The lovers of Teruel
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The Lovers of Teruel ( Spanish Los amantes de Teruel ) is a romantic story that supposedly happened in 1217 in the Spanish city of Teruel ( Aragón ).
action
There were two important and wealthy families in the city, Marcilla and Segura. Juan Martinez (also known as Diego) was from the Marcilla family and Isabel was the only daughter of Pedro Segura. Both had been in love since childhood, but when the time came to get married, times had broken for Diego's family. Isabel's father, the richest of all Teruel residents, forbade them to marry. However, Diego managed to agree with Isabel's father that he would leave Teruel for five years in an attempt to build a fortune. Should Diego succeed in getting rich within these five years, he should be allowed to marry his great love Isabel.
During those five years her father urged her to get married. She replied that God wanted her to be a virgin until she was twenty and that women should learn to run a household before they marry. Since her father loved her very much and wished her a happy life, he finally agreed. They waited five years for Diego to return.
They did not hear from Diego in these five years, and so afterwards she married Isabel's father to Don Pedro de Azagra from Albarracín . Immediately after the wedding celebration, there was a commotion at the Zaragoza. The guards informed the village that Diego Marcilla had returned with great wealth and with the intention of marrying Isabel. Unlike the Seguras, Diego hadn't counted the day on which he made this deal with Isabel's father.
That night, Diego snuck into Isabel and her husband's bedroom and carefully woke them up. He complained to her, " Bésame, que me muero, " (kiss me because I am dying) and she refused. She said: “ No quiera Dios que yo fold a mi marido ,” (God doesn't want me to betray my husband) “ Por la pasión de Jesucristo os suplico que busques a otra, que de mi no hagais cuenta. Pues si a Dios no ha complacido, tampoco me complace a mi. "(For the sake of the love of Christ I ask you to find someone else and to forget me. If our love does not please God, it cannot please me either.)
He bowed to her one last time by saying he was dying and wanted one last kiss. But she still refused. After hearing this, Diego could no longer bear the separation between himself and his love. He sighed and died at the feet of his beloved Isabel. When she realized he was dying, she shuddered. She woke her husband, told him that she was afraid of his snoring and that she wanted to hear a story. He told one and she returned her own story. She reported about Diego and that he was lying dead by the bed.
"Oh, you bad luck worm! Why didn't you kiss him? "
"I didn't mean to betray my husband," she replied.
"Of course," he groaned. "You are a commendable woman."
They agreed to secretly bury him in a local church because her husband feared he would be blamed for his death. The next day, during Diego Marcilla's funeral, Isabel showed up in her wedding dress. She stepped forward to the church and kissed the man she refused to give him. While she was doing it, Isabel died and fell on the body of the man she loved.
reception
These two deaths of love inspired the people of Teruel to demand that they both be buried side by side so that at least they could be together in death. This request was granted by the Church. The couple's fame soon spread throughout Spain and in 1560 their bodies were exhumed and reburied in today's tomb.
Literary historians have debated whether the lovers of Teruel really existed. The reason for this is that in 1353 the Italian Giovanni Boccaccio told practically the same story under the name Girolamo e Salvestra , although he did reproduce additional material in his story. Logically (as James Michener argues in his book Iberia ) it is more likely that the erotic story came second; it is difficult to find examples where the general public took pleasure in an erotic story by a writer, borrowed it, cleaned it up, and finally regarded it as a traditional legend. It is unlikely that the common people of Teruel borrowed a cheeky scene from Boccaccio and cleared it up while telling it. On the other hand, it seems reasonable and more likely that a professional and refined writer of Boccaccio's skills should borrow a sentimental lore from Teruel and add erotic elements to its version. Throughout history, other cultures have had similar stories of forbidden loves, such as Hero and Leander and Romeo and Juliet .
Tomb of the lovers
Since many people drove through Spain to see the lovers of Teruel, the mummified corpses have been exhumed and placed in two new sarcophagi created by Juan de Avalos . The mausoleum was made of marble and bears the family crests of Marcilla and Segura. But the most attractive part of the tomb is the alabaster tombstone. The coffin lids are exquisitely worked: one shows the strong and noble Diego, who stretches out his arm to his love, Isabel. His hand almost touches hers, but only almost out of religious piety (since Isabel was married). Isabel's coffin lid has charisma and is very beautiful.
According to Professor Antonio Beltrán, the legend grew when, in 1555, two mummies were found in Saint Peter's Church in Teruel; and they were believed to be Diego Marcilla and Isabel Segura, the lovers.
literature
- James A. Michener : Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections. Fawcett Crest Books, New York 1968.