Provençal troubadour, born at Toulouse about 1175, the son of a furrier. He was interesting no less for his rare poetical gifts than for his insane conceit. His vanity led him into extravagant, ridiculous amours; his natural weakness and credulity rendering him particularly liable to be deceived by his “friends.” He set out with King Richard I. of England in July 1190 on the third crusade. In Cyprus he married a Greek woman who claimed alliance with the emperor at Constantinople. Becoming filled with the idea that he was entitled to the throne, he returned to Europe with the intention of prosecuting his claim. He career afterward is obscure. He is supposed to have died about 1215.
