Ysabella

Ysabel or Ysabella (poss. b. c. 1180 ) was a 13th-century trobairitz. Almost nothing is known about her with certainty, but many conjectures have been put forward. She has been identified with: Isabella, Queen of Jerusalem (died 1205), daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem and Maria Comnena, widow of Conrad of Montferrat (died 1192) Isabella, Marchioness of Bodonitsa (1278–1286), daughter of Guy Pallavicini (died 1237) Isabella, Triarch of Negroponte (1217), widow of Ravano dalle Carceri An otherwise unnamed daughter of William V of Montferrat (died 1191), sister of Boniface of Thessalonica, and wife of Albert Malaspina "Estat ai dos ans" is addressed a ma dona Ysabelh (to my lady Ysabel). The tornada of "Mout mi platz lo doutz temps d'abril" contains the line Don'Izabel, ma chanso prezen: to Lady Isabel, my love song. Her tenso has been translated into English (Bogin), French (Pierre Bec), and German (Oskar Schultz and, more recently, Angelica Rieger).

The situation of the composition of the tenso between Elias and Ysabella has been a matter of dispute. One recent editor of Elias' corpus, Giosuè Lachin, believes the tenso was composed in Greece in 1204. This precipitates a spate of verbal assaults that eventually end in Elias' admission of uncourtliness and their reconciliation, with Ysabella offering to help him win over his new lady and he politely declining to share her name. Recently, Catherine Ganiere, by analysing the use of negations by the interlocutors, has argued that Ysabella was more concerned with her inner feelings (of being loved), while Elias was more concerned with outward appearances, i.e. courtly behaviours, social standing, etc.

In 2011, Canadian composer Serouj Kradjian's work "Trobairitz Ysabella" was premiered by soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Anne Manson.