This article studies and publishes a fragment – presumably the beginning – of a
poetic text whose thematic and formal features can be traced back to the lyrical
genre known as the «chanson de femme». The handwritten fragment, which can
be dated to the late 9th or early 10th century, is found in the margin of an 8th century
manuscript held in the University Library of Würzburg. It is a linguistically
Italian (micro)text that reveals precise points of contact with the later Galician-
Portuguese tradition of the cantigas de amigo, and therefore demonstrates the
existence of an ancient pan-Romance reservoir of popular poetry that was best
conserved over time in the Iberian Peninsula.
