Cadenet (troubadour)
Encyclopedia
Cadenet was a Provençal
troubadour
(trobador) who lived and wrote at the court of Raymond VI of Toulouse
and eventually made a reputation in Spain. Of his twenty-five surviving songs, twenty-one (or twenty-three) are cansos
, with one alba
, one partimen
, one pastorela
, and one religious piece represented. One of his melodies survives.
During his childhood Raymond V of Toulouse
and Bertrand I of Forcalquier went to war over the Vaucluse
. His father was killed in battle on this side of the count of Forcalquier and the castle of Cadenet
destroyed. The young nobleman was taking captive or as a hostage to the court of Toulouse, where he became known after his birthplace, a term which also mean "juniper grove" (cade is Occitan for "juniper
"). He rose to prominence in the court under the patronage of several prominent families with close connections to the Cathar
movement. According to his late thirteenth-century vida
, . . . et il devint bon, bel et courtois. Il sut bien trouver, chanter et parler, et appris à composer des couplets et des sirventès. He became a devoted attendant of the count and countess of Toulouse.
His cansos celebrate friendship, love, and wine, but also criticise the feudal lords for their less admirable behaviour. He was only full of praise for lauzengiers, the spies and eavesdroppers who forced lovers into ever more secrecy. He wrote one sirventes
criticising Raymond Roger Trencavel
for his poor manners on a visit to the court of the count of Toulouse in 1204. This sirventes is a useful source for the relationship between Toulouse and the Trencavel
on the eve of the Albigensian Crusade
, as it was written for a contemporary audience and dealt with personal issues. Cadenet also wrote a famous early alba, S'anc fu belha ni prezada, whose music (air) and lyrics are still preserved. The music is of the style of an oda continua hymn. In some of his writings, modern researches have thought to detect the influence of Cathar doctrine. His famous Lo ben e lo mal (The Good and the Bad) divulges a deep sense of guilt towards God and a desire to swap evil and good:
Elsewhere the learned Cadenet borrowed a Classical
metaphor, that of the "boat of love, ploughing through the rough weather" from Ovid
, and wrote Plus que la naus q'es en la mar prionda / Non had poder de far son dreg viatge. Cadenet elsewhere employs simile and metaphor to compare a beautiful but difficult woman to a pretty flower without seed:
After the Crusade and the Inquisition
, Cadenet took refuge in Spain (either Castile
or Aragon
, c. 1230), where he had an influence on the court of Alfonso X of Castile
. Alfonso's cantiga
Virgen, madre gloriosa adapts metric elements from Cadenet's alba. Late in life, after an unhappy falling in love with a novice nun, sources differ as to whether he entered either the Order of the Temple
or the Order of the Hospital. He appears to have been serving with the Order in Palestine
when he died around 1230, though other sources place him in the Hospitaller establishment at Orange in 1239.
The first modern critical edition of Cadenet's work was published by Carl Appel in German as Der Trobador Cadenet in 1920.
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
(trobador) who lived and wrote at the court of Raymond VI of Toulouse
Raymond VI of Toulouse
Raymond VI was count of Toulouse and marquis of Provence from 1194 to 1222. He was also count of Melgueil from 1173 to 1190.-Early life:...
and eventually made a reputation in Spain. Of his twenty-five surviving songs, twenty-one (or twenty-three) are cansos
Canso (song)
The canso is a song style used by the troubadours. It consists of three parts. The first stanza is the exordium, where the composer explains his purpose. The main body of the song occurs in the following stanzas, and usually draw out a variety of relationships with the exordium. The canso can end...
, with one alba
Alba (poetry)
The alba is a subgenre of Occitan lyric poetry. It describes the longing of lovers who, having passed a night together, must separate for fear of being discovered by their respective spouses....
, one partimen
Partimen
The partimen is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry composed between two troubadours, a subgenre of the tenso or cobla exchange in which one poet presents a dilemma in the form of a question and the two debate the answer, each taking up a different side. It was especially popular in poetic contests....
, one pastorela
Pastorela
The pastorela was an Occitan lyric genre used by the troubadours. It gave rise to the Old French pastourelle. The central topic was always meeting of a knight with a shepherdess, which may lead to any of a number of possible conclusions. They are usually humorous pieces...
, and one religious piece represented. One of his melodies survives.
During his childhood Raymond V of Toulouse
Raymond V of Toulouse
Raymond V was count of Toulouse from 1148 until his death in 1194.He was the son of Alphonse-Jordan. When Alphonse died in the Holy Land in 1148, the county of Toulouse passed to his son Raymond, at the time 14 years old....
and Bertrand I of Forcalquier went to war over the Vaucluse
Vaucluse
The Vaucluse is a department in the southeast of France, named after the famous spring, the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.- History :Vaucluse was created on 12 August 1793 out of parts of the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, and Basses-Alpes...
. His father was killed in battle on this side of the count of Forcalquier and the castle of Cadenet
Cadenet
Cadenet is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-Jewish community:Like all places situated along the river Durance, Cadenet had a Jewish community in the Middle Ages...
destroyed. The young nobleman was taking captive or as a hostage to the court of Toulouse, where he became known after his birthplace, a term which also mean "juniper grove" (cade is Occitan for "juniper
Juniper
Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...
"). He rose to prominence in the court under the patronage of several prominent families with close connections to the Cathar
Cathar
Catharism was a name given to a Christian religious sect with dualistic and gnostic elements that appeared in the Languedoc region of France and other parts of Europe in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries...
movement. According to his late thirteenth-century vida
Vida (Occitan literary form)
Vida is the usual term for a brief prose biography, written in Old Occitan, of a troubadour or trobairitz.The word vida means "life" in Occitan languages. In the chansonniers, the manuscript collections of medieval troubadour poetry, the works of a particular author are often accompanied by a...
, . . . et il devint bon, bel et courtois. Il sut bien trouver, chanter et parler, et appris à composer des couplets et des sirventès. He became a devoted attendant of the count and countess of Toulouse.
His cansos celebrate friendship, love, and wine, but also criticise the feudal lords for their less admirable behaviour. He was only full of praise for lauzengiers, the spies and eavesdroppers who forced lovers into ever more secrecy. He wrote one sirventes
Sirventes
The sirventes or serventes is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry used by the troubadours. In early Catalan it became a sirventesch and was imported into that language in the fourteenth century, where it developed into a unique didactic/moralistic type...
criticising Raymond Roger Trencavel
Raymond-Roger de Trencavel
Raymond Roger Trencavel was a member of the noble Trencavel family. He was viscount of Béziers and Albi , and viscount of Carcassonne and the Razès .Raymond-Roger was the son of Roger II Trencavel Raymond Roger Trencavel (also Raimond, ; 1185 – 10 November 1209) was a member of the noble...
for his poor manners on a visit to the court of the count of Toulouse in 1204. This sirventes is a useful source for the relationship between Toulouse and the Trencavel
Trencavel
The Trencavel were an important noble family in Languedoc during the 10th through 13th centuries. The name "Trencavel," originally a nickname and later a family name, may derive from the Occitan words for "nutcracker"...
on the eve of the Albigensian Crusade
Albigensian Crusade
The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc...
, as it was written for a contemporary audience and dealt with personal issues. Cadenet also wrote a famous early alba, S'anc fu belha ni prezada, whose music (air) and lyrics are still preserved. The music is of the style of an oda continua hymn. In some of his writings, modern researches have thought to detect the influence of Cathar doctrine. His famous Lo ben e lo mal (The Good and the Bad) divulges a deep sense of guilt towards God and a desire to swap evil and good:
Ben volgra s'esser pogues
ot lo mal qu'ai fait desfar
e-l be que non ai fait far
Ai! com m'en fora ben pres
si-l bes fos mals e mals fos bes. . .
Tant mi sent vas Dieu mespres
qu'eu me cugei deseperar.
I would like, if it could be,
To destroy all the evil which I have made
And do all the good which I have not done
Ah! because it would be pleasing to me
If the good were evil and the evil good. . .
So guilty I feel towards God
That I believe I might despair.
Elsewhere the learned Cadenet borrowed a Classical
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
metaphor, that of the "boat of love, ploughing through the rough weather" from Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
, and wrote Plus que la naus q'es en la mar prionda / Non had poder de far son dreg viatge. Cadenet elsewhere employs simile and metaphor to compare a beautiful but difficult woman to a pretty flower without seed:
Car es delida
leu flors, on mieills es florida;
q'ela se fraing per nïen
qand so qe mostra desmend.
After the Crusade and the Inquisition
Medieval Inquisition
The Medieval Inquisition is a series of Inquisitions from around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition and later the Papal Inquisition...
, Cadenet took refuge in Spain (either Castile
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
or Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, c. 1230), where he had an influence on the court of Alfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X was a Castilian monarch who ruled as the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1252 until his death...
. Alfonso's cantiga
Cantiga
A cantiga is a medieval monophonic song, characteristic of the Galician-Portuguese lyric. Over 400 extant cantigas come from the Cantigas de Santa Maria, narrative songs about miracles or hymns in praise of the Holy Virgin...
Virgen, madre gloriosa adapts metric elements from Cadenet's alba. Late in life, after an unhappy falling in love with a novice nun, sources differ as to whether he entered either the Order of the Temple
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
or the Order of the Hospital. He appears to have been serving with the Order in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
when he died around 1230, though other sources place him in the Hospitaller establishment at Orange in 1239.
The first modern critical edition of Cadenet's work was published by Carl Appel in German as Der Trobador Cadenet in 1920.