Medieval Spanish Literature: 13th and 14th Centuries

Mester de Clerecía: 13th and 14th Centuries

Characteristics and Content

The Mester de Clerecía is the set of works composed by clerics during the 13th and 14th centuries. These texts have ethical content and a didactic, religious purpose. The stanza employed is the cuaderna vía. They were transmitted orally because the majority of the population was illiterate.

Gonzalo de Berceo

Gonzalo de Berceo is the first known Castilian poet. The Miracles of Our Lady are stories of miracles in which the Virgin Mary protects and forgives. It is divided into two parts: an introduction and a set of twenty-five miracles.

1. Presentation
2. Devotee's difficulties
3. Appearances of the Virgin
4. Final reflections

The Book of Good Love

The Book of Good Love, written by Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita, appears as a reflection on the evils of earthly love in contrast to the goodness of divine love.

Main features:

• Love stories: the adventures of the Dean with various women
• Prayers and songs
• One episode of praise
• An epic poem
• Serranas (mountain songs)

Castilian Prose: Alfonso X the Wise

Alfonso X the Wise decided that Castilian would become the language of legal documents.

Assorted works:

• Legal work: The Code of the Seven Partidas
• Scientific and recreational works
• Historical collections
• Stories: the first stories written in Castilian were translations of oriental tales

Major collections:

• Kalila and Dimna
• Sendebar

Don Juan Manuel

Don Juan Manuel, nephew of Alfonso X, is the head of prose fiction in the 14th century. El Conde Lucanor (The Count Lucanor) is a collection of fifty-one stories.

Structure of the stories:

1. Presentation of the problem
2. Narration of the story
3. Moral reflections and council

Epic Poetry and Mester de Juglaría

Epics are epic poems narrating exploits starring knights called heroes. The office of minstrels was known under the name of Mester de Juglaría.

Meter

The chansons de geste are composed of a series of irregular verses with assonant rhyme, called assonance runs.

Minstrel Resources

The oral character of these poems is evident in the use of formulas:

• Epic epithets
• Appellative and straightforward style: the narrator gives voice to the characters
• Realism to make the story more credible

These minstrels used real data.

El Cantar de Mio Cid

El Cantar de Mio Cid recounts the exploits of the knight Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, called "El Cid". It is an anonymous work.

Traits of the hero:

• Magnificent warrior and skilled in military strategy
• Intended by the people
• Of noble lineage
• Great religiosity
• Loyal friend, father, and vassal of the king

It is composed of 3730 assonant rhyming verses. It has three parts:

1. Song of Exile
2. Song of the Weddings
3. Song of the Corpes Affront

The central issue is the recovery of lost honor.

Romances

Romances are all childish and oral transmission belts. There are three types:

• Epic Romances: compositions featuring characters from the chansons de geste
• Historical Romances: narrating real facts
• Novelesque Romances: stories featuring fictional characters

The romances are formed by an indeterminate number of eight-syllable verses, with assonant rhyme in the even verses and the odd verses loose.