Elias Cairel (or Cayrel; fl. 1204–1222) was 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 ...

of international fame. Born in Sarlat in the

Périgord Périgord ( , ; ; oc, Peiregòrd / ) is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne department, now forming the northern part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is div ...

, he first travelled with the Fourth Crusade and settled down in the

Kingdom of Thessalonica The Kingdom of Thessalonica () was a short-lived Crusader State founded after the Fourth Crusade over conquered Byzantine lands in Macedonia and Thessaly. History Background After the fall of Constantinople to the crusaders in 1204, Bonif ...

at the court of

Boniface of Montferrat Boniface I, usually known as Boniface of Montferrat ( it, Bonifacio del Monferrato, link=no; el, Βονιφάτιος Μομφερρατικός, ''Vonifatios Momferratikos'') (c. 1150 – 4 September 1207), was the ninth Marquis of Montferrat ( ...

(1204–1208/10) before moving back to western Europe, where he sojourned at the court of

Alfonso IX of León Alfonso IX (15 August 117123 or 24 September 1230) was King of León and Galicia from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death. He took steps towards modernizing and democratizing his dominion and founded the Universit ...

(1210–11) and in Lombardy (1219–1222/24). He wrote fourteen surviving lyrics: ten ''

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 ...

'', one ''

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 ...

'', one ''

descort The ''descort'' () was a form and genre of Old Occitan lyric poetry used by troubadours. It was heavily discordant in verse form and/or feeling and often used to express disagreement. It was possibly invented by Garin d'Apchier when he wrote ''Qua ...

'', one ''

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 ...

'', and one

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 ...

. He was partial to refrain rhyming and '' coblas capfinidas''. Elias' '' vida'' survives in three manuscripts with a variant in a fourth designed to refute the other three.Egan, 31. According to his biographer he was gold- and silversmith and an armourer who turned to

minstrel 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 ...

sy. His singing, composition, fiddling, and speaking were reputed as "bad", but his biographer says ''ben escrivia motz e sons'': "well he wrote words and songs", implying a distinction between his composing and his ''writing''.Aubrey, 28–29. He supposedly returned from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

to die in Sarlat. Elias composed his only ''tenso'' with the

trobairitz The ''trobairitz'' () were Occitan female troubadours of the 12th and 13th centuries, active from around 1170 to approximately 1260. ''Trobairitz'' is both singular and plural. The word ''trobairitz'' is first attested in the 13th-century ro ...

Ysabella ''Ysabella'' is a 2007 Philippine drama television series starring Judy Ann Santos, Coney Reyes, Ryan Agoncillo and Derek Ramsay. The series debuted on ABS-CBN from June 25, 2007 to January 25, 2008, replacing '' Maria Flordeluna'' and was repl ...

, who may have been either a high-ranking noblewoman of Italy or Greece, or perhaps just a local girl of Périgord who Elias knew in his youth. She is also the addressee of two other poems. Elias also addressed one poem to Ruiz Díaz de Coneros (''Roiz Dies''), a Spanish patron, and another to

Conon de Béthune Conon de Béthune (before 1160 in the former region of Artois, today Pas-de-Calais - 17 December 1219, possibly at Adrianople) was a French crusader and trouvère poet who became a senior official and finally regent of the Latin Empire of Cons ...

(''Coino''), a

trouvère ''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French ('' langue d'oïl'') form of the '' langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word ''troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to poet ...

.Riquer, 1144–45. Elias may have been present at the

Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab ( ar, معركة العقاب), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the ''Reconquista'' and the medieval history of Spain. The Chris ...

in 1212. In his ''Toz m'era de chantar gequiz'', the Bolognese troubadour Rambertino Buvalelli asks Elias to bring the poem to

Beatrice d'Este Beatrice d'Este (29 June 1475 – 3 January 1497), was Duchess of Bari and Milan by marriage to Ludovico Sforza (known as "il Moro"). She was one of the most important personalities of the time and, despite her short life, she was a major playe ...

when he travels to the court of Azzo VII at Este. __NOTOC__

Works

*''Abril ni mai non aten de far vers'' *''Era no vei puoi ni comba'' *''Estat ai dos ans'' (addressed to Ysabella) *''Freit ni ven, no·m posc destreigner'' *''Lo rossinhols chanta tan dousamen'' *''Mout mi platz lo doutz temps d'abril'' (addressed to Ysabella) *''N'Elyas Cairel, de l'amor'' (with Ysabella) *''Per mantener joi e chant e solatz'' *''Pois chai la fuoilla del garric'' *''Qan la freidors irais l'aura dousana'' *''Qui saubes dar tant bon conseil denan'' *''Si cum cel qe sos compaignos'' *''So qe·m sol dar alegranssa'' *''Totz mos cors e mos sens'' (addressed to Ruiz)

Sources and further reading

*Aubrey, Elizabeth. ''The Music of the Troubadours''. Indiana University Press, 1996. . *Bertoni, Giulio. ''I Trovatori d'Italia: Biografie, testi, tradizioni, note''. Rome: Società Multigrafica Editrice Somu, 1967 915 *Bruckner, M. T.; Shepard, L.; and White, S. ''Songs of the Women Troubadours''. New York: Garland Publishing, 1995. . *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. . * Jaeschke, Hilde, ed. ''Der Trobador Elias Cairel''. Berlin: Emil Ebering, 1921
Text at archive.org
* Riquer, Martín de. ''Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos''. 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975.

Notes

External links

Elias Cairel
at Rialto {{Authority control 13th-century French troubadours People from Sarlat-la-Canéda Christians of the Fourth Crusade