ses incredulity when shown the remains of the lovers
becomes thereby _persona non grata_ in Teruel.

For three centuries the controversy has continued and has resulted in
the spilling of much ink. The most complete and authoritative study of
the sources and growth of the legend is that of the eminent scholar
Cotarelo y Mori _(Sobre el origen y desarrollo de la leyenda de Los
Amantes de Teruel_, 2d edition, 1907). His conclusions support the
theory that the legend is the result of the localization in Teruel of
the story of the unfortunate Florentine lovers, Girolamo and Salvestra,
as related by Boccaccio in his _Decameron_, Book IV, Novel 8. He refutes
the arguments advanced by the supporters of the authenticity of the
legend, calls attention to the suspicious nature of all the documents,
and maintains the thesis that Boccaccio's story found its way into Spain
toward the end of the fourteenth century and took the form of the legend
of the _Lovers of Teruel_ about the middle of the sixteenth century, at
which time it first appeared definitely in Spanish literature. The
majority of literary critics and historians accept Cotarelo y Mori's
conclusions; others, however, refuse to give up the historic basis of
the legend. They cannot deny, of course, the evident similarity of the
stories; they explain it by saying that the story of the constant lovers
who died in Teruel in 1217 was carried to Italy by Aragonese soldiers or
merchants, was heard by the Italian novelist, and used by him as the
basis for his story of Girolamo and Salvestra.

#III. The Legend in Spanish Literature.# Very few of the famous
legends of the world rest upon documentary evidence, and the fact that
the legend of the _Lovers of Teruel_ lacks historic proof has had little
influence upon its popularity. It has been productive of much
literature, the extent of which is indicated by the two hundred or more
titles contained in the bibliography[l] published by Domingo Gascon y
Guimbao in 1907. Of the many poems, plays, and novels inspired by the
legend only the most noteworthy can be mentioned here. The oldest
literary treatment is apparently that of Pedro de Alventosa, written
about the middle of the sixteenth century, _Historia lastimosa y sentida
de los tiernos amantes Marcilla y Segura_. This was followed in 1566 by
a Latin poem of about five hundred lines by Antonio de Seron, published
in 1907 by Gascon y Guimbao, with a Spanish translation and an excellent