Dalfinet was a minor 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....

 from the Dauphiné

Dauphiné

The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....

. His name, which means "little dolphin", evidently derives from his place of origin. Only 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...

he wrote, De meg sirventes ai legor, survives.

Dalfinet, along with fellow troubadours Folquet de Lunel

Folquet de Lunel

Folquet de Lunel was a troubadour from Lunel in the Languedoc. He left behind nine recorded lyric poems, including five cansos, two partimens, and two sirventes. He also wrote one longer work, the Romans de mondana vida...

 and Cerverí de Girona

Cerverí de Girona

Cerverí de Girona was a Catalan troubadour born Guillem de Cervera in Girona. He was the most prolific troubadour, leaving behind some 114 lyric poems among other works, including an ensenhamen of proverbs for his son, totaling about 130. He was a court poet to James the Conqueror and Peter the...

, was in Spain in 1269 in the entourage of the infante Pere el Gran

Peter III of Aragon

Peter the Great was the King of Aragon of Valencia , and Count of Barcelona from 1276 to his death. He conquered Sicily and became its king in 1282. He was one of the greatest of medieval Aragonese monarchs.-Youth and succession:Peter was the eldest son of James I of Aragon and his second wife...

 of Aragon

Crown of Aragon

The Crown of Aragon Corona d'Aragón Corona d'Aragó Corona Aragonum controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain and southeastern France, as well as some of the major islands and mainland possessions stretching across the Mediterranean as far as Greece...

. They accompanied Pere to Toledo

Toledo, Spain

Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...

, where he transacted with 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...

. On 26 April 1269, at Riello

Riello

Riello is a municipality located in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 864 inhabitants....

 near Cuenca

Cuenca, Spain

-History:When the Iberian peninsula was part of the Roman Empire there were several important settlements in the province, such as Segóbriga, Ercávica and Gran Valeria...

, during the trip, he and Folquet received three solidi in pay, while poor Cerverí received only one.

Sources

• Riquer, Martín de. Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos. 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975.