Bertrand de Born

Bertran de born (late 12th c.). Aristocratic troubadour from the Périgord who led a turbulent life, before becoming a monk (c.1196). Bertran's lyrics fuse fin'amor with a brutal taste for violence to produce a startling, but powerful poetic symbiosis. Dante placed him in the Inferno because of his bellicose tendencies, but clearly admired his poetry, as did Ezra Pound, who translated several poems into English. There are frequent echoes in his cansos and sirventes of the conflicts in which he participated, particularly the war of 1180-4 between the sons of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. The best edition of his poems is that of W. D. Paden (1986).

[Simon Gaunt]