by Jan Potocki
13 The Caliph of Baghdad was the head of the Shi’ite sect (those who, inter alia, recognize only the descendants of Ali, the cousin of Muhammad and husband of his daughter Fatima, as the rightful leaders of Islam).
14 According to Shi’ite belief, the ‘twelfth imam’ will reappear at the end of time and inaugurate the age of peace and justice.
15 According to legend, seven young Ephesians hid in a cave in 251 CE to avoid religious persecution, taking their dog with them. They fell asleep and reawoke several centuries later.
16 Granada fell in 1492 to Gonzalo of Córdoba (1453–1515).
17 In 1516.
18 Philip II reigned from 1556 to 1598.
19 Monastery.
1 This word, which is not Spanish, seems to have been an invention of Potocki’s.
2 Sponge cakes.
3 Senior official of the Crown, with judicial and administrative functions.
1 1701–1714
2 Judge.
1 ‘Our little meadow’.
1 Potocki is referring to the Convent of the Holy Cross, founded in 1560.
2 ‘Look at Lunardo, who’s playing the lackey to his wife!’
3 Policemen appointed by the community or government.
4 Gaoler.
1 A historical figure, cited also by Diderot in his story Les deux amis de Bourbonne.
2 Gentleman-in-waiting.
3 ‘Damn your eyes, you little bandit!’
4 ‘You damned ass, I’m not the devil, I’m the little bandit from the Augustinians.’
5 ‘Zoto, Zoto, I can see already that you’re going to become a bandit.’
6 ‘Captain Lettereo, you’d better take him with you.’
7 The blood of St Januarius, Bishop of Benevento, who died in 305, is said to liquefy three times a year.
8 Blows with a dagger.
9 ‘You damned scum, this lad is the son of Zoto. If one of you or anyone else lays a hand on him I’ll do for him.’
10 ‘Keep off, you thieves, keep off!’
11 ‘Haul down your flag, you double-dealing rascal!’
12 ‘You damned scum, I’m not going to the galleys. Pray for me to the most holy Madonna della Lettera.’
13 ‘There’s the little bandit from the Augustinians!’
1 This tower, which was built in the time of Hadrian, was linked by legend to the Greek philosopher Empedocles, who was said to have thrown himself into the crater of Etna.
2 ‘Where are the belts?’
1 Monks who practised the most extreme form of asceticism in the upper part of the Nile Valley, inspired by the example of St Paul of Thebes (c. 230–341).
2 The Sephiroth are the ten manifestations of divine power presented in the form of a geometrical configuration. The Sepher ha-Zohar was written in Aramaic towards the end of the thirteenth century by Moses ben Chemtob (1250–1305), who attributed it to the Talmudic scholar Simon bar Jochaï (90–160). Among the texts associated with it are the Idra Rabba and the Idra Sutha.
3 Potocki is referring to Knorr von Rosenroth’s Kabbala denudata, first printed in fact in Salzburg in 1677–8.
4 The name given to the part of the Temple of Jerusalem where the Holy of Holies was located.
5 Perfect ones (in Hebrew).
6 See Genesis 5:21–4.
7 According to the Book of the Secrets of Enoch, Grigori are angels who fathered, with the daughters of Seth son of Adam, the giants known as Nephilim. See also Genesis 6:1–4.
8 The Book of the Secrets of Enoch refers to seven heavens in all.
9 Pagan divinities.
1 Drums and handbells.
2 ‘When my Paco lifts / my palms to dance / my little body / becomes like marzipan…’
3 The story of Thibaud de la Jacquière appeared in 1687, in volume three of this eight-volume work, with the title ‘Die stinckende Buhlschaft’.
1 Simon Magus was said to be the founder of a gnostic sect (see Acts 8:9–24).
2 The story of Menippus of Lycia is to be found in book three of Philostratus’s Life of Apollonius of Tyana, written in the third century CE.
3 From the twenty-seventh letter of book seven.
4 See Samuel I 28:7–19.
1 Policemen.
2 The Theatines were an austere order founded in 1524 in Rome.
3 Stylish, elegant, respectable.
1 Guido Reni (1575–1642).
2 The seamstress who, according to the myth, defeated Athena in a sewing contest and was turned into a spider.
3 It appears in volume three, with the title ‘Das seltzahme Lucenser-Gespenst’.
1 A prophet mentioned in the Koran.
2 February (in the Coptic calendar).
1 ‘vicious’.
1 Mayor.
1 The figure given by Maria de Torres in The Sixteenth Day (p. 184 above) and later on p. 210 is one hundred.
2 An ancient, popular Spanish song form.
3 The French has ‘Mer vermeille’: it is not clear which sea Potocki has in mind.
4 I have used ‘geometer’ to translate the French ‘geomètre’, although ‘mathematician’ or even ‘mathematical philosopher’ might be closer in sense, because ‘geometer’ as a description seems to me to retain something of the angularity of Potocki’s usage.
1 Philip IV reigned from 1621 to 1665.
2 Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633–1707) and Menno van Coehoorn (1641–1704): the most famous military engineers of their day.
3 Spanish ruff.
4 jakob Bernouilli (1654–1705) and Johann Bernouilli (1667–1747), the mathematicians.
1 The legend of the Wandering Jew is very ancient: the first full written account of it appeared in 1602, in Leiden. Onias is a historical figure, as is Ptolemy Philometor, who reigned from 181 to 145 BCE.
2 Flavius Joseph (37–100) is the author of a history of the Jews.
1 Symbols of prostitution and conjugal fidelity respectively.
2 Herod the Great (73 BCE–4 CE).
3 Aristobulus III (52–35 BCE), put to death by Herod.
4 The reigning dynasty in Judaea from 137 to 37 BCE.
5 The name is given as Kubion in Flavius Joseph’s History (book 16).
1 Pocket violins.
1 Gian Domenico Cassini (1625–1712), and Christiaan Huygens (1629–95), prominent experimental scientists of their day.
2 First published in 1707; Newton’s own revision appeared in 1722.
1 ‘To look for one’s father’.
2 The text reads la chambre d’imbulsamation. This is neither a French nor a Spanish word, but the sense seems to be clear.
1 The diminutive of hermoso (beautiful).
1 Reigned 1683–1706.
2 The peace treaty of the Pyrenees was signed in 1659; this date does not fit the supposed age of the Duke of Medina Sidonia (according to the fiction, he would not yet have been born).
1 Gentlemen.
2 i.e. Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba (1507–82), the scourge of the Netherlands.
1 A Phoenician historian of the twelfth century BCE.
2 A journal founded in Frankfurt in 1627, which continued to appear until 1738
3 A rank in the order of the Knights of Malta.
1 The Comte de saint-Germain (1707–84) was a notorious adventurer.
2 Potocki uses here the word apalte (from the Italian apalti).
1 A name found in Jamblichus’s (c. 250–C.330) On the Egyptian Mysteries
2 In fact, a neoplatonist text of much later date attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (Egyptian Thoth).
3 Rameses II (c. 1279–1213 BCE).
1 This passage, and much of what follows, is loosely translated or paraphrased from Jamblichus, On the Egyptian Mysteries, vii. 2–6.
2 All this is indeed taken from Jamblichus, loc. cit.
1 i.e. the De natura deorum.
2 The sacred bulls of Memphis and Heliopolis respectively.
3 i.e. the Spanish West Indies.
1 i.e. Philo Judaeus (w
ho flourished in the first century of the Common Era). Potocki is drawing on his works On Dreams and On Abraham.
2 An astrological cult of the ancient world.
1 The French text has vu for lu at this point.
2 These figures are in fact incorrect in some instances (5:26, not 5:16; 7:120, not 7:121; 8:247, not 8:236; 9:502, not 9:495; 11:2,036, not 11:2,035).
1 ‘Have you been for a walk this morning?’
2 Stranger.
1 The Supreme Court for Ecclesiastical and Secular causes in Rome.
1 ‘I touch them on behalf of the king.’
2 As in the previous case of calculation (above, day thirty-nine, p. 427) some of these figures are incorrect.
1 In the alternative version of the forty-seventh day, Lope Soarez’s father is given a more prominent role, and his forgiveness is given a motivation.
1 i.e., it is reminiscent of the French word for a cuckold (comu). The original name given to this character (Cabrónez) related in the same way to the equivalent Spanish term (cabrón).
2 These three mathematicians are, respectively, Thomas Harriot (1560–1628), Pierre de Fermat (1601–65), and Gilles Personne de Roberval (1602–75).
3 The anagram only works perfectly in French (analyse).
4 Comptroller of accounts.
1 It is not clear to whom Potocki is here referring.
2 A legendary magus.
3 An outdoor ball game.
1 ‘My grandson, the son of the contador.’
1 The Knights of Malta were divided into ‘nations’.
2 A junior rank in the order.
3 The French text has rue étroite.
1 Soirée.
1 The eponymous protagonist of Guevara’s novel El diablo cojuelo (1641), better known through Lesage’s adaptation of it of 1707 (Le diable boiteux).
1 Manuel Fernandez de Portocarrero, statesman (1629–1709).
2 Prime Minister 1685–91, and again in 1698–9.
3 Ferdinand Bonaventura von Harrach (1637–1706).
1 Marie-Anne de Neubourg (1667–1740), sister of Leopold I, wife of Charles II.
1 The child has previously been referred to as Manolita – little Manuela, that is, the Duchess Manuela’s daughter. (See above, pp. 568, 577.)
2 Prescribed by Leviticus 25:2–7.
3 Reigned 1556–98.
4 i.e. Leopold I (reigned 1658–1705).
5 Anne-Marie de la Trémoille (1643–1715), widow of Flavio degli Orsini.
6 Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough (1658–1735).
1 Joseph I reigned from 1705 to 1711.
1 Spanish politician (1664–1752).
2 Johann Wilhelm von Ripperda, adventurer (1690–1737).
3 Ramón Agudez is a character in the alternative version of the forty-seventh day.
1 Unknown.
2 This event took place in 910.
3 This event occurred in 973.
4 This event took place in 1055 (although the Turcoman dynasty did in fact continue to recognize the Abbasids until 1258, when Moguls sacked Baghdad and assassinated the last Abbasid caliph).
5 This event took place in 1485.
6 Reigned 1672–1727.
1 A Turkish dagger.
2 poetic form.
1 Cloaks.
1 Many of the names which follow are taken from genealogies in the Old Testament (notably 1 Chronicles 6:1–15).
1 Edward Vernon (1684–1757) besieged Cartagena in 1741.
2 The War of the Austrian Succession (1741–8), one of the consequences of the provisions of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713.
3 i.e. Ferdinand VI (reigned 1746–59).
Table of Contents
Cover
About the Author
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Introduction
Translator’s Note
A Note on the Geographical Location
Glossary
A Guide to the Stories
The Manuscript Found In Saragossa
Foreword
The First Day
THE STORY OF EMINA AND HER SISTER ZUBEIDA
THE STORY OF THE CASTLE OF CASSAR GOMELEZ
The Second Day
THE STORY OF PACHECO THE DEMONIAC
The Third Day
THE STORY OF ALPHONSE VAN WORDEN
THE STORY OF TRIVULZIO OF RAVENNA
THE STORY OF LANDULPHO OF FERRARA
The Fourth Day
The Fifth Day
ZOTO’S STORY
The Sixth Day
ZOTO’S STORY CONTINUED
The Seventh Day
ZOTO’S STORY CONTINUED
The Eighth Day
PACHECO’S STORY
The Ninth Day
THE CABBALIST’S STORY
The Tenth Day
THE STORY OF THIBAUD DE LA JACQUIÉRE
THE STORY OF THE FAIR MAIDEN OF THE CASTLE OF SOMBRE
The Eleventh Day
THE STORY OF MENIPPUS OF LYCIA
THE STORY OF ATHENAGORAS THE PHILOSOPHER
The Twelfth Day
THE STORY OF PANDESOWNA, THE GYPSY CHIEF
THE STORY OF GIULIO ROMATI AND THE PRINCIPESSA DI MONTE SALERNO
The Thirteenth Day
THE GYPSY CHIEF’S STORY CONTINUED
GIULIO ROMATI’S STORY CONTINUED
THE PRINCIPESSA DI MONTE SALERNO’S STORY
The Fourteenth Day
REBECCA’S STORY
The Fifteenth Day
THE GYPSY CHIEF’S STORY CONTINUED
MARIA DE TORRES’S STORY
The Sixteenth Day
THE GYPSY CHIEF’S STORY CONTINUED
MARIA DE TORRES’S STORY CONTINUED
The Seventeenth Day
MARIA DE TORRES’S STORY CONTINUED
THE GYPSY CHIEF’S STORY CONTINUED
The Eighteenth Day
THE GYPSY CHIEF’S STORY CONTINUED
THE CONDE DE PEÑA VÉLEZ’S STORY
The Nineteenth Day
VELÁSQUEZ THE GEOMETER’S STORY
The Twentieth Day
THE GYPSY CHIEF’S STORY CONTINUED
The Twenty-first Day
THE WANDERING JEW’S STORY
The Twenty-second Day
THE WANDERING JEW’S STORY CONTINUED
The Twenty-third Day
VELÁSQUEZ’S STORY CONTINUED
The Twenty-fourth Day
VELÁSQUEZ’S STORY CONTINUED
The Twenty-fifth Day
VELÁSQUEZ’S STORY CONTINUED
The Twenty-sixth Day
THE GYPSY CHIEF’S STORY CONTINUED
The Twenty-seventh day
THE GYPSY CHIEF’S STORY CONTINUED
THE DUCHESS OF MEDINA SIDONIA’S STORY
The Twenty-eighth Day
THE GYPSY CHIEF’S STORY CONTINUED
THE DUCHESS OF MEDINA SIDONIA’S STORY CONTINUED
THE MARQUÉS DE VAL FLORIDA’S STORY
The Twenty-ninth Day
THE GYPSY CHIEF’S STORY CONTINUED
THE DUCHESS OF MEDINA SIDONIA’S STORY CONTINUED
HERMOSITO’S STORY
The Thirtieth Day
The Thirty-first Day
THE WANDERING JEW’S STORY CONTINUED
THE GYPSY CHIEF’S STORY CONTINUED