© 1998 by Inés Cramer, all rights reserved.
The present work is going to analyze the manipulation of a female character
in the Crónica sarracina, by its author, Pedro del
Corral. Although this chronicle was written in 1433, the events it describes
ocurred in 711, right before, during, and after the invasion of the Iberian
Peninsula by the Moors. This invasion caused the destruction of the visigothic
kingdom of King Rodrigo.
Some critics believed that Corral intended to write a historical novel,
but the word 'crónica' in the title of his work indicates that very
likely he wanted to write a historical account. Therefore, it is very probable
that Corral's intention was to create a historical account which would
go beyond the dry, specific recollection of 'historical' data. It is also
possible that this author believed that the addition of episodes of obvious
folkloric or legendary origin, or even of episodes created by his own fertile
imagination would not make his account less historical, but rather more
entertaining.
Although Corral bases many of the characters he depicts in his chronicle
on individuals that actually existed and who played a part in 'la perdida
y destruccion de Espana: (Spain's loss and destruction), he manipulates
their behavior to mold them into the role he wants each of them to play
within the text.
King Rodrigo is one of the characters whose behavior is molded to play
a specific role. Corral also utilizes the legend which atributed the 'loss
of Spain' to the vengeance of 'el conde Julián' (Count Julian) against
King Rodrigo, who had raped his daughter, la Cava. To avenge her rape,
Count Julián facilitates the entrance of the Moors into Spain. This
story seems to adapt the Spanish legend to a novelistic form common in
Europe at that time. However, in this type of story it is usually the avenging
husband, and not the father, who lets his rage destroy the offending king.
Therefore, avenging the rape of a daughter is an innovation of the Spanish
legend (Menéndez Pidal 26).
After Spain was lost to the Moors, a group of its Hispano-Visigothic
inhabitants fled to the montainous north, to what today is the province
of Asturias. It was in this region that around 718 the Reconquista started
(G. de Valdeavellano 1, pt.1: 396), and from there it spread to the rest
of the Peninsula. The invaders became known to the Christians as 'Moors',
probably because they invaded Spain by way of Morocco (Abercombrie 88),
although many of the men in the invading army were not from that North
African region (Ubieto 77).
The role of Pelayo, the historical character credited with starting
the Reconquista (year 718), has been exaggerated by legend, since apparently
he was not as historically important as folklore has tried to depict him.
Four years after the beginning of the Reconquista (in 722), the Christians,
apparently, had their first victory against the Moslems. Some historians
doubt the Christians' triumph at Covadonga, and some are not even sure
that the encounter ever took place. Others believe that it was an unimportant
one between two small antagonistic groups of Christians and Moslems. In
any event, if the encounter really ocurred, its importance seems to be
limited to the fact that it was the first time in ten years that the Christians
were able to defeat the Moors (Ubieto 81). However, folklore and legend
have idealized both that victory and the role played by Pelayo in the first
triumph against the Moors, attributing it to the supernatural help given
by God to the Christian forces which he led. According to legend, when
the Christians were cornered by the Moslems on Mount Aseuva, they took
refuge in a cave in the slope of that mountain. After cornering the Christians
in the cave, the Moslems started shooting arrows at them. However, God
showed the Christians His favor by making the arrows change direction mid-flight,
hitting the Moors who had originally shot them. The cave passed on to history
with the name of Covadonga and became the symbol of the Christian resistance
againsts the Moors.
It is significant that the Crónica mozárabe (year
754), the Christian source closest in time to the actual events, does not
record this supernatural event (G. de Valdeavellano 1: pt. 1, 396), which
suggests that this legendary episode originated at a later time. However,
many later Christian chronicles mention this episode, relating it as a
historical fact. One of these is the Primera crónica general
de España, written in the thirteenth century by order of
Alfonso X the Wise (1221-1284) (1: 318; 2: 322-4), which comments not only
on the episode in which the arrows shot by the Moors changed direction
and hit them, but also about the fleeing Moors climbing to the summit of
a mountain in Liébana. The mountain gave way, killing many of them
and throwing the surviving ones into the Deva river, where they drowned.
The Primera crónica compares this episode with the
one in the Old Testament in which the Red Sea parted for the Israelites
and then swallowed the persuing Egyptians (2: 323).
Pedro del Corral, eager to include elements that would add interest
to his chronicle, could not fail to see the messianic implication in the
account of the Primera crónica general. Therefore,
he included it in the Crónica sarracina, emphasizing
the messianic character of Pelayo's task.
However, to present Pelayo as the savior of his people, and to establish
the messianic character of his task within the text, Corral considered
it necessary to fabricate an implicit parallel between him and Moses, from
the very moment of Pelayo's birth.
Pelayo's mother, therefore, appears in the text for the specific purpose
of fulfilling the literary need of the author to establish a messianic
birth for the hero of the Reconquista. The importance given by Corral to
Pelayo's parentage becomes evident by the fifty- two chapters he devotes
to the narration of his parents' clandestine courtship. Even though they
carried on their courtship secretely, the behavior of Pelayo's mother had
to be beyond reproach, since the birth of the Messiah that would eventually
lead the Spanish people to salvation, both temporal (expelling the invading
Moors from the Spanish territories) and eternal (reestablishing the Catholic
faith in Spain) could not be stained by his mother's inappropriate behavior.
Corral's manipulation of the literary image of Pelayo's mother within
the Crónica sarracina, is made obvious by identifying
this image with one of the elements of Aldo S. Bernardo's schematic depiction
of the way medieval society viewed women. According to Bernardo, during
the Middle Ages, literature identified a female character with either one
of two opposing images, which he placed at the extremes of the binomial
Ave-Eva. The first element of this binomial, Ave, associates women with
the Virgin Mary, while the second one, Eva, associates them with Eve, the
temptress of Adam, implying that women had the potential both to lead men
to salvation, and to destroy them (Bernardo 65). The literary image of
the mother of the Spanish Messiah had to be necessarily identified with
the Ave element of Bernardo's binomial.
Practically nothing is said about either of Pelayo's parents in any
of the chronicles Corral supposedly consulted, although there is a casual
mention of Pelayo's father, Duke Fafila, in the Primera crónica
general (1: pt. 2, 304). His wife is mentioned, but her name never
appears in any text. The lack of documented data about Pelayo's parents
seems to confirm that the episodes related to their courtship are the product
of Corral's literary creativity. The Crónica sarracina describes
Pelayo's father as a count, ("el conde Favila"), who was at King Abarca's
court, not as a Duke, but as a knight of visigothic lineage ["no como Duque,
sino como cauallero que venia del linage de los Godos" (2: Chap. LIII)].
There he fell in love with Luz, one of the Queen's ladies. Although
they hid their love, they swore that they would get married some day. However,
King Abarca also fell in love with Luz, and his desire for her grew to
such an extent that he asked her to become his mistress, but she rejected
him. Although he persisted, Luz systematically rejected each of his attempts.
Luckily for her, the King never forced himself on her, since he did not
want to possess her by force.
When Luz told Favila that the King was in love with her, the young
man became extremely upset and 'did not know what to do'(trasnslated citation).
At this, Luz told him not to worry, since she would never agree to be the
King's mistress. Then she proposed for them to marry in front of a statue
of the Virgin Mary that she kept in her chamber. In their first night together
after the marriage, she became pregnant with Pelayo. The next day Favila
had to leave for Cantabria. The text states that although Favila felt sad
about leaving Luz, he was sure that she would not turn to anybody else,
since she was not a virgin anymore.
After Favila left, the King kept asking Luz to become his mistress,
but she never accepted him. However, her pregnancy started to show, so
Luz decided to feign an illness in order to remain in her chamber. After
two months of isolation in her chamber, she gave birth to a beautiful boy.
She kept the boy for fifteen days, but when she learned that the King had
become suspicious, Luz placed the newborn Pelayo in an ark. As she placed
her baby in the ark, she prayed to God, asking Him to protect her newborn
son and to make him the saviour of his lineage. At that moment a voice
was heard saying
: 'Your request is granted'. That same night, her
maid, accompanied by another servant, put the ark in the river. As they
watched it float away, they saw it become surrounded by an 'extreme clarity'.
Pelayo, like Moses, was found and saved. The mother's guilt for abandoning
her newborn son is redeemed, within the text, by the many
descriptions of her suffering when she wondered about the child's fate.
After a series of events in which chance plays a significant part, the
true identity of Pelayo is discovered and his parents, who finally claim
him as their son, marry for a second time, completely ignoring the first
wedding. Later this son, who leads his people against the Moors, becomes
the hero of the Reconquista. However, what is important within the scope
of this work is not Pelayo's role, but the way in which Pedro del Corral
manipulates the literary character of his mother.
Whenever the text of the Crónica sarracina positively
depicts a female character, this character displays the passive, traditional
behavior that the patriarchal society of the Middle Ages expected from
women. Within the text, women who display decisive forceful behavior lead
men either to their physical destruction or to eternal damnation.
However, Pelayo's mother is the exception. In the episodes which lead
to the birth of Pelayo, the role of his mother, Luz, is not passive in
any way, but she is still presented in an obviously favorable light, since
her active role responds to the author's need to depict Pelayo abandoned
in a river like Moses, in order to establish an adequate parallel between
both of them. This implies that Pelayo, like Moses, played a messianic
role in shaping the destiny of his people. This messianic role is clearly
indicated within the text by the voice heard when his mother was placing
him as a newborn in the ark. Pelayo's messianic predestination is also
stressed by the 'clarity' which surrounded the ark in which he had been
placed, as it floated away on the river.
The author justifies the drastic measures that Luz took to hide the
birth of her son by the absence of a man to defend her. Thus, Favila's
behavior was not typical of that expected from a medieval knight when he
sees his lady's honor threatened. On the contrary, the King's advances
towards Luz upset him to such an extent that he becomes totally unable
to actively support the woman he loves.
It is possible that at some point Corral modified the parallel between
Pelayo and Moses, and transformed it into a parallel between Pelayo and
Jesus. Assuming that this is the case, it is then possible to associate
the passive role played by Pelayo's father with the totally inactive role
assumed by Joseph in Jesus' conception in the New Testament. According
to the New Testament's account, Mary was the only human who took part in
Jesus' conception, while Joseph, from the biological point of view, did
not intervene at all. Although within the context of the Crónica
sarracina Favila does intervene biologically in Pelayo's
conception, his intervention is very limited, since Luz becomes pregnant
the very first time that she sleeps with her husband. The narration also
implies that, after that first time, there was no more sexual contact between
Pelayo's parents until many years later.
Since illegitimacy could not stain the birth of the future savior of
the Spaniards, Luz's reaction to her predicament is also not typical, not
being the passive type of behavior that the traditional and patriarchal
medieval society would expect. Contrary to behavior expected fom women,
Pelayo's mother takes the initiative and not only proposes to Favila, but
also implies that they should consummate the marriage: 'after we
get married you can do with me whatever you wish' ["despues que fueremos
desposados en vos esta de fazer de mi a vuestra voluntad?" (2: Chap. LIII)].
The consummation of the marriage is necessary, since the author would have
gone too far by creating an Immaculate Conception for the hero of the Reconquista.
The validity of the marriage of Pelayo's parents as described in Corral's
text, however, is somewhat doubtful. The text implies this marriage was
valid, even though the betrothed themselves were the only witnesses when
it took place. It is true that this type of marriage existed and that its
validity was accepted, according to the customs and the laws of the Church
and of medieval society. The validity of these marriages was supported
by the mutual consent of the parties involved. However, they were forbidden
by the Council of Trent (1545-1563) because they created an enourmous amount
of problems, since either party could easily deny that it had taken place,
or could somehow take advantage of it (Alvarez-Hesse 68-9). The reason
the validity of this marriage can be challenged, although within the text
it took place at a time when this type of union was still valid, is because
later Luz and Favila married again, this time in front of the King, and
the first ceremony was totally ignored and was never mentioned again.
This is obviously a mistake on Corral's part, since the best way he
could have assured Pelayo's legitimacy would have been by emphasizing the
secret marriage that had taken place before the hero of the Reconquista
was conceived. Although at the XIth Medieval-Renaissace Conference at Clinch
Valley College of the University of Virginia was called to the attention
of the author of the present work that it was customary to make these secret
marriages official at a letter date, the total lack of any mention to the
secret marriage of Pelayo's parents in the text of the Crónica
sarracina at the time they married for a second time is significant.
The lack of any mention of the secret marriage may imply that Corral, the
author of the Crónica sarracina, was not prepared
to defend its absolute validity and therefore, chose to avoid mentioning
it again.
However, once Pelayo's messianism was established, the active role
played by his mother became not only unnecessary, but also undesirable
for a woman whose behavior was supposed to be associated with the Ave
element
of Bernardo's binomial. Accordingly, after Pelayo's messianic role is well
defined within the text, Favila, for the first time, becomes the champion
of his lady. King Abarca arranges for a knight to accuse Luz of dishonest
behavior (of losing her virginity), and the text states that because of
this she is threatened with being burned at the stake. The knight, Melías,
challenges any knight who wants to prove Luz's innocence to joust with
him, and Favila takes the challenge and defeats him. However, King Abarca
does not want Luz acquitted and therefore, he makes another knight, Brestes,
accuse Luz. Favila again assumes the role of the honorable medieval knight
who, in spite of all dangers, rescues his lady, and he also defeats Brestes.
The analysis just completed allows one to understand why Corral created
the literary character of Pelayo's mother and how he manipulated her behavior
within the text to shape it into the role of a Messiah's mother. The name
Corral gave the mother of Pelayo, Luz, is significant. 'Luz' in Spanish
means 'light', and thus, within the context of the Crónica
sarracina it can be associated with the light of Christianity,
the 'true faith', reestablished in the Iberian Peninsula after the darkness
of a 'false religion', brought by the Moslem invasion.
Luz's behavior was also predetermined from the very beginning by the
messianic role that, within the context of the Crónica sarracina,
her son would play in shaping the destiny of the Spaniards. Luz assumed
an active role when the author considered it a necessity for the logical
unfolding of events, although it was not the one expected from a respectable
lady within the patriarchal medieval society. However, once the author
considered this behavior no longer necessary, the behavior of the literary
character of Luz changed and it became the typical, passive one expected
from a medieval woman.
Thus, it can be declared that the literary character of Luz was created
and manipulated within the text of the Crónica sarracinato
serve one of the purposes of its author, Pedro del Corral, namely to establish
the messianic characteristics of Pelayo, the hero of the Reconquista.
Inez Cramer
University of Rutgers