Le Chastelain de Couci (modern

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...

Le Châtelain de Coucy) was a French trouvère of the 12th century. He may have been the Guy de Couci who was

castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...

Château de Coucy The Château de Coucy is a French castle in the commune of Coucy-le-Château-Auffrique, in Picardy, built in the 13th century and renovated by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century. During its heyday, it was famous for the size of its cent ...

from 1186 to 1203. Some twenty-six songs, written in

langue d'oïl Langue is a municipality in the Valle Department, Honduras. The town is located near the border of El Salvador and is a regional Hammock making center. Most of the town is made up of sharecroppers and day laborers. There are usually Mormon mis ...

are attributed to him, and about fifteen or sixteen are considered authentic. They are modelled very closely on

Provençal Provençal may refer to: *Of Provence, a region of France * Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France *''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language *Franco-Provençal language, a distinct Roman ...

originals, but are saved from the category of mere imitations by a grace and simplicity peculiar to the author. The legend of the love of the Châtelain de Coucy and the Lady of Fayel, in which there figures a jealous husband who makes his wife eat the heart of her lover, has no historical basis, and dates from a late 13th century romance by Jakemon Sakesep. The story, which seems to be Breton in origin, has been also told of a Provençal troubadour, Guilhem de Cabestaing, and of the minnesinger

Reinmar von Brennenberg Reinmar von Brennenberg (or Reinmar der Brennenberger) was a minnesinger and ministerialis to the Bishop of Regensburg in the 13th century. Life and work The family were ministeriales in the Upper Palatinate in the service of the bishops of Rege ...

. Pierre de Belloy, who wrote some account of the family of Couci, made the story the subject of his tragedy '' Gabrielle de Vergy''.

References

;Attribution *

External links

song in French
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chastelain de Couci Le Chatelain de Coucy 12th-century French people Male classical composers