Beatriz de Diaaus gregorian

Beatriz de Dia (* around 1140 in Montélimar; † around 1212 in Provence) was a singer, lute player and composer.

Life

Beatriz de Dia, la comtessa de Dia, the ‘Countess of Die’, is the best-known trobairitz – the Old Occitan term for a female trobador.

She lived in the High Middle Ages, in the late 12th century, in the Dauphiné, in what is now the Département of Drôme. In Roman times, the eponymous town of ‘Die’ was called ‘Dea’ Augusta Vocontiorum in honour of the Celtic goddess of war Andarta of the Gallic Vocontians. In Old Occitan, Latin Dea (goddess) became ‘Dià’, which in turn became ‘Die’ in French.

The poems and compositions of this trobairitz, this ‘femme-troubadour’, are regarded in more recent Romance studies as equivalent to the trobador poetry of the male minstrels. Beatritz de Dià is so famous because she depicts courtly love from a female perspective with a frankness that was unusual for her time. The Trobairitz reverses the roles. She expresses her erotic claim most clearly in the last verse of the ‘canso’ ‘Estat ai en greu cossirier’ (I had great sorrow).

In contemporary documents, she is only known as Comtessa de Dia, but was most probably the daughter of Count Isoard II of Diá (a town north-east of Montelimar, now known as Die in the south of France). According to her biography, she was married to William of Poitiers, but was in love with Raimbaut of Orange (1146-1173) and sang to him.

Only four ‘cansos’, 117 verses, of her work have survived.

Source Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comtessa_de_Dia