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ary Catalonian, as distinguished from _pla Catala_, the vulgar tongue, the result was some confusion. Provencal influence was more permanent in Catalonia than in any other part of Spain; in 1393, the Consistorium of the _Gay saber_ was founded in imitation of the similar association at Toulouse. Most of the troubadour poetical forms and the doctrines of the Toulouse _Leys d'Amors_ were retained, until Italian influence began to oust Provencal towards the close of the fifteenth century. On the western side of Spain, Provencal influence evoked a brief and brilliant literature in the Galician or Portuguese school. Its most [124] brilliant period was the age of Alfonso X. of Castile, one of its most illustrious exponents, and that of Denis of Portugal (1280-1325). The dates generally accepted for the duration of this literature are 1200-1385; it has left to us some 2000 lyric poems, the work of more than 150 poets, including four kings and a number of nobles of high rank. French and Provencal culture had made its way gradually and by various routes to the western side of the Spanish peninsula. We have already referred to the pilgrim route to the shrine of Compostella, by which a steady stream of foreign influence entered the country. The same effect was produced by crusaders who came to help the Spaniards in their struggle against the Moors, and by foreign colonists who helped to Christianise the territories conquered from the Mohammedans. The capture of Lisbon in 1147 increased maritime intercourse with the North. Individuals from Portugal also visited Northern and Southern France, after the example of their Spanish neighbours. References to Portugal in the poetry of the troubadours are very scarce, nor is there any definite evidence that any troubadour visited the country. This fact is in striking contrast with the loud praises of the Spanish courts. None the less, such visits must have taken place: Sancho I. had French _jongleurs_ in his pay during [125] the twelfth century and the Portuguese element in the five-language _descort_ of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras shows that communication between Provencal poets and Portuguese or Galician districts must have existed. The general silence of the troubadours may be due to the fact that communication began at a comparatively late period and was maintained between Portugal and Spanish courts, and not directly between Portugal and Southern France. Alfonso X. of Castile h
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