15th-Century Spanish Literature: Poetry and Prose
Poetry courtesan emerges in the twelfth century.
Its creators are the troubadours and its theme is love.
The novelty of this poetry is to consider women as a being superior to the lover worships and vassalage. This type of love will receive the name of love cuts. The poet declares servant of the lady, whom she calls my lord, and which is characterized as an accumulation of perfection (beauty, honesty ..). Its purpose is to achieve a wave of his beloved, but, ultimately, the sexual consummation. This will influence the lyrical poetry Galician thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in the medieval Catalan poetry. Its importance will be also big on Italian poetry by authors such as Petrarch. Indebted to these forms and this sensitivity will be the poetry of the Castilian and Aragonese songbooks XV century. The songbooks meet a clear social function. Is no longer the only noble warrior and politician, but also a courtier, a patron and grower the same poetic art. Songbooks important are the Cancionero de Baena, that of Estúñiga, that of Dessessart Herberay and the Palace. The theme of the poetry loving cancionero is predominantly within the usual concepts of courtly love. After the artificiality of this poetry are hidden concepts that are full of eroticism and sexual passion. The ambiguity, subtlety and wit, along with an extremely limited vocabulary and a particular metric, are the formal characteristics of this poetry of song. Three poets out among the many lyric of song: the Marquis de Santillana, Juan de Mena and Jorge Manrique. Inigo Lopez de Mendoza Marques de Santillana (1398 – 1458) was one of the most powerful aristocatras time. A rich library meetings, learned to surround himself with wise. It was also very notable person in the politics of his time. Juan de Mena (1411-14569 was secretary to King Juan II. Was devoted exclusively to the cultivation of letters. His poetry is far from the Renaissance ideal of clarity and simplicity of expression. Complication, the darkness, the artifice of language and latinizante the wealth of scholarship are the characteristics of their works. Jorge Manrique was born around 1440. Was a member of one of the most powerful families of the Castilian. Was devoted primarily to politics and war, enjoying the privileges of the nobility and participating actively in the fighting that ravaged the lands of Castile. He died in a village in La Mancha, Cuenca in 1479. A love poem that follows the guidelines of the Galician-Portuguese school. The love poetry of Jorge Manrique is still out of themes and ideas characteristic of courtly lyric that repeats a previous molds.
Leave behind the exaggerations of expression and uses the medieval legal world. The poetry of Jorge Manrique helps pave the way for a renewal poetic echoes of which persist for centuries. The situation of Castile in the fifteenth century led to the appearance of a protest in which poetry and satirizes directly attacks the aristocratic oligarchy and the kings themselves. Highlight three satirical poems: Verses of the baker, Mingo Couplets Couplets Revulgo and the Provincial.
The prose of S. XV:
There are many books written in prose and varied topics covered. Within the didactic prose, you can highlight two representative figures of the first half of the century: Enrique de Villena and Alfonso Martinez de Toledo. Enrique de Villena he possessed a remarkable library. Author of numerous and very funny works, among which excels The Twelve Labors of Hercules (1417). Alfonso Martinez de Toledo, author of The corbacho (1438). Stresses in this work the splendid use of popular speech of the time. In prose fiction, and one can see that the evolution away from the simplicity of medieval exempla.Two genera are developed in this century sentimental fiction books and books of chivalry. Sentimental narratives anticipate many features: characters in conflict with their environment, analysis of individual privacy, some psychological evolution of the characters, anxious and unhappy players, etc. The masterpiece of this genre is the Carcel de amor (1492). The books of chivalry ought to know and be read on the Peninsula in the late Middle Ages. Translations and adaptations were made very early. Items relating to Charlemagne and King Arthur are the most common. Books of chivalry are adventure books featuring knights whose mission was to restore order and protect the helpless. The cavalry reaffirms the need for the noble estate in an era in which the function of the noble warrior, with the appearance of a professional soldier, this called into question. Characters are mere types. Love is the theme of the works. The scenarios are imaginary and often wonderful. Castilian prose will also serve in the fifteenth century as a channel of expression for many other types of books, didactic works, philosophical works, historical chronicles, biographies, travel books, etc. Proof of which will be the publication in 1492 of the grammar of the Castilian tongue Nebrija Antonio, the first grammar of a Romance language company in Europe.