Peirol or Peiròl (French: [peʁɔl], Occitan: [pejˈɾɔl]; birth ca. 1160, known in 1188–1222/1225, death in the 1220s) was an Auvergnat troubadour who wrote mostly cansos of courtly love in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Thirty-four surviving poems written in Occitan have been attributed to him; of these, seventeen (sixteen of them love songs) have surviving melodies. He is sometimes called Peirol d'Auvergne or Peiròl d'Auvèrnha, and erroneously Pierol.Biography
Not much is known of his life, and any attempt to establish his biography from a reading of his poems is soundly rejected by the most recent scholarship.
Peirol's birth is commonly estimated around 1160. He may have hailed from — and been named after — the village of Pérols in Prondines,Puy-de-Dôme, "at the foot of" (al pe de) the castle of Rochefort-Montagne (Rocafort). Another candidate for his birth town is Pérol in modern Riom-es-Montagnes. His homeland was thus en la contrada del Dalfin: in the county of the Dauphin of Auvergne.
Peirol was originally a poor knight, described as "courtly and handsome" by the author of his late thirteenth-century vida (biography). He served at the court of Dalfi d'Alvernha, but was in love with his sister Salh (or Sail) de Claustra (which means "fled from the cloister"), the wife of Béraut III de Mercœur, and wrote many songs for this "domna" (lady). While Dalfi had brought his sister to his court for Peirol and had helped Peirol cater to her tastes in his compositions, eventually Dalfi grew jealous of the attention his sister gave Peirol and, in part because of the impropriety, had to dismiss Peirol, who could not support himself as a man-at-arms. His biographer indicates, Peirols no se poc mantener per cavallier e venc joglars, et anet per cortz e receup dels barons e draps e deniers e cavals. That is: Peirol being unable to maintain himself as a knight became a jongleur, and travelled from court to court, receiving from barons clothing, money, and horses.
Peirol is known to have been a fiddler and singer from a reference in a tornada of Albertet de Sestaro. After returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem sometime in or after 1222, Peirol may have died in Montpellier in the 1220s.
Courtly love
Peirol's works are simple and metaphysical; based on familiar concepts of courtliness, they lack originality. They are most characteristic in their abstractness and lack of concrete nouns; the adjectives are rarely sensory (related to sight, touch, etc.) and there are no extended references to nature as found in many troubadours. The purpose behind his writing was probably economical and chivalric — for reputation, prestige, and honour — rather than emotional or sentimental; his writing is intellectual and formulaic. Among the personal statements in his works, he expresses a preference for the vers over the chansoneta. Among his love songs can be distinguished the light-hearted "gay songs", which sometimes at least had equally gay melodies, and the more "serious songs", which were "theoretical discussions of love". He wrote in the trobar leu (light poetry) tradition.
To Peirol, the "crafty lover" can "circumvent the foolish watchfulness of the jealous husband." Peirol gave up a nobler woman for a lesser "that I love in joy and peace and am loved in return." Peirol also waded into the discussion concerning whether it was permissible to love in a pure, elevated form at the same time as one sought low, physical love.
One of Peirol's works, "Mainta gens mi malrazona", survives with a melody to which a piano accompaniment was written as "Manta gens me mal razona" by E. Bohm. Among his surviving melodies, Théodore Gérold has ascertained a discord between music and lyric, and although Switten denies this, she admits that they are generally melancholic and not expressive of the mood of the lyrics (if one is conveyed). Both agree, however, that his melodies are simpler than those of contemporary troubadours Folquet de Marselha and Peire Vidal. They are usually written in either the Dorian or Mixolydian modes and "cannot be rejected as tiresome pedantries [...] yet possessed of an intrinsic harmony, a singularity of purpose, a unanimity of conception and intent that may properly be termed artistic."
A trouvère, Guiot de Dijon, writing in Old French, probably modelled his song Chanter m'estuet, coment que me destraigne after Peirol's love song Si be.m sui loing et entre gent estraigna.
Peirol also tried his hand at the art of the sirventes with the "Ren no val hom joves que no.s perjura", which was widely copied. This poem, which has stark and vivid imagery and even a prosaic reference to merchants, is so unusual for Peirol that its authenticiy has been placed in doubt.
Crusading songs
Peirol supported the Third Crusade (1189–1192) and wrote a tenso, "Quant amors trobet partit" (When Love discovered that my heart / Had parted from his concerns), encouraging the kings of Europe to make peace and send aid to "the noble and valiant marquess" Conrad of Montferrat, then King of Jerusalem. Though Peirol expresses a desire to accompany his lord, Dalfi d'Alvernha, on the Crusade, he is ultimately convinced by Love not to abandon his lady (domna) by pointing out that "never by your intervention will the Turk and Arab yield up the Tower of David" and giving the counsel: "love and sing often." It appears that Peirol never did go on the Third Crusade, but he eventually pilgrimaged to Jerusalem in 1221 and may have witnessed the surrender of Damietta. He placed some of the blame on the Emperor Frederick II in a crusading song — his last poem— entitled "Pus flum Jordan ai vist e.l monimen". He even went so far as to mock the imperial eagle (vostr'aigla, qu'en gitet us voutors) and praise the victorious Sultan of Egypt (Anta y avetz e.l Soudan onramen).
"M'entencio ai tot'en un vers mesa", one of Peirol's cansos and not one of his crusading songs, was used twice around the time of the Eighth Crusade (1270) as the basis for a contrafactum in support of the Crusades. First, Ricaut Bonomel, a Palestinian Templar, wrote a scathing analysis of the future of Christianity in the Holy Land, and a few years after that, Austorc d'Aurillac, composed a sirventes encouraging conversion to Islam. Both later poems were exercises in reverse psychology and attempts to spur further Crusades.
The tensos, alphabetically
"Dalfi, sabriatz me vos" (with Dalfi d'Alvernha)
"Gaucelm, diguatz m'al vostre sen" (with Gaucelm Faidit)
"Peirol, com avetz tan estat" (with Bernart de Ventadorn)
"Peirol, pois vengutz es vas nos" (a cobla)
"Pomairols, dos baros sai" (with Pomairol, Guionet, and one Peire)
"Pus flum Jordan ai vist e.l monimen" (with "Dieus", God)
"Quant Amors trobet partit" (with "Amors", Love)
"Senher, qual penriaz vos"(with a "Senher", Lord)
Sources consulted
Aston, S. C. Peirol: Troubadour of Auvergne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953.
Chambers, Frank M. "Three Troubadour Poems with Historical Overtones." Speculum, Vol. 54, No. 1. (Jan., 1979), pp. 42–54.
Switten, Margaret Louise. "Text and Melody in Peirol's Cansos." PMLA, Vol. 76, No. 4. (Sep., 1961), pp. 320–325.
"Ab gran joi mou maintas vetz e comenssa"
366,2 Atressi co.l signes fai
Gerard Zuchetto; Trobar et Tarab; track 4
Troubadours Art Ensemble; Trobart concept 1 (Alienor) track 3
Atressi co.l signes fai
Quant vol morir, chan,
Quar sai que genseis morrai
Et ab mens d'afan.
Ben m'a amors tengut el latz
E mainz trebaills n'ai sofertatz,
Mas pel dan c'aora m'en ve
Conosc qu'ancmais non amei be.
E doncs qual conseill penrai
S'aissi muer aman
Qu'ieu joi non aten de lai
On miei sospir van!
Pero non part ma voluntatz,
Si tot n'estauc desesperatz.
Pensiu e consiros mi te
Cella de cui plus mi sove.
El mon tal domna non sai.
Dieus, per que l'am tan
Que ja non li ausarai
Dire mon talan.
Gen m'acuoill e.m fai bel solatz,
Mais del plus son desconseillatz,
Car, s'ieu li clamava merce,
Tem que puois se guardes de me.
Preiars, lai on non s'eschai,
Torn' en enuey gran.
Ses parlar la preiarai.
E com ab semblan,
Et ill conosca o si.l platz.
Car aissi dobla.l jois e.l gratz
Quant us cors ab autre s'ave,
E quant hom ses querre fai be.
Franquez' ab fin cor verai
Trai amor enan!
Autz paratges la deschai,
Que.ll ric son truan,
Que tan n'i a de rics malvatz
Per que.l segles n'es sordeiatz.
E domna, que bon pretz mante,
Non am per ricor, s'als no i ve.
Chansoneta, vai t'en lai,
Non ges q'ieu re.il man,
Mas ben li potz mon esmai
Dire ses mon dan.
Digatz li c'a leis es donatz
Mos coratges et autreiatz!
Sieus son e sieus serai jase!
Morir puosc per ma bona fe.
Bona domna, on que siatz,
Jois si' ab vos e joi aiatz,
Qu'eu non vos aus clamar merce
Mas sivals pensar o puosc be.
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Translation
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Be.m cujava que no chantes oguan"
366,3 "Ben dei chantar puois amors m'o enseigna"
Car m'era de Joi lunhatz"
366,6 "Camjat ai mon consirier"
Cora qu'amors vuelha"
366, 9"Coras que.m fezes doler"
366,11D'eissa la razon qu'ieu suoill"
366 12 Del sieu tort farai esmenda
366,13"D'un bon vers vau pensan com lo fezes"
366,14 "D'un sonet vau pensan"
366,15 En joi que.m demora"
Eu non lausarai ja mon chan"
La gran alegransa"
366, 19 Mainta gens mi malrazona
366,20 M'entencion ai tot' en un vers mesa
366,21"Mout m'entremis de chantar voluntiers"
366,22"Nuills hom no s'auci tan gen"
366,26"Per dan que d'amor mi veigna"
366,29 Quant Amors trobet partit
Quant Amors trobet partit
Mon cor de son pessamen,
D'una tenson m'asalhit,
E podetz auzir comen.
Amix Peirols, malamen
Vos anatz de mi lunhan!
E pus e mi ni en chan
Non er vostr' entencios,
Diguatz! pueys que valretz vos
Amors, tan vos ai servit,
E nulhs pechatz no.us en pren,
E vos sabetz quan petit
N'ai avut de jauzimen.
No.us ochaizo de nien
Sol que.m fassatz derenan
Bona patz, qu'als no.us deman!
Que nulhs autres guazardos
No m'en pot esser tan bos.
Peirols, metetz en oblit
La bona domna valen,
Que tan gent vos aculhit
E tan amorozamen,
Tot per mon comandamen
Trop avetz leugier talan
E no.us era ges semblan,
Tan guays e tan amoros
Eratz en vostras chansos.
Amors, anc mais no falhit,
Mas ar falh forsadamen!
E prec Dieu Jhesu que.m guit,
E que trameta breumen
Entre.ls reys acordamen,
Que.l socors vai trop tarzan,
Et auria mestier gran
Que.l marques valens e pros
N'agues mais de companhos.
Peirols, Turc ni Arabit
Ges per vostr' envazimen
No laissaran Tor Davit.
Bon cosselh vos don e gen!
Amatz e chantatz soven.
Iretz vos, e.l rey no.i van
Veiatz las guerras que fan!
Et esguardatz dels baros
Cossi trobon ochaizos.
Amors, si li rey no.i van,
Del Dalfi vos dic aitan!
Ja per guerra ni per vos
No remanra, tant es pros.
Peirols, maint amic partran
De lurs amiguas ploran,
Que, si Saladis no fos,
Sai remazeran joios.
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When Love found that my thoughts
no longer dwelt on him,
he assailed me with a tenso
and you may hear in what way: -
Friend Peirol, wickedly do you
withdraw yourself from me;
and since you will no longer fix
your intent on me or on song,
tell me what will be your worth?
- Love, so long have I served you -
and no compassion do you have there at -
and you know how little joy I have had.
I make no accusation against you,
provided that you grant me
peace henceforth, for naught else
do I ask of you;
no other reward
can be so sweet to me.
- Peirol, do you forget
the fair and noble lady
who received you so graciously
and lovingly at my command?
You are too fickle!
You were not wont to appear thus,
so gay and loving
you were in your songs.
- Love, never did I fail
but now I am remiss against my will;
I beg the Lord Christ to guide meand establish quickly peace between the Kings,
for help is too long delayed
and great need is there
that the noble and valiant Marquis
should have more companions.
- Peirol, never by your intervention
will the Turk and Arab yield up
the Tower of David.
Good and weighty counsel do I give you;
love and sing often.
Will you set forth
when the Kings make no move?
Behold the wars they wage, and see how the nobles seek causes avoid their obligations.
- Love, if the Kings do not set out,
I tell you this much as far as Dalfin [of Auvergne] is concerned; never on account of war or of you will he remain here, so worthy is he.
- Peirol, many lovers will depart
weeping from their ladies
who would remain here joyful
if it were not for Saladin. welt on him,
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"Pos de mon joi vertadier"
"Pos entremes me suy de far chansos"
"Ren no val hom joves que no.s perjura"
366,31"Si be.m sui loing et entre gent estraigna"
366,33"Tot mon engeing e mon saber"
"Tug miei cossir son d'amor e de chan
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