page_title: Music history of Portugal
section_title: Profane music
hierarchical_section_title: Music history of Portugal / Medieval music / Profane music
caption_attribution_description: English: King Denis of Portugal Português: D. Dinis, Rei de Portugal
context_page_description: Being one of the most ancient nation-states in Europe, Portugal is proud of its long music history, which accompanied and strongly contributed to the development of the outstanding music history in Europe. The music history of Portugal first started with Queen Amelia
context_section_description: In Portugal, an aristocratic poetical-musical genre was cultivated, at least since the independence (1143), whose texts are kept in three main collections (Cancioneiros): Cancioneiro da Ajuda (13th century), Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional (16th, on originals from the 14th), Cancioneiro da Vaticana (16th, on originals from the 14th).
  The 1680 poems kept in the Cancioneiros are divided in three forms: cantigas de amigo (songs of friend), cantigas de amor (songs of love) and cantigas de escárnio e maldizer (songs of mockery). The intrinsic link to music is well expressed in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda, where the staves have been drawn, but no melodies have been written.
  The only known musical source known until recently was due to a bookseller in Madrid, who found in the beginning of the 20th century a parchment with the seven Cantigas de Amigo by Martin Codax, six of them with the respective melodies. Codax was a (Galician? Portuguese?) troubadour from the court of King Dinis I of Portugal. In 1990, Prof. Harvey L. Sharrer (University of California at Santa Barbara) discovered at the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon a medieval document (the Pergaminho Sharrer) with seven Cantigas de Amor by King Dom Dinis, including its musical setting.
caption: King Dinis I of Portugal.
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