HISTORY
OF
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE
LITERATURE.
HISTORY
OF
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE
LITERATURE.
BY
FREDERICK BOUTERWEK.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
Translated from the Original German,
BY THOMASINA ROSS.
VOL. I.
SPANISH LITERATURE.
LONDON:
BOOSEY AND SONS, BROAD STREET.
1823.
F. Justins, Printer, 41, Brick Lane, Spitalfields.
PREFACE.
The growing interest of Spanish and Portuguese Literature would,
perhaps, be thought a sufficient reason for laying the following
translation before the public, were the merits of the original work
even less conspicuous, and the deficiency it appears fitted to supply
in our language less sensibly felt. It is, indeed, extraordinary, that
no similar work has hitherto appeared in a country, where the subject
of which this history treats, has, in the instances in which it has
been partially explored, always been found a rich source of pleasure
and instruction. But the information thus collected from the literary
stores of Spain and Portugal, however satisfactory on particular
points, is, from its nature, detached and incomplete, and seems
calculated to increase rather than to diminish the desire for such a
connected and comprehensive view of the whole subject as M. Bouterwek
has exhibited in his General History of Modern Literature.
The following volumes on the literature of Spain and Portugal
are extracted from a work, entitled, _Geschichte der Poesie und
Beredsamkeit seit dem Ende der dreizehnten Jahrhunderts_, (History of
Poetry and Eloquence from the close of the thirteenth Century,) in
which M. Bouterwek has taken an historical and critical survey of the
literature of the principal nations of Europe. The work consists of
twelve volumes, published at different periods at Göttingen; the first
volume having appeared in 1805, and the last, which contains an index
to the whole, in 1819.[1] The two volumes now translated are the third
and fourth of the German original.
If it be admitted that there remains in English literature a vacant
place which ought to be occupied by a work of this kind, it is not
apprehended that the means now resorted to for filling up the chasm
will be disapproved; at least the translator is not aware that any
better source could have been found for supplying the deficiency. In
vain, she is persuaded, would any substitute be sought for in French,
much as that language abounds in works of criticism. Sismondi in his
_Litterature du Midi de l’Europe_, implicitly adopts the judgments
passed by Bouterwek on Spanish and Portuguese literature; and indeed
with respect to that part of his subject he says very little of
importance that is not directly borrowed from the German critic.[2]
The _Essai sur la Litterature Espagnole_, published in Paris in 1810,
and which appears to have been well received by the French public, is
a gross plagiarism. It is, with some slight additions, merely the
translation of an anonymous English work, entitled, _Letters from
an English Traveller in Spain_, the epistolary form being dropped,
and the materials transposed for the purpose of concealing the
theft.[3] The work of M. Bouterwek belongs, however, to a superior
class. To say that M. Bouterwek has treated his subject with great
perspicuity and precision, would be to express only a small portion of
his merits. Extensive and laborious as his enquiries have evidently
been, his judgment in the management of his materials is still more
remarkable than the indefatigable research with which they must have
been obtained. He has not confined himself to a mere narrative of the
progress and an exemplification of the beauties and deformities of
the literature of which he is the historian.--The philosophic spirit
which pervades his criticism was not to be circumscribed within such
narrow bounds. He seeks in the structure of society, the habits of the
people, and the influence of events, for the causes of the intellectual
phenomena he has to describe; and he examines with great candour and
impartiality the effects of mis-government and arbitrary institutions
on poetic genius and literary taste. Impressed with this favourable
opinion of the work, the translator has endeavoured to give a true
representation of its contents. In undertaking the translation, her
wish was to preserve the character of the original, as far as possible,
under an English dress. She began the task with an anticipation of its
difficulty, and she ends it with a consciousness of the indulgence of
which her labours stand in need; but at the same time with the hope
that she will not be found to have altogether failed in the object she
had in view.
The first of the following volumes is devoted to the history of
Spanish, and the second to the history of Portuguese Literature. The
subdivisions of the work correspond with periods marked out by certain
revolutions in taste, produced by the rise of eminent writers, or by
other influential circumstances. These epochs in literary cultivation
form convenient resting places for the student, and contribute to
exhibit in a clear point of view the circumstances by which the
advancement of polite learning has been accelerated or retarded.
The specimens, which are numerous, and a great portion of which are
selected from very scarce works, cannot fail to prove highly acceptable
to the lovers of the literature of Spain and Portugal. For a general
and comprehensive knowledge of that literature they will be found amply
sufficient, and to those who wish to pursue its study more in detail,
they will afford most useful assistance. In such a course of study,
great advantage may also be derived from the numerous bibliographical
notes which the author has introduced, and which are therefore
scrupulously retained in the translation.
The translator at first intended to give literal versions of all the
specimens extracted from Spanish and Portuguese authors; but had she
persisted in this plan, the translation could not have been completed
without augmenting the price of the publication much beyond the rate
to which the publishers were of opinion it ought to be limited. To
have omitted a part of the extracts in order to give translations of
the rest would have been still more improper, for the extracts quoted
in the notes are all necessary to the illustration of the text; and
besides such a mutilation would have deprived the work of a merit
which has just been pointed out, namely, that of supplying sufficient
materials for a comprehensive study of the literature of Spain and
Portugal. The translator has it, however, in contemplation, to prepare
for the press a volume containing translations of the specimens
given by M. Bouterwek, and of some other pieces from the Spanish and
Portuguese languages. This volume will not form a mere appendix to the
volumes now published; an endeavour will be made to render it useful
and entertaining as a separate work.
It is necessary to observe, that the History of Italian Literature,
which is sometimes referred to in the notes, is a part of M.
Bouterwek’s General History of Poetry and Eloquence. It forms the
two first volumes of the German work; some other parts of which the
translator will be prepared to send to the press, should the merits of
the original procure from the public a favourable reception for these
volumes on Spanish and Portuguese Literature.
Notwithstanding that the translator had considerable assistance in
reading and revising the proofs, she regrets to find that still further
correction would have been desirable. Fortunately, however, there are
few errors in the Spanish and Portuguese extracts; and those which do
occur in the English text, will be found to be in general of a literal
or obvious nature, altogether incapable of misleading the intelligent
reader. Of the mistakes of the press which have been observed, tables
of errata are made. If there are others, the translator is confident,
that the persons who are the best able to correct such faults, will be
the most ready to pardon them.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
VOL. I.
INTRODUCTION.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC POETRY AND
ELOQUENCE IN THE KINGDOMS OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.
_Page_
Recollection of the general State of Spain and Portugal, about
the middle of the thirteenth century 1
View of the principal idioms of the romance spoken in the
Pyrenean Peninsula 5
Original separation of the Catalonian and Limosin poetry from
the Castilian and Portuguese 15
National metres and rhymes common to the Spaniards and
Portuguese 20
BOOK I.
FROM THE END OF THE THIRTEENTH TO THE COMMENCEMENT
OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
Probable period of the first romances 27
Poema del Cid 28
Poema de Alexandro Magno 30
Gonzalo Berceo 31
Alphonso X.; his literary merits.--Nicolas and Antonio de los
romances, &c. 32
Alphonso XI. 35
Early cultivation of Castilian prose.--Don Juan Manuel; his
Conde Lucanor; his romances 36
Satirical poem of Juan Ruyz, arch-priest of Hita 44
More precise account of the origin of the Spanish poetic
romances and songs.--Probable rise of the romances of
chivalry in prose.--Original relationship of the poetic and
prose romances 47
The different kinds of poetic romance 53
Castilian poetry in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries 72
Poetical court of John II. 76
The Marquis of Villena 78
The Marquis of Santillana--his poetical works--his historical
and critical letter 82
Juan de Mena 90
Perez de Guzman, Rodriguez de Padron, and other Spanish
lyric poets of the age of John II. 100
Of the Cancionero General, and the different kinds of ancient
Spanish songs 102
Of the Romancero General 121
First traces of the origin of Spanish dramatic poetry in the
Mingo Rebulgo.--Juan del Enzina.--Calistus and Melibœa,
a dramatic tale 128
Further account of Spanish prose.--Rise of the historical
art.--Early progress of the epistolary style 137
Juan de la Enzina’s Art of Castilian poetry 145
BOOK II.
FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH TO THE LATTER
HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
INTRODUCTION.--General view of the state of poetical
and rhetorical cultivation in Spain during the above period 148
FIRST SECTION.--History of Spanish poetry and eloquence
from the introduction of the Italian style to the age of
Cervantes and Lope de Vega 161
Occasion of the introduction of the Italian style ibid
Boscan 162
Garcilaso de la Vega 176
Diego de Mendoza 186
Mendoza’s account of the rebellion of Granada, the first
classical history in Spanish literature 205
Saa de Miranda--(Commencement of elevated pastoral poetry
in Spanish literature) 210
Montemayor; his Diana--the first Spanish pastoral romance 217
Herrera; first developement of the ode style in Spanish poetry 228
Luis de Leon 240
Minor Spanish poets during the period of this section, viz.
Acuna--Cetina--Padilla--Gil Polo 254
Obstacles to the imitation of the romantic epopee in
Spain--Unsuccessful essays in serious epopee--translations
of classical epic poetry 262
Progress of the romantic poetry.--Castillejo; his contest with
the partizans of the Italian style 267
History of Spanish dramatic poetry during the first half and
ten succeeding years of the sixteenth century 277
The Erudite party 279
The party of the moralists 281
The first national party--Torres Naharro 282
The second national party--Lope de Rueda; collections of his
dramas by Juan Timoneda 286
Naharro of Toledo 289
Juan de la Cueva; his art of poetry 290
Probable rise of the spiritual drama in Spain 293
Entremeses and Saynetes 294
Spanish tragedies, by Geronymo Bermudez 296
History of Spanish prose during the first half and ten
succeeding years of the sixteenth century 303
Prose romances of chivalry 304
Romances of knavery--Lazarillo de Tormes 305
Tales of Juan Timoneda 306
Didactic prose--Perez de Oliva--Ambrosio de Morales--Pedro
de Valles--Francisco Cervantes de Salazar 308
Historical prose--Annals of Zurita 315
Oratorical prose--Perez de Oliva 320
Epistolary prose 321
Spanish criticism during the period of this section--Alonzo
Lopez Pinciano 323
SECOND SECTION.--History of Spanish poetry and
eloquence from the age of Cervantes and Lope de Vega to
the middle of the seventeenth century 327
Cervantes ibid
Brief character of Don Quixote 333
The moral tales of Cervantes 340
The Galatea 342
The journey to Parnassus 346
Dramatic works of Cervantes 350
The romance of Persiles and Sigismunda 357
Lope de Vega 359
General characteristics of his poetry 363
Explanation of the idea of a Spanish comedy as it is
exemplified in the dramas of Lope de Vega 364
Various species of dramas by this poet 368
Brief notice of his other poetic works 390
The Brothers Leonardo de Argensola--Classic cultivation of
the didactic satire and epistle in Spanish literature 392
Tragedies by the elder Argensola 394
Epistles, odes, &c. by the younger Argensola 400
Continuation of the history of Spanish poetry and eloquence,
during the age of Cervantes and Lope de Vega 406
Fresh failures in epic poetry--Ercilla’s Araucana 407
Lyric and bucolic poets of the classic school of the sixteenth
century 413
Vicente Espinel 414
Christoval de Mesa 415
Juan de Morales 416
Agustin de Texada, &c. 417
Rise of a new irregular and fantastical style in Spanish poetry 428
Gongora and his Estilo Culto--the Cultoristos--the Conceptistos 431
Two dramatic poets of the age of Lope de Vega 441
Christoval de Virues 442
Perez de Montalvan 446
Novels in the age of Cervantes and Lope de Vega 450
Progressive cultivation of the historical art--Mariana 455
Fluctuation of Spanish taste from the classic to the
corrupt style 459
Quevedo 460
Character of his best works 465
Villegas 475
Continuation of the history of lyric, bucolic, epic,
didactic and satirical poetry, to the close of the
period embraced by this section 485
Jauregui 486
Borja y Esquillache 488
Other poets of this period--the Sylvas or Poetic Forests 492
Rebolledo 493
Continuation of the history of the Spanish drama 499
Calderon 500
Character of the different species of Calderon’s dramas 503
History of the Spanish drama continued to the close of the
period of this section 521
Antonio de Solis 524
Moreto 526
Juan de Hoz ibid
Tirso de Molina 527
Francisco de Roxas ibid
Agustin de Salazar y Torres ibid
Mira de Mescua 528
Collections of Spanish dramas published in the seventeenth
century 529
Conclusion of the history of Spanish eloquence and criticism,
within the period of this section 530
Antonio de Solis considered as a historian 531
Introduction of Gongorism into Spanish prose--Balthazar
Gracian 533
BOOK III.
History of Spanish literature from its decline in the latter
half of the seventeenth to the end of the eighteenth century 538
CHAP. I.
General view of the state of poetical and rhetorical cultivation
in Spain during this period 540
CHAP. II.
Decay of the old Spanish poetry and eloquence, and introduction
of the French style into Spanish literature 547
Candamo, Zamora and Cañizares, dramatists in the old
national style ibid
Doña Juana Inez de la Cruz 551
Gerardo Lobo 556
Diffusion of the French taste--Luzan, his art of poetry, &c. 557
Luzan’s poetic compositions 568
Mayans y Siscar and Blas Nasarre 570
Montiano’s tragedies in the French style 571
Velasquez 574
CHAP. III.
Concluding period of the history of Spanish poetry and
eloquence 575
La Huerta 576
His tragedies 580
His Spanish theatre 584
Sedano 587
Yriarte 588
Leon de Arroyal 593
Juan Melendez Valdes 595
Brief notice of some of the more recent literary productions
of Spain 600
Conclusion 605
INTRODUCTION.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC POETRY AND ELOQUENCE, IN THE
KINGDOMS OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.
When modern refinement began, during the thirteenth century, to emerge
from the rudeness of the middle ages, that part of Europe which
geographers have called the Pyrenean Peninsula, and which, according
to its present political division, forms Spain and Portugal, contained
four Christian kingdoms and some Mahometan principalities, to which
the title of kingdom has also been given. More than five hundred years
had elapsed since the battle of Xerez de la Frontera;[4] and the
Moors, who, by the result of that conflict, obtained the dominion of
the greater part of Spain and Portugal, had, by the repeated victories
of the Christians, been, in their turn, driven back to the southern
extremity of the country, and were obviously not destined to maintain
themselves much longer even in that quarter.
During these five centuries of almost uninterrupted warfare between the
race of Moorish Arabs and the Christians of ancient European descent,
both parties, notwithstanding that their reciprocal hostility was
influenced by fanaticism, had unconsciously approximated in mind and
in manners. The intervals of repose, which formed short links in the
chain of their sanguinary conflicts, afforded them some opportunities
for the interchange of the arts of peace, and they were soon taught to
feel for each other that involuntary respect which the brave can never
withhold from brave adversaries. Love adventures, in which the Moorish
knight and Christian lady, or the Christian knight and Moorish lady,
respectively participated, could not be of rare occurrence. The Arab,
who, in his native deserts, had not been accustomed to impose on women
half the despotic restraints to which the sex is subject in the harems
of Mahometan cities, was soon disposed to imitate the gallantry of the
descendants of the Goths; and still more readily did the imagination of
the Christian knight, in a climate which was far from being ungenial,
even to African invaders, acquire an oriental loftiness. Thus arose
the spirit of Spanish knighthood, which was, in reality, only a
particular form of the general chivalrous spirit then prevailing in
most of the countries of Europe, but which, under that form, impressed
in an equal degree, on the old European Spaniard an oriental, and on
the Spanish Moor a European character.
In the first period of this long contest the Arabs carried learning
and the arts to a degree of cultivation far beyond any thing known in
the Christian parts of Spain. Those wild enthusiasts learned, on the
European soil, to estimate the value of civilized life with a rapidity
as astonishing as that which distinguished the social improvement of
their brethren, whom they had left behind in Asia, under the government
of the Caliphs. Before the era of Mahomet, their language had been
cultivated and adapted to poetry and eloquence, according to the laws
of oriental taste. In Spain, it soon acquired, even among the conquered
Christians, the superiority over the barbarous _Romance_, or dialect
of the country, which was then governed by no rule: for in the eighth
century, when the Moors penetrated into Spain, the Visigoths, who had
been masters of the territory since the fifth century, were not yet
completely intermixed by matrimonial alliances with the _Provincials_,
or descendants of the Roman subjects; and the new national language,
which had grown out of a corrupt latin, was still the sport of
accident. The conquered Christians, in the provinces under Moorish
dominion, soon forgot their Romance. They became, indeed, so habituated
to the Arabic, that, according to the testimony of a bishop of Cordova,
who lived in the ninth century, out of a thousand Spanish Christians,
scarcely one was to be found capable of repeating the latin forms of
prayer, while many could express themselves in Arabic with rhetorical
elegance, and compose Arabic verses.[5]
But the Christians who had preserved their independence, descending
from the mountains of the Asturias, began to repel the invaders, and
in proportion as they extended their conquests, a wider field was
opened for the Spanish tongue. It remained, nevertheless, long barren
and rude, and was destined to receive many additions from the rich and
elegant Arabic, before it attained the copiousness requisite for the
wants even of common life.
The circumstances, however, under which the dialects of the several
provinces existed, did not present those facilities for an improved
national language, on the principle of the Italian _Volgare illustre_,
of the age of Dante, which would have enabled a poet of Dante’s
genius, had such then arisen in Spain, to form out of them one general
literary language for all the Christian states of the Peninsula. It
happened, singularly enough, that about the beginning of the thirteenth
century, the three principal idioms which were spoken from the coast
of the Atlantic to the Pyrenees, and from the Bay of Biscay to the
Mediterranean, were represented by three kingdoms perfectly independent
of each other. The Castilian prevailed exclusively only in the Castiles
and Leon, the latter of which was permanently united to the former in
the year 1230. The Portuguese was spoken both by the court and the
people of Portugal. In the kingdom of Arragon, the language in general
use was the Catalonian, a dialect nearly the same as the Provençal
or Limosin of the south of France, but differing greatly both from
the Castilian and the Portuguese. This language also extended to
the little kingdom of Navarre, but it was there spoken only by the
nobles, who were of French or Hispano-Gothic origin. The great body
of the population in Navarre spoke the ancient Cantabrian, called
BASKIAN, VASKIAN, or BISCAYAN, and which
still exists in the Pyrenees and in the Spanish province of Biscay.
The trouble will be repaid if a glance be now cast on the map, in order
to distinguish, with somewhat more precision than is usually thought
necessary, the respective domains of the three principal dialects of
the Spanish tongue; for it would be very difficult, if not impossible,
to form any opinion on the contest maintained between the Spaniards and
the Portuguese relative to the value of their respective languages,
and the influence which the merits or demerits of these languages have
had on the polite literature of both countries, without a knowledge
of the geographical boundaries, which, previously to the political
divisions, separated the Portuguese from the Castilians, and the
latter from the Arragonese. In these questions the Biscayan language
is of no consideration, as it has only an accidental and unimportant
connexion with the other Spanish dialects, and, besides, bears not the
most remote resemblance to them.[6]
The mutilated latin spoken along the Mediterranean on the Spanish
shore, from the Pyrenees as far as Murcia, appears to have resolved
itself, before the period of the Arabian invasion, into the same
language which extended eastward from the Pyrenees through the whole
of the south of France to the Italian frontiers, and which, according
to the most remarkable of its provincial forms, was called the
CATALONIAN, the VALENCIAN, the LIMOSIN,
and the PROVENÇAL. Of all the tongues spoken in modern
Europe, this language of the coasts was the first cultivated. In it
the Troubadours sang, and their lays had all the same character,
whether addressed to the Italians, the French, or the Spaniards. From
Catalonia it probably spread itself along the chain of the Pyrenees.
The kingdom of Arragon became, after the restoration of the Spanish
romance in that quarter, its second country; for there both it and the
poetry of the Troubadours were particularly favoured by the princes
and the nobles. But at the very period of the decline of this poetry,
the kingdom of Arragon was united to the Castilian dominions. Another
kind of poetry, in the Castilian language, then obtained encouragement,
and the seat of the government of the united kingdoms was permanently
fixed in Castile. The energetic development of literary talent among
the Castilians, the bold romantic character of that people, and that
ardent spirit of national pride which prompted them to make the most of
all their advantages, soon banished the ancient and in other respects
highly esteemed dialect of Arragon, Catalonia, Valencia, and Murcia,
from literature, law, and the conversation of the superior classes
of society. Finally, towards the middle of the sixteenth century the
Castilian became, in the strictest sense of the word, the reigning
language of the whole Spanish monarchy.[7]
The Castilian tongue (_Lengua Castellana_), now called, by way of
distinction, the Spanish, doubtless had its origin before the Moorish
conquest, in the northern and midland parts of the Peninsula. How far
it had originally spread towards the south, it would not now be easy
to determine; but it came down from the Asturian mountains with the
warriors who boldly undertook to recover the country of their fathers.
It first resumed its sway in the kingdoms of Leon and old Castile,
where it is still spoken in the greatest purity.[8] It then followed
step by step, the fortune of the Castilian arms, until it finally
became the established language of the most southern provinces, where
its progress had been longest withstood by the Arabic. More recently
cultivated than the Catalonian, it cannot be doubted that it owes to
that dialect a part of its improvement; but the elevated expression of
its long full-toned words, soon stamped on it the character of quite a
different kind of romance. The abbreviation of the latin words which
gave the Catalonian language a striking resemblance to the French, was
not agreeable to the genius of the Castilian, which, in consequence
of its clear sonorous vowels and the beautiful articulation of its
syllables, had, of all the idioms of the Peninsula, the greatest
affinity to the Italian. Amidst the euphony of the Castilian syllables,
the ear is however struck with the sound of the German and Arabic
guttural, which is rejected by all the other nations that speak
languages in which the latin predominates.[9]
The romance, out of which the present Portuguese language has grown,
was probably spoken along the coast of the Atlantic long before
a kingdom of Portugal was founded. Though far more nearly allied
to the Castilian dialect than to the Catalonian, it resembles
the latter in the remarkable abbreviation of words, both in the
grammatical structure and in the pronunciation. At the same time it
is strikingly distinguished from the Castilian by the total rejection
of the guttural, by the great abundance of its hissing sounds, and
by a nasal pronunciation common to no people in Europe except the
French and the Portuguese. In the Spanish province of Galicia, only
politically separated from Portugal, this dialect known under the name
of _Lingoa Gallega_ is still as indigenous as in Portugal itself,
and was at an early period, so highly esteemed, that Alphonso X.
king of Castile, surnamed the Wise, (_El Sabio_,) composed verses in
it. But the Galician modification of this dialect of the western
shores of the Peninsula has sunk, like the Catalonian romance of the
opposite coast, into a mere provincial idiom, in consequence of the
language of the Castilian court being adopted by the higher classes
in Galicia.[10] Indeed the Portuguese language, which in its present
state of improvement must no longer be confounded with the popular
idiom of Galicia, would have experienced great difficulty in obtaining
a literary cultivation, had not Portugal, which, even in the twelfth
century, formed an independent kingdom, constantly vied in arts and
in arms with Castile, and during the sixty years of her union with
Spain, from 1580 to 1640, zealously maintained her particular national
character.[11]
After accurately distinguishing these three principal idioms of the
Romance, which formed the early spoken and written language of the
Peninsula,[12] it will be more readily perceived why the Catalonian
and Limosin poetry could not maintain itself in competition with the
Spanish and Portuguese, which were of more recent growth, and why the
poetry of Spain and that of Portugal have, from their first rise,
preserved nearly the same character and passed through the same periods
of splendour and decay. The Catalonian poetry was, from its origin,
inseparably united with the language of the Troubadours, throughout
its territories, from the Italian to the Castilian frontiers. While
the _Cours d’Amour_, the festal meetings, and various other gallant
exhibitions prevailed, in which the GAYA CIENCIA, or Joyous
Art, of these bards of love and chivalry flourished, and in which the
bards themselves bore a brilliant part as masters of the ceremonies,
the language and the poetry gave reciprocal importance to each other.
When, however, the romantic spirit had exhausted itself in these
modes, when another sort of gallantry came into vogue, and finally,
when a more cultivated style of poetry, entirely new to Spain, was
introduced from Italy, and propagated with the Castilian language, the
poets of Catalonia, Arragon, and Valencia began to write verses in the
new manner, and to disown their mother tongue in their compositions.
This literary phenomenon, which has its epoch only in the sixteenth
century, cannot be attributed to political dependence alone; for
hitherto the ancient national poetry of the Castilians had continued
foreign to the inhabitants of the Arragonian provinces, individual
imitators excepted, even after these provinces were united with the
Castiles. But when the Arragonese, in their zeal to vie with the
Castilians in the reform of their ancient poetry, began to write
verses in the Castilian language, their success was facilitated by the
relationship which had long subsisted between the old Provençal poetry,
the sister of the Limosin, and the Italian, which in the sixteenth
century became the model of the Spanish and Portuguese.[13]
The ancient Castilian poetry was as closely allied to the Portuguese
and the Galician, as it was distinctly separated from the Limosin.
The Troubadours had, it is true, chaunted their lays at the courts of
Castile and Portugal, but the national taste in both kingdoms preferred
different accents, other metrical combinations, and was accustomed to
quite another kind of poetry of its own creation. No Troubadours were
needed in these countries; for the common national poetry, which was
unknown to the Arragonian provinces, formed a connecting tie for the
Castilians, Portuguese, and Galicians, as it was the faithful mirror
of their genius and character. However much the Castilians might
dislike the Portuguese tongue, and the Portuguese, in their turn,
the Castilian, their poetry continued essentially the same; and the
languages of both countries deviated, at all times, far more from the
Limosin romance, than ever they differed from each other. Besides, the
old Galician idiom, which was scarcely distinguishable from the old
Portuguese,[14] was originally a favourite with the Castilians; and
when it ceased to be a literary language, the political conflicts of
the Spaniards and the Portuguese did not destroy the poetical harmony
of the two nations. The Castilians, indeed, constantly maintained
the opinion, that the Portuguese language was incapable of giving
appropriate expression to heroic sentiments; but the Portuguese
contradicted this assertion, not merely by words, but by deeds.[15]
The old Castilian, Portuguese, and Galician poetry was, under its own
peculiar forms, still more popular and strictly national than was the
Provençal, or than the Italian after it has ever been. It was not
destined to be recited in courtly circles, before lords and ladies.
It arose amidst the clang of arms, and was fostered by constantly
reiterated relations of warlike feats and love adventures, transmitted
from mouth to mouth; while almost every one who either witnessed
or participated in those feats and adventures, wished to give them
traditional circulation in the vehicle of easy verse. So common was
the practice among all ranks of composing verses, particularly in
Portugal, that the historian, Manuel de Faria y Sousa, thought himself,
at a later period, justified in calling every mountain in that country
a Parnassus, and every fountain a Hippocrene.[16] The poems called
Romances took their name from the national language; and it is probable
that the same name was at first given to all kinds of amatory and
heroic ballads, the taste for which, however rapidly those productions
increased and supplanted each other, appears to have been insatiable.
To mark with critical precision the limits of the different species
of poetic composition, was never contemplated by the authors of the
Romances, but they very carefully distinguished, in their national
verse, several kinds of measure and forms of rhyme, which differed
widely from the Provençal and Limosin; and having touched on this
subject, it will, perhaps, be most convenient here to introduce a brief
description of the nature of the verse common to the ancient Castilian,
Portuguese, and Galician poetry.
Of the metrical compositions common to the ancient Castilians and
Portuguese, the most peculiarly national were the REDONDILLAS.
All verses, consisting of four trochaic feet, appear to have been
originally comprehended under the name of _redondillas_,[17] which,
however, came at length to be, in preference, usually applied to
one particular species of this description of verse. To a people
so romantic and chivalrous, and at the same time so fond of their
national poetry, as the Spaniards and Portuguese, nothing could be
more agreeable than verses of this sort, which, in languages such as
theirs, could be composed on the spur of the occasion, and which to the
charm of simplicity add the beauty of a sonorous harmony.[18] It is
difficult to suppose that the redondillas have been formed in imitation
of bisected hexameters, as some Spanish authors have imagined.[19]
They may, with more probability, be considered a relic of the songs
of the Roman soldiers, which were doubtless often heard in these
countries, and which must have left recollections, the impressions of
which would be easily communicated by the romanized natives to their
conquerors, the Visigoths.[20] In such verses, every individual could,
without restraint, pour forth the feelings which love and gallantry
dictated, accompanied by his guitar; as little attention was paid to
correctness in the distinction of long and short syllables as in the
rhyme. When one of the poetic narratives, distinguished by the name
of Romances, was sung, line followed line without constraint, the
expression flowing with careless freedom, as feeling gave it birth.
When, however, romantic sentiments were to be clothed in a popular
lyric dress, to exhibit the playful turns of the ideas under still
more pleasing forms, it was found advantageous to introduce divisions
and periods, which gave rise to regular strophes (_estancias_ and
_coplas_). Lines were, for the sake of variety, shortened by halving
them; and thus the tender and impressive melody of the rhythm was
sometimes considerably heightened. Seduced by the example of the Arabs,
something excellent was supposed to be accomplished when a single
sonorous and unvarying rhyme was rendered prominent throughout all the
verses of a long romance.[21] Through other romances, however, pairs
of rhymeless verses were allowed to glide amidst a variety of rhymed
ones. At length, at a later period, it was observed, that in point of
elegance, the _redondilla_ was improved, rather than injured by the
change which was produced; when, instead of perfect rhymes, imperfect
ones, or sounds echoing vowels but not consonants, were heard in the
terminating syllables. Hence arose the distinction between _consonant_
and _assonant_ verses, which has been cultivated into a rhythmical
beauty unknown to other nations.[22] Thus varied, and yet ever simple,
the redondilla has been still more valuable to Spanish and Portuguese
versification, than the hexameter was to the poetry of Greece and Rome.
It has even become the prevailing measure of dramatic poetry.
The period of the invention of the redondillas was also nearly that
of the dactylic stanzas, called _versos de arte mayor_, because their
composition was considered an art of a superior order. They had their
origin, according to some authorities, in Galicia and Portugal.[23]
This metrical form is, however, found in several of the most ancient
Castilian poems. As the inventors of these stanzas were ignorant of the
true principles of prosody, the attention paid to purity in the rhythm
of the dactyles was even less than in the rhymes of the redondillas.
They contented themselves with dealing out eleven or twelve syllables,
and left the dactylic measure to accident. This may account for these
verses falling into disuse, as the progressive improvement of taste,
which allowed the redondillas to maintain their original consideration,
was not reconcilable with the half dancing, half hobbling rhymed lines
of the _versos de arte mayor_.[24]
Besides the above national modes of rhythm and rhyme, common to
Castilians, Galicians, and Portuguese, the form of the sonnet was also
known in the west of Spain and Portugal long before the imitation of
Italian poetry was thought of in those parts of the Peninsula. It had
doubtless been acquired through the intervention of Provençal and
Limosin poets. But the character of the sonnet was not sufficiently
popular for the old Spaniards and Portuguese, and they were never fond
of that kind of poetic composition. Not less adverse to the taste of
the country was the long protracted alexandrine. Monkish rhymesters,
who forced their imitations of latin doggrels on the nation, introduced
this kind of verse into the Spanish language, in the thirteenth or
perhaps even in the twelfth century, but certainly at a period anterior
to its appearance in any other modern tongue. It soon, however, sunk
into disesteem, and was neglected.
Thus, during the progress of their civilization, the Spaniards and
the Portuguese co-operated in cultivating the same spirit and form of
poetry. What is, notwithstanding, dissimilar in the polite literature
of the two countries, and what is peculiar to each, will, with other
subjects, become matter for consideration in the following sheets.
HISTORY
OF
SPANISH LITERATURE.
BOOK I.
FROM THE END OF THE THIRTEENTH TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY.
PROBABLE PERIOD OF THE FIRST ROMANCES.
The origin of Castilian poetry is lost in the obscurity of the middle
ages. The poetic spirit which then awoke in the north of Spain,
doubtless first manifested itself in romances and popular songs.
_Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar_, called _El Campeador_, (the Champion), and
still better known by the Arabic title of the _Cid_, (the Lord or
Leader), assisted in founding the kingdom of Castile for his prince,
Ferdinand I. about the year 1036, and the name and the exploits of
that favorite hero of the nation were probably celebrated during his
own age in imperfect redondillas. That some of the many romances which
record anecdotes of the life of the Cid may be the offspring of that
period, is a conjecture which, to say the least of it, has never been
disproved; and indeed the whole character impressed upon Spanish poetry
from its rise, denotes that the era which gave birth to the first songs
of chivalry must be very remote. In the form, however, in which these
romances now exist, it does not appear that even the oldest can be
referred to the twelfth, far less to the eleventh century.[25]
POEMA DEL CID.
Some examples of Old Castilian verse, which are held to be more
ancient than any known romance or ballad in that language, have been
preserved.[26] Of these the rhymed chronicle, Of the Exile and Return
of the Cid, (_Poema del Cid, el Campeador_), is considered the oldest.
This chronicle can scarcely be called a poem; and that it could not
have been the result of a poetic essay made in the spirit of the
national taste, is evident, from the nature of the verse, which is a
kind of rude alexandrine. It is the more difficult to speak with any
certainty respecting its age, as there also exists a very old prose
account of the Cid, which corresponds in all the principal facts
with this rhymed chronicle. Though it may be true that the author
lived about the middle of the twelfth century, as his editor Sanchez
supposes, still it is not with this work that the history of Spanish
poetry ought to commence. As a philological curiosity, the rhymed
chronicle is highly valuable; but any thing like poetry which it
contains must be considered as a consequence of the poetic character
of the nation to which the versifier belonged, and of the internal
interest of the subject. The events are narrated in the order in which
they succeed each other, and the whole work scarcely exhibits a single
mark of invention. The small portion of poetical colouring with which
the dryness of the relation is occasionally relieved, is the result
of the chivalrous cordiality of the writer’s tone, and of a few happy
traits in the description of some of the situations.[27]
POEMA DE ALEXANDRO MAGNO.
Still less of the character of poetry belongs to the fabulous chronicle
of Alexander the Great (_Poema de Alexandro Magno_), respecting the
origin and age of which the Spanish critics are far from being agreed.
Whether it be, as some pretend, a Spanish original of the twelfth or
thirteenth century, or as others assert, the translation of a French
work of the same age, in verse, or, what is still more probable, a
versified translation of a latin legend, with the manufacture of which
some monk had occupied his solitary hours, are questions which a
writer of the history of Spanish poetry cannot, with propriety, stop
to discuss, even though alexandrine verse should, as some suppose,
have taken its name from this chronicle. Next to stringing together
his rhymes,[28] the chief object of the author probably was to dress
the biography of Alexander the Great in the costume of chivalry.
Accordingly he relates how the _Infante_ Alexander, whose birth was
distinguished by numerous prodigies, seemed, while yet a youth a
Hercules; how he was taught to read in his seventh year; how he then
every day learned a lesson in the seven liberal arts, and maintained
a daily disputation thereon; and many other wonders of this sort.[29]
Alexander’s officers are counts and barons. The real history only
feebly glimmers through a grotesque compound of puerile fictions and
distorted facts. But perhaps this mode of treating the materials is not
to be laid to the account of the versifier.
GONZALO BERCEO.
There are some prayers, monastic rules, and legends in Castilian
alexandrines, which are regarded as of very ancient date, but they
were probably composed by Gonzalo Berceo, a benedictine, about the
middle of the thirteenth century. Spanish authors have made the dates
of the birth and death of this monk objects of very minute research,
and have exerted great industry in recovering his rude verses.[30] In
this field, however, the poetical historian can find nothing worth the
gleaning.
ALPHONSO X.; HIS LITERARY MERITS--NICOLAS AND ANTONIO DE LOS
ROMANCES, &c.
The names of several early writers of rude Castilian verse are recorded
by different authors. A notice, however, of the literary merits of
Alphonso X. called the _Wise_, by which is meant the learned, forms
the most suitable commencement for a history of Spanish poetry. This
sovereign, who was a very extraordinary man, for the age in which he
lived, was ambitious, among his other distinctions, of being a poet.
Scarcely any romance or song of true poetic feeling can be attributed
to him; but he loved to embody his science and learning in verse.
He disclosed his Alchymical Secrets in the dactylic stanzas, called
_versos de arte mayor_. Alchymy was his favourite study; and if his
assertions in verse may be relied on, he several times made gold, and
in times of difficulty turned his power of producing that precious
metal to his own advantage. His verses are, in some degree, harmonious,
and ingeniously constructed; but no trait of poetic description
enlivens the dry and uninteresting precepts he details.[31] It is not,
therefore, on account of his rhymes that Alphonso the Wise deserves
to be placed at the head of the Castilian poets. His claim to occupy
that station can only be founded on the attention he devoted to the
cultivation of the Castilian language, an attention which is easily
recognized even in his unpoetic verses, and which could not fail to
prove a most powerful incitement to emulation, since he who set the
example was the king of the country, and possessed a reputation for
learning which was flattering to the national pride. The greater
purity and precision which was thus introduced into the dialect of
Castile and Leon, enabled the poetic genius of the nation to unfold
itself with increasing vigour and freedom. But the benefits which
Alphonso conferred on the Spanish language and literature, did not
stop here. The bible was, by his command, rendered into Castilian;
and a Paraphrase of Scripture History accompanied the translation. A
General Chronicle of Spain, and a History of the Conquest of the Holy
Land, founded on the work of William of Tyre, were also written by his
order. Finally, he introduced the use of the national language into
legal and judicial proceedings. No direct interest was, however, taken
by Alphonso in the improvement of the popular Castilian poetry. He
probably thought it too destitute of art and learning to deserve much
consideration. It appears to have been on this account, and not from
vanity, that he favoured the Troubadours, assembled at his court, in
whose more elegant verse his praises were unceasingly proclaimed.[32]
His influence had an extensive operation; but his death, which happened
in the year 1284, was no loss to the national bards of Castile, who
still sung their Romances in obscurity.
The history of Spanish poetry continues barren of names until towards
the end of the fourteenth century; and yet, according to all literary
probability, the greater part of the ancient Castilian romances, which
have, in the progress of time, been collected, and have undergone
more or less improvement, were composed at a much earlier period.
One Nicolas, and an abbot named Antonio, are mentioned as celebrated
writers of romances in the thirteenth century, anterior to the reign
of Alphonso X.[33] But until the period of the invention of printing,
no regard was paid by the learned, or by those who wished to be
considered learned, to popular ballads; and when the attention of
men of letters began at last to be directed to the old romances, the
authors were either forgotten, or no trouble was taken to preserve or
recover their names. With a view, therefore, to the convenience of
historical arrangement, a particular account of the ancient romance
poetry of Castile may, with propriety, be postponed until the period
when the first instance of literary publicity, which was given to it,
must be recorded. In the mean while, some little known, though not
unimportant memorials of the state of poetical and rhetorical culture
in the fourteenth century, may here be brought to recollection.
ALPHONSO XI.
That the example of Alphonso X. operated powerfully among the grandees
of Castile, cannot be doubted; and to its influence must, in a great
measure, be attributed the encouragement given to the cultivation of
knowledge by Alphonso XI. This prince, amidst all the troubles of his
busy reign, maintained the character of a protector of learning, and
endeavoured to distinguish himself as a writer in his native tongue.
In the accounts of his labours given by Spanish authors, he is stated
to have composed a General Chronicle in Redondillas,[34] which is
either lost, or still remains buried in some of the old archives of
Spain. However slight may be the merits of this work, in a poetical
point of view, it is rendered interesting by the circumstance, that
the king chose for the rhythmic structure of his narrative, the easy
flowing verse of the romances, instead of stiff monkish alexandrines,
and the ungraceful dactylic stanzas. This brought the redondillas more
into favour. Alphonso XI. also caused books to be written in Castilian
prose, among which were a kind of Peerage, or Register of the noble
families of Castile, with an account of their hereditary estates
and possessions, and a Hunting Book, (_Libro de Monteria_,) in the
composition of which several persons assisted. Though rhetorical art
might derive no advantage from these books, they contributed to give
consideration to the national dialect, and to incite persons of rank to
engage in literary labour.
EARLY CULTIVATION OF CASTILIAN PROSE--DON JUAN MANUEL; HIS CONDE
LUCANOR; HIS ROMANCES.
But the most valuable monument of the cultivation of Spanish eloquence
in the fourteenth century is _El Conde Lucanor_, a book of moral and
political maxims, written by Don Juan Manuel, a Castilian prince.
This Don Juan was one of the most distinguished men of his age.[35]
He was descended, in a collateral line with the reigning family of
Castile, from king Ferdinand III. usually called the SAINT.
He served his sovereign Alphonso XI. with chivalrous fidelity, and
by the judicious policy of his conduct, retained the favour of that
prince, who certainly had reason to regard him with jealousy. After
distinguishing himself by a number of honourable and gallant deeds,
Alphonso appointed him governor (_adelantado mayor_) of the country
bordering on the Moorish kingdom of Grenada. In this station he became
the terror of the hereditary enemy of Castile. He made an irruption
into Grenada, and defeated the Moorish king in a great battle. After
this brilliant victory, he always acted one of the first parts in
the internal troubles of Castile, and during twenty years conducted
the war against the Moors. He died in 1362, leaving behind him some
of the ripest fruits of his experience in his _Count Lucanor_. A
Spanish book, so full of sound practical good sense, of a character so
truly unostentatious, and clothed in a simple, homely, but far from
inanimate garb, could scarcely be expected to belong to the fourteenth
century. In estimating the merit of this work, it ought also to be
recollected, that at the period in which it appeared, the taste for the
wild tales of chivalry called romances had begun to prevail. Amadis de
Gaul, the prototype of all subsequent knight-errantry romances, had
then obtained general circulation. There is, however, in the _Count
Lucanor_, no trace of romantic extravagance, none of the dreaming
flights of an irregular imagination; for in every passage of the book
the author shews himself a man of the world and an observer of human
nature. In the course of his long experience he had formed maxims for
the conduct of life which he was desirous of pursuing. He gave to many
of these axioms a laconic expression in verse; and, to impress them
the more forcibly, invented his _Count Lucanor_, a prince conscious
of too limited an understanding to trust to his own judgment in cases
of difficulty. He gives the Count a minister (_consejero_), whose
wisdom fortunately supplies the deficiency of his master’s intellect.
When the Count asks advice of his minister, the latter relates a
story, or sometimes a fable. The application comes at the close, and
the narrative is the commentary of the verse or couplet with which
it terminates. In this manner forty-nine moral and political tales
are told. They are not of equal merit; but though some are inferior
to others, the difference is not great, and they have all the same
rhetorical form. Sometimes it is the idea that gives the chief
interest, sometimes the execution. Among the versified maxims are the
following.
“If you have done something good in little, do it also in great, as the
good will never die.”[36]
“He who advises you to be reserved to your friends, wishes to betray
you without witnesses.”[37]
“Hazard not your wealth on a poor man’s advice.”[38]
“He who has got a good seat should not leave it.”[39]
“He who praises you for what you have not, wishes to take from you what
you have.”[40]
This last axiom is deduced from the well-known fable of the fox and the
raven. It is curious to observe the resemblance between the unconscious
artless simplicity with which Don Juan Manuel relates his fable, and
the finely-studied simplicity with which the elegant La Fontaine tells
the same story. Who would expect to find in an old Spanish book of the
fourteenth century, the same knowledge of the world and mankind, as
distinguished the refined age of Louis XIV.[41]
This work appears to have been preserved without alteration, as it was
originally written. It is only occasionally that the difference of the
language in single words,[42] betrays the officious industry of some
transcriber. In a short preface, the author gives a candid explanation
of the object of this collection of tales.
Don Juan Manuel was also the author of a Chronicle (_Chronica de
España_); the Book of the Sages, (_Libro de los Sabios_); a Book of
Chivalry, (_Libro del Caballero_); and several other works in prose
of a similar nature.[43] It appears that these works are now lost,
though they were preserved in manuscript in the sixteenth century.
A collection of Don Juan Manuel’s poems also existed at that time,
according to the express testimony of Argote y Molina, who published
_El Conde Lucanor_ in the sixteenth century, and intended to publish
those poems likewise. He calls them coplas; and they certainly were
not alexandrines. After this testimony, it can scarcely be doubted
that some of the romances and songs, which are attributed, in the
_Cancionero general_, to a Don Juan Manuel, have this prince for their
author.[44] But if such be the fact, then how many of the similar
romances which are still preserved, may, considering the greater
antiquity of their form, be yet more ancient!
SATIRICAL POEM OF JUAN RUYZ, ARCH-PRIEST OF HITA.
Don Juan Manuel had for his contemporary the author of an allegorical
satire, written in Castilian alexandrines, or in a kind of verse which
may be called doggrel. The result of the researches of the Spanish
critics ascribes this very singular work to Juan Ruiz, arch-priest
of Hita, in Castile.[45] This writer evidently possessed a lively
imagination; he has personified with great drollery Lent, the Carnival,
and Breakfast, under the titles of _Doña Quaresma_, _Don Carnal_, and
_Don Almuerzo_; and these and other personages are placed in a very
edifying connection with _Don Amor_. The object of the satire is thus
apparent, but the execution is as unskilful as the language is rude.
Only a part of the work has been preserved.[46]
He, however, who has to record the developement of true poetic genius,
must hasten from this and other examples of monastic humour and rugged
versification, in order to speak with something like historical
precision of the romances and other lyric compositions which form the
real commencement of Spanish poetry.
MORE PRECISE ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN OF THE SPANISH POETIC
ROMANCES AND SONGS--PROBABLE RISE OF THE ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY IN
PROSE--ORIGINAL RELATIONSHIP OF THE POETIC AND THE PROSE ROMANCES.
The latter half of the fourteenth century is the period when the
history of the Spanish romances and songs, the unknown authors of
which yet live in their verse, though still very defective, begins
to acquire some degree of certainty.[47] In the absence, however,
of that particular information which would be desirable, it becomes
necessary to take a view of the manner of thinking of the Spaniards
of that age, in order to connect the general idea which ought to be
formed of their literary culture, with those scattered notices which
must supply the place of a more systematic account. It will here be
recollected that the cultivation of Spanish literature received at
its commencement a national poetic impulse. In constant conflict with
the Moors, and acquainted with oriental manners and compositions, the
Spaniards felt the proper distinction between poetry and prose, less
readily than that distinction was perceived by any other people on the
first attempt to give a determinate form to their literature. Popular
songs of every kind were probably indigenous in the Peninsula. The
patriotic Spaniards, like many other ancient nations, were fond of
preserving the memory of remarkable events in ballads. They also began,
at a very early period, to consider it of importance to record public
transactions in prose. The example of their learned king Alphonso X.
who caused a collection of old national chronicles to be made, gave
birth to many similar compilations of the history of the country.
But historical criticism, and the historical art, were then equally
unknown. As the giving to an accredited fact a poetical dress in a
song fit to be sung to a guitar, was not thought inconsistent with the
spirit of genuine national history, still less could the relating of a
fabricated story as a real event in history seem hostile to the spirit
of poetry. Thus the _historical romance_ in verse, and the _chivalric
romance_ in prose, derived their origin from the confounding of the
limits of epic and historical composition. The history of Spanish
poetical romance is therefore intimately interwoven with the history of
the prose chivalric romance.
Whoever may have been the author of _Amadis de Gaul_, his genius lives
in his invention; this work soon obscured, even in France, all the
other histories of knights-errant written in latin or french, by many
of which it had been preceded. From the very careful investigations
of several Spanish and Portuguese writers, it appears that the name
of the real author of the first or genuine Amadis was Vasco Lobeira,
or, according to the Spanish orthography and pronunciation, Lobera,
a native of Portugal, who flourished about the end of the thirteenth
century, and lived to 1325. It is probable, however, that before the
period at which the work obtained its highest celebrity both in Spain
and France, it had passed through the hands of several emendators, and
it is therefore impossible to know how much of the book, as it now
exists, belongs to the original author, and how far it is indebted to
the labours of Spanish or French editors.[48] From these circumstances
too, it appears that the work could scarcely be generally known in
Spain before the middle of the fourteenth century; and its influence on
the national literature must, on that account, have been the greater;
for it would be operating with all the force of novelty, precisely at
the time when the poetic genius of the nation began to display itself
in youthful vigour. What other book could have produced an effect so
fascinating on the minds of the Spanish nobles, as Amadis de Gaul? The
monstrous perversions of history and geography in that work, did not
disturb the illusion of readers who knew little or nothing of either
history or geography. The prolixity of the narrative gave as little
offence as the stiff formality of the style. Indeed the virtues of
gothic chivalry appear more pure as they shine through the formal
stateliness of the narration. The author has borrowed nothing from
the Arabian tale-tellers, except the attraction of fairy machinery.
This was, however, a powerful charm, and gave an epic-colouring to
the Amadis, which, joined to the pathetic descriptions of romantic
heroism, produced an influence over the imagination and feelings of
the age which no former work had possessed. The moral character of
the plan and execution is strangely blended with a peculiar kind of
delicately veiled licence, which appears to have very well accorded
with the spirit of Spanish chivalry. While the gentle knights, amidst
innumerable adventures of love and heroism, observe as the chief law
of chivalry, the most inviolable fidelity in all situations towards
females as well as males, they and the ladies with whom they have
pledged their faith, by a secret betrothing, live together without
scruple before marriage, as husband and wife. But a picture, so true
and glowing, of the noblest heroic feelings and the most unshaken
fidelity,--circumscribing with no anxious care the boundaries of
love’s dominion, yet admitting no offensively indecorous or immoral
trait,--displaying the enthusiastic flights of an imagination often
exalted beyond nature, but redeemed by an ingenuous simplicity of
description with which even a refined taste must be delighted,--well
deserved at the time of its appearance that favour which it continued
for ages to enjoy. It is obvious that more of Spanish than of French
features enter into the character of the chivalry exhibited in this
work. The romantic self-torment of Amadis on the _Peña pobre_ (barren
rock) is one of the striking Spanish traits. Even the name Beltenebros,
given on this occasion by a pious hermit to the disconsolate knight,
contributes to prove that the work is not of French origin; for the
French paraphrastic translation, _Le beau tenebreux_, is not only in
itself very insipid, but poor Amadis appears quite ridiculous when made
to pronounce it from his own mouth as his name.[49]
When the Amadis, after being widely circulated, became the object
of numerous imitations, the particular account of which may be left
to the explorers of literary curiosities, it was no longer possible
for the prose romance of knight-errantry and the ballad romance
to disown their relationship. At this period the romance poetry
obtained a consideration which it had not previously enjoyed. Songs
which were formerly disregarded were now carefully noted down. Those
poetic romances, the materials for which are taken from histories of
knights-errant, are among the oldest of the Spanish ballads which have
been preserved in the ancient language and form. Some are imitations
from the Spanish Amadis, others are translations from the French; and
it may here be observed, that the Spaniards and the French possessed
at this period a body of romantic literature, which was throughout
its whole extent nearly the same to both countries.--With the old
poetic romances, derived from books of chivalry, are closely connected
the most ancient of the historical ballads founded on the history of
the country. The latter, it may be presumed, soon transferred their
national tone and character into the former. But it was not until after
they had given to each other a reciprocal support, that the historical
romance found a place in Spanish literature. They also mutually
declined from the height of their common celebrity, and at last sunk
again into the obscurity attached to pieces of mere popular recreation.
In this way, however, they have retained an oral currency among the
common people down to the present age. The Spanish critics notice
them too briefly, as if they were afraid to depreciate the dignity of
their literature by dwelling on the antiquated and homely effusions
of the poetic genius of their unlettered ancestors. But a people free
from this prejudice who can admire simple and natural, as well as
learned and artificial poetry, and who set little or no value on the
latter, when it entirely separates itself from the former, will be
disposed to see justice more impartially distributed to the old Spanish
romances.[50]
THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF POETIC ROMANCE.
The romances composed on subjects derived from the fictions of
chivalry, which have been preserved in the collections, are
distinguished by the old forms of the language, and the primitive mode
of repeating a single rhyme, which often becomes a mere assonance, from
the romances of a later date, though even these have long since been
called old. Amadis de Gaul appears to have contributed very little
to this kind of ballad.[51] The great number and the longest of the
romances are taken from the fabulous adventures of Charlemagne and his
Paladins. In them we again meet with the twelve peers of France, who
figure in the poems of Boyardo and Ariosto, with the addition of Don
Gayferos, the Moor Calaynos, and other poetic characters, to whom the
Spanish public were the more readily disposed to grant an historical
existence, in consequence of the chivalric history of Charlemagne’s
Paladins (who are represented to have fought like the Spaniards against
the Moors,) being held in great respect as a supplemental part of
Spanish National History. In progress of time, however, the romance
of the Moor Calaynos became the subject of a proverb, employed to
denote verses in an old exploded and vulgar style.[52] The ballad
of the _Conde Alarcos_, who with his own hands strangled his lady
in satisfaction to the honour, and in obedience to the commands of
his king, appears to have had its origin in some romantic work of
chivalry. This and two other romances which relate how the youthful Don
Gayferos avenged the death of his father, are among the best to which
knight-errantry has given birth; though in the remaining specimens
of this kind of ballad, the poetic genius of the age occasionally
displays itself in all its energetic simplicity. The authors of these
romances paid little regard to ingenuity of invention, and still less
to correctness of execution. When an impressive story of poetical
character was found, the subject and the interest belonging to it were
seized with so much truth and feeling, that the parts of the little
piece, the brief labour of untutored art, linked themselves together,
as it were, spontaneously; and the imagination of the bard had no
higher office than to give to the situations a suitable colouring
and effect. This he performed without study or effort, and painted
them more or less successfully according to the inspiration, good
or bad, of the moment. These antique, racy effusions of a pregnant
poetic imagination, scarcely conscious of its own productive power,
are nature’s genuine offspring. To recount their easily recognized
defects and faults is as superfluous, as it would be impossible by any
critical study to imitate a single trait of that noble simplicity which
constitutes their highest charm.[53]
The simplicity of the old historical romances is still more remarkable.
They form altogether a mere collection of anecdotes of Spanish
history, from the invasion of the Moors, to the period when the
authors of the romances flourished. Neither the materials nor the
interest of the situations owe any thing to the invention of these
simple bards. They never ventured to embellish with fictitious
circumstances, stories which were already in themselves interesting,
lest they should deprive their ballads of historical credit. In the
historical romances the story displays none of those entanglements
and developements which distinguish some of the longer romances of
chivalry. They are simple pictures of single situations only. The
poetic representation of the details which give effect to the situation
is almost the only merit which can be attributed to the narrators,
and they employed no critical study to obtain it. In this way were
thousands of these romances destined to be composed, and partly
preserved, partly forgotten, without one of their authors acquiring
the reputation of a great poet. It was regarded rather as an instance
of good fortune than a proof of talent, when the author of a romance
was particularly successful in painting an interesting situation.
In general their efforts did not carry them beyond mediocrity, but
mediocrity was not discouraged, for it depended entirely on accident,
or perhaps some secondary causes, whether a romance became popular or
sunk into oblivion. It would require a separate treatise to discuss
in a satisfactory manner, the degree of merit which belongs to these
national ballads, the immense number of which defies calculation.
Many little, and upon the whole very unimportant specimens are still
worthy of preservation, on account of some one single trait which
each exhibits. Others, on the contrary, excite attention by the happy
combination of a number of traits in themselves minute and of little
value; again, a third class is distinguished by a sonorous rhythm
not to be found in the rest. Unfortunately, no literary critic has
yet taken the trouble to arrange these pieces in anything like a
chronological order. Until this be done, it cannot be discovered how
the historical romance gradually advanced from its original rudeness
to the degree of relative beauty which it at last attained, though it
could not rise to classic perfection, as that kind of composition never
acquired the rank or consideration of classic poetry in Spain.
Among the most ancient historical romances are several, the subjects
of which have been taken from the earliest periods of Spanish
history, anterior to the age of the Cid. Like the romances derived
from the prose works of chivalry, they have only a single rhyme which
interchanges with blank verse, and which is frequently lost in a simple
assonance.[54] The romances of the Cid, of which more than a hundred
still exist, are either of a more recent date, or have, at least,
been in a great measure modernized.[55] In some a series of regularly
arranged assonances may be perceived.[56] Others are divided into
stanzas, with a burden repeated at the close of each.[57] In the
greater part, however, the rhyme almost wholly disappears, and only
an accidental assonance occasionally occurs. This form also prevails
in most of the romances founded on the history of the Moors. Their
number is very great, perhaps greater than that of those derived from
events of Spanish history; and this abundance might well excite as much
astonishment in the critic as it has given offence to some orthodox
Spaniards.[58] But even the Spaniards of old Castilian origin found
a certain poetic charm in the oriental manners of the Moors. On the
other hand, the European chivalry, in so far as it was adopted by
the Moors, became more imposing from its union with oriental luxury,
which favoured the display of splendid armour, waving plumes, and
emblematical ornaments of every kind. The Moorish principalities or
kingdoms were even more agitated by internal troubles, and acts of
violence, than the christian states; and in the former, particularly,
when different races powerfully opposed each other, the lives of
celebrated warriors were more fertile in interesting anecdotes than in
the latter. The Christian warriors, it also appears, had sufficient
generosity to allow justice to be done, at least to the distinguished
leaders of their enemies, who are described in an old romance, as
_gentlemen, though infidels_.[59] Besides, all these romances, whether
of Moorish or Spanish history, whether more ancient or more modern,
present nearly the same unsophisticated character and the same artless
style of composition. The subject is generally founded on a single
fact. Thus, for example, _Roderick_, or _Don Rodrigo_, the last king
of the Goths in Spain, before the Moorish invasion, takes flight after
his total overthrow, and bewails his own and his country’s fate; and
this is sufficient for a romance.[60] The Cid returns victorious
from his exile, alights from his horse before a church, and delivers
a short energetic speech; this again forms the whole subject of a
romance.[61] In others, with equal simplicity of story:-- the king
joins the hands of the Cid and Ximena, invests him with fiefs of
castles and territories, the names of which are all recorded, and
thus makes preparation for the marriage of the lovers.--The Cid lays
aside his armour and puts on his wedding garments, which are minutely
described from the hat to the boots.--At a tournament the Moorish
knight Ganzul enters the lists on a fiery steed; the beautiful Zayda,
who has been unfaithful to him, once more yields up her heart to her
lover, and confesses to the Moorish ladies who surround her the emotion
she experiences.[62]--The Moorish hero Abenzulema, who has filled
the prisons with Christian knights,[63] being exiled by his jealous
prince, takes leave of his beloved Balaja.[64] Such is the nature of
a countless number of these ballads. In general, the ornaments of the
armour, and the device of the knight, which must harmonize with these
ornaments, are minutely described. Were an artist of genius to study
these interesting situations, he would open to himself a new field for
historical painting.
There is a kind of mythological romance in which the heroes of Greece
appear in Spanish costume, which may be regarded as an imitation of
the species already described. The history of the siege of Troy,
having been clothed in the garb of a chivalric romance, it followed,
as a matter of course, that the Grecian heroes should be exhibited as
knights-errant in the poetic romances. It is obvious, on examination,
that most of these mythological romances are very old.[65] Even
christianity is made to contribute to this kind of composition, and
anecdotes from the bible are related in the favourite romance form;
as, for example, the lamentation of king David on the death of his son
Absalom.[66]
CASTILIAN POETRY IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES.
In ancient Spanish poetry the strictly lyric romances do not form
a different class from the narrative romances. On the contrary,
these kinds are inseparably confounded. In like manner, no essential
distinction between what was called a _cancion_ (song), and a lyric
romance, was established either in theory or in practice. A custom
prevailed of classing, without distinction, under the general name of
romance, any lyric expression of the feelings which ran on, in the
popular manner, in a string of redondillas, without distinct strophes,
and which, in that respect resembled the greater part of the narrative
romances. When, however, the composition was divided into little
strophes, or coplas, it was usually called a _cancion_, a term employed
in nearly the same indeterminate sense as the word _song_ in English,
or _lied_ in German, but which does not correspond with the Italian
_canzone_. The same name, however, came afterwards to be applied to
lyric pieces of greater research and more elevated character, if they
were divided into strophes. Compositions in coplas must have been
common in Spain about the middle of the fourteenth century; for the
traces of their origin lead back to the ancient Spanish custom of
accompanying such songs, in the true style of national poetry, with
dances. The saraband is one of those old national dances, during the
performance of which coplas were sung. Hence the Spanish proverb
denoting antiquated and trivial poetry, when it is said of verses that
“they are not worth as much as the coplas of the saraband,” in the
same way as the romance of Calainos is quoted proverbially.[67] But
many lyric compositions which are preserved in the collections of the
most ancient of the pieces known by the general name of romances, are
probably of an older date than those in coplas which appear in the
_Cancioneros_. They have, like the older romances, only a single rhyme,
alternating with assonances and blank verses; but, independently of
this proof, their old language, which corresponds so naturally with
the ingenuous simplicity of their manner, is sufficient to mark their
antiquity.[68]
The Castilian lyric poetry seems to have begun to confer reputation on
those who cultivated it, in the latter half of the fourteenth century.
The Marquis of Santillana, who lived in the first half of the fifteenth
century, relates that his grandfather composed very good songs, and
among others some, the first lines of which he quotes.[69] According
to the statement of the Marquis, a Spanish jew, named Rabbi Santo,
celebrated as the author of maxims in verse, flourished about the same
time. He also informs us, that during the reign of John I. from 1379 to
1390, Alfonso Gonzales de Castro, and some other poets, were esteemed
for their lyric compositions. But all these names, so honoured in their
own age, were forgotten in the commencement of the fifteenth century,
when under the reign of John II. there arose a new race of poets, who
outshone all their predecessors.
POETICAL COURT OF JOHN II.
The Spanish authors make the reign of John II. the commencement of an
epoch in their poetry. But though some poetic essays of greater compass
than had previously been undertaken, were then produced, still this
period ought really to be regarded only as that in which the ancient
poetry received its last improvement, and by no means as constituting
a new era. The old national muse of Castile continued the favourite of
many of the grandees of the kingdom who were ambitious, in imitation of
Alphonso X. of uniting the reputation of learning to the fame of their
poetry, but who had more true poetic feeling than that monarch. These
noble authors thought they could acquire little honour by devoting
their attention to the composition of romances, properly so called,
but preferred distinguishing themselves by giving to lyric poetry a
higher degree of art in its forms, and more ingenuity of invention.
As a consequence of this taste, they displayed a particular fondness
for allegory, and ingenious difficulties and subtilties of every kind
were the great objects of their labours. Their best works are some
compositions in which they seem unconsciously to have allowed nature
to speak, and these specimens possess about the same value as the
anonymous romances. They brought the dactylic stanzas (_versos de arte
mayor_,) again into vogue, because such artificial strophes had a more
learned air than the easy flowing redondillas. Mythological illusions
and moral sentences were, with these authors, the usual substitutes
for true poetic dignity. But barbarous as was their taste, nature,
which they wished to renounce, sometimes worked so powerfully within
them, that she triumphed over the pedantic refinement to which they had
surrendered their understandings;--and the graceful facility of the
popular manner occasionally appeared in their writings. In this way the
ancient national poetry became amalgamated with works distinguished for
laborious efforts of art, and ultimately attained a higher degree of
consideration. There resulted, however, no revolution in the literature
of Spain; and it cannot be said, that the authors of the age of John
II. formed an epoch, unless it be for having introduced, with more
success than Alphonso X. learning and philosophy into the sphere of
poetry; and for having, besides, by their united endeavours, given
to the ancient lyric forms of their maternal language, that sort of
improvement which, consistently with the spirit of the age, they were
capable of receiving, and which finally brought them to their highest
state of perfection.
But this period of brilliant improvement in the ancient national poetry
of Spain is, in another respect, more memorable than the writers on
Spanish literature appear to have regarded it. During the whole period
the Castilian monarchy was convulsed by internal troubles. Even in
the last ten years of the fourteenth century, the powerful barons of
the kingdom had almost wrested the sceptre from the hands of John I.
and Henry III. Under John II. the celebrated patron of poetry, who
reigned from 1407 to 1454, the monarchy was more than once menaced
with destruction. The grandees sported with the royal prerogatives,
and John II. had not sufficient firmness of character to render his
authority respected. In the difficult situations in which he was
involved, he derived, in a certain measure, his security from his love
of literature, which yielded a valuable return for the favours he had
bestowed. It won and preserved for him the attachment of many of the
most considerable noblemen of the country, who formed around him a
poetical court, which was not without influence on public affairs. It
would not be easy to find in the history of states and of literature,
another instance of a similar court, with the members composing it,
at once poets, warriors, and statesmen, surrounding and supporting a
learned sovereign, in spite of his imbecility, during a period of civil
commotion. This phenomenon proves the supremacy of the poetic spirit at
this time in Spain, since it was not to be subdued even by the spirit
of political faction, which is always hostile to poetry, and which was,
at this time, particularly powerful.
THE MARQUIS OF VILLENA.
Previously to this period, before the poets had rendered the court of
John II. the most brilliant society of the age, an eminent nobleman,
the Marquis Enrique de Villena, was distinguished for his literary
efforts. He sought to adorn his erudition with the lyric graces of
the Limosin Troubadours, who had then attained their highest and
final celebrity at the court of Arragon; and, thus united, to adapt
both the learning and the poetry to the Castilian taste. He seemed
called by birth to the performance of this task; for he was descended
by the paternal side from the kings of Arragon, and by the maternal
from those of Castile. His reputation for metaphysical and natural
knowledge was so great, that he came, at last, in that ignorant age, to
be regarded as a magician, and on that account he and his books were
never mentioned but with horror. His talent for poetic invention was,
however, an object of particular admiration with many of the poets of
the age of John II. and among others of the Marquis de Santillana and
Juan de Mena.
The Marquis of Villena was the author of an allegorical drama, which
was performed at the court of Arragon in celebration of a marriage,
and which may, therefore, be supposed to have been written in the
Limosin rather than in the Castilian language. Among the characters
stated to have been introduced into this drama, are _Justice_, _Truth_,
_Peace_, and _Clemency_.[70] Rhetorical and poetical competitions
were instituted at Toulouse, in the year 1324, under the name of the
_Floral Games_, to foster, by prizes and gallant ceremonies, the
Troubadour spirit. This institution, which was soon after imitated in
Arragon, was transplanted by the Marquis of Villena to Castile, but the
result of that enterprize was not successful.[71] The Marquis died
at Madrid in 1434. A work supposed to have been printed at Burgos in
1499, under the title of _Los trabajos de Hercules_, (The Labours of
Hercules), used formerly to be quoted as one of his poems; but from
more recent investigations, it appears that this pretended poem was
a mythological tale in prose.[72] A translation of the Æneid by the
Marquis, is besides mentioned, but this work appears also to be lost.
A kind of art of poetry, which he wrote under the title of _La Gaya
Ciencia_, has been more fortunate; for it has been partially preserved,
and is still regarded with respect as the oldest work of the kind in
the Spanish language.[73] This treatise, however, does not deserve to
be called an Art of Poetry, except in a very limited sense. It must
have been intended as a necessary instruction, in the first place,
for the Marquis of Santillana, to whom it is directly addressed, and
doubtless, in the next, for the other members of the Institute of the
Gay Science, (_El Consistorio de la gaya Ciencia_), which the Marquis
of Villena had formed in Castile. In conformity with this object, the
author relates the history of the Institute, endeavours to prove its
utility, takes that opportunity of expressing his opinion on the object
of poetry in general, and concludes with laying down the principles of
Castilian prosody. These principles appear to have been particularly
useful with reference to the conflict which then subsisted between
the Castilian and Limosin tongues. Among his general observations on
poetry, he says--“Great are the benefits which this science confers
on civil society, by banishing indolence, and employing noble minds
in laudable speculations: other nations have, accordingly, wished for
and established among themselves, schools of this science, by which
it has been diffused over different parts of the world.”[74] It is
obvious that this active nobleman was full of zeal for the improvement
of the poetry of his country, and for the honour of that art which was
cultivated with method and dignity in the Arragonian provinces, but
which in Castile, where it was left to itself, appeared to stand in
need of direction and encouragement. The difference between science
and art was not more clearly perceived by the Marquis of Villena than
by the other poets and men of learning of his age; and to distinguish
the Castilian forms of romantic poetry from the Limosin, did not appear
to him necessary. Thus, while his labours contributed to heighten the
respect in which poetry and liberal pursuits were held, they had only
an indirect influence on the improvement of Castilian poetry.
THE MARQUIS OF SANTILLANA; HIS POETICAL WORKS; HIS HISTORICAL AND
CRITICAL LETTER.
After the death of the Marquis of Villena, his pupil, Don Iñigo Lopez
de Mendoza, Marquis of Santa Juliana, or Santillana, appears at the
head of the brilliant society of poets who adorned the court of John
II. Whenever a Marquis of Santillana is mentioned in the history of
Spanish literature, without any more particular description, it is this
nobleman that is meant. He was born in the year 1398. His elevated
rank and great fortune, joined to the military and political talents
by which he was distinguished from youth upwards, placed him in a
situation in which he was called upon to perform a principal part among
the nobles of Castile. His intellectual culture had for its basis the
philosophy of Socrates; and his strict morality procured him no less
celebrity than his sound understanding and love of science.[75] This
uncommon union of rank, influence, character, talents, and learning,
could not fail to render the Marquis of Santillana highly respected;
and he was indeed regarded as so extraordinary a man, that foreigners
are said to have undertaken journies to Castile for the sole purpose
of seeing him. He was greatly esteemed by king John, who, during the
civil wars, constantly received from him, in return, the homage which
was due to a protector of learning, though the Marquis was not always
of that prince’s party. After the death of John II. in the latter
years of his life, this eminent man assisted with his counsels Henry
IV. under whom the regal authority in Castile was subsequently almost
annihilated. He died in the year 1458.
The Marquis of Santillana possessed no uncommon poetic talent. But he
studied to give to the poetry of his age a moral tendency, to extend
its sphere by allegorical invention, and to adorn poetic description
with the stores of learning. Two poems, in which he has best succeeded
in realizing these objects, are also the most celebrated of his works.
The first is an elegy on the death of the Marquis of Villena;[76] a
lyric allegory in twenty-five dactylic stanzas, constructed according
to the ancient form. The idea is very simple, and the commencement
of the piece brings to recollection the hell of Dante, of which it
is probably an imitation.[77] The poet loses himself in a desert,
finds himself surrounded by wild and frightful animals, advances
forward, hears dismal tones of lamentation, and finally discovers some
nymphs in mourning, who bewail the loss and chaunt the merits of the
deceased Marquis of Villena. On this poem, which does not discover much
ingenuity of invention, the Marquis of Santillana probably expended all
his stock of learning. He cites as many deities and ancient authors, as
the nature of his work will permit him to notice.[78] Such a display
of erudition had never before been seen in the Castilian language. No
genial poetic spirit is to be found except in the descriptions and in
some other scattered passages of this lyric allegory;[79] but the
verse is not destitute of harmony. The other considerable poem of the
Marquis, consists of a series of moral reflections, occasioned by the
unfortunate fate of Don Alvaro de Luna, the favourite of John II.; the
Marquis called this work, _El doctrinal de Privados_, (the Manual of
Favourites.) It must be regarded as the earliest didactic poem in the
Spanish language, unless that title be given to any series of moral
maxims in verse. The work which is divided into fifty-three stanzas in
redondillas, receives a poetic colouring from the manner in which the
shade of Don Alvaro is introduced confessing his faults, and uttering
those moral truths, which the author wished to impress on the hearts of
the restless Castilians.[80] He was less successful in his love songs
composed in the Castilian manner, to which he unfortunately thought a
new dignity would be given, by rendering them the vehicles of learned
allusions. He possessed, however, the art of reconciling this pedantry
with a pleasing style of versification.[81] A kind of hymn, which he
composed, under the title of _Los Gozos de neustra Señora_, (the Joys
of our Lady) has been preserved, but it possesses no poetic merit.[82]
He also wrote a collection of proverbs and maxims in verse, for the use
of the Prince Royal of Castile, who afterwards ascended a tottering
throne under the title of Henry IV.[83] However low a critical
examination might reduce the value of these works, still the Marquis of
Santillana deserves to retain the place assigned to him in the history
of Spanish literature by his contemporaries, by whom he was generally
admired, as the “representative of the honour of poetry.”
Among the literary remains of the Marquis of Santillana, the critical
and historical letter is particularly remarkable. This letter, which
is frequently mentioned in the early accounts of Spanish poetry,[84]
is instructive in various respects. It affords the means of accurately
observing the infancy of Spanish criticism in that age, for the
Marquis has added to the letter a collection of his ingenious maxims,
(_decires_,) and of his poems for Don Pedro, a Portuguese prince;
and from the embarrassment evinced by the Marquis when he attempts
to give the prince an account of the rise of Castilian poetry, it is
obvious, that with respect to the real origin of that poetry, less
was understood at that time than is known at the present day. Poetry,
or the gay science, is, according to the Marquis of Santillana, “an
invention of useful things, which being enveloped in a beautiful
veil, are arranged, exposed, and concealed according to a certain
calculation, measurement, and weight.”[85] Thus, allegory appeared to
him to belong to the essence of poetry. He could scarcely have imbibed
this opinion from Dante. In Spain, as well as in Italy and France, it
seems to have issued forth from the monkish cells, when endeavours
were made to unite poetry with philosophy, and to make the poetic art
the symbol of knowledge, in order to ensure to it estimation among
the learned. The allegorical spirit which pervades the half gothic
poetry of that period, is therefore inseparably connected with the
characteristic origin of modern poetry. The Marquis of Santillana
would have come to a totally different conclusion, had he taken an
unprejudiced view of the genuine national poetry of his country. But
he imagined he was laying down a principle which would ennoble it,
when, according to his theory, he held allegory to be indispensable.
Without scruple, therefore, he confounded the Castilian and Limosin
poetry together in one mass. Respecting the origin of the former, he
entered into no investigation. He commences the history of poetry with
Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, and Job,[86] gives a copious account
of the changes which the art of the Troubadours had undergone in
the Arragonian provinces, and adds a notice of some of the earliest
Galician and Portuguese poets: among the Castilian poets, he mentions
king Alphonso and some others, without saying a syllable on the subject
of the ancient romances.
JUAN DE MENA.
Juan de Mena, who is by some writers, styled the Spanish Ennius, ranks,
as a poet, in a somewhat higher scale than the Marquis of Santillana,
though he was less favoured by fortune, and was not distinguished
by so many various merits as the latter. He was born in Cordova,
about the year 1412. In this southern district of Spain, which but a
short time before had been recovered from the Moors, the Castilian
genius was doubtless very rapidly naturalized. Juan de Mena, though
not descended from a family of rank,[87] was not of mean origin, and
at the early age of three-and-twenty he was invested with a civil
appointment in his native city. His own inclination, however, prompted
him to devote himself to philosophy, and particularly to the study of
ancient literature and history. From Cordova he went to the University
of Salamanca. But in order more nearly to approach the source of
ancient literature, he undertook a journey to Rome, where he zealously
prosecuted his studies. Enriched with knowledge, he returned to his
native country, and immediately attracted the notice of the Marquis
of Santillana, and shortly after of king John. Both received him into
their literary circles with distinguished approbation. The Marquis of
Santillana attached himself with more friendship to Juan de Mena than
to any other poet who enjoyed the favour of the king, although their
political opinions did not always coincide. The king nominated him one
of the historiographers, who, according to the arrangement which had
subsisted since the time of Alphonso X. were appointed to continue the
national chronicles. Juan de Mena lived in high favour at the court of
John II. and was a constant adherent of the king. He died in 1456, at
Guadalaxara, in New Castile, being then about forty-five years of age.
The Marquis of Santillana erected a monument to his memory.
From the history of Juan de Mena’s life, it might be expected that his
endeavours to extend the boundaries of Castilian poetry would be made
under the influence of Italian taste, more or less of which he may be
presumed to have adopted, and on his return introduced into his native
country. But no Italian poet, save Dante, appears to have produced
any remarkable impression on him. Indeed, with the exception of Dante
and Petrarch, there was, at that period, no Italian poet of classic
consideration; and in the first half of the fifteenth century Italian
poetry suddenly declined. Sonnets were still in favour throughout the
whole of Italy, but Juan de Mena continued faithful to the old forms
of the Castilian poetry, perhaps from a feeling of national pride. He
certainly did not imitate the sonnet; and even from Dante himself, he
copied neither metrical form nor style. In allegory alone he followed
the footsteps of the Italian poet. His most celebrated poem is, the
Labyrinth, (_el Labyrintho_) or, the Three Hundred Stanzas (_las
trecientas_,) an allegorical historical didactic work, in old dactylic
verse (_versos de arte mayor_.[88]) Had the Labyrinth proved what,
according to the idea of the author, it was intended to be, it would
have been proper, merely on account of that single work, to commence
a new epoch of Spanish poetry with the reign of John II. But with all
its merits, which have been highly extolled by some authors, and which
are certainly by no means trivial, it can only be regarded as a mere
specimen of gothic art.[89] It belongs to the period which gave it
birth, and bears no traces of the superiority of a genius which might
have ruled the spirit of the age. Juan de Mena formed the grand design
of executing in this work an allegorical picture of the whole course
of human life. His intention was, to embrace every age, to immortalize
great virtues, to stigmatize with opprobrium great vices, and to
represent in striking colours the irresistible power of destiny.[90]
But the poetical invention of Juan de Mena was subordinate to his
false learning. The three hundred stanzas, of which the poem consists,
are divided into seven orders, (_ordenes_), in imitation of the seven
planets, the influence of which, according to Juan de Mena’s doctrine,
is wisely prescribed by Providence. To represent this influence
figuratively, Mena resorted to a most insipid and grotesque invention.
After invoking Apollo and Calliope, and earnestly apostrophising
Fortune,[91] he loses himself in imitation of Dante in an allegorical
world, where a female of astonishing beauty appears to him, and becomes
his guide. This female is Providence:[92] she conducts him to three
wheels, two of which are motionless, while the third is in a state
of continual movement. These wheels, it will readily be conjectured,
represent the past, the present, and the future. Human beings drop
down through this mill of time. The centre wheel turns them round.
Each has his name and destiny inscribed on his forehead. While the
wheel of the present is revolving with all the existing human race,
it is controlled astrologically in its motion by the seven orders or
circles of the seven planets under the influence of which men are born.
Whether or not these circles are perceptible on the wheel itself, is
not clearly stated. To this description succeeds, in the order of the
seven planets, a long gallery of mythological and historical pictures,
which presents abundant fruits of the poet’s extensive reading. This
grotesque composition is interspersed with individual passages of great
interest and beauty, though none of the traits call to mind similar
traits in Dante. The most glowing passages of the lyric, didactic, and
narrative class, are those in which Juan de Mena gives utterance to
the language of Spanish patriotism.[93] He is particularly successful
in the description of the death of the Count de Niebla, a Spanish
naval hero, who attempted to recover Gibraltar from the Moors; but
through ignorance of the return of the tide, fell a sacrifice to the
waves, because he preferred perishing with his men, to saving himself
singly.[94] But particular attention is bestowed on Don Alvaro de
Luna,[95] the favourite of the king, who is introduced in this poem
with great pomp, under the constellation of Saturn. When Juan de Mena
wrote this poem, and thus proclaimed the glory of de Luna, the latter
had not yet fallen, and the energy of his character seemed to promise,
as the poet prophesied, that he would ultimately triumph over all the
Castilian nobles who had excited the hostility of the country against
him. King John, as may naturally be supposed, is in Juan de Mena’s
Labyrinth complimented on every suitable occasion. A genealogy of the
kings of Spain forms the conclusion of the poem; and thus were the
Spaniards made to feel a kind of national interest for the whole work,
which in some measure subsists, at least among their writers at the
present day. Even in Juan de Mena’s time, the learned solecisms with
which he endeavoured to elevate his poetic language were uncommon;[96]
but other essential faults, such, for instance, as Aristotelian
definitions in verse, were then esteemed great beauties; and the gothic
and fantastic hyperboles in praise of king John, with which the poem
opens, as if intended to appal the reader at the outset, were not at
that period considered unpoetic.[97]
But king John was not satisfied with the torrent of praise which was
poured upon him by Mena’s Labyrinth. The king, with critical gravity,
signified his wish that the poet should add sixty-five stanzas to the
three hundred which he had already written, so that by making the
number of stanzas correspond with the number of days in the year,
the beauty of the composition might be heightened. The sixty-five
new stanzas were also to have a political tendency, with the view of
recalling the rebellious nobles to their allegiance. Juan de Mena
proceeded to the prescribed task; but he could produce no more than
twenty-four additional stanzas (_coplas añadidas_.) They are contained
in the _Cancionero general_.
Another work of Juan de Mena, very celebrated at the period when
the poet flourished, is his Ode for the Poetical Coronation of the
Marquis of Santillana.[98] That Mecænas sometimes vied with him in the
composition of ingenious questions, or enigmas and their answers,
which were versified by both in dactylic stanzas.[99] His other poems
are, for the most part, love songs, in the style of the age, and
according to the perverted taste of the poet, loaded with mythological
learning. In the course of this work further notice will be taken of
these songs, together with other amatory poems of the same period.
During the last year of his life, Juan de Mena was engaged in a moral
allegorical poem, which, however, he did not complete. It was entitled
a Treatise on Vices and Virtues, (_Tractado de Vicios y Virtudes_.)
The author intended in an epic poem to represent the “more than civil
war,” which the will, instigated by the passions, maintains with
reason.[100] The will and reason are in the end personified.
To collect biographical notices of the other poets and writers of verse
who enjoyed the favour of king John II. and whose works are partly
contained in the _Cancionero general_, or to give an extensive account
of their productions, is a task which must be resigned to the author
who has made this department of Spanish literature his particular
study. As to poetic value, the writings of all those authors are in the
main the same; and it may therefore be presumed that it will prove more
instructive to consider works so nearly related to each other, under
the comprehensive view of general criticism. A few notices, however,
of men worthy of more particular remembrance, may precede the critical
comparison of their works.[101]
PEREZ DE GUZMAN, RODRIGUEZ DEL PADRON, AND OTHER SPANISH LYRIC
POETS OF THE AGE OF JOHN II.
Fernan Perez de Guzman was held in no trifling consideration at the
court of John II. His family, which was one of the most distinguished
in Castile, was related to all the other great families in the
country. As a poet, he studied to combine the peculiar tone of moral
and spiritual poetry with that of the old romances. His Representation
of the Four Cardinal Virtues, dedicated to the Marquis of Santillana,
which consists of sixty-four strophes or couplets, is versified in
redondillas, as are also his _Ave Maria_, his _Paternoster_, and his
other spiritual songs.
Rodriguez del Padron seems likewise to have been held in some esteem
at the court of John II. His family name is not known, and as little
are the dates of his birth and death, but he is named after the
place of his nativity, the little town El Padron in Galicia. It is
remarkable that in his poetry he dropped his Galician idiom and
adopted the Castilian. Besides the reputation he obtained by his
poetic productions, which are chiefly love songs, he is celebrated
for his friendship with the Galician poet Macias, who will be further
mentioned in the history of Portuguese poetry. The tragical death of
Macias, who fell a sacrifice to his romantic susceptibility, made such
an impression on Rodriguez del Padron, that he shut himself up in a
Dominican cloister, which he had erected at his own expense. He became
a monk, and terminated his life in that convent.
Alonzo de Santa Maria, called also Alonzo de Cartagena, wrote love
songs, probably in his youth, and then devoted himself to spiritual
affairs. He died Archbishop of Burgos, in the year 1456.
Several other poets whose works fill the _Cancionero general_, also
lived in the reign, or rather under the anticipated domination of
queen Isabella, who, in the year 1465, vouchsafed to her almost
dethroned brother, Henry IV. the little authority, which, as a nominal
king he retained till his death in 1474. At this troubled period Garci
Sanchez de Badajoz sang his passionate and glowing songs of love; and
at the same time flourished the two Manriques, Gomez Manrique and
Jorge Manrique; the latter was nephew to the former. Both owed the
consideration they enjoyed no less to their poetical works than to
their high and pure Castilian descent. The Bachelor de la Torre, of
whom nothing further is known than what his own songs express, lived at
the same period.
OF THE CANCIONERO GENERAL, AND THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF ANCIENT SPANISH
SONGS.
Between the works of the above poets, all of which are to be found in
the _Cancionero general_, and the other poems contained in the same
collection, whether their authors lived in the first or the second half
of the fifteenth century, there is a very striking resemblance. This
collection, so remarkable in its kind, may therefore be regarded as a
single work, which, together with a portion of the General Romance Book
(_Romancero general_), embraces nearly all the Castilian poetry of the
fifteenth century. No other remains of Spanish poetry, belonging to
the same age, are sufficiently important to be brought into comparison
with this national treasure. It may not, then, be improper to introduce
here, a few particulars respecting the history of the _Cancionero
general_. Of the _Romancero general_ some further account must
hereafter be given.
The bibliographic notices towards the history of the collections of
Spanish poetry, to be found in the works of various authors, readily
explain why many old Spanish poems and names of poets have been
either totally lost, or are still only preserved in manuscript in a
way which renders them foreign to literature. It appears that having
been withheld from the press, on the introduction of printing into
Spain,[102] they were forgotten as soon as other collections were made
known by means of that art. In the reign of John II. Alphonso de Baena,
who himself wrote in verse, prepared a collection of old lyric pieces,
under the title of _Cancionero de Poetas Antiguos_. This collection,
though still preserved in the library of the Escurial, was never
printed;[103] but a list of the poets whose works are contained in it,
has appeared, and includes names which do not occur elsewhere. Alvarez
de Villapandino is mentioned as a particularly excellent “master and
patron of the said art,” namely, poetry. Sanchez Salavera, Ruy Paez
de Ribera, and others, of whom besides their names, nothing else is
known, are also cited. It is not very probable that Alphonso de Baena’s
collection was the origin of that which subsequently appeared under
the title of the _Cancionero general_. Of this celebrated collection
it is merely known that it was originally produced by Fernando del
Castillo, at the commencement of the sixteenth century, and within a
short period frequently augmented and reprinted. Fernando del Castillo
began his collection with the poets of the age of John II. He did not,
however, take the trouble to carry on the series in chronological order
through the fifteenth century. He places the spiritual poems before
the rest. He then gives the works of several poets of the reign of
John II. mingled with others of more recent date, but so arranged,
that the productions of each author seem to be kept distinct. After,
however, the works are thus apparently given, other poems follow under
particular heads, partly by the same and partly by different authors,
whose names are sometimes mentioned and sometimes not: there are also
a few Italian sonnets, and some coplas in the Valencian language.
In proportion as the collection extended, the additions were always
inserted at the end of the book. In the oldest editions the number of
poets mentioned amounts to one hundred and thirty-six.[104]
A nation which can enumerate one hundred and thirty-six song writers
in a single century, and which also possesses a great number of songs
by unknown authors, produced within the same period, may well boast of
its lyric genius; and the literary historian, before he proceeds to
a closer review of this collection, may reasonably expect to find in
it a full and true representation of the national character. Thus the
old Spanish _Cancionero_ is even more interesting to the philosophic
observer of human nature than to the critic.
The Spiritual Songs, (_Obras de Devocion_,) at the head of the
collection, probably will not fulfil the expectations which may be
formed respecting them. It is natural to presume that in a nation so
poetically inclined, and in an age when, for the most part, nature was
followed without reference to the rules of art, the poets could not
fail to view Christianity on its poetic side. But the scholastic forms
of the existing theology crushed the genius of poetry; and the unpoetic
side of Christianity, because it was the most learned, was alone deemed
worthy the strains of the Spanish poets of the fifteenth century. They
likewise seldom ventured to give scope to the fancy in devotional
verses, because the nation was accustomed to the most implicit faith
in every dogma of the church, and the recognition of the sacredness
of literal interpretation was identified with orthodoxy, long before
the terrors of the inquisition and its burning piles were known. This
rigid orthodoxy of the Spanish Christians was a consequence of their
war of five hundred years duration with the Moors. Throughout that
long period the Spanish knight invariably fought for religion and
his country; and from the constant hostility that prevailed between
the Christian and Mahometan faiths, the Spanish Christians were wont
to make a parade of their creed, as the Christians of the east are
accustomed to do at the present day. Hence the strictest formality
was observed in all matters connected with religion; and great as was
the enthusiasm of the Spaniards in the fifteenth century, it produced
few, if any, lyric compositions, containing more poetry than a common
hymn. Whether reference be made to the Twenty Perfections of the
Holy Virgin,[105] (_Obra en loor de veinte excellencias de nuestra
Señora_), by Juan Tulante, who is the author of most of the spiritual
songs in the _Cancionero general_; to the play on the five letters
of the name _Maria_,[106] by the Visconde de Altamira; or to Fernan
Perez de Guzman’s versions of the _Ave Maria_ and _Paternoster_,[107]
which could not have been more dryly and formally written in prose;
we find in all the same monotony without any poetic adaptation of the
materials.
The moral poems of this collection do not weigh heavier in the scale
of poetic merit. The art which the ancients possessed of introducing
moral ideas into the region of poetry, was not attainable by the
pupils of the monastic schools. They allegorized either virtues or
vices according to the catalogue and definitions of the scholastic
philosophy; or they made common place observations on human life,
sometimes with declamatory pomp, sometimes with real warmth of feeling,
and occasionally in agreeable verse, though destitute of any poetic
spirit. Gomez Manrique with commendable frankness addressed a didactic
poem on the Duties of Sovereigns (_Regimiento de Principes_) in
redondillas, to Queen Isabella and her husband Ferdinand of Arragon;
but however valuable the truths which he wished to impart to the
royal pair, he could only express them in versified prose.[108] The
moral coplas of his nephew Jorge Manrique present somewhat stronger
claims to poetic merit; they were subsequently glossed as a National
Book of Devotion, and were held in high estimation up to a recent
period.[109] In the moral as well as in the spiritual songs the
character of the nation is manifest. With equal warmth of feeling, with
the same disposition for light and sportive gaiety, the Spaniards were
invariably distinguished from the Italians by moral gravity. Hence,
they have in all times set a high value on rules of conduct, sentences,
and useful proverbs, and have never regarded the principles of genuine
rectitude as less important than maxims of worldly wisdom.
But love songs form by far the principal part of the contents of the
old Spanish _Cancioneros_. To read them regularly through, would
require a strong passion for compositions of this class, for the
monotony of the authors is interminable. To extend and spin out a theme
as long as possible, though only to seize a new modification of the
old ideas or phrases, was, in their opinion, essential to the truth
and sincerity of their poetic effusions of the heart. That loquacity
which is an hereditary fault of the Italian Canzone, must also be
endured in perusing the amatory flights of the Spanish redondillas,
while in them the Italian correctness of expression would be looked
for in vain. From the desire perhaps of relieving their monotony, by
some sort of variety the authors have indulged in even more witticisms
and plays of words than the Italians, but they also sought to infuse
a more emphatic spirit into their compositions than the latter.[110]
The Spanish poems of this class, exhibit, in general, all the poverty
of the compositions of the Troubadours, but blend with the simplicity
of these bards, the pomp of the Spanish national style in its utmost
vigour. This resemblance to the Troubadour songs was not however
produced by imitation; it arose out of the spirit of romantic love,
which at that period, and for several preceding centuries, gave to
the south of Europe the same feelings and taste. Since the age of
Petrarch, this spirit had appeared in classical perfection in Italy.
But the Spanish amatory poets of the fifteenth century had not reached
an equal degree of cultivation; and the whole turn of their ideas
required rather a passionate than a tender expression. The sighs of the
languishing Italians became cries in Spain. Glowing passion, despair
and violent ecstacy, were the soul of the Spanish love songs. The
continually recurring picture of the contest between reason and passion
is a peculiar characteristic of these songs. The Italian poets did not
place so much importance on the triumph of reason. The rigidly moral
Spaniard was, however, anxious to be wise even in the midst of his
folly. But this obtrusion of wisdom in its improper place, frequently
gives an unpoetic harshness to the lyric poetry of Spain, in spite of
all the softness of its melody. It would be no unprofitable or useless
task to pursue this comparison still further. But the limited extent of
this work can afford space for only a few notices and examples.
How successful the Spanish poets of the fifteenth century were in
gay and graceful love songs, when guided only by their own feelings,
is manifest from some of the compositions of Juan de Mena; but the
charm vanishes the instant the poet begins to display his skill
and erudition.[111] In a love song by Diego Lopez de Haro, reason
and the mind enter into a prolix conversation on the value to be
attached to affections of the heart; and the thinking faculty admits
reason at the expense of poetry.[112] In the other songs of the
same author, in which the mind obeys only the heart, he is poetic in
all the simplicity of passion, though in search of wit he sometimes
involves himself in obscure subtilties.[113] The fire of passion is
excellently painted, even amidst sports of wit,[114] in several
songs by Alonzo de Cartagena, afterwards archbishop of Burgos; and it
seems to rage incessantly in the love songs of Guivara, to one of
which he has given the emphatic title of _El Infierno de Amores_; or,
The Hell of Love.[115] Sanchez de Badajoz, when, like a despairing
lover, he wrote his will in poetry, thought he might avail himself
of some passages from the book of Job to express his suffering. He
divided this strange kind of will into nine lessons, (_leciones_).
The ideas are very extravagant, but the execution is vigorous, and
in many parts not unpoetic.[116] It might be presumed that profane
applications of the doctrines and language of the bible would have
given offence to the Spanish public, or at least alarmed the guardians
of catholic orthodoxy. But such was not the case. Rodriguez del Padron
chose the Seven Joys of Love as the subject of one of his songs, the
title of which calls to mind the Marquis of Santillana’s Joys of the
Holy Virgin; he also versified Love’s Ten Commandments, (_Los diez
Madamientos de Amor_.)
The other kinds of lyric poems, for example, the laudatory poems, which
are dispersed through the _Cancionero general_, are not distinguished
by any peculiar features; but the poems under miscellaneous titles in
this collection deserve particular attention. They exhibit the natural
style, amalgamated with a conventional, and thus form the model of a
species of national poetry, which has descended to the present age.
Certain short lyric poems, usually called songs, (_canciones_,) in
the more strict sense of the term are distinguished by a peculiar
character and a decided metrical form. They have always a sententious
or an epigramatic turn. The number of lines is generally twelve, which
are divided into two parts. The first four lines comprehend the idea
on which the song is founded. And this idea is developed or applied
in the eight following lines. The _Cancionero general_ contains one
hundred and fifty-six of these little songs, some of which are the best
poems in the whole book. For this advantage they are probably indebted
to their conventional form, which confined the romantic verbosity
within narrow bounds. These little songs were to the Spaniards of the
fifteenth century, what the epigram had been to the Greeks, and what
the madrigal was to the Italians and French. Like the latter, they
are generally devoted to some theme of gallantry; and though they do
not possess so high a polish, yet the interest excited by the truth
with which they paint the character of the age, and their ingenious
simplicity, entitles them to be ranked among the sweetest blossoms of
the ancient spirit of romance.[117]
The Villancicos bear an immediate affinity to these little songs. The
idea which forms the subject of the Villancico, is sometimes contained
in two, but more commonly in three lines. The developement, or
application, may be completed in one short stanza, but often extends to
several similar stanzas. These stanzas always include seven lines. It
was, perhaps, by way of irony that the name Villancico was originally
applied to productions of this kind; for the spiritual motets,
which are sung during high mass on Christmas eve, are also called
Villancicos. At least no satisfactory etymology has yet been found for
the name. The _Cancionero general_ contains fifty-four Villancicos, and
among them are some which possess inimitable grace and delicacy.[118]
These remarkable compositions, whose origin appears to be lost in the
early periods of the formation of the Spanish language, doubtless gave
rise to the poetic gloss (_glosa_,) a kind of poem scarcely known, even
by name, on this side of the Pyrenees, but to which the Spaniards and
Portuguese of the fifteenth century were particularly attached, and
which subsequently even after the introduction of the Italian forms,
continued to be preserved as national poetry in Spain and Portugal.
The poetic glosses may, in some measure, be compared to musical
variations. The musician selects as his theme some well known melody,
which he paraphrases or modifies into variations; in like manner in
Spain and Portugal, well known songs and romances were paraphrased or
modified into new productions, but in such a manner that the original
composition was, without any alteration in the words, intertwined line
after line, at certain intervals into the new one. A poem of this kind
was called a gloss. By this operation the connection of the glossed
poem was broken, and the comparison of the poetic glosses to musical
variations is therefore not in all respects exactly just. But the
distinction between them arises out of the different nature of the
arts of music and poetry; and it is indeed more surprising that these
compositions have not flourished beyond the boundaries of Spain and
Portugal, than that they should have been peculiar favourites in those
two countries. At first, the old romances were glossed;[119] then, as
it appears, mottos, or sentiments, (_motes_,) in the style of gallantry
peculiar to the age,[120] and, at length, every thing that was capable
of being glossed. There is a particular class of _jeux d’esprit_, in
the _Cancionero general_, namely, versified questions and answers,
and versified interpretations of devices (_letras_,) which, together
with corresponding emblems, lords and ladies drew by lot at festivals,
tourneys, bull fights, &c. But these questions, answers, and devices,
are in general more whimsical than ingenious.
OF THE ROMANCERO GENERAL.
The latter half of the fifteenth century seems also to have given birth
to the greater portion of those Spanish romances, which wrested the
approbation of criticism and public favour from the older productions
of the same class; and which, therefore, in the sequel, formed the bulk
of the _Romancero general_, or General Romance Book. This Romancero
of the Spaniards is so closely related to their _Cancionero general_,
that some account of it may not be out of place here, though it was
not printed as a complete collection until the close of the sixteenth
century. With the exception of the narrative romances, the Romancero
may be considered merely as a continuation of the Cancionero. The
poetry of the lyric pieces contained in it, which are extremely
numerous, is both in spirit and metrical form, precisely the same as
that which appears in the Cancionero, but more polished in manner and
language. The title of romance indicates no essential difference. The
narrative romances, which occupy the greater portion of the Romancero,
have, in some measure, been characterized in this history in treating
of the old romances of the same class; for most of them, particularly
those of the historical kind, differ little from the more ancient.
But a considerable portion of compositions of every class have been
contributed to the Romancero by poets of the sixteenth century. The
collectors have mingled these romances and the older ones together,
without any attention to critical arrangement or chronological order;
and in no instance is there any mention or indication of an author.
In a history of literature, it therefore becomes necessary to speak
of the Romancero as a whole; and for this purpose, the present is
perhaps the most convenient opportunity; for, even at the period when
this collection was produced, the poets who wrote romances in the old
national style, merely improved that style without essentially altering
it.
Among the historical romances, contained in the Romancero, those
in which anecdotes of the Moorish war, or the heroic and gallant
adventures of Moorish knights, are poetically treated, seem, for the
most part, to belong to the latter half of the fifteenth century. All
these romances relate to the civil wars of Granada, the last Moorish
principality in Spain. The civil dissensions of Castile retarded for
upwards of half a century the conquest of Granada, which was at length
effected in the year 1492, by the united power of Isabella of Castile
and Ferdinand of Arragon. During this last period of the conflict
between the Christians and the Mahometans of Spain, the former became
more intimately acquainted with the history of the latter. As the last
blow for the deliverance of the Peninsula was now about to be struck,
all that related to the Moors was doubly interesting to the Castilians.
The two rival factions, the Zegris and the Abencerrages, whose mutual
enmity accelerated the fall of Granada, were, in a particular manner,
the objects of their adversaries attention.
About this period it seems to have become a fashion among the Spanish
romance writers, to select from the events of Moorish history,
materials for their songs; and in these romances the heroes of the
Zegri and Abencerrage tribes sustain the principal characters. Even
after the conquest of Granada, the interest excited throughout Spain
by that great national event, still continued; and, doubtless, many
romances, the subjects of which are borrowed from Moorish history, were
produced in the sixteenth century.[121]
The first Spanish pastoral romances, were probably produced during the
last ten years of the fifteenth century. But no distinct traces exist
of the rise of this species of poetry in Spain. In the poetry of the
age of John II. neither pastoral names nor ideas appear, except in the
satyrical poem, entitled, _Mingo Rebulgo_, which will be hereafter
noticed. Pastoral dramas are, however, to be found in the works of
Juan de la Enzina, who flourished towards the close of the fifteenth
century, and of whom we shall also have occasion to speak more at
large. The Spanish pastoral poetry seems, shortly after its rise, to
have been blended with the romantic poetry. Many of the most beautiful
narrative pieces in the _Romancero general_ are properly pastoral
romances. It is quite impossible to ascertain correctly to what age
these bucolicks belong;[122] and it has, hitherto, proved equally
impossible to obtain any positive information respecting the origin of
the facetious and satyrical romances and songs, dispersed through the
_Romancero general_.[123]
Finally, the history of the _Romancero general_ itself still waits for
bibliographic illustration; and in order to throw any light on this
subject, it would be necessary to have the opportunity of examining
the Spanish libraries and old collections of manuscripts, and to be
able to bestow on them the most indefatigable attention. Of all the
collections, bearing the common title of _Romancero general_, only
two are quoted by authors; one was edited by Miguel de Madrigal, in
the year 1604; and the other by Pedro de Flores in 1614.[124] Another
publication, however, under the same title, which also appeared in
1604, and which contains upwards of a thousand romances and songs,
professes to be a new and augmented collection of this kind.[125] At
what time, then, was the first collection made or published?
Those, however, who may think it unimportant to enquire how many of
these anonymous poems, which have for ages delighted the Spanish
public, were produced in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, and who
may merely wish to see a selection of the best Spanish poems in the
old national style, have only to turn to the _Romancero general_.
Many of the narrative romances which it contains, vie, in romantic
simplicity, with those of apparently older date in other collections,
and exceed them in elegance; and still more do a number of the songs
in the _Romancero_ surpass those in the _Cancionero general_. Thus the
historian of literature has additional cause to lament that through
the absence of all chronological and bibliographical notices, he is
deprived of even the slight satisfaction of paying a just tribute to
the memory of the authors of the best of these romances and songs,
which really deserve to be immortal. The poets themselves, it is
true, do not seem to have attached much value to fame. If their
songs, accompanied by the guitar, interested the hearts and charmed
the ears of their auditors, they sought no laurels in addition to
that true reward of the poet. Yet, for this very reason, in an age
when the lowest degree of poetic merit presumptuously claims literary
distinction, the task would be the more pleasing to do honour to those
venerable authors, by raising the veil beneath which their names have
too long been concealed.
FIRST TRACES OF THE ORIGIN OF SPANISH DRAMATIC POETRY IN THE
MINGO REBULGO--JUAN DEL ENZINA--CALLISTUS AND MELIBŒA, A DRAMATIC
TALE.
All that now remains to be stated respecting the poetic literature of
the Spaniards during the fifteenth century, must be comprehended in a
notice of their first essays in dramatic poetry.
In lieu of those poetic works which are styled dramatic in the true
sense of the word, and which afterwards formed the most brilliant
portion of Spanish poetry, the Spaniards of the fifteenth century
possessed merely spiritual or temporal farces, written in the style
which prevailed in the middle ages, and which can scarcely be said
to belong to literature. At Saragossa, the residence of the Court of
Arragon, attempts towards the improvement of dramatic amusements were
earlier made than in the Castilian court. There, as has already been
observed, the Marquis de Villena devoted his learning and inventive
talents to the drama. Allegorical dramas, indeed, do not seem to have
been in favour at the court of Castile, notwithstanding the taste for
allegory which distinguished the poets of the reign of John II. A
singular union of pastoral and satirical poetry first gave birth to a
species of dramatic poem in the Castilian language.
In the reign of John II. an anonymous poet amused himself by describing
the court of that monarch in satirical coplas. It is impossible to
account for the whim which induced him to throw his rhymes into the
form of a dialogue, and to select shepherds for his interlocutors.
The work extends to thirty-two coplas, and critics have sometimes
classed it among the eclogues, and sometimes among the first satirical
productions of the Spanish poets. Some make Rodrigo de Cota the author
of these coplas; and others, who ascribe them to Juan de Mena, seem to
forget that the latter was zealously devoted to the court party. This
singular composition is usually mentioned under the title of Mingo
Rebulgo, from the names of the two shepherds who carry on the dialogue.
Supposing pastoral poetry to have been in vogue at that period in
Spain, and particularly at the court of John II. it would be easy to
explain how a witty author might conceive the bold idea of converting a
pastoral dialogue into a satire; but in that case the ideas of a poetic
pastoral existence must have been diffused through Spain, as they were
through Italy. It is probable, however, that in both countries the
revived study of classical literature, and particularly of Virgil’s
eclogues, gave rise to the practice of clothing modern ideas in a garb
imitated from the ancient bucolic poetry; and it seems the effect of
mere accident that a Spaniard should have been the first to devote a
work of this kind to the purposes of satire.[126]
Doubtless neither the eclogue of Mingo Rebulgo, nor the colloquial
stanzas in the _Cancionero_ can properly be regarded as the
commencement of dramatic poetry in Spain. But all these preliminary
essays in dialogue, are in a literary point of view connected together;
and about the close of the fifteenth century, pastoral dialogues were
converted into real dramas, by a musical composer, named Juan de la
Enzina, or del Enzina, as he is styled in the old collections of his
works. This ingenious man who was born in Salamanca during the reign of
Queen Isabella, though in what year is not precisely known, was equally
celebrated as a poet and musician. He travelled to Jerusalem in company
with the Marquis de Tarifa, and this journey could not fail to store
his mind with many new ideas. He lived for some time at Rome in the
quality of chapel-master, or musical director to Pope Leo; who, it is
well known, afforded great encouragement to dramatic amusements. But
at Rome, as well as in Palestine, Juan de la Enzina still remained a
Spaniard. His poetry imbibed no tincture of the Italian taste, and he
continued to write songs and lyric romances in the old Castilian style.
He also exercised his fancy in making jests, consisting of ridiculous
combinations or heterogeneous conceits, called _disparates_, which he
wrote in the form of romances. For instance, he talks with an absurd
but harmless humour of a “cloud which at night, at day break in the
afternoon arrived from a pilgrimage, having in its train a domestic
utensil which appeared in _pontificalibus_,” &c.[127] These oddities
rendered his name a proverb in Spain. He converted Virgil’s eclogues
into romances, in which he displayed singular simplicity, and applied
to his patrons, Ferdinand and Isabella, the duke and duchess of Alba,
and others, the compliments which Virgil addressed to the emperor
Augustus. Accident had introduced into Spain a mixture of pastoral
poetry with the drama, and Juan de la Enzina wrote sacred and profane
eclogues, in the form of dialogues, which were represented before
distinguished audiences on Christmas eve, during the carnival, and on
other festivals. They are, however, entirely lost to literature.[128]
The dramatic romance of _Callistus_ and _Melibœa_ is, however, more
celebrated than Juan de la Enzina’s eclogues. It was probably
commenced in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella; though some authors
assign this singular production of popular descriptive talent and well
meant plainness to the age of John II. The author is supposed to be
Rodrigo de Cota, to whom the pastoral dialogue of Mingo Rebulgo is also
attributed. This dramatic romance was continued and completed at the
commencement of the fifteenth century by Fernando de Roxas, who has
recorded his own name in the initials of the introductory stanzas.[129]
Fernando de Roxas did not possess the forcible descriptive powers of
the unknown author, though he appears to have fully entered into the
plan traced out by the latter. Either he or his precursor entitled the
work a tragi-comedy. It consists of twenty-one acts, and consequently
its vast length renders it unfit for theatrical representation. This
production may be regarded as original in a certain sense, for there
existed no work of the same kind which the author could have chosen
as his model. But in a higher and truly critical point of view,
it possesses as little originality as real poetic merit. Natural
description and moral precept seem to have formed the great object
of both authors. They both aimed at exhibiting a series of dramatic
lessons to warn youth against the seductive arts of base agents
employed to promote intrigues. In order to attain this moral end, the
authors deemed it necessary to paint in glowing colours the disgusting
picture of a brothel, and through a series of scenes unconnected by
the unities of time or place, to exhibit in the most striking point
of view, the tragical end of an intrigue conducted by a woman of
infamous character. Owing to its moral object, the book has found
admirers in all ages, though many have not unreasonably conceived
it more advisable to withdraw such scenes of vice from the eye of
youth, than to paint them with the minuteness and vivid colouring of
truth. But, even allowing that an inconsiderate young person may have
occasionally been deterred from an intrigue by the sad history of
Callistus and Melibœa, yet the whole dramatic tale, both in the subject
and execution, is nevertheless revolting to good taste. The story is
as follows:--Callistus, a young man of noble family, entertains a
romantic passion for Melibœa. The young lady is also attached to him;
but her own prudence, as well as the strict observation to which she
is subject in the house of her parents, prevents all communication
between the lovers. In this difficulty, Callistus applies to an artful
and abandoned woman, to whom the author has given the elegant name
of Celestina. She easily devises a pretence for insinuating herself
into the house of Melibœa’s parents, where she succeeds in bribing the
servants. The intrigue then proceeds in the most common manner, though
the author thinks it necessary to call in the aid of witchcraft and
magic. Callistus at length attains his object, and Melibœa’s parents
discover the mischief when it is too late. Murder is committed among
the servants of Melibœa; Celestina’s house likewise becomes the scene
of bloodshed; the profligate woman is herself murdered in the most
horrible manner imaginable; Callistus is assassinated, and Melibœa
closes the tragedy by throwing herself from the top of a lofty tower.
Such is the ground-work of the twenty-one acts of this tragi-comedy.
It must be admitted, that the authors appear to have wished to paint
the scenes in the house of Celestina in as decorous a manner as
the nature of the subject would permit. The profligate personages,
particularly Celestina, are drawn with great truth; and in the list of
the characters their description is unreservedly added to their names.
The first act, which is by the unknown author, is distinguished above
the rest for the easy flow of the dialogue.[130] Considered in this
point of view alone, the work is extremely interesting. It affords a
fair proof that the fluent and natural style of conversation which the
dramatic poets of the north did not attain, until after much labour
and repeated failures, arose spontaneously in Spain, on the first
attempt made by a writer of talent to make dramatic characters speak
in prose.[131] This tragi-comedy, as it is styled, has, however, but
little relation to poetry.[132]
FURTHER ACCOUNT OF SPANISH PROSE.
RISE OF THE HISTORICAL ART--EARLY PROGRESS OF THE EPISTOLARY STYLE.
In a history of Spanish prose of the fifteenth century, it would be
improper to omit a brief notice of the chronicles, which, in Spain, at
this period, were not written by monks, as in other parts of Europe,
but by knights, many of whom were at the same time poets. The custom
instituted by Alphonso X. of appointing historiographers to record
the most remarkable events of national history, was maintained by his
successors throughout the fourteenth century; and, in addition to
those historians, who were regularly appointed and paid, there arose
others in the fifteenth century, who wrote of their own accord from the
love of fame, or for the sake of doing honour to the parties to which
they were respectively attached. Historians were never held in such
high estimation in modern Europe as they were at this time in Castile.
But notwithstanding the fortunate circumstances which combined to
revive the taste for historical composition in Spain, the noble
authors of the Spanish chronicles in very few instances rose above
the vulgar chronicle style. They faithfully adhered to the language
of the historical books of the bible. In nothing is their poetic
talent disclosed, except in a better choice of expression, than is
to be found in the common chronicles, which were in general written
by monks. Spirited and adequate historical description was totally
unknown to them. They all wrote in nearly the same manner. Facts
were heaped on facts, in long monotonous sentences, which uniformly
commenced with the conjunction _and_. Occasionally, indeed, the writers
of these chronicles seem to have made attempts to imitate the ancient
historians; for at every favourable opportunity little speeches are
put into the mouths of the characters they record; but these speeches
are given either in the language of scripture or the law. Thus wrote
the illustrious Perez de Guzman, who was celebrated among the poets of
his age; and thus wrote the grand Chancellor of Castile, Pedro Lopez
de Ayala, who is better known than the former as an historian, in
consequence of having compiled from ancient chronicles a connected
history of the kings of Castile of the fourteenth century.[133]
An agreeable surprise is, however, excited in discovering among these
chronicles some biographical works, one of which was probably written
in the last years of the fourteenth century, and another, doubtless,
belongs to the fifteenth. These two productions deserve to be noticed,
but in a rhetorical point of view neither can be very highly estimated.
The first is the history of Count Pedro Niño de Buelna, one of the
bravest knights of the reign of Henry III. The author is Gutierre Diez
de Games, who was the Count’s standard-bearer.[134] The gothic taste
of the age, it must be confessed, is sufficiently apparent in this
history. The chivalrous author begins by apostrophizing the Trinity
and the Holy Virgin. He then reasons methodically on virtue and vice,
according to the scholastic notions of morality. It is, however,
easy to perceive that the author has taken great pains to avoid the
dry chronicle style. He evidently wished to give to the history of
his hero the interest of a romance. He did not, therefore, confine
himself very scrupulously to historical truth, and he has even blended
fabulous stories in his narrative. But on the other hand he paints
real events with a degree of spirit of which no example is to be found
in the chronicles; and some of his descriptions are so remarkable for
precision, and accuracy of expression, that they might be mistaken for
the production of a modern writer, if the simplicity of the ideas did
not betray the age to which the chivalrous author belonged.[135]
The second of these biographical works is the history of Count Alvaro
de Luna. The author, whose name is not known, appears to have been
in the Count’s service, and to have taken up the pen soon after the
execution of that extraordinary man, to raise a monument to his memory
in defiance of his enemies.[136] The work is in fact an apology, in
which the enthusiasm of the anonymous author for his hero carries him
beyond the bounds of historical calmness and of impartiality. But
this very enthusiasm gives the work a degree of rhetorical interest,
which is wanting in the chronicles. Alvaro de Luna is regarded by his
apologist in his real character; namely, as the greatest, if not the
most disinterested man of his age in Spain: and it was the author’s
intention that the animated picture he drew should mortify and shame
the powerful party which overthrew his hero. His zeal frequently
betrays him into declamatory pomp. But what other Spanish writer
of that age could declaim with so much eloquence.[137] He is not,
however, always declamatory. His introduction, notwithstanding the
high elevation of the ideas, possesses real dignity of expression,
combined with the true harmony of prose.[138] His apostrophe to truth
at the close of this introduction, is a genuine overflowing of the
heart.[139] It is true that the narrative itself somewhat inclines to
the manner of the chronicles; but the spirit which pervades the whole
work is perceptible even in the style which, considered with reference
to the period in which it was written, is remarkable for precision and
facility.[140] In short, this biographical chronicle, estimated by
its rhetorical merit, has, in spite of all its gothic ornaments and
declamatory excrescences, no parallel among the chronicles of the age
to which it belongs.
_Los Claros Varones_, the Celebrated Men, is a work which claims
particular attention. The author is Fernando del Pulgar, who filled
the office of historiographer in the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand.
This ingenious man was ambitious to be thought the Plutarch of his
nation. In his twenty-six short biographical sketches, he has, however,
confined himself within limits too narrow to effect all that he was
capable of; but the precision of his descriptions, and the purity
of his style, are nevertheless remarkable for the age in which he
flourished.[141]
Fernando del Pulgar is also the oldest Castilian author in the
epistolary style; and upon the whole he may be regarded as the first,
who, in the character of a statesman and public functionary, formed
his correspondence in a modern language on the model of Cicero and
Pliny.[142]
Those who have time and opportunity to peruse Spanish manuscripts of
the fifteenth century, will doubtless find many more documents to prove
the high degree of cultivation which Spanish prose had attained at that
period. In spite of the lofty poetic flight which then characterized
the genius of Spain, and the powerful charm of the poetic prose of the
chivalrous romances, the national gravity of the Spaniards, when their
minds were directed, not to sports of the imagination, but to things,
made them incline to what may be termed the style of affairs, in
the same degree as the genius of the Italians, which attached itself
exclusively to beautiful forms, had been accustomed to manifest an
indifference for true prose. The philosophic writings of Aristotle
were, in the same age, translated into Spanish by a scholar, whose
name, as well as his work, have fallen into oblivion.[143]
JUAN DE LA ENZINA’S ART OF CASTILIAN POETRY.
The literature of this period possesses, however, not the slightest
trace of true criticism. Though the poetical and rhetorical rules of
Aristotle were known to a few scholars, they were of little utility
to writers who either applied them erroneously, or considered them
impracticable. Of the state of poetry in Spain, during the reign
of Ferdinand and Isabella, a correct notion may be formed from a
Treatise on Castilian Poetry, (_Arte de Poesia Castellana_,) by Juan
de la Enzina. In this work, addressed to the Prince Royal of Spain,
the author wished to prove that he thoroughly understood the art on
which he wrote, and that he was not an unskilful Troubadour.[144] The
commencement of the treatise might teach the reader to expect some
profound investigation. Juan de la Enzina observes, “that poetry is so
excellent an art, that it merits the particular favour of princes and
nobles”, who being reared “in the bosom of sweet philosophy,”[145]
know how to unite the virtues both of peace and war; it was therefore,
he continues, his intention to write a theory (_arte_) of Castilian
poetry, which might facilitate the distinction between good and bad.
He treats of the origin of poetry among the ancients and among the
Italians, and marks the difference between a poet and a Troubadour. The
former, he says, is, with respect to the latter, “what a composer or
learned musician is to a singer or musical performer, a geometrician to
a mason, or a captain to a private soldier.”[146] After all these high
promises, Juan de la Enzina merely gives an Essay on Castilian prosody
in a few chapters. Such is his art of poetry.
* * * * *
Thus did Castilian poetry and eloquence develope itself in the
ancient national forms, during the first centuries that succeeded its
birth, without any superior genius having either raised it to higher
perfection, or enlarged its boundaries. Like the _Gaya Ciencia_ of
the Troubadours, it was a common property, protected by a literary
democracy, which allowed no despotic genius to encroach upon its
rights. It is difficult to imagine what might have been the fate of
Castilian poetry, had not a new political connection formed between
Spain and Italy, at the commencement of the sixteenth century, suddenly
brought the Spanish nation, as it were in mass, in contact with the
Italians. At all events, the Spaniards must, in the progress of
cultivation, have ceased to be satisfied with the poetry of their old
songs and romances, on their literary taste becoming in any way more
refined.