Alegret was a Gascon

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 ...

, one of the earliest

lyric Lyric may refer to: * Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song * Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view * Lyric, from ...

satirists in the Occitan tongue, and a contemporary of

Marcabru Marcabru (; fl. 1130–1150) is one of the earliest troubadours whose poems are known. There is no certain information about him; the two '' vidas'' attached to his poems tell different stories, and both are evidently built on hints in the poems; ...

(fl. c. 1145).Léglu, 48. 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 w ...

'' and one '' canso'' survive of his poems. Nonetheless, his reputation was high enough that he found his way into the poetry of

Bernart de Ventadorn Bernart de Ventadorn (also Bernard de Ventadour or Bernat del Ventadorn; – ) was a French poet-composer troubadour of the classical age of troubadour poetry. Generally regarded as the most important troubadour in both poetry and music, his 1 ...

and

Raimbaut d'Aurenga Raimbaut of Orange (c. 1147 – 1173) or, in his native Old Provençal, Raimbaut d'Aurenga, was the lord of Orange and Aumelas. His properties included the towns of Frontignan and Mireval. He was the only son of William of Aumelas and of Tib ...

.Gaunt and Kay, 279. The work of Alegret is also intertextually and stylistically related to that of

Peire d'Alvernhe Peire d'Alvernhe or d'Alvernha (''Pèire'' in modern Occitan; b. c. 1130) was an Auvergnat troubadour (active 1149–1170) with twenty-oneGaunt and Kay, 287. or twenty-fourEgan, 72.Aubrey, ''The Music of the Troubadours'', 8. surviving works. ...

. Alegret was also one of the first troubadours to employ the feudal metaphor to describe

courtly love Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing vari ...

. He describes his relationship to his ''domna'' (lady) as that of vassalage by calling himself her ''endomenjatz'' (basically, vassal or liegeman).Paterson, 31. Pelligrini saw this passage as imitating Bernart de Ventadorn, considered the master of this metaphor: Marcabru parodied the structure of Alegret's ''Ara pareisson li'aubre sec'' in his own poem ''Bel m'es quan la rana chanta''.Gaunt, "Did Marcabru Know the Tristan Legend?", 110. In his typically moralising tone he accuses of Alegret of being a flatterer who cuckolds his lord. Alegret is implicitly compared to the

Tristan Tristan (Latin/Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; cy, Trystan), also known as Tristram or Tristain and similar names, is the hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. In the legend, he is tasked with escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed ...

of legend for he wears ''la blancha camiza'' (the white shirt symbolising a sexual relationship). In his own work Alegret criticses ''marritz drutz'' (faithless husbands), but primarily, like

Cercamon Cercamon (, fl. 1135-1145) was one of the earliest troubadours. His true name and other biographical data are unknown. He was apparently a Gascony-born jester of sorts who spent most of his career in the courts of William X of Aquitaine and perh ...

, because they encourage promiscuity in women.Gaunt, "Marginal men, Marcabru and orthodoxy: the early troubadours and adultery", 65.

Works in translation

''Aissi cum selh qu'es vencutz'' ("Just as the one who's beat")
translated by James H. Donalson (2005)

translated by James H. Donalson (2005)

Notes

Sources

*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. . *Gaunt, Simon B. "Did Marcabru Know the Tristan Legend?". ''Medium aevum'', 55 (1986) pp. 108–113. *Gaunt, Simon B. "Marginal men, Marcabru and orthodoxy: the early troubadours and adultery". ''Medium aevum'', 59 (1990) pp. 55–72. *Léglu, Catherine. "Moral and satirical poetry". The Troubadours: An Introduction. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. . *Paterson, Linda M. ''The World of the Troubadours: Medieval Occitan Society, c. 1100–c. 1300''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. . *Van Vleck, Amelia E
''Memory and Re-Creation in Troubadour Lyric''.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. {{DEFAULTSORT:Alegret Gascons 12th-century French troubadours