Ruiz, Juan

Ruiz, Juan hwän ro͞oēthˈ [key], 1283?–1350?, Spanish poet, musician, and archpriest of Hita. Ruiz suffered 13 years in prison, during which time he revised his masterpiece, El Libro de buen amor (c.1330, tr. The Book of Good Love, 1933). This is a miscellany in verse of fables; autobiographic adventures in the picaresque style; and adaptations of medieval, classical, and Arab stories and apologues—all forming a vivid and unified satirical panorama of medieval society. He is considered the Spanish Chaucer.

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