Antoni Rossell THE LYRICAL POETRY OF CATALAN TROUBADOURS The Catalan lands, together with others of the Iberian Peninsula, were the second pole of attraction of troubadour lyrical poetry. The courts of Catalonia and Aragon on the one hand, and those of León and Castile on the other, gathered a large number of courtesan lyrical expressions and were visited by many troubadours.In Catalonia, the court of Ramon Berenguer IV (1131-1162), first Count of Barcelona and King of Aragon, is not much mentioned, although secular monodic music was not unknown to him. What we do have are the reproaches of Marcabrú and Peire d'Alvernha who criticise the passiveness of the monarch as regards knighthood ideals or the threat of the infidels.In the second half of the twelfth century, King Alfons the Chaste (1162-1196) was the king, not only of the Catalans and of Aragon, but also of the occitans (langue d'oc speakers) of Provence. This monarch composed courtesan lyrical poetry and was named the "rei trobador" ("troubadour king"). His contact with troubadours is well known. We know a "partiment" (form of troubadour lyrical poetry which implies a dialogue between two or more troubadours) of King Alfons with Giraut de Bornelh, the "Master of Troubadours", about love and power (Lo Reis d'Aragon i Giraut de Bornelh, 23, 1 a, 242,22, vv. 1-16). Giraut de Bornelh became a great admirer of the monarch, as well as a defender and propagandist of his policy, a common theme among the troubadours of this period, against the Count of Toulouse. The court of King Alfons was very much visited by Folquet de Marseilha who called the monarch "mo seignor" ("my Lord"), although, later on, this troubadour -when he was Bishop of Marseilles- advocated for the crusade against the people of Albi on behalf of Saint Domingo de Guzmán and Simon de Monfort, the Deputy of the King of France and the person responsible for the massacres of occitans. The troubadour Arnaut Daniel, in his well-known composition L'aur'amara (29,13), values very much the point of view of the Catalan monarch. Many other troubadours also visited his court: Arnaut de Maruelh, Peire Rogier, Peire Ramon de Tolosa, Uc Brunet, the Monk of Montaudon, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, Aimeric de Sarlat, Pons de Capduelh, Peire Vidal, Bertran de Born, Guiraut de Luc and Raimon de Miraval.

• published: 10 Jul 2014
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