The book Castigos para Celosos, Consejos para Juglares is a critical translation, into Spanish, of "pseudo-didactic or discursive texts" on courtly society from the thirteenth century. The works are replete with descriptive, doctrinaire and satirical elements and possess as their central plot jealousy and its relationship with love and the role of the jongleur in the courtly world.
The texts were translated and commented on by Jesus D. Rodriguez Velasco, professor of Medieval Literature in the University of Salamanca, Spain, and author of works about chivalrous ideology and the intellectual constructions of the courtly spirit, as, for example, El debate sobre la caballeria en el siglo XV, published in 1996.
In the Introduction, the cultural context in which the translated works were written is presented. This is characterized as a moment of deep crisis in the courtly culture of Occitanian expression, due, according to the author, to a growing sensation of danger or fragility of its own culture that, in the second half of the twelfth century, reached a high degree of aesthetic and ethical improvement. This crisis did not lead to a disappearance of the Occitanian culture, but to its survival and perpetuation in the thirteenth century. So, based on Foucault's concepts of Archaeology, File and Monument, the author analyzes the archaeological translation of the principles of courtesy to political spaces different from the world of Occitanian expression. In this sense, it stands out that in these outlying areas are produced archaeological speeches, which means, texts whose objectives are to describe, to normalize, to formalize, to transmit and to perpetuate the principles of courtesy.
The texts selected by the author to compose his edition are exemplary of this archaeological speech. The valorization of lyrical references and the intertextual character of the works guided Rodriguez Velasco in the choice of the texts. What stands out in this process too, are the election of certain themes by the author: love, one of the pillars of the courtly world; jealousy, the element responsible for the disorder; and the jongleurs, fundamental agents in the popularization of the courtly culture.
After the General Introduction (7-49), the author introduces the sources. He begins with a note about the criteria used in the translation (51-53), he presents an organized bibliography according to the treated themes in the introduction (55-57) and a chronology, in which are listed the political, intellectual, military, and religious events that happened during the years from 1154 to 1275. (59-61) The selected texts follow, each preceded by an introduction and a specific bibliography: El Cuento del papagayo ( Las novas del papagay), of Arnaut de Carcasses (63-71); Castigo para celosos( Castia gilos), imputed to Raimon Vidal de Besalu (73- 103); El juicio de amor(En aquel temps com era gais) (105 -160) and El arte del juglar( Abril issie mais intrava (161-219), both by Raimon Vidal de Besalu; A Cabra, juglar (Cabra juglar) (221-243) by Guerau de Cabrera; A Fadet, juglar (Fadetz juglar) (245-267) by Guiraut de Calanson; Suplica a Alfonso X sobre el nombre de los juglares (Suplicatio de lo nom de joglars), by Guiraut Riquier, followed by Explicacion(Declaratio) (269-300) by Alfonso X.
Each text translated by Rodriguez Velasco is the object of a rigorous work of intertextuality, whose results are represented in several notes. In this way, Castigo para celosos, Consejos para Juglaresis more than a translation of selected texts, but a study that seeks to point how courtly culture of the twelfth century was comprehended and perpetuated in the thirteenth century. With this spirit, the edition included two appendices: a list of the minstrels whose verses are mentioned in the novaof Raimon Vidal of Besalu and one with the texts presented in A Cabra, juglar. Both present the bibliographical references in the cases that the works have already been published. An index of concepts and names concludes the edition. This is, therefore, rich in notes and bibliographical references, including available materials in the Internet: files of discussion lists, homepages of Centers of Studies or works available on line.
Castigo para celosos, Consejos para Juglares is a work that will please the specialist in the courtly world as much as the beginner. Perhaps, due to the great number of notes and bibliographical indications, the reading can become tiresome for the general public. Thus, I recommend the reading of this edition for medievalists, anthropologists, scholars of literature and art and university students.