The enchantment of Antonomasia and Don Clavijo

The enchantment of Antonomasia and Don Clavijo is the central affliction in Countess Trifaldi’s account of Malambruno’s revenge: the lovers are transformed into metal creatures and can recover their former shapes only through a future combat with a valiant Manchegan. Their suspended condition turns a romantic transgression into a knightly undertaking, with its release dependent on the hero’s intervention.

Cause and Imposition

After Queen Dona Maguncia is buried, Malambruno appears at her grave on a wooden horse. He is her first cousin, a giant, and an enchanter; seeking revenge for her death, he also intends to punish Don Clavijo’s audacity and Antonomasia’s contumacy. He enchants the lovers at the grave itself, making their punishment inseparable from the place and the queen’s burial.

Forms and Conditions

Antonomasia becomes a brass ape, while Don Clavijo is changed into a horrible crocodile made of an unknown metal. A metal pillar stands between them, inscribed in Syriac. The inscription is translated first into Kandian and then into Castilian, and declares that neither lover will regain their former shape until the valiant Manchegan battles Malambruno in single combat. The condition makes the enchantment more than a transformation: it is a waiting state whose end is assigned to a prophesied contest.

Wider Punishment and Narrative Role

Malambruno’s vengeance extends beyond the lovers. He seizes Countess Trifaldi by the hair and threatens her with a great scimitar, then summons the palace’s duennas and condemns them to a punishment short of death. At once, their faces begin to prickle; when they lift their veils, all are revealed to have beards. This parallel curse broadens the episode from the lovers’ altered bodies to a collective spectacle of bodily transformation. As Countess Trifaldi recounts it, the lovers’ enchantment supplies the promised adventure that only the Manchegan knight can resolve, while the bearded duennas make Malambruno’s power visible to the assembled witnesses.