Huguet de Mataplana

Who was Huguet de Mataplana?

Huguet de Mataplana was a Catalan nobleman and poet. His name, also spelled Uget, is the diminutive form of Hug, which is the Occitan version of "Hugh".

Huguet was the nephew of Ponç de Mataplana, who was attacked in a poem by the troubadour Guillem de Berguedà and whose death was later lamented by that same troubadour in a planh. Huguet's name appears in documents regularly between 1185 and his death. In 1197, for the first time in a surviving document, a woman, Sança, is named as his wife. He derives his name from the lordship he held at Mataplana near Nuestra Señora de Mongrony in the Ripollès. He was a frequent attendee at the courts of Alfonso II of Aragon and his son Peter II, figuring extensively in their royal charters. He was said to be a favorite of Peter.

According to the Historias y conquestas of Pere Tomich, a late source, Huguet was present at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. He was wounded at the Battle of Muret the next year and died of his wounds a few months later. Peter II died at this battle. According to the Llibre dels fets of Peter's son, James I, Huguet was one of those who fled the field at Muret.