SOURCE: Marino, Nancy F. “The Vaquera de la Finojosa: Was She a Vision?” Romance Notes 26, no. 3 (spring 1986): 261-68.

In the following essay, Marino suggests that, in contrast to the realism found in most of Santillana's serranillas, one in particular might portray a vision he had during one of his journeys.

The Marqués de Santillana's serranillas recount his supposed adventures with various mountain girls that he claims to have met while traveling throughout Spain, usually on military missions that took him from Cordoba to Granada, to the Aragonese border and back home to Castile.¹ As Rafael Lapesa points out in his early study of Santillana's serranillas, one of the Marqués' intentions in composing this series of works—besides the poetic—was to season the story of his journeys with accounts of amorous escapades in order to entertain his fellow courtiers upon his return.² If this indeed was...