Guillem de Cabestany (; 1162–1212) was a Catalan

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 ...

from Cabestany in the

County of Roussillon The County of Roussillon (, , ) was one of the Catalan counties in the Marca Hispanica during the Middle Ages. The rulers of the county were the counts of Roussillon, whose interests lay both north and south of the Pyrenees. The historic cou ...

. He is often known by his

Old Occitan Old Occitan (, ), also called Old Provençal, was the earliest form of the Occitano-Romance languages, as attested in writings dating from the 8th to the 14th centuries. Old Occitan generally includes Early and Old Occitan. Middle Occitan is some ...

name, Guilhem de Cabestaing, Cabestang, Cabestan, or Cabestanh ().

Life

There is not much reliable information that is known about Guillem de Cabestany. He is probably the son of Arnau de Cabestany, a noble of

Roussillon Roussillon ( , , ; , ; ) was a historical province of France that largely corresponded to the County of Roussillon and French Cerdagne, part of the County of Cerdagne of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is part of the region of ' ...

, and a vassal in relation with the lords of Castell Rosselló. Cabestany itself is a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

located immediately next to the east of Castell Rosselló and southwest of Canet (a future viscounty). According to

Pere Tomich Pere (or Père) Tomich or Tomic (Bagà, Barcelona, fl. 1431–1438) was a Catalan knight and historian. He was son of the mayor of Bagà and attorney for the baronies of Pinós and Mataplana. He was Castilian of the castle of Aristot (Alt Ur ...

, Guillem de Cabestany fought alongside

Peter II of Aragon Peter II the Catholic (; ) (July 1178 – 12 September 1213) was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1196 to 1213. Background Peter was born in Huesca, the son of Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile, Queen of Aragon, Sancha ...

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 ...

against the Almohads in 1212.

Legend

According to his legendary '' vida'', he was the lover of Margarida or Seremonda (or Soremonda), wife of Raimon of Castell Rosselló. On discovering their affair, Raimon fed Cabestany's heart to Seremonda. When he told her what she had eaten, she threw herself from the window to her death. The vida precedes Cabestany's poem ''Lo dous cossire'' in his Chansonnier I. It is translated alongside the Old Occitan in Margarita Egan's 1984 edition ''The vidas of the troubadours''. Versions of this legend appear later in

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so ...

's ''

Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dante Alighieri's ''Comedy'' "''Divine''"), is a collection of ...

'' (1348–53), Stendhal's ''On Love'' (1822), and in Ezra Pound's ''Canto IV'' (1924–25). It also inspired the opera '' Written on Skin'' (2012) by George Benjamin and Martin Crimp. Seremonda is thought to have been married two or three times, first to Raimon of Castell Rosselló, to another husband in 1210, and then to Aymar de Mosset. De Mosset probably fought alongside Cabestany in the

in 1212. Raimon himself lived peacefully in Castell Rosselló until at least 1218. Medievalist John E. Matzke has identified at least fourteen different versions of the legend in several different literary traditions. Cabestany's ''vida'' may not be the earliest version. With reference to regional historian Jules Canonge, Cabestany is presented as the archetypal troubador in

Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals ''The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review (1924), The Transatlant ...

's book ''Provence''.

Known works

Some of Cabestany's poems were published along with his vida by François-Juste-Marie Raynouard in 1816. All of Cabestany's works have been published by Michel Adroher in side-by-side Old Occitan and Modern French. Nine extant songs are attributed to Cabestany, of which two are uncertain.

Sources

* * * *

External links

Cabestany's entry in the Bibliothèque nationale de France catalogue

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guillem De Cabestany 12th-century Catalan troubadours 1162 births 1212 deaths