Peire de la Mula

Peire (or Pietro) de la Mula (fl. c. 1200) was an Italian troubadour. He wrote two couplets and one "sirventes" that survive.

According to his "vida", he was a "joglars" and "tobaire" who stayed for a long time in Montferrat, Cortemiglia ("Cortemilla"), and the Piedmont, at the court of "miser N'Ot del Carret", "mister Lord Otto of Carretto" (Ottone del Carretto, fl. 1190–1233, but only had Cortemiglia until 1209). [Other manuscripts give "messer Ot del Caret".] Peire's surname could be a misreading of "de Lamula" ("da Lama"), for there are many places named Lamula that have come to light. On the other hand, it could be a corruption of Amola, a town in Frignano. There did exist in the High Middle Ages a locale called "Mulum" southeast of Mantua and which may be the basis for a "Mula" family name which is explicitly lacking in other sources. There was also a poet named only "Mola" who exchanged some verses with Guilhem Raimon. Mola may be a corruption of Mula and may attest to the poet's Emilian origins.

Peire's surviving pair of couplets, "Ia de razon no.m cal metr'en pantais", can be dated on the basis of a reference to "Androin"("e"), that is, Andronicus I Comnenus, to before 1185, when Andronicus died. It was written against the young and rich. Peire's only full "sirventes", "Dels joglars servir mi laisse", is a "sirventes joglaresc", that is, it is an insult to jongleurs, whom Peire says are "breeding like leverets". Jongleurs are in the business for money, but troubadours, in Peire's view, are honorable. Peire imitated the metre of "Er quant s'emba.l foill del fraisse" of Raimbaut d'Aurenga with this piece. Peire's other couplet, "Una leig vei d'escuoill", was also an attack on jongleurs, who, at his time, were bringing their insolence to the "pros" (powerful) of Italy. Peire refers in this work to Breton ("Bretz") and Norman ("Normans") jongleurs.

Peire was influenced metrically and rythmically by Giraut de Bornelh.

Notes

ources

*Bertoni, Giulio. "I Trovatori d'Italia: Biografie, testi, tradizioni, note". Rome: Società Multigrafica Editrice Somu, 1967 [1915] .
*Riquer, Martín de. "Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos". 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975.
*"The Vidas of the Troubadours". Margarita Egan, trans. New York: Garland, 1984. ISBN 0 8240 9437 9.