Additionally, with respect to the topic of origins, one of the aspects addressed by Lapa was that of popular poetry, which he sought to define, having set aside interpretations that advocated collective anonymity: “popular poetry in the Middle Ages (…) has an individual, literary or, say, semi-literary origin” (Lapa, Origens da poesia lírica… [Origins of lyric poetry…], 1930, 202).

This does not mean that he failed to acknowledge the existence of a popular lyric poetry prior to the emergence of troubadour poetry, possibly visible indirectly in the latter by means of parallel verses and certain archaic language features. But from the outset Lapa refuted the view termed by Carolina Michaëlis as “the spontaneous creation of the home heathlands and mountains” (apud Origens da poesia lírica…, 1930, 197), that had influenced a line of notable scholars from Teófilo Braga to António José Saraiva. Several chapters of his doctoral thesis were re-published in the Miscelânea de Estudos de Língua e Literatura Portuguesa Medieval [Miscellanea of Studies on Portuguese Medieval Language and Literature], where the issue of the origins of Galician-Portuguese lyric is still addressed. In an article published in 1955, Lapa wrote:  “None of the advanced theories can fully explain it [troubadour lyric poetry]; and each one of them per se contributes to enlighten some of its particularities”, he argued that troubadour art was born first from competition and then collaboration between the popular (or folkloric) and the learned (or ecclesiastical) components (Lições de literatura portuguesa, 1981, 50-51).

Against the backdrop of his interest in Portuguese, Galician, and Brazilian literary culture, it was in Portuguese literature, particularly the literature of the Middle Ages, that his reflections gained major relevance.  Lições de Literatura Medieval [Lessons of Medieval Literature] (1933) and the annotated edition of Cantigas d'escarnho e de mal dizer e dos cancioneiros medievais galego-portugueses [Mocking and Slanderous Songs and of the medieval Galician-Portuguese Songbooks] (1st ed., 1965; 2nd ed., 1970). A third revised edition of the Cancioneiro was announced but was not published although some of the revisions can be found in documents from Lapa’s collection, part of which is in Centro Cultural da Anadia [Cultural Centre of Anadia]; another part in Fundación Penzol (Vigo, Galiza), linked to Editorial Galaxia [Galaxia Publishers] which houses books from his personal library and several boxes containing correspondence.

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