Cantiga

Cantiga is a term used in Iberian languages to denote a lyric poem set to music, especially from the medieval Galician-Portuguese lyric tradition. The word derives from Latin cantica, meaning "song." In Portuguese and Galician, cantiga denotes various types of songs or lyrics, and the language of many medieval cantigas is Galician-Portuguese.

Cantigas arose in the 12th–13th centuries in the kingdoms of Galicia and Portugal and form the core of medieval Galician-Portuguese lyric poetry. They were preserved in manuscript songbooks associated with courts and religious centers. The best-known collection is Cantigas de Santa Maria, compiled in the 1260s–1280s under King Alfonso X of Castile, written in Galician-Portuguese and praising the Virgin Mary; it also illustrates secular song types. The cantigas reveal a wide range of themes, from love and nature to piety and miracles.

The major genres within the cantiga tradition are cantiga de amigo, cantiga de amor, and cantiga de escárnio e maldizer. Cantiga de amigo presents a female voice lamenting a lover's absence, with characteristic sea imagery. Cantiga de amor features a male speaker expressing longing or idealized devotion. Cantiga de escárnio e maldizer relies on irony, satire, and social critique.

Musically, cantigas were primarily monophonic vocal pieces, transmitted with their text in manuscripts from the 13th–14th centuries; many survive anonymously, though some are attributed to notable poets of the era. Some cantigas were later adapted into polyphonic arrangements in the Renaissance.

Today, cantigas remain a key source for medieval Iberian language, literature, and music, and they continue to influence the cultural memory of Galicia and Portugal.