Luys Ycart (

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 ...

1396–1433), or Lluís Icart () in modern orthography, was a Catalan poet. He left behind fourteen

lyric poems Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

and a long poem called ''Consolació i Avís d'amor'' ("Consolation and Advice of Love"). All of his poetry was produced before the composition of the

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 ...

Vega-Aguiló (1420–30), into which it was copied soon after it was written.

Life

Luys was a minor nobleman, the son of Pere Ycart and Johanna de Subirats from

Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

. As early as 1396 he had a relationship with a woman known as Lionor de Pau. He was dubbed a knight in 1429 or 1430. He married a woman named Blanquina in an unknown year, but his four children were still young in 1433. Luys participated in the Lleidan feuds that dominated the local situation in the 1420s and 1430s. In 1430 the offenders, including Luys and his enemy Felip Claver, were fined by Queen Maria. In 1433 Maria confiscated Luys' property for his complicity in the assassination of the

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

. Sometimes thereafter he adopted his mother's surname of "de Subirats", a common practice in those times.

Work

Luys participated in the '' jocs florals'' of the Consistori del Gay Saber, held annually in Toulouse. One song composed by Luys for judgement in the Consistori's contests has survived, addressed appropriately to ''los senhors set'' of the ''gay sauber''. In this poem the artificial restraints imposed by the Consistori through its '' Leys d'amor'' (laws of love, i.e. poetic composition) are evident in Luys' verse. The rhyme scheme is a simple '' rims capfinits''. The poem is uninspired, repetitive, and forced. The style of Luys' competitive work was atypical. Martín de Riquer describes his poetry as the pure and fluid unfolding of traditional troubadour themes with discreet ornamentation. His poetry is filled with amorous laments ('). His most famous love piece is probably his '' cobla sparça'' dedicated to Lionor, the daughter of the chamberlain

Francesc de Pau Francesc () is a masculine given name of Catalan origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francesco, Francisco, François, and Franz. People with the name include: *Cesc Fàbregas (Francesc Fàbregas i Soler) (born 1987), Spanish professional football ...

. Lionor we know to have been in the entourage of

Violant de Bar Violant of Bar (c. 1365 – 3 July 1431) was Queen of Aragon by marriage to John I of Aragon. She was active in matrimonial politics and served as "Queen-Lieutenant" (regent) of Aragon as proxy of her spouse from 1388 until 1395. Life She was the ...

and to have accompanied the six-month-old Joana de Perpinyà (youngest child of John I of Aragon) in 1396, around which time Luys' composed his poem. Using the form of a madrigal, Luys praises "Na Pau" (Lady Peace, a play on her name) and plays on the expression ''donar la pau'' (give a kiss): ''Na Pau, n'he pau'', "Lady Peace, have a kiss". In several other of his love poems Luys sings to a queen, probably the widowed

Margarida de Prades Margaret of Prades (1388/95 – 23 July 1429) was Queen of Aragon by marriage to King Martin of Aragon. Life She was the daughter of Peter of Aragon, Baron of Entenza (1352–1395), and his wife, Joana of Cabrera. On 17 September 1409, Margare ...

, who also attracted the praise of

Jordi de Sant Jordi Jordi de Sant Jordi (; late 1390s – c. 1424) was a Valencian poet and knight. Along with his contemporary Ausiàs March, Sant Jordi was among the earliest and most representative figures of the so-called Valencian Golden Age, one of the peak ...

and Ausiàs March. The feudo-vassallic allegory of love pervades Luys' writings, no more so than in those dedicated to Margarida, wherein he sometimes describes the concrete realities of her court. The piece of Luys' that most stubbornly resists comprehension is a '' tenso'' with a certain Regadelh: ''Frayres molt cars, meravila•m de vós''. The identity of this Regadelh has never been ascertained: it could be the archdeacon Manuel de Rajadell, to whom

Felip de Malla Felip de Malla (; 1370 – 12 July 1431) was a Catalan prelate, theologian, scholastic, orator, classical scholar, and poet. He was a confidant of the kings Martin the Humane, Ferdinand of Antequera, and Alfonso the Magnanimous. He was the sevente ...

dedicated his ''Pecador remut'', or a Bernat Fajadell (or Rajadell),

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

d at Barcelona, who was the inspiration behind a

cycle Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to: Anthropology and social sciences * Cyclic history, a theory of history * Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. * Social cycle, various cycles in soc ...

of satires. The uneven ''tenso'' contains one stanza from Luys, one retort from Regadelh, and a third unassigned paragraph that certainly belongs to Luys. The debate is good-natured and designed to be entertaining, but many of the references and allusions elude interpretation. The longest of Luys' surviving works is his 523-line,

hexasyllabic {{Unreferenced, date=May 2021 The hexasyllable or hexasyllabic verse is a line of verse with six syllables. The orphan hexasyllable is a metric specificity of certain French epic poems. This kind of verse in the Garin de Monglane's Song in a 14th-c ...

''Consolació o Avís d'amor'', which ends with a summary stanza in decasyllables. The purpose of the work is as consolation (''consolació'') and counsel (''avís'') to a friend suffering from a disease of love. It is a ''lletovari'' (

electuarium An electuary is a medicine consisting of a powder or other ingredient mixed with something sweet such as honey to make it more palatable.

). Unlike similar Catalan works of the same era, such as Johan Basset's ''Letovari'' and Bernat Metge's ''Medicina'', Luys' ''Consolació'' is heavy and serious in tone. The philosophy espoused is completely that of courtly love, and of Ovid, though whether consciously is doubtful.Riquer, 646.

Notes

External links

Incipitario de Lluís Icart
has all his works, edited but without translations {{DEFAULTSORT:Ycart, Luys Poets from Catalonia Medieval Catalan-language writers 15th-century Catalan people