Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Partición de los reinos in the Crónica de veinte reyes

1984; Liverpool University Press; Volume: 61; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/1475382842000361459

1469-3550

Brian Powell,

Galician and Iberian cultural studies

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeBSS Subject Index: ALFONSO X, KING OF CASTILE & LEÓN [ALFONSO EL SABIO] (1221–1284)CHRONICLESCRÓNICA DE LOS REYES DE CASTILLAPARTICIÓN DE LOS REINOSPRIMERA CRÓNICA GENERAL [ALFONSO X et al.] Notes 1. The planned Estoria de España was never completed by Alfonso X, but a series of chronicles stems from preparatory work done by teams working on behalf of Alfonso. The PCG, CVR and CRC are the first chronicles of that series, which is continued by the Crónica de 1344 and the Tercera crónica general. See Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Crónicas generales de España, 1st edn (Madrid: Biblioteca del Palacio Real, 1898), 3rd edn (Madrid: Biblioteca del Palacio Real, 1918); Luis Felipe Lindley Cintra, Crónica geral de Espanha de 1344, 3 vols (Lisbon: Academia Portuguesa da História, 1951–61), I; Diego Catalán Menéndez Pidal, De Alfonso X al conde de Barcelos (Madrid: Gredos, 1962). 2. The Chronicon Mundi oí Lucas, El Tudense, Bishop of Tuy, ed. Andreas Schottus, Hispaniae Illustratae, 4 vols (Frankfurt: C. Marnium et haeredes Ioannis Audrij, 1603–08), IV, 1–116, at 96–97, and the De Rebus Hispaniae of Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada, El Toledano, Archbishop of Toledo, ed. Schottus, Hispaniae Illustratae, II,25–148, at 99–100. 3. The Partición is ed. R. Menéndez Pidal, Reliquias de la poesía épica española (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1951), 240–56, to which future references are given by page numbers only. Since the publication of Cintra, Crónica geral, it has been accepted that the Crónica de 1344 used the CVR as its source for episodes found in the Partición. Later texts such as the Crónica popular del Cid (Toledo: Miguel de Eguía, 1526; reprinted in facsimile, New York: Hispanic Society of America, 1903 and New York: Kraus, 1967), derive from the Crónica de 1344. 4. PCG, ed. R. Menéndez Pidal, 2 vols, 2nd edn (Madrid: Gredos, 1955), to which references are made. The 3rd edn, by Catalán (Madrid: Gredos, 1977), is the same as the 2nd, but with Pidal's introductory study placed at the end of the text. This part of PCG, II, can be dated to c. 1289, although the second volume as a whole is a later compilation. See Catalán, De Alfonso X, 17–203; Menéndez Pidal, PCG, I, XV–XXXV. Alfonso X died in 1284, when the Estoria was far from complete, so that 1289 is relatively soon after his death. 5. The Cronica del famoso cavallero Cid Ruydiez campeador, ed. Juan Velorado (Burgos: Fadrique Alemán de Basilea, 1512), known as the Crónica particular del Cid, facsimile edn (New York: Kraus, 1967), is a transcription of part of one MS of the CRC, Esp. 326 of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and provides a good text of the CRC, to which references will be made. See Catalán, De Alfonso X, 326, Note 19. The earliest MS of the CRC, MS 8817 of the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, is ed. by Ramón Lorenzo, in La traducción gallega de la Crónica general y de la Crónica de Castilla, 2 vols (Orense: Instituto de Estudios Orensanos ‘Padre Feijóo’, 1975–77), I,3–903. For its date (1295–1312), see Cintra, Crónica geral, I, CCCXXX, and Catalán, De Alfonso X, 323–55. 6. In comparison, Ms 8817 of the CRC includes: ‘mandouse levar a Sancta Maria d'Almàçone en romaria […] levarõno a Cabeçõ […] chegou y seu fillo, o bõo abbade dõ Fernando […] chamou o cardeal dõ Fernando et acomendoulle España et deulle a sua beeycõ’ (f. 104r, Lorenzo La traducción gallega, 349). This illustrates the type of minor variation commonly found amongst MSS of the CRC. 7. The CVR cannot be dated precisely. Pidal, having originally considered the CVR to be later than the Crónica de 1344, later described it as ‘poco posterior a la de Castilla’ (Reliquias, LXV). If the stories about the Cid are compared in the CVR and the CRC, it can be seen that the CVR does not include the Gesta MR (see Note 17, below), but shows signs of knowing the story told in it, while the CRC does not include the Partición, but shows evidence of knowing it. Later, both have comparable versions of the Cantar de Sancho II (see Note 9, below) but then the CVR clearly has the older form of the story derived from the PMC, while the CRC has a later, revised version. The CVR also has a more formal compositional structure which seems earlier than the looser format of the CRC. Some have argued that the CVR even predates the relevant part of the PCG; see Theodore Babbitt, La CVR: A Comparison with the Text of the PCG and a Study of the Principal Latin Sources (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1936); José Gómez Pérez, ‘La estoria de España alfonsí de Fruela II a Fernando III’, Hispania (Madrid), XXV (1965), 485–520. Catalan believes that the CVR is of an early date, but that the part of the PCG dated 1289 predates the corresponding section of the CVR, which includes the Partición: see Catalán, De Alfonso X, 188, ‘Crónicas generales y cantares de gesta. El PMC de Alfonso X, y el del pseudo Ben-Alfaray’, HR, XXXI (1963), 195–215, 291–306. 8. Such references have been noted previously. See Babbitt La CVR, 60–61; Carola Reig, El cantar de Sancho II y cerco de Zamora (Madrid: RFE, 1947), 56, 79; Rosa M. Garrido, ‘El Cantar del rey Fernando el Magno’, Biblioteca de la-Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, 32 (1967–68), 67–95, at 80–82; Diego Catalán, ‘El taller/historiográfico alfonsí. Métodos y problemas en el trabajo compilatorio’, Romania, LXXIV (1963), 354–75, at 372–73. 9. The CSZ is used as one source for the account of the reign of Sancho II in the CVR, PCG and CRC, all of which have similar accounts of the events. The best study of the CSZ is Reig, El cantar. See also Julio Puyol, Cantar de gesta de don Sancho II de Castilla (Madrid: Victoriano Suárez, 1911); Charles F. Fraker, ‘Sancho II: Epic and Chronicle’, Romania, XCV (1974), 467–507; Louis Chalón, L'Histoire et l'épopée castillane du moyen âge (Paris: Honoré Champion, 1976), 277–353. 10. Such references, of course, also appear in the equivalent parts of the CVR, which are as yet unpublished. References are to Escorial MS Y-i-12, ‘N’ of the CVR. The two mentions of Arias Gonzalo's lament are in ff. 89v, 91v. 11. The PCG, 497, 506, also refers to Cabezón as the place where the division of the kingdoms took place, although its earlier description of the event does not specify any place. It is worth emphasizing that the CVR has in its version of the reign of Sancho II all the various references that have been cited. 12. This is suggested by Diego Catalán, ‘El taller’, 369–71. He observes that the PCG is deficient in information it normally supplies, such as the succession of Popes and of the Kings of France, from the thirty-fifth year of Fernando I's reign until the second year of Sancho II. He notes, ‘La CVR suple todos estos fallos.’, 369. 13. To conclude the discussion in Note 7, above, it can now be confirmed that the evidence shows the CVR to be earlier in date of composition than the CRC. Moreover, it seems to me that there is no evidence that it is of a later date than the PCG in this section. 14. For the Partición in the Crónica de 1344, see Cintra, Crónica geral. III, 333 ff. 15. PMC, ed. Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Cantar de mio Cid, 3 vols, fourth edn (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1964–69), III, 909–1016. The MR survives in a clerical, poetic version, and in a version derived from a lost poem, generally called the Gesta de las MR, in prose in the CRC and later chronicles. See A. D. Deyermond, Epic Poetry and the Clergy: Studies on the ‘MR’ (London: Tamesis, 1968), with a palaeographic edition of the clerical MR in 222–77; Samuel G. Armistead, ‘La Gesta de las MR: Reflections of a Lost Epic Poem in the CRC and Crónica general de 1344’, unpublished doctoral dissertation (Princeton University, 1955). 16. See Brian Powell, Epic and Chronicle: the ‘PMC’ and the ‘CVR’ (London: MHRA, 1983), 72–77, where it is pointed out that the prosification of the PMC consistently has around 40% of its text in direct speech. The proportion of direct speech in the Partición is around 40%. On the expression ‘pensar de’, see PMC lines 320, 324, 376, 394 etc., and Kenneth Adams, ‘Pensar de: Another Old French Influence on the PMC and Other Mediaeval Spanish Poems’, La Coránica, VII (1978–79), 8–12. ‘Besar la mano’ and its variations hardly ever occur in the CVR outside sections derived from poetic sources, see Powell, Epic and Chronicle, 84–85. 17. Compare such phrases in the PCG; see Menéndez Pidal, PCG, vol. I, XLIV–LII, LXV–LXVI. 18. It is noticeable that, outside the sections that rely on El Toledano and El Tudense, there is no sign of clerical influence on any part of the Partición. No church or monastery is named, there are no references to miracles, visions, donations, bequests, lineage, nor anything that might reflect clerical intervention of the sort that is visible in the MR, and in the later manifestations of the legends of the Cid that are connected with San Pedro de Cardeña. See Note 39, below. 19. This is the year specified by the PCG, 491, also. It is, of course, historically inaccurate. CVR, f. 109r, and PCG, 519, both say Sancho II is succeeded by Alfonso VI in 1063, which is consistent with the earlier date, and equally inaccurate. The CR C has only sporadic chronological information, which is even more unreliable than that of the other chronicles. 20. The chroniclers' description, and comments, are: ‘Algunos dizen en sus cantares que avia el rey don Ferrando un fijo de ganançia que era cardenal en Roma, e legado de toda España, e abad de sant Fagunde, e arçobispo de Santiago, e prior de Monte Aragon; este fue el que poblo Arvas e avia nonbre don Ferrando, mas esto non lo fallamos en las estorias de los maestros que las escripturas conpusieron, e por ende tenemos que non fue verdat, ca sy quier non es derecho que un omne tantas dignidades toviese’ (242–43). 21. The chroniclers make another comment on sources: ‘Dizen aqui el arçobispo don Rodrigo de Toledo, e don Lucas de Tuy, e Pero Marcos cardenal de Santiago, que en su salud antes que enfermase el rey don Ferrando […] fizo el sus cortes en Leon e que entonçes partio los reynos a los fijos […] e como quier que esta sea la verdat que estos onrrados omes dizen, fallamos en otros lugares, e en el cantar que dizen del rey don Ferrando que en castillo de Cabeçon yaziendo el doliente partio el los reynos asi commo deximos, e non dio entonçes nada a doña Urraca su fija si non despues, e esto adelante vos lo diremos mas conplidamente’ (243). Neither the identity of ‘Pero Marcos’ (Marquez in CVR, N, 90v), nor the nature and content of his work are known. There is one Petrus Marcius, ‘cardenal’ of Santiago, mentioned in documents of the middle of the twelfth century, and copyist of a forged document, but there is no record of any historical work by him. See Antonio López Ferreiro, Historia de la Santa A. M. Iglesia de Santiago de Compostela, 11 vols (Santiago: Seminario Conciliar Central, 1898–1911), 11, 132–37, IV, Appendix, documents 11, 23. I am grateful to Dr R. A. Fletcher of the University of York for this reference. On both occasions when Pedro Marcos is referred to in the CVR, his version of events is identified entirely with those of El Toledano and El Tudense and seems to have contributed nothing original to the CVR. He is clearly not the source of the more fictional accounts given by the chronicle. 22. The chroniclers' final comment on this episode is: ‘mas esto todo non semeja palabra de creer.’ For other sceptical comments by chroniclers, see Reliquias, LXV–LXVI. 23. In the Partición, III, IV, the CVR does, of course, point out some major differences between the Latin historians and the ‘cantares’. All the pious material in the Partición derives from El Tudense and El Toledano, who derive most of their material, although not the appearance of San Isidoro to Fernando, from the Historia Silense; see the edition by Francisco Santos Coco (Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, 1912), 87–91. 24. On the CSZ and Gesta MR see Notes 9 and 15. On the CRF, see Garrido ‘El Cantar’; Chalon, L’Histoire, 353–68. 25. Reig, El Cantar, 56–57, argues that the CSZ did originally include the division of the kingdoms, but in a brief form, and that the extensive Partición was a later, separate poem. Pidal, Reliquias, LXV, describes the Partición as ‘un breve cantar [. . .] que es la parte final [. . .] de las MR, y es a la vez introducción al Cantar del Rey don Sancho’. Catalán, ‘El taller historiográfico’, 371–73, believes that the Partición and the CSZ together formed a cantar de las particiones, which is closer to what I am suggesting, but does not take into account the use of more than one source in the Partición. 26. Sections of the Partición are referred to by number to ease identification, but, in certain cases, only part of a section is relevant. 27. The exception in the Partición is Section X, where the Cid is violent and intemperate. This section has other odd features, and will be considered below. The importance of the Cid in Fernando's court may not derive from the mocedades tradition, but may have developed independently in both the Gesta MR and the Partición, from the older tradition which described the Cid as an important man in the reigns of Sancho II and Alfonso VI. See Powell, Epic and Chronicle, Chapters 1 and 2. 28. As said above, MS BN 8817 of the CRC, Lorenzo, La traducción gallega, 341–42, is very similar to the Partición in the passages quoted, with no more than the minor variations typical of the MSS of this chronicle. 29. See Armistead, ‘La Gesta MR’, 57–59; Deyermond, Epic Poetry, 13–14. 30. ‘Fuentes’, in PCG, II, CLXV1–CLXV111, attributes passages of the PCG to a Cantar de don Fernando, an idea which is taken further in Garrido, ‘El Cantar’. 31. Catalán, ‘El taller’, believes that the CRF is to be regarded as part of the same poem as the CSZ, see Note 27. Reig, El Cantar, 56–57, Armistead, ‘La Gesta MR’, 10, and Horrent, L'Histoire, seem to regard the CRF as a separate poem, comprising the whole of the Partición. None of them consider the possibility of there being more than one fictional source for the Partición. It is possible that the CRF referred to by the CVR was the opening part of the CSZ rather than another of the sources used by the chronicle. There is no way of knowing. It is more convenient, here, to use the title for another of the sources. 32. Apart from the lack of further reference to Nuño Ferrández and to Sancho's oath, there is the disappearance of the Cardinal after Fernando's death, for he does not feature in the CSZ. He reappears in a ballad: see Note 39 below. 33. It is likely that at least some of them were more fully comprehensible in the original, and that additional episodes were recounted. However, even the PMC includes references that are not explained within the poem, such as to the Cid's striking the nephew of the Count of Barcelona (lines 962–63), and to the bench given to Alfonso by the Cid (lines 3114–15). 34. In Partición, V, King Fernando explains to the Cardinal that he divided the kingdoms badly because there was no one present to advise him properly. In the prosified CSZ, the Cid explains to King Sancho: ‘bien sabedes vos ca ya partido avie el los renos quando yo llegue a Cabeçon’, CVR, N, f. 90r, PCG, 497. 35. Some of his companions, in addition to the Cid, are worthy of comment. Count Suero de Caso appears on two further occasions in the Partición, as witness to Sancho's promise to Nuño (XV), and giving a promise himself, to King Fernando, that he will be buried in León. Someone of the same name appears in the revised version of the final ‘cantar’ of the PMC found in the PCG and CRC, as one of the judges at the ‘cortes’ in Toledo; see PCG, 617, Particular, f. LXXXIIv. Alvar Díaz de Oca appears in the PMC, line 2042, where he is named as an enemy of the Cid, alongside García Ordóñez, another character to appear in the Partición. Like García Ordóñez, Alvar Díaz was a historical figure of that period, and he was lord of Oca; see Pidal, Cantar de mio Cid, II, 438. He is mentioned later in the chronicles when they prosify the relevant part of the PMC. 36. The traditional view is that, at this time, narrative poems, epic in type, were necessarily long, and that shorter, ballad-like compositions did not develop until later. I see no reason why some short poems could not have existed alongside longer works at an early date. The evidence I have adduced would suggest this. Another example of a short composition of this time would be the Jura de Santa Gadea, which is quite fully recorded, in somewhat differing versions, in the CVR, PCG and CRC. On short compositions of perhaps a different nature, see D. G. Pattison, ‘The Legend of the Sons of Sancho el Mayor,’ Medium Aevum, LI, (1982), 35–54. 37. Amongst the old Spanish ballads, two describe scenes directly related to the Partición, nos 35 and 36, in Primavera y flor de romances, ed. M. Menéndez Pelayo (Madrid: Hernando, 1899). The first, ‘Doliente estaba, doliente’, describes the dying Fernando surrounded by his children, but concentrates on his son, the ‘bastardo’, whose several ecclesiastical offices it lists, in a passage very reminiscent of Partición, III. The second, ‘Morir vos queredes, padre’, relates Urraca's complaint about her destitution, with a threat to her father to become a whore and use her earnings for the benefit of his soul, followed by her father's reply and gift to her of Zamora, of which all approve except Sancho. See Garrido, ‘El CRF, 86–89; Reig, El Cantar, 119–27. 38. In the PMC, Count García is the Cid's enemy throughout, and supports the Infantes de Carrión against the Cid; see PMC, lines 1836, 3007, 3112–13 etc. However, elsewhere in the Partición and throughout the CSZ, Count García is friendly, favourably disposed towards the Cid, and generally portrayed in a favourable light; see Partición, VII, VIII; CSZ in the PCG, 497, 509, 511, 512, etc. Both the CVR and the CRC have similar accounts. 39. As was said earlier, the character of the Cid in this incident is more like the character he has in the Gesta MR tradition than that of the Partición, CSZ, or PMC. In the Gesta MR, however, García Ordóñez is unimportant and Carrión has no role. Alternatively, there was in existence by this time a corpus of Cidian material at the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña. This material certainly included stories, based on the PMC, of rivalry between the Cid and García and Carrión, but there is no evidence that any of it portrayed the Cid as brash, violent or insolent, as he appears in Partición, X. On the Cid and San Pedro, see P. E. Russell, ‘San Pedro de Cardeña and the Heroic History of the Cid’, Medium Aevum, XXVII (1958), 57–79; Diego Catalán, ‘La Estoria de los Reyes del Señorío de Africa del maestro Gilberto o Sujulberto: una obra del siglo XIII perdida’, RPh, XVII (1963–64) 346–53, ‘Poesía y novela en la historiografía castellana de los siglos XIII y XIV’, Mélanges offerts à Rita Lejeune, I (Gembloux: Duculot, 1969), 423–41; Colin Smith, ‘The Cid as Charlemagne in the *Leyenda de Cardeña’, Romania, XCVII (1976), 509–31, ‘The Diffusion of the Cid Cult: a Survey and a Little Known Document’, Journal of Medieval History, VI (1980), 37–60, and ‘Leyendas de Cardeña’, BRAH, CLXXIX (1982), 485–523. 40. I wish to thank Professor Colin Smith of Cambridge University for his comments on an earlier draft of this article.