Posthumous Marriage: Literary Precedents for a Scene in Lope de Vega

manuscript it is most likely to have been produced by a scribe who was unfamiliar with the original word and misread it. 7 I quote from the text in Diferentes XLII (Zaragoza 1650), p.28 of the play (no continuous pagination in the volume). These are lines 2070-3 in Dr. G. Edward's critical edition of the play (London 1970). 8 See Tones's edition (Oxford 1961), p.53. 9 "The text of Calderón's La púrpura de la rosa," MLR, LIV (1959), 29-44. The Bodleian manuscript is Add.A.143, fols. 170r-198r. 10There are comparatively few studies of the handwriting of literary figures. Those there are suggest that an individual's handwriting never becomes entirely stabilized; on the contrary, it seems that new forms continually develop and that the degree of preference for old forms changes; see T. H. Johnson, "Establishing a text: the Emily Dickinson papers," SB, V (1952-3), 21-32 (reprinted in Art and error: modern textual editing, ed. Gottesman & Bennett [London 1970], pp. 140-54); also lohnson's edition of Emily Dickinson (Cambridge [Mass.] 1955), vol.1, pp.xlix-lix; and my "Calderón's handwriting ," MLR, LXV (1970), 65-77. As for spelling, it has long been known that individuals writing a language that has not developed spelling conventions can be distinguished by their spelHng habits. It seems logical that these habits should also vary during the individual's lifetime. I know they varied in Calderón, although I have made no systematic investigation. POSTHUMOUS MARRIAGE: LITERARY PRECEDENTS FOR A SCENE IN LOPE DE VEGA Mitchell D. Triwedi, Rutgers University The concluding scene of Lope de Vega's El casamiento en Ia muerte) in which Bernardo del Carpio joins in marriage his mother and his father three days after the latter's death, has no precedent in either chronicles or balladry deaHng with this legendary hero. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that various scholars commenting on this scene2 express admiration for Lope's apparent originality in thus resolving the dramatic problem of his protagonist, whose illegitimacy not only deprives him of family honor but also precludes his succession to the throne of his uncle King Alfonso. Because these commentaries make no mention of the fact that posthumous marriage is found in Spanish Hterature before Lope,3 the possibility that his scene was influenced by some previous example of this rare motif4 has yet to be considered . In Spain the earHest Hterary posthumous marriage appears to be that which occurs in the ballad La venganza de doña Isabel, pubHshed by Esteban G. de Nájera in the second part of his Silva de varios romances (Zaragoza, 1550).5 The marriage pair are a fictitious King Juan Manuel and his mistress Doña Isabel de Liar, who has borne him three children and has been executed by order of his barren, envious queen.6 The death of Doña Isabel is avenged when the King murders his wife and her cousin Rodrigo, her principal agent in the execution, and marries his mistress' corpse so that their children may inherit his realm: Luego se casó con ella así muerta como está, porque pudiesen sus hijos a sus reinos heredar. The story of Doña Isabel was probably inspired, at least in part, by the well known legend of Doña Inés de Castro,7 although the latter does not introduce a posthumous marriage motif until Jerónimo Bermúdez's Nise laureada , published at Madrid in 1577. In this Senecan-type drama, never intended for stage performance, Inés is disinterred and enthroned, her beloved 45 Infante Don Pedro, now King of Portugal , places a crown on her head and a scepter in her hand, and a constable on behalf of the entire kingdom pledges fealty to her corpse. There appears to be no wedding ceremony per se, but the coronation of Inés by Pedro undoubtedly symbolizes their marriage as well, as may be inferred from the constable's observation, upon the completion of this solemn act, that Inés, . . . aunque muerta, y hecha polvos y ceniza, Mereció celebrar alegres bodas Con rey tan glorioso y soberano.8 The...