Name: Graciosa (¿Graciosa Alegre?)

Description:

A female minstrel and dancer mentioned by name in a *dezir* (poetic composition) by Alfonso Álvarez de Villasandino addressed to Juan Hurtado de Mendoza (ID1243, PN1-103), in which the poet advises him to seek diversion with the court musicians: "and see, at times, for greater amusement, / Graciosa, wife of 'the Trumpeter,' dance" (lines 37–38). This mention is doubly remarkable: she is identified by name—contrary to the usual tendency to consign women in these itinerant professions to anonymity (Lorenzo Arribas 2008: 20)—whereas her husband is referred to only by the metonymy of his instrument ("the Trumpeter").

She has been identified as Graciosa Alegre—also known as Graciosa Daucadera—a female minstrel and dancer from Valencia whose artistic career began during the reign of Martin I of Aragon (Menéndez Pidal 1983: 155). In 1409, she is recorded as being in the service of Queen Isabella of France as "*une ministrelle du pays d'Espagne*" (a minstrel from Spain); between 1411 and 1413, various payment records place her in the service of Charles III of Navarre and his sister Isabella of Navarre (Anglés 1970: 329–330); and in 1417, she appears on the list of musicians employed by Alfonso V the Magnanimous "as a reminder of his ancestors from the royal house of Aragon" (Anglés 1961: 90). This itinerant career across various Peninsular and foreign courts illustrates the exchange of musicians among monarchs that became widespread with the establishment of the Trastámara dynasty in Aragon and Navarre (Cañas Gálvez 2009: 365). The other musicians mentioned alongside her in the *dezir* (Martín, Guillén, Pero López, Jaqueta) could belong to the musical circle of Fernando de Antequera (Cañas Gálvez 2022: 198–203).

Links:

• Anglés, Higinio (1961), «La música en la Corte Real de Aragón y de Nápoles durante el reinado de Alfonso V el Magnánimo», Cuadernos de trabajos de la Escuela Española de Arqueología e Historia en Roma, 11, pp. 81-142.
• Anglés, Higinio (1970), Historia de la música medieval en Navarra, Pamplona, Institución Príncipe de Viana.
• Caíño Carballo, Ana (2026), «Mugeres de rueca e fuso: la representación de la mujer como minoría social y cortesana en los versos del Cancionero de Baena», Revista de poética medieval, 40, pp. 201-224.
• Lorenzo Arribas, Josemi (2008), «Una historia poco canónica de la música hispánica hasta 1557», en Compositoras españolas, Madrid, CDMyD, INAEM, pp. 3-43.
• Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1983), Poesía juglaresca y juglares [1942], Madrid, Espasa-Calpe.

Quoted in:  

Cancionero de Baena (Dutton PN1); Dutton, Brian y Joaquín González Cuenca, eds., Cancionero de Juan Alfonso de Baena, Madrid, Visor, 1993. In BDTEA (Biblioteca Digital de Textos del Español Antiguo. Textos Poéticos Españoles).

• ID1243, PN1-103, «Señor Juan Furtado, vuestro encomendado» (BDTEA).

Quoted by:  

• Alfonso Álvarez de Villasandino (ID1243).

 

(Ana Caíño Carballo. CITATION)

   

Rewritings:

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