The romance de la mora How a tradition was born

Tradicin Tradicin

What is tradition
Before something is put in writing : oral transmission period. Example : Cautivaron a una mora Spanish popular romance : seven centuries of transmission 6 different ladino forms (Sarajevo 1911, 1933 ; Saloniki ; Rhodos ; Tetuan ; Tangiers) Several different forms in Latin America Many different forms in Spain

Romance de la mora: common elements I

1) Daughter of a king or a noble man 2) Kidnapped by the Muslims from the South of Spain 3) She is sent to the river to wash the laundry 4) The brother of this girl passes by with his horse and doesnt recognize her. 5) He finds her beautiful and invites her to go back to Spain with him

Romance de la mora: common elements II

6) The girl doesnt know what to do with the laundry and the knight suggests to take with her the quality laundry an to leave the rest in the water [exception: Rhodes] 7) They leave 8) They recognize each other (land, name of the family members) 9) The brother tells his mother/ father : Open the door, this is my sister.

Ladino versions Reason for sending her to wash Developped

Santander Shortened

Murcia Absent

Cuenca Absent

Argentina Absent

Oliva

campos de oliva
Tetuan + Tangiers : Pascua Florida Others : no mention

al pie de esta verde oliva

Pascua Florida

Juan de Oliva
Santa Mara day

Juan de Oliva
Absent

Absent

Day of kidnapping

Absent

Oral transmission for more than seven hundred years

1) The young christian captive is sent to wash in order that she loses her beauty lest the muslim prince, who is still young, should love her (six ladino versions and Santander)
2) Common theme of the ladino versions (save Sarajevo 1933): the gaze of the knight on the hands or legs of the young christian

Origin and date

1) Most versions mention oliva / Oliva (place origin of the young girl) which was under christian sovereignty from the second half of the 13th century 2) Common source of the ladino versions: before 15th century 3) Common source of all recorded versions : earlier (14th or 13th centuries)

Progression of the Reconquista

The memory of a people II

Importance of memory in an oral culture. Mnemotechnia : poetry, rythm, narrative structure Cf. discourse of the Mount, in the Gospels (deep rythm) In the NT, some books were written without oral text transmission (Acts, Epistles, Revelation) Other books manifest an oral style (Gospels) Importance of the oral word for the first Christian generations : Papias (v. 130), Saint Ireneus (2nd century, disciple of St Polycarpus)

Historical framework of the books of Holy Scripture

Bible text: long history (we do not say that the Bible was dictated by God like the Coran) Nehemiah 8,1 : after the Exile (587-538 BC) the people remembers listening to the book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had given to Israel . The book of Moses is the memory of Israel. Scripture : book of the people of God, kept in the Temple.