Fragments from Corbacho, o Reprobacíon del amor mundano by A. Martínez de Toledo

Abstract

This publication presents the translation into Russian of fragments from a 15th century Spanish didactic work, Corbacho, o Reprobacíon del amor mundano [Condemnation of human love] (1438) by A. Martínez de Toledo, Archpriest of Talavera (1398–1468?). The author attacks ‘courtly love' and debates with the defenders of Castilian court literature, which reached its apogee in the 15th century. The work consists of four parts where the author condemns mad (earthly) love and criticizes women's viciousness; there is also a treatise concerning human nature and the influence on it of “stars, planets, fate, destiny, fortune”. Because woman is the main object of criticism, this work may viewed as an example of medieval literature of misogyny. Martínez de Toledo demonstrates his brilliant rhetorical training, he is a master of “ecclesiastical eloquence”, but what really makes this work unique is the combination of scholastic language and the vernacular, colloquial speech with its specific vocabulary. Skilled use of these two stylistic keys enables the author to reproduce a ‘living' language, on that is understandable to a very wide audience. In the translated fragments below one can trace these language features. In many cases the use of “popular” language is associated with the introduction of short stories modelled on the medieval ‘exempla'. Martínez de Toledo may be considered as a precursor of the splendid Spanish prose of the end of the 15th (“Celestina” by F. de Rojas) — 16th (including Cervantes' Don Quijote).