View source for Martin Codax

{{more footnotes|date=July 2013}}
[[Image:Martim Codax Cantigas de Amigo.jpg|thumb|''Cantigas de Amigo'' (Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, Vindel MS M979)]]
'''Martin Codax''' or '''Codaz''', '''Martín Codax''' ({{IPA|gl|maɾˈtiŋ koˈðaʃ|lang}}) or '''Martim Codax''' was a [[Galician people|Galician]] [[medieval]] [[Minstrel|''joglar'']] (non-noble composer and performer, as opposed to a [[Troubadour|''trobador'']]), possibly from [[Vigo]], [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] in present-day Spain.  He may have been active during the middle of the thirteenth century, judging from scriptological analysis.<ref>{{harvp|Monteagudo|2008}}.</ref> He is one of only two out of a total of 88 authors of ''cantigas d'amigo'' who used ''only'' the archaic strophic form {{not a typo|aaB}} (a rhymed [[distich]] followed by a refrain).  He employed an archaic [[rhyme scheme]] whereby ''i~o / a~o'' were used in alternating strophes.  In addition Martin Codax consistently utilised a strict parallelistic technique known as ''leixa-pren'' (see the example below; the order of the third and fourth strophes is inverted in the Pergaminho Vindel but the correct order appears in the [[Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional]] in Portugal,<ref> {{cite web|url= http://www.bnportugal.gov.pt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=915%3Aseminario-a-letra-e-o-canto-trovadoresco-o-cancioneiro-da-biblioteca-nacional-9-abr-18h00&catid=164%3A2014&Itemid=939&lang=pt |title=A letra e o canto trovadoresco: o Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal}}</ref> and the [[Cancioneiro da Vaticana]]). There is no documentary biographical information concerning the poet, dating the work at present remains based on theoretical analysis of the text.

== Works in the ''Pergaminho Vindel'' ==
The body of work attributed to him consists of seven ''[[Cantiga de amigo|cantigas d'amigo]]'' which appear in the [[Galician-Portuguese]] songbooks and in the ''Pergaminho Vindel'' (Vindel parchment). In all three manuscripts he is listed as the author of the compositions, in all three the number and order of the songs is the same. This provides what may be important evidence to support the view that the order of other poets' songs in the ''cancioneiros'' (songbooks) should not automatically be dismissed as random or attributed to later compilers.  The identification of authorship of the poems (and their order) may contribute to a viewpoint that the seven songs of Codax reflect an original performance set. Consequently, the sets of poems by other poets might also have been organized for performance.

The parchment was originally discovered by the Madrid-based antiquarian bookseller and bibliophile Pedro Vindel among his possessions in 1913; it had been used as the cover of a copy of [[Cicero]]'s ''[[De Officiis]]''.

Martim Codax's poems that appeared in the parchment are the following (originally untitled, they are listed by the first line):<ref>{{harvp|Vindel|1915}}</ref>

*''Ondas do mar de uigo''
*''Mandadei comigo''
*''Mia yrmana fremosa''
*''Ay deus se sabora meu amigo''
*''Quantas sabedes amar amigo''
*''E no sagrado en uigo''
*''Ay ondas que eu uin ueer''

In the ''Pergaminho Vindel'', musical notation (although with lacunae) survives along with the texts, except for the sixth one. They are the only ''[[cantigas d'amigo]]'' for which the music is known. The ''[[Pergaminho Sharrer]]'' contains seven melodies for ''[[cantigas d'amor]]'' of [[Denis of Portugal]], also in fragmentary form.

== A ''cantiga'' by Martin Codax ==
Here is the third of his songs:<ref>{{harvp|Cohen|2003}}, slightly modified.</ref>{{Page needed|date=October 2019}}
{{Verse translation|lang=mis|
Mia irmana fremosa, treides comigo
a la igreja de Vigo u é o mar salido
e miraremos las ondas.

Mia irmana fremosa, treides de grado
a la igreja de Vigo u é o mar levado
e miraremos las ondas.

A la igreja de Vigo u é o mar salido
e verrá i mia madre e o meu amigo
e miraremos las ondas.

A la igreja de Vigo u é o mar levado
e verrá i mia madre e o meu amado
e miraremos las ondas.
|
Lovely sister, come with me
To the church in Vigo where the sea is rough,
And we will gaze at the waves.

Lovely sister, come willingly
To the church in Vigo, where the sea is up,
And we will gaze at the waves.

To the church in Vigo where the sea is rough,
And my mother and my friend will come,
And we will gaze at the waves.

To the church in Vigo, where the sea is up,
And my mother and my beloved will come,
And we will gaze at the waves.}}

==See also==
[[File:A Fada e o Dragón, Xaime Quessada, 2006.JPG|thumb|Paseo de Alfonso XII de [[Vigo]]:<br>''A fada e o dragón''<br>The sculpture, cast in bronze, represents a nymph with two flutes, riding a winged dragon's back. With this piece, the artist ({{Interlanguage link multi|Xaime Quessada|gl}}) pays tribute to Galicia's oral culture and the medieval poets and troubadours who, like Martin Codax, or [[Mendinho]], celebrated the bounties of Vigo's sea.]]
*[[Cantiga de amigo]]
*[[Galician-Portuguese]]
*[[Galician-Portuguese lyric]]
*[[Pergaminho Sharrer]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite book | url = https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/33843 | last = Cohen | first = Rip | year = 2003 | title = 500 Cantigas d' Amigo: Edição Crítica / Critical Edition | publisher = Sheridan Libraries, [[Johns Hopkins University]]}}
* Cunha, Celso. 1999. ''Cancioneiros dos Trovadores do Mar'', edição preparada por Elsa Gonçalves. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional/Casa de Moeda.
* Ferreira, Manuel Pedro. 1986. ''O Som de Martin Codax. Sobre a dimensão musical da lírica galego-portuguesa (séculos XII–XIV)''. Lisbon:  UNISYS/ Imprensa Nacional – Casa de Moeda.
* Ferreira, Manuel Pedro. 1998. "Codax Revisitado", ''Anuario de Estudios Literarios Galegos'': 157–68.
* Marcenaro, Simone. 2015. "Nuove acquisizione sul Pergaminho Vinderl (New York Pierpont Morgan Library, ms. 979)". ''Critica del testo'', 18:33–53.
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Monteagudo|2008}}|reference=Monteagudo, Henrique. 2008. "Ortografia alfonsí? Para a análise grafemática dos testemuños poéticos en galego da segunda metade do século XIII", in Ferreiro, Manuel ''et al.''. (edd.), ''A edición da Poesia Trobadoresca en Galiza''. A Coruña: Baía Edicións. 141–60.}}
* Pena, Xosé Ramón. 1998. ''Xograres do mar de Vigo: Johán de Cangas, Martín Codax, Meendinho''. Vigo: Edicións Xerais de Galicia. {{ISBN|9788483022290}}.
* Pena, Xosé Ramón. 2013. ''Historia da literatura galega I: Das orixes a 1853''. Vigo: Edicións Xerais de Galicia. {{ISBN|9788499145518}}.
* {{cite book | last=Vindel | first=Pedro | year=1915 | title=[[s:es:Las siete canciones de amor|Martín Códax. Las siete canciones de amor: poema musical del siglo XII]]. Publícase en facsímil, ahora por primera vez con algunas notas | publisher=Sucesores de M. Minuesa | location=Madrid }}

==External links==
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
*[http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/bib_autor/codax/index.shtml Portal de Martin Codax en la Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes]
*{{in lang|it}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193442/http://w3.uniroma1.it/letteratura-europea/codax/codax/LIRICA_HOME.htm Digital edition]
* [http://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt/pergaminhovindel.asp Musical transcriptions & recordings]
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[[Category:13th-century Galician-Portuguese troubadours]]