The earliest native Italian troubadour may be one called Cossezen (probably a nickname), the subject of one stanza of the famous satire of contemporary poets by Peire d'Alvernhe which must have preceded 1173.
E.l dotzes us veilletz [or vielhs] Lombartz que clama sos vezins coartz et elh eis sent de l’espaven; pero us sonetz fai gaillartz ab motz maribotz e bastartz, e lui apell’om Cossezen.
"Cossezen" is probably an ironic nickname, in light of his "bastard" (bastartz) diction, meaning "graceful, delicate".
On the other hand, "Lombartz" was a common term of approbation for a miser or usurer during the period and may not refer to Cossezen's homeland.
If Cossezen was, however, as seems more probable,[1] a Lombard, it would make him the earliest Occitan lyric poet of Italian birth, though none of his work survives and there is no mention of him outside of Peire's satire.