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Góngora’s Sonnet “El Cuarto Enrico yace mal herido”

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Abstract

This article is an analysis of Luis de Góngora’s skillful employment of language to characterize King Henry IV of France in the funereal sonnet “El Cuarto Enrico yace mal herido.” Góngora wrote his poem in 1610 to honor Henry who was murdered in Paris in that same year by Jean-François Ravaillac. In the text the Spanish lyric poet creates historical, mythological, and heraldic allusions, rhetorical figures, and images of color. In particular, he is adept at forming various types of metaphors. By relating these metaphors to charges on Henry’s coats of arms as well as to accounts of the king’s personal history, Góngora paints a brilliant verbal picture of one of France’s most beloved rulers. This vibrant description of King Henry reveals that Góngora, the baroque poet, was also Góngora, the master of portraiture and expert commentator on events connected to the period in which he and the monarch lived.

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Notes

  1. Where appropriate I have modernized the spelling and capitalization in Góngora’s piece and in quotations from works by other writers.

  2. Pearson reports that Henry still “lives in the love” of the French people (1963: 241).

  3. Cf. Feros (2000: 1). See Luis Rosales who perceives the sonnets in honor of Henry IV by Góngora’s Spanish contemporaries such as the Count of Villamediana and Francisco de Quevedo as an expression of desengaño motivated by satire (1966: 74, 78; cf. De Armas 1986: 56). Rosales understands these texts to describe the French king, a rival of Philip III, as a role model, while indirectly addressing Philip about the relinquishment of Spanish authority (1966: 78). Rosales’s interpretation could also apply to Góngora’s poem. Cf. Frederick de Armas who comments that verse by the Count of Villamediana points out the difference between Henry’s “tolerance and Spain’s warlike, imperialist stance” (1986: 56). In contrast to Philip’s struggle to defend Catholicism (e.g., Spain’s expulsion of the Moriscos and conflict in the Low Countries), Henry signed the Edict of Nantes to establish the rights of both Catholics and Protestants in France (see the discussion of Philip’s reign in Feros 2000: 139–141; Pearson 1963: 133–134). Since Góngora was an “anti-imperialist poet” in the latter part of his life (de Armas 1986: 56), it is logical that Henry’s action would have resonated with him. See Chaffee-Sorace (2016: 11, 14) who cites Pearson, de Armas, and Rosales. Noting the plethora of sonnets about Henry’s death, Robert Jammes suggests that “los poetas fueron en esta ocasión solicitados por una academia” (1987: 239).

  4. Even as late as the mid-nineteenth century, the word for regicide did not exist in the poet’s native land (Wallis 1853: 185; Churton 1862: 112).

  5. Pearson (1963: 239–240); cf. Pitts (2009: 328–329). See Salcedo Coronel who states that Ravaillac had previously spent time in jail for homicide (1644: 751). Ravaillac had also persevered for 3 years in a plot to kill Henry, but he was thwarted in his initial attempt by the fear of carrying out such a heinous act (Salcedo Coronel 1644: 751).

  6. 6 Pearson (1963: 240–241), cf. Pitts (2009: 327–328). See Chaffee-Sorace (2016: 18n17) who quotes Pearson and Pitts.

  7. Ciplijauskaité explains that the term “mal herido” was used in tournaments and that the phrase “peor muerto” brings to mind the vile manner in which Henry died (Góngora 1969: 204). See Salcedo Coronel (1644: 751).

  8. Chaffee-Sorace (2016: 5). See Salcedo Coronel: “Y que dio a la campaña más sangre de sus contrarios, que suele dar agua el pluvioso Orion” (1644: 751). As the constellation of Orion rises and sets, storms and rain are thought to accompany it (Smith 1849: 55).

  9. Hesiod (1914: fragm. 4). For more versions of the story of Orion, see Smith (1849: 55).

  10. Henry’s birthday was December 13, 1553 (Pitts 2009: 1).

  11. “La Batalla de las Navas de Tolosa” (n. d.). Unless otherwise noted, the following information in this paragraph is from this source.

  12. Sagüés (2014). Sagüés reports that the caliph’s gem was once the principal decoration on the cover of a Coran and that a jewel in the Museo de Orreaga-Roncesvalles is presently on display as this emerald (2014). However, a study done in 1982 claims that the stone dates from the sixteenth century and is from a Columbian mine in either Chivor or Muzo (Sagüés 2014).

  13. See the pictures in “Symbols of Navarre” (n.d.) and “Navarre” (2017). Cf. Covarrubias who describes Sancho’s escutcheon (1611: 169r).

  14. Since the chains on the shield of Navarre are depicted in the shape of a heraldic carbuncle (cf. Whitmore 1866, 38), it is possible that the jewel lost by al-Násir may not have been an emerald, but rather a green carbuncle. This would make sense because the Arabs thought that the carbuncle could protect soldiers from wounds received in battles (Pavitt and Pavitt 1922: 233). Fittingly, the stone is associated with the zodiac sign Scorpio (Pavitt and Pavitt 1922: 230).

  15. Henry was a “glorioso francés” in so far as he achieved many victories in combat (Salcedo Coronel 1644: 752). In both the Millé edition of Góngora’s works (1900: 505) and the Ciplijauskaité edition of the poet’s sonnets (1969: 204), the comma following “esclarecido” has been removed and placed after “francés.” I have adopted this change in punctuation.

  16. See Ciplijauskaité’s interpretation of the poem’s seventh and eighth lines (Góngora 1969: 204).

  17. Cf. Ciplijauskaité who states that the lilies on the Bourbon shield are white and that Góngora transfers to them the color gold from the sovereign’s crown (Góngora 1969: 204).

  18. This narrative is from Pearson (1963: 71–72).

  19. In this paragraph, I rely heavily on information from “Fleur-de-Lis” (2016).

  20. In a different version of the tale, an angel gave him a golden lily when he converted to Christianity (“The Fleur-de-Lis in Heraldry and in History” 2016). Cf. Chaffee-Sorace who cites this source (2016: 10).

  21. The Sacred Trinity is also represented by the three petals of the fleur-de-lis (“The Fleur-de-Lis in Heraldry and in History” 2016).

  22. Wood (1998: 230). By quoting Pausanias in translation, Wood declares that anybody not believing the Trojans to be completely dumb would realize that the horse was an apparatus for demolishing the city walls (1998: 230). Cf. Salcedo Coronel who mentions various theories regarding the Trojan horse (1644: 752–753).

  23. Cf. Salcedo Coronel: “Una temeraria resolución desprecia la más prevenida seguridad, no temiendo el riesgo de las armas” (1644: 752). He goes on to cite a saying from Seneca, “quisquis vitam suam contempsit, tuae dominus est,” which he translates as “quien desprecia su vida, es dueño de la ajena” (1644: 752). The dictum can be found in Seneca’s Epistolae morales (1896: 58). Also recognizing that “una traición engaña muchas atenciones cuidadosas,” Salcedo Coronel applies Seneca’s phrase to Ravaillac and the slaying of the king (1644: 752).

  24. Pearson (1963: 98); cf. Buisseret (1984: 12). See Chaffee-Sorace (2016: 8) who cites Pearson and Buisseret.

  25. See the illustration in “Navarre” (2017).

  26. The source of this tale is Péréfixe de Beaumont (1896: 12–13).

  27. See the picture in “Navarre” (2017).

  28. The list of attributes is from “Symbolism of Heraldic Colors, Furs, Lines, and Ordinaries (2017). See Pearson who describes Henry as being brave by nature, taking part in warlike actions, and maintaining an insouciant courage when “in the midst of treachery, intrigue, murderous conspiracy, broken treaties, and frequent warfare” (1963: 27, 29, 38). Pearson also comments on Henry’s athletic physique and ability to work or fight with only a few hours of rest (1963: 97).

  29. See Aesop (2017). Cf. Covarrubias: “El león es animal ferocísimo, y juntamente generosísimo entre todos los animales después del hombre” (1611: 521r).

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  1. Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Diane Chaffee-Sorace

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Correspondence to Diane Chaffee-Sorace.

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Chaffee-Sorace, D. Góngora’s Sonnet “El Cuarto Enrico yace mal herido”. Neophilologus 102, 15–24 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-017-9541-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-017-9541-9

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