Spanish Courtly Lyric Poetry in the 15th Century
The 15th Century Courtly Lyric
The fifteenth century was a transitional period between medieval and modern times.
Social and Cultural Changes of the 15th Century
Much of the 15th century developed in Spain, but the unification of the realms of Aragon and Castile through the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs restored stability to the country after a civil war. The economy still had a rural, agrarian base. The economic crisis brought social upheaval.
The most crucial renewal of this period occurred in the scientific and cultural world:
- It broadened our knowledge of the geography of the planet and the universe.
- The invention of printing occurred.
- The presence of classical Greco-Roman culture was growing.
These and other factors identified a new attitude toward reality. The weight of religion weakened, and culture was disseminated among more layers of the population, and immutable truths were doubted.
Spanish literary creation echoed all this instability. This century would witness a country that was preparing to live its step of greater power.
As for the literary language, there were several important phenomena:
- The classical influence of the current gave rise to a Latinized language that tried to ennoble Castilian by trying to resemble Latin (The introduction of many cults).
- The vocabulary was enriched with Gallic and Italian words.
- The presence of increasingly popular speech was abundant in artistic creations.
The 15th Century Courtly Lyric
The courtly lyric was a literary art developed in the courts during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is conserved through songbooks, and the most important are those of Baena, Estuniga, and the general songbook of Hernando del Castillo.
Learned poetry predominated, revealing a strong influence from Provencal troubadours. These were short songs and lyrics of light style, short meters, designed for singing. Their themes were loving and artistic.
As the century progressed, they were influenced by the Italians Dante and Petrarch and a taste for imitation of classical Latin literature. An example is the character sayings or poems teaching and doctrine development and frequent allegorical allusions to mythology, a language written with Latinisms plagued by worship.
The predominance of courtly poetry should not obscure the importance of satirical poetry with strong social content.
The Marquis of Santillana
Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, Marquis of Santillana, was a new model of the 15th-century poet. His poetry and literary ideas pointed in two directions: the medieval troubadour tradition and developments from Italy. His works of troubadour source are perhaps their creations alive today. In Songs and Sayings and their Serranillas, he integrated with grace and spirit the popular and the worship. In his works, he aspired to imitate the Italian influence of Dante and Petrarch.
Juan de Mena
Juan de Mena was one of the greatest Latinists of his time. His most important work is the Laberinto de Fortuna, also known as Las Trescientas. His language is modeled on the Latin classics; hence the abundance of cults and mythological references, the continued use of hyperbaton, and sentential syntactic complexity.
Jorge Manrique
He was a poet of reduced production, some 50 compositions, most of them on the theme of love, with troubadour influence and courtly character. He would be one more among the many poets gathered in the songbook if he had not written the Verses on the Death of His Father, one of the greatest poems in our literary history.