Juan de Mena
Encyclopedia
John II of Castile
John II was King of Castile from 1406 to 1454.He was the son of Henry III of Castile and his wife Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster by Constance of Castile, daughter of King Peter of Castile.-Regency:He succeeded his father on 25 December 1406, at the age of...
, who appointed him veinticuatro (one of twenty-four aldermen) of Córdoba, secretario de cartas latinas (secretary of Latin letters) and cronista real (royal chronicler). His works show the influence of Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...
and place him in the period of transition in Spain from the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
to the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
.
Biographical Information
There is scant evidence about the early part of Mena’s life, but most modern scholars agree that he was born at Córdoba, SpainCórdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
, his father died shortly after his birth, and his mother a few years later. He was likely the second of two sons and was related to a former veinticuatro of Córdoba, although it is unclear how. Memorias de algunos linages (An Account of Some Lineages), attributed to Mena, claims that his family came from the valley of Mena
Valle de Mena
The Valley of Mena is a municipality of the province of Burgos, Spain, that borders Biscay.The town has 3,926 inhabitants and the town is under jurisdiction of Villasana de Mena District....
in La Montaña
La Montaña
La Montaña was a revolutionary socialist periodical published in Argentina. The newspaper was directed by José Ingenieros and Leopoldo Lugones. The first issue was published on April 1, 1897...
, a region of the northern Spanish province of Cantabria, and served under Fernando III de Castilla
Ferdinand III of Castile
Saint Ferdinand III, T.O.S.F., was the King of Castile from 1217 and León from 1230. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguela of Castile. Through his second marriage he was also Count of Aumale. He finished the work done by his maternal grandfather Alfonso VIII and consolidated the...
and his successors in the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
. His formal education probably began in Córdoba and later continued in Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
, where he appears to have fulfilled the requirements for the Master of Arts degree. He then traveled to Rome, perhaps as a continued part of his education, although there is no evidence that he participated in formal study there. During this trip and a later one to Florence, Mena appears to have been seeking ecclesiastical benefices; however, both attempts were fruitless and each was followed by a marriage, first to a supposed sister of García y Lope de Vaca and, secondly, to Marina Méndez, more than 20 years his minor. Neither marriage resulted in descendants for the poet. Some scholars have pointed to a possible converso
Converso
A converso and its feminine form conversa was a Jew or Muslim—or a descendant of Jews or Muslims—who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries. Mass conversions once took place under significant government pressure...
origin for Mena’s family, but others have found these claims to be highly speculative. Mena continued in the role of cronista real under Enrique IV de Castilla
Henry IV of Castile
Henry IV , King of the Crown of Castile, nicknamed the Impotent , was the last of the weak late medieval kings of Castile...
until his death at Torrelaguna
Torrelaguna
Torrelaguna is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, Spain.-Main sights:The parish church of La Magdalena is one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in the community of Madrid....
in 1456, although he apparently did not produce any chronicle.
Works
Mena was considered by his contemporaries to be the outstanding poet of his time, and his knowledge of LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and the Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
was greatly admired. His activities at the court of Juan II brought him into contact with many important figures; the most significant friendship that resulted was with Íñigo López de Mendoza. It persisted until the end of Mena’s life despite important political differences.
His poetry frequently appeared in cancioneros (collections of verse), such as the Cancionero general of Hernando del Castillo, and his works were well-known throughout the sixteenth century, influencing later Spanish poets, such as Garcilaso de la Vega
Garcilaso de la Vega
Garcilaso de la Vega was a Spanish soldier and poet. He was the most influential poet to introduce Italian Renaissance verse forms, poetic techniques and themes to Spain.-Biography:...
, Fernando de Herrera
Fernando de Herrera
Fernando de Herrera , called "El Divino", was a 16th-century Spanish poet and man of letters. He was born in Seville. Much of what is known about him comes from Libro de descripción de verdaderos retratos de illustres y memorables varones by Francisco Pacheco.-Biography:Although...
and Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora y Argote was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered to be the most prominent Spanish poets of their age. His style is characterized by what was called culteranismo, also known as Gongorism...
. The extensive commentary that accompanied later editions of Mena’s Laberinto de Fortuna, such as those of Hernán Núñez (1499) and Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas (1582), provide further evidence of the extent of his literary influence in Spain. His style is marked by its frequent use of Latinism
Latinism
A Latinism is an idiom, structure, or word derived from or suggestive of the Latin language. For Latinistic words in English, see Latin influence in English....
s and hyperbaton
Hyperbaton
Hyperbaton is a figure of speech in which words that naturally belong together are separated from each other for emphasis or effect. This kind of unnatural or rhetorical separation is possible to a much greater degree in highly inflected languages, where sentence meaning does not depend closely...
, as well as by mentions of a wide array of figures from Greco-Roman mythology
Classical mythology
Classical mythology or Greco-Roman mythology is the cultural reception of myths from the ancient Greeks and Romans. Along with philosophy and political thought, mythology represents one of the major survivals of classical antiquity throughout later Western culture.Classical mythology has provided...
. In his imitation of classical and medieval sources, such as Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
, Mena helped stretch the capabilities of a fledgling Castilian literary tradition, paving the way for later poets. It is largely due to the awkwardness and weight of his style and lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
that his influence began to wane in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and fell out of favor with nineteenth century critics. Modern critics have reinstated Mena’s importance to Spain’s literary history and consider him to be one of the three major poets of the fifteenth century, along with Íñigo López de Mendoza and Jorge Manrique
Jorge Manrique
Jorge Manrique was a major Spanish poet, whose main work, the Coplas a la muerte de su padre , is still read today...
.
La Coronaçión
Mena wrote La Coronaçión (or Calamicleos, The Coronation, 1438) and dedicated it to Íñigo López de Mendoza, marqués de Santillana (marquis of Santillana), in response to the latter’s 1438 victory on the frontier between Muslim and Christian Spain, which resulted in the taking of Huelma. Although a relatively minor victory, it was the first successful campaign of the Reconquista since 1431. The poem consists of 51 stanzas recounting a dream sequence in which the poet first sees historical and mythological figures being punished for their vices or their failure to act, and later sees those figures who have earned a place on Mount ParnassusMount Parnassus
Mount Parnassus, also Parnassos , is a mountain of limestone in central Greece that towers above Delphi, north of the Gulf of Corinth, and offers scenic views of the surrounding olive groves and countryside. According to Greek mythology, this mountain was sacred to Apollo and the Corycian nymphs,...
for their virtues; principal among those praised is the marqués de Santillana.
Although Santillana was also well-known as a poet, he is praised in the poem as an exemplar of the four cardinal virtues
Cardinal virtues
In Christian traditionthere are 4 cardinal virtues:*Prudence - able to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time*Justice - proper moderation between self-interest and the rights and needs of others...
. The poem is allegorical
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
in nature and corresponds to Mena’s idea of satire in that it condemns vice and praises virtue. It is possible to interpret the Reconquista and national unity as the principal themes of the poem; one of Mena’s lesson seems to be that internal strife is a vice that hinders the Christian reconquest of Spain.
In the original version of La Coronaçión Juan de Mena included extensive commentary, in highly ornamental and Latinate prose. The commentary addresses each stanza and explains mythological references, as well as the poem’s moral-allegorical function. Such commentary was ordinarily reserved for the Classics.
Laberinto de Fortuna
Laberinto de FortunaLaberinto de Fortuna
Laberinto de Fortuna is the major work of Juan de Mena, who completed the poem in 1444. It is an epic poem written in “arte mayor”...
(Labyrinth of Fortune, 1444) is Mena’s masterpiece. The 297 stanza poem (also known as Las Trecientas (The Three Hundred), as there are versions with three additional stanzas) reintroduces the themes of national unity and the Reconquista but is dedicated to Juan II.
Lyric Poetry
In addition to his moral-political works, Mena also produced more traditional courtly poetry. There are fifty or so surviving examples of Mena’s lyric poetryLyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
, including love lyrics, occasional verses, satirical pieces, and exchanges with other poets. The minor lyrics are far less complex than his major works in both style and content. His love poetry was well respected for its originality and treatment of the nature of love’s passion as an abstract, intellectual experience.
Other works
Other works include a translation of the Ilias latinaIlias Latina
The Ilias Latina is a short Latin hexameter version of the Iliad of Homer that gained popularity in Antiquity and remained popular through the Middle Ages. It was very widely studied and read in Medieval schools as part of the standard Latin educational curriculum. According to Ernest Robert...
, the Latin version of Homer’s Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
, into Spanish (ca. 1442), Tratado sobre el título de duque (Treatise on the Title of Duke, 1445), a prologue to Álvaro de Luna’s Libro de las virtuosas e claras mugeres (Book of Virtuous and Illustrious Women), and Coplas de los pecados mortales (Stanzas on the Deadly Sins, unfinished, 1456). Tratado de amor (Treatise on Love, ca. 1444) and Memorias de algunos linages or Memorias genealógicas (An Account of Some Lineages, 1448) are also attributed to de Mena.