Mester de clerecía

Mester traigo fermoso, non es de joglaríamester es sin pecado, ca es de clerezíafablar curso rimado por la cuaderna víaa sílabas cuntadas, ca es grant maestría.Mester de Clerecía ("Ministry of Clergy") is a Spanish literature genre that can be understood as an opposition and surpassing of Mester de Juglaría.

Unlike Mester de Juglaría, Mester de Clerecía was written on paper, not anonymous, with regular metre (the cuaderna vía) and done by educated authors.

This form is also known as the cuaderna vía or the fourfold way, and was borrowed from France and was popular until the late fourteenth century.

Popular themes of these poets were Christian legends, lives of saints, and tales from classical antiquity.

Two traits separate this form from the mester de juglaría: didacticism and erudition.

Libro de Alexandre , 13th century; this has been regarded as the declaration of principles of the "mester de clerecía":

Mester traigo fermoso, non es de joglaría
mester es sin pecado, ca es de clerezía
fablar curso rimado por la cuaderna vía
a sílabas cuntadas, ca es grant maestría.

— Libro de Alexandre , vv. 5-8.