DOCUMENTATION | Exhibitions: 1648 - War and Peace in Europe |
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| Essay Volumes > Tome II: Art and culture |
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JOSÉ MARÍA DÍEZ BORQUE
Spanish Literature during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) |
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I. Introduction
It is a well known fact that in the case of Spain, the terrible European war did not come to an end with the Peace Treaty of Westphalia (1648) but with that of the Pyrenees (1658) after Dunquerque, the war having been fought not only on the battlefields of Europe but also on Spanish soil against France and in the American dominions. [1] I will limit this study, however, to the period 1618-1648.
It would be out of place here to sum up the events of the Thirty Years War as it affected Spain, with details of the episodes reflected in the literature of the time. I think the reader is familiar with the historical facts, and the different aspects of the war are dealt with very amply in this book. I would remind the reader, however, that among the complex sequences of events, pacts and alliances, there were some that found their echo in literature and others that for various reasons, as we shall see, were overlooked.
The subjects that interested the writers of the day, favourably or otherwise according to the side they took, were the great personages of the war (Gonzalo de Córdoba, Spínola, the Cardinal Infante, Wallenstein, Richelieu . . ), and, to celebrate or to idealize them, the great Spanish victories: Breda (1625), Bahía (1625), Nördlingen (1634), etc. Other sub-jects that figure prominently in the literature are the dynastic events associated with Spanish foreign policy such as the failed marriage of the Prince of Wales, marriages arranged with Ferdinand III, coronations, etc.
As the following pages are to deal with literature, I have chosen to arrange the subject under the various forms: theatrical and festive works, prose, and poetry. Other arrangements would have been possible, for example by events or by personages, but as I mentioned earlier, I have preferred to concentrate on the purely literary aspects, even though it is impossible to include all that was produced in these three genres.
II. Theatre and Court Festivities
Since its ritual and ceremonial origins, the theatre has had, among other functions, that of celebrating, exalting, idealizing and taking propagandistic advantage of historical events. Plays were written to commemorate them and the production became a collective celebration with the story presented as an expression of power. But the theatre was also part and parcel of official festivities, as were ephemeral constructions, processions, picture stories, and so on, for different political and religious celebrations, and these were the motifs of Spanish theatre in its relationship to the Thirty Years War, lauding the victories and overlooking the losses and the general turn of events.
The sixteenth century had provided notable examples of the use of contemporary events to glorify a cause, not to mention ancient history as in Cervantes' "Siege of Numancia". Four plays about Charles V may be mentioned [2]: The "Egloga real" by the Bachiller de la Pradilla, presented in Valladolid at the end of 1517 to celebrate the King's arrival in Spain, but with the declared intention of provoking the acceptance by all the states of the King who had come from far-off lands and was not exactly welcomed, as was shown in the Cortes in Valladolid at the beginning of 1518. The "Coplas nuevamente trobadas sobre la prisión del Rey de Francia" (New Ballads of the imprisonment of the King of France) celebrating the victory of the imperial army at Pavia in 1525. "El saco de Roma" (May, 1527), presented by a dramatist called Juan de la Cueva at the end of the century. And the Peace of Cambrai (1529) was the theme of the "Farsa de la concordia" by Hernán López de Yanguas, on the theme of the Peace of Cambrai (1529).
This is the theatrical background to the plays celebrating the Spanish victories in the Thirty Years War, from the pens of such great dramatists as Lope de Vega and Calderón de la Barca. But it should be remembered that Lope de Vega had also written about the Emperor Charles in "The Siege of Vienna by Charles V" [3]; about the taking of Maastricht by the Duke of Parma in "The attack on Maastricht", all dated by Morley and Bruerton between 1596 and 1607 [4]; and the behaviour of the troops in Flanders in "The Spaniards in Flanders", written between 1597 and 1616. [5] Then there are other plays about war and the people of the wars apart from the Thirty Years War: from the early anti-heroic "Soldadesca" (undisciplined troops) published in the "Propalladia" of Torres Naharro [6] (Italy) to the courageous action of a black soldier who captures the Prince of Orange, as related by Andrés de Claramonte, and another version of the same story is "El negro valiente en Flandes" by Manuel Vicente Guerrero. [7]
As mentioned above, several plays were to celebrate Spanish victories in the Thirty Years War. Those of Fleurus (1622), Breda (1625), Bahía (1625) and Nördlingen (1634) were all celebrated on the stage in a tone glorifying the Spanish cause and the bravery of the captains, and as a slight on the enemy and on his motives. Some formed part of festivities in honour of the victories.
In "The new victory of Don Gonzalo de Córdoba", Lope de Vega portrays the daring deeds of this nobleman, the brother of his patron, the Duke de Sessa, in the War of the Palatinate, with the victory of Fleurus in 1622. The following lines (in free prose translation) give an idea of the tone and the sense of the play:
Gonzalo: We, with our hands made to conquer, what have we to fear? Faith is our guide, and these barbarous vile lutherans are guided by greed, ambition and heresy, These tyrants lay claim to the Empire, the Caesarean monarchy coming so justly to him who has it now, who venerates the holy successor of Peter...
As the dawn comes up dressed in clouds of gold and crimson and the innocent morning conquers the night with the strength of the sun, so does the celestial Philip gild his kingdoms, and night flies from the overpowering light; so if heresy flies from his rays at dawn, what will it be at midday?
Heaven that has given us two victories must honour us with a third; the same cause obliges this memory and our justice awaits the same end. Heaven's glory lies in our victory since our faith remains firm to defend the Church of Christ with our blood. [8]
Bahía was taken by the Dutch in 1625 but recovered by Don Fadrique de Toledo in April of the same year. This was the occasion for Lope de Vega to write "Brasil recovered" (1625). In the words of Menéndez Pelayo,
"it is a kind of panegyric in which no kind of dramatic fable is to be sought, but historical truth, good style, easy verse and a great deal of patriotic fervour". [9]
1625 was in fact a year of successes for the Spanish army since it saw the important surrender of Breda, the great feat of Spínola. This victory over the Dutch troops was of course immortalized by Velázquez in his painting "The Lances", but also by Calderón de la Barca en "The siege of Breda" (1626?) and in part by Lope de Vega in his "Military dialogue in praise of the Marquis of Spínola". The latter was described by Menéndez Pelayo as a play presented "either at a palace celebration or, more probably, at Ambrosio Spinola's own home during the two years he spent in Madrid from 1627 to 1629". [10] He refers of course to the latter work, but here we are more interested in the play by Calderón.
Calderón de la Barca wrote "The siege of Breda" probably about 1626 to celebrate the victory, using the Latin chronicle by H. Hugo. [11] The intention of the work is well summarized by Angel Valbuena Briones as follows:
"The epic tone gives sense and form to this drama by Calderón .. so the idea of fame is fundamental to a right understanding of the work which is profuse in narrative elements". [12]
This is shown by verses as heated as the following:
My humble zeal, my pious fear joyfully raise their applause to the faith of the powerful Philip, fourth planet of the daylight; and I hope that this faith may frighten the heresy in Flanders, putting a bloody end to any encounter. Praise to Heaven, honour to Spain. (Drums are heard). But who are these?
Alonso: These are Spaniards. Now I can speak in praise of these soldiers, and without fear; they suffer without protest, well-paid or not. They never saw the ugly face of fear, and though they are proud, they are not overweening. They bear anything under attack and the only thing they cannot bear is to be shouted at. They are divided into three regiments with three commanders... [13]
Obviously if victories were celebrated with all the extravagance we have seen in these extracts, that of Nördlingen would not be overlooked - the victory of the Cardinal Infante over the Swedish army. In addition to the religious allegory by Calderón "The first escutcheon of Austria", [14] to which we refer below, we have the plays "The two Ferdinands of Austria" by Antonio Coello, and "Victory of Nördlingen" and "The Infante in Germany" by Alonso de Castillo Solórzano. Rull and De Torres write about these plays: "The two dramatists coincide in giving the historical aspect of Nördingen less importance than they give to their incredible amorous entanglements. That is, Coello and Castilla Solórzano are writing for a different audience and at a different psychological moment. Their audience is less preoccupied with the political-religious leit-motiv of the Habsburgs, although the fact of their living in a catholic coun-try gave them some awareness of the struggle against the protestants". [15]
On the other hand, we find a speech by Teodoro in "Los empeños del mentir" ("The determination to lie") by Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza [16] a long detailed description of the battle of Nördlingen, in the familiar tone of glory and exaltation of the Spanish cause:
Theodoro: After Gustavo Adolfo,
burning comet of the North,
not content with being lightning,
went out in a meteor flash;
since praise on the death of the Duke,
arrogant and low highness,
raised to great height,
and then cast down;
seeing the two suns of Austria,
the falcon of Norway,
in such imperial plumage,
sinks his bloody claws;
two eagles from two nests,
fly out, and then,
the bells of centuries,
accompany their flight;
and the great Philip IV,
as on so many occasions,
wall of silver for the empire,
column of gold for the church,
sends forth from this court,
peaceful Mars therein:
the Marquis of Leganés,
with, as comrades,
the most gallant soldiers
who swear by St. Philip. [17]
Of a very different style, almost light comedy, is the cowardly soldier in the "Dance of the Mayor of the farmyard" by Quiñones de Benavente [18] ("Baile del alcalde del corral").
In his "First escutcheon of Austria", ("El primer blasón de Austria"), Calderón de la Barca gives a fine example of how profane subjects can be raised to a sacramental interpretation by the use of allegory. [19] But what interests us here is the scenic treatment of the victory of Nördlingen in a religious play. The editors of the work express this as follows: "Calderón, true to the account of the battle as this is found in the chronicles and the well-known Relaciones, turns it into an allegory by presenting as a duel the assault of protestantism on the Catholic Church. And, in defense of the absence of any reference to the political struggle in Europe, it must be said that this was imposed by reasons of state, particularly as regards the crisis of relations with France". [20]
There is an account of the staging in Vienna in 1635 of the play "Emulation of the elementos and applause of the gods [...]", as well as dances in 1636 to celebrate the victory of Nördlingen. [21] The victory was also referred to in a ballet at Ratisbon for the coronation of Ferdinand III [22], and fiestas and comedies in Rome to commemorate events of the Thirty Years War. [23]
The circumstances were not exactly favourable to celebrations but the events of the war provided occasions for festivity; in 1625, the Cardinal Infante Don Ferdinand was honoured with "Al bélico valor siempre triunfante/ ?Oh madre España! de marciales glorias" (Always triumhant in warlike courage, Spain, mother of martial glories") [24]; fiestas in Barcelona and in Seville in 1638 for the victory of Fuenterrabía [25], in Brussels for the defeats of Yveimar and Longavilla [26], and in Madrid in 1648 for the success of the campaign in Naples. [27] For Catalonia, the surrender of Perpignan in 1642 was a victory, celebrated as such:
"The author of this Relación describes mainly the illuminations and fireworks with which the news was received, in homage to Francia, with portraits of the King, the Queen, the Dauphin and Cardinal Richelieu hung on the facade of a house". [28]
All of this forms part of the practice of court festivals with plays, masquerades, dances, pageants, temporary buildings, decorated carriages, poetic spectacles, etc. to honour the political achievements of the Habsburgs. These were numerous and frequent, and are detailed by Alenda and by Simón Díaz. [29] To mention only a few:
- The arrival of the Prince of Wales for his marriage to María in 1623. [30] >
- The reception of the Archduke Charles of Austria in 1624. [31]
- That of the Duke of Cleves, Imperial Elector, in 1624. [32]
- The engagement of Maria of Austria, the sister of Philip IV, to the King of Hungary, 1629-1630. [33] Calderón mentions this in "Guárdete del agua mansa" (Beware of quiet waters). [34]
- Receptions and fiestas in honour of the Cardinal Infante in various European towns, from 1632. [35]
- Election of Ferdinand III as King of the Romans. [36] This was celebrated in the Buen Retiro Palace with a play by Calderón de la Barca "The dialogue of War and Peace". The festivity was very lavish to show France that there was money for the war. [37]
A great number of fiestas acclaimed the marriage of Philip IV to Mariana of Austria; these need not be mentioned here. However, before leaving this subject, it is interesting to recall that an important figure of the Thirty Years War, Wallenstein, was the hero of a lost play by Calderón de la Barca and Coello. Another work, "La vida de Frislan", by Matos Fragoso,is mentioned by de la Barrera. [38]
III. Prose
To study the way in which the Thirty Years War was dealt with in literary prose works would call for a previous investigation of the literary forms and canons of the seventeenth century, which obviously is outside the scope of this summary. The problem arises from the variety of the material, from mere documents to works of fiction. In principle, burocratic documents should be excluded from the literary canon, but then we come up against the collection of historical papers, varying as regards literary quality, and ranging from chronicles, to annals, treatises, letters, letters, reports, journals, notices, etc. To root up references to the Thirty Years War from all this prose would be both laborious and unrewarding for the purpose of this study.
So some reasonable limit has to be set, and this will be the prose of fiction, of politics, and more briefly, some of the many historical works.
The "aviso" or "brief", printed or in manuscript, is an immediate record of an event - a letter, a report, a traveller's tale, an embassy dispatch, etc. Professor María Dolores Sáiz studied these briefs as a form of journalism of the seventeenth century [39], and Paz y Meliá also considers them as "a kind of news-paper or news flash". [40] The "avisos" of Pellicer, for example, from May, 1639 to March 1644 are full of references to events, evaluations and reactions to the Thirty Years War; Brazil and the Dutch; threats and attacks by the French; defeats and bad news from Flanders. [41] The same can be said of the many "relaciones" or reports which may deal with a given period [42] or with some decisive stage of the war. [43]
Embassy dispatches, letters and accounts of trips often contain opinions, judgements and references to the war. Again it is impossible here to enter into detail, but this is well documented. [44]
A book of travel should also be mentioned: "Viaje, sucesos y guerras del Infante Cardenal don Fernando de Austria, 1631-1636" (Travels, incidents and wars of the Infante Cardinal . . ) by Diego de Aedo y Gallar [45], Crown Counsellor, Private Secretary to His Highness and General Tax-collector of Brabant.
The book is an account of the Cardinal's travels in Europe - Genova, Milan, Rotterdam, Brussels etc. - with curious details of the daily life en route that make it really documentary; it describes the receptions and festivities, with details of the inscriptions on the triumphal arches, political news in Flanders, and of special interest here, an exact detailed account of the Nördlingen campaign.
As an example of the comic "picaresque" novel, "Estebanillo González" mentions the battle of Nördlingen in a tone very different from that of the glorifying and idealization we have seen so far. The story has other references to contemporary events such as the marriage of Mariana of Austria to Ferdinand III. [46] Professor Antonio Cid describes it as follows:
"Here we have an autobiography written by someone completely ignorant of political or historical matters, bandying the names of important people, places and events to show that he was in one place or another and as if he knew the famous people personally. But the story is written merely to make people laugh and inciden-tally to pass from the rank of court jester to that of manager of a gaming house. [47]
Professors Rull and De Torres also refer to this novel. [48] The voice of the "pícaro", the sly jester and caricaturist, is that of the anti-hero of a victory glorified in the theatre, in fiestas and in poetry. But this was the raison d'être of the picaresque and could not be otherwise:
We continued on our way towards the turning to the town of Nördlingen, and our army met up with that of the King of Hungary which doubled our forces and made us decide to go and take that town. And when we had it all upside-down and were waiting for the priest, the cross and the sacristan, the Swedish enemy troops "came for wool and retired shorn". To tell the truth, though that is not my profession, I was so terrified when I saw them coming that I would have given all I had to become winged Icarus or to watch the battle from a window... I found a school of Swedish tunny-fish, a slaughter-house full of Aryan cattle and a butcher's with Calvinistic hunks of meat . . And saying "what a good day for the devils!" I set to, piercing sausages, opening bellies and cutting throats, and I am not the first to appear after the torment nor to stab a dead Moor (49).
Spain in the seventeenth century was very productive in the matter of political prose, well or badly written, but among the good writers several were directly involved in political or diplomatic activity. Two are worth mentioning: Diego Saavedra Fajardo and Francisco Quevedo. Among their many other themes they wrote about the Thirty Years War, particularly the conflicts with France. Professor Arredondo quotes in this respect the "Respuesta al manifiesto de Francia" (1635) (Reply to the French declaration"); "Suspiros de Francia" (Lamentations of France), and "Locuras de Europa" (European madness), both between 1643 and 1645 and both by Saavedra. She mentions as works by Quevedo on French matters: "Lince de Italia u zahorí español (1628) (Lynx of Italy or Spanish seer); "Carta al serenísimo, muy alto y muy poderoso Louis XIII" (1635) (Letter to the Most Serene, august and powerful Louis XIII); and in the forties, "Panegírico a la Majestad del Rey nuestro don Felipe IV", and "La rebelión de Barcelona no es por el Güevo ni es por el fuero" [50] (The rebellion in Barcelona is not for the egg nor for the statutes). On the meaning and the importance of these works, Prof. Arredondo writes:
"Here we have two important writers, of the same generation, both very well informed and anxious to support the political and patriotic cause. It is over these political and patriotic questions that Quevedo and Saavedra reply to the French "manifiesto", addressing the King of France himself. But their different approaches to politics and patriotismo produce formal differences in the replies which reveal the personality of each writer". [51]
The texts of Saavedra Fajardo provide clear evidence of how opinion can be manipulated by a libelist writer who has no qualms about spreading false news, and as a diplomat "makes use of information, news and rumours to convert them into propaganda". [52]
In "Locuras de Europa", Saavedra reviews the situation in Europe with the clear intention of defending Spain in a "war of words against the insults and lies of the French, proffered during the Congress of Münster". [53] At a time of triumph of the French army, he presents the image of France in a state of ruin, and the military success as the cause of defeat for the people of France:
The triumphs mean glory for the prince and sadness for the people, because with the triumphs comes the news of the death of their sons, brothers and friends. There is hardly a house in France that is not full of mourning; a great part of the nobility are without heirs; and the towns are so deserted that there are not enough labourers for the fields nor workers for the trades. France, then, is so afflicted that she is battling within herself as much as with other countries, suffering alone the misery and the calamities she is inflicting on the others. [54]
But this could be applied to all wars and to all countries, and an enemy is always seen as the embodiment of evil. This is clear in Saavedra's "Reply to the declaration of France" (1635) in which "warped intentions" are opposed to "generosity and purity". [55]
The numerous letters written by Saavedra to the leading figures of the time - Philip IV, Olivares, the Cardinal Infante, ambassadors ... [56] - contain continuous and varied references to the policy and the events of the Thirty Years War, but again this would be outside the scope of this study.
Quevedo was also well placed by his complex political activities for obtaining inside information. When he was put in prison in 1639, the common people said that this was because he had been spying for the French, maintaining contact with a servant of Richelieu. [57] The truth is that in the famous Letter to Louis XIII, he makes a bitter attack on the attitude of France, very much in line with other replies that provoked the declaration of war by the French. He also used almost Messianic terms, and wrote of Spain as chosen by God, even though this is somewhat toned down. [58] The Letter to Louis XIII is of particular interest as it shows how pamphleteering could be raised to the level of literature:
"The subjectivity of Quevedo's famous Letter underlies the literary quality of the text; the author presents the historical fact with his extensive erudition and with a use of rhetoric that make the letter a work of art and at the same time a forcible statement" [59]
Quevedo deals with other aspects of the difficult relations between Spain and France. His "Lynx of Italy" (1628) is a shrewd analysis of the relationship between the Duke of Savoy and the King of France and the consequences it would bring. And as mentioned earlier, the texts of the forties - the Panegyric, the Rebellion - are about relations with France. The latter contains a vigourous attack on the Catalans and a reproach to France for her "unjust war against Christendom". [60]
Condemnation of the attitude of other enemies of Spain in the Thirty Years War is found also in Quevedo's prose works. For example, in "La hora de todos" (1642) (The time for all), he ex-presses venemous criticism of the Dutch settlements in the Indies:
The Dutch, thanks to the sea, live on poor stretches of land purloined from the water, behind hills of sand that they call dykes. They rebel against God in the faith, and against their king in servitude, accumulating their dissension in political commerce after setting themselves up in offensive liberty and sovereignty by theft and extending their territory by well-armed and deliberate treason. Their prosperity has made them defiant. Boasting that they are the first-born of the ocean, and convinced that the sea that gave them the ground they live on will not deny them the rest of the earth, they determined to ride the seas in ships filled with pirates to nibble and gnaw wherever they could in the west as in the east. [61]
The battle of Fleurus (1622) figures in his "Mundo caduco y desvaríos de la edad" (The senile world and the ravings of old age) as does Céspedes in his "Historia de Felipe IV" (Barcelona, 1634). [62] Here we leave Quevedo in his prose, but we will return to him as a poet together with others such as Góngora, Calderón, etc., on the subject of the people and the episodes of the Thirty Years War.
IV. Poetry
The poetry of the seventeenth is like a stormy ocean on which it is difficult to sail. One must navigate among hundreds of manuscript collections of songs and poems, of printed verses, ballads, of books by a single poet, others in manuscript, loose sheets of ballads . . . apart from the fascinating quantity of oral verse; and all this is beset with problems of authorship, of false attributions, dating, textual accuracy and so on. And all these problems mean that any generalisation with regard to the poetry of that century can only be provisional, and this must apply to our observations on the incidence of the Thirty Years War on Spanish poetry between 1618 and 1648. It would be ingenuous to remind the reader of the inaccessibility of this whole corpus of poetry; no one can know how much is preserved and how much lost; nor is it possible to know just what the voice of poetry was conveying at the time. However, from the many collections examined, from individual poets and from bibliographies, some indications, inevitably fragmentary, can be given of the presence of the Thirty Years War in Spanish poetry.
The ballad sheets did not express the anxiety and restlessness of the ordinary people; they saw that the army was engaged on a number of fronts at the same time, that the fighting was spreading to Spanish soil (Portugal and Cataluña from 1640), and that they themselves were suffering loss of lives, economic ruin and the burden of taxation. The specialist in ballad sheets, María Cruz García de Enterría, gives a chronology of the battles and their echo in these sheets:
- 1618 - General agitation for political (Lerma) and military reasons: 1 sheet.
- 1621 - Siege of the Moorish La Mamora, another Spanish victory: 1 sheet.
- 1622 - War against the Turks in Poland; 1 sheet.
- 1622 - Thirty Years War. Toneins: 1 sheet; Montpellier: 1 sheet.
- 1625 - Problem of la Valtellina and wars in Italy: 1 sheet.
- 1636 - Campaigns of the Cardinal Infante in France: 1 sheet.
- 1638 - Battle of Fuenterrabía: 8 sheets.
- 1639 - Salces recovered from the French: 1 sheet.
- 1640 - Further campaigns of the Cardinal Infante in Flanders: 2 sheets.
- 1640 - Victory of the Portuguese over Holland, recovering Pernambuco: 1 sheet.
- 1640 - Thirty Years War, battles in France and in Italy: 1 sheet.
- 1644 - Battle of Lérida: 1 sheet.
- 1647 - Lérida recovered again: 3 sheets. [63]
This author mentions the frequent propagandistic tone of the ballad sheets with news of the war:
"Not one Spanish defeat is recounted in the the street ballad sheets. They all tell of victories . . But these ballads do not query the events; they simply tell the story, and this is always of the victories". [64]
The intention is always the same as that of the examples given above: exaltation of the Spanish captains and their troops and revilement of the enemy. Professor García de Enterría quotes ballads of 1635 against the "Dutch heretics", and against the French in the course of the Thirty Years War. [65] As an example of the "brutally primary sentiments expressed sometimes comically and in other cases with sadistic irony", she quotes the following verses against the French:
Shaking fine plumes /
You chase noses and ears /
Among a thicket of long locks /
And a forest of moustaches, /
On my word of honour the boys /
come from far to see them, /
They will carol them in the streets /
In honour of their trappings /
They are bad, the French mob, /
The small game of Roncesvalles. /
The pretensions of France /
Are not what they were, /
The noseless ones /
Will be less arrogant. [67]
Other texts could be quoted, as I said earlier, but it is curious that the satiric verse in manuscript not submitted to the control of printed work, corroborates the tendency.
In the seventeenth century, it was very common in Spain to put up satirical broadsheets - in verse or in prose [68] - in public places such as the walls of the palaces, church doors, the Puerta del Sol, the Retiro, etc. They were sometimes illustrated with drawings or other images, in a similar way to that of the picture stories at the fairs. Here again there is the unbridgeable gap between what circulated at the time and what has survived, but what is certain is that it was a satirical statement of protest, persecuted and punished. In the many examples I have studied, there is little satire and criticism directed against the state of the country on account of the war. As we have seen, the main theme of the literature of the day was to celebrate the victories and not to consider the dire consequences of the war. This is seen in a broadsheet of 1640:
This broadsheet came out in Rome: there was a drawing of a lion with three fleurs-de-lis growing out of its nose, and these were wilted by the lion's breath. Its tail was flicking three flies. A woman was tied to the right side of the mane, and a man to the left, and in front of them a man wiping his eyes with a cloth, and this verse that may be by the person who made the drawing:
From his Spanish cave /
the lion with its nose /
withers fleurs-de-lis, /
flicks bees with its tail; /
and with a single hair of its mane /
ties Savoy in Turin; /
and without drawing any other arm. /
Parma intones the Misesere /
And Holland mourns its end. [69]
A very curious broadsheet of 1641 does, however, refer to the difficult situation of the Spanish Empire:
About this time, a new-sheet appeared in Madrid with a drawing of King Philip IV knocking at the gate of Heaven. St Peter does not recognize him and asks him who he is. His Majesty replies "I am the King of Spain". St Peter is surprised and asks "How can a reign in Flanders, another in the Indies, another in Italy and yet another in Africa all get into Heaven?" And the King says after a moment's thought: "Sir, if you will not let me in on account of that, do not worry; all those ports will be finished within a year". (Original notes by Father Pereyra). [70]
Another satirical and critical view of the situation in Europe is found in the broadsheet Cristianisimo llaman y es tirano. [71]
The broadsheets were an impermanent form of literature, posted up under cover of night, and not only torn down but pursued by the authorities who tried to discover the authors and punish them. But their efforts to suppress this kind of protest were in vain; it persisted throughout the century, and even before and after the seventeenth century. [72]
There were other forms of dissenting verse that passed from hand to hand to escape the controls and censorship imposed on printed works. [73] The Thirty Years War is present in this anonymous versifying. It is found in the collections of songs and poems preserved in a number of libraries. [74] There is a great deal of ridicule of politicians (sometimes even of the King), of government measures, of the situation of the country, the administration, the economy and so on, but I have found little reference to the battles of the Thirty Years War and its leaders in these collections, probably because the poets were more interested in satirising the state of the country. As Mercedes Etreros writes:
"Foreign politics was less important because the cause is not so immediate, and is not used for purposes of propaganda (by the ruling class) nor as a subject of interest". [75] She does, however, include two significant verses about the situation of the war outside Spain:
What has Europe to say of the power of Spain? /
Her courage has failed, cunning and ruse, /
The Pope, well-disposed /
Has offered her an indulgence, /
France is sharpening a claw /
In the hope of scratching Catalonia, /
The Caesar with his daughter and his heir /
Think only of jewels and money [...] /
The suffering people groan and weep, /
The government meets every hour, /
Taxes are still as they were, /
The rich can no longer pay, if before they could, /
Because they have been impoversished, /
And the poor cannot pay because they are poor. /
God be praised.
Pernambuco and Brasil /
Belong to Holland, /
The French want Milan, /
Everyone wants Naples. /
In April, Navarra /
Will have the visit of the Bourbon /
And then on to Guipúzcoa, /
Neighbours and Basques /
will not want to be conquered /
Because they are recommended. /
Flanders will want to settle /
With the neighbouring Dutch, /
The pilgrim Indian /
Will be able to pass without fleets.... [76]
These manuscript collections include songs and verses celebrating wars in which Spain was involved at different periods, but in the seventeenth century it seems that this satirical poetry referred more to war on Spanish soil - Catalonia and Portugal - as being nearer and more present:
The war has come to Spain /
From Italy and France, /
The daring soldier /
Being lord of the country; /
Countryside and village /
Are laid low by his pitiless greed; /
The war, finally /
For many is destruction, /
For a few, profit.... /
If Catalonia were given /
What belongs to her, in time, /
She would not be seen now /
In the teeth of so many wild animals. /
Consider, oh great chief shepherd /
That a mere shepherd-boy gives you this warning, /
Speaking courteously /
As a loyal vassal: /
Carrying the salt in his hands /
And the most modest crook. [...] /
Even if Luther and Calvin /
Slip into Barcelona, /
If God comes to our aid /
They will not reach here. /
And if Rosas is not won, /
A mere skirmish, a small affair, /
It will be the same in the spring, /
The same, Sir, as now. /
If Perpignan was lost /
It matters little, Sir, /
Behind them was the help /
Of Leganés and La Hinojosa.... [77]
There were verses advising the King on how he should conduct military affairs:
But since there are costs in Italy and Flanders /
Those at home should avoid extravagances /
And not with blood, mine and my children's, /
Make lakes for festivities.... /
Philip, acclaimed by the world /
King of the feared unbeliever, /
Awake, for if you are asleep /
No one fears you nor loves you; /
Awake, oh King, for the fame /
Of the whole world proclaims /
That your crown is of a lion /
And your sleep is of a dormouse. /
See that flatterers call you /
With sinister intention /
Our father.... /
Look at the Dutch pirate: /
On seeing your kingdom ungoverned, /
He no longer fears its king /
And steals your gold and silver /
And treats you with disrespect /
As a beggar with hand outstretched /
And proclaims, knowing /
The sickness of which your kingdom is dying, /
That the Spaniard who wishes to live /
Without law and without God /
To thy kingdom come.... /
The heretic took Grol this summer, /
And do you think you will mend your foolishness /
By sending your Messias to Flanders? [78]
The heavy taxes originated by so many wars were a great burden on the people, bearing personally the weight of the foreign policy of Spain, so often exalted and urged to fight as we have seen. There are echos of this fatigue:
It is not right that the loyalty /
Of your vassals is rewarded /
With one tax and then another /
With the door open to so many misfortunes; /
That the hard flints /
Are worn down by the unwelcome steel, /
And so has to be put last /
With so much giving and soliciting. /
One cannot always say /
Patience, loyalty and faith /
Thy will... /
All your kingdom in debt /
To pay what is not owed, /
No excuse can approve /
So much unnecessary tax; /
You will say that you are indebted /
With so much war and garrison /
And inevitably this levying /
Must feed the tax-collector; /
But what hurts most /
Is that as tax-collectors you put /
Our trespassers... [79] /
From what we have seen so far it does not appear that this type of poetry in the seventeenth century - to a general and signficant degree - voices a complaint and protest against the consequences of the war; a great deal of it shares in the spirit of national unity in the face of the foreign enemy.
The collection of ballads also contains examples of "propaganda of Spanish successes and abuse of the adversary" [80] according to Professor Cid who knows this literature well. He mentions several ballads: on the subject of Wallenstein, "El que bien vive, bien muere" (He who lives well dies well); on France and Catalonia, "Mala la hubistes, franceses,/ en la entrada de Vizcaya" (You had a bad time, Frenchmen, entering Biscay), "Mala la hubistes, franceses/ la noche de los ataques", (You had a bad time, Frenchmen, on the night of the attacks), and "Tremolando sus banderas/ un campo de gente armada" (Their flags waving, a band of armed men); on various incidents, "Naturales y extran-jeros/ que estáis en Madrid gozando" (Locals and foreigners, enjoying yourselves in Madrid); on the war in Flanders, "El Serénissimo Infante,/ que por sus hechos y hazañas" (The august Infante who by his deeds and heroism). [81] Again with regard to France-Catalonia, we have "Al ambicioso francés/ los inquietos catalanes" (To the ambitious Frenchman, the restless Catalans) [82]; and against the enemies of the Austrias on the occasion of the enthronement of the King of the Romans. [83]
Professor Cid attributes "Estebanillo González" to Gabriel de la Vega, and considers him the author, also, of two "rhymed accounts of the military campaigns in Flanders", published in 1640 and 1643. He edits four curious attractive poems - a hostile attack on the French, an illness of the Cardinal Infante,, the defeat of Corbie, and the battle of the River Somme; the titles are: "Sátira contra los monsiures de Francia", "A una enfermedad que tuvo su Alteza el Señor Infante Cardenal en Flandes", "Coloquio entre el Rey de Francia y Rochelí cuando restauraron a Corbí, estando su Alteza el Infante indispuesto", and "La batalla que tuvo el Príncipe Thomás al pasar la ribera de Soma, y retirada de noche del Conde de Suayson". [84]
These verses would appear to be by a known poet, unlike the mass of anonymous material considered so far, so this allows us to pass on to the poetry of well known writers.
Behind the anonymous poetry and verse there were, of course, writers of great talent, others less gifted, and then the more or less worthless writers of doggerel among the innumerable poets of the Spanish Golden Age of literature. Questions of authorship, false attributions, errors, and so on, would be out of place here, so this review will conclude with poetry by great writers, leaving Quevedo to the end as a case apart.
Góngora is known for his commemorative poems on royal occasions such as the failed marriage of the Prince of Wales to the Infanta María [85]; less poetical criticism of the enemy is found in his "Panegírico al duque de Lerma" (Panegyric upon the Duke of Lerma) [86] and in an undated satirical romance "Cuando pasé de las Indias" (When I came from the Indies). [87] More important perhaps is his sonnet of 1620 in honour of such an outstanding personage of the Thirty Years War as was the Cardinal Infante [88] whose victory at Nördlingen inspired so much versifying. Professors Rull and de Torres document other texts of a lyrical or lyrical-epic character in praise of the Cardinal Infante: "Fernando", by Bocángel; "La España consolada", by Salcedo Coronel; "Elegía en la muerte del Señor Infante don Carlos" by Calderón de la Barca, in memory of the Cardinal's brother but with references to the Cardinal Infante. [89] Other poems in his praise are the "Panegírico de los hechos victoriosos del Infante don Fernando" by González de Salcedo (1936), and a "Canción" by Lope de Vega in "La vega de Parnaso" (Valley of Parnassus) (1637). [90]
Quevedo has suffered more than most of the poets of the seventeenth century in Spain from the too common habit of false attributions of the work of one poet to another. It is advisable to restrict the choice to poems from an authorised edition.
Some of these are dedicated to personages of the Thirty Years War in praise or otherwise according to which side they were fighting on. The sonnet "To the Duke of Lerma, Field Marshall, General of Flanders" is of course a tribute:
"You whose veins could contain five great ones, /
made greater by your sword, /
You are the Commander of Castilla /
And, in time of danger, the leader in Flanders..." [91] Another impassioned sonnet honours the Marquis Ambrosio Spínola:
What was done by treason in Troy, /
Sinon and Ulysses and the wooden horse, /
So your sword, from Ostend on the great wall /
At the head of your legions. /
The arrival of your squadrons /
Brought the fall of Frisia and Breda, /
Under your weapons he saw the ruse, /
His wall left without flags and pennants. /
You subjected the whole Palatinate /
To the Spanish monarch, and your presence /
Shocked the zeal of the heretic... [92]
In contrast, Cardinal Richelieu is satirized in the sonnet "Al Cardenal de Rucheli" from which these lines are taken:
Where did you go Ruceli, so fast, /
Blood does not suit the purple; /
For giving the river, the sea has come over you /
And Ruceli comes to a bad end in the sea. /
And Ruceli how does it come /
That the French cock comes without the Roussignol /
And cries aloud and wants to throw the feathers /
out of the nest that has never been diseased? [93]
and among other ballad-like attacks on the French [94], it is thought that Quevedo is the author of "The capture of Valles Ronces". [95]
The traitor Wallenstein was another target for Quevedo's satire in a "justification" of his death:
The Lion of Spain gave him his Lamb, /
And, a wolf, wanted to cover it with blood; /
The Imperial Eagle gave him his wings /
And with his claws he opposed him fiercely. /
Proud and treacherous rather than warlike, /
He tried to take the kingdom of Bohemia; /
The choice of the sceptre ended in bullets /
And the crown he aspired to was of steel. /
He fell, the Duke of Friesland, /
Broken in pieces at the hands of capable /
Opponents of his ambition. [96]
Quevedo is in favour of an aggressive stand against the enemy, in keeping with his idea of Spain and its Empire. This is shown forcefully in his sonnet "Exhortatión a la majestad del rey nuestro senor Felipe IV para el castigo de los rebeldes": "Arm with lightning the invincible hand: /
May they fall, broken and undone, the insolent /
Belgians, French, Swedish and Germans." [97]
And another sonnet in the same tone, "Al Rey nuestro senor Don Felipe IV":
"May lightning strike from your hand: /
You will punish pride and madness, /
And if you fight, you will return triumphant." [98]
This same spirit is found in the well-known "Epístola satírica y censoria":
A bearded Spaniard could, without fear, /
Call the Germans drunkards /
And the Dutch heretics and traitors. /
He could accuse Italy of inconstancy; /
But today, in many ways /
We are copies of those originals.... /
Make a return, sir to that happy time, /
And when you inspect our forces /
May they become united and warlike. /
Make courage take the place of dissipation /
And except for the feast of Corpus with dancing /
Let there be no fine lace and tinsel.... [99] /
The old subject of the cowardly soldier is satirized in Quevedo's mockery of a "drunken soldier of Flanders" who marries a "Very old widow with a dowry of a hundred ducats":
Little benefit you obtain from marriage /
Since if you beget a child by him /
It will arouse suspicion. /
In vain you hope for this /
For if you conceive from him /
It will arouse malice. /
If he, who at Dunkirk /
Did nothing with his gun /
Primes it (poor fellow!) aimlessly again /
Not in Brabant nor in Rouen but in Friesland /
Then both of you stand to gain; /
You finding your Flanders and he his France? [100]
Quevedo's is the militant voice asking Spain, "señora de muchos" but "de tantos enemigos invidiada y perseguida" (Mistress of many but envied and persecuted by so many enemies") to be watchful and ready to fight because /
"It is easier, oh Spain, in many ways /
That what you took from them single-handed /
They can all take back from you". [101]
And in great measure this is what happened. The work of Quevedo, however, both in poetry and in prose, was both a celebration of military victories and an inducement to continue fighting.
After this glance at the various forms of literature, in the theatre, in prose and in verse, in their relation to the Thirty Years War, it is clear that the inspiration lay in the celebration of victories, exaltation of the military leaders, and attacks on the enemies. Little attention seems to have been paid to the decline of the Empire, the anguish of its dismemberment, the tragic consequences of the war and the loss of international prestige. A different question altogether is what came from the Treaties of Westphalia and of the Pyrenees.
FOOTNOTES
1. In view of what is said here, it is not necessary to quote from well-known historical works by such specialists as Parker, Elliot, Domínguez Ortiz, Stradling, Alcalá Zamora, Thompson, Palacio Atard, etc.
2. See Díez Borque 1991, pp.163f.
3. Laferl 1994, p.71.
4. Griswold Morley/Bruerton 1968.
5. Griswold Morley/Bruerton 1968.
6. For the historical value of this work, Sita Alba 1983, 1983.
7. From data furnished by Prof. Moses Etuah Panford, Jr.
8. Vega 1970, pp. 336f.
9. Vega 1970, p.30.
10. Vega 1970, p.37.
11. Barca 1966, p.104.
12. Barca 1966, p.103.
13. Barca 1966, p.105f.
14. Edited by Rull/Torres 1981.
15. Rull/Torres 1981, p.62.
16. Quoted by Cid 1989, p. 69.
17. Vega 1951, p.445.
18. Rull/Torres 1981, p.110.
19. Díez Borque 1983.
20. Rull/Torres 1981, p. 67.
21. Sommer-Mathis 1994, p. 44.
22. Sommer-Mathis 1994, p. 44.
23. Sommer-Mathis 1994, p. 45
24. Alenda 1903, pp. 245f.
25. Alenda 1903, pp. 290f.
26. Alenda 1903, p. 295.
27. Alenda 1903, pp. 299f.
28. Alenda 1903, p. 296.
29. Alenda 1903; Simón Díaz 1982.
30. Alenda 1903, pp. 214-232; Simón Díaz 1982, pp. 197-256. Quevedo satirized this event.
31. Alenda 1903, pp. 243-246; Simón Díaz 1982, p. 306.
32. Simón Díaz, p. 306.
33. Alenda 1903, pp. 259ff., 265-272; Simón Díaz, pp. 371,392f.
34. Rudolf 1994, p. 35.
35. Alenda 1903, pp. 276f., 282, 284ff.
36. Alenda 1903, pp. 287ff.
37. Sommer-Mathis 1994, p. 45.
38. Cid 1989, p. 69; Barrera 1968, p. 242.
39. Sáiz 1983.
40. Paz/Meliá 1968, p. 3.
41. Tierno Galván 1965, passim.
42. Simón Díaz 1982, pp. 436, 438, 440, 448, 457, 463.
43. Díaz Plaja 1957, pp. 111, 125, 148, 192, 198, 200, 203, 234, 250, 262.
44. Díaz Plaja 1957, pp.102, 108, 110-111, 122, 134-5, 143, 190, 219-230, 247f., 277f., 280, 285f.
45. Rull/Torres 1981, pp. 64ff.
46. Rudolf 1994, p.35.
47. Cid 1989, pp. 68, 70.
48. Rull/Torres, pp.109f.
49. Carreira/Cid 1990, pp.305f., 316.
50. Arredondo 1992, p. 104; Arredondo 1993; Arredondo 1987; Jover 1949.
51. Arredondo 1992, p.105.
52. Arredondo 1992, p.104, and note 8 quotation from J.C.Dowling.
53. Saavedra Fajardo 1946, p.1197.
54. Saavedra Fajardo 1946, pp.1216f.
55. Diaz-Plaja 1957, p.165.
56. Saavedra Fajardo 1946, p.1285-1437.
57. Tierno Galván 1965, p.55.
58. Arredondo 1992.
59. Arredondo 1992, p.14.
60. Diáz Plaja 1957, pp.245f.
61. Diáz Plaja 1957, p.253.
62. Vega 1970, p.33.
63. Enterría 1973, pp. 291f.
64. Enterría 1973, pp. 230, 291.
65. Enterría 1973, pp. 296-299.
66. Enterría 1973, p. 297.
67. Enterría 1973, p. 297.
68. Díez Borque 1995, pp. 365-383.
69. Memorial histórico 1862, XV, p. 304
70. Memorial histórico 1862, XVI, p. 198.
71. National Library of Madrid, Ms 3884.
72. Díez Borque 1995.
73. Diez Borque 1983, pp. 371-392; Pinto 1987, pp.43-64.
74. See previous note for references to the National Library of Madrid, Hispanic Society of America, etc.
75. Etreros 1983, p.145.
76. Etreros 1983, p. 146.
77. Egido 1973, pp. 123, 128, 130.
78. Egidio 1973, pp. 114ff., 125.
79. Egidio 1973, pp. 117, 120.
80. Cid, 1989, p. 69.
81. Cid 1989, pp. 42, 68f.
82. Rodríguez Moñino 1977, p.559.
83. Academia burlesca que se hizo en Buen Retiro a la majestad de Philippo Cuarto el Grande. 1737, No. 16.
84. See note 47.
85. Góngora 1991, I, p. 5.
86. Góngora 1991, I, pp. 99ff.
87. Góngora 1991, II, p. 334.
88. Góngora 1991, I, p. 6.
89. Rull/Torres 1981, pp. 108f.
90. Rull/Torres 1981, p. 108 and note.
91. Blecua 1981, p. 209.
92. Blecua 1981, p. 295.
93. Blecua 1981, p. 271.
94. Cid 1989, p. 36 note.
95. Blecua pp. 1365ff., Cid 1989, p.36.
96. Blecua 1981, p.306.
97. Blecua 1981, p. 266.
98. Blecua 1981, p. 275.
99. Blecua 1981, pp. 144, 147.
100. Blecua 1981, p. 634.
101. Blecua 1981, p. 63.
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