Cancionero de Palacio presents a sampling of the contents of a Spanish songbook from the year 1496, during the reign of Queen Isabella of Spain. Among U.S. schoolchildren she is best known for having sponsored the voyages of Christopher Columbus, but beyond that she ruled over a fascinating society in transition between Islam and Christianity (the final defeat of the Moors, like Columbus' first voyage, occurred in 1492) and between Middle Ages and Renaissance. The songs here offer a window on Spanish society around 1500 through a variety of pieces by
Juan del Encina and other composers, some of them anonymous. Other ensembles have recorded this material, but the
Capella de Ministrers, a Valencian group, is the first to focus directly upon this particular manuscript.