Cercamon
Cercamon (fl. C. 1135-1145) was one of the earliest troubadours. His true name and other biographical data are unknown.
Cercamon

This file comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID btv1b60007960 · Public domain
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- troubadour, poet, composer and writer.
- Fields
- Occitan culture.
- Movements
- medieval music and troubadoric poetry.
- Languages
- Occitan and Old Occitan.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
gnd · 100967426 · wikidata · Q278795 · wikipedia · Cercamon
In this article
Biography
Biography
He was apparently a Gascony-born jester of sorts who spent most of his career in the courts of William X of Aquitaine and perhaps of Eble III of Ventadorn. He was the inventor of the planh (the Provençal dirge), of the tenso (a sort of rhymed debate in which two poets write one stanza each) and perhaps of the sirventes. • Illustration — Cercamon in a 13th-century chansonnier. Most of the information about Cercamon's life is nothing but rumour and conjecture; some of his contemporaries credit him as Marcabru's mentor, and some circumstantial evidence points to his dying on crusade as a follower of Louis VII of France. About seven of his lyrics survive, but not a single melody; the works that most contributed to his fame among his contemporaries, his pastorelas or pastourelles, are lost. Cercamon means "world searcher" in medieval Occitan. The fossil primate Cercamonius was named after him.
The recorded working language is Occitan and Old Occitan. The field of work recorded is Occitan culture.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1150
Cercamon born.
1200
Cercamon died.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q278795: Cercamon
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Cercamon”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 100967426, Cercamon.
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Cercamon, revision 234574755 (FR edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Gingerich, Philip Dean. A new genus of Adapidae (Mammalia, Primates) from the Late Eocene of southern France, and its significance for the origin of higher primates. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan. 24. 15. 163-170. 1975.
References
Citations
References
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authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 100967426, Cercamon.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Century OldstyleTerminology
- Century RomanTerminology
- Century SchoolbookTerminology
- CeolfrithAuthor
- CercidasAuthor
- César A. HidalgoAuthor
- César AiraAuthor
- César Alonso de las HerasAuthor
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