The times of troubadour poetry: the historiography and the cantigas of King Dinis

Abstract

This article proposes a debate on the historicity and temporalities of medieval Galician-Portuguese lyric and its uses in later periods. To this end, I seek to question the usual demarcations by demonstrating the character of renewal and circularity in the production of the court of King Dinis (1261 - 1325), king of Portugal who was also a troubadour. In this sense, I first explore the relationship between Galician-Portuguese lyric and the Occitan tradition, highlighting its specificities. Next, I try to understand how philology and historiography in the 19th and 20th centuries interpreted and positioned the songs of King Dinis, attributing to them temporal characteristics such as "last generation", "Provençalism", "renewal" and "originality". Finally, I present some later interpretations and uses of Dionysian troubadour culture, showing how Galician-Portuguese lyric takes on different temporalities throughout history.