Gui d'Ussel

Who is Gui d'Ussel?

Gui d'Ussel, d'Ussèl, or d'Uisel was a turn-of-the-thirteenth-century troubadour of the Limousin. Twenty of his poems survive: eight cansos, two pastorelas, two coblas, and eight tensos, several with his relatives and including a partimen with Maria de Ventadorn. Four of his cansos melodies remain.

According to his vida, Gui was the youngest of three sons of a wealthy noble family of the castle Ussel-sur-Sarzonne, northeast of Ventadorn. He and his brothers Ebles and Peire, as well as his cousin Elias, are all reputed troubadours and castellans of Ussel according to the author of the vida, who makes Gui himself a canon of Montferrand and Brioude in the diocese of Clermont. Among his relatives Gui was known for his cansos. The only confirmation of Gui's family from outside his vida is a reference to the brothers Guido and Eblo Usseli donating land to the abbey of Bonaigue. Gui's biographer believed him to have been in love with Malgarita, wife of Rainaut VI, viscount of Aubusson. He supposedly later fell in love with Guillemette de Comborn, wife of Dalfi d'Alvernha, and composed many songs about her. Gui spent almost his entire life in the Limousin and Auvergne, rarely travelling abroad.