Guilhem de la Tor (Latin: Guillelmus de la Turri; fl. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. 1216–1233) was an early 13th-century jongleur-troubadour from the Périgord who spent most of his active career in northern Italy. minstrel was a medieval European Bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories about distant places or about real or imaginary historical events A troubadour ( IPA:, originally) was a composer and performer of Occitan Lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100&ndash1350 The Périgord ( ( Occitan: Peiregòrd / Perigòrd) is a former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne Related categories Central Italy Southern Italy Insular Italy Northeast Italy He circulated between the courts of the Este, Malaspina, and Da Romano families. "Este" redirects here For the city see Este Italy. For Tolkien's fictional character see Estë.
The tor (tower, castle) that was Guilhem's birthplace does not survive, but it was almost certainly in the vicinity of the modern town of La Tour-Blanche, Dordogne. La Tour-Blanche is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France. Dordogne (Dordonha is a department in central France named after the Dordogne River. Guilhem first appears actively composing in the Occitan language in 1216–1220, during which period he produced the panegyric Pos N'Aimerics a fait mesclança e batailla, a song in which the noble women of Italy put an end to a feud for supremacy at court between Selvaggia and Beatrice di Oramala, daughters of Conrad Malaspina. Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan A panegyric is a formal public speech, or (in later use written verse delivered in high praise of a Person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating The Treva ("truce"), as it is called, was a sequel to an earlier work (now lost) by Aimeric de Pegulhan describing the feud. Aimeric or Aimery de Peguilhan, Peguillan, or Pégulhan (c 1170 &ndash c It is of historical interest but lack literary merit, like most of Guilhem's poetry. He is tiring and unoriginal: his Una, doas, tres e quatre is plagiarised from Cel so qui capol'e dola by Guillem de Berguedà. Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work He left behind a total of fourteen works: eight cansos, two tensos, two sirventes, one descort, and the Treva. The canso or canço is a Song style used by the Troubadours It consists of three parts The sirventes or serventes ( Mistralian norm sirventès) is a Genre of Occitan Lyric poetry used by The descort or descortz is a Subgenre of Occitan Lyric poetry used by the Troubadours It is a song heavily discordant
Guilhem is dignified with a comparatively long vida, but much of it cannot be trusted. Vida is the usual term for a brief prose biography written in Occitan, of a Troubadour or Trobairitz. Among the more trustworthy parts is this description of his character and routine:
And he knew many songs, and created and sang well and graciously, and he also invented (trobaire). But when he wanted to recite his songs, he made his discussions of the explanation (razo) longer than the song itself. A razó or razo was a short piece of Occitan Prose detailing the circumstances of a Troubadour composition
The subsequent narrative of the vida is almost certainly an invention. It relates how he fell in love with a young and beautiful barber's wife in Milan and abducted her to Como, where they married and "he loved her more than anything in the world. Milan (Milano Milan (listen) is one of the largest cities in Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. Como is a City in Lombardy, Italy, north of Milan. Situated at the southern tip of the south-west arm of Lake Como, it " When she eventually died, however, Guilhem went mad over the loss and began to believe that she was merely posing as dead in order to leave him. For ten days he regluarly removed her from the tomb and kissed her and hugged her and asked her to tell him if she were alive or dead and, if dead, to tell him what sufferings she were experiencing so that he could alleviate it with masses and alms. But when the leading men of the city heard this, they expelled him from there and he went wandering around looking for a sorcerer or sorceress who could bring his wife back to life. Eventually he encountered a "trickster" who told him to recite daily the entire Psalter and 150 Paternosters and to give alms to seven poor men before he ate each day for a year, then she would come back to life, but would never eat, drink, or talk. A Psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms and which often contains other devotional material The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater noster, is probably the best-known Prayer in Christianity. Believing the hoax, Guilhem immediately set out to do as he was told, but when after year she had not returned to him, he despaired completely and died. This bizarre legend is probably related to a partimen between Guilhem and Sordello, Un amics et un'amia, in which the former posed the dilemma of whether it is better to follow a deceased lover to death or to move on. The partimen, partiment, partia, or joc partit is a Genre of Occitan Lyric poetry Sordello da Goito or Sordel de Goit (sometimes Sordell) was a 13th-century Lombard Troubadour, born in the municipality of Goito The partimen can be dated to 1224–1226, before Sordello's kidnapping of Cunizza da Romano (Na Cuniza in the poem). Cunizza da Romano (born c 1198 was an Italian Noblewoman, the third daughter of Ezzelino II da Romano and Adelaide di Mangona and sister to Ezzelino III
Guilhem was a Ghibelline in sympathy and he wrote Un sirventes farai d'una trista persona to attack the Guelph podestà Ponzio Amato di Cremona. The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting respectively the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in central and northern Italy The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting respectively the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in central and northern Italy For information on the phantom island of the same name see Podesta (island. He lampoons the hated Guelph politician as Porc Armat ("armed pig") de Cremona. This song was written before Ponzio's death in 1228.
Guilhem's last song was Canson ab gais motz plazens, inspired by the death in November 1233 of Giovanna d'Este. Guilhem himself is last mentioned in that same month.
Sources
- Egan, Margarita, ed. The Vidas of the Troubadours. New York: Garland, 1984. ISBN 0 8240 9437 9.
- Riquer, Martín de. Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos. 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975.
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