he remained in the service of King Enrique IV; he died
in Torrelaguna in 1456, leaving no descendants.
The poet’s fi rst editor, Hernán Núñez, supplies ad-
ditional biographical data that cannot be corroborated:
that he was the son of Pedrarias and of a sister of Ruy
Fernández de Peñalosa, lord of Almenara and veinticu-
atro of Córdoba; that both parents died when he was
very young; that he began his studies in Córdoba and
continued them in Salamanca; and that he was married
in Córdoba to a sister of García de Vaca and Lope de
Vaca. Other early biographical accounts derive from
Núñez, although they differ in some particulars.
Throughout his adult life Mena divided his time
between Córdoba and the royal court. He was a loyal
supporter of King Juan II and an unabashed admirer of
Alvaro de Luna; at the same time, his friendship with the
Marquis of Santillana transcended the political turmoil
of the time and survived the Marquis’s disaffection with
the crown and the condestable.
El laberinto de Fortuna (popularly called Las
trescientas), a narrative poem of 297 arte mayor stan-
zas, was presented to King Juan II in February 1444.
The poet inveighs against capricious Fortune, and is
forthwith transported in a visionary journey to her
palace. There he is met by Providence, who will serve
as his guide. Providence shows him the three wheels of
Fortune corresponding to the past, present, and future,
each with seven circles governed by the seven planets.
The wheel of the unknowable future remains veiled,
but the poet will be permitted to see those of the past
and the present.
The main body of the poem (stanzas 61–238) re-
counts the histories of exemplary fi gures (exalted and
condemned) in each of the seven circles. The fi rst four
circles (Diana, Mercury, Venus, and Phoebus) stress
fi gures from the past and ethical concerns, while the last
three (Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) emphasize the present
(and, by extension, the recent past). Here Fortune holds
sway; only Alvaro de Luna has been able to conquer her,
and the king must emulate his example if he is to attain
the greatness foretold for him.
The work concludes with Providence’s prophecy of
future glory for the king, whose fame will eclipse that
of his ancestors; the vision fades, however, before the
poet can inquire of his guide as to the particulars of the
king’s future accomplishments. His task is clear: he
must put an end to civil strife (“las guerras que vimos de
nuestra Castilla,” 141b) and unite the warring factions in
a fi nal push to victory over the Muslims (the “virtuosa,
magnífi ca guerra” of 152a).
Mena drew selectively and deftly from a wide variety
of sources. His allegorical construct owes much to such
works as Anticlaudianus, Roman de la rose, and Dante’s
Divine Comedy, though he appears to have made his
own contribution to the symbology of Fortune in the
concept of the three wheels. He knew and utilized
Latin epic poets (Virgil, Lucan, Statius) and relied
heavily on Ovid’s Metamorphoses for Greco-Roman
mythology.
The language of the Laberinto is a language of po-
etic innovation. It is characterized by an abundance of
neologisms coined from Latin roots, a tendency toward
Latinate morphology and syntax, and the extensive use
of a wide variety of rhetorical devices. Yet the poet does
not hesitate to juxtapose a vulgar, archaic vernacular
word and an elegant Latinism: “fondón del çilénico
çerco segundo” (at the deepest bottom of the second ce-
laenic [i.e., Meraniel] circle) (92b) or “con túrbido velo
su mote cubría” (with turbid veil covered their riddle
57d). The result is a compendium of tragic, satiric, and
comedic styles consistent with principles enunciated
earlier by the poet (Coronación, prologue).
La coronación del marqués de Santillana was com-
posed to celebrate Santillana’s victory over the Moors
in the Battle of Huelma in 1438. It consists of fi fty-one
octosyllabic coplas reales, accompanied by the author’s
extensive prose commentary in which he explicates
each stanza, clarifying classical allusions and glossing
his neologisms. Mena coined the term calamicleos
(from the Latin calamitas and Greek cleos) to describe
the work, “a treatise on the misery of evildoers and
the glory of the good.” The poet describes his allegori-
cal journey through the valleys of Thessaly, where he
contemplates the fate of fi gures from antiquity such as
Ninus of Babylon (armless in punishment for his failure
to raise his arms in defense of his city) and Jason (afi re in
punishment for his lust). He then makes his way through
a forest of knowledge and ascends Mt Parnassus, reach-
ing a place reserved for those who have attained fame
through their works: Solomon, David, Homer, Lucan,
Virgil, Seneca, and others. Under a canopy, attended
by the immortal authors and the Muses, is the Marquis
of Santillana; the poet watches as he receives the laurel
crown from four maidens who represent the cardinal
virtues, and exhorts the goddess Fame to spread the
news of the event worldwide.
Stanza 42 and its commentary reveal that Santillana
is being recognized for his diligence, loyalty, and valor
in the service of the king against the Muslims rather
than for his accomplishments as a writer. By implica-
tion, the poet’s condemnation of those being punished
for cowardice or irresponsibility could be extended to
some of his contemporaries; the example of Santillana
(like that of Alvaro de Luna in Laberinto) is worthy of
emulation.
In Coplas de los pecados mortales, the poet invokes
the Christian muse, disavowing the “dulçura enponzo-
ñada” of his earlier works and ruing time misspent in
the study of pagan antiquity. Written in octosyllabic arte
menor stanzas and structured as an allegorical debateMENA, JUAN DE