Brief explanation
The table here available for download in PDF format aims to present, in a visually simple form, all the authors and songs contained in the three major collections (A, B e V), as well as those mentioned by the Tavola Colocciana (C - the index built by Angelo Colocci), also displaying the folio or folios which include each cantiga, its genre, and the sequential order by which authors and songs appear in these four manuscripts. The board points out the missing parts of each one of the three songbooks, and the position of the miniatures within Cancioneiro da Ajuda.
It has long been acknowledged, and by reading this board we will confirm it, that authors and their songs appear in the three major songbooks in a very similar sequence, with only a few exceptions. The same applies to the authors sequence in Tavola Colacciana.
Considering the lack of knowledge about the manuscript tradition of Galician-Portuguese songs or, in other words, about the process of their handwriting, about the medieval collections that were made and about the destiny of these collections, the attentive analysis of the four major surviving documents and the review of their similarities and differences remains a central element of research in this field.
The general board we present aims both to provide the reader a general and visual picture of the songs that reached the present day (and the lost ones, attested by the lacks in manuscripts) and to become a working tool for experts and researchers.
