Aggression and Annihilation: Spanish Sentimental Romances and the Legends of the Saints

Summary

Grisel y Mirabella was written by Juan de Flores between 1480 and 1485. It is a sentimental romance that tells of violation of norms, breach of faith, and loss of royal authority. The action takes place in a society whose social and political order is threatened, as conflicts between different ways of thinking lead to an escalation of violence. Juan de Flores focuses on traditional punishment rituals and methods of torture which appear in both the sentimental romances and the medieval legends of the saints.

The story of Grisel y Mirabella can stand as an example: a king of Scotland has his daughter Mirabella held captive in a remote place to prevent her from marrying below her station. Despite all his precautions, two knights—friends of one another—succeed in finding her place of concealment, and within a short time, a conflict breaks out between them as to which of the two may seek the favors of the princess. All attempts to resolve this dilemma amicably fail and the two men end by fighting a duel, in the course of which one of them, Grisel, kills his rival with his sword. A short time later, Grisel and Mirabella declare their love for each other, which they try in vain to conceal from the king. Under the law of the land, whichever of these two bears the lesser blame for this offence will be punished by banishment from the kingdom, while the other will suffer death by fire. But even under torture, neither Grisel nor Mirabella will confess. Instead, they dare to criticize publicly the closed, providential world model which the king so vehemently champions. The latter is all the more incensed as Mirabella is the only one who could have assured the continuation of a genealogical dynasty.

The king imposes a ban of silence on Mirabella and Grisel and decides to make their fate dependent on a dispute between Braçayda (a misandrist) and Torrellas (a misogynist). However, this verbal joust at some courtly feast or tournament becomes virtually a farce. The twelve judges decide clearly in Torrellas's favor, and their verdict is announced to the public by the symbolic gesture of raised swords, whose hilts are apple-shaped and dripping with blood, i.e., suggesting the original Fall of Man. In making their decision known by this gesture, the judges ignore fundamental rules of judicial process by belittling the importance of verbal procedure.