The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes

The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes

Translated by Clements Markham.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Introductory
   1. The Family of Mendoza
   2. Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Author of Lazarillo de Tormes
   3. The Book, Lazarillo de Tormes
      1. English Translations
   4. Notes on the Character of Lazaro
4. The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes
   1. Prologue
   2. I: Lazaro Relates the Way of His Birth and Tells Whose Son He Is
   3. First Master
   4. Second Master
   5. Third Master
   6. Fourth Master
   7. Fifth Master
   8. Sixth Master
   9. Seventh Master
5. Sketch Map of the Route from Salamanca to Toledo
6. Endnotes
7. List of Illustrations
8. Colophon
9. Uncopyright

Imprint

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Introductory

The Family of Mendoza

The author of Lazarillo de Tormes was a scion of one of the noblest families of Spain, and some account of it should precede a notice of the author’s life.1

Don Diego Lopez, Lord of Mendoza, in 1170 married Doña Eleanor Hurtado, heiress of Mendibil. She was the daughter of Fernan Perez de Lara called Hurtado, son of Pedro Gonzalez de Lara and of the Queen Urraca of Castille and Leon.

Don Lopez and Eleanor Hurtado had four sons: Inigo, Lord of Mendoza; Diego, Lord of Mendibil; Pedro Diaz, who was ancestor of the Mendozas of Seville; and Fernando, who founded the line in Portugal.

Inigo Lopez de Mendoza married Maria de Haro, and was father of Maria, the wife of her first cousin, Juan de Mendoza, son of her uncle Diego. Their son, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, in the time of Fernando II, married Maria Gonzalez de Aguero, and had a son Gonzalo.

This Gonzalo Hurtado de Mendoza married Juana Fernandez de Orozco, and was the father of a very distinguished son⁠—of Pedro Gonzalez.

Pedro Gonzalez Hurtado de Mendoza married Aldonza, daughter of Fernan Perez de Ayala. He was with Juan I, of Castille, at the battle of Aljubarrota. In the flight the King’s horse was killed. Mendoza dismounted and said to the King:⁠—

El cavallo vos han muerto,2
Subid Rey en mi cavallo.

The King rode away. Mendoza was overtaken and slain. The date of the battle was August 14, 1385. His father survived him, dying in 1405.

The son of this chivalrous knight and successor to his grandfather was Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, married first to Maria, daughter of Enrique II, King of Castille, and secondly to Eleanor de la Vega. His son, Inigo Lopez, was by his second wife.

Inigo Lopez Hurtado de Mendoza was born in 1396. He served with distinction at the battle of Olmedo, and was created Marquis of Santillana in 1445. He was opposed to Alvaro de Luna, the famous Minister of Juan II.

Born in the Asturias, the Marquis was a poet. Among his writings was a little serranilla.

Moza tan fermosa
No vi en la frontera
Como una vaquera
De la Finojosa.

En un verde prado
De rosas y flores
Guardando ganado
Con otros pastores,

La vi tan fermosa
Que apenas creyera
Que fuese vaquera
De la Finojosa.

Translation

The sweetest girl without compare
In all my days I’ve ever seen
Was that young maid, so lithe and fair,
On Finojosa’s frontier green.

In pleasant shade of beech and pine
A verdant meadow did appear;
And here she watched the browsing kine
With other girls, but none like her.

By nature deck’d and well arrayed
She looked like some bright Summer Queen;
And not a common village maid
Of Finojosa’s frontier green.

But the chief poetical work of the Marquis of Santillana was the Comedieta de Ponza, founded on the story of a great sea-fight, near the island of Ponza, in 1435, between the Aragon fleet and the Genoese. At the request of King Juan II he also made a collection of proverbs for his son Enrique IV. This was the earliest collection of proverbs made in modern times.

The noble poet married Catalina Suarez de Figueroa, daughter of Don Lorenzo Suarez de Figueroa, Lord of Feria and Zafra. The Marquis died in 1454, leaving ten children:⁠—

1. Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, first Duke of Infantado.

2. Don Pedro Laso de Mendoza, married to Ines Carillo, Lady of Mondejar. They had two daughters:⁠—

   1. Maria, married to the second Count of Tendilla.

   2. Catalina, married to Luis de la Cerda, Duke of Medina Celi.

3. Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, first Count of Tendilla, of whom we treat.

4. Don Lorenzo de Mendoza, first Count of Coruña.

5. Don Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, Archbishop of Toledo and Cardinal.

6. Don Juan de Mendoza, Lord of Colmenar.

7. Don Pedro de Mendoza, Lord of Sazedon.

8. Doña Mencia, wife of Don Pedro de Velasco, Count of Haro, Constable of Spain.

9. Doña Maria, married to Don Ajan de Ribero.

10. Doña Eleanor, wife of Gaston de la Cerda, second Count of Medina Celi, representative of the eldest son of Alfonso X and therefore rightful King of Spain; the reigning family descending from the second son, the usurper