Raquel y Vidas: Myth, Stereotype, Humor

Author(s): Edna Aizenberg

Source: Hispania, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Sep., 1980), pp. 478-486
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/341001
Accessed: 23-02-2019 01:57 UTC

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 RAQUEL Y VIDAS: MYTH, STEREOTYPE, HUMOR
EDNA AIZENBERG
Columbia University

Raquel e Vidas en uno estavan amos,

en cuenta de sus averes, de los que avien ganados.'
(11. 100-01)

not racial.
THUS the poetthe
introduces of two
the moneylenders
Cantar de Mio from
Cid Other critics, however, claim that the
Burgos, since immortalized as the pathetic- portrait of the usurious pair painted in the
comic victims of Ruy Diaz's astuteness in Cantar and their treatment at the hands of
the ardid de las arcas de arena. the Cid and his lieutenants are anything
Much scholarly discussion of the Raquel but expressions of philo-Semitism. It is not
and Vidas episode has revolved around insignificant
the that those who read the
following question: Is the incident anti- episode as having anti-Semitic implications
Semitic or not? The difference of opinion are often non-Spaniards who are not-or
among critics on this issue are of more less-concerned
than with the nationalistic
secondary interest because deciding ramifications of the PMC (Poema de Mio
whether the episode has anti-Jewish over- Cid) or at least do not see the Campeador
tones has bearing on the moral person trick of as a taint on his epic personality. O
the Cid and on his heroic stature as this is the contrary, in this view, the duping
perhaps one of the few points in the Poema Raquel and Vidas was almost an enhance-
when the protagonist can be said to actment in of the hero's character. As Colin
a less than exemplary way. Smith writes:
Those who want to see in Ruy Diaz the However difficult it may be for us to accept it with our
very embodiment of the Castilian national modern ideas of morality and our modern guilts about
spirit dismiss the accusations of anti- antisemitism, the Cid's ability to cheat the Jews was
(in the mind of the author and his twelfth-century
Semitism which may mar the Cid's charac- audience) just another facet of his heroic character...
ter (and by extension that of Spain?).
[His] is a rich portrayal, subtle and detailed, human
Rodrigo acts under duress, twice saying of and credible, and I do not see that it suffers if we add
his trick "amidos lo fago" (11. 84, 95). His to it the notion that, in the presentation of the legend
promise of repayment is not carried out in to a twelfth-century audience, ability to master the
the Poema but that is because forgetful-wariness of Jewish moneylenders had a significant
place.3
ness or lack of time caused the poet to omit
this detail which is nonetheless clearly Smith's comments point out the com-
suggested in Minaya's words to the Jewish munity of spirit between audience, hero,
businessmen: "Por lo que avedes fecho and poet typical of epic poetry, a commun-
buen cosiment y avrd" (1.1436). The ity of spirit that cannot be ignored in an
chronicles in their reworking of the CMC analysis of the PMC in general and of the
have the Cid repaying his debt to Raquel chests of sand episode in particular. It is to
and Vidas. In recent studies the scene has this "common ethos"' that I would like to
been described as "harmless" or "neutral" address myself. More specifically, I would
like to discuss three elements functioning
vis-.-vis the
interlude's Jews.2 De
essentially Chasca
comic cites"el
nature: the
within this collective Weltanschauung or
humorismo delicioso del poeta, limpio derivingde from it in an attempt to add my
todo prop6sito reprobatorio . . . reduce a
granito de arena to the debate. I label these
lo inocuo el t6pico de la usura hebrea" three elements myth, stereotype, and
(p. 135). Sola-Sol&, making little of the humor.
moneylenders's Jewishness, calls their P.N. Dunn in his study of the PMC has
portrait "religiosa y racialmente neutra" shown that the work carries mythical over-
(p. 9) and adds that the ease with which tones in two ways; one social, related to
Raquel and Vidas let themselves be out- the community of spirit mentioned above,
witted is presented in a pleasant, agreeable the other structural.' The chanting of the
light. Sola further says that any anti- poem with its metrical beat, oft-repeated
Semitism existing at the time of the poem's formulae, archaic idioms, and solemn tone
composition was religious, but certainly serves as a "ceremonial statement of what

478

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 Raquel y Vidas: Myth, Stereotype, Humor 479

all believe" (Dunn, p. 361). Thishim

reaffirm-
with its manifestly mythical qualities.01
ing of shared values through aBut narrative
then objective reality was not the only
acted out ritually is what myth sphere is all real
about.
for the men of the Middle Ages,
It is, in Malinowski's words "a statement whose world view has been compared to
of primeval reality which still lives in the "altered reality of an enchantment.""'
present-day life, and as a justification byIn this perceptual climate, the unseen, the
precedent, supplies a retrospective patternimagined, the realms of Heaven and Hell
of moral values, sociological order, and were as real as the tangible, the material,
magical belief. .. .6 Aside from discussingthe everyday world of the senses. Nothing
this socio-mythical function of the Cantar, was too incredible to accept on good
Dunn also illustrates how the structure of authority--religious authority in particu-
the epic, though manifestly verista, human, lar. A host of intelligences, some benign,
and non-supernatural contains patterns others malevolent surrounded the man of
taken from myths of enchantment and eight hundred years ago ready to do
deliverance, particularly in relation to thewonders for the edification or damnation
Infantes de Carri6n. Thus, as the listener of the soul.'2 For the PMC's audience,
hears a seemingly factual narrative he writes Dunn, "evil was not merely under-
brings to it pre-existing magic-marvellous,stood as an inescapable condition of
possibly unconscious associations (as did humanity, but also to be feared as the visi-
the poet when he composed the work). tation of spirits in human shape. . . . As for
These mythical underpinnings allow the the Infantes, the audience might well have
Poema to elicit intensified reactions, to murmured that they must be devils in
"move the audience in the deeper recesses human shape . .." (p. 366). It is therefore
of its mind" (Dunn, p. 368).7 possible to understand why the medieval
It occured to me that if we relate this psyche could-and did-believe anything
casting of the spotlight on the PMC's about the Jews of whom even the Siete
medieval audience-and creator-especial- Partidas, a code "fair" to them by Middle
ly as regards the psychological-mythical Ages standards, declares:
substratum, to Joshua Trachtenberg's Et la ragon porque la Eglesia et los Emperadores et los
book The Devil and the Jews," such an Reyes ... sufrieron a los judios vivir entre christianos
exercise might add to our understanding of es esta: porque ellos viviessen en cativerio para
siempre, et fuesse remembranza a los omes quellos
the Raquel and Vidas scene. In his work,
vienen del linaje de aquellos que cruqificaron a
which is subtitled The Medieval Concep-Nuestro Sefior Jesucristo. (Partida VII, Titulo XXIV,
tion of the Jew and Its Relation to Modern I)
Ley
Antisemitism, Trachtenberg develops and Indeed, perhaps more than the myths of
defends the thesis that for the masses of enchantment and deliverance'3 which Dunn
Middle Age Christendom the Jew, the sees as shaping the narrative of the Poema,
heretic who did not accept Jesus as savior, in larger sense it is the Christian myth, the
was the "Devil incarnal [sic]," a "creature Scriptural account of Man's exile from
of an altogether different nature, of whom Eden, his travails in a world of woe, and
normal human reactions could not be his redemption through Christ that informs
expected" (p. 18). This demonic creature our text.'4 And in this spiritual history of
was identified with the Antichrist, con- mankind that supplied for medieval society
sidered to have animal-like attributes, toa "retrospective pattern of moral values,
practice magic and sorcery, to desecrate sociological order, and magical belief" the
Christian holy images and to use ChristianJew played the decidedly sinister role of
blood in his rituals. The usurer = Jew deicide, condemned to eternal suffering
was an integral part of this satanic picture,9
and dispersion for his blindness to the truth
a result of theological, social, and eco- of Christian salvation. As we shall see,
nomic factors operating in Europe from echoes of this view are not missing from the
the time of the First Crusade (1096). PMC. Furthermore, in the story of the
Trachtenberg makes it clear that objec- Passion, the arch-villain was not only a
tive factors alone, for example, the Jew, whose very name alludes to the Jewish
economic role of many a Jew as merchant, people (Judas, Judea, Jew), but a Jew who
businessman, and moneylender cannot sold his master for money. Thus, in the
account for this medieval conception of Middle Ages the despised figure of the

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480 Edna Aizenberg Hispania 63 (Sept. 1980)

aver trae
usurer, whose vilification monedado?");'7
derived notthe Jew comes
from
some secular economicout of the episode as abut
theory, conniving liar while
from
the Christian
church doctrine itself," blendedis vindicated.
withThe Cantigas
that de
of the biblical Judas. And all of these, Santa Maria of Alfonso el Sabio also
Jew = deicide = Judas = usurer = Satan include this miracle (XXV) with minor
came together. '6 variations. It is but one of thirty cantigas
Where is the evidence for this demonic in which Jews appear-almost always in a
portrait of the Jew in the popular litera-
negative light."8 The wise king follows the
"standard" categories in his portrayals:
ture of the Middle Ages? Citing a multitude
of works-mystery, miracle, and morality the Jew is either the archenemy of Christi-
anity or the Devil's disciple or a traitor or
plays, chronicles and legends, poems, folk
Avarice incarnate. In these characteriza-
tales and folk songs from England, France,
tions humorous ridicule is not absent.'9
Germany, and Spain--,Trachtenberg
establishes that most "painted the JewAnd as this from a monarch who had Jewish
the fount of evil" (p. 12) possessed of a scholars and advisors in his royal house-
"vicious character" (p. 13). He adds: hold, whose reign has been considered a
"Where another note was permitted to time of gain and prestige for Spanish
intrude, it was only extremely rarely one of Jewry. But if at Alfonso's court political,
kindliness and commiseration; more intellectual, and economic expediency
usually it was one of scorn and derision-- shaped an attitude of high regard for Jews,
the Jew was a comic as well as a vile on the pages of the Cantigas other forces-
creature" (p. 13). This description is less rational, more poetic-traditional-
certainly reminiscent of the way Raquel molded the figure of the Jew. As Bagby
and Vidas are presented in the PMC. I will concludes:
return to it in later pages. Spanish legend, folklore, and even history were filled
Among the Spanish texts, Trachtenberg
with tales of Jewish treachery and unreliability. ...
mentions Gonzalo de Berceo and hisBecause the Jews composed a hated minority, it is
not strange that some seven percent of the stories in
Milagros de Nuestra Sehora for their use of
the Cdntigas [sic] are concerned with them. They
a number of widespread anti-Jewish
madebeliefs
good villains in stories for popular consump-
such as the attack by Jews on a tion.
wax image
They were excellent foils for Christian charac-
of Jesus Christ, a popular accusation
ters; theytaken
provided made-to-order antagonists to
up by the Siete Partidas which Christian
Trachten-men and women . . .; and they became the
butt of satire, caricature, and animus. (pp. 687-88)
berg also quotes. Among other anti-Semitic
themes incorporated by Berceo This view of
is that ofthe Jew also comes across in
the Jew as sorcerer in league withthe Auto
the de los Reyes Magos where the
Devil
and-of interest to us in relation to the rabbis clearly state of verdad: "No la
Raquel and Vidas episode-that of the habemos
Jewusada / ni en nuestras bocas es
as the rich, avaricious and dishonest fallada."
moneylender (Miracle XXIII, "La deuda The importance of cultural tradition in
pagada"). Here, as in the Cantar, the telling the members of a society "not only
Christian borrower is a generous soul, whom to like and dislike, but [also] why
anxious to "exaltar su fama, el su precio these attitudes are appropriate"20 has been
crecer," but fallen on hard times; he is well underscored by social scientists studying
received by the usurer who, as in the PMC, intergroup relations; and the role of tradi-
"de otras sazones lo avie conocido"; the tion is nowhere greater than in the epic
borrower is reluctant to leave the collateral which is traditional poetry por antono-
-Mary and the Christ child--"fizilo sin masia. Therefore, the way medieval in
grado," but has no choice; he goes to which Christian tradition, especially popu-
"tierras estrarnas" and using the money lar tradition saw the Jew cannot be
lent him by the Jew "fizo grand ganancia"; ignored. In the hundred years surrounding
aver is placed in an estui which there is the time of the PMC's composition2' the
great difficulty in picking up; the Jew goes negative-satanic image of the Jew, an
to sleep after hiding the gold and silver his image which made him a perfect stock
debtor has sent in repayment but which the character for (comic) malignment, was
moneylender denies receiving (shades of known and transmitted in Spain so that the
the PMC's "non duerme sin sospecha qui audience and poet, influenced by the

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 Raquel y Vidas: Myth, Stereotype, Humor 481

magico-mythical world view, brought Bandera

this does not say it in so many words,
mental set22 to the poem and thus the but the implication is clear: the Cid is to
impact of the Raquel and Vidas episode Christ as Raquel and Vidas are to the
was probably heightened in a way that it Devil.
could not be for us. That all this cultural baggage as regards
So far I have discussed the background Jews was brought to the Poema in the inci-
against which the Poema can be seen. But dent of the chests of sand can be seen in
how does the text itself echo the image multiple
of ways. The two moneylenders are
the Jew outlined above? Before looking not
at individual human beings (as the Cid is,
the arcas de arena scene I think that a for example) but "fantoches caricaturescos
discussion of the Jewish questionque in bailan
the mechnicamente el ballet dirigido
Cantar cannot overlook the one use of the por don Dinero" (Spitzer, p. 109). In other
word judios in the poem-which does not words, what we have here is not a well-
occur in connection with Raquel and Vidas rounded verista portrayal, but the nearly
but rather in Jimena's prayer before the universal stereotype of the Jew.26 Gordon
Cid's departure into exile. Dofia Jimena W. Allport in The Nature of Prejudice27,
refers to Jesus's crucifixion: defines a stereotype as "an exaggerated
a los judios te dexeste prender; do dizen belief associated with a category [in this
monte Calvarie/pusi6ronte en cruz por case, Jews]. Its function is to justify
nombre en Golgoth; (rationalize) our conduct in relation to that
(11.347-48)
category" (p. 191). In the PMC the
Spitzer's opinion is that the supplicationexaggerated
is belief about Jews-that they
not an imitation of French chansons de are money-loving usurers willing to give
geste but credence to the worst about their unfortu-
una derivaci6n paralela de viejas oraciones magicas nate customers, that their god is
cristianas que subsisten en la Commendatio animae Mammon-is used to rationalize the Cid's
de la misa de requiem. Esa oraci6n pronunciada antes
less than noble conduct toward them; that
del destierro es, no s6lo el grito del alma de la mujer
del agraviado que arranca del pecho, sino la voz del is, Ruy Diaz is right in cheating the Jews
p6iblico que implora a la Providencia por el bien del because they are miserable creatures. Had
h6roe y que recibe contestaci6n del cielo en forma de Raquel and Vidas been presented not as
palabras consoladoras del Angel.23 dishonest pawnbrokers but as two faithful
The religious-magical as well as the servants of the Crown, a role which was in
audience-poem relation to which I have fact played by a number of Jews at the
alluded are again underlined by Spitzer's court of the Cid's liege, Alfonso VI, then
comments. The public hears its own peti-the ardid would have no rationale and the
tion through Jimena, and in this implora-hero's reputation in ascendence, basic to
tion for protection from the benevolent the structure of the entire poem, would
forces above there is the reminder that the have indeed been marred. Thus, when
Jews "seized" Jesus, captain of the forcesRodrigo says "amidos lo fago," he is
of Good24 to crucify him. Bandera G6mez, probably not expressing sympathy for
who in his reading of the PMC proposes Jews, but rather commenting on his own
that the Cid was formed by his creator in sad state at the moment: I, the saintly
the image of a lion-like warrior Christ,25warrior wronged, whose usual and noble
sees the Raquel and Vidas episode precisely manner of ganarse el pan is lidiando con
as a replay of the struggle between Christ moros en el campo have been reduced-
and Satan. He notes that in the medieval under duress-to cheating Jews for money.
moral of the Lion, frequent in the bestiaries
This recourse to the stereotype also helps
of the time, Jesus, in his eternal vigilanceexplain why the Cid does not repay the
against the Devil, assumes the shape ofJews.the Smith cites Casalduero's reasoning
king of beasts to confound and trick in this regard: "Si el Cid no paga a Raquel
Beelzubub. He further notes that often "el y Vidas no es por avaricia o por mezquin-
engafilo aparece dirigido expresamente, nodad, es porque no quiere; no devuelve el
contra el diablo, sino contra los judios: a dinero para dar una lecci6n moral a estos
judeis incredulis, dice el Physiologus dos hombres viles... ("Did the Cid Repay
latino . . ." (p. 127), one of the most the Jews?", p. 530). Again, the way the
popular of these zoological collections. Jews are perceived-hombres viles-

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 482 Edna Aizenberg Hispania 63 (Sept. 1980)

accounts for and justifies the Cid's fictionalizing of a stereotype" (Allport,

action.28 p. 189). At the time of the Cid and Alfonso
The rationalizing function of a stereo- VI the Jews were not typically nor exclu-
type is important, but a stereotype also sively moneylenders but a "highly differ-
fulfills other needs. Among these is that of entiated economic group."33 Only after
releasing psychic tension.29 The frustration 1200 did Jewish moneylending gain ground
felt by an individual or a community in Spain but never to the extent found in
burdened by physical, emotional, or other European lands where this means of
economic problems is displaced onto a livelihood literally became the only avenue
scapegoat."3 The frustrated project their open to Jews. The Raquel and Vidas
own failings and shortcomings, those con-episode is, as Salo Baron puts it, "more
cerns that cause them anguish on some out- descriptive of twelfth-century literary tastes
group. Thus, stereotypes are considered toand folklore than of the true class structure
reveal more about the accusers than about of Spanish Jewry, then or later" (p. 29).
the accused. What does this have to do with Yitzhak Baer, in his authoritative A
Raquel and Vidas? Critic after critic has History of the Jews in Christian Spain,34
pointed out the obsessive preoccupation of concurs:

the PMC with ganancia."3 Money and Some interpreters, Jews and Christians ali
material goods are omnipresent and are the tried in vain to gloss over the anti-Jewish bi
bases on which the Cid's glory, fame, andrepresentative poem, a bias revealed . . . in the
author's adherence to the popular conception of the
social position are built. Yet in what state Jew as the deceitful merchant, rather than the loyal
is Ruy Diaz when he comes before the political aide, the function which he undoubtedly
Jewish entrepreneurs? He is accused of exercised in the circles around the historic Cid. (p. 58)
stealing money from his lord by keeping "Literary tastes," "folklore," and "popu-
back part of the parias; he is stripped of his lar conception" are the terms historians
material possessions; he is unable even to use to describe the way Raquel and Vidas
buy provisions in Burgos and is dependentare seen in the Cantar. It is an expression of
on Martin Antolinez for bread; in short, the vox populi, the public consciousness as
the Cid is penniless and destitute. He saysit perceived the Jew. And this perception-
as much to Martin: shaped by the epic's creative power-is
Espeso e el oro e toda la plata above all an emotional configuration
bien lo veedes que yo no trayo nada, colored by myth, tinged by fantasy. What
huebos me seri6 pora toda mi campafia; has been said of the PMC as a whole holds
(11.81-83)
true of Raquel and Vidas; although rooted
The source of frustration and the over-
in "vaguely historical compost"35 their
riding concern at the moment is money and
flowering is not in the realm of accurate
it is just then that we are confronted fact
withbut in that of artistic truth.
Raquel e Vidas en uno estavan amos, Interestingly, throughout the chests-of-
en cuenta de sus averes, de los que sand scene the author does not need to tell
avien ganados.
the audience that Raquel and Vidas are
The Jewish pair are a "simon-pure incarna-
judios. By choosing two typically sounding
tion" (Allport, p. 388) of money obsession.
Jewish names the desired reaction is
It is the one dimension they have and elicited.
in line Speaking of the linguistic facto
with what is known of stereotypes lays bare
influencing perception of group differ
the mind of the poet, his audience,32 andAllport says that certain labels,
ences,
his (literary) hero-the Cid. words like "cripple," "feeble-minded,"
One may argue that not all estimates of
"Negro," "Oriental" are symbols of
ethnic or group character are fictitious; it potency. That is, they so color the
primary
is true that Jews were forced to be usurers
way we view the category thus labeled that
they blind us to any other attributes the
in the Middle Ages to a greater extent than
their Christian brethren because the person or group may have. He adds: "Even
proper
Church considered lending at interest turpenames-which ought to invite us to
lucrum and undoubtedly some of the look at the individual person-may act like
Jewish moneylenders were knaves. Yet a symbols of primary potency, especially if
"verifiable assessment of a group is not the they arouse ethnic associations. Mr. Green-
same as the selecting, sharpening, and berg is a person, but since his name is

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 Raquel y Vidas: Myth, Stereotype, Humor 483

Jewish, it activates in the hearer his entire

analysis of mythic patterns in the Cantar,
category of Jews-as-a-whole" (p. 180). which devotes much space to the Infantes
Therefore, as interesting as the discussionsde Carri6n as analogues of evil spirits on
about the much-debated Raquel-is it a he the "road to infamy" (p. 364), the effect of
or a she?-may be,36 they miss the point: the Devil = Jew = usurer stereotype in the
the poet was not concerned primarily withpoem is further strengthened.
factual accuracy in the modern sense, but There is another element in the portrayal
with producing an effect; and the categoryof the Burgos Jewish businessmen to which
"Jews" is definitely brought to mind withI have alluded-the matter of their comic
the common Hispano-Jewish names, presentation in the PMC.39 How does it fit
Raquel and Vidas. in with all that I have mentioned? Raquel
A further element in the stereotyping andand Vidas (= Jews) are the out-group of
the poem's beginning; the Infantes de
depersonalization of the Jewish pair is their
repeated lumping into one through the use Carri6n (= Leonese nobility) of its end. In
of amos" (11.100,104,106,120,142,173, the middle there is another out-group: the
191,200). The significance of this pluralityCount of Barcelona and his francos
in contrast to the singularity of the Cam- (= Catalans). Critical analysis has related
peador has been analyzed38 and it is not the three largely on the basis of the
accidental that the other important pair in humorous connection. The chests of sand
the Cantar, the Infantes de Carri6n, are scene, the meeting of the Cid and Ram6n
also most frequently seen as amos. Spitzer Berenguer, and the lion episode are all
rightly points out that the Infantes are the comic interludes strategically placed at
regular intervals to vary the tone of the
Jews among the nobility, and the parallels
in the negative, comic portrayals of thegenerally sober and serious epic story. But
Infantes and the Jews must not have been the out-group dimension in each one of
lost on the audience. Both Raquel and these cases is all-important. On it much of
the humor rests.40 This is wit as weapon,4'
Vidas
are notand
onlyDiego andthey
twinned, Fernando
are alsoGonzA.lez
greedy, full of reprobative intent, an expression of
dominated by a love of wealth and materialhostility against those perceived to be alien
goods; both are conniving, murmuring toelites,42 and a way of emphasizing "our"
each other in conspiratorial asides; both (Cidian, Castilian) superiority in relation to
are obviously seen as more at home in a "them." Social scientists have made clear
protected city than in the open, dangerousthis use of humor as a technique in race
expanses where the Cid earns his glory. The conflict, at the same time noting that one
small detail of 1.3248, at the end of the of the reasons the comic is such an effective
demanda civil after the afrenta de Corpes, arm where intergroup tension exists is its
underscores the relationship between the often subtle, underhanded nature, its con-
Leonese aristocrats and the Jewish usurers: cealing of malice under cover of laughter.43
pagaron los ifantes al que en buen ora naci6; In the case of the PMC this "misleading"
1.3248 emprestanles de lo ageno, que non les cumple nature of the ethnic barb has led to the
1o so.
following interpretation of the Raquel and
In the reverse trajectories of the Cid and Vidas episode: because it is funny it is
the Beni-G6mez, it is Ruy Diaz who must harmless; the humor cancels or dilutes any
borrow at the beginning, only to attain ill intent; religious and ethnic frontiers are
riches at the Poema's end, while Diego and crossed peacefully; even the topos of
Fernando start out wealthy as a result of Jewish usury becomes simpadtico. In fact,
their advantageous marriages, only to the contrary seems to be true. The sar-
finish up prestando de lo ajeno. Obviously, donic, depending as it does on "some sort
then, borrowing money is not seen as of humiliation, some debasement of digni-
honorable in the Cantar and, by extension, ty" (Moon, p. 700), accentuates the exist-
those from whom the caballero venido a ence of discord rather than attenuating it.
menos has to borrow cannot be viewed as
honorable.
IGNIFICANTLY, stereotypes frequently
In short, Raquel and Vidas are equated play an important role in race humor.
with the most despicable characters in the
Some supposed characteristic of the "out-
PMC and if we keep in mind Dunn's landers" (Montgomery, p. 7)44-Jewish

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 484 Edna Aizenberg Hispania 63 (Sept. 1980)

love of money, Catalan haughtiness, 7"Podemos afirmar, basAndonos en nuestra

Leonese cowardliness-becomes the butt moderna comprensi6n del mito y en las circunstancias
of the joke. If the audience does not hist6ricas que con toda probabilidad se daban en su
recitaci6n ante los oyentes del siglo XII, que para
possess the proper stereotype the amusing
estos oyentes tal recitaci6n debia constituir una
story simply is not funny. Text, teller, and experiencia de ... tipo [mitico]. Los hechos narrados
listener must be of a similar mind if the en '1, no s61o eran juzgados como expresi6n de una
realidad hist6rica, sino que, ademas, evocaban en
joke is to be effective and the orally recited
dichos oyentes una intima experiencia de lo trascen-
epic fills the bill perfectly for the existence
dente, de lo sobrenatural" (Bandera G6mez, p. 140).
of a shared group perception. It is not sur-8Joshua Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews: The
prising, therefore, that stereotype andMedieval Conception of the Jew and Its Relation to
humor are combined in the Raquel and
Modern Antisemitism (Cleveland: World Publishing
Vidas episode. Indeed, understanding the Company, 1961). There is a Spanish translation, El
diablo y los judios (Buenos Aires: Paidos, 1965).
function of the jocular where intergroup9See Trachtenberg, Chapter 13, "The Attack upon
discord exists explains why the Jew is seen
Usury," pp. 188-94.
in medieval writings as a "comic as well as'"I use the word "mythical" with its more popular
connotation as a near synonym of "fictitious, not
a vile creature" (Trachtenberg, p. 13). Wit,
based on fact or scientific study," as well as with a
using the stereotype, reinforced by the more specialized sense: forming part of the mythic
myth becomes a tool for giving vent topatterns shaping the Cantar.
feelings of aggression toward the (usurer)"Carolly Erickson, The Medieval Vision: Essays in
Jews all the while reinforcing the feeling History
of and Perception (New York: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1976), p. 6.
solidarity amongst the denizens of a Castile
on the offensive. '2See John Herman Randall Jr., The Making of the
Modern Mind, 50th anniversary edition (New York,
Columbia University Press, 1976), p. 28.
NOTES '"On medieval lore see J. A. MacCulloch, Medieval
Faith and Fable (Boston: Marshall Jones, 1932).
14While Bandera G6mez argues this most force-
'I quote throughout from Ram6n Men6ndez
fullyPidal's
(p. 130), he is not the only one to have alluded to
Cldsicos castellanos edition (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe,
the Christian coordinates of the PMC. Consult
1975). Smith's introduction (p. lxi) and Leo Spitzer's "Sobre
2See Edmund de Chasca, El arte juglaresco en el el caricter hist6rico del CMC,'" Nueva Revista de
"CMC, " 2nd ed. (Madrid: Gredos, 1972) and Josep Filologia Hispdnica, 2 (1948), 110 ff. Spitzer calls the
M. Sola-Sol6, "De nuevo sobre las arcas del Cid," Cid "un santo laico" (p. 110). On the parallels
Kentucky Romance Quarterly, 23, No. 1 (1976), between the religious and the lay saint in the Middle
3-15. For a summary of opinions on the anti-Jewish Ages, see the forward to Jacobus de Voragine's The
bias of the Raquel and Vidas episode consult Seymour Golden Legend (New York: Longmans, Green and
Resnick, "'Raquel e Vidas' and the Cid," Hispania, Company, 1941).
39 (1956), 300-04 and C. Colin Smith, "Did the Cid "John T. Noonan Jr., The Scholastic Analysis of
Repay the Jews," Romania, 86 (1965), 520-38. Sola's Usury (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957).
article, notes 16 and 17, cites further studies on this '6"The usurer as Satan's creature could be none
question. Miguel Garci-G6mez in "4O sodes, Raquel other than the Jew, presented over and over in the
e Vidas, los mios amigos caros?" "Mio Cid": Estu- plays, the legends, the poetry, the sermons, which
dios de endocritica (Barcelona: Planeta, 1975), pp. were the sole intellectual food of the masses. ... In
85-112, suggests that the episode is neither anti-Jewish the Passion plays, Judas, often represented as a tool
-because Raquel and Vidas were probably not Jewish of the devil, plays the typical role of usurer associated
-nor comic-because the poem's structure would not in the medieval mind with the Jew . . ." (Trachten-
permit a humorous scene at that point-but rather berg, pp. 192-93). In The Golden Legend, for
a friendly exchange between the Cid, Martin Anto- example, Judas is presented as Christ's pursebearer:
linez, and their two "amigos caros," Raquel and "He it was who carried the alms which were given to
Vidas.
Jesus; and doubtlessly he had no qualms about steal-
3C. Colin Smith, "Did the Cid Repay the Jews?", ing them . . ." (pp. 173-74)
pp. 528-29. '7Cf. the same miracle in Cantiga XXV of Alfonso
I41 take the phrase from Colin Smith's introduction X's Cantigas de Santa Maria:
to his edition of the PMC (Oxford: Oxford University Des i feze- a lever en
Press, 1972), p. xiii. a ssa casa, e seus dieiros
'P.N. Dunn, "Theme and Myth in the PMC," achou en ela. E mui ben
Romania, 83 (1962), 348-69. For other critical dis- se guardou de seus conpanneiros
cussion of the PMC's mythic qualities see "La que non ll'ouvessen d'entender
critica ante el caricter mitico del poema," in Cesireo de como os el ascondia;
Bandera G6mez, El "PMC": Poesia, historia, mito poi-los foi contar e volver,
(Madrid: Gredos, 1969), pp. 71-81. a arca pos u el dormia.
6Quoted by Dunn from Bronislaw Malinowski, S. . e tu, judeu maldito
Myth in Primitive Psychology (London, 1926), p. 124. sabes que fuste receber
I have also consulted this edition.
teu aver, ..

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 Raquel y Vidas: Myth, Stereotype, Humor 485

e fuste a arc' asconder summary of research on stereotypes is contained in

so teu leito con felonia. ... Nelson R. Cauthen, Ira E. Robinson, and Herbert
H. Krauss, "Stereotypes: A Review of the Literature
'sSee Albert I. Bagby, Jr., "The Jew in the 'Canti-
gas' of Alfonso X, el Sabio," Speculum, 46 (1971), 1926-68," The Journal of Social Psychology, 84
670-88. (1971), 103-25.
"'If in the CMC Raquel and Vidas become objects28Could the Cid's non-payment of the loan to
of laughter as greed takes them by the hand, Raquel and Vidas also be an anachronism related to
Al cargar de las arcas veriedes gozo tanto: papal bulls of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
Non las podien poner en somo maguer eran exempting crusaders from their obligation to pay
esforqados. usury on debts incurred? Peter the Venerable, Abbot
(11.170-71) of Cluny, who had visited Spain in the 1140's and
the same occurs with Alfonso's usurer: was the author of anti-Moslem and anti-Jewish works,
e a archa en guisa tal wrote in a letter to the King of France that the Jews
fez que aportou ant' el fora. engage in no useful occupation, but obtain their
Enton foi ssa mao tender wealth through the trickery they exercise against
e fillou-a con alegria, Christians. Hence, he suggested: ". .. let their money
ca non sse podia soffrer be taken away. Thus, by the right hand of Christians,
de saber o que y jazia. aided with the funds of the blaspheming Jews, the
20George Eaton Simpson and J. Milton Yinger, audacity of the unbelieving Saracens might be con-
Racial and Cultural Minorities: An Analysis of quered" (cited by Edward A. Synan, The Popes and
Prejudice and Discrimination, 4th ed. (New York: the Jews in the Middle Ages [New York: Macmillan,
Harper and Row, 1972), p. 145. This extensive study 1967], p. 76). For a complete discussion of how
Peter's proposal became the much-invoked "power of
also makes the point that in contrast to our time when
the Keys," see Synan's study, pp. 76-77, 98, 108-09.
prejudice has by and large been fit into a racial frame
of reference, at "a time when the religious view of life291I base my discussion of this aspect of the stereo-
was extremely powerful, it was easy to believe thattype
a on Samuels, pp. 34-35.
religiously different group was inferior" (p. 107). In 30Raymond E. Barbera, in "The 'Pharmakos' in
other words, it is almost impossible to make a distinc-the PMC, " Hispania, 50 (1967), 236-41, suggests that
tion between racial and religious anti-Semitism in the Raquel and Vidas fill the role of pharmakos or scape-
Middle Ages. For the medievals Christian revelation goat in the poem. While his study does not touch upon
was all-encompassing and everywhere reflected not the Jew as deicide (crucifier of Jesus), in the Christian
only in what our secularly-oriented world is con- myth his words are telling in this regard: "The
sidered the religious sphere. audience, in search of catharsis, craves the presence
2'For a discussion of the date of the PMC's compo- of the pharmakos so that in the spirit of the play it
sition see A. D. Deyermond, A Literary History of may crucify its victim" (p. 240).
Spain: The Middle Ages (London: Ernest Benn, "See, for example, J. Rodriguez Pu&rtolas, "Un
1971), pp. 44 ff. and Charles B. Faulhaber, "Neo- aspecto olvidado en el realismo del PMC, " PMLA,
Traditionalism, Formulism, Individualism, and 82 (1967), 170-77, and Raymond E. Barbera, "The
Recent Studies on the Spanish Epic," Romance Source and Disposition of Wealth in the PMC,'"
Philology, 30 (1976), 83-101. Romance Notes, 10 (1968-69), 393-99. Unamuno, in
22The term "mental set" or "mind set" refers to En torno al casticismo, quinta edici6n (Madrid:
the experimentally observed phenomenon that what Espasaa Calpe, 1961), also discusses the Cid's pre-
person perceives is conditioned to a large extent by
ocupaci6n con el botin, (pp. 79-80).
what he has been prepared to see. In the case of 32Speaking of the stereotype of the Jew, Samuels
prejudice a society's traditional negative attitudes writes: "Those who depict the Jew as money-oriented
toward a minority serve as a mind set which will beand selfish likely possess the same characteristics.
strengthened and updated when conflict situations Indeed it would seem to be the unusual individual in
arise (Simpson and Yinger, p. 143). our society who was not both money-oriented and
23Spitzer, p. 110. On other possible sources for the selfish" (p. 133).
prayer see Sabino Sola, "Precisiones a la 'Sfiplica 'Salo Baron, A Social and Religious History of the
Inicial' del Libro de Buen Amor, " Actas del Primer Jews, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication
Congreso sobre el Arcipreste de Hita (Barcelona, Society of America, 1957), Iv, 29. The great diversity
1973), 342-49. Although Sola suggests sources other of economic activity among medieval Spanish Jewry
than the Commendatio animae all are either oraciones with field or vineyard, craft or store supporting many
or stiplicas so that the religious, even magical naturemore Jews than credit transactions or tax collecting is
of the prayer is not in dispute. also discussed in Economic History of the Jews, ed.
24"The earliest Christian Anglo-Saxon poetry Nachum Gross (New York: Schocken Books, 1975),
(eighth century) depicts Jesus as a mightly warrior especially pp. 38, 144, 149-50, 214-15, 257 ff.
pitted against the forces of Satan; ... some centuries 34Yitzhak Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian
later this conception of the mission of Jesus was Spain (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of
quite common . . ." (Trachtenberg, p. 19). America, 1961), Vol. I. On the economic structure of
25Cesdreo Bandera G6mez. El "PMC": Poesia, Spain's Jews, Baer writes:
historia, mito. The royal legislation, the deliberations of the
26Frederick Samuels, Group Images: Racial, Ethnic, Cortes, and the rabbinic response of the time tend to
and Religious Stereotyping (New Haven: College and create the impression that the Castilian Jews were for
University Press, 1973), p. 133. the most part tax-farmers and moneylenders. Actually
27Gordon W. Allport, The Nature of Prejudice these occupations were limited to the small upper
(Reading, Massachusetts: Addison Wesly, 1954). A stratum which, to the outside eye, appeared represen-

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 486 Edna Aizenberg Hispania 63 (Sept. 1980)

tative of the entire Jewish40Montgomery population. recognizes this

. . humor-out-group
. The type
of small Jewish community, connection
so in relation to the Count
common in of Barcelona and
Germany,
where all or most of the members the Infantes (p.were7), but itprofessional
is also true of the Jews. I
moneylenders, was virtually would non-existent
like to suggest that Ram6n inBerenguer's
Spain adven-
(p. 201) ture is not incidental to the artistic layout of the poem.
"Smith, Introduction, p. Rather, xx. together with the Raquel and Vidas scene, it
36On the name and gender of Raquel, see Eva prepares the way for the appearance of the Infantes
Salomonski, "Raquel e Vidas," Vox Romanica, who combine the (negative) attributes of the Jews and
15 (1956), 215-30, and Sola-Sole's study cited in note the Count: like the usurers they are a greedy, money-
2. hungry pair; like the Barcelonese nobleman they are
37""One of the functions of stereotypes is shown haughty ricoshombres.
by ... [its] failure to adjust to individual differences "See John H. Burma, "Humor as a Technique in
-to do so would be to destroy the discriminatory Race Conflict," American Sociological Review
value of the stereotype" (Simpson and Yinger, (December, 1946), pp. 710-14. Also, Simpson and
p. 154). Yinger, pp. 222-24.
3"Stephan Gilman, Tiempo y formas temporales en421 use Montgomery's phrase.
el "PMC" (Madrid: Gredos, 1961). 43Burma, p. 710. See also Allport, p. 50.
39"On humor in the PMC consult Harold Moon,44""On supposed characteristics: "There is nothing in
history . . . to substantiate the thesis that the Infantes
"Humor in the PMC, " Hispania, 46 (1963), 700-04;
Thomas Montgomery, "The Cid and the Count of de Carri6n were poltroons; neither do the records
Barcelona," Hispanic Review, 30 (1962), 1-11; indicate that the Count of Barcelona was a particular-
Dimaso Alonso, "Estilo y creacion en el PMC," ly despicable figure. . . . The poet created his own
Ensayos sobre poesia espahiola (Madrid, 1944), villains" (Montgomery, p. 8).
pp. 69-111.

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