Perdigon or Perdigo ( fl. 1190–1220Aubrey, p. 18.) was a

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 ...

from Lespéron in the

Gévaudan Gévaudan (; oc, Gavaudan, Gevaudan) is a historical area of France in Lozère ''département''. It took its name from the Gabali, a Gallic tribe subordinate to the Arverni. History After the conquest of Gaul, the Romans preserved the c ...

.Egan, p. 83. Fourteen of his works survive, including three '' cansos'' with melodies.Aubrey, p. 19. He was respected and admired by contemporaries, judging by the widespread inclusion of his work in chansonniers and in citations by other troubadours. Though his biography is made confounding by contradicting statements in his '' vida'' and allusions in his and others' poems, Perdigon's status as a

jongleur A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It 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 entertainer who ...

from youth and an accomplished fiddler is well-attested in contemporary works (by him and others) and manuscript illustrations depicting him with his fiddle. Perdigon travelled widely and was patronised by

Dalfi d'Alvernha Dalfi d'Alvernha (french: Dauphin d'Auvergne) was the Count of Clermont and Montferrand, a troubadour and a patron of troubadours. He was born around 1150 and died in 1234 or 1235. He is sometimes called Robert IV, but there is no solid evidence ...

, the

House of Baux The House of Baux is a French noble family from the south of France. It was one of the richest and most powerful families of Medieval Provence, known as the 'Race d’Aiglon'. They were independent Lords as castellans of Les Baux and Arles and wi ...

, Peter II of Aragon, and Barral of Marseille. His service to the latter provides an early definite date for his career, as Barral died in 1192 and Perdigon composed a ''canso''—which survives with music—for him. According to his ''vida'', Perdigon was the son of a poor fisherman who excelled through his "wit and inventiveness" to honour and fame, was clothed and eventually armed, knighted, and granted land and rent by Dalfi d'Alvernha. After this period of his life, which is said to have lasted a long time, the manuscripts of his ''vida'' diverge. According to one version, death deprived him of his friends, male and female, and so he lost his position and entered a Cistercian monastery, where he died. That he entered a Cistercian monastery has never been proven, but has received some support from two of his works. BnF ms

According to another version of his ''vida'', he became a strong opponent of Catharism—a sect suppressed by the Catholic Church as heretical—and supported the Albigensian Crusade against them. He is said to have accompanied Guillem des Baux,

Folquet de Marselha Folquet de Marselha, alternatively Folquet de Marseille, Foulques de Toulouse, Fulk of Toulouse (c. 1150 – 25 December 1231) came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille. He is known as a trobadour, and then as a fiercely anti ...

, and the Abbot of Cîteaux to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

to oppose Raymond VI of Toulouse after the latter's excommunication in 1208. The author of the ''vida'' blames Perdigon for " ringingabout and rrangingall these deeds."Egan, p. 84. The biographer further claims that Perdigon sang to the populace to encourage the Crusade and even boasted of humiliating Peter II of Aragon who opposed the Crusades and died at the Battle of Muret fighting against the Crusaders. For this reason he became despised by those in favor of Catharism, and due to the war lost all his friends who fought in it:

Simon de Montfort Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester ( – 4 August 1265), later sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from his namesake relatives, was a nobleman of French origin and a member of the English peerage, who led the ...

, Guillem des Baux, and many others. In the end, the son of Dalfi d'Alvernha, abandoned him, confiscated his land, and sent him away. The biographer claims that he went to Lambert de Monteil and begged to be entered into the Cistercian monastery of "Silvabela", but the author incorrectly believes Lambert to be the son-in-law of Guillem des Baux, and the monastery Silvabela ("beautiful forest") never existed. His ''vidas'' are questionable. Among Perdigon's surviving songs is a ''

torneyamen A ''torneyamen'' (; ca, tornejament ; "tournament") or ''certamen'' was a lyric genre of the troubadours of the thirteenth century. Closely related to the ''tenso'', a debate between two poets, and the ''partimen'', a question posed by one poet ...

'' with

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras __NOTOC__ Raimbaut de Vaqueiras or Vaqueyras (fl. 1180 – 1207) was a Provençal troubadour and, later in his life, knight. His life was spent mainly in Italian courtsAmelia E. Van Vleck, ''The Lyric Texts'' p. 33, in ''Handbook of the Troub ...

and Ademar de Peiteus. Unusually for the period, Perdigon, along with

Aimeric de Peguilhan Aimeric or Aimery de Peguilhan, Peguillan, or Pégulhan (c. 1170 – c. 1230) was a troubadour (fl. 1190–1221)Gaunt and Kay, 279. born in Peguilhan (near Saint-Gaudens), the son of a cloth merchant. Aimeric's first patron was Raimon ...

through-composed In music theory of musical form, through-composed music is a continuous, non- sectional, and non- repetitive piece of music. The term is typically used to describe songs, but can also apply to instrumental music. While most musical forms such as t ...

his melodies.Aubrey, p. 169.

Notes

Citations

Sources

* Aubrey, Elizabeth. ''The Music of the Troubadours''. Indiana University Press, 1996. . * Egan, Margarita, ed. and trans. ''The Vidas of the Troubadours''. New York: Garland, 1984. . * Perdigó, Luisa Marina. ''The Life, Poetry, and Music of the Provençal Troubadour Perdigon : Texts, Translations, and Interpretations''. New York: Mellen Press, 2013. . {{authority control 12th-century French troubadours French Cistercians People of the Albigensian Crusade 12th-century births 13th-century deaths 13th-century French troubadours People from Ardèche