Raimon Escrivan was a Toulousain

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 ...

. He may be identified with the

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

Raimundus Scriptor of Saint-Étienne in Toulouse or perhaps Raimon de Costiran, a victim of the Papal Inquisition at Avinhonet in 1242. His surname, ''Escrivan'', means "writer" (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''scriptor'') and was commonly adopted by

notaries A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...

at that time. While trapped in the city during the Siege of Toulouse in 1218, he wrote a mock ''

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

trebuchet A trebuchet (french: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weight ...

(''trabuquet'') and a

siege engine A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while oth ...

called a "cat" (''cata''). ''Senhors, l'autrier vi ses falhida'', as it begins, has been interpreted as cleverly disguised obscenity, but there is no reason not to take it at face value. During the siege a trebuchet was constructed by the citizens and successfully employed to destroy the besiegers' cat, just as the ''trabuquet'' of the poem defeats the ''cata''. The '' Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise'' contains a description of the siege (from a Toulousain viewpoint) which echoes the tenor of Escrivan's song.

Sources

* Riquer, Martín de. ''Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos''. 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975. {{authority control People of the Albigensian Crusade 13th-century French troubadours Writers from Toulouse