l. 16. el, found in early Spanish before feminine nouns not beginning with accented a. Cf. [p. 28], l. 6, un espesura.
[EL ALMIRANTE DIEGO FURTADO DE MENDOZA]. The Admiral Furtado de Mendoza was the father of the Marqués de Santillana (cf. [p. 34]). Far less important as a poet than his more inspired son, he nevertheless possessed abundant lyric gifts, of which the present song (published by Amador de los Ríos, Historia de la literatura española, vol. V) gives evidence. It is a dance-song of a kind called cossante by the author. Portuguese-Galician influence is clear in the Admiral’s poems.
[ALFONSO ÁLVAREZ DE VILLASANDINO]. One of the most important trovadores at the court of Juan II (1406-54). He wrote in both Galician and Castilian, and most of his poems, which are in the conventional Provençal manner, are to be found in the Cancionero of Baena (ed. Leipzig, 1860). In expression they are frequently coarse and vituperative. Villasandino’s several songs in praise of Seville seem to have been composed for pecuniary compensation; cf. F. Wolf, Studien zur Gesch. der span. etc., Literatur, Berlin, 1859, p. 200, note.
[Page 24].—l. 17. alta compaña, i.e., the Giralda, the famous tower of the Cathedral of Seville.
[Page 25].—l. 9. mesura, i.e., measure, with the connotation so customary in Provençal poetry, of moderation, dignity and grace in all things.
[MICER FRANCISCO IMPERIAL]. The son of a Genovese goldsmith established in Seville, Imperial was one of the first to import an Italian influence into Spanish poetry. His poems (published in the Cancionero of Baena) mark the beginning of an allegorizing tendency in Castilian literature which harks back to Dante. The latter, Imperial constantly imitates and quotes, as he does in the present decir, or short poem.
[Page 25].—l. 16. Rribera del rio, on the bank of the river.—Triana: a suburb of Seville, from which it is separated by the river.
l. 20. santa Ana: a church and a square of Seville.
l. 27. al que dixo: Ave, i.e., to the Archangel Gabriel.
l. 28. paraysso: the doubled s here and in rysso, v. 25, is inorganic; cf. the rhymes quiso and lyso.