Guillelma de Rosers ( fl. 1235–1265), also spelled Guilleuma, Guillielma, Guilielma, or Guilhelma, was a Provençal

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 roma ...

of the mid-thirteenth century, one of the last known trobairitz. She was originally from

Rougiers Rougiers (; oc, Rotgiers) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It was the site of influential medieval excavations by the French archaeologist Gabrielle Démians d'Archimbaud. S ...

but lived in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

for a long time, where she met

Lanfranc Cigala Lanfranc Cigala (or Cicala) ( it, Lanfranco, oc, Lafranc; fl. 1235–1257) was a Genoese nobleman, knight, judge, and man of letters of the mid thirteenth century. He remains one of the most famous Occitan troubadours of Lombardy. Thirty-two o ...

, who wrote about her in some songs. These and Lanfranc's ''

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 ...

'' form the major source of information about her life. She is also the addressee—''la flor de cortezia'', the flower of courtliness—of an anonymous ''

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 ...

'', "Quan Proensa ac perduda proeza" (when Provence had lost prowess), which bemoans her long stay in Genoa. Guillelma's only surviving piece of poetry is a ''

partimen The ''partimen'' (; ca, partiment ; also known as ''partia'' or ''joc partit'') is a cognate form of the French jeu-parti (plural ''jeux-partis''). It is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry composed between two troubadours, a subgenre of the '' ten ...

'', "Na Guillelma, maint cavalier arratge", with Lanfranc, in which he posed her the dilemma:

Dame Guilllelma, a band of weary knights
abroad in the dark, in most dismal weather,
wished aloud in their own tongues that they might
find shelter. Two lovers happened to over-
hear while on their way to their ladies who
lived close at hand; one of them turned back to
help the knights, the other went to his lady:
which of the two behaved most fittingly?Kehew, pp. 300–01.

Guillelma answered that ''l'autre fes ben'' ("the other did well") for "the man who keeps his word is held in much / higher esteem than he whose plans are in flux."

Bibliography

*Bogin, Meg (1976). ''The Women Troubadours''. Scarborough: Paddington. . *Bruckner, Matilda Tomaryn; Shepard, Laurie; and White, Sarah. (1995). ''Songs of the Women Troubadours''. New York: Garland Publishing. . *Egan, Margarita (1984). ''The Vidas of the Troubadours''. New York: Garland. . *Healy, Elliott D. (1948). "Lanfrance Cigala, Poet of the ''Dolce Stilnuovo'' in Provençal." ''Studies in Philology'', 45, pp. 432–45 *Kehew, Robert; Pount, Ezra; and Snodgrass, William De Witt (2005). ''Lark in the Morning: The Verses of the Troubadours''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. .

Notes

{{Authority control 13th-century French troubadours Trobairitz 13th-century Genoese people Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown People from Var (department)