Bernat de Palaol or de Mallorques (;
fl. 1386) was a
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
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 ''trobairit ...
and
merchant
A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...
from
Majorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean.
The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
. He was sometimes called ''lo mercader mallorquí'' (the Majorcan merchant).
On 3 May 1386 Bernat participated publicly in 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 ''tenso'' ...
'' (poetical debate) with
Jacme Rovira before the judges
Germà de Gontaut and
Ramon Galbarra at 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 Jeux ...
in
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...
. The subject of the debate was this: there was a young lord who loved a young lady who did not return the love, yet there was another young lady, of equal worth, who loved him deeply but to whom he was unattracted; to which of these should he devote his service? Bernat defended the second lady, but the judges found in favour of Jacme and the first lady: the lord, they said, ought to devote himself to the one he truly loves, not the one who truly loves him.
Bernat produced only one surviving work, a combination of ''
maldit
A ''maldit'' (, also spelled ''maudit''; , modern spelling ''maleit'', "curse") was a genre of Catalan and Occitan literature practised by the later troubadours. It was a song complaining about a lady's behaviour and character. A related genre, ...
'' and ''
comiat
A ''maldit'' (, also spelled ''maudit''; , modern spelling ''maleit'', "curse") was a genre of Catalan literature, Catalan and Occitan literature practised by the later troubadours. It was a song complaining about a lady's behaviour and characte ...
'' that began ''Cercatz d'uymay, ja.n siatz belha y pros''. In the tradition of those genres, Bernat describes his lady as unjust and indiscrete and renounces her. The terms he uses make it clear that he has not praised this woman in any previous poem. This poem, despite its generic
rhyme scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.
An example of the ABAB rh ...
and
metre
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...
, was moderately popular: it was cited by
Francesc Ferrer
Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia (; January 14, 1859 – October 13, 1909), widely known as Francisco Ferrer (), was a Spanish radical freethinker, anarchist, and educationist behind a network of secular, private, libertarian schools in and aroun ...
and
Francesc de la Via Francesc () is a masculine given name of Catalan origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francesco, Francisco, François, and Franz. People with the name include:
*Cesc Fàbregas (Francesc Fàbregas i Soler) (born 1987), Spanish professional football ...
in the next century and its melody was adopted for a certain song of the ''
''.
References
*
Riquer, Martín de (1964). ''Història de la Literatura Catalana'', vol. 1. Barcelona: Edicions Ariel.
External links
Incipitario di Bernat de Palaolwith links to edited versions of his poetry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palaol, Bernat de
People from Catalonia
People from Mallorca
14th-century Spanish troubadours