Bernal de Bonaval

• Name — Bernal(do) de Bonaval(le) • Birthplace — Santiago de Compostela • Place of death — Unknown • Other Names — Bernardo (de) Bonaval • Occupation — Troubadour • Years Active — 13th century • Notable Works — "A dona que eu amo"

Little is known for certain about Bernal's background, life, or career. Sources say that he was a native of Santiago de Compostela, which is in the modern Galicia (Spain). He mentions a place called "Bonaval" in several of his poems. It has been suggested that he was born outside the mediaeval city walls of Santiago, because "de Bonaval" may refer to the Convent of San Domingos de Bonaval, which is outside those walls. It has also been suggested that "Bernal de Bonaval" and (in Latin) "Frater Bernardus, prior Bone Uallis" ("Brother Bernardus, prior of Bone Uallis") may have been one and the same. If that suggestion is correct, then Bernal may have been a friar in the Dominican Order, and "de Bonaval" may refer to the convent rather than to his birthplace. He was active in the 13th century. Some sources suggest that he may have been born in the 12th century. He was known at the courts of Fernando III and Alfonso X (kings of Galicia 1231-1252 and 1252-1284 respectively). A poem of 1266 by King Alfonso X directed at the troubadour Pero da Ponte mentions Bernal: "Vós nom trobades come proençal, / mais come Bernaldo de Bonaval; / por ende nom é trobar natural / pois que o del e do dem'aprendestes" ("You do not compose like a Provençal / but like Bernaldo de Bonaval / and therefore your poetry-making is not natural / for you learned it from him and from the [D]evil"). Bernal was also mentioned in verse by the troubadours Airas Peres Vuitoron, João Baveca and Pedro (Pero) da Ponte. It has been suggested in recent times by one author that Bernal may have had a reputation as a passive homosexual, and may have been the same man as the one nicknamed "Bernal Fundado" (i.e. "Bernal the Split").

He is one of the earliest known xograres or segreis (Galician troubadours). Nineteen of his works have survived: ten cantigas de amor (on the theme of courtly love), eight cantigas de amigo, and one tensón. He introduced popular motifs and realistic features into what had been a scholastic form of poetry. He has been called "Villonesque", even though François Villon lived two centuries later. His songs have been preserved in the Cancioneiro da Vaticana (CV 660) and the Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional (CBN 1003).