Act I setting—Order of Calatrava: a military confraternity founded by Cis- tercian monks in the twelfth century to defend against Moorish attacks in the absence of absolutist Spanish royal authority.
l. 1—Master (and ll. 69 ff.): leader of the Order of Calatrava.
l. 58—the pope (and l. 79): Pius II (1405–1464), elected pope in 1458.
l. 59—your youth (and ll. 69 ff.): the historical father of Rodrigo Téllez Girón, Pedro Girón, relinquished leadership of the Order of Calatrava in order to marry the Infanta Isabel, sister of King Henry IV of Castile, but died before their marriage. Rodrigo, Pedro’s illegitimate son, was only eight years old at the time, and needed papal dispensation to assume the title of Master.
l. 80—Paul: Pope Paul II (1417–1471). Elected pope in 1464 upon the death of Pius II.
ll. 81–82—Juan Pacheco, Master of Santiago: Marquis of Villena (see l. 125), first Duke of Escalona, and leader of the chivalric Order of Santiago, appointed coadjutor because of Rodrigo’s tender age.
l. 90—Henry: King Henry IV of Castile (1420–1474), ruled from 1454 until his death.
l. 91—Alfonso: King Alfonso V of Portugal (1432–1481), married King Henry IV’s daughter Juana in 1475 (see l. 101).
l. 95—Prince Ferdinand of Aragon: later, King Ferdinand V of Castile (1452–1516). Claimed the Castilian throne through his marriage to Isabel.
l. 97—Isabel: (sometimes Isabella) of Castile (1451–1504), half-sister of King Henry IV and Queen of Castile. Married Ferdinand of Aragon.
l. 101—Juana: King Henry IV’s only child (1462–1504).
l. 106—Almagro: seat of the Order of Calatrava, and residence of Rodrigo Téllez Girón.
l. 107—Ciudad Real: city in south-central Spain whose name means ‘royal city.’
ll. 121–122—Counts of Urueña: among these was Alonso Téllez Girón, father of Juan Pacheco.
l. 125—Marquis of Villena: among these was Juan Pacheco.
l. 263—true Spaniards (and ll. 989–991): although Jews had resided peacefully in Spain for centuries, intolerance for non-Christian religions increased during the Reconquest of territories from Muslim forces, and Jews who did not convert to Catholicism were expelled from Spain in 1492.
l. 286—rebec: a bowed, stringed instrument of medieval origin; precursor of the violin.
l. 366—love does not exist: what follows is a pastiche of a pastoral philosophical discussion using snippets of Platonic and Aristotelian tenets.
l. 373—the elements: the Greek philosopher Empedocles (490?–430 B.C.) believed that all matter was composed of earth, air, fire, and water.
ll. 377–378—melancholy … / Blood, choler … phlegm: the ancient Greeks believed that these four bodily humors, each associated with a distinct personality trait, had to be kept in balance in order to ensure good health. These fluids were also each associated with one of the four elements posited by Empedocles.
l. 380—all is harmony: the Greek physician Hippocrates (460–377 B.C.), known as ‘the father of medicine,’ held that harmony was paramount in bodily systems, and that ill health resulted from an imbalance among humors.
ll. 409–410—desire / For beauty: from Plato’s Symposium. See below.
l. 423—Plato: famed Greek philosopher (427?–348? B.C.) whose positing of non-erotic love is reductively exaggerated here.
l. 468—Moors (and l. 500): Moors, mostly Muslims from North Africa, settled in Spain and ruled vast kingdoms from 711 to 1492.
l. 472—brassards: armor pieces covering the arm, usually from elbow to shoulder.
l. 477—Guadalquivir: a river that passes through the southern cities of Cordova and Seville.
ll. 518–519—Africa … / blue and crescent moons: a reference to north African Moorish insignia.
l. 643—Navarre and Aragon: provinces of northern Spain.
l. 705—Extremadura: a province of southwestern Spain bordering Portugal.
ll. 711–712—Count of Cabra … / Córdoba: Diego Fernández de Córdoba, Marshal of Baena.
l. 885—Transylvania: a western region of present-day Romania, invoked here as a place remote from Spain.
l. 887—Westphalia: an eastern region of present-day Germany and obvious site of beer consumption.
l. 888—Gascony: a region of southwestern France.
l. 889—Hyrcania: a region of the ancient Persian empire in present-day Iran and Turkmenistan believed by classical and medieval authors to be a propitious habitat of tigers.
l. 894—Salamanca: city in western Spain and site of the country’s oldest university, founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX of León.
l. 895—Solomon: King of Israel (970–928 B.C.) famed for his wisdom and judiciousness. His reign is related in 1 Kings Chs. 1–11 and 2 Chronicles Chs. 1–9.
l. 913—Gutenberg: Johann Gutenberg (1398?–1468), German inventor of the printing press.
l. 929—St. Augustines or Jeromes: St. Augustine (354–430), Bishop of Hippo, Church Father and author of the Confessions; St. Jerome (340?–420), Church Father and translator of the Bible into the Latin Vulgate version.
ll. 975–976—Aristotle’s tomes, / The Politics: Aristotle, famed Greek phi- losopher (384–322 B.C.) whose materialist concept of the universe opposed the metaphysics of his teacher, Plato. Aristotle was the author of the Politics, a classic treatise on the nature of government and the city-state.
l. 1090—a wise philosopher: Aristotle in the Physics 192a. See also his ‘On the Generation of Animals.’
l. 1118—coats of arms: following his marriage to Isabel of Castile, King Ferdinand of Aragon’s escutcheon bore the symbols of both of the formerly autonomous kingdoms.
l. 1167—garrotte: a medieval form of execution in which a seated prisoner was slowly asphyxiated through the tightening of an iron collar attached to a pole at his back.
l. 1175—Heliogabalus: Roman emperor (203–222) who ruled from 218 until his death. His reign was marked by sexual decadence and a disregard for Roman religious traditions.
l. 1177—Sir Gawain: a nephew of King Arthur and hero of legend whose character was variously depicted as courtly and brave as well as brutal and treacherous.
l. 1396—maravedís (and l. 1434): relatively low-value Spanish coins fixed by King Ferdinand in 1475 at the price of one-thirtieth of a real.
ll. 1645–1646—cardinals … / Rome: a comic reference to the red cloaks worn by cardinals of the Catholic Church.
l. 1793—Amazons: brave women warriors of classical Greek mythology.
l. 1846—El Cid: Rodrigo (Ruy) Díaz de Vivar (1044?–1099), Spanish mili- tary leader nicknamed ‘the lord’ in Arabic; a principal figure of the Spanish reconquest of territories from the Moors.
l. 1846—Rodomonte: fearsome and boastful leader of the Moors in the epic poem Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533).
l. 2039—St. Michael: the archangel who, in Christian tradition, guides the souls of the faithful to Heaven.
l. 2078—León: a province of northwestern Spain.
l. 2344—Esther: Jewish woman who becomes the queen of Persia upon her marriage to King Ahasuerus. The Bible’s Book of Esther recounts how she prevented a massacre of the Jewish people.
l. 2345—Xerxes: also known as Ahasuerus, king of Persia (reign 485–465 B.C.), husband of Esther.
l. 2389—St. Anthony: of Padua (1195–1231), Franciscan missionary re- nowned for his oratorical skills and devotion.
l. 2423—Nero: dissolute Roman emperor (37–68) who ruled from 54 A.D. until his death.