Medieval Spanish Poetic Schools: Minstrelsy and Clergy

Mester de Juglaría and Mester de Clerecía

Mester de Juglaría (Minstrelsy)

Mester minstrel: The epic is an aristocratic genre, featuring a hero. Epic poems intended to be objective. The main fact in the oral transmission of an epic poem is the figure of the minstrel. This is supported by scholars like M. Pelayo and M. Pidal. The works are called works of the minstrels and belong to the Mester de Juglaría.

When comparing the minstrel with the troubadour, consider the social category and the author of the poems recited to the public. The epic poem, such as El Cantar de Mio Cid, consists of:

• A date of the manuscript's author.
• Division into parts.
• Characters.
• The meter of the poem.

Mester de Clerecía (Clergy)

Mester of Clergy: General features:

• Compared to minstrelsy, these works were initially done in Latin but later passed to Romance.
• Language: They aimed for a more careful and select language than that of the minstrels, boasting perfection in their verses and greater metric expertise. They were written in cuaderna vía (four verses of major art with the same rhyme).
• Theme: While it has been said that this genre is purely religious (as seen in Gonzalo de Berceo), the topics covered include scholarly materials obtained through direct observation of ordinary life or knowledge of the country, similar to the minstrels. However, the clergy accessed this knowledge through studious dedication, unlike the authors of El Cid, who seemed to have lived on the Peninsula.
• Chronology: This genre covers the 13th century (Gonzalo de Berceo – Milagros de Nuestra Señora) and other poems like Libro de Alexandre and Poema de Fernán González. In the 14th century, we find Juan Ruiz with the Libro de Buen Amor and Chancellor Don Pedro López de Ayala with the Rimado de Palacio.

Key Authors and Works of Mester de Clerecía

Gonzalo de Berceo

Berceo spent three lives in the monasteries of Santo Domingo de Silos, San Millán de la Cogolla, and Santa María. His works include:

• Milagros de Nuestra Señora, two poems dedicated to the Virgin (Loores de Nuestra Señora and El Sacrificio de la Misa).
• Three religious compositions of varied matter (El Martirio de San Lorenzo, El Sacrificio de la Misa, and signs that appear before Doomsday), and he also translated three hymns.

Libro de Buen Amor

This is the great poetic corpus, consisting of 1700 stanzas and 7000 lines. The only common thread that can be followed in the book's contents is the fictional autobiography. The book is a repertoire of amatory possibilities. Other elements include:

• Allegorical fragments (e.g., the battle).
• A high number of exenplos (fables/tales).
• Praise and satire.
• Lyrical compositions (religious and secular).
• Adaptation of Ars Amandi.
• Adaptation of Latin texts and other adaptations like Panphilus.