Planh

A genre of the troubadours, the planh or plaing (Old Occitan [ˈplaɲ]; "lament") is a funeral lament for "a great personage, a protector, a friend or relative, or a lady."[1] Its main elements are expression of grief, praise of the deceased (eulogy) and prayer for his or her soul.[1][2] It is descended from the medieval Latin planctus.[3]

The planh is similar to the sirventes in that both were typically contrafacta. They made use of existing melodies, often imitating the original song even down to the rhymes. The most famous planh of all, however, Gaucelm Faidit's lament on the death of King Richard the Lionheart in 1199, was set to original music.[4]

Elisabeth Schulze-Busacker identifies three types of planh: "the moralizing planh", in which the expression of grief is a point of departure for social criticism; "the true lament", in which personal grief is central; and "the courtly planh", in which the impact of the death on the court is emphasised.[1] Alfred Jeanroy considered that the common denunciation of the evils of the present age was a feature that distinguished the planh from the planctus.[5] In the conventions of the genre, the subject's death is announced by the simple words es mortz ("is dead"). By the 13th century, the placement of these words within the poem was fixed: it occurred in the seventh or eighth line of the first stanza.[1] It is perhaps an indication of the sincerity of their grief that the troubadours rarely praised the successors of their patrons in the planh.[3]

There are forty-four surviving planhz.[1] The earliest planh is that by Cercamon on the death of Duke William X of Aquitaine in 1137. The latest is an anonymous lament on the death of King Robert of Naples in 1343. The planh was regarded by contemporaries as a distinct genre and is mentioned in the Doctrina de compondre dictatz (1290s) and the Leys d'amors (1341).[3]

Chronological table of planhz

The following table lists 42 planhz.

  great person or patron
  other troubadour
  lady
  friend

Composer	Incipit (i.e. title)	Date	Mourned
Cercamon	Lo plaing comens iradamen	1137	William X of Aquitaine
Giraut de Borneil	S'anc jorn aqui joi e solaz	1173	Raimbaut d'Aurenga
Guillem de Berguedà	Cousiros chan e planh e plor	1180	Pons de Mataplana
Bertran de Born ?	Si tuit li dol el plor el marrimen	1183	Henry the Young King
Bertran de Born	Mon chan fenisc el dol et ab maltraire	1183	Henry the Young King
Folquet de Marselha	Si com cel qu'es tan greujat	1192	Barral I dels Baus
Gaucelm Faidit	Fortz causa es que tot lo major dan	1199	Richard the Lion-Hearted
Giraut de Borneil	Planh e sospir e plor e chan	1199	Aimar V of Limoges
Pons de Capduelh	De totz caitius sui eu aicel que plus	????	Azalais, wife of Ozil de Mercœur
Guillem Augier Novella	Cascus plor e planh son damnatge	1209	Raymond Roger Trencavel
Lanfranc Cigala	Eu non chan ges pes talan de chantar	1210s	Berlenda
Giraut de Calanso	Bels senher Deus, quo pot esser sofritz	1211	Ferdinand, infante of Castile
Gavaudan	Crezens fis verais et entiers	1212	his anonymous lady
Aimeric de Peguilhan	Ja no cugei quem pogues oblidar	1212	Azzo VI of Este and Boniface of Verona
Aimeric de Peguilhan	S'eu chantei alegres ni jauzens	1212	Azzo VI of Este and Boniface of Verona
Daude de Pradas	Be deu esser solatz marritz	1220–30	Uc Brunet
Aimeric de Peguilhan	Ara par be que Valors se desfai	1220	Guglielmo Malaspina
Aimeric de Peguilhan	De tot en tot es ar de mi partitz	????	bona comtessa Biatritz
Sordel	Planher vol En Blacatz en aquest leugier so	1237	Blacatz
Bertran d'Alamanon	Mout m'es greu d'En Sordel quar l'es faillitz sos sens	1237	Blacatz
Peire Bremon Ricas Novas	Pus partit an lo cor En Sordel e'n Bertrans	1237	Blacatz
Aimeric de Belenoi	Ailas, per que viu lonjamen ni dura	1242	Nuño Sánchez
Aimeric de Peguilhan ?	Ab marrimen angoissos et ab plor	1245	Raymond Berengar IV of Provence
Rigaut de Berbezilh attr.	En chantan (ieu) plaing e sospir	1245	Raymond Berengar IV of Provence
Bonifaci Calvo	S'ieu ai perdut, no s'en podon jauzir	1250–65	his anonymous lady
Bertran Carbonel	S'ieu anc nulh tems chantei alegramen	1252–65	P. G. (prob. Peire Guilhem de Tolosa)
Pons Santolh	Marritz com hom malsabens ab frachura	1260	Guilhem de Montanhagol
Raimon Gaucelm	Cascus planh lo sieu damnatge	1262	Guiraut d'Alanhan, burgess of Béziers
Anonymous	Totas honors e tug fag benestan	1266	Manfred of Sicily
Bertolome Zorzi	Sil mons fondes a meravilha gran	1268	Conradin and Frederick I of Baden
Paulet de Marselha	Razos no nes que hom deja cantar	1268	Barral II dels Baus
Anonymous	En chantan m'aven a retraire	1269	Gregorio de Montelungo
Guilhem d'Autpol ?	Fortz tristors es e salvatj'a retraire	1270	Louis IX of France
Guiraut Riquier	Ples de tristor, marritz e doloiros	1270	Amalric IV of Narbonne
Joan Esteve	Aissi quol malanans	1270	Amalric IV of Narbonne
Mahieu de Quercy	Tan sui marritz que nom puesc alegrar	1276	James the Conqueror
Cerverí de Girona	Si per tristor per dol ni per cossire	1276	James the Conqueror
Cerverí de Girona	Joys ni solatz, pascors, abrils ni mais	1276	Raimon de Cardona
Joan Esteve	Planhen ploran ab desplazer	1289	Guilhem de Lodeva
Raimon Menudet	Ab grans dolors et ab grans merrimens	????	Daude de Bossaguas
Raimon de Cornet	Aras quan vey de bos homes fraytura	1324	Amanieu VII of Albret
Anonymous	Glorios Dieus, don totz bens ha creysensa	1343	Robert the Peace-Maker

References

1. Elisabeth Schulze-Busacker, "Topoi", in F. R. P. Akehurst and Judith M. Davis, eds., A Handbook of the Troubadours (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995), pp. 421–440.
2. Patricia Harris Stäblein, "New Views on an Old Problem: The Dynamics of Death in the Planh", Romance Philology 35, 1 (1981): 223–234.
3. William D. Paden, "Planh/Complainte", in W. W. Kibler and G. A. Zinn, eds., Medieval France: An Encyclopedia (New York: Garland, 1995), pp. 1400–1401.
4. John Stevens, "Planctus", Grove Music Online (2001). Retrieved 21 August 2019.
5. Stephen Manning, "Chaucer's Good Fair White: Woman and Symbol", Comparative Literature 10, 2 (1958): 97–105.

Further reading

• Jeanroy, Alfred. La poésie lyrique des troubadours. Toulouse: Privat, 1934.