Mossèn Avinyó, the Cancionero de Vindel and the Cançoner llemosí del siglo XV

Abstract

This article illustrates an important while comparably unattended role played by the making of digital databases in our contemporary philological study of medieval poetry. By presenting a case study devoted to the figure of Mossèn Avinyó, a fifteenth-century Catalan nobleman and poet, the authors of this essay exemplify the need for a rigorous perusal of the material evidence that is being archived in digital projects. With paleographical, codicological, and literary evidence, the authors show with great probability that Avinyó himself compiled two manuscripts currently held by the Hispanic Society of America: the Cancionero de Vindel and the Cançoner llemosí del siglo XV. In doing so, the authors also show that these two manuscripts contain the entirety of Avinyó’s lyric production, along with a sampling of the poetry produced by those who traveled in Avinyó’s cultural circles