CARCEL DE AMOR AND THE COURTLY LOVE TRADITION

CARCEL DE AMOR AND THE COURTLY LOVE TRADITION

CARCEL DE AMOR AND THE COURTLY LOVE TRADITION
9.1
BEATRIZ ^AM2REZJ^iTJGHES_
B.
A., The U n i v e r s i t y
of B r i t i s h
Columbia,
1974
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Abstract
The f i r s t chapter of t h i s t h e s i s i s a survey of the
d i v e r s e c r i t i c i s m of C a r c e l de amor a v a i l a b l e today.
y Gaya, i n h i s prologue t o San Pedro's
comprehensive
Gili
Obras, p r e s e n t s a
study and e v a l u a t i o n of San Pedro's work which
has been the p o i n t of departure f o r modern c r i t i c s . Modern
c r i t i c i s m of the C a r c e l encompasses i t s s t y l e and
language
as w e l l as i t s s e n t i m e n t a l , e t h i c a l , p o l i t i c a l and p s y c h o l o g i c a l a s p e c t s . K e i t h Whinnom o f f e r s the most complete
of
study
the C a r c e l i n numerous a r t i c l e s , i n h i s prologue t o San
Pedro's complete works and i n h i s book on San Pedro and h i s
w r i t i n g s . However, San Pedro's p e c u l i a r i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of
the c o u r t l y l o v e t r a d i t i o n has not been s u f f i c i e n t l y
examined.
The second chapter o f f e r s an a p p r a i s a l of the author,
his
p e r i o d and h i s work. During the r e i g n of the C a t h o l i c
Monarchs, Spain enjoyed a p e r i o d of g r e a t c u l t u r a l
acti-
v i t y . The r e f i n e d atmosphere of the c o u r t favoured feminism and romantic l i t e r a t u r e . San Pedro was
an experienced
s o l d i e r a t the s e r v i c e of don Juan T e l l e z G i r o n , Count of
Urena. He was
a c o u r t i e r and a poet. Most i n f o r m a t i o n con-
c e r n i n g h i s l i f e and i d e n t i t y i s s p e c u l a t i o n . We do not know
the c e r t a i n dates of h i s b i r t h and death and the date of
his
works. C r i t i c s have s p e c u l a t e d on h i s p o s s i b l e Jewish
a n c e s t r y . A b r i e f survey of San Pedro's works shows h i s
versatility,
h i s concern w i t h p l e a s i n g h i s audience
the e s s e n t i a l l y c o u r t l y n a t u r e of h i s work.
and
His e a r l i e s t
iii
works were the r e l i g i o u s poems the Passion trobada and
s i e t e anqustias de Nuestra
Las
Senora. These were f o l l o w e d by
s e v e r a l poems i n the c o u r t l y l o v e t r a d i t i o n . H i s f i r s t
sen-
t i m e n t a l n o v e l , A r n a l t e y Lucenda i s c o n s i d e r e d a p r e c u r s o r
of
C a r e e l de amor. The Sermon i s a code f o r l o v e r s w r i t t e n
w i t h i n the t r a d i t i o n of the t r e a t i s e s Of love popular
through-
out the Middle Ages, I t s precepts are a p p l i e d i n the C a r c e l .
The t h i r d chapter i s the main p a r t of the present work.
San.Pedro's use of the c o u r t l y l o v e t r a d i t i o n i s examined
here. The antecedents
of C a r c e l de amor i n European
lite-
r a t u r e are c o n s i d e r e d i n order t o a p p r e c i a t e the p a r t i c u l a r
treatment
of love found i n the C a r c e l and the unique p l a c e
t h i s n o v e l occupies i n Spanish f i c t i o n . S i e r v o l i b r e
amor by Rodriguez
de l a Camara and i t s i m i t a t i o n s can
de
be
c o n s i d e r e d as f o r e r u n n e r s of the C a r c e l because they cont a i n elements t h a t c o n s t i t u t e the basic? c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of
the s e n t i m e n t a l n o v e l . The r e l a t i o n s h i p of the C a r c e l with
other s e n t i m e n t a l works such as Boccaccio's Fiammetta i s
a l s o c o n s i d e r e d . C a r c e l de amor s p r i n g s from the A r t h u r i a n
t r a d i t i o n and i s concerned
p r i m a r i l y with p u t t i n g i n t o prac-
t i c e the ideas and code of behaviour
of the c o u r t l y love
t r a d i t i o n . An o u t l i n e of the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , r u l e s ,
and development of t h i s t r a d i t i o n i s made.
origins
The works of
Ovid and Andreas Capellanus are examined and compared i n
order to e s t a b l i s h t h e i r d i f f e r e n c e s . The c o u r t l y l o v e t r a d i t i o n c o n s i d e r s p e r f e c t l o v e as an e v e r - i n s a t i a t i n g
and
e v e r - i n c r e a s i n g d e s i r e ; i t e l e v a t e s the beloved to a p o s i t i o n
iv
of
s u p e r i o r i t y over the
ennobling
de
f o r c e . These t h r e e
amor. A
the
lover; i t sustains
thorough examination of
Carcel
i s made. The
novel
are
great
nobility
set apart
concepts are
of the
s e t t i n g and
highest
of
nobility
s o u l and
C a s t i l i a n c o u r t l y love
and
Catalan
and
the
c o n c e r n w i t h h o n o u r . The
the
d e a t h and
tiny
as
f
are
Leriano
lets
himself
sentimental
novel
and
L a t i n t r a c t a t u s , the
ry novel
and
allegory
i s e x a m i n e d as
form the
novel.
discourses,
novel
San
the
endowed
from the
with
Proven-
f o r maidens
love
escape i s
fulfilling
s t y l e and
his
des-
structure
as
the
vital
unity
give
Pedro's use
epistolary structure
of
that
epistles,
arqumehtatio i n t o a
style
concluded
t o the
i t s links
rhetorical units
o f the,. Garcel?'s
be
a
the e p i s t o l a -
the n a r r a t i o ,
h a r a n g u e , and
work. C r i t i c i s m
factors that
tale,
o f c h i v a l r y . San
well
i t as
have s t u d i e d
Ovidian
I t may
( 3 ) the
die,thus
Pedro f u s e s
planctus,
( 2 ) the
of
of
c o u r t l y concept of
w i t h the
language i s considered.
theme,
Carcel
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s that
preference
some c r i t i c s
with the
polished
both are
amor. Menendez y P e l a y o c l a s s i f i e d
the
of
an
lover.
fourth chapter deals
C a r c e l de
is
protagonists
tradition
the
core
l o v e r i n a v i c i o u s c i r c l e whose o n l y
a perfect
The
o
tradition
the
and
the
love
c o u r t l y elements
v i r t u e . Two
cal
traps
the
that
novel
of the
and
that
are
the
(1)
novel,
three
the
and
r o l e of E l Auctor.
The
of C a r c e l
final
de
chapter stresses
the
i m p o r t a n c e and
amor i n S p a n i s h l i t e r a t u r e
influence
in particular
and
V
European l i t e r a t u r e i n g e n e r a l .
I t was
widely read
s t a r t e d a vogue f o r sentimental
n o v e l s throughout Europe.
In Spain, N i c o l a s Nunez wrote a c o n t i n u a t i o n
Flores published
two
c o u r t l y novels.
and
and
Juan
de
However the work of
F l o r e s departs from the c o u r t l y love t r a d i t i o n . I t was
l a t e d i n t o Er<ench, E n g l i s h , I t a l i a n and
German. A.
trans-
Gian-
n i n i b e l i e v e s t h a t i t i n f l u e n c e d Baldassare C a s t i g l i o n e
i n w r i t i n g I I C o r t e q i a n o . Gustave Reynier has
i n f l u e n c e on the French s e n t i m e n t a l
Rosa L i d a de M a l k i e l c o n s i d e r s
studied i t s
n o v e l . Above a l l ,
i t the f o r e r u n n e r of
Maria
La
C e l e s t i n a . Peter G. E a r l e , a f t e r L i d a de M a l k i e l compares
the love concepts found i n the works of Rojas and
San
T h i s t h e s i s concludes by s t r e s s i n g the e x c e l l e n c e
San
Pedro's r e - c r e a t i o n of the c o n v e n t i o n a l
Pedro.
of
i d e a l s of c o u r t l y
l o v e i n h i s n o v e l . His-.consciousness as a c o u r t l y writeri n s p i r e d him
and
t o s e l e c t the a p p r o p r i a t e
ideas,
form, language,
s t y l e i n order t o produce an e x c e l l e n t example of
courtly
literature.
vi
Table o f contents
Abstract
I
II
III
IV
V
i l
Introduction
1
The c r i t i c s : "trama t e j i d a
con poco a r t e o novela p o l i tica.
2
Diego de San Pedro" " e l t r o badorV.
17
The c o u r t l y l o v e
tradition
and t h e C a r c e l de amor
32
S t r u c t u r e and S t y l e
76
I n f l u e n c e o f C a r c e l de
amor.
105
Conclusion
116
Bibliography
118
1
Introduction
The
purpose of t h i s t h e s i s i s t o examine the
t i a l l y c o u r t l y nature of Diego de San
Pedro's
p r o d u c t i o n as r e f l e c t e d i n h i s major work, the
essen-
literary
Carcel
de amor.
San
Pedro's use
of the elements of c o u r t l y love i n
the C a r c e l w i l l be e s p e c i a l l y c o n s i d e r e d . I t r e f l e c t s the
author's p e c u l i a r a b i l i t y t o i n t e r p r e t p o e t i c a l l y the
i d e a s and
t a s t e of h i s m i l e u .
T h i s t h e s i s s t u d i e s how
q u a l i t y and
the c a r e f u l s t y l e , l y r i c a l
romantic content of the C a r c e l responded t o
the need f o r what Johan H u i z i n g a c a l l s
heroism and
love."
York: Doubleday,
"the dream of
(The Waning of the Middle Ages,
1954.
New
2
Chapter
The c r i t i c s :
One
"trama t e j i d a con poco a r t e o n o v e l a
politica"
Diego de san Pedro's w r i t i n g s have long been regarded
as works of t r a n s i t i o n , and f o r t h i s reason c r i t i c s have
w r i t t e n l i t t l e of any substance
about them.
Although
g e n e r a t i o n s of s c h o l a r s have u n d e r l i n e d San Pedro's
r o l e i n Spanish l i t e r a t u r e ,
they have merely commented on h i s
s t y l e and language s u p e r f i c i a l l y and
identity.
s p e c u l a t e d about h i s
Hence, u n t i l the p u b l i c a t i o n of San Pedro's Obras
1
completas i n 1950
(or
important
by Samuel G i l i y Gaya, T h e < c 5 r c e l de amor
indeed a l l of San Pedro's l i t e r a r y p r o d u c t i o n ) had
not
been s e r i o u s l y s t u d i e d or e v a l u a t e d .
Jose" Amador de l o s R i o s , i n 1865
energfa de l a f r a s e " found
p r a i s e d the " n e r v i o y
i n C a x c e l de amor, and the use of
the e p i s t o l a r y form i n order t o c r e a t e a more i n t i m a t e r e l a t i o n s h i p between the reader, author,
only d e s c r i b e d the content without
and c h a r a c t e r s , but
2
analyzing i t .
The
i n f l u e n t i a l c r i t i c i s m came from Menendez y Pelayo i n
Don M a r c e l i n o p l a c e d t h i s work w i t h i n a genre he
he
first
1905.
accu-
3
r a t e l y named "novela s e n t i m e n t a l " .
H i s d e f i n i t i o n of t h i s
genre has been c o n s i d e r e d by K e i t h Whinnom as "una
Cde c a r a c t e r i s t i c a s D un t a n t o a r t i f i c i a l ,
una
f a l s i f i c a c i o n de l a verdadera
agrupaci6n
que puede p r o d u c i r
h i s t o r i a de l a n o v e l i t a
4
amorosa en c a s t e l l a n o " ,
but i t , n e v e r t h e l e s s , d e s c r i b e s appro-
p r i a t e l y an embryonic l i t e r a r y form whose main c h a r a c t e r i s t i c
i s i t s concern w i t h emotional c o n f l i c t s .
Don
Marcelino
calls
the C a r c e l a " t e n t a t i v a de novela i n t i m a " w i t h a "trama t e j i d a
3
con poco a r t e " ,
5
and f a i l s t o a p p r e c i a t e the meaning and
l i t e r a r y v a l u e of the n o v e l . H i s o n l y p r a i s e goes t o
the
San
Pedro's e l e g a n t s t y l e which he f i n d s s u p e r i o r t o t h a t of the
e a r l i e r A r n a l t e y_ Lucenda. He a n g t i l y condemns t h e
to
the P a s s i 6 n trobada;
a comparar l a que
6
mundo,"
prologue
" l l e g a n d o en e l colmo de l a e x a l t a c i d n ,
llama su p a s s i o n con
l a d e l Redentor d e l
and shows d i s d a i n f o r h i s p o e t r y . Don
Marcelino's
most d i s p a r a g i n g comment goes t o the S e r m 6 n , which he cons i d e r s a poor and i n e p t parody, and he shows d i s t a s t e
for
the s o - c a l l e d
understands
"courtly love" t r a d i t i o n .
Menendez y
Pelayo
too w e l l the banning o f the Cctrcel by the I n q u i -
s i t i o n , and he disapproves o f the blasphemous nature of
L e r i a n o ' s f i n a l d i s c o u r s e i n defence
l a c k of enthusiasm
and caused
of women.
f o r San Pedro's work obscured
Don
Marcelino's
i t s worth
l a t e r c r i t i c s t o o v e r l o o k the many charms t h a t
made t h i s work w i d e l y read and t r a n s l a t e d d u r i n g the
fif-
t e e n t h and s i x t e e n t h c e n t u r i e s .
We
f i n d a good, though b r i e f , study of San Pedro's n o v e l
i n the i n t r o d u c t i o n t o h i s Obras by G i l i y Gaya, who
stresses
San Pedro's r o l e as a c o u r t l y "trobador" i n the best
tradition
of
courtly love.
G i l i y Gaya p r e s e n t s a s h o r t summary of the
7
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of c o u r t l y l o v e , f o l l o w i n g Gaston P a r i s
8
Myrrha Lot-Borodin, and he u n d e r l i n e s those
which San Pedro used i n h i s n o v e l s .
and
characteristics
G i l i y Gaya agrees
Menendez y Pelayo about the sources and antecedents
with
of the
C a r c e l and p o i n t s out the " s e v e r i d a d c a s t e l l a n a " t h a t makes
him r e j e c t a d u l t e r y , which i s one of the elements o f the
European t r a d i t i o n o f c o u r t l y l o v e
(pp.xvii-xviii).
4
G i l i y Gaya's d e s c r i p t i o n o f San Pedro and h i s works
provides
a p o i n t o f departure f o r modern c r i t i c s ,
Keith
9
Whinnom and Moreno Baez among o t h e r s .
the author o f t h e most e x t e n s i v e
The
K e i t h Whinnom i s
study o f San Pedro's works.
i n t r o d u c t i o n t o h i s three-volume e d i t i o n o f San Pedro's
Obras completas i s a comprehensive account o f b i b l i o g r a p h i c a l and t e x t u a l problems, and an attempt t o remove t r a d i t i o n a l misconceptions and m i s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s o f San Pedro's
10
writings.
Whinnom r e j e c t s G i l i y Gaya's " p e t u l a n t " com-
ments on San Pedro's a r t i f i c i a l i t y ,
h i s i d e n t i t y as a
converso, and h i s "mundo extrano y l e j a n o de
a l e g o r f a s y esquemas c o n c e p t u a l e s "
sentimientos,
(p.vii).
In the i n t r o d u c t i o n t o h i s e d i t i o n o f the C a r c e l de
amor Whinnom examines the meaning o f the c o u r t l y love
d i t i o n and i t s i n f l u e n c e on the n o v e l . T h i s work,
tra-
together
w i t h h i s book on San Pedro f o r the Twayne's World Authors
S e r i e s o f f e r s the most thorough p o r t r a i t o f the man, h i s
w r i t i n g s , and p e r i o d .
Whinnom e n t h u s i a s t i c a l l y emphasizes
the " r a r e t a l e n t and unusual s e n s i t i v i t y " o f t h e author,
i n v i t i n g the student o f l i t e r a t u r e t o overcome the b a r r i e r s
which have prevented c r i t i c s from pursuing
a proper a n a l y s i s
11
of San Pedro's works.
C r i t i c i s m of the Carcel
de amor o r i t s author has been
p r i m a r i l y concerned w i t h the n o v e l ' s s t y l e and form. In an
important a r t i c l e , Whinnom d i s c u s s e s San Pedro's use o f
12
rhetoric.
He b e l i e v e s t h a t the author achieved
reform by a p p l y i n g
the new approach t o r h e t o r i c
a stylistic
introduced
by the humanists towards t h e end o f the f i f t e e n t h
century.
5
Thus, what Menendez y Pelayo c a l l e d elegant s t y l e , and what
G i l i y Gaya thought was
San Pedro's growing maturity as a
writer, i s the application of the new
humanist rhetoric of
the Renaissance.
Carmelo Samona had already contrasted the d i f f e r e n t
styles of the Arnalte and the Carcel and attempted to
explain them i n terms of a "maturita che s i traduce i n
13
influenza e capacita d i v u l g a t i v a . "
Samon^ believes that
the better s t y l e of the Cctrcel i s the r e s u l t of "una mutazione del gusto e d e l l a tecnica del periodo i s a b e l i n o , " and
he elaborates on G i l i y Gaya's theory that the
"evoluci6n
tan notoria en e l e s t i l o del autor" i s the r e s u l t of a l o g i c a l process of l i t e r a r y maturation.
Unlike Whinnom, the
I t a l i a n c r i t i c does not see the application of the p r i n c i p l e s
found i n the manuals of humanist rhetoric, but the "pulimento
1
de forme, che c a r a t t e r i z z a con molto spicco e v a r i e t a d i
motivi l e f l u t u a z i o n i d i un periodo d i assestamento d e l l a
lingua, come e quello dei Re C a t t o l i c i " and f e e l s that the
Carcel i s above a l l "un eco fedele e s o l l e c i t a e uno vero
e propio guida" of the period, since " l o s c r i t t o r e che s i
uniforma da prima a quel mondo e a l l e sue inclinazione,
14
f i n i s c e poi per i n d i r i z z a r l e e guidarle."
Some c r i t i c s have b r i e f l y considered
the Carcel de amor
when studying the development of the epistolary form (Charles
15
16
E. Kany ), the sentimental novel (Barbara Matulka, Dinko
17
Cvitanovic
), and the novel i n general
(Menendez y Pelayo).
They compare Carcel de amor to diverse narrative forms and
often l i m i t i t s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s to those of a p a r t i c u l a r
6
genre,
such as the French n o v e l of c h i v a l r y , the e p i s t o l a r y
18
n o v e l , and the O v i d i a n t a l e .
Anna Krause maintains t h a t San Pedro f o l l o w s the
d i t i o n of the mediaeval
tra-
L a t i n t r a c t a t u s and t h a t w h i l e h i s
work p r e s e n t s elements t h a t p o i n t t o other k i n d s of n a r r a t i v e , i t i s b a s i c a l l y a modernized v e r s i o n of the t r a c t a d o
de amores which i s " e l producto e c l e c t i c o de
influencias
contemporSneas, e l patetismo de l a Fiametta, e l i n t e r i o r i s mo de l a novela, i n n o v a c i 6 n asimismo de l o s maestros i t a l i a n o s , y un i d e a l i s m o c o r t e s a n o y c a b a l l e r e s c o de nuevo
19
tono y matiz d i f u n d i d o por toda l a p o e s i a de c a n c i o n e r o . "
Krause u n d e r l i n e s San Pedro's p o s i t i o n as a l i n k between
Mediaeval
and Renaissance
l i t e r a t u r e , s i n c e h i s works
com20
b i n e both mediaeval
The
t o p o i and form w i t h Renaissance
style.
l o v e versus honour theme i n the Cctrcel has been the
s u b j e c t of l i t t l e
study.
H.T.
Oostendorp mentions t h i s
aspect of San Pedro's n o v e l s i n h i s d o c t o r a l t h e s i s ,
he does not analyze i t i n depth.
but
He i s i n t e r e s t e d o n l y i n
t r a c i n g the h i s t o r y of t h i s c o n f l i c t , and i n e x p l a i n i n g i t s
origins.
H i s t h e s i s adds l i t t l e t o p r e v i o u s c r i t i c i s m o f the
21
C a r c e l de amor.
Pamela Waley compares the treatment o f the
22
theme by San Pedro and h i s contemporary, Juan de F l o r e s .
She sees L a u r e o l a ' s c a r e f o r her honour simply as a p o e t i c
d e v i c e t h a t h e l p s t o c r e a t e the a c t i o n i n the n o v e l .
and L a u r e o l a are:
. . . h e i r s t o a p o e t i c , as d i s t i n c t from a
f i c t i o n a l t r a d i t i o n . . . and L e r i a n o ' s death i s
not so,-much the r e a l i z a t i o n of a t h r e a t or wish;
so o f t e n expressed by the c a n c i o n e r o poets as the
s o l u t i o n of a c o n f l i c t t h a t can o n l y .end thus or
w i t h the l o s s of the l a d y ' s honour.
Leriano
7
Waley c o n s i d e r s t h a t San Pedro's
" i d e a l i z e d c o n c e p t i o n of
love . . . belongs t o the realm of p o e t r y , " and she
Juan de F l o r e s *
" i n v e s t i g a t i o n of the causes and
finds
motives
of the behaviour of the c h a r a c t e r s " a "step away from the
i n d i s p e n s a b l e hyperbole of c h i v a l r e s q u e f i c t i o n and towards
24
the human i n t e l l i g i b i l i t y of C a l i s t o and M e l i b e a . "
L a u r e o l a ' s p r e o c c u p a t i o n with p u b l i c o p i n i o n i s gener a l l y misunderstood
as a s i g n of c r u e l t y by many c r i t i c s ,
among them, Pamela Waley, who
sees her i n the t r a d i t i o n of
La b e l l e dame sans m e r c i . Bruce -Wardropper understands
this
c r u e l t y as:
consecuencia d e l c o n f l i c t o amor cortesano
honor . . . l a piedad, s e n t i m i e n t o noble y
conveniente choca con l a s nociones d e l honor
y provoca una s e n s a c i 6 n de c u l p a y de c a s t i g o . La p a s i o n de L e r i a n o , encendida y mant e n i d a por l a c r u e l d a d de L a u r e o l a , despues
d e l p a r e n t e s i s de piedad, s o l o podia tener
un desenlace f a t a l . . .
25
Wardropper excuses L a u r e o l a ' s f i n a l r e j e c t i o n of L e r i a no 's love i n the name of the i n f l e x i b l e code of honour of
the p e r i o d : "ipuede s e r culpada una mujer por una c r u e l d a d
i n e v i t a b l e segun l a s normas de l o s codigos de conducta? Aun
26
cuando fuese i n n e c e s a r i a , queda a s a l v o de r e p r o c h e s . "
Wardropper*s a r t i c l e p r o v i d e s us w i t h the most p e r c e p t i v e
examination t o date of the s e n t i m e n t a l world of the C a r c e l
de
amor, whereas Jose L u i s V a r e l a ' s " R e v i s i o n de l a novela sent i m e n t a l " o n l y repeats t r a d i t i o n a l views without opening
new
avenues of i n t e r p r e t a t i o n . V a r e l a , f o l l o w i n g Maria Rosa L i d a
de M a l k i e l ,
p o i n t s t o the C a r c e l as an important source f o r
La C e l e s t i n a and d e s c r i b e s i t s mediaeval and n e o p l a t o n i c e l e 29
ments. V a r e l a c o n s i d e r s the C a r c e l a "moderado punto medio"
8
between Rodriguez d e l Padr6n (or de l a Camara's) superior
treatment of allegory, and Juan de Flores's realism and
concern with moral values.
an "imposible r e t 6 r i c a :
Varela finds San Pedro's s t y l e
l a alegoria . . . una c o n c e s i 6 n
30
enojosa, un ornato superfluo, una hojarasca embarazosa."
Wardropper studies the sentimental element of t h i s
novel i n r e l a t i o n to mediaeval codes of chivalry, "culto
del heroismo"; honour, "basado en l a t r a d i c i 6 n f a m i l i a r , en
l a riqueza y en e l patrimonio"; v i r t u e , "como forma perenne
de v i r t u d cardinal o como forma e s p e c i f i c a c r i s t i a n a - f u s i 6 n
31
cardinal y t e o l 6 g i c a . "
Wardropper adds that Leriano*s tragedy i s born from the
c o n f l i c t created by these three codes and the code of courtly
love:
Sx, los cuatro c 6 d i g o s se superponen, pero
no coinciden. C o n f l i c t o entre l a s apariencias y
l a realidad. Leriano, v a s a l l o d e l rey Gaulo, en
v i r t u d d e l c 6 d i g o d e l amor cortesano. Cuando e l
rey t r a t a a Laureola injustamente, duda: e l honor
de Laureola o su propio amor por e l l a ha de ser
s a c r i f i c a d o . Y e l honor, l a apariencia de v i r t u d ,
se encuentra a menudo en c o n f l i c t o con l a v i r t u d
c r i s t i a n a , l a realidad.
La sumision de Leriano a l a s diferentes normas eticas determina problemas y armonlas en su
vida y, en ultimo t£rmino, l a tragedia inevitable,
sentida as£, pero no claramente prevista.32
After c a r e f u l l y analyzing the r o l e that a l l four codes
play i n the novel, Wardropper considers i t s e s s e n t i a l l y s e n t i mental nature. Leriano symbolizes the sentimental man who i s
guided by h i s feelings rather than by h i s reason.
Therefore,
he cannot see the incompatibility of the codes he follows,
and succumbs under h i s own overwhelming sentiments.
Leriano's
world i s a realm beyond r e a l i t y which i s animated by a quintes-
9
sence of sentiment and i s accesible only to the n o b i l i t y
(as Leriano's mother says i n her planto). But Wardropper
does not r e a l i z e that t h i s i s e s s e n t i a l l y the world of
courtly love.
The noble feelings and elements of chivalry,
honour and v i r t u e , are subordinated
courtly love t r a d i t i o n .
to the most s t r i c t
The code of love i s not only
one
element i n Carcel de amor, but i t s i n s p i r a t i o n and i t s raison
d'etre.
An important aspect of San Pedro's s t y l i s t i c reform i s
the r o l e the author plays i n the C c i r c e l . Alfonso Reyes pointed out the way
i n which the author introduces himself into
33
the novel, instead of narrating the story from the outside.
In doing so, the writer creates a more complete i l l u s i o n of
l i f e , a "novela perfecta". Bruce Wardropper also underlines
39
the s i g n i f i c a n c e of t h i s new
s t y l i s t i c perspective.
However,
the purpose of his a r t i c l e i s to refute the b e l i e f of Menendez y Pelayo and other c r i t i c s , that the Carcel and the sentimental novel i n general i s autobiographical.
Like Whinnom
Wardropper i s concerned with correcting t r a d i t i o n a l opinions
about t h i s book, such as the comment that "there i s no s k i l l
35
i n the construction of the fable"
or that i t has a "forma
36
algo torpe."
The romantic nature of the Carcel has provoked some bold
psychoanalytical comments, l i k e those of S. Serrano Poncela,
and Hayde"e Bermejo and Dinko Cvitanovic.
Leriano's
Serrano compares
"amor de enamoramiento" with that of Werther's,
the t r a g i c hero of Goethe's novel.
both represent:
According
to Serrano,
10
II
. . . un p a r t i c u l a r arquetipo amoroso en
cuya actitud, l a sociedad de su tiempo e n c o n t r 6
reflejadas c i e r t a s tendencias m a n f a c o - e r 6 t i c a s
que todos llevamos de contrabando pero que hahabitualmente c i r c u l a n inofensivas.37
He supposes i n Leriano "curiosos esfuerzos de
introspecci6n
y autoana"lisis," overlooking the author's indebtedness to
mediaeval l i t e r a r y t r a d i t i o n and the meaning of Leriano's
sacrifice.
Bermejo and Cvitanovic, on the other hand, consider the
novel "una aventura en e l conocimiento del drama humano d e l
amor y l a soledad," and stress Leriano*s role as a victim of
" l a ; * d e s e s p e r a c i 6 n * que anima e l pensamiento de Kierkegaard
o l a 'enfermedad* y e l 'escandalo* de Unamuno," concluding
that " l a 'enfermedad* de Unamuno es un sufrimiento activo
que en Leriano es, no obstante, signo de l a transitoriedad
de l a vida y conduce a l a muerte que es l a verdadera l i b e 38
raci6n."
Bermejo and Cvitanovic also c l o s e l y examine the
emotional drama of the Carcel, and offer some i n t e r e s t i n g
interpretations which w i l l be discussed i n a l a t e r chapter.
Fernando Marquez Villanueva has i n s i s t e d on the p o l i t i c a l
39
content of the Cctrcel de amor.
In his opinion,its main
purpose i s to oppose the idea of a Caesarean r u l e r precisely
at the moment when the Catholic Monarchs came to power.
Although the theory about San Pedro's converso o r i g i n has
not been proved, Marquez Villanueva assumes that he must
have witnessed many i n j u s t i c e s committed
against his people,
the Jews, and he finds clear allusions to the I n q u i s i t i o n
i n Laureola*s t r i a l and punishment. Marquez Villanueva sees
an obvious reproach to the King's u n f a i r treatment of the
11
Jews i n L e r i a n o ' s
l e t t e r t o the King of Macedonia:
S i por ventura l o c o n s e n t i s t e por v e r t e aquexado de l a s u p l i c a c i 6 n de sus p a r i e n t e s [ l o s
p a r i e n t e s de P e r s i o } , quando l e s o t o r g a s t e l a
merced, d e u i e r a s a c o r d a r t e de l o s s e r u i c i o s
que l o s mlos t e h i z i e r o n , pues sabes con
quanta costanca de coracon, quantos d e l l o s
en muchas b a t a l l a s y conbates p e r d i e r o n por
t u s e r u i c i o l a s v i d a s . Nunca hueste i u n t a s t e que l a t e r c i a p a r t e d e l l o s no fuese.(p.154)
and
i n the concept of l i m p i e z a de sangre as i m p l i e d i n the
King's answer t o the C a r d i n a l :
y a t a n t o se e s t e n d e r f a e s t a culpa s i c a s t i gada no fuese, que podr£e a m a n z i l l a r l a fama
de l o s pasados y l a onrra de l o s presentes y
l a sangre de l o s por v e n i r ; que s o l a vna mac u l a en e l l i n a g e cunde toda l a generacion. (p.167)
However d i v e r s e the c r i t i c i s m of C a r c e l de amor may
be,
a l l s c h o l a r s agree on i t s importance i n the development of
the novel i n p a r t i c u l a r and
i n Spanish l i t e r a t u r e
i n general.
Rosa Maria L i d a de M a l k i e l and C a s t r o G u i s a s o l a c i t e i t as
an antecedent of La C e l e s t i n a . L i d a b e l i e v e s t h a t the
char-
a c t e r s of C a l i s t o and Melibea
and
were drawn from L e r i a n o
4(
Laureola,
and
Peter G.
Guisasola
f i n d s s e v e r a l examples of paraphrase.
E a r l e , f o l l o w i n g Maria Rosa L i d a ' s comments,
compares love concepts as they appear i n the C a r c e l de amor
and
i n La C e l e s t i n a , and regards
the l a t t e r : " L i k e Don
complete r e n o v a t i o n
the former as a model of
Q u i j o t e , however, i t c o n s t i t u t e s the
of a type,
through e l i m i n a t i o n o f some
41
elements, parody of o t h e r s , and
Earle underlines
regeneration
of s t i l l more."
some s i m i l a r i t i e s and d i f f e r e n c e s between
the two n o v e l s t o i l l u s t r a t e h i s p o i n t .
Dinko C v i t a n o v i c l i n k s C a r c e l de amor w i t h
Cervantes'
12
Novelas e jemplares
espanola,
and Don
Qui jote (La novela
sentimental
pp.333-58). Pamela Waley s t u d i e s i t as a
precedent
to the works of Juan de F l o r e s , and o t h e r s , l i k e Menendez
y Pelayo,
of
c o n s i d e r i t a s i g n i f i c a n t step i n the development
the n o v e l .
The
42
immense p o p u l a r i t y of the C a r c e l , however, remains
to be e x p l a i n e d . James A. F l i g h t n e r has seen three main
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s t h a t c o n t r i b u t e d to t h i s p o p u l a r i t y : (1) the
author's
awareness of time,
(2) the c h a r a c t e r m o t i v a t i o n ,
43
and
(3) the r e a l i s t i c elements.
ments do not t e l l us why
Europe enjoyed
But,
these t e c h n i c a l e l e -
thousands of people a l l over
the work f o r over a hundred y e a r s .
13
Footnotes t o Chapter One
.1
. ,.
. ..
"
Diego de San Pedro, bbras completas, ed. Samuel G i l i
y Gaya (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1950). Omits La p a s s i o n trobada
and one s h o r t obscene poem. A l l q u o t a t i o n s from San Pedro's
works are taken from t h i s e d i t i o n . A l l f u t u r e r e f e r e n c e s t o
t h i s e d i t i o n i n the f o o t n o t e s w i l l appear under G i l i y Gaya.
2
H i s t o r i a c r i t i c a de l a l i t e r a t u r a espanola ( 1 8 6 5 j
r p t . Madrid: E d i t o r i a l 2 G r e d o s . r S t A., 1969); -351.
3
......
Origenes de l a novela (Buenos A i r e s : Espasa-Calpe,
1946), 1, 473-521. A l l f u t u r e r e f e r e n c e s t o t h i s work w i l l
appear under Origenes.
4
1
.
' ,.
v
_
Diego.de San Pedro, Obras completas, ed. K e i t h Whinnom
i ( M a d r i d : C a s t a l i a , 1972 • „ 49."..
A l l future references
t o t h i s work w i l l appear under Whinnom.
5
, .
'
'
Origenes, p.473.
6
I b i d . , p.516.
.7
" L a n c e l o t du Lac. Le conte de l a C h a r r e t e , " Romania,
12 (1883), 459-534.
8
.
.'
De 1'amour profane a 1'amour sacre, Etudes de psychol o g i e s e n t i m e n t a l e au Moyen Age ( P a r i s , n.p., 1961).
9
E a r l i e r e d i t o r s of the C a r c e l (Foalche-Delbosc, 15
B i b l i o t e c a H i s p a n i c a , Barcelona: L'Aven^,
1904; Rubio B a l a guer, Barcelona: Armino, 1941), have' l i t t l e to" add i n ....
t h e i r p r o l o g u e s . Jaime Uya (Barcelona: Zeus, 1969), and A r t u r o Sputo A l b a r c e (Mexico: Porrua, 1971) p r a c t i c a l l y p l a g i a r i z e d G i l i y Gaya's work. Although E. Moreno Baez (Madrid:
A l i a n z a E d i t o r i a l , 1974) makes a f i n e summary of the l i f e and
works.of San Pedro, he does not add much to G i l i y Gaya's
words.
10
.Whinnom repeats much of t h i s study i n Diego de San
Pedro. (New York: Twayne P u b l i s h e r s , 1974).
11..
Ibid., pp.7-9.
12
"Diego de San Pedro's S t y l i s t i c Reform," B u l l e t i n of
H i s p a n i c S t u d i e s , 37 (1960), 1-15.
13
"Diego de San Pedro: da 11'Arnalte y_ Lucenda a l i a Carc e l de amor," S t u d i i i n onore d i P i e t r o S i l v a ( F l o r e n c e :
F e l i c e l e Monnier, 1957), p.277.
14
I b i d . , pp.273 and 277.
14
15
"The Beginnings of the Epistolary Novel i n France,
I t a l y and Spain," University of C a l i f o r n i a Publications i n
Modern Philology, 21(1937), x and 158.
16
The Novels of Juan de Flores and t h e i r European
Diffusion (New York: I n s t i t u t e of French Studies, 1931),
passim.
17
La novela sentimental espanola (Madrid: E d i t o r i a l
Prensa Espanola, 1973), op. 121-76.
18
Rudolph S c h e v i l l , "Ovid and the Renaissance i n Spain,"
University of C a l i f o r n i a Publications i n Modern Philology,
4 (1913),
118.
19
" E l 'tractado' n o v e l i s t i c o de Diego de San Pedro,"
B u l l e t i n Hispanioue. 54 (1952),
274.
20
"Como se ha notado sus materiales eran esencialmente
medievales: temas de l a poesia amorosa de cancionero, costumbrismo cortesano, tipos n o v e l l s t i c o s convencionales . . .
los cuales, en sus manos, cobran nueva vida. Como e s t i l i s t a ,
a l contrario, pertenece del todo a l pre-Renacimiento y su
prosa a r t i s t i c a constituye un eslab6n en l a cadena que va
de Juan de Mena a Fernando de Rojas," Ibid., p.272.
21
" E l c o n f l i c t o entre e l honor y e l amor en l a l i t e ratura espanola hasta e l s i g l o XVII," Unpublished d i s s e r tation (Haag: Van Goor Zonen deen Haag, 1962).
22
"Love and honour i n the novelas sentimentales of
Diego de San Pedro and Juan de Flores," B u l l e t i n of Hispanic
Studies, 43 (1966), 253-75.
23
Ibid., p.262.
24
Ibid., p.275.
25
" E l mundo sentimental de l a Carcel de amor," Revista
de F i l o l o q i a Espafiola, 37 (1953),
168-93.
~
26
Ibid., op. 178-79.
27
"Revisi6n de l a novela sentimental," Revista de F i l o loqia Espafiola, 48 (1965),
351-81.
La o r i q i n a l i d a d a r t i s t i c a de "La Celestina'I (Buenos
Aires: E d i t o r i a l U n i v e r s i t a r i a , 1962).
29
"Revisi6n," p. 366.
30
Ibid., p. 376.
15
31
32
33
" E l mundo," p. 171.
Ibid., p. 172.
"La Carcel de amor de Diego de San Pedro, novela
oerfecta," Obras completas (1901j r p t . Mexico: Porrua,
1955), 1, pp. 49-60.
34
"Allegory and the role of 'El Autor* i n the Carcel
de amor," P h i l o l o g i c a l Quarterly, 31 (1952),
39-44.
35
George Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature (New
York, 1849), 1, 426, c i t e d i n B. Wardropper, "Allegory and
the r o l e of ' E l Autor' i n the Carcel de amor," p.41.
36
-
Angel d e l Rio, H i s t o r i a de l a l i t e r a t u r a espanola
(New York, 1948), 1, 99, c i t e d i n B. Wardropper, "Allegory
and the r o l e of *E1 Autor' i n the Carcel de amor," p. 41.
37
S. Serrano Poncela, "Dos'Werther' del renacimiento
espanol," Asomante, 5 (1949), p. 100. Serrano finds the
i n s p i r a t i o n f o r t h i s a r t i c l e i n Luis Usoz* prologue to his
Cancionero de burlas. Also Menendez y Pelayo finds a simil a r i t y between Werther and the C a r c e l : . . las t i n t a s
lugubres del cuadro y l o frenetico y desgraciado de l a
p a s i 6 n d e l h£roe y aun e l s u i c i d i o con que l a n a r r a c i 6 n
acaba, hace pensar en e l Werther y sus i m i t a d o r e s . O r f genes,
p. 508.
38
Dinko Cvitanovic and Haydee Bermejo, " E l sentido de
l a aventura e s p i r i t u a l en l a 'Carce! de amor'.j," Revista de
F i l o l o g i a Espanola, 49 (1966),
291. H. T. Oostendorp,
"El c o n f l i c t o , " p. 104, and Barbara Matulka, The novels of
Juan de Flores, p. 326 disregard such comparisons. Oostendorp
adds: "Leriano no se suicida en un ramalazo de locura, muere
con plena entrega de s i mismo alegando razones que l e inducen a despedirse de l a vida: su muerte constituye un s a c r i f i c i o y l a ultima alabanza a l a mujer."
39
"Carcel de amor, novela p o l l t i c a , " Revista de Occidente, 13-14 (1966), 185-98.
40
Maria Rosa Lida de Malkiel, La o r i g i n a l i d a d a r t i s t i c a
de "La Celestina," pp. 393-455; Castro Guisasola, Observaciones sobre l a s fuentes l i t e r a r i a s de "La Celestina" (Madrid:
1973).
41
"Love concepts i n l a Cetrcel de amor and La Celestina,"
Hispania, 39 (1956), 92- 96.
16
42
Juan de Flores, Grimalte y_ Gradissa, ed. Pamela Waley
(London: Tamesis Books Ltd., 1971), X V I I - X I X .
43
"The popularity of the Carcel de amor," Hispania,
47 (1964), 475-8.
17
Chapter
Two
Diego de San Pedro: " e l trobador"
The reign of the Catholic Monarchs brought to Spain not
only national unity, power and wealth, but also an impressive
1
intelectual activity.
cation and learning.
Queen Isabella herself fostered eduShe supervised a complete reform of the
education and morals of the clergy, and fomented the spread
of the new humanistic learning from I t a l y and the Netherlands.
Writers at her court were encouraged, and they multiplied
under the protection of enthusiastic patrons.
I t was a
time f o r experimenting with new forms imported from abroad,
and a time f o r polishing those forms native to the homeland.
Poetry, prose f i c t i o n , and drama flourished and at the same
time scholars were applying themselves to the study of the
Spanish language.
The royal chronicler, Juan de Lucena,
describes the atmosphere of the court as follows: "Jugaba
e l Rev, eran todos tahures; estudia l a Reina, somos agora
2
estudiantes."
The contrast with the court of Isabella's brother,
Henry IV, was great.
The decadence that had begun during
the reign of John II i n the e a r l i e r part of the century,
continued to sink C a s t i l e into s o c i a l , p o l i t i c a l , and economic unrest.
The Cortes were divided and weak; the Church
was immensely wealthy, powerful, and was made up mainly of
uneducated clergymen; the nobles ignored royal authority
and f i n a l l y they deposed Henry i n favour of his brother
Alphonse.
The kingdom was weak and demoralized by famine,
drought, the r i s e i n the price of staple foods, debasement
18
of the coinage, brigandage, violence, and sporadic outbreaks
of the plague. Art and l e t t e r s could not f l u o r i s h i n such
a turbulent atmosphere. The vigorous c u l t u r a l r e v i v a l begun
by Alphonse the Wise i n the thirteenth century was dead,
despite John II's e a r l i e r attempts to rekindle i t .
Henry
and his court accurately represented the sad state of a f f a i r s .
They were indolent, l i c e n t i o u s , and t o t a l l y unconcerned with
the problems of the kingdom. The nobles could no longer
tolerate the King's misrule, and his alleged impotence and
homosexuality
could not allow them to accept the succession
of the Queen's daughter Joanna, reputedly fathered by the
Queen's favourite, Beltr&n de l a Cueva.
The accession of Isabella to the throne i n 1474,
and
her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon was fortunate f o r the
country. Together they reconquered
power and wealth for the
C a s t i l i a n crown, and guided the kingdom to that peace and
posterity which foments learning and a r t i s t i c production.
The Queen's personal l i b r a r y contained an.-.extensive
variety of volumes on subjects ranging from the works of
A r i s t o t l e and the c l a s s i c s , to Arthurian romances and novels
of chivalry. The refined l i t e r a r y atmosphere of the court
3
favoured feminism,
and i t r e v i t a l i z e d the type of courtly
love poetry that had bloomed e a r l i e r during the reign of
John I I . There, Diego de San Pedro found the fervent support
of the ladies, together with the encouragement of his patrons,
Don Juan Tellez-Girdn, Alcaide de los Donceles, and Dona Marina
4
Manuel to whom he dedicated the Carcel de amor. He was the
19
courtly poet par excellence. His writings responded to the
taste, fashion, and ideology of h i s a r i s t o c r a t i c milieu,
and they embodied the very subjects that occupied the minds
of
h i s public. San Pedro's s t y l e and language r e f l e c t h i s
awareness of the p a r t i c u l a r l i t e r a r y demands of h i s audience.
Keith Whinnom comments on t h i s aspect of San Pedro's
talent:
the v e r s a t i l i t y of Diego de San Pedro i s noteworthy even i n the f i f t e e n t h century, not only
for the variety of forms and topics which he was
prepared to tackle, but f o r the chameleon-like
way i n which he adapted his s t y l e and language
to the matter i n hand or the audience to which
i t was to be addressed. 5
Who was Diego de San Pedro? We know v i r t u a l l y nothing
about him. Most historians and c r i t i c s of l i t e r a t u r e provide
us with l i t t l e r e l i a b l e biographical data. None of his works
i s dated, and the dates of h i s b i r t h and death are not r e corded.
San Pedro reveals a few autobiographic data through h i s
works. He l i v e d i n Penafiel i n the late f i f t e e n t h century.
He spent 29 years i n the service of don Juan Tellez-Giron,
presumably beginning i n 1469 when don Juan became Count of
Urena. He was a courtier engaged i n the duties and pastimes
proper to his station i n l i f e . He was an experienced s o l d i e r
who fought i n the war of Granada and a poet who praised the
beauty of the ladies of the court. Other information concerning
San Pedro's l i f e and i d e n t i t y i s mere speculation.
Several well known scholars have confused Diego de San
Pedro with two other men who have the same name. Nicolas
Antonio, the great seventeenth-century bibliographer, believed
20
him to be a poet of the reign of John II (1406-1454), following
Jose P e l l i c e r ' s Informe del oriqen, antiguedad, calidad i sucesi6n de l a excelentisima Casa de Sarmiento de Villamayor y_ las
unidas a e l l a por casamiento. Menendez y Pelayo thought that
he had ^corrected" t h i s error of i d e n t i f i c a t i o n around 1905
by mistaking our San Pedro f o r a lieutenant of Don Pedro
Gir6n, who l i v e d one generation e a r l i e r that the author of
6
the Carcel de amor. Emilio Cotarelo y Mori also discusses
San Pedro's i d e n t i t y extensively, and .'- draws some t o t a l l y
7
unacceptable conclusions.
As Whinnom has established i n h i s important works on
San Pedro, we know that he was at the service of Juan T e l l e z Gir5n?(the son of Don Pedro Gir6n), and that he l i v e d i n Penaf i e l and wrote h i s works approximately between 1480 and 1506.
But everything else we are t o l d about San Pedro remains to
be proved certain.
_
,. _ - '
v ~,
G i l i y Gaya was the f i r s t to determine a possible chronology i n of San Pedro's works, based on what the poet declares
in some of h i s writings. In the dedication of h i s Desprecio de
la Fortuna, San Pedro reminds the Count of Urena that he has
served him f o r twenty-nine years (p.235). He begins t h i s poem
by repudiating h i s f r i v o l o u s writings ("obras vanas/ y en
escripturas l i v i a n a s " ) and i n p a r t i c u l a r the Carcel de amor,
and we r e a l i z e through h i s own wor.ds that t h i s i s perhaps h i s
last work, and that he i s no longer young.
E pues carga l a hedad
donde conosco mi yerro,
afuera l a liviandad,
pues que ya mi vanidad
ha cumplido su destierro. (p.236)
21
The Carcel de amor ( f i r s t printed i n 1492) was written
after 1483, after the war of Granada had begun, because the
author refers to the war at the beginning of h i s work:
Despues de hecha l a guerra d e l ano pasado,
viniendo a tener e l inuierno a mi pobre reposo,
pasando por vnos v a l l e s hondos y escuros en l a
Sierra Morena.(pp.115-6)
G i l i y Gaya sets the date f o r Arnalte y_ Lucenda, printed
i n 1491 and mentioned i n the Carcel, after 1477, because San
Pedro could not have written i n praise of Queen Isabella while
his
master was s t i l l an enemy of the Queen.
We know that Juan
T e l l e z Gir6n surrendered to Isabella i n 1476.
As G i l i y Gaya has pointed out, we have documentary e v i dence that San Pedro was already a lieutenant of Penafiel
in 1452,
and t h i s position could not have been occupied by
a man younger than twenty - f i v e years of vage-«
There-
fore, when we consider the age at which San Pedro could have
become lieutenant, and add to t h i s his twenty-nine years of
service to the Count of Urena, we are able to f i x San Pedro's
age at
around, e3
f i f t y - e i g h t years when he wrote the
Desprecio (p.xxxi i ) .
The same feeble data that helped scholars confuse San
Pedro with the homonymous senator and poet of John I I , and
with the b a c h i l l e r and lieutenant of Pedro Giron, supports
the b e l i e f that he was a converso. Menendez y Pelayo
his
founded
suspicions on two questionable anecdotes t o l d by Luis
Zapata i n h i s Miscelanea, which refer to " e l que trob6 l a
Pasi6n". Whinnom has r i g h t l y objected to Don Marcelino's
conclusion. Although San Pedro's Passion trobada was the most
22
popular of a dozen similar narrative poems on the Passion
of Christ, there i s i n s u f f i c i e n t evidence to prove that
Zapata i s r e f e r r i n g to our author, Even Menendez y Pelayo
8
points out Zapata's tale as "fuente turbia e insegura" .
Cotarelo y Mori has t r i e d to prove San Pedro's Jewish
o r i g i n basing his theory on a series of documents found i n
the Archivo Nacional de Madrid which concern the lineage of
the Fonseca family. The evidence against the family was
primarily a sambenito found i n the church of Santa Maria de
Penafiel, dated 1494. The presence^of the sambenito condemned
Costanza.,_whbo.was- an'" ancestor of- the Fonseca family sand the
wife' of-a..merchant from Pehafdel also calleddDiego de.. San Pedro,
9
for being an "hereje, apostata judeizante."
Although the conclusion of the investigators and the
testimony of the witnesses does not prove that t h i s San Pedro
was the author of Ccircel de amor, Cotarelo i n s i s t s on his
theory. As a f i n a l reason to believe i n San Pedro's Jewishness, Cotarelo states that his name was t y p i c a l of conversos
It i s true that many Spanish Jews who converted to C h r i s t i a n i t y i n the f i f t e e n t h century did take names l i k e San Pedro,
Santa Maria, Santa Fe, place names, i l l u s t r i o u s names or the
name of t h e i r baptismal sponsors or godfather. However, i n
C a s t i l e there was an old family of the lesser n o b i l i t y ,
ori-
g i n a l l y from Cantabria, who may well have been the author's
10
family.
Stephan Gilman, following Americo Castro, has i n s i s t e d
on the fact that San Pedro was a "mayordomo of Don
Pedro
T5llez-Gir6n" and he concludes (without giving any supporting
23
evidence) that San Pedro had Jewish blood, because
11
o f f i c e was the p r i v i l e g e of conversos
this
. He also considers
that the tragic ending of the Carcel expresses the despair
and hopelessness of the converso. In his opinion, suicide
i s the only solution f o r the alienated converso: "a person
that might well have abandoned one f a i t h without gaining
another, a p o t e n t i a l l y lost soul, skeptical of t r a d i t i o n a l
12
dogma and morality," a man
"abandoned by God".
This kind
of statement may be true about some conversos, but i t i s
certain that they do not apply to San Pedro. Gilman ignores
l i t e r a r y t r a d i t i o n and assumes that suicide or dying of love
i s not a c h a r a c t e r i s t i c theme of sentimental l i t e r a t u r e . The
poets of the Cancionero, a f t e r the troubadours and the I t a l i a n poets of the dolce s t i l nuovo, conceive death as the
13
l o g i c a l outcome of the "maladye of love".
Petrarch's words, "Che bel f i n fa c h i ben amando muore"
are echoed by Jorge Manrique, who seeks release from his
torture of love in t h i s verse:
No tardes muerte, que muero;
ven, porque viva contigo;
quiereme, pues que te quiero,
que con tu vida espero
14
no tener guerra conmigo.(CGII,468)
In the "Estoria de Ardanlier e Liesa" i n the Siervo
l i b r e de amor by Rodriguez de l a Camara, Ardanlier commits
suicide when he finds his beloved Liesa murdered by his father.
Numerous popular legends, l i k e the Leyenda de l a Pena de los
Enamorados, have the lovers w i l l i n g l y taking their l i v e s
rather than renouncing t h e i r love. In several tales of
Boccaccio's Decamerone, especially number IV -"Guiscardo e
24
Segismunda", the lovers are punished with death or commit
15
suicide.
Moreover, the sadness that characterizes Leriano
i s not what Gilman describes as the hopelessness
of the con-
verso, but the attitude of a lover i n the best courtly love
t r a d i t i o n , what Otis Green c a l l s the amor t r i s t e z a of Ausias
March who exclaims i n the f i r s t l i n e of his Cants dd'amor:
"Qui no es t r i s t de mos d i c t a t s no cur" and causes Santillana
to cry i n despair "sacatme/ de tan grand pena e sentit mi mal:
16
e s i l o denegades, acabatme."
Leriano's death i s that of the perfect lover, and his
last thought sums up the creed of the courtly love poets:
"guien amando es desdichado/ y s i n ser querido quiere,/ no
17
vive hasta que muere".
There i s the resonance of a "con-
summatum e s t " i n Leriano's words, but such use of sacred subjects i n a profane context i s also c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the
" r e l i g i o n of love", and only too common i n the f i f t e e n t h century. C. S. Lewis has observed that
When he {^Lancelot 3 comes before the bed where
she CGuinevereU l i e s he kneels and adores her: as
ehEeti enp.explicit.ly^ itellsvius,: there . i s -no" corseynt
i n whom he has greater f a i t h . When he leaves her
chamber he makes a genuflexion as i f he were before
a shrine. The i r r e l i g i o n of the r e l i g i o n of love
could hardly go further . . ."18
;
The Missa de amor by Suero de Ribera, the Manual de confesores y penitentes by Martin de Azpilcueta, Los diez mandamientos de amor by Juan Rodriguez de l a Camara (or del Padron), and
Diego de San Pedro's own Sermon are good examples of the a p p l i cation of sacred l i t u r g y within the " r e l i g i o n of love". The
Inquisition condemned t h i s practice, and c a l l e d Leriano's
"Prueva por enxemplos l a bondad de las mugeres" a heresy. I f
25
we view the r e l i g i o n of love against the C h r i s t i a n r e l i g i o n
i t mimics, as Menendez y Pelayo and G i l i y Gaya did, we must
agree that i t i s h e r e t i c a l . But once we study i t only under
the l i g h t of the l i t e r a r y t r a d i t i o n i t represents, i t appears
as a g l o r i f i c a t i o n of love expressed i n terms of r e l i g i o n ,
the l o f t i e s t human-experience.
Father Alexander J . Denomy observes that although the
troubadour's concept of love i s at variance with C h r i s t i a n
morality and i s i r r e c o n c i l a b l e with the doctrine of the
Church:
there i s no indication, implied or e x p l i c i t ,
that they were conscious of anything shocking,
irreverent or d i s r e s p e c t f u l i n invoking divine
assistance to further t h e i r quest f o r what i n
C h r i s t i a n i t y i s immoral. They do not seem to
be conscious of the sinfulness and immorality
of t h e i r concept. 19
Father Denomy declares the r e l i g i o n of love amoral and t o t a l l y
unconcerned
i d e o l o g i c a l l y with Religion.
It i s i d l e to pursue further the subject of San Pedro's
presumed Jewishness, since, whether or not he was a converso,
his work remains that of a courtly poet who sought to please
his audience with works that r e f l e c t his l i t e r a r y consciousness. San Pedro's writings should not be approached
from a
r e l i g i o u s point of view; they are the creation of a poet
f a m i l i a r with l i t e r a r y t r a d i t i o n , Latin rhetoric, and the
contemporary atmosphere. San Pedro was mainly interested i n
entertaining his readers, i n writing what Whinnom accurately
c a l l s "best sellers"(p.130).
..- A brief-survey of San Pedro's l i t e r a r y production w i l l
help us to appreciate the v e r s a t i l e a r t i s t r y of the author
of C a r c e l de amor.
San Pedro's e a r l i e s t works, La Passion trobada and Las
s i e t e anqustias de Nuestra Sefiora have a r e l i g i o u s theme that
contrasts sharply with his l a t e r courtly poems and novels.
However, both works respond to r e l i g i o u s l i t e r a r y trends which
were very popular i n the late Middle Ages.
extraordinary success.
La Passi5n enjoyed
It could s t i l l be found among devo-
t i o n a l readings i n the nineteenth century, despite many mutil a t i o n s and corrections.
In Keith Whinnom's opinion, one of
the factors that contributed to i t s d i f f u s i o n and popularity
was that i t was a "very early Spanish response to an emotional
need which had been f e l t i n varying i n t e n s i t y throughout Europe
for
at least two hundred years." ... Whinnom adds that people
aspired to a closer relationship with God,
free from the t r e -
mendous obstacles that the Church had imposed.
San Pedro's
La passion trobada, l i k e Thomas a Kempis' Imitation of Christ,
urged devotion to Christ, and i n s i s t e d on the importance of
s p i r i t u a l l i f e and on imitating Christ's example.
In other
words, i t returned man to his o r i g i n a l b e l i e f s , the message
of the (gospels, which were now corrupted by apocryphal t r a d i t i o n and theology.
Las siete angustias i s a modest r e l i -
gious poem i n the same tone of La passion.
I t i s f u l l of the
charming s i m p l i c i t y c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the l i t e r a r y t r a d i t i o n
i t represents, the singing of the Seven Joys and the p a r a l l e l
Seven Sorrows of the Holy V i r g i n , a theme f i r s t glossed i n
22
Spain by Alfonso e l Sabio i n his Cantigas de Santa Maria.
Despite the popularity of these two r e l i g i o u s poems,
San Pedro abandoned the devotional themes e n t i r e l y i n favor of
the courtly love t r a d i t i o n .
Undoubtedly, the great popularity
27
of
t h e romances o f c h i v a l r y and t h e Cancionero
nated
poetry domi-
the atmosphere o f t h e c o u r t and San Pedro's a r i s t o -
c r a t i c audience expected
him t o compose romantic
v e r s e and
prose.
San Pedro's l o v e poems a r e those t y p i c a l of a c o u r t l y
poet,
i n s p i r e d as t h e i r headings i n d i c a t e , b y i n c i d e n t s o f h i s
l i f e - a s a^courti-er^tb' "una (poesia) que h i z o a una dama de
l a reyna dona I s a b e l , " "Del mismo porque algunos presumian
que
s i r v i 6 s e c r e t o a una dama y £l por d e s f a z e l l e s su o p i -
n i 6 n d i c e que nos muestra," "Del mismo porque d i o una c a r t a
de amores en un guante a una dama, y e l l a de desenbuelta l a
-
mostr6 a unos c a b a l l e r o s que l a S e r v i a n porque b u r l a s e n d e l ;
y £l supolo y embiole e s t a s
L i k e t h e Cancionero
coplas"(pp.213-32).,
poets, San Pedro had the s p o n t a n e i t y ,
wit, and l i n g u i s t i c and r h e t o r i c a l c a p a c i t y t o rephrase o l d
themes and render them i n t o f r e s h and ingenious poems. Most
of
these poems a r e conceived w i t h i n the c o u r t l y l o v e t r a d i -
t i o n and suggest
the romantic
atmosphere of the c o u r t where
groups o f a r i s t o c r a t i c men and women were mainly
w i t h a r t , l o v e and war.
of
San Pedro w r i t e s assuming t h e r o l e
a c o u r t l y l o v e r who s u f f e r s h o p e l e s s l y :
E sufro este trago fuerte
donde ay d o l o r e s t a n f u e r t e s ,
por v e r s i podra mi s u e r t e
d e s p e d i r con vna muerte
l a muerte de t a n t a s muertes.'
and
concerned
(p.214)
f r e e l y a p p l i e s the language of t h e r e l i g i o n o f l o v e :
Quando, seflora, e n t r e nos
oy l a P a s s i 6 n se d e z f a ,
b i e n podeys creerme vos
que sembrando l a de Dios
n a s c i o e l d o l o r de l a mia. (p.220)
28
San Pedro^s courtly works were designed to please his
group of friends at the court and h i s master the Count of
Urena. Hence, shortly a f t e r Urena had declared allegiance to
Queen Isabella, San Pedro wrote a panegyric i n praise of the
Queen i n order to r e i t e r a t e h i s loyaltv, and that of h i s
23
master.
Arnalte y_ Lucenda i s San Pedro's f i r s t sentimental novel
and together with the Serm6n i s considered a precursor of the
Cgrcel. i t
The r o l e of t h i s novel as a "primer esbozo"
of Carcel de amor w i l l be discussed i n a l a t e r chapter.
The Serm6n ordenado por Diego de San Pedro, porque dixeron unas sefioras que l e desseaban o i r predicar (pp.99-111),
i s a code f o r lovers written within the t r a d i t i o n of the
t r e a t i s e s of love popular throughout the Middle Ages and
whose most famous exponents were Ovid's Ars Amatoria and
Andreas Capellanus"De arte honeste amandi, San Pedro follows
the rules of the mediaeval r e l i g i o u s learned sermon, though
he finds h i s thema i n the Gospel according to San A f i c i o n
which i s designed to advise the ladies and nobles of the court
about the appropriate conduct of love.
The author's mastery of rhetoric, and h i s v e r s a t i l i t y
as a writer, are evident i n the s k i l f u l development of h i s
Sermon. He practiced the r i g i d rules of the learned sermon
with no d i f f i c u l t y . Thema, prothema, and peroratio or clausio
are c a r e f u l l y elaborated i n the language and terms of the
r e l i g i o n of love. He often exaggerates h i s examples i n order
to amuse the ladies of the audience, i n the manner of Ovid
i n the Ars Amatoria and Andreas i n the De arte honeste amandi
For instance;
29
iComo, senoras, no es bien que conozcays l a
obediente voluntad con que vuestros siervos no
quieren ser nada suyps por serlo d e l todo yuestros?; ique trasportados en yuestro merescimiento, n i tienen seso para fablar, n i razon para
responder, n i sienten por do van, n i saben por
do vienen, n i fablan a prop6sito, n i se mudan
por conciertos estando en l a yglesia y a l cabo
del a l t a r , preguntan s i es hora de comer. 0
quantas vezes l e s acaesce tener e l manjar en
l a mano entre l a boca y e l platp por gran espacio, no sabiendo de desacordados quien l o ha de
comer, e l l o s o e l p l a t e l l Quando se van a acostar preguntan s i amanesce, e quando se levantan
preguntan s i ya es de noche.(p.108)
San Pedro applies the precepts of his Sermon i n the
Carcel de amor, where the unfortunate Leriano exemplifies
the perfect lover i n the best Arthurian t r a d i t i o n ,
though
not i n the humorous manner described above.
San Pedro was primarily concerned with pleasing his
audience. Thus, the form and content of his entire l i t e r a r y
production r e f l e c t the taste and ideas fashionable among
fifteenth-century Spanish courtiers. The same adaptable
s k i l l that rendered a l l h i s works successful, lead San
Pedro to create his perfect courtly romance.
30
Footnotes to Chapter Two
1
A good account of the h i s t o r i c a l background can be
found i n Luis Suarez Hernandez, Juan Mata Carriazo and Manuel Fernandez Alvarez, La Espana de los Reyes Gat6licos
(Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1969), and i n John H. E l l i o t
Imperial Spain 1469-1716 (London: Arnold, 1963).
2
Juan de Lucena, "Eplstola exhortatoria a l a s l e t r a s , "
i
Opusculos l i t e r a r i o s de los s i q l o s XIV a XVI, ed. A. Paz
y Melia (Madrid!, Sociedad de B i b l i 6 f i l o s EspaSoles, 1892),
c i t e d by Whinnom, p.32.
3
Jacobo Omstein, "La misoginia y e l profeminismo en
l a l i t e r a t u r a castellana," Revista de F i l o l o g i a Hispanica,
3 (1941), 219-32.
n
4
Both Dona Marina Manuel and the Alcaide de los Donceles were connected to the T e l l e z Gir6n by marriage. Cotarelo wrongly i d e n t i f i e d Dona Marina Manuel with a certain
Maria Manuel born a f t e r 1510. Whinnom r e c t i f i e s t h i s mistake i n his a r t i c l e "The Mysterious Marina Manuel," Studia
Iberica F e s t s c h r i f t f tlr Haris Flasche(Berna> 1973), 68995.
5
Whinnom, p.130.
6
K. Whinnom, "Two San Pedro's," B u l l e t i n of Hispanic
Studies, 42 (1965), 255-58.
7
Emilio Cotarelo y Mori, "Nuevos y curiosos datos
biogr5ficos d e l famosos trovador y novelista Diego de San
Pedro," BoletIn de l a Real Academia Espanola, 14 (1927),
305-26. Though Cotarelo y Mori's evidence has proved to
be inaccurate by Whinnom i n "Was Diego de San Pedro a converso?" B u l l e t i n of Hispanic Studies, 34 (1957),
187200, G i l i y Gaya Tn his prologue to the Obras and others
l i k e Marquez Villanueva ("Caxcel de amor.novela p o l l t i c a " )
use i t as a basis f o r their. Own conjectures about the author.
G i l i y Gaya does not hesitate to declare that "E. Cotarelo
revel6 i n d i c i o s suficientes para pensar que hubo entre sus
antepasados algunos judlos conversos." pp.xxiv-xxv.
8
Orlqenes, p.501.
9
E. Cotarelo y Mori, "Nuevos y curiosos datos," p.312.
10
See K. Whinnom, "Was Diego de San Pedro a converso?"
P.189.
11
The Spain of Fernando de Rojas (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1972), p.26J7 Gilman mistakes the name of
Juan T e l l e z Gir6n f o r Pedro. He was probably thinking of Don
Juan's father.
J
t
31
12
13
Ibid., p.18 and 154.
It was the b e l i e f of serious writers that love could
cause death. From Ancient times, love was considered an often
mortal disease. The troubadours were only giving a poetic
interpretation to t h i s well-established theory when they
pointed out that death was the healer of the maladye . See
Massimo C i a v o l e l l a , "La tradizione d e l l a malattia d'amore
dal mondo c l a s s i c o a l i a scriptum super cantilena Guidonis
Cavalcantibus d i Dino d e l Garbo," Diss. University of B r i t ish Columbia, 1973,p.14.
14
Cited i n Otis Green, The L i t e r a r y Mind of Mediaeval
and Renaissance Spain (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky,
1970), p.62.
15
H. T. Oostendorp, " E l c o n f l i c t o , " pp.40-85.
16
Otis Green, The Literary Mind, p.61.
17
Pedro Manuel Ximenez de Urrea, Cancionero, :;p. 388, c i t e d
in Otis Green, The L i t e r a r y Mind, p.62. Also see Pedro Salinas,
Jorge Manrique o t r a d i c i o n y_ o r i g i n a l i d a d (Buenos Aires: Editor i a l Sudamericana, 1947), where Salinas studies i n depth the
t r a d i t i o n of poetry and the torment of the unattainable love
of the troubadours.
18
C. S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love (Oxford:Oxford University
Press, 1973), p.29. Also see J . Huizinga, The Waning, pp.151200.
19
A. Denomy C.S.B., The Heresy of Courtly Love (New York:
Boston College Candlemass Lectures on Christian Literature,
1947), p.27.
20
Both G i l i y Gaya and Whinnom believe La passi6n t r o bada to be San Pedro's e a r l i e s t work. The discovery of a
manuscript version of the poem i n an anthology dated 1480
reinforces t h e i r hypothesis. Las s i e t e angustias de Nuestra Senora i s thought to have been written at about the same
date as the Passi6n, although the e a r l i e s t printed version
of t h i s poem
'is?r included i n the f i r s t e d i t i o n of the
Arnalte y_ Lucenda (Burgos, 1491).
21
Whinnom, p.46.
22
Whinnom, p.59.
23
Whinnom, p.119.
(,
!
B
32
Chapter Three
The courtly love t r a d i t i o n and the Carcel de amor
Menendez y Pelayo pointed out that Arnalte y Lucenda
was a primer esbozo of the Carcel, and that the
of
antecedents
San Pedro's novel were Boccaccio's Fiammetta, the H i s t o r i a
de duobus amantibus Euralius et Lucretia by Aeneas S i l v i u s
Piccolomini, and the Siervo l i b r e de amor by Juan Rodriguez
1
del
Padron and t h e i r imitations.
Literary historians have
continued to repeat t h i s theory without examining the important differences that exist between these works and the
Carcel. The f i r s t
two novels belong to a d i f f e r e n t genre
than the Carcel, and the Siervo has i t s origins i n the
Arthurian romances rather than i n the Ovidian t a l e or the
2
novella.
The antecedents of the Carcel de amor are to be
found not so much i n the Fiammetta and the H i s t o r i a , but
rather i n a general trend towards amorous s t o r i e s rooted
in the escuela provenzal, the roman courtois, and the love
poetry of I t a l y known as the dolce s t i l nouvo.
Boccaccio's novella and Piccolomini's t a l e r e f l e c t the
taste for sentimental s t o r i e s that characterizes the
lite-
rary atmosphere of the period, and they s i g n i f y the beginning of a bourgeois n o v e l i s t i c genre which had l i t t l e repercussion i n C a s t i l i a n l i t e r a t u r e at the time of Diego de San
3
Pedro.
The influence of the novella does not appear i n
C a s t i l e u n t i l the publication of the novels of Juan de F l o res,
around 1495. A b r i e f description of the Spanish s e n t i -
mental novel before San Pedro together with the novels of
33
Piccolomini and Boccaccio w i l l show how l i t t l e they intervened
in the elaboration of the Carcel de amor.
The Siervo l i b r e de amor of Juan Rodriguez del Padron
4
i s considered to be the f i r s t Spanish sentimental novel.
It i s divided into three a l l e g o r i c a l parts.
The author ex-
plains the meaning of t h i s i n the prologue:
E l siguiente tractado es departido en tres
partes principales, segun tres diversos tiempos
que en sy contiene, figurados por tres caminos y
tres arbores consagrados, que se r e f i e r e n a tres
partes d e l alma, es a saber, a l corazon y a l l i b r e
albedrio y a l entendimiento e a tres varios pensamientos de aquellos. La primera parte prosigue e l
tiempo que bien amo y fue amado: figurado por e l
verde arrayan, plantado en l a espaciosa v i a que
dicen de bien amar, por do siguio' e l corazon en e l
tiempo que bien amaba. La segunda se r e f i e r e a l i
tiempo que bien amo y fue desamado por e l arbor d e l
paraiso, plantado en l a desciente v i a que es l a
desesperacion, por do quisiera seguir e l desesperante l i b r e albedrio. La tercera y f i n a l trata e l
tiempo que no am6 n i fue amado: figurado por l a
verde o l i v a , plantado en l a muy agra y angosta
senda, que e l siervo entendimiento bien quisiera
seguir. 5
Technically speaking the novel i s divided into two parts:
1) the main plot i n which the p r i n c i p a l character i s the
author. This section can be considered intimate or sentiment a l because of i t s analysis of personal experience;* and because i t i s primarily concerned with love, and
2) an interpolated romantic f i c t i o n with the t i t l e of
Estoria de los dos amadores Ardanlier y_ Liesa.
The Siervo, l i k e a l l sentimental novels, i s autobiographical
and i s written i n the form of a l e t t e r from the author i n
answer to a friend's inquiry about an unfortunate love a f f a i r •
Occasionally there are poems interspersed i n the narrative
34
as at the beginning of the Arnalte. Also l i k e the Arnalte,
the Siervo i s developed according to elaborate mediaeval rheto r i c , with the author using allegory to express the emotional
6
experience.
The Estoria de dos amadores i s t o l d i n the t h i r d person,
although the author also uses some l e t t e r s written by him i n
the f i r s t person, and intervenes with headings such as "Fabla
e l Auctor",
"Fabla e l entendimiento", "Lamidoras, y dize",
" E l autor prosigue l a Estoria", or simply giving the name
of the speaker.
The Estoria contains s i x poems with varying
degrees of relevance to the context of the narrative and the
description of an a l l e g o r i c a l landscape.
The story i s based
on elements from the story of Dona Ines de Castro and the
chivalresque legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the
Round Table.
The Prince Ardanlier loves Liesa
but his father,
the King, i s opposed to their r e l a t i o n s h i p . As a r e s u l t , the
two lovers run away from the court and l i v e i n several foreign
courts where Ardanlier wins great fame through his courage.
Later, when they are l i v i n g i n a palace i n the forest, the
King discovers them and murders L i e s a
Ardanlier.
i n the absence of
The Prince commits suicide when he finds Liessa
dead.
The Siervo has two important
imitations i n C a s t i l e , the
Satira de f e l i c e e i n f e l i c e vida of the Condestable de Portugal
(1468), and the Repeticion de amores by Luis de Lucena.
The f i r s t work follows the Siervo c l o s e l y , but does not have
an interpolated story.
There i s a reference to Ardanlier and
a defense of " i l u s t r e s mugeres", and the narration i s adorned
35
with a display of c l a s s i c a l erudition i n the form of glosas.
Lucena amplifies one of these glosses on Cupid i n h i s Repet i c i o n i n order to comment on the copla Maldezir de mugeres
by Pere T o r r e l l a s .
Lucena developes his story of unhappy
love i n the same fashion as his predecessors,
and when he i s
rejected by the lady, turns to a vituperation of women i n
general.
Pamela Waley includes the anonymous novel T r i s t e deleytacion i n her b r i e f review of the sentimental novel
before
Juan de F l o r e s . The T r i s t e deleytaci6n seems to be of Cata7
Q
lan o r i g i n
although i t i s written i n C a s t i l i a n and follows
a pattern s i m i l a r to that of the Satira and the Repetici6n.
We also f i n d i n Catalonia several novel*letes s e n t i 10
mentals unknown to Menendez y Pelayo.
This genre seems to
have been more popular among Catalan writers, perhaps due to
t h e i r e a r l i e r contact with Provencal and I t a l i a n l i t e r a t u r e ,
and although there are important differences among them, they
share the same concern with the sentimental. They contain
diverse elements common to most sentimental novels, such as
the autobiographical framework, the use of allegory, the praise
or blame of women, references to v i s i o n s and dreams, mythol o g i c a l and c l a s s i c a l a l l u s i o n s , d i d a c t i c elements, mixture
of verse and prose, Latinized syntax, speeches, l e t t e r s , etc.
The Siervo l i b r e de amor and i t s imitations can be considered as forerunners of the Career, because they contain e l e ments used by San Pedro i n his novel, elements that constitute
the basic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the sentimental novel. The Siervo,
l i k e the Carcel, springs from the Arthurian t r a d i t i o n , although
36
they seem to have been inspired by d i f f e r e n t sources.
The
adventures of Ardanlier and Liessa i n the forest are reminiscent of those of Tristan and Iseult.
Iseult the F a i r , the lovers portrayed
Like T r i s t a n and
by Rodriguez enjoy
t h e i r love f u l l y and they do not follow the conventions of
courtly love, even though Ardanlier, l i k e Tristan, i s an
accomplished knight. The romance of T r i s t a n was written sometime i n the twelfth century, before courtly love became a
common topic i n the courts of P o i t i e r s and the subject matter
of much poetry and f i c t i o n . Therefore,
the main difference
between the E s t o r i a and the Carcel, i s that the former finds
i n s p i r a t i o n i n the story of "1'amant £ternel t e l q u ' i l est",
and the l a t t e r i n the convention of "1'amant t e l q u ' i l doit
etre".
1 1
The t i t l e s of the two novels by San Pedro and Rodriguez
underlines t h e i r r e l a t i o n s h i p i n terms of t h e i r content, and
t h e i r recourse to allegory and to the courtly love t r a d i t i o n .
Rodriguez del Padr6n describes his servitude of love i n the
terms of the courtly code of love.
Despite the d i d a c t i c
intention of the Siervo ("para que sientas l a gran f a l l i a
12
de los amadores y poca fianza de los amigos"), i t was i t s
g l o r i f i c a t i o n of love and lovers that gave i t fame and accounted for i t s influence upon Rodriguez'- followers.
The two most i n f l u e n t i a l aspects of the Siervo were the
author's profeminist attitude, l a t e r developed i n his Triunfo de las donas, and his concern for the lady's honour. This
i s evident i n the works of Lucena, of the Condestable de Portugal, i n the T r i s t e deleytacion and i n San Pedro's Carcel de
37
amor.
Menendez y Pelayo and others maintain that "los verdaderos e inmediatos modelos de l a novela erotica hay que
13
carlos en I t a l i a " ,
bus-
namely i n the Fiammetta by Giovanni Boc-
caccio, which Menendez considers a "curiosisimo ensayo de
14
psicologia femenina".
Evidently t h i s work enjoyed a tremen-
dous popularity i n Spain. The Marquis of Santiliana makes
Boccaccio one of the protagonists i n h i s Comedieta de Ponza,
and the Catalan Rocaberti includes Pamphilus and Fiammetta
15
in his Comedia de l a g l o r i a de amor.
and even though i t may
But popular as i t was,
have influenced the Spanish e r o t i c
novel i n general, the Fiammetta has nothing i n common with
the Carcel. Its content, characters, and mood are e n t i r e l y
d i f f e r e n t from those of San Pedro's novel.
Boccaccio's novella t e l l s the story of an adulterous
love a f f a i r between a married woman and an unscrupulous
The l o f t y p r i n c i p l e s of ideal love and honour defended
man.
by
troubadour and Cancionero poets are absent from the Fiammetta.
The protagonists are involved i n a sexual a f f a i r , and Fiammetta 's passionate complaint of her being abandoned and
Pamphilus* c y n i c a l attitude are i n contradiction with the
16
romantic ideal of courtly love portrayed i n the Carcel.
Pamphilus and Fiammetta are bourgeois hero and heroine, v i c tims of a"yerro comun" which Pamela Waley considers to be
"a step away from the indispensable hyperbole of chivalresque
f i c t i o n and towards the human i n t e l l i g i b i l i t y of C a l i s t o and
17
Melibea."
The Historia de duobus amantibus, l i k e the Fiammetta,
38
i s inspired by Ovidian e r o t i c material, and despite i t s obscenity (which caused the author great embarassment when he
l a t e r became Pope Pius II) i t was written with a d i d a c t i c
intention, or as Menendez y Pelayo puts i t , with "interes
18
profundamente h i s t o r i c o y humano."
I t i s c l e a r that San
Pedro had Aeneas S i l v i u s * work i n mind when he wrote the
Arnalte. but i n the Cctrcel de amor he eliminated the Ovidian elements of his f i r s t novel and of the E s t o r i a . For t h i s
reason Rudolph S c h e v i l l does not c l a s s i f y the Carcel or the
19
Siervo l i b r e de amor as Ovidian t a l e s .
Some of the s t r i k i n g
s i m i l a r i t i e s between the Arnalte and the H i s t o r i a pointed
out by S c h e v i l l and that set them apart from the Carcel are:
the hero f a l l i n g i n love at the funeral of the lady's father,
the lover disguising himself as a woman, his confiding his
secret to a friend with disastrous r e s u l t s , the lady's
y i e l d i n g to the threat of his
absence, and the quoting of
Ovidian precepts and maxims.
The only Ovidian features of the Carcel de amor are the
use of l e t t e r s and the intervention of a go-between. The
Ovidian sounding echoes we f i n d i n the Carcel from the Arnalte
are not necessarily Ovidian, and the differences between the
two novels of San Pedro are more important than the s i m i l a r i t i e s . In fact, San Pedro was well aware of the
correspon-
dence between both works, as he declares i n his l e t t e r to
Don Diego Hernandes, Alcayde de los Donzeles:
Podre ser reprehendido s i en l o que agora
escriuo tornare a dezir algunas razones de las
que en otras cosas he dicho; . . . porque como
he hecho otra e s c r i t u r a de l a calidad de esta,
no es de marauillar que l a memoria desfallesca;(p.115)
39
Both novels begin i n the same way,
with the author
wandering i n a wilderness and meeting with a disdained lover
who,
after a meal, t e l l s h i s story.
In Carcel de amor, the
author heightens both the l y r i c i s m and the realism of his
narration by integrating the a l l e g o r i c a l v i s i o n with a concrete physical setting, the Sierra Morena after the summer
campaign. Arnalte t e l l s his story to the author who
passes
i t onto the ladies of the court, as was Arnalte*s desire.
Leriano only explains his present condition i n order to beg
for the help of the Auctor. The Auctor then becomes an act i v e participant i n the story, and thus his second narrative
becomes a more complete and u n i f i e d novel i n which a l l e l e ments are harmoniously and r e a l i s t i c a l l y
combined.
Another important difference between the two novels
i s the fact that the plot i s much more c a r e f u l l y planned i n
the Carcel and the characters are more d i g n i f i e d .
Leriano
and Laureola behave according to t h e i r superior s o c i a l status.
When Leriano loses a l l hope, he simply l e t s himself die as
b e f i t s a perfect lover.
It i s precisely Leriano's character
as a perfect lover and knight that sets him apart from Arnalte, and renders the Carcel a romantic or sentimental novel
instead of an Ovidian t a l e .
Arnalte i s conceived according to Ovid's instructions
in his Ars amatoria. When Arnalte f a l l s i n love with Lucenda
he resorts, as Ovid advises, to a l l the stratagems he can
think of i n order to win her a f f e c t i o n .
He does not hesitate
to compromise her honour by making public show of his feelings
for her, as when he has musicians serenade her from the
40
street (p.27), sends his page to enter her household f u r t i v e l y (p.20), forces a l e t t e r upon her even i n the presence of the Queen (pp.35-36);follows her to her room (p.36),
and l i e s to her. Also, Ovidian comic elements of the Arnalte (dressing i n women's clothes or the servant searching
for a l e t t e r i n the rubbish) are absent from the Carcel.
Arnalte*s unheroic character i s further evident when
he accuses Lucenda of cruelty for having rejected him after
he k i l l e d her husband, and he conceitedly adds:
porque a mi perdonando loada tu seas, e l pesar con plazer matize, porque todas tus v i r tudes eran conoscidas y £sta encubierta; e l
cual perd6n s i non fazes, mucho de repreehender seras."(p.72)
Arnalte's unchivalrous behaviour undermines the concept of a grand passion, and consequently his sufferings and
f i n a l s e l f - e x i l e seem unconvincing. However, some t r a i t s of
Arnalte y Lucenda are precursors of the ideal lovers of Carc e l de amor. Despite his violence and selfishness, Arnalte
suffers from the malady of love. He does not set out i n search
of a woman, as Ovid advises, but i s i n s t a n t l y struck by Lucenda's
beauty i n the manner of a courtly lover. Only a few minutes
after seeing.her at her father's funeral, he shows the symptoms of enamoramiento: "enmudecido s i n mas detenerme fuy
l a soledad a buscar para que e l l a e mis pensamientos compania me fiziesen"(p.20), an attitude echoed i n the Carcel
when Leriano withdraws to h i s Prison of Love a f t e r meeting
Laureola
(p.122).
Lucenda and Laureola, on the other hand, are two representatives of the same prototype, f o r ladies play a passive
41
r o l e i n both Ovidian and courtly love t r a d i t i o n s .
difference between Lucenda and Laureola
c l a s s . Laureola
The
only
i s their social
i s a princess, and she i s therefore more
proud and i n f l e x i b l e than Lucenda. The Auctor has to be very
t a c t f u l before t e l l i n g her about Leriano, and when he
can
f i n a l l y plead on Leriano's behalf, she i s piadosa but
inflex-
i b l e , as b e f i t s a lady of the highest rank (p.132).
Arnalte combines the feelings of courtly love with the
conduct advised by Ovid, which i s i n contradiction with the
p r i n c i p l e s of courtly love. San Pedro must have noticed
the
incongruencies i n Arnalte's personality, f o r when he decided
to write a better story of love, he shaped the lover e n t i r e l y on courtly ideals, eliminating the Ovidian
features.
The Carcel de amor s i g n i f i e s a departure from the
Ovidian
t r a d i t i o n of Arnalte and Estoria de duobus amantibus i n content and s t y l e . In the Carcel, these two aspects are
provided
for by the Serm5n which San Pedro wrote between his two
no-
v e l s . The theory of love preached by San Pedro i n his Serm6n
was
inspired by the Provencal and Breton love l i t e r a t u r e s
rather than by the psychological and sensual novella of the
I t a l i a n Renaissance, which was
closer to Ovid than to the
i d e a l i s t i c teachings of courtly love; but before examining
the code of behaviour that San Pedro put into practice i n
t n e
Carcel, i t w i l l be useful to outline the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s
of the courtly love t r a d i t i o n , i t s rules, and development.
We do not know exactly how
20
t r a d i t i o n originated.
(who
introduced
or where the courtly love
some scholars, among them Gastbn Paris
the term courtly love i n 1883), Ernst
R.
42
Curtius, C. S. Lewis and Samuel G i l i y Gaya believe that
the idea of courtly love was introduced sometime during the
eleventh or twelfth centuries by the French
troubadours:
Courtly love . . . appears guite sudenly at the
end of the eleventh century i n Languedoc . . .
French poets discovered, or invented, or were the
f i r s t to express, that romantic species of passion." 21
John Jay Perry, among others, traces back to Ovid the
origins of courtly love; Father Alexander Denomy traces i t
to Avicenna; Ramon Menendez Pidal suggests a possible l i n k
between the e r o t i c l i t e r a t u r e of Muslim Spain; and Peter Dronke
claims that a l l aspects of courtly love are universal and can
be found i n Egypt, Bizantium, Georgia, the Islamic world,
Mozarabic Spain, France, Germany, Iceland, Greece and I t a l y .
But as far as the purpose of the present work goes, we do not
need to pursue the o r i g i n s of courtly love any further.
However, i t i s necessary
to indicate the way i n which the
diverse elements of courtly love seem to have developed into
the code of love expounded i n Andreas Capellanus'
treatise,
De arte honeste amandi.
In the Middle Ages, the most i n f l u e n t i a l works dealing
with the subject of love were those of the poet Ovid written
during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. They were the
Ars amatoria, a parody, which was often taken seriously, of the
technical t r e a t i s e s of Ovid's day, teaching the art and techniques of love; a supplement of the Ars c a l l e d Amores which
recounts some of Ovid's amorous experiences; and the Remedia
Amor i s which teaches how to end a love a f f a i r . For Ovid, love was a
43
purely sensual experience as i t was t r a d i t i o n a l l y conceived
i n ancient l i t e r a t u r e , and his intention i n writing his eroti c poems was to amuse his audience with a supposedly serious
t r e a t i s e on the art of seduction.
Some of the concepts contained i n Ovid's poems are the
basis of what l a t e r writers would develop into a system of
love, and use as examples i n works of prose and poetry.
Examples of these theories are: (1) love only exists i n an
extramarital relationship, (2) the best partner i n a love
a f f a i r i s a married woman, (3) the a f f a i r needs to be kept
secret because secrecy makes the a f f a i r more enjoyable and
(4) the man
should undergo a l l kinds of hardships i n order
to prove his love f o r his lady, never oppose her s l i g h t e s t
wish, watch a l l night before her doors, perform a l l kinds
of absurd actions, and become pale, thin and sleepless f o r
the love of her.
Ovid's poems were extremely popular during the twelfth
22
and thirteenth centuries.
They were c i r c u l a t e d both i n Latin
and i n the vernaculars, and were often rewritten to adapt
t h e i r content to mediaeval society. They were c i t e d or assim23
i l a t e d i n vernacular works i n France, England,-and Spain.
Ovidian material combined with other elements i n the south of
France and gave b i r t h to a new e r o t i c s e n s i t i v i t y . The p r i n c i ples and conduct i r o n i c a l l y recommended by Ovid became seriously pursued i n mediaeval society and were integrated into
the so-called Religion of Love.
The s p i r i t behind the courtly love of the troubadour
44
poetry and the roman courtois i s e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t from
that of Ovid's work. The Ovidian concept that love i s a kind
of warfare, where every lover i s a s o l d i e r with Cupid as a
general i s also the creed of courtly love, but i n courtly
love, the lady becomes the feudal suzerain of the lover.
This superior status of the lady, together with the concept
of perfect love as u n f u l f i l l e d desire, i s the main difference
between the Ovidian and the courtly t r a d i t i o n s .
In the t r a d i t i o n of courtly love, the lover addresses
the lady humbly and pays service to her, or to Cupid through
24
her, i n what has been c a l l e d the "feudalization" of love.
The lover c a l l s the lady midons meaning "my
l o r d " and he owes
her b l i n d obedience and s i l e n t acquiescence i n her rebukes,
however unjust. The
lover's love i s represented as a despair-
ing and t r a g i c emotion, and his attitude and that of his lady
are as solemn*' amatory r i t u a l . The very sophisticated and
gentle
nature of the lovers', relationship makes t h i s r e l a t i o n possible
only among the high born. Only the noble and courteous can
love, and t h e i r loving increases t h e i r courtesy.
This i d e a l i z a t i o n of the e r o t i c experience into the
category of noble servitude of love and into the Religion of
Love has not been s a t i s f a c t o r y explained. Ramon Menendez
Pidal, A l f r e d Jeanroy and Alexander Denomy, among others,
have attributed the change that the Ovidian e r o t i c attitude
underwent to the influence exerted by the culture of Muslim
Spain. After the f a l l of the Caliphate of Cordova (1031),
Moorish Spain was
divided into twenty small but prosperous
kingdoms or t a i f a s . The atmosphere i n these t a i f a s was
one
45
of luxury and culture, where l i t e r a t u r e was
encouraged.
Poets wandered from court to court singing t h e i r poems
i n exchange f o r shelter, food and wine, and many found
patrons among the many poetry
lovers found i n the ta'ifas,
very much l i k e the troubadours of southern France would do
a century l a t e r . The Arabs had two d i f f e r e n t attitudes towards love: one sensual i n the manner of Ovid (and perhaps
influenced by him)
i s apparently
and another very s p i r i t u a l t r a d i t i o n which
based upon the work of Plato and best exem-
p l i f i e d i n The Dove's Neck Ring by the Andalusian poet Ibn
Hazm i n 1022.
Ibn Hazm defines love as a reunion of parts
of the soul i n search for beauty because "the soul i s beaut i f u l and passionately desires anything b e a u t i f u l , and i n 25
c l i n e s towards perfect images."
According to I-.him, true love makes the lover better:
How many a stingy man becomes generous, and
a gloomy becomes bright faced, and a coward becomes brave, and a grouchy-dispositioned one becomes gay, and an ignoramus becomes clever, and a
slovenly one i n his personal appearance 'dolled
up', and an i l l shaped one becomes handsome.' 26
Only the noble can experience love: "Among the praiseworthy
natural g i f t s and noble character and excellent character27
i s t i c s i n love and elsewhere i s f a i t h f u l n e s s . "
Regardless
of the beloved's rank, the lover i s always humble before
"The
her
surprising thing which happens i n love i s the submis28
siveness of the lover to his beloved," and though j_bn Hazm
not condemn the physical aspect of love, he considers "the
union of souls a thousand times f i n e r i n i t s e f f e c t s than
29
that of the bodies."
46
Despite the many s i m i l a r i t i e s between the new
romantic
attitude of Languedoc to the Arabic t r a d i t i o n of Platonic
love, we have no concrete evidence that there was a contact
between the troubadours and the Arabic world, although John
Jay Parry assures us that William of Aquitaine introduced
30
the Arabic elements i n the court of Ebles II of Ventadorfn.
Another important influence upon the e r o t i c ideology of
Provence seems to have been Catharism. In his important study
of t h i s theory, Denis de Rougemont underlines some characteri s t i c s of Catharism that seem to point towards some of the
concepts of the courtly love t r a d i t i o n .
The Catharist heresy
appeared i n southern France simultaneously with courtly
poetry and was a r e v i v a l of the Manicheism
of India and
Persia, combined with surviving C e l t i c b e l i e f s .
The Manicheans wanted a mystical union with God and
hated to be human. They rejected the carnal aspect of t h e i r
beings and considered the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation a scandal. They believe that:
"God i s love. But the world He created i s
e v i l . . . Man i s a f a l l e n angel, imprisoned i n
matter, and on that account subject to the laws
of the body i n p a r t i c u l a r the most oppresive of
these, the law of procreation." 31
They taught those who were perfect should not touch
women, including t h e i r wives i f they were married. Only the
common believers were allowed to consummate t h e i r marriages
and concern themselves with worldy a f f a i r s . The perfect bel i e v e r s sought to reunite themselves with God through death
and by intercession of the V i r g i n Mary, whom they considered
to be the Third person of the T r i n i t y . Therefore, we find i n
47
Manichean writings constant expressions of t h e i r longing
for
death, which i s said to have been awakened by a woman
in the same way
that the suffering courtly lover seeks to
release himself, through death, from the torments caused by
his
beloved. This heresy was
also c a l l e d the Church of Love
and according to some c r i t i c s i t had a secret code of signs
32
and symbols which also appears i n the troubadour poetry,
and which figure prominently i n the f i r s t courtly romance,
33
Tristan and Iseult.
According to De Rougemont, Manicheism synthesized many
of the b e l i e f s of the pre-Christian c u l t s of Europe, part i c u l a r l y the C e l t i c . The predominant surviving myth of the
Celts featured a woman as the most prominent figure.
s t i r r e d up the b e l i e f i n immortality
She
and can be considered
as the symbol of eternal desire. Consequently, she i s also
"t'he dark lady, one whose dwelling i s i n darkness and whose
34
charm i s f a t a l . "
Iseult, Tristan's beloved and the
first
l i t e r a r y example of the lady suzerain, i s believed to symbolize t h i s woman.
Whether the troubadour concept of love and women had i t s
origins i n Manicheism alone, i n Arabic culture, i n a change
i n human f e e l i n g as C. S. Lewis proposes (though he hurries
35
to add that "some of the mystery remains i n v i o l a t e " ), or
36
in a basic universal f e e l i n g common to a l l pagan cultures,
remains to be proved. The fact i s that we find elements of
a l l these possible sources of the c o u r t l y - e r o t i c attitude i n
the poetry of Provence and i n the matiere de Bretaqne. The
change of attitude from Ovidian sensuality to the
glorifi-
cation of women and chaste love did take place sometime to-
48
wards the end of the eleventh century and was perhaps due
to a combination of a l l the above mentioned factors.
There are some indications that the actual fusion of
the various elements took place at the court of Viscount
Ebles II of Ventadorn, a friend of William of Aquitaine, ...
37
the f i r s t troubadour of whom we have record.
poet of Ebles, Bernart de Ventadorn, was
introducing the new
The most famous
responsible for
e r o t i c ideas into the north of France
when Duke William's granddaughter, Eleanor of Aquitaine,
became queen. Both Eleanor and Bernart cultivated the
new
philosophy of love, f i r s t i n Paris against considerable
op-
position on the part of her f i r s t husband Louis of France,
and l a t e r i n London with the support of her second husband
Henry II of England.
Eleanor's sons and daughters were patrons of l i t e r a t u r e .
Prince Richard wrote poetry of his own
and Countess Marie
made Troyes, her husband's c a p i t a l , into a l i t e r a r y center.
The most famous figure of Marie's court, Chretien (whose
f u l l name i s not known), was responsible for incorporating
the doctrine of courtly love i n one of the most famous of
Arthurian romances, Lancelot du Lac or Le conte de l a Char38
rete.
Probably around the same time that Chretien de Troyes
was writing the Lancelot, Andreas, the Chaplain of Marie's
royal court, wrote his De arte honeste amandi. Andreas' book,
l i k e Ovid's poems, was
art
an i r o n i c a l l y d i d a c t i c work on the
of love written at the d i r e c t i o n of the countess. Andreas
gathered the main elements of troubadour poetry and of romans
49
l i k e Lancelot, and organized them into a t r e a t i s e that,
despite the obviously humorous nature of i t s f i r s t two
books, was taken seriously by many. In Spain i t was used
as a textbook f o r the courts of love established i n Barcelona by King John of Aragon (1350-1496) and his wife Vio39
lant de Bar.
However, Andreas' book also portrayed the
conditions of the courts of P o i t i e r s and Troyes, where courtly love was practised i n l i t e r a t u r e and i n r e a l
life.
The De arte honeste amandi i s divided into three books
which correspond roughly to the three Ovidian poems from which
Andreas took some of his i n s p i r a t i o n . In Book Two we f i n d
the rules of love as thev were supposedly given to a B r i t i s h
40
knight at King Arthur's court by Cupid, the King of Love.
The thirty-one rules of love summarize what Andreas has a l ready said i n Book One and they can be narrowed down to a
few basic p r i n c i p l e s :
a) Love cannot exist i n marriage though a lover
should prefer to love a married woman.
b) Although mixed love (physically f u l f i l l e d des i r e ) i s permissible, perfect love (physically
u n f u l f i l l e d desire) i s to be preferred.
c) Secrecy i s e s s e n t i a l i n a love a f f a i r , for a
secret love i s much pleasanter.
d) A true lover considers as good nothing except
what he thinks pleases his beloved, and each of
his acts should end i n the thought of her. He
also ought to sleep and eat l i t t l e and undergo
a l l kinds of v i c i s s i t u d e s f o r his beloved's sake.
Book Three, unlike Remedia amoris, o f f e r s advice to avoid
f a l l i n g i n love and stresses the author's d i d a c t i c intention:
Read my art of love, not as one seeking to
take up the l i f e of a lover, but. that invigorated
by the theory and trained to excite the minds of
50
women to love, one may, by r e f r a i n i n g from so
doing, win an eternal recompense and thereby
deserve reward from God. 41
Andreas points out the e v i l effects of love on soul and body,
and he attacks women i n a long antifeminist d i a t r i b e .
The De arte honeste amandi sums up the ideas of courtly
love, showing the procedures that should be followed by
lovers i n diverse a r i s t o c r a t i c levels, such as between a man
of the lesser n o b i l i t y and, a lady of the higher n o b i l i t y or
42
vice/versa. Andreas" concept of love does not at f i r s t seem
very d i f f e r e n t from Ovid's. I t appears e s s e n t i a l l y as l u s t :
A certain inborn suffering from the sight of
and excessive meditation upon the beauty of
the opposite sex which causes each one to
wish each other's embraces and by common des i r e to carry out a l l of love's precepts i n
the other's embrace.43
The a l l e g o r i c a l concept of Love as a king or general who
r e c r u i t s men to serve him, i s common to both Ovidian and courtl y t r a d i t i o n . The symptoms and e f f e c t s of love are the same
as well as the emphasis on the extramarital nature of love.
Some of the ways i n which the lover ought to prove his love
for his lady (to become pale, thin and sleepless, to watch
a l l night before her doors and undergo a l l sort of hardship
for her sake) are also the same. But what for Ovid i s a game
of mutual deceit i n which, as i n warfare, a l l stratagems to
win the beloved are permitted, for Andreas i s a complex s o c i a l
convention i n which the lover i s to win the lady's love through
his v i r t u e , prowess and i n t e l l i g e n t arguments. Furthermore,
while for Ovid the basic reason for loving i s to s a t i s f y one's
lust for a person of the opposite sex, for Andreas and his
world the aim of loving i s the experience of loving i t s e l f
51
and consequently, u n s a t i s f i e d desire i s considered
as perfect
love.
Andreas even approves and encourages a l l that fans and
provokes desire, for desire i s the means towards the f i n a l
end of courtly love, the ennobling of the lover. Capellanus
condemns impure love that i s founded on sensuality for sens u a l i t y ' s sake and finds true love mixed with pure sensuality
permissible, though less desirable, than pure love. In other
words, for courtly lovers, true love means a powerful desire
to be one i n body and soul with the beloved, not f o r the
sake of sexual g r a t i f i c a t i o n , but for the sake of enjoying
the state of being i n love which at the same time, ennobles
the lover. The reward of courtly love i s to awaken i n the
beloved the same desire for the lover. We may conclude then,
that the main c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s that set courtly love apart
from Ovidian eroticism are:
a) The concept of perfect love as an ever-insatiating
and ever-increasing desire.
b) The elevation of the beloved to a position of sup e r i o r i t y over the lover.
c) The ennobling force of love.
These three concepts inspired Diego de San Pedro when he
decided to create i n Carcel de amor a better love story than
Arnalte y_ Lucenda. For the closer the lovers conform to
these i d e a l s , the more perfect t h e i r love i s and the more
exemplary they are as lovers.
The courtly t r a d i t i o n reached Spain at a l a t e r date.
We know i t was practiced i n Catalonia during the reign of
John of Aragon (1350-1396) and later i n C a s t i l e during the
52
44
reign of John II (1406-1454). The courts of love established
by King John and his wife i n Catalonia had a d i f f e r e n t s p i r i t
from those conducted by Queen Eleanor and Countess Marie.
Most of the a f f a i r s consisted of lengthy discussions of problem of love-casuistry, and had very s t r i c t rules. However,
courtly love poetry flourished i n Catalonia and indeed con45
tributed to some extent to the Provencal troubadour poetry.
According to Jose" Amador de los Rios, i t i s possible that the
active l i t e r a r y l i f e of the Aragonese Kingdom influenced the
C a s t i l i a n court; but C a s t i l e must have known the G a l i c i a n Portuguese Cantigas de amigo inspired by Provencal poetry.
Imitations of Provencal poetry began to be written i n G a l i c i a n
i n the second half of the twelfth century, since Provencal
poetry was carried to G a l i c i a through the pilgrim route
to Santiago de Compostela. At least two of the most outstanding poets of the court of Juan I I , Macias e l Enamorado
and Alfonso Alvarez de Villasandino, were Galicians and
46
were probably well acquainted with Galician love poetry.
The court of Juan II "Erudita por excelencia . . . y
sustancialmente palaciega" was suitable for c u l t i v a t i n g the
courtly poetry of Provence:
Amolda"base pues mas que otra alguna l a escuela provenzal, f i e l a su primitiva indole y
naturaleza a l a s i t u a c i 6 n verdaderamente anomala y peregrina de C a s t i l l a . . . Aparece l a
poesia como unica fiadora de l a l e a l t a d de los
magnates y caballeros . . . Se fingen s i n t r e gua n i recato l a pura adhesi6n y e l devoto rendimiento a l a pasion amorosa. 47
A large number of poets c u l t i v a t e d the newly imported
la provenzal, including the King himselfi
escue-
53
Cuantos ingenios toman parte en las justas
y solaces poeticos de l a cort§, -don Juan II y
su omnipotente favorito, don Alvaro de Luna, don
Alonso de Cartagena y Fernan Perez de Guzman, e l
docto marques de Santillana y e l famoso Juan de
Mena; cuantos cantan en e l l a las bellezas de sus
damas,-don Juan y don Enrique Enrxquez, e l magnxf i c o don Juan de S i l v a , don Lope de Estuniga y
don Juan Pimentel, e l gallardo Suero de Quinones
y su hermano Pedro, Macias e l Enamorado, y otros
muchos y muy esclarecidos caballeros, cuyos nombres no han sonado hasta ahora en l a h i s t o r i a
de las l e t r a s , todos se dejan l l e v a r de l a comun
e i r r e s i s t i b l e corriente; y ora se pierden en e l
laberinto de las cuestiones (preguntas y requestas) teol6gicas, h i s t 6 r i c a s o morales gue reconociendo su origen en e l espxritu escolastico de
l a edad media y en e l parnaso provenzal (tensos),
habfan tornado plaza en e l castellano, a l declinar
e l s i g l o XIV; ora truecan e l s e n c i i l o y tierno
lenguaje del amor por e l rebuscado, a r t i f i c i o s o y
s u p e r f i c i a l de l a galanterxa, presentandose en sus
repetidisimas canciones cual victimas inconsolables de una pasi6n no comprendida y duramente desdenada. 48
The c u l t u r a l splendor of the court of John II declined a f t e r
his death i n 1454,
but was
Catholic, whose court was
reestablished by Isabella the
also "Erudita por excelencia
. . .
y sustancialmente palaciega," and therefore f i t for the
"justas y solaces poeticos" of the escuela
provenzal.
The theory of love presented i n the Sermon i s a r e f l e c t i o n of the Provencal Religion of Love, but San Pedro, l i k e
most Spanish courtly poets, rejects one basic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a
of the courtly love of Provence, the adulterous nature of
loye,. and. emphasizes the .importance of protecting: the lady • s
honour to the extent that secrecy in; love^becomes the basic
r u l e of J i i s code.
The Serm5n i t s e l f i s a manifestation
of the Religion
of Love, for i t s form and s t y l e imitated those of the eccles i a s t i c a l sermon. Its theme "En vuestra paciencia sostened
54
vuestros dolores"(p.100), which advises lovers to bear the
torments of love as a penance, has reminiscences of Christian
teachings. San Pedro's code of love contains the following
principles:
1)
Love should be founded on the basis of the outermost secrecy and prudence: "todo amador deue antes perder l a vida que escurecer l a fama de l a
que s i r u i e r e , auiendo por mejor recebir l a muerte callando su pena, que merecerla trayendo su
cuydado a publicacion." (p.101)
2)
The lover should be, above a l l , v i r t u o s : "en t a l
manera que l a bondad r i j a e l esfuerco, aconpafSie
l a franqueca; e l a franqueca adorne'la tenplanca;
e l a tenplanca afeyte l a conuersacion; e l a conuersaci6n ate l a buena c r i a n c a . " tp.103)
3)
The lover must never stop loving: "E avnque l a s
lagrimas vos cerquen, e angustias vos cqngoxen
e sospechas vos lastimen, nunca, senores, vos
aparteys de seguir e seruir e querer . . . E s i
no hallardes piedad en quien l a buscays, n i esperanca de quien l a quereys, esperad en vuestra
Fe y confiad en vuestra firmeza." (p.105)
4)
The lover's duty i s to obey his beloved's wishes:
"iQue" mSs beneficio quieres que querer l o que
e l l a quiere?" (p.106)
Consequently,
the theme of the Serm6n becomes clear:
the pains of love should be endured patiently, w i l l i n g l y and
ever hopefully f o r "esto como las feridas que los caualleros
reciben con honrra, avnque las sienten en las personas con
dolor, las tienen en l a fama por gloria"(p.105);
desiring
the union with the beloved, i s the essence of love, and the
greater the pains, the more perfect the love. Therefore, the
greatest pain of a l l , death (and indeed damnation!) should
be undergone gracefully:
0 amadorI s i tu amiga quisiere que penes, pena;
e s i quisiera que rmieras, muere; e s i q u i s i e r a
55
condenarte, vete a l i n f i e r n o en cuerpo y en
anima . . . Que todo l o que de su parte te
v i n i e r e es galard6n para t i .
(pp.105-106)
Thus, the main c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of courtly love reaches
i t s highest degree of sublimation when the lover lays down
his l i f e f o r his love as Leriano does. Carcel de amor develops the p r i n c i p l e s of courtly love around the theme of the
Serm6n conceived within the framework of what would become
one of the p r i n c i p a l subjects of the Golden Age drama, the
concern with honour.
According to Andreas, love can only exist among the
noble. In fact, the higher the s o c i a l status, the more s u i t ed the person f o r loving, and as Capellanus underlines i n
the dialogues, s o c i a l rank determines the n o b i l i t y of the
soul and the pattern of behaviour to follow when courting.
Thus, the setting and the protagonists of Carcel de amor are
of the highest n o b i l i t y .
Leriano, the son of a Duke, i s endowed with uncommon
v i r t u e , as his mother points out i n her planto: "Tu temeroso de Dios, ttS amador de l a v i r t u d , tu enemigo del v i c i o "
(p.209). He corresponds to the p o r t r a i t of the noble lover
drawn by Fernando de l a Torre:
Discreto galan polido
valiente, d i e s t r o y osado
virtuoso, bien medido
de los onbres mas amado,
por todas mucho loado
en publico e escondido.
Leriano, l i k e Lancelot, i s an excellent knight and therefore
i s suited to be a perfect lover, since the practice of c h i v a l r y transforms, and sublimates man
i n t o a s p i r i t u a l l y su-
56
perior being.
50
Therefore, Leriano's superior soul cannot help
experiencing love of the highest degree, that i s , the perfect
love bound to destroy the lover, f o r i t knows no reward.
Leriano was well aware of his f a t a l destiny when he f e l l
in love, as he a l l e g o r i c a l l y explains to the Auctor: when
Amor decided to imprison him, his Entendimiento agreed
l i n g l y with Amor and his Razon understood
wil-
that, considering
the superior q u a l i t i e s of "por quien ha de s o f r i r " , he was
bound to die. The "handmaids" of Entendimiento and Razon,
Memoria and Voluntad, simply follow the example of their
"masters" and a l l y themselves with Amor to torture Leriano.
Contrary to what Wardropper supposes, Leriano*s love i s not
51
irrational.
Leriano's Raz6n understands well the worth of
Laureola and accepts the Prison of Love, knowing that, because of Laureola's great v i r t u e and the u n f u l f i l l e d nature
of perfect love, i t i s sentencing Leriano to death.
Leriano has the opportunity to prove his prowess as a
knight i n his duel with Persio and during the b a t t l e s with
the King when he i s saving Laureola from her prison. Through
his chivalrous prowess, Leriano*s v i r t u e i s proved to the
world and only confirms our knowledge of his great s p i r i t u a l
52
nobility.
Leriano*s n o b i l i t y of soul and s o c i a l class determine
his behaviour. He suffers the torments of Love patiently,
as San Pedro advises i n his Serm6n. He exhibits the r e s i g nation and fortitude of a martyr who bears his punishment
well aware of " e l bien de l a causa." And, as i t b e f i t s a
perfect lover l i k e him, he never v a c i l l a t e s i n his loving,
57
but finds strength i n his suffering, for as the Sermon establishes, the wounds of love are "como las feridas que
los caualleros reciben con honrra"(p.105),
or as the anony-
mous author of Questi6n de amor expresses i t :
La llaga es muy grande
mas es tan ufana
que quanto es mas pena
mi g l o r i a es mayor.53
Leriano proceeds to seek his beloved-"s bons semblans or
i n d i c a t i o n that she accepts -although not necessarily returnshis love. This bel accueil that welcomes the dreamer of the
Roman de l a Rose i s the only reward Leriano can accept
and
actually wants from Laureola. To the perfect lover, the only
qalardon i s to know that his lady may
and sufferings f o r
her>i
know of his service
as Juan Fernandez de Heredia
says:
y porque mejor sepays
ques l a fe de mi cuydado,
no quiero que me hagays
mas merced que conozcays
que bivo por vos penado.54
Leriano"s l e t t e r s to Laureola conform to Andreas' advice
that the lover should i n c l i n e h i s lady's d i s p o s i t i o n towards
him through fluent speech: " . . .
for an elaborate l i n e of
t a l k on the part of the lover usually sets love's arrow af l y i n g and creates a presumption i n favour of the excellency
55
of the speaker's character."
Leriano seeks the help of a go-between, as both Ovid
and Andreas recommend. The Auctor proves through his prudent
behaviour when encountering Deseo, i n the tower and i n the
court of Macedonia,that he was a worthy confidant, the perfect
go-between recommended by Andreas and much sought a f t e r by
bb
lovers.
Also, the author conveys the worth of E l Auctor as a
confidant and intermediary through his perceptive comments
on the events he i s supposed to have witnessed:
Quando bes6 las manos a Laureola pasaron
cosas mucho de notar, en especial para mi, que
sabia l o que entre e l l o s estaua: a l vno l e sobraua turbaci6n, a l otro l e faltaua color; n i
6l sabie que d e z i r n i e l l a que responder; que
tanta fuerca tienen las pasiones enamoradas,
que siempre.. traen e l seso y discrecion debaxo de su vandera, l o que a l i i v i por c l a r a
esperiencia. (p.147)
and also when he i s planning to free Laureola from her father's
prison:
yo llegare de tu parte a Galio, hermano de l a
reyna, que en parte desea tanto l a l i b e r t a d de
l a presa como tu mismo, y l e dire" l o que t i e nes acordado, y l e suplicar5, porque sea salua
del cargo y de l a vida, que este\ para e l dia
que fueres con alguna gente, para que s i fuere
t a l tu ventura que la puedas sacar, en sacandola l a pongas en su poder a v i s t a de todo e l
mundo, en testimonio de su bondad y tu l i n pieza; y que recebida, entretanto que e l rey
sabe lo vno y provee en l o otro, l a ponga en
Dala, fortaleza suya donde podra" venir e l hecho
a buen f i n . (p.158)
The Auctor, then, i s also a prototype of what a go-between should be l i k e ; an ideal character seldom encountered
in r e a l l i f e as Juan Ruiz c y n i c a l l y states i n h i s Libro de
buen amor, and as the down-to-earth Celestina shows i n the
Traqicomedia
de C a l i s t o y_ Melibea.
Laureola i s a perfect beloved, i n the most limpid t r a d i t i o n of courtly love. Perhaps due to what G i l i y Gaya labels
as "mayor severidad de l a a r i s t o c r a c i a c a s t e l l a n a " ( p . x v i i i ) .
Laureola, l i k e a l l the heroines of Spanish courtly l i -
59
terature, i s a maiden.
56
The preference of C a s t i l i a n courtly
poets for unmarried women as t h e i r heroines i s a characteri s t i c that sets C a s t i l i a n courtly love t r a d i t i o n apart from
the Provencal and Catalan t r a d i t i o n s , for as Martin de Riquer
points out, neither the Provencal nor the Catalan
troubadours
could conceive of the donzella or dona soltera as t h e i r
midons or meu senyor:
. . . i a dama, en canvi, l a domina, muller d e l
senyor, dominus, es troba situada, en una cort
o en un cas t e l l , , a l H o c preeminent i mes yenerat. Horn l i deu f i d e l i t a t i respecte que, en
t r a s l l a d a r - s e e l s conceptes feudals a l s poet i c s , es converteixen en amor. Per aquesta rao
l a dama a l a qual e l trobador dedica les seves
poesies i de qui es confessa servidor i v a s s a l l ,
es sempre una dona casada, esposa, molt sovint,
del mateix senyor feudal del poeta. Amb aixb
arribem a l'essencia de I'amor cortes, o s i g u i
l'amor c a r a c t e r i s t i c de les corts feudals.57
Furthermore, Laureola, unlike Liesa,v Oriana, Mirabella
or Melibea, does not y i e l d to Leriano*s love. She behaves
according to her high position as a princess and as a lady
of ideal v i r t u e . I t i s precisely her evident v i r t u e r e f l e c t e d
in her matchless beauty which causes Leriano's enamoramiento,
and which, consequently,
allows no hope to the lovers "tu
hermosura causo e l a f i c i o n , y e l a f i c i o n e l deseo, y e l deseo
la pena"(p.133). Leriano's words seem to echo Villasandino*s
cantiga:
La tu fermosura
me puso en p r i s i 6 n :
por l a cual ventura
del mi corac6n
non parte t r i s t u r a
en toda saz6n:
poren tu figura
me entristece a s s i .
60
Laureola's v i r t u e leaves no room f o r the i l l i c i t expectations of the cancionero poets. Leriano, as the perfect
lover, would not dream of hoping for anything beyond her
p i t y . Laureola's s p i r i t u a l superiority causes her to be deeply moved by Leriano's condition, though she fears the consequences of her feelings: "Quanto meior me estouiera ser
afeada por cruel que amanzillada por piadosa"(p.144),
for
as Andreas indicates, a noble lady should always be compassionate.
However, when Laureola's honour becomes seriously compromised, she has to reject Leriano's service e n t i r e l y .
She
s t i l l f e e l s p i t y for him but cannot r i s k her good name, and
she begs him to overcome his passion: "No pongas en peligro
tu vida y en disputa mi onrra, pues tanto l a deseas, que se
d i r a muriendo tu que galardono los seruicios quitando las
vidas."(p.l88)
Laureola's concern with her honour i s the main obstacle
to
Leriano's love. When she learns of Leriano's feelings f o r
her, her sole concern i s for her fama:
Por Dios te pido que enbueluas mi carta en
tu fe, porque^no se te pierda n i de nadie pueda
ser v i s t a ; que quien viese l o que te escriuo
pensaria que te amo, y creeria que mis razones
antes eran dichas por disimulaci6n de l a verdad
que por l a verdad.(p.145)
It
i s s i g n i f i c a n t that honour should be chosen by San
Pedro as a primary obstruction between the lover and the
beloved, and as the lady's v i t a l concern. Her constant worry
about her fama i s not only fear of "l'aspra legge de Scozia"
that condemns Mirabella and almost ends Laureola's l i f e .
61
Perhaps the same "austeridad castellana" that caused
Spanish
courtly poets to reject adultery i n t h e i r poetry had raised
woman's chastity to the l e v e l of a moral axiom. However,
many cancionero poets seemed to have enjoyed the fact that
t h e i r love had an i l l i c i t quality, and they seemed unconcerned
about the lady's fame. Because courtly love considered love
incompatible with the married state, love could only be experienced outside the marital t i e s , as Juan Alvarez Gato notes
in his canci6ri "Porque l e dixo una senora que servia, que se
casase con ella'':
Dezis: "Casemos los dos
porque deste mal no muera."
Sefiora, no plega a Dios,
siendo mi sefiora vos,
cos haga mi companera,
Que, pues amor verdadero
no quiere premio n i fuerca
aunque me vere que muero,
nunca querre, n i quiero
que por mi parte se tuerca.
Amarnos amos a dos
con una f e muy entera,
queramos esto los dos:
mas no l e plega a Dios,
siendo mi sefiora vos,
cos haga mi companera."?
9
Yet, San Pedro appears to be using an actual moral consideration of C a s t i l i a n society as a resource to move the
plot to a c o n f l i c t i n which Leriano w i l l have the opportunity
to prove his a b i l i t i e s as a knight, f i r s t by his performance
i n the duel with Persio, and l a t e r i n combat. On both occasions,
Leriano acts i n defense of Laureola's honour, and she, by protecting her honour decides Leriano's death. Because the lady's
good name was a s i g n i f i c a n t issue i n the C a s t i l i a n court,
J
62
San Pedro warns lovers i n the Sermon; "que todo amador deue
antes perder l a vida que escurecer l a fama de l a que s i r uiere"(p.101), and f o r that reason, perfect love as conceived
by San Pedro, has to be based "sobre cimiento del secreto"(100).
So, while f o r Ovid, Andreas, troubadours, and cancionero poets,
secrecy was merely a means to enjoy loving better, secrecy
became for San Pedro and his world a moral p r i n c i p l e of capital
importance.
Consequently,
the lover should exercise "en las palabras
mesura, y en e l meneo honestidad, y en los actos cordura, y
en los ojos auiso, y en las muestras soffrimiento, y en l o s
desseos tenplanca, y en las p l a t i c a s dissimulacion, y en
los mouimientos mansedunbre"(p.101). And t h i s i s Leriano's
attitude throughout
the entire narrative.
Most c r i t i c s , perhaps judging the world of the Carcel
through modern eyes, have unjustly accused Laureola of c r u e l 60
ty because of her f i n a l rejection of Leriano. Whereas i n
e f f e c t , she simply behaves i n the only possible way open f o r
a courtly lady of her stature. After having been condemned
to death f o r the f a l s e accusation of Persio, she could only
reassure her people of her v i r t u e by avoiding anything that
could compromise her honour again. Her p i t y for Leriano and
her desire to persuade him against his f o l l y are evident i n
her l a s t l e t t e r :
Mucho te ruego que te esfuerces como fuerte y
te remedies como discreto . . . Tern5s en e l reyno
toda l a parte que quisieres, credere" tu onrra, doblare t u renta, sobire" tu estado, ninguna cosa ordenarSs que reuocada t e sea; assf que biuiendo
causaras que me iuzguen agradecida, y muriendo que
63
me tengan por mal acondicionada . . . No quiero
mas d e z i r t e porque no digas que me pides esperanca y te do conseio. Pluguiera a Dios que fuera tu demanda iusta porque vieras que como te
aconseio en l o vno te s a t i s f i z i e r a en l o otro.(p.188)
The i d e a l characters of Leriano and Laureola decide
the
plot of the novel. The f a l s e accusation of Persio, the duel,
the imprisonment of Laureola, and the b a t t l e , are a l l secondary incidents that prove the v i r t u e of the protagonists
j u s t i f y the t r a g i c
and
end.
There i s an element of f a t a l i t y i n San Pedro's concept
of love. Love i s born from v i r t u e and thus i s perfect. Perfect
love ennobles and increases the lover's v i r t u e and
therefore
i t i n t e n s i f i e s i t s e l f at the same time. Consequently, the
perfect lover i s trapped i n a v i c i o u s c i r c l e whose only e x i t
i s death, for love, being forever u n f u l f i l l e d and
forever
increasing, i s an unbearable torture leading to death. L e r i a no's Razon i s well aware of t h i s f a t a l destiny, when i t
agrees with the enamoramiento t
Yo no solamente do cohsentimiento en l a p r i sion, mas ordeno que muera, que meior l e estara"
la dichosa muerte que l a desesperada vida, segund por quien ha de sofrir.(p.123)
Although cancionero
poets often express the desire for
death to escape the pain of loving, and though Arnalte repeats constantly that "muere porque no muere (p.32); en
u
tt
e l l a Jtla muertel esta l a vida* (p.27); Pues guien quiera
que
amare, que t a l nueva supiere, de l a muerte l e ruega que
se
(l
socorra" (p.75) j, only Leriano f u l f i l l s t h i s wish by a c t u a l l y
l e t t i n g himself die.
San Pedro finds no better way
to represent the quintes-
64
s e n t i a l kind of love exemplified i n the Carcel, than by using
the symbolism of the Religion of Love. The sublimation of the
three most important c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of courtly love led to
the creation of a Religion of Love, which stressed the super i o r i t y of the beloved and i d e n t i f i e d the love of her as worship. The Religion of Love recognized a moral p r i n c i p l e i n
every action or thought of love and raised the ennobling power
of love to the concept of love as a source and stimulus of
a l l virtues, capable of improving
a l l the s p i r i t u a l
charac-
t e r i s t i c s of the lover, as Leriano points out i n his defense
of women:
a los sinples y rudos disponen para alcancar
l a v i r t u d de l a prudencia . . . de l a v i r t u d
de l a i u s t i c i a tan bien nos hazen s u f i c i e n t e s
. . . a l que f a l l e c e fortaleza ge l a dan . . .
no menos nos dotan de las virtudes teologales
gue de las cardinales dichas. Y tratando de l a
primera, ques l a Fe, avnque algunos en e l l a dudasen, siendo puestos en pensamiento enamorado
creerian en Dios y alabarfan su poder . . . nos
c r i a n en e l alma l a v i r t u d del Esperanca . . .
nos hazen merecer l a Caridad, l a propiedad de
l a qual es amor.(p.195-7)
Because i t i d e n t i f i e d love with worship, the Religion
of Love found i t s means of expression i n the concepts and
language of the Religion of Christ, and ! was even integrated
with C h r i s t i a n i t y by Dante A l i g h i e r i , f i r s t i n the V i t a
61
va and later more thoroughly i n the Divina Commedia.
Nuo-
It would be an error to think of the Religion of Love
62
as a mere "colouring of human passions by r e l i g i o u s emotion,"
or as an irreverent practice, since nowhere do we f i n d e v i dence that the poets were w i l l i n g l y d i s r e s p e c t f u l of Christ i a n i t y or even conscious of the immorality of their con-
65
cept of love. For the poet, the Religion of Love was a metaphor which expressed the b l i s s f u l experience of love, i n a
personal heaven with a god, saints, commandments, arid" ~
liturgy.
San Pedro depicts Leriano's love as r e l i g i o u s worship
i n the opening allegory!
*
Lleuaua.en i a mano yzquierda vn escudo de
azero muy fuerte, y en l a derecha vna ymagen
femenil entallada en vna piedra muy c l a r a , l a
qua1 era de tan estrema hermosura que me turbaua l a v i s t a . Salian d e l l a diuersos rayos de
fuego que leuaua encendido e l cuerpo de vn
onbre que e l cauallero forciblemente leuaua tras
s i . E l qual con vn lastimado gemido, de rato en
rato dezia: "En mi fe, se sufre todo." (p.116)
Later, we witness Leriano's noble resignation to his
sufferings, not unlike those of Christ. In fact, Leriano's
passion i s represented i n the terms of the Passion of Christ,
as the author stresses with the a l l e g o r i c a l description of
the lover's torments, such as having him crowned with "vna
corona de unas puntas de hierro . . . que l e traspasauan
todo e l celebro"(p.120), an image that seems to have been
a favourite with courtly poets.
However, Leriano's oassion i s not a mystical experience
63
as Hayd£e Bermejo and Dinko Cvitanovic propose.
Leriano's
awareness of his beloved's worth and of the hopelessness
of his passion as well as his very experience of loving,
are not a manifestation of Platonic love. Leriano does not
love Laureola beyond herself, nowhere i n his acts of thoughts
do we find evidence that Leriano seeks God through Laureola
or that his love has an aim other than loving for love's
sake. Leriano's abandonment to his passion i s not "an aven-
66
tura e s p i r i t u a l " achieved through suffering, but a l y r i c a l
expression
of the courtly convention of love.
Leriano's description of the ennobling power of love
i n terms of the Religion of Love i n his long pror-feminist
speech, does not conform to his actual experience. He stresses
the fact that through the love of women, man acquires the
theological and cardinal v i r t u e s , but as we read his
nes",
razo-
we r e a l i z e that he i s not t a l k i n g i n Platonic terms,
but i n the language of the Religion of Love. He i s i l l u s t r a t i n g the ennobling force of love i n the l o f t i e s t terms
he knows. For example, i t i s important to seek the v i r t u e
of prudence, which increases through love, because i t makes
lovers more
discretos
and sotyles
i n loving:
porque s i de l a enamorada pasi6n se catyuan, tanto estudian su l i b e r t a d , que abiuando con e l dol o r e l saber, dizen razones tan dulces y tan concertadas, que alguna vez de conpasi6n que les an
se l i b r a n d e l l a ; (p.195)
Similarly, women's love cultivates i u s t i c i a :
de l a v i r t u d de l a i u s t i c i a tan bien nos hacen suf i c i e n t e s , que lbs penados de amor, avnque desygual
tormento reciben, hanlo por descanso iustificandose
porque iustamente padecen; (p.196)
Tenplanca makes lovers worthy of the beloved because "por
no s e l l e s aborrecibles para venir a ser desamados"(p.196).
Fortaleca makes lovers "fuertes para s o f r i r , causan osadia
para cometer, ponen coracon para esperar."(p.196).
Women kindle Faith i n men who thus are able to praise
God's name and thank Him "porque pudo hazer a aquella que de
tanta ecelencia y hermosura les parece"(p.197). Also, women
c u l t i v a t e Esperanca i n t h e i r lovers: "que puesto que los
67
sugetos a esta ley de amores mucho penan, sienpre esperan"
(p.197), and f i n a l l y , women awaken love i n men, which i s
Caridad (p. 197)
;
The other reasons Leriano gives t o explain "por que"
los honbres son obligados a las mugeres"(p.195) are i n a
similar vein: love makes men
contrite
, and they conse-
quently confess t h e i r love and beg forgiveness for t h e i r
f a u l t s as lovers, doing whatever penance the lady may impose
on them. Love renders stingy men generous, f o o l s i n t e l l i g e n t ,
andoso on.
Leriano's pro^feminist speech i n the terms of the Rel i g i o n of Love s i g n i f i e d a momentary v i c t o r y over the
misogynists, who u n t i l the end of the f i f t e e n t h century,
were an i n s i g n i f i c a n t number i n Spain. However, the speech's
apparent irreverence was the cause of a tremendous a n t i 64
feminist reaction, p a r t i c u l a r l y by Luis de Lucena.
In the
same way that San Pedro's defense of women s i g n i f i e s the
culmination of Spanish prorfeminism,
Lucena *s Satiras represent
the culmination of Spanish misogynism.
Lucena uses his humanistic knowledge to attack women's
vices and i n p a r t i c u l a r the "desenfrenado eroticismo femen i l " , which was a favourite subject among the anti-feminists:
Son o t r o s l las mugeres a s i como animales que,
s i n ninguna d i s c r e c i 6 n , sirven a s i a l apetito de
l a luxuria . . . Item, no s 6 l o l a luxuria es pas- • sion de mugeres, mas avn l a yra y continuo l i t i g i o .
5
Thus i t i s evident that the same aspect of femininity that
San Pedro and his many feminist predecesors
considered to be
women's greatest v i r t u e (their awakening of men's desire) was
68
thought to be women's worst vice by the misogynist, and t h i s
alone made her the object of the most brutal epithets:
Es otrosx l a muger p r i n c i p i o de pecado, arma
del diablo . . . notorio mal . . . mal de todos
desseado, pelea que nunca cessa, dafio continuo
. . . desuio de castidad, puerta de l a muerte,
sendero herrado, llaga de escorpi6n, camino para
e l fuego . . . enfermedad incurable . . . muerte
suave . . . delicada d e s t r u c c i 6 n , rosa que hiede,
l i s o n j a crescida, p e s t i l e n c i a que manzilla e l
anima . . . 6 6
Lucena's perverse delight i n describing the vices of
women i s as extreme as San Pedro's i d e a l i z a t i o n of t h e i r
v i r t u e s , but whereas the cruel misogynism of the former had
l i t t l e place i n the enlightened
San Pedro's feminism contributed
world of the Renaissance,
strongly to the Renaissance
ideal of the perfect courtier.
Nowhere i s the Religion of Love more evident than i n
Leriano's character.
The whole attitude of the perfect lover
i s reminiscent of Christ's personality. The exemplary
patience,
meekness, resignation, selflessness, and submission demanded
from a perfect lover i n the Sermon have no better
personi-
f i c a t i o n than those of C h r i s t . Also there i s a c l e a r ident i f i c a t i o n between Christ's death and Leriano's suicide.
We know he i s bound to die for "una
buena causa", and
from the moment he f a l l s i n love, Leriano begins to f u l f i l l
his destiny as a perfect lover. In his f i n a l words, "Acabados son mis males," he renders the "Consummatum est" of
Christ.
San Pedro's use of the courtly love t r a d i t i o n at i t s
l o f t i e s t i n Carcel de amor i s the best example of t h i s
69
trobador's great esthetic s e n s i t i v i t y and craftmanship.
As a courtly poet he was not content with simply writing
a good story of love. He had to search f o r the ultimate
expression of the mediaeval theory of love and apply i t
to his novel. As a r e s u l t , he produced the f i n e s t Spanish
courtly romance, i n which poetic content, language and form
combine a r t f u l l y as a testimony of San Pedro's s u r p r i s i n g l y
adaptable s k i l l .
70
Footnotes to Chapter Three
1
2
Origenes, p.408.
See f o r instance: A. Valbuena Prat, H i s t o r i a de l a
l i t e r a t u r a espanola (Barcelona: Gustavo G i l i , 1937), 1,
266; Juan Luis Alborg, H i s t o r i a de l a l i t e r a t u r a espanola (Madrid: Gredos, 1966), 1, -253;. Juan Hurtado, J . de l a
Serna y Angel Gonzalez Palacios, H i s t o r i a de l a l i t e r a t u r a
espanola (Madrid: Saeta, 1943), p.224.
3
See Whinnom, Diego de San Pedro, pp.62-118; Juan de
Flores, G r i s e l y_ Mirabel la, ed. Pamela Waley, pp.i-xxi;
and Dinko Cvitanovic, La novela, po.177-233.
4
By Menendez y Pelayo,, Valbuena Prat, Jose Luis Var e l a , Dinko Cvitanovic and Angel d e l Rio among others i n
the works previously c i t e d .
5
Cited by Menendez y Pelayo, Origenes, pp.483— 84.
6
Ibidem., pp.489-90.
7
Juan de Flores, G r i s e l , p.xvi.
8
Apparently Menendez y Pelayo did not know t h i s work
or he would have included i t i n h i s survey of novelas sentimentales. The only copy of t h i s novel i s an unpublished
manuscript found i n the Biblioteca de Cataluna and i s described by Martin de Riquer i n Revista de F i l o l o g i a Espanol a , 40 (1956), .-,33-65.
9
The verses e n t i t l e d Maldezir de mugeres by the Catalan Pere Torrellas won him the hatred of a l l Spanish
feminists. His i s the most misogynistic work written i n the
Iberian peninsula. S t i l l i n the late XVI century, C r i s t o bal de C a s t i l l e j o s c i t e s the name of T o r r e l l a s as one of
the most formidable detractors of women: "Tanto mal/No se
puede en especial/Relatar en poco espacio;/Remitolo a Juan
Boccaccio,Torrellas y Juvenal." See Jacobo Ornstein>"La
misoginia y e l profeminismo en l a l i t e r a t u r a castellana,"
Revista de F i l o l o g i a Hispanica, 3 (1941), 222. Juan de
Flores also includes Torrellas i n h i s G r i s e l y_ Mirabella
as a participant i n a debate on the vices and virtues of
women. When Torrellas wins the debate between him and the
profeminist Bracayda, the ladies of the court murder him
as a punishment for his defamations.
10
See A. Pacheco, Novel*letes sentimentals dels segles
XIV i XV (Barcelona: Antologia Catalana, No.57, Edicions 62,
1970).
71
11
^Myrrha Lot-Borodin, De 1'amour profane a 1'amour
sacre: Etudes de psycholoqie sentimentale au Moyen Age
(Paris, n.p., 1961), p.60.
12
Origenes, p> 474.
13
Ibid., p.475.
14
Ibid., p.475.
15
Ibid., p.476.
16
It was precisely the immoral quality of the Fiammetta
that inspired Juan de Flores to write his Grimalte y Gradissa,
a didactic work on conjugal f i d e l i t y i n which he shows Pamphilus to be repentant of his adulterous association, and having
attempted to dissuade Fiammetta from resuming t h e i r r e l a t i o n ship, he i n f l i c t s on himself an extreme oenance.
17
Pamela Waley, "Love and Honour," p.275.
18
Origenes, p.481.
19
Ovid and the Renaissance i n Spain (Berkeley: Univers i t y of C a l i f o r n i a , 1913), p.117.
20
The sources of the origins, progress and nature of
courtly love treated i n t h i s chapter are found-in: Gaston
Paris, "Lancelot du Lac. Le conte de la Charrete," Romania,
12 (1883), 459-534; Ernst Robert Curtius, European L i t e r a ture and the Latin Middle Ages, trans. W i l l i a r d R. Trask;
(New York: Harper & Row, 1963); C. S. Lewis, The Allegory
°£ Love: A Study i n Mediaeval Tradition (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1936); Andreas Capellanus, The Art of
Courtly Love, ed. and t r a n s l . John Jay Parry (New York:
F. Ungar Publishing Co., 1959); Alexander Denomy, The Heresy
2i. Courtly Love, New York: Boston College Candlemas Lectures
on Christian Literature, 1947), esp. pp.30-40. Also, "An Inquiry into the Origins of Courtly Love," Mediaeval Studies
(1945), pp.1-75; Ramon Menendez P i d a l , "Poesia Srabe y poesia
europea," B u l l e t i n Hispanigue, 40 (1938), 339-423; A. Jeanroy,
La poesie lyrigue des troubadours, (Toulouse: Edouard Privot,
1934); A. R. Nykl, A Book Containing the Risala Known as The
Dove's Neck Ring About Love and Lovers by Abu Muhammed A l i
Ibn Hazm al-andalusi (Paris: Geuthner, 1931), esp. p p . l x x v i i i c i i i ; Denis de Rougemont, Love i n the Western World: Passion
and Society (New York: Pantheon, 1965); M. C. D'Arcy, The
Mind and Heart of Love (New York: Meridian Books, 1956),
esp. pp.37-55; Peter Dronke, Mediaeval Latin and the Rise
of European Love L y r i c , 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1965).
72
21
22
Lewis, The Allegory of Love, pp.2-4.
They were so popular that Ludwig Traube used to c a l l
t h i s period aetas ovidiana. See Edward kennard Rand, Ovid
and His Influence (New York: Longmans, 1928), pp.12-23.
23
In fourteenth century Spain, Juan Ruiz parodies much
of the Ovidian material in his Libro de buen amor.
24
Lewis, The Allegory of Love, p.11.
25
Nykl, The Dove's Neck Ring, pp.12-13.
26
Ibid., po.71-72.
27
Ibid., op.39-40.
28
Ibid., p.58.
29
Ibid., p.92. Despite the many s i m i l a r i t i e s between
the system of love depicted by Ibn_ Hazm and that of the
troubadours, Jeanroy states that "there i s no trace, for
example, i n Ibn Hazm of the ennobling power of love, nor of
the amorous vassalage, nor of the superiority of the lady
over her lover, that i s to say, of the courtly theories."
op. c i t . 2, 367.
30
The Art of Courtly Love, p.12.
31
D'Arcy, The Mind and Heart of Love, p.40.
32
Some of the examples of the language of the Catharist
Church of Love pointed out by Denis de Rougemont could be
e a s i l y applied to the C h r i s t i a n t r a d i t i o n , such as a poem
where Guiraut de Bornheil prays to true Light:
0 high and glorious King,
0 Light and Brightness true!
0 God of Power, Lord, ".
Suppose .it pleases you,
Make my comrade welcome,
And grant him a l l your aid,
For him I have not seen,
Since f e l l the night's dark shade,
And soon w i l l come the dawn.
De Rougemont interprets t h i s poem according to Catharist-Manichean symbolism, but i t could very well be
about the C h r i s t i a n soul i n search of God. Love i n the
Western World, p.87.
73
33
De Rougemont offers an Interesting interpretation
of t h i s myth i n op. c i t . , pp.20-95.
34
Ibid., p.38.
35
The Allegory of Love § p.12. On p.11 Lewis writes:
"Real changes i n human sentiment are very rare - there are
perhaps three or four on record - but I believe that they
occur, and that t h i s i s one of them." Lewis does not mention
which are the changes on record, nor does he provide us with
evidence to prove that the changes i n human sentiment a c t u a l l y
take place, rather than changes i n attitude or ideology which
may eventually a l t e r the concept we have of the sentiment.
Of a l l the theories explaining the o r i g i n s of courtly love,
t h i s seems the least plausible.
36
Peter Dronke, Mediaeval Latin, pp.1-9.
37
See J . J . Parry's introduction to his e d i t i o n of
Capellanus', The Art of Courtly Love, pp.12 et seq.
38
Alexander Denomy (The Heresy of Courtly Love, pp.
50-5L) believes that Chretien wrote t h i s book only to please
his mistress. Chretien t e l l s us p l a i n l y that the countess
furnishes him both the subject matter (matiere) and the
manner of treatment (sens)and that he i s simply t r y i n g to
carry out her desire and intention. Father Denomy even
supposes that t h i s i s a note of apology for writing on a
theme he detested and for t h i s reason he did not f i n i s h the
poem, writing instead Perceval where he celebrates the
things of God under the guise of allegory.
39
J . J . Parry, op. c i t . , see the bibliography for
d e t a i l s of the printed editions and translations of Andreas*
book. The Courts of Love were a common practice among European nobles, but although they existed i n Catalonia they
did not become popular i n C a s t i l e . See William A l l a n Neilson,
The Origins and Sources of the Court of Love (New York:
Russel & Russel, 1967).
40
J"..'J. Parry, pp. 177-186.
41
Ibid., p.187. Alexander Denomy believes that Andreas,
l i k e Chretien, did not approve of courtly love and although
Capellanus wrote the f i r s t two books of the t r e a t i s e to
please Marie de Champagne, he has to assert the antinomy
between courtly love and C h r i s t i a n i t y . Father Denomy examines
Andreas* attitude i n both parts of the t r e a t i s e and provides
convincing evidence that Andreas'was sincere i n r e j e c t i n g
courtly love. -However,"-Andreas * vicious misogynism seems
:
74
unjustified.
42
The lady's superior rank i n love did not mean that
she a c t u a l l y occupied a superior s o c i a l rank i n r e a l l i f e .
According to Andreas, a noble can woo a woman of a lower
middle c l a s s , since love has an ennobling power.
43
The Art of Courtly Love, p.28.
44
Amador.de los-Rios, H i s t o r i a c r i t i c a , 6, 59.
5
Ibid., p.60.
46
Gerald Brenan, The L i t e r a t u r e of the Spanish People,
(London: Penguin Books, 1951), pp.63-73.
47
Amador de los Rios, H i s t o r i a c r i t i c a , 6, 60.
48
Ibid., 6,
60-61.
49
Cancionero de Fernando Torres, c i t e d i n Otis Green,
The L i t e r a r y Mind, p.49.
5°
See Myrrha Lot-Borodin, De 1'amour profane,p.18:
"Lancelot est en v e r i t e l e p a r f a i t amant, parce q u ' i l est
l e meilleur chevalier du monde, et inversement, l a g l o i r e
qui b r i l l e sur son front n'est que l e r e f l e c t de sa vertu
l a plus haute;"
51
"El mundo sentimental ) pp. 174-79.
52
In " E l mundo. sentimentaly'pp. -I83r8.7, Wardropper stresses
the fact that San Pedro's theory of c o u r t l y love i s not
inspired by the troubadour t r a d i t i o n but by the novel of c h i v a l r y . In f a c t , San Pedro's theory of love blends elements
from both sources i n the manner of the Lancelot du Lac, but
Carcel de amor cannot possibly be considered as a novel of
chivalry.
53
Otis Green, The L i t e r a r y Mind, p.59.
54
Obras (Valencia, 1913), p.100.
55
Op. c i t . , pp.167-77.
4
1
56
I t i s also worthy of notice that cancionero poets
often dedicate t h e i r love songs to t h e i r wives. For example,
Jorge Manrique: "Vaya l a vida passada/que por amores s u f r f , /
pues me pagaste con s i / seflora bien empleada." Cancionero
general, p.100.
57
M. de Riquer, H i s t o r i a de l a l i t e r a t u r a catalana,
p.34.
75
58
E. A l l i s o n Peers, A C r i t i c a l Anthology of Spanish
Verse (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of C a l i f o r n i a
Press, 1950), p.55.
59
Cancionero castellano d e l s i q l o XV, ed. R. FoulcheDelbosc, 1 (Madrid, 1912 ), , 229. .60
For instance, G i l i y Gaya assumes that Leriano's
intention was to marry Laureola, and that she rejected him
out of sheer cruelty: "y e l desdichado amante se encierra
otra vez en l a c a r c e l alegorica donde acaba su vida, mientras l a despiadada princesa se parapeta en l a defensa de
su honra." p.xx.
61
The ReJLigion.of Love may have begun as a parody
of C h r i s t i a n i t y as the anonymous Concilium i n Monte Romar i c i (cited i n Lewis, The Allegory of Love, pp.18-21) leads
us to believe, but l a t e r i t became something f a r more serious than parody: a noble fusion of sexual and r e l i g i o u s
experience as the Divina Commedia shows.
62
Lewis, Op_. c i t . , p. 21.
63
"La aventura e s p i r i t u a l de l a Carcel de amor," Rev i s t a de F i l o l o g i a Espanola, 49 (1966),
—289-300.
64
J . Ornstein, "La misoginia y e l profeminismo en l a
l i t e r a t u r a castellana," Revista de F i l o l o g i a Espanola, 3
(1941), »,.„ 219*32. See especially p?228.
65
Ibid., p.220.
66
Ibid., p.230.
67
A. Giannini, "La Carcel de amor y II Cortegiano de
B. de Castiglione," Revue Hispanique.46 (1919), . 547-68.
J
r
76
Chapter Four
Structure and Style
Genre
Although Menendez y Pelayo c l a s s i f i e d Carcel de amor
as a sentimental novel, i t i s not a novel properly speaking,
since the novel was a l i t e r a r y form unknown to mediaeval
rhetoric and even to the new A r i s t o t e l i a n l i t e r a r y theory
1
of the sixteenth century. Anna Krause i d e n t i f i e s i t with
2
the tractatus l a t i n o .
According to the c l a s s i c a l rhetoric upon which mediaeval rhetoric i s based, the narratio i t s e l f i s a part
of discourse and a digression within i t ; what Andrew's
3
Lexicon
described as a homily or e p i s t l e , a tractatus.
However, the term did not describe a l i t e r a r y genre but
a r h e t o r i c a l technique based on precepts formulated by
the c l a s s i c a l writers and adopted by the Fathers of the
Church i n the'exegesis o f C h r i s t i a n and c l a s s i c a l texts.
Later, t h i s technique became very popular among vernacular
writers, who underlined the cultivated nature of t h e i r works
by stressing t h e i r c l a s s i c a l form. "Gonzalo fue so nomne
gue f i z o este tractado" wrote Gonzalo de Berceo i n the
4
thirteenth century, and l a t e r , Juan Ruiz and Juan Manuel
5
also c a l l e d t h e i r works tractados. The verb trattare became
the common term among I t a l i a n humanists to describe t h e i r
c r a f t : "ma per t r a t t a r del ben ch'io t r o v a i " (Divina Commedia [ i n f . I, 8*3 ). and t h e i r followers among the courtly
writers of John II popularized the term i n f i f t e e n t h cen-
77
tury Spain.
6
However, not a l l mediaeval prose can be included i n
either the d e f i n i t i o n of a tractatus, or i n any other rhet7
o r i c a l - form such as the novel of chivalry.
In e f f e c t ,
most prose writers applied the term tractatus i n a very
broad sense. I t could mean a narrative (La cronica de Pedro Nino), a discourse meant to prove a theory (Como a l
omne es necessario amar), or a dissertation condemning or
defending something (Reprobacion d e l amor mundano by Martinez de Toledo or Tractado en defensa de las virtuosas
mu jeres by Mosen Diego d e V a l e r a ) .
The f i c t i o n a l nature of Carcel de amor, i t s prose form,
and i t s inclusion of chivalresque elements and e p i s t l e s
detach i t from the t r a d i t i o n a l tractatus, and place i t
among a unique l i t e r a r y genre not found i n mediaeval
rheto-
r i c ; a kind of work that resembles what was l a t e r c a l l e d
a "novel", and one which developed from the narratio or
8
tractatus. I t i s also a forerunner of the epistolary novel
9
as Charles E. Kany has pointed out, but i t cannot yet be
considered an epistolary novel because the action i s not
carried out e n t i r e l y by l e t t e r s , but depends also on d i r e c t
narration from the author. Kany simply describes the Carcel
as a "prose story i n which l e t t e r s have come to assume a
10
s i g n i f i c a n t position i n the r o l e . "
The sentimental con-
tent of t h i s story and the relationship of ' i t s form to the
narratio, the epistolary novel, and the novel i n general,
should be s u f f i c i e n t to allow us to accept Menendez y Pe-
78
layo's approximate
term f o r i t :
"novela sentimental".
The use of the l e t t e r i n the sentimental novel i s
s i g n i f i c a n t . I t incorporates into f i c t i o n a l narrative a
v e r i s i m i l a r means to express the emotional l i f e of the
characters. The love l e t t e r was a popular form of t e l l i n g
about a love a f f a i r or about a love story. Ovid had adapted
the personal and subjective style of the elegy into a new
11
kind of narrative poetry i n the f i f t h book of T r i s t i a .
He applied the technigue of addressing an i n d i v i d u a l on the
most emotionally disturbing fact known to man i n an e r o t i c
context. Love substitutes death as the ultimate human experience, and the beloved becomes the poem's cause and object.
Henceforth, the love l e t t e r was established as the ideal
form of narrating or exposing an amorous relationship.
Allegory
Carcel de amor begins with the allegory of the prison
of love. San Pedro offers a p l a s t i c representation of the
story he i s about to convey. Adopting an autobiographical
style, he t e l l s us about his encounter with a savage c a l l e d
Deseo, who i s armed as a knight and i s holding the image
of a woman with h i s right hand: "de tan estrema hermosura
que me turbaua l a vista."(p.116) The savage knight i s dragging behind him a man who burns with the f i r e emanating
from the woman's image. The man j u s t i f i e s his torture i n
the name of h i s " f a i t h " and begs the author's help. Together,
they a r r i v e at the prison of love, a strange tower on the
79
height of a mountain. The author gives a detailed description
of the place and the tower. The foundation of the tower i s a
strong and clear rock which supports four t a l l p i l l a r s of
purple marble. The tower has three corners, each with a
human image made of metal - " l a una de leonado, l a otra de
negro y l a otra de p a r d i l l o " ( p . H 7 ) - holding a chain with
i t s hands. On the top of the tower there i s an eagle which
i r r a d i a t e s f i r e through i t s beak and wings. He can hear the
two guards of the tower, Desdicha and Desamor, who
are watch-
ing constantly. The author climbs the dark stairway that
leads to the entrance, and there the doorman asks him to
leave his arms before entering (though they are not the arms
of t r a v e l l e r s but those of the heart): "Descanso,
Esperanca.
y Contentamiento". Later, another guard makes the same request
and f i n a l l y , the author enters the chamber on top of the
tower where he sees the prisoner of the savage knight s i t ting on a chair of f i r e . Leriano i s t i e d with the chains
held by the three images on the corners of the tower.
duenas i n mourning who
Two
are weeping incessantly, place a
crown with iron thorns on his head. A Negro dressed i n y e l low comes to beat him regularly with a shield that comes from
out of his head. Three servants feed him gravely while an
old man
s i t s besides him i n deep thought. Leriano then no-
t i c e s the author staring at him i n amazement, and to thank
him f o r having come to his aid, he t e l l s him the story of
his Prison of Love.
This i s a perfect allegory according to mediaeval rhet-
80
o r i c , that i s to say, i t does not i d e n t i f y any aspect of
the v i s i o n except for Deseo and Amor at the beginning. I t
i s l e f t to the imagination of the reader to discern what
everything stands f o r , and while the modern reader may
not
be able to recognize the symbols, they were f a m i l i a r to
the mediaeval reader. The allegory was a favourite form
among poets i n the Middle Ages. It represented an esthetic
interpretation of abstract ideas which man had not yet
12
learned to examine subjectively.
The idea of the Prison
of Love was not o r i g i n a l . Visions, Hells, Purgatories,
Castles, and Prisons of Love abound throughout mediaeval
13
literature.
San Pedro only applied the f a m i l i a r symbols
of e r o t i c suffering to represent i n p l a s t i c form the story
of Leriano's unrequited love for Laureola. This helps him
to explain the theory of love that ruled the sentimental
l i f e of his milieu.
However, the d e t a i l s we f i n d within the prison do not
e n t i r e l y belong to t r a d i t i o n a l allegory. The setting of the
v i s i o n i n a wilderness i s a commonplace, best known through
14
Dante's Commedia and the "caballero salvaje".
generally stands either for a man
Deseo
l i k e Amadis (whose pas-
sion and s u f f e r i n g dehumanize him and
forces him to
leave society and hide i n nature), or f o r desire i n general.
The black prison, f i e r y chair, dark stairway, and mourning
maidens and guards can be found i n other popular f i f t e e n t h
century a l l e g o r i e s , e s p e c i a l l y i n Badouin's Prison d'amour,
the matiere de Bretagne,
and scattered throughout many
81
Spanish works.
15
But the courtly language of Deseo, the
symbolic use of heraldic colours i n an e r o t i c sense, the
tortures i n f l i c t e d on Leriano, and the eagle on the tower
are a l l San Pedro's o r i g i n a l contribution to the allegory
16
of love i n C a s t i l i a n f i c t i o n .
The author transforms Deseo into the symbol of a
"certain inborn suffering from the sight of and excessive
meditation upon the beauty of the opposite sex." which
Andreas describes i n the F i r s t Book of De Arte honeste
17
amandi. Deseo i s the cause and constant nourishment of
courtly love. His wildness represents the unrestrained
nature of desire, but his manners and speech betray i t s
courtly essence:
Caminante, segund mi natural condicion,
ninguna respuesta quisiera darte, porque mi o f i c i o mas es para secutar mal
que para responder bienj pero como sienpre me cri£ entre hombres de buena
crianca, v s a r i contigo de l a gentileza
que aprendi y no de l a braueza de mi
natural.(p.117)
Deseo i s courtly love i t s e l f ? an a r t i f i c i a l and conventional
concept of love which i s practised only by "hombres de buena
crianca".
The meaning of the three images on the corners of the
tower i s based i n t h e i r colours: "leonado . . . negro . . .
p a r d i l l o " . In mediaeval heraldry, these colours represent
sadness, anguish, and labour.
The eagle at the top of the
tower s i g n i f i e s the unmatched intensity of Leriano's f e e l ing of imprisonment. The use of these noble symbols stresses
the a r i s t o c r a t i c character of courtly love. The
author
82
wishes to make i t clear that the l o f t y pains of i d e a l love
are reserved f o r the highborn, as Coleria's cry corroborates
l a t e r : "bienaventurados los baxos de condicion y rudos de
engenio, que no pueden sentir l a s cosas sino en e l grado
que las entienden".(p.209)
The tortures i n f l i c t e d upon Leriano are conceived i n
terms of the "Religion of Love". The perfect lover i s
regularly whipped and i s crowned with iron thorns. He burns
without ever being consumed by the flames and he bears h i s
pains with a martyr's resignation. San Pedro's apparent
irreverence was a common l i t e r a r y resource among courtly
writers. Ever since the author of Concilium i n Monte Ro19
marici
decided to take over Ovid's concept of an e r o t i c
r e l i g i o n and proceeded to elaborate i t i n terms of Christ i a n i t y , poets had been imitating the Liturgy and Scriptures i n an e r o t i c sense; some consciously i n the s p i r i t
of parody, and some, l i k e Chretien de Troyes and San Pedro,
20
to represent better the strongest of worldy emotions.
Leriano i s i n the same t r a d i t i o n as Lancelot, as they both
serve the god Amor and venerate the image of the beloved.
Lancelot worships the fountain, meadow, and comb touched
21
by Guinevere as i f they were r e l i c s .
Leriano worships
the image of Laureola held by Deseo, and his pains are
depicted as those of Christ.
San Pedro, l i k e Chretien,
could not f i n d a more eloquent way to express the perfect
lover's passion than by portraying i t i n sacred terms.
San Pedro's version of the theory of courtly love i s
83
b e a u t i f u l l y represented i n the structures of the prison of
love. The foundation of the tower i s faiths "una piedra
tan fuerte de su condicion y tan c l a r a de su natural cual
nunca otra t a l jamas habfa visto"(p.118). On the rock of
f a i t h rest the p i l l a r s that support Leriano's loves Entendimiento, Razon, Memoria j Voluntad? According to Andreas,
desire leads to love, and t h i s cannot e x i s t unless the
lover i s able to hope for the fulfilment of his desire.
In t h i s way,
f a i t h becomes the basic sustaining force of
love. In order f o r t h i s phenomenon to take place, the
r a t i o n a l elements of man must become subordinate to the
impulse of desire. San Pedro's poetic rendering of t h i s
incident i s as followss
Los quatro p i l a r e s que asientan sobre e l l a
\hhe rock of his f a i t h j son mi entendimiento y
mi razon y mi memoria y mi voluntad, los quales mand6 Amor parescer en su presencia antes
que me sentenciase, y por hazer de mi iusta
i u s t i c i a pregunt6 por sf a cada vno s i consent i a que me prendiesen, porque s i alguno no
consintiese me absoluerfa de l a pena. A lo cual
respondieron todos en esta manera:
Dixo e l Entendimiento: "Yo consiento a l
mal de l a pena por e l bien de l a causa, de cuya
raz6n es mi voto que se prenda".
Dixo l a Raz6ns "Yo no solamente do consentimiento en l a p r i s i o n , mas ordeno que muera,
que meior le estarS l a dichosa muerte que l a
desesperada vida, segund por quien ha de s o f r i r " .
Dixo l a Memoria: "Pues e l Entendimiento y
la Razon consienten por que s i n morir no pueda
ser l i b r e , yo prometo de nunca olvidar".
Dixo l a Voluntad: "Pues que a s s i es, yo
quiero ser llaue de su p r i s i o n y determino de
siempre querer". (pp. 122-3)
Understanding capitulates and Reason forsees the inev i t a b l e destiny of Leriano, since the cause of his desire
i s a lady most worthy of eternal love. Andreas had c l e a r l y
84
established that perfect love i s the pure, never s a t i s f i e d
desire. Laureola's great v i r t u e leaves no room to expect
r e t r i b u t i o n , and Leriano knows that from the moment he f a l l s
i n love with her. That i s why he i s imprisoned awaiting
death. His Reason r e a l i z e s the pointlessness of his Faith,
but can do nothing to prevent i t , so great i s the cause f o r
Desire. The decisions of Memoria and Voluntad are the just
consequence of what Entendimiento and Razon have agreed upon.
Together, they w i l l support Amor's resolution to take Leriano prisoner.
We are t o l d i n the following section what every e l e ment of the v i s i o n s i g n i f i e s , and a l i n k between the v i s i o n
and the remaining action of the story i s maintained:
El
Auctor " has seen the v i s i o n , not dreamed of i t l i k e Berceo
1
in the Milagros de Nuestra Sefiora, and he returns to i t
l a t e r a f t e r his meeting with Laureola i n the court of Macedonia. He refers repeatedly to the Prison, thus investing
i t with a very physical and r e a l i s t i c presence. The t r a n s i t i o n between the a l l e g o r i c and the r e a l world i s subtle
and contributes to the creation of a dream-like atmosphere
22
that renders the novel more romantic.
We are i n the realm
of ideal love and lovers, where the author i s a witness by
v i r t u e of his poetic s e n s i t i v i t y . San Pedro leads us from
one world to the other by means of imperfect a l l e g o r i e s ,
such as that of the wild knight Deseo, and later,
Conten-
tamiento, Esperanca, Descanso, Alegria, Holganca, and
Plazer. That i s to say, he uses a l l e g o r i c a l characters
i d e n t i f i e d by t h e i r names and symbolic values, and i n t h i s
85
manner he transports us halfway between the two worlds described. Cclrcel de amor develops the dream of the Roman de
la Rose by Guillaume de L o r r i s into a true story.
The abstract people and places representing actual
l i f e i n the Roman become concrete characters,
circumstances,
and settings i n the Carcel. The a l l e g o r i c a l representations
in the l a t t e r are only a l y r i c a l element meant to define
p o e t i c a l l y the emotional aspect of San Pedro's novel.
Guillaume de L o r r i s gives us an account of imaginative passion as i t was believed to e x i s t . In the Roman the hero and
heroine are removed from the t a l e . We look at the narrator's
dream through the eyes of the lover, and the lady's character i s distributed among personifications. We encounter her
as Courtesy,
Pride, Fear, Shame, Kindness, Pity and Modesty,
23
as the dreamer discovers new aspects of her personality.
In Carcel de amor
E l Auctor conveys to the reader the
lady's emotional reactions to the circumstances
he i s nar-
rating as he perceives them i n her demeanor. Leriano's
feelings are depicted a l l e g o r i c a l l y because they are the
overwhelming r e s u l t of the malady of love, although h i s
personality l i k e Laureola's, i s described as the author
perceives i t . The difference between the Roman and the
Carcel i s partly the difference between poetry and f i c t i o n .
While the former deals with the psychological i n an obviously subjective manner (through the lover's eyes) f o r
a l y r i c a l purpose, the l a t t e r adopts a narrative perspect i v e that j u s t i f i e s the author's reasons f o r writing, and
86
his opinions and feelings towards his narration.
Style
The novel i s formed by several r h e t o r i c a l units a l l
c a r e f u l l y modelled on t r e a t i s e s . San Pedro fuses the narr a t i o , e p i s t l e s , discourses,
24
tatio
planctus,
harangue, and argumen-
into a coherent and polished work whose entertaining
quality was
r e f l e c t e d i n i t s tremendous success. Like a l l
c u l t i v a t e d mediaeval writers, San Pedro was
concerned with
propriety and decorum i n the content of his narrative
i n the way
he was
and
to convey i t .
The idea of o r i g i n a l i t y i n s t y l e did not enter into
the mind of the mediaeval writer. Manuals showed him
correct way
of writing through the s
tU{
able l i t e r a r y models. His purpose was
the
* y of the best a v a i l to i n s t r u c t while
delighting, and he considered himself a craftsman c a r e f u l l y
applying the rules of his c r a f t . Each of the r h e t o r i c a l
units found i n the Carcel i s meticulously
developed accord-
ing to established rules. The manner i n which San Pedro
develops the e p i s t o l a r y form i s e s p e c i a l l y noteworthy.
The
l e t t e r was
supposed to begin with a s a l u t a t i o ;
usually a very b r i e f greeting, or mentioning of the names
of the person addressed. San Pedro l i m i t s the s a l u t a t i o
to an i n d i c a t i o n of the name of the r e c i p i e n t ; Laureola,
Leriano, Padre, Persio, etc.. Then came the exordium which
appealed for the reader's i n t e r e s t , often through a convention c a l l e d captatio benevolentiae. This was
the means
87
to attract the reader's attention or c u r i o s i t y by praising
him, requesting his mercy, stressing h i s state of mind,
etc.. We can see, f o r instance, how Leriano seeks Laureol a 's p i t y :
Si touiera t a l razon para escreuirte como
para quererte, s i n miedo l o osara hazer: mas
en saber que escriuo para t i s e turba e l seso
y se pierde e l sentido, y desta causa antes que
lo comencase toue conmigo grand confusion: mi
fe dezia gue osase, tu grandeza gue temiese: en
lo vno hallaua esperanca y por l o otro desesperaua, y en e l cabo acord£ esto. Mas, guay de mi,
gue comence tenprano a dolerme y tarde a quexarme, porque a t a l tienpo soy yinido, que s i a l guna merced te meresciese, no ay en mi cosa
biua para s e n t i l l a , sino sola mi f e . E l coracon
esta s i n fuerca y e l alma s i n poder y e l i u y z i o
s i n memoria.(pp.132-3)
Following the exordium was the expositio or narratio,
the main body of the l e t t e r which explains what i t i s
about. Leriano wants Laureola to know about his love f o r
her and to acknowledge his torments by showing mercy-towards him:
Podras dezir que como pense escreuirte:
no t e marauilles, que tu hermosura causo e l
a f i c i 6 n , y e l a f i c i o n e l deseo, y . e l deseo
l a pena, y l a pena e l atreuimiento; y s i porque l o hize te pareciere que merezco muerte,
ma"ndamela dar, que muy meior es morir por tu
causa que beuir s i n tu (si c 3 esperanca. Y
hablandote verdad, l a muerte, s i n que tu me
l a dieses yo mismo me-la darla, por h a l i a r en
e l l a l a l i b e r t a d que en l a vida busco, s i tu
no ouieses de quedar infamada por matadora:
pues mal auenturado fuese e l remedio que a
mi l i b r a s e de pena y a t i te causase culpa.(p.133)
The expositio was followed by a p e t i t i o , the reason
for writing the l e t t e r and usually the p e t i t i o n of a
f avour:
88
Por quitar tales inconueniencias, te sup l i c o que hagas tu carta galardon de mis males,
que avngue no me mate por l o que a t i toca, no
podre beuir por l o que yo sufro, y todavia quedaras condenada.(pp.133-4)
The l e t t e r ended with a conclusio that could be either
a r e c a p i t u l a t i o n of the matter previously expounded, or a
f i n a l attempt to gain sympathy. Leriano's conclusio i s
brief:
S i algund bien quisieres hazerme, no l o r
tardes, s i no podra ser que tengas tienpo de
arepentirte y no lugar de remediarme.(p.134)
A l l other r h e t o r i c a l units - the " c a r t e l de desafio",
Leriano's answer, the harangue to the caualleros. the " l l a n to de l a madre de Leriano", the "discursos razonados" by the
Cardinal, the King, and Leriano's on defense of women - present the same application of r h e t o r i c a l rules. I f the d i s courses are examined as the e p i s t l e was, the same c a r e f u l
development of the e x i s t i n g theories on the subject would
be found.
We f i n d t r e a t i s e s i n f i f t e e n t h century Spain dealing
25
with duel laws.
Keith Whinnom finds a surprising resem-
blance between Persio's l e t t e r and a l e t t e r of 1480 i n
which Don Diego L6pez de Haro, challenged Don Pedro Fajar26
do to a duel.
The harangue to the troops also c l o s e l y
follows the formulae expounded i n the artes aregandi. I t
consisted mainly of praises of the soldiers' courage and
strength, appeals to the fame of t h e i r ancestors, explanat i o n of the reasons for the battle, attempts to convince
the troops of t h e i r right to exterminate the enemy and of
89
the glory involved i n either v i c t o r y or death f o r the causes
como sea mas estimada l a v i r t u d que l a muchedunbre, v i s t a l a vuestra, antes temo necesidad.de
ventura que de caualleros, y con esta consideraci6n en solos vosotros tengo esperanca . . .
Agora se nos ofrece causa para dexar l a bondad
que eredamos a los que nos han de eredar . . .
Grandes apareios tenemos por osars l a bondad
nos obliga, l a i u s t i c i a nos esfuerca, l a necesidad nos apremia. No ay cosa por que deuamos
temer y ay m i l l para que deuamos morir.(pp.180-1)
27
The " l l a n t o de su madre de Leriano" i s a planctus.
Its rules are found i n the artes poeticae and i t i s derived
from the c l a s s i c a l apostrophe. I t s most c h a r a c t e r i s t i c e l e ments are the exclamatio and the interroqatio, and i t may
include a great number of themes such as apostrophes to
famous h i s t o r i c a l figures, objects, countries, or i l l u s trious l i v i n g personages. The planto or endecha was a very
widely practised form i n fifteenth-century Spain and excelled i n the famous Coplas of Jorge Manrique.
The duchess Coleria explains to Leriano the i l l omens
that made her come to his side when she saw his helpless
s i t u a t i o n , and she bursts into tears lamenting her son's
fate. She addresses Leriano, though he cannot hear her:
"\0 alegre descanso de mi vegez, o dulce hartura de mi
voluntad!", " 0 muerte cruel enemiga . . .! Tan traidora
eres. . ."(p.210) and p a i n f u l l y r e a l i z e s her future l i f e ,
lonely without her only son and awaiting her own end "£Que sera de mi vegez contenplando en e l f i n de tu juventud?"(p.210) "con dolor sera mi beuir y mi comer y mi pensar y mi dormir, hasta que su fuerca y mi deseo me lieuen
a tu sepoltura"(p.211).
90
Stephan Gilman has compared Coleria's planto to that of
Pleberio i n La Celestina, but although they may
be techni-
c a l l y comparable, they are guite d i f f e r e n t i n mood. The
despair and desolation of Pleberio when he c a l l s love, "a
mysterious and t e r r i b l e goddess whose e v i l influence poisons
and corrupts human l i f e " , and sensing the "chaotic imperso28
n a l i t y of the universe"
are not at a l l the legitimate g r i e f
of Leriano's mother, she does not blame love for causing
the
death of her son. She r e a l i z e s the power of the passion that
i s k i l l i n g him, but she accepts the fact that he, l i k e a l l
high-born men,
cannot help loving as he does. Coleria's
"pluguiera a Dios que fueras tu de los torpes en e l s e n t i r ,
que meior me estuuiera ser llamada con tu vida madre del
rudo"(p.210), sounds at once sincere and
self-complacent.
Leriano's imminent death f i l l s her with sadness, but
she
blames his death on his superior soul, " s o t i l j u i z i o " .
The
l l a n t o crowns the highly emotional tone of the novel; i t
gathers together and explains the events of the tragedy:
"Tan poderoso fue tu mal que no tuuiste para con 51 ningund
remedio"(pp.210-11).
Keith Whinnom has studied c l o s e l y the language and
29
s t y l e of Carcel de amor and Arnalte y_ Lucenda, following
the observation made by G i l i y Gaya and l a t e r developed by
^30
Carmelo Samona, that the s t y l e of the Carcel i s superior
to that of the Arnalte and constitutes a considerable
im-
provement or "pulimento". Whinnom finds that the main chara c t e r i s t i c s of what he c a l l s "San Pedro's S t y l i s t i c reform"
are:
91
a
) the abandonment of syntactical latinisms such as
the postponement of the verb and the use of the Latin
subjunctive,
b) the reduction of the use of "acoustic conceits"
or "figures of sound" l i k e the annominatio and
and
paranomeon, and
c) the employment of the techniques of
31
abbrevatio
i n narrative s t y l e .
Both Whinnom and Samona f e e l that the changes i n San
Pedro's s t y l e are due mainly to a change i n the l i t e r a r y
taste of the period, a changing i n t e l l e c t u a l climate,
and
as Whinnom i n s i s t s , to the advent of Humanism. Preceptists
l i k e Nebrija were censoring the imitation of L a t i n syntax
in Spanish and the use of rhyme i n proses " l a barbaria, por
32
todas partes de Espafia tan ancha y luengamente derramada".
Also, Juan de l a Encina advised strongly against these uses
and against ornamental excessess " e l guisado con mucha miel
33
no es bueno."
Nebrija and his followers went back to the
newly discovered l a t e c l a s s i c a l grammarians. They imposed
a new
rhetoric which was
eagerly learned and assimilated
by the ladies of the court, who
consequently preferred the
simple unadorned s t y l e of the Sermon to that of Arnalte y_
Lucenda s because "a Dona Marina Manuel l e parescfa
tilo
menos malo que e l que puse en otro tratado que
mio."(p.114). Whinnom believes (as was
e l esvido
stated i n Chapter I)
that San Pedro's reform represents not only a slow evolution
of technique, but also a conscious e f f o r t to adapt himself
92
to the demands of his enlightened audience.
34
Whinnom thinks that San Pedro's reform starts i n the
Serm6n, although here h i s intention was merely to use the
sermo simplex form for his parody, and he was not consciously trying to simplify the r h e t o r i c a l l y ornamented manner
of his f i r s t novel. San Pedro became aware of the need to
modify h i s prose on hearing the comments of Dona Marina
Manuel, and r e a l i z e d that his public preferred a more d i r e c t
and unpretentious s t y l e . This r e a l i z a t i o n led him to study
the new rhetoric and to apply i t i n his new novel.
The use of syntactical latinisms such as the postponement
of the verb and the use of the Latin subjunctive, were very
popular among fifteenth-century rhetoricians, and San Pedro
employs them generously i n the Arnalte. Any passage chosen
at random may
serve as an example of his f i r s t
conspicuos
use of latinisms:
Pues como l a hora d e l dormir l a f i e s t a presente en tregua puso, cada vno a su posada a reposar se reparte. y como yo mas para trabajo que
para reposo apercibido estouiesse, quando Lucenda de l a Reyna fug despedida, con dissimuladas
razones por ver l a sentencia de mi carta tras
e l l a qui£, y non solamente fasta su posada l a
acompane, mas fasta su camara l a segui. Pero en
todo este tiempo ningund papel en l a mano tom6.
y a s l s i n ma's certenidad aquella noche estuue. (p.35)
In the Arnalte Whinnom finds that the verb of the p r i n c i p a l clause i s postponed
i n about half of the cases, while
the verb i n the subordinate clause i s postponed
i n about
three-quarters of the cases. Neither.in the Sermon nor i n
the Carcel do we f i n d an example of verbs which have been
a r t i f i c i a l l y postponed, and fewer than three per cent of
93
postponed verbs are i n subordinate
clauses.
The use of como followed by the past subjunctive (corresponding to the Latin cum plus the imperfect
i s repeated
subjunctive)
i n s i s t e n t l y i n the Arnalte. In one paragraph
alone we f i n d as many as s i x examples of t h i s latinism:
Pues como Thebas mi naturaleza fuese. y
como e l Rey l o mas del tiempo en e l l a gastasse,
. . . Y como hombre de mucha autoridad y honrra
fuese„ . . . E como en medio del templo e l cuerpo se pusiese. . . . Y como l a ruuiura d e l l o s
tan grande fuese e las muchas lagrimas del rostro mas l e encendiesen y aclarassen. . . . Y como e l l l a n t o presente de su publicaci6n fuese
causa de y e r l a t a l . . .(p.19)
This latinism i s rare i n the Carcel though i t s t i l l
occurs at times: "y como l a escuridad y l a
poca sabiduria
de l a t i e r r a me fuesen contrarias"(p.118). Whinnom finds
thirteen of these cases i n the opening chapter of Arnalte,
but only two i n the corresponding
chapter of the Carcel.
Whinnom also notices a considerable reduction of rheto r i c a l colours. He bases his d e f i n i t i o n s and examples on
the anonymous Rhetorica ad Herennium, and finds that the
acoustic conceits most used by San Pedro i n the Arnalte are
35
annomi)riatio and paranomeon.
The f i r s t i s the r e p e t i t i o n
of the same word, adjective, or noun i n d i f f e r e n t cases of
i t s declension; "Nunca haze desconcierto; en todo y por
todo a c i e r t a , / sigue a Dios, que es l o mas c i e r t o , / y desconcierta e l concierto/ que l o contrario concierta"(p.15).
This device i s used only sparingly throughout the Carcel
and i s limited to two similar^elements
i n one sentence;
also, when t h i s device appears i n the Cctrcel i t i s not as
a meaningless play on words, but i n a s i g n i f i c a n t
context:
94
"yguales en cerimonia avnque desiguales en. fama.".(152).
The second acoustic conceit, a l l i t e r a t i o n or paranomeon,
i s almost t o t a l l y absent from the C a r c e l although i t abounds
in the Arnalte: "E non de dicha me quexara siquando l a mano
en e l papel puse, l a gouernadora d e l l a peresciera: pues de
l i b r e , catiua guise ser, dandote prenda s i n nada deberte"
(p.54).
San Pedro also eliminates the use of rhymed prose from
the Cdrcel. Whinnom suggests that he may have previously
been inspired by the Goliardic rhythm of Walter C h a t i l l o n
which was adopted by Thomas a Kempis i n his Imitatio
C h r i s t i where we f i n d an exact Latin analogue to San Pedro's
s t y l e i n Arnalte: "pero mas con temor de su no, que con esperanca de su s i , no con menos dolor que acatamiento allegue,
y con desigualados sospiros y con turbaci6n conoscida, que
quisiese comigo dancar l e suplique"(p.32).
The f i n a l most outstanding s t y l i s t i c reform introduced
by San Pedro consists i n the employment of the techniques
of abbreviatio. Whinnom counts twenty-three cases of the
brevitas technique frequently used to terminate a speech or
a l e t t e r : " s i e l alargar no fuese enoioso"(p.206), "Y porque en detenerme en p l a t i c a tan fea ofendo mi lengua, no
digo mas"(p.l30). The purpose of t h i s technigue i s to avoid
r h e t o r i c a l ornaments or pointless amplificatio, and i s typi c a l of the humanist rhetoricians. The Arnalte contains
only seven examples of brevitas, whereas we find many v a r i ations of t h i s technigue i n the Carcel.
It i s evident that San Pedro's writing was largely
95
determined by the tastes and expectations of his
audience.
The v e r s a t i l i t y of his talent, and his remarkable s e n s i t i v i t y
to the contemporary
atmosphere allowed him to grasp the ideas
and attitudes of h i s courtly public and interpret them s k i l f u l l y . In Carcel de amor he responded to the desire of the
Alcaide de los Donceles that he write a love story, and to
Dona Marina Manuel's wish that he improve his s t y l e . By
reviewing his rhetoric i n order to overcome the f a u l t s of
36
the
Arnalte,
he was able to appreciate the incongruities
of
the hero's character which prevented him from being
a perfect romantic hero f o r a more c a r e f u l l y planned love
story which combined harmoniously r h e t o r i c a l devices, language, and content. The r e l a t i v e s i m p l i c i t y of the new
rhet-
o r i c , the c a r e f u l application of the diverse topoi, and the
choice of the epistolary form to convey a•sentimental mood,
were a key to the success of the Carcel. San Pedro succeded
i n his e f f o r t s because of his readiness to please and to
ingratiate himself with his public.
Unity and Structure
San Pedro's a r t i s t r y has been underestimated by the
c r i t i c s who,
on the one hand, praise his style, on the other,
condemn the apparent lack of unity i n the Carcel. Menendez
y Pelayo, for instance, refers to "elementos que entran
37
en l a fabula . . . confusamente
hacinados y yuxtapuestos;"
Bruce Wardropper has pointed out that i t i s d i f f i c u l t to
understand such disunity of purpose and tone i n a writer
38
who attends so consciously to minute d e t a i l s of s t y l e .
96
The Carcel de amor i s a story about the servitude of love
and torture suffered by a lover. It develops the allegory
already suggested i n the t i t l e into a story. From beginning
to end, the novel appears as a c a r e f u l l y planned exposition
of a courtly theory of love, and i t s thematic unity can
hardly be questioned. A l l secondary incidents - duels,
Laureola's
imprisonment, appeals to the King, etc. - are
39
subordinated
to the love story.
The three v i t a l factors that give the Carcel unity are
(1) the theme - courtly love (the prison of love already
studied i n Chapter 3 of t h i s work), (2) the e p i s t o l a r y structure of the novel, and
(3) the role of E l Auctor.
It has been noted that the novel i s conceived
as a
l e t t e r to "vuestra merced", Don Diego Hernandez de c6rdoba,
and that i t developed i n accordance with the r h e t o r i c a l
rules i n vogue at the time. It opens with a s a l u t a t i o ,
"Muy
virtuoso senor" and proceeds to narrate the story a f t e r the
pertinent exordium i s presented as a prologue. By using the
epistolary form, San Pedro feigns an h i s t o r i c a l r e a l i t y
that renders the t a l e v e r i s i m i l a r . This r e a l i s t i c appearance
i s further supported by the active role played by the author
i n the events narrated.
San Pedro pretends to be one of the protagonists of his
novel and thus j u s t i f i e s his first-hand perspective as narrator. He pretends to be t e l l i n g us his experience, describing
the events he witnessed, reporting what the characters
told
him or wrote i n the l e t t e r s he delivered, the reactions he
97
noticed i n people and his own reactions to the events and
characters. A l l of t h i s strengthens
the i l l u s i o n of h i s t o r -
i c i t y . Perhaps, the fact that each of these aspects of the
tale have been studied separately i s what has confused the
c r i t i c s . They are not "hacinados" or "maladroitement associes", but c a r e f u l l y selected elements within a structure
they help create and on which they depend.
San Pedro i s reinterpreting his supposed
experience
through the sadness caused by Leriano's death. By r e c a l l i n g
his reactions to the events he i s narrating he j u s t i f i e s
his
l e t t e r to "vuestra merced". He not only witnessed the
tragedy, but was part of i t ; he became Leriano's confident
and friend, and he was
the'go-between'twixt him and Laureo-
la and knew of their joys and sorrows. The constant
recalling
of his feelings and reflexions on the incidents revealed,
keeps the i n d i v i d u a l elements c l o s e l y united. This explains
the zealous descriptions of incidents and characters, for
example:
Y con este acuerdo bolui otro dia a palacio para ver que* rostro h a l l a r f a en Laureola,
la qual, como me vido trat6me de l a primera
manera, s i n que ninguna mudanca hiziese: de cuya
seguridad tome" grandes sospecnas. Pensaua s i
lo hazla por no esquiuarme, no auiendo por mal
que tornase a l a raz6n comencada. Creia que
disimulaua por tornar a l p r o p 6 s i t o para tomar
emienda de mi atreuimiento, de manera que no
sabira a qual de mis pensamientos diese f e . (pp. 130-1)
or
Tanta c o n f u s i 6 n me ponlan las cosas de
Laureola, que quando pensaua que mSs l a entendla menos sabia de su voluntad. Quando tenia mas
esperanca me daua mayor desuioj quando estaua
seguro, me ponlan mayores miedos sus desatinos,
98
cegauan mi conocimiento. En e l recebir l a
carta me s a t i s f i z o ; en e l f i n de su habla
me desespero. No sabia que" camino siguiese
en que esperanca hallase, y como onbre s i n
conseio.(p.137^
Because San Pedro i s not primarily concerned with desc r i b i n g or reproducing dialogues such as his entire conversations with Laureola, he alludes to them b r i e f l y by means
of the brevitas topos: "Concluyendo, porque me alargo, e l
rey mando apartar e l conbate con p£rdida de mucha parte de
sus caualleros, en especial de los mancebos cortesanos, que
sienpre buscan e l peligro por gloria"(p.l80).
Bruce Wardropper thinks that E l Auctor and Leriano
embody two sides of San Pedro's character, the sentimental
and the r a t i o n a l , but i t might be argued that the sentimental
and r a t i o n a l aspects of San Pedro are represented i n E l
Auctor and the author respectively, though the aspects
overlap. The author i s r a t i o n a l i z i n g the events and presenting us with his supposed emotional reactions to them. E l
Auctor i s portrayed acting out h i s emotion:
Por c i e r t o no he avido menos plazer de
oyrte que dolor de uerte, porque en tu persona
se muestra tu pena, y en tus razones se conosce
tu bondad. Sienpre en l a peior fortuna socorren
los virtuosos, como tu agora a mi heziste; . . .
Tanta a f i c i o n te tengo, y tanto me ha obligado
amarte tu nobleza, que avria tu remedio por galard6n de mis trabaios.(pp.125 and 126)
The author gathers a l l the ingredients of the story
and uses them i n an autobiographic f i c t i o n :
Despu£s de hecha l a guerra del ano pasado,
viniendo a tener e i inuierno a mi pobre reposo,
pasando vna manana, quando ya e l s o l queria esclarecer i a t i e r r a , por vnos v a l i e s hondos y
escuros en l a Sierra Morena, v i . . . (pp.115-6)
99
The pseudo-autobiographic
nature of the novel made Menen-
dez y Pelayo and l a t e r c r i t i c s assume that San Pedro was
in fact disguising i n l i t e r a r y form a love a f f a i r i n which
he had been involved. Thus, they i d e n t i f y the author with
Leriano and the a l l e g o r i c a l Prison of Love with the castle
of
Penafiel of which he was alcaide. In his e d i t i o n of the
Circe 1, Moreno Bciez takes f o r granted that "hay agui e l
r e f l e j o de una vivencia del autor. ^Quien no recuerda a l a
monja de l a que segun e l prefacio de su Pasi6n estuvo
40
morado?"
ena-
These c r i t i c s f a i l to appreciate the novel's un-
questionable indebtedness
to the courtly love t r a d i t i o n ,
i t s purpose of d e l i g h t i n g i t s a r i s t o c r a t i c audience by
giving l i f e to the convention of noble love, and i t s poetic
essence rendered r e a l by means of c a r e f u l l y selected form,
style*: and language.
In his important study of the picaresque novel, Francisco Rico has c l e a r l y underlined the significance of the
epistolary form i n the development of the novels
En e l Renacimiento, l a obra de arte . . .
se entiende como un segmento del universo segun
lo observa una persona determinada, desde un
determinado punto de v i s t a , en un momento determinado . . .
E l minimo comun denominador de l a tecnica
narrativa consiste en someter todos los ingredientes del r e l a t o a un punto de v i s t a singul a r : en las ficciones autobiograficas . . .
a l convertirse e l protagonista en e s c r i t o r . . .
se j u s t i f i c a l a perspectiva del narrador, se
noveliza e l punto de v i s t a . 41
Therefore, the epistolary form, as well as being the
best l i t e r a r y form for confessions or rendering confident i a l information, also j u s t i f i e s the writer's perspective
100
and reinforces the i l l u s i o n of r e a l i t y : "La carta c o n c i l i a
42
l a t r a d i c i o n r e t 6 r i c a con una modesta h i s t o r i c i d a d " .
San
Pedro's intention of translating h i s theory of courtly love
as f i r s t expressed i n the Serm6n into a convincing
story,
found shape i n the s t y l e of the l e t t e r and the contemporary
rhetoric of the Isabeline court. San Pedro, l i k e the author
of L a z a r i l l o , i n t u i t i v e l y recognized the need f o r a r e a l i s t i c novelization of the author's point of view, and t h i s was
43
l a t e r to become the primary aim of the modern novel.
101
Footnotes to Chapter Four
1
2
See Whinnom, 2, 47.
Anna Krause, " E l 'tractado' n o v e l i s t i c o de Diego de
San Pedro," B u l l e t i n Hispanique. 54 (1952), 245-75. See
especially p.249.
3
Cited by A. Krause i n a r t , c i t . , p.246.
4
Gonzalo de Berceo, Milaqros de Nuestra Sefiora, ed.
A. G. Solalinde (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1952).
5
Juan Manuel, Tractado en que se prueba por razon
que l a Virgen Maria esta en cuerpo y alma en e l Paraiso;
Juan Ruiz refers constantly to his Libro de buen amor as
a tractado: Martinez de Toledo also refers to i t as: " E l
exenplo antiguo e l que puso e l Arcipreste en su tractado."
Cited by A. Krause i n " E l 'tractado* n o v e l i s t i c o , " p.247.
Even though Juan Manuel writes i n prose and Juan Ruiz i n
verse, the l a t t e r was using primarily the mester de c l e r e c i a , form which was considered a polished prose.
6
A. Krause, " E l 'tractado' n o v e l i s t i c o , " p.249.
7
Whinnom c a l l s i t mediaeval f i c t i o n i n Diego de San
Pedro, Obras completas, 2, 47, although t h i s term could
also be applied to the popular ballad which i s i n verse
form.
8
Rudolph s c h e v i l l , Ovid and the Renaissance i n Spain
(1913; r p t . Hildesheim: Georg 01ms, 1971), pp.87 et seg..
9
"The Beginning of the Epistolary Novel i n France,
I t a l y and Spain," University of C a l i f o r n i a Publications i n
Modern Philology, 21 (Berkeley: University of C a l i f o r n i a
Press, 1937), x-158.
10
Ibid., p.40.
11
;, . •
Ibid.. p.3.
12
Johan Huizinga, The Waning, pp.200-214.
13
See Chandler Rathfon Post, Mediaeval Spanish Allegory,
Harvard Studies i n Comparative Literature, 4 (Cambridge,Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 1915).
14
See A. D. Deyermond, " E l hombre salvaje en l a novela
sentimental," Actas del 20 Congreso Internacional de Hispanistas (Nimega, 1965), pp.265-72.
102
15
16
C. R. Post, op_. c i t . . pp.88-91, 105 and
276.
We f i n d heraldic colours used symbolically i n an
e r o t i c sense i n some Catalan sentimental works. For some
examples of e r o t i c allegory see Arseni Pacheco, Novel'letes
sentimentals dels segles XIV i XV (Barcelona: Antologia
Catalana, 1970), esp. Prosa feta per Romeo L l u l l i n t i t u l a d a
l o deSpropiament de amor (pp.65-71), Somni de Francesc Alegre recitant 10 proces de una q u e s t i 6 enamorada(pp.89-104).
17
A. D. Deyermond, " E l hombre salvaje,'" p. 266.
18
Labour refers i n t h i s context, to a l l the deeds and
pains the lover has to undergo before deserving the lady's
reward.
19
Lewis, Allegory of Love, p.20.
20
Ibid., pp. 1-43.
21
Rosemarie Thee Morewedge, ed., The Role of Women
i n the Middle Ages (Albany: New York Press, 1975), esp.
pp.41-64.
22
I cannot agree with Keith Whinnom when he says that
" l a mente moderna p r e f e r i r l a que se pudiera a i s l a r un mundo
del otro, p r e f e r i r i a que se pudiera decir donde esta L e r i a no, a l l ! est5 su p r i s i 6 n emocional" (Obras, 2, 52). The
subtle l i n k between both worlds corresponds to the ethereal
essence of the sentimental and i d e a l nature of the novel.
23
See C. S. Lewis, Allegory of Love f o r an interpret a t i o n of the Roman de l a Rose.
24
See Whinnom*s examples of these r h e t o r i c a l units
i n his e d i t i o n to San Pedro's Obras, 2, 54-4.
25
E.g. Mosen Diego de Valera, Tratado de los Rieptos
y_ desaf ios que entre los cava H e r os v hi jos dalgo se acostumbran hazer, segun las costumbres de Espafia, Francia y
Inqlaterra;and Alfonso de Cartagena o Gufa de Santa Maria
Doctrina y_ instruccion de l a arte de c a v a l l e r f a , c i t e d by
Whinnom i n Obras, 2, p.56.
26
See Erasmo Buceta, "Cartel de desafio enviado por
D. Diego Lopez de Haro a l Adelantado de Murcia, Pedro Fajardo, 1480," Revue Hispanigue, 81 (1933), ,1-23, c i t e d
by K. Whinnom, Obras. 2, ~ 56.
27
Whinnom describes the rules of the planto i n his
e d i t i o n of San Pedro's Obras,2. 58.
103
28
.
Stephen Gilman, The Spain of Fernando de Rojas (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972),pp.155 and 154.
29
K. Whinnom, "Diego de San Pedro's S t y l i s t i c Reform,"
B u l l e t i n of Hispanic Studies, 37 (1960), .,1-15.
30
"Pall'Arnalte e Lucenda' a l i a 'Carcel de amor',"
p.273.
31
"Diego de San Pedro's S t y l i s t i c Reform,"p.13. Whinnom
uses the terms "acoustic conceit" and "figure of sound" i n
his analysis of San Pedro's s t y l e .
32
Antonio de Nebrija, Gramatica de l a lengua c a s t e l l a na (Salamanca: Gonzalez Llubera, 1492), p.57, apud -, Whinnom
"Diego de San Pedro's S t y l i s t i c Reform," p.14.
33
Ibid., p.14
34
Ibid., pp.14-15
35
Ibid., p.4
36
Judging by the Arnalte's popularity i t s f a u l t s were
not a l l that evident to the contemporary public. See the
"Noticia b i b l i o g r a f i c a " i n Whinnom, 2,
71-5.
37
Origenes, p. 512
38
See "Allegory and the r o l e of E l Auctor i n the O c t r ee 1 de amor," P h i l o l o g i c a l Quarterly. 31 (1952), , ... 39-44.
39
It i s not a miniature chivalry novel as Wardropper
says i n " E l mundo sentimental," because the description
of warfare i s more i n the manner of a chronicle than i n the
f a n t a s t i c accounts of battles found i n the Amadis and similar
novels. Moreover, the battle occupies a secondary place i n
the Carcel. Also Marquez Villanueva (op.cit. p.. 1.85)
c a l l s San Pedro's novel a novela p o l f t i c a because of the
many non-romantic events that take place. Neither view i s
j u s t i f i e d . See the discussion of Marguez's views i n Chapter
1 of t h i s work.
40
Carcel de amor (Madrid: Alianza E d i t o r i a l , 1974),
p.24. Moreno Baez, however, does appreciate San Pedro's work
as a whole and p o e t i c a l l y compares i t to a Gothic cathedral:
Buscando l a clave de l a estructura de l a
Cctrcel de amor en su goticismo, recordemos gue
l a o j i v a nace de dos lineas que se cortan tras
dibujar dos segmentos de arco, . . . Tambien se
nota en e l l a s l a intenci6n de subrayar, acusandolas a l exterior, cada una de sus partes: p r i mero, l a portada, flanqueada de torres . . . y
104
cuyas esculturas,> agrupadas alegoricamente, ofrecen una s i n t e s i s anticipada de las ensenanzas de
l a catedral; luego l a nave, acompanada de dos o
cuatro naves l a t e r a l e s . . . mas a l l S e l crucero,
tambien con sus naves laterales, gue nos detiene
a l ampliar e l espacio v m u l t i p l i c a r las perspectives; finalmente l o que los franceses llaman e l
coro y los espanoles l a c a p i l l a mayor . . . Todo
e l l o movido por un anhelo de absoluto, que se
proyecta hacia e l vaclo en e l que se recortan
ios arbotantes y los contrafuertes, las gargolas
y los pinaculos, pero por un anhelo propio de
quienes esta*n acostumbrados a acercarse discursivamente a l misterio aunque sabiendo que a l
fondo de £l solo se llega con l a i n t u i c i o n , f o r talecida por l a gracia de Dios.(p.l9£
Moreno Baez does not believe that San Pedro meant to
transpose Gothic architecture into l i t e r a r y terms, but he
f e e l s that the philosophy, science, a r t and l i t e r a t u r e of
each period are conditioned by the same mental habits:
Asi como un poeta como Dante se i n c l i n a tanto a
las divisiones y subdivisiones como los f i l 6 s o fos de su tiempo, es muy natural que los problemas estructurales de una narracion se resolvieran
de l a misma manera que los de los e d i f i c i o s , es
decir, subrayando sus partes y armonizandolas,
s i n que n i siquiera haya que suponer que e l autor se diera cuenta de ellos.(p.29)
La novela picaresca y; e l punto de v i s t a (Barcelona:
Seix Barral, 1970), 2*35.
/
42
Ibid., p.16
43
Ibid., pp.140-741
105
Chapter Five
Influence of the Carcel de amor
The Carcel de amor achieved an extraordinary European
success. I t has been perhaps one of the most widely read
and cherished Spanish novels ever written, and was greatly
i n f l u e n t i a l i n many ways. For instance: i t started a vogue
for "sentimental novels" i n France, Italy, Germany, and
England; i t established new
concepts of love and honour;
i t introduced the conception of the perfect courtier; i t
was
important
i n the development of the e p i s t o l a r y novel,
rhetoric, and the feminist battle against the anti-feminists.
Nicolas Nunez wrote a continuation of the Carcel. He
supposes that Laureola was also deeply i n love with Leriano,
and that she suffered b i t t e r l y on learning of his death.
Leriano's ghost appears to her i n the night, and she reproaches him for his lack of patience. Despite the songs and
v i l l a n c i c o s included i n t h i s work, i t did not enjoy public
favour. San Pedro had no true successor.
Juan de Flores, a contemporary of San Pedro, published
two successful courtly novels, presumably written a f t e r the
1
Carcel.
Juan de Flores i s often thought to be San Pedro's
successor; but though t h i s may
be true i n the sense that
both writers achieved a similar popularity, t h i s theory
loses, ground when one compares the content of t h e i r works.
G r i s e l y_ Mirabella and Grimalte y_ Gradissa are d i f f e r e n t
from San Pedro's novel. G r i s e l i s a sentimental novel that
106
has more i n common with the Estoria de Ardanlier e Liessa
than with the Carcel. Grimalte y_ Gradissa i s inspired byBoccaccio's Fiammetta» and i t s m o r a l i s t i c nature sets i t
apart from the novels of San Pedro, and even from the G r i s e l . The heroines of Flores seem to be closer to the downto-earth Melibea than to the conventional Laureola, as has
2
often been pointed out. The novels of Juan de Flores, part i c u l a r l y Grimalte y_ Gradissa, represent a departure from
the theory of courtly love, and whereas San Pedro was ess e n t i a l l y a courtly poet, Flores appears as an observer of
l i f e more concerned with actual human emotions than with
poetic ideals.
Many c r i t i c s have stressed, after Menendez y Pelayo,
that, besides the two incunabula editions of the Carcel,
there were twenty-five editions i n the sixteenth century
and twenty translations into French, English, I t a l i a n and
German, but evidently there were many more. Sim6n Diaz r e gisters also nine b i l i n g u a l (Spanish-French) editions and
3
eight more translations.
However, both Sim6n Diaz and Me-
nendez y Pelayo only take into account the editions found
in the great l i b r a r i e s (Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid,
Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris, The B r i t i s h Museum, the
Hispanic Society of America), and those mentioned by b i b l i o graphers. Keith Whinnom has seen other editions i n smaller
l i b r a r i e s ( s u c h as that of the Baron of Rothschild), and has
himself one b i l i n g u a l edition, not registered by b i b l i o g r a 4
phers, given to him by professor E. M. Wilson.
Also, J u l i o
Cejador y Frauca mentions numerous editions i n h i s Historia
107
de l a lenqua y_ l i t e r a t u r e castellana, although no other c r i t 5
i c includes them i n h i s l i s t .
San Pedro himself t e l l s us about the success of h i s
work i n the Desprecio de l a Fortuna: "y como l a obra t a l no
tuuo en leerse calma"(p.237). Many important catalogues of
f i f t e e n t h and sixteenth-century
Spain included i t i n t h e i r
c o l l e c t i o n s , among others, those of Queen Isabella and Fer6
nando de Rojas.
The novel was a great f a v o r i t e of the En-
g l i s h and I t a l i a n courts,
and i t played an important r o l e
i n the development of rhetoric.
A. Giannini believes that the Carcel de amor strongly
7
influenced Baldassare Castiglione i n writing r l Cortegiano,
and Menendez y Pelayo had already pointed out that some
parts of Castiglione*s work were c l e a r l y inspired by the
atmosphere of the Spanish court and the customs of the Spanish
n o b i l i t y . We know that the Carcel de amor, translated into
I t a l i a n by L e l i o de Manfredi i n 1506, was very popular i n
Italy, and i t i s v i r t u a l l y certain that Castiglione must
have known t h i s work. By comparing the debate between J u l i a n
de Medici, the Magnificent, and Gaspar P a l l a v i c i n o (II Cortegiano, Book I I I ) , to Leriano's speech i n defense of women,
we r e a l i z e that Castiglione*s conception of the perfect
courtier i s modelled on Leriano's attitudes and ideas. Giann i n i f e e l s that Castiglione developed Leriano's views according to Renaissance
rhetoric and scholastic philosophy,
p a r t i c u l a r l y when trying to prove the equality of men and
women as members of the same species. For that reason, he
108
finds Castiglione*s arguments superior to Leriano's, overlooking the fact that San Pedro was primarily a poet and
his
work a novel. Leriano's judgement on those who
discri-
minate against women, "blasfema de las obras del mismo
Dios"(p.192), needs no further s c i e n t i f i c proof and serves
well the l i t e r a r y purpose of the author. Giannini, l i k e
most c r i t i c s of the Carcel de amor, f a i l s to appreciate
this fact:
. . . se desarrolla con l a sequedad y l a r i g i dez de un arte primitivo, y, hacinando elementos diversos, e l autor tienta a hermosearla
inutilmente con e l oropel de una r e t 6 r i c a f a l sa e hinchada, particularmente en las arengas
y cartas.8
Gustave Reynier has studied the influence of the Carcel de amor on the French sentimental novel. I t was
this
work and the Arnalte which gave the French novelettes t h e i r
essential c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s :
Notre roman sentimental d o i t beaucoup plus
a l'Espagne qu'on ne s e r a i t tente de l e c r o i r e .
E l l e nous a f a m i l i a r i s e s avec ce genre de f i c tions en nous les presentant sous l a forme qui
reppndaitt l e mieux aux conventions t r a d i t i o n e i l e s , c'est-a-dire enveloppes d'allegories
ou enferm£es dans un cadre chevaleresque. On
peu d i r e que ces romans espagnols gui tout
d'un coup penetrent en France de 1526 a 1539,
en compagnie de 1'immortelle Celestine, ont
5te chez nous une t r a n s i t i o n necessaire. 9
Although Reynier underestimates the l i t e r a r y value of
the Caxcel de amor, describing i t as "exag^ree", he underlines
i t s o r i g i n a l treatment of the love theme, i t s v i t a l r o l e i n
giving l i f e to the conventions of courtly love poetry, and
"tout^. en conservant les caracteres essentiels de 1'amour
courtois avec un peu de r e a l i t e " , i t s incorporating the
109
l y r i c a l e r o t i c ideals of the troubadours into r e a l
life:
"l'amour n'est plus seulement un theme lyrique, i l commence
10
a avoir une h i s t o i r e : i l peut etre raconte en prose".
Reynier points out, without s u f f i c i e n t analysis, the
d i r e c t influence of San Pedro's work on Les anqoisses douloureuses by Helisenne de Crenne, Les contes amoureux by
Mme Jeane Flore, and p a r t i c u l a r l y Theodose Valentinian's
L'Amant resuscite de l a mort d'amour. This last novel has
11
been c a r e f u l l y studied by Margaret A. Harris.
She finds
that Valentinian "borrowed the bare framework" of San Pedro's work to exploit i t f o r a d i f f e r e n t purpose than that
of the Spanish writer. He used i t "as a medium f o r conveying a r e l i g i o u s lesson, i l l u s t r a t i n g the working of God's
grace and the dangers of trusting 'votrepropre sens' and
•votre propre volonte' i n matters so important as love and
12
marriage".
James A. Flightner has t r i e d to analyse the use San
Pedro makes of time, Laureola's situation, and the r e a l i s t i c attention to the presentation of d e t a i l i n order to
13
explain the appeal of the Carcel, but perhaps Menendez y
Pelayo's reason f o r i t s popularity i s more accurate:
El interes romantico de esta s e n c i l l a y pat£tica h i s t o r i a . . . explica e l e"xito que tuvo,
no solo en Espana, sino en I t a l i a , Francia y en
Inglaterra. No eran frecuentes todavia narraciones tan tiernas y humanas, conducidas y desenlazadas por medios tan s e n c i l l o s y en que una pasion verdadera y finamente observada era e l a l ma de todo." 14
The fact i s , that although San Pedro did not have a
true successor, the theme of h i s novel, i t s characters and
110
rhetoric echo i n l a t e r Spanish l i t e r a t u r e , and also i n other
European l i t e r a t u r e , as we have seen.
Menendez y Pelayo had already noticed a s i m i l a r i t y between the " l l a n t o de su madre de Leriano" and that of Pleberio: " e l l l a n t o de l a madre, que es uno de los trozos mas
pat^ticos del l i b r o , y que manifiestamente fue imitado por
e l autor de l a Celestina en e l que puso en boca de los Pa15
dres de Melibea",
but Rosa Maria Lida de Malkiel was the
f i r s t c r i t i c to study the influence of the Carcel de amor
on the Traqicomedia: "No cabe duda que los autores de La
Celestina conocieron de este genero n o v e l l s t i c o (sentiment a l novel) por l o menos las obras de Diego de San Pedro:
l a Carcel de amor figura entre los l i b r o s en romance gue
16
Rojas leg6 a su mujer".
To Lida de Malkiel, the most important s i m i l a r i t y between the two works i s the personality of the main characters: "inactivos para lograr su amor y dedicados a gastar
17
su vida no solo en amar sino en mirarse amar".
She finds
C a l i s t o a r e a l i s t i c representation of the fifteenth-century
nobleman who translated into actions the romantic s e n s i b i l i t y
of the l y r i c and dramatic l i t e r a t u r e of the period. C a l i s t o ' s
s i m i l a r i t y to Leriano i s the most outstanding, because:
"gracias a l a r e p r e s e n t a c i 6 n r e a l i s t a que ha adoptado l a
Traqicomedia, su i n e r c i a , su ensimismamiento, su exaltacion
amorosa contrastan eficazmente con e l i r y venir interesado
y activo de los demSs personajes y con e l sugerido escena18
r i o de l a ciudad". This i s because, i n La Celestina we are
Ill
no longer i n the ideal world of n o b i l i t y , but i n the everyday world that comprises a l l s o c i a l classes and a l l human
types: "En efecto, e l esguematismo de Arnalte y Leriano
frente a l a concretez v i t a l de C a l i s t o se explica primariamente por l a r a d i c a l divergencia de posici6n a r t i s t i c a entre
e l realismo verosimil de l a Tragicomedia y l a e s t i l i z a c i o n
aleg6rica de Diego de San Pedro, sobre todo en su segunda y
19
mSs c^lebre novela."
Melibea coincides i n character and ideas with Laureola
and Lucenda: they a l l believe i n the moral r e s p o n s i b i l i t y
of the noble maiden, but whereas San Pedro's poetic heroines
remain enclosed i n the conventions
of the. courtly love t r a -
d i t i o n , Melibea yields to her human passion/ As Lida de
Malkiel points out: "Lucenda y Laureola enuncian y amplif i c a n aquellos conceptos en sus pulidas epistolas, Melibea
las esgrime como ultima v a l l a a l a pasi6n de C a l i s t o . En
unas es escarceo palaciego; en Melibea es expresi6n completa de su personalidad en los momentos mas decisivos de su
20
vida."
Peter G. Earle studies Rosa Maria Lida de Malkiel's
observations and compares the love concepts found i n the
works of Rojas" and. San Pedro'.- 'He^feels that:
At least i n a general sense, i t i s perhaps
not an o v e r s i m p l i f i c a t i o n to say that La Celest i n a i s to the sentimental novel as Don Qui jote
i s to the c h i v a l r i c novel. 21
Earle finds the following basic s i m i l a r i t i e s between
the two works:
a ) Instant passion of the hero, strongly rejected
112
by the-heroine.
b) Intervention of a go-between.
c) Go-between inspires "piedad" i n the heroine by ref e r r i n g to the lover's "enfermedad".
d) Death of a twenty-year-old hero (Carcel) lamented
by a sixty-year-old mother. Death of a twenty-yearold heroine (Celestina) lamented by a sixty-yearold father.
Earle-finds these basic differences:
a) Leriano's
love i s unrequited, C a l i s t o ' s love i s cor-
responded.
b) The intervention of Persio and his calumny constitute
the t r a g i c impetus of the Carcel, but i n the C e l e s t i na the passion i t s e l f i s the cause of the f i n a l outcome .
c) Leriano's
relationship to Laureola
is strictly
de-
termined within the rules of c h i v a l r y and courtly
love. C a l i s t o ' s r e l a t i o n s h i p to Melibea i s unfettered by convention once Celestina has achieved the
liaison.
d) Allegory i s used i n the Carcel, but not i n the
Celestina.
Earle i l l u s t r a t e s these aspects of both works with pertinent examples. Although he does not develop extensively
his theory, he establishes that the Tragicomedia, an essent i a l l y sentimental
work, humanizes the poetic concepts of
love, integrating comic and t r a g i c elements and substituting
realism f o r idealism.
113
Carcel de amor i s both the best and the l a t e s t example
of the Spanish courtly romance. Despite the great popularity
i t enjoyed, the ideals portrayed belonged to a fading world,
and they were bound to be rejected i n favour of the new
con-
cepts which arrived with the dawning of the Renaissance.
However, because San Pedro's novel portrays the tenets of
courtly love i n t h e i r most idealized version, i t often
served as a model of precisely that which the Renaissance
writer, be i t Valentinian, or Rojas, wished to r e j e c t .
Nonetheless, the charming l y r i c a l g u a l i t y of the Carcel de
amor and the importance of i t s role i n the development of
the novel, have given t h i s work a place of honour i n Spanish
literature.
114
Footnotes to Chapter Five
1
Juan de Flores, Grimalte y Gradissa, ed.Pamela
Waley (London: Tamesis Books Ltd., 1971), pp. i-xxxix.
2
For instance by Pamela Walev i n "Love and Honour,"
p.275.
3
B i b l i o q r a f i a de l a l i t e r a t u r a hispahica, Consejo
Superior de Investigaciones C i e n t i f i c a s , I n s t i t u t o "Miguel
de Cervantes" de F i l o l o g i a Hispahica (Madrid: Raycar, S.A,
1960-1976).
4
Whinnom, 2, 67.
5
H i s t o r i a de la lengua y l i t e r a t u r a castellanas
(Madrid, 1915), 2, 67.
6
Harriet Goldberg, Jardin de nobles donzellas, FrayMartin de Cordoba: A C r i t i c a l Edition and Study, North Car o l i n a Studies i n the Romance Languages and Literatures
(Chapel H i l l : University of North Carolina Press, 1974),
p. 45.
7
"La Carcel de amor y II Cortegiano de Baldesar de
Castiglione," Revue Hispanigue, 46 (1919), 547-68.
8
Ibid., p.551.
9
Le roman sentimental avant L'Astree (Paris: Armand
Colin, 1908), p.55.
10
Ibid., p.64.
A Study of Thebdose Valentinian's "L'amant resucite
de l a mort d * amour: A RelTqiouslINovel. of~ Sentiment and i t s
Possible Connexions with Nicolas Denisot du Mans (Geneve:
Droz, 1966).
12
Ibid.. P.94.
13
"The popularity of the Carcel de amor," Hispania,
47 (1964), 475-78.
14
Origenes, p.507.
15
Ibid., p.512.
16
Rosa Maria Lida de Malkiel, La o r i g i n a l i d a d a r t i s t i c a d e " L a Celestina" (Buenos Aires: E d i t o r i a l Universit a n a - 1962), p.393.
115
17
18
19
20
21
Ibid.. 393.
Ibid., 394.
Ibid., 394.
Ibid., 393.
"Love concepts,"
p.92.
11 6
Conclusion
It has been seen that San Pedro's art was determined
by the taste and ideas of his audience, and that he was a
courtly poet who wrote to s a t i s f y the demands of his public;
but that he was also an excellent craftsman who attended
consciously to minute d e t a i l s of s t y l e and language. Above
a l l , San Pedro had a remarkable poetic s e n s i t i v i t y that
prevented him from producing the l i f e l e s s ,
stereotyped
writings of other courtly poets. His s e n s i t i v i t y , combined
with his a r t i s t r y , led him to create works that not only
answered to the demands of his audience, but which became
l i t e r a r y models of immense popularity.
San Pedro's adaptable art found i t s best means of
expression
i n the Ccircel de amor. When he was asked to
write the best love story he could produce and i n a better
s t y l e .than that of his Arnalte y Lucenda, he decided to
develop the elements of the love t r a d i t i o n that were i n
fashion at the time. He gave l i f e to the courtly i d e a l of
love by means of his s k i l f u l use of the l i t e r a r y forms
available to him,
and to the new Renaissance r h e t o r i c .
San Pedro's use of the new humanistic r h e t o r i c and
the autobiographical form led him to create an e f f e c t i v e
i l l u s i o n of r e a l i t y i n his t a l e , which made Carcel de
amor a forerunner
of the modern novel.
The excellence of San Pedro's re-creation of the
conventional
ideals of courtly love made his Carcel de amor
and i t s perfect lovers into models worthy of imitation i n
117
r e a l l i f e . However, the extremely idealized nature of these
models did not correspond to the actual nature of human
beings. Thus, Renaissance writers l i k e Rojas were prone to
prove the falseness of the courtly romantic ideals.
San Pedro's work closes an era where the individualism
of
the Renaissance was s t i l l unknown; an era where the actual
experience of l i f e and the a r t i s t i c rendering of i t could
not
be the same.
San Pedro's a r t i s the product of the mediaeval ap-
proach to l i t e r a t u r e and i t s excellence i s the r e s u l t of
the
author's experience as a courtly writer. I t was pre-
c i s e l y h i s consciousness as a courtly writer that inspired
San Pedro to select the appropriate ideas, form, language
and s t y l e i n order to produce an excellent example of
courtly l i t e r a t u r e .
118
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