Carcel de Amor by Diego de San Pedro - eBook - Historical, Literature, Medieval, Romance, Spanish Literature, Classics

Historical, Literature, Medieval, Romance, Spanish Literature, Classics, European Literature, Fiction, 15th Century

 

Prison of Love is a work by Diego de San Pedro, belonging to the genre of the sentimental novel. The first edition of the novel, dedicated to Diego Fernandez de Cordoba, was printed in Seville in 1492 and had an enormous success, being made during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries twenty reprints in Spain. It was translated into the main European languages, and numerous bilingual and trilingual editions were made, indicating a probable didactic use. As a model of literary prose she was praised by Baltasar Gracian in her Sharpness and art of wit. The author appears as a character in the work, following the tradition of autobiographical fiction; the work begins when he, according to the scheme of the allegorical vision, gets lost in Sierra Morena, and meets a young man in chains; this young man is Leriano, son of Duke Guersio, who is taken to the prison of Love by a monster called Desire. 

Following them, the author enters a castle in the mountains, where Leriano confesses his passion for Laureola, daughter of King Gaul of Macedonia, and begs him to act as an intermediary. The author goes in search of Laureola and, after telling her about Leriano and the pain he is suffering, he manages to soften his heart and gets the girl to write him a letter. With the help of a series of allegorical characters (Hope, Satisfaction, Tranquility, Joy...) he frees Leriano from captivity, who goes to Macedonia to see Laureola, who welcomes him with pleasure. But another character who also pretends to Laureola, the evil Persio, son of the Lord of Gavia, spreads rumors that endanger the honor of the maiden, so Leriano challenges him, defeating him twice. The victory of Leriano over Persio does not solve the situation, because King Gaulo, Laureola's father, has given credence to the false testimonies and sentenced his daughter to death. 

Leriano and his supporters storm the prison where Laureola is awaiting execution and free her, facing the entire royal army in a cruel battle. In the struggle, they capture one of the slanderers, who admits his guilt, whereupon the king forgives his daughter. Laureola, worried about defending her honor and not raising more suspicions, definitively rejects Leriano. This one, after heatedly defending before his friends and supporters the attitude of chivalrous submission to the lady (resorting to the Treatise in defense of virtuous women, by Diego de Valera), pours Laureola's letters into a glass, which he has broken, drinks their contents and leaves himself to die of starvation, while his mother intones a desperate planto.