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The Mendoza Family in the Spanish Renaissance 1350-1550 Helen Nader 4 The Mendoza in the Fifteenth-Cent r! Renai""an#e
$%%& Ayala's chronicles became a book of martyrs for the descendants of the Enriquista captains who fought at Njera. In his history they found the story of their ancestors' sacrifices for the !rastmara dynasty" and bound together by the past as well as their own success they formed the powerful self# conscious new nobility of the fifteenth century. !heir glorious past became ine$tricably bound up with Ayala's %enaissance attitudes and humanist rhetoric. As a result the &astilian nobles ## military aristocrats in a monarchical agrarian society ## became the principal spokesmen of the %enaissance in &astile. !he most inno'ati'e features of the Italian %enaissance ## the historical approach the admiration for the ancient %omans the optimism about human will with its concomitant reliance upon rhetoric the pessimism about the capabilities of the human intellect with its concomitant rejection of scholasticism ## also came to be identified most closely with the caballeros. !he (endo)a family in *uadalajara became the focal point of this %enaissance. +irst associated with the (endo)a in Ayala's chronicles it was refined and handed on from generation to generation through a system of education centered on the family household. !he %enaissance reached its fullest de'elopment in the mid#fifteenth century when the (endo)a as patrons and artists dominated &astilian cultural life to the same degree they dominated its political life. ,e'eral sequences occur so consistently in the li'es of the (endo)a that they may be considered the formati'e factors in their intellectual and religious attitudes. !here appears to ha'e been a single curriculum of primary education common to all educated caballeros. +rom the age $%'& of about fi'e until puberty children were taught reading writing arithmetic geometry and -atin. !he te$ts for these subjects included 'ersions of Aesop's Fables .apias's -atin 'ocabulary and -atin grammars by /uan de .astrana and Alejandro de 0illadedios. !hese te$ts would hardly meet the appro'al of a modern classics teacher and they were bitterly attacked by professional humanists like Antonio de Nebrija and -uis 0i'es for they were minor works chosen for their religious and moral lessons rather than their style.123 Although -atin was 'alued highly it was the last subject introduced into a student's primary curriculum" aud since this phase of a caballero's education ended at the age of twel'e or fourteen -atin instruction on the primary le'el probably did not last more than three or four years e'en under optimal conditions. +or most educated caballeros these few years of rather mediocre primary education were their last formal instruction in writing and in -atin. After a primary education in his parents' household a boy was sent to the household of a close relati'e whose position in a center of power offered the boy the greatest e$posure to the practice of statecraft and diplomacy and the most effecti'e patronage for his intended career. Education in a noble patron's household concentrated on the martial arts and public administration taught through informal methods rather than lectures or reading. In the household of his patron a young man accustomed his body to armor and physical hardships and learned to handle arms to hunt to speak persuasi'ely to arbitrate disputes to super'ise the building of fortifications to ser'e at table and to sing. 4e learned these skills by practicing and by following the e$ample of his patron. 4e acquired the theoretical knowledge necessary for his profession but be probably saw it as the wisdom of the patron rather than as part of a

systematic body of theory. At first sight the noble household as a system of humanist education looks like all weakness and no strengths. ,tudents were chosen for their relationship to the patron rather than any intellectual ability" they did no systematic reading or writing and forgot what -atin they had learned" and the patron himself might be completely uninterested in matters intellectual but still considered a master of the profession. 5ut the students in the aristocratic household did learn to compose an important type of literature ## lyric poetry ## and they were trained in rhetoric ## the skill most highly pri)ed by the Italian humanists. .oetry in the form of song was one of the martial arts ## a fa'orite form of rela$ation in military encampments. Along with jousting it was the principal entertainment of the noble court. 6hen the young marquis of $%(& ,antillana left the household of the Aragonese crown prince Alfonso the (agnanimous at the age of eighteen he recei'ed the tools of the caballero profession as a parting gift7 a *erman crossbow a shield co'ered in silk an a$ a double#edged sword and a harp.183 !he highest attainment of &astilian political life was to achie'e a position in the consejo del rey which entitled a man to speak directly to the king without intermediaries either through letters or through attendance at the consejo real and so to participate in the debates through which royal policy was formulated. !o be an effecti'e counselor to the king the caballero needed oratorical and persuasi'e eloquence" and careful attention was paid to the de'elopment of rhetorical skills from the basic elements of 'olume and quality of the 'oice clarity of pronunciation pace and gestures to the more difficult problems of content and ordering of the material. ,ome of the rhetorical works of 9uintillian and &icero were a'ailable in fifteenth#century &astile" and a sophisticated treatise on rhetorical theory emphasi)ing the need to shape the style to the audience was written by a ,paniard (artin of &:rdoba probably in A'ignon about 2;<=.1;3 Although this work was known in &astile by the end of the fourteenth century the te$ts used to teach rhetoric continued to be the Gramtica of .edro Elias and the Graecismus of E'rard de 5>thune. In an important inno'ation noble patrons began to order translations of speeches from the -atin classics that could ser'e as models for the young caballeros being trained in their households. 4ere too students learned more from e$ample than from theory. *:me) (anrique's education was probably typical for a caballero of a distinguished family. 4e spent his teenage years in the household of his much older brother %odrigo (anrique master of ,antiago. %odrigo was one of the great military figures of the day ## his son /orge (anrique immortali)ed his father's military fame in the Coplas por la muerte de su padre ## and *:me) gi'es full credit to his brother for the best military training possible. !he fact that %odrigo educated both *:me) and /orge ## two of the great warrior#poets of the century ## casts credit on his household as an institution of military education. In his later years *:me) like many caballeros turned to gra'e moral and political questions that required forms other than lyric poetry" and he apologi)es that his education did not prepare him for a career in letters. 4e is too modest of course7 his many references to -i'y reflect an intimate and profound knowledge of the first three books which had been translated by Ayala.1=3 As adults both *:me) (anrique and ,antillana felt apologetic about their lack of e$pertise in -atin yet both were able not only $')& to read the classics in translation 1or in -atin with the help of a translation3 but also to imitate and build upon the classics in their own creati'e works. In this respect the (endo)a were luckier than most nobles because they were educated in households with intellectual resources where the patrons were bibliophiles and sponsors of translations as well as del consejo del rey. Ayala was educated in the household of his great#uncle .edro *:me) 5arroso" *u)mn in the household of his uncle Ayala" ,antillana in the households of his great#uncle *utierre de !oledo archdeacon of *uadalajara and of Alfonso the (agnanimous" and ,antillana's sons and grandsons in his own household in *uadalajara.

After a young man spent se'eral years in his patron's household he obtained public office through the efforts of his patron. A caballero's life after his assumption of ci'ic responsibility alternated between the e$tremes of intense acti'ity as a warrior politician and administrator and detachment from public life while in prison capti'ity banishment or retirement. ?uring the periods of public acti'ity a caballero was repeatedly faced with conflicts that forced him to choose between loyalty to family and loyalty to monarch or between ri'al claimants to the throne. ?uring the periods of respite he often reflected upon the strains and conflicts be endured in his career and sought to e$plain his actions. ,uch periods of respite often mark a shift in the caballero's literary interests from poetry largely concerned with sentiment and piety to prose characteri)ed by introspection polemics and didactics. Among men who li'ed to be 'ery old the shift to polemical prose is marked particularly in cases where a writer's retirement was in'oluntary. !he two most important factors in the formation of the (endo)a were their education as caballeros in a 'ernacular and secular tradition and their in'ol'ement in public affairs. !he caballero education prepared them to take ad'antage of both &astilian intellectual traditions and %enaissance humanism for the distinguishing characteristics of &astilian intellectual life in the (iddle Ages were the early use of the 'ernacular and the absence of scholasticism. !hroughout the peninsula ## in Aragon .ortugal and &astile ## the 'ernaculars became the official languages of administration and judiciary in the thirteenth century.1@3 In &astile +ernando III 128;A#28@83 declared &astilian the official language of the royal chancery and decreed that all public documents and laws be redacted in &astilian. 4is son Alfonso B el ,abio ordered that in judicial decisions the usage of !oledo was to pre'ail in cases of dubious or disputed meanings. !he importance of this shift lay in its effect on later generations of public administrators who would not need -atin in order $'*& to administer justice. ?eliberations in the royal council legal proceedings in courts of first and last instance communications between the crown and its subjects were all in the 'ernacular. -atin was limited to the church the uni'ersities and the crown's correspondence with foreign countries. (ost educated &astilians especially those engaged in the administration of the res publica continued to ha'e at least a passi'e knowledge of -atin but -atin was not necessary for the conduct of the secular affairs of the kingdom. !he official action adopting &astilian in place of -atin did not mark a great transformation from -atin to 'ernacular culture7 &astile had not produced an indigenous tradition of -atin scholarship since the Arab in'asion in the eighth century. !he great -atin works of &astile in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were written by &astilians educated outside ,pain and their e$ample did not inspire any flourishing of -atin letters in the later (iddle Ages. &aballeros as well as clergy and letrados placed a high 'alue on -atin as a sign of erudition and means of knowing the classics firsthand. +or all practical purposes howe'er -atin was not part of &astilian secular culture" and the general ignorance of -atin did not cut &astilians off from an indigenous intellectual tradition. Although this &astilian insistence upon the 'ernacular probably had much to do with the 'igor and elegance of the 'ernacular in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ## a language modern readers still read with relati'e ease ## it also created obstacles to &astilian absorption of medie'al -atin literature written in other countries. !he caballeros participated in some of the most bewildering political e'ents of &astilian history and it is no coincidence that the greatest burst of literary acti'ity among them occurred during the period of the early !rastmara. &aballero attitudes were the product of and response to the political and religious conflicts of the early fifteenth century. !he prose works of the caballeros pro'ide a record of the an$ieties and doubts the hope and pessimism they felt as they tried to balance and reconcile their commitments to family and monarch to king and pretender to pope and antipope. In trying to find a way through the thicket of moral dilemmas surrounding them the caballeros did not resort to the solutions offered by medie'al scholasticism. &ut off from scholastic arguments in fa'or of monarchy by their own commitment to a dynasty illegitimate by any standard of medie'al political

theory ignorant of scholastic methodology and generally prejudiced against it because of its failures during their own lifetimes they welcomed the alternati'e offered by the ethical and religious lessons the humanists were drawing from the classics. 5ut the $'+& 'ery caballeros most recepti'e to humanist attitudes and assumptions because they lacked the scholastic discipline also lacked fluency in -atin. !his defect in their education ## as well as their patriotic preference for ,eneca ## cut them off from the &iceronian style popular among Italian humanists. !he caballeros' skill in composing poetry and their rhetorical e$perience in the consejo real ne'ertheless ga'e them an unequaled mastery of imagery and eloquence in &astilian. !hey thus acquired orally and in the 'ernacular the rhetorical skills that characteri)ed Italian humanists writing in -atin. Cne consequence of this parado$ is that in fifteenth# century &astile humanist ideas were e$pressed almost e$clusi'ely in the 'ernacular by a military aristocracy responding to the problems of public life. Although their inspiration and audience were &astilian the (endo)a freely borrowed literary and rhetorical de'ices from their +rench and Italian contemporaries. &astilians carne into contact with the literature of other countries almost e$clusi'ely at the international papal court first in A'ignon and then at the councils. As the means whereby the (endo)a disco'ered the classics the papal court had its deepest intellectual influence upon &astile. 6e ha'e seen that .edro -:pe) de Ayala was educated in A'ignon while .etrarch and his fellow humanists were acti'e there. ?uring Ayala's career in &astile he maintained close contact with A'ignon through his cousin the second cardinal .edro *:me) 5arroso and through the Aragonese cardinal and future antipope .edro de -una. An early and important ally of Enrique de !rastmara -una had persuaded /uan I of &astile to support the A'ignon papacy.1D3 ?uring Ayala's embassy to A'ignon 12;E=#2;E@3 be worked with /uan +ernnde) de 4eredia 1c. 2;2A# 2;ED3 grand master of %hodes in the Crder of ,t. /ohn who negotiated Aragonese support for Enrique de !rastmara.1<3 After the &atalan companies conquered and occupied the duchy of Athens early in the fourteenth century the Aragonese monarchs began collecting *reek manuscripts especially histories of the eastern (editerranean since classical times. 6hile leading an e$pedition against the (orea 4eredia became interested in the history of the area and began buying manuscripts and commissioning their translation from *reek into -atin. 6hen be returned to A'ignon be maintained a team of scholars in his household to edit transcribe and translate his collection of *reek -atin and 'ernacular histories. 4eredia used these sources to write his own histories of Aragon and its possessions in the eastern (editerranean. 4is library was an important source of books and translations for the entire peninsula in the early $',& part of the century. !he Aragonese kings e$changed manuscripts ## and hunting dogs ## with him"1F3 and king (artin by special agreement with the Crder of ,t. /ohn inherited se'eral historical works from his estate that were e'entually acquired by the marquis of ,antillana. E'en %enaissance +lorence benefitted from 4eredia's book collecting7 the first copy of .lutarch's Lives there was copied from the translation 4eredia commissioned while in the eastern (editerranean ## perhaps the copy that the +lorentine chancellor &oluccio ,alutati requested from him in a series of flattering letters.1E3 !he (endo)a enthusiastically embraced the attitudes of the humanists at A'ignon and followed the Italians' lead in redisco'ering the glory of ancient %ome" but as &astilians they thought of it as the product of all the %oman Empire not just of Italy. +or the (endo)a the redisco'ery of %ome meant the redisco'ery of their own %oman past" and they proceeded to become amateur etymologists ## reading inscriptions tracing &astilian placenames to their -atin origins and con'incing themsel'es that &astilian was the language most purely descended from -atin. !hey were proud of the G,panishG %omans and the works of ,eneca -ucan and 9uintillian were among the first classics translated into &astilian. !hey modeled their prose on that of ,eneca acti'ely culti'ated stoic philosophy and without e$ception wrote e$clusi'ely in &astilian.

In their eagerness to e$alt the ,panish contribution to the classics the (endo)a disregarded the two most common features of the %enaissance in Italy ## the &iceronian model and the use of -atin. 5ut far from indicating a rejection of the %enaissance their use of the 'ernacular is e'idence of their total absorption of one of the crucial assumptions of the %enaissance ## that they were the legitimate heirs of the ancient %omans by 'irtue of both ,pain's historical membership in the %oman Empire and their own artistic and intellectual tastes. *:me) (anrique argued that it was appropriate for caballeros to de'ote themsel'es to moderate study of %oman histories in order to benefit from the theory behind their practice of war and go'ernment ## citing the e$amples of Ale$ander the *reat /ulius &aesar 9uintus +abius and the marquis of ,antillana ## for it would be just as shameful for a caballero to ask a letrado how he ought to respond to or make a request or how to organi)e a campaign or in'est a fortress as for one sil'ersmith to ask another how to burnish a plate.12A3 Hsing the %omans as a model placed their own intellectual and stylistic achie'ements in a historical perspecti'e that considered the (iddle Ages irrele'ant and looked to the ancient world for guidance. $'4& All these characteristics of the ,panish %enaissance are e'ident in the historical works of the two most inno'ati'e prose authors of the period +ernn .>re) de *u)mn 12;<<I#2=DAI3 and the marquis of ,antillana 12;EF#2=@F3. (uch of their work combines esthetics with politics and pri'ate pleasure with public propaganda. 6riting during periods of either harsh capti'ity or retirement .edro -:pe) de Ayala claimed that reading and writing were as necessary to the well#being of the soul as physical e$ercise to that of the body.1223 *u)mn in e$ile on his estate at 5atres complained that he was cut off from all enlightened and e$cellent works and forced to li'e among rustics and laborers" but be continued to read write and translate and consoled himself as best he could by corresponding with other writers and translators.1283 ,antillana claimed that the classics offered a singularly effecti'e antidote to the 'e$ations and tra'ail of &astilian political life.12;3 !hese e$plicit statements as well as the sheer 'olume of these men's work indicate the importance of literary acti'ity to them as a source of consolation and pleasure. It is e'en more significant that they used those same literary talents to e$plain and justify their political careers to the public and to future generations. In defending their political actions and attacking those of their opponents *u)mn and ,antillana echoed their uncle Ayala in using the classical and rhetorical de'ices of %enaissance humanism. *u)mn tra'eled to A'ignon with Ayala in 2;E=#2;E@" and be first appears in the chronicles as a participant in the incident at !ordesillas in 2=8A when be joined the alliance of his cousins ,antillana Alba 0elasco and *utierre de !oledo. 4e acted as a negotiator between the infante Enrique and /uan II of &astile and the chronicles depict him performing heroic deeds in the wars against the (uslims. *u)mn ne'er succeeded in adding to his inherited estate acquiring public office or building a pri'ate army. As a result of his opposition to don Al'aro de -una he was imprisoned on charges of treason in 2=;2 along with his allies Alba 0elasco and *utierre de !oledo. After their release the rest of the allies returned to their positions of power" but *u)mn retired to his estate at 5atres ## whether 'oluntarily or not we do not know ## where he collected a library wrote poetry e$changed books and letters with other erudites commissioned the first &astilian translations of some of ,eneca's epistles translated *io'anni &olonna's Mare Historiarum and wrote his prose masterpiece Generaciones y semblanzas.12=3 In Generaciones y semblanzas *u)mn displays many of Ayala's historical methods and attitudes but he made important inno'ations $'-& by casting his history in the form of biographical sketches and including a prologue considered to be the first &astilian treatise on the nature of history and duties of the historian. Generaciones consists of thirty#four biographies of kings knights prelates and courtiers acti'e during the reigns of Enrique III and /uan II and personally known to *u)mn. !he material

anticipates the pattern used a generation later by the +lorentine biographer 0espasiano da 5isticci7 each sketch includes the subject's genealogy" his appearance manners and habits" his deeds and fortune" his 'irtues and 'ices" and his age at death.12@3 *u)mn often departs from this pattern to pu))le o'er contradictions in character trace the origins of a war with .ortugal castigate weak rulers and praise strong ones urge the writing of histories describe 1with a touch of en'y3 the good fortune of an otherwise undistinguished man defend the faith and nobility of con'ersos lament the condition of &astile and narrate the history of the conflicts in which be had been in'ol'ed ## the struggle to limit the power of don Al'aro de -una and the wars between /uan II and the infantes of Aragon. !hese digressions are not the work of an absent#minded or undisciplined amateur. *u)mn inserts them knowing that they depart from his stated form but justifies them on the grounds that they are Gnecessary and the material requires them.G 4e often makes the transition from a long digression back to the biography with the words Greturning to the subject.G12D3 E$tracted from the framework of the biographies these digressions comprise a collection of essays re'ealing *u)mn's doubts questions and opinions on some of the most contro'ersial subjects of his day. Cn political matters for e$ample be re'eals his loyalty to his relati'es especially the Ayala#(endo)a#,tJKiga alliance that triumphed in the regency struggles of Enrique III's minority" his partiality for +ernando de Antequera and the infante Enrique" and his hostility toward /uan II and don Al'aro de -una. !hese opinions and the political acti'ity stemming from them were the GtreasonG for which *u)mn was imprisoned. 4e acknowledges that writing a history of the reign of /uan II from this point of 'iew was dangerous but be was determined that posterity should know the truth and that the e'ents of his lifetime should be preser'ed in a Gsimple and truthful manner.G12<3 In order to write and circulate his apology safely while his enemies were still powerful *u)mn wrote each biographical sketch only after its subject died. 5y using the biographical form unprecedented in &astilian historiography he was able to bury his arguments in the surrounding narrati'e. 5iography as a literary form was of course nothing new to the fifteenth $'.& century and *u)mn's models are fairly ob'ious. 4e may ha'e seen 4eredia's copy of .lutarch in A'ignon but his direct model for organi)ing the material is clearly De Viris Illustribus by .etrarch's friend *io'anni &olonna 1d. 2;=;3. Another of *u)mn's works Mar de Istorias is largely a paraphrase of &olonna's Mare Historiarum" and there are strong similarities between &olonna and *u)mn in their organi)ation of biographical material into origins physical and moral characteristics public career and written works. 5oth men used the biographical sketches of ,allust !acitus 0alerius (a$imus and the deri'ati'e saints li'es of the (iddle Ages as models. !here are interesting and significant differences between *u)mn's Generaciones and its model. *io'anni &olonna's biographies were impressi'e works of scholarship ## employing careful research to pull together many bits of information scattered through ancient literature. 4is biography of ,eneca for e$ample is a superb synthesis of data culled from disparate sources. ?espite their fidelity to the facts and to classical forms &olonna's sketches remain works of scholarship based on second#hand information. *u)mn with less scholarship but with a personal knowledge of his subjects transforms the biographical sketch into a work of art by adding impressionistic details that could ha'e come only from first#hand knowledge. *u)mn's precision is most notable in his description of the rhetorical abilities of his subjects. &olonna's comments on this topic are conscientious but 'ague7 he tells us for e$ample that /ulius &aesar was eloquent.12F3 *u)mn occasionally uses such general terms to describe the speaking manner of a prelate ## don .edro !enorio archbishop of !oledo had a powerful 'oice that well reflected the courage and strength of his spirit ## but rhetoric was too important to be dismissed so lightly when speaking of the caballeros" for to *u)mn and his colleagues rhetoric was second only to arms in the

manly arts. In describing the people be knew most intimately ## the royal family and his own relati'es in the party formed after Njera ## *u)mn pro'ides 'i'id details7 +ernando de Antequera's speech was wandering and weak" the con'ersation of Enrique III was harsh" admiral ?iego 4urtado de (endo)a argued well and humorously but he was so bold and outspoken that Enrique III complained of his taking liberties and of his temerity" admiral Alfonso EnrLque) was brief and succinct in his arguments but discreet and prudent and spoke with humor" and *u)mn's ally ?iego -:pe) de ,tJKiga was distant in his con'ersation and a man of few words but according to those who used to engage in discussion with him he was a man of good sense who drew profound conclusions $'%& in a few words. In describing his formidable enemy don Al'aro de -una *u)mn had to admit that Gin the discussions and debates of the palace which are another second type of 'alor be showed himself to be quite a man.G12E3 *u)mn's most notable inno'ation lies in his use of biography as a 'ehicle for contemporary history. !he inspiration for this inno'ation was probably *u)mn's comple$ blending of traditional &astilian attitudes toward the 5ible as history with his perception of the *ospels as both history and biography. !he Cld !estament which was traditionally regarded as a group of chronicles is repeatedly cited in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as a model in preser'ing the memory of notable men and e'ents.18A3 *u)mn has the same attitude toward the *ospels which be percei'es as biographies. In the prologue to Generaciones be justifies the use of reliable second#hand accounts by citing the *ospels7 +or there ne'er was and ne'er will be e'ents of such magnificence and sanctity as the birth life passion and resurrection of Cur -ord ,a'iour /esus &hrist" but of its four historians two were not present at it but wrote from the accounts of others.1823 !he idea that two of the *ospels were secondhand deri'es ultimately from a comment by ,t. Augustine that new &hristians must be embraced and supported in the faith by old &hristians just as the two second#hand accounts of the *ospel ## (ark and -uke ## are embraced and supported by the first#hand accounts ## (atthew and /ohn.1883 *u)mn transformed this comment into a dictum by shifting his perspecti'e from the *ospels as standards of religious beha'ior to the *ospels as historiographical standards. !his approach typifies *u)mn's handling of most literary and religious works no matter how 'enerable or sacred they might be. Another inno'ation *u)mn includes in his prologue is a set of rules for writing good history.18;3 4e belie'es that three conditions must be met7 first a historian must be Gdiscreet and wise and ha'e a good rhetoric in order to put the history in a high and beautiful style for good form honors and enhances the materialG" second the historian should be present at the Gprincipal and notable acts of war and peace and since it would be impossible for him to be at ah the e'ents be should at least be discreet in accepting information only from persons who were present at the e'entsG" and third Gthe history should not be published in the lifetime of the king or prince in whose reign or jurisdiction it was ordered so that the historian may be free to write the truth without fear.G $''& *u)mn claims that be took this prologue from *uido delle &olonne's Historia Troiana and he does seem to ha'e taken his idea about the superiority of eyewitness accounts from *uido's statement that ?ares and ?ictys were more reliable than 4omer because they were eyewitnesses to the e'ents they described.18=3 !he rest of the prologue is mostly made up of traditions familiar in the classics and in the &astilian chronicles. !he final injunction to delay publication until after the king's death is the logical e$tension of his contempt for .edro del &orral a contemporary chronicler whom *u)mn accuses of lying to flatter the powerful. It may also reflect his anger at don Al'aro de -una for taking the official chronicle out of the hands of Al'ar *arcLa de ,anta (arLa and placing it in the hands of a

less capable and less honest writer. !he prologue like the biographical sketches themsel'es combines &astilian tradition classical themes and *u)mn's response to his political situation. In spite of the se'ere limitations imposed by his literary form *u)mn's account of political e'ents is cohesi'e and clear in contrast to the other chronicles of the reign of /uan II ## confusing jumbles of detail without unifying points of 'iew and without literary distinction. It is the measure of *u)mn's talent that Generaciones justly famous as a work of art is also the most coherent history of the period. !hirty#four biographical sketches all o'erlapping chronologically are not conduci'e to a cohesi'e sequential presentation of historical e'ents but *u)mn keeps confusion to a minimum by e$ercising considerable control o'er the material. !he major political e'ents of the reign are described and presented in chronological order and no e'ent appears twice although each one could logically ha'e appeared in se'eral biographies. *u)mn also controls the material so as to place his own party in the best possible light. 4is descriptions of /uan II and of don Al'aro de -una are superbly e$ecuted character assassinations. In his account of +ernando de Antequera he goes to great lengths to e$plain away +ernando's cupidity while he harshly condemns the cupidity of don Al'aro de -una.18@3 *u)mn's great admiration for +ernando de Antequera is implicit in his obser'ation that although regencies are usually marked by chaos and injustice during +ernando's &astile enjoyed a go'ernment of justice integrity and gallantry that ga'e way to chaos and injustice when the king himself ruled. !he only e$planation of this parado$ could be found in the contrasting characters of +ernando de Antequera and /uan II. *u)mn could ne'er e$plain to his own satisfaction why the king was $'(& so weak or why after years of meekly submitting to the will of don Al'aro he suddenly uncharacteristically and unjustly turned on the fa'orite and had him e$ecuted.18D3 Cn the other hand *u)mn did not doubt that +ernando de Antequera had been the ideal ruler because of his fine character7 +ernando's integrity led him to treat the infant king with respect and lo'e" his wisdom enabled him to handle the affairs of go'ernment with justice" and most important of all his courage and gallantry as a knight led him to campaign against the (uslims and besiege the city of Antequera. !he regent abandoned this war simply because his high sense of duty ## in contrast to his inclinations as a &hristian knight ## forced him to e$change the war against the (uslims for the burdens of the kingdom of Aragon. *u)mn e'en tries to justify the one egregious fault in +ernando's character he could not ignore ## his greed. *u)mn admits that +ernando's sons the infantes of Aragon were able to keep &astile in a state of constant disruption and ci'il war because their father had gi'en much of the &astilian royal patrimony and income to them while he was regent. *u)mn ne'ertheless absol'es +ernando of the charge of greed by e$plaining that he acted according to the e$ample set by e'ery other grandee7 as his power and pri'ilege mounted he took for himself as much as he could of honors offices and 'assals. !his weak argument may ha'e seemed con'incing to *u)mn because he and his allies regarded society as a free enterprise system in which wealth and power were the material e'idence of ability and sagacity. *u)mn also belie'ed that +ernando's ambition was directed toward a wortby goal ## the unification of the peninsula under the leadership of the !rastmara dynasty ## and that such a worthy end justifled the means.18<3 *u)mn considered +ernando de Antequera the ideal &hristian knight. 4is acquisition of the crown of Aragon was clear proof of his great character and high ideals and *u)mn looked back upon the period of the regency as the golden age of the !rastmara dynasty. In contrast to his idealistic 'iew of the past his judgments upon the political leaders of the reign of /uan II were harsh and disillusioned7 !hese lord princes and the great ca'aliers who followed or counseled them I would certainly absol'e of disloyalty or tyranny towards the king's person and his crown

belie'ing that they ne'er held hm in disrespect. 5ut I would not dare to e$cuse the mistaken manner and incorrect intent by which I belie'e they failed in all ways not only not completing their undertakings but e'en losing and suffering in them Mas didN innocent and blameless people because of them. Nor will I ignore nor consent to the opinion which some hold in ignorance $()& and simplicity and some preach and publici)e in their own fa'or saying that they followed the king solely out of their )eal for loyalty and lo'e. I am not saying nor would it please *od for me to say it in injury to such noble and great men that they were not loyal and 'ery respectful towards the king but I do say that this loyalty was alternated and mi$ed with great interests... and so I conclude that in regard to the truth although some were more plausibly and attracti'ely right than others still the principal intention of each was to profit to such a degree that one could say that in regard to the pure truth in this case none of the parties was correct.18F3 !hese open prejudices ha'e been the most critici)ed aspect of *u)mn's work. -ess ob'ious ## and more effecti'e ## is *u)mn's arrangement of the material for his own purposes7 political e'ents are distributed among the 'arious biographies to show his allies at their best moments and his enemies at their worst. !his de'ice brings order to the material by organi)ing confusing e'ents around a single point of 'iew. It also shifts Generaciones from the le'el of history to that of apology. -ike his uncle Ayala *u)mn rested his apology on the irrational and the personal. 4e does not argue political principles structures or theories. In his 'iew &astilian society was so particularistic that e'en deudo hardly ser'ed to bind men together and e'ery man acted for his own profit. *u)mn belie'ed that it was natural for a caballero to accumulate property 'assals and income and that the degree to which he succeeded in self#enrichment indicated the degree to which he would attract more clients and allies and therefore e$ercise greater influence in national affairs ## which in turn increased the chances of accumulating wealth. Although *u)mn saw nothing inherently wrong with such a society he did belie'e that an accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of an unscrupulous man could ha'e e'il consequences because such a man would use his influence in the royal go'ernment for unwise purposes. %ather than critici)ing the system *u)mn critici)ed indi'iduals like don Al'aro de -una who abused it. *u)mn assumes that the object of political action is to maintain an equilibrium among the 'arious groups who already share so'ereignty ## each must e$ercise it responsibly and act as the guarantor of the so'ereignty of others. 4e ascribes failure in fulfilling this political duty to faulty character and faulty relationships. !he gist of his attack on /uan II is that the king because of his indolent nature failed to assume the responsibilities of his office. ?on Al'aro de -una to satisfy his cupidity $(*& e$ceeded the proper bounds of his office and infringed upon the so'ereignty of the king. &on'ersely the gist of *u)mn's defense of his allies is that they were men of good character who therefore fulfilled their responsibilities and respected the rights of others. Although both Ayala and *u)mn place great emphasis on personality they e$plain the relationship between personality and political beha'ior in different ways. +or Ayala political beha'ior seems to be an accumulation of responses between indi'iduals ## a ne'er#ending sequence of action reaction and counteraction. !hese responses are usually moti'ated by emotion ## fear jealousy or re'enge ## and always determined by personality. +or *u)mn personality shapes political beha'ior but indi'iduals respond not to one another directly but to the way each fulfills his role which is in turn determined by personality. *u)mn uses this standard as his basis for judging political success first describing a subject's personality then recounting his performance and finally presenting an assessment of the two. 5ecause *u)mn ne'er defines his standards and because he ob'iously has a different standard for each office he is usually considered to be lacking all standards e$cept his own ad'ancement.18E3 In

fact *u)mn's standards are 'ery high7 they are based on a total acceptance of the status quo ## an acceptance precluding any attempt to systemati)e question or e$plain the historical de'elopment of political offices. *u)mn's rigid adherence to this nonsystem of standards and his constant ju$taposition of irrational human nature with rational moral e$pectations makes Generaciones appear both e$tremely chaotic and completely static. !o a great degree Generaciones reflects *u)mn's political life. 5oth *u)mn and Ayala struggled through periods of serious political and moral conflict" but whereas Ayala wrote to defend the resolution of his conflicts *u)mn was ne'er able to resol'e his to his own satisfaction. 4e and his cousin ,antillana spent their adult li'es torn between the &astilian and Aragonese branches of the !rastmara dynasty. !hese forty years of unresol'ed conflict color e'ery aspect of *u)mn's work. 4is interest in personalities his alternations between claims and counterclaims his pu))lement at the ine$plicable turns of fortune his failure to judge the efficacy of any political policies ## all seem to arise from the irresolution of his own dilemma. 4e was ne'er able to gi'e his loyalty wholly to a single political leader" he suffered the disad'antages of a political career without any of the rewards" and he died before the conflicts that consumed most of his energy as a statesman and writer for forty years had been resol'ed. Achie'ing no success in his $(+& lifetime *u)mn sought consolation in stoicism and in the hope for fa'orable judgment from posterity a judgment he attempted to influence through the Generaciones. As an apologist *u)mn uses methods and attitudes similar to Ayala's7 first#hand or reliable second# hand accounts" a literary form unprecedented as a 'ehicle for history" a talent for displaying his own party to the best ad'antage by controlling the form sequence and ju$taposition of e'ents" and reliance upon irrational factors such as character emotions and +ortuna to e$plain political beba'ior. *u)mn's approach to the distant past howe'er is strikingly different from Ayala's. 6hen Ayala could not find reliable documents for such periods he said so and declined to write about them. *u)mn writes about them but states his doubts about the reliability of the sources.1;A3 4e is both more outspoken in his criticism of the sources and more uncritical in his use of them. *u)mn's attitude toward the distant past reflects his attitude toward contemporary history. 4e was enamored of the %omans admiring both their de'otion to duty and their integrity" and the one institutional reform he proposes was modeled on a %oman institution. 4e suggests that the &astilians should detect and punish false historians by creating an office of censor modeled on the %oman censorship.1;23 *u)mn ne'er doubts that contemporary &astilians were equal to the ancient %omans as warriors but he thinks the %omans far superior as historians. 4is preference for %oman historians was pro'erbial and his imitator during the reign of the &atholic (onarchs 4ernando del .ulgar said7 G!he noble caballero +ernn .>re) de *u)mn was right when be said that in order for writing to be good and true the knights should be &astilians and those who describe their deeds should be %omans.G1;83 4e regarded his own age as a period of decline from the %oman past just as he regarded the reign of /uan II as a decline from the golden age of +ernando de Antequera. 4e has little sense of anachronism and makes no attempt to place %oman institutions in their historical conte$t. In his approach to literature and to the past he presents two apparently contradictory attitudes7 he uses literature historiographically and he uses the distant past ahistorically. !his parado$ is just one source of the many tensions in Generaciones. *u)mn's tolerance of parado$ and ability to sustain unresol'ed tension are his most interesting characteristics as a political figure" and his apology with all its contradictions and ambiguities in form style and content is a uniquely apt reflection of his political career.

In politics and literature *u)mn was o'ershadowed by his younger $(,& cousin the marquis of ,antillana 12;EF#2=@F3.1;;3 ,antillana absorbed many of the interests and attitudes of Ayala and *u)mn but his contact with the literature of other countries carne through +lorence as well as A'ignon. 4is education in his grandmother's household in &arri:n de los &ondes 15urgos3 appears to ha'e been unusually pro'incial. (uch of his reading seems to ha'e been in the *alician#.ortuguese cancioneros and in e'en more parochial traditions such as the .ro'erbs of ,em !ob de &arri:n and popular poetry. 4is interest in the classics and in +lorentine letters was awakened in 2=2= when at the age of si$teen he participated in the poetry readings at the coronation of +ernando de Antequera as king of Aragon. !here he came to admire the erudition of Enrique de 0illena and soon afterward be asked 0illena to translate ?ante's Divine Comedy into &astilian. 0illena obliged also writing a treatise on the art of poetry" and these two works had a lifelong influence on ,antillana's literary production.1;=3 ,antillana's literary interests were further encouraged by his close political associations with *u)mn and with don Alfonso de &artagena bishop of 5urgos who gained a great reputation for erudition both as a participant at the &ouncil of 5asle and as a correspondent of -eonardo 5runi.1;@3 ,antillana surrounded himself with men trained in Italy employing them in his household as translators researchers secretaries and chaplains. 4e proudly commissioned the flrst &astilian translations of 0ergil's Aeneid C'id's Metamorp oses and ,eneca's tragedies. 4e admired *iotto and 5runi read and annotated ?ante throughout his life and wrote the first &astilian sonnets in imitation of .etrarch. 4is cousin *:me) (anrique in fact compared him to the +lorentines7 .or cierto no fu> 5oecio ni -eonardo de Arecio en prosa mas elegante" pues en los metros el ?ante ant'>l se mostrara necio.1;D3 ,antillana's understanding of political and historical causation was almost identical with *u)mn's. 4e was as pessimistic about the condition of ,pain and e'en more hostile toward don Al'aro de -una whom be critici)ed harshly in 'erse. ,antillana described his confusion and despair in a lamentation modeled on Cld !estament prophecies of doom. 6hereas this form is more con'entional than any of *u)mn's the essence of ,antillana's complaint is the same7 it has become impossible to discern a proper course of action. $(4& -ike *u)mn ,antillana reacted to the political chaos of his own time by ideali)ing the past ## especially the period of the regency and the earliest !rastmara. Hrging a return to the integrity and good customs of the past he became preoccupied with his family's past glories and tried to perpetuate their memory in many small but significant ways. 4e named all his children after heroic ancestors" and his military actions e$hibited an anachronistic and qui$otic gallantry as though he were deliberately imitating the heroes of Njera Aljubarrota and Antequera. ,antillana was more optimistic about human potential than *u)mn and placed greater emphasis on the direct responses between indi'iduals. !hese attitudes can probably be attributed to the fact that ,antillana's political career was successful. !he conflicts he e$perienced were resol'ed to his material ad'antage if not to his intellectual or ethical satisfaction. 6hereas *u)mn's inno'ation lay in adapting literary forms to history ,antillana's lay in applying history to literary forms. ,hortly before 2==E at the request of the constable of .ortugal ,antillana collected the poetry he had written throughout his life in one 'olume.1;<3 !he letter that ser'es as a

preface to this collection is the first major e$ample of ,panish literary history and criticism. In it ,antillana describes not only the 'arious forms of poetry but also the dissemination of poetry from one language to another and its historical de'elopment o'er a long period of time. 4e suggests that the tercio rimo for e$ample was spread from Italy to southern +rance thence into the Iberian peninsula during the fourteenth century. In tracing the de'elopment of -atin poetry he jumps from the ancient %omans to .etrarch e$plaining only7 G-et us lea'e behind ancient histories and come closer to our own times.G 4e is at a loss to describe the poetry of the early (iddle Ages ascribing to that period the transferral of poetic de'elopment from -atin to the %omance languages but claiming that it would be too difficult to trace the stages by which this transformation took place. 4e knows of the poetry of Alfonso el ,abio only by hearsay but knows at first hand a number of poems from the fourteenth cerntury and distinguishes between the forms popular then and those most commonly used in his own day. ,antillana was proud of his family's rule in de'eloping contemporary poetic forms. 4e describes the work of about fifteen &astilian poets of whom fi'e are his relati'es7 .edro *on)le) de (endo)a Gmy grandfatherG" .ero 0>le) de *ue'ara Gmy uncleG" +ernn .>re) de *u)mn Gmy uncleG" and the duke of Arjona don +adrique Gmy lord and my brother.G ,antillana's admiration for $(-& the classical authors was as great as *u)mn's but he had a more profound sense of the historical distance between the ancient and modern worlds. 4e attempted imitations of foreign contemporaries rather than of the ancients but he saw himself and his family as part of a &astilian achie'ement that in its sophistication and beauty could be compared to classical poetry. ,antillana's inno'ation lies in his historical perspecti'e. 4is letter for the edification of a young prince is of special significance because he assumed that an art forrn is best understood through a study of its historical de'elopment. 4e also belie'ed that in pursuing the historical approach he was following the e$ample of the ancient ,toics.1;F3 In this approach in his attempt to model his methods on those of the ancients and in his sense of the distance separating the ancient and modern worlds ,antillana resembles both his contemporaries in %enaissance Italy and his predecessors in the &astilian %enaissance7 his great#uncle Ayala and his cousin *u)mn. Ayala *u)mn and ,antillana took the same historical and rhetorical approaches both to describe their secular careers as politicians and poets and to accommodate religion. Ayala and *u)mn were directly if unsuccessfully in'ol'ed in &astilian efforts to resol'e the ,chism. *u)mn and ,antillana were intimately bound to the career of the con'erso bishop Alfonso de &artagena &astile's principal spokesman at the &ouncil of 5asle. Cne of their relati'es NuKo de *u)mn was present at the &ouncil of +lorence. All three men were deeply in'ol'ed in and troubled by the ecclesiological problems of the ,chism and the councils. !hey were also drawn by inclination and family ties to the /eronimite Crder and its emphasis on the ?e'otio (oderna. !he religious attitudes of the (endo)a family show marked similarities and contrasts to those of the +lorentine humanists. !he art commissioned by the (endo)a does not reflect that emotional in'ol'ement with the Nati'ity and the .assion characteristic of early Italian %enaissance painting. !he famous retablo painted by /orge el Ingl>s for ,antillana and his wife depicts the donors at prayer within their own household with a group of angels singing abo'e. Instead of the popular saints or scenes from the life of &hrist the base of the retablo contains the portraits of four fathers of the church.1;E3 !he libraries of *u)mn and ,antillana also indicate an admiration for patristic erudition and pious de'otion. *u)mn's library contained a copy of ,allust 1dedicated to him by the translator his cousin 0asco de *u)mn3 as well as the usual &astilian range of selections from the classics ## -ucan 0alerius (a$imus .liny ,eneca -i'y the G.haedo of $(.& .lato G and 0egetius's De !e Veterinaria ## and &astilian chronicles and customary law.1=A3 !he only religious work in *u)mn's library was a de'otional treatise on the !en &ommandments attributed to his ancestor cardinal .edro *:me)

5arroso. ,antillana's library was much richer than *u)mn's not only in quantity but also in works by contemporary authors both &astilian and Italian.1=23 +or a few years ,antillana had a young relati'e in +lorence NuKo de *u)mn who had run afoul of his father and fled &astile to make his fortune in Italy.1=83 Cn ,antilliana's orders NuKo bought books commissioned copies and translations and kept ,antillana informed of +lorentine intellectual affairs. 4e was in a particularly good position to do all of these being on friendly terms with *iano))o (anetti .ier &andido ?ecembri and -eonardo 5runi. ,antillana wanted specific classical and contemporary works and his taste in contemporary Italian authors was impeccably %enaissance7 .etrarch ,alutati and 5runi were his fa'orites. .erhaps ,antillana's greatest departure from &astilian tradition lay in his collection of church fathers a new enthusiasm in +lorence after the council there. 4e had copies of Augustine Eusebius /ohn &hrysostom 5asil Ambrose *regory and /erome in translations by *eorge of !rebi)ond cardinal 5essarion and Ambrogio !ra'ersari. !here is no e'idence that Ayala *u)mn or ,antillana read the apocryphal stories of &hrist's childhood that were popular elsewhere" and neither *u)mn nor ,antillana possessed a single work of medie'al theology. !here is as we would e$pect a great contrast between these libraries and those of the letrados for both were shaped to some e$tent by the professions of their owners. Apart from the usual pious works and selections from the classics common to fifteenth#century libraries letrado collections were made up of canon and ci'il law and occasionally of works on theology. !he libraries of the military aristocracy contain redactions of customary law and manuals of hunting agriculture horse breeding chess war and other caballero concerns.1=;3 !he libraries of *u)mn and ,antillana also re'eal the great gulf in taste that separated them from other aristocratic families personally affected neither by the e'ents at Njera nor by Ayala's Cr"nica del !ey don #edro. Cne of the most famous libraries of the century that of the counts of 5ena'ente was in'entoried about 2=@@.1==3 .erhaps the 5ena'ente should not be considered typical of the &astilian nobility. !hey were a .ortuguese family the .imentel who supported &astilian claims to the .ortuguese throne during the reign of /uan I and immigrated to &astile where they were granted their noble title by Enrique III. !he $(%& counts of 5ena'ente howe'er quickly adapted to &astilian culture and became famous in fifteenth#century &astile as poets and men of letters. .art of their reputation rested on their library which reflects the taste of both the counts of 5ena'ente and their &astilian admirers educated but not particularly aware of the %enaissance. !he collection some 28A titles is made up of the usual pious works manuals chronicles and e$cerpts from the classics. !he most elaborately bound item ## and ob'iously the pride of the collection ## was a copy of ,eneca that the count commissioned from a manuscript lent him by the king. !he se'eral medie'al encyclopedias and most of the -atin classics could ha'e originated in ,pain or A'ignon. !here are two works by 5occaccio but none by .etrarch. Cnly one book can reasonably be attributed to fifteenth#century +lorence7 a Gbook by -eonardoG was probably -eonardo 5runi's treatise on nobility. !he 5ena'ente taste in religious books reflected popular taste in northern Europe rather than the religious enthusiasms of +lorence. !here are no selections from the church fathers but two copies of the Vita C risti. !he greatest number of works by a single author are those of the thirteenth#century religious philosopher %am:n -lull. .erhaps the greatest contrast between 5ena'ente's taste and ,antillana's can be seen in their selections from medie'al encyclopedic works. !he counts of 5ena'ente had a copy of the massi'e medie'al encyclopedia #roprietatibus !erum compiled by 5artholomeus Anglicus. ,antillana had the morali)ation of this work by 5erOuire !eductorium Moralis and of this only the 'olume de'oted to C'id. Although the two libraries were collected during the same period ,antillana's makes 5ena'ente's look pro'incial and medie'al. ,antillana did not order books from Italy or A'ignon by the pound7 he

did not passi'ely recei'e books that happened to be renaissance because of the taste of +lorentine booksellers and merchants. ,antillana was predisposed to +lorentine humanism by his family's tradition and his collection reflects a deliberate and well#informed selection. (ost of the (endo)a's writing about religious subjects consists of poetry on the li'es of saints or the miracles of the 0irgin. !here are long morali)ing poems on such themes as the se'en mortal sins and short lyric poems dedicated to the 0irgin. !hey do not write about the Nati'ity or the life of &hrist and they do not engage in theological speculation. Ayala in fact was noted for his acti'e opposition to theological speculation. ,ometime before 2=A= the poet +errn ,nche) &ala'era posed the question of +ree 6ill as the subject of a poetic debate to Ayala and se'eral other G'ery learned scholars of this kingdom.G1=@3$('& Cf the se'en poets who responded four accepted its 'alidity entirely and arri'ed at conclusions by citing authorities or presenting theological arguments. !he (uslim physician to ,antillana's father replied that although the question had a reasonable and just solution it was beyond the comprehension of man. *on)alo (artLne) de (edina a supporter of the /eronimite Crder and the ?e'otio (oderna e$pressed a distrust of speculation in confronting the mystery of predestination appealing to the authority of the 5ible but not to the decretals or theologians. Ayala rejected the 'alidity of the inquiry entirely on the grounds that man is incapable of understanding the mysteries of re'elation and must humbly surrender to *od's will without daring to speculate upon it. 4e cites no authorities e$cept his own earlier poetry and be offers no arguments. -ike .etrarch his fellow student in A'ignon Ayala had de'eloped a sense Gof the immensity and inscrutable power and mercy of *odG and a concomitant skepticism about man's ability to understand *od and 4is works through manmade systems such as theology or natural philosophy.1=D3 Ayala's e$treme distrust of rationality in religion was complemented by the de'otionalism of *u)mn's religious essays. As usual *u)mn's standards are nonsystematic but 'ery high. 4is essay on the ideal bishop fa'ors the e$emplary life o'er theological knowledge. 4e e$pects the bishop to illustrate and elucidate the office and like a star enlighten his region and pro'ince and thus as it is written in the law where'er be may go purify and cleanse with the purity and integrity of his life... and ha'e more authority with the 'irtue of his heart than with the power of the staff.1=<3 In his essay on the de'out life *u)mn rejects the efficacy of all good works e$cept prayer7 Almsgi'ing is 'ery meritorious as your grace knows but some use it and practice it because they are of a naturally free and liberal condition" others fasting because they are naturally abstemious" some chastity because they are by nature cold" many silence either because they do not know how to speak well or because they are silenced from speaking" others pilgrimages out of a desire to see foreign lands and nations" and some e'en listening to sermons more for the sweetness of the eloquence than for the de'otion or edification contained in them. -ikewise for other good works which your grace will understand and $((& percei'e better. 5ut to 'ery attenti'e prayer I belie'e that there is no moti'e or inclination e$cept faith and de'otion.1=F3 All works e$cept prayer are corrupted by the nonpious moti'es that arise out of personal inclination in the same way that politics are corrupted by e'il moti'es arising out of character defects. ,antillana is noted for his abundant use of classical allusion to e$press his faith. 4is references to the classics seem self#conscious and strained but be seems unaware of his own assumption that poetic allegory ser'es to bridge the gap between mythology and re'elation. 4e often unselfconsciously identifies classical erudition with poetic inspiration and both of these with &hristian faith.1=E3

Ayala's rejection of a theological approach to religious questions *u)mn's e$treme de'otionalism and ,antillana's eclecticism are all used in the same way the +lorentine humanists used them ## to enconrage a willful surrender to the di'ine mysteries. !hey do this by emphasi)ing the will rather than the intellect de'otional practices rather than rational understanding and esthetic impact rather than theological purity. ,ince we do not know what the religious attitudes of &astile had been in pre'ious centuries it is impossible to determine the degree to which the (endo)a's attitudes in the fifteenth century were a departure from earlier norms. As we shall see don Alfonso de &artagena and his students were becoming interested in theology in the fifteenth century but the (endo)a remained either obli'ious or hostile to it. -ike their +lorentine contemporaries they looked to the ancient church rather than to medie'al theologians for religious erudition. !heir attitudes towards /ews (uslims and con'ersos were shaped by a common assumption that standards of beha'ior knowledge and esthetics are uni'ersal and independent of religion. !hroughout his four chronicles Ayala uses the /ewish and (uslim calendars as consistently and comfortably as the &hristian. 4e often places his own 'iews in the mouths of (uslims to whom he attributes a high degree of political and moral wisdom. 4e also presents an e$tensi'e account of a /ewish financier who successfully reformed the ta$ collection system of king .edro and increased the royal treasury but was accused of abuses arising frorn cupidity and e$ecuted. Ayala uses this incident to draw a parallel with king .edro whom be also accuses of cupidity and whose fortune be describes in terms parallel to that of the /ew. Ayala here applies a single standard to the two men despite their different religions. ,antillana displays this same attitude though more self#consciously when he $*))& praises and quotes the poetic pro'erbs of ,em !ob de &arri:n7 G.ro'erbs are not less good because they are said by a /ew.G1@A3 ?espite popular attacks on con'ersos that became increasingly frequent during their lifetimes *u)mn and ,antillana remained completely accepting toward them. 5oth considered themsel'es close friends political allies and intellectual colleagues of don Alfonso de &artagena. In a lengthy digression from his laudatory sketch of don Alfonso's father don .ablo de ,anta (arLa *u)mn passionately defends the good faith and nobility of con'ersos using historical and contemporary e$amples to support his cause and critici)ing the rigidity and lack of discrimination of those who attacked the good faith of all con'ersos on racial grounds.1@23 In their approach to religious matters these three authors neglect or reject the efficacy of the intellectual or authoritati'e approaches. !hey are concerned with piety and faith rather than theology or works attempting to stimulate both through an appeal to the will and arousing emotions through esthetic and rhetorical de'ices" and they emphasi)e the achie'ement of the desired results rather than the correctness of the means or source. In both intellectual and religious matters Ayala *u)mn and ,antillana used a historical eclectic and rhetorical method distincti'e to their e$tended family and to the period from 2;EA to 2=@A. !he coincidence of their acti'e in'ol'ement in political and religious affairs in a period of ci'il war regicide prolonged dynastic conflict schism and conciliarism was probably of the greatest significance in the formation of their attitudes. !he number of poets and historians in this e$tended family the consistency of their career patterns the high le'el of their political and literary acti'ity and the reappearance of Enriquista names among them o'er generation after generation all suggest that their intellectual and religious attitudes were formed in the military and political conflicts of the !rastmara ci'il war and owed their subsequent de'elopment to the successful maintenance of the family as both a cultural and social unit.

Notes for &hapter +our 2. +>li$ *on)le) Clmedo Die$o !am%rez de Villaescusa &'()*+'),-./ 0undador del Cole$io de Cuenca y autor de los Cuatro dilo$os sobre la muerte del pr%ncipe Don 1uan (adrid 2E== pp. E#2A" Adolfo 5onilla y ,an (artLn Luis Vives y la 0iloso0%a del !enacimiento (adrid 2EA; pp. ;<D#;<E D<=#D<@" ,chiff La 2ibliot 34ue pp. 2=;#2== 2E=#2E@. 8. %afael -apesa La obra literaria del mar4u3s de 5antillana (adrid 2E@< p. 2. ;. (artinus &ordubensis G5re'e &ompendiura Artis %ethorice G (adrid 5iblioteca Nacional (,. E;AE. +or an o'er'iew of rhetorical te$ts in ,pain see +aulhaber Latin ! etorical T eory. =. G?ems de lo Mel oficio de armasN a'er mamado en la leche y desde mi mocedad en la escuela de uno de los mas famosos maestros que como 'uestra merced bien sabe o'o en nuestros tiempos que fue mi seKor e mi hermano don %odrigo (anrique maestre de ,antiago digno de loable memoria. Alli aprendi a sofrer peligros e trabajos e nescesidades juntamente.... P esto no podre decir que aya fecho en el estudio de las sciencias ni del arte de la poesia porque yo estas nunca aprendi nin to'e maestro que me las mostrase de lo qual las obras mias dan 'erdadero testimonio y aun no 'algo mas por ello.G *:me) (anrique Cancionero ed. Antonio .a) y (elia (adrid 2FF@ I 2#8. @. 6erner 5ahner La lin$uist%ca espa6ola del si$lo de oro (adrid 2EDD p. 8E. D. Cn &astilian diplomatic relations with A'ignon see ,ure) +ernnde) Castilla/ el cisma/ y el crisis conciliar/ ',-7+'((8. Cther famous ,paniards in A'ignon during this period were the ?ominican Nicholas Eymeric 1c. 2;8A#2;EE3 who wrote the Directorium In4uisitorum in A'ignon in 2;<D and don .edro !enorio who studied under .ietro 5aldo in 5ologna became archbishop of !oledo in 2;<@ and was one of the regents whom Ayala and his allies would outmaneu'er during the minority of Enrique III. <. Cn 4eredia see /uan +ernnde) de 4eredia La $rant cronica de 9spanya libros 2#222 ed. %egina af *eijerstam Hppsala 2ED=" (. ,errano y ,an) Vida y escritos de d: 1uan Fernndez de Heredia/ $ran maestre de la ;rden de 5an 1uan de 1erusal3n ,aragosa 2E2;" /os> 0i'es 1uan Fernndez de Heredia/ $ran maestre de !odas 5arcelona 2E8F" Anthony -uttrell G/uan +ernnde) de 4eredia at A'ignon7 2;@2#2;D< G in 9l Cardenal Albornoz y el Cole$io de 9spa6a ed. E'elio 0erdera y !uelLs I 8F<#;2D. F. GEl %ey. &astella7 pues en cara no sodes con nuestro primogenito el duch al qual de'iades ir segunt sabedes rogamos 'os affectuosament que todos otros afferes de$ados 'engades encontinent a nos e aquesto por res si a nos deseades fa)er ser'icio e pla)er no tardedes ne mudedes como nos por grandes e cuytados afferes 'os hayamos menester. ?ada en !ortosa dius nuestro siello secreto a 0 dias de janero del anyo mcccl$$. Ctrossi 'os rogamos que trayades los libros de .aulus Europius e de Isidorus maior e menor e la suma de las istorias en ffrances e no res menos los sihuesos e otros canes que hayades por ca)a de puerco e de cier'o e los munteros 'uestros en manera que 'engan cun'os porque nos queremos fa)er la dita ca)a en estes partes don ha grant a'inente)a.G &ited by ,errano Vida p. =F. E. 5. -. Hllman T e Humanism o0 Coluccio 5alutati p. 282. In one letter ,alutati wrote to 4eredia GInter alia quibus delectaris est copia cumulatioque librorum in qua re tanto studio tantaque cura 'acasti ut iam sit omnibus persuasum frustra librum quaeri quem apud te non contigerit reperiri. ,ed inter alios te praecipue dile$isse semper historicos.G &ited by ,errano Vida p. =F. 2A. Ibid. pp. ;#D.

22. GEt otrosL asL como el ocio segund dicho a'emos traye estos dapnos et males al alma asL trae grand dapno al cuerpo que quando el ome est> ocioso sin fa)er e$ercicio et trabajar con el cuerpo et mudar el ayre fatLganse los humores et al cuerpo dende le recrecen dolencias et enfermedades... et por esto acord> de trabajar por non estar ocioso de poner en este pequeKo libro todo aquello que ms cierto fall>.G 9l libro de las aves de ca<a... (adrid 2FDE pp. ;#@. 28. Entre labradores 'i'o... pues entre rJstica gente me fi)o 'i'ir fortuna donde no se trata alguna obra clara y e$celente &ited by /. ?omLngue) 5ordona in the introduction to his edition of Generaciones y semblanzas by +ernn .>re) de *u)mn (adrid 2E8= p. $'i. 2;. GA ruego e instancia mLa primero que de otro alguno se han 'ulgari)ado en este reyno algunos poemas asy como la 9neyda de 0irgilio el libro mayor de las Trans0ormaciones de C'idio las !ragedias de -ucio Aneo ,eneca e muchas otras cosas en que yo me he deleytado fasta este tiempo e me deleyto e son asy como on singular reposo a las 'e$aciones e trabajos que el mundo continuamente trabe mayormente en esto nuestros reynos.G ;bras p. =F2. 2=. +rancisco -:pe) Estrada G-a ret:rica en las '*eneraciones y semblan)as' de +ernn .>re) de *u)mn G !evista de Filolo$%a 9spa6ola ;A 12E=D3 ;2A#;@8" !ate .r:logo to Generaciones pp. $iii# $$iii. All page references are to the !ate edition unless otherwise noted. 2@. Ibid. p.=. 2D. Ibid. pp. 2A 2F ;F. 2<. Ibid. pp. ;#=. 2F. %oss G*io'anni &olonna G p. @@;. 2E. Generaciones pp. = E 2= 2D 2< 82 =@. 8A. Alfonso B el ,abio #rimera cr"nica $eneral Nue'a 5iblioteca de Autores EspaKoles (adrid 2EAD 0 ;#=. 82. Generaciones p. 8. 88. G!he order of knowing or preaching is not the same as the order of writing down. !wo were of the followers of the -ord in the flesh they saw and heard him. 5ut in the order of writing down these two became the first i.e. (atthew and the last i.e. /ohn. !he other two were not of their number yet are ne'ertheless followers of the &hrist who spoke through them and they are embraced as sons by the first two.G Augustine ?e &onsensu E'angelistarum I. 8 22 22#8;. I owe this reference and paraphrase to .rofessor *. &aspary. 8;. Generaciones pp. 8#;. 8=. *uido delle &olonne Historia Troiana. !his edition is not paginated but the reference is to a passage in the first column of the first page of te$t. 8@. Ibid. pp. 28 =@ 8D. Ibid. pp. =;#==.

8<. Ibid. pp. 28 2;. 8F. Ibid. pp. =2#@;. 8E. !ate .r:logo to Generaciones pp. i$#$. ;A. Generaciones p. 2@. ;2. Ibid. pp. 2#8. ;8. Ibid. pp. 2A 2F" !ate .r:logo to Generaciones p. $'i. ;;. GNo ,panish poet of his own or of earlier times could compete with him in the 'ast sweep of his interests" none had gi'en himself o'er so a'idly to the -atin classics 1in compendiums or translations3 or to the great writers of Italy.G *reen 5pain and t e =estern Tradition III E. +or ,antillana's literary career see %afael -apesa G-a cultura literaria acti'a en la poesLa ju'enil de ,antillana G Atlante 8 12E@=37 22E#28@" idem La obra literaria del mar4u3s de 5antillana (adrid 2E@<. ;=. 0illena's mother /uana de &astilla was the sister of ,antillana's stepmother (arLa de &astilla" so by the canonical standards of the time they were stepbrothers. 0illena had an enormous influence on both Aragonese and &astilian writers of the early fifteenth century both as a translator of the classics and as an author and poet. Enrique de 0illena Arte de Trovar ed. +. /. ,nche) &ant:n (adrid 2E8;" 5ahner La lin$u%stica espa6ola pp. ;2#;@. ;@. In a letter requesting a clarification of a passage in 5runi's work on chi'alry ,antillana described Alfonso de &artagena as the greatest historiographer and researcher in ,pain. (arqu>s de ,antillana MIKigo -:pe) de (endo)aN ;bras ed. /os> Amador de los %Los. (adrid 2F@8 p. =F<. ;D. &ited by Amador de los %Los in ibid. p. iii. ;<. G.rohemio e carta quel marqu>s de ,antillana en'i: al condestable de .ortugal con las obras suyas G Cbras pp. 2#8F. ;F. GE asy faciendo la 'ia de los stoycos los quales con grand diligencia enquirieron el origine e cabsas de las cosas.G Ibid. p. =. ;E. !he retablo is reproduced in ,ure) et al. Los Trastmaras de Castilla y Ara$"n en el si$lo >V p. 8@D. ?etails of the portraits of ,antillana and his wife are facing pp. 2<D 88=. =A. *u)mn's library at 5atres was inherited by his great#grandson *arcilaso de la 0ega father of the poet. An in'entory made at the time of *arcilaso's death in 2@28 is printed in !ate's edition of the Generaciones pp. EE#2A2. =2. ,ee ,chiff La 2ibliot ?4ue. =8. ,ee the biographical sketch of NuKo de *u)mn 1Nugno *usmano3 in 0espasiano da 5isticci !enaissance #rinces/ #opes and #relates New Pork 2ED; pp. =;2#=;=" and ,chiff La 2ibliot ?4ue pp. ==E#=@E. =;. +or the contents of se'eral letrado libraries see the following articles by /osep %ius ,erra reprinted in Miscelnea Mons. /os> %ius ,erra 'ol. I7 G5ibliotecas medie'ales espaKolas G pp. 2;E#2=E" idem G,ubsidios para la historia de nuestra cultura G pp. 8E=#8E<" idem GIn'entaris episcopals G pp. ;<@#;FE" idem G-a llibretia d'un rector de ,o'elles G pp. 2A@#22<. ==. !he in'entory of the 5ena'ente library was published in the eighteenth century by -iciniano ,e) G&oste de los -ibros G in Demostraci"n ist"rica pp. ;DF#;<E. =@. /uan Alfonso de 5aena Cancionero ed. /os> (arLa A)ceta (adrid 2EDD pp. 2A2F#2A=F. ,ee also /oaquLn *imeno &asalduero G.ero -:pe) de Ayala y el cambio po>tico de &astilla a comien)os

del B0 G Hispanic !evie@ ;; 12ED@3 2#2=" &harles +. +raker /r. G*onOalo (artLne) de (edina the /er:nimos and the ?e'otio (oderna G Hispanic !evie@ ;= 12EDD3 2E<#82<. =D. !rinkaus In ;ur Ima$e and LiAeness I DA. !he following generali)ations about the religion of the +lorentine humanists are based upon recent scholarship in the Italian %enaissance of which !rinkaus' work is the most cohesi'e treatment. =<. It is significant that *u)mn took his argument here from ?iego de &ampos one of the few medie'al scholastics of ,pain but he chose to use &ampos' work for a pietist argument rather than a theological one. Generaciones ed. ?omLngue) 5ordona pp. 2EF#88A. =F. Ibid. p. 88A. =E. *reen citing ,antillana's use of 5occaccio's definition of poetry considers this electicism to be a form of Neoplatonism common to both ,pain and Italy. 5pain and t e =estern Tradition 2 F<#E2" III F#22. ,ee also (elquLades Andr>s (artLn GE'angelismo humanismo reforma y obser'ancias en EspaKa 12=@A# 2@8@3 G Missionalis Hispania D< 12EDD3 @#8@. +or a description of this eclecticism in %enaissance +lorence see !rinkaus In ;ur Ima$e and LiAeness II DF;#DFF. @A. Cr"nica del rey don #edro I 2E@#2E< ;8; @@<" ,antillana ;bras p. 2=. @2. Generaciones pp. 8E#;2.