Las sergas de Esplandián

Las Sergas de Esplandián (The Adventures of Esplandián) is the fifth book in a series of Spanish chivalric romance novels by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, which began with Amadís de Gaula. The first known edition of this work was published in Seville in July 1510. But there was another edition published prior, possibly in Seville in 1496, as the sixth book of the series, Florisando, appeared four months earlier, in April 1510.

Ruth Putnam argues that Montalvo finished his novel sometime after 1492[1] but before Queen Isabella died (she died in 1504).[2]

Las Sergas mentions a fictional island named California,[3] inhabited only by women, and ruled by Queen Calafia. When Spanish explorers learned of an island (actually a peninsula) off western Mexico rumored to be ruled by Amazon women, they named it California.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Putnam, Ruth (1917-12-19). Stephens, Henry Morse; Bolton, Herbert Eugene, eds. Herbert I. Priestley. "California: The Name". University of California Publications in History (University of California Press) 4 (4): 313–314. Retrieved 2014-07-14. It seems a fair inference that Montalvo did not complete his own story of Esplandian's victories until after Columbus came back from his first voyage. Even if it appeared originally in 1496, the author would have had time to incorporate a fresh incident into his nearly finished 'copy.'
  2. ↑ Putnam, Ruth (1917-12-19). Stephens, Henry Morse; Bolton, Herbert Eugene, eds. Herbert I. Priestley. "California: The Name". University of California Publications in History (University of California Press) 4 (4): 305. Retrieved 2014-07-14. The date [of Las sergas de Esplandián] is not fixed, but it was certainly before 1504 that it was completed. In his prologue, the author refers to the Catholic Sovereigns in a way to show that they were both still in life, and Isabella died in 1504.
  3. ↑ Rodríguez de Montalvo, Garci (1526) [1496]. Las sergas de Esplandián [The Adventures of Esplandián] (in Spanish). Sabed que ala diestra mano de las Indias ouo una Isla llamada California mucho llegada ala parte del paraiso terrenal la qual sue poblada de mugeres negras sin que algun uaro entre ellas ouiesse: que casi como las amazonas ... (The first mention of "California" occurs on the unnumbered page after page CVIII, in the right column.)

External links