Anónimo de Santarém
Trovador medieval

Biographical Note:

Unknown author, but identifiable by his repeated references to Santarém in the three songs transcripted by the Ajuda Songbook (Cancioneiro da Ajuda) and only by it (A 278-280). We know that this series is by one and the same author since the songs are preceded by a miniature and followed by a gap, being the next folio again topped by a miniature. According to the rules of this songbook, those three songs would then be by one well-determined author whose name, unfortunately, we do not know (since this songbook doesn’t have any atributive items).The references to Santarém further indicate us that we are dealing with an author that was either from this region or had eventually established himself there. Having no way of knowing for sure who he might be, we nevertheless can suggest some of the characters whose biography and chronology may fit his profile.A certain Gonçalo Martins, trobador de Santarém (troubadour from Santarém), is mentioned in a document from the chancellery of King Denis, a document regarding the relationship of Gonçalo’s daughter, Maria Pires, with the troubadour João Velho de Pedrogães (it’s a letter recognizing the son born out of this union). 1Tough we do not have any identifiable songs from this Gonçalo Martins, it should be noted, however, that a homonym is mentioned in a numa tençãotenção between Garcia Peres and Alfonso X. Could the said Gonçalo Martins be then this anonymous from Santarém?Also in Santarém settled the son of the troubadour Martin Soares, João Martins, also called, in every document mentioning him, a troubadour2 (although none of his compositions have reached us). We know that he was an adult in 1269, so he may have been included in Ajuda collection.Yet another hipothesis, that this anonymous from Santarém was the troubadour Estêvão Raimondo (from whom no love songs remain), is worth considering. In this case, it’s supported not only by the fact that, biographically, we know the connection between the troubadour and this city, where he married and also where he shows up signing several documents, but also by his placement in the cantigas de amigo’s section in the Italian aphographs, which seems to indicate that he may have lived at a similar period as some of the troubadours that surround the songs of this anonimous in A. It should be stated, however, that this last identification proposal has the weakness of not being able to guarantee for certain that the Estevão Raimundo from the Italian aphographs is effectively Estevão Reimundo de Portocarreiro (to whom this biographical data belong).Moreover, and regarding the maiden starring in the songs, it should be added that the brother of Dom João Peres de Aboim, Estevão Peres de Aboim, married in Santarém with a certain Ximena Soares de Alfanje3 (a place mentioned in the songs), but it would be risky to identify this lady, or any of her sisters, as the maiden sung by this troubadour.

References

1 Pizarro, José Augusto (1999), Linhagens medievais portuguesas: genealogias e estratégias 1279-1325, vol. I, Porto, Centro de Estudos de Genealogia, Heráldica e História da Família da Universidade Moderna, p. 345.
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2 Azevedo, Pedro de (1898), "O trovador Martim Soárez e seu filho João Martinz", in Revista Lusitana, V , Lisboa.
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3 Pizarro, José Augusto (1999), Linhagens medievais portuguesas: genealogias e estratégias 1279-1325, vol. II, Porto, Centro de Estudos de Genealogia, Heráldica e História da Família da Universidade Moderna, p. 871.
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