Its roots may be found in the Book of Job, in Seneca and,
nearer at hand, in the _Proverbios morales_ of the Jew Sem
Tob (_ca_. 1350), in the _Rimado de Palacio_ of Ayala, and
in a few poets of the _Cancionero de Baena_.

John II was a dilettante who left the government of the
kingdom to his favorite, Álvaro de Luna. He gained more
fame in the world of letters than many better kings by
fostering the study of literature and gathering about him
a circle of "court poets" nearly all of noble birth. Only
two names among them all imperatively require mention.
Iñigo LÓPEZ DE MENDOZA, MARQUIS OF SANTILLANA (1398-1458)
was the finest type of _grand seigneur_, protector of
letters, student, warrior, poet and politician. He wrote
verse in all three of the manners just named, but he will
certainly be longest remembered for his _serranillas_, the
fine flower of the Provençal-Galician tradition, in which
the poet describes his meeting with a country lass.
Santillana combined the freshest local setting with
perfection of form and left nothing more to be desired in
that genre. He also wrote the first sonnets in Castilian,
but they are interesting only as an experiment, and had no
followers. Juan de MENA (1411-1456) was purely a literary
man, without other distinction of birth or accomplishment.
His work is mainly after the Italian model. The _Laberinto
de fortuna_, by which he is best known, is a dull allegory
with much of Dante's apparatus. There are historical
passages where the poet's patriotism leads him page xvii
to a certain rhetorical height, but his good intentions
are weighed down by three millstones: slavish imitation,