Author Description

Of Kings and Poets is a comparative study of three outstanding fifteenth-century compilations of Spanish courtly poetry: the Cancionero de Baena, the Cancionero de Estúñiga and the Cancionero d'Herberay des Essarts. Each songbook is the product of poetic activity at a different royal court, ruled by a king of the Trastámara dynasty. The three works are viewed in the dynamic political and social context from whence they emerged and to which they owe their distinguishing characteristics. Individual attention is given to the most prominent poets, their work, their standing at the court where they practiced their art, and their relationship to the royal patrons.