Medieval Literature: Genres and Traditions
Code: 106356Credits: 6
| Degree programme | Type | Course |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish Language and Literature | OP | 3 |
| Spanish Language and Literature | OP | 4 |
| English and Spanish Studies | OP | 3 |
| English and Spanish Studies | OP | 4 |
| Catalan and Spanish Studies | OP | 3 |
Contact lecturer
- Name :
- Guillermo Seres Guillen
- Email :
- guillermo.seres@uab.cat
Group languages
You can consult this information at the end of the document.
Prerequisites
By obtaining the minimum of credits in basic training subjects, students have demonstrated to have acquired the basic competences and they will be able to express themselves orally and in writing.
For this reason, any spelling and expression errors that may be committed will lead to a score decrease in the final grade.
Activities, practical sessions and papers submitted in the course must be original and under no circumstances will the total or partial plagiarism of third-party materials published on any medium be admitted.
Any submission of non-original material without properly indicating its origin will automatically result in a failure rating (0).
It is also expected that students know the general rules of submission of an academic work. However, students could apply the specific rules that the teacher of the subject may indicate to them, if they deem it necessary.
Objectives
Medieval Spanish Literature: genres and traditions" is an optional subject in the subject Medieval Spanish Literature and the Segle d'Or, assigned to the second course of the Spanish Language and Literature Grau. The course analyzes the cultured genres of mitjana, in verse and prose, the authors of which they will emulate, imitate (eventually rewrite or paraphrase), formally or contenuistically, the authors and classical genres: the hexàmetre impostat com cuaderna via i imitat en art major; the historical discourse filled with cultural references (which will lead to the novel); the gallery of personalities, of remote Plutarquean ancestry; the epistles that flow back to those of Seneca; the harangues and prayers of biaix ciceronià; the pseudo platonic dialogues.
Complementarily, we analyze the translations of those ancient authors (Homer, Virgili, Sèneca, Ciceró, Titus Livi, Vegecio, Valerio Màxim…), entrusted by Romancist magnates and other “amateurs”, the authors of the quals and glossators (Cartagena, Villena, el Torrat, Alzina…), in the context of what is going to say the “Tardor de l'Edat mitjana”, they are going to prepare the earth for the advent of l'autèntic humanisme: l'acadèmic in llatí, is to say, the nebrisense.
Learning outcomes
- Use the appropriate terminology in the construction of an academic text and in the transmission of their knowledge.
- Use traditional sources to obtain, classify, interpret and analyse relevant data related to the study of Spanish language and literature.
- Use digital tools to obtain, classify, interpret and analyse relevant data related to the study of Spanish language and literature.
- Make literary predictions and inferences about the content of a text.
- Know the periods of Medieval and Golden Age literature (16th-17th centuries) in all their genres, trends, tendencies and most representative authors.
- Understand the relationship between text and discourse.
- Comment on literary texts from different periods.
- Identify the main characteristics of the genres of medieval and Golden Age literature.
- Determine the stylistic features of the main authors of medieval and golden age literature.
- "Recognise the historical-literary series from the early Middle Ages to the end of the 17th century, so that continuity can be established between the different literary genres and their projection; for example, traditional lyric poetry in the work of Lope de Vega, or medieval storytelling in Cervantes."
- Recognise the different types of poetry (lyric, narrative, song, Italianate, etc.) and their metrical forms.
- Recognise the theatrical forms: religious, pastoral, tragic and the so-called New Comedy.
- Recognise the forms of prose (brachylogy and paremiologic, popular or cultured, fiction (sentimental, chivalrous, pastoral, Moorish, Byzantine, picaresque, etc.) and thought (epistle, chronicle, dialogue, essay, prayer, etc.) and their evolution throughout the two periods.
- Characterise literary phenomena taking into account the different levels of analysis.
- Justify the analysis of data from a literary point of view using appropriate terminology.
- Use traditional sources to obtain, classify, interpret and analyse relevant data related to the study of Spanish language and literature.
- Write original and complex trials, fluent in the relevant literature on authors and works of medieval period.
- Identify themes and motifs of European classical and medieval tradition in all its literary and artistic events.
- Identify, at an advanced level, themes and motifs of the classical and medieval European tradition in any of its literary and artistic manifestations.
Contents
Medieval Literature: Genres and Traditions
1) The cuaderna vía and medieval metrics. Gonzalo de Berceo, Libro de
Alexandre, Libro de Apolonio. López de Ayala
2) The “arte mayor” (Imperial, Santillana, Mena, Guillén de Segovia) and their poetics. The “Proemio e carta” of the Marquis of Santillana.
3) Fictional prose: from the Breton romance to the chivalric romance. The General
Estoria as a compendium of Antiquity: Ovidian epics. The “Materia de España.”
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, ed. Amadís de Gaula.
4) Prose of thought:
Galleries, portraits, and biographical sketches. Pérez de Guzmán, Pulgar, Valera.
Historiography. Y
Correspondence. Alfonso Ortiz.
The Dialogue: Juan de Lucena
The orationes: speeches, sermons, harangues.
5) Prehumanism, Pre-Renaissance, or Vernacular or Civil Humanism.
Translations (Cartagena-Cicero and Seneca, Villena and Encina-Virgil, El Tostado,
Pedro González de Mendoza-Homer, Díaz de Toledo-Plato, Lucan
6) Humanism. Alonso de Palencia. Antonio de Nebrija. Encina and Rojas. Towards La
Celestina
Required readings
Alfonso el Sabio, General estoria (brief selection)
Gonzalo de Berceo, Milagros de Nuestra Señora
Libro de Alexandre (brief selection)
Libro de Apolonio (brief selection)
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, ed., Amadís de Gaula (brief selection)
Íñigo López de Mendoza, marqués de Santillana, Comedieta de Ponça, sonnets
Juan de Mena, Laberinto de Fortuna (selection)
Fernando del Pulgar, Claros varones de Castilla
Juan de Lucena, Diálogo de la vida feliz
Learning activities and methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| master classes and seminars | 52.5 | 2.1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 |
| Supervised tutorials | 15 | 0.6 | 1, 6, 7, 8, 19 |
| Preparation of written assignments and oral presentations | 78 | 3.12 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 |
Activitats formatives
| TítolHoresECTSResultats d'aprenentatge | ||||
| Tipus: Dirigida | ||||
| Master classes | 52,5 | 2,1 |
|
|
| Supervised Activities | 18 | 0,72 |
|
|
| Students' autonomous workload | 75 | 3 |
|
The learning of this subject by the students is distributed as follows:
Directed activities (35%). These activities are divided into master classes and seminars and classroom practices led by the faculty, in which theoretical explanation is combined with discussion of all types of texts.
Supervised activities (10%). These tutorials are programmed by the teacher, dedicated to correcting and commenting on problems at different levels of literary analysis.
Autonomous activities (50%). These activities include both time devoted to individual study and production of papers and analytical comments written, as well as oral presentations.
Evaluation activities (5%). The evaluation of the subject will be carried out through written tests.
Assessment
Continuous assessment activities
| Title | Weight | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monographic work | 30% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 |
| Exam 1 | 30% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 |
| Class attendance | 10% | 0 | 0 | 6, 16, 17 |
| Exam 2 | 30% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 |
| Exams, essays, assistance and participation | Exams (30% + 30%), essay (40%), assistance and participation (10%) | 4,5 | 0,18 | 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 |
Avaluació
At the end of the semester, knowledge of the topics and the indicated readings will be evaluated, requiring an assimilation of the subject equivalent to the content in the reference manuals.
- The final grade will be obtained from the grade of two exams, which will be averaged with a monographic work, plus 10% of attendance and participation in class.
- The written exams will serve to evaluate the theoretical content and will be worth 30% each of the final grade. The monographic work will be worth 30% of the final grade. Attendance and participation in class will be valued at 10%.
- The minimum score that will be required to consider the course as passed will be equal to or greater than 5 as a final average.
- In order to participate in the recovery process, it will be necessary to have completed 2/3 of the evaluable activities and to have obtained a final average mark of 3.5. The final work is not recoverable.
- At the time of carrying out each evaluation activity, the teacher will inform the students of the procedure and date for reviewing the grades.
- The course will be considered ‘Not evaluable’ when the student has not submitted/completed more than 30% of the evaluation activities.
- Making mistakes in spelling, vocabulary and syntax will have a penalty on the final grade of the activities of 0.25 for each of the made mistakes.
- Obviously, the works must be original and the total or partial copy of materials already published in any medium is not allowed. In cases where it can be shown that the student has committed an act of plagiarism, the grade for the corresponding activity will be 0.
- Likewise, the student who performs any irregularity that maylead toasignificant variation in the grade of an evaluable activity will obtain a grade of 0 in that activity and it will not be recoverable, regardless of the disciplinary process that may result from those actions. If there are several irregularities in the evaluable activities of the same subject, the final grade will be 0.
- This subject entirely prohibits the use of AI technologies in all of its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
Single evaluation: The evaluation will be based on two assignments, which will represent 60% of the grade (30% + 30%, thus compensating for class attendance), and a final test, which will count 40%. Students who choose this option will have the same conditions for grade review and recovery that have already been explained. The date for handing in the work and taking the tests will be announced at the beginning of the course through the Virtual Campus.
Bibliography
Editions
Alfonso el Sabio, Estoria de España (antología), Madrid, Porrúa, 1982
---- General estoria, coord. Pedro Sánchez-Prieto, Madrid, Fundación Castro, 2009, 5 vols., 10 tomos,
---- General estoria (antología), ed. Milagros Villar, Barcelona, Plaza y Janés, 1984.
Obras de Alfonso el Sabio (selección), ed. F. J. Díez de Revenga, Madrid, Taurus, 1985 .
Berceo, Gonzalo de, Milagros de Nuestra Señora, ed. Fernando Baños, Barcelona, Crítica, 1997.
Boccaccio, Giovanni, Sobre los dioses de los gentiles, eds. Pilar Saquero Suárez-Somonte y Tomás González Rolán, Madrid, Ediciones Clásicas, 1995.
Díaz de Games, Gutierre, El Victorial, ed. Rafael Beltrán, Madrid, Taurus, 1994.
Fernández de Madrigal, Alonso, el Tostado, Sobre los dioses de los gentiles, eds. Pilar Saquero y Tomás González Rolán, Madrid, Clásicas, 1995.
López de Ayala, Pero, Libro rimado de palacio, ed. Hugo Óscar Bizzarrri, Madrid, Espasa-RAE, 2012.
Libro de Alexandre, ed. Juan Casas, Madrid, Castalia, 2007.
Libro del cavallero Zifar, ed. Cristina González, Madrid, Cátedra, 1983
López de Mendoza, Íñigo, marqués de Santillana, Comedieta de Panza, sonetos, serranillas y otras obras, ed. R. Rohland de Langbehn Barcelona, Crítica, 1997.
Lucena, Juan de, Diálogo de la vida feliz, ed. Jerónimo Miguel, CECE-RAE, 2014.
Luna, Álvaro, de, Libro de las virtuosas e claras mugeres, ed. Julio Vélez-Sainz, Madrid, Cátedra, 2009.
Martínez de Toledo, Alfonso, Arcipreste de Talavera o “Corbacho”, ed. J. González Muela, Madrid, Castalia, 1970
---- , ed. M. Gerli, Madrid, Cátedra, 1979
Mena, Juan de, Laberinto de Fortuna, ed. Luis Gómez Canseco, Madrid, Cátedra, 2025.
---- ed. Carla De Nigris, Barcelona, Crítica, 1993.
Pérez de Guzmán, Fernán, Generaciones y semblanzas, ed. José Antonio Barrio, Madrid, Cátedra, 1998.
Pulgar, Fernando del, Claros varones de Castilla, ed. Miguel Ángel Pérez Priego, Madrid, Cátedra, 2007.
Rodríguez de Montalvo, Garci, ed. Amadís de Gaula, ed. José Manuel Cacho Blecua, Madrid, Cátedra, 2005.
Rojas, Fernando de (y “antiguo autor”), La Celestina, eds. F. J. Lobera y G. Serés, P. Díaz-Mas, C. Mota e Í. Ruiz Arzálluz, y F. Rico, Barcelona, Crítica, 2000.
Valera, Diego de, Defensa de virtuosas mujeres, ed. Federica Accorsi, Pisa, ETS, 2009.
Essential bibliography
Canavaggio, Jean, dir., Historia de la literatura española. I- Edad Media, Barcelona, Ariel, 1995.
Deyermond, Alan, Historia de la literatura española, I, La Edad Media, I, Barcelona, Ariel, 1973.
---- La Edad Media, Tomo 1 de la Historia de la literatura española dirigida por Francisco Rico, Barcelona, Crítica, Barcelona, 1980.
---- La Edad Media. Primer suplemento, Tomo 1/1 de la Historia de la literatura española dirigida por Francisco Rico, Barcelona, Crítica, 1991.
Lacarra, María Jesús, y Juan Manuel Cacho, Entre oralidad y escritura: la Edad Media, en José Carlos Mainer (dir.), Historia de la literatura española, vol. 1, Barcelona, Crítica, 2012.
Pedraza Jiménez, Felipe B., Manual de Literatura Española, vol. 1, Pamplona, Cénlit Ediciones, 1998.
Peláez, Jesús, Historia de la literatura española. Volumen I: Edad Media, León, Everest, 1993
Rodríguez Cacho, Lina, Manual de historia de la literatura española. Vol 1. Siglos XIII al XVII, Madrid, Castalia, 2009.
Rubio Tovar, Joaquín, La prosa medieval, Madrid, Playor, 1982.
Vàrvaro, Alberto, Literatura románica de la Edad Media. Estructuras y formas, Barcelona, Ariel, 1983.
Specific bibliography
Beltrán, Rafael et al., eds., Historias y ficciones. Coloquio sobre la Literatura del siglo XV, Valencia, Universidad, 1992.
Cappelli, Guido, El humanismo romance de Juan de Lucena, Bellaterra, CECE, 2002.
Casas, Juan, Humanismo, gramática y poesía: Juan de Mena y los “auctores” en el canon de Nebrija, Santiago de Compostela, Universidad, 2010.
https://elibro.net/es/lc/uab/titulos/61511
Cátedra, Pedro M., Sermón, sociedad y literatura en la Edad Media. San Vicente Ferrer en Castilla (1411-1412), Valladolid, Junta de Castilla y León, 1994.
Crosas, Francisco, La materia clásica en la poesía de cancionero, Kassel, Reichenberger, 1995.
Di Camillo, Ottavio, El humanismo castellano del siglo XV, Valencia, Fernando Torres, 1976.
Fernández-Ordóñez, Inés, Las “estorias” de Alfonso el Sabio, Madrid, Istmo, 1992.
Filgueira Valverde, José, Tiempo y gozo eterno en la narrativa medieval, Vigo, Eds. Xerais, 1982.
Gómez Canseco, Luis, ed., Pero Guillén de Segovia, Decires dirigidos a don Alfonso Carrillo, arzobispo de Toledo, Madrid, Revista de Filología Española, 2025.
Gómez Moreno, Ángel, España y la Italia de los humanistas, Gredos, Madrid, 1994.
Gómez Redondo, Fernando, Historia de la prosa medieval castellana, I y II, Madrid, Cátedra, 1998 y 1999ç
---- coord. Historia de la métrica medieval castellana, San Millán de la Cogolla, CiLengua, 2016.
https://lectura-unebook-es.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/viewer/9788494610912/11
---- La prosa del siglo XIV, Madrid, Júcar, 1994.
González, Cristina, “El Caballero Zifar” y el reino lejano, Madrid, Gredos, 1984.
Lázaro Carreter, Fernando, “La poética del Arte mayor castellano”, en Estudios de poética. La obra en sí, Madrid, Taurus, 1986, pp. 75-111.
Lida, Mª Rosa, Juan de Mena, poeta del Prerrenacimiento español, México, Colegio de México, 1950.
---- Estudios sobre la literatura española del siglo XV, Madrid, Porrúa Turanzas, 1977.
Morrás, María y Jeremy N. H. Lawrance, “La cultura literaria en la época del Marqués de Santillana”, en El Marqués de Santillana. Imágenes y letras, eds. Joan Molina Figueras e Isabel Ruiz de Elvira, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2022, pp. 17-43.
Menéndez Pidal, Gonzalo, “Cómo trabajaban las escuelas alfonsíes”, NRFH, V (1951), pp. 363-380.
Morrás, María (ed.), “Introducción”, Alonso de Cartagena, Libros de Tulio: “De senetute”, “De los oficios”, Alcalá de Henares, Universidad, 1996, pp. 1-149.
Pontón, Gonzalo, Correspondencias. Los orígenes del arte epistolar en España, Madrid, Biblioteca Nueva, 2002.
Rico, Francisco, Alfonso el Sabio y la “General estoria”, Ariel, Barcelona, 1972.
---- ---- Nebrija contra los bárbaros, Salamanca, Universidad, 1978.
Texto y contextos. Estudios sobre la poesía española del siglo XV, Barcelona, Crítica, 1990.
Schiff, Mario, La Bibliothèque du Marquis de Santillane, París, E. Bouillon, 1905.
Serés, Guillermo, “Grandes corrientes”, int. Juan de Mena, Laberinto de Fortuna, ed. Carla De Nigris, Barcelona, Crítica, 1994, pp. IX-XXXII.
---- La traducción en Italia y España en el siglo XV. La “Ilíada en romance” y su contexto cultural, Salamanca, Universidad, 1997.
---- “La autoridad literaria: círculos intelectuales y géneros en la Castilla del siglo XV”, Bulletin Hispanique, CIX (2007), pp. 335-383.
Tate, Robert B., Ensayo sobre la historiografía peninsular del siglo XV, Madrid, Gredos, 1970.
Other references of interest
Auerbach, Erich, Mimesis, México, FCE, 1983.
---- Figura [1967], Madrid,Trotta, 1998.
Copeland, Rita, Rhetoric, Hermeneutics, and Translation in the Middle Ages, Cambridge, University Press, 1991.
Curtius, Ernst Robert, Literatura europea y Edad Media latina, México, FCE, 1999.
Drnke, Peter, “Fabula”. Explorations into the Uses of Myth in Medieval Platonism, Leiden-Colonia, Brill, 1974.
---- La lirica en la Edad Media, Barcelona, Ariel, 1995.
Faral, Edmond, Les arts poétiques du XII et du XIII siècle, París, Champion, 1923.
Green, Otis H., España y la tradición occidental, Madrid, Gredos, 1969, 3 vols.
Huizinga, Jan, El otoño de la Edad Media [1927], Madrid, Alianza, 1974.
Köhler, Erich, La aventura caballeresca, Barcelona, Sirmio, 1991.
Minnis, Alistair J. Medieval Theory of Authorship, Londres, Scolar Press, 1988
Patch, Howard, El otro mundo en la literatura medieval, Madrid, FCE, 1983.
Rico, Francisco, Vida u obra de Petrarca, I. Lectura del «Secretum», Padua-Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina, 1974.
---- El sueño del Humanismo. De Petrarca a Erasmo, Madrid, Alianza, 1993.
Sergi, Giuseppe, La idea de la Edad Media, Barcelona, Crítica, 2001.
Spitzer, Leo, Estilo y estructura en la literatura española, Barcelona, Crítica, 1980.
Zumthor, Paul, La letra y la voz de la literatura medieval, Madrid, Cátedra,1989.
Software
WORD AND PDF
Course groups and languages
The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE
| Type of teaching | Group | Language | Semester | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Spanish | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Spanish | second semester | morning-mixed |