A Mexican Princess in the Tagalog Sultan's court: Floripes of the Doce Pares and the Transpacific Efflorescence of Colonial Philippine Romance and Theater

Abstract

This preliminary study introduces a larger reflection on the emergence of a trans-Pacific culture between Mexico and the Philippines through the study of the figure of the Moor in Philippine colonial romance (popularly called awit or korido) and theater (komedya) during the late colonial period.1 By analyzing the colonial tradition that was responsible for the appearance and dissemination of this figure as both theatrical performance and literary artifact, this essay attempts to bring the study of the colonial awit and komedya into the larger sphere of comparative studies of colonial traditions in the trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific reach of Iberian globalization in the early modern period. The focus of my analysis is admittedly narrow: in addition to a discussion about the history and stakes behind the study of colonial Philippine literature, theater, and culture more broadly, my analysis concerns itself primarily with arguably the most important colonial romance in Tagalog: the anonymous versification of the popular story of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France (Salita at Buhay nang Doce Pares sa Francia campon nang Emperador Carlo Magno hangang sa ipagkanuló ni Galalong mapatay sa Rocesvalles [The Life and Saga of the Twelve Peers of France, Knights of Emperor Charlemagne, Up to their Betrayal by Ganelon, John D. Blanco University of California, San Diego