Gonzalo de Berceo — Life, Works & Miracles of a Medieval Poet

Gonzalo de Berceo: Life, Works & Miracles

It is characteristic of medieval poetry that many compositions were anonymous. This was a general practice across Europe influenced first by the classical tradition and secondarily by Christianity, especially in regard to monastic work. In the case of Spain this is true as elsewhere in Europe. By 1236, however, a humble monk included verses that reveal their authorship: "Yo, Gonzalo por nombre, Berceo". Some authors have therefore proved to be the concern of individuals.

Life and Works

Berceo is the first Spanish poet known by name. He lived at the end of the twelfth century. Born in Berceo, a small town of La Rioja, he was educated in the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla. He died very old; various notarial records show he was still alive in the year 1264. Little more is known of his life, which must have passed placidly among simple people, devoted to his religious duties while composing his works.

All of Berceo's works are religious. His corpus includes:

• Three lives of the saints: Santo Domingo de Silos, San Millán de la Cogolla, and Santa Oria.
• Three poems dedicated to the Virgin: Praises of Our Lady; Plant which Tizo the Virgin the Day of the Passion of Jesus Christ Fixed (title as transmitted in the tradition); and Miracles of Our Lady.
• Three works of varied religious matter: The Sacrifice of the Mass; The Signs That Will Appear the Day Before the Final Judgment; and The Martyrdom of St. Laurentius.
• He is also attributed with three hymns.

Miracles of Our Lady

Miracles of Our Lady is one of the most important works of Gonzalo de Berceo. As to its composition, it consists of 25 miracles; but only one episode, "A Church Stolen," and the introduction appear to be original to the author. The other miracles, often in the same order, appear in a medieval collection of miracles (the Codex Thott of the Royal Library, Copenhagen), from which a redaction or recast probably served the monk.

The matters dealt with are not original inventions; Berceo does not deny their sources but welcomes and reworks them. His purpose is to give flavor to everyday affairs, to make them lively and accessible — simple and humble — and thus to soften critical judgments that present the poet as merely a copyist. In the introduction to the Miracles of Our Lady, Berceo recreates an image of the locus amoenus (a pleasant, paradisal place). The principal features are a tree, a meadow, and a spring or stream, to which the song of birds, flowers, and a gentle breeze can be added: all causes for joy.

Traditionally, the meadow has been seen as an image of the Virgin, of her loving lap, or as a figuration of heaven in an earthly, pleasant, and abundant manifestation. The meadow can also be understood as a refuge for the weary man, a solitary imaginative escape and a way to recreate another, more idyllic world.

The thematic structure is the same in all the miracles: there is an introduction in praise of the Virgin (sometimes absent), then an introduction to the story; next comes the problem or knot; finally, the intervention of the Virgin for the salvation of the accused — that is, the resolution of the problem — and all ends with a happy conclusion thanks to the Virgin.