Gonzalo de Berceo: The Poet and his Verses

Anthony John Lappin, Gonzalo de Berceo: The Poet and his Verses (Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2008). xii + 266 pp. ISBN 978-1-85 566-173-8. £75.00.

Anything written on the thirteenth-century Spanish poet Gonzalo de Berceo by Anthony John Lappin is worth reading and this book is no exception. Lappin's purpose, economically expressed in the preface, is twofold: first, to examine the 'biographical and intellectual landscape' in which Berceo moved and wrote, and second, to re-examine the manuscript tradition and editorial criteria which to date have informed the published editions. This monograph presents a refreshing and challenging re-examination of both the life and works of Berceo.

The book is broadly divided into two parts, the first dealing with Berceo as author, the second with the works themselves. Lappin begins immediately in the first part to dismande accepted assumptions, taking aim especially at the biographical claims of Brian Dutton. The Berceo that emerges from Lappin's analysis is quite different from the...