Bertran Carbonel

Bertran Carbonel (fl. 1252–1265) was a Provençal troubadour from Marseille. He is a polarising figure among scholars and his reputation varies between authorities. Eighteen of his lyric works survive, as well as seventy-two (Gaunt and Kay) or ninety-four (Riquer) single "coblas triadas esparsas" on "edifying" themes. He was patronised at the court of Hugh IV and Henry II of Rodez.

There were many individuals of Bertran's name in Marseille in his time, so identifying the troubadour among them has been impossible. Bertran's poetry is among the earliest Occitan literature to be written "as literature", or, in contemporary Latin, "juxta propria principia". He was also educated, as his references to Ovid, Terence, and other Classical figures reveals.

Bertran was a devotee of the minor(-sounding) style of Peire Cardenal, whom he imitated in tone. His moralising is, however, as advice, generally mediocre and unexciting. His "cansos"—for he wrote mostly those and "sirventes"—are "tedious and unoriginal". His "sirventes" by the name of "Tans ricx clergues vey trasgitar" is an attack on false clerics. But only in the "canso" "Atressi fay gran foldat qui ab sen" does Bertran betray real emotion. Drawing, evidently, from a personal experience, the troubadour laments his foolishness and his lack of judgement in kissing a girl on the eyes who had fallen asleep before the altar in a church. He offers apology to the girl and God.

Besides his "cansos" and "sirventes", Bertran left behind one "planh" and two artificial "tensos", one with a fictional knight and another with his own heart.

ources

*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 574730.
*Riquer, Martín de. "Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos". 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975.