Nuno Rodrigues de Candarei
Trovador medieval

Biographical Note:

Troubadour, maybe galician, whose biography is still somewhat obscure. He may be the son of the galician Rodrigo Pais de Candrei, documented, between 1214 and 1230, as a vassal to the magnate Dom Rodrigo Gomes de Trava, and we know he accompanied him in the service to Fernando III of Castille (the documents show that he traveled with a son1). If that son is Nuno Rodrigues (an hypothesis that his name’s patronym makes plausible) the troubadour would have, then, frequented the Castillian court. In this hypothesis, he could also have family ties with the Dom Mendo de Candarei to whom Alfonso X directs two satirical songs (perhaps the troubadour Mem Pais, as we suggest in the respective biographical note).
It should be noted, however, that the family surname, in its Gondarei form, is equally present in Portugal. As Resende de Oliveira informs us2 (following the lead of Carolina Michaëlis, who seems inclined to attributing a portuguese nationality to Nuno Rodrigues3), in 1258, one Mem Rodrigues de Gondarei (which could be brother of Nuno Rodrigues) had assets near Penafiel. Actually, the frequent marriages of members of this galician family with portuguese lineages doesn’t rule out the hypothesis of some of them having established themselves in Portugal. That was the case of Mor Rodrigues de Candarei, also possibly a sister of the troubadour, who married Gomes Viegas de Basto.
Although there are many uncertainties regarding his naturality, the adduced data point, then, to the period of activity of Nuno Rodrigues to having been the middle of the 13th century.

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, p. 146.
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2 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.

3 Vasconcelos, Carolina Michaëlis de (1990), Cancioneiro da Ajuda, vol. II, Lisboa, Imprensa nacional - Casa da Moeda (reimpressão da edição de Halle, 1904), p. 343.