Bernat de Palaol
Encyclopedia
Bernat de Palaol or de Mallorques (bərˈnad də pəɫəˈɔɫ) (fl.
1386) was a Catalan
troubadour
and merchant
from Majorca. He was sometimes called lo mercader mallorquí (the Majorcan merchant).
On 3 May 1386 Bernat participated publicly in a partimen
(poetical debate) with Jacme Rovira
before the judges Germà de Gontaut
and Ramon Galbarra at the Consistori del Gay Saber
in Toulouse
. The subject of the debate was this: there was a young lord who loved a young lady who did not return the love, yet there was another young lady, of equal worth, who loved him deeply but to whom he was unattracted; to which of these should he devote his service? Bernat defended the second lady, but the judges found in favour of Jacme and the first lady: the lord, they said, ought to devote himself to the one he truly loves, not the one who truly loves him.
Bernat produced only one surviving work, a combination of maldit and comiat that began Cercatz d'uymay, ja.n siatz belha y pros. In the tradition of those genres, Bernat describes his lady as unjust and indiscrete and renounces her. The terms he uses make it clear that he has not praised this woman in any previous poem. This poem, despite its generic rhyme scheme
and metre, was moderately popular: it was cited by Francesc Ferrer and Francesc de la Via in the next century and its melody was adopted for a certain song of the Misteri d'Elx.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1386) was a Catalan
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
troubadour
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....
and merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
from Majorca. He was sometimes called lo mercader mallorquí (the Majorcan merchant).
On 3 May 1386 Bernat participated publicly in a partimen
Partimen
The partimen is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry composed between two troubadours, a subgenre of the tenso or cobla exchange in which one poet presents a dilemma in the form of a question and the two debate the answer, each taking up a different side. It was especially popular in poetic contests....
(poetical debate) with Jacme Rovira
Jacme Rovira
Jacme Rovira was a Catalan poet who wrote in Occitan and competed within the Consistori del Gay Saber.On 3 May 1386 Jacme participated in a partimen with Bernat de Palaol before the judges Ramon Galbarra and Germà de Gontaut...
before the judges Germà de Gontaut
Germà de Gontaut
Germà de Gontaut was an Occitan poet and merchant.Germà is mentioned as a mercadier in the prologue to the final version of the Leys d'amor of Joan de Castellnou...
and Ramon Galbarra at the Consistori del Gay Saber
Consistori del Gay Saber
The Consistori del Gay Saber , commonly called the Consistori de Tolosa today, was a poetic academy founded at Toulouse in 1323 to revive and perpetuate the lyric school of the troubadours.-Foundation:...
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...
. The subject of the debate was this: there was a young lord who loved a young lady who did not return the love, yet there was another young lady, of equal worth, who loved him deeply but to whom he was unattracted; to which of these should he devote his service? Bernat defended the second lady, but the judges found in favour of Jacme and the first lady: the lord, they said, ought to devote himself to the one he truly loves, not the one who truly loves him.
Bernat produced only one surviving work, a combination of maldit and comiat that began Cercatz d'uymay, ja.n siatz belha y pros. In the tradition of those genres, Bernat describes his lady as unjust and indiscrete and renounces her. The terms he uses make it clear that he has not praised this woman in any previous poem. This poem, despite its generic rhyme scheme
Rhyme scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyme between lines of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme. In other words, it is the pattern of end rhymes or lines...
and metre, was moderately popular: it was cited by Francesc Ferrer and Francesc de la Via in the next century and its melody was adopted for a certain song of the Misteri d'Elx.
External links
- Incipitario di Bernat de Palaol with links to edited versions of his poetry