Spanish poet, active between 1220 and 1242. Born in the closing years on twelfth century, he appears to be the earliest Castilian author known to us by name. He became a priest and passed the whole of his life in or near the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla. His compositions extend to more than 13,000 verses (Alexandrines), arranged in monorhymed quatrains ( cuaderna via ), and, at least in so far as the truly authentic are concerned, are religious and hagiographical in their nature. They are made up of lives of Spanish saints : "La vida de Santo Domingo de Silos", "La vida de San Millán", "La vida de Santa Oria "; of poems celebrating the Blessed Virgin: "Los Milagros de Nuestra Señora", "Los Loores de Nuestra Señora", "El duelo de la Virgen"; and of other pious and didactic works: "El sacrificio de la Misa", "Los Signos del juicio", and perhaps some hymns. In all these compositions he manifests halt little originality, abidng, wherever possible, by Latin sources that were doubtless in the monastic library. His manner and style, however, are decidedly interesting, because they evince his desire to appeal to all the lay reading public of Castile in his time. He writes, as he tells us, in the vernacular, so that he may be read by the common man ; and he intentionally adopts the methods of the popular minstrel in order to reach more quickly the popular heart. In spite of his diffuseness, he can interest us today, and his quaint humour, heavy though it may be at times, has no little charm. If we are to believe the ascription contained in one of the two manuscripts of the old Spanish poem on Alexander the Great ("Libro de Alexandre ") we must credit him with that secular work also; but scholars are not too prone to regard the ascription as correct.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online