Estudio, edición crítica y traducción del "Memoriale virtvtvm" de Alfonso de Cartagena

Alfonso de Cartagena (1385-1456), possibly the most representative figure of the courtly, political and cultural dimension built around Juan II, was the third son of the famous convert Pablo de Santa Maria, Burgos’ rabbi and, later on, bishop of that same town. He started his career as governor of Cartagena’s cathedral, afterwards he was named dean of Santiago and Segovia, canon of Burgos and, after his father’s death, bishop of Burgos. Alternatively, he played a vital role in Castile’s national and international politics, as an ambassador in Portugal’s court, at Basel’s council and before Poland’s and Germany’s kings. His work, written both in Latin and Romance, either as an historian, treatise writer, theologist or translator, is quite broad; his literary connections were strong either with Italian humanists or with those who were fond of the language arts from Spain. The first part of this Thesis seeks to provide a wide enough perspective of the author, for which we place the emphasis on the most distinctive aspects of his life. Therefore, we divided the introduction in three sections: a biographical overview, his work and, last, a study on the Memoriale uirtutum itself. Thus, regarding the first aspect, we focus on the course of his life (§1.1), where we can highlight his university education, which isn’t restricted to his training as a jurist, but we also observe that his mental vitality takes him to develop certain inquisitiveness for Moral Philosophy or Latin, which leads him to study Grammar and Rhetoric; this would allow the influence of studia humanitatis to emerge, although he never got to learn the Greek language, as we can deduce from the epistolary confrontation between him and Leonardo Bruni. We also focus on the significance of his Jewish past, upon the defence of the converts during the massacre experienced in the XVth century (§1.2), and on his presence at Basel’s council (§1.3). Despite the fact that his work as a diplomat begins during the missions in Portugal as an emissary of king Juan II, he will get recognition owing to his legation in Basel, not only among the European ecclesiastics, but also among the scholars from Italy; the importance of Basel’s council in Cartagena’s life goes beyond his official work there, either as defending the Castilian interests, or as an active member of the purely conciliar functions, since it also had a huge impact in his intellectual growth. During this time period, Cartagena establishes a friendship with Pizzolpaso, Bishop of Milan, writer, humanist, and friend of Leonardo Bruni. As a result of this type of relationship with men of such high cultural standard, he re-awakens the study of the Classical antiquity among his contemporaries, developing a huge interest in the Greco-Roman masterpieces, which will bring him closely to the highly-regarded Spanish humanists of the XVIth century...

El segundo comentario de Abraham Ibn Ezra al libro del Cantar de los Cantares. Edición crítica, traducción, notas y estudio introductorio

We herewith present the critical edition, translation and notes from the second commentary of Abraham ibn Ezra on the Song of Songs. This work is preceded by an introductory study that considers among others, various aspects of the commentary and the influence that the previous and contemporary Jewish exegesis to Ibn Ezra’s may exert on his interpretations of the Song of Songs. Finally, we analyze some of the features that are part of the commentary of Ibn Ezra on the Canticles. Summary: Objectives and results It is the purpose of this work to go into detail about the study of the exegetical texts of Abraham ibn Ezra, and in particular the text of this second commentary of Ibn Ezra on Song of Songs, whose translation and critical edition is the subject of this work. This is especially interesting since it is one of the few translations from the original Hebrew, among which are the Latin translation of Gilberto Genebrardo, published in Paris in 1585 and the English edition of Richard A. Block, published in 1982 in Cincinnati. This edition of the second commentary of Ibn Ezra on the Song of Songs continues the lead of previous work carried out in the translation and critical edition of Ibn Ezra's comments to Ecclesiastes, Esther, and Job by Mariano Gómez Aranda and the commentary to Book of Ruth by Maria Josefa Azcárraga Servert. The translation of Abraham ibn Ezrás text on the aforementioned second commentary on the Song of Songs, and the drawing up of the critical edition by selecting manuscripts that, once collated, will lead to the Hebrew text that will be used for the Castilian version is the basis of the present work. Of the thirty-three existing manuscripts of Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Canticles, ten have been rejected in principle since they belong to the first commentary, whose text on two manuscripts was translated into English by H. J. Mathews in 1874. Only thirteen out of the remaining twenty three manuscripts have been used for drawing up the critical edition, since ten of them have not been included in the present edition in spite of their belonging to the second commentary...