Berenguer d'Anoia

Berenguer d'Anoia or de Noya (fl. c. 1300) was a Catalan troubadour from Majorca. He wrote the Mirall de trobar, an Occitan poetic, grammatical, and rhetorical treatise in the tradition of the Razos de trobar of Raimon Vidal and the Regles de trobar of Jofre de Foixà, a genre always popular in Catalan country.

Opening page of his Mirall de trobar

Berenguer's parents were noble Catalans, originally from the village of Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, who settled at Inca in Majorca following its conquest by James the Conqueror. This information concerning his family and origins is found hidden in his own writings in the form of an acrostic which states:

Berenger d'Anoia·m dits hom;code: cat promoted to code: ca mon payre fo asats prom.code: cat promoted to code: ca En Incha fo mos naximens,code: cat promoted to code: ca e a Noia naschron mos parens.code: cat promoted to code: ca

Berenguer d'Anoia I am called; my father was a nobleman. In Inca was I born, and in Anoia were born my parents.

The Mirall commences with a prologue explaining its division into four chapters that study rhetorical forms and major poetic errors. It begins thus: Comença la miraylls de trobar o de versificar o de rimar. Car si hom mira o regarda sas fausas en un mirall...code: cat promoted to code: ca Everything is illustrated with examples drawn from the compositions of previous troubadours, but not always in the correct form. Berenguer himself does not have any work to his own name, though some otherwise unattributable fragments from his treatise are assumed to be his work. The following short section is taken from his illustration of the religious alba:

Gaita, be gardatzcode: cat promoted to code: ca

que no us sia amblatzcode: cat promoted to code: ca

lo castell que tan beylcode: cat promoted to code: ca

vos a Deus comanatz,code: cat promoted to code: ca

car si es noveylcode: cat promoted to code: ca

non es aycellcode: cat promoted to code: ca

qui mantz n'a enganatz.code: cat promoted to code: ca

No us fisetz en l'enemichcode: cat promoted to code: ca

qui per plazer vos destrich,code: cat promoted to code: ca

ans fayts gens queix vostra gaitacode: cat promoted to code: ca

The Institut Berenguer d’Anoia, founded in Inca in 1970, was named after the troubadour.

Sources

• Els trobadors. Trobadors catalans. Berenguer d'Anoia (cap a 1300).
• Incipitario di Berenguer d’Anoia.
• Institut Berenguer d’Anoia.