Aimeric de Peguilhan
Encyclopedia
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
(fl.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1190–1221), born in Peguilhan
Péguilhan
Péguilhan is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France in the historical region of Gascony.Péguilhan has far-reaching views towards the Pyrenees. Péguilhan is surrounded by woodland and wide open countryside, a mixture of arable and livestock farming...
(near Saint-Gaudens) the son of a cloth merchant.
Aimeric's first patron was Raimon V of Toulouse, followed by his son Raimon VI. However, he fled the region at the threat of the Albigensian Crusade
Albigensian Crusade
The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc...
and spent some time in Spain and ten years in Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
. It is said that he had secretly loved a neighbour while living in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, and that it was for her that he returned.
Aimeric is known to have composed at least fifty works, the music for six of which survives:
- Atressi•m pren com fai al jogador
- Cel que s'irais ni guerrej' ab amor
- En Amor trop alques en que•m refraing
- En greu pantais m'a tengut longamen
- Per solatz d'autrui chan soven
- Qui la vi, en ditz
Most of his works were bland cansos
Canso (song)
The canso is a song style used by the troubadours. It consists of three parts. The first stanza is the exordium, where the composer explains his purpose. The main body of the song occurs in the following stanzas, and usually draw out a variety of relationships with the exordium. The canso can end...
with a few tenso
Tenso
A tenso is a style of Occitan song favoured by the troubadours. It takes the form of a debate in which each voice defends a position on a topic relating to love or ethics. Closely related genres include the partimen and the cobla exchange...
s (with Sordello
Sordello
Sordello da Goito or Sordel de Goit was a 13th-century Lombard troubadour, born in the municipality of Goito in the province of Mantua...
and Albertet de Sestaro
Albertet de Sestaro
Albertet de Sestaró, Sestairó, Sestairon, Sestarron, Sisteron, or Terascon was a Provençal jongleur and troubadour from the Gapençais . Of his total oeuvre, twenty three poems survive. "Albertet" or "Albertetz" is the Occitan diminutive of Albert...
).
Sources
- Gaunt, Simon, and Kay, Sarah (edd.) The Troubadours: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-521-57473-0.