What is the AUTO DE LOS REYES MAGOS: author and characteristics

The Car of the Magi It is the first dramatic text in Castilian that we know. It is a work estimated to have been written in the XII century and that it was found in the Toledo library, therefore, it is a Toledo work. The text talks about the arrival of the Magi and, therefore, it is also known by the name of Adoration of the Magi and is written in medieval Castilian Spanish. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to discover you what is the Auto de los Reyes Magos, its author and its characteristics more outstanding so that, thus, you can better know what the first Spanish theatrical work is like.

Index

1. What is the Auto de los Reyes Magos?
2. Who is the author of the play El Auto de los Reyes Magos?
3. When was the Auto de los Reyes Magos written?
4. Car of the Magi: characteristics

We started talking about what is the Car of the Magi. East medieval text was written in the 12th century and his name was put by Ramón Menéndez Pidal

But why is the Car of the Magi? Basically, because it is the first piece from drama written in Spanish. The first time it was published was in the 19th century, specifically, in 1863 and it was a real find for Spanish culture because it was the oldest theatrical text written in Spanish. It is believed that the Car of the Magi It was written after the publication of the Cantar del Mío Cid, due to the use of language and style.

From the original text, only 147 verses are preserved that have different types of metrics and are therefore polymetric. We are, therefore, before an incomplete theatrical text that shows a very particular style: each of the kings makes a parliament and the text does not is separated or marked as we currently do in the dramatic genre: the texts are written continuously, as if they were prose.

The theme of Car of the Magi is the adoration of the Kings to the child Jesus, therefore, we are before a religious text that already appears in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. However, in this text the kings are not presented as such, but as "steleros", that is, those who follow the stars and study astronomy.

The Auto de los Reyes Magos is a liturgical drama that is related to the Ordo stellea and that, it is believed, that it was written for the religious representations that took place in the bosom of the church. In this case, being a Toledo text, it is intuited that it was represented in the Toledo cathedral during Christmas time.

The author of the Auto de los Reyes Magos is one of the unknowns in Spanish literature. We are facing a text of great historical and literary importance, however, the author is anonymous.

And, despite having been a work from the 12th century, it was not found until centuries later, in the 18th century by the hand of Felipe Fernández Vallejo, a Galician archbishop. It was an incomplete text without a title, therefore, Menéndez Pidal was in charge of naming it and publishing it so that all the public could know this essential text for our culture.

The author is unknown, but critics and experts in Spanish literature indicate that it is possible that the author of the Car of the Magiit wasn't even Spanish. Why? Well, because in the 12th-century city of Toledo, scholars from different parts of the world and different religions such as Jews, Christians and Muslims lived together; so it is plausible that the text was not written by a Spanish author.

Being such an old and late found text, it is difficult to date accurately the exact date of its writing. However, it is believed that the Auto de los Reyes Magos was written around the middle of XII for his use of language, his style and his tone. It is also believed that the reason for this text was the representation of it within the churches, especially at Christmas time due to the theme narrated in the work.

The language of the Auto de los Reyes Magos is in Castilian romance, so we can already speak of the Castilian language, even in its early stages. Let us remember that Spanish comes from popular Latin and, after years of coexistence, the Castilian romance which is the basis of modern Castilian Spanish.

Due to the date on which this text was written, we are facing the first theatrical show in Spanish in our history. Therefore, we are facing a key text of medieval religious theater and whose study is essential to know what our oldest theater was like.

We end this review by talking about features of the Car of the Magi, a key and essential text in the study of Spanish literature. Here is a review of some key elements of this text that will help you better understand its context and historical importance:

• Sources. The source of the Auto de los Reyes Magos is believed to be the genus known as Ordo stellae and whose main text is a French codex from 1060, older than ours Car of the Magi. This document mixed popular romance with Latin, thus creating a unique work of high cultural value. The influence of this French text is quite remarkable, since the theme was exactly the same; in addition, a more popular language is also used and with less influence of cultisms.
• Poem form. Of the original text, only 147 verses have been preserved and it is polymetric, since it has different types of metrics. One of the main problems of this work is that the different interventions of the characters are not well marked, they are shown as a whole, as if it were a text in prose and this has made its interpretation very difficult, since it is not well known who speaks in each pulled apart. Of course: there are some marks between some parliaments that, it is intuited, is what differentiates each character.
• Toledo text. Another feature of the Car of the Magi it is that it is a work that was written imitating the Toledo style of the moment. For this reason, we find the Mozarabic lexicon when, at that time, they were hardly used, but they were in Toledo.
• Theme of Car of the Magi. The theme is the arrival of the Kings from the East to Bethlehem to worship Jesus. Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar set out on their journey following a star in order to reach their destination safely. The unknown author showed a strong interest in reflecting the time and, for this reason, secondary characters of people who performed trades typical of the time appear in the text.
• Medieval essence. We must not forget that it is a medieval work and, therefore, there are also elements typical of the time. For example, opting for a totally free space / time, or talking about the Jews in a pejorative way is something that we see in this text and that is typical of the time.
• Metrics. The metric of Car of the Magi it is very varied. But within all metric types, we find that there is a strong presence of Alexandrians, heptasyllables and eneasyllables. In addition, there are rhymes that are not used in Spanish today, because the stage of the language at that time was still in diphthongation processes.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is the Auto de los Reyes Magos and who is its author, we recommend that you enter our category of History of Literature.

• Deyermond, A. (1989). The Auto de los Reyes Magos and the rebirth of the twelfth century. In Proceedings of the IX Congress of the International Association of Hispanists (Vol. 1, pp. 187-194). Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert.
• Solá-Solé, J. M. (1975). The "Auto de los Reyes Magos": Gascon or Mozarabic impact?. Romance Philology, 29 (1), 20-27.
• Hilty, G. (2011). The language of the "Auto de los Reyes Magos" (pp. 289-302). From Gruyter.
• Regueiro, J. M. (1977). The Auto de los Reyes Magos and the medieval liturgical theater. Hispanic Review, 149-164.