BERCEO, GONZALO de. — Spanish priest and poet, of whom few biographical details are known. Born at Berceo (diocese of Calahorra) around 1198, he was educated in the Benedictine monastery of S. Millán, where he was ordained a priest and probably remained. His manuscripts were preserved there for a long time, and were later dispersed. The documents that mention him do not go beyond 1242, but he certainly died at a very advanced age (1268?), since he describes himself as such in the Vita de santa Oria, which is perhaps his last work.
G. de B. is regarded as one of the most distinguished representatives of the «mester de clericia», a literary school that sought to oppose to the ametric or irregular system of epic and minstrel poetry the use of the four-line monorhymed stanza of alexandrines («cuadernia via»). Thus he was a learned poet, also because beneath the simplicity of his language (which is nevertheless that vernacular «en qual suele el pueblo fablar à su vecino») there emerges a desire for a vivid and refined style and for a rich and varied vocabulary. The body of his works (approximately 13,000 verses in all), effectively defined as the «romancero de la Iglesia», may be divided into three triads: the first comprising lives of saints (Domingo, Millán, Oria), the second concerning the Virgin (Loores de Nuestra Señora, Milagros de Nuestra Señora, Duelo de la Virgen), and the third dealing with varied religious subjects (El martirio de Sant Laurencio, El sacrificio de la Misa, Los signos que aparecerán antes del Juicio). Of all these writings, the Milagros de Nuestra Señora stand out for their particular artistic value. They were once thought to have been drawn from a similar work by Gautier de Coincy, but in fact go back to a common Latin source, identified in ms. Thott 128 of the Copenhagen library. Yet imitation detracts nothing from B.’s originality and spontaneity. His faith, with a candor that may at times seem excessive, is nevertheless always lively and profound, wholly intent on making shine forth, in the most diverse situations, the merciful work of Mary, who saves her devotees from infernal punishments, even when they are unworthy and sinners until their final hour.
In this enchanted and miraculous atmosphere the pious Spanish cleric finds his truest spiritual and poetic world. Thus, in the Vida del glorioso Confesor S. Domingo de Silos, a reworking of the Vita Beati Dominici by the monk Grimaldo, the second and third parts deal with the miracles performed by the Saint during his life and after his death, while only the first is devoted to his biography; the same order is followed in the Estoria del Señor Sant Millán, derived from the Vita Aemilian of s. Braulio, bishop of Saragossa. Another preferred theme of B.’s art is the depiction of demonic and celestial descriptions and visions. In the two Lives already mentioned and in the Milagros there are abundant and varied, lively scenes in which devils are the protagonists; in the Vita di s. Oria, moreover (taken from an account by Munio, her confessor at the monastery of S. Millán), the apparition of three holy women is related: they invite the young girl to ascend to Heaven along a lofty column crowned with trees and flowers; there she can speak with the souls of her fellow countrymen, hear the voice of Jesus, and see the seat reserved for her. One may perhaps say that this account and the Duolo de la Virgen, in which the Madonna recounts the Passion and the Deposition of the Lord, are the works in which the poet’s sensitivity and emotionality are most fully revealed, whereas El Sacrificio de la Misa and Los signos que aparecerán... are above all descriptive and exegetical in character; to the Loores de Nuestra Señora we can assign only the value of an exercise and a preliminary effort in relation to the far loftier and more deeply felt poetry of the Milagros.
His works were printed in the volume devoted to the Poetas castellanos anteriores al siglo XV, in the Bibl. de aut. esp., 57 (Madrid 1864), pp. 59–146; recent editions include those of the Milagros, ed. Solalinde («Clás. Castellanos» [Madrid 1934]); of C.C. Marden (Veintirés Milagros [there 1929]), who is also responsible for an edition of Cuatro poemas de G. de B. (there 1928); La Vida de santo Domingo (ed. Fitz-Gerald, Paris 1904); El Sacrificio de la Misa (ed. Solalinde, Madrid 1913); and the Martirio de sant Laurencio (Publ. of the mod. Lang. Assoc. [Baltimore 1930]).