Cervantes, Pasamonte and Avellaneda's Don Quixote

The dispute between Miguel de Cervantes and "Avellaneda",

author of the apocryphal Don Quixote, probably arose as a result

of the Battle of Lepanto (1571)

Cervantes, who was 22 at the time, fought bravely in the battle. Although he was ill and his captain advised him to rest in the galley’s hold, he insisted on fighting and was shot twice with an arquebus, once in the chest and once in the left hand (which is why he is known as the "the one-armed man of Lepanto")

A young 18-year old called Jerónimo de Pasamonte from Aragon

also fought in the battle. He was born in Ibdes, a village in the district of Calatayud in Zaragoza

District of Calatayud

Ibdes

After the battle of Lepanto and other military campaigns,

Cervantes wanted to return to Spain and, in 1575, set sail on board the galley El Sol. However, near the coast of Catalonia, he was captured by Algerian pirates and taken to Algeria,

where he was held captive for five years until 1580

In 1574, when defending the Tunisian port of La Goulette,

Jerónimo de Pasamonte was captured by the Turks

and taken to Constantinople (Istanbul)

Pasamonte was held prisoner by the Turks for 18 years,

part of which he spent as a galley slave on board Turkish galleys

When he was finally released, Pasamonte returned to Spain and in 1593 circulated copies of the manuscript of his autobiography, known as The Life and Works of Jerónimo de Pasamonte

Having works circulated in the form of "handbooks" or bound manuscripts

was a common way

to distribute works of literature at the time and complemented

the distribution of printed work

The manuscript of The Life and Works of Jerónimo de Pasamonte is housed in the library of the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III in Naples:

Initial dedication bearing the signature of Jerónimo de Pasamonte

End of the manuscript and another signature of Jerónimo de Pasamonte

Start of the manuscript of The Life and Works of Pasamonte

In his autobiography, Pasamonte speaks very little about Lepanto. However, when describing a subsequent military action, the taking

of Tunis (1573), he describes his own heroic behaviour, which is

identical to that depicted by Cervantes at Lepanto: he portrays

himself as an ill man whose captain had advised him to remain

in the hold of the galley but who had insisted on fighting

Conquest of Tunis (1573)

During the conquest of Tunis, there was no real battle as such since the Turks withdrew without a fight on seeing the Christian troops arrive

When Cervantes read

the manuscript of

Jerónimo de Pasamonte’s autobiography, he saw that the latter had attempted to usurp his own heroic behaviour at Lepanto. As a result, he decided to satirise him when writing his most famous literary creation

Statue of Cervantes at Lepanto

In 1605, Cervantes published the first part of Don Quixote, which enjoyed enormous success

Front cover of the first part of Don Quixote

In one passage of the first part of Don Quixote, Cervantes satirised Jerónimo de Pasamonte, turning him into "Ginés de Pasamonte", one of the galley slaves encountered by Don Quixote and Sancho Panza

Don Quixote and the galley slaves

As does Jerónimo de Pasamonte, galley slave to the Turks, Cervantes’s galley slave "Ginés de Pasamonte" writes an autobiography entitled The Life of Ginés de Pasamonte

Ginés de Pasamonte is portrayed as an almighty thief, coward and cheat, and is grievously insulted by Don Quixote and Sancho Panza

When writing the episode

of the captain who was held captive, also included in the first part of Don Quixote,

Cervantes imitated

Jerónimo de Pasamonte’s autobiography as a way of avenging himself for the wrong he had suffered by having his own brave actions usurpd

The imprisoned captain

As a result, and in response to Jerónimo de Pasamonte’s attributing Cervantes’s own heroic action at the Battle of Lepanto to himself, Cervantes imitated and satirised him

in the first part of Don Quixote

The first part of Cervantes’s Don Quixote was followed by an apocryphal continuation, known as the apocryphal Don Quixote or the Don Quixote of "Avellaneda", since its author signed it under the false name of "the graduate Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda, from the town of Tordesillas"

The mystery surrounding Avellaneda’s identity is considered to be the most enigmatic in Spanish literature

Nevertheless, it is highly likely that things occurred as follows:

Pasamonte was no longer in a position to publish the manuscript of his autobiography, since it would be identified with the galley slave Ginés de Pasamonte, mocked in a work that had enjoyed widespread repercussion

When Jerónimo de Pasamonte read the first part of Don Quixote, he saw himself imitated and satirised in it by Cervantes

As a result, he opted for another way of seeking revenge for Cervantes’s imitation and insult: he decided to imitate his imitator by continuing the story of Don Quixote

Avellaneda left several clues in his work as to his true identity

so that Cervantes would realise who was taking revenge for having been slurred. These clues appear in the dedication,

in the foreword and in the actual novel itself

...who against a thousand defamations has written this book...

In the dedication to his "handbook" or manuscript, Avellaneda stated that he had written it “against a thousand affronts” or insults to which he had been subject

In the prologue to his work, Avellaneda hints at

the two reasons why he continues Cervantes’s work

...by copying the true stories

which came into his hands...

Firstly, because

Cervantes had copied

the manuscript of his autobiography

...ostentation of synonymous volunteers…

Secondly, because Cervantes had offended him through "synonymous volunteers":

"...fleeing from offending anybody or making show of synonymous volunteers...”.

The "synonymous volunteers" probably refer to the first name and surname which Cervantes had given his galley slave, and which closely resembled those of Gerónimo de Pasamonte

~

GERÓNIMO DE PASAMONTE

GINÉS DE PASAMONTE

By denouncing that Cervantes had copied his autobiography and had offended him through Ginés de Pasamonte, Avellaneda revealed his true identity to Cervantes

In the actual body of his novel, Avellaneda

left other clues as to his identity

In order to counter the image which Cervantes offered of Ginés de Pasamonte, Avellaneda created another "synonymous volunteer" of himself, portraying him in a highly favourable light: the soldier "Antonio de Bracamonte", whose surname closely resembled that of Jerónimo de Pasamonte

Avellaneda also portrayed himself through another of his characters:

the “author” of the troop of actors

AVELLANEDA’S APOCRYPHAL

DON QUIXOTE

The term "author" was used

at the time to refer to the director of a theatre company,

but Avellaneda used it with

a double meaning

unruly giant [...]

as my swarthy face and brawny stature show

[...]

es so impotent [comic disfiguration of 'imposing'].

Its author, a swarthy man, tall in body [...]

a tall man, with a swarthy face [...]

that large man [...]

Indeed, Avellaneda insists six times, rather needlessly, that the "author" is a man of great size

And we know from the Life and Works of Jerónimo

de Pasamonte that he was large in body size

Despite never having seen Don Quixote, the "author" of the troop of actors says he has a score to settle with him; he knows things about him which, following the logic of the story, he should not be privy to, and he proclaims himself as the architect of Don Quixote’s fate

As a result, the "author" not only plays the role of theatre company director but also represents the author

of the apocryphal Don Quixote himself

This was how it was seen by Cervantes himself who, in the second half of his Don Quixote, was to create a correlative character to Avellaneda’s "author", hinting,

as we shall see, at his true identity

In particular, Avellaneda praised the Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary of Calatayud, which he displays an intimate knowledge of.

In Avellaneda’s Quixote, a canon says the following:

Calatayud I feel compelled to join its ranks and to strive to be admitted amongst the number of the one hundred and fifty who serve and administer her...

...to confirm the holy usage and devotion of the rosary, I do hereby proclaim that I will be a lifelong servant of its holy brotherhood; and

upon reaching

None of the other candidates postulated as the possible author

of the apocryphal Don Quixote could have been even remotely familiar

with the Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary of Calatayud.

Much less would they have had any interest in praising it

LIFE AND WORKS OF JERÓNIMO DE PASAMONTE

At the age of thirteen, my brother brought me to Calatayud, whence I joined the holy Brotherhood of the Mother of God as a member...

Yet, who did know it very well was Jerónimo de Pasamonte, who tells in his autobiography how he joined and how he was to remain a faithful servant thereof for the rest of his life, having entered at the age of thirteen and who would, for the whole of his life, remain a devout servant thereof

Jerónimo de Pasamonte was one of the “one hundred and fifty” members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary of Calatayud, such that he is indirectly represented in Avellaneda’s Don Quixote

AVELLANEDA’S APOCRYPHAL

DON QUIXOTE

[ ]

Jerónimo de Pasamonte finished the apocryphal Don Quixote around 1610 and, as he had done with his autobiography,

put it into circulation in manuscript form

AVELLANEDA’S MANUSCRIPT

OF APOCRYPHAL DON QUIXOTE

Shortly afterwards, Avellaneda’s manuscript of Don Quixote came into the hands of Cervantes

AVELLANEDA’S MANUSCRIPT

OF APOCRYPHAL

DON QUIXOTE

Cervantes read the manuscript of the apocryphal Don Quixote and was quick to identify its author, since he knew full well who he had imited and offended through the "synonymous volunteers" in the first part of Don Quixote

[ ]

To show the author that he had identified him, in several of his works Cervantes made numerous joint references to the manuscripts of the Life and Works of Pasamonte and to Avellaneda’s Don Quixote, hinting that they had been written by the same person

Auch is the case on Cervantes’s interlude The Watchdog, dated 6 May 1611, which probably corresponds to when it was written...

...in some of Cervantes’s Exemplary Novels, such as The Lawyer of Glass or The Conversation of the Dogs, which were written prior to 2 July 1612 (the date on which approval for them was sought), and published in 1613...

...and in Journey to Parnassus, written prior to July 1613 and published in 1614

Yet the most resounding answer Cervantes gave Avellaneda

was by writing the real second half of Don Quixote

Had Avellaneda not written the apocryphal Don Quixote,

Cervantes would probably not have penned the second part

of his Don Quixote. Learning about the manuscript of the

apocryphal Don Quixote was what spurred him to write it

Cervantes decided to give his imitator a taste of his own medicine: the whole of the second part of Cervantes’s Don Quixote is a veiled imitation of Avellaneda’s Don Quixote

Cervantes began the second part of his Don Quixote, replicating the episodes of the apocryphal Don Quixote manuscript, yet without mentioning its existence so that it would not achieve fame at Cervantes’s own expense

Cervantes sought to improve the episodes written by Avellaneda, continually mocking them, by often including exact replicas of the apocryphal Don Quixote and referring to the expressions contained therein

As he had done in other works, he included in the second part of his Don Quixote joint references to the apocryphal Don Quixote and the Life and Works of Jerónimo de Pasamonte, hinting that they were the work of the same author

In the episode of Peter the puppet master, a character who appears in disguise, Cervantes hints at the identity of Avellaneda, linking puppet master Peter to the apocryphal Don Quixote

En the apocryphal Don Quixote, Don Quixote attends a theatre performance directed by the "author" of a troop of actors (representing Avellaneda himself) and, mistaking what he sees on stage to be real, abruptly

interrupts the performance in order to help a character

In the second part of his Don Quixote, Cervantes clearly mocks this episode: Don Quixote attends the performance of master Peter’s puppet show, and, taking what he sees on the stage to be real, abruptly interrupts the performance in order to help a character

Peter the puppet master

By making Peter the puppet master play the leading role in an episode clearly taken from the apocryphal Don Quixote, Cervantes relates it to Avellaneda. Peter the puppet master plays the same role as the "author" of the troop of actors, since he also directs a performance interrupted by Don Quijote

AVELLANEDA’S MANUSCRIPT

OF APOCRYPHAL

DON QUIXOTE

The "author" directing the theatre performance which is interrupted represents Avellaneda

PETER THE PUPPET MASTER:

character related to to the apocryphal Don Quixote and corresponding to Avellaneda’s "author"

At the end of the episode, Cervantes reveals the identity of the

disguised puppet master linked to Avellaneda and corresponding

to the "author" of the apocryphal Don Quixote:

Peter the puppet master is Ginés de Pasamonte, a literary performance by Jerónimo de Pasamonte

AVELLANEDA’S MANUSCRIPT

OF APOCRYPHAL DON QUIXOTE

The “author” represents Avellaneda

GINÉS

DE PASAMONTE

JERÓNIMO DE PASAMONTE

PETER THE PUPPET MASTER:

character related to the apocryphal Don Quixote and corresponding to Avellaneda’s "author"

In the latter half of 1614, when Cervantes had written 58 chapters of the second part

of his Don Quixote, he learnt that Avellaneda's

Don Quixote had been published

This meant that his rival’s work had achieved a

more worrying status, as a result of which Cervantes changed his approach and referred specifically

to the apocryphal Don Quixote, criticising it

Front cover of the apocryphal

Don Quixote (1614)

Yet despite expressly mentioning Avellaneda’s book, Cervantes continued to imitate its episodes up to the end of his second part, which consists of 74 chapters

In chapter 59 of the second part of his Don Quixote, Cervantes gave a clear hint of his rival’s identity

Don Quixote is at an inn, and in the adjacent room he overhears two knights talking about Avellaneda’s recently published Don Quixote

On seeing Cervantes’s Don Quixote, one of

the knights acknowledges him to be the true one and hands him the apocryphal Don Quixote as a sign of his recognition

The knight who holds in his hands the apocryphal Don Quixote and who gives it to the real Don Quixote recognising him as the true one is called...

...Jerónimo, just like Jerónimo de Pasamonte

SECOND PART OF CERVANTES’S

DON QUIXOTE

By your honour’s life, Sir Don Jerónimo, until the innkeeper brings our dinner, let

us read another

chapter [of Avellaneda’s

apocryphal Don Quixote]

Don Jerónimo embraces Cervantes’s Don Quixote and says to him:

SECOND PART OF CERVANTES’S

DON QUIXOTE

...you, sir, are undoubtedly the true Don Quixote of la Mancha, [...], despite the individual who has sought to usurp your name and annihilate your deeds, namely the author of this book which I here give to you...

Expertly, Cervantes makes Avellaneda’s own literary creation (Don Jerónimo) hand over the apocryphal book to Cervantes’s Don Quixote, thereby acknowledging him to be the true one

Through two characters undoubtedly linked to Avellaneda, Don Jerónimo and Ginés de Pasamonte, Cervantes leaves evidence in his work of Avellaneda’s true identity: Jerónimo de Pasamonte

Moreover, Cervantes clearly indicated, four times,

in the second part of his Don Quixote

that Avellaneda was from Aragon:

SECOND PART OF CERVANTES’S DON QUIXOTE

...the language [of the apocryphal Don Quixote] is Aragonese...

...and not those described by its Aragonese author...

(Chapter 59)

...for a man from Aragon, who claims to hail from Tordesillas...

...our history and that, recently published, of the man from Aragon...

(Chapter70)

(Chapter 61)

Jerónimo de Pasamonte

came from Ibdes, a town in Aragon close to Calatayud

As a result, in the second part of his Don Quixote, Cervantes left clues concerning Avellaneda’s name and surname (Jerónimo de Pasamonte), and also stated very clearly that he was from Aragon

Cervantes finally took the second part of his Don Quixote to be printed, and it was published in 1615

In it, Cervantes showed its intended target, Avellaneda, that he knew full well who he was, offering him a deal: if he renounced the idea of continuing to write the adventures of Don Quixote (announced at the end of the apocryphal Don Quixote), his identity would not be disclosed; but if he insisted on continuing them, Cervantes might reveal his identity

Avellaneda did not continue the history of Don Quixote

In sum, all indications point to Jerónimo

de Pasamonte as having written the apocryphal Don Quixote

Of one thing we can be certain: Cervantes identified Avellaneda with the man from Aragon, Jerónimo de Pasamonte

Even in the unlikely event that Cervantes

was wrong, his firm conviction that he is

right is crucial to understanding the

second part of his Don Quixote

For further information:

Essay type novel

Free down load at

http://alfonsomartinjimenez.blogs.uva.es/publicaciones-en-internet/libro/

Free down load at

http://alfonsomartinjimenez.blogs.uva.es/publicaciones-en-internet/edicion-critica/

Free down load at

http://alfonsomartinjimenez.blogs.uva.es/publicaciones-en-internet/novela-hacen-falta-cuatro-siglos-para-entender-a-cervantes/

Alfonso Martín Jiménez. The University of Valladolid. 2017

http://alfonsomartinjimenez.blogs.uva.es/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAIbRxgrokk