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Peire d'Alvernhe or d'Alvernha (''Pèire'' in modern
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
Occitan (; o ...
; b. c. 1130) was an
Auvergnat
or (endonym: ) is a northern dialect of Occitan spoken in central and southern France, in particular in the former administrative region of Auvergne.
Currently, research shows that there is not really a true Auvergnat dialect but rather a vas ...
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 ...
(active 1149–1170) with twenty-one
[Gaunt and Kay, 287.] or twenty-four
[Egan, 72.][Aubrey, ''The Music of the Troubadours'', 8.] surviving works. He composed in an "esoteric" and "formally complex" style known as the ''
trobar clus
''Trobar clus'' (), or closed form, was a complex and obscure style of poetry used by troubadours for their more discerning audiences, and it was only truly appreciated by an elite few. It was developed extensively by Marcabru and Arnaut Daniel, bu ...
''. He stands out as the earliest troubadour mentioned by name in
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
's ''
Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...
''.
Life
According to his ''
vida
Vida means “life” in Spanish and Portuguese. It may refer to:
Geography
* Vida (Gradačac), village in Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Lake Vida, Victoria Valley, Antarctica
* U.S. settled places:
** Vida, Montana
** Vida, Oregon
** Vida, Missour ...
'', Peire was a burgher's son from the
Diocese of Clermont
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Clermont (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Claromontana''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Clermont'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Puy ...
.
[Egan, 71.] As testified to by his ''vida'', his popularity was great within his lifetime and afterwards. Said to be handsome, charming, wise, and learned, he was "the first good inventor of poetry to go beyond the mountains" (i.e. the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
) and travel in Spain.
He passed his time in Spain at the court of
Alfonso VII of Castile
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...
and that of his son
Sancho III in 1157–1158. It is possible that he was present at a meeting between Sancho of Castile,
Sancho VI of Navarre
Sancho Garcés VI ( eu, Antso VI.a; 21 April 1132 - 27 June 1194), called the Wise ( eu, Jakituna, es, el Sabio) was King of Navarre from 1150 until his death in 1194. He was the first monarch to officially drop the title of ''King of Pamplona'' ...
and
Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona
Ramon Berenguer IV (; c. 1114 – 6 August 1162, Anglicized Raymond Berengar IV), sometimes called ''the Saint'', was the count of Barcelona who brought about the union of the County of Barcelona with the Kingdom of Aragon to form the Crown of Ara ...
in 1158. The author of his ''vida'', editorialising, considers his poems to have been the greatest until
Giraut de Borneill and his melodies to have been the best ever.
The anonymous biographer records that his information about Peire's later years comes from
Dalfi d'Alvernha
Dalfi d'Alvernha (french: Dauphin d'Auvergne) was the Count of Clermont and Montferrand, a troubadour and a patron of troubadours. He was born around 1150 and died in 1234 or 1235. He is sometimes called Robert IV, but there is no solid evidence ...
. It has been suggested that Dalfi was the author of the ''vida''.
According to an accusation of fellow troubadour
Bernart Marti
Bernart Marti was a troubadour, composing poems and satires in Occitan, in the mid-twelfth century. They show that he was influenced by his contemporaries Marcabru and knew Peire d'Alvernha, who, in one poem, he accused of abandoning holy orders. ...
, Peire entered upon a religious life early, but quit
Holy Orders for a life of itinerant minstrelsy.
He may be the same person as the ''Petrus d'Alvengue'' and ''Petrus de Alvernia'' who appear in surviving documents from
Montpellier
Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
dated to the year 1148.
Peire appears to have cultivated the favour of the ruling family of the
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of B ...
, and his poems contain allusions to the
counts of Barcelona
The Count of Barcelona ( ca, Comte de Barcelona, es, Conde de Barcelona, french: Comte de Barcelone, ) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona and also, by extension and according with the Usages of Barcelona, usages and Catalan constitutions, of ...
and
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
. Perhaps he was following the fashion of the lords of Montpellier of his time, who, though vassals of the
Count of Toulouse
The count of Toulouse ( oc, comte de Tolosa, french: comte de Toulouse) was the ruler of county of Toulouse, Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the kingdom of the Franks, Frankish kings,
the hereditary counts ru ...
, were partial to the Aragonese. At the same time Peire did garner the support of
Raymond V of Toulouse
Raymond V ( oc, Ramon; c. 1134 – c. 1194) was Count of Toulouse from 1148 until his death in 1194.
He was the son of Alphonse I of Toulouse and Faydida of Provence. Alphonse took his son with him on the Second Crusade in 1147. When Alpho ...
.
In his wanderings he may have spent some time at Cortezon, at the court of the minor nobleman and troubadour
Raimbaut d'Aurenga
Raimbaut of Orange (c. 1147 – 1173) or, in his native Old Provençal, Raimbaut d'Aurenga, was the lord of Orange and Aumelas. His properties included the towns of Frontignan and Mireval. He was the only son of William of Aumelas and of Tib ...
.
Peire lived a long into old age, and performed penance before dying.
Poetry
Peire wrote mostly ''
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 ...
'', which, as his ''vida'' points out, were called ''vers'' in his day.
He also invented the "pious song" and wrote six such poems dealing with serious themes of religion, piety, and spirituality. Even in his more profane works, however, one can detect the moralising influence of
Marcabru
Marcabru (; floruit, fl. 1130–1150) is one of the earliest troubadours whose poems are known. There is no certain information about him; the two ''vida (Occitan literary form), vidas'' attached to his poems tell different stories, and both are e ...
, with whom in whose old age he was possibly acquainted. One of Marcabru's late songs is a satire of an early one by Peire d'Alvernhe.
Marcabru's complexity was also imparted to Peire.
On the topic 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 ...
, Peire, who had abandoned the religious life early, came to abandon the claims of ''fin'amor'' ("fine love") later.
[Paterson, 37–38.] When Peire espouses love of the
Holy Ghost
For the majority of Christian denominations, the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, is believed to be the third person of the Trinity, a Triune God manifested as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each entity itself being God.Grud ...
over ''cortez' amors de bon aire'' ("well-spirited courtly love") he is the only troubadour to ever use the term "courtly love".
Marcabrunian influence can be seen here too. In a later
Crusade 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 H ...
, Peire defended Marcabru's abandonment of the ''carnal amar''.
He advocates ''gran sabers ni purs'' ("great and pure wisdom") through ''bon'amor'' ("good love"). Along with Bernart Marti,
Bernart de Venzac
Bernart de Venzac (floruit, fl. 1180–1210) was an obscure troubadour from Venzac near Rodez in the Rouergue. He wrote in the Marcabrunian style, leaving behind five moralising pieces (two ''Canso (song), cansos'' and three ''sirventes'') an ...
, and
Gavaudan
GavaudanHis Occitan name is also found as ''Gavaudas'' in the accusative and, by extension, ''Gavauda'' in the nominative. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French scholarship used to call him ''le Vieux'' (the Old), but there is no basis f ...
, Peire was part of a "
Marcabru
Marcabru (; floruit, fl. 1130–1150) is one of the earliest troubadours whose poems are known. There is no certain information about him; the two ''vida (Occitan literary form), vidas'' attached to his poems tell different stories, and both are e ...
nian school". Nonetheless, as mentioned above, Bernart Marti attacked Peire for claiming superior spiritual status:
E quan canorgues si mes
Pey d'Alvernh'en canongia,
a Dieu per que.s prometia
entiers que peuys si fraysses?
Quar si feys, fols joglars es
per que l'entiers pretz cambia.
Peire's aesthetic philosophy esteemed the "whole song" (''vers entiers''), which is what he termed his completed pieces, denigrating all others' works as incomplete and imperfect.
[Spence, 172.] Nonetheless, from Marcabru Peire picked up a notion of the ''
trobar braus'' as a legitimate format for "rough" themes.
One anonymous song of the
Fifth Crusade
The Fifth Crusade (1217–1221) was a campaign in a series of Crusades by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering Egypt, ruled by the powerful Ayyubid sultanate, led by al-Adil, brother of Sala ...
, ''Lo Senhre que formet lo tro'', written between Spring 1213 and July 1214 has been attributed to Peire d'Alvernhe, but the dating makes that impossible. In a ''
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 ...
'' between a Bernart (probably
Bernart de Ventadorn
Bernart de Ventadorn (also Bernard de Ventadour or Bernat del Ventadorn; – ) was a French poet-composer troubadour of the classical age of troubadour poetry. Generally regarded as the most important troubadour in both poetry and music, his 1 ...
) and an unnamed Peire, perhaps Peire d'Alvernhe, the latter argues that "it is not becoming for ladies to make love-pleas; it is fitting that men plead with them and beg their mercy."
By far, however, Peire's most famous work is ''Chantarai d'aquest trobadors'', a ''sirventes'' written at
Puivert
Puivert (; Languedocien: ''Puègverd'') is a commune in the Aude department in the Occitanie region in southern France.
History
In the 12th century a castle ( Château de Puivert) stood on this site which had strong links to both Cathars ...
(''Puoich-vert'') in which he ridicules twelve contemporary troubadours ("a poetical gallery") and praises himself. It has been conjectured that this piece was first performed in the presence of all twelve of the ridiculed poets in late Summer 1170 while an embassy bringing
Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The name was introd ...
, daughter of
Henry II of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...
, to her Spanish groom
Alfonso VIII of Castile
Alfonso VIII (11 November 11555 October 1214), called the Noble (''El Noble'') or the one of Las Navas (''el de las Navas''), was King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. After having suffered a great defeat with his own army at ...
sojourned at Puivert. If the above date is not accepted, it can be probably dated later than 1165—since Giraut de Borneill was only active from c.1170—and certainly before 1173, when Raimbaut d'Aurenga died.
The
Monge de Montaudon
The (Lo) Monge de Montaudon (meaning "monk of Montaudon") ( fl. 1193–1210Gaunt and Kay, Appendix I, 287.), born Pèire de Vic, was a nobleman, monk, and troubadour from the Auvergne, born at the castle of Vic-sur-Cère near Aurillac, where ...
later composed a parody of Peire's satire, ''Pos Peire d'Alvernhl a chantat''.
''Chantarai d'aquest trobadors'' is near universally regarded today as playful parody and not as a work of serious literary or artistic criticism. The obscurity of most of the ridiculed poets and the attack upon such personal characteristics as appearance and manners has been cited in support of the view that the parody was done in the presence of all twelve victims, further supporting the conclusion that the parody was good-natured. Besides the criticism of a personal nature, many of the criticism launched by Peire allude to the works of the others, notably those of Bernart de Ventadorn and Raimbaut d'Aurenga.
Music
Peire's ''vida'' acclaimed him an accomplished singer and the greatest composer of melodies for verses yet known.
Peire's famous ''Chantarai d'aquest trobadors'' contains a final ''
tornada'' indicating its musical nature, though its own melody has not survived:
Only two of Peire's melodies still exist: one of ''Dejosta.ls breus jorns e.ls lonc sers'', a ''canso'', and another of his ''tenso''.
Modern notations of both are provided in Aubrey, ''The Music of the Troubadours''.
On the whole, Peire's music is more
melisma
Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referr ...
tic than that typical of the troubadours and it mimics the ''trobar clus'' style of his lyrics.
[Aubrey, ''The Music of the Troubadours'', 235.]
References
Bibliography
*d'Alvernha, Peire. ''Liriche''. Alberto del Monte (trans. and ed.) Turin: Loescher-Chiantore, 1955.
*Aubrey, Elizabeth
"References to Music in Old Occitan Literature."''Acta Musicologica'', 61:2 (May–Aug., 1989), pp. 110–149.
*Aubrey, Elizabeth. ''The Music of the Troubadours''. Indiana University Press, 1996. .
*Egan, Margarita (ed. and trans.) ''The Vidas of the Troubadours''. New York: Garland, 1984. .
*Gaunt, Simon, and Kay, Sarah. "Appendix I: Major Troubadours" (pp. 279–291). ''The Troubadours: An Introduction''. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. .
*Harvey, Ruth. "Courtly culture in medieval Occitania" (pp. 8–27). ''The Troubadours: An Introduction''. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. .
*Lang, H. R
"The Relations of the Earliest Portuguese Lyric School with the Troubadours and Trouvères."''Modern Language Notes'', 10:4 (Apr., 1895), pp. 104–116.
*Léglu, Catherine. "Moral and satirical poetry" (pp. 47–65). ''The Troubadours: An Introduction''. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. .
*Paterson, Linda. "''Fin'amor'' and the development of the courtly ''canso''" (pp. 28–46). ''The Troubadours: An Introduction''. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. .
*Pattison, Walter T
"The Background of Peire D'Alvernhe's ''Chantarai D'Aquest Trobadors''."''Modern Philology'', 31:1 (Aug., 1933), pp. 19–34.
*Pattison, Walter T
"The Troubadours of Peire D'Alvernhe's Satire in Spain."''PMLA'', 50:1 (Mar., 1935), pp. 14–24.
*Puckett, Jaye
"''Reconmenciez novele estoire'': The Troubadours and the Rhetoric of the Later Crusades."''Modern Language Notes'', 116:4, French Issue. (Sep., 2001), pp. 844–889.
*Shapiro, Marianne
"The Provençal Trobairitz and the Limits of Courtly Love."''Signs'', 3:3 (Spring, 1978), pp. 560–571.
*Spence, Sarah. "Rhetoric and hermeneutics" (pp. 164–180). ''The Troubadours: An Introduction''. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. .
Notes
External links
Peire d'Alvernha: Complete Worksat Trobar. org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peire dAlvernhe
12th-century French troubadours
Year of death unknown
Year of birth unknown
People from Auvergne