Nuno Fernandes Torneol
Trovador medieval

Biographical Note:

We know almost nothing regarding this troubadour, whose name has been the subject of some discussion. Thus, Resende de Oliveira1, taking into account precisely the lack of data, suggested that his name could simply be Nuno Fernandes, being Torneol a mere note by Colocci (in B) relative to the tornel (refrain) of the following songs. This hypothesis doesn’t seem to stand, however, since later on Vincenç Beltran2 located a document, dated 1244, where one João Fernandes Torniol is mentioned, at the time the owner of a vineyard in Cordoba who, according to this researcher, could be brother of the troubadour. More recdently José António Souto Cabo3 located the same surname in two galician documents, the first mentioning one “Fernandus Petri, dictus “Turniol” de Villari” who, in 1262, bears witness to a sale to the archbishop João Airas, and the second mentioning three nephews of the compostelian canon Abril Fernandes (in his will, dated 1269). Therefore, Nuno Fernandes would be galician, maybe originary from the region of Santiago.
More recently, however (2018), Ron Fernández4 reported on the discovery of a Nuno Fernandi Torniol, referred to in a document from the monastery of San Xoán de Poio, dated 1225. As this researcher writes (announcing a more complete work on the subject), "trátase dunha doazón de Pelagius Suariz, da parentela dos Romai, que regala pro amore et linage unha herdade en Ranzia, que podemos situar na parroquia de San Xoán de Tirán, no concello de Moaña".
Nevertheless, what seems certain is that Nuno Fernandes pursued is activity around the begining or mid-13thcentury, most probably in the Castillian court of Fernando III. The Castillian toponyms mentioned in his only preserved satirical song seem to point in that direction.

References

1 Oliveira, António Resende de (1994), Depois do espectáculo trovadoresco. A estrutura dos cancioneiros peninsulares e as recolhas dos séculos XIII e XIV, Lisboa, Edições Colibri.

2 Beltran, Vicenç (1997), “A alba de Nuno Fernandez Torneol”, Revista galega de ensino, 17, p. 92.
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3 Souto Cabo, José António (2012), "En Santiago, seend’ albergado en mia pousada. Nótulas trovadorescas compostelanas", in Verba, 39.
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4 Ron Fernández, Xavier (2018), "Martin Codax: o nome. A onomástica na lírica trobadoresca", in The Vindel Parchment and Martin Codax. The Golden Age of Medieval Galician Poetry, edited by Alexandre Rodríguez Guerra and Xosé Bieito Arias Freixedo, John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 232-233.
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