On the Missing Third Part of Siervo libre de amor

Author(s): Gregory Peter Andrachuk

Source: Hispanic Review, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Spring, 1977), pp. 171-180
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/472901
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 ON THE MISSING THIRD PART OF SIERVO
LIBRE DE AMOR

THE recent renewed interest in the sentimental novel in Spain

has attracted attention to the Siervo libre de amor (c. 1442) of
Juan Rodriguez del Padr6n because of its importance as a bell-
wether of that genre. Those critics who have attempted an inter-
pretation of the work as a whole have been hampered by the
author's apparent failure to conclude the theme of the Siervo
within the structure as found in the only extant manuscript.2
This inconsistency was readily recognized by Antonio Paz y Melia 8
and Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo,4 but the more recent tendency
has been to treat the "novel" as complete. Edward J. Dudley,
for example, considers the manuscript copy to be intact with Part
Three of the Siervo beginning immediately after the Estoria de dos
amadores. Cesar Hernandez Alonso also sees the work as com-
plete, with the allegorical figure Synderesis as representing Gon-
zalo de Medina, to whom the Siervo was addressed, thus giving the

1 Notable among these are E. J. Dudley, "Structure and Meaning in the

Novel of Juan Rodriguez del Padr6n: Siervo libre de amor," Diss. University
of Minnesota 1963; and C. HernAndez Alonso, Siervo libre de amor (Vallado-
lid, 1970).
2 MS. Q224 of the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid, used by A. Paz y Melia
in his edition of Rodriguez del Padron's Obras (Madrid, 1884). Subsequent
page references to the Siervo libre are from this edition.
3 Rodriguez del Padr6n, Obras, p. xxi: "He llegado a sospechar que la
novela este incompleta. "
4 Origenes de la novela (Madrid, 1905-1915), I, 19: "porque aqui acaba
la novela, en la cual indudablemente falta algo.'"
171

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172 Gregory Peter Andrachuk HR, 45 (1977)

work a cyclic structure. Armando Duran 5 likewise interprets the

manuscript copy as finished, with the poems near the end acting as
a sort of epilogue. The reader of the Siervo libre de amor is hard
pressed, however, to reconcile the author's announced intention of
following the "via de no amar ni ser amado" with the abrupt
ending of the work, for Rodriguez' brief meeting with Synderesis
follows upon the description of his fruitless search for such a path.
The final paragraph of the Siervo gives no indication whatever that
he was ultimately successful in his quest.
A new examination of the structure and theme of the Siervo
libre de amor as described by the author himself leads to an inter-
pretation of the work in keeping with what little is known of
Rodriguez' life. The Siervo can be seen not as a defense of the
values of courtly love, but as a repudiation of them.
In the introduction to the Siervo, Rodriguez describes the struc-
ture to follow:
El siguiente tratado es departydo en tres partes principales, seguintres
diuersos tiempos que en sy contiene, figurados por tres caminos y tres
arboresconsagrados,que se refierena tres partes del omne ... (p. 37)
All three sections appear to be given equal value and representa-
tion within the structure: each section will correspond to a period
of time related to the progress of the author's love experience;
each will be represented by a path and a symbolic tree; finally,
each section is assigned a part of man's intellectual or emotional
nature: the heart, his free will, or his understanding. Rodriguez'
description of the theme of the work according to these structural
divisions also bears out the belief that all the parts are of equal
importance:
La primeraparte prosigue el tiempo que bien am6 y fue amado; fygurado
por el verde arrayhan, plantado en la espa&iosavia que dizen de bien
amar,por do sigui6 el coragonen el tiempo que bien amava. La segunda
refiereel tiempo que bien amo y fue desamado;fygurado por el arbor de
parayso, plantado en la degiente via qu'es la desesperagion,por do qui-
siera seguir el desesperantelibre aluedrfo. La tergera,y fynal, trata el
tiempo que no am6 ni fue amado; fygurado por la verde oliua, plantada
en la muy agra y angosta senda, qu'el siervo entendimientobien quisiera
5 Estructura y tecnica de la novela sentimental y caballeresca (Madrid,
1971).

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 "Siervo libre de amor": The Missing Third Part 173

seguir, por donde siguio, despues de libre, en compania de la discregion.

(p. 38)
The author clearly indicates that his theme includes the finding
and following of the path corresponding to Part Three: "... por
donde sigui6, despues de libre. "
Following the introduction, Rodriguez gives the rubric: " Syguese
la primera, de bien amar y ser amado" (p. 39). In this first sec-
tion the lover enjoys a very brief period of happiness during which
his love is reciprocated. The ensuing revelation of the disloyalty
of the confidant prepares the reader for the theme of Part Two,
for Rodriguez is forced into exile accompanied by "triste amar-
gura" and beset by "lagrimas, gemidos e sospiros."
Part Two opens with the rubric: "Comienga la segunda parte:
solitaria e dolorosa contemplagi6n" (p. 47). The reader notes that
the rubric echoes thetheme expressed in the transitional ending to
Part One: "me daua ala siguiente contemplai6on." The lover
wanders through the "escura selva" of his thoughts until he comes
to the fork in the road from where he can view the three paths and
the three trees. His free will chooses to follow the path of desper-
ation, hoping to reach the paradise of the faithful lovers. But his
understanding warns him of the dangers of that path (the second
one), and that, furthermore, the resting place of the true lovers
in the netherworld will be denied him, because he chose to die
rather than to live and suffer as the true martyrs for love do.
Understanding declares that it wishes to take the path of solitary
contemplation, the third path, dedicated to Minerva, the goddess
of wisdom. The third faculty, the heart, tells the lover that it is
not free to follow any path other than the first, since in entering
the state of love it has given up its liberty. The lover is at a loss,
unaided by his senses, and abandoned by his heart, his free will,
and his understanding. He is ready to accept the death which
awaits him at the end of the second path, the path of desperation:
"iO regurosa y mal comedida muerte, deseosa de mi! E ya en
plazer te viene el trabajado fyn de mis dias, que es oy" (p. 52).
The story of Ardanlier and Liesa follows almost immediately upon
this speech.
For some critics this point marks the end of Part Two of the
Siervo (since the Estoria de dos amadores serves as an extended
exemplum). Dinko Cvitan6vic, for example, considers the third

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174 Gregory Peter Andrachuk HR, 45 (1977)

part of the work to follow immediately after the end of the Estoria:
Por momentos, las limitaciones del tratadismo desaparecen hasta que
reaparecela primera persona como despertandode un suenio;estamos en
la terceray ultima parte de la obra.6
Dudley's examination of the structure of the Siervo leads him to
the conclusion that, although the length of the sections is dispro-
portionate, the work must be treated as complete. It is his opinion
that the line which follows the Estoria ("Aqui acaba la novella"
p. 74) is actually meant to refer to the main narrative and not to
the Estoria. In this way it would act as a parallel rubric to those
which begin Parts One and Two. However, a comparison of these
three titles shows that the first two are very nearly identical in
structure and content while the third is completely different:
I. Svguese la primera [parte],
de bien amar y ser amado.

II. Comienga la segunda parte:

solitaria e dolorosa contemplai6on.

IIn. Aqui acaba la novella.

In the first and second rubrics, the initial line indicates that the
section to follow is either the first or the second, while the other
line describes succinctly the theme of the respective period. The
third rubric of the group does not contain either of these elements,
and does not look forward to a following section (as indicated in
the verb forms "syguese" and "comienaa") but is static ("Aqui
acaba"). Another point which argues against the suitability of
this line as the rubric for Part Three is the fact that Rodriguez
refers to the main narrative, the Siervo, as a "tratado" (p. 37).
The word "novella" during this period meant a short, inventive
story of entertaining nature.7 If we were to hypothesize a rubric
for Part Three, it would take a formi similar to the following:
Comiena la terqeraparte:
de no amar ni ser ainado.
6 La novela sentimental espaiiola (Madrid, 1973), p. 91.
7 Cervantes, in fact, some one hundred and fifty years later would remark
that he was the first to use the '"novela" form in Spanish. See the Prologue
to the Novelas ejemplares.

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 "Siervo libre de amor": The Missing Third Part 175

It is unlikely that Rodriguez would begin the final (and most im-
portant) part of his work in a manner entirely different from the
other two when he has taken such pains to emphasize the symmetry
of his "tratado" in the introduction.8 We may assume then that
the sentence "Aqui acaba la novella" does indeed refer to the
Estoria de dos amadores and not to the Siervo libre de amor.
Further proof that the brief section which describes the meet-
ing between Synderesis and the lover is not meant to be Part Three
may be deduced from a consideration of the development of Parts
One and Two. We have noted that Part One ends not with the
lover's enjoyment of his lady's favours, but with a subsequent
period in which he has already started toward the path of despera-
tion. Part Two can then begin with Rodriguez calling himself the
"padegiente por amar" (p. 47), because the theme of this section
has been prepared by a transitional passage at the end of the first
part. If Part Two is considered to end with the recounting of the
Estoria de dos amadores, then a corresponding section introducing
the last part is missing, for the lover, we presume, is still immersed
in the depression and acceptance of death described above. To
maintain the symmetry shown in the rest of the work, Part Two
must also end with a transitional passage in which the lover begins
to turn from his thoughts of death to those of ascetic contempla-
tion. This period cannot be found in the Estoria itself, for it does
not directly involve the protagonist of the Siervo. The difficulty
can be resolved by considering the section following the Estoria
as just such a stage. Thus we read that the lover, so affected by
the Estoria he has recalled, decides to reject the path of despera-
tion and to embark on that of not loving and not being loved, or
that of a renunciation of worldly love.
The function of this final section of Part Two is not only to
show the lover's willingness to relinquish his plan of gaining glory
through the martyr's death, but also to introduce the agency by
s The reader notes that the Estoria de dos amadores is also introduced by
a rubric taking the form: "Comienga la Estoria de dos amadores." Since it
has been introduced by a title to separate it from the main narrative, it would
seem only logical to expect that the author would end it in the same way, by
a phrase such as "Aqui acaba la novella." The poetry of Juan Rodriguez
del Padron likewise shows meticulous care in construction. See G. P. Andra-
chuk, "The Works of Juan Rodriguez del Padron," Diss. University of
Toronto 1975, pp. 165-238.

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176 Gregory Peter Andrachuk HR, 45 (1977)

which he can find the proper path. The agency is found in the
character of Synderesis, which would represent, according to the
interpretation of St. Thomas Aquinas, that quality of man's intel-
lect which enables him to perceive what is good and right according
to universal law.9 For Bonaventure, Synderesis is not only the
knowledge of good and evil but the active desire to choose the
former over the latter.10 Rodriguez' allegorical character seems
to fit these molds for he depicts her as the mother of all virtues:
Dela qual vinia seinoramastresa vna duefia anciana, vestida de negro, y
siete donzellasde aquelladeuisa,repartydaspor aquestafigura. La antigua
duenia,cubiertade duelo, era ala pompa en alto estrado,del triste color de
sus vestiduras,ordenandosus hijas en esta reguarda. . . (p. 79-80)
It is my interpretation that that the coming of Synderesis and
the relating of Rodriguez' story to her is a figural representation of
the sacrament of penance by which the lover will regain the use
of his free will and other faculties.
The reader notes that the scene is depicted in black: in the color
of the garments of the old lady, and in the somber tones of the ship:
vna grand vrca de armada, obrada en guisa dela alta Alemaina,cuyas
velas, aymantes,bouetas, escalas, guardanlerase cuerdas,eran escuras de
esquivonegror. (p. 79)
The black color, traditionally indicative of mourning, may illus-
trate the loss of the virtues by the lover who has chosen worldly
love. This choice characteristically involves a change in the ra-
tional nature of the lover, as can be seen in almost any sample of
courtly love literature. One of the most famous examples is that
of Calixto in the Celestina, who adopts the religion of Melibeanism
and subsequently displays (or feigns) an unbalanced mental con-
dition evidenced by his melancholy and wild ravings. Just as the
Christian is dead to God through sin, so the lover, abandoned by
his faculties, is dead to reason and the holy virtues. Rodriguez,
like the penitent, has formed a desire of repentance as the first
stage in obtaining forgiveness. The realization of the error of his
ways has been brought about by the example of the Estoria, which
serves to reinforce the warning of his understanding: that he can
9 Summa Theologida (I-II, 94).
10 Breviloquiumn (II, ii).

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 "Siervo libre de amor": The Missing Third Part 177

never be counted among the martyrs for love by choosing the path
of desperation rather than living and suffering. It must be re-
membered that desperation is a sin against the virtues of Faith
and Hope.
When Synderesis leaves the sea, she leaves her place of abey-
ance, where the faithlessness of the lover to the will of God had
put her. She comes in a ship of war, symbolizing the Christian
belief in the virtues as arms against sin." But in the procedure
of the Church, a firm intention of repentance is not normally suffi-
cient to obtain absolution; it must be accompanied by a verbaliza-
tion of the sinner's faults. This fulfillment of the law is accom-
plished when Rodriguez (the sinner) recounts his story (his sins)
to Synderesis (the priest). It is significant that only Synderesis
comes to the shore, leaving the seven virtues in the ship, for until
the confession is finished and the penitent is given absolution, he
cannot regain the use of these virtues.
Support for this interpretation of the final stages of the Siervo
libre de amor can be found by considering a similar exposition in
one of the works Rodriguez may have used as a model: the Divine
Comedy. At the beginning of Part One of the Siervo, Rodriguez
gives a list of those authors he will follow in terms of style. Of
the twenty authors mentioned, nineteen are classic writers (Homer,
Seneca, Ovid, Plato, and so on); the twentieth is Dante. Rodriguez
obviously considers the Italian poet to be as worthy of emulation
as the others he cites.
Dante's great work is divided into three sections, as is that of
Rodriguez (or at least, so it was intended). At the end of the
second part of the Divine Comedy, in the Purgatorio, the reader
finds that Dante, the author-persona, must undergo the process of
repentance and confession of his sins, in a representation of the
sacrament of penance, before he may enter the Paradiso. The res-
toration of his innocence will bring with it also the faculty of free
will, as Cato told the pilgrim in Canto I: "Liberta va cercando,
ch'e sl cara / come sa chi per lei vita rifiuta" (11. 71-72). But
the quest cannot be realized without the formalization of the sin-
ner's repentance in the sacrament. Dante utilizes the cleansing
It From the earliest times the ship has been a symbol associated with the
Church,sometimes indicating a hope of salvation. See J. Dani6lou, Primitive
Christian Symbols, trans. D. Attwater (Baltimore, 1964), pp. 58-70.

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178 Gregory Peter Andrachuk HS, 45 (1977)

waters of the river Lethe, the river of oblivion, and those of the
river Eunoe, the symbol of absolution. The guide or priest direct-
ing the sinner's act of confession is Beatrice, who appears gar-
landed with olive leaves (Canto xxx, 1. 68) and accompanied by
the seven virtues, pictured as women.
Rodriguez may have borrowed the outline of this episode for
the Siervo libre. It is at the end of the second part of his work
(according to my interpretation) that he schedules the conversion
and formal repentance of the sinner, just as Dante had done in the
Divine Comedy. As Dante will rise from his act of contrition in
possession of his free will, so Rodriguez will be able to follow his
chosen path "despues de libre, en conpaniia de la discre9i6n" (p.
38). As Dante was directed by Beatrice, the symbol of Divine
Revelation and knowledge, so Rodriguez, directed by Synderesis,
the active knowledge of good and evil, has decided to follow the
path of wisdom. Synderesis' coming in a ship, accompanied by
the seven virtues, parallels the arrival of Beatrice, for just as the
procession of the chariot represents the Church, the ship can be
seen to symbolize the same thing. The presence of the seven
virtues awaiting the repentance of the sinner is implicit in the
medieval belief that the lover guilty of "loco amor" had lost all
of these. The Archpriest of Talavera states in Chapter 37 of Part
One of the Corbacho that: "pues caridad, fee, nin esperanga menos
en el las esperes . . . Demas non usa de quatro virtudes, que tyene
de aver, cardinales, antes las corronpe."
On the basis of this explication of the last section of Part Two,
we might hypothesize the development of the missing Part Three
in which Synderesis, having heard the author's story, invites the
virtues to leave the ship and to accompany the author on the path
to which she will direct him. This path, of course, is that which
Rodriguez indicated at the beginning: the path of wisdom, fol-
lowed by few because of its difficulty. The lover needs the com-
pany of the seven virtues to follow it properly, "despues de libre,
en conpaiia de la discregi6n." The re-introduction of "discre-
io6n" here is very fitting, because it was this faculty which first
warned the lover about his self-inflicted loss of freedom in the first
part of the Siervo. His act of confession and the absolution given
him by Synderesis will enable him to free his captive heart and
will.

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 "Siervo libre de amor": The Missing Third Part 179

Cesar Hernandez Alonso, in discussing the title of the Siervo

libre de amor, remarks on the fact that other critics have seen the
words "siervo" and "libre" as antithetical. He presents an in-
telligent interpretation of the title: "Sera por tanto, un siervo
libre, por voluntad propia, acepcion primera del vocablo en cues-
tion; la de 'liberado' o 'libertado' deriva de aquella." 12 But
Hernandez feels that Rodriguez is now merely in the same state
in which he began the Siervo libre, that is, as a free servant of
love. All of the critics seem to have missed an essential point in
the first part of the Siervo. On page 40 of the Paz y Melia edition
we find the following: '... no porque yo sea honrrador de aquellos
[i.e., "dioses danados e deesas"], mas pregonero del su grand error,
y syeruo yndigno del alto Jhesus" (emphasis mine). By the last
part of this statement it seems that Rodriguez means to show that
the path he has chosen leads to the contemplation of higher things.
The third path, after all, is the path of not loving and not being
loved, that is, of an indifferent attitude toward worldly love. At
the same time it is a path which leads to the enlightened use of
reason and to God. If this interpretation is correct, then the title
Siervo libre de amor comes to signify Siervo, libre del amor loco.
The work then becomes a companion-piece to the poem Fuego del
diuino rayo, Rodriguez' rejection of courtly love and acceptance
of the love of God.
In conclusion we may say that the Siervo libre as we have it is
not as Rodriguez intended it to be; that is, the third part of the
work is entirely missing. That section which follows on the
Estoria de dos amadores is not part of the last third of the "novel"
but the transitional ending of the second part. The acceptance of
the faulty state of the manuscript copy and the utilization of the
clue which Rodriguez gives us in his list of "worthy" authors
leads to an interpretation of the Siervo libre de amor as a rejection
of the code of courtly love. The accepted date for the Siervo
(c. 1442) 13 places it in that period when the author had already
12 Hernaindez
Alonso, Siervo libre de amor, p. 25. E. von Richthofen, in
"Limitations of Literary Criticism," Aquila, II (1973), 80-86, says: "with
similar attention, the literary critic ought to concentrate on book titles as they
were given by the authors themselves, since they often present key words or
sum up carefully the meaning of the work" (p. 99).
13 P. Atanasio L6pez, in Nuevos estudios critico-hist6ricos acerca de
Galicia (Santiago de Compostela, 1947) brought to light new evidence to

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180 Gregory Peter Andrachuk RH, 45 (1977)

taken religious vows and had returned to Herb6n. Like the Divine
Comedy, the Siervo libre de amor is the product of a mature mind
conscious of youthful errors and desirous of expiation.
GREGORYPETER ANDRACHUK
Lakehead University

show that Rodriguez professed in Jerusalem in 1442 and that it was after
this date that he returned to Herb6n where he probably wrote the Siervo libre.

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