Mena represents the peak of cultured literature of the 15th century. He represents a humanistic spirit, subjecting the Spanish language to an implacable Latinization. As a member of the court participates in a number of literary games, composing love songs and sayings that obtain an important diffusion in the literary compilations of the time, called "cancioneros". Despite the success of these minor pieces, the poet acquired more fame for his longer compositions, such as the Coronación del Marqués de Santillana (1438), in which he celebrates the marquis success in a military campaign.

His most remarkable work is Laberinto de Fortuna, an extensive allegorical poem of almost three hundred stanzas of major art. The poem contains influences from the great Latin authors, making continuous reference to characters from a classical and mythological culture with a highly Latinized lexicon and syntax. Composed in verses of major art, the poet imposes a new aesthetic in which the rhythm is above any other lexical or syntactic consideration, with abundant use of neologisms, archaisms, and hyperbatons, with the objective of breaking the usual and predictable order of sentences. The artifice of the work supposes a rupture with a chaotic reality,  at the service of a new rhythm in the poetic creation,  loaded with musical content. His poetry contains in general a great structural complexity, the poet demonstrating this way his erudition and intellectualism. 

La coronación

Laberinto de Fortuna

Omero romaçado

Labyrinth of Fortuna is an allegorical poem that narrates the visit of the poet to the palace of Fortuna. It is a poem of social criticism in medieval Castilian literature.

Mythology

Poetry

Social criticism

The Baroque is period characterized by a cultural development unwind due to the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent. In many respects, Baroque supposes a  return to the Middle Ages, ceasing the clear Renaissance separation between the natural and the supernatural. The Inquisition watches over any intellectual activity that does not highlight or otherwise avoids the transcendental. Scientific research and rational philosophy practically end in Spain, with Theology taking their place. Superstition supplants religiosity in people's minds and so-called miracles ubiquitously flourish. 

In this context, the Spanish genius, unable to create intellectually in other areas, takes refuge in the aesthetic task, with an impressive list of painters, sculptors, and architects who live in this era. The literature demonstrates the same splendor. When Cervantes was still alive,  other outstanding authors such as Lope de Vega, Góngora, and Quevedo wrote their literary masterpieces. Shortly after this giants of the Spanish literature history died, began his careers the last genius of the Baroque era, Calderón de la Barca and Gracián. Somehow, the limitation in freedom of expression is offset by an increase in artifice and exaggeration in style, subjecting the language of the Renaissance to an intense elaboration that gives rise to the two great movements of the time: the 'culteranismo' and the 'conceptismo'.

Middle Ages

Crónica Najerense

Guía de Perplejos, by Maimónides

Poema del Mio Cid

Batalla de las Navas

Fernando III, King of Castile and León

Libro de Apolonio

Historia Gothica, by Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada

Alfonso X crowned king of Castile, León and Galicia

Alfonso X crowned king

Universidad de Valladolid

Estudios Generales de Alcalá

Libro del Caballero Zifar

Libro de Buen Amor

El conde Lucanor, by don Juan Manuel

Fratricídio de Montiel

Historia universal, by Ibh Jaldún

Rimado de palacio, by López de Ayala

Compromiso de Caspe

Debete on the Talmud

Cancionero de Baena

Corbacho, by Arcipreste de Talavera

Cancionero de palacio

Coplas de Ay, panadera

Isabel la Católica crowned queen

Inquisition is stablished in Castile

Conquest of Granada

The Jews are expeled from Spain

Treaty of Tordesillas

Cancionero, by Juan del Encina

La Celestina, by Fernando de Rojas

De amore, by Andreas Capellanus

Saladino recovers Jerusalen

Third crusade

Harmonia Mundi, by Kepler

Novum Organum, by Bacon

University of Bologna

IV Council of Letrán

Frederic II crowned emperor

Canticle of the sun, by Francis of Assisi

University of Montpellier and Toulouse

Carmina Burana

Roman de la Rose, by Guillarme de Lorris

Chronicon Mundi, by Lucas de Tuy

Seventh crusade

Tractatus, by Étiene de Bourbon

Opus Maius, by Roger Bacon

Tractatus, by Humberto de Romans

Eighth crusade

Roman de la Rose, by Jean de Meun

Marco Polo writes a manuscript about his travels 

Travels of Marco Polo

Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri

Poems from Petrarca

One Hundred Years War starts

Black Death

The Decameron, by Boccaccio

Canterbury Tales, by Chaucer

Benedict XIII pope

Council of Constanza 

End of the Western Schism

Council of Basilea

Laberinto de Fortuna (1444)

Spanish Bites

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Laberinto de Fortuna (1444)

By Juan de Mena

Time Period: Middle Ages

Genre: Mythology, Poetry, Social criticism

Spanish Bites

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