Guillem de Masdovelles
Encyclopedia
Guillem de Masdovelles (fl.
1389–1438) was a Catalan
soldier, courtier, politician, and poet. His family came from the Penedès
, but he was active in Barcelona
, where he became a civic leader. His fifteen poems are preserved alongside the work of his nephew, Joan Berenguer, in a chansonnier
compiled by Joan around 1470, the Cançoner dels Masdovelles. Guillem exchanged some poetry with his nephew, who also translated some of Guillem's Occitan pieces into the Catalan language
. Guillem also participated in at least three public poetry contests.
ch during the guerra dels armanyaguesos, war against the Armagnacs. He dedicated the piece to Ramon d'Abella
, commander of the cavalry
company with which he was fighting at the time. Late in 1389 the count of Armagnac, John III
, invaded northern Catalonia from across the Pyrenees
in an attempt to seize the Kingdom of Majorca
, which he claimed. Guillem wrote his sirventes before actual fighting had begun. His company was active in the area around Torroella de Montgrí
and Palafrugell
. John III's second son, Bernard VII, already Count of Charolais, de Xerolès lo comte in Guillem's words, led a regiment of Armagnac knights into Catalonia, and it is rumours of these that Guillem is writing of in his first stanza. Guillem puts word into the mouth of the bellicose count of Charolais in an attempt to stir up his own Catalans' martial fervour.
After the war against Armagnac, Guillem entered the service of Martin, Duke of Montblanc, who had campaigned against Armagnac and was now fighting in Sicily
on behalf of his son, Martin I of Sicily
, against whom there was an uprising. Guillem was in Sicily early in 1394, when Martin the elder charged him with composing a sirventes while they, the Martins, were besieging Catania
. The date of this poem was thought to be 1393, when the two Martins were besieged in Catania, but the language of the poem makes clear that they were the besiegers. The sirventes was designed as propaganda to recruit more troops in Catalonia. The result was probably the expedition led by Roger de Montcada, and including Pere Maça, later in 1394 and not, as one supposed, the expedition of October 1393 by Bernat de Cabrera or that of December under John I of Aragon
. The sirventes, ferocious and sanguine, which dreams of exterminating the rebellious Sicilians, is written, according to its authos, en la guaya siença, in the "gay science" espoused by the Consistori.
Guillem de Masdovelles is documented as a participant in the war between Ferdinand I
and James II of Urgell
in 1413 on the side of Ferdinand. Thereafter he resided in Barcelona, where he held several public offices. He frequently spent time in Vilafranca del Penedès
.
during the siege of Catania. Guerau died in 1405.
Guillem was also the author of three maldits, songs "cursing" women who made life miserable. Each was directed against a different woman in Guillem's case: an anonymous lady, a lady known by the senhal (code name) "Na Mondina" (Worldly Lady), and another known by the senhal "N'Anguaneyritz" (Lady Liar). In the first instance, the lady's love costs five cents florin and her letters are full of lies. In the second instance, the lady has another lover, so Guillem publicly airs all her secrets she has told him. This is very uncourtly, but it is justified, to Guillem, because she is devoid of all courtliness to begin with. The third poem is a maldit-comiat in which Guillem renounces his lover, who is, of course, an ugly liar. Guillem's maldits influenced the maldits of Jordi de Sant Jordi
.
at both the Consistori de Tolosa (Toulouse
) and the Consistori de Barcelona
(Barcelona
). He won a prize for a canso
at the first and was coronada (crowned) at the latter. Both are difficult to date but were probably works of his youth.
The song Eras mi ponch Amors tan finamen, written for Toulouse, deals primarily with the topic of secret love, always from the traditional perspective of the troubadours, as the Consistori's Leys d'amors dictated. The song Pus li prat son de verdura guarnit, given at Barcelona, was written in a fast style because it was Lent
(jatz que siam en los jorns caresmals). Guillem also wrote Le temps presens de guaya primavera for the Consistori of Barcelona but won no prize for it.
At the age of seventy Guillem participated in a third competition, the last recorded event in his life. This was a private contest held in June 1438 in the parish of Sant Just in Barcelona by Bartomeu Castelló, a notary public
. A prize was to be awarded to the best planh
(mourning) of love. In Guillem's poem, Del cruzel crim de lleza magestat ("On the cruel crime of lèse majesté
"), he makes reference to the Old French
romance
Le livre de Meliadus et de Guiron le Courtois et de Palamedes through micer Llach e Palamides (King Lac, father of Erec
, and Palomides
). He makes further reference to Llançalot
and Tristany
. This tactic of referring to famous lovers in literature to sustain his point he also used in a debate with his nephew.
s (poetic debates) between Guillem and his nephew, Joan Berenguer, have been preserved. Based on internal evidence, they can be dated to the final phase of Guillem's writing career and towards the end of his life. The most interesting of such poems is probably his Pus qu'iey suy vielhs, en favor de les velles or "Because I am old, in favour of old ladies", in which Guillem and his nephew argued over whether older or younger women were to be preferred. Ironically, in another poem, Dues gentils donzellas say que•z an, Guillem defends his love for a girl of twenty-two, while Joan Berenguer expresses a preference for twelve-year-olds. In Mos cars nebotz: en vostres cançons vey Guillem argues that in the past poets loved more strongly and cites as his evidence Tristan (Tristanyn) and Jaufre Rudel
(Jaufrés de Blaya), both of whom died of love.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1389–1438) was a Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
soldier, courtier, politician, and poet. His family came from the Penedès
Penedès
Penedès is a natural and historical region of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the south of the Principality of Catalonia between the pre-coastal mountain range and the Mediterranean sea...
, but he was active in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, where he became a civic leader. His fifteen poems are preserved alongside the work of his nephew, Joan Berenguer, in a chansonnier
Chansonnier
A chansonnier is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings of songs, hence literally "song-books," although some manuscripts are so called even though they preserve the text but not the music A chansonnier is a manuscript or...
compiled by Joan around 1470, the Cançoner dels Masdovelles. Guillem exchanged some poetry with his nephew, who also translated some of Guillem's Occitan pieces into the Catalan language
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
. Guillem also participated in at least three public poetry contests.
Military career and sirventes
Guillem is first attested in 1389, when he wrote a sirventesSirventes
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...
ch during the guerra dels armanyaguesos, war against the Armagnacs. He dedicated the piece to Ramon d'Abella
Ramon d'Abella
Ramon d'Abella was a Catalan military leader and royal councillor under John I and Martin of the Crown of Aragon.During the guerra dels armanyaguesos in 1389, Ramon led a regiment of cavalry in the area around Torroella de Montgrí and Palafrugell...
, commander of the cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
company with which he was fighting at the time. Late in 1389 the count of Armagnac, John III
John III of Armagnac
John III of Armagnac was a count of Armagnac, of Fézensac and Rodez from 1384 to 1391. He was the son of John II of Armagnac, and Jeanne of Périgord....
, invaded northern Catalonia from across the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
in an attempt to seize the Kingdom of Majorca
Kingdom of Majorca
The Kingdom of Majorca was founded by James I of Aragon, also known as James The Conqueror. After the death of his first-born son Alfonso, a will was written in 1262 which created the kingdom in order to cede it to his son James...
, which he claimed. Guillem wrote his sirventes before actual fighting had begun. His company was active in the area around Torroella de Montgrí
Torroella de Montgrí
Torroella de Montgrí is a small town in Catalonia, on the north bank of the Ter river.-Features:The town is 22 km east of Girona and 5 km west of the resort of L'Estartit...
and Palafrugell
Palafrugell
Palafrugell is a municipality in the Mediterranean Costa Brava, located near Palamós in the comarca of Baix Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. With 22,365 inhabitants it is the largest city of its comarca...
. John III's second son, Bernard VII, already Count of Charolais, de Xerolès lo comte in Guillem's words, led a regiment of Armagnac knights into Catalonia, and it is rumours of these that Guillem is writing of in his first stanza. Guillem puts word into the mouth of the bellicose count of Charolais in an attempt to stir up his own Catalans' martial fervour.
After the war against Armagnac, Guillem entered the service of Martin, Duke of Montblanc, who had campaigned against Armagnac and was now fighting in Sicily
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
on behalf of his son, Martin I of Sicily
Martin I of Sicily
Martin I of Sicily , called "The Younger", was King of Sicily from 1390 to 1409.Martin's father was the future King Martin I of Aragon, and his grandparents were King Peter IV of Aragon and Eleanor of Sicily. In 1389/1390/February, 1392 he married Maria of Sicily, born in 1362/1363...
, against whom there was an uprising. Guillem was in Sicily early in 1394, when Martin the elder charged him with composing a sirventes while they, the Martins, were besieging Catania
Catania
Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...
. The date of this poem was thought to be 1393, when the two Martins were besieged in Catania, but the language of the poem makes clear that they were the besiegers. The sirventes was designed as propaganda to recruit more troops in Catalonia. The result was probably the expedition led by Roger de Montcada, and including Pere Maça, later in 1394 and not, as one supposed, the expedition of October 1393 by Bernat de Cabrera or that of December under John I of Aragon
John I of Aragon
John I , called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance , but the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of...
. The sirventes, ferocious and sanguine, which dreams of exterminating the rebellious Sicilians, is written, according to its authos, en la guaya siença, in the "gay science" espoused by the Consistori.
Guillem de Masdovelles is documented as a participant in the war between Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I of Aragon
Ferdinand I called of Antequera and also the Just or the Honest) was king of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica and king of Sicily, duke of Athens and Neopatria, and count of Barcelona, Roussillon and Cerdanya...
and James II of Urgell
James II of Urgell
James II was the Count of Urgell , Viscount of Àger, and lord of Antillón, Alcolea de Cinca, and Fraga...
in 1413 on the side of Ferdinand. Thereafter he resided in Barcelona, where he held several public offices. He frequently spent time in Vilafranca del Penedès
Vilafranca del Penedès
Vilafranca del Penedès, or simply Vilafranca, is the capital of the comarca of the Alt Penedès in Catalonia, Spain. The Spanish spelling of the name, Villafranca del Penedés, is no longer in official use...
.
Love life: maldits and comiat
Guillem adapted the genre of the comiat, typically a song for "dismissing" a mistress, and set it to the purpose of separating himself from the service of Guerau de Cervelló, whom he describes as governador de moltes gens e pobles (meaning governor of Catalonia). Though he has performed many tasks for the aging governor, Guillem lists several wrongs that Guerau has done to his family. Many of these are impossible to understand precisely, though they would present an interesting historical commentary if they could be. It appears that Guillem was with Guerau in Sicily when the latter came to the aid of CastrogiovanniEnna
Enna is a city and comune located roughly at the center of Sicily, southern Italy, in the province of Enna, towering above the surrounding countryside...
during the siege of Catania. Guerau died in 1405.
Guillem was also the author of three maldits, songs "cursing" women who made life miserable. Each was directed against a different woman in Guillem's case: an anonymous lady, a lady known by the senhal (code name) "Na Mondina" (Worldly Lady), and another known by the senhal "N'Anguaneyritz" (Lady Liar). In the first instance, the lady's love costs five cents florin and her letters are full of lies. In the second instance, the lady has another lover, so Guillem publicly airs all her secrets she has told him. This is very uncourtly, but it is justified, to Guillem, because she is devoid of all courtliness to begin with. The third poem is a maldit-comiat in which Guillem renounces his lover, who is, of course, an ugly liar. Guillem's maldits influenced the maldits of Jordi de Sant Jordi
Jordi de Sant Jordi
Jordi de Sant Jordi was born in the Kingdom of Valencia. He was Chamberlain at the court of King Alfons V of Aragon but is best known for his poetry....
.
Poetic contests
Guillem de Masdovelles participated in floral gamesFloral Games
Floral Games were any of a series historically related poetry contests with floral prizes. In Occitan, their original language, and Catalan they are known as Jocs florals . In French they became the Jeux floraux...
at both the Consistori de Tolosa (Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
) and the Consistori de Barcelona
Consistori de Barcelona
The Consistori de Barcelona was a literary academy founded in Barcelona by John the Hunter, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, in 1393 in imitation of the Consistori del Gay Saber founded at Toulouse seventy years earlier . The poetry produced by and for the Consistori was heavily influenced...
(Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
). He won a prize for a canso
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...
at the first and was coronada (crowned) at the latter. Both are difficult to date but were probably works of his youth.
The song Eras mi ponch Amors tan finamen, written for Toulouse, deals primarily with the topic of secret love, always from the traditional perspective of the troubadours, as the Consistori's Leys d'amors dictated. The song Pus li prat son de verdura guarnit, given at Barcelona, was written in a fast style because it was Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
(jatz que siam en los jorns caresmals). Guillem also wrote Le temps presens de guaya primavera for the Consistori of Barcelona but won no prize for it.
At the age of seventy Guillem participated in a third competition, the last recorded event in his life. This was a private contest held in June 1438 in the parish of Sant Just in Barcelona by Bartomeu Castelló, a notary public
Notary public
A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...
. A prize was to be awarded to the best planh
Planh
The planh or plaing is a funeral lament used by the troubadours, modeled on the medieval Latin planctus. It differed from the planctus in that it was intended for a secular audience...
(mourning) of love. In Guillem's poem, Del cruzel crim de lleza magestat ("On the cruel crime of lèse majesté
Lèse majesté
Lese-majesty is the crime of violating majesty, an offence against the dignity of a reigning sovereign or against a state.This behavior was first classified as a criminal offence against the dignity of the Roman republic in Ancient Rome...
"), he makes reference to the Old French
Old French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
Le livre de Meliadus et de Guiron le Courtois et de Palamedes through micer Llach e Palamides (King Lac, father of Erec
Erec
Sir Erec, the son of King Lac, is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He features in numerous Arthurian tales , but he is most famous as the protagonist in Chrétien de Troyes' first romance, Erec and Enide...
, and Palomides
Palamedes (Arthurian legend)
Palamedes is a Knight of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is a Saracen pagan who converts to Christianity later in his life, and his unrequited love for Iseult brings him into frequent conflict with Tristan...
). He makes further reference to Llançalot
Lancelot
Sir Lancelot du Lac is one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is the most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories...
and Tristany
Tristan and Iseult
The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult...
. This tactic of referring to famous lovers in literature to sustain his point he also used in a debate with his nephew.
Debates with nephew
Six tensoTenso
A tenso is a style of Occitan song favoured by the troubadours. It takes the form of a debate in which each voice defends a position on a topic relating to love or ethics. Closely related genres include the partimen and the cobla exchange...
s (poetic debates) between Guillem and his nephew, Joan Berenguer, have been preserved. Based on internal evidence, they can be dated to the final phase of Guillem's writing career and towards the end of his life. The most interesting of such poems is probably his Pus qu'iey suy vielhs, en favor de les velles or "Because I am old, in favour of old ladies", in which Guillem and his nephew argued over whether older or younger women were to be preferred. Ironically, in another poem, Dues gentils donzellas say que•z an, Guillem defends his love for a girl of twenty-two, while Joan Berenguer expresses a preference for twelve-year-olds. In Mos cars nebotz: en vostres cançons vey Guillem argues that in the past poets loved more strongly and cites as his evidence Tristan (Tristanyn) and Jaufre Rudel
Jaufré Rudel
Jaufre Rudel was the Prince of Blaye and a troubadour of the early–mid 12th century, who probably died during the Second Crusade, in or after 1147...
(Jaufrés de Blaya), both of whom died of love.
External links
- Incipitario di Guillem de Masdovelles, for Guillem's complete works
- Incipitario di Joan Berenguer de Masdovelles, for Catalan translations of Guillem's work