Neither need detain us; both are modern, and the latter is by Lorenzo de Sepúlveda. Much more curious are the group of ballads on Peter the Cruel. In the Spanish drama Peter is represented as the Rey Justiciero, the autocrat of democratic sympathies, dealing out summary justice to the nobles and the wealthy, who grind the poor man’s face. But this is merely what the sophisticated middle class supposed to be the democratic point of view. The democracy, as we see from the anonymous popular poets, believed Peter to be much worse than he actually was, and the romances record the deliberate calumnies invented by the partisans of Peter’s triumphant bastard [102] brother, Henry of Trastamara. This is noticeable in the translation of
Yo me estabá allá en Coimbra que yo me la hube ganado,[51]
which Lockhart calls The Murder of the Master. It is true that Peter had his brother, Don Fadrique, Master of the Order of Santiago, put to death at Seville in 1358; it is also true that Fadrique was a tricky and dangerous conspirator, who had already been detected and pardoned by his brother more than once. The romance passes over Fadrique’s plots in silence, and this is common enough with political hacks; but it goes on to imply that the crime was suggested to Peter by his mistress. This is almost certainly false, and not a vestige of evidence can be produced in favour of it; but no one is asked to swear to the truth of a song, and the dramatic power of the romance—which is supposed to be recited by the murdered man—is undeniable.
A similar perversion of historical truth is found in The Death of Queen Blanche, which Lockhart translates from
Doña María de Padilla, no os mostredes triste, no.[52]
Lockhart, indeed, says: ‘that Pedro was accessory to the violent death of this young and innocent princess whom he had married, and immediately after deserted for ever, there can be no doubt.’ But the matter is by no means so free from doubt as Lockhart would have us believe. It is true that Peter’s conduct to Blanche de Bourbon was inhuman, but the circumstances—and even the place—of her death are uncertain. Assuming that she was murdered, however, it is certain that María de Padilla had no share in this crime. María appears to have been a gentle and compassionate [103] creature, whose only fault was that she loved Peter too well. But justice is not greatly cultivated by political partisans, and the vindictiveness of the romances is poetically effective. Lockhart closes the series with a version (apparently by Walter Scott) of
Los fieros cuerpos revueltos entre los robustos brazos,[53]
and with a disappointing translation of a very striking ballad, in which an undercurrent of sympathy for Peter is observable:—
A los pies de don Enrique yace muerto el rey don Pedro.[54]
Refrains of any kind are exceptional in the romances, but in this instance a double refrain is artistically used:—