Richard P. Kinkade

The Historical Date Of The Coplas And The Death Of Jorge Manrique

THE discovery, in 1966, by Jose Lopez de Toro of Alonso de Palencias Fourth Decade was received with enthusiasm by Spanish historians who had long assumed that Palencia wrote but three Decades, despite the fact that the existence of a fourth had been recorded as early as 1788.1 The term Decades is perhaps more common than the full title of the work, Alphonsi Palentini Gesta hispaniensia ex annalibus suorum dierum colligentis, and refers to the decimal division of the Decade into ten books of ten chapters each, though the arrangement of the chapters bears no chronological relationship to the historical narrative. The first three Decades consist of thirty books (I-XXX) and describe events occurring between the years 1440 and 1477. The Fourth Decade, as we now have it, is incomplete, containing only the first six books (XXXI-XXXVI) which chronicle the period from 1477 to 1480. Palencias extensive commentary on the Manrique family and the death of the Grand Master, Don Rodrigo, in the Third Decade gave every reason to hope that the additional historical data of the Fourth Decade might possibly shed some light on the death of his son, the poet Jorge Manrique, who was killed in battle some time during the spring of 1479. The manuscript, however, instead of providing us with the precise date of Jorges death, contained, beyond all expectations, a concrete reference to the period and immediate circumstances surrounding the composition of the famous Coplas por la muerte de su padre. Literary historians and critics have, until now, supposed that the poem was inspired by the emotional climate of deep sorrow and filial devotion which prevailed upon the death of Don Rodrigo, Count of Paredes and Grand Master of the Order of St James, who died on 11 November 1476.2 Now, as we shall see, this opinion must be wholly revised, for the Coplas were written, according to