Medieval Spanish Literature: Genres and Influences

Posted on Oct 8, 2024 in Latin

Medieval Spanish Literature

Connotations

Connotations are figurative or symbolic and political meanings that communicate sensations and feelings. They are generally used in everyday language, colloquialisms, and literary texts.

Middle Ages (476-1473)

This period began with the fall of the Roman Empire.

Society

  • Oratores (priests): Lived in monasteries and copied texts.
  • Bellatores (nobility): Lords who owned land and fought for religion and territory.
  • Laboratores (workers): The working class.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the first universities were created (Paris, Oxford, and Salamanca). Troubadours became important figures.

Key Concepts

  • Topical: Man of arms and letters (the knight becomes worshipped and focuses solely on fighting).
  • Mudéjar: Christians who lived in Al-Andalus.
  • Mozarabe: Arabs living in Christian areas.
  • Joglar: A person without a fixed job who earned a living by reciting poems and singing.

The Romans arrived in Spain in 218 BC.

Castilian Language

The first Castilian words were found in the “Glosas Emilianenses” in the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla and the “Glosas Silenses” in the monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos.

Courtly Love

Features

  • Courtesy: The lover must have good manners.
  • Vassal-lady love: The lover (vassal) had to be faithful to the lady.
  • Extramarital: It was outside of marriage and considered adulterous love, but accepted by society.
  • Suffering: The woman makes the man suffer and appears cold.
  • Mystical: Love was seen as mystical, like a religion for the lover.
  • Hierarchy: The gentleman is considered less important than the lady and always yields to her.

Rules

  • One who is not jealous cannot love.
  • All lovers grow pale in the presence of their beloved.
  • All actions are justified by thoughts of the lady.
  • The ease with which love is obtained removes its value for the gentleman.

Phases

  1. Fenhedor: The gentleman searches for love and suffers because he cannot find his beloved.
  2. Pregador: He begs the lady for her love.
  3. Connoisseur: After the pleas, the woman agrees, pays attention, and grants a token of affection.
  4. Drutz: Consummation of love.

Epic Poetry

Epic poetry is a heroic narrative in verse that focuses on the pursuit of honor through risk. The epic poet deals with the exploits of a hero, either individually or within a community setting.

Characteristics (according to Collin Smith)

  • The hero has a goal, but it is difficult to achieve.
  • The hero is an example for the community.
  • The hero is praised like a deity.
  • The story takes place in a world of war.
  • The tone is sublime and the rhetoric is lofty.

Origins

  • Romantic Theory (Gaston Paris): The epic is a reflection of the spirit of the people, a spontaneous collective creation from the 8th and 9th centuries. Ballads were called poems. A Joglar would collect and incorporate them into his repertoire.
  • Positivist Theory (Milà i Fontanals): The opposite of the Romantic theory. A single poet writes the epic for knights and the aristocracy. The Joglar collects and incorporates it into his repertoire.
  • Latin Theory (H. Salvador): The epic evolved from the Latin epic.
  • Jacobean Theory (Bédier): They are translations of ecclesiastical legends invented by monks in the 12th century to attract pilgrims to the Camino de Santiago.
  • Traditional Theory (Menéndez Pidal): The author of the epic is an individual poet who created short poems of 500 verses. It begins to spread, and the author is eventually forgotten.

Types

  • Cultured: Evolved from epics composed in Latin. Example: Aeneid.
  • Traditional: Recited and composed by joglares. The best epics arise from a people’s heroic age.

Foreign Epics

  • Beowulf (England) 7th-8th centuries
  • The Song of the Nibelungs (Scandinavia) 12th century

Inspirations for Each Epic

  • France: Charlemagne and Roland.
  • Rome: Trojan War, Aeneas, and the Great.
  • Brittany: Adventures of King Arthur and his knights.

Jarchas

Jarchas are short poems with a love theme from a feminine perspective, dating back to the 11th century. They were written in Arabic or Hebrew, with 3, 4, or 5 eight-syllable verses.

Cantigas

There are three types of Cantigas:

  • Cantigas de amigo: (12th century) The friend is the beloved. The girl complains about her lover to a confidante (nature, mother, or sisters). They have a parallelistic structure.
  • Cantigas de amor: The author regrets not being loved by his lady.
  • Cantigas de escarnio e maldecir: Satirical poems directed against other poets and courtesans.

Traditional Castilian Lyrics

These poems have a male and female love theme. They explore the joy of love, sorrow for absence, rejection, or unrequited love. They include genres like Albada, harvest songs, serranillas, and carol (repetitive chorus, gloss, or verse longer than the chorus, simple, intense, and emotional style).

Cultured Castilian Lyrics

These poems focus on courtly love. The lover is referred to as “sir” and the beloved as “lady” as a metaphor for the relationship between lord and vassal. They are refined, elaborate, artificial, and full of wordplay.

Traditional Catalan-Provençal Lyrics

These are love songs written by known authors.

Cultured Catalan-Provençal Lyrics

These poems focus on courtly love and follow the same pattern as cultured Castilian lyrics.