How did cantigas de amor differ from cantigas de amigo?

In the context of medieval Galician-Portuguese poetry, cantigas de amor and cantigas de amigo are distinguished primarily by the gender of the speaker and the perspective of the narrative.12

• Cantigas de amor (“songs of love”): These poems are written from a male perspective. The speaker is a pining lover who addresses his beloved, often focusing on the internal struggles and predicaments of love.12
• Cantigas de amigo (“songs of the lover”): These are written by a male poet but adopt a female voice. They are characterized as laments in which a woman expresses her grief, longing, or sadness regarding a lover. These poems frequently feature descriptions of nature and are deeply permeated with saudade, a profound sense of melancholy that is a hallmark of Portuguese literature.12

While both forms were central to the courtly lyric tradition preserved in early cancioneiros, the cantigas de amigo are more closely rooted in indigenous popular oral traditions, whereas the cantigas de amor were more heavily influenced by the sophisticated style of Provençal troubadours.12