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DOCUMENT CITATION: TRANSLATION: TRANSCRIPTION: HISTORICAL CONTEXT: The rite of the Tenebrae or "The Darkness" is one of the most compelling observances of Holy Week, the period between Palm Sunday and the Easter of the Resurrection. During this time, the custom is to commemorate the Passion of Christ by recreating it: his last days, his death and his rising from the dead. Strictly speaking, the Tenebrae is the monastic service for Matins and Lauds, which should be sung in the first hours of the morning on the three last days of Holy Week (Thursday, Friday and Saturday), offering a tangible parallel to the three days that Christ lay in the tomb before his resurrection. Until 1950, however, the Tenebrae was normally anticipated on the afternoon of the preceding days (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) in order to encourage public attendence at these offices.
Ténebrae factae sunt, dum crucifixíssent Jesum Judaei: et circa horam nonam exclamávit Jesus voce magna: Deus meus, ut quid me dereliquísti? Darkness fell when the Jews crucified Jesus. And around the ninth hour Jesus exclaimed with a great voice, "My God, why did you abandon me?" In practice, the Tenebrae service offered a dramatic reenactment of this cosmic darkness. The candles in the church were gradually extinguished, leaving the scene in near or total obscurity. Since the participants were unable to see each other, movements (like rising or kneeling) were signaled by sounds of knocking or tapping. After the last psalm, the congregation joined in a general clamor of loud banging, recreating the natural upheaval that took place at the time of Christ’s death. The astonishing sacrilege (or at very least, astonishing silliness) described in the present avviso took place in the convent of Nuestra Señora de la Consolación, called the "Descalzas Reales" in honor of the unshod royal nuns who occupied it. The Descalzas Reales had been founded by Felipe II’s sister Juana de Austria (1535-73) as a place of decorous retirement only a stone’s throw from the fortified medieval palace of the Alcázar, which was the chief royal residence in Madrid. In 1552 Juana married João Aviz, King of Portugal but was left a widow only two years later at the age of 19. She then returned to Spain and built this convent on the site of the palace in which she had been born, living there from 1559 until her death in 1573, when she was buried within its precincts. The Descalzas Reales quickly developed a distinctive identity as a
privileged What exactly happened on 22 March 1581, the Wednesday of Holy Week? In fact, the Tenebrae was probably the only time during the entire year when such heedless acts could have taken place, under the cover of these peculiar rites. Though we know that courtiers made outrageous advances to noble women, there are various points of local liturgical usage that would have affected the mechanics of the operation. At what time of day did the service take place and how dark was the church? A common hour for the Tenebrae was four or five in the afternoon, though the windows might have been shuttered or curtained in any case. Did the church in fact remain totally unilluminated for a full half-hour, as the avviso claims? This would represent a deviation from the better-known custom of gradually extinguishing the candles. How long did the noise of banging or pounding last at the end of the service? This would have defined the narrow opportunity for amorous adventure. Finally, were the men and women segregated in different sections of the church? If the caballeros had to cross a significant distance to reach their prey, the risk (and thus the sport) would have been notably enhanced. The avviso identifies various of the noble adventurers while shielding the ladies from further unwonted attention. However, there is some unclarity and inconsistency in the list, as if the avviso-writer was repeating at second or third hand the names of people he did not quite know. "Il Prencipe d'Ascoli" was presumably Antonio de Leyva (active 1570-1588; ID Number 10292 in the Project’s "PeopleBase" system), third Principe de Ascoli, son of Luis de Leyva (died 1570). He married Eufrasia de Guzmán and their son Antonio Luis became the fourth Principe de Ascoli. "Il Conte di Castagneda figliuolo maggiore del Marchese d'Aguillar" was presumably Bernardo Manrique de Lara, Conde de Castañeda (PeopleBase 14066), the third son of Luis Fernández Manrique de Lara. Bernardo was Marqués de Aguilar de Campóo and in 1586, he married Antonia de la Cerda y Aragón, daughter of the fifth Duque de Medinaceli. "Il Marchese de Carpio figliuolo maggiore di Don Diego di Cordova" and "Luis de Cordova" are presumably the same person: Luis Ramón Folch de Cardona de Aragón y de Córdoba (1558-1596; PeopleBase 14147), son of Diego Fernández de Córdoba. "Don Pedro Vanegas figliuolo di Don Luis, che fu cavallarizzo maggiore della Regina" was presumably Pedro Venegas de Saay Figueroa (PeopleBase 11593), son of Luis Venegas de Figueroa, who had been Master of the Horse to Queen Anna von Habsburg-de Austria (d.1580). By Holy Week of 1581, Pedro Venegas was already well-advanced in a distinguished military career: he broke the Moorish siege of the city of Melilla in 1563 and was named Comendador de Valencia in the Order of Santiago in 1579. "Don Antonio Manrique" and "il Conte de Peredes" are presumably the same person: Antonio Manrique de Lara y Manrique de Lara (PeopleBase 14143), the eighth Conde de Paredes de Nava, who died in the wreck of the Invincible Armada in 1588. "Don Enrico de Mendozza" remains to be identified. However angry Felipe II might have been, it does not seem that any of these young men finished their courtly careers in the dungeons of the Inquisition. And when it got down to it, everyone involved was probably eager to forget the ludicrous escapade as quickly as possible. Though the Spanish court was known for its uncompromising religious austerity and crushing ceremonial etiquette, there were also startling outbreaks of undisciplined behavior, which thrilled avviso-writers and avviso-readers across Europe. SPECIAL THANKS to Niccolò Capponi for his notes on Catholic liturgical practice and Lisa Goldenberg Stoppato for her biographical researches. ILLUSTRATION NOTES:
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 © 2001 by The Medici Archive Project | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
dependence
of the court, frequented by its most illustrious members. In 1581, the
year of the present avviso, another of the King’s sisters took
up residence there: María de Austria (1528-1603), widow of the
Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II von Habsburg (1548-76.) Shortly thereafter,
in 1584, she was joined by her daughter Margarete von Habsburg (1567-1633),
who eventually achieved the position of mother superior. Later inhabitants
included Caterina Maria d’Este (1613-28; grand-daughter of Infanta Catalina
Micaela di Savoia), Anna Dorotea von Habsburg (1612-?; natural daughter
of Emperor Rudolf II), Mariana (entered 1646; natural daughter of Cardinal
Infante Fernando de Austria) and Margarita (entered 1656; natural daughter
of Juan José de Austria.)