Courtly Love, El Cid, and Medieval Literature: A Deep Dive
The concept of courtly love originated in Provençal poetry, expressing the relationship between a queen and a vassal (a relationship between nobles and vassals known as vassalage). The woman was usually married, and the vassal expressed his feelings. It was cultivated by court poets, the troubadours (men of the court whose job was to write poetry). The stylistic characteristics of medieval lyric poetry are based on Provence:
- Courtly Love
- Rich and varied metrics
- Complex rhetoric
- Developed prescriptive forms (tired of loving character Sirvent, ironic or moralizing, in which two partners argue about an issue).
Tired: A poem with a loving character, male and receiver with a female transmitter.
Sirventes: An expression of anger, rebuke, personal attacks, or controversial literary or moralizing discourse.
The jarcha crowns the muwassaha (Arabic). They are written in Arabic, Hebrew, or Mozarabic. They consist of a few verses with a variety of consonant rhyming syllables. They are compositions sung by a soloist and a choir that sang the chorus.
Cantar del Mio Cid
It is the oldest preserved epic poem, written by Per Abbat. It is thought to be a copy of an earlier one written by San Esteban de Gormaz and other parts of the song. It is divided into three parts:
- Song of Exile: El Cid is banished, which is the loss of honor. He is exiled on false charges, and he wins battles, increasing his fame and wealth, allowing him to return to his land.
- Song of the Marriage: Focuses on the conquest of Valencia. The Dukes of Carrión ask for the hand of his daughter; he agrees but is not happy.
- Song of the Reproach of Corpes: Narrates the departure of the marriage. Cid tells her his anxiety about this marriage and weds the king’s daughters.
Jorge Manrique’s Poems
The poems are divided into three parts:
- The first part deals with general topics, talking about how fast life passes, of *tempus fugit*, the Christian sentiment of the poet, and makes metaphors about life and death.
- The second part deals with the power of equalizing death, which is the most common theme. It also speaks of *ubi sunt?*, an essential theme of this second part.
- The third part describes Rodrigo Manrique, Jorge Manrique’s father, describing his exploits, his virtues, and comparing him to Roman emperors. It describes the end; death came to Rodrigo Manrique, and he accepts it without fear.
Don Juan Manuel
He had a great culture and was well versed in reading classic authors, still very demanding of himself and his prose debugging. He composed his works in person and thus printed them with his personal stylistic features, always concerned with preserving the originals of his work to prevent errors from distorting them. Paradoxically, the library they were in caught fire and burned these originals. His style is very refined, as he sought clarity in its presentation and wanted to always understand what he meant by getting his prose to be the most elaborate of all his works composed in that literary era. He composed literary prose with a moral or didactic purpose and draws from Roman sources and *El Conde Lucanor*.
*El Conde Lucanor* is the principal of his works, consisting of five unequal parts containing fifty stories that are the result of the conversation between the Count and his counsel, in which the Count asks questions first, and the counsel responds with a story that is relevant to the case. The stories are diverse in subject and not the original author.