Songs of a Friend: Love Lyrics of Medieval Portugal

by Barbara Hughes Fowler (Translator)

Portugal enjoyed one of the richest and most sophisticated cultures of the Middle Ages, in part because of its vibrant secular literature. One popular literary genre of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was the cantigas de amigo , love songs in which male poets wrote from a female perspective. More than five hundred of these mysterious poems depicting a young girl's love for an absent lover survive today. Until now, however, they have remained inaccessible except to a small circle of scholars. In her translation of nearly one hundred representative examples of the cantigas de amigo , Barbara Hughes Fowler recovers the beauty of these poems for the modern reader. Her accurate and elegant renderings capture the charming spontaneity of the lyrics and show them to be a uniquely appealing form of medieval literature. (excerpt of one of the poems) Lovely mother, I saw my friend but did not speak with him and so I lost him, but now I'm dying of love for him. I did not speak because of my disdain; I'm dying, mother, for love of him.

136 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1996

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"My friend, I know you've reason to compose
verses of love for me, and now
I see that they reprove you for that,
but never may God give help to me
if I don't henceforth give reason to you
to compose songs of a friend.

And since they see fit to pretend that you
compose for one who never since
her birth did you a kindly thing,
I tell you that from here forth
I wish to give you reason of love
to compose songs of a friend.

And God knows, I did not intend
to do a thing like this for you,
but since they keep you from composing,
you see the power they have, for I
shall find a way to allow you
to compose songs of a friend."

- Joam Baveca

(pg. 41)

[Comicfairy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up the book prepared to be blown away by the topic, yet suffered a huge disappointment. I am a Portuguese woman majoring in Medieval Studies, so I assumed I would fall in love with this book.

On page 32 of a Calheiros poem (CV 234, CB 632, N 67), Fowler states "'Mother of God' was not in the original text. I added it for the sake of the meter."

Once I read that and similar "additions", I restlessly skimmed the remainder of the book and became increasingly disenchanted.

While the author does a decent job adding her own lines based on her rich background of translation and scholarship, much of the original beauty of the poetry was depleted.

As Fowler states in the Introduction, a compendium like this really does need to be read in its original language; otherwise, it appears monotonous and bastardized. Makes me wonder why she bothered at all. Guys, get someone to read the Portuguese texts to you; believe me, you will not be as disappointed as I was here.

A for topic, B for effort.

[Ameliedanjou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even for people with an interest in medieval poetry, these are not well-known poems. But they should be. B.H.Fowler has translated a selection of about 100 poems from 500 extant cantigas d'amigo, a genre from the woman's point of view. They offer a lovely contrast to the more well-known troubadour poems.
You might be interested to know that 6 of the poems, all by one man, survive with music, and have been frequently recorded. Search for Martin Codax, Cantigas d'Amigo for an idea of what these may have sounded like.