Medieval Society, Culture, and Literature: A Comprehensive Overview
Medieval Society and Culture
Feudalism and Social Estates
During the Middle Ages, society revolved around feudalism. The nobility and church owned the land, while peasants worked it, pledging allegiance to their lords in exchange for sustenance and protection. Society comprised three estates: the nobility, clergy, and commoners.
The nobility held military, political, and economic power, controlling the land. Until the 13th century, they were generally unrefined and illiterate. Notable authors later emerged, such as Don Juan Manuel, the Marquis of Santillana, and the Chancellor Ayala.
The clergy, dedicated to the Church, resided in convents and monasteries. They played a crucial role in preserving culture by copying classic texts into codices. Orders like the Cluniacs and Cistercians introduced new literary trends to Spain.
The commoners, tied to the land, lived in poverty, serving either the nobility or the clergy. A gradual migration to cities offered them freedom, trade opportunities, and a rise of urban life. From the 14th century onwards, the bourgeoisie emerged.
Religious Worldview and Cultural Exchange
The Church profoundly influenced medieval life. The prevailing worldview was theocentric, with God at the center of the universe. Life was seen as a path to eternal life, making the concept of death ever-present in culture and art. The rise of the bourgeoisie brought a growing focus on material aspects of life.
Medieval society witnessed the coexistence of Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Christians living under Muslim rule were called Mozarabic, while Muslims in reconquered territories were known as Mudejar. The Jewish population primarily resided in cities. All three groups contributed significantly to Hispanic culture, with figures like Ibn Quzman, Averroes, and Maimonides.
Medieval Literature
In the early Middle Ages, Latin was the language of scholars, while Romance languages were used for oral communication. Most Castilian literary texts before the 13th century stemmed from popular literature and oral tradition. By the 13th century, cultured authors began writing in various vernaculars.
Characteristics of Medieval Literature
- Oral Transmission: Many texts were transmitted orally, resulting in anonymous works with a strong sense of community and tradition.
- Realism: Castilian literature often displayed a sharp realism.
- Didacticism: A desire to moralize and teach permeated many works. Genres like tales and fables, often allegorical, served this purpose.
- The Role of Women: In Galician lyric poetry and courtly love, women held a central role.
- Recurring Themes: Religious themes, death, fortune, heroism, chivalry, and love were common.
- Influences: Medieval literature drew influences from Arabic and Eastern European sources (jarchas, stories), French sources (epic poetry, troubadour lyrics), Italian sources (songs), and classical sources.
Courtly Love
Originating in Provence between the 11th and 13th centuries, courtly love heavily influenced medieval and Renaissance literature. The steps to win a lady’s favor involved: visus (seeing and falling in love), pregador (praying for her attention), pledge (receiving a token of her favor), and drude/drutz (consummation).
Features of Courtly Love
“The poet sings his love to a beautiful and noble lady, declaring the vassal and faithful servant has the death.” The lady is inaccessible because she’s married (adulterous love). “As the lady’s correspondence is impossible, the poet usually ends in despair or frustration. Although not always, because sometimes it is reciprocated. “Troubadour poetry is of eroticism with religious language and mythology. The lady is divine and is described as a goddess, as a being of perfection, a reflection of the Beautiful (Neoplatonism). Compared with the stars, the sun, at sunrise, and its attributes, is matched by precious stones or flowers of nature. By its nature it is related to the snow. For his cruelty to the basilisk, also compared with death … As object of desire, is described as a heron, deer, horse … “Courtly love introduced a pagan concept of love. Love is an inborn passion born of admiration for the beauty of another. Love ennobles the lover.