Thomàs Périz de Fozes

Who is Thomàs Périz de Fozes?

Thomàs Périz de Fozes was an Aragonese troubadour of the knightly class, who has left two poems in the Occitan language. His mother tongue was evidently Aragonese. His Occitan is the literary koiné of the classical era of the troubadours and was apparently learned: it is in general grammatically and rhythmically perfect asides from a few errors of declension caused by his greater familiarity with Aragonese.

Thomàs is mentioned among the barons of Aragon in a sirventes of Joan de Castellnou, which is sufficient to show that he was considered an exemplar of the practice of courtly love between the years 1339 and 1343. In 1339 he was a counsellor of Peter IV of Aragon, who named him administrator of the Val d'Aran and castellan of Castell-lleons. Through his brother, Artal de Fozes, who married Esclaramonda, daughter of James III of Majorca, Thomàs was related by marriage to the royal House of Barcelona. His brother's second wife and widow, Sibil•la de Fortià, was a mistress and then wife of Peter IV.