Peirol
Encyclopedia
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1188–1222/1225, death in the 1220s) was an Auvergnat 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....
who wrote mostly canso
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...
s of courtly love
Courtly love
Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....
in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Thirty-four surviving poems written in Occitan have been attributed to him; of these, seventeen (sixteen of them love songs) have surviving melodies. He is sometimes called Peirol d'Auvergne or Peiròl d'Auvèrnha, and erroneously Pierol.
Biography
Not much is known of his life, and any attempt to establish his biography from a reading of his poems is soundly rejected by the most recent scholarship.Peirol's birth is commonly estimated around 1160.The common 1160 http://www.auvergne.fr/culture/ecrivains-et-penseurs.htmlhttp://www.musiklexikon.net/komponisten/k.php?id=35[]http://swan.mls.lib.il.us:90/kids/0/search/a?Peirol%2C+ca.+1160-ca.+1221&search_code=ahttp://bibliographienationale.bnf.fr/dsam/cua_06.h/IndexAuteurPhysique-107.htmlhttp://www.jubilatores.com/cdmusic1.htmlhttp://www.abeillemusique.com/produit.php?cle=15747 is possibly inferred from his being established active starting around 1188. He may have hailed from — and been named after — the village of Pérols
Pérols
Pérols is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.-References:*Based on the French Wikipedia....
in Prondines
Prondines
Prondines is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.-References:*...
, Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme is a department in the centre of France named after the famous dormant volcano, the Puy-de-Dôme.Inhabitants were called Puydedomois until December 2005...
, "at the foot of" (al pe de) the castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
of Rochefort-Montagne
Rochefort-Montagne
Rochefort-Montagne is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.-References:*...
(Rocafort). Another candidate for his birth town is Pérol in modern Riom-es-Montagnes
Riom-ès-Montagnes
Riom-ès-Montagnes is a commune in the Cantal department in south-central France.-Population:-References:*...
. His homeland was thus en la contrada del Dalfin: in the county of the Dauphin of Auvergne
Dauphin of Auvergne
Dauphin d'Auvergne, or in Occitan Dalfi d'Alvernha was Count of Clermont and Montferrand , troubadour and patron of troubadours. He was born c. 1150 and died in 1234 or 1235...
.
Peirol was originally a poor knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
, described as "courtly and handsome" by the author of his late thirteenth-century vida
Vida (Occitan literary form)
Vida is the usual term for a brief prose biography, written in Old Occitan, of a troubadour or trobairitz.The word vida means "life" in Occitan languages. In the chansonniers, the manuscript collections of medieval troubadour poetry, the works of a particular author are often accompanied by a...
(biography). He served at the court of Dalfi d'Alvernha, but was in love with his sister Salh (or Sail) de Claustra (which means "fled from the cloister"), the wife of Béraut III de Mercœur, and wrote many songs for this "domna" (lady). While Dalfi had brought his sister to his court for Peirol and had helped Peirol cater to her tastes in his compositions, eventually Dalfi grew jealous of the attention his sister gave Peirol and, in part because of the impropriety, had to dismiss Peirol, who could not support himself as a man-at-arms. His biographer indicates, Peirols no se poc mantener per cavallier e venc joglars, et anet per cortz e receup dels barons e draps e deniers e cavals. That is: Peirol being unable to maintain himself as a knight became a jongleur, and travelled from court to court, receiving from barons clothing, money, and horses.
Peirol is known to have been a fiddler
Viol
The viol is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed musical instruments developed in the mid-late 15th century and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The family is related to and descends primarily from the Renaissance vihuela, a plucked instrument that preceded the...
and singer from a reference in a tornada
Tornada (Occitan literary term)
In Occitan lyric poetry, a tornada refers to a final, shorter stanza which is addressed to a patron, lady, or friend. They often contain useful information about the piece's composition and the troubadour's circle....
of 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...
. After returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem sometime in or after 1222, Peirol may have died in Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
in the 1220s.
Courtly love
Peirol's works are simple and metaphysical; based on familiar concepts of courtliness, they lack originality. They are most characteristic in their abstractness and lack of concrete nouns; the adjectives are rarely sensory (related to sight, touch, etc.) and there are no extended references to nature as found in many troubadours. The purpose behind his writing was probably economical and chivalric — for reputation, prestige, and honour — rather than emotional or sentimental; his writing is intellectual and formulaic. Among the personal statements in his works, he expresses a preference for the vers over the chansoneta. Among his love songs can be distinguished the light-hearted "gay songs", which sometimes at least had equally gay melodies, and the more "serious songs", which were "theoretical discussions of love". He wrote in the trobar leuTrobar leu
The trobar leu , or light style of poetry, was the most popular style used by the troubadours. Its accessibility gave it a wide audience, though modern readers may find its somewhat formulaic nature tiresome after a while....
(light poetry) tradition.
To Peirol, the "crafty lover" can "circumvent the foolish watchfulness of the jealous husband." Peirol gave up a nobler woman for a lesser "that I love in joy and peace and am loved in return." Peirol also waded into the discussion concerning whether it was permissible to love in a pure, elevated form at the same time as one sought low, physical love.
One of Peirol's works, "Mainta gens mi malrazona", survives with a melody to which a piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
accompaniment was written as "Manta gens me mal razona" by E. Bohm. Among his surviving melodies, Théodore Gérold has ascertained a discord between music and lyric, and although Switten denies this, she admits that they are generally melancholic and not expressive of the mood of the lyrics (if one is conveyed). Both agree, however, that his melodies are simpler than those of contemporary troubadours Folquet de Marselha
Folquet de Marselha
Folquet de Marselha, alternatively Folquet de Marseille, Foulques de Toulouse, Fulk of Toulouse came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille...
and Peire Vidal
Peire Vidal
Peire Vidal was a troubadour. According to his biography, he was born in Toulouse, the son of a furrier, and the greatest of singers....
. They are usually written in either the Dorian
Dorian mode
Due to historical confusion, Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different musical modes or diatonic scales, the Greek, the medieval, and the modern.- Greek Dorian mode :...
or Mixolydian modes and "cannot be rejected as tiresome pedantries [...] yet possessed of an intrinsic harmony, a singularity of purpose, a unanimity of conception and intent that may properly be termed artistic."
A trouvère
Trouvère
Trouvère , sometimes spelled trouveur , is the Northern French form of the word trobador . It refers to poet-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the troubadours but who composed their works in the northern dialects of France...
, Guiot de Dijon
Guiot de Dijon
Guiot de Dijon was a Burgundian trouvère. The seventeen chansons ascribed to him are found in two chansonniers: the Chansonnier du Roi and the less reliable Berne Chansonnier...
, writing in Old French
Old French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
, probably modelled his song Chanter m'estuet, coment que me destraigne after Peirol's love song Si be.m sui loing et entre gent estraigna.
Peirol also tried his hand at the art of the sirventes
Sirventes
The sirventes or serventes is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry used by the troubadours. In early Catalan it became a sirventesch and was imported into that language in the fourteenth century, where it developed into a unique didactic/moralistic type...
with the "Ren no val hom joves que no.s perjura", which was widely copied. This poem, which has stark and vivid imagery and even a prosaic reference to merchants, is so unusual for Peirol that its authenticiy has been placed in doubt.
Crusading songs
Peirol supported the Third CrusadeThird Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
(1189–1192) and wrote 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...
, "Quant amors trobet partit" (When Love discovered that my heart / Had parted from his concerns), encouraging the kings of Europe to make peace and send aid to "the noble and valiant marquess" Conrad of Montferrat
Conrad of Montferrat
Conrad of Montferrat was a northern Italian nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the de facto King of Jerusalem, by marriage, from 24 November 1190, but officially elected only in 1192, days before his death...
, then King of Jerusalem. Though Peirol expresses a desire to accompany his lord, Dalfi d'Alvernha, on the Crusade, he is ultimately convinced by Love not to abandon his lady (domna) by pointing out that "never by your intervention will the Turk and Arab yield up the Tower of David" and giving the counsel: "love and sing often."
It appears that Peirol never did go on the Third Crusade, but he eventually pilgrimaged to Jerusalem in 1221 and may have witnessed the surrender of Damietta
Damietta
Damietta , also known as Damiata, or Domyat, is a port and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the intersection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile, about north of Cairo.-History:...
. He placed some of the blame on the Emperor Frederick II in a crusading song — his last poem — entitled "Pus flum Jordan ai vist e.l monimen". He even went so far as to mock the imperial eagle
Double-headed eagle
The double-headed eagle is a common symbol in heraldry and vexillology. It is most commonly associated with the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. In Byzantine heraldry, the heads represent the dual sovereignty of the Emperor and/or dominance of the Byzantine Emperors over both East and...
(vostr'aigla, qu'en gitet us voutors) and praise the victorious Sultan of Egypt
Sultan of Egypt
Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid Dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally included Sham and Hejaz, with the consequence that the...
(Anta y avetz e.l Soudan onramen).
"M'entencio ai tot'en un vers mesa", one of Peirol's cansos and not one of his crusading songs, was used twice around the time of the Eighth Crusade
Eighth Crusade
The Eighth Crusade was a crusade launched by Louis IX, King of France, in 1270. The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the Fifth and Sixth Crusades of Frederick II are counted as a single crusade...
(1270) as the basis for a contrafactum
Contrafactum
In vocal music, contrafactum refers to "the substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music"....
in support of the Crusades. First, Ricaut Bonomel
Ricaut Bonomel
Ricaut Bonomel was a Knight Templar and troubadour in the Holy Land around the time of the Eighth Crusade. He was an outspoken critic of Charles I of Naples and his attempts to secure a throne in Italy, and of the Papal policy which diverted funds intended for the Holy Land to other purposes...
, a Palestinian
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, wrote a scathing analysis of the future of Christianity in the Holy Land, and a few years after that, Austorc d'Aurillac, composed a sirventes
Sirventes
The sirventes or serventes is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry used by the troubadours. In early Catalan it became a sirventesch and was imported into that language in the fourteenth century, where it developed into a unique didactic/moralistic type...
encouraging conversion to Islam. Both later poems were exercises in reverse psychology
Reverse psychology
Reverse psychology is a technique involving the advocacy of a belief or behavior that is opposite to the one desired, with the expectation that this approach will encourage the subject of the persuasion to do what actually is desired: the opposite of what is suggested...
and attempts to spur further Crusades.
Modern recordings
Several dozens albums exist featuring at least one recording of a Peirol song. Below are some recordings, alphabetically by poem name. (If you have enabled JavaScriptJavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
, you can reorder the table by clicking any column heading.)
| Poem | Recorded by | Album | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Ab gran joi mou maintas vetz e comenssa" (as "Ab joi") |
Graziella Benini, Walter Benvenuti |
Troubadours, Vol. 3 + Courts, Kings, & Troubadours |
1979? Troubadours, Vol. 3 at Medieval.org |
| "D'eissa la razon qu'ieu suoill" (as "D'elsa la razon") |
I Ciarlatani | Codex Manesse | 1996 |
| "D'un sonet vau pensan" | Graziella Benini, Walter Benvenuti |
Troubadours, Vol. 3 + Courts, Kings, & Troubadours |
1979? |
| "Mainta gens mi malrazona" (as "Mainta jen me mal razona") |
C. Carbi, R. Monterosso |
Trouvères & Laudes | 1955? |
| "Mainta gens mi malrazona" (as "Manhta gens mi malrazona") |
Gérard Zuchetto, et al. | Terre de Troubadours (Land of Troubadours) |
1998 |
| "Mainta gens mi malrazona" (as "Manhtas gens") |
Troubadours Art Ensemble | Troubadours Art Ensemble - Vol. 2 | 2001 Troubadours Art Ensemble - Volume 2 at Medieval.org |
| "M'entencion ai tot' en un vers mesa" (as "M'entensio") |
Ensemble Jehan de Channey | Trouvères et Troubadours | 1994 |
| "Per dan que d'amor mi veigna" (as "Per dan") |
Graziella Benini, Walter Benvenuti |
Troubadours, Vol. 3 + Courts, Kings, & Troubadours |
1979? |
| "Per dan que d'amor mi veigna" (as "Per dam que d'amor") |
Troubadours Art Ensemble | Troubadours Art Ensemble - Vol. 2 | 2001 |
| "Quant Amors trobet partit" (as "Quant Amors trobèt partit") |
Clemencic Consort | Troubadours | 1977 |
| "Quant Amors trobet partit" | Graziella Benini, Walter Benvenuti |
Troubadours, Vol. 3 + Courts, Kings, & Troubadours |
1979? |
| "Quant Amors trobet partit" | Estampie Estampie (band) Estampie is a German music group, founded in 1985 by Sigrid Hausen , Michael Popp and Ernst Schwindl. The band plays primarily medieval music, with some modern influences from world and minimalist music.-Members:... |
Crusaders in Nomine Domini | 1996 |