VIDAL, PEIRE

(ca. 1160–ca. 1205)

One of the best known and most accessible of the Provencal TROUBADOURS is the poet and musician Peire Vidal. Peire traveled extensively through France, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Palestine, and Hungary, and his verses abound with references to these places.He also names a number of noblemen in these various places with whom he was acquainted and some of whom were his patrons, including such great lords as King Alfonso II of Aragon, Vicomte Barral of Marseille, Count Roman V of Toulouse, and by some accounts King RICHARD I of England.

Peire was born in Toulouse, the son of a furrier. He led an adventurous life and was apparently something of an eccentric character, though some of his escapades, taken seriously in hisVIDA, are based on humorous boasts he makes in his poetry, and were never intended to be taken seriously. But his lively interest in the politics of his time as well as in the writing of love poetry makes him interesting for modern readers, as does his cultivation of theTROBAR RICstyle, which joined elaborate verse forms to clear, straightforward themes. Some 40 of his poems are extant, 13 of them with surviving melodies.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Peire’s lyrics is his creation of “hybrid” forms that combine elements of theCANSO, or love song,with elements of theSIRVENTES, or political song, sometimes within the same stanza of a poem, as in the following:

in this sweet land of Canavès;

for I shall never go back to Provence,

Lanerio and Aglaiano make me welcome here.

And if I could have her, whom I have so long entreated,

let the valiant King En Alfons remain up there,

and I would make my poetry and songs right here,

for the gentlest lady ever begged for love.

And since Milan is at the crest,

I wish it were at peace with Pavia,

from vicious brutes and murderous bandits.

(Goldin 1973, 265, ll.25–36)

Here Peire makes a political statement, supporting the Lombards against the emperor; praises the land he is in and his lady; and acknowledges his lord Alfonso of Aragon, who is lord of Provence—and he does it all within 10 lines of the same poem. This kind of combination was unprecedented in troubadour poetry, and has led Frederick Goldin to call Peire “a performer who does not limit himself to the traditional roles but mixes them up and so surprises his audience” (1973, 248).

Another fascinating aspect of Peire’s poetry is his use of outrageous boasts, a habit he seems to have picked up from the poetry of GUILLAUME IX. These suggest a poet on close terms with his audience— an audience that knows when the poet is engaging in self-mockery. In one of his poems, Peire says:

or so savage and excellent in armor,

see me or hear my words.

(Goldin 1973, 251, ll. 22–24)

Peire remains one of the most popular of the troubadours, his poetry full of passion, adventure, and eccentricity.

■ Goldin, Frederick, ed. and trans.Lyrics of the Troubadours and Trouvères: An Anthology and a History. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1973.