HISPANIA JUDAICA BULLETIN
Articles, Reviews, Bibliography and Manuscripts on Sefarad
Editors: Yom Tov Assis and Raquel Ibáñez-Sperber
No 8 5771/2011
Hispania Judaica
The Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Contents
Editorial
1
English and Spanish Section
Articles
YOM TOV ASSIS, The Jewish World after the Expulsion: From Destruction
to Revival
5
ELEAZAR GUTWIRTH, Acutissima patria: Locating Texts before and after the
Expulsions
19
SCHULAMITH C. HALEVY, Blood in the Church: The Inquisition against
Hernando Alonso
39
RAQUEL IBÁÑEZ-SPERBER, Joan Lluis Vives y los suyos: apuntes para una
psicohistoria
57
RENÉE LEVINE MELAMMED, Adapting and Adopting: Conversos and the
Sephardi Diaspora
85
JOSÉ RAMÓN MAGDALENA NOM DE DÉU & MERITXELL BLASCO ORELLANA, De
judaica y sefardica en el Retrato de la Loçana andaluza de Francisco
Delicado
95
VESNA M,29,û, Jewish Life in Sixteenth-Century Dubrovnik
111
GÉRARD NAHON, Saudade: Portuguese Testimony to Jewish Nostalgia in
Jerusalem and the Galilee in the Sixteenth Century
125
JAMES W. NELSON NOVOA, The Peninsula Hither and Thither: Philosophical
Texts in Vernacular Languages by Sephardic Jews before and after the
Expulsion
149
ELIEZER PAPO, Filling Lexical Gaps: Spanish as Ibn Verga’s First Language
of Reference
167
HILARY POMEROY, The Sephardi Romancero: Its First Century
181
* The articles in this volume are based on lectures delivered at a conference on “Expulsion and
Forcible Conversion: Their Aftermath in the Life of the Sefardi Refugees and their Children”, held
in January 2009, under the auspices of the Israel National Fund of the Israel Academy of Sciences
and Humanities
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DORA ZSOM, “But the Name of the Wicked will Rot” (Prov. 10:7): Names
Used by Conversos in the Responsa Literature
193
Bibliography and Manuscripts
BIBLIOGRAPHY
217
NITAI SHINAN, Spanish Manuscripts of Works by Authors Expelled
from Spain
259
NADIA ZELDES & ABRAHAM DAVID, The Literary Legacy of the Sefardi
Refugees: Manuscripts and Early Print Editions. Exhibition Catalogue 269
Author’s Guidelines and Transliteration
285
Contributors
287
Hebrew Section
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YARON BEN-NAEH, Jewish Congregations, Communities and Communal
Organization in Sixteenth Century Ottoman Empire
Ą
ABRAHAM DAVID, Don Yitshaq Abravanel and his Family in Southern Italy
at the Turn of the 16th Century
ĊĐ
The Sephardi Romancero: Its First Century
Hilary Pomeroy
As Hispanic ballads were originally transmitted orally it is not surprising that there is very little direct evidence, in either manuscript
or print form, of the development of the Sephardi ballad tradition
in the sixteenth century when it became independent of the Spanish
tradition. Despite the paucity of primary materials it is, however,
possible to put together a picture of Sephardi ballads at that time. I
suggest the following four categories as tools to studying the ballad’s
trajectory from Spain into the Sephardi Diaspora:1)News-bearing
ballads (romances noticieros) were usually composed soon after
the historical events that they relate. By examining texts narrating
HYHQWVWKDWWRRNSODFHHLWKHUGXULQJWKHODVWGHFDGHRIWKH¿IWHHQWK
century or during the sixteenth century, it is possible to recognise
which new ballads were created and circulating shortly after the
Expulsion from Spain. 2) The printed song and ballad collections
WKDW ¿UVW DSSHDUHG LQ 6SDLQ GXULQJ WKH FRXUVH RI WKH VL[WHHQWK
century provide a template with which to compare the evolution of
the Sephardi ballad. It would be unlikely that the changes that occur
naturally in an oral genre would have yet developed. 3) Whilst
only the opening lines of ballad texts are given as tune indicators,
sixteenth-century piyyutim present a reliable source of the most
popular Sephardi ballads circulating in the sixteenth century.
By examining the characteristic features that the Sephardi ballad
tradition has acquired with the passage of time, it is possible to sur-mise what would have been the state of the ballad in the sixteenth
century
Analysis of the state of the Sephardi Romancero in the sixteenth century is
severely hampered by the almost complete absence of source material. As the
leading authority on the Sephardi ballad, Samuel G. Armistead, has pointed out:
³7H[WXDOHYLGHQFHRI-XGHR6SDQLVKWUDGLWLRQDOEDOODGU\SULRUWRWKH¿QDOGHFDGHV
of the nineteenth century is notably sparse”.1 These words apply in particular to the
¿UVWFHQWXU\RIWKHEDOODGWUDGLWLRQLQWKH6HSKDUGL'LDVSRUD3URIHVVRU$UPLVWHDG
1
$UPLVWHDG6DPXHO*-RVHSK+6LOYHUPDQHGZLWK%LOMDQDâOMLYLüâLPãLüJudeoSpanish Ballads from Bosnia, Philadelphia 1971, p. 13.
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Hilary Pomeroy
goes on to say that prior to a manuscript collection of seven ballads dating from
the late eighteenth century there are “two full centuries of mystery, illuminated
only by the numerous incipits absorbed as tune indicators in various sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century collections of piyutim”.
This striking dearth of ballad texts, in either manuscript or print, upon which
to base discussion is not altogether surprising for, until recent times, the Sephardi
ballad was transmitted orally from one generation to the next. It was only in the
late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries that academic investigators and
Sephardim alike began to collect the ballads and produce permanent records of
WKHVH YXOQHUDEOH WH[WV 'HVSLWH WKH IRUPLGDEOH GUDZEDFN WKDW D ODFN RI SULPDU\
material presents, it is, however, possible to piece together some picture of the
6HSKDUGLURPDQFHURLQWKHVL[WHHQWKFHQWXU\ZKHQLW¿UVWEHFDPHDQLQGHSHQGHQW
entity separate from the peninsular ballad tradition.
The Spanish, or Hispanic, ballad from which the Sephardi tradition has
evolved, came into being in the fourteenth century. It is commonly supposed that
Spanish ballads derive from the long epic poems or chronicles relating Spain’s
HDUO\KLVWRU\DQGWKHHYHQWXDOXQL¿FDWLRQRIWKHYDULRXV6SDQLVKNLQJGRPV3 This
tradition of disseminating historical events in narrative song, in particular the
IURQWLHUZDUVEHWZHHQ&KULVWLDQVDQG0RRUVFRQWLQXHGWKURXJKRXWWKH¿IWHHQWK
century while new novelesque categories developed. By the time of the Expulsion
of the Jews, the ballad was the most popular literary form in Spain, enjoyed both
by the masses (with whom it has always been associated) and, latterly, the upper
classes and royal court.
However sparse primary material may be it is, nevertheless, possible to
speculate on the contents of the sixteenth-century Sephardi romancero during
its gestation period. As so often the case with ballad studies, indeed one of its
attractions, is the fact that this deceptively simple but multi-layered literature of
the people has not yet revealed to us the key to all its enigmas.
In order to consider the state of the Spanish ballad as preserved by the
6HSKDUGLPLQWKH6HSKDUGL'LDVSRUD,VXJJHVWWKDWWKHIROORZLQg four categories
provide an image of the state of the ballad to a greater or lesser extent:
1) Historical ballads in the Sephardi repertoire
6L[WHHQWKFHQWXU\ SULQWHG VRQJ DQG EDOODG FROOHFWLRQV IURP 6SDLQ
(cancioneros and romanceros).
3) Tune indicators for piyutim
3
Professor Armistead’s edition of Ya’aqov Hazan’s manuscript from Rhodes is found
in his study of Bosnian ballads; see Ibidem, p. 14.
$' 'H\HUPRQG Historia de la literatura española, I: La Edad Media, Barcelona
SS
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The Sephardi Romancero: Its First Century
4) Informed conjecture
Historical Ballads in the Sephardi Repertoire
Historical ballads disseminated to the public great events in history and, crucially,
were created whilst these were still fresh in the memory. Among historical ballads
that have lived on in the Sephardi tradition are three that narrate events that took
place in 1497, shortly after the expulsion – La muerte del príncipe don Juan,
La muerte del duque de Gandía, and La expulsión de los judíos de Portugal. A
fourth ballad, La pérdida de don JuanLVVHWLQ,WFDQEHDVVXPHGWKDWLW
too, was circulating in the sixteenth century. It may be assumed that the texts
concerned with the 1497 happenings either entered the Sephardi corpus at the end
RIWKH¿IWHHQWKFHQWXU\LPPHGLDWHO\DIWHUWKHVHGUDPDWLFHYHQWVRULQWKHHDUO\
sixteenth. Two of the ballads, La muerte del principe don Juan and La muerte
del duque de Gandía, are documented in the peninsular tradition, demonstrating
the continued contact and communication that the Sephardim must have had with
Spain or the peninsular romancero in the early sixteenth century “cuando aún no se
había consumado totalmente la expulsión, y se mantenía frecuente comunicación
con España”.4
Among the possible transmitters of these new creations would have been those
1HZ&KULVWLDQVZKRPDQDJHGWROHDYH,EHULDLQWKHFRXUVHRIWKH¿IWHHQWKFHQWXU\
This important link between Sephardi communities and Iberian New Christians
is also referred to in Edwin Seroussi’s monumental study of incipits: “Ciertamente,
los conversos que lentamente a la largo del siglo XVI retornaban al judaísmo
en las comunidades sefardíes de las costas orientales del Mediterráneo eran los
principales portadores a Oriente de tales bienes culturales hispánicos”. ,WZDVGRXEWOHVVGXULQJWKDW¿UVWFHQWXU\RXWRI6SDLQDQG3RUWXJDOZKHQWKH
ballads were in their most complete form: “A pesar de la expulsión, a pesar de
ORVDxRVWUDQVFXUULGRVORVVHIDUGtHVPDQWXYLHURQVX¿GHOLGDG\HQULTXHFLHURQVX
acervo romanesco con las creaciones impresas en el mediodía peninsular”.6
'HVSLWH WKH EDOODGV¶ GHFLGHGO\ &KULVWLDQ FRQWHQW DQG WKH LQYROYHPHQW RI WKH
protagonists’ families in the Expulsion for prince Juan’s parents, Fernando and
Isabel promulgated the Edict of Expulsion and the duke of Gandía’s father, Pope
Alejandro VI, bestowed upon them the title of Reyes Católicos in recognition of
4
6
R. Menéndez Pidal, Romancero Hispánico (hispano-portugués, americano y sefardí):
Teoría e historiaYRO,,0DGULGS
E. Seroussi, Incipitario sefardí: el cancionero judeoespañol en fuentes hebreas (siglos
XV-XIX),ZLWK5LYND+DYDVV\-HUVXVDOHPS
M. Alvar, El judeo-español I: estudios sefardíes, vol. I, Alcalá, s.d., p. 74.
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Hilary Pomeroy
WKHLUJRRGGHHGWKHEDOODGVKDYHVXUYLYHGLQWKH6HSKDUGL'LDVSRUDXQWLOWKHODWH
twentieth century.7
La muerte del príncipe don Juan, narrates the sudden and tragic death in 1497
of the Catholic Monarchs’ heir, La muerte del duque de Gandia, the murder of
Juan Borja, the favourite son of the Spanish pope, Alejandro VI. Their staunchly
&DWKROLFHWKRVDQGEDFNJURXQG±WKH6SDQLVKUR\DOFRXUWDQGWKHSRQWL¿FDOVHDW±
notwithstanding, both ballads have survived among the Sephardim and even
assumed a paraliturgical function being sung as endechas, songs of mourning, and
on Tisha BeAv.
7KHRWKHUWZREDOODGVWKDWZHFDQFRQ¿GHQWO\DVVXPHWRKDYHH[LVWHGLQ
the sixteenth-century Sephardi corpus are not Spanish compositions but Jewish
ones. Unusually for the Sephardi corpus, they do for once have as their subject
events of Sephardi history. These are the so-called La expulsión de los judíos de
Portugal (the Jews were not actually expelled) and the extremely rare La pérdida
del rey don Sebastián. Curiously, neither ballad achieved widespread popularity
among the Sephardim despite its Jewish subject matter. Both ballads demonstrate
how the Sephardim had perfectly mastered the ballad form; there is nothing in
their structure, imagery or motifs that would suggest that these are other than
original Spanish creations.
La expulsión de los judíos is exceptionally puzzling because, unlike other
historical ballads that are remarkable for their accuracy, the events that are
presented in versions in modern collections, events that intimately affected the
lives of so many Sephardi Jews, are confused and incorrect.8 It must be assumed
that these distortions crept into the text at a later stage rather than in the course of
the sixteenth century when the Sephardim would have still been only too familiar
with this disaster. This is in complete contrast to La muerte del duque de Gandía,
where any link with Jews is purely tangential for they are mere transmitters of the
work and not directly involved, yet the narrative is historically accurate and the
duke’s assassination is highly consistent with contemporary accounts.
As far as can be ascertained only three versions of the remaining Sephardi ballad,
7
8
Susana Weich-Shahak has recorded a version of La muerte del príncipe don Juan from
a Moroccan informant as recently as 1983; see S. Weich-Shahak, ed., Romancero
sefardí de Marruecos: antología de la tradición oralZLWK3DORPD'tD]0DV0DGULG
SS
The historical background is discussed in R. Guzofsky, ‘Mujeres heroicas en el
URPDQFHUR MXGHRHVSDxRO¶ 3K' WKHVLV 8QLYHUVLW\ RI 3HQQV\OYDQLD SS
DQG6*$UPLVWHDGµ+LVWRU\DQG7UDGLWLRQDO1DUUDWLYH7KH-XGHR6SDQLVK
Ballad of the Exile of the Jews from Portugal’, in Studies on the History of Portuguese
Jews from their Expulsion in 1497 through their Diaspora, ed. I. K. Katz & M. Serels,
1HZ<RUNSS
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The Sephardi Romancero: Its First Century
La pérdida del rey don Sebastián, The Death of King Sebastián, have survived.9
The event related could have had a devastating effect on the Jewish community of
northern Morocco in the late sixteenth century, for not only did the Portuguese king
wish to increase his foothold in Morocco but he proposed, using military force, to
convert the local population, Muslim and Jewish alike, to Catholicism: “traeremos
PRURV \ PRUDV \ MXGtRV FDXWLYDGRV´. Fortunately, Sebastião (Sebastián) was
GHFLVLYHO\GHIHDWHGDWWKHHQVXLQJEDWWOHRI$OFD]DUTXLYLU
As in La muerte del duque de Gandía, the events narrated correspond closely to
archival accounts, once again suggesting that the ballad was created sometime in
the late-sixteenth century, shortly after the event. This Jewish creation is, however,
told from an unusual perspective, a Jewish or combined Jewish and Muslim one.
The Christian king is now the enemy rather than the ballad hero: “la historia,
VLJQL¿FDWLYDPHQWH SDUHFH QDUUDGD GHVGH HO SXQWR GH YLVWD GH ORV YHQFHGRUHV
musulmanes (o, más bien, desde el de sus aliados o simpatizantes judíos) y se
trasluce un evidente regocijo por la derrota cristiana”.11
So whilst in the Spanish ballad tradition with its distinctly Christian background
Jews are almost completely absent, in this unique Sephardi text Muslims and Jews
together face the very real prospect of captivity and forced conversion at the hands
of the Portuguese Christian conquerors.
Sixteenth-Century Spanish Printed Collections (Cancioneros and Romanceros)
Although ballads were transmitted orally, hand-written versions of a few Spanish
WH[WV KDYH VXUYLYHG IURP WKH ¿IWHHQWK FHQWXU\ 7KH ROGHVW NQRZQ EDOODG WKH
Romance de una gentil dama y un rústico pastor, The Lady and the Shepherd, was
ZULWWHQGRZQE\D0DMRUFDQODZVWXGHQWLQ7KLV6SDQLVKEDOODGUHDSSHDUHG
in the Sephardi tradition a century later in an anonymous collection of contrafacta
for baqashot SXEOLVKHG LQ &RQVWDQWLQRSOH FLUFD With the resilience so
9
The texts were collected by Manuel Manrique de Lara in Tetuan in 1916. See
Armistead, Samuel G., El romancero judeo-español en el Archivo Menéndez Pidal:
catálogo-índice de romances y canciones, with Selma Margaretten, Paloma Montero
$QD 9DOHQFLDQR )(56 0DGULG YRO , SS 7KH\ DUH NHSW LQ WKH
Archivo Menéndez Pidal.
6 * $UPLVWHDG µ5RPDQFHUR H KLVWRULD /D SpUGLGD GH 'RQ 6HEDVWLiQ¶ LQ (QULTXH
Rodríguez Cepeda ed., Actas del Congreso Romancero-Cancionero, UCLA (1984),
0DGULG,,SO
11 3 'tD]0DV µ7HPDV FRPXQHV HQ HO URPDQFHUR SRUWXJXpV \ VHIDUGt¶ Os judeus
sefarditas entre Portugal, Espanha e Marrocos/LVERQS
H. Avenary, ‘Etudes sur le cancionero judeo-espagnol (XVI et XVII siècles)’, Sefarad
S
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Hilary Pomeroy
characteristic of the Sephardi romancero, the ballad, now known as El villano vil,
was still circulating in the Sephardi repertoire in the late twentieth century.13 The
oldest Spanish song collection, the Cancionero de LondresGDWHVIURPDERXW
and includes three ballads attributed to Juan Rodríguez de Padrón, Rosa Florida
y Montesinos, El conde Arnaldos and El caballero burlado.14 All three, like El
villano vil, have lived on in the Sephardi tradition until recent times.
Printed romanceros and cancioneros appeared in Spain in the mid-sixteenth
century. Numerous ballad chapbooks (pliegos sueltos) were also in circulation.
Although several hundred ballad texts were printed in Spain, each particular song
collection represented only the individual choices and preferences of its editor or
compiler. For that reason many sixteenth-century ballads were never published
and so the early progenitors of many surviving oral texts have simply disappeared.
Whilst not a ballad collection, Ginés Pérez de Hita’s Guerras civiles de Granada,
D¿FWLRQDOLVHGDFFRXQWRIWKH*UDQDGDFLYLOZDUVFRQWDLQHGQXPHURXVIURQWLHUDQG
morisco ballads. It circulated widely in northern Morocco and several of its ballads
passed into the Sephardi tradition. Whilst it undoubtedly served as an early source
of ballad material, it is impossible to ascertain whether this work was available
LQ0RURFFRDWWKHHQGRIWKHVL[WHHQWKFHQWXU\LWZDV¿UVWSXEOLVKHGLQRU
whether its ballads entered the Moroccan repertoire at a later stage.
These collections and chapbooks that we do have are indispensable for the
analysis of the ballad, Spanish or Sephardi. By comparing sixteenth-century
printed Spanish texts with their modern oral Sephardi counterparts it is possible
to study the development of the ballad in general. Such comparative studies
demonstrate the conservatism of the Sephardi tradition; Sephardi versions have
remained consistently and remarkably faithful to the early Spanish readings
dating from the mid-sixteenth century. The Spanish printed collections act as a
EHQFKPDUN HQDEOLQJ XV WR ¿OO LQ WKH JDSV LQ VKRUWHQHG RUDO WH[WV LGHQWLI\ WKH
Spanish proper names and places that with the passage of time have become
confused or distorted and recognise where two different ballads have been fused
together. It is certainly possible, and an invaluable exercise for the Hispanist, to
SURGXFH FRPSOHWH V\QWKHWLF YHUVLRQV RI PRGHUQ 6HSKDUGL EDOODGV E\ ¿OOLQJ LQ
missing lines with ones taken from the early text and thus analyse which features
and topoi have not survived.
13 Weich-Shahak, Romancero sefardí, p. )RU D GHWDLOHG VWXG\ RI WKH EDOODG¶V
development, see Armistead & Silverman eds., The Judeo-Spanish Ballad, pp.
14 % 'XWWRQ El cancionero del siglo XV, c. 1369-1520 6DODPDQFD YRO , SS
164-166.
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The Sephardi Romancero: Its First Century
Tune Indicators or Contrafactura
A common musical practice in sixteenth-century Europe was to take the melody
of a well-known song and reuse it for a hymn or liturgical song. As the term
³WXQHLQGLFDWRU´LPSOLHVWKHRSHQLQJOLQHRIDVSHFL¿FVRQJRUEDOODGZDVFLWHG
to indicate the melody of the new song. Tune indicators are a tangible indication
RI WKH SRSXODULW\ RI VSHFL¿F VRQJ DQG EDOODG WH[WV GXULQJ WKH VL[WHHQWK FHQWXU\
and indicate not only that a given text existed then, but also that it was widely
recognisable to the public: “los contrafacta de los siglos XVI y XVII nos han de
proporcionar no pocos datos de notable interés, tanto para la historia del romancero
judeo-español, como para el panhispánico también”.
There have been numerous studies of this phenomenon but it was, in particular, the articles by Hanoch Avenary,16 listing the medieval Spanish songs used to
LQGLFDWHWKHWXQHVRIYDULRXV+HEUHZK\PQVWKDW¿UVWLQWURGXFHGWKHXVHRIFRQtrafactura to a wider academic audience.17 His sources are a variety of printed collections, spanning the sixteenth up to the nineteenth centuries. These are all drawn
from Eastern Mediterranean sources which is not surprising given that, in the
absence of printing presses, Moroccan song or ballad collections were usually in
manuscript form.18 The inevitable paucity of the early sources has been commented
upon by Margit Frenk: “Un pequeño grupo de comienzos de poesías es todo lo que
la imprenta y los manuscritos antiguos de los sefardíes parecen haber salvado de
aquel riquísimo tesoro, de cuya existencia dan fe las recopilaciones modernas”.19
In addition to the Constantinople baqashot mentioned above, Avenary’s
sixteenth-century sources are a collection published by Shlomo Mevorakh in
*UHHFHLQDQGWKHFROOHFWHGZRUNVRIWKHSRHW,VUDHO1DMDUD$V
was the norm, Rabbi Najara composed hymns which would be set to the tune of
H[LVWLQJVHFXODUVRQJV+HSXEOLVKHGKLV¿UVWFROOHFWLRQZemirot Yisrael, in Safed,
ZKHUHKHOLYHGLQ Testifying to the collection’s success, it was reprinted
LQ6DORQLFDLQ$QH[SDQGHGHGLWLRQPDGHXSRIWKUHHSDUWVVXEVHTXHQWO\
DSSHDUHGLQDQGLQ9HQLFH
There are several ballads among the songs that Najara selected as contrafactura
S.G. Armistead & J.H. Silverman, ‘El antiguo cancionero sefardí: citas de romances
en himnarios hebreos (siglos XVI-XIX)’, Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica
S
16 Avenary, ‘Etudes’, pp. 377-394.
17 For an overview of published studies of contrafacura, see Seroussi, Incipitario sefardí,
pp. 19-38.
18 A printing press existed for a few years in Fez in the early sixteenth century.
19 M. Frenk, ‘El antiguo cancionero sefardí’, Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica 14
S
The only surviving copy is in the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York.
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Hilary Pomeroy
for his poems. These references to the chosen ballads constitute the only available
SURRI WKDW VSHFL¿F EDOODG WH[WV ZHUH EHLQJ VXQJ LQ WKH ODWH VL[WHHQWK FHQWXU\
These texts must have been circulating widely in Sephardi communities as
Najara considered their melodies to be easily recognisable by all. As Avenary has
commented: “Leur contrafactura n’avait évidemment de sens que s’ils étaient à ce
moment-là vraiment sur les lèvres de tous et de chacun”.
Najara’s interest was certainly not in the texts of these tune indicators. He
merely noted the opening line of each Judeo-Spanish song, thus leaving but a
highly tantalising glimpse of the ballad beginning and no indication of the rest
of the text. Whilst the opening lines of ballad texts have often proved unstable it
is very unlikely, at this early stage of the Sephardi ballad’s development, that the
¿UVWOLQHRIWKHEDOODGVZRXOGQRWVWLOOEHLQWDFW)XUWKHUPRUHLWPD\ZHOOEHWKDW
LQDGGLWLRQWRWKHLQFLSLWVWKDWKDYHEHHQGH¿QLWLYHO\LGHQWL¿HGDVEDOODGVWKHUH
may be among them ballad texts that have not been recognised as such for the
mere reason they have not been collected: “Por otra parte, es probable que muchos
comienzos permanenzcan para siempre en el misterio, por el simple hecho de que
esos textos nunca llegaron a ponerse por escrito”.
Whilst Najara’s compositions were liturgical, his tune indicators were
taken from the most secular of texts. They include tales of unhappily married
women (La bel malmaridada), single mothers (La infanta parida), incest
(Delgadina and Silvana), female soldiers (The Warrior Maiden), abduction (The
Abduction of Helen), female killers (Moriana’s Poison), and extreme violence
and cruelty (Blood Wedding). Not unsurprisingly there was opposition to such
themes being linked to sacred music. Rabbi Menahem Lonsano complained in the
following terms:
Se deben reprobar algunas poesías que empiezan por palabras imitadas del
español, como el canto compuesto sobre el aire de Muérome, mi alma,
ay muérome, cuyo autor ignoraba que tal procedimiento es abominable,
porque despierta en el que canta esto versos recuerdos lujuriosos. He
notado que Nagara no escrupilizaba en esto, y se lo he reprendido cuando
OHYLHQ'DPDVFR
This did not, however, prevent Rabbi Lonsano from eventually succumbing and
following the same practice.
Avenary, ‘Etudes’, p. 379.
Frenk, ‘El antiguo cancionero’, p. 314.
Menéndez Pidal, Romancero Hispánico,,S
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The Sephardi Romancero: Its First Century
Informed Conjecture
By analysing both early Spanish peninsular texts and modern Sephardi oral ones,
it is possible to draw up a hypothetical idea of the state of the Sephardi ballad in
the sixteenth century. One may speculate the following:
1) There would have been a more extensive ballad corpus in the sixteenth
century as over the decades and the centuries, certain ballads proved less
popular.
:HZRXOGH[SHFWWKDWDWWKLVFRPSDUDWLYHO\HDUO\VWDJHRIEDOODGGHYHORSment the Sephardi sixteenth-century texts would be longer than those that
have endured until modern times. A common occurrence in this and other
oral traditions is that, with the passing of time, only truncated versions survive so that a text collected in the late twentieth century would normally be
PXFKVKRUWHUWKDQ¿IWHHQWKDQGVL[WHHQWKFHQWXU\YHUVLRQV+RZHYHUWKH
Israeli musicologist Susana Weich-Shahak has admirably demonstrated
WKDWDVUHFHQWO\DVWKHVLWKDVEHHQSRVVLEOHRQRFFDVLRQWRFROOHFW
quite lengthy versions of romansas from informants in Israel.
3) Sixteenth century texts would be complete texts with a standard beginning,
middle and end. They would not yet have undergone the process of attrition
WKDWLVLQHYLWDEOHLQDQRUDOWUDGLWLRQ:KLOVW1DMDUDFRQ¿GHQWO\DWWULEXWHG
the ballad opening lines to indicate the tunes of his hymns, this is not,
nowadays, a full proof device. The beginning of ballads have often proved
to be unstable, so that certain ballads or certain versions of ballad texts may
begin at the second or third line, indeed, sometimes in media res, rendering
WKHLGHQWL¿FDWLRQDEDOODGHYHQPRUHFRPSOLFDWHG,QFHUWDLQFDVHVEDOODGV
have developed differing openings depending on their provenance as in
peninsular and Moroccan versions of Las hermanas reinas y cautiva,
ZKHUHD0XVOLPTXHHQLQVWUXFWVKHUVHUYDQWVWR¿QGKHUD&KULVWLDQVODYH
Jarifa, la perra mora,
dice que tiene deseos
La reina cherifa mora,
dice que tiene deseo
señora de gran valía,
de una cristiana cautiva.
la que mora en Almería,
de una cristiana cautiva.
Weich-Shahak, ed., Romancero sefardí de Marruecos.
3'tD]0DVHGRomancero%DUFHORQDSOO'tD]0DVHGLWVDYHUVLRQ
collected by J.Ma Cossío and T. Maza Solano in Idem eds., Romancero Popular de la
Montaña: Colección de Romances TradicionalesYROV6DQWDQGHU
QXP.
H.S. Pomeroy, An Edition and Study of the Secular Ballads in the Sephardic Ballad
[189@
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Hilary Pomeroy
This scene-setting is not found in Eastern Mediterranean versions where
the ballad begins with the queen’s direct words to her Moors:
¡Moricos, los mis moricos!
Si fallábais una esclava
los que para Francia íbais,
en cása me la mandaríais.
It seems likely that the varied openings of the modern tradition have
developed over time and that the original introduction would have still
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This standardisation is clearly demonstrated in Israel Najara’s absolute
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instantly known and recognised by the public at large.
It is not only ballad openings that have undergone change. Ballad endings,
too, have proved unstable. This is not necessarily a question of faulty
memory for endings may have been deliberately altered often out of respect
for decorum or religious beliefs. This is notably the case in the Moroccan
tradition where several ballads that feature premarital or adulterous sex
have been given a new ending. This is the case in Gerineldo where the
king discovers that his daughter has a lover; Moroccan versions usually
conclude with a hastily contrived marriage. In yet other cases a sad or
sombre ballad has been given a deliberately happy ending.
4) It is highly unlikely that the differences that have developed between
the Moroccan and Eastern Mediterranean traditions would be present at
this early stage of the Sephardi ballad’s life. Modern Moroccan versions
are frequently more faithful to the wording of Peninsular texts than their
Eastern Mediterranean counterparts. They are longer and there is less
dechristianisation, the deliberate removal of Christian features, than in
Eastern readings (see below).
,QGLFDWLRQVRIWKHVXSHUVWLWLRXVQDWXUHRIWKH6HSKDUGLPVXFKDVWKHGHOLEerate avoidance of mentioning disease, death or misfortune may not yet
KDYHEHFRPHDSSDUHQWLQWKH6HSKDUGLEDOODG,Q¿IWHHQWKDQGVL[WHHQWK
century Spanish versions of El caballero burlado, 7KH%DIÀHG.QLJKW, for
example, the heroine, a princess, tells her would-be suitor that her parents
are lepers in order to repel a young man’s amorous advances. I quote the
Cancionero de romances sin año text:
Notebook of Halia Isaac Cohen, Estudios judeoespañoles “Samuel G. Armistead y
-RVHSK+6LOYHUPDQ´1HZDUN'HODZDUHSOO,KDYHKHUHQRUPDOLVHG
the spelling and punctuation of the original manuscript text.
M. Attias ed., Romancero sefaradí: romanzas y cantes populares en judeo-español,
-HUXVDOHPSOO+HEUHZ
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The Sephardi Romancero: Its First Century
hija soy de un malato
el hombre que a mí llegase
y de una malatía,
malato se tornaría.
In most modern Sephardi versions, mention of leprosy is either attenuated
or avoided. Instead, the girl declares that she is the daughter of charcoal
vendors rather than lepers (black, the colour of coal or charcoal, was
considered unlucky but not as disastrous as leprosy) or else she says that
anyone who touches her will attract misfortune:
el hombre que a mí tocare
hierba verde que pisare
aguas claras que tocase
gran desdicha le traería:
seca se la volvería,
turbias se le volverían.
$FKDUDFWHULVWLFPHWKRGRIGHÀHFWLQJHYLODQGVLFNQHVVIURPWKHSURWDJRQLVW
and, by extension, from the person singing the ballad, is the switch from
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is known, protected protagonist and performer alike from any possible
mishap, or so it was thought. A clear example is found in several modern
readings of the ballad Delgadina, one of Najara’s tune indicator ballads
DQGWKHUHIRUHSRSXODULQWKHVL[WHHQWKFHQWXU\+HUHWKHG\LQJ'HOJDGLQD
repeatedly appeals for a drink of water. In several modern versions her
GHVSHUDWHSOHDLVVZLWFKHGIURPWKH¿UVWWRWKHWKLUGSHUVRQVRDVQRWWR
GUDZPLVIRUWXQHWRWKHVLQJHU³TXHGHVHG\QRGHKDPEUHVDOLUVHODTXLHUH
el alma”. Once again there is no indication as to when this feature became
incorporated into Sephardi versions of the ballad but, bearing in mind that
the Sephardim normally adhered rigidly to the original wording, it would
be appear unlikely that this occurred as early as the sixteenth century. It is
much more likely that superstitious devices such as the euphemistic third
person were absorbed into the Romancero at a much later stage, as the
Sephardi tradition gradually and imperceptibly acquired its own particular
FKDUDFWHULVWLFVUDWKHUWKDQZLWKLQWKH¿UVWFHQWXU\RILWVH[LVWHQFH
6) The medieval Spanish ballads that, for the most part, constitute the
6HSKDUGL EDOODG FRUSXV ZHUH VHW LQ WKH ¿IWHHQWK FHQWXU\ LQ WKH 6SDLQ RI
the Reconquista. Many had as their setting frontier battles between
'tD]0DVRomanceroSOO
Weich-Shahak, ed., Romancero sefardíSOO
Pomeroy S., An Edition and Study of the Secular Ballads, Estudios judeoespañoles,
6DPXHO*$UPLVWHDG\-RVHSK+6LOYHUPDQ1HZDUN'HODZDUHSO
[191@
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Hilary Pomeroy
Christians and Moors, in others the action takes place in royal palaces
and courts. The ethos of a Christian Spain, slowly acquiring religious
unity, is paramount. Accordingly the Sephardi ballad is peopled mainly
by Christians. Protagonists set off for mass, love affairs began in church,
HYHQWVWDNHSODFHDW(DVWHURURQ6DLQWV¶'D\VDERYHDOORQel día de San
Juan6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\'HFKULVWLDQLVDWLRQWKH³LQWHQWLRQDORUXQFRQVFLRXV
elimination or attentuation of Christian elements”,31 almost certainly
entered the Sephardi Romancero at a later stage in its development rather
than in the sixteenth century.
Conclusion
There is very little direct evidence to show the immediate state of the Sephardi
5RPDQFHUR GXULQJ LWV ¿UVW FHQWXU\ RI H[LVWHQFH LQ WKH GLDVSRUD IROORZLQJ WKH
H[SXOVLRQDQGIRUFHGFRQYHUVLRQRI,EHULDQ-HZVLQWKHODWH¿IWHHQWKFHQWXU\$V
Margit Frenk has stated: “Quien conoce la riqueza del folklore poético-musical
de los judíos españoles no puede dejar de sorprenderse ante la parquedad de
testimonios antiguos de ese folklore”.33
As so often the case with the Romancero, this rich and varied literary tradition
SUHVHQWVPDQ\FKDOOHQJHVQRWOHDVWWKDWRIGH¿QLQJLWVHDUO\VWDWH,KRSHWRKDYH
made maximum possible use of the little evidence that we do have of its early
character and of the inferences that we can draw from ballad texts.
31 6*$UPLVWHDG-6LOYHUPDQµ&KULVWLDQ(OHPHQWVDQG'H&KULVWLDQL]DWLRQLQWKH
Sephardi Romancero’, Collected Studies in Honor of Américo Castro’s Eightieth
Year03+RUQLNHG2[IRUGS
)RUDGHWDLOHGVWXG\RIGHFKULVWLDQLVDWLRQVHH,ELGHPSS6HHDOVR3%pQLFKRX
ed., Romancero judeo-español de Marruecos0DGULGSS
33 0)UHQNµ(ODQWLJXRFDQFLRQHUR¶S
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