Peire Guilhem de Luserna
Encyclopedia
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
ese 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....
.
Peire's identity as an Italian has been up for debate since the 19th century. "Luserna" more probably refers to Luserna
Luserna
Luserna is a comune in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 25 km southeast of Trento...
in the Piedmont, rich and populous in Peire’s time, a town on the left bank of the Pellice
Pellice
The Pellice is a Italian torrent, which runs through the Province of Turin. It is a tributary of the Po River, into which it flows near Villafranca Piemonte....
lying on the road into the Viennois and Dauphiné
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....
, Occitan-speaking territories. On the other hand, it may be Lusarne (Luserna in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
) in the Leberon valley in Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, on the road between Reillane in the Basses-Alpes and Bastide-des-Jourdans.
Peire was probably at the court of the Este
Este
The House of Este is a European princely dynasty. It is split into two branches; the elder is known as the House of Welf-Este or House of Welf historically rendered in English, Guelf or Guelph...
beginning in 1221, during the reign of Azzo VII, husband of Giovanna, the object of one of Peire's songs. Sometime before arriving at Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
, Peire was probably at the court of Manfred III of Saluzzo
Manfred III of Saluzzo
Manfred III was the third marquess of Saluzzo, from 1215 to his death. He was the son of Boniface of Saluzzo and Maria di Torres of Sassari . Since his father died in 1212, he succeeded his grandfather Manfred II as marquess on the latter's death in 1215. His paternal grandmother Azalaïs or...
. In 1220 Aimeric de Peguilhan
Aimeric de Peguilhan
Aimeric or Aimery de Peguilhan, Peguillan, or Pégulhan was a troubadour , born in Peguilhan the son of a cloth merchant....
, then at the Malaspina court, mentioned him in a poem—Ni un autre tirador / qu’eu no vuoill dir de Luserna—as being among a quintet of Occitan poets at Saluzzo: Peire, Perceval Doria
Perceval Doria
Perceval Doria was a Genoese naval and military leader in the thirteenth century. A Ghibelline, he was a partisan of the Hohenstaufen in Italy and served the Emperor Frederick II and Manfred of Sicily as vicar of Romagna, the March of Ancona, and the Duchy of Spoleto.He was probably a member of...
, Nicoletto da Torino
Nicoletto da Torino
Nicoletto da Torino was a Piedmontese jongleur and troubadour of the first half of the thirteenth century, probably from Turin, though some believe that to be his father's name...
, Chantarel, and Trufarel, all of whom Aimeric despised (and feared as a competition).
During the height of the conflict between the Emperor Frederick II and Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Peire wrote En aquest gai sonet leuger ("In this light, gay song"), dedicated to Giovanna:
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This song can be roughly dated. Frederick was at odds with Milan in 1225–7 and 1230–3, but shortly after 2 March 1226, when the Lombard League
Lombard League
The Lombard League was an alliance formed around 1167, which at its apex included most of the cities of northern Italy , including, among others, Crema, Cremona, Mantua, Piacenza, Bergamo, Brescia, Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Padua, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Treviso, Venice, Vercelli, Vicenza, Verona,...
was renewed is most probable time.
Peire also wrote a defence of Cunizza da Romano
Cunizza da Romano
Cunizza da Romano was an Italian noblewoman, the third daughter of Ezzelino II da Romano and Adelaide di Mangona, and sister to Ezzelino III and Alberico da Romano....
in the form of a 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...
with Uc de Saint Circ
Uc de Saint Circ
Uc de Saint Circ or Hugues de Saint Circq was a troubadour from Quercy. Uc is perhaps most significant to modern historians as the probable author of several vidas and razos of other troubadours, though only one of Bernart de Ventadorn exists under his name...
(Qi na Cuniça guerreia, "Who fights for Lady Cunizza"), a coblas esparsa
Cobla (Occitan literary term)
A cobla is a stanza in Occitan lyric poetry, the art form of the troubadours. Though not usually standalone work in itself, in many instances a cobla or two is all that survives of what was once a complete poem. Each cobla of a song was usually played to the same melody, but a few songs were...
which begins Be.s met en gran aventura ("Well is put to great risk"), a religious canso to the Virgin Mary (Ai, Vergena, en cui ai m'entendenza!, "Ah, Virgin, to whom my thought is turned!"), and a generic love song
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...
No.m fai chantar amors ni drudaria ("Neither love nor gallantry can make me sing").