Sirventes

The sirventes or serventes (Occitan sirventés) is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry used by the troubadours. In early Catalan it became a sirventesch and was imported into that language in the fourteenth century, where it developed into a unique didactic/moralistic type. It was a song written in the style of a canso, addressing current events from the perspective of a sirven ("servant"), a paid soldier. It was always partisan, being either highly complimentary or oozing with vitriol. The most famous exponent of the sirventes was Bertran de Born.