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Abstract
The Conclusión defendida por un soldado del campo de Tarragona del ciego furor de Cataluña is a pamphlet ostensibly printed in Pamplona in 1641, and dealing with events in the Reapers’ War (1640–1652); although anonymous, it has been attributed to the dramatist Pedro Calderón. This paper finds more evidence for his authorship, investigates the date and place of printing, and compares details of the content with other sources of information about the events described; it comments briefly on Calderón plays which deal with similar situations, and provides a new edition of the text.
Notes
1 Eulogio Zudaire, ‘Un escrito anónimo de Calderón de la Barca’, Hispania. Revista Española de Historia, 13 (1953), 268–93. See also Jean Colomès, ‘La Révolution catalane de 1640 et les écrivains espagnols du temps’, in Études iberiques et latino-américaines. IVe Congrès des Hispanistes Français, Poitiers, 18–20 mars 1967: communications (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1968), 45–58. Palau’s No. 58872 records a copy of the printed version of the Conclusión defendida sold in 1949, folio, ‘11 pp.’ (Antonio Palau y Dulcet, Manual del librero hispano-americano. Bibliografía general española e hispano-americana desde la invención de la imprenta hasta nuestros tiempos con el valor comercial de los impresos descritos, 2ª ed., 28 vols [Barcelona: A. Palau, 1948–1977]). Zudaire used MS 1871715 of the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.
2 I thank the librarian of the Biblioteca Borja, Miquel Carbonell, for his help. I give references to the 1641 text and to Zudaire’s edition; quotations are from the former and are given in the body of the article.
3 José Pellicer y Tovar, Idea del Principado de Cataluña. Primera parte (Antwerp: Jerónimo Verdús, 1642), ¶8r–8v.
4 Joseph de Pellicer de Tovar, Avisos: 17 de mayo de 1639–29 de noviembre de 1644, ed. Jean-Claude Chevalier & Lucien Clare, 3 vols (Paris: Éditions Hispaniques, 2002–2010), I (2002), Texto y glosario, 301 (5 de noviembre de 1641).
5 Edward M. Wilson, ‘Un memorial perdido de don Pedro Calderón’, in Homenaje a William L. Fichter: estudios sobre el teatro antiguo hispánico y otros ensayos, ed. A. David Kossoff & José Amor y Vázquez (Madrid: Castalia, 1971), 801–17 (p. 802). The document presents the author’s case for an army pension.
6 Pellicer had other sources of information about Cataluña: as is known, his son and brother were in the army there.
7 Don W. Cruickshank, Don Pedro Calderón (Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2009), 246–48.
8 The Catalans and French saw the withdrawal as a defeat. See Núria Florensa i Soler, ‘La derrota del ejército español en Barcelona: “la batalla de Montjuïc”. Antecedentes y desarrollo de la guerra’, in Calderón de la Barca y la España del Barroco. Actas del Congreso Internacional celebrado en Madrid a lo largo de 2000, coord. José Alcalá Zamora & Ernest Belenguer, 2 vols (Madrid: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales/Sociedad Estatal España Nuevo Milenio, 2001), II, 189–206.
9 The mention was made by Don Álvaro de Quiñones (see Cruickshank, Don Pedro Calderón, 247–48). Vicenta Esquerdo Sivera discovered a document which refers to the performance in Valencia of a play entitled El sitio de Tarragona: ‘Posible autoría en las comedias representadas en Valencia entre 1601 y 1679’, Revista de Literatura, XLI:81 (1979), 219–38 (p. 236). The play is lost, the author unidentified.
10 J. H. Elliott, The Revolt of the Catalans: A Study in the Decline of Spain, 1598–1640 (Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 1963), 504.
11 The Iberian Book Project (<iberian.ucd.ie>) records thirty-one copies of the book, and, following the catalogue of the Bibliothèque Méjanes, Aix-en-Provence, lists a copy of an edition of ‘1641’ (probably a cataloguing error; if not, it cannot include a dedication dated 1 June 1642).
12 Of course the pressmen could not start until the first forme was set; and while the compositor might finish his last forme at the end of day 2, the pressmen would have printed it only on the third day. We have no certain way of knowing how many copies were printed.
13 The Type Specimen of the Vatican Press 1628, a facsimile ed., with intro. & notes, by H. D. L. Vervliet, trans. Harry Carter & Gary Schwarz (Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1967), No. 27.
14 Type Specimen Facsimiles: Reproductions of Fifteen Type Specimen Sheets Issued between the Sixteenth and Eighteenth Centuries, ed. John Dreyfus, accompanied by notes mainly derived from the researches of A. F. Johnson [and others], with an introductory essay by Stanley Morison, 2 vols (London: Bowes & Bowes, 1963–1972), II, p. 8, No. 8.
15 Type Specimen Facsimiles, ed. Dreyfus, II, p. 3, No. 21.
16 Type Specimen Facsimiles, ed. Dreyfus, I, specimens 4 & 15.
17 Type Specimen Facsimiles, ed. Dreyfus, II, p. 3, No. 22.
18 See <https://ornamento.ucd.ie/index_search.php> (accessed 9 October 2018); I thank Professor Sandy Wilkinson for his help.
19 Copy in BNE, Mss/2372, fol. 387 (digitized).
20 H. D. L. Vervliet, Sixteenth-Century Printing Types of the Low Countries, trans., and with a foreword, by Harry Carter (Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1968), 238–39.
21 See Don Cruickshank, ‘Towards an Atlas of Italic Types used in Spain, 1528–1700’, in The Iberian Book and Its Readers: Essays for Ian Michael, ed. Nigel Griffin, Clive Griffin & Eric Southworth, BSS, LXXXI:7–8 (2004), 973–1010 (pp. 978–82 & 1005).
22 Cruickshank, Don Pedro Calderón, 246–48.
23 My main sources for what follows are Elliott, The Revolt of the Catalans, and his The Count-Duke of Olivares: The Statesman in an Age of Decline (New Haven/London: Yale U. P., 1988).
24 Elliott, The Revolt of the Catalans, 420–26.
25 Elliott, The Revolt of the Catalans, 430.
26 Victor Dixon, ‘El alcalde de Zalamea, “La Nueua”: Date and Composition’, in Calderón 1600–1681: Quatercentenary Studies in Memory of John E. Varey, ed., with an intro., by Ann L. Mackenzie, BHS (Glasgow), LXXVII:1 (2000), 173–81.
27 Real Academia de la Historia, Diccionario biográfico, <http://www.dbe.rah.es/biografias/9182/pedro-fajardo-de-requesens-zuniga-y-pimentel> (accessed 28 January 2020).
28 Elliott, The Revolt of the Catalans, 512.
29 See the website of the Ajuntament de Cambrils, <www.cambrils.cat/biblioteca/fons-local/historia/moments-historics> (accessed 9 October 2018).
30 Francisco Manuel de Melo, Historia de los movimientos, y separación de Cataluña (San Vicente: Paulo Craesbeeck, 1645). Further references to this work by Melo are given in my main text.
31 Elliott, The Revolt of the Catalans, 593; Pellicer, Avisos, ed. Chevalier & Clare, I, 178 (31 December 1641).
32 Pellicer, Avisos, ed. Chevalier & Clare, I, 177–78 (25 & 31 December 1641).
33 Melo says Cambrils had 400 inhabitants (115v), so some of the besieged were probably members of the armed peasant groups which roamed the countryside. But while ‘los muchos forajidos’ referred to may not have been killed on sight, presumably most of these armed peasants died in the massacre in any case.
34 Zudaire, ‘Un escrito anónimo de Calderón’, 290, n. 3, quotes the Memorial Histórico Español, XXII (Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 1889), 20, n. 1.
35 Real Academia de la Historia, Diccionario biográfico, <http://dbe.rah.es/biografias/11229/josep-de-margarit-de-biure> (accessed 28 January 2020).
36 Not surprisingly, the Proclamación católica attracted criticism e.g., in the Aristarco, o censura de la proclamación católica de los catalanes (published without names of author or printers [but Madrid, Diego Díaz de la Carrera, 1640]); the Aristarco is usually attributed to the poet Francisco de Rioja, friend and supporter of Olivares.
37 El sitio de Bredá was probably written in 1625, soon after the events: Juan Acacio Bernal had a copy of it on 13 March 1627, in Valencia. See Vicenta Esquerdo Sivera, ‘Acerca de La confusa de Cervantes’, in Cervantes, su obra y su mundo. Actas del I Congreso Internacional sobre Cervantes, dir. Manuel Criado del Val (Madrid: Edi-6, 1981), 243–48 (p. 247).
38 See Valentín Vázquez de Prada’s entry on Los Vélez in the Real Academia de la Historia’s Diccionario biográfico, <http://dbe.rah.es/biografias/9182/pedro-fajardo-de-requesens-zuniga-y-pimentel> (accessed 28 January 2020).
1 siempre] (omitted).
2 su] tu
3 sus] tus
4 asegurarte] asigurarte
5 proprios] propios
6 los] (omitted)
7 que Dios guarde] Dios le gde
8 en tu principado alojaba] alojaua en tu principado
9 reliquias,] reliquias; y
10 precisa necesidad, sí,] sí precisa necesidad
11 ‘drecho’ in the original, and four words later]. Zudaire, ‘Un escrito anónimo de Calderón’, 286, ‘derecho … derecho’.
12 humano] humano y
13 acudes tú] acudes
14 muéstraste tú] muestraste
15 maltratases] maltrataste
16 infelice] infeliz
17 creciesen] creciese
18 aun casi] aun
19 sino de] sino [de]
20 al] el
21 indiciado] iudiciado
22 ella] ello
23 agresor no solamente de hereje pero de sacrílego. Y, apurando más el argumento, supongo] agresor, pongo
24 encarecer] encarecerte
25 aquel es] es aquel
26 ‘la’ in the original. Zudaire, ‘Un escrito anónimo de Calderón’, 287, las’.
27 Asientas] Assí sientas
28 váleste] valerte
29 pequeña vislumbre de esta pravedad, cuando nuestra católica vigilancia la castiga, al tiempo que entre ellos no solo las vislumbres se apagan, pero los declarados incendios se permiten regimientos enteros. Vimos en] pequeña (vislumbres se apagan) pero los declarados incendios se permiten. regimientos enteros, vimos (en)
30 acomulará] acumula (‘acomulará’ may be an authentic Calderón spelling).
31 tan poco] tampoco
32 guerra] guera.
33 haya ya hereje] haya un herege
34 conocido?] conocida?
35 verlos así en] vernos en
36 echábamos] echamos
37 entrado]
38 tomado armas] tomado las armas
39 dudoso ajeno] dudoso y ageno
40 propia] propria
41 de su] de la
42 que] con que
43 declarada] declarado
44 Es el] El
45 delante] adelante
46 quisieron] quisieren
47 en] y
48 y aun] aun
49 Pónese] ponerse
50 Ríndese] rindiese
51 haga] hagan
52 cerco] cerco que los cavallos tenían
53 está] estaba.
54 detenerlos con las armas] detenerlos,
55 al] el
56 acaso] casso
57 sic, modern ‘satisficiese’.
58 ya] ai
59 publican] publiquen (publican).
60 en] con
61 en] a
62 profanados] profundos (= profanados).
63 agora lo] lo
64 tercero] tercer
65 al] el
66 armas] las armas
67 reconoce, pues no es quien viene a poseerle] reconoce que quien viene a poseerle no es
68 una sombra] una vislumbre o sombra
69 al] el
70 exenciones] excepciones
71 él a nadie que le reconozca] el añadir que la reconozca
72 aventuras] aventura
73 Modern Spanish would say ‘no solo no es ponerla … ’; Zudaire adds the second ‘no’ (‘Un escrito anónimo de Calderón’, 291).
74 porque] pero
75 tema] temor
76 si hoy] oi
77 no hay tribunal ni] que no hay Tribunal,
78 que es] que
79 teniendo] tiniendo
80 tus manos] tu mano
81 de una] una
82 se sigan] sigan
83 el teatro] teatro
84 a hija] hija
85 los] lo
86 amagos] amagados
87 A reference, says Zudaire (‘Un escrito anónimo de Calderón’, 292), to the rising in Portugal (which began 1 December 1640).
88 el día que a juicio de sus] que a juicio de
89 consumirte] destruirte
90 Calderón preferred ‘truj-’ forms to ‘traj-’ forms of ‘traer’.
91 en el] en
92 A reference to the removal (to safety in Barcelona) of the treasures of Montserrat (Zudaire, ‘Un escrito anónimo de Calderón’, 292, n. 4).
93 su] tu
94 ‘aun tiempo’ in the original.
95 Probably Calderón’s spelling for ‘desluzcas’ (there are examples in his plays); ‘desluzcas’ (Zudaire, ‘Un escrito anónimo de Calderón’, 292).
96 y cómo] y que como
97 nuestras] unas
98 campañas] campiñas
* Disclosure Statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.