Los Amantes de Teruel | Page 2

view of historical authenticity. Stripped
of the fantastic details that have gathered about it in the many literary
treatments given to it by Spanish writers, the legend may be briefly told.
In Teruel, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, lived Juan Diego
Martínez Garcés de Marsilla and Isabel de Segura. They had loved each
other from childhood, but when it became a question of marriage,
Isabel's father opposed the union because of the young man's lack of
material resources and because a wealthy suitor, Rodrigo de Azagra,
had presented himself for the hand of his daughter. All that the
entreaties of the lovers could gain from him was the promise that if
Marsilla went to the wars, gained fame and riches, and returned before
a certain day, he would receive Isabel in marriage. This Marsilla did;
but unfortunately he was unable to return until just after the expiration
of the time set. When he reached Teruel, he found Isabel married to the
wealthy rival. Disappointed in their hopes after so many years of
constant love and continual struggle against adversity, Marsilla died of
grief, and Isabel soon followed him; separated in life by cruel fate, they
were united in death. Buried in the same tomb, they were later
disinterred, and their mummified remains may now be seen in the old
church of San Pedro in Teruel.
#II. Authenticity of the Legend#. The earliest references that have yet
been found to the legend belong to the middle of the sixteenth century,
that is, more than three centuries after the supposed death of the lovers.
In 1555, when the church of San Pedro in Teruel was undergoing some
repairs, two bodies, supposedly those of Marsilla and Isabel, were
discovered in one tomb in a remarkably good state of preservation.
They were reburied at the foot of the altar in the chapel of Saints
Cosme and Damian, and the story of the unfortunate lovers began to
spread far and wide. By the end of the century it was apparently widely
known and attracted considerable attention to the old city of Teruel.
When Philip III of Spain was journeying to Valencia in 1599 he was
induced to turn aside to visit the church of San Pedro. In the official

account of his journey, "Jornada de Su Majestad Felipe III y Alteza la
Infanta Doña Isabel, desde Madrid, a casarse el Rey con la Reyna Doña
Margarita, y su Alteza con el Archiduque Alberto," the story of the
legend as then generally accepted is related so succinctly that it may
well be quoted here: "En la iglesia de San Pedro, en la capilla de San
Cosme y San Damián, de la dicha ciudad, está la sepultura de los
Amantes que llaman de Teruel; y dicen eran un mancebo y una
doncella que se querían mucho, ella rica y él al contrario; y como él
pidiese por mujer la doncella y por ser pobre no se la diesen, se
determinó a ir por el mundo a adquerir hacienda y ella aguardarle
ciertos años, al cabo de los cuales y dos o tres días más, volvió rico y
halló que aquella noche se casaba la doncella. Tuvo trazas de meterse
debajo de su cama y a media noche le pidió un abrazo, dándose a
conocer; ella le dijo que no podía por no ser ya suya, y él murió luego
al punto. Lleváronle a enterrar, y ella fué al entierro, y cuando le
querían echar en la sepultura, se arrimó a la ataúd y quedó allí muerta;
y así los enterraron juntos en una sepultura, sabido el caso."
Seventeen years later a long epic poem by the secretary of the city
council of Teruel, Juan Yagüe de Salas, aroused much discussion as to
the authenticity of the legend. In 1619 the bodies were again exhumed
and in the coffin of one of them were found written the words "Éste es
Don Diego Juan Martínez de Marsilla"; also a document, "papel de
letra muy antigua," giving the story in detail. This document
disappeared, but the copy that Juan Yagüe claimed to have made may
be seen in the archives of the church of San Pedro or in the
transcription published in the Semanario Pintoresco for the week
ending Feb. 5, 1837 (Vol. II, pages 45-47). The genuineness of the
document and its copy is very doubtful. The first paragraph shows
some linguistic peculiarities of old Aragonese; but these gradually
disappear, until there is little left in the language to differentiate it from
that of the good notary public and poet, Juan Yagüe, who was so
anxious to prove authenticity for the legend treated in his poem.
Although there is no reliable evidence that the bodies exhumed in 1555
and again in 1619 were those of Marsilla and Isabel,