Núñez, Airas

(fl. 1280–1290)

   Airas Núñez was one of the most important and innovative of the medieval Galician-Portuguese lyric poets. His 15 extant lyrics display a broad generic variety—there are seven cantigas de amor (love songs), three CANTIGAS DE AMIGO (songs with women speakers), one pastorela (or PASTOURELLE), and four cantigas de escarnho (satirical poems). They also evince an innovative technical virtuosity and a thematic originality.

   Núñez was probably born in Galicia, sometime in the mid 13th century.He writes in Galician-Portuguese, but scatters some passages of vernacular Provençal through his lyrics, a fact that has led some scholars to speculate that he may have been educated in France. Some documents append the title clérigo to his name, and some have thought therefore that he was a priest, though it seems more likely that his reputation for learning inspired the title.What little we know of Nuñez’s life is gleaned from a few references to him in documents from the court of Sancho IV of Castile, who seems to have been Núñez’s patron in the decade from 1280–90, and one of Núñez’s poems suggests that he traveled to Santiago on pilgrimage with King Sancho in 1284. A most interesting chancery document from the Castilian court is one granting Núñez money to buy clothing and an animal. Since one of his poems tells the story of how thieves set upon him and took his mule and his clothing, it seems likely that the grant of funds was related to that incident.

   In his love songs, Núñez distances himself from the conventions of Galician-Portuguese lyrics by adopting a tone more in line with that of the Provençal TROUBADOURS than with the tradition as it had developed in Portugal: Núñez emphasizes the hope and joi of love rather than the despair emphasized by his fellow countrymen.He also, like the troubadours, sees the spring as a season of true inspiration to sincere feelings of love.

   Even more unusual is his treatment of the mother-daughter relationship in his cantiga de amigo entitled Bailad’ og’, ai filha, que prazer vejades (Dance today, oh daughter, and may it give you pleasure). Here, rather than acting as a strict guardian of the daughter’s behavior, the mother encourages her daughter to dance before her “friend”—advice that makes the daughter suspicious:

   —Dance today, oh daughter, and may it give you pleasure,

   in front of your friend, whom you love sincerely.

   —I shall dance, mother, since you are asking me to,

   yet I gather one thing from you:

   you are very happy if he were to live only a short time,

   since you are asking me to dance well in front of him.

   (Jensen 1992, 6.5, ll. 1–6)

   In Núñez’s pastorela entitled Oí oj euūa pastor cantar (Today I heard a shepherdess singing), he breaks with tradition again, not only by using snatches of other lyrics in his refrains, but in reversing the expectations of the genre. Rather than attempting to seduce the young shepherdess, the speaker merely listens to her song in secret, and then moves on without making his presence known:

   After the shepherdess had made the garland,

   she went away singing, moving away softly;

   and I returned quickly to my road,

   for I had no desire to trouble her.

   (Jensen 1992, 6.6, ll. 25–28)

   Such breaks with tradition make Airas Núñez’s lyrics fresh and vivid, and make him one of the most important of medieval Galician-Portuguese poets.

   Bibliography

   ■ Flores, Angel, ed. An Anthology of Medieval Lyrics. New York:Modern Library, 1962.

   ■ Jensen, Frede, ed. and trans. Medieval Galician-Portuguese Poetry: An Anthology. Garland Library of Medieval Literature, 87.New York: Garland, 1992.