Mester de Clerecía is a Castilian literature

Spanish literature

Spanish literature generally refers to literature written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the state of Spain...

 genre

Genre

Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...

 that can be understood as an opposition and surpassing of Mester de Juglaría

Mester de Juglaría

Mester de juglaría is a Castilian-language literature genre from the 12th and 13th centuries, transmitted orallyby "juglares" who made their living by telling and singing these stories in public places and palaces while performing short theatrical scenes, acrobatics or other amusements.These...

. It was cultivated in the 13th century by Spanish clergy

Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....

men.

Unlike Mester de Juglaría, Mester de Clerecía was written on paper, not anonymous

Anonymity

Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...

, with regular metre (the cuaderna vía) and done by educated authors. Also the topics are more serious: religious, historical and novelesque. The stanzas in them are composed of 4 alejandrinos which contain 14 syllables each.

The most famous authors of this period are Gonzalo de Berceo

Gonzalo de Berceo

Gonzalo de Berceo was a Spanish poet born in the Riojan village of Berceo, close to the major Benedictine monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla...

 and Arcipreste de Hita. The Poema de Fernán González

Poema de Fernán González

The Poema de Fernán González is a Castilian epic poem, specifically, a cantar de gesta of the Mester de Clerecía. Composed in a metre called the cuaderna vía, it narrates the deeds of the historical Count of Castile, Fernán González. It was written between 1250 and 1266 by a monk of San Pedro de...

is an example of anonymous mester de clerecía.