Peire Raimon de Tolosa (or Toloza;
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 ...
1180–1220)
[Aubrey, 17.] was a
troubadour from the
merchant class of
Toulouse. He is variously referred to as ''lo Viellz'' ("the Old") and ''lo Gros'' ("the Fat"), though these are thought by some to refer to two different persons.
On the other hand, ''lo Viellz'' could refer to his being of an early generation of troubadours.
[Egan, 77.] Eighteen of Peire Ramon's poems survive, one ''
canso
The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) is a representative body of companies that provide air traffic control. It represents the interests of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs). CANSO members are responsible for supporting ov ...
'' with a melody.
Peire Ramon's name (as ''Petrus Raimundus'') appears in two documents of Toulouse, dated to 1182 and 1214.
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 ...
'', he became a jongleur and travelled to the court of
Alfonso II of Aragon
Alfonso II (1–25 March 1157Benito Vicente de Cuéllar (1995)«Los "condes-reyes" de Barcelona y la "adquisición" del reino de Aragón por la dinastía bellónida» p. 630-631; in ''Hidalguía''. XLIII (252) pp. 619–632."Alfonso II el Casto, hi ...
, who bestowed great honour on him.
The earliest datable work by Peire Ramon is a ''
planh'' written on the death of
Henry the Young King in 1183.
According to his ''vida'' Peire passed "a long time" at the courts of Alfonso,
William VIII of Montpellier
William VIII (in Occitan: Guilhem; died 1202) was Lord of Montpellier, the son of William VII and Matilda of Burgundy (1135?-1173?).
William VIII married Eudokia Komnene, grand-niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos.
They had one dau ...
, and a certain "Count Raymond", which could refer to either
Raymond V of Toulouse or, more probably,
Raymond VI
Raymond VI ( oc, Ramon; October 27, 1156 – August 2, 1222) was Count of Toulouse and Marquis of Provence from 1194 to 1222. He was also Count of Melgueil (as Raymond IV) from 1173 to 1190.
Early life
Raymond was born at Saint-Gilles, Gard, ...
.
He also spent time in Italy (
Lombardy
Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...
and
Piedmont), at the courts of
Thomas I of Savoy,
Guglielmo Malaspina
Guglielmo () is the Italian form of the masculine name William. It may refer to:
People with the given name Guglielmo:
* Guglielmo I Gonzaga (1538–1587), Duke of Mantua and Montferrat
* Guglielmo Achille Cavellini (1914–1990), influential I ...
, and
Azzo VI of Este.
Azzo's daughter Beatriz was the addressee of one of Peire's poems.
Eventually Peire settled down with a wife in
Pamiers and there he died.
Peire was reputed as a singer and composer of ''cansos''.
His work is characterised by themes of nature. His style was
hermetic. He imitated the troubadours
Cadenet
Cadenet () is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.
Its inhabitants are called ''Cadenétiens'' in French.
Geography
Cadenet is a village located on the southern slopes of the Lube ...
and
Arnaut Daniel and was in turn imitated by
Bertran de Born
Bertran de Born (; 1140s – by 1215) was a baron from the Limousin in France, and one of the major Occitan troubadours of the 12th-13th century. He composed love songs (cansos) but was better known for his political songs (sirventes). He wa ...
, especially as regards his use of natural imagery. Bertran went so far as to copy almost a whole stanza from Peire's "No.m puesc sofrir d'una leu chanso faire." In "Us noels pessamens", Peire even anticipates the
Tuscan poet
Dante Alighieri. Peire is complaining about a mistress who first beckoned him and then broke her promise to him when he says:
:''Que qui non a vezat aver''
:''gran be, plus leu pot sostener''
:''afan que tal es rics e bos;''
:''que.l maltrag l'es plus angoyssos,''
:''quan li soven benanansa''.
Peire's sole surviving melody is florid like Cadenet's. His style employs an uncommonly high number of large intervals, including
tritones. The poem with the melody is built on an innovative metaphor:
:''Atressi cum la candela''
:''que si meteissa destrui''
:''per far clartat ad autrui,''
:''chant, on plus trac gren martire,''
:''per plazer de l'autra gen''.[Gouiran, 88: "Like the candle which destroys itself in order to give light to others, I sing, at the worst of my torture, for the pleasure of others."]
Notes
Sources
*
Anglade, Joseph.br>
''Poésies du troubadour Peire Raimon de Toulouse''.1920.
*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. .
*Gouiran, Gérard. "The Classical Period: from Raimbaut d'Aurenga to Arnaut Daniel." ''The Troubadours: An Introduction''. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. .
*Kastner, L. E
"Notes on the Poems of Bertran de Born."''The Modern Language Review'', 31:1 (Jan., 1936), pp. 20–33.
*Lewent, Kurt
"Old Provençal Miscellany: 1. Troubadours as Precursors of Dante."''The Modern Language Review'', 38:2 (Apr., 1943), pp. 106–116.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peire Raimon De Tolosa
Musicians from Toulouse
13th-century French troubadours
12th-century French troubadours
12th-century births
13th-century deaths
Writers from Toulouse