# Sirventes

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{{Short description|Genre of Occitan poetry}}
{{title language|pro}}
The '''{{lang|pro|sirventes}}''' or '''{{lang|pro|serventes}}''' ({{IPA|pro|siɾvenˈtes|label=[Old Occitan](/source/Old_Occitan):}}), sometimes translated as 'service song', was a [genre](/source/genre) of Old Occitan [lyric poetry](/source/lyric_poetry) practiced by the [troubadour](/source/troubadour)s.

The name comes from {{lang|pro|sirvent}} ('serviceman'), from whose perspective the song is allegedly written. {{lang|pro|Sirventes}} usually (possibly, always) took the form of [parodies](/source/parodies), borrowing the melody, metrical structure and often even the rhymes of a well-known piece to address a controversial subject, often a current event. The original piece was usually a [canso](/source/Canso_(song)), but there are {{lang|pro|sirventes}} written as [contrafacta](/source/contrafacta) of (at least) [sestina](/source/sestina)s and {{lang|pro|[pastorela](/source/pastorela)s}}.<ref>{{cite book|last=Audiau|first=Jean|title=La pastourelle dans la poésie occitane du Moyen Âge|year=1923|publisher=E. De Boccard|location=Paris|page=6}}</ref>

They were always opinionated, being either highly complimentary or, more often, oozing with vitriol; however, these features are not unique to the {{lang|pro|sirventes}}, so a piece can be positively identified as one only if its nature is explicitly stated in the text (which it often is) or the original piece it is based on has been preserved (which is also often the case: for a parody to work, it had to target a recognizable, therefore widely known, piece).

The first author known to have written a {{lang|pro|sirventes}} is [Cercamon](/source/Cercamon), the name of the genre was first mentioned by [Marcoat](/source/Marcoat), and the most famous practitioner of it was [Bertran de Born](/source/Bertran_de_Born); [Peire de Vic](/source/Peire_de_Vic) was also known for his {{lang|pro|sirventes}}, but only one has survived to this day.

==Examples==
Most major troubadours have written at least one sirventes; well-known examples include:
* ''[http://trobar.org/troubadours/raimbaut_de_vaqueiras/raimbaut_de_vaqueiras_02.php Leus sonetz]'' by [Raimbaut de Vaqueiras](/source/Raimbaut_de_Vaqueiras), a political piece built on the structure of [Giraut de Bornelh](/source/Giraut_de_Bornelh)'s '[http://trobar.org/troubadours/giraut_de_bornelh/poem42.php 'Los apleiz]' and using the same rhymes as the original
* ''[http://trobar.org/troubadours/peire%20cardenal/pc37.php Un sirventes vuelh far dels auls glotos]'' by [Peire Cardenal](/source/Peire_Cardenal), one of many criticizing [simony](/source/simony)
* ''[http://trobar.org/troubadours/bertran_de_born/poem39.php Ben grans avoleza intra]'' by Bertran de Born; this is built on the structure of [Arnaut Daniel](/source/Arnaut_Daniel)'s famous [sestina](/source/sestina), ''[http://trobar.org/troubadours/arnaut_daniel/arnaut_daniel_09.php Lo ferm voler qu'el cor m'intra]'', and uses all the same end-words as the original.
* ''[http://poesiavplantada.blogspot.com/2017/04/cansoneta-leu-e-plana.html Cansoneta leu e plana]'' by [Guilhem de Berguedan](/source/Guilhem_de_Berguedan), one of a cycle devoted to personal attacks against [Pons de Mataplana](/source/Pons_de_Mataplana)
* ''[http://trobar.org/troubadours/montaudon/monge01.php Pos Peire d'Alvernh' a chantat]'' by Peire de Vic, built on the meter (but not the rhymes) of ''[http://trobar.org/troubadours/alvernha/pealv12.php Cantarai d'aqestz trobador]s'' by [Peire d'Alvernha](/source/Peire_d'Alvernha), is an important source about 12th century troubadours, many of whom it makes fun of.

==Legacy==
The {{lang|pro|sirventes}}, called '''{{lang|ca|sirventesch}}''' in early [Catalan](/source/Catalan_language), was imported into that language in the fourteenth century, and it developed into a unique didactic/moralistic type.{{cn|date=April 2026}}

It also spread to Northern France, and became known as '''{{lang|fr|serventois}}''' in the [langues d'oïl](/source/langues_d'o%C3%AFl). {{Lang|fro|Dalfin je us voill desrenier}} by [Richard I of England](/source/Richard_I_of_England) is a notable example of a {{lang|pro|sirventes}} written in [Old French](/source/Old_French).<ref>{{cite book |title=Dictionary of music |date=2005 |publisher=Larousse |language=French |chapter=Richard I the Lionheart}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gillingham |first1=John |title=Richard I |date=2002 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=London |isbn=978-0-300-09404-6}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

{{Western medieval lyric forms}}
{{Authority control}}

Category:Western medieval lyric forms
Category:Occitan literary genres

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sirventes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirventes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirventes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.