Medieval Spanish Literature: From Epic Poems to Renaissance Beginnings
Mester of Minstrelsy
Minstrels were singers, narrators, and actors who entertained people in castles and other places. The minstrel craft was learned and practiced like any other occupation, resulting in a school known as the mester (or trade) of minstrelsy.
Mester of Clergy
The clergy also used literature to publicize their teachings. Thus emerged the mester de clerecía, or trade of clergymen, who wrote works of a literary character with religious and moral themes.
Epic Poems: The Song of My Cid
This epic poem narrates the exploits of a medieval hero who represents the virtues of a people or community.
Realistic Character
The poem is rooted in real places and historical events, making the story believable.
Functions
It aimed to inform people about historical events and disclose information about their environment.
Oral Transmission
The poem was recited in public by minstrels in squares and castles to a largely illiterate audience.
Author
Anonymous
Theme and Argument
The Song of My Cid recounts the story of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, who, unjustly banished from the kingdom of Castile due to envy and slander against King Alfonso, seeks to regain his honor. The poem has 3,730 lines and is divided into three parts or cantos: the Song of Exile, the Song of the Wedding, and the Song of the Disgrace of Corpes.
Romance
The romance is a characteristic of the rich Iberian and Hispano-American literary tradition. Composed using a specific metric combination, it should not be confused with the narrative subgenre of the same name. The romance is characteristic of oral tradition and was popularized in the 15th century when ballads were first collected in writing. These poems are generally narrative, with themes varying according to the popular taste of the time and place. They are interpreted through recitation, chanting, or singing, with interspersed narration.
Old Ballads and Romances
The first romances originated from epic songs and were highly successful among minstrel audiences. This success encouraged the creation of other ballads based on medieval chronicles and legends, imitating the earlier ones. Thus, during the 15th century, the old romances were formed, rooted in oral and popular tradition.
New Romances
These consist of compositions invented by educated authors during the 16th and 17th centuries.
La Celestina
La Celestina is the name given since the 16th century to the work first entitled Comedy of Calisto and Melibea and later Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea, attributed almost entirely to Fernando de Rojas. It is a transitional work between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, written during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, with its first known edition dating from 1499. It constitutes a foundation upon which the birth of the modern novel and drama was cemented.
Two Versions
- Comedy (1499, 16 acts)
- Tragicomedy (1502, 21 acts)
Genre Debate
Traditional criticism has debated extensively whether to classify La Celestina as a drama or a novel. Current criticism agrees on its hybrid nature and its design as a work of pure dialogue, perhaps intended to be recited by a single reader embodying the voices of different characters to a small audience.
Literary Significance
Its aesthetic and artistic achievements, the characterization of its figures—especially Celestina, whose origin lies in Ovid—its artistic novelty based on humanistic comedy, and its lack of precedents and followers of its stature in Western literature have made La Celestina one of the greatest works of Spanish and universal literature.
Author’s Intention
The author states that he wrote his tragicomedy as a warning to the insane who are carried away by amorous passion, and also as a key for those blinded by greed and avarice.
The Count Lucanor
Originally titled Libro del conde Lucanor et de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and Patronio), The Count Lucanor is primarily a book of exempla or moralizing stories written between 1330 and 1335 by Prince Don Juan Manuel. It is considered the masterpiece of narrative prose in 14th-century Spanish literature.
Middle Ages vs. Renaissance
Middle Ages
- Theocentrism: God is considered the center of the world. Consequently, life is seen as a path towards heaven. Prayer and spiritual meditation accompany the human journey.
- Ideal Man: The warrior, who develops physical faculties, and the clergyman, who cultivates religious faculties.
- Popular Literature: Epic poems, the Bible, lives of saints, and religious themes.
Renaissance
- Anthropocentrism: Man, as God’s creation, is the center of the world. God created the world for man to interpret and enjoy.
- Ideal Man: The courtier, who harmoniously develops all human faculties.
- Popular Literature: Myths and stories from Greco-Roman tradition are incorporated into romances.