Diego López De Ayala and the Intellectual Contours of Sixteenth-Century Toledo
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Carolina Digital Repository DIEGO LÓPEZ DE AYALA AND THE INTELLECTUAL CONTOURS OF SIXTEENTH-CENTURY TOLEDO Jonathan Paul O'Conner A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures (Spanish). Chapel Hill 2011 Approved by: Lucia Binotti Frank A. Domínguez Rosa Perelmuter Ennio I. Rao Carmen Y. Hsu ©2011 Jonathan Paul O'Conner ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT JONATHAN O'CONNER: Diego López de Ayala and the Intellectual Contours of Sixteenth-Century Toledo (Under the direction of Lucia Binotti) This dissertation focuses on one of the protagonists in the political, religious and intellectual life of sixteenth-century Toledo, the largely forgotten Diego López de Ayala (c. 1480-1560). He was a member of one of the era's most influential noble families and a stand-in and envoy of the Archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, to the court of Ferdinand the Catholic in Spain and that of the future Emperor Charles V in Flanders. Afterwards, he played an influential role in the spread of Italian Renaissance aesthetics in Spain as superintendent of works at the Toledo Cathedral for nearly forty years. He also translated into Spanish the prose sections of two Italian works, the Questioni d'amore of Giovanni Boccaccio's Filocolo (Treze questiones) and the Arcadia of Jacopo Sannazaro. Past scholarship on López de Ayala has often considered minimal his political and literary roles. Others have recognized his importance as a contributor to Toledo's cultural life, but say little beyond noting that we know too little about him. My research reaffirms the prominent political and cultural presence of this highly significant figure and fills in many of the gaps left by previous scholarship. Diego López de Ayala figured prominently in the cultural and political life of Toledo after the death of Cardinal Cisneros. Additionally, the dissertation examines the significance of López de Ayala's published translations to the Spanish print culture and canon of courtly iii literature with special emphasis on the performance elements and socialized reading practices of the period. The dissertation begins to reconstruct the humanistic intellectual community, whose Erasmian leanings were destined to disappear with the coming of the Counter-Reformation. iv For Eric, whose encouragement, incredible patience and loving dedication have made this possible. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have had much kind assistance and support during the completion of this dissertation. I would like to thank my director, Lucia Binotti, for her guidance, constructive criticism and friendship. I would also like to thank my readers and, in particular, Frank Domínguez, who gave generously of his time and expertise, and Rosa Perelmuter, who asked the challenging questions. Any errors are entirely my own. I would like to express deep gratitude to Mª del Carmen Vaquero Serrano, who opened her home and library to me and shared with exceptional generosity her detailed knowledge of the Archivo Histórico Provincial de Toledo. I am grateful for the generous support of the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Program, as well as that of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, without which the research for this dissertation would not have been possible. I would also like to thank the Biblioteca Nacional de España, the Biblioteca de Castilla- LaMancha, the Archivo Capitular de la Catedral de Toledo (in particular, Alfredo Rodríguez González), the Biblioteca del Palacio Real, the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, the Vice Rectorate at the Universidad de Castilla-LaMancha in Toledo, the Archivo Histórico Provincial de Toledo and the Sección Nobleza del Archivo Histórico Nacional de España. Last, but certainly not least, I am extremely grateful for the love and support of both of my families and many wonderful friends. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter I. Diego López de Ayala: A New Biography .........................................................11 Early Life ...................................................................................................13 Representative of the Archbishop at Court ................................................21 The Archiepiscopate of Croy (1518-1521) ................................................30 The Guerra de las Comunidades de Castilla (1520-1522) .........................35 Post-Comunidades 1520s ...........................................................................41 Later Decades.............................................................................................44 López de Ayala's Final Years ....................................................................47 II. A Toledan Artistic Renaissance ........................................................................54 Nobility, Patronage and the Toledo Cathedral ...........................................67 López de Ayala's Tenure as obrero mayor ................................................75 Beyond the Toledo Cathedral ....................................................................90 III. The Treze questiones and the Arcadia .............................................................99 The Treze questiones................................................................................101 The Arcadia .............................................................................................115 Paratexts ...................................................................................................118 The Anatomy of a Choice ........................................................................125 IV. Toledo's Intellectual Interpretive Community ...............................................132 vii Propitious Beginnings ..............................................................................135 Toledo's Cultural Effervescence ..............................................................138 The Colegio de Santa Catalina in Toledo ................................................149 Alvar Gómez de Castro ............................................................................155 Las casas de recreo ..................................................................................160 The Contours of a Toledan Intellectual Community ...............................163 A Legacy ..................................................................................................166 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................169 Appendix A: Will and Testament of Diego López de Ayala ...........................................176 Appendix B: Prologue. Treze questiones. Toledo: 1549. ................................................183 Appendix C: Introduction. Treze questiones. Toledo: 1549. ...........................................184 Appendix D: Prologue. Arcadia. Toledo: 1547. ..............................................................185 Appendix E: Afterword. Arcadia. Toledo: 1547. ............................................................188 Works Cited .....................................................................................................................189 viii Introduction The first half of the sixteenth century witnessed the creation of an empire under Charles V that included vast territories in Europe as well as in the New World. Before the new King's arrival in Spain, the Archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, served as regent after Ferdinand the Catholic's death in 1516, while the young Charles was still in Flanders. After the King's arrival, the imperial court resided in Toledo in 1525 and 1538-39. The city was a center of intellectual and cultural activity throughout the period, playing host to influential authors and humanists. One of the protagonists in the political, religious and intellectual life of Toledo was the relatively unsung Diego López de Ayala (c. 1480-1560). López de Ayala was a member of one of the era's most influential noble families of the city and a descendant of the Canciller Pero López de Ayala. He was a canon at the Toledo cathedral from 1506 and held the dignity of vicario del coro from 1525 and the office of obrero mayor (superintendent of the cathedral works and building) from 1518 to 1557. Prior to these ecclesiastical appointments, he had served as the envoy of the Cardinal Cisneros at the court of Ferdinand the Catholic in Spain and that of the future Emperor Charles in Flanders. Additionally, he was one of the founders of the Colegio de Santa Catalina in Toledo, which would later become the Real Universidad de Toledo. López de Ayala also translated into Spanish the prose sections of two Italian works. The first was the Questioni d'amore, extracted from the fourth book of Boccaccio's Filocolo. López de Ayala's translation of this work appeared in print under two titles: Laberinto de Amor (Seville, 1541 and 1546) and Treze questiones (Toledo, 1546 and 1549; Venice, 1553). The second translation was of Jacopo Sannazaro's Arcadia, which also resulted in five editions: Toledo, 1547 and 1549; Estella, 1562; and Salamanca, 1573 and