Novel
The Lord of Bembibre
El señor de Bembibre
Enrique Gil y Carrasco · 1844
Opening lines
En una tarde de Mayo de uno de los primeros años del siglo XIV, volvían de la feria de San Marcos de Cacabelos, tres al parecer criados de alguno de los grandes señores que entonces se repartían el dominio del Bierzo.
One May evening in one of the first years of the fourteenth century, three men who seemed to be servants of one of the great lords who then shared the dominion of the Bierzo were returning from the fair of San Marcos at Cacabelos.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
At the beginning of the fourteenth century, in the Bierzo, don Álvaro Yáñez, lord of Bembibre, loves Beatriz Ossorio, daughter of the wealthy lord of Arganza, and is loved by her. But the young woman's father intends her for the powerful Count of Lemos, and the two lovers come up against his will. In despair, Álvaro ends up entering the Order of the Temple, of which his uncle is master in Castile, at the very moment when the order's power is declining everywhere in Europe and its dissolution is being prepared.
Context
The author offered the novel to the publisher Francisco de Paula Mellado in 1843, and it appeared in Madrid in 1844. He had researched the Knights Templar in the library where he was employed. The book follows the model of Walter Scott's historical novel, but gives a large place to the landscapes of the Bierzo, such as the lake of Carucedo. It was not until 2018 and 2019 that English and French translations could be read, published in León with the university and the town hall of Bembibre.
Who it is for
A historical novel in Castilian, in which the landscapes of the Bierzo take up as much space as the love story and the fall of the Templars.
Prizes and reception
Often regarded as the most important historical novel of Spanish Romanticism; it was translated into English in 2018 and into French in 2019.
Sources for this page 6
The pages consulted to check this page.