Martim Moxa
Trovador medieval

Nationality: Galega?

Biographical Note:

Troubadour, probably a clergy, whose biography, although object of some attention, is still controversial. The doubts begin right in his surname, since in the italian aphographs, and also in the “Tavola Colocciana”, the form varies between Moxa and Moya, which is not indifferent when determining his origin. Actually, his eventual aragonese origin, initially suggested by Carolina Michaëlis, and then further pursued by Stegagno Picchio, could then be contested by Resende de Oliveira, that points instead to the Castillian land of Moya, close to Cuenca, next to the aragonese border, as the troubadour’s place of origin. Besides the toponym, this researcher also adds that the family surname of the troubadour, Moya, appears connected to some characters with projection in the court of Alfonso X, as would be the case of one Estêvão Moya, royal ambassador to the rebellious nobility in 1272. The troubadour would belong to this lineage and would therefore be Castillian.
Shortly after, Viñez equally located one Martim de Moya benefited in the Repartimiento of Murcia, but appearing next to his wife, which, as this researcher also adds, doesn’t seem compatible with the fact that he was a clergy (a stature clearly attributed in a song directed at him, and that the location of his compositions in the songbooks, in a zone dominated by clergy, seems to confirm).
Actually, although the data concerning the surname Moya are interesting, the fact is that, in the manuscripts, not only the form Moxa is dominant, but at one point this form is used to rhyme with “roxa”, in a composition by João de Gaia alluding to the troubadour. Some researchers, Tavani among them, therefore discard the Moya form and defend Moxa as being the correct form of his surname.
Following this lead, Ron Fernández recently noticed a document from the region of Pamplona, dated 1266, in which appear, as signers, one “don Martim Motça” and one “don Johan Peritz Moçta”, being that the former may be our troubadour. In this case, the navarran spelling seems to effectively correspond to the galician-portuguese form “Moxa”. Moreover, and in regard to this lineage’s social status, all indications are that it would be a family of some importance in the city of Pamplona, and the same researcher further adds that one “Miguel Motça” served as alcaide of the court of Navarra between 1315 and, at least, 1317. From our side, we have located one “don Martin Motça”, alcaide in the village of San Nicolás de Pamplona in 1251 (doc nº 146).
Even more recently, however, José António Souto Cabo located, in a document from the archive of the Cathedral of Santiago, dated 1281, one “Martinus Iohannis, dictus “Moxe””, a canon from Compostela that had lived in the city prior to this date, and had properties in Lestrove (c. Dodro, southwest of Padrón). Souto Cabo also proposes that the troubadour may have been the son of one João Martins Moxe, which confirms the will of another canon from Compostela, in 1276, and possibly brother to one Pero Anes Moxe, documented in the city between 1269 and 1310 (being, at this date, also a canon). These are dates that seem consistent and may therefore invalidate all prior hypothesis.
Be that as it may, and given some of his compositions, what seems certain is that Martin Moxa frequented the Castillian court of Alfonso X. As for his period of activity, the frontiers are also somewhat fluid. The last decades of the 13th century are usually taken as the most probable (coinciding, furthermore, with the chronological arc proposed by Souto Cabo). But the reference to the “cantares de Martin Moxa” (Matim Moxa’s songs) that we find in the aforementioned composition by João de Gaia (a portuguese troubadour probably active between 1287 and 1330), together with the reference to his longevity, which is the main theme of another song mocking him, introduce some uncertainty in this matter. Also, it should be added that those two last references led Carolina Michaëlis to suggest that, at the end of his life, Martim Moxa may also have frequented the portuguese court (of King Denis, or even Afonso IV), although we don’t have any documental confirmation of this hypothesis.