Alfonso Martínez de Toledo (ca. 1398 – ca. 1470), known as the

Archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogo ...

of Talavera (''Arcipreste de Talavera''), was a Castilian poet and writer. He was born and studied in

Toledo, Spain Toledo ( ; ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, the capital of the province of Toledo and the ''de jure'' seat of the government and parliament of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla� ...

, spent time in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

and

Aragón Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to south): Huesca, Zaragoza, a ...

, and served as a

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Catholic Church, Catholic or Anglicanism , Anglican clergy, a form of canon (priest) , canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in part ...

at the cathedral of Toledo. He then became archpriest at Talavera. He wrote two

hagiographies A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

, ''Vida de San Isidoro'' (''Life of Saint Isidore'') and ''Vida de San Ildefonso'' (''Life of

Saint Ildephonsus Ildefonsus or Ildephonsus (rarely ''Ildephoses'' or ''Ildefonse''; Spanish: San Ildefonso; c. 8 December A.D. 607 – 23 January A.D. 667) was a scholar and theologian who served as the metropolitan Bishop of Toledo for the last decade of his ...

''), as well as the historical compilation ''Atalaya de las crónicas''.

Corbacho

Martinez wrote the work known as ''Corbacho o Reprobación del amor mundano'' (1438), inspired by Boccaccio's ''Corbaccio'' (dated to either 1355 or 1365). Martínez's ''Corbacho'' is his best known work.Alfonso Martínez de Toledo “Arcipreste de Talavera” (1398-1470)
It consists of four parts, the first of which is a treatise against

lust Lust is an intense desire for something. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can take such mundane forms as the lust for food (see gluttony) as distinct from the need for food or lust for red ...

; the second, a satire lampooning women of all social stations; the third and fourth, the

complexion Complexion in humans is the natural color, texture, and appearance of the skin, especially on the face. History The word "complexion" is derived from the Late Latin ''complexi'', which initially referred in general terms to a combination of t ...

s of human beings and their varying amatory inclinations. Phlegmatic men were “lazy and negligent... neither with a propensity to neither laugh nor cry… taciturn, solitary, half-mute... suspicious...” In it he describes the personalities of men of varying complexions:

Melancholic Melancholia or melancholy (from ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval, and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly depressed mood, bodily complain ...

men "have no sense of temperance in anything they do, and only bang their head against the wall. They're very iniquitous, petulant, miserable...” Martínez employs bombastic language

latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

ized by the device known as

hyperbaton Hyperbaton , in its original meaning, is a figure of speech in which a phrase is made discontinuous by the insertion of other words.Andrew M. Devine, Laurence D. Stephens, ''Latin Word Order: Structured Meaning and Information'' (Oxford: Oxford Un ...

, and also employs rhymed prose and

homeoteleuton Homeoteleuton, also spelled homoeoteleuton and homoioteleuton (from the Greek , ''homoioteleuton'', "like ending"), is the repetition of endings in words. Homeoteleuton is also known as near rhyme. History Homeoteleuton (homoioteleuton) was first ...

. The value of this work resides in the fact that Martínez also employed

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

language, capturing popular and colloquial speech, thus making his work a precursor to ''

La Celestina ''The Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea'' (), known in Spain as ''La Celestina'', is a work entirely in dialogue published in 1499. Sometimes called in English ''The Spanish Bawd'', it is attributed to Fernando de Rojas, a descendant of conv ...

''. The first part of ''Corbacho'' is focused on earthly love, which Martínez rejects by pointing out all of its pitfalls.Anita Obermeier, ''The History and Anatomy of Auctorial Self-criticism in the European Middle Ages'' (Rodopi, 1999), 240. In the second part, Martínez applies his arguments against earthly love to a criticism of women in general, repeating such stock arguments, for example, that women are the source of man's perdition. Martínez's chapter titles alone indicate only too well his opinions on the opposite sex: “How a woman is jealous of anyone more beautiful than she,” “How a woman is disobedient,” “How a woman lies even while under oath,” “How a man should watch out for a drunken woman,” “How a woman loves whomever she pleases regardless of age.” Juan Rodríguez de la Cámara's ''Triunfo de las donas'' (1445) includes 40

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

arguments meant to counter the

misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against Woman, women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than Man, men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been wide ...

of Martínez's ''Corbacho''. Rodríguez's work presents arguments for the superiority of women to men.Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex by Henricus Cornelius Agrippa, 1529
/ref>

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*
Vida de Sanct Isidoro
(digital text)

(digital text) {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez de Toledo, Alfonso 1398 births 1470 deaths 15th-century Castilian writers People from Toledo, Spain 15th-century Castilian Roman Catholic priests 15th-century Spanish poets Spanish male poets

Corbacho

References

Further reading

External links