Pons d'Ortaffa

Who was Pons d'Ortaffa?

Pons d'Ortaffa/Ortafas or Ponç d'Ortafà was a Catalan nobleman and troubadour. He was the feudal lord of Ortafà, between Perpignan and Elne, in Roussillon. Only two pieces of his lyric poetry survive, both cansos on courtly love, one with a surviving melody.

Pons was born into a minor noble family with a history of producing ecclesiastics for the local church. He was the son and successor of Grimau, who was alive as late as 1184, and Brunissenda. He was born around 1170. His younger brother Pere was the archdeacon of Elne. He died in 1247 and was buried in Elne Cathedral. Pons married Saurina de Tatzó, also of Roussillon, and had three children: his successor Pons II, Grimau, and Alisenda. Pons II was alive as late as 1251.

Pons' name appears on a peace treaty between the lords of Roussillon and their count, Nuño Sánchez, in 1217. The last documentary record of Pons is his testament, dated 23 July 1240. A second draft was produced in 1246. He probably died soon thereafter.

Pons first poems is Enaissi cum la naus en mar, dedicated to a Senher En Berenguier. The lady of the song was from the Narbonnais, a region in which Pons' father possessed land according to a document of 13 November 1171 now in the Liber Feudorum Maior: de meridie in campo Caput Stagni de Burliano . . . in termino de Ortafano. It is possible that Pons was travelling in the Narbonnais when he wrote the song, perhaps on family business. In this same song Pons contemplates entering the Cistercian monastery of Jau. The surviving melody of this poem is extremely simple and "frugal" in style.