The Pujades Affair

Jeroni Pujades (1568 - ca.1650)

This article disputes the academic consensus that Pujades died in 1635. The historian referred repeatedly to the 1640s in his work, which identifies an elaborate baroque plot: There is strong evidence that he had "mortal enemies" and that his friends saved his life by staging his funeral with an empty coffin. This enabled him to continue his chronicle in a secret location, probably a monastery. According to his last testament in October, 1634, Pujades had joined the Franciscan order as friar of the Third Rule and made some unusual funeral arrangements.

1. Introduction

        Many historical works about the medieval "Spanish March" (Catalonia) rely on quotes from the Marca hispanica.., which was published in 1688 and is regarded as one of the greatest achievements of the French scholar Etienne Baluze. Although the core of the work is by Pierre de Marca, for whom Baluze worked a few years as secretary, Baluze edited the work posthumously and tripled its volume by adding many unique, medieval documents (1). Consequently, the editor is now more celebrated than the author, but it is rarely considered that the Catalan historian Jeroni Pujades (2) discovered many of these documents – and that he is slandered in the index as "ignorant" (Pujadesii inscritia notadur).

        Pujades had remained relatively unknown, even in his own country, and few scholars realized that Baluze's remark targeted a colleague. Thanks to John H. Elliott (Oxford), who discovered the diaries of Pujades in Barcelona, the historian is finally getting some attention as a diarist. Scholars use his comments to describe the political struggle that led to the ill-fated revolt of the Catalans against Spain in 1640. It was a difficult period for Pujades as well, as is shown by James S. Amelang (Madrid): "Symbolizing the pressures placed on Catalan writers was the switch made by the jurist and historian Jeroni Pujades in the later volumes of the Chronicle of Catalonia. After publishing the first tome in Catalan in 1609, Pujades – never one to muffle his strident anti-Castilian sentiments – felt compelled to write the rest of his work in Spanish, for the sake of universal understanding" (See article). Amelang follows Elliott, who mentioned his "anti-Castilian bitterness", and even a "warm reference" to the king of France.(3)

        Why Baluze, a Frenchman who never met Pujades, would attack his benefactor is difficult to understand, unless it was meant to distract from his plagiarism. Other historians had a different opinion: Esteve de Corbera (4) praised Pujades in Cataluña Illustrada as the first contemporary who "found a way in these difficult times to give us a Chronicle of Catalonia... he accomplished this work with great care and prudence, and searched the archives for ancient documents... dedicating a better part of his life to this laudable occupation without support, public or private, even opposed by some out of jealousy..." Later in the 17th century, the Franciscan friar and historian Joan Roig i Jalpí (5) praised him even more highly: "The Second Part of the chronicle of Dr. Pujades illuminates everything noble about Catalonia, in general and in particular, and it is worth more, without comparison, than all the treasures of Venice."

         In the early 19th century, the Dominican historian Jaime Villanueva (6) wrote in his Viage literarario a las Iglesias de España: "There isn't a library in Catalonia, large or small, that doesn't have a copy of the Marca hispanica... yet the Second and Third Part of the Chronicle of Catalonia of Dr. Jeroni Pujades, which is full of precious documents, remains unpublished for almost two centuries" yet Baluze "repaid his benefector with an arrogant comment in the index... and exploited documents in this work and others that Pujades collected during half a century in the archives of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Roussillon, Conflente, etc., and enjoyed them as if he had visited these holy places himself."

         Villanueva's accusation reflects the difficulties of travel in that age, which was very time-consuming and a physical challenge. Like Villanueva for his Viage, Pujades had to spend days on horseback to reach the most distant and isolated monasteries, even in the high Pyrenees, whereas Baluze could "enjoy" the discoveries at his desk in Paris. In spite of the Frenchman's plagiarisms his reputation remains intact – and Pujades is ignored because some scholars take his Dietari (diaries) too literally. Instead of relying on the distinguished editors of the Chronicle, who appreciated his "genius, subtleness and erudition" (see below) they regard Pujades as an over-zealous Roman Catholic who hated Protestants and heretics, which makes him seem prejudicial and calls his reliability as a historian into question.

            This is probably why the Chronicle is rarely referenced today, although it is a major contribution to an established Renaissance tradition that aimed to "illustrate" (7) the history of a country. A detailed study of the work would reveal that in addition to celebrating Catalonia, Pujades used a sophisticated rhetoric to attack Church history – which took some courage in the era of the Spanish Inquisition – and that he raised the bar for historians as well: he doesn't simply quote and record information without questioning the sources and their reliability, as was customary at the time, but uses his legal expertise to evaluate conflicting accounts. 

           Whenever he introduces new documents, which is often, Pujades addresses both sides of a controversy and raises many reasonable doubts (8). He usually defers the burden of passing judgment to his readers and when he mentions his own opinion, he either adds or hides it in other chapters. As a result, some rhetorical claims could seem prejudicial if taken out of context. This is most apparent when he resorts to religious exaltation in the flowery Spanish language, which is characteristic for the Baroque era. Only informed readers would notice the satire, which is clearly inspired by Cervantes, because the Catalan culture prefers subtleties and understatements.

            He also raised the bar with an index of almost 200 published sources for Part One (1609), and with references in the text and at the margins. This was rare at the time, especially when compared to Francisco Diago, a Dominican historian and inquisitor, whom he challenges regularly. In dealing with the legends of Montserrat, for example, Pujades contradicts not only Diago, but also the "badly informed" Antonio de Yepes (9), an official chronicler of the Benedictines. Pujades was also the first to debunk a famous legend of Guifré el Pilos, who is celebrated as the founding father of Catalonia. Independent of Pujades, modern historians exposed this centuries later as a forgery by an erudite ecclesiastic (10).

          Perhaps, the critics of Pujades, who base their evaluations solely on the diaries, should at least honor the courage of their colleague by addressing some of the open questions: Why did the Spanish continuation of the Chronicle remain unpublished for two centuries? Did Bishop Pierre de Marca really take it, as claimed, by "force of arms"? Only the diaries of 1601-1610 and 1621-1630 seem to exist, but would such a passionate chronicler leave these unexplained gaps? Did Pujades capture the zeitgeist of Catalonia like an objective eyewitness, or did he reveal his personal opinion in the diaries? And why should we rely on a brief notice of his funeral in 1635 – if there is overwhelming evidence that he was still alive in the 1640s?

 

2. The Baroque Plot

         These questions require the kind of "detective work" few historians are willing to risk, because no one wants to recall the darkest period in Catalan history – and because they could be accused of "sensationalism". These historians would have to deal with an alleged forgery by two bishops who documented that Pujades survived his funeral. The search for a motive is not attractive either, because Pujades dared to attack several church historians and, according to Miquel Pujols i Canelles (11), had "mortal enemies" at the time. There is also the obstacle that the Bollandists (Jesuits) and Maurists (Benedictines) adopted his research methods and are now among the leading authorities on the Middle Ages (12). If everything is considered, only an independent study of the Chronicle could determine if Pujades had valid reasons to contradict so many historians. Until the experts are ready, aficionados of his discoveries have the advantage. Here is the most controversial example from the Catalan edition:

In 1601, Pujades visited Sant Pere de Rodes (13), an ancient Benedictine monastery in the Pyrenees where his son Dalmau served later as a monk. He discovered a Latin chronicle (no. 223) in a pile of parchments with strong evidence that the grail legends originated at the site. Although he has the wisdom not to mention the "Holy Grail" verbatim, he exposes a forgery that contradicts every known hypothesis. But because Pujades is labeled "ignorant" by Baluze and "prejudicial" by Amelang, most scholars hesitate to rely on his findings because of his lack of credibility. This is a problem here as well, because the monastery was looted numerous times between 1654 and 1708, and the chronicle has disappeared and may be collecting dust at the BnF in Paris, like its illustrated bible. Furthermore, the grail myth is often regarded as a challenge of Roman Catholicism, which may have prevented Pujades from addressing it directly. At the time, the Inquisition was still active in Spain, and the Dominican priest Giordano Bruno had been convicted of heresy and was burned at the stake in Rome! It is also the theme of a Dan Brown bestseller, which is another good reason why reputable scholars prefer to ignore it.

            The massing of such problems might explain why the documented portion of the Baroque plot gets little attention as well: The lost Chronicle was discovered in France, in the library of the archbishop of Rouen, Jacques-Nicholas Colbert, the youngest son of the most powerful man at the court of Louis XIV and a member of the Academie Française. The archbishop informed Pau Ignasi de Dalmases in 1696, a Catalan aristocrat and scholar, and invited him to Rouen to study the Chronicle. De Dalmases compiled a summary, praised it highly, and recommended it to other historians. It occurred to Josep Taberner i d'Ardena, the bishop of Girona, that his noble family was owed some favors at the court of Louis XIV, and he received some copies in 1715, which vanished as well for over a century. 

             When the Chronicle was finally published in 1829 - 1832, the editors revealed in tome V that Villanueva had accused Baluze of plagiarism, and that he found the lost copies in the library of the Marqués de Villel (i.e. a pro-French activist), whose wife had inherited them from the count of Darnius, one of the Taberners (14). According to Villanueva's account, Pujades handed the Chronicle personally to Pierre de Marca when he was in Catalonia between 1644 and 1651 as "Visitador general" for the king of France (15). This would confirm the "anti-Castilian bitterness" of Pujades and is reflected in Catalan history: After their revolt in 1640, the Catalans had voted for Louis XIII as "count of Barcelona", which gave them independence from Spain.

             But the plot thickens again: When tome VII was published in 1831, the "ADVERTENCIA DE LOS EDITORES" introduced a  church register that documents the funeral of Pujades in 1635, which disproved Villanueva. Nevertheless, the editors felt obliged to point out that tome VII contains substantial evidence that Pujades was still alive in the 1640s, and that he seems to have had a friendly relationship with de Marca.

            Tome VIII followed in 1832, but the "ADVERTENCIA" in the last volume no longer mentions the editors and reverses their position: The death of Pujades in 1635 is now confirmed because, according to his descendants, bishop de Marca had robbed the manuscripts "by force of arms" from the widow of Pujades, closed down the house, and evicted the family. The anonymous writer goes on to dramatize a long list of events to show that Pujades and his family had always been ardently pro-Castilian, which contradicts the balanced, rhetorical style of the editors – and the findings of Elliott and Amelang.

 

3. Why would it matter when Pujades died?

             If he died in 1635, which is fully accepted today, the forewords and first two chapters of the Chronicle (tome I, Esp. 117) and the entire last part (tome IV, Esp. 120) would have to be forgeries. As long as this consensus is maintained, the Catalans can accuse a Frenchman of "robbing" (16) priceless documents from their churches and monasteries, rather than one of their own. They are apparently not aware of the fact that it saved them from disappearing in the Vatican Archives, and made them accessible for modern scholars at the Bibliothèque Nationale (BnF) in Paris. This may be the reason why so many ecclesiastics are involved in the "Pujades Affair", either in his support or in opposition. Here are the two scenarios, based on the published claims:

1. The Plagiarism of Pierre de Marca

The funeral on January 7, 1635, supports the claim that de Marca took the manuscripts of Pujades by "force of arms" from his widow to exploit them in his own historical works. The robbery would have occurred between 1644 and 1651, when he was "Visitador general" of Catalonia. Within the following ten years, the former protégé of Richelieu became archbishop of Toulouse and French minister of State, and so influential at the French court that he almost succeeded his friend Mazarin as cardinal. But Louis XIV decided to rule himself and made him (only) archbishop of Paris in 1662, the year of his death – but without confirmation by the Vatican.

 

2. The Survival of Jeroni Pujades

In 1831, when the editors introduced the obituary in tome VII, they gave the Baroque plot a whole new spin: They quote from the same volume to show that Pujades was working on the Chronicle in the 1640s. Among the quotes "I'm alive today on January 6, 1645" (p.349) stands out most dramatically because the day is Epiphany (revelation) – and exactly 10 years to the day after the funeral – which is quite a message! There is even external support: Villanueva writes that Pujades handed his work personally to de Marca between 1644 - 1651, and the Catalan Diccionari Biografic and some French and Italian publications maintain he died "near 1650" (17).

             The opposing claims raise several interesting points: Above all, we know there was a cover-up because the year of death is disputed, which exposes one version as a forgery! But which one? If Pujades died in 1635, and this had to be covered up, why didn't a powerful bishop like de Marca eliminate a page in a church register? Why did he have entire volumes forged instead to pretend Pujades was still alive in the 1640s, and even acknowledge the "obituary" by disputing it ten years to the day later? This absurd hypothesis gets even more Baroque: A former protégé of Richelieu and friend of Mazarin would only rob these documents – and add false dates to the Chronicle – if he had a good reason, like the cover-up of a murder. He could have simply destroyed the manuscripts if plagiarism had been the motive.

 

4. New Catalan perspectives                   

             The Barcelona congress in April, 2011, ended two centuries of silence and finally honored Pujades. The last time the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona praised his work was in the early 19th century, when it recommended it as "an ancient codex with rare and important information, like a mine... for the benefit of history" (18). This was revealed after another century of silence, when the academy was still known as the Acadèmia dels Desconfiats, literally the “Academy of the Distrustful”. One of its founders was Pau Ignasi de Dalmases i Ros (1670-1718) and we have shown above how highly he thought of Pujades. These endorsements are an important legacy modern historians have rarely considered.  

              One of the organizers of the Barcelona event was Eulàlia Miralles, who talked about the "posteritat" of Pujades, and James Amelang addressed  "el dietari", the diaries of Pujades. Until their papers become available, we can only hope they had the courage to bring up Pierre de Marca, and that Pujades seems to have survived his "funeral" in 1635. Although they are the leading experts on Pujades, these scholars may have avoided this controversy by embracing the convenient hypothesis of Marc Mayer (p.220), one of the guest speakers, who suggested that Josep, the son of Pujades, may have given the Chronicle to de Marca in 1651. Although Mayer et al. impress with their defense of Pujades against a German scholar, their references can neither support the handover nor the date (19). If they have access to the entire letter, where this is allegedly stated, the implications are not as convenient as it may seem: We will show below that this could support the second scenario right after the death of Pujades "near 1650". 

               Antoni Cobos and Joaquim Tremoleda presented a paper about “Pujades i Sant Pere de Rodes”, and if they have done their homework had to include his greatest discovery at the monastery: the above-mentioned Latin chronicle 223. Hence, we await with curiosity if this illustrious group of experts shared the enthusiasm of de Dalmases three hundred years later, or if they were merely in town to recycle old ideas and enjoy Catalan cuisine. If the conference was not the overdue vindication of Pujades, and just "business as usual", some erudite Catalans will have to revive the Acadèmia dels Desconfiats, this time on the internet!

(Note: The above text will be revised as soon as the conference papers are available!)

            Meanwhile, we can google "Jeroni Pujades" and the relevant information is easily available. Although Elliott is still regarded as the academic authority on the "Revolt of the Catalans", there is a new generation of scholars at the University of Barcelona that has begun to explore this Baroque maze: Angela Serrano broke the ice in 1988 by showing that the Catalan aristocrat Josep Margarit is characterized by prominent historians like Sanabre and Soldevila as a "mal catala" (bad Catalan) and confused terrorist. Following Josep Pella i Forgas (1875), Serrano disputes their opinion and wants to restore him as a true patriot. She points out that Margarit was sent in 1641 to Paris where "he impressed Louis XIII, Anne of Austria, and Richelieu so much that they made him general or governor of Catalonia" (p.218), and that Pierre de Marca was a "gran amic", a great friend of Margarit (p.219). Serrano ends with Pella, who saw Margarit as a hero and "exemplary individual with a fanatical love for Cataluña". She makes no mention of Pujades, who would have been another "gran amic", but shows rather eloquently why many Catalans were "pro-French" at the time.

             In 2002, Eulàlia Miralles published a study of the "Corónica" of Pujades (Tomes I-IV, Esp. 117-120), which she conducted at the BnF in Paris. Curiously, she did not accept the change to "Crónica" by the erudite editors of the Barcelona edition and went back to the original title of Pujades. She also surprised historians with several, important discoveries: There are two unpublished prologues and a complete Spanish translation of the First Part with illustrations from the 1609 publication pasted in, to which the editors had no access in the 19th century. In addition to Esp. 120, where Pujades refers to 1644 and 1645, she found two other claims in Esp. 117 that dispute the date of the funeral: "...yo escrivo esto el de 1637" ("I'm writing this in 1637", p.260), and a reference to Joan Luis de Moncada as "dean de Vique", which he became "in late 1639" (p.235). 

             But the most important discovery of Miralles is that the prologues in tome I (Esp. 117) and the entire tome IV (Esp. 120) in Paris with the references to the 1640s are not written by Pujades, but by a scribe who quotes him verbatim! She identifies the Franciscan friar and historian Francesc Fornés who had also signed the prologue of the translator. She points out that he added important notes to the other manuscripts, like an editor, even improving the flawed Spanish of Pujades (p.230), and that he belonged to a "pro-French nucleus... of historians and erudite Catalans who were under the protection of Pierre de Marca..." (p. 231). This is a major break-through for our researches, because Fornés is the missing link between de Marca and Pujades, supporting Villanueva's account of their friendly relationship, but this is apparently insufficient evidence for Miralles to question the date of the funeral.  

             However, if Pujades died in 1635 and de Marca took the manuscripts "by force of arms" from his widow, or if they were given to him voluntarily in 1651, why would he ask a Franciscan friar to edit and improve the texts and pretend to be Pujades by claiming "I'm alive today on January 6, 1645"? The date not only discredits the funeral, but makes the so-called "obituary" part of the plot and strongly suggests that Fornés was asked to prepare the Corónica for its publication and complete tome IV for Pujades. In view of the findings of Miralles, only conspiracy theorists could still maintain that Pujades was buried in 1635. They would have to accept that Pierre de Marca asked Fornés to rewrite and forge the beginning and end of the Chronicle, and because a poor Franciscan minor could not be bribed with money, he persuaded Louis XIII to reward him with the title "Bishop of Urgell".

              But this "Baroque plot" has a major flaw: Why didn't de Marca use a scribe who could imitate the handwriting of Pujades? We would have never known the truth, yet he chose Fornés to write the manuscripts in his ornamental, Baroque style – and even allowed him to add his signature. That it was crossed out later is another matter.

              In the mid-1980s, when we first examined the Crónica, as the Corónica was renamed by its erudite editors, the original manuscripts were in an excellent condition and seemed untouched for centuries. They have greatly deteriorated since because of handling and their conversion to microfilm. The first volume (Esp.117) is virtually falling appart and a consultation of the microfilm is mandatory, and following up with the orginal requires the special permission of a senior librarian. There is no other option, because the signature is obscured by a dark rectangle on the microfilm.

                The above sample is not a photocopy, but a quick sketch by hand that was made in December, 1989, long before Miralles identified Fornés. It shows that it was impossible to decipher "fray Fransesc Fornés" and "Indigno fray menor". Inspired by the findings of Miralles, this writer re-examined Esp. 117 in January of 2010 and was surprised that the scribbles have faded to a lighter brown in twenty years of exposure and don't cover the signature anymore. It is clearly readable now, which reveals that an inferior ink was used to cross it out. He also noticed that Fornés continued after the forewords and penned chapters 1 and 2, followed by chapter 3 in the hand of Pujades. Although this would still support the conjecture that the beginning and end of the Crónica were replaced by a forger, the signature attests to the contrary. 

              Miralles (p. 229) claims that Pujades "always wrote" one column on the right side of a page to leave room for notes and illustrations at the left. This also had the advantage to create a clean, readable text because the ink bleeds through to the other side. Her comments indicate, however, that she had limited access to Esp. 119 (Tome III, depicted at right), which is not available on microfilm. On the first page (see scan), Pujades began using most of the page, and it surprises with the large headline across the top: "Jhs Maria Francisco" (20), which Miralles would have surely addressed if she had seen it. One of our Catalan contributors informed us that "Jhs" is the Christogram iota-eta-sigma, or ΙΗΣ, which is derived from the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus. But, unfortunately, the solution of one problem leads to another: Who was Jesus Maria Francisco, or is Joan (Johannes) de Santa Maria meant?

 

5. The unsolved mystery of Esp. 119

             That Miralles had limited access to Esp. 119 is also shown by her comment in footnote 19, that "another French hand added later some notes to ms. Esp. 119", which is quite an understatement. Beginning with book XII, chapter one (Barcelona edition, tome VI, p. 320), another scribe penned the most inspired part of the "illustrated" history of Catalonia! These 28 chapters are in many ways the heart of the Crónica as they cover the last years of Guifré el Pilos, the celebrated founding father of Catalonia, his patronage of Santa Maria de Ripoll and the entire mystery of Montserrat, which Pujades narrates with the passion of a poet because it is so revered by the Catalans. But he never forgets that he is a legal expert doing historical researches, because his poetic "illustrations" are backed up by a judicial tour de force: He connects the (forged) legends of Guifré el Pilos to the (forged) legends of the famous Black Madonna of Montserrat, and offers some conclusions in chap. 11 (Barcelona, tome VI, pp. 384-388), to continue with Montserrat until chapter 28 (Barcelona, p. 418). Throughout his rhetorical arguments, some covert, others openly, Pujades debunks Francisco Diago and the "badly informed" Antonio de Yepes – and all in the hand of an anonymous scribe!

                Although we had originally assumed that Fornés penned these chapters, because of some similarities in the Baroque style, we compared the handwriting in Esp. 117, 119 and 120, once again in early 2011 and had to conclude that the important chapters in Esp. 119 are not written by Fornés. (See new samples!) But similar to Esp. 120, the scribe uses Baroque letters and writes in such a fluid style that he was obviously transferring the drafts and notes of Pujades. In fact, we can document that Pujades was unable to do the work himself, probably because of a serious illness:  In the beginning of chapter 29, p. 472, (Barcelona, p. 419), the scribe stops in the second line after "...des del año 885. Reynaba en Francia Carlos crasso” and Pujades continues in mid-sentence to write “poseyendo aquellos estados por lo menos des del año hasta al año...”, and keeps on writing until the end of the volume. You can click on the detail (et left) to see more of the page. It shows the scribe above and Pujades below and, as customary at the time, both write often an s that looks like an f. The difference of their style is most noticeable after 885, with Rey..., where the "R" is quite ornamental, and the simple des, del and movido de are typical for the style of Pujades. 

               Because Pujades completes Esp. 119 himself, which is followed by Esp. 120 in the hand of Fornés, according to Miralles, an interesting scenario can be noticed: Because the scribe stops in mid-sentence, he may have been surprised by Pujades who had suddenly entered the room. If this occurred in the 1630s, as most scholars would affirm, the sudden entry would explain that the scribe worked at the residence of Pujades. If it was after 1635, as we contend, Pujades had taken refuge in a monastery. He was probably sick in bed in another cell, and got up to see the monk who worked on the Crónica, and strongly disagreed with what he was doing. Had this occurred at a private residence after 1635, the horse or carriage of Pujades would have been heard in the street, and the social customs dictated that he would have been announced.

               If we examine the page, the suddenness is rather well documented: After the scribe stopped, Pujades takes the pen, makes a mistake he has to scratch out, and runs out if ink right away because a heated discussion seems to have started. Similar corrections continue on the next page, which indicate that Pujades had not yet fully recovered. Some corrections are actually paper swatches that were glued on the page. Two explanations come to mind why Pujades could have been so upset: He either didn't know that the scribe was writing his poetic "illustration" of Montserrat, which he had been looking forward to, or he disagreed with the scribe's changes. Without knowledge of the change of hands, the editors of the Barcelona edition rephrased the portion of the scribe as follows: "...desde el año ochocientos ochenta y cinco reinabia in Francia el emperador Cárlos craso..." and left the continuation of Pujades "... poseyendo aquellos estados por lo menos hasta el año..." unchanged.

               Although Pujades completed the volume himself, the 28 chapters are strong evidence that he was too ill to do the work and perhaps unaware of the scribe's involvement. Furthermore, the continuation in mid-sentence establishes several important facts: 1. It documents that a scribe could be used. 2. Because this scribe was apparently not up to the task, a better scribe would have been necessary if the health of Pujades did not improve. 3. This would open the door for Fornes, who was a historian himself.

                We can also show that the location, where Pujades took refuge, required some travelling. Both volumes, Esp. 119 and 120, have strong crease marks which indicate that the manuscripts had to be concealed. That the mysterious "Jhs Maria Francisco" was added on top of the first page of Esp.119 may relate to this scenario, unless it is the name of the scribe or the location where Pujades spent the last years of his life. (The quick sketch of the crease marks was made at the BnF in 1989)

 

6. Evidence that the funeral of Pujades was staged 

                Before we penetrate this Baroque maze deeper than most scholars would be willing to risk, we need to address the unsolved problem of the "obituary". The editors of the Crónica had to rely on a certified copy, dated August 23, 1831, which they translated into Spanish (21). Here is a scan of the original, vol. 2, p.58 of the register, with the page and a detail (contrast enhanced). In spite of heavy water damage it is clear that a date of death is not mentioned, only that Pujades died after an illness and received the final rites, and that his body was lying in state at Santa Maria on January 7, 1635, after which he was buried at the monastery Sant Francesc. The stamp of the Archdiocese of Girona could be from the 19th century for the certified copy, or because the register was transferred or checked at a later time. In the context, it is a curious fact that over 25% of the subscribers of the Crónica were ecclesiastics, incl. two abbots of Montserrat and the archbishop of Tarragona.      

                If we consider that we have authentic documents that contradict each other, the beginning of Esp. 117 and the entire Esp. 120 in the handwriting of Fornés which are disputed by the above register, the solution of this mystery would have confirm the validity of these documents: We know that the events of the 1630s led to an open revolt against Spain in 1640, and that Pujades opposed the pro-Castilian faction. He also had "mortal enemies", which interfered with his lifelong passion to document the history of his beloved country and didn't leave him much time because he had turned 66 in 1634. Hence, his "obituary" would have been part of an orchestrated exitus with the help of a few friends. (Younger visitors to our site may find it difficult to understand his motivation, but this writer is in the same age-group Pujades was at the time and is documenting the "Pujades Affair" for similar reasons!)

                Miquel Pujol i Canelles (22) is a historian and the retired rector of Vilafant at the outskirts of Figueres. He compiled a detailed "Aportació a la biografia de Jeroni Pujades...", including the testament of Pujades and a probated inventory of his possessions. He is very familiar with the local customs and corrected Josep Maria Casas Homs, who edited a "magnificent edition" of the diaries (p.217), because he had wrongly assumed that Pujades was first buried at the parish church Santa Maria. This error may have stopped modern historians from investigating further, because if funeral and first burial were at the local church, its register with the obituary could not be questioned. Pujol points out, however, that it was mandatory since 1616 (p.148) that the deceased had to first lie in state in Castelló d'Empúries, if the burial was going to be outside the city walls, where the monastery Sant Francesc was located. Pujol writes that Pujades was transferred "immediately" from Santa Maria to his family crypt at the monastery (p.160), where his mother, his first wife Elisabet, and some of their children had been entombed (p.147).

               It is also difficult to understand why the experts maintain that Pujades died in 1635 without considering that there are no other records of the funeral of a prominent, local personage like Pujades. He was first hired by the Duke of Cardona to work for the duchess, and in 1635 was the legal representative of the viceroy, the famous Duke of Alcalá. The father of Pujades, a well-known attorney in Barcelona, was from Figueres, which is less than ten miles from Castelló. Furthermore, Pujades had a second wife and ten sons and daughters, with many relatives living in the region (Pujol, p.157). It is reasonable to assume that his death would have been publically known and documented somewhere. There are apparently no publications about his death in Barcelona either, although Pujades had taught at the university, was a member of the city council, and the First Part of the Chronicle had been published there. Even the distinguished Felix Torres Amat of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres, who edited the Chronicle in the early 19th century in Barcelona, maintained that he was alive in the 1640s.

 

7. The Franciscan connection    

               The first historian to reveal that the Second Part of the Crónica is in French hands was friar Joan Roig i Jalpi in 1678, which is important evidence! He was a confratre of Fornés, which shows that some Franciscans were fully informed of these events. According to Pujol (pp.147, 163-64), Pujades embraced the "Franciscan sprit" as well.  He became a lay member of the Third Rule and made a new testament on Oct. 20, 1634, shortly before his alleged death. He stipulated a simple burial without superfluous vanity and pomp, to be dressed like an undignified Franciscan of the Third Rule, buried as poor as a pauper and, especially, that no one should carry his coffin on their shoulders to his grave (p. 234). These unusual requests, which were obviously fulfilled, are strong evidence that the coffin was closed in a secluded, Franciscan setting, and that there was neither a procession nor a public funeral.

                Furthermore, it is strange that the testament of Pujades makes no mention of the Crónica, his life-long passion, and neither does the detailed inventory of his possessions. Even the diary and vast collection of rare documents are omitted, which Pujol points out, but fails to explain. Esteve de Corbera, for example, who had so much praise for Pujades, died in 1631 and, according to Amelang, did mention his works in the testament.

                In view of Pujol's findings the following scenario comes to mind: January 7, 1635 was a Sunday, a day after Epiphany, which is celebrated as the Festa de Reyes. The rector of Santa Maria had a busy weekend and could have been easily persuaded by a Franciscan friar to "simplify matters" in the Franciscan spirit, especially if he was a friend of Pujades and paid the usual sueldos that are listed in the "obituary". Consequently, a coffin was shown pro forma at the church and taken "immediately" to the monastery, where the (empty) coffin was deposited in the family crypt inside the church. It didn't even have to be buried, but was simply placed there as customary!

                This raises an important question: Would Pujades desecrate such a holy place with the Baroque farce of a fake funeral, and have the support of Franciscan friars? If we check the testament of Pujades (p. 233), we learn that the crypt was vacated before 1635 and the remains of his family transferred to the Franciscan monastery Sant Nicolau in Barcelona, to a family crypt where his parents were entombed. Any Franciscan would have gladly supported such well-organized plot to save a human life, and transfer an empty coffin to an empty crypt. Something we can no longer prove because, according to Pujol (p.114), the monastery and church were destroyed in 1822 and the rubble recycled to reinforce the city walls. (Note: It would be consistent with "the Franciscan connection" that the remains of Jeroni Pujades are now in his family's crypt in Barcelona! We strongly urge Catalan scholars to check this out!))

                That the Crónica and documents are not addressed by Pujades indicates that they were already in French hands in 1635, along with the diaries from after 1630, which Pujol attests to have existed (p.160). Again, this disproves de Marca's robbery, and in view of Occam's Razor, which is also a Franciscan tradition, the simple solution with an empty coffin makes much more sense than the elaborate Baroque plot of forged volumes that casts a jealous archbishop as the villain, or murderer, who corrupted a poor Franciscan friar to become his executor.

                Our "star witness" is friar Joan Roig i Jalpi, because he praised "the illustrious and magnificent Señor Archbishop of Paris, Pierre de Marca" as a "great investigator of antiquities and one of the most esteemed geographers of his time", a decade before the Marca hispanica was published by Baluze (23). In fact, he was probably an informant of Villanueva because he was the first to accuse Baluze of plagiarism, and the first to report that the archbishop took the Crónica to France, which implies that de Marca saved a work that was, according to  Roig i Jalpi "worth more, without comparison, than all the treasures of Venice". These comments by a Franciscan friar, published in 1678, are persuasive evidence that an elaborate "Franciscan connection" existed, and that Pujades had the full support of the Franciscans, of de Marca and of Fornés.

                Miralles researched the vita of Fornés and localized him in 1632 in Conflente, which was part of Catalonia until the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659), and in Paris between 1642 and 1643, when Louis XIII nominated him bishop of Urgell to replace Bishop Duran. He was back in Catalonia in 1645 and preached a well-documented sermon in Barcelona on January 12, 1646, criticizing Roman Catholicism and praising its French version, which showed that he shared de Marca's Gallicanism. Hence, he probably worked in those years on the Crónica as well.

 

8. An important second opinion

               As we penetrate this Baroque maze, our imaginative speculations about the death of Pujades need to include the most qualified experts, the three scholars who edited his works two centuries ago, right between the time of Pujades and our era: Fèlix Torres Amat, Pròsper de Bofarull, and Albert Pujol. They had the full support of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona, knew every word Pujades has written and everything that was written about him. Like Pau Ignasi de Dalmases, they were sympathetic to his ideas and intimately acquainted with Catalan zeitgeist and history. Furthermore, they seem to have made sure the censure would not have linear access, and that all six volumes could be published, because they released vol. 1 (I-II) and vol. 3 (V) in 1829, followed by vol. 4 (VI) in 1830. The controversial volumes 2 (III-IV) and 5 (VII) were held back until 1831, which might explain the questionable foreword for volume 6 (VIII), which followed in 1832.

            The editors were apparently aware of the fact that Pujades survived his alleged "obituary", but could not reveal it openly, which is supported in the "Memorias..." of Torres Amat et al. The extensive biography of Pujades (pp. 509-515) follows the praise in the Crónica very closely, yet the scholar concludes:

 

"No he podido averguar de fijo el dia ni año en que murió..."

"I could neither establish conclusively the day nor year he died" (p. 509).

 

            The facts speak for themselves: The certified copy of the "obituary" is dated 1831 and was published in tome VII in the same year. The Memorias followed five years later, in 1836, yet Torres Amat (24) failed to include the date of the funeral and the alleged pro-Castilian views of Pujades. Our critics might argue that he was too busy to make such a trivial change, but the editors had just spent years with the Crónica and were familiar with all aspects of this controversy. They even adapted the rhetorical style of Pujades and suggested, among other things, that some statements are phrased in flawed Spanish as if coming "from his own mouth". The unique idea that Pujades seems to have found a way to speak to us from the grave will be the subject of our final arguments!

            The editors were not only important academics in Spain, but also "liberal theologians" like Villanueva, who had to flee to England where he spent the rest of his life. If we consider that the Crónica was censured and required a royal license, we probably owe it to their sophistication and connections that it could be published. Pujades exposed so many controversial sources that only a publication in a country like France may have been possible in the 1600s. Two hundred years later, the editors were able to solve these problems rhetorically, like Pujades, and honored him by always addressing both sides of a controversy, even in 1831, when they had to introduce the "obituary". They point out that Pujades referred repeatedly to some curious notes or sources in Paris: ...ut habes in flosculo meo primo, o secundo, ut habes in flosculo meo Parisiensi, etc. which they allegedly find difficult to explain, and which forces them to speculate that if these notes were already in Paris at the time, he had a friendly or literary relation there, which "could have been the archbishop of Paris..." (tome VII, p.III) They avoid mentioning his name in the context, but strongly suggest de Marca's involvement when Pujades was still alive, which supports Villanueva's account and would explain why the Crónica is not mentioned in the will. The editors add that the flosculo are at the Bibliothèque Royale (today BnF) in Paris, and registered under Baluze (mss. 234, 238, 239). It remains to be questioned if the list is complete, although Jesús Villanueva Lopéz writes, following Abadal, that only one document from the flosculo is used in the Marca hispanica (25). But, according to the erudite editors, these were "flosculo ó documentos antiguos" (Tome IV, p. II), which appears to be a message that all Catalan documents from Pujades and de Marca were included in the flosculo, such as the Gesta comitum barcinonensium, which is also registered under Baluze.

            Although the editors do not openly question the "obituary", they follow the kind of rhetorical set-up Pujades used often in his works: Instead of closing their "advertencia" (Tome VII, p. IV) with his tomb and the dates on his gravestone, as the readers would have expected, or the news that it was completely destroyed, they offer a veiled reference (p. 11) to the

"inteligencia del cómputo de los años"

and close with inscriptions from another church in the Empordà – and from Nuestra Señora del Pino in Barcelona. This is a sophisticated idea to take the controversy to a higher level, to prepare readers that Pujades is about to speak for himself!

 

9. The mental world of Jeroni Pujades

            Before we investigate the esoteric messages of Pujades, which few scholars will be willing to follow, some disturbing facts need to be addressed that will probably turn them off completely, as they eliminate his competence as an unbiased historian. We mentioned in the beginning that our scholars mistake Pujades for "an over-zealous Roman catholic with a deep hatred of Protestants and heretics", but the critique is actually even more severe: Based on his diaries, Amelang accuses Pujades of "xenophobia" and describes him as a "fervent Catholic" who followed traditional religious practices like "the veneration of relics and saints". He notes that "his remarks on religious matters betray a militant and highly defensive awareness of being engaged in an endless battle against heresy", and that he is obedient "to the apostolic Catholic Roman see – an attitude which explains his (rare) expression of delight when he heard of a massacre of Huguenots in southern France in 1611." Amelang concludes: "It is perhaps this, the dark side of Pujades for the modern reader, that best testifies to his role as a spokesman for his times and for a mental world most would regard as better left behind." (26)

            This is devastating news for aficionados of the Crónica, and especially this writer, because it means that "ignorant" (Baluze) and "prejudicial" (Amelang) are valid characterizations of Pujades, and are actually putting it kindly. But before we quote from the editors of the Crónica to hopefully vindicate Pujades, there is a modern expert, Miquel Pujol, who adds the perspective of a Roman catholic priest: "He describes a period... marked by a religiosity of superstitious and naive beliefs – of which Pujades himself is not immune – among a people with a low morale and suffering severely under epidemics." (27)

            There is, of course, the possibility that Pujades was a "fervent Catholic", but experienced a change of heart later in life, which may explain why so many diaries are missing. We have proposed above, however, that Pujades emulated Cervantes with his passionate, religious outbursts, which Amelang's comments seem to confirm. Johannes Kepler was a contemporary of Pujades, who also shows that this was a popular Baroque form of expression (28) that lasted in some European regions well into the 20th century. The era was marked by the Counter-Reformation and these "declarations of faith" were expected by everyone, even by scientists and humanists. However, the above evaluation by Pujol doesn't seem to relate to either profile of Pujades, neither to the erudite humanist with two doctorates, nor to the "over-zealous Roman catholic" whose passionate remarks had a somewhat Quixotic character. We propose, therefore, that Pujades used a rhetorical concept to write like a "fervent Catholic" and document "superstitious and naive religious beliefs" at the same time. In the context, it is noteworthy that Amelang regards Pujades as a "spokesman" and points out the "unbiographical" character of his diary, which would also support our interpretation. 

                (The Dietary is available on-line and it is obviously not a private document, but meant for an eventual publication. In spite of his anti-Castilian bitterness, as noted by Elliott and Amelang, Pujades adhered to Baroque etiquette and always referred to the Spanish king as "el Rey nostre Senyor". For a neutral evaluation of Pujades, the findings of Henry Kamen might also be useful.).

               Aficionados of the Crónica can confirm that aside from the usual rhetorical phrases, Pujades was never a "fervent" supporter of the "apostolic Catholic Roman see", as the diaries seem to suggest. He attacked official Church historians regularly and was always critical of Rome (and Madrid) when Catalan abbots and monks were replaced by Italians and Spaniards. This had nothing to do with the "xenophobia" Amelang noticed, or the liberal editors of the Barcelona editions would have surely pointed this out in their footnotes! What they do say, repeatedly, is that we must understand the difficult period in which the "wise" and "indefatigable chronicler" had to do his work – which implies that he could not express himself openly. In tome VII, p.28, they even suggest in a footnote that he admired "la mania del Heroe del inmortal Cervantes, coetano de nuestro Cronista", which confirms our interpretation. And when they praise in another footnote thes "genius, subtleness and erudition of the chronicler" (see below), it is in full contradiction of Amelang's evaluation of his  rhetoric and style in the diaries. Hence, we can only understand the mental world of Pujades if we consider the Crónica, and that he endured the Spanish Inquisition, the Counter-Reformation, the Thirty Years War, the Plague, and the poverty, starvation and epidemics that contributed to the ill-fated revolt of the Catalans.

            This is why we propose, following Amelang's evaluation, that Pujades presented the official "dark side" like a true journalist in the Dietari, which most Catalans regard "as better left behind", and that he found a way to preserve his enlightened, secret side with a hermetic time capsule in the Crónica:

 

10. Did Pujades "cheat the devil"?

            "The mental world of Jeroni Pujades" is a label we borrowed from Amelang, because it characterizes the complex, Baroque world that Pujades inhabited. This is an obstacle for most historians, because their academic discipline is rather restrictive and "forensic", as it is almost exclusively based on the examination and establishment of facts. When they see an obituary, its "finality" can only close their mind. Many scientists, on the other hand, have the freedom to rely on their imagination, which is why Einstein said "imagination is more important than knowledge". Only this approach allows us to explore the complex mind of Pujades, and especially his references to the 1640s, which are packed with hidden messages about his life and death. They stand out because such trivia has no place in a historical work, not even in an "illustration" of Catalonia, and the trivia would offend serious historians because they can't accept the possibility that this is an important, rhetorical tool. Besides, they would have to accuse de Marca and Fornes of having invented the "time capsule", which they can't address because their reputation would be at stake. 

            The first example of the "inteligencia del cómputo de los años" can be found in tome VII, p. 125, where Pujades requests a simple calculation with his "confirmation" as a child on Monday, April 26, 1574. An important clue is that it occurred in the parish of the above-mentioned church Nuestra Señora del Pino, which he says "was built in 970, making it over 670 years old". The requested calculation takes us to the 1640s, and in the middle of the next page, Pujades confirms that we are on the right track by revealing his age as 76 años de mi edad in the context of the life-death symbolism of the pine tree. He was born on Sep. 30, 1568, which identifies 1644 or 1645. The entire chapter is dedicated to the "Basilica of Our Lady of the Pine" and Pujades uses the myth of Pan and his adoration of Pitys, whom he transformed into a pine tree, as a Christian metaphor of the pine as a symbol of Mary's mortality. He proposes that, according to St Jerome, the birth of Jesus from a mortal Mary concealed his divinity from the demons and, ut ejus partus celaretur a diabolo, was a way to cheat the devil. How he develops this idea over several pages may seem like weird stuff for historians who dismiss our imaginative detective work as pseudo-scholarship, but they should give his esoteric concept some serious thought because their peers of the 19th century, the editors of the Crónica, were quite impressed! They add in a footnote (tome VII, p.127):

 

"Esta metafora nos da una idea del ingenio, sutileza y erudicion del Cronista"

(This metaphor gives us an idea of the genius, subtleness and erudition of the chronicler.)

 

            The veiled suggestion that Pujades found a way to "cheat the devil" himself is confirmed exactly 54 chapters later, probably because Plato calculated (1 + (1x2) + (1x3) +4 +9 + 8 + 27 = 54) for the Generations of the Soul. He continues the calculation mode by mentioning the year 1637 (p.339) and by celebrating the monastery Maria de Meyá in chap. LXIII, to repeat three times in chap. LXIV that he is still alive in 1645 CE. Here are the controversial quotes (29):

1. “En que se pone la lista ó catálogo de los (nombres de los) Priores que ha tenido el priorato de Meyá desde el año 1005 hasta el que corremos hoy, que es el de 1645…" Note: The insert in paranthesis was omitted in the Barcelona edition and is adjusted to the original text in Paris. (Here is a list or catalog of the (names of the) priors of the priory of Meyá from the year 1005 until today, which is 1645...  p.347)

 

2. “…los años y nombres de los que lo fueron desde dicho año 1005 hasta el presente de 1645 en que es prior el ilustre José de Jalpí y Juliá, y son los que siguen…" ( ...the years and names from 1005 until the present in 1645, when the illustrious José de Jalpí y Juliá is the prior, are the following..."  p.347)

 

3. “En el año 1633, á 15 del mes de agosto del dicho año, tomó la posesion del priorato de santa Maria de Meyá el ilustre é insigne José Jalpí y de Juliá teniendo de edad solos 28 años 11 meses y 7 dias. Vive hoy que contamos 6 de enero del año 1645 ..." In 1633, on August 15 of said year, took possession of the priory Santa Maria de Meyá the illustrious and renowned José Jalpí y de Juliá of only 28 years, 11 months, and 7 days of age. He is – or: I am – alive today, which is January 6 of the year 1645..." p. 349)

             In view of his "genius, subtleness and erudition", we are not surprised that Pujades anticipated the identity problem and decided to speak to his readers from the grave – but phrased in flawed Castilian "as if it were from his own mouth"! The enlightened editors support this in their Advertencia (p. II) “…hablando de D. José Jelpi, Prior de santa Maria de Meyá, dice como en boca del mismo Cronista = Vive hoy que contamos 6 de enero de 1645.”

            With this claim in bad Spanish, which Fornés did not correct, Pujades gives his readers another chance to be ahead of the experts because of the esoteric reference to the seeds of the pine he had planted earlier! Or, as Chrétien said in the first lines of the Conte du Graal as a set up for his "contes" (calculations):  "If the seeds are planted in a rich soil, the fruits will be a hundred fold". This is based on a parable in St Matthew, whom Pujades follows by picking January 6, one of the holiest days of Christianity, to reveal that he is still alive. He uses the gospel to hand us the magic key to unlock his hermetic time capsule – because it is the day of the Biblical Magi, which is celebrated as epiphany ("revelation" in Greek, "to manifest" or "to show") – and demands a closer look at his words:

"Vive hoy que contamos 6 de enero del año 1645..."

             Now that Pujades has trained his readers to make calculations, he takes them to January 6, 1645, to request a calculation that disputes his funeral on January 7, 1635, because it was 10 years to the day earlier. In addition to this revelation, which opens the "time capsule", we should keep in mind that Pujades was an attorney and judge, and that he conducted his historical researches from a legal point of view. In dealing with the identity problem, because Fornés is writing this, he apparently decided to "represent himself" and guide his readers through the Baroque maze personally: According to the established facts, we have only the date of a funeral, which would mean that he had died earlier, but this is merely a conjecture without any evidence! There is no death certificate, no date of death, and no corpus delicti – only a brief record of the funeral. On the other hand, there is substantial evidence to the contrary: Important bishops and archbishops are involved, even the court of France!

            The "revelation" and challenge of exactly ten years indicates that the date of the funeral was chosen with the intention to deny it later. In view of Plutarch's second opinion (30) of Plato's Timaeus, the ten years could be an erudite metaphor from the lifespan of the Phoenix, which is calculated by subtracting the false statement of 10, because the nymphs are clearly lying when they claim to live as long as ten phoenixes. These are, of course, also messages for a future generation to open his empty coffin – but Pujades could not foresee that this would no longer be possible. On the other hand, we should probably check his family crypt at Sant Nicolau in Barcelona!  

            Back to the esoteric communications "from the grave": A judge, and doctor of civil and canon law, would never make a conclusive statement that could be false: That the prior of Maria de Meyá "is alive today..." would merely be hearsay if he did not see the prior himself that day! Miralles followed up and confirms that the prior was alive because he headed the priory from 1633 to 1678, but she didn't address the secret message! The way Pujades develops it from a specific day is an important part of his legal concept. Out of context, he says: "I am alive today, which we count as 6 of January of the year 1645...", but he is really saying that the prior was alive on that day. To assure his readers that they are on the right track and not reading anything into his words, Pujades follows up with the proof (p. 339) that he did indeed see the prior on a certain day: He consoled me by saying that he would give me certain papers... (me consoló diciendo, que me daria ciertos papeles) and: On the same day, he sent me one of his servants with said papers... (el mismo dia me envió un criado suyo con dichos papeles...). Out of context, the information about the papers is irrelevant, but necessary to confirm the hidden message that he talked to the prior on January 6, 1645!

            The next paragraph is in such bad Spanish that Fornés would have made corrections if the ambiguities had not been intentional. The "illustrious prior" was looking for an expert in 1637, another date after the funeral, to search in his library for records to determine when and by whom the church and monastery was founded, and why at this specific location? After an "exhausting and tiring " and seemingly endless search, the prior found only one document from the year 1005 CE that lists santa Maria de Meyá as a Benedictine priory. Pujades implies that he was the above-mentioned expert by adding that it may have been founded by Charlemagne, or by his son Louis the Pious. In the context, he mentions that it was originally part of Urgell, which is an important key.

            Six chapters after Maria de Meyá, Pujades weaves the complex history of Ermesenda through nine chapters, and includes some confusing calculations to prepare for the higher theme, which relates to the Platonic 6 x 9 = 54. The editors explain in a footnote (p. 407) that the sources of Pujades differ and confuse certain dates because they refer to years that either begin on March 25, the "conception" of Christ, or after his "incarnation" on December 25 which he uses in the diaries. What the editors didn't know is that this was written by a scribe who could have corrected the confusion, because Fornés was not only an erudite historian and fluent in Spanish, but also the Bishop of Urgell!

            In the hand of Fornés, Pujades goes on to quote from Ermesenda's testament and praise her ardent Catholicism, and how generously she distributed her wealth among over fifty monasteries, churches, and ecclesiastics, and even had some vessels sent to the Roman pontiff. He plays for several pages with the etymology of sciphos and ciphos to elaborate what sacramental "vessels" are, from cups to bowls and pitchers, and that a cipho was used by Hercules, and sciphus in book 8 of Virgil's Aeneid. He points out that the early Church used wooden cups for the Eucharist, which was declared an "abuse" by the Roman pontiffs and banned in the Middle Ages. The last mention of vessels is made in the chapter (p. 414) as duas copas de argento, which is a major clue because Pujades is also a poet, although he avoids mentioning the grail verbatim.

 

11. "gradales duas de argento"

              These Latin words offer another example of the "genius, subtleness and erudition" of Pujades, because he takes his readers from the sacramental "vessels" to the diocese of Urgell in the Pyrenees, to which Maria de Meyá used to belong. The testament of Ermesenda becomes the bridge to the testaments of her deceased relatives with similar names, to Ermengarda of Urgell (d. 1030 CE), and Count Ermengol I of Urgell (d. 1010 CE). Although Pujades stops short of mentioning their names, their testaments are clearly the target of his chapter on "vessels" because they documented grail for the first time in history as "gradales duas de argento" (31), which Pujades translated into Spanish as duas copas de argento as a signal for his readers.

             Skeptical scholars might argue that we are imagining this esoteric concept, but it has the back-up of independent evidence as solid proof: In the high Pyrenees above Urgell, nine Romanesque churches with frescoes of fiery grails (32) had been discovered in the early 1900s, which scholars like Chandler R. Post, Charles L. Kuhn and Otto Demus (33) link directly to grail romance. They survived because of their isolated mountain location, which indicates that other churches in Catalonia had depictions of grails as well, which were white-washed or painted over centuries ago and are yet to be discovered. The most dramatic examples are shown below, which document the transformation of an enclosed reliquary at Sant Pere de Burgal to an open "grala" at Sant Climent de Taüll, from around 1123 CE.

            Of course, we owe the etymology of "grail" to Pujades as well, although du Cange is usually credited, as the Oxford Dictionary attests. But it is part of the paper trail that led from Pujades to de Marca, and finally to Baluze, who joined the savants of Paris at St-Germain-des-Prés on Sundays to impress them with the unique documents he had inherited. According to the Catholic Online Encyclopedia, "Baluze, together with Luc d'Achéry, Mabillon, Sainte-Marthe, Ducange, Montfaucon, and others, gathered an immense quantity of rich materials which the historians of the nineteenth century... were to use with the greatest skill". How much of these materials had come from Catalonia remains an open question because Baluze possessed at his death "1100 printed books, 957 manuscripts, more than 500 charters, and seven cases full of various documents", some of which ended up in the famous "fonds Baluze" at the BnF.

            The sequence of this chain of events is probably better understood if we consider that it involved three generations of scholars: Pujades was born in 1568 and would have been a father figure for de Marca, (at right) who was born 26 years later, in 1594. Baluze (at left) was born in 1630 and never met Pujades, although he bashed him as "ignorant" to suggest it was his employer's opinion. He was merely 25 years old when he joined de Marca in 1656 as his secretary, and although he only served him for about six years, he inherited the entire collection of books and documents from de Marca, which included the "flosculo" of Pujades. 

            According to Jesús Villanueva Lopéz (34) de Marca had Mazarin's permission to remove rare documents from Catalonia. Although many documents may have become part of the Mazarin library, some were held back and are now registered under Baluze. He added a few to the Marca Hispanica, including the Gesta comitum Barcinonensium.

            Back to Maria de Meyá and the hidden messages: That Pujades saw the prior on January 6, 1645, and got the promised papers "on the same day" is also an important revelation: He obviously found a hiding place in the region, either at the monastery, or a few hours away. Pujades had studied at the nearby University of Lleida until his doctorates at age 23, and his son Dalmau as well. Consequently, Pujades had friends in the region – even a street is named after him. According to Gaquère (35), de Marca visited the Cistercian monastery Santa Maria de Poblet, near Lleida, in July of 1647, which could be a clue that he met with Pujades, who may have spent the last years of his life there.

            It could be another esoteric message that Pujades denied his funeral three times in 1645, as it seems to be a pun on Gallicanism and Peter's three denials of Christ, which Pujades explains in the context of Sant Pere de Galligans, a monastery in Girona. This relates to Sant Pere de Rodes, which is also dedicated to St Peter and allegedly holds the secret of his empty tomb at the Vatican. A most sophisticated allegory, because the tomb of Pujades would have been empty as well.

            The final message is at the end of the last volume, tome VIII. On the last page, the last chapter of his life's work ends with written proof that Pujades lived near Lleida. Just to make sure the above messages are not dismissed too quickly, he leaves us those "famous last words" to close the Crónica – and again phrased "as if it were from his own mouth":

"...ultimanente promovido al obispado de la santa iglesia de Lérida.

SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA"

            For the last time, Pujades entertains his readers with his "limitations" by exploiting the flowery Spanish language! Promotion is meant, but taken out of context and "from his own mouth" promovido becomes an "initiation". By playing with etymology, like the poet Chrétien, Pujades leaves us the message that his "ultimate initiation" (death) will be in the bishopric of Lérida (Lleida in Catalan), and "only in God's honor and glory". This should get some academic support, but there will always be scholars who dismiss these "words from the grave" as creative misunderstandings or just plain nonsense (36).

 

12. Epilogue

             We hope to have shown conclusively that Pujades and Fornés worked together, and that they had the support of de Marca. This means that the alleged funeral of January 7, 1635 was arranged with an empty coffin to save the life of Pujades. It was appropriate, therefore, that we chose Occam's Razor and a "minor" Franciscan plot to eliminate the elaborate alternative that casts de Marca as the ruthless villain who corrupted a Franciscan friar to forge the Crónica and made him bishop of Urgell as reward.

            Until new evidence is discovered, it is rather clear that there was only one villain in the Pujades Affair: The overly ambitious Etienne Baluze who betrayed his former employer after only six short years of service (37). This is another Baroque intrigue that deserves to be addressed in greater detail, because Baluze is so highly esteemed that only a prominent scholar could bring him down from his lofty, academic pedestal. But it is established that he inherited the library of de Marca, including the documents of Pujades, and that it took him about 26 years to publish the Marca hispanica. Based on our conclusion that de Marca and Pujades were friends, and that Pujades survived his "funeral", it is conceivable that Baluze inherited their documents under the condition he would publish their works, the Catalonia illustrata (Marca hispanica) in French and Latin, and the Crónica, as edited and revised by Fornés. But as soon as his employer was buried, he joined the illustrious savants of Paris at St-Germain-des-Prés on Sundays at vespers, and promoted himself with the unique documents in his possession. He gave the work of de Marca the pretentious title Marca hispanica; sive limes hispanicvs, hoc est, geographica & historica descriptio Cataloniae, Ruscinonis, & circumjacentium populorum and tripled its size with documents like the Gesta comitum barcinonensium. In the process, he removed the references to Pujades, which damaged de Marca's reputation by making him seem a plagiarist, and dismissed Pujades by slandering him as "ignorant".

            How he celebrates himself as the editor is another example of his ambitions and Baroque "largesse": His name is printed in large letters (9 x 155mm) and de Marca's as small as possible (5 x 90mm), with the result that "his" work is quoted widely and greatly enhanced his reputation in academic circles. The first version impressed Colbert, the powerful minister of finance under Louis XIV, and he made him his librarian in 1667 with the result that Baluze printed Colbert's name even larger and dedicated the work to him.

            His plagiarisms would have never been known, but it seems that Jacques-Nicholas Colbert found out about the "Pujades Affair" and asked his powerful papa for the Crónica, and when he had become archbishop of Rouen he invited the Catalan scholar Pau Ignasi de Dalmases (Acadèmia dels Desconfiats) and informed him of the important work in his possession.  

            Baluze was at the zenith of his career at the time, publishing major works (including plagiarisms) and teaching canon law at the Collège de France. But justice prevailed and his lack of morals and ethics caught up with him at last: He got involved in the Bouillon Affair, another tangled web of forged documents, which ended his illustrious career and led to his banishment from Paris.

            We have shown above that Jaime Villanueva rediscovered the lost copies in Catalonia, which made the publication of the Crónica possible. In addition to Pierre de Marca and Francesc Fornés, the other unsung heroes of the "Pujades Affair" are therefore Jacques-Nicholas Colbert and Pau Ignasi de Dalmases, and lastly the editors Felix Torres Amat, Pròsper de Bofarull, and Albert Pujol, who supported the esoteric concept of Pujades and bridged so eloquently the centuries to make his work accessible for the modern reader. It is probably not another coincidence that this writer, who learned English as a fourth language, seems so opinionated, prejudicial, and passionately pro-Pujades – because he has similar problems with a foreign language – and because he spent the most important years of his life in Catalonia (Alt Empordà). 

 

"Kings inform themselves rarely of the truth by drinking the pure

 waters that come from a source, but after they have passed

 conduits that are darkened, corrupted and wasted,

and presented in vessels that are neither vases

 from Portugal, nor porcelain from India,

nor a horn of the Unicorn..." (38)

(Jeroni Pujades)

 

 

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your evaluations to info@grailgate.com

 

 

 

 

        Notes:   

                    1. Jesús Villanueva, La Marca hispanica de Pierre de Marca y Étienne Baluze a través de sus tres momentos de composición... (Barcelona, 2004), pp. 205-232.  Also available on-line.

                   2. Gerónimo Pujades, Crónica Universal del Principado de Cataluña, tome V, (Barcelona, 1829), p.VI: "Pujadesii inscritia notadur". The editors quote Jaime Villanueva, Viage literarario..., vol. 6, letter 50, pp.233-5. Original text of Villanueva is also available on-line. PDF is recommended because archive.com omits the important pp. 234-235!

                   3. J.H. Elliott, The Revolt of the Catalans, (Cambridge, 1984), paperback, pp. 253-4

                   4. Estevan de Corbera, Cataluña Illustrada, (Napoli, 1678), p.6. The quote simplifies and paraphrases the Baroque praise, which is as follows: "Uno dellos es el Dotor Hieronymo Pujades q’a sido el primero que rompiò este hilo, y abrio camino entre tantas difficultades dandonos una Cronica general de Cataluña, y aunque poco conocido de los Estrãngeros por haverla escrito en lengua Catalana, y mal reçebida dela emulacion de sus cónaturales, estra texida, y continuada con gran cuydado, y prudencia, y con advertencias, y curiosidades muy dignas de estimacion, ha trabajado mucho, y siempre a su costa reboluiendo Archivos, averiguado antiguedades, y empleando lo mejor de su vida en diligencias, y peregrinaciones encaminadas a este fin tan loable, sin que aya tenido jamas arrimo o favor publico, o particular que le alentara, y socorriere en tan honrosa ocupacion ; antes algunos que no saben lo que valen aquellos trabajos quieren a carga cerrada codenarlos ; tristes effetos de una emulacion enbidiosa. Condenan lo que no alcançan que ay grandes leguas dela presuncion ala Obra."

                   5. Fr. Joan Gaspar Roig i Jalpi, Resumen historial...de Gerona..., (Barcelona, 1678), p. 508.

                   6. Jaime Villanueva, Viage literarario a las Iglesias de España, vol. 6, Carta L, (Valencia, 1821), p. 234

                   7. Jesús Villanueva (see above, n.1), pp. 221-2. Italia Illustrada (1448-1458) by Flavio Blondo was the first work to “recompile all illustrious events of the country for the admiration of the locals and foreigners”. This was followed by Germania illustrata (ca. 1500), Illustrations de Gaule (1511-1513), Illustrations dels comtats…(1586), Hispania illustrata (1603-1608), and Cataluña Illustrada, written until 1630 by Esteve de Corbera. Pierre de Marca intended originally to publish his work as Catalonia illustrata, in French and Latin, and dedicate it to Mazarin. We should add that illustration has lost some of its meaning, which was more like illumination, including clearing up and embellishing.

                    8.  Marc Mayer, Xavier Espluga, Alejandra Guzmàn, L’epigrafia a la Corònica de Jeroni Pujades (1569-1636), (Barcelona, 2004), pp.224-25: “Que nadie puede ser buen censor, ni juez, que no oiga ambas partes. Quado se ofrecerán encontradas opiniones, las referiré; y, si es posible, como lo será las más veses, las consiliaré y reduciré a concordia; y quado no pueda llegar á tanto, puiestos los fundamentos y razones de ambas partes, quedará la decision de la duda a la discresión del lector."

                    9.  Pujades, (see above, n.2), (1830), tome VI, pp.384-388. Pujades dedicates an entire chapter to correct the "mal informado" abad Antonio Yepez. The ecclesiastic died in 1618 as abbot of the monastery San Benito de Valladolid, where his chronicle was published. He is known today as Fr. Antonio de Yepes, and his Coronica general de la Orden de San Benito is available at books.google.com.

                    10. Ibid, p. 279. Pujades corrects here the Dominican historian Francisco Diago: Because Baldwin I “Ironarm” abducted Judith in 862 CE and Guifré is documented in 870 CE in Catalonia, the eight-year interval was too short for Judith to have gotten pregnant with a daughter that was old enough to get pregnant herself. Hence, the Gesta comitum Barcinonensium (BnF) states falsely that Guifré got the daughter of the Counts of Flanders pregnant and married her later. See also Miquel Coll i Alentorn, Historiografia, (Barcelona, 1991), p. 54. He writes that Guifré's vita in the Gesta only pretends to be a legend, whereas it is in fact rather “erudite, and probably dreamt up for pragmatic reasons.” Stefano Maria Cingolani, Gestes dels comtes de Barcelona I reis d’Aragó, (Valencia, 2008), p. 44, adds that "the forger seems to have been very familiar with history.”

                    11. Miquel Pujol i Canelles, Aportació a la biografia de Jeroni Pujades, Una biblioteca particular de començament del segle XVII, writes "enemics mortals", p.158. Available on-line, but pp. 228-229 with references are missing! (We contacted him in October, 2010, and although father Pujol does not endorse our "detective work" in any way, he kindly provided the missing pages: 228 and 229.)

                    12. Harald Zimmermann, Das Mittelalter, 1. Teil, (Braunschweig, 1975), p. 9: "Den Bollandisten und den Maurinern blieb die Führung in der Mittelalterforschung gewahrt, was um so leichter möglich war, als hier wie dort die Arbeit von der ganzen Gemeinschaft getragen wurde."

                    13.  Pujades, (see above, n.2), (1831), tome IV, pp.186-190. Also in Catalan edition Coronica vniversal del principat de Catalunya, (Barcelona, 1609), f.316r. Instead of the grail, both versions mention an "ampolla with the holy blood of Christ". But Esp.118 in Paris shows that Pujades specified later "a vessel, or ampolla", as this scan shows, but the change was never published. According to the Latin chronicle, Roman clergymen in a ship took refuge from a storm in the early seventh century and decided to hide numerous relics in a cave, including the holy vessel and the right arm and skull of St Peter. When they returned, they failed to find the cave and kept searching for the rest of their lives. These are the basic ingredients of grail lore (with a bit of Monty Python), because there would ineluctably have been witnesses if some Italians were climbing up and down these mountains until they died of old age. Had anyone asked them what they are looking for, they would have only mentioned a "gradalis", nothing of value, and some "reliquiae insignes". If pressed for details, they might have admitted to a search for old bones, the bones of a fisherman. As time went by, the tale became a legend and grew in the imagination of poets to the "quest" for the holy grail, which is "guarded" by a fisherking. The higher theme of grail romance was born when a later generation realized that spiritual values are more important than material things, and abandoned their futile search for the relics. This would mean, of course, that they could still be there!

                    Note: Just as in the Gesta (see above, n. 9), this chronicler seems to have forged history for pragmatic reasons: His claim that the cave was finally rediscovered, and a monastery built over its entry, was already disputed by Pujades. He writes that the discovery would have been celebrated in all of Christendom, and proposes that these events occurred at a different time. He is proven right again, because recent excavations at the site identified rectangular foundations from "before the sixth century". (See detailed tale ).            

                   14. Pujades, (see above, n.2), tom. V, p. IV. According to Viage literarario..., vol. 6, letter 50, pp. 233-5, the copies were inherited by Bishop Taberner's brother, the count of Darnius. When the Marqués de Villel married the Condesa de Darnius in 1784, they became part of his library. It is rather curious that the illustrious "Marqués de Villel, Conde de Darnius, grande de España y gentilhombre de Cámara de Su Majestad con ejercicio" led a double-life as a pro-French member of "La Nobleza Catalana Bonapartista 1808 - 1815", which might explain why he alerted Villanueva of the copies in his possession. There is also an entertaining quote from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (La España Revolucionaria): "En Cádiz, que era lo más revolucionario de España en aquella época, la presencia de un delegado de la Junta Central, el estúpido y engreído marqués de Villel, provocó una insurrección el 22 y 23 de febrero de 1809 que, de no haber sido desviada a tiempo hacia el cauce de la guerra por la independencia, hubiera tenido las más desastrosas consecuencias." For the German version google "Karl Marx Friedrich Engels (MEGA)", and the Spanish link is available on-line with lots of other interesting trivia. 

                   15. Ibid , vol. V, p. I, p. VII.

                   16. Jesús Villanueva, (see above, n.1), p. 213               

                   17. Diccionari Biografic, vol.III, (Barcelona, 1966), p.594. The Enciclopedia Italiana, XXVIII, Roma, MCMXXV-XIV, proposes that Pujades died "...verso la metà del secolo seguente", and the Biographie Universelle, Michaud, tome 34, Paris, writes he died "...vers 1650”.

                   18. Pujades, (see above, n.2), tome V, p.VI. "No puede dudarse, dice la censura de la Real Academia de la historia, que el autor á costa de mucha aplicacion y trabajo, recopiló en su Crónica cuanto estaba esparcido en los antiguos autores, que reconoció muchos archivos, y se aprovechó de sus códices y documentos: y aun de puede asegurar, sin ecsageracion, que ilustra la historia de Cataluña con muchas noticias mas que cuantos le precedieron… Nos parece que se puede mirar y publicar como un códice antiguo lleno de noticias curiosas é importantes, y como una mina que pueden beneficiar los Editores con grandes ventajas de la historia…"

                    19. Ibid., (1832), tome VIII, pp. I -  IX. This is the final "Advertencia", which claims that Pujades and family were ardent pro-Castilians. The only reference is on p. V, stating the following: "...como muriese en el año de 1635 dejando al dicho Dr. José Pujades su hijo, solo en edad de 11 años, y los franceses entrasen á occupar Cataluña en el año de 1640 hasta 1652, el obispo Pedro Marca, del partido de Francia, cargó con los originales, y se los llevó en Francia, sin que se puede gozar la luz de tanto trabajo." Mirralles doesn't mention the handover and 1651 either, and unless Mayer had access to the actual letter, where this is mentioned, he is definitely mistaken. However, it would make a lot of sense if Pujades survived his "funeral", see rough draft of additional conjectures.

                    20.  At this point, we are unable to determine if it is a location or the name of another Franciscan friar. So far, even Fray (Francisco Casañas de) Jesús María comes to mind. He was born about 1656 in Barcelona, and would have been involved at a later time, before he left for the New World. Perhaps, the Crónica had remained for generations in Franciscan hands until it was entrusted to Colbert in Rouen? It should also be noted the Barcelona editions are organized differently than Pujades intended: They begin the first chapter of book IV, which is the birth of Christ, on p. 262 in the edition of 1629 (I-II). In the four volumes in Paris, tomes I-IV, Pujades begins the Second Part in tome II, and the Third Part in tome III, both of which are headlined with "Jhs Maria Francisco", which may eventually help us resolve the open questions. That, perhaps, Fornés had entrusted the original manuscripts to a confratre, which would explain why they are folded, but it could also be a location because the two headlines are written in different hands. (The above sample is merely a rough sketch of the original.) 

                   21. Pujades, (see above, n.2), tome VII, p. II. The translation: “Hoy á los siete de enero de mil seiscientos treinta y cinco fué enterrado el cuerpo del Señor Gerónimo Pujades, Doctor en Derechos de la presente villa; en su enfermedad ha recibido todos los sacramentos de la Sta. Madre Iglesia : se le ha hecho sepultura mayor en la iglesia mayor, y despues le llevaron á san Francisco, y allí está su cuerpo enterrado. Dieron á cada Capellan dos sueldos por la sepultura, y al Rector semanero cuatro sueldos. Cujus anima requiescat in pace, Amen. Por mí Jayme Correja Pbo. y otro de los Rectores de Castelló y de San Juan Sescloses.”

                  22.  Pujol, (see above, n.7), p.146.

                  23. Roig i Jalpi, (See above, no. 5) p. 245. Available on-line. He discovered that Baluze exploited the reseaches of Pujades and de Marca before he published the Marca hispanica, as for example, in tome 10 of his works on Councils, published in 1671, col. 614.

                  24. Felix Torres Amat, MEMORIAS para ayudar..., (Barcelona, 1836), p.509. Here is the complete quote: "No he podido averguar de fijo el dia ni año que murió, pero en su Crónica libro XIV cap. 62, dice que aquello lo escríbia en 1645, y segun esto tenia entonces 77 años de edad." (Available on-line at Google)

                  25. Jesús Villanueva, (see above, n.1), p. 214.

                  26. James Amelang, Spain, Europe and the Atlantic word, Essays in honour of John H. Elliott, ed. Richard L. Kagan and Geoffrey Parker, The mental world of Jeroni Pujades, (Cambridge UK - 1995), p.216

                  27. Pujol, (see above, n.7), p.101.

                  28. Johannes Kepler, Über den neuen Stern im Fuss des Schlangenträgers, tr. Otto and Eva Schönberger, Eberhard Knobloch, (Wurzburg, 2006), pp.170/71. In an elaborate rhetoric, where he cites the poets, prophets and philosophers from Antiquity, like Pujades, the German astronomer debunks all popular, superstitious beliefs to conclude in chapter 27 that only two options remain: Either a supernova ignited in 1604 among the fixed stars because the "natural laws" govern the universe, or it was a "supernatural event" caused by "a firm decision by the almighty God to bring salvation to mankind"! Kepler follows this up with a passionate declaration of his Christian faith to close the chapter with: "Praised be the name of the Father from eternity to eternity, as He has the wisdom and the power". (Der Name des Herrn sei gelobt von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit, denn sein sind Weisheit und Stärke").  However, Kepler ends his book, chap.30, with a detailed evaluation of the two options. He concludes (p.240) "that it is absurd" to think that God moved these heavenly bodies to deliver a message to mankind, and he excuses his position (p. 241) by pointing out that his theological arguments turned out shorter than expected because he is "not employed by the emperor as a public prophet... but to promote astronomy..." For a better understanding of the Baroque mentality, we need to consider that Cervantes was born a generation earlier, while Kepler and Pujades, including Shakespeare, were contemporaries.

                  29. Pujades, (see above, n. 2), vol. VII., pp. 347-349

                  30. Plutarch’s Moralia, de defectu oraculorum, Pearson/Sandbach, Vol. XI, (Harvard, 1927), pp.381-387

                  31. C. du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium mediæ..., (Niort, 1885), Tom. IV, p.91. He is followed by Joan Cromines, Diccionari Etimològic Complimentari de la Llegua Catalana, Vol. IV, (Barcelona, 1984), p.637: GREAL “del cat. Greala ‘escudella’ (cat. arcaic gradal, f.)… La dada més antiga que es té del mot en qualsevol país es troba en una escriptura catalana, in més concretament Urgelllesa en latí en l’any 1010 (du C.) 'ad Sancta Fide coenobio gradales duas de argento'... d’Ermengarda, filla del comte Borrell de Barcelona, any 1030, tornem a trobar 'vexela de auro et de argento, id sunt enapos V, et gradals II...

                   32. Manuel Castiñeiras and Jordi Camps, Romanesque Art in the MNAC collections, with Joan Duran-Porta, tr. Andrew Langdon-Davies and Andrew Stacey, pp. 27-28, 46, (Barcelona, 2008).  See also Joseph Goering, The Virgin and the Grail: origins of a legend, (New Haven, 2005).

                   33. Chandler Rathfon Post, A History of Spanish Painting, (Cambridge, Mass., 1930), vol. I, p. 195, Charles L. Kuhn, Romanesque mural painting of Catalonia, (Cambridge, Mass., 1930), p. 20, Otto Demus, Romanische Wandmalerei, (Munich, 1968), p. 160.

                  34. Jesús Villanueva, (see above, n.1), p. 213

                  35. François Gaquère, Pierre de Marca, Sa Vie, ses Oevres, son Gallicanisme,  (Paris, 1932), p.71

                  36. Critics of our creative conjectures will also dismiss the famous "last words" Pujades left in his own hand, which are similar to those of Fornés: Tome III (Esp. 119) ends with "...bajo la obediencia, censura y correccion de la Santa madre Yglesia Catholica Romana; en cuya obedencia con el divino favor protesto vivir y morir como fiel y Catholico christiano. Amen." It is curious that the liberal editors, of whom Torres Amat is known to have leaned towards Jansenism, improved his Spanish by changing Yglesia Catholica to a simple "Iglesia" and Catholico Christiano to "católico cristiano", but left the ambiguous "protesto" untouched, which is commonly used in the sense of "protesting" and only rarely as "confirming". Based on the other examples, where Pujades exploits his flawed Spanish to speak to his readers from the grave, he may be signaling to his enlightened readers with this ambiguity that he "protested" to live and die as a Roman Catholic, because he had secretly become a follower of the Reformation. This indicates that Calvin and Luther were widely discussed among humanists at the time, even at the monastic orders, although the evidence for the latter is no longer extant.

                  37. Jesús Villanueva (see above, n.1), p. 208: He proposes that Baluze became secretary in 1656, only six years before de Marca's death.  

                  38. Pujades, (see above, no. 2), tome VI, p. 263. This metaphor pertains to Charles the Bald, who was told that  Sunifred I, the father of Guifré el Pilos, intended to rule the county he inherited from his wife like a king. It is paraphrased from: "…los reyes en el informarse de las cosas y en el saber el justo valor de ellas pocas veces beben agua clara saliendo de sus manantiales; y no tomándolas de sus principios, sino de relaciones pasadas por conductos no siempre límpios, ántes muy amenudo charcosos, corrompidos y gastados, ó presentados en vasos que no son búcaros de Portugal ni porcelanas de la India ó hueso de unicornio; es muy posible lleguen gastadas ó en de peligro serlo, y aun de estragar los estómagos de quien las bebe."

 

 

1. additional conjectures    

 

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