Cadenet (c. 1160 – c. 1235) was a Provençal

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 ''trobairi ...

(''trobador'') who lived and wrote at the court of Raymond VI of Toulouse and eventually made a reputation in Spain. Of his twenty-five surviving songs, twenty-one (or twenty-three) are ''

cansos The ''canso'' or ''canson'' or ''canzo'' () was a song style used by the troubadours. It was, by far, the most common genre used, especially by early troubadours, and only in the second half of the 13th century was its dominance challenged by a ...

'', with one ''

alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingdom ...

'', one ''

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 '' ten ...

'', one ''

pastorela The ''pastorela'' (, "little/young shepherdess") was an Occitan lyric genre used by the troubadours. It gave rise to the Old French ''pastourelle The pastourelle (; also ''pastorelle'', ''pastorella'', or ''pastorita'' is a typically Old Fre ...

'', and one religious piece represented. Two of his melodies survive.

Life

During Cadenet's childhood

Raymond V of Toulouse Raymond V ( oc, Ramon; 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 Alpho ...

and

Bertrand I of Forcalquier Bertrand I of Forcalquier (c. 1104 – 1150) was Count of Forcalquier from 1129 to 1144. He was the second son of William III and Gersende of Albon. He married Josserande de Flotte, daughter of Arnould de Flotte and Adelaide de Comps. Their so ...

went to war over the

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Cadenet Cadenet () is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Cadenétiens'' in French. Geography Cadenet is a village located on the southern slopes of the Lub ...

was destroyed. Cadenet was taken captive or as a hostage to the court of Toulouse, where he became known after his birthplace, a term which also mean "juniper grove" (''cade'' is Occitan for " juniper"). He rose to prominence in the court under the patronage of several prominent families with close connections to the

Cathar Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follo ...

movement. According to his late thirteenth-century '' vida'', ''. . . et el venc bos e bels et courtes e saup ben cantar e parlar, et apres a trobar coblas e sirventes''. He became a devoted attendant of the count and countess of Toulouse. His ''cansos'' celebrate love but also criticise the feudal lords for their less admirable behaviour. He was only full of praise for ''lauzengiers'', the spies and eavesdroppers who forced lovers into ever more secrecy. He wrote one ''

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 ...

'' criticising

Raymond Roger Trencavel Raymond Roger Trencavel (also Raimond, oc, Raimon Rogièr; 1185 – 10 November 1209) was a member of the noble Trencavel family. He was viscount of Béziers and Albi (and thus a vassal of the count of Toulouse), and viscount of Carcassonn ...

for his poor manners on a visit to the court of the count of Toulouse in 1204.Graham-Leigh, 27. This ''sirventes'' is a useful source for the relationship between Toulouse and the

Trencavel The Trencavel was an important noble family in Languedoc between the 10th and 13th centuries. The name "Trencavel" began as a nickname and later became the family's surname. The name may derive from the Occitan words for "Nutcracker" (''trenca ...

on the eve of the Albigensian Crusade, as it was written for a contemporary audience and dealt with personal issues. Cadenet also wrote a famous early ''alba'', ''S'anc fu belha ni prezada'', whose music (''air'') and lyrics are still preserved. The music is of the style of an ''oda continua'' hymn. In some of his writings, modern researches have thought to detect the influence of Cathar doctrine. His famous ''Lo ben e lo mal'' (''The Good and the Bad'') divulges a deep sense of guilt towards God and a desire to swap evil and good: BnF ms

''Ben volgra s'esser pogues''
''tot lo mal qu'ai fait desfar''
''eˑl be que non ai fait far''
''Ai! com m'en fora ben pres''
''siˑl bes fos mals e mals fos bes. . .''
''Tant mi sent vas Dieu mespres''
''qu'eu me cugei deseperar.''

I would like, if it could be,
To destroy all the evil which I have made
And do all the good which I have not done
Ah! because it would be pleasing to me
If the good were evil and the evil good. . .
So guilty I feel towards God
That I believe I might despair.

Elsewhere the learned Cadenet borrowed a Classical metaphor, that of the "boat of love, ploughing through the rough weather" from

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

, and wrote ''Plus que la naus q'es en la mar prionda / Non had poder de far son dreg viatge''. Cadenet elsewhere employs simile and metaphor to compare a beautiful but difficult woman to a pretty flower without seed:

''Car es delida''
''leu flors, on mieills es florida;''
''q'ela se fraing per nïen''
''qand so qe mostra desmend.''

After the Crusade and the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

, Cadenet took refuge in Spain (either Castile or Aragon, c. 1230), where he had an influence on the court of

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Ger ...

. Alfonso's ''

cantiga A ''cantiga'' (''cantica'', ''cantar'') is a medieval monophonic song, characteristic of the Galician-Portuguese lyric. Over 400 extant ''cantigas'' come from the ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'', narrative songs about miracles or hymns in praise of th ...

'' ''Virgen, madre gloriosa'' adapts metric elements from Cadenet's ''alba''.Falvy, 163. Late in life, after an unhappy falling in love with a novice nun, sources differ as to whether he entered either the

Order of the Temple , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

or the

Order of the Hospital The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

. He appears to have been serving with the Order in Palestine when he died around 1230, though other sources place him in the Hospitaller establishment at

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

in 1239. The first modern critical edition of Cadenet's work was published by Carl Appel in German as ''Der Trobador Cadenet'' in 1920.

References

Notes

Sources

*Allen, D. C
"Donne and the Ship Metaphor."
''Modern Language Notes'', Vol. 76, No. 4. (Apr., 1961), pp 308–312. *Falvy, Zoltán
"La cour d'Alphonse le Sage et la musique européenne (in Varia)."
''Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae'', T. 25, Fasc. 1/4. (1983), pp 159–170. *Graham-Leigh, Elaine. ''The Southern French Nobility and the Albigensian Crusade''. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005. *Gaunt, Simon, and Kay, Sarah. "Appendix I: Major Troubadours" (pp. 279–291). The Troubadours: An Introduction. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. . *Lewent, Kurt
"Old Provençal Desmentir sos pairis."
''Modern Language Notes'', Vol. 72, No. 3. (Mar., 1957), pp 189–193. *Shapiro, Marianne
"The Figure of the Watchman in the Provençal Erotic Alba."
''Modern Language Notes'', Vol. 91, No. 4, French Issue. (May, 1976), pp 607–639, esp. 632–633. *Zemp, Josef (Ed.), ''Les poésies du troubadour Cadenet: édition critique avec introduction, traduction, notes et glossaire.'' P. Lang, Bern ; Las Vegas, 1978.

External links

Complete works online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cadenet 12th-century French troubadours 1160s births 1235 deaths 13th-century French troubadours People from Provence