Guillem de Masdovelles

Guillem de Masdovelles (Catalan pronunciation: [ɡiˈʎɛm də məzðuˈβeʎəs]; fl. 1389–1438) was a Catalan soldier, courtier, politician, and poet. His family came from the Penedès, but he was active in Barcelona, where he became a civic leader. His fifteen poems are preserved alongside the work of his nephew, Joan Berenguer, in a chansonnier compiled by Joan around 1470, the Cançoner dels Masdovelles. Guillem exchanged some poetry with his nephew, who also translated some of Guillem's Occitan pieces into the Catalan language. Guillem also participated in at least three public poetry contests.

Guillem is first attested in 1389, when he wrote a sirventesch during the guerra dels armanyaguesos, war against the Armagnacs. He dedicated the piece to Ramon d'Abella, commander of the cavalry company with which he was fighting at the time. Late in 1389 the count of Armagnac, John III, invaded northern Catalonia from across the Pyrenees in an attempt to seize the Kingdom of Majorca, which he claimed. Guillem wrote his sirventes before actual fighting had begun. His company was active in the area around Torroella de Montgrí and Palafrugell. John III's second son, Bernard VII, already Count of Charolais, de Xerolès lo comte in Guillem's words, led a regiment of Armagnac knights into Catalonia, and it is rumours of these that Guillem is writing of in his first stanza. Guillem puts word into the mouth of the bellicose count of Charolais in an attempt to stir up his own Catalans' martial fervour.

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