CAPIO, Iseut de

Iseut de Capio, also known as Iseut de Capion, was a late twelfth-century Occitan trobairitz and noblewoman associated with Gévaudan in southern France. Her name probably refers to the medieval castrum de Capione, identified with Chapieu or a nearby locality, although her precise origins remain uncertain. Her only surviving work is a poetic exchange with the trobairitz Almucs de Castelnau, beginning Dompna n’Almucs, si us plages. In her stanza, Iseut asks Almucs to forgive the knight Gigo de Tournon for an offence he had committed against her; Almucs answers that forgiveness is impossible without repentance. The exchange survives with a razo, or explanatory narrative, describing the circumstances behind the dialogue. Although Iseut belongs to the musical-poetic tradition of the troubadours, no original melody securely attributable to her is known to survive.