Peire d'Alvernhe

The troubadour Peire d'Alvernhe (fl.1150-1180) is known to have visited the courts of Raimon V of Toulouse and Ermengard in Narbonne as well as Castile. According to his vida he was born in Clermont, the son of a bourgeois. Furthermore it states that he was educated, charming and wrote the best melodies to vers'. He was the first troubadour mentioned by Dante Alighieri in De vulgari eloquentia.

Of his twenty extant songs only one has a melody. His verses are refined and intricate, although his most famous (or infamous) song is probably an exception. Canterai d'aqestz trobadors is an amusing song in which he pokes fun at twelve separate troubadours in turn, including Guiraut de Bornelh, Bernart de Ventadorn and Raimbau d'Aurenga. He leaves the last verse for himself in which he claims that he would be valued above all troubadours if only people understood him. Opinion is divided as to how serious he is about the final verse.