Bernardo de Balbuena
Bernardo de Balbuena (Valdepeñas, Kingdom of Toledo, November 20, 1562 - San Juan Bautista, Puerto Rico, October 11, 1627) was a Spanish ecclesiastic and poet who settled in New Spain and the Greater Antilles who became bishop of Puerto Rico.
Birth and origins
Bernardo de Balbuena was possibly born in Valdepeñas (according to others in Viso del Marqués), as the natural son of Mrs. Luisa Sánchez de Velasco and Mr. Bernardo de Balbuena, secretary of the Royal Court of Nueva Galicia. Her paternal grandparents were Don Rodrigo de Balbuena and Doña Teresa Martínez de Santisteban, important landowners of El Viso and closely related to the Bazán family, Marquises of Santa Cruz. Little is known about Doña Luisa Sánchez de Velasco, despite her evident illustrious origin., perhaps due to the same attempts by Balbuena to hide his illegitimate birth.
He also had a brother named Francisco de Balbuena Estrada, perhaps the same one mentioned by Fray Antonio Tello in his work Second Book of the Miscellaneous Chronicle (1891, 218).
«Francisco de Balbuena Estrada, Rodrigo de Carbajal Ulloa, Francisco de Torquemada, Marcos de Carcoma, Alonso Perez, Martín de Renteria, Diego Lopez Altopiza, Diego de Villegas, Antonio Díaz Benavente de Brizuela, Alonso de Roa, Pedro Arias de Bustos, Alonso de la Puebla. In this minuta are all the conquerors and inhabitants who founded the city of Compostela, as well in Tepic as in the valley of Cactlán, that I have wanted to put here all together, not to put them again, when he comes to the way the city of Compostela, of Tepic moved to the valley of Cactlán.»
From his father, Francisco de Balbuena Estrada, he received important properties in San Pedro de Lagunillas, next to Compostela, then the capital of Nueva Galicia. Due to legal issues, Bernardo de Balbuena Sr. returned to Spain and, shortly after, recognized a son named Bernardo de Balbuena.
Going to America and beginning of his career
It is important to note that, until the 1950s, it was believed that Balbuena left Spain when he was barely two years old and that his training and personality were determined by this fact. However, thanks to the biography of Rojas Garcidueñas Bernardo de Balbuena: life and work (1958) it is known that around the 16th century, when the young poet was barely 20 years old, He requests permission to travel to the New World and meet his father who had returned just two years after he was born. After 20 years of silence in the documentation on the life of Balbuena, references to the young poet are found after his arrival in the territories governed by his father, places where he studies theology and works as a churchman.
Between 1585 and 1590 he won two poetic contests and settled in the city of Guadalajara; In 1592 he was appointed Chaplain of the Royal Audience of Nueva Galicia and priest of the Espíritu Santo mines, leaving the family home in San Pedro Lagunillas. During those years his poetic project El Bernardo began to mature, work that consists of 24 books and 40,000 verses in real octaves, which he finished ten years later and published in Madrid in 1624. It is probable that he began around 1593 writing La Grandeza Mexicana, a work that Dedicates its first edition to Don Fray García de Santa María Mendoza y Zúñiga, Archbishop of Mexico, and in a new print to Pedro Fernández de Castro, Count of Lemos, president of the Council of the Indies.
Ascent
Balbuena wanted to climb the social ladder and promote his ecclesiastical career, so he returned to Mexico City at the beginning of 1603 to prepare for his return to Spain, a trip he would make in 1606. In Spain, he obtained a doctorate in Theology from the University of Sigüenza in 1607; the following year he published his pastoral novel Siglo de Oro en las Selvas de Erífile, which included a small eulogy for Mexico City, with laudatory compositions by the famous poets Lope de Vega and Francisco de Quevedo. and a prologue by the playwright Antonio Mira de Amescua, who, in addition to praising the work, takes the opportunity to make an in-depth analysis of the genre. In 1608 he was appointed head of the Jamaica abbey, a position he reached in 1611 with the intention of converting the island into a bishopric, an unachieved objective that conditioned Balbuena to aspire to another position. This would happen in 1620, when he was named Bishop of Puerto Rico, where he arrived in 1623. Balbuena already counting with an advanced age, fatigue and the bad conditions of life in the Caribbean, his life worsens after the siege of Dutch pirates who they destroyed his house and burned his precious library in 1625, an event of great importance that came to be cited in Laurel de Apolo (1630) by Lope de Vega:
And always sweet your memory,generous prelate,
even if the forces of oblivion apply.
Bernardo de Balbuena.
You had the shit.
of Puerto Rico, when Fiero Enrique,
Dutch rebelled,
stole your library,
But your wit didn't, I couldn't,Silva II, vv. 111-119
Balbuena's spirits did not survive this incursion and his literary presence was not noticed again, his flame going out in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1627.
No portraits of him have survived except for the engraved effigy included in his Mexican Greatness, which served as the basis for a drawing by the Valencian José Maea (1760-1826) engraved by Rafael Esteve with the legend &# 34;D. Bernardo de Balbuena. Born in Valdepeñas in La Mancha. Abbot of Jamayca Bishop of Puertorico famous epic and bucolic poet: he was born in 1568 and died in 1627". This engraving was included in Portraits of the Spanish ilustres (Madrid, Imprenta Real, 1791), an iconographic collection made at the end of the 18th century that sought to preserve the memory of notable Spaniards promoted by the Count of Floridablanca and supported by Carlos IV.
Mexican Greatness
Content
The work, belonging to the genre of chorography, is divided into nine chapters, whose contents are divided into:
Chapter I. Of the famous Mexico the seat.
In this first section, the author greets Doña Isabel de Tovar, praises her lineage and her virtues, and proceeds to describe Mexico City and its seat in the middle of a lake, making observations about the climate of the city, the buildings, the landscapes, the orchards, the gardens and the roads full of people from different places. He concludes the first chapter with reflections on the ambition and mastery of building a city on water.
Chapter II. Origin and greatness of buildings.
In the second chapter, Balbuena builds a Latin conception of Mexico through the use of allegories that equate it to ancient Roman cities, Spain itself, and other great civilizations; he praises its layout, similar to a chessboard, and dedicates beautiful passages to the rich architecture of the city and its churches.
Chapter III. Horses, fairways, treatment and compliance.
The third chapter is articulated essentially in the admiration that New Spain horses arouse in Balbuena, which he equates with famous steeds from history to enhance their worth; he expresses admiration for the skill of the riders who ride through the city square and lists in great detail the colors and decorations worn by both the rider and the animal; Lastly, it includes some verses about the rich merchandise that arrives and is traded in the capital.
Chapter IV. Letters, virtues, variety of trades.
The chapter begins by describing the various trades that are practiced in the city, praises the different industries, the materials with which the artisans work and declares his admiration for those who dedicate themselves to the arts, continues with a harsh condemnation of the poverty of petty towns and makes clear his preference for Mexico, since in it he can find all kinds of eminent and illustrious men, beautiful schools, virtues, charity and all the good things that a great town should possess.
Chapter V. Gifts, occasions of contentment.
Balbuena continues his work narrating the joy he experiences when he is in Mexico City, since in it he finds both holiness and parties as well as elegance and comedies, letters and the newest fashions. He describes the carriages, the affable treatment of the inhabitants and the good customs of the ladies, as well as the riches, the music and all the delicacies found in the capital.
Chapter VI. Immortal Spring and the hints of it.
In the sixth chapter, greater emphasis is given to the flora, topography and fertility present in the Anahuac Valley. Balbuena builds the image of a wonderful paradise, which surrounds the city in the middle of a lake with its mountains, rivers and trees, creating the image of a magical and splendid place.
Chapter VII. illustrious government.
The seventh chapter declares the greatness of the rulers, the Viceroy and the Archbishop, as well as the importance of the secular and ecclesiastical authorities, of the various courts and churches, which provide order and allow the existence of majesty from the city.
Chapter VIII. Religion and State.
The penultimate chapter lists the different religious orders that exist in New Spain and mentions some of the temples and hospitals they have, as well as the functions they perform.
Chapter IX. Everything in this speech is encrypted.
The last chapter, written as an epilogue, provides a quick summary of the previous topics and includes praise for the way in which Spanish is spoken, commerce and the arts, it insists on praising the riches and abundances present in the capital, as well as its famous people, schools and the University. Finally, it recalls the conquest and transformations that the city has undergone over the centuries, celebrates Christianization and the benefits of colonizing the New Spain territories, with the purpose of equating the greatness of Mexico with that of Spain.
Editions of Mexican Greatness
The first work published by Bernardo de Balbuena is not a homogeneous work. The core of the volume is made up of a text entitled La Grandeza Mexicana, a poem written in linked triplets about Mexico City. The first known edition of the work is from 1604, and is published by Melchior de Ocharte in Mexico City, from the prose introduction of said edition it is known that Balbuena wrote the book for a lady from Culiacán, Doña Isabel de Tovar y Guzmán, who had decided to enter a convent of nuns in the capital, after the death of her husband and the entry into the Society of Jesus of her only son.
In addition to the text of the poem and the dedication, the first edition includes a long letter of 49 pages addressed to Archdeacon Doctor Don Antonio Ávila de la Cadena, as well as a prologue and a series of sonnets and praises dedicated to him by Don Antonio de Saavedra y Guzmán, author of Indian Pilgrim; Don Lorenzo de Ugarte de los Ríos, Major Constable of the Holy Office; Attorney Miguel de Zaldierma de Maryaca; Doctor Don Antonio Ávila de la Cadena, Archdeacon of Nueva Galicia; Mr. Sebastián Gutierres Rangel and Francisco Balbuena Estrada, brother of the author. Behind the verses of the poem of La Grandeza, is a 21-page treatise entitled Apologetic Compendium in Praise of Poetry; therefore the original edition of La Grandeza consists of three different elements: the letter to Doctor Don Antonio Ávila and the laudatory poems, the triplets in praise of the city and the Apologetic Compendium.
It is important to note that there are two 1604 editions of La Grandeza Mexicana, one published by Melchior Ocharte and the other by Diego López Dávalos. The first edition is dedicated to Don Fray García de Mendoza and Zúñiga, Archbishop of Mexico and the second to Don Pedro Fernández de Castro y Andrade, Count of Lemos. With the exception of the title page and the dedication, the only difference is that the Dávalos edition includes a poem in honor of the Count of Lemos, since from folio nine onwards the two prints coincide perfectly. Don Joaquín García Icazbalceta supposes that Balbuena had changed the dedication around 1606 (the year of the Archbishop's death), but keeping the date of 1604 in the print; whatever the reason La Grandeza Mexicana was not reprinted until 1821 by the Royal Academy and several editions followed during the s. XIX, including a Mexican one by José María Andrade y Escalante, and another from La Mancha by Eusebio Vasco in La Voz de Valdepeñas (1890, not 1881 as recorded by Van Horne), since it was not until the s. XX when the work is rescued, but it will have to wait until the second half of the century for it to begin to be reprinted constantly.
The first edition of the s. XX corresponds to the facsimile reproduction of the Society of Mexican Bibliophiles that in 1927 printed the entire work of the Ocharte edition, and includes the comments that Icazbalceta made regarding the work in Memorias de la Academia Mexicana Corresponding to the Royal Española, as well as a reproduction of the cover of the Dávalos edition and the poem to the Count of Lemos; the work was published again in 1930 by John Van Horne and the University of Illinois, in said print there is an adequate introductory study, the writing of the work is modernized and the poem to Don Fray García de Mendoza y Zúñiga is omitted, Archbishop of Mexico City and the Apologetic Compendium.
The third edition was produced by the National University in 1941, with a prologue by Francisco Monterde and illustrations by Julio Prieto Posadas. In this edition only the dedication to the Count of Lemos appears, the poem of La Grandeza Mexicana and the complete Bernardo; In 1954 the work was republished once more by the National University and a cover designed by Francisco Moreno de Capdevila was added. Starting with the 1954 edition, the work has been republished countless times, however, the edition of the Mexican Bibliophiles Society is the last to have the full content of the 1604 edition, since from the Van Horne edition the Writing has been modernized and all texts unrelated to the main poem have been excluded, with the exception of the dedication to the Count of Lemos.
In 2011 a new edition came out, this time critical, prepared by the scholar Asima Saad Maura. Under the seal of the Madrid publishing house Cátedra (Madrid: Cátedra), his includes a detailed introduction, footnotes and a solid bibliography that serves as a reference for those interested in analyzing Balbuen's work. As it is a critical edition, Saad Maura uses the princes of "Mexican Grandeur" published in 1604 (Dávalos y Ocharte) along with several later ones, detailing the changes made by the different editors. The critical edition of Saad Maura also contains the treatise in prose that Balbuena composed in praise of poetry.
Bernard or Victoria of Roncesvalles (1624)
The epic poem El Bernardo o Victoria de Roncesvalles [1], critically edited for the first time in 2017, is an extensive poem that tells the story of its protagonist, the traditional Castilian hero Bernardo del Carpio, in relation to other typical Renaissance epic characters such as Orlando or Angélica from Orlando furioso by the Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto or Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo. The poem follows the central argument of the confrontation between the court of the Asturian King Alfonso el Casto and the court of Charlemagne, having as its main source the famous epic song El Cantar de Roldán. Balbuena uses elements in his text characteristic of the fantastic epic, not being strange to find in the reading from magicians, fairies, mythical creatures, air travel, apparitions, visions, etc.
Literary context
The production of Bernardo comes at a time of glory and warmongering of the Hispanic monarchy. Already with Carlos V, but with greater incentive during the reign of Felipe II, many poets take advantage of their experience as knights of the kingdom, as was the case with Miguel de Cervantes or Alonso de Ercilla, to compose poems in honor of the monarchy and thus, consequently, carve out a future and gain greater influence. The historicist material is the most used by these poets who are inspired by glorious moments of the past of Spain to justify the moment they were living, an example of this would be La Jerusalén conquistadas (1609) by Fénix Lope de Vega or La Carolea by Jerónimo Sempere.
In turn, these poets receive inspiration from the great Renaissance epic poems, recovering the Virgilian topic of the translatio imperii and the imperium sine fine to match the reign of the Austrias with that of Emperor Augustus.
Plot
It is divided into 24 books, each one summarized in an introductory argument and finished by an allegory that conveys some wisdom content deduced from the argument.
Book I: description of the conflict between Spain and France, the trip of the fairy Alcina to the palaces of Morgana, situation of the Count of Saldaña —father of Bernardo del Carpio—, negotiations with Charlemagne.
Book II: Alcina explains to Morgana how they are going to take revenge on Orlando, describes the lineage of Bernardo del Carpio, a descendant of the Gothic kings. Morgana, pleased with the hero's noble origin, promises to grant him the weapons of Achilles.
Book III: Ferraguto, envious of Bernardo's glory, goes looking for him to confront him. On the other hand, he describes the War Council held at Charlemagne's court.
Book IV: Orontes hangs the magician Malgesí from a tree, who drops a book from which a demon comes out that promises to destroy Spain but his guardian angel does not allow it, promising the discovery of a New World. Bernardo finds Angélica on a galleon where he is knighted.
Book V: War Council of King Alfonso the Chaste. Parallel stories of love and war of Ferraguto, Yucef and Argina.
Book VI: Orlando tells a fable to consider what is the greatest gift that Fortune can bestow. Bernardo finds an island where he meets a doctor who manages to cure Orimandro.
Book VII: Continues the story of Ferraguto and Gundemaro.
Book VIII: It describes who Arleta is and explains why she wants to take revenge on Ferraguto. Other stories of love and confrontation are told.
Book IX: Bernardo finds Angelica trapped in the claws of a dragon and meets Proteus from whom he knows who her parents were.
Book X: Ferraguto gets lost in a jungle and comes across a castle. It describes what happened there.
Book XI: Angelica is captured by privateers, Bernardo and Orimandro go to rescue her. Orlando tells a fable.
Book XII: Orlando and his companions become golden statues. Garilo meets the governor of Sansueña who tells him how the Gothic king Rodrigo lost Spain.
Book XIII: Describes celebrations at Charlemagne's court. Orimander describes the monsters on Crete. Bernardo tries to free Angélica from being kidnapped by privateers.
Book XIV: Bernardo continues with his journey and enters the cave of Themis, where he reveals stories of humans and, through an allegorical discourse, indicates the origin of falsehood and ignorance.
Book XV: Orlando confronts Garilo, he hides in the house of an alchemist and steals Angelica's ring. Malgesí makes a ship fly and describes Europe.
Book XVI: Geographical description of Italy and France and the greatness of Spain.
Book XVII: Continues with the description of Europe. Bernardo faces lies and ignorance, a victory praised by Apollo and the Muses.
Book XVIII: Bernardo rejects Crisalva in marriage because he is in love with Angélica. They return to Spain.
Book XIX: It describes the history of Hernán Cortés in the conquest of the New World and the royal descent from King Alfonso the Chaste to Carlos V.
Book XX: Bernardo arrives at the castle of Carpio, which is enchanted. He before he frees Garilo and finds Teudonio, who lets him know the prison of his parents.
Book XXI: Bernardo defeats the enchantment of the Carpio castle and returns to the king's court with a group of knights. Morgante and Orimandro take a trip to Africa.
Book XXII: Charlemagne has a fateful dream in which he is predicted the defeat of France at the hands of Bernardo.
Book XXIII: The fantastic origin of the city of Granada is told. Spain and France prepare for war.
Book XXIV: Confrontation between both armies. Bernardo del Carpio and his Leonese knights kill Orlando and the Twelve Peers. Spain wins the battle of Roncesvalles.
Poetics
Balbuena, thanks to his Apologetic Compendium in Praise of Poetry (1604), together with the enigmatic Peruvian Clarinda of Discourse in Praise of Poetry (1608), in the study of poetics he reached a level similar to the highest among other scholars of the Old World. The ideas that he held in this regard often reappear in his other works. His idea of his poetry is that, an idea of Platonic rank, inimitable and uncriticizable, since it is not susceptible to criticism as a genre, but only poets who try to approach it without merit; it cannot be taught, only discovered and released through study and rhetorical work in pursuit of ultimate beauty. If poetry has defects, "it is not the fault of art... but of those who with weak talent and wealth slander and discredit it by throwing themselves into it without letters, experience and spirit".
At last, it has been and is poetry, from the beginning of the world, joy and solace of its, so pleasant and sweet that with its harmonious delight it concerts the soul and entertains him, composes the spirit, mitigates the anger, relieves the works, accompanies the solitude [...] awakes the virtue, recreates the human members [...] To all delight and please [...] to all gifts and comforts, to all pleases and lifts the spirit (136-137)
To achieve this end, the poet must possess not only the Platonic divine inspiration, but also know the rules of art. Balbuena criticizes that Spanish poetry is & # 34; pure force of imagination, without being restrained and set in measure and rule with which the art of his faculty requests & # 34; (130) He thus combines the Platonic conception of Renaissance poetry with the conception of it as scientia scientiarum proper to the & # 34; wise poet & # 34; of mannerism.
Works
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, Granza mexicano del bachiller Bernardo de Balbuena, directed to the illustrious And Reverenisimo Don Fr. García de Mendoza y Zuñiga, Arzobispo de México. From the College of your Magestad, Mexico, Melchior Ocharte, 1604, [140 foliated leaves][2]
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, Grandeza Mexicana del Bachiller Bernardo de Balbuena, directed to the most excellent Don Pedro Fernández de Castro, Conde de Lemos, and Andrade, Marques de Sarria, and President of the Royal Council of Indias, Mexico, Diego López Dávalos,1604, [141 foliated leaves]. [3]
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, A century of gold in the rainforests of Erífile; of the dotor Bernardo de Balbuena; in which a pleasant and rigorous imitation of the pastoral style of Theocritus, Virgilio and Sanazaro is described..., In Madrid by Alonso Martín at the expense of Alonso Pérez, 1608.
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, The Bernardo or Victoria de Roncesvalles: heroyco poem by Dr. Bernardo de Balbuena abad maior of the island of Iamayca..., In Madrid by Diego Flamenco, 1624.
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, Mexican grandeur and fragments of the Golden Age and El Bernardo, edition and prologue of Francisco Monterde, Mexico, Editions of the National University, 1941, 207 pp.
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, Mexican grandeur and fragments of the Golden Age and El Bernardo, 2nd edition, prologue of Francisco Monterde, Mexico, Editions of the National University, 1954, 207 pp.
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, Grandeza Mexicana, facsimilar reproduction of the edition prince, Mexico, Sociedad de Bibliófilos Mexicanos, 1927 (MCMXXVII), 140 pp.[4]
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, The Mexican grandeur of Bernardo de Balbuena, edited according to the early 1604 editions, with an introduction and notes on the works and authors cited by Balbuena, by John Van Horne, Urbana, University of Illinois, 1930, 176 pp.
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, The Mexican Greatness, preliminary study by Luis Adolfo Domínguez, Mexico, Editorial Porrúa, 1985.
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, Mexican greatness, edition of José Carlos González Boixo, Rome, Bulzoni, 1988.
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, Golden Age in the Enfile Forests, edition of José Carlos González Boixo, Xalapa, Universidad Veracruzana, 1989.
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, Lyric poetry, edition of Matías Barchino, Ciudad Real, Biblioteca de Temas y Estudios Manchegos-Diputación de Ciudad Real, 2000.
- Balbuena, Bernardo de, Mexican greatness, edition of Asima F. X. Saad Maura, Madrid, Chair, 2011.
- Bernardo de Balbuena, El Bernardo, or victory of Roncesvalles, ed. Martin Zulaica López, pref. Alberto Montaner Frutos, Siero, Ars Poetica, 2017, 2 vols, ISBN 978-84-946787-6-9
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