[226] If we choose to strike more widely, and institute a comparison with the garrulous old Fabliaux, or with the overdone refinements of the Troubadours and Minnesingers, the result would be yet more in favor of the early Spanish ballads, which represent and embody the excited poetical feeling that filled the whole nation during that period when the Moorish power was gradually broken down by an enthusiasm that became at last irresistible, because, from the beginning, it was founded on a sense of loyalty and religious duty.

[227] See Appendix, B.

[228] In the code of the Partidas, (circa A. D. 1260,) good knights are directed to listen at their meals to the reading of “las hestorias de los grandes fechos de armas que los otros fecieran,” etc. (Parte II. Título XXI. Ley 20.) Few knights at that time could understand Latin, and the “hestorias” in Spanish must probably have been the Chronicle now to be mentioned, and the ballads or gestes on which it was, in part, founded.

[229] It is the opinion of Mondejar that the original title of the “Crónica de España” was “Estoria de España.” Memorias de Alfonso el Sabio, p. 464.

[230] The distinction Alfonso makes between ordering the materials to be collected by others (“mandamos ayuntar”) and composing or compiling the Chronicle himself (“composimos este libro”) seems to show that he was its author or compiler,—certainly that he claimed to be such. But there are different opinions on this point. Florian de Ocampo, the historian, who, in 1541, published in folio, at Zamora, the first edition of the Chronicle, says, in notes at the end of the Third and Fourth Parts, that some persons believe only the first three parts to have been written by Alfonso, and the fourth to have been compiled later; an opinion to which it is obvious that he himself inclines, though he says he will neither affirm nor deny any thing about the matter. Others have gone farther, and supposed the whole to have been compiled by several different persons. But to all this it may be replied,—1. That the Chronicle is more or less well ordered, and more or less well written, according to the materials used in its composition; and that the objections made to the looseness and want of finish in the Fourth Part apply also, in a good degree, to the Third; thus proving more than Florian de Ocampo intends, since he declares it to be certain (“sabemos por cierto”) that the first three parts were the work of Alfonso. 2. Alfonso declares, more than once, in his Prólogo, whose genuineness has been made sure by Mondejar, from the four best manuscripts, that his History comes down to his own times, (“fasta el nuestro tiempo,”)—which we reach only at the end of the Fourth Part,—treating the whole, throughout the Prólogo, as his own work. 3. There is strong internal evidence that he himself wrote the last part of the work, relating to his father; as, for instance, the beautiful account of the relations between St. Ferdinand and his mother, Berenguela (ed. 1541, f. 404); the solemn account of St. Ferdinand’s death, at the very end of the whole; and other passages between ff. 402 and 426. 4. His nephew Don John Manuel, who made an abridgment of the Crónica de España, speaks of his uncle Alfonso the Wise as if he were its acknowledged author.

It should be borne in mind, also, that Mondejar says the edition of Florian de Ocampo is very corrupt and imperfect, omitting whole reigns in one instance; and the passages he cites from the old manuscripts of the entire work prove what he says. (Memorias, Lib. VII. capp. 15, 16.) The only other edition of the Chronicle, that of Valladolid, (fol., 1604,) is still worse. Indeed, it is, from the number of its gross errors, one of the worst printed books I have ever used.

[231] The statement referred to in the Chronicle, that it was written four hundred years after the time of Charlemagne, is, of course, a very loose one; for Alfonso was not born in 1210. But I think he would hardly have said, “It is now full four hundred years,” (ed. 1541, fol. 228,) if it had been full four hundred and fifty. From this it may be inferred that the Chronicle was composed before 1260. Other passages tend to the same conclusion. Conde, in his Preface to his “Árabes en España,” notices the Arabic air of the Chronicle, which, however, seems to me to have been rather the air of its age throughout Europe.

[232] The account of Dido is worth reading, especially by those who have occasion to see her story referred to in the Spanish poets, as it is by Ercilla and Lope de Vega, in a way quite unintelligible to those who know only the Roman version of it as given by Virgil. It is found in the Crónica de España, (Parte I. c. 51-57,) and ends with a very heroical epistle of the queen to Æneas;—the Spanish view taken of the whole matter being in substance that which is taken by Justin, very briefly, in his “Universal History,” Lib. XVIII. c. 4-6.

[233] Crónica de España, Parte III. c. 1, 2.

[234] Ibid., Capp. 10 and 13.

[235] Ibid., Capp. 18, etc.

[236] Ibid., Cap. 20.

[237] Ibid., Cap. 10.

[238] Ibid., Cap. 10, with the ballad made out of it, beginning “Reynando el Rey Alfonso.”

[239] Ibid., Capp. 11 and 19. A drama by Rodrigo de Herrera, entitled “Voto de Santiago y Batalla de Clavijo,” (Comedias Escogidas, Tom. XXXIII., 1670, 4to,) is founded on the first of these passages, but has not used its good material with much skill.

[240] The separate history of the Cid begins with the beginning of Part Fourth, f. 279, and ends on f. 346, ed. 1541.

[241] These Cantares and Cantares de Gesta are referred to in Parte III. c. 10 and 13.

[242] I cannot help feeling, as I read it, that the beautiful story of the Infantes de Lara, as told in this Third Part of the Crónica de España, beginning f. 261 of the edition of 1541, is from a separate and older chronicle; probably from some old monkish Latin legend. But it can be traced no farther back than to this passage in the Crónica de España, on which rests every thing relating to the Children of Lara in Spanish poetry and romance.

[243] “La Pérdida de España” is the common name, in the older writers, for the Moorish conquest.

[244] “Los Bienes que tiene España” (ed. 1541, f. 202);—and, on the other side of the leaf, the passage that follows, called “El Llanto de España.”

[245] The original, in both the printed editions, is tierras, though it should plainly be sierras from the context; but this is noticed as only one of the thousand gross typographical errors with which these editions are deformed.

[246] This remark will apply to many passages in the Third Part of the Chronicle of Spain, but to none, perhaps, so strikingly as to the stories of Bernardo del Carpio and the Infantes de Lara, large portions of which may be found almost verbatim in the ballads. I will now refer only to the following:—1. On Bernardo del Carpio, the ballads beginning, “El Conde Don Sancho Diaz,” “En corte del Casto Alfonso,” “Estando en paz y sosiego,” “Andados treinta y seis años,” and “En gran pesar y tristeza.” 2. On the Infantes de Lara, the ballads beginning, “A Calatrava la Vieja,” which was evidently arranged for singing at a puppet-show or some such exhibition, “Llegados son los Infantes,” “Quien es aquel caballero,” and “Ruy Velasquez de Lara.” All these are found in the older collections of ballads; those, I mean, printed before 1560; and it is worthy of particular notice, that this same General Chronicle makes especial mention of Cantares de Gesta about Bernardo del Carpio that were known and popular when it was itself compiled, in the thirteenth century.

[247] See the Crónica General de España, ed. 1541, f. 227, a.

[248] Crónica Gen., ed. 1541, f. 236. a.

[249] This is the opinion of Southey, in the Preface to his “Chronicle of the Cid,” which, though one of the most amusing and instructive books, in relation to the manners and feelings of the Middle Ages, that is to be found in the English language, is not quite so wholly a translation from its three Spanish sources as it claims to be. The opinion of Huber on the same point is like that of Southey.

[250] Both the chronicles cite for their authorities the Archbishop Rodrigo of Toledo, and the Bishop Lucas of Tuy, in Galicia, (Cid, Cap. 293; General, 1604, f. 313. b, and elsewhere,) and represent them as dead. Now the first died in 1247, and the last in 1250; and as the General Chronicle of Alfonso X. was necessarily written between 1252 and 1282, and probably written soon after 1252, it is not to be supposed, either that the Chronicle of the Cid, or any other chronicle in the Spanish language which the General Chronicle could use, was already compiled. But there are passages in the Chronicle of the Cid which prove it to be later than the General Chronicle. For instance, in Chapters 294, 295, and 296 of the Chronicle of the Cid, there is a correction of an error of two years in the General Chronicle’s chronology. And again, in the General Chronicle, (ed. 1604, f. 313. b,) after relating the burial of the Cid, by the bishops, in a vault, and dressed in his clothes, (“vestido con sus paños,”) it adds, “And thus he was laid where he still lies” (“E assi yaze ay do agora yaze”); but in the Chronicle of the Cid, the words in Italics are stricken out, and we have instead, “And there he remained a long time, till King Alfonso came to reign (“E hy estudo muy grand tiempo, fasta que vino el Rey Don Alfonso a reynar”); after which words we have an account of the translation of his body to another tomb, by Alfonso the Wise, the son of Ferdinand. But, besides that this is plainly an addition to the Chronicle of the Cid, made later than the account given in the General Chronicle, there is a little clumsiness about it that renders it quite curious; for, in speaking of St. Ferdinand with the usual formulary, as “he who conquered Andalusia, and the city of Jaen, and many other royal towns and castles,” it adds, “As the history will relate to you farther on (“Segun que adelante vos lo contará la historia”). Now the history of the Cid has nothing to do with the history of St. Ferdinand, who lived a hundred years after him, and is never again mentioned in this Chronicle; and therefore the little passage containing the account of the translation of the body of the Cid, in the thirteenth century, to its next resting-place was probably cut out from some other chronicle which contained the history of St. Ferdinand, as well as that of the Cid. My own conjecture is, that it was cut out from the abridgment of the General Chronicle of Alfonso the Wise made by his nephew Don John Manuel, who would be quite likely to insert an addition so honorable to his uncle, when he came to the point of the Cid’s interment; an interment of which the General Chronicle’s account had ceased to be the true one. Cap. 291.

It is a curious fact, though not one of consequence to this inquiry, that the remains of the Cid, besides their removal by Alfonso the Wise, in 1272, were successively transferred to different places, in 1447, in 1541, again in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and again, by the bad taste of the French General Thibaut, in 1809 or 1810, until, at last, in 1824, they were restored to their original sanctuary in San Pedro de Cardenas. Semanario Pintoresco, 1838, p. 648.

[251] If it be asked what were the authorities on which the portion of the Crónica General relating to the Cid relies for its materials, I should answer:—1. Those cited in the Prólogo to the whole work by Alfonso himself, some of which are again cited when speaking of the Cid. Among these, the most important is the Archbishop Rodrigo’s “Historia Gothica.” (See Nic. Ant., Bibl. Vet., Lib. VIII. c. 2, § 28.) 2. It is probable there were Arabic records of the Cid, as a life of him, or part of a life of him, by a nephew of Alfaxati, the converted Moor, is referred to in the Chronicle itself, Cap. 278, and in Crón. Gen., 1541, f. 359. b. But there is nothing in the Chronicle that sounds like Arabic, except the “Lament for the Fall of Valencia,” beginning “Valencia, Valencia, vinieron sobre ti muchos quebrantos,” which is on f. 329. a, and again, poorly amplified, on f. 329. b, but out of which has been made the fine ballad, “Apretada esta Valencia,” which can be traced back to the ballad-book printed by Martin Nucio, at Antwerp, 1550, though, I believe, no farther. If, therefore, there be any thing in the Chronicle of the Cid taken from documents in the Arabic language, such documents were written by Christians, or a Christian character was impressed on the facts taken from them.[*] 3. It has been suggested by the Spanish translators of Bouterwek, (p. 255,) that the Chronicle of the Cid in Spanish is substantially taken from the “Historia Roderici Didaci,” published by Risco, in “La Castilla y el mas Famoso Castellano” (1792, App., pp. xvi.-lx.). But the Latin, though curious and valuable, is a meagre compendium, in which I find nothing of the attractive stories and adventures of the Spanish, but occasionally something to contradict or discredit them. 4. the old “Poem of the Cid” was, no doubt, used, and used freely, by the chronicler, whoever he was, though he never alludes to it. This has been noticed by Sanchez, (Tom. I. pp. 226-228,) and must be noticed again, in note 28, where I shall give an extract from the Chronicle. I add here only, that it is clearly the Poem that was used by the Chronicle, and not the Chronicle that was used by the Poem.

[*] Since writing this note, I learn that my friend Don Pascual de Gayangos possesses an Arabic chronicle that throws much light on this Spanish chronicle and on the life of the Cid.

[252] Prohemio. The good abbot considers the Chronicle to have been written in the lifetime of the Cid, i. e. before A. D. 1100, and yet it refers to the Archbishop of Toledo and the Bishop of Tuy, who were of the thirteenth century. Moreover, he speaks of the intelligent interest the Prince Ferdinand took in it; but Oviedo, in his Dialogue on Cardinal Ximenes, says the young prince was only eight years and some months old when he gave the order. Quinquagena, MS.

[253] Sometimes it is necessary earlier to allude to a portion of the Cid’s history, and then it is added, “As we shall relate farther on”; so that it is quite certain the Cid’s history was originally regarded as a necessary portion of the General Chronicle. (Crónica General, ed. 1604, Tercera Parte, f. 92. b.) When, therefore, we come to the Fourth Part, where it really belongs, we have, first, a chapter on the accession of Ferdinand the Great, and then the history of the Cid connected with that of the reigns of Ferdinand, Sancho II., and Alfonso VI.; but the whole is so truly an integral part of the General Chronicle and not a separate chronicle of the Cid, that, when it was taken out to serve as a separate chronicle, it was taken out as the three reigns of the three sovereigns above mentioned, beginning with one chapter that goes back ten years before the Cid was born, and ending with five chapters that run forward ten years after his death; while, at the conclusion of the whole, is a sort of colophon, apologizing (Chrónica del Cid, Burgos, 1593, fol., f. 277) for the fact that it is so much a chronicle of these three kings, rather than a mere chronicle of the Cid. This, with the peculiar character of the differences between the two that have been already noticed, has satisfied me that the Chronicle of the Cid was taken from the General Chronicle.

[254] Masdeu (Historia Crítica de España, Madrid, 1783-1805, 4to, Tom. XX.) would have us believe that the whole is a fable; but this demands too much credulity. The question is discussed with acuteness and learning in “Jos. Aschbach de Cidi Historiæ Fontibus Dissertatio,” (Bonnæ, 4to, 1843, pp. 5, etc.,) but little can be settled about individual facts.

[255] The portion of the Chronicle of the Cid from which I have taken the extract is among the portions which least resemble the corresponding parts of the General Chronicle. It is in Chap. 91; and from Chap. 88 to Chap. 93 there is a good deal not found in the parallel passages in the General Chronicle, (1604, f. 224, etc.,) though, where they do resemble each other, the phraseology is still frequently identical. The particular passage I have selected was, I think, suggested by the first lines that remain to us of the “Poema del Cid”; and perhaps, if we had the preceding lines of that poem, we should be able to account for yet more of the additions to the Chronicle in this passage. The lines I refer to are as follows:—

Other passages are quite as obviously taken from the poem.

[256] It sounds much like the “Partidas,” beginning, “Los sabios antiguos que fueron en los tiempos primeros, y fallaron los saberes y las otras cosas, tovieron que menguarien en sus fechos y en su lealtad, si tambien no lo quisiessen para los otros que avien de venir, como para si mesmos o por los otros que eran en su tiempo,” etc. But such introductions are common in other early chronicles, and in other old Spanish books.

[257] “Chrónica del muy Esclarecido Príncipe y Rey D. Alfonso, el que fue par de Emperador, y hizo el Libro de las Siete Partidas, y ansimismo al fin deste Libro va encorporada la Crónica del Rey D. Sancho el Bravo,” etc., Valladolid, 1554, folio; to which should be added “Crónica del muy Valeroso Rey D. Fernando, Visnieto del Santo Rey D. Fernando,” etc., Valladolid, 1554, folio.

[258] All this may be found abundantly discussed in the “Memorias de Alfonso el Sabio,” by the Marques de Mondejar, pp. 569-635. Clemencin, however, still attributes the Chronicle to Fernan Sanchez de Tovar. Mem. de la Acad. de Historia, Tom. VI. p. 451.

[259] There is an edition of this Chronicle (Valladolid, 1551, folio) better than the old editions of such Spanish books commonly are; but the best is that of Madrid, 1787, 4to, edited by Cerdá y Rico, and published under the auspices of the Spanish Academy of History.

[260] The phrase is, “Mandó á Juan Nuñez de Villaizan, Alguacil de la su Casa, que la ficiese trasladar en Pergaminos, e fizola trasladar, et escribióla Ruy Martinez de Medina de Rioseco,” etc. See Preface.

[261] In Cap. 340 and elsewhere.

[262] Ed. 1787, p. 3.

[263] Ed. 1787, p. 80.

[264] For the Life of Ayala, see Nic. Antonio, Bib. Vet., Lib. X. c. 1.

[265] The whole account in Froissart is worth reading, especially in Lord Berners’s translation, (London, 1812, 4to, Vol. I. c. 231, etc.,) as an illustration of Ayala.

[266] See the passage in which Mariana gives an account of the battle. Historia, Lib. XVII. c. 10.

[267] Generaciones y Semblanzas, Cap. 7, Madrid, 1775, 4to, p. 222.

[268] It is probable Ayala translated, or caused to be translated, all these books. At least, such has been the impression; and the mention of Isidore of Seville among the authors “made known” seems to justify it, for, as a Spaniard of great fame, St. Isidore must always have been known in Spain in every other way, except by a translation into Spanish. See, also, the Preface to the edition of Boccaccio, Caída de Príncipes, 1495, in Fr. Mendez, Typografía Española, Madrid, 1796, 4to, p. 202.

[269] The first edition of Ayala’s Chronicles is of Seville, 1495, folio, but it seems to have been printed from a MS. that did not contain the entire series. The best edition is that published under the auspices of the Academy of History, by D. Eugenio de Llaguno Amirola, its secretary (Madrid, 1779, 2 tom. 4to). That Ayala was the authorized chronicler of Castile is apparent from the whole tone of his work, and is directly asserted in an old MS. of a part of it, cited by Bayer in his notes to N. Antonio, Bib. Vet., Lib. X. cap. 1, num. 10, n. 1.

[270] There are about a dozen ballads on the subject of Don Pedro, of which the best, I think, are those beginning, “Doña Blanca esta en Sidonia,” “En un retrete en que apenas,” “No contento el Rey D. Pedro,” and “Doña Maria de Padilla,” the last of which is in the Saragossa Cancionero of 1550, Parte II. f. 46.

[271] See the Crónica de Don Pedro, Ann. 1353, Capp. 4, 5, 11, 12, 14, 21; Ann. 1354, Capp. 19, 21; Ann. 1358, Capp. 2 and 3; and Ann. 1361, Cap. 3.

[272] The fairness of Ayala in regard to Don Pedro has been questioned, and, from his relations to that monarch, may naturally be suspected;—a point on which Mariana touches, (Historia, Lib. XVII. c. 10,) without settling it, but one of some little consequence in Spanish literary history, where the character of Don Pedro often appears connected with poetry and the drama. The first person who attacked Ayala was, I believe, Pedro de Gracia Dei, a courtier in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella and in that of Charles V. He was King-at-Arms and Chronicler to the Catholic sovereigns, and I have, in manuscript, a collection of his professional coplas on the lineages and arms of the principal families of Spain, and on the general history of the country;—short poems, worthless as verse, and sneered at by Argote de Molina, in the Preface to his “Nobleza del Andaluzia,” (1588,) for the imperfect knowledge their author had of the subjects on which he treated. His defence of Don Pedro is not better. It is found in the Seminario Erudito, (Madrid, 1790, Tom. XXVIII. and XXIX.,) with additions by a later hand, probably Diego de Castilla, Dean of Toledo, who, I believe, was one of Don Pedro’s descendants. It cites no sufficient authorities for the averments which it makes about events that happened a century and a half earlier, and on which, therefore, it was unsuitable to trust the voice of tradition. Francisco de Castilla, who certainly had blood of Don Pedro in his veins, followed in the same track, and speaks, in his “Pratica de las Virtudes,” (Çaragoça, 1552, 4to, fol. 28,) of the monarch and of Ayala as

All this, however, produced little effect. But, in process of time, books were written upon the question;—the “Apologia del Rey Don Pedro,” by Ledo del Pozo, (Madrid, folio, s. a.,) and “El Rey Don Pedro defendido,” (Madrid, 1648, 4to,) by Vera y Figueroa, the diplomatist of the reign of Philip IV.; works intended, apparently, only to flatter the pretensions of royalty, but whose consequences we shall find when we come to the “Valiente Justiciero” of Moreto, Calderon’s “Médico de su Honra,” and similar poetical delineations of Pedro’s character in the seventeenth century. The ballads, however, it should be noticed, are almost always true to the view of Pedro given by Ayala;—the most striking exception that I remember being the admirable ballad beginning “A los pies de Don Enrique,” Quinta Parte de Flor de Romances, recopilado por Sebastian Velez de Guevara, Burgos, 1594, 18mo.

[273] The first edition of the “Crónica del Señor Rey D. Juan, segundo de este Nombre,” was printed at Logroño, (1517, fol.,) and is the most correct of the old editions that I have used. The best of all, however, is the beautiful one printed at Valencia, by Monfort, in 1779, folio, to which may be added an Appendix by P. Fr. Liciniano Saez, Madrid, 1786, folio.

[274] See his Prólogo, in the edition of 1779, p. xix., and Galindez de Carvajal, Prefacion, p. 19.

[275] He lived as late as 1444; for he is mentioned more than once in that year, in the Chronicle. See Ann. 1444, Capp. 14, 15.

[276] Prefacion de Carvajal.

[277] Fernan Gomez de Cibdareal, physician to John II., Centon Epistolario, Madrid, 1775, 4to, Epist. 23 and 74; a work, however, whose genuineness I shall be obliged to question hereafter.

[278] Prefacion de Carvajal. Poetry of Rodriguez del Padron is found in the Cancioneros Generales; and of Diego de Valera there is “La Crónica de España abreviada por Mandado de la muy Poderosa Señora Doña Isabel, Reyna de Castilla,” made in 1481, when its author was sixty-nine years old, and printed, 1482, 1493, 1495, etc.,—a chronicle of considerable merit for its style, and of some value, notwithstanding it is a compendium, for the original materials it contains towards the end, such as two eloquent and bold letters by Valera himself to John II., on the troubles of the time, and an account of what he personally saw of the last days of the Great Constable, (Parte IV. c. 125,)—the last and the most important chapter in the book. (Mendez, p. 138. Capmany, Eloquencia Española, Madrid, 1786, 8vo, Tom. I. p. 180.) It should be added, that the editor of the Chronicle of John II. (1779) thinks Valera was the person who finally arranged and settled that Chronicle; but the opinion of Carvajal seems the more probable. Certainly, I hope Valera had no hand in the praise bestowed on himself in the excellent story told of him in the Chronicle, (Ann. 1437, Cap. 3,) showing how, in presence of the king of Bohemia, at Prague, he defended the honor of his liege lord, the king of Castile. A treatise of a few pages on Providence, by Diego de Valera, printed in the edition of the “Vision Deleytable,” of 1489, and reprinted, almost entire, in the first volume of Capmany’s “Eloquencia Española,” is worth reading, as a specimen of the grave didactic prose of the fifteenth century. A Chronicle of Ferdinand and Isabella, by Valera, which may well have been the best and most important of his works, has never been printed. Gerónimo Gudiel, Compendio de Algunas Historias de España, Alcalá, 1577, fol., f. 101. b.

[279] From the phraseology of Carvajal, (p. 20,) we may infer that Fernan Perez de Guzman is chiefly responsible for the style and general character of the Chronicle. “Cogió de cada uno lo que le pareció mas probable, y abrevió algunas cosas, tomando la sustancia dellas; porque así creyó que convenia.” He adds, that this Chronicle was much valued by Isabella, who was the daughter of John II.

[280] Anno 1451, Cap. 2, and Anno 1453, Cap. 2. See, also, some remarks on the author of this Chronicle by the editor of the “Crónica de Alvaro de Luna,” (Madrid, 1784, 4to,) Prólogo, pp. xxv.-xxviii.

[281] For example, 1406, Cap. 6, etc.; 1430, Cap. 2; 1441, Cap. 30; 1453, Cap. 3.

[282] “Es sin duda la mas puntual i la mas segura de quantas se conservan antiguas.” Mondejar, Noticia y Juicio de los mas Principales Historiadores de España, Madrid, 1746, fol., p. 112.

[283] Anno 1453, Cap. 4.

[284] Anno 1406, Capp. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 15; Anno 1407, Capp. 6, 7, 8, etc.

[285] This Chronicle affords us, in one place that I have noticed,—probably not the only one,—a curious instance of the way in which the whole class of Spanish chronicles to which it belongs were sometimes used in the poetry of the old ballads we so much admire. The instance to which I refer is to be found in the account of the leading event of the time, the violent death of the Great Constable Alvaro de Luna, which the fine ballad beginning “Un Miercoles de mañana” takes plainly from this Chronicle of John II. The two are worth comparing throughout, and their coincidences can be properly felt only when this is done; but a little specimen may serve to show how curious is the whole.

The Chronicle (Anno 1453, Cap. 2) has it as follows:—“E vidó a Barrasa, Caballerizo del Principe, e llamóle é dixóle: ‘Ven acá, Barrasa, tu estas aqui mirando la muerte que me dan. Yo te ruego, que digas al Principe mi Señor, que dé mejor gualardon a sus criados, quel Rey mi Señor mandó dar á mi.’”

The ballad, which is cited as anonymous by Duran, but is found in Sepúlveda’s Romances, etc., 1584, (f. 204,) though not in the edition of 1551, gives the same striking circumstance, a little amplified, in these words:—

So near do the old Spanish chronicles often come to being poetry, and so near do the old Spanish ballads often come to being history. But the Chronicle of John II. is, I think, the last to which this remark can be applied.

If I felt sure of the genuineness of the “Centon Epistolario” of Gomez de Cibdareal, I should here cite the one hundred and third Letter as the material from which the Chronicle’s account was constructed.

[286] When the first edition of Castillo’s Chronicle was published I do not know. It is treated as if still only in manuscript by Mondejar in 1746 (Advertencias, p. 112); by Bayer, in his notes to Nic. Antonio, (Bib. Vetus, Vol. II. p. 349,) which, though written a little earlier, were published in 1788; and by Ochoa, in the notes to the inedited poems of the Marquis of Santillana, (Paris, 1844, 8vo, p. 397,) and in his “Manuscritos Españoles” (1844, p. 92, etc.). The very good edition, however, prepared by Josef Miguel de Flores, published in Madrid, by Sancha, (1787, 4to,) as a part of the Academy’s collection, is announced, on its title-page, as the second. If these learned men have all been mistaken on such a point, it is very strange.

[287] For the use of a manuscript copy of Palencia’s Chronicle I am indebted to my friend, W. H. Prescott, Esq., who notices it among the materials for his “Ferdinand and Isabella,” (Vol. I. p. 136, Amer. ed.,) with his accustomed acuteness. A full life of Palencia is to be found in Juan Pellicer, Bib. de Traductores, (Madrid, 1778, 4to,) Second Part, pp. 7-12.

[288] I owe my knowledge of this manuscript, also, to my friend Mr. Prescott, whose copy I have used. It consists of one hundred and forty-four chapters, and the credulity and bigotry of its author, as well as his better qualities, may be seen in his accounts of the Sicilian Vespers, (Cap. 193,) of the Canary Islands, (Cap. 64,) of the earthquake of 1504, (Cap. 200,) and of the election of Leo X. (Cap. 239). Of his prejudice and partiality, his version of the bold visit of the great Marquis of Cadiz to Isabella, (Cap. 29,) when compared with Mr. Prescott’s notice of it, (Part I. Chap. 6,) will give an idea; and of his intolerance, the chapters (110-114) about the Jews afford proof even beyond what might be expected from his age. There is an imperfect article about Bernaldez in N. Antonio, Bib. Nov., but the best materials for his life are in the egotism of his own Chronicle.

[289] The chapters about Columbus are 118-131. The account of Columbus’s visit to him is in Cap. 131, and that of the manuscripts intrusted to him is in Cap. 123. He says, that, when Columbus came to court in 1496, he was dressed as a Franciscan monk, and wore the cord por devocion. He cites Sir John Mandeville’s Travels, and seems to have read them (Cap. 123); a fact of some significance, when we bear in mind his connection with Columbus.

[290] A notice of him is prefixed to his “Claros Varones” (Madrid, 1775, 4to); but it is not much. We know from himself that he was an old man in 1490.

[291] The first edition of his Chronicle, published by an accident, as if it were the work of the famous Antonio de Lebrija, appeared in 1565, at Valladolid. But the error was soon discovered, and in 1567 it was printed anew, at Saragossa, with its true author’s name. The only other edition of it, and by far the best of the three, is the beautiful one, Valencia, 1780, folio. See the Prólogo to this edition for the mistake by which Pulgar’s Chronicle was attributed to Lebrija.

[292] Read, for instance, the long speech of Gomez Manrique to the inhabitants of Toledo. (Parte II. c. 79.) It is one of the best, and has a good deal of merit as an oratorical composition, though its Roman tone is misplaced in such a chronicle. It is a mistake, however, in the publisher of the edition of 1780 to suppose that Pulgar first introduced these formal speeches into the Spanish. They occur, as has been already observed, in the Chronicles of Ayala, eighty or ninety years earlier.

[293] “Indicio harto probable de que falleció ántes de la toma de Granada,” says Martinez de la Rosa, “Hernan Perez del Pulgar, el de las Hazañas.” Madrid, 1834, 8vo, p. 229.

[294] This important document, which does Pulgar some honor as a statesman, is to be found at length in the Seminario Erudito, Madrid, 1788, Tom. XII. pp. 57-144.

[295] Some account of the Passo Honroso is to be found among the Memorabilia of the time in the “Crónica de Juan el IIº,” (ad Ann. 1433, Cap. 5,) and in Zurita, “Anales de Aragon” (Lib. XIV. c. 22). The book itself, “El Passo Honroso,” was prepared on the spot, at Orbigo, by Delena, one of the authorized scribes of John II.; and was abridged by Fr. Juan de Pineda, and published at Salamanca, in 1588, and again at Madrid, under the auspices of the Academy of History, in 1783 (4to). Large portions of the original are preserved in it verbatim, as in sections 1, 4, 7, 14, 74, 75, etc. In other parts, it seems to have been disfigured by Pineda. (Pellicer, note to Don Quixote, Parte I. c. 49.) The poem of “Esvero y Almedora,” in twelve cantos, by D. Juan María Maury, (Paris, 1840, 12mo,) is founded on the adventures recorded in this Chronicle, and so is the “Passo Honroso,” by Don Ángel de Saavedra, Duque de Rivas, in four cantos, in the second volume of his Works (Madrid, 1820-21, 2 tom. 12mo).