Rigaut de Berbezilh (also Berbezill or Barbesiu; french: Rigaud de Barbezieux, la, Rigaudus de Berbezillo) 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 '' trobair ...

(

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1140–1163Aubrey, 8.Gaunt and Kay, 290.) of the

petty nobility The petty nobility is the lower nobility classes. Finland Petty nobility in Finland is dated at least back to 13th century and was formed by nobles around their strategic interests. The idea was more capable peasants with leader roles in local c ...

Saintonge Saintonge may refer to: *County of Saintonge, a historical province of France on the Atlantic coast *Saintonge (region), a region of France corresponding to the historical province Places * Saint-Genis-de-Saintonge, a commune in the Charente-Mar ...

. He was a great influence on the

Sicilian School The Sicilian School was a small community of Sicilian and mainland Italian poets gathered around Frederick II, most of them belonging to his imperial court. Headed by Giacomo da Lentini, they produced more than 300 poems of courtly love betwe ...

and is quoted in the ''

Roman de la Rose ''Le Roman de la Rose'' (''The Romance of the Rose'') is a medieval poem written in Old French and presented as an allegorical dream vision. As poetry, ''The Romance of the Rose'' is a notable instance of courtly literature, purporting to prov ...

''. About fifteen of his poems survive, including one ''

planh A genre of the troubadours, the or (; "lament") is a funeral lament for "a great personage, a protector, a friend or relative, or a lady."Elisabeth Schulze-Busacker, "Topoi", in F. R. P. Akehurst and Judith M. Davis, eds., ''A Handbook of the T ...

'' and nine or 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 ...

''. His name is sometimes given as Richart or Richartz.

Life

While the dates of his life are disputed, some maintaining a later career (c. 1170–1215), the general consensus is that he was an early troubadour.

''Vida''

According to his '' vida'', the reliability of which is highly doubtful, he was a poor knight from the castle of Barbezieux near

Cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cognac production falls under French appella ...

in the

diocese of Saintes In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

.Egan, 99. He was described as capable and handsome, but ''saup mielhs trobar qu'entendre ni que dire'': "he knew better how to compose poetry than to listen to it or recite it." He was reputed by the author of the ''vida'' to be timid, especially in the company of noblemen, but to sing "in a charming way" with encouragement. Also according to his ''vida'', he fell in love with the wife of Jaufre of Tonnay (''Gaufridus de Tonai''), possibly a daughter of

Jaufre Rudel Jaufre Rudel (Jaufré in modern Occitan) was the Prince of Blaye (''Princes de Blaia'') and a troubadour of the early- to mid-12th century, who probably died during the Second Crusade, in or after 1147. He is noted for developing the theme of "lo ...

. She made "sweet pretenses of love to him ... like a lady who desired that a troubadour invent poems about her."Egan, 100. He referred to her as ''Miellz-de-Domna'', a ''senhal'' meaning "Best of Ladies", in at least four of his works. Though he sang songs about Miellz-de-Domna for a long time, it was not believed that he had a sexual relationship with her. When she died he went to Spain and, according to two manuscripts of his ''vida'', spent the rest of his life at the court of Diego López II de Haro, a famed patron of troubadours.

History

It is generally accepted that Rigaut was indeed from a family who had been deputies of the lord of the castle of Barbezieux. His family was probably distantly related to that of Jaufre Rudel through the

Counts of Angoulême Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York ...

. He himself was probably the younger of two sons, but he married into an Angoumois family of rank. His entire life seems to have been spent in the region just south of

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; oc, Engoleime) is a commune, the prefecture of the Charente department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Angoumoisins ...

and a post-1157 document refers to his entering a monastery.

Poetry and melody

As a poet he was influenced by

Marcabru Marcabru (; fl. 1130–1150) is one of the earliest troubadours whose poems are known. There is no certain information about him; the two '' vidas'' attached to his poems tell different stories, and both are evidently built on hints in the poems; ...

. One of his works, ''Atressi com l'orifans'', achieved lasting fame and its melody survives in at least three manuscripts, its text in a late thirteenth-century Italian '' novellino''. As his ''vida'' states, he sought to be novel through the incorporation of natural images—such as birds, beasts, stars, and the Sun—in his poems and they contain learned references to

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...

and the legend of

Perceval Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the Gra ...

. His use of

simile A simile () is a figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes differ from other metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two things using comparison words such as "like", "as", "so", or "than", while other metaphors c ...

was heavy. Four ''cansos'' in total—two bestiary ''cansos'', the Perceval ''canso'', and a traditional ''canso''—survive with melodies.

Gallery

File:BnF ms. 854 fol. 87v - Rigaut de Barbezieux (1).jpg, Rigaut as a knight in armour, with his coat-of-arms clearly visible File:Rigaut de Berbezilh with friend and bonfire.jpg, Rigaut and a ladyfriend at a bonfire. File:Rigaut de Berbezilh with friend.jpg, Rigaut and a ladyfriend discussing, from MS ''A'', folio 164v (

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

References

Notes

Sources

*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. . *Varvaro, A. ''Rigaut de Berbezilh: Liriche''. Bari: Biblioteca di filologia romanza. 1960.

External links

His complete works
online at Trobar.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Rigaut De Berbezilh 12th-century French troubadours Holy Grail People from Saintes, Charente-Maritime