How Poets Match Wits Through Trovos

Explore how troubadours matched wits and proved their prowess in front of audiences beginning in medieval Spain and Portugal. Through trovos, contests of poetry and song, professional poets debated the fine points of theology and other topics. The ability to improvise verse was highly honored. Now trovos belong to the people. Trovos passed through the Canary Islands to the Americas and are also popular in parts of Mexico, the Caribbean, and other countries. Those encounters are televised and poets win prizes. 
 
In New Mexico, poets entertained groups traveling north and south on El Camino Real and to California on the Old Spanish Trail. Legendary encounters between famous poets were remembered and written down to share back at home. The state’s two most famous poets were El Viejo Vilmas (old man Vilmas) and Chicoria (a nickname from chicory, a coffee substitute). Others were El Negrito Poeta (the little black poet), El Zurdo (lefty), El Pelón (baldy), and Cienfuegos (one hundred fires, a place name).