Rigaut de Berbezilh (also Berbezill or Barbesiu; French: Rigaud de Barbezieux, Latin: Rigaudus de Berbezillo) was a troubadour (fl. 1140 - 1163[1] [2]) of the petty nobility of Saintonge. He was a great influence on the Sicilian School and is quoted in the Roman de la Rose. About fifteen of his poems survive, including one planh and nine or ten cansos.[1] [2] His name is sometimes given as Richart or Richartz.
While the dates of his life are disputed, some maintaining a later career (c. 1170 - 1215), the general consensus is that he was an early troubadour.[2]
According to his vida, the reliability of which is highly doubtful, he was a poor knight from the castle of Barbezieux near Cognac in the diocese of Saintes.[3] He was described as capable and handsome, but saup mielhs trobar qu'entendre ni que dire: "he knew better how to compose poetry than to listen to it or recite it."[3] He was reputed by the author of the vida to be timid, especially in the company of noblemen, but to sing "in a charming way" with encouragement.[3]
Also according to his vida, he fell in love with the wife of Jaufre of Tonnay (Gaufridus de Tonai), possibly a daughter of Jaufre Rudel.[3] She made "sweet pretenses of love to him ... like a lady who desired that a troubadour invent poems about her."[4] He referred to her as Miellz-de-Domna, a senhal meaning "Best of Ladies", in at least four of his works.[4] Though he sang songs about Miellz-de-Domna for a long time, it was not believed that he had a sexual relationship with her.[4] When she died he went to Spain and, according to two manuscripts of his vida, spent the rest of his life at the court of Diego López II de Haro, a famed patron of troubadours.[4]
It is generally accepted that Rigaut was indeed from a family who had been deputies of the lord of the castle of Barbezieux.[1] His family was probably distantly related to that of Jaufre Rudel through the Counts of Angoulême.[1] He himself was probably the younger of two sons, but he married into an Angoumois family of rank.[1] His entire life seems to have been spent in the region just south of Angoulême and a post-1157 document refers to his entering a monastery.[1]
As a poet he was influenced by Marcabru.[1] One of his works, Atressi com l'orifans, achieved lasting fame and its melody survives in at least three manuscripts, its text in a late thirteenth-century Italian novellino.[1] As his vida states, he sought to be novel through the incorporation of natural images - such as birds, beasts, stars, and the Sun - in his poems and they contain learned references to Ovid and the legend of Perceval.[1] [4] His use of simile was heavy.[2] Four cansos in total - two bestiary cansos, the Perceval canso, and a traditional canso - survive with melodies.[1]