Cancionero general facts for kids
The Cancionero general is a very old and important book. It's like a huge collection of poems and songs from a long time ago. This book was put together around the end of the Middle Ages and the start of the Renaissance. It mainly contains poems from the kingdoms of Castile and León in Spain.
The collection includes works written during the time of King Enrique IV and the famous Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabel de Castilla and King Fernando de Aragon. Hernando del Castillo was the person who gathered all these poems. He started working on it around 1490. The book was first printed in 1511 and was called Cancionero general de muchos y diversos autores, which means "General Songbook of many and diverse authors."
How the Book is Organized
The Cancionero general is divided into nine main parts. Each part has poems and songs about a different topic. This helps readers find the types of poems they are interested in.
- Poems about faith and good behavior
- Works by different poets
- Songs
- Poems for knightly games and challenges
- Short riddles and their explanations
- Popular folk songs (villancicos)
- Questions and answers in poem form
- Smaller, miscellaneous works
- Funny poems and jokes
Different Printings of the Book
The first edition of the Cancionero General was printed in Valencia in 1511 by a printer named Cristóbal Koffman. This book was very popular, so it was printed many times over the years.
Here are some of the places and years it was printed:
- Valencia, 1511, by Cristóbal Koffman.
- Valencia, 1514, by Jorge Costilla.
- Toledo, in 1517, 1520, and 1527, by Juan de Villaquirán.
- Seville, in 1535 and 1540, by Juan Cromberger.
- Antwerp, in 1557 and 1573, by Martín Nucio.
Sometimes, later editions of the book had some parts removed. This happened especially with the section that contained "burlas," which were funny or mocking poems. These parts were taken out because they were considered inappropriate by some people at the time.
See also
In Spanish: Cancionero general para niños
