Bertran de Born

Bertran de Born was lord of the castle of Autafort (Hautefort) in Périgord and, in Farnell's words, one of the most remarkable representatives of the second half of the twelfth century. He was drawn into the quarrels of the sons of Henry II of England, mourned the Young King Henry in the poem given first below, and was set by Dante among the sowers of discord in the Inferno.

The verse in this selection is Ida Farnell's English version in The Lives of the Troubadours (London: David Nutt, 1896), where it stands beside a prose Life of the poet; the prose Life is not reproduced here. The dates are approximate, and the Old Occitan originals are not included.