Raimbaut de Vaqeiras

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras or Vaqueyras (fl. 1180 – 1207) was a Provençal troubadour and, later in his life, knight. His life was spent mainly in Italian courts until 1203, when he joined the Fourth Crusade. His writings, particularly the so-called Epic Letter, form an important commentary on the politics of the Latin Empire in its earliest years. Vaqueiras’s works include a multilingual poem, Eras quan vey verdeyar where he used French, Italian, Galician-Portuguese and Gascon, together with his own Provençal.

Vaqueiras was from Vacqueyras, near Orange. He spent most of his career as court poet and close friend of Boniface I of Montferrat, with whom he served in battle against the communes of Asti and Alessandria. Vaqueiras claimed he earned a knighthood through protecting Boniface with his shield in battle at Messina, when they took part in Emperor Henry VI’s invasion of Sicily. He was present at the siege and capture of Constantinople in 1204, and then accompanied Boniface to Thessalonica. It is generally presumed that Raimbaut died on 4 September 1207, together with Boniface, in an ambush by the Vlach.

The only critical edition of Vaqueiras attributes 33 extant songs to him; only eight of the associate melodies have survived. He used a wide range of styles, including a descort, several cansos and tensos, an alba and a gap; he, with Perdigon and Ademar de Peiteus, invented the torneyamen (or, at least, left us its earliest example). One of his songs, “Kalenda Maia”, is referred to as an estampida and is considered one of the best troubadour melodies. However, according to the razó, he borrowed the tune from two other musicians. This would explain why the song is called an estampida, which is, theoretically, a purely instrumental piece.

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