Gonzalo de Berceo and the Archpriest of Hita: Works
Gonzalo de Berceo
Gonzalo de Berceo (1196-1265) is the first Spanish poet with a known name. He was born in Berceo (La Rioja) and was a cleric linked to the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla.
His works have religious, educational, and moral themes and are based on Latin sources, as he acknowledges.
- His work: He wrote several lives of saints, such as Santo Domingo de Silos, San Millán, and Santa Oria, but his most important work is The Miracles of Our Lady.
- His style: He is a conscious author who wants to reach the common people, so he uses simple, clear language, full of popular voice and dialectal turns. He does not circumvent the mood. Sometimes, he also highlights its lyricism, realism, and the family and rural environment in which he usually places his stories.
The Archpriest of Hita
Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita, is the most important author of the 14th-century clergy, with his “Book of Good Love.”
The Book of Good Love presents a variety of themes, genres, stanzas, and verses. We can distinguish seven sections:
- I: A prologue in prose that explains the moral drive of the work.
- II: A happy and carefree story, written in autobiographical form, in which several of the protagonist’s affairs occur.
- III: Different narratives or “examples”:
- The battle between Don Carnal and Doña Cuaresma.
- The Loves of Don Melon and Mrs. Endrina.
- The example of the wolf, the goat, and the crane.
- IV: A series of satires on the power of money in the world.
- V: Moral reflections on various topics, such as confession, the weapons that the Christian has to fight against sin, or the seven deadly sins.
- VI: Religious lyric poems, like those dedicated to the Virgin.
- VII: Profane-themed lyric poems, such as “mountain songs.”
Intention of the Work
- The author first states that he will write on a variety of ways of deceptive, crazy love in the world, used by some to sin, and seeks to hate and not miss the soul.
- However, he then adds the following idea: “Because it is a human thing to sin, if a man uses crazy love, here you will find some ways to do so.”
- Ambiguity is caused by the overlap of religious and secular elements, a moralizing tone, and the exaltation of the joys and pleasures of life, alternating between a stern tone and a burlesque one.
- Ambiguity is also present in the author’s own statements on how to correctly interpret the work.
- Critics also have opposing interpretations: for some, it is a textbook; for others, it is a book for entertainment without any desire for learning.
The play moves from the religious to the mundane, from the exaltation of carnal love and pious devotion, from morality to satire, and from serious thought to playfulness, humor, and irony.
Characteristics of the Work
Along with the characteristics of the Mester de Clerecía, aspects of minstrelsy and popular character were also identified, such as:
- Metric irregularities.
- Characters of the people, like the harsh mountain woman.
- Ease and humor.
Features of his style are also lively and popular speech, the variety of expression, and the realism of many moments.
- Constant use of humor and irony.
- Descriptive realism in the depiction of everyday life in the city.
- Enormous lexicon volume.
- Variety of language: formal language, full of learned quotations, with colloquial language, very lively in the dialogues, peppered with proverbs and popular expressions.
The work of Juan Ruiz is one of the most vital creations of all medieval Spanish literature and an exponent of the new bourgeois mentality.