Clodoveo and Clotilde

Clodoveo and Clotilde, originally titled Casaysayan ng catotohanang buhay ng Haring Clodoveo at Reyna Clotilde sa reyno ng Francia, is an anonymous Philippine metrical romance (awit at corrido) which retells the life and lineage of King Clovis of France.

Synopsis

The story centers on the conversion of King Clovis of France to Christianity through the influence of his wife, Clotilde; the line of descent from Clovis to Charlemagne; and Charlemagne’s virtues as king and the defender of the faith.

Commentary/Criticism

A study of Clodoveo and Clotilde in relation to its foreign sources and analogues found that the Philipppine poet carefully preserved the details, modified some incidents, played up the role of some of the characters and followed closely the events narrated in the first nine chapters of the Spanish Historia del Emperador Carlo Magno, the probable “true history” which the poet “most patiently versified.” The study found that the poet may have had access to some other history or romance because some events the poet recorded are not in the Historia: the sack of Jerusalem by the Turks, the Pope’s appeal to Charlemagne and King Constantine, who then organize the Crusades to recover the Holy Land; and the miracles that occur when the relics are held up to public view, e.g. the crown of thorns blooms and emits a heavenly fragrance. The poet added a lengthy epilogue where he holds Charlemagne up as a model king, and his good works, selflessness, and charity are contrasted with the greed of King Herod and the self-interest and cowardice of Pontius Pilate (Eugenio, Awit at Corrido: Philippine Metrical Romances).

The importance of Clodoveo and Clotildeis in its being reworked and prolonged by the poet. It could be one of the metrical romances Juan Atayde refers to in his article "Theaters of Manila" which was distorted and augmented by the poet to complemented the folklores of the country which he hopes the language would be studied by Filipino scholars today.

Philippine Versions

As listed in Appendix A, “Master List of Philippine Metrical Romances” Clodoveo and Clotilde is available only in Tagalog. It was published by P. Sayo in Maynila in 1917 with 51 pages. The romance was recited (tinula) by Cleto R. Ignacio. This romance is also told in compressed form as the first section of the Pampango romance, Infanta Floripes. The complete title, noted as the Pampango version of Doce Pares de Francia, is Corrido qng bie rang queralanan infanta Floripes Doncella Teodora ding Doce Pares Francia at ning carelang Emperador Carlo Magno (Eugenio, Awit at Corrido: Philippine Metrical Romances).

References

• Atayde, Juan. “The Theaters of Manila,” translated by Concepcion Rosales and Doreen

Fernandez, Philippine Studies, Vol. 30 / First Quarter 1982. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1982.

• Eugenio, Damiana L. Awit and Corrido: Philippine Metrical Romances. Quezon City, Philippines: University of the Philippine Press. 1987.

Citation

Original content from WikiPilipinas. under GNU Free Documentation License. See full disclaimer.