date_of_death cercamon
Gui de Cavalhon , Cavaillo , or Gavaillo ( fl . ___MASK41___  1229 ) was a Provençal nobleman : a diplomat , warrior , and man of letters . He was probably also the Guionet who composed " tensos " and " partimens " with Cadenet , Raimbaut de Vaqueiras , Mainart Ros , Pomairol , and a certain Guillem . The planh or plaing (" lament ") is a funeral lament used by the troubadours , modeled on the medieval Latin " planctus ". It differed from the planctus in that it was intended for a secular audience . Alfred Jeanroy noticed three different types : those dedicated to " grands personnages " ( great patrons ), those to family and friends , and those to ladies and lovers . Cercamon ( Occitan pronunciation : ( serkmun ) , fl . c . 1135 - 1145 ) , whose real name , as well as any actual biographical data , is unknown , was one of the earliest troubadours . He was apparently a jester of sorts , born in Gascony , who spent most of his career in the courts of William X of Aquitaine and perhaps of Eble III of Ventadorn . He was the inventor of the planh ( the Provençal dirge ) , of the tenso ( a sort of rhymed debate in which two poets write one stanza each ) and perhaps of the sirventes . Most of the information we have about Cercamon ' s life is nothing but rumour and conjecture ; some of his contemporaries credit him as Marcabru ' s mentor , and some circumstantial evidence points to him having died on crusade as a follower of Louis VII of France . About 7 of his lyrics survive , but not a single melody ; unfortunately , the work of his that most contributed to his fame among his contemporaries , his pastoretas or pastourelles , are lost . Cercamon simply means `` world searcher '' in medieval Occitan . A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages ( ___MASK68___  ___MASK72___ ). Since the word " troubadour " is etymologically masculine , a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz . The sirventes or serventes , sometimes translated as " service song ", was a genre of Old Occitan lyric poetry practiced by the troubadours . France , officially the French Republic , is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories . The European , or metropolitan , area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea , and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean . Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian oceans . France spans and had a total population of almost ___MASK13___ million people as of January 2017 . It is a unitary semi - presidential republic with the capital in Paris , the country ' s largest city and main cultural and commercial centre . Other major urban centres include Marseille , Lyon , Lille , Nice , Toulouse and Bordeaux . Alfred Jeanroy ( ___MASK4___  ___MASK57___ March ___MASK44___ ) was a French linguist . Bertran Carbonel ( fl . ___MASK53___  ___MASK14___ ) 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 . Eble III of Ventadorn was viscount of Ventadour ( Corrèze , France ). He was the son of Eble II , known as " Eble le chanteur " ( Eble the singer ), and of Agnes de Montluçon . His date of birth is unknown ; he died in ___MASK83___ . A tenso is a style of troubadour song . It takes the form of a debate in which each voice defends a position ; common topics relate to love or ethics . Usually , the tenso is written by two different poets , but several examples exist in which one of the parties is imaginary , including God ( Peire de Vic ), the poet ' s horse ( Gui de Cavalhon ) or his cloak ( Bertran Carbonel ). Closely related , and sometimes overlapping , genres include : Old Occitan ( Modern Occitan : " occitan ancian "), also called Old Provençal , was the earliest form of the Occitano - Romance languages , as attested in writings dating from the eighth through the fourteenth centuries . Old Occitan generally includes Early and Old Occitan . Middle Occitan is sometimes included in Old Occitan , sometimes in Modern Occitan . As the term " occitanus " appeared around the year ___MASK45___ , Old Occitan is referred to as " Romance " ( Occitan : " romans ") or " Provençal " ( Occitan : " proensals ") in medieval texts . The French Revolution was a period of far - reaching social and political upheaval in France that lasted from ___MASK91___ until 1799 , and was partially carried forward by Napoleon during the later expansion of the French Empire . The Revolution overthrew the monarchy , established a republic , experienced violent periods of political turmoil , and finally culminated in a dictatorship under Napoleon that rapidly brought many of its principles to Western Europe and beyond . Inspired by liberal and radical ideas , the Revolution profoundly altered the course of modern history , triggering the global decline of absolute monarchies while replacing them with republics and liberal democracies . Through the Revolutionary Wars , it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East . Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history . Gascony ( Gascon : " Gasconha " ) is an area of southwest France that was part of the " Province of Guyenne and Gascony " prior to the French Revolution . The region is vaguely defined , and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear ; by some they are seen to overlap , while others consider Gascony a part of Guyenne . Most definitions put Gascony east and south of Bordeaux . A planctus (" plaint ") is a lament or dirge , a song or poem expressing grief or mourning . It became a popular literary form in the Middle Ages , when they were written in Latin and in the vernacular ( i . e ., the " planh " of the troubadours ). The most common " planctus " is to mourn the death of a famous person , but a number of other varieties have been identified by Peter Dronke . The earliest known example , the " Planctus de obitu Karoli ", was composed around ___MASK99___ , on the death of Charlemagne .