Guilhem de Montanhagol

Miniature of Montanhagol playing a harp from a 13th-century chansonnier

Guilhem (de) Montanhagol[1] (fl. 1233–1268) was a Provençal troubadour, most likely active in Toulouse, but known in the courts of Provence, Toulouse, Castile, and Aragon.[2][3] Guilhem left behind seven cansos and six sirventes.[3] He also left behind one tenso (specifically, a partimen) with Sordello (perhaps suggesting a brief sojourn in Lombardy) and his total surviving output comes to fourteen pieces.[2][3]

The meaning of Guilhem's name has been debated. "Montanhagol" means "from Montanhac", but it is not known which of the several places named Montanhac that could be.[4] For a long time it was thought that the correct form of the troubadour's name was simply "Guilhem Montanhagol", since the "de" (of) would be redundant.[5] Contemporary documents, however, clearly use "de".[5]

He was of humble birth.[2] According to his vida he was from Provence, though some modern scholars suspect he was a Toulousain.[2][4] His vida records that he was "a good inventor (trobaire) of poetry, and a great lover."[4] His lover was a lady named Jauseranda from Lunel, the lord of which castle, Raymond Gaucelm V, Guilhem probably knew.[4]

His cansos are awkward, and he emulated the earlier troubadours, praising mezura (moderation) among all the virtues.[2] He stated that "from love proceeds chastity" (d'amor mou castitatz), which may mean no more than that love is necessary for fidelity.[3][6] He has been viewed, most ardently by Cesare de Lollis, as a precursor of the Dolce Stil Novo and as an important link between Occitan and Italian literature through his work with Sordello.[6][7] He has been credited with an innovative picture of courtly love blended with Christian morality,[6] and indeed he refers to noel dig de maestria ("a new saying of mastery"), though this is probably not an indication of any conscious reformation.[8]

Guilhem's political sirventes concern Toulousain and Spanish politics.[2] Writing in the aftermath of the Albigensian Crusade which devastated Languedoc, Guilhem was an opponent of the Papal Inquisition, though not of the Church itself.[2] He encouraged the gentle correction of the Cathars, but not their violent suppression by means of war.[3]

Guilhem was grieved in a planh written by his brother-in-law Pons Santolh.[3]

Works

References

  1. ↑ Other spellings include Guillem and Guilhèm (Mistralian norm), and for his surname Montaignagol or the corrupted Montaigacot.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gaunt and Kay, appendix.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Paden, "Guilhem de Montanhagol".
  4. 1 2 3 4 Egan, 57.
  5. 1 2 Riquer.
  6. 1 2 3 Topsfield, 127.
  7. ↑ Boase, 33, credits Montanhagol with inventing the term dolce stil novo.
  8. ↑ Spiers, "Vita Nuova and Dolce Stil Nuovo", 39.

Further reading

  • Boase, Roger. The Origin and Meaning of Courtly Love: A Critical Study of European Scholarship. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977. ISBN 0-87471-950-X.
  • Egan, Margarita, ed. The Vidas of the Troubadours. New York: Garland, 1984. ISBN 0-8240-9437-9.
  • Gaunt, Simon, and Kay, Sarah. "Appendix I: Major Troubadours" (pp. 279–291). The Troubadours: An Introduction. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-521-57473-0.
  • Paden, William D. "Guilhem de Montanhagol" (p. 425). Medieval France: An Encyclopedia, ed. William W. Kibler. New Jersey: Routledge University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8240-4444-4.
  • Ricketts, Peter T. Les poésies de Guilhem de Montanhagol: troubadour provençal du XIIIe siècle. Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies, 2000.
  • Riquer, Martín de. Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos. 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975.
  • Spiers, A. G. H. "Vita Nuova and Dolce Stil Nuovo." Modern Language Notes, 25:2 (Feb., 1910), pp. 37–39.
  • Spiers, A. G. H. "Dolce Stil Nuovo—The Case of the Opposition." Periodical of the Modern Language Association, 25:4 (1910), pp. 657–675.
  • Topsfield, L. T. "The Theme of Courtly Love in the Poems of Guilhem de Montanhagol." French Studies, 11 (1957), 127–34.
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