The mester de clerecia, 'craft of clerics', are the first recorded examples of learned poetry in Castilian. Written over the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, their stories are intertwined with the development of Iberian society through a tumultuous period of intellectual discovery, Reconquest, and religious reform. Despite their elite origins, these poems seek to engage a broad audience with their brand of Christian rhetoric. Curtis analyses the canonical thirteenth-century mester de clerecia along with the controversial Libro de buen amor (1330/43). Breaking new ground, she traces the common articulation of an orthopraxis or 'way' to be followed across this diverse group of poems, which defy categorization by secular, literary frameworks alone. Highlighting issues that are central to the poems, such as the limits of scientific progress, the value of indigenous tradition in relation to international culture, and sexual exploitation, Curtis demonstrates that the mester de clerecia, influential for modern writers such as Ruben Dario and Antonio Machado, still give pause for thought today.

Michalis Lianos is Professor at the University of Rouen and the editor of European Societies, the journal of the European Sociological Association. He is the author of The New Social Control (2012) and numerous other publications in the domain of late modern sociality. He has conducted several international research projects in the areas of risk, uncertainty, insecurity and conflict and has taught in various European countries.