BlIS.

LVI I (1980)

Ovid, Alfonso X, and Juan Rodriguez del

Padron: two Castilian translations of the
Heroides and the beginnings of Spanish
sentimental prose
OLGA TUDORICi\ IMPEyl'
Indiana University

Criticism on the Spanish sentimental romance has been particularly fertile in recent years;'
naturally, the prototype of the genre, Juan Rodriguez's romance, Siervo libre de amor, has not
been neglected. Cesar Hernandez Alonso, Dinko Cvitanovic, Armando Duran, Antonio Prieto,
and Martin S. Gilderman have dealt extensively with many of its aspects: mediaeval and
Renaissance motifs, techniques, structure, sources, etc." Despite their efforts, however, we still
lack an exhaustive and illuminating study of the origin and composition of this puzzling,
controversial work.
The first critic to investigate the roots of the Spanish sentimental romance was Marcelino
Menendez Pelayo," who considered it a mere offspring of Boccaccio's Fiammetta. As far as the
Sieroo libre de amor was concerned, his opinion brought a vigorous protest: Maria Rosa Lida de
Malkiel pointed out, as Rudolph Schevill had done some forty years ear-lier'," the profound
differences between the Fiammetta and the Siervo libre (realist versus idealistic characters;
'ambiente ciudadano' v. 'ambicnte nobiliario': prosaic v. heroic love; urban scenery v.
'escenario de corte y de montana', etc.). 5 Lida de Malkiel called attention not only to the
dissimilarity between the Fiammetta and the Sieroo libre, but also to the mediaeval models and
erudition of the latter; her conclusion is that Juan Rodriguez showed 'indiferencia' and
'hostilidad' to Boccaccio's work (351). 1\10st contemporary critics, Prieto and Cvi tariovic
among them, accept her poin t of view: they exclude the I talian origins of the Siervo llbre" and
recognize its mediaeval tralado-frame. At the same time, following her suggestions, Cvitanovic
and Prieto have dug deep for other roots to the novel. According to Prieto, these are 'una lirica
provenzal y un roman courtois' (14). Without denying the possibility of such a relationship,
Cvitanovic inclines more towards the Galician and Castilian lyric poetry of the cancioneros as a
more plausible explanation of many aspects (sentimentalismo, the first-person narration, the
plaintive tone, the convoluted rhetorical style, etc.) frequently attributed to Boccaccian sources
( 11 7-18). Since the Sieroo libre is a work strewn wi th verses, Cvi tanovic' s theses, when given
practical application, may well lead to a better understanding of the way in which the narrative
voice combines lyrical, autobiographical, and fictional elements. Nevertheless, the fact that
Juan Rodriguez's romance is mainly a prose work should not be underestimated. I believe that,
before searching for its roots in lyric poetry, the possibility of some connexion with previous
Castilian prose, especially that of Alfonso X, should first be considered. I t has already been
established that the literary passages of the Estoria de Espana and the General estoria served as
models for later historical and didactic prose, and that they had a strong influence on most
Spanish prose writers and poets." What seems to be less well known is that the influence of
Alfonso also embraced epistolary and sentimental prose."

283

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 284 BHS, LVII (1980) OLGA TUDORICA IMPEY
Alfonso's sentimental heritage in Juan Rodriguez's prose can no longer he ignored. By
studying it, I hope to find at least some of the missing pieces in the puzzle of the Siervo libre's
origin; in addition, I hope to shed some light on the work's elaboration as well as on the
importance of the epistolary frame, and to contribute to a better understanding of those
peculiarities that make it so different from the erotic prose ofBoccaccio. More precisely, I shall
try to prove, firstly, that Juan Rodriguez wove some of the Alfonsine linguistic, rhetorical,
psychological, and ideological threads into the fabric of his own prose, and secondly, that the
Siervo libre bears the fruit ofJuan Rodriguez's endeavours in his translations of Ovid's Heroides.
Alfonso el Sabio and Juan Rodriguez shared a common literary heritage: the writings of
Ovid. For Alfonso, Ovid was the admirable 'auctor', who wrote in accordance with the precept
of 'prodesse et delectare', who spread knowledge and beauty by his 'palabras de verdad' and
'razones de solaz'. 9 For Juan Rodriguez, Ovid was the supreme poet, who exalted love as he
himself did. For both, the Heroides was not only a literary model worthy of translation, but also
an invitation towards re-elaboration, towards creative recasting. Their versions of Ovid's
epistles, Juan Rodriguez's Bursariow and Alfonso's Libro de las dueiias (the letters of which are
scattered throughout the General estoria) 11 share one feature: a looseness due above all to the
transposition of verse into prose.P On the other hand, the modus interpretandi of the Latin texts,
the aim and the results of their free translation, differ markedly.
In his translation, Alfonso constantly deviated from and added to the meaning of the
Heroides, not so much because of any inherent linguistic difficulties'" as for the erotic ideology
which, in many respects, was considered unacceptable for a thirteenth-century Christian
reader. The background of the Heroides also changes in the Alfonsine version. To the classical
aspects, Alfonso added mediaeval ones, drawn from his own time; the result was that the
Christian Dios and pagan divinities such as Cupid and Venus dwell in the same precinct. 14 The
ethos of love operating here is clearly different. The eroticism that Ovid expressed so openly in
his epistles is concealed in the Castilian translation. The letters that deal with scandalous
manifestations of love, such as Heroides 4 and 12, are promptly disposed of (surely because the
lustful Phaedra and the revengeful Medea constitute in Alfonso's eyes repugnant feminine
types). In turn, the translation of Heroides 7 and 14 reveals considerable elaboration.P possibly
because the love of Dido and that of Hypermnestra, which in no way trespass on the realm of
incest arid crime, are more acceptable to Alfonso's moral system. Alfonso tends to eliminate the
passionate or frivolous aspects of love, thus bestowing on his Castilian version of the Heroides a
decorum and dignity more Vergilian than Ovidian in spirit. The ardour of such Ovidian
expressions as 'auido fouet igne medullas' (Her. 4.15) 16 and 'urimur intus' (Her. 4.19) is suitably
diminished in their Alfonsine equivalent: 'enamorada' (GE, II, 1, 447b 7-8). The disarming
simplicity with which the 'duefias' of the General estoria express their love andjustify their actions
lacks a counterpart in the Heroides. In words of unequalled candour, Deianira explains why she
sent Hercules a shirt poisoned with the blood of Nessus: 'temiendo 10 que veyaya que teme toldrie otra,
seyendo tu La cosa deste mundo que yo mas amo, tome vna tu camisa que traya e metila en aquella
sangre del sagitario' (GE, II, 2, 43b 47-50, 44a 2; the Alfonsine additions indicated by italics
both here and in future citations). With similar unadorned words Phyllis explains to Demophon
in the Castilian translation that the reason for her eventual death will be her love for him: 'matar
me ... por que tanto te puedo amar' (GE, II, 2, 227b 42,44-45). The Ovidian love games-'Me
Satyri celeres (siluis ego tecta latebam) / quaesierunt rapido' (Her. 5. 135-36)-acquire the
honourable, decent purpose of matrimony: 'Paris, los ligeros dioses satiros--que son conpanna
trauiesa e muy ligeros de pies-me amauan e me demandauan para casar comigo' (GE, 11,2, 122b 39-
43). In Alfonso's translation, the illicit love affairs of Hypsipyle, Phyllis, Dido, and others take
on the aura ofa dignified marriage (GE, II, 2, 75b 30: 'juste por mi maridoy muy pagado'; 226a 20:
'te tome por marido'; peG, 39b 4: 'Eneas mio marido'). In this context, the matrimonial oath-'el
pleyto' or 'las yuras'-is given special emphasis. In Dido's letter, 'el pleyto' becomes the
argument whereby she is able to prove her innocence ('me tu mouiste . . . pleyto que casaries comigo',

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 OVID, ALFONSO X, AND JUAN RODRIGUEZ DEL PADR6~ 285
PC-VC;, 41 b 27-28: 'las yuras grandes quem elfizo . . . yurando me por todos los dios de nuestra ley', peG,
42a, 8-9, 12). In the translation of Phyllis' letter, 'las yuras' become the leitmotif for
Demophon's perjury (GE, II, 2, 225b 7-38).
In the Heroides women claim their lovers in the name of love, while in the Alfonsine version
'Ias duefias' act like legitimate wives ('tumugerlindaemadredetusfiios', GE, II, 2, 77a 13-14), who
try to retain their husbands' affections by stressing their fidelity, as Deianira does 'por los santos
derechos del nuestro casamiento que vosyo guarde muyfiel e muy casta mientre' (GE, I I, 2, 43b 25-27).
Similarly, Dido proclaims: 'non so yo Elena, natural de Miscenas de Grecia que ayun tasse el amor
de mio marido con otro, cuemo ella fizo que ayunto ell amor de Menalao, so marido con el de
Paris; esto es cosa que yo non faria en ninguna manera, ca desque el to amor oue, numqua otro
con el ayunte, ni fare mientre uiua' (PCG, 43a, 31-37). The most striking aspect of this addition
is the Alfonsine fusion of love and marriage, a concept that follows neither Church doctrine nor
the courtly love precepts reflected elsewhere in Alfonso's work ('el fecho damor ... se mueue
todo sobre fianca e de uoluntad', PCG, 40b 50-51). I t is interesting to note that Alfonso's concept
of conjugal love is similar to that of Chretien de Troyes, who created a protagonist that 'De
s' amie a fei te sa fame, / Car ill' apele amie et dame' (Cliges, ed. A. Micha [Paris 1965], vv. 6633-
34) and who summed up his doctrine of love-completely opposed to that offin'amors--in these
striking verses: 'Par mariage et par enor / \10s antre aconpaigniez ansanble; / Ensi porra, si com
moi sanble, / Vostre amors longuemant durer' (Cliges, vv. 2266-69).1 7
Other distinctive features of the Alfonsine version are the underlining of nobility and the
detailed descriptions of the sorrows of love. The place of the Ovidian nymphae is taken by well-
born mediaeval dueiias (GE, II, 2, 120a 14-15; 121 b 3-5), who even in their darkest despair never
forget to mention their high descent, 'ellinage ondeyo vengo' (GE, I 1,2, 76a 14-15), and their royal
titles, 'mas yo reyna Ysifile ... enartada en el mio casamiento' (GE, II, 2, 77a 24-26). Not
surprisingly, given the social background of the times, it is precisely this belonging to high
nobility that enhances their claims over those of their rivals (GE. 11,2, 75b 18-23). The sorrows
of love are more vividly described in the General estoria than in the Hero ides, thereby
compensating in some degree for the absence in Alfonso's translation of that ravenous side to
love so peculiar to Ovid. In Heroides 14.51, Hypermnestra describes the effects of her griefbriefly
and unemotionally: 'Purpureos laniata sinus, laniata capillos'. In Alfonso's re-creation (GE, II,
1, 140a 26-32), she not only insists upon every step of her action-'eche las mis manos en mis
uestidos, que 10 non dubde, maguer que eran de porpola e pannos de peso, e rompilos todos de
los pechos fasta en el seno, e fiz los piecas; e messe me muy de rezio los cabellos'-but also points
to a concrete image to suggest the violence of her despair: she tugs at her hair with such force
that "las manos sacaua llenas dellos' .18
The grief of the abandoned woman is especially amplified and highly dramatized in the
translation of those episodes that deal with the parting of the couples. Each moment, each
gesture and action, is seen in slow motion. This tecnica retardataria gives poignancy to the image of
Hypsipyle, for example, struggling to reach the top of the tower before any of her ladies-in-
waiting, and then gazing with 'coracon quebrado' as Jason's ship disappears over the horizon
(GE, 11,2, 74a 31-34,36-45). The Ovidian verses corresponding to this passage (Her. 6,69-70)
are much blunter: 'In latus omne patens turris circumspicit undas; / Huc feror'. No less
poignant is the scene where Phyllis wanders along the sea shore ('a las riberas llenas de matas que
me ronpen toda, do me parti de ry, e andar por do quier que yo puedo de los pies por ella e por la mar',
GE, II, 2, 227a, 44; 227b 1-3). Another way that Alfonso strengthens the sentimental mood of
the dueiias in the General estoria is through the profusion of laments such as 'ay, mezquina' and the
introduction of psychological debates that verge on introspection. A typical example is the
translation of Heroides 14, Hypermnestra's soliloquy, in the General estoria: 'Mas desi torne e
razone me por mi misma otrossi, e dix assi' (II, 1, 14Gb 1-2); 'e razonando me cuemo quis razona
con otra persona, dix asi' (140b 33-34); 'et a esto respondi yo misma otrossi et dix' (141 a 4-5,
etc.). Her anguished monologue, wavering between dread of what her father might do to her if

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 286 BHS, LVII (1980) OLGA TUDORICA IMPEY
she does not kill her husband and her love for Lynceus, acquires dimensions unknown to the
Latin original. This 'razonarse contra si misma', percontatio ad seipsam, becomes a favourite
introspective device in the literary pages that deal with love in Alfonso's estorias.P
By amplifying the Ovidian text, Alfonso tends in many cases to re-create the tragic love
story; his translation of Dido's letter (Her. 7), the only epistle to be included in the Estoria de
Espana, reflects without doubt a creative endeavour, that 'actividad artistica nada desdeiiable
que rebasa con mucho la mera traducciori' mentioned by Lida de Malkiel" and which, I
believe, is characteristic of his best pages. This Castilian version is the best example of the
deviation, elaboration, and interpretation that thirteenth-century ethics and aesthetics
imposed on the scholar king and his collaborators. He replaced Dido's passion with a
tridimensional love; as a result of the numerous amplifications it transpires that Dido loves not
only as a woman, but also as wife and mother. Fidelity, wedlock, and maternity are all aspects of
a unique love that makes the Alfonsine Dido so different from her Ovidian prototype and from
the Dido of the Roman d'Eneas. Not for one moment does Dido, in the latter work, think of
marriage, nor does she draw any strength from her fidelity.>' Alfonso, on the other hand, places
particular emphasis on Dido's social status and on her psychological characterization. In Ovid's
text, she is more a deceived woman than a queen, whereas in Alfonso's estorias (peG, 3gb 34, for
example) her royal stature is never overlooked. Even so, in Alfonso's text, Dido appears more
tender and appealing, more meditative and reasonable than she does in Heroides 7. In the
Castilian prose reinterpretation, her generosity is enhanced, the cruelty of Aeneas underlined.
Alfonso's modus interpretandi, based on frequent use of amplificatio, in particular interpretatio
and exclamatio, directly affects the sentimental register of the original. In its totality, Alfonso's
Castilian version of the Dido episode on occasions far surpasses the sentimental rhetoric of Ovid;
more often than not, his is not a translation but a creative adaptation, in which he exerted all his
literary skills in order to provide the Spanish reader of the thirteenth century with an
accomplished estoria, and with a model of ornate prose.P
Juan Rodriguez, on the other hand, is utterly devoid of creative ambitions in his version of
the Heroides, the Bursario. Not at all concerned with the accuracy of his translation, he resorts
freely to paraphrase.P What is striking is that, in many instances, his loose paraphrastic
rendering of the Latin coincides with that adopted by Alfonso in his reworking of Ovid's love
epistles.P A reasonable inference would be that Juan Rodriguez had in hand the Alfonsine
manuscripts, or at least those containing versions of the Heroides, when working on his own
translation. Such an assumption can be quickly verified. The title ofOvid's epistles is translated
in exactly the same way: ] uan Rodriguez refers to the Heroides as 'el libro de las duefias 0
senoras', just as Alfonso did in the General estoria (II, 2, 3gb 8-9, 224b 30, etc.). He also borrows
from Alfonso the format of his presentation: as in the General estoria, each epistle in the Bursario is
preceded by an introduction that contains information, not found in the Ovidian letters,
concerning the descent of the dueiia, the circumstances of her love, her desertion for another
woman, her distress, and the intent of her letter. The way in which]uan Rodriguez concludes
the introductory explanations also seems to be inspired by Alfonso. After translating Heroides 2
(GE, II, 2, chapter [xix], 'De las razones de la epistola que Fillis enbio a Demofon'), Alfonso
adds another chapter in which he sets forth Ovid's purpose: 'La entencion de Ouidio en esta
epistola fue dar enxemplo e castigo a las donzellas de alta guisa, e avn a quales quier otras que su
castigo quisieren tomar que non sean ligeras de mouer se para creer luego los dichos de los
entendedores, por que se non fallen mal dello despues commo fizo esta Fillis que creyo a este
Demofon, e la enarto el, e se fallo ende muy mal por que se fue e finco ella desanparada ... '
(GE, 11,2, 228a 21-31, chapter [xx], 'De la entencion de Ouidio en esta epistola'). Much in the
same spirit, though more laconically, ] uan Rodriguez writes: 'La intincion del actor es
reprehenderla de loco amor, ca Ioca mente amo, pues que amo a su huesped' (Bursario, 202).
The reproof of loco or illicito amor ends most ofJuan Rodriguez's explanatory introductions to
Ovid's letters; the only difference between his introductions and those of the General estoria lies in

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 C)VID, ALFONS() X, AND JUAN RODRIGUEZ DEL PADRC):\, 287

the mode ofpresentation:J uan Rodriguez sums up in a lew lines material that often takes up one
or more chapters in Alfonso's work.
j\ close reading of Alfonso's and] uan Rodriguez's translat ions also reveals many striking
coincidences of detail, which leave no doubt that the former exercised a strong textual influence
on the latter. The spelling of the names is altered in exactly the same way (Dayanira, Mares,
Lepnos, etc.). Solutions which Alfonso had found to specific problems of translation are also
adopted by Juan Rodriguez, in spite of their discordance with the Latin original. For example,
'sedit in ingenio ... tuo' (Her. 2, 76\) is translated by Alfonso as 'non se te pego al en coracori'
((;E', I I, 2, 226b 12), and the same phrase occurs in the Bursar:o ('non se te pego otra cosa', p.
204 . Manv of Alfonso's lexical interpretations and phraseological preferences are also found in
the Bursario: 'cant ar (228) represents the Alfonsine translation per;, 41 b 31) of'ululare' (Her.
7.9.5): "biudo lecho' (241) corresponds to 'Iecho ... bibrlo !CE~. II, 1, 425b 15), a fortunate
interpretation of'uiduo toro (lier. 10, 14); 'Iocdera' i Her, 4.14'7) becornes "amiz.tad ' ((;E, 11,1,
450a 34-35; Bursario, p. 215); Dido's complaint against Aeneas In] uan Rodriguez's version, 'sv
has voluntad de me guitar la vida' (Bursario, 231 L follows Alfonso's distorted accusatory
rendering, 'e q uieres en todas guisas que muera' (PC'(;, 43b 2 1-22) of the Ovidian verse, 'est
animus nobis effundere uitam' (Her. 7.181), which contains no reference to Aeneas wanting her
to die. Oenone's words in the Bursano, 'E sobresto, Febo, que fur: en fazer los muros de Troya, se
enamoro de rni' (220) closely follow the wording ofthe thirteenth-century version: "E sobresto
amo me Febo, que Iue en Iaz.er los m uros de .lrova' ((; E', I I, 2. 123a 1-3), an expansion of the
line 'Me fide conspicuus Troiae munitor amauit' (Her. 5.139 .
'Thr'ough his additions and amplifications, Alfonso often intended to make explicit what in
Ovid was merely an allusion, to tone down certain strong expressions, and to enlighten the
thirteenth-century, reader unfamiliar with the classical world. Evidentlv, , these additions and
amp lificat ions vvere considered no less necessary for readers t\VO centuries later, for almost
without exceptionJ uanRodriguez incorporates them in his own translation: 'escapo delas casas
corvas de Dalo ... pOI' el ayuda de mi hermana Adriana' i Bursario, p. 213; n1Y italics indicate
textual similarities here and elsewhere)-'ffuxo de las coruas casas de Dedalo . . . pOI' el ayuda de mi
hermana Adriagna' (C;E, 11,1, 448a 23-25) corresponding to l!eroides 4.60: 'Curua meae fugit
tecta sororis ope'; 'soy digna y cobdicio ser madre del linate de I poderoso Priamo' (: Bursario, p.
219 -----'cobdiC;io ser madre del Iina]e del poderoso Priamo ((;E, 11,2, 121b 7-8), which renders
Heroides 5.85, 'cupio fieri matrona potentis': 'sumit aquella nao en que fa dueiia oiene' (Bursario, p.
220 )--'somergad en la rnar aquella naue en (jue aquella duenna l iene' ((;E, I I, 2, 122a 46-47), a
softened translation of Heroides 5.119, 'obscenam ponto dcmergite puppim'.
Some of the Alfonsine additions are inserted in the Bursarto merely as narrative or
explanatory connectors: 'fazia ella su oracion e dezia i Bursario. p. 220)-'£ en pos csto fizo sus
razones e dixo' ((;E. II, 2, 122a 44-46), lines that do not appear in Heroides 5.Juan Rodriguez is
so imbued with Alfonso's style of explanatory rendering and translating that he juxtaposes the
Alfonsine interpretation and his own literal translation. Part of the clause, 'E acuerdorne yo
agora que hasta aqut duro l.a tu raron: y las otras cosas ... no me las podiste fablar (Bursario, p. 223),
is again borrowed from the Alfonsine version of Heroidcs 6.64 (GE, I I, 2, 74a 16-18: 'E
acuerdome yo agora mZ1:Y bien que fasta estas polauras cino la tu ru,zon'). His lines 'Priamo ... no
devria rehusar de SCI' suegro de ona dueiia, compaiiera delas ninjas' (Bursario, 219), for instance,
faithfully render Heroides 5.83, 'ut Priamus nymphae socer esse recusset', but at the same time
draw on the General estoria for the detail concerning the social st.i tus of the dueiia ('refusase de ser
suegro de mi, que so duenna', C;E, 11,2, 121b 4-5).
I n a Iew instances it seems that] uan Rodriguez is attracted by Alfonso's phraseology for its
poetic qualities: in Alfonso's translation, the song of the swan is specifically 'dolorido (PCG, 39b
44); in that ofJ uan Rodriguez it is 'doloroso' (Bursario, 226), while in the Latin original it is
merely 'concinit' (Her. 7.4). Alfonso's version of Heroides 4.30 CEt tenui primam delegere ungue
rosam'), 'coger con mano la primera rosa del rosal' (GE, 11,1, 447b 24-25), which reminds one

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 288 BHS, LVII (1980) OLGA TUDORICA IMPEY
of the villancico 'Del rosal sale la rosa' of]uan Vasquez's collection, has an echo in the Bursario
(212), 'con su delgada vfia corta la primera rosa del rosa!'. Many of the binomial phrases used by
Alfonso are to be found in]uan Rodriguez's own translations: 'ouo sus amores e sus solazes' (GE,
II, 1, 448b 38), 'ovo sus plazeres y solaces' (Bursario, 214)-for which there is no corresponding
passage in Heroides 4; 'doma e ablande; contra mi el to coracon' (GE, II, 1, 450b 8-9)-'doma e
ablanda . . .' (Bursario, 215), as compared to 'duraque corda doma' (Her. 4.156).
An attentive reading of the Bursario and of the versions of the Heroides in the General estoria
reveals that Alfonso's influence on] uan Rodriguez is not limited to the verbal level: it extends to
the deeper stratum of meaning. More precisely,] uan Rodriguez adopts in the Bursario Alfonso's
ideological, ethical, and sometimes aesthetic interpretations of the Heroides. The praise of
marriage, chastity, loyalty, and nobility, the emphasis on inner debate and on the pathetic
mood, the profound insights into the emotional life that, as we have seen, Alfonso underlined in
his versions of the Heroides, reverberate again and again in the Bursario. For]uan Rodriguez,
'foedera' has the same meaning as it does for Alfonso: 'pleytesias del matrimonio' (Bursario,
211); 'derechos del casamiento' (GE, 11,1, 447b 1-3). Consequently, the Ovidian queens are, as
in the General estoria, faithful wives who address their loved one as 'mio marido' (PCG, 39
41-Bursario, 228; PCG, 41 b 47-51-Bursario, 229), and who insist on their chastity: in the
Bursario Hypsipyle's words, 'Adde preces castas' (Her. 6.73) are interpreted in the same way as
in Alfonso's version: 'tu devrias considerar el amor que te he, por el qual, guardandote castidat, hago alos
dioses grandes ruegos' (Bursario, 223)-'despues que tu de mi te partiste, que sienpreyo mantoue
castidat; e la mantengo agora' (GE, II, 2, 74b 5-7). Inspired by Alfonso's text, Juan Rodriguez
emphasizes Oenone's chaste behaviour and her struggle with Apollo, by contrasting it with
Helen's dishonest acceptance of Paris-an addition to the Ovidian text (Bursario, 220: 'e todo
esto no fizo Elena ... pues parec;e que le plogo del su robo'; GE, II, 2, 123a 7-9: '10 que non fizo
Elena . . . mas que Ie plogo con 10 que le acaescio').
The expression ofintimate feelings, Hypsipyle's cry ofgrief t'jay de mi, mesquina!', Bursario,
222) when she learns from her guest that]ason brought with him a new lover, and Phyllis'
exclamation ofjoy and hope when she thinks she sees Demophon's ship returning ('E con grand
gozo corro contra los mares', Bursario, 205) are borrowed from the additions made by Alfonso in
the General estoria: 'e dio a entender las mis llagas. E esto es que traxiste muger de alIa. jAy de mi,
mezquina!' (II, 2, 73a 38-41); 'E tan grande de ende el gozo, que por poco non me dexo caer en la
mar' (11,2, 227b 10-12), as compared to Heroides 2.127: 'in freta procurro'. Hypermnestra's
anguished monologue-a display of Alfonso's impressionistic technique, as already mentioned
(GE, II, I, 140a 32-34; 140b 1-2, 32-36, etc.) also leaves some traces in ] uan Rodriguez's
translation: 'dixe con baxa voz aquestas palabras ... E contra esto dizia' (Bursario, 259), 'De
otra parte pensava' (Bursario, 260), et cetera.
All these textual correspondences can hardly be considered mere coincidences.s" I t is more
likely that] uan Rodriguez, like] uan de Mena, relied heavily on Alfonso's writings without
acknowledging his source.P" For instance, the introductions]uan Rodriguez provides for a
number of letters in the Bursario appear to be summaries of chapters taken from the General
estoriaP According to Rudolph Schevill, the Bursario constitutes 'one of the first steps of the
process by which the works of Ovid, notably the Metamorphoses and the Heroides, assumed a
modern garb and so became part of Spanish fiction of the Renascence' (116). Today, in light of
the partial publication of Alfonso's General estoria, Schevill's assumptions, shared by Charles
Kany.P' may need some revision. In fact, the Bursario assured not only the diffusion of the
Heroides in Spain, but also Alfonso's interpretation of this Latin work, an interpretation which,
among other things, offered an original view of love and marriage.

The Bursario represents ] uan Rodriguez's apprenticeship in literary prose, an

apprenticeship that culminates in three original love letters: from Madreselva to Mausolus,
Troilus to Briseida, and Briseida to Troilus. Not surprisingly, their composition is affected by

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 ()VID, ALFONSO X, AND JUAN RODRIGUEZ DEL PADR()N 289
] uan Rodriguez's knowledge of the Heroules and his reading of Alfonso's translation. According
to Lida de Malkiel.F' from the Heroides Juan Rodriguez borrows his retrospective narrative
technique and the setting for his first original letter: just as Canace does in Heroides 11 and
H ypermnestra in Heroides 14, Madrcselva writes to Mausolus from prison, on the very night he
has either to marry Artemisa or die on the scaffold. However, the reminiscences from the
Heroides do not stop here. The beginning of the dialogue between Madreselva and her servant
Creta, for example, in which Madreselva betrays her impatience to discover whether or not
Mausolus is alive iBursario, 297), has its parallel in Hypsipyle's conversation with the 'Thessalus
hospes' (Her. 6.23-29). Further examples might include: Artemisa's complaint against
Mausolus, who 'robo el grand tesoro syn estima de mi castidat' (Bursaria, 297), which is inspired
by Phyllis' suit (Her. 2.115); the erotic allusion to the 'despojo del arbol ... del primero fruto'
(Bursaria, 297), which comes from the Alfonsine translation of Heroides 4.29, 'tomar omne la
primera fruta' (CE, 11,1, 447b 23); and Madrcselvas reproach 'aquellos vientos que lievan las
velas, llevaran los ruegos y las palabras' (Bursaria, 298), echoing those of Dido (Her. 7.10) and
Phyllis (Her. 2.25). Madreselva's naivete and the title of glory that she assumes Mausolus will
acquire from her deceit (Bursaria, 299) have their origin in Hercules 2.63-64; the comparison
between Mausolus' cruelty and 'el diamante oriental' or 'el saldo azero' (Bursaria, 299) derives
from Heraides 2.137; Mausolus' declaration of love, 'Quando el biuo fuego hiziera paz con las
aguas y pudieren en vno bevir Manseol sin la Madreselua' (Bursaria, 300), is an elaboration of a
similar oath made by Paris to Oenone (Her. 5.29-30); Madreselva's contempt for her other
suitors (Bursaria, 300) is expressed in terms similar to those ofOenone (Her. 5.135-39) or of Dido
(Her. 7.123-24); Madreselva's scheme of prompting Mausolus to read her letter without letting
it fall into Arternisa's hands is an echo of Heroides 5.3-4.
However numerous they may be, the verbal echoes from the Heroides cited above, as well as
the mention of Ariadne, Hypsipyle, and other Ovidian protagonists, do little more than
underline the superficiality of Ovid's influence on the 'Carta de Madreselva a Manseol'. Lida
de Malkiel, with her customary perspicacity, noted that in this epistleJ uan Rodriguez 'forjo un
argumento nuevo y personajes originales' (331). Not only are the argument and the
characterization different from the alleged model, but the whole spirit of Madreselva's letter is
far from Ovidian: it lacks completely the erotic allusions, the passion, and the blind, somewhat
lascivious, sensuality that permeates the Heroides, and which I propose to discuss later on.
'There are further traces ofAlfonso's re-working of the lIeroidcs in the 'Carta de Madreselva'.
Madreselva's dignity resembles that of the dueiias in the first Castilian translation of Ovid's
espistles: even when she is most distressed she does not fail to allude to her royal station,
sometimes employing a fine conceit or two: 'reyna syn reyno' iBursario, 296 and 301). The
plaintive, defenceless tone she adopts in such exclamations as 'jAy de mi!' and 'jCuidada!'
i Bursario, 298, 299, 300) recalls the numerous laments with which Alfonso enriched Dido's
letter. In a pronounced spirit of reconciliation, Madreselva uses phrases replete with sententiae
('Mira 10 que lleuas, piensa 10 que dexas', Bursario, 301; 'Ia fe syn vida biue y la vida sin fe es
sepultada', Bursaria, 300) that recall Dido's own mode of reasoning in Alfonso's translation
(})(;C, 42b 41-43): 'mas te ualdra, Eneas que ... tomes 10 que es cierto e dexes 10 que non 10 es'.
The other literary letters of] uan Rodriguez, from 'Iroilus to Briseida-? and from Briseida to
Troilus, do not differ significantly from the 'Carta de Madreselva'. Formally, they follow Ovid's
last epistles, written in pairs: 'Paris Helenae' and 'Helena Paridi', 'Leander Heroni' and 'Hero
Leandro', and 'Acontius Cydippae' and 'Cydippe Acontio'.
As was the case in the 'Carta de Madreselva', the text of these letters is full ofquotations from
the Heroides and contains obvious allusions to the feminine characters of the Latin work. The
theme, broadly speaking, is the familiar Ovidian one (the separation of the lovers Troilus and
Briseida during the Trojan War); but Juan Rodriguez reproduces Ovid's music by plucking
different strings, so that a new melody emerges. Once again, the erotic element is absent and the
theme of loyalty jdisloyalty predominates.

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 290 BHS, LVII (1980) OLGA TUDORICA IMPEY
From Troilus' letter it appears that his main concern is not so much the loss ofBriseida's love
as her 'innorme e orrible deslealtat, la qual todos mis sentidos turba y ocupa' (Bursario, 305). In
her extended reply, Briseida pleads her case by reversing the accusation of disloyalty: Troilus'
passivity when Priam handed her over to the Greek Diomedes (Bursario, 308-09) and his
preference for plundering rich tents during the war instead of going to her rescue iBursario,
310-11). As evidence ofher constant love, she brings her own heart: 'sy lealtat, tristor y desseo en
vn solo momento se parte de mi, hago testigo a mi coracori' (Bursario, 313).
This insistence upon loyalty, which in both letters outweighs love and grief, coincides with
one of the most important Alfonsine additions to the Hero ides, namely that to the fourteenth
epistle, in which Hypermnestra prattles on ad nauseam about her 'lealtad' (GE, II, 1, 138a 27-29;
138b 1-12, 33-37, etc.). The avoidance of sensual innuendoes, the modesty-recato-that
characterizes the love affair, and even some didactic phraseology ('juro yo por los nuestros
dioses Venus y Cupido, que son poderosos de amor', Bursario, 304) also recall Alfonso's
reworking of Heroides 7 (peG, 40a 56-40b 2).
Alfonso's concept of love, as well as the accompanying ethical values that all 0\\' marriage
and love to coexist harmoniously, left a deep imprint on Juan Rodriguez's literary letters. Its
most evident result, I believe, was the creation of Madreselva, the prototype of the doncella
who-as proved to be the pattern in later Spanish sentimental romances-loves with
decorum.P! Equally important in Juan Rodriguez's literary letters is the creation of a male
character who has none of the recognized traits of the Ovidian hero: Mausolus and Troilus, for
example, are not powerful or cruel, but weak, pathetic, incapable of defending themselves. At
no point does Troilus abandon Briseida, whereas few if any of the 'heroes' in the Heroides suffer
from such qualms. On the contrary, it is Troilus, not Briseida, who complains of being
abandoned. I t would seem that in his person Juan Rodriguez gave shape to the plaintive male
counterpart of the deceived Ovidian Iady.:" In him and in Mausolus, one can easily see the
forerunner of the male lover deprived of love who was to play such an important role not only in
the Siervo libre de amor but in all Spanish sentimental romances.

The influence of Ovid and Alfonso, although not as strong as in the letters of Madreselva,
Troilus, and Briseida, is nonetheless visible in the composition ofJuan Rodriguez's romance,
and only a scholar limiting himself to a superficial reading could dismiss it en tirely. 33 Called by
its author a tratador" Siervo libre opens with an explanatio similar to those that preceded each letter
in the Bursario, as well as some of the Ovidian epistles of Alfonso's estonas. Once the explanatory
material had been disposed of, however, the reader soon realizes that the romance follows an
epistolary pattern familiar to Juan Rodriguez from his translations of the Heroides and practised
in his own literary letters. Like all epistles, the Siervo libre starts with a salutatio: 'Johan Rodriguez
del Padron, el menor de los amigos eguales en bien amar, al su mayor Goncalo de Medina, juez
de Mondofiedo, requiere de paz y salut' (SL.A, 67) ;35 it continues with an inordinately long
exordium, in which Juan Rodriguez gives his reasons for writing the work: 'La fe prometida al
yntimo y claro amor, y la instancia de tus epistolas oy me haze escreuir, ... con la pena del
temor, escriuo a ty, cuyo ruego es mandamiento e plegaria disciplina a mi no poderoso de ty
fuyr' (SLA, 67), 'trayendo ficiones ... al poetico fyn de aprouechar y venir a ty en plazer con las
fablas', etc. (SLA, 67-68). At this point, the prescribed order for an epistle is inverted: instead of
a narratio, briefly announced ('La muy agria relacion del caso, los pasados tristes y alegres actos y
esquivas contemplaciones e ynotos e varios pensamientos', SLA, 67), Juan Rodriguez moves
directly to the petitio: 'que en sefial de amistad te escrivo de amor por mi que sientas la grand
fallia de los amadores y poca fianca de los amigos; e por mi juzgues a ty amador. Esfuercatc en
pensar 10 que creo pensaras' (SLA, 68). The narratio, which follows after the petitio, is somewhat
complex because it owes its structure to an embedding technique.P" The frame or embedding
story deals with the love of a protagonist, who ambiguously calls himself 'Siervo libre de amor'
(The Emancipated Slave of Love or Slave to Love of His Own Free Will), and who wanders the

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 C)VID, ALFONS() X, AND JUAN RODRIC;UEZ DEL PADRC)l\ 291

paths of \7 enus, Hercules, and Minerva, encountering many adventures along the way ('el
t iernpo que bien amaua", "el tiempo que bien arno y fue desamado. and "cl tiempo que no am6
ni Iuc desamado'). Embedded in this love story, related in 'the first person' as an autobiography,
is a 'third-person' narration, 'la estoria de dos amadores' of Ardanlier and Liessa. The conclusio of
the letter sums up the tribulations endured by the 'escura maginanca ' of the Stereo fibre. The
Siervos erotic wanderings seem to come to an end: free from the throes of passion, he is greeted
by 'Ia muy avisada Synderesis', who will lead him to serenity and wisdom, following the path of
Minerva. The reader is given to understand that, during their journev, Synderesis asked him to
tell her the story of his adventures: 'luego, despues de la salua, vvno en demanda de mis acenturas: e
yo esso mesmo en recuenta de aq uellas (SLA, 112, Iny italics'). [his ending suggests the closed
structure of the novel: Svnderesis' desire to know the extent of Siervos adventures coincides
with the demanda made by Gonc;alo de Medina, which in fact gave birth to the novel ('I~a muy
agria relacion del caso, los pasados tristes y alegres actos . . . d ernandas saber', SL11, 67). a7 In
this way, the epistle written for Goncalo de Medina becomes the story told to Synderesis (or vice
versa); in other words,] uan Rodriguez conceived the Sieroo fibre as an open letter, addressed not
only to a friend but to all his readers.
In the huge 'riovelesque' letter that is the Sierco libre, those readers familiar with Ovids
Heroides will easily recognize various Ovid ian reminiscence- and epistolary devices. The
retrospective psychological narrative that is dominant throughout the romance may also be
found in most sections of the Herotdes. An excellent model for this technique, as Maria Rosa Lida
de Malkiel pointed out, could be Heroides 9, Deianiras epistle. :~~ The embedding techniq ue of a
story within another story was used by Ovid in the Mct amorpho-es, and thus was well known to
Juan Rodriguez. As in the Heroides, the predominant mode of expression in the Sirroo libre is the
monologue: the entire romance can be viewed as] uan Rodriguez's epistolary monologue, a
monologue which in turn contains other shorter monologues, both spoken or written down in
letters by Lamidoras, Croes, Ardanlier, and others. A diffuse Ovid ian atmosphere surrounds
and penetrates the romance; the reminiscences and a.llu-ions to characters from the
Metamorphoses and the Hero ides, [reg uen tly accompanied by the req uisi te epithet, are, indeed,
very numerous: 'Ia incontinente Fedra', "muv desleal a Felix, Demofon segun dize Ovidio en sus
Epistolas' (78), 'Ia triste Eco, trabajada en pos de Narciso (81 ,et cetera. lL\.S happens often in
many episodes from the Heroides, the lover, the Siervo, wande-rs through deserted lands and
'rnalezas, finally reaching 'Ia ribera del grand mar'. The echoes from Ovid and Alfonso have a
more profound and concrete resonance in the 'estoria de dos arnadores', which SeeITIS to be the
crossroads for many differing traditions. 'The story apparently revolves around a typically
Ovidian erotic triangle: Liessa and Ardanlier love each other. but, with the passage of time,
Ard anlier begins a new love relationship with Y rena. Just as the lives of Hypermnestra and
Lynceus are threatened by Danaos, so too are those of Liessa and Ardanlier by Croes, the latrers
father. In much the same way as Paris and Oenone before them, Ardanlier and Liessa take
refuge in the woods and live in happy solitude for many years;:39 finally, the irate Crees locates
Liessa, who, according to him, should be put to death. Liessa's plea for mercy, the reasons she
advances why her life should be spared (SLA, 89-90), as well as her death by the sword, are
inspired either by the text of Dido's epistle or by its Alfonsine adaptation. Whereas in Heroides 7
Dido tries to move Aeneas to pity and make him stay in Carthage by introducing the idea of a
hypothetical son, in Alfonso's version the possibility of having a son becomes more than a
probability, a solution also adopted by ] uan Rodrtguez-v-wimcss Liessa's words (SL.A, 89-90).
Some of the most notable topoi occurring in the letter that Ardanlier sends to Yrena after Liessa's
death (the letter is stained with his blood, SLA, 94, and, like Dido, he commits suicide by falling
on a sword-this incidentally is the first death caused by love known to original Castilian prose)
are certainly Ovidian. The epitaph carved on the tomb of Liessa and Ardanlier is probably
inspired by the funerary inscriptions that conclude so many of Ovid's Hero ides.
From Alfonso, on the other hand, comes the sober tone with which the love relationship is

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 292 BHS) LVII (1980) OLGA TUDORICA IMPEY
described in both the autobiography and the story of Ardanlier. The distinction between a
'novela er6tica' and a 'novela sentimental' that Armando Duran makes with regard to the Siervo
libre (according to him the autobiographical story is erotic, while that of Ardanlier is
sentimental) has in fact no validity.v' There is no textual evidence to support the sensual erotic
details he reads into the work. As is the case with the literary epistles]uan Rodriguez appended
to the Bursario, in the Siervo libre love lacks all the exterior signs of intense passion that
characterize not only the Heroides but also the lyric poetry written between the twelfth and
fifteenth centuries.s! as well as some works of chivalric prose.P There are no sighs, 'cuitas',
embraces, nor are there allusions to them or to beds as suitable locations for sensual encounters
of any kind, whether amor purus or not. With the exception of the beginning of the estoria, where
Ardanlier mentions the 'grandes furias de amor' and the 'fuego venereo' (SLA, 84), his love for
Liessa appears to be extremely serene, limited to such formulaic expressions as 'que la tanto
amaua' (SLA, 86) and 'aquella que amaua mas que a sy' (87). After performing many deeds of
valour, Ardanlier retires to the woods, near the city of Venera, and there lives with Liessa for
seven years (confined within the walls of a palace) in a relationship of mutual understanding,
similar to that established at the beginning of their flight. The fact that he chooses to live with
Liessa outside Venera, not within the city, seems to suggest that the love he professes for her is
not the passionate type. Both the tratado that seals the years of shared existence and Ardanlier's
loyalty to Liessa, as expressed in his letter to Yrena (SLA, 94), point towards a kind of'pleyto de
matrimonio secreto'. Their initial ties, based as they were on courtly love, dissolved, therefore,
into a conjugal intimacy, that had its fruit in their as yet unborn son. This complex relationship
leads to the striking presentation of Liessa in three hypostases-lover, wife, and mother-
which, I believe, is drawn from Alfonso's interpretation of Dido's estoria, an episode particularly
cherished by]uan Rodriguez in the Bursario. In Alfonso's elaboration of Heroides 7 and Juan
Rodriguez's estoria de dos amadores, a new sentimental tradition emerges, one that presents a
woman in her full potential for love-courtly, marital, and maternal-without denying her the
praise she deserved: Ardanlier's love for Liessa, which lasts until the end of his life, embraces all
three hypostases. In twelfth-century France, Chretien de Troyes had already shown that love
and marriage are compatible. Alfonso and, following him,] uan Rodriguez go a step beyond
Chretien's conception: for them, love is also compatible with motherhood.:"
Another trait that] uan Rodriguez inherited from his reading of Alfonso's translation of the
Heroides is the praise of chastity within a matrimonial relationship. Through numerous
amplifications, Alfonso constantly emphasized the faithfulness of the wife towards her
indifferent, oblivious husband.v' The most significant change that] uan Rodriguez made in his
estoria, that of attributing extreme fidelity to the male spouse, Ardanlier, rather than to his
female counterpart, as Alfonso and Ovid had done, heralds the new sentimental sensibility,
bestowed on men, that was to permeate Spanish prose.:" Unlike Aeneas, Theseus,]ason, or any
of the other protagonists of the Heroides, Ardanlier remains loyal to Liessa even after Yrena
attempted to interfere, by initiating a kind of courtly love episode in which she declares herself
to be Ardanlier's slave. The scale or depth of his loyalty has little or no connexion with the lyric
poetry ofjin'amors or with Andreas Capellanus' treatise.t" and his confession to Yrena, written on
the brink ofsuicide, makes this quite clear: 'que tejuro por la deesa Minerua, a quien devo la fe,
desque entendida la fyrme fe tuya, syempre ardy en intrynseco amor de ty, que por fuyr la
deslealtat, ella ni tu sabydoras, nin fuera de mi otra persona byva' (SLA, 94). The only reasons
that Ardanlier advances for his loyalty are ethical: he believes he is bound to take steps to ensure
that his new love does not inflict any suffering upon Liessa, and that ,the basis of their past
relationship can be preserved provided that the partner who no longer loves conducts himselfin
an upright manner: 'Piensa 10 que creo pensaras sy tu fueras madama Lyessa segun que Yrena, e
vieras ami, requestado de nueva senora, amar, en desprecio y oluidanca de ty; creo no 10 ouieras
en grado, mas con grand rraz6n predicarias a mi desleal. Pues no menos la senora de mi lo syntiera por
tm grand agraviamento, vyniendo en conocimiento de mi voluntat. . . los dos partesanos de la vida del plazer

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 OVID, ALFONSO X, AND JUAN RODRIGUEZ DEL PADRON 293

devan juntamente moryr, e padecer' (SLA, 94, my italics). The lovers' perfidia, which is the
predominant theme in the Heroides, and which Alfonso and his followers exaggerated in order to
incite pity in their readers for the abandoned dueiias, disappears completely in the Siervo libre de
amor. The male protagonist is profoundly loyal: as we learn, in the Siervo libre, Siervo is guilty of
indiscretion not of disloyalty; his aim throughout the romance is to prove this, not by a direct
declaration but by the narration of another love story. Significantly, the conclusion of this story
calls attention to the fact that his kinship with Macias and other great lovers is due to his loyalty:
'he s610 heredado en su lealtad' (SLA, 106). Siervo's message is clear: his own 'nombradia' (SLA,
l06) or fame lies not in a great love that would end in self-sacrifice or destruction, but in the
faithfulness he has shown throughout his life. At the end of the first part of the work, where his
love with the unknown lady is treated, we learn that he has retired to the 'templo de la grand
soledat' not only for shame of having betrayed her name, but also out of lealtat (SLA, 75). In
brief, the main theme-with only a few variations-of the Siervo libre is loyalty: that of the
protagonist for the unknown lady; that of his enviable alter-ego, Ardanlier, for his spouse-like
beloved, Liessa; that ofYrena for Ardanlier; that of Lamidoras for his master; even that of the
thirteen hounds ('los treze canes') which, stricken with grief at Ardanlier's death, turn to stone
in front of his tomb (SLA, 106). Moreover, as was the case in Alfonso's sentimental prose, the
restraint shown in the expression of sensual love is compensated for in the Siervo libre de amor by
the heightening of the sorrow caused by love and separation. Dido, Hypermnestra, and other
female characters amplify and multiply their grief and laments in the Castilian version of the
Hero ides; Ardanlier, Yrena, and Lamidoras break down, weeping and mourning ('esquivo y
amargoso llanto', 'fuertes gemidos', 'sospiros y quexas', SL.A, 91; 'grandes gritos', 'variado en
lagrimas', SLA, 95), wringing their hands and tearing their hair piteously ('en grand estrago de
sus cabellos, hilos de oro parecientes, tyrando dellos muy sin dolor, firiendo en el real visaje,
plegando las blancas manos, bolando el gracioso cuello, llorando, gymiendo, agramen te
sospirando, haziendo las vascas, fasta obmudecida caher en el rrico estrado syn sentido",
SLA, 97).
One immediate conclusion can be drawn from a comparison of the Hero ides, the Libro de las
dueiias, and Juan Rodriguez's work: that the Ovidian and Alfonsine threads woven into the
structure and meaning of the Siervo libre de amor are undeniable. In addition, at least one
assumption can be made: that the thematic, structural, and stylistic links between Alfonso's
sentimental prose and that of] uan Rodriguez are far more numerous than those presented in
this study: the classical substratum, the display of erudition, the praise of fame and wisdom, the
mythical dimensions of time and space, the insertion of love epistles within another narrative
structure, and the rhetorical devices also merit attention. They are, however, of such
complexity that they make taxing demands on the time and patience of the budding exegete. If
critics have failed up to now to perceive these links, it is only because in looking for
autochthonous models they focused their attention primarily on lyric poetry, the chivalric
romance, and the mediaeval tratado. There has also been a tendency, fairly marked in some
critics, to limit discussion to the innovative aspects of] uan Rodriguez's work rather than give
proper consideration to its literary constants. Without doubt, there are glimpses of originality in
the Siervo libre: in some cases, however, it is hard for readers acquainted with previous mediaeval
Latin, French, or Castilian literature to accept the claims of originality made on ] uan
Rodriguez's behalf. A good example, in this respect, is his use of the epistles within the structure
of the romance. In dealing with this matter, Cvitanovic writes: 'habra que adjudicar a este [i.e.
] uan Rodriguez] el papel de iniciador en el uso del recurso epistolar en la narrativa hispanica, '47
Alfonso X was not only the first to insert love epistles into the body of Castilian prose, but
sometimes he also gave them a significant role to play in the historical narrative. Dido's letter,
for example, which reveals the tribulations of love and her psychic wanderings, is placed by
Alfonso in the very middle of the historical accounts of her life, viewed objectively from outside,
and of those of Carthage. In Alfonso's chronicle, unlike the Heroides where the letter is not linked

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 294 BHS) LVII (1980) OLGA TUDORICA IMPEY

to a historical context, Dido's epistle-a story within a story-functions as intrahistoria,

endowing history with perpetual life and allowing readers down the ages to identify with its
experience directly and personally. None the less, the love epistles were inserted, I believe, in the
text ofAlfonso's estorias not only because in this way they were able to illuminate another aspect
of historical truth, but also because they were seen to be appealing pieces of love narrative: as
such, they were amplified, elaborated, and reinterpreted with considerably more care than was
taken with the purely historical passages. More often than not, Alfonso bestowed upon his
women lovers of noble or royal descent a dignified, decorous relationship, from which all trace
of the customary Ovidian erotic passion is excluded; in turn, he enhanced their loyalty to their
beloved and their grief at losing them. This Alfonsine reinterpretation pervaded most
adaptations of the Ovidian love stories in the Castilian prose of subsequent centuries. I t is not
surprising, therefore, that on the eve of the Renaissance in Spain Juan Rodriguez not only
follows Alfonso's method of translating but also embraces his interpretation of Ovid. In the
Bursario,] uan Rodriguez seals off the erotic asperities of the Heroides with a varnish of recato and
lealtad. In his literary letters and in the Siervo libre de amor, the threads ofdifferent traditions (lyric
poetry, Arthurian romance, etc.) are woven into the background of Alfonsine sentimental.
prose; it is a background that generated such a stable sentimental climate that when the erotic
novelle ofBoccaccio, which in part sprang from the sensual, prosaic side of the Heroides, were first
read in Spain they failed to gain a foothold. Accordingly, adulterous love as concept or practice
was not the contaminating influence on the Spanish sentimental romance that it proved to be on
works of the same genre elsewhere in Europe.
The role that Alfonso played in the beginnings of Spanish sentimental prose is certain, and
can no longer be ignored by scholars. Our view ofJuan Rodriguez also needs some revision:
Maria Rosa Lida de Malkiel was surely right to place his works in a mediaeval context.v' but it is
a context-as we have seen-pervaded by that 'humanismo vital'j" so characteristic ofAlfonso's
cultural activities.

NOTES

* I should like to express my gratitude to Professor Alan Deyermond, who read an earlier draft of this article and
made many valuable suggestions.
I Among the excellent, thorough studies that have been published in the last decade, the following are of
particular significance: Regula Langbehn-Rohland, Zur Interpretation der Romane des Diego de San Piedro (Heidelberg
1970); Keith Whinnom, introduction to Diego de San Pedro's Obras completas, I and I I (Madrid 1971 and 1973) and his
book, Diego de San Pedro (New York 1974), in which erudition and insight go hand in hand. In Dinko Cvitanovic's La
novela sentimental espanola (Madrid 1973), the monographic studies devoted to Juan Rodriguez del Padron, Diego de San
Pedro, and Juan de Flores are followed by an overview of the sentimental romance. Although the term 'sentimental
romance'-as Alan Deyermond has pointed out in 'The lost genre of medieval Spanish literature', HR, XLIII (1975),
235 and 242-49--does not present any particular problem in English, it is subject to confusion and imprecision when
translated into Spanish.
2 Cesar Hernandez Alonso, Siervo fibre de amor (Valladolid 1970); besides chapter two of La novela sentimental,
which contains a detailed analysis ofJ uan Rodriguez's work, Cvitanovic devotes many pages (226-69, 299-305, 321-24,
etc.) to the Siervo libre; in his introduction to the edition of the Siervo libre de amor (Madrid 1976) prepared by Francisco
Serrano Puente, Antonio Prieto broaches some complex aspects of composition in this romance. Martin S. Gilderman,
Juan Rodriguez de la Camara (Boston 1977), offers a brief survey ofJ uan Rodrlguezs work; see also Armando Duran,
Estructura y tecnicas de la novela sentimental (Madrid 1973), particularly pp. 19-24, 32-35, 42-44, and 49-52.
3 M. Menendez Pelayo, Origenes de la novela, II (Madrid 1962), 12.
4 Rudolph Schevill, Ovidand the Renascence in Spain (Berkeley 1913; repro 1971). With reference to the Siervo libre de
amor and the I talian love stories ofthe fifteenth century, Schevill ( II 7) makes this point: 'The Spanish tone is chivalrous,
monarchic, aristocratic, romantic in the conventional sense; the Italian is bourgeois, democratic, realistic, and a better
expression of humanism and the early Renascence.'
5 Maria Rosa Lida de Malkiel, 'Juan Rodriguez del Padron: Vida y obras', NRFH, VI (1952), 323.
6 Prieto, introduction to Siervo libre, p. II; for a summary of the controversy concerning the Italian origins of the
Spanish sentimental romance in general and the Siervo libre in particular, see Cviianovic, pp. 43-54 and 117-19.

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 ()VID, ALFONSC) X, AND .JLTAN RODRIGUEZ DEL PADRO:\, 295

7 The influence ofAlfonsos works-s-especiallv of his translations of Latin poetry--on the poetry of the Marques
de San tillana andJ ua.n de Men a was examined by Lid a de 1\1 alkiel in 'La General rstoria: not as li terarias y filol()gicas, II',
RPh, X I I I ( 1959-60 , 1-30. I n her article 'Juan de Meria 's Ovid ian material: an Alfonsine influence'?', BHS, LV ( 1978),
~)-l 7. Margaret A. Parker. following' the path opened up by Lida de Malkiel. re-examines thoroughly the traces of
Alfonsine phraseology and interpretation in] uan de Mena 's Coronacion. 'Vi th res pect to the historical wri tings. it seems
to me t hat Perez de Guznl{ln in his Generariones J' scmhl anr as is deeply indebted to A lfon so "s narrative technique.
BIn speaking of Alfonso as author and writer, I include all those who collaborated with him in the preparation
and cdi ting of the General estoria and the Estoria de Estiaiia.
q General estona. Primer-a parte, ed. Antonio G. Solalinde (Madrid 1930), 15b a 12-15. Subsequent references to the
Grnero! cstoria are to this edition of Part I, and to Part II, 1 and 2, ed. Solalind«, Llovd A. Kasten, and Victor R. B.
Oelschlager (~Iadrid 1957-61).
1() The only available edition of the Bursario is that included by Antonio Paz y Me lia in Obras de .Juan Rodrigu«; de la
Camara : Madrid 18841. 197-313. Prieto, in a 'Noticia bibliografica' to the edition of the Sieruo fibre (58 ,mentions that a
new edition of the Bursario is in course of preparation by Francisco Lopez Estrada.
11 Alfonso's Libro de las duetias contains eleven Ovidian epistles. For their distribution in the General estoria, see
.1. R. Ashton, 'Put ative Hrrotdes Codex AX as a source of Alfonsine literature', RPh, III 11949-50),275, n. 1.
1L Sec Lida de Malkicl, 'J uan Rodriguez del Padron", 336.
I~) Alfonso's versions are by no means free of erroneous renderings; on the whole, however, he manages to
overcome the difficulties inherent in translation by resorting to freq uen t paraphrasis.
14- The indiscriminate invocations of' Dios de los cristianos' and of the pagan divinities, which are so [reg uent in
Allousos translations (PCG, 39b-43b), make it difficult to accept the opinion of Lida de Malkiel, who sees in 'Ia
yux ta posicion de elementos cristianos Y paganos ... otro rasgo tipico del Orono de Edad Media' ('J uan Rodriguez del
Pad ron " 319).
I J A certain laxity in Alfonso's translations of Hero ides 7 and 14 was noticed but not explained by J. R. Ashton in
his dissertation, 'Ovid's Hrroides as Translated by Alphonso the Wise' (University ofWisconsin at Madison 1944),77.
IG This quotation and all subsequent ones are from the edition of the Ht roides by H. Bornecque (Paris 1928 j •
I 7 Regarding the relationship between l' amour courtots and I'amour conjugal in Chretien de 'Troves, see ~1 oshe Lazar.
Amour courlois e! finomors dans la litterature du ~rII siecl» (Paris 1964), 199-252.
1g The in tensification of grief (i.e. an amplification of the original text! occurs in several versions of the epistles: 'E
assi C0I111110 Iuv en tierra, eche las manos en los uestidos, e rompi TT1C toda ' (G E, ILL 425 b 15-18), for example, has no
correspondence in Heroides 10.
19 The percontatio ad seipsum and other rhetorical devices used by Alfonso in his explanaciones are rnentioned by
Francisco Rico in Alfonso e! Sabio J' la General estoria (Barcelona 1975), 186-87.
20 'La General estona: notas literarias v filologicas, I'. RPh, XI I (1958-59 , 13.
21 For the treatment of the Dido story in the Roman d'Eneas, see Rosemarie Jones, The Theme of Love in the Romans
d'Antiquite (London 1972), 33-42 and Irving Singer, 'Erotic transformations in the legend of Dido and Aeneas', lWLA',
XC ( 1975), 767-83. For the same story in Spanish li terature, see Lida de Malkiel. Dido en la literatura espanola. Su relratoy
defensa (Lond on 1974).
22 See my article, 'Los amores de Dido: un dechado literario de prosa cronistica alfonsi", forthcoming in RPh.
23 Paz y Melia, in the introduction to] uan Rodriguez's Obras (XXX), not only indicates some of the principal flaws
in the translation, but also expresses his doubts whether the Bursario is in Iact j uan Rodriguez's version. In view of the
fact t ha t , in Inany instances, the phraseology used in the translation coincides wi th that of the Ii terary letters---those of
Mad resclva, Troilus, and Briseiela-and of the Sterno libre, it seems reasonable to c oricl ude that the Bursario is indeed the
work of] uan Rodriguez. This was also the opinion of Lid a de Malkiel in 'J uan Rodriguez del Padron: Vida y obras', p.
335, n. 23. For further comments on this thorny problem, see Schevill, Ocid and the Renascence in Spain, 117-18, and
Charles Kanv, The Beginnings of the Epistolary Nocel in France, Itaiv, and Spain Berkeley 1937),49-50.
24, For some reason, no one, to the best of my knowledge, has followed up the brief observation Lida de Malk iel
made on certain similari ties between Alfonso's andJ uan Rodriguez's translations of Heroides 4 in 'La General estoria: notus
r.
Iiterarias, I 2.
25 I list below a number of other striking coincidences, setting in italics 1 hose phrases that are similar in both
translations, but for which a corresponding passage is lacking in the Latin orizinal:

Hfroides General estoria Bursario

Est mihi per saeuas impetus ire Toma me uoluntat de \'1' mat ar Me haze desear de \'1' a malar las
feras bestias saluaies bestias fieras
(4.38) (II, 1, 447b 35-36) (2121
Hie tecum Troezena colam, E maguer que es cosa espantosa e E masuer sea tierra espantosa r rnoiosa
Pi ttheia regna enotosa, alIi morare yo con tiga aUi q uiero yo moral' con tigo
(4.107) (I I, 1, 449 a 14- I 6 ) (214 )
Retia saepe comes maculis distenta E andando yo pOI' tu conpannera Y seyendo tu compafiera, muchas
tetendi / Saepe citos egi per iuga muchas vezes tendi las redes a los veces tendi las redes alos uenados, e
longa canes uenados e muchas ues:es otrosi les enrride enrridandoles los canes pOI' los

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 296 BHS, LVII (1980) OLGA TVDORICA IMPEY
(5.19-20) los canes pOl' somo de los collados collados altos
(11,2, 120a 25-29) (217)
Hinc ego uela tuae cognoui prima E vinome a uoluntat de dar por sallir primera a recebirte me vino
carinae / et mihi per fluctus comigo en las ondas de la mar para ala uoluntat de lancarme enlas
impetus ire fuit llegar a ry antes e recebir te, primero ondas del agua
(5.63-64) que todos los otros (218)
(I I. 2, 121a 9- 13)
Quod tamen e nobis grauida E tu eres prennada de mi; e ruegote E pues tu q uedas agora de mi
celatur in aluo / Viuat mucho sobresto que sea aquello que tu preiiada, ruegote que guardes bien lo
(6.61-62) parieres muy guardado que parieres
(I I, 2, 74a 11-12) (223)
Et freta dicuntur magnes expellere dizen que echa la mar los grandes dizen que la mar lanca fuera de sy
phocas pesces que dizen phocas grandes peces
(10.87) (I I , 1, 427 b 6- 7) (242)
enbiolo a recebir muy bien 10 recibio beninamente
(II, 2, 224b 2) (202)
la entencion de Ouidio en esta la intincion del actor es
epistola fue dar enxenplo e castigo reprehenderla de loco amor
(11,2, 228a 21-22) (202)

26 Lida de Malkiel, 'La General estoria: notas literarias, I 1', 10-11. See also Parker, 'Juan de Mena's Ovidian
material', 16.
27 The introduction to Heroides 2-Phyllis' letter to Demophon-added by Juan Rodriguez (Bursario, 202) is a
summary of chapters [xviii] and [xx] from the General estoria (II, 2, 224-228); the preamble to Heroides 9-Deianira's
epistle-is summed up in the Bursario (235), chapters [cdxxvii]-[cdxxix]; and the introduction to Heroides 4 and 10-
Phaedra's and Ariadne's epistles-represent an outline of GE, II, 1, chapters [ccclxxxiii], the beginning of chapter
[ccclxxxiv], and chaptel'S [cccxxxii], [ccel]- [cccli v].
28 According to Charles Kany, The Beginnings of the Epistolary Novel, 50, the Bursario 'performed a great service in
making Ovid's epistles a part of Spanish Renaissance fiction.'
29 'Juan Rodriguez del Padr6n: Vida y obras', 330; see also Prieto, introduction to Siervo libre, 31.
30 For Juan Rodriguez's pretence that this letter was written by Ovid, as well as for the reminiscences of the
Heroides and thejuxtaposition of various sources-La Yliada en romance ofDares and Dictis, 'Leomarte', and Heroides 3-
see Lida de Malkiel, 'Juan Rodriguez del Padr6n', 332-34.
31 The Spanish mediaeval romances, in which the beloved is a doncella and not a married woman, depict love with
a certain severidad, recato, and sentimiento de honor, as S. Gili Gaya points out in his preface to Diego de San Pedro's Obras
(Madrid 1950), xviii. Sensual love in these romances is more implied than vividly described.
32 It is possible that the image of a plaintive, love-sick hero resulted from the blending of the Ovidian
characterization of a woman in love and that of the troubadour poetic tradition of the enraptured male lover.
33 It is strange that Schevill finds 'no evidence ... of any influence of the erotic works of Ovid' in the Siervo libre
(Ovid and the Renascence, 115), and that Kany (The Beginnings of the Epistolary Novel, 50) shares Schevill's opinion.
34 Keith Whinnom called attention to a terminological difficulty with respect to the classification of mediaeval
prose fiction, and especially of the tratado, which, he believes (see his in trod uction to the Carcel de amor, 48), 'se empleaba
en aquella epoca para designar a las obras que actualmente se llamarian "novelas", palabra que no lleg6 a tener su
acepci6n moderna antes del siglo XVI; y puesto que el empleo de tratado tambien produciria confusi6n, no disponemos
de un vocablo mas adecuado'. Whinnom expresses a similar opinion in his book Diego de San Pedro, p. 145, n. 1: 'it is
obvious that in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the term tratado was used in a very loose and unspecialized sense, and
that it is much more accurately translated as "story", "romance", or even "novel".' The looseness of the term, in my
opinion, is also reflected in the prologue of the Bursario, whereJuan Rodriguez refers to the Heroides as a tratado: 'Ouidio
renouo aqueste tratado, que era a todos ignoto' (198).
35 All subsequent citations from Siervo libre de amor are taken from the Clasicos Castalia edition, with an
introduction by Prieto, henceforth abbreviated as SLA.
36 I prefer the term 'embedding' or 'embedded' to 'interlaced' wherever only two stories are involved.
37 I agree completely with C. Henandez Alonso (Siervo libre de amor de Juan Rodriguez del Padron, 40) that the Siervo
libre has a cyclic structure ('estructura concentrica cerrada'). For an opposing viewpoint, see Gregory Peter Andrachuk,
'On the Missing Part of Siervo libre de amor', HR, XLV (1977), 71-80.
38 'Juan Rodriguez del Padr6n: Vida y obras', 330.
39 In some instances, as in that of the flight of Ardanlier and Liessa to the woods, where they live in 'un secreto
palacio', it is difficult to distinguish the Ovidian motif from similar motifs in the romans courtois of Chretien de Troyes:
Tristan and Iseut seek refuge in the woods, Cliges and Fenice in the 'palais secret deJehan'. See also Lida de Malkiel,
'Juan Rodriguez del Padr6n: influencia', NRFH, VIII (1954),20-25.
40 Estructurasy tecnicas, 23: 'El sentimiento que une aJuan Rodriguez con la misteriosa dama es er6tico, como el de
Fiammetta, mientras que el que une a Ardanlier y a Liessa, reforzado a su vez pOl' el que une a Ardanlier con otros

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 ()VID, ALFC)l'\S() X, AND JUAN RODRIGUEZ DEL PADRC):\" 297

persoriajes Iemenirios de la noveli t a, especialmerite con la infanta Yrcria, es prop iarnen t e sentimental, C01no el de
Lucretia' .
41 Moshe Lazar's contention that the love expressed by the troubadours in their lyric poetry' is essentially
ad u 1terous ('la/in' amors ad ul terc est uric conception cornrnu ne a tous lcs t r: iubad. iurs sans exception', Amour courtois, 54
and irnpregnated by a 'xcnsuali te ardcn te (68) is \Try convincing.
42 Ori lv in a lew of the lai: of Marie de France El iduc, for example ---and SOI1IC of the first romans of Chretien de
Troycs -Erec is a good exarnple--is love restrained by and made su bord ina te i 0 an ethical or chivalric principle. In
most of the romans courtois, passion is the most conspicuous characteristic of 10\T.
43 How much this conception oflove was inf1uenced by Alfonso's Partida I I titulo vi, ley ii, which provides reasons
lor loving a queen (' cornpana en sabores, 'los fij os", etc. is difficult to say.
44 By focusing on loyalty and chastity in wedlock, Alfonso andJ uan Rodriguez mO\T ;nvay from the established
tradition of courtly love, in which loyalty is seen as an attribute of the lover, not of the spouse.
4:1 It is this new male sensi bili ty that allows Fernando's sen timen tal. plain t ivc letter to Isabella Ca tolir a to seern
prr lcrt lv natural and in no way out of place i apud \Vhinnom, cd., Diego de San Pedro, Obras, II, 33!.
46 It would seem that Juan Rodriguez enjoyed breaking w ith the convr-ntions of [m'umors. In Ardanlicrs
apparently courtly relationship with Yrena, he is "requrstado de arnor de la infar.te Yrcna (nlY italics, who. instead of
being his senora, becomes his 'cat iva'. his 'prisvonera (.\'1-.'1.87 . The situation rev erxcs that of the first, autohiographical
story of the Sieruo libre de amor, where the protagonist. acting according to the rules of (ourtoiste, is the 'siervo of the lady.
47 La nooela sentimental espanola, 119. I n the introd uction to the edition if the Siano libre (31), Prieto is more
cautious: he attributes to.J uan Rodriguez only 'cl redescuhrirnicnto ric las r.nta ell Iuncion narr.u iv.i como exprcsion
de intimidad Y proceso psicologico. What is not clear, however, is whether Prieto has in mind some Castilian
anterr-dcnts or whether he is referring merely to Ovids Heroides. I t is worth remembering, in this respect. that Charles
Kany I The Beginnings o] tlu' Epistnlarv . VON!, p. 36, n. 22 had already drawn ;\ttention to the letters included in the
Aniadis, the three parts of which were certainly written bclorc the Siereo hint'. To this one should also add the letter sent
by the Ernpress Seringa to Roboan in the Libro del cauollero ::Urlr, and Alionsos adaptations of the Heroides.
4B '.1 uan Rodriguez del Pad ron: Vida y obras. 322.
49 For mediaeval humanism in general, see Charles H. Haskins. The Renaissance ojth« Ticelftl: Ccnturv rl\ew York
1957 \, 108-16; lor the "h umanismo vital' of' Alfonso, see Arne rico Cast 1'0. Gl.rsario: latino-esiranoles de la Edad Media
Il\ladrid 1936), lxv , as well as Antonio G. Solalindc. foreword to the Grneral estoria. Primera parte, p. x ,

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