João Velho de Pedrogães
Trovador medieval

Biographical Note:

Portuguese troubadour, active at the end of the 13th century and beginning of the next, in the court of King Denis. There is, however, some difficulty in correctly identifying João Velho, given the existence, at the time, of at least three homonymous individuals. Anyway, taking into account the data gathered by Resende de Oliveira1, and that José Augusto Pizarro confirms2, he seems to be João Pires Velho, also referred, in that epoch’s documentation, as João Velho de Pedrogães, or yet as João Velho de Santa Logriça. A member of the Velho lineage, he would be natural of Neiva, south of Viana do Castelo, being the illegitimate son of Pero Pires Velho (and therefore a direct cousin of the troubadour Rodrigo Anes Redondo). He’s documented in the royal court starting in 1278, as a vassal to prince Denis, and after that in several moments of this monarch’s reign as a member of his council, being, namely, the solicitor in charge of handling the monarch´s wedding to Isabel of Aragon, and bringing the new Queen to Portugal (1281-1282). He died around 1310.
He was married to Marinha Soares Correia, nephew of the famous master of the Order of Santiago, Paio Peres Correia, with whom he had legitimate descendancy. But he also had two bastard sons, one of them with a certain Maria Pires, daughter of a certain Gonçalo Martins, troubadour of Santarém3, a name that does not match any author mentioned by the songbooks

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. 375.

2 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. 341 e sgs. e nota 68.
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3 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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