Paolo Lanfranchi da Pistoia ( oc, Paulo Ianfranchi de Pistoia; fl. 1282–1295) was a noted
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
poet who wrote in both the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
and
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 ...
languages. He is thus sometimes described as a
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 ...
. A native of
Pistoia—he was a major cultural figure of the
Duecento there—his
sonnets have been praised for their originality.
Biography
Paolo is first encountered in the records in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
in 1282.
[Bertoni, 118.] He was present for an act granted in favour of Pistoia on 1 February that year. He also testified alongside Forisio di Jacopo in a document of 13 October, and was still at Bologna on 21 January 1283, when he witnessed a
mutuum contracted between two men of Pistoia, Gerardino Bruno and Pucino Pepi. In 1291 he was back in Pistoia, where he was sentenced as guilty for the crime of striking ''cum una spada malvagia vetita pro forma statutorum'' ("with a sword in malice") a certain Orellio Megliori on the head, ''ex dicta percussione multus sanguis extivit'' ("from which wound exited much blood").
[ He was sent into exile and was in Bologna again in 1295. It is therefore certain that if, as some historians have believed, Paolo spent some time at the court of Aragon in ]Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, it must have been spent between 1283 and 1291, most probably 1283–1285 if at all.[Bertoni, 119.]
Italian poetry
Paolo wrote seven surviving sonnets in Italian. The first four are seen as an interrupted dream, while the last three are a contemplative response.[Kleinhenz, 192.] The basic theme of Paolo's work is the question "How can man reconcile love of woman with love of God?" or, more generally, love of earthly with love of heavenly things.[Kleinhenz, 194.] Paolo's solution tends towards complete division of Earth and Heaven, no reconciliation. As a lover, he ignores Reason and pursues his subconscious desires, but his "daydreaming" is interrupted the bells of Matins
Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning.
The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated b ...
and thus he finds he cannot escape religious demands even in his mind.[ This tempts him to become a Patarine, that is, a heretic. Paolo finally ascribes his wretched condition to a war between God and Nature which occurred at his birth. His final two works employ the analogy of the wheel of fortune (''rota fortunae'') and may have been accompanied by visual aids in performance, much as has been suspected of ]jongleur
A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who ...
performances elsewhere.[Kleinhenz, 196.]
Paolo has usually been placed either within the school of Guittone d'Arezzo
Guittone d'Arezzo (Arezzo, 1235 – 1294) was a Tuscan poet and the founder of the Tuscan School. He was an acclaimed secular love poet before his conversion in the 1260s, when he became a religious poet joining the Order of the Blessed Virgi ...
, the ''guittoniani'', or in a transitional place between them and the ''Dolce Stil Novo
''Dolce Stil Novo'' (), Italian for "sweet new style," is the name given to a literary movement in 13th and 14th century Italy. Influenced by the Sicilian School and Tuscan poetry, its main theme is Divine Love. The name ''Dolce Stil Novo'' w ...
''.[Kleinhenz, 197.] His style and language, however, are distinctly un-Guittonian. They have more in common with the Sicilian School
The Sicilian School was a small community of Sicilian and mainland Italian poets gathered around Frederick II, most of them belonging to his imperial court. Headed by Giacomo da Lentini, they produced more than 300 poems of courtly love betwe ...
, especially in their expression of raw emotion.[ Paolo's seven Italian sonnets are listed below by first line:
#''L'altr'er, dormendo, a mi se venne Amore''
#''Dime, Amore, vorestù tornare''
#''L'altr'er, pensando, mi emaçinay''
#''Un nobel e çentil ymaçinare''
#''Ogni meo fatto per contrario façço''
#''De la rota son posti exempli asay''
#''Quatro homi sum dipincti ne la rota''
]
Occitan poetry
Paolo's lone Occitan work is a sonnet of no artistic worth but some historical interest. It is confidently dated to 1284 and is conserved only in troubadour manuscript ''P'', an Italian chansonnier of 1310, now XLI.42 in the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
.[ It begins ''Valenz Senher, rei dels Aragones'' and is addressed to Peter III of Aragon. Paolo probably left no other Occitan works, but his poem is historically interesting for its information on north Italian perspectives concerning the ]War of the Sicilian Vespers
The War of the Sicilian Vespers or just War of the Vespers was a conflict that started with the insurrection of the Sicilian Vespers against Charles of Anjou in 1282 and ended in 1302 with the Peace of Caltabellotta. It was fought in Sicily, C ...
, the conflict between the Angevins and Aragonese for Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
.[ Peter III and the Aragonese cause was popular in northern Italy at the time and Paolo's sonnet is a celebration of his victory over the Angevins and ]Capetian
The Capetian dynasty (; french: Capétiens), also known as the House of France, is a dynasty of Frankish origin, and a branch of the Robertians. It is among the largest and oldest royal houses in Europe and the world, and consists of Hugh Ca ...
s in the Aragonese Crusade
The Aragonese Crusade or Crusade of Aragon, a part of the larger War of the Sicilian Vespers, was declared by Pope Martin IV against King Peter III of Aragon in 1284 and 1285. Because of the recent conquest of Sicily by Peter, Martin declared ...
:
Several anonymous ''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 ...
'' that appear towards the end of MS ''P'' have been attributed to Paolo by nineteenth-century authors. One ''cobla'', ''Mand qe iur e non periur'' was addressed ''al iuge de Galur'', that is, the Judge of Gallura
The kings or ''judges'' (''iudices'' or ''judikes'') of Gallura were the local rulers of the northeast of Sardinia during the Middle Ages. Theirs was the closest kingdom to Corsica.
* Manfred (c. 1020 – c. 1040)
* Baldo (c. 1040 – ...
, then Nino Visconti
Ugolino Visconti (died 1296), better known as Nino, was the Giudice of Gallura from 1275 or 1276 to his death. He was a son of Giovanni Visconti and grandson of Ugolino della Gherardesca. He was the first husband of Beatrice d'Este, daughter of ...
.[Bertoni, 120.] The ''cobla'' after it in the chansonnier is also addressed to Nino, but has not been assigned by any scholar to Paolo. The other anonymous ''cobla'' sometimes ascribed to Paolo was addressed to the " Count of Montfort".[ The anonymous author of both these ''coblas'' calls himself a jongleur.
]
Notes
Sources
*
*Kleinhenz, Christopher
"The Interrupted Dream of Paolo Lanfranchi da Pistoia."
''Italica'', 49:2 (Summer, 1972), pp. 187–201.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pistoia, Paolo Lanfranchi da
People from Pistoia
13th-century Italian troubadours
Sonneteers
Year of death unknown
Year of birth unknown