Enrique de Villena

• Arte Cisoria, 1423 carving manual

His Arte Cisoria (Art of Carving), completed in 1423, is not a cookery book but a carving book, which addresses the rules of etiquette and courtesy of carving at the king’s table. Doris King Arjona’s article “Enrique de Villena and the "Arte Cisoria"” [Hispania, Vol. 43, No. 2 (May, 1960), pp. 209-213] provides an excellent summary of the text. It may be found in JSTOR. The manuscript is now in the Escorial; it was first printed in 1766, followed by editions in 1879 and 1948. Worldcat now lists 35 plus entries. A new edition in Spanish is: Villena, Enrique de Aragón. Arte cisoria tratado del arte de cortar del cuchillo. Texto modernizado y notas appendices por Francisco Calero. Introducción por Valentín Moreno. Madrid: Guillermo Blázquez. 2002. Online: The Arte cisoria, con varios estudios y notas por F.-B. Navarro is now available through Google Books: editions:lRiTMcjwt8U 

Partial Translation (chapters 3, 4, 6 & 7) A&S Resources - Arte Cisoria Translation 

From The Real Academia de Gastronomia:

Arte cisoria, or treatise on the art of knife cutting written by Don Henrique de Aragon, Marquis of Villena

Description

Arte Cisoria, a book written in 1423 by Enrique de Aragón, Marquis of Villena, includes a detailed description of the art of cutting food in front of the royal table. The book describes everything from the various types of instruments used to cut food and their uses, to aspects related to protocol, hygiene or customs that the professionals in charge of performing this service must take into account.

Content

The tract of the art of knife cutting begins, ordered by Mr. Don Enrique de Villena at the request of Sancho de Jaraua.-Chapter one: When and by whom the arts were failed; and this cutting in which of them are counted.- Chapter second: Because the art of cutting was introduced and added to the number of other arts.- Third chapter: Of the conditions and customs that belong to the knife cutter, especially before the King.- Fourth chapter: Of the instruments that are necessary and how they should be kept and kept by the cutter with great care.- Chapter five: In what way the craft of cutting should be maintained and continued curiously.- Chapter six: Of the things that are customary to cut, according to the foods they are used for eat in these parts.- Chapter seven: About the cutting of edible birds.- Chapter eight: About the cutting of the four-foot animals that they are used to eating.- Chapter nine: About the cutting of fish that are used to eating in these parts. eat.- Chapter deseno: Of the chopping of the things that are born from the earth.- Chapter oneseno: Of cutting and peeling of fruits.- Chapter twoeno: Of the rights from office to the cutter belonging to them.- Chapter threeeno: How they should be raised young men of good lineage, well accustomed, to take some of them for the office of cutting.- Chapter four: As there is no grant cause this office must be changed.- Chapter five: In what way the office of cutting must be given, when by the king is granted again and given to someone.- Chapter ten and six: Of the degrees of the craft of cutting.- Chapter ten and seven: What penalties are there for those who die in the craft of cutting.- Chapter ten and eight: How The knife cutter can and must be shown by art and certain rules.- Chapter ten and nine: How this art of cutting should be accustomed and continued according to its belonging.- Chapter twenty: Of the recommendation of the work and tract.- Follow the transfer of the letter that was ordered to be sent with the said treaty, committing it to correction.

Other editions:

Facsimile of the 1766 edition. Madrid: Ediciones Guillermo Blázquez. 1981. 197 p.: ill.
Cisoria art. With several studies on his life and works and many notes and appendices by Felipe-Benicio Navarro. Barcelona: Imp. of La Renaixensa. 1879. lxxxvi, 315 p.: il.
Facsimile of the 1879 edition. Cisoria art by D. Enrique de Villena. Valladolid: Maxtor. 2006. LXXXVI, 315 p.: ill.
New edition carefully reproduced from the original codex of the Biblioteca Escurialense. Preface and appendix-glossary by Enrique Díaz-Retz. Barcelona: Bibliophile Selections. 1948. 254 p., [5] h.
Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles prepared the text and vocabulary and wrote the preliminary note. Madrid: Espasa Calpe. 1967. 143 p.
The text and concordance of Arte Cisoria. Escorial Mss. F. IV.1. Ed. John O'Neill. Madison: 1987. 8 p., 2 microfiche.
Edition and study by Russell V. Brown. Barcelona: Humanitas, 1986. 183 p.
Complete works. Madrid: Turner. 1994. 3 v.
Presentation and updating of the text. José-Luis Martín. Salamanca: JL Martín. 1997. 112 p.
Edition from mss. from the El Escorial Library and the Menéndez Pelayo Library. Modernized text and notes by Francisco Calero, introduction by Valentín Moreno. Madrid: Guillermo Blázquez. 2002. XXXI, 64 h., 122 p.: ill.
The twelve labors of Hercules; Leprosy treatise; Cisoria art. Palencia: Simancas. 2005. 191 p.

Notes:

Enrique de Aragón, Marquis of Villena (1384-1434), is a writer considered one of the first Spanish humanists. Among the fields of knowledge that he cultivated, mathematics, philosophy, alchemy and astrology stand out. Regarding his work, his translations of works by Cicero and Dante, among others, and his cisoria art (1423), gastronomic treatise with a strong allegorical and didactic character.