Las Obras de burlas del

Cancionero general
de Hernando del Castillo
Antonio Cortijo Ocaa
&
Marcial Rubio rquez
eds.

Publications of eHumanista
Santa Barbara, University of California, 2015

ndice
Es materia de burlas,
Antonio Cortijo Ocaa & Marcial Rubio rquez
Las burlas del Cancionero general
Vicen Beltran ...............................................................................................

Obscenidad de ideas y palabras en el Cancionero de obras

de burlas provocantes a risa
J. Ignacio Dez ..............................................................................................

47

La muerte del conde de Niebla en El Laberinto de Fortuna

de Juan de Mena y en el poema atribuido a Juan de Hempudia
en Carajicomedia
Frank A. Domnguez ...................................................................................

87

De la seleccin De burlas al Cancionero de obras de burlas

en el contexto valenciano
Toms Martnez Romero ............................................................................ 115
Este rastro de confeso: Converso Poets and Topics in
Medieval and Early Modern Spanish Cancioneros
scar Perea Rodrguez ................................................................................ 141
Tradicin temtica en el Cancionero de obras de burlas
Laura Puerto Moro ...................................................................................... 187
La poesa ertica, burlesca y pornogrfica del Siglo de Oro
y su transmisin textual: los pliegos sueltos
Marcial Rubio rquez ................................................................................ 225

Amads de Gaula (Venecia, 1533), ejemplar de la Universidad de Arkansas

(Grabado, fol. 316r)

Este rastro de confeso: Converso Poets and

Topics in Medieval and Early Modern Spanish
Cancioneros1*
scar Perea Rodrguez
Lancaster University
About four decades ago, the two modern editions of the Cancionero de
obras de burlas (19OB),2 of Domnguez (1978) and Jauralde Pou-Belln
Cazabn (1974), finally condemned to its deserved obscurity Usoz y Ros
1841 edition. Even though both his edition and his library on spiritual
topics have an evident archaeological interest (Vilar), the Quaker sympathiser born in Spain presented an abbreviated version of this cancionero
to prove that, by his lights, the obscene and decadent habits of the Spanish
empire were built upon Catholicism. Thus, the first thing to point out is
that scholars have only been able to read the complete 19OB since the late
20th century, which has made it impossible for us to understand in depth
what we can consider to be the first catalogue of medieval and renaissance
jibes and jests written in Spanish.
The Cancionero de obras de burlas has often been described as a blend
of the burlesque poetry from Hernando del Castillos Cancionero general
with the addition of the indecorous Carajicomedia. This is true, but it
1 * This paper is integrated in the Research Project Identidades, contactos, afinidades: la espiritualidad en la pennsula ibrica (siglos XII-XV), funded by DIGICYT (HAR2013-45199-R) under
the direction of Dr Isabel Beceiro Pita (CCHS-CSIC, Spain). I would like to express my profound gratitude to Dr Charles B. Faulhaber, who revised this text and made not only corrections,
but also valuable suggestions. In spite of that fact, any mistake or wrong interpretation this paper
may contain are only my responsibility.
2

I use Duttons ID system to locate both poems and songbooks mentioned in this paper, according to the method designed by Tato Garca & Perea Rodrguez 93-94. I also use the PhiloBiblon system, Manid and Texid, to locate both manuscripts and texts mentioned in this paper
(see Faulhaber et al.)

142
son ms que nombres a quien se les atribuye tal o cual composicin (Gerli
1994, 12), a variegated group of conversos are of particular importance;
just as important are the attacks against them due to a popular belief that
they obstinately persisted in their crypto-Jewish practices. Thus, Spanish
medieval songbooks serve as primary sources for the history of Jews and
conversos, as has been pointed out by Arbs Ayuso (1982 and 1987) and
Alcal Galve (2011, 265-292), among others.
Converso Poets in 11CG and 14CG
As far as I know, determining the total number of converso poets in the
Cancionero general, as Cantera Burgos (1967) did for the Cancionero de
Baena, is a task that no one has yet pursued. I shall attempt it here. The first
writer I shall discuss is also the poet who appears at the beginning of both
11CG and 14CG: Mosn Tallante. All of his poems were written with
the aim of praising Christian concepts, especially the creed of the Holy
Trinity. Amrico Castro saw this as prima facie evidence of being converso
(Castro 1982, 543). Other scholars, on the contrary have denied this, arguing that it is chancy to take this fact as a mathematical equation, for a
poet who praises the Holy Trinity could just as easily be a devout Christian
believer (Asensio 1992, 95-96).
Because of his courtesy title as mosn, most scholars have thought
that Tallante, whose first name was Juan, was born in Valencia (Darbord
264) or, at least, lived there most of his life. My research has proved that
although he indeed was familiar with the brilliant cultural milieu of Valencia at the turn of the 16th century (Perea Rodrguez 2003, 230-231), he
actually lived in Murcia, where he inherited from his father, Juan Alfonso
Tallante, the public office of city counselor and attorney during the early
years of the Catholic Monarchs reign (Perea Rodrguez 2012a, 292).
In addition, he also had some sort of relationship with the Adelantado
Pedro Fajardo, the greatest noblemen of the region. In one composition
(ID 0995, LB1-311 fol. 80r; Ynsigne seor querellas) Tallante, knowledgeable in the law, poetically defended two ladies of the court who had

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a certain case against Fajardo. Since the latters response is built upon the
mockery of typical foods eaten by conversos (i.e., aubergines, or stew with
onions and other vegetables), it seems clear that Tallante, who also appears as Mosn Talante, libertado de nuestra seora in another poem of
the same songbook (ID 1002, LB1-319 fols. 82r-83r: Su profunda conclusin), had an evident reputation as converso in the city of Murcia. To
crown it all, we should remember that in 1393, during a later outbreak of
the anti-Jewish violence mentioned above, two members of presumably
the same family, Bartolom Tallante and his daughter, Ins Tallante, suffered attacks by the Christians citizens of Murcia, most likely due to their
converso origin (Perea Rodrguez 2003, 231). Thus, Tallantes poetry illustrates quite well that apparently sincere conversions as evidenced by the
social status of the converso were not sufficient, unfortunately, in both
popular and courtly perception, to protect the individual from those rastros de confeso defined by el Ropero.
Similar to Tallante is Gins de Caizares, another virtually unknown
troubadour connected with the brilliant cultural milieu of Valencia at the
turn of the 16th century. Another writer, lvaro de Caizares, whose poems can be read in the Cancionero de Baena (Chas Aguin 2013), came
from the small town of Castillo de Garci-Muoz (province of Cuenca)
which became famous in Spanish history as the place where the poet Jorge
Manrique died in 1479. It seems possible, although it is not firmly established yet, that lvaro and Gins might be members of the same family
(Perea Rodrguez 2009, 81-82).
Far more meaningful for our purpose is to consider Gins de Caizares converso reputation, proposed by McPheeters (1952) but not really
easy to prove, given the paucity of his poetic production. In fact, the main
proof of his converso origin is found in a little broadside printed in the 16th
century, in which Joan de Timoneda, the well-known Valencian author,
put together some mordent stanzas on
las desdichas de Gins de Caizares, honradssimo ropavegero, nascido
y criado en las entraas del Alcan de Toledo, las quales le fueron no-

should also be pointed out that the complex relationship of the first two
editions of Castillos Cancionero general, published in Valencia in 1511
(11CG) and 1514 (14CG), as well as certain small details of the Cancionero de obras de burlas, suggest an evolution in readers sense of humour,
which is reflected in the changes, additions, and / or suppressions within
these cancioneros.
The most important of these details, without question, is what is usually called the converso problem, which originated after 1391 when Old
Christians began their continuous conflict with New Christians (Benito
Ruano 2001, 199-200; Mrquez Villanueva 2006, 95-96). As Netanyahu
writes, Spanish society began then to be deeply conscious of its divisions
along the lines of ethnic and religious origins (43). In this context, and
probably as a fearful reflection upon the anti-Semitic riot in Crdoba of
1473, Antn de Montoro, el Ropero, wrote a vivid description of those
troubled times (ID 1933 MP2-81, fols. 114v-115r: , Ropero, amargo,
triste). His testimony has been considered as the most representative
poem of Spanish converso literary mentality (Orfali 118):
Hice el Credo y adorar
ollas de tocino grueso,
torreznos a medio asar,
or misas y rezar,
santiguar y persinar,
y nunca pude matar
este rastro de confeso (Montoro 1990, 202).

The meaning of this stanza is clear: no matter how much effort the
Spanish conversos made to prove they were good Christians ( Johnson
224), praying like any common believer in the faith of the Christian God
or deviating from their mandatory Kashrut dietary law, the accusations
against them remained the same. These rastros de confeso, in regard to
poetry, can mostly be found first within the section of obras de burlas
in the Cancionero general, and afterwards in the printing of this portion
alone. More than a century after the beginning of massive conversions, the

145
presence of this topic in Spanish songbooks suggest that it was still of primary importance. Several historical and literary reasons explain this fact.
Let us review a few of them.
Since the violent pogroms of 1391, numerous members of the Jewish communities chose to abandon their former religion in order to avoid
these perils (Valden Baruque 1994, 29-30). But these conversions were
not enough to eliminate their social rejection, because Old Christians always looked at conversos not only as notorious liars, but as crypto-Jews who
still practiced their former creed (Domnguez Ortiz 17-25).
As a matter of fact, it is no coincidence that 1391, with its violent
pogroms against Jewish neighbourhoods all over Spain, was also a critical
year in every sense. Just over two decades before, a new royal dynasty, the
Trastmara, had claimed the throne of Castile thanks to the victory of the
bastard Henry, Count of Trastmara, in the battle of Montiel, 1369. The
legitimate king, his half-brother Peter I, had been defeated and killed by
Bertrand Duguesclin, a Breton knight and commander-in-chief of the
army of the Count of Trastmara (Valden 2001, 15-16).
Crowned as King Henry II after his 1369 victory in the civil war, the
former Count Henry had a primary obsession during the ten years of his
reign, until 1379: to erase the illegitimate origin of his family in order to
hide the Trastmara dynastys illegal seizure of the crown. At this point,
just as he had done during the civil war (1354-1369), King Henry did not
hesitate to raise the flag of anti-Semitism in order to bolster his popularity
(Valden 2001, 81-83). This was diametrically opposed to Peters positive
attitude toward his Jewish subjects, exemplified by rabbi Sem Tob of Carrins dedication of Proverbios morales to the monarch, once acclaimed as
el justiciero, the just(Valden 2000, 27-33). Consequently, Henrys victory over Peter at Montiel was not only a coup dtat, but also the starting
point of a conception of the state far removed from any kind of coexistence
between Jews and Christians (Roth 2002, 9-10).
In spite of this, King John I, Henry IIs son and heir, initiated reforms
to put an end to general complaints, even those raised by Jews and the

146
first generation of conversos. But his unexpected death in 1390 left the
kingdom in a compromised situation. The saddest possible result then occurred: during the minority of his son, Henry III, violence and pogroms
against the Jews swept the kingdom in what can be defined, paraphrasing
Amrico Castro, as the explosion into fury of twenty years of anti-Jewish
policy (Castro 1982, 18-19).
If 1391 may be posited as the starting point, we can set the year 1492
as the point of no return, when the Catholic Kings, carrying to its ultimate
conclusion a policy of unification espoused since the beginning of their
rule, forced Jews to convert to Christianity if they wished to remain in
Spain. While 1492 was the origin of the Diaspora of Spanish Jewry, it was
not the end of struggles between New Christians and Old Christians, for
these would continue and intensify in the 16th and 17th centuries (Domnguez Ortiz 61-127), albeit with a significant moderation in regard to the
punishment of the so-called crimes.
This issue would become one of the peculiar problems of Spanish history (Benito Ruano 2001, 36-37), despite the fact that it has been generally overlooked by Spanish academics. In addition, if we apply these
chronological coordinates to Spanish cultural history, we can appreciate
the congruencies between cultural and historical topics. As I have done
elsewhere (Perea Rodrguez 2009), it is accurate to consider poetry in the
age of the Trastmaras as synonymous with what we are wont to call cancionero poetry, i.e., Spanish poetry whose apogee came between the 14th
and 15th centuries. According to Brian Dutton, it was a modest composition, En un tiempo cog flores, that marked the birth of cancionero poetry in
Spain (Dutton 7: VII-VIII). This poem was written by King Alfonso XI
himself and was most likely dedicated to his lover, the famously beautiful Mara de Guzmn (Beltran 1985). Since the Trastmara dynasty began
precisely with Count Henry, later Henry II, the first illegitimate son of Alfonso XI and Mara de Guzmn, the result is a perfect parallel between this
new style that we call cancionero poetry and the new dynasty that would
rule Castile and Aragon at the zenith of their history.

147
There are not only chronological coincidences between the kind of
poetry that flourished in this period and the Trastmara reigns, but also
cultural interactions between royal power and troubadours, between monarchs and their poets, that allowed a total transformation of the cultural
patterns in Iberian poetry (Boase). This is why the first anthology of medieval poetry written in Spanish, the Cancionero de Baena, can be read as a
poetic chronicle of the half century from ca. 1380 to ca. 1430 (Menndez y
Pelayo 2: 211). This sort of journalistic element of the Spanish songbooks
allows us to find in them multiple references to the complicated coexistence between New Christians and Old Christians during the late Middle
Ages, as scholars like Fraker (1966) and Beltran (2001) have demonstrated
with regard to the Cancionero de Baena. My purpose here is to suggest
an identical reading of Hernando del Castillos Cancionero general, the
most important collection of Spanish medieval poetry. It achieved such
great success, in fact, that it was continually reprinted during the following years: in Valencia again, 1514; later in Toledo, 1517, 1520, and 1527;
Seville, 1535 and 1540, and finally Antwerp, 1557 and 1573 (Perea Rodrguez 2014).
In analysing this songbook, we must always bear in mind that most of
the poems included by Castillo were composed in the second half of the
15th century, during the reigns of Henry IV (1454-1474) and the Catholic Monarchs (1474-1516). Thus, if we have earlier highlighted 1492 as a
point of no return for conversos, we can understand through the poetry of
the Cancionero general the quotidian condition of the converso years after
his obligatory conversion, and especially how difficult life became because
of the continuous suspicion from which they suffered.
During the first decades of the 16th century, cancionero poetry was at
the peak of its popularity. Consequently, Hernando del Castillo collected
the poetry of all the greatest poets of the previous fifty years, de Juan de
Mena ac (Castillo 1958, Iv), as he wrote in his prologue; but Castillo
also proved his originality by showcasing other, quite unknown, authors,
perhaps neglected by other compilers. Hence, among these poets que no

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tificadas quexndose a su dicha, porque en un ao canicular hava perdido mucho en yervas y caracoles (Rodrguez-Moino 229).

Timonedas characterisation of Caizares as a converso emphasises the nature of his job, honradssimo ropavegero, or ropero, this is, second-hand
clothes dealer, or clothes-peddler (Yovel 4), just like Antn de Montoro. As
a matter of fact, textile jobs have been frequently marked as typical converso
offices; thus, within the conversos habilitados in Sevilla during 1495, forty
worked as clothes-peddlers a number only slightly less than those found
in other important converso occupations, such as the sixty-one tailors and
fifty-three silk workers (Ladero Quesada 1992).
Furthermore, Timoneda underscored the fact that Gins de Caizares
was nascido y criado en las entraas del Alcan de Toledo, one of the most
popular converso neighborhoods in the Imperial City (Galms de Fuentes).
This is, of course, the same place in which Miguel de Cervantes met un
muchacho a vender unos cartapacios y papeles viejos a un sedero who provided the author of those aljamiado texts related to Historia de don Quijote de la Mancha, escrita por Cide Hamete Benengeli, historiador arbigo
(Quijote 1, 9), another well-known pun involving both false writers and
dietary habits attributed to conversos (DAgostino).
Ultimately, the poetic references to selling herbs and snails, yervas y
caracoles, have the same sense in underscoring Caizaress humble jobs,
appropriate for low-class conversos such as himself:
Dex de ropavegero;
prov de ser herbolario
y despus caracolero:
todo me sali contrario!
No tengo ms que dezir,
responde a quien es ninguno:
dime en qu puedo bivir,
por que no te sea importuno! (Rodrguez-Moino 229)

In a certain way, Caizaress poverty shows the other side of the converso
reality, because to think of them as a social group comprised of a power-

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ful intelligentsia is not completely true: the majority of conversos were just
like Caizares; they belonged to los sectores intermedios de la sociedad, e
incluso a las capas ms desfavorecidas de la misma (Rbade Obrad 20).
It seems unlikely that Timoneda, born in 1518, could have met Caizares
personally because of the difference in age, but his little romance might
have been based on the pitiable and unlucky fame achieved by Caizares
in the Valencian cultural milieu shared by both.
Continuing with the Alcan, the most outstanding example of a converso
poet from Toledo is Rodrigo Cota, or Ruy Snchez Cota (Roth 2007, 179181). He is sometimes nicknamed el Viejo, the Elder, to distinguish him
from other homonymous members of the same family (Cantera Burgos
1970; Martz 101-103). The life of this troubadour during the turbulent
second half of the 15th Century appears to have exemplified that of the
converso who tried to assimilate yet found his attempts thwarted by an increasingly hostile Old Christian society (Kaplan 2002, 93).
Born around 1435, Rodrigo was just a teen-ager in 1449, when his father,
Alonso Cota, became the main target of a popular uprising against the
New Christians because of his job as tax farmer (Benito Ruano 1961, 3436). Fortunately the poets life was saved, although during this dramatic
episode (Amran; Kaplan 2012), he watched the sad spectacle of his houses
being burned down by the mob (Benito Ruano 2001, 42). No wonder
then that Rodrigo Cota left Toledo shortly afterwards and went to live
in Torrejn de Velasco, a small town near Madrid (Cantera Burgos 1970,
21-22). Nevertheless, at the end of his life Rodrigo returned to live in Toledo, where he was appointed sworn councilman of the city until his death,
which occurred around 1506 (Cantera Burgos 1970, 43-44).
Some of the most original compositions of 15th-century cancionero poetry
came from his witty pen (Garca-Bermejo Giner), such as the successful
Dilogo entre el Amor y un viejo (ID 6103, 11CG-125 fols. 72v-75v: Cerrada estava mi puerta). Aside from other more typical converso topics,
such as precisely burlesque lampoons (Kaplan 2002, 90-105), it seems that
Rodrigo Cota attempted to focus his poetry on the suffering and tribula-

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tions of love, a poetic path followed by other conversos in a similar situation. That may be the meaning of this little esparsa (ID 1094, 11CG-126
fol. 75v), in which the speech of the lover mystified by the contradictory
ways of love, as conceived by Petrarch, may be also understood as the complaint of a converso soul racked by storms of passion:
Vista ciega, luz escura;
gloria triste, vida muerta;
ventura de desventura;
lloro alegre, risa incierta.
Hiel sabrosa, dulce agrura;
paz y ira y saa presta
es Amor, con vestidura
de gloria que pena cuesta.

The next writer suspected of being a converso is Diego de Burgos, one of

the principal figures of 15th century Iberian humanism, although we know
little about his life (Perea Rodrguez 2007a, 248). We do know that he
served as secretary and scribe to the Mendoza family, first for the Marquess of Santillana himself (Schiff LX-LXI); then, for his son and heir,
Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Duke of Infantado; and finally, for another
one of Santillanas sons, Pedro Gonzlez de Mendoza, Cardinal of Spain
and Archbishop of Toledo (Perea Rodrguez 2012a, 304).
The only one of his poems to appear in the Cancionero general is precisely a homage to Don igo. The Triunfo del Marqus de Santillana (ID
1710, 11CG-87 fols. 52r-63v: Tornado era Febo a ver el Tesoro), praises
Santillanas rich personality, especially his skills not only as a writer but as
a knight and warrior. Through its more than fifteen hundred lines, Diego
de Burgos guides us, by the light of a transfigured Dante (Gutirrez Carou), to a poetic spectacle in which the blaze of Santillanas vast classic and
humanistic culture shines forth in all its splendour (Di Camillo 123-130).
Recently scholars have examined certain aspects of Santillanas literary
environment, such as the existence of a brilliant Jewish community in Carrin de los Condes, his birthplace, which enjoyed don igos protection,

151
as well as Santillanas profound admiration for the Proverbios of Sem Tob
de Carrin (Girn-Negrn 2000). Similarly, the large number of converso
officials surrounding Santillana (Gmez Moreno), especially in Guadalajara (Cantera Burgos & Carrete Parrondo), has been highlighted. Could the
poet be identified with a certain Diego de Burgos who lived in Gmara,
near Soria, and testified in 1501 before the Inquisition against a former
neighbour, Juan de Fernamartnez, saying that he had heard him renegar
de Dios several years before (Carrete Parrondo 1985, 125)? We do not
yet know much about the poet Diego de Burgos; but one of the keys to his
identity may lie in his relationship with two other people not related to the
Mendozas: Pedro Fernndez de Villegas, Archdeacon of Burgos; and the
son of the Duke of Medinaceli, igo de la Cerda, with whom he had an
interesting exchange of letters. These can be read in Villegass translation to
Spanish of Dantes Divina Commedia.3
Pedro de Cartagenas case is diametrically opposed to that of Diego de
Burgos. Simply called Cartagena in the songbooks, he was the author of
some of the greatest hits of the imaginary 15th century Spanish poetry billboard, such as the Petrarch-inspired composition La fuera del fuego que
alumbra, que ciega (ID 0889, 11CG-140, fol. 84r). We know a great deal
about his life (Cantera Burgos 1968; Avalle-Arce 1974 & 1981; Martz 3133) and have a detailed edition of his poems by Rodado Ruiz (Cartagena
2000); but no one better than an eyewitness to Cartagenas biographical
wanderings, Gonzalo Fernndez de Oviedo probably a converso himself
(Alcal & Sanz Hermida 59), to provide a fascinating description of this
poet:
Cartajena, que fue uno de los bien vistos y estimados manebos galanes
y del palaio que ovo en su tiempo. Graioso y bienquisto cavallero, de
muy lindas gracias y partes, e de sotil e bivo ingenio, y tan lindo trobador
en nuestro rromane e en castellana lengua como lo avrs visto en muchas
e gentiles obras en que a mi gusto fue nico poeta palaniano con los de
3

Printed in Burgos, Fadrique Alemn de Basilea, 1515: PhiloBiblon, MANID 4053: http://
sunsite.berkeley.edu/PhiloBiblon/phsea.html. See also Faulhaber 1983, 1: 516-518.

152
su tiempo, e hizo ventaja a muchos que antes qul nasieron en cosas de
amores e polidos versos e galn estilo, y aun a los modernos puso embidia
su manera de trobar, porque ningn verso vers suyo forado ni escabrioso, sino qul en s muestra la abundancia e failidad tan copiosa que en
medida y elegania paresce que se hallava hecho quanto quera dezir. Y
cosas comunes y baxas las pona con tales palabras y buena gracia que
ninguno lo haza mejor de los que en nuestro tiempo y lengua en eso se
han exeritado o querido trobar (Fernndez de Oviedo 1989, 67).

Born in 1456, he was a member of two of the most distinguished

converso families from Valladolid: that of his father, Garca Franco, nicknamed Doctor Franco and chief accountant of King John II of Castile; and
that of Alonso de Cartagena, his maternal grandfather (Avalle-Arce 1974,
287). This latter was quite renowned for his appointment as bishop of Burgos after he had served as rabbi of the same city (Fernndez Gallardo; Roth
2007, 127-132), becoming thus an outstanding figure of the converso influence on Iberian Humanism (Kaplan 1996, 53-68).
In 1473 Cartagena married Guiomar Nio, daughter of Pero Nio,
Count of Buelna, and Isabel de Castro, joining the Castilian nobility: la
aristocracia de la sangre los Nio, la aristocracia del dinero los Franco y la aristocracia del intelecto los Cartagena apuntalaron el vivir de
nuestro poeta (Avalle-Arce 1974, 296). Soon after, when Queen Isabella
I seized the Castilian throne, Pedro de Cartagena defended the Catholic
Monarchs cause against the Portuguese invasion of the kingdom. He also
took part in the war of Granada, in which death unfortunately found him
during the siege and conquest of Loja in 1486. He was only thirty years
old when a Saracen arrow put an abrupt end to his exceptional career as
courtly troubadour.
Aside from this, Pedro de Cartagena had an elder brother who must
be added to the list of converso poets: Antonio Franco, who decided to take
his fathers surname Franco rather than the family patronymic Cartagena, chosen by Pedro instead. This flexibility to choose surnames, which
sometimes converts genealogical research into a difficult labyrinth, was a

153
common practice not only among members of the Spanish nobility in the
Middle Ages and Renaissance (Nader XI-XIII), but was also frequently
used to hide either humble origins or New Christian ancestry. Antonio
Francos life was certainly a perfect blend of the two parallel lines of his
lineage: business and warfare. He inherited his fathers position as royal
accountant and, as his brother did, he also took part in the conquest of
Granada as commander of a noteworthy contingent of fifty spears (Cantera Burgos 1968, 26-27; Perea Rodrguez 2007a, 173). He married Isabel
de Guzmn, heiress to the lordship of Toral, but when he died, in 1504,
he left no progeny (Martz 32). His only composition in 11CG (ID 0921,
11CG-487 fol. 140r: De la vida que perd) is a small poem found in the
invenciones y letras section (Macpherson 1998, 47).
Cartagena and his lesser known brother perfectly exemplify the path
followed by those New Christian poets who were close to the royal court
and, consequently, enjoyed a safe position in Castilian society: they simply
avoided any spiritual or religious concerns in their compositions, preferring instead to carry to its limits the concept of courtly love (Perea Rodrguez 2013a, 39-45).
There is another occasional writer connected to these two brothers
through his gloss in 11CG (ID 6739, 11CG-958 fols. 213v-214v: Con
tristes congoxas ni muero ni bivo) on a successful Petrarchan imitation
(Alonso 48-49; Perea Rodrguez 2010a, 613) by Pedro de Cartagena (ID
0889, 11CG-140 fol. 84r: La fuera del fuego que alumbra que ciega).
His name was Francisco Hernndez Coronel and he was a member of perhaps the most peculiar and notable Castilian converso lineage of the 15th
century: the Coronel family.
His maternal grandfather was Abraham Seneor, Jewish counselor
and treasurer of the crown (Rbade Obrad 26; Ladero Quesada 2002),
who changed his name to Fernn Prez Coronel after his conversion to
Christianity in 1492 (Ladero Quesada 2003, 13-14). Seneors son-in-law
called Rab Meir Melamed before his conversion also received a new
name, Hernn Nez Coronel (Carrete Parrondo 1986; Garca Casar).

154
He was the father of Francisco Hernndez Coronel as well as Luis and
Antonio Nez Coronel, considered figuras egregias in the cultural
circle created by Cardenal Cisneros in the Complutensian University of
Alcal de Henares during the early years of the 16th century (Hernando;
Gmez Menor 590). After having studied Theology at the University of
Paris (Farge 112-116), they returned to Castile (Garca Villoslada 386395; Perea Rodrguez 2010a, 616-617), where Luis became a Dominican
priest and royal preacher to king and emperor Charles V (Beinart 496),
while Antonio enjoyed a quite remarkable career as author of theological
treatises (Farge 113-114).
One of Antonios writings, his Quaestiones logicae in Praedicabilia Porphyrii, was printed for the first time in Paris around 1509 (Renouard 511)
and later on in Salamanca around 1521 (Norton 218). At the end of both
editions there is a letter, written December 15th, 1509 in the Monteagudo
College of Paris, dedicating the work to his brother Francisco Ferdinando
Coronel, tum literis ac animi generositate tum rei militaris disciplina ornatissimo fratri suo amantissimo (Perea Rodrguez 2010a, 617).
The poet and third son of Rab Meir Melamed, called variously Francisco Hernndez Coronel or Francisco Hernando Coronel, unlike his
brothers, did not study theology in Paris (Beinart 497), but rather excelled
thanks to the military skills described by his brother Antonio. Nevertheless, aside from the gloss on Cartagena in the Cancionero general, the only
other thing we know for sure about Hernndez Coronel is that he inherited his fathers position as money lender to the Catholic Monarchs at the
turn of the 16th century. This conclusion can be drawn from a memorandum that our poet, on behalf of the heirs of his father, submitted to King
Ferdinand the Catholic in 1515 (Beinart 457). He claimed then a large
amount of money for the grievances against his family that, according to
his opinion, were due to wrong decissions taken by the Castilian monarchy
in regard to the economic policy established by the crown after the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 (Perea Rodrguez 2013b). This controversy might
serve to open an interesting field of research that might allow us to gain a

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better understanding of the hypothetical networks, as defined by Gmez
Bravo (2013), between converso poets of the Catholic Monarchs milieu
and the finance sector of Castile during the final years of the 15th century
and the initial decades of the 16th.
The next poet was born in Madrid, in a street near the Plaza de Santa
Ana that nowadays bears his name: Juan lvarez Gato (Roth 2007, 132).
Related to the powerful converso family of Arias Dvila, he is often presented as a member of the Catholic Monarchs court, because Queen Isabella appointed him as one of her private counsellors (Gmez Bravo 2011,
232). But, lvarez Gato had enjoyed already of a long career in the previous years, first serving as a majordomo in the court of Garca lvarez de
Toledo, second Count and first Duke of Alba (Beltran 2002, 549), and
also being a prolific poet during King Henry IVs reign. In fact, as I have attempted to prove elsewhere, he might have been the most prominent troubadour of that period, in which the courtly and literary milieu of Henry
IV, at that time a respected and powerful monarch, used to take place in
Madrid (Perea Rodrguez 2010b).
His literary works, especially those connected with his activity before
the age of the Catholic Monarchs, reveal interesting political details. For
instance, some of his poems showcased how the Castilian conversos, who
had strongly supported king Henry IV at the beginning of his reign, decided to abandon his cause after 1466 (Perea Rodrguez 2007b) in favor of
that of his half-sister Isabella, the future Catholic Queen (Kaplan 1998).
Like the Cartagena-Franco brothers, in his early years as a poet lvarez
Gato focused his lyrics on love poetry and other classic courtly topics. In
contrast, some years afterwards, and long before his death in 1510, he suffered a profound spiritual crisis that drove him to a more ascetic lifestyle
(Mrquez Villanueva 1960, 203-205). This fact caused him to regret all his
former frivolous compositions, as explained in his well-known palinode
extracted from his manuscript cancionero (ID 3171, MH2-106 fol. 138v):
Este libro va meytades
hecho de lodo y de oro:

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la meytad es de verdades,
la otra de vanidades;
porque yo, mezquino, lloro
que, quando era moo potro,
syn tener seso ninguno,
el cuerpo quiso lo uno,
agora el alma lo otro (lvarez Gato 61).

Another remarkable point in lvarez Gato is his admiration for Fray

Hernando de Talavera (Roth 2002, 152-153), clearly perceived in the biography he wrote in praise of the Archbishop of Granada (Mrquez Villanueva 1960, 105-154; Avalle-Arce 1974, 262-279). Aside from composing
one of the earliest examples of medieval drama (Ctedra 2005, 203-225),
he also wrote a number of letters and literary epistles in which we can read
of his peculiarities as a converso and his amargura vital (Mrquez Villanueva 1960, 246).
If Juan lvarez Gato had not existed, Fray igo de Mendoza would
be considered to be the archetypical converso poet of medieval Spain.
The Franciscan friar, related to both the powerful Mendoza and Cartagena families, was also the paramount religious poet of 15th-century Castile (Mendoza IX-LXXIX). Probably born in Burgos around 1425-1430
(Roth 2007, 538), he first appeared at court during the reign of Henry IV,
having become a friar some years before (Dez Garretas 2006, 339-341).
He might have developed a certain affection for the then Princess Isabella,
as can be guessed by the remarkable political propaganda he composed in
her favor during those years (Carrasco Manchado 244-245). Perhaps in
return for this, when she seized the Crown, Fray igo was given a prominent place in her court, quite an accomplishment if we consider the contrast between the legendary integrity and moral rectitude of the Catholic
Queen and Mendozas dubious reputation as womaniser (Dutton & Roncero 590), quite awkward indeed considering his clerical status. Nevertheless, after 1495-1497 the friar retired to the Franciscan convent of Burgos,
although he continued to enjoy of Queen Isabellas protection until she

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passed away in 1504, just a few years before his own death in 1507 (Dez
Garretas 2012, 422-424).
Fray igo de Mendoza is the last of the converso authors in 11CG
and 14CG, except for the four included within the obras de burlas section. However, Castillo selected none of Fray igos most famous pieces
of poetry, which had been published long before, in 1482, in the cancionero which bears his name. Castillo also omitted burlesque poems against
Mendoza because of his short height (Mrquez Villanueva 1982, 407408), but he did select derisive compositions against him. One, written
by an anonymous troubadour, can be construed as mocking precisely the
friars alleged amatory arts (ID 2995, 11CG-815 fols. 169v-170v: Discreto frayle seor). Another one, composed by the virtually unknown
Vzquez de Palencia (ID 2908, 11CG-814 fols. 168v-169v: Por la coplas
quenbiastes), criticised in depth, albeit ironically, both fray igos Coplas
de Vita Christi (Mendoza) and the personal behavior of its author.
Finally, we have a scolding courtly burlesque divided into two different pieces (ID 6113, 11CG-141 fol. 85r: Mezcla de tal perfectin; ID
4333, 11CG-142 fols. 85r-85v: Seor padre reverendo). It seems likely
that this composition was performed in public, at court, because Ferdinand the Catholic himself ordered Pedro de Cartagena who was Fray
igos cousin to compose a mock attach against the confessor of Queen
Isabella. Among other jibes, Cartagena accused his relative of having plagiarised some of his lines from Juan de Mena (Avalle-Arce 1970, 309-310).
These attacks also serve as a symptom of what would happen next, for they
evolved as the primary characteristic of the New Christian presence in
Spanish cancioneros.
Converso Poets in the Obras de Burlas and 19OB
So far, we have focused here on those poets in Castillos Cancionero general
who had a clear profile as conversos, although none of them, not even Fray
igo de Mendoza, was included in the obras de burlas section. This honour belongs to four extraordinary authors.

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Let us start with Per lvarez de Aylln, a poet better known as the
brother of Lucas Vzquez de Aylln, the successful explorer of Florida.
Fernndez de Oviedo related in detail the wanderings of the latter within
Spains America bureaucracy during the early 16th century (Fernndez de
Oviedo 1959). In this chronicle we find that Per lvarez de Aylln was
born around 1470 in Toledo, where his family had lived from time immemorial. His father, Juan de Aylln, was regidor of Toledo, i.e., alderman,
a typical converso post (Mrquez Villanueva 1957), which he obtained
under the patronage of the Silvas, the family of the influential Count of
Cifuentes (Avalle-Arce 1974, 348), a staunch protector of Toledos New
Christians (Benito Ruano 1961, 103-107).
In the early 16th century, our poet ventured to Italy in the retinue of
Csar Borja, Duke of Valentinois, natural son of Pope Alexander VI, although later on, in 1503, he served as a soldier of King Ferdinand V during
the siege of Salses, near Gerona (Avalle-Arce 1974, 352). Three years later
he returned to live in Toledo, where he signed an important document
of peace, harmony, and concord among the rebellious knights of the city
(Benito Ruano 1961, 305-310). Despite his appointment as a commander
of the Order of Santiago, and perhaps due to the same fear of prosecution
suffered by many other conversos that abandoned Spain, he decided to join
his brother Lucas in America, where he probably died around 1540. He
left unfinished his Comedia de Preteo y Tibaldo llamada Disputa y remedio de amor, which was later completed and printed by Luis Hurtado in
1553 (Avalle-Arce 1974, 340-343). His literary career ranges from typical
courtly cancionero poetry to the early Spanish drama, making him thus a
remarkable figure in the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a sort of doppelgnger of Garcilaso de la Vega although much
lesser known than his famous Toledan neighbour.
Like Cartagena, Antonio Franco, and the early works of lvarez Gato,
lvarez de Aylln also appears in the Cancionero general as a troubadour of
courtly love. However, among his poems, one finds an impudent jest about
a not-so-innocent courtly maiden that Castillo includes in the obras de

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burlas (ID 4120, 11CG-1004 fol. 229r: Con mi crescido cuidado). This
makes him the first converso poet to appear in all editions of the Cancionero
General from 1511 to 1517 and thence 19OB.
In both qualitative and quantitative terms, the last three authors I shall
discuss can be defined as the most representative converso trio in the Spanish cancioneros. The first one, known as comendador Romn, has been
identified by Mazzochi as a certain Diego Romn who lived in Toledo
between 1470 and 1474, serving the Duke of Alba (Romn 9-22). Later
on, he fought in the war between Castile and Portugal in the service of
Queen Isabella and against the legitimate daughter of Henry IV, spuriously
known as Juana la Beltraneja. Probably as a reward for this, Romn was appointed contino, i.e., in continual service to the court (Montero Tejada), by
the Catholic Monarchs,to which indeed he owes the courtesy treatment of
comendador (Perea Rodrguez 2007a, 200-204).
His rowdy personality made him the target of poetic attacks that may
be read throughout the Spanish cancioneros. Thus, Antn de Montoro,
whom we shall discuss below, was engaged in an acrimonious debate with
Romn (Lope), calling him bellaco, sermonero / chocarrero de Romn
(Montoro 335) in a well- known composition (ID 6762, 11CG-985 fol.
226v: Qul es oy el cavallero?). Similarly, Suero de Ribera, a Castilian
poet connected with the Neapolitan court of King Alphonse V of Aragon
(Perin), had told Juan Poeta that especialmente Romn / contra vos
lleno denojos / que os llama ganapn / si trobis siendo albardn / cos
quebrantar los ojos (ID 6773, 11CG-1003 fol. 229r: , qu nuevas de
Castilla). In the past, scholarly critics took this poetic accusation much
too seriously, thinking that Romns religious conversion arose from his
Moorish origin. But, as Mazzochi explained (Romn 13), it appears that
we should not take that ad pedem litterae.
Nevertheless, a similar statement is unanimously accepted as regards
the second member of this converso trio: Juan Poeta (Roth 2007, 734). A
conspicuous participant in the polemic debates of the 15th century (Kaplan 2002, 40-57), he has been considered a perfect example of a tragi-

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comic existence, like Garci Fernndez de Gerena, who was well known as
the primary target of courtly jests in the Cancionero de Baena (Perea Rodrguez 2009, 41-42).
Juan Poeta is sometimes known as Juan de Valladolid, most likely
because he was either born there or lived there for some time (Rubio
Gonzlez 101-112). His longevity and his frequent Mediterranean trips
provided him access to courts ranging from Castile, and Aragon to Naples,
Mantua, or Milan (Menndez Pidal 413-420). Although his biography
still contains many obscurities, especially with regard to his sojourns in
Spain, he continues to be the most likely candidate for being the Juan
Poeta who, on August 25th, 1466, was appointed contino of Prince Ferdinand of Aragon, future Catholic Monarch (Vicen Vives 624).4 Aside from
the polemics with Montoro and Romn, he endured the hurtful lampoons
of the Count of Paredes, Rodrigo Manrique (Campos Souto). In these frequently reprinted jokes, the Old Christian nobleman rejoiced in castigating Juan Poeta as a crypto-Jew, the supreme example of the false Christian
who was then the butt of general mockery and who later on became the
main target of the Spanish Inquisition (Perea Rodrguez 2012b, 333-334).
The last biographiy we must mention is that of the converso poet of the
Spanish cancioneros who most accurately conforms to the stereotype, with
the particularity that on a few occasions he dared to use his lyric skills to
denounce the fury displayed by Old Christians against New Christians:
Antn de Montoro (Roth 2007, 541-543). Born probably at the end of
the 14th century, he lived in Crdoba between 1404 and 1480, although he
was also connected with the royal court his entire life. As we have seen before with Gins de Caizares, Montoro was nicknamed el Ropero because
he made his living by selling old clothes, which also made him the object of
criticism from other converso poets, such as the Comendador Romn and
Juan Poeta, both mentioned above (Lope; Campos Souto).
A prominent and witty poet, Montoro outshown all other converso
authors; he was, of course, a troubadour capable of making his contempo4

See Archivo de la Corona de Aragn (Barcelona, Spain), Maestre Racional, L. 939, fol. 30r.

161
raries and ourselves laugh out loud because of his very particular, clever,
ironic, and politically incorrect sense of humor. Indeed, he added to this
the fact that he was the only cancionero poet with the talent to pretend
that he was just a fool proudly flaunting his Jewish origin, among other
things, while actually was fooling everybody else (Mrquez Villanueva
1986; Gerli 1994-1995). This accomplishment is quite remarkable for a
man whose family, a few years after he passed away, was pitilessly prosecuted by the Inquisition, to the extent that his widow, Teresa Rodrguez, was
burned at the stake (Mrquez Villanueva 1982, 397). Montoros life and
works therefore illustrate perfectly the tortuous road walked by the Iberian conversos during the 15th century, whose traces may be followed clearly
throughout the medieval Spanish songbooks.
Heretofore, we have examined a handful of short biographical sketches of those poets in both the Cancionero general and the Cancionero de
obras de burlas of whose converso origins we are sure. But how many more
conversos may be found there?
The most frequently discussed case is that of Diego de San Pedro
(Roth 2007, 714-718), whose biography is still an enigma despite the efforts of the academy (Whinnom 1: 93-94; Severin 2014). It was Cotarelo
who posited the hypothesis of his possible converso origins, based on Inquisition documents that connected a certain Diego de San Pedro with
the Fonseca family (Cotarelo 1927). Nonetheless, Whinnom rejected it,
arguing reasonable doubt, without taking into consideration the cultural
peculiarities of Crcel de amor uncovered by other critics (Mrquez Villanueva 1966; Kaplan 2002, 106-129; Fontes).
The same thing may be said of Juan de Mena, the successful Crdobaborn poet who served King John II of Castile as secretary of Latin letters and chronicler (Roth 2007, 524-528). Lida de Malkiel (1950) and
Castro (1962, 81-91) argued in favor of his converso origin, while Asensio
(1992, 111-119) and Street denied it (149-173); lately, any converso trace
in Menas biography has been denied by rejecting both Castro and Lida de
Malkiel theories with a strongly positivist attitude (Caas Glvez 12-13).

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But Castro himself also suspected that the two foremost authors of early
Iberian drama, Juan del Encina and Gil Vicente, were both conversos,
supposition that has been proven with regard to the Portuguese writer
(Girn-Negrn 2011), albeit still needs further confirmation in the case
of Encina. Perhaps clearer is the converso origin of the nonetheless barely
known Juan Agraz de Albacete, a troubadour related to the cultural circle of the second Count of Niebla, Henry of Guzmn (Mrquez Villanueva 1982, 400-401), due to the fact that he, like Montoro, Romn and
Juan Poeta, was the object of attacks by other converso poets (Yovel 4-6).
Among the large number of poets known only by their family names,
a few of them have typical converso surnames, such as Soria, Salcedo, Peralta, and Tapia. Starting with this latter, I must say that a certain Pedro
Snchez de Tapia, vecino de Calataazor aroused my suspicion that he
might be the same poet as the Tapia of the Cancionero general. He was
accused of being a crypto-Jew in 1501 for a curious reason: his wife, Catalina, used to call their son Araquigelo, a family nickname for the typical
Jewish name of Arragel. The child also had the Christian name of Juan,
but witnesses testified that he rarely paid attention when he was called by
that name , only when he heard Araquigelo (Carrete Parrondo 1985,
113). What seems to have been just an episode of childish rebelliousness
was sufficient cause to open an Inquisitorial case against the family of the
very cultivated Pedro Snchez de Tapia. Was he the same elegant troubadour whose lines may be read in the Cancionero general (ID 6596, 11CG827 fol. 174v: Hermosura tan hermosa)?
As for the remainder of the poets, some have been labelled as possible
conversos, such as Garca de Astorga (Carro Celada 20-24) and, especially,
Antonio de Peralta, Rodrigo Cotas son from his second marriage (Cantera
Burgos 1970, 21-22). Francisco de la Fuente, author of several pieces in
the Cancionero general (Perea Rodrguez 2007a, 254), might have been
the homonymous literary amateur tried by the Inquisition in Almazn in
1505 (Carrete Parrondo & Fraile, 89); Romero might have been the same
bachiller Juan Romero, veino de Soria, denounced to the Inquisition

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at the end of the 15th century for having eaten meat during Lent (Carrete
Parrondo 1985, 42). The poet surnamed Soria might have been Diego de
Soria, casero en Santa Mara del Mercado, veino de Soria, accused of being crypto-Jew in 1491 (Carrete Parrondo 1985, 49), or perhaps the quiet
Alonso de Soria, nicknamed el Ezquierdo, whose posthumous Inquisition
record described him as encendiendo los candiles los viernes en las tardes
e leyendo sus libros en hebreo (Carrete Parrondo 1985, 21).
Losada, who wrote a subtle composition on the Trinity in the 1511
edition of Castillos collection (ID 6070, 11CG-36 fols. 17v-18v: Padre
eternal glorioso), and the unknown Serrano, author of motes and villancicos (Perea Rodrguez 2007a, 264), might also have been conversos. The first
might perhaps be identified with Rodrigo de Losada, associated with the
court of the Catholic Queen Isabella I (Perea Rodrguez 2007a, 257). The
second might have been a certain Gonzalo Serrano, who lived in Guadalajara and was linked to the court of the Dukes of Infantado. His previous
Jewish name was Yu Serrano (Cantera Burgos & Carrete Parrondo, 7173 and 366-367).
Other converso poets in the Cancionero general may include Pero
Guilln de Segovia (Guilln de Segovia 21-22), author of the Siete Salmos Penitenciales (ID 1712, 11CG-26 fols. 12r-12v: Seor, oye mis
gemidos; Francisco de Len (Perea Rodrguez 2007b, 18-19), author of
a gloss on the famous Romance del conde Alarcos (ID 0810, 11CG-434
fols. 131r-131v: La desastrada cada; the unknown Surez, perhaps to
be identified with Francisco Surez el Viejo, or, more likely, with Bernaldino Surez, a converso doctor from Guadalajara (Cantera Burgos &
Carrete Parrondo, 367); and Juan Barba, whose poetry is historiographical (Ctedra 1989). Finally, last and least, some Valencian poets, like
the Comendador Escriv or Jernimo de Cabanyelles, might also have
been conversos (Ventura 104-118). The list would be almost endless and,
despite notable and recent efforts such as the dictionary of Jewish and
converso authors by Roth (2007), we still have much more historical and
biographical work to do.

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Towards an Interpretation of Converso Polemics in 11CG, 14CG, and
19OB
In terms of a sociological analysis, the existence of a group of lampoons
against New Christians clearly explains the main feature of the converso
problem in the 15th century: el recelo (Benito Ruano 2001, 17), i.e., mistrust, the daily suspicion against the other. According to the longue dure of the persecution of minorities (Nirenberg 6-7), the soul-crushing
daily routine of Spanish conversos, which lvarez Gato both poetically
and dramatically described as la amarga muerte que de contino llovizna
(Mrquez Villanueva 1960, 391), might have affected their behavior significantly. With regard to the cultural analysis of medieval Spanish poetry,
this fact was vigorously championed by those critics (Gmez Martnez
410-411; Seidenspinner-Nez 243-249) who, like Castro, maintained
that the literature written by conversos is wont to reflect la voluntad de no
querer ser como los otros (Castro 1965, 151). Indeed, the problem lies
in this sociological aspect of voluntad will, desire, wish, which not only
has problems of definition (Surtz 548-549), but also has been categorically
denied by scholars opposed to Castro, such as Asensio (1992, 87-119) or
Round (1995, 560-564), among others.
Focusing on the cancioneros analysed here, the conflict between marranos and lindos habitually appears in disguise, hidden beneath lampoons,
in accordance with the long satirical tradition of medieval Spanish literature (Scholberg), and the typical use of parody as an integral part of poetical debate (Brea et al. 2013). These clever disputes, descending from both
the Provenzal and Galician-Portuguese courtly traditions, had been a constant feature of cancionero poetry since the Cancionero de Baena (Labrador
Herraiz; Chas Aguin 2001). In consequence, long before Hernando del
Castillo selected a good few of these mocking poems for 11CG, el material, el gnero exista (Rubio rquez 387), one with a large community of
readers, an audience that relished jests and jibes (Theros 68-74).
Because these farcical lyrics were not unidirectional, i.e,, an Old Christian troubadour mocking a New Christian, but also two Old Christians

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mocking each other and two or more New Christians doing the same,
it is hard to accept the idea of a burlesque poetry composed in order to
break free of the converso identity and evade its predicament (Yovel 3).
Instead, converso poets seem to have utilised their undeniable talent to create a poetic universe that provided them an escape from their cruel reality.
The long tradition of Jewish Fools (Mrquez Villanueva 1982, 391-396),
their habitual bufonesco sense of humor that transformed court jesters into
surprising campaigners for social justice (Scholberg 303-360), might have
been the preferred intellectual weapon through which New Christians poets fought against the social prejudices of their times (Mrquez Villanueva
1985-1986, 514). Spanish cancioneros would be entirely in line with the
buffoons ability to speak the bitter truth praised by the Erasmian masterpiece Moriae Encomium (Mrquez Villanueva 1982, 399), or found
within the universally acclaimed Shakespearian plays, such as King Lear
and Twelfth Night, or What You Will (Mguez 75-79).
Despite this, there are other aspects of the converso presence in the obras de burlas that might indicate a more hostile reception to what Antn
de Montoro pithily described as the rastro de confeso. In the first instance, it
has been demonstrated that misogynistic language in Spanish cancioneros
resembles that found in burlesques against New Christians: the discourse
of anti-Semitism and the discourse of misogyny are often conjoined and
mutually reinforcing (Weissberger 208-210). It should not go unnoticed
that, together with readers who enjoyed irreverent poems about the poor
and drunks, or a comic dialogue between a man and a donkey, or a pornographic and oneiric trial between the male and female genitals, there
was a huge audience inclined to laugh about dubious jests concerning the
tragedy of those marked by religious prejudice.
The great success achieved by this poetry had an intricate double consequence. First, Hernando del Castillos olfato comercial (Rubio rquez
289) concerning burlesque poetry was undeniable, and it was absolutely
proven with the reissue of 19OB as a stand-alone book, separated from the
rest of the Cancionero general. On the other hand, Castillo also certified

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himself as a cautious man in choosing the materials related to New Christians. This might be a key element in order to evaluate his mechanisms of
textual selection (Rubio rquez 391-392). I would dare to say that, with
regard to the poetry in the obras de burlas, including the converso lampoons, Castillos criterion was purely and simply chronological: he chose
poems composed by troubadours who had passed away long since, in contrast to his focus elsewhere on newer materials. Otherwise, he might have
condemned to the Inquisitorial bench not only those supposedly selected
authors, but perhaps himself as well.
This hypothesis is related to a fact that I believe I have already demonstrated elsewhere (Perea Rodrguez 2012b, 342): the obras de burlas
section contains the oldest poetry in the entire Cancionero general. Only
5% of the poems included in this sector were composed between 1511
and 1519 and a modest 20% during the twenty-five years of the Catholic
Monarchs undisputed reign, 1480-1504. This means that fully 80% of the
poetry gathered by Hernando del Castillo in 1511, reprinted and modified
first in 1514, then in 1517, and ultimately in 1519, was written earlier than
1480, three decades before its publication. There is a slight possibility that
these poetical burlesques might have been composed in a more relaxed atmosphere of relationships between New Christians and Old Christians,
long before the installation of the Inquisition in Castile in 1480. But even
then, they had been just the echo of a bygone age, as clearly perceived by
the high success achieved by these jokes mocking conversos among readers
of the early 16th century.
Finally, there is another important matter to note with regard to converso authors and topics in both the Cancionero general and its printed derivatives. I am in total agreement with the consideration of this burlesque
poetry as just la punta del iceberg of an enormous tradition of satirical
poetry (Rubio rquez 390). In that case, Hernando del Castillo could
have selected these obras de burlas to recall a deeply-missed bygone time,
when lampoons like these were more habitual in cancioneros that had already disappeared and that perhaps have been lost forever. To this end,

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he might have taken advantage of a certain easing in the rigorous control of
Spains cultural production by Isabella and Ferdinand imposed after 1480,
but especially after the approval in 1502 of the Pragmtica Sancin, the
royal order through which the Catholic Monarchs controlled the printing
industry (Moll 51-52). We should remember that their attitude toward
any sort of writings, speeches, popular songs or even just gossip and rumours that might harm their authority was extremely harsh, guided by a
firm authoritarianism. Such is the conclusion that can be drawn from the
few examples of which we are aware, like the 1492 prohibition of any popular coplas, cantares e palabras desonestas regarding the establishment
of the Inquisition in the city of Burgos (Perea Rodrguez 2011, 201-208).
This iron fist over the printing industry, verging on censorship, is totally responsible for the eulogistic tone characteristic of much of the literature
under the Catholic Monarchs, cancionero poetry included. Nevertheless,
this tight control seems to have taken a brief holiday during the unstable period following Queen Isabellas death in 1504, as I shall argue immediately.
Let us take, for instance, the Coplas de Mingo Revulgo (ID 2024,
MN67: Mingo Revulgo, Mingo), a very well-known cancionero piece
that allegorically emphasises abuses committed against the common people by noblemen and monarchs (Rodrguez Purtolas 23). This poem circulated widely in manuscript form, either alone (BETA, Texid 1121), with
an anonymous gloss (BETA, Texid 3470), or with the reputed comments
by Hernando del Pulgar (BETA, Texid 1716). Because of its dissemination
during the reign of Henry IV who is, obviously, the hidden king criticised
in this poem, it seems likely that it was part of the Isabelline political propaganda (Carrasco Manchado 134), despite the message within the poem
may be considered harmful to the authoritarianism of the Castilian monarchy. Aside from the mentioned manuscript transmission, the poem was
printed for the first time in 1485, which might be understood as a vigorous
boost of support to Isabella I barely a decade after her controversial access
to the throne. In spite of that fact, just four years afterwards, in 1489, a
quite similar lines to Mingo Revulgo in both tone and topics were com-

168
posed: the anonymous Coplas del tabefe (ID 0206, MN17-20 fols. 35r36v: Abre, abre las orejas). This poem was never printed because simply
its manuscript dissemination caused the incarceration and execution of
some of the authors involved in its composition (Perea Rodrguez 2011,
201-208). Hence, if such inflexibility regarding book censorship would
have remained in Castile, it is certainly difficult to explain the almost three
consecutive reprints of Coplas de Mingo Revulgo, with its controversial criticism against the monarchy, in scarcely six years after the Catholic Queens
death: 1504 (04*MR), 1506 (06MR), and 1510 (10MR).
In addition, jests and pranks were given out during those years of censorship hiatus by using the favourite printing method for small pieces of
literature: throughout pliegos sueltos, this is, chapbooks or broadsides, as
preferred by Bryant (15). In this context, excelled the presence of another
consummated poetical prankster, Rodrigo de Reinosa (Puerto Moro), in a
handful of burlesque chapbooks printed in 1508 (08*RR), 1513 (13*DS),
1515 (15*RT), 1517 (17*RF and 17*RJ), and 1520 (20*RH, 20*RN,
and 20*RT). Aside from these, it must be underscored how some parts
of Obras de burlas from the Cancionero general were printed alone as
broadsides, such as the already mentioned jibes against Juan Poeta by the
Count of Paredes, printed in 1512 (12CP); the funny lines as a closure
of another small pliego suelto again in 1512 (12MC-2); those Disparates composed by lvaro de Toro (13*TD) around 1513; the Coplas de
Juan Agraz a Juan Marmolejo around 1514 (14*JAC); the Coplas que
hizo tremar a una alcahueta in 1515 (15*AC); the Metfora en metros
by Quirs the same year (15*RT); and the Pater Noster de las mugeres by
Salazar in 1518 (18*PN).
The censorship pause should be crystal clear now for once and for
all. These works previously described, 15 out of 100 printed in the period
1504-1518, have no possible counterweight, for not a single one of either
poetry books of chapbooks printed before 1504 0 out of 60 can be classified by no means as burlesque, being most of them either religious or
love songbooks (Severin 2004, 40-42).

169
Continuing with this chronological overview, it must be pointed out
that in 1513 a collective songbook, entitled Cancionero llamado Guirlanda Esmaltada de galanes (13*FC), was printed for the first time. Compiled
by a certain Juan Fernndez de Constantina, it did include a section of
obras de burlas, albeit a partial one. But in fact, this one is merely a shortened version of the Cancionero general with a different prologue (FoulchDelbosc), so that it should not have a particular consideration in this story.
In short, based on my research, I would venture to firmly conclude that
there were no specific obras de burlas section in any individual or collective cancionero other than 11CG and 14CG, except those burlesque chapbooks already mentioned and profusely printed during the first quarter of
the 16th century. Jests and jibes against conversos were central element in
those obras de burlas, even though they were composed a long time ago.
The reason seems to be obvious: after the establishment of the Inquisition
all over the Iberian Peninsula, any poem constructed by mocking anyone of
being a crypto-Jew would have caused the confinement of the both of them,
accused and accuser. Due to this fact, Iberian society could only mock those
conversos who had passed away many years before, being the reason why
obras de burlas contains the oldest compositions within these three songbooks analysed: because they had plenty of these attacks against conversos.
In addition, most of this jibe poetry would have remained in the dark
if it were not for the gap in the censorship control already mentioned,
a period elapsed between the death of Queen Isabella I in 1504 and the
publication of 19OB in 1519. Furthermore, it is not a coincidence that
the end of this hiatus occurred shortly before the arrival of Charles V in
Spain marked the return of a political agenda capable of providing sufficient stability for the monarchy to regain control of the printing industry.
And it is not a coincidence again, in my opinion, that Valencia was the
primary scene of two closely related cultural phenomena. First, these three
cancioneros with obras de burlas, 11CG, 14CG, and 19OB, were printed
there because of the quality of the Valencian courtly milieu (Perea Rodrguez 2008, 246-247) and the traditional affection of Valencian readers

170
for all kinds of burlesque poetry in both Castilian and Catalan (Martnez
Romero). Second, when Charles the Emperor was finally victorious in the
Germanas conflict, after 1523, the rebirth of panegyrical poetry occurred
there as well (Perea Rodrguez 2008, 259-260).
These are the reasons that may explain why the successive reprints
of the Cancionero general in Toledo (1517, 1520, and 1525) and Seville
(1530 and 1535) saw a significantly modified section of obras de burlas, as
detailed in the prologue of the first Sevillian edition:
E finalmente agora en esta ltima impressin se han quitado del dicho
Cancionero algunas obras que eran muy desonestas e torpes, e se han
aadido otras muchas ass de devocin como de moralidad (RodrguezMoino 1968, 52).

As a result of this new cultural, spiritual, and social background, no new burlesque materials were added to reprints of Castillos poetical collection, not
even in the last editions, in Antwerp, 1557 and 1573. In fact, quite the opposite, the total suppression of the obras de burlas occurred in 1573 (Martos
Snchez 163). Even before this, however, readers expressed their discomfort
with these texts by means of erasures, alterations, or even by burning pages of
the obras de burlas section in copies of the earlier editions (Perea Rodrguez
2014, 160-165). But perhaps the most relevant fact is that the continuator
of Castillos tradition in compiling songbook poetry during the 16th century,
Esteban de Njera, refused to include any kind of burlesque poetry in his
Segunda parte del Cancionero general, printed in 1552, nor in his Cancionero
general de obras nuevas published two years later (Njera XIII).
It is habitually considered a fact that lampoons and jests moved in a
quite different direction in Golden Age poetry (Glaser; Pedrosa). Therefore, it seems to have been just the peculiarity of the converso presence in
the Spanish literature, together with a twist of fate in the historical and
political evolution of Spain in the transition between the Middle Ages and
the Renaissance, that provided us with of a number of extraordinary poems such as those burlesques incorporated in both the Cancionero general
and the Cancionero de obras de burlas.

171
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Auto de Fe (h. 1495), Berruguete, Museo del Prado