The second period of Spanish literature embraces the later portion of the middle ages, and is marked by the presence of lyric poetry in considerable quantity, alongside of the didaetie. It scents to have been inspired by the strains of the proveneal poets settled at the court of the counts of Barcelona, and always continued to be more courtly than national. The most complete collection of this lyric poetry is the Condoner° general of Fernando del Castillo (Valencia, 1511; 10th edit., 1573), which contains the names of 136 authors, among which may he mentioned those of the marquis of Villena, and the marquis of Santillana, the three Manriques, Macias, Sanchez de' Badajoz, Alonzo de Cartagena, Diego de San Pedro, and Fernan Perez (le Guzman. Against this court poetry, however, a strong reaction took place, the national spirit re-asserting itself vigor ously in ballads, chronicles, romances of chivalry, and the drama. The best collection of the ballads (about 1000 in all) is to be found in the Romancer° general (13 vols.. 1605 14); of the chronicles (half-genuine, half-fabulous narratives of ancient Spanish heroes), the best are those of Ayala, of Juan Nunez de Villaizan, the Chronicle of the Cid, and that Chronicle of the Travels of Ray Gonzalez de Clavijo; of the romances of chivalry, the most celebrated is the Amadis de Gaol, parent of innumerable others (see AMADIS); and of the drama, among the first specimens are the pastoral plays of Juan de in Euzina, and the Celestine of Fernando ele Rojas.
• The third period, extending from the 16th to the 18th c., is the most splendid and productive in the annals of Spanish literature. Under Charles V., Spain became the foremost state in Europe. and the conquest of Naples brought it into close relation with with the literature of Italy. The great Italian masters, such as Dante and Petrareh, began to he studied, and Italian measures and poetic forms to be imitated, although the rich. strong, Spanish spirit is never lost. The first of this new school was Juan Boscau Almogaver (died 1543). a brilliant sonneteer: other members of the same school are Gareilaso (q.v.) de la Vega, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (q.v.), Francisco de Sfla de Miranda, and .Jorge de Montemayor (author of the once famous pastoral novel of Diana (see :Covets), Fernando de Herrera (q.v.), and Luiz de Leon ((lied 1591), the last two of whom rank ass the two greatest lyric poets that Spain ever produced. Gradually, a national drama established itself too. Conspicuous names in this department are Villalobos, Perez de Oliva, and Naham'ro (about 1517), sometimes regarded as the father of the Spanish drama. The last-mentioned wrote his comedies in the favorite national measure. the redondillas, and divided theta into three acts. Besides these, we mast mention Lope de Rueda. Juan the la Cueva, and Geronimo Bermundez, who cultivated tragedy with success. Among the most eminent prose writers of the first section of this third period was Geronimo Zurita, author of Annales de la Corona de Aragon (Annals of the Crown of Aragon, 6 vols.)—a somewhat critical work, showing a deeided advance on the credulous chronicles of the monks; Oliva, whose Dialogo de la Dignidad del Hombre (Dialogue on the Dignity of Man) is a fine specimen of elegant literature; and Morales, author of Discursos (Essays), relating to practical philosophy; etc.—Cervantes (q.v.) marks, if not exactly a new era, at least a splen did outburst of Spanish genius. It is unnecessary here to criticise the productions of his genius; we may only note, as it were, historically the fact, that his immortal Don Quixote put an end to the romances of chivalry—or rather to the extravagant imitations of these that sprung up after the age of chivalry had passed away. Lope de Vega (q.v.),
a contemporary of Cervantes, and Calderon (q.v.), gaveothe national drama a European renown, and had, especially the latter, a host of followers more or less celebrated. among whom are Francisco de Hojas, Agustin Moreto, Fragosa, Diamante, Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza, Juan de la Hoz, Antonio de Solis, and Agustin de Salazar y Torres. The lyric and "epic" poets of this period, which embraces the second half of the 16th, and the whole of the 17th c., are innuinerable, but not great. The most notable names are those of the Argensola, and Alonso de Zuftiga (author of Araucana, a fine poem on the conquest of Araucania in Chili by the Spaniards). A peculiar form of the novel also appeared, called the " rogues' novel," of which the only memorable speci men is the Guzman de Alfarache of Mateo Aleman; and even it derives not a little of its importance from the fact that it suggested Le Sage's Blas. In history, the most dis tinguished names arc those of Mariana (q.v.) and Slabs.
The fourth period of Spanish literature extends from the accession of the Bourbons (1701) to the present time, and was long marked (like the contemporary literature of Germany) by a servile imitation of French models, and these by no means the best of their kind. This literary a.seendency of France in the first half of the 13th c. over all civilized Europe is a very curious phenomenon, worthy of closer study than it has yet received. • The most notable of the Frenchified Spaniards was Ignacio de Lunn, whose Poetica (1737) is a thoroughly Gallician performance. His efforts to denationalize the literature of Spain were combated by Garcia de la Huerto and others, and at length a sort of compromise was effected, and the "Salamanca school" emerged into notice. Its founder, Malendez Valdez (b. 1754), was a man of high genius who subordinated his liberal culture to the sovereign coutrol of a patriotic inspiration, and the same qualities are visible in its other members—Iglesias, Norona, Quintana (q.v.), Cienfuegos, Arriaza, and Gallego The great peninsular war, and the subsequent political movemstuts in Spain, bad a powerful effect in stirring up anew the elements of nationality, and the present century can show a lengthened list of names both in prose and poetry. We can only afford space for a few: Tapia, Maury, Juan Bautista Alonso. Jacinto de Sales y Espronceda, Serafin Calderon, Zorrilla, Hartzenbusch, R. de Campoamer, Santos Lopez Pelegrin, Villergos, and G. Gomez de Avellaneda, in poetry; Saavedra, Mora, Zorilla Gregorio Romero y Larraflaga, Manuel de Santa Ana, in romantic fiction; Leandro, Fernandez Moratin, in the drama; Ulloa, Mufioz, Capmany, Ferreras, Quintana, Navar rete, Clemencin, Torreno, and Maldonado, in history; Jovellanos, Arguelles, Minim°, Marina, Donoso Cortes, Martinez de la Rosa, etc., in political oratory.
Spain has not as yet achieved great results in any departments of science, either physical, mental, or moral; but of late years she has turned her attention seriously to scientific studies, and several admirable treatises in jurisprudence, political economy, medicine, philosophy, philology, and geography have been produced.—See Bouterwek's and Sismondi's lli:vtories of .Spanish Literature; and above all, Ticknor's work on the same subject (3 vols., New York; 1849-54), which has been translated into Spanish.