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Aljamiado Prophecies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

J. N. Lincoln
J. N. Lincoln*
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
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Extract

The four prophecies studied in this article are known as aljamiado texts because they are in the Spanish language transcribed in Arabic characters. They foretell the dire calamities that are to be visited on the “isla de España” for her neglect of the Koran and of other teachings of Islam. Written by Moriscoes, they were intended to arouse religious fervor, and hence political strength, in Moslem Spain, and they show a marked contrast to the Christian Spanish feeling of the familiar Merlin prophecies.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , September 1937 , pp. 631 - 644
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1937

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References

1 Ruy Yáñez (?), Poema de Alfonso onceno. Prophecies (coplas 242–246, 1808–41) printed by M. Menéndez y Pelayo, Origenes de la novela, NBAE, i, (1925), clxviii.—Pedro López de Ayala, Crónica de Pedro I. In Menéndez y Pelayo, op. cit., clxix.—King Martin of Aragon (d. 1410) possessed a copy of “profacies de Merli en frances.” H. Thomas, Spanish and Portuguese Romances of Chivalry (Cambridge, 1920), p. 21.

2 Crónica de Don Pedro Niño, conde de Buelna, por Gutierre Diez de Games, su alferez. La publica D. Eugenio de Llaguno Amirola . .. (Madrid: Sancha, 1782), pp. 29–30.

3 Historia de la vida y hechos del Emperador Carlos V . . . por Prudencio de Sandoval (Amberes, 1681), Lib. vi, 12.

4 Ex Biblioteca V. Cl. Eusebii Renaudot, quam Monasterio sancti Germani a Prati legavit anno Domini 1720.

5 “Ce volume est de format petit in-4°. presque carré, & la relieure est en bois, couverte de cuir: les feuillets ont été numérotés avec du crayon; mais depuis qu'ils ont été ainsi numérotés, on a enlevé une partie de volume, qui commence aujourd'hui au feuillet 114. Dans le cours du volume il y a quelques lacunes qui existoient déjà lorsque les feuillets ont été numérotés: le dernier feuillet est coté 467, mais il y a quelques fautes dans la foliature. Ce manuscrit est fatigué & sale, & paroit avoir beaucoup servi.” Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale, An 7, iv, 626, 632.

6 Catalogue des Manuscrits Arabes (Paris, 1883–95), p. 168.

7 Ed. Saavedra, Discurso . . . 1878, Memorias de la Real Academia Española, vi (1889), 158. In his “Indice general de la literatura aljamiada,” pp. 237–328 of the same volume of the Memorias, Saavedra lists this MS 774 as LX (Bib. Nac. de Paris, 290, St. Germain: Ochoa, Catál., núm. 3). Solely on the authority of a “Nota suministrada por D. Pascual de Gayangos,” Saavedra lists a num. lxiii (Bib. Nac. de Paris) with a significant lack of the number in the Bib. Nac. de Paris: obviously he was unable to locate any such manuscript. A second significant fact is that the description of this hypothetical lxiii is the same as that of lx, though much abbreviated. The conclusive evidence of the identity of these two manuscripts is in the coincidence of the pagination: lxiii has item 6 (los escándalos) beginning onfol. 278, which is the old number still legible on page 400 of lx, item 25 (los escándalos).

8 Op. cit., p. 302.

9 J. Ribera y M. Asín, Manuscritos arabes y aljamiados en la Biblioteca de la Junta (Madrid, 1912).

10 Op. cit., p. 158.

11 R. Menéndez Pidal, Manual de gramática histórica española (Madrid, 1925), p. 107.

12 A.R. Nykl “El Rrekontamiento del Rrey Ališandre,” Rev. Hisp., lxxvii (1929), 448–454.

13 The transcription of these prophecies was undertaken under the direction of the late Jean Saroïhandy, to whom credit is due for solving many of the problems involved.

14 The aljamiado texts follow the Arabic practise of using isla () for both ‘island’ and ‘peninsula.‘

15 ibn Jubayr, the twelfth-century Spanish traveller to Meccaand return. Alfaraçio probably is for al-faras, ‘the Persian.‘

16 Damascus.

17 Cf. 424v, kuatro puertas de las puertas; and 428, plano de los planos. An Arabic construction. cf. G. W. Thatcher, Arabic Grammar, 3rd ed. (Heidelberg, 1927), p. 42.

18 Al-Khidr, ‘the green one.‘ P. de Gayangos, The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain (London, 1840–43), i, 25–26, 323.

19 This must be 902 a.h. (= 1496 a.d.), because in 902 a.d. the Arabs in Spain were in the period of their greatest glory.

20 “The name under which Muhammad professes that Jesus Christ foretold his coming. Vide Qur'an, Surah lxi, 6, . . . Muhammad had, no doubt, heard that Our Lord had promised a Paracletos. John xvi. 7. This title, understood by him, probably from the similarity of sound, as equivalent to Periclytos, he applied to himself with reference to

his own name Muhammad, the praised or glorified one. Muir thinks that in some imperfect Arabic translation of the Gospel of St. John, the word parakletos may have been translated Ahmad or praised. (Life of Mahomet, 1,17.)“ T. P. Hughes, Dictionary of Islam (London, 1895).

21 Ed. Saavedra, Discurso . . ., p. 158. “En jaque la Europa durante el siglo xvi por la pujanza de las armas turcas, tenían en ella los moriscos toda su esperanza alentada con la Alguacía, . . .”

22 Change of scribe beginning with this folio.

23 Huesca.

24 “Telles sont les diverses provinces de l'Espagne, pays dont l'ensemble porte le nom d'Andalos.” Edrisi, Description de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne. Translation by R. Dozy and M. I. Goeje (Leyden, 1866), p. 212.

25 Cf. Gayangos, Moh. Dyn. i, 72–73.

26 Possibly the devout Hisham II, whose very successful general was Al-Mansur Billah, “the victorious through God,” d. 1002.

27 “Denia, the Dianium or Artemisium of Pliny and Ptolemy, owing to its famous temple consecrated to Diana.” Gayangos, Moh. Dyn., i, 376.

28 Sagunto was called Murviedro up to 1877.

29 Probably Alhandega, called Al-Khandec by the Moors, scene of a terrible defeat suffered by the Moors in 939. Alhandega, formerly near Simancas, has now disappeared. R. Dozy, Recherches sur l'Histoire et la Littérature de l'Espagne, 3d ed. (Paris, 1881), p. 97 and pp. 156 ff. The context implies rather a Moslem disaster than a Christian slaughter, otherwise this might be taken as a reference to Toledo's bloody Day of the Fosse, in 807, since al-khandec means trench or ditch. R. Dozy, Moslems in Spain (London, 1913), pp. 248–249.

30 “Saragosse porte le nom d'al-medina al-baidhâ (la ville blanche), parce que la plupart de ses maisons sont revêtues de plâtre ou de chaux.” Edrisi, op. cit., p. 231. Al-Makkarí says that Kal'at-Rabah (Calatrava) is called Al-Baydhá. Gayangos, Moh. Dyn., 1,65.

31 Valencia.

32 Moncayo, northwest of Zaragoza.

33 Zuera, on the Gallego River, north of Zaragoza.

34 Seville. The twelfth-century Granadine traveller, Ibn Jubayr, on his way from Aleppo to Damascus, visited Hims (today called Homs) and says of it: “Quando tu in distanza contempli questa cittá dall'alto, trovi nella sua pianura, nel suo panorama, nella configurazione della sua pianta, qualche cosa di rassomigliante alla cittá de Siviglia nell'Andalusia, la cui immagine subito si presenta alla tua mente: e (difatti) Siviglia in altri tempi si chiamò Hims.” Ibn Giobeir, Viaggio in Spagna, Sicilia, Siriak ecc. Prima traduzione de C. Schiaparelli (Roma, 1906), p. 249. cf. also, Gayangos, Moh. Dyn., i, 49.

35 Evidently copyist, not original writer.

36 910 a.h. = 1504 a.d.

37 Isidoro.

38 It is more reasonable to consider the dates in this Prophecy ii as a.d. than as a.h. 1501 a.h. would be 2077 a.d., a year too remote to have any interest.

39 “The great one.”

40 The effect of the twelfth-century letter of Toledo is evident in these first two prophecies. vide M. Gaster, Studies and Texts, ii (1925-28), 985–1004.

41 Saavedra, op. cit., p. 159 note I, says “Profeçía de Sant Esidrio, y Llanto de Espana, copia hecha por Don Pedro de Madrazo.” No hint is given of the disposition of this copy.

42 The Sekreto de los sekretos is a translation of the pseudo-Aristotelian Secretum Secretorum, so widely popular throughout the late Middle Ages and the sixteenth century. cf. C. H. Haskins, Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science (Cambridge, 1927), p. 14 and pp. 137 ff. A Spanish translation is included in Dr. L. A. W. Kasten's unpublished thesis, Secreto de los secretos, University of Wisconsin, 1931. According to Knust's summary and excerpts, Jahrbuch für rom. u. eng. Lit., x, (1869), 272–303, there seems to be little if any relationship between the Secreto de los secretos and the third prophecy.

43 Surprising to find a Dios among so many Allahs.

44 Cadiz.

45 I find no notice of iron chains at Cordova, but farther down the river, at Seville, there was a bridge of boats held together by strong iron chains, the destruction of which caused Ferdinand III considerable trouble at the siege of Seville (August, 1247-November, 1248). Gayangos, Moh. Dyn., i, 363.

46 Cordova.

47 Alhambra.

48 “Montes Claros se llamaba antes a la cordillera del Atlas en Marruecos.” R. M. Pidal, Cantar de mio Cid (Madrid, 1913), note to line 1182.

49 Ceuta. “Quant au nom de Sebta, il lui fut donné parce qu'en effet elle est bâtie sur une presqu'île close par la mer de toutes parts, excepté du côté du couchant, en sorte qu'il ne reste á sec qu'un isthme de la largeur de moins d'un jet de flèche.” The editor, Dozy, makes the following comment. “Sebta serait donc une altération de saeptum. Je crois devoir préférir une autre explication d'après laquelle le nom dérive de septem fratres, nom des sept montagnes mentionnées ci-dessus.” Edrisi, op. cit., p. 200.

50 “Guarding the frontiers of Islam for even one day is worth more than the whole world and all that is in it.” Hughes, op. cit., p. 224, gives the above as a saying of the Prophet taken from the Traditions.

51 Fayonata: ? Possibly Fayon, on the right bank of the Abro, where the Matarraña river flows into the Ebro.

52 Mecca.

53 Obligation por ley divina. P. Longas, Vida religiosa de los moriscos (Mardid, 1915), p. 313.

54 'Abdu-l-málik Ibn Habib (796-853) was known by the surname of Abu Merwan, a theologian from Granada, who returning from Mecca, tried to introduce the teachings of Malik ibn Ans into Spain. cf. Gayangos, Moh. Dyn., i, 37, 40, et passim.

55 Chief of a Kaisite tribe settled in Jaén and Elvira, slain leading troops against the Basques of Pamplona, 755 a.d. R. Dozy, Moslems in Spain, cit., pp. 159, 177.

56 Gabriel.

57 Seven, seventy, and seventy thousand were favorite numbers among the religious writers of Islam; cf. The Koran, translated from the Arabic, by J. M. Rodwell (New York, Dutton) p. 55, n. 1; p. 114, n. 3; p. 116, n. 2.

58 The second caliph, 634–644. Before his conversion when told of Moslems in his own family, he said; “And who are they?” cf. the text f. 427v, “I kien son estos martiles?”

59 A companion of the prophet. One of Abu Bakr's generals. Hughes, op. cit., p. 200.

60 Cousin of Mohammed and celebrated authority on traditions of Islam.

61 The cognate accusative is very frequent in Arabic syntax. Thatcher, op. cit., p. 237.

62 There are countless Abdullahs, ‘servants of God.‘

63 This folio bears also the number 308; the following folio has both 312 and the corrected number 309, suggesting that the missing folios 309, 310, 311 contained the conclusion of this prophecy and the beginning of the following Razonamiento de Muza.