Josué VILLA PRIETO

Original title: La cultura de los menestrales: tratados didácticos medievales dedicados a la dignificación de los oficios mecânicos

Published in Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Peninsula Cultural History

Keywords: Francesc Eiximenis, Medieval teatrises, Ramón Llull, Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo, Urban trades.

Facing Artes Liberales practiced by intellectuals, experts in Trivium and Quadrivium or doctors in Law or Teology, Artes Mechanicae are exercised by workers through manual practice. In Classical Antiquity they are considered Artes Vulgares, an expression which reflects an underestimation in relation to Artes Liberales. During the Middle Ages, this term is replaced with Artes Mechanicae by philosophers and writers, in order to claim their utility and value in medieval society. This study proposes an interpretative synthesis about speeches dedicated to the classification and dignification the Artes Mechanicae in Spanish teatrises in the Late Medieval period, treatises which are dedicated to issue knowledge and represent the ideal society (Ramón Llull, don Juan Manuel, Francesc Eiximenis, Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo) as well in French and Italian authors very known in Iberian Peninsula (Hugh of Saint Victor, Vincent de Beauvais, Ralph of Longchamp, Giles of Rome).