History of Spanish Literature, vol. 1 (of 3)Ticknor, George
History
History of Spanish Literature, vol. 1 (of 3)
Ticknor, George
Spanish literature -- History and criticism
[250] Both the chronicles cite for their authorities the
Archbishop Rodrigo of Toledo, and the Bishop Lucas of Tuy,
in Galicia, (Cid, Cap. 293; General, 1604, f. 313. b, and
elsewhere,) and represent them as dead. Now the first died in
1247, and the last in 1250; and as the General Chronicle of
Alfonso X. was _necessarily_ written between 1252 and 1282, and
_probably_ written soon after 1252, it is not to be supposed,
either that the Chronicle of the Cid, or any other chronicle in
the _Spanish_ language which the General Chronicle could use,
was already compiled. But there are passages in the Chronicle of
the Cid which prove it to be later than the General Chronicle.
For instance, in Chapters 294, 295, and 296 of the Chronicle
of the Cid, there is a correction of an error of two years in
the General Chronicle’s chronology. And again, in the General
Chronicle, (ed. 1604, f. 313. b,) after relating the burial of
the Cid, by the bishops, in a vault, and dressed in his clothes,
(“vestido con sus paños,”) it adds, “And thus he was laid where
he still lies” (“_E assi yaze ay do agora yaze_”); but in the
Chronicle of the Cid, the words in Italics are stricken out, and
we have instead, “And there he remained a long time, till King
Alfonso came to reign (“E hy estudo muy grand tiempo, fasta que
vino el Rey Don Alfonso a reynar”); after which words we have
an account of the translation of his body to another tomb, by
Alfonso the Wise, the son of Ferdinand. But, besides that this
is plainly an addition to the Chronicle of the Cid, made later
than the account given in the General Chronicle, there is a
little clumsiness about it that renders it quite curious; for, in
speaking of St. Ferdinand with the usual formulary, as “he who
conquered Andalusia, and the city of Jaen, and many other royal
towns and castles,” it adds, “As the history will relate to you
_farther on_ (“Segun que adelante vos lo contará la historia”).
Now the history of the Cid has nothing to do with the history
of St. Ferdinand, who lived a hundred years after him, and is
never again mentioned in this Chronicle; and therefore the little
passage containing the account of the translation of the body of
the Cid, in the thirteenth century, to its next resting-place
was probably cut out from some other chronicle which contained
the history of St. Ferdinand, as well as that of the Cid. My own
conjecture is, that it was cut out from the abridgment of the
General Chronicle of Alfonso the Wise made by his nephew Don
John Manuel, who would be quite likely to insert an addition so
honorable to his uncle, when he came to the point of the Cid’s
interment; an interment of which the General Chronicle’s account
had ceased to be the true one. Cap. 291.
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