Courtier’s Ideal in Spanish Literature: Its Ascent and Decline [thesis]

273 Pages·1983·11.083 MB·English

by  Francesco Raimondo

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Raimondo, Francesco
THE COURTIER’S IDEAL IN SPANISH LITERATURE: ITS ASCENT AND
DECLINE
New York University Ph.D. 1983
University
Microfilms
International
300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106
Copyright 1983
by
Raimondo, Francesco
All Rights Reserved

THE COURTIER'S IDEAL IN SPANISH LITERATURE:
ITS ASCENT AND DECLINE
FRANCESCO RAIMONDO
Adviser: Prof. John A. Coleman
A dissertation in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and
Literatures submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and
Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy at New York University.
June, 1983.
Approved
© Copyright by Francesco Raimondo 1983
All Rights Reserved
ii
Title; THE COURTIER'S IDEAL IN SPANISH LITERATURE
ITS ASCENT AND DECLINE
Author: Francesco Raimondo
Advisor: Prof. John A. Coleman
This study traces the life ideals of the Spanish "caballero"
of the Sixteenth Century as they appear first in Montalvo's
Amadis de Gaula and later in II Corteglano of Castiglione.
The first chapter studies Amadis* knightly ideal and explores
the question of whether Montalvo's text can be properly considered
a "courtesy book." The second chapter focuses on the Courtier and
Castiglione's idea of the courtly gentleman relative to Montalvo's
chivalric ideal. It also appraises what new perspectives and attitudes
are at the center of Castiglione's view of "cortegianla" and how
these elements are reflected in other Spanish courtesy books
subsequent to the Courtier's arrival and publication in Spain.
Chapter III deals with the theme of courtiership in Don Quljote and
with Cervantes' attitude toward the courtier's Pursuits, aspirations,
and life-style. Finally^ the fourth chapter analyzes, through the study
of selected works of Calderon and Gracian, certain problems of
self-perception, moral conscience, and outlook that distinguish the
ideal man of the baroque age, as envisioned by these authors, from
his renaissance counterpart.
On the whole, the study points to the gradual change and process
of secularization of the courtier's ideal during the sixteenth and
seventeenth century and to the decline of traditional thought and
myths about class limitations and human potential.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
PROLOGUE .............................................................. 1
Chapter
I. AMADfs DE GAULA AS A COURTESY BOOK........................ 4
The Background and the Ideal............................ 4
Knightly Qualities
Nobility.............................................. 13
Love.................................................. 35
The Influence of Amadifs.................................. 55
Amadis: An Evaluation .................................... 61
II. IL CORTEGIANO OF CASTIGLIONE IN SPAIN: A STUDY OF ITS IDEAL
AND OF ITS AFFINITY AND CONTRAST WITH AMADfs DE GAULA 65
The Spanish Influence on the Courtier.................... 65
The Qualities of the Courtier............................ 72
The Courtier vs. the Knight.............................. 77
The Presence of the Courtier in Spain....................... 114
Anti-Courtier Trends .................................... 125
III. THE COURTIER AND COURTIERSHIP IN DON QUIJOTE.............. 131
The Critics' Appraisals .................................. 131
Don Quijote as a Courtier................................ 134
Cervantes' Attitude toward the Courtier .................. 152
Cervantes and Human Perfection .......................... 173
IV. COURTIERSHIP IN CALDERON'S DRAMAS AND
GRACIAN'S TREATISES ON HUMAN VALUES ...................... 181
Calderon's Aesthetic Perception of Man .................. 194
Segismundo............................................ 198
Coriolano.................................................207
Ulysses...................................................215
Gracian and "Worldly Perfection" ........................ 223
CONCLUSION........................................................... 242
BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................... 251
iii
PROLOGUE
Although it is difficult to set a concrete point of departure
or trace historical connections between social situations and man's
preoccupation for an ideal of conduct, it seems that the art of socia­
bility was first and most eminently cultivated among Greek philosophers.
It is said, for example, that Alcibiades, "Socrates' enormously seductive
disciple," was most polished and accomplished in this art. Later Roman
writers like Seneca, Quintilian, and Cicero also placed great emphasis
on the qualities of sociability and worldliness in man. During the age
of Augustus, writes Guez de Balzac, it was Maecenas who excelled as a
model of aristocratic taste and worldly perfection. But the real pro­
cess of establishing a code of manners which would identify and reflect
the self-consciousness of a whole class of people, and later provide
the basis for modern standards of civilized behavior, has its starting
point in the Middle Ages' institution of Chivalry.
The knight, whose chivalrous ideals and duties were at first de­
fined in the prayers of the knighting ceremony, was mainly a bearer of
arms. His conduct was governed by a few crude and ordinary precepts
dealing with his behavior in battle and his obligations to Church and
society. Near the end of the twelfth century, by a mere succession of
social and political developments, the knight began to acquire a new
self-awareness. His primitive rudimentary class ideology and manners
were softened by his constant association with court nobility, better
1
living standards, stable political conditions, great emphasis on cere­
mony, and most of all by the influence of women. He had gradually become
a gentle knight whose highly prized virtues were not just prowess, loyal­
ty, and obedience to his king and society, but also noble birth, love,
and courtesy. The attainment of these new worldly qualities made the
knight fashionable and entertaining company in mixed society and symbol­
ized the knight's transition from chivalrous to courtly gentleman.
At the beginning of the fifteenth century, following the path
of Tristan, Lancelot, Percival, and other legendary heroes, Amadls of
Gaul emerges in Spain, and later in the courts of Europe, as a true
ideal of knightly virtues and the expression of the new spirit of social
refinement. One influence, however, that is generally negligible in the
ideal of chivalry and the education of the knight is that of classical
humanism, with its concomitant emphasis on the aesthetic elements of
social and cultural life. It was Baldassare Castiglione who, taking
inspiration from the Roman concept of "humanitas," fashioned in his
Courtier the new Renaissance ideal of the perfect gentleman living at
the court of princes. The "courtier" is both a humanist and an extended
version of the ideal knight: he is a soldier and a scholar, whose pri­
mary pursuits are the possession of all the finer graces and the search
for an aesthetic ideal of self-perfection in all aspects of human en­
deavor.
II Cortegiano, without a doubt one of the most significant
books in the history of courtly literature, exercized a strong influ­
ence on the literary life of the time, but by the end of the sixteenth
century had already become outmoded by changing social and political
conditions. By this time the concept of courtliness had already been