This website combines the study of the Galician-Portuguese lyrical tradition with digital geolocation tools to create an interactive space where users can explore the places mentioned in the corpus of those known in academic fields as cantigas de romaría or cantigas de santuario .
The platform uses the ARcGIS system to georeference the toponyms converted into a meaningful framework of the pieces that make up the corpus and, in addition, provides detailed maps linked to visual and textual content. The resource therefore includes an interactive mapping system that not only allows you to visualize the places of the pilgrimages, but also to read the texts through the edition selected in the MedDB database and expand information about the authors and the churches and hermitages themselves.
The location of the sacred places mentioned in the texts and their photographs aim to bring those interested in medieval literature closer to the real spaces of that 'sanctuary poetry', with the intention of them visiting them and observing the significance of sites that enjoyed collective recognition and that, over time, in some cases they lost it (in others, they preserved it through the centuries) to be identified only at a local level and to fall, on occasion, into oblivion and neglect.
Cantigasderomaria.org was created within the CIRPH Lírica Galego-Portuguesa project to be, above all, a teaching tool that promotes the learning of troubadour lyrics from complementary study perspectives, since it converges geography, art, religious history and digital humanities. In addition, it also aspires to preserve and disseminate the cultural heritage (material and immaterial) of Galicia, by allowing both specialists and the general public to participate in the enjoyment of the selected cantigas in a way that would be difficult to achieve through traditional means.
Thus, the main objective of this website is to increase accessibility to a literary corpus characterized by unique features, which encourage a greater appreciation of the cultural dynamics in force in the west of the Iberian Peninsula during the 13th and 14th centuries. By including multilingual resources - in Galician, Spanish and English - and providing a visual and geographical context, the site seeks to give visibility to pilgrimage songs to take them out of classrooms and bring them to a wider audience than usual. Ultimately, cantigasderomaria.org wishes to be an open and constantly moving platform to spread and value the study of Galician-Portuguese poetry.
structure
Cantigasderomaria.org is built on WordPress. The site is hosted on Lucus Host and offers a structure made up of several blocks, each with specific content:
• Introduction : Provides an overview of the purpose and scope of the website.
• About the corpus : Collects basic information that introduces users to the study of texts and authors, in order to appreciate the relevance of the texts and their association with specific places.
• Texts and manuscripts : It offers information on the compilation of the corpus of sanctuary cantigas and provides a table that includes the names of the authors, the incipits of their compositions and the number of them both in manuscripts B and V and in the database of medieval Galician-Portuguese poetry, MedDB .
• Authors and sanctuaries : This section, in addition to providing the list of authors' names and links to their texts and biographies (with little reliable data, in most cases), contains interactive maps generated using ArcGIS and georeferencing the toponyms of the corpus. It is made up of 312 images, linked to the chapels, hermitages or churches cited by each author. The images of the sanctuaries are photographs taken specifically for this project and are under a free license with attribution (CC). The identification of the places present in some compositions is associated with the difficulty of homonymy, which, to a large extent, is linked to scoundrels who have left no trace in the documentary sources and which, therefore, cannot be related to specific spaces. In these cases, the website includes the degree of certainty in the proposed location according to the following numerical scale: 1 = high; 2 = medium-high; 3 = medium; 4 = low. Whenever possible, a brief information sheet is provided on the sanctuary proposed as the most likely, although it was not considered necessary to extend this information to the Cathedral of Santiago.
• Bibliography : The website presents a reference bibliography for anyone who wants to deepen their knowledge of pilgrimage songs.
Integration with MedDB3
Cantigasderomaria.org is connected to the MedDB Database of Galician-Portuguese Profane Poetry ( www.cirp.gal/meddb ), an electronic resource that makes available to researchers and the public interested in medieval poetry the complete corpus of Galician-Portuguese cantigas and that, in addition, provides selected and structured information that guarantees the effectiveness of searches, both for compositions and for historical-biographical data of troubadours and xograres. MedDB also allows direct access to images of the manuscripts that transmitted each composition.
The link of this site with MedDB therefore allows users to explore authors, places and texts to achieve a better understanding of the historical-cultural context of the religious spaces presented on the platform. This link increases the academic value by uniting literary sources and additional research data that are updated periodically.
Content management and updates
The website is managed by Juan Escourido, who is responsible for overseeing updates and the addition of new materials. For any queries, please write to administrador@cantigasderomaria.org