AN OLD SPANISH TALE FROM ADD. MS. 14040, flf ... - British Library

AN OLD SPANISH TALE FROM ADD. MS. 14040, flf.
113r-114v: 'EXENPLO aUE ACAESgiO EN TIERRA
DE DAMASCO A LA BUENA DUENNA CLIME^IA
CON SU FIJA CLIMESTA QUE AVIA VEYNTE
ANNOS E LA MEgiA EN CUNA'
BARRY TAYLOR
THE main body of Add. MS. 14040 contains three translations into Castihan: Ramon
Lull's 'Libre del gentil e los tres savis' (ff. 1-85V) in a version by Gon^alo Sanches de
Useda^ and his 'Coment del dictat' (ff. 86r-iiir) from the Catalan, and an extract from
the Flores Sancti Bernardi, probably from the Latin (ff. iiiv-ii2v). The first text is
copied in one hand, the second and third in another. The text published here for the first
time (see figs. 2-5) was added to the manuscript between 1406 (the date of composition
or copying ofthe Flores version) and its acquisition by Hernando Colon (d. 1539), who
added his mark of ownership at the bottom off. ii4v.^ The copyist of our text doubtless
thought the story suitable for inclusion because it cites the Flores at 11. 90-3.^
A label reading 'Del S.^"^ Conde de Miranda' pasted to the recto ofthe last flyleaf
before f. i indicates that the manuscript once formed part of the hbrary of Juan de
Chaves Chacon, eleventh Conde de Miranda (1643-96). Gregorio de Andres has
identified Add. MS 14040 with item 35 in an inventory of books belonging to the
thirteenth Count compiled in 1755.'* The collection was bought by the Spanish Royal
Library (now National Library) in March 1757. In a bibliography pubhshed in 1836,
Felix Torres Amat described this volume as being in the Royal Library with the
shelfmark X. 145: it is not known when he saw the manuscript.^ On 11 March 1843 it
was purchased by the British Museum Library for £1 5s. in a miscellaneous lot (now
Add. MSS. 13962-14052) sold by the dealer Thomas Rodd. In the Accessions minutes
the provenance of the manuscript is given as the 'Yriarte Collection'.^ The reference
must be to Juan de Iriarte (1702-71), Spanish Royal Librarian and author of the
catalogue ofthe Greek manuscripts at Madrid.^ Although I have not been able precisely
to trace the movements of Add. 14040, it is likely that some ofthe major figures in the
Anglo-Spanish book market ofthe first half of the nineteenth century were involved in
its coming to the British Museum Library. According to Glendinning,^ the entire Iriarte
library was bought between 1823 and 1829 by the United States diplomat Obadiah Rich
172

(1783-1850) from 'a French officer married to the last surviving heir ofthe family';
Thomas Thorpe was often his agent. Both Thorpe's and Rich's Spanish books were
auctioned by Evans on 2 March and 4 July 1826 respectively. The connection between
Thorpe, Rodd and the Iriarte collection is documented on 5 June 1826 when Thorpe
sold Rodd 117 volumes from Iriarte's library which eventually passed via Richard Heber
to the Bodleian. Thus, although the history ofthe ownership of Add. 14040 is far from
complete, it seems unlikely that the manuscript was in the Biblioteca Real as late as 1836,
the date of publication of Torres Amat's catalogue.
Our text is called exenplo in the rubric which heads it, and indeed it displays the
mixture of the didactic and the grotesquely sensational which characterizes one current
within the exempluni genre. The plot may be summarized as follows. In Damascus during
the reign of the fictional Emperor Sixtus, a noble lady Climegia and her daughter
Climesta fall on hard times through the profligacy of their husband and father. The
daughter, aged twenty (her age is given only in the rubric), is a worldling, proud ofher
beauty. The women initially heed the exhortations of the hermit Patri^io against losing
their souls for the sake of worldly gains. The hermit reinforces his admonitions with a
brkfexemplum: Falsehood asked Truth where she might find her. Truth replied that if
Falsehood found her, she should keep hold of her, as if she let her go she would never
have her back.
Mother, however, is advised by evil persons that the world will bring them all they
need if she 'rocks' herself and her daughter. She accordingly buys two cradles, to no
avail. A woman neighbour (the Devil in disguise) disabuses them: this 'rocking' is a
euphemism for prostitution. They persevere in a life of vice despite Patri^io's warnings.
Eventually Climesta is caught inflagrante and sentenced to be burned. On her way to the
stake she asks to speak to her mother: when she draws near, the daughter bites off her
tongue and puts her eyes out. Asked why, she says it is because she has been ruined by
her mother's ill advice and failure to give her good counsel.
Climesta's grotesque punishment ofher mother is an example of a tale found in many
didactic texts.^ Probably the oldest version known is in the Greek Aesop :^^ a boy steals
a book from a schoolmate as a joke. His mother laughs at his prank, which encourages
him to go on to worse crimes. Eventually he is sentenced to be hanged; on the way to
the scaffold, under pretence of whispering to his mother, he bites off her ear (see fig. i).
He explains his action by saying that her indulgence was the cause of all his crimes: had
she punished him at his first offence, he says, he would never have come to such a pass.
The Aesopic text seems not to have entered Latin circles until Rinuccio d'Arezzo's
1448 translation. The version in Pseudo-Boethius, De disciplina scolarium, dated circa
1240, was known earher, and more widely, to the Latins: several manuscripts have
English and French glosses, suggesting that they were used for teaching grammar.^^
There Lucretius, son of Zeno,^^ wastes the advantages of good birth, talent and
patrimony on prostitutes. His father stands by ('patre poenam deferente'). The youth
turns to crime to pay his debts, and is saved from crucifixion because his father bribes
the authorities. Finally father can pay no more. On the way to execution the son bites
173

Fig. I. The errant son bites his mother's ear. Libro delsabio £5" clarissimo fabuladorysopo hystoriad
£5' annotado (Seville: Cromberger, 1526). C.59.i.i6, f. clvi""
Text
Aesop (see fig. i)
Odo of Cheriton'^
Ps-Boethius
Jacques de Vitry^*
Etienne de Bourbon'^
Libra del caballero
Spanish woodcut*'
Climefia
TABLE L VARIANTS
Dale
c. 1220
c. 1240
d. 1240
d. 1261
Parent
Mother
Father
Father
Father
Father
Mother
^- 1303
1488
Mother
copied post 1406 Mother
OF THE CLIMEgiA STORY
Child Crime Punishment Bitten
Son
Son
Son
Son
Son
Son
Stealing
Hanging
Stealing, immorality Hanging
Fornication Crucifixion
Stealing
Hanging
Stealing
Stealing, etc.
Hanging
Son —
Daughter Fornication
Burning
Eai'
Flesh of face
Nose
Lips
Nose
Lips
Nose
Tongue, eyes
off his father's nose. His last words blame first his father's indulgence and then his own
disobedience: 'Why did I escape unpunished from my first errors.? Why did I not obey
my first teacher and despise my fellows.^' In subsequent derivatives of this story, the
protagonists, crime, punishment and mutilation differ, as is shown in Table i.
It will be seen from the Table that the story in Add. MS. 14040 does not correspond
174

in all particulars with any other known version. One feature of our texts is the feminine
element: the child is a daughter who engages in prostitution rather than a son who
consorts with prostitutes. The inclusion of a daughter enables the author to descant on
the theme of women's vanity (11. 17-22): Chmesta from the start is guilty of excessive
care for her appearance - a theme beloved of medieval preachers - and although the
connection between female luxury and prostitution is not made explicit, they are
certainly referred to in similar terms: see 11. 13-15.
Patrigio's tale ofthe exchange between Truth and Falsehood is not unique to this text,
although it has fewer parallels than the main story. The only close analogue is in the Libra
del caballero Zifar of circa 1303.^^ When Wind, Water and Truth part company, they ask
each other where he is to be found. Water says he will be in the fountains. Wind in the
mountain passes. Truth replies: 'Keep me while you have me, as once you let me go
you'll never catch me again.' The version in Zifar is superior to that in our manuscript,
as it integrates Truth's answer into a tripartite structure in which Truth is declared even
harder to keep hold of than the ungraspable Wind and Water. It is interesting that the
only work to include both the stories in our text appears also to be an Old Spanish one.
The immediate source of our text is unknown, but it seems likely that it is a
translation, partly because one episode is built around a pun on mefer, 'to rock in a
cradle/be a prostitute.' The pun is unique to this version. The second meaning of mefer
is not to my knowledge attested in Old Spanish, although it does exist in modern
Portuguese mexer}^ In Latin however the sexual meaning of miscere (the supposed
etymon of mefer) is well established.^*' The text shows some signs that it is a fragment.
The first three sentences refer not only to Climegia and her daughter Climesta but also
to Clime^ia's sister Gloriana and her son Picleco. Parents are exhorted to learn from
'these two sisters,' which suggests that an earher witness preserved a parallel story,
perhaps a tale of virtue rewarded. However, in the extant text no more is heard of
Gloriana and Picleco.
EDITION OF THE TEXT IN ADD. MS. 14040
[f. ii3r] Exenplo que acaes^io en tierra de Damasco a la buena duenna Climefia con su
fija Climesta que avia veynte annos e la megia en cuna.
En la ^ibdat de Damasco en tienpo del enperador Systo, andando en aquellas partes
mucha justi^ia, acaes^io a una buena duenna que avia por nonbre Climefia que ovo una
fija de su marido; que ovo por nonbre Climesta Tuburgia porque a su padre llamaron
por nonbre Gofrido Tiburgio. E era esta duenna hermana de otra duenna a que llamavan
Gloriana, que tenia un fijo que avia nonbre Picleco. Aqui vengan los padres e las niadres
que an de castigar fijos e fijas e ayan enxenplo en estas dos hermanas e veredes que les
Asy que fue que seyendo Climesta bien criada de los saberes e costunbres del mundo
e muy poco mostrada en sabiduria de las virtudes, del temor de Dios muy menguada,
175

acaes^io que la fija seyendo toda de voluntad mundanal, deseadora de los bienes
falle9ederos mundanos, deseo bien apostarse por dar pares^er de su fermossura terrenal
mortal a los omes desventurados que la avian de mirar; con la qual rred y ansuelo el
15 Diablo posia mas almas que con otra cosa de pecado.
jA! jGuay de las mesquinas mugeres! iQue cuenta daran a Dios de todas las cobdigias
que fasen venir a los omes de pecado mortal? Que por tomar forma annadida de afeytes
pierden ssu alma. Et al dia santo del domingo o fiesta sse paran a las puertas non con
enten^ion de sservir a Dios mas al Diablo, que es su sennor, dexando la forma que Dios
20 les dio liana et buena, y tomando forma del Diablo a quien sirven, pelando los cabellos
del rrostro e blanqueando las carnes con colores diversos, todo a fyn de luxuriar y dar
fartura a ssu carne e induzir los cora9ones a pecado. Qiertamente mas les valdria la
muerte que non el tal acre^entamiento de pecados, ca de todas aquellas ocasiones daran
cuenta a Dios. E sy aqui non sso creydo, el dia de los tenblores de aquel juysio espantoso,
25 que seran manifiestos todos los pecados de cada pecador a Dios y a los angeles e santos
y Santas & a los diablos e a todos, me creeran.
Asy fue que eran mugeres fijasdalgo e, por causa que los maridos que ovieron fueron
desgastadores y de malos rrecaudos, vinieron en pobredat. E pasando por algund tienpo
estrechamente, vinieron a sse encomendar a un ome eclesiastico del qual rrescebieron
30 buenos desires e alguna consolacion. E commo la cobdi^ia non siente fartura, entraron
penssamientos en la madre e en la fija que via ternian desta vida presente e acordaron de
lo desir a aquel ome bueno que las consolava e dixieron [f. //ju] que estavan en grand
tribulation por mester e non poder conplir lo que querian.
Et el buen ome dixoles, 'Fijas, muy muchas cosas vos tengo de rresponder en esto.
35 Avedes de ssaber que Dios todos los omes e mugeres del mundo egualo en salir de la
tierra desnudos & yr a la tierra desnudos. & esto por que connosca ser todas las cosas
desta vida mierda & cosa cayda. & demas quiso el ser mas pobre, & su madre & sus
apostoles, de tal pobredat que ninguna cosa non toviese & esta pobredat que fuese en el
alma & dixo "Bienaventurados los pobres de spiritu, que dellos es el rreyno de los 9ielos"
40 & dixo ma[s] " iQue aprovecha a ninguno ser sennor de todo el mundo sy su anima aya
de perder?" Mas valdria non ser nasgido. Esta pobredat loo & amo ca la sennal de
perdition esta es: non recontentar nin aver pa9ien9ia con lo que tiene. Ca saber devedes
que ninguna criatura non ha aqui syno Io que Dios le quiere dar & commo non sse
contente luego torna contra Dios: quanto mas quel Nuestro Salvador nos dixo en exenplo
45 que Dios a los que ama sigue aqui con persecu^iones por dalles la su gloria sy
perseveraren.'
& despues que les dixo estas cosas y otras muchas & vido que non [se] davan a lo que
se devian dar, dixoles, 'Amigas, la Verdat & la Mentira fisieron conpannia muy grand
tienpo. & quando se partieron dixo la Mentira a la Verdat que donde la fallaria. Dixole
50 la Verdat que quando la toviese que fisiese en guisa que nol saliese de mano, que sy una
ves la perdia que nunca la cobraria.' & que entendiesen este dicho: que sy non
guardava[n] lo que les era dado de honestidat de bien dellas ^ del que non curasen del,
porque el pecado de sobervia y descono^imiento de bienfecho sienpre fue vengado por
176

Dios. & espidiose dellas prometiendoles su consolacion sy guardasen lo que devian
guardar.
El Diablo, que nunca dexa de perseguir a los que bien quieren bevir, ca aquel es su
ofi^io, pusoles en cora9on que tomasen abito honesto por que de diuso de aquel abito
cupiese toda disolu9ion y pecado. E acaes9io qut fiandose a personas non buenas fue dado
consejo a la madre que sienpre se me9iese; que despues, que meciese a su fija; e que asy
me9iendose quel mundo traheria lo suyo. La buena muger conpro dos cunas & echose
en la una & a su fija en la otra, continuando el meger. & duro esto 9iertos meses & veyendo
la madre que non venia nada, torno a fablar do la buena consejera que fiso lo que le dixo
e que non venia cosa de provecho. E ella dixo, 'Yo yre a vuestra casa y lo vere commo
lo fasedes.'
& quando la buena muger vido las cunas & vido que non la avian entendido, dixo,
'Amiga, non [es] este tal me9er commo yo te dixe, ca el otro me9er es de otra manera,
segund que te agora dire. Sabe que tu te as de vestir G dt[f. 114] afeytar en tal guisa que
los que te vieren a ti adere9ada & so abito honesto que non pongan culpa a tu fija que
faga mas que tu pues es mas mo9a. & ternas esta manera: todos los dias que pudieres,
anda todos los lugares sennalados ca asy andando apregonas tu vino, que quien dello
quisiere que trayga jarro e dinero, que non se da de balde. & ternas estas condi9iones
que son caudal de conplir todos tus deseos: despues de comer guardaras en todos los
dias que pudieres la puerta de la caWe fixa mucho bien adere9ada; lo segundo, miraras bien
en fito a todas las personas que por y passaren; lo tercero busca ocasiones por que fables
con los que tu ovieres voluntad que te conosca[n]; lo quarto, quando les fablares fasles
gesto amoroso, que entiendan que non les denegaras cosa ninguna de lo que te fuere bien
pagado; lo quinto, fierelos de tus saetas, que les pases el cora9on [con] palabras tales que
aduro dexes habito honesto los declares que presta estas; et con mucho sosiego verna toda
gente a tu casa. & non guardes lealtad en desir que Dios al ssennor de casa se quiere
servir. & segund te fallares dimelo.' & fuese el Diablo que tomava figura de muger
veyendo que se le queria dar.
Et siguiendo este camino vino esto a noti9ia del su amigo padre espiritual. Et fue ver
sy esto sy era verdat & desque vido el fecho dispidiose dellas dissiendo quel Diablo las
avia engannado ca grand peligro avian de aver. Et por ver sy las podria tornar a buen
camino dixoles asy,' La vuestra via es de ydolo & de mal que ya vos lo ove dicho: ay bien,
mejor & mas mejor & ay mal e peor & mas peor. & en esto estades vosotras que non
solamente pecades mas millares de pecados a otros fasedes faser. Ca aunque mal &
pecado quisiesedes faser fuese en un grado menor & non por tal via nin manera de Io qual
a mi pues aqui vengo & tales estades no se puede escusar que por vuestro malestar non
se siga mal. Ca commo la batalla de todos los buenos, segund dise Sant Bernaldo, es que
vea el que bive sus pensamientos. E que commo el linage de los spiritus sea de muchas
maneras Etl alma, que es spiritu, connos9e las tenta9iones del spiritu que son tres spiritus
que tientan de buena manera: de la carne en bever & comer & fablar y oyr y oler y tocar
y andar a luxuria & yra & enbidia y vanagloria y sobervia & peresa y gula & tristesa &
pesar y otras cosas de carne; y el es[piritu] del mundo trahia de mugeres & bien
177

aconpannado y bien honrrado y bien vestido & bien adere9ado de casas & tierras y otras
cosas tales; & el ter9er es el serpiente amigo nin enemigo que de enbidia se muere.
'Et \f. iJ4v] Climesta fija ique eres? La sennal a que todos diran que de [. .] muerta
quel tienpo que tovieres otorg^do de la naturalesa te durare que te ayan de dar algo los
100 omes que llamares de cada dia. E llamertas fasta que te dexen por baldia & desaventurada
que non sera mas de quanto sseas conos9ida que vendes fruta: ca luego la fruta de la
9iruela quando entra vale una un maravedi y despues valen 9iento por un maravedi, asy
es de ty commo fue de las otras tales commo tu, que quando comien9an el ofi9io nuevo
por la novedat an algo & despues vienen al segundo ofi9io de los tres ofi9ios de la buena
105 muger y despues al tercero: los quales son puta en mancebia y puta y alcahueta & en rafes
alcahueta. Fija, por me dessa dia de oy. Pues tu camino es tal qual tu te lo quieres y tu
madre te lo conseja. Sabe quel que vien quiere vivir a de perder su alma y el mundo por
Dios y fallar lo ha & a se de perder a lo menos aunque biva mal en esta manera: que ande
muy honestamente en este mundo en bevir y traher [honestas] rropas y muy llano rrostro
no & muy baxos los ojos; quando algo le dixeren muy honesto rresponder; y syn destos
ningunos & que de ty aver quieras algo faser non des lugar a pecado que diga que tu
madre te lo trahe todo y tu que te lo quieres aunque trabajo por vosotras que sso p[..]
que vos agora a Dios vos tncomtendo, quel mundo que servis vos dara galardon,'
Fuese Patri9io que era v[...]s hermitanno de Clime9ia [&] Climesta su fija las quales
115 seguiendo ssus vanos pensamientos dando su fermos[ur]a a muchos cucubitos, fasiendose
conos9er con muchos. Lo que con mal se gana con mal se acaba: viniendo poco tienpo
que usavan non devidamente, fue tomada Climesta con un onbre contra l[e]y y fue dada
sentencia que fuese quemada y coidando ya entre si y veiendo quel davan la muerte por
culpa de su madre, Uevandola a matar y yendo Patri9io tras ella por ver que 9ima y
120 acabamiento avria del fecho de las que tanto amo, yendo la madre en pos ella dixo & pidio
li^en^ia que la dexasen fablar a su madre Climesta. Et llegarongela & por juysio divinal
comiole las narises et quebrole los ojos. & pescudaronle por que lo fisiera. Bixo que
porque ella le consejo lo que fiso por mucha ganan9ia, et que ge lo pudiera estorvar sy
bien la castigo. & despues Climesta y el c[. .]je fueron quemados. Et asy acabaron: Dios
125 les aya mer9ed & amen.
Edttorial criteria: editorial additions are in brackets [ ]. Points within brackets [..] indicate
illegible passages, the number of points approximating the number of unreadable letters. Italics
indicate a doubtful reading.
Textual notes: numbered line references are to this edition and not to the manuscript.
13 deseo] MS deseando 20 les] lo 27 causa que] causa de 32 dixieron] dixo
33 mester corrected from menester 37 vida] v. que son 42 devedes] deve 59 madre
que] m q q 71 quisiere] qsiere 74 passaren] passaron 78 aduro dexes] duso defe?
81 queria] querian queria 88 quisiesedes] qsieseds 89 malestar] malestan(?) 94
andar a] andar y 96 de] y 97 el ter9er] ost9er(?) 105 puta] puta \en mocedat puta/
107 vivir] vender(?), 115 seguiendo] seguiendos 118 coidando ya entre si] co[. .] ya
e[.]t[.]s[.]
178

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2. Add. MS. 14040, f. ii3r
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Exegetical notes: 28 de malos rrecaudos: spendthrift: cf. 'costosas o de malos recabdos', Castigos
y doctrinas que vn sabio daiia a sus hijas, in Hermann Knust (ed.), Dos obras diddcticasy dos leyendas
sacadas de manuscritos de la Biblioteca del Escorial (Madrid, 1878), pp. 249-93, at p. 285 39
Mt. 5.3 40-1 Mt. 16.26; Mk. 8.36 41 loo £5* amo. The reading is difficult, but may be
a synonymous pair: cf. 'honrats e loats e amats': Ramon Llull, Llibre de Porde de cavalleria, ed.
Albert Soler i Llopart (Barcelona, 1988), p. 237, line 145. 45-6 Cf. Mk. 10.30; Mt. 5.10
70 vino. Prostitutes often plied their trade under the cover of wine-selling. The branch, symbol
ofthe wine trade, came to denote prostitution; hence Spanish ramera: see Diego Hurtado de
Mendoza, Poesi'a completa^ ed. Jose Ignacio Di'ez Fernandez (Barcelona, 1989), p. 509, note to
poem clxxi 73 la puerta de la calle: contrast ' para ser honestas, que no vos asentedes a las
ventanas ni...a las puertas' {Castigos, p. 282). Prostitutes in nineteenth-century Madrid referred
to their trade as 'hacer puerta': see Javier Rioyo, Madrid: casas de lenocinio, holganzay malvivir
(Madrid, 1991), p. 326 73-4 fniraras bien en fito: in contrast with the modestly downcast gaze
of 1. no 85 ydolo. The connection between cosmetics and idols is made in other didactic
texts: cf. ' Asi lo dize Sant Pablo en la primera canonica a los 9inco capitulos, en que dize que las
mugeres non trayan... vestiduras desonestas, nin pintar las caras como ydolos de diablo', Frank
Anthony Ramirez (ed.), Tratado de la comunidad (London, 1988), p. 126; and * Estas que asi se
visten y se precian del traer, dice el santo profeta e rey David, que son semejantes a los ldolos e
imagenes de los templos', Hernando de Talavera, De vestir y de calzar, in Miguel Mir (ed.),
Escritores mi'sticos espafioles, vol. i, Nueva Biblioteca de Autores Espaiioles, xvi (Madrid, 1911),
p. 68. (I have not been able to identify the Biblical references) 90 Sant Bernaldo. Cf. 'el
linaje de los spiritus son diversos e departidos' 'del spiritu humano, que es el alma del omne',
'An Old Spanish Translation from the Flores Sancti Bernard^ cited in n. 2, sentences 1-2. Much
of this chapter of St Bernard is concerned with the spirits of the flesh, of the world and of the
Devil (especially §9), which are discussed by the present text at lines 93 (carne), 95 (mundo)
and 97 (serpiente) 104-5 ^os tres offios de la buena muger. The text originally gave three stages
in the career ofthe loose woman: 'whore in youth', ' whore-cum-procuress' and 'vile procuress'.
The interlinear addition precedes these with an earlier stage 'whore in girlhood'. Mancebia had
two meanings: the age of sexual maturity (say 14-40), preceded by mocedat (childhood up to
about 14). The precise distribution of years differs from author to author, but the order is always
the same: see John K. Walsh (ed.). El libro de los doze sabios (Madrid, 1976), p. 27. Mancebia by
extension could also mean prostitution: the Diccionario de autoridades of 1726 translates mancebia
as 'prostibulum.' It is likely that the original intention in our text was to denote youth in general;
the glossator felt the need to split the concept into earlier and later periods 107 a de perder
su alma: cf. Mt. 10.39, ^*^^- ^^^ -^^ ?"^ "^^^ "^^^ ^^ gana con mal se acaba: probably a
proverb: cf. 'Quien en mal anda, mal acaba', Felipe C. R. Maldonado (ed.), Refranero cldsico
espanol (Madrid, 1982), p. 61, no. 211, and Eleanor S. O'Kane, Refranes y frases proverbiales
espanolas de la edad media (Madrid, 1959), p. 150 118 que fuese quemada. The final scene of
this story takes place at the stake. Burning as punishment for prostitution is both a historical
reality and a favourite motif of didactic fiction: see the fourteenth-century Fuero de Albarracin,
cited by D. J. Gifford and F. W. Hodcroft, Textos lingtitsticos del medioevo espafiol (Oxford, 1959),
p. 191 124 castigo: the slightly irregular syntax is paralleled in Manrique's 'este mundo
bueno fue/si bien usasemos del': Coplaspor la muerte de su padre, 61-62, in his Poesi'a, ed. Jesiis-
Manuel Alda Tesan (Madrid, 1977), p. 147.
183

I am grateful to Professors Dwayne E. Carpenter
and David Hook for procuring three bibliographical
items.
1 On the translator, see Manuel Nieto Cumplido,
'Aportacion historica al Cancionero de Baena\
Historia, Instituciones, Docunientos, vi (1979), pp-
197-218, at pp. 199-201.
2 I have corrected some assertions which I made in
'An Old Spanish Translation from the Flores
Sancti Bernardi in British Library Add. MS.
14040, fF. iiiv-ri2v', British Library Journal,
xvi (1990), pp. 58-65, in the light of Fernando
Dominguez Reboiras, 'El Content del dictat de
Ramon Llull: una traduccidn castellana de
principios del siglo XV', in Studia in honorem
prof. M. de Riquer, vol. i (Barcelona, 1991), pp.
169-232. The manuscript has also been described
in Brian Dutton (ed.). El cancionero
del siglo XV, vol. i (Salamanca, 1990), p. 372
and in Ramon Llull, Llibre del gentil e dels
tres savis, ed. Anthony Bonner, Nova edicio de
les obres de Ramon Llull, ii (Palma, 1993),
pp. xxix-xxx. I have not seen Herbert R. Stone,
' A Critical Edition of the Libro del gentil e de los
tres sabios [Castilian Text]\ Ph.D., University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1965. (I am
grateful to Prof. Bonner for the latter two
references.)
3 A parallel case of such a criterion for inclusion is
the liturgical play the Auto de los Reyes Magos,
added to a manuscript of commentaries on
Jeremiah because it makes a passing reference to
the prophet: see Julian Weiss, 'The Auto de los
Reyes Magos and the Book of Jeremiah', La
Coro'mca, ix: 2 (Spring 1981), pp. 128-31.
4 Gregorio de Andres, 'Los codices del Conde de
Miranda en la Biblioteca Nacional', Revista de
Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, lxxxii (1979), pp.
611-27.
5 Torres Amat, Memorias para ayudar aformar un
diccionario critico de los escritores catalanes
(Barcelona, 1836), p. 706.
6 I am grateful to Julian Conway for consulting
the Accessions minutes for me.
7 Regiae bibliothecae matritensis codices manuscripti
(Madrid, 1769). On Iriarte, see his Obras sueltas
{Madrid, 1774), edited with an introductory
study by Bartolome de Iriarte; J. M. Fernandez
Pomar, 'Don Juan de Iriarte bibliotecario de la
Real Biblioteca', Bibliothek und Wissenschaft, iii
(1966), pp. 113-44; ^""^ Gregorio de Andres, 'El
bibliotecario D. Juan de Iriarte', in Homenaje a
Luis Morales Oliver (Madrid, 1986), pp.
587-606.
8 Nigel Glendinning, 'Spanish Books in England,
1800-1850', Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical
Society, iii (1959-63), pp. 70-92, at
pp. 79-80, 86.
9 They are listed in Paul Meyer, 'L'Enfant gate
devenu criminel', Romania, xiv (1885), pp.
581-3; Stith Thompson, Motif-Index of Folk-
Literature (Copenhagen, 1955-7), no. Q586;
Frederic Tubach, Index exemplorum (Helsinki,
1969), no. 3488; Rameline E. Marsan, Itineraire
espagnol du conte medieval, VIIF-XV^ siecles
(Paris, 1974), pp. 400-4; Jose Fradejas Lebrero,
'El mas copioso ejemplario del s. XVI' [The
Fructus sanctorum of Alonso de Villegas], Homenaje
a Pedro Sdinz Rodriguez (Madrid, 1986),
vol. ii, pp. 229-49 ^t p. 245; Maxime Chevalier,
'El Libro de los exenplos y la tradicion oral',
Dicenda, vi (1987), pp. 83-92, at p. 17; Ed
Brown, 'The Motif of the Cut-Off Nose in
Medieval Spanish Literature', ^n>/(Lexington,
Ky), vi (1989), pp. 12-18; and Victoria A.
Burrus and Harriet Goldberg (eds.), Esopete
ystoriado {Toulouse 1488) (Madison, 1990), pp.
112, 117, n. 14; Juan Manuel Cacho Blecua,'La
crueldad del castigo: el ajusticiamiento del
traidor y la "pertiga" educadora en el Libro del
cavallero Zifar\ in Violenciay conflictividaden la
sociedad de la Espana bajomedieval {Aragon en la
Edad Media : sesiones de trabajo, IV Seminario de
Historia Medieval) (Saragossa, 1995), pp. 59^89,
at pp. 74-83.
10 The story is no. 200 in the Augustana recension,
compiled in the ist or 2nd century A.D. : see Ben
Edwin Perry (ed.), Babrius and Phaedrus
(London, 1965), p. 459. Rinuccio's translation
circulated widely as part ofthe expanded Aesop
edited by Heinrich Steinhdwel (Ulm: Johann
Zainer, 1476 or 1477): see the Old Spanish
version, Esopete ystoriado (as in n. 9) and R. T.
Lenaghan, 'Steinhowel's Esopus and Early Humanism',
Monatshefte fur Deutschen Unterricht,
Deutsche Sprache und Literatur, Ix (1968), pp.
1-8. The Aesopic version is used by J. L. Vives,
De iiistitutione feminae christianae (1523), Book ii,
chapter xxix: see Libro llamado Instrucion dela
muger christiana, tr. Juan Justiniano (Valencia,
1528), f. lxxxii^^
11 Pseudo-Boece, De disciplina scolarium, ed. Olga
Weijers (Leiden, 1976), ii, §8-10, pp. ioi~2. For
the glosses, see Tony Hunt, Teaching and

Learning Latin in Thirteenth-Century England, i
(Cambridge, 1991), pp. 74, 86, i6of. Although
Weijers does not cite any Hispanic witnesses, the
Disciplina was known in Spain: see Saragossa
Cathedral MS. 15-58 and Barcelona, Biblioteca
de Catalunya, MS. 559 (book i only). There are
also references in inventories: see Gabriel
Llompart,' El lhbre catala a la casa mallorquina',
Analecta Sacra Tarraconensia, xlviii {1975), pp.
193-240; xlix-1 (1976-77), pp. 57-114, at p. 72
(citing a Majorcan inventory of the fifteenth
century) and Manuel Jose Pedraza Garcia,
Documentos para el estudio de la historia del libro
en Zaragoza entre 1501 y 1521 (Saragossa, 1993),
p. 65 (a Saragossa inventory of 1503). Further on
the Spanish reception of Ps-Boethius, see Francisco
Marquez Villanueva, 'La Celestina y el
pseudo Boecio De Disciplina scolarium', in E. M.
Gerli and H. L. Sharrer (eds.), Hispanic Medieval
Studies in Honor of Samuel G. Armistead
(Madison, 1992), pp. 221-42. The Disciplina is
quoted very closely by John of Wales, Communiloquium
(Strassburg, 1489; British Library,
IB.2012), sig. f2'-f3'': for example, he includes
the names ofthe protagonists. Other texts which
cite the Disciplina as their source do not follow it
in such detail and it is possible that they use the
Disciplina via the Commumloquium: see the
Speculum laicorum, ed. J.-Th. Welter (Paris,
1914), no. 296, p. 61, ch. 38; its Spanish
derivative the Especulo de los legos, ed. J. M.
Mohedano {Madrid, 1951), no. 287, ch. 42, pp.
196-7; and the first redaction of Castigos e
documentos del rey don Sancho, in P. de Gayangos
(ed.), Escritores en prosa anteriores al siglo XV,
Biblioteca de autores espanoles, Ii {Madrid,
i860), p. 90.
12 Curiously, Zeno himself was the protagonist of a
story in which, on the cross, he bit off the nose
of his persecutor: see John of Wales, Breviloquium,
part iv, ch. iii, in Summa Johannis
Valensis de regimine vite humane... {Lyons, 1511),
f. ccxiiij'".
13 Odo of Cheriton, Parabolae, in L. Hervieux
(ed.), Les Fabulistes latins, vol. iv (Paris, 1896),
no. 133, p. 316.
14 T. F. Crane (ed.). The Exempla or Illustrative
Stories from the ^ Sermones vulgares^ of Jacques de
Vitry (London, 1890), p. 121, no. 287, p. 259.
185
15 Etienne de Bourbon (d. 1261), Tractatus de
diversis materiis predicabilibus. Book i, De dono
timoris, in A. Lecoy de la Marche (ed.). Anecdotes
historiques legendes et apologues tire's du recueil
ine'dit d^Etienne de Bourbon (Paris, 1877), no. 43,
pp. 51-2. Etienne is the source for Humbert of
Romans (d. 1277), De dono timoris: see J.-Th.
Welter, VExemplum dans la litterature religieuse
er didactique du Moyen Age (Paris, 1927), pp.
215, 224—8. The De dono timoris is a source for
the Alphabetum narrationum of Arnold of Liege
(d. 1345), according to Welter, p. 312. The Latin
text of the Alphabetum is still unpubhshed, but
see the Catalan and English translations: Recull
de eximplis e miracles, ed. M. Aguilo y Fuster
{Barcelona, 1881), vol. i, no. 185, p. 169; An
Alphabet of Tales, ed. M. M. Banks {London,
1904), no. 217, p. 152. The same configuration of
motifs occurs in the versions of the story given
by Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum morale. III, iii,
7 {Douai, 1624), p. 1015; Clemente Sanchez de
Vercial, Libro de los exemplos por a.b.c; in
Gayangos (ed.), Escritores en prosa (as in n. 10),
p. 513, no. 273; and Philippe of Novare, Les
Quatre temps d'dge de thomme, ed. M. de Freville
(Paris, 1888), pp. 161-4.
16 J. Gonzalez Muela (ed.), Libro del caballero Zifar
(Madrid, 1982), pp. 252-56; for the illustration
of this story in Paris, Bibhotheque nationale,
MS. Esp. 36, see John E. Keller and Richard
P. Kinkade, Iconography in Medieval Spanish
Literature (Lexington, Ky, 1984), pp. 68-70.
17 The editors of the Spanish text (cited in n. 9)
note that while a woodcut in the Spanish editions
of 1489 and 1496 shows the son biting his
mother's ear, as in the text, the illustration in the
Spanish edition of 1488 shows him biting her
nose: this represents a combination of motifs not
found to my knowledge in the written witnesses.
18 As in n. 16, pp. 394-5. Charles Philip Wagner,
'The Sources of El Cavallero Cifar\ Revue
Hispanique, x (1903), pp. 5-104, at p. 77, gives
some parallels. The closest is in Straparola, who
does not however have the same punch-line.
19 Sergio Augusto, Este mundo e um pandeiro (Sao
Paulo, 1989), p. 57.
20 J. N. Adams, The Latin Sexual Vocabulary
(London, 1982), pp. 180-1.