overs. It is apparently an isolated example, ahead of its
time, unless, as is the case with the Castilian epic, more
poems are lost than extant. The often quoted _Cantica de
la Virgen_ of Gonzalo de Berceo (first half of thirteenth
century), with its popular refrain _Eya velar_, is an
oasis in the long religious epics of the amiable monk of
S. Millan de la Cogolla. One must pass into the succeeding
century to find the next examples of the true lyric. Juan
RUIZ, the mischievous Archpriest of Hita (flourished _ca_.
1350), possessed a genius sufficiently keen and human to
infuse a personal vigor into stale forms. In his _Libro de
buen amor_ he incorporated lyrics both sacred and profane,
_Loores de Santa Maria_ and _Canticas de serrana_, plainly
in the Galician manner and of complex metrical structure.
The _serranas_ are particularly free and unconventional.
The Chancellor Pero LOPEZ DE AYALA (1332-1407), wise
statesman, brilliant historian and trenchant page xiv
satirist, wrote religious songs in the same style and
still more intricate in versification. They are included
in the didactic poem usually called _El rimado de
palacio_.

Poetry flourished in and about the courts of the monarchs
of the Trastamara family; and what may be supposed a
representative collection of the work done in the reigns
of Henry II (1369-1379), John I (1379-1388), Henry III
(1388-1406) and the minority of John II (1406-1454), is
preserved for us in the _Cancionero_ which Juan Alfonso de
Baena compiled and presented to the last-named king. Two
schools of versifiers are to be distinguished in it. The
older men, such as Villasandino, Sanchez de Talavera,
Macias, Jerena, Juan Rodriguez del Padron and Baena
himself, continued the artificial Galician tradition, now
run to seed. In others appears the imitation of Italian
models which was to supplant the ancient fashion.
Francisco Imperial, a worshiper of Dante, and other
Andalusians such as Ruy Paez de Ribera, Pero Gonzalez de
Uceda and Ferran Manuel de Lando, strove to introduce
Italian meters and ideas. They first employed the Italian
hendecasyllable, although it did not become acclimated
till the days of Boscan. They likewise cultivated the
_metro de arte mayor_, which later became so prominent
(see below, p. lxxv ff.). But the interest of the poets of
the _Cancionero de Baena_ is mainly historical. In
spite of many an illuminating side-light on manners,
of political invecti