Almucs de Castelnau


Almucs de Castelnau or Castelnou was a trobairitz from a town near Avignon in Provence.

Works

Almucs' only known work is a stanza in a two-stanza tenso with Iseut de Capio, another trobairitz.
Each stanza of the song, found in a thirteenth-century manuscript chansonnier, is introduced by a razo and accompanied by an illuminated miniature. It tells how Iseut de Capio begged Almucs de Castelnau to pardon Gigo, lord of Tournon in the Vivarais and Iseut's knight, who had committed "a great fault" against Almucs. Gigo, however, neither repented nor sought forgiveness, and so Almucs responded to Iseut in a stanza of her own:
For other translations into English, see Bruckner and Keelan.
Travers places the portrayals of speaking women in Dante's contemporaneous Vita Nova in a broader cultural context by comparing them with the stances expressed by Almucs and other trobairitz in the chansonnier.
Some scholars assert that Almucs is mentioned in stanza VII of the poem Ia de chantar non degra aver talan by the trobairitz Castelloza.

Interpretations

The jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant has interpreted the stanza in live performance and in a studio album recording.
Stevie Wishart, a composer, improviser, and performer on the hurdy-gurdy and violin, directed the group Sinfonye in a recording as part of a compendium of trobairitz lyrics set to music played on reproductions of medieval instruments.

Commemoration

Almucs de Castelnau's name is one of many inscribed on the Heritage Floor, a component of The Dinner Party, a 1979 mixed-media artwork by Judy Chicago. In the associated Heritage Panels, the artist links Almucs to Eleanor of Aquitaine, a noted patron of troubadours.

Identification

Almodis de Caseneuve

Bogin believes that Almucs can be identified with a certain Almodis of Caseneuve. Caseneuve is not far from Avignon and near Les Chapelins, which may have been the home of Iseut de Capio. Chronologically, Almodis and Almucs would have been contemporaries, and the lords of Caseneuve have documented relationships with other troubadours. Almodis was the second wife of Guirand I de Simiane, who also ruled Apt and Gordes. She gave birth to four sons, including Raimbout d'Agould, the second eldest, who, in 1173, accompanied his father on Crusade. Since Raimbout must have been old enough at the time to make such an arduous journey and Guirand's first wife had died in 1151, Almodis's marriage can be placed, according to Bogin, between that date and, assuming that the son would have been at least twelve at the time of the Crusade. Bogin suggests that a widower of Guirand's standing would have quickly remarried, and that Almodis was therefore probably born not much later than 1140.

Wife of Guigo de Randon

It is also possible that Almucs was the wife of Guigo de Castelnou de Randon, who flourished around 1200.