Germà de Gontaut (, ;

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1355–1386) was an

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 ...

poet and merchant. Germà is mentioned as a ''mercadier'' (merchant) in the prologue to the final version of the ''

Leys d'amor 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 ...

'' of

Joan de Castellnou Joan de Castellnou (; fl. 1341–1355) was a troubadour of the Consistori del Gay Saber active in Toulouse. He left behind five or six ''cansos'', three '' vers'', a ''dansa'', a '' conselh'', and a ''sirventes''. His most famous works are no ...

(1355). At that time he was one of the seven maintainers (''mantenidors'') of the Consistori del Gay Saber, an

poetry academy in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

. On 3 May 1386 Germà de Gontaut with Ramon Galbarra judged a '' partimen'' (poetic debate) between

Jacme Rovira Jacme Rovira (, ; modern Catalan spelling: ''Jaume Rovira'') was a Catalan poet who wrote in Occitan and competed within the Consistori del Gay Saber. On 3 May 1386 Jacme participated in a ''partimen'' with Bernat de Palaol Bernat de Palaol or de ...

and

Bernat de Palaol Bernat de Palaol or de Mallorques (; floruit, fl. 1386) was a Catalan people, Catalan troubadour and merchant from Majorca. He was sometimes called ''lo mercader mallorquí'' (the Majorcan merchant). On 3 May 1386 Bernat participated publicly in a ...

for the Consistori del Gay Saber. The subject of the debate was this: there was a young lord who loved a young lady who did not return the love, yet there was another young lady, of equal worth, who loved him deeply but to whom he was unattracted; to which of these should he devote his service? Bernat defended the second lady, but the judges found in favour of Jacme and the first lady: the lord, they said, ought to devote himself to the one he truly loves, not the one who truly loves him. The judges' decision was given in verse, in a serious tone completely unbefitting the lighthearted nature of the contest.

References

* Riquer, Martín de (1964). ''Història de la Literatura Catalana'', vol. 1. Barcelona: Edicions Ariel.

External links

''Senyer Bernatz, dues puncelhas say''
ed. by Martín de Riquer, with the ''sentença donada per los jutges'' (sentence given by the judges) {{DEFAULTSORT:Germa De Gontaut Occitan people 14th-century French troubadours