15th-Century Society, Culture, and Literature: A Transition
Society and Culture in the 15th Century
The 15th century marked a period of significant change, a transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Two key events shaped history and culture: the discovery of America, which elevated Spain to a European power and gave the Castilian language global reach, and the expulsion of the Jews, leading to conversions and distinctions between “old” and “new” Christians. While nobility retained privilege, the bourgeoisie gained strength, and individual consciousness grew, foreshadowing Renaissance anthropocentrism. Nobility shifted from martial pursuits to courtly life, embracing art and literature.
Literature in the 15th Century
This transitional literature reflects medieval characteristics, such as religious and didactic intent, while incorporating elements of the burgeoning Renaissance, like humanism and individualism. Humanism, a cultural and literary movement originating in 14th-century Italy, spread across Europe, promoting interest in Romance languages. Castilian literature underwent romanization, incorporating Latin syntactic structures. Prose genres like chivalry books continued, alongside the emergence of sentimental narratives, reflecting the growing interest in individual psychology.
Traditional Poetry: The Ballads
Medieval traditional poetry persisted, with ballads gaining prominence. These variable-length compositions, written in eight-syllable lines with assonant rhyme, are categorized as “old ballads” to distinguish them from later works by known poets. Originating from fragmented medieval epics, ballads exist in multiple versions due to oral transmission. They feature two main structures: narrative ballads, which present a complete action, and scene ballads, capturing a specific moment. Fragmentary form, dialogue, and stylistic devices like parallelism, enumeration, hyperbole, comparisons, and antithesis are common. Tenses shift between past, present, and future, and archaic language is often used. Ballads are classified thematically into epic romances (related to historical events), border romances (depicting Moorish-Christian conflicts), and lyrical/romantic romances (covering diverse themes).
Learned Poetry
A) Characteristics
- Influences from Galician-Portuguese, Provençal, and Italian lyric poetry.
- Predominantly love themes, inspired by courtly love, portraying the poet as a vassal to his beloved.
- Allegorical tendencies influenced by Dante, with philosophical and moral content.
- Common compositions include songs (praising the beloved and lamenting love’s pain) and serranillas (narrating a gentleman’s love affair with a mountain woman).
- Use of octosyllabic and longer lines.
- Frequent use of antitheses, paradoxes, parallelism, allegories, hyperbaton, and Latinate syntax.
B) Songbooks
A notable literary development was the emergence of songbooks—extensive poetic collections compiled under royal or noble patronage. The most famous is the Cancionero de Baena.
C) Santillana and Mena
The Marquis de Santillana’s poetry reflects diverse influences, including classical, Italian, and Provençal literature. He attempted to introduce the sonnet form and excelled in allegorical poetry, drawing inspiration from Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. He also authored serranillas. Juan de Mena’s masterpiece, Laberinto de Fortuna, is a long allegorical poem characterized by highly romanized lexicon and syntax.
D) Jorge Manrique and the Couplets
Jorge Manrique, though known for courtly love poetry, achieved fame with his Coplas a la Muerte de su Padre. This elegy reflects on life’s meaning through his father’s death. Key themes include death (personified as an equalizer), life’s transience (using the medieval ubi sunt motif), and fame (earned through honor). The poem is divided into three parts, moving from general reflections to specific examples and culminating in Don Rodrigo’s encounter with death. The 40 stanzas, known as “broken-foot couplets,” each contain 12 lines. The Coplas uniquely blend medieval and Renaissance elements, showcasing a Christian view of death and celebrating Don Rodrigo’s warrior spirit.