En Johan Esteve de Bezers, in modern orthography Joan Esteve (

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 ...

1270–1288), 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 ...

from

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

. The only

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 ...

which contains his eleven works, also calls him Olier de Bezers, implying that he was perhaps a

potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US *Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska *Potters, New Jerse ...

. All his works are accompanied by dates of composition which allows scholars to place his literary output between 1270 and 1288. Joan's work is pious and religious, but metrically complex, with difficult

strophe A strophe () is a poetic term originally referring to the first part of the ode in Ancient Greek tragedy, followed by the antistrophe and epode. The term has been extended to also mean a structural division of a poem containing stanzas of var ...

s (' being an example). He wrote three ''

pastorela The ''pastorela'' (, "little/young shepherdess") was an Occitan lyric genre used by the troubadours. It gave rise to the Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the l ...

s'', all following

Guiraut Riquier Guiraut Riquier de Narbona ( 1230 in Narbonne – 1292 in Narbonne or Rodez) is among the last of the Occitan troubadours. He is well known because of his great care in writing out his works and keeping them together—''The New Grove Dictionary ...

in style. His indiscreet ''

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 ...

'' are dominated by

courtly love Courtly love ( ; ) 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 various deeds or services for ladies b ...

, wherein the object of his affection is a woman known as ''Bel rai'' ("beautiful sunbeam"). He is not a typical southern troubadour in that he was thoroughly Gallicised and his sympathies were for the French. He dedicated several works to Guilhem de Lodeva, the

Provençal Provençal may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Provence, a region of France ** Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France ** ''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language * Provenca ...

admiral of the French Mediterranean. Joan's earliest work is ', a ''

planh A genre of the troubadours, the or (; "lament") is a funeral lament for "a great personage, a protector, a friend or relative, or a lady."Elisabeth Schulze-Busacker, "Topoi", in F. R. P. Akehurst and Judith M. Davis, eds., ''A Handbook of the T ...

'' composed on the death of

Amalric I of Narbonne Amalric or Amalaric (also Americ, Almerich, Emeric, Emerick and other variations) is a personal name derived from the tribal name ''Amal'' (referring to the Gothic Amali) and ''ric'' ( Gothic ''reiks'') meaning "ruler, prince". Equivalents in di ...

(1270). In 1284 he wrote ', a lament for the bloody incident that marred the feast of the

Ascension Ascension or ascending may refer to: Religion * "Ascension", the belief in some religions that some individuals have ascended into Heaven without dying first. The Catholic concept of the Assumption of Mary leaves open the question of her deat ...

in Béziers that year. In 1286 he composed his most historically interesting work, ', the metre and rhyme of which are identical to that of Peridgon's '. This was written in 1286, after the occasion of the

Battle of Les Formigues The naval battle of Les Formigues took place probably in the early morning of 4 September 1285 near Les Formigues Islands, Catalonia, about 85 km northeast of Barcelona, when a Catalan-Sicilian galley fleet commanded by Roger of Lauria defeat ...

in which Guilhem de Lodeva had been captured and imprisoned in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

by the Aragonese, with which the French had been at war. It is a ''

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 ...

'' urging action on the part of the

French king France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Fra ...

Philip IV to rescue Guilhem. According to Joan, Guilhem was only captured as a result of treachery by his own men. Guilhem's release was eventually negotiated and returned to Provence, where he died. A certain "Esteve", perhaps Joan, composed a ''

partimen The ''partimen'' (; ; also known as ''partia'' or ''joc partit'') is a cognate form of the French jeu-parti (plural ''jeux-partis''). It is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry composed between two troubadours, a subgenre of the ''tenso'' or ''cobla'' ...

'' with a certain "Jutge" as a ''planh'' for his death. Joan's last work was a ''pastorela'', ', composed in 1288.

Notes

Sources

* Riquer, Martín de. ''Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos''. 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975. {{DEFAULTSORT:Johan Esteve De Bezers 13th-century French troubadours People from Béziers