Theme and Structure[edit]
The Book of Good Love is a varied and extensive composition of 1728 stanzas, centering on the fictitious autobiography of Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita. Today three manuscripts of the work survive: the Toledo (T) and Gayoso (G) manuscripts originating from the fourteenth century, and the Salamanca (S) manuscript copied at the start of the fifteenth century by Alonso de Paradinas. All three manuscripts have various pages missing, which prevents a complete reading of the book, and each manuscript varies extensively from each other due to the diversions of the authors. The work most commonly read today was suggested by Menéndez Pidal in 1898, based on sections from all three manuscripts.