Title:
Alternate names/spellings:
Dates: 1135 - 1145 ()
Cercamon (fl. 1135-1145) whose real name, as well as any actual biographical data, is unknown, was one of the earliest troubadours. He was apparently a jester of sorts, born in Gascony, who spent most of his career in the courts of William X of Aquitaine and perhaps of Eble III of Ventadorn. He is credited as the inventor of the planh (the Provencal dirge), the tenso (a rhymed debate in which two poets write one stanza each), and the sirventes (parodies about controversial events). Seven poems of his survive, none with a corresponding melodies.