Ponç de la Guàrdia (or Pons de la Guardia;

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for '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 indic ...

1154–1188) was a Catalan

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

of the family of Saguàrdia, lords of the

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

Ripoll Ripoll () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Ripollès, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on confluence of the Ter river and its tributary Freser, next to the Pyrenees near the border of France. The population was 11 ...

. He was not a professional

jongleur A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term 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 enterta ...

, but a

troubadour 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 tr ...

who wrote songs for amusement which were much celebrated, so we are told, by

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 ...

women. Ponç participated in the

Siege of Conca A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characte ...

(1177) on the side of

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, h ...

and a little later in the campaign to bring

Raymond V of Toulouse Raymond V (; c. 1134 – c. 1194) was Count of Toulouse from 1148 until his death in 1194. He was the son of Alphonse I of Toulouse and Faydida of Provence. Alphonse took his son with him on the Second Crusade in 1147. When Alphonse died i ...

to heel. He wrote four amorous compositions which form a small cycle dedicated to an anonymous lady called "On-tot-mi-platz". It has been suggested by one editor of his works, that nine of his songs form a cycle with the plot of a ''roman d'amour'', but the ordering of these cycles is not the same in the different manuscripts, one of which considers them anonymous.Bossy, 277. Ponç is one of the few troubadours suspected of anthologising his own works. Though his work is all in Occitan, some Catalan words make appearances.

Sources

*Bossy, Michel-André
"Cyclical Composition in Guiraut Riquier's Book of Poems."
''

Speculum The term speculum, Latin for "mirror", and its plural specula, may refer to: * ''Speculum'' (journal), a journal of medieval studies published by the Medieval Academy of America * Speculum (medical), a medical tool used for examining body cavities ...

'', Vol. 66, No. 2. (Apr., 1991), pp 277–293.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guardia, Ponc De La 12th-century Catalan troubadours