the form in which thoy
existed when the Chronicle was com-
piled in the middle of the thirteenth
century, and therefore a correspond-
ence of phraseology like that just
cited is not to be expected. Yet it
would not be surprising if some of
these ballads on Bernardo, found in
the Sixth Part of the " Flor de
Romances," (Toledo, ISM, 18mo.,)
which Pedro Florcs tells us he col-
lected far and wide from tradition,
were known in the time of Alfonso
the Wise, and were among the
Cantares de Gesta to which he
alludes. 1 would instance particularly
the three beginning, ** Contandolc
estaba un dia," *^ Antesque barbas
tuviesse," and ** Mai mis servieios
pagaste." The language of those bol*
lads is, no doubt, chiefly that of the
age of Charles V. and Philip II., but
the thoughts and feelings are evidently
much older.
Chap. VII. BALLADS ON THE LORDS OF LARA. 127
his metrical chronicle ; and one who, in the middle of the
tenth century, recovered Castile anew from the Moors,
and became its first sovereign Count. The number of
ballads relating to him is not large ; probably not twenty.
The most poetical are those which describe his being twice
rescued from prison by his courageous wife, and those
which relate his contest with King Sancho, where he dis-
played all the turbulence and cunning of a robber baron
in the Middle Ages. Nearly all their facts may be found
in the Third Part of the "General Chronicle;" and
though only a few of the ballads themselves appear to be
derived from it as distinctly as some of those on Bernardo
del Carpio, still two or three are evidently indebted to
that Chronicle for their materials and phraseology, while
yet others may possibly, in some ruder shape, have pre-
ceded it, and contributed to its composition. '
The ballads which naturally form the next group are
those on the Seven Lords of Lara, who lived in the time
of Garcia Ferrandez, the son of Fernan Gonzalez. Some
of them are beautiful, and the story they contain is one of
the most romantic in Spanish history. The Seven Lords
of Lara, in consequence of a family quarrel, are betrayed
by their uncle into the hands of the Moors, and put to
death ; while their father, by the basest treason, is confined
in a Moorish prison, where, by a noble Moorish lady, he
has an eighth son, the famous Mudarra, who at last
avenges all the wrongs of his race. On this story there
are about thirty ballads; some very old, and exhibiting
either inventions or traditions not elsewhere recorded.
* Among the ballads taken from the the two last, is very spirited, is found
" Crbnica General " is, I think, the in the ** Flor de Romances," S^ptima
one in the ballad-book of 1665, be- Parte, (AlcaU, 1597, ISmo., f. 66,)
ginning ** Preso esta Fernan Gon- beginning " El Conde Fernan Gon-
zalez," though the Chronicle says zalez," and contains an account of one
(Parte III. f. 62, ed. 1604^ that it of his victories over Almanzor not told
was a Norman count who bnbcd the elsewhere, and therefore the more
castellan, and the ballad says it was curious,
a Lombard. Another, which, like
128 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Psbiod I.
while others seem to have come directly from the
"General Chronicle." The following is a part of one of
the last, and a good specimen of the whole : — ^®
What knight goes there, so fSdse and fair,
Tliat thus for treason stood ?
Velasquez hight is that false knight,
Who sold his brother's blood.
Where Almendr extends afar,
He called his nephews forth,
And on that plain he bade them gain
A name of fame and worth.
The Moors he shows, the common foes,
And promises their rout ;
But while they stood, prepared for blood,
A mighty host came out
Of Moorish men were thousands ten,
With i)ennons flowing fair ;
Whereat each knight, as well he might.
Inquired what host came there.
** (), do not fear, my kinsmen dear,**
The base Velasquez cried,
" The Moors you see can never be
Of power your shock to bide ;
I oft have met their craven set.
And none dared face my might ;
So think no fear, my kinsmen dear,
But boldly seek the fight'*
Thus words deceive, and men believe.
And falsehood thrives amain ;
And those brave knights, for Christian rights,
Have sped across the plain ;
And men ten score, but not one more,
To follow fipeely chose :
So Velasquez base his kin and race
Has bartered to their foes.
But, as might be anticipated, the Cid was seized upon
*^ The story of the Infantes do Lara his notes to the '* Chronicle of the
is in the**Cr6nica General," Parte Cid "(p. 401). Sepulveda (1551-84)
III., and in the edition of 1604 begins has a rood many ballads on the sub-
at f. 74. I possess, also, a striking ject ; 5ie one I have partly translated
volume, containing forty olates, on in the text beginning, —
their history, by Otto Vaenius, a Qaien « .qaei cuiiero
scholar and artist, who died in 1634. Que tmn gnn tnydon hada?
It is entitled " Historia Septem In- S?.I i Ji^TSTb^Ji^^^^lSSS^
fiuitium deLara (Antverpiae, 1612,
fol.) ; the same, no doubt, an imper- The corresponding passage of the
feet copy of which Southey praises in Chronicle is at f. 78, ed. 1604.
Chap. VIL BALLADS ON THE CID. 129
vith the first formation of the language as the subject of
popular poetry, and has been the occasion of more ballads
than any other of the great heroes of Spanish history or
fable." They were first collected in a separate ballad-
book as early as 1612, and have continued to be published
and republished at home and abroad down to our own
times. " It would be easy to find a hundred and sixty ;
some of them very ancient ; some poetical ; many prosaic
and poor. The chronicles seem to have been little resorted
to in their composition. " The circumstances of the Cid's
history, whether true or fictitious, were too well settled in
the popular faith, and too familiar to all Christian Spaniards,
to render the use of such materials necessary. No portion
of the old ballads, therefore, is more strongly marked with
the spirit of their age and country ; and none constitutes
a series so complete. They give us apparently the whole
of the Cid s history, which we find nowhere else entire ;
neither in the ancient poem, which does not pretend to be
a life of him ; nor in the prose chronicle, which does
not begin so early in his story ; nor in the Latin document,
which is too brief and condensed. At the very outset we
have the following minute and living picture of the mor-
" In the barbarous rhymed Latin 18mo. ;) but the Madrid edition,
poem, printed with great care by San- (1818, 18mo.,) the Frankfort, (1827,
doval, (Reyes de Castilla, Pamplona, 12mo.O and the collection in Duran,
1615, f. 189, etc.,) and apparently (Caballarescos, Madrid, 1832, 12mo.,
written, as we have noticed, oy some Tom. II. pp. 43-191,) are more eom-
one who witnessed the siege of Alme^ plete. The most complete of all is
ria in 1147, we have the following that by Keller, (Stuttgard, 1840,
lines : — 12mo.,3 and contsuns 154 ballads.
,_ _ But a row could be added even to this
Ipic Rodencas, Mic Ctd wmper vocatat,
De qmo tantattir, quod ab hoatibot haud rapera- ""7* -.,,,,-., . . , ^
tua, " The ballads begmmng, " Guarte^
Qai domuit Mora, comitea qaoqoe domuit not- guarte, Rey Don Sancho," and " De
Zamora sale Dolfos," are indebted to
These poems must, by the phrase the ** Crdnica del Cid," 1693, c. 61,
Mio Cid, nave been in Spanish ; and, 62. Others, especially those in Se-
lf so, could hardly have been any pulveda's collection, show marks of
thing but ballads. other parts of the same chronicle, or
»* Nic. Antonio (Bib. Nova, Tom. of the " Crdnica General," Parte IV.
I. p. 684) gives 1612 as the date of But the whole amount of such indebt-
the oldest Romancero del Cid. The edncss in the ballads of the Cid is
oldest I possess is of Pamplona, (1706, small.
VOL. L K
130 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURK Period I.
tification and sufferings of Diego Laynez, the Cid's father,
in consequence of the blow he had received from Count
Lozano, which his age rendered it impossible for him to
avenge : —
Sorrowing old Laynez sat,
Sorrowing on the deep disgrace
Of his house, so rich and knightly,
Older than Abarca's race.
For he saw that youthful strength
To avenge his wrong was needed ;
That, by years enfeebled, broken,
None his arm now feared or heeded.
But he of Orgaz, Count Lozano,
Walks secure where men resort ;
Hindered and rebuked by none,
Proud his name, and proud his port.
While he, the injured, neither sleeps.
Nor tastes the needful food,
Nor from the ground dares lift his eyes,
Nor moves a step abroad,
Nor friends in friendly converse meets.
But hides in shame his face ;
His very breath, he thinks, offends.
Charged with insult and disgrace. "
In this state of his father's feelings, Roderic, a mere
stripling, determines to avenge the insult by challenging
Count Lozano, then the most dangerous knight and the
first nobleman in the kingdom. The result is the death of
his proud and injurious enemy ; but the daughter of the
fallen Count, the fair Ximena, demands vengeance of the
king, and the whole is adjusted, after the rude fashion of
those times, by a marriage between the parties, which ne-
cessarily ends the feud.
**The earliest place in which I Sinqne nadie » lo impitU,
have seen this ballad-^vidcnUy very i^n'JSA" do^/e nocC
old in its materiel — ^is ** Flor de Ro- Nin gustjur de 1m TiHndu,
mances," Novena Parte, 1597, f. 133. Ni'S^-fuVe'tuiS:?^'*'
Cuydando Wego Laynei Nin fablap con bob unigot,
En la mentpia de su caM, Antes lei niega la fabia,
Fidalga, rica y antisna, Temiendo no lea ofenda
Antes de NuKo y Abarca, Ei aiiento de sa iofamia.
Y viendo qae le fidleoen
Fuercas para u venganca. The pun on the name of Count LO'
pSTnriu'S.'Si.f "" '««> (iWhty or Pnwd) i, of course
Y qae el de Orgas ae vaaaea not translated.
Segiiro y libre en la
ipaaaea
lOaca,
Chap. VIL BALLADS ON THE CID. 131
The ballads^ thus far, relate only to the early youth of
the Cid in the reign of Ferdinand the Great, and consti-
tute a separate series, that gave to Guillen de Castro, and
after him to Corneille, the best materials for their respec-
tive tragedies on this part of the Cid s ^tory. But at the
death of Ferdinand, his kingdom was divided, according
to his will, among his four children ; and then we have
another series of ballads on the part taken by the Cid in
the wars almost necessarily produced by such a division,
and in the siege of Zamora, which fell to the share of
Queen Urraca, and was assailed by her brother, Sancho the
Brave. In one of these ballads, the Cid, sent by Sancho
to summon the city, is thus reproached and taunted by
Urraca, who is represented as standing on one of its towers,
and answering him as he addressed her from below : —
Away I away I proud Roderic I
Castilian proud, away I
Bethink thee of that oldcn time,
That happy, honoured day,
When, at St. James's holy shrine,
Thy knighthood first was won ;
When Ferdinand, my royal sire,
Confessed thee for a son.
He gave thee then thy knightly arras,
My mother gave thy steed ;
Thy spurs were buckled by these hands,
That thou no grace might*st need.
And had not chance forbid the vow,
I thought with thee to wed ;
But Count Lozano's daughter fair
Thy happy bride was led.
With her came wealth, an ample store,
But power was mine, and state :
Broad lands are good, and have their grace.
But he that reigns is great.
Thy wife is well ; thy match was wise ;
Yet, Roderic ! at thy side
A vassal's daughter sits by thee.
And not a royal bride 1 ^
" This is a very old as well as a Durandarte," found as early as 1611,
very spirited ballad. It occurs first is an obvious imitation of it, so that it
in print in 1655 ; but ** Durandarte, was probably old and fiunous at that
K 2
132 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATUBE. Period I.
Alfonso the Sixth succeeded on the death of Sancho,
who perished miserably by treason before the walls of Za-
mora ; but the Cid quarrelled with his new master, and
was exiled. At this moment begins the old poem already
mentioned ; but even here and afterwards the ballads form
a more continuous account of his life, carrying us, oft«n
with great minuteness of detail, through his conquest of
Valencia, his restoration to the king's favour, his triumph
over the Counts of Carrion, his old age, death, and burial,
and giving us, when taken together, what Miiller the
historian and Herder the philosopher consider, in its
main circumstances, a trustworthy history, but what can
hardly be more than a poetical version of traditions current
at the different times when its different portions were
composed.
Indeed, in the earlier part of the period when historical
ballads were written, their subjects seem rather to have
been chosen among the traditional heroes of the country
than among the known and ascertained events in its annals.
Much fiction, of course, was mingled with whatever related
to such personages by the willing credulity of patriotism,
and portions of the ballads about them are incredible to
any modem faith ; so that we can hardly fail to agree with
the good sense of the canon in Don Quixote, when he
says, ^^ There is no doubt there was such a man as the Cid
and such a man as Bernardo del Carpio, but much doubt
time. In the oldest copy now known &?^.*^«* ?»•"» Gomei,
it readB thus, but wiS afterwards a?n'ei£S5£i"dhSSr
changed. I omit the last lines, which Oonmlgo uyieam estado.
seem to be an addition. . »« SS^fa^Sdo :
AftMn,aftiam,Rodriits DexMte hHa d« Rey,
El Mbertalo GutoUADoT Por tomar u de mi YaiaUo.
Aeordaita to debria
Dt aqnei tiempo ya pMndo. This was One of the most popular
SdutSd/SSST; oftheoldballad«. It is often alluded
Qaudo «i Rey Am to piditnok to by the writen of the best ago of
Mi madra to dio el eabldio, Cervantes, m ** Persiles y Sigismun-
. Totoe^iMMpMiat, da/' (Lib. III. c. 21,) and was used
S!S;;:i^SS^^^ ^y GuUlen de Castro in his play on
No lo qolM ul peeado ; the Cid.
Chap. VII. MISCELLANEOUS HISTORICAL BALLADS. 133
whether they achieved what is imputed to them ;" " while,
at the same time, we must admit there is no less truth in
the shrewd intimation of Sancho, that, after all, the old
ballads are too old to tell lies. At least, some of them
are so.
At a later period all sorts of subjects were introduced
into the ballads ; ancient subjects as well as modern, sacred
as well as profane. Even the Greek and Roman fables
were laid under contribution, as if they were historically
true ; but more ballads are connected with Spanish history
than with any other, and, in general, they are better. The
most striking peculiarity of the whole mass is, perhaps,
to be found in the degree in which it expresses the na-
tional character. Loyalty is constantly prominent The
Lord of Butrago sacrifices his own life to save that
of his sovereign. " The Cid sends rich spoils from his
conquests in Valencia to the ungrateful king who had
driven him thither as an exile.*® Bernardo del Carpio
bows in submission to the uncle who basely and brutdly
outrages his filial affections ; '* and when, driven to despair,
he rebels, the ballads and the chronicles absolutely forsake
"• " En lo que hubo Cid, no hay du- letter following it, — " El vasallo des-
da, ni menos Bernardo del Carpio ; pero leale." This trait in the Cid's charac-
de que hicieron las hazanasque dicen, ter is noticed by Diego Ximenez Ay-
creo que ha^ muy grande." (Parte I., lion, in his poem on that hero, 1579,
c. 49.) This, indeed, is the good sense where, having spoken of his being
of the matter, — a point in which Cer- treated by the kin^ with harshness, —
vantes rarely fails, — and it forms a *^ Tratado de su Key con aspereza,"
strong contrast to the extravagant faith — the poet adds, —
of those who, on the one side, consider JamM le dio ingar n Tirtod kIu
the ballads good historical documents, Q«« •" •« ^^^ ^°i«" •>««»» gj^ j
as Miiller and Herder are disposed to « ^-. r li. • l *
do, and the sturdy incredulity of Mas- „ ^ ®?® j®[ "*® occasions when
deu, on the other, who denies that Bernardo had been most foully and
there ever was a Cid. falsely treated by the king, he says,—
^^ See the fine ballad begimiing ^SS^qr^r^^"
"Si el cavallo vos ban muerto, — . . . „ „^ .^ ,„, ^„ ^. ,
,.,«, ,,..—,,', A king you are, ana yon moat ao,
which first appears m the **Florde in yoar own way, what pleaaea you.
Romances," Octava Parte (AlcalA, ^„j ^„ ^^^her similar occasion, in
1 597, f. 129). It 18 boldly translated ^^^^^ ^y^ j^e says to the king,—
by Lockhart. ^^^ ^^ ©• deiare
" I refer to the ballad in the ** Ro- MienSHJqae^n^Tuvida.
mancero del Cid " beginning " Lleeo ^^, .^ali , f.ii ^^ aerve your G«ce
Alvar Faiiez a Burgos," with the WhUe life within me keept ha plac^.
134 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
him. In short, this and the other strong traits of the na-
tional character are constantly appearing in the old histori-
cal ballads, and constitute a chief part of the peculiar
charm that invests them.
Ballads on Moorish Subjects. — The Moorish ballads
form a brilliant and large class by themselves, but none of
them are as old as the earliest historical ballads. Indeed,
their very subjects intimate their later origin. Few can
be found alluding to known events or personages that occur
before the period immediately preceding the fall of Gra-
nada ; and even in these few the proofs of a more recent
and Christian character are abundant The truth appears
to be, that, after the final overthrow of the Moorish power,
when the conquerors for the first time came into full possession
of whatever was most luxurious in the civilization of their
enemies, the tempting subjects their situation suggested
were at once seized upon by the spirit of their popular
poetry. The sweet South, with its picturesque though
effeminate refinement; the foreign, yet not absolutely
stranger, manners of its people ; its magnificent and fan-
tastic architecture ; the stories of the warlike achievements
and disasters at Baza, at Bonda, and at Alhama, with the
romantic adventures and fierce feuds of the Zegris and
Abencerrages, the Gomeles and the Aliatares ; — all took
strong hold of the Spanish imagination, and made of
Granada, its rich plain and snow-capped mountains, that
fairy land which the elder and sterner ballad poetry of the
North had failed to create. From this time, therefore,
we find a new class of subjects, such as the loves of Gazul
and Abindarraez, with games and tournaments in the Bi-
varrambla, and tales of Arabian knights in the Generalife ;
in short, whatever was matter of Moorish tradition or
manners, or might by the popular imagination be deemed
such, was wrought into Spanish ballad poetry, until the
very excess became ridiculous, and the ballads themselves
laughed at one another for deserting their own proper
Cbap. VII. BALLADS ON MOORISH SUBJECTS. 135
subjects, and becoming, as it were, ren^ades to nationality
and patriotism. ^
The period when this style of poetry came into favour
was the century that elapsed after the fsdl of Granada ; the
same in which all classes of the ballads were first vnritten
down and printed. The early collections give full proof
of this. Those of 1511 and 1550 contain several Moorish
ballads, and that of 1593 contains above two hundred.
But though their subjects involve known occurrences, they
are hardly ever really historical ; as, for instance, the well-
known ballad on the tournament in Toledo, which is sup-
posed to have happened before the year 1085, while its
names belong to the period immediately preceding the
fall of Granada ; and the ballad of King Belchite, which,
like many others, has a subject purely imaginary. Indeed,
this romantic character is the prevalent one in the ballads
of this class, and gives them much of their interest ; a fact
well illustrated by that beginning "The star of Venus
rises now," which is one of the best and most consistent in the
" Romancero General," and yet, by its allusions to Venus
and to Rodamonte, and its mistake in supposing a Moor
to have been Alcayde of Seville, a century after Seville
had become a Christian city, shows that there was, in its
composition, no serious thought of anything but poetical
effect'^
These, with some of the ballads on the famous Gazul,
» In the humorous ballad, " Tanta ^L1^b***thS?Ihi'Xw '^***'
Zayda y Adalifa ," (first printed, Flor to h^m^toJ, in beaUira ilmd«,
de Romances, Quinta Parte, Burg^, For fictiont poor and cold.
1594, 18mo., f. 158,) we have the fol- Gdngora, too, attacked them in an
lowing : — amusinp ballad, — " A mis Sefiores
Ren«aronde«iiey poetas, '-and they wcre defendwi
Lot Romancirtas de Eapafla, m another, begimung " Forque, 8e-
Y ofrederonle a Mahoma nores pOCtas *'
fe^S".^^,»rh& •• "^ho i ocho du« i diez," and
De ra Teneedora patria, « Sale la estrella de Venus, two ot
Y mendigan de laagena ^^^ ballads here referred to, are in the
invencioneayp^M Romanceroof 1593. Of the last there
Like reneeades to Chnatian faith, . i ^ i a* • ^ .^ii^^a
These baiiad-mongew vain IS a good translation m an excellent
Have given to Mahound himaeif- article on Spanish Poetrv in the Edin-
The offering, due to Spain ; ^^^^ Review, Vol. XXXIX., p. 419.
136 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTEBATUBE. Pebiod I.
occur in the popular story of the "Wars of Granada,*'
where they are treated as if contemporary with the facts
they record, and are beautiful specimens of the poetry
which the Spanish imagination delighted to connect with
that most glorious event in the national history. ^ Others
can be found in a similar tone on the stories, partly or
wholly fabulous, of Mu9a, Xarifig, Lisaro^ and Tarfis ; while
yet others, in greater number, belong to the treasons and
rivalries, the plots and adventures, of the more famous
Zegris and Abencerrages, which, as far as they are founded
in fact, show how internal dissensions, no less than exter-
nal disasters, prepared the way for the final overthrow of
the Moorish empire. Some of them were probably written
in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella ; many more in the
time of Charles the Fifth ; the most brilliant, but not the
best, somewhat later.
Ballads on Manners and Private Life, — But the ballad
poetry of Spain was not confined to heroic subjects drawn
firom romance or history, or to subjects depending on
Moorish traditions *and manners; and therefore, though
these are the three largest classes into which it is divided,
there is yet a fourth, which may be called miscellaneous,
and which is of no little 'moment For, in truth, the
poetical feelings even of the lower portions of the Spanish
people were spread out over more subjects than we should
anticipate ; and their genius, which, firom the first, had a
charter as firee as the wind, has thus left us a vast number
of records, that prove at least the variety of the popular
perceptions, and the quickness and tenderness of the
popular sensibility. Many of the miscellaneous ballads
thus produced — perhaps most of them — are efiusions of
love ; but many are pastoral, many are burlesque, satirical,
and picaresque ,• many are called Letrillas^ but have nothing
epistolary about them except the name ; many are lyrical
* Amonfir the fine ballads on Gazul are^ ** For la plaza dc San Juan/' and
(« Estando toda la corto.'*
Chap. VII. BALLADS ON PRIVATE LIFE. 137
in their tone, if not in their form ; and many are descrip-
tive of the manners and amusements of the people at large.
But one characteristic runs through the whole of them —
they are true representations of Spanish life. Some of those
first printed have already been referred to ; but there is a
considerable class marked by an attractive simplicity of
thought and expression, united to a sort of mischievous
shrewdness, that should be particularly noticed. No such
popular poetry exists in any other language. A number of
these ballads occur in the peculiarly valuable Sixth Part
of the Bomancero, that appeared in 1594, and was gathered
by Pedro Flores, as he himself tells us, in part at least, from
the memories of the common people. *' They remind us
not unfrequently of the lighter poetry of the Archpriest of
Hita in the middle of the fourteenth century, and may, pro-
bably, be traced back in their tone and spirit to a yet earlier
period. Indeed, they are quite a prominent and charm-
ing part of all the earliest Bomanceros, not a few of them
being as simple, and yet as shrewd and humorous, as the
following, in which an elder sister is represented lecturing
a younger one, on first noticing in her the symptoms of
love : —
Her sister Miguela ** When you take up your work,
Once chid little Jane, You look vacant and stare,
And the words that she spoke And gaze on your sampler,
Gave a great deal of pain. But miss the stitch there,
** You went yesterday playing, ** You 're in love, people say,
A child like the rest ; Your actions all show it : —
And now you come out. New ways we shall have
More than other girls dressed. When mother shall know it.
** You take pleasure in sighs, ** She *11 nail up the windows,
In sad music delight ; And lock up the door ;
W^ith the dawning you rise, Leave to frolic and dance
Yet sit up half the night. She will give us no more.
** For example, ** Que cs do mi un cavallero," " Mai ayan mis ojos,"
tontento," " Plcpa ^ Dios quo si yo ** Nina, que vives," etc.
nrofi " ** AniiAlls) mnronft '* *• Madre.
croo," ** Aquella morena,'* " Madre,
138
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period I.
'' Old aunt will be sent
To take us to mass,
And stop all our talk
With the girls as we pass.
*' And when we walk out,
She will bid our old shrew
Keep a faithful account
Of what our eyes do ;
** And mark who goes by,
If I peep through the blind,
And be sure and detect us
In looking behind.
" Thus for your idle follies
Must I sufier too,
And, though nothing I 've done.
Be punished like you."
** O sister Miguela,
Your chiding pray spare ; —
That I 'vc troubles you guess.
But not what they are.
*' Young Pedro it is.
Old Juan's fair youth ;
But he 's gone to the wars,
And where is his truth ?
'* I loved him sincerely,
I loved all he said ;
But I fear ho is fickle,
I fear he is fled I
'* He is gone of free choice.
Without summons or call,
• And 't is foolish to love him,
Or like him at all."
" Nay, rather do thou
To God pray above.
Lest Pedro return,
And agun you should love,**
Said Miguela in jest,
As she answered poor Jane ;
** For when love has been bought
At cost of such pain,
** What hope is there, sister.
Unless the soul part.
That the passion you cherish
Should yield up your heart ?
" Your years will increase.
But so will your pains.
And this you may learn
From the proverb^s old strains :
' If, when but a child,
Love's power you own,
Pray, what will you do
When you older are grown ?' " •*
** The oldest copy of this ballad
or leira that I have seen b in the
** Flor de Romances," Sexta Parte,
(1594, f. 27,) collected by Pedro Flo-
res from popular traditions, and of
which a less perfect copy is given, by
an oversight, in the Ninth Part of the
same collection, 1597, f. 116. I have
not translated the verses at the end,
because they seem to be a poor gloss
by a later hand and in a different
measure. The ballad itself is as fol-
lows : —
Riflo con JuaniUa
Su hermana Miguela;
PalaUras le dize.
Que mucho le duelan :
" Ayer en mantillas
Andauaa pequefla,
Oy andoa galana
Mas que otrss donsellas.
Tuffoio es susplros,
Tu can tar endecbas ;
Al alua madrugas,
Muy tarde te acnesta» ;
Quando estas lalnrando.
No se en que te piensas,
Al dechado mins,
Y los puntos yerras.
Dizenme que hazes
Amorosas sefias :
Si madre lo sabe.
Aura cosM nuenas.
Clauara ventanas,
Cerrara las puertas ;
Para que bayfenios,
No dara licencia ;
Mandara que tia
Nos lleue a la Yglesia,
Porque no nos hablon
Las amigas nuestras.
Quando Tuera saiga,
Dirale a la duefia,
Que con nuestros ojos
Tenga mucha euenta ;
Que mire quien paasa,
Si miro a la reja.
Chap. VII. CHARACTER OF THE OLD BALLADS. 139
A single specimen like this^ however, can give no idea
of the great variety in the class of ballads to which it be-
longs, nor of their poetical beauty. To feel their true
value and power, we must read large numbers of them,
and read them too in their native language ; for there is
a winning freshness in the originals, as they lie imbedded
in the old Bomanceros, that escapes in translations, how-
ever free or however strict; — a remark that should be
extended to the historical as well as the miscellaneous
portions of that great mass of popular poetry which is
found in the early ballad-books, and which, though it is
all nearly three centuries old, and some of it older, has
been much less carefully considered than it deserves to be.
Yet there are certainly few portions of the literature of
any country that will better reward a spirit of adventurous
inquiry than these ancient Spanish ballads, in all their
forms. In many respects they are unlike the earliest
narrative poetry of any other part of the world ; in some
they are better. The English and Scotch ballads, with
which they may most naturally be compared, belong to a
ruder state of society, where a personal coarseness and
violence prevailed, which did not, indeed, prevent the
poetry it produced from being fiill of energy, and sometimes
of tenderness, but which necessarily had less dignity and
elevation than belong to the character, if not the condition,
of a people who, like the Spanish, were for centuries en-
Y qaal de noaotru Sin AierQa y eon gtuto,
Boluio U cabe^a. No es bien que le qnien."
For tits libertades *• RaegiUe tu a Dios
Sere yo tujreta ; Que Pedro no baelua,"
Pu^aremot Jostoe Reapondio burlando
Lo qae maloa pecan." Su bermana Miffnela,
** Ay 1 Miguela bermana, ** Que el amor comprado
Que mal que soapechaa ! Con tan ricaa prendas
Mil males presumes, No saldra del alma
Y no los aciertas. Sin salir con ella.
A Pedro, el <1e Juan, Creciendo tns aflos.
Que se ftie a la ^erra, Creoeran tos penis ;
Addon le tuoe, Y si no lo s>uc«,
Y escache sus quexas ; Escucha esU letra :
Mas vinto que es Tario Si eres nifia y has amor,
Mediante el ausencia, Que bans quando mayor ? "
De su fe finsida f^^^^ p^^e de Flor de Romances, Toledo^
Ya no se me ncuerda.
'infpila la llamo,
Porque, qaien se ausenta.
Ya no se me ncuerda. ..q. •(>_,. r ••«
Pinfpila la llamo, ' '
140 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pkbxod I.
gaged in a contest ennobled by a sense of religion and
loyalty ; a contest which could not fail sometimes to raise
the minds and thoughts of those engaged in it far above
such an atmosphere as settled round the bloody feuds of
rival barons or the gross maraudings of a border warfare.
The truth of this will at once be felt if we compare the
striking series of ballads on Bobin Hood with those on the
Cid and Bernardo del Carpio ; or if we compare the deep
tragedy of Edom o' Gordon with that of the Ck>nde Alar-
cos ; or, what would be better than either, if we would sit
down to the " Bomancero General," with its poetical con-
fusion of Moorish splendours and Christian loyalty, just
when we have come fresh from Percy's " Beliques," or
Scott's "Minstrelsy.""
But, besides what the Spanish ballads possess different
from the popular poetry of the rest of Europe, they ex-
hibit, as no others exhibit it, that nationality which is the
truest element of such poetry everywhere. They seem,
indeed, as we read them, to be often little more than the
great traits of the old Spanish character brought out by
the force of poetical enthusiasm ; so that, if their nationality
were taken away from them, they would cease to exist
This, in its turn, has preserved them down to the present
day, and will continue to preserve them hereafter. The
great Castilian heroes, such as the Cid, Bernardo del
Carpio, and Pelayo, are even now an essential portion of
the faith and poetry of the common people of Spain ; and
are still, in some degree, honoured as they were honoured
in the age of the Great Captain, or, farther back, in that
of Saint Ferdinand. The stories of Guarinos, too, and of
^ If we choose to strike more poetical feeling that filled the whole
widely, and institute a comparison nation during that period when the
with the garrulous old Fabliaux, or Moorish power was gradually broken
with the overdone refinements of the down by an enthusiasm that beoaine
Troubadours and Minnesingers, the at last irresistible, because from the
result would be yet more in favour bearinning it was founded on a sense
of the early Spanish ballads, which of loyalty and religious duty,
represent and embody the excited
Chap. Vn. CHARACTER OF THE OLD BALLADS. 141
the defeat of Roncesvalles are still sung by the wayfaring
muleteers, as they were when Don Quixote heard them in
his journeying to Toboso ; and the showmen still rehearse
the adventures of Gayferos and Melisendra, in the streets
of Seville, as they did at the solitary inn of Montesinos,
when he encountered them there. In short, the ancient
Spanish ballads are so truly national in their spirit, that
they became at once identified with the popular character
that had produced them, and with that same character
will go onward, we doubt not, till the Spanish people shall
cease to have a separate and independent existence. ^
"^ See Appendix, B.
142 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
CHAPTEK VIII.
SscoKD Class. — CHBoncLES. — Obigiv. — Rotal Chbohiclbs. — Gerkbal
Chsoniclb bt Alfonso thb Tbhth. — Its Divisions axd Sobjbgts. — Its
MOBB PocricAL PoBTiovs.— Itb Chabacteb. — Chboiqclb of thb Cid.->
Its OBiGiir, Subject, abd Cbabactbb.
Chronicles. — Ballad poetry constituted, no doubt,
originally, the amusement and solace of the whole mass
of the Spanish people ; for, during a long period of their
early history, there was little division of the nation into
strongly marked classes, little distinction in manners, little
variety or progress in refinement The wars going on
with unappeased violence from century to century, though
by their character not without an elevating and poetical
influence upon all, yet oppressed and crushed all by the
sufferings that followed in their train, and kept the tone
and condition of the body of the Spanish nation more
nearly at the same level than the national character was
probably ever kept, for so long a period, in any other
Christian country. But as the great Moorish contest was
transferred to the South, Leon, Castile, and indeed the
whole North, became comparatively quiet and settled.
Wealth began to be accumulated in the monasteries, and
leisure followed. The castles, instead of being constantly
in a state of anxious preparation against the common
enemy, were converted into abodes of a crude, but free,
hospitality; and those distinctions of society that come
from different degrees of power, wealth, and cultivation
grew more and more apparent From this time, then, the
ballads, though not really neglected, began to subside into
Chap. VIII. GENERAL AND ROYAL CHRONICLES. 143
the lower portions of society, where for so long a period
they remained; while the more advanced and educated
sought, or created for themselves, forms of literature better
suited, in some respects, to their altered condition, and
marking at once more leisure and knowledge, and a more
settled system of social life.
The oldest of these forms was that of the Spanish prose
chronicles, which, besides being called for by the changed
condition of things, were the proper successors of the
monkish Latin chronicles and legends, long before known
in the country, and were of a nature to win favour with
men who themselves were every day engaged in achieve-
ments such as these very stories celebrated, and who
consequently looked on the whole class of works to which
they belonged as the pledge and promise of their own
future fame. The chronicles were, therefore, not only the
natural oflfepring of the times, but were fostered and
favoured by the men who controlled the times. *
I. General Chronicles and Royal Chronicles. — Under
such circumstances, we might well anticipate that the
proper style of the Spanish chronicle would first appear at
the court, or in the neighbourhood of the throne ; because
at court were to be found the spirit and the materials most
likely to give it birth. But it is still to be considered
remarkable, that the first of the chronicles in the order of
time, and the first in merit, comes directly firom a royal
hand. It is called in the printed copies ** The Chronicle
of Spain,"' or "The General Chronicle of Spain," and is,
no doubt, the same work earlier cited in manuscript as
" The History of Spain." * In its characteristic Prologue,
* In the code of the Partidas, and the ** hestanas*' in Spanish most
(circa A. D. 1260,) good knights are probably have been the Chronicle
directed to listen at their meals to now to be mentioned, and the ballads
the rawiing of ** las hestorias de lo« or gestes on which it was, in part,
ffrandes fechos de annas que los otros founded.
fecieran," etc. (Parte II. Tftulo ■ It is the opinion of Mondcjar that
XXI. Ley 20.) Few knights at the original title of the " CnSnica de
that time could understand Latin, E8paSa"was** EstoriadeEBpafia."—
144
HISTOBY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period T.
after solemnly giving the reasons why such a work ought
to be compiled, we are told: "And therefore we, Don
Alfonso, son of the very noble King Don Fer-
nando, and of the Queen Dona Beatrice, have ordered to
be collected as many books as we could have of histories
that relate anything of the deeds done aforetime in Spain,
and have taken the chronicle of the Archbishop Don
Bodrigo, and of Master Lucas, Bishop of Tuy,
..... and composed this book ;" words which give us
flie declaration of Alfonso the Wise, that he himself com-
posed this Chronicle, ' and which thus carry it back cer-
tainly to a period before the year 1284, in which he died.
Memorias de Alfonso el Sabio, p.
464.
*The distinction Alfonso makes
between ordering the materidU to be
collected by others ('* mandamos
ayuntar ") and campatmg or comptlmg
tne Chronicle himself (*' composimos
este libro ") seems to show that he
was its author or compiler,— certainly
that he claimed to be such. But there
are different opinions on this point
Florian de Ocampo, the historian,
who, in 1541, puolished in folio, at
Zamora, the nrst edition of the
Chronicle, says, in notes at the end
of the Third and Fourth Parts, that
some persons believe only the first
three parts to have been written by
Alfonso, and the fourth to have been
compiled later ; an opinion to which
it is obvious that he himself inclines,
thouffh ho says he will neither affirm
nor deny any thing about the matter.
Others have gone fkrther, and sup-
posed the whole to have been com-
gcd by several difierent persons,
it to all this it may be replied, —
1. That the Chronicle is more or less
well ordered, and more or less weU
written, acocvding to the materials
used in its composition ; and that the
objections made to the looseness and
want of finish in the Fourth Part
apply also, in a good degree, to the
Third ; thus proving more than Flo-
rian de Ocampo intends, since he
declares it to be certain ('* sabemos
por cierto ") that the first three parts
were the work of Alfonso. 2. Alfonso
declares, more than once, in his
Prdlogo, whose genuineness has been
made sure by Mondejar, from the
four best manuscripts, that his His-
tory comes down to his own times,
(** &sta el nucstro tiempo,") — which
we reach only at the end of the
Fourth Part, — treating the whole,
throughout the Pr61ogo, as his own
work. S. There is strong internal
evidence that he himself wrote the
last part of the work, relating to his
fifither ; as, for instance, the beautiful
account of the relations between St
Ferdinand and his mother, Berengucla
(ed. 1541, f. 404); the solemn ac-
count of St Ferdinand's death, at the
very end of the whole ; and other
passages between if. 402 and 426.
4. His nephew Don John Manuel,
who made an abridgment of the
Crdnica de Espafia, speaks of his
uncle Alfonso the Wis5 as if he were
its acknowledged author.
It should he borne in mind, also,
that Mondejar says the edition of
Florian de Ocampo b very corrupt
and imperfect, omitting whole reigns
in one instance ; and the passages he
dtes from the old manuscripts of the
entire work prove what he says.
(Memorias, Lib. VII., capp. 15, 16.)
The only other edition or the Chro-
nicle, that of Valladolidj i fol., 1604,)
b still worse. Indeed, it b, from the
number of its ffross errors, one of the
worst printed books I have overused.
Chap. VIII. GENERAL CHRONICLE OF SPAIN. 145
From internal evidence, however, it is probable that it was
written in the early part of his reign, which began in
1252 ; and that he was assisted in its composition by
persons familiar with Arabic literature and with whatever
there was of other refinement in the age. *
It is divided, perhaps not by its author, into four parts :
the first opening with the creation of the world, and giving
a large space to Roman history, but hastening over every-
thing else till it comes to the occupation of Spain by the
Visigoths ; the second comprehending the Gothic empire
of the country and its conquest by the Moors ; the third
coming down to the reign of Ferdinand the Great, early
in the eleventh century; and the fourth closing in 1252,
with the death of Saint Ferdinand, the conqueror of
Andalusia, and father of Alfonso himself
Its earliest portions are the least interesting. They
contain such notions and accounts of antiquity, and
especially of the Eoman empire, as were current among
the common writers of the Middle Ages, though occasion-
ally, as in the case of Dido, whose memory has always
been defended by the more popular chroniclers and poets
of Spain against the imputations of Virgil, * we have a
glimpse of feelings and opinions which may be considered
more national. Such passages naturally become more
frequent in the Second Part, which relates to the empire
* The statement referred to in the its age throughout Europe.
Chronicle, that it was written four * The account of Dido is worth
hundred years after the time of Char- reading, especially by those who have
lemagne, is, of course, a very loose occasion to see her story referred to
one ; for Alfonso was not bom in in the Spanish poets, as it is by £r-
1210. But I think he would hardly cilia and Lope de Vega, in a way
have said, '* It is now full four hun- quite unintelligible to those who know
dred years," (ed. 1541, fol. 228,) if only the Roman version of it as given
it had been mil four hundred and by Virgil. It is found in the Cr6nica
fifly. From this it may be inferred de Espana, (Parte I. c. 51-57,) and
that the Chronicle was composed ends with a very heroical episde of
before 1260. Other passages tend the queen to JEneas; — the Spanish
to the same conclusion. (Jonde, in view taken of the whole matter being
his Preface to his *' Arabes en in substance that which is taken by
Espana," notices the Arabic air of Justin, very briefly, in his " Universal
the Chronicle, which, however, seems History," Lib. XVlII. c. 4-6.
to me to have been rather die air of
VOL. I. L
146 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
of the Visigoths in Spain ; though here, as the eccle-
siastical writers are almost the only authority that could
be resorted to, their peculiar tone prevails too much. But
the Third Part is quite free and genial in its spirit, and
truly Spanish ; setting forth the rich old traditions of the
country about the first outbreak of Pelayo from the
mountains ; * the stories of Bernardo del Carpio, "^ Feman
Gonzalez, * and the Seven Children of Lara; ® with spirited
sketches of Charlemagne, ^° and accounts of miracles like
those of the cross made by angels for Alfonso the Chaste, *^
and of Santiago fighting against the infidels in the glorious
battles of Clavijo and Hazinas. "
The last part, though less carefully compiled and elabo-
rated, is in the same general tone. It opens with the well-
known history of the Cid, *' to whom, as to the great hero
of the popular admiration, a disproportionate space is
assigned. After this, being already within a hundred and
fifty years of the writer's own time, we, of course, approach
the confines of more sober history, and finally, in the reign
of his father, Saint Ferdinand, fairly settle upon its sure
and solid foundations.
The striking characteristic of this remarkable Chronicle
is, that, especially in its Third Part, and in a portion of
the Fourth, it is a translation, if we may so speak, of the
old poetical fables and traditions of the country into a
simple, but picturesque prose, intended to be sober history.
What were the sources of those purely national passages,
which we should be most curious to trace back and authen-
ticate, we can never know. Sometimes, as in the case of
• Cronica de Espana, Parte III. c. by Rodrigo de Heirera, entitled " Vo-
1,2. to do Santiago y Batalla de Clavijo,"
7 Ibid., Capp. 10 and 13. (Comediasficog:idas,Tom.XXXIII.,
" Ibid., Capp. 18, etc. 1670, 4to.,) is founded on the first of
' Ibid., Cap. 20. these passages, but has not used its
^^ Ibid., Cap. 10. good material with much skill.
" Ibid., Cap. 10, with the ballad ^ The separate history of the Cid
madeoutof it, beginning ** Reynando begins with the beginning of Part
el Rev Alfonso." Fourth, f. 279, and ends on f. 346,
» Ibid., Capp. 11 and 19. A drama ed. 1541.
Chap. VIII. GENERAL CHRONICLE OF SPAIN. 147
Bernardo del Garpio and Charlemagne, the ballads and
gestes of the olden time ** are distinctly appealed to.
Sometimes, as in the case of the Children of Lara, an early
Latin chronicle, or perhaps some poetical legend, of which
all trace is now lost, may have constituted the fomidations
of the narrative. ** And once at least, if not oftener, an
entire and separate history, that of the Cid, is inserted with-
out being well fitted into its place. Throughout all these
portions, the poetical character predominates much oflener
than it does in the rest; for while, in the earlier parts,
what had been rescued of ancient history is given with a
grave sort of exactness, that renders it dry and uninterest-
ing, we have in the concluding portion a simple narrative,
where, as in the account of the death of Saint Ferdinand,
we feel persuaded that we read touching details sketched
by a faithful and affectionate eye-witness.
Among the more poetical passages are two at the end
of the Second Part, which are introduced, as contrasts to
each other, with a degree of art and skill rare in these
simple-hearted old chronicles. They relate to what was
long called " the Ruin of Spain,** ^* or its conquest by the
Moors, and consist of two picturesque presentments of its
condition before and after that event, which the Spaniards
long seemed to regard as dividing the history of the world
into its two great constituent portions. In the first of these
passages, entitled " Of the Good Things of Spain,"*' after
a few general remarks, the fervent old chronicler goes on :
** For this Spain, whereof we have spoken, is like the very
*^ These Cantares and Cantarei de ther back than to this passa^ in the
Gesta are referred to in Parte III. c. Cronica de Esjiana, on which rests
10 and 13. every thing relating to the Children of
** I cannot help feeling, as I read Lara in Spanish poetry and romance.
it, that the beautiful story of the In- " " La P^rdida de Esoana " is the
fantes de Lara, as told in this Third common name, in the older writers,
Part of the Cr6nica de Espafia, be- for the Moorish conquest,
pinning f. 261 of the edition of 1641, »' " Los Bienesque tiene EspaSa "
IS from a separate and older chronicle ; (ed. 1641 , f. 202) ; —and, on the other
probably from some old monkish Latin side of the leaf, the passage that fol-
legend. But it can be traced no &r- lows, called '< £1 Llanto de Espana.*'
l2
148 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
Paradise of God ; for it is watered by five noble rivers,
which are the Duero, and the Ebro, and the Tagus, and
the Guadalquivir, and the Guadiana ; and each of these
hath, between itself and the others, lofly mountains and
sierras ; ^® and their valleys and plains are great and broad,
and, through the richness of the soil and the watering of
the rivers, they bear many fruits and are fiiU of abundance.
And Spain, above all other things, is skilled in war, feared
and very bold in battle ; light of heart, loyal to her lord,
diligent in learning, courtly in speech, accomplished in all
good things. Nor is there land in the world that may be
accounted like her in abundance, nor may any equal her
in strength, and few there be in the world so great. And
above all doth Spain abound in magnificence, and more
than all is she famous for her loyalty. O Spain ! there
is no man can tell of all thy worthiness!"
But now reverse the medal, and look on the other picture,
entitled " The Mourning of Spain," when, as the Chronicle
tells us, after the victory of die Moors, " all the land re-
mained empty of people, bathed in tears, a byword, nourish-
ing strangers, deceived of her own people, widowed and
deserted of her sons, confounded among barbarians, worn
out with weeping and wounds, decayed in strength, weak-
ened, imcomforted, abandoned of all her own
Forgotten are her songs, and her very language is become
foreign and her words strange."
The more attractive passages of the Chronicle, however,
are its long narratives. They are also the most poetical ;
— so poetical, indeed, that large portions of them, with
little change in their phraseology, have since been converted
into popular ballads ; ^^ while other portions, hardly less
" The original, in bath the printed *• This remark will apply to many
editions, is tierras, though it should passages in the Third Part of the
plsunl^r be tierras from the context ; Chronicle of Spain, but to none, per-
tmt this is noticed as only one of the haps, so strikmgly as to the stories
thousand ffross typographical errors of Benuatio del Carpio and the In-
with which these editions are de- &ntesde Lara, large portions of which
formed. may be found almost verbatim in the
Chap. VIIL GENERAL CHRONICLE OP SPAIN. 149
considerable, are probably derived from similar, but older,
popular poetry, now either wholly lost, or so much changed
by successive oral traditions, that it has ceased to show its
relationship with the chronicling stories to which it origi-
nally gave birtk Among these narrative passages, one of
the most happy is the history of Bernardo del Carpio, for
parts of which the Chronicle appeals to ballads more ancient
than itself, while to the whole, as it stands in the Chronicle,
ballads more modem have, in their turn, been much in-
debted. It is founded on the idea of a poetical contest
between Bernardo's loyalty to his king on the one side,
and his attachment to his imprisoned father on the other.
For he was, as we have already learned from the old bal-
lads and traditions, the son of a secret marriage between
the king's sister and the Count de Sandias de Saldafla,
which had so offended the king, that he kept the Count in
prison from the time he discovered it, and concealed what-
ever related to Bernardo's birth ; educating him meantime
as his own son. When, however, Bernardo grew up, he
became the great hero of his age, rendering important
military services to his king and country. " But yet,"
according to the admirably strong expression of the old
Chronicle, *® " when he knew all this, and that it was his
own father that was in prison, it grieved him to the heart,
and his blood turned in his body, and he went to his house,
making the greatest moan that could be, and put on raiment
of mourning, and went to the King, Don Alfonso. And
ballads. I will now refer only to the aquel caballero,*\ and "[Ruy^Velas-
following : — 1. On Bernardo del Car- quez de Lara." All these are found
pio, the ballads beginning, ** £1 in the older collections of ballads ;
Conde Don Sancho Diaz," "En those, I mean, printed before 1660;
corte del Casto Alfonso," ** Estando and it is worthy of particular notice,
en f»z y sosicgo," " Andados treinta that this same General! Chronicle
y seis afios," and " En gran pesar y makes especial mention of Con/ares efe
tnstcza." 2. On the Infantes de La- Gesta al)out Bernardo del Carpio that
ra, the ballads beginning, " A Cala- were known and popular when it was
trava la Vieja," which was evidently itself compiled, in the thirteenth cen-
arrangcd for singing at a puppet-show tury.
or some such exhibition, " Llega- ^ See the Cr6hica General de
dos son los Infantes," *' Quicn cs EspaBa, ed. 1541, f. 227. a.
150 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Peuod I.
the King, when he saw it, said to him, * Bernardo, do you
desire my death ? ' for Bernardo until that time had held
himself to be the son of the King, Don Alfonso. And
Bernardo said, *8ire, I do not wish for your death,
but I have great grie^ because my father, the Count
of Sandias, lieth in prison, and I beseech you of
your grace that you would command him to be given up
to me/ And the King, Don Alfonso, when he heard
this, said to him, * Bernardo, begone from before me, and
never be so bold as to speak to me again of this matter ;
for I swear to you, that, in all the days that I shall live,
you shall never see your father out of his prison.* And
Bernardo said to him, * Sire, you are my king, and may
do whatsoever you shall hold for good, but I pray God
that he will put it into your heart to take him tlience ;
nevertheless, I, Sire, shall in no wise cease to serve you in
all that I may.* "
Notwithstanding this refusal, however, when great ser-
vices are wanted from Bernardo in troubled times, his
father's liberty is promised him as a reward ; but these
promises are constantly broken, until he renounces his alle-
giance, and makes war upon his false uncle, and on one of
his successors, Alfonso the Great. *^ At last, Bernardo
succeeds in reducing the royal authority so low, that the
king again, and more solemnly, promises to give up his
prisoner, if Bernardo, on his part, will 'give up the great
castle of Carpio, which had rendered him really formi-
dable. The faithful son does not hesitate, and the king sends
for the Count, but finds him dead, probably by the royal
procurement. The Count's death, however, does not pre-
vent the base monarch from determining to keep the castle,
which was the stipulated price of his prisoner's release.
He therefore directs the dead body to be brought, as if
alive, on horseback, and, in company with Bernardo, who
*' Crdnica Gen., ed. 1641, f. 236. a.
Chap. VIII. CHRONICLE OF THE CID. 151
has no suspicion of the cruel mockery, goes out to
meet it.
" And when they were all about to meet," the old Chro-
nicle goes on, " Bernardo began to shout aloud with great
joy, and to say, ^ Cometh indeed the Count Don Sandias
de Saldafia ! ' And the King, Don Alfonso, said to him,
^ Behold where he cometh ! Go, therefore, and salute him
whom you have sought so much to behold.' And Bernardo
went towards him, and kissed his hand ; but when he found
it cold, and saw that all his colour was black, he knew that
he was dead; and with the grief he had from it, he began
to cry aloud and to make great moan, saying, ^ Alas ! Count
Sandias, in an evil hour was I born, for never was man so
lost as I am now for you ; for, since you are dead, and my
castle is gone, I know no counsel by which I may do aught*
And some say in their ballads {cantares de gestd) that the
King then said, ^ Bernardo, now is not the time for much
talking, and therefore I bid you go straightway forth from
my land,' " etc.
This constitutes one of the most interesting parts of the
old General Chronicle ; but the whole is curious, and much
of it is rich and picturesque. It is written with more free-
dom and less exactness of style than some of the other
works of its noble author ; and in the last division shows
a want of finish, which in the first two parts is not percep-
tible, and in the third only slightly so. But everywhere
it breathes the spirit of its age, and, when taken together,
is not only the most interesting of the Spanish chronicles,
but the most interesting of all that, in any country, mark
the transition from its poetical and romantic traditions to
the grave exactness of historical truth.
The next of the early chronicles that claims our notice
is the one called, with primitive simplicity, " The Chro-
nicle of the Cid ;" in some respects as important as the one
we have just examined ; in others, less so. The first thing
that strikes us, when we open it, is, that, although it has
152 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
much of the appearance and arrangement of a separate and
independent work, it is substantially the same with the two
hundred and eighty pages which constitute the first portion
of the Fourth Book of the General Chronicle of Spain ;
80 that one must certainly have been taken from the other,
or both from some common source. The latter is, perhaps,
the more obvious conclusion, and has sometimes been
adopted ; ** but, on a careful examination, it will probably
be found that the Chronicle of the Cid is rather taken from
that of Alfonso the Wise than from any materials common
to both and older than both. For, in the first place, each,
in the same words, often claims to be a translation from
the same authors ; yet, as the language of both is frequently
identical for pages together, this cannot be true, unless one
copied from the other. And, secondly, the Chronicle of
the Cid, in some instances, corrects the errors of the Gene-
ral Chronicle, and in one instance at least makes an addi-
tion to it of a date later than that of the Chronicle itself. ^^
** This is the opinion of Southey, passages in the Chronicle of the Cid
in the Preface to nis ** Chronicle of which prove it to be later than the
the Cid," which, though one of the Greiieral Chronicle. For instance, in
most amusing and instructive books. Chapters 294, 295, and 296 of the
in relation to the manners and feelings Chronicle of the Cid, there is a cor-
of the Middle Ages, that is to be rcction of an error of two years in the
found in the English language, is not General Chronicle's chronoloery. And
auitc so wholly a translation from its again, in the General Chronicle,
tnree Spanish sources as it claims to (ed. 1604, f. 313. b,) after relating
be. The opinion of Huber on the the burial of the Cid, by the bishops,
same point is like that of Southey. in a vault, and dressed in his clothes,
" Both the chronicles cite for their (** vestido con sus pafios,") it adds,
authorities the Archbishop Rodrigo of ** And thus he was laid where he
Toledo, and the Bishop Lucas of Tuy, still lies " (" E eusiyaze ay do agora
in (Jalicia, (Cid, Cap. 293 ; Greneral, yaze ") ; but in the Chronicle of the
1604, f. 313. b, and elsewhere,) and Cid, the words in Italics are stricken
represent them as dead. Now the out, and we have instead, *' And
first died in 1247, and the last in there he remained a long time, till
1250 ; and as the General Chronicle King Alfonso came to reign'* (** £ hy
of Alfonso X. was necessarily written estudo muy grand tiempo, fasta que
between 1252 and 1282, and probably vino el Rev Don Alfonso a reynar ^ ) ;
written soon after 1252, it is not to after which words we have an account
be supposed, either that the Chronicle of the translation of his body to
of the Cid, or any other chronicle in another tomb, by Alfonso tlie Wise,
the Sjxmish language which the the son of Ferdinand. But, besides
Greneral Chronicle could use, was that this is plainly an addition to the
already compiled. But there are Chi onicle of the Cid, made lattT than
Chap. VIII.
CHRONICLE OF THE CID.
153
But, passing over the details of this obscure, but not unim-
portant, point, it is sufficient for our present purpose to say,
that the Chronicle of the Cid is the same in substance with
the history of the Cid in the General Chronicle, and was
probably taken from it.
When it was arranged in its present form, or by whom
this was done, we have no notice. " But it was found, as
the account given in the General
Chronicle, there is a little clumsiness
about it that renders it quite curious ;
for, in speaking of St. Ferdinand with
the usual formulary, as *' he who con-
3uered Andalusia, and the city of
aen, and many other royal towns
and castles,** it adds, ** As the history
will relate to you farther on (" Begun
que adelante vos lo contar^ la his-
toria"). Now the history of the
Cid has nothing to do with the his-
tory of St. Ferdinand, who lived a
hundred years after him, and is never
again mentioned in this Chronicle ;
and therefore the little passage con-
taining the account of the translation
of the body of the Cid, in the thir-
teenth century, to its next resting-
place was probably cut out from some
other chronicle which contained the
history of St. Ferdinand, as well as
that of the Cid. My own conjecture
is, that it was cut out from the abridg-
ment of the General Chronicle of
Alfonso the Wise made by his
nephew Don John Manuel, who
would be quite likely to insert an
addition so honourable to his uncle,
when he came to the point of the
Cid's interment ; an interment of
which the General Chronicle's ac-
count had ceased to be the true one.
Cap. 291.
It is a curious fact, though not one
of consequence to this inquiry, that
the remains of the Cid, besides their
removal by Alfonso the Wise, in
1272, were successively transferred
to different places, in 1447, in 1541,
again in the beginning of the
eighteenth century, and again, by
the bad taste of the French General
Thibaut,in I809orl810, until, at last,
in 1824, they were restored to their
original sanctuary in San Pedro de
Cardenas. Semanario Pintoresco,
1838, p. 648.
•* If it be asked what were the au-
thorities on which the portion of the
Crdnica General relating to the Cid
relies for its materials, I should an-
swer : — 1. Those cited in the Pr61ogo
to the whole work by Alfonso him-
self, some of which are again cited
when speaking of the Cid. Among
these, the most important is the Arch-
bishop Rodrigo's ** Hbtoria Gothica."
(See Nic. Ant., Bibl. Vet., lib.
VIII. c. 2, $ 28.) 2. It is probable
there were Arabic records of the
Cid, as a life of him, or part of a life
of him, by a nephew of Alfaxati, the
converted Moor, is referred to in the
Chronicle itself. Cap. 278, and in
Crdn. Gen., 1641, f. 369. b. But
there is nothing in the Chronicle
that sounds like Arabic, except the
** Lament for the Fail of Valencia,"
beginning ** Valencia, Valencia, vini-
eron sobre ti muchos quebrantos,"
which is on f. 329. a, and again,
poorly amplified, on f. 329. b, but
out of which has been made the fine
ballad, "Apretada esta Valencia,"
which can be traced back to the
ballad-book printed by Martin Nucio,
at Antwerp, 1 660, though, I believe,
no farther. If, therefore, there be
any thing in the Chronicle of the Cid
taken from documents in the Arabic
language, such documents were writ-
ten by Christians, or a Christian
character was impressed on the fiusts
taken from them.* 3. It has been
suggested by the Spanish translators
* Hince writing this note, I learn that my
friend Don I'aacual de Gayangok poabemm an
Arabic chronicle that throws much light on this
Spanish chronicle and on the life of the Cid.
154
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBR
PkriodI.
we now read it, at Cardenas, in the very monastery where
the Cid lies buried, and was seen there by the youthful
Ferdinand, great-grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella, who
was afterwards emperor of Germany, and who was induced
to give the abbot an order to have it printed. ** This was
done accordingly in 1512, since which time there have been
but two editions of it, those of 1552 and of 1593, until it
was reprinted in 1844, at Marburg, in Germany, with an
excellent critical preface in Spanish, by Huber.
As a part of the General Chronicle of Spain, *• we must,
with a little hesitation, pronounce the Chronicle of the
of Bouterwck, (p. 255,) that the
Chronicle of the Cid in Spanish is
substantially taken from the ^* His-
toria Roderici Didaci," published by
lUsco, in ** La CastiUa y el mas
Famoso Castellano," (1792, App.,
pp. xvi.-lx.) But the Latin, though
curious and valuable, is a mea^
compendium, in which I find nothmg
of tne attractive stories and adven-
tures of the Spanish, but occasionally
something to contradict or discredit
them. 4. The old '' Poem of the
Cid " was, no doubt, used, and used
freely, by the chronicler, whoever he
was, though he never alludes to it.
This has been noticed by Sanchez,
(Tom. I. pp. 226-228,) and must be
noticed again in note 28, where I
shall give an extract from the Chro-
mde. I add here only, that it is
clearly the Poem that was used by
the Chronicle, and not the Chronicle
that was used by the Poem.
* Prohemio. The good abbot con-
siders the Chronicle to have been
written in the lifetime of the Cid, i. e.
before A.D. 1100, and yet it refers
to the Archbishop of Toledo and the
Bishop of Tuy, who were of the
thirteenth century. Moreover, he
speaks of the intelligent interest the
Prince Ferdinand took in it; but
Oviedo, in his Dialogue on Cardinal
Ximcnes, says the young prince was
only eight years and some months old
when he gave the order. CJuiuijua-
gcna^ MS.
^ Sometimes it is necessair earlier
to allude to a portion of the Cid's
history, and then it is added, *' As we
shall relate fturther on;" so that it
is quite certain the Cid's history was
originally regarded as a necessary
portion of the Greneral Chronicle.
(Crdnica General, ed. 1604, Tercera
Parte, f. 92. b.) When, therefore,
we come to the Fourth Part, where it
really belongs, we have, first, a chap-
ter on the accession of Ferdinand the
Great, and then the histoir of the Cid
connected with that of the reigns of
Ferdinand, Sancho II., and Alfonso
VI. ; but the whole is so truly an in-
tegral part of the General Chronicle,
and not a separate chronicle of the
Cid, that, when it was taken out to
serve as a separate chronicle, it was
taken out as the three reigns of the
three sovereigns above mentioned,
beginning with one chapter that goes
back ten years before the Cid was
bom, and ending with five chapters
that run forward ten years after his
death ; while, at the conclusion of the
whole, is a sort of colophon, apolo-
gizing (Chrdnica del Cid, Burgos,
1593, fol., f. 277) for the fact that it
is so much a chronicle of these three
kings, rather than a mere chronicle
of Uie Cid. This, with the peculiar
character of the differences between
the two that have been alreaily
noticed, has satisfied me that the
Chronicle of the Ci<l was taken from
the General Chronicle.
Chap. VIII. CHRONICLE OF THE CID. 155
Cid less interesting than several of the portions that imme-
diately precede it. But still it is the great national version
of the achievements of the great national hero who freed
the fourth part of his native land from the loathed intrusion
of the Moors, and who stands to this day connected with
the proudest recollections of Spanish glory. It begins with
the Cid'f first victories under Ferdinand the Great, and
therefore only alludes to his early youth, and to the extra-
ordinary circumstances on which Comeille, following the
old Spanish play and ballads, has founded his tragedy ;
but it gives afterwards, with great minuteness, nearly every
one of the adventures that in the older traditions are as-
cribed to him, down to his death, which happened in 1099,
or rather down to the death of Alfonso the Sixth, ten
years later.
Much of it is as fabulous '^ as the accounts of Bernardo
del Carpio and the Children of Lara, though perhaps not
more so than might be expected in a work of such a period
and such pretensions. Its style, too, is suited to its roman-
tic character, and is more difiuse and grave than that of
the best narrative portions of the General Chronicle. But
then, on the other hand, it is overflowing with the very
spirit of the times when it was written, and offers us so
true a picture of their generous virtues, as well as their
stern violence, that it may well be regarded as one of the
best books in the world, if not the very best, for studying
the real character and manners of the ages of chivalry.
Occasionally there are passages in it like the following
description of the Cid's feelings and conduct when he left
his good castle of Bivar, unjustly and cruelly exiled by the
king, which, whether invented or not, are as true to the
•^ Masdeu (Historia Crftica de and learning in "Jos. Aschbach de
Espana, Madnd, 1783-1806, 4to., Cidi Historiae Fontibus Dissertatio,"
Tom. XX.) would have us believe (Bonnae, 4to., 1843, pn. 5, etc.,) but
that the whole is a fable ; but this little can be settled about individual
demands too much credulity. The facts,
question is discussed with acutencss
156 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
spirit of the period they represent, as if the minutest of
their details were ascertained facts : —
^^ And when he saw his courts deserted and without
people, and the perches without falcons, and the gateway
without its judgment-seats, he turned himself toward the
East and knelt down and said, ^ Saint Mary, Mother, and
all other Saints, graciously beseech God that he would
grant me might to overcome all these pagans, and that I
may gain from them wherewith to do good to my friends,
and to all those that may follow and help me.' And then
he went on and asked for Alvar Faflez, and said to him,
* Cousin, what fault have the poor in the wrong that the
king has done us ? Warn all my people, then, that they
harm none, wheresoever we may go/ And he called for
his horse to mount. Then spake up an old woman stand-
ing at her door and said, ^ Go on with good luck, for you
shall make spoil of whatsoever you may find or desire.*
And the Cid, when he heard that saying, rode on, for he
would tarry no longer ; and as he went out of Bivar, he
said, * Now do I desire you should know, my friends, that
it is the will of God that we should return to Castile with
great honour and great gain." **
Some of the touches of manners in this little passage,
such as the allusion to the judgment-seats at his gate,
where the Cid in patriarchal simplicity had administered
justice to his vassals, and the hint of the poor augury
gathered from the old woman's wish, which seems to be of
" The portion of the Chronicle of the " Pocma del Cid ;" and perhaps,
the Cid mm which I have taken the if we had the preceding lines of that
extract is among the portions which poem, wo should be able to account
least resemble the corresponding parts for yet more of the additions to the
of the Genened Chronicle. It is in Chronicle in this passage. The lines
Chap. 91 ; and from Chap. 88 to Chap. I refer to are as follows : —
98 there is a good d^ not found m _ , , ^ . ^ , *_ i a
4L .^^ II 1 ^ • ^v /^ I De lo« •(»• oio« Un fhertea mlentre lorando
the parallel passes m the General Torn»i« u «be», e wuuio. caundo.
Chronicle, ( 1 604, f. 224, etc. ,) though, Vlo paertM aUiertu e vauM sin cafladii*,
wnere tney ao rescmoie eacn otncr, ,, ^„ fwconw e idn adunres mudado..
the phraseology is still frequently S(wpir6 mio ad, ca mucho avie grandea cuida-
identical. The particular pussagc 1 <^<*-
have selected was, I think, suggested Other passages are quite as obviously
by the first lines that remain to us of taken from the poem.
Chap. VIII. CHRONICLE OF THE CID. 157
more power with him than the prayer he had just uttered,
or the bold hopes that were driving him to the Moorish
frontiers, — such touches give life and truth to this old
chronicle, and bring its times and feelings, as it were,
sensibly before us. Adding its peculiar treasures to those
contained in the rest of the General Chronicle, we shall
find, in the whole, nearly all the romantic and poetical
fables and adventures that belong to the earliest portions
of Spanish history. At the same time we shall obtain a
living picture of the state of manners in that dark period,
when the elements of modem society were just begimiing
to be separated from the chaos in which they had long
struggled, and out of which, by the action of successive
ages, they have been gradually wrought into those forms
of policy which now give stability to governments and
peace to the intercourse of men.
158 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
CHAPTER IX.
Effkcts of the Example of Alfonso the Tenth. — Chbontcles of his
OWH Reiqn, and of the Reigns of Sancho the Bbave and Ferdinand
THE FoUETH. ChBONICLE OF AlFONSO THE ELEVENTH, BY ViLLAIZAN.
— Chronicles of Peter the Cruel, IIenrt the Second, John the
First, and Henrt the Third, by Ayala. — Chronicle of John the
Second. — Two Chronicles of Henry the Fourth, and two of Fer-
dinand AND Isabella.
The idea of Alfonso the Wise, simply and nobly ex-
pressed in the opening of his Chronicle, that he was desi-
rous to leave for posterity a record of what Spain had
been and had done in all past time, ^ was not without
influence upon the nation, even in the state in which it
then was, and in which, for above a century afterwards, it
continued. But, as in the case of that great king's project
for a uniform administration of justice by a settled code,
his example was too much in advance of his age to be im-
mediately followed ; though, as in that memorable case,
when it was once adopted, its fruits became abundant.
The two next kings, Sancho the Brave and Ferdinand the
Fourth, took no measures, so far as we know, to keep up
and publish the history of their reigns. But Alfonso the
Eleventh, the same monarch, it should be remembered,
under whom the ** Fartidas '* became the law of the land,
recurred to the example of his wise ancestor, and ordered
* It sounds much like the ** Parti- quisiessen para los otros que avion de
das,'* beginning, *^ Los sabios antiguos venir, como para si mesmos o por los
que fueron en los tiempos primeros, y otros que eran en su tiempo,'* etc.
iallaron los saberes y las otras cosas, But such introductions are common in
tovieron que menguarien en sus fechos other early chronicles, and in other
y en su lealtad, si tambien no lo old Spanish books.
Chap. IX. CHRONICLE OF ALFONSO THE ELEVENTH. 159
the annals of the kingdom to be continued from the time
when those of the General Chronicle ceased down to his
own; embracing, of course, the reigns of Alfonso the
Wise, Sancho the Brave, andTerdinand the Fourth, or the
period from 1252 to 1312.* This is the first instance of
the appointment of a royal chronicler, and may, therefore,
be regarded as the creation of an office of consequence in
all that regards the history of the country, and which,
however much it may have been neglected in later times,
furnished important documents down to the reign of
Charles the Fifth, and was continued, in form at least,
till the establishment of the Academy of History in the
beginning of the eighteenth century.
By whom this office was first filled does not appear ;
but die Chronicle itself seems to have been prepared about
the year 1320. Formerly it was attributed to Fernan
Sanchez de Tovar ; but Fernan Sanchez was a personage
of great consideration and power in the state, practised in
public afiairs, and familiar with their history, so that we
can hardly attribute to him the mistakes with which this
Chronicle abounds, especially in the part relating to Al-
fonso the Wise. ' But, whoever may have been its author,
the Chronicle, which, it may be noticed, is so distinctly di-
vided into the three reigns that it is rather three chronicles
than one, has little value as a composition. Its narrative
is given with a rude and dry formality, and whatever in-
terest it awakens depends, not upon its style and manner,
but upon the character of the events recorded, which
sometimes have an air of adventure about them belonging
to the elder times, and, like them, are picturesque.
• " Chrdnica del muy Eisclarecido del Santo Rcy D. Fernando," etc.,
Prfneipe y Rey D. Alfonso, el que fue Valladolid, 1664, folio,
par de Emperador, y hizo el Libro de ' All this maybe found abundantly
las Siete rartidas, y ansimismo al fin discussed in the ** Memorias de Alfon*
deste Libro va encorporada la Crdnica so el Sabio," by the Marques de Mon-
del Rey D. Sancho el Bravo," etc., dejar, pp. 569-636. Clemencin, how-
Valladolid, 1 564, folio ; to which ever, still attributes the Chronicle to
should be added '* Crdnica del inuy Fernan Sanchez de Tovar. Mem. de
Valeroso Rey D. Fernando, Visnieto la Acad, de Historia, Tom. VI. p. 461.
160 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
The example of regular chronicling having now been
fairly set at the court of Castile, was followed by Henry
the Second, who commanded his Chancellor and Chief-
Justiciary, Juan Nufiez de Villaizan, to prepare, as we
are told in the Preface, in imitation of the ancients, an
account of his father's reign. In this way the series goes
on unbroken, and now gives us the " Chronicle of Alfonso
the Eleventh," * beginning with his birth and education, of
which the notices are slight, but relating amply the events
from the time he came to the throne in 1312, till his
death in 1350. How much of it was actually written by
the chancellor of the kingdom cannot be ascertained.^
From different passages, it seems that an older chronicle
was used freely in its composition ; • and the whole should,
therefore, probably be regarded as a compilation made
under the responsibility of the highest personages of the
realm. Its opening will show at once the grave and
measured tone it takes, and the accuracy it claims for its
dates and statements. ^^ God is the beginning and the
means and the end of all things ; and without him they
cannot subsist. For by his power they are made, and by
his wisdom ordered, and by his goodness maintained.
And he is the Lord; and, in all things, almighty, and
conqueror in all battles. Wherefore, whosoever would
begin any good work should first name the name of God,
and place him before all things, asking and beseeching of
his mercy to give him knowledge and will and power,
whereby he may bring it to a good end. Therefore will
this pious chronicle henceforward relate whatsoever hap-
pened to the noble King, Don Alfonso, of Castile and
* There is an edition of this Chro- * The phrase is, ** Mand6 ^ Juan
nicle (Valladolid, 1551, folio) better Nunez de Villaizan, Alguacil de la su
than the old editions of such Spanish Casa, que la ficiese trasladar en
books commonly are ; but the best is Porgaminos, e fizola trasladar, ct
that of Madrid, 1787, 4to., edited by escnbidla Ruy Martinez de Medina
Cerd^ y Rico, and published under de Rioseco," etc. See Preface,
the auspices of the Spanish Academy ' In Cap. 840 and elsewhere,
of Histoiy.
Chap. IX. CHRONICLE OP ALFONSO THE ELEVENTH. 161
Leon, and the battles and conquests and victories that he
had and did in his life against Moors and against
Christians. And it will begin in the fifteenth year of
the reign of the most noble King, Don Fernando, his
father."^
The reign of the father, however, occupies only three
short chapters ; after which, the rest of the Chronicle, con-
taining in all three hundred and forty-two chapters, comes
down to the death of Alfonso, who perished of the plague
before Gibraltar, and then abruptly closes. Its general
tone is grave and decisive, like that of a person speaking
with authority upon matters of importance, and it is rare
that we find in it a sketch of manners like the following
account of the young king at the age of fourteen or fif-
teen:—
" And as long as he remained in the city of Vallado-
lid, there were with him knights and esquires, and his
tutor, Martin Fernandez de Toledo, that brought him up,
and that had been with him a long time, even before
the queen died, and other men, who had long been used
to palaces, and to the courts of kings ; and all these gave
him an ensample of good manners. And, moreover, he
had been brought up with the children of men of note, and
with noble knights. But the king, of his own condition,
was well-mannered in eating, and drank little, and was
clad as became his estate ; and in all other his customs he
was well-conditioned, for his speech was true Castilian,
and he hesitated not in what he had to say. And so long
as he was in Valladolid, he sat three days in the week to
hear the complaints and suits that came before him ; and
he was shrewd in understanding the facts thereof, and he
was faithful in secret matters, and loved them that served
him, each after his place, and trusted truly and entirely
those whom he ought to trust. And he began to be much
7 Ed. 1787, p. 3.
VOL. I. M
162 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pebiod I.
given to horsemanshipy and pleased himself with arms,
and loved to have in his household strong men, that were
bold and of good conditions. And he loved much all his
own people, and was sore grieved at the great mischief and
great harm there were in the land through failure of jus-
tice, and he had indignation against evil-doers." ®
But though there are few sketehes in the Chronicle
of Alfonso the Eleventh like the preceding, we find in
general a well-ordered account of the affairs of that
monarch's long and active reign, given with a simplicity
and apparent sincerity which, in spite of the formal plain-
ness of its style, make it almost always interesting, and
sometimes amusing.
The next considerable attempt approaches somewhat
nearer to proper history. It is the series of chronicles
relating to the troublesome reigns of Peter the Cruel and
Henry the Second, to the hardly less unsettled times of
John the First, and to the more quiet and prosperous
reign of Henry the Third. They were written by Pedro
Lopez de Ayala, in some respects the first Spaniard of his
age ; distinguished, as we have seen, among the poets of
the latter part of the fourteenth century, and now to be
noticed as the best prose-writer of the same period. He
was born in 1332,^ and, though only eighteen years old
when Peter ascended the throne, was soon observed and
employed by that acute monarch. But when troubles arose
in the kingdom, Ayala left his tyrannical master, who had
already shown himself capable of almost any degree of
guilt, and joined his fortunes to those of Henry of Tras-
tamara, the king's illegitimate brother, who had, of course,
no claim to the throne but such as was laid in the crimes
of its possessor, and the good-will of the suffering nobles
and people.
At first, the cause of Henry was successfiil. But Peter
«» E<1. 1787, p. 80. Antonio, Bibliothcca Vetus, Lib. X.
• For the Lire of Ayala, 8ce Nic. c. 1 .
Chap. IX. PEDRO LOPEZ DE AT ALA. 163
addressed himself for help to Edward the Black Prince,
then in his, duchy of Aquitaine, who, as Froissart relates,
thinking it would be a great prejudice against the estate
royal ^° to have a usurper succeed, entered Spain, and,
with a strong hand, replaced the fallen monarch on his
throne. At the decisive battle of Naxera, by which this was
achieved, in 1367, Ayala, who bore his prince's standard,
was taken prisoner ^^ and carried to England, where he
wrote a part at least of his poems on a courtly life. Some-
what later, Peter, no longer supported by the Black Prince,
was dethroned ; and Ayala, who was then released from
his tedious imprisonment, returned home, and afterwards
became Grand-Chancellor to Henry the Second, in whose
service he gained so much consideration and influence,
that he seems to have descended as a sort of traditionary
minister of state through the reign of John the First, and
far into that of Henry the Third. Sometimes, indeed,
like other grave personages, ecclesiastical as well as civil,
he appeared as a military leader, and once again, in the
disastrous battle of Aljubarotta, in 1385, he was taken
prisoner. But his Portuguese captivity does not seem to
have been so long or so cruel as his English one ; and, at
any rate, the last years of his life were passed quietly
in Spain. He died at Calahorra in 1407, seventy-five
years old.
" He was,** says his nephew, the noble Fernan Perez de
Guzman, in the striking gallery of portraits he has left us,"
" He was a man of very gentle qualities and of good con-
versation ; had a great conscience and feared God much.
He loved knowledge, also, and gave himself much to
reading books and histories ; and though he was as goodly
a knight as any, and of great discretion in the practices of
''' The whole account in Froissart " See the passage in which Mariana
is worth reading, especially in Lord gives an account of the battle. His-
Bemers*s translation, (London, 1812, toria. Lib. XVIL c. 10.
4to., Vol. L c. 231, etc.,) as an '" Generaciones y Serablanzas, Cap.
illustration of Ayala. 7, Madrid, 1776, 4to., p. 222.
M 2
I&l H18TX>RT OF SPANISH UTERATTHE. PnioD I.
the world, yet he was by nature bent on learning, and
spent a great part of his time in reading and studying, not
books of law, but of philosophy and history. Through his
means some books are now known in Castile that were
not known aforetime; such as Titus Livius, who is the
most notable of the Roman historians; the ^Fall of
Princes;' the * Ethics* of Saint Gregory; Isidorus *De
Summo Bono ;' Boethius ; and the * History of Troy.'
He prepared the History of Castile from the King Don
Pedro to the King Don Henr)"^ ; and made a good book
on Hunting, which he greatly affected, and another called
*RimadodePalacio/"
We should not, perhaps, at the present day, claim so
much reputation as his kinsman does for the Chancellor
Ayala, in consequence of the interest he took in books of
such doubtful vdue as Guido de Colonna's " Trojan War,"
and Boccaccio " De Casibus Principum,"but, in translating
Livy," he unquestionably rendered his country an important
service. He rendered, too, a no less important service to
himself; since a familiarity with Livy tended to fit him
for the task of preparing the Chronicle, which now con-
stitutes his chief distinction and merit^^ It begins in
1350, where that of Alfonso the Eleventh ends, and comes
down to the sixth year of Henry the Third, or to 1396,
embracing that portion of the author's own life which was
between his eighteenth year and his sixty-fourth, and con-
** It is probable Avala translated, Chronicles is of Seville, 1495, folio,
or caused to be translated, all these but it seems to have been printed
books. At least, such has been the from a MS. that did not contain the
impression ; and the mention of Isidore entire series. The best edition is
of Seville among the authors *' made that published under the auspices of
known " seems to justify it, for, as a the Academy of History, by D. £u-
Spaniard of great fame, St. Isidore gcnio de Llaguno Amirola, its secrc-
must always have been known in tary, (Madrid, 1779, 2 tom., 4to.)
Spain ill every other way, except by a That Ayala was the authorized chro-
translation into Spanish. See, also, nicler of Castile is apparent from the
the Preface to the edition of Boc- whole tone of his work, and is directly
caccio, Cafda de Prfncipes, 1495, in asserted in an old MS. of a part of it,
Fr. Mendez, Typogrami EspaSola, cited by Bayer in his notes to N. An-
Madrid, 1796, 4to., p. 202. tonio. Bib. Vet., Lib. X., cap. 1,
»* The first edition of Ayala's num. 10, n. 1.
Chap. IX. PEDRO LOPEZ D£ AY ALA. 165
stituting the first safe materials for the history of his native
country.
For such an undertaking Ayala was singularly well
fitted. Spanish prose was already well advanced in his
time ; for Don John Manuel, the last of the elder school
of good writers, did not die till Ayala was fifteen years
old. He was, moreover, as we have seen, a scholar, and,
for the age in which he lived, a remarkable one ; and, what
is of more importance than either of these circumstances,
he was personally familiar with the course of public afiairs
during the forty-six years embraced by his chronicle. Of
all this traces are to be found in his work. His style is
not, like that of the oldest chroniclers, full of a rich vivacity
and freedom ; but, without being over-carefully elaborated,
it is simple and business-like ; while, to give a n^ore earnest
air, if not an air of more truth to the whole, he has, in
imitation of Livy, introduced into the course of his nar-
rative set speeches and epistles intended to express the
feelings and opinions of his principal actors more distinctly
than they could be expressed by the mere facts and current
of the story. Compared with the Chronicle of Alfonso
the Wise, which preceded it by above a century, it lacks
the charm of that poetical credulity which loves to deal in
doubtful traditions of glory, rather than in those ascertained
facts which are often little honourable either to the national
fame or to the spirit of humanity. Compared with the
Chronicle of Froissart, with which it was contemporary,
we miss the honest-hearted, but somewhat childlike,
enthusiasm that looks with unmingled delight and admira-
tion upon all the gorgeous phantasmagoria of chivalry, and
find, instead of it, the penetrating sagacity of an experienced
statesman, who looks quite through the deeds of men, and,
like Comines, thinks it not at all worth while to conceal
the great crimes with which he has been familiar, if they
can be but wisely and successfully set forth. When,
therefore, we read Ayala's Chronicle, we do not doubt that
166 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pxuod I.
we have made an important step in the progress of the
species of writing to which it belongs, and that we are
beginning to approach the period when history is to teach
with sterner exactness the lesson it has learned irom the
hard experience of the past
Among the many curious and striking passages in
Ayala's Chronicle, the most interesting are, perhaps, those
that relate to the unfortunate Blanche of Bourbon, the
young and beautiful wife of Peter the Cruel, who, for the
sake of Maria de Padilla, forsook her two days after his
marriage, and, when he had kept her long in prison, at
last sacrificed her to his base passion for his mistress ; an
event which excited, as we learn from Froissart's Chronicle,
a sensation of horror, not only in Spain, but throughout
Europe, and became an attractive subject for the popular
poetry of the old national ballads, several of which we find
were devoted to it^* But it may well be doubted whether
even the best of the ballads give us so near and moving a
picture of her cruel sufferings as Ayala does, when, going
on step by step in his passionless manner, he shows us the
queen first solemnly wedded in the church at Toledo, and
t^en pining in her prison at Medina Sidonia ; the excite-
ment of the nobles, and the indignation of the king's own
mother and family ; carrying us all the time with painful
exactness through the long series of murders and atrocities
by which Pedro at last reaches the final crime which,
during eight years, he had hesitated to commit For
there is, in the succession of scenes he thus exhibits to us,
a circumstantial minuteness which is above all power of
generalization, and brings the guilty monarch's character
more vividly before us than it could be brought by the
most fervent spirit of poetry or of eloquence.^* And it is
" There are about a dozen ballads tento el Rey D. Pedro," and ** Dona
on the subject of Don Pedro, of which Maria de Padilla," the last of which
the best, I think, are those beginning, is in the Saragossa Cancionero of
" Doiia Blanca esta en Sidonia," " En 1660, Parte IL, f. 46.
on rctrcte en que apenas," '* No con- ^* Seo the Crdnica de Don Pedro,
Chap. IX.
CHRONICLE OF JOHN THE SECOND.
167
precisely this cool and patient minuteness of the chronicler,
founded on his personal knowledge, that gives its peculiar
character to Ayala's record of the four wild reigns in
which he lived; presenting them to us in a style less
spirited and vigorous, indeed, than that of some of the
older chronicles of the monarchy, but certainly in one more
simple, more judicious, and more eflTective for the true
purposes of history."
The last of the royal chronicles that it is necessary to
notice with much particularity is that of John the Second,
which begins with the death of Henry the Third, and comes
Ann. 1863, Capp. 4, 6, 11, 12, 14, 21 ;
Ann. 1354, Capp. 19, 21 ; Ann. 1368,
Capp. 2 and 3; and Ann. 1361,
Cap. 3.
^ The fairness of Ajala in regard
to Don Pedro has been questioned, and,
from his relations to that monarch,
may naturally be suspected ; — a point
on which Mariana touches, (Historia,
Lib. XVII., c. 10,) without settling it,
but one of some little consequence in
Spanish literary history, wnere the
character of Don Pedro often appears
connected with poetry and the drama.
The first person who attacked A^da
was, I believe, Pedro de Gracia Dei,
a courtier in the time of Ferdinand and
Isabella and in that of Charles V. He
was King-at-Arms and Chronicler to
the Catholic Sovereigns, and I have,
in manuscript, a collection of his pro-
fessional copias on the lineages and
arms of the principal families of Spain,
and on the general history of the coun-
try ; — short poems, worthless as verse,
and sneered at by Ai^te de Molina,
in the Preface to his ** Nobleza del
Andaluzia," (1688,) for the imper-
fect knowledge their author haa of
the subjects on which he treated.
His defence of Don Pedro is not
better. It is found in the Scmina-
rio Erudito, (Madrid, 1790, Tom.
XXVIII. and XXIX.,) with additions
by a later hand, probably Diego de
Castilla, Dean of Toledo, who, I be-
lieve, was one of Don Pedro's de-
scendants. It cites no sufficient au-
thorities for the averments which it
makes about events that happened a
century and a half earlier, and on
which, therefore, it was unsuitable to
trust the voice of tradition. Francisco
de Castilla, who certainly had blood
of Don Pedro in his veins, followed in
the same track, and s[)eaks, in his
** Pratica de las Virtudes," (Carago^a,
1662, 4to., fol. 28,) of the monarch
and of Ayala as
El grmn ray Don Pedro, qael vulgo rapraeva
For wile raemigo, quien hiso su historia, etc.
All this, however, produced little
efiect But, in process of time, books
were written upon the question ;—
the " Apologia del Rey Don Pedro,"
by Ledo del Pozo, (Madrid, folio,
s. a.,) and ** El Rey Don Pedro defen-
dido," (Madrid, 1648, 4to.,) bv Veray
Fifueroa, the diplomatist of the reign
of Philip IV. J works intended, ap-
parently, only to flatter the pretensions
of royalty, but whose consequences
we shall find when we come to the
" Valiente Justiciero "of Moreto, Cal-
deron's ** Mddico de su Honra," and
similar poetical delineations of Pedro's
character in the seventeenth century.
The ballads, however, it should be no-
ticed, are almost always true to the
view of Pedro given by Ayala ; — the
most striking exception that I remem-
ber being the admirable ballad begin-
ning ** A los pies de Don Enrique,**
Qumta Parte de Flor de Romances,
recopilado por Sebastian Velez de
Guevara, Burgos, 1694, 18mo.
168
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Peuod I.
down to the death of John himself, in 1454 J'* It was
the work of several hands, and contains internal evidence
of having been written at different periods. Alvar Garcia
de Santa Maria, no doubt, prepared the account of the
first fourteen years, or to 1420, constituting about one
third of the whole work ; " after which, in consequence
perhaps of his attachment to the Infante Ferdinand, who
was regent during the minority of the king, and subse-
quently much disliked by him, his labours ceased. *® Who
wrote the next portion is not known ;*^ but from about
1429 to 1445, John de Mena, the leading poet of his time,
was the royal annalist, and, if we are to trust the letters of
one of his friends, seems to have been diligent in collecting
materials for his task, if not earnest in all its duties.^*
Other parts have been attributed to Juan Rodriguez del
Padron, a poet, and Diego de Valera," a knight and gen-
»» The first edition of the "Cr6nica
del Senor Key D. Juan, segiindo de
este Nombre/' was printed at Logro-
fio, (1517, fol.,) and is the most cor-
rect of the old editions that I have
used. The best of all> however, is
the beautiful one printed at Valencia,
by Monfort, in 1779, folio, to which
ma^ be added an appendix by P. Fr.
Liciniano Saez, Madrid, 1786, folio.
'*• See his PnSlogo, in the edition of
1779, p. zix.,and Galindez de Carva-
jal, Prefacion, p. 19.
^ He lived as late as 1444 ; for he
is mentioned more than once in that
year, in the Chronicle. See Ann.
1444, Capp. 14, 15.
■* Prelacion de Carvajal.
•• Feman Gomez de Cibdareal,
physician to John II., Centon Episto-
hno, Madrid, 1775, 4to., Epist. 23
and 74 ; a work, however, whose ge-
nuineness I shall be obliged to question
hereafter.
■■ Prefacion de Carvajal. Poetry of
Rodriguez del Padron is found in the
Cuncioncros Grencrales ; and of Diego
de Valera there is ** La Crdnica de ES'
pafia abreviada por Mandado de la muy
roderosa Senora Doiia Isabel, Reyna
de Castilla,*' made in 1481, when its
author was sixty-nine years old, and
printed 1482, 1493, 1495, etc.,— a
chronicle of considerable merit for its
style, and of some value, notwithstand-
ing it is a compendium, for the original
materials it contains towards the end,
such as two eloquent and bold letters
by Valera himself to John II., on the
troubles of the time, and an account
of what he personally saw of the last
days of the Great Constable, (Parte
lY., c. 125,)— the last and the most
im{)ortant chapter in the book. (Men-
dez, p. 138. Capmany, Eloquencia
Espafiola, Madrid, 1786, 8vo., Tom.
I., p. 180.) It should be added, that the
editor of the Chronicle of John II.
(1779) thinks Valera was the person
who finally arranged and settled that
Chronicle ; but the opinion of Carva-
jal seems the more probable. Cer-
tainly, I ho[)e Valera had no hand in
the praise bestowed on himself in the
excellent story told of him in the
Chronicle, (Ann. 1437, cap. 3,) show-
ing how, in presence of the king of
Bohemia, at Prague, he defended the
honour of his liege lord, the king of
Castile. A treatise of a few |>ages on
Chaf. IX. CHRONICLE OF JOHN THE SECOND. 169
deman often mentioned in the Chronicle itself, and after-
wards himself employed as a chronicler by Queen Isabella.
But whoever may have been at first concerned in it, the
whole work was ultimately committed to Feman Perez de
Guzman, a scholar, a courtier, and an acute as well as a
witty observer of manners, who survived John the Second,
and probably arranged and completed the Chronicle of his
master's reign, as it was published by order of the Em-
peror Charles the Fifth ; ** some passages having been
added as late as the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, who
are more than once alluded to in it as reigning sovereigns."
It is divided, like the Chronicle of Ayala, which may
naturally have been its model, into the different years of
the king's reign, each year being subdivided into chapters ;
and it contains a great number of important original letters
and other curious contemporary documents, ** from which,
as well as from the care used in its compilation, it has
been considered more absolutely trustworthy than any
Castilian chronicle that preceded it. "
In its general air, there is a good deal to mark the
manners of the age, such as accounts of the court cere-
monies, festivals, and tournaments that were so much loved
by John ; and its style, though, on the whole, unorna-
Providcnce, by Diego de Valera, bable, y abrevid algunas cosas, to-
printed in tiie edition of the *^ Vision mando la sustancia dellas ; porque afi£
Deleytable/* of 1489, and reprinted, crey6 oue convcnia." He adds, that
almost entire, in the first volume of this Cnronicle was much valued by
Capmany's '^Eloqueneia Espaiiola,*' Isabella, who was the daughter of
is worth reading, as a specimen of the John II.
grave didactic prose of the fifteenth ^ Anno 1451, Cap. 2, and Anno
century. A Cnronicle of Ferdinand 1463, Cap. 2. See, also, some re-
and Isabella, by Valera, which may marks on the author of this Chronicle
well have been the best and most im- by the editor of the *' Crdnica de Al-
portant of his works, has never been varo dcLuna," (Madrid, 1784, 4to.,)
printed. Geronimo Gudiel, Com- Prdlopo, pp. xxv.-xxviii.
pendio de Algunas Historias de Es- •* For example, 1406, Cap. 6, etc. ;
pafia, Alcald, 1577, fol., f. 101. b. 1430, Cap. 2; 1441, Cap. 30; 1463,
*■* From the phraseology of Carva- Cap. 3.
ial, (p. 20,) we may infer that Feman *" ** Es sin duda la mas puntual i la
rerez de Guzman is cbiefly respon- mas segura de quantas se conservan an-
sible for the style and general charac- tiguas.'* Mondejar, Noticia y Juicio
ter of the Chronicle. *' Cogi6 de de los mas Principales Ilistoriadores
cada uno lo que le pareci6 mas pro- de Espana, Madrid, 1746, fol., p. 112.
170 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. PxuoD I.
mented and unpretending, is not wanting in variety, spirit,
and solemnity. Once, on occasion of the fall and igno-
minious death of the Great Constable Alvaro de Luna,
whose commanding spirit had, for many years, impressed
itself on the a&irs of the kingdom, the honest chronicler,
though little favourable to that haughty minister, seems
unable to repress his feelings, and, recollecting the treatise
on the " Fall of Princes,'* which Ayala had made known
in Spain, breaks out, saying : '^ O John Boccaccio, if thou
wert now alive, thy pen surely would not fail to record
the fall of this strenuous and bold gentleman among those
of the mighty princes whose fate thou hast set forth. For
what greater example could there be to every estate?
what greater warning ? what greater teaching to show the
revolutions and movements of deceitful and changing
fortune? O blindness of the whole race of man I O un-
expected fall in the affairs of this our world I " And so
on through a chapter of some length. ^ But this is the
only instance of such an outbreak in the Chronicle. On
the contrary, its general tone shows that historical composi-
tion in Spain was about to undergo a permanent change ;
for, at its very outset, we have regular speeches attributed
to the principal personages it records, *^ such as had been
introduced by Ayala; and, through the whole, a well-
ordered and documentary record of affairs, tinged, no doubt,
with some of the prejudices and passions of the troublesome
times to which it relates, but still claiming to have the
exactness of regular annals, and striving to reach the grave
and dignified style suited to the higher purposes of history. ^
" Anno 1463, Cap. 4. longs were sometimes used in the
» Anno 1406, Capp. 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, poetry of the old ballads we so much
and 15; Anno 1407, Capp. 6, 7, admire. The instance to which I
3, etc. refer is to be found in the account of
*° This Chronicle affords us, in one the leading event of the time, the
place that I have noticed,— probably violent death of the Great Constable
not the only one, — a curious instance Alvaro de Luna, which the fine
of the way in which the whole class ballad beginning " Un Miercolcs de
of Spanish chronicles to which it be- manana " takes plainly from this
Gbap. IX.
CHB0NICLE3 OF HENRY THE FOURTH.
171
Of the disturbed and corrupt reign of Henry the Fourth,
who, at one period, was nearly driven from his throne by
his younger brother, Alfonso, we have two chronicles : the
first by Diego Enriquez de Castillo, who was attached,
both as chaplain and historiographer, to the person of the
legitimate sovereign ; and the other by Alonso de Palencia,
chronicler to the unfortunate pretender, whose claims were
sustained only three years, though the Chronicle of Palencia,
like that of Castillo, extends over the whole period of the
regular sovereign's reign, from 1454 to 1474. They are
as unlike each other as the fates of the princes they record.
The Chronicle of Castillo is written with great plainness
of manner, and, except in a few moral reflections, chiefly
at the beginning and the end, seems to aim at nothing but
the simplest and even the driest narrative;'^ while the
Chronicle of John II. The two are
worth comparing throughout, and
their coincidences can be properly
felt only when this is done; but a
little specimen may serve to show how
curious is the whole.
The Chronicle (Anno 1453, Cap.
2) has it as follows : — ** E vid6a Bar-
rasa, Caballerizo del Principe, e
llamdle 6 dix61e : * Yen acd, Barrasa,
tu estas aqui mirando la muerte que
me dan. Yo te ruego, que digas al
Principe mi Senor, que d6 mejor
gualardon a sus criados, quel Rey mi
Seiior mand6 dar ^ mi.' "
The ballad, which is cited as ano-
nymous by Duran, but is found in Se-
pulveda*8 Romances, etc., 1684, (f.
204,) though not in the edition of
1551, gives the same striking cir-
cumstance, a little amplified, in these
words: —
Y vido eiur a Bamjia,
Que al Principe le servia,
De ser su cavallerizo,
Y vino a ver aquel dia
A executar lajusticia.
Que el maestre recebia :
*' Ven aca, hermano Barraaa,
Di al Principe por tu vida.
Que de mejor galardon
A quien sir^e a su tefforia,
Que no el, aue el Rey mi Seilor
Me ha manaado dar eate dia."
So near do the old Spanish chro-
nicles often come to being poetry, and
so near do the old Spanish ballads
often come to being history. But the
Chronicle of John II. is, I think, the
last to which this remark can be
applied.
if I felt sure of the genuineness of
the '* Centon Epistolario " of Gomez
de Cibdareal, I should here cite the
one hundred and third Letter as the
material from which the Chronicle's
account was constructed.
•^ When the first edition of Cas-
tillo's Chronicle was published I do
not know. It is treated as if still only
in manuscript by Mondejar in 1746
(Advertencias, p. 112) ; by Bayer, in
his notes to Nic. Antonio, (Bib.
Vetus, Vol. II. p. 349,) which,
though written a little earlier, were
published in 1788 ; and by Ochoa, in
the notes to the inedited poems of the
Marquis of Santillana, ^Paris, 1844,
8vo., p. 397,) and in his " Manu-
scritos Espanoles," (1844, p. 92, etc.)
The very good edition, however,
prepared by Josef Miguel de Flores,
published in Madrid, by Sancha,
(1787, 4to.,) as a part of the Aca-
demy's collection, is announced, on its
172 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
Chronicle of Palencia, who had been educated in Italy
under the Greeks recently arrived there from the ruins of
the Eastern Empire, is in a false and cumbrous style ; a
single sentence frequently stretching through a chapter,
and the whole work showing that he had gained little but
affectation and bad taste under the teachings of John
Lascaris and George of Trebizond. '* Both works, how-
ever, are too strictly annals to be read for anything but
the facts they contain.
Similar remarks must be made about the chronicles of
the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, extending from 1474
to 1504-16. There are several of them, but only two
need be noticed. One is by Andres Bernaldez, often
called " El Cura de los Palacios,** because he was curate
in the small town of that name, though the materials for
his Chronicle were, no doubt, gathered chiefly in Seville,
the neighbouring splendid capital of Andalusia, to whose
princely Archbishop he was chaplain. His Chronicle,
written, it should seem, chiefly to please his own taste,
extends from 1488 to 1513. It is honest and sincere,
reflecting faithfully the physiognomy of his age ; its cre-
dulity, its bigotry, and its love of show. It is, in truth,
such an account of passing events as would be given by one
who was rather curious about them than a part of them ;
but who, from accident, was familiar with whatever was
going on among the leading spirits of his time and comitry. ^
title-page, as the second. If these Frescott, whose copy I have used. It
learned men have all been mistaken consists of one hundred and fortv-four
on such a point, it is very Strang^. chapters, and the credulity and bigotry
" For the use of a manuscript copy of its author, as well as his better
of Palencia^s Chronicle I am indebted qualities, may be seen in his accounts
to my friend W. H. Prescott, Esq., of the Sicilian Vesi)ers, (Cap. 193,)
who notices it among the materials for of the Canary Islands, (Cap. 64,) of
his ** Ferdinand and Isabella," (Vol. the earthquake of 1604, (Cap. 200,)
I. p. 136, Amer. ed.,) with his accus- and of the election of Leo X., (Cap.
tomed acutcncss. A full lifeofPalen- 239.) Of his prejudice and par-
cia is to be found in Juan Pellicer, tiality, his version of the Iwld visit of
Bib. dc Traductorcs, (Madrid, 1778, thogreatMarquisofCadiz to Isabella,
4to.,) Second Part, pp. 7-12. (p^P* ^^») ^^®° compared with Mr.
■• I owe ■ my knowledge of this Prescott's notice of it, (Part I. Chap,
manuscript, also, to my friend Mr. 6,) will give an idea ; and of his
Chap. IX. CHRONICLES OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 173
No portion of it is more valuable and interesting than that
which relates to Columbus, to whom he devotes thirteen
chapters, and for whose history he must have had excellent
materials, since not only was Deza, the Archbishop to
whose service he was attached, one of the friends and
patrons of Columbus, but Columbus himself, in 1496, was
a guest at the house of Bernaldez, and intrusted to him
manuscripts which, he says, he has employed in this very
account; thus placing his Chronicle among the documents
important alike in the history of America and of Spain. ^
The other chronicle of the time of Ferdinand and
Isabella is that of Fernando del Pulgar, their Councillor
of State, their Secretary, and their authorized Annalist
He was a person of much note in his time, but it is not
known when he was born or where he died. ** That he
was a man of wit and letters, and an acute observer of life,
we know from his notices of the Famous Men of Castile ;
from his Commentary on the Coplas of Mingo Revulgo ;
and from a few spirited and pleasant letters to his friends
that have been spared to us. But as a chronicler his merit
is inconsiderable.^ The early part of his work is not
trustworthy, and the latter part, beginning in 1482 and
intolerance, the chapters (110-114) » A notice of him is prefixed to his
about the Jews afford proof even ** Claros Varones" (Madrid, 1775,
beyond what might be expected from 4to.) ; but it is not much. We know
his age. There is an imperfect article from himself that he was an old man
about Bernaldez in N. Antonio, Bib. in 1490.
Nov., but the best materials for his " The first edition of his Chroni-
life are in the egotism of his own cle, published by an accident, as if it
Chronicle. were the work of the famous Antonio
** The chapters about Columbus de Lebriia, appeared in 1665, at
arc 118-131. The account of Colum- Valladolid. But the error was soon
bus's visit to him is in Cap. 131, and discovered, and in 1567 it was printed
that of Ihe manuscripts intrusted to anew, at Saragossa, with its true au-
him is in Cap. 123. He says, that, thor's name. The only other edition
when Columbus came to court in 1496, of it, and by far the best of the
he was dressed as a Franciscan monk, three, is the beautiful one, Vulencia,
and wore the cord por dewcum. He 1780, folio. See the Pr61ogo to this
cites Sir John Mandcvilie's Travels, edition for the mistake by which
and seems to have read them (Cap. Pulgar's Chronicle was attributed to
123) ; a fact of some significance, Lebrija.
when we bear in mind his connexion
with Columbu.<»,
174 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
ending in 1490, is brief in its narrative, and tedious in the
somewhat showy speeches with which it is burdened. The
best of it is its style, which is often dignified ; but it is the
style of history rather than that of a chronicle ; and, indeed,
the formal division of the work, according to its subjects,
into three parts, as well as the philosophical reflectioas
with which it is adorned, show that the ancients had been
studied by its author, and that he was desirous to imitate
them.'*^ Why he did not continue his account beyond
1490, we cannot tell. It has been conjectured that he
died then.^ But this is a mistake, for we have a well-
written and curious report, made by him to the queen, on
the whole Moorish history of Granada, after the capture
of the city in 1492. »•
The Chronicle of Ferdinand and Isabella by Pulgar is
the last instance of the old style of chronicling that should
now be noticed ; for though, as we have already observed,
it was long thought for the dignity of the monarchy that
the stately forms of authorized annals should be kept up,
the free and picturesque spirit that gave them life was no
longer there. Chroniclers were appointed, like Feman de
Ocampo and Mexia; but the true chronicling style was
gone by, not to return.
^ Read, for instance, the long observed, in the Chronicles of Ayala,
speech of Gomez Manrique to the in- eighty or ninety years earlier,
habitants of Toledo. (Parte II. c. "" *' Indicio harto probable de qae
79.) It is one of the best, and has a falleci6 &ntes de latomade Granada,"
good deal of merit as an oratorical says Martinez de la Rosa, '* Hcman
<x>mposition, though its Roman tone Perez del Pulgar, el dc las HazaEas."
is misplaced in such a chronicle. It Madrid, 1834, 8vo., p. 229.
is a mistake, however, in the pub- * This important oocument, which
lisher of the edition of 1780 to suppose does Pulgar some honour as a states-
that Pulgar first introduced tnese man, is to be found at len^ in the
formal speeches into the Spanish. Seminario Erudito, Madnd, 1788,
They occur, as has been already Tom. XII. pp. 67-144.
chap.x chbonicles of pahticulab events. 176
CHAPTER X.
Chsonicles op Pabttculab Events. — The Passo Hokboso. — The Segubo
DE TOBDESIIXAS. — ChBOKICLES OF PaBTICULAB PeBS058. — PeBO NlNO. —
Alt ABO DE LuvA. — Gonzalvo de C<5edova. — Chboiqcles op Tbatels. —
Clavijo, Columbus, Balboa, and othebs. — Romantic Chbonicles. —
RODEBIC AND THE DsSTBUCTION OP SpAIN. — GeNEBAL ReMABKS ON THE
SpAinsH Chbonicles.
Chronicles of Particular Events. — It should be borne
in mind, that we have thus far traced only the succession
of what may be called the general Spanish chronicles,
which, prepared by royal hands or under royal authority,
have set forth the history of the whole country, from its
earliest beginnings and most fabulous traditions, down
through its fierce wars and divisions, to the time when it
had, by the final overthrow of the Moorish power, been
settled into a quiet and compact monarchy. From their
subject and character, they are, of course, the most impor-
tant, and, generally, the most interesting, works of the
class to which they belong. But, as mighty be expected
from the influence they exercised and the popularity they
enjoyed, they were often imitated. Many chronicles were
written on a great variety of subjects, and many works in
a chronicling style which yet never bore the name. Most
of them are of no value. But to the few that, from their
manner or style, deserve notice we must now turn for
a moment, beginning with those that refer to particular
events.
Two of these special chronicles relate to occurrences in
the reign of John the Second, and are not only curious in
themselves and for their style, but valuable, as illustrating
176 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbeiod I.
the manners of the time. The first, according to the date
of its events, is the " Passo Honroso," or the Passage of
Honour, and is a formal account of a passage at arms which
was held against all comers in 1434, at the bridge of Orbigo,
near the city of Leon, during thirty days, at a moment
when the road was thronged with knights passing for a
solemn festival to the neighbouring shrine of Santiago.
The challenger was Suero de Quinones, a gentleman of
rank, who claimed to be thus emancipated from the service
of wearing for a noble lady's sake a chain of iron around
his neck every Thursday. The arrangements for this ex-
traordinary tournament were all made under the king's
authority. Nine champions, mantenedoreSj we are told,
stood with Quiiiones, and at the end of the thirty days it
was found that sixty-eight knights had adventured them-
selves against his claim ; that six hundred and twenty-seven
encounters had taken place ; and that sixty-six lances had
been broken; — one knight, an Aragonese, having been
killed and many wounded, among whom were Quiiiones
and eight out of his nine fellow-champions. ^
Strange as all this may sound, and seeming to carry us
back to the fabulous days when the knights of romance
** Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban/*
and Rodamont maintained the bridge of Montpellier, for
the sake of the lady of his love, it is yet all plain matter
' Some account of the Passo Hon- in it verbatim, as in sections 1, 4, 7,
roso is to be found among the Memo- 14, 74, 75, etc. In other parts it
rabilia of the time in the *' CnSnica de seems to have, been disfig^urcd by
Juan el IP," (ad Ann. 1483, Cap. 6,) Pineda. (Pellicer, note to Don
and in Zurita, ** Anales de Aragon," Quixote, Parte I. c. 49.) The poem
(Lib. XIV. c. 22.) The book itself, of *' Esvero y Almedora," in twelve
" El Passo Honroso,*' was prepared cantos, by D. Juan Maria Maury,
on the spot, at Orbigo, by Delcna, (Paris, 1840, 12mo.,) is founded on
one of the authorized scribes of John the adventures recorded in this Chro-
11. ; and was abridged by Fr. Juan nicle, and so is the " Passo Honroso,"
de Pineda, and published at Sala- by Don Angel de Saavedra, Duque
manoa in 1588, and again at Madrid, de Ri\'as, in four cantos, in the second
under the auspices of the Academy volume of his Works, (Madrid, 1820-
ot History, in 1783, (4to.) Large 21, 2 tom. 12mo.)
portions of the originid are preserved
Chap. X. THE PA8S0 HONROSO. 177
of fact, spread out in becoming style, by an eyewitness,
with a full account of the ceremonies, both of chivalry and
of religion, that accompanied it. The theory of the whole
is that Quiflones, in acknowledgment of being prisoner to
a noble lady, had, for some time, weekly worn her chains ;
and that he was now to ransom himself from this fanciful
imprisonment by the payment of a certain number of real
spears broken by him and his friends in fair fight. All
this, to be sure, is fantastic enough. But the ideas of love,
honour, and religion displayed in the proceedings of the
champions, ' who hear mass devoutly every day, and yet
cannot obtain Christian burial for the Aragonese knight
who is killed, and in the conduct of Quiiiones himself, who
fasts each Thursday, partly, it should seem, in honour of
the Madonna, and partly in honour of his lady, — these
and other whimsical incongruities are still more fantastic.
They seem, indeed, as we read their record, to be quite
worthy of the admiration expressed for them by Don
Quixote in his argument with the wise canon, ' but h JSily
worthy of any other ; so that we are surprised, at first,
when we find them specially recorded in the contemporary
Chronicle of King John, and filling, long afterwards, a se-
parate chapter in the graver Annals of Zurita. And yet
such a grand tournament was an important event in the age
when it happened, and is highly illustrative of the contem-
porary manners. * History and chronicle, therefore, alike
did well to give it a place ; and, indeed, down to the pre-
sent time, the curious and elaborate record of the details
■ See Sections 23 and 64 ; and for of the workings of human nature,
a curious vow made by one of the Parte I. c. 49.
wounded knights, that he would never * Take the years immediately about
agun make love to nuns as he had 1434, in which the Passo Honroso
done, see Sect. 26. occurred, and we find four or five
■ Don Quixote makes precisely instances. (Crdnica de Juan el IF,
such a use of the Passo Honroso as 1433, Cap. 2 ; 1434, Cap. 4 ; 1436,
might be expected from the perverse Capp. 3 and 8 ; 1436, Cap. 4.) In-
acuteness so often shown by madmen, deed, the Chronicle is full of them ;
— one of the many instances in which and in several, the Great Constable
we see Cervantes's nice observation Alvaro de Luna figures.
VOL. I. N
178 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbiod I.
and ceremonies of the Fasso Honroso is of no little value
as one of the best exhibitions that remain to us of the ge-
nius of chivalry, and as quite the best exhibition of what
has been considered the most characteristic of all the
knightly institutions.
The other work of the same period to which we have
referred gives us, also, a striking view of the spirit of the
times ; one less picturesque, indeed, but not less instruc-
tive. It is called " El Seguro de Tordesillas," the Pledge
or the Truce of Tordesillas, and relates to a series of con-
ferences held in 1439, between John the Second and a
body of his nobles, headed by his own son, who, in a sedi-
tious and violent manner, interfered in the aflPairs of the
kingdom, in order to break down the influence of the
Constable de Luna. * It receives its peculiar name from
the revolting circumstance, that, even in the days of the
Passo Honroso, and with some of the knights who figured
in that gorgeous show for the parties, true honour was yet
sunk so low in Spain, that none could be found on either
side of this great quarrel, — not even the King or the
Prince, — whose word would be taken as a pledge for the
mere personal safety of those who should be engaged in the
discussions at Tordesillas. It was necessary, therefore, to
find some one not strictly belonging to either party, who,
invested with higher powers and even with supreme mili-
tary control, should become the depositary of the general
faith, and, exercising an authority limited only by his own
sense of honour, be obeyed alike by the exasperated sove-
reign and his rebellious subjects. *
This proud distinction was given to Pedro Fernandez
de Velasco, commonly called the Good or Faithful Count
* The " Seguro de Tordesillas " Castilian phrase used by the principal
was first printed at Milan, 1611 ; but personages on this occasion, and among
the only other edition, that of Madrid, the rest by the Constable Alvaro de
1784, (4to.,) is much better. Luna, to signify that they are not, for
• " Nos desnaturamos," ** We fal- the time being, bound to obey even
•ify our natures/* is the striking old the king. Seguro, Cap. 3.
Chap. X. CHRONICLES OF PARTICULAR PERSONS. 179
Hare ; and the " Seguro de Tordesillas,** prepared by him
some time afterwards, shows how honourably he executed
the extraordinary trust Few historical works caa challenge
such absolute authenticity. The documents of the case,
constituting the chief part of it, are spread out before the
reader ; and what does not rest on their foundation rests on
that word of the Good Count to which the lives of what-
ever was most distinguished in the kingdom had just been
fearlessly trusted. As might be expected, its character-
istics are simplicity and plainness, not elegance or elo-
quence. It is, in fact, a collection of documents, but it is
an interesting and a melancholy record. The compact
that was made led to no permanent good. The Count
soon withdrew, ill at ease, to his own estates ; and in less than
two years his unhappy and weak master was assailed anew,
and besieged in Medina del Campo, by his rebellious
family and their adherents. ^ After this, we hear little of
Count Haro, except that he continued to assist the king
from time to time, in his increasing troubles, until, worn
out with fatigue of body and mind, he retired from the
world, and passed the last ten years of his life in a monas-
tery, which he had himself founded, and where he died at
the age of threescore and ten. ®
Chronicles of Particular Persons. — But while remark-
able events^ like the Passage of Arms at Orbigo and the
Pledge of Tordesillas, were thus appropriately recorded,
the remarkable men of the time could hardly fail occasion-
ally to find fit chroniclers.
Pero Niiio, Count de Buelna, who flourished between
' See Crdnica de Juan el II', 1440- Luis de Aranda's commentanr on this
41 and 1444, Cap. 3. Well might passage is good, and well illustrates
Manrique, in his beautiful Coplas the old Chronicle ; — a rare circum-
on the instability of fortune, break stance in such commentaries on
forth, — Spanish poetry.
Que M hizo el Be^r Don Joan ? 8 Puirrar (Claros Varones de Cas-
Qr««t^t *"*•"• tilla, Madrid, 1775, 4to., T.tulo 3)
laractc
n2
Quo ae hixieron ?
Que fue de taoito
Que fue de tanU
Como truxeion ?
Que fue de taoito ffAian, givcs a bcautiful character of him,
Que fue de tanU invencion.
1?^0 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbuod I.
1379 and 1453, is the first of them. He was a distin-
guished naval and military commander in the reigns of
Henry the Third and John the Second ; and his Chro-
nicle is the work of Gutierre Diez de Gamez, who was
attached to his person from the time Pero Nino was
twenty-three years old, and boasted the distinction of being
his standard-bearer in many a rash and bloody fight A
more faithful chronicler, or one more imbued with knightly
qualities, can hardly be found. He may be well compared
to the " Loyal Serviteur," the biographer of the Chevalier
Bayard ; and, like him, not only enjoyed the confidence
of his master, but shared his spirit. * His accounts of the
education of Pero Nino, and of the counsels given him by
his tutor ; ^^ of Pero's marriage to his first wife, the lady
Constance de Guebara ; ^^ of his cruises against the corsairs
and Bey of Tunis ; ^* of the part he took in the war against
England, after the death of Richard the Second, when he
commanded an expedition that made a descent on Cornwall,
and, according to his chronicler, burnt the town of Poole
and took Jersey and Guernsey ; ^^ and finally, of his share
in the common war against Granada, which happened in
the latter part of his life and under the leading of the Con-
stable Alvaro de Luna, ** are all interesting and curious,
and told with simplicity and spirit. But the most charac-
teristic and amusing passages of the Chronicle are, per-
haps, those that relate, one to Pero Nino's gallant visit at
Girfontaine, near Rouen, the residence of the old Admiral
of France, and his gay young wife, '* and another to the
^ The " Cr6nica de Don Pero would have done better to print the
Niilo" was cited early and often, as whole; especially the whole of what
containing important materials for the he says he found in the part which he
history of the reign of Henry III., calls **' La Cr6nica de los Reyes de
but was not printed until it was Inglnterra."
edited by Don Eugenio de Llaguno *® See Parte I. c. 4.
Amirola (Madrid, 1782, 4to.^ ; who, " Parte I. c. 14, 15.
however, has omitted a goocl deal of " Parte II. c. 1-14.
what he calls '' fabulas caballarescas.'* ** Parte II. c. 16-40.
Instances of such omissions occur in ^* Parte III. c. 11, etc.
Parte I. c. 16, Parte II. c. 18, 40, etc., " Parte II. c. 31, 36.
and I cannot but think Don Eugenio
Chap. X. PERO NINO-ALVARO DE LXJNA. ^81
course of his true love for Beatrice, daughter of the Infante
Don John, the lady who, after much opposition and many
romantic dangers, became his second wife. ^* Unfortu-
nately, we know nothing about the author of all this enter-
taining history except what he modestly tells us in the
work itself; but we cannot doubt that he was as loyal in
his life as he claims to be in his true-hearted account of
his master's adventures and achievements.
Next after Pero Nino's Chronicle comes that of the
Constable Don Alvaro de Luna, the leading spirit of the
reign of John the Second, almost from the moment when,
yet a child, he appeared as a page at court, in 1408, down
to 1453, when he perished on the scaffold, a victim to his
own haughty ambition, to the jealousy of the nobles near-
est the throne, and to the guilty weakness of the king.
Who was the author of the Chronicle is unknown. ^' But,
from internal evidence, he was probably an ecclesiastic of
some learning, and certainly a retainer of the Constable,
much about his person, and sincerely attached to him. It
reminds us, at once, of the fine old Life of Wolsey by his
Gentleman Usher, Cavendish ; for both works were writ-
ten after the fall of the great men whose lives they record,
by persons who had served and loved them in their pros-
perity, and who now vindicated their memories with a
grateful and trusting affection, which often renders even
their style of writing beautiful by its earnestness, and some-
times eloquent. The Chronicle of the Constable is, of
*• Parte III. c. 3-5. The love one edition has been published since,
of Pero Nino for the lady Beatrice — that by Flores, the diligent Secre-
comes, also, into the poetry of the tarv of the Academy of History,
time; for he employed Villasandino, (Madrid, 1784, 4to.) " Privado del
a poet of the age of Henry III. and Rey " was the common style of
John II., to write verses for him, Alvaro de Luna; — ** Tan privado,"
addressed to her. See Castro, Bibl. as Manriquc calls him ; — a word
£sp., Tom. I. pp. 271 and 274. which almost became £nglish, for
*' The *' Crunica de Don Alvaro Lord Bacon, in his twentv-seventh
de Luna" was first printed at Milan, Essay, says, ** The modem languages
1646, (folio,) by one of the Con- give unto such persons the names of
stable's descendants, but, notwith- favourites or privadoes.**
standing its value and interest, only
182 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE. Pbuod I.
course, the oldest. It was composed between 1453 and
1460, or about a century before Cavendish's Wokey. It
is grave and stately, sometimes too fttately ; but there is a
great air of reality about it. The account of the siege of
Palenzuela, ^® the striking description of the Constable's
person and bearing, ^* the scene of the royal visit to the
favourite in his castle at Escalona, with the festivities that
followed, *° and, above all, the minute and painful details
of the Constable's fall from power, his arrest, and death, '*
show the freedom and spirit of an eyewitness, or, at least,
of a person entirely familiar with the whole matter about
which he writes. It is, therefore, among the richest and
most interesting of the old Spanish chronicles, and quite
indispensable to one who would comprehend the troubled
spirit of the period to which it relates ; the period known
as that of the bandosy or armed feuds, when the whole
country was broken into parties, each in warlike array,
fighting for its own head, but none fully submitting to the
royal authority.
The last of the chronicles of individuals written in the
spirit of the elder times, that it is necessary to notice, is
that of Gonzalvo de Cdrdova, " the Great Captain," who
flourished from the period immediately preceding the
war of Granada to that which begins the reign of Charles
the Fifth ; and who produced an impression on the Spanish
nation hardly equalled since the earlier days of that great
Moorish contest, the cyclus of whose heroes Gonzalvo
seems appropriately to close up. It was about 1526 that
the Emperor Charles the Fifth desired one of the favourite
followers of Gonzalvo, Heman Perez del Pulgar, to prepare
*" Tit 91-95, with the curious piece countenance and manner, as he rode
of poetry bv the court poet, Juan de on his mule to the place of death, and
Mena, on the wound of the Constable the awful silence of the multitude
durint^ the siege. that preceded his execution, with the
** Tft. 68. universal sob that followed it — are
•® Tit. 74, etc. admirably set forth, and show, I think,
"'Tit. 127, 128. Some of the that the author witnessed what he so
details — the Constable's composed well describes.
Cbap. X.
GONZALVO DE CORDOVA.
183
an account of his great captain's life. A better person
could not easily have been selected. For he is not, as was
long supposed, Fernando del Pulgar, the wit and courtier
of the time of Ferdinand and Isabella. " Nor is the work he
produced the poor and dull Chronicle of the life of Gon-
zalvo first printed in 1580, or earlier, and often attributed
to him. ^ But he is that bold knight who, with a few fol-
lowers, penetrated to the very centre of Granada, then all
in arms, and affixing an Ave Maria, with the sign of the
cross, to the doors of the principal mosque, consecrated its
massive pile to the service of Christianity, while Ferdinand
and Isabella were still beleaguering the city without ; an
heroic adventure, with which his country rang from side to
side at the time, and which has not since been forgotten
either in its ballads or in its popular drama. ^
•* The mistake between the two
Pulfrars — one called Hernan Perez
del Pulgar, and the other Fernando
del Pulgar — seems to have been made
while they were both alive. At least,
I so infer from the following good-
humoured passage in a letter from the
latter to his correspondent Pedro de
Toledo : ** E pues quereis saber como
me aveis de llamar, sabed, Senor, que
me llaman Fernando, e me llamabaii e
llamaran Fernando, e si me dan el
Maestrazgo de Santiago, tambien
Fernando," etc. (Letra XII., Ma-
drid, 1775, 4to., p. 163.) For the
mistakes made concerning them in
more modem times, see Nic. Antonio,
(Bib. Nova, Tom. I. p. 387,) who
seems to be sadly confused about the
whole matter.
" This dull old anonymous Chro-
nicle is tlie ^^ Cr6nicadel GranCapitan
Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba y
Aguilar, en la aual se contienen las dos
Conquistas del Reino de Napoles,"
etc., (Sevilla, 1580, fol.,)— which
does not yet seem to be th<i first edi-
tion, because, in the licencia, it is said
to be printed, ** porque hay falta de
ellas." It contains some of the family
documents that are found in Pulgar s
account of him, and was reprinted at
least twice afterwards, viz., Sevilla,
1582, and AlcaM, 1584.
" Pulgar was permitted by his
admiring sovereigns to have his
burial-place where he knelt when he
affixed the Ave Maria to the door of
the mosque, and his descendants still
preserve his tomb there with becom-
ing reverence, and still occupy the
most distinguished place in the choir
of the cathedral, which was originally
granted to him and to his heirs male
in right line. (Alcantara, Historia
de Granada, Granada, 1846, 8vo.,
Tom. IV., p. 102 ; and the curious
documents collected by Martinez de
la Rosa in his ** Hernan Perez del
Pulgar,** pp. 279-283, for which see
next note.) The oldest play known
to me on the subject of Hernan
Perez del Pulgar's achievement is
" El Cerco de Santa Fe," in the first
volume of Lope de Vega's " Come-
dias," (Valladolid, 1604, 4to.) But
the one commonly represented is by
an unknown author, and founded on
Lope*s. It is called '' El Triunfo del
Ave Maria," and is said to be ** de
un Ingenio de este Corte,** dating
probably from the rei^n of Philip
iV. My copy of it is printed in
1793. Martinez de la Rosa speaks
184 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATURE. Pkmod I.
As might be expected from the character of its author,
— who, to distinguish him from the courtly and peaceful
Pulgar, was well called " He of the Achievements," El de
las HazafiaSj — the book he offered to his monarch is not a
regular life of Gonzalvo, but rather a rude and vigorous
sketch of him, entitled " A Small Part of the Achieve-
ments of that Excellent Person called the Great Captain,**
or, as is elsewhere yet more characteristically said, " of the
achievements and solemn virtues of the Great Captain,
both in peace and war.** ** The modesty of the author is
as remarkable as his adventurous spirit. He is hardly
seen at all in his narative, while his love and devotion to
his great leader give a fervour to his style, which, notwith-
standing a frequent display of very unprofitable learning,
renders his work both curious and striking, and brings out
his hero in the sort of bold relief in which he appeared to
the admiration of his contemporaries. Some parts of it, not-
withstanding its brevity, are remarkable even for the details
they afford ; and some of the speeches, like that of the
Alfaqui to the distracted parties in Granada, '^ and that of
Gonzalvo to the population of the Abbaycin, " savour of
eloquence as well as wisdom. Regarded as the outline
of a great man's character, few sketches have more an air
of truth ; through, perhaps, considering the adventurous
and warlike lives both of the author and his subject, no-
thing in the book is more remarkable than the spirit of
humanity that pervades it *®
of seeing it, and of the strong im- sant life of Pulgar and valuable
pression it produced on his youthful notes, so that we now have this very
imagination. curious little book in an agreeable
■* This Life of the Great Captain, fonn for reading, — thanks to the
by Pulgar, was printed at Seville, zeal and persevering literary curiosity
by Cromberger, in 1627 ; but only of the distinguished Spanish states-
one copy of this edition — the one in man who discovered it.
the passcission of the Royal Spanish ^ Ed. Fr. Martinez de la Rosa, pp.
Academy — is now known to exist. 155, 156.
A reprint was made from it at Ma- *^ Ibid., pp. 159-16^.
drid, entitled ** Ileman Perez del " Ilenian Perez del Pulgar, el de
Pulgar," 1834, ( 8 vo., edited by D. las Ilazafias, was born in 1451, and
Fr. Marthicz de la Rosa,) with a i>lca- died in 1531.
Chap. X. CHBONICLES OF TRAVELS. 185
Chronicles of Travels. — In the same style with the his-
tories of their kiugs and great men, a few works should be
noticed in the nature of travels, or histories of travellers,
though not always bearing the name of Chronicles.
The oldest of them, which has any value, is an account
of a Spanish embassy to Tamerlane, the great Tartar po-
tentate and conqueror. Its origin is curious. Heiury the
Third of Castile, whose aflFairs, partly in consequence of
his marriage with Catherine, daughter of Shakspeare's
" time-honoured Lancaster," were in a more fortunate and
quiet condition than those of his immediate predecessors,
seems to have been smitten in his prosperity with a desire
to extend his fame to the remotest countries of the earth ;
and for this purpose, we are told, sought to establish
friendly relations with the Greek Emperor at Constanti-
nople, with the Sultan of Babylon, with Tamerlane or
Timour Bee the Tartar, and even with the fabulous Pres-
ter John of that shadowy India which was then the subject
of so much speculation.
What was the result of all this widely spread diplomacy,
so extraordinary at the end of the fourteenth century, we do
not know, except that the first ambassadors sent to Ta-
merlane and Bajazet chanced actually to be present at the
great and decisive battle between those two preponderat-
ing powers of the East, and that Tamerlane sent a splendid
embassy in return, with some of the spoils of his victory,
among which were two fair captives, who figure in the
Spanish poetry of the time. *• King Henry was not un-
grateful for such a tribute of respect, and, to acknowledge
it, despatched to Tamerlane three persons of his court,
one of whom. Buy Gonzalez de Clavijo, has left us a
minute account of the whole embassy, its adventures and
its results. This account was first published by Argote
de Molina, the careful antiquary of the time of Philip the
^ Discurso hecho por Argote de Gonzalez de CUvijo, Madrid, 1782,
Molina, sobre el Itincrario de Ruy 4to., p. 3.
186 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATUBE. Pbiod I.
Second, ^ and was then called, probably in order to give
it a more winning title, " The Life of the Great Tamer-
lane,"— Vida del Gran Tamurlarij — though it is, in fact,
a diary of the voyagings and residences of the ambassadors
of Henry the Third, beginning in May, 1403, when they
embarked at Puerto Santa Maria, near Cadiz, and ending
in March, 1406, when they landed there on their return.
In the course of it, we have a description of Constanti-
npple, which is the more curious because it is given at the
moment when it tottered to its fall ; '^ of Trebizond, with
its Greek churches and clergy ; ^ of Teheran, now the
capital of Persia ; " and of Samarcand, where they found
the great Conqueror himself, and were entertained by him
with a series of magnificent festivals continuing almost to
the moment of his death, ^ which happened while they
were at his court, and was followed by troubles embarrassing
to their homeward journey. " The honest Clavijo seems
to have been well ple«ised to lay down his commission at
the feet of his sovereign, whom he found at Alcala ; and
though he lingered about the court for a year, and was one
of the witnesses of the king's will at Christmas, yet on the
death of Henry he retired to Madrid, his native place, where
he spent the last four or five years of his life, and where,
in 1412, he was buried in the convent of Saint Francis,
with his fathers, whose chapel he had piously rebuilt. '*
^ The edition of Argote de Molina give those where the said relics were,**
was published in 1582; and there is etc. p. 52.
only one other, the very good one " Page 84, etc.
printed at Madrid, 1782, 4to. ■• Page 118, etc.
•* They were much struck with the •* Pages 149-198.
works in mosaic in Constantinople, •* Page 207, etc.
and mention them re|)eatedly, pp. 61, •• Ilijos de Madrid, Ilustres en San-
69, and elsewhere. The reason why tidad, Dignidades, Armas, Ciencias, y
they did not, on the first day, see all Artes, Diecionario Historico, su Autor
the relics they wishe<l to see in the D. Joseph Ant. Alvarez y Baena, Na-
church of San Juan de la Piedra is very tural de la misma Villa ; Madrid, 1789
quaint, and shows great simi)liritv of -91, 4 tom., 4to. ; — a book whose ma-
manners at the im|)enal court : ** The terials, somewhat crudely put together,
Emperor went to hunt, and left the are abundant and important, especially
keys with the Empress his wife, and in what relates to the literary history
when she gave them, she forgot to of tlie Spanish capital. A Life of
Chap. X. BUY GONZALEZ DE CLAVIJO. 187
His travels will not, on the whole, suffer by a compari-
son with those of Marco Polo or Sir John Mandeville ;
for, though his discoveries are much less in extent than
those of the Venetian merchant, they are, perhaps, as re-
markable as those of the English adventurer, while the
manner in which he has presented them is superior to that
of either. His Spanish loyalty and his Catholic faith are
everywhere apparent He plainly believes that his modest
embassy is making an impression of his king's power and
importance, on the countless and careless multitudes of
Asia, which will not be effaced ; while, in the luxurious
capital of the Greek empire, he seems to look for little but
the apocryphal relics of saints and apostles which then bur-
dened the shrines of its churches. With all this, however,
we may be content, because it is national ; but when we
find him filling the island of Ponza with buildings erected
by Virgil, ^ and afterwards, as he passes Amalfi, taking
note of it only because it contained the head of Saint An-
drew, ^ we are obliged to recall his frankness, his zeal, and
all his other good qualities, before we can be quite recon-
ciled to his ignorance. Mariana indeed intimates, that,
after all, his stories are not to be wholly believed. But,
as in the case of other early travellers, whose accounts were
often discredited merely because they were so strange,
more recent and careful inquiries have confirmed Clavijo's
narrative ; and we may now trust to his faithfulness as much
as to the vigilant and penetrating spirit he shows constantly
except when his religious faith, or his hardly less religious
loyalty, interferes with its exercise. ^^
Clavijo is to be found in it, Tom. IV., contains ^^ muchas otras cosas asaz
p. 302. maraviilosas, si verdaderas." (Hist.,
•^ **Hay en ella grandcs edificios Lib. XIX., c. 11.) But Blanco White,
de muy grande obra, que fizo Virgilio." in his ** Variedades," (Tom. I., pp.
p. 30. 316-318,) shows, from an examina-
" All he says of Amalfi is, " Y en tion of Clavijo*s Itinerary, by Major
esta ciudad de Malfadicen que estd la Renncll, and from other sources, that
cabeza de Sarit Andres." p. 33. its general fidelity may be depended
** Mariana says that the Itinerary upon.
188 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. PnaoD I.
But the great voyagiugs of the Spaniards were not des-
tined to be in the East. The Portuguese, led on originally
by Prince Henry, one of the most extraordinary men of
his age, had, as it were, already appropriated to themselves
that quarter of the world by discovering the easy route of
the Cape of Good Hope ; and both by the right of disco-
very and by the provisions of the well-known Papal bull and
the equally well-known treaty of 14/9, had cautiously cut
off their great rivals, the Spaniards, from all adventure in
that direction ; leaving open to them only the wearisome
waters that were stretched out unmeasured towards the
West. Happily, however, there was one man to whose
courage even the terrors of this unknown and dreaded
ocean were but spurs and incentives, and whose gifted
vision, though sometimes dazzled from the height to which
he rose, could yet see, beyond the waste of waves, that
broad continent which his fervent imagination deemed
needful to balance the world. It is true, Columbus was
not born a Spaniard. But his spirit was eminently Spa-
nish. His loyalty, his religious faith and enthusiasm, his
love of great and extraordinary adventure, were all Spanish
rather than Italian, and were all in harmony with the
Spanish national character, when he became a part of its
glory. His own eyes, he tells us, had watched the silver
cross, as it slowly rose, for the first time, above the towers
of the Alhambra, announcing to the world the final and
absolute overthrow of the infidel power in Spain ; ^ and
from that period, — or one even earlier, when some poor
*" In the account of his first voyage, and of great value, as containing the
rendered to his sovereigns, he says he authentic materials for the histoiy of
was in 1492 at Granada, "adonde, the discovery of America. Old Ber-
este presente afio, i. dos dias del mes naldez, the friend of Columbus, de-
de Enero, \x)t fuerza de annas, vide scribes more exactly what Columbus
poner las l)anderas reales de Vuestras saw : ** E mostraron en la mas alta
Altezas en las torres de Alfambra,*' torrc jprimeramentc el cstandarte de
etc. Navarrete, Coleccion de los Vi- Jesu Cristo, que fue la Santa Cruz de
ajcs y Descubrimientos que hicieron plata, que el rvy traia siemprc en la
S or Mar los Espanoles desde Fines del santa conquista consigo.*' Hist, de
iglo XV., Madrid, 1825, 4to., Tom. los Reyes Cat61icos, Cap. 102, MS.
I., p. 1 ; — a work admirably edited,
Chap.X. COLUMBUS. 189
monks from Jerusalem had been at the camp of the two
sovereigns before Granada, praying for help and protec-
tion against the mibelievers in Palestine, — he had con-
ceived the grand project of consecrating the untold wealth
he trusted to find in his westward discoveries, by devot-
ing it to the rescue of the Holy City and sepulchre of
Christ ; thus achieving, by his single power and resources,
what all Christendom and its ages of crusades had failed
to accomplish. **
Gradually these and other kindred ideas took firm pos-
session of his mind, and are found occasionally in his later
journals, letters, and speculations, giving to his otherwise
quiet and dignified style a tone elevated and impassioned
like that of prophecy. It is true, that his adventurous
spirit, when the mighty mission of his life was upon him,
rose above all this, and, with a purged vision and through
a clearer atmosphere, saw from the outset what he at last
so gloriously accomplished ; but still, as he presses onward,
there not unfrequently break from him words which leave
no doubt that, in his secret heart, the foundations of his
great hopes and purposes were laid in some of the most
magnificent illusions that are ever permitted to fill the hu-
man mind. He believed himself to be, in some degree at
least, inspired ; and to be chosen of Heaven to fulfil certain
of the solemn and grand prophecies of the Old Testament **
Hewrote to hissovereigns in 1501, that he had been induced
to undertake his voyages to the Indies, not by virtue of
*^ This appears from his letter to posed himself called on to fulfil was
the Pope, Fehmary, 1502, in which that in the eighteenth Psalm. (Na-
he says he had counted upon furnish- varrete, Col., Tom. I., pp. zlviii.,
ing, in twelve years, 10,000 horse and xlix., note ; Tom. II., pp. 262-266.)
100,000 foot soldiers for the conquest In King James's version the passage
of the Holy City, and that his under- stands thus : — " Thou hast made me
taking to discover new countries was the head of the heathen ; a i)eople
with the view of spending the means whom I have not known shall serve
he might there acquire in this sacred me. As soon as they hear of me, thev
service. Navarrete, Coleccion, Tom. shall obey me ; the strangers shall
II., p. 282. submit themselves unto me." w.
** One of the prophecies he sup- 43, 44.
190
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Pebiod I.
human knowledge, but by a Divine impulse, and by the
force of Scriptural prediction.*' He declared, that the
world could not continue to exist more than a hundred and
fifty-five years longer, and that, many a year before that
period, he counted the recovery of the Holy City to be
sure. ^ He expressed his belief, that the terrestrial para-
dise, about which he cites the fanciful speculations of Saint
Ambrose and Saint Augustin, would be found in the
southern regions of those newly discovered lands, which he
describes with so charming an amenity, and that the
Orinoco was one of the mystical rivers issuing from it ; in-
timating, at the same time, that, perchance, he alone of
mortal men would, by the Divine will, be enabled to reach
and enjoy it. ** In a remarkable letter of sixteen pages,
addressed to his sovereigns from Jamaica in 1503, and
written with a force of style hardly to be found in any
thing similar at the same period, he gives a moving account
of a miraculous vision, which he believed had been vouch-
*• " Ya dije oue para la csccucion
dc la impresa de las Indias no me apro-
vech6 razon ni inatcmatica ni niapa-
mundos ; — llenanicntc sc cuinpli6 lo
oue dijo Isafas, y esto es lo que dcsco
ae escrebir aqui por le rcducir d V. A.
^ memoria, y porque se alegren del
otro que yo le dije de Jeruaalcn por
las mesmas autoridadcs, de la qual im-
Eresa, si fe hay, tengo por muy cierto
I vitoria." JUjtter ot Columbus to
Ferdinand and Isabella, (Navarrete,
Col., Tom. II., p. 266.) And else-
where in the same letter he says:
" Yo dije que diria la mron que tengo
de la restitucion de la Casa Santa d la
Santa Iglesia ; digo oue yo dejo todo
mi navegar desde caad nueva y las
pMticas que yo haya tenido con tanta
gentc en t^ntas tiorras y dc tantas se-
tasy y dejo las tantas artes y cscrituras
dc que yo dije arriba ; sofamcnte mc
tengo d la Santa y Sacra Escritura y
A algunas autoridades proii^ticas de
algunas personas santas, que por reve-
lacion divina han dicho algo desto."
Ibid., p. 263.
" ** Segund esta cuenta, no falta,
salvo ciento c cincuenta y cinco anos,
para complimicnto dc sietc mil, en los
3ualcs digo arriba por las autoridades
ichas que habrd lie icnecer el mun-
do." Ibid., p. 264.
** Sec the very bcautiftil passage
about the Orinoco River, mixed with
prophetical interpretations, in his ac«
count of his third voyage, to the King
and Queen, (Navarrete, Col., Tom.
I. pp. 266, etc.,) — a singular mixture
of practical judgment and wild , dreamy
speculation. " I believe," he says,
** that there is the terrestrial paradise,
at which no man can arrive except by
the Divine will," — ** Creo, que allii
es el Paraiso terrenal, adondc no puede
llegar nadie, salvo por voluntad divi-
na." The honest Clavijo thought he
had found another river of iMiradise on
iust the opposite side of the earth, as
he journeyed to Samarcand, nearly a
century before. Vida del Gran Ta-
morlan, p. 137.
Chap. X. COLUBiBUS. 191
safed to him for his consolation, when at Veragua, a few
months before, a body of his men, sent to obtain salt and
water, had been cut off by the natives, thus leaving him
outside the mouth of the river in great peril.
"My brother and the rest of the people," he says, "were
in a vessel that remained within, and I was left solitary on
a coast so dangerous, with a strong fever and grievously
worn down. Hope of escape was dead within me. I
climbed aloft with difficulty, calling anxiously and not
without many tears for help upon your Majesties' captains
from all the four winds of heaven. But none made me
answer. Wearied and still moaning, I fell asleep, and
heard a pitiful voice, which said : * O fool, and slow to trust
and serve thy God, the God of all I What did He more
for Moses, or for David his servant? Ever since thou
wast born, thou hast been His especial charge. When He
saw thee at the age wherewith He was content. He made
thy name to sound marvellously on the earth. The Indies,
which are a part of the world, and so rich, He gave them
to thee for thine own, and thou hast divided them unto
others as seemed good to thyself, for He granted thee
power to do so. Of the barriers of the great ocean, which
were bound up with such mighty chains. He hath given
unto thee the keys. Thou hast been obeyed in many
lands, and thou hast gained an honoured name among
Christian men. What did He more for the people of
Israel when He led them forth from Egypt ? or for David,
whom from a shepherd He made king in Judea ? Turn
thou, then, again unto Him, and confjss thy sin. His
mercy is infinite. Thine old age shall not hinder thee of
any great thing. Many inheritances hath He, and very
great Abraham was above a hundred years old when he
begat Isaac ; and Sarah, was she young ? Thou callest
for uncertain help; answer. Who hath afflicted thee so
much and so often ? God or the world ? The privileges
and promises that God giveth. He breaketh not, nor, after
192 H2S7X>fiT OF SPAJOSH UTEEATUSE. Poood I.
He hath received service, dotb He say tJiat dios was not
his mind, and that his meaidng was other. Neither
punisheth He, in order to hide a refusal of justice. What
He promiseth, that He fulfiUeth, and yet m<H^. And
doth the world thus ? I have told thee what thy Maker
hath done for thee, and what He doth for alL Even now
He in part showeth thee the reward of the sorrows and
dai^rs thou hast gone through in serving others.' All
this heard I, as one half dead ; but answer had I none to
words so true, save tears for my sins. And whosoever it
might be that thus spake, he ended, saying, * Fear not ; be
of good cheer ; all these thy grie& are written in marble,
and not without cause.' And I arose as soon as I might,
and at the end of nine days the weather became calm." **
Three years afterwards, in 1506, Columbus died at
Valladolid, a disappointed, broken-hearted old man ; little
comprehending what he had done for mankind, and still
less the glory and homage that through all future generations
awaited his name. ^^
^ Sec the letter to Ferdinand and oootumng seTeral interesting passages
Isabella, oonceniing his fourth and showing that he had a love for the
last voyage, dated Jamaica, 7 July, beautiful in nature. (Navarrete, Col.,
1603, in which this extraordinarynas- Tom. I. pp. 242-276.) a The letter
sage occurs. Navarrete, Col., Tom. to the sovereigns about hb fourth and
I. p. 303. last voyage, which contains the ac-
*^ To those who wish to know count of his vision at Veragua. (Na-
more of Columbus as a writer than varrete, Col., Tom. I. pp. 296-312.)
can be properly sought in a classical 4. Fifteen miscellaneous letters. (Ibid.,
life of hmi like that of Irving, I com- Tom. I. pp. 330-352.) 5. His specu-
mend as precious: 1. The account of lations about the prophecies, (Tom.
his first voyage, addressed to his sovc- II. pp. 260-273,) and nis letter to the
reigns, with the letter to Rafael San- Pope (Tom. II. pp. 280-282). But
chez on the same subject (Navarrete, whoever would speak worthily of
Col., Tom. I. pp. 1-197) ; the first Columbus, or know what was moat
document being extant only in an ab- noble and elevated in his character,
stract, which contains, however, large will be gruilty of an unhappy neglect
extracts from the original made by if he fails to read the discussions
Las Casas, and of which a very good about him hf Alexander von Hum-
translation appeared at Boston, 1827, boldt ; especially those in the '' £xa-
(8vo.) Notning is more remarkable, men Critique de THistoirede la G^-
in the tone of these narratives, than graphic du Nouveau Continent,"
the devout spirit that constantly breaks (Paris, 1836-88, 8vo., Vol. II. pp,
forth. 2. The account by Columbus 360, etc., Vol. III. pp. 227-262,)—
himself, of his third voyage, in a a book no less remarkable for the
letter to his sovereigns and in a letter vastness of its views than for the
to the nurse of Prince John ; the first minute accuracy of its learning on
Chap. X. ROMANTIC CURONICLES. 193
But the mantle of his devout and heroic spirit fell on
none of his successors. The discoveries of the new conti-
nent, which was soon ascertained to be no part of Asia,
were indeed prosecuted with spirit and success by Balboa,
by Vespucci, by Hojeda, by Pedr^rias Davila, by the Por-
tuguese Magellanes, by Loaisa, by Saavedra, and by many
more; so that in twenty-seven years the general outline
and form of the New World were, through their reports,
fairly presented to the Old. But though some of these
early adventurers, like Hojeda, were men apparently of
honest principles, who suffered much, and died in poverty
and sorrow, yet none had the lofty spirit of the original
discoverer, and none spoke or wrote with the tone of dignity
and authority that came naturally from a man whose cha-
racter was so elevated, and whose convictions and purposes
were founded in some of the deepest and most mysterious
feelings of our religious nature. *®
Romantic Chronicles, — It only remains now to speak of
one other class of the old chronicles ; a class hardly repre-
sented in this period by more than a single specimen, but
that a very curious one, and one which, by its date and
character, brings us to the end of our present inquiries,
and marks the transition to those that are to follow. The
Chronicle referred to is that called **The Chronicle of
Don Roderic, with the Destruction of Spain," and is an
accoimt, chiefly fabulous, of the reign of King Boderic,
the conquest of the country by the Moors, and the first
attempts to recover it in the beginning of the eighth cen-
tury. An edition is cited as early as 1511, and six in all
may be enumerated, including the last, which is of 1587 ;
some of the most obscure subjects and voyages worth looking at on the
of historical inauiry. Nobody has score of lanffuage or style is to bo
comprehended tne character of Co- found in Vols. III., IV., V. of Na-
lumbus as he has, — its generosity, its varrete, Coleccion, etc., published by
enthusiasm, its far-reaching visions, the Grovemment, Madrid, 1829-37,
which seemed watching beforehand but unhappily not continued since, so
for the great scientific discoveries of as to contain the accounts of the dis-
the sixteenth century. covery and conquest of Mexico, Peru,
^ All relating to these adventures etc.
VOL. I. O
194 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. PbuodL
thus showing a good degree of popularity, if we consider
the number of readers in Spain in the sixteenth century. *•
Its author is quite unknown. According to the fashion of
the times, it professes to have been written by Eliastras,
one of the personages who figures in it : but he is killed in
battle just before we reach the end of the book ; and the
remainder, which looks as if it might really be an addition
by another hand, is in the same way ascribed to Carestes^
a knight of Alfonso the Catholic *®
Most of the names throughout the work are as imaginary
as those of its pretended authors ; and the circumstances
related are, generally, as much invented as the dialogue
between its personages, which is given with a heavy mi-
nuteness of detail, alike uninteresting in itself and &lse to
the times it represents. In truth, it is hardly more than
a romance of chivalry, founded on the materials for the
history of Roderic and Pelayo, as they still exist in the
" General Chronicle of Spain " and in the old ballads ; so
that, though we often meet what is familiar to us about
Count Julian, La Cava, and Orpas, the false Archbishop
of Seville, we find ourselves still oftener in the midst of
impossible tournaments *^ and incredible adventures of chi-
valry. ^' Kings travel about like knights-errant, ^ and ladies
^ My copy is of the edition of Al- the tournament of twentjr thousand
cal^ de Hcnarcs, 1587, and has the knights in Cap. 40 ; that m Cap. 49,
characteristic title, '* Crdnica del Rey etc. ; — all just as such things are g^iyen
Don Rodrigo, con la Destruycion de in the books of chivalry, and emi-
Espana, y como los Moros la gana- nently absurd here, because the
ron. Nuevamento corregida. Con- events of the Chronicle are laid in the
ticne, demas de la Historia, muchas beginning of the eighth century, and
vivas Razones y Avisos muy prove- tournaments were unknown till above
chosos." It is in folio, in double two centuries later. (A. P. Budik,
columns, closely printed, and fills Ursprune, Ausbildung, Abnahme,
225 leaves or 460 pages. und Verfall des Tumiers, Wien, 1 837,
^ From Parte II. c. 237 to the end, 8vo.) He places the first tournament
containing the account of the fabulous in 936. Clemencin thinks they were
and loathsome penance of Don not known in Spun till after 11 31.
Roderic, with his death. Nearly the Note to Don Quixote, Tom. IV. p. 316.
whole of it is translated as a note to ^ See the duels described. Parte
the twenty-fifth canto of Souther's II. c. 80, etc., 84, etc., 93.
<' Roderic, the Last of the Goths.'^ ^ The King of Poland is one of the
^' See the grand Ibmeo when kin^s that comes to the court of Ro-
Roderic is crowned. Parte I. c. 27 ; dene ** like a wandering knight so
Chap. X. CHRONICLE OP DON RODBIGO. 195
in distress wander from country to country, ** as they do in
" Palmerin of England,** while, on all sides, we encounter
fantastic personages, who were never heard of anywhere
but in this apocryphal chronicle.**
The principle of such a work is, of course, nearly the
same with that of the modern historical romance. What,
at the time it was written, was deemed history was taken
as its basis from the old chronicles, and mingled with what
was then the most advanced form of romantic fiction, just
as it has been since in the series of works of genius begin-
ning with Defoe's " Memoirs of a Cavalier." The difference
is in the general representation of manners, and in the ex-
ecution, both of which are now immeasurably advanced.
Indeed, though Southey has founded much of his beautiful
poem of "Roderic, the Last of the Goths,** on this old
Chronicle, it is, after all, hardly a book that can be read.
It is written in a heavy, verbose style, and has a suspiciously
monkish prologue and conclusion, which look as if the whole
were originally intended to encourage theRomish doctrine
of penance, or, at least, were finally arranged to subserve
that devout purpose. *•
fair/' (Parte I. c. 39.) One might Lib. VII. c. 2,) where it is polished
be curitras to know who was King of down into a sort of dramatized nistorv ;
Poland about A. D. 700. and, finally, with Southey's ** Rodenc,
^Thus, the Duchess of Loraine the Last of the G^ths," (Canto
comes to Roderic (Parte I. c. 37) with XXIII.,) where it is again wrought
much the same sort of a case that the up to poetry and romance. It is an
Princess Mioomicona brings to Don aamirable scene both for chronicling
Quixote. narrative and for poetical fiction to
** Parte I. c. 234, 236, etc. deal with ; but Alfonso the Wise
^ To learn through what curious and Southey have much the best of it,
transformations the same ideas can be while a comparison of the four will at
made to pass, it may be worth while once give the poor '' Chronicle of
to compare, in the * * Crdnica General," Roderic or the Destruction of Spain "
1604, (Parte III. f. 6,) the original its true place.
account of the famous battle of Cova- Another work, something like this
donga, where the Archbishop Orpas Chronicle, but still more worthless,
is represented picturesquely coming was published, in two parts, in 1592-
upon his mule to the cave in which 1600, and seven or eignt times after-
Pelayo and his people lay, with the wards ; thus giving proof that it long
tame and elaborate account evidently enjoyed a de^e of favour to which it
taken from it in this Chronicle of was little entitled. It was written by
Roderic, (Parte II. c. 196 ;) then with Miguel de Luna, in 1589, as appears
the account in Mariana, (Ilistoria, by a note to the first part, and is
o2
^96 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Pkbiod I.
This ia the last, and, in many respects, the worst, of the
chronicles of the fifteenth century, and marks but an un-
graceful transition to the romantic fictions of chivalry that
were already beginning to inundate Spain. But as we close
it up, we should not forget that the whole series, extending
over full two hundred and fifty years, firom the time of
Alfonso the Wise to the accession of Charles the Fifth, and
covering the New World as well as the Old, is unrivalled
in richness, in variety, and in picturesque and poetical
elements. In truth, Uie chronicles of no other nation can,
on such points, be compared to them ; not even the Portu-
guese, which approach the nearest in original and early
materials ; nor tie French, which, in Joinville and Frois-
sart, make the highest claims in another direction. For
these old Spanish chronicles, whether they have their foun-
dations in truth or in fable, always strike farther down
than those of any other nation into the deep soil of the
popular feeling and character. The old Spanish loyalty,
the old Spanish religious faith, as both were formed and
nourished in the long periods of national trial and sufiering,
are constantly coming out ; hardly less in Columbus and
his followers, or even amidst the atrocities of the conquests
in the New World, than in the half-miraculous accounts of
called <' Verdadera Historia del Rey Miguel de Luna, who, though a
Rodrieo, con la Perdida do Espana, Christian, was of an old Moorish
y Vida del Rey Jacob Almanzor, family in Granada, and an inter-
traduzida de Lengua Ardbiga," etc., preter of Philip II., should have
my copy being printed at Valencia, shown a great ignorance of the Arabic
I0O6, 4to. Southev, in his notes to language and history of Spain, or,
his "Roderic," (Canto IV.,) is showing it, should yet haye succeeded
disposed to regard thb work as an in passing off his miserable stories as
authentic history of the invasion and autnentic, is certunly a singular
conquest of Spain, coming down to circumstance. That such, however,
the year of Christ 761, and written in is the fact, Conde, in his <* Historia
the original Arabic only two years de la Dominacion de los Arabes,'*
later. But this is a mistekc. It is a (Preface, p. x.,) and Grayan^, in
bold and scandalous foreeiyy with his '* Mohammedan Dynasties of
even less merit in its style than the Spain," (Yol. I. p. viii.,) leave no
elder Chronicle on the same subject, doubt, — the latter citing it as a proof
and without any of the really romantic of the utter contempt and neglect
adventurers that sometimes give an into which the study of Arabic
interest to that singular work, half literature had fallen in Spain in the
monkish, half chivalrous. How sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Chap.X.
CHARACTER OF THE OLD CHRONICLES.
197
the battles of Hazinas and Tolosa, or in the grand and
glorious drama of the fall of Granada. Indeed, wherever
we go under their leading, whether to the court of Tamer-
lane or to that of Saint Ferdinand, we find the heroic ele-
ments of the national genius gathered around us ; and thus,
in this vast, rich mass of chronicles, containing such a body
of antiquities, traditions, and fables as has been offered to
no other people, we are constantly discovering, not only
the materials from which were drawn a multitude of the
old Spanish ballads, plays, and romances, but a mine which
has been unceasingly wrought by the rest of Europe for
similar purposes, and still remains unexhausted,*'
^ Two Spanbh translations of
chronicles should be here remember-
ed ; one for its style and author, and
the other for its subject.
The first is the "Universal Chro-
nicle " of Felipe Foresto, a modest
monk of Bergamo, who refused the
higher honours of his Church in order
to be able to devote his life to letters,
and who died in 1520, at the age of
eighty-six. He published, in 1486,
his larffe Latin Chronicle, entitled
'* SuppTementum Chronicarum ; " —
meanmg rather a chronicle intended
to suppnr all needful historical know-
ledge than one that should be re-
garded as a supplement to other
similar works. It was so much
esteemed at the time, that its author
saw it pass through ten editions ;
and it is said to be still of some value
for facts stated nowhere so well as on
his personal authority. At the re-
quest of Luis Carroz and Pedro Boy],
it was translated into Spanish by
Narcis Vinoles, the Valendan poet,
known in the old Cancioneros for his
compositions both in his native dialect
and in Castilian. An earlier version
of it into Italian, published in 1491,
may also have been the work of
ViSoles, since he intimates that he
had made one ; but his Castilian
version was printed at Valencia, in
1510, with a licence from Ferdinand
the Catholic, acting for his daughter
Joan. It is a large book, of nearly
nine hundred pages, in folio, entitled
*^ Suma de todas las Cronicas del
Mundo ;" and though Viiloles hints it
was a rash thing in him to write
in Castilian, his style is good, and
sometimes gives an interest to his
otherwise dry annals. Ximeno, Bib.
Val., Tom. I. p. 61. Fuster, Tom.
I. p. 54. Diana £nam. de Polo,
ed. 1802, p. 304. Biographic Uni-
verselle, art. Foresto.
The other Chronicle referred to b
that of St. Louis, by his faithful fol-
lower Join ville ; the most picturesque
of the monuments for the French lan-
guage and literature of the thirteenth
century. It was translated into Span-
ish by Jacques Ledel, one of the suite
of the French Princess Isabel de
Bourbon, when she went to Spain to
become the wife of Philip II. Re-
garded as the work of a foreigner, the
version is respectable ; and though it
was not printed till 1567. yet its
whole tone prevents it from nnding an
appropriate place anywhere except in
the period of the old Castilian chro-
nicles. Cr6nica de San Luis, etc.,
traducida por Jacques Ledel, Madrid,
1794, folio.
198 HISTOBT OF SPANISH LITEBATUBE. Pbmod I.
CHAPTER XL
Third Ci«a8B. — Romances or Chivalbt. — ABTHcm. — Chaklxxagks. —
Am ABI8 Ds Gaula. — Its Patb, Authob, Trakslatioit nrxo CASiujAKy
Success, akd Character. — Esplahdiah. — Florisakdo. — Lisuartb dr
Grbcia. — Amabis db Grecia.—F]x»i8sl db Niquea. — Akaxartes. —
SlLYBS I>B LA SeLYA. — FrENCH CoKTIirUATION. — IlTELUBirCB Or THE
Ficnov. — Palmerdt dr Out a. — Pbimauboh. — FtATiR.— P at.mrrie dr
Ikglaterra.
BoMANCES OF Chivalry. — ^Thc ballads of Spain belonged
originally to the whole nation, but especially to its less
cultivated portions. The chronicles, on the contrary,
belonged to the proud and knightly classes, who sought in
such picturesque records, not only the glorious history of
their forefathers, but an appropriate stimulus to their own
virtues and those of their children. As, however, security
was gradually extended through the land, and the tendency
to refinement grew stronger, other wants began to be felt
Books were demanded, that would furnish amusement less
popular than that afibrded by the ballads, and excitement
less grave than that of the chronicles. What was asked
for was obtained, and probably without difficulty ; for the
spirit of poetical invention, which had been already
thoroughly awakened in the country, needed only to be
turned to tiie old traditions and fables of the early national
chronicles, in order to produce fictions allied to both of
them, yet more attractive than either. There is, in fact,
as we can easily see, but a single step between large por-
tions of several of the old chronicles, especially that of Don
Roderic, and proper romances of chivalry. ^
» An edition of the " Chronicle of 1511 ; none of ** Amadis de Gaula"
Don Roderic" b cited as early as earlier than 1610, and this one uncer-
Chap. XL ORIGIN OF ROBIANTIC FICTION. 199
Such fictions^ under ruder or more settled forms, had
already existed in Normandy, and perhaps in the centre of
France, above two centuries before they were known in
the Spanish peninsula. The story of Arthur and the
Knights of his Round Table had come thither from Brit-
tany through Geoffrey of Monmouth, as early as the begin-
ning of the twelfth century, " The story of Charlemagne
and his Peers, as it is found in the Chronicle of the fabu-
lous Turpin, had followed from the South of France soon
afterwards. ' Both were, at first, in Latin, but both were
almost immediately transferred to the French, then spoken
at the courts of Normandy and England, and at once
gained a wide popularity. Robert Wace, bom in the
island of Jersey, gave in 1158 a metrical history founded
on the work of Geofeey, which, besides the story of Arthur,
contains a series of traditions concerning the Breton kings,
tracing them up to a fabulous Brutus, the grandson of
-tineas.* A century later, or about 1270-1280, after
less successful attempts by others, the same service was
rendered to the story of Charlemagne by Adenes in his
metrical romance of " Ogier le Danois," the chief scenes
of which are laid either in Spain or in Fairy Land.*
These, and similar poetical inventions, constructed out of
them by the Trouveurs of the North, became, in the next
age, materials for the famous romances of chivalry in prose
which, during three centuries, constituted no mean part of
tadn. But " Tirant lo Blanch " was Metrical Romance, London, 1811,
printed in 1490, in the Valencian 8vo., Vol. I. Turner's Vindication of
dialect, and the Amadis appeared Ancient British Poems, London,
perhaps soon afterwards, in the 1803, 8vo.
Castilian ; so that it is not improbable ' Turpin, J., De Vit& Carol!
the "Chronicle of Don Roderic" may Magni et Rolandi, ed. S. Ciampi,
mark, by the time of its appearance, Florcntiae, 1822, 8vo.
as well as by its contents and spirit, * Prefiice to the ** Roman de Rou,"
the change, of which it is certainly a by Robert Wace, ed. F. Fluquet,
very curious monument. Paris, 1827, 8vo. Vol. I.
• Warton's Hist, of English Poetry, * Letter to M. de Monmerqu^, by
first Dissertation, with the notes of Paulin Paris, prefixed to '* Li Romans
Price, London, 1824, 4 vols. 8vo. de Berte aux Grans Pi^," Paris,
Ellis's Specimens of Eariy English 1836, 8vo.
200 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATURE. Pcbiod I.
the vernacular literature of France, and, down to our own
times, have been the great mine of wild fables for Ariosto,
Spenser, Wieland, and the other poets of chivalry, whose
fictions are connected either with the stories of Arthur
and his Round Table, or with those of Charlemagne and
his Peers. •
At the period, however, to which we have alluded, and
which ends about the middle of the fourteenth century,
there is no reasonable pretence that any such form of
fiction existed in Spain, There, the national heroes con-
tinued to fill the imaginations of men and satisfy their
patriotism. Arthur was not heard of at all, and Charle-
magne, when he appears in the old Spanish chronicles and
ballads, comes only as that imaginary invader of Spain
who sustained an inglorious defeat in the gorges of the
Pyrenees. But in the next century things are entirely
changed. The romances of France, it is plain, have pene-
trated into the Peninsula, and their effects are visible.
They were not, indeed, at first, translated or versified ;
but they were imitated, and a new series of fictions was
invented, which was soon spread through the world, and
became more famous than either of its predecessors.
This extraordinary family of romances, whose descend-
ants, as Cervantes says, were innumerable, ^ is the family
of which Amadisis the poetical head and type. Our first
notice of it in Spain is firom a grave statesman, Ayala,
the Chronicler and Chancellor of Castile, who, as we have
already seen, died in 1407.* But the Amadis is of an
• See, on the whole subject, the that, to defeat any anny of two hun-
Essays of F. W. Valentine Schmidt, dred thousand men, it would only be
Jahrbiicher der Literatur, Vienna, necessary to have living '* alguno do
1824-26, Bande XXVI. p. 20, los del inumcrable linage de Amadis
XXIX. p. 71, XXXI. p. 99, and deC^ula," — ^**any oneofthenumber-
XXXIII. p. ]6. I shall have less descendants of Amadis de Gaul."
occasion to use the last of these " Ayala, in his ** Rimado de Pala-
discussions when speaking of the cio," already cited, says : —
Spanish romances bclont^ing to the
family of Ama<Hs. ' SSTrrL'J^T^ISltlSlSlud-.
^ Don Quixote, m his conversation Amiulise Unuurote, e ImifIm • n<auiM.
with the curate, (Parte II., c. 1 ,) says, ^ 4»»« v^^ ^ ^»P« * ■»*" maU* jonudu.
Chap.XI. AMADIS DE GAULA. 201
earlier date than this fact necessarily implies^ though not
perhaps earlier known in Spain. Gomez Eannes de
Zurara, Keeper of the Archives of Portugal in 1454, who
wrote three striking chronicles relating to the affairs of his
own country, leaves no substantial doubt that the author
of the Amadis of Gaul was Vasco de Lobeira, a Portu-
guese gentleman who was attached to the court of John
the First of Portugal, was armed as a knight by that
monarch just before the battle of Aljubarotta, in 1385, and
died in 1403. • The words of the honest and careftil
annalist are quite distinct on this point. He says he is un-
willing to have his true and faithful book, the " Chronicle
of Count Pedro de Meneses," confounded with such stories
as " the book of Amadis, which was made entirely at the
pleasure of one man, called Vasco de Lobeira, in the time
of the King Don Ferdinand ; all the things in the said
book being invented by its author." ^^
Whether Lobeira had any older popular tradition or
fancies about Amadis, to quicken his imagination and
marshal him the way he should go, we cannot now tell.
' Barbosa, Bib. Lusitana, Lisboa, ** Colec^iodeLibrosIneditosde His-
1762, fol., Tom. III., p. 776, and the toria Portueuesa," Lisboa, 1792, fol.,
many authorities there cited, none of Tom. II. I have a curious manuscript
which, perhaps, is of much conse- ** Dissertation on the Authorship of
quence except that of Joao de Barros, the Amadis de Gaula," by Father
who, being a careful historian, bom in Sarmiento, who wrote the valuable
149G, and citing an older author than fragment of a History of Spanish
himself, adds something to the testi- Poetry to which I have often referred,
mony in favour of Lobeira. This learned Galician is much con-
*• Gomez de Zurara, in the outset fused and vexed by the question : —
of his ** Chronicle of the Conde Don first denying that there b any autho-
Pedro de Meneses," says that he rity at all for saying Lobeira wrote
wishes to write an account only of the Amadis ; then asserting, that, if
** the things that happened in his own Lobeira wrote it, he was a Galician ;
times, or of those wnich happened so then successively suggesting that it
near to his own times that ne could may have been written by Vasco
have true knowledge of them." This Perea de Camoes, by the Chancellor
stren^ens what he says concerning AyaJa, by Montalvo, or by the Bishop
Lobeira, in the passage cited in the of Cartagena ; — all absurd conjee-
text from the opening of Chap. 63 of turcs, much connected with his pre-
the Chronicle. The Ferdinand to vailing passion to refer the origin of
whom Zurara there refers was the all Spanish poetry to Galicia. He
father of John I., and died in 1383. does not seem to have been aware of
The Chronicle of Zurara is published the (xissage in Gomez do Zurara.
by the Academy of Lisbon, in their
202 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Pebiod I.
He certainly had a knowledge of some of the old French
romances, such as that of the Saint Graal, or Holy Cup, —
the crowning fiction of the Knights of the Round Table "
—and distinctly acknowledges himself to have been in-
debted to the Infante Alfonso, who was born in 1370, for
an alteration made in the character of Amadis. ^' But that
he was aided, as has been suggested, in any considerable
degree, by fictions known to have been in Picardy in the
eighteenth century, and claimed, without the slightest
proo^ to have been there in the twelfth, is an assumption
made on too slight grounds to be seriously considered. ^*
We must therefore conclude, from the few, but plain, figicts
known in the case, that the Amadis was originally a Por-
tuguese fiction produced before the year 1400, and that
Vasco de Lobeira was its author.
But the Portuguese original can no longer be found*
At the end of the sixteenth century, we are assured, it was
extant in manuscript in the archives of the Dukes of
Arveiro at Lisbon ; and the same assertion is renewed, on
good authority, about the year 1750. From this time,
however, we lose all trace of it; and the most careful
inquiries render it probable that this curious manuscript,
about which there has been so much discussion, perished
in the terrible earthquake and conflagration of 1755, when
the palace occupied by the ducal family of Arveiro was
destroyed with all its precious contents. "
" The Saint Graalyorthe Holy Cup ** See tho end of Chap. 40, Book
which the Saviour used for the wine I., in which he says, '* The In&nte
of the Last Supper, and which, in the Don Alfonso of Portugal, having pity
story of Arthur, is supposed to have on the fair damsel, [the lady Briolana,]
been brought to Ensland by Joseph of ordered it to be otherwise set down,
Arimathea, is alluded to m Amadis and in this was done what was his
de Gaula (Lib. IV., c. 48). Arthur good pleasure."
himself—*' £1 muy virtuoso rey Ar- " Ginguend, Hist. Idtt. d*Italie,
tur"— is spoken of in Lib. L, c. 1, Paris, 1812, 8vo., Tom. V., p. 62,
and in Lib. IV., c. 49, where '* the note (4), answering the Preface of
Book of Don Tristan and Launcelot " the Conte de Tressan to his too free
is also mentioned. Other passages abridgment of the Amadis de Gaula,
might be cited, but there can be no CEuvres, Paris, 1787, 8vo., Tom. I.,
doubt the author of Amadis knew p. zxii.
some of the French fictions. ^ The fact that it was in the Ar-
Chap. XI.
AMADIS DE GAULA.
203
The Spanish version, therefore, stands for us in place of
the Portuguese original. It was made between 1492 and
1504, by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo, governor of the
city of Medina del Campo, and it is possible that it was
printed for the first time during the same interval, " But
no copy of such an edition is known to exist, nor any one
of an edition sometimes cited 9S having been printed at
Salamanca in 1510;^^ the earliest now accessible to us
dating from 1519. Twelve more followed in the course
of half a century, so that the Amadis succeeded, at once,
in placing the fortunes of its family on the sure foundations
of popular favour in Spain. It was translated into Italian
in 1546, and was again successful; six editions of it
appearing in that language in less than thirty years. '^ In
France, beginning with the first attempt in 1540, it
became such a favourite, that its reputation there has
not yet wholly faded away ; *• while, elsewhere in Europe,
yeiro collection is stated in Ferreira,
'* Poemas Lusitanas," (Lisboa, 1598,
4to.y) where is the sonnet, No. 33, by
Ferreira in honour of Vasco de Lobeira,
which Southej, in his Preface to his
" Amadis of Gaul," (London, 1803,
12mo., Vol. I., p. vii.,) erroneously at-
tributes to Uie Infante Antonio of ror-
togal, and thus would make it of con-
secjuence in the present discussion.
Nic. Antonio, who leaves no doubt as
to the authorship of the sonnet in
question, refers to the same note in
Ferreira to prove the deposit of the
manuscript of the Amadis; so that
the two constitute onl^ one authority,
and not two authorities, as Southey
supposes. (Bib. Vetus, Lib. VIII.,
cap. vii., sect. 291.^ Barbosa is more
distinct. (Bib. Lusitana, Tom. III., p.
775.) But there is a careful summing
up of the matter in Clcmencin's notes
to Don Quixote, (Tom. I., pp. 105,
106,) beyond which it is not likely we
shall advance in our knowledge con-
cerning the fate of the Portuguese
originaJ.
^ In his Prdlogo, Montalvo alludes
to the conquest of Granada, in 1492,
and to both the Catholic sovereigns as
still alive, one of whom, Isabella, died
in 1504.
^ I doubt whether the Salamanca
edition of 1510, mentioned by Barbosa,
(article Fcwco cfc ZoftwVa,) is not, after
all, the edition of 1519, mentioned in
Brunet as printed by Antonio de Solar
manca. The error in printing, or copy-
ing, would be small, and nobody out
Barbosa seems to have heard of the
one he notices. When the first edition
appeared is quite uncertiun.
^ Ferrario, Storia ed Analisi desli
antichi Romanzi di Cavalleria, (Mi-
lano, 1829, 8vo., Tom. IV., p. 242,^
and Brunet's Manuel ; to all which
should be added the *' Amadigi " of
Bernardo Tasso, 1560, constructed
almost entirely from the Spanish
romance ; a poem which, though no
longer popular, had much reputation m
its time, and is still much praised by
Ginguend.
" For the old French version, see
Brunet's '* Manuel du Libraire ;" but
''/ount Tressan's rifacimento, first
printed in 1779, has kept it familiar
to French readers doym to our own
204 HISTORY OP SPANISH UTEBATURE. Period I.
a multitude of translatioiis and imitatioiis have followed,
that seem to stretch out the line of the £unily, as Don
Quixote declares, from the age immediately after the
introduction of Christianity down almost to that in which
he himself lived. "
The translation of Montalvo does not seem to have been
very literal. It was, as iie intimates, much better than
the Portuguese in its style and phraseology ; and the last
part especially appears to have been more altered than
either of the others. *^ But the structure and tone of the
whole fiction are original, and much more free than those
of the French romances that had preceded it The story
of Arthur and the Holy Gup is essentially religious ; the
story of Charlemagne is essentially military ; and both are
involved in a series of adventures previously ascribed to
their respective heroes by chronicles and traditions, which,
whether true or false, were so far recognised as to prescribe
limits to the invention of all who subsequently adopted
them. But the Amadis is of imagination all compact
No period of time is assigned to its events, except that
they begin to occur soon after the very commencement of
the Christian era ; and its gec^aphy is generally as un-
settled and uncertain as the age when its hero lived. It
has no purpose, indeed, but to set forth the character of a
perfect knight, and to illustrate the virtues of courage
and chastity as the only proper foundations of such a cha-
racter.
Amadis, in ftdfilment of this idea, is the son of a merely
imaginary king of the imaginary kingdom of Gaula. His
times. In German it was known from y corounicamos y oimos al invencible
1583, and in English from 1619 ; but y valeroso caballero D. Belianis de
the abridgment of it by Southey Grecia/* says the mad knight, when
(London, 1803, 4 vols. ]2mo.) is the he gets to the maddest, and follows
only form of it in English that can now out the consequence of making Amadis
be read. It was al^ translated into live above two hundred years and have
Dutch ; and Castro, somewhero in his descendants iunumeiable. Parte I.,
** Bibliotoca," speaks of a Hebrew a 13.
translation of it. ^ Don Quixote, cd. Clemcxtcin,
^ ** Casi que en nueiiras dUu vunos Tom. I., p. 107, note.
Chap. XL AMADIS DE OAULA. 205
birth is illegitimate, and his mother, Elisena, a British
princess, ashamed of her child, exposes him on the sea,
where he is found by a Scottish knight, and carried, first
to England, and afterwards to Scotland. In Scotland he
falls in love with Oriana, the true and peerless lady,
daughter of an imaginary Lisuarte, King of England.
Meantime, Perion, King of Gaula, which has sometimes
been conjectured to be a part of Wales, has married the
mother of Amadis, who has by him a second son, named
Galaor. The adventures of these two knights, partly in
England, France, Germany, and Turkey, and partly in
unknown regions and amidst enchantments, — sometimes
under the favour of their ladies, and sometimes, as in the
hermitage of the Firm Island, under their frowns, — fill up
the book, which, after the broad journeyings of the prin-
cipal knights, and an incredible number of combats between
them and other knights, magicians, and giants, ends, at last,
in the marriage of Amadis and Oriana, and the overthrow
of all the enchantments that had so long opposed their
love.
The Amadis is admitted, by general consent, to be the
best of all the old romances of chivalry. One reason of
this is, that it is more true to the manners and spirit of
the age of knighthood ; but the principal reason is, no
doubt, that it is written with a more free invention, and
takes a greater variety in its tones, than is found in other
similar works. It even contains, sometimes, — what we
should hardly expect in this class of wild fictions, —
passages of natural tenderness and beauty, such as the
following description of the young loves of Amadis and
Oriana.
" Now Lisuarte brought with him to Scotland Brisena,
his wife, and a daughter that he had by her when he dwelt
in Denmark, named Oriana, about ten years old, and the
fairest creature that ever was seen ; so fair, that she was
called * Without Peer,' since in her time there was none
3K IBSTTOT \W 9UCBE UnSHTTlK.
«PBi t» her. AjiS ^bujik 4^ iudfawl mck from die
ke ffiimsgaM n jssst* hsr liier^ i^ior Ibe King
CDi ks Qnsex. ^oc 'Axr wmiii lore caore (^
her. And is^y ^ro^ 2La^ t^ot dbd diagnilk, and the
Qoem fibl. * Tmr zm tsic I -viS hirie sock a aire of her
as Ikt wkAo' wgcjl.* Aim! LosBanc. emaiim info hk
d]i^HL ssaik kosBe Indk roo Gtoff Brana, and found
tfave SOCK vho had zade dsccz^asees, andi as are wont
to be c sach ca9e& Asd iar ^js cKse, he remembered
him DOC of hii dasdx^ia- fcr scsDt space of lime. Bot at
lasL visfa niioch toO thai he toul;. he o!«aised his kingdom,
aad he vas the best kf-Tg that erer vas befare his time, nor
did any aftenrards better :Tiai?!tiH knishtfaood in its ri^ts,
tin Kins ATtharrete«d,vhosiirpasedaD the kings before
him IB goodnesi^ thooeh the number diat reigned between
these two was great.
^'And now the author leaves Ltsuaite reigning in
peace and quietness in Great Britain, and tmns to the
Child of the Sea, [Amadis,] who was twehne jfeais old,
hot in sixe and Umhs seemed to be fifteen. He served
befive the Queen, and was much loved of her, as he was
of all ladies and damsek. But as soon as Oriana, the
daughter of King Lisnarte, came there, she gave to her
the Child of the Sea, that he should serve her, sayings
^ This is a chfld who shaU serve you.' And she answered,
that it pleased her. And the child kept this word in his
heart, in such wise that it never afterwards left it; and,
as this history truly sa3rs, he was never, in all the days
of his life, wearied with serving her. And this their love
lasted as long as they lasted ; but the Child of the Sea,
who knew not at all how she loved him, held himself to
be very bold, in that he had placed his thoughts on her,
considering both her greatness and her beauty, and never
so much as dared to speak any word to her concerning it
And she, though she loved him in her heart, took heed
that she should not speak with him more than with another ;
Chap. XI. AMADIS DE GAULA. 207
but her eyes took great solace in showing to her heart
what thing in the world she most loved.
^^ Thus lived they silently together, neither saying aught
to the other of their estate. Then came, at last, the time
when the Child of the Sea, as I now tell you, understood
within himself that he might take arms, if any there were
that would make him a knight. And this he desired,
because he considered that he should thus become such
a man and should do such things, as that either he should
perish in them, or, if he lived, then his lady should deal
gently with him. And with this desire he went to the
King, who was in his garden, and, kneeling before him,
said, ^ Sire, if it please you, it is now time that I should
be made a knight.' And the King said, * How, Child of
the Sea, do you already adventure to maintain knight-
hood ? Know that it is a light matter to come by it, but
a weighty thing to maintain! it And whoso seeks to g6t
this name of knighthood and maintain it in its honour, he
hath to do so many and such grievous things, that often
his heart is wearied out ; and if he should be such a knight,
that, from faint-heartedness or cowardice, he should fail
to do what is beseeming, then it would be better for him
to die than to live in his shame. Therefore I hold it
good that you wait yet a little.' But the Child of the
Sea said to him, ^ Neither for all this will I fail to be
a knight ; for, if I had not already thought to fulfil this
that you have said, my heart would not so have striven
to be a knight.'""
Other passages of quite a different character are no
less striking, as, for instance, that in which the fairy
Urganda comes in her fire-galleys, " and that in which
the venerable Nasciano visits Oriana;" but the most
characteristic are those that illustrate the spirit of chivalry,
and inculcate the duties of princes and knights. In these
•» Amadig de Gaula, Lib. I. c. 4. " Lib. IV. c. 32.
« Lib. II. c. 17.
208 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
portions of the work, there is sometimes a lofty tone that
rises to eloquence,** and sometimes a sad one full of
earnestness and truth. ** The general story, too, is more
simple and eflTective than the stories of the old French
romances of chivalry. Instead of distracting our attention
by the adventures of a great number of knights, whose
claims are nearly equal, it is kept fastened on two, whose
characters are well preserved ; — Amadis, the model of all
chivalrous virtues, and his brother, Don Galaor, hardly
less perfect as a knight in the field, but by no means so
faithful in his loves ; — and, in this way, it has a more epic
proportion in its several parts, and keeps up our interest
to the end more successfully, than any of its followers or
rivals.
The great objection to the Amadis is one that must
be made to all of its class. We are wearied by its length,
and by the constant recurrence of similar adventures and
dangers, in which, as we foresee, the hero is certain to
come off victorious* But this length and these repetitions
seemed no fault when it first appeared, or for a long time
afterwards. For romantic fiction, the only form of elegant
literature which modem times have added to the mar-
vellous inventions of Greek genius, was then recent and
fresh ; and the few who read for amusement rejoiced even
in the least graceful of its creations, as vastly nearer to
the hearts and thoughts of men educated in the institutions
of knighthood than any glimpses they had thus far caught
of the severe glories of antiquity. The Amadis, there-
fore,— as we may easily learn by the notices of it from
the time when the great Chancellor of Castile mourned
that he had wasted his leisure over its idle fancies, down
•* See Lib. II. c. 13, Lib. IV. c. 14, been a just description of any part of
and in many other places, exhorta- the reign of the Catholic kings in
tions to knightly and princely virtues. Spain ; and must therefore, I suppose,
■* See the mourning al)out his own have been in the originsd wonc of
time, as a ])eriod of great sufiering, Lobeira, and have referred to troubles
(Lib. IV. c. 63.) This could not have in Portugal.
Crap. XI. AMADIS DE OAULA. 209
to the time when the whole sect disappeared before the
avenging satire of Cervantes, — was a work of extraordinary
popularity in Spain ; and one which, during the two
centuries of its greatest favour, was more read than any
other book in the language.
Nor should it be forgotten that Cervantes himself was
not insensible to its merits. The first book that, as he
tells us, was taken firom the shelves of Don Quixote, when
the curate, the barber, and the housekeeper began the
expurgation of his library, was the Amadis de Gaula.
" * There is something mysterious about this matter,' said
the curate ; * for, as I have heard, this was the first book
of knight-errantry that was printed in Spain, and all the
others have had their origin and source here, so that, as
the arch-heretic of so mischievous a sect, I think he should,
without a hearing, be condemned to the fire.' * No, Sir,'
said the barber, * for I, too, have heard that it is the best
of all the books of its kind that have been written, and
therefore, for its singularity, it ought to be forgiven.'
* That is the truth,' answered the curate, * and so let us
spare it for the present;'" — a decision which, on the
whole, has been confirmed by posterity, and precisely for
the reason Cervantes has assigned. '^
■• Don Quixote, Parte I. c. 6. Cer- of this Period. On the point of the
▼antes, however, is mistaken in his general merits of the Amadis, two
biblio^phy, when he says that the opinions are worth citing. The first,
Amadis was the first book of chi- on its style, is by the severe anony-
valry printed in Spain. It has often mous auUior of the ** Didloffo de las
been noted that this distinction belongs Lenguas," temp. Charles v., who,
to ** Tirant lo Blanch," 1490 ; though after discussing the general character
Southey (Omniana, London, 1812, of the book, adds, ** It should be rc»d
12mo.,Tom. II. p. 219) thinks'* there by those who wish to learn our Ian-
is a total want of the spirit of chival- guage." (Mayans y Siscar, Orffcnes,
ly^in it; and it should further be Madrid, 1737, 12mo., Tom. II. p.
noted now, as curious facts, that ** Ti- 163.) The other, on its invention and
rant lo Blanch," though it appeared story, is by Torquato Tasso, who says
in Valencian in 1490, in Castilian in of the Amadis, ** In the opinion of
1511, and in Italian in 1538, was yet, many, and particularly in my own
like the Amadis, originally written in opinion, it is the most beautiful, and
Portuguese, to please a Portuguese perhaps the most profitable, story of
prince, and that this Portuguese ori- its kind that can be read, because, in
ginal is now lost ; — all remarkable co- its sentiment and tone, it leaves all
incidences. See note on Chap. XVII. others behind it, and, in the variety of
VOL. I. P
210 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pxbiod I.
But before Montalvo published his translation of the
Amadis, and perhaps before he had made it, he had
written a continuation, which he announced in the Preface
to the Amadis as its fifth book. It is an origmal work,
about one-third part as long as the Amadis, and contains
the story of the son of that hero and Oriana, named
Esplandian, whose birth and education had already been
given in the story of his father's adventures, and constitute
one of its pleasantest episodes. But, as the curate says, when
he comes to this romance in Don Quixote's library, " the
merits of the father must not be imputed to the son." The
story of Esplandian has neither freshness, spirit, nor dig-
nity in it It opens at the point where he is left in the
original fiction, just armed as a knight, and is filled with
his adventures as he wanders about the world, and with
the supernumerary achievements of his father Amadis, who
survives to the end of the whole, and sees his son made
Emperor of Constantinople, he himself having long before
become King of Great Britain by the death of Lisuarte. *'
But, from the beginning, we find two mistakes committed,
which run through the whole work. Amadis, represented
as still alive, fills a large part of the canvas ; while, at the
same time, Esplandian is made to perform achievements
intended to be more brilliant than his father's, but which,
in fact, are only more extravagant. From this sort of
its incidents, yields to none written evidently an awkward corruption of
before or since." Apologia della the Greek "Epyoy works or ackieoe-
Gerusalemme, Opero, Pisa, 1824, ments. Allusions are made to it, as
8vo., Tom. X. p. 7. to a continuation, in the Amadis, Lib.
*^ I possess of ** Esplandian " the IV. ; besides which, in Lib. III. cap.
curious edition printed at Burgos, in 4, we have the birth and baptism of
folio, double columns, 1687, by Simon Esplandian; in Lib. III. c. 8, his
de Aguaya. It fills 136 leaves, and is marvellous nt)wth and progress ; and
divided into 184 chapters. As in the so on, till, m the last chapter of the
other editions I have seen mentioned romance, he is armed as a^lmight. So
or have noticed in public libraries, it is that the Esplandian is, in the strictest
called ^*- Las Sergas del muy Esfor9ado manner, a continuation of the Amadis.
Cavallero Esplandian," in order to Southey (Omniana, Vol. I. p. 145)
give it the learned appearance of thinks there is some error about the
having really been translated, as it authorship of the Esplandian. If
pretends to be, from the Greek of there is, I think it is merely ty]K>-
Master Eiisabad ; — ** Sergas" being graphical.
Chap. XI. ESPLANDIAN. 211
emulation the work becomes a succession of absurd and
frigid impossibilities. Many of the characters of the
Amadis are preserved in it, like Lisuarte, who is rescued
out of a mysterious imprisonment by Esplandian as his
first adventure ; Urganda, who, from a graceful fairy, be-
comes a savage enchantress; and ^^the great master
Elisabad,** a man of learning and a priest, whom we first
knew as the leech of Amadis, and who is now the pretended
biographer of his son, writing, as he says, in Greek. But
none of them, and none of the characters invented for the
occasion, are managed with skill.
The scene of the whole work is laid chiefly in the East,
amidst battles with Turks and Mohammedans ; thus show-
ing to what quarter the minds of men were turned when it
was written, and what were the dangers apprehended to
the peace of Europe, even in its westernmost borders,
during the century afler the fall of Constantinople. But
all reference to real history or real geography was appa-
rently thought inappropriate, as may be inferred from the
circumstances, that a certain Calafria, queen of the island
of California, is made a formidable enemy of Christendom
through a large part of the story ; and that Constantinople
is said at one time to have been besieged by three millions
of heathen. Nor is the style better than the story. The
eloquence which is found in many passages of the Amadis
is not found at all in Esplandian. On the contrary, large
portions of it are written in a low and meagre style, and
the rhymed arguments prefixed to many of the chapters
are anything but poetry, and quite inferior to the few pas-
sages of verse scattered through the Amadis. ^
The oldest edition of the Esplandian now known to exist
■•There are two Condones in similar Candofi^ in the " Floresta "
Amadis, (Lib. II. c. 8 and c. 11,) of Bohl de Faber. The last begins,—
which, notwithstandinir something of , . i> .
the conceits of their time, m the rro- BUnca tobre toda flor ;
vencal manner, are quite charming. Fin iweu. no me meu
and ought to be placed among the En ul cuyu vuertro amor.
p2
212 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbuod I.
was printed in 1526, and five others appeared before the
end of the century ; so that it seems to have enjoyed its
full share of popular favour. At any rate, the example it
set was quickly followed. Its principal personages were
made to figure again in a series of connected romances, each
having a hero descended from Amadis, who passes through
adventures more incredible than any of his predecessors,
and then gives place, we know not why, to a son still more
extravagant, and, if the phrase may be used, still more
impossible, than his father. Thus, in the same year 1526,
we have the sixth book of Amadis de Gaula, eddied ^^ The
History of Florisando," his nephew, which is followed by
the still more wonderful "Lisuarte of Greece, Son of
Esplandian," and the most wonderful " Amadis of Greece,"
making respectively the seventh and eighth books. To
these succeeded " Don Florisel de Niquea," and " Anax-
artes, Son of Lisuarte," whose history, with that of the
children of the last, fills three books ; and finally we have
the twelfth book, or " The Great Deeds in Arms of that
Bold Knight, Don Silves de la Selva," which was printed
in 1549 ; thus giving proof how extraordinary was the suc-
cess of the whole series, since its date allows hardly half a
century for the production in Spanish of all these vast
romances, most of which, during the same period, appeared
in several, and some of them in many editions.
Nor did the efiects of the passion thus awakened stop
here. Other romances appeared, belonging to the same
family, though not coming into the regular line of succes-
sion, such as a duplicate of the seventh book on Lisuarte,
by the Canon Diaz, in 1526, and "Leandro the Fair," in
1563, by Pedro de Luxan, which has sometimes been
called the thirteenth ; while in France, where they were
aU translated successively, as they appeared in Spain, and
became instantly famous, the proper series of the Amadis
romances was stretched out into twenty-four books ; after
all which, a certain Sieur Duverdier, grieved that many of
Chjlp. XI. THE PALMERINS. 213
them came to no regular catastrophe, collected the scat-
tered and broken threads of their multitudinous stories
and brought them all to an orderly sequence of conclusions,
in seven large volumes, under the comprehensive and ap-
propriate name of the ** Eoman des Eomans." And so
ends the history of the Portuguese type of Amadis of Gaul,
as it was originally presented to the world in the Spanish
romances of chivalry; a fiction which, considering the
passionate admiration it so long excited, and the influence
it has, with little merit of its own, exercised on the poetry
and romance of modern Europe ever since, is a phenome-
non that has no parallel in literary history. *•
The state of manners and opinion in Spain, however,
which produced this extraordinary series of romances,
could hardly fail to be fertile in other fictitious heroes,
less brilliant, perhaps, in their fame than was Amadis,
but with the same general qualities and attributes. And
such, indeed, was the case. Many romances of chivalry
appeared in Spain, soon after the success of this their great
leader; and others followed a little later. The first of
all of them in consequence, if not in date, is ^^ Palmerin
* The whole subject of these twelve that have since elapsed ; and he is so
books of Amadis in Spanish and the inaccurate in such matters, that his
twenlT-four in French oelongs rather authority is not sufficient. In the
to bibliography than to literary his- same way, he is the only authority for
tory, and is amons the most obscure an edition in 1525 of the seventh book,
points in both. The twelve Spanish — ** Lisuarte of Greece." But, as the
books are said by Brunet never to have twelfth book was certainly printed in
been all seen by any one bibliogra- 1549, the only fact of much importance
pher. I have seen, I believe, seven b settled ; viz., that the whole twelve
or eight of them, and own the only were published in Spain In the course
two for which any real value has of about half a century. For all the
ever been claimed, — the Amadis de curious learning on the subject, how-
Gaula in the rare and well-printed ever, see an article by Salv^, in
editionof Venice, 1533, folio, and the the Repertorio Americano, Ldndres,
Esplandian in the more rare, but Agosto de 1827, pp. 29-39; F.
very coarse, edition already referred to. A. Ebert, Lexicon, Leipzig, 1821,
When the earliest edition of either of 4to., Nos. 479-489; Brunet, article
them, or of most of the others, was Amadis; and, especially, the re-
printed cannot, I presume, be deter- markable discussion, already referred
mined. One of Esplandian, of 1510, to, by F. W. V. Schmidt, in the
is mentioned by N. Antonio, but by Wiener Jahrbiicher, Band XXXIII.
nobody else in the century and a half 1826.
214 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATURE. Pmoo I.
de Oliva ; " a personage the more important, because he
had a train of descendants that place him, beyond all
doubt, next in dignity to Amadis.
The Palmerin has often, perhaps generally, been re-
garded as Portuguese in its origin, and as the work of a
lady ; though the proof of each of these allegations is
somewhat imperfect. If, however, the facts be really as
they have been stated, not the least curious circumstance
in relation to them is, that, as in the case of the Amadis,
the Portuguese original of the Palmerin is lost, and the
first and only knowledge we have of its story is from the
Spanish version. Even in this version, we can trace it up
no higher than to the edition printed at Seville in 1525,
which was certainly not the first
But whenever it may have been first published, it
was successfiil. Several editions were soon printed in
Spanish, and translations followed in Italian and French.
A continuation, too, appeared, called in form, " The Se-
cond Book of Palmerin," which treats of the achievements
of his sons, Primaleon and Polendos, and of which we have
an edition in Spanish, dated in 1524. The external ap-
pearances of the Palmerin, therefore, announce at once an
imitation of the Amadis. The internal are no less deci-
sive. Its hero, we are told, was grandson to a Greek
emperor in Constantinople, but, being illegitimate, was
exposed by his mother, immediately after his birth, on a
mountain, where he was found, in an osier cradle among
olive and palm trees, by a rich cultivator of bees, who car-
ried him home and named him Palmerin de Oliva, from
the place where he was discovered. He soon gives token
of his high birth ; and, making himself famous by num-
berless exploits, in Germany, England, and the East,
against heathen and enchanters, he at last reaches Con-
stantinople, where he is recognised by his mother, marries
the daughter of the Emperor of Germany, who is the
heroine of the story, and inherits the crown of . Byzan-
CHiLP.XI. THE PALMEBINS. 215
tium. The adventures of Primaleon and Polendos, which
seem to be by the same unknown author, are in the same
vein, and were succeeded by those of Platir, grandson of
Falmerin, which were printed as early as 1533. All,
taken together, therefore, leave no doubt that the Amadis
was their model, however much they may have fallen
short of its merits. *®
The next in the series, " Palmerin of England," son of
Don Duarde, or Edward, King of England, and Flerida,
a daughter of Palmerin de Oliva, is a more formidable
rival to the Amadis than either of its predecessors. For
a long time it was supposed to have been first written in
Portuguese, and was generally attributed to Francisco
Moraes, who certainly published it in that language at
Evora, in 1567i and whose allegation that he had trans-
lated it from the French, though now known to be true,
was supposed to be only a modest concealment of his own
merits. But a copy of the Spanish original, printed at
Toledo, in two parts, in 1547 and 1548, has been dis-
covered, and at the end of its dedication are a few verses
addressed by the author to the reader, announcing it, in an
acrostic, to be the work of Luis Hurtado, known to have
been, at that time, a poet in Toledo. '*
** Like whatever relates to the se- brino Roseo, 1656— both of which
ries of the Amadis, the account of the claimed to be translations from the
Palmerins is yery obscure. Materials Spanish ; and 2. the Portuguese by
for it are to be found in N. Antonio, Moraes, 1567, which claimed to be
Bibliotheca Nova, Tom. II. p. 393 ; translated from the French. In genc-
in Salvd, Repertorio Americano, Tom. ral it was supposed to be the work
I-V. pp. 39, etc. ; Brunet, article of Moraes, wno, having long lived in
Pabnertn ; Ferrario, Romanzi di Ca- France, was thought to have fur-
vallerfa, Tom. IV. pp. 266, etc. ; and nished his manuscnpt to the French
Clemencin, notes to Don Quixote, translator, (Barbosa, Bib. Lus., Tom.
Tom. I. pp. 124, 125. II. p. 209,) and, under this persua-
•* The fate of Palmerin of England sion, it was published as his in Portu-
has been a very strange one. Until guese, at Lisbon, in three handsome
a , few years since, the only question volumes, small 4to., 1786, and in
was, whether it were originally French English by Southey, London, 1807,
or Portuguese ; for the oldest forms 4 vols. 12mo. Even Clemencin, (ed.
in which it was then known to exist Don Quixote, Tom. I. pp. 126, 126,^
were, 1. the French by Jacques Vi- if he did not think it to be the work
cent, 1563, and the Italian by Mam- of Moraes, had no doubt that it was
216 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
Regarded as a work of art, Palmerin of England is
second only to the Amadis of Gaul, among the romances
of chivalry. Like that great prototype of the whole class,
it has among its actors two brothers, — Palmerin, the faith-
ful knight, and Florian, the free gallant, — and, like that,
it has its great magician, Deliante, and its perilous isle,
where occur not a few of the most agreeable adventures of
its heroes. In some respects, it may be favourably dis-
tinguished from its model. There is more sensibility to
the beauties of natural scenery in it, and often an easier
dialogue, with quite as good a drawing of individual cha-
racters. But it has greater faults; for its movement is
less natural and spirited, and it is crowded with an unrea-
sonable number of knights, and an interminable series of
duels, battles, aJid exploits, all of which claim to be
founded on authentic English chronicles and to be true
history, thus affording new proof of the connexion between
the old chronicles and the oldest romances. Cervantes
admired it excessively. "Let this Palm of England,*"
says his curate, " bei cared for and preserved, as a thing
singular in its kind, and let a casket be made for it, like
that which Alexander found among the spoils of Darius,
and destined to keep in it the works of the poet Homer ; "
praise, no doubt, much stronger than can now seem reason-
able, but marking, at least, the sort of estimation in which
the romance itself must have been generally held when
the Don Quixote appeared.
But the family of Palmerin had no ftulJber success in
Spain. A third and fourth part, indeed, containing " The
Adventures of Duardos the Second," appeared in Portu-
originally Portuguese. At last, how- its author, Luis Hurtado, is to be
ever, Sal v^ found a copy of the lost foundinAntonio,Bib. Nov., Tom. II.
Spanish original, which settles the p. 44, where one of hia works,
question, and places the date of the '* Cortes del Casto Amor 7 de la
work in 1547-48, Toledo, S torn. fol. Muerte,** is said to have been printed
(Repertorio Americano, Tom. IV. in 1557. He sHao translated the
pp. 42-46.) The little we know of << Metamorphoses " of Ovid.
Chap. XI.
NICOLAS ANTONIO.
217
guese, written by Diogo Fernandez, in 1587 ; and a fifth and
sixth are said to have been written by Alvarez do Oriente,
a contemporary poet of no mean reputation. But the last
two do not seem to have been printed, and none of them were
much known beyond the limits of their native country. "
The Palmerins, therefore, notwithstanding the merits of
one of them, failed to obtain a fame or a succession that
could enter into competition with those of Amadis and his
descendants.
■ Barbofla, Bib. Lusit., Tom. I. p. 652 ; Tom. II. p. 17.
The "Bibliotheca Hispana" has
already been referred to more than
once m this chapter, and must so
often be relied on as an authority
hereafter that some notice of its claims
should be given before we proceed
further. Its author, Nicolas Antonio,
was bom at Seville, in 1617. He
was educated, first by the care of
Francisco Jimenez, a blind teacher,
of singular merit, attached to the Col-
lege of St. Thomas in that city ; and
aflerwards atSahunanca, where he de-
voted himself with success to the
study of history and canon law.
When he had completed an honour-
able career at the University, he re-
turned home, and lived chiefly in the
Convent of the Benedictines, where
he had been bred, and where an
abundant and curious library iiir-
nished him with means for study,
which he used with eagerness and as-
siduity.
He was not, however, in haste to
be known. He published nothing
till 1659, when, at the age of forty-
two, he printed a Latin treatise on
the Punishment of Exile, and, the
same year, was appointed to the ho-
nourable and important post of €re-
neral Agent of Philip I V. at Rome.
But from this time to the end of his
life he was in the public service, and
filled places of no little responsibility.
In Rome he lived twenty years, col-
lecting about him a library sud to
have been second in importance only
to that of the Vatican, and devoting
all his leisure to the studies he loved.
At the end of that i)eriod he returned
to Madrid, and continued there in ho-
nourable employments till his death,
which occurred in 1684. He left bo-
hind him several works in manuscript,
of which his *' Censura de Histonas
Fabulosas " — an examination and ex-
posure of several forged chronicles
which had appeared in the preceding
century— was first published by May-
ans y Siscar, and must be noticed
hereafter.
But his ereat labour — the labour of
his life ana of his fondest preference
—was his literary history of his own
country. He be^an it m his youth,
while he was still living with the
Benedictines, — an order m the Ro-
mish Church honourably distinguished
by its zeal in the history of letters, —
and he continued it, employing on
his task all the resources which his
own large library and the libraries of
the capitals of Spain and of the
Christian world could furnish him,
down to the moment of his death.
He divided it into two parts. The
first, beginning with the age of Au-
gustus, and coming down to the year
1500, was found, after his death, di-
gested into the form of a regular his-
tory; but as his pecuniary means,
during his lifetime, had been entirely
devoted to the purchase of books, it
was published by his friend Cardinal
Aguirre, at Rome, in 1696. The se-
cond pert, which had been already
printed there, in 1672, is thrown
218
HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE.
PmoD I.
into the form of a dictionary, whose
separate articles are arranged, like
those in most other Spanish works of
the same sort, under the baptismal
names of their subjects, — an nonour
shown to the saints, which renders
the use of such dictionaries somewhat
inconvenient, even when, as in the
case of Antonio's, full indexes are
added, which facilitate a reference to
the respective articles by the more
common arrangement, according to
the surnames.
Of both parts an excellent edition
was published in the original Latin,
at Madrid, in 1787 and 1788, in four
volumes, folio, commonly known as
the " Bibliotheca Vetus et Nova
of Nicolas Antonio ; " the first being
enriched with notes by Perez Bayer,
a learned Valencian, long the head of
the Royal Library at Sfadrid; and
the last receiving additions from
Antonio's own manuscripts that bring
down his notices of Spanish writers to
the time of his death m 1684. In the
earlier portion, embracing the names
of about thirteen hund^d authors,
littie remains to be desired, so fiir as
the Roman or the ecclesiasticaBd literary
history of Spain is ooncemed ; Irat for
the Arabic we must go to Casiri and
Cravangos, and for the Jewish to Castro
and Amador de los Rios ; while, for
the proper Spanish literature that ex-
isted before the reign of Charles V.,
manuscripts discovered since the care-
ful labours of Bayer fiimish important
additions. Li the latter portion, which
contains notices of nearly eight thou-
sand writers of the best period of
Spanish literature, we have — notwith-
standing the occasional inaccuracies
and oversights inevitable in a work so
vast and so various — a monument of
industry, fairness, and fidelity, for
which those who most use it will al-
ways be most grateful. The two,
ti^en together, constitute their author,
beyond all reasonable question, the
father and founder of the literary his-
tory of his country.
See the lives of Antoiuo prefixed by
Mayans to the " Historias Fabulosas,^'
(Valencia, 1742, fol.,) and by Bayer
to the " Bibliotheca Vetus," in 1787.
Chap. XII. OTHER BOMANCES OF CHIVALRY. 219
CHAPTER XII.
Other Romances of Chiyaiat. — Lspolsmo. — ^Tbavslations fbom the
Fbeitch. — Religious Romances. — CAYAixEBfA Ceuestial. — Pebiod
DUEiHo WHICH Romances of Chitalet peev ailed. — ^Theie Ndmbee. —
Theib Foundation nr the State of Society. — The Passion fob them.
— Theie Fate.
Although the Palmerins failed as rivals of the great family
of Amadis, they were not without their influence and con-
sideration. Like the other works of their class, and more
than most of them, they helped to increase the passion for
fictions of chivalry in general, which, overbearing every
other in the Peninsula, was now busily at work producing
romances, both original and translated, that astonish us
alike by their number, their length, and their absurdities.
Of those originally Spanish, it would not be diflicult, after
setting aside the two series belonging to the families of
Amadis and Palmerin, to collect the names of about forty,
all produced in the course of the sixteenth century. Some
of them are still more or less familiar to us, by their
names at least, such as "Belianis of Greece" and "Oli-
vante de Laura," which are found in Don Quixote's
library, and " Felixmarte of Hircania," which was once,
we are told, the summer reading of Dr. Johnson. * But,
in general, like " The Renowned Knight Cifar " and " The
Bold Knight Claribalte," their very titles sound strangely
to our ears, and excite no interest when we hear them
' Bishop Percy says that Dr. John- doubted whether the book has been
son read *^ Felixmarte of Hircania" read through since by any English-
quite through, when at his parsonage- man. Boswell's Life, ed. Croker,
house, one summer. It may be London, 1831, 8vo., Vol. I. p. 24.
220 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbiod I.
repeated. Most of them, it may be added — perhaps all —
deserve the oblivion into which they have feUen ; though
some have merits which, in the days of their popularity,
placed them near the best of those aJready noticed.
Among the latter is ^' The Invincible Knight Lepolemo,
called the Knight of the Cross and Son of the Emperor
of Germany ;" a romance which was published as early as
1525, and, besides drawing a continuation after it, was
reprinted thrice in the course of the century, and trans-
lated into French and Italian.* It is a striking book
among those of its class, not only from the variety of for-
tunes -through which the hero passes, but, in some d^ree,
from its general tone and purpose. In his infancy Lepo-
lemo is stolen from the shelter of the throne to which he
is heir, and completely lost for a long period. During
this time he lives among the heathen, at first in slavery,
and afterwards as an honourable knight-adventurer at the
court of the Soldan. By his courage and merit he rises
to great distinction, and, while on a journey through France,
is recognised by his own family, who happen to be there.
Of course he is restored, amidst a generd jubilee, to his
imperial estate.
In all this, and especially in the wearisome series of its
knightly adventures, the Lepolemo has a sufficient resem-
blance to the other romances of chivalry. But in two points
it diflers from them. In the first place, it pretends to be
translated by Pedro de Luxan, its real author, from the
Arabic of a wise magician attached to the person of the
Sultan ; and yet it represents its hero throughout as a most
Christian knight, and his father and mother, the Emperor
and Empress, as giving the force of their example to en-
' Ebert cites the first edition known these I have I do not know, as the
as of 1525 ; Bowie, in the list of his colophon is gone and there is no date
authorities, gives one of 1534 ; Cle- on tnc title- pace; but its tjpo and pa-
mencin says there is one of 1543 in per seem to indicate an edition from
the Royal Library at Madrid; and Antwerp, while all the preceding
Pelliccr used one of 1562. Which of were pnnted in Spain.
Chap. XII. TRANSLATIONS OF ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY. 221
courage pilgrimages to the Holy Sepulchre ; making the
whole story subserve the projects of the Church, in the
same way, if not to the same degree, that Turpin's Chro-
nicle had done. And in the next place, it attracts our
attention, from time to time, by a picturesque air and
touches of the national manners, as, for instance, in the
love-passages between the Knight of the Cross and the
Infanta of France, in one of which he talks to her at her
grated balcony in the night, as if he were a cavalier of one
of Calderon's comedies. ' Except in these points, however,
the Lepolemo is much like its predecessors and followers^
and quite as tedious.
Spain, however, not only gave romances of chivalry to
the rest of Europe in large numbers, but received also from
abroad in some good proportion to what she gave. From
the first, the early French fictions were known in Spain, as
we have seen by the allusions to them in the ^^ Amadis de
Gaula ;** a circumstance that may have been owing either to
the old connexion with France through the Burgundian fa-
mily, a branch of which filled the throne of Portugal, or to
some strange accident, like the one that carried ^^ Palmeriu
de Inglaterra " to Portugal from France rather than from
Spain, its native country. At any rate, somewhat later,
when the passion for such fictions was more developed, the
French stories were translated or imitated in Spanish, and
became a part, and a favoured part, of the literature of
the country. "The Eomance of Merlin" was printed
very early — as early as 1498 — and "The Romance of
Tristan de Leonnais," and that of the Holy Cup, " La
Demanda del Sancto Grial," followed it as a sort of
natural sequence. ^
' See Parte I. c. 112, 144. now be found, though mentioned by
* ** Merlin," 1498, ** Artus," 1501, Quadrio, who, in his fourth volume,
" Tristan," 1628, ** Sancto Grial," has a good deal of curious mtitter on
1555, and ** Segunda Tabla Redon- these old romances generally. I do
da," 1567, would seem to be the se- not think it needful to notice others,
ries of them given by the bibliogra- such as ** Pierres jr Magalona," 1526,
phers. But the last cannot, perhaps, ** Tallante de Ricamonte," and the
222 mSTORT OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
The rival story of Charlemagney however, — perhaps from
the greatness of his name, — seems to have been, at last,
more successful. It is a translation directly from the
French, and therefore gives none of those accounts of his
defeat at Roncesvalles by Bernardo del Carpio, which, in
the old Spanish chronicles and ballads, so gratified the
national vanity ; and contains only the accustomed stories
of Oliver and Fierabras the Giant ; of Orlando and the
False Ganelon ; relying, of course, on the fabulous Chro-
nicle of Turpin as its chief authority. But, such as it was,
it found great favour at the time it appeared; and such,
in fact, as Nicolas de Piamonte gave it to the world, in
1528, under the title of ** The History of the Emperor
Charlemagne," it has been constantly reprinted down to
oiu* own times, and has done more than any other tale of
chivalry to keep alive in Spain a taste for such reading. •
During a considerable period, however, a few other ro-
mances shared its popularity. " Reynaldos de Montalban,"
for instance, always a favourite hero in Spain, was one of
them;* and a little later we find another, the story of
*' Cleomadez," an invention of a French queen in the
thirteenth century, which first gave to Froissart the love
for adventure that made him a chronicler. '
In most of the imitations and translations just noticed,
the influence of the Church is more visible than it is in
** Conde Tomillas," — the last referred First Part of it mentioned in Clemen-
to in Don Quixote, but otherwise un- cin's notes to Don Quixote (Parte I.,
known. c. 6^ ; besides which it had succcssioD,
* Discussions on the origin of these in Farts II. and III., before 165S.
stories may be found in the Preface to ' The " Cleomadez," one of the
the excellent edition of Einhard or most popular stories in Europe for
Eginhard by Ideler (Hamburg, 1839, three centuries, was composed by
8vo., Band I. pp. 40-46). The very Adenez, at the dictation of Marie,
name, RoncesvaUes^ does not seem to queen of Philip III. of France, who
have occurred out of Spain till much married her in 1272. (Fauchet, Re-
later (Ibid., p. 169). There is an cueil, Paris, 1581, foUo, Idv. II. c.
edition ofthe*' Carlo Magno" printed 116.) Froissart gives a simple mc-
at Madrid in 1806, 12mo., evidently count of his reading and admiring it
for popular use, and I notice others in his youth. Poisies, Puis, 1889,
since. 8vo., pp. 206, etc.
* There arc several editions of the
Chap. XII. REUOIOUS ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY. 223
the class of the original Spanish romances. This is the
case, from its very subject, with the story of the Saint
Graal, and with that of Charlemagne, which, so far as it
is taken from the pretended Archbishop Turpin*s Chronicle,
goes mainly to encourage founding religious houses and
making pious pilgrimages. But the Church was not
satisfied with this indirect and accidental influence.
Romantic fiction, though overlooked in its earliest be-
ginnings, or perhaps even punished by ecclesiastical au-
thority in the person of the Greek Bishop to whom we
owe the first proper romance, " was now become important,
and might be made directly useful. Beligious romances,
therefore, were written. In general, they were cast into
the form of allegories, like "The Celestial Chivalry,*'
"The Christian Chivalry," "The Knight of the Bright
Star," and " The Christian History and Warfare of the
Stranger Knight, the Conqueror of Heaven;" — all
printed after the middle of the sixteenth century, and
during the period when the passion for romances of
chivalry was at its height. '
One of the oldest of them is probably the most curious
and remarkable of the whole number. It is appropriately
* The " Ethiopica," or the ** Loves public authority. Erotici Grseci, ed^
of Theagcnes and Chariclea," written Mitscherlich, Biponti, 1792, 8vo.,
in Greek by Heliodorus, who lived in Tom. II. p. viii.
the time of the Emperors Theodosius, • The ** Caballerla Christiana " was
Arcadius, and Honorius. It was well printed in 1570, the ^* Caballero de
known in Spain at the period now fa Clara Estrella " in 1580, and the
spoken of, for, though it was not ** Caballero Peregrino" in 1601. Be-
printed in the original before 1534, a sides these, ** Roberto el Diablo " — ^a
Spanish translation of it appeared as story which was famous throughout
early as 1554, anonymously, and an- Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
other, by Ferdinand de Mena, in seventeenth centuries, and has been
1587, which was republished at least revived in our own times — was known
twice in the course of thirty years. in Spain from 1628, and probably
(Nic. Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. earlier. (Nic. Antonio, Bib. Nov.,
380, and Condc's Catalogue, London, Tom. II. p. 251.) In France it was
1824, 8vo., Nos. 263, 264.) It has printed in 1496, (Ebert, No. 19175,)
been said that the Bishop preferred and in England by Wynkyn do
to give up his rank and place rather Worde. Sec Thoms, Romances, Lon-
than consent to have this romance, don, 1828, 12mo., Vol. I. p. v.
the work of his youth, burned by
224 HISTORY OF SPANISH LTTERATUBE. PboddI.
called "The Celestial Chivalry,** and was written by
Hierdnimo de San Pedro, at Valencia, and printed in
1554, in two thin folio volumes. " In his Prefsuse, the
author declares it to be his object to drive out of the world
the profane books of chivalry ; the mischief of which he
illustrates by a reference to Dante*s account of Francesca
da Bimini. In pursuance of this purpose, the First
Part is entitled *' The Root of the Fragrant Rose ; " which,
instead of chapters, is divided into " Wonders,** Maror
viUaSj and contains an allegorical version of the most
striking stories in the Old Testament, down to the time
of the good King Hezekiah, told as the adventures of a
succession of knights-errant The Second Part is divided,
according to a similar conceit, into " The Leaves of the
Rose;'* and, beginning where the preceding one ends,
comes down, with the same kind of knightly adventures,
to the Saviour's death and ascension. The Third, which
is promised under the name of " The Flower of the Rose,"
never appeared, nor is it now easy to understand where
consistent materials could have been found for its com-
position ; the Bible having been nearly exhausted in the
two former parts. But we have enough without it
Its chief allegory, from the nature of its subject, relates
to the Saviour, and fills seventy-four out of the one hundred
and one " Leaves," or chapters, that constitute the Second
Part Christ is represented in it as the Knight of the
Lion ; his twelve Apostles as the twelve Knights of his
Round Table; John the Baptist as the Knight of the
Desert ; and Lucifer as the Knight of the Serpent ; — the
^ Who this Hierdnimo dc San Pe- to him is not attributed the " Cabal-
dro was is a curious question. The leria Celestial ;" nor does any other
Privile^o declares he was a Valen- Hierdnimo de San Pedro occur in
cian, aliye in 1554 ; and in the Bibli- these collections of lives, or in Ni-
othecas of Ximcno and Fuster, under colas Antonio, or elsewhere that I
the year 1560, we have GenSnimo have noted. Are they, nevertheless,
Sempere given as the name of the one and the same person, the name of
well-known author of the *' Carolea," the poet being sometimes written
a long poem printed in that year. But Sentperc, Senct Pere, etc ?
Chap. XII. THE CELESTIAL CHIVALRY. 225
main history being a warfare between the Knight of the
Lion and the Knight of the Serpent It begins at the
manger of Bethlehem, and ends on Mount Calvary,
involving in its progress almost every detail of the Gospel
history, and often using the very words of Scripture.
Every thing, however, is forced into the forms of a strange
and revolting allegory. Thus, for the temptation, the
Saviour wears the shield of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah,
and rides on the steed of Penitence, given to him by
Adam. He then takes leave of his mother, the daughter
of the Celestial Emperor, like a youthful knight going
out to his first passage at arms, and proceeds to the waste
and desert country, where he is sure to find adventures.
On his approach, the Knight of the Desert prepares
himself to do battle; but, perceiving who it is, humbles
himself before his coming prince and master. The
baptism of course follows ; that is, the Knight of the Lion
is received into the order of the Knighthood of Baptism,
in the presence of an old man, who turns out to be the
Anagogic Master, or the Interpreter of all Mysteries,
and two women, one young and the other old. All
three of them enter directly into a spirited discussion
concerning the nature of the rite they have just witnessed.
The old man speaks at large, and explains it as a heavenly
allegory. The old woman, who proves to be Sinagoga,
or the representation of Judaism, prefers the ancient
ordinance provided by Abraham, and authorized, as she
says, by "that celebrated Doctor, Moses,** rather than
this new rite of baptism. The younger woman replies,
and defends the new institution. She is the Church
Militant; and the Knight of the Desert deciding the
point in her favour, Sinagoga goes off full of anger, ending
thus the first part of the action.
The great Anagogic Master, according to an under-
standing previously had with the Church Militant, now
follows the Knight of the Lion to the desert, and there ex-
VOL. I. Q
226 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATUBE. PehiodI.
plains to him the true mystery and efficacy of Christian
baptism. After this preparation, the Knight enters oh
his first adventure and battle with the Knight of the
Serpent, which, in all its details, is represented as a duel,
— one of the parties coming into the lists accompanied by
Abel, Moses, and David, and the other by Cain, Groliath,
and Haman. Each of the speeches recorded in the Evan-
gelists is here made an arrow-shot or a sword-thrust ; the
scene on the pinnacle of the temple, and the promises
made there, are brought in as far as their incongruous
nature will permit; and then the whole of this part of the
long romance is abruptly ended by the precipitate and
disgraceful flight of the Knight of the Serpent
This scene of the temptation, strange as it now seems
to us, is, nevertheless, not an unfavourable specimen of
the entire fiction. The allegory is almost everywhere quite
as awkward and unmanageable as it is here, and often
leads to equally painfiil and disgusting absurdities. On
the other hand, we have occasionally proois of an imagina-
tion that is not ungraceful ; just as the formal and extra-
vagant style in which it is written now and then gives
token that its author was not insensible to the resources of
a language he, in general, so much abuses. ^^
There is, no doubt, a wide space between such a fiction
as this of the Celestial Chivalry and the comparatively
simple and direct story of the Amadis de Gaula; and
when we recollect that only half a century elapsed between
the dates of these romances in Spain, ^* we shall be struck
with the fact that this space was very quickly passed over,
and that all the varieties of the romances of chivalry are
crowded into a comparatively short period of time. But
we must not forget that the success of these fictions, thus
" It is prohibited in the Index £z- Spanish version as the period of the
purgatorius, Madrid, 1667, folio, p. first success of the Amadis in Spain,
863. and not the date of the Portuguese
" I take, as in fairness I ought, the original ; the difference being ammt a
date of the appearance of Montalro's century.
Chap. XII. ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY. 227
suddenly obtained, is spread afterwards over a much longer
period. The earliest of them were familiarly known in
Spain during the fifteenth century, the sixteenth is thronged
with them, and, far into the seventeenth, they were still
much read ; so that their influence over the Spanish cha-
racter extends through quite two hundred years. Their
number, too, during the latter part of the time when they
prevailed, was large. It exceeded seventy, nearly all of
them in folio ; each oft^en in more than one volume, and still
oftener repeated in successive editions; — circumstances
which, at a period when books were comparatively rare and
not frequently reprinted, show that their popularity must
have been widely spread, as well as long continued.
This might, perhaps, have been, in some degree, ex-
pected in a country where the institutions and feelings of
chivalry had struck such firm root as they had in Spain.
For Spain, when the romances of chivalry first appeared,
had long been peculiarly the land of knighthood. The
Moorish wars, which had made every gentleman a soldier,
necessarily tended to this result ; and so did the free spirit
of the communities, led on, as they were, during the next
period, by barons, who long continued almost as independ-
ent in their castles as the king was on his throne. Such a
state of things, in fact, is to be recognised as far back as
the thirteenth century, when the Partidas, by the most
minute and painstaking legislation, provided for a con-
dition of society not easily to be distinguished from that
set forth in the Amadis or the Palmerin. ^* The poem
and history of the Cid bear witness yet earlier, indirectly
indeed, but very strongly, to a similar state of the country ;
and so do many of the old ballads and other records of
the national feelings and traditions that had come from the
fourteenth century.
*' See the very curious laws that most minute regulations ; such as how
constitute the twenty-first Title of the a knight should be washed and
second of the Partidas, containing the dressed, etc.
q2
228 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Pemod 1.
But in the fifteenth, the chronicles are full of it, and
exhibit it in forms the most grave and imposing. Dan-
gerous tournaments, in some of which the chief men of the
time, and even the kings themselves, took part, occur con-
stantly, and are recorded among the important events of
the age. '* At the passage of arms near Orbigo, in the
reign of John the Second, eighty knights, as we have seen,
were found ready to risk their lives for as fantastic a fiction
of gallantry as is recorded in any of the romances of chi-
valry ; a folly of which this was by no means the only
instance. ^* Nor did they confine their extravagances to
their own country. In the same reign, two Spanish
knights went as far as Burgundy, professedly in search of
adventures, which they strangely mingled with a pilgrim-
age to Jerusalem ; seeming to regard both as religious
exercises. ^* And as late as the time of Ferdinand and
Isabella, Fernando del Pulgar, their wise secretary, gives
us the names of several distinguished noblemen personally
known to himself who had gone into foreign countries,
" in order,*' as he says, "to try the fortune of arms with
any cavalier that might be pleased to adventure it with
them, and so gain honour for themselves, and the fame of
valiant and bold knights for the gentlemen of Castile.*' "
A state of society like this was the natural result of the
extraordinary development which the institutions of chi-
valry had then received in Spain. Some of it was suited
^* I should think there arc accounts Valladolid, by Rui Diaz de Mendoza,
of twenty or thirty such tournaments on occasion of the marriage of Prince
in the Chronicle of John II. There Henry, in 1440, but which was stop-
are many, also, in that of Alvaro de ped by the royal order, in consequence
Luna ; and so there are in all the con- of the serious nature of its results,
temporary histories of Spain during Chrdnica de Juan el IF, Ann. 1440,
the fifteenth century. In the year c. 16.
1428, alone, four are recorded; two ** Ibid., Ann. 1435, c. 3.
of which involved loss of life, and all *^ Claros Varones de CastiUa, Tftu-
of which were held under the royal lo XVII. He boasts, at the same
auspices. time, that more Spanish kniehts went
'^ See the account of the Passo abroad to seek adventures than there
Honroso already given, to which add were foreign knights who came to
the accounts in the Chronicle of John Castile and Leon ; a fact pertinent to
II. of one which was attempted in this point.
Chap. XII. KNIGHT-EKRANTRY. 229
to the age, and salutary ; the rest was knight-errantry,
and knight-errantry in its wildest extravagance. When,
however, the imaginations of men were so excited as to
tolerate and maintain, in their daily life, such manners and
institutions as these, they would not fail to enjoy the
boldest and most free representations of a corresponding
state of society in works of romantic fiction. But they
went farther. Extravagant and even impossible as are
many of the adventures recorded in the books of chivalry,
they still seemed so little to exceed the absurdities fire-
quently witnessed or told of known and living men, that
many persons took the romances themselves to be true his-
tories, and believed them. Thus, Mexia, the trustworthy
historiographer of Charles the Fifth, says, in 1545, when
speaking of "the Amadises, Lisuartes, and Clarions," that
*' their authors do waste their time and weary their facul-
ties in writing such books, which are read by all and be-
lieved by many. For," he goes on, " there be men who
Ihink all these things really happened, just as they read
or hear them, though the greater part of the things them-
selves are sinful, profane, and unbecoming." ^® And Cas-
tillo, another chronicler, tells us gravely, in 1587, that
Philip the Second, when he married Mary of England,
only forty years earlier, promised that, if King Arthur
should return to claim the throne, he would peaceably
yield to that prince all his rights ; thus implying, at least
in Castillo himself, and probably in many of his readers,
a full faith in the stories of Arthur and his Round
Table. ^^
Such credulity, it is true, now seems impossible, even
if we suppose it was confined to a moderate number of
intelligent persons; and hardly less so, when, as in the
admirable sketch of an easy faith in the stories of chivalry
** Historia Imperial, Anvere, 1661, " Pellicer, note to Don Quixote,
folio, flF. 123, 124. The first edition Parte I. c. 13.
was of 1545.
230 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbuod I.
by the innkeeper and Maritornes in Don Quixote, we are
shown that it extended to the mass of the people. ^ But
before we refuse our assent to the statements of such
faithful chroniclers as Mexia, on the * ground that what
they relate is impossible, we should recollect that, in the
age when they lived, men were in the habit of believing
and asserting every day things no less incredible than
those recited in the old romances. The Spanish Church
then countenanced a trust in miracles, as of constant
recurrence, which required of those who believed them
more credulity than the fictions of chivalry ; and yet how
few were found wanting in faith ! And how few doubted
the tales that had come down to them of the impossible
achievements of their fathers during the seven centuries
of their warfare against the Moors, or the glorious tra-
ditions of all sorts, that still constitute the charm of their
brave old chronicles, though we now see at a glance that
many of them are as fabulous as anything told of Palnierin
or Launcelot !
But whatever we may think of this belief in the
romances of chivalry, there is no question that in Spain,
during the sixteenth century, there prevailed a passion for
them such as was never known elsewhere. The proof of
it comes to us from all sides. The poetry of the country
is full of it, from the romantic ballads that still live in
the memory of the people, up to the old plays that have
ceased to be acted and the old epics that have ceased to
be read. The national manners and the national dress,
more peculiar and picturesque than in other countries,
long bore its sure impress. The old laws, too, speak no
less plainly. Indeed, the passion for such fictions was so
strong, and seemed so dangerous, that in 1553 they were
prohibited from being printed, sold, or read in the Ame-
rican colonies ; and in 1 555 the Cortes earnestly asked
«" Parte I. c. 32.
CBAP. Xn. PASSION FOR ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY.
231
that the same prohibition might be extended to Spain
itself and that all the extant copies of romances of
chivalry might be publicly burned. *^ And finally, half a
century later, the happiest work of the greatest genius
Spain has produced bears witness on every page to the
prevalence of an absolute fanaticism for books of chivalry,
and becomes at once the seal of their vast popularity and
the monument of their fate.
'* The abdication of the emperor
happened the same year, and pre-
vented this and other petitions of the
Cortes from beinjr acted upon. For
the laws here referred to, and other
proofs of the prevalence and influence
of the romances of chivalry down to
the time of the appcanmce of Don
Quixote, see Clemencin's Pre&ce to
hb edition of that work.
232 BISTORT OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pwod I.
CHAPTEK XIII.
Fourth Class. — Drama. — Extivctiov of the Greek and Roman Thea-
tres.—Religious Origin of the Modern Drama. — Earliest Notice
OF it in Spain. — Hints of it in the Fifteenth Century. — Marquis of
ViLLENA. — Constable de Luna. — Mingo Revulgo. — Robrioo Cota.—
The Celestina. — First Act. — ^The Remainder. — It« Stort, Cha-
racter, AND Effects on Spanish Literature.
The Drama. — The ancient theatre of the Greeks and
Romans was continued under some of its grosser and more
popular forms at Constantinople, in Italy, and in many
other parts of the falling and fallen empire, far into the
Middle Ages. But, under whatever disguise it appeared,
it was essentially heathenish ; for, from first to last, it was
mythological, both in tone and in substance. As such,
of course, it was rebuked and opposed by the Christian
Church, which, favoured by the confusion and ignorance
of the times, succeeded in overthrowing it, though not
without a long contest, and not until its degradation and
impurity had rendered it worthy of its fate and of the
anathemas pronounced against it by Tertullian and Saint
Augustin. *
A love for theatrical exhibitions, however, survived the
extinction of these poor remains of the classical drama;
and the priesthood, careful neither to make itself need-
lessly odious, nor to neglect any suitable method of in-
creasing its own influence, seems early to have been
willing to provide a substitute for the popular amusement
* A Spanish Bishop of Barcelona, sions to heathen mythology to be acted
in the seventh century, was deposed in his diocese. Mariana, Hist., Lib.
for merely permitting plays with allu- VI. c. 3.
Chap. XIII. RELIGIOUS ORIGIN OF THE MODERN DRAMA. 233
it had destroyed. At any rate a substitute soon appeared ;
and, coming as it did out of the ceremonies and com-
memorations of the religion of the times, its appearance
was natural and easy. The greater festivals of the Church
had for centuries been celebrated with whatever of pomp
the rude luxury of ages so troubled could afford, and they
now everywhere, from London to Rome, added a dramatic
element to their former attractions. Thus, the manger
at Bethlehem, with the worship of the shepherds and
Magi, was, at a very early period, solemnly exhibited
every year by a visible show before the altars of the
churches at Christmas, as were the tragical events of the
last days of the Saviour's life during Lent and at the
approach of Easter.
Gross abuses, dishonouring alike the priesthood and
religion, were, no doubt, afterwards mingled with these
representations, both while they were given in dumb show,
and when, by the addition of dialogue, they became what
were called Mysteries ; but in many parts of Europe the
representations themselves, down to a comparatively late
period, were found so well suited to the spirit of the times,
that different Popes granted especial indulgences to the
persons who frequented them, and they were in fact used
openly and successfully, not only as means of amusement,
but for the religious edification of an ignorant multitude.
In England such shows prevailed for above four hundred
years — a longer period than can be assigned to the English
national drama as we now recognise it ; while in Italy and
other countries still under the influence of the See of Rome,
they have, in some of their forms, been continued, for the
edification and amusement of the populace, quite down to
our own times. *
• On^ime le Roy, Etudes sur les Vol. I. p. 159. Spence's Anecdotes,
Myst^res, Paris, 1837, 8vo., Chap. I. ed. Singer, London, 1820, 8vo., p.
De la Rue, Essai sur les Bardes, les 397. The exhibition still annually
Jongleurs, etc., Caen, 1834, 8vo., made, in the church of Ara CobH, on
234 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Psuod I.
That all traces of the ancient Roman theatre, except the
architectural remains which still bear witness to its splen-
dour, * disappeared from Spain in consequence of the
occupation of the country by the Arabs, whose national
spirit rejected the drama altogether, cannot be reasonably
doubted. But the time when the more moderu repre-
sentations were begun on religious subjects, and under
ecclesiastical patronage, can no longer be determined. It
must, however, have been very early ; for in the middle
of the thirteenth century such performances were not only
known, but had been so long practised, that they had
already taken various forms, and become disgraced by va-
rious abuses. This is apparent from the code of Alfonso
the Tenth, which was prepared about 1260; and in which,
after forbidding the clergy certain gross indulgences, the
law goes on to say : ^' Neither ought they to be makers of
buffoon plays, ^ that people may come to see them; and if
other men make them, clergymen should not come to see
them, for such men do many things low and unsuitable.
Nor, moreover, should such things be done in the
churches; but rather we say that they should be cast
out in dishonour, without punishment to those engaged
in them. For the church of God was made for prayer,
and not for buffoonery ; as our Lord Jesus Christ declared
in the Gospel, that his house was called the House of
Prayer, and ought not to be made a den of thieves. But
exhibitions there be, that clergymen may make, such as
that of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, which shows
how the angel came to the shepherds, and how he told
the Capitol at Rome, of the manner tinez de la Rosa, who is a good au-
and the scene of the Nativity, is, hke thority, and who considers it to mean
many similar exhibitions elsewhere, of short satirical compositions, from
the same class. which arose, perhaps, afterwards, ^n-
" Remains of Roman theatres are tremeses and Sayneies, (Isabel de
found at Seville (Triana), Tarragona, Sol/s, Madrid, 1837, 12mo., Tom. I.
Murviedro (Saguntum), Merida, etc. p. 225, note 13.) Escamido, in Don
* Juegos par Escamio 18 the ythnse Quixote, (Parte II. c. xxi..) is used
in the original. It is obscure; but I in the sen^o of *' trifled with.**
have followed the intimation of Mar-
Chap. XIII. ORIGIN OF THE SPANISH DRAMA. 235
them Jesus Christ was bom, and, moreover, of his ap-
pearance when the Three Kings came to worship him, and
of his resurrection, which shows how he was crucified and
rose the third day. Such things as these, which move
men to do well, may the clergy make, as well as to the end
that men may have in remembrance that such things did
truly happen. But this must they do decently, and in
devotion, and in the great cities where there is an arch-
bishop or bishop, and under their authority, or that of
others by them deputed, and not in villages, nor in small
places, nor to gain money thereby." *
But though these earliest religious representations in
Spain, whether pantomimic or in dialogue, were thus given,
not only by churchmen, but by others, certainly before the
middle of the thirteenth century, and probably much
sooner, and though they were continued for several cen-
turies afterwards, still no fragment of them and no distinct
account of them now remain to us. Nor is anything
properly dramatic found even amongst the secular poetry
of Spain till the latter part of the fifteenth century, though
it may have existed somewhat earlier, as we may infer
from a passage in the Marquis of Santillana's letter to the
Constable of Portugal ; * from the notice of a moral play
by the Marquis of Yillena, now lost, which is said to have
been represented in 1414, before Ferdinand of Aragon;'
and from the hint left by the picturesque chronicler of the
Constable de Luna concerning the Entremeses^ ® or Inter-
^Partidal. Ta.VI. Le7 34,ed.dc says, (Anales, Libra XII., ASo
la Acadcniia. I4I^») that, at the coronation of Fer-
* He says that his grandfather, Pe- dinand, there were ^' gnuidcs juegos
dro Gonzalez de Mendoza, who lived y entremtsesy Otherwise we must
in the time of Peter the Cruel, wrote suppose there were several different
scenic poems in the manner of Plau- dramatic entertainments, which is pos-
tus and Terence, in couplets like sible, but not probable.
Scrranas. Sanchez, Poesias Ante- " ^* He had a great deal of inven-
riores, Tom. I. p. lix. tive faculty, and was much given to
^ Velasquez, Orfgenes de la Pocs(a making inventions and entremesea for
Castellana, Mdlaga, 1764, 4to., p. 95. fostivfiUs," etc. (Crdnica del Condcs-
I think it not unlikely that Zurita re- table Don Alvaro dc Luna, ed. Flores,
fers to this play of Villcna, when he Madrid, 1784, 4to., Tftulo 68.) It \%
236
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATCJBE.
Pkuod I.
ludes, which were sometimes arranged by that * proud
favourite a little later in the same century. These indi-
cations, however, are very slight and uncertain. '
A nearer approach to the spirit of the drama, and par-
ticularly to the form which the secular drama first took in
Spain, is to be found in the curious dialogue called t^ The
Couplets of Mingo Revulgo;" a satire thrown mto the
shape of an eclogue, and given in the free and spirited
language of the lower classes of the people, on the deplo-
rable state of public affairs, as they existed in the latter
part of the weak reign of Henry the Fourth. It seems to
have been written about the year 1472.*° The interlo-
not to be supposed that these were
like the gay tarces that have since
passed under the same name, but there
can be little doubt that they were
poetical and were exhibited. The
Constable was beheaded in 1453.
' I am not unaware that attempts
have been made to give the Spanish
theatre a different origin from tne one
I have assigned to it. 1. The mar-
riage of Dona Endrina and Don Melon
has been cited for this purpose in the
French translation of ** Celestina " by
Dc Lavigne (Paris, 12mo., 1841, pp.
v., vi.) But their adventures, taken
from Pamphylus Maurianus, already
noticed, (p. 75,) constitute, in fact, a
mere story arranged about 1335, by
the Archpriest of Ilita, out of an old
Latin dialogue, (Sanchez, Tom. IV.,
stanz. 550-865,) but differing in no-
thing important from the other tales
of the Archpriest, and quite insuscep-
tible of dramatic representation. (See
Preface of Sanchez to the same
volume, pp. xxiii., etc.) 2. The
** Dan^a General de la Muerte," al-
ready noticed as written about 1350,
(Castro, Bibliotcca flspanola, Tom. I.
pp. 200, etc.,) has been cited by L.
r; Moratin (Obras, ed. de la Aca-
demia, Madrid, 1830, 8vo., Tom. I.
g. 112^ as the earliest specimen of
panisn dramatic literature. But it
is unquestionably not a drama, but a
didactic poem, which it would have
been quite absurd to attempt to exhi-
bit 8. The ** Comedieta de Ponza,"
on the great naval battle fought near
the island of Ponza, in 1435, and writ-
ten by the Marquis of Santillana, who
died m 1454, has been referred to as a
drama by Martinez de la Rosa, (Obras
Literarias, Paris, 1827, 12mo., Tom.
II. pp. 518, etc.,) who assifirns it to
about 1436. But it is, in truth,
merely an allegorical poem thrown into
the form of a dialogue and written in
coplas de arte mayor, I shall notice
it hereafter. And finally, 4. Bias de
Nasarre, in his Prdlogo to the plays
of Cervantes, (Madrid, 1749, 4to.,
Vol. I.,) says there was a comedia
acted before Ferdinand .and Isabella
in 1469, at the house of the Count
de Ureiia, in honour of their wedding.
But we have only Bias de Nasarre "s
dictum for this, and he is not a good
authority : besides which, he adds
that the author of the comedia in
question was John de la Enzina, who,
we know, was not bom earlier than
the year before the event referred to.
The moment of the somewhat secret
marriage of these illustrious persons
was, moreover, so fiill of anxiety, that
it is not at all likely any show or
mumming accompanied it See Pres-
cott's Ferdinand and Isabella, Part I.
c. 3.
" " Coplas de Mingo Revulgo,"
oflen printed, in the fifteenth and six-
teenth centuries, with the beautiful
Coplas of Manrique. The editions
Chap. XIII. MINGO REVULGO. 237
cutors are two shepherds; one of whom, called Mingo
Revulgo, — a name corrupted from Domingo Vulgus, —
represents the common people ; and the other, called Gil
Arribato, or Gil the Elevated, represents the higher classes,
and speaks with the authority of a prophet, who, while
. complaining of the ruinous condition of the state, yet lays
no small portion of the blame on the common people, for
having, as he says, by their weakness and guilt, brought
upon themselves so dissolute and careless a shepherd. It
opens with the shouts of Arribato, who sees Bevulgo at a
distance, on a Sunday morning, ill dressed and with a dispi-
rited air : —
HollO) Revulgo ! Mingo, ho !
Mingo Revulgo I Ho, hollo !
Why, where 's your cloak of blue so bright ?
Is it not Sunday's proper wear ?
And where 's your jacket red and tight ?
And such a brow why do you bear,
And come abroad, this dawning mild,
With all your hair in elf-locks wild ?
Pray, are you broken down with care ? "
Revulgo replies, that the state of the flock, governed by so
unfit a shepherd, is the cause of his squalid condition ; and
then, under this allegory, they urge a coarse, but efficient,
satire against the measures of the government, against the
base, cowardly character of the king and his scandalous
passion for his Portuguese mistress, and against the
ruinous carelessness and indifference of the people,
ending with praises of the contentment found in a middle
condition of life. The whole dialogue consists of only
thirty-two stanzas of nine lines each; but it produced
a great effect at the time, was often printed in the
I use are those of 1 588, 1682, and the ^u^l^J^S^D^i^?
one at the end of the ** CnSnica de Qne«d^tujabonbermSo?
Enrique IV.," (Madrid, 1787, 4tO., Por que tna« tal iobwefsJo ?
ed. de la Acadcmia,) with the com- ia'tbSl^dS^lJSSJ:
inentary of Pulgar. No te llotrMde buen rajo ?
II A Minjjo Rerulgo, Mingo 1 ^P** ^•
A Ninfo Rerulgo, haol
238 HISTORY OF SPANISH LTRRATUSE. PnoD I.
next centory, and was twice elucidated by a grave com-
mentary. "
Its andior wisely concealed his name, and has never
been absolutely ascertained. ^' The earlier editions gene-
rally suppose him to have he&n Bodrigo C(^ Uie elder,
of Toledo, to whom also is attributed **A Dialogue
between Love and an Old Man,** whidi dates from the
same period, and is no less spirited and even more dra-
matic. It opens with a representation of an old man
retired into a poor hut, which stands in the midst of a
neglected and decayed garden. Suddenly Love appears
before him, and he exclaims, "My door is shut; what
do you want? Where did you enter? Tell me how,
robber-like, you leaped the walls of my garden. Age
and reason had fre«l me from you ; leave, therefore, my
heart, retired into its poor comer, to think only of the
past." He goes on giving a sad account of his own
condition, and a still laore sad description of Love; to
which Love replies, with great coolness, " Your discourse
shows that you have not been well acquainted with me."
A discussion follows, in which Love, of course, gains the
advantage. The old man is promised that his garden
shall be restored and his youth renewed; but when he
" Veliwquez (Oiigencs, p. 62) bles of Henry IV., declares (Historia,
treats Mingo Revulffo as a satire Lib. XXIII. c. 17, Tom. it. p. 475)
against King John and his court But the Coplas to have been written by
it applies much more naturally and Hernando del Pulgar, the chromder ;
truly to the time of Henry I V., and but no reason is given for this opinion
has, indeed, generally been considered except the iact that Pulgar wrote a
as directed against that unhappy commentary on them, making their
monarch. Copla the sixth seems allegory more intelliffible than it
plainly to allude to his passion for woiSd have been likely to be made
Dona Guiomar de Castro. by any body not quite fiuniliar with
*' The Coplas of Mingo Revulgo the thoughts and purposes of the
were very early attributed to John author. See the dedication of this
dc Mena, the most famous poet of the commentary to Count Haro, with the
time (N. Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. I. PnSlogo, and Sarmi^ito, Poesfa £s-
p. 387); but, unhappily for this con- wifiola, Madrid, 1776, 4to., § 872,
jecture, Mena was of the opposite But whoever wrote Mingo Revulgo,
rarty in politics. Mariana, who found
Revulgo of consequence enough to be
mentioned when discussing the trou-
rarty in politics. Mariana, who found there is no doubt it was an importuit
Revulgo of consequence enough to be and a popular poem in its day.
Chap. XIII. LA CELESTINA. 239
has surrendered at discretion, he is only treated with the
gayest ridicule by his conqueror, for thinking that at his
age he can again make himself attractive in the ways of
love. The whole is in a light tone, and managed with a
good deal of ingenuity ; but though susceptible, like other
poetical eclogues, of being represented, it is not certain
that it ever was. It is, however, as well as the Couplets
of Revulgo, so much like the pastorals which we know
were publicly exhibited as dramas a few years later, that
we may reasonably suppose it had some influence in pre-
paring the way for them. **
The next contribution to the foundations of the Spanish
theatre is the " Celestina,** a dramatic story, contemporary
with the poems just noticed, and probably, in part, the
work of the same hands. It is a prose composition, in
twenty-one acts, or parts, originally called " The Tragi-
comedy of Calisto and MeliboBa ; " and though, from its
length, and, indeed, from its very structure, it can never
have been represented, its dramatic spirit and movement
have left traces, that are not to be mistaken, ^* of their
influence on the national drama ever since.
The first act, which is much the longest, was probably
" The " DialogO entre el Amor y Let no man shut hia door* :
un Viejo" ^irst printed, I be- iJ^JTd'Jrgri^r'
here, in the " Cancionero General
of 1611, but it is found with the „ Tk«„ .~. ^n^ -«*«- :_ tu ;
CoplM de Manrique, 1688 and 1682. . ^hey are called «rfo« m the on-
See, also, N. Attlnio, Bib. Nov., f^"^' ^*^ »«>*«'«* T*Tk'k
Tom. II. pp. 263, 264, for notices of f.^Pf^ ,T* •° * ^ o^.^^^cb
Cota. The fact of thi^ old Dialogue t^« <r«'«?f °» .« «»np««?l ! »•»«> U
having an effect on the coming dnSna o<=«^«>nf«y mmgles up, m the mort
may L inferred, not only from the confiised manner, and m the «»»e act,
obvious resemblakcebetwwn the two, conversations that necessarily hap-
but from a passage in Juan de la pened at the «om« moment m </#r«rf
Enzina's EcloVue&ginning « Vamo- f^'- ^hus, in the fourteenUi art,
nos, Gil, al aldea," which plainly *" »»'« «??«'n«t'0'"^eWp»rU;- be-
alludes to' the opening of Cota^s DiZ ^1%° S"'1JS^„ ^a'T^irw
logue, and, indeed, to the whole of it. ?^L^*^,^i?.*?f*!2' "^ ^I ±
TEe ^ssa^ in En'zina is the conclud- t'^" ^','^* *, '^'^*^ J'^^J^
ir-n • I.* L u * outside 01 it I Ell cnven as a consecu-
ing Vjlan^, which begins,- ^j^^ ^^^^ ^-^^ ^^^ ^j
Qoe no le ha aproTechar.
240 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbbiod I.
written by Rodrigo Cota, of Toledo, and in that ease we
may safely assume that it was produced about 1480. " It
opens in the environs of a city, which is not named, ^' with
a scene between Calisto, a young man of rank, and Meli-
bcea, a maiden of birth and qualities still more noble than
his own. He finds her in her father s garden, where he
had accidentally followed his bird in hawking, and she
receives him as a Spanish lady of condition in that age
would be likely to receive a stranger who begins his
acquaintance by making love to her. The result is, that
the presumptuous young man goes home full of mortifi-
cation and despair, and shuts himself up in his darkened
chamber. Sempronio, a confidential servant, understand-
ing the cause of his master s trouble, advises him to apply
to an old woman, with whom the unprincipled valet is
secretly in league, and who is half a pretender to witch-
craft and half a dealer in love philters. This personage
is Celestina. Her character, the first hint of which may
** Rojas, the author of all but the was written, we must bring it into
first act of the Celestina, says, in a the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella,
prefatory letter to a friend, that the before which we cannot find sufficient
nrst act was supposed by some to have ground for believing such Spanish
been the work of Juan de Mena, and prose to have been possible. It is
by others to have been the work of curious, however, that, from one and
Rodrigo Cota. The absurdity of the the same passage in the third act of
first conjecture was noticed long ago the Celestina, Blanco White (Varie-
by Nicolas Antonio, and has been dades, London, 1824, 8vo., Tom. I.
admitted ever since, while, on the p. 226) supposes Rojas to have writ-
other hand, what we have of Cota ten his part of it before the fiill of
falls in quite well with the conjecture Granada, and (xcrmond de Lavigne
that he wrote it; besides which, (Celestine, p. 63) supposes him to
Alonso de Villegas, in the verses pre- have written it either afterwards, or
fixed to his ** Selvagia,*' 1554, to be at the very time when the last aege
noticed hereafter, says expressly, was going on. But Blanco White s
** Though he was poor and of low inference seems to be the true one,
estate, (pobre y de haxo lugar,) we and would place both parts of it before
know that Cota's skill (ciencid) en- 1490. If to this we add the allusions
abled him to begin the great Celes- (Acts 4 and 7) to the ctutos dafe and
tina, and that Rojas finished it with an their arrangements, we must place it
ambrosial air that can never be enough after 1480, when the Inquiation was
valued;'' — a testimony heretofore first established. But this is doubtful,
overlooked, but one which, under the *^ Blanco White gives ingenioua
circumstances of the case, seems suf- reasons for supposing that Seville is
ficient to decide the question. the city refcrreo to. He himself was
As to the time when the Celestina l)orn there, and could judge well.
Chap. XIII. LA CELE8TINA. 241
have been taken from the Archpriest of Hita's sketch of
one with not dissimilar pretensions, is at once revealed in
all its power. She boldly promises Calisto that he shall
obtain possession of MelibcBa, and from that moment
secures to herself a complete control over him, and over
all who are about him. ^®
Thus far Cota had proceeded in his out] me, when,
from some unknown reason, he stopped short. The
fragment he had written was, however, circulated and
admired, and Fernando de Bojas of Montalvan, a bachelor
of laws living at Salamanca, took it up, at the request of
some of his friends, and, as he himself tells us, wrote the
remainder in a fortnight of his vacations ; the twenty acts
or scenes which he added for this purpose constituting
about seven eighths of the whole composition.^* That
the conclusion he thus arranged was such as the original
inventor of the story intended is not to be imagined.
Bojas was even uncertain who this first author was, and
evidently knew nothing about his plans or purposes;
besides which, he says, the portion that came into his
hands was a comedy, while the remainder is so violent
and bloody in its course, that he calls his completed work
a tragicomedy; a name which it has generally borne
since, and which he perhaps invented to suit this particular
case. One circumstance, however, connected with it
should not be overlooked : it is, that the difierent portions
attributed to the two authors are so similar in style* and
finish, as to have led to the conjecture, that, after all,
" The Trota-Conventos of Juan un su Amigo ;" and he declares his
RuiZ) the Archpriest of Hita, has own name and authorship in an acros-
already been noticed , and certainly tic, called ** £1 Autor excusando su
is not without a resemblance to the Obra," which immediately follows the
Celestina. Besides, in the Second epistle, and the initial letters of which
Act of ** Calisto y Melibcea," Celcs- bring out the following words : " EI
tina herself is once expressly called Bachiller Fernando de Rojas acabd la
Trota-Conventos. comcdia de Calysto y Meliboea, y fue
^' Rojas states these facts in his nascidoen la puebla de Montalvan."
prefatory anonymous letter, already Ofcourse, if we believe Roias himself,
mentioned, and entitled ** £1 Autor i. there can be no doubt on this point.
VOL. I. R
242 HISTORY OF SPANISH LrTERATURE. PnioD I.
the whole might have been the work of Bojas, who, for
reasons, perhaps, arising out of his ecclesiastical position
in society, was unwilling to take the responsibility of
being the sole author of it ^
But this is not the account given by Rojas himself.
He says that he found the first act already written ; and
he begins the second with the impatience of Calisto,
in ui^ng Celestina to obtain access to the high-bom and
high-bred Meliboea. The low and vulgar woman succeedsi
by presenting herself at the house of Meliboea's &ther
with lady-like trifles to sell, and, having once obtained an
entrance, easily finds the means of establishing her right
to return. Intrigues of the grossest kind amongst the
servants and subordinates follow; and the machinations
and contrivances of the mover of the whole mischief
advance through the midst of them with great rapidity, —
all managed by herself, and all contributing to her power
and purposes. Nothing, indeed, seems to be beyond the
reach of her unprincipled activity and talent. She talks
like a saint or a philosopher, as it suits her purpose. She
flatters; she threatens; she overawes; her unscrupulous
ingenuity is never at fault; her main object is never
forgotten or overlooked.
Meantime, the unhappy MelibcBa, urged by whatever
insinuation and seduction can suggest, is made to con-
fess her love for Calisto. From this moment her fate
is sealed. Calisto visits her secretly in the night, after
the fashion of the old Spanish gallants; and tiben the
conspiracy hurries onward to its consummation. At the
*^ Blanco White, in a criticism on though he treats them as the work of
the Celestina, (Variedades, Tom. I. difierent writers. But the acute au-
pp. 224, 296,) expresses this opinion, thor of the ** Didlogo de las Lenguas "
which is also found in the • Preface (Mayans j Siscar, Orfgenes, Madrid*
to M. Germond de Lavigne's French 1737, 12mo., Tom. IL p. 166) is of
translation of the Celestina. L. F. a different opinion, and so is Lam-
Moratin, too, (Obras, Tom. I. Parte pillas, Ensayo, Madrid, 1789, 4to.,
I. p. 88,) thinks there is no differ- Tom. VI. p. 64.
ence in style between the two parts,
CHiLP. XIII. LA CELESTINA. 243
same time, however, the retribution begins. The persons
who had assisted Calisto to bring about his first interview
with her quarrel for the reward he had given them ; and
Celestina, at the moment of her triumph, is murdered by
her own base agents and associates, two of whom, attempt-
ing to escape, are in their turn summarily put to death
by the officers of justice. Great confusion ensues. Calisto
is regarded as the indirect cause of Celestina's death, since
she perished in his service ; and some of those who had
been dependent upon her are roused to such indignation,
that they track him to the place of his assignation, seeking
for revenge. There they fall into a quarrel ,with the
servants he had posted in the streets for his protection.
He hastens to the rescue, is precipitated from a ladder,
and is killed on the spot. Meliboea confesses her guilt
and shame, and throws herself headlong from a high
tower; immediately upon which the whole melancholy
and atrocious story ends with the lament of the broken-
hearted father over her dead body.
As has been intimated, the Celestina is rather a dra-
matized romance than a proper drama, or even a well-
considered attempt to produce a strictly dramatic effect
Such as it is, however, Europe can show nothing on its
theatres, at the same period, of equal literary merit It
is full of life and movement throughout Its characters,
from Celestina down to her insolent and lying valets, and
her brutal female associates, are developed with a skill
and truth rarely found in the best periods of the Spanish
drama. Its style is easy and pure, sometimes brilliant,
and always full of the idiomatic resources of the old and
true Castilian; such a style, unquestionably, as had not
yet been approached in Spanish prose, and was not oflen
reached afterwards. Occasionally, indeed, we are offended
by an idle and cold display of learning; but, like the
gross manners of the piece, this poor vanity is a fault that
belonged to the age.
r2
244 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period F.
The great offence of the Celestina, however, is, that
large portions of it are foul with a shameless libertinism
of thought and language. Why the authority of Church
and State did not at once interfere to prevent its circu-
lation seems now hardly intelligible. Probably it was, in
part, because the Celestina claimed to be written for the
purpose of warning the young against the seductions and
crimes it so loosely unveils ; or, in other words, because it
claimed to be a book whose tendency was good. Cer-
tainly, strange as the fact may now seem to us, many so
received it. It was dedicated to reverend ecclesiastics,
and to ladies of rank and modesty in Spain and out of it,
and seems to have been read generally, and perhaps by
the wise, the gentle, and the good, without a blush.
When, therefore, those who had the power were called
to exercise it, they shrank from the task; only slight
changes were required; and the Celestina was then left
to run its course of popular favour unchecked. *^ In the
century that followed its first appearance from the press
in 1499, a century in which the number of readers was
comparatively very small, it is easy to enumerate above
thirty editions of the original — probably there were more.
At that time, too, or soon afterwards, it was made known
■* For a notice of the first known Index of 1806. No other book, that
edition, — that of 1499,— which is en- I know of, shows so distinctly how
titled ** Comedia," and is divided into supple and compliant the Inquisition
sixteen acts, see an article on the was, where, as in this case, it was
Celestina by F. Wolf, in Blatter fiir deemed impossible to control the pub-
Literarische Unterhaltung, 1845, Nos. lie taste. An Italian translation,
213 to 217, which leaves little to de- printed at Venice in 1625, which is
sire on the subject it so thoroughly well made, and is dedicated to a lady,
discusses. The expurgations in the is not expurgated at all. There are
editions of Acald, 1586, and Madrid, lists of tne editions of the original in
1695, are slight, and in the Plantini- L. F. Moratin, (Obras, Tom. 1. Parte
ana edition, 1596, I think there are I. p. 89,) and B. C. Aribau's ** Bib-
nonc. It is curious to observe how lioteca de Autores Espafioles,'* (Ma-
few are ordered in the Index of 1667, drid, 1846, 8vo., Tom. III. p. xii.,)
(p. 948,) and that the whole book was to which, however, additions can be
not forbidden till 1793, having been made by turning to Brunet, Ebert,
expressly permitted, with expurga- and the other bibliographers. The
tions, in the Index of 1790, and ap- best editions are those of Amarita
pearing first, as prohibited, in thp (1822) and Aribau (1846).
Ckap. XIII. IMITATIONS OF LA CELESTINA. 245
in English, in German, and in Dutch ; and, that none of
the learned at least might be beyond its reach, it appeared
in the universal Latin. Thrice it was translated into
Italian, and thrice into French. The cautious and severe
author of the "Dialogue on Languages, ** the Protestant
Valdes, gave it the highest praise. " So did Cervantes. *•
The very name of Celestina became a proverb, like the
thousand bywords and adages she herself pours out with
such wit and fluency ; ** and it is not too much to add,
that, down to the days of the Don Quixote, no Spanish
book was so much known and read at home and abroad.
Such success insured for it a long series of imitations ;
most of them yet more offensive to morals and public
decency than the Celestina itself, and all of them, as
might be anticipated, of inferior literary merit to their
model. One, called " The Second Comedia of Celestina,"
in which she is raised from the dead, was published in
1530, by Feliciano de Silva, the author of the old romance
of " Florisel de Niquea," and went through four editions.
Another, by Domingo de Castega, was sometimes added
to the successive reprints of the original work after 1534.
A third, by Gaspar Gomez de Toledo, appeared in 1537;
a fourth, ten years later, by an unknown author, called
" The Tragedy of Policiana," in twenty-nine acts ; a fifth,
in 1554, by Joan Rodrigues Florian, in forty- three scenes,
caUed " The Comedia of Florinea ;** and a sixth, " The
Selvagia,'* in five acts, also in 1554, by Alonso de Villegas.
In 1513, Pedro de Urrea, of the same family with the
translator of Ariosto, rendered the first act of the original
Celestina into good Castilian verse, dedicating it to his
mother; and in 1540, Juan Sedeno, the translator of
Tasso, performed a similar service for the whole of it
*■ Mayans y Siscar, Orfgenes, Tom. *• Verses by "El Donoso," pre-
II. p. 167. "No book in Castilian fixed to the First Part of Don Quixote,
has been written in a language ** Sebastian de Covamibias.Tesoro
more natural, appropriate, and ele- de la Lengua Castcllana, Madrid,
gant." 1674, fol., ad verb.
246
HI5T0RT OF SPANISH UTERATURE.
PsuodI.
Tales and romances followed, somewhat later, in large
numbers ; some, like " The Ingenious Helen/* and " The
Cunning Flora," not without merit; while others, like
♦* The Eufrosina," praised more than it deserves by Que-
vedo, were little regarded from the first ••
■* Puibusmie, Hist Comparde des
Litteratures Espagnole et Fran^aise,
Paris, 1848, 8vo., Tom. I. p. 478 ;—
the Essay prefixed to the French trans-
lation of Lavigne, Paris, 1841, 12mo. ;
— Montiano y Lu^ndo, Discurso so-
bre las Tragedias Espanolas, Madrid,
1750, 12mo., p. 9, mdpost, c. 21. The
**Ingeniosa Helena" (1618) and the
" Flora Malsabidilla" (1623) are by
Salas Barbadillo, and will be noticed
hercailer among the prose fictions of
the seventeenth century. The ** Eu-
frosina " is by Ferrcira de Vasconcel-
los, a Portuguese ; and why, in 1631,
it was translated into Spanish by
Ballcsteros Saavedra as if it had been
anonymous, I know not. It is often
mentioned as the work of Lobo, an-
other Portuguese, (Barbosa, Bib. Lu-
sit., Tom. ft. p. 242, and Tom. IV.
p. 148,) and Quevedo, in his Preface
to the Spanish version, seems to have
been of that opinion ; but this, too,
is not true. Lobo only prepared, in
1613, an edition of the Portuguese
orifrinal.
Of the imitations of the Celestina
mentioned in the text, two, perhaps,
deserve further notice.
The first is the one entitled ** Flori-
nea," which was printed at Medina
del Campo, in 1554, and which,
though certainly without the power
and life of the work it imitates, is
yet written in a pure and good style.
The principal personage is Marcelia,
— parcel witch, wholly shameless, —
gomg regularly to matins and vespers,
and talking religion and philosophy,
while her house and life are full of
whatever is most infamous. Some
of the scenes are as indecent as any
in the Celestina ; but the story is less
disagreeable, as it ends with an ho-
nourable love-match between Floriano
and Belisea, the hero and heroine of
the drama, and promises to give their
weddmg in a oontinuatioD, which,
however, never appeared. It is longer
than its prototype, filling 312 pages
of black letter, closely printed, in
small quarto ; abounds in proverbs ;
and contains occasional snatches of
poetry, which are not in so good taste
as the prose. Florian, i^ author,
says, that, though hia work is called
comecUa, he is to be regarded as
'* historiador cdmico,'* a dramatic nar-
rator.
The other is the " Selvagia," by
Alonso de Yillegas, published at To-
ledo in 1 554, 4to., tiie same year with
the Florinea, to which it alludes with
great admiration. Its story is inge-
nious. Flesinardo, a rich gentieman
from Mexico, falls in love with Rosi-
ana, whom he has only seen at a
window of her father's house. His
friend Selvago, who is advised of thb
circumstance, watches the same win-
dow, and falls in love with a hidy
whom he supposes to be the same that
had been seen by Flesinardo. Much
trouble naturally follows. But it is
happily discovered that the lady is not
the same ; after which — except in the
episodes of the servants, the bully,
and the inferior lovers— everything
goes on successfiilly, under the ma-
nagement of an unprincipled counter-
part of the profligate Celestina, and
ends with the marriage of the four
lovers. It is not so long as the Celes-
tina or the Florinea, filling only se-
venty-three leaves in quarto, but it is
an avowed imitation of both. Of the
genius that gives such life and move-
ment to its prindpal prototype there
is litUe trace, nor nas it an equal pu^
rity of style. But some of its decla-
mations, perhaps — though as mis-
placed as Its pedantry — are not with-
out power, and some of its dialogue
is free and natural. It claims every-
where to be very religious and moral,
Chap. XIII. IMITATIONS OF LA CRLESTINA. 247
At last it came upon the stage, for which its original
character had so nearly fitted it Cepeda, in 1582, formed
out of it one half of his " Comedia Selvage," which is
only the four first acts of the Celestina, thrown into easy
verse;** and Alfonso Vaz de Velasco, as early as 1602,
published a drama in prose, called " The Jealous Man,"
founded entirely on the Celestina, whose character, under
th^ name of Lena, is given with nearly all its original
spirit and effect. " How far either the play of Velasco
or that of Cepeda succeeded, we are not told ; but the
coarseness and indecency of both are so great, that they
can hardly have been long tolerated by the public, if they
were by the Church. The essential type of Celestina,
however, the character as originally conceived by Cota
and Eojas, was continued on the stage in such plays as
the "Celestina" of Mendoza, "The Second Celestina"
of Agustin de Salazar, and " The School of Celestina "
by Salas Barbadillo, all' produced soon after the year
1600, as well as in others that have been produced
since. Even in our own days, a drama containing so
much of her story as a modern audience will listen to
has been received with favour ; while, at the same time,
the original tragicomedy itself has been thought worthy
bat it is anything rather than either. been given in two or three different
Ot* its author there can be no doubt. ways, — Alfonso Vaz, Vazquez, Velaa-
As in everything else he imitates the quez, and Uz de Velasco. I take it
Celestina, so he imitates it in some as it stands in Antonio, Bib. Nov.
prefatory acrostic verses, from which (Tom. I. p. 52.) The shameless play
I have spelt out the following sen- itself is to be found in Ochoa^
tence : ** Alonso de Villegas Selvago edition of the ** Orfgenes del Teatro
compuso la Comedia Selvagia en ser- Espaiiol," (Paris, 1838, 8vo.) Some
yicio de su Sennora Isabel de Barrio- of the characters are well drawn ; for
nuevo, siendo de edad de veynte an- instance, that of Inocencio, which re-
nos, en Toledo, su patria ;" — a singu- minds me occasionally of the ini-
lar offering, certainly, to a lady-love. mitable Dominie Sampson. An edition
It b divided into scenes as well as of it appeared at Milan in 1602.
acts. probably preceded— as in almost all
*• L. F. Moratin, Obras, Tom. I. cases of'^Spanish books printed abroad
Parte I. p. 280, ond past. Period II., —by an edition at home, and cer-
c. 28. tainly followed by one at Barcelona
*^ The name of this author seems in 1613.
to be somewhat uncertain, and has
248
mSTOBT OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Pbeiod I.
of being reprinted at Madrid, witii various readings
to settle its text, and of being rendered anew by fresh
and vigorous translations into the French and the
German. ••
The influence, therefore, of the Celestina seems not yet
at an end, little as it deserves regard, except for its life-
like exhibition of the most unworthy forms of human
character, and its singularly pure, rich, and idiomatic
Castilian style.
** Custine, L'Espagne sous Ferdi-
naiid yil., troisi^e ^t., Paris,
1838, 8vo., Tom. I. p. 279. The
edition of Celestina witn the tbhous
readings is tiiat of Madrid, 1822,
ISmo.ybjLeonAmarita. The French
translation is the one already men-
tioned, by Gennond de I^Avigne,
(Paris, 1841, 12mo. ;) and the Ger-
man translation, which is very accu-
rate and spirited, is by Edw. Biilow,
(Leipzig, 1843, 12mo.) Traces of it
on tne English stage are found as
early as about 1580 (Collier's History
of Dram. Poetry, etc, London, 1831,
8vo., Tom. II. p. 408,) and I have a
translation of it by James liabbe,
([London, 1631, folio,) which, for its
idiomatic 'English style, desenres to
be called beautiful. Three tnmsl»-
tions of it, in the sixteenth century,
into French, and three into Italian,
which were frequentiy reprinted, be-
ndes one into Latin, alr^y aUuded
to, and one into German, may be
found noted in Brunet, Ebort, etc.
Cup. XIV. JUAN DE LA ENZINA. 249
CHAPTER XIV.
DSAMA COlTTDnilB. — JuAIT DM LA EnZIHA. — Hl8 LiPB AVB WoXXA. — HiS
Rbpbuentaciokbb, axd thbib Chabactbb. — F1B8T Sbculab Dbamas
ACTED nr SpAur. — Somb Rblioioub nr thbib Tonb, ahd bomb vot. —
Gil Vicbktb, a Pobtcgubsb. — Hi8 Spanish Dbamas. — Auto op Cab-
SAITDBA. — COMBBIA OP THB WiDOWBB. — Hl8 InPLUEXCB ON THB SPANISH
Dbama.
Thb '^ Celestina," as has been intimated, produced little
or no immediate effect on the rude beginnings of the
Spanish drama ; perhaps not so much as the dialogues of
** Mingo Revulgo,** and " Love and the Old Man,** But
the three taken together unquestionably lead us to the
true founder of the secular theatre in Spain, Juan de la
Enzina,' who was probably bom in the village whose
name he bears, in 1468 or 1469, and was educated at the
neighbouring University of Salamanca, where he had the
good fortune to enjoy the patronage of its chancellor, then
one of the rising family of Alva. Soon afterwards he was
at court ; and at the age of twenty-five we find him in the
household of Fadrique de Toledo, first Duke of Alva, to
whom and to his duchess Enzina addressed much of his
poetry. In 1496 he published the earliest edition of his
works, divided into four parts, which are successively
dedicated to Ferdinand and Isabella, to the Duke and
Duchess of Alva, to Prince John, and to Don Garcia de
Toledo, son of his patron.
Somewhat later, Enzina went to Rome, where he be-
^ He spells his name differently Encina in 1496, Enzina in 1609 and
in different editions of his works : elsewhere.
250 mSTORT OF SPANISH LITERATUBE. .PieiodL
came a priest, and, from his skill in music, rose to be head
of Leo the Tenth's chapel — the highest honour the world
then oflTered to his art. In the course of the year 1519
he made a pilgrimage from Rome to Jerusalem, with
Fadrique Afan de Ribera, Marquis of Tarifa ; and on his
return published, in 1521, a poor poetical account of his
devout adventures, accompanied with great praises of the
Marquis, and ending with an expression of his happiness
at living in Rome. * At a more advanced age, however,
having received a priory in Leon as a reward for his
services, he returned to his native country, and died, in
1534, at Salamanca, in whose cathedral his monument is
probably still to be seen. '
Of his collected works six editions at least were pub-
lished between 1496 and 1516; showing that, for the
period in which he lived, he enjoyed a remarkable degree
of popularity. They contain a good deal of pleasant
lyrical poetry, songs, and villancicoSj in the old popular
Spanish style ; and two or three descriptive poems, par-
ticularly "A Vision of the Temple of Fame and the
Glories of Castile,** in which Ferdinand and Isabella
receive great eulogy, and are treated as if they were his
' There is an edition of it (Madrid, graphy, is as free from the apirit of
1786, 12mo.) filling a hundred pages, poetry as can well be imagined,
to which is added a summary of the Nearly the whole of it, if not broken
whole in a ballad of eighteen pages, into verses, might be read as pure and
which may have been intended for dignified CastiJian prose, and parts of
popular recitation. The last is not, it would have considerable merit as
perhap, the work of Enzina. A simi- such.
lar pilerimage, partly devout, partly ■ The best life of Enzina is one in
poetical, was made a century later the ^'Allgemeine Encyclopedic der
by Pedro de Escobar Cabeza de la Wissensc£iften und Kiinste " (Erste
Vaca, who published an account of it Section, Leipzig, 4to., Tom. XXXIV.
in 1587, (12mo.,) at Valladolid, in pp. 187-189). It is by Ferdinand
twenty-five cantos of blank verse, en- Wolf, of Vienna. An early and sa-
titled ** Lucero de la Tierra Santa," tisfactory notice of Enzina is to be
— A Lighthouse for the Holy Land, found in Gonzalez de Avila, '' His-
He went and returned by me way toria de Salamanca," (Salamanca,
of Egypt, and at Jerusalem became 1606, 4to., Lib. IIL c. xxii.,) where
a knight-templar ; but his account of Enzina is called ** hijo desta patria,"
what lie saw and did, though I doubt i. e. Salamanca,
not it is curious for the history of geo-
Chap. XIV. JUAN DE LA ENZINA. 251
patrons. But most of his shorter poems were slight con-
tributions of his talent offered on particular occasions ; and
by far the most important works he has left us are the
dramatic compositions which fill the fourth division of his
Cancionero.
These compositions are called by Enzina himself
" Representaciones ;" and in the edition of 1496 there
are nine of them, while in the last two editions there are
eleven, one of which contains the date of 1498. They
are in the nature of eclogues, though one of them, it is
difficult to tell why, is called an " Auto ;" * and they were
represented before the Duke and Duchess of Alva, the
Prince Don John, the Duke of Infantado, and other dis-
tinguished personages enumerated in the notices prefixed
to them. All are in some form of the old Spanish verse ;
in all there is singing ; and in one there is a dance. They
have, therefore, several of the elements of the proper
secular Spanish drama, whose origin we can trace no far^
ther back by any authentic monument now existing.
Two things, however, should be noted, when consider-
ing these dramatic efforts of Juan de la Enzina as the
foundation of the Spanish drama. The first is their
internal structure and essential character. They are
eclogues only in form and name, not in substance and
spirit. Enzina, whose poetical account of his travels in
Palestine proves him to have had scholarlike knowledge,
began by translating, or rather paraphrasing, the ten
* ** Auto del Repelon," or Auto and the account of Lope de Vega's
of the Brawl, being a quarrel in the drama, in the next period.) In 1514
market-place of Salamanca, between Enzina published, at Rome, a drama
some students of the University and entitled " Placida y Victoriano,"
sundry shepherds. The word auto which he called una egloga^ and which
comes from the Latin actus, and was is much praised by the author of the
applied to any particularly solemn " Diilogo de las Lenguas ;" hut it
acts, however different in their nature was put into the Index Expurgato-
and character, like the autos sacra- rius, 1569, and occurs again in that
mentales of the Corpus Christi days, of 1667, p. 733. I believe no copy of
and the autos dafi of the Inouisition. it is known to be extant.
(See Covarrubias, Tcsoro, aa verb. ;
252 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pwod 1.
Eclogues of Virgil, accommodating some of them to
events in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, or to
passages in the fortunes of the house of Alva. * From
these he easily passed to the preparation of eclogues to be
represented before his patrons and their courtly friends.
But in doing this he was naturally reminded of the
religious exhibitions which had been popular in Spain
from the time of Alfonso the Tenth, and had always been
given at the great festivals of the Church. Six, therefore,
of his eclogues, to meet the demands of ancient custom,
are, in fact, dialogues of the simplest kind, represented at
Christmas and Easter, or during Carnival and Lent ; in
one of which the manger at Bethlehem is introduced, and
in another a sepulchral monument, setting forth the burial
of the Saviour, while all of them seem to have been
enacted in the chapel of the Duke of Alva, though two
certainly are not very religious in their tone and cha-
racter.
The remaining five are altogether secular; three of
them having a sort of romantic story ; the fourth intro-
ducing a shepherd so desperate with love that he kills
himself; and the fifth exhibiting a market-day farce and
riot between sundry country people and students, the ma-
terials for which Enzina may well enough have gathered
during his own life at Salamanca. These five eclogues,
therefore, connect themselves with the coming secular
drama of Spain in a manner not to be mistaken, just as
the first six look back towards the old religious exhibitions
of the country.
The other circumstance that should be noted in relation
to them, as proof that they constitute the commencement
of the Spanish secular drama, is, that they were really
acted. Nearly all of them speak in their titles of this
* They ma^ have been represented, personals some of whom are known
but I know of no proof that they were, to have been of his audience on simi-
except this accommodation of Uiem to lar occasions.
Chap. XIV. JUAN DE LA ENZINA. 253
fact, mentioning sometimes the personages who were pre«
sent) and in more than one instance alluding to Enzina
himself, as if he had performed some of the parts in per-
son. Eojas, a great authority in whatever relates to the
theatre, declares the same thing expressly, coupling the
fall of Granada and the achievements of Columbus with
the establishment of the theatre in Spain by Enzina;
events which, in the true spirit of his profession as an
actor, he seems to consider of nearly equal importance. *
The precise year when this happened is given by a learned
antiquary of the time of Philip the Fourth, who says, " In
1492 companies began to represent publicly in Castile
plays by Juan de la Enzina.** ' From this year, then, the
great year of the discovery of America, we may safely
date the foundation of the Spanish secular theatre.
It must not, however, be supposed that the " Repre-
sentations," as he calls them, of Juan de la Enzina have
much dramatic merit On the contrary, they are rude
and slight Some have only two or three interlocutors,
and no pretension to a plot; and none has more than
six personages, nor anything that can be considered a
proper dramatic structure. In one of those prepared for
the Nativity, the four shepherds are, in fact, the four
Evangelists ; — Saint John, at the same time, shadowing
forth the person of the poet He enters first, and dis-
courses, in rather a vainglorious way, of himself as a
poet; not forgetting, however, to compliment the Duke
* Ag^tin de Rojas, Viage Entre- at the end of his ** Poblacion de
tcnido, Madrid, 1614, 12mo., ff. 46, Espana," (Madrid, 1676, folio, f. 260.
47. Speaking of the bucolic dramas b.) Mendez de Silva was a learned
of Enzina, represented before the and voluminous author. See his Life,
Dukes of Alva, Infantado, etc., he Barbosa, Bib. Lusitana, Tom. III. p.
says expressly, *< These were the 649, where is a sonnet of Lope ae
first." Rojas was not bom till 1677, Vega ih praise of the learning of
but he was devoted to the theatre his this very Cat^ogo Real. The word
whole life, and seems to have been «* publicly," however, seems only to
more familiar with its history than refer to the representations in the
anybody else of his time. houses of Enzina's patrons, etc., as
' Rodrigo Mendez de Silva, Cati- we shall see hereafter,
logo Real 6eneal<5gico de Espana,
254 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Peetod I.
of Alva, his patron, as a person feared in France and in
Portugal, with which countries • the political relations of
Spain were then unsettled. Matthew, who follows, rebukes
John for this vanity, telling him that " all his works are
not worth two straws;'' to which John replies, that, in
pastorals and graver poetry, he defies competition, and
intimates that, in the course of the next May, he shall
publish what will prove him to be something even more
than bucolic. They both agree that the Duke and Duchess
are excellent masters, and Matthew wishes that he, too,
were in their service. At this point of the dialogue, Luke
and Mark come in, and, with slight preface, announce the
birth of the Saviour as the last news. All four then talk
upon that event at large, alluding to John's Gospel as if
already known, and end with a determination to go to
Bethlehem, after singing a villancico or rustic song, which
is much too light in its tone to be religious. * The whole
eclogue is short, and comprised in less than forty rhymed
stanzas of nine lines each, including a wild Ijrric at the
end, which has a chorus to every stanza, and is not without
the spirit of poetry. •
This belongs to the class of Enzina's religious dramas.
One, on the other hand, which was represented at the
conclusion of the Carnival, during the period then called
popularly at Salamanca AntruejOj seems rather to savour
of heathenism, as the festival itself did. ^° It is merely a
" The viUancicas long retained a nero de Todas las Obnis de Juan de
pastoral tone and something of a dra- la Encina ; impreso en Salamanca, a
matic character. At the marriage of reinte dias del Mes de Junio de
Philip II., in Segovia, 1670, "The M.CCCC. E XCVI. afioe" (116
youth of the choir, gaily dressed as leaves, folio). It was represented
shepherds, danced and san^ a vilkm- before the Duke and Duchess of Alva
dco" says Colmenares, (Hist, de Se- while they were in the chapel Ux
govia, l^govia, 1627, fol., p. 558,) matins on Christmas morning; and
and in 1600 villancicos were again the next eclogue, beginning "Dios
performed by the choir when Philip mantenga, Dios mantenga," was re-
III. visited the city. Ibid., p. presented in the same place,. at ves-
594. pers, the same day.
• This is the eclogue beginning *® ** This word," says Covarmvits,
'< Dios salva ac^ buena gente," etc., in his Tesoro, '* is used in Salamanca,
and is on fol. 103 of the *' Cando- and means Carnival. In the villages
CsAP. XIV. JUAN DE LA ENZINA. 255
rude dialogue between four shepherds. It begins with a
description of one of those mummings, common at the
period when Enzina lived, which, in this case, consisted
of a mock battle in the village between Carnival and
Lent, ending with the discomfiture of Carnival ; but the
general matter of the scene presented is a somewhat free
frolic of eating and drinking among the four shepherds,
ending, like the rest of the eclogues, with a villancico, in
which Antruejo, it is not easy to tell why, is treated as a
saint. "
Quite opposite to both of the pieces already noticed is
the Kepresentation for Good Friday, between two hermits.
Saint Veronica, and an angel. It opens with the meeting
and salutation of the two hermits, the elder of whom, as
they walk along, tells the younger, with great grief, that
the Saviour has been crucified that very day, and agrees
with him to visit the sepulchre. In the midst of their
talk. Saint Veronica joins them, and gives an account of
the crucifixion, not without touches of a simple pathos;
showing, at the same time, the napkin on which the por-
trait of the Saviour had been miraculously impressed as
she wiped from his face the sweat of his agony. Arrived
at the sepulchre — which was some kind of a monument
for the Corpus Christi in the Duke of Alva's chapel,
where the representation took place — they kneel ; an
angel whom they find there explains to them the mystery
of the Saviour's death ; and then, in a villancico in which
they call it Aniruydo; it is certain " The " Antruejo " eclopie begins
days before Lent .... They savour " Carnal fueral Carnal hieral —
a little of heathenism." Later, Ann •* Away, Carnival 1 away, Carnival ! "
irugfo became, from a provincialism, — and recalls the old ballad, '* Aiiie-
an admitted word. Villalobos, about ra, afuera, Rodrigo I " It is found at
1520, in his amusing *' Dialogue be- f. 86 of the edition of 1509, and is
tween the Duke and the Doctor," preceded by another ** Antruejo**
says, ** Y el dia de Antruejo," etc. eclogue, represented the same day
(Obras, 9arag09a, 1544, folio, f. 35) ; before the Duke and Duchess, be-
and the Academy's dictionary has it, ginning *^ O triste de mi cuprtado,"
and defines it to be *' the three last (f. 83,) and ending with a vUkmcico
days of Canuval." full of hopes of a peace with France.
256 HISTORT OP SPANISH LITERATURB.
all join, they praise God, and take comfort with the
promise of the resurrection. "
But the nearest approach to a dramatic composition
made by Juan de la Enzina is to be found in two eclogues
between " The Esquire that turns Shepherd,** and " The
Shepherds that turn Courtiers ;** both of which should be
taken together and examined as one whole, though, in his
simplicity, the poet makes them separate and independent
of each other. ^' In the first, a shepherdess, who is a
coquette, shows herself well disposed to receive Mingo,
one of the shepherds, for her lover, till a certain gay
esquire presents himself, whom, after a fair discussion, she
prefers to accept, on condition he will turn shepherd; —
an unceremonious transformation, with which, and the
customary villancicOj the piece concludes. The second
eclogue, however, at its opening, shows the esquire already
tired of his pastoral life, and busy in persuading all the
shepherds, somewhat in the tone of Touchstone in " As
Ton Like It,** to go to court, and become courtly. In the
dialogue that follows, an opportunity occurs, which is not
Delected, for a satire on court manners, and for natural
and graceful praise of life in the country. But the esquire
carries his point They change their dresses, and set forth
gaily upon their adventures, singing, by way of finale, a
spirited villancico in honour of the power of Love, that
can thus transform shepherds to courtiers, and courtiers
to shepherds.
The most poetical passage in the two eclogues is one
in which Mingo, the best of the shepherds, still unper-
suaded to give up his accustomed happy life in the country,
describes its cheerfiil pleasures and resources, with more
^' It begins '^ Deo gracias, padre little doubt, represented in saccessioo,
oniudo 1 " and is at f. SO of the edition with a pause between, like that be-
ef 1509. twcen tne acts of a modem plaj, in
** These are the two eclogues, which Enzina presented a copy of his
'' Pascuala, Dios te mantcnga! " (f. Works to the Duke and Ducness, vA
86,) and *' Ha, Mingo, quedaste promised to write no more poetiy un-
atras " (f. 88). They were, I have less they ordered him to do it
Cbap. XIV.
JUAN DE LA ENZINA.
257
of natural feeling, and more of a pastoral air, than are
found anywhere else in these singular dialogues.
But look ye, Gil, at morning dawn.
How fresh and fragrant are the fields ;
And then what sayoury coolness yields
The cabin's shade upon Uie lawn.
And he that knows what 't is to rest
Amidst his flocks the livelong night,
Sure he can never find delight
In courts, by courtly ways oppressed.
O, what a pleasure 't is to hear
The cricket's cheerful, piercing cry !
And who can tell the melody
His pipe afibrds the shepherd's ear 1
Thou know'st what luxury 't is to drink,
As shepherds do, when worn with heat,
From the still fount, its waters sweet.
With lips that gently touch their brink ;
Or else, where, hurrying on, they rush
And frolic down their pebbly bed,
O, what delight to stoop the head.
And drink from out their merry g^h I **
Both pieces, like the preceding translation, are in
double redondillaSj forming octave stanzas of eight-syllable
verses ; and as the two together contain about four hun-
dred and fifty lines, their amount is sufficient to show the
direction Enzina's talent naturally took, as well as the
height to which it rose.
Enzina, however, is to be regarded not only as the
founder of the Spanish theatre, but as the founder of the
Portuguese, whose first attempts were so completely imi-
tated from his, and had in their turn so considerable an
effect on the Spanish stage, that they necessarily become
^ There is such a Doric simplicity
in this passage, with its antiquated,
and yet rich, words, that I transcribe
it as a specimen of description very
remarkable for its age : —
Oata, Oil, qae las mafluiat.
En el campo hay gran ft«aoor,
Y tiene may gran tabor
*e laar
La aombra de 1
Qaien ei ducho de dormir
Ckin el ganado de noche.
No creaa que no reprochie
VOL. I.
El paladego Tivlr.
Ohl qaenH^eaoir
El aonido de loa grillot,
Y fl tafier loa earamilloa :
No luty qaien lo paeda doeir f
Ya aabet qae goso alente
El naaior moy calaioao
En beber con gran repoao,
De bnina, agna en la ftiente,
O de la qne va corriente
For el eaic^jal corriendo,
Qae ae va todo riendo ;
Oh I que piiser tan tallente I
Ed. 1509, r. 90.
S
258 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATUBB. Pbi«dL
a part of its history. These attempts were made by Gil
Vicente, a gentleman of good &mily, who was bred to the
law, but left that profession early and devoted himself to
dramatic compositions, chiefly for the entertainment of
the families of Manuel the Great and John the Third.
When he was born is not known, but he died in 1557.
As a writer for the stage he flourished from 1502 to
1536, ** and produced, in all, forty-two pieces, arranged as
works of devotion, comedies, tragicomedies, and farces ;
but most of them, whatever be their names, arc in fact
short, lively dramas, or religious pastorals. Taken to-
gether, they are better than anything else in Portuguese
dramatic literature.
The first thing, however, that strikes us in relation to
them is, that their air is so Spanish, and that so many of
them are written in the Spanish language. Of the whole
number, ten are in Castilian, fifteen partly or chiefly so,
and seventeen entirely in Portuguese. Why this is the
case it is not easy to determine. The languages are, no
doubt, very nearly akin to each other; and the writers
of each nation, but especially those of Portugal, have not
unfrequently distinguished themselves in the use of both.
But the Portuguese have never, at any period, admitted
their language to be less rich or less fitted for all kinds of
composition than that of their prouder rivals. Perhaps^
therefore, in the case of Vicente, it was, that the courts
bf the two countries had been lately much connected by
intermarriages ; that King Manuel had been accustomed
to have Castilians about his person to amuse him ; ^* that
the queen was a Spaniard ; ^^ or that, in language as in
" Barbosa, Biblioteca Lusitana, *' Dami&o de Goes, Crdnict de
Tom. II., pp. 383, etc. The dates D. Manoei, lisboa, 1749, fol., Ptate
of 1502 and 1636 are from the pre- IV., c. 84, p. 595. *< Trezia con-
fatory notices, by the son of Vicente, tinuadamente na sua Corte choqntr-
to the first of his works, in the reiros Castellanos."
**Obras de Devo^ao," and to the »' Married in 1600. (Ibid., F^ute
'^Floresta de Enganos,*' which was I., c. 46.) As so many of Vioente's
the latest of them. Spanish verses were inade to please
XIV. OIL VICENTE. 259
r things, he found it convenient thus to follow the
ng of his master, Juan de la Enzina : but, whatever
have been the cause, it is certain that Vicente, though
ras bom and lived in Portugal, is to be numbered
3g Spanish authors as well as among Portuguese,
is earliest effort was made in 1502, on occasion of
birth of Prince John, afterwards John the Third. ^'
a monologue in Spanish, a little more than a hundred
long, l^poken before the king, the king's mother, and
Duchess of Braganza, probably by Vicente himself,
le person of a herdsman, who enters the royal cham-
and, after addressing the queen mother, is followed
number of shepherds, bringing presents to the new-
prince. The poetry is simple, fresh, and spirited,
expresses the feelings of wonder and admiration that
id naturally rise in the mind of such a rustic, on first
ring a royal residence. Regarded as a courtly com-
ent, the attempt succeeded. In a modest notice,
jhed to it by the son of Vicente, we are told, that,
panish queens , I cannot agree portant to see a copy of them, and
iapp, (Froth's Literarhistonsch who knew whatever was to be found
tenbuch, 1846, p. 341,) that at Madrid and Paris, in both which
ite used Spanish in his Pastorals places he lived long, never saw one,
ow, vulgar language. Besides, as is plain from No. 49 of his ** Ca-
was so regarded, why did Ca* t^logo de Piezas Dramiiticas.*' We
! and Saa de Miranda, — two df therefore owe much to two Portuguese
lur jpncat noets of Portugal, — to gentlemen, J. V. Barreto Feio and
othmg or a multitude of other J. G. Monteiro, who published an
Portuguese, write occasionally excellent edition of Vicente's Works
inish? at Hamburg, 1834, in three volumes,
Fhe youngest son of Vicente Svo., using chiefly the Gottingcn
ihed his father's Works at Lis- copy. In this edition (Vol. I. p. 1)
n folio, in 1562, of which a re- occurs the monologue spoken of in
in quarto appeared there in the text, placed first, as tne son says,
much disfigured by the Inqui- ** por ser & primeira coisa, que o autor
. But these are among the fez, e que em Portugal aerepresentou.**
and most curious books in He says, the representation took
m literature, and I remember to place on the second night after the
seen hardly five copies, one of oirth of the prince, and, this being
I was in the library at Gottin- so exactly stated, we know that the
usd another in the public library first secular dramatic exhibition in
ibon, the first in rblio, and the Portugal took place June 8, 1502,
Q Quarto. Indeed, so rare had John III. having been bom on the
ITorks of Vicente become, that 6th. Cr6nica de D. Manoel, Parte
kin, to whom it was very im- I. c. 62.
s2
260 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITEBATURE. Peuop I.
being the first of his father's compositions, and the first
dramatic representation ever made in Portugal, it pleased
the queen mother so much, as to lead her to ask its
author to repeat it at Christmas, adapting it to the birth
of the Saviour.
Vicente, however, understood that the queen desired
to have such an entertainment as she had been accustomed
to enjoy at the court of Castile, when John de la Enzina
brought his contributions to the Christmas festivities. He
therefore prepared for Christmas morning what he called
an "Auto Pastoril,** or Pastoral Act; — a dialogue in
which four shepherds with Luke and Matthew are the
interlocutors, and in which not only the eclogue forms of
Enzina are used, and the manger of Bethlehem is intro-
duced, just as that poet had introduced it, but in which
his verses are freely imitated. This effort, too, pleased
the queen, and again, on the authority of his son, we are
told she asked Vicente for another composition, to be
represented on Twelfth Night, 1503. Her request was
not one to be slighted ; and in the same way four other
pastorals followed for similar devout occasions, making,
when taken together, six ; all of which being in Spanish,
and all religious pastorals, represented with singing and
dancing before King Manuel^ his queen, and other dis-
tinguished personages, they are to be regarded throughout
as imitations of Juan de la Enzina's eclogues.**
Of these six pieces, three of which, we know, were
written in 1502 and 1503, and the rest, probably, soon
afterwards, the most curious and characteristic is the one
^ The imitaUon of Enzina*8 poetry ^ ^>«« «*n(nil*nnente
by Vicente is noticed by the Hamburg SSTioTTSS^..
editors. (Vol. I. EnsaiO, p. XXXviii.) De may notM invm^oes.
Indeed, it is quite too obvious to be hu fo?rue inl^ilSto?'
overlooked, and is distinctly acknow- ittoaie^o'wott^'*
ledged by one of his contemporaries, ^ »•*• «»?f • m^ doteiiu ;
Garcia de Resende, the colfcctor of S^! iSSnt^^**"
the Portuguese Cancionciro of 1617, mi u i v >d.d d ii fateri^ mi Um
who says, in some rambling verses on end o7KiiS»u«'.cSnl«de jiolT!iMf, foU^
things that had happened in nis time, — '• i«4«
Chap. XIV. GIL VICENTE. 261
called '*The Auto of the Sibyl Cassandra,** which was
represented in the rich old monastery of Enxobregas, on
a Christmas morning, before the queen mother. It is an
eclogue in Spanish, above eight hundred lines long, and
is written in the stanzas most used by Enzina. Cassandra,
the heroine, devoted to a pastoral life, yet supposed to
be a sort of lay prophetess who has had intimations of the
approaching birth of the Saviour, enters at once on the
scene, where she remains to the end, the central point,
round which the other seven personages are not inarti-
ficially grouped. She has hardly avowed her resolution
not to be married, when Solomon appears making love
to her, and telling her, with great simplicity, that he has
arranged everything with her aunts, to marry her in three
days. Cassandra, nothing daunted at the annunciation,
persists in the purpose of celibacy ; and he, in consequence,
goes out to summon these aunts to his assistance. During
his absence, she sings the following song : —
They say, ** 'T is time, go, marry ! go ! "
But I '11 no husband ! not I ! no 1
For I would live all carelessly.
Amidst these hills, a maiden free,
And never ask, nor anxious be,
Of wedded weal or woe.
Yet still they say, ** Go, marry 1 go! "
But I 'II no husband 1 not 1 1 no I
So, mother, think not I shall wed,
And through a tiresome life be led.
Or use, in folly's ways instead.
What grace the heavens bestow.
Yet still they say, ** Go, marry ! go ! "
But I '11 no husband I not I! no !
The man has not been bom, I ween,
Who as my husband shall be seen ;
And since what frequent tricks have been
Undoubtingly I know.
In vain they say, ** Go, marry ! go ! "
For I '11 no husban<l 1 not I ! no ! *°
Dicen que meeaaeyo; Que no •Hmt en ▼entor*
No quiero marido, no ! Si cmaare Wen 6 no.
Mas quiero vivir aegura Dicen que me case 70 ;
Neaca tiem 4 mi aoltuia. No qaiero maiido, no I
Madre,
262 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbiod I-
The aunts, named Cimeria, Feresica, and Erutea, who
are, in fact, the Cumaean, Persian, and Erythraean Sibyls,
now come in with King Solomon and endeavour to per-
suade Cassandra to consent to his love ; setting forth his
merits and pretensions, his good looks, his good temper,
and his good estate. But, as they do not succeed, Solo-
mon, in despair, goes for her three uncles, Moses, Abraham,
and Isaiah, with whom he instantly returns, all four dancing
a sort of mad dance as they enter, and singing, —
She 18 wild I She is wild I
Who shall speak to the child ?
On the hUb pass her hours,
As a shepherdess free ;
She is fair as the flowers,
She is wild as the sea !
She is wild ! She is wild 1
Who shall speak to the child ? " *'
The three uncles first endeavour to bribe their niece
into a more teachable temper; but, failing in that, Moses
undertakes to show her, from his own history of the cre-
ation, that marriage is an honourable sacrament, and that
she ought to enter into it Cassandra replies, and; in the
course of a rather jesting discussion with Abraham about
good-tempered husbands, intimates that she is aware the
Saviour is soon to be born of a virgin ; an augury which
the three Sibyls, her aunts, prophetically confirm, and to
which Cassandra then adds that she herself has hopes to be
this Saviour's mother. The uncles, shocked at the inti-
mation, treat her as a crazed woman, and a theological and
Madre, no aere oasada, « Tna, Salomao, BMiaa, e Movmi, e Abra-
Por no ver Tida canaada, hab cantando todoa qoatro de fuU 4 cantiga
O qnizA mal empleada aegninte .- —
La gracU que Dioe me di6.
Dloen que me caae yo ; woe nfloaa «it4 la nioa !
No quiero marido, no ! ^X ^"»» <!«*««> *• l»»W"** ?
No ser4 nt n naddo En la alerra anda la nifla
Tal para aer mi murido ; Sn ganado 4 repaaUr ;
Y paea que tengo aabido Ilermoaa como laa flotea.
Que la flur yo mo la au, Safioaa como la mar.
Dicen que me caae yo ; Sajloaa como la mar
No quiero marido, no ! Eat4 la niiia :
Gil Vicente, Obraa, Ilamburgo, 1834, 8vo., Ay Dloa, quien le bablaria?
Tom. I. p. 48. Vicente, Obfw, Tom. I. p. 4«.
Cbap. XIV. GIL VICENTE. 263
mystical discussion follows, which is carried on by all
present, till a curtain is suddenly withdrawn, and the
manger of Bethlehem and the child are discovered, with
four angels, who sing a hymn in honour of his birth. The
rest of the drama is taken up with devotions suited to the
occasion, and it ends with the following graceful cancion to
the Madonna, sung and. danced by the author, as well as
the other performers :^-
The maid is gradous all and fair ;
How beautiful beyond compare I
Say, sailor bold and free,
That dwell'st upon the sea,
If ships or sail or star
So winning are.
And say, thou gallant knight,
That donn'st thine armour bright,
If steed or arms or war
So winning are.
And say, thou shepherd hind,
That bravest storm and wind,
If flocks or Tales or hill afar
So winning are. "
And so ends this incongruous drama ; " a strange union of
n May graeion es la donceiu : sinco the vUoncete Is evidently in-
ComoesbeiUyheniuMal tended to Stir up the noble company
iHgas Id, el muinwo, ^ present to some warlike enterprise in
auMye6"u^U6Ucrtwiu which their services were wanted;
Es tan belia. probably against the Moors of Africa,
Disaa t6, el eabaiiero, as King Manoel had no other wars.
Que Im annas Teatias,
Si el caballo 6 1m armas 6 la gneira To the field 1 To the field!
b tan bella. Cavalien of empriae I
-^ ^, , . , Angela pure from the akiea
rJ^ ^- *}i P"*«^«>» Come to h&p ua and ahield.
One el gana^oo gnanlaa. To the field 1 To the field I
8i el ganado 6 laa ralles 6 la aierra
With armoor all bright,
V.«n... Ob«. T.™. 1. p. ... S'iSf^l^orGSS" "^'
" It is in the Hamburg edition To auocour the right.
(Tom. I. pp. 36-62); but though it To the field I To the field I
properly ends, as has been said, with K*^ friSfS'e .ki«
the song to the Madonna, there is come to help w and shield,
afterwards, by way of envoi, the foU To the field I To the field i
lowing vilancete, ("/>or despedida 6 cabali^rTSSUo. ;
tnbmcete segmnte") which is cunous j^^ \^ sngeies sagndoa
as showing how the theatre was, from A aoeono son en tiena.
the first, made to serve for immediate ^ ^tJSS^iL^n^td^um
excitement and political purposes; Vienen del dtlo voUndo,
Diot
261 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTEBATUBE. Pkbiod I.
the spirit of an ancient mystery and of a modern twudmVfe,
but not without poetry, and not more incongruous or more
indecorous than the similar dramas which, at the same
period, and in other countries, found a place in the princely
halls of the most cultivated, and were listened to with
edification in monasteries and cathedrals by the most
religious.
Vicente, however, did not stop here. He took counsel
of his success, and wrote dramas which, without skill in
the construction of their plots, and without any idea of con-
forming to rules of propriety or taste, are yet quite m
advance of what was known on the Spanish or Portuguese
theatre at the time. Such is the ^^ Comedia," as it is called,
of "The Widower," — 0 Viudo^ — which was acted before
the court in 1514.** It opens with the grief of the
widower, a merchant of Burgos, on the loss of an affec-
tionate and faithful wife, for which he is consoled, first by
a friar, who uses religious considerations, and afterwards
by a gossiping neighbour, who, being married to a shrew,
assures his friend that, after all, it is not probable his loss
is very great The two daughters of the disconsolate
widower, however, join earnestly with their father in his
mourning ; but their sorrows are mitigated by the appear-
ance of a noble lover who conceals himself in the disguise
of a herdsman, in order to be able to approach them. His
love is very sincere and loyal ; but, unhappily, he loves
them both, and hardly addresses either separately. His
trouble is much increased and brought to a crisis by the
father, who comes in and announces that one of his daugh-
ters is to be married immediately, and the other probably
in the course of a week. In his despair, the noble lover
Dio« y hombre apeiidando A similar tone is more funy heard in
"AiTJue^Ji^ ^°^' the spirited little drama entitied " The
Cabaiierot eunenwlot ; Exhortation to War/' performed 1 513.
Puet 1m angeles Mcrados .. „, •>▼ i ^^.
A Mcorro wn en ti«m. ^ Obras, Hamburgo, 1834, 8?0.|
A Uguerral Tom. II. pp. 68, etC.
Vicente, Obns, Tom. I. p. 6S. '^^
Chap. XIV. GIL VICENTE. 265
calls on death ; but insists that, as long as he lives, he
will continue to serve them both faithfully and truly. At
this juncture, and without any warning, as it is impossible
that he should marry both, he proposes to the two ladies
to draw lots for him ; a proposition which they modify by
begging the Prince John, then a child twelve years old
and among the audience, to make a decision on their be-
half. The prince decides in favour of the elder, which
seems to threaten new anxieties and troubles, till a brother
of the disguised lover appears and consents to marry the
remaining lady. Their father, at first disconcerted, soon
gladly accedes to the double arrangement, and the drama
ends with the two weddings and the exhortations of the
priest who performs the ceremony.
This, indeed, is not a plot, but it is an approach to one.
The "Eubena," acted in 1521, comes still nearer, " and so
do ** Don Duardos," founded on the romance of " Palme-
rin," and ^* Amadis of Gaul,"** founded on the romance
of the same name, both of which bring a large number of
personages on the stage, and, if they have not a proper
dramatic action, yet give, in much of their structure, inti-
mations of the Spanish heroic drama, as it was arranged
half a) century later. On the other hand, the " Templo
d'A polio,*"' acted in 1526, in honour of the marriage of
the Portuguese princess to the Emperor Charles the Fifth,
belongs to the same class with the allegorical plays subse-
quently produced in Spain ; the three Autos on the three
ships that carried souls to Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven,
evidently gave Lope de Vega the idea and some of the
» The *' Rubena" is the first of Spanish, are the first two of those an-
the plays called, — it is difficult to tell nounced as '* Tragicomedias " in Book
why, — by Vicente or his editor, Co- III. of the Works of Vicente. No
medias; and is partly in Spanish, reason that I know of can be given
partly in Portuguese. It is among for this precise arrangement and
those prohibited in the Index Ezpur- name.
gatorius of 1667, (p. 464,)— a prohi- ^ This, too, is one of the ** Tragi-
ition renewed down to 1790. comedias," and is chiefly, but not
** ThotfO two long pluys, wholly in wholly, io Spanish.
266
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE.
PBa<»>I.
materials for one of his early moral plays ; ^ and the Auto
in which Faith explains to the shepherds the origin and
mysteries of Christianity ^ might, with slight alterations,
have served for one of the processions of the Corpus
Christi at Madrid, in the time of Calderon. All of thein,
it is true, are extremely rude ; but nearly all contain ele-
ments of the coming drama, and some of them, like ^^Don
Duardos,*' which is longer than a fiill-length play ordina-
rily is, are quite long enough to show what was their dra-
matic tendency. But the real power of Gil Vicente does
not lie in the structure or the interest of his stories — it
lies in his poetry, of which, especially in the lyrical por-
tions of his dramas, there is much. *^
■ The first of these three Ataoi,
the ** Barca do Inferno/' was repre-
sented, in 1517, before the queen,
Maria of Castile, in her sick-chamber,
when she was suffering: under the
dreadful disease of which she soon
afterwards died. Like the '* Barca do
Purgatorio," (1518,) it is in Portu-
guese, but the remaining AutOf the
"Barca da Gloria," (1519,) is in
Spanish. The last two were repre-
sented in the reyal chapel. The moral
play of Lope de Vega which was sug-
gested hy them is the one called
" The Voyage of the Soul," and is
found in the First Book of his " Pere-
grine en su Patria." The opening
of Vicente's play resembles remark-
ably the setting forth of the Demonio
on his yoynec in Lope, besides that
the genenu idea of the two fictions is
almost the same. On the other side
of the account, Vicente shows him-
self frequently familiar with the old
Spanish literature. For instance, in
one of his Portuguese Farcas, called
«* Dos Fisioos," (Tom. III. p. 823,)
we have —
En el mes en de Mayo.
Vet]>on de Navidad,
Caando canta la dgana, ete. ;
plainly a narody of the well-known
and beautiful old Spanish ballad be-
ginning—
Por el mes era de Mayo,
Qaando bate la oUor,
Qoando canta la ealandiia, ete^
a ballad which, so far as I know, can
be traced no farther back than the
ballad-book of 1555, or, at any rate,
that of 1550, while here we liaTe a
distinct allusion to it before 1536,
giving a curious proof how widely thu
old Dopular poetry was carried about
by tne memories of the people before
it was written down and printed, and
how much it was used lor dramatic
purposes from the earliest period of
theatrical compositions.
» This ** Auto da Fd," as it is
strangely called, is in Spanish (Obras,
Tom. I. pp. 64, etc.) ; but there b
one in Portuguese, represented before
John IIL, (1527,) which is still
more strangely called " Breve Sum-
mario da Historia de Deos," the
action beginning with Adam and Eve,
and ending with the Saviour. Ibid.,
I. pp. 306, etc.
*^ Joam de Barros, the historian,
in his dialogue on the Portusuese
Language, (Varias Obras, Lisboa,
1785, 12mo., p. 222,) praises Vicente
for the purity of his thoughts and
style, and contrasts him proudly with
the Celestina; **a book," he adds,
" to which the Portuguese language
has no parallel."
Chap. XV. ESCBIVA. 267
CHAPTER XV.
Dbama coirrnruKD. — EecBiTA. — Yillauobos, — Qunnoir di Amob. —
T0BBE8 Naharbo, in Italy. — Hn Eiout Pults. — His Dbamatic
ThBOBT. — Division OP HIS PULTS, AND THBIB PliOTS. ^TuB TrOFBA.
Thb Htmbnba. — Iktbiouiitq Dbama.— Buffoon. — Chabactbb ahd
Pbobablb Effbcts of Nahabbo's Plats. — Statb of the Thbatbb
AT THB Eud of the Rbiqn of Fbbdinand ahd Isabella.
While Vicente, in Portugal, was thus giving an impulse
to Spanish dramatic literature, which, considering the
intimate connexion of the two countries and their courts,
can hardly have been unfelt in Spain at the time, and was
certainly recognized there afterwards, scarcely anything
was done in Spain itself. During the five-and-twenty
years that followed the first appearance of Juan de la
Enzina, no other dramatic poet seems to have been en-
couraged or demanded. He was sufficient to satisfy the
rare wants of his royal and princely patrons ; and, as we
have seen, in both countries, the drama continued to be
a courtly amusement, confined to a few persons of the
highest rank. The commander Escriva, who lived at this
time, and is the author of a few beautiful verses found in
the oldest Cancioneros, ^ wrote, indeed, a dialogue, partly
> His touching verses, '' Yen, muer- the year 1600-1510. But I should
te, tan escondida," so often cited, and not, probably, have alluded to him
at least once in Don Quixote, (Parte here, if he had not been noticed in
II. c. 88,^ are found as far back as connexion with the early Spanish
the Cancionero of 1511 ; but I am theatre, by Martinez de la Rosa
not aware that Escriva's *' Quexa de (Obras, Paris, 1827, 12mo., Tom.
su Amiga " can be found earlier than ll. p. 336). Other poems, written
in the Cancionero, Sevilla, 1535, in dialogue, by Alfonso de Cartagena,
where it occurs, f. 175. b, etc. He and by Puerto Carrero, occur in the
himself, no doubt, flourished about Cancioneros Generales, but they can
268 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATUBE. Pbuod I.
in prose and partly in verse, in which he introduces
several interlocutors and brings a complaint to the god
of Love against his lady. But the whole is an allegory,
occasionally graceful and winning frdm its style, but
obviously not susceptible of representation ; so that there
is no reason to suppose it had any influence on a class
of compositions already somewhat advanced. A similar
remark may be added about a translation of the " Am-
phitryon " of Plautus, made into terse Spanish prose by
Francisco de Villalobos, physician to Ferdinand the
Catholic and Charles the Fifth, which was first printed in
1515, but which it is not at all probable was ever acted.'
These, however, are the only attempts made in Spain or
Portugal before 1517, except those of Enzina and Vicente,
which need to be referred to at all.
But in 1517, or a little earlier, a new movement was
felt in the difficult beginnings of the Spanish drama ; and
it is somewhat singular that, as the last came from Por-
tugal, the present one came from Italy. It came, how-
ever, from two Spaniards. The first of them is the
anonymous author of the " Question of Love,** a fiction
to be noticed hereafter, which was finished at Ferrara in
1512, and which contains an eclogue of respectable
poetical merit, that seems undoubtedly to have been
represented before the court of Naples. '
The other, a person of more consequence in the history
of the Spanish drama, is Bartolomfe de Torres Naharro,
hardly be regarded as dramatic ; and the earliest of which is in 1515. My
Clemcncin twice notices Pedro de copjr, however, is of neither of thenu
Lerma as one of the early contribu- It is dated (fdomgocBi, 1544, (folio,)
tors to the S[)ani8h drama ; but he is and is at the endof tne '* Problemas
not mentioned by Moratin, Antonio, and of the other works of Villalobos,
Pcllicer, or any of the other authors which also precede it in the editions
who would naturally be consulted in of 1543 and 1574.
relation to such a \mni. Don Quiz- ' It fills about twenty-six nages
ote, ed. Clemcncin, Tom. IV. p. and six hundred lines, chiedy in
viii., and Memorias de la Acadcmia octave stanzas, in the edition of Ant-
de Ilistoria, Tom. VI. p. 406. werp, 1576, and contains a detailed
' Three editions of it are cited by account of the circumstances attending
L. F. Moratin, (Cat^ogo, No. 20,) its representation.
Chap. XV. BART0L0M£ DE TORRES NAHARRO. 269
born at Torres, near Badajoz, on the borders of Portugal,
who, after he had been for some time a captive in Algiers,
was redeemed, and visited Rome, hoping to find favour at
the court of Leo the Tenth. This must hiave been after
1513, and was, of course, at the time when Juan de la
Enzina resided there. But Naharro, by a satire against
the vices of the court, made himself obnoxious at Rome,
and fled to Naples, where he lived for some time under
the protection of the noble-minded Fabricio Colonna, and
where, at last, we lose sight of him. He died in poverty. *
His works, first published by himself at Naples in 1517,
and dedicated to a noble Spaniard, Don Fernando Davalos,
a lover of letters, * who had married Victoria Colonna, the
poetess, are entitled " Propaladia,** or " The Firstlings of
his Genius." * They consist of satires, epistles, ballads, a
Lamentation for King Ferdinand, who died in 1516, and
some other miscellaneous poetry; but chiefly of eight
plays, which he calls " Comedias," and which fill almost
the whole volume. '' He was well situated for making an
attempt to advance the drama, and partly succeeded in it
There was, at the time he wrote, a great literary move-
ment in Italy, especially at the court of Rome. The
* This notice of Naharro is taken been printed at Naples (Ebert, etc.)
from the slight accounts of him con- and sometimes (Moratiny etc.) at
tuned in the letter of Juan Baverio Rome ; but as it was dedicated to one
Mesinerio prefixed to the ** Propala- of its author's Neapolitan patrons, and
dia *' (Sevilla, 1573, 18mo.), as a life as Mesinerio, who seems to have been
of its author, and from the article in a personal acquaintance of its author,
Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. 202. implies that it was, at same time,
^ Antonio (Preface to Biblioteca printed at Naples, I have assigned its
Nova, Sec. 29) says he bred young Jfirst edition to that city. Editions
men to become soldiers by teaching appeared at Seville in 15^, 1533, and
them to read romances of chivalry. 1545; one at Toledo, 1535; one at
• " Intitul las " (he says, ** Al Madrid, 1573 ; and one without date
Letor") "PropidadiaaProthon, cjuod at Antwerp. I have used the edi-
est primum, et Pallade, id eat, pnmse tions of SeviUe, 1533, small quarto,
res ralladis, a diiferoncia de las que and Madrid, 1573, small 18mo. ; the
segundariamente y con mas maduro latter being expurgated, and having
estudio podrian succeder." They ** Lazarillo de Tonnes " at the end.
were, therefore, probably written There were but six plays in the early
when he was a young man. editions; the ** Calamita" and **Aqui-
' I have never seen the first edi- lana " being added afterwards,
tion, which is sometimes said to have
270 mSTORY OF SPANISH UTBRATUBE. Pbuod I.
representations of plays, he tells us, were much resorted
to, • and, though he may not have known it, Trissino had,
in 1515, written the first regular tragedy in the Italian
language, and thus given an impulse to dramatic literature,
which it never afterwards entirely lost •
The eight plays of Naharro, however, do not afford
much proof of a familiarity with antiquity, or of a desire
to follow ancient rules or examples ; but their author gives
us a little theory of his own upon the subject of the drama,
which is not without good sense. Horace, he says, re-
quires five acts to a play, and he thinks this reasonable ;
though he looks upon the pauses they make rather as
convenient resting-places than anything else, and calls
them, not acts, but " Jomadas," or days.^® As to the
number of persons, he would have not less than six, nor
more than twelve ; and as to that sense of propriety which
refuses to introduce materials into the subject that do not
belong to it, or to permit the characters to talk and act
inconsistently, he holds it to be as indispensable as the
rudder to a ship. This is all very well.
Besides this, his plays are all in verse, and all open
with a sort of prologue, which he calls " Introyto," gene-
rally written in a rustic and amusing style, asking the
favour and attention of the audience, and giving hints con-
cerning the subject of the piece that is to follow.
But when we come to the dramas themselves, though
we find a decided advance, in some respects, beyond any
thing that had preceded them, in others we find great
rudeness and extravagance. Their subjects are very
® " Vicndoassi mismo todo el mun- journey, etc. The old French mys-
do en fiestas de Comedias y destas teries were divid^ into jowmdes or
oosas," is port of his apology to Don portions, each of which coald conre-
Fernando Davalos for asking leave to niently be represented in the time
dedicate them to him. given by the Church to such enter-
' Trissino's *^ Sofonisba " was writ- tainments on a single day. One of
ten as early as 1515, though not the mysteries in diis way required
printed till later. forty days for its exhibition.
'" *'Jomadas," days'- work, days'-
Chap. XV. BARTOLOMfi DB TORRES NAHARRO. 271
various. One of them, the " Soldadesca,** is on the Papal
recruiting service at Rome. Another, the ** Tinelaria,'* or
Servants' Dining Hall, is on such riots as were likely to
happen in the disorderly service of a cardinal's household ;
fuU of revelry and low life. Another, "La Jacinta,** gives
us the story of a lady who lives at her castle on the road
to Rome, where she violently detains sundry passengers
and chooses a husband among them. And of two others,
one is on the adventures of a disguised prince, who comes
to the coiurt of a fabulous king of Leon, and wins his
daughter after the fashion of the old romances of chi-
valry ; " and the other on the adventures of a child stolen
in infancy, which involve disguises in more humble life. "
How various were the modes in which these subjects
were thrown into action and verse, and, indeed, how differ-
ent was the character of his different dramas, may be best
understood by a somewhat ampler notice of the two not
yet mentioned.
The first of these, the " Trofea," is in honour of King
Manuel of Portugal, and the discoveries and conquests
that were made in India and Africa, under his auspices ;
but it is very meagre and poor. After the prologue, which
fills above three hundred verses, Fame enters in the first
act and announces that the great king has, in his most holy
wars, gained more lands than are described by Ptolemy ;
whereupon Ptolemy appears instantly, by especial per-
mission of Pluto, from the regions of torment, and denies
the fact ; but, after a discussion, is compelled to admit it,
though with a saving clause for his own honour. In the
second act, two shepherds come upon the stage to sweep it
for the king's appearance. They make themselves quite
merry, at first, with the splendour about them, and one of
them sits on the throne, and imitates grotesquely the
curate of his village ; but they soon quarrel, and continue
'• La Aquilana. " La Calamita.
272 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE. Pnira> I.
in bad humour, till a royal page interferes and compeb
them to go on and arrange the apartment The whole of
the third act is taken up with the single speech of an inter-
preter, bringing in twenty Eastern and African kings who
are unable to speak for themselves, but avow, through his
very tedious harangue, their allegiance to the crown of
Portugal ; to all which the king makes no word of reply.
The next act is absurdly filled with a royal reception of
four shepherds, who bring him presents of a fox, a lamb,
an eagle, and a cock, which they explain with some
humour and abundance of allegory ; but to all which he
makes as little reply as he did to the profiered fealty of the
twenty heathen kings. In the fifth and last act, Apollo
gives verses, in praise of the king, queen, and prince, to
Fame, who distributes copies to the audience ; but, refusing
them to one of the shepherds, has a riotous dispute with him.
The shepherd tauntingly offers Fame to spread the praises
of King Manuel through the world as well as she does, if
she will but lend him her wings. The goddess consents.
He puts them on and attempts to fly, but falls headlong on
the stage, with which poor practical jest and a villancico
the piece ends.
The other drama, called " Hymenea,** is better, and
gives intimations of what became later the foundations
of the national theatre. Its " Introyto," or prologue, is
coarse, but not without wit, especially in those parts which,
according to the peculiar toleration of the times, were
allowed to make free with religion, if they but showed
suflScient reverence for the Church. The story is entirely
invented, and may be supposed to have passed in any city
of Spain. The scene opens in front of the house of Febea,
the heroine, before daylight, where Hymeneo, the hero,
after making known his love for the lady, arranges with
his two servants to give her a serenade the next night
When he is gone, the servants discuss their own posi-
tion, and Boreas, one of them, avows his desperate love
Chap. XV. BARTOLOMfi DB TORRES NAHARRO. 273
for Doresta, the heroine's maid ; a passion which, through
the rest of the piece, becomes the running caricature of
his master's. But at this moment the Marquis, a brother
of Febea, comes with his servants into the street, and, by
the escape of the others, who fly immediately, has little
doubt that there has been love-making about the house, and
goes away determined to watch more carefully. Thus ends
the first act, which might furnish materials for many a
Spanish comedy of the seventeenth century.
In the second act, Hymeneo enters with his servants
and musicians, and they sing a cancion which reminds
us of the sonnet in Moliere's " Misantrope," and a viUancico
which is but little better. Febea then appears in the
balcony, and afler a conversation, which, for its substance
and often for its graceful manner, might have been in
Calderon's "Dar la Vida por su Dama," she promises
to receive her lover the next night. When she is gone,
the servants and the master confer a little together, the
master showing himself very generous in his happiness ;
but they all escape at the approach of the Marquis, whose
suspicions are thus fully confirmed, and who is with dif-
ficulty restrained by his page from attacking the ofienders
at once.
The next act is devoted entirely to the loves of the
servants. It is amusing, from its caricature of the troubles
and trials of their masters, but does not advance the
action at all. The fourth, however, brings the hero and
lover into the lady*s house, leaving his attendants in the
street, who confess their cowardice to one another, and
agree to run away, if the Marquis appears. This happens
immediately. They escape, but leave a cloak, which
betrays who they are, and the Marquis remains undisputed
master of the ground at the end of the act.
The last act opens without delay. The Marquis, of-
fended in the nicest point of Castilian honour, — tfie very
point on which the plots of so many later Spanish dramas
VOL. I. T
274 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTBBATUBB. PeuodI.
turn, — resolves at once to put both of the guilty parties
to death, though their offence is no greater than that of
having been secretly in the same house together. The
lady does not deny her brother's right, but enters into a
long discussion with him about it, part of which is touching
and effective, but most of it very tedious ; in the midst
of all which Hymeneo presents himself, and after ex-
plaining who he is and what are his intentions, and
especially after admitting that, under the circumstances
of the case, the Marquis might justly have killed his
sister, the whole is arranged for a double wedding of
masters and servants, and closes with a spirited vittancico
in honour of Love and his victories.
The two pieces are very different, and mark the extremes
of the various experiments Naharro tried in order to
produce a dramatic effect " As to the kinds of dramas,"
he says, " it seems to me that two are sufficient for our
Castilian language: dramas founded on knowledge, and
dramas founded on fancy.** " The " Trofea,** no doubt,
was intended by him to belong to the first class. Its tone
is that of compliment to Manuel, the really great king
then reigning in Portugal; and from a passage in the
third act it is not unlikely that it was represented in Rome
before the Portuguese ambassador, the venerable Tristan
d* Acuna. But the rude and buffoon shepherds, whose
dialogue fills . so much of the slight and poor action, show
plainly that he was neither unacquainted with Enzina and
Vicente, nor unwilling to imitate them; while the rest
of the drama — the part that is supposed to contain his-
torical facts — is, as we have seen, still worse. The
" ^'Comedia li noticia" he calls servants. His com«{&u are extremelj
them, in the Address to the Reader, different in length ; one of them ez-
and ** comedia ^ fantasia " ; and ex- tending to about twentj-six hundred
plains the first to be '* de cosa nota y lines, which would be very long, if
vista en realidad," illustrating the represented, and another hardly
remark by his plays on recruiting and reaching twelve hundred. All, how-
on the riotous life of a cardinal's ever, are divided into five jomocftis.
Chap. XV. BABTOLOMti DB TORRES NAHARBO. 275
"Hymenea," on the other hand, has a story of con-
siderable interest, announcing the intriguing plot which
became a principal characteristic of the Spanish theatre
afterwards. It has even the " Gracioso,** or Droll Servant,
who makes love to the heroine's maid ; a character which
is also found in Naharro's " Serafina,** but which Lope de
Vega above a century afterwards claimed as if invented
by himself **
What is more singular, this drama approaches to a
fulfilment of the requisitions of the unities, for it has but
one proper action, which is the marriage of Febea; it
does not extend beyond the period of twenty-four hours ;
and the whole passes in the street before the house of the
lady, unless, indeed, the fifth act passes within the house,
which is doubtful. ^* The whole, too, is founded on the
national manners, and preserves the national costume and
character. The best parts, in general, are the humorous ;
but there are graceful passages between the lovers, and
touching passages between the brother and sister. The
parody of the servants, Boreas and Doresta, on the
passion of the hero and heroine is spirited ; and in the
first scene between them we have the following dialogue,
which might be transferred with effect to many a play of
Calderon : —
Boreas, O, would to heaTen, my lady dear,
That, at the instant I first looked on thee,
Thy love had equalled mine I
Boresta, Well I that 's not bod 1
But still you 're not a bone for me to pick. **
Boreas. Make trial of me. Bid me do my best,
In humble senrice of my love to thee ;
" In the Dedication of " La Fran- can con esse huesso." It occurs more
cesilla " in his Comedias, Tom. XIII., than once in Don Quixote. A little
Madrid, 1620, 4to. lower we have another, *' Ya las to-
^ The ** Aquilana," absurd as its man do las dan," — ** Where they
story is, approaches, perhaps, even give, they take." Naharro is accus-
nearer to absolute regulari^ in its tomed to render his humorous dia-
form. logue savoury by introducing such old
" This is an old proverb, ** A otro proverbs frequently.
t2
276
HISTORY OP SPANISH UTERATUSE.
^biodI.
So shalt thou pot me to the proof, and know
If what I say accord with what I feel.
Doresta, Were mj desire to bid thee terre qtute dear.
Perchance thy offers would not be so prompt
Boreas, O lady, look'ee, that 's downright abase !
Doresia, Abuse ? How 's that ? Can words and ways so kind,
And full of courtesy, be called abase ?
Boreas, I *ve done. *
I dare not speak. Your answers are so sharp,
They pierce my very boweb throagh and through.
Doresta, Well, by my faith, it grieres my heart to see
That thou so mortal art Dost think to die
Of this disease ?
Boreas, 'T would not be wonderful.
Doresta, But still, my gallant Sir, perhaps you 11 find
That they who give the suffering take it too.
Boreas, In sooth, I ask no better than to do
As do my fellows,— give and take ; but now
I take, fair dame, a thousand hurts,
And still give none.
Doresta, How know'st thou that ?
And SO she continues till she comes to a plenary con-
fession of being no less hurt, or in love, herself than
he is."
All the plays of Naharro have a versification remark-
ably fluent and harmonious for the period in which he
wrote, '^ and nearly all of them have passages of easy and
17 BartoM, Plug ierm, Sefion, a DIm.
En aquel punto qae os ▼{,
Que quisiexM unto a mi,
Como laego quiae a Toa.
Dbmto. Baeno m «aw> ;
A oCro can eon eaae hueaio I
Bortoi, EnMyad Toa de mandanae
Qoanto yo podie haser,
Puet oa deaMO wniir :
8i quieia porqu' en proaarme,
Conoacajn ai mi qnerer
Conderta con mi detlr.
AirvKo. 81 mia ipinaa fbeaaen elertaa
De quereroa yo mandar,
Quin de yueatro hablar
Saldrian menoa offertaa.
Bortai, Si miraya,
Seflora, mal me trataia.
Domia, Como paedo maltrataroa
Con palabraa tan boneataa
Y por tan cocteaaa mafiaa?
Como ? ya no oaao habUroa,
One teneya elertaa reapneaCaa
Que laatiman laa entrafiaa.
Boftm,
Doretta. Por mi fe tengo mantilla
De Teroa aari mortal :
Mocf reyi de aqueme mal i
BofMM. No aeria maraTilla.
Airwta. Pneiigalan,
Ya lai toman do laa dan.
Por mi fe, qae holfaria,
8i, como otroi mia yfnaloi.
Pudieaae dar y toaaar :
Maa Teo, Sefiora mia,
Qae redbo doa mil males
Y ninfono poedo dar.
Plrapaladia, Madrid, 1&7S, iSmo^ f. 8SS.
" There ia a good deal of art in
Naharro's verse. The ** Hymenca/'
for instance, is written in twelve-line
stanzas; the eleventh being a Die ^we-
brado^ or broken line. The " Jadnta "
is in twelve-line stanzas, without the
pie quelrrado. The <* CsJamita " is in
flvm/tflof. connected by the pie am-
irado. The << AauUana '"^ b in
gvartetas, connected in the same
way ; and so on. But the number of
feet in each of his lines is not always
eiact, nor are the rhymes always
good, though, on the whole, a hanno-
nious result is generally produced.
Chap. XV.
BA.UT0L0M£ DE TORRES NAHARRO.
277
natural dialogue, and of spirited lyrical poetry. But
several are very gross; two are absurdly composed in
different languages — one of them in four, and the other
in six ; ^* and all contain abundant proo^ in their structure
and tone, of the rudeness of the age that produced them.
In consequence of their little respect for the Church, they
were soon forbidden by the Inquisition in Spain. ^
That they were represented in Italy before they were
printed, *^ and that they were so far circulated before their
author gave them to the press, '* as to be already in some
degree beyond his own control, we know on his own
authority. He intimates, too, that a good many of the
clergy were present at the representation of at least one
of them. " But it is not likely that any of his plays were
acted, except in the same way with Vicente's and Enzina's;
that is, before a moderate number of persons in some great
man's house, ** at Naples, and perhaps at Rome, They,
" He partly apologizes for this in
his Preface to the Reader, by saying
that Itklian words are introduced into
the comedias because of the audiences
in Italy. This will do, as &r as the
Italian is concerned ; but what is to
be said for the other languages that
are used? In the Intr(fyto to the
** Serafina," he makes a jest of the
whole, telling the audience, —
But voa must all keep wide awake.
Or elae in vain you 'll andeitake
To comprehend the differing speech.
Which nere is quite distinct for each ;—
Four langua^^es, as yon will hear,
Castilian wiUi Valencian clear,
And Latin and Italian too ; —
So take care lest they trouble you.
No doubt his camedias were exhi-
bited before only a few persons, who
were able to understanci the various
languages they contained, and found
them only the more amusing for this
variety.
* It is singular, however, that a
very severe passage on the Pope and
the clergy at Rome, in the ** Jacinta,"
was not struck out, ed. 1573, f. 256.
b ; — a proof, among many others, how
capriciously and carelessly the Inqui-
sition acted in such matters. In the
Index of 1667, (p. 114,) only the
** Aquilana " is prohibited.
** As the question, whether Na*
harro's plays were acted in Italy or
not, has been angrily discussed be*
tween Lampillas (Ensayo, Madrid,
1789, 4to., Tom. VI. |)p. 160-167)
and Signorelli (Storia dei Teatri, Na-
poli, 1818, 8vo., Tom. VI. pp. 171,
etc.), in consequence of a rash pas-
sage in Nasarre's Prdloeo to the
plays of Cervantes, (Maorid, 1749,
4to.,) I will copy the orinnal phrase
of Naharro himself, which had es-
caped all the combatants, and in
which he says he used Italian words
in his plays, **aviendo respeto al
ittgar, y ^ las personas, & quien ae
recitaron,** Neither of these learned
persons knew even that the first edi-
tion of the ** Propaladia " was proba-
bly printed in Italy, and that one early
edition was certainly printed there.
** ^^ Las mas destas obrillas an-
davan ya fuera de mi obediencia y
voluntald."
** In the opening of the Introyto
tothe**Trofea."
*^ I am quite aware that, in the
278
mSTORT OF SPANISH UTERATURR.
PnaoD I.
therefore, did not probably produce much effect at first on
the condition of the drama, so far as it was then developed
in Spain. Their influence came in later, and through the
press, when three editions, beginning with that of 1520,
appeared in Seville alone in twenty-five years, curtailed
indeed, and expurgated in the last, but still giving spe-
cimens of dramatic composition much in advance of any-
thing then produced in the country.
But though men like Juan de la Enzina, Gil Vicente,
and Naharro had turned their thoughts towards dramatic
composition, they seem to have had no idea of founding a
popular national drama. For this we must look to the
next period ; since, as late as the end of the reign of Fer-
dinand and Isabella, there is no trace of such a theatre in
Spain.
important passage already cited from
Mendez Silva, on the first acting of
plavs in 1492, we have the words,
'* Afio de 1492 comenzaron en Cas-
tilla las compa&ias li rcpresentar fmfr-
Ucamente comcdias de Juan de la
Enzina ; " but what the word pubU-
camefUe was intended to mean is
shown by the words that follow :
^^fut^ando con dia$ d D, Fadrique
de Ibledo, Enriquez AbmiranU de
CastiHaf y d Dm Biigo Lopez de
Mendoxa itegwuio Duqme del If^tm-
tado,** So that the representations
in the halb and chapels of Uiese great
houses were accounted pubUc repre-
sentations.
Chap. XVI. PBOVEN9AL LITERATUBB IN SPAIN. 279
CHAPTER XVI.
Pbovxv^al Litebatubi ur Spain. — Pbovxkck. — BintouimiANs. — Obiodt
OF THB PROVEN9AIi LaNQUAOS AND LiTBBATDBB. BaBCBLONA. — DiA-
LBCT OY Catalonia. — Abagon. — Tboubadodb Poets in Catalonia and
Abaoon. — Wab of the Albiqenses. — Petbb the Second. — James the
CONQUEBOB AND HIS CuEONiCLE. RaMON MdNTANBB AND BIS CuBO-
NicLE. — Decay of Poetby in Pbovence, and Decay of Pboven9AIi
Pobtby in Spain. — Catalonian Dialect.
Provencal literature appeared in Spain as early as any
portion of the Castilian, with which we have thus far been
exclusively occupied. Its introduction was natural, and,
being intimately connected with the history of political
power in both Provence and Spain, can be at once ex-
plained, at least so far as to account for its prevalence in
the quarter of the Peninsula where, during three centuries,
it predominated, and for its large influence throughout the
rest of the country, both at that time and afterwards.
Provence — or, in other words, that part of the South
of France which extends from Italy to Spain, and which
originally obtained its name in consequence of the con-
sideration it enjoyed as an early and most important pro-
vince of Rome — was singularly fortunate, during the latter
period of the Middle Ages, in its exemption from many
of the troubles of those troubled times. ^ While the great
movement of the Northern nations lasted, Provence was
disturbed chiefly by the Visigoths, who soon passed onward
to Spain, leaving few traces of their character behind
them, and by the Burgundians, the mildest of all the
» F. Diez, Troubadours, Zwickau, 1826, 8?o., p. 6.
280 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbiod I.
Teutonic invaders, who did not reach the South of France
till they had been long resident in Italy, and, when ihey
came, established themselves at once as the permanent
masters of that tempting country.
Greatly favoured in this comparative quiet, which,
though sometimes broken by internal dissension, or by the
ineffectual incursions of their new Arab neighbours, was
nevertheless such as was hardly known elsewhere, and
favoured no less by a soil and climate almost without rivak
in the world, the civilization and refinement of Provence
advanced faster than those of any other portion of Europe.
From the year 879, a large part of it was fortunately
constituted into an independent government; and, what
was very remarkable, it continued under the same family
till 1092, two hundred and thirteen years.* Durmg this
second period, its territories were again much spared from
the confusion that almost constantly pressed their borders
and threatened their tranquillity; for the troubles that
then shook the North of Italy did not cross the Alps and
the Var ; the Moorish power, so far from making new
aggressions, maintained itself with difficulty in Catalonia ;
and the wars and convulsions in the North of France,
from the time of the first successors of Charlemagne to
that of Philip Augustus, flowed rather in the opposite
direction, and furnished, at a safe distance, occupation for
tempers too fierce to endure idleness.
In the course of these two centuries, a language sprang
up in the South and along the Mediterranean, com-
pounded, according to the proportions of their power and
refinement, from that spoken by the Burgundians and fit)m
the degraded Latin of the country, and slowly and quietly
took the place of both. With this new language appeared,
as noiselessly, about the middle of the tenth century, a
* Sismondi, Histoirc dcs Fran9ai8, Paris, 1821, 8vo., Tom. III. pp.
23D, etc.
Chap. XVI. DIALECT OF CATALONIA. 281
new literature, suited to the climate, the age, and the
manners that produced it, and one which, for nearly three
hundred years, seemed to be advancing towards a grace
and refinement such as had not been known since the fall
of the Komans.
ITius things continued under twelve princes of the Bur-
gundian race, who make little show in the wars of their
times, but who seem to have governed their states with a
moderation and gentleness not to have been expected
amidst the general disturbance of the world. This family
became extinct, in the male branch, in 1092 ; and in
1113 the crown of Provence was transferred, by the mar-
riage of its heir, to Raymond Berenger, the third Count
of Barcelona. ' The Proven9al poets, many of whom were
noble by birth, and all of whom, as a class, were attached
to the court and its aristocracy, naturally followed their
liege lady, in considerable numbers, from Aries to Barce-
lona, and willingly established themselves in her new capi-
tal, under a prince full of knightly accomplishments and
yet not disinclined to the arts of peace.
Nor was the change for them a great one. The Py-
renees made then, as they make now, no very serious
difference between the languages spoken on their opposite
declivities ; similarity of pursuits had long before induced
a similarity of manners in the population of Barcelona and
Marseilles ; and if the Proven9als had somewhat more of
gentleness and culture, the Catalonians, from the share
they had taken in the Moorish wars, possessed a more
strongly marked character, and one developed in more
manly proportions. * At the very commencement of the
" E. A. Schmidt, Greschichte Ara- c. 9.) Whatever relates to its early
goniensim Mittelalter, Leipzig, 1828, power and glory may be found in
8vo., p. 92. Capmany, (Mcmorias de la Antigua
* mrcelona was a prize often Ciudad de Barcelona, Madrid, 1779-
fought for successfully by Moors and 1792, 4 tom., 4to.,) and esi)ecially
Christians, but it was finally rescued in the curious documents and notes in
from the misbelievers in 985 or 986. Tom. II. and IV.
(Zurita, Analcs de Aragon, Lib. I.
2S2 HIBTORT OF SPANISH LrrERATURE. PwodI.
twelfth century, therefore, we may fidrly consider a Pro-
yen9al refinement to have been introduced into the north-
eastern corner of Spain ; and it is worth notice, that this
is just about the period when^ as we have ahready seen,
the ultimately national school of poetry b^an to show
itself in quite the opposite comer of the Peninsula, amidst
the mountains of Biscay and Asturias. *
Political causes, however, similar to those which first
brought the spirit of Provence from Aries and Marseilles
to Barcelona, soon carried it farther onward towards the
centre of Spain. In 1137 the Counts of Barcelona ob-
tained by marriage the kingdom of Aragon ; and though
they did not, at once, remove the seat of their government
to Saragossa, they early spread through their new terri-
tories some of the refinement for which they were indebted
to Provence. This remarkable family, whose power was
now so fast stretching up to the North, possessed, at differ-
ent times, during nearly three centuries, different portions
of territory on both sides of the Pyrenees, generally main-
taining a control over a large part of the North-east of
Spain and of the South of France. Between 1229 and
1253 the most distinguished of its members gave the widest
extent to its empire by broad conquests from the Moors ;
but later the power of the kings of Aragon became gra-
dually circumscribed, and their territory diminished, by
marriages, successions, and military disasters. Under
eleven princes, however, in the direct line, and three more
in the indirect, they maintained their right to the king-
dom down to the year 1479, when, in the person of Fer-
dinand, it was united to Castile, and the solid foundations
were laid on which the Spanish monarchy has ever since
rested.
With this slight outline of the course of political power
* The members of the French France, (Paris, 4to., Tom. XVI.
Academy, in their continuation of 1824, p. 196,) trace it back a little
the Benedictine Hist. Litt. dc U earlier.
Chap. XVI. PR0yEN9AL POETS IN SPAIN. 283
in the north-eastern part of Spain, it will be easy to trace
the origin and history of the literature that prevsdled there
from the beginning of the twelfth to the middle of the
fifteenth century ; a literature which was introduced from
Provence, and retained the Proven9al character, till it
came in contact with that more vigorous spirit which,
during the same period, had been advancing firom the
north-west, and afterwards succeeded in giving its tone to
the literature of the consolidated monarchy. *
The character of the old Proven9al poetry is the same
on both sides of the Pyrenees. In general, it is graceful
and devoted to love ; but sometimes it becomes involved
in the politics of the time, and sometimes it runs into a
severe and unbecoming satire. In Catalonia, as well as
in its native home, it belonged much to the court ; and
the highest in rank and power are the earliest and fore-
most on its lists. Thus, both the princes who first wore
the united crowns of Barcelona and Provence, and who
reigned from II 13 to 1 162, are often set down as Limousin
or Provencal poets, though with slight claims to the
honour, since not a verse has been published that can be
attributed to either of them. ''
Alfonso the Second, however, who received the crown
of Aragon in 1162, and wore it till 1196, is admitted
* Catalan patriotism has denied all los Autores Catalanes,*' etc., by D.
this, and claimed that the Provencal Felix Torres Amat, Bishop of As-
literature was derived from Catalonia. torga, etc., (Barcelona, 1836, 8vo.,^
See Torres Amat, Pr61ogo to ** Me- is, however, an indispensable booK
morias de los Escri tores Catalanes," for the history of the literature of Ca-
and elsewhere. But it is only neces- talonia ; for its author, descended
sarjr to read what its friends luive said from one of the old and distinguished
in defence of this position, to be families of the country, and nephew
satisfied that it is untenable. The of the learned Archbishop Amat, who
simple fact, that the literature in died in 1824, has devoted much of
question existed a full century in Pro- his life and of his ample means to
vence before there is any pretence to collect materials for it. It contains
ckiim its existence in Catalonia, is more mistakes than it should ; but a
dedsive of the controversy, if there gp'eat deal of its information can be ob-
really be a controversy about the tained nowhere else in a printed form,
matter. The ** Memorias para ayudar ' See the articles in Torres Amat,
d formar un Diccionario Critico de Memorias, pp. 104, 106.
284
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
PoaoD I.
by all to have been a Troubadour, Of him we still
possess a few not inelegant cohlas^ or stanzas, addressed
to his lady, which are curious from the circumstance that
they constitute the oldest poem in the modem dialects
of Spain, whose author is known to us ; and one that is
probably as old, or nearly as old, as any of the anonymous
poetry of Castile and the North. * Like the other sove-
reigns of his age, who loved and practised the art of the
gai sahevj Alfonso collected poets about his person.
Pierre Rogiers was at his court, and so were Pierre
Raimond de Toulouse, and Aimferic de P&guilain, who
mourned his patron's death in verse, — all three famous
Troubadours in their time, and all three honoured and
favoured at Barcelona. • There can be no doubt, there-
fore, that a Proven9al spirit was already established and
spreading in that part of Spain before the end of the
twelfth century.
In the beginning of the next century, external cir-
cumstances imparted a great impulse to this spirit in
Aragon. From 1209 to 1229, the shameful war which
' The pp^m is in Raynouard, Trou-
badours, Tom. III. p. 118. It be-
gins—
Per nuntas gniiaa m* et daU
Joys e deport e aoUtx.
The life of its author is in Zurita,
*» Analcs de Aragon " (Lib. II.) ; but
the few literary notices needed of
him are best found in Latassa, ** Bi-
blioteca Antigua de los f^cri tores
Aragoneses," (Zaragoza, 1796, 8vo.,
Tom. I. p. 176,) and in " Ilistoire
Litt^raire de la France " (Paris, 4to.,
Tom. XV., 1820, p. 168). As to
the word coblaSy I cannot but think
— notwithstanding all the refined dis-
cussions about it in Raynouard,
(Tom. II. pp. 174-178,) and Diez,
** Troubadours," (p. Ill and note,1
— that it was quite synonymous witn
the Spanish coploif and may, for all
common purposes, be translated by
our English stanzas^ or even some-
times by coiqDlets,
• For Pierre Rogiers, see Ray-
nouard, Troubadours, Tom. V., p.
830, Tom. III. pp. 27, etc., with
Millot, Hist. Litt. des Troubadours,
Paris, 1774, 12mo., Tom. I. pp. 103,
etc., and the Hist Litt. de la France,
Tom. XV. p. 469. For Pierre Rai-
mond de Toulouse, see Raynooard,
Tom. V. p. 322, and Tom, III. p.
120, with Hist. Litt. de la France,
Tom. XV. p. 467, and Crescimbeni,
Istoria dolla Volgar Poesia, (Roma,
1710, 4to., Tom. IL p. 66,) where,
on the authority of a manuscript in
the Vatican, he says of Pierre Rai-
mond, ** And6 in corte del Re Al-
fonso d' Ara^ona, che i'accolse e molto
onor6." For Aim^ric de P^ui-
lain, see Hist. Litt de la France,
Paris, 4to., Tom. XVIIL, 1836,
p. 684.
Chap. XVI. PROVENCAL POETS IN SPAIN. 285
gave birth to the Inquisition was carried on with ex-
traordinary cruelty and fiiry against the Albigenses; a
religious sect in Provence accused of heresy, but per-
secuted rather by an implacable political ambition. To
this sect — which, in some points, opposed the preten-
sions of the See of Rome, and was at last exterminated
by a crusade under the Papal authority — belonged nearly
all the contemporary Troubadours, whose poetry is full
of their sufferings and remonstrances.^® In their great
distress, the principal ally of the Albigenses and Trou-
badours was Peter the Second of Aragon, who, in 1213,
perished nobly fighting in their cause at the disastrous
battle of Muret When, therefore, the Troubadours of
Provence were compelled to escape from the burnt and
bloody ruins of their homes, not a few of them hastened
to the friendly court of Aragon, sure of finding them-
selves protected, and their art held in honour, by princes
who were, at the same time, poets.
Among those who thus appeared in Spain in the time
of Peter the Second were Hugues de Saint Cyr ; " Az6-
mar le Noir ; " Pons Barba ; " Raimond de Miraval,
who joined in the cry urging the king to the defence of
the Albigenses, in which he perished ; ^* and Perdigon, ^*
who, after being munificently entertained at his court, be-
came, like Folquet de Marseille, *• a traitor to the cause
*• Sismondi (Hist, des Francais, " Raynouard, Troub., Tom. V. p.
Paris, 8vo., Tom. VI. and VII., 222, Tom. III. p. 830. Millot, Hist,
1623, 1826) ^ves an ample account Tom. II. p. 174.
of the cruelties and horrors of the " Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom.
war of the Albigenses, and Llorente XVIII. p. 686.
(HistoiredeTInquisition, Paris, 1817, *• Ibid., p. 644.
Svo., Tom. I. p. 43) shows the con- ** Raynouard, Troub., Tom. V. pp.
ncxion of that war with the origin of 382, 386. Hist. Litt. de la France,
the Inquisition. The fact that neariv Tom. XVII. pp. 466-467.
all the Troubadours took part with ^ Hist. Litt de U France, Tom.
the persecuted Albigenses, is equally XVIII. pp. 603-606. Millot, Hist.,
notorious. Histoire Litt. de la France, Tom. I. p. 428.
Tom. XVIII. p. 688, and Fauriel, *• For this cruel and false chief
Introduction to the Histoire de la among the crusaders, praised bv Pe-
Croisade centre les Hdr^tiques Albi- trarca (^Trionfo d' Amore, C. IV.) and
geois, Paris, 1837, 4to., p. xv. by Dante (Pared., IX. 94, etc.),
286 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE. Pokiod I.
he had espoused, and openly exulted in thei king's untimely
fate. But none of the poetical followers of Peter the
Second did him such honour as the author of the curious
and long ]K)em of " The War of the Albigenses," in
which much of the king of Aragon's life is recorded, and
a minute account given of his disastrous deatL ^ All,
however, except Ferdigon and Folquet, regarded him with
gratitude, as their patron and as a poet, ^^ who, to use the
language of one of them, made himself ^^ their head and the
head of their honoims.** "
The glorious reign of Jayme or James the Conqueror,
which followed, and extended from 1213 to 1276, exhibits
the same poetical character with that of the less fortunate
reign of his immediate predecessor. He protected the
Troubadours, and the Troubadours, in return, praised and
honoured him. Guillaume An&lier addressed a sirvente to
him as "the young king of Aragon, who defends mercy
and discountenances wrong." ^ Nat de Mons sent him
two poetical letters, one of which gives him advice concern-
ing the composition of his court and government '^ Ar-
naud Plagues offered a chanso to his fair queen Eleanor of
Castile ; " and Mathieu de Querci, who survived the great
see Hist Litt. de la France, Tom. first part of it, and the aocoimt of his
XVIII. p. 594. His poetry is in death at tt. 3061, etc
Raynouard, Troub., Tom. III. pp. ** What remains of his poetry is in
149-162. Raynouard, Troub., Tom. V. pp. 290,
»» This important poem, admirably etc., and in Hist. Litt de la Frwicc,
edited by M. Charles Fauriel, one of Tom. XVII., 1832, pp. 443-447,
the soundest and most genial French where a sufficient notice is giTen of his
scholars of the nineteenth century, is life,
in a series of works on the history of
Fnu.ce published bv order of the » S'i.^lTSSTir.SIJ
king of France, and begun under the vtma Bui».
auspices of M. Guizot, and by his re- •. tt. ^ t '-l^ j i i? m
commendation, when he was Minister ^ "^5"*' ■^'": j*® %J^^^' ^T'
of Public Instruction. It is entitled XVIII. p. 663. Ihe poem be-
Histoire de la Croisade centre les S"^
H^rdtiques Albigeois, dcrite en Vers a; jore rei d* Anfo, que mtem
Froveniaux, par un Po^te contempo- »**"* * *^' • ™*^*^ *^«
rain," Paris, 1837, 4to., pp. 738. It " MiUot, Hist des Troubadours,
consists of 9678 verses, — the notices Tom. II. pp. 186, etc
of Peter II. occurring chiefly in the " Hist Litt de la France, Tom.
Chap. XVI. JABfES THE CONQUEROR. 287
conqueror, poured forth at his grave the sorrows of his
Christian compatriots at the loss of the great champion
on whom they had depended in their struggle with the
Moors." At the same period, too, Hugues de Mata-
plana, a noble Catalan, held at his castle courts of love
and poetical contests, in which he himself bore a large
part ; " while one of his neighbours, Guillaume de Ber-
g^dan, no less distinguished by poetical talent and ancient
descent, but of a less honourable nature, indulged himself
in a style of verse more gross than can easily be found
elsewhere in the Troubadour poetry. ** All, however, the
bad and the good, — those who, like Sordel *• and Bernard
de Kovenac, *^ satirized the king, and those who, like Pierre
Cardenal, enjoyed his favour and praised him, *• — all show
that the Troubadours, in his reign, continued to seek pro-
tection in Catalonia and Aragon, where they had so long
been accustomed to find it, and that their poetry was con-
stantly taking deeper root in a soil where its nourishment
was now become so sure.
James himself has sometimes been reckoned among the
poets of his age.'* It is possible, though none of his
poetry has been preserved, that he really was such ; for
metrical composition was easy in the flowing language he
spoke, and it had evidently grown common at his court,
where the examples of his father and grandfather, as
Troubadours, would hardly be without their effiect But
however this may be, he loved letters, and left behind
him a large prose work, more in keeping than any poetry
with his character as a wise monarch and successful con-
XVIII. p. 635, and Raynouard, •« MUlot, Hist, Tom. II. p. 92.
Troub., Tom. V. p. 60. ^ Raynouard, Troub., Tom. lY.
■• Raynouard, Troub., Tom. V. pp. 203-206.
pp. 261, 262. Hist. Litt. de la » Ibid., Tom. V. p. 302. HistLitt.
Irance, Tom. XIX., Paris, 1838, p. de la France, Tom. XX., 1842, p. 674.
607. • Quadrio (Storia d* Ogni roesia,
" Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. Bologna, 1741, 4to., Tom. II. p. 132)
XVIII. pp. 671-676. and Zurita (Anales, Lib. X. c. 42)
" Ibid., pp. 676-679. state it, but not with proof.
288 mSTORY OP SPANISH UTERATURE. Pimod I.
queror, whose legislation and government were fiur in ad-
vance of the condition of his subjects. ^
The work here referred to is a chronicle or commentary
on the principal events of his reign, divided into four
parts ; — the first of which is on the troubles that followed
his accession to the throne, after a long minority, with the
rescue of Majorca and Minorca from the Moors, between
1229 and 1233; the second is on the greater conquest of
the kingdom of Valencia, which was substantially ended
in 1239, so that the hated misbelievers never again ob-
tained any firm foothold in all the north-eastern part of
the Peninsula ; the third is on the war James prosecuted
in Murcia, till 1266, for the benefit of his kinsman, Al-
fonso the Wise, of Castile ; and the last is on the embassies
he received from the Khan of Tartary, and Michael Pa-
laeologus of Constantinople, and on his own attempt, in
1268, to lead an expedition to Palestine, which was de-
feated by storms. The story, however, is continued to the
end of his reign by slight notices, which, except the last,
preserve throughout the character of an autobiography;
the very last, which, in a few words, records his death
at Valencia, being the only portion written in the third
person.
From this Chronicle of James the Conqueror there was
early taken an account of the conquest of Valencia, begin-
ning in the most simple-hearted manner with the conversa-
tion the king held at Alcafli9 (Alcailizas) with Don Blasco
de Alagon and the Master of the Hospitallers, Nuch de
Follalquer, who ui^e him, by his successes in Minorca, to
•*• In the Guia del Comercio de Jay me was seven feet high, — and by
Madrid, 1848, is an account of the dis- the mark of an arrow- wound in his
interment, at Poblet, in 1846, of the forehead which he received at Valen-
remains of several royal personages cia, and which was still perfectly dis-
who had been loner buried there ; tinct. An eyewitness dedared that
among which the body of Don Jayme, a painter might have found in his
afltcr a period of six hundred and se- remains the general outline of his
venty years, was found remarkably physiognomy. Faro Industrial de k
E reserved. It was easily distinguished Uabana, 6 Abril, 1848.
y its size, — for when alive Don
Chap. XVI. JAMES THE CONQUEBOR. 289
undertake the greater achievement of the conquest of Va-
lencia; and ending with the troubles that followed the
partition of the spoils after the fall of that rich kingdom
and its capital. This last work was printed in 1515, in a
magnificent volume, where it serves for an appropriate
introduction to the Foros, or privileges, granted to the city
of Valencia from the time of its conquest down to the end
of the reign of Ferdinand the Catholic;'* but the complete
work, the Chronicle, did not appear till 1557, when it was
published to satisfy a requisition of Philip the Second. '*
It is written in a simple and manly style, which, with-
out making pretensions to elegance, often sets before us
the events it records with a living air of reality, and some-
times shows a happiness in manner and phraseology which
effort seldom reaches. Whether it was undertaken in con-
sequence of the impulse given to such vernacular histories
by Alfonso the Tenth of Castile, in his " General Chro-
nicle of Spain," or whether the intimations which gave
birth to that remarkable Chronicle came rather from
Aragon, we cannot now determine. Probably both works
were produced in obedience to the demands of their age ;
•* ltd first title is " Aureum Opus Rational de la insigne Ciutat de Va-
Regalium Privilegiorum Civitatis et lencia, hon stava custodita." It was
Regni Valentiae," etc. ; but the work printed under the order of the Jurats
itself begins, ** Comenca la conq^uesta of Valencia by the widow of Juan
Serlo serenisimo e Catnolich Pnncep Mey, in folio, in 1667. The Rational
e inmortal memoria, Don Jaume, being the proper archive-keeper, the
etc. It is not divided into chapters nor Jurats being the council of the city,
paged, but it has ornamental capitals and the work being dedicated to
at the beginning of its paragraphs, and Philip II., who asked to see it in
fills 42 urge pages in folio, double print, all needful assurance is given of
colunuis, litt. goth., and was printed, its genuineness. Each part is divided
as its colophon shows, at Valencia, in into very short chapters ; the first con-
1616, by Diez de Gumiel. taining one hundred and ^ye, the se-
■• Rodriguez, Biblioteca Valentina, cond one hundred and fifteen, and so
Valencia, 1747, fol., p. 674. Its on. A series of letters, by Jos. Villa-
title is ** Chr6nica o Commentari del roya, printed at Valencia in 1800,
Gloriosissim e Invictissim Rey En (^8vo.,) to prove that James was not
Jacme, Rey d' Arag6, de Mallorques, the author of this Chronicle, are in-
e de Valencia, Compte de Barcelona e genious, learned, and well written,
de Urgell e de Muntpeiller, feita e but do not, I think, establish their
sen taper aquell en sa llengua natural, author's position.
e treita del Archiu del molt magnifich
VOL. I. V
290
HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period I.
but still, as both must have been written at nearly the
same time, and as the two kings were united by a family
alliance and constant intercourse, a full knowledge of
whatever relates to these two curious records of diflFerent
parts of the Peninsula would hardly fail to show us some
connexion between them. In that case, it is by no means
impossible that the precedence in point of time would be
found to belong to the Chronicle of the King of Aragon,
who was not only older than Alfonso, but was frequently
his wise and eflScient counsellor. "
But James of Aragon was fortunate in having yet
another chronicler, Kamon Muntaner, bom at Peralada,
nine years before the death of that monarch ; a Catalan
gentleman, who in his old age, after a life of great adven-
ture, felt himself to be specially summoned to write an
account of his own times. ^ " For one day," he says,
^ Alfonso was bom in 1221 and
died in 1284, and Jayme I., whose
name, it should be noted, is also spelt
Jaume, Jaime, and Jacme, was born
in 1208 and died in 1276. It is pro-
bable, as I haye already said, that
Alfonso^s Chronicle was written a
little before 1260; but that period
was twenty-one years after the date
of all the facts recorded in Jayme's
account of the conquest of Valencia.
In connexion with the question of the
precedence of these two Chronicles
may be taken the circumstance, that
it has been believed by some persons
that Jayme attempted to make Catalan
the language of the law and of all
public records, thirty years before the
similar attempt already noticed was
made by Alfonso X. in relation to the
Castilian. Villanueva, Viage Literario
d las Iglesias de Espana, Valencia,
1821, Tom. VII. p. 196.
Another work of the king remains
in manuscript It b a moral and phi-
losophical treatise, called ** Lo Libre
de la Saviesa," or The Book of Wis-
dom, of which an account may be
found in Castro, Biblioteca EspaHola,
Tom. II. p. 606.
•* Probably the best notice of Mun-
taner is to be found in Antonio, Bib.
Vetus (ed. Bayer, Vol. II. p. 146).
There is, however, a more ample one
in Torres Amat, Memorias, (p. 437,)
and there are other notices elsewhere.
The title of his Chronicle is ** CnSnica
o Descripcio dels Fets e Hazanyes del
Incl3rt Key Don Jaume Primer, Key
Daragb, de Mallorques, e de Valencia,
Compte de Barcelona, e de Munpes-
ller, e de molts de sos Descendents,
feta per lo magnifich En Bjunoo
Muntaner, lo qual senri axi al dit
inclyt Rey Don Jaume com i sos
Fills e Desccndents, es troba present
d las Coses contengudes en la present
Historia.*' There are two old ^itioos
of it ; the first, Valencia, 1568, and
the second, Barcelona, 1662 ; both in
folio, and the last consbting of 248
leaves. It was evidently much used
and trusted by Zurita. (See bis
Anales, Lib. Vll. c. 1, etc.) A
neat edition of it in large 8vo., edited
by Karl Lanz, was published in 1844,
by the Stuttgard Verein, and a trans-
lation of it into (rerman, by the same
accomplished scholar, appeared at
Leipzig in 1842, in 2 toIs. 8to.
Chap. XVI. RAMON MUNTANER 291
" being in my country-house, called Xilvella, in the
garden-plain of Valencia, and sleeping in my bed, there
came unto me in vision a venerable old man, clad in white
raiment, who said unto me, ^ Arise, and stand on thy feet,
Muntaner, and think how to declare the great wonders
thou hast seen, which God hath brought to pass in the
wars where thou wast ; for it hath seemed well pleasing to
Him that through thee should all these things be made
manifest' " At first, he tells us, he was disobedient to the
heavenly vision, and unmoved by the somewhat flattering
reasons vouchsafed him, why he was elected to chronicle
matters so notable. " But another day, in that same
place," he goes on, ** I beheld again that venerable man,
who said unto me, * O my son, what doest thou ? Why
dost thou despise my commandment ? Arise, and do even
as I have bidden thee ! And know of a truth, if thou
so doest, that thou and thy children and thy kinsfolk
and thy friends shall find favour in the sight of God/ *'
Being thus warned a second time, he undertook the work.
It was, he tells us, the fifteenth day of May, 1325, when
he began it; and when it was completed, as it notices
events which happened in April, 1328, it is plain that its
composition must have occupied at least three years.
It opens, with much simplicity, with a record of the
earliest important event he remembered, a visit of the
great conqueror of Valencia at the house of his father,
when he was himself a mere child. ^ The impression of
" " E per 90 comen^ al fcyt del the said Lord Kint was in the said
dit senyor, Rev En Jacme, com vol city of Peralada, where I was bom,
viu, e asenyaladament esscnt yo fadrf, and tarried in the house of my father,
e lo dit senyor Rey essent d la dita Don John Muntaner, which was one
Vila de Peralada hon yo naxqui, e of the largest houses in that place,
posa en lalberch de mon pare En Joan and was at the head of the square."
Muntaner, qui era dels majors al- ^n, which I have translated X)ow, is
berchs daquell lloch, e eraalcapde the corresponding title in Catalan,
la pla<?a," (Cap. II.,)—** And there- See Andrev Bosch, Titols de Honor
fore I begin with the fact of the said de Cathalunya, etc., Perpinya, folio,
Lord Don James, as I saw him, and 1628, p. 574.
namely, when I was a little boy, and
u2
292 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
such a visit on a boyish imagination would naturally be
deep ; — in the case of Muntaner it seems to have been
peculiarly so. From that moment the king became to
him, not only the hero he really was, but something more ;
one whose very birth was miraculous, and whose entire
life was filled with more grace and favour than God had
ever before shown to living man ; for, as the fond old
chronicler will have it, " He was the goodliest prince in
the world, and the wisest and the most gracious and the
most upright, and one that was more loved than any king
ever was of all men ; both of his own subjects and strangers,
and of noble gentlemen everywhere," **
The life of the Conqueror, however, serves merely as
an introduction to the work ; for Muntaner announces his
purpose to speak of little that was not within his own
knowledge; and of the Conqueror's reign he could re-
member only the concluding glories. His Chronicle,
therefore, consists chiefly of what happened in the time
of four princes of the same house, and especially of Peter
the Third, his chief hero. He ornaments his story, how-
ever, once with a poem two hundred and forty lines long,
which he gave to James the Second and his son Alfonso,
by way of advice and caution, when the latter was about
to embark for the conquest of Sardinia and Corsica. "
The whole work is curious, and strongly marked with
•• This passage reminds us of the o, the second in entj the third in ayUj
beautiful character of Sir Launcelot, and so on. It sets forth the counsel
near the end of the **MorteDarthur " of Muntaner to the king and prince
and therefore I transcribe the simple on the subject of the conquest they
and strong words of the original: **E had projected; counsel which the
apres ques v-ae le pus bell princep del chronicler says was partly followed,
mon, e lo pus savi, e lo pus gracios, e and so the expedition turned out well,
lo pus dreturer, e cell qui fo mes amat but that it would hare turned out
de totes gents, axi dels sens sotsmesos better if the advice had been followed
com daltres estranys e privades gents, entirely. How good Muntaner's
que Rey qui hancn fos." Cap. VII. counsel was we cannot now judge, but
^ This poem is in Cap. CCLXXII. his poetry is certainly nought. It is
of the (Jhronicle, and consists of in the most artificial style used by the
twelve stanzas, each of twenty lines. Troubadours, and is well called by its
and each having all its twenty lines author a sermo. He says, however,
in one rhyme, the first rhyme being in that it was actually given to the king.
Chap. XVI. RAMON MUNTANER. 293
the character of its author; — a man brave, loving ad-
venture and show; courteous and loyal; not without
intellectual training, yet no scholar ; and, though faithful
and disinterested, either quite unable to conceal, or quite
willing, at every turn, to exhibit, his good-natured personal
vanity. His fidelity to the family of Aragon was ad-
mirable. He was always in their service; often in
captivity for them; and engaged at different times in
no less than thirty-two battles in defence of their rights,
or in furtherance of their conquests from the Moors.
His life, indeed, was a life of knightly loyalty, and
nearly all the two hundred and ninety-eight chapters of
his Chronicle are as full of its spirit as his heart was.
In relating what he himself saw and did, his statements
seem to be accurate, and are certainly lively and fresh ;
but elsewhere he sometimes falls into errors of date, and
sometimes exhibits a good-natured credulity that makes
him believe many of the impossibilities that were related
to him. In his gay spirit and love of show, as well as in
his simple, but not careless, style, he reminds us of
Froissart, especially at the conclusion of the whole
Chronicle, which he ends, evidently to his own satisfaction,
with an elaborate account of the ceremonies observed at
the coronation of Alfonso the Fourth at Saragossa, which he
attended in state as syndic of the city of Valencia ; the
last event recorded in the work, and the last we hear of its
knightly old author, who was then near his grand climacteric.
During the latter part of the period recorded by this
Chronicle, a change was taking place in the literature
of which it is an important part The troubles and con-
fusion that prevailed in Provence, from the time of the
cruel persecution of the Albigenses and the encroaching
spirit of the North, which, from the reign of Philip Au-
gustus, was constantly pressing down towards the Mediter-
ranean, were more than the genial, but not hardy, spirit
of the Troubadours could resist. Many of them, there-
294 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. PniOD I.
fore, fled; others yielded in despair; and all were dis-
couraged. From the end of the thirteenth century, their
songs are rarely heard on the soil that gave them birth
three hundred years before. With the beginning of the
fourteenth, the purity of their dialect disappears. A
little later, the dialect itself ceases to be cultivated. **
As might be expected, the delicate plant, whose flower
was not permitted to expand on its native soil, did not
long continue to flourish in that to which it was trans-
planted. For a time, indeed, the exiled Troubadours,
who resorted to the court of James the Conqueror and
his father, gave to Saragossa and Barcelona something of
the poetical grace that had been so attractive at Aries and
Marseilles. But both these princes were obliged to protect
themselves from the suspicion of sharing the heresy with
which so many of the Troubadours they sheltered were
infected ; and James, in 1233, among other severe ordi-
nances, forbade to the laity the Limousin Bible, which
had been recently prepared for them, and the use of
which would have tended so much to confirm their
language and form their literature. '• His successors,
however, continued to favour the spirit of the minstrels
of Provence. Peter the Third was numbered amongst
them ; ^^ and if Alfonso the Third and James the Second
were not themselves poets, a poetical spirit was found
about their persons and in their court ; ^^ and when Alfonso
the Fourth, the next in succession, was crowned at Sara-
gossa in 1328, we are told that several poems of Peter,
" Raynouard, in Tom. III., shows critores Aragonescs, Tom. I. p. 242.
this; and more fully in Tom. V., in Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XX.
the list of poets, so does the Hist. p. 529.
Litt. de la France, Tom. XVIII. *' Antonio, Bib. Vetus, ed. Bayer,
See, also, Fauriers Introduction to Tom. II. Lib. VIII. c. vi. viL, and
the poem on the Crusade against the Amat, p. 207. But Serveri of Ginma,
Albigenses, pp. xv., xvi. about 1277, mourns the good old
^ Castro, Biblioteca Espanola, days of James I., (Hist. Litt. de la
Tom. I. p. 411, and Schmidt, Gesch. France, Tom. XX. p. 662,) as if
Aragoniens im Mittelalter, p. 466. poets were, when he wrote, begimiing
^ Latassa, Bib. Antigua de los Es- to fail at the court of Aiagon.
Chap. XVI. DECAY OF PROVENCAL POETRY IN SPAIN. 295
the king's brother, were recited in honour of the occasion,
one of which consisted of seven hundred verses."
But these are among the later notices of Proven9al
literature in the north-eastern part of Spain, where it began
now to be displaced by one taking its hue rather from the
more popular and peculiar dialect of the country. What this
dialect was has already been intimated. It was commonly
called the Catalan or Catalonian, from the name of the
country, but probably, at the time of the conquest of Barce-
lona from the Moors in 985, differed very little from the Pro-
vencal spoken at Perpignan, on the other side of the Pyre-
nees. ^^ As, however, the Proven9al became more culti-
vated and gentle, the neglected Catalan grew stronger and
ruder; and when the Christian power was extended, in
1118, to Saragossa, and in 1239 to Valencia, the modifica-
tions which the indigenous vocabularies underwent, in order
to suit the character and condition of the people, tended
rather to confirm the local dialects than to accommodate
them to the more advanced language of the Troubadours.
Perhaps, if the Troubadours had maintained their
ascendency in Provence, their influence would not easily
have been overcome in Spain : at least there are indications
that it would not have disappeared so soon. Alfonso the
Tenth of Castile, who had some of the more distinguished
of them about him, imitated the Proven9al poetry, if he
^ Muntaner, Crdnica, ed. 1562, when Luitprand wrote, which it is
foL, if. 247, 248. not improbable they did, though only
^ Du Cange, Glossarium Mediae in their rudest elements, amone the
et Infimse Latinitatis, Parisiis, 1733, Christians in that part of Spain,
fol., Tom. I., Prsfatio, sect. 34-36. Some good remarks on the connexion
Rarnouard (Troub., Tom. I. pp. xii. of the South of France with the
and ziii.) would carry back both the South of Spain, and their common
Catalonian and Valencian dialects to idiom, may be found in Capmany,
A. D. 728 ; but the authority of Luit- Mcmorias Hist<5ricas de Barcelona,
prand, on which he relies, is not (Madrid, 1779-92, 4to.,) Parte I.,
sufficient, especially as Luitprand Introd., and the notes on it. The
shows that he believed these dialects second and fourth volumes of thia
to have existed also in the time of valuable historical work furnish many
Strabo. The most that should be in- documents both curious and important
ferred from the passage Raynouard for the illustration of the Catalan
cites is, that they existed about 960, language.
296 : HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period
did not write it ; and even earlier, in the time of Alfonso
the Ninth, who died in 1214, there are traces of its pro-
gress in the heart of the country that are not to be mis-
taken." But failing in its strength at home, it failed
abroad. The engrafted fruit perished with the stock from
which it was originally taken. After the opening of the
fourteenth century we find no genuinely Proven9al poetry
in Castile, and after the middle of that century it begins
to recede from Catalonia and Aragon, or rather to be cor-
rupted by the harsher, but hardier, dialect spoken there by
the mass of the people. Peter the Fourth, who reigned
in Aragon from 1336 to 1387, shows the conflict and
admixture of the two influences in such portions of his
poetry as have been published, as well as in a letter he
addressed to his son;^^ — a confiision or transition which
we should probably be able to trace with some distinctness,
if we had before us the curious dictionary of rhymes, still
extant in its original manuscript, which was made at this
king's command, in 1371, by Jacme March, a member of
the poetical family that was aft^erwards so much distin-
guished. ^ In any event, there can be no reasonable doubt
that, soon after the middle of the fourteenth century, if not
earlier, the proper Catalan dialect began to be perceptible
in the poetry and prose of its native country. *^
** Millot, Hist, des Troubadours, memorandum by himself, declaring
Tom. II. pp. 186-201. Hist. Litt. that ho bought it at Barcelona, in
de la France, Tom. XVIII. pp. 688, June, 1636, for 12 dineros, the ducat
634, 635. Diez, Troubadours, pp. then being worth 588 .dineros. See,
75, 227, and 331-350 ; but it may be also, the notes of Cerdi y Rico to the
doubted whether Riauier did not *' Diana Enamorada*' of Montemayor,
write the answer of Alfonso, as well 1802, pp. 487-490 and 293-295.
as the petition to him given b^ Diez. *^ Bruce- Whyte (Histoire des
** Bouterwek, Hist, de la Lit. Es- Langues Romanes et de leur Litt6«-
riiola, traducida por Cortina, Tom. ture, Paris, 1841, 8vo., Tom. II. pp.
p. 162. Latassa, Bib. Antigua, 406-414) gives a striking extract Irom
Tom. II. pp. 25-38. a manuscript in the Royal Libraiy,
^ Bouterwek, trad. Cortina, p. 177. Paris, which shows this mixture of
This manuscript, it may be cunous to the Proven9al and Catalan Teiy
notice, was once owned by Ferdinand plainly. He implies that it is from
Columbus, son of the great discoverer, the middle of the fourteenth century,
and is still to be found amidst the but he does not prove it.
ruins of his library in Seville, with a
Chap. XVII. FLORAL GAMES AT TOULOUSE. 297
CHAPTER XVII.
Ekdbayoubs to bsyivx thx PsoyxN9AL Spibtt. — Flobai. Games at Tou-
UOUSE, — CON8I8TOBT OF THE GaTA ScIENCIA AT BaBCELOHA. CATAliAJT
AND YAIiENCIAH PoETBT. — Au8IA8 MaBCH. — JaUME RoIO. — DeCUHB OF
THI8 PoETBT. — INFLUENCE OF CaSTILE. — PoETICAX C0NTE8T AT VALENCIA.
— Valenciak Poetb who wbote ur Castiuan. — Pbeyaijbnce of the
Castiuajt.
The failure of the Proven9al language, and especially the
fitilure of the Proven9al culture, were not looked upon with
indifference in the countries on either side of the Pyrenees,
where they had so long prevailed. On the contrary, efforts
were made to restore both, first in France, and afterwards
in Spain. At Toulouse, on the Garonne, not far from
the foot of the mountains, the magistrates of the city
determined, in 1323, to form a company or guild for this
purpose ; and, after some deliberation, constituted it under
the name of the " Sobregaya Companhia dels Sept Troba-
dors de Tolosa,'* or the Very Gay Company of the Seven
Troubadours of Toulouse. This company immediately
sent forth a letter, partly in prose and partly in verse,
summoning all poets to come to Toulouse on the first day
of May in 1324, and there, " with joy of heart, contend
for the prize of a golden violet,** which should be adjudged
to him who should offer the best poem, suited to the occa-
sion. The concourse was great, and the first prize was
given to a poem in honour of the Madonna by Ramon Vidal
de Besalii, a Catalan gentleman, who seems to have been
the author of the regulations for the festival, and to have
been declared a doctor of the Gay Saber on the occasion.
In 1355 this company formed for itself a more ample
298 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pkuod I.
body of laws, partly in prose and partly in verse, under the
title of " Ordenanzas dels Sept Seniors Mantenedors del
Gay Saber,** or Ordinances of the Seven Lords Con-
servators of the Gay Saber, which, with the needful modi-
fications, have been observed down to our own times,
and still regulate the festival annually celebrated at Tou-
louse, on the first day of May, under the name of the
Floral Games. '
Toulouse was separated from Aragon only by the pic-
turesque range of the Pyrenees, and similarity of language
and old political connexions prevented even the mountains
from being a serious obstacle to intercourse. What was
done at Toulouse, therefore, was soon known at Barcelona,
where the court of Aragon generally resided, and where
circumstances soon favoured a formal introduction of the
poetical institutions of the Troubadours. John the First,
who, in 1387, succeeded Peter the Fourth, was a prince of
more gentle manners than were common in his time, and
more given to festivity and shows than was, perhaps, con-
sistent with the good of his kingdom, and certainly more
than was suited to the fierce and turbulent spirit of his no-
bility. * Among his other attributes was a love of poetry;
and, in 1388, he despatched a solemn embassy, as if for an
affair of state, to Charles the Sixth of France, praying him
to cause certain poets of the company at Toulouse to visit
Barcelona, in order that they might found there an institu-
tion, like their own, for the Gay Saber. In consequence of
this mission, two of the seven conservators of the Floral
Games came to Barcelona in 1390 and established what
was called a " Consistory of the Gaya Sciencia,'' with laws
and usages not unlike those of the institution they repre-
» Sarmiento, Memorias, Sect. 769- Paris, 1813, 8vo., Tom. I. pp. 227-
768. Torres Amat, Memorias, p. 230. Andres, Storia d* Ogm Lette-
661, article Vidal de Besalu. San- ratura, Roma, 1808, 4to., Tom. IL
tillana, Proverbios, Madrid, 1799, Lib. I. c. 1, sect. 23, where the re-
18mo., Introduccion, p. zxiii. San- marks are important at pp. 49, 60.
chez, Poesfas Anteriores, Tom. I. ' Mariana, Hist, de EspaSa, Lib.
pp. 6-9. Sismondi, Litt. du Midi, XVIII. c. 14.
Chap. XVII. CONSISTORY OF BARCELONA. 299
sented. Martin, who followed John on the throne, in-
creased the privileges of the new Consistory, and added to
its resources ; but at his death, in 1409, it was removed to
Tortosa, and its meetings were suspended by troubles that
prevailed through the country in consequence of a disputed
succession.
At length, when Ferdinand the Just was declared
king, their meetings were resumed. Enrique de ViUena
— whom we must speedily notice as a nobleman of the
first rank in the state, nearly allied to the blood royal, both
of Castile and Aragon — came with the new king to Barce-
lona in 1412, and, being a lover of poetry, busied himself
while there in re-establishing and reforming the Consistory,
of which he became, for some time, the principal head and
manager. This was, no doubt, the period of its greatest
glory. The king himself frequently attended its meetings.
Many poems were read by their authors before the judges
appointed to examine them, and prizes and other distinc-
tions were awarded to the successful competitors. ' From
this time, therefore, poetry in the native dialects of the
country was held in honour in the capitals of Catalonia
.and Aragon. Public poetical contests were, from time to
time, celebrated, and many poets called forth under their
influence during the reign of Alfonso the Fifth and that of
John the Second, which, ending in 1479, was followed by
the consolidation of the old Spanish monarchy, and the pre-
dominance of the Castilian power and language. *
• "El Arte de Trobar," or the Mariana, Zurita, and other mve his-
'* Gaya Sciencia/'—a treatise on the torians. The treatise of Villena has
Art of Poetry, which, in 1433, never been printed entire; but a
Henry, Marquis of Villena, sent to poor abstract of its contents, with
his kinsman, the famous Inigo Lopez valuable extracts, is to be found in
de Mendoza, Marquis of Santillana, Mayans y Siscar, Orfgenes de la
in order to facilitate the introduction • Lengua Espariola, Madrid, 1737,
of such poetical institutions into Cas- 12mo., Tom. II.
tile as then existed in Barcelona, — * See Zurita, passim, and Eich-
contains the best account of the es- horn, Allg. Geschichte der Cultur,
tablishment of the Consistory of Bar- Gottingen, 1796, 8vo., Tom. I. pp.
celona, which was a matter of such 127-131, with the authorities he citei
consequence as to be mentioned by in his notes.
300 HISTOEY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
During the period, however, of which we have been
speaking, and which embraces the century before the reign
of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catalan modification of
Proven9al poetry had its chief success, and produced all
the authors that deserve notice. At its opening Zurita,
the faithful annalist of Aragon, speaking of the reign of
John the First, says that, " in place of arms and warlike
exercises, which had formerly been the pastime of princes,
now succeeded trohas and poetry in the mother tongue,
with its art, called the * Gay a Sciencia,' whereof schools
began to be instituted ; " — schools which, as he intimates,
were so thronged, that the dignity of the art they taught
was impaired by the very numbers devoted to it * Who
these poets were, the grave historian does not stop to inform
us, but we learn something of them from another and
better source ; for, according to the fashion of the time, a
collection of poetry was made a little after the middle of
the fifteenth century, which includes the whole period, and
contains the names, and more or less of the works, of those
who were then best known and most considered. It begins
with a grant of assistance to the Consistory of Barcelona,
by Ferdinand the Just, in 1413; and then, going back as
far as to the time of Jacme March, who, as we have seen,
flourished in 1371, presents a series of more than three
hundred poems, by about thirty authors, down to the time
of Ausias March, who certainly lived in 1460, and whose
works are, as they well deserve to be, prominent in the
collection.
Among the poets here brought together are Luis de
Vilarasa, who lived in 1416;* Berenguer de Masdo-
velles, who seems to have flourished soon after 1453;''
Jordi, about whom there has been much discussion,
but whom reasonable critics must place as late as 1450-
* Anales de la Corona de Aragon, • Torres Amat. Memorias, p. 666.
Lib. X. c. 48, ed. 1610, folio, Tom. ' Ibid., p. 408.
II. f. 393. *^
Chap. XVII.
CATALAN AND VALENCTAN POETRY.
301
1460 ; * and Antonio Vallmanya, some of whose poems are
dated in 1457 and 1458. • Besides these, Juan Rocaberti,
Foga9ot, and Guerau, with others apparently of the same
period, are contributors to the collection, so that its whole
air is that of the Catalan and Yalencian imitations of the
Proven9al Troubadours in the fifteenth century. *** If, 'there-
fore, to this curious Cancionero we add the translation of
the " Divina Commedia " made into Catalan by Andres
Febrer in 1428, ^* and the romance of " Tirante the
' The discussion makes out two
points quite clearly, viz. : 1st. There
was a person named Jordi, who lived
in the thirteenth century and in the
time of Jayme the Conqueror, was
much with that monarch, and wrote,
as an eyewitness, an account of tlie
storm from which the royal fleet suf-
fered at sea, near Majorca, in Sep-
tember, 1269 (Ximeno, Escritores
de Valencia, Tom. I. p. 1 ; and Fus-
ter, Biblioteca Valentiana, Tom. I.
p. 1) ; and, 2nd. There was a person
named Jordi, a poet in the fifteenth
century; because the Marquis of San-
tillana, in his well-known letter, writ-
ten between 1454 and 1458, spc^dcs of
such a person as having lived in his
time. (See the letter in Sanchez,
Tom. I. pp. Ivi. and Ivii., and the
notes on it, pp. 81-85.) Now the
question is, to which of these two
persons belong the poems bearing the
name of Jordi in the various Cancio-
neros ; for example, in the '^ Cancio-
nero General," 1573, f. 301, and in
the MS. Cancionero in the Kine's
Library at Paris, which is of tne
fifteenth centunr. (Torres Amat, pp.
828-333.) This question is of some
consequence, because a passage attri-
buted to Jordi is so very like one in
the 103rd sonnet of Petrarch, (Parte
I.,) that one of them must be taken
quite unceremoniously from the other.
The Spaniards, and especially the
Catalans, have generally claimed the
lines referred to as the work of the
dder Jordi, and so would make Pe-
trarch the copyist ; — a claim in which
foreigners have sometimes concurred.
(Retrospective Review, Vol. IV. pp.
46, 47, and Foscolo's Essay on Pe-
trarch, London, 1823, 8vo., p. 65.)
But it seems to me difficult for an
impartial person to read the verses
printed by Torres Amat with the
name of Jordi from the Paris MS.
Cancionero, and not believe that they
belong to the same century with the
other poems in the same manuscript,
and that thus the Jordi in question
lived after 1400, and is the copyist of
Petrarch. Indeed, the very position
of these verses in such a manuscript
seems to prove it, as well as their
tone and cnaracter.
• Torres Amat, pp. 636-643.
*® Of this remarkable manuscript,
which is in the Royal Library at
Paris, M. Tastu, in 1834, ^ave an
account to Torres Amat, who was
then preparing his '' Memorias para
un Diccionario de Autores (;ata-
lanes," (Barcelona, 1836, 8vo.) It is
numbered 7699, and consists of 260
leaves. See the Memorias, pp. zviii.
and xli., and the many poetical pas-
sages from it scattered through other
parts of that work. It is much to be
desired that the whole should be pub-
lished; but, in the mean time, the
ample extracts from it given by
Torres Amat leave no doubt of its
general character. Another, and in
some respects even more ample, ac-
count of it, with extracts, is to be
found in Ochoa's *' Catdlogo de Ma^
nuscritos,** (4to., Paris, 1844, pp.
286-374.) From this last description
of the manuscript we learn that it
contains works or thirty-one poets.
" Torres Amat, p. 237. Febrer
says expressly, that it is translated
302 raSTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURB. Period I.
White,** translated into Valencian by its author, Joannot
Martorell, — which Cervantes calls " a treasure of content-
ment and a mine of pleasure," *' — we shall have all that is
needful of the peculiar literature of the north-eastern part
of Spain during the greater part of the century in which
it flourished. Two authors, however, who most illustrated
it, deserve more particular notice.
The first of them is Ausias or Augustin March. His
family, originally Catalan, went to Valencia at the time
of the conquest, in 1238, and was distinguished, in suc-
cessive generations, for the love of letters. He himself
was of noble rank, possessed the seigniory of the town
of Beniarjd and its neighbouring villages, and served in
the Cortes of Valencia in 1446. But, beyond these few
facts, we know little of his life, except that he was an
intimate personal friend of the accomplished and unhappy
Prince Carlos of Viana, and that he died, probably, in
1460 — certainly before 1462 — well deserving the record
made by his contemporary, the Grand Constable of Castile,
that " he was a great Troubadour and a man of a very
lofly spirit"^'
" en rims vulgars Calhalans." The 1796, 4to., pp. 72-76.) What is in
first verses are as follows, word for Ximeno (Tom. I. p. 12) and Fuster
word from the Italian : — (Tom. I. p. 10) goes on the false
En lo mig del cami de nostra vida Suppositiwi that the Tiiante WaS writ-
Me retrobe per una aelva oMura, etc. ten m Spanish before 1383, and
and the last is- P'?"*^,, ''' \t^^' . ^^ ]J^' '" ^^
oncnnally wntten in Portuflruesc, but
Lamar qui niottlo«,ieie. .telle.. ^J p^^^d first in the Valencian
It was done at Barcelona, and finished dialect, in 1490. Of this edition only
August 1 , 1428, according to the MS. two copies are known to exist, for
copy in the Escurial. one of which 300/. was paid in 1825.
" Don Quixote, Parte I. c. 6, Rei)ertorioAmericano,L<5ndpe8, 1827,
where Tirante is saved in the confla- 8vo., Tom. IV. pp. 67-60.
gration of the mad knight's libiary. '^ The Life of Ausias March is
But Sou they is of quite a different found in Ximeno, *' Escritores dc
opinion. See ante, note to Chap. XI. Valencia," (Tom. I. p. 41 ,) and Fus-
The best accounts of it are those by ter's continuation of it, (Tom. I. pp.
Clemcncin in his edition of Don 12, 15, 24,) and in the ample notes
Quixote, (Tom. I. pp. 132-134,) of Ccrdd y Rico to the ** Diana" of
bv Diosdado, ** De Prima Typogra- Gil Polo, (1802, pp. 290, 293, 486.)
phiee Hispanicee -State," (Komae, For his connexion with the Prince of
1794, 4to., p. 32,) and by Mendez, Viana, — ** Mozo," as Mariana beauti-
** Typograpma Espanola," (Madrid, fully says of him, " dignisimo de me-
Chap. XVII. AUSIA8 MARCH. 303
So much of his poetry as has been preserved is dedi-
cated to the honour of a lady, whom he loved and served
in life and in death, and whom, if we are literally to
believe his account, he first saw on a Good Friday in
church, exactly as Petrarch first saw Laura. But this is
probably only an imitation of the great Italian master,
whose fame then overshadowed whatever there was of
literature in the world. At any rate, the poems of March
leave no doubt that he was a follower of Petrarch. They
are in form what he calls cants ; each of which generally
consists of from five to ten stanzas. The whole collection,
amounting to one hundred and sixteen of these short
poems, is divided into four parts, and comprises ninety-
three cants or canzones of Love, in which he complains
much of the falsehood of his mistress, fourteen moral and
didactic canzones^ a single spiritual one, and eight on
Death. But though March, in the framework of his
poetry, is an imitator of Petrarch, his manner is his own.
It is grave, simple, and direct, with few conceits, and much
real feeling ; besides which, he has a truth and freshness
in his expressions, resulting partly from the dialect he
uses, and partly from the tenderness of his own nature,
which are very attractive. No doubt he is the most
successful of all the Valencian and Catalan poets whose
works have come down to us ; but what distinguishes him
from all of them, and indeed from the Proven9al school
generally, is the sensibility and moral feeling that pervade
so nmch of what he wrote. By these qualities his reputa-
tion and honours have been preserved in his own country
down to the present time. His works passed through four
editions in the sixteenth century, and enjoyed the honour
of being read to Philip the Second, when a youth, by his
tutor ; they were translated into Latin and Italian, and in
jor fortuna, y de padre mas manso/' fortunate prince by Quintana, in the
— see Zurita, Anales, (Lib. XVII. c. first volume of his " Espanoles C^le-
24,) and the graceful Life of the un- bres/' Madrid, Tom. I. 1807, 12mo.
304 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. PnooD I.
the. proud Castilian were versified by a poet of no less
consequence than Montemayor. **
The other poet who should be mentioned in the same
relations was a contemporary of March, and, like him, a
native of Valencia. His name is Jaume or James Roig,
and he was physician to Mary, queen of Alfonso the Fiffli
of Aragon. If his own authority is not to be accounted
rather poetical than historical, he was a man of much
distinction in his time, and respected in other countries as
well as at home. But if that be set aside, we know little
of him, except that he was one of the persons who con-
tended for a poetical prize at Valencia in 1474, and that
he died there of apoplexy on the 4th of April, 1478."
His works are not much better known than his life,
though, in some respects, they are well worthy of notice.
Hardly anything, indeed, remains to us of them, except
the principal one, a poem of three hundred pages, some-
times called the " Book of Advice," and sometimes the
" Book of the Ladies.*' *• It is chiefly a satire on women,
but the conclusion is devoted to the praise and glory of the
Madonna ; and the whole is interspersed with sketches of
^* There are editions of his Works we are told, he used to delight that
of 1543, 1545, 1555, and 1560, in the young prince and his courtiers by
original Catalan, and translations of reading the works of March aloud
parts of them into Castilian by Ro- to them. I have seen none of the
mani, 1539, and Montemayor, 1562, translations, except those of Moote^
which are united in the edition of mayor and Mariner, both good, but
1579, besides one quite complete, the last not entire,
but unpublished, by Arano v Onate. ** Ximeno, Escritores de Valencia,
Vicente Mariner translated March Tom. I. p. 50, with Fuster's continu*
into Latin, and wrote his life. (Opera, ation, Tom. I. p. 30 ; Rodriguez, p.
Tumoni, 1633, 8vo., pp. 497-856.) 196; and Cerd^'s notes to Polo's
Who was his Italian translator I do Diana, pp. 300, 302, etc.
not find. See (besides Ximeno and " '* Libre de Consells fet per lo
others, cited in the last note) Rodri- Magnifich Mestre Jaume Roig " is
guez. Bib. Val., p. 68, etc. The the title in the edition of 1531,
edition of March's Works, 1560, Bar- as given by Ximeno, and in that
celona, 12mo., is a neat volume, and of 1561, (Valencia, 12mo., 149
has at the end a very short and imper- leaves,) which I use. In that of
feet list of obscure terms, with the Valencia, 1735, (4to.,) which is also
corresponding Spanish, supposed to before me, it is called, according to
have been made by the tutor of Philip its subject, '* Lo Libre de les Dones
II., the Bishop of Osma, when, as e dc Concells," etc.
Chap. XVII. JAUBIE ROIG. 305
himself and his times, and advice to his nephew, Balthazar
Bou, for whose especial benefit the poem seems to have
been written.
It is divided into fom* books, which are subdivided into
parts, little connected with each other, and often little in
harmony with the general subject of the whole. Some of
it is full of learning and learned names, and some of it
would seem to be devout, but its prevailing air is certainly
not at all religious. It is written in short rhymed verses,
consisting of from two to five syllables — an irregular
measure, which has been called eudohdoj and one which,
as here used, has been much praised for its sweetness by
those who are familiar enough with the principles of its
structure to make the necessary elisions and abbreviations ;
though to others it can hardly appear better than whimsical
and spirited. *'' The following sketch of himself may be
taken as a specimen of it, and shows that he had as little
of the spirit of a poet as Skelton, with whom, in many
respects, he may be compared. Roig represents himself
to have been ill of a fever, when a boy, and to have
hastened from his sick bed into the service of a Catalan
freebooting gentleman, like Roque Guinart or Rocha
Guinarda, an historical personage of the same Catalonia,
and of nearly the same period, who figures in the Second
Part of Don Quixote.
Bed I abjured, Till I came out
Though hardly cured, Man grown and stout ;
And then went straight For he was wise,
To seek my fate. Taught me to prize
A Catalan, My time, and learn
A nobleman. My bread to earn,
A highway knight, By service hard
Of ancient right, At watch and ward,
Gave me, in grace. To hunt the game,
A page's place. Wild hawks to tame.
With him I lived. On horse to prance.
And with him thrived, In hall to dance.
*^ Orfgenes de la Lcngua Espauola de Mayans y Sbcar, Tom. I. p. 57.
VOL. I. X
306
HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE.
PaioD I.
To canre, to pUy,
And make my way. *•
The poem, its author tells us, was written in 1460, and
we know that it continued popular long enough to pass
through five editions before 1562. But portions of it are
so indecent, that when, in 1735, it was thought worth
while to print it anew, its editor, in order to account for
the large omissions he was obliged to make, resorted to
the amusing expedient of pretending he could find no
copy of the old editions which was not deficient in the
passages he left out of his own. ^* Of course, Roig is
not much read now. His indecency and the obscurity
of his idiom alike cut him off from the polished portions
of Spanish society ; though out of his free and spirited
satire much may be gleaned to illustrate the tone of
manners and the modes of living and thinking in his time.
The death of Roig brings us to the period when the
literature of the eastern part of Spain, along the shores
of the Mediterranean, began to decline. Its decay was
the natural, but melancholy, result of the character of
the literature itself, and of the circumstances in which
it was accidentally placed. It was originally Proven9al
» Sorti del Hit, Ab Ibom Aiacnt
E mig goarit. Tempt no hi petdi,
Yo men parti, Dell aprengul,
A pea anl De ben terrir,
Seguint fortana. Armes leguir.
En Catalunya, Fuy ca^ador,
Un Cavalier, Cavalcador,
Gran vandoler, De CetrerU,
Dantitch Uinatge, MeneMalia,
Me pr^ per patge. Sonar, ballar,
Ab ell nxqul. Fins k Ullar
Finn quem ixqul, EU men mostri.
Ja home fet.
Libre de les Donet, Primera Part del Primer
Libre, ed. 1561, 4to., f. xv. b.
The *' Cavalier, eran vandoler, dan-
titch Wimtee" whom I have called,
in the translation, *' a highway knight,
of ancient right," was one of the suc-
cessors of the marauding knights of
the Middle Ages, who were not
always without generosity or a sense
of justice, and whose character is well
set forth in the accounts of Roque
Guinart or Rocha Guinarda, the per-
sonaffe referred to in the text, and
found in the Second Part of Don
Quixote (Capp. 60 and 61). He
and his followers are all called by
Cervantes BcauMeros, and are the
** banished men " of ** Robin Hood "
and** The Nut-Brown Maid." They
took their name of Bandoleros from
the shoulder-belts they wore. Calde-
ron's ** Luis Perez, el GaUego " is
founded on the history of a Bandolero
supposed to have lived in the time of
the Armada, 1588.
^ The editor of the last edition
that has appeared is Clb*lo6 Ros, a
curious collection of Valendan pro-
verbs by whom (in 12mo., Valencia,
1733) I have seen, and who, I be-
lieve, the year previous, printed a
work on the Valencian and Castilian
orthog^phy.
Chap. XVII. DECAY OP CATALAN POETRY. 307
in its spirit and elements, and had therefore been of quick
rather than of firm growth; — a gay vegetation, which
sprang forth spontaneously with the first warmth of the
spring, and which could hardly thrive in any other season
than the gentle one that gave it birth. As it gradually
advanced, carried by the removal of the seat of political
power, from Aix to Barcelona, and from Barcelona to
Saragossa, it was constantly approaching the literature
that had first appeared in the mountains of the North-west,
whose more vigorous and grave character it was ill fitted
to resist. When, therefore, the two came in contact, there
was but a short struggle for the supremacy. The victory
was almost immediately decided in favour of that which,
springing from the elements of a strong and proud character,
destined to vindicate for itself the political sway of the
whole country, was armed with a power to which its more
gay and gracious rival could ofler no effective opposition.
The period when these two literatures, advancing from
opposite corners of the Peninsula, finally met, cannot,
from its nature, be determined with much precision. But,
like the progress of each, it was the result of political
causes and tendencies which are obvious and easily traced.
The family that ruled in Aragon had, from the time of
James the Conqueror, been connected with that established
in Castile and the North ; and Ferdinand the Just, who
was crowned in Saragossa in 1412, was a Castilian prince;
so that, from this period, both thrones were absolutely
filled by members of the same royal house ; and Valencia
and Burgos, as far as their courts touched and controlled
the literature of either, were to a great degree under the
same influences. And this control was neither slight nor
ineflBcient. Poetry, in that age, everywhere sought shelter
under courtly favour, and in Spain easily found it. John
the Second was a professed and successfiil patron of
letters ; and when Ferdinand came to assume the crown
of Aragon, he was accompanied by the Marquis of Villena,
X 2
308 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pebtod I.
a nobleman whose great fiefs lay on the borders of Va-
lencia, but who, notwithstanding his interest in the Southern
literature and in the Consistory of Barcelona, yet spoke
the Castilian as his native language, and wrote in no other.
We may, therefore, well believe that, in the reigns of
Ferdinand the Just and Alfonso the Fifth, between 1412
and 1458, the influence of the North began to make
inroads on the poetry of the South, though it does not
appear that either March or Roig, or any one of their
immediate school, proved habitually unfaithful to his
native dialect
At length, forty years after the death of Villeua, we
find a decided proof that the Castilian was beginning
to be known and cultivated on the shores of the Medi-
terranean. In 1474, a poetical contest was publicly held
at Valencia, in honour of the Madonna; — a sort of
literary jousting, like those so common afterwards in
die time of Cervantes and Lope de Vega. Forty poets
contended for the prize. The Viceroy was present It
was a solemn and showy occasion; and all the poems
offered were printed the same year by Bernardo Fenollar,
Secretary of the meeting, in a volume which is valued as
the first book known to have been printed in Spain.*®
Four of these poems are in Castilian. This leaves no
doubt that Castilian verse was now deemed a suitable
entertainment for a popular audience at Valencia. Fe-
nollar, too, who unrote, besides what appears in this contest,
a small volume of poetry on the Passion of our Saviour,
has left us at least one cancion in Castilian, though his
works were otherwise in his native dialect, and were
composed apparently for the amusement of his friends in
Valencia, where he was a person of consideration, and in
whose University, founded in 1499, he was a professor.*^
* Fuster, Tom. I. p. 62, and Men- •* Ximcno, Tom. I. p. 69 ; Fuster.
dez, Typographia Espanola, p. 66. Tom. I. p. 6] ; and the Diana of
Roig is one of the competitors. Polo, cd. Cerda y Rico, p. 317.
chap.xvii. decay of valencian poetry. 309
Probably Castilian poetry was rarely written in Va-
lencia during the fifteenth century, while, on the other
hand, Valencian was written constantly. " The Suit of
the Olives/' for instance, wholly in that dialect, was com-
posed by Jaume Gazull, Fenollar, and Juan Moreno,
who seem to have been personal friends, and who united
their poetical resources to produce this satire, in which,
under the allegory of olive-trees, and in language not
always so modest as good taste requires, they discuss
together the dangers to which the young and the old are
respectively exposed from the solicitations of worldly
pleasure. ^ Another dialogue, by the same three poets»
in the same dialect, soon followed, dated in 1497, which
is supposed to have occurred in the bedchamber of a
lady just recovering from the birth of a child, in which
is examined the question whether young men or old make
the best husbands ; an inquiry decided by Venus in favour
of the young, and ended, most inappropriately, by a
religious hymn.*' Other poets were equally faithful to
their vernacular ; among whom were Juan Escriva, am-
bassador of the Catholic sovereigns to the Pope in 1497,
who was probably the last person of high rank that wrote
in it ; ** and Vincent Ferrandis, concerned in a poetical
His poems are in the '* Cancioncro "* There is an edition of 1497,
General," 1673, Heaves 240, 251, (Mendcz, p. 88,) but I use one with
307,) in the ** Obras de Ausias this title : *' Comen^a lo Somni de
March,'* (1560, f. 134,) and in the Joan loan ordenat per lo Magnifich
*' Process dc les Olives," mentioned Mosscn Jaume Ga^uIl, Cavalier, Natu-
in the next note. The ** llistoria de ral de Valencia, en Valencia, 1661,"
la Passio de Nostre Scnyor " was (ISmo.) At the end is a humorous
printed at Valencia, in 1493 and poem by Gacull in reply to FcnoUar,
1564. who had spoKen slightingly of many.
" ** Lo Process de les Olives k words used in Valencian, which Ga-
Disputa del Jovens hi del Vels " was cull defends. It is called ** La Brama
first printed in Barcelona, 1532. But dels Llauradors del Orto de Valen-
the copy I use is of Valencia, printed cia." Gacull also occurs in the ** Pro-
by Joan dc Arcos, 1501 (18mo., 40 cessdc les Olives," and in the poetical
leaves). One or two other poets contest of 1474. See his life in
look jMirt in the discussion, and the Ximeno, Tom. I. p. 59, and Fuster^
whole seems to have grown under Tom. I. p. 37.
their hands, by successive additions, ^ Xuneuo, Tom. I. p. 64.
to its present state and size.
310 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURB. Pbuiod I.
contest in honour of Saint Catherine of Siena, at Valencia,
in 1511, whose poems seem, on other occasions, to have
carried off public honours, and to have been, from their
sweetness and power, worthy of the distinction they won. **
Meantime, Valencian poets are not wanting who wrote
more or less in Castilian. Francisco Castelvi, a friend of
FenoUar, is one of them. "* Another is Narcis Vinoles,
who flourished in 1500, who wrote in Tuscan as well as
in Castilian and Valencian, and who evidendy thought his
native dialect somewhat barbarous." A third is Juan
Tallante, whose religious poems are found at the opening
of the old General Cancionero. " A fourth is Luis Crespi,
member of the ancient family of Valdaura, and in 1506
head of the University of Valencia.** And among the
latest, if not the very last, was Fernandez de Heredia, who
died in 1549, of whom we have hardly anything in Valen-
cian, but much in Castilian. '^ Indeed, that the Castilian,
in the early part of the century, had obtained a real su-
" The poems of Ferrandis are in *^ Ximeno, Tom. I. p. 61. Fuster,
the Cancionero General of Seville, Tom. I. p. 64. Cancionero General,
1635, ff. 17, 18, and in the Cancio- 1673, if. 241,261,316, 318. Cerdi's
nero of Antwerp, 1673, ff. 31-34. notes to Polo's Diana, 1802, p. 304.
The notice of the certamen of 1611 is Vinoles, in the Pnflogo to the transla-
in Fuster, Tom. I. pp. 66-68. tion of the Latin Chronicle noticed on
Some other poets in the ancient Va- p. 197, says, **He has ventured to
lencian have been mentioned, as Juan stretch out his rash hand and put it
Roiz de Corella, (Ximeno, Tom. I. into the puro, eleeant, and mcious
p. 62,) a friend of the unhappy Prince Castilian, which, without ialsenood or
Cdrlos de Viana ; two or tnree, by flattery, may, among the many bar-
no means without merit, who remain barous and savage dudects of our own
anonymous (Fuster, Tom. 1. pp. 284- Spain, be (ailed Latin-sounding and
and several who joined in a most elegant.'* Suma de Todas las
certamen at Valencia, in 1498, in ho- CnSnicas, Valencia, 1610, folio, f. 2.
nour of St. Christopher (Ibid., pp. ^ The religious poems of Tallante
296, 297). But the attempt to press begin, I believe, all Uie Cancioneros
into the service and to place in the Generales, from 1611 to 1673.
thirteenth century the manuscript in *" Cancionero General, 1573, ff.
the Escurial containing the poems 238, 248, 300, 301. Fuster, Tom. I.
of Sta. Marfa Egypciaca and King p. 66 ; and Cerdi's notes to Gil Polo's
Apollonius, already referred to (on/e, Diana, p. 306.
p. 23) among the earliest Castilian ^ Ximeno, Tom. I. p. 102. Foster,
poems, is necessarily a failure. Ibid., Tom. I. p. 87. Diana de Polo, ed.
p. 284. Cerdd, 326. Cancionero General,
*» Cancionero General, 1673, f. 1673, ff. 186, 222, 226, 228, 230,
261, and elsewhere. 306-307.
Chap. XVII. DECAY OF VALENCIAN POETBY. 311
premacy in whatever there was of poetry and elegant
literature along the shores of the Mediterranean cannot be
doubted ; for, before the death of Heredia, Boscan had
already deserted his native Catalonian, and begun to form
a school in Spanish literature that has never since disap-
peared ; and shortly afterwards, Timoneda and his followers
showed, by their successful representation of Castilian
farces in the public squares of Valencia, that the ancient
dialect had ceased to be insisted upon in its own capital.
•The language of the court of Castile had, for such purposes,
become the prevailing language of all the South.
This, in fact, was the circumstance that determined the
fate of all that remained in Spain on the foundations of the
Proven9al refinement. The crowns of Aragon and Castile
had been united by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isa-
bella ; the court had been removed from Saragossa, though
that city still claimed the dignity of being regarded as an
independent capital ; and, with the tide of empire, that of
cultivation gradually flowed down from the West and
the North. Some of the poets of the South have, it is
true, in later times, ventured to write in their native dia-
lects. The most remarkable of them is Vicent Garcia,
who was a friend of Lope de Vega, and died in 1623."
But his poetry, in all its various phases, is a mixture of
several dialects, and shows, notwithstanding its provincial
air, the influence of the court of Philip the Fourth, where
its author for a time lived ; while the poetry printed later,
or heard in our own days on the popular theatres of Barce-
'* His Works were first printed sonnets, ddcimaSy redondiUaiy ballads,
with the following title : ** La Anno- etc. ; but at the end is a dnuna called
nia del Pamas mes numerosa en las ** Santa Barbara," in three short Jor-
Poesfas varias del Atlant del Cel Po^ nadas, with forty or fifty personages,
tic, lo D'- Vicent Garcia," (Barce- some allegorical and some supema-
lona, 1700, 4to., 201 pp.) There has tural, and the whole as fantastic as
been some question about the proper anything of the age that produced it.
date of this edition, and therefore I Another edition of Garcia's Works
give it as it is in my copy. (See Tor- was printed in Barcelona in 1840,
res Amat, Memonas, pp. 271-274.) and a notice of him occurs in the
It consists chiefly of lyrical poetry, Semanario Pintoresco, 1848, p. 84.
312
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE.
PbiodI.
lona and Valencia, is in a dialect so grossly comipted, that
it is no longer easy to acknowledge it as that of the descend-
ants of Miintaner and March.'*
The degradation of the two more refined dialects in the
■■ The Valencian has alwajrs re-
muned a sweet dialect. Cervantes
praises it for its " honeyed grace "
more than once. See the second act
of the '* Gran Sultana," and the open-
ing of the twelfth chapter in the
third book of ^* Persiles and Sigis-
munda." Mayans 7 Siscar loses no
occasion of honouring it ; but he was
a native of Valencia, and full of Va-
lencian prejudices.
The literary history of the kingdom
of Valencia — both that of the period
when its native dialect prevailed, and
that of the more recent period during
which the Castilian has enjoyed the
supremacy — has been illustrated with
remarkable diligence and success. The
first person who devoted himself to it
was Josef Rodriguez, a learned eccle-
nastic, who was bom in its capital in
1630, and died there in 1703, just at
Uie moment when his ** Biblioteca Va-
Icntina" was about to be issued from
the press, and when, in fact, all but a
few pages of it had been printed. But
though it was so near to publication,
a long time elapsed before it finally
appeared ; for his friend, Ignacio Sa-
vafls, to whom the duty of completing
it was intrusted, and who at once
busied himself with his task, died, at
last, in 1746, without having quite
accomplished it.
Meanwhile, however, copies of the
imperfect work had got abroad, and
one of them came into the hands of
Vicente Ximcno, a Valencian, as well
as Rodriguez, and, like him, intcr^
csted in the literary history of his
native kingdom. At first Ximeno
conceived the project of completing
the work of his predecessor ; but soon
determined rather to use its materials
in preparing on the same subject an-
other and a larger one of his own,
whose notices should come down to
his own time. This he soon com-
pleted, and published it at Valencia,
m 1747-49, in two volumes, folio.
with the title of <' EKntores de Va-
lencia," — not, however, so quickly
that the Biblioteca of Rodriguez had
not been ftdrly launched into the
worid, in the same d^, in 1747, a
few months before the ust Tolaine of
Ximeno's appeared.
The dicticmary of Ximeno, who died
in 1764, brings down the literary his-
tory of Valencia to 1748, from which
date to 1829 it is continued by the
** Biblioteca Valendana" of Justo
Pastor Fuster, (Valencia, 1827-30,
2 tom., folio,) a valuable woriL, con-
taining a great nomber of new articles
for the earlier period embraced by the
labours of Rodriguez and Ximeno, and
making additions to many which they
had left imperfect.
In the ^ye volumes, folio, of which
the whole series conasts, there are
2841 articles. How many of those
in Ximeno relate to authora noticed
by Rodriguez, and how many of those
in Fuster relate to authors noticed by
either or both of his predecessors, I
have not examined ; but the number
is, I think, smaller than might be an-
ticipated ; while, on the o£er hand,
the new articles and the additions to
the old ones are more considerable and
important Perhaps, taking the whde
together, no portion of Europe equally
la^ has had its intellectual history
more carefully investigated than the
kingdom of Valencia; — a circum-
stance the more remarkable, if we
bear in mind that Rodriguez, the first
person who undertook the work, was.
as he says, the first who attempted
such a labour in any modem langiuge,
and that Fuster, the last of them,
though evidentiy a man of curious
learnmg, was by occupation a book-
binder, and was led to his investiea-
tions, in a considerable degree, by his
interest in the rare books that were,
from time to time, intrusted to his
mechanical skill.
Chap. XVII. TRIUMPH OF THE CASTILIAN. 313
southern and eastern parts of Spain, which was begun in
the time of the Catholic sovereigns, may be considered as
completed when the seat of the national government was
settled, first in Old and afterwards in New Castile ; since,
by this circumstance, the prevalent authority of the Casti-
lian was finally recognised and insured. The change was
certainly neither unreasonable nor ill-timed. The language
of the North was already more ample, more vigorous, and
more rich in idiomatic constructions; indeed, in almost
every respect, better fitted to become national than that of
the South. And yet we can hardly follow and witness the
results of such a revolution but with feelings of a natural
regret ; for the slow decay and final disappearance of any
language bring with them melancholy thoughts, which are,
in some sort, peculiar to the occasion. We feel as if a
portion of the world's intelligence were extinguished ; — as
if we were ourselves cut off from a part of the intellectual
inheritance, to which we had in many respects an equal
right with those who destroyed it, and which they were
bound to pass down to us unimpaired as they themselves
had received it The same feeling pursues us even when,
as in the case of the Greek or Latin, the people that spoke
it had risen to the full height of their refinement, and left
behind them monuments by which all future times can
measure and share their glory. But our regret is deeper
when the language of a people is cut off in its youth, before
its character is fully developed ; when its poetical attributes
are just beginning to appear, and when all is bright with
promise and hope. ''
This was singularly the misfortune and the fate of the
Proven9al and of the two principal dialects into which it
was modified and moulded. For the Proven9al started
" The Catalans have always felt nand and Isabella, more abundant and
this reCTet, and have never reconciled harmonious than the ]jrouder one that
themselves heartily to the use of the has so far displaced it. Villanucva,
Castilian; holding their own dialect Viage d las Iglesias, Valencia, 1821,
to have been, in the time of Ferdi- 8vo., Tom. VII. p. 202.
314 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATURE. Peeiod L
forth in the darkest period Europe had seen since Grecian
civilization had first dawned on die world. It kindled, at
once, all the South of France with its brightness, and
spread its influence, not only into the neighbouring coun-
tries, but even to the courts of the cold and unfriendly North.
It flourished long, with a tropical rapidity and luxuriance,
and gave token, from the first, of a light-hearted spirit,
that promised, in the fulness of its strength, to produce a
poetry, different, no doubt, from that of antiquity, with
which it had no real connexion, but yet a poetry as fresh
as the soil from which it sprang, and as genial as the cli-
mate by which it was quickened. But the cruel and shame-
ful war of the Albigenses drove the Troubadours over the
Pyrenees, and the revolutions of political power and the
prevalence of the spirit of the North crushed them on the
Spanish shores of the Mediterranean. We follow, there-
fore, with a natural and inevitable regret, their long and
wearisome retreat, marked as it is everywhere with the
wrecks and fragments of their peculiar poetry and cultiva-
tion, from Aix to Barcelona, and from Barcelona to Sara-
gossa and Valencia, where, oppressed by the prouder and
more powerful Castilian, what remained of the language
that gave the first impulse to poetical feeling in modern
times sinks into a neglected dialect, and, without having
attained the refinement that would preserve its name and
its glory to future times, becomes as much a dead language
as the Greek or the Latin. ^
** One of the most valuable monu- may be found in Castro, Bib. Espa-
ments of the old dialects of Spain is fiofa, (Tom. I. pp. 444-448^ and
a translation of the Bible into Ca- McCrie's *' Reformation in Spain"
talan, made by Bonifacio Ferrer, who (Edinburgh, 1829, 8vo., pp. 191 and
died in 1477, and was the brother of 414). Sbmondi, at the end of his
St. Vincent Ferrer. It was printed discussion of the Provencal literature,
at Valencia, in 1478, (folio,) but the in his " Litt^rature du Midi de TEu-
Inquisition came so soon to suppress rope," has some remarks on its de-
it, that it never exercised mucn in- cay, which in their tone are not
fluence on the literature or language entirely unlike those in the last pages
of the country ; nearly every copy of of this chapter, and to which I would
it having been destroyed. Extracts refer both to illustrate and to justify
from it and sufficient accounts of it my own.
Chat. XVIII. INFLUENCES OF ITALT ON SPAIN. 315
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Pboven^al aitd Coubtlt School in Casthjait Litexature. — Pabtlt
INFLUENCED BT THE LiTEBATUBE OF ItALT. — CONNEXION OF SPAIN WITH
Italy, Religious, Intellectual, and Political. — Similabitt of Lan-
guage IN THE TWO C0UNTBIE8. — TbANSLATIONS FBOM THE ITALIAN. —
Reign of John the Second. — Tboubadoubs and Minnesingbbs
THBOUOHOUT EuBOPE. — CoUBT OF CasTILE. — ThE RiNG. — ThE MaBQUIS
OF ViLLENA. — His Abt op Cabting. — His Abt of Poetbt. — His
Laboubs op Hebcules.
The Proven9al literature, which appeared so early in
Spain, and which, during the greater part of the period
when it prevailed there, was in advance of the poetical
culture of nearly all the rest of Europe, could not fail to
exercise an influence on the Castilian, springing up and
flourishing at its side. But, as we proceed, we must no-
tice the influence of another literature over the Spanish,
less visible and important at first than that of the Proven-
9al, but destined subsequently to become much wider and
more lasting ; — I mean, of course, the Italian.
The origin of this influence is to be traced far back in the
history of the Spanish character and civilization. Long,
indeed, before a poetical spirit had been re-awakened any-
where in the South of Europe, the Spanish Christians,
through the wearisome centuries of their contest with the
Moors, had been accustomed to look towards Italy as to
the seat of a power whose foundations were laid in faith
and hopes extending far beyond the mortal struggle in
which they were engaged ; not because the Papal See, in
its political capacity, had then obtained any wide authority
in Spain, but because, from the peculiar exigencies and
316 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Psuod I.
trials of their condition, the religion of the Bomish Church
had nowhere found such implicit and faithful followers as
the body of the Spanish Christians.
In truth, from the time of the great Arab invasion
down to the fall of Granada, this devoted people had
rarely come into political relations with the rest of Europe*
Engrossed and exhausted by their wars at home, they had,
on the one hand, hardly been at all the subjects of foreign
cupidity or ambition; and, on the other, they had been
little able, even when they most desired it, to connect
themselves with the stirring interests of the world beyond
their mountains, or attract the sympathy of those more
favoured countries which, with Italy at their head, were
coming up to constitute the civilized power of Christendom.
But the Spaniards always felt their warfare to be peculiarly
that of soldiers of the Cross ; they always felt themselves,
beyond everything else and above everything else, to be
Christian men contending against misbelief. Their reli-
gious sympathies were, therefore, constantly apparent, and
often predominated over all others ; so that while they were
little connected with the Church of Rome by those political
ties that were bringing half Europe into bondage, they were
more connected with its religious spirit than any other
people of modem times; more even than the armies of the
Crusaders whom that same Church had summoned out of
all Christendom, and to whom it had given whatever of its
own resources and character it was able to impart.
To these religious influences of Italy upon Spain were
early added those of a higher intellectual culture. Before
the year 1300, Italy possessed at least five universities ;
some of them famous throughout Europe, and attracting
students from its most distant countries. Spain, at the
same period, possessed not one, except that of Salamanca,
which was in a very unsettled state. ^ Even during the
* The University of Salamanca owes 1254; but in 1310 it had already
its first endowment to Alfonso X., fallen into great decay, and did not
Chap. XVIII. INFLUENCES OP ITALY ON SPAIN. 317
next century, those established at Huesca and Valladolid
produced comparatively little eflFect The whole Penin-
sula was still in too disturbed a state for any proper encou-
ragement of letters; and those persons, therefore, who
wished to be taught, resorted, some of them, to Paris, but
more to Italy. At Bologna, which was probably the
oldest, and for a long time the most distinguished, of the
Italian universities, we know Spaniards were received and
honoured, during the thirteenth century, both as students
and as professors.* At Padua, the next in rank, a Spa-
niard, in 1260, was made the Rector, or presiding officer. •
And, no doubt, in all the great Italian places of education,
which were easily accessible, especially m those of Bome
and Naples, Spaniards early sought the culture that was
either not then to be obtained in their own country, or to
be had only with difficulty or by accident
In the next century, the instruction of Spaniards in
Italy was put upon a more permanent foundation, by
Cardinal Carillo de Albornoz ; a prelate, a statesman, and
a soldier, who, as Archbishop of Toledo, was head of the
Spanish Church in the reign of Alfonso the Eleventh,
and who afterwards, as regent for the Pope, conquered
and governed a large part of the Roman States, which, in
the time of Rienzi, had fallen off from their allegiance.
This distinguished personage, during his residence in Italy,
felt the necessity of better means for the education of
his countrymen, and founded, for their especial benefit, at
Bologna, in 1364, the College of Saint Clement, — a muni-
ficent institution, which has subsisted down to our own age. *
From the middle of the fourteenth century, therefore, it
cannot be doubted that the most direct means existed for
become an efficient and frequented turaltaliana, Roma, 1782, 4to., Tom.
university till some time afterwards. IV. Lib. I. c. 3 ; and Fustcr, Biblio*
Ilist. de la Univcrsidad de Salamanca, teca Valenciana, Tom. I. pp. 2, 9.
})or Pedro Chacon. Seminario Em- • Tiraboschi, ut sup.
dito, Madrid, 1789, 4to., Tom. ♦ Ibid., Tom. IV. Lib. I.e. 3, sect.
XVIII. pp. 13, 21, etc. 8. Antonio, Bib. Vetus, ed. Bayer,
* Tiraboschi, Storia della Lcttcra- Tom. II. pp. 169, 170.
318 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
the transmission of culture from Italy to Spain ; one of
the most striking proofe of which is to be found in the case
of Antonio de Lebrixa, commonly called Nebrissensis,
who was educated at this college in the century following
its first foundation, and who, on his return home, did more
to advance the cause of letters in Spain than any other
scholar of his time. *
Commercial and political relations still fiirther promoted
a free communication of the manners and literature of
Italy to Spain. Barcelona, long the se^t of a cultivated
court, — a city whose liberal institutions had given birth to
the first bank of exchange, and demanded the first commer-
cial code of modern times, — had, from the days of James
the Conqueror, exercised a sensible influence round the
shores of the Mediterranean, and come into successful com-
petition with the enterprise of Pisa and Genoa, even in the
ports of Italy. The knowledge and refinement its ships
brought back, joined to the spirit of commercial adven-
ture that sent them out, rendered Barcelona, therefore, in
the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, one of
the most magnificent cities in Europe, and carried its in-
fluence not only quite through the kingdoms of Aragon
and Valencia, of which it was in many respects the capital,
but into the neighbouring kingdom of Castile, with which
that of Aragon was, during much of this period, intimately
connected. *
The political relations between Spain and Sicily were,
however, earlier and more close than those between Spain
and Italy, and tended to the same results. Giovanni de
Frocida, after long preparing his beautifiil island to shake
oflF the hated yoke of the French, hastened in 1282, as
* Antonio, Bib. Nova, Tom. I. pp. Quintana's Life of that unhappy
132-138. ET^^^i (Vidas de Espafioles C^lebres,
• Prescott's Hist, of Ferdinand and Tom. I.,) and the very curious notice
Isabella, Introd., Section 2; to which of Barcelona in Leo Von Rozmital's
add the account of the residence in Ritter-Hof-und-Pilger-Reise, 1465-
Barcelona of Cirlos de Viana, in 67, Stuttgard, 1844, 8vo., p. HI.
Chap. XVIII. INFLUENCES OF ITALY ON SPAIN. 319
soon as the horrors of the Sicilian Vespers were fulfilled,
to lay the allegiance of Sicily at the feet of Peter the
Third of Aragon, who, in right of his wife, claimed Sicily
to be a part of his inheritance, as heir of Conradin, the
last male descendant of the imperial family of the Hohen-
stauflTen. '' The revolution thus begun by a fiery patriotism
was successful ; but from that time Sicily was either a fief
of the Aragonese crown, or was possessed, as a separate
kingdom, by a branch of the Aragonese family, down to
the period when, with the other possessions of Ferdinand
the Catholic, it became a part of the consolidated monarchy
of Spain.
The connexion with Naples, which was of the same sort,
followed later, but was no less intimate. Alfonso the Fifth
of Aragon, a prince of rare wisdom and much literary cul-
tivation, acquired Naples by conquest in 1441, afler a
long struggle ; ® but the crown he had thus won was passed
down separately in an indirect line through four of his
descendants, till 1503, when, by a shameful treaty with
France, and by the genius and arms of Gonzalvo of Cor-
dova, it was again conquered and made a direct depend-
ence of the Spanish throne. * In this condition, as fiefs
of the crown of Spain, both Sicily and Naples continued
subject kingdoms until afler the Bourbon accession ; both
affording, from the very nature of their relations to the
thrones of Castile and Aragon, constant means and oppor-
tunities for the transmission of Italian cultivation and
Italian literature to Spain itself.
But the language of Italy, from its aflSnity to the
Spanish, constituted a medium of communication perhaps
'' Zurita, Anales de Aragon, Zaiu- • Schmidt, Geschichte Araffoniens
goza, 1604, folio, Lib. IV. c. 13, etc. ; im Mittelalter, pp. 337-364. Heeren,
Mariana, Historia, Lib. XIV. c. 6 ; — Geschichte des Studiums der Clas-
both important, but especially the sischen Litteratur, Gottingen, 1797,
first, as giving the Sparash view of a 8?o., Tom. II. pp. 109-111.
case which we are more in the habit ' Prescott's Hist, of Ferdinand and
of considering cither in its Italian or Isabella, Vol. III.
its French relations.
320 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATUBE. Period I.
more important and effectual than any or all of the others.
The Latin was the mother of both ; and the resemblance
between them was such, that neither could daim to have
features entirely its own : Fades non unoj nee diversa ta^
men; qualem decet esse sororum. It cost little labour
to the Spaniard to make himself master of the Italian.
Translations, therefore, were less common from the few
Italian authors that then existed, worth translating, than
they would otherwise have been ; but enough are found,
and early enough, to show that Italian authors and Italian
literature were not neglected in Spain. Ayala, the chro-
nicler, who died in 1407, was, as we have already ob-
served, acquainted with the works of Boccaccio. *® A little
later, we are struck by the fact that the " Divina Comme-
dia" of Dante was twice translated in the same year,
1 428 ; once by Febrer into the Catalan dialect, and once by
Don Enrique de Villena into the Castilian. Twenty years
afterwards, the Marquis of Santillana is complimented as
a person capable of correcting or surpassing that great poet,
and speaks himself of Dante, of Petrarch, and of Boccaccio
as if he were familiar with them aU. *^ But the name of
this great nobleman brings us at once to the times of John
the Second, when the influences of Italian literature and
the attempt to form an Italian school in Spain are not to
be mistaken. To this period, therefore, we now turn.
The long reign of John the Second, extending fit)m
1407 to 1454, unhappy as it was for himself and for his
country, was not unfavourable to the progress of some
of the forms of elegant literature. During nearly the
whole of it, the weak king himself was subjected to the
commandmg genius of the Constable Alvaro de Luna,
^° Sec antCyii, 164. interpret them, imply a familiar know-
" ** ConvosquecmcndavslasObras ledge of Dante, which the Marquis
de Dante," says Gomez Alanrique, in himself yet more directly announces
a poem addressed to his uncle, the in his well-known letter to the Con-
great Marquis, and found in the stable of Portugal. Sanchez, Poesias
"Cancionero General," 1573, f. 76. Antcriorcs, Tom. I. p. liv.
b; — words which, however we may
Chap. XVIII. JOHN THE SECOND OF CASTILE. 321
whose control, though he sometimes felt it to be oppressive,
he always regretted, when any accident in the troubles of
the times threw it ofl^ and left him to bear alone the bur-
den which belonged to his position in the state. It seems,
indeed, to have been a part of the Constable's policy to
give up the king to his natural indolence, and encourage
his effeminacy by filling his time with amusements that
would make business more unwelcome to him than the
hard tyranny of the minister who relieved him from it. ^'
Among these amusements, none better suited the hu-
mour of the idle king than letters. He was by no means
without talent He sometimes wrote verses. He kept
the poets of the time much about his person, and more in
his confidence and favour than was wise. He had, per-
haps, even a partial perception of the advantage of intel-
lectual refinement to his country, or at least to his court.
One of his private secretaries, to please his master and
those nearest to the royal influence, made, about the year
1449, an ample collection of the Spanish poetry then most
in favour, comprising the works of about fifty authors. '*
Juan de Mena, the most distinguished poet of the time,
was his official chronicler, and the king sent him docu-
ments and directions, with great minuteness and an amusing
personal vanity, respecting the maimer in which the his-
tory of his reign should be written ; while Juan de Mena,
on his part, like a true courtier, sent his verses to the king
to be corrected. " His physician, too, who seems to have
been always in attendance on his person, was the gay and
good-humoured Ferdinand Gomez, who has left us, if we
are to believe them genuine, a pleasing and characteristic
*' Mariana, Historia, Madrid, 1780, " See the amusing letters in the
fol., Tom. II. pp. 236 407. See also ** Centon Epistolario" of Fern. Go-
the very remarkable detdls given bv mez de Cibdareal, Nos. 47, 49, 66,
Feman Perez de Guzman, in his and 76;— a work, however, whose
''Greneraciones y Semblanzas," c. 33. authority will hereafter be called in
*• Castro, Bib. Espafiola, Tom. I. question,
pp. 265-346.
VOL. I. Y
322 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
collection of letters ; and who, after having served and fol-
lowed his royal master above forty years, sleeping, as he
tells us, at his feet and eating at his table, mourned his
death, as that of one whose kindness to him had been con-
stant and generous. "
Surrounded by persons such as these, in continual in-
tercourse with others like them, and often given up to
letters to avoid the solicitation of state aflFairs and to gratify
his constitutional indolence, John the Second made his
reign, though discreditable to himself as a prince, and dis-
astrous to Castile as an independent state, still interesting
by a sort of poetical court which he gathered about him,
and important as it gave an impulse to refinement percep-
tible afterwards through several generations.
There has been a period like this in the history of
nearly all the modern European nations, — one in which a
taste for poetical composition was common at court, and
among those higher classes of society within whose limits
intellectual cultivation was then much confined. In Gei>
many, such a period is found as early as the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries; the unhappy young Conradin, who
perished in 1268 and is commemorated by Dante, being
one of the last of the princely company that illustrates it
For Italy, it begins at about the same time, in the Sicilian
court ; and though discountenanced both by the spirit of
the Church, and by the spirit of such commercial republics
as Pisa, Genoa, and Florence, — no one of which had then
the chivalrous tone that animated, and indeed gave birth
to this early refinement throughout Europe, — it can still
be traced down as far as the age of Petrarch.
Of the appearance of such a taste in the South of
France, in Catalonia, and in Aragon, with its spread to
Castile under the patronage of Alfonso the Wise, notice
has already been taken. But now we find it in the heart
** Fem. Gomez dc Cibdareal, Centon Epistolario, Epist. 106.
Chap. XVIII. COURTLY LITERATURE. 323
and in the North of the country, extending, too, into An-
dalusia and Portugal, full of love and knighthood ; and
though not without the conceits that distinguished it wher-
ever it appeared, yet sometimes showing touches of nature,
and still oflener a graceful ingenuity of art, that have not
lost their interest down to our own times. Under its in-
fluence was formed that school of poetry which, marked
by its most prominent attribute, has been sometimes
called the school of the Minnesingers^ or the poets of love
and gallantry ; ^^ a school which either owed its existence
everywhere to the Troubadours of Provence, or took, as it
advanced, much of their character. In the latter part of
the thirteenth century, its spirit is already perceptible in
the Castilian ; and, from that time, we have occasionally
caught glimpses of it, down to the point at which we are
now arrived, — the first years of the reign of John the
Second, — when we find it beginning to be coloured by an
infiision of the Italian, and spreading out into such im-
portance as to require a separate examination.
And the first person in the group to whom our notice
is attracted, as its proper, central figure, is King John
himself. Of him his chronicler said, with much truth,
though not quite without flattery, that " he drew all men
to him, was very free and gracious, very devout, and very
bold, and gave himself much to the reading of philosophy
and poetry. He was skilled in matters of the Church,
tolerably learned in Latin, and a great respecter of such
men as had knowledge. He had manj^atural gifts. He
was a lover of music ; he played, sung, and made verses ;
*' Minne is the word for bwe in the Wachter, Manage, Adelung, etc. ;
** Nibelungcniied" and in the oldest but it is enough for our purpose to
German poetry generally, and is ap- know that the word itself is peculiarly
f)lied occasionally to spiritual and re- appropriate to the fiinciful and more
igious affections, but almost always or less conceited school of poetry that
to the love connected with gallantry, everywhere appeared under the influ-
There has been a great deS of div- ences of chivalry. It is the word that
cussion about its etymology and pri- gave birth to the French nu'gnon, the
mitive meanings in the Lexicons of English mmwnf etc.
y2
324 HISTORY OP SPANISH UTERATURE. Period I.
and he danced well.*'" One who knew him better de-
scribes him more skilfully. " He was," says Fernan Perez
de Guzman, " a man who talked with judgment and dis-
cretion. He knew other men, and understood who con-
versed well, wisely, and graciously ; and he loved to listen
to men of sense, and noted what they said. He spoke
and understood Latin. He read well, and liked books
and histories, and loved to hear witty rhymes, and knew
when they were not well made. He took great solace in
gay and shrewd conversation, and could bear his part in
it He loved the chace, and hunting of fierce animals,
and was well skilled in all the arts of it. Music, too, he
understood, and sung and played ; was good in jousting,
and bore himself well in tilting with reeds." ^®
How much poetry he wrote we do not know. His
physician says, " The king recreates himself with writing
verses ;" ^* and others repeat the fact But the chief proof
of his skill that has come down to our times is to be found
in the following lines, in the Proven9al manner, on the
falsehood of his lady : ^ —
O Love, I never, never thought
Thy power had been so great,
That thou couldst change my &te,
By changes in another wrought,
Tin now, alas 1 I know it
■7 Cr<$iuca de D. Juan el Segundo, gladly books of philosophy and poe^,
Alio 1464, e. 2. and was learned in matters belonging
" Generaciones y Semblanzas, Cap. to the Church." Crdnicade Hyspafia,
83. Diego de Valera, who, like Guz- Salamanca, 1496, folio, f. 89.
man, just dted, had much personal ** Fernan Gomez de Cibdareal,
intercourse with the king, gives a Centon Epistolario, Ep. 20.
similar account of him, in a s^le no ^ They are commonly printed vrith
less natural and striking. ** He was," the works of Juan de Mena, as in the
says that chronicler, "devout and edition of Seville, 1634, folio, f. 104,
humane ; liberal and gentle ; tolera- but are often found elsewhere,
bly well taught in the Latin tongue ;
bold, gracious, and of winning ways. ^™» J® ™f* P***^*
He was tall of stature, and his bear- qqc podriM traer maiMrat
a; was regal, with much natural ease. Pi^ tnttomw u 6,
oreover, he was a good musician; Fmu .gora qu« lo ifc.
sang, played, and danced ; and wrote PennU qoe eonoddo
-p^ verses Itrobaua muy Woi]. M*Mnopli5iJrSI!ar
iimtiiig pleased him much ; he read qm tacrMten oui MbMo.
ffood
Hunt
Ml
Chap. XVIII. MABQUIS OF VILLBNA. . 325
I thought I knew thee well,
For I had known thee long ;
But though I felt thee strong,
I felt not all thy spell.
Nor ever, ever had I thought
Thj power had been so great,
That thou couldst change my fate.
By changes in another wrought.
Till now, alas ! I know it.
Among those who most interested themselves in the
progress of poetry in Spain, and laboured most directly to
introduce it at the court of Castile, the person first in rank
after the king was his near kinsman, Henry, Marquis of
Villena, born in 1384, and descended in the paternal line
from the royal house of Aragon, and in the maternal from
that of Castile. " " In early youth," says one who knew
him well, " he was inclined to the sciences and the arts,
rather than to knightly exercises, or even to aflairs, whe-
ther of the state or the Church ; for, without any master,
and none constraining him to learn, but rather hindered
by his grandfather, who would have had him for a knight,
he did, in childhood, when others are wont to be carried
to their schools by force, turn himself to learning, against
the good-will of all ; and so high and so subtile a wit had
he, that he learned any science or art to which he addicted
himself in such wise that it seemed as if it were done by
force of nature/* '*
But his rank and position brought him into the affairs
of the world and the troubles of the times, however little
he might be fitted to play a part in them. He was made
Master of the great military and monastic Order of Cala-
trava, but, owing to irregularities in his election, was ulti-
Ni jamu no lo peiue, in the kingdom. Salazar dc Mendoza.
CPS^'r^'Sk™. Origen de las Dipjidadea SogIare.de
Para trutoniar U fe, Castllla y Lcon, ToleUO, 1618, follO,
Faato agora que lo ak. LJJ,. HI, c. xii.
•* His femily, at the time of his ** Feman Perei de Guzman, Gen.
birth, possessed the only marquisate y Semblanzas, Cap. 28.
326 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
mately ejected from his place, and left in a worse condition
than if he had never received it*^ In the mean time he
resided chiefly at the court of Castile; but from 1412 to
1414 he was at that of his kinsman, Ferdinand the Just,
of Aragon, in honour of whose coronation at Saragossa he
composed an allegorical drama, which is unhappily lost.
Afterwards he accompanied that monarch to Barcelona,
where, as we have seen, he did much to restore and sus-
tain the poetical school called the Consistory of the Gaya
Sciencia. When, however, he lost his place as Master
of the Order of Calatrava, he sunk into obscurity. The
Regency of Castile, willing to make him some amends for
his losses, gave him the poor lordship of Iniesta in the
bishopric of Cuenca ; and there he spent the last twenty
years of his life in comparative poverty, earnestly devoted
to such studies as were known and fashionable in his time.
He died while on a visit at Madrid, in 1434 — the last of
his great family. **
Among his favourite studies, besides poetry, history,
and elegant literature, were philosophy and the mathe-
matics, astrology, and alchemy. But in an age of great
ignorance and superstition, such pursuits were not indulged
in without rebuke. Don Enrique, therefore, like others,
was accounted a necromancer; and so deeply did this
*" Cr6nica de D. Juan el Segundo, ** Zurita, Anales de Aragon, Lib.
Afio 1407, Cap. 4, and 1434, Cap. 8, XIV. c. 22. The best notice of the
where his character is pithily given Marquis of Villena is in Juan An-
in the following words : " Este cabal- tonio Pellicer, ** Biblioteca de Tra-
lero fue muy grande letrado ^ supo ductores Espanoles," (Madrid, 1778,
muj poco en lo que le cumplia." In 8vo., Tom. II. pp. 58-76,^ to which,
the ** Comedias Escogidas " (Madrid, however, the accounts in Antonio
4to., Tom. IX., 1657) is a poor play (Bib. Vetus, ed. Bayer, Lib. X. c.
entitled ** El Hey Enrique el En- 8^ and Mariana (Hist, Lib. XX. c.
fermo, de seis Ingenios," in which 6) should be added. The character
that unhappy king, contrary to the of a bold, unscrupulous, ambitious
truth of history, is represented as man, given to Villena by Larra, in
making the Marquis of Villena his novel entitled '*£! Doncel de
Master of Calatrava, in order to dis- Don Enrique el Doliente," published
solve his marriage and obtain his wife, at Madrid, about 1835, has no proper
Who were the six wits that invented foundation in hbtory.
this calumny does not appear.
Chap. XVIII. MARQUIS OF VILLENA. 327
belief strike its roots, that a popular tradition of his guilt
has survived in Spain nearly or quite down to our own
age.^* The effects at the time were yet more unhappy
and absurd. A large and rare collection of books that he
left behind him excited alarm immediately after his death.
" Two cart-loads of them," says one claimed to have been
his contemporary and friend, *'were carried to the king,
and because it was said they related to magic and unlawful
arts, the king sent them to Friar Lope de Barrientos ; *•
and Friar Lope, who cares more to be about the Prince
than to examine matters of necromancy, burnt above a
hundred volumes, of which he saw no more than the King
of Morocco did, and knew no more than the Dean of
Ciudad Rodrigo ; for many men now-a-days make them-
selves the name of learned by calling others ignorant ; but
it is worse yet when men make themselves holy by calling
others necromancers." ^' Juan de Mena, to whom the letter
containing this statement was addressed, oflFered a not un-
graceful tribute to the memory of Villena in three of his
three hundred coplas ; *® and the Marquis of Santillana,
distinguished for his love of letters, wrote a separate poem
on the occasion of his noble friend's death, placing him,
** Pellicer speaks of the traditions Pascual de Gayangos, and in which
of Villena's necromancy as if still cur- the author savs that among the books
rent in his time (loc. cit., p. 65). burned was the one called ** Raziel,"
Uow absurd some of them were may from the name of one of the angels
be seen in a note of Pellicer to his who guarded the entrance to Paradise,
edition of Don Quixote, (Parte I. c. and taught the art of divination to a
49,) and in the Dissertation of Feyjoo, son of Adam, from whose traditions
** Teatro Crftico " (Madrid, 1751, the book in question was compiled.
8vo., Tom. VI. Disc. ii. sect. 9), It may be worth while to add, that
Mariana evidently regarded the Mar- this Barrientos was a Dominican, one
quis as a dealer in the black arts, of the order of monks to whom,
(llist.. Lib. XIX. c. 8,) or, at least, ^ thirty years afterwards, Spain was
chose to have it thought he did. chiefly indebted for the Inquisition,
*• Lope de Barrientos was con- which soon bettered his example by
fessor to John II., and perhaps his burning, not only books, but men.
knowledge of these very books led He died in 1469, having filled, at
him to compose a treatise against different times, some of the principal
Divination, which has never been offices in the kingdom,
printed, (Antonio, Bib. Vetus, Lib. *' Cibdareal, Centon Epistolario,
X. c. 11,) but of which I have ample Epist. Ixvi.
extracts, through the kindness of D. " Coplas 126-128.
328 HISrOST OV SPAXISH UTERATCBB. FlBiOD I.
after the fashion of his age and country, above all Greek,
above all Roman &me. **
But though the unhappy Marquis of VilleBa may have
been in advance of his age, as far as his studies and know-
led'^e were concerned, still the few of his works now known
to us are far from justifying the whole of the reputation his
contemporaries gave him. His "Arte Cisoria," or Art
of Carving, is proof of this. It was written in 1423, at the
requ(;st of his friend the chief carver of John the Second,
and begins, in the most formal and pedantic manner, with
the creation of the world and the invention of all the arts,
among which the art of carving is made early to assume a
high place. Then follows an account of what is necessary
to make a good carver ; after which we have, in detail,
the whole mystery of the art, as it ought to be practised at
the royal table. It is obvious from sundry passages of the
work that the Marquis himself was by no means without
a love for the good cheer he so careftdly explains, — a cir-
cumstance, perhaps, to which he owed the gout that we
are told severely tormented his latter years. But in its
style and composition this specimen of the didactic prose
of the age has little value, and can be really curious only to
those who are interested in the history of manners. **
Similar remarks might probably be made about his trea-
tise on the " Arte de Trobar," or the " Gaya Sciencia ;" a
sort of Art of Poetry, addressed to the Marquis of Santil-
lana, in order to carry into his native Castile some of the
poetical skill possessed by the Troubadours of the South.
But wc have only an imperfect abstract of it, accompanied,
»• It 18 found in the " Cancioncro fire of 1671. It is not likely soon to
(toiioral/* 1673, "(if. 34-37,) and is a come to a second edition. If I were
Vi«ioii in imitation of Dante's. to compare it with any contemporary
*» The ** Arte Ciw)ria 6 Tratado work, it would be with the old Eng-
del Arte do oortar del Curhillo" was lish ** Treatyse on Fyshyngre with an
flnit printed under the au.spices of the Angle," sometimes attributed to
Library of the Escurial, (Madrid, Dame Juliana Bemers, but it lacks
1760, 4to.,) from a maimscript in that the few literary merits found in that
precious collection marked with the little work.
Chap. XVIH. MARQUIS OF VILLENA. 329
indeed, with portions of the original work, which are in-
teresting as being the oldest on its subject in the language. '^
More interesting, however, than either would be his transla-
tions of the Rhetorica of Cicero, the Divina Commedia of
Dante, and the ^neid of Virgil. But of the first we have
lost all trace. Of the second we know only that it was in
prose, and addressed to his friend and kinsman the Marquis
of Santillana. And of the ^neid there remain but seven
books, with a commentary to three of them, from which a
few extracts have been published. ^
Villena's reputation, therefore, must rest chiefly on his
"Trabajos de Hercules," or The Labours of Hercules^
written to please one of his Catalonian friends, Pero
Fardo, who asked to have an explanation of the virtues
and achievements of Hercules, always a great national
hero in Spain. The work seems to have been much ad-
mired and read in manuscript, and, after printing was
introduced into Spain, it went through two editions before
the year 1500 ; but all knowledge of it was so completely
lost soon afterwards, that the most intelligent authors of
Spanish literary history down to our own times have gene-
rally spoken of it as a poem. It is however, in fact, a
short prose treatise, filling, in the first edition, — that of
1483, — thirty large leaves. It is divided into twelve
chapters, each devoted to one of the twelve great labours
*^ All we havo of this '* Arte de riosity about Virgil had been ezdted
Trobar " is in Mayans y Siscar, " Orf- by the reverentSil notices of him in
genes de la Lengua Esijaiiola" (Ma- Dante's <* Divina Commedia." See,
drid, 1737, 12mo., Tom. II., pp. also, Memorias de la Academia de
321-342). It seems to have been Historia, Tom. VI. p. 455, note,
written in 1433. In the King's Library at Paris is a
^ The best account of them is in prose translation of the last nine
Pellicer, Bib. de Traductorcs, loc. oooks of Virnl's JEneid, made, in
cit. I am sorry to add, that the sped- 1430, by a Juan de Villena, who
men given of the translation from qualifies himself as a ** servant of
Virgil, though short, affords some Inigo Lopez de Mendoza." (Ochoa,
reason to doubt whether the Marquis Catdlogo de Manuscritos, Paris, 1844,
was a good Latin scholar. It is in 4to., p. 375.^ It would bo curious
prose, and the Preface sets forth that to ascertain whether the two have any
It was written at the earnest request connexion, as both seem to be con-
of John, King of Navarre, whose cu- nected with the Marquis of Santil1«n^
330 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbiod I.
of Hercules, and each subdivided into four parts: the first
part containing the common mythological story of the
labour under consideration ; the second, an explanation of
this story as if it were an allegory ; the third, the historical
facts upon which it is conjectured to have been founded ;
and the fourth, a moral application of the whole to some
one of twelve conditions into which the author very arbi-
trarily divides the human race, beginning with princes and
ending with women.
Thus, in the fourth chapter, after telling the commonly
received tale, or, as he calls it, " the naked story," of the
Garden of the Hesperides, he gives us an allegory of it,
showing that Libya, where the fair garden is placed, is hu-
man nature, dry and sandy; that Atlas, its lord, is the
wise man, who knows how to cultivate his poor desert;
that the garden is the garden of knowledge, divided ac-
cording to the sciences; that the tree in the midst is
philosophy ; that the dragon watching the tree is the diffi-
culty of study ; and that the three Hesperides are Intelli-
gence, Memory, and Eloquence. All thi? and more he
explains under the third head, by giving the facts which
he would have us suppose constituted the foundation of the
first two ; telling us that King Atlas was a wise king of the
olden time, who first arranged and divided all the sciences;
and that Hercules went to him and acquired them, after
which he returned and imparted his acquisitions to King
Eurystheus. And finally, in the fourth part of the chapter,
he applies it all to the Christian priesthood and the duty of
this priesthood to become learned and explain the Scrip-
tures to the ignorant laity, as if there were any possible
analogy between them and Hercules and his fables. ^
•• The ** Trabajos de Hercules " Fascual de Gayangos. It was printed
is one of the rarest books in the at (^amora, by Centenera, naving
world, though there are editions of it been completed, as the colophon tel£
of 1483 and 1499, and perhaps one of us, on the 15th of January, 1483. It
1502. The copy which I use is of fills thirty leaves in folio, double
the first edition, and belongs to Don columns, and is illustrated by eleven
Chap. XVIII. MACIAS EL ENAMORADO. 331
The book, however, is worth the trouble of reading.
It is, no doubt, fall of the faults peculiar to its age,
and abounds in awkward citations from Virgil, Ovid,
Lucan, and other Latin authors, then so rarely found
and so little known in Spain, that they added materially
to the interest and value of the treatise.'* But the
allegory is sometimes amusing; the language is almost
always good, and occasionally striking by fine archaisms ;
and the whole has a dignity about it which is not without
its appropriate power and grace.**
From the Marquis of Villena himself it is natural
for us to turn to one of his followers, known only as
"Macias el Enamorado,** or Macias the Lover; a name
which constantly recurs in Spanish literature with a
peculiar meaning, given by the tragical history of the
poet who bore it. He was a Galician gentleman, who
served the Marquis of Villena as one of his esquires,
and became enamoured of a maiden attached to the same
princely household with himself. But the lady, though
he won her love, was married, under the authority that
controlled both of them, to a knight of Porcuna. Still
curious wood-cuts, well done for the ** See Heeren, Geschichte der
period and country. The mistakes Class. Litteratur im Mittelaltcr, Got-
made about it are remarkable, and tingen, 8vo., Tom. II., 1801, pp.
render the details I have given of 126-131. From the Advertencia to
some consequence. Antonio, (Bib. the Marquis of Villena's translation
Vetus, ed. Baver, Tom. II. p. 222,) of Virgil, it would seem that even
VelasQuez, (Orlgenes de la Poesia Virgil was hardly known in Spain in
Castellana, 4to., Mdla^, 1754, p. the beginning of the fifteenth cen-
49,) L. F. Moratin, (Obras, ed. de tury,
la Acadcmia, Madrid, 1830, 8vo., ** Another work of the Marquis of
Tom. I. Parte I. p. 114,) and even Villena is mentioned in Sem{)cre y
Torres Amat, in nis ** Memorias,'* Guarinos, ** Uistoria del Luxo de Es-
(Barcclona, 1836, 8vo., p. 669,) all pana," (Madrid, ;i788, 8vo., Tom. I.
speak of it 04 a poem. Of the edi- pp. 176-179,) called '' £1 Triunfo de
tion printed at Burgos, in 1499, and las Donas,*' and is said to have been
mentioned in Mendez, Typog. Esp., found by him in a manuscript of the
(p. 289,) I have never seen a copy, fifteenth century, ** with other works
and, except the above-mentioned of the same wise author." The
copy of the first edition and an im- extract given by Sempero is on the
LHerfect one in the Royal Librai^ at fope of the time, and is written with
Paris, I know of none of any edition ; spirit
rare is it become.
332 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATUBE. Pbiod I.
Macias in no degree restrained his passion, but continued
to express it to her in his verses, as he had done before.
The husband was naturally offended, and complained to
the Marquis, who, after in vain rebuking his follower,
used his full power as Grand Master of the Order of
Calatrava, and cast Macias into prison. But there he
only devoted himself more passionately to the thoughts
of his lady, and, by his persevering love, still more pro-
voked her husband, who, secretly following him to his
prison at Arjonilla, and watching him one day as he
chanced to be singing of his love and his sufferings, was
80 stung by jealousy, that he cast a dart through the
gratings of the window, and killed the unfortunate poet
with the name of his lady still trembling on his lips.
The sensation produced by the death of Macias was
such as belongs only to an imaginative age, and to the
sympathy felt for one who perished because he was both
a Troubadour and a lover. All men who desired to be
thought cultivated mourned his fate. His few poems in
his native Galician — only one of which, and that of
moderate merit, is preserved entire — became generally
known, and were generally admired. His master, the
Marquis of Villena, Bodriguez del Padron, who was his
countryman, Juan de Mena, the great court poet, and
the still greater Marquis of Santillaua, all bore testimony,
at the time or immediately afterwards, to the general
sorrow. Others followed their example ; and the custom
of referring constantly to him and to his melancholy fate
was continued in ballads and popular songs, until, in the
poetry of Lope de Vega, Calderon, and Quevedo, the
name of Macias passed into a proverb, and became synony-
mous with the highest and tenderest love. '•
** The best account of Macias and Molina, '* Nobleza del Andaluzia,"
of his verses is in Bellermann's *' Alte (Se villa, 1588, folio, Lib. II. c. 148,
Liederbiicher der Portuguiesen " f. 272,) Castro, *' Biblioteca Espft-
(Berlin, 1840, 4to., pp. 24-26); to nola," (Tom. l.p.812,)andCortina'8
which may well be added, Argote de notes to Bouterwek (p. 195). But
Chap. XVIII.
MACIAS EL ENAMORADO.
333
the proofs of his early and wide-
spread fame are to be sought in San-
cnez, ** Poes£as Anteriores " (Tom. I.
p. 138); in the " Cancionero Gene-
ral," 1635 (ff. 67, 91) ; in Juan de
Mcna, Copla 105, with the notes on
it in the edition of Mena's Works,
1566 ; in ** Celestina," Act II. ; in
several plays of Calderon, such as
** Para veneer Amor querer vencerlo,"
and '* Qual es mayor Perfeccion ;" in
Gongora^s ballads ; and in many pas-
sages of Lope de Vega and Cer-
vantes. There are notices of Macias
also in Ochoa, *' Manuscritos Espa-
Soles," Paris, 1844, 4to., p. 605. In
Vol. XLVIII. of " Comedias Esco-
gidas '' (1704, 4to.) is an anonymous
play on his adventures and death,
entitled '< £1 Espafiol mas Amante,"
in which the unhappy Macias is
killed at the moment tne Marquis of
Villcna arrives to release him from
E risen ; and in our own times, Larra
as made him the hero of his '* Doncel
de Don Enrique el Doliente," already
referred to, and of a tragedy that bears
his name, ** Macias," neither of them
true to the facts of hbtory.
334 HISTOBT OF SPANISH LTTERATDItB. Pbtob I.
CHAPTER XIX.
Makquis of Santillaka. — His Lifb. — His Teitdkhct to noTATE th»
Italian and the Proven9Al.— His Coubtlt Sttu. — His Works.—
His Cuaractsb. — Juan db Mena. — His Lifb. — His Shorter Poems.—
His Labtrinth, and its Merits.
Next after the king and Villena in rank, and much
before them in merit, stands, at the head of the courtiers
and poets of the reign of John the Second, Ifiigo Lopez
de Mendoza, Marquis of Santillana; one of the most
distinguished members of that great family which has
sometimes claimed the Cid for its founder, * and which
certainly, with a long succession of honours, reaches down
to our own times.* He was born in 1398, but was left
an orphan in early youth ; so that, though his father, the
Grand Admiral of Castile, had, at the time of his death,
larger possessions than any other nobleman in the kingdom,
the son, when he was old enoi^h to know their value,
found them chiefly wrested from him by the bold barons
who in the most lawless manner then divided among
themselves the power and resources of the crown.
But the young Mendoza was not of a temper to submit
patiently to such wrongs. At the age of sixteen he already
* Perez de Guzman, Generaciones ballad, —
y Scmblanzas, Cap. 9. « , « v __.
• This wr^t family is early con- fuSl^S;': irirc.';;^^
nected with the poetry of Spain. The
grandfather of liiigo sacrificed his It is found at the end of the Eighth
own life voluntarily to save the life of Part of the Romancero, 1597, and is
John I. at the battle of Aljubarrota in translated with much spirit by Lock-
1385, and became in consequence the hart, who, however, evidently did not
subject of that stirring and glorious seek exactness in his versioD.
Chap. XIX. MARQUIS OP 8ANTILLANA. 335
figures in the chronicles of the time, as one of the dignitaries
of state who honoured the coronation of Ferdinand of
Aragon ; * and at the age of eighteen, we are told, he
boldly reclaimed his possessions, which, partly through the
forms of law and partly by force of arms, he recovered. *
From this period we find him, during the reign of John
the Second, busy in the aflairs of the kingdom, both civil
and military ; always a personage of great consideration,
and apparently one who, in diflSicult circumstances and wild
times, acted from manly motives. When only thirty years
old, he was distinguished at court as one of the persons
concerned in arranging the marriage of the Infanta of
Aragon ; ^ and, soon afterwards, had a separate command
against the Navarrese, in which, though he suffered a defeat
from greatly superior numbers, he acquired lasting honour
by his personal bravery and firmness.* Against the Moors
he commanded long, and was oft;en successful ; and after the
battle of Olmedo, in 1445, he was raised to the very high
rank of Marquis ; none in Castile having preceded him in
that title except the family of Villena, already extinct. ''
He was early, but not violently, opposed to the great
favourite, the Constable Alvaro de Luna. In 1432, some
of his friends and kinsmen, the good Count Haro and the
Bishop of Palencia, with their adherents, having been
seized by order of the Constable, Mendozashut himself up
in his strongholds till he was fully assured of his own
safety. ® From this time, therefore, the relations between
* Crdnicade D. Juaii el Segundo, ofaman** Batallal. Quinquagena i.
Ano 1414, Cap. 2. DiiUogo 8, MS.
^ It is Perez de Guzman, uncle of ^ Crdnica dc D. Juan el Segundo,
the Marquis, who declares (Genera- Ano 1428, Cap. 7.
ciones y Semblanzas, Cap. 9) that the * Sanchez, Poeslas Anteriores,ToiD.
father of the Marquis had larger es- I. pp. v., etc.
tatcs than any other Castilian knight ; ^ Crdnica de D. Juan el Segundo,
to which may be added what Oviedo Ano 1438, Cap. 2 ; 1445, Cap. 17 ;
says so characteristically of the young and Salazar de Mendoza, Digmdades
nobleman, that, ** as he grew up, he de Castilla, Lib. III. c. 14.
recovered his estates pe^y by law ' Crdnica de D. Juan el Segundo,
and partly by force of arms, and so Ano 1432, Capp. 4 and 5.
began forthwith to be accounted much
336 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Pmiod I.
two such personages could not be considered friendly ; but
still appearances were kept up, and the next year, at a
grand jousting before the king in Madrid, where Mendoza
offered himself against all comers, the Constable was one
of his opponents ; and after the encounter, they feasted
together merrily and in all honour. * Indeed, the troubles
between them were inconsiderable till 1448 and 1449,
when the hard proceedings of the Constable against others
of the friends and relations of Mendoza led him into a
more formal opposition, ^® which in 1452 brought on a
regular conspiracy between himself and two more of the
leading nobles of the kingdom. The next year the fa-
vourite was sacrificed." In the last scenes, however, of
this extraordinary tragedy, the Marquis of Santillana seems
to have had little share.
The king, disheartened by the loss of the minister on
whose commanding genius he had so long relied, died
in 1454. But Henry the Fourth, who followed on the
throne of Castile, seemed even more willing to favour the
great family of the Mendozas than his father had been.
The Marquis, however, was little disposed to take ad-
vantage of his position. His wife died in 1455, and the
pilgrimage he made on that occasion to the shrine of Our
Lady of Guadalupe, and the religious poetry he wrote the
same year, show tiie direction his thoughts had now taken.
In this state of mind he seems to have continued ; and
though he once afterwards joined effectively with others
to urge upon the king's notice the disordered and ruinous
state of the kingdom, yet, from the fall of the Constable to
the time of his own death, which happened in 1458, the
Marquis was chiefly busied with letters, and with such
other occupations and thoughts as were consistent with a
retired life."
• Crdnica de D. Juan el Segundo, " Ibid., ASo 1462, Capp. 1, etc
Afio 1488, Cap. 2. »• The principal fticts in the life of
•• Ibid., Afio 1449, Cap. 11. the Marquis of Santillana are to be
Chap. XIX. MARQUIS OP SANTILLANA. 337
It is remarkable that one who, from his birth and
position, was so much involved in the affairs of state at a
period of great confusion and violence, should yet have
cultivated elegant literature with earnestness. But the
Marquis of Santillana, as he wrote to a friend and repeated
to Prince Henry, believed that knowledge neither blunts
the point of the lance, nor weakens the arm that wields a
knightly sword. '* He therefore gave himself freely to
poetry and other graceful accomplishments ; encouraged,
perhaps, by the thought, that he was thus on the road to
please the wayward monarch he served, if not the stern
favourite who governed them all. One who was bred at
the court, of which the Marquis was so distinguished an
ornament, says, " He had great store of books, and gave
himself to study, especially the study of moral philosophy
and of things foreign and old. And he had always in his
house doctors and masters, with whom he discoursed con-
cerning the knowledge and the books he studied. Like-
wise, he himself made other books in verse and in prose,
profitable to provoke to virtue and to restrain from vice.
And in such wise did he pass the greater part of his leisure.
Much fame and renown, also, he had in many kingdoms
out of Spain ; but he thought it a greater matter to have
esteem among the wise than name and fame with the
many.*' ^*
The works of the Marquis of Santillana show, with
sufficient distinctness, the relations in which he stood to
his times and the direction he was disposed to take. From
his social position, he could easily gratify any reasonable
literary curiosity or taste he might possess; for the
gathered — as, from his rank and con- but ill-digested, biognmhy in the first
sideration in the state, mipht be ex- volume of Sanchez, ** Poes^as Anteri-
pected— out of the Chronicle of John ores.**
II., in which he constantly appears *» In the " Introduction del Mar-
after the year 1414 j but a very lively ques d los Proverbios,** Anvers, 1662,
and successful sketch of him is to be ISmo., f. 160.
found in the fourth chapter of Pulgars " Pulgar, Claros Varones, ut supra.
'* Claros Varones,'* and an elaborate,
VOL. I. Z
338 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Peuod 1.
resources of the kingdom were open to him, and he could,
therefore, not only obtain for his private study the poetry
then abroad in the world, but often command to his
presence the poets themselves. He was bom in the
Asturias, where his great family fiefs lay, and was educated
in Castile; so that, on this side, he belonged to the
genuinely indigenous school of Spanish poetry. But then
he was also intimate with the Marquis of Villena, the
head of the poetical Consistory of Barcelona, who, to
encourage his poetical studies, addressed to him, in 1433,
his curious letter on the art of the Troubadours, which
Villena thus proposed to introduce into Castile. ^* And,
after all, he lived chiefly at the court of John the Second,
and was the fi'iend and patron of the poets there, through
whom and through his love of foreign letters it was natural
he should come in contact with the great Italian masters,
now exercising a wide sway within their own peninsula.
We must not be surprised, therefore, to find that his own
works belong more or less to each of these schools, and
define his position as that of one who stands connected
with the Proven9al literature in Spain, which we have
just examined; with the Italian, whose influences were
now beginning to appear ; and with the genuinely Spanish,
which, though it often bears traces of each of the others,
prevails at last over both of them.
Of his familiarity with the Proven9al poetry abundant
proof may be found in the Preface to his Proverbs, which
he wrote when young, and in his letter to the Constable
of Portugal, which belongs to the latter period of his life-
In both he treats the rules of that poetry as well founded,
explaining them much as his friend and kinsman, the
Marquis of Villena, did ; and of some of the principal of
its votaries in Spain, such as Bergedan, and Pedro and
Ausias March, he speaks with great respect. ^' To Jordi,
^ See the preceding notice of ** In the Introduction to his Pn>-
Villena. verbs, he boasts of his ftmiliarity
Chap. XIX. MARQUIS OP SANTILLANA. 339
his contemporary, he elsewhere devotes an allegorical
poem of some length and merit, intended to do him the
highest honour as a Troubadour. ^'
But, besides this, he directly imitated the Provencal
poets. By far the most beautiful of his works, and one
which may well be compared with the most graceful of
the smaller poems in the Spanish language, is entirely in
the Provencjal manner. It is called " Una Serranilla," or
A Little Mountain Song, and was composed on a little
girl, whom, when following his military duty, he found
tending her father's herds on the hills. Many such short
songs occur in the later Proven9al poets, under the name
of " Pastoretas," and " Vaqueiras,** one of which, by
Giraud Riquier — the same person who wrote verses on
the death of Alfonso the Wise — might have served as the
very prototype of the present one, so strong is the re-
semblance between them. But none of them, either in
the Provencjal or in the Spanish, has ever equalled this
" Serranilla " of the soldier ; which, besides its inherent
simplicity and liquid sweetness, has such grace and light-
ness in its movement, that it bears no marks of an un-
becoming imitation, but, on the contrary, is rather to be
regarded as a model of the natural old Castilian song,
never to be transferred to another language, and hardly to
be imitated with success in its own. *®
with the Provencal rules of versi- Moia un fermcwa
*/*"©• , . ^ . Como una ▼•quera
*^ It 18 m the oldest Cancionero De i* Finojon.
General, and copied from that into „ • • • • •.
Faber's " Floresta/' No. 87. S SLTe floS!*"
" The Serranas of the Arcipreste Guwdando ganado
de Hita were noticed when sp^mg S^t^Sl^^S;
of his works; but the six by the Qae apenas ereyna.
Marquis of Santillana approach nearer DS^URno^oS**'*
to the Proven9al model, and have a sanche«.Poed«.'wlor«..Toiii.i.p.xUv.
higher poetical merit. For their form ,„, ^ ,i . . . . o ^
and structure, see Diez, Troubadours, ^ The following is the opening of that
p. 114. The one specially referred ^Y Riquier;—
to in the text is so beautiful, that I Raya paatorelha
add a part of it, with the correspond- S^^iiiSJ^ ^
ing portion of the one by Riquier. Qua per caat la b«lha
34D HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbiod I.
The traces of Italian culture in the poetry of the
Marquis of Santillana are no less obvious and important
Besides praising Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, ^* he
imitates the opening of the " Inferno,** in a long poem, in
octave stanzas, on the death of the Marquis of Villena ; ^
while, in the " Coronation of Jordi," he shows that he was
sensible to the power of more than one passage in the
** Purgatorio.*"^ Moreover he has the merit — if it be
one — of introducing the peculiarly Italian form of the
Sonnet into Spain ; and with the diflFerent specimens of it
that still remain among his works begins the ample series
which, since the time of Boscan, has won for itself so
large a space in Spanish literature. Seventeen sonnets
of the Marquis of Santillana have been published, which
he himself declares to be written in ^^ the Italian fashion,**
and appeals to Cavalcante, Guido d' Ascoli, Dante, and
especially Petrarch, as his predecessors and models; an
appeal hardly necessary to one who has read them, so
plain is his desire to imitate the greatest of his masters.
The sonnets of the Marquis of Santillana, however, have
little merit, except in their careful versification, and were
soon forgotten. "
But his principal works were more in the manner then
prevalent at the Spanish court Most of them are in
g^heis tenia 12mo., Tom. I. p. 18. There are im-
u^Speih^fwoT ' perfect discussions about the introduc-
De flora e sexU, tioD of soimets into Spanish poetry in
8u.enUfre«iueria,etc^ Argotc dc Molina's " Discurso/' at
Raynoui^rd, Troabadoura, Tom. III. p, 470. ^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ,, ^^^^^ LucaAor/'
None of the Proven<;al poets, I think, 0575, f. 97,) and in Herrera's edi-
wrote so beautiful Pastoretas as Ri- tion of (xarcilasso, (Sevilla,! 580,8 vo.,
quier ; so that the Marquis chose a p. 75.^ But all doubts are put at rest,
good model. and all questions answered, in the edi«
*' See the Letter to the Constable tion of the " Rimas Ineditas de Don
of Portugal. Ifiigo Lopez de Mendoza," published
" Cancionero General, 1573, f. 34. at Paris, by Ochoa, (1844, 8vo.;)
It was, of course, written after 1434, where, in a letter by the Marquis,
that being the year Villena died. dated Mav 4, 1444, and addressed,
** Faber, Floresta, ut sup. with his Poems, to Dona Violante de
" Sanchez, Poesias Anteriores, Pradas, he tells her expressly that he
Tom. L pp. XX., xxi., xl. Quintana, imitated the Italian masters in the
Poesias Castellanas, Madrid, 1807, composition of his poems.
Chaf. XIX. MARQUIS OF SANTILLANA. 341
verse, and, like a short poem to the queen, several riddles,
and a few religious compositions, are generally full of
conceits and aflFectation, and have little value of any sort. "
Two or three, however, are of consequence. One called
" The Complaint of Love," and referring apparently to
the story of Macias, is written with fluency and sweetness,
and is curious as containing lines in Galician, which, with
other similar verses and his letter to the Constable of
Portugal, show he extended his thoughts to this ancient
dialect, where are found some of the earliest intimations
of Spanish literature. ^ Another of his poems, which has
been called " The Ages of the World," is a compendium
of universal history, beginning at the creation and coming
down to the time of John the Second, with a gross com-
pliment to whom it ends. It was written in 1426, and
fills three hundred and thirty-two stanzas of double redorir
dilldSj dull and prosaic throughout.** The third is a
moral poem, thrown into the shape of a dialogue between
Bias and Fortune, setting forth the Stoical doctrine of the
worthlessness of all outward good. It consists of a hundred
and eighty octave stanzas in the short Spanish measure,
and was written for the consolation of a cousin and much-
loved firiend of the Toledo family, whose imprisonment in
1448, by order of the Constable, caused great troubles in
the kingdom, and contributed to the final alienation of the
Marquis from the favourite. *• The fourth is on the kin-
dred subject of the fall and death of the Constable him-
self, in 1453; a poem in fifty-three octave stanzas, each
of two redondillaSj containing a confession supposed to
■" They are found in the Cancio- dios sobre los Judios do Espana,**
nero General of 1673, ff. 24, 27, 37, (Madrid, 1848, 8vo., p. 342,) Hives
40, and 234. reasons which induce nim to believe
•* Sanchez, Poesfas Anteriores, it to be the work of Pablo de Sta.
Tom. I. pp. 143-147. Maria, who will be noticed hereafter.
** It received its name from Ochoa, " Faber, Floresta, No. 743. San-
who first printed it in his edition of chez, Tom. I. p. xli. Claros Varones
the Marquis's Poems, (pp. 97-240 ;) de PuW, ed. 1776, p. 224. CnSnica
but Amador de los Kios, m his *' Estu- de D. Juan 11^, Ano 1448, Cap. 4.
342 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbiod I.
have been made by the victim on the scaffold, partly to
the multitude, and partly to his priest. " In both of the
last two poems, and especially in the dialogue between
Bias and Fortune, passages of merit are found, which are
not only fluent, but strong ; not only terse and pointed,
but graceful. "
But the most important of the poetical works of the
Marquis of Santillana is one approaching the form of a
drama, and called the " Comedieta de Ponza,*' or The
Little Comedy of Ponza. It is founded on the story of
a great sea-fight near the island of Ponza in 1435, where
the kings of Aragon and Navarre, and the Infante Don
Henry of Castile, with many noblemen and knights, were
taken prisoners by the Genoese, — a disaster to Spain
which fills a large space in the old national chronicles. ^*
The poem of Santillana, written immediately after the
occurrence of the calamity it commemorates, is called a
Comedy, because its conclusion is happy, and Dante is
cited as authority for this use of the word. ^ But in fact
it is a dream or vision ; and one of the early passages in
the " Inferno," imitated at the very opening, leaves no
doubt as to what was in the author's mind when he wrote
it '^ The Queens of Navarre and Aragon, and the Infante
Dofia Catalina, as the persons most interested in the un-
happy battle, are the chief speakers. But Boccaccio is
also a principal personage, though seemingly for no better
reason than that he wrote the treatise on the Disasters of
■^ Cancionero General, 1673, f. 37. •• For example, Crdoica de D.
•■ Two or three other poems are Juan el Segundo, Alio 1435,
S'ven bv Ochoa: the ** Pregunta de Cap. 9.
obles,^' a sort of moral lament of * In the letter to Dona Violantc
the poet, that he cannot see and know de Pradas, he says he began it im-
the great men of all times ; the mediately after the battle.
** Doze Trabajos de Ercoles," which •* Sjieaking of the dialogue be
has sometimes been confounded with heard about the battle, the Marquis
the prose work of Villena bearing the says, using almost the very words of
same title ; and the ** Infiemo de Ena- Dionte, —
moradas,** which was afterwards imi- x^n panrow,
tatcd by Garci Sanchez de Badaioz. Que lolo en pcnsulo me vence piedmd.
All three are short and of little value.
Chap. XIX.
MARQUIS OF SANTILLANA.
343
Princes ; and, after being addressed very solemnly in this
capacity by the three royal ladies, and by the Marquis of
Santillana himself, he answers no less solemnly in his
native Italian. Queen Leonora then gives him an account
of the glories and grandeur of her house, accompanied
with auguries of misfortune, which are hardly uttered
before a letter comes announcing their fulfilment in the
calamities of the battle of Ponza. The queen mother,
after hearing the contents of this letter quite through, falls
as one dead. Fortune, in a female form, richly attired,
enters, and consoles them all ; first showing a magnificent
perspective of past times, with promises of still greater
glory to their descendants, and then fairly presenting to
them in person the very princes whose captivity had just
filled them with such fear and grief. And this ends the
Comedieta.
It fills a hundred and twenty of the old Italian octave
stanzas, — such stanzas as are used in the " Filostrato" of
Boccaccio, — and much of it is written in easy verse.
There is a great deal of ancient learning introduced into
it awkwardly and in bad taste ; but there is one passage
in which a description of Fortune is skilfully borrowed
firom the seventh canto of the " Inferno," and another in
which is a pleasing paraphrase of the Beatus ille of
Horace. '* The machinery and management of the story,
it is obvious, could hardly be worse ; and yet when it was
written, and perhaps still more when it was declaimed, as
it probably was before some of the sufferers in the disaster
it records, it may well have been felt as an effective exhi-
•* As a specimen of the best parts
of the Comedieta, I copy the para-
phrase from a manuscript, better, I
think, than that used by Ochoa : —
»T. XVI.
Ilenditoa'aqnellos, qnc, con el a^ada,
Sustentan hus vidas y bivcn contentot,
Y de quando ♦m qimndo conoscen morada,
Y sufkvn placientes laa lluviac y vientos,
Ca eatoa no temen loa lua moTimientos,
Nin saben laa coma del tiempo pasado»
Nin dn laa presontes se hacen cuidado,
Nin^laa venideras do an nascimientoa.
8T. XVII.
Benditos aqnellos qne idguen laa fieraa
Con laa zruesas rcdea y canes ardidos,
Y tabcn la.4 troxas y lau* dvlanteras,
Y flcren de arcon en tiempos devidoa.
Ca estOM por aafia no son comovidoa,
Nin vana cobdicia loa tiene subjetoa,
Nin quiercn teaoroa, ni aienten dcfetoa,
Nin tarbft fntuna aua libra* aentldoa.
344 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Paiod I.
bition of a very grave passage in the history of the time.
On this account, too, it is still interesting.
The Comedieta, however, was not the most popular, if
it was the most important, of the works of Santillana.
That distinction belongs to a collection of Proverbs, which
he made at the request of John the Second, for the educa-
tion of his son Henry, afterwards Henry the Fourth. It
consists of a hundred rhymed sentences, each generally
containing one proverb, and so sometimes passes under the
name of the " Centiloquio." The proverbs themselves
are, no doubt, mostly taken from that unwritten wisdom of
the common people, for which, in this form, Spain has
always been more' famous than any other country; but, in
the general tone he has adopted, and in many of his sepa-
rate instructions, the Marquis is rather indebted to King
Solomon and the New Testament Such as they are,
however, they had — perhaps from their connexion with
the service of the heir-apparent — a remarkable success, to
which many old manuscripts, still extant, bear witness.
They were printed, too, as early as 1496; and in the
course of the next century nine or ten editions of them
may be reckoned, generally encumbered with a learned
commentary by Doctor Pedro Diaz of Toledo. They
have, however, no poetical value, and interest us only from
the circumstances attending their composition, and from
the fact that they form the oldest collection of proverbs
made in modern times. "
■® There is another collection of rhymed proverbs prepared for Prince
proverbs made by the Marquis of Henry, sec Mendez, Typog. Esp., p.
Santillana, that is to be found in 196, and Sanchez, Tom. I. p. xxxiv.
Mayans y Siscar, ** Orfgenes de la The seventeenth proverb, or that on
Lengua Castellana," (Tom. II. pp. Prudence, may be taken as a fair spe-
179, etc.) They are, however, neither cimen of the whole, all being in the
rhymed nor elossed : but simply same measure and manner. It is as
arranged in alphabetical order, as follows : —
they were crathered from the lii>s of
the common people, or, as the col- Bte^lSrif"" '^'•°''
lector says, ^^ from the old women in P^ro nuw te oonverri
their chimney-corners." For an ac- ^' prudente. j^. .
count of the i>nnted editions of the Tod«vU
A montl
Chap. XIX. MARQUIS OF SANTILLANA. 345
In the latter part of his life, the fame of the Marquis of
Santillana was spread very widely. Juan de Mena says,
that men came from foreign countries merely to see him ; **
and the young Constable of Portugal — the same prince
who afterwards entered into the Catalonian troubles, and
claimed to be King of Aragon — formally asked him for
his poems, which the Marquis sent with a letter on the
poetic art, by way of introduction, written about 1455,
and containing notices of such Spanish poets as were his
predecessors or contemporaries ; a letter which is, in fact,
the most important single document we now possess touch-
ing the early literature of Spain. It is one, too, which
contrasts favourably with the curious epistle he himself
received on a similar subject, twenty years before, from
the Marquis of Villena, and shows how much he was ^in
advance of his age in the spirit of criticism and in a well-
considered love of letters. '*
Indeed, in all respects we can see that he was a remark-
able man ; one thoroughly connected with his age, and
strong in its spirit. His conduct in affairs, from his youth
upwards, shows this. So does the tone of his Proverbs,
that of his letter to his imprisoned cousin, and that of his
poem on the death of Alvaro de Luna. He was a poet
A moni flioflofiA leavcs). They are about one hun-
Y«rvi«nte. drcd and fifty in number, and the
A few of the hundred proverbs have p^g^ ^\q^ ^j^h which each is accom-
a prose commentary by the Marquis ponied seems in better taste and more
himselt ; but neither have these the Secoming its position than it does in
pood fortune to escape the learned the case of the rhymed proverbs of
discussions ot the 1 oledan Doctor. f^Q Marouis
The whole collection is spoken of S4 j^ ^^ Preface to the " Corona-
sliphtinply by the wise author of the cion," Obras, AlcalA, 1666, 12mo., f.
** Di^logo de las Lcnguas. Mayans 260
ySiscar, Orfffcnes Tom.II p. la »' This important letter-which,
The same Pero Dim, who burdened from the notice of it by Argote do
the Proverbs of the Marquis of San- Molina, (Nobleza, 1588, f. 335,) was
tillana with a commentary, prcjuired, ^ sort of acknowledged introduction
at the request of John II., a collec- to the Cancionero of the Marquis—
tion of proverbs from Seneca, which ig found, with learned notes to it, in
were first printed in 1482, and after- the first volume of Sanchez. The
wanis went through several editions. Constable of Portuiral, to whom it was
(Mendez, Typog., pp. 266 and 197.) -
1 tiave one of Seville, 1500 (fol., 66
346 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
also, though not of a high order ; a man of much reading,
when reading was rare ; ^* and a critic, who showed judg-
ment, when judgment and the art of criticism hardly went
together. And, finally, he was the founder of an Italian
and courtly school in Spanish poetry ; one, on the whole,
adverse to the national spirit, and finally overcome by it,
and yet one that long exercised a considerable sway, and at
last contributed something to the materials which, in the
sixteenth century, went to build up and constitute the
proper literature of the country.
There lived, however, during the reign of John the
Second, and in the midst of his court, another poet, whose
general influence at the time was less felt than that of his
patron, the Marquis of Santillana, but who has since been
oftcner mentioned and remembered, — Juan de Mena,
sometimes, but inappropriately, called the Ennius of
Spanish poetry. He was born in Cordova, about the year
1411, the child of parents respected, but not noble." He
was early left an orphan, and from the age of three-and-
twenty, of his own free choice, devoted himself whoUy to
letters ; going through a regular course of studies, first at
Salamanca, and afterwards at Rome. On his return home,
he became a Veinte-^uatro of Cordova, or one of the
twenty-four persons who constituted the government of the
city ; but we early find him at court, on a footing of fami-
■• I do not account him learned, language. That the Marquis could
because he had not the accomplish- recui Latin, however, is ])robablc
mcnt common to all learned men of from his works, which arc full of al-
his^ time, — that of speaking Latin. lusions to Latin authors, and some-
This appears from the very quaint times contain imitations of them,
and rare treatise of the ** Vita Beata," ^ The chief materials for the life
by Juan de Lucena, his contemporary of Juan de Mena are to be found in
and friend, where (ed. 1483, fol., f. some poor verses by Francisco Rome-
ii. b) the Marquis is made to say, ro, in nis ** Epicedioen laMuertedel
" Me vco defetuoso de letras Latinas," Maestro Ilernan Nunez," (Salamanca,
and adds, that the Bishop of Burgos 1578, 12nio., pi). 485, etc.,) at the
and Juan do Mena would have car- end of the **Kefranes de Uenian
ried on in Latin the discu.^sion re- Nurlez." Concerning the place of his
corded in that treatise, instead of birth there is no doubt. He alludes
carrying it on in Spanish, if he had to it himself (Trescientas, Copla 124)
been able to join them in that learned in a way that does him honour.
Cbaf. XIX. JUAN DE MENA. 347
Harity as a poet, and we know he was soon afterwards
Latin secretary to John the Second, and historiographer
of Castile. ^ This brought him into relations with the
king and the Constable ; relations important in themselves,
and of which we have by accident a few singular intima-
tions. The king, if we can trust the witness, was desirous
to be well regarded in history ; and, to make sure of it,
directed his confidential physician to instruct his histo-
riographer, from time to time, how he ought to treat
difierent parts of his subject. In one letter, for instance,
he is told with much gravity, " The king is very desirous
of praise ;*' and then follows a statement of facts, as they
ought to be represented, in a somewhat delicate case of
the neglect of the Count de Castro to obey the royal com-
mands. '^ In another letter he is told, " The king expects
much glory from you;" a remark which is followed by
another narrative of facts as they should be set forth.*®
But though Juan de Menawas employed on this important
work as late as 1445, and apparently was favoured in it,
both by the king and the Constable, still there is no reason
to suppose that any part of what he did is preserved in
the Chronicle of John the Second exactly as it came from
his hands.
The chronicler, however, who seems to have been happy
in possessing a temperament proper for courtly success, has
left proofs enough of the means by which he reached it.
He was a sort of poet-laureate without the title, writing
verses on the battle of Olmedo in 1445, on the pacification
between the king and his son in 1446, on the affair of
Pefiafiel in 1449, and on the slight wound the Constable
received at Palencia in 1452 ; in all which, as well as in
other and larger poems, he shows a great devotion to the
reigning powers of the state. *'
»« Cibdarcal, Epist. XX., XXIII. Bibl. Esnanola, Tom. I. p. 331;
" Ibid., Epist. XLVII. and for those on the Constable, see
*" Ibid., Epist. XLIX. his Chronicle, Milano, 1546, fol., f.
*' For the first verses, see Castro, 60. b. Tit. 95.
348 HISTOKT OF SPANISH LITERATURE. PAiod I.
He stood well, too, in Portugal. The Infante Don
Pedro — a verse-writer of some name, who travelled much
in different parts of the world — became personally ac-
quainted with Juan de Mena in Spain, and, on his return
to Lisbon, addressed a few verses to him, better than the
answer they called forth ; besides which, he imitated, with
no mean skill, Mena's " Labyrinth," in a Spanish poem
of a hundred and twenty-five stanzas. ** With such con-
nexions and habits, with a wit that made him agreeable in
personal intercourse,*^ and with an even good-humour
which rendered him welcome to the opposite parties in the
kingdom,^ he seems to have led a contented life ; and at his
death, which happened suddenly in 1456, in consequence
of a fall from his mule, the Marquis of Santillana, always
his friend and patron, wrote his epitaph, and erected a
monument to his memory in Torrelaguna, both of which
are still to be seen. **
The works of Juan de Mena evidently enjoyed the
sunshine of courtly favour from their first appearance.
While still young, if we can trust the simple-hearted letters
that pass under the name of the royal physician, they were
already the subject of gossip at the palace ; ** and the col-
lections of poetry made by Baena and Estuniga, for the
amusement of the king and the court, about 1450, contain
*■ The Ycrses inscribed " Do Ifante *■ See the Dialogue of Joan de La-
Dom Pedro, Fylho del Rev Dom cena, ** La Vita Beata/' passim, in
Joam, em Loor de Joam dc Mena," which Juan de Mena b one of the
with Juan dc Mena's answer, a short principal speakers,
rejoinder by the Infante, and a con- ** He stood well with the king
elusion, arc in the Cancioneiro de and the Infantes, with the Constable,
Rrcsende, TLisUja, 1616, folio,) f. 72. with the Marquis of Santilhuia, etc.
b. See, also, Die Alten Liederbii- ** Ant. Ponz, Viage de f^pana,
cher dcr Portupiesen, von C. F. Bel- Madrid, 1787, 12mo., Tom. A. p.
lermann, (Bi>rlm, 1840, 4to., pp. 27, 88. Clemencin, note to Don Quixote,
64,) and Mcndez, Typographta (p. Parte II. c. 44, Tom. V. p. 879.
187, note). This Infante Don Pedro *• Cibdareal, Epist XX. No less
is, I 8upi>ose, the one alluded to as a than twelve of the hundred and ^ye
ri traveller in Don Quixote (Part letters of the courtly leech are ad-
, end of Chap. 23) ; but Pellicer dressed to the poet, showing, if they
and Clemencin give us no light on are genuine, how much favour Juan
the matter. de Mena enjoyed.
Chap. XIX. JUAN DE MENA. 349
abundant proofs that his favour was not worn out by time ;
for as many of his verses as could be found seem to have
been put into each of them. But though this circum-
stance, and that of their appearance before the end of the
century in two or three of the very earliest printed collec-
tions of poetry, leave no doubt that they enjoyed, from the
first, a sort of fashionable success, still it can hardly be
said they were at any time really popular. Two or three
of his shorter effusions, indeed, like the verses addressed
to his lady to show her haw formidable she is in every
way, and those on a vicious mule he had bought from a
friar, have a spirit that would make them amusing any-
where. ^' But most of 'his minor poems, of which about
twenty may be found scattered in rare books, ** belong only
to the fashionable style of the society in which he lived,
and, from their affectation, conceits, and obscure allusions,
can have had little value, even when they were first circu-
lated, except to the persons to whom they were addressed,
or the narrow circle in which those persons moved.
His poem on the Seven Deadly Sins, in nearly eight
hundred short verses, divided into double redondillaSy is
a work of graver pretensions. But it is a dull allegory, ftdl
of pedantry and metaphysical fancies on the subject of a
war between Reason and the Will of Man. Notwithstand-
ing its length, however, it was left unfinished ; and a cer-
tain friar, named Gerdnimo de Olivares, added four hun-
dred more verses to it, in order to bring the discussion to
what he conceived a suitable conclusion. Both parts,
however, are as tedious as the theology of the age could
make them.
*' The last, which is not without most be sought in the old editions of
humour, is twice alluded to in Cib- his own works. For ciample, in the
dareal, viz., Epist. XXXIII. and valuable folio one of 1 534, in which
XXXVL, and seems to have been the **Trescienta8" and the "Corona-
liked at court and by the king. cion " form separate publications,
*" The minor poems of Juan de with separate titles, papinj^s, and co-
Mcna are to be found chiefly in the lophons, each is followed by a few of
old Cancioneros (^enerales ; but some the author's short poems.
352 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Pebiod I.
merit, and are often shadowed forth very indistinctly.
The best sketches are those of personages who lived in the
poet's own time or country; some drawn with courtly
flattery, like the king's and the Constable's ; others with
more truth, as well as more skill, like those of the Mar-
quis of Villena, Juan de Merlo, and the young Davalos,
whose premature fate is recorded in a few lines of un-
wonted power and tenderness. *®
The story told most in detail is that of the Count de
Niebla, who, in 1 436, at the siege of Gibraltar, sacrificed
his ovm life in a noble attempt to save that of one of his
dependants ; the boat in which the Count might have
been rescued being too small to save the whole of the
party, who thus all perished together in a flood-tide. This
disastrous event, and especially the self-devotion of Niebla,
who was one of the principal nobles of the kingdom, and
at that moment employed on a daring expedition against
the Moors, are recorded in the chronicles of the age, and
introduced by Juan de Mena in the following characteristic
stanzas : ** —
Juan de Mcna*s pootry, three centu- Brocensc, printed another in 1582 ;
ries agOf — a fault made abundantly one or the other of which accom-
apparent in the elaborate explanations panics the poems for their elucidation
of nis dark passages by the two oldest m nearly every edition since,
and most learned of his commentators. '^ Cr6nica de D. Juan el Se^ndo,
^ Juan de Mena has always stood Ano 1436, c. 8. Mena, Trescientas,
well with his countrymen, if he has Cop. 160-162.
not been absolutely populcu*. Verses
by him appeared, during his lifetime, A^coel oae en U bwca Jpareoe wntado,
in'Ae Ciincioneit, of Baena and im- ^r^i'^^aSf'^^,';;:':: ^;o'a^
mediately afterwards m the Chronicle Con muelM gnn gente en U mar Anegado,
of the Constable. Others are in the ^ J^ ^!^» °*l^'° u!^<^'f'
tt ^ r 1 J A- t May TirtnoM, penncuto doBde
collection of poems already noticed, De Niebla, aaetudoenbebbienadonde
printed at Saragassa in 1492, and in Di6 fln ai du del cnno hadado.
another collection of the same period, -. , ^„. . ^^„ ^^ , a*«*i«r
, i •.! A. J A. mL • II I loa que lo cercan por el aeireaor,
but Without date. They are m all Pueirto aue taemen majrniflcoa hombraa,
Uio old Cancioneros Grcnerales, and *-«• titoloe todo« de todoa tas nombra,
m a succession of separate editions, q„^ ^^^ ^^ ^echoe queion de y»u»
from 1496 to our own times. And Para se moetzar por ■( eada ono,
tesides all thU, the learned Heman ^S^^rJX:!^,,':^^!:!^
Nunez de Guzman printed a com-
mentary on them in 1499, and the Arlanxa, PUuerga, y aon Canton,
.tiU more learned Fnmcisco Sanch^ %S^'^^t:i1Si:ZKSrv^ ;
de las Brozas, commonly called El Hwrao. d* mnehM am iclMioa.
Chap. XIX. JUAN DE LA MENA. 3j3
And he who seems to sit upon that bark,
Invested by the cruel waves, that wait
And welter round him to prepare his fate, —
His and his bold companions', in their dark
And watery abyss ;— that stately form
Is Count Niebla's, he whose honoured name.
More brave than fortunate, has given to fame
The very tide that drank his life-blood warm.
And they that eagerly around him press,
Though men of noble mark and bold emprise,
Grow pale and dim as his full glories rise,
Showing their own peculiar honours less.
Thus Carrion or Arlanza, sole and free,
Bears, like Pisuerga, each its several name,
And triumphs in its undivided fame.
As a fiiir, graceful stream. But when the three
Are joined in one, each yields its separate right.
And their accumulated headlong course
We call Duero. Thus might these enforce
Each his own claim to stand the noblest knight,
If brave Niebla came not with his blaze
Of glory to eclipse their humbler praise.
Too much honour is not to be claimed for such poetry ;
but there is little in Juan de Mena's works equal to this
specimen, which has at least the merit of being free from
the pedantry and conceits that disfigure most of his writings.
Such as it was, however, the Labyrinth received great
admiration from the court of John the Second, and, above
all, from the king himself, whose physician, we are told,
wrote to the poet: "Your polished and erudite work,
called * The Second Order of Mercury,' hath much pleased
his Majesty, who carries it with him when he journeys
about or goes a-hunting." " And again : " The end of
the * third circle * pleased the king much. I read it to
his Majesty, who keeps it on his table with his prayer-
book, and takes it up often." " Indeed, the whole poem
was, it seems, submitted to the king, piece by piece, as it
was composed ; and we are told, that, in one instance, at
« Cibdareal, Epist. XX. * Ibid., Epist. XLIX.
VOL. I. 2 k
354
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITEBATURE.
Period I-
leasty it received a royal correction, which still stands
unaltered. ** His Majesty even advised that it should be
extended from three hundred stanzas to three hundred
and sixty-five, though for no better reason than to make
their number correspond exactly with that of the days in
the year ; and the twenty-four stanzas commonly printed
at the end of it are supposed to have been an attempt to
fiilfil the monarch's command. But whether this be so or
not, nobody now wishes the poem to be longer than it is. "
»• Cibdareal, Epist XX.
•* Thcjr are pnnted separately in
the Cancionero General 011573; but
do not appear at all in the edition of
the Works of the poet in 1666, and
were not commented upon by Heman
Nunez. It is, indeed, doubtful whe-
ther they were really written by Juan
de Mena. If they were, they must
probably have been produced after
the kind's death, for they are far
from bemg flattering to him. On
this account, I am disposed to think
they are not genuine; for the poet
seems to have permitted his great
eulogies of the king and of the Con-
stable to stand after the death of both
of them.
Crap. XX. PROGRESS OF THE CASTILIAN LANGUAGE. 355
CHAPTER XX.
Pboobess of the Castiliak Lavguagk. — Poets of the Time of Johx
THE Second. — Villasandino. — Francisco Impebial. — Baena. — Rodbi-
OUEZ DEL PaDBON. PbOSE-WBITEBS. — ClBDABEAL AND FeENAN PeBEZ
DE Guzman.
In one point of view, all the works of Juan de Mena are
of consequence. They mark the progress of the Castilian
language, which, in his hands, advanced more than it had
for a long period before. From the time of Alfonso the
Wise, nearly two centuries had elapsed, in which, though
this fortunate dialect had almost completely asserted its
supremacy over its rivals, and by the force of political
circumstances had been spread through a large part of
Spain, still, little had been done to enrich and nothing to
raise or purify it The grave and stately tone of the
" Partidas " and the " General Chronicle " had not again
been reached ; the lighter air of the " Conde Lucanor "
had not been attempted. Indeed, such wild and troubled
times, as those of Peter the Cruel and the three monarchs
who had followed him on the throne, permitted men to
think of little except their personal safety and their imme-
diate well-being.
But now, in the time of John the Second, though the
affairs of the country were hardly more composed, they
had taken the character rather of feuds between the great
nobles than of wars with the throne ; while, at the same
time, knowledge and literary culture, from accidental cir-
cumstances, were not only held in honour, but had become
1 K'l
356 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbbiod I.
a courtly fashion. Style, therefore, began to be r^arded
as a matter of consequence, and the choice of words, as
the first step towards elevating and improving it, was
attempted by those who wished to enjoy the favour of the
highest class, that then gave its tone alike to letters and to
manners. But a serious obstacle was at once found to
such a choice of phraseology as was demanded. The
language of Castile had, from the first, been dignified and
picturesque, but it had never been rich. Juan de Mena,
therefore, looked round to see how he could enlarge his
poetical vocabulary ; and if he had adopted means more
discreet, or shown more judgment in the use of those to
which he resorted, he might almost have modelled the
Spanish into such forms as he chose.
As it was, he rendered it good service. He took boldly
such words as he thought suitable to his purpose, wherever
he found them, chiefly firom the Latin, but sometimes firom
other languages. ^ Unhappily he exercised no proper skill
in the selection. Some of the many he adopted were low
and trivial, and his example failed to give them dignity ;
others were not better than those for which they were sub-
stituted, and so were not afterwards used ; and yet others
were quite too foreign in their structure and sound to
^ Thus fiy Yalencian or Proyen9al Cid/* we have cuer for heart, tie$ta for
for hijo, in the ** Trescientas/' Copla head, etc. ; in Bereco, we have asem-
87, and trinquete for foregail, in Copla biar, to meet ; sopear, to sup, etc.
165, may serve as specimens. Lope (See Don Quixote, ed. Clemencin,
de Vega (Obras Sueltas, Tom. IV. p. 1835, Tom. IV. p. 56.) If, there-
474^ complains of Juan de Mena s fore, we find a few French words in
Latmisms, which are indeed very Juan de Mena that are no longer
awkward and abundant, and cites the used, like aage, which he makes a
following line : — dissyllable guttural to rhyme with
£1 unor et Qcto, vmniioco, pigro. vioge in Copla 167, we may presume
I do notremember it ; butitisasbad *»® found tJiem already in the lan-
as some of the worst verses of the P^^', ^■!L,'^*"?^^t''^ have since
same sort for which Ronsaiti has been ^° .^">RH- J^^ J"*"J« Mena
ridiculed. It should be observed, ^»«' »? ^^ respects, too bold; and.
however, that, in the earliest period^ ^ ^^ ^^^^ Sarmiento says of him
of the Castiliin language, the^; was |? J manuscript which 1 possess
a gmiter connexion W& the French "Many of his words are not at all
thin there was in the time of Juan de C^tilian, and were never used either
Mena. Thus, in the - Poem of the ^«^««* *^»« ^™^ «^ *^' »*'
Chap. XX. VILLASANDINO. 357
strike root where they should never have been trans-
planted. Much, therefore, of what Juan de Mena did in
this respect was unsuccessful. But there is no doubt that
the language of Spanish poetry was strengthened and its
versification ennobled by his efforts, and that the example
he set, followed, as it was, by Lucena, Diego de San
Pedro, Garci Sanchez de Badajos, the Manriques, and
others, laid the true foundations for the greater and more
judicious enlargement of the whole Castilian vocabulary in
the age that followed.
Another poet, who, in the reign of John the Second,
enjoyed a reputation which has faded away much more
than that of Juan de Mena, is Alfonso Alvarez de Vil«-
lasandino, sometimes called De Ulescas. His earliest
verses seem to have been written in the time of John the
First ; but the greater part fall within the reigns of Henry
the Third and John the Second, and especially within that
of the last A few of them are addressed to this monarch,
and many more to his queen, to the Constable, to the In-
fante Don Ferdinand, afterwards King of Aragon, and to
other distinguished personages of the time. From different
parts of them we learn that their author was a soldier and
a courtier; that he was married twice, and repented
heartily of his second match ; and that he was generally
poor, and oflen sent bold solicitations to everybody, from
the king downwards, asking for places, for money, and even
for clothes.
As a poet, his merits are small. He speaks of Dante,
but gives no proof of familiarity with Italian literature.
In fact, his verses are rather in the Proven9al forms,
though their courtly tone and personal claims predominate
to such a degree as to prevent anything else from being
distinctly heard. Puns, conceits, and quibbles, to please
the taste of his great friends, are intruded everywhere ; yet
perhaps he gained his chief favour by his versification,
which is sometimes uncommonly easy and flowing ; and by
358 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbiiod I.
his rhymes, which are singularly abundant and almost uni-
formly exact. *
At any rate, he was much regarded by his contempora-
ries. The Marquis of Santillana speaks of him as one of
the leading poets of his age, and says that he wrote a great
number of songs and other short poems, or decires^ which
were well liked and widely spread. ^ It is not remarkable,
therefore, when Baena, for the amusement of John the
Second and his court, made the collection of poetry which
now passes under his name, that he filled much of it with
verses by Villasandino, who is declared by the courtly
secretary to be " the light, and mirror, and crown, and
monarch of all the poets that, till that time, had lived in
Spain." But the poems Baena admired are almost all of
them so short and so personal, that they were soon for-
gotten, with the circumstances that gave them birth.
Several are curious, because they were written to be used
by persons of distinction in the state, such as the Adelan-
tado Manrique, the Count de Buelna, and the Great Con-
stable, all of whom were among Villasandino's admirers,
and employed him to write verses which passed afterwards
under their own names. Of one short poem, a Hymn to
the Madonna, the author himself thought so well, that he
often said it would surely clear him, in the other world,
from the power of the Arch-enemy. *
■ The accounts of Villasandino are which he wrote for Count Pero Nino,
found in Antonio, Bib. Vetus, ed. to be given to the Lady Beatrice, of
Bayer, Tom. II. p. 341 ; and San- whom, as was noticed when speaking
chez, Poesfas Anteriores, Tom. I. pp. of his Chronicle, the Count was
200, etc. His earlier poems are m enamoured : —
the Academy's edition of the Chroni- La qne liempre obeded,
cles of Ayala, Tom. II. pp. 604, 616, M2i;JSSJ.^rJ*a*i di.
621, 626, 646; but the mass of his Non m le membn de mi.
works as yet printed is in the Cancio- _, P"^*
nero of Baena, extracted by Castro, ' KU^vS^^"!^yl
Bibliotcca Espanola, Tom. I. pp. CoidoM deaque la tI, etc
268.296, etc. But as the editor of the Chronicle
• Sanchez, Tom. I. p. Ix. says, (Madrid, 1782, 4to., p. 228,)
* The Hymn in question is in '* They are verses that might be at-
Castit), Tom. I. p. 269 ; but, as a tributed to any other galluit or any
specimen of Villasandino's easiest other lady, so that it seems as if Vif-
nmrneTf I prefer the following yerses, lasandino prepared such couplets to
Chap. XX. FRANCISCO IMPERIAL. 359
Francisco Imperial, born in Genoa, but in fact a Spa-
niard, whose home was at Seville, is also among the poets
who were favoured at this period, and who belonged to the
same artificial school with Villasandino. The principal of
his longer poems is on the birth of King John, in 1405;
and most of the others are on subjects connected, like this,
with transient interests. One, however, from its tone and
singular subject, is still curious. It is on the fate of a lady,
who, having been taken among the spoils of a great victory
in the far East, by Tamerlane, was sent by him as a pre-
sent to Henry the Third of Castile ; and it must be ad-
mitted that the Genoese touches the peculiar misfortune of
her condition with poetical tenderness. *
Of the remaining poets who were more or less valued in
Spain in the middle of the fifteenth century, it is not neces-
sary to speak at all. Most of them are now known only
to antiquarian curiosity. Of by far the greater part very
little remains ; and in most cases it is uncertain whether
the persons whose names the poems bear were their real
authors or not. Juan Alfonso de Baena, the editor of the
collection in which most of them are found, wrote a good
deal, ^ and so did Ferrant Manuel de Lando, ^ Juan
Bodriguez del Padron, ® Pedro Velez de Guevara, and
Gerena and Calavera.' Probably, however, nothing re-
be given to the first person that should as a page of John II. in Argote de
ask for them;" — words cited here, Molina's ''Sucesion de los Manu-
because they apply to a great deal of eles," prefixed to the ** Conde Lu-
the poetry of the time of John II., canor," 1575; and his poems are
which deals often in the coldest com- said to have been '* agradables para
monplaces, and some of which was aquel siglo."
used, no doubt, as this was. " That is, if the Juan Rodrigues
* The notices of Francisco Impe- del Padron, whose poems occur in
rial are in Sanchez (Tom. I. pp. Ix., Castro, (Tom. I. p. 331, etc.,) and
205, etc.) ; in Argote de Molina's in the manuscript Cancionero called
** Nobleza del Ant&luzia" (1588, ff. Estunigas, (f. 18,) be the same, as
244, 260) ; and in his Discourse pre- he is commonly supposed to be, with
fixed to the ** Vida del Gran Tamor- the Juan Rodriguez del Padron of
Ian" (Madrid, 1782, 4to., p. 8). the "Cancionero General," 1578,
His poems are in Castro, Tom. 1. (ff. 121-124 and elsewhere.) But of
pp. 296, 301, etc. this I entertain doubts.
« Castro, Tom. I. pp. 319-330, etc. » Sanchez, Tom. I. pp. 199, 207,
^ Ferrant Manuel ae Lando is noted 208.
360 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Pewod I.
mains of the inferior authors more interesting than a
Vision composed by Diego de Castillo, the chronicler, on
the death of Alfonso the Fifth of Aragon, ^® and a sketch
of the life and character of Henry the Third of Castile,
given in the person of the monarch hiniseli^ by Pero
Ferrus;" — poems which remind us strongly of the
similar sketches found in the old English " Mirror for
Magistrates."
But while verse was so much cultivated, prose, though
less regarded, and not coming properly into the fashion-
able literature of the age, made some progress. We turn,
therefore, now to two writers who flourished in the reign
of John the Second, and who seem to furnish, with the
contemporary chronicles and other similar works already
noticed, the true character of the better prose literature
of their time.
The first of them is Fernan Gomez de Cibdareal, who,
if there ever were such a person, was the king's physician,
and, in some respects, his confidential and familiar friend.
He was born, according to the Letters that pass under his
name, about 1386, ^' and, though not of a distinguished
family, had for his godfather Pedro Lopez de Ayala, the
great chronicler and chancellor of Castile. When he was
not yet four-and-twenty years old, John the Second being
still a child, Cibdareal entered the royal service, and re-
mained attached to the king's person till the death of his
*° It is published by Ochoa, in the 4to.) But his birth is there placed
same volume with the inedited poems about 1388, though he himself (Ep.
of the Marquis of Santillana, where 105) says he was sixty-eight years
it is followed by poems of Suero de old in 1454, which gives 1386 as the
Ribera, (who occurs also in Baena*s true date. But we know absolutely
Cancioncro, and that of Estuniga,) nothing of him beyond what we find
Juan de Ducnas, (who occurs in E^tu- in the Letters that pass under his
£uffa*s,) and one or two others of no name. The Noticia prefixed to the
value, — all of the age of John II. edition referred to was— as we are
" Castro, Tom. I. pp. 310-312. told in the Preface to the Chronicle
^ The best life of Cibdareal is pref- of Alvaro de Luna (Madrid, 1784,
fired to his Letters, (Madrid, ed. 1775, 4to.) — prepared by Llaguno Amirola.
Chap. XX. GOMEZ DE CIBDAREAL. 361
master, when we lose sight of him altogether. During
this long period of above forty years he maintained a
correspondence, to which we have already alluded morft
than once, with many of the principal persons in the state ;
with the king himself, with several of the archbishops and
bishops, and with a considerable number of noblemen and
men of letters, among the last of whom were Alfonso de
Cartagena and Juan de Mena. A part of this correspond-
ence, amounting to one hundred and five letters, written
between 1425 and 1454, has been published, in two
editions; the first claiming to be of 1499, and the last
prepared in 1 775, with some care, by Amirola, the Secre-
tary of the Spanish Academy of History. Most of the
subjects discussed by the honest physician and courtier in
these letters are still interesting ; and some of them, like
the death of the Constable, which he describes minutely
to the Archbishop of Toledo, are important, if they can
be trusted as genuine. In almost all he wrote he shows
the good-nature and good sense which preserved for him
the favour of leading persons in the opposite factions of
the time, and which, though he belonged to the party of
the Constable, yet prevented him from being blind to that
great man's faults, or becoming involved in his fate. The
tone of the correspondence is simple and natural, always
quite Castilian, and sometimes very amusing; as, for
instance, when he is repeating court gossip to the Grand
Justiciary of Castile, or telling stories to Juan de Mena.
But a very interesting letter to the Bishop of Orense,
containing an account of John the Second's death, will
perhaps give a better idea of its author's general spirit
and manner, and, at the same time, exhibit somewhat of
his personal character.
" I foresee very plainly,** he says to the Bishop, " that
you will read with tears this letter, which I write to you
in anguish. We are both become orphans; and so has
all Spain : for the good and noble and just King John,
362 HISTOEY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
our sovereign lord, is dead. And I, miserable man that
I am, — who was not yet twenty-four years old when I
entered his service with the Bachelor Arrevalo, and have,
till I am now sixty-eight, lived in his palace, or, I might
almost say, in his bed-chamber and next his bed, always
in his confidence, and yet never thinking of myself, — I
should now have but a poor pension of thirty thousand
maravedis for my long service, if, just at his death, he had
not ordered the government of Cibdareal to be given to
my son, who I pray may be happier than his father has
been. But, in truth, I had always thought to die before
his Highness ; whereas he died in my presence, on the eve
of Saint Mary Magdalen, a blessed saint, whom he greatly
resembled in sorrowing over his sins. It was a sharp
fever that destroyed him. He was much wearied with
travelling about hither and thither; and he had always
the death of Don Alvaro de Luna before him, grieving
about it secretly, and seeing that the nobles were never
the more quiet for it, but, on the contrary, that the King
of Navarre had persuaded the King of Portugal to think
he had grounds of complaint concerning the wars in
Barbary, and that the king had answered him with a
crafty letter. All this wore his heart out And so, tra-
velling along from Avila to Medina, a paroxysm came
upon him with a sharp fever, that seemed at first as if it
would kill him straightway. And the Prior of Guadalupe
sent directly for Prince Henry ; for he was afraid some
of the nobles would gather for the Infante Don Alfonso ;
but it pleased God that the king recovered his faculties
by means of a medicine I gave him. And so he went on
to Valladolid ; but as soon as he entered the city he was
struck with death, as I said before the Bachelor Frias,
who held it to be a small matter, and before the Bachelor
Beteta, who held what I said to be an idle tale The
consolation that remains to me is, that he died like a
Christian king, faithful and loyal to his Maker. Three
Chap. XX. FERNAN PEREZ DE GUZMAN. 363
hours before he gave up the ghost he said to me:
* Bachelor Cibdareal, I ought to have been born the son
of a tradesman, and then I should have been a friar of
Abrojo, and not a king of Castile/ And then he asked
pardon of all about him, if he had done them any wrong ;
and bade me ask it for him of those of whom he could not
ask it himself I followed him to his grave in Saint FauFs,
and then came to this lonely room in the suburbs ; for I
am now so weary of life that I do not think it will be a
difficult matter to loosen me from it, much as men com-
monly fear death. Two days ago I went to see the queen ;
but I found the palace, from the top to the bottom, so
empty, that the house of the Admiral and that of Count
Benevente are better served. King Henry keeps all
King John's servants ; but I am too old to begin to follow
another master about, and, if God so pleases, I shall go
to Cibdareal with my son, where I hope the king will
give me enough to die upon." This is the last we hear
of the sorrowing old man, who probably died soon after
the date of this letter, which seems to have been written
in July, 1454.^^
The other person who was most successful as a prose-
writer in the age of John the Second was Fernan Perez
de Guzman, — like many distinguished Spaniards, a soldier
and a man of letters, belonging to the high aristocracy of
the country, and occupied in its affairs. His mother was
sister to the great Chancellor Ayala, and his father was a
brother of the Marquis of Santillana, so that his con-
nexions were as proud and noble as the monarchy could
afford ; while, on the other hand, Garcilasso de la Vega
being one of his lineal descendants, we may add that his
honours were reflected back from succeeding generations as
brightly as he received them.
He was born about the year 1400, and was bred a
^' It is the last letter in the collection. See Appendix (C), on the
genuineness of the whole.
364 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATURE. PiiuoD I.
knight At the battle of the Higueruela, near Granada,
in 1431, led on by the Bishop of Palencia, — who, as the
honest Cibdareal says, ^^ fought that day like an armed
Joshua,** — he was so unwise in his courage, that, after the
fight was over, the king, who had been an eye-witness of
his indiscretion, caused him to be put under arrest, and
released him only at the intercession of one of his powerful
friends. ^* In general, Perez de Guzman was among the
opponents of the Constable, as were most of his family ;
but he does not seem to have shown a factious or violent
spirit, and, after being once unreasonably thrown into
prison, found his position so false and disagreeable, that he
retired from affairs altogether.
Among his more cultivated and intellectual friends was
the family of Santa Maria, two of whom, having been
Bishops of Cartagena, are better known by the name of
the see they filled than they are by their own. The oldest
of them all was a Jew by birth,— Selomo Halevi, — who,
in 1390, when he was forty years old, was baptized as
Pablo de Santa Maria, and rose, subsequently, by his great
learning and force of character, to some of the highest
places in the Spanish Church, of which he continued a
distinguished ornament till his death in 1432. His bro-
ther, Alvar Garcia de Santa Maria, and his three sons,
Gonzalo, Alonso, and Pedro, the last of whom lived as
late as the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, were, like
the head of the family, marked by literary accom-
plishments, of which the old Cancioneros afford abun-
dant proof, and of which, it is evident, the court of
John the Second was not a little proud. The con-
nexion of Perez de Guzman, however, was chiefly with
Alonso, long Bishop of Cartagena, who wrote for the
use of his friend a religious treatise, and who, when he
died, in 1435, was mourned by Perez de Guzman in
'* Cibdareal, Epist 61.
Chap. XX. FERNAN PEREZ DE GUZMAN. 365
a poem comparing the venerable Bishop to Seneca and
Plato. ''
The occupations of Perez de Guzman, in his retirement
on his estates at Batras, where he passed the latter part of
his life, and where he died, about 1470, were suited to
his own character and to the spirit of his age. He wrote
a good deal of poetry, such as was then fashionable among
persons of the class to which he belonged, and his uncle,
the Marquis of Santillana, admired what he wrote. Some
of it maybe found in the collection of Baena, showing that
it was in favour at the court of John the Second. Yet
more was printed in 1492, and in the Cancioneros that
began to appear a few years later ; so that it seems to have
been still valued by the limited public interested in letters
in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
But the longest poem he wrote, and perhaps the most
important, is his " Praise of the Great Men of Spain," a
kind of chronicle, filling four hundred and nine octave
stanzas; to which should be added a hundred and two
rhymed Proverbs, mentioned by the Marquis of Santillana,
but probably prepared later than the collection made by
the Marquis himself for the education of Prince Henry.
After these, the two poems of Perez de Guzman that make
most pretensions from their length are an allegory on the
Four Cardinal Virtues, in sixty-three stanzas, and an-
other on the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Works
of Mercy, in a hundred. The best verses he wrote are
'* The longest extracts from the printed : — the " Oracional," or Book
works of this remarkable family of of Devotion, mentioned in the text
Jews, and the best accounts of them, as written for Perez de Guzman,
are to be found in Castro, ^^ Biblioteca which appeared at Murcia in 1487,
Espanola," (Tom. I. p. 236, etc.,) and and the ** Doctrinal de Cavalleros,"
Amador delosRios, ^'Estudiossobre which appeared the same year at
los Judios de Espafia,'* (Madrid, Burgos. (Diosdado, De Prima Ty-
1848, 8vo., pp. 339-398, 458, etc.) pographin Hispan. iEtate, Roms,
Much of their poetry, which is found 1793, 4to., pp. 22, 26, 64.) Both
in the Cancioneros Generales, is are curious : but much of the last is
amatory, and is as good as the poetiy taken from the ** Partidas " of Alfonso
of those old collections generally is. the Wise.
Two of the treatises of Alonso were
366 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATUBE. Phiiod I.
in his short hymns. But all are forgotten, and deserve to
be so. "
His prose is much better. Of the part he bore in the
Chronicle of John the Second notice has already been
taken. But at different times, both before he was en-
gaged in that work and afterwards, he was employed on an-
other, more original in its character and of higher literary
merit It is called " Genealogies and Portraits,** and con-
tains, under thirty-four heads, sketches, rather than con-
nected narratives, of the lives, characters, and families of
thirty-four of the principal persons of his time, such as
Henry the Third, John the Second, the Constable Alvaro
de Luna, and the Marquis of Villena. ^^ A part of this
genial work seems, from internal evidence, to have been
written in 1430, while other portions must be dated after
1454 ; but none of it can have been much known till all
the principal persons to whom it relates had died, and not,
therefore, till the reign of Henry the Fourth, in the course
of which the death of Perez de Guzman himself must have
happened. It is manly in its tone, and is occasionally
^' The manuscript I have uded is a Fathers of the Church, and others,
copy from one, apparently of the fif- taken from Colonna. (Mem. de la
teenth century, in the magnificent Acad, de Historia, Tom. VI. pp.
collection of Sir Thomas rhillips, 452, 453, note.) The first edition of
Middle Hill, Worcestershire, Eng- the Generaciones y Semblanzas sepa-
land. The printed poems are found rated from this connexion occurs at
in the " Cancionero General," 1585, the end of the Chronicle of John II.,
ff. 28, etc. ; in the ** Obras de Juan 1517. They are also found in the
de Mena," ed. 1566, at the end ; in edition of that Chronicle of 1779,
Castro, Tom. I. pp. 298, 340-342 ; and with the ** Centon Epistolario,"
and at the end of^ Ochoa*s ** Rimas in the edition of Uaguno Amirola,
Ineditas de Don Ifiigo Lopez de Men- Madrid, 1775, 4to., where they are
doza,*' Paris, 1844, 8vo., pp. 269- weceded by a life of Feman Fere*
356. See also Mendez, Typ^. Esp., de Guzman, containing the little we
p. 383 ; and Cancionero General, know of him. The suggestion made
1573, fF. 14, 15, 20-22. in the Preface to the Chronicle of
'^ The ** Generaciones y Semblan. John II., (1779, p. xi.,) that the
zas" first' appeared in 1512, as port two very important chapters at the
of a rifacvmenio in Spanish of Gio- end of the Generaciones y Semblanzas
vanni CoIonna*8 *'Mare Historiarum,'* are not the work of Feman Perez de
which may have been the woric of Guzman, is, I think, sufficiently an-
Perez de Guzman. They begin in swered by the editor of the Chronicle
this edition, at Cap. 137. after long of Alvaro de Luna, Madrid, 1784,
account*? of Trojans, Greeks, Romans, 4to., PnSIogo, p. xxiii.
Chap. XX. FERNAN PEREZ DE GUZMAN. 367
marked with vigorous and original thought. Some of its
sketches are, indeed, brief and dry, like that of Queen
Catherine, daughter of John of Gaunt. But others are
long and elaborate, like that of the Infante Don Ferdinand.
Sometimes he discovers a spirit in advance of his age, such
as he shows when he defends the newly converted Jews
from the cruel suspicions with which they were then per-
secuted. But he oftener discovers a willingness to rebuke
its vices, as when, discussing the character of Gonzalo Nu-
nez de Guzman, he turns aside from his subject and says
solemnly, —
" And no doubt it is a noble thing and worthy of praise
to preserve the memory of noble families and of the ser-
vices they have rendered to their kings and to the common-
wealth ; but here, in Castile, this is now held of small
account. And, to say truth, it is really little necessary ;
for now-a-days he is noblest who is richest Why, then,
should we look into books to learn what relates to families,
since we can find their nobility in their possessions ? Nor
is it needful to keep a record of the services they render ;
for kings now give rewards, not to him who serves diem most
faithfully, nor to him who strives for what is most worthy, but
to him who most follows their will and pleases them most" "
In this and other passages, there is something of the
tone of a disappointed statesman, perhaps of a disappointed
courtier. But more frequently, as, for instance, when he
speaks of the Great Constable, there is an air of good
faith and justice that do him much honour. Some of his
portraits, among which we may notice those of Villena and
John the Second, are drawn with skill and spirit; and
everywhere he writes in that rich, grave, Castilian style,
with now and then a happy and pointed phrase to relieve its
dignity, of which we can find no earlier example without
going quite back to Alfonso the Wise and Don Juan Manuel.
'* Gencraciones y Somblanzas, c. 10. A similar harshness is shown in
Chapters 5 and 30.
368 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbbiod I.
.y
CHAPTER XXL
Family of the Manbiquu. — Pedeo, Rodeigo, Gk>MEz, ahd Joboe. —
The Copuls of the Last. — The Ueeeas.^Juait de Padiixa.
Contemporary with all the authors we have just examined,
and connected by ties of blood with several of them, was
the family of the Manriques, — poets, statesmen, and sol-
diers,— men suited to the age in which they lived, and
marked with its strong characteristics. They belonged to
one of the oldest and noblest races of Castile; a race
beginning with the Laras of the ballads and chronicles. '
Pedro, the father of the first two to be noticed, was among
the sturdiest opponents of the Constable Alvaro de Luna,
and filled so large a space in the troubles of the time, that
his violent imprisonment, just before he died, shook the
country to its very foundations. At his death, however,
in 1440, the injustice he had suffered was so strongly felt
by all parties, that the whole court went into mourning for
him, and the good Count Haro — the same in whose hands
the honour and faith of the country had been put in pledge
a year before at Tordesillas — came into the king's pre-
sence, and, in a solemn scene well described by the chro-
nicler of John the Second, obtained for the children of the
deceased Manrique a confirmation of all the honours and
rights of which their father had been wrongfully deprived. '
One of these children was Rodrigo Manrique, Count of
Paredes, a bold captain, well known by the signal advan-
' Generaciones, etc., c. 11, 15, Afio 1437, c. 4; 1438, c. 6; 1440,
and 24. c. 18.
' Chrdnica de Don Juan el II.,
Chap. XXI. GOMEZ MANRIQUE. 369
tages he gained for his country over the Moors. He was
born in 1416, and his name occurs constantly in the history
of his time^ for he was much involved, not only in the
wars against the common enemy in Andalusia and Gra-
nada, but in the no less absorbing contests of the factions
which then rent Castile and all the North. But, notwith-
standing the active life he led, we are told that he found
time for poetry, and one of his songs, by no means without
merit, which has been preserved to us, bears witness to it.
He died in 1476.'
His brother, Gomez Manrique, of whose life we have
less distinct accounts, but whom we know to have been
both a soldier and a lover of letters, has left us more proofs
of his poetical studies and talent. One of his shorter
pieces belongs to the reign of John the Second, and one
of more pretensions comes into the period of the Catholic
sovereigns; so that he lived in three different reigns.^
At the request of Count Benevente, he at one time col-
lected what he had written into a volume, which may still
be extant, but has never been published. * The longest of
his works, now known to exist, is an allegorical poem of
twelve hundred lines, on the death of his uncle, the Mar-
quis of Santillana, in which the Seven Cardinal Virtues,
together with Poetry and Gomez Manrique himself, appear
and mourn over the great loss their age and country had
sustained. It was written soon after 1458, and sent, with
an amusingly pedantic letter, to his cousin, the Bishop of
Calahorra, son of the Marquis of Santillana.* Another
poem, addressed to Ferdinand and Isabella, which is neces-
sarily to be dated as late as the year 1474, is a little more
than half as long as the last, but, like that, is allegorical,
and resorts to the same poor machinery of the Seven Vir-
* Pulgar, Claros Varoncs, Tit. 13. is in the Cancionero General, 1678,
Cancionero General, 1573, f. 183. ff. 57- 77, and 243.
Mariana, Hist, Lib. XXIV. c. * Adiciones ^ Pulgar, ed. 1776. p.
14. 239.
* The poetry of Gomez Manrique * Ibid-., p. 223.
VOL. I. '2 1^
370 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
tues, who come this time to give counsel to the Catholic
sovereigns on the art of government It was originally
preceded by a prose epistle, and was printed -in 1482, so
that it is among the earliest books that came from the
Spanish press.''
These two somewhat long poems, with a few that are
much shorter, — the best of which is on the bad government
of a town where he lived, — fill up the list of what remain
to us of their author's works. They are found in the Can-
cioneros printed from time to time during the sixteenth
century, and thus bear witness to the continuance of the
regard in which he was long held. But, except a few
passages, where he speaks in a natural tone, moved by
feelings of personal affection, none of his poetry can now
be read with pleasure ; and, in some instances, the Latin-
isms in which he indulges, misled probably by Juan de
Mena, render the lines where they occur quite ridiculous. *
Jorge Manrique is the last of this chivalrous family that
comes into the literary history of his country. He was
the son of Bodrigo, Count of Paredes, and seems to have
been a young man of an uncommonly gentle cast of character,
yet not without the spirit of adventure that belonged to his
ancestors, — a poet full of natural feeling, when the best of
those about him were almost wholly given to metaphysical
conceits, and to what was then thought a curious elegance
of style. We have, indeed, a considerable number of his
lighter verses, chiefly addressed to the lady of his love,
which are not without the colouring of his time, and
remind us of the poetry on similar subjects produced a
' Mendez, Typog. Esp., n. 266. Gato, beloncrinp: to the Library of the
To these poems, when sjieaKing of Academy of History at Madrid and
Gomez Manrique, should be added, numbered 114, — trifles, however,
— 1. his poetical letter to his uncle, which ought to be published,
the Marauis of Santiilana, asking for " Such as the word definicion for
a copy ox his works, with the reply death, and other similar euphuisms,
of his uncle, both of which are in the For a notice of Gomez Mannque, see
Cancioneros Generates ; and 2. some Antonio, Bib. Vetus, ed. Bayer,
of his smaller trifles, which occur in Tom. II. p. 342.
a manuscript of the poems of Alvarez
Chap. XXI. COPLAS OF JORGE MANRIQUE. 371
century later in England, after the Italian taste had been
introduced at the court of Henry the Eighth. • But the
principal poem of Manrique the younger is almost entirely
free from affectation. It was written on the death of his
father, which occurred in 1476, and is in the genuinely
old Spanish measure and manner. It fills about five hun-
dred lines, divided into forty-two coplas or stanzas, and is
called, with a simplicity and directness worthy of its own
character, " The Coplas of Manrique," as if it needed no
more distinctive name.
Nor does it. Instead of being a loud exhibition of his
sorrows, or, what would have been more in the spirit of
the age, a conceited exhibition of his learning, it is a simple
and natural complaint of the mutability of all earthly hap-
piness ; the mere overflowing of a heart filled with de-
spondency at being brought suddenly to feel the worthless-
ness of what it has most valued and pursued. His father
occupies hardly half the canvas of the poem, and some of
the stanzas devoted more directly to him are the only
portion of it we could wish away. But we everywhere
feel — before its proper subject is announced quite as much
as afterwards — that its author has just sustained some loss,
which has crushed his hopes, and brought him to look
only on the dark and discouraging side of life. In the
earlier stanzas he seems to be in the first moments of his
great affliction, when he does not trust himself to speak out
concerning its cause; when his mind, still brooding in
solitude over his sorrows, does not even look roimd for
consolation. He says, in his grief, —
Our lives are rivers, gliding free Thither all earthly pomp and boast
To that unfathomcd, boundless sea, Roll, to be swallowed up and lost
The silent grave ; In one dark wave.
^ These poems, some of them too etc., and in that of 1573, at if. 131-
frce for the notions of his Church, 139, 176, 180, 187, 189, 221, 243,
are in the Cancioneros Gcnerales ; for 245. A few are also in the ** Can-
example, in that of 1535, ff. 72-76, cionero de Burlas," 1619.
2 b2
372 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pkbiod I.
Thither the mighty torrents stray, There all are equal. Side by aide
Thither the brook pursues its way, The poor man and the son of pride
And tinkling rill. Lie calm and still.
The same tone is heard, though somewhat softened,
when he touches on the days of his youth and of the court
of John the Second, already passed away ; and it is felt
the more deeply, because the festive scenes he describes
come into such strong contrast with the dark and solemn
thoughts to which they lead him. In this respect his
verses fall upon our hearts like the sound of a heavy bell,
struck by a light and gentle hand, which continues long
afterwards to give forth tones that grow sadder and more
solemn, till at last they come to us like a wailing for those
we have ourselves loved and lost But gradually the
movement changes. Aft;er his father's death is distinctly
announced, his tone becomes religious and submissive.
The light of a blessed future breaks upon his reconciled
spirit ; and then the whole ends like a mild and radiant
sunset, as the noble old warrior sinks peacefiilly to his
rest, surrounded by his children and rejoicing in his
release. ^°
*** The lines on the Court of John one in the text, are from Mr. H. W.
II. are among the most beautiful in Longfellow's beautiful translation of
the ix)em : — the Coplas, first printed, Boston,
,„. ,,.«., n 1 > u 1833, 12mo., and often since. They
Where is the King, Don Juan? where I j 'xu •
Ewh royal prineeand noble heir may bc Compared With a [wssagc m
Of Anqfon ? the vcrscs on Edward IV., attributed
ZT.r. o%« «x C-X. «° s>«"r • ^ '■""I!'' }" ♦•'« " **'■•-
In battle done? ror for Magistrates, (London, 1815,
Tonrney and iourt, that charmed the eye, 4to Tom. II. p. 246,) in which
And icarf, and gonreous panoply, .1'. • «", *''.- ,
And nodding niume,-- that pnnce IS made to say, as if speak-
And nodding plume, — umi. iiriuuv is uihuu lu i
What were tliey bat a pageant scene ? inir Irom his STave. —
What but the garland*, gay and green, ^ ^ '
That deck the tomb ? •* Where ii now my conaueit and victory ?
wu .v i-» u i„ J J ». Where ii my richea ano royall array ?
Where are the high-born dame^ and where where be my oooiMn and my hon^ bye ?
Their gavatUre. and jewelled hair, ^here b my myrrh, my Mlaee, and my
Andodouniweet? plav?" ' ' * ' » '
Where are the gentle knigbta that came ^ ^
To kneel, and ^eathe love'i ardent flame, J^A^^A *!%«. a^«^ ^c aU^ *««^ ^^^...^ :-
Low at their feet ? Indeed, tDc tone 01 the two poems is
Where is the song of the Troubadour ? not unlike, though, of COUrse, thc old
Where are the lute and gay tambour English laureate never heard of Man-
Thev loved of yore ? . ® , • • j .^i.
Where' is the maxy dance of old, noue, and never imagined any thing
The flowing robes, inwrought «ith gold, half SO gOod aS the Coplas. The
•nie dancers ^orc ? ^^p,^ ^^^^ ^^^ imitated j-among
These two stanzas, as well as th« the rest, as Lope de Vega tells us,
Chap. XXI. COPLAS OF JORGE MANRIQUE. 373
No earlier poem in the Spanish language, if we except,
perhaps, some of the early ballads, is to be compared with
the Coplas of Manrique for depth and truth of feeling ;
and few of any subsequent period have reached the beauty
or power of its best portions. Its versification, too, is
excellent ; free and flowing, with occasionally an antique
air and turn, that are true to the character of the age that
produced it, and increase its picturesqueness and effect
But its great charm is to be sought in a beautiful simpli-
city, which, belonging to no age, is the seal of genius in all.
The Coplas, as might be anticipated, produced a strong
impression from the first. They were printed in 1492,
within sixteen years after they were written, and are found
in several of the old collections a little later. Separate
editions followed. One, with a very dull and moralizing
prose commentary by Luis de Aranda, was published in
1552. Another, with a poetical gloss in the measure of
the original, by Luis Perez, appeared in 1561 ; yet another,
by Kodrigo de Valdepeflas, in 1588 ; and another, by
Gregorio Silvestre, in 1589 ; — all of which have been
reprinted more than once, and the first two many times.
But in this way the modest Coplas themselves became so
burdened and obscured, that they almost disappeared from
general circulation, till the middle of the last century,
since which time, however, they have been often reprinted,
both in Spain and in other countries, until they seem at
last to have taken that permanent place among the most
admired portions of the elder Spanish literature, to which
their merit unquestionably entitles them. **
(Obras Sueltas, Madrid, 1777, 4to., I possess ten or twelve copies of other
Tom. XI. p. xxix.,) by Camoens; editions, one of which was printed at
but I do not know the Biedondillas of Boston, 1833, with Mr. Longfellow's
Cambcns to which he refers. Lope translation. My copies, dated 1574,
admired the Conlas very much. He 1588, 1614, 1632, and 1799, all have
says they should be written in letters Ghsas in verse. That of Aranda is
of gold. in folio, 1 552, black letter, and in
" For the earliest editions of the prose.
Coplas, 1492, 1494, and 1501, see At the end of a translation of the
Mendez, Typog. Espafiola, p. 186. "Inferno "of Dante, made by Pero
371
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITEKATURR
Period I.
The death of the younger Manrique was not unbe-
coming his ancestry and his life. In an insurrection
which occurred in 1479, he served on the loyal side, and
pushing a skirmish too adventurously was wounded and
fell. In his bosom were found some verses, still unfinished,
on the uncertainty of all human hopes; and an old ballad
records his fate and appropriately seals up, with its simple
poetry, the chronicle of this portion, at least, of his time-
honoured race. ^*
Fernandez de Villogas, Archdeacon of
Burgos, published at Burgos in 1515,
folio, with an elaborate commentary,
chiefly from that of Landino, — a \ery
rare book, and one of considerable
merit, — is found, in a few copies, a
poem on the ** Vanity of Life," by
the translator, which, though not
eoual to the Coplas of Manrique, re-
minds me of them. It is called
** Aversion del Mundo y Conversion
d Dios," and is divided, with too
much formality, into twenty stanzas
on the contempt of the world, and
twenty in honour of a religious life ;
bi*t the verses, which are in the old
national manner, are very flowing,
and their style is that of the purest
and richest Cfastilian. It opens thus : —
Away, malignant, cruel world.
With sin ami sorrow rife I
I seek the meeker, wiser way
That leadif to heavenly life.
Your fatal poisons liere we drink.
Lured by tlieir savoun sweet.
Though, lurking in our flowery path.
The serpent wounds our feet
Away with thy deoeitAil snarea,
Whichalltoolatelflyl—
I, who, a coward, followed theo
Till my last years are nigh ;
Till thy most strange, revolting sins
Force me to turn firom thee.
And drive me forth to seek repose,
Thy service hard to flee.
Away with all thy wickedness,
And all thy heartless toil.
Where brother, to hi« brother false,
In treachery seeks for spoil I—
Dead is all charity in thee.
All good in thee is dead ;
I seek a p«irt where from thy storm
To hide my weary Iiead,
I add the original, for the sake of
its flowing sweetness and power : —
Quedate, mundo malino,
IJeno de mal y dolor,
Que me vo tras el dul^or
Del bien eterno dirino.
Tu tosigo, tn venino,
Vevemos ayucarado,
Y la sierpt! esita en el prado
De tu tan falso camino.
Quedate con tus engailos,
Maguera te dexo turde.
Que te segui de cobarde
Fksta mlt postroros afios.
Mas ya tus males estrafioa
De ti me alan^n for^oso,
Vome a bu*car el reposo
De tus trabajosos dafioa.
Quedate con tu maldad.
Con tu tralmjo inhumano,
Donde el hermano al hermano
No guarda fe ni verdad.
Muerta es tod a caridad ;
Todo bicn en ti ee ya muerio ; —
Acojome para el puerto,
Fayendo tu tempestad.
After the forty stanzas to which the
preceding lines belong, follow two
more poems, the first entitled ** The
Complaint of Faith," partly by Di-
ego de Burgos and partly by Pero
Fernandez de Villegas, and the se-
cond, a free translation of the Tenth
Satire of Juvenal, by Gerdnimo de
Villegas, brother of rero Fernandez,
— each poem in about seventy or
eighty octave stanzas, of arte mat/or,
but neither of them as good as the
^* Vanity of Life." Geronimo also
translated the Sixth Satire of Juvenal
into cojdas de arte mayor^ and pub-
lished it at Valladolid in 1519, in 4to.
" Mariana, Hist., Lib. XXIV. c.
19, noticing his death, says, ** He
died in his best years," — " en lo
mejor de su edad ; " but we do not
know how old he was. On three
other occasions, at least, Don Jorge
is mentioned in the great Spanish his-
torian as a personage important in the
aflairs of his time; — but on yet a
fourth, -that of the death of his fa-
ther, Rodrigo, — ^the words of Mariana
Chap. XXI. THE URREAS. 375
Another family that flourished in the time of Ferdinand
and Isabella, and one that continued to be distinguished
in that of Charles the Fifth, was marked with similar
characteristics, serving in high places in the state and in
the army, and honoured for its success in letters. It was
the family of the Urreas. The first of the name who rose
to eminence was Lope, created Count of Aranda in 1488 ;
the last was Geronimo de Urrea, who must be noticed
hereafter as the translator of Ariosto, and as the author of
a treatise on Military Honour, which was published in
1566.
Both the sons of the first Count of Aranda, Miguel and
Pedro, were lovers of letters ; but Pedro only was embued
with a poetical spirit beyond that of his age, and emanci-
pated from its aflectations and follies. His poems, which
he published in 1513, are dedicated to his widowed mother,
and are partly religious and partly secular. Some of them
show that he was acquainted with the Italian masters.
Others are quite untouched by any but national influences ;
and among the latter is the following ballad, recording the
first love of his youth, when a deep distrust of himself
seemed to be too strong for a passion which was yet evi-
dently one of great tenderness : —
In the soft and joyous summer-time,
When the days stretch out their span,
It was then my peace was ended all,
It was then my griefs began.
When the earth is clad with springing grass.
When the trees with flowers are clad ;
When the birds are building up their nests,
When the nightingale sings sad ;
are so beautiful and apt, that I tran- tory goes out of its bloody course to
scribe them in the original. ** Su render such a tribute to roetry, and
hijo D. Jorge Manrique, en unas tro- still more seldom that it does it so
vas muy elegantes, en que hay virtu- gracefully. The old ballad on Jorge
des poeticas y ricas esmaltes de inge- Manrique is in Fuentes, Libro dc los
nio, y sentencias graves, a manera de Quarenta Cantos, AlcaU, 1587,
endecha, llor6 la muerte de su padre." 12mo., p. 874.
Lib. XXIV. c. 14. It is seldom His-
376 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUlUi. Period I.
When the stonny sea is hushed and still,
And the sailors spread their sail ;
When the rose and lily lift their heads,
And with fragrance fill. the gale ;
When, burdened with the coming heat,
Men cast their cloaks aside,
And turn themselves to the cooling shatle.
From the sultry sun to hide ;
When no hour like that of night is sweet,
Save the gentle twilight hour ; —
In a tempting, gracious time like this,
I felt love's earliest power. ^
But the lady that then I first beheld
Is a lady so fair to see,
That, of idl who witness her blooming charms.
None fails to bend the knee.
And her beauty, and all its glory and grace,
By so many hearts are sought.
That as many pains and sorrows, I know.
Must fall to my hapless lot ; —
A lot that grants me the hope of death
As my only sure relief.
And while it denies the love I seek.
Announces the end of my grief.
Still, still, these bitterest sweets of life
I never will ask to forget ;
For the lover's truest glory is found
When unshaken his fate is met. *•
The last person wbo wrote a poem of any considerable
length, and yet is properly to be included within the old
'^ Cancionero de las Obras de Don X3'**5^**!*** ** **^"**»
Pedro Manuel de Urrea, Logrono, vS'lSJ'anao'ui'Spa..
fol., 1513, apud Ig. de Asso, De Y buacmndo h-s rmciwn ;
Libris quibusdam lli8|NUioruni llano- Do uon 1m meiorec oru
ribuH Cffisaraugust*. 1794, 4to., ,.,.. i-JTiSTmy^^X.' ~
89-92. Comenuron mia ainOT«>ri.
T)e una dama que >o vi,
Kn el placiente vurano, Duma de lantw primona,
V6 ion las disa mayorei, De quantos es conodda
Anabarun mia placerea, De tantoa ticne looiea :
CoiDenzaron mia dulorus. <„ . _ .
>u gnciM. por hermoaura
Quaiido la tierra da y erva !"«•«« ^"t* ■T**\*?T'^
Y !i« arlwlea dan flow*, ijl"*"*® >« P"' deMlichado
Quando avea haci>n nidua J^f "«<> P*"" y «*"»""-* •
Y caiitan hw ruiaeiiurea : n""*'*^ "^ *»" ^"^-i^ n»"*'rtc
Y caiitan hw ruiaeiiurea ; »!""»"^ "^ ^" ^"^-i^ "»"<
1 ae me nicgan fnvvra.
guando en la mar •08»?j(ada Maa nunca olvidaie
Kntran I<m iiavcKodortnt, KmoM auiargoa dulxon-a,
Quando It* lirioa y rtMita Porqu« vn U mucha Hrmoia
Noa dan buenoa uloraa ; »h. mueatran lo* amadoiea.
Chap. XXI. EL CARTUXANO. 377
school, is one who, by his imitations of Dante, reminds us
of the beginnings of that school in the days of the Marquis
of Santillana. It is Juan de Padilla, commonly called
" El Cartuxano," or the Carthusian, because he chose thus
modestly to conceal his own name, and 'announce himself
only as a monk of Santa Maria de las Cuevas in Seville. "
Before he entered into that severe monastery, he wrote a
poem, in a hundred and fifty coplas, called " The Laby-
rinth of the Duke of Cadiz," which was printed in 1493;
but his two chief works were composed afterwards. The
first of them is called " Retablo de la Vida de Christo," or
A Picture of the Life of Christ ; a long poem, generally
in octave stanzas of versos de arte mayor ^ containing a his-
tory of the Saviours life, as given by the Prophets and
Evangelists, but interspersed with prayers, sermons, and
exhortations ; all very devout and very dull, and all finished,
as he tells us, on Christmas-eve, in the year 1500.
The other is entitled " The Twelve Triumphs of the
Twelve Apostles," which, as we are informed, with the
same accuracy and in the same way, was completed on the
14th of February, 1518 ; again a poem formidable for its
length, since it fills above a thousand stanzas of nine lines
each. It is partly an allegory, but wholly religious in its
character, and is composed with more care than anything
else its author wrote. The action passes in the twelve signs
of the zodiac, through which the poet is successively car-
ried by Saint Paul, who shows him, in each of them, first,
the marvels of one of the twelve Apostles ; next, an open-
ing of one of the twelve mouths of the infernal regions;
and lastly, a glimpse of the corresponding division of Pur-
gatory. Dante is evidently the model of the good monk,
however unsuccessful he may be as a follower. Indeed,
he begins with a direct imitation of the opening of the
^^ The monk, however, finds it at the end of the " Retablo." IIo
impossible to keep his secret, and was born in 1468, and died after
fairly lets it out in a sort of acrostic 1618.
378
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period I.
" Divina Commedia," from which, in other parts of the
poem, phrases and lines are not unfrequently borrowed.
But he has thrown together what relates to earth and
heaven, to the infernal regions and to Purgatpry, in such
an unhappy confusion^ and he so mingles allegory, mytho-
logy, astrology, and known history, that his work turns
out, at last, a mere succession of wild inconsistencies and
vague, unmeaning descriptions. Of poetry there is rarely
a trace ; but the language, which has a decided air of yet
elder times about it, is free and strong, and the versifi-
cation, considering the period, is uncommonly rich and
easy. '*
»* The " Doze Triumfos de los
Doze Ap6stolos " was printed entire
in London, 1843, 4to., by Don Mi-
guel del Riego, Canon of Oviedo,
and brother of the Spanish patriot
and martyr of the same name. In
the volume containing the Triumfos,
the Canon has given large extracts from
the " Retablo de la Vida de Christo,"
omitting Cantos VII., VIIL, IX.,
und X. For notices of Juan de Pa-
dilla, see Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. I.
p. 761, and Tom. II. p. 332 ; Mendez,
Tvpog. Esp., p. 193; and Sarmiento,
Memorias, Sect. 844-847. From the
last, it appears that he rose to im-.
portant ecclesiastical authority under
the crown, as well as in his own
order. The Doze Triumfos was first
printed in 1512, the Retablo in 1505.
There is a contemporary Spanish
book, with a title something resom-
bline that of the Retablo de la Vida
de Christo del Cartuxano ; — I mean
the ** Vita Christi Cartuxano," which
is a translation of the " Vita Christi "
of Ludolphus of Saxony, a Carthu-
sian monk who died about 1370, made
into Castilian by Ambrosio Monte-
sino, and first published at Seville, in
1502. It is, in fact, a Life of Christ,
compiled out of the Evangelists, with
ample commentaries and reflections
from the Fathers of the Church, —
the whole filling four folio volumes, —
and in the version of Montesino it
appears in a grave, pure Castilian
prose. It was translated by him at
the command, he says, of Fenlioand
and Isabella.
Chap. XXll. JUAN DE LUCENA. 379
CHAPTER XXII.
Prose-writkes. — Juan de Lucena. — Alfonso db la Torrk. — Diego
DE Almela. — Alonso Ortiz. — Fernando del Puloar. — Diego de San
Pedro.
The reign of Henry the Fourth was more favourable to
the advancement of prose composition than that of John
the Second. This we have already seen when speaking
of the contemporary chronicles, and of Perez de Guzman
and the author of the " Celestina." In other cases, we ob-
serve its advancement in an inferior degree, but, encum-
bered as they are with more or less of the bad taste and
pedantry of the time, they still deserve notice, because they
were so much valued in their own age.
Regarded from this point of view, one of the most pro-
minent prose-writers of the century was Juan de Lucena ;
a personage distinguished both as a private counsellor of
John the Second, and as that monarch's foreign ambassador.
We know, however, little of his history ; and of his works
only one remains to us, — if, indeed, he wrote any more.
It is a didactic prose dialogue " On a Happy Life," carried
on between some of the most eminent persons of the age :
the great Marquis of Santillana, Juan de Mena, the poet,
Alonso de Cartagena, the bishop and statesman, and Lu-
cena himself, who acts in part as an umpire in the discus-
sion, though the Bishop at last ends it by deciding that
true happiness consists in loving and serving God.
The dialogue itself is represented as having passed
chiefly in a hall of the palace, and in presence of several of
the nobles of the court ; but it was not written till after
the death of the Constable, in 1453; that event being
380 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
alluded to in it. It is plainly an imitation of the treatise
of Boethius " On the Consolation of Philosophy,'' then a
favorite classic ; but it is more spirited and effective than
its model. It is frequently written in a pointed, and even
a dignified style ; and parts of it are interesting and
striking. Thus, the lament of Santillana over the death
of his son is beautiful and touching, and so is the final sum-
ming up of the trials and sorrows of this life by the Bishop.
In the midst of their discussions, there is a pleasant descrip-
tion of a collation with which they were refreshed by the
Marquis, and which recalls, at once, — as it was probably
intended to do, — the Greek Symposia and the dialogues
that record them. Indeed, the allusions to antiquity with
which it abounds, and the citations of ancient authors,
which are still more frequent, are almost always apt, and
oflen free from the awkwardness and pedantry which mark
most of the didactic prose of the period ; so that, taken
together, it may be regarded, notwithstanding the use of
many strange words, and an occasional indulgence in con-
ceits, as one of the most remarkable literary monuments
of the age from which it has come down to us. *
^ My copy is of the first edition, of man of the world. ** Resta, pues,
9amora, Centcnera, 1483, folio, 23 Sefior Marques y tu Juan de Mena,
leaves, double columns, black letter. mi sentencia primera verdadera, que
It begins with these singular words, ninguno en csta vida vive boato.
instead of a title-page : ** Aqui co- Desde Cadiz hasta Ganges si toda la
men9a un tratado en estillo breve, en tierra expiamos [espiamos ?] a nin-
scntcncias no solo largo mas hondo y gund mortal contenta su sucrtc. £1
prolixo, el qual ha nombre Vita Beata, caballero entre las puntas se codicia
necho y compuesto por el honrado y mercader ; v el mercader cavallero
muy discreto Juan ae Lucena," etc. cntre las brumas del mar, si los
There are also editions of 1499 and vientos australes enprefiian las velas.
1641, and, I believe, yet another of Al parir de las lombardes desca hal-
1601. (Antonio, Bib. Vetus, ed. larse el pastor en el poblado ; en
Bayer, Tom. II. p. 260 ; and Men- campo el cibdadano ; fuera religion
dez, Typog., p. 267.) The follow- los de dentro como pc<^es y dentro
ing short passage — with an allusion querrian estar los de fuera," etc.
to the opening of Juvenal's Tenth (fol. xviii. a.) The treatise contains
Satire, in bettor taste than is common many Latinisms and Latin words,
in similar works of the same period after the absurd example of Juan dc
--will well illustrate its style. It is Mena ; but it also contains many
from the remarks of the Bishop, in stood old words that we are sorry
reply both to the poet and to the have become obsolete.
Chap. XXII. ALFONSO DE LA TORRE. 381
To this period, also, we must refer the " Vision Deley-
table," or Delectable Vision, which we are sure was written
before 1463. Its author was Alfonso de la Torre, com-
monly called " The Bachelor," who seems to have been a
native of the bishopric of Biirgos, and who was, from
1437 till the time of his death, a member of the College of
Saint Bartholomew at Salamanca ; a noble institution,
founded in imitation of that established at Bologna, by
Cardinal Albornoz. It is an allegorical vision, in which
the author supposes himself to see the Understanding of
Man in the form of an infant brought into a world full of
ignorance and sin, and educated by a succession of such
figures as Grammar, Logic, Music, Astrology, Truth,
Reason, and Nature. He intended it, he says, to be a
compendium of all human knowledge, especially of all that
touches moral science and man's duty, the soul and its
immortality ; intimating, at the end, that it is a bold thing
in him to have discussed such subjects in the vernacular,
and begging the noble Juan de Beamonte, at whose request
he had undertaken it, not to permit a work so slight to be
seen by others.
It shows a good deal of the learning of its time, and still
more of the aeuteness of the scholastic metaphysics then in
favor. But it is awkward and uninteresting in the general
structure of its fiction, and meagre in its style and illustra-
tions. This, however, did not prevent it from being much
read and admired. There is one edition of it without date,
which probably appeared about 1480, showing that the
wish of its author to keep it from the public was not long
respected; and there were other editions in 1489, 1526,
and 1538, besides a translation into Catalan, printed as
early as 1484. But the taste for such works passed away
in Spain as it did elsewhere ; and the Bachiller de la Torre
was soon so completely forgotten, that his Vision was not
only published by Dominico Delphino in Italian, as a work
of his own, but was translated back into its native Spanish
382 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
by Francisco de Caceres, a converted Jew, and printed in
1663, as if it had been an original Italian work till then
quite unknown in Spain.*
An injustice not unlike the one that occurred to Alfonso
de la Torre, happened to his contemporary, Diego de
Almela, and for some time deprived him of the honor, to
which he was entitled, of being regarded as the author of
" The Valerius of Stories,'* — a book long popular and still
interesting. He wrote it after the death of his patron, the
wise Bishop of Carthagena, who had projected such a work
himself, and as early as 1472 it was sent to one of the
Manrique family. But though the letter which then
accompanied it is still extant, and though, in four editions,
beginning with that of 1487, the book is ascribed to its true
author, yet in the fifth, which appeared in 1541, it is
announced to be by the well-known Fernan Perez de Guz-
man ; — a mistake which was discovered and announced by
Tamayo de Vargas, in the time of Philip the Third, but
•The oldest edition, which is limits between which the Vision must
without date, seems, from its tyjie and have been produced. Indeed, being
paper, to have come from the press addressed to Beamonte, the Prince's
of Centcncra at 9a™ora, in which tutor, it was probably written about
case it was printed about 1480-1483. 1430-1440, duringthe Prince's nonage.
It begins thus: '* Comen<;« el tra- One of the old manuscripts of it says,
tado llamado Vision Deleytable, com- ** It was held in great esteem, and,
puesto por Alfonso de la Torre, ba- as such, was carefully kept in the
chiller, endcre<^do al muy noble chamber of the said king of Aragon."
Don Juan de Beamonte, Prior de There is a life of the author in Reza-
San Juan en Navarra." It is not bal y Ugarte, ** Biblioteca de los Au-
paged, but fills 71 leaves in folio, tores, que han sido individuos de los
double columns, black letter. The seis colcgios mayores" (Madrid,
little known of the different manu- 1805, 4to., p. 359). The best pas-
scripts and printed editions of the sage in the Vision Deleytable is at
Vision is to be found in Antonio, the end ; the address ol Truth to
Bib. Vetus, ed. Bayer, Tom. II., pp. Reason. There is a poem of Alfonso
328, 329, with the note; Mendez, de la Torre in MS. 7826, in the
Typog., pp. 100 and 380, with the National Library, Paris (Ochoa,
Api)endix, p. 402 ; and Castro Bib- Manuscritos, Paris, 1844, 4to., p.
lioteca Espafiola, Tom. I. pp. 630- 479) ; and the poems of the Bachiller
635. The Vision was written for the Francisco de la Torre in the Cancio-
instruction of the Prince of Viana, nero, 1673, (ff. 124-127,) and else-
who is spoken of near the end as if where, so much talked about in con-
still alive ; and since this well-known nexion with Quevedo, have some-
prince, the son of John, king of times been thought to be his, though
Navarre and Aragon, was bom in the names differ,
1421 and died in 1463, we know the.
Chap. XXII. DIEGO DE ALMELA.— ALONSO ORTIZ. 383
does not seem to have been generally corrected till the
work itself was edited anew by Moreno, in 1 793.
It is thrown into the form of a discussion on Morals, in
which, after a short explanation of the different virtues and
vices of men, as they were then understood, we have all
the illustrations the author could collect under each head
from the Scriptures and the history of Spain. It is,
therefore, rather a series of stories than a regular didactic
treatise, and its merit consists in the grave, yet simple and
pleasing, style in which they are told, — a style particularly
fitted to most of them, which are taken from the old na-
tional chronicles. Originally, it was accompanied by
**An Account of Pitched Battles;" but this, and his
Chronicles of Spain, his collection of the Miracles of
Santiago, and several discussions of less consequence, are
long since forgotten. Almela, who enjoyed the favour of
Ferdinand and Isabella, accompanied those sovereigns to
the siege of Granada, in 1491, as a chaplain, carrying
with him, as was not uncommon at that time among the
higher ecclesiastics, a military retinue to serve in the wars.'
In 1493, another distinguished ecclesiastic, Alonso
Ortiz, a canon of Toledo, published, in a volume of
moderate size, two small works which should not be
entirely overlooked. The first is a treatise, in twenty-
seven chapters, addressed, through the queen, Isabella, to
her daughter, the Princess of Portugal, on the death of
that princess's husband, filled with such consolation as the
courtly Canon deemed suitable to her bereavement and his
own dignity. The other is an oration, addressed to Ferdi-
nand and Isabella, after the fall of Granada, in 1492,
rejoicing in that great event, and glorying almost equally
in the cruel expulsion of all Jews and heretics from Spain.
• Antonio, Bib. Vctus, cd. Bayer, bears on its title-page the name of
Tom. II. p. 325. Mendez, Typog., Fem. Perez de Guzman, yet contains,
p. 315. It is sing:ular that the edi- at f. 2, the very letter of Almela,
tionof the ** ValeriodelasIIistorias" dated 1472, which leaves no doubt
printed at Toledo, 1 541 , folio, which that its writer is the author of the book.
3St HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATTRE. PmoD I.
Both are written in too rhetorical a style, but neither is
without merit ; and in the oration there are one or two
beautiful and even touching passages on the tranquillity to
be enjoyed in Spain, now that a foreign and hated enemy,
after a contest of eight centuries, had been expelled firom
its borders, — passages which evidently came from the
writer's heart, and no doubt found an echo wherever his
words were heard by Spaniards. *
Another of the prose writers of the fiftieenth century,
and one that deserves to be mentioned with more respect
than either of the last, is Fernando del Pulgar. He was
born in Madrid, and was educated, as he himself tells us,
at the court of John the Second. During the reign of
Henry the Fourth he had employments which show him
to have been a person of consequence ; and during a large
part of that of Ferdinand and Isabella, he was one of their
counsellors of state, their secretary, and their chronicler.
Of his historical writings notice has already been taken ;
but in the course of his inquiries after what related to the
annals of Castile, he collected materials for another work,
more interesting, if not more important For he found,
as he says, many famous men whose names and characters
had not been so preserved and celebrated as their merits
demanded ; and, moved by his patriotism, and taking for
his example the portraits of Perez de Guzman and the
biographies of the ancients, he careftiUy prepared sketches
of the lives of the principal persons of his own age,
* The volume of the learned Alonso celona, December 7, 1492 ; two letters
Ortiz 18 a curious one, printed at from the city and cathedral of Toledo,
Seville, 1493, folio, 100 leaves. It is praying tfiat the name of the newly-
noticed by Mendcz, (p. 194,) and by conquered Granada may not be placed
Antonio, (Bib. Nov., Tom. 1. p. 89,) before that of Toledo in the roval
who sconiH to have known nothing title; and an attack on the Protho-
about itA author, except that he be- notary Juan de Lucena, — probabty
queathod his library to the University not Uie author lately mentioned, —
of Salamanca. Besides the two trea- who had ventured to assail the Inqui-
tises mentione<l in the text, this vo- sition, then in the freshness of its
lume contains an account of the wound holy pretensions. The whole volume
received by Ferdinand the Catholic, is full of bigotry, and the spirit of a
from the hand of an assassin, at Bar- triumphant priesthood.
Chap. XXII. FERNANDO DEL PULGAR. 385
beginning with Henry the Fourth, and confining himself
chiefly within the limits of that monarch's reign and
court *
Some of these sketches, to which he has given the
general title of " Claros Varones de Castilla," like those
of the good Count Haro • and of Rodrigo Manrique, ^ are
important for their subjects, while others, like those of the
great ecclesiastics of the kingdom, are now interesting only
for the skill with which they are drawn. The style in
which they are written is forcible, and generally concise,
showing a greater tendency to formal elegance than any-
thing by either Cibdareal or Guzman, with whom we
should most readily compare him ; but we miss the con-
fiding naturalness of the warm-hearted physician and the
severe judgments of the retired statesman. The whole
series is addressed to his great patroness. Queen Isabella,
to whom, no doubt, he thought a tone of composed dignity
more appropriate than any other.
As a specimen of his best manner we may take the
following passage, in which, after having alluded to some
of the most remarkable personages in Roman history, he
turns, as it were, suddenly round to the queen, and thus
boldly confronts the great men of antiquity with the great
men of Castile, whom he had already discussed more at
large : —
" True, indeed, it is, that these great men — Castilian
knights and gentlemen — of whom memory is here made
for fair cause, and also those of the elder time, who, fight-
ing for Spain, gained it from the power of its enemies, did
neither slay their own sons, as did those consuls, Brutus
and Torquatus ; nor burn their own flesh, as did Scaevola ;
* The notices of the life of Pulgar says, in his Dialogue on Mendoza,
are from the edition of his " Claros Duke of Infantado, that Pulgar was
Varones,' Madrid, 1775, 4to. ; but **de Madrid natural,'* Quinquage-
there, as elsewhere, he is said to be nas, MS.
a native of the kingdom of Toledo. * Claros Varones, Tit. 3.
This, however, is probably a mistake. ^ Ibid., Tft. 13.
Ovicdo, who knew him personally,
VOL. I. ^ ^
385 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
nor commit against their own blood cruelties which nature
abhors and reason forbids ; but rather, with fortitude and
perseverance, with wise forbearance and prudent energy,
with justice and clemency, gaining the love of their own
countrymen, and becoming a terror to strangers, they
disciplined their armies, ordered their battles, overcame
their enemies, conquered hostile lands, and protected their
own So that^ most excellent Queen, these knights
and prelates, and many others bom within your realm,
whereof here leisure fails me to speak, did, by the praise-
worthy labours they fulfilled, and by the virtues they
strove to attain, achieve unto themselves the name of
Famous Men, whereof their descendants should be above
others emulous ; while, at the same time, all the gentle-
men of your kingdoms should feel themselves called to
the same pureness of life, that they may at last end their
days in unspotted success, even as these great men also
lived and died." ®
This is certainly remarkable, both for its style and
for the tone of its thought, when regarded as part of a
work written at the conclusion of the fifteenth century.
Pulgar s Chronicle, and his commentary on " Mingo Re-
vulgo," as we have already seen, are not so good as such
sketches.
The same spirit, however, reappears in his letters.
They are thirty-two in number; all written during the
reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the earliest being dated
in 1473, and the latest only ten years afterwards. Nearly
all of them were addressed to persons of honourable dis-
tinction in his time, such as the queen herself Henry the
king's uncle, the Archbishop of Toledo, and the Count
of Tendilla. Sometimes, as in the case of one to the
King of Portugal, exhorting him not to make war on
Castile, they are evidently letters of state. But in other
• Claros Varoncs, Tit 17.
Chap. XXII. DIEGO DE SAN PEDKO. 387
cases, like that of a letter to his physician, complaining
pleasantly of the evils of old age, and one to his daughter,
who was a nun, they seem to be familiar, if not confi-
dential. • On the whole, therefore, taking all his different
works together, we have a very gratifying exhibition of
the character of this ancient servant and counsellor of
Queen Isabella, who, if he gave no considerable impulse
to his age as a writer, was yet in advance of it by the
dignity and elevation of his thoughts, and the careless
richness of his style. He died after 1492, and probably
before 1500.
We must not, however, go beyond the limits of the
reign of Ferdinand and Isabella without noticing two re-
markable attempts to enlarge, or at least to change, the
forms of romantic fiction, as they had been thus far settled
in the books of chivalry.
The first of these attempts was made by Diego de San
Pedro, a senator of Valladolid, whose poetry is found in
all the Cancioneros Generales. *^ He was evidently known
at the court of the Catholic sovereigns, and seems to have
been favoured there ; but, if we may judge from his prin-
cipal poem, entitled " Contempt of Fortune," his old age
was unhappy, and filled with regrets at the follies of his
youth. *^ Among these follies, however, he reckons the
work of prose fiction which now constitutes his only real
claim to be remembered. It is called the Prison of Lov^
"Carcel de Amor," and was written at the request of
Diego Hernandez, a governor of the pages in the time of
Ferdinand and Isabella.
• The letters are at the end of the ample, in the last, at ff. 165-161,
Claros Varoncs (Madrid, 1776, 4to.) ; 176, 177, 180, etc.
which was first printed in 1600. " " El Dcsprecio de la Fortuna" —
'** The Coplas of San Pedro on the with a curious dedication to the
Passion of Christ and the Sorrows of Count Uruefia, whom he says he
the Madonna are in the Cuncionero of served twenty-nine years — is at the
1492, (Mendcz, p. 136,) and many of end of Juan de Mena*8 Works, ed.
his other poems arc in the Cancione- 1566.
ros Generates, 1611-1673; for ex-
888 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pisuod I.
It opens with an allegory. The author supposes him-
self to walk out on a winter's morning, and to find in a
wood a fierce, savage-looking person, who drags along an
unhappy prisoner bound by a chain. This savage is Desire,
and his victim is Leriano, the hero of the fiction. San
Pedro, from natural sympathy, follows them to the castle
or prison of Love, where, after groping through sundry
mystical passages and troubles, he sees the victim &stened
to a fiery seat and enduring the most cruel torments. Le-
riano tells him that they are in the kingdom of Macedonia,
that he is enamoured of Laureola, daughter of its king,
and that for his love he is thus cruelly imprisoned ; all
which he illustrates and explains allegorically, and begs the
author to carry a message to the lady Laureola. The
request is kindly granted, and a correspondence takes
place, immediately upon which Leriano is released from
his prison, and the allegorical part of the work is brought
to an end.
From this time the story is much like an episode in one
of the tales of chivalry. A rival discovers the attachment
between Leriano and Laureola, and making it appear to
the king, her father, as a criminal one, the lady is cast into
prison. Leriano challenges her accuser and defeats him
in the lists ; but the accusation is renewed, and, being fully
sustained by false witnesses, Laureola is condemned to
death. Leriano rescues her with an armed force and de-
livers her to the protection of her uncle, that there may exist
no further pretext for malicious interference. The king,
exasperated anew, besieges Leriano in his city of Susa. In
the course of the siege, Leriano captures one of the false
witnesses, and compels him to confess his guilt. The king,
on learning this, joyfully receives his daughter again, and
shows all favour to her faithful lover. But Laureola, for
her own honour's sake, now refuses to hold further inter-
course with him ; in consequence of which he takes to his
bed and with sorrow and fasting dies. Here the original
Chap. XXII. DIEGO DE SAN PEDRO. 389
work ends ; but there is a poor continuation of it by Nicolas
Nuiiez, which gives an account of the grief of Laureola
and the return of the author to Spain. ^*
The style, so far as Diego de San Pedro is concerned,
is good for the age ; very pithy, and full of rich aphorisms
and antitheses. But there is no skill in the construction of
the fable ; and the whole work only shows how little ro-
mantic fiction was advanced in the time of Ferdinand and
Isabella. The Carcel de Amor was, however, very suc-
cessful. The first edition appeared in 1492; two others
followed in less than eight years ; and before a century
was completed, it is easy to reckon ten, besides many
translations. ^*
Among the consequences of the popularity enjoyed by
the Carcel de Amor was probably the appearance of the
" Question de Amor," an anonymous tale, which is
dated at the end, 17 April, 1512. It is a discussion of
the question, so often agitated from the age of the Courts
of Love to the days of Garcilasso de la Vega, who suffers
most, the lover whose mistress has been taken from him
by death, or the lover who serves a living mistress without
hope. The controversy is here carried on between Vas-
quiran, whose lady-love is dead, and Flamiano, who is
rejected and in despair. The scene is laid at Naples and
*' Of Nicolas Nufiez I know only bris Hisp. Rarioribus, Caesaraugustae,
a few poems in the Caneioncro Gene- 1794, 4to., p. 44.) From a phrase
ral of 1573, (ff. 17, 23, 176, etc.,) in his ** Contempt of Fortune," (Can-
one or two of which are not without cionero General, 1573, f. 158,)
merit. where he speaks of ** aquollaa cartas
'* Mendez, pp. 185, 283 ; Brunet, de Amores, escriptas de dos en dos,"
etc. There is a translation of the I suspect he wrote the ''Proceso
Carcel into English bv good old de Cartas do Amores, que entre dos
Lord Bemers. (Walpole s Royal and amantes pasaron," — a series of extra-
Noble Authors, London, 1806, 8vo., va^t love-letters, full of the con-
Vol. L p. 241. Dibdin's Ames, ceits of the times ; in which last case,
London, 1810, 4to., Vol. III. p. 195; he may also be the author of the
Vol. IV. p. 339.) To Diego de San ** Quexa y Aviso contra Amor," or
Pedro is also attributed the *' Tra- the story of Luzindaro and Medusina,
tado do Amalte y Lucenda," of which alluded to in the last of these letters,
an edition, apparently not the first, But as I know no edition of this story
was printed at Burgos in 1522, and earlier than that of 1553, I prefer to
another in 1527. (Asso, De Li- consider it in the next perioa.
390 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
in other parts of Italy, beginning in 1508, and ending with
the battle of Kavenna and its disastrous consequences, four
years later. It is full of the spirit of the times. Chival-
rous games and shows at the court of Naples, a hunting
scene, jousts and tournaments, and a tilting match with
reeds, are all minutely described, with the dresses and
armour, the devices and mottoes, of the principal person-
ages who took part in them. Poetry, too, is freely scat-
tered through it, — villancicoSj motes^ and invenciones^ such
as are found in the Cancioneros ; and, on one occasion,
an entire eclogue is set forth, as it was recited or played
before the court, and, on another, a poetical vision, in
which the lover who had lost his lady sees her again as if
in life. The greater part of the work claims to be true,
and some portions of it are known to be so ; but the meta-
physical discussion between the two suflTerers, sometimes
angrily borne in letters, and sometimes tenderly carried
on in dialogue, constitutes the chain on which the whole
is hung, and was originally, no doubt, regarded as its chief
merit The story ends with the death of Flamiano, from
wounds received in the battle of Ravenna ; but the ques-
tion discussed is as little decided as it is at the beginning.
The style is that of its age; sometimes picturesque,
but generally dull ; and the interest of the whole is small, in
consequence both of the inherent insipidity of such a fine-
spun discussion, and of the too minute details given of the
festivals and fights with which it is crowded. It is, there-
fore, chiefly interesting as a very early attempt to write
historical romance ; just as the " Carcel de Amor," which
called it forth, is an attempt to write sentimental romance. **
" The " Question de Amor" was the Carcel for its style more than the
printed as early as 1527, and, besides Question de Amor. (Mayans y Sis-
several editions of it that appeared car, Orfgenes, Tom. II. p. 1G7.)
aeparatoly, it often occurs in tne same Both are in the Index Expur^torius,
volume with the Carcel. Both arc 1667, pp. 323, 864 ; the last with a
amon<r the few books criticised by the seeming ignorance, that regards it as
author of the ** Diillogo de las Len- a Portuguese book,
guas," who praises both moderately ;
Chap. XXIII. THE CANCIONERO OF BAENA. 391
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Cancionkbos or Babna, Esturiga, and Martinez dk Bdboos. —
The Cancionero Gexeral or Castillo. — Its Editions. — Its Divisions,
Contents, and CnARACTSR.
The reigns of John the Second and of his children, Henry
the Fourth and Isabella the Catholic, over which we have
uow passed, extend from 1407 to 1504, and therefore fill
almost a complete century, though they comprise only two
generations of sovereigns. Of the principal writers who
flourished while they sat on the throne of Castile we have
already spoken, whether they were chroniclers or dra-
matists, whether they were poets or prose-writers, whether
they belonged to the Proven9al school or to the Castilian.
But, after all, a more distinct idea of the poetical culture
of Spain during this century, than can be readily obtained
in any other way, is to be gathered from the old Canci-
oneros ; those ample magazines, filled almost entirely with
the poetry of the age that preceded their formation.
Nothing, indeed, that belonged to the literature of the
fifteenth century in Spain marks its character more plainly
than these large and ill-digested collections. The oldest
of them, to which we have more than once referred, was
the work of Juan Alfonso de Baena, a converted Jew, and
one of the secretaries of John the Second. It dates, from
internal evidence, between the years 1449 and 1454, and
was made, as the compiler tells us in his preface, chiefly
to please the king, but also, as he adds, in the persuasion that
it would not be disregarded by the queen, the heir-appa-
rent, and the court and nobility in general. For this
392 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
purpose, he says, he had brought together the works of all
the Spanish poets who, in his .'own or any preceding age,
had done honour to what he calls " the very gracious art
of the Gaya Ciencia.^
On examining the Cancionero of Baena, however, we
find that quite one-third of the three hundred and eighty-
four manuscript pages it fills are given to Villasandino, —
who died about 1424, and whom Baena pronounces " the
prince of all Spanish poets," — and that nearly the whole
of the remaining two-thirds is divided among Diego de
Valencia, Francisco Imperial, Baena himself, Fernan
Perez de Guzman, and Ferrant Manuel de Lando ; while
the names of about fifl;y other persons, some of them
reaching back to the reign of Henry the Third, are affixed
to a multitude of short poems, of which, probably, they
were not in all cases the authors. A little of it, like what
is attributed to Macias, is in the Galician dialect ; but by
far the greater part was written by Castilians, who valued
themselves upon their fashionable tone more than upon
anything else, and who, in obedience to the taste of their
time, generally took the light and easy forms of Proven9al
verse, and as much of the Italian spirit as they compre-
hended and knew how to appropriate. Of poetry, except
in some of the shorter pieces of Ferrant Lando, Alvarez
Gato, and Perez de Guzman, the Cancionero of Baena
contains hardly a trace. *
* Accounts of the Cancionero of note,) and is now in the National Li-
Bacna are found in Castro, ** Biblio- bnuy, Paris. Its collector, Baena, is
teca Espanola " (Madrid, 1786, folio, sneered at in the Cancionero of Fer-
Tom. 1. pp. 265-346) ; in Puy- nan Martinez de Burgos, (Memorias
busque, ** Histoire Compar6e des de Alfonso VIII., por Mondexar,
Littdratures Espagnole et Fran^aise " Madrid, 1783, 4to., App. cxxxix.,) as
(Paris, 1843, 8vo., Tom. I. pp. 893- a Jew who wrote Tulgar verses.
897); in ()choa, " Manuscritos" The poems in thb Cancionero that
(Paris, 1844, 4to., pp. 281-286) ; and are probably not by the persons whose
in Amador de los Rios, ** Estudios names they bear are short and trifling,
sobre los Judios" (Madrid, 1848, — such as might be furnished to men
8vo., pp. 408-419). The copy used of distinction by humble versifiers,
by Castro was probably from the who sought their protection or formed
library of Queen Isabella, (Mem. de a part of their courts. Thus a poem
la Acad, de Hist., Tom. VI. p. 468, already noticed, that bean the name
Chap. XXIII. OTHER CANCIONEROS. 393
Many similar collections were made about the same
time, enough of which remain to show that they were
among the fashionable wants of the age, and that there was
little variety in their character. Among them was the
Cancionero in the Limousin dialect already mentioned ; •
that called Lope de Estuiiiga's, which comprises works of
about forty authors ; ' that collected in 1464 by Fernan
Martinez de Burgos ; and no less than seven others, pre-
served in the National Library at Paris, all containing
poetry of the middle and latter part of the fifteenth cen-
tury, often the same authors, and sometimes the same
poems, that are found in Baena and in Estuniga. * They
all belong to a state of society in which the great nobility,
imitating the king, maintained poetical courts about them,
such as that of the Marquis of Yillena at Barcelona, or
the more brilliant one, perhaps, of the Duke Fadrique de
Castro, who had constantly in his household Puerto
Carrero, Gayoso, Manuel de Lando, and others then ac-
of Count Pero Nifio, was, as we Talavera, some of which are dated
are expressly told in a note to it, 1408 ; by Pero Velez de Guevara,
written by Villasandino, in order that 1422 ; by Gomez Manrique ; by San-
the Count might present himself tillana ; by Fernan Perez de Guz-
before the lady Blanche more g^race- man ; and, in short, by the authors
fully than such a rough old soldier then best known at court. Mem. de
would be likely to do, unless he were Alfonso VIII., Madrid, 1783, 4to.,
helped to a little poetical gallantry. '^PP* cxxxiv.-cxl.
* See ante J Chapter XVII. note 10. Several other Cancioneros of the
' The Cancionero of Lope de £s- same period are in the National
tuAiga is, or was lately, in the Na- Library, Paris, and contain almost
tional Library at Madrid, among the exclusively the known fashionable
folio MSS., marked M. 48, well authors of that century ; such as San-
written and filling 163 leaves. tillana, Juan de Mena, Lopez de
* The fashion of making such col- Cuiiiga [Estuniga?], Juan Rodriguez
lections of {)oetry, generally called del Padron, Juan de Villalpando,
" Canci<Mieros," was very common in Suero de Ribera, Fernan Perez de
Spain in the fifteenth century, just Guzman, Gk)mcz Manricjue, Diego
before and just ai^r the introduction del Castillo," Alvaro Garcia de Santa
of the art of printing. Maria, Alonso Alvarez de Toledo,
One of them, compiled in 1464, etc. There are no less than seven
with additions of a later date, by such Cancioneros in all, notices of
Fernan Martinez de Burgos, begins which arc found in Ochoa, " Catd-
with poems by his father, and goes logo de MSS. Espafioles en la Bib-
on with others by Villasandino, who lioteca Real de Paris/' Paris, 1844,
is greatly praised both as a soldier 4to., pp. 378-525.
and a wnter ; by Fernan Sanchez de
394 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pebioi> I.
counted great poets. That the prevailing tone of all this
was Proven9al we cannot doubt ; but that it was somewhat
influenced by a knowledge of the Italian we know from
many of the poems that have been published, and from
the intimations of the Marquis of Santillana in his letter to
the Constable of Portugal. *
Thus far, more had been done in collecting the poetry of*
the time than might have been anticipated from the trou-
bled state of public affairs ; but it had been done only in
one direction, and even in that with little judgment. The
king and the more powerful of the nobility might indulge
in the luxury of such Cancioneros and such poetical courts,
but a general poetical culture could not be expected to
follow influences so partial and inadequate. A new order
of things, however, soon arose. In 1474 the art of print-
ing was fairly established in Spain ; and it is a striking
fact, that the first book ascertained to have come from the
Spanish press is a collection of poems recited that year by
forty difierent poets contending for a public prize. * No
doubt such a volume was not compiled on the principle of
the elder manuscript Cancioneros. Still, in some respects,
it resembles them, and in others seems to have been the
result of their example. But however this may be, a col-
lection of poetry was printed at Saragossa, in 1492, con-
taining the works of nine authors, among whom were
Juan de Mena, the younger Manrique, and Fernan Perez
de Guzman ; the whole evidently made on the same prin-
ciple and for the same purpose as the Cancioneros of
Baena and Estufiiga, and dedicated to Queen Isabella, as
the great patroness of whatever tended to the advance-
ment of letters. '
It was a remarkable book to appear within eighteen
* Sanchez, Poosfus Antcriores, I. p. 52. All the Cancioneros
Tom. I. p. Ixi., with tlic notes on the mentioned before 1474 are stUI in
IKu^sfure relating to the Duke Fa- MS.
drique. 7 Mcndez, Typog., pp. 134-137
' Fuster, Bib. Valenciana, Tom. and 383.
Chap. XXIII. CANCIONERO GENERAL. 395
years after the introduction of printing into Spain, when
little but the most worthless Latin treatises had come from
the national press ; but it was far from containing all the
Spanish poetry that was soon demanded. In 1511,
therefore, Fernando del Castillo printed at Valencia what
he called a " Cancionero General," or General Collection
of Poetry ; the first book to which this well-known title
was ever given. It professes to contain " many and divers
works of all or of the most notable Troubadours of Spain,
the ancient as well as the modem, in devotion, in morality,
in love, in jests, ballads, villancicoSy songs, devices, mottoes,
glosses, questions, and answers." It, in fact, contains
poems attributed to about a hundred different persons,
from the time of the Marquis of Santillana down to the
period in wjiich it was made ; most of the separate pieces
being placed under the names of those who were their
authors, or were assumed to be so, while the rest are col-
lected under the respective titles or divisions just enume-
rated, which then constituted the favourite subjects and
forms of verse at court. Of proper order or arrangement,
of critical judgment, or tasteful selection, there seems to
have been little thought.
The work, however, was successful. In 1514, anew
edition of it appeared ; and before 1540, six others had
followed, at Toledo and Seville, making, when taken
together, eight in less than thirty years ; a number which,
if the peculiar nature and large size of the work are con-
sidered, can hardly find its parallel, at the same period, in
any other European literature. Later, — in 1557 and
1573, — yet two other editions, somewhat enlarged, ap-
peared at Antwerp, whither the inherited rights and mili-
tary power of Charles the Fiflh had carried a familiar
knowledge of the Spanish language and a love for its cul-
tivation. In each of the ten editions of this remarkable
book, it should be borne in mind, that we may look for
the body of poetry most in favour at court and in the
396 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. PiaioD I.
more refined society of Spain during the whole of the
fifteenth century and the early part of the sixteenth ; the last
and amplest of them comprising the names of one hundred
and thirty-six authors, some of whom go back to the begin-
ning of the reign of John the Second, while others come
down to the time of the Emperor Charles the Fifth.®
Taking this Cancionero, then, as a true poetical repre-
sentative of the period it embraces, the first thing we
observe, on opening it, is a mass of devotional verse,
evidently intended as a vestibule to conciliate favour for
the more secular and free portions that follow. But it is
itself very poor and gross ; so poor and so gross, that we
can hardly understand how, at any period, it can have
been deemed religious. Indeed, within a century from
the time when the Cancionero was published, this part of
it was already become so oflensive to the Church it had
originally served to propitiate, that the whole of it was
cut out of such printed copies as came within the reach of
the ecclesiastical powers. •
There can be no doubt, however, about the devotional
purposes for which it was first destined; some of the
separate compositions being by the Marquis of Santillana,
Fernan Perez de Guzman, and other well-known authors
of the fifteenth century, who thus intended to give an
odour of sanctity to their works and lives. A few poems
in this division of the Cancionero, as well as a few scattered
in other parts of it, are in the Limousin dialect; a cir-
cumstance which is probably to be attributed to the fact,
that the whole was first collected and published in Valen-
" For the bibliography of these ruthlessly cut to pieces, bears this
excessively rare ana cunous books, memorandum: —
see Ebert,Bibliographisches Lexicon: m? ^ i-i x j i
and Brunct, Manuef, in verb. Cancio^ ^ ^^\ libro esta expurgado por el
nero and Castilio. I have, I believe, Expurgratorio del Santo Dficio, con
soon copies of eight of the editions. "cencia. .. ^ *, _.
Those which I possess are of 1536 ^' Baptista Martinex.
and 1573. The whole of the religious poetry
• A copy of the edition of 1635, at the beginning is torn out of it.
Chap. XXIII. CANCIONERO GENERAL. 397
cia. But nothing in this portion can be accounted truly
poetical, and very little of it religious. The best of its
shorter poems is, perhaps, the following address of Mossen
Juan Tallante to a figure of the Saviour expiring on the
cross : —
O God I the infinitely great,
That didst this ample world outspread, —
The true ! the high I
And, in thy grace compassionate,
Upon the tree didst bow thy head,
For us to die !
O ! since it pleased thy love to bear
Such bitter suffering for our sake,
O Agnus Dei I
Save us with him whom thou didst spare.
Because that single word he spake, —
Memento mei ! ^®
Next after the division of devotional poetry comes the
series of authors upon whom the whole collection relied
for its character and success when it was first pub-
lished; a series, to form which, the editor says, in the
original dedication to the Count of Oliva, he had em-
ployed himself during twenty years. Of such of them as
are worthy a separate notice — the Marquis of Santillana,
Juan de Mena, Fernan Perez de Guzman, and the three
Manriques — we have already spoken. The rest are the
Viscount of Altamira, Diego Lopez de Haro, ^* Antonio
w Imenflo Dio«, oerdurable, DicgO Lopez de HaiO, of about a
^^verd^e^r^**"**^.* thousand lines, in a manuscript ap-
Y con amor entriiSabie parentlj of the end of the fiitcenth
P»' E^rS^iSlwo^ ^^ beginning of the sixteenth century,
PuettepiagTui^^on of which I have a copy. It is en-
Por nuestraa euipM tafrir, titled ** Aviso para Cucrdos," — A
o i^na. Dei. Word for the Wise,— and is arranged
LleTanof do eita el ladron, j. , .^i /. °
Que BaWMte por decir, ^ * dialogue. With a few verses
Memento mei. spokcn in tne character of some dis-
Cancionero General, Anren, 1578, f. 5. tinguished personage, human or super-
Fuster, Bib. Valenciana, (Tom. I. human, allegorical, historical, or from
p. 81,) tries to make out something Scripture, and then an answer to
concerning the author of this little each, by the author himself. In this
poem ; but docs not, I think, succeed. way above sixty persons are intro-
" In the Library of the Academy duccd, among whom are Adam and
of History at Madrid (Misc. Hist., Eve, with the Angel that drove them
MS., Tom. III., No. 2) is a poem by from Paradise, Troy, Priam, Jenisa-
398
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period I.
de Velasco, Luis de Vivero, Hernan Mexia, Suarez,
Cartagena, Rodriguez del Padron, Pedro Torellas, Dava-
los, ** Guivara, Alvarez Gato, ^^ the Marquis of Astorga,
Diego de San Pedro, and Garci Sanchez de Badajoz, —
the last a poet whose versification is his chief merit, but
who was long remembered by succeeding poets from the
circumstance that he went mad for loveJ* They all
lorn, Christ, Julius Cesar, and so
on down to Kin^ Bamba and Maho-
met. The whole is in the old Spa-
nish verse, and has little poetical
thought in it, as may be seen by the
following words of Saul and the
answer by Don Diego, which I give
as a favourable specimen of the entire
poem :—
Saul.
En ml pena es de mirar,
Que peliffro e« para vm
EI Klosar u el mudar
Lo que manda el alto Diot ;
Porqne el manda obedecelle ;
No jucKalie, mat creelle.
A qvran a Dies a de entender,
Lo que el sabe a de saber.
AUTOII.
Plento yo qne en tal defecto
Cae preiito el cora^on
Del nu aabio en rreliglon,
Creyendo qne a lo jaerteoto
Puede dar ma* perncion.
Kate mal tiene el gloaar;
Luego a Diot quiere enmendar.
Oviedo, in his ** Quinquagenas,*'
says that Diego Lopez de Haro was
** the mirror of gallantry among the
youth of his time ;" and he is known
to history for his services in the war
of Granada, and as Spanish ambassa-
dor at Rome. (See Clemencin, in
Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., Tom.
VI. p. 404.) He figures in the
" Inferno de Amor" of Sanchez de
Badajoz ; and his poems are found in
the Cancionero General, 1673, ff.
82-90, and a few other places.
" He founded the fortunes of the
family of which the Marouis of Pes-
cara was so distinguished a member
in the time of Charles V. ; his first
achievement having been to kill a
Portuguese in fair fight, after public
challenge, and in presence or both
the armies. The poet rose to be
Constable of Castile. Ilistoria dc
D. Hernando Divalos, Marques de
Pescara, Anvers, 1568, r2mo.. Lib.
L, c 1.
'* Besides what are to be found in
the Cancioneros Generales, — for ex-
ample, in that of 1573, at ff. 148-152,
189, etc., — there is a MS. in posses-
sion of the Royal Academy at Madrid,
(Codex No. 114,) which contains a
large number of poems by Alvarez
Gato. Their author was a person of
consequence in his time, and served
John II., Henry IV., and Ferdinand
and Isabella, in afiairs of state. With
John he was on terms of friendship.
One da^, when the king missed him
from his hunting-party and was told
he was indisposed, he replied, ** Let
us, then, go and see him ; he is my
friend," — and returned to make the
kindly visit Gato died af\er 1496.
Gerdnimo Quintana, Historia de
Madrid, Madrid, 1629, folio, f. 221.
The poetry of Gato is sometimes
connected with public affairs ; but, in
general, like the rest of that which
marks the period when it was written,
it is in a courtly and affected tone, and
devoted to love and gallantry. Some
of it is more lively and natural than
most of its doubtful class. Thus,
when his lady-love told him ** he must
talk sense,'* he replied, that he had
lost the little he ever had from the
time when he first saw her, ending his
poetical answer with these words : —
But if, in good (Vith, yoa require
That aerrnc shoald come back to me,
Show the kindneaa to which f aspire.
Give the freedom j-oti know I desire.
And pay me my service A*e.
Si queret que de verdad
Tome a mi seso v aentido,
Uaad agoTA bondacf.
Torname mi libertad,
K pa^^ame lo aervido.
^* Memorias de U Acad, dc Histo-
ria, Tom. VI. p. 404. The " Lecd-
Chap. XXIII. CANCIONERO GENERAL. 399
belong to the courtly school ; and we know little of any
of them except from hints in their own poems, nearly all
of which are so wearisome from their heavy sameness, that
it is a task to read them.
Thus, the Viscount Altamira has a long, dull dialogue
between Feeling and Knowledge ; Diego Lopez de Haro
has another between Reason and Thought; Hernan
Mexia, one between Sense and Thought; and Costana,
one between Affection and Hope ; — all belonging to the
fashionable class of poems called moralities or moral dis-
cussions, all in one measure and manner, and all counterparts
to each other in grave, metaphysical refinements and poor
conceits. On the other hand, we have light, amatory
poetry, some of which, like that of Garci Sanchez de
Badajoz on the Book of Job, that of Eodriguez del Padron
on the Ten Commandments, and that of the younger
Manrique on the forms of a monastic profession, irreve-
rently applied to the profession of love, are, one would
think, essentially irreligious, whatever they may have been
deemed at the time they were written. But in all of
them, and, indeed, in the whole series of works of the
twenty different authors filling this important division of
the Cancionero, hardly a poetical thought is to be found,
except in the poems of a few who have already been
noticed, and of whom the Marquis of Santillana, Juan de
Mena, and the younger Manrique are the chief. ^*
Next after the series of authors just mentioned, we have
a collection of a hundred and twenty-six " Canciones," or
Songs, bearing the names of a large number of the most dis-
tinguished Spanish poets and gentlemen of the fifteenth cen-
tury. Nearly all of them are regularly constructed, each
ones de Job," by Badajoz, were early leaves, and the series of authors men-
put into the Index Expurgatorius, tioned above extends from f. 18 to f.
and kept there to the last. 97. It is worth notice, that the
^ The Cancionero of 1535 consists beautiful Coplas of Manrique do not
of 191 leaves, in large folio, Gothic occur in any one of these courtly
letters, and triple columns. Of these, Cancioneros.
the devotional poetry fills eighteen
398 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUP" -««»'•
(Ic Vclasco, Luis de Vivero, Herr -'e second
Cartaixcna. Rodriguez del Padron, ' .'»' '^^^ ^""^
l,.s, " (iuivara, Alvarez Gato, » - f^"""*^":^ '"
Diofjo de San Pedro, and Gb . ' '«« constrained
the last a poet whose vers/ «'* "at"ff^ """'"f'^ '.
wlio was long rememberr ^^ collection of the ^
circumstance that he -^ f«"o*'"S' '^V ^f V" ^
cind who was one ot the
Inn. Christ, Julius CfT ^jigh ill the Church after its
on down to King Bamr ^ .. n ^^ i ii
met. The whole is ' average merit ot its class.
nish vornc, and b
thought injt,M • ^,0^ not why first I drew breath,
ISw^'t dT^ ^'"^ ^^^'"^ '^ ^"'-^ » ^^"^^'
u a favooi** Whvrv I am rejected of Death,
poem:— And would irladly reject my own life.
For all the days I may live
Can only Ik* filknl with prief ;
With Death I must ever strive,
And never from Death find relief.
So that HofK? must desert me at last,
Since Death has not failinl to sec
Tliat life will revive in me
The moment his arrow is cast. ^^
This was thought to be a tender compliment to the lady
whose coldness had made her lover desire a death that
would not obey his summons.
Tliirty-seven Ballads succeed ; a charming collection of
wild flowers, which have already been suflSciently examined
when speaking of the ballad poetry of the earliest age of
Spanish literature. '*
After the Ballads we come to the " Invenciones," a
form of verse peculiarly characteristic of the period, and
of which we have here two hundred and twenty specimens.
'•The Canciones are found, ff. Qu* fln e«pero daqui.
yo- lUO. Vun qur rlnraniente viu
i7 No w pain que naici, Qucra viila para mi.
Piii'^ vn tal e.-itromo eito f. 98. b.
Que rl morir no qiiipre a mi,
Y fi viuir no quU-ro yo. " These Imlladis, alr€^a<iv notiivd
r.H>o el tiempii que viviere „„f ('|u,p VI., are in the tanciwnero
TiTui- inu> juKta qucn'lla r i rqi* ir i Ai! 1 1 1;
Ik' la inurrrf, piiriN no nuicrc 01 IJOJ, 11. lUO-110.
A ui, quui-lvndu yo a i*lia.
Chap. XXIII. CANCIONERO GENERAL. 401
They belong to the mstitutions of chivalry, and especially
to the arrangements for tourneys and joustiugs, which were
the most gorgeous of the public amusements known in the
reigns of John the Second and Henry the Fourth. Each
knight, on such occasions, had a device, or drew one for
himself by lot ; and to this device or crest a poetical expla-
nation was to be aflSxed by himself, which was called an
invencion. Some of these posies are very ingenious ; for
conceits are here in their place. King John, for instance,
drew a prisoner's cage for his crest, and furnished for its
motto, —
Even imprisonment still is confessed, '. • .r -^
Though heavy its sorrows may fall, / ." : , . , v;^
To be but a righteous behest, ;;, , -\
When it comes from the fairest and best '/ .J
Whom the earth its mistress can call. V '^ ^
The well-known Count Haro drew a norioj or a Vhieel
over which passes a rope, with a series of buckets attached
to it, that descend empty into a well, and come up full of
water. He gave, for his invencion^ —
The full show my griefs running o'er ;
The empty, the hopes I deplore.
On another occasion, he drew, like the king, an emblem
of a prisoner's cage, and answered to it by an imperfect
rhyme, —
In the gaol which you here behold —
Whence escape there is none, as you see —
I must live. What a life must it be ! *'
Akin to the Invenciones were the " Motes con sus
'" *' Saco el Rey nuestro seizor una '* El mismo uor cimera una carcel,
red de carcel, y decia la letra:-^ y el en clla, y dixo : —
Qiudqa ier priiion y dolor En «■»» cwm\ qua veyt,
Qneiewfra,Mjiutacon, Que no le htlU aalida,
Pnet M 8uft« por amor V iu Ire, ma* ved qoe Tidal-
^I'n.^rjStL h«n«.. The /nw»«Vw«, though so numer-
ous, fill only three leaves, 115 to
** El conde de Haro saco una noria, 1 17. They occur, also, constantly in
y dixo : — the old chronicles and books of chi-
Lo.iieno.,dem.ie.mio.; ''^^^\ ^hc "Question de Amor"
D' eapcran^a, lot vaiioa. contams many of them.
VOL.1. 2 D
402 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period I.
Glosas;" mottoes or short apophthegms, which we find
here to the number of above forty, each accompanied by a
heavy, rhymed gloss. The mottoes themselves are gene-
rally proverbs, and have a national and sometimes a spi-
rited air. Thus, the lady Catalina Manrique took
" Never mickle cost but little," referring to the difficulty of
obtaining her regard, to which Cartagena answered, with
another proverb, " Merit pays all," and then explained or
mystified both with a tedious gloss. The rest are not
better, and all were valued, at the time they were com-
posed, for precisely what now seems most worthless in
them. ''
The " Villancicos " that follow — songs in the old
Spanish measure, with a refi'ain and occasionally short
verses broken in — are more agreeable, and sometimes are
not without merit. They received their name from their
rustic character, and were believed to have been first com-
posed by the villanoSj or peasants, for the Nativity and
other festivals of the Church. Imitations of these rude
roundelays are found, as we have seen, in Juan de la
Euzina, and occur in a multitude of poets since ; but the
fifty-four in the Cancionero, many of which bear the
names of leading poets in the preceding century, are too
courtly in their tone, and approach the character of the
Canciones. *^ In other respects, they remind us of the
•* Though Lope de Veea, in his poetical results obtained were little
"Justa Po^ticade San Isidro," (Ma- worth the trouble they cost. The
drid, 1620, 4to., f. 76,) declares the Glosas of the Cancionero of 1536 are
Glosas to be ** a most ancient and at fT. 118-120.
peculiarly Spanish composition, never *' The author of the ** Didlogo de
used in an^r other nation," they were, las Lenguas " (Mayans y Siscar, Orf-
in fact, an invention of the Provencal genes, Tom. II. p. 151) eives the
poets, and, no doubt, came to Spain refrain or ritomeUo of a ViUancico,
with their original authors. (Rayoou- which, he says, was sung by every
ard, Troub., Tom. II. pp. 248-254.) body in Spain in his time, and is the
The rules for their composition in happiest specimen I know of the
Spain were, as we see also from Cer- genus, conceit and all.
vantes, (Don Quixote, Parte II. c. q, ,v .^ ,i .^
18,) veiy strict and mrely observed ; ^'l^Al^Ty x:::S'I^'^ ^'
and I cannot help agreeing with the But, had i nevn known th«t gncm,
friend of the mad knight, that the "**'' ""^^ ' ***^* deterved »uch biiM ?
Chap. XXIII. CANCIONERO GENERAL. 403
earliest French madrigals^ or, still more, of the Proven9al
poems, that are nearly in the same measures. **
The last division of this conceited kind of poetry col-
lected into the first Cancioneros Generales is that called
"Preguntas," or Questions; more properly. Questions
and Answers ; since it is merely a series of riddles, with
their solutions in verse. Childish as such trifles may seem
now, they were admired in the fifteenth century. Baena,
in the Preface to his collection, mentions them among its
most considerable attractions ; and the series here given,
consisting of fifty-five, begins with such authors as the
Marquis of Santillana and Juan de Mena, and ends with
Garci Sanchez de Badajoz, and other poets of note who
lived in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Probably it
was an easy exercise of the wits in extemporaneous verse
practised at the court of John the Second, as we find it
practised, above a century later, by the shepherds in the
*' Galatea " of Cervantes. *^ But the specimens of it in the
Cancioneros are painfully constrained ; the answers being
required to correspond in every particular of measure,
number, and the succession of rhymes with those of the
precedent question. On the other hand, the riddles them-
selves are sometimes very simple, and sometimes very
familiar ; Juan de Mena, for instance, gravely proposing
that of the Sphinx of (Edipus to the Marquis of Santil-
lana, as if it were possible the Marquis had never before
heard of it. **
Thus far the contents of the Cancionero General date
from the fifteenth century, and chiefly from the middle
and latter part of it. Subsequently, we have a series of
poets who belong rather to the reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella, such as Puerto Carrero, the Duke of Medina
« The ViUancicoa are in the Can- " Galatea, Lib. VI.
cionero of' 1636, at ff. 120-126. See " The Preguntas extend from f.
also Covamibias, Tesoro, in verb. 126 to f. 184.
ViUancico,
2b^
404
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Peeiod I.
Sidonia, Don Juan Manuel of Portugal, Heredia, and a
few others ; after which follows, in the early editions, a
collection of what are called "Jests provoking Laugh-
ter,"— really, a number of very gross poems which consti-
tute part of an indecent Cancionero printed separately at
Valencia, several years afterwards, but which were soon
excluded from the editions of the Cancionero General,
where a few trifles, sometimes in the Valencian dialect, are
inserted, to fill up the space they had occupied. ^* The
air of this second grand division of the collection is, how-
ever, like the air of that which precedes it, and the poetical
merit is less. At last, near the conclusion of the editions
of 1557 and 1573, we meet with compositions belonging
to the time of Charles the Fifth, among which are two by
Boscan, a few in the Italian language, and still more in the
Italian manner ; all indicating a new state of things, and a
new development of the forms of Spanish poetry. *^
•* The complete list of the authors
in this part of the Cancionero is as
follows : — Costana, Puerto Carrcro,
Avila, the Duke of Medina Sidonia,
the Count Castro, Luis dc Tovar, Don
Juan Manuel, Tapia, Nicolas Nunez,
Soria, Pinar, Ayllon, Badajoz el
Miisico, the Count of Oliva, Cardona,
Frances Carroz, Heredia, Artes,
Quiros, Coronel, Escriva, Vazquez,
and Luduena. Of most of them only
a few trifles arceiven. The ** Burlas
provocantes a Kisa " follow, in the
edition of 1514, after the poems of
Luduefia, but do not appear in that
of 1626, or in any subsequent edi-
tion. Most of them, however, are
found in the collection referred to,
entitled *' Cancionero de Obras de
Burlas provocantes a Risa," (Valencia,
1519, 4to.) It begins with one
rather long poem, and ends with an-
other,— the last being a brutal parody
of the " Trescientas " of Juan de Mena.
The shorter poems are often by well-
known names, such as Jorge Man-
riquc and Diego de San Pedro, and
are not always liable to objection on
the score of decency. But the gene-
ral tone of the work, which is attri-
buted to ecclesiastical hands, is as
coarse as possible. A small edition
of it was printed at London, in 1841,
marked on its title-page ** Cum Privi-
legio, en Madrid, por Luis Sanchez."
It has a curious and well- written Pre-
face, and a short, but learned, Glos-
sary. From p. 203 to the end, p. 246,
are a few poems not found m the
original Cancionero de Burlas ; one
by Garci Sanchez de Badajoz, one by
Rodrigo de Reynosa, etc.
*" This part of the Cancionero of
1635, which is of very little value,
fills ff. 134-191. The whole volume
contains about 49,000 verses. The
Antwerp editions of 1557 and 1573
are larger, and contain about 58,000 ;
but the last part of each is the worst
part. One of the pieces near the end
IS a ballad on the renunciation of em-
pire made by Charles V. at Brussels,
in October, 1655; the most recent
date, so far as I have observed, that
can be assigned to any \Kicm in any of
the collections.
Chap. XXIII. CANCIONERO GENERAL. 405
But this change belongs to another period of the litera-
ture of Castile, before entering on which we must notice
a few circumstances in the Caiicioueros characteristic of
the one we have just gone over. And here the first
thing that strikes us is the large number of persons whose
verses are thus collected. In that of 1535, which may
be taken as the average of the whole series, there are
not less than a hundred and twenty. But out of this mul-
titude, the number really claiming any careful notice is
small. Many persons appear only as the contributors of
single trifles, such as a device or a cancioUy and sometimes,
probably, never wrote even these. Others contributed only
two or three short poems, which their social position, ra-
ther than their taste or talents, led them to adventure. So
that the number of those appearing in the proper character
of authors in the Cancionero General is only about forty,
and of these not more than four or five deserve to be re-
membered.
But the rank and personal consideration of those that
throng it are, perhaps, more remarkable than their number,
and certainly more so than their merit. John the Second
is there, and Prince Henry, afterwards Henry the Fourth ;
the Constable Alvaro de Luna, " the Count Haro, and
the Count of Plascncia ; the Dukes of Alva, Albuquerque,
and Medina Sidonia; the Count of Tendilla and Don
Juan Manuel ; the Marquises of Santillana, Astorga, and
Villa Franca; the Viscount Altamira, and other lead-
^ There is a short ixoem by the dated 1446, ** On Virtuous and Famous
Constable in the Conimentair of Fer- Women," to whieh Juan de Mcna
nan Nunez to the 265th Copla of wrote a Preface ; the Constable, at
Juan de Mena ; and in the fine old that time, being at the height of his
Chronicle of the Constables life, we power. It is not, as its title might
are told of hini, (Titulo LXVIII.,) seem to indicate, translated from a
** Fue inuy invontivo e mucho dado a work by Boccaccio, with nearly the
fallar invencioncs y sacar entremeses, same name ; but an original ^)roduc-
o en justas o en gucrra ; en las qualcs tion of the great Castilian minister of
invencioncs muy ajiudamente signi- state. Mem. de la Acad, de Hist.,
ficaba lo que queria." lie is also the Tom. VI. p. 464, note,
author of an unpublishetl prose work,
406 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATTRE. PmoD L
irig personages of their time ; so thsit, as Lope de Vega
once said, " most of the poets of that age were great lords,
admirals, constables, dukes, counts, and kings ; " ^ or, in
other words, verse*writing was a fashion at the court of
Castile in the fifteenth century.
This, in fact, is the character that is indelibly impressed
on the collections found in the old Cancioneros Generales.
Of the earliest poetry of the country, such as it is found in
the legend of the Cid, in Berceo, and in the Archpriest
of Ilita, they afford not a trace ; and if a few ballads are
inserted, it is for the sake of the poor glosses with which
they are encumbered. But the Proven9al spirit of the
Troubadours is everywhere present, if not everywhere
strongly marked ; and occasionally we find imitations ot
the earlier Italian school of Dante and his immediate fol-
lowers, which are more apparent than successfiiL The
mass is wearisome and monotonous. Nearly every one of
the longer poems contained in it is composed in lines of
eight syllables, divided into redondiUaSy almost always
easy in their movement, but rarely gracefiil ; sometimes
broken by a regularly recurring verse of only four or five
syllables, and hence called quebrado^ but more frequently
arranged in stanzas of eight or ten uniform lines. It is
nearly all amatory, and the amatory portions are nearly all
metaphysical and affected. It is of the court, courtly;
overstrained, formal, and cold. What is not written by
persons of rank is written for their pleasure ; and though
the spirit of a chivalrous age is thus sometimes brought
out, yet what is best in that spirit is concealed by a preva-
lent desire to fall in with the superficial feshions and fan-
tastic fancies that at last destroyed it.
But it was impossible such a wearisome state of poetical
culture should become permanent in a country so full of
stirring interest as Spain was in the age that followed the
fall of Granada and the discovery of America. Poetry,
** Obras Sueltas, Madrid, 1777, 4to., Tom. XI. p. 358.
Chap. XXIII. SIGNS OP PROGRESS. 407
or at least the love of poetry, made progress with the
great advancement of the nation mider Ferdinand and
Isabella ; though the taste of the court in whatever re-
garded Spanish literature continued low and false. Other
circumstances, too, favoured the great and beneficial change
that was everywhere becoming apparent. The language of
Castile had already asserted its supremacy, and, with the
old Castilian spirit and cultivation, it was spreading into
Andalusia and Aragon, and planting itself amidst the ruins
of the Moorish power on the shores of the Mediterranean.
Chronicle-writing was become frequent, and had begun to
take the forms of regular history. The drama was ad-
vanced as far as the " Celestina " in prose, and the more
strictly scenic efibrts of Torres Naharro in verse. Ro-
mance-writing was at the height of its success. And the
old ballad spirit — the true foundation of Spanish poetry —
had received a new impulse and richer materials from the
contests in which all Christian Spain had borne a part
amidst the mountains of Granada, and from the wild tales
of the feuds and adventures of rival factions within the
walls of that devoted city. Everything, indeed, an-
nounced a decided movement in the literature of the
nation, and almost everything seemed to favour and
facilitate it.
408 HISTOET OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pouos L
CHAPTER XXIV.
SpAinsH Intolsbakcs. — Th« Isquiution. — PEmsBcmoH of Jews a5d
Mooms. — Pebsecctiox or CHSiniAxs fob Ofikiox. — State of the Pkess
i2r Sfaik. — CoscLCDivo Remabks ok the whole Period.
The condition of things in Spain at the end of the reign
of Ferdinand and Isabella seemed, as we have intimated,
to announce a long period of national prosperity. But one
institution, destined soon to discourage and check that
intellectual freedom without which there can be no wise
and generous advancement in any people, was already be-
ginning to give token of its great and blighting power.
The Christian Spaniards had, from an early period, been
essentially intolerant. To their perpetual wars with the
Moors had been added, from the end of the fourteenth
century, an exasperated feeling against the Jews, which
the government had vainly endeavoured to control, and
which had shown itself, at diflferent times, in the plunder
and murder of multitudes of that devoted race throughout
the country. Both races were hated by the mass of the
Spanish people with a bitter hatred : the first as their con-
querors; the last for the oppressive claims their wealth
had given them on great numbers of the Christian inha-
bitants. In relation to both, it was never forgotten that
they were the enemies of that cross under which all true
Spaniards had for centuries gone to battle ; and of both it
was taught by the priesthood, and willingly believed by the
laity, that their opposition to the faith of Christ was an
offence against God, which it was a merit in his people to
Chap. XXIV.
THE INQUISITION.
409
punish. ^ Coliunbus, wearing the cord of St Francis in the
streets of Seville, and consecrating to wars against misbe-
lief in Asia the wealth he was seeking in the New World,
whose soil he earnestly 'desired should never be trodden
by any foot save that of a Roman Catholic Christian, was
but a type of the Spanish character in the age when he
adopted it. *
When, therefore, it was proposed to establish in Spain
the Inquisition, which had been so eflSciently used to
exterminate the heresy of the Albigenses, and which had
even followed its victims in their flight from Provence to
Aragon, little serious opposition was made to the under-
taking. Ferdinand, perhaps, was not unwilling to see a
power grow up near his throne with which the political go-
vernment of the country could hardly fail to be in alliance,
while the piety of the wiser Isabella, which, as we can see
* The bitterness of this iin-Christian
and barbarous hatred of the Moors,
that constituted not a little of the
foundation on which rested the intole-
rance that afterwards did so much to
break down the intellectual independ-
ence of the Spanish people, can
hardly be credited at the present
day, when stated in general terms.
An instance of its operation must,
therefore, be given to illustrate its
intensity. When the Spaniards made
one of those forays into the territories
of the Moors that were so common fm*
centuries, the Christian knights, on
their return, often brought, dangling
at their saddle-bows, the heads of the
Moors they had slain, and threw
them to the boys in the streets of the
villages, to exasperate their young
hatred against the enemies of their
faith ; — a practice which, we are
told on goou authority, was continued
as late as the war of the Alpuxarras,
under Don John of Austria, in the
reign of Philip II. (Clcmencin, in
Mcmoriasde la Acad, de Hist, Tom.
VI. p. 390.) But any body who
will read the *' Historia de la Rebe-
lion y Castigo de los Moriscos del
Reyno de Granada," by Luis del
Marmol Carraial, (M^aga, 1600,
fol.,) will see how complacently an
eyewitness, not so much disposed as
most of his countrymen to look with
hatred on the Moors, regarded cruel-
ties which it is not possible now to
retuA without shuddering. See his
account of the murder, by order of the
chivalrous Don John of Austria, (f.
192,^ of four hundred women and
children, his captives at Gralera; —
*' muchofl en su presencia," says the
historian, who was there. Similar
remarks might be made about the
second volume of Hita's *' Guerras
de Granada,*' which will be noticed
hereafter. Indeed, it is only by read-
ing such books that it is possible to
learn how much the Spanish character
was impaired and degraded by this
hatred, inculcated, during the nine
centuries that elapsed between the
aee of Roderic the Goth and that of
rhilip III., not only as a part of the
loyalty of which all Spaniards were
so proud, but as a reli^ous duty of
every Christian in the kmgdom.
* Bemaldez, Chronica, c. 131,
MS. Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages,
Tom. I. p. 72 ; Tom. II. p. 282.
410 HIsTOirr or SPA3naa UTTaATTIZ. Pmi* L
firom ber correspoDdence vith her €oci£Eaor« was Ihtle
euli^ttned, led ber canscience so eocnpietelT 2stiay« dial
•be finally a»ked ior die iotrodoctioD of die Holy Office
into ber own domioioos as a Cbrndan benefit to h^*
per/pie* ' After a negodatioQ whb the oourt of Borne, and
some diaoges in the origiiial prayect, it was therefore
estatiliiibed in the city of Seville in 14dl ; the fiist Grand
Inqaisitors being Dominicans, and their first meeting
being bekl in a convent of their order, on the 2nd of
January. Its earliest Tictims were Jews. Six were
btimed within four days from the time when the tribonal
first sat, and Mariana states the whole number of those
who Buffered in Andalusia alone during the first year of its
existence at two thousand, besides seventeen thousand who
underwent some form of punishment less severe than that
of the stake ; * all, it should be remembered, being done
with the rejoicing assent of the mass of the people, whose
shouts followed the exile of the whole body of the Jewish
race from Spain in 1492, and whose persecution of the
Hebrew blood, wherever found, and however hidden under
the disguises of conversion and baptism, has hardly ceased
down to our own days. *
The fall of Granada, which preceded by a few months
this cruel expulsion of the Jews, placed the remains of the
Moorish nation no less at the mercy of their conquerors.
It is true that, by the treaty which surrendered the city to
the Catholic sovereigns, the property of the vanquished,
■ Proicott't Ferdinand and Isabella, Frdres Prlcheure,*' (Paris, 1S39,
Part 1. 0. 7. 8vo.,^ endeavours to pro?e that the
* Mariana, Hist., Lib. XXIV. c. Dominicans were not in anj way re-
17, ed. 1780, Tom. II. p. 6*27. We sponsible for the establishment of the
aro shocked and astonished as we Inquisition in Spain. In this attempt
read this chapter ; — so devout a gn- I think he fails ; but I think he is
titudo does it express for the Inoui- successful when he elsewhere mam-
si lion as a national blessmg. See tains that the Inquisition, fh>m an
ttlNo Llurente, Uist. de Tlnqaisition, early period, was intimately con-
Tom. 1. p. 160. nected with the political government
* The eloouent Father Lacordaire, in Spain, and always dependent on
In the sixth chapter of his ** Mdmoire the state for a large part of its
pour lo Rdtablissemcnt de TOrdre des power.
Chap. XXIV. PERSECUTION OP MOORS. 411
their religious privileges, their mosques, and their worship
were solemnly secured to them ; but in Spain, whatever
portion of the soil the Christians had vrrested from their
ancient enemies had always been regarded only as so
much territory restored to its rightful owners, and any sti-
pulations that might accompany its recovery were rarely
respected. The spirit and even the lerm^ of the capi-
tulation of Granada were, therefore, soon violated. The
Christian laws of Spain were introduced there ; the Inqui-
sition followed ; and a persecution of the descendants of
the old Arab invaders was begun by their new masters,
which, after being carried on above a century with con-
stantly increasing crimes, was ended in 1609, like the
persecution of the Jews, by the forcible expulsion of the
whole race. *
Such severity brought with it, of course, a great amount
of fraud and falsehood. Multitudes of the followers of
Mohammed — beginning with four thousand whom Car-
dinal Ximenes baptized on the day when, contrary to the
provisions of the capitulation of Granada, he consecrated
the great mosque of the Albaycin as a Christian temple —
were forced to enter the fold of the Church, without
either understanding its doctrines or desiring to receive its
instructions. With these, as with the converted Jews, the
Inquisition was permitted to deal unchecked by the power
of the state. They were, therefore, from the first, watched ;
soon they were imprisoned ; and then they were tortured,
to obtain proof that their conversion was not genuine. But
it was all done in secrecy and in darkness. From the
moment when the Inquisition laid its grasp on the object
of its suspicions to that of his execution, no voice was heard
to issue from its cells. The very witnesses it summoned
• See the learned and acute ** His- par Ic Comte Albert de Circourt, (3
toire des Maures Mudejares et des torn., 8vo., Paris, 1846,) Tom. U.,
Morisqucs, ou des Arabes d'Espagne pauim,
•ous la Domination des Chretiens,"
412 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTEBATURE. Pkeiod I.
were punished with death or perpetual imprisonment, if
they revealed what they had seen or heard before its dread
tribunals ; and often of the victim nothing was known, but
that he had disappeared from his accustomed haimts in
society, never again to be seen.
The effect was appalling. The imaginations of men
were filled with horror at the idea of a power so vast and
80 noiseless; one which was constantly, but invisibly,
around them ; whose blow was death, but whose steps
could neither be heard nor followed amidst the gloom into
which it retreated farther and farther as efforts were made
to pursue it From its first establishment, therefore,
while the great body of the Spanish Christians rejoiced in
the purity and orthodoxy of their faith, and not unwil-
lingly saw its enemies called to expiate their unbelief by
the most terrible of mortal punishments, the intellectual
and cultivated portions of society felt the sense of their
personal security gradually shaken, until, at last, it became
an anxious object of their lives to avoid the suspicions of
a tribunal which infused into their minds a terror deeper
and more effectual in proportion as it was accompanied by
a misgiving how far they might conscientiously oppose its
authority. Many of the nobler and more enlightened,
especially on the comparatively free soil of Aragon,
struggled against an invasion of their rights whose conse-
quences they partly foresaw. But the powers of the
government and the Church, united in measures which
were sustained by the passions and religion of the lower
classes of society, became irresistible. The fires of the
Inquisition were gradually lighted over the whole country,
and the people everywhere thronged to witness its sacri-
fices, as acts of faith and devotion.
From this moment, Spanish intolerance, which through
the Moorish wars had accompanied the contest and shared
its chivalrous spirit, took that air of sombre fanaticism
which it never afterwards lost Soon, its warfare was
Chap. XXIV. SPANISH INTOLERANCE. 413
turned against the opinions and thoughts of men, even
more than against their external conduct or their crimes.
The Inquisition, which was its true exponent and appro-
priate instrument, gradually enlarged its own jurisdiction
by means of crafty abuses, as well as by the regular forms
of law, until none found himself too humble to escape its
notice, or too high to be reached by its power. The
whole land bent under its influence, and the few who
comprehended the mischief that must follow bowed, like
the rest, to its authority, or were subjected to its punish-
ments.
From an inquiry into the private opinions of individuals
to an interference with the press and with printed books
there was but a step. It was a step, however, that was
not taken at once ; partly because books were still few
and of little comparative importance anywhere, and partly
because, in Spain, they had already been subjected to the
censorship of the civil authority, which, in this particular,
seemed unwilling to surrender its jurisdiction. But such
scruples were quickly removed by the appearance and
progress of the Reformation of Luther ; a revolution which
comes within the next period of the history of Spanish
literature, when we shall find displayed in their broad
practical results the influence of the spirit of intolerance
and the power of the Church and the Inquisition on the
character of the Spanish people.
If, however, before we enter upon this new and more
varied period, we cast our eyes back towards the one over
which we have just passed, we shall find much that is
original and striking, and much that gives promise of
further progress and success. It extends through nearly
four complete centuries, from the first breathings of the
poetical enthusiasm of the mass of the people down to the
decay of the courtly literature in the latter part of the
reign of Ferdinand and Isabella; and it is filled with
4U HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE. Pnaoo I.
materials destined, at last» to produce such a school of
poetry and elegant prose as, in the sober judgment of
the nation itself, still constitutes the proper body of the
national literature. The old ballads, the old historical
poems, the old chronicles, the old theatre, — ^all these, if
only elements, are yet elements of a vigour and promise not
to be mistaken. They constitute a mine of more various
wealth than had been offered, under similar circumstances
and at so early a period, to any other people. They
breathe a more lofty and a more heroic temper. We feel,
as we listen to their tones, that we are amidst the stir of
extraordinary passions, which give the character an eleva-
tion not elsewhere to be found in the same unsettled state
of society. We feel, though the grosser elements of life
are strong around us, that imagination is yet stronger;
imparting to them its manifold hues, and giving them a
power and a grace that form a strikmg contrast with what
is wild or rude in their original nature. In short, we feel
that we are called to witness the first efforts of a generous
people to emancipate themselves from the cold restraints
of a merely material existence, and watch with confidence
and sympathy the movement of their secret feelings and
prevalent energies, as they are struggling upwards into
the poetry of a native and earnest enthusiasm ; persuaded
that they must, at last, work out for themselves a litera-
ture^ bold, fervent, and original, marked with the features
and impulses of the national character, and able to vindi-
cate for itself a place among the permanent monuments
of modern civilization. "^
' It 18 impipBsible to speak of the devoted himself to the study of canon
Inquisition as* I have spoken in this law and of elegant literature. In
chapter, without feeling desirous to 1789, he was nuide principal secre-
know something concerning Antonio tary to the Inauisition, and became
LlorontC) who has done more than much interested in its aifiure ; but was
all other persons to expose its true dismissed from hu place and exiled
history and character. The impor- to his parish in 1791, because he was
tant facts in his life are few. He was suspected of an indination towards
bom at Calahorra in Aragon in 1766, the French philosophY of the period,
and entered the Church early, but In 1799, a more enlightened deneni
Chap. XXIV.
ANTONIO LLORENTE.
415
Inquisitor than the one who had per-
secuted him drew Llorente again into
the councils of the Uolv Office, and,
with the assistance of Jovellanos and
other leading statesmen, he endea-
voured to introduce such changes
into the tribunal itself as should ob-
tain publicity for its proceedings.
But this, too, failed, and Llorente
was disgraced anew. In 1805, how-
ever, he was recalled to Madrid ; and
in 1 809, when the fortunes of Joseph
Bonaparte made him the nominal
king of Spain, he gave Llorente
charge of every thins relating to the
archives and the affairs of the Inqui-
sition. Llorente used well the means
thus put into his hands ; and having
been compelled to follow the govern-
ment of Joseph to Paris, after its
overthrow in Spain, he published
there, from the vast and rich mate-
rials he had collected during the
period when he had entire control of
the secret records of the Inquisition,
an ample history of its conduct and
crimes ; — a work which, though nei-
ther well arranged nor philosophically
written, is yet the great storehouse
from which are to be drawn more
well-authenticated facts relating to
the subject it discusses than can be
found in all other sources put toge-
ther. But neither in Paris, where he
lived in poverty, was Llorente suf-
fered to live in peace. In 1823, he
was required by the French govern-
ment to leave France, and being
obliged to make his journey during a
rigorous season, when he was already
much broken by age and its infirmi-
ties, he died mm fatigue and ex-
haustion, on the 3rd of Tebruarv, a
few days after his arrival at Madrid.
His *' Histoire de I'lnquisition " (4
tom., 8vo., Paris, 1817, 1818) is his
great work ; but we should add to it
his "Noticia Biogr^fica," (Paris,
181 8« 12mo.,) which is curious and
interesting, not only as an autobio-
graphy, but for further notices re-
specting the spirit of the Inqubition.
HISTORY
SPANISH LITERATURE.
SECOND PERIOD.
Tire Literature that existed in Spain from the Accession op
THE Austrian Family to its Extinciion, or from the
Bfxsinning of the Sixteenth Century to the End of the
Seventeenth.
VOL. I. 2 E
SECOND PERIOD.
CHAPTER I.
Pebiods of Litebart Success and National Glort. — Charjles thb
FiPTH. — Hopes op Universal Empire. — Ldtheb. — Contest of the
Romish Church with Protestantism. — Protestant Books. — The
Inquisition. — Index Expurgatorius. — Suppression of Protestantism
IN Spain. — Persecution. — Religious Condition or the Country and
ITS Efi'ects.
In every country that has yet obtained a rank among
those nations whose intellectual cultivation is the highest,
the period in which it has produced the permanent body of
its literature has been that of its glory as a state. The
reason is obvious. There is then a spirit and activity
abroad among the elements that constitute the national
character, which naturally express themselves in such
poetry and eloquence as, being the result of the excited
condition of the people and bearing its impress, become for
all future exertions a model and standard that can be
approached only when the popular character is again
stirred by a similar enthusiasm. Thus, the age of Pericles
naturally followed the great Persian war; the age of
Augustus was that of a universal tranquillity produced by
universal conquest ; the age of Moli^re and La Fontaine
was that in which Louis the Fourteenth was carrying the
outposts of his consolidated monarchy far into Germany ;
and the ages of Elizabeth and Anne were the ages of the
Armada and of Marlborough.
2e 2
420 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period II.
Just SO it was in Spain. The central point in Spanish
history is the capture of Granada. During nearly eight
centuries before that decisive event, the Christians of the
Peninsula were occupied with conflicts at home, that gra-
dually developed their energies, amidst the sternest trials
and struggles, till the whole land was filled to overflowing
with a power which had hardly yet been felt in the rest of
Europe. But no sooner was the last Moorish fortress
yielded up, than this accunmlated flood broke loose from
the mountains behind which it had so long been hidden,
and threatened, at once, to overspread the best portions of
the civilized world. In less than thirty years, Charles the
Fifth, who had inherited not only Spain, but Naples,
Sicily, and the Low Countries, and into whose treasury
the untold wealth of the Indies was already beginning to
pour, was elected Emperor of Germany, and undertook a
career of foreign conquest such as had not been imagined
since the days of Charlemagne. Success and glory seemed
to wait for him as he advanced. In Europe, he extended
his empire, till it checked the hated power of Islamism in
Turkey ; in Africa, he garrisoned Tunis and overawed the
whole coast of Barbary; in America, Cortes and Pizarro
were his bloody lieutenants, and achieved for him con-
quests more vast than were conceived in the dreams of
Alexander ; while, beyond the wastes of the Pacific, he
stretched his discoveries to the Philippines, and so com-
pleted the circuit of the globe.
This was the brilliant aspect which the fortunes of his
country offered to an intelligent and imaginative Spaniard
in the first half of the sixteenth century. ^ For, as we well
* Traces of this feeling are found consolation/' as he says, ** promised
abundantly in Spanish literature for by Heaven," —
above a century ; but nowhere, per- ^^
haps, with more simplicity and good ^"^ ^^"^^ !? i"ni^ ,,!! ^^.
|..i.\i J c-rf J A Poeala*, Madnd, 1804, I2m0n p, 214.
laith than in a sonnet of Hernando de t •» r-
Acuiia, — a soldier and a |>oet greatly Christdval de Mesa, however, may be
favoured by Charles V., — in which he considered more simple-hearted yet ;
annoimces to the world, for its ''great for, fifty years afterwards, he an-
Chap. I. THE REFORMATION. 421
know, such men then looked forward with confidence to
the time when Spain would be the head of an empire more
extensive than the Boman, and seem sometimes to have
trusted that they themselves should live to witness and
share its glory. But their forecast was imperfect A
moral power was at work, destined to divide Europe anew,
and place the domestic policy and the external relations of
its principal countries upon unwonted foundations. The
monk Luther was already become a counterpoise to the
military master of so many kingdoms ; and from 1552,
when Moritz of Saxony deserted the Imperial standard,
and the convention of Passau asserted for the Protestants
the free exercise of their religion, the clear-sighted con-
queror may himself have understood that his ambitious
hopes of a universal empire, whose seat should be in the
South of Europe and whose foundations should be laid in
the religion of the Church of Rome, were at an end.
But the question, where the line should be drawn be-
tween the great contending parties, was long the subject of
fierce ware. The struggle began with the enunciation of
Luther's ninety-five propositions, and his burning the
Pope's bulls at Wittenberg. It was ended, as far as it is
yet ended, by the peace of Westphalia. During the hun-
dred and thirty years that elapsed between these two
points, Spain was indeed far removed from the fields where
the most cruel battles of the religious wars were fought ;
but how deep was the interest the Spanish people took in
the contest is plain from the bitterness of their stru^le
against the Protestant princes of Germany ; from the vast
efforts they made to crush the Protestant rebellion in the
Netherlands ; from the expedition of the Armada against
Protestant England ; and from the interference of Philip
the Second in the affairs of Henry the Third and Henry
the Fourth, when, during the League, Protestantism
nounces this catholic and universal Philip III. Kestauracion dc Espana,
cmpiFO as absolutely completed by Madnd, 1607, 12ino., Canto I. sf. 7.
422 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Peuod II.
seemed to be gaining ground in France ; — in short, it may
be seen from the presence of Spain and her armies in
every part of Europe where it was possible to reach and
assail the great movement of the Reformation.
Those, however, who were so eager to check the power
of Protestantism when it was afar off, would not be idle
when the danger drew near to their own homes. * The
first alarm seems to have come from Rome. In March,
1521, Papal briefs were sent to Spain, warning the
Spanish government to prevent the further introduction of
books written by Luther and his followers, which, it was
believed, had been secretly penetrating into the country
for about a year. These briefe, it should be observed,
were addressed to the civil administration, which still, in
form at least, kept an entire control over such subjects.
But it was more natural, and more according to the ideas
then prevalent in other countries as well as in Spain, to
look to the ecclesiastical power for remedies in a matter
connected with religion; and the great body of the
Spanish people seems willingly to have done so. In less
than a month, therefore, from the date of the briefe in
question, and perhaps even before they were received in
Spain, the Grand Inquisitor addressed an order to the tri-
bunals under his jurisdiction, requiring them to search for
and seize all books supposed to contain the doctrines of
the new heresy. It was a bold measure, but it was a suc-
cessful one." The government gladly countenanced it;
' The facts in the subsequent ac- ed or manuscript. Torquemada, the
count of the progress and suppression fiercest, if not ouite the first of them,
of the Protestant Reformation in burned at SeviHe, in 1490, a quantity
SjMiin are taken, in general, from the of Hebrew Bibles and other manu-
** Ilistoire Critique de Tlnauisition scripts, on the ground that thej were
d*Es|iagno," par J. A. Liorente, the work of Jews ; and at Salamanca,
(Pans, 1817, 1818, 4 torn., 8vo.,) and subsequently, he destroyed, in the
the ** History of the Reformation in same way, six thousand volumes more,
Spain,** by Thos. McCrie, £din- on the ground that they were books
bur^h, 1829, 8vo. of magic and sorcery. But in all this
• The Grand Inquisitors had always he proceeded, not by virtue of his In-
thown an instinctive desire to obtain quisitorial office, but, as Barrientos
jurisdiction over books, whether print- had done forty yean before, (see AHe,
Chap. I. THE PRESS CONTROLLED. 423
for, in whatever form Protestantism appeared, it came
with more or less of the spirit of resistance to all the
favourite projects of the Emperor ; and the people coun-
tenanced it^ because, except a few scattered individuals,
all true Spaniards regarded Luther and his followers
with hardly more favour than they did Mohammed or the
Jews.
Meantime the Supreme Council, as the highest body
in the Inquisition was called, proceeded in their work with
a firm and equal step. By successive decrees, between
1521 and 1535, it was ordained, that all persons who kept
in their possession books infected with the doctrines of
Luther, and even all who failed to denounce such persons,
should be excommunicated, and subjected to degrading
punishments. This gave the Inquisition a right to inquire
into the contents and character of whatever books were
already printed. Next, they arrogated to themselves the
power to determine what books might be sent to the press ;
claiming it gradually and with little noise, but effectually; *
and if, at first, without any direct grant of authority from
the Pope or from the King of Spain, still necessarily with
p. 327,) by direct royal authority. Cristdval de Villalon, printed at VaJ-
Until 1621, therefore, the press re- ladolid in 1641, 4to., the title-page
maincd in the hands of the Oidores, declares that it had been ** visto por
or judges of the higher courts, and los Senores Jnquisidores ; ** and in
other persons civil and ecclesiastical, Pero Mexia's ** Silva dc Varia Lec-
who, from the first appearance of cion," (Sevilla, 1643, folio,) though
printing in the country, and certainly the title gives the imperial licence for
for above twenty years after that printing, the colophon adds that of the
period, had granted, by special power Apostolical Inquisitor. There was no
from the sovereigns, whatever licences reason for either, except the anxiety
were deemed necessary for the print- of the author to be safe from an
ing and circulation of books. Llo- authority which rested on no law, but
rente. Hist, de Tlnquisition, Tom. I. which was already recognised as for-
pp. 281, 466. Mendez, Typogra- midable. Similar remarks may be
ph£a, pp. 61, 331, 376. made about the ** Thedrica de Vir-
* I notice in a few works printed tudes ** of Castilla, which was formally
before 1650, that the Inquisition, licensed, in 1636, by Alonso Man-
without formal authority, began quiet- rique, the Inquisitor-General, though
ly to take cognizance and control of it was dedicated to the EmjMjror,
books that were about to be published. and bears the imperial authonty to
Thus, in a curious treatise on Ex- print,
change, *' Tratado de Cambios," by
424 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Peeiod U.
the implied assent of both, and generally with means fur-
nished by one or the other. At last a sure expedient was
found, which left no doubt of the process to be used, and
very little as to the results that would follow.
In 1539 Charles the Fifth obtained a Papal bull au-
thorizing him to procure from the University of Louvaiu,
in Flanders, where the Lutheran controversy would natu-
rally be better understood than in Spain, a list of books
dangerous to be introduced into his dominions. It was
printed in 1546, and was the first "Index Expurgatorius "
published in Spain, and the second in the world. Subse-
quently it was submitted by the Emperor to the Supreme
Council of the Inquisition, under whose authority addi-
tions were made to it ; afier which it -was promulgated
anew in 1550, thus consummating the Inquisitorial juris-
diction over this great lever of modern progress and
civilization — a jurisdiction, it should be noted, which was
confirmed and enforced by the most tremendous of all
human penalties, when, in 1558, Philip the Second or-
dained the punishments of confiscation and death against
any person who should sell, buy, or keep in his possession
any book prohibited by the Index Expurgatorius of the
Inquisition. *
*^ Peignot, Essai sur la Liberty permitted to be sold or read in the
<rEcrire, Paris, 1832, 8vo., pp.55, colonies. (Llorente, Tom. I. p. 467.)
61. Baillet, Ju^cmcns dcs Savans, But thus far the Inquisition, in rela-
Anisterdam, 1725, 12iiio., Tom. II. tion to the Index Expur^torius, con-
Partie I. p. 43. Father Paul Sarpi^s suited the civil autnonties, or was
remarkable account of the origin of specially authorized by them to act.
the In(|uisition, and of the Index Ex- In 1640 this ceremony was no longer
purgatorius of Venice, which was the observed, and the Index was printed
first ever printed, Opere, Ilelmstadt, by the Inquisition alone, without any
1763, 4to., Tom. IV. ^)p. 1-67. commission from the civil goveniment
Llorente, Hist, de T Inquisition, Tom. From the time when the danger of
I. pp. 459-464, 470. Vogt, Catalo- the heresy of Luther became consi-
gns Libronmi Rariorum, Uamburgi, derable, no books arriving from Get-
1763, 8vo., pp. 367-369. So much man^ and France were permitted to
for Europe. Abroad it was worse. be circulated in Spain, except by spe-
Froni 1550, a certificate was obliged cial licence. Bisbe y Vidal, Tratado
to accomfNiny every book, setting forth de Comedias, Barcelona, 1618, 12mo.,
that it was not a prohibited book, f. 55.
vrithout which certihcatc no book was
Chap. I. POWER OF THE INQUISITION. 425
The contest with Protestantism in Spain, under such
auspices, was short. It began in earnest and in blood
about 1559, and was substantially ended in 1570. At
one period the new doctrine had made some progress in
the monasteries and among the clergy; and though it
never became formidable from the numbers it enlisted, yet
many of those who joined its standard were distinguished
by their learning, their rank, or their general intelligence.
But the higher and more shining the mark, the more it
attracted notice and the more surely it was reached. The
Inquisition had already existed seventy years, and was at
the height of its power and favour. Cardinal Ximenes,
one of the boldest and most far-sighted statesmen, and one
of the sternest bigots the world ever saw, had for a long
period united in his own person the office of Civil Ad-
ministrator of Spain with that of Grand Inquisitor, and
had used the extraordinary powers such a position gave
him to confirm the Inquisition at home and to spread it
over the newly discovered continent of America. ® His
• Cardinal Ximenes was really equal the offer, but furnished him with re-
to tlie |)o.sition these extraordinary of- sources that made its acceptance un-
fices gave him, and exercised his great necessary. And again, in 1517, when
authority with sagacity and zeal, and Charles V., young and not without
with a confidence in the resources of generous impulses, received, on the
his own genius that seemed to double same just condition, from the same
his power. It should, however, never oppressed Christians, a still larger
be forgotten, that, hut for him^ the In- offer of money to defray his expenses
quisition, instead of being enlarged, in taking possession of his kingdom,
as it was, twenty years after its estab- and when he had obtained assurances
lishment, would have been constrained of the reasonableness of grranting their
within comparatively narrow limits, reoucst from the principal universities
and probably soon ovcrtlirown. For, and men of learning in Spain and in
in 15r2, when the emlmrrassments of Flanders, Cardinal Ximenes inter-
the public treasury inclined Ferdinand posed anew his great influence, and —
to accept from the jHirsecuted new not without some sujipression of tlie
converts a large sum of money, truth — prevented a second time the
which he needed to carry on his war acceptance of the offer. He, too, it
against Navarre, — a gift which they was, who arranged the jurisdiction of
offered on the single and most the tribunals of the Inquisition in the
righteous condition, that witnesses different provinces, settling them on
cited before the Inquisition should be dee[)er and more solid foundations ;
examincdpwW/c/v, — Cardinal Ximenes and, finally, it was this master-spirit
not only used his influence with the of his time who first carried the In-
king to prevent him from accepting quisition beyond the limits of Spain,
426 HISTORY OP SPANISH UTERATUBE. Phod IL
successor was Cardinal Adrien, the favoured preceptor of
Charles the Fifth, who filled nearly two years the places
of Grand Inquisitor and of Pope ; so that, for a season,
the highest ecclesiastical authority was made to minister
to the power of the Inquisition in Spain, as the highest
political authority had done before. ' And now, after an
interval of twenty years, had come Philip the Second,
wary, inflexible, unscrupulous, at the head of an empire
on which, it was boasted, the sun never set, consecrating
all his own great energies and all the resources of his vast
dominions to the paramount object of extirpating every
form of heresy from the countries under his control, and
consolidating the whole into one grand religious empire.
Still the Inquisition, regarded as the chief outward
means of driving the Lutheran doctrines from Spain,
might have failed to achieve its work, if the people, as well
as the government, had not been its earnest allies. But
on all such subjects the current in Spain had, from the
first, taken only one direction. Spaniards had contended
against misbelief with so implacable a hatred, for centuries,
that the spirit of that old contest had become one of the
elements of their national existence; and now, having
expelled the Jews and reduced the Moors to submission,
they turned themselves, with the same fervent zeal, to pu-
rify their soil from what they trusted would prove the last
trace of heretical pollution. To achieve this great object,
Pope Paul the Fourth, in 1558, — the same year in which
Philip the Second had decreed the most odious and awful
penalties of the civil government in aid of the Inquisition,
— granted a brief, by which all the preceding dispositions
of the Church against heretics were confirmed, and the
establishing it in Oran, which was his yet, before he wielded the power of
rjersonal conquest ; and in the Cana- the Inquisition, he opposed its estab-
ries, and Cuba, where he made pro- lishment. Llorentc, Uist., Chap. X ,
vident arrangements, by virtue of Art. 5 and 7.
which it was subsequently extended ^ Llorcnte, Tom. I. p. 419.
through all Spanish America. And
Chap. J. LEARNED AND RELIGIOUS MEN PERSECUTED. 427
tribunals of the Inquisition were authorized and required
to proceed against all persons supposed to be infected with
the new belief, even though such persons might be bishops,
archbishops, or cardinals, dukes, princes, kings, or em-
perors;— a power which, taken in all its relations, was
more formidable to the progress of intellectual improve-
ment than had ever before been granted to any body of
men, civil or ecclesiastical. *
The portentous authority thus given was at once freely
exercised. The first public auto da fi of Protestants was
held at Valladolid in 1559, and others followed, both
there and elsewhere. • The royal family was occasionally
present ; several persons of rank suffered ; and a general
popular favour evidently followed the horrors that were
perpetrated. The number of victims was not large when
compared with earlier periods, seldom exceeding twenty
burned at one time, and fifty or sixty subjected to cruel
and degrading punishments ; but many of those who suf-
fered were, as the nature of the crimes alleged against
them implied, among the leading and active minds of their
age. Men of learning were particularly obnoxious to sus-
picion, since the cause of Protestantism appealed directly
to learning for its support. Sanchez, the best classical
scholar of his tinie in Spain, Luis de Leon, the best
Hebrew critic and the most eloquent preacher, and Mari-
ana, the chief Spanish historian, with other men of letters
of inferior name and consideration, were summoned before
the tribunals of the Inquisition, in order that they might
at least avow their submission to its authority, even if they
were not subjected to its censures.
Nor were persons of the holiest lives and the most ascetic
tempers beyond the reach of its mistrust, if they but showed
a tendency to inquiry. Thus, Juan de Avila, known un-
der the title of the Apostle of Andahisia, and Luis de
* Llorcnte, Tom. II. pp. 188, ^ Ibid., Tom. II.. Chap. XX.,
184. XXL, and XXIV.
4:^ msTOUJ or spaxish uteslattme^ pmoo il
Granada, the devout mystic, whh Teresa de Jesus and
Juan de la Cruz, both of whom were afterwards canonized
by the Church of Rome, all passed through its ceDs, or in
STiiue shape underwent its discipline. So did some of the
ecclesiastics most distinguished by their rank and autho-
rity'. Carranza, Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of
Spain, after being torment^ eighteen years by its perse-
cutions, died, at last, in craven submission to its power;
and Cazella, who had been a ^vourite chaplain of the Em-
peror Charles the Fifth, perished in its fires. Even the
faith of the principal personages of the kingdom was in-
quired into, and at different times, proceedings, sufficient,
at least, to assert its authority, were instituted in relation
to Don John of Austria, and the formidable Duke of
Alva;*'' proceedings, however, which must be regarded
rather as matters of show than of substance, since the whole
institution was connected with the government from the
first, and became more and more subservient to the policy
of the successive masters of the state, as its tendencies were
developed in successive reigns.
The great purpose, therefore, of the government and the
Inquisition may be considered as having been fiilfilled in
the latter part of the reign of Philip the Second, — &rther,
at least, than such a purpose was ever fiilfilled in any other
Christian country, and farther than it is ever likely to be
again fulfilled elsewhere. The Spanish nation was then
become, iu the sense they themselves gave to the term, the
most thoroughly religious nation in Europe ; a fact sig-
nally illustrated in their own eyes a few years afi;erward,
when it was deemed desirable to expel the remains of the
Moorish race from the Peninsula, and six hundred thou-
sand peaceable and industrious subjects were, from religious
bigotry, cruelly driven out of their native country, amidst
the devout exultation of the whole kingdom, — Cervantes,
"» Llorontc, Tom. II., Chap. XIX., XXV., and other pUccs.
Chap. I. DEGRADATION OF LOYALTY. 429
Lope de Vega, and others of the principal men of genius
then alive, joining in the general jubilee. ^^ From this
time the voice of religious dissent can hardly be said to
have been heard in the land ; and the Inquisition, therefore,
down to its overthrow in 1808, was chiefly a political en-
gine, much occupied about cases connected with the policy
of the state, though under the pretence that they were
cases of heresy or unbelief The great body of the Spanish
people rejoiced alike in their loyalty and their orthodoxy ;
and the iTew who differed in faith from the mass of their
fellow-subjects were either held in silence by their fears, or
else sunk away from the surface of society the moment
their disaffection was suspected.
The results of such extraordinary traits in the national
character could not fail to be impressed upon the literature
of any country, and particularly upon a literature which,
like that of Spain, had always been strongly marked by
the popular temperament and peculiarities. But the pe-
riod was not one in which such traits could be produced
with poetical effect. The ancient loyalty, which had once
been so generous an element in the Spanish character and
cultivation, was now infected with the ambition of universal
empire, and was lavished upon princes and nobles who,
like the later Philips and their ministers, were unworthy
of its homage ; so that in the Spanish historians and epic
poets of this period, and even in more popular writers, like
Quevedo and Calderon, we find a vainglorious admiration
of their country, and a poor flattery of royalty and rank,
that remind us of the old Castilian pride and deference
only by showing how both had lost their dignity. And so
it is with the ancient religious feeling that was so nearly
akin to this loyalty. The Christian spirit, which gave an
air of duty to the wildest forms of adventure throughout
the country, during its long contest with the power of mis-
" See note to Chap. XL. of this Part.
430 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pkiiod 11.
belief, was now fallen away into a low and anxious
bigotry, fierce and intolerant towards everything that
differed from its own sharply defined faith, and yet so
pervading and so popular, that the romances and tales
of the time are fidl of it, and the national theatre, in
more than one form, becomes its strange and grotesque
monument
Of course the body of Spanish poetry and eloquent prose
produced during this interval — the earlier part of which
was the period of the greatest glory Spain ever enjoyed —
was injuriously affected by so diseased a condition of the
national character. That generous and manly spirit which
is the breath of intellectual life to any people was restrained
and stifled. Some departments of literature, such as fo-
rensic eloquence and eloquence of the pulpit, satirical
poetry, and elegant didactic prose, hardly appeared at all ;
others, like epic poetry, were strangely perverted and mis-
directed; while yet others, like the drama, the ballads,
and the lighter forms of lyrical verse, seemed to grow exu-
berant and lawless, from the very restraints imposed on the
rest; restraints which, in fact, forced poetical genius into
channels where it would otherwise have flowed much more
scantily and with much less luxuriant results.
The books that were published during the whole period
on which we are now entering, and indeed for a century
later, bore everywhere marks of the subjection to which
the press and those who wrote for it were alike reduced.
From the abject title-pages and dedications of the authors
themselves, through the crowd of certificates collected
firom their firiends to establish the orthodoxy of works that
were oft^en as little connected with religion as fairy tales,
down to the colophon, supplicating pardon for any uncon-
scious neglect of the authority of the Church or any too
firee use of classical mythology, we are continually op-
pressed with painfiil proofs, not only how completely the
human mind was enslaved in Spain, but how grievously
Chap. I. POPULAR FEELING. 431
it had become cramped and crippled by the chains it had
so long worn.
But we shall be greatly in error, if, as we notice these
deep marks and strange peculiarities in Spanish literature,
we suppose they were produced by the direct action either
of the Inquisition or of the civil government of the
country, compressing, as if with a physical power, the
whole circle of society. This would have been impossible.
No nation would have submitted to it ; much less so high-
spirited and chivalrous a nation as the Spanish in the reign
of Charles the Fifth and in the greater part of that of
Philip the Second. This dark work was done earlier.
Its foundations were laid deep and sure in the old Cas-
tilian character. It was the result of the excess and mis-
direction of that very Christian zeal which fought so fer-
vently and gloriously against the intrusion of Mohamme-
danism into Europe, and of that military loyalty which
sustained the Spanish princes so faithfully tiirough the
whole of that terrible contest ; — both of them high and
ennobling principles, which in Spain were more wrought
into the popular character than they ever were in any
other country.
Spanish submission to an unworthy despotism, and
Spanish bigotry, were, therefore, not the results of the
Inquisition and the modem appliances of a corrupting
monarchy; but the Inquisition and the despotism were
rather the results of a misdirection of the old religious
faith and loyalty. The civilization that recognized such
elements presented, no doubt, much that was brilliant,
picturesque, and ennobling; but it was not without its
darker side ; for it failed to excite and cherish many of
the most elevating qualities of our common nature, — those
qualities which are produced in domestic life, and result
in the cultivation of the arts of peace.
As we proceed, therefore, we shall find, in the full
development of the Spanish character and literature,
432 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period 11.
seeming contradictions, which can be reconciled only by
looking back to the foundations on which they both rest.
We shall find the Inquisition at the height of its power,
and a free and immoral drama at the height of its popu-
larity,— Philip the Second and his two immediate suc-
cessors governing the country with the severest and most
jealous despotism, while Quevedo was writing his witty
and dangerous satires, and Cervantes his genial and wise
Don Quixote. But the more carefully we consider such
a state of things, the more we shall see that these are
moral contradictions which draw after them grave moral
mischiefs. The Spanish nation, and the men of genius
who illustrated its best days, might be light-hearted because
they did not perceive the limits within which they were
confined, or did not, for a time, feel the restraints that
were imposed upon them. What they gave up might be
given up with cheerful hearts, and not with a sense of
discouragement and degradation; it might be done in the
spirit of loyalty and with the fervour of religious zeal ;
but it is not at all the less true that the hard limits were
there, and that great sacrifices of the best elements of the
national character must follow.
Of this time gave abundant proof Only a little more
than a century elapsed before tlie government that had
threatened the world with a universal empire was hardly
able to repel invasion from abroad, or maintain the alle-
giance of its own subjects at home. Life — the vigorous,
poetical life which had been kindled through the country
in its ages of trial and adversity — was evidently passing
out of the whole Spanish character. As a people, they
sunk away from being a first-rate power in Europe, till
they became one of altogether inferior importance and
consideration ; and then, drawing back haughtily behind
their mountains, rejected all equal intercourse with the
rest of the world, in a spirit almost as exclusive and in-
tolerant as that in which they had formerly refused inter-
Chap. I. EFFECT ON THE COUNTRY. 433
course with their Arab conquerors. The crude and gross
wealth poured in from their American possessions sus-
tained, indeed, for yet another century the forms of a
miserable political existence in their government; but the
earnest faith, the loyalty, the dignity of the Spanish people
were gone ; and little remained in their place, but a weak
subserviency to the unworthy masters of the state, and a
low, timid bigotry in whatever related to religion. The
old enthusiasm, rarely directed by wisdom from the first,
and often misdirected afterwards, faded away; and the
poetry of the country, which had always depended more
on the state of the popular feeling than any other poetry
of modern times, faded and failed with it.
VOL. I. 2 ¥
434 mSTOBY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. PebiodII-
CHAPTER 11.
I^w State of Lettbbs about the Year 1500. — Ikfluencb op Italy.—
Conquests op Charles the Fipth. — Boscak. — Natagiero. — Italiam
Forms introduced into Spaitish Poetry.— Garcilasso i>s la Vega.—
II is Life, Works, and Permaitent Influence.
There was, no doubt, a great decay of letters and good
taste in Spain during the latter part of the troubled reign
of John the Second and the whole of the still more dis-
turbed period when his successor, Henry the Fourth, sat
upon the throne of Castile. The Proven9al school had
passed away, and its imitations in Castilian had not been
successful. The earlier Italian influences, less fertile in
good results than might have been anticipated, were almost
forgotten. The fashion of the court, therefore, in the
absence of better or more powerful impulses, ruled over
everything, and a monotonous poetry, full of conceits and
artifices, was all that its own artificial character could
produce.
Nor was there much improvement in the time of Fer-
dinand and Isabella. The introduction of the art of
printing and the revival of a regard for classical antiquity
were, indeed, foundations for a national culture such as
had not before been laid ; while, at the same time, the
establishment of the University of Alcala, by Cardinal
Ximenes, and the revival of that of Salamanca, with the
labours of such scholars as Peter Martyr, Lucio Marineo,
Antonio de Lebrija, and Arias Barbosa, could hardly
fail to exercise a favourable influence on the intellectual
Chap. II. IMPULSE PROM ITALY. 435
cultivation, if not on the poetical taste, of the country.
Occasionally, as we have seen, proofs of the old energy
appeared in such works as the "Celestina" and the
" Coplas " of Manrique. The old ballads, too, and the other
forms of the early popular poetry, no doubt maintained
their place in the hearts of the common people. But it
is not to be concealed, that, among the cultivated classes,
— as the Cancioneros and nearly everything else that
came from the press in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella
suflBiciently prove, — taste was at a very low ebb.
The first impulse to a better state of things came from
Italy. In some respects this was unhappy ; but there can
be little doubt that it was inevitable. The intercourse
between Italy and Spain, shortly before the accession
of Charles the Fifth, had been much increased, chiefly by
the conquest of Naples, but partly by other causes.
Regular interchanges of ambassadors took place between
the See of Rome and the court of Ferdinand and Isabella,
and one of them was a son of the poetical Marquis of
Santillana, and another the father of Garcilasso de la
Vega. The universities of Italy continued to receive
large numbers of Spanish students, who still regarded the
means of a generous education at home as inadequate to
their wants ; and Spanish poets, among whom were Juan
de la Enzina and Torres Naharro, resorted there freely,
and lived with consideration at Rome and Naples. In
the latter city, the old Spanish family of Davalos — one
of whom was the husband of that Vittoria Colonna whose
poetry ranks with the Italian classics — were among the
chief patrons of letters <luring their time, and kept alive
an intellectual union between the two countries by which
they were equally claimed and on which they reflected
equal honour. ^
* Ginguend, Hist. Lit. d'ltalie, Don Hernando Ddvalos, Marques do
Paris, 1812, 8vo., Tom. IV. pp. 87- Pescara, on Anvers, Juan Stcelsio,
90; and more fully in Historia do 1658, 12mo. ; — a curious book, which
2p 2
436 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATURE. Period II.
But besides these individual instances of connexion
between Spain and Italy, the gravest events were now
drawing together the greater interests of the mass of the
people in both countries, and fastening their thoughts
intently upon each other. Naples, after the treaty of
1503 and the brilliant successes of Gonzalvo de Cdrdova,
was delivered over to Spain, bound hand and foot, and
was governed, above a century, by a succession of Spanish
viceroys, each accompanied by a train of Spanish officers
and dependents, among whom, not unfrequently, we find
men of letters and poets, like the Argensolas and Quevedo.
When Charles the Fifth ascended the throne, in 1516, it
was apparent that he would at once make an effort to
extend his political and military power throughout Italy.
The tempting plains of Lombardy became, therefore, the
theatre of the first great European contest entered into by
Spain — a grand arena, in which, as it proved, much of the
fate of Europe, as well as of Italy, was to be decided by
two young and passionate monarchs, burning with personal
rivalship and the love of glory. In this way, from 1522,
when the first war broke out between Francis the First
and Charles the Fifth, to the disastrous battle of Pavia,
in 1525, we may consider the whole disposable force of
Spain to have been transferred to Italy, and subjected, in
a remarkable degree, to the influences of Italian culture
and civilization.
Nor did the connexion between the two countries stop
here. In 1527 Rome itself was, for a moment, added to
the conquests of the Spanish crown, and the Pope became
the prisoner of the Emperor, as the King of France had
been before. In 1530 Charles appeared again in Italy,
surrounded by a splendid Spanish court, and at the head
of a military power that left no doubt of his mastery. He
seems, I think, to have been written Bib. Nueva de Escritores Anigo-
beforc 1546, and was the work of neses, Zaragofisa, Tom. I. 4to., 1798|
Pedro Valles, an Aragonese. Latassa, p. 289.
Chap. II. BRILLIANT CULTURE OP ITALY. 437
at once crushed the liberties of Florence and restored the
aristocracy of the Medici. He made peace with the out-
raged Pope. By his wisdom and moderation he confirmed
his friendly relations with the other states of Italy ; and,
as the seal of all his successes, he caused himself, in the
presence of whatever was most august in both countries,
to be solemnly crowned King of Lombardy and Emperor
of the Romans, by the same Pope whom, three years
before, he had counted among his captives. * Such a state
of things necessarily implied a most intimate connexion
between Spain and Italy ; and this connexion was main-
tained down to the abdication of the Emperor, in 1555,
and, indeed, long afterwards. *
On the other hand, it should be remembered that Italy
was now in a condition to act with all the power of a
superior civilization and refinement on this large body
of Spaniards, many of them the leading spirits of the
Empire, who, by successive wars and negotiations, were
thus kept for half a century travelling in Italy, and living
at Genoa, Milan, and Venice, Florence, Rome, and
Naples. The age of Lorenzo de' Medici was already
past, leaving behind it the memorials of Poliziano,
Boiardo, Pulci, and Leonardo da Vinci. The age of Leo
the Tenth and Clement the Seventh was contemporary,
and had brought with it the yet more prevalent influences
« The coronation of Charles V. at in happyhour, let thu child of the Church,
yj , ,., ^ g.^t ,1 . M . Uer obedient, dutifbl gon,
Bologna, like most of the other Stnking come forth to receivi., *lth her holiert rites,
events in Spanish history, was brought The crown which hu valour hae won.
upon the Spanish theatre. It is eir- To which the Emperor is made to
cumstantially represented in " Los reply, —
dos Monarcas de Europa," by Bar- And in happy hour, let Am ahow hit power,
tolomf de Salazar y Luna (fcome- wlS-ntrfe^lCTS^-kiU^i ...a
dias R<$cogidas, Madrid, 1665, 4to., jnat
Tomo XXII.) But the play is OuitO Surrender, rejoicing, hia right
too extravagant in its claims, botn as But such things were common in
respects the Emperor's humiliation Spain, and tended to conciliate the
and the Pope's gloir, considering favour of the clergy for the theatre,
that Clement VII. had so lately been " P. de Sandoval, Hist del Einpe-
the Emperor's prisoner. As the rador Cdrlos V., Amberes, 1681,
ceremony is a1x)ut to begin, a pro- folio, Lib. XII. to XVIIL, but es-
cession of priests enters, chanting, — pecially the last book.
43S HISTORY OF SPAXISH UTERATUBE. Pbiod II.
of Michel Angelo, Rafiaelle, and Titian, of MachiaTelli,
of Berni, of Ariosto, of Bembo, and of Sannazaro; the
last of whoin, it is not unworthy of notice, was himself a
descendant of one of those very Spanish families whom
the political interests of the two countries had originally
carried to Naples. It was, therefore, when Borne and
Naples, Florence and the North of Italy, were in the
maturity of their glory, as seats of the arts and letters,
that no small part of what was most noble and cultivated
in Spain was led across the Alps and awakened to a per-
ception of such forms and creations of genius and taste as
had not been attempted beyond the Pyrenees, and such as
could not fail to produce their full effect on minds excitod,
like those of the whole Spanish people, by the glorious re-
sults of their long struggle against the Moors, and their
present magnificent successes both in America and Europe.
Visible traces of the influence of Italian literature
might therefore, from general causes, soon be looked for
in the Spanish ; but an accident brings them to our notice
somewhat earlier, perhaps, than might have been antici-
pated. Juan Boscan, a patrician of Barcelona, was, as he
himself tells us, devoted to poetry from his youth. The
city to which he belonged had early been distinguished
for the number of Proven9al and Catalonian Troubadours
who had flourished in it. But Boscan preferred to write
in the Castilian ; and his defection from his native dialect
became, in some sort, the seal of its fate. His earlier
efforts, a few of which remain to us, are in the style of the
preceding century ; but at last, when, from the most dis-
tinct accounts we can obtain, he was about twenty-five
years old, and when, we are assured, he had been received
at court, had served in the army, and had visited foreign
countries, he was induced, by an accident, to attempt the
l)roper Italian measures, as they were then practised. *
* Tho Dictionary of Torres y Amat of Boscan ; and in Scdano, " Pamaso
iH)iituin8 a short, but sufficient, life Espanol," (Madrid, 1768-78, 12ino.,
Chap. II. JUAN BOSCAN. 439
He became at that period acquainted with Andrea
Navagiero, who was sent, in 1524, as ambassador from
Venice to Charles the Fifth, and returned home in 1528,
carrying with him a dry, but valuable, itinerary, which
was afterwards published as an account of his travels.
He was a man of learning and a poet, an orator and a
statesman of no mean name. * While in Spain, he spent,
during the year 1526, six months at Granada/ " Being
with Navagiero there one day," says Boscan, " and dis-
coursing with him about matters of wit and letters, and
especially about the different forms they take in different
languages, he asked me why I did not make an experiment
in Castilian of sonnets and the other forms of verse used
by good Italian authors ; and not only spoke to me of it
thus slightly, but urged me much to do it A few days
afterwards I set off for my own home; and whether it
were the length and solitariness of the way I know not,
but, turning over different things in my mind, I came
often back upon what Navagiero had said to me. And
thus I began to try this kind of verse. At first I found
it somewhat difficult; for it is of a very artful con-
struction, and in many particulars different from ours.
But afterwards it seemed to me — perhaps from the love
we naturally bear to what is our own — that I began to
succeed very well ; and so I went on, little by little, with
increasing zeal." ^
This account is interesting and important. It is rare
that any one individual has been able to exercise such an
influence on the literature of a foreign nation as was exer-
cised by Navagiero. It is still more rare, — indeed, per-
Tom. VIII. p. xxxi.,) there is one 12mo., ff. 18-30. Bayle gives an
somewhat more ample. article on Navapero's life, with dis-
* Tiraboschi, Storia della Lett criminating praise of his scholarship
Italiana, Roma, 1784, 4to., Tom. and genius.
VIL, Parte I. p. 242 ; Parte II. p. ' Letter to the Duouesa de Soma,
294 ; and Parte III. pp. 228-230. prefixed to the Second Book of Bos-
• Andrea Navagiero, II Viaggio can's Poems,
fatto in^ Spagna, etc., Vincgia, 1563,
440 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period II.
haps, wholly unknown, in any case where it may have
occurred, — that the precise mode in which it was exercised
can be so exactly explained. Boscan tells us not only
what he did, but what led him to do it, and how he began
his work, which we find him, from this moment, following
up, till he devoted himself to it entirely, and wrote in all
the favourite Italian measures and forms with boldness
and success. He was resisted, but he tells us Garcilasso
sustained him ; and from this small beginning in a slight
conversation with Navagiero, at Granada, a new school
was introduced into Spanish poetry, which has prevailed in
it ever since, and materially influenced its character and
destinies.
Boscan felt his success. This we can see from his own
account of it. But he made little effort to press his exam-
ple on others ; for he was a man of fortune and consider-
ation, who led a happy life with his family at Barcelona,
and hardly cared for popular reputation or influence.
Occasionally, we are told, he was seen at court ; and at
one period he had some charge of the education of that
Duke of Alva whose name, in the next reign, became so
formidable. But, in general, he preferred a life of retire-
ment to any of the prizes offered to ambition.
Letters were his amusement. " In what I have written,**
he says, " the mere writing was never my object ; but
rather to solace such faculties as I have, and to go less
heavily through certain heavy passages of my life."' The
range of his studies, however, was wider than this remark
might seem to imply, and wider than was common in
Spain at the beginning of the sixteenth century, even
among scholars. He translated a tragedy of Euripides,
which was licensed to be published, but which never
appeared in print, and is, no doubt, lost. * On the basis of
" Letter to the Duqucsa de Soma. can's widow, by Charles V., Feb. 18,
^ It is mentioned in the permission 1543, and prefixed to the very mrv
to publish his works granted to Bos- and important edition of his works
Chap. II.
JUAN BOSCAN.
441
the " Hero and Leander " of Musseus, and following the
example of Bernardo Tasso, he wrote, in the versi scioltij
or blank verse, of the Italians, a tale nearly three thousand
lines long, which may still be read with pleasure, for the
gentle and sweet passages it contains. ^° And, in general,
throughout his poetry, he shows that he was familiar with
the Greek and Latin classics, and imbued, to a consider-
able degree, with the spirit of antiquity.
His longest work was a translation of the Italian "^Cour-
tier ** of Balthazar Castiglione, — the best book on good-
breeding, as Dr. Johnson thought two centuries afterwards,
that was ever written. " Boscan, however, frankly says,
that he did not like the business of translating, which he
regarded as " a low vanity, beseeming men of little know-
ledge ;" but Garcilasso de la Vega had sent him a copy of
and those of his friend Garcilasso,
published for the first time in the
same year, at Barcelona, by Amoros ;
a small 4to., containincf 237 leaves.
This edition is said to have been at
once counterfeited, and was certainly
reprinted not less than six times as
early as 1546, three years after its
first appearance. In 1553, Alonso
de Ulloa, a Spaniard, at Venice, who
published many Spanish books there
with prefaces of some value by him-
self, printed it in 18mo., very neatly,
and added a few poems to those found
in the first edition; i)articularly one,
at the beginning of the volume,
entitled ** Conversion de Boscan,"
religious in its subject, and national
in its form. At the end Ulloa puts
a few pages of verse, attacking the
Italian forms adopted by Boscan ;
describing what he thus adds as by
** an uncertain author." They are,
however, the work of Castillejo, and
arc found in Obras de Castillejo,
Anvers, 1598, 18mo., f. 110, etc.
'** Gongora, in the first two of his
Burlesque Ballads, has made himself
merry (Obras, Madrid, 1654, 4to., f.
104, etc.) at the expense of Boscan 's
** L(?andro." But lie has taken the
same freedom with bettor things.
The Leandro was, I think, the first
attempt to introduce blank verse,
which was thus brought by Boscan
into the iK>etry of Si)ain in 1 543, as it
was a little later into English, from
the versi sciolti of the Italians, by
Surrey, who called it ** a strange
meter." Acuiia soon followed m
Castilian with other examples of it ;
but the first really good Spanish blank
verse known to me is to be found in
the eclogue of ** Tirsi " by Francisco
de Figueroa, written about half a
century after the time of Boscan, and
not printed till 1626. The transla-
tion of a part of the Odyssey by
Perez, in 1553, and the *^ Sugrada
Eratos " of Alonso Carillo Laso de la
Vega, which is a paraphrase of the
Pswms, printed at Naples in 1657,
folio, afiord much longer specimens
that arc generally respectable. But
the full rhyme is so easy in Spanish,
and the asonante is so much easier,
that blank verse, though it has been
used from the middle of the sixteenth
century, has been little cultivatetl or
favoured.
" Bosweirs Life of Johnson, ed.
Croker, London, 1831, 8 vo., Tom. II.
p. 501.
442 mSTOKT W SPANISH UTEKATTKE. PnaoolL
the original soon after it was poblidied, and he made diis
8[>anish version of it, he tells us, ^ at his frieiMTs earnest
request" '* Either or both of them may hare known its
author in the same way Boscan knew Navagiero; for
Castiglione was sent as ambassador of Clement the Seventh
to 8{iain, in 1525, and remained there tiU his death, which
happened at Toledo, in 1529.
But however this may have been, the Italian original
of the Courtier was prepared for the press in Spain, and
first printed in 1528;" soon after which Boscan mnst
have made his translation, though it did not appear till
1549. As a version, it does not profess to be very strict,
for Boscan says be thought an exact fidelity to be unworthy
of him ; ** bu^ as a Spanish composition, it is uncommonly
flowing and easy. Garcilasso declares that it reads like
an original work ; '^ and Morales, the historian, says,
" The Courtier discourseth not better in Italy, where he
yfiiH born, than here in Spain, where Boscan hath exhi-
bited him so admirably well." *• Perhaps nothing in Cas-
tilian prose, of an earlier date, is written in so classical and
finiHhcd a style as this translation by Boscan.
With such occupations Boscan filled up his unostenta-
tious life. He published nothing, or very little, and we
have no single date to record concerning him. But, from
the few facts that can be collected, it seems probable he
was born before 1500, and we know that he died as early
'* T\w flrHt cMlition of it is in black sounds well in the original languagre,
lottt*r, withdut the numo of nlaco or and ill in our own, I shall not iail to
iirintor, 4lo., 140 Iouvch, and is dated change it or to suppress it." £d.
541). Another edition appeared as 1649, f. 2.
early iu4 1553; Kup|K)M?d Inr Antonio " "Every time I read it," says
to Imvo IxMMi the oldest, ift is on the Garcilasso in a letter to Dona Ger^-
Index of lG(i7, p. 245, for czpurga- nima Palova de Almogovar, prefixed
tion. to the first edition, ** it seems to me
'■ (Jin^:uen(S, Hist. Lit d'ltalio, as if it had never been written in any
Tom. Vll. pp. 544, 550. other language." This letter of Gar-
'^ *' I huve no mind," ho says in cilasso is very beautiful in point of
the PruloK«»i ** to be so strict in the style.
tnuiNlation of this l>ook^ as to confine ^ Morales, Discourse on the Cas-
uiyitelf to give it word for word. On tilian Language, Obras de Oliva,
tho contrary, if anything occura, which Madrid, 1787, 12mo., Tom. I. p. xli.
Chap. II. JUAN B08CAN. 443
as 1543, for in that year his works were published at Bar-
celona, by his widow, under a licence from the Emperor
Charles the Fifth, with a Preface, in which she says her
husband had partly prepared them for the press, because
he feared they would be printed from some of the many
imperfect copies that had gone into circulation without his
consent.
They are divided into four books. The first consists of
a small number of poems in what are called coplas Espafi-
olaSj or what he himself elsewhere terms " the Castilian
manner." These are his early eflTorts, made before his
acquaintance with Navagiero. They are villancicoSy can-
dones^ and coplas^ in the short national verses, and seem
as if they might have come out of the old Cancioneros, in
which, indeed, two of them are to be found. " Their
merit is not great ; but amidst their ingenious conceits,
there is sometimes a happiness and grace of expression
rarely granted to the poets of the same school in that or
the preceding century.
The second and third books, constituting by far the
larger part of the volume, are composed entirely of poems
in the Italian measure. They consist of ninety-three
sonnets and nine canzones ; the long poem on Hero and
Leander, in blank verse, already mentioned; an elegy
and two didactic epistles, in terza rima ; and a half-narra-
tive, half-allegorical poem, in one hundred and thirty-five
octave stanzas. It is not necessary to go beyond such a
mere enumeration of the contents of these two books, to
learn that, at least so far as their forms are concerned,
they have nothing to do with the elder national Castilian
poetry. The sonnets and the canzones especially are
obvious imitations of Petrarch, as we can see in the case
of the two beginning, " Gentil Sefiora mia," and ** Claros
y frescos rios," which are largely indebted to two of the
'^ Cancionero General, 1536, f. 163.
414 HlaTOET OF SPAyUB. LITEBATUKE. Puqd IL
mofit beautiful and best-known eeaizcfies of the lover of
Launu ^ In most of these poems, however, and amidst a
good deal of hardness of manner, a Spanish tone and
spirit are perceptible, which rescue them, in a great
degree, from the imputation of being copies. Boscan s
colours are here laid on with a bolder hand than those of
his Italian master, and there is an absence of that delicate
and exact finish, both in language and style, which, how-
ever charming in his models, would hardly be possible in
the most skilful Spanish imitations^
The elegy, which is merely entitled "Capitolo," has
more conceits and learning in it than become its subject,
and approaches nearer to Boscan 's first manner than any
of his later poems. It is addressed to his lady-love ; but,
notwithstanding its defects, it contains long passages of
tenderness and simple beauty that will always be read
with pleasure. Of the two epistles, the first is poor and
affected ; but that addressed to the old statesman, poet,
and soldier, Diego de Meudoza, is much in the tone and
manner of Horace, — acute, genial, and full of philosophy.
But the most agreeable and original of Boscan's works is
the last of them all, — " The Allegory." It opens with a
gorgeous description of the Court ^of Love, and with the
truly Spanish idea of a corresponding and opposing Court
of Jealousy ; but almost the whole of the rest consists of
an account of the embassy of two messengers from the
first of these courts to two ladies of Barcelona who had
refused to come beneath its empire, and to persuade whom
to submission a speech of the ambassador is given that fills
nearly half the poem, and ends it somewhat abruptly. No
doubt, the whole was intended as a compliment to ^e two
ladies, in which the story is of little consequence. But it
is a pleasing and airy trifle, in which its author has some-
*" IVtmrtti, Vitadi Madonna Laura, many conceits. Some of hiB sonnets,
V.mt. \) and 14. Uiit Boscan *8 imita- however, are free from this fiiult, and
litinn of thoni an* marriHl by a good are natural and tender.
Chap. II. JUAN BOSCAN. 445
times happily hit the tone of Ariosto, and at other times
reminds us of the Island of Love in the " Lusiad^" though
Boscan preceded Camoens by many years. Occasionally,
too, he has a moral delicacy, more refined than Petrarch's,
though perhaps suggested by that of the great Italian ;
such a delicacy as he shows in the following stanza, and two
or three preceding and following it, in which the ambassa-
dor of Love exhorts the two ladies of Barcelona to submit
to his authority, by urging on them the happiness of a
union founded in a genuine sympathy of tastes and
feeling : —
For is it not a happiness most pure,
That two fond hearts can thus together melt,
And each the other's sorrows all endure,
While still their joys as those of one are felt ;
Even causeless anger of support secure.
And pardons causeless in one spirit dealt ;
That so their loves, though fickle all, and strange.
May, in their thousand changes, still together change ? ^
Boscan might, probably, have done more for the litera-
ture of his country than he did. His poetical talents were
not, indeed, of the highest order ; but he perceived the
degradation into which Spanish poetry had fallen, and was
persuaded that the way to raise it again was to give it an
ideal character and classical forms such as it had not yet
known. But to accomplish this, he adopted a standard
not formed on the intimations of the national genius. He
took for his models foreign masters, who, though more
advanced than any he could find at home, were yet en-
titled to supremacy in no literature but their own, and could
never constitute a safe foundation whereon to build a great
and permanent school of Spanish poetry. Entire success,
therefore, was impossible to him. He was able to establish
in Spain the Italian eleven-syllable and iambic versifica-
i» Y no es ^uito Umbien aasi entenderot, T JanUM tin ruon emlwanecerot,
Que poday* aiepre entrambot eonfor- Y «in raion tamblcn laego anuuMaroa :
mi^ : Y que oa hagan, en fln, vneatroa amwea
Kntramboaen nn panto entrlateceroa, ^ualmente mudar de mil colorea ?
Y en otxo panto enUamboa alegraroa : Obraa de Boacan, Barcelona, 1549, AU>., t, clz.
446 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Pebiod 11.
tion; the sonnet and canzone^ as settled by Petrarch;
Dante's terza rima ; ^ and Boccaccio's and Ariosto's flow-
ing octaves ; — all in better taste than anything among the
poets of his time and country, and all of them important
additions to the forms of verse before known in Spain.
But he could go no farther. The original and essential
spirit of Italian poetry could no more be transplanted to
Castile or Catalonia than to Germany or England.
But whatever were his purposes and plans for the ad-
vancement of the literature of his country, Boscan lived
long enough to see them fulfilled, so far as they were ever
destined to be ; for he had a friend who co-operated with
him in all of them from the first, and who, with a happier
genius, easily surpassed him, and carried the best forms of
Italian verse to a height they never afterwards reached
in Spanish poetry. This friend was Garcilasso de la
Vega, who yet died so young that Boscan survived him
several years.
Garcilasso was descended from an ancient family in the
North of Spain, who traced back their ancestry to the age
of the Cid, and who, from century to century, had been
distinguished by holding some of the highest places in the
government of Castile." A poetical tradition says, that
one of his forefathers obtained the name of " Vega " or
Plain, and the motto of " Ave Maria " for his family
arms, from the circumstance that, during one of the sieges
of Granada, he slew outright, before the face of both ar-
^ Pedro Fernandez do Villcgas, Doria Juana de Aragon, the natural
Archdeacon of Burgos, who, in 1516, daughter of Ferdinand the Catholic,
published a translation of the ** In- a lady of much literary cultivation,
femo " of Dante, (see ante^ p. 373, who died before it was completed,
n.,) says, in his Introduction, that he '^ The best life of Garcilasso de la
at first endeavoured to make his ver- Vega is to be found in the edition of
sion in terza rima^ ** which manner his works, Sc villa, 1580, 8vo., by
of writing," he goes on, ** is not in Fernando de Herrera, the poet A
use among us, and appeared to me so play, comprising no small part of
ungraceful, that I gave it up." This nis adventures, was produced in tho
was about fifteen years before Boscan Madrid theatre, by Don Gregorio
wrote in it with success : perhaps a Romero y LarraSaga, in 1840.
little earlier, for it is aeaicated to
Chap. II. OARCILA8SO DB LA TEGA. 447
mies, a Moorish champion who had publicly insulted the
Christian faith by dragging a banner inscribed with " Ave
Maria" at his horse's heels, — a tradition faithfully pre-
served in a fine old ballad, and forming the catastrophe of
one of Lope de Vega's plays. " But whether all this be
true or not, Garcilasso bore a name honoured on both sides
of his house ; for his mother was daughter and sole heir of
Fernan Perez de Guzman, and his father was the ambas-
sador of the Catholic sovereigns at Rome in relation to
the troublesome afiairs of Naples.
He was born at Toledo in 1503, and was educated
there till he reached an age suitable for bearing arms.
Then, as became his rank and pretensions, he was sent to
court, and received his place in the armies that were
already gaining so much glory for their country. When
he was about twenty-seven years old, he married an Ara-
gonese lady attached to the court of Eleanor, widow of the
king of Portugal, who, in 1530, was in Spain on her way
to become queen of France. From this time he seems to
have been constantly in the wars which the Emperor was
carrying on in all directions, and to have been much trusted
by him, though his elder brother, Pedro, had been impli-
cated in the troubles of the ComunidadeSy and compelled
to escape from Spain as an outlawed rebel. **
In 1532 Garcilasso was at Vienna, and among those
who distinguished themselves in the defeat of the Turkish
expedition of Soliman, which that great sultan pushed to
** Tho story and the ballad are Lord Holland (Life of Lope, London,
found in Hita, ** Guerras Civiles de 1817, 8vo., Vol. I. p. 2) gives good
Granada," (Barcelona, 1737, 12mo., reasons against the authenticity of
Tom. I. cap. 17,) and in Lope de the story, which WifFen (Works of
Vega's "Cercode Santa F<j," (Come- Garcilasso, London, 1823, 8vo., pp.
dias, Tom. I., Valladolid, 1604, 4to.) 100 and 384) answers as well as he
But the tradition, I think, is not true. can, but not effectually. It is really
Ovicdo directly contradicts it, when a pity it cannot be made out to be
giving an account of the family of the true, it is so poetically appropriate.
poet's father; and as he knew them, •* Sandoval, Hist, del Emperador
nis authority is perhaps decisive. Cdrlos V., Lib. V., and Oviedo in
(Quinquagcnas, Batalla I. Quin. iii. the dialogue referred to in the last
Didlogo 43, MS.) But, besides this, note.
448 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period IL
the very gates of the city. But while he was there, he
was himself involved in trouble. He undertook to promote
the marriage of one of his nephews with a lady of the Im-
perial household ; and, urging his project against the plea-
sure of the Empress, not only failed, but was cast into
prison on an island in the Danube, where he wrote the
melancholy lines on his own desolation and on the beauty
of the adjacent country, which pass as the third Cancion
in his works. " The progress of events, however, not only
soon brought his release, but raised him into higher favour
than ever. In 1535 he was at the siege of Tunis, — when
Charles the Fifth attempted to crush the Barbary powers
by a single blow, — and there received two severe wounds,
one on his head and the other in his arm. " His return to
Spain is recorded in an elegy, written at the foot of Mount
^tna, and indicating that he came back by the way of
Naples; a city which, from another poem addressed
to Boscan, he seems to have visited once before." At
any rate, we know, though his present visit to Italy was a
short one, that he was there, at some period, long enough
to win the personal esteem and regard of Bembo and
Tansillo. "
The very next year, however, — the last of his short life,
— we find him again at the court of the Emperor, and
engaged in the disastrous expedition into Provence. The
army had already passed through the difficulties and dan-
gers of the siege of Marseilles, and was fortunate enough
not to be pursued by the cautious Constable de Montmo-
renci. But as they approached the town of Frejus, a small
castle, on a commanding hill, defended by only fifty of
the neighbouring peasantry, offered a serious annoyance to
their farther passage. The Emperor ordered the slight
■* Obras de Garcilasso, ed. Hems " Elcgfa II. and the Epfstola, ed.
ra, 1580, p. 234, and also p. 239, Hcrrcra, p. 378.
note. «7 Obras, ed. Ueirera, p. 18.
** Soneto 33 and note, od. Herrera.
Chap. II. OABCILASSO DE LA VEOA. 449
obstacle to be swept from his path. Garcilasso, who had
now a considerable command, advanced gladly to execute
the Imperial requisition. He knew that the eyes of the
Emperor, and indeed those of the whole army, were upon
him ; and, in the true spirit of knighthood, he was the
first to mount the wall. But a well-directed stone precipi-
tated him into the ditch beneath. The wound, which was
on his head, proved mortal, and he died a few days after-
wards, at Nice, in 1536, only thirty-three years old. His
fate is recorded by Mariana, Sandoval, and the other na-
tional historians, among the important events of the time ;
and the Emperor, we are told, basely avenged it by put-
ting to death all the survivors of the fifty peasantry, who
had done no more than bravely defend their homes against
a foreign invader.*®
In a life so short and so crowded with cares and adven-
tures we should hardly expect to find leisure for poetry.
But, as he describes himself in his third Eclogue, Garci-
lasso seems to have hurried through the world,
Now seizing on the sword, and now the pen ; ^
SO that he still left a small collection of poems, which the
faithful widow of Boscan, finding among her husband's
papers, published at the end of his works as a Fourth
Book, and has thus rescued what would otherwise pro-
bably have been lost. Their character is singular, con-
sidering the circumstances under which they were written ;
for, instead of betraying any of the spirit that governed
the main course of their author's adventurous life and
^ Obras, od. Herrera, p. 1 5. San- one or two. He adds, that Garcilasso
doval, Hist, de Cdrlos V., Lib. was without annour when he scaled
XXIII. $ 12, and Mariana, Historia, the wall of the tower, and that his
ad annum. Capata, in his ** C^Ios friends endeavoured to prevent his
Faraoso," (Valencia, 1665, 4to., rashness.
Canto 41,) states the number of the „_ . , , , ,
- V ^, ^ . .%•. «• Tomando or* la eipad*, oim la pluma ;
peasants m the tower at thirteen; \ • *
and says that Don Luis de la Cueva, a verse aftenfv-ards borrowed by Er-
who executed the Imperial order for cilia, and used m his ** Araucana."
their death, wished to save all but It is equally applicable to both poets.
VOL. L 2 Q
450 HISTOBY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period II.
brought him to an early grave, they are remarkable for
their gentleness and melancholy, and their best portions
are in a pastoral tone breathing the very sweetness of
the fabulous ages of Arcadia. When he wrote most of
them we have no means of determining with exactness.
But with the exception of three or four trifles that ap-
pear mingled with other similar trifles in the first book
of Boscan's works, all Garcilasso's poems are in llie
Italian forms, which we know were first adopted, with
his co-operation, in 1526.; so that we must, at any rate,
place them in the ten years between this date and that of
his death.
They consist of thirty-seven sonnets, five canzones^ two
elegies, an epistle in versi sciolti less grave than the rest
of his poetry, and three pastorals ; the pastorals constitut-
ing more than half of all the verse he wrote. The air
of the whole is Italian. He has imitated Petrarch, Bembo,
Ariosto, and especially Sannazaro, to whom he has once
or twice been indebted for pages together ; turning, how-
ever, firom time to time, reverently to the greater ancient
masters, Virgil and Theocritus, and acknowledging their
supremacy. Where the Italian tone most prevails, some-
thing of the poetical spirit which should sustain him is
lost But, after all, Garcilasso was a poet of no common
genius. We see it sometimes even in the strictest of his
imitations ; but it reveals itself much more distinctly when,
as in the first Eclogue, he uses as servants the masters to
whom he elsewhere devotes himself and writes only like
a Spaniard, warm with the peculiar national spirit of his
country.
This first Eclogue is, in truth, the best of his works.
It is beautifiil in the simplicity of its structure, and beau-
tifiil in its poetical execution. It was probably written at
Naples. It opens with an address to the father of the
famous Duke of Alva, then viceroy of that principality,
calling upon him, in the most artless^ manner, to listen to
Chap. II. GARCILASSO DE LA VEGA. 451
the complaints of two shepherds, the first mourning the
faithlessness of a mistress, and the other the death of one.
Salicio, who represents Garcilasso, then begins ; and when
he has entirely finished, but not before, he is answered by
Nemoroso, whose name indicates that he represents Bos-
can. ^ The whole closes naturally and gracefully with a
description of the approach of evening. It is, therefore,
not properly a dialogue, any more than the eighth Eclogue
of Virgil. On the contrary, except the lines at the open-
ing and the conclusion, it might be regarded as two sepa-
rate elegies, in which the pastoral tone is uncommonly
well preserved, and each of which, by its divisions and
arrangements, is made to resemble an Italian canzone.
An air of freshness and even originality is thus given to
the structure of the entire pastoral, while, at the same time,
tihe melancholy but glowing passion that breathes through
it renders it in a high degree poetical.
In the first part, where Salicio laments the unfaithfiil-
ness of his mistress, there is a happy preservation of the
air of pastoral life by a constant, and yet not forced, allu-
sion to natural scenery and rural objects, as in the following
passage: —
For thee, tho silence of the shady wood
I loved ; for thee, the secret mountain-top,
Which dwells apart, glad in its solitude ;
For thee, I loved the verdant grass, the wind
That breathed so fresh and cool, the lily pale.
The blushing rose, and all the fragrant treasures
Of the opening spring I But, O I how far
From all I thought, from all I trusted, amidst
Loving scenes like these, was that dark falsehood
That lay hid within thy treacherous heart ! •*
■^ I am aware that Herrera, in his conceit. Among the rest, Cervantes
notes to the poetry of Garcilasso, says is of this opinion. Don Quixote,
that Garcilasso intended to represent Parte II. c. 67.
Don Antonio de Fonseca under the *i Por ti ei siiencio de u m1v» umbrom,
name of Nemoroso. But nearly every XiS.SSr.lSl^ti'ir^i^r:
body else supposes he meant that For U U veide hierl*. el fre«co ▼iento.
name for Boscan, taking it from Ei bUnco Urio v odora^ roMt.
Bosque and Nenuu; a very obvious lyi qSJK^?^SSSr
452 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATCRK Pehod H.
The other division of the Eclogue contains passages that
remind us both of Milton's "Lycidas*' and of the an-
cients whom Milton imitated. Thus, in the following
lines, where the opening idea is taken from a well-known
passage in the Odyssey, the conclusion is not unworthy of
the lliought that precedes it, and adds a new charm to what
so many poets since Homer had rendered familiar: — **
And as the nightiiigiile that hides herself
Amidst the sheltering leaves, and sorrows there,
because the unfeeling hind, with cruel craft.
Hath stole away her unfledged ofispring dear, —
Stole them from oat the nest that was their home,
While she was absent from the bough she loved, —
And pours her grief in sweetest melody,
Filling the air with passionate complaint,
Amidst the silence of the gloomy night.
Calling on heaven and hcaven*s pure stars
To witness her great wrong ; — so I am yielded up
To misery, and mourn, in vain, that Death
Should thrust his hand into my inmost heart.
And bear away, as from its nest and home,
The love I cherished with unceasing care ! **
Garcilasso's versification is uncommonly sweet, and well
suited to the tender and sad character of his poetry. In
his second Eclogue, he has tried the singular experiment
of making the rhyme often, not between the ends of two
lines, but between the end of one and the middle of the
next. It was not, however, successful. Cervantes has
Ay I qnan diferente en, IM daro labondor, que cantaaMiite
Y quan de otn manen Le deapojo in c«ro y dnlce nido
Lo que en to fklao pecho te eMondia. De lot tiernoa hijueloa, entre tanto
Madnd. 1765. 12mo., p. 5. gj^ difeitmcla tanta.
Something of the same idea and DeapwJ/yt'llrc^eUyw.i.iia;
turn of phrase occurs in Mcndoza*8 ^' l<^ calla^ noche no reftena
Epistle to Boscan, which will be ^!;;^.^?o'd'e'iS1iJa~ ^"^"^
noticed hereafter. E1 cielo por teatigo y las etbvUas :
•* Odyss. , T. 618-624. Moschus, Deita manen anelto vo la rienda
too, has it, and Vireril : but it is more A ml dolor, y an«i me qucjo «i ymo
to the nrcscnt purpose to «.y that it HSre^irS^'^-S^Sit'
is found in Boscan S '< Leandro. Y d' alli me lleno mi dnlce pienda.
Que aqoel eim eu nido y an aiorada.
s> Qual anele el rnyaeflor, con triate canto. Obna de Gaieilaaao de U Vesa, ed. Aanu
Quexarae, entie laa hojaa enoondido, 17Sft, p. 14.
Chap. II. GARCILASSO D£ LA VEGA. 453
imitated it, and so have one or two others ; but wherever
the rhyme is quite obvious, the effect is not good, and
where it is little noticed, the lines take rather the character
of blank verse. *^ In general, however, Garcilasso's har-
mony can hardly be improved; at least, not without
injuring his versification in particulars yet more important.
His poems had a great success from the moment they
appeared. There was a grace and an elegance about them
of which Boscan may in part have set the example, but
which Boscan was never able to reach. The Spaniards
who came back from Rome and Naples were delighted to
find at home what had so much charmed them in their
campaigns and wanderings in Italy; and Garcilasso's
poems were proudly reprinted wherever the Spanish arms
and influence extended. They received, too, other honours.
In less than half a century from their first appearance,
Francisco Sanchez, commonly called " El Brocense,*' the
most learned Spaniard of his age, added a commentary to
them, which has still some value. A little later, Herrera,
the lyric poet, published them, with a series of notes yet
more ample, in which, amidst much that is useless, inter-
esting details may be found, for which he was indebted to
Puerto Carrero, the poet's son-in-law. And early in the
next century, Tamayo de Vdrgas again encumbered the
whole with a new mass of unprofitable learning. ** Such
■< For example, — they are not the subject of remark by
Aibanio, si ta mmi eomaniouru ^^^ learned commcntators. In Eng-
Con otro, que yensdras, qoe ta vena lish, instances of this {jcculiarity may
Jasgan como agena, o que ate faego, etc. ^ found occasionally amidst the riot-
I know of no earlier instance of this ous waste of rhymes in Southey's
precise rhyme, which is quite different "Curse of Kehama," and in Italian
from the lawless rhymes that some- they occur in Alfieri's ** Saul," Act
times broke the verses of the Minne- III. sc. 4. I do not remember to
singers and Troubadours. Cervantes have seen them again in Spanish ex-
used it, nearly a century afterwards, cept in some decimas of Pedro dc
in his " Cancion de Grisdstomo,** Salas, printed in 1638, and in the
(Don Quixote, Parte I. c. 14,) and second }*omada of the ** Pretendiente
i^ellicer, in his commentary on the al Reves *' of Tirso de Molina, 1634.
passage, re^ds Cervantes as the in- No doubt they occur elsewhere, but
vcntor of it. Perhaps Garcilasso*s they are rare, I think,
rhymes had e8cai>ed all notice ; for •» Francisco Sanchez — who was
454
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE.
POUOD II.
distinctions, however, constituted, even when they were
fresh, little of Garcilasso's real glory, which rested on the
safer foundations of a genuine and general regard. His
poetry, from the first, sunk deep into the hearts of his
countrymen. His sonnets were heard everywhere ; his
eclogues were acted like popular dramas. ** The greatest
geniuses of his nation express for him a reverence they
show to none of their predecessors. Lope de Vega imi-
tates him in every possible way ; Cervantes praises him
more than he does any other poet, and cites him oftener."
And thus Garcilasso has come down to us enjoying a
general national admiration, such as is given to hardly any
other Spanish poet, and to none that lived before his time.
That it would have been better for himself and for the
literature of his country, if he had drawn more from the
elements of the earlier national character, and imitated
named at home El Brocense, because
he was born at Las Brozas in Estre-
madura, but is known elsewhere as
Sanctius, the author of the '* Mi-
nerva," and other works of learning —
published his edition of Garcilasso at
Salamanca, 1574, 18mo. ; a modest
work, which has been printed often
since. This was followed at Seville,
in 1580, by the elaborate edition of
Hcrrera, in 8vo., filling nearly seven
hundred pages, chiefly with its com-
mentary, which is so cumbersome,
that it has never been reprinted,
though it contains a ^ood deal im-
portant, both to the history of Gar-
cilasso, and to the elucidation of the
earlier Spanish literature. Tamayo
de Virgas was not satisfied with either
of them, and published a commentary
of his own at Madrid in 1622, 18mo.,
but it is of little worth. Perhaps the
most agreeable edition of Garcilasso
is one published, without its editor's
name, m 1765, by the Chevalier
Joseph Nicolas de Azara ; long the
ambassador of Spain at Rome, and at
the head of what was most distin-
guished in the intellectual society of
that capital. In English, Garcilasso
was made known by J. H. Wifei,
who, in 1823, published at London,
in 8vo., a translation of all his works,
prefixing a Life and an Essa^ on
Spanish poetry ; but the translation is
constrained, and fiiib in the harmonj
that so much distinguishes the on-
ginal, and the dissertation is heavy
and not always accurate in its state-
ment of facts.
*• Don Quixote, (Parte II. c. 58,)
after leaving the Duke and Duchess,
finds a party about to represent one
of Grarciiasso's Eclogues, at a sort of
fete champare.
^ I notice that the allusions to
Garcilasso by Cervantes are chiefly in
the latter part of his life ; namely, in
the second part of his Don Quixote,
in his Comedias, his Novelas, and his
'^ Persiles y Sigismunda," as if his
admiration were the result of his ma-
tured judgment. More than once he
calls him '^the prince of Spanish
poets ; " but this tiUe, which can be
traced back to Ilerrera, and has been
continued down to our own times,
has, perhaps, rarely been taken lite-
rally.
Chap. II.
ITALIAN SCHOOL INTBODUCED.
455
less the great Italian masters he justly admired, can hardly
be doubted. It would have given a freer and more gene-
rous movement to his poetical genius, and opened to him a
range of subjects and forms of composition, from which,
by rejecting the example of the national poets that had
gone before him, he excluded himself. '® But he delibe-
rately decided otherwise ; and his great success, added to
that of Boscan, introduced into Spain an Italian school of
poetry which has been an important part of Spanish litera-
ture ever since. *•
■• How decidedly Garcilaaso re-
jected the Spanish poetry written
before his time can be seen, not only
by his own example, but by his letter
prefixed to Boscan's translation of
Castiglione, where he says that he
holds it to be a great benefit to the
Spanish language to translate into it
things really worthy to be read ; ** for,"
he i^ds, ** I know not what ill luck
has always followed us, but hardly
anybody has written anything in our
tongue worthy of that trouble." It
may be noted, on the other hand, that
scarcely a word or phrase used by
Crarcilasso has ceased to be accounted
pure Castilian ;— a remark that can be
extended, I Uiink, to no writer so
early. His language lives as he docs,
and, in no small degree, because hb
sucoess has consecrated it. The word
desbanoTf in his second Eclogue, is,
perhans, the only exception to this
remarK.
^ Eleven years af^r the publica-
tion of the works of Boscan and Gar-
cilasso, Hernando de Hozes, in the
Preface to his " Triumfos de Petrar-
ca," (Medina del Campo, 1554,4to.,)
savs, with much truth : " Since Gar-
cilasso de la Vega and Juan Boscan
introduced Tuscan measures into our
Spanish language, everything earlier,
written or translated, in the forms of
verse then used in Spain, has so much
lost reputation, that few now care to
read it, though, as we all know, some
of it is of great value." If this
opinion had continued to prevail,
Spanish literature would not have be-
come what it now is.
456 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbmod II.
CHAPTER III.
Imitations op thb Italian Maniteb. — Acuwa. — CimrA. — Opposition to
IT.-— Castillejo. — ANTo^^o de Villeqas. — Siltestbe. — Discussidhs
CONCEBNINO IT. — AbQOTE DE MoLIKA. — MoHTALVO. LOPK DB VbGA. —
Its Final Success.
The example set by Boscan and Garcilasso was so well
suited to the spirit and demands of the age, that it became
as much a fashion, at the court of Charles the Fifth, to
write in the Italian manner as it did to travel in Italy or
make a military campaign there. Among those who ear-
liest adopted the forms of Italian verse was Fernando de
Acufia, a gendeman belonging to a noble Portuguese
family, but born in Madrid, and writing only in Spanish.
He served in Flanders, in Italy, and in Africa ; and after
the conquest of Tunis, in 1535, a mutiny having occurred
in its garrison, he was sent there by tie Emperor, with
unlimited authority to punish or to pardon those implicated
in it ; a difficult mission, whose duties he ftilfiUed with
great discretion and with an honourable generosity.
In other respects, too, Acufia was treated with peculiar
confidence. Charles the Fifth, as we learn from the &mi-
liar correspondence of Van Male, a poor scholar and gen-
tleman who slept often in his bed-chamber and nursed him
in his infirmities — amused the fretfulness of a premature
old age, under which his proud spirit constantly chafed, by
making a translation into Spanish prose of a French poem
then much in vogue and fevour, — the " Chevalier Deli-
bfere." Its author, Olivier de la Marche, was long attached
to the service of Mary of Burgundy, the Emperor s grand-
Chap. III. FERNANDO DE ACUNA. 457
mother, and had made, in the Chevalier Deliber^, an
allegorical show of the events in the life of her father, so
flattering as to render his picture an object of general
admiration at the time when Charles was educated at her
brilliant court. * But the great Emperor, though his prose
version of the pleasant reading of his youth is said to have
been prepared with more skill and success than might
have been anticipated from his imperfect training for such
a task, felt that he was unable to give it the easy dress he
desired it should wear in Castilian verse. This labour,
therefore, in the plenitude of his authority, he assigned to
Acuiia ; confiding to him the manuscript he had prepared
in great secrecy, and requiring him to cast it into a more
appropriate and agreeable form.
Acufia was well fitted for the delicate duty assigned to
him. As a courtier, skilled in the humours of the palace,
he omitted several passages that would be little interesting
to his master, and inserted others that would be more
so, — particularly several relating to Ferdinand and Isa-
bella, and to Philip, Charles's father. As a poet, he
turned the Emperor's prose into the old double quintillas
with a purity and richness of idiom rare in any period of
Spanish literature, and some portion of the merit of which
has, perhaps justly, been attributed by Van Male to the
Imperial version out of which it was constructed. The
poem thus prepared — making three hundred and seventy-
nine stanzas of ten short lines each — was then secretly
given by Charles, as if it were a present worthy of a muni-
ficent sovereign, to Van Male, the poor servant, who
records the facts relating to it, and then, forbidding all
notice of himself in the Preface, the Emperor ordered an
edition of it, so large, that the unhappy scholar trembled
at the pecuniary risks he was to run on account of the
bounty he had received. The " Cavallero Determinado,"
* Goujet, Biblioth6que Fran^aise, Paris, 1746, 12mo., Tom. IX. pp.
372-380.
458
HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURK
PboodIL
as it was called in the version of Acufia, was, however,
more successful than Van Male supposed it would be ; and,
partly from the interest the master of so many kingdoms
must have felt in a work in which his secret share was
considerable ; partly from the ingenuity of the allegory,
which is due in general to La Marche ; and partly from
the fluency and grace of the versification, which must be
wholly Acuiia's, it became very popular ; seven editions of
'it being called for in the course of half a century. •
But notwithstanding the success of the Cavallero Deter-
luinado, Acufia wrote hardly anything else in the old
national style and manner. His shorter poems, filling a
* It is something like the well-
known German poem ** Theuerdank/'
which was devoted to the adyentures
of Maximilian I. up to the time when
he married Marj of Burgundy, and,
like that, owes some of its reputatioa
to the bold engrayings with wnich its
successive editions were ornamented.
One of the best of the Cavallero
Determinado is the Plantiniana, An-
ver», 1591, 8vo. The account of the
part — earlier unsuspected — borne by
the Emperor in the composition of the
Cavallero Determinado is found on
pp. 15 and 16 of the ** Lettres sur la
\ ie Int^eure de TEmpereur Charles
Quint, par Guillaume Van Male,
Gentilhomme de sa Chambre, public
pour la premiere fbis par le Baron de
Reifienberg, Bnixelles, Soci^t^ des
Bibliouhiles Belgiques, k Bruxelles,
1845,' 4ta; a very curious collectioa
of thirty>one Latin letters, that often
contain strange details of the infirmi-
ties of the Emperor firom 1550 to
1555. Their author, Van Male, or
MalinKUS as he was called in Latin,
and Malinei in Spanish, was one of
the needy Flemings who soueht favour
at the court of Charles V. Being
ilUtreatcd by the Duke of Alva^ who
w^ his first patron : by Avila y Zu-
iliga, whose Coomientaries he trans-
latiHi into Ladn, in order to purchase
his regard ; and by the Em^ieror, to
whom he rendered many kind and
fiiithful services, he was, like many
others who had come to Spain with
similar hopes, glad to return to Flan-
ders as poor as he came. He died in
1560. He was an accomplished and
simple-hearted scholar, and deserved
a belter fiite than to be rewarded for
his devotion to the Imperial humours
by a present of Acuna's manuscript,
which Avila had the malice to assure
the Emperor would be well worth ^Jt
hundrea gold crowns to the suffering
man of letters ; — a remark to whia
the Emperor replied by sayii^,
^ William will come rightfully by the
money; he has sweat hard at the
work," — '* Bono jure fiructus ille ad
Gulielmum redeat ; ut gui plurimum
in illo opere sud^t" Of the Empe-
ror's personal share in the rersiaa
of the Chevalier Ddlib^r^ Van Male
gives the following aooomit (Jan. IS,
1551) : — ** Caesar maturat editiooem
libri, cui titulus erat Gfallicus, — ^Le
Chevalier Ddlib^re. Hunc per otiom
a 9ap90 tradmctum tradidit Ferdi-
nando Acunae, Saxonis custodi, ut ab
eo aptaretur ad numeros rithmi His-
panid ; quae res cecidit felidssim^
Gteson, sme dubio, debelmr primarim
imgmoMf scdei canmem et vocwm ngwi'
Jktmtiam uUre eiprtttii" etc Epist
vi.
A version of the Chevalier D^bM
was also made by Gerdnimo de Urrea,
and was printed in 1555. 1 have
never seen it.
Chap. III. GUTIEREE DE CETINA. 459
small volume, are, with one or two inconsiderable excep-
tions, in the Italian measures, and sometimes are direct
imitations of Boscan and Garcilasso. They are almost
all written in good taste, and with a classical finish, espe-
cially "The Contest of Ajax with Ulysses,*' where, in
tolerable blank verse, Acufia has imitated the severe sim-
plicity of Homer. He was known, too, in Italy, and his
translation of a part of Boiardo's " Orlando Innamorato "
was praised there ; but his miscellanies and his sonnets
found more favour at home. He died at Granada, it is
said, in 1580, while prosecuting a claim he had inherited
to a Spanish title ; but his poems were not printed till
1591, when, like those of Boscan, with which they may
be fairly ranked, they were published by the pious care
of his widow. '
Less fortunate in this respect than Acufia was Giitierre
de Cetina, another Spaniard of the same period and school,
since no attempt has ever been made to collect his poems.
The few that remain to us, however, — his madrigals,
sonnets, and other short pieces, — have much merit. Some-
times they take an Anacreontic tone; but the better
specimens are rather marked by sweetness, like the fol-
lowing madrigal : —
Eyes, that have still serenely shone,
And still for gentleness been praised,
Why thus in anger are ye raised,
When turned on me, and me alone ?
The more ye tenderly and gently beam,
The more to all ye winning seem ; —
But yet, — O, yet,--dear eyes, serene and sweet.
Turn on me still, whatever the glance I meet I *
• The second edition of Acuna's a^'w^ntoiS* uSiSli"'*'*^''^"'
Poesfas is that of Madrid, 1804, 12mo. iTbeliSToSecdKquien o« mir».
His life is in Bacna, ** HijOS de Ma- Poroue a ml •olo me mirais con iM?
drid," Tom. II. p. 387 ; Tom. IV. p. ?i-;^ ^ 'nSi,., »i»d». .1 »«.«.
403.
* OJos cUrot serenM,
Si de duloe mirar aoU alabadoei
Sedano, Fkmaao Eqmilol, Tom. VII. p. 7a.
460 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pbbiod 1L
Like many others of his countrymen, Cetma was a
soldier, and fought bravely in Italy. Afterwards he
visited Mexico, where he had a brother in an important
public office ; but he died, at last, in Seville, his nati?e
city, about the year 1560. He was an imitator of Gar-
cilasso, even more than of the Italians who were Grard-
lasso's models. *
But an Italian school was not introduced into SpanUi
literature without a contest We cannot, perhaps, tdl
who first broke ground against it, as an unprofitable and
unjustifiable innovation; but Christdval de Castillejo^ a
gentleman of Ciudad Eodrigo, was the most eflicient of
its early opponents. He was attached, firom the age of
fifteen, to the person of Ferdinand, the younger brother of
Charles the Fifth, and subsequently Emperor of Ge^
many ; passing a part of his life in Austria, as secretary
to that prince, and ending it, in extreme old age, as a
Carthusian monk, at the convent of Y al de Iglesias, near
Toledo. But wherever he lived, Castillejo wrote verses,
and showed no favour to the new school. He attacked it
in many ways, but chiefly by imitating the old masters in
their villancicoSj cancioneSj glosas, and the other forms
and measures they adopted, though with a purer and
better taste than they had generally shown.
Some of his poetry was written as early as 1540 and
1541 ; and, except the religious portion, which fills the
* A few of Cetiiia*s poems are in- Sueltas de Lope de Vesa, Madrid,
serted by Herrera in nis notes to 1776, 4to., Tom. I. PnSogo, p. ii.,
Garcilasso, 1580, pp. 77, 92, 190, note.) It is much to be dedred that
204, 216, etc. ; and a few more by they should be sought out and pub-
Sedono in the ** Pamaso Espenol, * lished.
Tom. VII. pp. 76, 370 ; Tom. VIII. In a sonnet by Castillejo, found in
pp. 96, 216; Tom. IX. p. 134. The his attack on the Italian school,
little we know of him is in Sismondi, (Obras, 1598, f. 114. a) be speaks of
Lit. £sp., Sevilla, 1841, Tom. I. p. Luis de Haro as one of the four per-
381. Probably he died young, sons who had most contributed to the
(Conde Lucanor, 1575, ff, 93, 94.) success of that school in Spain. I
The poems of Cetina were, in 1776, know of no poetry by any author of
extant in a MS. in the library of the this name.
Duke of Arcos, at Madrid. (Obras
Chap. III. CHRISTOVAL DE CASTILLEJO. 461
latter part of the third and last of the three books into
which his works are divided, it has generally a fresh and
youthful air. Facility and gaiety are, perhaps, its most
prominent, though certainly not its highest, characteristics.
Some of his love-verses are remarkable for their tenderness
and grace, especially those addressed to Anna ; but he
shows the force and bent of his talent rather when he
deals with practical life, as he does in his bitter discussion
concerning the court ; in a dialogue between his pen and
himself; in a poem on Woman; and in a letter to a
friend, asking counsel about a love affair ; — all of which
are full of living sketches of the national manners and
feelings. Next to these, perhaps, some of his more fanci-
ful pieces, such as his " Transformation of a Drunkard
into a Mosquito," are the most characteristic of his light-
hearted nature.
But on every occasion where he finds an opening, or
can make one, he attacks the imitators of the Italians,
whom he contemptuously calls " Petrarquistas." Once,
he devotes to them a regular satire, which he addresses
" to those who give up the Castilian measures and follow
the Italian, *" calling out Boscan and Garcilasso by name,
and summoning Juan de Mena, Sanchez de Badajoz,
Naharro, and others of the elder poets, to make merry
with him, at the expense of the innovators. Almost
everywhere he shows a genial temperament, and some-
times indulges himself in a freer tone than was thought
beseeming at the time when he lived; in consequence
of which, his poetry, though much circulated in manu-
script, was forbidden by the Inquisition ; so that all we
now possess of it is a selection, which, by a sort of special
favour, was exempted from censure, and permitted to be
printed in 1573.'
« The little that is known of Cas- pennitted to Juan Lopez de Velasco.
tillejo is to be found in his Poems, Antonio says, that Castilleio died
the publication of which was first about 1596, in which case he must
462 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATUBE. Psbiod 11.
Another of those who maintained tiie doctrines and
wrote in the measures of the old school was Antonio de
Villegas, whose poems, though written before 1551, were
not printed till 1565. The PnSIogo, addressed to the
book, with instructions how it should bear itself in the
world, remmds us sometimes of "The Soul's Errand,"
but is more easy and less poetical. The best poems of
the volume are, indeed, of this sort, light and gay ; rather
running into pretty quaintnesses than giving token of deep
feeling. The longer among them, like those on Pyramus
and Thisbe, and on the quarrel between Ulysses and Ajax,
are the least interesting. But the shorter pieces are
many of them very agreeable. One to the Duke of Sesa,
the descendant of Gronzalvo of Cdrdova, and addressed to
him as he was going to Italy, where Cervantes served
under his leading, is fortunate, from its allusion to his
great ancestor. It begins thus : —
Go forth to Italy, great chief;
It is thy fated land,
Sown thick with deeds of braye emprise
Bj that ancestral hand
Which cast its seeds so widely there,
That, as thou marehest on,
The very soil will start afresh,
Teeming with glories won ;
While round thy form, like myriad suns.
Shall shine a halo*s flame,
Enkmdled from the dazzling light
Of thy great Other's fame.
More characteristic than this, however, because less
heroic and grave, are eighteen dicimaSj or ten-line poems,
have been very old ; especially if, as the twelfth and thirteenth rolumes of
Moratin thinks, he was bom in 1494 1 the Collection of Fernandez, Madrid,
But the facts stated about him are 1792, 12mo., besides which I hare
ouite uncertain, with the exception of seen editions cited of 1682, 1616, etc
those told by himself. (L. F. Mora- His dramas are lost ;— even the " Co-
tin, Obras, Tom. I. Farte I. pp. stanza," which Moratin saw in the
154-156.) His works were well pub- Escurial, could not be fbund there in
lished at Antwerp, by Bellero, in 1844, when I caused a search to be
1698, 18mo., and m Madrid, by San- made for it.
chez, in 1600, 18mo., and they form
Chap. III. GREGORIO SILVESTRE. 463
called " Comparaciones,'* because each ends with a com-
parison ; the whole being preceded by a longer composi-
tion in the same style, addressing them all to his lady-love.
The following may serve as a specimen of their peculiar
tone and measure : —
Ladj I so used mj soul is grown
To serve thee always in pure truth,
That, drawn to thee, and thee alone,
Mj jojs come thronging ; and mj jouth
No grief can jar, save when thou grievest its tone.
But though my faithful soul be thus in part
Untuned, when dissonance it feels in thee.
Still, still to thine turns back my trembling heart,
As jars the well-tuned string in sympathy
With that which trembles at the tuner's art. ^
Gregorio Silvestre, a Portuguese, who came in his
childhood to Spain, and died there in 1570, was another
of those who wrote according to the earlier modes of com-
position. He was a friend of Torres de Naharro, of
Garci Sanchez de Badajoz, and of Heredia; and, for
some time, imitated Castillejo in speaking lightly of Boscan
and Garcilasso. But, as the Italian manner prevailed
more and more, he yielded somewhat to the fashion ; and,
in his latter years, wrote sonnets, and ottava and terza
rimdf adding to their forms a careful finish not then
enough valued in Spain. • All his poetry, notwithstand-
7 ComparacioM, 12mo. Like other poets who deal in
^ETi^Si^rf^ prettinesses, Villegas repeats himself
Que acaden como a sas muettraa Occasionally, because he so much ad-
Soia a TO! mi» aiegriat, mires his own conceits. Thus, the
rli^^uTen^^ i"n?mpu idea in the little ddcima translated in
Mi ettado de ▼uestro esudo, the text is also in a pastoral — half
Al otro con quien m tempia. lume. '* Assi como dos instrumcntos
f. 37. bien templados tocando las cuerdas
These poems are in a small volume del uno se tocan y suenan las del otro
of miscelutnies, published at Medina ellas mismas ; assi yo en viendo este
del Campo, caHed ** Inventario de triste, me asson6 con el," etc. (f. 14,
Obras, por Antonio de Villegas, Vezi- b.) It should be noticed, that the
no de la Villa de Medina del Campo," licence to print the Inventario, dated
1565, 4to. The copy I use is ot an- 1651, shows it to have been written
other, and, I believe, the only other, as early as that period,
edition, Medina del Campo, 1677, ■ He is much praised for this in a
40t fiI?TOXT or STASnSH UTEEATriE. TmammTL
iTi^ tb^ aocnd^fxit of li2§ fcfftJEes lank, is wntten in pare
aiid idk^oadc Caftiliaii ; Int die best of it is is the old»
gtyle, — " the old rhymes,'' a§ lie calkd diem, — ^in which,
apparendy^ he felt more freedom dun he did in die
manner he Eubseqaendy adc^ited. His GVsses seem to
have been most re^rded by himself and his friends ; and if
the nature of the composition itself had been more derated,
they might still deseire the praise they at first received,
for he shows great fiicility and ingenuity in their con-
struction* *
His longer narrative poems — ^those <mi Daphne and
A[KiIIo, and on Pyramus and Thisbe, as well as one he
called "The Residence of Love" — are not without merit,
though they are among the less fortunate of his effortsL
But his canciones are to be ranked with the very best in
the language ; 'full of the old true-hearted simplicity of
feeling, and yet not without an artiGce in their turns of
expression, which, far from interfering with their point
and effect, adds to both. Thus, one of them begins : —
Your locks are aH of gdd, mj kdj.
And of gold each priceless hair ;
Aiul the heart is all of steel, mj lady,
That sees them without despair.
While a little farther on he gives to the same idea a quaint
turn, or answer, such as he delighted to make : —
Not of gold would be joor luur, dear ladj.
No, not of gold so fair ;
But the fine, rich gold itself, dear ladj,
That gold would be your hair. '^
Each is followed by a sort of gloss, or variation of the
[)ootiral opintlo of Luis Baraho- » 8eBo«, ▼ue«tio« cabeiiot
im do Soto, printed with Silvestre's YdH^ ei eoiKon.
WorkH, (iraiuula, 1600, 12mo., f. Que no w muere por ellot.
anO. Obnt, OnDwU, 1599, Itmo., f. C9.
" TIjo boit ore his gloasOS on the No <mi«r«n ter de oro, no,
r«t..n.,«.l,.r f. 284, and tho Ave g.»,;Sr2.15!!r'
MwUi, I. 280. lWd..f.7i.
Cbap. hi. discussion on the ITALIAN SCHOOL. "465
original air, which again is not without its appropriate
merit.
Silvestre was much connected with the poets of his
time ; not only those of the old school, but those of the
Italian, like Diego de Mendoza, Hernando de Acufia,
George of Montemayor, and Luis Barahona de Soto.
Their poems, in fact, are sometimes found mingled with
his own, and their spirit, we see, had a controlling influence
over his. But whether, in return, he produced much
effect on them, or on his times, may be doubted. He
seems to have passed his life quietly in Granada, of whose
noble cathedral he was the principal musician, and where
he was much valued as a member of society, for his wit
and kindly nature. But when he died, at the age of
fifty, his poetry was known only in manuscript ; and aft;er
it was collected and published by his friend Pedro de
Caceres, twelve years later, it produced little sensation.
He belonged, in truth, to both schools, and was therefore
thoroughly admired by neither. '*
The discussion between the two, however, soon became
a formal one. Argote de Molina naturally brought it into
his Discourse on Spanish Poetry in 1575, ** and Montalvo
introduced it into his Pastoral, where it little belongs, but
where, under assumed names, Cervantes, Ercilla, Castil-
lejo, Silvestre, and Montalvo ^' himself, give their opinions
in favour of the old school. This was in 1582. In 1599,
" There were three editions of the also religious dramas for his cathe*
poetry of Silvestre ; — two at Granada, dral, which are lost. One single word
1582 and 1599; and one at Lisbon, is ordered by the Index of 1667
1592, with a very good life of him by (p. 466) to be expurgated from his
his editor, to which occasional addi- works !
tions are made, though, on the whole, *' The Discourse follows the first
it is abridged, by Ikrbosa, Tom. II. edition ofthe^CondeLucanor," 1676,
p. 419. Luis Barahona de Soto, the and is strongly in favour of the old
mend of Silvestre, speaks of him Spanish verse. Arpotc de Molina
pleasantly in several of his poetical wrote poetry himself, but such as he
epistles, and Lope de Vega praises has given us in his ** Nobleza " is of
him in the second Silva of his ** Laurel little value.
de Apolo." His Poems arc divided •' Pastor de Filida, Parts IV. and
into four Books, and fill 387 leaves in VI.
the edition of 1699, 18mo. lie wrote
VOL. I. 2 H
466 * HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. PiaioD IL
Lope de Vega defended the same side in the Preface to
his " San Isidro." ** But the question was then substan-
tially decided. Five or six long epics, including the
"Araucana," had already been written in the Italian
ottava rinia; as many pastorals, in imitation of Sanna-
zaro's ; and thousands of verses in the shape of sonnets,
canzoni^ and the other forms of Italian poetry, a large por-
tion of which had found nmch favour. Even Lope de
Vega, therefore, who is quite decided in his opinion, and
wrote his poem of " San Isidro " in the old popular redon-
dillaSj fell in with the prevailing fashion, so that, perhaps,
in the end, nobody did more than himself to confirm the
Italian measures and manner. From this time, therefore,
the success of the new school may be considered certain
and settled ; nor has it ever since been displaced or super-
seded, as an important division of Spanish literature.
" Obras Sucltas, Madrid, 1777, Tom. XI. pp. xxviii.-xxx.
Chap. IV. DIEGO HURTADO DE MENDOZA. 467
CHAPTER IV.
Diego Hubtado pk Mendoza. — IIis Family. — IIis Lazabillo deT<5rme8,
AND ITS Imitations. — Uis Public Employments and Pbivate Studies.
— His Retibement fbom Affaibs. — His Poems and Miscellanies. —
His Histobt or the Rebelijon of the Moobs.'—His Death and
Chabactkb.
Among those who did most to decide the question in favour
of the introduction and establishment of the Italian mea-
sures in Spanish literature was one whose rank and social
position gave him great authority, and whose genius,
cultivation, and adventures point alike to his connexion
with the period we have just gone over and with that on
which we are now entering. This person was Diego
Hurtado de Mendoza, a scholar and a soldier, a poet and
a diplomatist, a statesman and an historian, — a man who
rose to great consideration in whatever he undertook, and
one who was not of a temper to be satisfied with moderate
success, wherever he might choose to make an effort. *
He was born in Granada in 1503, and his ancestry was
perhaps the most illustrious in Spain, if we except the de-
scendants of those who had sat on the thrones of its different
kingdoms. Lope de Vega, who turns aside in one of his
plays to boast that it was so, adds that, in his time, the
Mendozas counted three-and-twenty generations of the
* Lives of Mcndoza are to be found Lojwz dc Ayala, the learned Professor
in Antonio, ** Bibliothcca Nova," of Poetry at Madrid. Ccrdi, in
and in the edition of the " Guerra de Vossii llhetorices, Matriti, 1781, 8vo.,
Granada," Valencia, 1776, 4to. ;— the App., p. 189, note,
last of which was written by Ihigo
2 H 2
468 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period II.
highest nobility and public service.* But it is more
important for our present purpose to notice that the three
immediate ancestors of the distinguished statesman now
before us might well have served as examples to form his
young character; for he was the third in direct descent
from the Marquis of Santillana, the poet and wit of the
court of John the Second ; his grandfather was the able
ambassador of Ferdinand and Isabella, in their trouble-
some affairs with the See of Home ; and his father, after
commanding with distinguished honour in the last great
overthrow of the Moors, was made governor of the unquiet
city of Granada not long after its surrender.
Diego, however, had five brothers older than himself;
and therefore, notwithstanding the power of his family, he
was originally destined for the Church, in order to give
him more easily the position and income that should sus-
tain his great name with becoming dignity. But his cha-
racter could not be bent in that direction. He acquired,
indeed, much knowledge suited to ftirther his ecclesiastical
advancement, both at home, where he learned to speak the
Arabic with fluency, and at Salamanca, where he studied
Latin, Greek, philosophy, and canon and civil law, with
success. But it is evident that he indulged a decided
preference for what was more intimately connected with
political aflairs and elegant literature ; and if, as is com-
* Toma Without a break in that long ffloriona line,
Veinte j tres neneracionea So many men of might, men known to Cuae,
La nronpia de Mendo^a. And of siich noble and giave attribute.
No hav linage en toda Eipaiia, That the attempt to count them all were t»Ib
De qulen conozca As would be his who sought to eoont the stais,
Tan noUble antignedad. Or tlie wide sea's nnnnmliered waves and sandsL
I)e padre tf hijos se nomhran, Their noble blood goes back to Zoria, .
Sin Interrumpir la linea, The lord of all Biscay.
Contar estrellas al cielo, _ i * .i . • «
Y A la mar arenas v ondas : Gaspar dc Avila, in the first aCt of
L^Jfadi Zari' ^tmiHI^^^ ^^^ " Governador Pnidentc," (Come-
Qq'S^reneorigen*^sangre. ^^^ EsCOgidaS, Madrid, 4tO., TomO
Por threeand-twenty generations past XXI., 1664,) giveS even a more mi-
Hath the Mendosas' name been nouly great. nutc gcnoalogy of thc Mendozas than
JS.'^Wm »c'h^o'4'l','".ir,at" "" that «; Lop« 5e Vew ; so famous were
For. reckoning down from siie to son, they boast, they Ul Verse as Well 88 Uk history.
Chap. IV. DIEGO HURTADO DE MENDOZA. 469
monly supposed, he wrote while at the University, or soon
afterwards, his "Lazarillo de Tormes,'* it is equally plain
that he preferred such a literature as had no relation to
theology or the Church.
The Lazarillo is a work of genius, unlike anything that
had preceded it. It is the autobiography of a boy —
" little Lazarus " — born in a mill on the banks of the
Tdrmes, near Salamanca, and sent out by his base and
brutal mother as the leader of a blind beggar ; the lowest
place in the social condition, perhaps, that could then be
found in Spain. But such as it is, Lazarillo makes the
best or the worst of it. With an inexhaustible fund of
good-humour and great quickness of parts, he learns, at
once, the cunning and profligacy that qualify him to rise
to still greater frauds and a yet wider range of adventures
and crimes in the service successively of a priest, a gen-
tleman starving on his own pride, a friar, a seller of in-
dulgences, a chaplain, and an alguazil, until, at last, from
the most disgraceful motives, he settles down as a married
man ; and then the story terminates without reaching any
proper conclusion, and without intimating that any is to
follow.
Its object is — under the character of a servant with an
acuteness that is never at fault, and so small a stock of ho-
nesty and truth, that neither of them stands in the way of
his success — to give a pungent satire on all classes of so-
ciety, whose condition Lazarillo well comprehends, because
he sees them in undress and behind the scenes. It is
written in a very bold, rich, and idiomatic Castilian style,
that reminds us of the ^^ Celestina ;" and some of its
sketches are among the most fresh and spirited that can
be found in the whole class of prose works of fiction ; so
spirited, indeed, and so free, that two of them — those of the
friar and the seller of dispensations — were soon put under
the ban of the Church, and cut out of the editions that
were permitted to be printed under its authority. The
470 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pcbiod II.
whole work is short ; but its easy, genial temper, its happy
adaptation to Spanish life and manners, and the contrast
of the light, good-humoured, flexible audacity of Lazarillo
himself — a perfectly original conception — with the solemn
and unyielding dignity of the old Castilian character, gave
it from the first a great popularity. From 1553, when
the earliest edition appeared of which we have any know-
ledge, it was often reprinted, both at home and abroad,
and has been more or less a favourite in [all languages,
down to our own time ; becoming the foundation for a
class of fictions essentially national, which, under the name
of the gusto picaresco, or the style of the rogues, is as well
known as any other department of Spanish literature, and
one which the ^^ Gil Bias " of Le Sage has made famous
throughout the world. *
Like other books enjoying a wide reputation, the Laza-
rillo provoked many imitations. A continuation of it,
under the title of "The Second Part of Lazarillo de
Tdrmes," soon appeared, longer than the original, and be-
ginning where the fiction of Mendoza leaves ofll But it is
without merit, except for an occasional quaintness or wit-
ticism. It represents Lazarillo as going upon the expe-
dition undertaken by Charles the Fifih against Algiers in
1541, and as being in one of the vessels that foundered in
a storm, which did much towards disconcerting the whole
* The number of editions of the seem ever to have acknowledged him*
Lazarillo, during the sixteenth cen- self to be the author of Laa^llo de
tury, in the Low Countries, in Italy, Tdrmcs, which, in fiict, was some-
aiul in Sijain, is great ; but those times attributed to Juan de Ortega, a
printed in Spain, beginning with the monk. Of a translation of Lazarillo
one of Madrid, 1573, ISnio., are ex- into English, reported by Lowndes
purgatcd of the {lassages most offen- (art. Lazarillo) as the work of Da\id
sivc to the clergy by an order of the Rowland, 1686, and probably the
Inuuisition ; an order renewed in the same praised in the Uetrospcctive
Index Expurgatorius, 1667. Indeed, lleview, Vol. II. p. 133, above twenty
I do not know how the chapter on the editions are known. Of a translation
seller of indulgences could have been by James Hlakcston, which seems to
written by any but a Protestant, after me better, I have a copy, dated Lon-
the Reformation was so far advanced don, 1670, ISmo.
as it then was. Mendoza does not
Chap. IV. IMITATIONS OP THE LAZARILLO. 471
enterprise. From this point, however, Lazarillo's story
becomes a tissue of absurdities. He sinks to the bottom
of the ocean, and there creeps into a cave, where he is
metamorphosed into a tunny-fish ; and the greater part of
the work consists of an accoimt of his glory and happiness
in the kmgdom of the tunnies. At last he is caught in a
seine, and, in the agony of his fear of death, returns, by an
efibrt of his own will, to the human form ; after which he
finds his way back to Salamanca, and is living there when
he prepares this strange account of his adventures.*
A fiirther imitation, but not a proper continuation,
under the name of " The Lazarillo of the Manzauares,"
in which the state of society at Madrid is satirized, was
attempted by Juan Cortfes de Tolosa, and was first printed
in 1620. But it produced no efiect at the time, and has
been long forgotten. Nor was a much better fate reserved
for yet another Second Part of the genuine Lazarillo,
which was written by Juan de Luna, a teacher of Spanish
at Paris, and appeared there the same year the Lazarillo
de Manzanares appeared at Madrid. It is, however, more
in the spirit of the original work. It exhibits Lazarillo
again as a servant to different kinds of masters, and as
gentleman-usher of a poor, proud lady of rank; after
which he retires from the world, and, becoming a religious
recluse, writes this account of himself which, though not
equal to the free and vigorous sketches of the work it pro-
fesses to complete, is by no means without value, especially
for its style. *
The author of the Lazarillo de Tdrmes, who, we are
told, took the " Amadis " and the " Celestina ** for his
travelling companions and by-reading, * was, as we have
* This continuation was printed at ** H. de Luna" on the title-pego
Antwerp in 1656, as ** La Segunda of his Lazarillo,— why I do not
Parte de Lazarillo de Tornies/' but know.
probably appeared earlier in Spain. • Francisco de Portugal, in his
* Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. L pp. ** Arte de Galanterfa," (Lisboa, 1670,
680 and 728. Juan de Luna is called 4to. p. 49,) says, that when Men-
472 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE. Period II.
intimated, not a person to devote himself to the Church ;
and we soon hear of hira serving as a soldier in the great
Spanish armies in Italy — a circumstance to which, in his
old age, he alludes with evident pride and pleasure. At
those seasons, however, when the troops were unoccupied,
we know that he gladly listened to the lectures of the famoys
professors of Bologna, Padua, and Rome, and added largely
to his already lai^e stores of elegant knowledge.
A character so strongly marked would naturally attract
the notice of a monarch, vigilant and clear-sighted, like
Charles the Fifth; and, as early as 1538, Mendoza was
made his ambassador to the republic of Venice, then one
of the leading powers of Europe. But there, too, though
much busied with grave negotiations, he loved to be
familiar with men of letters. The Aldi were then at the
height of their reputation, and he assisted and patronized
them. Paulus Manutius dedicated to him an edition of
the philosophical works of Cicero, acknowledging his skill
as a critic, and praising his Latinity, though, at the same
time, he says that Mendoza rather exhorted the young to
study philosophy and science in their native languages —
a proof of liberality rare in an age when the admiration
for the ancients led a great number of classical scholars to
treat whatever was modern and vernacular with contempt
At one period he gave himself up to the pursuit of Greek
and Latin literature with a zeal such as Petrarch had
shown long before him. He sent to Thessaly and the
famous convent of Mount Athos to collect Greek manu-
scripts. Josephus was first printed complete from his
library, and so were some of the Fathers of the Church.
And when, on one occasion, he had done so great a favour
to the Sultan Soliman that he was invited to demand any
return from that monarch's gratitude, the only reward he
would consent to receive for himself was a present of some
doza went ambussador to Rome, he companions but ** Amadis dc Gaula*'
took no bookfl with him for travelling and the ** Celestina."
Chap. IV. DIEGO HURT ADO DE MENDOZA. 473
Greek manuscripts, which, as he said, amply repaid all
his services.
But, in the midst of studies so well suited to his taste
and character, the Emperor called him away to more im-
portant duties. He was made military governor of Siena,
and required to hold both the Pope and the Florentines
in check — a duty which he fulfilled, though not without
peril to his life. Somewhat later he was sent to the great
Council of Trent, known as a political no less than an
ecclesiastical congress, in order to sustain the Imperial
interests there, and succeeded, by the exercise of a degree
of firmness, address, and eloquence which would alone
have made him one of the most considerable persons in
the Spanish monarchy. While at the Council, however,
in consequence of the urgency of afiairs, he was despatched,
as a special Imperial plenipotentiary to Rome, in 1547,
for the bold purpose of confronting and overawing the
Pope in his own capital. And in this, too, he succeeded ;
rebuking Julius the Third in open council, and so esta-
blishing his own consideration, as well as that of his
country, that for six years afterwards he is tx) be looked
upon as the head of the Imperial party throughout Italy,
and almost as a viceroy governing that country, or a large
part of it, for the Emperor, by his talents and firmness.
But at last he grew weary of this great labour and burden ;
and the Emperor himself having changed his system and
determined to conciliate Europe before he should abdicate,
Mendoza returned to Spain in 1554.''
The next year Philip the Second ascended the throne.
His policy, however, little resembled that of his father,
and Mendoza was not one of those who were well suited
^ Mcndoza's success as an ambassa- Rome, and as much of one as that
<lor passed into a proverb. Nearly a wise and great knight, Diego de
century afterwards, Salas Barbadillo, Mendoza, was in his time." Caval-
in one of his tales, says of a chevalier lero Puntual, Segunda Parte, Madrid,
ffhuiiistriey "According to his own 1619, 12mo., f. 6.
account, he was an ambassador to
474 HISTOKY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pebiod 11.
to the chaDged state of things. In consequence of this
he seldom came to court, and was not at all favoured by
the severe master who now ruled him, as he ruled all the
other great men of his kingdom, with a hard and anxious
tyranny. ® One instance of his displeasure against Men-
doza, and of the harsh treatment that followed it, is
sufficiently remarkable. The ambassador, who, though
sixty-four years of age when the event occurred, had lost
little of the fire of his youth, fell into a passionate dispute
with a courtier in the palace itself. The latter drew a
dagger, and Mendoza wrested it from him and threw it
out of the balcony where they were standing — some ac-
counts adding that he afterwards threw out the courtier
himself. Such a quarrel would certainly be accounted an
aftront to the royal dignity anywhere ; but in the eyes of
the formal and strict Philip the Second it was all but a
mortal offence. He chose to have Mendoza regarded as
a madman, and as such exiled him from his court — an
injustice against which the old man struggled in vain for
some time, and then yielded himself up to it with loyal
dignity.
His amusement dimng some portion of his exile was —
singular as it may seem in one so old — to write poetry. '
But the occupation had long been familiar to him. In the
first edition of the works of Boscan we have an epistle from
Mendoza to that poet, evidently written when he was
young ; besides which, several of his shorter pieces contain
internal proof that they were composed in Italy. But,
notwithstanding he had been so long in Venice and Rome,
and notwithstanding Boscan must have been among his
earliest friends, he does not belong entirely to the Italian
school of poetry ; for, though he has often imitated and
' Mendoza seems to have been there. Na>'aiTete, Vida do Cervantes,
treated harshly by Philip II. about Madrid, 1819, 8vo., p. 441.
sonic money matters relating to his * One of his poems is *' A Letter
accounts for work done on the castle in Redoiulitkis^ being under Arrest."
of Siena, when he was governor Obras, ICIO, f. 72.
Chap. IV. MENDOZA'S POETRY. 475
fully sanctioned the Italian measures, he often gave him-
self up to the old redondillas and quintillas^ and to the
national tone of feeling and reflection appropriate to these
ancient forms of Castilian verse. ***
T^e truth is, Mendoza had studied the ancients with a
zeal and success that had so far imbued his mind with their
character and temper, as in some measure to keep out all
undue modern influences. The first part of the Epistle to
Boscan, already alluded to, though written in flowing
terza rima^ sounds almost like a translation of the Epistle
of Horace to Numicius, and yet it is not even a servile
imitation ; while the latter part is absolutely Spanish, and
gives such a description of domestic life as never entered
the imagination of antiquity. " The Hymn in honour of
Cardinal Espinosa, one of the most finished of his poems,
is said to have been written after five days' constant
reading of. Pindar, but is nevertheless full of the old Cas-
tilian spirit ; ^^ and his second cancion^ though quite in the
Italian measure, shows the turns of Horace more than of
Petrarch. ^* Still it is not to be concealed that Mendoza
gave the decisive influence of his example to the new
forms introduced by Boscan and Garcilasso ; — a fact plain
from the manner in which that example is appealed to by
^^ There is but one edition of the own handwriting, and which is more
poetry of Mendoza. It was published ample than the published volume,
by Juan Diaz Hidalgo at Madrid, with Genoa, Catdlogo, Paris, 1844, 4to.,
a sonnet of Cervantes prefixed to it, p. 532.
in 1610, 4to. ; and is a rare and im- " This epistle was printed, during
portant book. In the address '* Al Mendoza's lifetime, in the first edi-
Lector," we are told that his lighter tion of Boscan's Works (ed. 1643, f.
works are not published, as unbecom- 129) ; and is to be found in the Poeti-
inar his dignity ; and if a sonnet, cal Works of Mendoza himself, (f. 9,)
pnnted for the first time by Sedano, in Sedano, Faber, etc. The earliest
(Pamaso Espanol, Tom. VlII. p. printed work of Mendoza that I have
120,) is to be regarded as a specimen seen is a cancion in the Cancionero
of those that were suppressed, we Gen. of 1635, f. 99. b.
have no reason to complain. ^ The Hymn to Cardinal Espinosa
There is in the Royal Library at is in the Poetical Works of Mendoza,
Paris, MS. No. 8293, a collection of f. 143. Sec also Sedano, Tom. IV.,
the poetry of Mendoza, which has (Indicc, p. ii.,) for its history,
been 8up|)osed to contain notes in his *® Obras, f. 99.
476 HISTORY OP SPANISH UTERATURE. PoiiOD II.
many of the poets of his time, and especially by Gregorio
Silvestre and Christdval de Mesa. ** In both styles, how-
ever, he succeeded. There is, perhaps, more richness of
thought in the specimens he has given us in the Italian
measures than in the others ; yet it can hardly be doubted
that his heart was in what he wrote upon the old popular
foundations. Some of his letrillas^ as they would now be
called, though they bore different names in his time, are
quite charming ; ^* and in many parts of the second divi-
sion of his poems, which is larger than that devoted to the
Italian measures, there is a light and idle humour, well
fitted to his subjects, and such as might have been anti-
cipated from the author of the "Lazarillo" rather than
from the Imperial representative at the Council of Trent
and the Papal court Indeed, some of his verses were
so free, that it was thought inexpedient to print them.
The same spirit is apparent in two prose letters, or
rather essays thrown into the shape of letters. The first
professes to come from a person seeking employment at
court, and gives an account of the whole class of CcUari-
beraSy or low courtiers, who, in soiled clothes and with
base, fawning manners, daily besieged the doors and walks
of the President of the Council of Castile, in order to
solicit some one of the multitudinous humble offices in his
gift. The other is addressed to Pedro de Salazar, ridicul-
ing a book he had published on the wars of the Emperor
in Germany, in which, as Mendoza declares, the author
took more credit to himself personally than he deserved.
Both are written with idiomatic humour, and a native
buoyancy and gaiety of spirit which seem to have lain at
^* Sec the sonnet of Mendoza in de Castro, in Mesa, Rimas, Madrid,
Silvestre's Poesks, (1599, f. 333,) in 1611, 12mo., f. 168,—
which he says,— Acompaflo a B<»am y Oarcilano
De vuettro limenio y invendwi ^ *"c"^ ^^^ ^Ho de Mendon, etc.
Pien«hiicerin^urtriapardopued« w The One called a ViiUmcico
. . « ., (Obras, f. 117) is a specimen of the
and the epistle of Mesa to the Count best of the gay ietrilku.
Chap. IV. DIEGO HURTADO DE MENDOZA. 477
the bottom of his character, and to have broken forth,
from time to time, during his whole life, notwithstanding
the severe employments which for so many years filled
and burdened his thoughts. ^'
The tendency of his mind, however, as he grew old,
was naturally to graver subjects ; and finding there was
no hope of his being recalled to court, he established him-
self in unambitious retirement at Granada, his native city.
But his spirit was not one that would easily sink into
inactivity ; and if it had been, he had not chosen a home
that would encourage such a disposition. For it was a
spot, not only fiiU of romantic recollections, but intimately
associated with the glory of his own family, — one where
he had spent much of his youth, and become familiar with
those remains and ruins of the Moorish power which bore
witness to days when the plain of Granada was the seat
of one of the most luxurious and splendid of the Moham-
medan dynasties. Here, therefore, he naturally turned
to the early studies of his half- Arabian education, and,
arranging his library of curious Moorish manuscripts^
devoted himself to the literature and history of his native
city, until, at last, apparently from want of other occupa-
tion, he determined to write a part of its annals.
The portion he chose was one very recent; that of
the rebellion raised by the Moors in 1568-1570, when
they were no longer able to endure the oppression of
Philip the Second ; and it is much to Mendoza's honour,
" These two letters are printed in del BachUler de Arcadia." The Cata-
that rude and ill-digested collection riberas, whom Mendoza so vehemently
called the ^^SeminarioErudito/' Ma- attacks in the first of them, seem to
drid, 1789, 4to. ; the first in Tom. have sunk still lower after his time,
XVIIL, and the second in Tom. and become a sort of iackals to the
XXIV. Pellicer, however, says that lawyers. Seethe "SoldadoPindaro"
the latter is taken from a very imper- of feon^alo de Cespedes y Menescs,
feet copy (ed. Don Quixote, Parte (Lisboa, 1626, 4to., f. 37. b,) where
I. c. 1, note) ; and, from some ex- they are treated with the cruellest
tracts of Clcmencin, (cd. Don Quix- satire. I have seen it sug
ote, Tom. I. p. 6,) I infer that the Diego de Mendoza is not
other must be so likewise. They pass, of the last of the two lettei
in the MS., under the title of ** Cartas not know on what ground.
47S H15TOBT OF SPASISB UTE&ATCKE. PuodIT.
that, with sympathies entirely Spanish, he has yet done
the hated enemies of his £uA and people such generous
justice, diat his book could not be published till many
years after his own death, — not, indeed, till the unhappy
Moors themselves had been finally expelled fix>ni Spain.
His means for writing such a work were remarkable.
His &ther, as we have noticed, had been a general in the
conquering army of 1492, to which the story of this
rebellion necessarily often recurs, and had afterward been
governor of Granada. One of his nephews had com-
manded the troops in this very war. And now, after
peace was restored by the submission of the rebels, the
old statesman, as he stood amidst the trophies and ruins of
the conflict, soon learned from eyewitnesses and partisans
whatever of interest had happened on either "^ide that he
had not himself seen. Familiar, therefore, with every
thing of which be speaks, there is a freshness and power
in his sketches that carry us at once into the midst of the
scenes and events he describes, and make us sympathize
in details too minute to be always interesting, if they
were not always marked with the impress of a living
reality. "
But though his history springs, as it were, vigorously
from the very soil to which it relates, it is a sedulous and
well-considered imitation of the ancient masters, and en-
tirely unlike the chronicling spirit of the preceding period.
The genius of antiquity, indeed, is announced^ in its first
sentence.
" My purpose," says the old soldier, " is to record that
war of Granada which the Catholic King of Spain, Don
Philip the Second, son of the unconquered Emperor,
Don Charles, maintained in the kingdom of Granada,
against the newly converted rebels ; a part whereof I saw,
»' Tho first edition of the ** Guerra P^®^ edition is the beautiful one by
do Granada ' is of Madrid, 1610, 4to. : Motvfen (Vslencia, 1776, 4to.) : 8in<4
but It IS incomplete. The first coml ^>^^cVi thenre have been several others
Chap. IV. MENDOZA'S GUERRA DE GRANADA. 479
and a part heard from persons who carried it on by their
arms and by their counsels."
Sallustwas undoubtedly Mendoza's model. Like the
War against Catiline, the War of the Moorish Insurrec-
tion .is a small work, and like that, too, its style is gene-
rally rich and bold. But sometimes long passages are
evidently imitated from Tacitus, whose vigour and severity
the wise diplomatist seems to approach as nearly as he
does the more exuberant style of his prevalent master.
Some of these imitations are as happy, perhaps, as any that
can be produced from the class to which they belong; for
they are often no less unconstrained than if they were quite
original. Take, for instance, the following passage, which
has often been noticed for its spirit and feeling, but which
is partly a translation from the account given by Tacitus,
in his most picturesque and condensed manner, of the visit
made by Germanicus and his army to the spot where lay,
unburied, the remains of the three legions of Varus, in
the forests of Germany, and of the ftmeral honours that
army paid to the memory of their fallen and almost for-
gotten countrymen; — the circumstance described by the
Spanish historian being so remarkably similar to that
given in the Annals of Tacitus, that the imitation Is per-
fectly natural. ^®
During a rebellion of the Moors in 1500-1501, it was
thought of consequence to destroy a fort in the mountains
that lay towards Mdlaga. The service was dangerous,
and none came forward to undertake it, until Alonso de
Aguilar, one of the principal nobles in the service of Fer-
dinand and Isabella, ofiered himself for the enterprise.
His attempt, as had been foreseen, failed, and hardly a
man survived to relate the details of the disaster; but
Aguilar's enthusiasm and self-devotion created a great
' " The passage in Tacitus is An- tation in Mendoza is Book IV. ed.
nales, Lib. I. c. 61, 62; and the imi- 1776, pp. 800-802.
480 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period II.
sensation at the time, and were afterwards recorded in
more than one of the old ballads of the country. *•
At the period, however, when Mendoza touches on this
unhappy defeat, nearly seventy years had elapsed, and
the bones of both Spaniards and Moors still lay whitening
on the spot where they had fallen. The war between the
two races was again renewed by the insurrection of the
conquered; a military expedition was again undertaken
into the same mountains; and the Duke of Arcos, its
leader, was a lineal descendant of some who had fallen
there, and intimately connected with the family of Alonso
de Aguilar himself. While, therefore, the troops for thb
expedition were collecting, the Duke, from a natural
curiosity and interest in what so nearly concerned him,
took a small body of soldiers and visited the melancholy
spot.
" The Duke left Casares,*' says Mendoza, " examining
and securing the passes of the mountains as he went ; a
needful providence, on account of the little certainty there
is of success in all military adventures. They then began
to ascend the range of heights where it was said the bodies
had remained unburied, melancholy and loathsome alike
to the sight and the memory. *® For there were among
those who now visited it both kinsmen and descendants of
the slain, or men who knew by report whatever related to
the sad scene. And first they came to the spot where the
vanguard had stopped with its leader, in consequence of
the darkness of the night ; a broad opening between the
foot of the mountain and the Moorish fortress, without
defence of any sort but such as was afforded by the nature
of the place. Here lay human skulls and the bones of
horses, heaped confusedly together or scattered about, just
*» The accounts may be found in Ma- ^ «* Inccdunt," says Tacitus, *• dkb-
riana, (Lib. XXVII. c. 6,) wid at the stos locos, visuque ac memorii defor-
end of Uita, ** Guerras de Granada," mes."
where two of the ballads are inserted.
Chap. IV. MENDOZA'S GUERRA DE GRANADA. 481
as they had chanced to fall, mingled with fragments of
arms and bridles and the rich trappings of the cavalry. *^
Farther on, they found the fort of the enemy, of which
there were now only a few low remains, nearly levelled
with the surface of the soil And then they went forward,
talking about the places where officers, leaders, and com-
mon soldiers had perished together; relating how and
where those who survived had been saved, among whom
were the Count of Urefia and Pedro de Aguilar, elder son
of Don Alonso ; speaking of the spot where Don Alonso
had retired and defended himself between two rocks ; the
wound the Moorish captain first gave him on the head,
and then another in the breast as he fell ; the words he
uttered as they closed in the fight, *I am Don Alonso,*
and the answer of the chieftain as he struck him down,
* You are Don Alonso, but I am the chieftain of Benas-
tepdr ;' and of the wounds Don Alonso gave, which were
not fatal, as were those he received. They remembered,
too, how firiends and enemies had alike mourned his fate ;
and now, on that same spot, the same sorrow was renewed
by the soldiers, — a race sparing of its gratitude, except in
tears. The general commanded a service to be performed
for the dead ; and the soldiers present ofiered up prayers
that they might rest in peace, uncertain whether they
interceded for their kinsmen or for their enemies, — a
feeling which increased their rage and the eagerness they
felt for finding those upon whom they could now take
vengeance.** **
There are several instances like this, in the course of
the work, that show how well pleased Mendoza was to
step aside into an episode and indulge himself in appro-
*' *' Medio campi albcntia ossa, ut exercitus, sextum post cladis aimum,
fugerant, ut restiterant, disjecta vel trium legionum ossa, nullo nosccntc
aggerata; adjacebant fragmina telo- alienas reliquias an suonim humo
rum, equorumque artus, simul truncis tegeret, omnes, ut coiyunctos ut con-
arborum antefixa ora." sanguineos, auctfi in hostem irft, moB-
"* '' Igitur RomanuB, qui aderat, sti simul et infensi condebant."
VOL. I. 2 I
482 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Pebiod II.
priate ornaments of his subject The main direction of
his story, however, is never unnaturally deviated from;
and wherever he goes, he is almost always powerful and
effective. Take, for example, the following speech of El
Zaguer, one of the principal conspirators, exciting his
countrymen to break out into open rebellion, by exposing
to them the long series of aflfronts and cruelties they had
suffered from their Spanish oppressors. It reminds us of
the speeches of the indignant Carthaginian leaders in Livy.
"Seeing," says the historian, "that the greatness of the
undertaking brought with it hesitation, delays, and expo-
sure to accident and change of opinion, this conspirator
collected the principal men together in the house of
Zinzan, in the Albaycin, and addressed them, setting
forth the oppression they had constantly endured, at the
hands both of public officers and private persons, till they
were become, he said, no less slaves than if they had been
formally made such, — their wives, children, estates, and
even their own persons, being in the power and at the
merey of their enemies, without the hope of seeing them-
selves freed from such servitude for centuries, — exposed to
as many tyrants as they had neighbours, and suffering con-
stantly new impositions and new taxes, — deprived of the
right of sanctuacy in places where those take refuge
who, through accident or (what is deemed among them
the more justifiable cause) through revenge, commit
crime, — thrust out from the protection of the very churches
at whose religious rites we are yet required, under severe
penalties, to be present, — subjected to the priests to enrich
them, and yet held to be unworthy of favour from God or
men, — treated and regarded as Moors among Christians,
that we may be despised, and as Christians among Moors,
that we may neither be believed nor consoled. *They
have excluded us, too,* he went on, * from life and human
intercourse ; for they forbid us to speak our own language,
and we do not understand theirs. In what way, then, are
Chap. IV. MENDOZA'S GUERRA DE GRANADA. 483
we to communicate with others, or ask or give what life
requires, — cut off from the conversation of men, and
denied what is not denied even to the brutes ? And yet
may not he who speaks Castilian still hold to the law of
the Prophet, and may not he who speaks Moorish hold to
the law of Jesus ? They force our children into their
religious houses and schools, and teach them arts which
our fathers forbade us to learn, lest the purity of our own
law should be corrupted, and its very truth be made a
subject of doubt and quarrels. They threaten, too, to
tear these our children from the arms of their mothers
and the protection of their fathers, and send them into
foreign lands, where they shall forget our manners, and
become the enemies of those to whom they owe their
existence. They command us to change our dress and
wear clothes like the Castilians. Yet among themselves
the Germans dress in one fashion, the French in another,
and the Greeks in another; their friars, too, and their
young men, and their old men, have all separate costumes ;
each nation, each profession, each class, has its own pecu-
liar dress, and still all are Christians; — while we — we
Moors — are not to be allowed to dress like Moors, as if we
wore our faith in our raiment and not in our hearts.***"
This is certainly picturesque ; and so is the greater part
of the whole history, both from its subject and from the
manner in which it is treated. Nor is it lacking in dignity
and elevation. Its style is bold and abrupt, but true to
the idiom of the language ; and the current of thought is
deep and strong, easily carrying the reader onward with
its flood. Nothing in the old chronicling style of the
earlier period is to be compared to it, and little in any
subsequent period is equal to it for manliness, vigour, and
truth. ^*
«» The speech of El Zaguer is in Garces, ** Vigor y Eleeanda de la
the first book of the History. Lengua Castellana/' Madrid, 1791,
■* There are some acute remarks on 4to., Tom. II.
the style of Meodoza in the Preface to
2i2
484 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. PemodIL
The War of Granada is the last literary labour its
author undertook. He was, indeed, above seventy years
old when he finished it ; and, perhaps to signify that he
now renounced the career of letters, he collected his
library, both the classics and manuscripts he had procured
with so much trouble in Italy and Greece, and the curious
Arabic works he had found in Granada, and presented die
whole to his severe sovereign for his favourite establish-
ment of the Escurial, among whose untold treasures they
still hold a prominent place. At any rate, after this, we
hear nothing of the old statesman, except that, for some
reason or other, Philip the Second permitted him to come
to court again ; and that, a few days after he arrived at
Madrid, he was seized with a violent illness, of which he
died in April, 1575, seventy-two years old. •*
On whatever side we regard the character of Mendoza,
we feel sure that he was an extraordinary man ; but the
combination of his powers is, after all, what is most to be
wondered at. In all of them, however, and especially in
the union of a life of military adventure and active interest
in affairs with a sincere love of learning and elegant letters^
he showed himself to be a genuine Spaniard ; — the
elements of greatness which his various fortunes had thus
unfolded within him being all among the elements of
*^ Pleasant glimpses of the occupa- And I think he is ri^ht ; for as it is
tions and character of Mendoza, during the most sumptuous building of ancient
the last two years of his life, may be or modem times that I have seen, so
found in several letters he wrote to I thmk that nothing should be want-
Zurita, the historian, which are pre- ing in it, and that it ought to contain
served in Dormer, •* Progresos de la the most sumptuous library in the
HistoriadeAragon,"(Zaragoza,1680, world." In another, a few months
folio, pp. 501, etc.) The way in only before his death, he says, ** I go
which he announces his intention of on dusting my books and examining
giving his books to the Escurial Li- them to see wheUier thej are injured
brary , in a letter, dated at Granada, by the rats, and am well pleased to find
1 Dec. , 1 573, is very characteristic : < * I them in good ccmdition. Strange ao-
keep collecting my books and sending thors there are among them, of whom
them to Alcali, because the late Doo- I have no recollection ; and I wonder
tor VeUisco wrote me word, that his I have learnt so little, when I find
M^esty would be pleased to see them, how much I have read." Letter of
and perhaps put them in the Escurial. Nov. 18, 1674.
Cbap. IV. CHARACTER OF MENDOZA. 4S5
Spanish national poetry and eloquence^ in their best age
and most generous development The loyal old knight,
therefore, may well stand forward with those who, first in
the order of time, as well as of merit, are to constitute that
final school of Spanish literature which was built on the
safe foundations of the national genius and character, and
can, therefore, never be shaken by the floods or convulsions
of the ages that may come after it
486 HISTOBT OF SPAKISH UTBRATUBE. Poiov II.
CHAPTER V.
Didactic Poetbt. — ^Lun db Escobab. — Cobklas. — Tobbk. — Didactic
PBO0B.'yiIXAIX>BO6. — OUTA. — ScDBaO.— SaULZAB. — LciS MkZIA.—
Pbbeo Mkzia. — Navabba. — Ubbea. — Palacios RcBioa. — VAarBOA».—
JcAK DB AVII.A. — AnToirio deGukvaba. — DiaLogo db I.AB Lkkgcas.—
PsOOBnt OP THB CAn-UIAK FBOM THE TiMB OT JoHV THB SBC03n» TO
that OT THB EmPEBOB ChABLBS THB FlPTH.
While an Italian spirit, or, at least, an observance of
Italian forms, was beginning so decidedly to prevail in
Spanish lyric and pastoral poetry, what was didactic,
whether in prose or verse, took directions somewhat
different
In didactic poetry, among other forms, the old one of
question and answer, known from the age of Juan de
Mena, and found in the Cancioneros as late as Badajos,
continued to enjoy much favour. Originally, such ques-
tions seem to have been riddles and witticisms ; but in the
sixteenth century they gradually assumed a graver charac-
ter, and at last claimed to be directly and absolutely
didactic, constituting a form in which two remarkable
books of light and easy verse were produced. The first
of these books is called ** The Four Hundred Answers to
as many Questions of the Illustrious Don Fadrique
Enriquez, the Admiral of Castile, and other persons.** It
was printed three times in 1545, the year in which it first
appeared, and had undoubtedly a great success in the class
of society to which it was addressed, and whose manners
and opinions it strikingly illustrates. It contains at least
twenty thousand verses, and was followed, in 1552, by
Chap. V. DIDACTIC POETRY. 487
another similar volume, partly in prose, and promising a
third, which, however, was never published. Except five
hundred proverbs, as they are inappropriately called, at
the end of the first volume, and fifly glosses at the end of
the second, the whole consists of such ingenious questions
as a distinguished old nobleman in the reign of Charles
the Fiflh and his friends might imagine it would amuse
or instruct them to have solved. They are on subjects as
various as possible, — religion, morals, history, medicine,
magic, — in short, whatever could occur to idle and curious
minds ; but they were all sent to an acute, good-humoured
Minorite friar, Luis de Escobar, who, being bed ridden
with the gout and other grievous maladies, had nothing
better to do than to answer them.
His answers form the body of the work. Some of them
are wise and some foolish, some are learned and some
absurd; but they all bear the impression of their age.
Once we have a long letter of advice about a godly life,
sent to the Admiral, which, no doubt, was well suited to
his case ; and repeatedly we get complaints from the old
monk himself of his sufferings, and accounts of what he
was doing ; so that from different parts of the two volumes
it would be possible to collect a tolerably distinct picture
of the amusements of society, if not its occupations, about
the court, at the period when they were written. The
poetry is in many respects not unlike that of Tusser, who
was contemporary with Escobar, but it is better and more
spirited. ^
' Escobar complains that many of and Nos. 280, 281, 282, are curious,
the questions sent to him were in such from the accounts they contain of the
bad verse, that it cost him a great deal poet himself, who must have died after
of labour to put them into a proper 1662. In the Preface to the first vo-
shape ; and it must be admitted, that lume, he says the Admiral died in
both questions and answers generally 1638. If the whole work had been
read as if they came from one hand, completed, according to its author's
Sometimes a long moral dissertation purpose, it would have contained just
occurs, especially in the prose of the a tnousand questions and answers,
second volume, but the answers are For a specimen, we may take No. 10
rarely tedious from their length. (Quatrocientas Preguntas, (^fajngof^
Those in the first volume are the best, 1646, folio) aa one of the more ridi.
4,^ HisrosT or s^jjcisb utclatcix.
TkeMeoolbaok of qnodoas and azsverE to ivlock ve
hare relerred is grsrer dm die fircL It ww prizitzd die
tiext year after die great nocesi of Ewobar^s wor^ and
is called "^Tbree Hundred QaesliaoB oamoenang Xa&nal
Subjed% vidi dieir Aasven^* bj AlotHwi Ijoipa de
C<irelaSy a physician, who haid more kandng pcrliqi^
dian die monk he imitatyd, hot is lev amnsins, and
writes in verses neidier so wdl eonsbnieted nor so
agreeable'
Odiers fidlowed, like Gonalei de la Torre, who in
1590 dedicated to die heir-apparait of the Spanish thnme
a volume of such dull religious riddles as were admired a
century before. ' But nobody who wrote in tiiis peculiar
didactic style of verse equalled Escobar, and it sooo passed
out of general notice and regard. ^
In prose, about the same time, a fiishion appeared of
imitating the Boman didactic prose-writers, just as those
writers had been imitated by Castig^one, Bembo, Giovanni
della Casa, and others in Italy. The impulse seems
plainly to have been communicated to Spain by die
modems, and not by the ancients. It was because the
Italians led the way that the Bomans were imitated, and
not because the example of Cicero and Seneca had, of
itself been able to form a prose school, of any kind, beyond
euloui. where the Admiral aslu how printed at Valladolid, 1552, and both
nuuiy ke/0 Christ gave to St. Peter, are in folio.
ami No. 190 HA one of the better sort, ■ The rolome of Corelas's " TVes-
whffre the Admiml asks whether it entas Preguntas** (VaUadolid, 1546,
be nm^^swiiy to kneel before the priest 4to.) b accompanied by a leaned
at couivtmumf if the penitent finds it prose commentary in a respectable
very [lainful ; to which the old monk didactic style.
answers gently and well,— ■ Docientas Piwuntas, etc, ijor
ll«fiiir,throatfhrafrHn« tent from God aboT«, Juan Gonzalez de UL Torre, Madrid,
Cttnfitminitt knmmU not, ftiU eommlto no tin { 1690 4tO
But l«t him rhsHsh mmUMt, bumbU love, 4 i' »l»/^.W «.«Ka. K-«« ^lA ,^.
And tbftt (auU imrify hu heart within. ^ sliould rather Have said, pcr-
Th« fifth prt of the first volume ^^^J^V^t ^f"^! ''''"'-•?"
known. The second volume was
Chap. V. FRANCISCO DE VILLALOBOS. 489
the Pyrenees.* The fashion was not one of so much
importance and influence as that introduced into the
poetry of the nation ; but it is worthy of notice, both on
account of its results during the reign of Charles the
Fifth, and on account of an effect more or less distinct
which it had on the prose style of the nation afterwards.
The eldest among the prominent writers produced by
this state of things was Francisco de Villalobos, of whom
we know little, except that he belonged to a family which,
for several successive generations, had been devoted to the
medical art; that he was himself the physician, first of
Ferdinand the Catholic, * and then of Charles the Fifth ;
that he published, as early as 1498, a poem on his own
science, in five hundred stanzas, founded on the rules of
Avicenna;^ and that he continued to be known as an
author, chiefly on subjects connected with his profession,
till 1543, before which time he had become weary of the
court, and sought a voluntary retirement, where he died,
above seventy years old. ® His translation of the " Am-
phitryon** of Plautus belongs rather to the theatre, but,
like that of Oliva, soon to be mentioned, produced no
effect there, and, like his scientific treatises, demands no
especial notice. The rest of his works, including all that
belong to the department of elegant literature, are to be
^ The general tendency and tone of which he says he was detained in
the didactic prose-writcrH in the reiffn that city by the king's severe illness,
of Charles V. prove this fact ; but the (Obras, (^aragoca, 1M4, folio, f. 71. b.)
Discourse of MonEdes, the historian, This was the illness of which Ferdi*
prefixed to the works of his uncle, nand died in less than four months
Feman Perez de Oliva, shows the way afterward.
in which the change was brought ^ Mendez, Typographia, p. 249.
about. Some Spaniards, it is plain Antonio, Bib. Vetus, ed. Bayer, Tom.
from this curious document, were be- II. p. 344, note,
come ashamed to write any longer in 'He seems, from the letter just
Latin, as if their own language were noticed, to have been displeased with
unfit for practical use in matters of his position as early as 1515 ; but he
grave importance, when they had, in must have continued at court above
the Italian, examples of entire success twenty vears longer, when he left it
before them. Obras de Oliva, Madrid, poor and disheartened. (Obras, f. 45.)
1787, 12mo., Tom. I., pp. xvi.-xlvii. From a passage two leaves farther on,
' There is a letter of Villalobos, 1 think he left it ailcr the death of
dated at Calatayud, Oct. 6, 1515, in the Empress, in 1539.
490 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Psbiod II.
found in a volume of moderate size, which he dedicated to
the Infante Don Luis of Portugal.
The chief of them is called " Problems," and is divided
into two tractates ; — the first, which is very short, being
on the Sun, the Planets, the Four Elements, and the
Terrestrial Paradise ; and the last, which is longer, on
Man and Morals, beginning with an essay on Satan, and
ending with one on Flattery and Flatterers, which is
especially addressed to the heir-apparent of the crown of
Spain, afterwards Philip the Second. Each of these
subdivisions, in each tractate, has eight lines of the old
Spanish verse prefixed to it, as its Problem, or text, and
the prose discussion which follows, like a gloss, constitutes
the substance of the work. The whole is of a very
miscellaneous character ; most of it grave, like the essays
on Knights and Prelates, but some of it amusing, like an
essay on the Marriage of Old Men. * The best portions
are those that have a satirical vein in them ; such as the
ridicule of litigious old men, and of old men that wear
paint. ^'
A Dialogue on Intermittent Fevers, a Dialogue on the
Natural Heat of the Body, and a Dialogue between the
Doctor and the Duke, his patient, are all quite in the
manner of the contemporary didactic discussions of the
Italians, except that the last contains passages of a broad
and free humour, approaching more nearly to the tone of
comedy, or rather of farce. ^^ A treatise that follows, on
the Three Great Annoyances of much talking, much dis-
puting, and much laughing, ^* and a grave discourse on
» If Poggio's trifle, " An Seni sit first part of the Obras de Villalobos,
Uxor ducenda/' had been pub- 1544, and fill 34 leaves.
/t«^ec/when Villalobos wrote, I should " Obras, f. 35.
not doubt he had seen it. As " I have translated the title of this
it is, the coincidence mav not be Treatise *' The Three Great Anmnf^
accidental ; for Poggio died in 1449, ances.** In the original it is ** The
though his Dialogue was not, I Three Great ," leaving the
believe, printed till the present ccn- title, says Villalobos, in his Prdlogo,
tury. unfinished, so that every body may
'"^ The Problemas constitute the fill it up as he likes.
Chap. V. FERNAN PEREZ DE OLIVA. 491
Love, with which the volume ends, are all that remain
worth notice. They have the same general characteristics
with the rest of his miscellanies ; the style of some portions
of them being distinguished by more purity and more
pretensions to dignity than have been found in the earlier
didactic prose-writers, and especially by greater clearness
and exactness of expression. Occasionally, too, we meet
with an idiomatic familiarity, frankness, and spirit that
are very attractive, and that partly compensate us for the
absurdities of the old and forgotten doctrines in natural
history and medicine, which Villalobos inculcated because
they were the received doctrines of his time.
The next writer of the same class, and, on the whole,
one much more worthy of consideration, is Fernan Perez
de Oliva, a Cordovese, who was born about 1492, and
died, still young, in 1530. His father was a lover of
letters ; and the son, as he himself informs us, was educated
with .care from his earliest youth. At twelve years of
Hge, he was already a student in the University of Sala-
manca ; after which he went, first, to Alcala, when it was
in the beginning of its glory ; then to Paris, whose
University had long attracted students from every part of
Europe; and finally to Bome, where, under the pro-
tection of an uncle at the court of Leo the Tenth, all the
advantages to be found in the most cultivated capital of
Christendom were accessible to him.
On his uncle's death, it was proposed to him to take the
oflSces left vacant by that event ; but, loving letters more
than courtly honours, he went back to Paris, where he
taught and lectured in its University for three years.
Another Pope, Adrian the Sixth, was now on the throne,
and, hearing of Oliva's success, endeavoured anew to draw
him to Rome ; but the love of his country and of litera-
ture continued to be stronger than the love of ecclesiastical
preferment He returned, therefore, to Salamanca; be-
came one of the original members of the rich ^^ GoUege of
492 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Psuod 1L
the Archbishop,** founded in 1528 ; and was successively
chosen Professor of Ethics in the University, and its
Rector. But he had hardly risen to his highest distinc-
tions when he died suddenly, and at a moment when so
many hopes rested on him, that his death was felt as a
misfortune to the cause of letters throughout Spain. ^*
01iva*s studies at Rome had taught him how successfiilly
the Latin writers had been imitated by the Italians, and
he became anxious that they should be no less successfiilly
imitated by the Spaniards. He felt it as a wrong done to
his native language, that almost all serious prose discus-
sions in Spain were still carried on in Latin rather than in
Spanish.** Taking a hint, then, from Gastiglione's "Co^
tigiano,*' and opposing the current of opinion among the
learned men with whom he lived and acted, he began a
didactic dialogue on the Dignity of Man, formally defend-
ing it as a work in the Spanish lan^age written by a
Spaniard. Besides this, he wrote several strictly didactic
discourses ; — one on the Faculties of the Mind and their
Proper Use ; another urging Gdrdova, his native city, to
improve the navigation of the Guadalquivir, and so obtain
a portion of the rich commerce of the Indies, which was
then monopolized by Seville ; and another, that was deli-
vered at Salamanca, when he was a candidate for the chair
of moral philosophy ; — in all which his nephew, Morales,
the historian, assures us it was his uncle's strong desire to
furnish practical examples of the power and resources of
the Spanish language. *^
^' The most ample life of Oliva is 26-51.) In the course of it, he np
in Rczabal y Ugarte, '* Biblioteca de his travels all over Spain and out of it,
los Escritorcs, que han sido individuos in pursuit of knowledge, had amounted
de los seis Colegios Mayores," (Ma- to more than three thousand leagues.
drid, 1805, 4to., pp. 239, etc.) But >« Obras, Tom. I. p. xxiii.
all that we know about him, of any real ^ The works of Oliva have been
interest, is to be found in the exposi- published at least twice, the first time
tion he made of his claims and merits oy his nephew, Ambrosio de Morales,
when he contended publicly for the 4to., Cordova, in 1585, and again at
chair of Moral Philosophy at Sala- Madrid, 1787,2 vols., 12roo. In the
manca. (Obras, 1787, Tom. II. pp. Index £xpurgatorius, (1667, p. 424,)
Chap. V. SEDENO.-SALAZAR.— LUIS MEXIA.— NAVARRA. 493
The purpose of giving greater dignity to his native
tongue, by employing it, instead of the Latin, on all the
chief subjects of human inquiry, was certainly a fortunate
one in Oliva, and soon found imitators. Juan de Sedefio
published, in 1536, two prose dialogues on Love, and one
on Happiness ; the former in a more graceful tone of gal-
lantry, and the latter in a more philosophical spirit, and
with more terseness of manner than belonged to the age. ^*
Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, a man of learning, com-
pleted the dialogue of Oliva on the Dignity of Man,
which had been left unfinished, and, dedicating it to Fer-
nando Cortes, published it in 1546, ^' together with a long
prose fable by Luis Mexia, on Idleness and Labour, written
in a pure and somewhat elevated style, but too much
indebted to the " Vision ** of the Bachiller de la Torre. '"^
Pedro de Navarra published, in 1567, forty Moral Dia-
logues, partly the result of conversations held in an Aca-
demia of distinguished persons, who met, from time to
time, at the house of Fernando Cortes. '* Pedro Mexia,
they are forbidden to be read '* till the''Suinadeyarone8llustre8"(Are-
they are corrected ," — a phrase which valo, 1651, and Toledo, 1 590, folio) ; —
aeems to have left each copy of them a poor biographical dictionary, con-
to the discretion of the spiritual di* taining lives ot about two hundred dis-
rector of its owner. In the edition of tinguished personages, alphabetically
1787, a sheet was cancelled, in order arranged, and beginning with Adam.
to eet rid of a note of Morales. See Sedeno was a soldier, and served in
Index of 1790. Italy.
In the same volume with the minor " The whole Dialogue — both the
works of Oliva, Morales published fif- part written by Oliva and that written
teen moral discourses of his own, and oy Francisco Cervantes — was pub-
one by Pedro Valles of Cdrdova, none lished at Madrid (1772, 4to.) m a
of which have much literary value, new edition by Cerddy Rico, with his
though several, like one on the Ad van- usual abundant, but awkward, pre-
tage of Teaching with Gentleness, and faces and annotations,
one on Uie Difference between Genius "* It is republished in the volume
and Wisdom, are marked with excel- mentioned in the last note ; but we
lent sense. That of Yalles is on the know nothing of its author.
Fear of Death. ^ Didlogos muy Subtiles y Nota-
^ Siguense doa Coloquios de bles, etc., por D. Pedro de Navarra,
Amores y otro de Bicnaventuran^a, Obispo de Comenge, Carago^a, 1567,
etc., por Juan de Sedeno, vezino de 12mo., 118 leaves. The first five Dia-*
Arevalo, 1636, sm. 4to., no printer or logiies are on the Character becoming
Slace, pp. 16. This is the same Juan a Itoyal Chronicler ; the next four on
e Sedeno who translated the *' Celes- the Differences between a Rustic and a
tina** into verse in 1 540, and who wrote Noble Life ; and the remaining thirty-
494
HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period IL
the chronicler, wrote a Silva, or Miscellany, divided, in
the later editions, into six books, and subdivided into a
multitude of separate essays, historical and moral ; declar-
ing it to be the first work of the kind in Spanish, which, he
says, he considers quite as suitable for such discussions as
the Italian.*® To this, which may be regarded as an
imitation of Macrobius or of Athenaeus, and which was
printed in 1543, he added, in 1547, six didactic dialogues,
— curious, but of little value, — in the first of which the
advantages and disadvantages of having regular physicians
are agreeably set forth, with a lightness and exactness of
style hardly to have been expected.*^ And finally, to
one on Preparation for Death; — all
written in a pure, simple Castilian
style, but witn little either new or
striking in the thoughts. Their au-
thor says, it was a rule of the Acade-
miuy that the person who arrived last
at each meeting should furnish a sub*
ject for discussion, and direct another
member to reduce to writing the re-
marks that might be made on it, —
Cardinal Poggio, Juan d' Estuniga,
knight-commander of Castile, and
other persons of note, being of Uie so-
ciety. Navarra adds, that he had
written two hundred dialogues, in
which there were " few matters that
had not been touched upon in that ex-
cellcnt Academy," and notes especial-
ly, that the subject of Preparation for
Death had been discussed after the de-
cease of Cobos, a confidential minister
of Charles V., and that he himself had
acted as secretary on the occasion.
Traces of any thing contemporary are,
however, rare in the forty dialogues
he printed ; — the most important that
I have noticed relating to Charles V.
and his retirement at San Yuste, which
the good Bishop seems to have believ-
ed was a sincere abandonment of all
worldly thoughts and passions. I find
nothing to illustrate tne character of
Cortds, except the fact that such
meetings were held at his house.
*" Silva de Varia Leccion, por Pe-
dro Mexia. The first edition (Se-
villa, 1543, fol., lit. got., 144 leaves)
is in only three parts. Another, which
I also possess, is of Madrid, 1669, and
in six Dooks, filling about 700 closely
printed quarto pages. It was long
very popular, and there are many edi-
tions of it, besides translations into
Italian, Grerman, French, Flemish,
and English. One English version is
by Thomas Fortescue, and appeared in
1671. (Warton's Eng. Poetry, Loo-
don, 1824, 8vo., Tom. IV., p. 312.)
Another, which is anonymous, is
called *' The Treasure of Ancient and
Modem Times, etc., translated out of
that worthy Spanish Gentleman, Pe-
dro Mexia, and Mr. Francisco Sanso-
vino, the Italianj" etc. (London, 1618,
fol.) It is a cunous mixture of similar
discussions by difierent authors, Span-
ish, Italian, and French. Mexia'kpart
b^ins at Book I. c. 8.
" The earliest edition of the Dia-
logues, I think, is that of Seville,
1547, 8vo. The one I use is in 12mo.,
and was printed at Seville, 1562,
black letter, 167 leaves. The second
dialogue, which is on Inviting to
Feasts, is amusing; but the last,
which is on subjects of physical sci-
ence, such as the causes of thunder,
earthquakes, and comets, is now-^i-davs
only curious or ridiculous. At the
end of the Dialogues, and sometimes
at the end of old editions of the Silva,
is found a free translation of the Ex-
hortation to Virtue by Isocrates, made
from the Latin of Agricola, because
Chap. V. URREA.— PEDRO MEXIA.-OLIVA. 495
complete the short list, Urrea, a favoured soldier of the
Emperor, and at one time viceroy of Apulia, — the same
person who made the poor translation of Ariosto mentioned
in Don Quixote, — published, in 1566, a Dialogue on True
Military Honour, which is written in a pleasant and easy
style, and contains, mingled with the notions of one who
says he trained himself for glory by reading romances of
chivalry, not a few amusing anecdotes of duels and military
adventures. **
Both of the works of Pedro Mexia, but especially his
Silva, enjoyed no little popularity during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries; and, in point of style, they are
certainly not without merit None, however, of the pro-
ductions of any one of the authors last mentioned had so
much force and character as the first part of the Dialogue
on the Dignity of Man. And yet Oliva was certainly not
a person of a commanding genius. His imagination never
warms into poetry ; his invention is never sufficient to give
new and strong views to his subject ; and his system of
imitating both the Latin and the Italian masters rather
tends to debilitate than to impart vigour to his thoughts.
But there is a general reasonableness and wisdom in what
he says that win and often satisfy us, and these, with his
style, which, though sometimes declamatory, is yet, on the
whole, pure and well settled, and his happy idea of defend-
ing and employing the Castilian, then coming into all its
rights as a living language, have had the effect of giving
him a more lasting reputation than that of any other
Spanish prose writer of his time."
Mexia did not understand Greek. It Part First, containing a detailed state-
is of no value. mcnt of every thing relating to the
** Di^logo de la Verdadera Honra duel proposed by Francis I. to Charles
Militar, par Gerdnimo Ximenez de V.
Urrea. There are editions of 1566, ** As late as 1692, when the ** Con-
1575, 1661, etc. (Latassa, Bib. Arag. version de la Magdalena,*' by Pedro
Nueva, Tom. I. p. 264.) Mine is a Malon de Chaide, was published, the
small quarto volume, Zaragoza, 1642. opposition to the use or the Castilian
One or the most amusing passages in in grave subjects was continued. He
the Dialogue of Urrea is the one in says, people talked to him as if it were
496
HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period II.
The same general tendency to a more formal and ele-
gant style of discussion is found in a few other ethical and
religious authors of the reign of Charles the Fifth that are
still remembered ; such as Palacios Rubios, who wrote ao
essay on Military Courage, for the benefit of his son;"
Vanegas, who, under the title of " The Agony of Passing
through Death,*' gives us what may rather be considered
an ascetic treatise on holy living •, ** and Juan de Avila,
sometimes called the Apostle of Andalusia, whose letters
are fervent exhortations to virtue and religion, composed
with care and often with eloquence, if not with entire
purity of style. "
The author in this class, however, who during his life-
time had the most influence was Antonio de Guevara, one
'* a sacriloee" to discuss such matters
except in Latin, ^f. 15.) But he re-
plies, like a true Spaniard, that the
Castilian is better tor such purposes
than Latin or Greek, and that ne trusts
before long to see it as widely spread
as the arms and glories of his country.
(f. 17.)
** A full account of Juan Lopez de
Vivero Palacios Rubios, who was a
man of consequence in his time, and
engaged in the &mous compilation of
the Spanish laws called '* Leyes de
Toro, is contained in Rezabal y
Upirte (Biblioteca, pp. 266-271).
His works in Latin are numerous ; but
in Spanish he published only "Del
Esfuerzo Belico Heroyco," which ap-
peared first at Salamanca in 1524,
tolio, but of which there is a beautiful
Madrid edition, 1793, folio, with notes
by Francisco Morales.
•* Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. I.
&8. He flourished about 1531-45.
is " Agonia del Tr&nsito de la
Muerte," a glossary to which, by its
author, is dated 1 543, was first printed
from his corrected manuscript, many
years later. My copy, which seems
to be of the first edition, is dated
AlcaU, 1574, and is in 12mo. The
treatise called ** Diferencias de Libros
que ay en el Universo," by the same
author, who, however, here writes
his name V«negas, was finished in
1539, and printed at Toledo in
1540, 4to. It is written in a goo<i
style, though not without conceits of
thought, and conceited phrases. But
it is not, as its title might seem to
imply, a criticism on books and au-
thors, but the opinion of Vaneeis
himself, how we should study Sie
great books of God, nature, man, and
Christianity. It is, in fact, intended
to discourage the reading of books
then much in fiishion, and deemed by
him bad.
•• He died in 1569. In 1534 he
was in the prisons of the Inquisition,
and in 1559 one of his books was put
into the Index Expurgatorius. Never-
theless, he was regaled as a sort of
Saint. (Uorente, Histoire de Tln-
quisition, Tom. II. pp. 7 and 423.)
His " Cartas Espirituales " were not
printed, I believe, tiU the year of his
death. (Antonio, Bib. Nova, Tom. I.
pp. 639-642.) His treatisef on Self-
knowledge, on Prayer, and on other
religious subjects, are equally well
written, and in the same style of
eloquence. A long life, or rather
eulogy, of him is prefixed to the first
volume of his works, (Biadrid, 1595,
4to.,) by Juan Diaz.
Chap. V. ANTONIO DE GUEVARA. 497
of the official chroniclers of Charles the Fifth. He was a
Biscayan by birth, and passed some of his earlier years at
the court of Queen Isabella. In 1528 he became a Fran-
ciscan monk, but, enjoying the favour of the Emperor, he
seems to have been transformed into a thorough courtier,
accompanying his master during his journeys and resi-
dences in Italy and other parts of Europe, and rising suc-
cessively, by the royal patronage, to be court preacher.
Imperial historiographer. Bishop of Guadix, and Bishop
of Mondonedo. He died in 1545.*'
His works were not numerous, but they were fitted to
the atmosphere in which they were produced, and enjoyed
at once a great popularity. His " Dial for Princes, or
Marcus Aurelius," first published in 1529, and the fruit,
as he tells us, of eleven years' labour, " was not only often
reprinted in Spanish, but was translated into Latin,
Italian, French, and English ; in each of which last two
languages it appeared many times before the end of the
century. *• It is a kind of romance, founded on the life
and character of Marcus Aurelius, and resembles, in some
points, the " Cyropaedia ** of Xenophon ; its purpose being
to place before the Emperor Charles the Fifth the model
of a prince more perfect for wisdom and virtue than
any other of antiquity. But the Bishop of Mondofiedo
adventured beyond his prerogative. He pretended that
his Marcus Aurelius was genuine history, and appealed to
a manuscript in Florence, which did not exist, as if he had
done little more than make a translation of it. In conse-
quence of this, Pedro de Rua, a professor of elegant litera-
*' A life of Guevara is prefixed to of the different editions and transla-
the edition of his Epistolas, Madrid, tions of the works of Guevara, show-
1673, 4to. ; but there is a «>od ing their great popularity all over
account of him by himself in the Pr6- Europe. In French, the number of
loffo to his " Menosprecio de Corte." translations in the sixteenth century
" See the argument to the ** D6ca« was extraordinary. See La Croix du
da de los C^sares." Maine et du Verdier, Biblioth^ues,
» Watt, in his " Bibliotheca Bri- (Paris, 1772, 4to., Tom. III., p. 123,)
tannica," and Brunet, in his ** Manuel and the articles there referred to.
du Libraire," give quite curious lists
VOL. I, 2 K
498 HISTORY OP SPANISH LITERATURE. Psbiod II.
ture in the college at Soria, addressed a letter to him, in
1540, exposing the fraud. Two other letters followed,
written with more freedom and purity of style than any-
thing in the works of the Bishop himself, and leaving him
no real ground on which to stand. ^ He, however, de-
fended himself as well as he was able ; at first cautiously,
but afterwards, when he was more closely assailed, by
assuming the wholly untenable position that all ancient
profane history was no more true than his romance of
Marcus Aurelius, and that he had as good a right to invent
for his own high purposes as Herodotus or Livy. From
this time he was severely attacked ; more so, perhaps,
than he would have been, if the gross frauds of Annius of
Viterbo had not then been recent But however this may
be, it was done with a bitterness that forms a strong con-
trast to the applause bestowed in France, near the end of
the eighteenth century, upon a somewhat similar work on
the same subject by Thomas.^*
After all, however, the "Dial for Princes" is little
worthy of the excitement it occasioned. It is filled with
letters and speeches ill-conceived and inappropriate, and
is written in a formal and inflated style. Perhaps we are
now indebted to it for nothing so much as for the beauti-
ful fable of " The Peasant of the Danube," evidently sug-
gested to La Fontaine by one of the discourses through
which Gtievara endeavoured to give life and reality to his
fictions. •*
» There are editions of the Cartas vam, (Bib. Nova, Tom. I. p. 125,)
del Bachiller Rua, Burgos, 1649, 4to is very severe ; but his tone is gentle,
and Madrid, 1736, 4to., and a life of compared with that of Bayle, (Diet,
him in Bayle, Diet. Historique, Am- Hist., Tom. II., p. ^1 0 ^»o «lwav»
sterdam, 1740, fo)io, Tom. iV. p. 96. delights to show up any ^«fects he
The letters of Rua, or Rhua, » his can find in ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^l^fS
name is often written, are respectable and moriw. ^^^^^t^'^V^cf
in style, though their critical Vpirit is tKe 'BUs\ox Ae Fnncipes, of 15W,
that of the age and country in which ^ ^|?. ^^^^;^^,,c, YaVAes, I.\b. XI.,
they were written. The short reply ** U Vr^ara UeXoi., lAb. III.
of Guevara following the second of fia-V^, T>*5J^\^«ei^Vh\chihcSB«M^
Rua's letters is not creditable to him. c. ^. '^ ?v^ttu« mventw of th
•* Antonio, in his article on Gue- ^m\io^, ^^
Cbat. V. ANTONIO DE GUEVABA. 499
In the same spirit^ though with less boldness, he wrote
his " Lives of the Ten Roman Emperors ; ** a work which,
like his Dial for Princes, he dedicated to Charles the
Fifth. In general, he has here followed the authorities
on which he claims to found his narrative, such as Dion
Cassius and the minor Latin historians, showing, at the
same time, a marked desire to imitate Plutarch and Sue-
tonius, whom he announces as his models. But he has
not been able entirely to resist the temptation of inserting
fictitious letters, and even unfounded stories ; thus giving
a false view, if not of the facts of history, at least of some
of the characters he records. His style, however, though
it still wants purity and appropriateness, is better and more
simple than it is in his romance on Marcus Aurelius.^
Similar characteristics mark a large collection of Letters
printed by him as early as 1539. Many of them are
addressed to persons of great consideration in his time,
such as the Marquis of Pescara, the Duke of Alva,
Inigo de Velasco, Grand Constable of Castile, and Fa-
drique Enriquez, Grand Admiral. But some were evi-
dently never sent to the persons addressed, like the loyal
one to Juan de Padilla, the head of the ComuneroSj and
two impertinent letters to the Governor Luis Bravo,
happy fiction, gives to his Rustico dc French of that period, and La Fontaine
Gcrmania, is, indeed, too Ions ; but it often adopts, with his accustomed skill,
was ^pular. Tirso de Molina, after its pictiu-esque phraseologj. I sup-
descnbmg a peasant who approached pose this translation is the one cited
Xerxes, says, in the Prologue to one oy Brunct as made by Ren6 Bertaut,
of his plays, — oi which there were many editions.
„ ^ ^ In •^•oft. Mine b of Paris, 1540, folio, by Gal-
^•TlSrSSt « wdiT.^^^ Hot du Pr6, and is entitled " Lorlogo
Bsftwe the Roman Senate. des Priiices, traduict Despaigiiol en
cfganaica de Toledo, Madrid, i8S4,4to., p. los. Langaigo Fran9ois ;" but does not
La Fontwne, however, did not give the translator's name,
trouble himself about the original " The " Ddcada de los C^sares,"
Spanish or its popularity. He took widi the other treatises of Guevara
hSbeautiful version of the foble from here spoken of. except his Epistles,
an old French translation, made by a are to be found in a collection of his
gentleman who went to Madrid in works first printed at Valladolid in
1626 with the Cardinal deOrammont, 1^39. My copy is of the second
on the subject of Francis the First's edition, Valladolid, 1546, folio, black
imprisonment. It is in the rich old letter, 214 leaves.
2k2
500 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period II.
who had foolishly fallen in love in his old age. Others
are mere fictions; among which are a correspoudence
of the Emperor Trajan with Plutarch and the Koman
Senate, which Guevara vainly protests he translated firom
the Greek, without saying where he found the originals, ^
and a long epistle about Lais and other courtesans of
antiquity, in which he gives the details of their conversa-
tions as if he had listened to them himself. Most of the
letters, though they are called " Familiar Epistles," are
merely essays or disputations, and a few are sermons in
form, with an announcement of the occasions on which
they were preached. None has the easy or natural air
of a real correspondence. In fact, they were all, no doubt,
prepared expressly for publication and for efiect ; and, not-
withstanding their stifihess and formality, were greatly
admired. They were often printed in Spain ; they were
translated into all the principal languages of Europe ; and,
to express the value set on them, they were generally
called " The Golden Epistles.'* But notwithstanding their
early success, they have long been disregarded, and only
a few passages that touch the afiairs of the time or the
life of the Emperor can now be read with interest or
pleasure. **
Besides these works, Guevara wrote several formal
treatises. Two are strictly theological. '• Another is on
the Inventors of the Art of Navigation and its Practice ;
•* These very letters, however, p. 12, and elsewhere. Cervantes, en
were thought worth translating into . passant ^ gives a blow at the letter of
English by Sir Geoffrey Fenton, and Guevara about Lais, in Uie Prdlogo
are found if. 68-77 of a curious col- to the first part of his Don Quixote,
lection taken from different authors ** One ot these religious treatises
and published in London, (1575, 4to., is entitled ** Monte Ctdvario," 1642,
black letter,) under the title of translated into English in 1595 ; and
** Golden Epistles." Edward Hel- the other, ** Oratorio de Reli^oeos,"
lowes had already translated the whole 1543, which is a series of short
of Guevara's Epistles in 1574; which exhortations or homilies with a text
were again translated, but not very prefixed to each. The first is ordered
well, by Savage, in 1657. to be expurgated in the Index of 1667,
** Epistolas Familiares de D. An- (p. 67,) and both are censured in that
tonio de Guevara, Madrid, 1673, 4to., of 1790.
Chap. V. DIALOGO DE LAS LENGUAS. 501
— a subject which might be thought foreign from the
Bishop's experience, but with which, he tells us, he had
become familiar by having been much at sea, and visited
many ports on the Mediterranean. '^ Of his two other
treatises, which are all that remain to be noticed, one is
called " Contempt of Court Life and Praise of the Coun-
try ;" and the other, " Counsels for Favourites, and Teach-
ings for Courtiers." They are moral discussions, sug-
gested by Castiglione*s *'• Courtier,** then at the height of
its popularity, and are written with great elaborateness, in
a solemn and stiff style, bearing the same relations to truth
and wisdom that Arcadian pastorals do to nature. ^
All the works of Guevara show the impress of their
age, and mark their author's position at court They are
burdened with learning, yet not without proofs of expe-
rience in the ways of the world ; — they often show good
sense, but they are monotonous from the stately dignity
he thinks it necessary to assume on his own account, and
from the rhetorical ornament by which he hopes to com-
mend them to the regard of his readers. Such as they
are, however, they illustrate and exemplify, more truly,
perhaps, than anything else' of their age, the style of
writing most in favour at the court of Charles the Fifth,
especially during the latter part of that monarch's reign.
But by far the best didactic prose work of this period^
though unknown and unpublished till two centuries after-
wards, is that commonly cited under the simple title of
" The Dialogue on Languages ;" — ^a work which, at any
time, would be deemed remarkable for the naturalness
and pmrity of its style, and is peculiarly so at this period
"^ Hellowes translated this, also, an easier style than is common with
and printed it in 1578. (Sir E. him.
Brydges, Censura Literaria, Tom. ■• Both these treatises were trans-
Ill., 1807, p. 210. ) It is an lated into English ; the first by Sir
unpromising subject in any Ian- Francis Briant, in 1548. Ames's
guage, but in the original Gue- Typog. Antiquities, ed, Dibdin, Lon-
vara has shown some pleasantry, and don, 1810, 4to., Tom. III., p. 460.
502 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATUBE. Pbiod II.
of formal and elaborate eloquence. " I write,** says its
author, ^^as I speak; only I take more pains to think
what I have to say, and then I say it as simply as I can ;
for, to my mind, affectation is out of place in all languages."
Who it was that entertained an opinion so true, but in his
time so uncommon, is not certain. Probably it was Juan
Vald^s, a person who enjoys the distinction of being one
of the first Spaniards that embraced the opinions of the
Reformation, and the very first who made an effort to
spread them. He was educated at the University of
Alcald, and during a part of his life possessed not a little
political consequence, being much about the person of the
Emperor, and sent by him to act as secretary and adviser
to Toledo, the great viceroy of Naples. It is not known
what became of him afterwards ; but he died in 1540, six
years before Charles the Fifth attempted to establish the
Inquisition in Naples ; and therefore it is not likely that
he was seriously molested while he was in office there. **
The Dialogue on Languages is supposed to be carried
on between two Spaniards and two Italians, at a country
house on the sea-shore, near Naples, and is an acute dis-
cussion on the origin and character of the Castilian. Farts
of it are learned, but in these the author sometimes falls
into errors ;^^ other parts are lively and entertaining;
and yet others are full of good sense and sound criticism.
The principal personage — the one who gives all the in-
structions and explanations — is named Yald^ ; and from
this circumstance, as well as from some intimations in the
Dialogue itself, it may be inferred that the reformer was
** Llorente (Hist de Tlnquisition, 140-146.) Vald^ is supposed to have
Tom. II., pp. 281 and 478) makes been an anti-Trinitarian, but McCrie
some mistakes about Valdds, of whom does not admit it
the best accounts are to be found in ^ His chief error b in tapporing
McCrie's ** Hist of the Progress, that the Greek langua^ onoe pre-
etc., of the Reformation in I&y,*' rwHed generally in Spam, and oon-
(Edinburgh, 1827, 8vo., pp. 106 and stitutcd the basis of an ancient Spanish
121,) and in his ** Hist of the Pro- language, which, he thinks, was
gress, etc., of the Reformation in spread through the countir before
Spain," (Edinburgh, 1829, 8vo., pp. tne Romans appeared in Spain.
Chap. V. THE SPANISH LANGUAGE. 503
its author, and that it was written before 1536 ; *^ — a point
which, if established, would account for the suppression of
the manuscript, as the work of an adherent of Luther.
In any event, the Dialogue was not printed till 1737, and
therefore, as a specimen of pure and easy style, was lost
on the age that produced it **
For us it is important, because it shows, with more
distinctness than any other literary monument of its time,
what was the state of the Spanish language in the reign of
the Emperor Charles the Fifth ; a circumstance of conse-
quence to the condition of the literature, and one to which
we therefore turn with interest
As might be expected, we find, when we look back,
that the language of letters in Spain has made material
progress since we last noticed it in the reign of John the
Second. The example of Juan de Mena had been fol-
lowed, and the national vocabulary enriched during the
interval of a century, by successive poets, fix)m the lan-
guages of classical antiquity. From other sources, too,
and through other channels, important contributions had
flowed in. From America and its commerce had come
the names of those productions which half a century of
*^ The intimations alluded to are, half of the second volume, and is the
that the Valdds of the Dialogue had best thing in the collection. Pro-
been at Rome ; that he was a person bably the manuscript had been kept
of some authori^ ; and that he had out of sight as the work of a weU-
lived lonff at Naples and in other known heretic. Mayans says that it
parts of Italy. Ho speaks of Garci- could be traced to Zunta, the historian,
lasso de la Vega as if he were alive, and that, in 1736, it was purchased
and Garcilasso died in 1536. Llorcnte, for the Royal Library, of which
in a passage just cited, calls Valdds Mayans himself was then librarian,
the author of the Di^logo de las One leaf was wanting, which he
Lenguas ; and Clemencin— a safer could not supply ; and though he
authority— does the same, once^ in the seems to have oelieved Vald^ to hare
notes to his edition of Don Quixote, been the author of the Dialo^e, he
(Tom. IV., p. 285,) though in many avoids saying so, — perhaps from an
other notes he treats it as if its author unwillin^ess to attract the notice of
were unknown. the Inquisition to it. (OHgenes, Tom.
• The Didlogo de las Lenpias I., pp. 173-180.) Iriarte, in the
was not printed till it appeared in " Aprobacion " of the collection,
Mayans y Siscar, << Orf genes de la treats the Di&logo as if its author
Lengua Espanola," (Madrid, 1737, 2 were quite unknown,
tom. 12mo. ;) where it fills the first
504 HISTOBT OP SPAK18B UTEEATrBE. Pbkd II.
interoourae had brought to Spain, and rendered fiuniliar
there, — terms few, indeed, in number, but of daily use.^
From Germany and the Low Countries still more had
been introduced by the accession of Charles the fifth, ^
who, to the great annoyance of his Spanish subjects,
arrived in Spain surrounded by foreign courtiers, and
speaking with a stranger accent the language of the country
he was called to gorem. ^ A few words, too, had come
accidentally from France ; and now, in the reign of
Philip the Second, a great number, amounting to the most
considerable infusion the language had received since the
time of the Arabs, were brought in through the intimate
connexion of Spain with Italy and the increasing influence
of Italian letters and Italian culture. ^
We may therefore consider that the Spanish language
at this period was not only formed, but that it had reached
substantially its full proportions, and had received all its
essential characteristics. Indeed, it had already for half
a century been regularly cared for and cultivated. Alonso
de Palencia, who had long been in the service of his
country as an ambassador, and was afterwards its chronicler,
published a Latin and Spanish Dictionary in 1490 ; the
oldest in which a Castilian vocabulary is to be found. *^
This was succeeded, two years later, by the first Castilian
^ Majans j Siscar, Orfgenes, Tom. fagdada^ nooeia^ etc., which hare long
I., p. 97. since been adopted and fully recoe-
^ Ibid., p. 98. nized by the Academy. Diego de
*» Sandoval says that Charies V. Mendoza, though partly of the Italian
suffered greatly in the opinion of the school, obiectcd to the word caUmda
Spaniards, on his first arrival in Spain, as a needless Italianism ; but it was
because, owing to his inability to soon fully received into the language,
speak Spanish, they had hardly any (Guerra de Granada, ed. 1776, l3b.
r per intercourse with him. It was, III., c. 7, p. 176.) A little later,
adds, as if they could not talk with Luis Velei de Guevara, in Tnnco X.
him at all. Historia, Anvers, 1681, of his ** Diablo Cojuelo," denied
^""'if'TJ^™* ^'' <P* ^^^ * citizenship Xoftdgor, jmrjmrear, \
Mayans y Siscar, Origenes, Tom. pa, and other words now in good use.
II., pp. 127-138. The author of the ^^ Mendez, Typographia, p. 176.
Diil(»o urges the mtroduction of a Antonio, Bib. Vetus, ed. Bajer, Tom.
considerable number of words from II. p. 338.
the Italian, such as dismrtOyfacOUar^
Cbaf. V. THE SPANISH LANGUAGE. 505
Grammar, the work of Antonio de Lebrixa, who had
before published a Latin Grammar in the Latin language,
and translated it for the benefit, as he tells us, of the ladies
of the court. ^^ Other similar and equally successful
attempts followed. A purely Spanish Dictionary by
Lebrixa, the first of its kind, appeared in 1492, and a
Dictionary for ecclesiastical purposes, in both Latin and
Spanish, by Santa Ella, succeeded it in 1499 ; both often
reprinted afterwards, and long regarded as standard autho-
rities. ^* All these works, so important for the consolida-
tion of the language, and so well constructed that succes-
sors to them were not found till above a century later, *®
were, it should be observed, produced under the direct
and personal patronage of Queen Isabella, who in this,
as in so many other ways, gave proof at once of her far-
sightedness in afiairs of state, and of her wise tastes and
preferences in whatever regarded the intellectual cultiva-
tion of her subjects.*^
The language thus formed was now fast spreading
throughout the kingdom, and displacing dialects, some of
which, as old as itself, had seemed, at one period, destined
to surpass it in cultivation and general prevalence. The
ancient Galician, in which Alfonso the Wise was educated,
and in which he sometimes wrote, was now known as a
polite language only in Portugal, where it had risen to be
so independent of the stock from which it sprang as almost
to disavow its origin. The Valencian and Catalonian,
those kindred dialects of the Proven9al race, whose influ-
ences in the thirteenth century were felt through the
*• Mendez, Typog., pp. 239-242. *® The Grammar of Juan de Navi-
For the great merits of Antonio de dad, 1567, is not an exception to this
Lebrixa, in relation to the Spanish remark, because it was intended to
language, see'* Specimen Bibliothece teach Spanish to Italians, and not to
Hispano-MayansiansB ex Musco D. natives.
Clemcutis/' Hannoverse, 1753, 4to., ^^ Clemencin, in Mem. de la Aca-
pp. 4-39. demia de Historia, Tom. VI. p. 473,
^ Mendez, pp. 243 and 212, and notes.
Antonio, Bib. Nova, Tom. II. p. 266.
506 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. PbiodII.
whole Peninsula, claimed, at this period, something of their
earlier dignity only below the last range of hills on the
coast of the Mediterranean. The Biscayan alone, mi-
changed as the mountains which sheltered it, still pre-
served for itself the same separate character it had at the
earliest dawnings of tradition — a character which has con*
tinned essentially the same down to our own times.
But though the Castilian, advancing with the whole
authority of the government, which at this time spoke to
the people of all Spain in no other language, was heard
and acknowledged throughout the country as the language
of the state and of all political power, still the popular
and local habits of four centuries could not be at once or
entirely broken up. The Galician, the Valencian, and the
Catalonian continued to be spoken in the age of Charles
the Fifth, and are spoken now by the masses of the people
in theur respective provinces, and to some extent in the
refined society of each. Even Andalusia and Aragon
have not yet emancipated themselves completely fit)m
their original idioms ; and in the same way each of the
other grand divisions of the country, several of which were
at one time independent kingdoms, are still, like Estre-
madura and La Mancha, distinguished by peculiarities of
phraseolc^ and accent "
Castile alone, and especially Old Castile, claims, as of
inherited right, from the beginning of the fifteenth cen-
tury, the prerogative of speaking absolutely pure Spanish.
Yillalobos, it is true, who was always a flatterer of royal
authority, insisted that this prerogative followed the resi-
dences of the sovereign and the court ; ^' but the better
opinion has been, that the purest form of the Castilian
"^ It 18 curious to observe, that tlie p. 94,) who wrote about 17S0, all
author of the « Ditiogo de las Len- speak of the chaiacter of the Castilian
guas," (Origenes, Tom. II. p. 31,) and the prevalence of the dialects in
who wrote about 1535, Mayans, nearly the same terms.
(Orfgones, Tom. I. p. 8,) who wrote * De las Fiebres Interpoladas, Me-
in 1737, and Sarmionto, (Memorias, tro I., Obras, 1643, f. 27.
Chap. V. THE CASTIUAN OP TOLEDO. 507
must be sought at Toledo — the Imperial Toledo^ as it was
called — peculiarly favoured when it was the political capital
of the ancient monarchy in the time of the Goths, and
consecrated anew as the ecclesiastical head of all Christian
Spain the moment it was rescued from the hands of the
Moors. ^^ It has even been said that the supremacy of
this venerable city in the purity of its dialect was so fiilly
settled, from the first appearance of the language as the
language of the state in the thirteenth century, that
Alfonso the Wise, in a Cortes held there, directed the
meaning of any disputed word to be settled by its use at
Toledo. " But however this may be, there is no question
that, from the time of Charles the Fifth to the present
day, the Toledan has been considered, on the whole, the
normal form of the national language, and that, from the
same period, the Castilian dialect, having vindicated for
itself an absolute supremacy over all the other dialects
of the monarchy, has been the only one recognized as the
language of the classical poetry and prose of the whole
country.
^ See Mariana's account of the city as to the standard of the Castilian
glories of Toledo, Historia, Lib. XVI. tongue [como d metro de la lengua
c. 15, and elsewhere. He was him- Castcllana], and that they should adopt
self from the kingdom of Toledo, the meaning and definition here given
and often boasts of its renown. Cer- to such word, because our tongue is
vantes, in Don Quixote, (Parte II. c. more perfect here than elsewhere."
19,) implies that the Toledan was ac- (Francisco de Pisa, Descripcion de la
counted the purest Spanish of his time. Imperial Ciudad de Toledo, ed.
It still claims to bo so in ours. Thomas Tamaio de Vargas, Toledo,
» "Also, at the same Cortes, the 1617, fol., Lib. I. c. 36, f. 66.) The
same King, Don Alfonso X., ordered, Cortes here referred to is said by
if thereafter there should bo a doubt Pisa to have been held in 1253 ; in
in any part of his kingdom about the which year the Chronicle of Alfonso
meaning of any Castilian word, that X. (Valladolid, 1554, fol., c. 2) re-
reference thereof should be had to this presents the king to have been there.
508 HISTOBT OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Pmoo U.
CHAPTER VI.
Chboniclimo Pbrioo goub bt.— Charum the Fifth. — Gu«vAmA.—
OcAMPO. — Skpulvsda. — Mexia. — Accounts of thb New Woejld. —
Cortes. — Gomaba. — Bebnal Diaz. — Oyikdo. — Las Casas. — Vaca. —
Xebez. — 9^^^^^^^^
At the beginning of the sixteenth century it is obvious
that the age for chronicles had gone by in Spain. Still
it was thought for the dignity of the monarchy that the
stately forms of the elder time should, in this as in other
particulars, be kept up by public authority. Charles the
Fifth, therefore, as if his ambitious projects as a conqueror
were to find their counterpart in his arrangements for
recording their success, had several authorized chroniclers^
all men of consideration and learning. But the shadow
on the dial would not go back at the royal command.
The greatest monarch of his time could appoint chro-
niclers, but he could not give them the spirit of an age
that was past The chronicles he demanded at their
hands were either never undertaken or never finished.
Antonio de Guevara, one of the persons to whom these
duties were assigned, seems to have been singularly con-
scientious in the devotion of his time to them ; for we are
told that, by his will, he ordered the salary of one year,
during which he had written nothing of his task, to be
returned to the Imperial treasury. This, however, did
not imply that he was a successfiil chronicler. ^ What he
' Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. 127, and Preface to Epfstolas FamU
liares of Guevara, ed. 1673.
Chap. VI. FLORIAN DE OCAMPO. 509
wrote was not thought worthy of being published by his
contemporaries^ and would probably be judged no more
favourably by the present generation, unless it discovered
a greater regard for historical truth, and a better style,
than are found in his discussions on the life and character
of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. *
Florian de Ocampo, another of the more distinguished
of the chroniclers, showed a wide ambition in the plan he
proposed to himself — beginning his chronicles of Charles
the Fifth as far back as the days of Noah's flood. As
might have been foreseen, he lived only so long as to finish
a small fragment of his vast undertaking — hardly a quarter
part of the first of its four grand divisions. ' But he went
far enough to show how completely the age for such
writing was passed away.* Not that he failed in cre-
dulity ; for of that he had more than enough. It was
not, however, the poetical credulity of his predecessors,
trusting to the old national traditions, but an easy faith,
that believed in the wearisome forgeries called the works
of Berosus and Manetho, * which had been discredited
from their first appearance half a century before, and yet
were now used by Ocampo as if they were the probable,
if not the suflScient, records of an uninterrupted succession
of Spanish kings from Tubal, a grandson of Noah. Such
a credulity has no charm about it. But, besides this, the
work of Ocampo, in its very structure, is dry and absurd ;
and, being written in a formal and heavy style, it is all
■ See the vituperative article One- followed bv an edition of the whole at
vara, in Bayle. Medina del Campo, 1 663, folio. The
■ The best life of Ocampo is to be best, I suppose, is the one published
found in the *< Bibliotcca de los Es- at Madrid, 1791, in 2 vob. 4to.
critores que han sido Individuos de * For this miserable forgery see
los Seis Colegios Mayores," etc., por Niceron (Hommes Illustres, raris,
Don Josef de Rezabal y Ugarte (pp. 1730, Tom. XI. pp. l-U; Tom.
233-238) ; but there is one prefixed XX., 1732, pp. 1-6) ;— and for the
to the edition of his Cr6nica, 1791. simplicity of Ocampo in trusting to it,
* The first edition of the first four see the last chapter of his first book,
books of the Chronicle of Ocampo and all the passages where he cites
was published at Zamora, 1644, in a Juan de Viterboy tu Btroto^ Qtc.
beautiful black-letter folio, and was
510 msTORT or Spanish uterattee. phod il
bot impoasible to read it. He died in 1555, the year the
Emperor abdicafrfit l^^^og ^ htHe occasioo to regret
tbat he had Imiiight liis annak of Spain no lower down
than the age of the Sdpios.
Juan Ginez de Sepdlveda was also espedaUy charged
by the Emperor with the daty of recording the events of
his reign ; * and so was Fero Mexia ;' but their histories
were never pnblidied, though that of Mexia, apparently
written not long before his death, * which occurred in 1552,
eame down to the coronation of the Emperor in Bologna.
A larger history, however, by the last author, consisting of
the lives of all the Boman emperors bom Julius Ceesar to
Maximilian of Austria, the predecessor of Charles the
Fifth, which was printed several times, and is spoken of as
an introduction to his Chronicle, shows^ notwithstanding
its many imperfections of style, that his purpose was to
write a true and well-digested history, since he generally
refers, under each reign, to the authorities on which he
relies.*
Such works as these prove to us that we have reached
the final limit of the old chronicling style, and that we
must now look for the appearance of the different forms of
r^ular historical composition in Spanish literature. But
before we approach them, we must pause a moment on a
* Pero Mezta, in the oooclading tilen of the kiogdom and chraoiders
wonb of his '' Historia Imperkl j of the penontl histoiy of its kings.
Cwarea.** At any rate, that monarch had Oounpo
^ Capmany, Eloquencia EspaSoIa, and Garibay for the first purpoae ; and
Tom. II. p. 296. Guerara, SepiiJyeda, and Mcaia for
• I say " apparently," because in the second. Lorenco de Fiddia,
his " Histona rmpcnal y Cesarea/' ho Archdeacon of Malaga, is •J*'./"^'
declares, speakmg of the achievements tioned by Doro^ (?to«reso8, Lib. II.
of Charies V., " I never was so pre- c. 2) as one til V«ft eYitcmSw^^®"- J^"
somptDOUS as to deem myself sufficient deed, it do«% rv rl^eta «>»X ^^*^?!!l
tor^rdthem." Thi/ was in 1545. mine Im^^!^'^^^
He was not appointed Historiographer of that titl^^^^ . . yfjLt.
till 154«. See notices of him by Pa- • The fir-^L Cvcsti^^V*^ "^ ^\
cheoo, in the Semanario Pintoresco, The one ^^^^'^ \v^ ^^^^^\\<lc. ve
1844, p. 406. fol. Thc^^^X^V^^^^^\a^
From the time of Charles V . l\ier^ Haps, is tb^^
•eem generally to have been chroni- BiographV
Chap. VI. FERNANDO CORTiS. 51 1
few histories and accounts of the New Worid, which,
during the reign of Charies the Fifth, were of more import-
ance than the imperfect chronicles we tave just noticed of
the Spanish empire in Europe. For as soon as the adven-
turers that followed Columbus were landed on the western
shores of the Atlantic, we begin to find narratives, more or
less ample, of their discoveries and settlements; some
written with spirit, and even in good taste ; others quite
unattractive in their style ; but nearly all interesting from
their subject and their materials, if from nothing else.
In the foreground of this picturesque group stands, as
the most brilliant of its figures, Fernando Cortes, called,
by way of eminence. El Conquistador^ the Conqueror.
He was bom of noble parentage, and carefiiUy bred ; and
though his fiery spirit drove him from Salamanca before
his education could be completed, and brought him to the
New World, in 1504, when he was hardly nineteen years
old, ^® still the nurture of his youth, so much better than
that of most of the other American adventurers, is appa-
rent in his voluminous documents and letters, both pub-
lished and unpublished. Of these, the most remarkable
were, no doubt, five long and detailed Reports to the
Emperor on the afiairs of Mexico ; the first of which, and
probably the most curious, dated in 1519, seems to be
lost, and the last, belonging, probably, to 1527, exists only
in manuscript. ^* The four that remain are well written, and
'^ He left Salamanca two or three as much concemiDg such matters as
years before he came to the New Mons. Jourdain. Cortes, however,
World ; but old Bemal Diaz, who was always fond of the society of cul-
kncw him well, says : ''He was a tivatcd men. In his house at Ma-
scholar, and I have heard it said he drid, (see ante, p. 493,) after his
was a Bachelor of Laws ; and when return from America, was held one of
he talked with lawyers and scholars, those Academies which were then be-
he answered in Latin. He was some- g^nninff to be imitated from Italy,
what of a poet, and made couplets in " The printed ** Relaciones" may
metre and in prose, [en metro yen be found m Barcia, ** Historiadorcs
prosa,]"etc. ft would be amusing to Primitivos de las Indias Occiden-
see poems by Cort^, and especially tales," (Madrid, 1749, 3 tom., fol.,)
what the rude old chronicler odls co- — a collection printed after its editor *8
pias en pro$a ; but he knew about death, and very ill-arranged. Barcia
512 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period IL
have a business-like air about them, as weU as a clearness and
good taste, which remind us sometimes, though rarely, of
the " Relazioni ** of Machiavelli, and sometimes of Caesar's
Commentaries. .His letters, on the other hand, are occa-
sionally more ornamented. In an unpublished one, written
about 1533, and in which, when his fortunes were waning,
he sets forth his services and his wrongs, he pleases him-
self with telling the Emperor that he " keeps two of his
Majesty's letters like holy relics,*' adding, that "the
favours of his Majesty towards him had been quite too
ample for so small a vase ;" — courtly and graceful phrases,
such as are not found in the documents of his later years,
when, disappointed and disgusted with affairs and with the
court, he retired to a morose solitude, where he died in
1554, little consoled by his rank, his wealth, or his glory.
The marvellous achievements of Cort6s in Mexico,
however, were more fully, if not more accurately, recorded
by Francisco Lopez de Gomara, — the oldest of the regular
historians of the New World, ^* — who was born at Seville,
in 1510, and was, for some time. Professor of Rhetoric at
Alcala. His early life, spent in the great mart of the
American adventurers, seems to have given him an
interest in them and a knowledge of their affairs which
led him to write their history. The works he produced,
besides one or two of less consequence, were, first, his
" History of the Indies,'* which, after the Spanish fashion,
begins with the creation of the world, and ends with the
glories of Spain, though it is chiefly devoted to Columbus
and the discovery and conquest of Peru ; and, second, his
•' Chronicle of New Spain," which is, in truth, merely the
was a roan ofliterary distinction, much published letters, I am indebted to
employed in aflairs of state, and one mj friend Mr. Prescott, who has so
of the founders of the Spanish Aca- well used them in his ** Conquest of
demy. He died in 1743. (Baena, Mexico."
Hijos de Madrid, Tom. I. p. 106.) *■ *' The first worthy of being so
For the last and unpublished << Rela- called," says Mufioz, Hist del Nnevo
cion" of Cortes, as well as for his un- Mundo, Madrid, 1793, folio, p, xviiL
Chap. VI. BERNAL DIAZ. 513
History and Life of Cortfes, and which, with this more
appropriate title, was reprinted by Bustamente, in Mexico,
in 1826." As the earliest records that were published
concerning aflFairs which already stirred the whole of
Christendom, these works had, at once, a great success,
passing through two editions almost immediately, and
being soon translated into French and Italian.
But though Gomara's style is easy and flowing, both in
his mere narration and in those parts of his works which
so amply describe the resources of the newly discovered
countries, he did not succeed in producing anything of per-
manent authority. He was the secretary of Cortes, and
was misled by information received from him, and from
other persons, who were too much a part of the story they
imdertook to relate, to tell it fairly. ^* His mistakes, in
consequence, are great and frequent, and were exposed
with much zeal by Bernal Diaz, an old soldier, who, having
already been twice to the New World, went with Cortes
to Mexico in 1519, ^* and fought there so often and so
long, that, many years afterwards, he declared he could
sleep with comfort only when his armour was on. " As
soon as he read the accounts of Gomara, he set himself
sturdily at work to answer them, and in 1558 completed
his task. ^^ The book he thus produced is written with
^* The two works of Gomara may be being his chaplain and servant, after
well consulted in Barcia, ** Historia- he was made Marquis and returned to
dores Primitivos/' Tom. II., which Spain the last time." Las Casas, (His-
theyfill. They were first printed in toria de las Indias, Parte III. c. 113,
1553, and though, as Antonio says, MS.,) a prejudiced witness, but, on a
(Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. 437,) they point of fact within his own know-
were forbidden to be either reprinted ledge, one to be believed,
or read, four editions of them ap- ■* See ** Historia Verdadera de la
peared before the end of the century. Conquista de la Nueva Espaiia, por el
" ** About this first going of Cortds Capitan Bernal Diaz del Castillo, uno
as captain on this expedition, the ec- de los Conquistadores," Madrid, 1632,
clesiastic Gomara tells many things folio, cap. 211.
ffrossly untrue in his history, as mieht ^* He says he was in one hundred
be expected from a man wno neither and nineteen battles (f. 254. d.) ; that
saw nor heard anything about them, is, I suppose, fights of all kinds,
except what Fernando Cort^ told ^' It was not printed till long after-
him and gave him in writing; Gomara wards, ami was then dedicated to
VOL. I. 2 L
514 HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. Period IL
much personal vanity, and runs, in a rude style, into wea-
risome details ; but it is full of the zealous and honest
nationality of the old chronicles, so that, while we are
reading it, we seem to be carried back into the preceding
ages, and to be again in the midst of a sort of fervour and
faith which, in writers like Gomara and Cort^ we feel
sure we are fast leaving behind us.
Among the persons who early came to America, and
have left important records of their adventures and times,
one of the most considerable was Gonzalo Fernandez de
Oviedo. He was born at Madrid, in 1478, ^® and, having
been well educated at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella,
as one of the pages of Prince John, was sent out, in 1513,
as a supervisor of gold-smeltings, to San Domingo,^*
where, except occasional visits to Spain and to different
Spanish possessions in America, he lived nearly forty
years, devoted to the affairs of the New World, Oviedo
seems, from his youth, to have had a passion for writing ;
and, besides several less considerable works, among which
were imperfect chronicles of Ferdinand and Isabella and
of Charles the Fifth, and a life of Cardinal Ximenes, ^ he
prepared two of no small value.
The most important of these two is " The Natural and
General History of the Indies,** filling fifty books, of which
Philip IV. Some of its details are Oro," he descrihcs himself in the
(juite ridiculous. He gives even a Proemio of his woriL presented to
list of the individual horses that were Charles V. in 1625 (Barcia, Tom.
used on the great expedition of Cort^, I.) ; and lonffaftenimrdsy in the open-
and often describes the separate qua- ing of Book aLVII. of his Historias,
litiesofa favourite charger as carefully MS., he still speaks of himself as
as he does those of his rider. holding the same office.
*• ** Yo naci ano de 1478," he says, *> I do not feel sure that Antonio
in his <* Quinquagenas," when notic- is not mbtaken in ascribing to Oviedo
ing Pedro Fernandez de C6rdoba ; and a iqMirate life of Cardinal Ximenes,
he more than once speaks of himself because the life contuned in the
as a native of Madria. He says, too, '* Quinouagenas" is so ample ; but the
expressly, that he was present at the Chronicles of Ferdinand and Isabella,
surrender of Granada, and that he and Charles V., are alluded to by
saw Columbus at Barcelona, on his Oviedo himself in the Proemio to
first return from America, in 1493. Charles V. Neither hat ever been
Quinquagenas, MS. printed.
>» «* Veedor de las Fundiciones de
Chap. VI. GONZALO FERNANDEZ DE OVIEDO. 515
the first portions, embracing twenty-one, were published
in 1535, while the rest are still found only in manuscript
As early as 1525, when he was at Toledo, and ofiered
Charles the Fifth a summary of the History of Hispaniola,
he speaks of his desire to have his lai^er work printed.
But it appears, from the beginning of the thirty-third book
and the end of the thirty-fourth, that he was still employed
upon it in 1547 and 1548 ; and it is not milikely, from
the words with which he concludes the thirty-seventh, that
he kept each of its larger divisions open, and continued to
make additions to them nearly to the time of his death. *'
He tells us that he had the Emperor's authority to
demand, from the different governors of Spanish America,
the documents he might need for his work ; " and as his
divisions of the subject are those which naturally arise from
its geography, he appears to have gone judiciously about
his task. But the materials he was to use were in too
crude a state to be easily manageable, and the whole
subject was too wide and various for his powers. He falls,
therefore, into a loose, rambling style, instead of aiming at
philosophical condensation ; and, far from an abridgment,
which his work ought to have been, he gives us chronicling,
'^ He calls it, in his letter to the division of his work, open for addi-
Empcror, at the end of the ^* Sumario*' tions, as long as he lived, and there-
in 1525, ''La General j Natural fore that parts of it may have been
Historia de las Indias, que de mi written as late as 1557.
mano tengo escrita ;" — in the Intro- « «« j h^ve royal orders that the
duction to Lib. XXXIII. he says, governors should send me a relation
''En treinta y quatro anos que ha of whatever I shall touch in the af&ira
Sue estoy en estas partes ;" — and in of their governments, for this His-
le ninth chapter, which ends Lib. tory." (Lib. XXXIII., Introd., MS.)
XXXI v., we nave an event recorded I apprehend Oviedo was the first
with the date of 154S ; — so that, for authorized Chronicler of the New
these three-and-twenty years, he was World, an office which was at one
certainly employed, more or less, on period better paid than any other
this great work. But at the end of similar office in the kingdom, and was
Book XXXVII. he says, " Y esto held, at different times, by Ilerrera,
baste quanto a este breve libro del Tamayo, Soils, and other writers of
numero treinta y siete, hasta que el distinction. It ceased, I l)elieve,
tiempo nos aviso de otras cosas oue en with the creation of the Academy of
el se acrescientan ;" from which I infer History,
that he kept each book, or each large
2l2
516
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
PsbiodII.
documentary accounts of an immense extent of newly
discovered country, and of the extraordinary events that
had been passing there, — sometimes too short and slight
to be interesting, and sometimes too detailed for the
reader's patience. He was evidently a learned man, and
maintained a correspondence with Ramusio, the Italian
geographer, which could not fail to be useful to both
parties. '^ And he was desirous to write in a good and
eloquent style, in which he sometimes succeeded. He has,
therefore, on the whole, produced a series of accounts of
the natural condition, the aboriginal inhabitants, and the
political affairs of the wide-spread Spanish possessions in
America, as they stood in the middle of the sixteenth
century, which is of great value as a vast repository of
facts, and not wholly without merit as a composition. ^
■• ** We owe much to those who
give us notice of what we have not
seen or known ourselves ; as I am
now indebted to a remarkable and
learned man, of the illustrious Senate
of Venice, called Secretary Juan
Bautista Ramusio, who, hearing that
I was inclined to the things of which
I here treat, has, without knowing me
personally, sought me for his fnend
and communicated with me bv letters,
sending me a new geography," etc.
Lib. XXXVIIL, MS.
■* As a specimen of his manner, I
add the following account of Almagro,
one of the early adventurers in Peru,
whom the Pizarros put to death in
Cuzco, after they had obtained un-
controlled power there. ** Therefore
hear and read all the authors you may,
and compare, one by one, whatever
they relate, that all men, not kings,
have freely given away, and you shall
surely see how there is none that can
equal Almagro in this matter, and how
none can he compared to him ; for
kings, indeed, may give and know
how to ffive whatever pleaseth them,
both cities, and lands, and lordships,
and other great gifts ; but that a man
whom ycstcnlay wo saw so poor, that
all he possessed was a very small
matter, should have a spirit sufficient
for what I have related, — I hold it to
be so great a thing, that I know not
the like of it in our own or any other
time. For I myself saw, when his
companion, Piiearro, came fW>m Suain,
and brought with him that bocly of
three hundred men to Panama, that,
if Almagro had not received them and
shown them so much free hospitality,
with so generous a spirit, few or none
of them could have escaped alive ; for
the land was filled with disease, and
the means of Uving were so dear, that
a bushel of maize was worth two or
three pesos, and an arroba of wine six
or seven gold pieces. To all €f( them
he was a father, and a brother, and a
true friend ; for inasmuch as it is
pleasant and g^teful to some men to
make gain, and to heap up and to
gather together moneys and estates,
even so much and more pleasant was
it to him to share with others and to
give away ; so that the day when he
Save nothing, he accounted it for a
ay lost. And in his very face yoa
might see the pleasure and true
deHght he felt when he found occasion
to help him who had need. And since,
after so long a fellowship and friend-
ship as there was between these two
Chap. VI. BART0L0M£ DE LAS CASAS. 517
The other considerable work of Oviedo, the fruit of his
old age, is devoted to fond recollections of his native
country and of the distinguished men he had known there.
He calls it ^^ Las Quinquagenas,** and it consists of a series
of dialogues, in which, with little method or order, he gives
gossiping accounts of the principal families that figured in
Spain during the times of Ferdinand and. Isabella and
Charles the Fifth, mingled with anecdotes and recollections,
such as — not without a simple-hearted exhibition of his
own vanity — the memory of his long and busy life could
furnish. It appears from the Dialogue on Cardinal
Ximenes, and elsewhere, that he was employed on it as
early as 1545 ; ** but the year 1550 occurs yet more fre-
quently among the dates of its imaginary conversations, *•
and at the conclusion he very distinctly declares that it
was finished on the 23rd of May, 1556, when he was
seventy-nine years old. He died in Valladolid, the next
year.
But both during his life and after his death, Oviedo had
a formidable adversary, who, pursuing nearly the same
course of inquiries respecting the New World, came almost
constantly to conclusions quite opposite. This was no less
a person than Bartolom6 de las Casas, or Casaus, the
apostle and defender of the American Indians, — a man
great leaders, from the days when Quinquagenas, MS., £1 Cardinal Cis-
their companions were few and their neros.
means small, till thej saw themselves ^ As in the Dialogue on Juan de
full of wealth and strength, there hath Silva, Conde de Cifuentes, he says,
at last come forth so much discord, ^'Enesteaiio enqueestamos 15M>;"
scandal, and death, well must it appear and in the Dialogue on Mendosa,
matter of wonder even to those who Duke of Infantado, he uses the same
shall but hear of it, and much more words, as he does again in that on
to us, who knew them in their low Pedro Fernandez de Cdrdova. There
estate, and have no less borne witness is an excellent note on Oviedo in
to their greatness and prosperity." Vol. I. p. 112 of the American ed.
(General y Natural Historia de las of* Ferdinand and Isabella," by my
Indias, Lib. XL VI I., MS.) Much friend Mr. Prescott, to whom I am
of it is, like the preceding passage, indebted for the manuscript of the
in the true, old, rambling, moralizing, Quinquagenas, as well as ot the His-
chronicling vein. toria.
** ** En cste que estamos de 1545.*'
518 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATURE. Pebiod II.
ivho would have been remarkable in any age of the world,
and who does not seem yet to have gathered in the full
harvest of his honours. He was born in Seville, probably
in 1474 ; and in 1502, having gone through a course of
studies at Salamanca, embarked for the Indies, where his
father, who had been there with Columbus nine years
earlier, had already accumulated a decent fortune.
The attention of the young man was' early drawn to the
condition of the natives, from the circumstance that one
of them, given to his father by Columbus, had been
attached to his own person as a slave, while he was still
at the University ; and he was not slow to learn, on his
arrival in Hispaniola, that their gentle natures and slight
frames had already been subjected, in the mines and in
other forms of toil, to a servitude so harsh, that the original
inhabitants of the island were beginning to waste away
under the severity of their labours. From this moment
he devoted his life to their emancipation. In 1510 he
took holy orders, and continued as a priest, and for a short
time as Bishop of Chiapa, nearly forty years to teach,
strengthen, and console the suffering flock committed to
his charge. Six times, at least, he crossed the Atlantic,
in order to persuade the government of Chftrles the Fifth
to ameliorate their condition, and always with more or
less success. At last, but not until 1547, when he was
above seventy years old, he established himself at Valla-
dolid, in Spain, where he passed the remainder of his
serene old age, giving it freely to the great cause to which
he had devoted the freshness of his youth. He died, while
on a visit of business, at Madrid, in 1566, at the advanced
age, as is commonly supposed, of ninety-two. "
*^ There is a valuable life of Las with the slare-trade, will be read
Casas in Quintana, ** Vidas lie £spa- with particular interest; because, by
iioles C^lebres" (Madrid, 1833, materials drawn from unpublished do-
12mo., Tom. III. pp. 255-510). The cuments of unquestionaole authenti*
beventb article in the Appendix, con- city, it makes it certain that, although
ceming the connexion ol Las Casas at one time Las Casas favoured what
Chap. VI, SEPiSlVEDA.— OVIEDO. 519
Among the principal opponents of his benevolence were
Sepulveda, — one of the leading men of letters and casuists
of the time in Spain, — and Oviedo, who, from his con-
nexion with the mines and his share in the government of
diiferent parts of the newly discovered countries, had an
interest directly opposite to the one Las Casas defended.
These two persons, with large means and a wide influence
to sustain them, intrigued, wrote, and toiled against him,
in every way in their power. But his was not a spirit to
be daunted by opposition or deluded by sophistry and
intrigue; and when, in 1519, in a discussion with Sepiil-
veda concerning the Indians, held in the presence of the
young and proud Emperor Charles the Fifth, Las Casas
said, ^^It is quite certain that, speaking with all the
respect and reverence due to so great a sovereign, I would
not, save in the way of duty and obedience as a subject,
go from the place where I now stand to the opposite
corner of this room, to serve your Majesty, unless I
believed I should at the same time serve God," ^ — when
he said this, he uttered a sentiment that really governed
his life and constituted the basis of the great power he
exercised. His works are pervaded by it The earliest
of them, called " A very Short Account of the Ruin of
the Indies," was written in 1542,*^ and dedicated to the
prince, afterwards Philip the Second ; — a tract in which,
no doubt, the sufferings and wrongs of the Indians are
had been begun earlier, — the trans- Indios/' — and even expressed a fear
portation of negroes to the West that, though he had mien into the
Indies, in order to relieve the Indians, error of favouring the importation of
— as other good men in his time black slaves into America from igno-
favoured it, he did so under the im- ranee and good- will, ho might, after
pression that, according to the law dl, fful to stand excused for it before
of nations, the negroes thus brought the Divine Justice. Quintana, Tom.
to America were both rightful cap- III. P- ^71.
tives taken by the Portuguese in war * Quintana, Espanoles Cdlcbres,
and rightful slaves. But afterwards Tom. III. p. 321.
he changed his mind on the subject • "* Quintana (p. 413, note) doubts
He declared ** the captivity of the trA^n this famous treatise was written ;
neffroes to be as unjust as tbiat of the but Las Casas himself says, in the
Indians," — ** ser tan injusto el cauti- opening of his *< Brevlsima KelacioD,"
verio de los negros como el de los that it was written in 1542.
520 HISTORY OF SPANISH UTERATURE. Pebiod U.
much overstated by the indignant zeal of its author, but
still one whose expositions are founded in truth, and by
their fervour awakened all Europe to a sense of the injus-
• tice they set forth. Other short treatises followed, written
with similar spirit and power, especially those in reply
to Sepiilveda ; but none was so often reprinted, either at
home or abroad, as the first, ^ and none ever produced
so deep and solemn an efiect on the world. They were
all collected and published in 1552 ; and, besides being
translated into other languages at the time, an edition in
Spanish, and a French version of the whole, with two more
treatises than were contained in the first collection, appeared
at Paris in 1822, prepared by Llorente.
The great work of Las Casas, however, still remains
inedited, — a General History of the Indies from 1492
to 1520, begun by him in 1527 and finished in 1561, but
of which he ordered that no portion should be published
within forty years of his death. Like his other works,
it shows marks of haste and carelessness, and is written in
a rambling style ; 'but its value, notwithstanding his too
fervent zeal for the Indians, is great He had been per-
sonally acquainted with many of the early discoverers and
conquerors, and at one time possessed the papers of Co-
lumbus, and a large mass of other important documents,
which are now lost He says he had known Cortes " when
he was so low and humble, that he besought favour from
^ This important tract continued imputes to Las Casas, as well as tbe
long to be printed separately, both at one on the Authority of Kings, are
home and abroad. 1 use a copy of not absolutely proved to.be his.
it in double columns, Spanish and The translation referred to above
Italian, Venice, 1643, 12mo. ; but, appeared, in fact, the same year, and
like the rest, the Brcvfsima Relacion at the end of. it an '* Apoloeie de
may be consulted in an edition of the Las Casas," by Gr^goire, with letters
Works of Las Casas by Llorente, of Funes and Mier, and notes of
which appeared at Paris in 1822, in Llorente to sustain it, — all to defend
2 vols. 8vo., in the original Spanish, Las Casas on the subject of the slave-
almost at the same time with his trade ; but Quintana, as we have seen,
translation of them into French. It has cone to the original documents,
should be noticed, perhaps, that Llo- and leaves no doubt, both that Las
rente's version is not always strict, Casas once finvoured it, and that he
and that the two new treatises he altered his mind afterwards.
Chap. VI. VACA.— XEREZ.— 9ARATE. 521
the meanest servant of Diego Velasquez;** and he knew
him afterwards, he tells us, when, in his pride of place at
the court of the Emperor, he ventured to jest about the
pretty corsair's part he had played in the affairs of Mon-
tezuma. '^ He knew, too, Gomara and Oviedo, and gives
at large his reasons for differing from them. In short,
his book, divided into three parts, is a great repository,
to which Herrera, and through him all the historians of
the Indies since, have resorted for materials ; and without
which the history of the earliest period of the Spanish
settlements in America cannot, even now, be properly
written. ^
But it is not necessary to go farther into an examina-
tion of the old accounts of the discovery and conquest of
Spanish America, though there are many more which,
like those we have already considered, are partly books of
travel through countries full of wonders, partly chronicles
of adventures as strange as those of romance ; frequently
running into idle and loose details, but as frequently fresh,
picturesque, and manly in their tone and colouring, and
almost always curious from the facts they record amd the
glimpses they give of manners and character. Among those
that might be added are the stories by Vaca of his shipwreck
and ten years' captivity in Florida, from 1527 to 1537,
and his subsequent government for three years of the Rio
de la Plata ; ^^ the short account of the conquest of Peru
written by Francisco de Xerez, ^ and the ampler one, of
*^ '* Todo esto me dixo cl mismo Las Casas \i*rote his Brevlsima Re-
Cortds con otras cosas ccrca dello, lacion.
despucs de Marques, en la villa de " For a notice of all the works of
Mon^on, estando alii celebrando cortes Las Casas, see Quintana, Vidas, Tom.
cl Em{)crador, anode mil y quinientos III. pp. 507-510.
y quarenta y dos, riendo y raofando ■* The two works of Alvar Nufiez
con cstas formales palabras, a la mi Cabeza de Vaca, namely, his *' Nau-
fd andubd por alli conio un gentil fragios" and his '* Comentarios y
cosario.*' (llistoria General de las Sucesos de su Gobiemo en el Rio dc
Indias, Lib. III. c. 115, MS.) It la Plata," were first printed in 1555,
may be worth noting, that 1542, the and arc to be found in Barcia, Histo-
ycar when Cortes niade this scandal- riadores Primitivos, Tom. I.
ous speech, was the year in which •* The work of Francisco de Xerez,
VOL. I. 2 M
r/j
)0
HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE.
Period II.
the same wild achievements, which Augustin de (^arate
-began on the spot, and was prevented by an officer of Gon-
zalo de Fizarro from finishing till afler his return home. "
But they may all be passed over, as of less consequence
than those we have noticed, which are quite sufficient to
give an idea, both of the nature of their class and the course
it followed, — a class much resembling the old chronicles,
but yet one that announces the approach of those more
regular forms of history for which it furnishes abundant
materials.
** Conquista de Pcni," written by
order of Francisco Pizarro, was first
|Hiblished in 1547| and is to be found
in Ramusio, (Vcnezia, ed. Giunti,
folio, Tom. III.,) and in Barcia*8
collection, (Tom. III.) It ends with
some poor verses in defence of him-
self.
** ** Historia del Desciibrimicnto y
Conquista del Peru,*' first printed in
1555, and several times since. It is
in Bdrcia,Tom. III., and was trans-
lated into Italian by Ullua. Carate
was sent out by Charles V. to ex-
amine into the state of the revenues
of Peru, and brings down his accounts
as late as the overthrow of Gonzilo
Pizarro. See an excellent notice of
(^arate at the end of Mr. Prescott's
last chapter on the Conquest of Peni.
->
)
I
END OF VOL. I.
PRINTED BT W. CLOWES AVD fOKS, 8TAMT0BD STREET.
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