The Cançoneret de Ripoll (, la, Carmina Riulpullensa), now manuscript 129 of

Ripoll Ripoll () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Ripollès, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on confluence of the Ter River and its tributary Freser, next to the Pyrenees near the French border. The population was 11,05 ...

in the

Arxiu de la Corona d'Aragó The General Archive of the Crown of Aragon (Catalan: ''Arxiu General de la Corona d'Aragó''), originally Royal Archives of Barcelona (Catalan: ''Arxiu Reial de Barcelona''), is an archive containing the background documents of the institutions ...

, is a short

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...

chansonnier A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings o ...

produced in the mid-fourteenth century but after 1346, when

Peter IV of Aragon Peter IV, ; an, Pero, ; es, Pedro, . In Catalan, he may also be nicknamed ''el del punyalet'': "he of the little dagger". (Catalan: ''Pere IV''; 5 September 1319 – 6 January 1387), called the Ceremonious (Catalan: ''el Cerimoniós''), w ...

held a poetry competition which is mentioned in the chansonnier.This dating, from

Martín de Riquer Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

(1964), ''Història de la Literatura Catalana'', vol. 1 (Barcelona: Ariel), 509 and n3, has been disputed, Lola Badia placing it as early as the 1320s. Influenced by

Cerverí de Girona Cerverí de Girona (; fl. 1259 – 1285) was a Catalan troubadour born Guillem de Cervera in Girona. He was the most prolific troubadour, leaving behind some 114 lyric poems among other works, including an ''ensenhamen'' of proverbs for his s ...

, the chansonnier and its ideology serve as transition in the history of

Catalan literature Catalan literature is the name conventionally used to refer to literature written in the Catalan language. The focus of this article is not just the literature of Catalonia, but literature written in Catalan from anywhere, so that it includes writ ...

between the dominance of the

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 ...

s and the new developments of

Ausiàs March Ausiàs March (Catalan and ; 1400March 3, 1459) was a medieval Valencian poet and knight from Gandia, Valencia. He is considered one of the most important poets of the "Golden Century" (''Segle d'or'') of Catalan/Valencian literature. Biography ...

. The provenance of the manuscript has been debated. Arguments in favour of an origin with the monastic community of Ripoll, where the manuscript is first recorded in the library before heading to the archives in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, include the use of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

headings to introduce some of the poems and the abundance of authors of clerical background cited. On the other hand, an aristocratic or "courtly" provenance has been taught, notably by

, on the basis of the references to

Peter, Count of Ribagorza Peter of Aragon ( ca, Pere d'Aragó, es, Pedro de Aragón; 1305 – 4 November 1381) was an ''infante'' (royal prince) of the Crown of Aragon who served three successive kings as a soldier, diplomat and counsellor before joining the Franciscans in ...

, to people and places in the

County of Roussillon The County of Roussillon ( ca, Comtat de Rosselló, , la, Comitatus Ruscinonensis) was one of the Catalan counties in the Marca Hispanica during the Middle Ages. The rulers of the county were the counts of Roussillon, whose interests lay both no ...

and the

Kingdom of Majorca The Kingdom of Majorca ( ca, Regne de Mallorca, ; es, Reino de Mallorca; la, Regnum Maioricae; french: Royaume de Majorque) was a realm on the east coast of Spain, which included certain Mediterranean islands, and which was founded by James I o ...

, and evidence of

Goliard The goliards were a group of generally young clergy in Europe who wrote satirical Latin poetry in the 12th and 13th centuries of the Middle Ages. They were chiefly clerics who served at or had studied at the universities of France, Germany, Spa ...

ic influence. The Cançoneret contains a copy of the ''Regles de trobar'' of

Jaufre de Foixa ''Jaufre'' (also called ''Jaufré'' or ''Jaufri'') is the only surviving Arthurian romance written in Occitan. A verse romance approximately 11,000 lines long, its main character is equivalent to Sir Griflet son of Do, a Knight of the Round Tabl ...

and an anonymous untitled continuation thereof, dealing mainly with poetic

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

and

form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data ...

. Eighteen complete poems and one fragment accompany the grammatical treatise to illustrate the points. All the cited poets are Catalans but only five or six are named. The generic classifications of the Cançoneret follow those of the ''Doctrina de compondre dictats'', possibly of

Raimon Vidal Raimon Vidal de Bezaudu(n) (Catalan: ''Ramon Vidal de Besalú'') (flourished early 13th century) was a Catalan troubadour from Besalù. He is notable for authoring the first tract in a Romance language (Occitan) on the subject of grammar and poet ...

, and the "rules" of the

Consistori del Gay Saber The Consistori del Gay Saber (; "Consistory of the Gay Science") was a poetic academy founded at Toulouse in 1323 to revive and perpetuate the lyric poetry of the troubadours. Also known as the Acadèmia dels Jòcs Florals or Académie des Jeux ...

, codified in the ''

Leys d'amors Guilhem Molinier or Moulinier ( 1330–50) was a medieval Occitan poet from Toulouse. His most notable work is ''Leys d'amors'' ("Laws of Love"), a treatise on rhetoric and grammar that achieved great notoriety and, beyond the Occitan, influenced ...

''. The following genres are recognised: cançó, tençó, sirventès (serventesch), cobles d'acuyndamens, cobles de qüestions, vers, dança (dans), desdança (desdansa), and viadera. The Cançoneret confirms that the vers was merely a canso ''de matèria tota moral'' (of entirely moral material) and that the viadera (traveller's song) was ''la pus jusana spècies qui és en los cantàs'' (the most humble genre of song there is). The distinction between cobles, exchanges of stanzas between troubadours, that are ''d'acuyndamens'' and those ''de qüestions'' is unique to the Cançoneret. Cobles d'acuyndamens broke bonds of vassallage, love, or fidelity. Among the classical troubadours cited by the treatise are

Guillem de Cabestany Guillem de Cabestany (; 1162–1212) was a Catalan troubadour from Cabestany in the County of Roussillon. He is often known by his Old Occitan name, Guilhem de Cabestaing, Cabestang, Cabestan, or Cabestanh (pronounced ). Life Not much relia ...

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras __NOTOC__ Raimbaut de Vaqueiras or Vaqueyras ( fl. 1180 – 1207) was a Provençal troubadour and, later in his life, knight. His life was spent mainly in Italian courtsAmelia E. Van Vleck, ''The Lyric Texts'' p. 33, in ''Handbook of the Trou ...

Arnaut Daniel Arnaut Daniel (; fl. 1180–1200) was an Occitan troubadour of the 12th century, praised by Dante as "the best smith" (''miglior fabbro'') and called a "grand master of love" (''gran maestro d'amore'') by Petrarch. In the 20th century he was lau ...

Peire Cardenal Peire Cardenal (or Cardinal) (c. 1180 – c. 1278) was a troubadour (fl. 1204 – 1272) known for his satirical ''sirventes'' and his dislike of the clergy. Ninety-six pieces of his remain, a number rarely matched by other poets of the age.Aubrey, ...

, and

Folquet de Marselha Folquet de Marselha, alternatively Folquet de Marseille, Foulques de Toulouse, Fulk of Toulouse (c. 1150 – 25 December 1231) came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille. He is known as a trobadour, and then as a fiercely anti- ...

(though the reference is a mistake, the poet should be Pons Fabre d'Uzès). Among the named Catalan poets whose pieces are preserved as exemplars are Dalmau de Castellnou, Pere Alamany, and the . The

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...

of another Catalan piece, ''De l'ordre suy de noble infant En Pedro'', by Pere de Vilademany is also mentioned in the treatise. There are several unidentifiable authors with works in the Cançoneret: a "poeta anònim" (anonymous poet), a "frare" (

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

), "dos frares" (two friars), a "monja" (

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

), "frayr'Uguó, prior" (brother Hugh,

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

), "Francesc", and an "arxiprest" (

archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogous ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canconeret de Ripoll Medieval Catalan literature Chansonniers (books) 14th-century books