The ''sirventes'' or ''serventes'' (), sometimes translated as "service song", was a

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

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 ...

lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, t ...

practiced by the

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 ...

s. The name comes from ''sirvent'' ('serviceman'), from whose perspective the song is allegedly written. Sirventes usually (possibly, always) took the form of parodies, borrowing the melody, metrical structure and often even the rhymes of a well-known piece to address a controversial subject, often a current event. The original piece was usually a canso, but there are sirventes written as contrafacta of (at least) sestinas and pastorelas. They were always opinionated, being either highly complimentary or, more often, oozing with vitriol; however, these features are not unique to the sirventes, so a piece can be positively identified as one only if its nature is explicitly stated in the text (which it often is) or the original piece it is based on has been preserved (which is also often the case: for a parody to work, it had to target a recognizable, therefore widely known, piece). The first author known to have written a sirventes is Cercamon, the name of the genre was first mentioned by Marcoat, and the most famous practitioner of it was

Bertran de Born Bertran de Born (; 1140s – by 1215) was a baron from the Limousin in France, and one of the major Occitan troubadours of the 12th-13th century. He composed love songs (cansos) but was better known for his political songs (sirventes). He ...

;

Peire de Vic The (Lo) Monge de Montaudon (meaning "monk of Montaudon") (floruit, fl. 1193–1210Gaunt and Kay, Appendix I, 287.), born Pèire de Vic, was a nobleman, monk, and troubadour from the Auvergne (province), Auvergne, born at the castle of Vic-sur- ...

was also known for his sirventes, but only one has survived to this day.

Examples

Most major troubadours have written at least one sirventes; well-known examples include: *
Leus sonetz
' by

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras __NOTOC__ Raimbaut de Vaqueiras or Vaqueyras (fl. 1180 – 1207) was a Provençal troubadour and, later in his life, knight. His life was spent mainly in Italian courtsAmelia E. Van Vleck, ''The Lyric Texts'' p. 33, in ''Handbook of the Troub ...

, a political piece built on the structure of

Giraut de Bornelh Giraut de Bornelh (; c. 1138 – 1215), whose first name is also spelled Guiraut and whose toponym is de Borneil or de Borneyll, was a troubadour connected to the castle of the viscount of Limoges. He is credited with the formalisation, if not the ...

's
'Los apleiz
and using the same rhymes as the original *
Un sirventes vuelh far dels auls glotos
' by Peire Cardenal, one of many criticizing

simony Simony () is the act of selling church offices and roles or sacred things. It is named after Simon Magus, who is described in the Acts of the Apostles as having offered two disciples of Jesus payment in exchange for their empowering him to imp ...

*
Ben grans avoleza intra
' by Bertran de Born; this is built on the structure of

Arnaut Daniel Arnaut Daniel (; floruit, fl. 1180–1200) was an Occitans, Occitan troubadour of the 12th century, praised by Dante Alighieri, Dante as "the best smith" (''miglior fabbro'') and called a "grand master of love" (''gran maestro d'amore'') by Petra ...

's famous

sestina A sestina (, from ''sesto'', sixth; Old Occitan: ''cledisat'' ; also known as ''sestine'', ''sextine'', ''sextain'') is a fixed verse, fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a three-line envoi. The wor ...

,
Lo ferm voler qu'el cor m'intra
', and uses all the same end-words as the original. *

' by Guilhem de Berguedan, one of a cycle devoted to personal attacks against Pons de Mataplana *
Pos Peire d'Alvernh' a chantat
' by Peire de Vic, built on the meter (but not the rhymes) of
Cantarai d'aqestz trobador
'' by Peire d'Alvernha, is an important source about 12th century troubadours, many of whom it makes fun of.

Legacy

The sirventes, called ''sirventesch'' in early Catalan, was imported into that language in the fourteenth century, and it developed into a unique didactic/moralistic type. It also spread to Northern France, and became known as ''serventois'' in langue d'oïl. by

Richard I of England Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...

is a notable example of a sirventes written 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 ...

References

External links

{{Authority control Western medieval lyric forms Occitan literary genres