The Treatment of classical material in the Libro de Alexandre

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i PUBLICATIONS OF THE FACULTY OF ARTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER No.

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THE TREATMENT OF CLASSICAL MATERIAL IN THE LIBRO DE ALEXANDRE

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THE TREATMENT OF CLASSICAL MATERIAL IN THE

LIBRO

DE ALEXANDRE by IAN MICHAEL SeniorLecturerin Spanish in the Universityof Manchester

MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS

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© IAN MICHAEL

L~970 );' ~) : 0 I c..:

Published by the University of Manchester at THB

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316-324 Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR

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CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABBREVIATIONS

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I INTRODUCTION \ iI THE NATURE OF THE SOURCES AND THE WORK OF EARLIER CRITICS 1. The nature of the sources (a) Gautier de Chatillon's Alexandreis (b) Historia de Proelii.r (c) Romand' Alexandre (d) 1/ia.rLatina (e) Other sources 2. The work of earlier critics

III

MEDIEVALIZATION: THE CONCEPT OF KINGSHIP 1. Royal birth and childhood 2. Royal parentage 3. Royal learning and education 4. Royal valour s. Royal ambition and desire for fame 6. Royal liberality 7. Nobility 8. Royal anger 9. Treachery 1 o. Conclusions

IV CHRISTIANIZA TION 1.

Christian elements in the narration of events (a) The roles of God and Satan (b) Christian ritual

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70 74 84 88 89

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Christian elements in the descriptions (a) Places (b) Things Christian elements in direct discourse (a) Prayers (b) Addresses and exhortations (c) Oaths and interjections Christian elements in similes and metaphorical expressions Incidental Christian comments by the poet Conclusions •

MORALIZATION 1. Moral criticism of Alexander .z. Moralistic exhortations and reflections 3. Moral criticism of contemporary society 4. Proverbs and aphorisms 5. Other moral comments and generalizations 6. Conclusions Ol'HER ASPECTS OF MEDIEVALIZATION , ·1. Medievalization in the narration of events z.. Medievalization in the descriptions 3. Medievalization in direct discourse 4. Medieval similes and metaphorical expressions (a) Animal husbandry (b) Domestic life (c) Business and crafts (d) Sports and pastimes (,) The natural world (I) Metaphors in negative expressions 5. Superficial medieval elements (a) Superficial medieval elements in the narration of events (b) Incidental comments by the poet 6. Conclusions

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THE STRUCTURE OF THE LIBRO DB ALEXANDRE 249 I. The basic linear narrative 2 51 (a) The modifications of Gautier's narrative plan 2 s 1 (b) The narrative insertions from other sources 252 2. The story of the Trojan war 2 56 • 3. The description of Babylon 261 263 4. The description of hell and the deadly sins S· The description of Alexander's tent 266 6. Other digressions 2 70 7. Form in the Libro de Alexandre 274 8. The poet's aesthetic concept 275 9. Meaning in the Libro de Alexandre 2.78 APPENDICES I. DIVISION

OF THE 'LIBRO DE ALEXANDRE'

EPISODES,

TOGETHER

REFERENCES 2. DISTRIBUTION DIGRESSION

3·

WITH

THE

INTO

SOURCE

.287 OF

BASIC

IN THE 'LIBRO

NARRATION

AND

DE ALEXANDRE'

ANALYSIS IN PERCENTAGES OF NARRATION, D1scouRsE, DESCRIPTION AND CoMMENTIN THE 'LIBRO DE A.LExANDRE'

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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INDEX

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ACKNO.WLEDGEMENTS This study is a revised and partially abbreviated version of my doctoral thesis presented to the University of Manchester in 1967. I am glad to have this opportunity of paying tribute to Mr W. V. 1bomas, who enriched my early studies, to Mrs Rita Hamilton of King's College, London, who has been a constant source of advice, and to Emeritus Professor J. W. Rees, who so admirably supervised my research, officially until his retirement and unofficially thereafter. I also wish to express my gr.1titude to my colleague Dr G. B. GybbonMonypenny, who undertook the arduous task of reading the various drafts of the study and suggested many improvements, to Professor A. D. Deyermond of Westfield College, London, who helped to clarify the presentation of an interpretation with which he is not in entire agreement, and to Professor H. Ramsden, who proposed important structural modifications. Emeritus Professor Eugene Vinaver, Dr F. Whitehead and Professor T. E. Hope willingly answered my queries about Old French; from these and from my other colleagues in the Medieval Seminar at the University of Manchester I received valuable advice. Mr F. W. Hodcroft of St Cross College, Oxford, solved a number of textual difficulties for me, and Dr Ian Macpherson of the University of Durham and my colleague Mr R. M. Price generously helped to correct the proofs. Professor R. S. Willis of Princeton University most kindly gave me copies of his monographs; my indebtedness to his work will be apparent throughout the present study. The late Dr Moses Tyson, Librarian Emeritus of the University of Manchester, assisted me on numerous occasions, and Dr F. W. Ratcliffe, the present Librarian, Mr S. Roberts, the Deputy Librarian, Dr G. C. Johnson, the Chief Cataloguer, and the staff of the University Library have shown me X1

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

unfailing patience and kindness. Finally I wish to thank the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press for permission to quote extensively from George Cary, The MedievalAlexander, and also Princeton University Press for permission to quote extensively from Elliott Monographs Nos. 31, 3z, 33 and 36.

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ABBREVIATIONS Alex: El libro d, Alexandre: Texts of the Paris and the Madrit;I Manuscripts, ed. Raymond S. Willis, Jr. (Princeton and Paris, 1934) [O = Osuna-Madrid Ms; P = Paris Ms]. Unless otherwise stated, the quotations are from O MS, but the variants in P MS are given in square brackets when they arc significant. Most of A. G. Solalinde's suggested corrections to the Willis edition (HR, IV, 1936, 75-80) have been adopted. A few minor orthographic changes have been made (e.g. 'a' is usually given as 'rr', the letter resembling final sigma as 'z', and the small sigma sometimes as 'tz.';see Willis edition, pp. xxix-xxxi) and punctuation has been added. Apo/: El libro d, Apolonio,ed. C. Carroll Marden (Baltimore, 1917, Princeton and Paris, 192.2.),2. vols. Cary: George Cary, The MedievalAlexander (Cambridge, 1956). Contribution:Julia Keller, Contribucional 11ocab11/ario de/ Poema de Alixandre (Madrid, 1932.). Debt: Raymond S. Willis, Jr., The Debt of the Spanish'Libro d, Alexandre' to the French'Romand'Alexandre' (Princeton and Paris, 1935). 'Description': Ian Michael, 'The description of hell in the Spanish Libro de Alexandre', in MedievalMiscellanypresented to EugeneVinaver(Manchester, 1965), pp. 2.20-2.2.9. 'Estado actual': Ian Michael, 'Estado actual de los estudios sobre El librode Alexandre', Anuario de Estudios Medievales, II (1965), s81-595. G: Gautier de Chatillon, Alexandrei.r,ed. F. A. W. Miildener (Leipzig, 1863). HPr, 11: Oswald Zingerle, 'Die Quellen zum Alexander des Rudolf von Ems. Im Anhange: Die Hi.rtoria de preliis', Abhandlungen,IV (1885), 12.9-2.65. Germanistische

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HPr, 12 : Alfons Hilka, Der altfranz.osischeProsa-Alexa romannach_der 'BerlinerBilderhandschriftnebst dem lateiniJche11 Originalder Historia de Pre/iis (Rez.ension] 2) (Halle, 19zo). HPr, 13: M. Z. Przegonia Krynski, 'Historia Aleksandra' IX(Warsaw, 19zo), 23-548. [Recensionl 8],Prace Fi/ologicz.ne, HPr, Leo: Friedrich Pfister, Der A/exande"oman des Archipre.rb_yters Leo (Heidelberg, 1913), pp. 44-131. Idea: Mada Rosa Lida de Malkiel, La ideade laJama en la edad (Mexico and Buenos Aires, 1952). mediaea.rte/Jana 1/ia.r: Epitome 1/iados Homeri, in Poetae Latini Minores ex RecensioneWernsdorfiana, ed. N. E. Lemaire (Paris, 18.14),III,

pp. 5I 5-610. 'Interpretation': Ian Michael, 'Interpretation of the Libro de Alexandre: the author's attitude towards his hero's death', BHS, XXXVII (1960), 205-214. Inve.rtigacione.r: Emilio Alarcos Llorach, Inve.rtigaciones sobre'El libro de Alexandre' (Madrid, 1948). Lba: Juan Ruiz, El librode b11en amor,ed. M. Criado de Val and E. W. Naylor (Madrid, 1965). 'Mester': Raymond S. Willis, 'Mester de clerecla:a definition of the Libro de Alexandre', RPh, X (1956-57), 212-2z4. Mi/: Gonnlo de Berceo, Milagrosde N11e.rlra SeRora,ed. A. G. Solalinde (Madrid, 1944). PFG: Poema de Ferndn Gonz.dlez.,ed. C. Carroll Marden (Baltimore, 1904). PMC: CantardeMio Cid, ed. Ramon Menende2:Pidal (Madrid, 1946), vol. III (texto); the quotations are from the critical edition. RA/ix: The MedievalFrench'Roman d'Alexandre', vol. I: Text of the Ar.renaland Venice Versions,ed. M. S. La Du (Princeton and Paris, 1937) [B = Venice Version]. 'Recherches': Alfred Morel-Patio, 'Recherches sur le texte et les sources du Libro deAlexandre', Romania,IV ( 187 5), 7-90. Relationship:Raymond S. Willis, Jr., The Relationshipof the Spani.rh'Li bro de Alexandre' to the 'Alexandrei.r'of Gtllllierde Chatil/on(Princeton and Paris, 1934).

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SDom: Gonzalo de Berceo, Vida d, Santo Domingotk Silos, ed. Fr. Alfonso Andres, O.S.B. (Madrid, 19s8). Signos:Gon%alo de Berceo, D, /os signos(JIii aparesf""" ant, tkl Juifio, in Poela.sca.st,//anosanlerior,sal sig/o XV, ed. T. A. Sanchez and F. Janer (Madrid, 1864), pp. 101-103. Note: titles of periodicals abbreviated in the text and footnotes are given in full in the entries of the articles in the bibliography.

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I INTRODUCTION Most critics of medieval Spanish literature have tended to direct their interpretative efforts towards a limited number of texts which happen for various reasons to be attractive to modem readers; this number includes the Poemade Mio Cid, some of Berceo's poems, the Libro de buenamor,the Cop/asof Jorge Manr~que and the Celestina. Other medieval Spanish literary works have suffered from the sort of neglect that P. Mansell Jones once described in a lecture as 'the flight from the masterpiece'. E. Talbot Donaldson has referred to the problem in more polemical terms: ' ... such activities as source study, investigation of historical context, philology, editing, and patristic exegesis are salubrious vacations from the awful business of facing a poem directly' .1 In the case of the Libro de Alexandre the reasons for the neglect are clear: not only do we still~ a critical edition, but the poem also has the disadvantages of what in modern times have been considered inordinate length, irritating digressions from the main story, absurd anachronisms, unfashionable classical subjects, tiresome biblical allusions and worst of all an unfortunate tendency to moralize. In addition it does not even offer the pretty poetic lines so highly prized in nineteenth-century poetry, though some of its descriptive 1

E. Talbot Donaldson, 'Patristic exegesis in the criticism of medieval literature: the opposition', in CriticalApproachesto MedievalLiterature ••• , ed. Dorothy Bethurum (New York, I 960), pp. 1-26, at p. 2 s. B

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passages have found favour. 1 A typical modern view is that of A. V albuena Prat: El valor literario del Libro di Alixandre es sobre todo arqueologico. Su conjunto no resiste la lectura de un no especializado en literatura medieval. Languido, desmesurado, el poema solo ofrece de cuando en cuando brisas de verdadera inspiracion. 2

Medieval literature, however, can hardly be judged by the criteria applied to nineteenth-century poems and novels. Artistic tastes change from age to age, as the twentiethcentury rehabilitation of G6ngora's poetry demonstrates, and it is difficult to decide whether it is worse to condemn the Alexandre for not being like modem literature or to praise it on the few occasions when it is. V albuena Prat seems to be using the word 'archaeological' in a pejorative sense by implying that the Alexandre lacks true literary value but that it provides us with information about thirteenth-century customs; 3 such information, however, is available to us in greater quantity and detail in non-literary texts. In Eugene Vinaver's account of Joseph Bedier's attitude to medieval literature, the analogy with the work of the archaeologist is used in the best sense; Bedier considered medieval texts as literary monuments to be respected and understood and he proposed a critical approach unshackled by the chains of modern literary taste: See A. Valbuena Prat, Hi.rloria de la /iteralura e.rpaiola(Barcelona, 1963), I, e•9,; Manuel de Montoliu, Mfllllllllde hi.rtoriade la /iteralura &aslel/ana(Barcelona, 1947), p. 89; .Angel del Rio, Hi.rloriadela lileralura e.tpanola(New York, 1963), I, p. 67. 1 Hi.rloriade la /iteralurae.rpaiiola, I, p. 9S· 1 See Hi.rtoriadela /iteralurae.tpanola,I, p. 96. In a recent monograph, Enrique de Rivas has also attacked the 'archaeological' approach to medieval literature: see Figura.r.Y e.rlrella.rde la.r co.ra.r(Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1969), p. 1,; I do not share his pessimism, however, about the viability of an aesthetic approach. 1

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3 'Nos beaux vieux textes ... ' c'est ainsi que Bedier s'exprime quand il parle des manuscrits du moyen age, qu'ils soient bons ou mauvais. 11eprouve pour eux !'affection d'un archeologue pour les monuments; il les aime tels qu'ils sont, pour ce qu'ils sont. Car, dans chacun d'eux, il trouve ce qu'il prise avant tout: la marque individuelle d'un esprit, la trace unique d'un effort humain. 1

Before deciding what critical method to adopt for the study of the Libro de Alexandre, it would seem desirable to consider whether the poem possesses sufficient literary worth to become the object of such a study, in view of Keith Whinnom's recent contentions that Medieval literature in Spanish is, ipso facto, literature for illiterates, designed to be recited aloud for the entertainment and edification of the uneducated. The vernacular literature is intellectually inferior. Because of linguistic limitations-it simply does not possess the lexical or syntactic resources of Latin-it cannot handle fine distinctions; and because it is directed to a popular and unlettered audience it lacks subtlety and sophistication. Whether it is also inferior aesthetically is no doubt arguable: we fin9 in Spanish medieval literature a wealth of picturesque detail, a lively concrete foreground, which is often lacking in Latin. . .. What bothers me here is the scarcely queried modern hispanist assumption that the concrete and colourful is aesthetically superior to the abstract and 'colourless'. 2

Whinnom is right to attack the frequent neglect of medieval Latin and French texts in Spanish criticism and the widespread enthusiasm for 'local colour', but he himself may be in some danger of bringing over into the medieval field the classicists' snobbish preference for 'golden' 1 Eugene Vinaver, Hommag, a Bldiw (Manchester, 1942), p. 26. Keith Whinnom, Spanish Literary Historiography: Thre, Form.r of Di.rlorlion (Exeter, 1967), pp. n-12. 1

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Latin over 'silver' Latin. In view of the vast quantity of thirteenth-century prose texts written in the Spanish vernacular (the translations of the Bible and the Alfonsine legal, historical and scientific works), it hardly seems to be a tenable proposition that all these, together with the vernacular poems, were intended for recitation to illiterates: theirs would have been a diet rich in edification but scanty in entertainment. This mass of vernacular material appears to point ~ather to the rise of a new reading public, with little or no acquaintance with Latin. In purely verbal terms much of this literature may have lacked the 'subtlety and sophistication' of medieval Latin literature, 1 but it offered its public-who in any case can have known nothing else-some compensation in the shape of a topicality, however illusory, either of subject matter or of treatment, composed in a language that all could understand. Where the Alexandre is concerned, my contention would be that it is so different in poetic form and intention (in as far as the latter . can be ascertained) from Gautier de Chatillon's A/exandreis that no good purpose would be served by a debate about the respective intellectual and aesthetic merits of the two poems. The vernacular poem's complexity of structure is sufficient reason for making it the object of a critical study; we can do no more than judge the success or otherwise of the poem's internal coherence, however peculiar that might be. There can be no room for doubt that medieval texts would amply reward a well carried out close stylistic study, but this kind of approach is fraught with difficul1 Zahareas's study of the Libro de buen amor would suggest, however, that Juan Ruiz achieved finer subtleties than the authors of his Latin sources; see Anthony N. Zahareas, The Art of Juan Ruiz., Archpriesl of Hila (Madrid, 1965), e.g. pp. 152-157.

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ties because of our ignorance of what was 'normal' in the medieval language. In her review of Carmelo Gariano's interesting and often illuminating stylistic analysis of Berceo's Milagros,Margherita Morreale has crystallized the problem: Al elegir el analisis estilistico para tema de su trabajo, C. Gariano da por conocida la lengua de la epoca. A cada paso, sin embargo, acecha el peligro de confundir contenidos y expresividad y de percibir efectos estilisticos y transparencias semanticas ilusivas. 1

-and this despite the fact that Gariano adopts the excellent procedure, rightly praised by Professor Morreale on p. 1 s1 of her review, of making frequent comparisons with the source of Berceo's Milagros, the Miracula in Copenhagen MS Thott 12.8. The Milagros,however, have a simple structure that the reader grasps at once. Such a stylistic analysis of the Alexandre, even of the whole poem, would still tell us nothing about its structure, which is much more complicated than that of any of Berceo's poems. This point was made by Elder Olson when attacking the current vogue of semantic criticism: The theories of Richards and Empson illustrate a tendency, very prevalent among critics who rate diction as important, to rate it as entirely too important. In the order of our coming to know the poem, it is true, the words are all-important; without them we could not know the poem. But when we grasp the structure we see that in the poetic order they are the least important element; they are governed by everything else in the poem. 2 Carmelo Gariano, And/i.ri.re.rti/lslicode /o.r'Milagrosde Nuestra Senora' tk &rceo (Madrid, 1965); Margherita Morreale, 'La lengua poetica de Berceo: reparos y adiciones al libro de Carmelo Gariano', HR, XXXVI (1968), 142-151, at 144. 1 Elder Olson, 'William Empson, contemporary criticism and poetic 1

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The most urgent critical task, then, is to explore the poetic structure of the Alexandre, and it is clearly necessary to choose a suitable critical method. Although patristic exegesis and allegorical interpretation have been fashionable in medieval studies in recent years, 1 to my knowledge no critic has yet put forward an interpretation of the Alexandre in these terms. There are no grounds for thinking that such an approach would be profitable, since there does not appear to he the slightest indication or hint in the text that allegory is intended. But when this has been the case also in other texts it has not hindered the determined allegorists. Of this problem Northrop Frye has said: 'Genuine allegory is a structural element in literature: it has to be there, and cannot be added by critical interpretation alone.' 2 Donaldson has put it more forcibly: The function of allegory that is worth the literary critic's attention (as opposed to cryptography, which is not) cannot be to conceal, but is to reveal, and I simply do not believe that medieval poets veiled their poems in order to hide their pious message from heretics and unbelievers. 3 diction', in Criliu and Crilici.1111 Ancient and Modern, ed. R. S. Crane (Chicago, 1952), pp. 45-82, at p. 55. 1 See D. W. Robertson, A Prefacelo Cha11ter: Studit.sin MedievalPerspectives (Princeton, 1962); Critical Approaches lo Medieval Literature • •• , ed. Dorothy Bethurum, pp. 1-82. 1 Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism: Four E.t.tays(Princeton, 1957), p. s4; see also pp. 90-91. _ • CriticalApproaches lo MedievalLiterature .•• , p. 24. Enrique de Rivas talks of the Alexandre as being 'cuajada de un simbolismo •.. ' (F iguras.Y eslrella.stk /as cosas,p. 26), but does not state what the symbolism represents. I do not share Donaldson's view that cryptography is not worth the literary critic's attention, but there must be strong grounds for supposing that it exists in a particular work: if an author suggests that there 1s a hidden meaning to be sought, or if a work would otherwise be devoid of meaning, as Rivas has claimed (pp. 25, 27, 87-no) for Don Juan de amor respectivdy, then the Manuel's Libro dt /o.sestadosand the Raz.on critic would be justified in taking the cryptographic approach. But neither condition appears to obtain in the case of the Alexandre.

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R. S. Crane, in speaking of 'liberty of interpreting', has discussed the general rules for hypotheses to which all critical interpretations are subject: There is the rule, for example, that any hypothesis must be verifiable by the reader in terms of evidence which he can examine for himself by means of his ordinary faculties supplemented by the relevant information; this is inconsistent with all those not infrequent arguments by critics [.•. ] to the effect that the truth of their contentions should be evident to any one who has the requisite sensibility for reading poetry or who will think about the matter as long or as hard as the critic himself has done. Critical insights into poems are not worth having on these terms. 1

I do not consider, therefore, that anything would be gained by searching for allegorical meanings of the Robertsonian type in the Alexandre; the only section of the work that is allegorical (in the ordinary sense) is the machinery for Alexander's downfall, which is derived from the A/exandreis and employs the figures of Natura, Treason and Satan. Another kind of exegesis now coming into vogue is typology, which has been justified as an interpretative method by Northrop Frye on the 'principle that in every age of literature there tends to be some kind of central encyclopaedic form, which is normally a scripture or sacred book in the mythical mode, and some "analogy of revelation", as we call it, in the other modes' ;2 in European R. S. Crane, Th, LAnguag,sof Critiei.rmand th, Stru&tur,of Po1hy (Toronto, 195 3), p. 341 Northrop Frye, Analolll.Jof Critiei.r111 ••• , p. 315. Other accounts of in &e/,sia.rtypology are to be found in: E. P. Evans, Animal S.J111boli.r111 Ji&a/Ar,hite&lure(London, 1896), pp. 29-30, 45-50; H. Flanders Dunbar, 5.J!,,boli.r111 in Medina/ ThoughI 1111d il.r Con.r11111111alion in th, Di11i111 Co111edy (New York, 1961), pp. 63-64, 288-291; Johan Chydenius The Theoryof 1

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literature, because the Bible has been 'the major informing influence on literary symbolism', we should try to recover and re-establish 'the traditional typologies based on the assumption of its figurative unity' (Frye, p. 316). In the Alexandre it might be alleged, for example, that Alexander's visit to Jerusalem (1131-47) and his triumphant entry into Babylon together with the description of that city (1455-59, 1460-1533) conjure up the patristic types Jerusalem v. Babylon. But the poet does not even hint at a typological meaning here: Jerusalem is the historic Jewish city and Babylon the historic Persian city as they occur in the Alexander story. The typological possibility is present, but it is not active. 1 In 1896 E. P. Evans pointed out that tl,e Alexandre version of the trapping of elephants (1976-80) was similar to the account in the Physiologus, and he mentioned the typological interpretation: the trapped elephant 'symbolizes Adam, who fell "through a tree" . . . towards the fruit of which he had stetched out his hand'. 2 Evans also noted the Alexandreaccount of Alexander's encounter with the serpents in India and his order to his men to strip off their clothes because snakes would not harm naked men (2.161-62.)and Med~n,a/S.J1!lbolism (HelsinRfors, 1960), pp. 16-24,; Critical Appr~achesto Medina/ L1terahlr1••• , eel. Dorothy Bethurum, pp. 64-75, 81, A. C. Charity, Evmts and their Afterlife: Th, Dialecticsof Christian Typolog1in th, Bibleand Dante (Cambridge, 1966). The fullest bibliography of stuclies on allegory and typology I have seen is that prepared by A. D. ~eral/egoria,ftgura' which he r to mond for the paper on 'ExemplU111, the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland at Exeter in April 1969, and which it is to be hoped he will publish in the near future. 1 For a similar refutation of an allegation of the same patristic types in Piers Plo"'111an, see E. Talbot Donaldson, in CriticalApproachesto Medie,al Literatur, ••• , pp. 6-7. 1 E. P. Evans, Animal Symbolism in EcclesiasticalArchiletlure, pp. no-n3, at p. 111.

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the Phy.riologu.r account of this characteristic of serpents, the interpretation of which is as follows: ... when Adam was naked in the garden and had no desire for raiment, the serpent could do him no harm. In like manner, if we do not trouble ourselves about the .vanities of this world, we need not fear the assaults of the wily serpent, the devil. (Animal Symbolism •.. , pp. 114-116, at p. 114)

Although these typological meanings are stated in the Phy.riologu.r, they are not hinted at in the Alexandre. The trapping of elephants is presented as interesting information about the beasts which have been mentioned as forming part of Porus's army; the incident with the snakes is to show Alexander's great scholarly knowledge. The Spanish poet's recounting of these incidents appears to be related to his interest in natural philosophy, not to an attempt to put forward a connection between Alexander and Adam, and it seems doubtful whether his readers would have made such a connection without some hint in the text that they were to do so. That sort of interpretation would seem to rely on the supposition that the poet had hidden something from us; but even in cases where one finds apparent ellipses in argument or motivation in a medieval literary text, great caution is necessary, as Vinaver has pointed out in his study of the versions of the Tristan romance: 'Lorsqu'un ecrivain du Xlle s. ne clit pas tout ce qu'il devrait dire pour combler notre attente, il se peut qu'il nous cache quelque chose; mais ii se peut aussi qu'il ne nous cache rien.' 1 The text of the Alexandre does not support any religious typology, but in a recent lecture A. D. Deyermond has put forward the Eugene Vinavcr, 'La foret de Morois', Cahier.rd, Civili.ralionMldilvale, XI (1968), 1-13, at 2. 1

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In the terms of this division the Alexandre appears to be a poem of the didactic type and we can assume for the moment that its basic principle of construction will be designed to inculcate either knowledge or action by a form of argument; such poetry is really a kind of dialectic err rhetoric (see Olson, in Critics and Criticism ... , p. 66). Richard McKeon has emphasized how common a principle this is in medieval poems: ... the art of poetry came to be considered, after the twelfth century, not a branch of grammar but alternately a kind of argumentation or persuasion ~ and, as such, subordinate to logic or morals) and a form of composition (and, as such, to be treated in terms of style, organization, and figures borrowed from rhetoric). 1

This hypothesis that the shaping principle in the composition of the Alexandre was didactic is not therefore inconsonant with the epoch in which it was written, but it will need to be confirmed by a detailed exploration of the poetic structure. It is fortunate that most of the sources of the poem are known and comparisons can be undertaken; I shall thus proceed inductively by examining the material data obtained by the Spanish poet from his sources and watching their result in the completed poem. 2 Richard McKeon, 'Rhetoric in the Middle Ages', in Criliu and Criticism ... , ed. R. S. Crane, pp. 260-296, at p. 29 I. 1 This is exactly the procedure suggested by Crane for an exploration of the structure of Othello;see The Lang11age.r of Criticism . .. , p. 147. 1

.

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suggestion of secular or quasi-typology in the poem, which it would be interesting to see elaborated, though this might not always be easy to distinguish from mere simile or comparison. 1 The general lines along which I shall approach the poem in the present study will be similar to the inductive method of R. S. Crane: ..• the question of shaping principles in poetry is a question not of deductive theory but of empirical fact; the problem, in any given poem, is what actually was, for its poet, the primary intuition of form which enabled him to synthesize his materials into an ordered whole. 2

This is close to Bedier's view that each literary work is 'un phenomene obeissant a ses propres lois'. 8 The basic Aristotelian division of literature into two types, mimetic (or imitative) and didactic (or non-imitative), has been usefully re-proclaimed by Crane and Olson; Olson puts it as follows: Whereas didactic poetry assumes that if we can be made to feel a certain way in the presence of certain objects we shall be able to make certain moral distinctions, mimetic poetry assumes that if we make certain moral distinctions we shall feel a certain way in the presence of certain objects. Didactic is antecedent to the formation of moral character; mimetic subsequent. The former assumes that the reader is imperfect and requires to be perfected; the latter, that the reader is perfect and may enjoy a virtuous pleasure. 4 For details of A. D. Deyermond's paper, seep. 7, note 2, above. I understand thatDeyermond and Peter Bly are jointly preparing a study on typology in the Alexandre. 1 The Languagesof Crilici.1111 . ·.. , p. 146. 1 See Eugene Vinaver, Ho111111age a 131dier,p. 24. • Elder Olson, in Criliu and Critici.1111 ... , ed. R. S. Crane, p. 67; sec alsoR. S. Crane, The Languagesof Crilici.1111 . .. , pp. 156-158. 1

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THE NATURE THE WORK

OF THE SOURCES AND OF EARLIER CRITICS

The classical subjects that enjoyed the greatest popularity in medieval Spain were the life of Alexander the Great and the history of Troy, both of which are elaborated in the Libro de Alexandre. The story of Alexander had come to the West in two main branches: legendary accounts derived from Pseudo-Callisthenes and historical accounts derived from Quintus Curtius Rufus. 1 The most important of the legendary accounts was the Res Gestae Alexandri Macedonis,a Latin translation of Pseudo-Callisthenes by Julius Valerius (c. A.D. 330), which was best known to medieval authors in the form of the ninth-century Epitome Ju/ii Valer# and the tenth-century Historia de Proe/iis attributed to Archpriest Leo. The popularity achieved by these works gave rise in twelfth-century France to a famous poem that was to have many re~ensions, the Roman d'Alexandre. The historical branch also bore an important poetic fruit in twelfth-century France: the Alexandreis of Gautier de Chatillon, based mainly on Quintus Curtius. 2 This Latin poem became a prescribed 1

Pseudo-Callisthenes, the Greek Alexander romance falsely attributed to Callisthenes, was 'originally composed by a native of Alexandria, at some date after 200 B.c., and possibly much later' (Cary, p. 9); Quintus Curtius Rufus's Ge.rta Alexandri Magni was 'written probably in the reign of Augustus' (Cary, p. 16) [i.e. between 31 B.c. and A.D. 14]. 1 See Cary for a full account of these branches and their medieval developments outside Spain.

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text in the medieval schools. 1 The history of Troy was best known in the medieval period in the Ilias "Latina (c. A.D. 54-68), a condensed translation of Homer's Iliad, and in the De Excidio Troiae Historia (sixth century A.n.), falsely ascribed to Dares of Phrygia. These works also were medieval school texts 2 and Alfred Morel-Patio pointed to the great popularity of the story of Troy in Spain and elsewhere ('Recherches', 83). Although the subjects of Alexander and Troy were treated fully in medieval Spanish historiography, 3 they reached their fullest literary expression in the long thirteenth-century Libro de Alexandre.' This poem on the life of Alexander of Macedon consists of 2,675 stanzas (10,700 lines), according to Willis's composite numeration, 428 of which (1,712 lines) recount the story of Troy. These subjects had flowered in vernacular literature 1

See E. R. Curtius, BllropeanLiterature and the Lalin Middle Ages (New York, I9H), pp. 48-54, especially p. 50. 1 Curtius, EuropeanLiterature ••• , pp. 49-5 o. Curtius points out that, because the pseudo-Dares supports the Trojans against the Greeks, that work enjoyed great prestige with the Franks and Britons, since like the Romans they claimed descent from Troy. Morel-Fatio asserted that Spaniards took the side of the Greeks: 'l'orgeuil national a rrefere dans cette circonstance les Grecs awe Troyens; c'est ainsi qu'i fait passer Ulysse en Espagne et lui attribue la gloire d'avoir fonde Lisbonne ..• ' ('Recherches', 83). This may be why the main source for the Troy episode in the Alexandre was the 1/ia.rLatina; the Spanish poet would naturally want a version that in general supported the Greeks, since he puts the story in Alexander's mouth and makes connections between the Macedonian hero's achievements and those of his ancestors at Troy. 8 Detailed information is given by Agapito Rey and A. G. Solalinde, En.tayo de una bibliograflade /a.t leyendastroyanas en la lileralura espanola (Bloomington, Indiana, I 942) and by M. R. Lida de Malkiel, 'Datos para la leyenda de Alejandro en la edad media castellana', RPh, XV (1961-6.2), 412-423. See also the introduction in F. P. Norris, II, 'La coronicalroyana: a Medieval Spanish translation of Guido de Colonna's Hisloria deslruclioni.t Troiae' (University of California, Los Angeles, Ph.D. thesis, 1965). ' For an account of the investigations into the various aspects of the poem see my .'Estado actual'.

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in France a century earlier. This was presumably because Spain, as E. R. Curtius has pointed out, had little share in the twelfth-century Renaissance: Latin culture and poetry precede, French follows. Latin loosed the tongue of French. Because France was the pillar of studi11111; because the artes, with grammar and rhetoric in the lead, had their headquarters there-that is why the flower of vernacular poetry blooms first in France. [..• ] Spanish literature, then, begins more than a century later than French. The reason is obvious: in Spain the stimulus of a Latin intellectual flowering was lacking. Not until the thirteenth century does scholarly culture push its way across the Pyrenees. (EuropeanLiterature ••. , pp. 384 and 386)

It is difficult for the modem reader to understand the grip that these stories of antiquity had on the medieval mind. On one level they could provide entertainment, as Haskins indicated: , Great festivals •.. might bring together what the chroniclers would call 'an innumerable multitude of jongleurs and actors'; and the Proven~al romance Flamenca(1234) enumerates at length the tales which these might recount, from Troy, Thebes and Alexander to Goliath and Arthur and Charlemagne and the Old Man of the Mountain. 1

On a second level, they were a source of learning; Moss noted that 'All human wisdom was acknowledged to reside in the ancient authors', 2 and Curtius said: 'the auctore..r are not only sources of technical information, they are also a treasury of worldly wisdom and general philoCharlesHomer Haskins, The Rmais.rant,of th, T1Pe/j1h Century(Cleveland, Ohio, 1964), p. 16. 1 H. St L. B. Moss, Th, Birth of th, Middle Ag,s, JIJ-lr1, (London, 1

1963), p. 265.

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sophy' (EuropeanLiterature ... , p. 58). On a third level, they were extremely useful exemplafor the moralists (see Cary, pp. 80-117). On a fourth level, some of the works that recounted the classical stories, e.g. Gautier's Alexandreis,exhibited a very considerable mastery of poetic technique and offered artistic inspiration to their successors. The author of the Spanish Alexandre exploits the subject matter on all four of these levels and produces a literary form distinct from that of any of his sources. Historiographical criteria had reached only a primitive stage in the medieval chronicles and historical concepts were even vaguer in poetry. Of the early Middle Ages, Moss has said: The men of these centuries, indeed, saw as through a glass, darkly, the distant figures and events of the ancient world, remote from their own conditions as medieval E.urope is from the present day. (Birth of the Middle Ages •. ., p. 2.65)

In the closing stanzas of the poem the Spanish poet calls his work an 'estoria' ('acabada auemos, sennores, la estoria Idel boil rrey de Gre~a, sennor de Babilonia', 2.669cd)and in his exordium he gives us a clue to what he considered the purpose of an 'estoria' to b~: 'aura de mi solaz, en cabo grant plazer, Iaprendra bonas gestas que sepa retraer' (3bc). The first level, entertainment, is the 'solaz' and 'grant plazer'; on the second and third levels, both intellectual and moral lessons are to be learned from the 'bonas gestas'. The fourth level, poetic mastery, is also boasted of: 'Mester trago fermoso ... ' (2.a).'Estoria', then, appears to have meant a poetic history that served these various aims. This opening statement of the Alexandre closely parallels the exordium of Chretien de

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Troyes's Bree et Enide, as I have pointed out elsewhere. 1 Moss suggests that ... though a vivid picture of antiquity may have been even more unattainable for the medieval than for the modern mind, the civilization of the Roman Empire still moulded the laws, the institutions and the forms of thought which governed human life in the Middle Ages . . . (Birth of the Middle Ages ••• , p. 2.65)

but these things were moulded rather by the medieval mind's idea of what the Roman Empire had been. Mattingly, in his chapter on medieval diplomacy, made a similar assertion: Besides thinking of themselves as Christians, the people of Latin Christendom also thought of themselves, more or less consciously, as Romans ... It did not occur to their poets or to their legislators that Hector, Alexander and Julius Caesar were any more alien to their heritage than Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon, or than Joshua, David and Judas Maccabeus. 2

Perhaps the figures of antiquity were not more alien, but, in the case of our Spanish poet at least, they do not seem to have been confused. The author of the Alexandre may • have had only a dim concept of Alexander's historical position and his geographical conquests, but at least he knew that he was a pagan who had lived before Christ: 'vn rrey noble pagano' (5a), 'buen guerrero seglar' ( 1 1 8oa ), 'un ome pagano' ( 21 16a ), 'se non fusse pagano, de uida tan seglar' (2667c); he also knew, since Alexander finds Achilles' tomb, that the history of Troy preceded 1

For a more detailed discussion of this similarity, see my 'A parallel between Chretien's Ere&and the Libro de Alexandre', MLR, 62 (1967), 620-628. 2 Garrett Mattingly, Renai.rsance Diplomacy(London, 1965), p. 17.

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the history of Alexander. It is a fair guess that the Spanish poet had at least as good a grasp of historical chronology as most educated men of his day. The anachronisms of which he has been accused by so many critics appear to me to be part of the deliberate changes he made in the material he faund in his pseudo-classical sources, and the criticisms of these changes are the result of a failure to understand the poet's medievalizing method, which I shall try to analyse in chapters III-VI. He did not merely give an account of Alexander's life and the Trojan war, but exploited these subjects from a medieval viewpoint. The events of antiquity are re-interpreted in terms that are relevant to medieval society, and the elements he brings to the fore are stressed because they could serve his contemporaries as virtues to be emulated, vices to be shunned and lessons in secular learning and in Christian morality to be assimilated. THE

I.

NATURE

OF THE

SOURCES

The source of each episode in the Alexandre (when known) is given in the table in Appendix 1; here I shall discuss the nature of the sources in general terms. (a) Gautierde Chati//on's'A/exandreis'

The A/exandreis, written between 1178 and 118z, 1 recounts the life of Alexander in ten books in Latin hexameters. It constituted a scholarly attempt to imitate the great classical epics: Wie im sprachlichen Ausdruck, so schliesst sich W. auch in der· Form der Darstellung und in der epischen Technik 1

See Heinrich Christensen, Da.r Alexanderlied Walter.r "°n Chalil/on (Halle, 190,), p. 13;CaryconcurredwithChristensenonp.63ofhisM,diwa/ Alexander,but gave n84 to n87 on p. 16. C

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durchaus den antiken V orbildern und speziell natiirlich V ergil und Lucan, als den hervorragendsten Epikern an. (Christensen, Das Alexanderlied••• , p. 76)

and, steeped in the work of the classical poets, Gautier was able to produce an extremely competent imitation of · their verse: Die Verse sind dem Dichter offenbar nicht schwer geworden; sic machen jedenfalls durchaus nicht den Eindruck des Miihsamen oder Gekiinstelten, obgleich im allgemeinen die Gesetze, wie sie die Alten ii.her die Bildung des Hexameters aufgestellt und ausgebildet haben, befolgt sind. (Christensen, Da.rAlexanderlied••• , p. s6)1

Gautier's main source was Quintus Curtius's Gesta Alexandri Magni, but he toned down the Peripatetic criticism of Alexander's actions contained in that work. 2 Gautier stressed 'the incitement to glory that was ever present in Alexander's mind' (Cary, p. 173) and, as Mrs Malkiel put it, ••• su muchcdumbre de personajes, devorados por el amor a la fama, no sc presentan como creaciones objetivas cuyos sentimientos el poeta puede o no compartir, sino como proyecci6n de sus propios sentimientos, muchas veces impetuosamente expresados. (Idea,p. 137)

The Spanish poet preserved much of Gautier's praise of fame, as Mrs Malkiel showed so excellently (Idea,pp. 167197), but it seems to me that it came to be only one aspect of the Alexandre. Whereas Gautier had seen Alexander as 1

For a further opinion on the classical excellence of Gautier's poem, see

F. J.E. Raby, A History of SecularLalin Poetryin the MiddleAges (Oxford, 1957), II, pp. 72-79. 1 See Christensen, Du A/exandw/ied • • ., pp. 102-13 s, especially

pp. I 08-109.

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a great classical warrior, the Spanish poet re-envisaged him as medieval monarch, who is portrayed in the various attitudes of kingship and who is morally responsible for his actions, which the author judges from a contemporary Christian viewpoint. Gautier succeeded in composing a poem that is classical in form and epic in outlook; the Spanish poet succeeded in neither because he attempted neither. The Alexandreis was a late flowering of a long established Roman literary form and its shaping principle was mimetic; 1 the Alexandre was composed in a quite new poetic form and its shaping principle appears to have been didactic. Gautier's poem was read only by schoolmen who were well versed in Latin or studied by students as a prescribed text; the Spanish poem provided some entertainment and much instruction for all who could read the vernacular. 2 -The Alexandre was thus more popular in conception and in actual dissemination than the Latin poem. Although the Spanish author seems to have admired Gautier's poetic skill, the unrhymed Latin hexameters could have had no influence on his cuadernavia metre. The close verbal similarities that occur are generally of short phrases, not of long passages, since the metrical forms were too different and the word order and morphological and syntactic structures of Latin and Spanish too distinct. Furthermore, the Spanish poet's need to find rhymes and

a

R. S. Crane has pointed out that many predominantly mimetic (or of Crili,ism •• ., imitative) works also have didactic parts (The l..,anguage.r p. 179) and the Alexandreis appears to be in that category. 1 In a conversation I was privileged to have with Don Ram6n Menendez Pidal at his home at Chamartfn, near Madrid, in August 1961, he moved slightly from his long-held view that the Alexandre was intended for oral performance in its entirety (Poe.rlajuglare.rcay origene.rde /as /ilerallll"a.t romdnkas, Madrid, 1957, p. 280), conceding that it may have been 'parcialmente oral', but he did not elaborate this idea. 1

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fill four-lined stanzas militated against any attempt at a close translation. The Spanish poet also rejected the classical division into books, preferring to construct episodes the length of which varied according to the amount of material the sources provided. His admiration for the Alexandreis must have stemmed from affection towards a well thumbed school text rather than from an author's gratitude for a model of poetic form. (b) 'Historia de Proe/iis' The Historia de Proeliis started out as a tenth-century translation of Pseudo-Callisthenes, attributed to Archpriest Leo of Naples. 1 This version does not survive in its original form, but the Bamberg MS (Leo) is considered to be the extant text closest to Leo's version. A new recension was made in the eleventh century {11), which incorporated the Indian Tractates and the Episto/a ad Aristote/em (see Cary, pp. 43-44). In' the twelfth century a further recension (12) had been made from Recension 11 and this contained additional interpolations from Orosius, Valerius Maximus, Josephus, etc. (see Cary, p. 44). Probably before 11 5o, another reworking (13) of Recension 11 was produced, quite independently of Recension 12 • Recension 13 contained interpolations from Oriental sources (see Cary, p. 52.). All these recensions of the Historia de Proe/iiswere early enough, and manuscripts of them were produced in sufficient numbers 2 to have been available to the Spanish poet. It is likely that he had access See Carv,p. 38, but the truth of the attribution was challenged by Walther Buist, 'Zurn Prologus der Naliuila.t et Victoria Alexandri Magni Regis', Studim z.ur laleinischenDi&hlungde.rMillelaller.r,Ehrmgabefur Karl Strecleer(Dresden, 1931), pp. 12-17. 1 There are extant: eighteen MSS of 11,thirty-seven of 11 and thirty-nine of 1' (see Cary, p. 44). 1

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to Recension 13 and to one or both of theotherrecensions. In Alexander's flight through the air he includes details which are not to be found in any extant recension of the Historia de Proeliis,but which do occur in the {J and 'Y Recensions of Pseudo-Callisthenes (see Debt, pp. 39-41). It would be quite startling, however, if in addition to his other abilities the Spanish poet was also able to read Pseudo-Callisthenes in the Greek; it is much more likely that he either invented the details spontaneously or found them in some derivative of Pseudo-Callisthenes now lost. The Spanish poet accorded considerable importance to the Latin prose account of the HistoriadeProeliisand used it both to fill gaps in Gautier's narrative and to provide certain digressive material, particularly the descriptions of Porus's palace and the wonders of the Orient. Nevertheless he did not accept all the material available to him in the Historiade Proeliis;R. S. Willis has noted his rejection of the more fantastic material (Debt, p. j 6): Olympias's • infidelity; Philip's infatuation with Cleopatra; Alexander's campaign against Rome and Carthage; Alexander's affair with Candace; the Babylonian monster; the third battle with Porus and the latter's death. Not only were some of these apo~ryphal episodes capable of being detrimental to the kingly concept. of Alexander and his royal parentage, but others were clearly too fantastic for the Spanish author to swallow --('Otras cosas retrayan que •. non son de creer', zz16d, etc.). He seems also to have had access to Quintus Curtius, which he must have thought authoritative, where he would have found none of these episodes. Willis has rightly concluded that 'before ever setting pen to parchment, the Spanish poet made a careful collation of his source accounts' (Debt, p. j 5). There are

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few verbal similarities between the Alexandre and the straightforward Latin prose of the Historia de Proe/iis, and the poet used it with even more freedom than the A/exandreis. (c) 'Roman d'A/exandre' Of this twelfth-century French poem, derived from Pseudo-Callisthenes, four different versions are known. 1 After a detailed analysis, Willis has concluded that 'of the four extant versions of the French Roman d' Alexandre, in all probability only one, a B-type manuscript, was utilized by the author of the Alexandre' (Debt, p. s9). Some difficulty is offered by the fact that the Spanish poem shares a few details with the Alexandre de Paris Version which are lacking in the Venice (B) Version. Willis is of the opinion that these 'can be readily explained as coincidences' (Debt, p. s4). However, since Alexandre de Paris (or de Bemai) based his redaction (post 1177) on 'An interpolated version of that revision of the RA/ix Amalgam from which MS B was descended' (Cary, p. 30), it is not impossible that the B-type MS known to the Spanish poet, which cannot have been identical with the single extant B Ms, already contained these details now found only in the Alexandre de Paris Version. The Spanish poet derived only a small amount of narrative material from the Roman d' Alexandre: Alexander's birth and childhood, his knighting and institution of the twelve peers and his descent into the sea. These important episodes were all missing from the A/exandreis, and some of them from the Historia de Proe/iis also; those that were available in the latter the Spanish 1

For a detailed account of these, see Paul Meyer, Alexandre le Grand mm.r la lilllrature fran1ai.re du moym age (Paris, 1886), II, chs. V-VIII; Willis, Debt, pp. 1-3; Cary, pp. 29-31.

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poet must have considered unsatisfactory, since he generally appears to have accorded greater authority to his La~_ sources than to the French poem. Apart from these episodes he otherwise used the Roman d'Alexandre as a major source of descriptive material. At first sight it is surprising that the Roman did not have more influence on the Spanish poem. Unlike the Alexandreis, it made the classical material relevant to twelfth-century French society and exalted Alexander as a courtly model, a prince perfect in valour, honour, courtesy and especially liberality. It was also written in the vernacular in a new poetic metre that may have been the model for the cuadernatJ/aline. But apart from the practical reasons adduced by Willis (Debt, pp. 54-5 8), it is possible that certain ideological reasons may have weighed in the Spanish poet's mind. The twelfth-century French concept of kingship is not likely to have appealed to him because it depicted a type of court life still unknown in Spain in the thirteenth century: it had too much protocol and too little fighting; it did not stress learning and wisdom sufficiently; it gave women too important a role; it must have seemed too frivolous and lacking in a stern moral line; its structure in branches and laisses smacked too much ofjog/aria.Although the B-type Roman d' Alexandre (apart from its first branch, which is in decasyllables) is written in the dodecasyllabic alexandrine in rhyme and is thus a possible model for the Spanish fourteen-syllable alexandrine in rhyme, 1 the cuadernavia form may have been well established in Spanish poetry (e.g. by Berceo) before the Alexandre poet came to compose. But not for the four-lined stanzas; for an account of the suggested via, see R. Menendez solutions of the problem of origin of the ,IIIJderna Pidal, Poeslajuglaresta ••• , pp. 2.77-278. . 1

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(d) '1/ia.rLatina' The Ilia.I Latina dates from the Neronian period (A.D. 54-68) and is a condensed paraphrase in just over a thousand hexameters of Homer's poem, but more than half of it is devoted to the first five of the twenty-four books of the Greek poem. As Duff said, it is 'a production of no outstanding power', but in later times it was highly regarded as a school text. 1 In some of the medieval manuscripts the translation was falsely attributed to 'Pindarus Tnebanus', possibly owing to a confusion between Homer and Pindar (see Duff, pp. 275-276). This work provided most of the material for the Troy digression. pp. 88-90) Georges Cirot 2 and Alarcos (Inve.rtigacione.r, have pointed to verbal similarities between the I/ia.rand the Alexandre• but the Spanish poet exercised the same freedom as with the A/exandrei.rto recast the Latin mater- · ial into his own poetic mould, and introduced much medievalization and some Christianization of the details (see below, chapters IV and VI, pas.rim).

(e) Other.rource.r Rudolph Schevill discussed the A/exandre's 'very distinct indebtedness to Ovid'. 8 Some of the examples he alleged are not, however, direct borrowings from Ovid, because the Spanish poet obtained the details via the A/exandrei.r. The closest parallel he gave (p. 19) is the reference to Juno and the peacock (Alex, 367-368) and the Ar.r Amatoria See J. Wight Duff, A Lit,rary History of Romein theSi/,,,. Age (London, 1960), pp. 273-276, at p. 273. See also F. J. E. Raby, A History of S,cu/ar Latin Poetry••• , I, p. 37. 1 'La Guerre de Troie dans le Libro tk Alexandre', Bull. Hisp., XXXIX ( 1 937), 328-338. • O,id and tbe Rma.t,mt, in Spain (Berkeley, 1913), pp. 18-22. 1

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(I, 625-628), yet he surprisingly concluded that the influence of Ovid is limited to the Metamorphoses(p. 22). He also failed to note the reference to Niobe (Alex, 239oab; cf. Metamorphoses,VI, iii). As additional sources for the Troy digression, A. G. Solalinde found details in the episode of the judgement of Paris taken from Higinus (Fabula 92), Mythographi Vaticani (Fabula 208), Ovid (Heroidas, 16, 53-88; 17, 117-120). 1 In addition MorelPatio related the augury 9f Calchas to Ovid's Metamorphoses, XII, 11-21 ('Recherches', 89). Alarcos (Investigaciones,p. 93) has suggested that the Spanish poet may have called to mind various books he had read in the past, or that he had to hand either a mythographical compendium or a copy of the Ilias Latina amplified and annotated by a contemporary cleric. Furthermore, the Spanish poet was acquainted, in some cases probably at second hand, with the Disticha Catonis,the Latin Physiologus,the Epitome of Julius Valerius, the Etymologiaeof St Isidore, Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews and Quintus Curtius. He also brought in many biblical allusions, mainly to Genesis and Exodus, but references to other books of the Old Testament and to parts of the New Testament also occur. 2.

THE

WORK

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CRITICS

I have examined the many researches undertaken in the past into the various problems presented by the Alexandre in my 'Estado actual' and here I wish to concentrate on those dealing with literary interpretation. The first attempt at literary criticism came from the prolific pen of Menendez y Pelayo. He considered that the poem's 'El juicio de Paris en cl Alexandre y en la Generale.tloria',RFE, XV (1928), J-13. 1

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anachronisms w~re one of its principal sources of interest, but opined that the Troy episode was a 'digresi6n bastante inoportuna' .1 He also thought the poet lacked originality in the composition of the tale, but that his originality was very positive in the invention of details, especially in the descriptions. As I shall try to show, the opposite is the case; most of the descriptive details were inherited from the sources, and the poet's real achievement was in the disposition of diverse materials into a complex but coherent whole. The first important literary interpretation was undertaken by Mada Rosa Lida de Malkiel (Idea, pp. 167-197); employing to the full her command of classical and medieval literature, she has bequeathed to us a careful analysis of the passages concerning fame after death in the poem. R. S. Willis, without whose palaeographic edition and two monographs on the so~rces no critical study of the poem would be possible, has also given us an outstanding analysis of the passages dealing with learning in the Alexandre, pointing out that Alexander is presented as a 'scholar-warrior king' ('Mester', 22.2). Apart from the invaluable contributions of these two great scholars, we are left with the rather facile comments of the compilers of histories of Spanish literature, who almost to a man criticize the Alexandre for its anachronisms. Montoliu has said of the poem: 'En el relato del poema son de observar, como nota pintoresca, los frecuentes y monstruosos anacronismos en que incurre su autor'. 2 In another study Antologla de poela.t l1rico.tca.rlellano.t de.tdela formacionde/ idioma ha.tla nue.tlro.tdla.t (Madrid, 1890-1908), II, pp. LXI-LXXVIII, at p. LXVIII. He recognized, however, that 'No todo es ignorancia ni candor del poeta, sino forzosa adaptaci6n al medio, y necesidad de hablar a su publico en la unica lengua que entendia' {p. LXIII). 1 Manual de hi.ttoriade la literal11ra ea.tie/Jana (Barcelona, 1947), p. 88. 1

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Montoliu noted that 'los anacronismos se distinguen por su audacia y desenfado'. 1 V albuena Prat also talked of the 'ingenuidad de los anacronismos del A/ixandre al presentar al heroe macedonio en un ambiente tf picamente medieval' but went on to say: 'Indudablemente, estos anacronismos dan un color de verdad extraorclinario a los hechos cantados, pues nos permiten reconstruir, como la plastica, las costumbres y uso [sic]de la Edad Media; el asunto antiguo es solo un pretexto'. 2 Bui: a pretext for what? There appears to exist among these critics the idea that the anachronisms came about through the poet's naivete. It is obvious, however, that had he wished he could have stayed close to the almost totally classical A/exandreis and avoided all risk of anachronistic error. The deliberate process of medievalization was note-d--hy Marcelo Macias y Garcia, who observed that the poet 'prescinde de la verdad hist6rica e incurre en todo genero de anacronismos; pero entiendase bien que no procede asf por ignorancia o desconocimiento de los sucesos que narra ... ' 3 We know from Willis's investigations that the Spanish poet rearranged the items Gautier had presented out of their historical order so as to follow the normal chronology (Relationship, p. 7~). Since he was so careful about the chronological sequence of his poem, it is not likely that he would have medievalized the details out of negligence. Hi.tloriagen,ra/tk la.rliteralurashispdnicas(Barcelona, 1951), I, p. 392. Hisloria tk la lileraluraespaiola (Barcelona, 1963), I, pp. 72 and 96. 1 Discur.10 pro111111&iado m /0.1jmgo.t j/orales celebrado.t m Astorga el JO de agoslode IIOO (Astorga, 1900), p. 10. 1 1

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The changes wrought by the Spanish poet in his source material have frequently been described as anachronisms. This term, however, has the serious disadvantage of denoting errors in computing time, or things out of harmony with the present or out of date. Even if we were to refer to them as "purposeful anachronisms' the term would tend to draw our attention back towards the classical or pseudo-classical material. The term 'medievalization' has therefore been preferred, for at least it leads us towards what has occurred in the Spanish poem. MorelPatio noted that the Spanish poet had changed the classical material: '. . . la transformation des guerriers macedoniens et persans en chevaliers chretiens du XIIIe s. est aussi complete que dans les poemes fran~is ... ' ('Recherches', 60); Willis, too, noted the presence of extra-narrative medieval elements and examined four of these in detail (Relationship,pp. 70-72). To my knowledge, however, no critic has examined the extent and nature of this process of medievalization or considered its total purpose. The Alexandre may well have been intended as a speculum principis, as Willis has suggested ('Mester', zzz); the poet appears to have exerted himself to explore all the aspects of kingship that he probably regarded as most important in a contemporary monarch. He announces the chief of these aspects in the exordium: 'Quiero leer [Pfer] un liuro devn rreynoblepagano, Ique fue de grant esfor~io, de co-

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ra~on lo~ano' (5ab),' •.. fue franceardite degrantsaben~' (6b). Throughout the poem Alexander is presented as both a scholar and a warrior: 'El rrey Alexandre, tesoro de proeza, I area de sauieza ... ' (15 57ab), etc. Curtius has shown that the virtues of strength and wisdom extolled in classical literature became commonplace in the Middle Ages: 'Medieval topics . . . took over the formula .rapientia et fortitudo for laments for the dead and eulogies of rulers as well as for short narrative poems and the epic.' (EuropeanLiterature . .. , p. 175) ROY AL BIR TH AND

I.

CHILDHOOD

The poet stresses Alexander's kingly excellence from the outset: great signs and portents occur at his birth (8-10; G, X, 343-348, RA/ix, B, 2.0-2.8). The air is changed, the sun is darkened, the sea becomes wild, the earth trembles, stones fall from the clouds, two golden eagles fight each other, a new-born lamb speaks in Egypt, a hen lays a snake, a hundred noblemen are born on the same day ( 1 1 ). 1 The aura of wonder surrounding the young prince is increased in 90-107: his belt is made by Dame Philosophy, his sword forged by Vulcan, his decorated shield outshines the sun and moon, his magical shirt is made by The Spanish poet has increased to one hundred the number of thirty noblemen mentioned in the RA/ix, 33; for an examination of the relationship of this passage with Gautier and the RA/ix,see Willis,Pebt,pp. 6-n. A somewhat similar, though not related, account of portents occurs in Berceo's Vida de San Milldn, 375-393; in his recent excellent edition and study of the poem, Brian Dutton has demonstrated that Berceo amplified the version of the signs contained in the Latin Privilegi11111, which opens with a report of the events thought to have taken place on 19 July 939 (see La 'Vida tk San Mi/ldn tk la Cogo//a'tk Gonz.alotk &rceo (e.rtudioy ,dicidn crltica) (London, 1967), pp. 220-223. One of the omens is also described in the PFG, 46s-479. a. Berceo, Signos, 3-22, which appears to be based on Isaiah, 13, and Zechariah, 14. 1

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two of the Fates in the sea and his enchanted tunic by another Fate. 1 In the episode of the taming of Bucephalus (116), Alexander's royal power is indicated by the horse's bowing and kneeling before him: 'Bu~ifal, quando lo vio, enclino los ienoios, I encoruaua la ea.be~ e baxo los oios' (116bc).The onlookers' reaction is significantly added by the Spanish poet: 'cataron se los ombres vnos a otros' (116d), 'todos dizen "aqueste sera emperador"' (117d). This regal power of taming animals occurs later in the poem, when the fishes of the sea appear to bow to Alexander through the window of his bathyscaphe: Tanto se acogien al rrey los pescados como si los ouies el rrey por subiugados; venien fasta la cuba todos cabez colgados, tremian todos antel como mo~os moiados. (2.314)2

Alexander has the same effect on Darius's messengers, "que sol por catarlo non eran osados, Iya querrian, se lacuna in P). These podiessen, seer del alongados' (144-&d, omens and supernatural powers are, of course, common in both classical and medieval literature, but, according to Calicott, of all medieval Europe it was in thirteenthcentury Spain that the study of omens was most highly developed, as is shown by the severity with which the law treated augurs. 8 Thus, although the A/exandr1-.poet is 1

Sec Debi, pp. 12-18, for the relationship of this passage with the sources. 1 There is an interesting parallel here with a passage in the Fiorelli of St Francis (which postdates the Alexandre), where St Antony of Padua preaches to the fishes in the sea at Rimini: 'A queste e simiglianti parolee ammaestramenti di santo Antonio, cominciarono Ii pesci ad aprire le bocche e chinare i capi; e con questi e altri segnali di riverenzia, secondo i modi a loro possibili, laudavano Iddio., (I F ioretli, eh. XL, ed. Guido Battelli, Turin, 1929, p. 92) 1 Frank Calicott, The Supernatural in &r{y Spanish Literature (New York, 1923), pp. 99-106.

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extent than others, throughout the remainder of the poem. Most of them were commonplaces in thirteenthcentury Spanish letters, some of them occur in the Libro de Jos cien capltulos, for example, 1 but the Alexandre is unique in grouping them at this important point in a literary narrative. 2.. ROYAL

PARENTAGE

The ·hereditary principle of kingship is mentioned by Aristotle at the beginning of his advice: 'Ffijo eres de rey ... ' (52.a) and the poet states clearly that Philip is Alexander's father: 'Felippo e Olimpias que son sus parientes' (13c). Alexander also declares the fact: 'Felippo el rrey de Gre~ia esse es mi padre' ( 131b); '. . . el rrey Phelippo mi padre ... ' (1148a). Nevertheless, doubt is thrown on Alexander's parentage elsewhere in the poem. In 19-2.0 Alexander hears the rumour that he resembles Nectan._ebo,the last native Pharaoh, and his scornful rejection of this putative illegitimacy consists of his throwing Nectanebo from a tower to his death. 2 This story was of course fictitious and was an attempt in Pseudo-Callisthenes (the source of the RA/ix and HPr) to explain Alexander's alleged double paternity: although he was the son of his human father Philip and therefore succeeded legally to the throne of Macedon, by becoming Pharaoh of Egypt he also became the son of the god Amon-Re. 3 W. W. Tarn gave an excellent account of the 1

Especially in chs. I-XI, ed. Agapito Rey (Bloomington, Indiana, 1960), pp. 1-16. Sec also Poridat de /as poridades,ed. Lloyd A. Kasten (Madrid, 1957), pp. ,6-42, especially pp. 40-41. 1 See Debt, pp. 6-11, for the relationship of this passage with the sources. 1 See J. P. V. D. Balsdon, 'The "divinity" of Alexander', and J. R. Hamilton, 'Alexander and his "so-called" father', in Alexander the

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wary of other fantastic material in his sources, he not only allows the omens at Alexander's birth and his early supernatural powers to stand, but even heightens the effect, presumably regarding these things as proper in the royal context. The poet's first attempt to define the virtues of a king can be deduced from Aristotle's advice to Alexander in childhood (48-85). This section is based on the corresponding passage in Gautier (I, 8z-183), but the poet probably also bore in mind the version in the Roman d' Alexandre (B, 1004-5 o). In effect, the perfect king is described through the mouth of Aristotle:

Keep your affairs from base men (Alex 55; G, I, 85-86, RAJix, B, 1034-40.) z. Judge well (Alex, 59ab;G, I, 105-110). 3 Lead your men bravely (Alex, 65-79; G, I, 116-144). 4 Divide the booty fairly (Alex, 82; G, I, 145-15 1, RAJix, B, 1046-47). 5 Avoid avarice, be generous (Alex, 62-64; G, I, 111114, 150-163, RAJix, B, 1007-09). 6 Beware of the wiles of women (Alex, s3d-54; G, I, 165-169). 7 Shun strong drink (Alex, 58a; G, I, 167-173). 8 Disregard flattery (Alex, s8c; RA/ix, B, 1033). 9 Treat your vassals well (Alex, 60; G, I, 181-182). 10 Fame should be your aim (Alex, 71-72 [PMS,lacuna in O]; G, I, 18z-183). I

Certain elements appear to have beenaddedby the Spanish poet: learning and wisdom (5za), chivalry (52c), consultation with vassals (5 3), avoidance of boasting (59cd), respect for the wisdom of old age (61). Almost all these aspects of leadership are taken up, some to a greater

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consequences of the failure to grasp the concept of double paternity: it led to the invention of a story that Nectanebo, Alexander's predecessor as Pharaoh, visited Olympias disguised as Amon-Re (in snake form in some versions) to engender Alexander. 1 The Spanish poet follows the Roman d' Alexandre in briefly retelling this story, and he appears to have believed that Alexander killed Nectanebo (who in 19b is called 'Natanao' [OMS] and 'Nethanamo' [P Ms]).It is not clear whether or not he believed in the alleged paternity, since he ends the episode with the cryptic line' "ffijo," dixo su [Pel] padre, "Dios te faga [P dexe] beuir" '(zod). 2 But a strong reason for supposing that the Spanish poet did not give credence to the Nectanebo story is his omission of the longer Historia de Proe/iisversion of it, although it was available to him. 3 Cary mentions a possible reason for the rejection of the Nectanebo paternity by early romance writers: 'it Great: the mainproblems,ed. G. T. Griffith (Cambridge, 1966), pp. 179-204 and 23 s-241, respectively. 1 Alexander the Great (Cambridge, 1948), II, p. 354. This is somewhat similar to the legend that King Arthur was engendered by Uther Pendragon, magically disguised as Gwrlais (see Geoffrey of Monmouth, Hi.ttoria Regum Brilanniae,VII, xix-:xx, ed. Acton Griscom, Pf·426-427). 1 P Ms's 'el padre' might mean Nectanebo, whereas O MS s 'su padre' could refer to Alexander's true father Philip. It is clearly a 'filler' line because it bears a suspicious resemblance to 163d, '"fijo," dixo su padre, "Dios telo dexe [P dexeldo Dios] complir" ', and to 455d, '"fijo," dixo su padre, "Dios te cure de mal" '. In 163d, which occurs during the conquest of Armenia, Philip is replying to Alexander's promise to bring the whole world under his father's sway by the time he is fourteen [0 MS] or fifteen [P MS]. In 4 55d, Priam is wishing Hector well as he arms himself for battle against the Greeks. 19'may have had a similar meaning. Philip is thanking Alexander for killing Nectanebo (an indirect reference to the Pharaoh's supposed adultery with Philip's wife Olympias) and wishing his son a long life. This is a more likely interpretation than understanding 'padre' in 19d as referring to Nectanebo, for it would be surprising if he wished his murderous bastard a long life as he was plunging to destruction at his hands. 8 See Debt, p. 56, and Cary, p. 338. D

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\ was inconsistent with the nobility of Alexander that he should have been illegitimate' (p. 2.35). But a more pressing reason must have been the hereditary principle of kingship: if Alexander was not Philip's son, in medieval eyes he would have no claim to the throne of Macedon. By the thirteenth century the hereditary principle was firmly established, as Beneyto has pointed out: 'Despues del reparto hecho por Alfonso VII se tiende a romper la version patrimonial, estableciendo el principio de la primogenitura' . 1 The Siete Partidas make Alfonso X's views clear: 'tiene el rey lugar de Dios ... el rey lo tiene por heredamiento, et el emperador por elecci6n' (II, i, 7; for the upholding of primogeniture, see II, xv, 2.). Although the passage in 19 leaves us in some uncertainty about the Spanish poet's views on Nectanebo, the author of the Roman d'Alexandre stated clearly that he did not believe the story: Neptenabus ot nom par escient. Per lo reiaume lo disoient la gent Que Al'x. ert ses filz voirement; Plusors lo distrent, mais je n' en croi nient (B, 77-80)

The vexed question of Alexander's paternity is raised again by the Spanish poet in 798b: 0 MS reads 'el rrey Alexandre, fijo del rrey Philippon', but P MS reads 'el rrey Alixandre, fijo del dios Amon'. The form 'Philippon' in O MS, being in rhyme with 'razon I rescrip~ion I non', is suspect. 2 It is not impossible that the scribe of OMS or Juan Beneyto Perez, Historia de la administrationespano/ae hispanoamericana(Madrid, 1958), p. 225. 1 Everywhere else in the poem Philip is referred to in the -o form: 'Felippo' (13c, 131b, 170b), 'Philippo' (171a), 'Filipo' (17,4d), 'Felipo' (172.&),etc. The Roma., d'A/exandre, however, often uses the French accusative form in -on:'C'est Al'x., fil le roi Felipon' (B, 562, 632, both in 1

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one of his predecessors had seen the name Philip in the -on form somewhere else and altered what seemed an absurd divine paternity into the logical one. If we reject the P MS reading 'fijo del dios Amon' as scribal, we should have to make the even harder assumption that the scribe had read Gautier or some other erudite source. The Alexandre poet certainly knew that Alexander was reputed to have claimed to be the son of Jupiter Ammon because a version of that story occurs in the AJexandreis: Gautier criticizes the change in Alexander's character and his conversion to Persian habits: Qui prius ergo pius erat hostibus, hostis amicis Impius, in caedes et bella domestica demum Conversus, ratus illicitum nihil esse tyranno. (III, 2so-2.s2)

He then scornfully raises the question of Alexander's claim to divine paternity: Praeterea quis praetereat summum sibi patrem Usurpasse Iovem? nam se genitum love credi Imperat: excedit hominem transgressa potestas, Seque hominem fastidit homo, minimumque videtur Esse sibi cum sit inter mortalia summus. (III, 2.s3-2s7) rhyme); 'Al'x., qui est fi1z Felipon' (B, 1348, in rhyme); 'Felipon lo rei' (B, 953, not in rhyme)-although the nominative form 'Felip' or 'Fclipes' is commoner (B, 449, 4 s9, not in rhyme; B, 751, not in rhyme, etc.). Although the 'Felipon' form does not occur at the corresponding point in the RA/ix, the Spanish poet may have remembered its occurrence at other points in the French poem and used it here for purposes of rhyme. The uniqueness of the form 'Philippon' in O MS 798b is not on its own sufficient evidence of scribal corruption, and we cannot assume a scribe would have read the French poem. On the other hand, the 'Felipon' form does occur exactly in this way in a Catalan troubadour's poem of about 1170: 'Ni del bon rei I no sabs que's fei I d'Alixandre fil Filipon •.. ' (quoted by R. Menendez Pidal, Poeslajuglaresca••• , p. 280). -on

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Tam has shown that post-Alexandrine writers confused Jupiter (Zeus) with Amon-Re. 1 It is clear that Alexander could claim to be a descendant of Zeus because of his Argead lineage and also to be the ex-officioson of AmonRe by becoming Pharaoh of Egypt. The later writers confused these possible claims with Alexander's attempt (prostration or kowtow) at to introduce pro.rkyne.ri.r Ba_ctra.Tarn has explained that this was • . • the usual Persian ceremony for those approaching the Great King, as Alexander now was. The Achaemenid kings had not been gods, and when a Persian made proskynesisto his king he was not worshipping him; it was a ceremony and no more. But to Greeks, and presumably to Macedonians, prostration did import worship • . • The first Greek called upon was Callisthenes; he refused, and told Alexander that he must confine Asiatic customs to Asiatics. Alexander dropped the idea, and no more was ever heard of it. (Alexander the Great, II, pp. 3 59-360) 1

By the Middle Ages this episode had been distorted to the extent of an accusation against Alexander of having bribed the priests at Ammon to recognize him as a god and of subsequently murdering Callisthenes for refusing to prostrate himself before him. 8 Cary noted that the episode of Alexander's claim to divinity ••• is properly only an incident in an historical progression; as Lessing says of the Laocoon, it is the turning-point that teaches us nothing. The indirect consequence, Alexander's punishment for setting himself up as a god, has a moral, and is remembered; but the mere fact of the recognition of his 1 1

Alexander the Greal, IT, pp. 348-358. See also E. Badian, Studiesin Greelt:andRomanHistory (Oxford, 1964),

p. 198. 1 According to Badian, this was indeed the reason for Callisthenes' in Gree/,:and Roman Hi.rlory,p. 199. execution, see S1udie.1

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divinity has only the individual and momentary application • that is of no service to the moralist. It was therefore rejected by Cicero, Seneca (who ought to have relished it), and Valerius Maximus, and after them by the medieval moralists. (p. I I 1)

Cary remembered nevertheless the passage I have quoted from Gautier but dismisses it: The introduction ••• of Alexander's desire to be called the son of Jove, remains only textual. It corresponds not to Gautier's imaginative intentions, but to the demands of his sources. (p. I 83)

One might fairly comment that Gautier could have omitted all reference to the episode if he wished to make nothing of it. In fact he uses it as the culmination of his attack on Alexander for yielding to Persian customs, which begins Tantus enim virtutis amor tune temporis illi Pectore regnabat: si perdurasset in illo Ille tenor, non est quo denigrare valeret Crimine candcntem titulis infamia famam. (III, 2.41-2.44)

The Spanish author must certainly have regarded Gautier's criticism at that point as too severe, since he omits the passage altogether 1 and nowhere, except in the hemistich of PMS 'fijo del dios Amon' (798b)and possibly in Cicadas of Thebes' address, 'semeyas a los dios ea lo as de natura' (233b), does he hint at Alexander's claim to be son of Jupiter Ammon. Willis naturally noted this omission from Gautier: The Akxandreis material absent from the Alexandre includes a number of passages of pure exposition, that is, passages 1

It should have occurred in the Al,xemdr, between 1083 and 1084.

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which contain material distinct from the story itself and whose function is to explain the story . . • Once the tendency of the Alexandre to omit Gautier's pure exposition is recognized, light can be thrown on certain absent passages of narration and description ••. These special passages serve to explain events rather than to furnish action in the story . • . (Relationship, pp. 27-28)

The omitted Gautier passage with which we are concerned occurs in III, 2.41-2.s7, just after Alexander has saved Darius's mother, wife and children from violation; that passage occurs in the Spanish poem in 1083. This courteous act of Alexander is referred to by Gautier in III, 2.41-242: 'Tantus enim virtutis amor tune temp~ris illi I Pectore regnabat', b·ut with a most sudden change of tolle, Gautier at once begins to attack a supposed change in Alexander's character: Verum ubi regales Persarum rebus adeptis Deliciae posuere modum, suasitque licere Illicitum et licitum genitrix opulentia luxus, Corrupit fortuna physim, cursuque retorto Substitit unda prior, vitiorum cautibus haerens. (III, 24 5-249)

Gautier then mentions the claim to divinity in the form of the rhetorical question 'Praeterea quis praetereat . . . ?' (III, 2.s3-2. s4) which I have already quoted. Willis lists part of the omission under the sub-heading 'A.-PURE EXPOSITION: ••• 6. b.-Questions: III, 2 53-5 4' and he comments: 'Another form in which Gautier inserted personal remarks is the rhetorical question. Passages of this type are absent from the Alexandre' (Relationship,p. 31 ). But is this merely a personal remark? Gautier is giving his readers ·new and very surprising information: 'Alexander

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is claiming to be the son of Jove.' The fact that he imparts this information in the form of a denigratory question does not lessen the importance of this new aspect of his hero's character. 1 The Spanish poet surely did not omit Gautier's lines merely because they were in the form of a rhetorical question and he was in the habit of omitting Gautier's rhetorical questions. Willis also lists the whole omission under a second sub-heading, 'B-NARRATIVE 1.-Narrative exposiAND DESCRIPTIVE EXPOSITION: tion: ... III, 241-57' and he comments on our passage and others mentioned: They closely resemble exposition except for the fact that instead of standing entirely apart f~om the story, they carry the narrative along at the same time that they explain it. (Relationship,p. 32)

It is not altogether clear whether the passage 'carries the narrative along' or whether it at all 'explains' it, for it occurs at the end of a long episode (sequel to the first battle between Alexander and Darius). A completely new episode follows in III, 2. j 8 et seq. (Parmenio's capture of Damascus), just as Alexander's kind treatment of Darius's family in Alex, 1083, is immediately followed in 1084 by the same new episode (Parmenio's capture of Damascus). It is no more abrupt for the Spanish poet to move from Alexander and Darius's family to the Damascus episode then for Gautier to move from Alexander's divinity to the Damascus episode. In fact one could claim that the Badian tells us that the historic Alexander 'actually began to believe in his own divinity. About the middle of 324, he sent envoys to Greece demanding that he should be worshipped as a god.' This produced the famous 'laconic' decree of the Spartans: 'Since Alexander wishes to be a god, let him be a god' (see Studies in Greelt: and Roman History, p. 202). 1

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Spanish author was able to carry out the change more neatly, because there is a closer connection in his narrative: 1083, Alexander guards Darius's family; 1084, Alexander hears that Darius has diverted his treasure to Damascus and sends Parmenio to collect it. The Spanish poet did not need to use Gautier's 'meanwhile': 'Mittitur interea cum Parmenione Damascum I Miles, ut a victis extorqueat urbe repostas I Relliquias gazae ... ' (III, z58-2.60). Whether Alexander's claim to be son of Jove in the A/exandreis is a derivation of Alexander's attempt to impose proskynesis at Bactra after he has succeeded to Darius's throne, or of his visit to the Oracle at Ammon (where the high priest was reputed to have greeted him as son of Amon-Re, for by then he was Pharaoh), Gautier clearly inserted it in the wrong place (after Darius's first defeat). It may therefore have been omitted by the Spanish poet because he knew that it was misplaced; he departed from the A/exand,:eis elsewhere for that reason, as Willis has pointed out: •.. the Alexandre is essentially a chronologically developed narrative of Alexander's career. Even the items presented out of their natural place in the Alexandreis are rearranged in the Spanish poem so as to make their appearance in the proper chronological location ... (Relationship, p. 9)

The Spanish poet may have meant to insert the inf ormation later, either after Darius's death or 'during Alexander's visit to Ammon and forgot to do so. It is not very likely, however, that he could have forgotten to replace it in the Ammon visit, which is bound to have reminded him of it. Cary noted the Spanish poet's omission, but regarded _. as part of his general omission of 'obscuring mytho. )(

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logical intruders! (p. 187). Nevertheless Willis has shown that the Spanish· poet ... manifested no antipathy to mere allusions to pagan gods,. but he regularly left out narration, description, and direct discourse of the Latin poem in which gods make their appearance as participants in the Alexander story. (Re/ation-.rhip,p. 7 5)

In any case Alexander's claim to be the son of Jove by no means brings Jupiter or Jupiter-Ammon into the role of participant in the narrative. On the other hand, such a claim alters the fundamental medieval concept of Alexander's kingship. It would have been extremely odd for a medieval king to make such a direct claim, though it was not unknown in the Dark Ages for claims of distant descent from divinity to be made for political advantage. 1 It is this that makes the words 'fijo del dios Amon' in PMS so strange and suspect, but it would have required a scribe who was extremely well versed in the Alexander legend to introduce such an epithet, since it is not so explicitly mentioned elsewhere in the Alexandre. As it· appears, therefore, to have originated with the poet, it may have been merely a slip on his part, an unintended reference to a passage of the Alexandreis he had decided,. perhaps at a late stage, to omit. 3.

ROYAL

LEARNING

AND

EDUCATION

!bne of the two aspects of Alexander's kingship that are· most emphasized by the Spanish poet is his learning. all the petty monarchs of the early English tribes found it well to· strengthen their title by a direct claim to descent from Wod.in, thus investing the new authority with something of a supernatural sanction.,. J. N. Figgis, The Divin, Right of Kings (Cambridge, 1922), p. 18. 1 ' •••

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There was some historical truth in it, as Tarn pointed out: It is in fact recorded that at Mieza he did learn Aristotle's views on politics and ethics, and if Aristotle talked to him about politics at all, kingship was not a thing that he could possibly have omitted; it was the most obvious of all subjects in which to instruct Philip's heir. (Alexander the Great, II, p. 369)

The fact that Aristotle was Alexander's historical tutor is, of course, strongly brought out in the Spanish Alexandre. Cary observed: . . . it is in the antique and the Oriental traditions that the importance of Aristotle's tutorship is most stressed. He is revered in the Western legends, but he is something of a philosophic figurehead, without real effect upon the career of Alexander ... Among the Alexander-books it is only in the Alexandreis and similar works drawing on older or on moral tradition that Aristotle becomes the only, or even the chief, tutor. (p. I 07)

The Spanish poet takes over this tradition of Alexander's learning from the Alexandreis and elaborates upon it at some length (2.1-88), but the instruction given is medieval throughout, ~s Cary generally found to be the case: ... in every medieval period Alexander's education was represented as including all those subjects which the imagination of the writer considered essential to the perfect prince; and in every case he learnt them well. (p. 108)

Willis has undertaken a close study of the subjects that the Spanish poet included in Aristotle's clereflaor erudition ('Mester', 2.14-2.2.1).Taking from the Romand' Alexandre the idea that Alexander studied the seven liberal arts,

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the poet included the trivium, grammar, logic and rhetoric, but it is clear throughout the poem that the poet's own real mastery was in rhetoric. Alexander is therefore presented with that art predominant in his education; it is also demonstrated in the large number of speeches he makes to his men '"atalmost every critical juncture' of the poem, as Willis puts it ('Mester', 2.2.1).Of the quadrivium the poet mentions music and astronomy, but not arithmetic or geometry. Instead Alexander studies medicine and natural philosophy (43-45). Just as rhetoric is the art of the trivium that is most frequently demonstrated by Alexander later in the poem, so of the other 'non-trivial' arts mentioned it is natural philosophy that obsesses him most. Alexander often shows an interest in 'scientific' exploration, e.g. 'metria en escrito los secretos del mar' (2.309d).1 In the episodes of Alexander's flight and his diving expedition, the poet as a schoolman mentions the natural philosophy aspect, but as a moralist he discerns in the adventures an urge for conquest and a motivation of pride (see 'Interpretation', 2.07-2.09, 2.11-2.12.). The SietePartidasprovide us with some evidence of the sort of education considered suitable for kings in the thirteenth century: Acusioso debe 1 rey seer en aprender los saberes, ea por ellos entendera las osas de raiz, et sabra mejor obrar en ellas, et otrosf por sa r leer sabra mejor guardar sus poridades et seer sefior de s . . . Et aun sin todo esto por la escriptura entendera mejo la fe, et sabra mas complidamiente rogar a Dios, et aun por el leer puede el mesmo saber los fechos granados que pasaron, de que aprendera muchos buenos enxiemplos. Et non tan solamiente tovieron por bien los 1

Willis supplies a long list of references to show the interest in natural philosophy: 'Mesler', 219, note 26.

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sabios antiguos que los reyes sopiesen leer, mas aun que aprendiesen de todos los saberes para poderse aprovechar dellos. (II, v, 16)

The training should thus extend further than mere literacy to all 'saberes', but none of them is specified. In the instructions for bringing up the royal children, reading and writing are again mentioned, but otherwise they are to be taught how to greet people, to ride, hunt 'et jugar toda manera de juegos' (II, vii, 10). The education of prelates is more clearly specified in the Partidasthan that of kings and it is a more comprehensive one: Sabio et entendudo debe ser cl perlado, et sefialadamiente en estas tres cosas: la primera en la fe .•. et por eso ha de saber la divinidat; la segunda que sea sabidor en los saberes que llaman artes, et mayormiente en estas quatro, asf como en gramatica, que es arte para aprender el lenguaje del !at.in, et otrosf en 16gica, que es arte para saber et conoscer et departir la verdat de la mentira, et otrosf en la ret6rica, que es ciencia que demuestra ordenar las palabras apuestamiente et como conviene, et otrosf en musica, que es saber de los sones que es menester para los cantos de santa eglesia . • • Mas los otros tres saberes non tovieron por bien los santos padres que se trabajasen los perlados mucho de los saber; ea maguer que estos saberes scan nobles et muy buenos quanto en sf, non son convenientes a ellos, nin se ·moverien por ende a facer obras de piadat ... Et la tercera cosa ... es de las cosas temporales para saber bien gobernar los sus obispados et mantener sus casas. (I, v, 37)

though, unlike kings' sons, prelates were predictably urged to shun sport: '. . . non deben ir a ver los trebejos, asf como alanzar o bofordar, o lidiar toros o otras bestias fieras et bravas, nin ir veer los que lidian . . .' (I, v, 57). The education of Alexander in the Spanish poem is closer

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to that· available at the .rtudiagenera/iathan that recpm-_ mended for royal heirs in the Partida.r,but Alfonso's view of the university curriculum (II, xxxi, 1) is more traditional than the Alexandre poet's. The Partidas list the trivium and the conventional quadrivium,with the addition of law. The poet omits law and replaces arithmetic and geometry by medicine and natural philosophy. His view of what was a desirable education for kings was more like that of a university teacher and can have had little relation to the actual training of contemporary monarchs; it cannot have been more than an academic's pipe dream. 4.

ROY AL VALOUR

The second of the two most important aspects of kingship stressed by the Spanish poet is valour or fortitudo. He mentions the virtue at the outset: '. . . vn rrey noble pagano, I que fue de grant esfor~io ... ' (5ab). Even in early youth Alexander shows signs of valour: 'En mannas de grant pre~o fue luego entendiendo, I esfor~io e franqueza fue luego decogiendo' (1zab). Aristotle urges the importance of valour: 'et seso e esfor~o te sera mucho mester' (65d) and mentions its power over fortune: 'Dizen que buen esfuer~o ven~e mala ventura' (71a, PMS,missing in 0). Soon after his knighting, Alexander wishes to prove his valour: 'fue bus car auenturas, su esfor~io prouar' (1z7b). When Darius asks for a description of Alexander, he is told that in esforfio'non ha compara~ion' (151d, 0 MS),or that he has esfuerfo'mas que otro varon' (P Ms).When Cleadas, 'Vn yoglar de grant guisa' (z3za), begs Alexander unsuccessfully to spare Thebes, he mentions esforrioas one of Alexander's chief qualities (2. 35b).

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The poet stresses Alexander's courage again when he is about to cross the Hellespont with a small force: 'la lo podedes ueer de qual esfor~io era I que con tan pocas yentes entraua tal carrera' (z48ab). Later in the poem, when Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, visits Alexander in order to have a son by him, she tells him that she has heard that he is 'de grand for~ [P esfuer~o]' (1885b). After some reverses in the :firstbattle with Porus, Alexander's men are frightened of Porus's gzgantes(zo2.6ab),but Alexander, 'que pornengun perigronunca fue desmayado' (zoz7b), exhibits his smiling courage: 'andaua bien alegre,. firme e esfor~iado' (zoz7c). Towards the end of the poem,. before Alexander and his men reach Babylon, they see the various wonders of the East. Just before they come to the Trees of the Sun and the Moon, they are short of food but suddenly come across a plentiful supply of venison. In this episode, too, we are reminded of Alexander's courage: 'Fu yendo el bon rrey, teniendo so camino, I rico de bon esfor~io, pobre de pane de uino' (z477ab). There are other references in the work to Alexander's 'sufren~ia', 'valia' and 'proeza'. The Spanish poet thus emphasized the exemplary valour of his hero, but there was ample precedent for this in his sources, as Cary noted: 'Personal valour and personal hardiness, no less than greatness of mind, could not only easily be deduced from the Latin sources, but were also necessary to the hero of a chanson degeste or of a courtly romance ... ' (p. 196). Another method by which the poet emphasizes Alexander's courage is that of comparing him to a lion: he has 'braueza de leon' (140);he is 'mas brauo quel leon' (1005c). His hair is described to Darius as a lion's mane: 'Atales ha los pelos cuemo faz vn leon' (151a). He is frequently compared to a lion when he is angry: 'amolaua los dientes

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cuemo leon fanbriento' {z8b) and the comparison is expanded in the next stanza: Avia en si el infante atal compara~ion cvemo suele auer el chiquielle leon quando iaz en la camma e vee la uena~ion, non la puede prender e bateiel cora~on. (29, missing in P)

For the most part the lion comparison is used for Alexander, but it is not confined to him: Parmenio is described as fighting 'cuemo leon yrado' (1oz4,b);Cleitus and Ptolemy 'cuemo leones que andan defamidos' (101zb); in the Troy episode Menelaus 'andaua tan rauioso cuemo un leon yrado' (509b) and Diomedes 'Andaua tan rrauioso cuemo leonieiuno' (517a). The Spanish poet found the lion image in his sources (G, I, 57; RA/ix, B, 324, 5z7, 'cuerdelion'), but he makes much more use of it, and in particular connects it closely to descriptions of anger. There is an interesting parallel here with a passage in the Siete Partida.s:'. . . ea as{ como clixo el rey Salomon, atal es la ira del rey como la braveza del le6n, que ante el su bramido todas las otras bestias tremen, et non saben do se meter. . .' (II, v, 11). El /ibrode /o.sciencapltulo.shas the same image: 'El rey derrama como lean e ensafiase como nifio'. 1 There are no grounds, however, for thinking that the Spanish poet or the authors of his immediate sources had in mind the tradition that one of the symbols of the Macedonian kings was the lion's head; Clarke referred to it as follows: That emperor [Constantine], speaking of the Macedonian kings, says, 'Instead of the diadem, crown, and regal purple, they decorated themselves with the skin of a lion's head; and 1

Ed. Agapito Rey (Bloomington, Indiana, 1960), p. 7.

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they considered this as a crown, and as an ornament, and above every precious stone: to which the very medals of the Macedonian Alexander, adorned with such an image, bear ample testimony' . 1

The Spanish poet shows no knowledge of this unusual regal headdress; at Alexander's coronation he says nothing more than 'fue coronado' (198a), without mentioning what kind of crown was used, but Darius's corpse is adorned in medieval fashion: Posioron le corona clara e bien bronida, en cabe~ de ome nunca fura metida, de fin oro obrada, de piedras bien bastida, meior no la touiera en toda la su uida. (1774) 2

Although the original manuscript of the Alexandre is lost and we do not know whether it was illustrated, the sketch of Alexander addressing his men in O MS (folio ·45vo.) depicts the king in medieval dress, weating a medieval crown. 3 There is no suggestion, therefore, that there was any illustrative or textual tradition of any other kind of regal headdress. On the other hand, the Spanish poet knew of some connection with the lion image, for in his 1

E. D. Clarke, The Tomb of Alexander: a diuertalion on the .rarcophagu.r (Cambridge, 1805), broughtfrom Alexandria and now in the Brili.rhMu.re11111 p. 19. Clarke provides an illustration of one of the medallions he mentions. 1 Ernst H. Kantorowicz asserts that this was the normal method of burial: ' .•. in the Middle Ages the king was buried with his crown and his regalia, or copies thereof ..• ,, The King'.r Two Bodies:a .rtudyin medieval political theology(Princeton, 1957), p. 424. 3 See Willis's edition, p. xv and illustration I (facing p. xl); see also D. J. A. Ross, Alexander Hi.rtoriatu.r{London, 1963), p. 72, and 'Alexander iconography in Spain: El librode Alexandre', Scriptorium,XXI (1967), 83-86 and plates 9 and 10• •

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description of Alexander's shield (9~8) there is an angry lion in the centre of the heraldic field: En medio de la taula. estaua vn leon, tenia so la garpha a toda Babilon, cataua contra Dario a guisa ·de fellon, ea uermeia e turuia tenia la enuision. (97)

The Spanish poet had elaborated this heraldic device from a much balder reference to the lion on the shield in the Roman d' Alexandre, where it does not symbolize the _,angrythreat to Darius and the future capture of Babylon, but merely Alexander's daring: Escu li done de coste de poisson, La guinche en est a orfreis environ. Tres en me leu ot escrit un lion, Ce senefie la fierte del baron. (B, 365-368)

It was of course a commonplace to connect kings with Symbolism... , lions (see, for example, E. P. Evans, Ani11!_al pp. 93-94), and, with respect to the use of the heraldic lion on Alexander's shield in_ the Spanish poem, it is interesting to note that the lion later became the heraldic device of the kings of Le6n. 1 The necessity for kings to be valorous and skilled in the use of arms is stressed also in the Partidas:'Ca en fecho de armas et de caballerfa conviene que sea sabidor para poder mejor amparar lo suyo, et c;onquerir lo de los enemigos; 1

See Percy Ernst Schramm, He"schaftsz.eichen und S laal.uy111bolik (Stuttgart, 1954-56), III, p. 818. Cf. the coronation garments of Alfonso XI: 'sus panos reales labrados de oro et de plata a seiiales de castiellos et de leones .•. ', Cronicade/ rey don Alfonso e/ Onceno,eh. C, quoted by C. Sanchez-Albornoz, Estudios sobre /as inslituciones111edievale.1 1.rpaio/a.s(Mexico, 1965), p. 749•

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et por ende debe saber cavalgar bien et apuestamiente, et usar toda manera de armas ... ' {II, v, 19). 5.

ROYAL

AMBITION

AND

DESIRE

FOR FAME

The poet mentions Alexander's youthful ambitions early in the poem: 'ya cobdi~iaua armas e conquerir regnado, I semeiaua Hercules tanto era esfor~iado' (15cd). These abstract ambitions take on practical shape soon afterwards (2.2.-2.9);he hears of Greece's subjection to Persia and determines to end it: dexare Heuropa, yre passar la mar, yre conquerir Asya e con Dario lidiar, averm'a, cuemo cuedo, la mano a besar. (2.5bcd)

His motivation stems clearly from the shame of the subjection: 'Sohre mi non querria tan grant onta ueer' (2.6a). He tells Aristotle: 'Non seria pora rrey uida tan aontada, I terria por meior de morir muerte onrrada' (47ab). In his reply of encouragement, Aristotle warns him of the necessity of bravery in battle: Qui regnos aienos cobdi~ia conquirir, mester les que bien sepa de espada ferir, non deue por dos tantos nin por mas f oyr, mas yr cab adelantre o uen~er o morir. (66)

This catch-phrase 'o uen~er o morir' occurs again when Thymodes, the Greek turncoat, tells Darius about Alexander and his men, 'Cuemo son seguras [P segurados] que non an de foyr, I en uno lo an puesto o uen~er o morir' (92.2.ab).This obdurate philosophy is the practical expres-

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sion of the powerful desire for fame which emerges more strongly as the poem progresses. At this early stage, Alexander's immediate aim is to throw off the foreign yoke, an aim which would have obvious appeal in Spain in the first half of the thirteenth century. 1 But already in his ·address Aristotle introduces the topic of world conquest: 'Si quisieres por fors:ia todol mundo uens:er' (62a), which had not hitherto been mentioned except by the poet in the exordium in a retrospective view of Alexander's career: 'conquisto todel mundo, metiol so su mano' (5c). Encouraged by Aristotle, Alexander in his imagination breaks the truces with Darius and Porus (87) and relishes the prospect of world-wide conquests, including Charlemagne's empire: 0

Ya cuntaua por sua la tierra de Babilon, India e Egipto, la tierra de Syon, Affrica e Marruecos, quantos regnos y son, quanto ouo el rrey Carlos fasta do se el sol pon.

(88) This ambition of world conquest is brought to the fore frequently in the rest of the poem. In his death-bed blessing on his son, Philip tells him: 'el [el Criador] uos faga del mundo tod emperador' (193c).Later, as he surveys Asia, Alexander 'dixo entre su cuer, "cuemo creo e fio, I antes de poco tiempo sera tod esto mio" ' (304,&d). At the site of Troy he tells his men: 'saluaredes a Gre?, el mundo conquiriredes' (770c). Soon afterwards, Darius insults Alexander by sending him a ball to play with (783b); Alexander replies that the ball symbolizes the world: 'La 1 ' • • •

es caractcdstico dcl pcnsamicnto cspanol cl prcdominio de la idea de rcconquista ... ' Jose Antonio Maravall, Estudio.ttk hi.tloriade/ pmsamimlo e.tpanol.&lad media,Serie primera (Madrid. 1967), p. aJ.

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pellota que es redonda todol mundo figura, I sepas que todo es mio, esto es cosa segura' {801ab). At Jerusalem, Alexander, to the surprise of his men, does reverence to the high priest ( 1142.cd).1 He explains to Parmenio and the rest of his men that he was not bowing to the priest but to the God he represented (1161), because some years before he had had a vision (1149-59) in which a figure dressed like the high priest had foretold his worldconquest: Antiende Alexandre que te quiero fablar, yxte de Europa, passa ultramar; auras todos los rregnos del mundo a ganar, nunca fallaras ombre qued [P que te] pueda contrastar. (1157)

This episode relates that Alexander knew of Daniel's prophecy of the he-goat and the ram (Daniel, 8, 5-8, 2022), 'que tornarie un griego Asia en monarchia' (1145b), which pleased Alexander exceedingly (1145c). 1 Towards the end of his funeral oration on Darius, Alexander stresses his plans to conquer the whole world; he includes Morocco (or Marrakesh) (1786c), Spain (Seville, Toledo, Galicia), France and Germany (1787), Lombardy and 1

For a detailed account of the whole passage, the sources of the episode and later Spanish references to it, see M. R. Lida de Malkiel, 'Alejandro en Jerusalen', RPh, X (1916-17), 181-196. 1 In the Book of Daniel the two horns of the ram are interpreted as the kings of Media and Persia and the one horn of the he-goat as the king of Greece, i.e. Alexander. The prophecy has been categorized as 11atieini11111 post event11111 by N. W. Porteous, Daniel: a commentary(London, 1961), p. 18. The date of the Book of Daniel is given as c. 166-161 B.c.?, well after Alexander's conquest of Palestine (332 B.c.), in The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (New York and Nashville, 1962), s.11.'Daniel'. Alexander's alleged pleasure at the prophecy is surprising, for the Spanish petmust have known of the subsequent fate of the he-goat in Daniel,8, 8, because he gives us elsewhere the first part of the prophecy with its interpretation (Alex, 1339-40, PMS, lacuna in O; 1800-01).

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Later the Scythian spokesman talks of Alexander's plans to conquer the natural kingdom and the underworld: non te podrien los mares nin las tierras caber, a· Iupiter querries el emperio toger. Quando ouiesses los pueblos todos subiugados, querries ~ercar los mares, conquerir los peccados [P pescados], quebrantar los infiemos que iazen sofondados, conquerir los antipodes que non saben do son nados. En cabo se ouiesses li~en~ia o uagar, tu yrias de to grado ennas nuues posar e querrias de su offi~io al sol deseredar, tu querries de tu mano el mundo alumbrar. (1918,d, 192.0-2.1)

The author again stresses these same ambitions after Alexander has captured Sudrata; his desires include 'Saber del sol do na~e e lagua onde mana, I el mar que trahe for9-8,quando fier na montanna' (227oab). His men beg him to be moderate (2267, 2271-81): 'No es onrra nen pre90 pora ome onrrado I meter se a uentura en lugar desguisado' (2279ab). Alexander's reply contains the clearest expression of his 'scientific' aims, which have definite medieval elements (see Willis, 'Mester', 221): Enuio nos Dios por esto en aquestas partidas por descobrir las cosas que azien escondidas; cosas sabran por nos que non serien sabidas · (2.2.91abc)

A fourth aspect of Alexander's ambition is chivalry. Although she paid little regard to the first aspect I have mentioned (freeing Greece from the Persian yoke), Mrs Malkiel pointed out the second and third aspects (world conquest and natural exploration) and quoted some of the

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Rome (1788ab), finally to 'entrar sennor del mundo en Corinto la mia' (1788c). In Scythia, the Scythians' spokesman appeals to Alexander to spare them and mentions his world conquest: Si touiesses la mano diestra en oriente, la seniestra en cabo de todo oc~idente e todo lo al ioguiesse en to cosimente, tu series pagado, segunt mio en~iente. (1919)

The fulfilment of his plan for world conquest is later prophesied by the Tree of the Sun: 'sennor seras del mundo a poca de sazon' (2.490c). Following his visit to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, a different aspect of Alexan.der's ambition begins to be stressed (from 1184 onwards), but its roots lay in his early instruction in natural philosophy. Allied now to his plans for world conquest are plans for exploration into natural phenomena: 'por yr a E9opia era todo fablado, I veyer do el sol nas~e, do nunca fue poblado' ( 1184bc, P Ms; line c is missing in 0). This aspect is hinted at soon afterwards by Alexander's reference to the Hydra (1196-97, based on G, III, 434-435) in his address before the second battle with Darius, during which the eclipse of the sun occurs (12.00-02.). Alexander's men are frightened and blame his mad ambition for conquest, emphasizing the dangers of trying to conquer Nature's domain: Dezien, 'Rey Alexandre, nunca deuieras na~er, que con el mundo todo quieres guerra tener, los ~ielos e las tierras quieres so ti meter, lo que Dios non quiso cuedas tu auer.' (1204)

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passages I have mentioned. 1 She stressed the chivalric element in Alexander's ambition; to be sure, Alexander dresses and behaves like a medieval knight (Idea, p. 170) and just after he is knighted he is provided with knightly aims: 'fue buscar auenturas, su esfor~io prouar' (12.7b). The words 'caualleria' and 'barragania' (which appear to have been virtually synonyms, for they interchange in the two Mss, e.g. 69d and 7oa) are indeed mentioned as qualities of Alexander from time to time during the work. The chivalric element, however, is not much more than a part of the general medievalization of the protagonist. He receives in youth the training in arms that the poet thought that a Spanish royal prince should have. The chivalric ideals in which Mrs Malkiel saw Aristotle instructing Alexander (Idea, p. 171) are regal ideals too; Alexander is more king than knight in his aims, although in a sense the two functions are inseparable. It is interesting, however, to note that in medieval Spain kings were often knighted and crowned in the same ceremony, 2 but the ceremonies are distinct episodes in the Alexandr~. The fifth aspect of the protagonist's ambition, fame after death, is a very powerful motive in his actions, as Mrs Malkiel rightly emphasized (Idea, pp. 173-190). The aim is mentioned early in the work in Aristotle's speech: 'et sera ~l tu bon pre~o fasta la fin contado' (85d). The attainment of bon prefio, or fame, involves Alexander's honouring himself by his military exploits:·after the battle with Nicholas, he 'tomos pora su casa rico e mucho 1

Idea, pp. 167-197. I have elsewhere expressed some disagreement with one or two of Mrs Malkiel's views; see 'Interpretation', 206, 213. To her reply (RPh, XV, 1961-62, 318, note) I rejoined in 'Estado actual', 591-592. 1 See A. Ballesteros-Beretta, Alfonso X 1/ Sabio(Barcelona, 1961), p. 54, and J. Beneyto Perez, Hi.rtoriad, la admini.rtracion ••• (Madrid, 1958), pp. I S,-156, 228-229.

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onrrado' (141c); after the conquest of Armenia, 'tornos pora su casa su barua mucho onrada' (168b). When he is crossing the Hellespont, Alexander urges his men to forget their love of their homeland if they wish to win fame: Qui al sabor quisiere de su tierra catar nunca fara bernaje nin fecho de prestar, mas es en vna vez todo a oluidar sy ome quisier pres~io quc aya a prestar. ( 2 s5, P Ms; lines cd missing in 0)

This is one of a number of speeches in which he holds out to his men the prospect of undying renown. An essential element in this concept of fame, as Mrs Malkiel indicated (Idea, pp. 181-185), is the necessity of its being recorded by poets and historians. The point is also made at the beginning of the poem by Aristotle: 'meten al que bien lidia luego en escriptura; I vn dia gana ome press:io que sienpre dura' (71bc,P MS; lacuna in 0). It becomes one of the organic reasons for Alexander's recounting the story of Troy: he urges his men on to glory with the stirring tale of their ancestors' victory over the Trojans and their destruction of the city of Troy; in addition the poet stresses that their ancestors' deeds were recorded by Homer: Desen uieno a Troa la mal auenturada, la que sus auuelos ouieron assolada ... veyan que Omero non mentira en nada, todo quanto dixiera era uerdat prouada. · (322ab, 32 3cd)

Alexander admires the inscription on Achilles' tomb because 'quieno uersifico fue ome bien letrado, I ea puso grant razon en poco de ditado' (33ocd), and Alexander envies Achilles' good fortune in having had such a great

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tecorder of his deeds: 'touo que fue Achildes ome auenturado I que ouo de su gesta dictador tant onrrado' (332.cd).The Spanish poet seems here to have compressed two distinct ideas: the inscription on Achilles' tomb was written by a learned man; Achilles was fortunate in having Homer to sing of his deeds. The Spanish poem does not contain the fine lament of the Alexandreis, except for the two lines (332.cd)already quoted: 0 fortuna viri superexcellentior, inquit, Cuius Maeonium redolent praeconia vatem, Qui licet exanimem distraxerit Hectora, robur _Et patrem patriae, summum tamen illud honoris Arbitror augmentum, quod tantum tantus habere Post obitum meruit praeconem laudis Homerum. (G, I, 478-483)

Mrs Malkiel said of this anecdote that the Spanish poet .'. . . la compendia trivializandola y convirtiendo a Homero en autor del epitafio de Aquiles' (Idea,p. 181); there can be no doubt, however, that the Spanish poet knew that Homer had sung of Troy: he mentioned the fact in 32.3cd, as we have seen; in 759d, 'no lo quiso Omero en su liuro poner'; and in 2.2.88cd, 'non escriuio Omero elas sus alegrias [P en sus alegorias] f los meses de Achilles mas las sus barraganias'. Moreover, he himself was using a Latin translation of the Iliad. Willis had given an excellent technical reason for the compression in the Spanish poem: the difficulty of inserting the Troy digression neatly at this particular point (see Relationship,p. 2.5). A further reason may have been that the Spanish poet considered, with modesty, that Gautier had performed Homer's task for Alexander-or, with immooesty, that he himself was doing so.

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We can see the importance of the Troy story for the concept of fame in Alexander's remarks on the death of Hector: Ector morio, amigos, cuemo auedes oydo; nunca en este sieglo morio fidalgo mas complido, el su nombre non fiede magar es el podrido, mientre ombres ouier non caera en oluido. (7 1 9)

The necessity that great deeds should be recorded in writing for fame to _be assured is stressed again at the end of the story of Troy, in Alexander's 'estrannas conclusiones': 'Amigos,' diz, 'las gestas que los bonos fezioron, los que saben la leenda en escripto las posioron; algun proe entendien por que las escreuioron, · cada unos quales fueron, o qual pre~io ouioron.' (764)

In addition, he promises his men that they will achieve much greater fame than their ancestors at Troy: 'Tant grant sera el pre~io que uos alcan~redes, I que quanto fezioron estos por poco temedes' (77oab). Alexander recalls the story of Troy towards the end of the poem, when he has achieved world conquest and is planning to conquer the sea, the sky and the underworld (2.2.69-70). His men are dismayed and try to dissuade him (2.2.71-81), but Alexander makes his great speech in which he expresses his dissatisfaction at having conquered only one of the seven worlds God created (2.2.89).At the beginning of the speech he tells his men that their fame is greater than Troy's: 'la estoria de Troya con esto la ~eguestes, I ondrastes uos mismos e pre~io alcan~estes' (2.2.86cd). Between Alexander's speech at Troy and his speech after

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the capture of Sudrata there are frequent references to the desire for fame.1 The most extreme expression of the urge for fame is not uttered directly by the poet; Aristotle states it first: Pues que de la muerte ome non puede estor~er, el algo deste mundo todo es a perder; sy 01ne non gana pres por dezir o por fer, valdria mas que fues muerto o fues por na~er. (72., P Ms; lacuna in 0)

and then, almost verbatim,Alexander: Desque ome de morte non puede estor~er,· el bien daqueste mundo todo lo a a perder; se non gana pre~io por dezir o por fazer, valet lia mucho mas que ouies por na~er.

(771) The Spanish poet thus avoids expressing directly the Christian unorthodoxy contained in the sentiments of the hist two lines of each of these stanzas-which was noted by Mrs Malkiel (Idea,p. 182) by placing them in the mouths of pre-Christian personages. It is true that the poet expresses admiration for bonprefio towards the end of the poem, but he does not himself utter the unorthodoxy of the earlier speeches: Do moriron las cames que lo an per natura, non morio el bon pre~io que oy dia dura; quien muerre en bon pre~io es de bona uentura, ea lo meten los sabios luego ena scritura. (2.668) 1

Sec 766d, 768,, 76gad, 9744, 10544, 1os6c, 1077,d, 1096,, I 108,, 1263d (P Ms, lacuna in 0), i2744 (PMS, lacuna in 0), 1283b (P Ms,lacuna in ), 12844 (P MS, lacuna in 0), 1322d (P MS, lacuna in 0), 1342-43 (PMS, lacuna in 0), 13s7d, 14oobd, 1448,, 1557,, 1630d, 166sbcd, 1709,d, 173ob, 1783a, 1843,d, 18sscd, 1899", 196zcd, 2.ooud, 202.8d, 207gcd, 208obtd, 2084'1(PMS), 208sb, 2184&d,2194'1(lacuna in P), 22.ood,2279.

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The poet can hardly have thought there was any unorthodoxy in an admiration for earthly fame, for there was biblical authority for it in Ecclesiasticus, 44 et seq., and some of the examples of famous men there were great warriors: Jesus the son of Nave (46, 1); David, whose youthful exploits with lions and bears resemble Alexander's tamin.g of Bucephalus (47, 3). The real risk involved in bonpre1iolay in the desiring of it, in committing the sin of pride in order to achiCrveit. 6.

ROY AL LIBERALITY

A further facet of the concept of kingship in the Alexandre is liberality. Cary was incorrect when he stated: In the LibrodeAlexandrethere is no indication of Alexander's courtly reputation for liberality. The Spanish writer was accustomed to omit any subjective material that he found in his sources. He did not transcribe Gautier's opening lines, or Aristotle's advice to Alexander on liberality, or such comments as he found in his principal secondary source, the B Roman d'A/exandre. (p. 216)

Although liberality is not such a strong feature of the concept of kingship in the Spanish poem as in the Roman d' Alexandre, it is in fact mentioned in almost all the passages where Alexander's qualities are enumerated. In the exordium, the protagonist is described as 'franc e arclit e de grant saben~ia' (6b; not in P). In his youth, 'esfor~io e franqueza fue luego decogiendo' (12.b).In the report on Alexander received by Darius, liberality is again mentioned: 'esfor~io e franqueza non ha compara~ion' ( 1 51 d). Cleadas of Thebes ~o refers to the quality: 'esfor~io e franqueza e grant pala~ania' (2.35b). Contrary

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to what Cary said, Aristotle's advice in the Spanish poem includes twelve lines (62.-64)on the necessity for liberality and the undesirability of avarice in princes: El prin~epe auariente non sabe quel contez, armas nin fortaleza de muerte nol guarez, el dar defende las penas [P fiende las pen.as] e lieua todo prez, si bien quisieres dar, Dios te dara que des. (63,=P, 63abd, 6¥)

Even the courtly element is present: 'quien es franc e ardido a esse tienen por cortes' (64,b).Cary was right in saying that the Spanish author did not 'transcribe' Aristotle's advice on liberality, because, as Willis has indicated of the poem in general, 'the Spanish is not a literal translation of the Latin' (Relationship,p. 76). But at times it is close to the Latin, e.g. Copia si desit vel si minuatur acervus, Non minuatuP amor, non desit copia mentis. Allice pollicitis promissaque tempore solve ... (G, I, I 53-15 5)

becomes 'quando dar non podieres, non lexes de prometer . . . I Si non ouieres vue, auras de vue a vn mes' (62.d, 6¥ [P, 64b]); and 'Non murus, non arma ducem tutantur avarum' (G, I, 163) becomes 'El prin~epe auariente [P aueriento] non sabe quel contez, I armas nin fortaleza de muerte nol guarez' (63ab, already quoted). Mrs Malkiel noted that this passage survived in the Alexandre, but with chivalric elaboration: 'Juan Lorenzo tuvo presente la arenga, pero la elabor6 mas en el sentido de largueza caballeresca que como expediente para comprar la adhesi6n de sus soldados ... ' (Idea,p. 177); as I

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have shown, however, the poet does carry over the 'Non murus, non arma ... ' doctrine of Gautier, and towards the end of his advice Aristotle warns Alexander to share out the booty fairly and to take only a double share for himself {82). Alexander follows his mentor's advice throughout the poem. After Greece has been subdued, his men are 'todos fasta .x. annos rica mientre soldadas' (z45d). Before the first battle with Darius, he promises his men great wealth: 'A los que fueren rricos, endre en riqueza, I a los que fueren pobres, sacare de lazeria' (97zab).He fulfils his promise after the battle: mando toger las armas a la su yente lazdrada et coger la ganan~ia que les auie Dios dada. Cargaron a su guisa quanto nunca quisieron; mas aueres trobaron que a Dios nunca piclieron (1079cd; 108oab, P MS, lacuna in 0)

Aristotle had warned Alexander against avarice: 'el algo deste mundo todo es a perder' (7zb, PMS, lacuna in 0) and Alexander shows that he remembers the advice on a number of occasions. He offers Darius's messengers anything they want: 'dio les de su auer quanta quisioron leuar' (797b). The Greek captives he discovers in Persepolis are given 'de oro e de plata quanto leuar podiessen' (1639d). He also demonstrates the quality negatively, refusing to accept a ransom for Darius's family, 'non sere mas rrico por aver monedado' (1z86d, PMS, lacuna in 0). His lack of interest in wordly riches is also illustrated by his burning of the cumbersome booty before attacking Bessus at Bactra (189z-99). Alexander sets the example by being the first to place his share on the bonfire and his men, at first reluctant, recognize the need for doing so, finally sharing his sense of expediency and his lofty

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aim: 'solo que sanos fuessen, otro se ganarian, I por [P por mal] auer bon pre~io perder no lo querian' (1899cd). There is sufficient evidence, therefore, to show that the Spanish poet was interested in representing his protagonist as possessing liberality, since it was one of the qualities of medieval kingship; this element runs quite deep in the fabric of the work, but there is no trace either of 'that detached admiration for an extravagant spendthrift' or of 'an intense personal interest in the nature and the extent of his gifts' which Cary noted in the Roman d' Alexandre (p. 213). There is a striking parallel to the Spanish poet's account of Alexander's liberality in the advice to kings in the Siete Partidas: Grandeza es virtud que esta bien a todo home poderoso, et seiialadamiente al rey quando usa della en tiempo que conviene et como debe; et por ende dixo Arist6teles a Alexandre, que el que puiiase de haber en sf franqueza, ea por ella ganarfa mas afna el amor et los corazones de la gente ... (II,. v, 18)

Aristotle's advice to Alexander was available in many medieval prose versions and the compilers of the Partidas are much more likely to have used one of those versions rather than the Alexandre, but they emphasize, like the poet, the practical usefulness of liberality. 7.

NOBILITY

The Spanish poet mentions Alexander's nobility in the exordium: 'vn rrey noble pagano' (5a; against P Ms's 'rrey pagano') and it is clear as the poem progresses that this has three meanings: (1) illustrious birth, (z) courtesy

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or courtliness, (3) magnanimity or greatness of mi~., 1 During the description of Alexander's birth and childhood the poet stresses his illustrious birth, but the word he uses is 'gentilez', not 'nobleza': El infante Alexandre luego en su ninez comen~o a demostrar que serie de grant prez, nunca quiso mamar leche de mugier rrefez, se non fue de linage o de grant gentilez. (7)

The legend that he would be suckled only at a noblewoman's breast stems from the Roman d'Alexandre. In the Venice version of that work, Alexander would be fed only from a golden spoon held by a knight's daughter: Li petiz enfes avoit le cuer si fier Que lait de feme ne degnoit alatier Ne la viande desor son doi mangier. Une pulcelle, file d'un chivalier, L' estovoit paistre d'un orine cullier (B, 47-~ 1)

Willis has suggested that the Spanish author rejected the golden spoon story in favour of a story parallel to that which occurs in Alexandre de Paris's version, because it ••. implies that Alexander must have fed on cow's, or, worse, goat's milk, since he refused woman's, [which] could hardly fail to strike- the Spanish poet as derogatory to Alexander's virility and, consequently, as unsuited to the eulogistic tone of his work. (Debt, p. 11)

But does the Roman d' Alexandre imply that Alexander must have fed on cow's or goat's milk? The verb 'paistre' 1

Cary, pp. 197-200, discussed in detail the historical development of t'1c third meaning, 111agnani111ila.r.

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was rarely used of suckling, 1 and would thus suggest that Alexander refused the breast and would eat only from a golden spoon from the start; this is reinforced by the mention of 'viande', which he refused to eat from a finger. It is clear that in both poems the function of the incident is to demonstrate Alexander's noble nature: in the French the point is made by the mention of the knight's daughter and the golden spoon; in the Spanish it is brought out by the nobility of the wet-nurse. The Spanish poet merely gives us more verisimilitude. There is supporting historical evidence in thirteenth ..century Spain for the noble weaning of kings' sons: in his infancy San Fernando was suckled by his own mother, Dona Berengela, who would not allow wet-nurses to perform the task; 2 and the Siete Partidaslaid down the qualities essential in royal wet-nurses: ... los sabios antiguos que fablaron en estas cosas naturalmente dixieron que los fijos de los reyes deben haber atales amas que hayan leche asaz, et sean bien complidas, et sanas, et fermosas, et de buen. linage, et de buenas costumbres ... (II, vii, 3)

The Spanish poet, however, followed the Romand'Alexandrein attributing the employment of noble nurses to the infant prince's own wishes in the matter. This indication of an early aristocratic fastidiousness was doubtless intended to convey not only Alexander's noble origin, but also, and explicitly in 7b, the promise of his future greatness. 1

See Tobler-Lommatzsch, Altfranz.o.ri.rche.r Worlerbuch, VII (Wiesbaden, 1966), pp. 78-86, .r.v.'paistre'; the corresponding verb in Spanish could be used of liquids, however; cf. Alex, 718c P, 'la leche que pastio'. The Spanish poet appears to have taken/eme to mean 'a low-born woman', since he renders it as 'mugier rrefez', but in Old French, when the word did not refer to individuals but merely to the category 'woman', it carried no social connotations, see A. Grisay, G. Lavis and M. Dubois-Stasse, Le.r Dlnomination.rde la femme dan.r le.r ancien.rlexle.r lilleraire.rfra11£ai.r (Gembloux,1969), pp. 56-72. 1 A. Ballesteros-Beretta, Alfon.roX el Sabio,p. 13. F

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Alexander himself stresses his noble lineage when he refuses the offer of ransoms for Darius's mother and children: El fillo e las fillas e la madre de Dario, en dados por dineros semejame escarnio, ea non so mercadero nin so de tal salario, rrey so por natura de los de grant donario. (1285, PMS, lacuna in 0)

and in the next stanza he uses the word 'nobleza': Noble2a nunca quiso entender en mercado, non ha ninguna gra~ia sobre pleito tajado; plus gent non pares~ra en dargelas en grado, que non sere mas rrico por aver monedado. (1286, P MS, lacuna in 0)

The poet begins with the idea of noble lineage and then widens the concept to take in both courtliness and 111agnani111ita.r, and it is clear that 'gent' and 'noble' are close in meaning. Nobility is again referred to in the list of Alexander's qualities in 1 ss1:he is called 'exemplo de nobleza' ( 1 s57b), and Cleadas of Thebes mentions his great courtesy: 'grant pala~iania' (2 3sb). A further aspect of his nobility is the avoidance of low-born men. In the exordium, according to P MS, Alexander ~nunca con auol oiiie ouo atenen~ia' (6d; 0 MS different), and this idea is also contained in Aristotle's advice, 'En poder de uil ombre non metas tu fazienda' (s 5a), which is based on Gautier's Consultor procerum servos contemne bilingues Et nequam, nee quos humiles natura iacere Praecipit, exalta

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But the Spanish poet does not take over in this passage Gautier's 'Nobilitas sola est animum quae moribus omat' (G, I, 104). Mrs Malkiel noted this strong sense of class distinction in the poem: Que los heroes de la historia y de la mitolog{a clasicas pertenecieran a la unica clase social cap~ de ejecutar hazafias dignas de recuerdo era tan obvio para el poeta que no precisaba declararlo ..• (Idla, p. 167)

but she pointed to two examples of the use of the word 'fidalgo' by Alexander: in 719b he calls Hector 'fidalgo mas complido' and in 789c he addresses his men as 'fijos dalgo'. In addition there is the evidence of the contrast with 'viles ombres' I have adduced above. Another aspect of Alexander's nobility in the courtly sense is his treatment of women. After the first battle with Darius, Alexander arranges for the protection of Darius's wife, mother and children: 'no las guardarie mas si el fuesse su padre' (1083c). He is gravely stricken by the death of Darius's wife: Pesol a Alixandre e fizo muy grant planto, por su madre misma non faria atanto, alinpiaual a prisa la cara con el manto, entardo la fazienda por aquexo ya quanto. ( 12. 36, P MS, lacuna in 0)

Later he accedes out of courtesy to the request of Sisygambis, Darius's mother, to spare Madates' life (1591). In his funeral oration on Darius, Alexander promises to marry off his daughters well: 'buscare alas fijas casamiento ondrado' (1784,d). He receives Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, in Oriental style (cf. PMC, 1519): El rrey Alexandre salio la rc~ebir, mucho plogo a ella quando lo uio uenir;

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estendioron las diestras, fezioron las ferir, besaron se nos ombros por la salua complir. (1880)

and the poet goes on to give us more details of his courtly behaviour: 'El rrey fue pala~iano, tomo la por la rienda, I por meior hospedar la, levola a su tienda' (1881ab). Alexander's wife Roxane is also the epitome of nobility and illustrious birth: 'Rasena la genta, fembra de grant donario' (1957d). Alexander's nobility, in the sense of magnanimity, is brought out by his acts of compassion throughout the poem. He forgives the council of Athens: Qvando los uio el rrey con tan grant piadat [P con tal vmilldat], non les quiso fazer ninguna crueldat, perdono al con~eio, de~erco la ~idat; dixieron, 'uiua rrey de tan grant piadat'.

(215)

On hearing their appeal, he rescinds his order that Darius's messengers should be hanged (794,b)and sets them free: Seguro los el rrey e mando los dexar, dio les de su auer quanto quisioron leuar; rendien gracias a Dios que les quiso prestar, dezien, 'Rey Alexandre, Dios te faga .durar'. (797)

He demonstrates his magnanimity again when he refuses to believe the rumour that Philip the physician is trying to murder him (903-912.).During the second battle with Darius, Alexander refuses to kill Metha, who has just lost both his sons in the battle and who has told Alexander that he (Alexander) might as well kill him too: 'dixol, "yde,

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don uieio, uostros fijos lorar, ) non quiero la mi lan~a en uos ensangrentar" ' ( 138oca). At Persepolis, Alexander is moved to pity at the sight of the mutilated Greek captives: Non auie entre todos uno que fuesse sano, que non ouies menos el pie o la mano, el oio, ol nariz, ol be~o non sano, o sennalado non fuesse enna fronte de mano [Pen la fruente con estaiio]. Pero [P Ploro] Alexandre uen~iolo piadat, mostro quel pesaua mucho de uoluntat, abra~olos a todos con grant benignidat, oluido con el duelo toda asperidat. (1608-09)

When Darius's corpse is discovered, Alexander is stricken with grief and the poet uses the same kind of family comparison that he used for Alexander's emotion at the death of Darius's wife (12.36b)and for his care of Darius's family (1083c): 'Fizol rrey gran duelo sobrel emperador, I si fusse su hermano nol farie maor' (1772.ab).After Porus's defeat and capture, Alexander shows great magnanimity: Ouol rrey cambiada la mala uoluntat, oluido el despecho, mouio lo piadat; de~endio del cauallo con grant simpli~idat, comen~o de dezir paraulas damizat. (2208)

All these incidents w~re already in his sources, but his retention of them serves to demonstrate that the poet wishes to represent Alexander as possessing nobility in all its forms, and he particularly stresses magnanimitasa quality he is likely to have considered essential in a king.

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8. ROY AL ANGER

The longest passage of the poem dealing with Alexander's anger occurs early in the work, when he hears of the Persian subjection of Greece (2.3-47)/ There is a full description of the physical effects of the emotion: his face turns black (2.3c),he becomes taciturn (2.3d),he bites his lips (2.44),he becomes feverish (2.4,b),he gnashes his teeth (2.8b),he suffers from insomnia (2.8d),he twists his hands and shakes his arms (3oab), his eyes are soft [O MS] or white [P Ms] and his complexion changes (344), he is dishevelled (34,b),his cheek grows thin (34b) and his belt is loose (34td). The poet took many of these visible sig~s of anger from Gautier's description (I, 49-7s), but expanded them considerably. He clearly regarded this as righteous anger, distinct from the kind of anger against .. which Aristotle later warns Alexander: 'Ffijo, a tus vassallos non ges seas ira4o' (6oa). Despite this advice, Alexander has frequent fits of anger throughout the poem, of which Aristotle would certainly not have approved. By the time of the revolt of Thebes, Alexander has gained an angry reputation, as Cleadas tells him: 'todol mundo se teme de la tu amargura, I quando estas yrado as fiera catadura' (2.33cd).After crossing the Hellespont, Alexander threatens to be angry with any of his men who do harm to the lands of Greece which he has ceded to them: 'dezie a sus uarones que non feziessen danno, I"ca qual quier que lo faga uera que me assanno" ' (309bc).After the first part of the second battle with Darius, Alexander's anger at the death of Parmenio's son Nicanor knows no bounds: Tomol con la yra rrauia al cora~on, maores saltos daua que cyeruo nin Icon,

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non popo cauallero, nin escuso peon, yua dando a todos la mala maldi~ion. (1402)

Alexander has a further bout of anger at the rumours circulating among his men that he intends to return to Greece now that Darius is dead: 'Entendio lo cl rrey e fue mucho yrado, I quando morio su padre non fue mas coytado' (1834"b). When his men are frightened by Porus's giants, he controls his fury by an extraordinary effort: Cuemo [P Commo era] de grant seso e de guisa estranna, sopo bien encobrir su pesar e su sanna, ouo a asmar una cortesa manna, mientre omes ouier, lo ternan por fa~nna. (2028) 1

There are only three hints in the poem that Alexander's wrath may be divinely inspired. The first occurs when Mazaeus is sent by Darius to defend Babylon against Alexander: 'era por defender se cosa bien aguysa[da], I mas a la yra de Dios nos defende nada' (1457cd), but the mention of God's anger is not in the source (G, V, 441445).2 The second hint comes during the siege of Uxion: V sion fue ~ercada, Alexandre fue yrado, mandaua lidiar cuemo estaua ensannado; As well as beingangrywith his men, Alexander is frequently enraged by his enemies: by Nicholas (135a), by Athens (21ul), by Thebes (220&, 2244), by Tyre (1098a, noob), by Gaza (n28a), by Jadus at Jerusalem (n,sa, n38c), by Egypt (n66b), by the Persians (1341b, P Ms, lacuna in O; 1350b, 1603a, 1763a) and by Porus (1989c). In addition, Alexander and sometimes his men exhibit anger in battle: in the first battle with Darius (1005,, 101td, 102,4},,1031a); in their second battle (1383b, 1409b, · 141oa, 1424&,1757,); in the first battle with Porus (2009,, 2011a, 2014,a, 2047b, 2052,, 2062a); and in their second battle {u86a). 1 The 'yra de Dios' is not explicitly attributed to Alexander, however; the phrase may mean little more than that Babylon was to suffer,whatever defence could be organized. 1

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fwe en todo Metades ~on e guysado, mas non ualen escancos [P escantos] quando Dios es irado. (1567)

Here there appears to be some connection between God's anger and Alexander's, but there ·is no basis at all for this in the source: 'Quipp~ inter primos galeato vertice primus I Fulminat in muros ... ' (G, VI, 90-91). The connection is made more explicit on the third occasion, in the first battle with Porus, when Alexander seeks him out in the battle lines: 'El rrey Alexandre a Poro demandando f metios por las azes, yra de Dios echando' (205 5ab), but this derives directly from Gautier: 'Profugo par fulminis instat I Ira dei Macedo' (IX, z6z-z63); yet the fact that it is retained is not without significance. The Alexandre poet always seems to see anger in terms of the personal emotion of the king, not in the legalistic terms of the institution of ira or indignatioregis,1 which was provoked by breakers of the pax regis (cf. the Cid's banishment by Alfonso VI); instead we have the connection between the king's personal anger and divine anger. Friedrich Heer claims that 'Wrath and displeasure (ira et malevolentia)were legitimate royal traits ... It was the wrath of God that manifested itself in the wrath and displeasure of the king.' 2 But the Siete Partidas issued a severe warning to kings about the risks involved in anger: For an excellent account of the institution of ira rtgi.r, see Hilda Grassotti, 'La ira regia en Le6n y Castilla', Cuadmlo.rde HisloriadeEspana, 1

XLI-XLII

(196s), 5-135.

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Friedrich Heu gives the example of Henry II (of England), who ' .•• threw himself to the ground and bit the carpet in his rages [and] said on more than one occasion: "The disgleasure and wrath of Almighty God are also my displeasure and wrath." 'By nature I am a son of wrath: why should I not rage? God Himself rages when He is wrathful" ', Thi MedievalWorld (New York, 1963), p. 349. 1

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9• TREACHERY

Treachery is an essential part of the Spanish poet's concept of kingship; it constitutes the reverse of the coin of which monarchical authority is the obverse. The author's frequent fulminations against high treason throughout the poem demonstrate his unquestioning regard for royal power. He describes eleven acts of treason or /ese-majeste and in each case he strongly condemns the perpetrators. The first two acts of treachery that occur in the poem are both committed against Philip. The revolt of Armenia is clearly stated to be such: 'car sy ellos lograsen atan grant tray~ion, I yrie por ally el rregno todo a perdi9on' (161cd, P Ms; lacuna in 0). On behalf of his father, Alexander subdues the Armenians in the sternest manner: 'fizo tal escarmiento e tal danno en ellos I que a los nietos oy en dia se al~ los cabellos' (166cd). The second incident is Pausanias's plot against Philip's life, activated by his passion for Olympias. Pausanias is described three times as 'el falso' (173a, 180d, 181d), twice as 'el traedor' (174,/J,185a) and once as 'el desleal' (182.c).Three times he is cursed with the variable formula cque mal sieglo pueda alcan~ar' (169"), 'al que Dios de mal poso' (170a), 'el que mal siegro aya' (175c). Twice the devil's hand is seen in his actions: cca Satanas andaua en el encarnado' (173d), 'vio que lo auia traydo el peccado' (178b). These elements are again stressed in the later descriptions of treachery in the poem. For the traitor the worst sort of medieval execution is reserved: he is hanged; his corpse is thrown to the dogs and refused burial; his bones are then destroyed by fire so that no part of him should remain (184). The poet ends the episode of Pausanias with a generalization about treason:

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'Mucho se deben los reyes guardar de la saiia, e de la ira et de la malquerencia ... ' (II, v, 10), because' ... face al home tremer el cuerpo, et perder el seso, et camiar la color, et mudar el entendimiento, et facele envejecer ante de tiempo et morir ante de sus dfas' (II, v, 10). The anger of God is mentioned in the Partidas but is not seen as having any connection with kingly anger, which must be controlled in all circumstances: . . . dixo el rey David, ensanadvos, mas non querades pecar: et esto dixo porque el home naturalmiente non puede estar que se non ensaiie; mas con todo esto debese guardar que la saiia nol faga errar. Et tanto tovo este rey por fuerte cosa la sana, que aun a Dios mesmo dixo en su coraz6n: Seiior, quando fueres saiiudo non me quieras rebatar, nin seyendo irado castigar. Et por esto debe cl rey sofrirse en la saiia fasta quel sea pasada, et quando lo f eciere segufrsele ha ende grant pro, ' ea podra escoger la verdat, et facer con derecho lo que feciere; et si desta guisa non lo quisiere facer, caera en sana de Dios et de los homes, que son las dos mayores penas que ser pueden, porque destas nacen todas las otras, tambien al alma como al cuerpo. (II, v, 1 o)

It is clear that in most cases the Spanish poet did not disapprove of Alexander's displays of anger and therefore did not hold to the high moral line we find in the Partidas, though it is true that he especially praised Alexander's one attempt at self-control {2.02.8).He inherited all the anger passages from his sources (except the two ':filler' lines about God's wrath,1457d and 1567d, which I have mentioned), and the fact that he did not suppress any of them suggests that it was an aspect of kingship that did not surprise him.

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Todos los traedores assy deuen morir, ningun auer del mundo non los deue guarir, todos cuemo a mer~d deuen a ellos hyr, no los deuia ~ielo nin tierra re~ebir. (186)

This kind of moralizing occurs after almost every one of the later treacherous incidents in the work. The third act of treachery is that of the men of Thebes, who broke their treaty with Macedonia (2.16-2.43).In the attack on Thebes, Alexander tells his men, 'ferit los, non ayades miedo de traedores, I ellos son nostros sieruos, nos sumos sus sennores' (2.19bc),and he is angry with the Thebans for breaking their word: 'ea la paraula mala faz mal cora~on' (z2.4h).Thebes is destroyed, says the poet, as all traitors should be: 'Tebas fue destroyda, ellos ydos a mal, I ... I deuria auer tal cabo siempre el desleal' (2.31bd). Thebes is utterly devastated and fired (2.43a),just as the corpse of the traitor Pausanias is burned. The next act of treachery is central to the story of Troy: Paris's deception of Menelaus and his abduction of Helen brings upon him many of the opprobrious formulae which the poet reserved especially for traitors: 'falso desleal' (400b), 'falso traedor' (402.c,479d). The fifth treacherous incident is the first, and the strangest; of the three unsuccessful attempts on Alexander's life. Zoroas the Egyptian tries to provoke Alexander into killing him because his astronomical investigations have foretold his death that day ( 105 2.-68). When Alexander refuses, Zoroas strikes Alexander but Meleager intervenes and kills the assailant. His corpse, too, is punished for the crime of lese-majestl;it is cut to pieces on the battlefield and raised on lances (1068c). The poet provides a suitable moral comment; 'quien a rrerir [sic; P rrey] ferir non

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prenda meior fado' (1068d). The sixth act of treason concerns the prefect of Damascus who plots against Darius (1085-89). He decides to betray Darius and to try and throw in his lot with Alexander: 'vazio [P bastio] a tray~ion de ombres la ~idat, I mas el non gano cal?s en essa falsidat' ( 1085cd),and he is put to death by the people of Damascus. He is called 'traedor' (1087a, 1088d) and 'falso guerrero' (1089c). This incident is followed shortly afterwards by the treachery of the men of Tyre (10981118) in killing Alexander's embassy who had been sent to offer peace terms: Yuan los messageros por la paz afincar; ouieron los de Tyro la trays:ion a esmar, por sus graues peccados ouioron a s:egar, mataron los ombres que los querien saluar. (1099)

Alexander and his men determine to punish this treacherous act by setting fire to the city (1100d). The poet condemns the men of Tyre with yet another formula; 'mientre el mundo dure siempre seran reptados' (1103d). On meeting strong resistance from the Tyrians, Alexander, 'que nunca pre~io a traedores' (1104t1), decides to demolish the city walls ( 1109d) and finally succeeds in so doing (1113b). When all the inhabitants have been put to the sword (1114-15), the poet comments: 'si ellos malos fueron, mala muerte prisioron, I por fe, a mi non pesa ea bien lo( s) mere~ioron' ( 1115cd). The usual punishment by fire and devastation ensues ( 1116), and the poet adds his usual general comment: Siempre deuen tal s:aga auer los traedores, non deuen escapar por nullos fiadores,

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ea non guardan amigos nin escusan sennores, mala fin tomen ellos e sus atenedores.

(1I 17)

The eighth incident is the second of the unsuccessful attempts on Alexander's life. It occurs during the siege of Gaza when 'un ombre endiablado', disguised as a pilgrim, tries to attack Alexander with a sword he had concealed under his clothing (112.4-2.7). The would-be assassin suffers the medieval penalty for threatening a king with a weapon: Fue preso el mal ombre, ouo a manifestar cuemo era uenido poral rrey matar; mandol la mano diestra el rrey luego cortar et non si non por quanto nol pudo a~ertar. (112.7)

The same punishment was inflicted in the AJexandreis version of the episode (G, III, 3s9-360). Apart from the later, successful, assassination of Alexander, the act of treachery on which the poet lavishes most attention is the plot of Nabarzanes and Bessus to · depose and kill Darius (1646-1790). He foreshadows the plot when Darius flees from the battlefield after his second defeat by Alexander:

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Assaz quisiera Dario en el campo fincar, mas non gelo quisioron las fadas otorgar ea era ya fadado e al non podrie estar que Bessus e Narbazones lo auien a matar. (1411)

At the beginning of his narration of the plot, the poet again emphasizes that Darius's assassination is preordained (1646ab, 1647d, 1649d) and there is a suitable ill omen: 'vn passariello que echaua un grant grito I

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andaua cutiano redor de la tienda fito' ( 1646cd).The poet heaps opprobrium on the heads of the traitors, using the usual epithets: 'falsos traedores' (1648a), 'falsos uarones' (1648d), 'falsos amigos' (1650b), 'falsos desmentidos' (168zb), 'traedores prouados' (1689a), 'falsos desleales' (17140), 'falsos' (1716b, 1745a), 'dos peccados' (1717a), 'Dios cofonda siempre tales serui~es' (1714,d),etc.When Alexander hears of the treachery, he expresses great horror: Criador, tu uieda tamanna tray~ion, deuiesse sofonder el sieglo con quantos hy son ante que fues fecha tal ttibula~ion. (1717bcd)

and he thunders against traitors in general: nunca de los bonos la tray~ion es amiga (1730c)

ea el offi.etraedor es de mala natura, non ha entre las bestias tan mala creatura (1737cd)

el que nunca ouier mer~d a traedor, nol quiera auer mer~d nunca el Criador (1789cd)

The author adds his terrible curse on Nabarzanes and Bessus: Narbozenes e Besus, malditos uayades, per do quier que furdes malditos seades, el comer que comirdes con dolor lo comades, 1 ea per cuncta secula mal enxemplo dexades.

(1744) 1

Cf. Kings, I,

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When Alexander overtakes and captures Nabarzanes (1860-62), 'un ricome' intervenes and succeeds in persuading Alexander to spare the traitor's life. The poet :finds this totally incomprehensible and criticizes Alexander severely: "menoscabo el rrey mucho de su bondat' (1862d). Later, when Alexander captures Bessus and hands him over to Darius's brother for execution (190811), the poet describes fully the mockery, crucifixion and quartering of the traitor: Lalma fu maldita, el cuerpo iusticiado, primero escarnio [P fue escarnido], despues cru~ifigado, cl alma fue maldita [P perdida], el cuerpo desnembrado, yaz enno inficrno con ludas abra~do. (1911)

The tenth incident forms the third unsuccessful attempt on Alexander's life: his lieutenant Philotas is alleged to have concealed his knowledge of the plot and is tried and e~ecuted, together with his father Parmenio (1900-07). Willis has shown how the Spanish poet reduced this important episode of z6o lines in Gautier to eight quatrains because he had a prejudice against the subject matter, which was too critical of Alexander (Relationship, pp. 10-11). He omits all direct criticism of Alexander's behaviour, though his remark that he would prefer to keep the episode dark (19ozc) gives us an indication that he did not altogether approve of his protagonist's action in the matter. But he puts the best possible construction on it: Demando a Filotas pora seer lapidado, non passo por meior el su padre ondrado,

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pero muchos lo saluan que yo non ges he grado, qual fezioron, tal ayan, ea yo non soe su pagado. (1907)

The last act of treason is the denouement of the poem. It is adumbrated on two occasions: after the unsuccessful attempt on Alexander's life at Gaza, the poet comments: Mas era otra guisa de los dios ordenado, ya era el uenino fecho e destemprado que auie de sus ombres a seer escan~iado. (11z6bcd)

Later, during the description of Babylon, the poet mentions the traitor Antipater and Alexander's future poisoning: 'pora hy troxo Antipont en mal punto la copa, I hy priso Alexandre en mal punto la sopa' (1503cd).The poet lavished great care on his expansion and alteration of Gautier's version of the.planning of Alexander's d~ath and the descriptio1:!of hell (2.32.4-2.457). Willis has ex- ._ amined the technical changes introduced into the plot by the Spanish author: Whereas in the A.JexandreisNatura assumed the initiative against Alexander, in the Alexandre Natura does nothing until God shows His anger against the hero. (Relationship, p. 69)

The mechanics of the plot and the description of hell have been discussed by me elsewhere ('Interpretation', 2. 102.11; 'Description', 2.2.1-2.2.2.). The notion of treachery is introduced into the council of hell, over which Satan presides, by the allegorical figure of Treason, whom the poet describes: 'Tray~ion le dixioron, luego bien de chiquiella, I nombre de grant color e de mala maziella' (2.445bc).She symbolically hides her left hand:

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Andaua pola casa mucho entremetida, tenie cara alegre, la uoluntat podrida, mas la mano seniestra tenie la ascondida, de melezinas malas teniela muy bastida. (244-6)

Treason tells the council that everything is prepared for the assassination because Antipater is in her power (2449). She then instructs him about which poison to use and on what day and at what hour it should be administered (245 5). The poet curses Antipater, not just because he is going to kill Alexander, but because he is a traitor; the same pattern is followed as in the earlier acts of treachery: Ay, conde Antypater, non fusses appar~do, as mal pleyto fecho, mal seso comedido, sera fasta la fin este mal retraydo, _ mas te ualira que nunca fusses na~ido. (2456)

To be sure, he mentions the loss to Greece and to the whole world, but he stresses his horror of treason by recalling the betrayal of Darius by Bessus: Quieres toiler del mundo una grant claridat, quieres tornar a Gre~ia con grant tenebredat; traedor, ~por que amas tan fiera maluestat? guarde te que non fagas con Besus ermandatl (2457)

Alexander is warned of his impending doom by the Tree of the Moon: 'matar t'an traedores, morreras apo~onado,I .. -Iel que tiene las yeruas es mucho to priuado' (2491bd), but · it refuses to name the traitor, since 'auria grant rancura de mi el Criador' (2493d). Later, the author again foreshadows the poisoning in a moralistic address to his hero: 'lo que uiste en Dario sera en ty tornado' (2532d). 0

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On the eve of the assassination there are omens in the sky which match those ,that occurred at Alexander's birth, as the poet explicitly states: . Essa noche uioron, solemos lo leer, las estrellas del s:ielo entre si conbater, que como fuertes signos ouo en el na~er viron a la muerte fortes apare~er. (2.604)

Jobas, whom Antipater persuades to administer the poison cup, has with him an envenqmed feather, so that when Alexander reallies he is poisoned and calls for a feather to induce vomiting, he is further and fatally stricken by the feather (2615-17). Antipater and Jobas then receive the full blast of the poet's anathema on traitors: Maldito se[a el] co[rp]o [qui tal cosa] faze, maldita sea lal[ma queen] tal corpo aze, maldito sea el [cuerpo que daque]llo le pwe, Dios lo eche en [lugar que] nunca lo desate. (2.618)

Antipater had earlier been called 'el £also menistro del peccado' (z6osa) and Jobas 'el traedor que non deuiera na~er' (z61oa), 'El £also traedor, alma endiablada' (z616a). Th~ Spanish poet's constant and obsessive hatred of traitors corresponds closely to the attitude in the Siete Partida.r.That work is explicitly a .speculum principi.s: .•• et por esta raz6n fecimos seiia]adamente este nuestro libro, por que siempre los reyes de nuestro sefiodo eaten en el asi como en el espejo, et vean las sus cosas que ban de enmendar et las enmienden, et segunt aquesto que lo fagan en los suyos. (Pr6logo)

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As one would expect, it treats lese-majestlas the worst possible crime: LAese maiestatis crime~ • • • tanto quiere decir en romance como yerro de trayci6n que face home contra la persona del rey. Et trayci6n es la mas vil cosa et la peor que puede caer en coraz6n de home . . . (VII, ii, I)

The seventh Partida goes on to distinguish between 'traycion', treason against the monarch, which may be of fourteen different kinds; 'aleve', which means to be treacherous to other men (VII, ii, 1);1 'menos valer' (VII, v); 'enfamado' (VII, vi); .and 'falsedad' (VII, vii). Alfonso's definition of treason is thus close to that of Britton, the thirteenth-century English legal author: 'Tresun est en chascun damage que hom fet a escient ou procure de fere a cely a qi hom se fet ami.' 2 In his study of the crime in the Middle English romances, Kratins makes the point that Into the fourteenth century, no clear legal. distinction was made between treason and felony, and the words felon and traitor are used interchangeably in the romances. The basic ingredient of all treason is a breach of trust compounded by secrecy and surprise. 3

We find a similar interchangeability in the Alexandre between 'falso' and 'traedor', despite the fact that the Partidas distinguish clearly between 'falsedad' and 'traycion', although there is a close connection: 1as falsedades que los homes facen, que son muy allegadas a la trayci6n et a las otras cosas que dichas habemos' (VII, vii).' ,,/

1

For an account of the differences between 'traici6n' and 'alevosfa' and of the not infrequent confusion of th.e terms in the various fuero.r, see Juan Garcia Gonzalez, 'Traici6n y alevosfa en la alta edad media', AHDE, XXXII (1962), 323-345. 1 Ed. F. M. Nichols (Oxford, 1865), I, 40. 8 Ojars Kratins, 'Treason in Middle English metrical romances', PQ, XLV (1966), 668-687, at 668.

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Naturally we could not expect a literary work to make the fine legal distinctions of the Siete Partidas; the Spanish poet treated all acts of treachery and disloyalty in exactly the same way. The Partidasare not explicit about the form of capital punishment traitors should receive, except to say that 'deben morir la mas cruel muerte et la mas aviltada que puedan pensar' (II, xiii, 6); it is much more explicit about the royal confiscation of their possessions. In the Alexandre, Pausanias is hanged, thrown to the dogs and burned, Zoroas is cut to pieces and raised on lances, Bessus is mocked, crucified and quartered, the cities of Thebes and Tyre are burned to the ground. The types of punishment described in the Middle English romances were similar: ' ... the usual judgment for men consists of drawing (dragging by the tail of a horse to the gallows) and hanging', 1 but Kratins points out that the punishment could also include in different combinations 'disembowelling, beheading, quartering, burning' (p. 68 5, note 52). The savagery of the sentences on traitors is indicative of medieval kings' need to keep their authority unquestioned and their persons inviolate; the Spanish poet's approval of that savagery and his obsession with treachery demonstrate the change he has made in Alexander's status. In Gautier he is essentially a fame-seeking warrior and military leader; in the Spanish poem he has been transformed into a medieval king, against whom any act of treachery has become lese-majeste. IO.

CONCLUSIONS

Beginning with Aristotle's advice, in which he outlines the various qualities desirable in a medieval king, the 1

Kratins, 'Treason in Middle English •.. ', 685.

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Spanish poet emphasizes some of them more than others in the rest of his poem. He does not stress the concept of the king as the fount of justice, because it was difficult for him to do so on the basis of the accounts available to him in his sources of Alexander's actions in this respect. The Alexandreis, indeed, led in the opposite direction: the Spanish poet shows himself to be dubious about Gautier's account of Alexander's execution of Philotas and Parmenio, he greatly reduces the episode of Callisthenes' condemnation and severely criticizes Alexander for failing to do justice on the traitor Nabarzanes. The sources did not provide the opportunity for stressing temperance and contained some unfavourable material on Alexander's entrapment by the wiles of woman (the Candace episode) which the Spanish poet excluded. He was able, however, to stress liberality and nobility, and-above all-learning and military valour, which are allied to the desire for fame. Anger he seems to have regarded as an inevitable concomitant of kingship, and did not condemn it. His powerful hatred of treason reveals his absolutist view of royal authority. Beneyto Perez has carried out a detailed analysis of the theory of monarchical power and the actual powers enjoyed by the various kings of Spain in the Middle Ages; 1 he notes the importance of their power of command and how this may be seen in the writings of the period: 'De la imagen del rey como cabeza de la republica, reiterado e insistente esquema en la literatura de aquel tiempo, deducese el poder de mando que le corresponde ... ' (Historia de la administracion. .. , p. 217). Menendez Pidal pointed out the relative lack of feudalism in Spain2 and 1 1

Hisloria de la adminislracion. •. , chs. XXII-XXXI, pp. 203-305. Espanay su hisloria (Madrid, 1957), I, p. 71.

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Sanchez-Albornoz observed the consequent strength of the Spanish monarchical authority in contrast with that. of France or England. 1 Maravall also mentions the increased vigour of Spanish royal authority after the death of Alfonso VII. 2 Beneyto defines the Iussio Regis of the thirteenth century as follows: El rey tiene una propia 'iussio'. Por el seso del rey-afuman las Parlidas-se ban de gobernar los vasallos. El principe, visto como guiador y caudillo de la hueste y como juez de los subditos de su reino, es tambien regidor, gobernante, hombre que dicta y que ordena. (Hi.rtoriade la admini.rlracirJn ••. , p. 2.17)

The view of the monarch in the Alexandre differs from this definition in two respects: the king as judge is not stressed; the king as scholar is given especial prominence. Scholarship may have been emphasized because the contemporary prince whom the poet admired was Ferdinand III, a not inconsiderable patron of learning, or even more credibly the young Prince Alfonso, who was to become the most scholarly of medieval kings. A second and probably better founded reason is that the poet injected into his view of the ideal king his own scholarly inclinations. We have seen that his notion of the subjects a king's education should include not only fails to correspond with that envisaged in the Partidas,but also differs from the university curriculum laid down in that work by its exclusion of arithmetic, geometry and law and its inclusion of medicine and especially natural philosophy. Thus, while in many respects the poet's concept of kingship E.rpana, un enigma hijJorico(Buenos Aires, 1__256), I, p. 317. Jose Antonio Maravall, E/ contepto tk hrpaiia m la edad media (Madrid, 1954), p. 373. 1

2

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corresponds to that of his age, in certain particulars it has an individuality that cannot be explained by reference to his sources and must be assumed to stem from his own erudite leanings.

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IV CHRISTIANIZATION The difference between the religious ambience of the Alexandreis and that of the Alexandre is considerable. Willis has observed: The atmosphere as well as the content of the A/exandreisis studiously classical and pagan, although the poem is not devoid of incidental Christian elements .•. /on the contrary, the content and atmosphere of the Alexandre are thoroughly Christian, although the poem contains a few features of classical paganism •.• (Relationship,pp. 67-68)

and he has shown that the Spanish author brought this change about in two ways: first, by excluding most of the pagan elements of the A/exandreis;second, and more important, by inserting his own Christian material. I propose in this chapter to study the nature and extent of the Christian insertions. Of the other sources, the 1/iasLAtina was thoroughly pagan; although the Spanish poet introduced a considerable amount of Christian material into his story of Troy, exceptionally he permitted pagan gods to participate in the action. Nevertheless, even these gods were to some extent Christianized, as I shall show. The Historia de Proeliisallowed the Christian God some part in the action, but otherwise generated a pagan atmosphere; this material was as thoroughly Christianized by the Spanish author as the A/exandreis material. The eight episodes based on the Roman d'Alexandre were already Christianized in the source; here the Spanish poet retained

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the Christian or biblical elements if they were consistent with his general procedure, but he omitted a considerable amount of the scriptural material. Willis has shown, for instance, that of the Roman d' Alexandre description of Babylon, the Spanish poet omitted 'all the digressive scriptural or pseudo-scriptural narration except the story of the tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues . . .' (Debt, p. 2.7).This was probably deliberate policy on the poet's part where biblical material was concerned, for Willis noted also that he 'tended to condense digressive passages of the Alexandreis which contained catalogues of Biblical names' (Relationship,p. 38). I.

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(a) The rolesof Godand Satan On a number of occasions the Spanish poet allowed God to take a hand in the action when the corresponding source passage did not. Whilst Alexander is on his way to Armenia he is accorded divine aid: 'fizol Dios buen tiempo, fallo la mar pagada' (164&),but there is no trace of this in the source (HPr, 11 and 12, 2.0). Shortly afterwards, when Alexander finds his father dying from Pausanias's treacherous blow, the poet says that God brought Philip to consciousness long enough for him to thank his son for avenging him: Diol Dios man e mano ya quanta memoria, cobro la paraula que perdida auia, dixo, 'fijo, yo mucho cobdi~ie este dia, des aqui por morir vna nuez non daria.' (190)

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but again there is no basis in the source for the divine intervention: 'Intuitus est autem eum Philippus rex et dixit ei: "Fili Alexander, iam letus moriar, quia vindicasti me occidendo interfectorem meum." ' (HPr, 11 and 12, 2.0). In the two cases of Christianization so far mentioned, 1 God's role is weakly enough expressed to have been merely a conventional tum of phrase that helps to fill out the stanzas; even so, it contributes to the supremely Christian atmosphere of the Spanish poem. Later, however, the Divinity is given a more active role. 2 In the duel between Menelaus and Paris, the poet mentions God's failure to help Paris: Q[ua]ndo lo uio uenir Paris tant denodado, sopo que, se podies, quel matarie de grado, empe~os a ensannar, mas todol fuen uano [P endere~o por darle del pendon seiialado], mas no lo quiso Dios, ea non era guisado.

(481) when there is no mention of any divinity in the source (Ilias, 2.90-2.93). Shortly afterwards in the same duel, the poet has God helping Menelaus: Non sopo con la priessa Menalao que fer, pero asmo un seso quel q~iso Dios ualer, There is a similar case in the story of Troy when God brings together the three pagan goddesses for the judgement of Paris: 'Qvando plogo a Dios que fueron abenidas, I fueron delantre Paris a iuyzo uenidas' (345ab). The source of this episode is uncertain, but it is not impossible that this piece of Christianization originated with the Spanish author. 1 The immutability of God's predestination is explicitly alleged to explain Paris's secret upbringing and escape from death in infancy: 'que lo que Dios ordena todo deue estar, I por nul seso del mundo non se puede cambiar' (346cd), and the point 1s repeated in the same story of Paris's childhood: 'Commo ant vos clixiemos, lo que Dios ha aparado, I non podie seyer por seso de ome estoruado' (356ab, PMS, lacuna in 0). We cannot be sure, however, that the Spanish poet introduced the Christian elements here because the source of the episode is uncertain. 1

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que sil podies la mano sol yelmo meter, con laiuda de Dios quel cudaua uen~r. (488)

but again there is no mention of this in the source: 'Tune vero ardescit, quamvis manus ense careret, I Et juvenem arrepta prosternit casside victor' (Ilias, 306-307). Later in the duel the Spanish poet clearly alters the reference to the classical Zeus into an allusion to God and the devil: 'Quumque inter sese proceres certamen haberent, I Concilium omnipotens habuit regnator Olympi' (Ilias, 344345) provided some basis for Falliron lle los troyanos, metiron lo en rrazon, los unos dezien sy, los otros dezien non, quando Dios non quier, non ual composi~ion, pudo mas el diablo meter hy dissension. (497)

but the Alexandre poet excluded the pagan Olympian council. In the duel of Hector and Ajax, the Spanish author has God bringing nightfall to call a halt to the struggle: Comen~ron entra[n]bos a £irmes a luchar, Ajas con el miedo non se dexaua echar, plogo a Dios e ouo la noche a vuiar, mandaron las justi~ias que quedase el lydiar. (589, P MS, lacuna in 0)

This is based on the following lines in the Ilias, where the only deity mentioned is Titan: 1 jam rursus ad arma coibant, Stringebantque iterum gladios, quum fessus in undas Coeperat igniferos Titan immergere currus, 1

Apollo, too, is mentioned in Ilia., 616.

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Noxque subire polum: juxta mittuntur, utrosque Qui dirimant a caede viros, nee segnius illi Deponunt animos .•• (Ilias, 617-62.2.)

When Diomedes and Ulysses, after kil1ing Dolon, enter Rhesus's tent by stealth, cut off his head and escape with the loot, the Spanish poet again sees God's hand in the incident: Tornaron con grant prinda e con grant ganan~ia, fizo les Dios grant mer~ed e grant gra~ia, mas plogo a los griegos que ganar toda Fran~ia (62.4"bc;contrast 1/ias, 731-738) 1

The poet also sees the result of the first battle between Alexander and Darius as pre-ordained by God: 'nol ualie a Dario todo su fecho nada, I ea Dios auie la cosa cuemo fuesse ordenada' (1051cd; contrast G, III, 198-202). After the battle, Alexander has his men collect the God-sent booty: 'mando toger las armas a la su yente lazdrada I et coger la ganan~ia que les auie Dios dada' (1079cd;contrast G, III, 215-2.18). The Alexandre line is, however, reminiscent of the Poema de Mio Cid: 'Grandes son las ganan~ias quel dio el Criador' ( 1334); 'esto Dios se lo quiso con todos los sos santos, I quando en vuestra venida tal ganan~ia nos an dado' (1750-51). At the siege of Tyre, Gautier's 'Tyrios ... paratos' (III, 2.78) become in the Alexandre: 'se Dios quesies, yentes bien adobadas' ( 109 5d). In the duel between Cleitus and Sanga during the second battle of Alexander and Darius, the Spanish poet has God 1

The ten years' duration of the Trojan war is attributed in the Alexandreto God's dispositions: 'Andauan los .x. annos en cabo de passar, I ni la podien prender, ni la podien dexar, I ouo, quando les quiso, cl Criador a prestar' (736abc),but here the source is uncertain.

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93 helping Cleitus: 'mas quiso Dios al otro [Pa Clitus] ualer e aiudar, I que ouo de su mano Sanga a finar' ( 137Scd),but once again the divine intervention is not mentioned in the source: Sed licet attonitus mananti sanguine, Sangae Non tamen ignavus gladio respondet, idemque, Quod modo transierat primi per viscera fratris, Balneat alterius inter praecordia ferrum. (G, V, 90-93)

Sanga's father Metha is permitted by God, according to the Spanish poet, to witness both his sons' deaths: 'dexolo hy Dios uenir [P beuir] por ueer tanta rrancura' (1376b), which is based on 'Diriguit primo spectata caede suorum I Metha pater' (G, V, 94--9s). Shortly afterwards, in the combat between Nicanor and Rhemnon, the Spanish author replaces Gautier's mention of the Fates with a reference to God: Rumpere fila manu non sufficit una sororum, Abiectaque colo Clotho Lachesisque virorum Fata metunt, unamque duae iuvere sorores. (G, V, 142-144)

becomes 'Pero cuemo la cosa que quier Dios guyar, I nulla fuer~ del mundo no la puede tornar' (139oab). Later in the same battle, God's intervention is again mentioned, 'cuemo Dios lo querie' (142.911), but has no basis in Gautier (V,36s-370) and in the next stanza, 'la yra de Dios' (1430d) is the Spanish poet's version of 'Martius ille furor' (G, V, 37s). Madates' attempt to avenge Darius's defeat and hold Uxion is, according to the Alexandre, against the will of God: 'cuedol a uengar, lo que Dios non queria' ( 1564,d, contrast G., VI, 67-70). The Spanish poet introduces the

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comment that the remnant of Darius's army who resist Alexander would be better· off had they died with their lord, and the further remark that God had arranged it otherwise: 'mas era dotta guisa posto del Criador' (1753d). Neither comment is to be found in Gautier (VII, 2 10-2 31). The subsequent but fleeting success of the Persian remnant is also attributed to God's intervention: 'pero con la uictoria que les auie Dios dada, I ouioron toda la coyta ayna oluidada' (1762cd,contrast G., VII,227-229).During the first battle with Porns, Alexander's difficulties in crossing the H ydaspes are also attributed to God by the Spanish author; the Alexandreis has 'transitus ergo I Navigio quaerendus erat: sed barbarus hostis I Stabat ah opposito' (G, IX, 66-68), which becomes Assy acae90, Dios lo quiso guiar, que quiso Dios ayna la cosa aguisar, quando por la ribera quisioron arribar, viron de parte d'Alexandre [Pde a1laa] los de Poro estar. (1988)

In the attack on Sudrata, Gautier's version has Fortune coming to Alexander's aid, but the Spanish poet mentions God as well as Fortune: Magnipotens fortuna duci providerat ante. Stabat enim laurus annoso stipite, tamquam Nata ducem Macetum vetulis defendere ramis. Huius ut applicuit trunco insuperabile corpus ... (IX, 380-383)

becomes in the Alexandre Dios e la su uentura que lle quiso prestar, vio un olmo uieio ~erca de ssi estar,

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non podrian el tronco diez omes abra~r, fusse de las espaldas a elle acostar. (2232)

When Critobulus cures Alexander of the wound received during the capture of Sudrata (G, IX, 45 5-492), the Spanish poet, unlike_Gautier, attributes the cure to God's intervention: 'quiso Dios que la cosa quel ouo a prestar, I con la mer~ed de Dios ouo bien a meiorar' (2262cd).The most striking intervention of God in the Spanish poem occurs during the Natura episode, which is used as the machinery to bring about Alexander's downfall. Gautier makes Natura complain of Alexander's prying into her secrets and descend to the underworld to enlist Pluto's aid (G, X, 1-30). Although the Spanish poet did not normally allow pagan gods to take part in the Alexander story, he retains Natura here because she is vital to the mechanics of the denouement. In any case, she passes very well as a medieval allegorical figure. The poet transforms Pluto into Satan and the underworld into hell, but in addition to these changes he finds it essential to have God explicitly condemn Alexander's sin of pride: Peso al Criador que crio la Natura, ouo de Alexandre sanna e grant rancura, dixo, 'este lunatico que non cata mesura, yol tornare el gozo todo en amargura. El sopo las soberuias de los pes:es iudgar, lo que en si tenie no lo sobo asmar; oiiie que tan bien sabe ioyzios deliurar por qual ioyzio dio, por tal deue passar.' (2.32.9-3o) 1

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//fhis is the most important single piece of Christianization in the narra_!ionof events, because by it the poet provides

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acies fulgentibus armis') into a complete stanza, again bringing in the devil: El peccado, que nunca pudo en paz seer, tanto pudo el malo andar e reuoluer, que ouo las hvestes de tal guisa poner que los unos a los otros bien se poclien ueer. (462)1

Before his first battle with Alexander, Darius's cursing of the devil is part of a passage invented by the Spanish poet (981-988) which he interpolated into the narrative taken from the Alexandreis at G, II, 493-494: "Dario fue en cueta, touos por enganado, I batiel el cora~on, maldezie el peccado' (981ab). In the Alexandre account of Philotas's treason and execution (1900-07), which is an abbreviated version of G, VIII, 7~-334, the Spanish poet attributes Philotas's actions to the wiles of the devil, although Gautier had not done so: El peccado, que nunca se echa a dormir, el que las s:eladas malas [P malas telas] suele ordir, la bestia maldita tanto pudo bollir que bastes:io tal cosa onde ouo a rriir [P rreyr]. (1900) Filotas desfors:io fue princepe acabado, non ouo Alexandre un nembro mas lazrado, pero quanto en esto fue pobre e menguado, 1

Although the source of the Alexandre account of Achilles' death is uncertain, it would be in accordance with the Spanish author's practice elsewhere for him to have substituted the devil for Apollo as initiator of Paris's plan to kill Achilles: 'Paris andaua muerto por a Etor vengar, I mas nunca lo podie conplir nin aguisar, Ipero ovo en cabo vn seso a fallar; I mostrogelo el pecado, que non sabe bien far' (722, P Ms; 0 MS has 'mostrogelo Paris' in lined, but I am with Alarcos (lnvesliga,ionu, p. 176) in accepting P's reading as making better sense). B

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a Christian sanction for all the events that follow. Only on those terms, it seems, could he accept Gautier's version of Alexander's death. 1 The Spanish poet also introduces the devil as a motivating force. Pausanias is clearly seen as being possessed by the devil in the Alexandre version of his betrayal of Philip: 'ea Satanas andaua en el encarnado' (173d, contrast HPr, 11 and 12, 20). In the story of Troy, the quarrel started by Thersites is seen as the devil's work in the Alexandre: Partiron se los uandos, querien se matar, todos llamauan armas, ya querien lidiar, tan grant era la reuelta que no la podien cuntar, querie la su semiente el peccado [Pel diablo] sembra[r] (42.7)

but there is no basis for this diabolical intervention in the Ilias: Tune vero ardescit conceptis litibus ira; Vix tells caruere manus, ad sidera clamor Tollitur, et cunctos pugnandi corripit ardor. (Ilias, 140-142.)2

Just before the duel between Paris and Menelaus, the Spanish poet expands the Ilias, 251 ('Jamque duae stabant 1

Willis stressed the importance of this interpola~ion ('&lation.rhip,, pp. 69-70 ); Cary also saw it as a distinctive feature of the Spanish poem (pp. 192-193); I have discussed this passage in detail in 'Interpretation', 209-211. 1

Eris (or Discord), who throws down the golden apple inscribed 'For the fairest' at the wedding feast of Peleus and Thetis, is presented as the devil in the Spanish poem: 'El peccado, que siempre andido en follia, I cogio con [P en] esta paz una malanconia, I asmaua, se podies, sembrar su mala ~isma, I meter algun destoruo en esta confreria' (339), etc., but the source is uncertain.

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non se sobo guardar del la~o del peccado [P del endiablado]. (1903)

In the episode of the execution of Cleitus and Hermolaeus (1968-72.), the Spanish author states that the devil made Alexander believe the false reports of their treachery: El peccado, que nunca puede seer baldero, pora dannar los bonos busca siempre sendero, cuemo el pecado [P como es longana] antigo e artero, vertio hy de suso del su £also salero. (1969, contrast G, IX, 1-8)

When Natura descends into hell to enlist the devil's aid, the Spanish poet is careful to alter Gautier's already unclassical Leviathan into the devil. Gautier describes how Leviathan changed his appearance into that of a snake in order not to frighten Natura, since she had originally known him in that form: Illic perpetuae miscens incendia mortis Leviathan, medii stans in fervore barathri, Ut procul inspexit numen, fornace relicta, Tendit eo, sed eam ne terreat, ora colubri Ponit et in primam redit adsumitque figuram, Quam dederat natura creans, cum sidere solis Clarior intumuit, tantumque superbia mentem Extulit, ut summum partiri vellet Olympum. (X, 74-81)

This passage contains echoes of the Pelasgian myth of creation, in which Eurynome (or Oreithyia, goddess of creation) turned Boreas (the north wind) into the great serpent Ophion, whom she later banished from Mount Olympus to the underworld. However, Gautier clearly

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had in mind the serpent of Genesis, 3, 1-5 (which may be a biblical vestige of the Pelasgian myth) and Leviathan the sea serpent in Psalms, 74, 14; 104, 2.6, Job, 41 and Isaiah, 2.7,1, but he seems to have striven to make the Old Testament material appear classical. He produces a curious amalgam of the classical goddess of creation and the Hebrew Leviathan, mentioning Mount Olympus on the one hand and the sin of pride on the other. The Spanish author did not accept the pseudo-paganism of his source and clarified the passage, making Satan change his appearance before Natura, not into the form of a snake, but into the angelical shape of Lucifer before his fall(Isaiah, 14, 1z, Luke, 10, 18, Revelation, 9, 1): Mando luego la donna a Belzebub Hamar, fue ayna uenido, no lo oso tardar, pero canbio el abito con que solie andar, ea temie que la donna poder sya espantar. Torno su cara angelica qual solie auer, quando enloque90 por el su bel pare~er (z4z6-z7ab)

(b) Christian ritual In addition to his introduction of God and the devil into the action, the Spanish poet also alters the narrative by bringing Christian elements into the actions of his mortal characters and by surrounding them with the details of Christian religious ritual. In the episode of Alexander's knighting (89-12.6), which.is based on the Roman d'A/exandre (B, 84-410), the Spanish poet introduces Christian elements that are not to be found in the source: El infante el cauallo nol quiso caualgar, ante que fues armado e besas el altar ... El infante fue uenido por las armas prender,

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mas fue offie de pre~io e de buen conos~er, ante quiso a Dios vna ora~ion fa~er et commo era costumbre sus donas ofre~er. ( 1 19ab, 1 2.o)

The prayer, the details of which are discussed in section 3 of this chapter, and the kissing of the altar are Christian elements originating with the poet, as Willis has shown: 'Alexander's prayer (st. 12.0-2.z) is found in the Spanish alone, as is the ceremony in which Alexander kisses the step of the altar and girds on his sword' (Debt, p. 16). The religious rites performed by Alexander and his men over the tombs of Achilles and their other ancestors at the site of Troy have no basis in the corresponding passage of the Alexandreis (I, 45 2.-477) \

Echaron grant ofrenda, fezieron pro~ession, en~ensaron las fuessas e dioron obla~ion, loraua cada uno con grant deuo~ion por aquellos que fueran de su genera~ion. (333)

In the judgement of Paris, although the source is uncertain, it is possible that the words which have a medieval ecclesiastical ring originate with the Spanish poet: Uenus dio luego salto e exio del diuersorio, paros ante Paris en medial consistorio, mas genta non exio a aquel parlatorio (376abc)

The account of Achilles' concealment among the ladies -at the court of King Lycomedes in Scyros takes on a medieval ecclesiastical atmosphere in the Alexandre. Although again the source of this passage is uncertain, it seems likely that the transformation of Lycomedes' court or

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harem into a nunnery and the court ladies into nuns is the work of the Spanish poet (412.-416).As a consequence of this change the gifts brought by Ulysses in his search for Achilles are converted into merchandise which Ulysses offers for sale to the nuns: 'tocas e ~intas, camisas e ~apatas, I sorteias e espeijos e otras .tales baratas' (414,tZb). There is some confirmation of the supposition that it was the Spanish poet who introduced the ecclesiastical element here, for when, later in the poem, Achilles withdraws from battle the second time, the Spanish poet mentions the nunnery again, although it is not in the Ilias. Achilles refuses to listen to Agamemnon's embassy, which includes Phoenix, Ajax and Ulysses, who are even authorized to offer the return of Briseis (swearing that she is still a virgin): mox hoste repulso Legates mittunt, dextramque hortantur Achillis, Ut ferat auxilium miseris. Thetideius heros Nee Danaum capit aure preces, nee munera regis Ulla referre cupit: neque enim illum redditus ignis Aut intacta suo Briseis corpore movit. (I/ias, 690-695)

The Spanish poet appears to have taken this to mean that Achilles was already with Briseis in the hills: Achilles en tod esto cuemo era yrado, el despecho quel fezioron no lo auie oluidado, sediesse con su amiga ennos montes al~do, por todas essas nouas non auie cuedado. (610)

but shortly afterwards Achilles is described as leaving the nunnery or hermitage: 'luego se uino, dessa de la hermitaoia' (614&).This appears to be the result of the Spanish

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poet's misunderstanding of the Latin at this point, but it indicates that if he was capable of introducing a nunnery here he would obviously have had no qualms earlier in similarly altering Lycomedes' court in the unknown source. Before the duel between Menelaus and Paris, the two armies take up opposing positions. The Ilias account is as follows: 'Jamque duae stabant acies fulgentibus armis I . . . I sacrisque peractis I F oedera junguntur . . .' ( 2.51, z78-z79). The Spanish poet expands this by describing the religious rites: Seyen ambas las partes sobre sennos collados, nin mucho a~erca nin mucho alongados, cada uno por fer los sus sanctos pagados, por fer sus holocaustos matauan los ganados. (474)

The reference to saints is of course Christian and the holocausts or burnt offerings have biblical, though not Christian, authority: 'ponent thymiama in furore tuo, et holocaustum super altare tuum' (Deuteronomy, 33, 10; cf. Leviticus, 1-9,passim). The Spanish poet probably considered holocausts appropriate for a pre-Christian form of worship. Hector's request to Hecuba and the Trojan women to placate the gods is entirely pagan in the 1/ias: Continuoque petit muros, Hecubamque vocari Imperat, et Divae placari numina suadet. Protinus armatas innµptae Palladis arces Iliades subeunt, festisque altaris sertis Exornant, caeduntque sacras de more bidentes. Dumque preces Hecube supplex ad templa Minervae Pro charis genitrix natis et conjuge fundit ... (Ilia.r, 546-5 s2)

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but the Spanish poet thoroughly Christianized this passage: Entro a la uilla, mando con~eio fazer, fizoles cuemo era la cosa entender, mando por las yglesias las uigilias tener et que diessen offrendas, ea era menester. Las madrones de Troya fezieron luego cyrios, vestien todos sacos e asperos ~ili~ios, omaron los altares de rrosas e de lilios, por pagar los sanctos todos cantauan quirios. (567-568)

The religious rites performed by the Greeks and Trojans during the duel of Hector and Achilles are entirely Christian and have no basis in the corresponding passage of the Ilias (978-982.): 'Ffazien de cada parte los ninnos e los uieios I candelas e almosnas e cantos e prigos [P candelas e limosnas, ora9ones e pedricos]' (705ab). When Darius gathers his army before the first battle with Alexander, Gautier mentions the Persians' sacred fire and their portable altar dedicated to Jupiter: Ignem quern Persae sacrum aeternumque vocabant Axibus auratis argentea praetulit ara: Alba Iovis currus series ducebat equorum, Caelatasque decem gemmis auroque quadrigas ... (11, 104-107)

The Spanish poet retains the reference to the sacred fire and to Jupiter, but uses Christian terms to describe the scene; the relics, candles, chaplains and conviento(or company) were not in the source: Leuauan por reliquias un fuego consagrado, siempre estaua biuo, nunca fue amatado; es [P asy] yua delantre en un carro dorado,

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sobre altar de plata e muy bien cortinado. Y estaua don [P La estoria de] Iupiter con 9fios ~elestiales, yua apres del fuego con muchos cappellanes, andaua esse conuiento con diex carros cabclales, que eran de fin oro e de piedras cristales. {850-851)

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The account of Alexander's visit to Jerusalem (Alex, 1131-47) is based on the Historia de Proe/iis(11 and 12 , 2.6-2.8).The Spanish poet retains many of the Judaic religious details of his source, but also introduces some Christian elements. During Jadus's vision on the eve of Alexander's entry into the city, God gives him detailed instructions: Noli timere, sed continuo oma plateas civitatis et portas aperi et omnis populus exeat cum veste alba; tu autem et reliqui sacerdotes cum legitimis stolis occurrite obviam ei nihil hesitantes. (HPr, 11 and I 1, 2.8).

The Spanish author reduces this passage to one stanza: Vienol en uision a Iadus do dormie que quando sopies que Alexandre uenie, exies contra el, el que la missa dezie, pornie su fa2ienda toda cuemo querrie-. (1137)

but he transfers some of the details of the vision to the actual scene on the morrow: Fi%oapareiar toda la clerizia (1140a)

Cobrioron las carreras de rramos [P rrosas] e de flares, que pare~ien fremosas e dauan buenos odores (1141ab)

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The Spanish poet visualizes the high priest Jadus as a Christian bishop, and although he alludes to the tctragrammaton he does not use the technical term and seems to consider it as an addition to a bishop's mitre: V estios el bispo de la rropa sagrada, puso en su cabe~a una mitra pre~iada, ena fruent una carta que era bien dictada, que de nombres de Dios era toda cargada. (1I 39)

This is based on . • . pontificemque sacerdotum iacintinam et auream stolam indutum et super caput habentem cidarim et desuper laminam auream, in qua erat scriptum dei nomen tetragramaton . . . (HPr, 11 and 12, 2.8)

After subduing Egypt, Alexander decides to journey to Ammon. Gautier gives the following account: Hine ubi disposuit procerum discretio regno Tendit in Aegyptum: qua sub ditione redacta Ardet rex Libyci sedes Hammonis adire (III, 37o-373)

In his treatment of the passage, the Spanish poet endows Alexander with the desire to go on a pilgrimage and provides him with the accessories of a thirteenth-century pilgrim: Suiugaua Egipto con toda su grandia, con muchas otras tierras que dezir non podria, el rrey Alexandre, sennor de grant ualia, entrol en cora~on de hyr en romeria. Priso su esportiella e tomo su bordon, penso dyr a ueer el templo de Salamon (1167-68b)

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When he reaches the temple, Alexander and his men worship in Christian fashion: 'Touioron su uigilia con grant deuo~ion, I de ~yrios e d' ofrenda fezioron grant pro~ession' ( 118 3ab), which is developed from Gautier's 'Rex ubi consulto laetus love munera solvit' (III, 404). In Gautier's version of Alexander's entry into Babylon, pagan priests take part in the triumph: Et quos Niliacae tradunt mendacia gentis Fatidicos, coelique notis praenosse peritos Sidereos motus et inevitabile fatum, Memphitae vates currum victoris adorant. (G, V, 487-490)

In the Spanish poem the vales become Christian c/erigos: Yuan las pro~essiones bien ordenadas, los clerigos primeros, con sus cartas sagradas, et el rrey ~erca ellos a que ordenan las fadas, el que todas las yentes auie espantadas. (1542)

At Darius's funeral, the Spanish author expands the religious rites that Gautier dismisses in one line: 'et exsequiis solito de more solutis' (VII, 379), which becomes Fa%iesabroso duelo, dezie bonas razones, fazie de fiera guisa llorar los uarones, rezauan [P rrogauan] sobrel cuerpo grandes pro~ess1ones, non serie mas ondrado entre sus cria~ones. (1790)

Although the Alexandre account of the single combat between Alexander and Porus is based on the Historia de Proeliis{11 and 12, 89; Leo, III, 4), the Spanish poet intro-

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duces the scene where the Macedonian and Indian armies pray in Christian fashion before the duel begins: Cada uno de ssu partida fazien sus ora~iones, ficauan los ynogos, prometien oblas:iones, apretauan los punnos, apremien los coras:ones, corrien las uiuas lagrimas por medio los grinnones. (2.i99)

but there is no foundation for this in the source. The Spanish author's account of Alexander's death has Christian elements: Fue el rrey en todo esto la palabra perdiendo [P Ms; this line is missing in O], La nariz aguzando, la lengua engordiendo, dixo a sus uarones, 'ya lo ydes ueyendo, arenuns:io el mundo, a Dios uos acomiendo.' Acuesta la cabes:a sobrel fas:eruelo, non serie ome bono que non ouiesse del duelo, mando que lo echassen del !echo en el suelo, ea auie ya del alma trauado el anzuelo. Non podia el espiritu de la ora passar, del mandado de Dios non pudo escapar, desanparo la carne en que solie morar, remaso el bon corpo [P rremaness:io el cuerpo] qual podedes asmar. (2.645-47)

The corresponding passage in the A/exandreis is as follows: Ergo ubi venas Infecit virus, et mortis signa propinquae Cetta dedit pulsus, media sibi iussit in aula Aptari lectum. (X, 392.-395)

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The Spanish poet expanded Gautier's "mortis signa propinquae certa, into the detailed signs of loss of speech, sharpening of nose and swelling of tongue. Gautier mentions the fact that Alexander ordered his couch to be moved to the centre of the hall, but does not provide the detail of his being moved from the couch to the ground. The Historia de Proe/iisalso mentions Alexander's being moved to the centre of the room where he can be seen by all, because the Macedonians are threatening to break in and kill the Companions (or peers) if they are not allowed to see their dying leader: Et tune diffamata est per totam Babyloniam mors Alexandri, statimque erexerunt se cuncti Macedones cum armis et venerunt in aulam palatii ceperuntque vociferare dicentes ad principes: 'Scitote, quia, si non ostenditis nobis imperatorem nostrum, in hac hora moriemini omnes.' Audiens autem Alexander vociferationem militum interrogavit, quid hoe esset. Principes autem eius responderunt dicentes: 'Congregati sunt omnes Macedones cum armis et dicunt: "Si non ostenditis nobis imperatorem nostrum, intediciemus vos omnes in hac hora".' Cum ergo hec audisset Alexander, precepit principibus suis, ut levarent eum in triclinio palatii. Factumque est. (HPr, 11, 12.8; cf. 12, 12.8 and Leo, III, 32, 4)

Although the Spanish poet retained the idea of the moribund hero's ordering his men to move him, he omits all mention of the threats of the Macedonian army referred to in the Historia de Proe/iis. The Romand'A/exandre also mentions the threats and the movement of the hero's couch, but in the French poem it is Roxane who tells Alexander about his men's demands: Gre e Macedoine commencent a crier Que se tost ne lor rent lor seignor dreiturer, Ja faront toz les huis de la chambre briser.

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Li reis oi la noisse e sa gent doloser, Sa moiller Rosones commence a demander: 'Qual noisse oi ge la fors en eel palais lever?' 'Reis, Macedoneis sunt, que nes puez atemprer, Que volent ceste chambre les huis escrevanter Perce qu'il ne vos piient veer ni esgarder.' E Ii reis se commanda el palais a porter; Lors veissez entor lui ses homes amasser ... (RA/ix, B, 9110-2.0)

In the Roman d' Alexandre account, however, there is an important additional detail in the account of Alexander's death: Quant Al'x. veit que la mort lo justise, Contre terre s'estent e devolte e debrise. Enz en la riche sale, que fu de marbre bise, Fait metre un lit a or, talent a qu'il i gise; La cultre fu de soie, qui teneit grant porprise. (B, 9160-64)

It was the French poem, therefore, that supplied the detail of Alexander's moving from the couch to the ground. In the Roman,however, the king stretches out on the ground and twists and threshes about; is he in the throes of death, or is he 'raging against the dying of the light'? We are not told. In the Spanish poem, the reason for the king's order to his men to move him on to the ground is simply 'ea auie ya del alma trauado el anzuelo' (2.646d)-as though in that situation that was the usual thing to do. We are not told that this was an act of humility, let alone an act of expiation for his sins, and we should be careful not to read into the text a meaning that is not there. As the act of a medieval king, it could signify the surrender, in the moment of death, of the royal office: the king dies but the King does not die-Dignitas nonmoritur(see Kantorowicz,

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The King's Two Bodies. .. , p. 383 et seq.); but we are not told. Mrs Malkiel saw in this passage an act of expiation; she also noted the points of similarity with the death of Ferdinand III: Tras de pormenorizar el testamento, Juan Lorenzo describe ton truculencia medieval la alteracion de los rasgos del moribundo (P 2.609ab) e imagina luego su fin como el de un piadoso rey castellano ... No solo las palabras de Alejandro sino su gesto simbolico de aguardar la muerte en el suelo recuerdan la humildad de San Fernando quien, segun la Primeracronica general,cap. 1132., al ver llegar al fraile con la hostia 'dexose derribar del !echo en tierra' y despues de haber comulgado 'fuo tirar de sf los pannos reales que uestfe.' (Idea,p. 196).

This kind of death-bed scene was played out too by another royal saint, St Louis of France: Apres se fist le saint roy coucher en un lit couvert de cendre, et mist ses mains sur sa poitrine, et en regardant vers le ciel rendi a nostre Createur son esperit, en celle hore meismes que le filz Dieu mourut en la croiz. 1

Because of Louis's saintly nature Joinville is interested in the detailed manner of his death; so too the compilers of the Primera cronicageneral describe in detail the way in which St Ferdinand died. We cannot be sure that being moved to the ground was a usual procedure in nonsaintly regal deaths, but the surrender of the symbols of power did occur: Ferdinand I exchanged his royal robe and crown for sackcloth and ashes when he was dying, according to the Historia silense: ... exuit regalem clamidem qua induebatur corpus et deposuit gemmatam coronam qua ambiebatur caput ... Memoires de Jean, Sire de Joinville ou Histoire et Chronique du TresChretien Roi Saint Louis, ed. F. Michel (Paris, 1858), p. 241. St Louis was perhaps influenced by the example of St Francis. 1

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Tune ah episcopis accepta penitentia, induitur cilicio pro regali indumento et aspergitur cinere pro aureo diademate ... (quoted by C. Sanchez-Albornoz, Estudios sobre /as instituciones ••. , p. 72.5)

Unlike St Ferdinand (111),Alexander does not have his royal vestments removed, there is no friar with the host, and he does not 'await' death on the ground, as Mrs Malkiel put it; this was the moment of his death. In earlier incidents in the Alexandre, we are told what Alexander's feelings are: at the.sight of the mutilated Greek captives at Persepolis, he is moved to pity ('uen~iolo piadat', 1609t1);at Jerusalem, he is moved to piety ('fizo antel bispo su gynoio flec~ion [P genuflec~ion], I estrado [P prostrado] sabre tierra fizo su ora~ion', 1 142.cd);towards the defeated Porus he shows great magnanimity ('mouio lo piadat, I de~endio del cauallo con grant simpli~idat •.. ', 2.2.oSbc),etc. Is it likely that if the poet had meant us to see in 2.646can act of Christian humility or expiation he would not have given some indication? As the text stands, we could only be safe in saying that it appears to describe a thirteenth-century regal way of dying, nothing more. 2. CHRISTIAN

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The Spanish poet undertook less Christianization in the descriptions than elsewhere, probably because most of the descriptions in his sources already possessed strong biblical, if not Christian, elements; thus no major alterations became necessary/In some cases, he curtailed the scriptural allusions of his sources, not only in order to avoid repetition and to omit scriptural material of doubtful