Peire de Corbiac

Peire de Corbiac or Corbian was a Gascon cleric and troubadour of the thirteenth century. His most famous works are a religious piece, the Prière à la Vierge (prayer to the Virgin), and his "treasures", Lo tezaurs (c. 1225).

Peire was born at Corbiac near Bordeaux to a poor family. He was educated at Orléans in the Scholastic tradition. His nephew was the troubadour Aimeric de Belenoi, whose vida refers to him as maestre (master, teacher) and Peire elsewhere calls himself maistre. Certainly Peire's Tezaur is didactic in nature: his purpose in writing was to convince the wise that though he was poor in material terms he was richer still. Composed in 840 alexandrines, the Tezaur is an encyclopaedic compilation of all that the troubadour knew. He also provides the modern historian with several pieces of crucial information not found elsewhere. He refers to dancing the Sanctus, Agnus, and the Cunctipotens, showing that the liturgy was performed.

Peire was a religious man, as the dedicatory first verse of his Tezaur attests: it contains a dedication to Jesus and Mary and a statement of Trinitarian faith: Domna, rosa ses espina, sobre totas flors olens, verga seca frug fazens, terra que ses labor grana, estela, del solelh maire, noirissa del vostre paire, el mon nulha no.us semelha ni londana ni vezina. Domna, verge pura e fina, ans que fos l'enfantamens, et apres tot eissamens, receup en vos carn humana Jesu Crist, nostre salvaire, si com ses trencamen faire intra.l bels rais, quan solelha, per la fenestra veirina. Domna, estela marina de las autras plus luzens, la mars nos combat e.l vens; mostra nos via certana; car si.ns vols a bon port traire non tem nau ni governaire ni tempest que.ns destorbelha ni.l sobern de la marina.Lady, rose without thorn, sweet above all flowers, dry rod bearing fruit, earth bringing forth fruit without toil, star, mother of the sun, nurse of thine own Father, in the world no woman is like to thee, neither far nor near. Lady, virgin pure and fair before the birth was and afterwards the same, received human flesh in thee Jesus Christ our Saviour, just as without causing flaw, the fair ray enters when the sun shines through the window-pane. Lady, star of the sea, brighter than the other stars, the sea and the wind buffet us; show thou us the right way: for if thou wilt bring us to a fair haven, ship nor helmsman fears not tempest nor tide lest it trouble us.