Mendinho

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mendinho was a medieval Galician troubadour from the 13th century. There is little known about him, he probably lived in Redondela, Vigo Bay or San Simón island.

We have only one poem from this poet (which starts as Sedia-m’ eu na ermida de San Simión...), but this is considered a perfect work of art. It fits into the genre of cantiga de amigo, and like the poems of a fellow poet, Pai Gomez Charinho, this poem resorts to the metaphor of the sea to depict the aloneness, despair and grief of the lady waiting for her lover. For a moving account of the poem, with music composed by Alain Oulman, try and listen to the recording by Amalia Rodrigues.

Día das Letras Galegas (Galician Letters Day) was dedicated to him, together with Martín Codax and Xohán de Cangas in 1998.