''Augats, seyós qui credets Déu lo Payre'' (, sometimes called the ''Plany de la Verge'') is a Catalan poem of lamentation (''

planctus A ''planctus'' (" plaint") is a lament or dirge, a song or poem expressing grief or mourning. It became a popular literary form in the Middle Ages, when they were written in Latin and in the vernacular (e.g., the '' planh'' of the troubadours). Th ...

'') in the ''planctus Mariae'' tradition, in which the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

laments the death of her son. It was written between 1240 and 1260 and is thus one of the oldest Catalan poems, although it comes two hundred years after the ''

Cançó de Santa Fe The (or ) (, ; , ), a hagiographical poem about Saint Faith, is an early surviving written work in Old Occitan and has been proposed to be the earliest work in Old Catalan. It is 593 octosyllabic lines long, divided into between 45 and 55 mo ...

''. The piece is sometimes confused with the ''Plant de la Verge'' of

Ramon Llull Ramon Llull (; ; – 1316), sometimes anglicized as ''Raymond Lully'', was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, Christian apologist and former knight from the Kingdom of Majorca. He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art ...

. Structurally, ''Augats'' is divided into twelve

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...

s, each composed of five monorhyming

decasyllabic Decasyllable (Italian language, Italian: ''decasillabo'', French language, French: ''décasyllabe'', Serbian language, Serbian: ''десетерац'', ''deseterac'') is a Poetry, poetic Meter (poetry), meter of ten syllables used in poetic trad ...

lines followed by tetrasyllabic single-line

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeated in poetry or in music">poetry.html" ;"title="Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeat ...

and a final decasyllabic line without rhyme. The language of the poem is heavily influenced by the

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

of the

troubadours A troubadour (, ; ) 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 equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tro ...

and the

courtly love Courtly love ( ; ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing various deeds or services for ladies b ...

lyric. The poem is preserved in four manuscripts. It was first brought to light by Jaime Villanueva in 1821, when he redacted it for publication from a manuscript in the archives of the church of

Àger Àger (; ) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Noguera in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the north-west of the ''comarca'', and the territory of the municipality stretches between the Noguera Ribagorçana and Noguera Pallaresa rive ...

. Villanueva found it entitled ''Planctus Sanctae Mariae virginis''. Its language (whether Occitan or Catalan) became at once an issue of debate. The first two lines of the second stanza are a direct translation of an earlier

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

lament, ''Qui per viam pergitis''. The poem, which was perhaps performed, is the first-person lament of the Virgin Mary over the crucifixion of her son, Jesus Christ:

References

*Otto, Richard (1889). "Der ''Planctus Mariae''". ''Modern Language Notes'', 4:4 (Apr.), pp. 105–108. * Riquer, Martí de (1964). ''Història de la Literatura Catalana'', vol. 1. Barcelona: Edicions Ariel. *Sticca, Sandro (1988). ''The ''Planctus Mariae'' in the Dramatic Tradition of the Middle Ages''. Joseph R. Berrigan, trans. London: University of Georgia Press. * Villanueva, Jaime (1821)
''Viage literario á las iglesias de España''.
Valencia: Imprenta de Oliveres. For his transcriptions, see pp. 281–3.

External links

''Bibliografia de Textos Catalans Antics'', at PhiloBiblon. {{DEFAULTSORT:Augats, seyos qui credets Deu lo Payre Medieval Catalan literature Old Occitan literature