Guilhem Ademar

Guilhem Ademar (; also spelled Guillem, Adamar, or Azemar; fl. 1190/1195–1217) was a troubadour from the Gévaudan in France. He travelled between the courts of Albi, Toulouse, Narbonne, and Spain. He achieved fame enough during his life to be satirised by the nobleman and monk, Monge de Montaudon. Guilhem entered holy orders towards the end of his life. Sixteen poems—fourteen cansos, a sirventes, and a partimen with Eble d’Ussel—form his surviving corpus. His cansos are his most famous pieces. Usually humorous, several mock the poetry of Ademar’s more illustrious contemporary Arnaut Daniel. One canso survives with a tune. NOTOC Life According to his vida, Guilhem was the son of a poor knight from Meyrueis (Maruois), the lord of which castle created him a knight. He was an eloquent man who “knew well how to invent (trobaire) poetry.” When he was no longer able to support himself as a knight he took to minstrelsy and “was greatly honoured by all the high society.” Works One of Guilhem’s more famous pieces is Non pot esser sofert ni atendut, a sensuous canso of courtly love wherein he is wishing that his lady’s husband would go far away. It has presented a riddle for its dating th