The cantiga is a vocal work made up of 'words' (lines)" and 'sound' (music). Its theme can either be profane or religious. The Cantigas de Santa Maria, compiled in the Court of Alfonso X, King of León and Castile (1252-84), fall into the latter category; of the former, there are about 1680 texts composed between the end of the 12th Century and the middle of the 14th, known through the Cancioneiro da Ajuda, the Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional or Colocci-Brancuti and the Cancioneiro da Vaticana. In these cancioneiros there are about five hundred cantigas d'amigo texts. The amigo is the one with whom the maiden (moça) falls passionately in love. This love, in which the mother (madre) and the young damsel's intimate friends (irmanas) are accomplices, constitutes the main theme of the poem. Amigo, ũa moça (or equivalents), madre and irmana are key words, which when used in the first lines of a text indicate to the listener that they belong to t...