Pero da Ponte
Trovador medieval

Biographical Note:

Troubadour, most probably galician, active in the Castillian courts of Fernando III and Alfonso X. His condition as squire and troubadour is mentioned by the author himself in two compositions (1, 2) but it’s probable that his real social status would be that of segrel, a somewhat fluid category, but pointing to an intermediate position between minstrel and noble troubadour.
Although the galician documentation from the mid-13th century attests the existence of at least two individuals that could possibly be identified as the segrel, one Pero Fernandes da Ponte and one Pero Anes da Ponte, the absence of patronymic in the attributive items of the songbooks makes the identification with either of them problematic. The surname Da Ponte is, however, well documented in the city of Pontevedra, where one “don Martinus Petri da Ponte” was alcaide between 1240 and 1242, and where the family seems to have played a relevant social role in the 14th and 15th centuries, according to data gathered by Ron Fernández1. It is also to this researcher that we owe the location, in the Repartimiento of Valencia (1238-1240), of one “P de Ponte”, that might be the troubadour, also because his name appears next to an important group of minstrels, of different origins and languages. As this researcher adds “o feito de que Pero da Ponte eloxie a conquista de Valencia ben podería relacionarse coa súa presenza no evento e no repartiment, sendo beneficiado nel” (the fact that Pero da Ponte praises the conquest of Valencia can well be connected to his presence in the event and the repartiment, being benefited by it).
As for the rest, his compositions allow a relatively firm dating of his activity, that should have begun shortly before 1235, the year queen Beatrice, mother of Alfonso X, died, and to whom he dedicates a pranto (mourning), and should have lasted to at least till 1275, as Vicenç Bletran proposed2, from the analysis of one of his compositions (that would follow a canso by the provençal troubadour Guiraut Riquier, datable to that year), or even, as we believe, till the following years, taking into account the composition that he directs against prince Manuel, brother of Alfonso X (and only in litigation with him from 1277 onwards). Equally from his compositions it can be deduced that Pero da Ponte would have continuously kept himself very close to the royal court of the Wise King, of whose political positions he was a spokesman in numerous circumstances (namely, and besides the aforementioned case, in the wake of the nobility rebellion of the early 70’s).

References

1 Ron Fernández, Xavier (2005), “Carolina Michaelis e os trobadores representados no Cancioneiro da Ajuda”, in Carolina Michaelis e o Cancioneira da Ajuda hoxe, Santiago de Compostela, Xunta de Galicia.
      Go to web page

2 Beltran, Vicenç (2005), La corte de Babel. Lenguas, poética y política en la España del siglo XIII, Madrid, Bredos, p. 183.
      Go to web page