¿ Qué pide María de Padilla, qué pide por aguinaldo? La cabeza del Maestro, del rey don Pedro su hermano. 1

These verses, sung today as part of a canto aguinaldero in the Spanish provinces of Segovia and Zamora, belong to an oral tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. The lines refer to the years of political turmoil and bloodshed that marked the reign of Pedro I, King of Castile. The question and answer they present recollect the bitter hatred between the Castilian monarch and his illegitimate half brothers, the Trastámaras. Invoking the name of the King's mistress, María de Padilla, they also recall the strained relations between Pedro and his wife, doña Blanca de Borbón. Clearly, the context within which the present-day canto aguinaldero is sung differs radically from that of the fourteenth-century romance it brings to mind. 2 Yet the fact that the verses continue to detail the mistress's savage demand for the head of the King's half brother indicates that the Spanish Romancero is a vital tradition capable of at once supporting the poetic and ideological legacy of the Middle Ages and the preoccupations of contemporary life. 3