El Libro de Buen Amor by Juan Ruiz, 1330
“The Book of Good Love” written in 1330 by Juan Ruiz, the Archpriest of Hita, is a semi-biographical poem that is today considered to be one of the most important works in Spanish history. Specifically, the text falls under the category of medieval literature, in a genre known as “Mester de Clerecía”. The poem itself is comprised of 1728 stanzas and is famous for its variety in content, meter and tone.
The political and social climate in which this famous text was written, was one of political fragmentation and religious opposition. Although today the Iberian Peninsula is comprised of Portugal and Spain, in the 14th century it found itself divided between numerous Christian kingdoms, Muslim occupation of the south and many powerful dynasties such as the Nasrids and the Marinids warring over Granada. Despite the seemingly black and white divide between Northern Christian Spain and Southern Muslim Spain, there was quite a bit of cultural diversity within both Christian and Moorish territories. There were Arabs, North Africans, Mozarabs, and a large Jewish population all cohabitating on the same peninsula, making for a culturally and ethnically diverse society.
Much like the country itself, the Spanish Language was undergoing many changes and developments leading up to and during the 14th century. At this stage in Spanish history, the language is categorized as Old Spanish and remains under that categorization until the 16th century when it transitioned to Modern Spanish. A century before El Libro de buen amor was written, a variety of the language spoken around Toledo became the basis for the written form of Spanish, and the foundation for what we see in Juan Ruiz’s text.
To this day, very little known of the author. According to the text, his name was Juan Ruiz and he was the Archpriest of Hita, a Castillian town north east of Madrid. Beyond revealing his name, the beginning of his poem includes only a fictitious autobiographical account of his life and experience with “good” and “bad” love—which gives readers and historians today no reliable information in regards to his life. Additionally, toward the end of his book, the author states that he had written the text after being incarcerated by the Archbishop Cardinal Gil of Toledo—a fact that cannot be confirmed and is often interpreted as metaphorical. The only other evidence of his existence, beyond the mention of his name in the book, was recently discovered in some documents in a cathedral in Toledo due to his bearing witness to a certain dispute in the year 1330.
Although there are few facts than can be confirmed about the author and the history of the text itself is ambiguous, scholars agree that it was almost certainly written in the 14th century. This fact is mainly deduced due to the poem’s distinct organization and style. This genre is known as “Mester de Clerecía”, a Castillian literature genre that was cultivated by educated clerics in the 13th century. This educated and scholarly style of writing is often compared to its opposing genre, “Mester de Juglaría”, or the unscholarly, anonymous genre of the period cultivated by entertainers of the Spanish court. The authors of the Clerecía were often well-educated men who took pride in the structure and organization of their work and focused on themes such as religion and history. Furthermore, these poems were standardized and written in stanzas of 4 lines comprised of 14 syllables each (a structure known as the cuaderna vía). Juan Ruiz frequently employed his knowledge of cuaderna vía in his work and was the first author of his time to incorporate lines of 16 syllables rather than the classic 14.
As for the content of the text, it is difficult to summarize due to the fact that it has no clear plot. Written in the style of a long, theatrical poem, the work is comprised of fictitious autobiographical stories of the author’s experiences with various romantic endeavors. The text begins with a prayer to God and the Virgin Mary to release the author from prison, and is followed by a series of sermons, songs and an outline of the book’s teachings. Throughout the book, the author tells his tales of racy, romantic adventures and intermittently inserts religious stories, the author’s conversations with “Love” itself and various moralizing fables.
Based on the content of the poem, and the author’s education as a cleric, it is supposed that he drew upon a number of resources for the creation of his work. As was typical of Christian authors in 14th century Spain, Ruiz drew from the Bible as his main source for many of the included religious interpretations. Additionally, he found inspiration from various sermons, satirical songs dedicated to worldly pleasures known as medieval Goliardic Latin verses, fables and other well-known comedies of the time such as the pseudo-Ovidian comedy, “The Pamphilus de amore”.
Overall, the work is an ambiguous and mysterious representation of Spanish 14th century literature. The didactic elements of the book are continuously interpreted and analyzed even today, exemplifying the ever-lasting success of the work as a whole and its impact on scholarly culture. Although it has been read and reread many times, the question of what “good love” specifically is, remains.