Songs of Holy Mary of Alfonso X, the Wise

Book excerpt: Few truly masterly works in literature, music, and graphic arts have been as sadly neglected as the thirteenth-century Cantigas de Santa Maria of King Alfonso X, "el Sabio" (1221 1284). This collection of 420 poems and songs was written not in Castilian but in Galician-Portuguese, an important spoken and literary language in the Middle Ages that is little understood today. Kulp-Hill's text is the first English translation of this important work. In the poems, a colorful panorama of medieval life unfolds, reflecting a vast array of historical, cultural, linguistic, folklorist, and aesthetic interests and information. The Cantigas contribute to the well-established medieval verse genre relating miraculous events attributed to Mary.--Publisher.