Royal epistolary courtship in Latin? Arthur Tudor's “love letter” to Katherine of Aragon at the Archivo General de Simancas and Francesco Negri's Ars Epistolandi☆

Abstract

AbstractThe Archivo General de Simancas in Valladolid has preserved a letter attributed to Arthur Tudor, categorized as ‘declarándole su ardiente pasión amorosa’ [declaring his ardent loving passion]. Its recipient has been thought to be Katherine of Aragon. The lack of scholarly interest in this letter is remarkable, but may be caused by its having been calendared in the nineteenth century as written by Perkin Warbeck. In what follows we unlock the mystery of the AGS letter by returning to its original Latin. We reveal that it very closely follows an exemplum from Francesco Negri's educational bestseller Ars Epistolandi, first published in 1488. Interestingly, Negri used the exemplum to show readers how not to write a letter, and categorized it as ‘turpis’, or, ‘lewd’. We present here an edition with a translation of both the AGS letter and Negri's sample. Our evidence suggests that ‘Arthur's letter’ is not a declaration of love to send to a recipient, but a school exercise in line with Humanist training. As such, it may not provide a window to Arthur's passionate nature, but it does offer important insights into educational practices in the context of the Tudor court towards the end of the 15th century.