Uc Brunet, Brunec, or Brunenc ( en, Hugh, la, Ugo; fl. 1190–1220)Aubrey, 19. was a nobleman 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 '' trobair ...

from

Rodez Rodez ( or ; oc, Rodés, ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of th ...

in the Rouergue. Six of his works survive. Outside of his own works and those of other troubadours, including a '' vida'', Uc is mentioned in only one document dated to around 1190. The document relates the settlement between Uc and the abbey of Bonnecombe, from which Uc had demanded free lodging for himself, five of his knights, and a servant. Uc's career can be extended as late as the c. 1220 by the ''

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 ...

'' (lament) written on his death by Daude de Pradas, who was only active from about that time. Among Uc's patrons were

Hugh II of Rodez Hugh II (c. 1135 – 1208), of the House of Millau, was the Count of Rodez and Viscount of Carlat and Creyssels from around 1156 until his death. He was the son of Hugh I of Rodez and Carlat and Ermengard of Creyssels. Hugh was himself a vas ...

, his suzerain;

Alfonso II of Aragon Alfonso II (1–25 March 1157Benito Vicente de Cuéllar (1995)«Los "condes-reyes" de Barcelona y la "adquisición" del reino de Aragón por la dinastía bellónida» p. 630-631; in ''Hidalguía''. XLIII (252) pp. 619–632."Alfonso II el Casto, hi ...

;

Raymond VI of Toulouse Raymond VI ( oc, Ramon; October 27, 1156 – August 2, 1222) was Count of Toulouse and Marquis of Provence from 1194 to 1222. He was also Count of Melgueil (as Raymond IV) from 1173 to 1190. Early life Raymond was born at Saint-Gilles, Gard, ...

;

Bernard VII of Anduze Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...

; and

Dalfi d'Alvernha Dalfi d'Alvernha (french: Dauphin d'Auvergne) was the Count of Clermont and Montferrand, a troubadour and a patron of troubadours. He was born around 1150 and died in 1234 or 1235. He is sometimes called Robert IV, but there is no solid evidence ...

. The author of Uc's ''vida'' (biography), whose reliability is difficult to ascertain, states that Uc was a

cleric 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 ...

well-versed in letters with a natural wit.Egan, 107. From this background he became a

jongleur 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 who ...

and then a troubadour, but he never, according to his ''vida'', composed any music. Nonetheless, one of his songs is accompanied by a melody in one manuscript; the melody may be Uc's or somebody else's. Uc's ''vida'' provides an interesting story which cannot be verified that Uc fell in love with a bourgeois women named Galiana, from

Aurillac Aurillac (; oc, Orlhac ) is the prefecture of the Cantal department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Aurillacois'' or ''Aurillacoises''. Geography Aurillac is at above sea leve ...

. She dismissed him, however, and took Hugh of Rodez as her lover. In his pain Uc Brunet entered the "order of Cartosa" (probably an unidentified

charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...

) and there died. One of Hugh's datable works is a ''

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 ...

'', "Conplidas razos novelas e plazens", which mentions the death of ''los comtes'', evidently the count of Rodez, in 1208.Aubrey, 46. It is the only work of Uc's to survive with a melody. The melody is

melisma Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referr ...

tic and tonal with its centre generally on F, though it ends on D.Aubrey, 180, 234–235.

Sources

*Aubrey, Elizabeth. ''The Music of the Troubadours''. Indiana University Press, 1996. . *Egan, Margarita, ed. and trans. ''The Vidas of the Troubadours''. New York: Garland, 1984. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunet, Uc People from Rodez 13th-century French troubadours Carthusians 1190 births 1220 deaths