Dukes and counts fell bleeding near thee,
Lords of high renown were slain,
Perished many a brave hidalgo
Of the noblemen of Spain.
Another prominent characteristic of these ancient ballads is their energetic and beautiful simplicity. A great historic event is described in the fewest possible words; there is no ornament, Do artifice. The poet’s intention was to narrate, not to embellish. It is truly wonderful to observe what force, and beauty, and dramatic power are given to the old romances by this single circumstance. When Bernardo del Carpio leads forth his valiant Leonese against the hosts of Charlemagne, he animates their courage by alluding to their battles with the Moors, and exclaims, “Shall the lions that have bathed their paws in Libyan gore now crouch before the Frank?” When he enters the palace of the treacherous Alfonso, to upbraid him for a broken promise, and the king orders him to be arrested for contumely, he lays his hand upon his sword and cries, “Let no one stir! I am Bernardo; and my sword is not subject even to kings!” When the Count Alarcos prepares to put to death his own wife at the king’s command, she submits patiently to her fate, asks time to say a prayer, and then exclaims, “Now bring me my infant boy, that I may give him suck, as my last farewell!” Is there in Homer an incident more touching, or more true to nature?
The ancient Spanish ballads naturally divide themselves into three classes: — the Historic, the Romantic, and the Moorish. It must be confessed, however, that the line of demarkation between these three classes is not well defined; for many of the Moorish ballads are historic, and many others occupy a kind of debatable ground between the historic and the romantic. I have adopted this classification for the sake of its convenience, and shall now make a few hasty observations upon each class, and illustrate my remarks by specimens of the ballads.
The historic ballads are those which recount the noble deeds of the early heroes of Spain: of Bernardo del Carpio, the Cid, Martin Pelaez, Garcia Perez de Vargas, Alonso de Aguilar, and many others whose names stand conspicuous in Spanish history. Indeed, these ballads may themselves be regarded in the light of historic documents; they are portraits of long-departed ages, and if at times their features are exaggerated and colored with too bold a contrast of light and shade, yet the free and spirited touches of a master’s hand are recognized in all. They are instinct, too, with the spirit of Castilian pride, with the high and dauntless spirit of liberty that burned so fiercely of old in the heart of the brave hidalgo. Take, for example, the ballad of the Five Farthings. King Alfonso the Eighth, having exhausted his treasury in war, wishes to lay a tax of five farthings upon each of the Castilian hidalgos, in order to defray the expenses of a journey from Burgos to Cuenca. This proposition of the king was met with disdain by the noblemen who had been assembled on the occasion: —
Don Nuno, Count of Lara,
In anger and in pride, Forgot all reverence for the king,
And thus in wrath replied: —
‘Our noble ancestors,’ quoth he,
‘Ne’er such a tribute paid;
Nor shall the king receive of us
What they have once gainsaid.
‘The base-born soul who deems it just
May here with thee remain;
But follow me, ye cavaliers,
Ye noblemen of Spain.’
Forth followed they the noble count,
They marched to Glera’s plain;
Out of three thousand gallant knights
Did only three remain.
They tied the tribute to their spears,
They raised it in the air,
And they sent to tell their lord the king
That his tax was ready there.
‘He may send and take by force,’ said they,
‘This paltry sum of gold;
But the goodly gift of liberty
Cannot be bought and sold.’
The same gallant spirit breathes through all the historic ballads; but, perhaps, most fervently in those which relate to Bernardo del Carpio. How spirit-stirring are all the speeches which the ballad-writers have put into the mouth of this valiant hero! “Ours is the blood of the Goth,” says he to King Alfonso; “sweet to us is liberty, and bondage odious!”— “The king may give his castles to the Frank, but not his vassals; for kings themselves hold no dominion over the free will!” He and his followers would rather die freemen than live slaves! If these are the common watchwords of liberty at the present day, they were no less so among the high-born and high-souled Spaniards of the eighth century.
One of the finest of the historic ballads is that which describes Bernardo’s march to Roncesvalles. He sallies forth “with three thousand Leonese and more,” to protect the glory and freedom of his native land. From all sides, the peasantry of the land flock to the hero’s standard: —
The peasant leaves his plough afield,
The reaper leaves his hook, And from his hand the shepherd-boy
Lets fall the pastoral crook.
The young set up a shout of joy,
The old forget their years,
The feeble man grows stout of heart,
No more the craven fears.
All rush to Bernard’s standard,
And on liberty they call;
They cannot brook to wear the yoke,
When threatened by the Gaul.
‘Free were we born,”t is thus they cry,
‘And willingly pay we
The duty that we owe our king,
By the divine decree.
‘But God forbid that we obey
The laws of foreign knaves,
Tarnish the glory of our sires,
And make our children slaves.
‘Our hearts have not so craven grown,
So bloodless all our veins,
So vigorless our brawny arms,
As to submit to chains.
‘Has the audacious Frank, forsooth,
Subdued these seas and lands?
Shall he a bloodless victory have?
No; not while we have hands.
‘He shall learn that the gallant Leonese
Can bravely fight and fall;
But that they know not how to yield;
They are Castilians all.
‘Was it for this the Roman power
Of old was made to yield
Unto Numantia’s valiant hosts,
On many a bloody field?
‘Shall the bold lions, that have bathed
Their paws in Libyan gore,
Crouch basely to a feebler foe,
And dare the strife no more?
‘Let the false king sell town and tower,
But not his vassals free;
For to subdue the free-born soul
No royal power hath he!’
These short specimens will suffice to show the spirit of the old heroic ballads of Spain; the Romances del Cid, and those that rehearse the gallant achievements of many other champions, brave and stalwart knights of old, I must leave unnoticed, and pass to another field of chivalry and song.
The next class of the ancient Spanish ballads is the Romantic, including those which relate to the Twelve Peers of Charlemagne and other imaginary heroes of the days of chivalry. There is an exaggeration in the prowess of these heroes of romance which is in accordance with the warmth of a Spanish imagination; and the ballads which celebrate their achievements still go from mouth to mouth among the peasantry of Spain, and are hawked about the streets by the blind ballad-monger.
Among the romantic ballads, those of the Twelve Peers stand preëminent; not so much for their poetic merit as for the fame of their heroes. In them are sung the valiant knights whose history is written more at large in the prose romances of chivalry, — Orlando, and Oliver, and Montesinos, and Durandarte, and the Marques de Mantua, and the other paladins, “que en una mesa comian pan.” These ballads are of different length and various degrees of merit. Of some a few lines only remain; they are evidently fragments of larger work
s; while others, on the contrary, aspire to the length and dignity of epic poems; — witness the ballads of the Conde de Irlos and the Marques de Mantua, each of which consists of nearly a thousand long and sonorous hexameters.
Among these ballads of the Twelve Peers there are many of great beauty; others possess little merit, and are wanting in vigor and conciseness. From the structure of the versification, I should rank them among the oldest of the Spanish ballads. They are all monrhythmic, with full consonant rhymes.
To the romantic ballads belong also a great number which recount the deeds of less celebrated heroes; but among them all none is so curious as that of Virgil. Like the old French romance-writers of the Middle Ages, the early Spanish poets introduce the Mantuan bard as a knight of chivalry. The ballad informs us that a certain king kept him imprisoned seven years, for what old Brantôme would call outrecuydance with a certain Dona Isabel. But being at mass on Sunday, the recollection of Virgil comes suddenly into his mind, when he ought to be attending to the priest; and, turning to his knights, he asks them what has become of Virgil. One of them replies, “Your Highness has him imprisoned in your dungeons”; to which the king makes answer with the greatest coolness, by telling them that the dinner is waiting, and that after they have dined they will pay Virgil a visit in his prison. Then up and spake the queen like a true heroine; quoth she, “I will not dine without him” ; and straightway they all repaired to the prison, where they find the incarcerated knight engaged in the pleasant pastime of combing his hair and arranging his beard. He tells the king very coolly that on that very day he has been a prisoner seven years; to this the king replies, “Hush, hush, Virgil; it takes three more to make ten.”
“Sire,” says Virgil, with the same philosophical composure, “if your Highness so ordains, I will pass my whole life here.”
“As a reward for your patience, you shall dine with me to-day,” says the king. “My coat is torn,” says Virgil; “I am not in trim to make a leg.” But this difficulty is removed by the promise of a new suit from the king; and they go to dinner. Virgil delights both knights and damsels, but most of all Dona Isabel. The archbishop is called in; they are married forthwith, and the ballad closes like a scene in some old play:— “He takes her by the hand, and leads her to the garden.”
Such is this curious ballad.
I now turn to one of the most beautiful of these ancient Spanish poems; — it is the Romance del Conde Alarcos; a ballad full of interest and of touching pathos. The story is briefly this. The Count Alarcos, after being secretly betrothed to the Infanta Solisa, forsakes her and weds another lady. Many years afterward, the princess, sitting alone, as she was wont, and bemoaning her forsaken lot, resolves to tell the cause of her secret sorrow to the king her father; and, after confessing her clandestine love for Count Alarcos, demands the death of the countess, to heal her wounded honor. Her story awakens the wrath of the king; he acknowledges the justness of her demand, seeks an interview with the count, and sets the case beforé him in so strong a light, that finally he wrings from him a promise to put his wife to death with his own hand. The count returns homeward a grief-stricken man, weeping the sad destiny of his wife, and saying within himself, “How shall I look upon her smile of joy, when she comes forth to meet me?” The countess welcomes* his return with affectionate tenderness; but he is heavy at heart, and disconsolate. He sits down to supper with his children around him, but the food is untasted; he hides his face in his hands, and weeps. At length they retire to their chamber. In the language of Mr. Lockhart’s translation, —
“They came together to the bower, where they were used to rest, —
None with them but the little babe that was upon the breast:
The count had barred the chamber-doors, — they ne’er were barred till then:
“Unhappy lady,’ he began, ‘and I most lost of men!’
“Now speak not so, my noble lord, my husband, and my life!
Unhappy never can she be that is Alarcos’ wife!’
“Alas! unhappy lady, ‘t is but little that you know;
For in that very word you’ ve said is gathered all your woe.
“‘Long since I loved a lady, — long since I oaths did plight
To be that lady’s husband, to love her day and night;
Her father is our lord the king, — to him the thing is known;
And now — that I the news should bring! — she claims me for her own.
“‘Alas! my love, alas! my life, the right is on their side;
Ere I had seen your face, sweet wife, she was betrothed my bride;
But — O, that I should speak the word! — since in her place you lie,
It is the bidding of our lord that you this night must die.’
“‘Are these the wages of my love, so lowly and so leal?
O, kill me not, thou noble Count, when at thy foot I kneel!
But send me to my father’s house, where once I dwelt in glee;
There will I live a lone, chaste life, and rear my children three.’
“‘It may not be, — mine oath is strong, — ere dawn of day you die.’
‘O, well’t is seen how all alone upon the earth am I! —
My father is an old, frail man; my mother’s in her grave;
And dead is stout Don Garci, — alas! my brother brave!
““T was at this coward king’s command they slew my brother dear,
And now I’m helpless in the land! — it is not death I fear,
But loth, loth am I to depart, and leave my children so; —
Now let me lay them to my heart, and kiss them, ere I go.’
“‘Kiss him that lies upon thy breast, — the rest thou mayst not see.’
‘I fain would say an Ave.”Then say it speedily.’
She knelt her down upon her knee,— ‘O Lord, behold my case!
Judge not my deeds, but look on me in pity and great grace!’
“When she had made her orison, up from her knees she rose: —
‘Be kind, Alarcos, to our babes, and pray for my repose;
And now give me my boy once more, upon my breast to hold,
That he may drink one farewell drink before my breast be cold.’
“‘Why would you waken the poor child? you see he is asleep;
Prepare, dear wife, there is no time, the dawn begins to peep.’
‘Now, hear me, Count Alarcos! I give thee pardon free;
I pardon thee for the love’s sake wherewith I’ve loved thee; —
“‘But they have not my pardon, — the king and his proud daughter; The curse of God be on them, for this unchristian slaughter!
I charge them with my dying breath, ere thirty days be gone,
To meet me in the realm of death, and at God’s awful throne! ‘“
The count then strangles her with a scarf, and the ballad concludes with the fulfilment of the dying lady’s prayer, in the death of the king and the Infanta within twenty days of her own.
Few, I think, will be disposed to question the beauty of this ancient ballad, though the refined and cultivated taste of many may revolt from the seemingly unnatural incident upon which it is founded. It must be recollected that this is a scene taken from a barbarous age, when the life of even the most cherished and beloved was held of little value in comparison with a chivalrous but false and exaggerated point of honor. It must be borne in mind also, that, notwithstanding the boasted liberty of the Castilian hidalgos, and their frequent rebellions against the crown, a deep reverence for the divine right of kings, and a consequent disposition to obey the mandates of the throne, at almost any sacrifice, has always been one of the prominent traits of the Spanish character. When taken in connection with these circumstances, the story of this old ballad ceases to be so grossly improbable as it seems at first sight; and, indeed, becomes an illustration of national character. In all probability, the story of the Conde Alarcos had some foundation in fact.
This exaggerated reverence for the person
and prerogatives of the king has furnished the groundwork of two of the best dramas in the Spanish language; La Estrella de Sevilla, by Lope de Vega, and Del Rey abajo Ninguno, by Francisco de Rojas.
The third class of the ancient Spanish ballads is the Moorish. Here we enter a new world, more gorgeous and more dazzling than that of Gothic chronicle and tradition. The stern spirits of Bernardo, the Cid, and Mudarra have passed away; the mail-clad forms of Guarinos, Orlando, and Durandarte are not here; the scene is changed; it is the bridal of Andalla; the bullfight of Ganzul. The sunshine of Andalusia glances upon the marble halls of Granada, and green are the banks of the Xenil and the Darro. A band of. Moorish knights gayly arrayed in gambesons of crimson silk, with scarfs of blue and jewelled tahalies, sweep like the wind through the square of Vivarambla. They ride to the Tournament of Reeds; the Moorish maiden leans from the balcony; bright eyes glisten from many a lattice; and the victorious knight receives the prize of valor from the hand of her whose beauty is like the star-lit night. These are the Xarifas, the Celindas, and Lindaraxas, — the Andallas, Ganzules, and Abenzaydes of Moorish song.
Then comes the sound of the silver clarion, and the roll of the Moorish atabal, down from the snowy pass of the Sierra Nevada and across the gardens of the Vega. Alhama has fallen! woe is me, Alhama! The Christian is at the gates of Granada; the banner of the cross floats from the towers of the Alhambra! And these, too, are themes for the minstrel, — themes sung alike by Moor and Spaniard.
Among the Moorish ballads are included not only those which were originally composed in Arabic, but all that relate to the manners, customs, and history of the Moors in Spain. In most of them the influence of an Oriental taste is clearly visible; their spirit is more refined and effeminate than that of the historic and romantic ballads, in which no trace of such an influence is perceptible. The spirit of the Cid is stern, unbending, steel-clad; his hand grasps his sword Tizona; his heel wounds the flank of his steed Babieca.
Delphi Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Delphi Poets Series Book 13) Page 194
