Peirol
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Peirol or PeiròlIn Occitan, ''peir'' (French "pierre") means "stone" and ''-ol'' is a diminutive suffix, the name Peirol being understood as the equivalent of "Little Stone" but also "Petit Pierre" (Lil' Peter) or "Pierrot" (Pete or Petey); however, "peiròl" also meant a cauldron or a stove. The Occitan usually write Peiròl with an accented "ò" because "Peirol" would be pronounced . (, ; born c. 1160, fl. 1188–1222Nichols, 129./1225,Aubrey, "References to Music in Old Occitan Literature", 123. died in the 1220s) was an
Auvergnat (; ) or (endonym: ) is a northern dialect of Occitan spoken in central and southern France, in particular in the former administrative region of Auvergne. Currently, research shows that there is not really a true Auvergnat dialect but rath ...
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 ...
who wrote mostly ''
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 ...
'' of
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 ...
in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.Switten, 320. Thirty-four surviving poems written in
Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...
have been attributed to him; of these, seventeen (sixteen of them love songs) have surviving melodies. He is sometimes called Peirol d'Auvergne or Peiròl d'Auvèrnha, and erroneously Pierol.


Biography

Not much is known of his life, and any attempt to establish his biography from a reading of his poems is soundly rejected by the most recent scholarship. Peirol's birth is commonly estimated around 1160.The common 1160

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is possibly inferred from his being established active starting around 1188.
He may have hailed from — and been named after — the village of
Pérols Pérols (; ) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Close to the city of Montpellier, it is mostly a quiet village with beautiful old buildings. Population See also *Communes of the Hérault dep ...
in Prondines,
Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2021, it had a population of 662,285.castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
of Rochefort-Montagne (''Rocafort'').Schutz, 227. Another candidate for his birth town is Pérol in modern Riom-es-Montagnes.Egan, 82. His homeland was thus ''en la contrada del Dalfin'': in the county of the
Dauphin of Auvergne This is a list of the various rulers of Auvergne. History In the 7th century Auvergne (province), Auvergne was disputed between the Franks and Aquitanians. It was later conquered by the Carolingians, and was integrated for a time into the kingdom ...
. Peirol was originally a poor
knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
, described as "courtly and handsome" by the author of his late thirteenth-century '' vida'' (biography).Egan, 81. He served at the court of
Dalfi d'Alvernha Dalfi d'Alvernha () was the Count of Clermont and Montferrand, a troubadour and a patron of troubadours. He was born around 1150 and died in 1234 or 1235. He is sometimes called Robert IV, but there is no solid evidence for the name Robert, and ...
, but was in love with his sister Salh (or Sail) de Claustra (which means "fled from the cloister"), the wife of Béraut III de Mercœur, and wrote many songs for this "domna" (lady). While Dalfi had brought his sister to his court for Peirol and had helped Peirol cater to her tastes in his compositions, eventually Dalfi grew jealous of the attention his sister gave Peirol and, in part because of the impropriety, had to dismiss Peirol, who could not support himself as a man-at-arms. His biographer indicates, That is: Peirol being unable to maintain himself as a knight became a
jongleur 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 enterta ...
, and travelled from court to court, receiving from barons clothing, money, and horses. Peirol is known to have been a
fiddler A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially syno ...
and singer from a reference in a '' tornada'' of Albertet de Sestaro. After returning from a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
sometime in or after 1222, Peirol may have died in
Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...
in the 1220s.Kehew, Pound, and Snodgrass, 244.


Courtly love

Peirol's works are simple and metaphysical; based on familiar concepts of
courtliness 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 ...
, they lack originality.Switten, 321. They are most characteristic in their abstractness and lack of concrete nouns; the adjectives are rarely sensory (related to sight, touch, etc.) and there are no extended references to nature as found in many troubadours. The purpose behind his writing was probably economical and chivalric — for reputation, prestige, and honour — rather than emotional or sentimental; his writing is intellectual and formulaic.Switten, 322. Among the personal statements in his works, he expresses a preference for the ''vers'' over the ''chansoneta''. Among his love songs can be distinguished the light-hearted "gay songs", which sometimes at least had equally gay melodies, and the more "serious songs", which were "theoretical discussions of love".Switten, 323. He wrote in the ''
trobar leu The ''trobar leu'' (), or light style of poetry, was the most popular style used by the troubadours. Its accessibility gave it a wide audienc See also *'' Trobar ric'' *''Trobar clus ''Trobar clus'' (), or closed form, was a complex and obscure ...
'' (light poetry) tradition.Kehew, Pound, and Snodgrass, 245. To Peirol, the "crafty lover" can "circumvent the foolish watchfulness of the jealous husband." Peirol gave up a nobler woman for a lesser "that I love in joy and peace and am loved in return." Peirol also waded into the discussion concerning whether it was permissible to love in a pure, elevated form at the same time as one sought low, physical love. One of Peirol's works, "Mainta gens mi malrazona", survives with a melody to which a
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
accompaniment was written as "Manta gens me mal razona" by E. Bohm. Among his surviving melodies, Théodore Gérold has ascertained a discord between music and lyric, and although Switten denies this, she admits that they are generally melancholic and not expressive of the mood of the lyrics (if one is conveyed). Both agree, however, that his melodies are simpler than those of contemporary troubadours
Folquet de Marselha Folquet de Marselha (alternatively Folquet de Marseille, Foulques de Toulouse, Fulk of Toulouse; c. 1150 – 25 December 1231) came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille. He is known as a troubadour, and then as a fiercely ant ...
and
Peire Vidal Peire Vidal (fl. 12th century) was an Old Occitan troubadour. Forty-five of his songs are extant. The twelve that still have melodies bear testament to the deserved nature of his musical reputation. There is no contemporary reference to Peire out ...
. They are usually written in either the Dorian or
Mixolydian Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' or ''tonoi'', based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic sca ...
modes and "cannot be rejected as tiresome pedantries ..yet possessed of an intrinsic harmony, a singularity of purpose, a unanimity of conception and intent that may properly be termed artistic." 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 ...
,
Guiot de Dijon Guiot de Dijon (''fl.'' 1215–25) was a Burgundian trouvère. The seventeen '' chansons'' ascribed to him in the standard listing of Raynaud-Spanke are found in fifteen chansonniers, some without attribution or with conflicting attributions wh ...
, writing in
Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...
, probably modelled his song after Peirol's love song . Peirol also tried his hand at the art of the ''
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 ...
'' with the "Ren no val hom joves que no.s perjura", which was widely copied. This poem, which has stark and vivid imagery and even a prosaic reference to merchants, is so unusual for Peirol that its authenticity has been placed in doubt.


Crusading songs

Peirol supported the
Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...
(1189–1192) and wrote 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 ...
'', "Quant amors trobet partit" (When Love discovered that my heart / Had parted from his concerns), encouraging the kings of Europe to make peace and send aid to "the noble and valiant marquess"
Conrad of Montferrat Conrad of Montferrat (Italian language, Italian: ''Corrado del Monferrato''; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''Conrà ëd Monfrà'') (c. 1146 – 28 April 1192) was a nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the '' ...
, then
King of Jerusalem The king or queen of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state founded in Jerusalem by the Latin Church, Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade, when the city was Siege of Jerusalem (1099), conquered in ...
.Siberry, 59. Though Peirol expresses a desire to accompany his lord,
Dalfi d'Alvernha Dalfi d'Alvernha () was the Count of Clermont and Montferrand, a troubadour and a patron of troubadours. He was born around 1150 and died in 1234 or 1235. He is sometimes called Robert IV, but there is no solid evidence for the name Robert, and ...
, on the Crusade, he is ultimately convinced by Love not to abandon his lady (''domna'') by pointing out that "never by your intervention will the Turk and Arab yield up the Tower of David" and giving the counsel: "love and sing often." It appears that Peirol never did go on the Third Crusade, but he eventually pilgrimaged to Jerusalem in 1221 and may have witnessed the surrender of
Damietta Damietta ( ' ) is a harbor, port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the Damietta branch, an eastern distributary of the Nile Delta, from the Mediterranean Sea, and about north of Cairo. It was a Cath ...
.Siberry, 66. He placed some of the blame on the
Emperor Frederick II Frederick II (, , , ; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225. He was the son of Emperor Henry VI of the Ho ...
in a
crusading song A Crusade song (, , ) is any vernacular lyric poem about the Crusades. Crusade songs were popular in the High Middle Ages: 106 survive in Occitan language, Occitan, forty in Old French, thirty in Middle High German, two in Italian language, Italian ...
— his last poem — entitled "Pus flum Jordan ai vist e.l monimen". He even went so far as to mock the
imperial eagle The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. Heraldic eagles can be found throughout world history like in the Achaemenid Empire or in the present Republic of Indonesia. The European post-classical symbolism of ...
() and praise the victorious
Sultan of Egypt Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally ...
(''Anta y avetz e.l Soudan onramen''). "M'entencio ai tot'en un vers mesa", one of Peirol's ''cansos'' and not one of his crusading songs, was used twice around the time of the
Eighth Crusade The Eighth Crusade was the second Crusade launched by Louis IX of France, this one against the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia in 1270. It is also known as the Crusade of Louis IX Against Tunis or the Second Crusade of Louis. The Crusade did not see an ...
(1270) as the basis for a
contrafactum In vocal music, contrafactum (or contrafact, pl. contrafacta) is "the substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music". The earliest known examples of this "lyrical adaptation" date back to the 9th century in Gregor ...
in support of the Crusades.Puckett, 878. First,
Ricaut Bonomel Ricaut Bonomel (''En Ricatz Honomel'' in one chansonnier) was a Knight Templar and troubadour in the Holy Land around the time of the Eighth Crusade.Puckett, 844. He was an outspoken critic of Charles I of Naples and his attempts to secure a thron ...
, a
Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a military order of the Catholic faith, and one of the most important military orders in Western Christianity. They were founded in 11 ...
, wrote a scathing analysis of the future of Christianity in the Holy Land, and a few years after that, Austorc d'Aurillac, composed 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 ...
'' encouraging conversion to Islam. Both later poems were exercises in
reverse psychology Reverse psychology is a technique involving the assertion of a belief or behavior that is opposite to the one desired, with the expectation that this approach will encourage the subject of the persuasion to do what is actually desired. This techn ...
and attempts to spur further Crusades.


Bibliography

The thirty-four surviving poems that constitute Peirol's complete works have been titled after their first line. ; The ''
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 ...
'', alphabetically * "Ab gran joi mou maintas vetz e comenssa" * "Atressi co.l signes fai" * "Be.m cujava que no chantes oguan" * "Ben dei chantar puois amors m'o enseigna" * "Car m'era de Joi lunhatz" * "Camjat ai mon consirier" * "Cora qu'amors vuelha" * "Coras que.m fezes doler" * "D'eissa la razon qu'ieu suoill" * "Del sieu tort farai esmenda" * "D'un bon vers vau pensan com lo fezes" * "D'un sonet vau pensan" * "En joi que.m demora" * "Eu non lausarai ja mon chan" * "La gran alegransa" * "Mainta gens mi malrazona" * "M'entencion ai tot' en un vers mesa" * "Mout m'entremis de chantar voluntiers" * "Nuills hom no s'auci tan gen" * "Per dan que d'amor mi veigna" * "Pos de mon joi vertadier" * "Pos entremes me suy de far chansos" * "Ren no val hom joves que no.s perjura" * "Si be.m sui loing et entre gent estraigna" * "Tot mon engeing e mon saber" * "Tug miei cossir son d'amor e de chan" ; The ''
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 ...
s'', alphabetically * "Dalfi, sabriatz me vos" *: (with
Dalfi d'Alvernha Dalfi d'Alvernha () was the Count of Clermont and Montferrand, a troubadour and a patron of troubadours. He was born around 1150 and died in 1234 or 1235. He is sometimes called Robert IV, but there is no solid evidence for the name Robert, and ...
) * "Gaucelm, diguatz m'al vostre sen" *: (with
Gaucelm Faidit Gaucelm Faidit ( literally "Gaucelm the Dispossessed" c. 1156 – c. 1209) was a troubadour, born in Uzerche, in the Limousin (province), Limousin, from a family of knights in service of the count of Turenne. He travelled widely in France, Sp ...
) * "Peirol, com avetz tan estat" *: (with
Bernart de Ventadorn Bernart de Ventadorn (also Bernard de Ventadour or Bernat del Ventadorn; – ) was an Occitan poet-composer troubadour of the classical age of troubadour poetry. Generally regarded as the most important troubadour in both poetry and music, hi ...
) * "Peirol, pois vengutz es vas nos" *: (a ''
cobla The ''cobla'' (, plural ''cobles'') is a traditional music ensemble of Catalonia, and in Northern Catalonia in France. It is generally used to accompany the sardana, a traditional Catalan folk dance, danced in a circle. Structure The modern Cobl ...
'') * "Pomairols, dos baros sai" *: (with Pomairol, Guionet, and one Peire) * "Pus flum Jordan ai vist e.l monimen" *: (with "Dieus", God) * "Quant Amors trobet partit" *: (with "Amors", Love) * "Senher, qual penriaz vos" *: (with a "Senher", Lord)


Modern recordings

Several dozens albumsMedieval.org alone lists about 26 CDs
/ref> exist featuring at least one recording of a Peirol song. Below are some recordings, alphabetically by poem name. (If you have enabled
JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...
, you can reorder the table by clicking any column heading.)


References

; Endnotes ;Sources consulted * Aston, S. C. ''Peirol: Troubadour of Auvergne''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953. * Aston, S. C
"On the Attribution of the Poem 'Be·m cujava que no chantes oguan' and the Identity of 'Marqueza'."
''The Modern Language Review'', Vol. 48, No. 2. (Apr., 1953), pp. 151–158. * Aubrey, Elizabeth
"References to Music in Old Occitan Literature."
''Acta Musicologica'', Vol. 61, Fasc. 2. (May–Aug., 1989), pp. 110–149. * Aubrey, Elizabeth. ''The Music of the Troubadours''. Indiana University Press, 1996. . * Chambers, Frank M
"Three Troubadour Poems with Historical Overtones."
''
Speculum The term speculum, Latin for "mirror", and its plural specula, may refer to: * ''Speculum'' (journal), a journal of medieval studies published by the Medieval Academy of America * Speculum (medical), a medical tool used for examining body cavities ...
'', Vol. 54, No. 1. (Jan., 1979), pp. 42–54. * Egan, Margarita, ed. and trans. ''The Vidas of the Troubadours''. New York: Garland, 1984. . * Jones, W. Powell
"The Jongleur Troubadours of Provence."
''PMLA'', Vol. 46, No. 2. (Jun., 1931), pp. 307–311. * Kehew, Robert (ed.) ''Lark in the Morning: The Verses of the Troubadours''.
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...
and William De Witt Snodgrass, trans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. . * Moller, Herbert
"The Social Causation of the Courtly Love Complex."
''Comparative Studies in Society and History'', Vol. 1, No. 2. (Jan., 1959), pp. 137–163. * Moller, Herbert
"The Meaning of Courtly Love."
''The Journal of American Folklore'', Vol. 73, No. 287. (Jan.–Mar., 1960), pp. 39–52. * Nichols, Stephen G
"Poetic Places and Real Spaces: Anthropology of Space in Crusade Literature (in Allegory and the Space of Otherness)."
''Yale French Studies, No. 95, Rereading Allegory: Essays in Memory of Daniel Poirion''. (1999), pp. 111–133. * Paterson, Linda M. "Occitan Literature and the Holy Land." ''The World of Eleanor of Aquitaine: Literature and Society in Southern France between the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries'', edd. Marcus Bull and Catherine Léglu. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2005. . * Puckett, Jaye
"'Reconmenciez novele estoire': The Troubadours and the Rhetoric of the Later Crusades."
''MLN'', Vol. 116, No. 4, French Issue. (Sep., 2001), pp. 844–889. * Siberry, Elizabeth. ''Criticism of Crusading, 1095–1274''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985. . * Schutz, A. H
"Where Were the Provençal "Vidas" and "Razos" Written?"
''Modern Philology'', Vol. 35, No. 3. (Feb., 1938), pp. 225–232. * Smythe, Barbara
"The Connection between Words and Music in the Songs of the Trobadors."
''The Modern Language Review'', Vol. 3, No. 4. (Jul., 1908), pp. 329–336. * Switten, Margaret Louise
"Text and Melody in Peirol's Cansos."
''PMLA'', Vol. 76, No. 4. (Sep., 1961), pp. 320–325.


External links

*
Peirol's complete works online
at Trobar.org * * *

*
Multimedia edition of Peirol's lyrics
{{Authority control 1160s births 1220s deaths People from Auvergne 13th-century French troubadours 12th-century French troubadours