Guerau de Massanet or Maçanet () was a
Catalan nobleman and poet of the early fifteenth century. He is known only from his writings and those of others.
Johan Basset Ffra Johan Basset (, modernised as ''Fra Joan Basset'') was a Catalan author of twenty verses and a prose ''Letovari''. His work is preserved in the Cançoner Vega-Aguiló (1420–30). He was probably active in the early years (1416–21) o ...
dedicated his ''Letovari'' to him, whom he called a friend from ''temps passat'' ("times passed").
Biography
Massanet debated in a ''
partimen'' with the lawyer
Gabriel Ferruç
In Abrahamic religions ( Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብ ...
whether it was preferable to resolve conflicts militarily or judicially. Unsurprisingly, Ferruç the lawyer argued the latter while Massanet, probably of the
knightly class, defended the
private war. The poem runs eighty-eight lines, with 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 ...
''Amichs Garaus, en cuy fis prets s'agença''. The debaters present the historian with many interesting allusions to contemporary events, but failing to resolve their dilemma they instead asked two others to judge their debate. Massanet nominated Johan d'Olivella, but had recently been named
veguer
Catalonia is internally divided into eight regional divisions, known in Catalan as ( singular ''vegueria'', ), following the regional plan of Catalonia. Each vegueria is further divided into '' comarques'' and municipalities, with the except ...
of
Tàrrega and could not. Ferruç' nominee,
Jacme Ripoll, another lawyer, found in favour of the judicial resolution.
Massanet also wrote an ''
dansa'' the begins ''Amors joy mi renovelha''. Each verse ends with the refrain ''mirant la flor de l'ametlha'' (or ''amenlha'', "watching the flower of the almond tree"). This poem is praised both by
Martí de Riquer i Morera and
Josep Romeu i Figueras for its beauty, delicacy, and originality. Though written in the
language and style of the
troubadours of the "classical epoch" (''c''.1160–1220) and infused with the sentiments of
courtly love
Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing vari ...
, it lacks the desperation and the rhetorical flourish associated with Catalan poets of the late Middle Ages. A reference to "Sancta Marcelha" in the fourth stanza is enough to indicate the poet's piety. The first lines of the second stanza goes like this:
Notes
References
*
Riquer i Morera, Martí de (1964). ''Història de la Literatura Catalana'', vol. 1. Barcelona: Edicions Ariel.
*
Romeu i Figueras, Josep (1981). "Guerau de Maçanet, entre la realitat lírica i la identificació hipotètica". ''Estudis de llengua i literatura catalanes'', II (Homenaje a Josep M. de Casacuberta, 2), 145–83. Reprinted in ''Lectura de textos medievals i renaixentistes''. Universitat de València, 1994.
External links
Incipitario di Guerau de Massanet with links to edited original-language texts of all his poems
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerau de Massanet
15th-century poets
15th-century Catalan people
Poets from Catalonia