The following study is divided into two parts. The first is a socio-cultural
analysis of a poem by Gonzalo de Berceo (late 12th-early 13th century)
entitled Sacrificio de la Misa. The second is a study of the typological
structure of Berceo's poem.
Critics have generally advanced the idea that Berceo was a poet
with little academic formation, and that he composed his poetry for the
delight of a lay audience. This study of the Sacrificio de la Misa suggests
that the opposite is true; that is, that Berceo could well have received
academic training, even though it may not have been what was available
to monks who, at that time, received the highest level of education. The
Sacrificio de la Misa also shows that the audience to whom it was aimed
was not an unlettered one; rather, it was directed to students,
specifically those who were preparing for the priesthood in the monastery
of San Millan.
We reach these conclusions after a study of the academic world of
Berceo's time. We also examine the likelihood that Berceo attended a
studium generate, specifically the University of Palencia.
The thesis also questions the purpose of the poem, and the reason
why Berceo composes a doctrinal work in which he describes in detail
the canon of the Mass according to the Roman Rite. We conclude that
the Sacrificio de la Misa was composed in order to establish this rite in a
territory where previously the Mozarabic Rite had predominated. The
poet takes the opportunity of teaching the structure of the Roman Rite to
the students to whom he addresses the poem.
The second part of the thesis consists of an analysis of the
typological structure of the poem, a subject about which little has been
written. Berceo adds nothing new to the use of typology in a Christian
context, since he has acquired this method from the Bible itself, from
which St. Paul already took events in the Old Testament as prophetic
prefigurations of the New. Berceo's novelty lies in his adaptation of this
literary technique to Castilian poetry.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/12012 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Escuer-Riera, Iris |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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