SOURCE: de Langbehn, Regula Rohland. “Power and Justice in Cancionero Verse.” In Poetry at Court in Trastamaran Spain: From the Cancionero de Baena to the Cancionero General, edited by E. Michael Gerli and Julian Weiss, pp. 199-220. Tempe Ariz.: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1998.

In the following essay, de Langbehn explores a combined interest in moral and political themes in cancionero verse, with particular regard to the concept of justice and the social position of the aristocracy and monarchy in fifteenth-century Spain.

The King's Limits: Epistemological Considerations1

Many of the political principles expressed in proverbial florilegia of the Middle Ages such as Flores de filosofía and Libro de los cien capítulos, reappear in numerous doctrinal works of the fifteenth century, especially in rhymed treatises like the collections of Proverbios by Fernán Pérez de Guzmán and Íñigo López de Mendoza, the future marqués...