Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics

The Generic Status of the Siervo libre de amor: Rodríguez del Padrón's Reworking of
Dante
Author(s): Marina Scordilis Brownlee
Source: Poetics Today, Vol. 5, No. 3, Medieval and Renaissance Representation: New
Reflections (1984), pp. 629-643
Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1772384
Accessed: 27-06-2016 07:30 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, Duke University Press are collaborating with
JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Poetics Today

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 THE GENERIC STATUS OF
THE SIER VO LIBRE DE AMOR:
Rodriguez del Padr6n's Reworking of Dante

MARINA SCORDILIS BROWNLEE

Spanish and Portuguese, Dartmouth

Literary historians accord the Siervo libre de amor (= Siervo) a

privileged status - that of being the first manifestation of the
novelistic subgenre known as the novela sentimental.' General
agreement also exists concerning the definition of this type of novel,
which Hernandez Alonso (1970:24) describes as follows:
La novela sentimental o cortes espafiola nace con el Siervo como fusion de
una poesia de cancionero y una narraci6n caballeresca. Esos dos mundos,
conciliados, dan la sentimental, que es un producto nuevo y no una de sus
partes integrantes.

The Siervo's semantic content, however, remains a topic of con-

siderable controversy: It is viewed by many as an extended glorifica-
tion of Rodrl'guez del Padr6n (both qua poet and qua protagonist)
as a martyr of love (on the model of Maci'as) (Barbieto 1951). Others
see it as a didactic tratado designed to illustrate the superiority of
the intellect against the fickleness of fortune (here synonymous with
courtly love) - an interpretation which seems to be suggested by
the work's full title (The Servant Free[d] of Love) (Bastianutti
1972). Still others find the Siervo to be an ultimately ambiguous text
(very likely unfinished), in which it is difficult to determine whether
love or intellect is being valorized in the final analysis.2

1. Cf. Pelayo (1905:vol. I, cccx) and more recently, Samona (1962:vol. I, 187-203), where
the Siervo is described and analyzed as "per antonomasia ormail il piui antico esempio
spagnolo del genere sentimentale" (p. 187).
2. "The final part of the Siervo libre, according to the plan laid out in the introduction,
should reveal the author's rejection of the world in favor of a new spirituality, but we fail
to find this change of heart in the structure of the only extant manuscript copy"
(Andrachuk 1981:51). See also Andrachuk (1977a).
On the other hand, Edward J. Dudley (1963) and Alonso see the work, quite rightly
in my opinion, as complete.

Poetics Today, Vol. 5:3 (1984) 629-643

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
630 MARINA BROWNLEE

With regard to the Siervo's literary antecedents, some critics see

Boccaccio's Fiametta as the obvious precursor, while others disagree
entirely with this hypothesis.3 It is only recently, with the ground-
breaking work of Gregory Andrachuk (1977), that the strategic
importance of Dante's Commedia for an interpretation of the Siervo
has begun to be recognized.
The primary object of the present study is to continue this line of
inquiry by demonstrating the sustained presence and function of
a Dantean subtext throughout the Siervo - specifically, that the
Siervo makes extensive poetic use of certain thematic material and
narrative configurations (in particular, that of poet/lover/beloved)
established by Dante in the Vita Nuova and elaborated in the
Commedia. For as we shall see, Rodriguez del Padr6n establishes
Dante as his one vernacular auctor in order, thereafter, to redeploy
him, to "unravel" Dante's literary tapestry.
The second (and related) object of this essay is to demonstrate
that the Siervo is not, in fact, the first Spanish novela sentimental.
Close reading of the Siervo reveals that the initial verbal remini-
scences of Rodriguez del Padr6n's illustrious predecessor (strategi-
cally situated at the beginning of the text) are intended to serve as
an "opening signal" for the Dantean subtext operative throughout
the work to follow and essential to a coherent interpretation of it.
The intertextual references to the Commedia found at the outset
of the Siervo are striking: in each case we have a selva oscura which is
both a physical landscape and a metaphor for the protagonist's
psychological quandary (his spiritual and emotional disorientation);
each protagonist undertakes his journey in order to achieve domina-
tion of his passions; both journeys begin with a visit to the Elysian
Fields in which the protagonist functions as a "new Aeneas" of sorts.
Further, both works involve a tripartite pilgrimage, a progression
from Passion to Free Will to Intellect. At the same time the Siervo
and the Commedia are both literary autobiographies in which there
exists a tension or oscillation between the time of writing and
the time of narration - a narrative strategy first employed by St.
Augustine in the Confessions in order to recount his conversion to
Christianity. Significantly, both Dante and Rodriguez del Padr6n
are writing about conversion. The density of such intertextual
resonances becomes increasingly apparent as the works unfold -
so does their particular import for Rodriguez del Padr6n's creative
translatio of Dante.

3. Maria Rosa Lida (1952:322-323) finds no correspondence between the two texts.
Antonio Prieto, in the introduction to his edition of the Siervo (1976:18-19), posits a
vague relationship between the Fiametta and the Siervo essentially on the basis of Rodri-
guez del Padr6n's exploitation of Boccaccio in his other works. (All references to the Siervo
are from this edition.) Most recently, Barbara Weissberger (1980) notes a clear interrelation-
ship between the two texts.

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 GENERIC STATUS OF SIER VO LIBRE DE AMOR 631

The explicit naming of Dante in the Siervo's prologue serves to

orient our reading and our understanding of Rodriguez del Padr6n's
treatment of Dante's literary corpus. What is at issue in this passage
is the function of pagan antiquity in the Commedia, specifically its
Virgilian resonances. Dante the poet in Inferno I and II establishes
a program of "Dante the pilgrim as a new (Christian) Aeneas" (see
Hollander 1968), in addition to valorizing throughout the poem the
virtuous pagans (chief among them Virgil), and their potential as
Christian analogues. Rodriguez del Padr6n rejects this fundamental
Dantean attitude by divesting pagan antiquity of the Christian
context which Dante had bestowed upon it. Yet it is precisely
Rodriguez del Padr6n's inversion of Dante's construct that allows
him to make poetic capital out of it. He is quite unequivocal in his
rejection of this antique subject matter, as witnessed by his remarks
to his learned colleague Gonzalo de Medina (to whom the Siervo is
addressed):
. como tu seas otro Virgilio e segundo Tulio Ciqero, principes de la elo-
quengia, non confiando del mi symple ingenio, seguire el estilo, a ty agra-
dable, de los antiguos Omero, Publio Maro, Perseo, Seneca, Ovidio, Platon,
Lucano, Salustrio, Estagio, Terengio, Juvenal, Oraqio, Dante, Marco Tulio
Cicero, Valerio, Lucio, Eneo, Rycardo, Prinio, Quintiliano, trayendo fiqiones,
segfin los gentiles nobles, de dioses dafiados e deesas, no porque yo sea
honrrador de aquellos, mas pregonero del su grand error, y syeruo yndigno
del alto Jhesuzs (67-68).4
[. . . given that you may be another Virgil, and a second Cicero (princes
of eloquence), not trusting my simple wit, I will emulate the style of the
ancients which you find so pleasing: Homer, Publius Marus, Perseus, Seneca,
Ovid, Plato, Lucan, Sallust, Statius, Terence, Juvenal, Horace, Dante, Marcus
Tulius Cicero, Valerius, Lucilius, Ennius, Ricardus, Priscian and Quintillian.
I will offer fictions in the manner of the noble pagans, of betrayed gods and
goddesses, not because I wish to honor them, but rather as a proclaimer of
their great error, and as a humble servant of almighty God.]

Rodri'guez del Padr6n's explicit attitude towards antiquity, we see,

is quite unambiguous. In addition, his inclusion of Dante (the only
vernacular poet named in this catalogue of pagan authors) further
underscores his negation of Dante's extensive program of "virtuous
pagans" in the Commedia. s
Entendimiento, the protagonist's guide, explicitly refers to him as
a "second Aeneas" - but one who functions as the converse of
Dante's "new (Christian) Aeneas." The guide asks his charge the
following rhetorical questions:

4. All translations from the Spanish are mine. Italics are also mine.
5. We seem to have here a situation not unlike that of Petrarch's attitude towards Dante
in theory and practice: on the one hand, a stern denial of Dante's literary artistry; on the
other, an extensive exploitation of Dantean subtexts. See in this context: Thomas M.
Greene (1976:201-224); Robert Durling (1971:1-20); and Nancy J. Vickers (1981:1-11).

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
632 MARINA BROWNLEE

Piensas asy entrar esentamente en la casa de Pluton, dios infernal, segun hizo
Eneas, hyjo de la deesa, por cuyo mandado la sabia Sebilla le aconpailava,
e por mas que le segurava, temiendo las penas e pauorosos monstruos que
andauan por las Astigias, no padegi6 que la fuerte espada no tendiese, seguin
dize Vergilio, Eneydas, contra las sombras infernales, que son la aborrida
muerte, que passan las animas de la presente a la otra vida? (78-79).
[Are you intending to enter the house of Pluto, the infernal god, as Aeneas
did? He, the son of the goddess by whose decree the wise Sybil accompanied
him, and despite her assurances, fearing the torments and horrifying monsters
who inhabit the Styx and carry souls from this life to the next, did not
shrink from using his sword, according to Virgil in the Aeneid, against the
infernal shades which represent hateful death.]

This "new (Spanish) Aeneas" intends to journey to the Elysian

Fields - meaning death by suicide - for he sees it as the only way to
deal with the shattering experience of his unrequited love. Hence
he acts as a profoundly un-Christian Aeneas. Here, then, we see
Rodriguez del Padr6n exploiting Dante for a substantially different
(indeed, diametrically opposed) poetic purpose. What was one of
Dante's fundamental constructs (the redeployment of pagan matter
in Christian terms) in undone by Rodriguez del Padr6n.
Finally, the pilgrim is willfully abandoned by his guide, Entendi-
miento, who refuses to accompany him on his journey to Hell:

... no es mi voluntat de pasar, ni seguir tu dafiada compafiia; e solo m~as

quiere prender la angosta via, que demuestra la verde oliua, avnque muy
aspera sea, que mal acompafiado yr contygo a la perdifio6n (81).
[. . . it is not my will to proceed any further, or to continue in your mis-
guided company. I prefer to follow the narrow path alone, the path of the
green olive tree, although it is an arduous path, rather than going to perdition
in your bad company.]

It is difficult to imagine a guide more different from Dante's Virgil

than this one.
Looking now at the Siervo in tandem with the Vita Nuova, we
find further important correspondences. If we consider the relation-
ship of the two male protagonists to their respective ladies - both of
which resulted in the writing of the poetic texts under consideration
- we see that they are fundamentally (and symmetrically) opposed.
Dante, as we learn in the Vita Nuova (Chapters XXXVII-XXXVIII),
was overtaken by love for a donna gentile whom he first noticed
looking at him from a window. As described in this work, his love for
her prevailed for a time over his love for Beatrice. Hence he rejected
the worthy woman for the unworthy. He moves from a state of false
perception to that of true perception (a process redescribed most
elaborately in the Commedia) in which he must (re)learn to love
(properly) his worthy woman (Beatrice) - the emissary of God.
Because of his psychological selva oscura the pilgrim must descend

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 GENERIC STATUS OF SIER VO LIBRE DE AMOR 633

into Hell - the place inhabited by "those who have lost the good
of intellect" (i.e., knowledge of God).6
In the Siervo the configuration (significantly) is reversed: The
protagonist has been rejected by an unworthy sefiora. This false
sefiora does not lead the protagonist to God - indeed, she is the path
away from God. Furthermore, Beatrice is one and the same donna
who was initially perceived falsely and thereafter perceived rightly
by the pilgrim. In contradistinction to this progression, Rodrifguez
del Padr6n contrasts two different women: a false sefiora (the earthly
woman who has rejected the protagonist) and a true one, namely
Synderesis - the allegorical representation of Wisdom, the only one
who can lead the protagonist to God.7 Thus Rodriguez del Padr6n
effects a significant split in the Dantean configuration. For while
Dante is a (divine) love poet in whose discourse the pilgrim is
inscribed or contained, Rodriguez del Padr6n is a pilgrim in whose
discourse a (human) love poet is inscribed - and ultimately rejected.
Therefore, while Dante's configuration consists largely of poetic
fusion (love of Beatrice which leads directly to love of God, i.e.,
religious truth arrived at through the mediation of poetry), Rodri-
guez del Padr6n's configuration represents an unraveling of this (and
of the conflation of amatory and religious imagery in the conven-
tional discourse of courtly love - the starting point for both poets).
The intercalated tale of the two lovers (Ardanlier and Lyessa) -
occupying virtually half of the entire Siervo - illustrates both the
love/religion conflation essential to the traditional courtly love
idiom and Rodriguez del Padr6n's unraveling of it.8 More precisely,
it is the epitaph inscribed upon the tombs of the lovers that reveals
the (highly literary) dialectic tension which Rodriguez del Padr6n
generates between the amorous and religious registers.
The sepulchral inscription reads as follows:
EXEMPLO Y PERPETUA MEMBRAN?A
CON GRAND DOLOR,
SEA A VOS, AMADORES,
LA CRUEL MUERTE DE LOS MUY LEALES
ARDANLIER Y LYESS [S] A,
FALLECIDOS POR BIEN AMAR.
VERSOS DE LAS SEPULTURAS
REYNANTE SATURNO EN LA MAYOR ESPERA,
MARES CON VENUS JUNTO EN LA SEBUNDA ZONA,
DECLINANTE ZODYACO A LA PARTE HAUSTRAL;

6. Inferno III, 1. 18, p. 24. All references to the Commedia are from the text of Giorgio
Petrocchi (1970-1975).
7. Interestingly, both Dante's Virgil and his Beatrice exist exclusively as personification
figures in Rodriguez del Padr6n - further evidence of his creative transformation of Dante.
8. For a discussion of this pan-European phenomenon, see Johan Huizinga (1954), and for
its Spanish manifestation, see Maria Rosa Lida (1946).

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
634 MARINA BROWNLEE

COMBURO PASANDO EL PUNTO DE LIBRA:

EL SOL QUE TOCAVA LA VISA DEL POLO.
CUYOS ENTEROS CUERPOS EN TESTIMONIO DE LAS OBRAS
PERSEVERAMOS LAS DOS RYCAS TUMBAS, FASTA EL
PAUOROSO DIA QUE A LOS GRANDES BRAMIDOS
DE LOS QUATRO ANIMALES DESPIERTEN
DEL GRAND SUE1NO, E SUS MUY PURIFICAS ANIMAS
POSEAN PERDURABLE FOLGAN?A (102)
[May the cruel deaths of the faithful Ardanlier and Lyessa (who died because
they loved well) serve as a perpetual example to you, O lovers. They died
when Saturn was ruling in the major sphere, Mars and Venus were together
in the second zone, as the zodiac was declining, the path of the celestial
sphere being in Libra and the sun positioned toward the pole. We preserve
their bodies in two richly ornamented tombs as a testimony to their deeds
until the terrifying day when to the loud roaring of the four beasts they will
awaken from the great sleep, and their purified souls will enjoy eternal rest.]

What Rodriguez del Padr6n effects in this epitaph is a subversion

of our "generic expectations." That is, we are led to expect a final
(pagan) apotheosis of the lovers - yet our attention is abruptly
shifted from such a glorification of human love to a concern with
the (Christian) Day of Judgment, "el pauoroso dia que a los grandes
bramidos de los quatro animales despierten del grand suefio, e sus
muy puri'ficas ~inimas posean perdurable folganqa." The four beasts
are the four beasts of the Apocalypse referred to in Revelation 4:
4-6 and Ezekiel 1:1-14. Christian salvation is the one fate which
we do not expect the lovers either to seek or attain. At no point
have they, Yrena, or any of the other lovers involved in this tale,
shown any concern for religion.
The allusion here to the four apocalyptic beasts is quite un-
expected. However, this reference may be seen as yet another strate-
gically chosen Dantean resonance. For, we remember, it is these
beasts who accompany Beatrice when she appears in Purgatory
XXIX, vv. 92-108.9 By choosing to include this seminal detail,

9. vennero appresso lor quattro animali,

coronati ciascun di verde fronda.
Ognuno era pennuto di sei ali;
le penne piene d'occhi; e li occhi d'Argo,
se fosser vivi, sarebber cotali.
A descriver lor forme piui non spargo
rime, lettor; ch'altra spesa mi stringe,
tanto ch'a questa non posso esser largo;
ma leggi Ezechiel, che li dipigne
come li vide da le fredda parte
venir con vento e con nube e con igne;
e quali i troverai ne le sue carte,
tali eran quivi, salvo ch'ale penne
Giovanni e meco e da lui si diparte.
Lo spazio dentro alor quattro contenne
un carro, in su due rote, triunfale,
ch'al collo d'un grifon tirato venne (vv. 92-108)

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 GENERIC STATUS OF SIER VO LIBRE DE AMOR 635

Rodriguez del Padr6n implicitly, yet boldly, juxtaposes for his

readers the sterile, pagan love of Ardanlier and Lyessa with the
Christian love of Beatrice. Indeed, the story of these two lovers,
including the veneration of and pilgrimage to their tombs by other
lovers, is presented as an overt, profane subversion of the cult of
Santiago de Compostela.10
We are told that the secret dwelling of Ardanlier and Lyessa is
located in "la antyga cibdat Venera, que es en los fynes de la
pequefia Francia, oy llamada Gallizia. . ." (88) [the ancient city of
Venera, which is located at the edge of little France, now known as
Galicia. . .]. As Antonio Prieto explains, "Cibdat Venera" refers to
Santiago de Compostela: "Venera es la concha de los peregrinos.
Las alegorias sacroprofanas de las paiginas siguientes parecen induzir
a ello" (88) [the identification of the Cibdat Venera with Santiago
de Compostela]. (Venera, of course, carries with it the added con-
notation of venereal - pertaining to the cult of Venus, as e.g., in
the "leyes venereas" referred to on p. 86.) Indeed, the mausoleum
of the two lovers takes on the aspect of the holy shrine, with all the
mystique and ceremony which Santiago de Compostela, implies.
People (lovers) from all parts of the world come to venerate this
lovers' "holy city":
grandes prinqipes affricanos, de Asya y Europa, reyes, duques, condes,
caualleros, marqueses y gentiles omnes, lyndas damas de leuante y poniente,
meridion y setentryon, con saluo conduto del Rey d[e] Espafia venian en
prueva de aquesta aventura: los caualleros, deseando auer gloria de gentileza,
fortaleza y de lealtat; las damas, de fe y lealtat, gentileza y grand fermosura,
seguind la conquista les otorgava (103-104).
[great princes from Africa, Asia and Europe, kings, dukes, counts, marquis,
gentlemen, beautiful ladies from east and west, south and north, all under-
took this quest with safe passage guaranteed by the King of Spain: The
knights wished to distinguish themselves by courtliness, fortitude and
loyalty, the ladies, by faith and loyalty, courtliness, and great beauty, accord-
ing to the outcome of their adventure.]

Clearly, what we have here is a pilgrimage of love - not religion -

to Santiago."1
Further commingling of the sacred and the profane occurs as we
are told that this secular shrine is the "nuevo templo de la deesa
Vesta, do reynava la Deesa de amores" (101) [new temple of the
goddess Vesta, where the goddess of love reigned]. We expect the
"nueva deesa" to be the Virgin Mary, as Prieto explains in his gloss

10. Javier Herrero (1980) offers a very different reading of this intercalated love story:
"Yrena's purified love for Ardanlier is the Christian self-sacrificing charity which moves
her to dedicate her life to Vesta (a figure, here, for the Virgin Mary), to live in chastity,
to profess in a religious order and to offer a life of penance for the salvation of a sinner's
soul," p. 762).
11. For a discussion of the pilgrimage motif in the Siervo, see Edward Dudley (1967).

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
636 MARINA BROWNLEE

on this passage: "Juan Rodriguez afirma que el templo de Vesta se

edific6 sobre el de Venus, quiza con una intenci6n simb6lica y proba-
blemente sea una manifestaci6n de la hiperbole sacroprofana" of
courtly love diction which Rodriguez del Padr6n evokes in order to
subvert it thereafter. For, the sepulchral inscription on the tombs of
the two lovers follows directly after the reference to Vesta supplant-
ing Venus. This epitaph may be seen as an emblematic separation of
the amorous and religious registers which are consistently combined
in the writing of courtly love lyric.
Rodri'guez del Padr6n, as discussed above, establishes an astral
(pagan) point of reference for the death of the two lovers who died
"por bien amar" - a highly charged term, as Brian Dutton (1970)
has demonstrated. Dutton discerns two basic meanings for the term
buen amor in the Spanish middle ages: "(i) the love of God, and
consequently, charity, brotherly love, and (ii) the courtly love of the
poets" (iii) - i.e., fin'amor. Thus, while recalling to the reader the
mutual loyalty of the two lovers, bien amar simultaneously reminds
us that they have had no regard for anyone or anything outside of
their immediate relationship. In fact, this self-absorption leads to
multiple deaths (those of Ardanlier, Lyessa, Yrena, Lamidoras) and
great sufferings (principally that of Ardanlier's father, but also of
the Emperor and countless others).
The lovers have consistently ignored their spiritual fate - or rather
they have given themselves over to the pagan god of love instead of
the Christian love of God. They are, therefore, doomed and not
intended to enjoy "perdurable folganga" (102), but its opposite,
according to Christian doctrine, when they awaken from the "grand
suefio." Upon awakening from his own "graue suefio" (107), the
poet-protagonist has realized the error of the two lovers (as well as
that of Macias); the intercalated novella functions, in fact, as nega-
tive exemplum (see Bastianutti 1972 and Andrachuk 1977). For
when he awakens, the protagonist has completely altered his percep-
tion: rather than being a love-sick victim of unrequited passion, he
seeks the path of reason very fervently:

Complida la fabla [fabula - exemplum] que pasado entre mi avia, con furia
de amor enderegada a las cosas mudas, desperte como de vn graue suefio a
grand priesa diziendo: "Buelta, buelta, mi esquyvo pensar, de la degiente via
de perdiqi6n quel irbol p6pulo, consagrado a Hercules, le demostrava al seguir
de los tres caminos en el jard'n de la ventura; e prende la muy agra senda
donde era la verde olyva, consagrada a Minerua, quel entendimiento nos
ensefiava quando party6 ayrado de mi." (107)
[When the exemplum which I had experienced was over, I awoke as if from a
profound dream, addressing myself to my mute surroundings, saying ada-
mantly: "Come back, come back, my misguided judgment, from the down-
ward path of perdition which the poplar tree (representing Hercules) showed
him when he followed the three paths in the garden of fortune. Take the

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 GENERIC STATUS OF SIER VO LIBRE DE AMOR 637

arduous path of the green olive tree (representing Minerva), which under-
standing pointed out to us when she angrily abandoned me."]

Thus Rodriguez del Padr6n effects a definitive split in the love/

religion binome of courtly love, which also constitutes a split in the
Dantean configuration of love for Beatrice leading directly to love
of God.
Finally, while Dante may be said to "remotivate" lyric in the Vita
Nuova and romance in the Commedia, Rodriguez del Padr6n fuses a
remotivation of both genres into the Siervo. (By "generic remotiva-
tion" here I mean simply the exploitation of these two traditionally
nondidactic genres for didactic - hence extratextual - purposes,
the move from a traditionally representational mode of discourse
to an illustrative one - in this case to religious allegory.)
The subversion of the Dantean "lyric self" is further emphasized
by a subversion of the medieval topos of birdsong as metaphor for
lyric poet.12 The protagonist of the Siervo repeatedly has the effect
of silencing the birds of the woods:
El lindo arrayan, consagrado a la deesa Venus, que era en la espagiosa via de
bien amar, en punto que sobre mi tendio las verdes ramas, fue despojado de
su vestidura . . . el ruysefior que a la saz6n cantaua, troc6 el breue con el
triste atrono: las ledas aves gritaderas mudaron los sus dulkes cantos en gritos
e pasibles lays: todas las criaturas que eran en verso de mi padeqieron eclypsy
por dyuersas figuras. Es de marauillar que avn el trabajado portante, en las
partes de Ytalia conogido por el alazain, fue tornado del son que es oy dia,
del triste color de todas mis ropas ... yo solo ... estaua en poder de la grand
tristura, vistas las mudas aves, criaturas, plantas non sentibles, en tal mudanga
de su proprio ser, por causa mia. .. (76-77)
[The beautiful myrtle tree, devoted to Venus, which grew on the spacious
path of good love, as soon as it spread its green branches over me, shed its
leaves . . . the nightingale which was singing at that time, changed its gay song
to a sad one: the jubilant songbirds turned their sweet songs into shrieks and
sad songs: all the creatures which surrounded me suffered, eclipsed in various
ways. Even the sorrel horse was changed from its light shade to the somber
color of my garb . . . I alone . . . was responsible for this great sadness, seeing
the mute birds, beasts and senseless plants transformed from their normal
state because of me...]

This is quite an extraordinary situation given the convention in

medieval lyric poetry of birdsong as metaphor for the poet's song.
Rodriguez del Padr6n's poet-protagonist thus involves an inversion
of the stock presentation of the archetypal love poet. Moreover, it is
important to note that this inversion of the lyric-poet-as-bird

12. This is a commonplace of lyric poetry, both troubadour and trouvere. The topos is
poeticized at the (structurally significant) midpoint of the conjoined Roman de la Rose
(v. 10, 607), where Jean de Meun's God of Love describes him literally as a bird, feathers
and all: "je l'afublere de mes eles. . ." See also Peter F. Dembowski (1976) and Paul
Zumthor (1972, esp. pp. 212-218). For the metaphorical association of the lyric poet with
birds and birdsong in Spanish poetry, see Eugenio Asensio (1957, esp. pp. 247-251).

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
638 MARINA BROWNLEE

metaphor operates consistently throughout the work. For, the only

time that the birds do sing in the presence of the protagonist is
subsequent to his awakening ("desperte como de un graue suefio,"
107). The moment of awakening is, of course, always highly signi-
ficant in medieval literature: it indicates a new awareness of truth
on the part of the character in question and hence may be seen as
a metaphor for the moment of conversion (see Langlois 1891:55-
69). At this point in the Siervo it is springtime (the canonical season
of love) and the flock of birds, rather than singing of human love,
sings of Divine love: "en son de alabanga/dezia vn discor:/ 'Servid al
Sefior/ pobres de andanqa' " (110) [in the manner of praise a chorus
sang: 'Serve the Lord, misguided ones']. The protagonist does not
heed their advice, however ("yo por locura/cante por amores," 110).
[I irresponsibly sang of human love.] The birds immediately fall
silent at the resumption of his love lament and he, in order to attract
them once again, decides to use the ploy of singing joyously ("... por
los mais atraher/ a me querer responder,/en sefial de alegrz'a/ cantava
con grande afdn la antygua canci6n mi'a," 110) [. .. in order to
attract them into responding, I sang my old song in a joyful tone].
The protagonist here appears to be distancing himself from the
love-martyr Macias for, having assumed a happier tone, he seems to
be overcoming his sense of loss, stating that "Dios y mi ventura/
m'atraydo a tal estado" (110).13 This is, significantly, the protago-
nist's first mention of God in the entire text, and in the next
quatrain he explicitly dissociates himself from Macias - with whom
he had formerly felt such an affinity:
No se que postremeria
ayan buena los mis dias,
quando el gentil Macias
priso muerte por tal via. (110)
[I do not know what pleasant end my life will have, given that Maifas died
because of that path.]

Although he continues to sing about his lady, he increasingly

distances himself from his prior state of grief and lamentation.
He does this in two highly literary ways. First, he creates a play of
temporalities in the refrain to his last stanza: "Ya, sefiora, en quien
fianqa/catyvo de mi trystura" (111) [Now, my lady, in whom trust,
victim of my sadness]. Although this is a rather elliptical refrain,
the word "ya" definitively denotes a temporal play (then vs. now),
presumably the "then" of his love-sick self vs. the "now" of his

13. The phrase "Dios y mi ventura" is, of course, a commonplace in Spanish literature,
found in texts as disparate as the romances antiguos and the Lazarillo. Within the context
of the Siervo, however, the force of this first mention of God is not diminished by Rodrl-
guez del Padron's use of a formulaic expression.

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 GENERIC STATUS OF SIER VO LIBRE DE AMOR 639

superior (distanced) perspective.14 This interpretation is further

strengthened by the scene which immediately follows: "E asy errado
por las malezas, mudado en las mais altas arbores de mi escura
maginanga, por devisar algi'n poblado, falleme ribera del grand mar,
en vista de vna grand vrca de armada. . ." (111) [Thus wandering
through the woods, transformed in the treetops of my dark imagina-
tion, in order to find an inhibited place, I found myself on the sea-
shore, in view of a great warship. ..].The phrase "mudado en las
mas altas ;irbores de mi escura maginanga" is very important, for it
echoes the poet-as-bird metaphor as well as underscoring the fact
that a change has taken place in the poet. Mudado, of course, means
either "changed" or "moulted" (i.e., the shedding of a bird's feathers
in springtime). Thus the poet is perched in the tallest trees, having
shed his old feathers - those inoperative feathers of the traditional
love poet - and has now acquired a superior perspective, which
allows him to have an unobstructed view of Synderesis (Wisdom
personified) - a greatly modified avatar of Dante's Beatrice.is
The advent of Synderesis to the protagonist recalls in several
significant ways the advent of Beatrice to Dante in Purgatorio XXX.
Gregory Andrachuk (1977a) very suggestively notes this intertextual
reference:

As Dante will rise from his act of contrition in possession of his free will, so
Rodriguez will be able to follow his chosen path ("despubs de libre, en con-
pafila de la discregi6n"). As Dante was directed by Beatrice, the symbol of
Divine Revelation and knowledge, so Rodriguez . . has decided to follow the
path of wisdom. Synderesis' coming in a ship, accompanied by the seven
virtues, parallels the arrival of Beatrice, for just as the procession of the
chariot represents the Church, the ship can be seen to symbolize the same
thing. The presence of the seven virtues awaiting the repentance of the sinner
is implicit in the medieval belief that the lover guilty of "loco amor" had lost
all of these (178).

The validity of Andrachuk's interpretation may be further strength-

ened by additional details such as the description of Synderesis as
a "senora mastreza" - similar to the description of Beatrice in
Purgatorio XXX, 58-60: "Quasi ammiraglio che in poppa ed in
prora/viene a veder la gente che ministra/per li altri legni, e ben far
l'incora. . ."16 [Like an admiral who goes to poop and prow to see

14. This temporal distancing seems to be echoed by the "antygua canci6n" (vs. the "nueva"
which he signs joyously). In this connection, see Olga Tudorica Impey (1980:171-187).
Andrachuk (1980), on the other hand, sees no such distancing: "El poema termina sin que
el poeta comprenda perfectamente el mensaje de las aves" (p. 620).
15. This shedding of (love) feathers recalls the shedding of the Tree of Love's leaves ("el
lindo arrayan, consagrado a la deesa Venus . . . en punto que sobre mi' tendi6 las verdes
ramas, fue despojado de su vestidura," p. 76). The poet-protagonist's fundamentally anti-
lyric nature has thus been established virtually from the outset of the work.
16. All translations of Dante are from Sinclair (1961).

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
640 MARINA BROWNLEE

the men that serve on the other ships and to hearten them in their
work. . .] .
These fundamental similarities, however, function to highlight a
series of essential differences. On the one hand, what had been
figurative language for Dante (the simile "like an admiral," as well as
the ship) becomes literal in Rodriguez del Padr6n's presentation of
his reworked Beatrice figure. On the other hand, Synderesis qua
character is "una duefia anqiana" [an elderly lady] who is "vestida
de negro" (111) [dressed in black]. She thus contrasts strikingly
with Dante's portrayal of Beatrice (11. 28-33 of Purgatorio XXX):
... dentro una nuvola di fiori
che da le mani angeliche saliva
e ricadeva in giu dentro e di fori,
sovra candido vel cinta d'uliva
donna m'apparve, sotto verde manto
vestita di color di fiamma viva.

[within a cloud of flowers which rose from the angels' hands and fell again
within and without, a lady appeared to me, girt with olive over a white veil,
clothed under a green mantle with the color of living flame.]

Beatrice is dressed as a youthful maiden, and Dante, upon seeing her,

recalls his former love for her (1. 39) - a human, earthly love:
"d'antico amor senti la gran potenza." [I felt old love's great power.]
Because this phrase hearkens back to Dante's condition as a lyric
lover in the Vita Nuova, Rodriguez del Padr6n makes his female
figure of salvation the very antithesis of a young maiden evoking
thoughts of love - i.e., an old woman dressed in black ("cubyerta
de duelo," 111). This is entirely consistent with his unraveling of
the lyric component of Dante's poet/lover/beloved configuration
described above. Synderesis is clearly an anti-lyric figure (both in
her age and appearance), more reminiscent perhaps of Boethius's
Lady Philosophy. Synderesis could not be further from the figure
of Beatrice, the earthly woman who led the pilgrim from human
to Divine love.
Consequently, the function of Synderesis and the spiritual pro-
gression of the Siervo's pilgrim (from earthly love of a woman to a
rejection of this, which leads ultimately to love of God) makes the
Siervo more an "anti-novela sentimental" than anything else.
Furthermore, it is Rodriguez del Padr6n's reworking of Dante's poet/
lover/beloved configuration which underscores the true semantic
content of the Siervo.
In addition, this same subtextual configuration reveals the "poetic
closure" operative in Rodriguez del Padr6n's text. Andrachuk
(1977a:179) reasons that: "the Siervo libre as we have it is not as
Rodriguez intended it to be; that is, the third part of the work is
entirely missing." This attitude represents a widely held interpreta-
tion. However, if we consider the textual function of the first

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 GENERIC STATUS OF SIER VO LIBRE DE AMOR 641

appearance of Beatrice in the Commedia, we realize that Rodriguez

del Padr6n has, in fact, set down his last sentence.
The arrival of Beatrice in her triumphal chariot drawn by the
Griffon (half eagle, half lion; i.e., symbolizing Christ) constitutes a
pageant of revelation. Her appearance coincides with the end of the
pilgrim's purgation - with his intellection of his fall, leading (in
the canto immediately following) to his full confession. Hence it
is not necessary for Rodriguez del Padr6n's protagonist to make
explicit confession as Dante's did. If we have rightly understood
the Dantean subtext, we do not need the "tercera parte" to be
elaborated for us by the poet." Indeed, it is entirely in keeping with
the poetics of Rodriguez del Padr6n's creative reworking of Dante
to diverge from him markedly, having first established a firm inter-
textual frame of reference. Because he has chosen to recall the
explicit moment of conversion in Dante's poem, there is no need
for an explicit confession in his own work. His is an implicit (yet
unambiguous) pageant of revelation - wholly original precisely
because of its implicit presentation.
Finally, we are told that Synderesis "vyno en demanda de mis
aventuras; e yo esso mesmo en recuenta de aquellas" (112) [came to
inquire about my adventures; and I to recount them]. The text thus
ends with her request that the protagonist confess. It is significant
that the word aventura (the archetypal episodic romance unit of
narration) is used explicitly at this point - thereby emphasizing the
survival of the protagonist's romance identity (as Christian pilgrim),
as opposed to his former identity as lyric lover. This may be seen as
the culmination of the unraveling of the Dantean configuration.
It is the request of Synderesis that the protagonist recount his
aventuras (the progression of his intellect) - which is presented as
the real motivation for writing the Siervo. Thus the text operates
as a "closed system," for the poet-protagonist is writing from the
perspective of one who has already met Synderesis. It is a finished
work which, if the subtext and its function have been properly
interpreted, leaves no ambiguity as to its conclusion.
One question still remains: The Siervo cannot, strictly speaking,

17. In fact, the Paradiso, considered in its entirety as a third stage in the learning process
of the protagonist, is implicit in the appearance of Synderesis. This is so because Dante's
apprenticeship with Beatrice (lasting from Purgatorio XXX to Paradiso XXX, 1. 90) is an
apprenticeship of the intellect.
Robert Hollander (1980:34; see also 1969:199-200) elaborates the progression of the
pilgrim's learning as follows:

Dante's Development Locus Guide

I. Correction of the will Inf. I-XXXIV Virgil

II. Perfection of the will Purg. I-XXIX Virgil
III. Corrrection of the intellect Purg. XXX-Par. XXX, 90 Beatrice
IV. Perfection of the intellect Par. XXX, 90-XXXIII, 145 St. Bernard

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
642 MARINA BROWNLEE

be categorized as an "anti-novela sentimental," since no novella

sentimental preexisted this work. How, then, do we situate this text
generically? Is it a total anomaly which sprang ex nihilo? Clearly not,
for as Hans-Robert Jauss (1970:91) points out:

?.. la litterature
traire, medi6vale
mais un ordre latent romane n'estd'ordres
ou une suite pas simplement
de genresune somme arbi-
litteraires.
I would argue that the Siervo pertains to the generic hybrid form
which G. B. Gybbon-Monypenny (1957; see also 1973) has termed
the "erotic pseudoautobiography." He identifies the defining charac-
teristics of this literary corpus, explaining that:
... the following characteristics, which are common to . . . all [the texts]
make of them a distinct genre. 1 - Each is written in the spirit of courtly love,
and from the point of view of the courtly lover. 2 - In each the protagonist
is definitely identified with the author by name, and in four of the six [texts
belonging to this literary category], by mention of people and incidents
historically verifiable. 3 - The author presents himself in a heroic and sym-
pathetic light, if not always as a triumphant lover (in courtly love the lover's
conduct is more important than his success or failure). 4 - Each author
quotes a number of his own lyric poems, interpolated at intervals in his
narrative. The method of introduction is either to describe the poem as inspired
by the author's state of mind or heart at that point in the story, or to declare
that he sent it to his lady at that point as part of his offerings as a suitor (71).

The major texts which Gybbon-Monypenny (1957:70) identifies

as pertaining to this literary category are, in chronological order:
the Frauendienst of Ulrich von Lichtenstein (1225), Dante's Vita
Nuova (c. 1295), the Dit de la Panthere of Nicole de Margival (c.
1290-1320), Juan Ruiz's Libro de buen amor (1330, 1343), the
Espinette Amoureuse of Jean Froissart (c. 1362-1363), and
Froissart's Prison Amoureuse (c. 1375).
Rodrlguez del Padr6n's text exploits all of the four defining
characteristics outlined by Gybbon-Monypenny for the group of
13th- and 14th-century texts which he names. I would argue, there-
fore, that the Siervo - rather than being the first manifestation of
the new novelistic subgenre known as novela sentimental - belongs,
in fact, to the tradition of the erotic pseudoautobiography; that it is
a late manifestation of this subgenre (coming as it does at the first
half of the 15th century). It is the final possible permutation of this
medieval literary form - a subversion of it.

REFERENCES
Alonso, Cisar Hernandez, 1970. Siervo libre de amor (Valladolid: Univ. of Valladolid).
Andrachuk, Gregory P., 1977a. "On the Missing Third Part of the Siervo libre de amor,"
Hispanic Review 45, 171-180.
1977b "The function of the Estoria de los dos amadores within the Siervo libre de
amor," Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispdnicos 2, 27-38.
1980 "Prosa y poesia en el Siervo libre de amor," in: Actas del sexto congreso inter-
nacional de hispanistas (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto).
1981 "A Further Look at the Italian Influence in the Siervo libre de amor," Journal of
Hispanic Philology 6, 45-61.

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 GENERIC STATUS OF SIER VO LIBRE DE AMOR 643

Asensio, Eugenio, 1957. Poetica y realidad en el cancionery peninsular de la edad media

(Madrid: Gredos).
Barbieto, Carlos Martinez, 1951. Macz'as el enamorado y Juan Rodrzguez del Padr6n
(Santiago: Bibli6filos Gallegos).
Bastianutti, D. L., 1972. "La funci6n de la Fortuna en la primera novela sentimental espa-
fiola," Romance Notes 14, 394-402.
Dembowski, Peter F., 1976. "Vocabulary of Old French Courtly Lyrics - Difficulties and
Hidden Difficulties," Critical Inquiry 2, 763-779.
Dudley, Edward J., 1963. "Structure and Meaning in the Novel of Juan Rodriguez del
Padr6n: Siervo libre de amor" (Dissertation: Univ. of Minnesota).
1967 "Court and Country: The Fusion of Two Images of Love in Juan Rodriguez's
El Siervo libre de amor," Proceedings of the Modern Language Association 82, 117-
120.

Durling, Robert, 1971. "Giovene donna sotto un verde lauro," Modern Language Notes 86,
1-20.
Dutton, Brian, 1970. " 'Buen amor': Its Meaning and Uses in Some Medieval Texts," in:
G. B. Gybbon-Monypenny, ed. "Libro de buen amor" Studies (London: Tamesis).
Greene, Thomas M., 1976. "Petrarch and the Humanist Hermeneutic," in: G. Rimanelli
and K. J. Atichity, eds. Italian Literature: Roots and Branches (New Haven: Yale
UP).
Gybbon-Monypenny, G. B., 1957. "Autobiography in the Libro de buen amor in the Light
of Some Literary Comparisons," Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 34, 63-78.
1973 "Guillaume de Machaut's Erotic Autobiography: Precedents for the Form of the
Voir-Dit," in: W. Rothwell et al., eds. Studies in Medieval Literature and Language in
Memory of Frederick Whitehead (Manchester: Manchester UP), 132-152.
Herrero, Javier, 1980. "The Allegorical Structure of the Siervo libre de amor," Speculum
55, 751-764.
Hollander, Robert, 1968. "Dante's Use of Aeneid I in Inferno I and II," Comparative
Literature 20, 142-156.
1969 Allegory in Dante's "Commedia" (Princeton: Princeton UP).
1980 Studies in Dante (Ravenna: Longo).
Huizinga, Johan, 1954. The Waning of the Middle Ages (New York: Anchor Books).
Impey, Olga Tudorica, 1980. "La poesia y la prosa del Siervo libre de amor," in: Joseph R.
Jones, ed. Medieval, Renaissance and Folklore Studies in Honor of John Esten Keller
(Newark, Del.: Juan de la Cuesta).
Jauss, Hans-Robert, 1970. "Litterature medievale et thdorie des genres," Poetique I, 79-101.
Langlois, Ernest, 1891. Origines et Sources du "Roman de la Rose" (Paris: Thorin).
Lida, Mari'a Rosa, 1946. "La hiperbole sagrada en la poesi'a castellana del siglo XV," Revista
de Filologz'a Hispdnica 8, 121-130.
1952 "Juan Rodriguez del Padr6n: Vida y obras," Nueva Revista de Filolog'a Hispanica
6, 313-351.
1954 "Juan Rodriguez del Padr6n: Influencia," Nueva Revista de Filologz'a Hispdnica 8.
Pelayo, Marcelino Menendez y, 1905. Orzgenes de la novela (Madrid: Bailly, Balliere).
Petrocchi, Giorgio, ed., 1970-1975. In The Divine Comedy, trans. and commentary by
Charles S. Singleton, 3 vols. (Princeton: Princeton UP).
Post, C. R., 1915. Medieval Spanish Allegory (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP).
Prieto, Antonio, ed., 1976. Siervo libre de amor (Madrid: Castalia).
Samona, Carmelo, 1962. "Per una interpretazione del Siervo libre de amor," Studi ispanici
1, 187-203.
Sinclair, John D., trans., 1961. The Divine Comedy (New York: Oxford UP).
Vickers, Nancy, J., 1981. "Re-membering Dante: Petrarch's 'Chiare, fresche et dolci
acque,' "Modern Language Notes 96, 1--11.
Weissberger, Barbara, 1980. " 'Habla el Auctor': L'Elegia di Madonna Fiametta as a Source
for the Siervo libre de amor," Journal of Hispanic Philology 4, 203-236.
Zumthor, Paul, 1972. Essai de podtique mddilvale (Paris: Seuil).

This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:30:15 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms