Joan's earliest work is ', a "planh" composed on the death of Amalric I of Narbonne (1270). In 1284 he wrote ', a lament for the bloody incident that marred the feast of the Ascension in Béziers that year. In 1286 he composed his most historically interesting work, ', the metre and rhyme of which are identical to that of Peridgon's '. This was written in 1286, after the occasion of the Battle of Les Formigues in which Guilhem de Lodeva had been captured and imprisoned in Barcelona by the Aragonese, with which the French had been at war. It is a "sirventes" urging action on the part of the French king Philip IV to rescue Guilhem. According to Joan, Guilhem was only captured as a result of treachery by his own men. Guilhem's release was eventually negotiated and returned to Provence, where he died. A certain "Esteve", perhaps Joan, composed a "partimen" with a certain "Jutge" as a "planh" for his death.