Arnaut de Tintinhac

Who is Arnaut de Tintinhac?

Arnaut de Tintinhac or Tintignac was a 12th-century Gascon nobleman and troubadour from Naves, near Tulle. He was the lord of Tintinhac, probably a feudatory of the viscount of Turrenne, and very proud of his heritage, as indicated when he refers to himself anonymously as sel de Tintinhac: "he of Tintinhac".

Four of his poems have survived, with one—Bel m'es quan l'erba reverdis—being ascribed in one manuscript to Raimon Vidal. In his expressions he is reminiscent of Marcabru and Bernart Marti and in his aggressive attitude towards encouraging courtly love he also resembles the early troubadours. Like other early Gascon troubadours, such as Peire de Valeira, he employed nature metaphors, as at the beginning of this song:

The vida of Peire de Valeira seems to confuse its intended subject with Arnaut. It goes like this:

Peire de Valeira was from Gascony, from the land of Lord Arnaut Guillem de Marsan. He was a minstrel at the very same time in which Marcabru lived, and he composed poems such as were made at the time, of slight worth, about leaves and flowers and songs and birds. His songs had no great value, nor did he.