Origin: Galician-Portuguese lyric poetry
Genre: Cantiga de Amigo ("friend song")
Troubadour: D. Dinis (portuguese)
Performers: Teresa Salgueiro
Album: "Matriz" (2009)
This song is a "Cantiga de amigo" ("friend song"), composed by the portuguese king D. Dinis (1261-1325). In this poem, the maiden tenderly announces to her mother that she is going to the ball, in the village, at the home of her beloved, even though she knows she might be criticized. This is a possible and very simplistic summary of a song that was used to dance (bailia), not only full of rhythm, but also full of subtle sensuality.
Now, D. Dinis, son of Afonso III of Portugal and of D. Beatriz of Castile, ascended the throne in 1279, upon his father's death. His reign was then known as one of the longest and most brilliant in the history of the Portuguese monarchy, in part benefiting from the effective peace at the end of the war of the christian 'Reconquista' in the western part of the Iberian Peninsula (Algarve). He is also considered the first truly literate Portuguese monarch, not only for signing his full name, which was unusual at the time, but also for his great appreciation of the arts. He himself was one of the great composers of troubadour literature at the time, all written in Galician-Portuguese, thus favoring a linguistic unification of the country that had become an official language in 1290.
Likewise, his wife Isabel of Aragon, whom he married in 1281, was a remarkable figure not only as consort queen and mother, but especially as saint (beatified and later canonized), being the "Miracle of the Roses", the legend that gives the name of saint to the queen. Isabel also played an important role as mediator when her son, Afonso IV, started an open war with his father in 1321, due to the king's 'favoritism' for his bastard son Afonso Sanches. Although the conflict only ended three years later.
More about the miracle: [ Ссылка ]
More about the king: [ Ссылка ]
Source of the song & poem: [ Ссылка ]
Artwork: "Family Scene" from Millefleurs tapestries (15th-16th century)
