Lanfranc Cigala (or Cicala) ( it, Lanfranco, oc, Lafranc; fl. 1235–1257) was a Genoese nobleman, knight, judge, and man of letters of the mid thirteenth century. He remains one of the most famous

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, spoken in parts o ...

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 ''trobairi ...

s of Lombardy. Thirty-two of his poems survive, dealing with

Crusading The First Crusade inspired the crusading movement, which became an important part of late medieval western culture. The movement influenced the Church, politics, the economy, society and created a distinct ideology that described, regulated, a ...

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

, papal power, peace in Christendom, and loyalty in love. Lanfranc represented a tradition of Italian, Occitan-language '' trovatori'' who berated the

Papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

for its handling of the Crusades. Lanfranc's surviving corpus consists of thirty-two poems, including seven ''

cansos The ''canso'' or ''canson'' or ''canzo'' () was a song style used by the troubadours. It was, by far, the most common genre used, especially by early troubadours, and only in the second half of the 13th century was its dominance challenged by a ...

'' of courtly love; four religious ''cansos''; three ''

sirventes The ''sirventes'' or ''serventes'' (), sometimes translated as "service song", was a genre of Old Occitan lyric poetry practiced by the troubadours. The name comes from ''sirvent'' ('serviceman'), from whose perspective the song is allegedly wr ...

''; two

crusading song A Crusade song ( oc, canso de crozada, ca, cançó de croada, german: Kreuzlied) is any vernacular lyric poem about the Crusades. Crusade songs were popular in the High Middle Ages: 106 survive in Occitan, forty in Old French, thirty in Middle High ...

s; and one ''

planh A genre of the troubadours, the or (; "lament") is a funeral lament for "a great personage, a protector, a friend or relative, or a lady."Elisabeth Schulze-Busacker, "Topoi", in F. R. P. Akehurst and Judith M. Davis, eds., ''A Handbook of the T ...

''. Among the thirty works attributed to him are nine ''

tenso A ''tenso'' (; french: tençon) is a style of troubadour song. It takes the form of a debate in which each voice defends a position; common topics relate to love or ethics. Usually, the tenso is written by two different poets, but several examples ...

s'' composed with other troubadours: four with

Simon Doria Simon Doria ( it, Simone, oc, Symon; fl. 1250–1293) was a Genoese statesman and man of letters, of the important Doria family. As a troubadour he wrote six surviving ''tensos'', four with Lanfranc Cigala, one incomplete with Jacme Grils, ...

and one each with Jacme Grils,

Guilleuma de Rosers Guillelma de Rosers ( fl. 1235–1265), also spelled Guilleuma, Guillielma, Guilielma, or Guilhelma, was a Provençal trobairitz of the mid-thirteenth century, one of the last known trobairitz. She was originally from Rougiers but lived in G ...

, Lantelm, Rubaut, and an otherwise unknown "Guilhem".

Biography

Lanfranc was first mentioned in 1235 as a ''iudex'' (judge). In 1241, he was an ambassador from the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the La ...

to the court of

Raymond Berengar IV of Provence Ramon Berenguer IV (french: Raimond-Bérenger; 1198 – 19 August 1245) was a member of the House of Barcelona who ruled as count of Provence and Forcalquier. He was the first count of Provence to live in the county in more than one hundred years ...

, where he probably met Bertran d'Alamanon. In 1248, he was in

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...

on a mercantile expedition. He was last mentioned alive in a document dated 16 March 1257, and he was recorded as deceased on 24 September 1258. Contrary to legend, he was not assassinated in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

in 1278.

Religious poetry

Lanfranc was both a critic of the crusading policies of the

and a supporter of the Albigensian Crusade.Throop, 395. Echoing Innocent III's declaration that the

Cathars Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. F ...

were worse than the Saracens (1208), in his poem ''Si mos chans fos de joi ni de solatz'' (directed at the

Count of Provence The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the frontier nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. In this position, influenced and affected by ...

, then

Charles of Anjou Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) ...

), Lanfranc wrote: This poem was written immediately after the loss of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

to the Mamelukes in 1244 and concurrent with the last Albigensian rising.Throop, 402. More securely, it can be dated to between August 1244 and 17 July 1245. Lanfranc blamed the loss of Jerusalem on the lack of peace between Christian states, which was the first prerequisite of a successful Crusade in the East. Though he explicitly refused to lay the blame at the feet of either emperor ( Frederick II) or pope (

Innocent IV Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...

), his last words attack the pope's policy as war for profit. In another poem, ''Quan vei far bon fag plazentier'', written early in 1248, Lanfranc bemoaned the coming fall of Christianity with a metaphorical Sepulchre, which the Saracens, he said, had already destroyed. Christianity, therefore, was doomed and could not be recovered, because it had already been brought down by the infidels. This extreme metaphor was only part, however, of Lanfranc's desire to encourage peace amongst Christians for the sake of the survival of their religion. Among Lanfranc's religious songs (''cansos'') are three on Marian themes, the most prominent of which is ''Gloriosa sainta Maria''.

Love poetry

Some of Lanfranc's work presaged the '' dolce stil nuovo'', as when he wrote in his poem ''Quant en bon luec'' that ''ques amors pren en lejal cor naissenza'' (love is born in loyal hearts). His poetry idealised women and emphasised the need for loyalty. In another poem, Lanfranc praised the deceased countess of Este thus: Among the ladies (''dompnas'') Lanfranc celebrated in his poetry were Berlenda and one ''de Villafranca'', on whose surname the poet composed many puns, as in ''Tan franc cors de dompn'ai trobat''. This last woman may have been Alasia, the daughter of Guglielmo Malaspina. Lanfranc's only ''planh'' was composed for a lady named Luresana, whom Lanfranc called ''chan-plor''. It begins ''Eu non chant ges per talan de chantar''. In Francesco da Barberino's ''Flores novellarum'', a collection of Boccaccian novellas, there is a short biography of Lanfranc in which the troubadour is torn by the "duties of hospitality" and the "claims of lady-service". This novella is taken as an example of the early date at which the scene was transferred "from the street to the human soul."Jenkins, lv.

Other work

Lanfranc also wrote a violent ''sirventes'' beginning ''Estier mon grat mi fan dir vilanatge'' attacking

Boniface II of Montferrat Boniface II (July 1202 – 12 June 1253), called the Giant, was the eleventh Marquis of Montferrat from 1225 until his death. He became the titular King of Thessalonica in 1239. Boniface was the son of William VI and his second wife, Berta d ...

in July 1245. A lighter composition was ''Escur prim chantar e sotil'', a defence of the

trobar leu The ''trobar leu'' (), or light style of poetry, was the most popular style used by the troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since t ...

genre.

References

Notes

Bibliography

*Branciforti, F. (ed.) ''Il canzoniere di Lanfranco Cigala'' Firenze: Biblioteca dell'Archivium Romanicum, prima serie, (1954) *Bertoni, Giulio. ''I Trovatori d'Italia: Biografie, testi, tradizioni, note''. Rome: Società Multigrafica Editrice Somu, 1967 915 *Jenkins, T. Atkinson
"On Newness in the Novel."
''PMLA'', Vol. 41, Appendix. (1926), pp. xliii–lix. *Luciani, Vincent
"Bibliography of Italian Studies in America."
''Italica'', Vol. 25, No. 4. (Dec., 1948), pp. 338–340. *Puckett, Jaye
"'Reconmenciez novele estoire': The Troubadours and the Rhetoric of the Later Crusades."
''MLN'', Vol. 116, No. 4, French Issue. (Sep., 2001), pp. 844–889. * Riquer, Martín de. ''Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos''. 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975. *Spiers, A. G. H
"Dolce Stil Nuovo — The Case of the Opposition."
''PMLA'', Vol. 25, No. 4. (1910), pp. 657–675. *Throop, Palmer A
"Criticism of Papal Crusade Policy in Old French and Provençal."
'' Speculum'', Vol. 13, No. 4. (Oct., 1938), pp 379–412.

External links

Complete works
at trobar.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Cigala, Lanfranc 1257 deaths Ambassadors of the Republic of Genoa 13th-century Italian judges 13th-century Italian troubadours 13th-century Genoese people Year of birth unknown Medieval Italian knights