Translation, copying and variation in two Castilian copies of the Epistola de cura rei familiaris by Pseudo Bernardus

Abstract

In this paper we attempt to analyse the differences between two copies, a printed exemplar (Burgos, Fadrique de Basilea c. 1495-1499) and a manuscript one (Madrid, BNE, 10445) of a Castilian translation of the Epistola de cura rei familiaris, a pseudo Bernardine tractate that belongs to the genre of the Oeconomica. Firstly, we will compare these two translations to a Latin copy of the Epistola printed by the same editor at around the same time. Secondly, we will compare the Castilian texts with one another in order to describe their main features. Last, on the basis of that description, we will try to distinguish between translation and copying mistakes, so that we are able to determine whether one of the Castilian texts may be a direct translation from Latin or whether both exemplars are copies of a former translation.