Guillaume de Cabestany was castellan of Cabestany. A real character, we find him in 1175 during the signing of his father Arnau's will. He participated in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 against the Saracens.
Guillaume de Cabestany
He was also a poet, his poems were sometimes written in Occitan:
Aissi cum selh que baissa el fuelh,
E take from the flors la gensor
(Like one who bends a branch,
and take the most beautiful flower)
In love with Saurimonde, wife of Raimond de Castell-Rossello, he celebrated her in his verses and knew how to please her. The husband, transported by jealousy, took William far from the castle and, having killed him through treachery, tore out his heart which he made his wife eat.
When he revealed the secret to Saurimonde, she said that "this dish had been so good and so tasty that no one else would ever get the taste out of his mouth." The husband, hearing this response, ran to get his sword. Saurimonde, frightened, rushed from the top of her castle tower and perished in the fall.
The King of Aragon Alfonso II went to the scene and ordered the arrest of the barbarian husband. He demanded that the two victims be buried in the same tomb in front of the door of the Saint Jean church in Perpignan.
A solemn service was instituted for the repose of their souls, and there lasted a time when the knights and noble ladies of Catalonia, Cerdagne, Roussillon and Narbonne came to attend every year. The king had Raymond put to death in his prison and confiscated his castles and lands to give them to the parents of Guillaume and Saurimonde.
Here is an extract from a piece of poetry that Guillaume addressed one day to his beloved. Obviously, the translation is with it.
In sovinensa
Tenc la cara e'l doltz ris,
Vostra valensa,
E'l belh cors blanc e lis;
If you want to crezensa
Estes va god tan fis,
Vius ses falhensa
Will enter paradise.
……………………….
Sox, cum seria
May God bless me with no mercy
Ab yours, friend,
It's the same people as the old nostrils;
Que nueg e dia,
Of genolhs of pes
Sancta Maria
Prec Vostr'amor mi de;
May God flee noyritz children
Per far your comans:
And I say no m'enans,
If I ever see it, I'm afraid.
Franca res de bon aire,
Suffretz que jeu us kisses los guans,
That als sui doptans
Guillems de Cabestanh
