Pons de Capduelh

Pons de Capduelh (fl. 1160–1220 or 1190–1237) was a troubadour from the Auvergne, probably from Chapteuil. His songs were known for their great gaiety. He was a popular poet and 27 of his songs are preserved, some in as many as 15 manuscripts. Four of his cansos survive with musical notation.

There survives a vida, or short biography, of Pons written by a contemporary and fellow troubadour, Uc de Saint Circ. According to Uc, Pons and troubadour Guillem de Saint Leidier were both from the diocese of Le Puy, and while Guillem was "generous with money" (larcs donaire d'aver), Pons was very stingy (fort escars d'aver). He reportedly loved Azalais, daughter of Bernard VII of Anduze and wife of Oisil de Mercoeur (or Mercuor). (Bernard of Anduze was a patron of many troubadours.) The vida states that "[Pons] loved [Azalais] dearly and praised her and made many good songs about her; and as long as he lived, he loved no other, and when the lady died, he took the cross and went over the sea and died there." According to the razo that follows the vida in some manuscripts, Pons, to test Azalais's love for him, began loving another woman, Audiart, wife of Roselin, lord of Marseille. The rift between them was only healed by the intervention of Maria de Ventadorn and the viscountess of Aubusson. After Azalais's death in 1237, Pons wrote a planh (lament) for her, "De totz caitius sui eu aicel que plus". Some scholars argue that this planh was in fact written for Alazais de Boissazo, who died before 1220, and others have erroneously equated Azalais with the lady known only as Sail-de-Claustra in the poems of Peirol.

Pons was exiled from his homeland in the middle of the 1210s and travelled "through Provence" (per Proensa) in order to join the Fifth Crusade around 1220. According to the untrustworthy Jean de Nostredame, he died after participating in the conquest of Jerusalem, in 1227. Older scholars, such as Friedrich Christian Diez and Max von Napolski, believed that Pons died on the Third Crusade in 1189, but this is conclusively disproven.

...
Wikipedia