Elias Cairel (or Cayrel; fl. 1204–1222) was 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 ...

of international fame. Born in Sarlat in the

Périgord Périgord ( , ; ; or ) is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne department, now forming the northern part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is divided into f ...

, he first travelled with the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

and settled down in the

Kingdom of Thessalonica The Kingdom of Thessalonica () was a short-lived Crusader State founded after the Fourth Crusade over conquered Byzantine lands in today's territory of Northern Greece and Thessaly. History Background After the fall of Constantinople to the ...

at the court of Boniface of Montferrat (1204–1208/10) before moving back to western Europe, where he sojourned at the court of

Alfonso IX of León Alfonso IX (15 August 117123 or 24 September 1230) was King of León from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death. He took steps towards modernizing and democratizing his dominion and founded the University of Salaman ...

(1210–11) and in

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

(1219–1222/24). He wrote fourteen surviving lyrics: ten ''

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 ...

'', one ''

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 ...

'', one '' descort'', 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 ...

'', and one Crusade song. He was partial to

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeated in poetry or in music">poetry.html" ;"title="Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeat ...

rhyming and '' coblas capfinidas''. Elias' '' vida'' survives in three manuscripts with a variant in a fourth designed to refute the other three.Egan, 31. According to his biographer he was gold- and silversmith and an armourer who turned to

minstrel 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 enter ...

sy. His singing, composition, fiddling, and speaking were reputed as "bad", but his biographer says ''ben escrivia motz e sons'': "well he wrote words and songs", implying a distinction between his composing and his ''writing''.Aubrey, 28–29. He supposedly returned from

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

to die in Sarlat. Elias composed his only ''tenso'' with the

trobairitz The ''trobairitz'' () were Occitania, Occitan female troubadours of the 12th and 13th centuries, active from around 1170 to approximately 1260. ''Trobairitz'' is both singular and plural. The word ''trobairitz'' is first attested in the 13th-c ...

Ysabella ''Ysabella'' is a Philippine television drama series broadcast by ABS-CBN. Directed by Rory B. Quintos, Don M. Cuaresma and Cathy Garcia-Molina, starring Judy Ann Santos, Coney Reyes, Ryan Agoncillo and Derek Ramsay. It aired on the network's P ...

, who may have been either a high-ranking noblewoman of Italy or Greece, or perhaps just a local girl of Périgord who Elias knew in his youth. She is also the addressee of two other poems. Elias also addressed one poem to "''Roiz Dies''", a Spanish patron, probably Rodrigo Díaz de los Cameros, and another to

Conon de Béthune Conon () (before 443 BC – ) was an Athenian general at the end of the Peloponnesian War, who led the Athenian naval forces when they were defeated by a Peloponnesian fleet in the crucial Battle of Aegospotami; later he contributed significantly ...

(''Coino''), a

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 ...

.Riquer, 1144–45. Elias may have been present at the

Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab (), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the ''Reconquista'' and the Spain in the Middle Ages, medieval history of Spain. The Christian ...

in 1212. In his ''Toz m'era de chantar gequiz'', the Bolognese troubadour Rambertino Buvalelli asks Elias to bring the poem to

Beatrice d'Este Beatrice d'Este (29 June 1475 – 3 January 1497) a noblewoman from Duchy of Ferrara, Ferrara, duchess of Bari and Milan by her marriage to Ludovico Sforza (known as "Ludovico il Moro"). She was known as a woman of culture, an important patron ...

when he travels to the court of Azzo VII at Este. __NOTOC__

Works

*''Abril ni mai non aten de far vers'' *''Era no vei puoi ni comba'' *''Estat ai dos ans'' (addressed to Ysabella) *''Freit ni ven, no·m posc destreigner'' *''Lo rossinhols chanta tan dousamen'' *''Mout mi platz lo doutz temps d'abril'' (addressed to Ysabella) *''N'Elyas Cairel, de l'amor'' (with Ysabella) *''Per mantener joi e chant e solatz'' *''Pois chai la fuoilla del garric'' *''Qan la freidors irais l'aura dousana'' *''Qui saubes dar tant bon conseil denan'' *''Si cum cel qe sos compaignos'' *''So qe·m sol dar alegranssa'' *''Totz mos cors e mos sens'' (addressed to Ruiz)

Sources and further reading

*Aubrey, Elizabeth. ''The Music of the Troubadours''. Indiana University Press, 1996. . *Bertoni, Giulio. ''I Trovatori d'Italia: Biografie, testi, tradizioni, note''. Rome: Società Multigrafica Editrice Somu, 1967

915 Year 915 ( CMXV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Battle of Garigliano: The Christian League, personally led by Pope John X, lays siege to Garigliano (a fortified Ar ...

*Bruckner, M. T.; Shepard, L.; and White, S. ''Songs of the Women Troubadours''. New York: Garland Publishing, 1995. . *Egan, Margarita (ed. and trans.) ''The Vidas of the Troubadours''. New York: Garland, 1984. . *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. . * Jaeschke, Hilde, ed. ''Der Trobador Elias Cairel''. Berlin: Emil Ebering, 1921
Text at archive.org
* Riquer, Martín de. ''Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos''. 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975.

Notes

External links

Elias Cairel
at Rialto {{Authority control 13th-century French troubadours People from Sarlat-la-Canéda Christians of the Fourth Crusade