SOURCE: "Provençal Biographical Tradition and the Razón de amor," in Journal of Hispanic Philology, Vol. I, No. 1, Autumn, 1976, pp. 1-17.

[In the essay below, De Ley probes the many connections between the Razón de amor and Provençal writings known as vidas and razos, suggesting that the author of the poem consciously chose to work within that biographical tradition.]

Since its discovery in 1887 by Alfred Morel-Fatio, the Razón de amor has inspired studies by a number of scholars, but the problems it presents are far from a definite solution. These problems arise, in part, from the poet's statements about his work and from its apparently heterogeneous nature. Believed to have been written in the first half of the thirteenth century, the poem begins with an apparently biographical introduction. It then presents a sometimes-lyrical love-narrative which has a number of aspects in common with the Portuguese cantiga de amigo and pastorela as well as with Provençal courtly poetry. A debate follows between wine and water, drawn for the most part from a slightly earlier Latin poem, Denudata veritate. The Razón ends abruptly with a brief juglaresque request for wine, in Spanish, and the scribe's explicit in Latin. The introduction and a number of other lines in the poem resemble, as we shall see, the Provençal vidas and razos which were composed by minstrels to introduce the works of the troubadours and later included with them in the troubadour songbooks. By examining the Razón de amor and its relationship to these contemporary genres, I hope to shed new light on the problems of unity, authorship, and inspiration in the poem.

Previous studies … have discussed such aspects of the Razón de amor as the poet's origin, the interpretation of individual words and of the work as a whole, the rhythm, and the possible sources of the poem. While approaching the Razón from rather different points of view, almost all of these studies have touched on the problem of unity, and the majority have concluded that it was intended to be a single poem. Scholars generally agree on the influence of the Provençal courtly lyric on the love-narrative, but none mentions the biographies as a possible source of inspiration for that part of the poem. While some critics have pointed out that the word Razón is used in the Spanish poem with the same meaning as the Provençal razo, in that they both refer to a literary composition, they have not discussed the influence of the Provençal genre on the poem itself.

In his study of the origins of the Romance literatures, Ramón Menéndez Pidal [in Poesìa juglaresca y juglares, 1957] draws heavily on the razos and vidas, while at times indicating their historical inaccuracies. The biographies, he points out, "nos han dado a conocer la condición y costumbres del juglar, sus viajes, su influencia y otros datos importantes para la historia de la cultura; con Razón se ha observado que la vida de los trovadores y juglares es a menudo más interesante y más poética que sus canciones; al menos suele ser inseparable de las mismas." It is thanks to these brief documents that he is able to paint a portrait of the clérigo ajuglarado, and give evidence of the travels of poets and minstrels between Spanish courts and France and Italy.

It is generally believed that the biographies were composed no earlier than the beginning of the thirteenth and no later than the beginning of the fourteenth century by minstrels who were trying to maintain or revive interest in poems which had already been part of their repertory for a number of years. Guido Favati, in his thorough study of the biographies, comes to the more precise conclusions that the razos were written before the vidas, and that the vidas were composed at the earliest in the 1230's or 1240's, for the most part by Uc de Saint Circ while he was in Lombardy. The troubadour songbooks, which included the biographies, were complied later— beginning around the middle of the thirteenth century—, apparently, by someone other than Uc de Saint Circ.

Nearly all of the vidas begin with the birthplace of the poet and about a quarter of them include his father's profession and the feudal domain of his home town. Most of the vidas mention as well the troubadour's profession, usually that of knight. In a dozen or so vidas, however, out of a total of just under a hundred, the poet is a monk, clerk, student, or man of letters. The fact that a courtly poet or minstrel was at first, or continued to be, connected in some way with the Church did not seem surprising or unnatural to the biographers. While religious decrees throughout the thirteenth century attempted to forbid the clergy to perform in public, the biographers continued to describe clerks who became minstrels. In the vidas over a third of the poets were minstrels or travelled "per lo mon," presumably performing their works in public. The fact that a poet earned his living as a minstrel or was of humble origin did not necessarily mean that his poetry was reputed to be lower in quality. There were of course troubadours who tended to disdain the role of public performer, and who, in some cases, employed minstrels to perform their works. The overlapping of roles, while not found in the majority of the biographies, was nevertheless not unusual, and in fact, some poets managed to pursue, either successively or concurrently, the varied careers of clerk, wandering minstrel, and courtly troubadour.

A large number of vidas are rather brief and contain little information beyond the poet's origins and profession. The longer ones go on to discuss the travels and loves of the poet. Travel was essential to the poets, for it added to their experience and prestige and permitted them to meet generous patrons and courtly ladies. About a third of the vidas mention the poet's travels, and within this group the most frequently mentioned court outside Southern France is that of Aragon. The courts of Catalonia and Castile were visited as well, and in all, over a dozen of the Provençal poets visited the Peninsula between the mid-twelfth and mid-thirteenth centuries. The courts of Lombardy were visited by more than half a dozen poets, almost all during the first half of the thirteenth century: Aimeric de Peguillan (c. 1208-30); Elias Cairel (c. 1215-25); Guillem Augier Novella (c. 1212-25); Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (end of twelfth century); Guillem de la Tor (c. 1215-25); Guillem Figueira (c. 1231-40); Uc de Saint Circ (1220-53). It was in Lombardy, as we saw earlier, that the courtly biographies were composed and recited, and the first songbooks were complied.

Nearly a quarter of the vidas discuss the poet's relationship with women, and with only a few exceptions, the poet is depicted as a handsome and refined pursuer of ladies who often return his love and admiration. The vidas end, in nearly all cases, with the biographer's comment on the type and quality of the poet's work. This latter information seems to have been considered, along with the poet's origin, the most important information contained in them.

In the majority of razos the "reason" or motive for the composition of the poem is a particular incident in a poet's relationship with a lady; in a smaller number it is related to a political conflict. In any case the "reason" is presented in the form of a narrative, usually longer and more elaborate than the vidas.

In those razos which deal with love relationships the people involved are beautiful, intelligent, and courtly. The poet or his lady may have a rival, they may love or be loved by hearsay. The characters seek to acquire gifts, honor, and courtly reputations; they send messengers in the hope of inspiring or maintaining the affection of their would-be or actual lovers. They may express openly the desire for a physical relationship. In some cases they are fulfilled and in others they suffer deceit and disillusionment. The terms and the themes in the razos thus fall clearly within the Provençal courtly tradition. The use of prose and of a narrative form, the attempt at realism, the juglaresque framework, however, make of the razos a separate and unique genre. The extent to which the author of the Razón de amor found inspiration in the vidas and razos will become apparent in the comparison which follows.

The ten-line introduction of the Razón de amor serves essentially the same purpose as a Provençal vida, for it provides biographical information concerning the author of the piece to follow. In lines 1-4, "Qui triste tiene su coraçon / benga oyr esta razon / Odra razon acabada, / feyta d'amor e bien rymada," the poet presents his text as a "razon," a term which has reminded scholars of the Provençal razo. As Mario di Pinto points out, the reference to a literary work as a razón, and in fact one which deals with love, recalls the razos. The Spanish word razón had basically the same uses as the Provençal razo, and those uses were numerous: reason, a reason or explanation for something; a story (an unwritten one), the subject of a poem or story; a topic under discussion, a point of view, the verbal material which one uses to put across that point of view. Being so rich in meanings, the term appears frequently in Spanish and Provençal medieval literatures, including the biographies and the Razón de amor, but it occurs only very rarely as a literary label. In the biographies the term initially signifies a reason for, a commentary, or an explanation; it secondarily comes to refer to a particular literary form. In the Spanish poem it may possibly refer to a story or tale or to the expression of the poet's point of view on love, but even more likely it was chosen to refer to a narrative which, like the razos, recounts a poet's amorous adventure. Such an explanation makes more meaningful lines 3-5, in which the author emphasizes that the razón in question is in verse and that it has been worked on, polished by its author; he would thus hope to distinguish it from the prose razos, which often seemed rudimentary and less refined.

With line 5, "Vn-escolar la Rimo," begins the biographical description of the author of the love-narrative. While the Provençal equivalent of the word escolar does not appear in the biographies, the words escola and scola each appear once. Uc de Saint Circ was, according to his vida, sent to "la scola a Monpeslier." The famous but infortunate Guiraut de Borneil, who visited the court of Castile and perhaps other peninsular courts as well, was both a student and a troubadour: "la soa vida si era aitals que tot l'invern estava en escola et aprendia letras, e tota la estat anava per cortz e menava ab se dos cantadors que cantavon las soas chansos." The Provençal texts contain other words which refer to learning and letters: Peire Cardenal's vida states that "sos paires lo mes per quanorque … et apres letras"; Uc Brunet "fo clerges et enparet ben letras"; and Arnaut Daniel "amparet ben letras." In addition, six biographies, without discussing the poet's studies, emphasize his knowledge of letters.

Line 6 of the Razón de amor, "que sie[m]pre duenas amo," also presents, in a modified form, a biographical motif which appears in a variety of ways in the Provençal texts: Gui de Cavaillo was "mout amatz de dompnas"; Savaric de Malleo "Plus fo fins amics de dompnas e d'amadors que nuillz autres cavalliers"; and Raimbaut d'Aurenga "mout se deleitet en domnas onradas et en donnei onrat." Some troubadours were apparently exceptions to the typical courtly lover stereotype. Sordel, for example, according to his vida, "mout fo truans e fals vas dompnas."

Lines 7-10, "mas sie[m]pre ouo tryança / en-Alemania y-en-Fra[n]çia, / moro mucho en-Lombardia / pora [a]prender cortesia," discuss the poet's wide travels, and last, his courtliness. Judging from the vidas and razos travel between French courts was common (we can assume that in the Spanish poem "Fra[n]çia" was intended to include Provence), and, as we saw earlier, a handful of troubadours spent time in Lombardy. Aimeric de Peguillan, writing during the first quarter of the thirteenth century, "si fo de Tolosa.… Et anet s'en en Cataloingna. E'N Guillems de Berguedan … presentet lo al rei Anfos de Castella.… Puois s'en venc en Lombardia." Uc Brunet visited several courts within France and that of Aragon as well: "si fo de la ciutat de Rodes.… E briget ab lo rei d'Arragon et ab lo comte de Tolosa et ab lo comte de Rodes, lo sieu seingnor, et ab Bernart d'Andusa et ab lo Dalfin d'Alverne." The word cortesia is used in a number of vidas and razos: Savaric de Malleo, "era, razitz de tota la cortezia dal mon," Gaucelm Faidit was "paire e maistre de valor e de cortezia" and Guillem de Cabestaing "Molt of avinenz e prezatz d'armas e de servir e de cortesia."

Looking at the introduction as a whole, it seems that its author was certainly aware of the language and motifs used in the Provençal vidas, but being Spanish and not Provençal he did not feel the same need to keep to the rules of the genre. He felt free to adapt it—most obviously from prose to verse—, to make it more concise, to blend its qualities with those of the Spanish verse tradition, and thus provide a more entertaining and inviting address to his audience.

In the narrative section of the Razón de amor the young lovers love each other by hearsay. This situation, found in courtly poetry as well as in the biographies, is first implied in lines 84-85, "Nunqua odi de homne deçir / que-tanta bona manera ouo en-si," where the young lady mentions her absent lover's excellent reputation. It is expressed later more directly by the doncella in her conversation with the narrator-poet in lines 108-09: "Diz ella 'a-plan, con grant amor ando, / mas non connozco mi amado.'" Such love or admiration by reputation (and similar use of the words hear and say in lines 84-85) can be seen in five biographies, one of which is the vida of the well-known Jaufre Rudel, who "enamoret se de la comtessa de Tripol, ses vezer, per lo ben qu'el n'auzi dire als pelerins que venguen d'Antiocha." A razo of Savaric de Malleo states that the countess of Manchac was "diziroza de pretz e de vezer En Savaric, per lo be qu'en auzia dire." Bertran de Born also fell in love with lady Guiscart by hearsay: "si la lauzava fort en comtan et en chantan. Bertrans, enans qu'el la vis, era sos amics per lo ben qu'el auzi[a] d'ella." Don Bernartz N'Arnautz, who eventually became the lover of lady Lombarda, "ausi contar de le bontaz e del valor de le; e venc s'en a Tolosa per le veser" (Na Lombarda). And Raimbaut d'Aurenga, according to one of his razos, loved the countess of Urgel by hearsay as well: "Rambauz, senes veser leis, per lo gran ben que n'ausia dire, si s'enamoret d'ella et ella de lui."

In line 110, "pero dizem un-su mesaiero," the young lady in the Spanish poem says that it is her lover's messenger who has brought her information about him. Messengers appear in a handful of biographies and in one, that of Raimbaut d'Aurenga, the messenger plays an important role in a love by hearsay, for he carries the troubadour's songs to his unseen beloved: "E si fez puois sas chansos d'ella; e si.l manda sas chansos per un joglar que avia nom Rasignol." Other troubadours and ladies used messengers to overcome the misunderstandings between themselves and their beloveds. Pons de Capdoill, hoping to win back the love of lady N'Alazais sent songs to her via a messenger: "manda sos mesatges e sas letras az ela; mas ella no volc escoutar ni auzir. Et el comensa esser tritz e dolens; e mandet letras e cotblas humils ab gran precs az ela" and lady Guillelma, in love with the noncommittal troubadour Guillem de Balaun, "li mandet un son mesatge cun soas letras fort amorosas, meraveillan se qe era so q'el tan estes de leis veser, o qe sos mesatges no l'ages mandat. Et el, com fols amans, no volc ausir ni entendre lo mesatge ni las letras, e fetz li dar comjat del castel vilanamen." The biographer Uc de Saint Circ says in one of the razos attached to the poems of Savaric de Malleo that he wrote the razo and also that he served as messenger for his aristocratic patron. According to the razo, the lady Guillelma, in love with Savaric de Malleo, was eager to win back his affection: "fes far sas letras e sos mans e sas salutz.… E sapias per ver que ieu, Uc de San Sirc, que ay escrichas estas razos, fuy lo mesatje que lay aniey e.l portey totz los mans e.ls escrisz." It seems possible that the messenger mentioned in the Spanish poem is a minstrel employed by the poet-protagonist to sing his love songs to the young lady whom he loves from afar. The messenger is also, apparently, a composer of a brief introductory biography concerning his employer, for it is biographical information like that found in the vidas which he transmits to the lady, as we shall see in the following discussion.

The young lady's description of her lover's courtly talents and qualities in lines 111-13, "que-es clerygo e non caualero, / sabe muio de trobar / de leyer e de cantar," is srtongly reminiscent of the courtly qualities of the troubadours in the biographies. Uc Brunet, according to his vida, "fo clerges et enparet ben letras, e de trobar of fort suptils, et de sen natural; e fez se joglars e trobet cansos bonas," and Aimeric de Belenoi "Clercs fo, e fez se joglars, et trobet bonas cansos e bellas e avinenz." The following examples from the biographies are briefer and even closer to the Razón de amor: Cadenet "saup ben cantar e parlar, et apres a trobar coblas"; Guillem Figueira "saup ben trobar e cantar"; Peire Cardenal "saup ben lezer e chantar"; and the knight Pons de Capdoill "sabia ben trobar e violar e cantar."

The last two lines in the doncella's description, lines 114-15, "dizem que es de buenas yentes, / mencebo barua punnientes," depart from the biographies. Line 115 has no connection with the vidas and the razos, and in line 114 the author of the Razón de amor seems to be using the term "buenas yentes" in a manner which is rare in the Provençal texts. The only occurrence in the latter which is suggestive of the Razón is in the vida of Peire Cardenal: "fo d'onradas gens de paratge." A more common usage in the Provençal pieces is: "cortes hom e ben avinenz d'estar entre las bonas genz" (Peire Guillem de Toloza).

In the Razón de amor lines 90-94, "que dizen que otra duena / cortesa e bela e bona, / te-quiere tan gran ben, / por-ti pie[r]de su sen," the girl discusses specific information which she has learned by hearsay about her lover in terms which were very common in the biographies. Rivals of the lady, while not as common as a male lover's rivals, appear nevertheless in a handful of vidas and razos. Two poets, Savaric de Malleo and Uc de Saint Circ, already in love with courtly ladies, were sought after by others. Savaric is unsuccessful in his attempt to seduce lady Guillerma de Benauzatz, and his friends tell him of another lady equally beautiful, and more willing, they believe, to share his bed. She is "joves e bela e avinens, e diziroza de pretz e de vezer En Savaric." And Uc de Saint Circ, in love with lady Clara, was temporarily lured away from her by her neighbor, "una vizina mout bella, qe avia nom ma dompna Ponsa. Mout era cortesa et ensegnada; et ac gran enveja a ma dompna Clara del pretz et de 1'henor qe N'Uc li avia facha gasagnar; si se penset et penet con pogues faire q'ella tolgues N'Uc de la soa amistat et traes lo a si."

The young lady in the Razón describes her rival as "cortesa e bela e bona." Pairs of these three words appear in several biographies: The countess of Dia was "bela domna e bona"; the lady Eleina was "Bella dompna … e molt cortesa e enseingnada" (Bertrand de Born); a lady in Peirol's vida was "bella e bona e molt presada"; and Jordana d'Ebreu, beloved of the troubadour Gaucelm Faidit, "era bella dompna et gentilz et avinen[s] et ensengnada e cortesa."

As in the introduction to the Razón de amor, the author of the love-narrative part of the poem presents a sort of composite portrait of his courtly personages, bringing together in a concise form elements which appear more diffusely in the biographies, and adding other material. And again as in the first ten lines, the author here modifies the Provençal material to fit into a poetic framework.

In lines 96-97, "Mas s'io-te uies una uegada, / a-plananc querves por amada!," the doncella expresses the belief that if she and her absent lover were to meet, he would certainly prefer her over her rival. While such sentiments are not expressed directly by any lady in the biographies, they are implied in the two passages quoted above in which one lady is hoping to replace another as the beloved of a troubadour. Such a wish is also implied—and comes true—in a razo of Savaric de Malleo, quoted above. The razo continues: "En Savaric, can vi la dona, azautet li mot a meravihas e preget la d'amor. E la dona, per la gran valor que vi en el, retenc lo per son cavayer."

The last two lines in the Spanish poem, 260-61, "Mi Razon aqui la fino, / e mandat nos dar uino," like the first four lines, have no counterpart in the biographies, since the latter were meant to precede, not to conclude, a poetic work. Here the poet who is finishing the piece adopts it as his own (Mi) or perhaps reveals himself to be the author—it does not seem possible to say which. In any case, this brief ending gives the poem a juglaresque rather than troubadouresque flavor and framework. As we saw earlier, however, the two professions were not necessarily mutually exclusive and there were poets who spent time in refined as well as popular milieux. Thus a minstrel such as Marcabru was capable of composing a courtly pastorela and the aristocratic troubadours were ridiculed by two of their contemporaries for trying to sound simple-minded and unrefined. Meanwhile, drinking—mentioned in line 261—and courtly poetry were inseparable, according to Jeanroy, in certain parts of Italy, so much so that courts both rich and renowned and small and remote were beseiged by would-be troubadours seeking free drink. Two poets are said in the biographies to have a weakness for taverns. One was Uc de Pena, of bourgeois origin, a good singer, knowledgeable on the lives and works of the great men of his region: "fez se joglars; e cantet ben, e saup gran ren de las autrui cansos; e sabia molt las generasios dels grans homes d'aquellas encontradas, e fetz cansos. Grans baratiers fo de jogar e d'estar en taverna; per que ades fo paubres e ses arnes." Another example was Guillem Magret, who "si fo uns joglars de Vianes, jogaire e taverniers. E fez bonas cansos e bons sirventes e bonas coblas. E fo ben volgutz et onratz; mas anc mais non anet en arnes, que tot qant gazaingnava el jogava e despendia malamen en taverna."

While the lines from the Razón de amor which have been discussed here are reminiscent of courtly literature in general, most have no close verbal resemblance to the courtly lyric. The poetry of the troubadours, written in an entirely different framework, the great majority from a subjective point of view, contains few third-person descriptions such as we see in the Razón de amor. When such descriptions do appear, the social prestige and courtly qualities of a lover may be mentioned, but not troubadouresque talents such as writing or singing, or such experiences as travels. A pastorela written towards the middle of the twelfth century by the usually satirical and juglaresque Marcabru, shows the closest resemblance. It begins with the narrator-poet overhearing a courtly young lady who is wandering through a locus amoenus lamenting the absence of her amics. The narrator presents himself and engages her in conversation in the hope of seducing her, but the girl steadfastly refuses to be untrue to her absent lover. Despite certain similarities, however, the Provençal poem could not have inspired the lines quoted above from the Razón de amor. The sources of those sections of the Spanish poem are to be found elsewhere.

It seems evident after a comparison of the Razón de amor with the vidas and razos that these Provençal genres are sources of inspiration for the introduction and for a number of lines in the love-narrative. Since the poem's introduction states that the poet-protagonist of the love-narrative went to Lombardy, and since the poem is believed to have been written around the same time that the courtly biography was being cultivated there, it seems highly possible that the author of the Razón de amor was directly acquainted with the Provençal pieces. Such a knowledge of the vidas would point to the conclusion that the Razón was composed at the earliest in the 1230's, and possibly even after 1240, if we accept Favati's dating of the vidas.

In both the introduction and the love-narrative the author alters the Provençal tradition according to his own tastes and needs. In both parts of the poem he depersonalizes the poet-narrator-protagonist by omitting his name and origin and thus uses the biographical material to portray a universal type, a more purely literary personage, rather than to exalt the reputation of an individual. He gives a poetic rhythm and concision to material which appears in a rambling and occasionally picturesque prose form in the vidas and razos.

Borrowing from and modifying the Provençal texts in similar ways, the introduction and the love-narrative seem most likely to be the work of one author, but this conclusion is not the only possibility. The poet-minstrel who presents the biographical introduction and then speaks, in the final lines of the poem, of "Mi Razón," could well be adopting as his own material originally composed by others, but which he feels he has the right to use for his own purpose.

Such a conception of authorship in the Middle Ages makes it difficult solve the problem of unity in the Razón de amor. The juglaresque author of the first ten lines of the poem seems to be playing with the idea of double authorship and then, in the final two lines, denies it. The difference in style and tone between the love-narrative and the debate adds to the thorniness of the problem. For these reasons, it has seemed to some critics that there were two or more authors involved. Without agreeing with such a theory, I should like nevertheless to present some other possible conjectures, in addition to the one which I have offered above, concerning the poem's unity, in the light of the Provençal texts.

One possibility is that the author of the introduction had no knowledge of the author of the Razón other than what he could learn from the poem itself. This shortcut was used by the Provençal biographers also. There is no mention in the Spanish text of a specific person or of his origin, and the Razón contains all of the information necessary for the composition of the introduction: the escolar of line 5 comes from line 82; the courtliness mentioned in line 6 can be inferred from lines 55, 84-85, 112-13, and from the love-narrative in general; Germany and France may have been included to impress the audience with the poet's wide travels and Lombardy may have come to mind because it was, in the first half of the thirteenth century, the center of courtly literary activity and perhaps also because the minstrel-biographer was aware that certain lines seemed to be inspired by the biographical genres which were being cultivated there at that time.

One weakness of this view lies in the fact that the biographical introduction of the Razón de amor could not have been written very long after the love-narrative, since the vidas were probably composed closer to the middle than to the beginning of the thirteenth century, and the Spanish poem was completed, it is generally believed, before 1250. The author of the introduction would then be commenting on the work of a contemporary and thus should have had more specific information about him. The authors of both parts seem equally acquainted with the Provençal biographies and equally interested in using material from them. The inclusion in the love-narrative of material which is taken from a purely biographical genre, makes of that part of the poem a sort of biography of the author as well, and the theme of love by reputation makes of it, at the same time, a poem about a biography. It therefore seems reasonable to assume that the authors of those two parts are one. If we consider the possibility that the author of the introduction was a separate person who was indeed acquainted with the author of the rest of the poem we still must contend with the similar use of biographical material in both parts.

The comparison of the Spanish text with passages from the Provençal biographies leads by a new route to the conclusion that a single poet was probably responsible for the whole work. The author of the Razónde amor incorporated both courtly and popular tastes in his repertory, and his poem is the expression of a variety of talents and experiences. There is ample evidence in the biographies of a tradition of such multi-talented poets. Uc de Saint Circ, Marcabru, Uc Brunet, and Aimeric de Belenoi can be included in this group, and the latter two are good examples of the clerk-troubadour-minstrel …

I hope that the above discussion of these poets has enabled the reader to better understand the type of author who, it seems, composed the entire Razón.

Such an entertainer-poet would thus have resembled another thirteenth-century cleric, Gonzalo de Berceo, whose Milagros de Nuestra Señora have their humorous moments, such as the "Milagro del clérigo embriagado," and others in which he expresses with refined lyricism his adoration for the Virgin Mary. He was, at the same time, a trovador (he refers to himself as such in Loores de Nuestra Señora, stanza 232) and a joglar (Vida de Santo Domingo, 289, 759, and 755-76), the latter because he wrote in the vernacular and addressed himself to a popular audience. In Santo Domingo, 2, in the manner of a minstrel he offers his listeners a brief description of the work he is about to present, and requests a glass of wine as reward:

Quiero fer una prosa en roman paladino,
en cual suele el pueblo fablar a su vecino,
ca non soy tan letrado por fer otro latino;
vien valdra, como creo, un vaso de bon vino.

As does the author of the Razón de amor, Berceo incorporates into his literary creation elements which in other more rudimentary compositions are simply the task of minstrels. The author of the Razón differs from him, however, in that his work serves to exalt no individual, either courtly or Christian. He differs also in choosing to remain completely removed from his text, using the third person in his description of himself, rather than the first—creating a sort of third-person autobiography.

The author of the Razón de amor is both a raconteur who tells of someone else's experiences, and a man writing about his own experiences. This dual position of the poet vis-à-vis his work recalls yet another "clérigo-juglar," the Archpriest of Hita, whose Libro de buen amor similarly shows shifts in the relationship of the author to his work. At times Juan Ruiz appears in the foreground, as when he introduces himself as author, yet at times he fades out of the limelight to allow other personages to speak, and even to offer a description of him—a description whose terms and tone are purely Spanish, but which is nevertheless reminiscent of the Provençal biographies:

Es ligero, valiente, byen mançebo de dias,
sabe los instrumentos e todas juglerias,
doñeador alegre ¡para las çapatas mias!
tal omne como este, non es en todas erias.

Critics have been able to conclude that the Archpriest's choice of an autobiographical framework was based on purely literary considerations and that he adopted such a stance to serve his artistic aims rather than because the experiences which he recounted were really his own. Similarly, it seems possible to conclude that the author of the Razón de amor chose a biographical framework less out of a desire for any kind of rudimentary realism than out of his fascination with the literary possibilities of such a technique.