Guillem de Cabestany (; 1162–1212) 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 ...

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 '' trobai ...

from

Cabestany Cabestany () is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Localisation Cabestany is located in the canton of Perpignan-3 and in the arrondissement of Perpignan. Government and politics Mayors ...

in the

County of Roussillon The County of Roussillon ( ca, Comtat de Rosselló, , la, Comitatus Ruscinonensis) was one of the Catalan counties in the Marca Hispanica during the Middle Ages. The rulers of the county were the counts of Roussillon, whose interests lay both n ...

. He is often known by his

Old Occitan Old Occitan ( oc, occitan ancian, label= Modern Occitan, ca, occità antic), also called Old Provençal, was the earliest form of the Occitano-Romance languages, as attested in writings dating from the eighth through the fourteenth centuries. Ol ...

name, Guilhem de Cabestaing, Cabestang, Cabestan, or Cabestanh (pronounced ).

Life

Not much reliable information is known about Guillem de Cabestany. He is probably the son of Arnau de Cabestany, a noble of

Roussillon Roussillon ( , , ; ca, Rosselló ; oc, Rosselhon ) is a historical province of France that largely corresponded to the County of Roussillon and part of the County of Cerdagne of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is part of th ...

, and a vassal in relation with the lords of Castell Rosselló. Cabestany itself is a

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

located immediately next to the east of Castell Rosselló and southwest of

Canet Canet or Cannet may refer to: Places: Several ''communes'' in France: * Canet, Aude, in the Aude ''département'' * Canet, Hérault, in the Hérault ''département'' * Canet-de-Salars, in the Aveyron ''département'' * Canet-en-Roussillon, in the ...

(a future viscounty). According to

Pere Tomich Pere (or Père) Tomich or Tomic ( Bagà, Barcelona, fl. 1431–1438) was a Catalan knight and historian. He was son of the mayor of Bagà and attorney for the baronies of Pinós and Mataplana. He was Castilian of the castle of Aristot (Alt ...

, Guillem de Cabestany fought alongside Peter II of Aragon at the

Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab ( ar, معركة العقاب), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the '' Reconquista'' and the medieval history of Spain. The Chr ...

against the Almohads in 1212.

Legend

According to his legendary '' vida'', he was the lover of Margarida or Seremonda (or Soremonda), wife of Raimon of Castell Rosselló. On discovering their affair, Raimon fed Cabestany's heart to Seremonda. When he told her what she had eaten, she threw herself from the window to her death. The vida precedes Cabestany's poem ''Lo dous cossire'' in his Chansonnier I. It is translated alongside the Old Occitan in Margarita Egan's 1984 edition ''The vidas of the troubadours''. Versions of this legend appear later in

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was som ...

's ''

Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; it, label=Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dan ...

'' (1348–53), Stendhal's ''On Love'' (1822), and in Ezra Pound's ''Canto IV'' (1924–25). It also inspired the opera ''

Written on Skin ''Written on Skin'' is an opera by the British composer George Benjamin. Benjamin's first full-length opera, it was premiered at the 2012 Aix-en-Provence Festival by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra as a commission from five opera centres,John All ...

'' (2012) by George Benjamin and

Martin Crimp Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Au ...

. Seremonda is thought to have been married two or three times, first to Raimon of Castell Rosselló, to another husband in 1210, and then to Aymar de Mosset. De Mosset probably fought alongside Cabestany in the

in 1212. Raimon himself lived peacefully in Castell Rosselló until at least 1218. Medievalist John E. Matzke has identified at least fourteen different versions of the "eaten heart" legend in several different literary traditions. Cabestany's ''vida'' may not be the earliest version. With reference to regional historian Jules Canonge, Cabestany is presented as the archetypal troubador in

Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals '' The English Review'' and '' The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental i ...

's book ''Provence''.

Known works

Some of Cabestany's poems were published along with his vida by François-Juste-Marie Raynouard in 1816. All of Cabestany's works have been published by Michel Adroher in side-by-side Old Occitan and Modern French. Nine extant songs are attributed to Cabestany, of which two are uncertain.

Sources

* * * *

External links

Cabestany's entry in the Bibliothèque nationale de France catalogue

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guillem De Cabestany Poets from Catalonia 12th-century Spanish troubadours 1162 births 1212 deaths 12th-century Catalan people