Raimon de Castelnou was an

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 ...

writer and

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 ...

of the second half of the 13th century. He wrote five ''

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 ...

'' (love songs) and one treatise on

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

doctrine and ethics. There is a ''

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 ...

'' attributed to him in some manuscripts, but its attribution is disputed.Robert A. Taylor
''A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of the Troubadours and Old Occitan Literature''
Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, 2 (Kamloops: Medieval Institute Publications, 2015), pp. 505–506. Raimon's treatise, the ''Doctrinal'', contains 400 lines divided into 14

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...

d ''

laisse A laisse is a type of stanza, of varying length, found in medieval French literature, specifically medieval French epic poetry (the ''chanson de geste''), such as ''The Song of Roland''. In early works, each laisse was made up of (mono) assonanced ...

s''. It was transmitted independently of his lyric poetry and is found in two manuscripts:

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, Harley 7403 and

Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana The Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana or BML) is a historic library in Florence, Italy, containing more than 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 early printed books. Built in a cloister of the Medicean Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze ...

, Ashburnham 40b.Catherine Léglu, "Vernacular Poems and Inquisitors in Languedoc and Champagne, ca. 1242–1249", ''Viator'' 33 (2002): 117–132. In it, Raimon describes himself as a poor

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

who gave up "worthless singing" under the influence of some good clergymen. The ''Doctrinal'' is mostly about the

sacrament A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments ...

s, but also ethics. It was intended for a popular audience and for public recitation. The authenticity of the attribution of the ''sirventes'' to Raimon is argued by Vicenç Beltrán. It is found in three

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 ...

s, but in three others it is attributed to

Peire Cardenal Peire Cardenal (or Cardinal) (c. 1180 – c. 1278) was a troubadour (fl. 1204 – 1272) known for his satirical ''sirventes'' and his dislike of the clergy. Ninety-six pieces of his remain, a number rarely matched by other poets of the age.Aubrey, ...

. It may be a

contrafactum In vocal music, contrafactum (or contrafact, pl. contrafacta) is "the substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music". The earliest known examples of this procedure (sometimes referred to as ''adaptation''), date back ...

by Raimon of an original by Peire, ''De selhs qu'avets el sirventes dich mal''. Beltrán proposes that Raimon composed it around 1274–1275, when

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

traveled to Beaucaire to meet Pope

Gregory X Pope Gregory X ( la, Gregorius X; – 10 January 1276), born Teobaldo Visconti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1271 to his death and was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. He was ...

, who dissuaded him from pursuing his claim on the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

. From the authenticity of this ''sirventes'', it follows that Raimon's patrons were Counts Hugh IV and

Henry II of Rodez Henry II (Occitan: ''Enric II de Rodés'') (c. 1236–1304), of the House of Millau, was the Count of Rodez and Viscount of Carlat from 1274 until his death. He was the son of Hugh IV of Rodez and Isabeau de Roquefeuil. Henry II was a troubadour ...

.Vicenç Beltrán
"Tipos y temas trovadorescos, XIV: Alfonso X, Raimon de Castelnou y la corte literaria de Rodez"
in Anton Touber (ed.), ''Le rayonnement des troubadours: Actes du colloque de l'AIEO, Amsterdam, 16–18 oct., 1995'' (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1998), pp. 19–39.

Works

*The ''cansos'' are all found in chansonnier ''C''. Although each is attributed to R. de Castelnou, the table of contents mistakenly gives his name as Ymbert de Castelnou.Bibliografia Elettronica dei Trovatori
version 2.5 (2012). **''Ar a ben dos ans passatz'' **''Aras, puc ai luec e sazo'' **''De servir a bon senhor'' **''Entr'ir'et alegrier m'estau'' **''Ges, si tot es tan suau'' *The ''sirventes'' is attributed to Raimon in chansonniers ''C'', ''R'' and ''a¹''; to Peire explicitly in ''D^b'' and ''M'' and implicitly in ''T''; to Daipol (perhaps

Guilhem d'Autpol Guilhem d'Autpol or Daspol ( fl. 1265–1270) was a troubadour from Hautpoul in the Languedoc. He wrote four works that survive, three dwelling on intensely religious themes. There exists some evidence internal in his songs that he was a jongleu ...

) in ''f''; and is anonymous in ''Y''. **''Mon chantar voill retrair'al cominal'' *''Doctrinal'', the

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...

of which is ''E.nom de Dieu lo Paire e de la Trinitat''

Editions

*Giannetti, Andrea, ed. ''Raimon de Castelnou: Canzoni e dottrinale''. Biblioteca di filologia romanza, 33. Bari: Adriatica, 1988.

References

{{reflist 13th-century troubadours