The Lenda de Gaia (Legend of Gaia) is a medieval Portuguese legend recorded in two manuscripts, the Livro Velho (1286/1290) and the Livro de Linhagens do Conde Dom Pedro (1340/1383), both of which are collections of aristocratic genealogies embellished with a mix of history and legend. The Lenda de Gaia concerns the tenth-century king Ramiro II of León and the origins of the Maia family. The main events take place in Gaia at the mouth of the river Douro.[1]
The Lenda de Gaia is generally seen as part of a literary tradition common to the Iberian peninsula, France and Germany inspired by the Biblical story of the marriage King Solomon and the pharaoh's daughter. It has many tropes common to folk tales, including the adulterous wife who hides her husband to meet her lover, the king who goes undercover as a beggar and the summoning of help by means of a hunting horn. Although it is not overtly political, it sends the clear message that illicit interfaith sexual liaisons have disastrous consequences. Like similar legends in Castilian and Aragonese literature, the deaths of the illicit lovers result in a positive military outcome for the Christians.[1]
- ^ a b Barton (2015), pp. 115–18.