Romancero

a collection of Spanish folk ballads, either in the form of an individual cycle, for example, the romancero of the Cid, or as an entity, for example, The General Romancero.

The romancero is the highest expression of Spanish folk culture of the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, providing a vivid summary of the heroic history of the Reconquest. It is a source of the drama of the Golden Age, which is linked with Lope de Vega and his school, and later of romanticism. Spanish nationalistic criticism made use of the romancero to demonstrate the exclusive nature of the Spanish nation, but such progressive Spanish scholars as R. Menéndez Pidal rejected this concept. By analogy with the early romancero, collections of more recent ballads have appeared, such as The Romancero of The Civil War. Collections by individual authors have appeared as well, for example, the romancero of L. de Góngora y Argote. Romanceros have also originated in Latin America, Catalonia, and Portugal.