Peire Guilhem de Luserna

Who is Peire Guilhem de Luserna?

Peire Guilhem de Luserna was a Piedmontese troubadour.

Peire's identity as an Italian has been up for debate since the 19th century. "Luserna" more probably refers to Luserna in the Piedmont, rich and populous in Peire’s time, a town on the left bank of the Pellice lying on the road into the Viennois and Dauphiné, Occitan-speaking territories. On the other hand, it may be Lusarne in the Leberon valley in Provence, on the road between Reillane in the Basses-Alpes and Bastide-des-Jourdans.

Peire was probably at the court of the Este beginning in 1221, during the reign of Azzo VII, husband of Giovanna, the object of one of Peire's songs. Sometime before arriving at Ferrara, Peire was probably at the court of Manfred III of Saluzzo. In 1220 Aimeric de Peguilhan, then at the Malaspina court, mentioned him in a poem—Ni un autre tirador / qu’eu no vuoill dir de Luserna—as being among a quintet of Occitan poets at Saluzzo: Peire, Perceval Doria, Nicoletto da Torino, Chantarel, and Trufarel, all of whom Aimeric despised.

During the height of the conflict between the Emperor Frederick II and Milan, Peire wrote En aquest gai sonet leuger, dedicated to Giovanna: