Raimon de Cornet (, also spelled ''Ramon de Cornet''; fl. 1324–1340) was a fourteenth-century Toulousain

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

, grammarian,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, 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 ''trobairi ...

. He was a prolific author of verse; more than forty of his poems survive, most in Occitan but two in

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 ...

. He also wrote letters, a didactic poem (sometimes classed as the last '' ensenhamen''), a

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

, and some treatises on computation (i.e. practical mathematics). He was the "last of the troubadours" and represented ''l'esprit le plus brillant'' (the most brilliant spirit) of the "Toulousain School". He appears in contemporary documents with the titles '' En'' (sir, also ''mossen'') and '' Frare'' (brother, also ''fray'', ''frai'', or ''frayre''). Raimon's ''

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

'' is his ''Doctrinal de trobar'' (doctrines of composition) composed around 1324 and dedicated to

Peter, Count of Ribagorza Peter of Aragon ( ca, Pere d'Aragó, es, Pedro de Aragón; 1305 – 4 November 1381) was an ''infante'' (royal prince) of the Crown of Aragon who served three successive kings as a soldier, diplomat and counsellor before joining the Franciscans in ...

. The ''Doctrinal'' follows the grammar put forward later by the

Consistori del Gay Saber The Consistori del Gay Saber (; "Consistory of the Gay Science") was a poetic academy founded at Toulouse in 1323 to revive and perpetuate the lyric poetry of the troubadours. Also known as the Acadèmia dels Jòcs Florals or Académie des Jeu ...

Guilhem Molinier Guilhem Molinier or Moulinier ( 1330–50) was a medieval Occitan poet from Toulouse. His most notable work is ''Leys d'amors'' ("Laws of Love"), a treatise on rhetoric and grammar that achieved great notoriety and, beyond the Occitan, influenced ...

and it is structurally identical to Guilhem's ''

Leys d'Amors Guilhem Molinier or Moulinier ( 1330–50) was a medieval Occitan poet from Toulouse. His most notable work is ''Leys d'amors'' ("Laws of Love"), a treatise on rhetoric and grammar that achieved great notoriety and, beyond the Occitan, influenced ...

''. Both works spend a good deal of space quoting illustrative passages from the greatest troubadours of the past. The ''Doctrinal'' is considered the first work of the ''Gay Saber'' tradition. In a passage praising the pleasure of poetry, Raimon lists many of the traditional genres, which he and others like him had helped to define: Raimon strongly supported the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

and bitterly opposed the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

Avignon Papacy The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon – at the time within the Kingdom of Arles, part of the Holy Roman Empire; now part of France – rather than in Rome. The situation a ...

, and eventually Philip VI of France. He wrote two "Crusade songs". The earlier one was composed in 1332, when Philip VI announced his intention of going on Crusade in July. Raimon suggests that the king should impose a tax on those men who do not join the Crusade, and in any case those who remain in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

should pray two or three times daily for those who do go to the Holy Land. He notes that missionaries will inevitably accompany the host and attempt to convert the " Saracens". The second song, composed in 1336, is an attack on Philip for not completing his promised Crusade. Raimon's poem ''Quar mot orne fan vers'' contains the earliest reference to

basse danse The ''basse danse'', or "low dance", was a popular court dance in the 15th and early 16th centuries, especially at the Burgundian court. The word ''basse'' describes the nature of the dance, in which partners move quietly and gracefully in a ...

. In describing the profession of the jongleurs he notes that they rapidly pick up the ''bassas dansas''. This reference predates any other by a century.Aubrey, "References", p. 119. Eighteen of Raimon's lyric poems are preserved in the final, unfinished folios of the Cançoner Gil, known as troubadour MS ''Sg'' or ''Z'', now MS 146 in the

Biblioteca de Catalunya The Library of Catalonia ( ca, Biblioteca de Catalunya, ) is the Catalan national library, located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The primary mission of the Library of Catalonia is to collect, preserve, and spread Catalan bibliographic producti ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. In 1341, possibly in Raimon's lifetime, the Catalan poet

Joan de Castellnou Joan de Castellnou (; floruit, fl. 1341–1355) was a troubadour of the Consistori del Gay Saber active in Toulouse. He left behind five or six ''Canso (song), cansos'', three ''Verse (poetry), vers'', a ''dansa'', a ''conselh'', and a ''sirven ...

wrote a ''Glosari al Doctrinal de Ramon de Cornet'', a gloss on the ''Doctrinal''. __NOTOC__

Works in the Cançoner Gil

;'' Canços'' *"Al mes d'abril can veyrez nutg los camps" *"Le mieus saber ioy deziran se pert" *"Ara·s fos hieu si malautz e cotxatz" *"Intrar vuyll en guerrejar si puch tan" *"Cars motz gentils fons e grans mars d'apteza" *"Cent castels e cent tors" *"En aycel tems com no sen fretg ni cauma" (titled "Saumesca") *"Amors corals me fay deios un cas" (called a ''canso'') ;''

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 ...

'' *"Jus en la font de cobeytat se bayna" *"Totz temps azir falsetatz ez engan" *"Qui dels escachs vol belamen iogar" (''com deu hom jogar als escachs'') ;''Vers'' (poems) *"Car vey lo mon de mal pugat al cim" *"Pauc homes vey de sen tan freyturos" *"Raso ni sens no pot vezer lo moble" *"Ben es vilas e mals e rustichs" *"Ab tot mon sen d'amors si pusch faray" ;'' Tenço'' *"Pres mes talens d'un pech partimen far" with Arnau Alaman, ''donzel d'Albi'' ;Unclassified *"A Sent Marcel d'Albeges, prop de Salaç"

References

*Aubrey, Elizabeth (1989)
"References to Music in Old Occitan Literature."
''Acta Musicologica'', 61:2 (May–Aug.), pp. 110–149. *Aubrey, Elizabeth (1996). ''The Music of the Troubadours''. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. . *Auroux, Sylvain (2000). ''History of the Language Sciences''. Walter de Gruyter. . * *Desmet, Piet (2000). ''The History of Linguistic and Grammatical Praxis''. Peeters Publishers. . *Paden, William D. (1995). "The Troubadours and the Albigensian Crusade: A Long View." ''Romance Philology'', 49:2 (Nov.), pp. 168–191 *Paterson, Linda (2003)
"Lyric allusions to the crusades and the Holy Land."
Colston Symposium. *Zeeman, Nicolette (1988)
"The Lover-Poet and Love as the Most Pleasing ''Matere'' in Medieval French Love Poetry."
''The Modern Language Review'', 83:4 (Oct.), pp. 820–842.

External links

at Medieval Sourcebook
Cançoner provençal (Cançoner Gil)
at the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes

Notes

{{authority control 14th-century French troubadours 14th-century Latin writers Medieval writers about the Crusades Medieval Latin poets Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown Clergy from Toulouse Medieval linguists Linguists from France Writers from Toulouse