Airas Nunes
Trovador medieval

Biographical Note:

A cleric (as the attributive item of his compositions informs us), probably Galician, whose period of activity should be between the end of Alfonso X’s reign and the beginning of Sancho IV’s (1284-1289). Actually, according to a document from the chancellery of the former monarch, we learn that in 1284 Airas Nunes was the beneficiary of two sums of money for the purchase of a horse and clothing, a donation apparently related to the scene of violence reported in one of his songs. Taking into account the reference made, in the same song, to his cabelos canos (white hair), he wouldn't have been a young man at the time. At least another two compositions can be equally dated: the cantiga de amigo in which he makes reference to a pilgrimage of Sancho IV to Santiago (1286), and the satirical song in which he mentions the conflict between king Sancho and the Princes of La Cerda (1289), and where he clearly defends the stand of the Castilian king. A learned troubadour, as indicated by his perfect domain of forms and his taste for quotations (namely from Occitan songs), Airas Nunes would have been then at the service of Sancho IV, although the aforementioned data is the only available to date1.

References

1 Tavani, Giuseppe (1992), A poesía de Airas Nunez, Vigo, Editorial Galaxia.