Gonzalo de Berceo

El poema iba dirigido a cualquier hijo de vecino y por eso está escrito en román paladino. A este pueblo, que conocía y disfrutaba de los cantares de gesta, había que darle una obra que pudiera competir con esos cantares. Con los elementos que Grimaldo le suministra, Berceo trata de componer un poema sobre una figura religiosa que pueda parangonarse en grandeza con los héroes de los cantares de gesta. Por su perspectiva y su concepción del personaje, el poema de Berceo es en esencia un show more cantar de gesta a lo divino. Berceo es un poeta consciente de las corrientes literarias y los gustos de su tiempo. A pesar de que usa una misma forma de versificación en casi todas sus obras, él se siente trovador cuando canta a la Virgen y juglar cuando trata de Santo Domingo. show less

Gonzalo de Berceo holds the rather remarkable distinction of being the first Spanish poet known by name. In an era of medieval anonymity, he did reference himself as the author of his texts, and left enough biographical details sprinkled through his religious poetry that scholars have been able to piece together a reasonable portrait of his life. He was attached to the Benedictine monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla, where he worked as a deacon and later as a member of the clergy. In show more truth, the religious terms confuse me. In the introduction to my edition of his Milagros, his status is described in the following way: "he was not a monk, rather a priest, a secular clergyman, but literate." So he worked for the church, and he knew how to read and write. He may have studied at the University of Palencia, which was founded in 1212, sometime before 1220.

Berceo's poetry is written in a style known as cuaderna vía, with clusters of four rhymed verses of fourteen syllables each. This type of verse was employed by educated members of the clergy whose practice of writing and reciting poetry was known as the "mester de clerecía" (ministry of clergy). These educated poets' style and verse contrasted with that of the jesters whose style, known as "mester de juglaría" is seen in early Spanish epic poems such as the Cantar de Mio Cid. The jesters generally grouped their verses into thematic units of varying length, and used assonance rather than full rhyme in their verses. The jesters and the clergy in the practice of their poetic "ministries" did find themselves in direct competition for the ears of their popular audience, with both forms often recited orally in public spaces. In the case of a guy like Berceo, this required composing religious stories that would be interesting enough to attract peoples' attention away from the heroic awesomeness of epics concerning heroes like Rodrigo Ruy Díaz and Fernán González. When I was in college, I remember that there were some preachers who would set up shop on campus in central, plaza-esque locations, drawing large crowds of listeners who objected to their baiting, incendiary comments. They had to compete with other student organizations who sometimes gave away free food or other goodies in order to entice people to sign up for their functions or join their fraternal organizations. People passed out fliers. Sometimes there were other forms of entertainment. When I think about the Spain of Berceo, I like to think about him in the same sort of setting, competing for the ears of the townsfolk with jesters reciting epics, as well as monks from other religious orders spreading their particular version of the Word.

There are twenty five Miracles in my edition, and in them, the Virgin Mary shows her capacity to forgive sins and absolve sinners, helping many different men straighten their paths through life and find eternal salvation. They are taken from Latin and possibly French sources, and Berceo often mentions these writings that he has converted into Spanish. In many cases, a sinner, such as a thief, happens to have one virtue: he is devoted to the Virgin and he feels properly ashamed when he comes face to face with her image. When he's made to pay the price for his wicked acts, Mary remembers his devotion to her and comes to his aid, often bringing him back from the grave so that he can mend his ways and return to the righteous path. The fan favorite (in my Medieval Spanish Literature class) is a story where a monk on a pilgrimage lays with a woman, then is visited by a messenger of the devil disguised as an angel. He's instructed that the only way to absolve his soul of his sin is to cut off the offending member, then slit his throat. María comes to his aid and brings him back to life, and the water is once again able to flow through the hose like before. My favorite Milagro is the last one, which is an early telling of the Faust story. A man, Teófilo, sees his position in the community negatively effected by the arrival of a new bishop, and so makes a pact with the devil, signing his name to seal the deal. He of course comes to regret this, repent, and pray to María for forgiveness. She must use the full extent of her powers to obtain the document from the depths of Hell and help Teófilo rehabilitate his soul.

I've enjoyed reading some of the earliest extant Spanish texts over the past month or so, and am beginning to feel more familiar with Spanish as it was written nearly a millenium ago. It's been fun to read through poems and say the words to myself, imitating medieval pronounciation. I'm also beginning to get used to a lot of the images, themes and topoi that are repeated across many of the different surviving texts. I wouldn't exactly recommend books like this or Santa María Egipciaca to my friends, but I enjoy experiencing a language that I love in its earliest written forms. show less

MILAGROS DE NUESTRA SEÑORA es la obra más significativa de Gonzalo de Berceo, clérigo secular del siglo XIII. Los 25 milagros y la introducción de Gonzalo de Berceo conservan la mayor parte de las rimas en cuaderna vía. MILAGROS DE NUESTRA SEÑORA se inserta en la tradición de devoción mariana que se dio en Europa a lo largo del siglo XIII. Los hechos portentosos de la obra oscilan en una chocante mezcla de profunda ternura y de extremada violencia.

Milagros de Nuestra Señora es la obra capital de Gonzalo de Berceo, clérigo secular que sin embargo pertenecía a la órbita del monasterio de San Millán, escrita entre 1246 y 1252 aproximadamente. Se trata de una compilación de milagros literarios (cognados de los miracula en latín) que relatan 25 milagros de la Virgen María, escritos en español,1​ en una etapa tardía de su vida, usando como fuente colecciones de milagros marianos en latín que circulaban en el siglo xiii para 24 show more de ellos (Manuscrito de Thott, n.º 128, Biblioteca de Copenhague),(Manuscrito n.º 110, Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid), y el número 25 (numerado como 24 en las ediciones modernas ) de fuentes desconocidas, posiblemente orales. La obra también incluye una introducción original. Emplea la estrofa de cuaderna vía, propia del Mester de Clerecía. show less