Girardo Cavallazzi or Cavallazzo ( oc, Girard or ; fl. 1225–1247) was an Italian

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 ...

from

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

. His only surviving work is four

coblas A ''cobla esparsa'' ( literally meaning "scattered stanza") in Old Occitan is the name used for a single-stanza poem in troubadour poetry. They constitute about 15% of the troubadour output, and they are the dominant form among late (after 1220) au ...

of a ''

partimen The ''partimen'' (; ca, partiment ; also known as ''partia'' or ''joc partit'') is a cognate form of the French jeu-parti (plural ''jeux-partis''). It is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry composed between two troubadours, a subgenre of the ''tenso'' ...

'' he exchanged with

Aycart del Fossat Aycart (or Aicart) del Fossat ( fl. 1250–68) was a troubadour from Le Fossat in Ariège. To him are attributed one ''sirventes'' and a ''partimen'' with Girard Cavalaz. The ''sirventes'' is about the victory of Charles of Anjou over Conradi ...

concerning the nature of

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

and

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

: ''Si paradis et enfernz son aital''. Girard's identity was unknown for many years because only his Occitan Christian name (a common one) was given in the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

manuscript ( Br. Mus. Harley 3041) from which his work was known. However, the discovery of documents in the Biblioteca Civica in

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

showed Girard to have been a "Cavalaz", probably a member of the Cavallazzi family of

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...

. Indeed, a Girardo Cavallazzi is recorded in Novarese documents beginning in 1225. He was '' console del comune'' in 1227 and 1230 and '' console di giustizia'' in 1247. According to the ''

Annales Placentini Gibellini The ''Ghibelline Annals of Piacenza'' is an anonymous Latin chronicle of Piacenza from 1154 to 1284. It is known by several titles, all modern inventions. Georg Pertz called it the ''Annales Placentini Gibellini'', while called it the ''Chroni ...

'', his family was

Ghibelline The Guelphs and Ghibellines (, , ; it, guelfi e ghibellini ) were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, rival ...

in sympathy. The Bergamasque manuscript contains a

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 ...

rubric explaining the argument (''

razo A ''razo'' (, literally "cause", "reason") was a short piece of Occitan prose detailing the circumstances of a troubadour composition. A ''razo'' normally introduced an individual poem, acting as a prose preface and explanation; it might, however, ...

'') of the ''partimen'' between Girard and Aycart.

External links

''Si paradis et enfernz son aital''
edited by Bertoni.

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cavalaz, Girard People from Novara 13th-century Italian troubadours Male composers