Publisher's Synopsis
The majority of the poems translated here appeared in cancioneros between 1511 and 1605. They are the written versions of troubadour and common expression. They are what people were singing! Chants, lullabies, minstrel choruses, and the oral tradition passed from mouth to mind. When this content began to appear in cancioneros it meant the poets and musicians had taken notice and interest and began to use it for their own inspiration. For a long time, criticism had assumed that Spanish lyrical poetry was preponderantly epic. Spanish scholars at the beginning of this century have investigated their origins and began to theorise that their roots were Andalusian/Moorish in the zejels two lined rhymed refrain, but the discovery of even older jarchas showed an even longer influence.
