At its peak in the l5th-l6th century, the ballad, or romance,
was the popular song of Christian Spain. The romancero,
as the collection of medieval ballads is called, derives
its name, not from any “romantic” content, but from the
texts composed in Spain’s vernacular tongue, one of several
“romance” languages that evolved from Latin speaking Rome.
It is an amalgam of stories derived from earlier epic poetry,
a learned art, power struggles with other Christian feudal
states, and the heroes and battles of the Reconquest, the
long war against the occupying Muslims.
Most of the ballads I recorded in Tetuán and Tangier, however,
were about “crimes of passion”, incidents of scandalous
behavior , particularly among the nobility.( they were the
stars of that time, like the rock , movie, and sports heroes
of today) Tales of upper class misbehavior were no doubt
circulated by servants and tradesmen with intimate knowledge
of castle life, and spread wherever citizens, especially
women, gathered. In the hubbub of town and city life, the
market, town fountains, municipal ovens, and public bath
houses were favorite haunts for the exchange of news. Put
to verse and music by balladeers, the songs were hawked
like a newspaper, and bought by all classes of society,
and by Jews and Christians alike. Soldiers sang them as
they crossed the ocean to the New World, and Queen Isabel
herself was said to have known and enjoyed them.
One of the richest sources of the Spanish romance has been
the repertory preserved by the Jews expelled from Spain
in 1492. Jews have kept them alive in all countries where
they have lived since that tragic date.. However, as in
all orally transmitted culture, inasmuch as the performer
decides how and what to sing, numerous versions have arisen
, different from the originals in language, content, and
music.. For example, those from the Balkans and Middle East
preserve, to a great extent, the language of medieval Spain
(Ladino), and melodies infused with characteristics from
their non-Spanish neighbors. However, those from Morocco,
particularly the Spanish section, retain their Spanish melody,
and sing the texts in contemporary Spanish, a consequence
of geographical proximity and cultural and administrative
connections with the continent.
The romancero has been a focus of attention of ballad scholars
ever since the publication of El Catálogo del Romancero
Judio-Español in 1906 by the great Spanish medievalist,
Ramón Menendez Pidál. In the 1960s, the catalogue was expanded
by two American linguists, Samuel Armistead and Joseph Silverman,
and published in a bilingual edition entitled El Romancero.
Judeo-Español en el Archivo de Menendez Pidal, a monumental
work .
In ballads about “crimes and passion” , the majority in
this collection, the focus is on women: they are the chief
characters and the center of the action. Moreover, they
have been passed down through the generations by women.
Although Sephardic men heard them from their mothers' lips
from childhood, singing them was a women's job, as singing
Hebrew poems (piyyutim) in the synagogue was a man's.
Since, popular and learned poetry often exist side by side
and sometimes borrow from each another, it is interesting
to note the distinctions between them, especially in regard
to gender.. In earlier medieval chivalric poetry written
by men, women were placed on a pedestal and worshipped as
their lover's muse. However, in Meg Bogin’s book The Women
Troubadours she notes that chivalric poetry written by women
was much more down to earth. Besides, they included references
to sexual activity studiously avoided or glossed over in
male poetry! She warns, however, that: “ the elevation of
the lady in the poetry of courtly love was a distinct reversal
of the actual social status of women in the Middle Ages"
By comparison, the popular ballads were lean, realistic
accounts that read almost like tabloid descriptions of domestic
crime, albeit written by a crafted hand Free of sentimentality,
they provided a populist, though not necessarily a favorable
view of women. They are portrayed as victims and victimizers,
as destructive and magnanimous, as powerful and powerless,
as passive and rebellious.
Among the most dramatic are tales about rape, incest, murder
and mutilation --grisly accounts of male honor avenged.
In La Doncella Ultrajada ( The Abused Maiden) a daughter's
mutilation, by a rapist, to whom she is subsequently married,
is condoned by her father on the grounds that she prevented
her husband from defending his family honor, and therefore
deserved the punishment.
Taming an unmanageable woman by rape is a common theme in
folklore and literature. Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew,
the most famous, is pale version of a Spanish ballad. In
Disfrasado de Mujer (Disguised As a Woman), a father gives
a young man permission to rape his own headstrong daughter
in order to make her submissive and obedient. Not only the
girl's father, but the boy's mother and aunt help him do
the deed.
Women are also accused of violent crimes like infanticide,
cannibalism, and mass murder. In La Infanticida, (The Child
Killer) a lustful and unfaithful wife, afraid her son will
reveal her secret, murders him, and serves him in a stew
to her husband. But the meat speaks up, and before the husband
can kill her, she turns into a little green bird and flies
away. This story voices a common male belief: women will
commit the most unnatural crimes to satisfy insatiable sexual
appetites.
One of the most popular ballads in the Hispanic world is
La Gallarda, a prostitute and mass killer who lures one
hundred lovers to her bed only to murder each one in the
end. Though La Gallarda finally dies for her crimes, somehow,
because of her boldness, ingenuity, and independent spirit,
she wins our begrudging admiration.
But others honor women of intelligence, of position, and
power. Such roles were not uncommon in medieval Europe when
women managed lands and defended their estates while men
went to war. For instance, Queen Berengaria of Leon-Castile
in 1139 distinguished herself by averting a surprise Muslim
attack on the Toledo garrison: she climbed to the castle
summit with her ladies. There, dressed in their most elegant
clothes, they played on musical instruments. The enemy,
too ashamed to attack unharmed women, withdrew their forces.
In Porque no Cantais la Bella (Why doesn't the Beauty Sing?)
a princess faithful to her warrior lover, wages war against
his captors. She heads the army, but also wisely uses her
feminine wiles to defeat the enemy. In La Guerrillera, (The
Girl Warrior), the youngest of seven daughters of a landed
squire, disguised as a man, distinguishes herself as a warrior
in the king's army. In the end, her identity discovered,
she marries the king, and returns to women's traditional
role in the home.
A few ballads refer to relationships of Christian and Jewish
women with Moors. Enslaved during the Reconquest, such women
lived as domestic servants or concubines. In most ballads,
Moorish lovers are portrayed as deceptive and treacherous.
Yet, in Cantar de Juliana (Song of Julia) the Moor is a
generous man who protects his Christian slave-girl. In the
end, however, she leaves him for a Christian man, betrothed
to her since birth. The most famous ballad is from the 19th
century, Romance de Sol (Ballad of Sol), about a Jewish
girl who refuses conversion to Islam and is killed as a
result.
BRITISH BALLADS
To place Spanish balladry in proper perspective I explored
other European collections, especially those of the British
Isles. Although British ballads and romances reflect life
under patriarchal feudalism, they differ considerably in
their treatment of women and attitudes towards sexuality.
In the 55 randomly selected ballads from the 305 traditional
ballads, known as the Child Ballads (after Francis Child,
the great American ballad scholar) I found the following:
contrary to popular belief, the British ballad is more romantic,
consequently the texts are more lyrical and poetic than
the Spanish. Lovers, male and female, and love as a state
of being, legal or illicit, are portrayed with tenderness
and sympathy. Women seldom are murdered for violating sexual
mores, but class and clan loyalties and rivalries often
determine the fate of unfortunate lovers.. Of the ballads
reviewed, 40 described illicit love affairs and the illegitimate
children born of these unions. Sometimes lovers triumph
over the designing mothers and interfering brothers and
clansmen; sometimes the besieged lovers die, commit suicide,
or are killed because of accidents and unforeseen circumstances.
In the British popular ethos, love has the highest priority,
money and property second and noble birth third; even a
penniless lover can marry above his/her economic position.
In The Kitchie Boy (Child 252) a wealthy lady supplies her
lover, her father's kitchen boy, with material help to advance
his economic position. He impresses the king with his entrepreneurship,
and the marriage receives his blessing. In Geordie, about
to be hanged for killing a nobleman, Geordie is saved by
his mistress, the mother of his seven sons. A fee is gathered
from the onlookers at his execution, and moved by her pleas,
the king releases him.
Tragedies of love, as well as the joys of sex, are both
part of the Child canon. In a delicate and poetic ballad,
Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow (Child 215) Willie drowns
in the river) and his bride-to-be mourns him. His family
tries to convince her to marry one of his brothers but she
is steadfast in her love. The Grey Cock (Child 248) celebrates
the joys of love: a woman lets in her lover, but the cock
crows too soon, shortening their pleasure.. In Bonnie Lizie
Baillie (Child 227) Lizie falls in love with a poor highland
lad whom she succeeds in marrying despite her parent’s preference
for a rich Englishman.
In a rare ballad, The Fire of Frendraught (Child 196) a
noblewoman defends the castle in a clan war. Lady Frendrat
locks members of a rival clan in their rooms and sets fire
to their quarters, killing them all.
Compared to the British, the Spanish ballad is deadly serious,
lacking in humor, unable to laugh at any violation of established
sexual rules. In the well-known British ballad, Our Gudman
(Child 200), a wife's infidelity is regarded with humor;
in La Blanca Niña, a similar Spanish ballad, the unfaithful
wife is murdered. In the romancero, , women who defy sexual
conventions die in the end, while brave and independent
women return to their traditional domestic roles.
HISTORY
History has been written by men about a male oriented world.
Here and there the names of distinguished women, usually
royalty, artistically gifted women, or bold rebellious women
have surfaced from these weighty volumes. It is only in
recent times that research in several disciplines has focused
on the history and life experiences of ordinary homebound
women, studies still in their infancy.. In her book Daughters
of the Reconquest, Heath Dillard, the American historian,
states that during the struggle against Islam in the early
Middle Ages, Spain passed many laws favoring women. Theoretically
protected by law, in actual practice they were sorely disadvantaged
: women had equal rights in the inheritance of family property,
and as a married woman shared her husband's assets. Yet,
single or married, she did not control the property legally;
she could not sell her own possessions, could not contract
debts without permission of male members of the family.
The restrictions were eliminated only when a wife became
a widow Nevertheless, because of their status as heiresses,
women were a central concern of homophobic Spanish society.
Of prime concern was a woman’s sexual conduct which invariably
determined the social status of the family. Women who engaged
in pre-marital sex, adultery, abortion, or unsanctioned
marriages brought not only economic disaster and dishonor
on the family, but disgrace, banishment, or death on themselves.
Under Spanish law, women were accorded equal justice. In
actual practice, they were grievously disadvantaged. Rape,
like murder, arson and theft, was considered a serious crime,
not only because of its violence, but because of consequences
on inheritance rights. A woman could bring charges against
her rapist but the public denunciation required by law was
degrading and offensive for her. Punishment for a man was
often only a fine, a stiff penalty if the woman was married,
less for a widow, and still less for a virgin. Offended
parties often took the law into their own hands. A husband
had the right to kill both his wife and her lover. Since
adultery was as much a shameful stain on woman's family
honor as on her husband’s, kinsmen often settled scores
themselves, probably, as Dr. Dillard says, ". . . more in
the interest of the kinsmen than of the woman. (pg. 82)
Religious affiliation was crucial to medieval Spain in the
midst of its war with Islam, and its ever growing hostility
towards Jews. The worst crime a Christian woman could commit
was to have sex with a Jew or a Muslim. Those who lived
with their lovers and had children by them were often publicly
flogged, banished from town, or burned to death.. But a
man committing the same crime was merely required to pay
the woman a dower, retrieve the child, and bring him up
as his heir. "Christian women who sleep with Muslims or
Jews," writes Dr.Dillard, "are sullied by this contact and
the whole Christian community is thereby disgraced. Sexual
intercourse between Christian men and Jewish or Muslim women
would then be justified as a form of insulting inferiors
and demonstrating prowess. The sexual conquest of Muslim
and Jewish women can be regarded as a legitimate form of
aggression and expression of superiority which, consequently,
brings no civil penalty.” (pg. 86).
However persuasive the prohibition of sex between different
ethnic and religious groups, incidents must have been frequent.
Even today, Spaniards say, “Scratch a Spaniard and you find
a Jew or a Moor.” According to archival documents, women
constantly violated the laws regulating their private lives.
Adultery, prostitution , illegal marriages and brash public
behavior flourished. Although the documents refer to townswomen,
women of the nobility also resorted to illegal activities,
well illustrated in the ballads included in this book.
Sad to say, conditions, noted above, still persist in Muslim
societies, Africa and Asia.. Recent reports indicate that
women are still stoned to death, often killed by kinsmen,
still blamed although victims of rape, while men receive
mere reprimands for their conduct. A recent report on India,
where traditionally the bride abandons her own family to
live with her in-laws, cites incidents where women, diagnosed
with AIDS, are banished from their homes, even though infected
by their philandering husbands.
Even in modern Spain, echoes of medieval attitudes towards
women still reverberate. In Elaine Sciolino’s New York Times
dispatch “Spain Mobilizes Against the Scorge of Machismo”
(7/14/04) she cites a recent increase of violence against
women. Only three decades ago, under the Franco military
dictatorship, women could not…” open bank accounts, sign
contracts, or receive salaries without their husbands’ permission,”
The post-Franco era ushered in a more permissive era but….
“ more for men. There is no stigma attached to men who have
extramarital affairs, even men in public life. smile at
the behavior” Most surprising of all is the following account
in her article: One women, a lawyer, reports that for years
her husband, also a lawyer, who accused her of being a whore,
….” only beat her after intercourse. She said, “I didn’t
think I was abused. I thought this was something normal,
something to be endured.” At least in modern day Spain,
she had the right to leave, but did so only after her husband
threatened to kill her and her son.
Not only government but the Church itself promulgated negative
attitudes towards women. In Malleus Malificarun, the infamous
15th century jurists' manual, the authors claimed that ….
“women ... roast their firstborn males, deprive men of their
sexual organs, and do all manner of horrible things." To
the 16th century physician, according to the historian Natalie
Z. Davis in her book Society and Culture in Early Modern
France, “the female was composed of cold and wet humors
(the male hot and dry) and coldness and wetness meant a
changeable, deceptive and tricky temperament… Such weaknesses
were caused by her womb which was like a hungry animal and....
when not fed by sexual intercourse was likely to wander
about her body overpowering her speech and senses."
When and where did such attitudes towards women originate?
Recent archeological excavations of early Western European
settlements have uncovered scattered ruins of both matrilineal
and patrilineal societies. In her book,” The Language of
the Goddess”, the renowned archeologist, Marija Gimbutas
describes matrilineal villages as peaceful agricultural
societies, equality between men and women, and dedicated
to handicrafts. Other archeologists, excavating nearby ruins
discovered patrilineal communities: fortified sites with
weapons, social inequalities, and the practice of human
sacrifice. According to Gimbutas, matrilineal villages disappeared
when waves of patriarchal Indo-Europeans on horseback invaded
the continent around 3500 B.C.
However, in one corner of Spain, the province of Galicia,
vestiges of this ancient societal pattern exist today..
In the 1960s, the Spanish anthropologist, Carmelo Lisón
Tolosana published two monumental volumes , Antropología
Cultural de Galicia y Brujería, and Estructura Social y
Simbolismo en Galicia describing these diverse communities.
In matrilineal villages, he writes, women are on top. They
own the land and goods, and pass them on to their daughters.
When a man marries, he goes to live and work in his mother-in-law's
house It is not unusual to find a man scrubbing the floor
and washing dishes. However, women do men’s work like construction
or road mending." If someone points out that men are in
control elsewhere the men say, "Every land has its laws
and every house its customs."
Besides economic and social control, women play a decisive
role in the spiritual life of the people: the witches, meigas,
are the protectors of women, and wise women, or sabias,
advise both men and women on practical, emotional, and health
problems. Both meigas and sabias claim to use their magical
powers as well as herbal and diagnostic skills acquired
over centuries in treating disease. Ancient folkways prevail
even today, and the outside world is viewed with a cinical
eye. A popular saying illustrates the point: "Limpio, limpio,
no hay nada ni nadie; el abogado esta para sacar dinero,
lo mismo el medico y el cura." Roughly translated: "Clean,
clean, there is nothing and no one who is clean; the lawyer
is there to take your money, so is the doctor and the priest."
In my own trip to Galicia in 1989 accompanied by my students
from City College, I noticed with surprise that the men
of Lira, the coastal village where we stayed, never flirted
with them. As we departed, I was approached by a local fisherman,
who with head bowed, shook my hand and thanked me for conducting
our research in his village. This was a first in all my
years on Spanish territory.
Although texts of the romancero, (with music a lesser concern)
have been seriously studied by scholars, scant attention
has been paid to the singers, the audience, and the reasons
why such songs were preserved for so many centuries. Let
me offer a few: the ballads recalled a distinguished ,but
hardly unblemished, past when Jews played an essential role
in Spanish society. During centuries before movies, TV,
and radio they were the principal family entertainment.
Finally, the ballads were a painless way to teach the young,
especially girls, the rules of sexual behavior. They dramatically
demonstrated that defiance of the code based on virginity
and monogamy was often punished by death.. As a Spanish
woman once told me, "For each woman there is one man; for
each man many women. That is the law." Yet, as one wise
Mexican woman once told me, “Las leyes son una cosa, y la
vida otra.” (The laws are one thing, and life another.).
Despite laws, life is often ruled by the errant laws of
nature, ungovernable passions and powerful sexual urges,
the desire for love and personal freedom. It is this insatiable
desire for life that is unmistakenly celebrated in these
medieval Spanish ballads and songs.
--Henrietta Yurchenco
