In Memoriam: Richard P. Kinkade (1936–2019)

Muere el hombre mas no su nombre

As I am writing these lines, I could not help but shed a few tears of sadness. On 15 May 2020, Dr. Richard Paisley Kinkade took his last breath on this earth. Dr. Kinkade's accomplishments as a scholar of Peninsular letters as well as a person were exhaustive. Born on the eve of World War II in 1939 in Los Angeles, CA, in 1946 he moved to Tucson which he would call home for most of his life. His remarkable academic career started early on at the prestigious Hill School in Pottstown, PA, where he was an All-American Prep School swimmer in three events from 1955–56. When I first arrived in Tucson in 1992, I would often see Dr. Kinkade swimming laps in the Olympic-size pool at the university. Throughout his life, he always maintained himself in outstanding shape.

He used to tell me: "Mens sana in corpore sano." He graduated from Yale with a BA in 1960 and completed his PhD there in 1965. His first academic job was at his beloved University of Arizona in 1965; he left in 1971 to head the Romance Languages Department at Emory University, where he stayed until 1977. It was there that he served as the first managing editor of this journal from 1973-76. He was then Visiting Professor at Yale for one year in 1977, before becoming chair of the Romance and Classical Languages Department at the University of Connecticut (1977–82). He then returned to his beloved Tucson to become the first Dean of the Humanities at the University of Arizona. Dr. Kinkade stayed in Tuscon for the rest of his life and passionately devoted 42 years of his life to the University of Arizona.

Dr. Kinkade's contribution to Hispanomedievalism is immense and transcends borders. His work deftly bridged the study of literature and history and his meticulous discipline earned him a place in the highest echelons in the field of Medieval Peninsular Studies. Jorge Manrique's words encapsulate Dr. Kinkade's passion for transmitting his knowledge to others: "¡Qué seso para discretos!" (Coplas XXVI.5). He died doing what he loved to do, writing. His last publication, Dawn of a Dynasty: The Life and Times of Infante Manuel of Castile (reviewed in the present volume), is a vast compendium of the life of the Infante Manuel of Castile. Published in Spanish by the Instituto de Estudios Albacetenses as Albores de una dinastía, it is paramount for anyone who wishes to investigate Juan Manuel's family. Dr. Kinkade's scholarship on Juan Manuel, which includes a previous article ("Beatrice 'Contesson' of Savoy") and an edition and translation of Juan Manuel's rulings for his subjects at Peñafiel (Ordenamjentos dados a la villa de Peñafiel), has helped shape our understanding of this important political and cultural figure and his impact on Castilian history. This later work on Juan Manuel drew in part on Dr. Kinkade's earlier scholarship on Juan Manuel's cousin, Alfonso X, another touchstone of medieval Castilian culture and politics ("Alfonso X, Cantiga 235"; "'Hermanos ofendidos'"). Dr. Kinkade published widely on a range of other topics, and his important research includes: Los "Lucidarios" españoles and Iconography in Medieval Spanish Literature. Dr. Kinkade's contributions to the field also include teaching and curricular materials. He authored with Dana A. Nelson a two-volume textbook that covers Spanish literature from 1200 to the present (Panorama de la literatura española). In addition to authoring more than 100 articles, reviews, and papers, he directed many Master theses and PhD dissertations. His articles appear in some of the most prestigious venues in the field such as Anuario Medieval, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, Hispania, Hispanic Review, Italica, Kentucky Romance Quarterly, La corónica, PMLA, Romance Philology, Speculum, and Symposium, among others.

Dr. Kinkade's scholarship was traditional in the best way, and by this I mean that all sources, concepts, and notions had to be documented; he was a true philologist. Due to his invaluable scholarship, he was the recipient of various academic awards: the Charles Julian Bishko Award presented by the Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies for best article on medieval Iberian history published by a North American scholar (2004), the John K. Walsh Award presented by the MLA Division on Spanish Medieval Language and Literature in 2000 for outstanding article in La corónica (for the article co-authored with John E. Keller, "Myth and Reality in the Miracle of Cantiga 29"), and the Sigma Delta Pi, National Spanish Honor Society, "Order of Don Quijote" (2000). There is no doubt; we have lost one of the greats.

On a personal note, I still remember the first time as a graduate student when Dr. Kinkade invited me to his home. At that time, Alan Deyermond was visiting him, and we all had a nice dinner and smoked a nice Cuban cigar. Later on, I learned about his passion for flying. He had been an avid pilot since 1966. He loved flying so much that with the help of his son Jonathan he built his own plane. He was a man of many talents. Every time I went to his house, he would play the Classical composers on his grand piano. He was a true mentor, a remarkable teacher, and most important, an unpretentious human being. He will be missed, but again, as Jorge Manrique states:

    Assí, con tal entender,  todos sentidos humanos              conservados    cercado de su mujer  y de su hijos e hermanos              e criados,dio el alma a quien gela dio(el cual la ponga en el cielo              en su gloria),que aunque la vida perdió  dexónos harto consuelo