Bernart de Tot-lo-mon was a

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

and ''

jongleur A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who ...

'', probably active at the court of Count

Henry II of Rodez Henry II (Occitan: ''Enric II de Rodés'') (c. 1236–1304), of the House of Millau, was the Count of Rodez and Viscount of Carlat from 1274 until his death. He was the son of Hugh IV of Rodez and Isabeau de Roquefeuil. Henry II was a troubadour ...

(1274–1304). His nickname means "of all-the-world"; according to

Alfred Jeanroy Alfred Jeanroy (5 July 1859 – 13 March 1953) was a French linguist. Jeanroy was a leading scholar studying troubadour poetry, publishing over 600 works. He established an influential view of the second generation of troubadours divided into ...

, he was probably from

Bruniquel Bruniquel (; Languedocien: ''Borniquèl'') is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Geography The tiny fortified village of 561 inhabitants is at an altitude of by the river Aveyron. The river V ...

in the

Quercy Quercy (; oc, Carcin , locally ) is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue and Au ...

. Three pieces by Bernart have survived. "''Be m'agrada.l temps de pascor''" is a cross between a '' canso d'amors'' and a ''

sirventes The ''sirventes'' or ''serventes'' (), sometimes translated as "service song", was a genre of Old Occitan lyric poetry practiced by the troubadours. The name comes from ''sirvent'' ('serviceman'), from whose perspective the song is allegedly wr ...

''. Its final stanza is a moral condemnation of worldly decadence, but the tone of the whole is unfailingly

courtly Courtesy (from the word ''courteis'', from the 12th century) is gentle politeness and courtly manners. In the Middle Ages in Europe, the behaviour expected of the nobility was compiled in courtesy books. History The apex of European courtly c ...

. The text of this piece is poorly preserved, and the penultimate stanza is almost entirely lost. "''Lo plazers qu'als plazens plai''" is a '' plazer'' (or, according to István Frank, a ''sirventes''). It is dedicated to Count Bernard VI of Comminges (r. 1241–1295) and Count Bernard III of Astarac (r. 1249–1291). "''Mals fregz s'es els rics crois mes''" is another ''sirventes'' with courtly characteristics. Its metre is borrowed from "''Be volgra midons saubes''" by

Arnaut Plagues Arnaut Plagues or Plages (fl. c. 1230–1245) was a troubadour probably from Provence. Only one song of his survives, a ''tenso'' with the trobairitz Felipa, ''Ben volgra midons saub(r)es''. Though this song has also been attributed to Peirol ...

References

Bibliografia Elettronica dei Trovatori, v. 2.0
Retrieved 7 October 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernart de Tot-lo-mon 13th-century French troubadours Musicians from Toulouse