MESTER DE CLERECÍA: CHARACTERISTICS, THEMES, AUTHORS AND WORKS - LITERATURE - 2024

The mester en clergy was medieval literature composed of clergymen or educated men that developed during the 13th and 14th centuries. They were narrative works in verses with the intention of teaching Christian values, in addition to divulging the life and miracles of the patron saints of the monasteries.

It developed in the ecclesiastical and religious sphere; they used a wide and cultured vocabulary, full of rhetoric, stanzas, regular verses with the awareness of being different from minstrels. Due to its formal character, it is attributed a great difference from the mester of minstrel composed of a more popular and less cultured narrative.

Berceo's book: «Miracles of Our Lady». See page for author, via Wikimedia Commons

For their part, the clerics attended higher studies derived from the medieval liberal arts, which is why they used the expression “cuaderna via”. This was a type of stanza that began to be used at the time.

characteristics

Authorship

During the Middle Ages, the clergymen had the function of going from village to village to bring the cultured and religious themes closer to the people with the purpose of being didactic and moralizing.

They used the Romance language, rhetorical colors, a vocabulary with frequent cultisms and certain words extracted from Latin. It was also loaded with symbolism, allegories and metaphors.

Content and function

Within the works they dealt with both religious and historiographical themes with moralizing purposes and inspired by the Greek and Roman tradition.

The function of exposing these issues, beyond entertaining the people, was a way of indoctrinating and educating. That is why they were read collectively and in monasteries.

Metrics

Most of the works of mester de clerecía were written in regular verses. The Alexandrian writing or using fourteen syllables was preferred. This was done in two 7-syllable isometric verse halves that were separated with a relatively strong pause.

It differed from the mester de juglaría because in this anisoyllabic verses were used.

Rhyme

They used a difficult and demanding rhyme: the consonant. Otherwise, the minstrel mester uses an assonance rhyme and the courtesy mester uses prose.

On the other hand, they use as a metric scheme preferably the monorhimal tetrastrophe, formed by a quarter of Alexandrian verses, that is, 14 syllables that contain a single rhyme also called Monorrino.

In the fourteenth century, other meters were used to give variety to the strophic monotony and for this purpose the "zéjeles" was created, a variant of the via frame like the Sem Tob.

Topics covered

The Saints

The authors of these books only limited themselves to a single character, in which they emphasized in the life of the Catholic saint and in representing him in a quite realistic and lively way.

Within the monasteries it was popular to sing the poems and to exalt each miracle that the saint performed; as well as reflecting their humble lives and sufferings. On the other hand, it is believed that most of these poems were dedicated to heroic acts.

Gonzalo de Berceo was the main author to represent the lives of the saints as well as Beneficiado Úbeda.

The virgin mary

In the 13th century, the devotion to the Virgin Mary spread throughout the European geography. The clergymen were in charge of revealing in their poems a maternal image that is kinder and closer to Christianity.

In most of the Marian poems, the greatness of the Virgin was exalted, reflecting each of her miracles. The intention was not to tell any particular story, but to spread the Marian traditions in the Romance language to their devotees.

In the case of Berceo's poem, Milagros de Nuestra Señora, the theme of the text was the story of the fall and redemption of the human being and the role of the virgin under those circumstances.

Novel

In the mester de clerecía not only religious themes were spread, but also fictional stories with fictional stories. Most of the stories were lengthy, in which the main character faces a series of difficulties until he finds himself on the path of fulfillment.

The purpose of these poems was merely moralizing, with the aim of emphasizing that evil always leads to punishment and good to reward.

Miscellaneous

In the fourteenth century, serious crises such as plagues, wars and the struggle for power between the Christian kingdoms occurred. For this reason, a different type of literature began to develop in the clergymen's office.

In the miscellaneous topics, sarcasm and humor stood out when facing the misfortunes and pleasure of life in the face of the radical religiosity of the last century.

The rise of the bourgeoisie led to the appearance of satire, where money definitely replaces the chivalric and religious ideals of earlier times.

In this sense, the mester de clerecía evolved in terms of gender orthodoxy and began to mix the cuaderna via with other metric forms.

Authors

Gonzalo de Berceo

Gonzalo Berceo was a clergyman who trained as a priest in Santo Domingo de Silos, in Burgos. He became the first representative of the clergy mester, inaugurating erudite poetry, contrary to the epic and popular poetry of the minstrels.

His works were religious, being classified in the life of saints, Marian works and works of doctrinal religious themes in general. Many of his stories are inspired by his experiences and traditions of the monasteries where he was.

Most of his works had a didactic and moral purpose, characterized by the use of simple language.

Archpriest of Hita

Arcipreste de Hita was a Castilian writer who wrote one of the most relevant works of medieval literature, the Book of Good Love.

Little information is available on the author. In fact, the few biographical data have been extracted from the poem; the name, place of birth and city in which you studied.

The author establishes some key points between sensuality, religious piety and feminine beauty. This makes your texts lend themselves to the creation of questions according to their content.

In fact, the Archpriest himself has confused the relationship between religious passion and passionate love. His style is colorful and lively with the ease of using an abundance of words.

In the 13th century, the author offered a range of linguistic frameworks that constituted an agile and ingenious language in comparison with the poets of that time.

Benefited from Úbeda

Beneficiado de Úbeda is the name given to an author who was never identified. It is only known that he was the creator of the cuaderna via poem entitled La vida de San Ildefonso, a relevant work for the time.

Úbeda was recognized for having been the author that recounts the life of San Ildefonso and for having written another poem entitled La vida de Magdalena, a work that is currently missing.

Representative works

The Miracles of Our Lady

Gonzalo Berceo recounts in this poem the miracles performed by the Virgin Mary, who protects believers even if they commit sins.

It is made up of a set of 25 miracles, all with the same structure: the representation of the devotee, then the difficulties that arise, the appearance of the Virgin to fulfill the miracle and finally a final reflection.

The miracles came from a Latin writing that Berceo later adapted to the Riojan dialectic. This poem brought to life the church records regarding the miracles the virgin did.

Berceo took the license in this poem to incorporate dialogues, narrative passages and lyrical elements that were not present in the minstrel mester.

Book of Apollonius

It was a story written during the 5th and 6th centuries, modeled after the Byzantine or adventure novel. The adventures of Apollonius, King of Tire, were popular in the Middle Ages and today versions in different languages ​​are preserved.

Nothing is known of the composer of the work, except that he must have been a clergyman for the use of a cultured and moralizing language. On the other hand, the author was in charge of writing an original work, without making any kind of translations or adaptations of other texts.

With this work the type of romantic poem that lasted in the clergyman is inaugurated. The work develops certain themes within the poem such as incest, death, shipwreck, travel, the beauty of women, riddles and enigmas adding a happy ending.

Book of Alexandre

It is a work from the thirteenth century that narrates the life of Alexander the Great with excesses of fabulous elements. Like almost all clergy poems, it is written using the via frame. It is composed of 1,675 stanzas and 10,700 verses.

The theme and length of the text, which exceeds 10,000 verses, make this work one of the most relevant of the time.

Although there is no record of the author of this work, the author's office indicates that he is a clergyman, since he addresses a cult, non-traditional or popular matter. It has the technique and resources of the clergy.

Good Love Book

The book of good love or also called the book of Archpriest, is an extensive composition composed of 1,700 stanzas in which the author recounts a fictitious autobiography. Not only has it been relevant in the Middle Ages, but it currently preserves such relevance within Spanish literature.

It deals with the unrequited love affairs of Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita. The author narrates a time in which the conflict between Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures appears.

Fabulous elements, allegories, moralities and sermons are interspersed in the poem. It is also composed of profane lyrical compositions accompanied by parodies, mixed with the joys of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.

References

1. El Mester de Clerecía and didactic literature, Jesús Cañas Murillo, (nd). Taken from cervantesvirtual.com
2. El Mester de Clerecía, Portal Mester Lengua, (nd). Taken from mesterlengua.com
3. Mester en clergy, Wikipedia in English, (nd). Taken from wikipedia.org
4. Gonzalo Berceo, Biographies and Lives, (nd). Taken from biografiasyvidas.com
5. Arcipreste Hita, Biographies and Lives, (nd). Taken from biografiasyvidas.com
6. Benefited Úbeda, MCN Biographies Portal, (nd). Taken from mcnbiografias.com
7. Gonzalo de Berceo and the master of clergy, Rincón Castellano Web, (nd). Taken from rinconcastellano.com