"Morir vos queredes, padre": Doña Urraca in the Spanish and Portuguese Romancero

"MORIRVOS QUEREDES, PADRE": DOÑA URRACA IN THE SPANISH AND PORTUGUESEROMANCERO Erik Ekman Michigan State University For Martha Krow-Lucal Doña Urraca, daughter of Fernando I and sister of Alfonso VI, is one of the most evocative figures of the Iberian oral tradition, where she has been presentformore than 800years. Her story offers an example ofhow oral narratives are preserved as they evolve thematically to meet the needs and interests ofnew singers and their audiences. The popular ballad "Las quejas de doña Urraca", published in 1547 in the Cancionero de Amvéres, narrates the partition of the kingdom of Fernando I on his deadibed and die beginning ofthe seige ofZamora that marks the end ofthe conflicts between his sons, Alfonso, Sancho and Garcia.1 Derived from the lost Cantar de Sancho II, it is attested in various Latin and vernacular chronicles.2 Fernando's daughter, Urraca, is portrayed as a wanton, sexually aggressive, and even sacrilegious woman in the sixteenth-century romancero in a narrative that is at once both fairly accurate historically and fictionalized as it appears in the Cancionero de Romances: 1 According to the Pan Hispanic Ballad Project directed by Suzanne Peteresen, there were several versions published in the sixteenth century in addition to the Cancionero de Amvéres, Silva de romances 1550, the Cancionero de romances de 1550 and the Rosa española by Timoneria. 2 For an overview ofthe relationship between epics andballads, see Armistead ("Initial Verses", "Encore les Cantilènes", "Chronicles and Epics"), Colin Smith, and RogerWright ("How Old is the Ballad Genre?"). As it applies specifically to the Cantar de Sancho II, see Vaquero (Tradiciones orales and The Tradition ofthe Cantar de Sancho II"). For a reconstruction ofthe Cantar de Sancho II epic, see ManuelAlvar's Cantares degesta medievales. La corónica 35.2 (Spring, 2007): 69-81 70 Erik Ekman La corónica 35.2, 2007 —Morir vos qiieredes padre mandastes las vuestras tierras a don Sancho a Castilla a don Alonso a Leon a mi porque soy muger yrme yo por essas tierras y este mi cuerpo daría a los Moros por dineros de lo que ganar pudiere Alli preguntara el rey, Respondiera el arzobispo —Calledes hija calledes que muger que tal dezia alia en Castilla la vieja Zamora avia por nombre san Miguel vos aya el alma a quien se vos antojara Castilla la bien nombrada y a don Garcia a Bizcaya dexays me deseredada como una muger errada a quien se me antojara y a los Christianos de gracia liare bien por la vuestra alma.- —Quien es essa que assi habla? —Vuestra hija doña Vrraca. no digades tal palabra merescia ser quemada un rincón se me olvidava Zamora la bien cercada de una parte la cerca el Duero de otra peña tajada del otro la morería quien vos la tomare hija Todos dizen amen amen El buen rey era muerto del cabo que el rey la cerca del cabo que el Cid la cerca Assomose doña Vrraca de alia de vna torra mocha una cosa muy preciada. Ia mi maldición le cayga.— sino don Sancho que calla, çamora ya esta cercada çamora no se da nada çamora ya se tomaua assomose a vna ventana estas palabras hablaua. (213-1 4) Although García here inherits Vizcaya and not Galicia, as he actually did, and Urraca's sister, Elvira, is not mentioned at all, the ballad encapsulates historical events and summarizes the essential episodes of the Cantar de Sancho II: Urraca received the city of Zamora upon her father's death in 1065, Elvira received Toro, and her brothers Sancho, Alfonso and Garcia received the kingdoms of Castile, León and Galicia respectively.3 War between the brothers broke out soon after when Alfonso and Sancho joined forces to dethrone Garcia, imprisoning him. With Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar as alférez, Sancho then attacked Alfonso, causing him to flee his kingdom and take refuge in the Moorish city ofToledo, which he later reconquered, thanks in part to information gained during his stay there. Eager to consolidate his powrer, Sancho laid siege to Zamora, where he died at the hands of...