The ''Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional'' (, ; "The National Library Songbook"), commonly called ''Colocci-Brancuti'', is a compilation of

Galician-Portuguese Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle ...

lyrics by both

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...

s and ''jograes'' (non-noble performers and composers) . These ''

cantiga A ''cantiga'' (''cantica'', ''cantar'') is a medieval monophonic song, characteristic of the Galician-Portuguese lyric. Over 400 extant ''cantigas'' come from the ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'', narrative songs about miracles or hymns in praise of th ...

s'' (songs) are classified, following indications in the poems themselves and in the manuscript tradition, into three main genres: ''cantigas de amigo'' (female-voiced love songs, about a boyfriend), ''cantigas de amor'' (male-voiced love songs) and ''cantigas de escárnio e mal-dizer'' (songs of mockery and insult). The poems were copied in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

(presumably from a manuscript from Portugal or Spain) around 1525-1526 by the order of

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

Angelo Colocci (1467-1549), who numbered all the songs, made an index (commonly called the ''Tavola Colocciana'' olocci's table, and annotated the codex. In the 19th century the ''cancioneiro'' belonged to Count Paolo Brancuti di Cagli, from

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

, in whose private library it was discovered in 1878. The count later sold the manuscript to Italian philologist Ernesto Monaci, who left it to his heirs on the condition that it not leave Italy. Nevertheless, the manuscript was acquired by the Portuguese government in 1924 and since then has been in the holdings of the Portuguese National Library in Lisbon. A closely related songbook (sister or cousin), kept in the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

, is called the

Cancioneiro da Vaticana The ''Cancioneiro da Vaticana'' (, ; ''Vatican Songbook'') is a compilation of troubadour lyrics in Galician-Portuguese. It was discovered c. 1840 in the holdings of the Vatican Library and was first transcribed by D. Caetano Lopes de Moura in 18 ...

. The ''Cancioneiro'' was copied by six different hands, according to the most recent analysis, using both gothic and cursive scripts. Of the original 1664 songs only 1560 remain. Some of the composers found in it are King

Dinis of Portugal Denis (, ; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325 in Santarém), called the Farmer King (''Rei Lavrador'') and the Poet King (''Rei Poeta''), was King of Portugal. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile, and ...

, D. Sancho I, D. Pedro, count of Barcelos, Pay Soares de Taveirós, Johan Garcia de Guilhade, Johan Airas de Santiago, Airas Nunes,

Martin Codax Martin Codax or Codaz, Martín Codax () or Martim Codax () was a Galician medieval ''joglar'' (non-noble composer and performer, as opposed to a ''trobador''), possibly from Vigo, Galicia in present-day Spain. He may have been active during th ...

. All told there are about 160 poets.

References

* Cintra, Luís F. Lindley. 1982. (Apresentação) ''Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional (Colocci-Brancuti) Cód. 10991. Reprodução facsimilada''. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional - Casa de Moeda. * Ferrari, Anna. 1979. “Formazione e struttura del canzoniere portoghese della Biblioteca Nazionale di Lisbona (cod. 10991: Colocci-Brancuti). Premesse codicologiche alla critica del testo (Materiali e note problematiche)”, ''Arquivos do Centro Cultural Português'' XIV: 27-142. * Ferrari, Anna. 1991. “Le Chansonnier et son double”, in ''Lyrique romane médiévale: la tradition des chansonniers. Actes du Colloque de Liège'', 1989, ed. Madeleine Tyssens, Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l’Université de Liège – Fascicule CCLVIII. 303-327 * Ferrari, Anna. 1993. “Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional”, in Lanciani & Tavani 1993: 119–123. * Gonçalves, Elsa. 1976. ''La Tavola Colocciana. Autori Portughesi''. Paris: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Centro Cultural Português (=''Arquivos do Centro Cultural Português'' X

976 Year 976 ( CMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * January 10 – Emperor John I Tzimiskes dies at Constantinople, after re ...

387–448). * Gonçalves, Elsa. 1993. “Tradição manuscrita da poesia lírica”, in Lanciani & Tavani 1993: 627–632. * Lanciani, Giulia & Tavani, Giuseppe (org.). 1993. ''Dicionário da Literatura Medieval Galega e Portuguesa''. Lisboa: Caminho. * Pena, Xosé Ramón. 2002. "Historia da literatura medieval galego-portuguesa", Santiago de Compostela, Sotelo Blanco.

External links

Entry at the National Library
in Portugal {{Portuguese cancioneiros Portuguese music history Galician-Portuguese Portuguese literature Chansonniers (books)

See also

References

External links