Body and Soul: Jorge Manrique's "Coplas por la muerte de su padre" 13: 145-156

Author(s): Frank A. Domínguez

Source: Hispania, Vol. 84, No. 1 (Mar., 2001), pp. 1-10
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3657886
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 Body and Soul: Jorge Manrique's Coplas por la
muerte de su padre 13:145-156
Frank A. Dominguez
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Abstract: In stanza 13 of the Coplas, Manrique describes the body as cativa and the soul as seiora, then de-
cries the time spent adorning the former at the expense of the latter. The general condemnation of cosmetics
in ancient literature and the topic of the weakness of the Will contribute to this metaphor, but the stanza does
more. It alludes to the two different paths that are followed by the people described in the ubi sunt stanzas
(16-24) and in the panegyric of don Rodrigo Manrique (25-32). This essay then shows how stanza 13 only
acquires full meaning in light of information that was available to the poem's contemporaries but has since
been neglected.

Key Words: Manrique (Jorge), Manrique (Rodrigo), Palencia (Alonso de), Spanish Medieval poetry, cos-
metics and medicine, cativa, sierva, setora, elegy, defunzion, Coplas

poem. This article seeks to show how the

de su padre, written as an elegy for his textual tradition from which the metaphor
J orge Manrique's
father, Coplas porManrique,
don Rodrigo la muerte derives enriches our understanding of
these few lines of verse. The stanzas only
Maestre de Santiago, naturally divides into
three sections. The first is a general disqui- reveal their full evocative impact by study-
sition on the freedom of human beings toing the context in which they appear, par-
choose how they will conduct their livesticularly in view of the condition that led to
(stanzas 1-13). The second (stanzas 14-24) don Rodrigo's death. Stanza 13 points to a
provides concrete examples of bad choices, whole world of allusive signification only
barely perceived by modern readers.
and third section (stanzas 25-39) is devoted
to the positive choices made by don The stanza in question appears towards
Rodrigo. These three sections are followedthe end of a cluster of stanzas about beauty
by a final stanza (40) that makes referenceand agility (8), lineage and honour (9), es-
to the grief and solace of the Manrique fam-tates and wealth (10), that are the deceitful
ily. plazeres e dulCores and deleytes (11-12) of
Given the poem's structure, stanza 13 this world. Stanza 13 continues:
acquires particular significance as a transi-
13 Si fuesse en nuestro poder
tional stanza.' It concludes the first section hazer la cara hermosa
by summarizing what has been said and corporal,
serves to introduce the examples of bad como podemos hazer
choices that follow. The poem moves from el alma tan gloriosa,
angelical,
general statements about the human condi-
ique diligencia tan viua
tion, to statements about specific individu-
touj6ramos toda hora,
als whom death did not treat well and, fi- e tan presta,
nally, to one individual who, by living well, en componer la catiua,
dexaindonos la sefiora
vanquished death.
descompuesta!
The importance of stanza 13 has not been
(Cancionero de jorge Manrique 95)
sufficiently recognized by critics, who have
generally concerned themselves with the Stanza 13 identifies the body as cativa
sources of the metaphor and have not (slave) and the soul as sefiora (mistress or
looked at how it relates to the rest of the lady). If we could make the earthly face as

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2 HISPANIA 84 MARCH 2001

beautiful, says Manrique, as we canofmakea woman. In this work, he characterizes

the angelical soul glorious, we wouldbody and soul as slave and mistress respec-
quickly tend to the slave, leaving the mis-Writing to Theodore, St. John states
tively.
that God gave those things which are of
tress unattended. How foolish, he insinu-
ates, for man to prefer body to soul,little value to death and made us artisans of
slave
to mistress and-of course-death to eter- those things that are truly beautiful. If cor-
nal life. poral beauty were eternal, we would have
wasted all our time seeking perfection of the
St. John Chrysostom and St. body. In fact, we make every attempt to do
Eucherius so through the use of cosmetics, colorings,
and tinctures. "What time," he remarks,
"would
Manrique's editors and critics have fo-we dedicate to the soul and to im-
cused their attention primarily on theportant
place- concerns if we could make the body
ment of stanza 13 within the work and on truly beautiful? Perhaps we would not labor
the poet's sources for the characterization at anything else if we could do that, and we
of the body as a slave of the soul. Stanza 13 would spend all our time decking out the
appears in a variety of places according to slave with every manner of adornments, al-
the print or manuscript one reads. Its ca- ways abandoning her mistress (domina) to
nonical placement, however, is as number greater ugliness and abandonment than any
13, and corresponds to its placement in the slave (servan)" (Ad Theodorum lapsum, PG
most reliable manuscripts and prints.2 Crit- 47: 295-96). St. John plays on the same
ics also debate the sources of the stanza. chords as Manrique: we are permitted to
Menendez Pelayo, the first to comment make the soul beautiful but not the body.
on stanza 13, claimed that Manrique appro- Were we permitted to do otherwise, we
priated the comparisons in the stanza from would waste all our time pursuing the per-
a treatise entitled On the Contemplative Life fection of the ephemeral, to the neglect of
(De vita contemplativa) attributed to St. the eternal.
Prosper of Aquitaine. Maria Rosa Lida de However, despite the similarities be-
Malkiel took issue with Menendez Pelayo tween Manrique's stanza and St. John's text,
in an essay written in 1942 ("Una copla de Lida thought that another work stood be-
Jorge Manrique y la tradici6n de Fil6n en tween the two. Her candidate for that posi-
la literatura espafiola" 145-78). Lida traced tion was the Parenetic Epistle to Valerian
the body/soul-slave/mistress topic to a pas- (Epistola paraenetica ad Valerianum
sage in Philo of Alexandria's On the Cre- cognatum de contemptu mundi et saecularis
ation of the World where the senses are por- Philosophiae, PL 50: 711-26) written by St.
trayed as slaves who bring before their Eucherius, bishop of Lyons, ca. 432.
master-reason-the harmony of sound, St. Eucherius's Parenetic Epistle is an
the sweetness of taste, and the aroma of the exhortation to the noble Valerianus to adopt
air. According to Lida, Philo was the origi- a Christian mode of life, perhaps even to
nator of the topic and was the first in a long become a monk. It seeks to attain its end by
line of authors to exploit its expressive pos- describing the deceitfulness of the world.
sibilities.3 She thought, however, that the Early in the exhortation, St Eucherius says:
portrayal of the soul as mistress of the body "For if some correctly called our flesh slave
only acquired its full Christian form in St. (famulam) and our soul mistress (domina)
John Chrysostom's Exhortation to Theodore we should not unjustly honor the slave be-
(Paraeneses ad Theodorum lapsum).4 It is fore the mistress" (Epistola Paraenetica
this work that she proposed as Manrique's 713).
ultimate source (Lida de Malkiel 168). Alone, this reference is not enough to
St. John Chrysostom wrote the Exhorta- make St. Eucherius a more likely source of
tion to Theodore for a friend who had aban- Manrique's text than any other. What de-
doned the monastic life to enjoy the favors cided Lida in favor of the French bishop was

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 JORGE MANRIQUE'S COPLAS POR LA MUERTE DE SU PADRE 13:145-156 3

the fact that the context in which St. give to their bodies when they are ill: "How
Eucherius uses the topic is comparable to time and labor is employed in tend-
much
the entire sequence of stanzas in which ing it to their bodies and conserving their
is embedded in Manrique's poem. Not only health!" writes St. Eucherius, "Does the
does St. Eucherius complain about those soul not merit the same care (medicinam) ?"
who would care for the body instead of the St. John's condemnation of the use of cos-
soul but, like Manrique, he also deplores metics is absent in St. Eucherius's text, re-
the reckless pursuit of riches and mentionsplaced instead by a medical metaphor in
ancient and modern kingdoms, which which are the care of the body is presented as
now forgotten. It is this marriage toathe rationally positive event, discordant only
themes of the contemptu mundi that in in-that similar care is not expended on the
clined Lida to see the Parenetic Epistle as The treatment of the body/soul-slave/
soul.
the probable immediate source of mistress topic in the Parenetic Epistle does
Manrique's stanza. Lida's argument, there- not deploy therefore, as fully as St. John's
fore, can be reduced to the following: the text, the complex of associations evoked by
this topic in Christian writers and in
originator of the image, Philo of Alexandria,
was probably unknown to Manrique. The Manrique's stanza.
Castilian poet's ultimate source was St. John Jorge Manrique alludes to the use of cos-
Chrysostom, but mediated through St. metics in ways that are similar to St. John's
Eucherius. text.5 Manrique's text also insists, like St.
Lida, however, was both an excellent and John's, on the peculiar perversion of a hu-
a canny scholar. Her masterful and persis- manity that willfully prefers to care for the
body/face rather than for the soul.6 It there-
tent pursuit of intertextual relations showed
fore appears unlikely that St. Eucherius was
her quite clearly how difficult it was to point
to any source of Manrique's poem with anythe immediate source of Manrique. Philo
was likewise not the originator of the topic.
degree of certainty. Her article on stanza 13
lists some thirty-five occurrences of the Properly speaking, the body/soul-slave/
topic. The topic is likely to appear in any mistress topic is a variation of a comparison
doctrinal work that concerns the fiature ofwidely used in Classical philosophical and
the soul. We add one by a contemporary ofliterary works to explain how the mind
Manrique, fray Lope Fernandez de Minaya, (mens) rules over the body, or how the soul
who says: "La deshonra que la nuestra (anima) rules over the passions. The terms
anima siente en este mundo, segund suso of the comparisons reflect two social reali-
dicho es, es el captiverio en que esti, en ties
el of the ancient world from the time of
qual muchas vezes obedesce a la came, Plato and before: a patriarchal family struc-
que, segund raz6n, es su sierva" (Espejo delture and a slave-based economy. The
alma, in Prosistas castellanos del siglo XV2:Greeks thought anything made up of parts,
237). With such a fecund image to contendincluding natural systems, societies, and
with, any preference for one source overman himself, to be hierarchically ordered
another had to be couched in careful lan- from higher to lower (Aristotle, Politics
guage, and this Lida does, pointing out that 1254a28ff). Power flowed from higher to
for authors like Manrique inspiration filterslower.
through a veil of vaguely remembered read- The natural rule of men over women,
ings. There is more that can be said about
slaves, and the young reflected the work-
those "remembered readings," however. ings of this hierarchical principle in human
Although Manrique's words echo St.society. It was justified by the belief that the
John's, they differ from St. Eucherius'sminds of women, slaves, and the young
Parenetic Epistle in significant ways. St.were either impaired or not fully formed,
Eucherius does not condemn the embel- and thus were unable to effect the proper
lishment of the body. Instead, he comparesrule of the intellect over the passions.
the care one gives the soul to the care menWithin man himself, the rule of the intellect

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4 HISPANIA 84 MARCH 2001

he now wills to do what he cannot." "Si

(nous) over the passions (orexis) manifested
fuesse
the hierarchical principle, because the en nuestro poder / hazer," though
pas-
sions, unable to rule themselves, naturally says stanza 13, "como podemos
we do not,
fell under the control of the intellect. For hazer," yet we do not. It is here that the true
political and theological reasons, the earlymeaning of the commonplace is to be found:
Fathers of the Church adopted these ideas a Classical cliche used to refer to the supe-
to explain the superiority of the soul overriority of the mind over the body becomes
the body. a sign of the corruption of the Will by sin
Prior to the conversion of Constantine, that is expressed in the inordinate care for
Christians were considered to rank with the material world at the expense of the
women and slaves. Christians had counter-spiritual world. Nonetheless, although St.
argued, as they sought freedom from Ro- Augustine explains the significance of the
man rule, that they were fully capable oftopic, only St. John Chrysostom ties the
governing themselves.7 This early Christian corruption of the Will to the use of cosmet-
belief in man's innate ability to rule himself, ics.
born out of the antagonistic relations that Christian apologists often berated
existed between the Christian communitywomen for the use of make-up and orna-
and the Roman Republic, began to be sup-mentation, considering both sinful because
planted by a view formulated by the bishop they denoted pride in the body and because
of Hippo. they had as their objective the enhance-
St. Augustine radically reinterpreted the ment of sexual allure. Tertullian (d. ca. 220),
nature and the effects of the Fall to empha- for example, dedicated a whole work, com-
size humanity's enslavement to sin. Follow- monly known as On the Apparel of Women,
ing Platonic philosophy in its assertion that to warning Christian women against the use
the soul is endowed with an intrinsic right of fashionable dress, extravagant adorn-
to subjugate the body-its "lower ser- ment, and cosmetics. He reminded women
vant"-to its will, St. Augustine compared that it was through their sex that sin entered
the rebellion of the senses and of the body the world and advised them to dress in peni-
against reason to the revolt of a slave tential garb or mourning garments (De
against its master. He further interpreted cultufeminarum 117).
the disobedience of the body as punishment Tertullian distinguishes between two
for Adam and Eve's failure to keep God's forms of adornment: cultus (dress and jew-
command not to eat of the fruit of the tree elry) and ornatus (cosmetics and hairdress-
of knowledge. Before Adam and Eve's trans- ing). The first he associates with ambition,
gression, their bodies were subject to their the second with prostitution.9 It is ornatus,
rational will: "each received the body as a not cultus, however, that occasions his most
servant...and the body obeyed God...in an virulent attacks. The use of cosmetics is an
appropriate servitude, without resistance."' invention of the devil. "Whatever is born,"
After the Fall, man's flesh warred against he says, "that is the work of God. Obviously,
his mind, and his will could no longer im- then, anything else that is added must be
pose its rule (14,15). the work of the Devil."10 To use make-up is
Augustinian anthropology characterized to betray the very roots of Christian devotion:
the post-lapsarian pursuit of worldly plea- To have a painted face, you on whom simplicity in
sures as a rebellion of the body against natu- every form is enjoined! To lie in your appearance, you
ral will, which makes man work against his to whom lying with the tongue is not allowed! To seek
best interests: "For what else is man's mis- for that which is not your own, you who are taught to
keep hands off the goods of another! To commit adul-
ery," says St. Augustine in De civitate Dei
tery in your appearance, you who should eagerly
(using words that in their rhetorical balance
strive after modesty! (Tertullian, De cultufeminarum
recall Manrique's) "but his own disobedi- 136)
ence to himself, so that in consequence of
his not being willing to do what he could do, Similarly, Clement ofAlexandria (d. ca. 230)

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 JORGE MANRIQUE'S COPLAS POR LA MUERTE DE SU PADRE 13:145-156 5

called the flesh a slave and questioned

very same commonplace in a satire of a man
whether it was "reasonable to adorn such a who has importuned a friend of his with
handmaid as the bawd does" (Paidagogos, repeated requests for a toupee:
in Christ the Educator 200-1) and in Death Muy escusada porfia
as Good (De bono morte). St. Ambrose (d. es a vos, sefior Ribera,
397) called the soul: "...the user, the body que mates a Herran Garcia
escriuiendo cada dia
that which is being used, and thus the one
c'os enbie vna cabellera;
is in command, the other in service; the one
digo lo sefior, por esto
is what we are, the other what belongs to que le visto responder,
us. If anyone loves the beauty of the soul, que ni es justo ni es onesto
he loves us; if anyone loves the grace of the qu'enmendes en vuestro gesto
lo que Dios no quiso her.
body, he loves not the man himself, but the
Ni tengo por buena cosa
beauty of the flesh, which quickly wastes del christiano que sarea
away and disappears" (Seven Exegetical de culpa tan peligrosa,
Works 91). por her la cara hermosa
tornar ell anima fea;
Ornatus: Cosmetics por qu'es pecado mortal,
os suplican mis renglones
que dexes lo artificial,
When God banished Adam and Eve from que a las henbras esta mal,
Paradise, they were condemned to a life of quanto mas a los varones.
labor and were made subject to time and Que los cabellos, mirados
por los cuerdos y los buenos,
death. Henceforth they lived in time and
muy mejor seran juzgados
were of time. The use of cosmetics is an at-
los vuestros, aunque frisados,
tempt to arrest the effects of time on the que muy Ilanos los ajenos;
body. Many of the Fathers of the Church qu'en las memorias pasadas
agree on this point, but perhaps the most de los dinos de renonbres,
no las coletas peynadas,
eloquent testimony comes from a little-
mas las obras esforpadas
known 13th century Anglo-French treatise eran caras de los onbres.
on cosmetics, L'ornement des dames or Oy ya, por nuestros pecados,
Ornatus mulierum, whose author remarks otros son nuestros aferes,
that God endowed woman with imperish- los camisones labrados,
los gestos muy concertados
able beauty in Paradise, but she lost it when
para engafiar las mugeres;
she bit into the apple." The treatise goes on y a nosotros engafiamos
to explain how it can be preserved or recov- los que asy nos conponemos,
ered through the use of various concoctions que por qu'el suyo tomamos
("Pur ceo vus fas jeo cest livre / Que tres y nuestro gesto negamos
bien seez delivre / Vus memes en baute diablos les parescemos.
(Foulche Delbosc, Cancionero castellano 1, no.
guarder, Et vus acunit el amender" 102)
[L'ornement des dames 32: 17-20]). There
is a correlation, naively propounded in The condemnation of the use of a hair-
L'ornement, between the use of cosmeticspiece falls within the type of adornment
and the desire to regain eternal life andcalled ornatus by Tertullian and was consid-
beauty (12).12 The sanguine approach of the ered a form of facial adornment. In both
author of L'ornement to the use of cosmet- stanza 13 of the Coplas and in Alvaro Gato's
ics runs strongly against the common grain,satire quoted above, the context suggests
for the condemnation of cosmetics was that the soul has a "face" that is besmirched
never far from any discussion of the body.
by the act of beautifying the earthly face ("Si
This condemnation of cosmetics fre- fuesse en nuestro poder / hazer la cara
hermosa / corporal, / como podemos hazer
quently resulted in a reference to the face
el alma tan gloriosa, / angelical,") or don-
rather than to the whole body. Alvarez Gato,
ning an unmanly wig ("por her la cara
a contemporary of Manrique, employs the

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6 HISPANIA 84 MARCH 2001

hermosa / tornar ell anima fea") instead of

pleasures of this world that end with stanza
worthy deeds ("mas las obras esforgadas 13. The / next section exemplifies the result
eran caras de los onbres"). The soul of is this
of- pursuit by referring to the famous
contemporaries
ten described as having a face which can be in the ubi sunt stanzas (14-
blemished by sin. Fray Lope Fernandez 24). They
de are opposed by the stanzas that
Minaya, for example, in his Espejo del are
almadevoted to don Rodrigo (25-39). Stanza
names the Will "el rostro del criminal" 13
andforeshadows this opposition in its con-
considers each of the capital sins to trast
be the between the face of the body ("hazer
stains that defile its beauty: la cara hermosa / corporal" 146-47) and the
"face" of the soul ("hazer / el alma tan
gloriosa
Cri6 Dios nuestra Anima a la su semejanza e a su ima- / angelical" 149-50), between indi-
gen, de hermoso rostro e limpia faz, el qual viduals
rostro owho use cosmetics to decorate the
faz es la voluntad, como dicho es, la qual si siempre
face of the body at the expense of the soul
estoviese en el estado en que fue creada, cattndose
and those who do not.
en este espejo (ie. the mirror of conscience), nunca
Given the nature of fifteenth-century pan-
fallaria en si cosa fea que oviese de emendar, nin man-
cilla que oviese de alimpiar. Mas lo uno, por egyrics,
el peca- the reader expects an exposition of
do original en el qual se ensuzia el Anima luego
don que
Rodrigo's achievements to follow his
se ayunta al cuerpo, el qual heredamos de nuestro pa-
introduction into the poem in stanza 25. In-
dre AdAn, lo otro, por los pecados actuales que des-
stead,
pubs fazemos de cada dia, mancillase e af6ase there is an assessment of the man's
este
greatness refracted through the experi-
rostro que es la voluntad.... Las mancillas o fealdades
que a la nuestra voluntad afean o mancillan sonences of those who knew him; a catalog of
estas:
soberbia faze este rostro, que es la voluntad, ser
the virtues of the knight. Their judgement
finchado; la vanagloria, polvoriento; la invidia, negro
about hischaracter is confirmed by the
o verde; la safia, colorado; la acidia, triste; la avaricia,
arrugado e encojido; la gula, abuhado; la comparisons
luxuria, gafo. Manrique makes between his
(Espejo del alma 2: 242-43) father and the ancient Romans.
The ancient Roman generals and emper-
ors were the common models held up for
These authors make it clear that though
emulation
St. John Chrysostom and St. Augustine are in the education of knights. They
are used
the main sources of the topic expressed in in the Coplas in a symbolic man-
ner.to
stanza 13, we will never be able to point Each Roman emperor or general men-
an exact source for Manrique's stanza. tioned
Therepresents a single quality that is
metaphor is used too widely. However, if in don Rodrigo. Octavian is fortune,
present
Caesar is valor, Scipio is virtue, Hannibal is
the use of cosmetics is a sign for the effects
of sin on the face of the soul (and the wisdom,
use of Trajan is charity, etc. The inescap-
cosmetics is, as Alvarez Gato's poemable conclusion is that Manrique's father
indi-
surpassed
cates, a "pecado mortal"), then what are the each one in his own peculiar vir-
"cosmetics" that would make the soul tue
beau-
through his actions in life. He embod-
ies any
tiful? The answer to that question is in all of the virtues represented by the cata-
doctrinal work on the nature of the soul:
log of "It
emperors and generals.
is not the appearance of the outer man that
Manrique also points out that because he
wasof
should be made beautiful," says Clement virtuous, Don Rodrigo died without
having accumulated great riches ("Non
Alexandria, "but his soul, with the ornament
of true virtue" (Christ the Educatordex6
202).
grandes thesoros, / nj alcan?6 muchas
This is the form of ornamentation thatriquezas
is the / nj baxillas" [337-39]). What
subject of all of the stanzas that aregoods
dedi-he acquired were always placed at
cated to don Rodrigo Manrique. the service of higher ideals. Furthermore,
he carried the virtues he evidenced as a
The Adornment of the Soul youth into old age ("estas viejas estorias /
que con su bravo pint6 / en jouentud, / con
As we have seen, the early stanzas are
otras nueuas victorias / agora las renou6 /
general comments on the pursuit of theen senectud" [361-66]).

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 JORGE MANRIQUE'S COPLAS POR LA MUERTE DE SU PADRE 13:145-156 7

a cancerous sore that consumed his face:

The association of youth to the pursuit of
worldly pleasure and age to wisdom makes "Este indomable caudillo, que en su vejez
sobrepujaba en los ejercicios militares a los
virtue a quality peculiarly characteristic of
the old. In the Nicomanichean Ethics m~s robustos j6venes, con un vigor fisico
incansable para todo, sucumbi6 A
Aristotle portrays the studies of the young
as vain and unprofitable, because theconsecuencia
end de una puistula cancerosa,
aimed at is not knowledge but action. It en pocos dias le consumi6 el rostro"
que
makes no difference whether youth is
(Palencia, Crdnica 3: 309).
thought of in terms of years or in terms Palencia
of goes on to describe the last days
character, because the defect does not ofde-
don Rodrigo in a manner that supports
pend on time, but on the way in which the the image of him that is developed in the
young live and pursue each successive ob- According to Palencia, on the 131 of
Coplas.
November Rodrigo writes Ferdinand and
ject as passion directs. For Aristotle women
Isabel a farewell letter in which he advises
and the young are incomplete men, women
because they are defective males (Barnes,
them to trust in God, bring peace to Castile,
and
The Complete Works ofAristotle, De gen. restore the Military Orders to their old
an.
[737a28]) and children because their rea-
rule, then threatened by the ambition of
men. He concludes by recommending his
soning is still defective (Politics 1324b21-2).
With the old, the situation is differentL family
The to the king and queen: "Muy
old reestablish control over the body,especialmente
and les rogaba que se
for them knowledge becomes an end in it-
compadeciesen de su mujer y de sus fieles
criados, a quienes le apenaba dejar sin
self. The young may seek the pleasures and
satisfactions of the body, but the oldamparo
seek ni bienes de fortuna, porque los
"opulence...honors, fame, prestige,extremados
and trabajos e intolerables
glory" (lohannes Lodovicus Vives, dispendios
De les habian reducido a la iltima
anima et vita 167). The old, therefore, are
indigencia, de que s6lo podria sacarles la
liberalidad de los Reyes, a quienes servirian
superior in this respect to the young. Only
the intervention of divine grace cancon putla misma lealtad y sumisi6n que les
down the rebellion of the body against sirvi6
the siempre, mientras tuvo vida, el que
rational will in youth, and allow the willahora,
(and a las puertas de la muerte, les daba
consequently the soul) to have dominance los 6iltimos consejos" (Palencia, Cronica 3:
over the body (De natura et gratia 43,311). 50; The advice to restore the Order to its
PL 44, 271). We can see the workingsold ofrule and the plea for protection of his
family are intimately connected.
divine grace only in very special individuals.
Don Rodrigo is one of those individuals.In an age when nepotism was an integral
fact of life, the Coplas argued the need to
As a youth he was capable of mature acts
protect the Manrique clan. The sons and
and as an old man he was capable of youth-
ful exploits. At both extremes of his life he
"criados" of don Rodrigo enjoyed great pref-
erence in the Order. The death of don
was invested with the virtues of the elect:
prudence (prudentia), courage (fortitudo),
Rodrigo exposed them to a variety of perils
that only the protection of the Catholic
measure (temperantia), and justice (iusti-
Kings
tia). The implications of the passage are could counterbalance. The poem
that don Rodrigo is an extraordinary serves
indi- to remind the kings that true service
should be rewarded. It makes no direct
vidual who, in life, transcends the natural
mention
limitations of man and carries the virtues of of the nature of the ailment that
a knight as his only adornments when hedon Rodrigo's life other than that im-
took
makes his final contrition before death.plied
He in stanza 13.
stands opposed to the individual who lives
Manrique sets up the body/soul contrast
his life for himself or herself. in stanza 13 and links it to the care of the
According to the chronicler Palencia,
"face" of the body through cosmetics and
don Rodrigo died in November of 1476 from
the adornment of the "face" of the soul. But,

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8 HISPANIA 84 MARCH 2001

PG 47:soul?
how do you adorn the "face" of the 277-316. Twenty-eight Greek and forty-seven
Latin manuscripts survive, the latter usually with the
The answer, we have seen, is contained in
title De reparatione lapsi. See Jean Dumortier's edi-
the ubi sunt stanzas and in the panegyric to
tion A Theodore 30ff. For mentions of St. John in
don Rodrigo. You adorn the soul fifteenth-century
with the Castilian works see Lida de Malkiel
attributes mentioned in stanzas 27-28: 166, n. 2.
"ventura, uencer e batallar, virtud, saber5 Lope
e FernAndez de Minaya was the fifteenth-cen-
tury Toledan author of one of the dozens of "mirrors"
trabajar, bondad, liberalidad con alegria
of the soul written in the Middle Ages. He takes the
(fuerga), verdad, clemencia, ygualdad del
same rational approach to the care of the body and of
semblante, eloquencia, humanidad e buen
the soul. God wishes us, he says, to use doctors to
talante, deciplina e rigor, fe, amor de
curesu
the body, even though only He can effect a real
cure and should therefore be considered the princi-
tierra." Don Rodrigo's true worth, the true
pal doctor of both body and soul (Espejo del alma 2:
adornment of his soul, lay in those virtues
248). "E por ende, devDis saber que, ansi como en las
that he espoused in life and which served
dolencias corporales Dios solo es el fisico que las sana,
to safeguard his immediate family, his
pero quiere con todo eso que Ilamemos el fisico e
"criados," and the kingdom. usemos de aquellas cosas que naturalmente pueden
dar remedio a las dolencias, asi es en las dolencias del
P alencia,
benefit ofhowever,
hindsight, knew writing
that the with the alma, El solo las puede sanar e alimpiar de todas sus
pasiones e fealdades, el qual solo la cri6 fermosa e sin
wishes expressed in don Rodrigo's mancilla....E ansi como en las dolencias corporales
final letter to Ferdinand and Isabel were not primero Ilamades a Dios que al fisico...tornad a Dios
satisfied. Instead of appointing a friend of como a fisico principal, sin el qual vos nin otra persona
the Manrique family to the mastership of nunca entienda que puede sanar."
6 I do not know of any Castilian translation of St.
the Order, the king appointed Alonso de
Eucherius's epistle before the sixteenth century. St.
Cardenas, the enemy of don Rodrigo. John's works, however, were translated by Alfonso de
Cardenas assumed the dignity, and the pref- Madrigal (See Escorial MS a.IV.5 and a IV 7, Juan
erential treatment of the Manrique clan was Zarco Cuevas, Cat6logo de los manuscritos del Escorial
at an end. Even don Rodrigo's fame was in 3 vols. [Madrid, 1924-29, I: 9-12] and Alonso de
Palenzuela (?) [Zarco Cuevas, I: 38-39]).
peril as his claim to have been master of
7Elaine Pagels discusses the relations between
Santiago was denied because he did not Christians and the Roman state in Adam, Eve and the
control Le6n. After CArdenas, Ferdinand Serpent, especially chapter 5: "The Politics of Para-
assumed the Mastership of the Order. dise" 98-126.
8 Sancti Aurelii Augustini, De civitate dei 2: 437:
"Nam quae hominis est alia miseria nisi aduersus eum
m NOTES ipsum inoboedientia eius ipsius, ut, quoniam noluit
' Obviously, these remarks on the structure of the quod potuit, quod non potest uelit?" "For what else is
Coplas apply to the traditional structure followed, for man's misery but his own disobedience to himself, so
example, by Cortina's edition (13 + 10 + 16 and 1 con- that in consequence of his not being willing to do what
cluding stanza = 40) and by all the major early prints. he could do, he now wills to do what he cannot."
However, what I have to say about the meaning of 9 Tertullian, De cultufeminarum 146. The term we
stanza 13 holds true no matter what the structure of currently use to designate bodily adornment-cos-
the poem is considered to be. On the structure of themetic-is of Greek origin. It is related to cosmos by its
Coplas, see Dominguez 63, 72-73. root and it implies something applied to the natural
2 Stanza 13 appears as number 13 or as number 7order of things. As such, it is more neutral than the
in most editions of the poem. term used by the Latin poets and biblical exegetes-
3 St. Ambrose, for example, relies heavily on Philo medicamina-which evokes the use of medicines,
in his treatment of the relationship between the bodyphilters, and poisons. It is in this line that we should
and the soul in Death as a Good: "The soul, then, isconsider Ovid's De medicaminefacieifeminae and his
the user, the body that which is being used, and thusbetter-known Ars amatoria and the Remedia amoris.
the one is in command, the other in service; the one We should also keep in mind the aforementioned link
is what we are, the other what belongs to us. If any- made by these writers between cosmetics and slavery,
one loves the beauty of the soul, he loves us; if any- a common institution in the ancient and medieval
one loves the beauty of the flesh, he loves not the man world. Slaves and prostitutes are often depicted as
himself, but the beauty of the flesh, which quicklyexcelling in the use of cosmetics. The admonition is
wastes away and disappears" (St. Ambrose: Seven Ex-to avoid both slaves and prostitutes and cosmetics. For
egetical Works 91). the treatment of gender by the Roman poets, see Amy
4 Paraenesis sive adhortatio ad Theodorum lapsum, Richlin, "Making Up a Woman: The Face of Roman

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 JORGE MANRIQUE'S COPLAS POR LA MUERTE DE SU PADRE 13:145-156 9

rence, 1548], A. Piemontese's Del secreti di conservar

Gender," Off with Her Head 185-213. For a concise
lagioventa et ritardar la vecchiezza [Rome, 1557], and
overview of the early development of views on cosmet-
ics see: Marcia Colish, "Cosmetic Theology: TheG. Marinnello's Gli ornamenti delle donne [1562]).
Transformation of a Stoic Theme" 3-14. Howard Eilberg-Schwartz and Wendy Doniger dis-
10 Tertullian, De cultu feminarum 136; also Inno- cuss the bibliography about the symbolic value of hair
in Off with Her Head.
cent III: "An artificial countenance is plastered on, the
natural face covered up, as if man's skill could surpass
0
the art of his Creator. Not so, not so...But far be it that WORKS CITED
a counterfeit color be compared with natural color;
indeed, when the face is painted it takes on an abomi-
Alonso de Palencia. Cr6nica de Enrique IV. 5 vols
nable stench...For what is more vain than to comb the Trans. by D.A. Paz y Melia. Madrid: Revista de ar-
locks, paint the face, smooth the hair on the head, chivos, 1908. 3: 309.
rouge the cheeks, elongate the eyebrows, when favor Ambrose, Saint. St. Ambrose: Seven Exegetical Works.
is deceitful and beauty is vain" (Lotario dei Segni, On Trans. by Michael P. McHugh. In The Fathers of
the Misery of the Human Condition 64). Clothing meta- the Church: A New Translation. Vol. 65. Washing-
phor similar in tenor to Stanza 13 has long been used ton: Catholic U P, 1972.
to describe the process of becoming a Christian. St. - Death as Good (De bono morte). In St. Ambrose:
Paul uses the metaphor repeatedly (f. ex., Romans Seven Exegetical Works. The Fathers of the Church:
13:14; 1 Corinthians 15:53; 2 Corinthians 1:5. A New Translation. Trans. by Michael P. McHugh.
" L'ornement des dames (Ornatus mulierum) 32. Washington: Catholic U P, 1972.
Augustine, Saint. De civitate dei. 2 vols. Corpus
"Quant Deus out la femme fete, / De la coste Adam
est traite, / Baut6 la duna perdurable. / Mes ele perdi Christianorum: Series Latina XLVIII. Turnholt:
par le deble / Puis que ele out la pume gust6; / Mult Brepols, 1955.
Barnes, Jonathan, ed. The Complete Works ofAristotle.
en fu disonur6." In spite of its Latin title, the 13th cen-
tury Ornatus mulierum is the oldest collection of cos- 2 vols. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1984.
metic receipts in French. It is unrelated to a work of Clement of Alexandria, Saint Paidagogos. In Christ the
the same title, Ornatus mulierum, attributed to the Educator. Trans. by Simon P. Wood, CP. Washing-
female physician Trotula of Salerno (see Trotula mi- ton: The Catholic U of America P, 1954.
nor below, note 12). A general treatment on the use Colish, Marcia. "Cosmetic Theology: The Transforma-
of and attitude towards cosmetics can be found in tion of a Stoic Theme."Assays: CriticalApproaches
Bernard Grillet's Lesfemmes et lesfards dans l'antiquiti to Medieval and Renaissance Texts I (1981): 3-14.
grecque. Dominguez, Frank A. Love and Remembrance: The
12 Cosmetic receipts are the subject of Ovid's De Poetry ofJorge Manrique. Lexington: U P of Ken-
medicamine faciei feminae-a fragment often pub- tucky, 1988.
lished with the Ars and the Remedia-but the matter Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard and Wendy Doniger. Off
seemed to have been of marginal interest to doctors. with Her Head. Berkeley: U of California P, 1995.
Though references to feminine (and masculine) toi- Eucherius, Saint. Epistola paraenetica ad Valerianum
letry receipts can be found in the medical works of cognatum de contemptu mundi et saecularis
Galen, Hippocrates, Constantinus Africanus, and oth- philosophiae. PL 50: 711-26.
FernAndez de Minaya, Lope. Espejo del alma. In
ers, L'ornement is one of the few treatises on the use
of cosmetics to be found in medieval medical litera- Prosistas castellanos del siglo XV. 2 vols. Ed. P.
ture. The only Latin medical text known to me that is Fernando Rubio, O.S.A. Madrid, 1964. 2: 237.
devoted exclusively to the subject is Trotula of
Foulch6-Delbosc, R., ed. Cancionero castellano del si-
Salerno's Ornatus mulierum [also known as De ornatu glo XV. 2 vols. Madrid: Bailly-Bailliere, 1912-15.
mulierum or as Trotula minor]. Often appended to theGrillet, Bernard. Lesfemmes et lesfards dans l'antiquiti
Trotula major, a work on the ailments of women of grecque. Lyon: Centre National de la Recherche
which over twenty-five manuscripts survive, the Scientifique, 1975.
Trotula minor is divided into the following chapters:John Chrysostom, Saint. Paraenesis sive adhortatio ad
"De ornatu faciei, De ornatu labiorum, Qualiter dentes Theodorum lapsum. PG 47: 277-316.
dealbantur et mundificantur, Ad fetorem oris, Contra-. A Theodore. Introduction, texte critique, traduction
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m6dicales," Romania 32 (1903): 268-99; "Les Cerf, 1966.
-. In Matthaeum Homil. PG 57: 287.
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Lida de Malkiel, Maria Rosa. "Una copla de Jorge
"Manuscrits medicaux," Romania 44 (1915-17): 161-
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Siena's La rigime du corps (Vatican Library, MS 152-71. (Reprinted in Estudios sobre la literatura
Palatinus Latinus 1967) are also not very common. espafiola del siglo XV. Madrid, 1977. 145-78.)
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