Background
He was a son of the famous troubadour Bertran de Born and his first wife, Raimonda, born shortly after their marriage in 1179.
He was a son of the famous troubadour Bertran de Born and his first wife, Raimonda, born shortly after their marriage in 1179.
He wrote two sirventes and has three other works attributed to him. He participated in the wars of John Lackland in France. Since the younger Bertran would have only been fourteen at the time of the troubadour"s activity, the filhs of the chansonniers must be the eldest son.
The sirventes is preceded by a long razo explaining the misfortunes of John Lackland and his evil, which is the subject of the poet"s vitriol.
An interesting cultural cross-reference occurs in the work when Bertran mentions the chanson de geste called the Siège d"Orange. Bertran"s second sirventes, "Un sirventes voil obrar d"alegratge", was a personal love poem to his lady, Flor de Lis (unknown by name).
The other three works sometimes attributed to Bertran, but not definitively, are:
"General part nostre reis liuranda"
"Guerr"e pantais vei et afan"
"Un sirventes farai novel plazen"
There is also a medieval attribution that is certainly in error:
"A tornar m"er enquer al primer us" (actually by Guilhem Rainol d"At).