Martin Codax

A Galician medieval jogral (non-noble composer and performer -- as opposed to a trobador),

from Santiago de Compostela, Galicia in present day Spain.

We will try to place the poet in his story:

In the twelfth century, the golden century of pilgrimages,
of the cult of Santiago and of the enlargement of the apostolic headquarters,
which at this time reaches its maximum development as a center of devotion for all Christianity.
In this historical framework, one of the most significant documents of the Jacobean phenomenon,
the "Liber Sancti Iacobi" or Codex Calixtinus (Códice Calixtino), would be found,
named for the attribution of his authority to Pope Calixto II.
This manuscript is a great work of dissemination of the cult of Santiago
and the pilgrimage phenomenon to his venerable tomb,
encouraged from the Burgundian Abbey of Cluny.
We could date this codex in the year 1160 and
divide the work into five books, one of liturgical nature,
the second tells 22 miracles attributed to the Apostol's intervention,
just as the third is of great historical wealth, it tells us about his martyrdom,
transfer and subsequent "intervention" of the sacred relics.
The fourth book, known as the "Pseudo Tumpín",
puts the fantastic adventures of King Charlemagne
in Hispania in the mouth of the archbishop of Reims,
in relation to the road and the sepulcher of Santiago.
Finally, the fifth book is a "Pilgrim's Guide", very rich in details and descriptions,
both of the road and of the city of Compostela in the twelfth century.
We attribute the creation of the codex to the cleric of Parthenay-le-vieux, Aymérico Picaud.
Of the musical codice, it is a manuscript, in French notation,
consisting of forty-five monodic compositions and one hundred and forty-one polyphonic,
basically from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, representing a very rich variety of styles.

Within the historical panorama of the Galician-Portuguese troubadour lyric,
the name of Martín Códax stands out especially for the fortunate fact of being the only one,
among the many poets of his time of whom we know
and preserve the original music of some of his compositions.

Finally highlight the figure of the troubadour Alfonso X El Sabio.
The Wise King, Castilian to the core, I do not hesitate to use the Galician language,
so appropriate for lyrical expression and that so often resonated in his palace
at the mouth of the Galician-Portuguese troubadours who,
among other media from different backgrounds, populated its court,
to compile more than four hundred compositions of praise and narrative of miracles,
in honor of the "Celestial Lady", which constitute a true artistic,
literary and musical historical monument of Medieval times in Europe.