Caldeirom
Jogral medieval

Biographical Note:

We know almost nothing regarding this author, about whom the (scarce) documentation that we possess seems contradictory. In fact, Caldeirom has been traditionally been identified as the drums minstrel bearing the same name, that appears in the accounts of Sancho IV of Castile (1294)1. However, given that this type of minstrels, being considered hierarchically inferior, do not seem to have been composers, it’s possible that this identification isn’t correct. In this sense, Ron Fernandez located in the Valencia repartition (1239-1240) a certain Calderon appearing as a beneficiary, a character that this researcher believes it may be our author2. Although this rearmost chronology apparently contradicts the placement of Calderon’s works in the songbooks, where he appears in the final part of the satirical songs, it’s also possible that this is a case where an author was added to the original collection at a later stage. To complicate matters it should be added that, being certain that we appear to be in the presence of a minstrel, the surname Calderón was equally used by a lineage of Navarra knights3, his eventual founder, Fortun Ortiz de Calderón, lord of Nogaro, coming up among the beneficiaries of the repartition of Úbeda and Baeza (1238).As for the rest, although being certain that one of his songs (where he informs us that he had come from Galicia, eventually returning from some trip) contains very concrete political allusions, they are, however, very difficult to place, not only by the deplorable condition of the composition in the manuscripts, but also because the conflicts alluded in the song, occurring between the peninsular kingdoms (Castilians versus catalans and aragonese, as it seems to be the case), were most frequent in the 13th century, which prevents us from having certainties regarding the chronology. Neverthelesse, we give, in the general note to that same song, a suggestion in this respect, but it’s merely hypothetical.Plus, is should also be added that, taking into account the countless Occitanisms present in the said song, Carolina de Michaelis4 put forward the suggestion of Caldeirom being of aragonese origin, which however does not bode well with the unfavorable portrait that he gives of the aragonese in the mentioned composition.

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, p. 326.

2 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, p. 181.
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3 Dacosta, Arsenio, "De la conciencia del linaje a la defensa estamental. Acerca de algunas narrativas nobiliarias vascas", Medievalista online, 8, Julho - Dezembro de 2010..
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4 Vasconcelos, Carolina Michaëlis de (1990), Cancioneiro da Ajuda, vol. II, Lisboa, Imprensa nacional - Casa da Moeda (reimpressão da edição de Halle, 1904).