Body and Soul: Jorge Manrique's "Coplas por la muerte de su padre" 13: 145-156

Author(s): Frank A. Domínguez

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Hispania, Vol. 84, No. 1 (Mar., 2001), pp. 1-10
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3657886 .
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 Body and Soul: Jorge Manrique's Coplas por la
muerte de su padre 13:145-156
FrankA. Dominguez
Universityof NorthCarolinaat ChapelHill
Abstract:Instanza13of the Coplas,Manrique describesthebodyas cativaandthesoulas seiora,thende-
criesthetimespentadorning theformerattheexpenseofthelatter.Thegeneralcondemnation ofcosmetics
inancientliteratureandthetopicoftheweaknessoftheWillcontribute tothismetaphor,butthestanzadoes
more.It alludesto the twodifferentpathsthatarefollowedby the peopledescribedin the ubisuntstanzas
(16-24)andin the panegyricof donRodrigoManrique (25-32).Thisessaythenshowshowstanza13only
acquiresfullmeaningin lightof informationthatwasavailableto the poem'scontemporaries buthas since
beenneglected.

Key Words: Manrique(Jorge),Manrique(Rodrigo),Palencia(Alonsode), SpanishMedievalpoetry,cos-

meticsandmedicine,cativa,sierva,setora,elegy,defunzion,
Coplas

orgeManrique's porla muerte poem. This article seeks to show how the
Coplas
J de su padre,writtenas an elegy for his
father, don Rodrigo Manrique,
Maestrede Santiago,naturallydividesinto
three sections.The firstis a generaldisqui-
sition on the freedom of human beings to
choose how they will conduct their lives
(stanzas1-13).The second (stanzas14-24)
providesconcreteexamplesof badchoices,
andthirdsection (stanzas25-39) is devoted
to the positive choices made by don
Rodrigo.These three sections arefollowed
by a finalstanza (40) that makes reference
to the griefandsolace of the Manriquefam-
ily.
Given the poem's structure, stanza 13
acquiresparticularsignificanceas a transi-
tionalstanza.'It concludes the first section
by summarizingwhat has been said and
serves to introduce the examples of bad
choices thatfollow.The poem moves from
generalstatementsaboutthe humancondi-
tion, to statementsabout specific individu-
als whom death did not treat well and, fi-
nally,to one individualwho, by livingwell,
vanquisheddeath.
The importanceof stanza13has notbeen
sufficientlyrecognizedby critics,who have
generally concerned themselves with the
sources of the metaphor and have not
looked at how it relates to the rest of the
textualtraditionfromwhich the metaphor
derives enriches our understanding of
these few lines of verse. The stanzas only
revealtheir full evocativeimpactby study-
ing the context in which they appear,par-
ticularlyin view of the conditionthatled to
don Rodrigo'sdeath. Stanza13 points to a
whole world of allusive significationonly
barelyperceivedby modernreaders.
The stanzain questionappearstowards
the end of a clusterof stanzasaboutbeauty
and agility (8), lineage and honour (9), es-
tates andwealth (10), thatare the deceitful
plazerese dulCoresand deleytes(11-12) of
this world.Stanza13 continues:
13 Si fuesse en nuestropoder
hazerla carahermosa
corporal,
como podemoshazer
el almatangloriosa,
angelical,
iquediligenciatanviua
touj6ramostodahora,
e tan presta,
en componerla catiua,
dexaindonosla sefiora
descompuesta!
(Cancionerodejorge Manrique95)
Stanza 13 identifies the body as cativa
(slave) and the soul as sefiora(mistress or
lady). If we could make the earthlyface as
2 HISPANIA 84 MARCH2001

beautiful,says Manrique,as we can make of a woman. In this work,he characterizes

the angelical soul glorious, we would bodyand soul as slave andmistressrespec-
quicklytend to the slave, leaving the mis- tively.Writingto Theodore,St.John states
tress unattended.How foolish, he insinu- that God gave those things which are of
ates, for man to preferbody to soul, slave littlevalueto deathandmadeus artisansof
to mistress and-of course-death to eter- those things that are trulybeautiful.If cor-
nal life. poralbeauty were eternal,we would have
wastedallourtimeseekingperfectionof the
St. John Chrysostom and St. body. In fact,we make every attemptto do
Eucherius so throughthe use of cosmetics,colorings,
and tinctures. "Whattime," he remarks,
Manrique'seditors and critics have fo- "wouldwe dedicate to the soul and to im-
cused theirattentionprimarilyon the place- portantconcernsif we couldmakethe body
ment of stanza 13 within the work and on trulybeautiful?Perhapswe wouldnotlabor
the poet's sources for the characterization at anythingelse if we could do that,andwe
of the body as a slave of the soul. Stanza13 would spend all our time decking out the
appearsin a varietyof places accordingto slavewith every mannerof adornments,al-
the print or manuscriptone reads. Its ca- ways abandoningher mistress (domina)to
nonicalplacement,however,is as number greateruglinessandabandonmentthanany
13, andcorrespondsto its placementin the slave (servan)"(AdTheodorumlapsum,PG
most reliablemanuscriptsandprints.2Crit- 47: 295-96). St. John plays on the same
ics also debatethe sources of the stanza. chords as Manrique:we are permittedto
MenendezPelayo,the first to comment make the soul beautifulbut not the body.
on stanza13,claimedthatManriqueappro- Were we permitted to do otherwise, we
priatedthe comparisonsin the stanzafrom wouldwaste all our time pursuingthe per-
a treatiseentitledOntheContemplative Life fection of the ephemeral,to the neglect of
(De vita contemplativa)attributedto St. the eternal.
Prosper of Aquitaine.MariaRosa Lidade However, despite the similarities be-
Malkieltook issue with Menendez Pelayo tweenManrique'sstanzaandSt.John'stext,
in an essay writtenin 1942 ("Unacopla de Lidathought that anotherwork stood be-
Jorge Manriquey la tradici6nde Fil6n en tween the two. Her candidatefor thatposi-
la literaturaespafiola"145-78). Lidatraced tion was the PareneticEpistle to Valerian
the body/soul-slave/mistresstopicto a pas- (Epistola paraenetica ad Valerianum
sage in Philo of Alexandria'sOn the Cre- cognatumde contemptumundietsaecularis
ationofthe Worldwherethe senses arepor- Philosophiae,PL 50: 711-26)writtenby St.
trayed as slaves who bring before their Eucherius,bishop of Lyons,ca. 432.
master-reason-the harmony of sound, St. Eucherius's Parenetic Epistle is an
the sweetness of taste,andthe aromaof the exhortationto the nobleValerianusto adopt
air.Accordingto Lida,Philo was the origi- a Christianmode of life, perhaps even to
natorof the topicandwas the firstin a long become a monk.It seeks to attainits end by
line of authorsto exploitits expressivepos- describing the deceitfulness of the world.
sibilities.3She thought, however, that the Earlyin the exhortation,St Eucheriussays:
portrayalof the soul as mistressof the body "Forif some correctlycalledourflesh slave
only acquired its full Christian form in St. (famulam)and oursoul mistress (domina)
John Chrysostom's Exhortationto Theodore we should not unjustly honor the slave be-
(Paraenesesad Theodorumlapsum).4It is fore the mistress" (Epistola Paraenetica
this work that she proposed as Manrique's 713).
ultimate source (Lida de Malkiel 168). Alone, this reference is not enough to
St. John Chrysostom wrote the Exhorta- make St. Eucherius a more likely source of
tion to Theodorefor a friend who had aban- Manrique's text than any other. What de-
doned the monastic life to enjoy the favors cided Lida in favor of the French bishop was
 JORGE MANRIQUE'S COPLAS POR LA MUERTE DE SU PADRE 13:145-156
the fact that the context in which St.
Eucheriususes the topic is comparableto
the entire sequence of stanzas in which it
is embeddedin Manrique'spoem. Not only
does St. Eucherius complain about those
who wouldcare for the body insteadof the
soul but, like Manrique,he also deplores
the reckless pursuitof riches andmentions
ancient and modernkingdoms, which are
now forgotten. It is this marriage to the
themes of the contemptumundi that in-
clined Lidato see the PareneticEpistleas
the probable immediate source of
Manrique'sstanza.Lida'sargument,there-
fore, can be reduced to the following:the
originatorof the image,Philoof Alexandria,
was probablyunknownto Manrique.The
Castilianpoet'sultimatesourcewas St.John
Chrysostom, but mediated through St.
Eucherius.
Lida,however,was bothan excellentand
a canny scholar.Her masterfuland persis-
tentpursuitof intertextualrelationsshowed
her quiteclearlyhow difficultit was to point
to any source of Manrique'spoem withany
degree of certainty.Herarticleon stanza13
lists some thirty-fiveoccurrences of the
topic. The topic is likely to appearin any
doctrinalwork that concerns the fiatureof
the soul. We addone by a contemporaryof
Manrique,frayLopeFernandezde Minaya,
who says: "La deshonra que la nuestra
anima siente en este mundo, segund suso
dicho es, es el captiverioen que esti, en el
qual muchas vezes obedesce a la came,
que, segund raz6n,es su sierva"(Espejodel
alma, in ProsistascastellanosdelsigloXV2:
237). Withsuch a fecundimage to contend
with, any preference for one source over
another had to be couched in carefullan-
guage, andthis Lidadoes, pointingoutthat
forauthorslike Manriqueinspirationfilters
througha veil ofvaguelyrememberedread-
ings. There is more that can be said about
those "rememberedreadings,"however.
Although Manrique's words echo St.
John's, they differ from St. Eucherius's
Parenetic Epistle in significant ways. St.
Eucherius does not condemn the embel-
lishment of the body. Instead, he compares
the care one gives the soul to the care men
3
give to theirbodies when they are ill:"How
much time and laboris employedin tend-
ing to their bodies and conserving their
health!"writes St. Eucherius, "Does the
soul notmeritthe samecare (medicinam) ?"
St. John'scondemnationof the use of cos-
metics is absent in St. Eucherius'stext, re-
placed instead by a medical metaphorin
which the care of the body is presentedas
a rationallypositiveevent, discordantonly
in that similarcare is not expendedon the
soul.The treatmentof the body/soul-slave/
mistress topicin the PareneticEpistledoes
not deploy therefore,as fully as St. John's
text, the complexof associationsevokedby
this topic in Christian writers and in
Manrique'sstanza.
JorgeManriquealludesto the use of cos-
metics in ways thatare similarto St.John's
text.5Manrique'stext also insists, like St.
John's,on the peculiarperversionof a hu-
manitythatwillfullyprefersto care for the
body/face ratherthanforthe soul.6Itthere-
foreappearsunlikelythatSt. Eucheriuswas
the immediatesource of Manrique.Philo
was likewisenot the originatorof the topic.
Properly speaking, the body/soul-slave/
mistresstopicis a variationof a comparison
widely used in Classicalphilosophicaland
literary works to explain how the mind
(mens)rulesoverthe body,or how the soul
(anima)rulesoverthe passions.The terms
of the comparisonsreflecttwo social reali-
ties of the ancientworld from the time of
Platoandbefore:a patriarchalfamilystruc-
ture and a slave-based economy. The
Greeksthoughtanythingmadeup of parts,
including naturalsystems, societies, and
man himself, to be hierarchicallyordered
from higher to lower (Aristotle, Politics
1254a28ff). Power flowed from higher to
lower.
The naturalrule of men over women,
slaves, and the young reflected the work-
ings of this hierarchical principle in human
society. It was justified by the belief that the
minds of women, slaves, and the young
were either impaired or not fully formed,
and thus were unable to effect the proper
rule of the intellect over the passions.
Within man himself, the rule of the intellect
4 HISPANIA 84 MARCH2001
(nous)overthe passions (orexis)manifested
the hierarchicalprinciple,because the pas-
sions, unableto rule themselves, naturally
fell under the control of the intellect. For
politicaland theologicalreasons, the early
Fathersof the Churchadoptedthese ideas
to explainthe superiorityof the soul over
the body.
Priorto the conversionof Constantine,
Christianswere considered to rank with
womenandslaves. Christianshad counter-
argued, as they sought freedom from Ro-
man rule, that they were fully capable of
governingthemselves.7This earlyChristian
beliefin man'sinnateabilityto rulehimself,
born out of the antagonisticrelationsthat
existed between the Christiancommunity
and the RomanRepublic,began to be sup-
plantedby a view formulatedby the bishop
of Hippo.
St.Augustineradicallyreinterpretedthe
natureandthe effects of the Fallto empha-
size humanity'senslavementto sin. Follow-
ing Platonicphilosophyin its assertionthat
the soul is endowedwith an intrinsicright
to subjugate the body-its "lower ser-
vant"-to its will, St. Augustinecompared
the rebellionof the senses and of the body
against reason to the revolt of a slave
againstits master. He furtherinterpreted
the disobedienceof the bodyas punishment
for Adam and Eve's failure to keep God's
commandnot to eat of the fruitof the tree
ofknowledge.BeforeAdamandEve'strans-
gression,theirbodies were subjectto their
rationalwill:"eachreceived the body as a
servant...andthe body obeyed God...in an
appropriate servitude,withoutresistance."'
Afterthe Fall, man's flesh warredagainst
his mind, and his will could no longer im-
pose its rule (14,15).
Augustiniananthropologycharacterized
the post-lapsarianpursuitof worldlyplea-
sures as a rebellion of the body against natu-
ral will, which makes man work against his
best interests: "Forwhat else is man's mis-
ery," says St. Augustine in De civitate Dei
(using words that in their rhetorical balance
recall Manrique's) "but his own disobedi-
ence to himself, so that in consequence of
his not being willing to do what he could do,
he now wills to do what he cannot." "Si
fuesse en nuestro poder / hazer,"though
we do not, says stanza13, "comopodemos
hazer,"yet we do not.It is here thatthe true
meaningof the commonplaceis to be found:
a Classicalcliche used to referto the supe-
riorityof the mind over the body becomes
a sign of the corruptionof the Will by sin
thatis expressed in the inordinatecare for
the material world at the expense of the
spiritualworld. Nonetheless, althoughSt.
Augustineexplainsthe significanceof the
topic, only St. John Chrysostom ties the
corruptionof the Willto the use of cosmet-
ics.
Christian apologists often berated
women for the use of make-upand orna-
mentation,consideringboth sinfulbecause
they denotedpridein the bodyandbecause
they had as their objective the enhance-
mentof sexualallure.Tertullian(d.ca.220),
for example,dedicateda whole work,com-
monlyknownas On theApparelof Women,
to warningChristianwomenagainstthe use
of fashionable dress, extravagantadorn-
ment, andcosmetics. He remindedwomen
thatit was throughtheirsex thatsin entered
the worldandadvisedthemto dress in peni-
tential garb or mourning garments (De
cultufeminarum117).
Tertullian distinguishes between two
forms of adornment:cultus(dress andjew-
elry)andornatus(cosmeticsandhairdress-
ing). The first he associateswith ambition,
the second with prostitution.9 It is ornatus,
not cultus,however,thatoccasionshis most
virulentattacks.The use of cosmetics is an
inventionof the devil. "Whateveris born,"
he says,"thatis the workof God.Obviously,
then, anythingelse that is added must be
the work of the Devil."10 To use make-upis
to betraytheveryrootsof Christiandevotion:
To have a painted face, you on whom simplicityin
everyformis enjoined!To lie in yourappearance,you
to whomlyingwiththe tongueis not allowed!To seek
for thatwhich is not yourown,you who are taughtto
keep handsoffthe goods of another!To commitadul-
tery in your appearance,you who should eagerly
striveaftermodesty!(Tertullian,De cultufeminarum
136)
Similarly,Clement ofAlexandria (d. ca. 230)
 JORGE MANRIQUE'S COPLAS POR LA MUERTE DE SU PADRE 13:145-156 5

called the flesh a slave and questioned verysamecommonplacein a satireof a man

whetherit was "reasonableto adornsuch a who has importuneda friend of his with
handmaidas the bawd does" (Paidagogos, repeatedrequests for a toupee:
in ChristtheEducator200-1) and in Death
as Good(De bonomorte).St. Ambrose (d.
397) called the soul: "...the user, the body que matesa HerranGarcia
that which is being used, and thus the one
is in command,the otherin service;the one
is what we are, the other what belongs to
us. If anyone loves the beauty of the soul, que ni es justo ni es onesto
he loves us; if anyoneloves the grace of the qu'enmendesen vuestrogesto
body,he loves not the manhimself,butthe
beauty of the flesh, which quickly wastes
away and disappears" (Seven Exegetical
Works91).
Ornatus: Cosmetics
WhenGodbanishedAdamandEvefrom
Paradise,they were condemnedto a life of
labor and were made subject to time and
death. Henceforththey lived in time and
were of time.The use of cosmetics is an at-
tempt to arrest the effects of time on the
body. Many of the Fathers of the Church
agree on this point, but perhapsthe most
eloquent testimony comes from a little-
known 13thcenturyAnglo-Frenchtreatise
on cosmetics, L'ornementdes dames or
Ornatusmulierum,whose authorremarks
that God endowed woman with imperish-
ablebeautyin Paradise,butshe lost it when
she bitintothe apple."The treatisegoes on
to explainhow it can be preservedor recov-
ered throughthe use ofvariousconcoctions
("Purceo vus fas jeo cest livre / Que tres
bien seez delivre / Vus memes en baute
guarder, Et vus acunit el amender"
[L'ornementdes dames32: 17-20]). There
is a correlation, naively propounded in
L'ornement,between the use of cosmetics
and the desire to regain eternal life and
beauty(12).12The sanguineapproachof the
authorof L'ornementto the use of cosmet-
ics runs strongly against the common grain,
for the condemnation of cosmetics was
never far from any discussion of the body.
This condemnation of cosmetics fre-
quently resulted in a reference to the face
rather than to the whole body. Alvarez Gato,
a contemporary of Manrique, employs the
Muyescusadaporfia
es a vos, sefiorRibera,
escriuiendocadadia
c'os enbie vna cabellera;
digo lo sefior,por esto
que le visto responder,
lo que Dios no quiso her.
Ni tengo porbuenacosa
del christianoque sarea
de culpatanpeligrosa,
por herla cara hermosa
tornarell animafea;
por qu'especadomortal,
os suplicanmis renglones
que dexes lo artificial,
que a las henbrasesta mal,
quantomas a los varones.
Que los cabellos,mirados
por los cuerdosy los buenos,
muy mejorseranjuzgados
los vuestros,aunquefrisados,
que muyIlanoslos ajenos;
qu'enlas memoriaspasadas
de los dinosde renonbres,
no las coletas peynadas,
maslas obrasesforpadas
erancarasde los onbres.
Oy ya, pornuestrospecados,
otros son nuestrosaferes,
los camisoneslabrados,
los gestos muy concertados
paraengafiarlas mugeres;
y a nosotrosengafiamos
los que asy nos conponemos,
que porqu'elsuyo tomamos
y nuestrogesto negamos
diablosles parescemos.
(FoulcheDelbosc, Cancionerocastellano1, no.
102)
The condemnationof the use of a hair-
piece falls within the type of adornment
calledornatusby Tertullianandwas consid-
ered a form of facial adornment.In both
stanza13 of the Coplasandin AlvaroGato's
satire quoted above, the context suggests
that the soul has a "face"that is besmirched
by the act of beautifying the earthly face ("Si
fuesse en nuestro poder / hazer la cara
hermosa / corporal, / como podemos hazer
el alma tan gloriosa, / angelical,") or don-
ning an unmanly wig ("por her la cara
6 HISPANIA 84 MARCH2001
hermosa/ tornarell animafea")insteadof
worthydeeds ("maslas obrasesforgadas/
eran caras de los onbres").The soul is of-
ten describedas havinga face whichcanbe
blemishedby sin. FrayLopeFernandezde
Minaya,forexample,in his Espejodelalma
names the Will"elrostrodel criminal"and
considerseach of the capitalsins to be the
stains that defile its beauty:
Cri6Dios nuestraAnimaa la su semejanzae a su ima-
gen, de hermosorostroe limpiafaz, el qualrostroo
faz es la voluntad,como dicho es, la qual si siempre
estoviese en el estado en que fue creada,cattndose
en este espejo (ie. the mirrorof conscience), nunca
fallariaen si cosafea que oviese de emendar,ninman-
cilla que oviese de alimpiar.Mas lo uno, por el peca-
do originalen el qualse ensuzia el Animaluego que
se ayuntaal cuerpo,el qualheredamosde nuestropa-
dre AdAn,lo otro,por los pecados actualesque des-
pubs fazemos de cada dia, mancillasee af6ase este
rostroque es lavoluntad....Lasmancillaso fealdades
que a la nuestravoluntadafeano mancillanson estas:
soberbia faze este rostro, que es la voluntad, ser
finchado;la vanagloria,polvoriento;la invidia,negro
o verde;la safia,colorado;la acidia,triste;la avaricia,
arrugadoe encojido;lagula, abuhado;laluxuria,gafo.
delalma2:242-43)
(Espejo
These authorsmakeit clearthatthough
St.JohnChrysostomandSt.Augustineare
the mainsources of the topic expressed in
stanza13, we will never be able to pointto
an exact sourcefor Manrique'sstanza.The
metaphoris used too widely. However, if
the use of cosmeticsis a sign for the effects
of sin on the face of the soul (andthe use of
cosmetics is, as AlvarezGato'spoem indi-
cates,a "pecadomortal"),thenwhatarethe
"cosmetics"thatwouldmakethe soul beau-
tiful?The answerto that questionis in any
doctrinalworkon the natureof the soul:"It
is not the appearanceof the outermanthat
shouldbe madebeautiful,"says Clementof
Alexandria,"buthis soul,withthe ornament
of true virtue"(Christthe Educator202).
This is the form of ornamentation that is the
subject of all of the stanzas that are dedi-
cated to don Rodrigo Manrique.
The Adornment of the Soul
As we have seen, the early stanzas are
general comments on the pursuit of the
pleasuresof this worldthatend with stanza
13.The next section exemplifiesthe result
of this pursuitby referringto the famous
contemporariesin the ubisunt stanzas (14-
24). They are opposed by the stanzas that
are devotedto don Rodrigo(25-39). Stanza
13 foreshadowsthis oppositionin its con-
trast between the face of the body ("hazer
la carahermosa/ corporal"146-47)andthe
"face"of the soul ("hazer / el alma tan
gloriosa/ angelical"149-50),betweenindi-
vidualswho use cosmetics to decoratethe
face of the body at the expense of the soul
and those who do not.
Giventhe natureof fifteenth-century pan-
egyrics, the reader expects an expositionof
don Rodrigo'sachievements to follow his
introductioninto the poem in stanza25. In-
stead, there is an assessment of the man's
greatness refracted through the experi-
ences of those who knew him;a catalogof
the virtues of the knight.Theirjudgement
about his character is confirmed by the
comparisonsManriquemakesbetweenhis
fatherand the ancientRomans.
The ancientRomangeneralsandemper-
ors were the common models held up for
emulationin the educationof knights.They
are used in the Coplasin a symbolic man-
ner. EachRomanemperoror generalmen-
tioned represents a single quality that is
presentin don Rodrigo.Octavianis fortune,
Caesaris valor,Scipiois virtue,Hannibalis
wisdom,Trajanis charity,etc. The inescap-
able conclusion is that Manrique'sfather
surpassedeach one in his ownpeculiarvir-
tue throughhis actions in life. He embod-
ies allof the virtuesrepresentedby the cata-
log of emperorsandgenerals.
Manriquealsopointsoutthatbecausehe
was virtuous, Don Rodrigo died without
having accumulated great riches ("Non
dex6 grandesthesoros,/ njalcan?6muchas
riquezas/ nj baxillas" [337-39]). What
goods he acquired were always placed at
the service of higher ideals. Furthermore,
he carried the virtues he evidenced as a
youth into old age ("estas viejas estorias /
que con su bravo pint6 / en jouentud, / con
otras nueuas victorias / agora las renou6 /
en senectud" [361-66]).
 JORGE MANRIQUE'S COPLAS POR LA MUERTE DE SU PADRE 13:145-156 7

The associationof youthto the pursuitof a cancerous sore that consumed his face:
worldlypleasureandage to wisdommakes "Este indomablecaudillo,que en su vejez
virtue a qualitypeculiarlycharacteristicof sobrepujabaen los ejerciciosmilitaresa los
the old. In the Nicomanichean Ethics m~s robustosj6venes, con un vigor fisico
Aristotleportraysthe studies of the young incansable para todo, sucumbi6 A
as vain and unprofitable,because the end consecuencia de una puistulacancerosa,
aimed at is not knowledge but action. It que en pocos dias le consumi6 el rostro"
makes no difference whether youth is (Palencia,Crdnica3: 309).
thought of in terms of years or in terms of Palenciagoes on to describethe lastdays
character,because the defect does not de- of don Rodrigoin a mannerthat supports
pend on time, but on the way in which the the image of him that is developed in the
young live and pursueeach successive ob- Coplas.Accordingto Palencia,on the 131of
ject as passiondirects.ForAristotlewomen November Rodrigowrites Ferdinandand
andthe young are incompletemen,women Isabel a farewellletter in which he advises
because they are defectivemales (Barnes, them to trustin God,bringpeaceto Castile,
TheCompleteWorksofAristotle,Degen. an. andrestorethe MilitaryOrdersto theirold
[737a28])and children because their rea- rule, then threatened by the ambitionof
soning is still defective (Politics1324b21-2). men. He concludes by recommendinghis
Withthe old, the situationis differentL The family to the king and queen: "Muy
old reestablish controlover the body, and especialmente les rogaba que se
for them knowledgebecomes an end in it- compadeciesende su mujery de sus fieles
self.The youngmayseek the pleasuresand criados, a quienes le apenaba dejar sin
satisfactionsof the body, but the old seek amparoni bienes de fortuna, porque los
"opulence...honors, fame, prestige, and extremados trabajos e intolerables
glory" (lohannes Lodovicus Vives, De dispendiosles habianreducidoa la iltima
anima et vita 167). The old, therefore,are indigencia,de que s6lo podriasacarles la
superiorin this respect to the young. Only liberalidadde los Reyes,a quienesservirian
the intervention of divine grace can put con la misma lealtad y sumisi6n que les
down the rebellionof the body againstthe sirvi6 siempre, mientrastuvo vida, el que
rationalwillinyouth,andallowthe will (and ahora,a las puertasde la muerte,les daba
consequentlythe soul) to have dominance los 6iltimosconsejos"(Palencia,Cronica3:
over the body (De natura et gratia 43, 50; 311). The adviceto restorethe Orderto its
PL 44, 271). We can see the workings of old rule and the plea for protectionof his
divinegraceonlyin veryspecialindividuals. familyare intimatelyconnected.
Don Rodrigois one of those individuals. In an age when nepotismwas anintegral
As a youthhe was capableof matureacts fact of life, the Coplasargued the need to
andas an old manhe was capableof youth- protect the Manriqueclan. The sons and
ful exploits.At both extremes of his life he "criados" of donRodrigoenjoyedgreatpref-
was invested with the virtues of the elect: erence in the Order. The death of don
prudence (prudentia),courage (fortitudo), Rodrigoexposed them to a varietyof perils
measure (temperantia),and justice (iusti- that only the protection of the Catholic
tia). The implicationsof the passage are Kings could counterbalance. The poem
that don Rodrigois an extraordinaryindi- serves to remindthe kings thattrueservice
vidualwho, in life, transcendsthe natural should be rewarded. It makes no direct
limitationsof manandcarriesthe virtuesof mention of the nature of the ailmentthat
a knight as his only adornments when he took don Rodrigo'slife other than that im-
makes his final contrition before death. He plied in stanza13.
stands opposed to the individual who lives Manriquesets upthe body/soulcontrast
his life for himself or herself. in stanza 13 and links it to the care of the
According to the chronicler Palencia, "face"of the body through cosmetics and
don Rodrigo died in November of 1476 from the adornmentof the "face"of the soul.But,
8 HISPANIA84 MARCH2001
how do you adorn the "face"of the soul?
The answer,we have seen, is containedin
the ubisuntstanzasandin the panegyricto
don Rodrigo.You adornthe soul with the
attributes mentioned in stanzas 27-28:
"ventura,uencer e batallar,virtud,saber e
trabajar,bondad, liberalidad con alegria
(fuerga),verdad, clemencia,ygualdaddel
semblante,eloquencia,humanidade buen
talante, deciplina e rigor, fe, amor de su
tierra."Don Rodrigo'strue worth,the true
adornmentof his soul, lay in those virtues
that he espoused in life and which served
to safeguard his immediate family, his
"criados,"and the kingdom.
P alencia,however,writingwiththe
benefit of hindsight, knew that the
wishes expressed in don Rodrigo's
finalletterto FerdinandandIsabelwere not
satisfied. Instead of appointinga friend of
the Manriquefamilyto the mastershipof
the Order,the king appointedAlonso de
Cardenas, the enemy of don Rodrigo.
Cardenasassumedthe dignity,andthe pref-
erentialtreatmentof the Manriqueclanwas
at an end. Even don Rodrigo'sfamewas in
peril as his claim to have been master of
Santiago was denied because he did not
control Le6n. After CArdenas,Ferdinand
assumedthe Mastershipof the Order.
m NOTES
'Obviously,these remarkson the structureof the
Coplasapplyto the traditionalstructurefollowed,for
example,by Cortina'sedition(13 + 10 + 16 and 1 con-
cludingstanza= 40) andby all the majorearlyprints.
However,what I have to say about the meaning of
stanza13 holds true no matterwhatthe structureof
the poem is consideredto be. Onthe structureof the
Coplas,see Dominguez63, 72-73.
2Stanza13 appearsas number13 or as number7
in most editionsof the poem.
3 St. Ambrose,forexample,relies heavilyon Philo
in his treatmentof the relationshipbetweenthe body
and the soul in Death as a Good:"Thesoul, then, is
the user, the body thatwhichis being used, andthus
the one is in command,the otherin service;the one
is whatwe are, the other whatbelongs to us. If any-
one loves the beautyof the soul, he loves us; if any-
one loves the beautyof the flesh,he loves notthe man
himself, but the beauty of the flesh, which quickly
wastes awayanddisappears"(St.Ambrose:SevenEx-
egeticalWorks91).
4 Paraenesissiveadhortatioad Theodorum lapsum,
PG 47: 277-316.Twenty-eightGreekandforty-seven
Latinmanuscriptssurvive,the latterusuallywith the
title De reparationelapsi. See Jean Dumortier'sedi-
tion A Theodore30ff. For mentions of St. John in
fifteenth-century Castilianworkssee Lidade Malkiel
166,n. 2.
5 LopeFernAndez de Minayawasthe fifteenth-cen-
turyToledanauthorof one of the dozensof "mirrors"
of the soul writtenin the MiddleAges. He takes the
same rationalapproachto the care of the body andof
the soul. God wishes us, he says, to use doctors to
cure the body, even though only He can effect a real
cure and should thereforebe consideredthe princi-
pal doctorof both body and soul (Espejodel alma 2:
248). "Eporende, devDissaberque,ansi como en las
dolenciascorporalesDios solo es el fisicoque las sana,
pero quiere con todo eso que Ilamemosel fisico e
usemos de aquellascosas que naturalmentepueden
darremedioa las dolencias,asi es en las dolenciasdel
alma,El solo las puede sanare alimpiarde todas sus
pasionese fealdades,el qualsolo la cri6fermosae sin
mancilla....Eansi como en las dolenciascorporales
primeroIlamadesa Dios que al fisico...tornada Dios
comoa fisicoprincipal,sin el qualvos ninotrapersona
nuncaentiendaque puede sanar."
6 I do not know of any Castiliantranslationof St.
Eucherius'sepistle beforethe sixteenthcentury.St.
John'sworks,however,weretranslatedby Alfonsode
Madrigal (See EscorialMS a.IV.5and a IV 7, Juan
ZarcoCuevas,Cat6logodelosmanuscritos delEscorial
3 vols. [Madrid, 1924-29, I: 9-12] and Alonso de
Palenzuela(?) [ZarcoCuevas,I: 38-39]).
7ElainePagels discusses the relations between
Christiansandthe Romanstate inAdam,Eve and the
Serpent,especially chapter5: "ThePolitics of Para-
dise"98-126.
8 SanctiAureliiAugustini,De civitatedei 2: 437:
"Namquaehominisest aliamiserianisi aduersuseum
ipsum inoboedientiaeius ipsius, ut, quoniamnoluit
quod potuit,quodnonpotestuelit?""Forwhatelse is
man'smiserybut his owndisobedienceto himself,so
thatin consequenceof his notbeingwillingto do what
he could do, he nowwills to do whathe cannot."
9Tertullian,De cultufeminarum146.The termwe
currentlyuse to designate bodily adornment-cos-
metic-is of Greekorigin.Itis relatedto cosmosby its
root and it implies somethingappliedto the natural
order of things. As such, it is more neutralthan the
term used by the Latinpoets and biblicalexegetes-
medicamina-which evokes the use of medicines,
philters,and poisons. It is in this line that we should
considerOvid'sDe medicaminefacieifeminae andhis
better-knownArs amatoriaand the Remediaamoris.
We shouldalso keep in mindthe aforementionedlink
madeby these writersbetweencosmeticsandslavery,
a common institution in the ancient and medieval
world. Slaves and prostitutesare often depicted as
excelling in the use of cosmetics.The admonitionis
to avoidbothslavesandprostitutesandcosmetics.For
the treatmentof genderby the Romanpoets,see Amy
Richlin,"MakingUp a Woman:The Face of Roman
 JORGEMANRIQUE'SCOPLASPORLA MUERTEDE SU PADRE13:145-156 9
Gender,"OffwithHer Head 185-213. For a concise
overviewof the earlydevelopmentof viewson cosmet-
ics see: Marcia Colish, "CosmeticTheology: The
Transformation of a StoicTheme"3-14.
10Tertullian,De cultufeminarum136;also Inno-
cent III:"Anartificialcountenanceis plasteredon, the
naturalface coveredup,as if man'sskillcouldsurpass
the artof his Creator.Not so, notso...But farbe it that
a counterfeitcolor be comparedwith naturalcolor;
indeed,when the face is paintedit takes on an abomi-
nablestench...Forwhatis morevainthanto combthe
locks, paint the face, smooth the hair on the head,
rougethe cheeks, elongatethe eyebrows,whenfavor
is deceitfulandbeautyis vain"(Lotariodei Segni, On
theMiseryoftheHumanCondition64). Clothingmeta-
phorsimilarin tenorto Stanza13 has long been used
to describe the process of becominga Christian.St.
Paul uses the metaphorrepeatedly (f. ex., Romans
13:14;1 Corinthians15:53;2 Corinthians1:5.
" L'ornementdes dames (Ornatusmulierum)32.
"QuantDeus out la femme fete, / De la coste Adam
est traite,/ Baut6ladunaperdurable./ Mes ele perdi
parle deble / Puis que ele out la pumegust6;/ Mult
en fu disonur6."Inspiteof its Latintitle, the 13thcen-
turyOrnatusmulierumis the oldest collectionof cos-
metic receipts in French.It is unrelatedto a workof
the same title, Ornatusmulierum,attributedto the
femalephysicianTrotulaof Salerno(see Trotulami-
nor below, note 12). A general treatmenton the use
of and attitude towardscosmetics can be found in
BernardGrillet'sLesfemmesetlesfardsdansl'antiquiti
grecque.
12 Cosmeticreceiptsare the subjectof Ovid'sDe
medicaminefaciei feminae-a fragment often pub-
lished with the Ars and the Remedia-butthe matter
seemed to have been of marginalinterestto doctors.
Though referencesto feminine (andmasculine)toi-
letry receipts can be found in the medicalworks of
Galen,Hippocrates,ConstantinusAfricanus,andoth-
ers, L'ornementis one of the few treatiseson the use
of cosmetics to be found in medievalmedicallitera-
ture.The onlyLatinmedicaltext knownto me thatis
devoted exclusively to the subject is Trotula of
Salerno'sOrnatusmulierum[alsoknownas De ornatu
mulierumor as Trotulaminor].Oftenappendedto the
Trotulamajor,a work on the ailmentsof women of
which over twenty-five manuscripts survive, the
Trotulaminoris dividedinto the followingchapters:
"Deornatufaciei,De ornatulabiorum,Qualiterdentes
dealbanturet mundificantur, Adfetoremoris, Contra
fetorem mulierum." See P. Meyer, "Recettes
m6dicales," Romania 32 (1903): 268-99; "Les
manuscrits frangais,"Romania 32 (1903): 18-120;
"Manuscritsmedicaux,"Romania44 (1915-17):161-
214;alsoL'ornement 10,n. 2 and6. Moregeneraltreat-
ments on the care of the body like Aldobrandinoda
Siena's La rigime du corps (Vatican Library,MS
PalatinusLatinus1967) are also not very common.
Onlyin the sixteenthcenturydo books on the proper
careof the bodybecomemoreplentiful(forexample,
A. Firenzuola'sDialogodellabellezzadelledonne[Flo-
rence, 1548],A. Piemontese'sDel secretidi conservar
lagioventaet ritardarla vecchiezza[Rome,1557],and
G. Marinnello'sGli ornamentidelle donne [1562]).
HowardEilberg-Schwartzand Wendy Doniger dis-
cuss the bibliographyaboutthe symbolicvalueof hair
in OffwithHerHead.
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