Copyright by Robert Donald Worley Jr. 2006 The Dissertation Committee for Robert Donald Worley Jr. Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: The Kingdom of Spain as an Allegory of Christ’s Kingdom in Five Autos by Calderón Committee: Stanislav Zimic, Supervisor Michael P. Harney Matthew J. Bailey Enrique H. Fierro Seth L. Wolitz The Kingdom of Spain as an Allegory of Christ’s Kingdom in Five Autos by Calderón by Robert Donald Worley Jr., B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2006 Dedication To my parents Dr. Robert and Jerry Worley, who introduced me to the spiritual realm of life and Prof. Marian Ortuño, the source of my interest in religious theater. Soli Deo Gloria. Acknowledgements I am very thankful to the numerous individuals who provided direct as well as indirect assistance in the writing of this dissertation. I must acknowledge the encouragement and guidance of Professor Stanislav Zimic from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese of The University of Texas at Austin. Serving as the Chairman of my Dissertation Committee, Professor Zimic repetitively read each chapter of my work as it developed, continually offering valuable criticism and insight into possible amplifications and modifications, thus helping me improve my presentation. I am also indebted to the remaining members of the Committee, Professors Michael Harney, Matthew Bailey, Enrique Fierro, and Seth Wolitz, for their lecture and discussion of my dissertation, as well as their valuable recommendations. I cannot fail to express my gratitude to Professor Marian Ortuño of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. It was the lecture of two of her studies on the autos sacramentales of Tirso de Molina which initially aroused my interest in this genre. As the supervisor of my Master’s Thesis, she introduced me to the connection between Calderón’s autos and the Catholic liturgy, as well as these works’ multiple levels of interpretation. From then until today she has been of great assistance. v Last but not least, I thank my wife of twenty-one years, María Duarte, for her patience, encouragement, and support throughout the sometimes agonizing process of composing this dissertation. vi The Kingdom of Spain as an Allegory of Christ’s Kingdom in Five Autos by Calderón Publication No._____________ Robert Donald Worley Jr., Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2006 Supervisor: Stanislav Zimic El nuevo palacio del Retiro (1634), El cubo de la Almudena (1651), La devoción de la misa (1658), and El santo rey don Fernando (first and second parts, 1671) are works of a religious literary genre unique to Spain: the auto sacramental. Until recently, such plays have suffered a lack of critical attention, possibly due to their complicated theological focus. Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681), the master of this genre, is the author of nearly eighty of these one-act works celebrating the Eucharist. Of these, the most studied are those using biblical and mythological characters. Calderón’s autos which use Spanish historical figures, such as the above five, have been the object of extremely few studies. Most of these analyses remain at a superficial level, focusing on the works’ historical contents, rather than their central spiritual elements. These works illustrate the cosmography of the time and place of their conception. To uncover these autos’ full meaning, it is necessary to interpret all other theatrical components in light of these works’ primary topic: the Eucharist. vii Throughout El nuevo palacio del Retiro, El cubo de la Almudena, La devoción de la misa, and both parts of El santo rey don Fernando, the historical elements are framed by the spiritual. In the first, a competition in which the king participates is presented as an image of the transformation of Christ into the Eucharist. In the second, a historical Muslim siege of Madrid is used to assert the victory of Spain against historical and spiritual foes through the Sacrament. The third presents the devotion of a legendary soldier to the Mass as the source of victory in a historical battle. The two autos written on the occasion of the canonization of the medieval King Fernando III combine historical, legendary, and fictitious events to illustrate temporal and eternal victories through the Sacrament. As is evident in a more than superficial study, in these five autos, Calderón modifies history in order to convey an eternal message. viii Table of Contents List of Figures..........................................................................................................x Chapter 1 Introduction to Calderón and the auto sacramental...............................1 Chapter 2 El nuevo palacio del Retiro: the eternal Kingdom of God in the temporal Kingdom of Spain.........................................................................................36 Chapter 3 El cubo de la Almudena: the shield of Faith against the attack of the enemy............................................................................................................79 Chapter 4 The Lord corrects those whom He loves: the persecuted Spain in La devoción de la misa.....................................................................................122 Chapter 5 Black cloak and white tunic: Spain militant in El santo rey don Fernando, Primera parte..............................................................................................156 Chapter 6 Mourning turned to joy: Spain triumphant in El santo rey don Fernando, Segunda parte .............................................................................................213 Chapter 7 Conclusion..........................................................................................253 Bibliography .......................................................................................................256 Vita ....................................................................................................................262 ix List of Figures Figure 1: Christological connections of the letters of "Carlos"......................166 x Chapter 1: Introduction to Calderón and the auto sacramental The topic of this dissertation is the transformation, with unifying purposes, of history into literature in five autos sacramentales by Pedro Calderón de la Barca: El nuevo palacio del Retiro (1634), El cubo de la Almudena (1651), La devoción de la misa (1658), and El santo rey don Fernando (parts I and II, 1671). Spanish historical figures and events are used in these autos to represent spiritual concepts related to the Eucharist. The auto sacramental genre, associated with the Corpus Christi festivity, is in and of itself a celebration of religious unity. In this dissertation, I will attempt to show, through a detailed analysis of the text, how in these five works, Calderón uses Spanish history as the parting point in the creation of literature which, apart from teaching and entertaining, reinforces the pillars of national unity: one religion and one monarch. In addition, the author freely adapts Medieval and present-day (to him) “history” in order to construct a providential metahistory of Spain. This recreated history identifies the past and future of the nation with that of the universal Church, and bestows a cosmic significance on Spain. Interestingly, there appears to be a major contradiction between the glory and power of Spanish royalty depicted in some of Calderón’s works (including those to be studied), and the great decline suffered by Spain during the seventeenth century in which he lived. This time period saw the degradation of Spain’s power in Europe. The Spanish Habsburg dynasty came to an end along with the century, as the country saw the loss of its military preeminence to France and England. With a palace dramatist as their author, a superficial reading of such plays would view little but political intrigue, with Calderón as a member of the imaginary crowd praising the clothing of a naked king. There is a 1 well-known episode in which this author openly displays personal feelings in one of his literary works. In 1629, Calderón broke into a convent of Trinitarian nuns, attempting to seize an actor who had stabbed his brother Diego. This act earned the criticism of the preacher Hortensio Félix Paravicino, in a sermon to King Philip IV. Calderón’s reaction was inserted into his comedia, El príncipe constante, in the form of a mockery (later removed) of Paravicino’s ornate oratory style: Una oración se fragua fúnebre, que es sermón de Berbería. Panegírico es que digo al agua, y en emponomio horténsico me quejo; porque este enojo, desde que se fragua con ella el vino, me quedó, y ya es viejo. (qtd. in Cotarelo: 133) As punishment, Calderón was placed under three days of house arrest. The addition of this burlesque item to the story of a Portuguese prince that sacrifices his life, rather than surrender a Portuguese city to the Muslims, seems inappropriate. However, this incident demonstrates the possibility of the insertion of this dramatist’s personal interests into his literature, not to mention those of his sponsors. It is this very line of thought that has until recently created an overall negative critical viewpoint of these religious works, and specifically of Calderón’s autos sacramentales. What is more, historically speaking, Golden Age literary criticism