[705] The “Question de Amor” was printed as early as 1527, and, besides several editions of it that appeared separately, it often occurs in the same volume with the Carcel. Both are among the few books criticized by the author of the “Diálogo de las Lenguas,” who praises both moderately; the Carcel for its style more than the Question de Amor. (Mayans y Siscar, Orígenes, Tom. II. p. 167.) Both are in the Index Expurgatorius, 1667, pp. 323, 864; the last with a seeming ignorance, that regards it as a Portuguese book.
[706] Accounts of the Cancionero of Baena are found in Castro, “Biblioteca Española” (Madrid, 1785, folio, Tom. I. pp. 265-346); in Puybusque, “Histoire Comparée des Littératures Espagnole et Française” (Paris, 1843, 8vo, Tom. I. pp. 393-397); in Ochoa, “Manuscritos” (Paris, 1844, 4to, pp. 281-286); and in Amador de los Rios, “Estudios sobre los Judios” (Madrid, 1848, 8vo, pp. 408-419). The copy used by Castro was probably from the library of Queen Isabella, (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., Tom. VI. p. 458, note,) and is now in the National Library, Paris. Its collector, Baena, is sneered at in the Cancionero of Fernan Martinez de Burgos, (Memorias de Alfonso VIII. por Mondexar, Madrid, 1783, 4to, App. cxxxix.,) as a Jew who wrote vulgar verses.
The poems in this Cancionero that are probably not by the persons whose names they bear are short and trifling,—such as might be furnished to men of distinction by humble versifiers, who sought their protection or formed a part of their courts. Thus, a poem already noticed, that bears the name of Count Pero Niño, was, as we are expressly told in a note to it, written by Villasandino, in order that the Count might present himself before the lady Blanche more gracefully than such a rough old soldier would be likely to do, unless he were helped to a little poetical gallantry.
[707] See ante, Chapter XVII. [note 543].
[708] The Cancionero of Lope de Estuñiga is, or was lately, in the National Library at Madrid, among the folio MSS., marked M. 48, well written and filling 163 leaves.
[709] The fashion of making such collections of poetry, generally called “Cancioneros,” was very common in Spain in the fifteenth century, just before and just after the introduction of the art of printing.
One of them, compiled in 1464, with additions of a later date, by Fernan Martinez de Burgos, begins with poems by his father, and goes on with others by Villasandino, who is greatly praised both as a soldier and a writer; by Fernan Sanchez de Talavera, some of which are dated 1408; by Pero Velez de Guevara, 1422; by Gomez Manrique; by Santillana; by Fernan Perez de Guzman; and, in short, by the authors then best known at court. Mem. de Alfonso VIII., Madrid, 1783, 4to, App. cxxxiv.-cxl.
Several other Cancioneros of the same period are in the National Library, Paris, and contain almost exclusively the known fashionable authors of that century; such as Santillana, Juan de Mena, Lopez de Çuñiga [Estuñiga?], Juan Rodriguez del Padron, Juan de Villalpando, Suero de Ribera, Fernan Perez de Guzman, Gomez Manrique, Diego del Castillo, Alvaro Garcia de Santa María, Alonso Alvarez de Toledo, etc. There are no less than seven such Cancioneros in all, notices of which are found in Ochoa, “Catálogo de MSS. Españoles en la Biblioteca Real de Paris,” Paris, 1844, 4to, pp. 378-525.
[710] Sanchez, Poesías Anteriores, Tom. I. p. lxi., with the notes on the passage relating to the Duke Fadrique.
[711] Fuster, Bib. Valenciana, Tom. I. p. 52. All the Cancioneros mentioned before 1474 are still in MS.