Bertran de Born Bertran de Born ( 1140s – by 1215 ) was a baron from the Limousin in France , and one of the major Occitan troubadour s of the twelfth century . Early life . Bertran de Born was the eldest son of Bertran de Born , lord of Hautefort ( Occitan : " Autafòrt " ) , and his wife Ermengardis . He had two younger brothers , Constantine and Itier . His father died in 1178 , and Bertran succeeded him as lord of Hautefort . By this time , he was already married to his first wife , Raimonda , and had two sons . Hautefort lies at the border between the Limousin and Périgord . As a result , Bertran became involved in the conflicts of the sons of Henry II Plantagenet . He was also fighting for control of Hautefort . According to the feudal custom of his region , he was not the only lord of Hautefort , but held it jointly with his brothers . Other cases of co - seigneuries were known among the troubadours , the most famous being that of the " four troubadours of Ussel " , three brothers and a cousin , and that of Raimon de Miraval and his brothers . Bertran ' s struggle , especially with his brother Constantine , is at the heart of his poetry , which is dominated by political topics . Career . His first datable work is a " sirventes " ( political or satirical song ) of 1181 , but it is clear from this he already had a reputation as a poet . In 1182 , he was present at his overlord Henry II of England ' s court at Argentan . That same year , he had joined in Henry the Young King ' s revolt against his younger brother , Richard , Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine . He wrote songs encouraging Aimar V of Limoges and others to rebel , and took the oath against Richard at Limoges . His brother Constantine took the opposing side , and Bertran drove him out of the castle in July . Henry the Young King , whom Bertran had praised and criticised in his poems , died on campaign in June 1183 in Martel . Bertran wrote a " planh " ( lament ) , in his memory , " Mon chan fenisc ab dol et ab maltraire " . ( Another " planh " for Henry , " Si tuit li dol e . l plor e . l marrimen " , formerly attributed to Bertran , is now thought to be the work of Rigaut de Berbezill ) . In his punitive campaign against the rebels , Richard , aided by Alfonso II of Aragon , besieged Autafort and gave it to Constantine de Born . Henry II , however , is reported to have been moved by Bertran ' s lament for his son , and returned the castle to the poet . Constantine seems to have become a mercenary . Bertran was reconciled also with Richard , whom he supported in turn against Philip II of France . At various times , he sought to exploit the dissensions among the Angevins in order to keep his independence . He gave them " senhals " ( nicknames ) : Henry the Young King was " Mariniers " ( " Sailor " ) , Geoffrey of Brittany was " Rassa " , and Richard , " Oc - e - Non " ( " Yes - and - No " ) . He commemorated Geoffrey ' s death in the " planh " , " A totz dic que ja mais non voil " . He had contact with a number of other troubadours and also with the Northern French trouvère , Conon de Béthune , whom he addressed as " Mon Ysombart " . Although he composed a few " cansos " ( love songs ) , Bertran de Born was predominantly a master of the " sirventes " . " Be . m platz lo gais temps de pascor , " which revels in warfare , was translated by Ezra Pound : When Richard ( by then King ) and Philip delayed setting out on the Third Crusade , he chided them in songs praising the heroic defence of Tyre by Conrad of Montferrat ( " Folheta , vos mi prejatz que eu chan " and " Ara sai eu de pretz quals l ' a plus gran " ) . When Richard was released from captivity after being suspected of Conrad ' s murder , Bertran welcomed his return with " Ar ven la coindeta sazos " . Ironically , one of Bertran ' s sources of income was from the market of Châlus - Cabrol , where Richard was fatally wounded in 1199 . Later years and death . Widowed for the second time c . 1196 , Bertran became a monk and entered the Cistercian abbey of Dalon at Sainte - Trie in the Dordogne region . He had made numerous grants to the abbey over the years . His last datable song was written in 1198 . He ceases to appear in charters after 1202 , and was certainly dead by 1215 , when there is a record of a payment for a candle for his tomb . Works . His œuvre consists of about 47 works , 36 unambiguously attributed to him in the manuscripts , and 11 uncertain attributions . Several melodies survive , and some of his songs have been recorded by Sequentia , Gérard Zuchetto and his Troubadours Art Ensemble , and the Martin Best Mediæval Consort , who released an album of songs by " Dante Troubadours " . Family . Bertran de Born married twice . By his first wife , Raimonda , he had two sons ( both knighted in 1192 ) and a daughter : By his second wife , Philippa , he had two more sons : Later literary image . According to his later " vida " ( a romanticised short biography attached to his songs ) , Henry II believed Bertran had fomented the rebellion of his son Henry the Young King . As a result , Dante Alighieri portrayed him in the " Inferno " as a sower of schism , punished in the eighth circle of Hell ( Canto XXVIII ) , carrying his severed head like a lantern . Gustave Doré depicts this in his illustrations to the " Divine Comedy . " Dante ' s depiction of him influenced later literary works . In her epic poem " Cœur de Lion " ( 1822 ) , Eleanor Anne Porden portrays him fomenting discord in the Third Crusade and , because of his remorse over his involvement with Richard ' s imprisonment , becoming a hermit . He also figures as a minor character in Maurice Hewlett ' s novel " The Life and Death of Richard Yea - and - Nay " ( 1900 ) , depicted unflatteringly . He is described as " a man of hot blood , fumes and rages " , with " a grudging spirit " . One character dismisses him thus : " Great poet he was , great thief , and a silly fool . " His memory was better served by Ezra Pound , who translated some of his songs and also based several original poems around him and his works , notably " Na Audiart " ( 1908 ) , " Sestina : Altaforte " ( 1909 ) , and " Near Périgord " ( 1915 ) . There are also allusions to him in some of the " Cantos " . Via the influence of Pound ' s " Na Audiart " , he is also mentioned in Sorley MacLean ' s poem , " A ' Bhuaile Ghreine " ( " The Sunny Fold " ) . He was the subject of a 1936 play " Bertran de Born " by Jean Valmy - Baisse , to which Darius Milhaud wrote incidental music . He later reworked the music into his " Suite provencale " . Paul Auster mentions De Born in his novel " Invisible " ( 2009 ) , where the main character meets a Frenchman named Born , and corrects a translation of one of Bertran ' s war poems . This appeared before as a translation by Paul Auster , in " The Nation . "