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