Guiot de Provins

(d after 1208). French trouvère. Although originally from France or Champagne, he spent part of his youth in Provence, where he probably became familiar with the art of the troubadours. He travelled widely in the service of several noblemen, having been at the court of Friedrich Barbarossa in Mainz in 1184, and thereafter in Jerusalem during the third crusade. In 1195 he became a monk, and sometime between 1204 and 1209 composed his long narrative Bible (a moral satire with many references to contemporary personages) which is the source of most of what is known of his life. In addition to the Bible and five (or six) lyric poems, he composed a poetic Armëure du Chevalier.

Guiot was one of the earliest trouvère poet-composers and is thought to have influenced the German Minnesinger. Most important for the music historian is Friedrich von Hûsen’s contrafactum Ich denke under wîlen, based on Ma joie premeraine, which may be accounted for by Guiot’s presence in Mainz in 1184. Wolfram von Eschenbach tells us also in his Parzival that the subject of the tale was borrowed from a certain ‘Kiot le provençal’ who may well be identified with Guiot.

The five songs which may be attributed to Guiot with some certainty are found in a small number of sources and were, according to Orr, composed between 1170 and 1190. Mout avrai lonc tens demouré was written in the Holy Land probably during the third crusade. A further song, Les oiselés de mon pais, is attributed to Guiot in one source, but is almost certainly by Gace Brule. In spite of his early fame, Guiot seems to have been rather quickly forgotten as a lyric poet and composer. With the exception of Mout avrai, none of his songs is found in the larger collections which represent the central repertory of trouvère song, and none inspired imitations by later generations of trouvères.

WORKS

Edition: Trouvère Lyrics With Melodies: Complete Comparative Edition, ed. H. Tischler, CMM, cvii (1997) [T]

doubtful works

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MGG1 (F. Gennrich) [incl. edn of Mout me merveil]

J. Orr: Les oeuvres de Guiot de Provins (Manchester, 1915)

F. Gennrich: Grundriss einer Formenlehre des mittelalterlichen Liedes (Halle, 1932/R), 197–9 [incl. edn of Ma joie with contrafactum]

For further bibliography see Troubadours, trouvères.

ROBERT FALCK/JOHN D. HAINES