(c.1155 - 1231)
Troubadour, famed for having said that 'a verse without music is a mill without water.' The son of a merchant, he was brought up in Marseilles. His activity as a poet and musician covered the years 1179-93; in 1195 he and his wife and sons embraced the religious life, and in 1201 he became Abbot of the Cistercian house at Toronet en Provence. He was Bishop of Toulouse from 1205, and founded the university there. His nineteen surviving poems reflect his great learning, being full of devices such as abstract metaphors and clever aphorisms; Dante esteemed him worthy of a place in Paradise. Thirteen of his melodies survive.

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