Juião Bolseiro
Jogral medieval

Biographical Note:

Galician minstrel, active in the middle or third quarter of the 13th century. Little is known about his life, except that he had contact with João Soares Coelho and Mem Rodrigues Tenoiro, since he composed a poetical exchange with each of them. Given that both these troubadours frequented the court of Alfonso X, it’s plausible that it was the scenario of his compositions. From the tenção (exchange) with Mem Rodrigues Tenoiro it can also apparently be deduced that both he and his father would be at his service, but it’s hard to determine the exact circunstances.
Very recently, José António Souto Cabo1 located a document in Tombo C of Santiago's catedral, dated 1240, where a certain “Iulianus Arie, bulsarius” appears as a witness, and he might be our author. As this researcher adds, “It’s possible that the surname by which we know him had been connected to the custody of the “bursas” (purses) in which was kept, among other emoluments, the monetary donations made by the faithful; which allows us to suspect that we’re facing a member of the cathedral of Santiago”. Being thus, as Souto Cabo further suggests, his classification as minstrel would have to be understood more in social terms (a non-aristocratic poet) than in professional terms.

References

1 Souto Cabo, José António (2012), "En Santiago, seend’ albergado en mia pousada. Nótulas trovadorescas compostelanas", in Verba, 39.
      Go to web page