PERSIAN TRADITIONS IN SPAIN by Michael McClain (1) PREFACE First let me introduce myself. People who know me very well say that I have a mentality which is medieval and not modern, rural and not urban, that I am an “incurable romantic and idealist”, and that I have a “peasant mindset”. To all of the above I plead guilty, and as the Spanish say, y a mucha honra, in other words, I am proud of it. When one speaks of relations between Spain and Persia or of Persian influences in Spain, most people immediately think of elements which entered the Iberian Penninsula during the long period of Muslim dominance. This theme has been subject of many studies, by Hussein Munis and E. Levi-Provençal among others. For the above reasons, in the present study I am devoting much space to relations or influences which either predate the Muslim Conquest of Spain, which entered independently of said conquest, or, though they may have first entered with the Crescent of Islam, remained long after said Crescent had waned and set. To do a really complete and thorough study of this topic would require a great deal more time and money than I at present have at my disposal. In particular, it would require a long journey through Portugal, Aragon, Catalunya and Valencia, not to mention Iran. I have chosen to devote much time to Toledo, which was capital of Spain in Visigothic times and which is really a synthesis of all cultures, religions and artistic styles which form the threads of the multicolored fabric, part Celtic tartan, part Oriental carpet, (2) which is the history of Spain. I have also concentrated to a great degree on Asturias and Galicia. These regions were perhaps the least affected of all by the Muslim Conquest. Indeed, were it not for historical records there would be nothing to indicate that said conquest even took place in this Northwest corner of Spain. Yet, in the fields of art and architecture Sassanian influences were very strong indeed. Old Castile and Leon, lacerated for so long by endless border wars and border raids (of the men of Leon and Old Castile one might say what Sir Walter Scott said of the Vikings: "They had a breastplate for a cradle and were fed from a blade.") were unable to develop their own artistic and architectural styles. The art and architecture of Leon and Old Castile in the Middle Ages is simply one aspect of the European Romanesque and Gothic styles, lightly touched by Mozarab, Muslim and Mudejar influences. In the field of literature I have concentrated on epic poetry simply because in the field of lyric verse it is practically impossible to determine what may be of Persian derivation and what is of Celtic and\or Provencal inspiration. Nevertheless, as we shall see, I have not completely neglected the lyric. The Arabic language has no epic tradition, and therefore neither the Arabs nor their language could be considered as likely intermediaries between the epic traditions of Iran and Old Castile. I hope to demonstrate that one is really on quite firm ground when speaking of Iranian elements in the Castilian epic tradition. Although here one encounters the problem of how to (3) distinguish between what is the result of Iranian influences and what proceeds from the strong Celtic substratum of Old Castile, I believe that it can be shown that there are a number of elements which the Castilian Epic shares only and exclusively with the Persian Epic. I wish to thank all my friends in Galicia, Asturias, Andalusia, Extremadura, Old Castile and Leon for all the help and kindness which I received, and also to thank the Illustrious Mozarabic Community of Toledo for the kindness and hospitality which I received during the 1st International Congress of Mozarabic Studies, during which I was able to obtain photos of Toledo and its environs which help to illustrate this study. I also wish to thank the Southwestern College of Business of Middletown, Ohio and the Middletown Branch of Miami University (Ohio) for their kindness in allowing me to use their personal computers. I also wish to dedicate this book to the memory of the late Walter Havighurst, my professor of creative writing at the University of Miami of Ohio. It was Professor Havighurst who really taught me the art of composition in English. In particular, it was Professor Havighurst’s favorite motto, Do not tell, show, which has guided me in my compositions, both fiction and non- fiction, as I recall several times in the present work. (4) CHAPTER I - GENERAL Many people have noted the parallels and similarities between Persia and Spain. Wilfrid Blunt (1) says that the Persians are the Spaniards of the Middle East and that both Spaniards and Persians are proud, hospitable and procrastinating. Sr. Eugenio Montes, in an article in the Madrid newspaper ABC in honor of the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire, says: "Persia is the Spain of Asia, Spain is the Persia of the West." Reading this, one friend commented that it is no coincidence that Eugenio Montes is a Gallego, i.e., from Galicia. We will have more to say of this later. What, one may ask, would cause such distinguished gentlemen as Mr. Blunt and Sr. Montes to affirm such close relations between two countries so distant one from the other? There are many reasons, some of which neither of these two distinguished men of letters seem to be aware. The geographical similarities between the Iberian Penninsula and the Iranian Plateau are obvious, though of course the Iranian Plateau is on a much larger scale. Both are very largely cut off from the continents of which they form a part by high, rugged mountain ranges; both have a high, cold and somewhat barren central plateau, broken in places by mountains. In the province of Mazanderan one has the Iranian equivalent of the lush, green Cantabrian Coast (even the typical barns of Mazanderan resemble those of Asturias and Santander) in Persian Azerbaijan the (5) equivalent of the wheat plains of Leon. In the Persian Gulf Coast one has the equivalent of the Southern Mediterranean Coast of Spain. The resemblances are not purely geographical; there are also profound ethnic and historical parallels and similarities. Spain has a very strong Celtic heritage. At one time or another the Celts penetrated the entire Penninsula and strongly occupied its Western 75 per cent. The Celts were of course never expelled and in spite of Roman, Germanic and Semitic superstrata left a rich heritage to their descendants. In Spain Celtic influences are visible in physical types (particularly in Asturias, Leon and Old Castile), music, artistic and literary forms, festivals, folklore, spiritual values, temperament and general character traits. As we shall see, in Medieval Spain, both Christian and Muslim, poets composed verse using versification forms of Celtic origin, though writing in Latin, Romance (by "Romance" I refer to the language called in Arabic Lisan al-Ajjam, i.e., "the non-Arabic Language"), Classical Arabic, Vulgar Arabic, Hebrew, Catalan, Gallego-Portuguese, Aragonese and Castilian, and sang them to melodies based on Celtic musical modes. No one who has any knowledge of Celtic Studies has the slightest doubt as to the truth of what I am saying, not anyone who has any first-hand knowledge of Spain on the one hand and Celtic countries such as Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany on the other. Celtic elements are present in the phonetics, grammar and vocabulary of all the Romance languages of the Penninsula. So powerful is the Celtic element in Spain that many (6) Spaniards of my acquaintance feel that Spain should be considered as one of the Celtic countries along with Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany, arguing that a Spaniard does not cease to be a Celt because he speaks a Romance language any more than an Irishman ceases to be a Celt because he speaks English. It should never be forgotten that Spain is a land of heather as well as olive trees, a land of bagpipes as well as guitars, and that this is true of Muslim Spain as well as Christian Spain. Before we go any further, some things need to be clarified. In this work I will use the term “Aryan” with a certain frequency, so let us define our terms, Firstly, remember your Aristotle; all Aryans are Indo-Europeans, but not all Indo-Europeans are Aryans. The term “Aryan” in reality can be accurately applied to three, and only three Indo-European peoples, i.e., the Indo-Aryans, the Iranians, and the Celts. The word Arya or Aryan is Sanskrit. The name Iran means “Land of the Aryans”, as does Erinn, the native Celtic word for “Ireland”(the name Ireland is a Viking word), and name “Aryan” is found in numerous ancient Celtic place names and tribal names, as we shall demonstrate. Finally, as we shall also demonstrate, the Indo-Aryans, Iranians and Celts have so many special affinities in common to warrant lumping them together as a sub-grouping within the larger Indo-European context. When I use the word or name “Aryan”, I refer only to the Indo-Aryans, Iranians and Celts, never to the Germanic peoples. The ancient Germanic peoples did not know the name or word “Aryan”, and never called themselves (7) by this name. Hitler was both an ignoramus and a congenital liar, who claimed that the Germanic peoples are “pure Aryans”, when, in reality, they are not Aryans at all; the Germanic peoples are no more “pure Aryans” than they are “pure Albanians” (Albanians are Indo-Europeans, but not Aryans).