THE UNIVERSITY of HULL Being a Thesis Submitted for the Degree Of
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THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL THE IIUYTACULATE CONCEPTION IN CASTILIAN AND CA TA LAN POETRY OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY: A COMPARATIVE THEMATIC STUDY being a thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Hull by LESLEY KAREN TWOMEY B.A. (Hons.) Modern Languages University of Manchester April 1995 DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to Pearl Laxnbert, whose determination and unfailing courage are a constant source of inspiration. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to all my family and friends for their interest and support. My thanks go to Derry Twomey, without whom this thesis might never have been brought to its conclusion and whose patience has been never-failing: especially for his assistance with proof-reading 'faute de mieux'; Dominic, Rebekah and David Twomey for helping and encouraging each in their own way; Dr. Barry Taylor at the British Library for his kind assistance; Hazel and Martin, Helen and Dilip, Enrique and Amelia for their accommodating welcome, often at short notice; colleagues at the School of International Business, University of Huntherside for their kind consideration. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Brian Powell for his expert guidance, encouragement and support at all times. His meticulous approach to scholarship has taught me a great deal. ABBREVIATIONS CB Cancionero de Baena CM Cancionero de Mon tesino Coplas Coplas de Vita Christi 1440 Certamen Certanen en llaor de la Concepció de Nostra Dona, València 1440 1474 Certaxnen Certa.men 'en lahors de la Verge Maria', València 1474 1486 Certainen Certarnen poetic en honor de la SacratIssima Concepciá, València 1486 F-D Cancionero castellano del siglo XV J.B The New Jerusalem Bible Milagros Los milagros de Nuestra Sefiora PL Patrologiae cursus completus siue bibliotheca universalis omnium S.S. Patrum, Doctorum scriptorumque ecciesiasticorum qui ab aevo apostolico ad usg-ue Innocentii iii tempore floruerunt, Series (Latina) prima 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 PART I MZ½RIOLOGY AND DOCTRINE 10 1 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 11 1.1 THE DEFINITION 11 1.2 MARIAN THOUGHT AND THE CQNCEPTION DOCTRINE 13 1.3 THE HISTORY OF THE CONCEPTION FEAST 17 1.3.1 Celebration of a feast-day 18 1.3.2 The opposition of St. Bernard 21 1.3.3 The celebration of the Conception feast in Spain 23 1.4 THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCHOLASTICISM 24 1.4.1 The opposition of St Thomas Aquinas 25 1.4.2 Duns Scotus: Doctor Subtilis 28 1.4.3 Status Quaestionis 31 1.5 CONTROVERSY IN CATALUA AND ROYAL INTERVENTION 36 1.6 CONCILIAR APPROVAL: THE COUNCIL OF BASLE (1431-1449) 39 1.7 PAPAL INTERVENTION 40 1.8 CONCLUSION 43 2 'DISCORDANS D'OPINIO': SCHOLASTIC INFLUENCE 44 2.1 THE CONCEPTION DOCTRINE AND CONFLICT 44 2.2 THE INFLUENCE OF SCHOLASTIC VOCABULARY ON FIFTEENTH- CENTURY POETRY 45 2.3 SCHOLASTIC INFLUENCE ON REFERENCE TO AUTHORITY 61 2.4 SCHOLASTIC ARGUMENT AS AN INFLUENCE ON FIFTEENTH- CENTURY POETRY 85 2.5 CONCLUSION 97 PART II THEMES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT 101 3 THE SPOTLESS VIRGIN 102 3 . 1 CANTICUM CANTICORUM: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MARIAN INTERPRETATION 102 3.2 THE VIRGIN IMMACULATE IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY POETRY 105 2 3.3 THE SINLESSNESS OF THE VIRGIN IN POETRY PRIOR TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 111 3.3.1 'Syn mansilla' or 'sens màcula' 112 3.4 'SYN MANSILLA' AND 'SENS MACULA' IN CANCIONERO AND CERTANEN POEMS 116 3.4.1 'Syn mansilla de pecado' 118 3.4.2 'Macular' and 'manzillar' 123 3.4.3 The use of synonyms to replace 'mIcula' or 'mansilla' 125 3.4.4 The use of the verbal form 'taquar' 129 3.4.5 Images which imply 'sens màcula' or 'sin mansilla' 130 3 .5 BEAUTY AS A DESCRIPTOR OF THE VIRGIN AND AS A CANTICtJM REFERENCE 138 3.5.1 Tota Pulchra Es 142 3.6 OPPOSITION TO THE MACULISTS 154 3.7 CONCLUSION 158 4 MCJCHAS VECES SE TOMAN ENLA SANTA ESCRIPTURA UNAS PALABRAS POR OTRAS: THE WOMAN OF GENESIS 160 4.1 GENESIS AND MARY 160 4.2 INFLUENCE OF THE VULGATE TRANSLATION 165 4.3 REFERENCES TO GENESIS IN POETRY PRIOR TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 166 4.4 THE EVE-MARY PARALLEL IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY POETRY 173 4.5 THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE VIRGIN AND SATAN 176 4.5.1 Subjugation to Satan 176 4.5.2 The crushing of the serpent 181 4.5.3 The bondage of the Virgin and the binding of Satan 191 4.6 DEVELOPMENT OF THE EVE-MARY PARALLEL 194 4.7 THE WOMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE 201 4.8 CONCLUSION 205 5 CREADA A.B INITIO: CREATION AND PRE-CREATION IMAGERY 208 5.1 DEFINITION OF CREATION IMAGERY 208 5.2 WISDOM LITERATURE 209 5.3 POETIC USE OF ECCLESIASTICUS REFERENCES 210 5.4 PROVERBS REFERENCES AS PRE-CREATION ALLUSIONS 214 3 5.4.1 Pre-fifteenth century use of Proverbs 8.23 217 5.4.2 Catalan references to Proverbs 8.23 217 5.5 CONSISTENT USE OF PRE-CREATION IMAGES 220 5.5.1 Development of pre-creation imagery 222 5.5.2 Variations on a pre-creation theme 230 5.5.3 Creation and the Abyss 237 5.5.4 Creation and the Fall 242 5.6 PRE-CREATION: POSSIBLE ALLUSIONS 249 5.7 CONCLUSION 257 PART III NEW TESTAMENT THEMES 261 6 NEW TESTAMENT SYMBOLISM AND LITERATURE : APOCRYPHAL BIRTH NARRATIVES AND THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 262 6.1 APOCRYPHAL BIRTH STORIES : A BRIEF HISTORY 262 6.2 LITERATURE AND THE APOCRYPHAL STORIES: ALFONSO EL SABIO 266 6.3 THE APOCRYPHAL STORIES IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 277 6.4 CONCLUSION 297 7 NEW TESTAMENT SYMBOLISM: THE SUN, MOON AND STARS AS IMMACULIST SYMBOLS 300 7.1 THE WOM?N OF REVELATIONS AND MARY 300 7.1.1 The Woman of Revelations and Art 302 7.2 THE MULlER M1ICTA SOLE IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY POETRY 305 7.2.1 Single elements from Revelations 12.1 305 7.2.2 Two or more elements taken from Revelations 12.1 323 7.2.3 Castilian representation of the mulier arnicta sole 334 7.3 CONCLUSION 352 CONCLUSION 355 BIBLIOGRAPHY 366 GLOSSARY THEOLOGICAL TERMS 386 INDEX 389 4 INTRODUCTION The background to this investigation of fifteenth-century literature is the debate about Mary's sinless nature and the momen of her purification from sin, as enshrined in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Catholic doctrine which holds that the Virgin Na was sinless from the moment of her conception.' Whether Mary was pure from the very moment of her conception, and how this could be so, or whether she was sanctified a moment after conception, a distinction which may appear trivial to the modern mind, was a question which provoked virulent argument, royal decrees and even excommunication or exile for opponents in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. At first sight it may appear strange to examine the fifteenth-century manifestations of the debate about the Immaculate Conception, when the dogma was not defined until the nineteenth century. In 1854, the doctrine became a dogma necessary to salvation. 2 The doctrine was discussed before the date of its definition as dogma. As Le Bachelet affirms: En Ineffabilis Deus, ii y a toute une partie qui 1 For reference, an explanation of key theological terms is included in the Glossary. 2 The Christian Faith in the Documents of the Church, ed. by J. Neuner, S.J. and J. Dupuis, S.J. (Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1973). At p.196, Neuner and Dupuis comment that in the Bull Ineffabilis Deus, 18 December 1854, 'The Pope thus raises to a dogma of faith a doctrine which had behind it a long tradition'. 5 précède a. titre d'exposé historico-doctrinal: elle forme coirirne les considérants rationels de la sentence pontificale . It is immediately apparent from the general tenor of the papal definition that an unusually firm reliance was placd on tradition, as opposed to scriptural proof. This reliance provides a justification, should justification be needed, for the study of the dvelopment of iininaculist tradition and its expression in literature in the fifteenth century. Moreover, reflecting on the inferences of the 'marée montante' image described by René Laurentin, a present-day mariologist, a second more important justification emerges: Cornme les vagues se soulèvent, culminent, puis s'étalent et ref luent jusqu'à ce que la suivante porte plus loin son élan, ainsi chaque période préssent quelque aspect cache du visage de la Vierge, le découvre avec ferveur non sans excès parfois, et souvent non sans lutte.4 Dogma is defined only after each doctrine has arisen, been debated and been accepted. The fifteenth century represents a period of 'ferveur' The first tentative steps towards acceptance of the doctrine were taken early in the fourteenth century by X. Le Bachelet, 'L'Immaculée conception' in Dictionnaire de théologie catholique contenant l'exposé des doctrines de la théologie catholique, leurs preuves et leur histoire (DTC), ed. by Jean Michel Alfred Vacant, Eugene Margenot, Emile ?.mann, Bernard Lott, Marc Albert Michel, 16 vols. (Paris: Letouzey, 1899-1950), VII, 846-1218, p.848. René Laurentin, Court traité sur la Vierge Marie, 5th edn. (Paris: Lethielleux, 1967), p.15. 6 scholastic teachers, but the fifteenth century saw impassioned debate and violent reprisals against opponents. Debate was rife in the Peninsula at the end of the fourteenth century and in the early fifteenth century. In the Peninsula itself, at the turn of the century, the Catalan monarchy was particularly active in the promulgation of decrees, demanding loyalty to the doctrine as a prerequisite of loyalty t the state; edicts were promulgated by Juan I, Martin I and Dofia Maria de Aragón.