Blacasset, Blacassetz, Blacssetz, or Blachessetz (

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 ...

1233–1242Aubrey, 23.) was a Provençal

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 ...

of the noble family of the

Blacas The House of Blacas is the name of two ancient French nobility, French noble houses which successively owned the Lordship of Aups with its castle in Provence (whose name is still spelled in the ancient form ''Aulps'' in their surname). Blacas d'A ...

, lords of Aulps, in the Empire. He was probably a son of the troubadour

Blacatz Blacatz, known in French genealogy as Blacas de Blacas III (1165–1237), was the feudal lord of Aups and a troubadour A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–135 ...

, as his '' vida'' alleges, though this has come into doubt.Egan, 23. He was also distantly related to

Charles I of Naples Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou or Charles d'Anjou, was King of Sicily from 1266 to 1285. He was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the House of Anjou-Sicily. Between 1246 and ...

and Raymond Berengar IV of Provence. According to his ''vida'', he was like his father in merit, good deeds, and munificence, and also reputed to be a good lover. "Blacasset" is a diminutive of his father's name (). A document of 1238 (two years after his father's death) mentions three sons of the elder Blacatz, two of which were named Blacacius. Blacasset was not a professional troubadour, but, like his father, an amateur. Eleven of his works survive, three '' sirventes'', four '' cansos'', and four '' coblas'', including one single-stanza ''canso'' with a melody in

F major F major is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat.Music Theory'. (1950). United States: Standards and Curriculum Division, Training, Bureau of Naval Personnel. 28. Its relati ...

, '. This song was appended to a manuscript of the ''chansonnier du roi'' of

Theobald I of Navarre Theobald I (, ; 30 May 1201 – 8 July 1253), also called the Troubadour and the Posthumous, was Count of Champagne (as Theobald IV) from birth and King of Navarre from 1234. He initiated the Barons' Crusade, was famous as a trouvère, and was the ...

in the early fourteenth-century.Aubrey, 232. This is known as troubadour manuscript W or

trouvère ''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French ('' langue d'oïl'') form of the '' langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word '' troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to po ...

manuscript M. Among his other works are: *', a ''

tenso A ''tenso'' (; ) is a style of troubadour song. It takes the form of a debate in which each voice defends a position; common topics relate to love or ethics. Usually, the tenso is written by two different poets, but several examples exist in whic ...

'' with Guilhem de Montanhagol in the ''

trobar clus ''Trobar clus'' (), or closed form, was a complex and obscure style of poetry used by troubadours for their more discerning audiences, and it was only truly appreciated by an elite few. It was developed extensively by Marcabru and Arnaut Daniel, ...

'' style about a lady, Guiza (Gauzeranda) de Lunel *', a ''sirventes'' he wrote for the ''conte de Proensa'' (count of Provence)Bertoni, 128. Found in the

chansonnier A chansonnier (, , Galician and , or ''canzoniéro'', ) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings of songs, hence literally " song-books"; however, some manuscripts are call ...

of Bernart Amoros. *' *'

Sources

*Aubrey, Elizabeth. ''The Music of the Troubadours''. Indiana University Press, 1996. . *Bertoni, G. "Il complemento del conzoniere provenzale di Bernart Amoros." ''Giornale storico della letteratura italiana'', 34 (1899) pp. 118–140. *Egan, Margarita, ed. and trans. ''The Vidas of the Troubadours''. New York: Garland, 1984. .

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blacasset 1242 deaths 13th-century French troubadours Year of birth unknown People from Var (department)