Iseut de Capio

N'Iseut de Capio or Capion ["N'", contraction of "Na", is an Occitan honorific meaning "Lady". Her first name is sometimes spelled "Iseuz" in Occitan.] (born c. 1140) was a noblewoman and trobairitz from Gévaudan. She was a neighbour of Almucs de Castelnau, with whom she composed a "tenso", her only surviving piece of work.

Iseut's origins and identity are a matter of conjecture. What can be said with certainty is that she was from the "castrum de Capione", either modern Chapieu or Chapelins. The castle stood atop the Mont Mimat above the River Mende. She may have belonged to the family of Tournel, one of the eight baronies of Gévaudan, and the one in which Chapieu lay. Since Tournel belonged to the Diocese of Mende and only on the death of the bishop, Aldebert III of Tournel, in 1187 did it return to the family of Chapieu, and since the family adopted the Tournel name exclusively from about 1250, Iseut's life can be confidently placed between those dates.

There is a long "razo" preceding (and claiming to explain) the exchange of "coblas" between Iseut and Almucs. It tells how Iseut begged Almucs de Castelnau to pardon Gigo (Gui), lord of Tournon (Tornon) in the Vivarais, Iseut's knight, who had committed "a great fault" against Almucs. Gigo, however, neither repented nor sought forgiveness, and so Almucs responded to Iseut in a "cobla" of her own. This exchange has been dated to around 1190.

Notes

ources

*Bogin, Meg. "The Women Troubadours". Scarborough: Paddington, 1976. ISBN 0 8467 0113 8.
*Bruckner, Matilda Tomaryn; Shepard, Laurie; and White, Sarah. "Songs of the Women Troubadours". New York: Garland Publishing, 1995. ISBN 0 8153 0817 5.