“De amor, de honor e de donas”: Mujer e ideales corteses en la Castilla de Juan II (1406-1454) by Julio Vélez Sainz (review)

In this detailed and revealing book Julio Vélez Sainz studies dynamics of cultural and political authority during the long reign of Castile’s King Juan II. It soon becomes clear that the true protagonist of “De amor, de honor e de donas” is not the king, nor is it the donas, but don Alvaro de Luna (1389?-1453). The Condestable, Maestre de Santiago, Conde de Santestevan, grandnephew to a pope and powerful royal favorite of a weak king, was the visionary behind a court culture that enhanced his own standing, frustrated his rivals, and anticipated significant literary and political changes in the following two centuries.

Luna rose as the Reconquest was winding down. In Castile, preoccupation with war was giving way to other interests and avenues to power. An ambitious class of noble men who were or would have been warriors now began to gravitate to the king’s orbit for honors, determined to draw the line between themselves and wealthy peasants, and to climb in status over social equals in this rarefied setting (27). Courtly virtues along with military ones were rewarded, as the court of Juan II became a hub of arts, letters, and etiquette (16). At one time 218 poets wrote within this circle (24). Women gained prominence as the telos of refined accomplishment in this high society, where chivalry, statesmanship, and fin’ amor became distinguishing ornaments that men could acquire.

But Vélez Sainz is interested in the operations of power behind the ornamentation, “el valor de la cultura como instrumento de poder y de distinción” (23). He exposes the less-obvious functions of this ethos; how the king figured in the complex system; and how the favorite manipulated it. The Trastámaras had sought to constrain the aristocracy, but needed to deal with many opposing factions, and Juan II was notoriously passive (31). The vacuum in leadership left plenty of room for the Condestable’s machinations. Ideologically fashioning the court around his sovereign, don Alvaro’s ultimate goal was to accrue power for himself (47). He orchestrated the strategic assignment of honors and other perks based on lineage and service (51). Although a cunning tactician, he trod on no few toes in the process.

The court of Luna’s crafting was festive, with abundant opportunities to display devotion to women, in poetry; ceremonies; jousts; and tournaments (39). Poesía cancioneril was a mainstay of the literary environment. According to the Prologue to the Cancionero de Baena, being courteous and writing love poetry bring a man closer to God (75). Courtiers should strive to become a “síntesis perfecta del caballero guerrero y el cortesano, el devoto y el enamorado, el amigo y el hombre de estado” (100). Vélez Sainz analyzes Luna’s own love poetry contained in the 1440 the Cancionero de Palacio and includes the verses in an appendix.

Still, in this setting not all men held women in high regard, and anti-female polemics also emerged—veiling deep and more personal divisions among the elite players. According to the views of certain religious moralizers, Eve-like and untrustworthy women distract men from the proper object of good love. Vélez calls the “Dezir contra el amor del mundo” (of uncertain authorship) “un poema terapéutico” (104) because it strives to cure men of their sinful passion for women (105). The most well-known of the misogynist texts is by Alfonso Martínez de Toledo, Arcipreste de Talavera and the king’s chaplain. He resented the Luna family’s use of connections and cortesanía for personal advantage. Among other grievances, don Alvaro’s half-brother Juan de Cerezuela attained the position of Archbishop of Toledo, while Martínez failed to advance in the Church. El Corbacho (ca. 1438), a collection of sermons that the Arcipreste delivered at court (120), is...