Medieval Spanish Literature: An Overview
Medieval Spanish Literature
Narrative Voices and Perspectives
Narrator
Explicit: Set out as a character’s own story, usually in the second person.
Implicit: Shown as a figure that organizes and tells the story, typically in the third person.
Viewpoint
Internal: The narrator tells what happens from the perspective of one or more characters in the story.
External: The narrator tells what happens from a perspective completely detached from the characters.
Omniscient: The narrator is shown as knowledgeable about everything that happens in the story.
Narratee
Explicit: Someone more or less specified.
Implicit: Not directed at anyone in particular.
Setting
Space
Open: Places where the characters tend to move and develop action.
Closed: Places where the action freezes for an introspective analysis of the characters or to carry out a reflection on the events developed so far.
Time
Time in History: Chronological time in which the story is framed.
Time Covered by the Story: Time lag in the action.
Characters
- Protagonist
- Assistant
- Antagonist
Mester de Clerecía
The Mester de Clerecía refers to the style of writing and all the works that educated clergymen created between the 13th and 14th centuries.
Features of Mester de Clerecía
- Use of a refined and careful language.
- Written in verse.
- Didactic purpose (to teach).
- Predominantly religious themes inspired by Greek and Roman tradition.
- Deep respect for books as sources of inspiration.
- Exclusive use of the cuaderna vía verse form (fourteen-syllable Alexandrine verses with consonant rhyme).
Gonzalo de Berceo
Gonzalo de Berceo is the first Castilian poet whose name we know. His most important work is Miracles of Our Lady, which consists of twenty poems about the miracles of the Virgin Mary. His verses are spontaneous, simple, naive, and charming.
Mester de Juglaría
The Mester de Juglaría refers to the epic and lyric poetry of popular broadcast during the Middle Ages by the minstrels.
Characteristics of Mester de Juglaría
- Anisosylllabic verse (irregular verse length, ranging between ten and sixteen syllables).
- Predominance of assonance rhyme.
- Anonymous authorship.
- Epic poems featuring heroes, legendary feats, knights, and medieval values.
Narrative Prose Forms
Short Story
- Folk Tales: Anonymous stories transmitted orally.
- Cultured Tales: Stories attributed to an author and composed in writing.
Books of Chivalry
Fictional stories of great length, often set in the Arthurian world, chronicling the life of a knight.
Historical Narratives
Proliferated in the School of Translators in Toledo during the 13th century.
Alfonso X “The Wise”
- General Estoria (tells the origins of the world based on the Bible).
- General Chronicle of Spain (draws on Greco-Roman, Arab, and chansons de geste sources).
Count Lucanor (Don Juan Manuel)
- Didactic and moralizing work.
- Part I: 51 popular stories presented as advice from Patronio to the Count.
- Parts II, III, and IV: Cases presented by Patronio to the Count.
- Part V: Epilogue with a religious background.
Characteristics of Expository Text
- Logical order in sentences.
- Specific use of adjectives.
- Predominance of the present tense and impersonal constructions.
- Use of specialized vocabulary.
- Typographical features (e.g., headings, lists).
- Citations from other authors.
- Connectors (e.g., listing, comparison, order).
These features enhance objectivity and clarity in the transmission of information.