WRITING AUTHORITY IN LATE MEDIEVAL ... - Cornell University

a particular truth via the habit of moral authority. Indeed, the Muslim foundations of exemplary
discourse were particularly influential in the Iberian Peninsula as compendia of advice, like the
Calila e Dimna, Baarlam e Josafat, Disciplina Clericalis, and the Sendebar, were directly
credited to literary tradition of the al-Andalus.
For the educated Castilian noble, the tropic use of the Arab “wise man” would not only
make Benaharin’s letter a proper portrayal of political theory but it would also help to distance
the real context of Ayala’s life from the contents of the letter. This, however, means that
Benaharin’s advice would not comment upon Pedro’s particular policies but on his failure to
follow universal rules about governance, and in turn, it would divorce his removal of power from
the active involvement of the Trastamaran cause. Because the tropic device of the speculum
simply allowed Ayala to authorize his statements about governing, its inclusion in the chronicle
effectively removes the contextual cues that make this a unique moment in history—deposing a
monarch from the throne because of his enmity towards the State’s well-being.
Therefore, it is hard to assume both that Benaharin’s speculum conveys Ayala’s personal
perspective on the events of the Revolution and also that it helps his audience justify their actions
via an “authorial” philosophical intervention. One the one hand, if Pedro serves as a historical
example of what Ayala’s audience should not do, then he does so because that audience can
recognize explicit historical criticism in Ayala’s letter—a criticism which the letter explicitly
contextualizes against the Trastamaran nobles who sinned against the king. On the other hand, if
the speculum serves as a general way in which Pedro or Enrique need to behave toward their
subjects, then one looses the historical specificity of Pedro’s fall—the condemnation of his lack
of attention to the precepts within Benaharin’s letter. As a result, this fictional speculum
simultaneously asks Ayala’s readers to divorce themselves from history (so as to not be
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