In the early sixteenth century, when Ignatius was an impressionable youth, a wave of romanticism and chivalry swept over Spain. A proliferation of tales and songs conquered the Spanish imagination. One popular tale was the novel Amadis de Gaula. This novel and its sequels appealed to the idealism of youth:
It became the manual of the finished caballero.... the code of honor which moulded many generations.... It remained throughout the sixteenth century the textbook of polite deportment, the oracle of elegant conversation, the repertory of good manners and of gallantry in forms of address.
(James Brodrick, St. Ignatius Loyola: The Pilgrim Years, 1491-1538, p. 40)
No comments:
Post a Comment