SOURCE: Hernández, Francisco J. “The Venerable Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita.” La Coronica 13, no. 1 (fall 1984-85): 10-22.

In the following essay, Hernández explores the historical context in which Juan Ruiz wrote.

The author of the Libro de buen amor [LBA] was an archpriest of Hita, in the archdeaconry of Guadalajara, diocese of Toledo; his name was Juan Ruiz and he lived during the first half of the fourteenth century. The previous sentence summarizes what has been taken for granted by most literary historians until now. No positive proof to support such a belief has ever been produced, hence the periodic doubts when either the name of Juan Ruiz has been assumed to have been a pseudonym, or the literary character of the narrator-protagonist has been claimed to be the only aspect of the work's authorship worthy of consideration. In 1979, Anthony N. Zahareas stated: “We know nothing...