WRITING AUTHORITY IN LATE MEDIEVAL ... - Cornell University

know, and to take from these good examples how to do good, and how to keep from evil, and they
would remain in everlasting remembrance. And later books were made where such things were
written and kept…for this reason from here forward, I, Pedro López de Ayala, with the help of
God, intend to continue in this manner, and as truthfully as I can taking [written notice] with the
greatest diligence that I could, from what I saw (of which I do not know but how to tell the truth)
or otherwise what happens in my age and in my time in some parts where I have not been (and I
knew it to be a true story of lords and knights and others worthy of credit from whom I heard it,
and they gave witness of it). 244
A closer look at Ayala’s Prologue, however, shows that it does not differ too much from
Guzmán’s own position. Although clearly taking Isidore’s side in placing such a strong reliance
on the “here and now,” Ayala’s theory still follows Bede in not immediately linking the presence
of events to truth but relying on accepted tradition—particularly from “sennores e caualleros e
otros dignos de fe” ‘lords and knights and others worthy of credit.’ This synthesis of Isidore and
Bede displaces the primacy of presence in representing the truth of “lo que acaesece” ‘what
befalls’ in stories. Ayala equally values “lo que vi” ‘what I saw’ and the hearing of things of
“donde yo non he estado” ‘where I have not been.’ As a result, the way a witness comes to
understand truth—either by his immediate sight or by another’s speech—does not affect his
story’s truthfulness.
This does not make Ayala naïve to the ways in which a witness could falsify information.
In emphasizing that he writes “si non dezir verdad” ‘but to tell the truth,’ he knows that a
subject’s perspective could be erroneous and that it is necessary to establish the reliability of his
witnesses. It is “fe” ‘faith and credit’ that creates truth even when there are possible ways to
privilege certain experiences of truth over others, i.e. sight versus hearing. By denying the
primacy of perspective, Ayala places truth telling to a higher standard: a true story must have
both reliable content and solicit readerly faith. A story must not only be a record but a record
done, in Ayala’s words, “con la mayor diligencia que pude” ‘with the greatest diligence that I
244 Pero López de Ayala, Corónica de Pedro I, eds. Constance L. Wilkins and Heanon Wilkins (Madison: Hispanic
Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1985) 1.
150