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| author | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-01-07 17:11:46 -0800 |
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| committer | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-01-07 17:11:46 -0800 |
| commit | 1ac2bd21c71fc0abccc20f3fd1a3a7d013a354ca (patch) | |
| tree | fadef757a8025075e2e46ec71493080a39bd85da /77644-h | |
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diff --git a/77644-h/77644-h.htm b/77644-h/77644-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..973cdf5 --- /dev/null +++ b/77644-h/77644-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,17778 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The troubadours | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +a { + text-decoration: none; +} + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3,h4 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h2.nobreak,h3.nobreak { + page-break-before: avoid; +} + +hr.chap { + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + clear: both; + width: 65%; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; +} + +img.w100 { + width: 100%; +} + +div.chapter { + page-break-before: always; +} + +p { + margin-top: 0.5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +table { + margin: 1em auto 1em auto; + max-width: 40em; + border-collapse: collapse; +} + +th { + padding: 0.25em; + font-weight: normal; + vertical-align: bottom; +} + +td { + padding-left: 2.25em; + padding-right: 0.25em; + vertical-align: top; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +.tdc { + text-align: center; + padding: 0.75em 0.25em 0.5em 0.25em; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.tdpg { + vertical-align: bottom; + text-align: right; +} + +.stanzas td { + padding-left: 0.25em; + text-indent: 0em; +} + +.stanzas .tdr { + text-align: right; + vertical-align: middle; +} + +blockquote { + margin: 1.5em 10%; +} + +.center { + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.footnotes { + margin-top: 1em; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.footnote { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 0.9em; +} + +.footnote .label { + position: absolute; + right: 84%; + text-align: right; +} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none; +} + +.poetry .interlinear { + font-size: 85%; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; +} + +.interlinear { + overflow: auto; + margin: 0 0 1em 0; + display: inline-block; + text-align: left; +} + +.interlinear .stanza { + clear: both; + margin-bottom: 2em; +} + +.interlinear .verse-pair { + clear: both; +} + +.interlinear ol { + list-style-type: none; + margin: 0; + padding: 0; +} + +.interlinear ol.sentence { + display: inline; +} + +.interlinear ol.phrase { + height: 3.5em; + padding: 0.25em; + text-align: center; + display: inline-block; + /* float: left; */ +} + +.interlinear .provencal { + margin-top: 0.5em; +} + +.interlinear .english { + font-size: 90%; +} + +.larger { + font-size: 150%; +} + +.noindent { + text-indent: 0; +} + +.nw { + white-space: nowrap; +} + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + right: 4%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; +} + +.poetry-container { + text-align: center; +} + +.poetry { + display: inline-block; + text-align: left; +} + +.poetry .stanza { + margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; +} + +.poetry .verse { + padding-left: 3em; +} + +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} +.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2.0em;} +.poetry .indent4 {text-indent: -1.0em;} +.poetry .indent6 {text-indent: 0.0em;} +.poetry .indent8 {text-indent: 1.0em;} +.poetry .indent10 {text-indent: 2.0em;} +.poetry .indent20 {text-indent: 7.0em;} + +.right { + text-align: right; +} + +.smaller { + font-size: 80%; +} + +.smcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; +} + +.allsmcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; + text-transform: lowercase; +} + +.titlepage { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.x-ebookmaker img { + max-width: 100%; + width: auto; + height: auto; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .poetry { + display: block; + margin-left: 1.5em; +} + +.x-ebookmaker blockquote { + margin: 1.5em 5%; +} + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp66 {width: 66%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp66 {width: 100%;} +.illowp100 {width: 100%;} + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77644 ***</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp66" style="max-width: 12.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/tp-deco.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_i">[i]</span></p> + +<h1>THE<br> +TROUBADOURS</h1> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ii">[ii]</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O for a draught of vintage that hath been</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tasting of Flora and the country-green,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Dance and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Keats</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">[iii]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage larger">THE TROUBADOURS</p> + +<p class="center">A HISTORY OF<br> +<i>PROVENÇAL LIFE AND LITERATURE IN<br> +THE MIDDLE AGES</i></p> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br> +FRANCIS HUEFFER</p> + +<figure class="figcenter titlepage illowp66" style="max-width: 12.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/tp-deco.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> + +<p class="titlepage">London<br> +CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY<br> +1878</p> + +<p class="center smaller">[<i>The right of translation is reserved</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iv">[iv]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage smaller">LONDON: PRINTED BY<br> +SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE<br> +AND PARLIAMENT STREET</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[v]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</h2> + +</div> + +<p>Articles by the present writer on the subject of +Provençal life and literature have appeared off and +on in the ‘New Quarterly Magazine,’ the ‘Gentleman’s +Magazine,’ ‘Macmillan’s Magazine,’ and the +late ‘North British Review.’ But this book is not a +reprint of essays, although some of the materials +formerly used have been re-embodied in it. It +claims on the contrary to be the first continuous and +at all adequate account in the English language of +the literary epoch which forms its subject. For I +cannot concede that name to a book on ‘The Troubadours, +their Loves and Lyrics,’ published some years +ago; for reasons which it is not my province here to +state. And yet, excepting only the English version +of the unsatisfactory book which the Abbé Millot +compiled from St. Palaye’s excellent materials, by +that indefatigable translator and abridger in the last +century, Mrs. Dobson, that volume is the only work +on the Troubadours which England can boast of, +at least as far as I am aware,—and of any important +contribution to the subject I should be aware. By +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span>the side of the admirable criticisms of old French +literature which we owe to English authors from +the days of Cary and the ‘London Magazine’ to +those of Mr. Andrew Lang and other gifted writers +of the present time, this neglect of the <i>langue d’oc</i> +appears all the more glaring, especially when one considers +the further fact that many of the districts in +which the troubadours flourished were at the time +when they flourished attached to the English crown. +The amount of historical, and more especially English +historical, material to be gleaned from the biographies +and the works of the troubadours is indeed +of the utmost value to the student.</p> + +<p>In the composition of this book I have chiefly +depended on the original poetry of the troubadours, +but it is far from my wish to deny the services I owe +to the works of French and German scholars, such as +Raynouard, Francisque Michel, Dr. Mahn, and Diez, +the founder of the modern school of Romance philology, +a school which counts amongst its members +Professors Bartsch, Tobler, Holland, in Germany, +and MM. Paul Meyer and Gaston Paris in France; +to mention only a few of the most distinguished +names. Monographs of single troubadours, especially +those of Peire Vidal by Professor Bartsch, and of the +Monk of Montaudon by Dr. Philipson, have been +of great use to me. I may also refer to my own +critical edition of Guillem de Cabestanh’s works. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span>Beyond this general acknowledgment I have not +thought it necessary to encumber these pages with +continuous notes of reference.</p> + +<p>For my book is not intended as a scientific and +exhaustive treatment of the subject. The time for +that has not yet come in England. My present purpose +was rather to attract learners than to teach +more or less proficient students. In plain language +I wished, in the first instance, to write a readable +book, and according to general prejudice such an +achievement is impossible on the scientific principle. +For scholarly purposes, I have, however, added a +technical portion, chiefly concerned with metrical +questions, in which the importance of Dante’s scientific +treatise for the classification of Provençal metres, +pointed out by Professor Boehmer, has been for the +first time proved by systematic application. The +style and manner of this purely scientific portion +sufficiently distinguish it from the remainder of +the book. Still an additional warning to the unwary +reader may not seem superfluous.</p> + +<p>As another warning rather than encouragement +to the same ingenious person I have added some +interlinear versions of Provençal poems. It is +addressed to those easy-going amateur philologists +who believe themselves able to master a language +by simply plunging into its literature without any +previous study of grammar or dictionary. The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[viii]</span>similarity of Provençal to the Latin and the +more familiar Romance languages offers especially +dangerous temptations in that respect. To test the +truth of my remarks, I would ask the reader to +attempt one of the poems at the end of this book +with the sole aid of intelligent ‘guessing,’ and afterwards +to compare the result of his conjecture with +the literal version. He will then come to the conclusion +that the <i>langue d’oc</i>, owing chiefly to the +number of its homonymous words and the somewhat +unsettled condition of its grammatical structure, is the +most difficult, as it is the earliest, amongst languages +sprung from the Latin stock.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[ix]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</h2> + +</div> + +<table> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="tdpg smaller">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#PART_I">PART I.</a><br> + <i>GENERAL.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br> + THE LANGUE D’OC.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Decline of classic language</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its mixture with German dialects</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Derivation of Romance languages</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Provençal branch</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its limits</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its relations to the sister languages</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its dialects</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its perfection by the Troubadours</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its decline</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br> + EARLY POPULAR EPICS.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The North-French epic</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The cycles of Arthur and Charlemagne</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The popular epic chanted</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ferabras</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Girart de Rossilho</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br> + THE ARTISTIC EPIC.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Roman de Jauffre</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Flamenca</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_15">15</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[x]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br> + OTHER NARRATIVE AND DIDACTIC POEMS.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Castia-Gilos</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Lay of the Parrot</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Essenhamen de la Donzela</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Rhymed chronicle of Navarre</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Song of the Crusade</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Tale of the Heretic</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Legends</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Boethius</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Corbiac’s Tezaur</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Breviari d’Amor</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The biographies of the Troubadours</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Their authors</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br> + APOCRYPHA.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Provençal literature chiefly lyrical</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Fauriel’s theory</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Aversion to epic poems</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Arnaut Daniel an epic poet</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His praise by Dante</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His lost epic of ‘Lancelot’</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His obscurity</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>An anecdote from his life</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br> + SOCIAL POSITION OF PROVENÇAL POETS.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Joglars and Troubadours</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Troubadours exclusively lyrical poets</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Their social origin</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The sons of citizens</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Priests</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Reigning Princes</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Richard I. of England</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>William IX. of Poitiers</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Protectors of the Troubadours</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Reward of the Troubadours</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Their friendship with princes</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Intercourse with noble ladies</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Frequently innocent</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_61">61</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[xi]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br> + THE JOGLAR.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Singers and musical composers</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Distinction between troubadours and joglars</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Joglars chiefly narrative poets</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Guiraut Riquier’s attempted reform</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His ‘Suplicatio’</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br> + TRACES OF POPULAR SONG—THE PASTORELA.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Guiraut Riquier’s pastorelas</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Gui d’Uisel’s pastorelas</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Marcabrun’s pastorelas</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br> + OTHER POPULAR FORMS.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The alba</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its oldest form dramatic</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Guiraut de Bornelh’s alba</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The common form of the alba</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Alba by an anonymous poet</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The serena</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a><br> + THE BALADA.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its age</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Artistic and popular</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Subject of the balada love</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its musical accompaniment</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>‘Coindeta soi’</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The dansa</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a><br> + ARTIFICIAL FORMS OF POETRY.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Comparative simplicity of North-French forms</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Arnaut Daniel inventor of the sestina</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Imitated by Dante</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_103">103</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[xii]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Metrical scheme of sestina</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Modern imitations</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Origin of the sonnet</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The descort</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Prose interludes</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The breu doble</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The retroensa</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a><br> + THE TENSO.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Form of the tenso</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Definition of the Leys d’Amors</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>‘Turn and turn about’</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Actual discussions</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Fictitious disputants</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Topics of discussion</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Tenso between Bernart de Ventadorn and Peirol</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Triple tenso</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Savaric de Mauleon</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Personal tenso</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br> + THE SIRVENTES.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its want of formal distinction</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its influence on men’s minds</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>General remarks on its tone</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Etymology of the word</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Chief divisions of the sirventes</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The planh</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Crusader’s song</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a><br> + THE CANZO.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The canzo representative of Provençal poetry</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its frequent monotony</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Owing to over-elaboration</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its beauties</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its spontaneity</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The vers</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_146">146</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#PART_II">PART II.</a><br> + <i>BIOGRAPHICAL.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a><br> + GUILLEM DE CABESTANH.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His Provençal biography</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Discrepancies of other accounts</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Historical identity of Guillem de Cabestanh</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The origin of fictitious additions</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The fatal canzo</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The story of the eaten heart possibly of mythical origin</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Morals and manners of medieval Provence</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>One of Guillem’s canzos</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a><br> + PEIRE VIDAL.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His Provençal biography</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His eccentricities</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His love for Viscountess Azalais</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His journey to Palestine</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A canzo written during the journey</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His love for Loba</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>‘Emperor of Greece’</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His friendship with King Alfonso</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A crusader’s song by Peire</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His death</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a><br> + BERTRAN DE BORN.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A type of the warlike baron</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Historic retrospect</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Bertran’s attachment to Prince Henry of England</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>He instigates the Princes to rebellion against Henry II.</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_188">188</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a><br> + BERTRAN AND RICHARD COUNT OF POITOU.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The causes of their quarrel</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Bertran’s brother Constantine</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A sirventes by Bertran</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His connection with the rebellion of Henry II.’s sons</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Young Henry’s death</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Bertran’s ‘Complaint’</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a><br> + SIEGE OF AUTAFORT—BERTRAN’S DEATH.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>King Alfonso’s treachery</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Fall of the castle</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Bertran’s meeting with King Henry</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His friendship with Richard Cœur de Lion</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Bertran’s canzos</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_207">207</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His love affairs</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_208">208</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His death</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a><br> + THE MONK OF MONTAUDON.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His youth</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His worldly life</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His office at Puy Ste. Marie</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_215">215</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His ‘likes and dislikes’</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_215">215</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His satires on women</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His cynicism</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His satire on the poets</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a><br> + THE REFORMATION OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Wide-spread heresy</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its chief seat in the South of France</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Albigeois and Vaudois</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Noble Lesson</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Doctrines of the Albigenses</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Great teachers amongst them</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_235">235</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[xv]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Noble converts to their sect</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Raimon VI. of Toulouse</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Pope Innocent III. his antagonist</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The first crusade</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Victory of the Church</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a><br> + THE EPIC OF THE CRUSADE.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its authorship</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Discrepancies between the two parts</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Description of Simon de Montfort’s death</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Council of the Lateran</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Battle of Muret</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_249">249</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.</a><br> + FOLQUET OF MARSEILLES.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Most troubadours anti-Papal</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Folquet’s birthplace</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His love for Azalais</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A canzo addressed to her</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Her jealousy</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Her death</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>He enters the order of Citeaux in consequence</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His fanaticism</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.</a><br> + GUILLEM FIGUEIRA AND PEIRE CARDINAL.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Guillem Figueira ‘the hater of priests’</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_263">263</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His cynicism and love of low life</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_263">263</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His sirventes against ‘Rome’</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Peire Cardinal represents a higher type</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His life</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His high moral tone and pessimism</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A fable</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His praise of Raimon VI.</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>His accusations of the priests</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A theological sirventes</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_270">270</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV.</a><br> + LADIES AND LADY TROUBADOURS.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The lady of Provence</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Her polite education</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Her position in society</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_277">277</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Eleanor, wife of Henry II., the patroness of Bernart de Ventadorn</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The poems of lady troubadours subjective</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI.</a><br> + BEATRICE DE DIE.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The representative lady troubadour</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Her love for Rambaut of Orange</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>She imitates his style</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_284">284</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Her tenso written in conjunction with Rambaut</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Her song of resignation</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII.</a><br> + THE COURTS OF LOVE.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Their fictitious character</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_291">291</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Raynouard’s theory untenable</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_292">292</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Andreas Capellanus</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_294">294</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#PART_III">PART III.</a><br> + <i>TECHNICAL.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a><br> + THE ORIGIN OF RHYME.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Definition of rhythm</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Metrical system of Greek, of Roman, and of early Teutonic poems</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_300">300</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Different meanings of arsis and thesis</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_300">300</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The leonine hexameter</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_302">302</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Rhyme independent of metrical accent</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_303">303</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Known to ancient poets</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_303">303</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Wilhelm Grimm’s history of the rhyme</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_303">303</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Examples from Virgil and Horace</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Rhyme destructive of the rhythmical principle</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_306">306</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Influence of rhythm on Provençal poetry</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_308">308</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX.</a><br> + RHYTHM.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Stability of metrical rules in Provençal poetry</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_311">311</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Las Leys d’Amors</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_311">311</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Dante’s ‘De Vulgari Eloquio’ applicable to Provençal poems</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The limits of the length of a verse</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Verses most frequently used</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_316">316</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The decasyllabic verse (endecasyllabus)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_318">318</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The cæsura</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_318">318</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>In ‘Boethius’ and epical poems</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The lyrical cæsura</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX.</a><br> + RHYME.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Definition of the Leys d’Amors</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Accordansa sonan, consonan, and leonisme</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Rime riche</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The position of rhyme (‘rims ordinals’)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_330">330</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Artificialities</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Connection of stanzas by means of rhyme</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_333">333</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The ‘clavis’</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Guillem de Cabestanh’s canzo ‘Li douz cossire’</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_336">336</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Further artificialities</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI.</a><br> + THE STANZA.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Its formation</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_340">340</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Dante’s work of great value</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_340">340</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Definition of Leys d’Amors unsatisfactory</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_341">341</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Musical considerations</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_342">342</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Pedes and cauda</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_344">344</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Frons and versus</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_345">345</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Pedes and versus</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_347">347</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xviii">[xviii]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Frons and cauda</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_347">347</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Concatenatio</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_348">348</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The tornada</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_351">351</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Metrical analysis of a canzo by Bernart de Ventadorn</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_353">353</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII.</a><br> + SOME INTERLINEAR VERSIONS.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Canzo by Guillem de Cabestanh (‘Li douz cossire’)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_358">358</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Idyll by Marcabrun (‘A la fontana’)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_364">364</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PART_I"><i>PART I.</i><br> +<span class="smaller">GENERAL</span></h2> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE LANGUE D’OC.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>When about the end of the fourth century (<span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>) +Germanic and Asiatic hordes began to invade the +Western Empire with more and more irresistible +force, the refined voice of Roman eloquence and +poetry was soon drowned by the noise of barbarous +tongues. Even before this irruption of new elements +the language of the Romans had lost much of its +classic purity. It was no longer the idiom of Cicero +and of Horace. Familiar phrases, provincialisms and +barbarisms had found their way into the written +language. Thence it is that we find the illiterate +expressions of the comic characters in Plautus and +Terence occupying a place as legitimate words in +the dictionaries of the Romance idioms.</p> + +<p>When with the already decaying language of +the fourth and fifth centuries the variegated dialects +of the conquering barbarians were mingled, confusion +became worse confounded and linguistic chaos +seemed at hand. It need not be said that for artistic +purposes this mongrel type of speech became +totally unfit. But in the same measure as the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>healthy, though uncultured, peoples of the North +were destined to revivify the old institutions of +Roman political life, their languages also added new +vitality to the decaying forms of Roman speech. +The chaos was a preparatory stage of amalgamation +and new development. For the formation of languages, +like any other natural process, is ruled by +a strict law of decay and growth.</p> + +<p>In the derivation of the Romance dialects from +the common Latin mother-tongue, two main principles +are observable. The German invaders, like +all barbarous conquerors, soon adopted the speech +of their more civilised subjects; but they adhered +to certain terms and denominations of objects +particularly familiar or dear to them. Thus the +terms for warfare and many of its chief implements +were characteristically retained by them. +The French <i>guerre</i> and the Italian <i>guerra</i> are +identical with the old High German <i>werra</i>, our <i>war</i>; +and the title of highest dignity in the French army +of the present day, <i>Maréchal</i> (mediæval Latin +<i>mariscalcus</i>), means nothing but <i>shalc</i> (groom) of +the mares.</p> + +<p>The second cause of transformation and re-formation +already inherent in the Latin language of +the second and third centuries (<span class="allsmcap">A.C.</span>) is what philologists +term the analytic or dissolving principle. Synthetic +or primitive languages indicate the declension +of a noun or the conjugation of a verb by a modification +of the word itself; analytical languages by +the addition of other words. Thus, <i>patris</i> in Latin +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span>answers to our three words <i>of the father</i>, or to the +French <i>de le</i> (contracted <i>du</i>) <i>père</i>. The addition of +the article subsequently makes the modification of +the noun itself superfluous; hence <i>père</i> answers to +the four modifications of the Roman <i>pater</i>. But +the same tendency existed in the late-Latin speech +itself, and the <i>de le père</i> presupposes a <i>de illo patre</i>. In +an analogous manner, the <i>j’ai fait</i> or <i>ho fatto</i> of the +French and Italian languages is beyond doubt derived +from a Latin <i>habeo factum</i>, instead of the simpler +and older <i>feci</i>.</p> + +<p>Of the various languages of Latin growth, the +Provençal was the first to attain to an independent +characteristic type of expression. The limits of +its domain have been variously defined; but it +extended far beyond the boundaries of the later +Provence, even beyond those of modern France, comprising, +for instance, parts of Spain, such as Aragon, +Valencia, Catalonia, and the Balearic Islands. Its +northern limit may be roughly stated to be the line +drawn from the mouth of the Gironde to that of the +Saone. The political autonomy of the south of +France, which secured it from the international and +national troubles of its northern neighbour, greatly +favoured peaceful progress and enjoyment of life. +Moreover, the rich, bountiful soil, and the prosperity +and natural gaiety of the inhabitants, were conducive +to the early growth of poetic feeling; and it may be +assumed that long before the time of the Troubadours, +rustic lays, accompanied by the sounds of the +viola, used to enliven the harvest homes of Provençal +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span>villages. Of this popular epoch no record now remains, +except the language itself—at once the result +and embodiment of a nation’s longing for utterance. +The generic term applied to the language of southern +France seems to have been ‘Provençal,’ in allusion +no doubt to the Provincia Romana of the Cæsars. +For this term we have the weighty authority of +Dante, also that of an old Provençal grammar called +‘Donatus Provincialis.’ The Troubadours themselves, +however, never use this perhaps more scientific +denomination. They generally speak of Lengua +Romana, a term which of course applies with equal +propriety to all the languages derived from the +Latin. But what do poets care about philological +distinctions? Another term, <i>langue d’oc</i>, afterwards +transferred to a province of France, was undoubtedly +known in the middle ages. It is derived from the +affirmative particle <i>oc</i>, i.e. ‘yes,’ and chiefly used to +distinguish Provençal from its sister-languages, the +<i>lingua di sì</i> (Italian) and the <i>langue d’oïl</i>, (northern +French, <i>oïl</i> = <i>oui</i>). From the latter it was a totally +distinct language both in grammar and pronunciation, +quite as distinct, for instance, as Portuguese +from Spanish, or Dutch from English. On the +strength of the latter parallel the much-mooted +question as to the possibility of conversation between +Trouvère and Troubadour may perhaps receive some +new light from an adventure of the late Mr. Buckle, +who, while travelling in a railway carriage in Holland, +addressed a gentleman in the language of +the country, but received after a time the polite +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>answer that he, the Dutch gentleman, was sorry he +did not understand—Italian.</p> + +<p>The <i>langue d’oc</i> was again subdivided into +numerous provincial dialects, but of these little or +no trace appears in the songs of the Troubadours. +For they were court poets, and the idiom they used +a court language, spoken in its purity by no one +beyond the magic circle of polite society. It seems, +however, that the dialects of Limosin and the neighbouring +districts, and of Provence proper, showed +the nearest approach to this language of poets and +courtiers. Such at least is the decided opinion of +the grammarian and poet Raimon Vidal, not himself +a native of those parts. ‘Every person,’ he says, +‘who wants to produce or understand poetry, ought +to know, first of all, that none is the natural and +proper accent of our language but that of Limosin, +Provence, Auvergne, and Quercy. Therefore I tell +you, that when I speak of Limosin, you must understand +all these countries and those that are near +them or lie between them; and all people born or +brought up in those parts have the natural and +correct accent.’</p> + +<p>The origin of the Provençal language can of +course not be referred to a particular year nor even +to a particular century. Its development was +gradual and slow. But it is a remarkable fact, that +after it had once taken literary form and substance, +no signs of change or further growth are noticeable. +Two centuries in the German or English, or indeed +any living language, constitute enormous differences +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span>as regards phraseology, orthography, and grammatical +structure. Johnson had difficulties in fully understanding +Shakespeare, a modern German is puzzled +by many expressions in Luther’s Bible; and this, +after these languages had become fixed by the introduction +of printing, and a generally acknowledged +standard of grammatical regularity. But the first +troubadour known to us, Guillem of Poitiers, born +in 1071, uses exactly the same grammar, the same +structure of sentences, and even in all essential +points the same poetic diction, as his last successor +two hundred years after him.⁠<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The cause of +this unusual stability must be looked for in the fact +already pointed out, that the Provençal was not, +strictly speaking, a living language used by all, and +for all purposes, but the exclusive speech of an exclusive +class, reserved moreover for the expression +of courteous love and chivalry. Even where, for the +purposes of satire and personal invective, the terms +of low life are introduced, they have to submit to +the strict rules of grammar and metre.</p> + +<p>At the end of the thirteenth century the +<i>langue d’oc</i>, as a means of poetic utterance at least, +disappears again, as suddenly almost as it had +emerged from obscurity. Learned societies and +scholarly poets and writers vainly tried to keep alive +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span>the interest which had vanished with the last of the +knightly singers. <i>Jeux floraux</i> were started, and +golden primroses rewarded the successful efforts of +learned competitors. But the true life of poetry +was gone. By the crusade against the Albigeois +and the subsequent conquest of the French south +by the north, the spirit of the Provençal nobility +had been broken. No lordly castles invited, no gifts +encouraged the Troubadour, and by his silence all +vitality and zest was lost to the <i>langue d’oc</i>, which +henceforth degenerated into a common patois; the +rapid intrusion of northern French idioms consequent +on the political events alluded to accelerating +its final doom—final, for all the attempts at reviving +the old splendour of the <i>langue d’oc</i> have +as yet proved abortive. The patois of Mistral’s +<i>Mireïo</i> has little in common with the language of +the mediæval singers, and his gifted disciples’ +strenuous efforts stand little chance against the +crushing influence of an idiom formed by Voltaire’s +prose and Alfred de Musset’s poetry.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.<br> +<span class="smaller">EARLY POPULAR EPICS.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The north of France was the birth country and +chief seat of epic poetry in the Middle Ages. The +<i>chanson de geste</i>, the <i>roman</i>, the <i>fabliau</i> frequently +bear witness of a consummate grace of narrative +diction. Even the lyrical effusions of the Trouvère +not seldom take the form of the monologue or +dialogue. The poet loves to hide his personality +under the mask of a fictitious character. Sometimes +he is the maiden longing for love and spring, who +from the seclusion of her cloister raises her voice +against the robbers of her liberty, <i>malois soit de deu +ki me fist nonnete</i>; sometimes, like Rutebœuf, he +listens to the vulgar quarrels of ‘Charlie and the +barber,’ or, like Charles d’Orleans, the sweet +chansonnier in French and English, holds converse +with</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent8">... l’amoureuse deesse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qui m’apela demandant ou j’aloye.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The narrative and dramatic instincts of modern +French writers are distinctly manifest in their +mediæval <i>confrères</i>.</p> + +<p>This is different with the Troubadour, the poet of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span>Southern France. He is the lyrical singer <i>par excellence</i>, +speaking in his own undisguised person and +of his own subjective passion. Hence the truth and +intensity, but hence also the monotonousness and conventional +phraseology of passion, alternately characteristic +of the Provençal love-song. But the narrative +instinct was not entirely wanting in the poets of the +<i>langue d’oc</i>. The great wave of epic song which +kept continually crossing the Channel from the Celt +to the French Norman, and back again to the Saxon +and Anglo-Norman, left its flotsam on the shores +of Southern France. Neither did the half-mystic +glory of Charlemagne and his peers fail to impress +the imagination of the chivalrous Troubadours. We +possess, or at least know of the existence of, +Provençal epics from both the Carlovingian and +Arthurian circles. Although comparatively small in +number and importance, these deserve a passing +mention.</p> + +<p>The epic poetry of southern, like and on the +same principle as that of northern France, may be +broadly divided into the popular, and the artistic or +individual narrative. The two classes differ as +widely as possible both as regards metrical form and +poetical treatment. The popular epic was sung or +chanted to a monotonous tune, the artistic recited. +The former uses frequently the assonance (identity +of vowels, but difference of consonants) in strophes +or tirades of varying length; the latter, exclusively +rhyme in couplets. The popular epic is fond of +introducing standing formulas and epithets, and the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>recurrence of similar situations or motives is marked +by the naïve repetition of the identical phrase. The +poet himself disappears behind his work; he is +nothing but the mouthpiece of popular feeling and +tradition. Different from this, the artistic poet +takes individual shape in his work. He groups his +material with conscious study of narrative effects, +frequently adds new inventions to the legend he +treats, and is fond of interrupting the narrative by +reflections of his own, moral or otherwise as the case +may be.</p> + +<p>Of the popular epic very few specimens remain, +and of these few one at least, the ‘Ferabras,’ seems +a translation from the North-French. The representative +poem of the class is the old Provençal +epic, ‘Girart de Rossilho,’ a splendid example of +early mediæval spirit, crude in sentiment and +diction, coarse and irregular in its metrical structure, +but powerful and of sterling quality, like the hero +it celebrates. Like the ‘Chanson de Roland’—the +representative epic of Northern France—Girart +de Rossilho belongs to the Carlovingian circle of +legendary lore. But there is a considerable difference +between the two poems as regards the conception of +the Carlovingian idea, if that modern term may be +allowed. The older French poem shows the great +Emperor in full possession of his power, and surrounded +by his loyal Peers. The younger Provençal +epic reflects the revolutionary spirit of the great +vassals under the weak descendants of the great +Charles. Its hero, indeed, Girart of Rossilho, is the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>head of these rebellious barons, and his brave deeds +in the wars with his feudal lord are held up to admiration, +while, on the other hand, the Emperor +Charles Martel (evidently a mistake on the part of +the minstrel for Charles the Bald, correctly reintroduced +in a later French version) is made the embodiment +of meanness and treachery. After perusing +Girart’s exploits, some of them of a rather doubtful +character according to our notions, it is satisfactory +to know that he at least departed life with a +clean bill of morality. The author himself seems to +feel somewhat uneasy on the subject. ‘But,’ he +argues, ‘if Girart did great evil at first, he made +full and speedy compensation at last, for he did +great penance in a cloister—which he himself built +beautifully and at great cost.’ There he is said to +have supported amongst other pious personages +‘one hundred maidens.’ ‘And the priests,’ the +manuscript continues, ‘do nothing but pray God for +him and the Lady Bertha his wife. And he gave +them a thousand marks free of taxes; and one +can see well that he means to go there.’ Thus the +Holy Church was the gainer, and having, as Mephistopheles +says, ‘a good stomach able to digest +ill-gotten pelf,’ she may, for all we know, have long +rejoiced in the prosperity of the holy damsels. +Whether Girart actually entered his pious institution +the manuscript does not say; but such a close of +such a career was by no means rare in the middle +ages.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE ARTISTIC EPIC.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The remains of the artistic epic, although scanty, are +more numerous than those of popular origin. They +were held in greater estimation, and therefore naturally +had a better chance of being saved from +oblivion. Moreover, the fact of their being recited +without the aid of music made the reference to a +written text more desirable than was the case with +the popular tales which were chanted to popular +tunes, and for the sole enjoyment of popular and +uncritical audiences, not likely to resent arbitrary +variations or slips of memory. Amongst courtly +productions might be named the celebrated ‘Roman +de Jauffre,’ describing the love-affair of that knight +with the beautiful Brunesen, and other adventures, +also the story of Guillem de la Bar, not long ago made +public by M. Paul Meyer, from the sole manuscript +in the possession of the Marquis de la Grange. The +author of the latter poem is Arnaut Vidal, remarkable +as the first winner of the golden violet at the +‘Jeux Floraux’ of Toulouse; the prize being justly +awarded to him for a sweet song in praise of the +Virgin, still extant.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span></p> + +<p>But all these attempts are thrown into the shade +by a work which, quite apart from its philological and +literary interest, is invaluable to the student of +mediæval manners and customs. This is ‘Flamenca,’ +a narrative poem in octosyllabic couplets, dating +most likely from the first half of the thirteenth +century. Copious extracts, and an analysis of the +work, have been given by Raynouard in the first +volume of his celebrated ‘Lexique Roman,’ and the +whole has since been edited from the only manuscript +in existence at Carcassonne, by M. Paul Meyer, +who has added a translation into modern French +(Paris, 1865). Unfortunately the beginning and the +end of the poem are missing, and with the former +the name of the author, frequently mentioned in the +introductory lines of mediæval romances, has most +probably been lost. It is therefore to an anonymous +entity alone that we are able to concede the attributes +of a scholar well versed in antique and contemporary +literature, of a man of the world who +knew the manners and morals of good society, and +of a poet of genius.</p> + +<p>The technical Provençal name of a poem like +‘Flamenca’ would be <i>nova</i>, and with a slight variation +of the final syllable the word will serve the +same turn in our language. For ‘Flamenca’ in all +essential points answers to the definition of a +novel. It is a picture of contemporary society in +the same sense, and quite as close, as is ‘Tom +Jones’ or ‘Vanity Fair.’ From the popular epic it +naturally differs as widely as can be imagined, but +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>even with the other artistic romances of the same +period it has little in common. These latter depend +for their interest chiefly on a number of adventures +more or less loosely strung together; in +‘Flamenca’ there is a plot in our modern sense, +artistically worked up to a climax and illumined by +cleverly drawn characters and psychological observations. +It is indeed evidently the author’s intention +to delineate and point out the evil consequences of +certain psychological phenomena, and in this respect +‘Flamenca’ might indeed almost be described as a +‘novel with a purpose,’ the ‘purpose’ leading the +poet much beyond the limits of probability and +narrative economy, as ‘purposes’ are apt to do. +The plot of ‘Flamenca,’ moreover, is evidently a pure +invention, while the poets of ordinary chivalrous +romances always rely more or less on legendary +sources.</p> + +<p>Flamenca, the lovely daughter of Count Gui de +Nemours, is wooed by the King of Hungary and by +Lord Archimbaut Count of Bourbon. Her father +prefers the latter suitor, who is said to be one of the +best and most valorous knights in the world; an +important circumstance which the reader is asked to +remember. Count Archimbaut, on being told of the +decision in his favour, makes preparations on the +grandest scale to visit his bride, whom he has never +seen, but of whom the descriptions of her beauty +given by his messengers have deeply enamoured +him. The festivities arranged for his reception at +the court of Nemours are described at some length, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>and give the poet an opportunity of deploring the +decay of liberality amongst the great nobles, of +courtesy, of love, and of chivalry in his own time, a +complaint frequently met with in the works of the +later troubadours.</p> + +<p>Early on a Sunday morning Count Archimbaut +is introduced by her father to Flamenca, who, like a +well-educated young lady, ‘did not pretend to be +doleful, but was a little shamefaced.’ ‘Here is your +bride,’ Count Gui says; ‘take her if you like.’ ‘Sir,’ +answers the bridegroom, ‘if she does not gainsay it, +I never was so willing to take anything in my life.’ +Then the lady smiled, and ‘Sir,’ she said, ‘one can +see that you hold me in your power, as you give me +away so easily; but as it is your will I consent.’ +This ‘I consent’ throws Archimbaut into a transport +of joy, and he presses her hand passionately. But +here the interview ends. The gentlemen retire, +Archimbaut taking leave of her with his eyes at the +door, while Flamenca did not show pride, but gave +him good countenance, frequently saying, ‘God be +with you!’</p> + +<p>What can be prettier than this quaint picture of +mediæval wooing, and what more magnificent than +the wedding ceremony performed in the presence +and with the assistance of five bishops and ten +abbots, and lasting much too long for the impatience +of Archimbaut, ‘for it was past the sixth hour (noon) +before he had married her’? At the banquet the +bridegroom and the father of the bride have to wait +at table according to ancient custom; but the eyes +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>of the former continually go where his heart is, and +inwardly he curses the appetite of the guests and +the long-winded songs of the joglars. After nine +days’ feasting he hurries home to prepare his house +for his bride. All this looks auspicious enough for +the happiness of the couple. But this bright beginning +is but a clever trick on the narrator’s part to +show in its darkest dye the monstrous vice which +turns brightness itself into night. This vice is +jealousy.</p> + +<p>The King of France, to do honour to his +trusty baron Gui of Nemours, escorts Flamenca +to her husband, and attends with his wife and his +court the festivities arranged by Archimbaut to +celebrate the occasion. At the tournament which +takes place the king carries on the point of his lance, +by way of <i>gage d’amour</i>, the sleeve of a lady’s dress. +‘I don’t know whose it was,’ the poet adds diplomatically. +The queen’s jealousy suggests Flamenca, +and she loses no time to impart her suspicion to +Archimbaut, who immediately takes fire at the +thought. He keeps his countenance while his +guests are present, but inwardly he feels sad, and +tormented by ‘a burning sickness called jealousy.’ +‘What was I thinking of,’ he frequently says to +himself, ‘when I took a wife? God! I was mad. +Was I not well off and happy before? Evil befall +my parents that they should have counselled me to +take what did never good to any man!’</p> + +<p>The symptoms of the ‘burning sickness’ are +described with graphic vivacity. Archimbaut shuts +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>himself up; in every visitor he suspects a suitor of +his wife; he pretends to be very busy, and adds, in +a whispered aside, ‘I should like to kick you out +head foremost.’ He then calls to his servants for +water, to wash for dinner, in order to make people +go, and if this does not avail he will say, ‘Dear sir, +will you have dinner with us, for it is time? I hope +you will. There will be a good opportunity for flirting’—looking +all the while like a dog who shows his +teeth.</p> + +<p>So far so good; but we can hardly believe that a +noble and gallant knight should lose all sense of +decency so entirely as to go about unwashed and +unshaven, letting his beard grow long and matted +‘like a badly made sheaf of oats,’ except in places +where he had torn out the hair and stuffed it in his +mouth. The poet here decidedly makes a concession +to his courtly audience, who naturally were +delighted to hear a jealous husband likened to a +‘mad dog.’</p> + +<p>At last Archimbaut resolves to keep his wife a +close prisoner in a tower, and ‘May I be hanged +by the throat,’ he says, ‘if ever she go out without +me even to church, to hear mass, and that only on +high feast days!’ So poor Flamenca is shut up in +the tower with only two devoted maidens, Alice and +Margarida, to comfort her in her misery. And here +the poet takes the opportunity of indulging in a +psychological excursion which one would expect in +Feydeau or the younger Dumas rather than in a +<i>romancier</i> of the thirteenth century. As she could +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>not love her husband and had no child to be fond of, +he suggests, it was a blessing, or ‘a great favour of +God,’ as he puts it, for Flamenca, that the feeling of +love entirely ceased in her for a season. For if she +still had had love in her heart with no object to +centre it upon, her condition would have been infinitely +more unhappy.</p> + +<p>But Flamenca’s fate is not to last, nor are Archimbaut’s +misdeeds to be left unpunished for ever. +The avenger is nigh. He takes the form of a perfect +beau of the period, described by the poet in the +most glowing colours; with his riches, his valour, +his courteous demeanour, his love of poetry and +song, his scholarship—for he has gone through his +<i>trivium</i> and <i>quadrivium</i> at the University of Paris—and +last, not least, his beauty, down to the whiteness +of his skin and the very shape of his mouth +and ears. Guillem de Nevers, for such is his name, +hears of Archimbaut’s jealous atrocities, which have +become the butt of all the gay troubadours of the +country, and at once resolves to comfort the lady +and punish the monster. The question is, how to +baffle the watchfulness of this Argus and Cerberus +combined. The manner in which this question is +solved is a marvel of ingenuity.</p> + +<p>The first and greatest difficulty is to establish +communication with the imprisoned lady. The +tower is watched against any possibility of approach, +and she never leaves it except to go to church. +The church, therefore, must be the scene of operations.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span></p> + +<p>Guillem de Nevers ingratiates himself with the +priest, who accepts him as his clerk, and in this disguise +the lover succeeds in entering the private pew, +from which, thickly veiled and concealed by a trellis +work, Flamenca is allowed to attend mass. When the +clerk approaches the lady to let her kiss the mass-book +according to sacred rite, she is struck with his +beauty, and still more astonished when, instead of a +sacred formula, he breathes a suggestive <i>Ailas</i>! (alas). +More than these two syllables he dares not utter in +the presence of the watchful Archimbaut. Flamenca, +on her return home, begins to muse on the +strange behaviour of the clerk. At first she feels +almost aggrieved by his exclamation. ‘What right +has he,’ she says, ‘to be miserable? he is strong, and +free, and happy. Maybe he is mocking my own +suffering. And why should he be so cruel as to add +to my grief? Tears and sighs are my lot. A slave +compelled to carry wood and water is enviable compared +with me. My fate could not be worse even +if I had a rival and a mother-in-law.’ But the two +chambermaids know better. With the sagacity of +their class they at once fathom the mystery. ‘Your +beauty,’ Margarida suggests, ‘has ravished his +heart, and, as he has no other way of speaking to +you, he has exposed himself to great peril to let you +know the state of his feelings.’</p> + +<p>An answer has now to be thought of, and the +united wisdom of the three fair conspirators decides +upon the query <i>Que plans?</i> (what is your complaint?) +and these two syllables, softly whispered, gladden +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span>the heart of Guillem on the ensuing Sunday. His +immoderate rapture on seeing his passion noticed by +its fair object gives rise to a remark on the part of +the poet which strangely foreshadows the celebrated +dying speech of Cardinal Wolsey. ‘If Guillem,’ +the passage runs literally, ‘had served God as he +served Love and his lady, he would have been lord +of Paradise.’</p> + +<p>Flamenca on her part is most anxious to be +certain that her frightened whisper has been understood, +and the poet describes with masterly touches +a charming scene in the lady’s closet, when Alice +has to take a book—it is the romance of Blanchefleur—and +hold it exactly in the position and at the +distance that Guillem has presented the missal. +The lady then bending over the pages whispers the +two syllables, and inquires whether she has been +heard, which question the obliging chambermaid +answers with an ‘Oh, certainly, Madam! if you +have spoken in such a tone, he must have understood +you.’</p> + +<p>In this manner the lovers continue to correspond, +a week elapsing between each question and answer, +unless a devoutly wished-for saint’s day shortens the +interval. A lover who for months feeds his passion +on dissyllables, sweetened only by an occasional +lifting of Flamenca’s veil or a furtive touch of her +finger, deserves at any rate the praise of constancy. +Does the reader care to hear the dialogue in which +this extraordinary intrigue is carried on? Here is +the series of questions and answers, divided, it must +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>be remembered, by an interval of several days, and +exchanged under the very eyes of the jealous husband, +who mistakes for pious mutterings of the +Catholic ritual what in reality is offered at a very +different shrine:—</p> + +<p>Guillem, in answer to Flamenca’s question above +cited: <i>Muer mi</i> (I die). Flamenca: <i>De que?</i> (what +of?) G.: <i>D’amor</i> (of love). F.: <i>Per cui?</i> (for +whom?) G.: <i>Per vos</i> (for you). F.: <i>Quen puesc?</i> +(how can I help it?) G.: <i>Garir</i> (heal me). F.: +<i>Consi?</i> (how?) G.: <i>Per gein</i> (by subtle craft). F.: +<i>Pren li</i> (use it). G.: <i>Pres l’ai</i> (I have). F.: <i>E cal?</i> +(what craft?) G.: <i>Iretz</i> (you must go). F.: <i>Es on?</i> +(where to?) G.: <i>Als banz</i> (to the baths).</p> + +<p>This requires a word of explanation. Bourbon in +Auvergne, the seat of Count Archimbaut, was then, +as it is now, a well-known spa, of the arrangements +of which the author gives rather a curious description. +‘Here,’ he says, ‘every one, stranger or native, +can bathe in excellent fashion. In each bath-room +you can see written up for what malady it is good. +No lame or gouty person would come there but he +would go away quite cured, provided he stopped +long enough. Here one can bathe when he likes, +provided he have come to terms with the landlord +who lets the bath. And in each of the cells +there is to be found boiling water, and in another +part cold.... Adjoining these baths are rooms +where people can lie down and rest and refresh +themselves as they like.’ There is also a capital +portrait of the typical lodging-house keeper, who—wonderful +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>touch of nature which makes Margate +and Bourbon kin—recommends a particular room +‘because Count Raoul takes it every time he comes +to Bourbon.’</p> + +<p>With this worthy and his wife, dame Bellepille, +Guillem has made himself exceedingly popular. +He has paid his bills without haggling, has dined +at their table, and taken absinthe (<i>de bon aluisne</i>) +with the husband. At last he has persuaded the +couple to decamp for a season and leave him in +sole possession of their house—for a consideration, +it need hardly be added. This house he has had +connected by a subterraneous passage with one of +the bathing cells, and to the latter Flamenca is summoned +by the mysterious phrase alluded to. The +lady understands the hint, and at once takes the +necessary measures for carrying out the scheme. +She feigns sleeplessness and pain—nothing but a +bath can cure her. Archimbaut, anxious for her +safety, gives his consent, and himself conducts her +to the arms of her expectant lover, who receives +her with knightly courtesy and leads her, together +with the two faithful damsels, through his subterraneous +passage to a room splendidly adorned to receive +such a visitor. The jealous husband in the meantime +keeps watch before the door of the bath-room, +with the key in his pocket, while the careful damsels +have not forgotten to bolt the door inside.</p> + +<p>Such is the just and inevitable punishment of +jealousy according to the doctrine of the Troubadours. +But, strangely enough, this punishment, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>unknown to himself though it be, ultimately works +Archimbaut’s cure. He notices the change in his +wife’s manner; she shows no affection for him, and +even neglects the ordinary forms of politeness. At +last he gets tired of his suspicions, and accepts a +compromise proposed by his ill-treated wife to the +effect that the lady is to be restored to liberty on +her own solemn promise of faithfulness to her husband. +And here I fear that poor Flamenca will +forfeit the claim to the reader’s lenient sympathy to +which the cruelty of her husband has hitherto entitled her. +With a virtuosity of mental reservation +worthy of any Jesuit she swears by all the saints +and in the presence of her inwardly chuckling damsels +that ‘henceforth I will guard myself quite as well +as you (Archimbaut) have hitherto guarded me.’ +On this happy turn in her affairs the lady takes +leave of her lover for a season. He must resume +his rank and add to his fame by new deeds of valour. +But she agrees to see him again at a tournament +which Archimbaut proposes to hold in celebration +of his happy recovery. In answer to his lady’s +command, Guillem goes to the war and makes the +country ring with his prowess. Archimbaut becomes +acquainted with him and eagerly invites him +to attend at his feast, where he himself introduces +the valorous and renowned young knight to his wife. +The lovers keep their countenance and greet each +other in distant politeness, but in secret they meet +again and renew their bliss. At the tournament +Guillem carries all before him, but second to him +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>alone shines Archimbaut, who has become again +the valorous and accomplished knight he was before +the fell disease attacked him. In the midst of +their joustings and feastings the manuscript breaks +off, evidently not long before the end of the poem.</p> + +<p>Such is the story of Flamenca. Its moral tone +is not very high, although certainly not worse than +that of the typical French novel. But few modern +novelists would successfully compete with the natural +grace and perfect workmanship of the mediæval +poet. The plot, although simple, is well constructed, +and the story developes itself rapidly and consistently. +The characters also are drawn with consummate +skill. They are both types and individuals, one of +the chief criteria of high art-creation. It is true +that the effects of jealousy on Archimbaut are exaggerated +to the verge of caricature: the poet here +bowed to the prejudice of his age. At the same +time the minutest symptoms of the disease are laid +bare with an astounding acuteness of psychological +diagnosis. But, more than all, there is true passion +in the work in spite of occasional concessions to the +allegorical and hyperbolical tendencies of romantic +feeling. And the whole is transfused with the +splendour of southern sunshine, the joy and life and +love of beautiful Provence.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.<br> +<span class="smaller">OTHER NARRATIVE AND DIDACTIC POEMS.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>‘Flamenca’ is unequalled in mediæval literature for +natural eloquence of diction and psychological +subtlety; in the <i>langue d’oc</i>, more especially, there +is nothing worthy of being mentioned by the side of +it. We possess, however, some shorter stories well +invented and gracefully told, as for instance an +amusing novelette in verse by Raimon Vidal of +Besaudun, the tendency of which may be easily +guessed by its title ‘Castia-Gilos,’ or ‘Jealousy +Punished.’ Another quaint story, the ‘Lay of the +Parrot,’ by Arnaut de Carcasse, also deserves mention. +A poem called by its anonymous author a +‘roman’ would answer better to our term ‘allegory.’ +It contains an elaborate description of the +abode of Love, at whose court Joy, Comfort, Hope, +Courtesy, and other symbolical personages, collectively +described as the ‘Barons of Love,’ make their +appearance. A hundred beautiful damsels, each +with her lover, enliven the scene, and to this gay +parliament the god holds forth in a long speech full +of wholesome information and counsel in accordance +with the most approved code of Provençal gallantry.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span></p> + +<p>This work marks the transition from the story +to the didactic poem, of which latter class the +‘Essenhamen de la Donzela,’ or ‘Advice to a Young +Lady,’ by Amanieu des Escas, is the most celebrated +specimen. The teaching of good manners is not a +very lively task, and it must be admitted that the +Troubadours have at least shown considerable ingenuity +in hiding the pedantry of their rules and prescripts +under a whole flower-bed of pretty allegorical +devices. Of Amanieu des Escas we shall hear +again. It need hardly be added that these codifications +of good manners, just like the grammatical +and metrical treatises of which Provençal literature +can show a respectable number, belong to a comparatively +late period, when courtesy and refined +speech began to fade from the living intercourse of +men.</p> + +<p>The next section of narrative poetry to which +brief reference must be made differs widely from the +works hitherto mentioned. It is the historic epic or +rhymed chronicle, two specimens of which, important +alike from the literary and the historic point of view, +are extant. The first gives an account of a war +waged in the kingdom of Navarre between 1276-77. +It has been edited from the only existing manuscript, +with excellent notes, by M. Francisque Michel in +1856. A Spanish edition was published seven +years previously at Pampeluna. The author is one +Guillem Auclier, of Toulouse in Languedoc, as stated +at the beginning of the poem. He was himself an +active partisan in the war, and gives a lively description +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>of the events he witnessed. Frequent episodes +relating to contemporary events, such as the expedition +of St. Louis against Tunis, furnish details of +great historic interest. The literary character of the +poem, however, does not essentially differ from +similar mediæval productions, and a detailed analysis +may therefore be dispensed with. Metrically it is +interesting as an early specimen of the Alexandrine +or dodecasyllabic verse, which appears here in so-called +‘tirades monorimes’ of fifty lines, a shorter +verse at the end of each tirade serving to connect it +with the following strophe. At other times this +shorter line is literally repeated at the commencement +of the next tirade—an interesting peculiarity, +characteristic of Provençal poems of this class, which +betrays strong feeling for metrical continuity. It is, +however, not improbable that the musical accompaniment +to which these poems were chanted made +a repetition of the final cadence desirable. A not +uninteresting literary controversy has been raised as +to the identity of the author of the present poem +with a troubadour of the same name and birthplace +of whom we possess four political songs of considerable +power. Millot doubts this identity on account +of a passage in one of the songs which speaks of a +young Englishman desirous to regain all that the +valiant Richard had possessed in France. Millot, +who knew little Provençal, misunderstands the passage +in the sense of Richard being mentioned as +still alive; in which case the author of the song +could of course not have described, and been eye-witness +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span>of, events which took place nearly a century +after the death of the lion-hearted king. But +Millot’s supposition is quite erroneous, and the +young Englishman alluded to is evidently King +Edward I., whose accession (1272) seems to have +roused expectations to be temporarily realised under +his grandson. That the aspirations of the Black +Prince, and later on of Henry V., should have been +foreshadowed at this early period, is undoubtedly +an important fact to the student of English history—one +of the numerous important facts, indeed, which +might be gleaned from the works of the Troubadours, +and which make the total neglect of these works +amongst us so unaccountable.</p> + +<p>Of much greater importance than the Navarrese +chronicle is the celebrated song of the crusade +against the Albigeois heretics and their chief protector, +Count Raimon of Toulouse. The author +or authors (for most probably there were two) of +this poem also were contemporaries and eye-witnesses +of many of the incidents of this cruel war, +the ultimate issue of which proved fatal to the +literary and political independence of the south of +France. A fuller account of this work will be +found where we come to consider the prominent +part taken by the Troubadours in the vital struggle +of their country.</p> + +<p>In connection with the chronicle of the Albigeois +crusade may be mentioned the only poem of importance +which the <i>langue d’oc</i> contributed to the +spirited dogmatic controversy incessantly carried on +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>between the heretics and the champions of the +Church. The little interest taken by the Troubadours +in the doctrinal aspect of the case may account +for this paucity of documents.⁠<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> A great number of +heretical writings have undoubtedly been destroyed +by the intolerant rage of monks and inquisitors, but +it is by no means certain that many, or indeed any, +of these were written by, or in the language of, the +Troubadours. If so, one cannot but wonder why +the violent attacks on the moral depravity of the +clergy, with which Provençal literature is teeming, +should have escaped the same fate.</p> + +<p>The poem I am speaking of certainly leaves +nothing to be desired as regards orthodoxy. It is +written by Izarn, a monk, and a more striking +specimen of monkish effrontery would be looked for +in vain in any literature. So grotesque indeed is +the cynicism displayed, that one almost suspects +an ironical sceptic cleverly disguised in the mask of +the zealot; but there are other features of the poem—little +touches, for instance, of vanity and unctuous self-laudation—which +place the author’s real purpose +beyond a doubt. The ‘Novas del Heretge,’ or +‘Tale of the Heretic,’ is written in the form of a +dialogue between the author and one Sicart de +Figueiras, apparently an important member, or, as +he calls himself, a ‘bishop,’ of the Albigeois sect. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>The opening lines are important to the historian of +theology. They prove that the Neo-Manichean +heretics believed, or at least were said by the Catholics +to believe, in something very like metempsychosis. +‘Tell me,’ the monk begins, ‘in what school you +have learned that the spirit of man, when it has lost its +body, enters an ox, an ass, or a horned wether, a +hog or a hen, whichever it sees first, and migrates +from one to the other until a new body of man or +woman is born for it?... This thou hast taught +to deluded people whom thou hast given to the +devil and taken away from God. May every place +and every land that has supported thee perish!’ +This style of spiritual vituperation was likely to prove +but too effective, being as it was enforced by very +material means of coercion. For the conversation, as +we gather from the next-following lines, takes place +in one of the prisons of the sacred tribunal. ‘The +fire is alight,’ Izarn continues; ‘the people are +assembled to see justice done, and if you refuse to +confess you will certainly be burnt.’ Motives of +much less force would be sufficient to overcome the +resistance of the worthy Sicart. His conscientious +scruples are indeed of the very slightest description; +he is anxious only about the terms of his capitulation. +‘Izarn,’ he says, ‘if you assure me and give +securities that I shall not be burnt or immured or +otherwise destroyed, I don’t care what other punishment +you may inflict; only save me from that.’ +But he knows his captors too well to expect his life +from motives of pity. Treachery is the price of his +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>safety, and of that commodity he offers liberal +measure. ‘Berit,’ he says, ‘and Peire Razol’ (two +other spies, it may be conjectured) ‘don’t know half +of what I do. I will tell you everything you ask +both about believers and heretics, but you must +promise me secrecy.’ Next follows a somewhat +rambling explanation of the cause of his desertion, +in which the souls of five hundred people whom he +claims to have rescued from eternal perdition play a +principal part. But he is particularly anxious to +impress upon the monk that poverty has not been +the motive of his action. ‘First of all,’ he says, ‘I +want you to know that I have not presented myself +to you owing to hunger or thirst, or from any need +whatsoever; pray be aware of that.’</p> + +<p>The meaning of all this is that he wants to point +out, as indeed he does afterwards in so many +words, how valuable an acquisition he would be, +and how glad the Church of Rome ought to be +to receive him on terms however favourable. This +seems reasonable enough, but the matter appears in +a very different light when he begins to describe +with glowing colours the treasures which his confidential +position amongst the heretics has placed at +his disposal. An account of the easy and luxurious +life he led amongst the heretics is evidently inserted +with a view to disparage and expose as hypocritical +pretence the appearance of rigorous morality assumed, +and in most cases no doubt justly assumed, by the +elders of the dissenting churches. But all these +comforts and enjoyments, Sicart declares, he has forsaken +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span>for the call of Heaven, interpreted to him by +the eloquent voice of that chosen vessel, Izarn—the +author, that is. The complacency with which the +monk by the mouth of his convert pays a compliment +to his own theological sagacity, mentioning +especially ‘nine questions’ which have completely +baffled the heretic, and not omitting at the same time +an incidental reference to his poetical gift, is as +amusing as it is characteristic. It furnishes, moreover, +the best proof against the suspicion of a +hidden satirical purpose, which the tone of the +poem may have excited in the reader’s mind. The +subtlest humorist could not artificially reproduce +the naïve genuineness of this self-praise. No +wonder that, convinced by such excellent argument, +Sicart is willing to atone for former errors by +the merciless persecution of his late friends and +co-religionists. ‘Not twopennyworth of love or +peace shall they find at my hands,’ he savagely +exclaims, promising at the same time to betray to the +Inquisition the most secret places where they and +their treasures are hidden—all sentiments highly +and unctuously approved of by the excellent Izarn, +it need scarcely be added.</p> + +<p>No more barefaced disclosure of the vilest +motives of the human heart can well be imagined +than is to be found in this poem. ‘Mr. Sludge the +medium’ himself would hesitate before entering into +competition with the worthy monk and his no less +desirable convert. If the utterly demoralising influence +of religious persecution on both persecutors +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span>and at least the weaker part of their victims needed +further proof in our days, this poem might be held +up as a warning example.</p> + +<p>It is perhaps hardly fair to mention together with +such a production other works by monkish authors +sometimes replete with simple-minded piety and never +without the quaint charm of mediæval narrative. +Such are the paraphrases of Biblical and other +religious legends of which Provençal literature shows +a goodly array. None of them, however, calls for +detailed notice, their character showing no essential +deviation from similar works in other languages, and +their subject and treatment being widely remote +from the artistic poetry with which this book is +chiefly concerned. Suffice it to mention the +names of some of the saints chosen for treatment, +such as St. Alexius, St. Honorat, and Sta. Fides, +(the MS. of the last-mentioned legend dating, according +to Fauchet, as far back as the eleventh +century), also rhymed paraphrases of the apocryphal +gospels of ‘St. Nicodemus,’ and the ‘Infancy of +Christ.’</p> + +<p>Of much greater importance than any of these +is a semi-religious didactic poem treating of that +favourite hero of the pseudo-historic Muse in the +middle ages, Boethius, and the spiritual comfort he +derived in his worldly misfortune from what Shakespeare, +perhaps with a faint reminiscence of this very +man, calls ‘adversity’s sweet milk philosophy.’ The +goddess of that divine science appears to Boethius, +‘Count of Rome,’ in prison, to which he has been +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>sent by the Emperor Teiric (Theodoric), a usurper +and unbeliever whose claims to the throne the single-hearted +statesman refuses ta acknowledge, and +whose vices he has publicly reprimanded. Boethius +is condemned on a false charge of having invited +the Greeks to invade Rome. In his dungeon he +laments his fate and regrets his sins, an opportunity +for moralising of which the poet avails himself by +enforcing the didactic key-note of his poem: ‘The +good and evil deeds of our youth find their just +reward in advanced age.’</p> + +<p>The darkness of the prison is suddenly brightened +by the appearance of a beautiful maiden clad +in garments of resplendent richness. She is the +daughter of a mighty king, and her own power and +gifts are without measure. ‘Beautiful is the lady,’ +the poet repeats, ‘although her days have been +many; no man can hide himself from her glance.’ +She herself has woven her gorgeous robes, ‘one +fringe of which could not be bought for a thousand +pounds of silver.’ At the bottom of her garment is +inscribed the Greek letter Π, while her headdress +shows a Θ, the former signifying, according to the +poet, ‘the life which is entire,’ the latter ‘the just law +of heaven.’ A number of birds ascending steps +which are suspended between the two letters signify +mankind in its struggle for divine righteousness. +Some more allegory of the same kind finishes the +poem, which is evidently the fragment of a much +larger work, founded possibly on the celebrated +‘Consolatio Philosophiæ.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span></p> + +<p>The value of the fragment as it stands is of a +philological rather than of a literary kind, owing to +the numerous archaic forms and words occurring in +it, many of which have disappeared from the later +Provençal. With the exception of a short hymn in +praise of St. Eulalia (published by Diez in his +admirable edition of the work under discussion), +‘Boethius’ is generally considered to be the earliest +poetic specimen of the <i>langue d’oc</i>, belonging, as it +undoubtedly does, to the tenth century, and therefore +preceding the first of the Troubadours by at least a +hundred years. Of the remainder of the didactic +poems the briefest notice must suffice. One class of +them are large accumulations of human knowledge—encyclopædias +in fact without the alphabetical +arrangement—such as the ‘Tezaur’ (Treasure) by +Master Corbiac, treating in Alexandrine lines of +most known and unknown sciences, including geology, +music, history, and necromancy; and the still +more celebrated ‘Breviari d’Amor,’ an enormous +compendium of mediæval wisdom, and most probably +one of the most ponderous books ever written +in spite of its promising title. Two manuscripts +of this work are in the British Museum. The +author’s name is Matfre Ermengau, a monk of +Beziers, and the poem was begun, according to a +statement in the preface, in 1288. How long it took +the laborious poet to compose his 27,000 lines, +heaven only knows. A poem by Daude de Pradas +on the birds used for falconry, belonging to this +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span>class, may be of some interest to historically minded +lovers of sport.</p> + +<p>But of much greater importance, and indeed invaluable +to the student of manners and customs, is a +second category of didactic poetry, consisting of rules +and precepts of demeanour for certain classes of +society, young ladies, pages, joglars or minstrels, and +others. Some of these ‘ensenhamens,’ as they were +called—for instance, that by Amanieu des Escas—have +already been referred to in these pages. +Others will be mentioned in due course.</p> + +<p>In the poems of the historic and didactic orders +rhyme and metre were to a great extent mere accessories, +and of many of them prose versions, made +evidently for the sake of cheapness and convenience, +are actually in existence, such as the transcription +of the Song of the Albigeois Crusade, also of the +Gospel of Nicodemus, and other legendary poems. +These and numerous other prose works, theological, +moral, medical, and juridical,⁠<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> are entirely beyond +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>the scope of the present work—with one exception. +This is a curious collection of biographies of the +principal troubadours found in several manuscripts, +and varying from a few lines of matter-of-fact information +to lengthy and circumstantial accounts +of a suspiciously romantic character, including attempts +at furnishing a commentary, critical and +anecdotal, for single poems. In some cases several +biographies of the same poet are found, one richer +than another in interesting details, and showing +evidently the desire on the part of later authors to +improve upon an originally simple story. But in +spite of this the immense value and general authenticity +of this source cannot be denied, especially in +cases where the author gives his name and declares +himself an eye-witness of the events he describes. +At the end of the biography of Bernard de Ventadorn, +we read, for instance, the following interesting +notice:—‘Count Eble de Ventadorn, the son of the +viscountess whom Sir Bernard loved, told me Uc de +St. Cyr what I have caused to be written down of +Sir Bernard.’ The same Uc de St. Cyr, himself a +well-known troubadour, also wrote (or at least composed, +for his powers as a scribe may seem doubtful +on his own showing⁠<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>) the life of Savaric de Mauleon +and probably of several other contemporary poets. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span>Another biography is claimed by one Miquel de la +Tor, and in many other instances references to eye-witnesses, +or claims to personal and immediate +knowledge, are made. Unfortunately accounts of +only 104 out of about 400 troubadours of whose +existence we know have been preserved. But +even as it is we ought to be thankful to the mediæval +scribes, who, as regards the Troubadours, +have at least partially removed the darkness which +overhangs, for instance, the personal histories of +North-French Trouvères or German Minnesingers, +not to name more recent and infinitely more important +epochs of English literature.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.<br> +<span class="smaller">APOCRYPHA.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>Here the brief summary of the non-lyrical literature +in the Provençal language comes to a close. In +a work mainly devoted to the poetry of the Troubadours +I have not thought it necessary to attempt +anything like completeness of enumeration, my +intention being mainly to give the reader some +idea of the general aspect of a literary epoch +almost entirely engrossed by one branch of art, the +artistic song. A prevailing impulse of this kind is +of course by no means unexampled in the history of +poetry. The gregariousness of human beings in +general is equally noticeable in the representatives +of human thought and feeling. The age of Homer +loved epic breadth, that of Elizabeth dramatic +point and action; in our time the novel seems to +rule the literary market. There were, of course, +English romance-writers in the sixteenth century, +just as there are English dramatists and lyrical +poets of great power in the latter half of the nineteenth; +but that does not in either case disprove the +fact of a collective national instinct in the direction +pointed out.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span></p> + +<p>In the same sense it may be said that narrative +poetry in mediæval Provence occupied a decidedly +subordinate position. This is, at least, what the +facts we know and the documents we possess lead us +to believe. But documents and facts are not always +satisfactory materials to prop up a preconceived +theory. Certain scholars have in the face of them +supplied the <i>langue d’oc</i> with an extensive and +splendid epical literature, the treasures of which +have unfortunately been lost to us, though why this +loss should have fallen on the narrative in preference +to the lyrical branch of poetry is not explained. +The chief upholder of this opinion is the late M. +Fauriel, the deservedly celebrated author of the +‘Histoire de la Littérature Provençale;’ but the +foundation on which he rests his theory must be +owned to be of the slenderest kind.</p> + +<p>Among the <i>ensenhamens</i>, or instructions to particular +classes of society, already mentioned, there +are two, by Guiraut de Calençon and Guiraut de +Cabreiras respectively, addressed to joglars, a class +of singers, and professors of other more or less dignified +arts, of whose duties and position in society we +shall hear more hereafter. Amongst other accomplishments +they are exhorted to acquire familiar acquaintance +with certain favourite subjects of romance +and story, a full enumeration of which is given in +each instance.⁠<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> These two poems, together with a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>passage from ‘Flamenca,’ descriptive of a feast enlivened +by song, give us a most welcome insight +into the tales of woe and joy most apt to raise tears +or merry laughter amongst the fair ladies of Provence. +Here we meet with the names of many +heroes of history and fiction. King Menelaus and +his frail spouse, together with most of the renowned +chieftains of the Greeks and Trojans, represent +Homeric myth, Romulus and Remus prehistoric +Roman tradition. Queen Dido, it need hardly be +said, occupies a prominent place, as does also her +singer Virgil, whom mediæval belief has surrounded +with the necromancer’s mysterious halo in addition +to his fame as a poet. Charlemagne and his champions—not +forgetting Ganelon the traitor—were +equally well known in Provence, while the influence +of Celtic legendary lore, both with regard to poetry +and music, is curiously illustrated by the mention in +‘Flamenca’ of a joglar who plays on the violin the +<i>lais del cabrefoil</i> (lay of the honeysuckle) popularly +ascribed to Tristan, the lover of Iseult. In addition +to these another Instruction may be mentioned, addressed +by one Arnaut Guillem de Marsan to a +young gentleman of noble lineage who comes from +a distance to consult him about amorous matters. +Here the knowledge of the favourite subjects of romance +is recommended as an accomplishment most +adapted to gain the favour of a lady.</p> + +<p>From such passages as these M. Fauriel concludes +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span>that of all the subjects mentioned in them elaborate +treatments in the shape of epics or romances existed +in the <i>langue d’oc</i>. But this supposition surely is +quite unsupported by the evidence direct or indirect. +The myths and semi-historic facts referred to, such +as the deeds of Charlemagne or King Arthur, were +the common stock of European nations in the +Middle Ages, migrating from the Welsh shores of +the Atlantic to the eastern confines of Germany, and +back again to Saxo-Norman England. Trouvères, +Troubadours, and Minnesingers were equally well +acquainted with these inexhaustible sources of amusement, +and a wayfaring minstrel was naturally expected +to give a more or less original version of the familiar +theme. But none of the passages mentioned above +refers to any existing poem on the subjects it enumerates, +or indeed to any written document at all, +which latter, moreover, in nine cases out of ten would +have been of little use to the popular singer. The +existence, therefore, of an extensive epical literature +in the Provençal language remains a mere conjecture +in spite of M. Fauriel’s eloquent special pleading.</p> + +<p>There is, however, no reason to deny that more +than one narrative poem may have fallen a victim +to time, and in some instances at least we have +strong circumstantial evidence pointing that way. +One of these cases leads to considerations so interesting +in other respects that a short statement of it +may be welcome to the reader. It is well known +that the works of the Troubadours were at an early +period read and admired in the neighbouring country +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span>of Italy, and that the poets in the <i>lingua volgare</i> +recognised in them at once their models and allies +in the struggle against the predominance of Latin +scholarship. Students of the ‘Divina Commedia’ or +of Petrarch’s ‘Trionfi’ are aware of the prominent +position assigned to the Provençal singers amongst +the poets of the world, and they may also remember +that of the Troubadours themselves none is mentioned +with higher praise than Arnaut Daniel. +Petrarch calls him <i>gran maestro d’amore</i>, the ‘great +master of love, whose novel and beautiful style still +(i.e. about the middle of the fourteenth century) does +honour to his country;’ and Dante, in his philological +and metrical treatise ‘De vulgari Eloquio,’ declares +himself indebted to Arnaut for the structure of +several of his stanzas. The ‘sestina,’ for instance, +a poem of six verses in which the final words of the +first stanza appear in inverted order in all the others, +is an invention of this troubadour adopted by Dante +and Petrarch, and, most likely through the medium +of French models, by Mr. Swinburne, as we shall +presently see.</p> + +<p>But another far more lasting monument has been +erected to Arnaut in the immortal lines of the ‘Purgatorio,’ +where Guido Guinicelli, in answer to Dante’s +enthusiastic praise of his poetry, points to another +shade, and</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘O frate, disse, questi ch’io ti scerno</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Col dito (ed additò uno spirto innanzi)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fu miglior fabbro del parlar materno.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Versi d’amor e prose di romanzi</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soverchiò tutti ...</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">Canto xxvi., verses 115-119.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘O brother,’ cried he, pointing with his hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘This spirit whom I show far better knew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To weld the language of his native land.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In lays of love and in romances too</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He bore the palm.’ ...</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">(<span class="smcap">Cayley’s</span> translation.)</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">This artful ‘smith of his mother-tongue’ is our +troubadour, who, when addressed, replies in pure +Provençal, a language evidently quite familiar to +Dante. The above-cited lines are generally considered +to be the clue to the apparently excessive +admiration lavished on Arnaut by the Italian poets. +There can indeed be no doubt that, in addition to +his fame as a lyrical singer or troubadour proper, +his equal excellence as a narrative poet is here referred +to, the word ‘<i>prose</i>’ being used not in our +modern sense, but for the rhymed couplets of the +epic in contradistinction to the elaborate stanzas or +<i>versi</i> of the love-song.</p> + +<p>The further question arises, what were the works +on which Arnaut’s reputation as an epical poet was +founded, and for the answer to this question we +again must look in the works of Italian poets. +Pulci, the humorous author of the ‘Morgante +Maggiore,’ mentions our troubadour twice amongst +the writers of Carlovingian epics, explaining his statement +by the further indication that he (Arnaut) +‘wrote most diligently and investigated the deeds +of Rinaldo (i.e. Renaut de Montauban, the eldest of +the <i>quatre fils Aimon</i>) and the great things he did +in Egypt.’ This seems to prove conclusively that as +late as the end of the fifteenth century, when Pulci +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>wrote, an epic poem on ‘Renaut’ by Arnaut Daniel +was known amongst scholars in Italy.⁠<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>But a still later and in one sense still more important +testimonial to Arnaut is found in Torquato +Tasso, who, it appears, mentions him as the author +of a poem on ‘Lancelot.’ For this enables us to +connect our troubadour with a second and perhaps +the divinest passage in Dante’s divine poem. The +reader need scarcely be reminded that the story +which kindles to open and conscious flame the silent +passion of Francesca da Polenta and Paolo Malatesta +is a romance of Lancelot—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Di Lancilotto come amor lo strinse;</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">and nothing is more probable than that Dante +should have thought of Arnaut Daniel’s lost epic +when he wrote the inspired lines that are in everybody’s +memory.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Per più fiate gli occhi ci sospinse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quella lettura, e scollorocci ’l viso;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quando leggemmo il disiato riso</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Esser baciato da cotanto amante,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Questi che mai di me non fia diviso</div> + <div class="verse indent0">La bocca mi bacciò tutto tremante.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Galeotto fu il libro e chi lo scrisse;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quel giorno più non vi legemmo avante.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">More than one time that reading struck our eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Together, and discoloured us in face:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But it was only one point conquered us:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whereas we read about the longed-for smile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How by so great a lover it was kissed,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> <div class="verse indent0">This one, who from me ne’er shall be disjoined,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Trembling all over, kissed me on the mouth.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A Galahalt⁠<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> was the book, and he that writ:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Further that day we read in it no more.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">(<span class="smcap">W. M. Rossetti’s</span> translation.)</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Many poets might wish to rest their posthumous +fame on such lines rather than on their own works; +but it may be inferred on the other hand that Arnaut +Daniel (if he really be the author referred to) must +have been a mighty mover of the heart to gain such +a tribute from the lips of Francesca da Rimini.</p> + +<p>It may seem strange that the Provençal biography +is completely silent with regard to Arnaut’s epical +achievements. But, in the best times at least, the +professional story-teller was strictly divided from +the Troubadour, and the biographer may have +thought it wiser to say nothing on the subject. With +reference to the same matter it is perhaps significant +that Arnaut is described as a ‘joglar’ in the Provençal +notice of his life. In Italy this point of etiquette +was, of course, of no importance; and hence most +likely the indirect channel through which Arnaut’s +fame as a writer of romance has reached posterity.</p> + +<p>It must be confessed, however, that the +Troubadour’s lyrical efforts would hardly lead one +to credit him with lucid exposition or narrative +grace. Arnaut Daniel is the Browning of Provençal +literature. He delights in ‘motz oscurs’ (dark +words) and ‘rims cars’ (dear or scarce rhymes) and +equally far-fetched similes. One of these latter, a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span>symbol of unrequited love, became almost proverbially +attached to his name. ‘I am Arnaut,’ it +ran, ‘who loves the air, who hunts a hare with an +ox, and swims against the stream.’ His intentional +obscurity and his mannerism were largely imitated, but +no less frequently attacked and travestied by contemporary +poets and satirists. Petrarch’s allusions +to ‘his novel speech,’ and Dante’s expression, ‘smith +of his mother-tongue,’ evidently allude to Arnaut’s +peculiarities of style. We can also quite understand +how the great Florentine could admire a dark shade +of melancholy, a bold originality of thought, and a +hankering after scholastic depth, but too nearly akin +to his own mental attitude; but how far these +qualities would have fitted into the frame of a +narrative, or whether the poet succeeded in dropping +them for a season, must remain an open question. +It is curious that one of the brightest and most +amusing bits of literary gossip which Provençal +biography can show is attached to the sombre figure +of this troubadour. As there will be no occasion +in the following pages to return to the biography of +Arnaut, the clever little anecdote may follow here. +It will serve at the same time as a specimen of +Provençal prose. A literal translation is subjoined:</p> + +<p>‘E fo aventura qu’el fo en la cort del rei Richart +d’Englaterra: et estan en la cort us autres joglars +escomes lo com el trobava en pus caras rimas qe el. +Arnautz tenc so ad escarn e feron messios cascus de +son palafre qe no fera, en poder del rei. E’l reis +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>enclaus cascun en una cambra. E’N Arnautz de +fastic quen ac non ac poder qe lasses un mot ab +autre. Lo joglars fes son cantar leu e tost. Et els +non avian mas de X jorns d’espazi; e devia s jutjar +per lo rei a cap de cinq jorns. Lo joglars demandet +a’N Arnaut si avia fag; e’N Arnautz respos; “qe +oc, passat a tres jorns.” E non avia pensat. E’l +joglars cantava tota nueg sa canso per so qe be la +saubes; e’N Arnautz pesset col traisset ad escarn, +tan qe venc una nueg e’l joglars la cantava e’N +Arnautz la va tota retener e’l so. E can foron denan +lo rei, N’Arnautz dis qe volia retraire sa canso; e +comenset mot be la canso qe’l joglars avia facha. +E’l joglars can l’auzic gardet lo en la cara e dis q’el +l’avia facha. E’l reis dis co s podia far? E’l joglars +preguet al rei q’el ne saubes lo ver. E’l reis +demandet a’N Arnaut com era stat. E’N Arnautz +comtet li com era stat. E’l reis ac ne gran gaug e +tenc so a gran escarn. E foron acquistat los gatges, +et a cascun fes donar bels dos.’</p> + +<p>‘And it happened that he (Arnaut Daniel) was +at the court of King Richard of England; and there +being also at the court another joglar the latter boasted +that he could invent rhymes as scarce as could +Arnaut. Arnaut thought this good fun, and each gave +his horse as a pledge to the king, in case he could +not do it (viz. gain the bet). And the king locked +them up each in a room. And Sir Arnaut, being +tired of the matter, was not able to string one word +to another; the joglar made his song with ease and +speedily. And they had no more than a space of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span>ten days allowed to them. And the king was to +judge at the end of five days. The joglar then asked +Sir Arnaut if he had done. “Oh yes,” said Sir +Arnaut, “three days ago.” But he had not thought +of it. And the joglar sang his song every night so +as to know it well. And Arnaut thought how he +could draw him into ridicule; so one night, while +the joglar was singing, Arnaut took care to +remember the whole song and the tune. And +when they were before the king, Arnaut declared +that he wished to sing his song, and began +to sing in excellent style the song that the joglar +had made. And the joglar, when he heard this, +stared him in the face, and declared that he himself +had made the song. And the king asked how +this was possible, but the joglar implored him to +look into the truth of it. The king then asked Sir +Arnaut how this had happened, and Sir Arnaut told +him how it had happened. And the king had great +joy at this, and thought it most excellent fun. And +the pledges were returned, and to each he gave fine +presents.’</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.<br> +<span class="smaller">SOCIAL POSITION OF PROVENÇAL POETS.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>Sufficient has been said in the preceding pages to +show the superiority of lyrical over epic poetry in +Provence. This inequality of the two branches +implied a commensurate difference of praise and +social esteem awarded to those who excelled in +either of them, and it is perhaps from this point of +view that the two great divisions of poets in the +<i>langue d’oc</i>, respectively described as ‘joglars’ and +‘trobadors,’ or, in the French and generally adopted +form of the word, ‘troubadours,’ may be most distinctly +recognised. The two professions were frequently +united in the same person, and the duties +belonging to either are in many respects identical, or +at least similar to such a degree as to make strict +separation almost impossible; but it seems sufficiently +established that the verb ‘trobar’ and its derivative +noun first and foremost apply to lyrical poetry. To +speak therefore of the Troubadour as the singer of +songs, of cansos and sirventeses and albas and +retroensas, is a correct and tolerably comprehensive +definition, borne out moreover by the historic fact +that, with the sole exception of Arnaut Daniel (who, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>as was mentioned before, is in his biography called a +joglar), none of the celebrated troubadours is known +to have written narrative poems. These latter, on +the other hand, are either, like ‘Flamenca’ and +‘Jaufre,’ by anonymous authors, or else by such men +as Arnaud de Carcasses or Matfre Ermengau, who +have acquired little or no fame as lyrical poets, and +moreover belong to the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries, when the song-tide of the earlier epoch was +ebbing fast.</p> + +<p>To the Troubadour, the undisputed leader of the +poetic profession, we must turn first. It has been at +all times, and is still, an all but impossible task to +define the social position of a literary man, <i>quâ</i> +literary man. So much depends upon his success in +his profession, his family, his personal bearing, that +a general rule can never comprise all individual +cases. The same applies to the Provençal poets of +the middle ages. It would be absurd to say that +differences of rank did not exist in that primitive +republic of letters. The composite nature of a +profession, the humbler associates of which were +often fain to amuse popular audiences at wakes and +fairs with rude songs or tricks of jugglery, entirely +precludes the social equality of all its members. +But in the art of poetry a common ground was at +least established, where men of all classes met on +equal terms, and where the chance of success was +little if at all furthered by accidental advantages of +birth. The maxim of <i>carrière ouverte au talent</i> +was fully carried out, and we find that the most +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span>celebrated troubadours were frequently men of low +origin, who by mere dint of genius conquered fame +and gain. Folquet for instance, the gay troubadour, +subsequently Bishop of Toulouse, and zealous +persecutor of the Albigeois heretics, was the son of +a simple merchant, and the great Bernart of +Ventadorn seems to have been of still humbler +descent—at least, if we may believe the testimony +of an amiable brother poet, who delights in informing +the public that Bernart’s father was a common +serving-man, good at shooting with the bow, and +that his mother gathered brushwood to light the +fire. Marcabrun, another celebrated and at the +same time most eccentric troubadour, was, according +to one account, a foundling left at the gate of a rich +man, while another biography calls him the (apparently +illegitimate) son of a poor woman of the +name of Bruna, the latter statement being confirmed +by the troubadour’s own boast:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Marcabrus lo filhs Na Bruna</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fo ergendratz en tal luna</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qe anc non amet neguna</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ni d’autra non fo amatz.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In English: ‘Marcabrun, the son of Madame Bruna, +was begotten under such a moon that he never +loved a woman, and never was loved by one.’</p> + +<p>It has been computed that to the middle and lower +classes twenty-two troubadours owe their origin, to +which number probably many of those must be added +of whose circumstances no record has been left. The +clergy furnished no less than thirteen poets, some of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>whom confined themselves to religious and didactic +subjects, and therefore, strictly speaking, ought not to +be called troubadours. Others, however, had no +such conscientious scruples, and one of the most +daring and outspoken satirists in Provençal literature +was a monk. Uc de St. Cyr, destined by his father +for the clerical profession, escaped from the university +of Montpellier and became a troubadour, while in +other cases gay poets turned monks and closed a +wild career with repentance and holy exercise. Of +Gui d’Uisel, a canon of Brioude and Montferrand, it +is told that he dutifully abandoned the muse by +command of the Papal legate.</p> + +<p>By far the largest proportion of the troubadours +known to us—fifty-seven in number—belong to the +nobility, not to the highest nobility in most cases, it +is true. In several instances poverty is distinctly +mentioned as the cause for adopting the profession +of a troubadour. It almost appears, indeed, as if +this profession, like that of the churchman and sometimes +in connection with it (see the Monk of Montaudon), +had been regarded by Provençal families +as a convenient means of providing for their younger +sons. Bertran de Born, on the other hand, owed the +successful enforcement of his claims to the heritage +he held in common with his unfortunate brother +Constantine as much to his song as to his sword.</p> + +<p>It remains to refer to no less than twenty-three +reigning princes of more or less importance of +whose poetic efforts we have cognisance. With a +few exceptions the contributions to literature of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span>these distinguished amateurs are but slight. But +that does not diminish the significance of the fact of +these powerful men entering into competition with +the sons of tailors and pedlars.</p> + +<p>Richard I. of England occupies the foremost +place amongst these princely singers. The beautiful +canzo composed in his Austrian prison, and preserved +in both the <i>langue d’oc</i> and <i>langue d’oïl</i>, is +deservedly popular. It is perhaps less generally +known that Richard occasionally made his poetry +the vehicle of political invective. There is extant +by him a song in which he violently attacks the +Dauphin, Robert of Auvergne, accusing him of venality +and breach of faith. The Dauphin, nothing loth, +meets violence with violence, using in his retort the +same complicated metre in which the Prince had +attacked him. The same Dauphin appears again in +another poetical encounter of a rather less elevated +kind. This time his antagonist is a homely citizen +of the name of Peire Pelissier, who, combining the +useful with the agreeable, had metrically reminded +the Dauphin of a certain sum of money owing to +him. The indignation with which the noble poet +rejects the low demand is beautiful to see. But the +very fact of his entering into such a contest with +such an antagonist shows the equalising, not to say +levelling, influence which the universal desire for +poetic fame exercised on the minds of men in those +days.</p> + +<p>By far the most important poet of this class, +and one of the most remarkable, as he was chronologically +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>the first, of all troubadours, is William IX., +sovereign Count of Poitiers, a noble prince, well +known in history. The time of his reign, about +the end of the eleventh century, marks the commencement +of Provençal poetry, and this sudden +appearance of an accomplished poet, mastering +the most intricate rules of rhyme and metre ever +invented, is unique in the history of literature. +It is indeed in this case also explainable only +from the disappearance of previous stages of poetic +development.</p> + +<p>William of Poitiers is an interesting character in +many respects. He is the prototype of the Troubadour, +the wayfaring singer, wandering through the +beautiful land of Provence in search of praise and +amorous adventure, the latter not always as strictly +moral nor yet as sentimental as might be desired. +Even in those gallant days his dangerous gift of +captivating women’s affections seems to have attracted +more than ordinary notice. ‘The Count of +Poitiers,’ says the Provençal biography, ‘was one of +the most courteous men in the world and a great +deceiver of ladies; and he was a brave knight and +had much to do with love-affairs; and he knew well +how to sing and make verses; and for a long time +he roamed all through the land to deceive the +ladies.’ The poems of the Count further illustrate +these statements in a manner not always delicate, +but always witty and amusing. It ought to be +added that, before his end, William repented of his +evil ways, in witness of which the last of his remaining +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span>songs gives utterance to regretful sorrow and +anxiety.</p> + +<p>But the chief importance of William’s life and +poetry for our present purpose lies in the light which +these throw on the high esteem in which the poet’s +art was held in those days. For it must be remembered +that the man who proudly donned the Troubadour’s +garb was the same Duke of Aquitain and +Count of Poitiers whom William of Malmesbury +mentions amongst the great warriors of his time, and +who, in the unfortunate crusade of 1101, appeared at +the head of three hundred thousand fighting men.</p> + +<p>Such were the princely amateurs in mediæval +Provence. Turning from these to the Troubadours +proper, that is to professional poets who owed their +sustenance to their song, we find that they occupied +an important and honoured position in fashionable +circles. There is scarcely a noble family in the +south of France whose name is not by one or more +of its members connected with the history of the +Troubadours. His love of poetry and poets is +a redeeming feature in the lion-hearted Richard’s +wild career, but he had inherited this feeling from +his mother, the much-maligned Queen Eleanor, +whom we shall meet again as the generous friend of +a celebrated singer. The kingly house of Aragon +vied with that of Anjou in its liberal protection of +the gay science. The names of Alfonso II., Peter +II., and Peter III. continually occur in the grateful +acknowledgments of the Troubadours; and to another +monarch of Spanish origin, King Alfonso X. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span>of Castile, belongs the honour of having given +shelter to the remnant of Provençal poets after the +fall of their own country. At his court lived and +deplored the decline of poetry the last of the +Troubadours, the noble Guiraut Riquier. Many +other protectors of the Troubadours, no less liberal +though less illustrious, will be incidentally mentioned +in these pages.</p> + +<p>At the courts of these princes and nobles the +Troubadour was eagerly welcomed. Without any +distinct charge or office he partook of the liberality +of his protector, half guest, half courtier, but without +any of the irksome duties of the latter, and free to +come and go where his wayward mood attracted him. +We hear of frequent and rapid changes of abode in +the lives of many troubadours, mostly in consequence +of some imbroglio with a lady. But Provençal +poets were naturally a restless tribe, ever in +search of new lands and new loves.</p> + +<p>The gifts with which the Troubadour’s song was +rewarded varied in nature and value according to +the wealth and liberality of the donor. Horses gaily +caparisoned, rich vestments, and money are not unfrequently +mentioned. The Monk of Montaudon +rails at a brother poet for having accepted <i>manh vielh +vestimen</i> (many an old coat) previously worn to rags, +we may suppose, by its economical owner. But +other nobles showed a more generous appreciation +of poetry, and in one case at least we hear of a +liberal host who, enraptured by his poet-guest’s song, +presents him with his own palfrey and dress. This +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>instance at the same time illustrates the spontaneous +nature of most of these gifts. The troubadour +was not like an English poet laureate or the bard +of a Welsh prince, receiving a yearly salary in money +or kind, and bound for certain emoluments to accomplish +a certain amount of verse. An engagement +of this kind was as unsuitable to his disposition +as it would have been inconsistent with the +terms of equality on which he lived with his protector. +The perfect ease of intercourse existing between +poets and princes of the highest rank is indeed +astonishing. Bertran de Born, a petty baron, called +the sons of Henry II. of England by familiar nicknames, +and Raimon de Miraval, a poor knight of +Carcassonne, used the same liberty with the mighty +Count Raimon VI. of Toulouse, with whom he was +united by the bonds of tenderest mutual friendship. +Even the powerful Raimon de Rossilho, proud by +nature and further excited by jealous suspicion, has +to treat a servant of his own household with the +utmost consideration, merely because this retainer +happens to be Guillem de Cabestanh, the author of +some popular love-songs. Only when the poet’s guilt +is established beyond a doubt does Raimon give way +to his revengeful passion.</p> + +<p>Another privilege enjoyed by the troubadour, +and prized by him much higher than all those previously +mentioned, was the favour of noble ladies, +granted to him as the guerdon of his impassioned +song. The relation between lady and troubadour has +been a favourite subject with writers of history and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>romance from the early middle ages to the present +time, and it is to be feared that the popularity of +Provençal poets rests quite as much on their love-affairs +as on their literary achievements. From the +story of Flamenca previously told and numerous +other incidents to be mentioned in the following +pages, the reader may form an idea of the laxity of +morals in those days, especially as regards the +marriage-vow. Considering this moral atmosphere +and the free intercourse of the sexes existing in +Provençal society, where the <i>dueña</i> or any similar +institution seems to have been unknown, the frequent +occurrence of a guilty passion between a +troubadour and a high-born lady—for instance, the +wife of his protector—is intrinsically but too probable. +But it is nevertheless an undoubted fact, although +the old biographers are by no means prone to +acknowledge it, that the homage offered by the +troubadour and accepted by the lady did not +necessarily imply guilty weakness on the part of +the latter. This is sufficiently proved by the attitude +of a third and strongly interested party, the +husband. In many instances he thought himself +honoured by the eloquent praise lavished on his +wife, and was willing to make allowance for occasional +outbursts of passion mixed with the more +conventional terms of distant adoration. Count +Barral de Vaux, the good-natured husband of +Azalais, the lady whom Peire Vidal celebrated +under the pseudonym of Vierna, went so far as to +adjust little differences arising between his wife and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>that eccentric poet. Count Richard of Poitou also +encouraged his sister Mathilda to accept the homage +of Bertran de Born, which seems to establish the +acknowledged possibility of a perfectly innocent +relation of the kind alluded to beyond a doubt. +The future King of England would hardly have +exposed a lady of his house to ignominious suspicion +for the sake of a vassal, much as he stood in dread +of the dangerous gifts of that vassal.</p> + +<p>And this last remark indicates at the same time +the clue to the whole extraordinary phenomenon +of the privileged social position of the Troubadours. +These poets were the stern censors of moral and +political depravity as well as the singers of love. +They possessed the public ear, and, conscious of their +power, they wielded it, often no doubt to noble +purpose, but no less frequently with a strong admixture +of that personal bias which so few pamphleteers +and party writers know how to eschew. +The bitterness and rancour of the Provençal +<i>sirventes</i> are equalled by few satirists of other nations, +surpassed by none; and many a noble—and many +a lady too, for that matter—who might be comparatively +indifferent to the Troubadour’s praise were +fain to evade his blame by ministering to his comfort +or his vanity.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE JOGLAR.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The name ‘Troubadour,’ we have seen, is synonymous +with our ‘lyrical poet.’ His office was, strictly +speaking, limited to the writing, or at least producing, +of songs. But for the publication of these poems +two more cooperators were required—the musical +composer and the singer or reciter. Frequently +the Troubadour invented his own melodies, and +takes pride in stating that fact; some even combined +with these two faculties that of the executive +musician; ‘Pons de Capduelh,’ we are told, ‘was a +poet (<i>trobava</i>), and could play the violin and sing.’ +Others, however, were not so variously endowed, +and in that case they engaged the services of an +assistant, technically called joglar. The joglar proper +seems to be an exclusively Provençal institution. +The necessities of musical composition and promulgation +of course existed more or less in all poetic +communities. Boccaccio says of Dante that he loved +to associate with musicians who supplied his canzone +and sestine with melodies, but we nowhere read that +he kept a professional composer for that purpose.</p> + +<p>The exact border-line between troubadour and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>joglar cannot be drawn without difficulty. Sometimes, +as we have seen, the two offices were combined +in one person, at others the same individual +rose from the lower to the higher class. Of +Marcabrun, for instance, subsequently one of the +most celebrated troubadours, we are told that he +began his career as apprentice or joglar to another +poet named Cercamon.⁠<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The safest distinction is +arrived at by bearing in mind that the joglars were +principally, though by no means exclusively, musicians +and executants, the converse ratio of the creative +and executive faculties obtaining amongst the +superior class of poets. For that position the Troubadours +claimed for themselves, and took good care +to let the world know of their claim. Towards the +joglars, immediately dependent on their productions, +they frequently adopt the tone of haughty condescension. +‘Bayona,’ Raimon de Miraval addresses +an unfortunate singer, ‘I know well it is for a <i>sirventes</i> +that you have come amongst us. And counting +this there will be three; for two I have made already +by which you have gained much gold and silver, +Bayona, and many a worn coat, and other clothes +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span>good and bad.’ ‘Goodness! Bayona,’ he says in +another poem, ‘how poverty-stricken do I see you! +badly dressed in a mean gown! But I will draw +you from your poverty with a sirventes which I +offer you.’ In other places the troubadours express +anxious doubts as to the memory and capacity of +their interpreters, and seriously exhort the latter to +adhere strictly to the original as transmitted to them +by personal instruction. ‘My son,’ Perdigo addresses +his joglar, ‘on your honour, I charge you to take good +care that you understand the work and do not deface +it.’ Other poets sought safety from truncation in +the well-knitted and compact woof of their stanzas, +which would not allow of the omission of a single +verse or rhyme without manifest detriment to the +whole organism. ‘Marcabrun,’ that celebrated +troubadour boasts of himself, ‘knows how to turn +and interlace sense and verse in such a way that no +other man can take away a single word;’ which precaution, +by the way, answered against plagiarists as +well as against slovenly reciters.</p> + +<p>But the same feeling of ill-disguised contempt +which some troubadours betray for their immediate +subordinates, others extend to the whole class of +singers and performers, and especially the works of +later poets are full of bitter invective against the +meanness, vulgarity, and innumerable other vices +and shortcomings of the joglars. The nobles are +reproved for receiving them at their castles, and the +decline of poetic art is not unjustly attributed to the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>growing taste for the buffooneries cultivated by the +lower grades of the body poetic.</p> + +<p>All things considered, this antagonism was not +wholly unjustified. It has already been said that +the humbler members of the profession were fain to +turn an honest penny by enlivening the feasts and +fairs of villagers by ingenious tricks of jugglery, and +whoever will consult the ‘Instructions to Joglars,’ +above mentioned, will find a considerable portion of +the modern <i>répertoire</i> anticipated. Even dancing +on the tight rope, and training and producing clever +dogs and monkeys, were accomplishments not wholly +beneath the dignity of the joglar. No wonder that +noble troubadours shunned all contact with a +profession comprehending such doubtful elements. +But of course there were joglars and joglars, just +as in our times there are artists and artists; and +a man like Perdigo, who himself wrote beautiful +songs, and kept a singer to sing them, and who +was knighted by the Marquis of Montferrat on +account of his poetic merits, would no more have +considered a common trickster his equal than Mario +or Faure would artistically fraternise with the +‘Great Vance.’</p> + +<p>And yet the old biographer calls Perdigo repeatedly +and persistently a joglar. It is in such +cases as this that the distinction between the two +classes alluded to practically ceases. Joglars were +received in the best society on the same terms of +equality as were granted to the more exclusive +brethren; the same gifts of horses and rich garments +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>rewarded their efforts, and these efforts also +were to a large extent identical with those of the +troubadours, excepting perhaps the one circumstance +that the joglars, although poets themselves, +included the pieces of other authors in their <i>répertoire</i>, +while the troubadours, if gifted with executive +talents, always confined themselves to their own +productions.</p> + +<p>But another line of distinction may be drawn +from the purely literary point of view previously +indicated. The Troubadours, it has been said, +were lyrical poets, and seem to have looked upon +romancers, novelists, <i>et hoc genus omne</i> with all the +superciliousness of a higher caste. Of one poet it is +distinctly stated that he was <i>no bos trobaire mas +noellaire</i>, ‘not a good troubadour, but a story-teller.’ +The Joglars, on the contrary, as we know from the +‘Ensenhamens,’ were bound to know and reproduce +the whole store of facts and fables more or less +common to the mediæval literatures of Western +Europe. The slight and temporary character of +most of these reproductions, and the comparative +neglect with which they were treated by Provençal +literati, have previously been touched upon, the scarcity +of epical manuscripts in the <i>langue d’oc</i> being the +natural corollary of these two causes. For the number +of joglars capable of wielding the pen must have been +very small, and the scribes and scholars to whom we +owe the admirable and large collections of lyrical +pieces were naturally much less anxious to preserve +the humble productions of the narrative muse. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span>Hence the astounding fact above referred to that +even of the epics of so renowned a poet as Arnaut +Daniel not a single specimen remains, and the other +circumstance, no less surprising, that the Provençal +biographer passes over these important and evidently +most popular works with complete silence, saving his +literary conscience by a cursory reference to Arnaut +as a ‘Joglar.’ It is a further significant fact that +most of the narrative poems preserved—barring +the scanty remains of the popular epic which +belong to a separate epoch and circle of literary +production—date from a comparatively late period +when the all-engrossing sway of lyrical poetry, and +with it the vitality of Provençal literature itself, began +to dwindle. The social aspects of this decline and +fall, its causes, and the vain efforts to check its +detrimental force, are brought home to us in the +stanzas of a noble-minded poet, Guiraut Riquier, +justly called the Last of the Troubadours. For at +his death, about the end of the thirteenth century, +the final expiration of the literature and of the independent +and artistically available idiom of Provence +may be said to commence.</p> + +<p>Of the life of Guiraut Riquier comparatively +little is known, his biography being, strange to say, +not included in any of the Provençal collections. +On the other hand we are more than usually well +instructed as to the chronology of his works. For +to almost every one of his poems the date of its +production is affixed in the MS., which moreover +expressly claims to be an exact copy of the poet’s +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>original. From the latter statement we may at the +same time infer the penmanship of Guiraut, which +in those days was never unaccompanied by other +literary attainments. But, besides this, the scholarly +cast of his mind is sufficiently proved by the +troubadour’s work. The wonder is how with this +tendency could coexist in him the sweetest and +freshest fragrance of poetic <i>naïveté</i>—a <i>naïveté</i> and +spontaneity all the more admirable as they are altogether +rare amongst the Troubadours. To him Provençal +literature owes perhaps its nearest approach +to the unalloyed impulse of popular song. To this +side of his creativeness we shall have to return on +a later occasion.</p> + +<p>Guiraut’s lines had not fallen in pleasant places. +The old times of glory and well-being for the +Troubadours were past and gone, and although +Guiraut found a protector and friend in Alfonso X., +King of Castile, to whom, as he says in 1278, his +poetic services had been devoted for sixteen years, +this protection seems not to have been of a kind to +exempt the troubadour wholly from the cares of +existence. With a bitterness recalling Dante’s +complaint of the steepness of strange stairs and the +salt flavour of strange bread, Guiraut speaks of the +<i>vergonha e paor</i>, the shame and fear with which he +enters the presence of a noble lord <i>per demandar lo +sieu</i>, to ask him for his property.</p> + +<p>To the above-named King Alfonso was presented +a curious memorial or supplication, in which Guiraut +Riquier deplores the degradation of his noble calling +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>and at the same time suggests various remedies for +the growing evil. This was not the only or the last +time that the troubadour stood up in the defence of +his art. In a powerful sirventes dated 1278, he +refutes the attacks of fanatic priests on poetry—that +is, poetry in the true and elevated meaning of the +word. ‘So little,’ he complains, ‘is the noble science +of poetry valued nowadays, that people scarcely +desire or suffer it, or will listen to it.... And our +preachers declare it to be a sin, and reprove every +one bitterly for its sake.’ He fully admits the +justice of these reproaches in many cases in which +poets invent ‘vain things whence sin may arise or +war and disunion.’ ‘But,’ he concludes, ‘those who +with mastership string together noble words, and with +wisdom and knowledge teach the truth, can never +find sufficient honour and reward.’</p> + +<p>The reader who might be inclined to see a tinge +of scholastic pedantry in this passionate plea for +‘wisdom and knowledge,’ ought to consider the root +of the evil combated by Guiraut. The long war +with France and the crusaders had left its detrimental +mark on the manners and morals of Provençal +nobles. Their fortunes were wasted, their castles +destroyed, and the new generation brought up in the +camp knew little of the taste and refinement of +previous ages. Hence the bitter attacks in the +poems of the later troubadours directed against the +vices of the nobles, their avarice, their stinginess, +their coarseness of taste which delighted alone in +the vulgar jests of the lowest joglars. It is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>especially against the encroachments of the latter on +the domain of artistic poetry that Guiraut’s angry +protest is directed. The mixing up of the two +classes of Joglars and Troubadours he believes to be +the first cause of the disease, and as the intellect of +the time had grown too obtuse to draw the line, he +demands an external sign of distinction. Hence +the somewhat strange proposal laid down in his +celebrated missive to the King of Castile.</p> + +<p>The ‘Suplicatio qe fes Guiraut Riquier al rey +de Castela per lo nom del joglars l’an LXXIII.’ is a +most curious document. Nothing would be easier +than to draw into ridicule a man who intended to +prop a tottering literature with a name, a title. But +at the same time this man is so much in earnest +himself, and his cause so noble, that one’s smile at +his Quixotic notion involuntarily gives way to +a feeling of deep sympathy. Guiraut begins his +poem with a short exordium of complacent self-laudation, +in which he dwells at some length on his +competence to treat the subject:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Pus dieus m’a dat saber</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Et entendemen ver</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De trobar, etc.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Next follow the usual compliments to his protector, +and, this duty discharged, Guiraut begins to speak +from the fulness of his heart. ‘You know,’ he says, +‘that all men live in classes differing and distinguished +from each other. Therefore it seems to +me that such a distinction of name ought also to be +made amongst the Joglars; for it is unjust that the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>best of them should not be distinguished by name as +well as they are by deed. It is unfair that an +ignorant man of small learning, who knows a little +how to play some instrument and strums it in +public places for whatever people will give him, or +one who sings low ditties to low people about the +streets and taverns, and takes alms without shame +from the first comer—that all these should indiscriminately +go by the name of Joglars.... For +joglaria was invented by wise men, to give joy to +good people by their skill in playing on instruments.... +After that came the Troubadours to record +valiant deeds, and to praise the good and encourage +them in their noble endeavour.... But in our days +and for some time past a set of people without sense +and wisdom have undertaken to sing and compose +stanzas, and play on instruments ... and their +jealousy is roused when they see honour done to +the good and noble.’ Every one, he reasons, ought +to be named according to the work he does, and it +would be quite just, he characteristically adds, to +apply the name of Joglars to all poets and singers +indiscriminately if they were all more or less of the +same kind and worth, like common citizens. This, +however, is not the case, and the good suffer by +being mixed up with the low and vulgar.</p> + +<p>To check this confusion by a tangible sign, to +distinguish by an acknowledged name and title the +trickster and player of instruments, who flatters the +senses by momentary enjoyment, from the learned +and serious poet whose works are graven on the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>memory and long survive their author, to do this +and save poetry from impending ruin, Guiraut says, +is a worthy task for the wise and noble King +Alfonso.</p> + +<p>The king’s answer to this request is extant. It +is written in verse, but otherwise composed with all +the gravity of a state paper, and at the same time +with a lucidity of argument rarely found in mediæval +writings. ‘Although,’ the king justly remarks, ‘it is +unwise and of dangerous consequence to speak about +the affairs of strangers, yet he who holds honour +dear, and possesses sense and wisdom and power +withal, ought to consider the interests of others together +with his own.’ After this cautious beginning, +the king fully admits the reason of Guiraut’s complaint, +and points out the injustice of comprising all +the members of the poetic, musical, and histrionic +professions under the common title of Joglar, a +word which the king learnedly adds is derived +from the Latin <i>joculator</i>, and therefore is wholly unfit +to designate the higher branches of the art of poetry.</p> + +<p>In Spain, we are further told, these things are +managed better; musicians and mountebanks and +poets have each a name of their own, and nobody +can mistake the one for the other. A similar distinction +the king now proposes for the domain of +the <i>langue d’oc</i>, and for that purpose divides the +whole poetic community into three classes. First +and lowest are named the people who would not +dare to show themselves at court, and who hang +about taverns and village-greens, showing off the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span>tricks of learned dogs and goats, imitating birds’ +voices, or singing coarse songs. These in future are +to be called by the Italian word ‘<i>bufos</i>,’ ‘as is the +custom in Lombardy.’</p> + +<p>Different from these are the musicians and +reciters of stories who contribute to the amusement +of the nobles by these arts or other agreeable pastimes. +These, and these alone, ought to claim the +name of ‘<i>joglars</i>,’ and they ought to be received at +court and liberally remunerated according to their +merits.</p> + +<p>The third and highest class comprises those who +possess the gift of composing verses and melodies, +and for that reason are entitled to the name of +<i>inventores</i>, which, as the king remarks, is the Latin +equivalent of the vernacular <i>trobadors</i>.</p> + +<p>But a last and highest distinction is reserved for +those amongst the poets who combine the useful +with the agreeable, and in the sweet rhymes of their +canzos enforce moral and religious maxims. These +are in future to be called <i>doctors de trobar</i>, doctors +of poetry; for, adds the king, who is fond of etymology +and not wholly averse to a pun:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">... Car doctrinar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sabon ben qui’ls enten.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Whether the degree was ever conferred remains +uncertain. It is obvious that the creating of twenty +doctors of poetry would not make one poet. At +the same time if a man or men of high poetic +gifts had arisen, the improved social position intended +for them would have been a gain and an +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span>encouragement. But it is a melancholy fact that +what seems most spontaneous and involuntary in +man—genius—obeys, after all, the universal rules of +supply and demand, and that when once literary +vitality and literary interest are departed from a +nation it is hopeless to galvanise the corpse with +artificial life. Guiraut’s scheme in itself is therefore +hardly worth mentioning. But it is interesting as a +symptom of the same tendency of the age towards +mixing up poetry with scholarship which soon afterwards +led to the institution of Academies, and Jeux +Floraux, and Poet-Laureateships, and traces of which +have survived till the present day in Provence and +elsewhere.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.<br> +<span class="smaller">TRACES OF POPULAR SONG IN THE POETRY OF THE TROUBADOURS.—THE PASTORELA.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The Troubadours, it has been said more than once, +were court poets, their songs a court literature, taking +its theme from, and reciprocally appealing to, the +upper classes of society. There was an advantage +and a still greater drawback connected with this +exclusiveness of culture and sympathies. In the +early middle ages it was of the utmost importance +to raise, and abide by, a standard of refinement in +opposition to the prevailing coarseness of the age. +But, on the other hand, the fresh and ever-bubbling +source of spontaneous feeling was absent, which +their <i>rapport</i> with the people supplied to the French +Trouvère, the German Minnesinger, and our own +Elizabethan dramatists, court poets though all these +were. Hence the monotony and laboured dryness +of many of the troubadours’ songs, and the narrow +range of thought covered by their works compared +with the mediæval literature of other countries. +There were, however, exceptions to the rule, and +although not a particle of the presumably rich fund +of Provençal folklore has been thought worth +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span>preserving,⁠<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> still there is distinct evidence that its +charms were appreciated by several of the knightly +singers, in spite of prejudice and courtly superciliousness. +The results of this appreciation are certain +characteristic forms of song evidently derived +from popular sources, although treated with artistic +finish by the Troubadours. The tone of these poems +differs so essentially from the ordinary bias of Provençal +literature, that it seemed well to treat of them +in separate chapters.</p> + +<p>No better sign of the sterling value of Guiraut +Riquier’s talent could be required than the fact that +the first name we meet with in this new field is his. +The same troubadour who boldly protested against +the increasing coarseness amongst the nobles was +able to perceive in the natural artlessness of the +people’s song a new element of refined poetry. It +was perhaps from the infusion of this new life-blood +that he expected the revival of his art quite as +much as from the artificial safeguards of the poets’ +social position which the King of Castile could +grant. Guiraut Riquier is the Provençal representative +of the ‘Pastorela,’ or ‘Pastoreta,’ the shepherd’s +song. The popular origin of this form of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>poetry cannot well be denied. There is about the +life of the shepherd amongst hills and lonely places, +the tending of his flocks, and the very knitting of +his stockings, a touch of simple pensive poetry +which has escaped few nations, and it may be asserted +that in the primitive songs of every people on +earth the pastoral idea is represented in one form or +another. It is equally true that artistic and artificial +poetry has taken up and remodelled the original +subject in a somewhat arbitrary manner. From +Theocritus and Virgil and Guarini and Tasso down +to our modern operatic stage the shepherd with his +pipe, the shepherdess with her crook and surrounded +by snow-white lambkins, have been introduced in the +most becoming poses. But the innate raciness of +the theme could never be wholly obliterated. +Adam de la Halle’s ‘Robin et Marion,’ written in +the fourteenth century, and justly claiming to be the +first comic opera in France, is full of the life and the +rollicking fun of the people; and the original features +of broad Scotch humour and common sense may be +discovered under the thin layer of rococo tinsel +in Allan Ramsay’s ‘Faithful Shepherd.’ Guiraut +Riquier belongs to the more realistic class of pastoral +poets. He occupies an intermediate position +between Adam’s broad out-spokenness and Tasso’s +euphuism. His shepherdess—for a shepherdess and +only one is the heroine of his six pastorelas—is +evidently a real being taken from real life; at the +same time the coarsenesses of this reality are sufficiently +toned down to suit the fastidious taste of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span>a courtly audience. Another uncommon feature, +especially in a Troubadour’s creation, is the strenuous +virtue with which the rustic beauty resists the +most tempting offers of her knightly lover. She is +meek and courteous and affable, but she knows +exactly where to draw the line between innocent +flirtation and serious passion. Whether such a +character in such a sphere of life partakes more of +idealism or of realism the ingenuous reader must +decide. But it is most improbable that a Troubadour +should have doubted, or allowed others to +doubt, his absolute irresistibility unless convinced of +the contrary by the most undeniable proof. We +may therefore assume that Guiraut Riquier’s adventure +with a shepherdess, if not absolutely copied +from life, is at least partly drawn from autobiographical +sources.</p> + +<p>The first of Guiraut’s six remaining pastorelas is +dated 1260, and describes the poet’s meeting with +the shepherdess. ‘The other day,’ he says, ‘I was +walking by the side of a brook, musing and alone, +for love led me to think of song, when suddenly I +saw a sweet shepherdess, lovely and kind, watching +her flock. I stopped before her, seeing her so +comely, and she received me well.</p> + +<p>‘My question was: “Sweetheart, are you loved +by some one, and do you know what love is?” +“Certainly, sir,” she answered without guile, “and I +have plighted my troth, there is no doubt on the subject.” +“Maiden, I am glad to have found you, if +it may be that I should please you.” “Sir, you have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>thought of me too much; if I were foolish I might +fancy a great deal.” “Maiden, do you not believe +me?” “Sir, I must not.”</p> + +<p>‘“Sweet girl, if you accept my love I am longing +for yours.” “Sir, it is impossible; you have a sweetheart, +and I a lover.” “Maiden, however that may +be, it is you I love, and your love I would enjoy.” +“Sir, look somewhere else for one who is more +worthy of you.” “Better than you I do not wish +for.” “Sir, you are foolish.”</p> + +<p>‘“I am no fool, sweet mistress. Love gives me +leave, and I yield to your loveliness.” “Sir, I would +I were rid of your wooing speech.” “Maiden, as I +live, you are too coy. My prayer is humbly made.” +“Sir, I must not forget myself so much; alas! my +honour would be lost if I trusted too lightly.” +“Maiden, my love compels me.” “Sir, it would +little beseem you.”</p> + +<p>‘“Maiden, whatever I may say have no fear that +I would dishonour you.” “Sir, I am your friend, +for I see your wisdom checks your passion.” “Maiden, +when I am in fear of doing wrong I think of +‘Beautiful Semblance!’”⁠<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> “Sir, I much like your kind +behaviour; for you know how to please.” “Maiden, +what do I hear?” “Sir, that I love you.”</p> + +<p>‘“Tell me, sweet maiden, what has made you +speak such pleasant words?” “Sir, wherever I go +I hear the sweet songs of Sir Guiraut Riquier.” +“Maiden, let us not cease to speak of what I ask +you.” “Sir, does not ‘Beautiful Semblance’ favour +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>you, she who guards you from loose flatteries?” +“Maiden, she will not hear me.” “Sir, she is right.”’</p> + +<p>I have given the first pastoral <i>in extenso</i>, to convey +an idea to the reader of the charming tone pervading +the whole number. The idea is simple +enough: an amorous knight, whose importunate +offers to an unprotected girl are kept in check by mere +dint of graceful, witty, sometimes tart reply. This +motive is essentially the same in the five remaining +pieces of the series. Several variations are, however, +introduced with the aggregate result of a kind +of plot or story. Two years are supposed to have +elapsed between the first poem and the second. +Again the pair meet; and again there are passionate +importunities on the one, and graceful evasions on +the other side. Remarkable is especially the sly +humour with which the girl receives the knight’s +excuses for his long absence. The first stanza, +with a translation subjoined, may serve as specimen:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">L’autrier trobei la bergeira d’antan,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Saludei la, e respos mi la bella;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pueis dis: ‘Senhor com avetz estat tan</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’ieu nous ai vist? ges m’amors nous gragella?’</div> + <div class="verse indent2">‘Toza si fa mai qe no fas semblan.’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Senhor, l’afan per qe podetz soffrir?’</div> + <div class="verse indent2">‘Toza, tals es q’aissi m’a fag venir.’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Senhor et ieu anava vos cercan.’</div> + <div class="verse indent2">‘Toza, aissi etz vostres anhels gardan.’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Senhor, e vos en passan so m’albir.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My shepherdess I found of yester year,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to my greeting she made meek reply:</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> <div class="verse indent0">‘Sir, do you hold,’ she said, ‘my love so dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That year and day have passed since you were nigh?’</div> + <div class="verse indent2">‘I love you, maiden, more than may appear.’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘How could you bear the burden of your pain?’</div> + <div class="verse indent2">‘It is my love that brought me here again.’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Sir, many a time I sought you far and near.’</div> + <div class="verse indent2">‘Your flock alone, O maiden, you hold dear.’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Through many lands to wander <i>you</i> are fain.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Nothing new occurs in the third pastoral. But +in the fourth, dated three years after the third and +seven years after the first poem, matters are considerably +altered. The shepherdess has been united +to her swain, and the knight finds her rocking a +sleeping child in her lap. Time has worked its +changes on the knight also, and at first she does not +or pretends not to recognise him. To one of his +amorous protestations she replies: ‘That is just +what Guiraut has told me, and yet I have not been +deceived by him.’ ‘Girl,’ he answers, ‘Guiraut has +never forgotten you, but you refuse to remember +me.’ ‘Sir,’ the girl says, evidently in her old vein +of mocking compliance, ‘his graceful bearing pleased +me much better than you do, and if he came again +I could not resist him.’ In the further course of the +conversation Guiraut lays great stress on the fame +the girl owes to his songs all over Provence. He +also, by a very blunt question, elicits the fact that the +father of the child is one ‘who has taken me to +church,’ a circumstance which by no means abates the +passionate ardour of the troubadour. But he finds +the matron as inexorable as he had found the maiden, +and at last has to depart on his way with the reluctant +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>compliment: ‘I have tried you sorely, but have +found you of unexceptionable conduct.’</p> + +<p>Another space of seven years is supposed to +elapse before we hear anything more of the shepherdess. +These long intervals give a strange touch +of realism to the story; for one does not see why the +poet should wilfully destroy the illusions of youth +and beauty without some reason founded on fact +and chronology. This time the shepherdess and +her daughter are on their return from a pilgrimage +to Compostella. They are resting by the roadside, +when the knight riding past sees them, and asks +for news from Spain. At first the conversation takes +a political turn, quite in accordance with the mature +age of the parties, one would think. But the troubadour +is incorrigible. He soon relapses into love-making, +and goes so far as to threaten the lady with +satirical songs in case of non-compliance. Even an +appropriate allusion to his grey hair cannot bring +him to reason. He listens with an ill grace, and at +last takes angry leave.</p> + +<p>The sixth and last scene of the drama is laid at +an inn, where the knight has sought shelter from the +rain. He notices that the buxom landlady and +her daughter are whispering together, and after some +time recognises in the former the shepherdess of +auld lang syne; very lang syne, for again six years +intervene between this and the last meeting. +Guiraut at once broaches his favourite topic. Hearing +that the lady is a widow, he gallantly suggests: +‘Surely a woman like you ought not to be without a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span>lover!’ She frankly confesses that there is an aspirant +to her hand, but she does not feel inclined to +change her condition a second time, for the very +sensible reason, amongst others, that her wooer has +‘seven children all under ten.’ ‘My only comfort,’ +she adds, pointing to her daughter, ‘the source of +my joy, stands before you.’ This touching appeal +draws the attention of the knight towards the girl, +and immediately her youthful charms produce the +usual effect on his inflammable heart. The sudden +transfer of allegiance he excuses by the treatment +he has received, and implores the daughter to make +amends for the mother’s cruelty. But again he receives +nothing but pretty speeches, and thus the +adventure comes to a close.</p> + +<p>Another poet much connected with the pastoreta +is Gui d’Uisel, a celebrated troubadour of Limousin, +who belonged to the church, and ultimately is +said to have abandoned his poetic pursuits by an +express command of the Papal legate. In connection +with two brothers and a cousin he seems to have +formed a sort of co-operative society on the principle +of divided artistic labour and accomplishment. +‘They were all four poets,’ the old biography says, +‘and made excellent songs. Elias (the cousin) +wrote the good tensos;⁠<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Eble the wicked ones; and +Peter sang what the other three had invented.’ +Gui, as was said before, was famous for his pastoral +songs, several of which are extant. They show +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>little of Guiraut Riquier’s healthy realism, but are, +on the other hand, full of quiet lyrical charm. In +one of them he prettily describes the reconciliation +between a shepherd and his lass, brought about by +the troubadour’s own counsel. The opening stanza +is perhaps unsurpassed in Provençal literature for +gentle, melodious flow of verse:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">L’autre jorn cost una via</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Auzi cantar un pastor</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Una canson qe dizia,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Mort m’an semblan traidor.’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E qant el vi qe venia</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Salh en pes per far m’onor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E ditz, ‘Deus sal, mo senhor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’er ai trobat ses bauzia</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Leial amic celador,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A cui m’aus clamar d’amor.’⁠<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Marcabrun also, the satirical poet, of whom more +will have to be said hereafter, is amongst pastoral +poets. He has little of Gui d’Uisel’s lyrical sweetness, +and his discourse with a shepherdess—for his +poem also takes the form of a dialogue—is not +always over-refined. But here again, strange to say, +the flatteries of the troubadour find no favour with +the maiden—a circumstance the recurrence of which +greatly tends to increase one’s belief in the virtue +of Provençal shepherdesses.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.<br> +<span class="smaller">OTHER POPULAR FORMS.—THE ALBA AND SERENA.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>Songs of the morning and evening—<i>alba</i> and <i>serena</i>—are +amongst the most characteristic embodiments +of Provençal poetry. To us these words come through +the medium of northern French, and their original +meaning has been lost on the way. <i>Aubade</i> and +<i>serenade</i> mean amongst modern nations, from the +shores of the Baltic to the shores of the Mediterranean, +the musical entertainments performed or arranged +by the lover under his lady-love’s window at +morning or eventide. In music these words have +received a still different technical meaning, founded, +however, on the same peculiar significance of the +term. For in their <i>serenades</i> and <i>aubades</i> the composers +of the last century, at least, employ in preference +such instruments as are most adapted for +open-air effects.</p> + +<p>In modern poetry ‘Hark, hark, the lark!’ from +‘Cymbeline,’ may be regarded as the most perfect and +typical specimen of the <i>aubade</i>. But the difference +between this and the Provençal <i>alba</i> is of a radical +nature. The <i>aubade</i> shows or implies the lovers to +be divided; in the <i>alba</i> they are united; as regards +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>form, the first is an address, the second a dialogue, +or, at least, the successive utterance of two persons. +One of these speakers, and the principal of the two, +is in most and, according to my opinion, in the oldest +of these songs, not either of the lovers, but the faithful +watcher or sentinel guarding them from intrusion. +Hence we find that the wonderfully beautiful morning +songs, evidently written in imitation of Provençal +models by Wolfram von Eschenbach, the great +mediæval German poet, are actually called ‘Wächterlieder,’ +or sentinel songs. Reminiscences of the +same kind seem also to have inspired Brangaene’s +warning, mingled with the love-songs of Tristan and +Isolde, in Wagner’s opera.</p> + +<p>The purest and earliest form of the <i>alba</i>, like +that of the Scotch ballad, was no doubt purely +dramatic, the speaker or speakers beginning their +monologue or dialogue without any previous introduction. +The narrative stanza at the beginning, +found in most of the existing <i>albas</i>, is evidently an +after-thought. It became necessary, owing to the +imagination of the hearers failing to supply the +situation at a time, perhaps, when these hearers became +partly readers, and the additional help of the +joglar’s action and vocal flexibility ceased in consequence. +This, however, is mere conjecture from +analogy, for the dates of the Provençal specimens +are difficult to determine. In the magnificent <i>alba</i> +by Guiraut de Bornelh, a celebrated troubadour of +the spring-time of Provençal literature, the introductory +stanza has been dispensed with. ‘Glorious +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>King,’ is the watchman’s song, ‘true light and brightness, +Almighty God and Lord, grant faithful help +to my friend, for I have not seen him since the night +came, and soon it will be dawn.’ ‘Sweet friend, +be you awake or asleep, sleep no longer, but gently +rise, for in the East I see growing larger the star +which harbingers the morn; for well I know it. +And soon it will be dawn.’ ‘Sweet friend, I call to +you in my song; sleep no longer, for I hear the +bird that goes seeking the day through the grove +(<i>qe vai qeren lo jorn per lo boscatge</i>), and I fear that +the jealous knight may assail you, and soon it will +be dawn.’</p> + +<p>‘Sweet true friend,’ the lover replies, in the last +stanza, ‘I sojourn in so glorious a place that I wish +dawn and day might never appear; for the fairest +lady ever born by mother I hold in my arm, and +little do I heed the fell jealous knight or the dawn.’</p> + +<p>It is strange to note the coincidence of imagery +and even of expression with which the same situation +has supplied the troubadour, and Shakespeare +in ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ The simplicity, one might +almost say the obviousness, of all true poetry here +finds a striking illustration. Given the parting of two +lovers at early morn, and the ‘earliest cry of new-awakened +birds’ heralding or seeking the day, the +morning star, the dawn, and the defiance of its perils +by the lover—all this suggests itself almost as a +matter of necessity. To the same simplicity of +motive we have to ascribe the freshness and beauty +of many of the <i>albas</i>. In them the troubadours +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span>frequently display an intensity of language, an originality +and picturesqueness of description, which +we look for in vain in their more elaborate poems. +What, for instance, can be more impressive in its +striking symbolism than the opening address to the +‘Glorious King, the true light and brightness,’ or +more subtle and poetic than the conception of the +lark seeking or longing for the morn with its anxious +cry? It is another proof of the enormous value of +the popular element in artistic poetry. While in +contact with this healthy spirit, the Troubadours +held it unnecessary, perhaps beneath their dignity, +to show the formal capabilities of their craft.</p> + +<p>At the same time the <i>alba</i> was by no means +without its formal rule or custom. This also is +more or less strictly exemplified by the stanzas +above quoted. The reader will notice the refrain +or burden at the end of each stanza, another proof +of the antiquity of the species; he will also remark +the recurrence of the word ‘<i>alba</i>.’ This word is +always found in the burden, or, where that feature is +wanting, in the last line of every stanza, of which +sometimes it is actually the concluding word. To +this quaint and evidently very primitive device the +name of these poems is owing. The only exception +to this rule known to me is found in an anonymous +<i>alba</i> which in other important respects differs from +and is inferior to the genuine poems of the class. +For here, instead of an outpouring of feeling, we +have a narration as of a past event suddenly interrupted +by a violent diatribe against the sentinel +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>for ‘hurrying on the day,’ and concluded as abruptly +by an address of the lady to her ‘friend Sir Stephen,’ +probably the poet himself, warning him of his danger +in tarrying with her.</p> + +<p>This arrangement is quite whimsical. But even +within the limits of the regular <i>alba</i>, several variations +are possible. Instead of the sentinel the lover +or even the lady may be the speaker, the short reply +at the end of the poem being in that case allotted +to the faithful friend. To this, the second important +division of the morning song, belongs an anonymous +poem, which, as regards beauty of diction and sentiment, +marks perhaps the acme of the power of the +troubadours in this direction, and for that reason +may be quoted in full. Here we find perfect euphony +of language combined with a truth of feeling +which, especially in the refrain—changelessly reiterated +from the first stanza to the last—reaches a +climax of passion. The subjoined translation will +enable the reader to follow the original line for line. +A few remarks as to form may be deemed necessary. +The poem opens with the short narrative stanza +already referred to. Then follow the words of the +lady, partly spoken in soliloquy, partly addressed to +her lover. In the last verse we suddenly come to +a short laudation of the lady’s own merits, which is +no doubt intended as a monologue of the watcher. +From a purely poetic point of view these lines may +appear an anticlimax, but they give a quaint archaic +tinge to the whole conception.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">ALBA SES TITOL.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">En un vergier sotz fuelha d’albespi</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tenc la domna son amic costa si</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tro la gaita crida qe l’alba vi.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oy dieus, oy dieus, de l’alba! tan tost ve.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Plagues a dieu ja la nueitz non falhis</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nil mieus amicx lonh de mi no s partis</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ni la gaita jorn ni alba no vis,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oy dieus, oy dieus, de l’alba! tan tost ve.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Bels dous amicx, baizem nos, ieu e vos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Aval els pratz on chantols auzellos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tot o fassam en despieg del gilos.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oy dieus, oy dieus, de l’alba! tan tost ve.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Bels dous amicx, fassam un joc novel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ins el jardin on chanton li auzel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tro la gaita toque son caramel;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oy dieus, oy dieus, de l’alba! tan tost ve.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Per la douss’ aura q’es venguda lai</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Del mieu amic bel e cortes e gai</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Del sieu alen ai begut un dous rai.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oy dieus, oy dieus, de l’alba! tan tost ve.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘La domna es agradans e plazens</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per sa beautat la gardon mantas gens,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Et a son cor en amar lejalmens.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oy dieus, oy dieus, de l’alba! tan tost ve.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">ALBA<br>BY AN ANONYMOUS POET.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath a hawthorn on a blooming lawn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A lady to her side her friend had drawn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Until the watcher saw the early dawn.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah God, ah God, the dawn! it comes so soon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Oh that the sheltering night would never flee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh that my friend would never part from me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And never might the watch the dawning see!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah God, ah God, the dawn! it comes so soon.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Now, sweetest friend, to me with kisses cling,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Down in the meadow where the ousels sing;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No harm shall hate and jealous envy bring.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah God, ah God, the dawn! it comes so soon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘There let with new delight our love abound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">—The sweet-voiced birds are carolling around—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Until the watcher’s warning note resound.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah God, ah God, the dawn! it comes so soon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘I drink the air that softly blows my way,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From my true friend, so blithe, so fair, so gay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with his fragrant breath my thirst allay.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah God, ah God, the dawn! it comes so soon.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘The lady is of fair and gentle kind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And many a heart her beauty has entwined,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But to one friend is aye her heart inclined.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah God, ah God, the dawn! it comes so soon.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>In the course of time, as the <i>alba</i> became more +and more an established form of art, the old popular +features were gradually abandoned. Instead of introducing +fictitious <i>dramatis personæ</i> with fictitious +dialogue, the poets begin to speak in their own +proper persons, and the <i>alba</i> lapses into the ordinary +rank and file of subjective lyrical forms. Only the +external signs of the refrain and the recurrence of +the word <i>alba</i> remain to account for the title, and +even this rule has been abandoned in the curious +little poem by ‘Sir Stephen’ above referred to. Of +the variations arising from this process only one +may be mentioned here, on account of its originality +of conception. Guiraut Riquier is the author. Here +the motive of the <i>alba</i> appears entirely reversed. +For here we meet with a lover tossing sleepless on +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span>his lonely couch and thinking of his love. To him +night is full of gloom and terror, and ‘<i>e dezir vezer +l’alba</i>’ (I long to see the dawn) is the burden of his +song.</p> + +<p>To the same versatile poet we owe the representative +specimen of the <i>serena</i> or even-song. Formally +it resembles the morning song, with which it +shares the refrain, and in it the recurrence of the +verbal key-note, which in this case is <i>ser</i>, or evening. +As regards its relation to the <i>alba</i>, it may be +said that the same sentiment appears here in converse +significance. For the <i>serena</i> is sung by a +lover to whom a meeting has been promised, and +who deprecates the day and its brightness that sever +him from his heart’s desire. Although by no means +wanting in truth and poetical suggestiveness, the +situation is somewhat too subtle for the imagination +of the people, and there is little evidence of a popular +source of the <i>serena</i>, which appears to be little +more than an outgrowth and modification of the +<i>alba</i> in its more artificial development.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE BALADA.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The <i>balada</i> is not to be mistaken for the ballad of +modern parlance. It is, as its etymology indicates, +a song serving to accompany the dance. This +destination proves at once its antiquity and its popularity. +There is little doubt that in some form or +other the <i>balada</i> has subsisted from the times of +Greek and Roman religious ceremonies down to our +own days. In a country full of Southern beauty and +Southern gaiety, its growth was a thing of natural +necessity, like that of corn or wine. No political +change or calamities could crush it. It survived +the ravages of the crusaders in the thirteenth century, +and the influences of ‘classical’ literature in +the eighteenth. When Tristram Shandy entered +the rich plain of Languedoc, the first thing he +perceived was a lame youth whom Apollo had +recompensed with a pipe, to which he had added +a tambourin of his own accord, running sweetly +over the prelude, and the reapers singing:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Viva la joya</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fidon la tristessa.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Unfortunately there is again little or no record +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>of the earlier development of this charming branch +of poetry. But traces of its spirit and grace remain +in the few specimens transmitted to us through the +medium of the Troubadours, and these bear, in the +freedom and variety of their metrical treatment, +the distinct mark of their affinity with popular +models. It ought to be added that the <i>baladas</i> remaining +to us are mostly by anonymous authors, +which would tend to prove that the more celebrated +and more dignified poets kept aloof from the unsophisticated +species. On the other hand, some of the +specimens show all the refinement and a good deal +of the artificiality of Provençal versification. One +of them, for instance, is written almost entirely in +what is technically called <i>rims dictionals</i>—a curious +metrical device, for an explanation of which the +reader is referred to the technical portion of this +book. A set rule for the structure of these dance-songs +it would be difficult to find, but it appears +that most of them have a few introductory lines +by way of prelude, after which the stanzas themselves +begin. The refrain also is not unfrequent, +and would suggest the falling in of a chorus—the +only sign, by the way, of the existence of that important +musical component. For the artistic <i>balada</i>—differing +in this essentially and significantly from the +popular roundelay—is supposed to be sung and the accompanying +dance to be performed by a single person. +The idea of a dance <i>en masse</i>, or even in couples, +verbally and mimetically addressing each other, +seems excluded. Hence the subjective character +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>of the poetry. By its contents the <i>balada</i> could not +be distinguished from any other love-song. In some +cases, indeed, its identification would be altogether +difficult but for the heading in the MS., or the actual +occurrence of the term <i>balada</i> in the poem itself, +as found, for instance, in the charming song to be +presently quoted. The exclamations ‘Let us sing,’ +‘Let us dance,’ which occur in modern opera and +which establish at least some external connection +between the two arts, are almost entirely wanting.⁠<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +And yet the Provençal <i>balada</i> is a dance-song in the +most emphatic sense of the word. The secret lies in +the rhythm, the metre. This, in most of the <i>baladas</i>, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span>is graceful waving motion itself. In conjunction with +the musical accompaniment the effect must have +been of surpassing charm. As to the nature of this +musical accompaniment an interesting passage may +be found in the <i>Leys d’amors</i>. Speaking of the <i>dansa</i> +the old Provençal writer asserts that it must have ‘a +slight and joyous tune, not quite so long as those of +the <i>Vers</i> or the <i>Canso</i>, but a little more lively, such +as is suited for dancing, as the name indicates. +But nowadays people use this tune very badly, for +the singers hardly know how to get into a good +dance rhythm. And as they are unable to do so, +they have changed the tune of the <i>dansa</i> into the +tune of the <i>redondel</i>, with their minims and the semi-breves +of their motets.’ To us the melodious beauties +indicated by these words are, it is to be feared, +lost for ever. But even without this important aid, +sufficient remains to connect the fall of the lines +with the graceful harmonious action of the human +body. This association of ideas is common amongst +Southern nations; the Greek metrical terms <i>arsis</i> +and <i>thesis</i> are derived from the lifting up and setting +down of the dancers’ feet. But even in the +literature of Teutonic nations songs occasionally +occur which act on brain and feet as would the +lively rhythm of a valse by Strauss or Lanner. I +will mention only a single English specimen by +way of illustration. In a ‘Mad-Song’ called the +‘Lady distracted with Love,’ originally sung in +Tom D’Urfey’s ‘Don Quixote’ (first performed in +1694) and to be found in that author’s ‘Pills to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span>purge Melancholy,’ especially the second division +of each stanza appears to me a model of the dance-song +in its northern transformation. It is supposed +to depict the phase of ‘mirthful madness,’ and runs +thus:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Or if more influencing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is to be brisk and airy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a step and a bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And a frisk from the ground</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ll trip like any fairy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">As once on Ida dancing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were three celestial bodies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With an air and a face</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And a shape and a grace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ll charm like beauty’s goddess.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">But how infinitely more graceful than these lively +verses is the soft gliding rhythm of the following +Provençal stanzas!</p> + +<p>‘<i>Coindeta soi</i>,’ ‘I am graceful, joyous,’ the lady +begins,—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Coindeta soi, si cum n’ai greu cossire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per mon marit qar nol volh nil desire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’ieu beus dirai per qe son aussi droza</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qar pauca soi joveneta e toza</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E degr’aver marit don fos joyoza</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Al cui toz temps pogues jogar e rire.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ja deus mi sal, si ja soi amoroza</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De lui amar mia sui cobeitoza</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ans qan lo vei ne soi tan vergonhoza</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’en prec la mort q’el venga tost aucire.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mas d’una re m’en soi ben acordada</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">S’il mieus amics m’a s’amor emendada</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vel bel esper a cui me soi donada</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Planh e sospir qar nol vei nil remire,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">E dirai vos de qem soi acordada</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qel mieus amics m’a longamen amada</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A li sera m’amors abandonada</div> + <div class="verse indent0">El bels espers q’eu tant am e dezire,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">En aqest son fas coindeta balada</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E prec a totz qe sia lonh cantada,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E qe la chant tota domn’ ensenhada</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Del mieu amic q’eu tant am e dezire.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Coindeta soi.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">An attempt at translation in prose or verse would +be as impossible as it would be superfluous. The +charm lies in the music of the words. Moreover, +the subject is by no means edifying. It is the ever +recurring burden of Provençal poetry: a lady dissatisfied +with her husband and openly calling for +death to come and kill him soon in order that she +may be united to her lover.</p> + +<p>Essentially identical with the <i>balada</i> is the <i>dansa</i>, +of which also several examples are found in the +manuscripts. The difference which the <i>Leys d’amors</i> +tries to establish between these and other variations +of the dance-song are evidently pedantic quibbles, +and, moreover, not borne out by the best models.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.<br> +<span class="smaller">ARTIFICIAL FORMS OF POETRY.—THE SESTINA.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>In the forms of lyrical verse hitherto considered +by us we were able to trace some popular germs, +considerably modified and highly developed though +they might appear. But any such connection +ceases in the numberless variations of verse and +stanza, in which the unrivalled workmanship of the +troubadours loved to shine. That this ease of inventing +ever new and ever more complicated combinations +frequently led to excesses of artificiality +need not surprise us. Our admiration of the marvellous +ingenuity displayed by the poets is mingled +with regret at seeing it wasted on trifles.</p> + +<p>The number and variety of these efforts would +defy all attempts at perfect classification and nomenclature. +The troubadours altogether were sparing +in the use of technical terms, but even the later +grammarians found it impossible to affix names to +all the metrical refinements and <i>tours de force</i> in +which Provençal poets delighted. It is amusing to +observe the different attitude in this respect of the +poets and metrical theorists of Northern France. +The rhyming capacities of their language were as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span>inferior as their own craftsmanship to the language +and the art of the troubadours. In consequence +they found it desirable ‘to make a little go a long +way,’ and, for example, dubbed with the sonorous +name of ‘Chant Royal’ the mere repetition of the +rhymes of a somewhat complicated stanza throughout +a poem of moderate length: a feat performed +almost unconsciously by the troubadours in numberless +canzos and sirventeses. The <i>ballade</i> made +celebrated, although by no means invented, by the +genius of Villon, and which, by the way, differs as +widely from the Provençal <i>balada</i> on the one +hand, as it does from the Scotch ‘ballad’ on the other, +is a similar contrivance of a still simpler nature. +This simplicity, of course, by no means detracts from +the poetic merit of these poems, and the manner, for +instance, in which the refrain is used in both cases +betrays considerable skill. But compared with the +consummate workmanship of the troubadours, these +efforts appear mere child’s play.⁠<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>Of the elaborate rules of Provençal metrical +science and practice, both as regards the rhyme +and the construction of stanzas, full account will be +given in the technical section. For the present it +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>will suffice to name a few examples chosen for +their quaintness and originality rather than for any +extraordinary display of workmanship.</p> + +<p>The most important amongst these is the <i>sestina</i>. +It was invented by Arnaut Daniel, the master of +‘dear rhymes’ and ‘obscure words,’ of whom and +of which previous mention has been made. For his +propensities in that direction Arnaut himself tenders +a very plausible excuse. He shifts the responsibility +from his own shoulders to those of his lady. If she +were kind to him, he alleges, melodious rhythms and +pleasing simple verses would naturally flow from his +pen. The lady’s cruelty therefore is answerable for +involved sentences and harsh rhymes. The plea is +not altogether without force. But Arnaut’s natural +tendency towards the incomprehensible and strikingly +original is at the same time established beyond a doubt. +One of his favourite devices was to construct a stanza +without a single rhyme in the stanza itself. But instead +of this the close of the first line would match with that +of all the other stanzas of the poem, the second line +with the second, and so forth. In one poem, for +instance, the last word of the opening line of the +first stanza is <i>larga</i>, that of the second stanza +<i>embarga</i>, that of the third <i>descarga</i>, and so on +through all the corresponding lines of the poem. +To modern and northern ears the consonance thus +suspended for eight or more lines is hardly perceptible. +But in the south and in the middle ages +this was different. Even so great a master of form +as Dante highly approved of Arnaut’s practice, and, +what is more, avowedly imitated it (‘et nos eum +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span>secuti sumus.’—<i>De Vulgari Eloquio</i>, cap. 10). The +result of this imitation is one of the sweetest love +poems of the ‘<i>Canzoniere</i>,’ the <i>sestina</i> beginning, +‘Al poco giorno ed al gran cerchio d’ombra.’ Two +other poems of the same kind are attributed to Dante +by some commentators, although others doubt their +authenticity.</p> + +<p>The fundamental scheme of the <i>sestina</i>, as has +already been stated, is that of blank-verse stanzas, +being in the relation of rhyme to other blank-verse +stanzas. But here this principle is carried to a climax. +For not only the consonances, but the actual rhyme-words +of the first strophe are repeated throughout the +poem. The difficulty of writing sense and poetry +under such conditions is increased by the curiously +inverted order in which these words are repeated. +To give the reader an idea of the ingenuity of this +contrivance, it will be necessary to write down the +concluding words of the six stanzas of a celebrated +<i>sestina</i> by Arnaut Daniel in the order in which they +occur. The number six—both as regards the +stanzas of the poem and the lines of each stanza—is +the orthodox one, and has given the name to the +poem. A short <i>tornada</i> or <i>envoi</i>, however, is added, +and in this the six rhyme-words of the previous +stanza are once more repeated.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span></p> + +<table> + <tr> + <th>I. <span class="smcap">Stanza.</span></th> + <th>II. <span class="smcap">Stanza.</span></th> + <th>III. <span class="smcap">Stanza.</span></th> + <th>IV. <span class="smcap">Stanza.</span></th> + <th>V. <span class="smcap">Stanza.</span></th> + <th>VI. <span class="smcap">Stanza.</span></th> + <th><span class="smcap">Tornada.</span></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>intra</td> + <td>cambra</td> + <td>arma</td> + <td>oncle</td> + <td>verga</td> + <td>ongla</td> + <td>ongla—oncle</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>ongla</td> + <td>intra</td> + <td>cambra</td> + <td>arma</td> + <td>oncle</td> + <td>verga</td> + <td>verga—arma</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>arma</td> + <td>oncle</td> + <td>verga</td> + <td>ongla</td> + <td>intra</td> + <td>cambra</td> + <td class="nw">cambra—intra</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>verga</td> + <td>ongla</td> + <td>intra</td> + <td>cambra</td> + <td>arma</td> + <td>oncle</td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>oncle</td> + <td>verga</td> + <td>ongla</td> + <td>intra</td> + <td>cambra</td> + <td>arma</td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>cambra</td> + <td>arma</td> + <td>oncle</td> + <td>verga</td> + <td>ongla</td> + <td>intra</td> + <td></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="noindent">It will be observed that the second stanza repeats +the rhyme-words of the first in this order, 6, 1, 5, 2, +4, 3, and exactly the same relation will be found to +obtain between each stanza of the poem and its +predecessor. Whether there was some hidden +significance in this sequence it is impossible to tell. +But one is inclined to suspect that it must have been +some such attraction which induced the great Dante +to imitate Arnaut Daniel’s device with perfect +accuracy. Or was it the pseudo-scientific regularity +of the scheme, so fascinating to the mediæval mind, +which attracted him? Anyhow, the fact is undeniable +that Dante’s poem in question, although +infinitely superior, by its poetic beauty, to anything +that Arnaut Daniel ever wrote, is, as regards its +metrical scheme, an exact copy of the troubadour’s +<i>sestina</i>. Only in two minor points has Dante dared +to deviate from his model, in points, too, which do not +materially interfere with the position of the rhyme-words. +These are, the length of the opening lines +of each stanza, which in Provençal are by one foot +shorter than the other verses, while in Italian they +are of equal size; and the arrangement of the rhyme-words +of the <i>tornada</i>. But Dante’s licence in these +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span>details makes his strict adherence to the essential +idea of the form all the more significant.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to note that the preference for +the <i>sestina</i> has not been confined to mediæval poets +or Romance languages. Mr. Swinburne, to mention +but one instance, has essayed the form with excellent +results, both in French and English. But the model +he has followed is not derived from the Provençal +original, nor yet from the Italian copy, but from a +modified French version of the scheme. This modification +consists chiefly in the use of the rhyme within +the single stanzas themselves, which is wholly at +variance with the original meaning of the form. Banville +suggests that the stanza in this altered condition +has been imitated from Petrarch. But he is quite mistaken. +Petrarch, although he ostentatiously avoided +reading Dante’s works, has in this instance exactly +followed Dante’s example. Besides, he was too well +acquainted with the musical significance of the +stanza in question, not to know that all the lines must +be <i>rims escars</i>, or, according to Dante’s terminology, +<i>claves</i>, that is, unmatched by rhymes in their own +stanza. For a fuller account of these details I must +again refer the reader to the technical portion of this +book.</p> + +<p>In connection with the <i>sestina</i> and its history in +the <i>lingua di sì</i>, it may be mentioned that another +important form of Dante’s, and generally of Italian, +poetry, the sonnet, seems to have been of indigenous, +not at least of Provençal, growth. The structure of +a stanza of fourteen lines containing the well-known +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span>number and arrangement of rhymes, is in perfect accordance +with the metrical principles practised by the +troubadours, but the only specimen of the sonnet in +the <i>langue d’oc</i> was written by an Italian poet, Dante +da Maiano. It is by no means a master-piece, and remarkable +chiefly for the fact that all the rhymes are of +the male or monosyllabic order, an arrangement not +unfrequent in Provençal, but unprecedented in Italian; +the latter circumstance being perhaps the reason why +an Italian poet, writing in Provençal, adopted it. +Against the Provençal origin of the sonnet would +also seem to speak the fact, that the word is used +without any technical restriction, merely as equivalent +for a song:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Un sonat fatz malvatz e bo,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E re non say de qal razo.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">‘I make a sonnet evil or good, what about I +don’t know myself,’ says Guiraut de Bornelh, wishing +to illustrate the wayward mood of a distracted +lover. Of the poem of sixteen lines he thought no +more than did Burns when he described Tam +O’Shanter as ‘crooning o’er some auld Scots +sonnet.’</p> + +<p>The exact antipodes of the <i>sestina</i> is the +<i>descort</i>, Anglicè discord, or dissonance. In the +former everything is fixed by rule—position of +rhymes, number and length of lines and stanzas. +In the latter absolute liberty prevails regarding all +these points, or rather it is the ambition of the poet to +create the most bewildering divergence. But sometimes +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span>even the most glaring contrasts of metre are +found insufficient, and an additional discordance of +idiom is resorted to. Rambaut de Vaqueiras has employed +no less than five different languages or dialects +to complain of the cruelty of his lady. For, like the +harsh rhymes of Arnaut Daniel, all these dissonant +contrivances were attributed to the feeling of unrequited +love, and Guiraut de Salinhac, in a very +pretty little poem, distinctly says, ‘I should not +compose a Discord if I met with accord and accordance +at the hands of her I love.’ The inventor of +this curious device is said to have been one Guerin +d’Apelier, a poet not otherwise known to us. His +claim to immortality may appear somewhat slender +under such circumstances.</p> + +<p>Akin to the elaborate confusion of the <i>descort</i> +and about on a par with it as regards artistic merit, +is the sudden lapse from poetry into prose, for which +Rambaut of Orange is more especially responsible. +Of Rambaut and his disastrous love-affair with +Beatrice de Die, the poetess, we shall hear more +hereafter. As a poet he belongs to, and is indeed +amongst the earliest representatives of, the artificial +school which culminates in Arnaut Daniel. Rambaut +is by no means without skill, and according to +his own statement, ‘no poet s work from the time +Adam ate the apple was worth a turnip compared +with his.’ But his devices frequently take the form +of mere eccentricities, and he never induces us, perhaps +never intends us, to forget the amateurish +quality of his work. The mixture of poetry and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>prose alluded to in the above remarks well illustrates +the lawless tendency of the noble poet.</p> + +<p>The explanatory nature of these prose interludes +induces Raynouard to class Rambaut’s poem +with the ‘pièces avec commentaire’ (‘Choix,’ vol. +ii. p. 248). To add a kind of commentary to +poetic work was a not uncommon custom in the +middle ages. Dante’s ‘Vita Nuova’ is a prominent +case in point. In Provence, where a whole school +of poets took pride in writing as incomprehensibly +as might be, some such assistance to the weaker +brethren became all the more indispensable. In +most cases no doubt the joglar supplied the want +by adding, after the recital of a poem, such explanatory +notes as might seem most adapted to the intellectual +level of his audience. Of Guillem (not +Peter, as Raynouard calls him) de la Tor, the joglar, +and friend of Sordello, we are told in the manuscripts +that ‘he knew a great many canzos and was +clever and sang well. He also was a poet; but +when he wanted to recite his canzos he made his +commentary longer than the poem itself.’ From +the expression used by the biographer, <i>sermo de la +razo</i>, we are led to conclude that Guillem’s long-winded +explanations were couched in prose. This, +however, was not always the case. We know of +troubadours who good-naturedly took the trouble +to elucidate the darknesses of brother bards by means +of poetic glosses. Guiraut Riquier, the scholar and +poet, here again shines by his example. The nature +of these commentaries is well illustrated by a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>stanza of one of his poems which the reader will +find translated in Raynouard’s ‘Choix’ (ii. 252). +Guiraut de Calanson, in one of his poems, speaking +of the palace of love, says that four steps, or degrees, +lead up to it. Guiraut Riquier explains that these +steps are ‘honour,’ ‘discretion,’ ‘gentle service,’ +and ‘good sufferance,’ much to the edification, no +doubt, of mediæval readers, and especially of Count +Henri de Rodez, who, under his hand and seal, +testifies to Guiraut’s explanation being trustworthy +and to the point. The five portals of the palace +and the mode of opening each individually, also find +a circumstantial explanation at Guiraut’s hands.</p> + +<p>Of the <i>breu-doble</i> (double-short), again, Guiraut +Riquier is the inventor, and, as far as I am aware, +the sole representative. In the poem of the kind +which we possess from his pen he complains of the +cruelty of his lady, to which he, in imitation of other +troubadours, ascribes his adoption of this new mode +of utterance. ‘As she will not accept my canzos at +their worth,’ he says, ‘I write this breu-doble.’ +There is nothing very remarkable about this form, +which, for that reason perhaps, has met with +little approbation amongst the elaborate rhymsters +of the later epoch. The name ‘breu-doble’ has +been a puzzle to modern scholars. Raynouard is +inclined to derive it from the shortness of the poem, +which, however, would by no means account for the +‘doble.’ To me it seems more likely that allusion +is made in a slip-shod way to the last verse of +each stanza, which, although not exactly half the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span>length of, is at least considerably shorter than, the +remainder of the lines, from which it also differs by +its rhyme.</p> + +<p>Of greater importance than the <i>breu-doble</i> is +the <i>retroensa</i>, also known chiefly through Guiraut +Riquier’s agency. The only striking feature of this +form is the refrain which, against the usage of Provençal +poetry, consists of more than one line. An exceedingly +pretty poem, called in the MS. ‘The First +Retroensa of Guiraut Riquier made in the year 1276,’ +is devoted to the praise of the Catalans, renowned +in the middle ages as models of knightly courtesy. +‘As my star has decreed,’ the poet says, ‘that good +should not come to me from my lady, as nothing I +can do will please her, as I am too weak to tear +myself from her, it is time that I should be grounded +in the ways of true love; and of these I can learn +enough in gay Catalonia amongst the brave Catalans +and their sweet ladies.’ On these he proceeds to +shower every imaginable compliment through a +number of stanzas all bearing the harmonious +burden:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Entrels Catalas valens</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E las domnas avinens.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Like the <i>descort</i> and many other metrical creations +of the troubadours, the <i>retroensa</i> was known to the +poets of northern France. The name at least occurs +in the literature of the langue <i>d’oïl</i>; but it must be +confessed that, for instance, the religious song in +praise of the Virgin, expressly called by the poet +a <i>retrovange novelle</i>, has neither in substance nor +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>form anything in common with Guiraut Riquier’s +poem. Even the refrain has disappeared. There +may perhaps have been some musical reason to account +for the adoption of the name. But on that point +we are, alas! completely in the dark. It is unnecessary +to enter into the numerous and for the greater +part arbitrary distinctions in which the subtle minds +of grammarians and metrical scholars were wont to +delight. Most of the divisions thus created, such +as the <i>escondigz</i> (justification), the <i>comjatz</i> (literally +leave-taking, i.e. the song in which the allegiance +to a cruel lady is renounced), or the <i>torneys</i> (tournament +song), and many others never seem to have +attained distinct formal development, and the remaining +specimens are very few in number.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE TENSO.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>My division hitherto has been made chiefly with +regard to form. Such poetic creations as the <i>pastoreta</i> +or the <i>balada</i> are, it is true, to some extent +recognisable by the subject they treat. At the same +time their most important characteristic remains the +formal development to which this subject has given +rise. This is different with the <i>tenso</i>, the song of +dispute or contention. The fact of its frequently +being written or supposed to be written by several +persons implies the form of the dialogue. But as +regards the structure of the line and the stanza, +there is no generic mark to distinguish the <i>tenso</i> +from the <i>canzo</i>, the <i>sirventes</i>, or any other class of +artistic poetry. But in spite of this the <i>tenso</i> is of +infinitely greater importance for the knowledge of +Provençal life and literature than the artificial trifles +we have just been dealing with. Its very existence +is significant. Nothing could prove the enormous +popularity of verse and rhyme in Provence more conclusively +than the fact that the discussion of the most +varied topics of life and manners instinctively assumed +the form of poetry. Only in this way could the writers +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>secure readers, the reciting joglars an audience. +Moreover, the mind may picture to itself a circle of +noble ladies and gallant cavaliers listening to the +poets arduously discussing subtle points of love and +courtesy. For there is no reason to doubt that +many of these songs of contention owe their origin +to actual <i>viva voce</i> debate.</p> + +<p>‘The <i>tenso</i>,’ the <i>Leys d’amors</i> begins its long-winded +definition, ‘is a combat and debate, in which +each maintains and reasons some word or fact,’ and +beyond this somewhat vague piece of information +there is little to be got from the old grammarians. +They supply us with plenty of technical names, with +a neat definition to each of them; but how much +of this theory is drawn from the inner consciousness +of the learned men, how much from the living +practice of the troubadours, is a difficult question to +decide. The safest way for us will be, in this and in +previous instances, to rely chiefly on the remaining +specimens from the best period. For further particulars +the curious reader is referred to Raynouard’s +work (‘Choix,’ vol. ii. 197), where he may learn, for +instance, that when a <i>tenso</i> treated of love, which, +by the way, most <i>tensos</i> did, it was for some not +very perceptible reason, called <i>partimen</i>, while a song +of combat, in which more than two disputants took +part, received the appropriate name of <i>torneyamen</i>, +i.e. tournament,—turn and turn about, as we should +say. Another name of the <i>tenso</i>, <i>jocx partitz</i>, of +which the French term <i>jeu parti</i> is a literal translation, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span>seems to have been less commonly used in +Provence.</p> + +<p>The principle of ‘turn and turn about’ has at +the same time supplied the form of the <i>tenso</i>. It +was but fair that to the various combatants the same +advantages should be granted, and hence the number +of stanzas allotted to each is exactly the same. +Even the right of a last appeal in the shape of a +<i>tornada</i> is free to all. Some advantage might +accrue to the first speaker from the choice of rhyme +and metre, which had to be repeated exactly by his +antagonist or antagonists. The reproduction of one +of Arnaut Daniel’s hard-rhymed stanzas might have +been a sore task to some of the more popular +troubadours. But this slight privilege was more +than counterbalanced by a duty. For, as a rule, the +<i>tenso</i> begins with a challenge of one poet to another +to choose one side of an argument, the first spokesman +undertaking to defend the opposite view, whichever +it may turn out to be. Impartiality could not +well go further.⁠<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> In case of two antagonists only, +the rhymes are frequently changed after a couple of +stanzas, that is after one argument and counter-argument, +but the continuation of the same rhymes +throughout the poem is by no means of rare occurrence.</p> + +<p>There is no reason to doubt that in most cases +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>the <i>tensos</i> we find in the manuscripts are records of +actual discussions sustained by different poets, either +with the pen or by word of mouth. In many cases, +however, the antagonists are as undoubtedly fictitious +personages brought upon the scene for the +purpose of displaying the author’s versatility of style +and reasoning. Peirol, for instance, in a very pretty +<i>tenso</i>, introduces Love himself as his antagonist. +The god tries to shake the poet’s resolution to join +the crusaders. ‘The Turks and Arabs,’ he pleads, +‘will never leave the Tower of David for all your +invasions. I give you good and gentle counsel: +Love and sing.’ But the poet remains firm. He +cannot break his sacred promise. At the same time +there is a ring of latent melancholy in his words when +he admits that ‘many men must part, and leave +their true loves in tears, who, if King Saladin did +not exist, might have stayed at home joyfully.’</p> + +<p>At other times the troubadours enter into discussion +with antagonists who, although not absolutely +symbolical or fabulous, yet distinctly bear the +mark of a fictitious origin. Such a character, for +instance, is the Genoese lady with whom Rambaut +de Vaqueiras—one of the chief representatives of +the <i>tenso</i>—holds amorous converse. The amorousness +is, however, wholly one-sided, for the lady, +the wife of an honest merchant, rejects the troubadour’s +offers with utter contempt and with an energy +of diction more creditable to her virtue than to her +politeness. The vigour of her language is further +increased by the homely dialect of her city in which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span>she is made to speak, and which contrasts strikingly +with the euphonious phrases of the courtly poet. +But her virtue is proof against the most alluring +charms of the <i>langue d’oc</i>. Adding insult to injury, +she at last exclaims: ‘Mountebank, I don’t value +your Provençal a Genoese farthing; I don’t understand +you any more than I should a German or a +native of Sardinia or Barbary.’ All this, it need +hardly be added, is nothing but a clever skit of the +troubadour’s own devising.</p> + +<p>To the same category also belongs the poem in +which Peire Duran relates, at some length, the mutual +grievances of a husband and wife on a matter +intimately connected with domestic happiness. +Another poem of the same class is remarkable by +a deviation from the usual form. For instead of an +entire stanza being allotted to each person, the +speech here changes after every two lines, and at the +end of the stanza after one line. The dialogue in +this manner becomes decidedly more lively, but the +abruptness of these incessant changes seems to have +deterred other troubadours from adopting Albert’s +innovation. Strictly speaking, the poem in question +hardly comes under the definition of <i>tenso</i> as established +by the <i>Leys d’amors</i>; for instead of a discussion +we have here nothing but assurances of mutual +love and good will.</p> + +<p>Very different from this is the second and larger +class of <i>tensos</i>, in which two real troubadours +discuss some subject of every-day life and love. +The variety of topics makes this part of the literature +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span>an especially valuable source for the study of +Provençal customs and morals. Sometimes an abstract +problem is started, such as the respective +advantages of wealth and wisdom, very seriously +discussed by two minor troubadours. ‘I would +sooner possess wisdom,’ says the virtuous Guillem, +‘which must remain with me, than wealth, which in +my opinion is of little avail to those who possess it. +For one can easily fall from high to low estate, but +science does not fall, because she is seated firmly. +He who possesses wisdom is rich in his shirt.’ But +his antagonist, nothing daunted, upholds the advantages +of the independence and freedom from care +derived from the possession of riches. ‘Even +Aristotle,’ he replies, ‘the foremost among the wise, +accepted presents, and so did Virgil, he who lies +buried near the strand at Naples. I prefer giving to +asking.’ The heavy artillery of learning having thus +been brought into action, the troubadours continue +for some time to pelt each other with classical and +Biblical names and facts, without, however, producing +the slightest impression on the hostile positions. +Finally, both appeal to the arbitration of a mutual +friend, as is their wont in such cases.</p> + +<p>Infinitely more interesting, although less edifying, +is a <i>tenso</i> in which two celebrated troubadours, +Bernart de Ventadorn and Peirol, express their +opinions as to the mutual relations of personal feeling +and artistic creation. Here we have no longer +to deal with a logical fencing-match, but with the +utterance of personal experience. Such a maxim +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>as ‘Little is worth the song that does not come +from the heart,’ expressed by Peirol, reflects the +highest credit on the psychological and poetic insight +of that troubadour. On the other hand, it +is amusing to watch the attitude of a light-hearted +poet and lover, treating his muse as he treats his +mistress, and winding up with something very like a +boast of secret favours—which Bernart de Ventadorn +assumes, and which is strangely at variance +with the gentle sentimental character of his life and +work. Believers in the migration of fables will be +pleased to find here a slightly altered version of the +old story of ‘fox and grapes,’ and the poem as a +whole may be regarded as an admirable specimen of +the elegant grace of Provençal thought and versification. +For these reasons it may follow here as +transcribed by Professor Bartsch:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">BERNARTZ DE VENTADORN E’ N PEIROLS.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Peirol, cum avetz tant estat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que non fezetz vers ni chanso?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Respondetz mi per cal razo,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">S’o laissetz per mal o per be,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per ir’ o per joi o per que?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que saber en voill la vertat.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Bernart, chantars nom ven a grat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ni gaires nom platz nim sab bo;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mas car voletz nostra tenso</div> + <div class="verse indent0">N’ai era mon talan forsat.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pauc val chans que del cor non ve;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E pos jois d’amor laissa me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eu ai chant e deport laissat.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Peirol mout i faitz gran foudat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">S’o laissatz per tal ocaizo;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> <div class="verse indent0">S’eu agues avut cor fello,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mortz fora un an a passat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’enquer non posc trobar merce:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ges per tant de chant nom recre</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Car doas perdas no m’an at.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Bernart, ben ai mon cor mudat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que totz es autres c’anc non fo:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Non chantarai mais en perdo;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mas de vos voill chantetz jasse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De cellei qu’en grat nous o te,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E que perdatz vostr’ amistat.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Peirol maint bon mot n’ai trobat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De leis, c’anc us no m’en tenc pro;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E s’il serva cor de leo</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nom a ges tot la mon serrat;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’en sai tal una, per ma fe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’am mais, s’un baisar mi cove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que de leis sil m’agues donat.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Bernart, bes es acostumat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qui mais non pot, c’aissi perdo;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que la volps al sirier dis o:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quan l’ac de totas partz cercat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Las sireisas vic loing de se,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E dis que non valion re:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Atressi m’avetz vos gabat.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Peirol, sireisas sont o be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mas mal aja eu si ja cre</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que la volps non aja tastat.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Bernart, nom entramet de re</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mas pesam de ma bona fe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Car non i ai ren gazaignat.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="center">TENSO BETWEEN BERNART DE VENTADORN AND SIR PEIROL.</p> + +<p>‘Peirol, how is it that for such a long time you have been +without making verse or canso? Tell me what is the reason that +you have ceased singing. Is it for evil or good, for sorrow or for +joy, or for what? for I will know the truth of it.’</p> + +<p>‘Bernart, singing does not come pleasant to me, and I have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span>lost all taste and liking for it. But as you insist upon having a +tenso with me, I have forced my inclination. Little worth is the +song that does not come from the heart, and as love has left +me, I have left song and dalliance.’</p> + +<p>‘Peirol, you commit great folly, if you leave these off for such +a reason; if I had harboured wrath in my heart, I should have +been dead a year ago, for I also can find no love nor mercy. +But for all that I do not abandon singing, for there is no need of +my losing two things.’</p> + +<p>‘Bernart, my heart is changed, and wholly different from what +it was: I shall no longer sing in vain. But I wish you may sing +for ever of her who gives you no thanks, and waste your friendship.’</p> + +<p>‘Peirol, many a good word have I said of her, although none +has ever been of any benefit to me. If she wants to keep her +lion’s heart, she cannot lock me out from all the world; and I +know one of whom I would prefer the grant of a kiss to the free +gift of one by her.’</p> + +<p>‘Bernart, it is a common thing that he who cannot win should +make light of the loss; just as the fox spoke to the cherry-tree. +For after she had tried everything she still saw the cherries a long +way off, and then she said that they were worth nothing; and that +is exactly how you talk.’</p> + +<p>‘Peirol, the cherries are all very well, but evil befal me if I +believe that the fox never had a taste of them.’</p> + +<p>‘Bernart, that is not my affair, but I regret my good faith; for +I have gained nothing by it.’</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>It is now necessary to mention one of the most +celebrated and most characteristic <i>tensos</i> in Provençal +literature—a kind of battle-royal in which each of +the three contending poets tries to outshine the +others by brilliancy of wit and subtlety of argument. +The subject, it need hardly be added, is love. But +thereby hangs a tale which it will be best to relate +in the words of the old manuscripts. ‘Savaric de +Mauleon,’ says the biographer of that well-known +troubadour, ‘went to Benaujatz to see the Viscountess +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span>Lady Guillelma, and he turned his mind +towards her. And he took with him Sir Elias +Rudel, lord of Bergerac, and Jaufre Rudel of Blaia. +All three wooed her love, and each of them had +been her cavalier aforetime; but none knew it of +the other. All three were seated with her, one on +one side, the other on the other, and the third in +front of her. Each of them gazed at her lovingly, +and she, who was the boldest lady ever seen, began +to look at Sir Jaufre Rudel lovingly, for he was +sitting in front, and she took the hand of Sir Elias +Rudel de Bergerac and pressed it very amorously, +and she put her foot on that of Sir Savaric with a +smile and a sigh. None knew of the favour the +others had received, till they had left the castle, +when Sir Jaufre Rudel told Sir Savaric how the +lady had looked at him, and Sir Elias related that +about the hand. And Savaric, when he heard that +each of them had found such favour, became very +sad; but he said nothing of what had happened to +himself, but he called Gaucelm Faidit and Uc de la +Bacalaria, and asked them in a stanza who had +received the highest favour and love at her hands.’ +This stanza is the opening one of the <i>tenso</i> in question. +It runs thus:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Gaucelm Faidit, and good Sir Hugh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Three amorous questions I will ask:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Choose ye what side seems good to you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The third to hold must be my task:—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One lady’s charms three knights inspire;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She, sore beset by their desire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would fain each lover’s wish abet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When all the three with her are met.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> <div class="verse indent0">At one she looks with loving eye:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The other’s hand takes tenderly;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gladdens the third with footstep sly.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To tell me now I ask of ye,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who was most favoured of the three.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Fortunately the two troubadours prefer the ogle +and the shake by the hand respectively, and permit +poor Savaric at least to defend his own cause, which +he does with more spirit than might be expected +under the circumstances. Into the arguments of +the amorous poets it would lead us too far to enter. +Suffice it to say that each firmly stands to his +opinion, and that the cause is ultimately submitted +to the arbitration of three ladies. The decision of +these fair and no doubt highly competent judges the +manuscripts have unfortunately not preserved.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the reader would care to know a little +more of the curious love-affair between Savaric and +the Lady Guillelma, and as a second incident of it +also became the origin of a <i>tenso</i>, it may find a +place here. Savaric, we are told, had been faithfully +attached to the lady for years, but she paid him +back with false promises, and never would grant +him a favour. Many a time he came to her, at her +demand, from Poitou to Gascony, by land and by +sea, only to find himself disappointed again on his +arrival. But he, the manuscript adds, was so enamoured +that he never discovered her falsehood. +His friends, however, did, and thought of means to +release him from such thraldom. For that purpose +they introduced him to a beautiful and noble lady of +Gascony, who was but too willing to accept the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>service of so celebrated a troubadour, and appointed +a day for a rendezvous. News of this affair +was brought to Guillelma, and jealousy now effected +what true love had attempted in vain. No sooner +had she ascertained the time of the appointment, than +she sent a message to Savaric, summoning him to +her presence for the very same day, and promising +him at last the fulfilment of his wishes. The messenger +was Uc de San Cyr the troubadour, and +biographer of Savaric, to whose friendship he was +introduced on this occasion. He relates how he +came to the court of Savaric, who, by the way, was +a rich and powerful baron, and delivered his message. +One of the guests of Savaric was the provost +of Limoges, and to him the perplexed poet submitted +the case, proposing to discuss the claims of +the two ladies in a <i>tenso</i>. This <i>tenso</i> is in existence. +The provost is decidedly in favour of the +new love. He points out to Savaric that Guillelma’s +favour is the result of jealousy, while the kindness +of the other lady would be ill rewarded by the poet’s +disappointing her. But the warmth with which +poor Savaric pleads for his old attachment, and +even speaks with some contempt of a love too +easily granted, shows but too plainly that the cure +of his infatuation was anything but perfect. In this +case also the decision of the question is referred to +three ladies, but again there is no record of their +verdict. Of another <i>tenso</i> still more intimately connected +with a real and most melancholy love-affair +we shall have to speak further on.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span></p> + +<p>There was still another use to which the <i>tenso</i> +was occasionally put. When two troubadours +owed each other a grudge, instead of fighting it +out with the sword, they frequently challenged each +other to a song of combat. Like most polemical +poems in the <i>langue d’oc</i> these personal <i>tensos</i>, for +so they may conveniently be called, are full of the +grossest slander. The wonder is that, with all this +spite and rage, the poet always preserves sufficient +equanimity to adhere to the strictest rules of the art, +and even to reproduce the exact metre and rhyme +chosen by his adversary as the medium for his abuse. +Uc de St. Cyr, of whom we have just heard, +appears amongst the chief representatives of this +branch of literature, in a manner more creditable to +his eloquence than to his personal character. He +was the younger son of an impoverished family, and +depended for his maintenance on the liberality of +his protectors. His lasting friendship with Savaric +de Mauleon has been already mentioned, but unfortunately, +in other cases, relations of a similar kind +seem to have ended in unkindness and open enmity. +How far the responsibility may have lain with the +poet, it is impossible to say, but the fact of his +appearing twice as the declared antagonist of a +former benefactor throws grave doubts on his gratitude. +The first instance alluded to is a quarrel +with the Viscount of Turenne, in whose service the +poet seems to have been for some time.</p> + +<p>‘Viscount,’ he exclaims, ‘how can I endure the +hardships you impose upon me? Night and day +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span>you make me ride from one place to another without +rest or sleep. Truly, in the company of Martin +d’Algai,⁠<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> I could not be worse off; even my food +appears scanty.’</p> + +<p>‘You know, Uc de St. Cyr,’ is the Viscount’s +answer, ‘if you do not want to tell a lie, that I did +not send for you from Quercy to show you my +lands; on the contrary, I was much annoyed when +I saw you coming. May God punish me if I do +not wish, with all my heart, that you had gone to +Spain instead!’</p> + +<p>In another <i>tenso</i>, of the same kind, Uc’s position +is still more precarious from a moral point of view—at +least if we believe the charge implied in his +antagonist’s answer. From this it would appear that +the poet was capable of taunting with poverty a +man to whose bounty he owed his own wealth.</p> + +<p>‘Count,’ he says, ‘you need not be afraid or +anxious on my account. I have not come to ask or +demand anything from you; for I have all I want. +But I perceive that money is a scarce article with +you; therefore I have not the heart to ask you anything; +on the contrary, it would be a great mercy if +I made you a present.’</p> + +<p>‘Uc de St. Cyr,’ Count Rodez replies, ‘I am +sorry for having dismissed wealthy you, who came +to me poor, naked, and miserable. You have cost +me more than two bowmen or horsemen; truly, if +I had offered you a horse you would not have refused +it.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span></p> + +<p>In a second <i>tenso</i> by the same poets, grievous +bodily harm is threatened on one and boldly defied +on the other side.</p> + +<p>A little more smoothly, although by no means +amicably, do matters proceed between Rambaut de +Vaqueiras and Count Albert di Malaspina, an unruly +Italian nobleman. The cause of their quarrel is a +certain lady of Tortona, who, after having flirted with +the troubadour, jilted him for the count. The +latter, adding insult to injury, taunts Rambaut with +his loss in the opening stanza. The troubadour +retorts with a charge of highway-robbery, which the +nobleman frankly admits, explaining, however, that +‘many a time, I can assure you, I have taken goods +from a wish to make presents, and not in order to +enrich myself or heap up treasures.’ In the further +course of the poem, the nobleman ridicules the +poverty of the poet and his ambition in having +aspired to knighthood, to which neither his courage +nor his position entitled him. The troubadour, in +return, accuses Albert of every crime under the sun, +including perjury and treachery in love and politics. +As to cowardice he says: ‘If I am not exactly an +Oliver in the use of arms, it appears to me that you +are no Roland either.’ In this manner the quarrel +continues for some time, without much apparent +superiority on either side, a fact which redounds +greatly to the credit of the Italian count. For +Rambaut was an experienced poet and a renowned +champion in the literary warfare of those days.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE SIRVENTES.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The formal principle on which the division in the +earlier chapters has been made must henceforth be +abandoned entirely. The two great classes of +poetry to which we now must turn, and which comprise +by far the greater portion of Provençal literature, +the <i>sirventes</i> and the <i>canzo</i>, have no metrical +scheme inherent in either of them as an essential +part of their kind. The same infinite variety of +rhyme and metre and stanza is found in the one as +well as in the other. They can be separated, therefore, +according to the subject-matter alone; and on +this ground a division is easy enough, and satisfactory, +at least as far as one of the two branches is +concerned. The <i>canzo</i>, it may briefly be said, is a +lyrical poem which treats of love, and a <i>sirventes</i> +one which does not. To the further definition of +the latter somewhat negative term we must now +devote our attention for a little while. A few +general remarks on the character of the poetry of +the troubadours, distinguishing it from all other +mediæval schools, may aptly precede this, the most +important section of the present work.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span></p> + +<p>Of the enormous importance of poetry in the +literary, the social, the political, and the religious +life of mediæval Provence, of the variety of functions +which it assumed, and the energy and success +with which it did justice to each of them, the +modern reader can hardly form an idea. A passage +with which the troubadour Raimon Vidal +opens his learned treatise on metrical art, called +‘Razos de Trobar,’ will throw some light on the +intense and wide-spread love of song characterising +this outburst of long pent-up feeling. ‘All +Christendom,’ he says, ‘Jews and Saracens, the +emperor, kings, dukes, counts and viscounts, commanders, +vassals, and other knights, citizens and +peasants, tall and little, daily give their minds to +singing and verse-making, by either singing themselves +or listening to others. No place is so deserted, +or out of the way, that, as long as men +inhabit it, songs are not sung either by single persons +or by many together; even the shepherds in +the mountains know of no greater joy than song. +All good and evil things in the world are made +known by the troubadours, and no evil talk, that +has once been put into rhyme and verse by a troubadour, +fails to be repeated every day.’</p> + +<p>Let us now inquire into the nature of a poetry +which exercised so potent a sway over all classes of +society. The appearance of the first troubadour +coincides very nearly with the earliest impetus of +pious indignation caused by the sorrowful tales of +pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre. The result was a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span>universal rising of Christian nations, a common +effort of pious revenge on the Painim, an invasion +finally of the eastern by the western world, such as +history has rarely witnessed. Gibbon and Chateaubriand, +Hume and Joseph de Maistre, may look on +the crusades in very different ways. In one thing +they cannot but agree, viz., that the religious impulse +of which they were the tangible result tended +to remould and imbue with a new principle of life +the whole of western civilisation. The only mental +product of this profound revolution of feeling which +concerns us here, is the idealised conception of +chivalry in immediate connection with the enthusiastic +movement alluded to. This idea included +those others of honour, of prowess, of candour, of +loyalty, which, even in modern parlance, we are +wont to comprehend in the word chivalrous. But +the noblest duty of the mediæval knight was his +service and devotion to the lady of his heart, a +feeling akin to the religious veneration of that type +of immaculate womanhood which the wisdom of the +Roman Church had placed on a par almost with +the Deity itself. These feelings, common as they +are to the mediæval poetry of all nations, were +expressed with more than ordinary fervour by the +knightly singers of Southern France. At the same +time they appear here with so many national and +individual modifications, as to impart to the study of +Provençal literature, beyond the historical and philological +importance of its monuments, an additional +human interest.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span></p> + +<p>Take, for instance, the idea of love as reflected +in the poetry of the troubadours. It is true that +many of their songs breathe the purest and most +ardent spirit of romantic veneration; one chief division +of Provençal poetry, the <i>canzo</i>, or song proper, +is exclusively devoted to this loving worship. But +the bold natural common sense of the French character +always acted as a wholesome antidote to the +tendency of purely spiritual sublimation. We have +already observed the essentially realistic view which +Count William took of the <i>grande passion</i>, and we +shall hear before long that the weaknesses of their +fair idols were a favourite butt of the satiric iconoclasm +of more than one of the troubadours.</p> + +<p>This leaven of scepticism is observable even +amongst the effusions of religious enthusiasm. I +am not alluding to the active part taken by many of +the troubadours in the struggle of Count Raimond +of Toulouse, the protector of the Albigeois, against +the ravaging hordes of Simon de Montfort, the +champion of Papal supremacy. This part was +rather of a national than of a religious kind;⁠<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> +for it must be remembered that the crusade against +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>the Provençal heretics implied at the same time an +onslaught of Northern centralisation on Southern +independence, the success of which finally resulted +in the abrupt and total decline of Provençal +literature. What I was referring to is a curious +and most charming poem by Marcabrun, in which +that celebrated troubadour seems to oppose the +excessive passion of the age for crusading expeditions. +This was a somewhat ticklish subject, and +apt to bring a peaceful poet into unpleasant collision +with hierarchical powers. To cautious considerations +of this kind we probably owe one of the +sweetest conceptions of Provençal poetry; one of +the rare instances, moreover, in which a description +of beautiful scenery has been successfully attempted. +For, as a rule, the troubadours show little <i>rapport</i> +with outward nature, and their occasional allusions +to flowers and blue skies are generally of a conventional +character.</p> + +<p>Marcabrun introduces us into the full splendour +of southern spring; the trees are strewn with the +young year’s blossoms, and resonant with the songs +of birds. By the brook in the orchard we see a +lonely maiden, the beautiful daughter of the châtelain. +Little she heeds the bloom of the spring, or +the joyous note of the songsters. Her tears mingle +with the brook, and bitterly she complains to ‘Jesus, +Lord of the world, for great grief has come to me +through thee. The best men have gone to distant +lands at thy behest, and with them my true love, +bravest among the brave.’ The poet here steps in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span>to interrupt the lady’s lament with gentle remonstrance. +‘Your tears,’ he suggests, ‘will injure your +face and complexion; moreover He, who has +adorned the trees with blossoms, may turn your +grief into joy.’ But the lady turns a deaf ear to his +comfortings. ‘Sir,’ she replies, ‘I willingly believe +that God in the next world may vouchsafe me his +grace; but in this I have lost my true love.’⁠<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Supposing +the tendency of the poem to be such as I +have surmised it to be, it must be owned that +Marcabrun has carried out his purpose in the most +ingenious manner. Pious souls might be referred to +the religious commonplaces, introduced for safety +sake, while more intelligent listeners could not fail +to perceive the poet’s real meaning in the naïve +pleadings of the desolate girl. An analogous mode +of treatment of the identical subject occurs, by the +way, in a poem by the excellent North-French +trouvère Rutebœuf. He also describes a discussion +between an assailant and a staunch defender of the +crusades. To keep up appearances, the wicked +sceptic had ultimately to confess himself convinced, +but the reader easily perceives that the greater force +of argument is, and is meant to be, with the vanquished.</p> + +<p>From various statements in the above remarks, +the reader will have seen that the popular idea of a +troubadour as a singer of love, and of nothing but +love, is as incorrect and one-sided as popular ideas +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>frequently are. There is, indeed, no important +topic of political, social, and literary history of the +time, which does not find an echo in the poetry of +these gay singers. The form of art in which these +and kindred questions are treated is collectively +called the <i>sirventes</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> and the study of this branch +of Provençal literature is of engrossing interest, both +by the variety of contemporary topics touched upon, +and by the display of brilliant wit and trenchant +personal satire, with which many of these songs +abound; the latter feature being in strong contrast +with the charming but somewhat monotonous sweetness +of the <i>canzo</i>, or love-song. The <i>sirventes</i> of +the twelfth and thirteenth centuries has been compared +with the newspaper press of the nineteenth; +and it may indeed seem doubtful to which of these +two organs of public opinion the greater influence +on the contemporary mind ought to be attributed, +leaving, of course, the international importance of +modern journalism out of the question. The rapid +circulation of the censuring <i>sirventes</i> amongst those +concerned was amply provided for by vagrant +joglars, whose lively recitations gave additional +zest to satirical points; and the boldness and fierce +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>castigation of public or private enemies indulged +in by the troubadours throw all similar attempts of +modern writers into the shade. Cobbett and the +early Quarterly Reviewers would appear mild in +such juxtaposition. The eagerness with which +princes and great nobles tried to ward off, or return +with equal force, the attacks of poets infinitely their +inferiors in rank and power, proves the dangerous +nature of the weapon.</p> + +<p>According to its subject-matter the <i>sirventes</i> +may be divided into four important groups: the +personal, the social-and-political, the moral, and the +religious <i>sirventes</i>; the last-named term being applicable +chiefly to the poems relating to the Albigeois +crusade. Theological and more especially dogmatic +subjects gave little concern to the troubadours, +although they had a keen eye for the weaknesses of +the clergy both secular and monastic. All these +classes of polemic literature will be treated at length +in the course of this work. To complete the outline +of the subject it is necessary only to refer briefly to +two minor branches of the <i>sirventes</i>. They are the +<i>planh</i> or complaint, and the crusader’s song, the +former belonging more especially to the personal, +the latter to the religious, class of poems.</p> + +<p>The <i>planh</i> is a poem written on the death of a +mistress, a friend, or a protector. It no doubt was +amongst the duties of courtly poets to deplore the +loss of the latter in suitable terms, and by far the +greater number of complaints remaining to us belong +to the species of official poetry. But in spite +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span>of this there is the true ring of sorrow in most of +these songs, a fact which shows the frequent existence +of genuinely cordial relations between the poets +and their noble patrons. ‘Like one,’ says Folquet +of Marseilles, ‘who is so sad that he has lost the +sense of sorrow, I feel no pain or sadness; all is +buried in forgetfulness. For my loss is so overpowering +that my heart cannot conceive it, nor can +any man understand its greatness.’ The object of +this pathetic and no doubt sincere sorrow is not, +as might be expected, a beloved friend of equal +station or a mistress, but Barral, the mighty viscount +of Marseilles, at whose court Folquet had been staying +for a long time, and to whose wife, Adalasia, he +was passionately attached.</p> + +<p>Quite as genuine and historically more important +is the song in which Gaucelm Faidit deplores the +premature death of England’s heroic King Richard. +‘It is hard on me,’ he says, ‘that the greatest loss and +the greatest pain I ever had, and which I shall deplore +for aye and ever, that this loss I must announce and +proclaim in a song. The great and glorious Richard, +the king of the English, is dead. Ah, God! what +grief, what a loss! How strange the word sounds, +and how sad it is to hear! He must have an obdurate +heart who can bear it.’ The poet then proceeds +to sing the praises of his lost protector in enthusiastic +terms. ‘The king is dead—not for a thousand +years has there been a man so brave, so +kind, so bold, so liberal. For Alexander, the king +who conquered Darius, did not, I believe, show such +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>largess, nor are Charles and Arthur equal to his +worth!’ All this may seem exaggerated and hyperbolical +on the ground of historic criticism and +moral principle; but Gaucelm Faidit did not see in +Richard the rebellious son of former, and the tyrannic +ruler of later days. To him he was the +centre of gaiety and splendour, the fount of wealth +and comfort, and, there is little doubt, a beloved +friend withal.</p> + +<p>Of another Complaint devoted by Bertran de +Born to the praise of Richard’s ill-fated brother +Henry we shall hear on a later occasion. It marks +the climax of power and beauty reached by this +section of poetic art.</p> + +<p>Of the close connection between the poetry of +the troubadours and the impulse which sent thousands +of knights and varlets of all nations to the +distant East, general mention has already been +made. The more immediate result of this affinity +of spirit is the song of the crusade, a poem that is +designed to inspire men with valour and sacred ambition +in the service of the Lord. It is a characteristic +fact that the first troubadour of whom we +have historic knowledge has left us a remarkable +song of this order.</p> + +<p>Guillem of Poitiers, the reader will remember, +led anything but an exemplary life. But towards +the end of it he repented, and resolved to atone for +his evil ways by a pilgrimage to the Holy Land at the +head of a large army. So important an event in +his life and thought the poet could not let pass in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>silence. He wrote a song in commemoration of it, +which is a document of deepest interest both as regards +its psychological and its historic import. It betrays +a heart loth to leave the world’s joy and yet urged +on to a holy purpose by the sense of a deep necessity +of regeneration. ‘I go into exile,’ he says, +‘and leave behind me my son surrounded by warfare +and fear and danger; for his neighbours are malevolent +men.’ He conjures his cousin and his overlord +to take care of the unprotected boy, who without +such help would be lost. He next bids a sad +adieu to knightly splendour and to the joys of love, +and in token of sincere repentance he humbly asks +the forgiveness of all whom he may have offended. +The tone of the song is exceedingly sad, and full of +a latent presentiment of death. On the other hand +we miss the holy enthusiasm of the early crusaders. +There is no appeal to the faithful, no proud determination +to liberate the Redeemer’s tomb by deeds +of valour, such as abound in similar poems by other +troubadours. It has indeed been doubted whether +the song referred to the crusade at all, and not +rather to some shorter pilgrimage or temporary retirement +from the world. But for a minor event +of that kind the fear of danger for his son and +country appears too grave, and it seems on the +other hand but natural that a man of Guillem’s +temperament and habits should speak of a separation +from the haunts of his pleasure and the scenes of +his glory as a dreary banishment. In his feeling this +grief and disappointment would naturally be uppermost, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span>but all the more worthy of emulation must +have been the example of a resolve which in spite +of all this remained unshaken. From this point of +view Count Guillem’s poem holds a prominent place +amongst the songs of the crusade.</p> + +<p>In most cases, however, these songs take the form +of an appeal or admonition addressed to the people, +and, more frequently still, to individual princes and +nobles. These are exhorted to abandon their +worldly interests and discords, and join hands in the +sacred endeavour. The allusions to persons and +contemporary events incidentally introduced make +some of these poems exceedingly valuable material +for the historian. Others again are interesting owing +to the genuine elevation of the heart that speaks +from every line and inspires the work with true +poetic passion. Three songs by Pons de Capduelh, +a noble poet of Puy Sainte Marie, deserve mention. +They all refer to the crusade against Saladin, and +must have been written about the year 1188. As +regards elevation of language they are unsurpassed +in Provençal literature. The second especially is a +master-piece of simple and yet impressive diction. +Unfortunately its length forbids the quotation of the +original together with an English version. The +latter alone, on the other hand, would convey too +imperfect an idea of the tone and diction of the +poem. As a middle course I have subjoined a rendering +which occurs in the French edition of Dietz’s +‘Poesie der Troubadours.’</p> + +<p>‘Qu’il soit désormais notre guide et notre protecteur, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>celui qui guida les trois rois à Bethléem. +Sa miséricorde nous indique une voie par laquelle +les plus grands pécheurs, qui la suivent avec zèle et +franchise, arriveront à leur salut. Insensé, insensé +l’homme qui, par un vil attachement à ses terres et à +ses richesses, négligera de prendre la croix, puisque +par sa faute et par sa lâcheté il perd à la fois son +honneur et son Dieu.</p> + +<p>‘Voyez quelle est la démence de celui qui ne +s’arme point. Jésus, le Dieu de vérité, a dit à ses +apôtres qu’il fallait le suivre, et que pour le suivre on +devait renoncer à tous ses biens, à toutes ses affections +terrestres; le moment est venu d’accomplir +son saint commandement. Mourir outre mer pour +son nom sacré est préférable à vivre en ces lieux +avec gloire; oui, la vie est ici pire que la mort. +Qu’est-ce qu’une vie honteuse? Mais mourir en +affrontant ces glorieux dangers, c’est triompher de la +mort même et s’assurer une éternelle félicité.</p> + +<p>‘Humiliez-vous avec ardeur devant la croix, et +par ses mérites vous obtiendrez le pardon de vos +péchés; c’est par la croix que notre Seigneur a +racheté vos fautes et vos crimes—lorsque sa sainte +pitié fit grâce au bon larron, lorsque sa justice +s’appesantit sur le méchant, et qu’il accueillit même +le repentir de Longin. Par la croix il sauva ceux +qui étaient dans la voie de la perdition; enfin il +souffrit la mort et ne la souffrit que pour notre salut. +Malheureux donc quiconque ne s’acquitte pas envers +la générosité d’un Dieu.</p> + +<p>‘A quoi servent les conquêtes de l’ambition? +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>En vain vous soumettrez tous les royaumes qui +sont de ce côté de la mer, si vous êtes infidèles et +ingrats à votre Dieu. Alexandre avait soumis +toute la terre. Qu’emporta-t-il en mourant? Le seul +linceul mortuaire. Oh! quelle folie de voir le bien +et de prendre le mal, et de renoncer pour des objets +vains et périssables à un bonheur qui ne peut manquer +ni jour ni nuit! Tel est l’effet de la convoitise +humaine; elle aveugle les mortels, elle les égare, +et ils ne reconnaissent pas leurs erreurs.</p> + +<p>‘Qu’il ne se flatte pas d’être compté parmi les +preux, tout baron qui n’arborera pas la croix et qui +ne marchera pas aussitôt à la délivrance du saint tombeau! +Aujourd’hui les armes, les combats, l’honneur, +la chevalerie, tout ce que le monde a de beau et de séduisant, +nous peuvent procurer la gloire et le bonheur +du céleste séjour. Ah! que désireraient de plus les +rois et les comtes, si, par leurs hauts faits, ils pouvaient +se racheter des flammes dévorantes où les +réprouvés seront éternellement tourmentés?</p> + +<p>‘Sans doute il est excusable celui que la vieillesse +et les infirmités retiennent sur nos bords; mais +alors il doit prodiguer ses richesses à ceux qui partent; +c’est bien fait d’envoyer quand on ne peut aller, +pourvu que l’on ne demeure pas par lâcheté ou indifférence. +Que répondront au jour du jugement +ceux qui seront restés ici malgré leur devoir, quand +Dieu leur dira: “Faux et lâches chrétiens, c’est pour +vous que je fus cruellement battu de verges; c’est +pour vous que je souffris la mort”? Ah! le plus juste +alors tressaillira lui-même d’épouvante.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span></p> + +<p>We must now for a moment return to the <i>sirventes</i> +generally, and note, for the sake of completeness, +one or two more of its separate branches. In +some of the biographies we meet with the use of a +curious term, <i>sirventes-joglaresc</i>, which at first sight +would lead one to expect a poem more especially +designed for recitation by a joglar. But such a distinction +cannot be substantiated by facts. We +know that not only all <i>sirventeses</i>, but all <i>canzos</i> as +well, were to a great extent dependent for their +promulgation on the professional singers and reciters. +Moreover, the manuscripts seem to indicate +quite a different meaning. They generally +add by way of explanation that the <i>sirventes</i> so +denominated dealt out both praise and vituperation, +the former of course to the worthy, the latter to the +vicious. But why and when such a meaning came +to be connected with such a term is one of the +unsolved riddles of literature.</p> + +<p>Little more than a whim is the <i>canzo-sirventes</i>, +a mixture of the love-song and the non-love-song, +generally beginning with a satirical discussion of +personal or public affairs and winding up with the +praise of a lady. No transition is made, the abruptness +of the change being evidently considered an +additional charm. No wonder that Peire Vidal, +one of the most eccentric troubadours, favoured +the mongrel type. Of it and of him, more anon.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE CANZO.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>With the <i>canzo</i> we have at last reached the climax and +innermost essence of the poetry of the troubadours. +I have in the above called the idea of the troubadour +as exclusively a singer of love a one-sided one. +So indeed it is, but at the same time the lingering of +this feature and this feature alone in the memory of +ages distinctly proves its prevailing importance in +the picture which the popular mind conceived and +treasured up. And the <i>vox populi</i> in literature, +as in other matters, is generally found to be after +all the voice of good sense and unsophisticated +truth.</p> + +<p>All true poetry must be the offspring of its time; +it must show as in a mirror the best contemporary +thoughts and ideas. Now there is no doubt that +the purest and most poetic motive of early mediæval +life was the <i>cultus</i> of the new-found ideal of womanhood. +To this worship, therefore, the troubadour +devoted his noblest endeavour, and the result is a +literature in some respects unique in the history of +all nations.</p> + +<p>On first becoming acquainted with the amatory +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span>verses of Provençal poets, one is apt to give way +to a feeling of disappointment. Everything is +different from what one’s vague idea of the subject +had led him to expect. There is here no wild storm +of passion, no untrammelled effusion of sentiment +On the contrary, the stream of emotion, and sometimes +not a very powerful stream, seems to run in a +regular channel—a channel, to continue the simile, +with the marble sides and facings of a rigid form, and +the narrowness of which admits of little individual +bubbling. The last-mentioned feature, viz., the want +of individual peculiarities, is especially noticeable +in the poets of the <i>langue d’oc</i>. There are of course +differences, as there are, and must be, in all other +schools and coteries of literary workers. Bernart +de Ventadorn is an infinitely more impassioned and +more loveable singer than the affected Rambaut of +Orange; and the Monk of Montaudon, when he +deigns to write a love-song, cannot wholly disguise +his sardonic vein, nor does he ever attain to the lyrical +sweetness of Guillem de Cabestanh. But such distinctions +do not meet the eye of the casual observer +with the same force as is the case with the poets of +other nationalities. One of the reasons is the perfection +of formal development which universally prevails. +In modern France or England it is easy to know +one poet from another, and attribute to each his +place in the republic of song by the quality of his +verse <i>quâ</i> verse. There are, in short, those who can +and those who cannot write poetry. But with the +troubadours it was otherwise: they all knew their +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span>business equally well; there were no bunglers +amongst them.</p> + +<p>We here once again touch upon that pride and +bane of Provençal poetry—form. That much freshness +of expression, much genuine fervour of inspiration, +has been sacrificed to this moloch, is not a +matter of doubt. The sameness of type observable +in a whole galaxy of gifted and no doubt variously +gifted poets cannot be explained from any other +cause. For not only did the observance of certain +external niceties absorb a great part of the poet’s +energy, but the habit of such observance gradually +encroached even on his cast of thought. Certain +feelings and ideas gradually grew into established +formulas. The absence of a true sympathy with +nature in the works of the troubadours is a case in +point. Originally such a feeling must have existed; +the very common occurrence at the beginning of a +love-song of some remarks on the beauties of spring, +the song of birds, and the like, tends to prove it. +But unfortunately the similarity of these preludes +and the narrow range of objects to which they +refer are a proof equally strong of the detrimental +force of the ‘set speech’ above alluded to. For +one Gaucelm Faidit, who feels genuine delight in the +‘<i>rossinholet salvatge</i>,’ the ‘wild nightingale,’ there are +twenty troubadours who speak of the sweet-toned +songster with perfect indifference and merely as a +matter of custom. Even the main and moving subject +of the <i>canzo</i>, the lady, does not always escape +the same fate. She also frequently becomes a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span>barren symbol to be described according to a certain +code of beauty and to be addressed in certain well-turned +phrases.</p> + +<p>Another striking defect in Provençal poetry may to +a great extent be derived from the same source. This +is the want of continuity in most of the <i>canzos</i>. Few of +these show a necessary organic growth. In most cases +stanzas might be added or taken away without detracting +from or increasing the general merit of the +poem. The reason is the wonderful elaborateness +and symmetry of the single stanzas, which make +them appear in the light of independent and compact +units, the stringing together of which may delight +the hearer for a time, but can never produce +the impression of an organic whole. I could cite +modern instances in which the same cause has had +exactly the same effect.</p> + +<p>But such deficiencies, apparent as they are in a +greater or less degree in every troubadour, ought +not to blind us to the high merits of Provençal +poetry, its refinement, its tenderness of feeling, its +unrivalled perfection of form. Our admiration of +these qualities increases when we think of the soil +in which this remarkable growth took place. The +troubadours were the first harbingers of reviving +literary culture after the storms which wrecked the +Western Empire. They had no models to fall back +upon; for the poets of antiquity were more or less +above their ken, and the simple creations of the +popular mind beneath their attention. They had +even to create their language from a mixture of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>provincial <i>patois</i>. If ever poetry has sprung from +the spontaneous impulse of man, it is in this instance. +And, what is more, it was at a time when +everywhere else intellectual darkness and barrenness +covered the land. At the time when Guillem of +Poitiers wrote his masterpieces of lyrical refinement, +the amalgamation of the native with the foreign +idiom had only just begun in England; in Northern +France the stage of the primitive epic was hardly +reached, and a century was to pass before the seed +sown by the troubadours was to bring forth fruit +in Germany; Italy yielding to the same influence at +a still later period. But the Provençal love-song +had reached its autumn before these subsequent +developments entered into existence. For a long +time it stood alone, an exotic plant of unknown +origin, but of rich and peculiar growth, in the wilderness +of the early middle ages.</p> + +<p>Of the metrical structure of the love-song I shall +say little in this place. The varieties and niceties +of its rhymes and stanzas the reader will find fully +discussed in the technical chapters. It may be +mentioned here that some difference seems to have +existed between two kinds of the love-song, the <i>vers</i> +and the <i>canzo</i>; but what the exact nature of the +difference was it is impossible to say. The troubadours +themselves had not a very clear notion of +it. The <i>Leys d’amors</i> is even more than usually +rambling and vague in its definition, and all the +characteristics it mentions of the <i>vers</i> belong in +equal measure to the <i>canzo</i>. Aimeric de Pegulhan, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>one of the later troubadours, candidly confesses that +to him the distinction between the terms has lost its +significance. ‘Frequently,’ he says, ‘I am asked at +court why I do not write a <i>vers</i>. Therefore I leave +it to those who care, to decide whether this song be +a <i>vers</i> or a <i>canzo</i>; and to those who inquire I +answer that I do not find any difference between +<i>vers</i> and <i>canzo</i> beyond the name.’ It further appears +from his song, that, according to rule or prejudice, +the <i>canzo</i> generally had feminine rhymes and short +lively musical accompaniments, while the more +primitive <i>vers</i> affected monosyllabic endings and +long-drawn melodies. But he justly infers that this +rule is not observed by the troubadours to any +prevailing extent, and this fact deprives the theoretical +subtleties of ancient and modern grammarians +of their substantial basis.</p> + +<p>And here my remarks on the <i>canzo</i> and on the +general aspects of Provençal literature must end. +Of the incompleteness of the sketch in more than +one respect I am fully conscious. But I hope that +the reader may be able to form some adequate view +of the intellectual and moral conditions of which the +poetry of the troubadours is the embodiment. To +blur this outline with further detail would be contrary +to the purpose of this book, which, I repeat it, is not +a scientific treatise aiming at exhaustiveness, but +rather a first attempt to attract the English reader +towards a subject which deserves so much and has +had so little of his attention. The safest, perhaps +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>the only, method of gaining this end is the biographical. +In the biographies of some of the principal +troubadours I therefore have embodied what further +information of the life and work of these poets +I desired to give on the present occasion. Guillem +de Cabestanh will be the representative of the +love-song proper. Peire Vidal combines the satiric +and the lyrical gifts. Bertran de Born represents the +warlike or political <i>sirventes</i>; the Monk of Montaudon +is the master of personal and literary satire, while +Peire Cardinal’s pessimism and severe morality +loom in cloudy distance above the gay throng. +The crusade against the Albigeois heretics, with its +baneful consequences for Provençal literature, is +treated in continuous chapters, and a separate niche +of fame is gallantly assigned to the lady troubadours. +Other questions connected with the subject are incidentally +treated.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PART_II"><i>PART II.</i><br> +<span class="smaller">BIOGRAPHICAL</span></h2> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.<br> +<span class="smaller">GUILLEM DE CABESTANH.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>Petrarch, in the fourth chapter of his ‘Trionfo +d’Amore,’ in speaking of the love-poets of various +nations, mentions the name of ‘William, who, by his +song, shortened the flower of his days.’</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent20">Quel Guglielmo,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Che per cantar ha’l fior dei suoi dì scemo!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">This William is Guillem de Cabestanh the troubadour, +and it is his story that I propose to tell +the reader, following as closely as possible the quaint +old biography contained in a Provençal manuscript +of the Laurentian Library in Florence.</p> + +<p>‘Sir Raimon of Rossilho,’ the old manuscript +begins, ‘was a mighty baron, as you are well aware, +and had for his wife the Lady Margarida, the most +beautiful lady, as you know, of that time, and the +most prized for all that is praiseworthy, and noble, +and courteous. It so happened that Guillem de +Cabestanh, the son of a poor knight of Castle +Cabestanh, came to the court of Sir Raimon de +Rossilho, offering to remain with him as his servant +(<i>vaslez de sa cort</i>). Sir Raimon, who found him to be +of fair and good countenance, bade him welcome, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span>and Guillem remained with him, and so gentle was +his demeanour, that young and old loved him well. +And so much did he advance in favour that Sir +Raimon wished him to be page to Lady Margarida +his wife; and so it was done.</p> + +<p>‘But as it frequently befalls with love, it now +befell that Love was bent on besieging the Lady +Margarida with his siege, and he kindled her thoughts +with fire. So much was she pleased with Guillem’s +demeanour, and his speech, and his countenance, that +one day she could not withhold herself from saying, +“Tell me, Guillem, if a lady were to show you semblance +of love, would you dare to love her?” Guillem, +who understood her meaning, answered frankly, +“Certainly, lady, if I knew that the semblance were +true.” “By St. John,” replied the lady, “a good and +noble answer; but now I will test thee, if thou canst +know and distinguish truth from falsehood.” When +Guillem heard these words, he replied, “May it be +as it pleases you.”’</p> + +<p>The biographer goes on to describe how the +thoughts thus enjoined upon Guillem by the lady +rouse his soul from amorous reflection to desire; +‘and henceforth he became a servant to Love, and +began to invent stanzas graceful and gay, and tunes +and canzos, and his songs found favour with all, but +most with her for whom he sang.’ Thus, once again, +the flame of poetry was awakened by the fire of +passion. ‘But Love,’ the manuscript continues, ‘who +rewards the labours of his servants when it pleases +him, now thought of showing himself grateful. He +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span>assails the thoughts of the lady with love and desire; +night and day she cannot leave off thinking of the +poet’s valour and beauty.’</p> + +<p>‘One day the lady took Guillem aside, and spoke +to him this wise: “Guillem, tell me, hast thou yet +found out of my semblance if it is true or false?”⁠<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> +Guillem answered, “Lady, so God help me, from +the hour I entered your service, no thought has +entered my mind but that you are the best lady +ever born, and the most truthful in word and +appearance; this I believe, and shall believe all my +life.”’</p> + +<p>Thus the fateful knot of passion is tied between +these two; and fate is rapid in its approach. ‘For +soon,’ the story continues, ‘the tell-tales, whom God +hates, began to talk of their love, and to guess by +Guillem’s songs that he was of one mind with Lady +Margarida. These went on talking high and low, +till at last it came to the ear of Sir Raimon. He +was ill pleased and hot with rage through having lost +the friend he loved so well, and more because of the +shame of his spouse.’</p> + +<p>We expect to see the great baron crushing his +faithless retainer in the first storm of indignation. +But such is not his character. He is resolved to +smite, but not till the guilty are convicted by their +own words. With great discretion he refrains from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span>questioning his wife, or from taking any further steps +till he has seen Guillem without witnesses. One +day when the poet is gone to hunt with the sparrow-hawk, +Raimon follows him, secretly armed, but +unaccompanied. He meets him in a lonely place, +and the scene which passes between them is exceedingly +characteristic of the men and of the time +in which they lived. Guillem, on seeing the baron +approach, at once recognises the danger of his situation. +But he is too much of a courtier to show +any embarrassment.</p> + +<p>At first their conversation runs on indifferent +matters, courteous inquiries and answers as to +Guillem’s sport and the like. But presently Raimon’s +self-control begins to desert him. ‘Let us +leave off this talk now,’ he begins abruptly, ‘and +answer me truthfully, by the faith you owe me, all +that I am going to ask you.’</p> + +<p>After some natural hesitation, Guillem submits to +this comprehensive demand.</p> + +<p>‘Tell me, then,’ asks Raimon, solemnly, ‘as you +love God and your faith, have you a lady for whom +you sing, and to whom you are bound in love?’</p> + +<p>‘And how could I sing,’ William answers, ‘if Love +did not bind me? Know, noble sir, that he has me +wholly in his power.’</p> + +<p>Raimon answered, ‘I willingly believe that without +love you could not sing so well; but now I must +know who is your lady?’</p> + +<p>But to this Guillem demurs. Hitherto he has +answered the questions of his master, as in duty +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>bound; but here a higher duty intervenes, that of +discretion in the service of love. In his excuse he +quotes some lines of his brother poet Bernard de +Ventadorn, to the effect that it is ‘a foolish and childish +thing to reveal your love to a friend who can be +of no service to you.’</p> + +<p>Raimon accepts the plea, but he meets the move +with one of equal skill.</p> + +<p>‘Quite true,’ he says; ‘but I pledge my word +that I will be of service to you, as far as lies in my +power.’</p> + +<p>Guillem, thus brought to bay, sees only one way +to save himself from immediate destruction.</p> + +<p>‘Know then,’ he exclaims, ‘that I love the sister +of the Lady Margarida your wife, and I believe that +she returns my passion; now you know all, and I +pray you to assist me, or at least not to injure me.’</p> + +<p>To this Raimon assents very readily, and to +prove his zealous friendship, he proposes an immediate +visit to the lady herself, whose husband’s castle +(for she also, as a matter of course, is married) +happens to be in the immediate neighbourhood. +The feelings of Guillem, as the two ride along, may +be imagined.</p> + +<p>Before we follow them to the castle, let us for +a moment look back on the scene we have just +witnessed. Time: the latter half of the twelfth +century; place: a lonely wood in the South of +France; actors: two men moved against each other +by jealousy, fear, revenge, the consciousness of +wrong inflicted and received—the strongest emotions, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span>in short, of which the human heart is capable. Yet +note the calmness and refined courtesy of their +manner, the neatness of repartee in a conversation +where life and honour are at stake. Guillem, it must +be remembered, is at the mercy of his antagonist. +Instead of meeting him man to man, Raimon might +have thrown his vassal into a dungeon, or wrung his +secret from him on the rack. No one would have +dared to interfere with the mighty baron, or to +breathe suspicion on his wife’s honour. I fear, +indeed, that an ordinary retainer would not have +met with such considerate treatment at Raimon’s +hands. But Guillem was a poet of reputation, who +could not be dealt with in a summary manner. +Hence the terms of equality which Raimon grants +him as a matter of course; hence even the offer of +assistance in his love affairs. For troubadours were +privileged persons. Every one knew that the ladies +worshipped by them, under various <i>senhals</i>, or +pseudonyms, were frequently the wives of the greatest +nobles of the land. Raimon himself is quite +willing to acknowledge this poetic licence, as long as +his own wife is not concerned. It, at any rate, +speaks well for the genuine quality of the Provençal +love-song, to see how both Guillem and his patron +treat its origin from anything but real passion as a +total impossibility. But whatever the reader may +think of the morality of the principles alluded to, he +must admit that they imply a refinement of manner +and sentiment, somewhat at variance with the +popular notion of the semi-barbaric state of early +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span>mediæval culture. But still stranger events are in +store for us.</p> + +<p>On their arrival at Castle Liet, Raimon and the +poet are hospitably received by the noble Lord +Robert de Tarascon and his wife, the Lady Agnes, +sister of Lady Margarida. Raimon, whose friendly +offers to Guillem the reader no doubt fully appreciates, +takes an early opportunity of cross-questioning his +sister-in-law on the delicate subject of her lover, without, +however, mentioning a name. But the lady is +equal to the occasion. She has seen by Guillem’s +expression, that some mischief must be brewing, and, +knowing of her sister’s attachment, she at once sides +against the jealous husband. She admits having a +lover, and, when asked as to his identity, names +Guillem without a moment of hesitation, and much +to the relief of Raimon. Her husband, when +told of the intrigue, fully approves the lady’s +conduct, and both combine, in various ways, to +further convince Raimon of a guilty intimacy between +Guillem and the lady of Tarascon. So well do they +succeed, that on his return home Raimon goes at +once to tell his wife of his discovery; much to the +dismay of that lady, as the reader need not be told. +Guillem is summoned before his indignant mistress, +and denies his guilt; his innocence being confirmed +by the statement of the lady of Tarascon. Margarida +is satisfied, but nevertheless bids Guillem +declare in a song that to none but her is his love +devoted. In answer to this summons Guillem writes +the celebrated canzo, ‘Li dous cossire qu’em don’ +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>amors soven’ (The sweet longing that love often +gives to me); one of the most beautiful and most +impassioned lyrics ever penned, and, alas! his last.⁠<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> +For Raimon, when he hears the song, at once fathoms +its meaning. His fury now is boundless, but once +more he curbs it, to poison the sting of his revenge. +He again meets Guillem in a lonely place, slays him, +severs the head from the body, tears out the heart, +and with these dreadful trophies secretly returns to +the castle. The heart he has roasted,⁠<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> and at dinner +asks his wife to partake of it. After she has eaten +he discloses the terrible secret and simultaneously +produces the gory head of her lover, asking her how +she liked the flavour of the meat. The lady’s +answer is noble and of tragic simplicity. ‘It was so +good and savoury,’ she says, ‘that never other meat +or drink shall take from my mouth the sweetness +which the heart of Guillem has left there.’ The +exasperated husband then rushes at her with his +drawn sword, and she, flying from him, throws herself +from a balcony, and dies.</p> + +<p>Thus the marriage law is vindicated, and M. +Alexandre Dumas’ sentence of <i>tue-la</i> carried out in a +manner with which even that severe moralist could +not but be satisfied. But Guillem’s contemporaries +had not yet attained to this pitch of virtue. The news +of the deed spread rapidly, and was received everywhere +with grief and indignation; ‘and all the friends +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>of Guillem and the lady, and all the courteous +knights of the neighbourhood, and all those who +were lovers, united to make war against Raimon.’ +King Alfonso, of Aragon, himself invaded Raimon’s +dominions, took from him his castles and lands, and +kept him prisoner till death. All his possessions +were divided amongst the relations of Guillem and of +the lady—a somewhat unusual exercise of feudal +jurisdiction, it would seem. The same king had the +two lovers buried in one tomb, and erected a monument +over them, just outside the door of the Church +of Perpignan. ‘And there was a time,’ the biographer +adds, ‘when all the knights of Rossilho, +and of Serdonha, of Confolen, Riuples, Peiralaide, and +Narbones, kept the day of their death every year; +and all the fond lovers and all the fond lady-loves +prayed for their souls.’</p> + +<p>This is the story as rendered in the manuscript +of the Laurentiana; and a beautiful story it is, told +with exquisite skill, and with an artistic grouping of +the psychological and pathetic elements for which +many modern novelists might envy the obscure +Provençal scribe. Boccaccio’s treatment of the +same incidents, with changed names, in the thirty-ninth +<i>novella</i> of the ‘Decameron,’ is greatly inferior +to the present version. But this very finish of detail +excites suspicions as to the historic truth of the +extraordinary events so plausibly narrated. Further +research into the matter confirms this suspicion. I +have traced no less than seven different versions of +Guillem’s life in the Provençal language preserved +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span>amongst the MS. collections of the libraries of Rome, +Florence, and Paris. All these purport to be +authentic biographies of the poet, and all agree in +the main incidents of the story, differing, however, in +details, and even in the names of the localities and +persons concerned. The lady, for instance, is in +some versions called Sermonda or Sorismonda, +instead of Margarida. Other discrepancies and +arbitrary additions tend to show that invention has +been busy to embellish the tragic fate of a celebrated +poet; and it has not been an easy task to divest the +kernel of historic truth from later fictitious accumulations. +I cannot enter here into tedious details, and +must ask the reader to accept in good faith the results +of what I may, without presumption, call a careful +and patient investigation.</p> + +<p>The historic identity of Guillem de Cabestanh, +a celebrated poet of the fourteenth century, is sufficiently +proved, and there is no intrinsic or external +reason to doubt that he was enamoured of a married +lady, and killed by her jealous husband. It is also +by no means unlikely that the discovery was brought +about by an unguarded expression in one of the poet’s +songs, although this circumstance is not mentioned +in the oldest and simplest version. The chronologically +second version, on the contrary, lays great +stress on this interesting fact, naming the fatal song—none +other than the beautiful and popular canzo, ‘Li +dous cossire,’ already referred to. Here, then, we +discover the clue to the numerous romantic additions +of the later versions, which could be made with the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span>greater impunity, as the real circumstances of the story +began to fade from the memory of men. For most of +these additions are evidently invented with a view to +connecting this particular song with the tragic fate of +the poet—an idea by no means wanting in poetic +beauty, although not borne out by the dry facts of +history. The ingenious way in which this connection +is attempted is particularly shown in one of the +manuscripts where the actual passage of the song +from which Raimon is said to have derived his knowledge +is quoted. The words run:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tot qan faz per temensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Devez en bona fei,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Prendre neis qan nous vei.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In English, ‘All I am compelled to do by fear, you +must accept in good faith, even if I do not see you.’ +At first sight the suggestion seems plausible. +The song, as we know, was written to account for +Guillem’s apparent faithlessness, and to the jealous +suspicion of the husband the allusion might seem plain +enough. But it must be borne in mind that Raimon +was not supposed to know to whom Guillem’s songs +were addressed. After he had once found out that +the poet spoke of his wife and to his wife in such a +manner as is done in the <i>canzo</i> in question, the +further discovery of any particularly suggestive passage +was quite unnecessary. The idea of connecting +a song treating of the ordinary incidents of a +love-affair with the death of the poet is evidently an +after-thought, although by no means an inappropriate +one. The author of the version followed by me in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span>the above shows the highest degree of inventive +boldness by adding entirely new incidents (<i>e.g.</i>, the +visit to Castle Liet), and rendering <i>verbatim</i> long +conversations, of which no cognisance could possibly +have been obtained.</p> + +<p>Regarding the most striking incident, that of the +lover’s heart being eaten by the lady, it is true that +all the versions contain it, but other circumstances +tend to throw grave doubts on its historic reality. +For the same fact is told with some modifications of +the Châtelain de Coucy, a celebrated poet of Northern +France, no less historical than Guillem himself, +and nearly his contemporary. The independent +recurrence in the course of a few years of the same +extraordinary fact is intrinsically much more unlikely +than the supposition that the story of the eaten heart +was, in some form or other, popular at the time, and +therefore connected with the life of one of their +celebrated poets by both northern and southern +Frenchmen. Students of the ‘History of Fiction’ are +aware that the local and individual application of a +popular story to a popular hero is a most common +process, and readers of Dunlop’s excellent work of +that name may remember that the incident of the +eaten heart is by no means confined to the age or +country of Guillem de Cabestanh. I should indeed +not feel surprised if one of our comparative mythologists +were to prove that the vulture gnawing the +head or liver of the fettered Prometheus is at the +bottom of it all.</p> + +<p>But whatever may be the historical value of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span>story related in the above, it throws a striking and +abundant light on the manners and feelings of mediæval +Provence. Here we see the idea of the +unlimited power of love carried to its extreme consequences. +Margarida, a noble lady, adorned, as is +expressly stated, with all virtues and accomplishments, +does not hesitate at inviting the courtship of +her inferior in rank in the most unmistakable +manner. But the narrator, and evidently his public +with him, think that everything is sufficiently accounted +for by an allusion to the unconquerable +impulse of love.</p> + +<p>And in the service of this love all means of +defence, fair or foul, are thought permissible. +Guillem betrays his kind master and benefactor, and +afterwards, in order to save himself, calmly exposes +the honour of a third person by an audacious falsehood. +Raimon himself is quite willing to tolerate, or +even to further, the poet’s intrigue with his wife’s +sister; and the manner in which the lord and lady of +Tarascon pay him back in his own coin displays +the equally loose principles of those distinguished +persons. The immediate discovery of the whole +state of affairs on the part of the lady, moreover, +betrays an acuteness of vision explainable only from +personal experience of similar predicaments. When +at last the long-abused husband discovers the +intrigue, and takes cruel revenge, nobody seems to +consider that he has been sinned against no less +than sinning, and all true knights and lovers, the +King of Aragon amongst them, hasten to punish the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span>vile murderer, while the lovers are revered as +saints and martyrs. Much as we may condemn the +brutality of the husband’s revenge, or wish to excuse +the fatal effects of irresistible passion, justice compels +us to consider that the breach of the marriage vow +was in this case aggravated by that of confidence, +friendship, and fealty. But justice to a husband, as we +know, was a thing unheard of in the code of Provençal +gallantry—the very name was odious, and all but +synonymous with criminal, or at least dupe. I do not, +indeed, recollect a single instance amongst the +numerous love-stories told in connection with the +troubadours in which the object of passion was not a +married lady; a strange point of affinity with the +modern French novel to which I call the attention of +those interested in national psychology. The final +wedding-bells of English novels would be vainly +listened for in Provençal fiction.</p> + +<p>If this frivolous conception of sacred ties repels +our æsthetical and moral feelings, we cannot, on the +other hand, refuse our sympathy to a passion so +pure and so intense as that reflected in the <i>canzos</i> +of Guillem de Cabestanh. Only seven of his poems +have been preserved to us, but these rank amongst +the highest achievements of Provençal literature. In +the whole range of international song I know of no +sweeter lyric than Guillem’s ‘Lo jorn qu’eus vi +domna premieramen,’ or that other <i>canzo</i>, which +legend has connected with his death. The latter is +also remarkable for its display of highest technical +finish, while the remainder of Guillem’s songs are +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span>comparatively simple in structure, and contain few of +those marvellous <i>tours de force</i> of rhyme and metre +which most troubadours delight in.</p> + +<p>Such artificialities of manner would, indeed, be +ill adapted to the extreme simplicity of his theme, +which is nothing but the deepest passion for one +beloved object. There is in his poems no fickleness, +no variation of mood, and if his literary remains +were voluminous, the uniformity of his passion would +pall upon us. As it is, this very monotony adds +to the intensity of our impression. Guillem is a +patient lover, a male type of the nut-brown maid. +Everything he will suffer for his lady and from her; +nay, he derives pleasure from his sufferings, as they +have been inflicted upon him in the service of love, +in <i>her</i> service. At first sight he has become her +bondsman, she has bewitched him with a smile, taken +his sense and his thought with a word of her mouth. +Sometimes he fancies that he must have loved her +before seeing her, and delights in the delusion of +having been destined by God to serve her. For her, +therefore, he will live, and his songs shall tell the +world of her worth and of his passion.</p> + +<p>This is the essence of Guillem’s songs. One +of them only need be quoted here. It shows him +in the attitude of a devoted lover. He had no other.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">CANZO.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Lo jorn, qeus vi domna, premieramen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qant a vos plac qeus mi laissez vezer,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Parti mon cor tot d’autre pensamen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E foron ferm en vos tut mei voler;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Q’aissim pausez, domna el cor l’enveja;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ab un douz ris et ab un simpl’esgar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mi e qant es mi fezez oblidar.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Qel granz beutaz el solaz d’avinen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eil cortes dit eil amoros plazer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qem saubez far, m’embleron si mon sen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’anc pois hora domna nol poc aver;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A vos l’autrei, cui mos fis cors merceja;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per enantir vostre prez et onrar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A vos mi ren, q’om miels non pot amar.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">E car vos am domna, tan finamen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qe d’autr’amar nom don’ amors poder;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mas aizem da q’ab autras cortei gen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Don cug de mi la greu dolor mover;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pois quant cossir de vos cui jois sopleja,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tot’ autr’amor oblit e desampar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ab vos remanh cui tenc al cor plus car.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">E membre vos, sius plaz, del bon coven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qe mi fezez al departir saber,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Don aic mon cor adonc guai e jauzen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pel bon respeit en qem mandez tener;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mout n’aic gran joi, s’era lo mals sim greja;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Et aurai lo, qan vos plaira encar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bona domna, q’eu sui en l’esperar.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">E ges mals trags no men fai espaven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sol q’eu en cuit en ma vida aver</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De vos domna qalaqom jauzimen;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Anz li mal trag mi son joi e plazer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sol per aiso, car sai q’amors autreja,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qe fis amans deu granz torz perdonar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E gen soffrir mals trags per gazanhs far.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Aissi er ja domna l’ora q’eu veja,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qe per merce mi volhaz tan onrar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qe sol amic me denhez appellar.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><i>Translation.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The day when first I saw you, lady sweet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When first your beauty deigned on me to shine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I laid my heart’s devotion at your feet;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No other wish, no other thought were mine.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> <div class="verse indent0">For in my soul you wakened soft desire;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In your sweet smile and in your eyes I found</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More than myself and all the world around.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Your tender speech, so amorous, so kind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The solace of your words, your beauty’s spell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Once and for ever have my heart entwined,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer in my bosom it will dwell.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your worth to cherish it shall never tire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh! then, your gentle grace let me implore;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My all I gave you, I can give no more.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So wholly, lady, is my heart your own</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That love will not allow another’s love.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oft when to gentle ladies I have flown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Somewhat the burden of my pain to move,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The thought of you, the fountain of my bliss,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has aye dispelled all other vain desires;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you with tenfold love my heart retires.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Do not forget, I pray, the hopeful word</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You granted me when last I saw your face;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My heart leaped up with pleasure when I heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The joyful message vouchsafed by your grace.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In present grief my comfort still is this:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That when your heart to mercy is inclined</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My ardent wish may yet fulfilment find.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Pride and unkindness have for me no sting,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As long as I may hope that in this life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One day from you may kindest message bring.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Grief turns to joy and pleasure springs from strife;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For well I know that Love has willed it so</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That lovers should forgive the deadliest sin,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By deepest sorrow highest bliss to win.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The hour will come, O lady, well I know,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When from your yielding mercy I may claim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The one word ‘friend.’ I ask no other name.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Several biographical facts may be gleaned from +this song. First of all we meet with an allusion to +the poet’s intercourse with other ‘gentle ladies,’ +which shows a striking likeness to the lines previously +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span>quoted from Guillem’s most celebrated <i>canzo</i>. Margarida, +it might be inferred, was not altogether free +from a feeling of jealousy towards not one but several +ladies, and both passages are evidently written by +Guillem with a view to appeasing this ill-founded +suspicion; a circumstance which throws still graver +doubt on the fanciful connection of the first-mentioned +lines with the incident at Castle Liet. Whether the +temporary banishment alluded to in the present +<i>canzo</i> has anything to do with these lovers’ quarrels +remains undecided. But the poet’s complaints of +cruelty tend to prove that the lady did not yield +with the astonishing readiness implied by the biographer. +Guillem, it appears, had to undergo a +severe probation before the fatal gift of love was +vouchsafed to him, and at the stage marked by the +<i>canzo</i> the name of ‘friend’ is the highest boon to +which he ventures to aspire. Well for him if that +stage had never been passed.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.<br> +<span class="smaller">PEIRE VIDAL.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>Peire Vidal is one of the most versatile and many-sided +amongst the troubadours. His character is +a psychological riddle. High gifts and wildest +eccentricities are strangely mixed up in it. But +the riddle cannot be read from a purely individual +point of view. Peire Vidal is also a type. His +adventures and poems show as in a kaleidoscope +the romantic and often exaggerated and whimsical +ideas which animated his age and country.</p> + +<p>‘Peire Vidal’—the old biography begins—‘was +born in Toulouse, the son of a furrier; he sang +better than any other poet in the world, and was one +of the most foolish men who ever lived, for he +believed everything to be just as it pleased him +and as he would have it.’ That he grew to his +greatness out of the meanest circumstances was a lot +which he shared with some of the most famous of +his brethren, such as Marcabrun and Folquet of Marseilles, +and it accounts to a certain extent for many of +his follies and illusions. The time of his birth it is +impossible to state accurately; it appears, however, +from several remarks in his poems, that it must have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span>been somewhere about the middle of the twelfth +century. In his youth he seems to have been very +poor; thus in one of his earlier <i>canzos</i> he addresses +a lady in the following simple and frank words: ‘I +have no castle with walls, and my land is not worth +a pair of gloves, but there never was nor will be a +more faithful lover than I am.’ When his genius had +made him the favourite and companion of kings and +nobles, he did not lack wealth. In his songs we +never find a request for assistance from his protectors, +such as often occurs in the stanzas of other +troubadours, and he was even in a position to keep +many servants and followers. He soon tired of a +quiet life, and left home to find fortune and renown. +First he went to Spain, where he was kindly received +at the court of Alfonso II., King of Aragon, one of the +most liberal protectors of the troubadours; but his +restlessness could not endure a long sojourn in the +same place. He went to Italy, and for many years +was travelling about between that country, Spain, +and the South of France, always well received by +nobles and princes, and always in love with beautiful +women. It would be impossible to give the names +of the different objects of his admiration. The +general character of these futile attachments was that +the poet believed himself quite irresistible, and supposed +no interval to exist between his seeing and +conquering. ‘Often,’ he says, ‘I receive messages +with golden rings and black and white ribbons. +Hundreds of ladies would fain keep me with them if +they could.’ In another <i>canzo</i> he boasts that all +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span>husbands are afraid of him more than of fire and +sword. In point of fact, however, the ladies he +admired did not by any means justify these illusions, +and his old biographer goes so far as to say that they +all deceived him ‘totas l’engannavan.’ The best +proof of the harmlessness of the poet’s love affairs +seems to be that the husbands concerned were more +amused than offended by his homage to their wives. +One of them, however, took the matter less easily. +When Peire Vidal boasted in his usual way of having +received many favours from his wife, he took his +revenge by imprisoning the poet and piercing his +tongue through. This anecdote of the old manuscript +is confirmed by different allusions to the fact +in the poems of other troubadours. The Monk of +Montaudon, who mercilessly ridicules Peire Vidal’s +follies, says that he ‘stands in need of a silver tongue.’</p> + +<p>The first strong and genuine attachment the poet +seems to have formed was for the Viscountess +Azalais, of the family of Roca Martina, wife of +Barrai de Baux, Viscount of Marseilles. She was +praised for her beauty and kindness by many of the +greatest troubadours, and it was for her that Folquet +of Marseilles, the amorous poet and afterwards +ascetic bishop, sang his tenderest <i>canzos</i>. Peire +Vidal in his poems always calls her Vierna, one of +the nicknames by which the troubadours (in the +same way as the antique poets their Lesbias and +Lalages) addressed for discretion’s sake the fair +objects of their admiration. Peire Vidal’s love in +this case, unlike his former transient passions, was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span>of long duration. Even the severest treatment, and +a long banishment from the lady’s presence, could +not extinguish his affection. Far from her he was +unhappy, and sent her his songs as messengers of +love and devotion. At first she was well pleased +with the homage of the celebrated poet who spread +the renown of her beauty over all the country. +Moreover, Barral her husband was on very friendly +terms with Peire, and sometimes even had to compose +the little differences which soon arose between +the eccentric troubadour and his beloved one. +The poet complained bitterly of her cruelty and +ingratitude towards him who had always been faithful +to her, but this grief of unanswered love was +favourable to his poetic genius. To this period +belong his most beautiful <i>canzos</i>, full of touching +pathos and marked by great artistic perfection. ‘I +was rich and happy,’ he says in one of these songs, +‘until my lady turned my joy to grief, for she +behaves to me like a cruel and pitiless warrior. +And she is wrong in doing so, for I never gave her +occasion to complain of me, and have always been +her most faithful admirer. But this very faithfulness +she will never forgive me. I am like a bird which +follows the hunter’s pipe, although it be to its certain +death. So I expose my heart willingly to the +thousands of arrows which she throws at me with +her beautiful eyes.’ But presently he is afraid to +offend her even by these modest complaints. In +the <i>tornada</i>, he says, ‘O lady Vierna, I will not +complain of you, but I think I deserve a little more +recompense for all my waiting and hoping.’ Notwithstanding +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span>all these entreaties the lady had no +pity for her unhappy lover. The slight favours she +granted him were overbalanced by outbreaks of bad +temper, and worst of all she began to find something +ridiculous in the rather eccentric proofs of +Peire’s unchanged devotion. At last an inconsiderate +outbreak of his passion resulted in his being +for a long time banished from her presence. One +day, early in the morning, Count Barral had risen, +and Azalais remained alone in her room. Of this +occasion the enamoured troubadour availed himself +to go there in secret. He knelt down before her +couch and kissed the lips of his slumbering love. At +first she believed him to be her husband, and smiled +kindly, but when she fully awoke and saw it was +the ‘fool’ Peire Vidal who had taken this liberty, she +grew furious, and began to weep and to raise a great +clamour. Her attendants rushed into the room, and +the importunate intruder had a narrow escape of +being severely punished on the spot. The lady +immediately sent for her husband, and begged him +to avenge Peire’s impertinence; but Count Barral, +in accordance with the opinion of his time, did not consider +the offence an unpardonable one, and reproved +the lady for having made so much of a fool’s oddities. +He did not, however, succeed in softening her +wrath; she made the story known all over the +country, and uttered such terrible threats that the +poet began to fear for his safety, and preferred to +wait abroad for a change in his favour. He went +to Genoa, and soon afterwards, according to some +manuscripts, followed King Richard on his crusade +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span>to the Holy Land. Though this latter assertion is, +for chronological reasons, not very probable, yet +Peire’s voyage to Palestine cannot be doubted. +Here he composed the little song of love and homesickness +which I have attempted to translate, following +the original closely, but the tender grace and +melodious charm of which it would be impossible +to reproduce in our Northern idiom:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">CANZO.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ab l’alen tir vas me l’aire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’eu sen venir de Proensa;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tot quant es de lai m’agensa,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Si que, quan n’aug ben retraire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eu m’o escout en rizen;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">En deman per un mot cen:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tan m’es bel quan n’aug ben dire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’om no sap tan dous repaire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cum de Rozer tro qu’a Vensa,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Si cum clau mars e Durensa,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ni on tan fis jois s’esclaire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per qu’entre la franca gen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ai laissat mon cor jauzen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ab leis que fals iratz rire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’om no pot lo jorn maltraire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’aja de leis sovinensa,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’en leis nais jois e comensa.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E qui qu’en sia lauzaire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De ben qu’en diga noi men,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quel melher es ses conten</div> + <div class="verse indent0">El genser qu’el mon se mire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">E s’eu sai ren dir ni faire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ilh n’ajal grat, que sciensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0">M’a donat e conoissensa,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per qu’eu sui gais e chantaire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E tot quan fauc d’avinen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ai del seu bel cors plazen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Neis quan de bon cor consire.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><i>Translation.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">With my breath I drink the air</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Provence my country sends me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For a message ever lends me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Joy, from her most dear and fair.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When they praise her I rejoice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ask for more with eager voice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Listen, listen night and morrow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For no country ’neath the sun</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beats mine from Rozer to Vensa,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the sea to the Durensa:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nowhere equal joy is won.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With my friends, when I did part,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with her I left my heart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who dispelled my deepest sorrow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Nothing harms me all the day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While her sweet eyes stand before me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And her lips that rapture bore me.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If I praise her, no one may</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Call my rapturous word a lie,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the whole world can descry</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nothing wrought in sweeter fashion.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">All the good I do or say</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Only to her grace is owing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For she made me wise and knowing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For she made me true and gay.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If in glory I abound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To her praise it must redound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who inspires my song with passion.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>By such repeated proofs of the poet’s unchangeable +love the heart of Azalais, was at last touched. +Besides, fool as he was, Peire was undoubtedly one +of the most renowned troubadours, and the proudest +beauty could not be indifferent to the celebration of +her charms in <i>canzos</i> as popular as they were exquisite. +Barral importuned his wife till she promised +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span>the poet forgiveness of all past offences, and immediately +sent the happy message to Peire. Some of +the manuscripts say that Azalais wrote him a letter +in which she promised him all he had been wishing +for so long. Peire Vidal returned to France, and +Barral on hearing of his arrival rode out to meet him, +and guided him to Marseilles. Azalais received him +gracefully, and granted him the kiss he had once +taken. All was forgiven and forgotten, and the +troubadour commemorated the happy reconciliation +by a song radiant with joy and hope. This state of +pure happiness, however, was not destined to be of +long duration. The lady seems to have been +disinclined to fulfil her promises; the complaints in +Peire’s <i>canzos</i> of her cruelty and falseness begin +anew, and at last he very likely grew tired of his +unrewarded pains. Certain it is that he did not stay +very long at Marseilles, for he does not make the +slightest mention of Barral’s death, which happened +soon after, in 1192. This silence would have been +impossible if he had been living at the time at his +old friend and protector’s court.</p> + +<p>While he was yet the professed admirer of Azalais, +the poet had admired more or less fervently several +other ladies, from one of whom he now seems to +have sought consolation. This was Loba de +Peinautier, who lived in Carcassonne. Her name +Loba (she-wolf) became the motive of one of Peire +Vidal’s most fantastic exploits; he gave himself the +designation of a wolf, and adopted the animal as a +badge. Once he put on a wolf’s skin, and called +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span>upon the shepherds to hunt him with their dogs. +They readily accepted the offer, and treated him so +badly that he was brought more dead than alive to +the house of his beloved. Here, in addition to his +wounds, he had to suffer the pitiless jests of the lady; +who was not at all pleased by this kind of admiration. +But in this case also the husband was more merciful, +and regarded the aberrations of the great troubadour +with indulgence. He took the greatest possible +care of him, and had him tended by the best physicians. +It would be difficult to believe a consummate +poet had really been guilty of such absurdities, if he +did not bear witness against himself. ‘I do not +mind,’ he says in one of his poems, ‘if they call me +a wolf, and if the peasants hunt me as such I do not +consider it a disgrace.’ The foolishness of the man, +however, did not impair the genius of the poet, +and some of his <i>canzos</i> addressed to Loba are +amongst the finest productions of Provençal literature. +Whilst he was engaged in these and other +love affairs the poet was also married, which of +course did not interfere with his attachments of this +kind more than the same circumstance did with +Dante’s spiritual love for Beatrice Portinari. I +mention the circumstance only because it throws fresh +light on Peire’s wonderful capacity for illusion. On +his voyage to the Holy Land, he became acquainted +in Cyprus with a Greek lady, whom he married and +brought home with him. Soon afterwards he was +made to believe that his wife was the niece of the +Greek emperor, and had as such a claim to the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span>imperial crown. This idea was exactly to his taste, +and he adapted himself to it without any difficulty. +He had on a previous occasion, if we are to believe the +satirical Monk of Montaudon, conferred knighthood +on himself; now he assumed with equal facility the +arms of the Emperor of Greece. He began collecting +money, wherever he could find it, for an expedition +to realise his claims. Meanwhile, he called himself +and his wife by the title of ‘Imperial Majesty,’ and +duly provided himself with a throne. It is needless +to say that his schemes came to nothing; the only +consequence was to expose him to greater ridicule +than before. His brethren in poetry were not slow +to avail themselves of this opportunity of lowering +a renowned troubadour in general estimation, +and to do him as much harm as they could. One +bitter and contemptuous <i>sirventes</i> will give an +example of the amiable feelings with which rivals in +art regarded each other. Its author is the Italian +Marquis Lanza, and it runs thus: ‘We have an +emperor without sense or reason or consciousness; +a worse drunkard never sat on a throne; no greater +coward wore shield and lance, no greater scoundrel +made verses and <i>canzos</i>. I wish a sword would split +his head, and an iron dart go right through his body; +his eyes ought to be torn out of his head with hooks. +Then we will give him some wine, and put on his +head an old scarlet hat, and for a lance he may have +an old stick. So he may safely wander from here to +France.’ Peire Vidal answered this friendly address +with equal warmth. ‘Marquis Lanza,’ he says, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span>‘poverty and ignorance have spoilt your manners. +You are like a blind beggar in the street, who has +lost all shame or decency.’</p> + +<p>It would hardly have been expected that, with +all this trouble about his loves and his empire, the poet +could have had time left to take part in the real +political and religious struggles of his age. But his +versatile genius was as much interested in public +affairs as in his own private concerns. As one of +the first poets of his time he was in continual intercourse +with princes and nobles, and in consequence +had ample means of knowing the politics of his protectors, +and frequent occasion to use his poetical +gift on their behalf. Among his most constant +friends was King Alfonso II. of Aragon, at whose +court the chief poets of the time gathered, and +found shelter from poverty and contempt. The +King himself practised the art of poetry; and we +possess a <i>canzo</i> by him which, if not of the first +excellence, shows at least that he did not shrink +from competing for the prize in the ‘Gaia Sciensa.’ +According to his liberality so was the praise awarded +to him in the songs of the most renowned troubadours. +Bertran de Born, indeed, accuses him of +treason and cowardice, but the passionate character +of that poet made him unscrupulous in his attacks +on political and personal enemies. Peter II., +Alfonso’s son, inherited his father’s disposition towards +the troubadours, and it was a great loss to them +when he fell in the battle of Muret (1213) against +the Crusaders. Peire Vidal was among the greatest +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span>favourites of both father and son. Alfonso once had +suits of armour of the same kind made for himself +and the poet, a striking mark of friendship in so +great a prince. The poet showed his thankfulness +by the only return he had to offer, his songs. +Several of his <i>canzos</i> are dedicated to Alfonso, whose +side he took in all the Kings wars and feuds. The +very first <i>sirventes</i> we have of Peire’s refers to the +war between Alfonso and Count Raimon of Toulouse, +and, notwithstanding the poet having been born in +that city, it is an ardent war-song in favour of the +intruder. The author, however, could not on this +occasion withstand his natural inclination towards +self-praise, and by his immoderate boasting lessened +the effect of his song. ‘If I only had a good horse,’ +he says, ‘I should trample on all my enemies, for +even as it is, when they hear my name, they are +afraid of me more than the quail of the sparrow-hawk, +because I am so strong and wild and ferocious; +when I have put on my double white armour, and girt +my sword round my loins, the ground trembles under +me where I step, and there is no enemy of mine so +bold as will not get out of my way as quickly as he +can.’ He goes on in this strain through several +stanzas, and promises at last that if the King +returns to attack Toulouse, he, Peire Vidal, will +enter the city alone with the routed enemy and +conquer it. The story of Coriolanus may possibly +have been in his mind, but there are not many +traces of his acquaintance with ancient Roman +history. As a reward for his prowess he looks +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span>forward to obtaining the much-desired knighthood, +for in the tornada of the same <i>sirventes</i> he promises +Lady Vierna that soon she shall love in him a noble +cavalier. This hope, however, was not fulfilled; he +was obliged to be content with the knighthood +which he had conferred on himself, and which of +course other people did not recognise. Nevertheless, +he remained invariably attached to Alfonso till +the King’s death. This loss he felt very deeply, and +the words in which he gives utterance to his grief +show that his friendship was genuine. ‘In great +affliction,’ he sings, ‘must live he who loses his good +master, as I have lost the best whom death ever +killed. Certainly, I should not live if suicide were +not a sin.’ This song is dedicated to Peter II. of +Aragon, the son of Alfonso, who is called ‘corn +of a good ear.’ It was sent to him from the court +of King Aimeric of Hungary, his brother-in-law, +to which Peire had retired after the death of his +protector, and where he appears to have seen something +more of the Germans, whom he had always +thoroughly disliked. In the same <i>sirventes</i> he +apostrophises them in the following words: ‘Germans, +you mean, bad, and false people, nobody who +ever served you has had any pleasure of it.’ On a +former occasion he had expressed his feelings on the +same subject even more energetically. ‘The Germans,’ +he says in another <i>sirventes</i>, ‘are coarse and +vulgar, and if one of them tries to be courteous he +becomes quite intolerable; their language is like the +barking of dogs. Therefore, I should not care to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span>be Duke of Friesland, where I should always have +to listen to the barking of these tiresome people.’ +These terms applied to the language of Wolfram +von Eschenbach and Walter von der Vogelweide +must of course be taken <i>cum grano salis</i>, and are +certainly more characteristic of the critic than of +those criticised by him.</p> + +<p>In the Crusades, Peire Vidal took the deepest +interest. We have already seen that he himself +went to Palestine, but he worked for the cause by +his songs more usefully than by his actual presence. +I cannot refrain from quoting a few stanzas of one +of his <i>sirventeses</i> in the original <i>langue d’oc</i>, which +may serve as an example of the poet’s energy in +admonishing and reproaching those who were idle in +the service of God:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Baros Jesus qu’en crotz fo mes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per salvar crestiana gen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nos manda totz comunalmen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’anem cobrar lo saint paes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On venc per nostr’amor morir.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E si nol volem obezir,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lai on feniran tuit li plag,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">N’auzirem maint esquiu retrag.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Reis aunitz val meins que pages,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quan viu a lei de recrezen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E plorals bes qu’autre despen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E pert so quel pair’ a conques.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Aitals reis fari’ad aucir,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Et en lag loc a sebelir,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quis defen a lei de contrag,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E no pren ni dona gamag.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The ‘infamous King’ thus denounced is Philip +Augustus of France, whom the troubadours hated and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span>despised almost as unanimously as they extolled +Alfonso of Aragon.</p> + +<p>This poem, apart from its political allusions, is +remarkable as a specimen of Peire Vidal’s peculiar +manner of mixing the two different forms of <i>canzo</i> +and <i>sirventes</i> together (compare p. 141). Immediately +after the passage about the French King just quoted +the poet broaches his favourite theme of love, and +explains how the unseasonable passion of mature +ladies is sure to destroy the whole courteous world. +This sudden change occurs in a similar manner in +another <i>sirventes</i> where, after having reproached the +same Philip Augustus as a coward and miser, the +poet continues with great <i>naïveté</i>, ‘But now I must +turn my song to my lady, whom I love more than +my own eyes or teeth.’</p> + +<p>Peire Vidal’s faults and errors were in great +measure the result of the exaggerated sentiments of +the time, and do not detract from his high poetical +genius. The best of his contemporaries estimated +him correctly, and forgave the great poet the extravagance +of his character. ‘The greatest fool,’ +says Bartolomeo Zorgi, another celebrated poet of +the time, ‘is he who calls Peire Vidal a fool; for without +sense it would be impossible to make poems like +his.’</p> + +<p>The exact date of Peire’s death we cannot tell. +Most likely it took place about 1210.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.<br> +<span class="smaller">BERTRAN DE BORN.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>Bertran de Born is a perfect type of the warlike +baron of the middle ages, continually fighting with +his neighbours or with his own vassals, and treating +the villeins and clowns on his estate with a brutal +contempt all the more unpardonable in his case as +he openly and deliberately advocates such oppression +in his songs. But his warlike ambition was +not confined to the squabbles of petty feudal lords. +With sword and song he fought in the great political +struggles of the time, and the important part he +played in the incessant wars of Henry II. of England +with the King of France and with his own +rebellious sons ought to secure Bertran a place in +any comprehensive history of our Angevin kings.</p> + +<p>As to the exact date of Bertran’s birth the +manuscripts contain no information. By inference +we find it must have been about the middle of the +twelfth century. The old biographers call him +Viscount of Autafort, a castle and borough of about +a thousand inhabitants in the diocese of Perigord. +His manhood fell in a stormy time of external and +internal warfare.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span></p> + +<p>The marriage of Henry of Anjou, afterwards +Henry II. of England, with the divorced faithless wife +of the French King was an abundant source of evil to +the young adventurer. It is true that the possessions +of Aquitain accruing to him from the marriage for the +moment added to his power, but in the long run his +large dominions in the west and south-west of France +tended to divert his attention from the true focus of +his strength—England. The tedious quarrels in +which his continental possessions involved him with +his feudal overlord, the King of France, greatly +increased the troubles of his eventful reign. But far +more disastrous were the domestic consequences of +this ill-assorted union. History and popular myth +have combined to depict Eleanor as the prototype of +a ruthless termagant. Whatever may have been +the provocations of her truant husband—provocations +which, by the way, her own conduct hardly justified +her in resenting too harshly—the charge remains +against her that by her instigation her sons were +first incited to rebel against their father. With +much trouble and danger to himself Henry had in +1170 induced his English bishops to assist at a prospective +coronation of his eldest son and namesake. +Two years later the ceremony was repeated, young +Henry’s wife, the daughter of King Louis VII. of +France, being included, who for reasons unknown had +been absent on the former occasion.</p> + +<p>The return which Henry received for this highest +mark of confidence was the claim on the part of his +son to be put in immediate possession either of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span>Normandy or of England. The refusal of this +outrageous demand became the cause of animosities +between father and son. Eleanor fanned the flames +of discord, and it seems to have been by her advice +mainly that young Henry at last broke into open +rebellion. He fled from his father’s court at +Limoges and took refuge with the King of France +at St. Denis, where three days afterwards he was +joined by his two brothers Richard and Geoffrey. +The war which ensued was carried on by both sides +with atrocious brutality, not even relieved by bold +exploits of arms. The name of the hirelings enlisted +by the King of England—Brabançons, from Braband, +the country of many of their number—has become +a bye-word in history, and the utter want of filial +piety, or indeed of any higher motive, on the part of +the young princes is at once revolting and astonishing. +More than once during his repeated wars with +his sons the King’s life was attempted, and on one +occasion when he was going to a parley with young +Henry he was received by a shower of arrows and +slightly wounded. Sons who thus disregarded the +demands of natural affection could not be expected +to be more scrupulous where their country was concerned. +Patriotism, more especially English patriotism, +never was the strong side of the Plantagenets. +In consequence the young princes did not hesitate +for a moment to barter away some of the fairest +portions of England for promises of assistance from +the King of Scotland and the Earl of Flanders, and +it was only by Henry’s energy and good fortune that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span>these disgraceful bargains were frustrated. The +war dragged on till 1174, and ended with a semblance +of reconciliation; Richard being the last to +submit to his father.</p> + +<p>It was necessary to dwell to this extent on these +circumstances in order to gain a background for our +centre-figure the Troubadour. There is no direct +evidence that Bertran de Born took a prominent +part in the first rebellion of the English princes, +neither do any of his warlike songs seem to refer to +it. But even in case his youth or other circumstances +prevented him from being an actor in the events +just described, he was sure to be an eager spectator. +Soon afterwards we see him in the thick of the fight. +He seems to have been on terms of intimacy with +the three elder sons of Henry, as is proved by the +familiar nicknames by which he addresses them. +Young Henry he used to call ‘Marinier’ (seaman), +an interesting fact which shows that a sailor-prince +in the Royal family is not altogether a modern +invention. Geoffrey, by marriage Duke of Brittany, +was ‘Rassa,’ a name without any distinct meaning +to us; and Richard ‘Oc e no,’ that is ‘Yes and no,’ +which might pass for an indication of straightforward +and plain dealing, or, indeed, of the reverse, according +to the terms on which prince and poet happened +to be.</p> + +<p>Bertran’s attachment to Prince Henry, the +‘Young King,’ as he and the old chroniclers frequently +call him, was of the utmost importance for +the poet’s life. It is, indeed, the redeeming feature +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span>of his character. From the first he seems to have +espoused the young Prince’s cause, and no turn of +fortune could ever make him waver in his fealty. +It is sad to think that the influence thus acquired +was used in further inflaming a nature already hot +with pride and ambition. Bertran’s biographers lay +particular stress on this point. ‘Whenever he +chose’—the old manuscript says—‘he was master of +the King of England and of his son; but he wished +that the father should always be at war with the son, +and the brothers with one another; and he also +desired that there should be incessant feud between +the Kings of France and England, and whenever +there was peace or truce between them he was at +great pains and trouble to undo the peace by means +of his <i>sirventeses</i>, and to prove to each of them how +they were dishonoured by such a peace; and he +derived much good and also much evil from the +mischief he made amongst them.’ In another place +we are told that King Henry hated Bertran because +the poet was ‘the friend and counsellor of the young +King, his (Henry’s) son, who had made war against +him; and he believed Sir Bertran bore the whole +guilt of it.’ Not without reason does Dante place +the troubadour in the ninth pit of hell, where, with +Mahomet Ali, Mosca dei Lamberti, and other disturbers +of Church and State, he is made to do +penance for his disastrous counsels. Dante describes +him carrying his own head severed from his +body in his hand. ‘Know then,’ says the spectre +addressing the poet, ‘that I am Bertran de Born, he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span>who gave evil encouragement to the young King, +causing father and son to wage war against each +other. Because I parted men thus joined together I +now carry my own head severed from its principle of +life, my body.’⁠<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.<br> +<span class="smaller">BERTRAN AND RICHARD COUNT OF POITOU.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>How this great influence over the young King was +acquired the old manuscripts do not tell us. The +first time we hear of Bertran in history is in connection +with the quarrels between Richard, at that time +Count of Poitou, and his unruly barons in the south +of France. Amongst these Bertran de Born took a +prominent position. His worldly possessions were +of comparatively small importance, but his fame as a +poet, his personal valour, his indomitable fierceness +and love of war made up for this want, and qualified +him for the part of ringleader and prime intellectual +mover of the rebellious party. A cause of quarrel +between such an overlord as Richard and such a +vassal as Bertran may easily be imagined; but +beyond these public grounds of mutual animosity +there seems to have been some personal grudge +between them. The manuscripts speak of a lady in +whose heart the troubadour supplanted his princely +rival, and in addition to this fact—perhaps in consequence +of it—we hear of Richard’s hostile interference +in his adversary’s private concerns.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span></p> + +<p>Bertran de Born had a brother, Constantine by +name, with whom he shared the possession of Castle +Autafort. He is described by the manuscripts as +‘a good knight, but not a man to trouble himself +much about valour or honour.’ A man of this kind +stood little chance of holding his own against our +troubadour, and internal evidence strongly points +towards the latter as the aggressor in the endless +quarrels between the two brothers. This, however, +Bertran’s biographer does not acknowledge. He +goes on to say that Constantine ‘hated Bertran at +all seasons, and wished well to those who wished +ill to Bertran, and he took from him the Castle of +Autafort, which belonged to them both in common. +But Sir Bertran soon recovered it, and drove his +brother from all his possessions.’ At this juncture +Richard interfered in favour of Constantine. Together +with Aimar, Viscount of Limoges, and other +powerful barons, he invaded Bertran’s domains, +which soon became the scene of atrocities such as +are the usual concomitants of civil feud. Castle +Autafort itself was threatened, but its master remained +undaunted. In a powerful <i>sirventes</i> he +hurls defiance at his enemies. A war-song more +recklessly bold, more graphically real, has seldom +been heard.</p> + +<p>Let the reader judge. ‘All day long,’ Bertran +says, ‘I fight, and am at work, to make a thrust at +them and defend myself, for they are laying waste +my land and burning my crops; they pull up my +trees by the root and mix my corn with the straw. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span>Cowards and brave men are my enemies. I +constantly disunite and sow hatred amongst the +barons, and then remould and join them together +again, and try to give them brave hearts and +strong; but I am a fool for my trouble, for they are +made of base metal.’</p> + +<p>In these last sentences the poet discloses the +secret of his power. It was the irresistible sway of +his eloquence over men’s minds, his ‘don terrible de +la familiarité,’ as the elder Mirabeau puts it, which +enabled Bertran to play on men’s minds as on the +strings of a lute, and to make them form and vary +their purpose according to his impulse. In this +very <i>sirventes</i> we gain an idea of the manner in +which he lashes the hesitating barons into resistance +against the common oppressor. Talairand is accused +of indolence—‘he does not trot nor gallop, +motionless he lies in his cot, neither lance nor arrow +does he move. He lives like a Lombard pedlar, +and when others depart for the war he stretches +himself and yawns.’ Another baron, whose name, +William of Gordon, strikes the English ear with +familiar note, is warned against Richard’s persuasive +statecraft. ‘I love you well,’ Bertran says, ‘but +my enemies want to make a fool and a dupe of you, +and the time seems long to them before they see +you in their ranks.’ The <i>sirventes</i> winds up with a +climax of fierce invective against Richard himself. +‘To Perigeux close to the wall, so that I can throw +my battle-axe over it, I will come well armed, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span>riding on my horse Bayard; and if I find the +glutton of Poitou he shall know the cut of my sword. +A mixture of brain and splinters of iron he shall +wear on his brow.’</p> + +<p>Bertran’s assertions of his dangerous influence +over men’s minds were not the idle boastings of +poetic vanity. A terrible conspiracy was formed +against Richard, and the greatest nobles of the +country, the Viscounts of Ventadorn, of Camborn, +of Segur, and of Limoges, the Count of Perigord, +William of Gordon, the Lord of Montfort, besides +many important cities, are mentioned amongst the +rebels. A meeting took place, and we may imagine +the picturesque scene when ‘in the old monastery of +San Marsal they swore on a missal’ to stand by +each other and never to enter into separate treaties +with Richard. The special causes of this rebellion +are not known to us. We may surmise, and indeed +know in a general way, that the hand of their lion-hearted +lord weighed heavily on the provinces of +Southern France. But the veil which covers this +portion of Henry II.’s reign has never yet been +fully lifted, and till that is done we must be satisfied +with such hints as may be gleaned from scattered +bits of information in ancient writers. Our Provençal +manuscript offers a clue not without interest +to the historical student. It speaks of certain +<i>rendas de caretas</i>, rates of carts or wagons, most +likely a toll which Richard had unlawfully appropriated, +and which in reality belonged to the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span>‘Young King,’ that is to Prince Henry, to whom +it had been given by his father.</p> + +<p>This latter circumstance connects our story with +less obscure portions of history. It is well known +that in 1182 King Henry demanded of his sons +Richard and Geoffrey to do homage to their elder +brother for the possessions respectively held by +them, a demand indignantly refused by Richard. +Hence the invasion of Aquitain by young Henry, +and hence perhaps also the latter’s intimacy with +our poet, who, as the intellectual mover of the +rebellion against Richard, was an ally by no means +to be despised. Thus the war between the brothers +went on raging for a time, Bertran fighting in the +foremost ranks, and at the same time fanning the +flame with his songs. We still possess <i>sirventeses</i> in +which he addresses the chief barons by name, reminding +them of their grievances, praising the brave +and castigating the waverers with his satire. Such +were the means of diplomatic pressure in those days. +But primitive though such measures of admonition +may appear, they were none the less efficacious with +those concerned. Papiol, Bertran’s faithful minstrel, +went about the country boldly reciting his master’s +taunts in the lordly hall of the baron or at the gate of +the castle, where the throng of the vassals would +listen to his song. Taking into account the excitability +of the southern nature further inflamed +by the struggles of the time, together with the +general interest of the subject and the consummate +art of treatment and delivery, one can form some +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span>idea of the dangerous influence of the troubadours, +too dangerous and too generally acknowledged to be +despised by the mightiest princes of the time.</p> + +<p>Bertran de Born is evidently quite conscious of +the force of his songs, and the use he makes of his +power betrays great sagacity of political purpose. +But with him the love of war for war’s sake is so +great that sometimes every deeper design seems to +vanish before this ruling passion. His character is +a psychological problem in this respect. A man +who, after a life of wildest storm and stress, passed +in continual strife with domestic and political foes, +dies in peace and in the quiet possession of his +usurped dominion, must have been endowed in a +more than usual degree with calmness and deliberation. +But there is no trace of this in his songs. +They breathe one and all the recklessness and +animal buoyancy of a savage chieftain who regards +fighting as the only enjoyment and true vocation of +a man. One of his warlike <i>sirventeses</i> ends with the +naïve exclamation by way of <i>tornada</i> or <i>envoi</i>, +‘Would that the great barons could always be +inflamed against each other!’ In another he gives +vent to his insatiate pugnacity with most unqualified +openness. ‘There is peace everywhere,’ he says, +‘but I still retain a rag (<i>pans</i>) of warfare; a sore in +his eye (<i>pustella en son huelh</i>) to him who tries to +part me from it, although I may have begun the +quarrel! Peace gives me no pleasure, war is my +delight. This is my law, other I have none. I don’t +regard Monday or Tuesday, or week, or month, or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span>year: April or March would not hinder me in +doing damage to those who wrong me. Three of +them would not get the value of an old leather strap +from me.’⁠<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>Things in Aquitain began in the meantime to +take a more peaceful turn than our warlike singer +could wish or expect. King Henry appeared on +the scene as peacemaker between his sons, and by +his command young Henry had to declare himself +satisfied with a money compensation for his claims +of overlordship. This compliance drew on him the +momentary indignation of the troubadour, who calls +him ‘a king of cowards;’ and adds that ‘not by +lying asleep will he become master of Cumberland, +or King of England, or conqueror of Ireland.’ +The defection of their leader proved fatal to the +league of the barons, who separately tried to make +their peace with Richard and quietly submitted to +his punishing wrath. Not so Bertran de Born. +His first impulse was to give utterance to his contempt +for the nobles who by their want of courage +and union destroyed their last chance of safety. ‘I +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span>will sing a <i>sirventes</i>,’ Bertran exclaims, ‘of the +cowardly barons, and after that not waste another +word upon them. More than a thousand spurs +have I broken in them, and never could I make +them trot or gallop. Now they allow themselves to +be robbed without saying a word. God’s curse +upon them!’ His next thought must have been to +find a new head and centre for such remnants of the +rebellious forces as still remained unsubdued. In +this endeavour he was more successful than might +have been expected under the circumstances. +Geoffrey, Henry’s younger brother, who had been +commissioned by the King to facilitate the reconciliation +between Richard and his barons, suddenly +declared himself in favour of the latter, and began to +invade Poitou with all the forces at his disposal. +We have no direct evidence of Bertran’s active +participation in this affair. But we know of his +intimacy with Geoffrey, whom, after the desertion +of the cause by young Henry, he hails as a worthy +pretender to the crowns of England and Normandy. +We are therefore justified in conjecturing that the +bold troubadour’s advice may have had much weight +with a prince of Geoffrey’s ambition.</p> + +<p>But here the matter was not to end. In this emergency +young Henry offered his services to his father, +promising to advise or if necessary to enforce a +reconciliation between his brothers. But no sooner +had he arrived at the seat of war than he also joined +the league of the barons. Richard in his extreme +need implored the aid of his father, who immediately +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>entered into alliance with Alfonso of Aragon for +the purpose of subduing his rebellious sons. The +princes sought the support of the Count of Toulouse +and other powerful nobles of the south of France. +War on a large scale became inevitable, and this +prospect was greeted by Bertran with an exuberance +of joy. He revels beforehand in the brilliant and +terrible scenes of a field of battle. ‘As soon as we +arrive,’ he exclaims, ‘the tournament shall begin. +The Catalans and the Aragonese will fall to the +ground fast and thick. The pommels of their +saddles will be of no use to them, for our friends +strike long blows. And the splinters will fly up to +heaven, and silk and samite will be torn to shreds, +and tents and huts destroyed.’</p> + +<p>But once more Bertran’s high hopes of victory +were to be cut short by the hand of fate. King +Henry was laying siege to Limoges, and his two +rebellious sons were preparing a large expedition +for the rescue of the threatened city, when suddenly +young Henry was taken ill with a violent fever and +died shortly afterwards. On his death-bed he implored +his father’s pardon and asked for a last interview, +but the King, although deeply moved, was +persuaded by his counsellors to refuse this favour. +It is said that he feared a snare, and after his former +experiences this suspicion was but too easily accounted +for. He, however, sent a ring in token of +forgiveness, which his son pressed to his dying lips. +This death was a blow to both contending parties. +In spite of their dissensions, King Henry had deeply +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span>loved his son, who, according to the unanimous +testimony of his contemporaries, was a high-spirited +youth of undaunted courage and noblest aspirations. +Bertran’s grief also was true, and, for the moment at +least, unselfish. His unwavering friendship for +young Henry is the one redeeming feature in the +reckless warrior’s character, and this feeling, which +death itself had not destroyed, now inspired him +with a song of noblest pathos. It is a dirge as sad +and as true as ever friend has sung for friend. I +have attempted the following literal translation of +three stanzas, in which the metrical peculiarities of +the original are strictly adhered to. These peculiarities, +which frequently serve the troubadours for the +display of their consummate skill, are here made +the vehicle of genuine emotion, and give truth and +colour to the poem. Note particularly the repetition +of the same words at the end of the first, fifth, and +eighth lines of each stanza, which strikes the note +of unrelieved sadness with the monotony of a death-knell:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">PLANH.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Si tuit li dol el plor el marrimen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E las dolors el dan el caitivier</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que hom agues en est segle dolen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fosson ensems, sembleran tuit leugier</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Contra la mort del jove rei engles,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Don reman pretz e jovens doloiros,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">El mons escurs e tenhs e tenebros,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sems de tot joi, pies de tristor e d’ira.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Estenta mort, plena de marrimen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vanar te pods quel melhor cavalier</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As tolt al mon qu’anc fos de nulha gen;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quar non es res qu’a pretz aja mestier,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Que tot no fos el jove rei engles:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E fora meils, s’a deu plagues razos,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que visques el que mant autr’ enojos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’anc no feron als pros mas dol et ira.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">D’aquest segle flac, plen de marrimen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">S’amors s’en vai, son joi tenh mensongier,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que ren noi a que non torn en cozen;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Totz jorns veiretz que val mens oi que ier:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cascus se mir el jove rei engles</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’era del mon lo plus valens dels pros.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ar es anatz sos gens cors amoros,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dont es dolors e desconortz et ira.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><i>Translation.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">COMPLAINT.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If all the pain, the grief, the bitter tears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sorrow, the remorse, the scornful slight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of which man in this life the burden bears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were thrown a-heap, their balance would be light</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against the death of our young English King.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Valour and youth stand wailing at his loss;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The world is waste, and dark, and dolorous,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Void of all joy, full of regret and sorrow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">All-present death, cruel and full of tears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now mayst thou boast that of the noblest knight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose deeds were ever sung to human ears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou hast deprived the world. No fame so bright</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That it could darken our young English King.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twere better, if it pleased our Lord, to give</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Life back to him, than that the traitors live</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who to good men cause but regret and sorrow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The world is base and dark and full of tears.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Its love has fled, its pleasure passed away;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A falsehood is its truth. Each day appears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But to regret its better yesterday.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Look up, ye all, to our young English King,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The best among the brave and valorous!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now is his gentle heart afar from us,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And we are left to our regret and sorrow.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span></p> + +<p>With the death of young Henry the rebellion +was practically at an end. Again the barons tried +to make peace with Richard and the King; again +they submitted to the most humiliating terms of +submission; but again also Bertran de Born’s +courage remained undaunted, although against him, +as the evil counsellor of young Henry, the wrath of +the King was hottest. Soon the army of the allies +arrived before Castle Autafort, and little hope of +rescue remained. Still Bertran held out, and +ultimately succumbed only to the treachery of a +friend.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.<br> +<span class="smaller">SIEGE OF AUTAFORT—BERTRAN’S DEATH.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The manuscripts tell a curious story with regard +to this treachery. The reader will remember that +at the beginning of the war Henry had entered into +a league with the King of Aragon. This king was +Alfonso II., well known as one of the most liberal +protectors of the troubadours, who in return lavished +their praise upon him. Bertran de Born was on +terms of intimacy with him, and the manuscript +tells us that ‘he was very glad that King Alfonso +was amongst the besieging army, for he was his +most especial friend.’ It appears that Castle Autafort +was better provided with meat and drink than +the camp, for King Alfonso, on the ground of their +intimacy, asked Bertran for a supply of bread, wine, +and meat. This the troubadour generously granted, +but in return asked another favour, which was +nothing less than that the King of Aragon should +use his authority to remove the besieging engines +from a certain side of the castle where the wall was +rotten and would give way easily. Such a demand +implied the fullest confidence in him to whom it +was made, and this confidence unfortunately turned +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span>out to be misplaced. The King of Aragon immediately +betrayed the secret to Henry; the assault +was directed against the weak point of the defences, +and the castle fell.</p> + +<p>Such is the story as told by Bertran’s biographer, +and, if true, it fully accounts for the troubadour’s +implacable hatred evinced by many poetic onslaughts +on the private and political character of Alfonso. +But we ought to hesitate in condemning on such +doubtful evidence the conduct of a king who by +the all but unanimous testimony of contemporary +writers was a model of knightly virtues and wholly +incapable of the base treachery here laid to his +charge.</p> + +<p>However this may have been, Bertran’s castle +was taken, and he a prisoner in the hands of +his bitterest enemies. But even in this extremity +Bertran’s genius did not forsake him, and it is on +this occasion chiefly that we catch a glimpse of that +undauntable strength of character which, combined +with a keen insight into the secret springs of human +impulse, explains his extraordinary sway over men’s +minds. I follow closely the graphic account of +the Provençal manuscript:—‘After the castle was +taken Sir Bertran, with all his people, was brought +to the tent of King Henry. And the King received +him very ill, and said to him,</p> + +<p>‘“Bertran, Bertran! you have boasted that never +half of your sense would be needful to you at any +time, but know that now you stand in need of the +whole of it.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span></p> + +<p>‘“Sir,” replied Bertran, “it is true that I have +said so, and I have spoken the truth.”</p> + +<p>‘And the King said, “Then now, it seems, you +have lost your wits altogether.”</p> + +<p>‘“Sir,” said Bertran, “it is true that I have lost +all my wits.”</p> + +<p>‘“And how is that?” replied the King.</p> + +<p>‘“Sir,” said Bertran, “the day that the valiant +young Henry your son died I lost sense and cunning +and consciousness.”</p> + +<p>‘And the King, when he heard Bertran’s words, +wept for his son, and great grief rose to his heart +and to his eyes, and he could not constrain himself, +and fainted away from pain. And when he recovered +himself he called out to Bertran, and said, +weeping,</p> + +<p>‘“Sir Bertran! Sir Bertran! you are right and +wise in saying that you lost your sense for the sake +of my son, for he loved you better than any other +man in the world; and for the love of him I release +your person, your lands, and your castle, and I will +receive you to my grace and favour, and I give you +five hundred marks of silver for the damage you +have suffered at my hands.”</p> + +<p>‘And Bertran fell at his feet, tendering him +service and gratitude.’</p> + +<p>We may feel inclined to look upon the substantial +data of the closing sentences with some amount +of scepticism; but the consummate skill with which +Bertran at first excites the curiosity of the King, the +way in which he finally acts upon his feelings, all +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span>the more powerfully as his own grief is true and +powerful—all this is much beyond the invention of a +simple-minded Provençal scribe. These traits are +too intrinsically real for mere fiction; they are inherent +in the nature of a strong man and a great +poet. It is also an undeniable fact that soon after +the events described, Bertran was again in possession +of his castle, and that the remonstrances of his unfortunate +brother Constantine were treated with +scorn by both Richard and King Henry.</p> + +<p>To the former Bertran now seems to have +attached himself, and during the incessant feuds in +which the lion-hearted monarch subsequently was +involved with the King of France and his own +unruly vassals the troubadour seems to have remained +faithful to him, barring always such inclinations +towards whoever might be the aggressive party, +which Bertran’s unbounded love of fighting made +excusable. We possess a <i>sirventes</i> dated many +years later in which the poet rejoices at Richard’s +release from the German prison, ‘because now again +we shall see walls destroyed and towers overthrown +and our enemies in chains.’</p> + +<p>But I must not detain the reader with further +stories of feuds and battles, of which most likely he +has had already more than his fill. It remains to +add a few words with regard to another side of +Bertran’s life and poetry, his love affairs. These, it +must be hoped, will form a somewhat more harmonious +conclusion to an account of a wild, reckless +career.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span></p> + +<p>Bertran’s love-songs are not the emanations of a +pure guileless heart, such as the <i>canzos</i> of Guillem +de Cabestanh or Folquet of Marseilles. Upon the +whole one is glad to find that they are not and do +not pretend to be such; for a lover’s unselfish +devotion could be nothing but pretension in a man +of his character. Bertran was, and appears even in +his <i>canzos</i>, a man of the world, to whom his love +affairs are of secondary importance. Yet these +<i>canzos</i> are not without passion, and not seldom have +a peculiar charm of simple grace, all the more delightful +because of its contrast with the warlike +harshness of his ordinary strains. What, for instance, +can be more sweet and graceful than the following +stanza, which occurs at the beginning of one of +Bertran’s <i>sirventeses</i>?—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When the young blossoms of the spring appear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And paint the bushes pink and white and green,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then in the sweetness of the nascent year</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I clothe my song; at all times such has been</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wont of birds; and as a bird am I</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who love the fairest lady tenderly:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I dare to love her longing for love’s fruit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But never dare to speak; my heart is mute.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>After such an opening the reader expects a love-song +of tenderest pathos. But no. After another +stanza, Bertran suddenly changes his mind. Perhaps +the lady whom he silently adored did not understand +or appreciate his passion. ‘As without a +lady’—he now exclaims—‘one cannot make a love-song, +I am going to sing a fresh and novel <i>sirventes</i>.’ +And forthwith he begins his ordinary strain +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span>of invective against a whole catalogue of hostile +barons.</p> + +<p>Of the objects of Bertran’s passion—for we know +of two, and there may have been others of whom we +do not know—the old manuscripts give us a prolix +account. We first hear of a Lady Maenz or +Matilda of Montignac, wife of Count Talairand (for +as a matter of course she was married), and sister to +two other ladies celebrated by the troubadours for +their beauty and courteous demeanour. The Lady +Maenz was wooed by many noble knights and +barons; and even three scions of royalty, the Princes +Richard and Geoffrey of England and King Alfonso +of Aragon, are mentioned amongst her suitors. But +Bertran’s valour and fame as a poet gained the +victory in her heart over power and riches. Such +at least is the account of the old biography, founded, +it seems, on a somewhat vague statement in one of +Bertran’s own poems, to the effect that his lady +‘refused Poitou, and Tolosa, and Bretagne and +Saragosa, but has given her love to the valorous +poor knight’—meaning of course himself.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately the course of true love did not +run smooth for long; the blast of jealousy troubled +its waters. Bertran had written a few songs in +praise of another lady, the wife of his friend the +Viscount of Camborn. Pure gallantry, he alleged, +was the motive, but the Lady Maenz refused to +view the matter in this innocent light, and angrily +discarded her lover. Bertran was in despair; he +knew, the manuscript says, ‘that he could never +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span>regain her, or find another lady so beautiful, so +good, so gentle, and so learned.’ In this dilemma +Bertran had recourse to the following pretty conceit +of gallantry. Whether he had heard the story +of the Athenian artist who, from the combined +charms of the most beautiful women, moulded the +type of the Goddess of Love, seems doubtful; +but the coincidence of ideas between the troubadour +and the antique sculptor is striking. For Bertran +de Born, the biographer tells us, went to the most +beautiful ladies of the country asking from each the +loan of her greatest charm (metaphorically it must +be understood), and from these he reconstructed the +ideal type of his lost love. The poem in which this +is done is a model of grace and gallantry, flattering +alike to the divers ladies whose beauties are commemorated, +and to the one who in her being concentrates +and surpasses the charms of all others.</p> + +<p>But her heart was unmoved, and, in a fit of +amorous despair we must suppose, the troubadour +now offered his services as knight and poet to +another lady, complaining at the same time bitterly +of the cruelty of his former love. His offer was not +accepted, neither was it disdainfully rejected. It +would have been a breach of courtesy and good +faith to deprive a lady of her lover, and much as the +Lady Tibors (this was the name of Bertran’s new +flame) may have been desirous of the praise of one +of the greatest troubadours of the time, she resisted +the temptations of vanity. Her answer to Bertran +is a model of good sense; at the same time it +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span>smacks a little of that technical pedantry with which +the ladies of Provence were wont to treat difficult +cases of love. ‘Either,’ said the Lady Tibors, +‘your quarrel is of a slight and temporary kind—and +in that case I will try to effect your peace with your +lady; or else you have been guilty of a serious +offence towards her—and, if so, neither I nor any +good lady ought to accept your services. But in +case I find on inquiry that your lady has left you +from fickleness and caprice, I shall be honoured by +your love.’ The first of these surmises fortunately +turned out to be true. By the interference of Lady +Tibors the lovers’ quarrel was settled, and in commemoration +of the event Bertran was ordered to +write a song in which he declares his immutable +love for Lady Maenz, paying at the same time a +grateful and graceful tribute to the kind peacemaker.</p> + +<p>This is all we hear of the beautiful Lady Maenz. +But Bertran appears presently as the passionate +admirer of another lady, of much more exalted rank. +It must have been soon after his reconciliation with +Count Richard that the troubadour met in his camp +the Count’s sister Mathilda, the wife of the celebrated +Duke Henry of Brunswick. The inflammable +heart of the poet caught fire at her beauty, +and his enthusiastic praise seems to have been +received with much condescension. It tends to +prove Bertran’s importance that it was by Richard’s +express desire that his sister showed kindness to the +troubadour, who, the manuscript adds, ‘was a renowned +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span>man and valorous, and might be of great +use to the Count.’ In the praise of Mathilda Bertran +wrote several beautiful <i>canzos</i>, one of which is +particularly remarkable for an allusion in the first +line to so prosaic a subject as dinner—the poem +having been composed, it is said, one Sunday when +that meal failed to be forthcoming at the ill-provided +camp.</p> + +<p>In addition to these amorous entanglements +Bertran was also married, although neither he nor +his biographer deigns to mention so unimportant +a personage as his wife. We know, however, that +his children at Bertran’s death came to a compromise +with their uncle Constantine as to the possession of +Castle Autafort and its dependencies. One of his +sons inherited with his father’s name some of his +father’s poetic talent and, it appears, all his fierce +passions. By this younger Bertran de Born, who +has sometimes been mistaken for the great poet, we +possess a <i>sirventes</i> against King John worthy of the +paternal example. The luckless king is mercilessly +assaulted. The loss of his continental possessions +is attributed to cowardice and irresolution, and the +king’s immoderate love of the chase does not escape +notice. The barons also come in for their share of +vituperation. In fact everything is done <i>more patrio</i>. +Bertran died at an advanced age, having entered a +monastery not long before his death.</p> + +<p>Such was the not inappropriate close of a life +passed in the wildest turmoil of political strife. As +a type of the warlike mediæval baron, reckless and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span>ruthless, Bertran stands unsurpassed in history or +literature. But we have seen that the refining and +softening influences of friendship, of love, of knightly +courtesy, were not wholly absent from his career.</p> + +<p>Another consideration suggests itself. Would it +not be worth while for the authorities of the Record +Office to secure a competent hand to glean from the +biography of this and other troubadours the many +important and hitherto totally neglected facts bearing +on the continental policy of the Plantagenets?</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE MONK OF MONTAUDON.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>Of the life of the Monk of Montaudon the old +manuscripts tell us little. We are ignorant even of +his name, and only know that he was descended +from a noble family residing at Castle Vic in +Auvergne. Being a younger son he was, as the biography +naïvely puts it, ‘made a monk of,’ and entered +the Abbey of Orlac (Aurillac), in the vicinity of his +father’s castle; some time afterwards he became +Prior of Montaudon. Soon, however, it became +apparent that the cowl had not made the monk; he +began to compose gay stanzas and satiric <i>sirventeses</i> +on the events of the day. The knights and barons +of the adjacent castles were pleased with the poet’s +gay, genial ways. They asked him to feasts and +tournaments, and rewarded his songs with rich gifts, +conscientiously remitted by him to the treasury of +his cloister; a circumstance which goes far to explain +the leniency with which his superiors looked on his +infringements of the monastic rules. At last the +monk asked permission of the Abbot of Orlac to +regulate his way of living according to the commands +of King Alfonso of Aragon, known to us as the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span>revenger of Guillem de Cabestanh’s death, and a +great protector and friend of troubadours in general. +The granting of this comprehensive prayer tends to +prove at once the lucrativeness of the monk’s poetic +endeavours, and the considerate tolerance of the +worthy prelate. For no sooner was the permission +given than Alfonso bade the monk eat meat, compose +gay songs, and court the favour of a lady. ‘Et el +si fes,’ ‘and so he did,’ the manuscript adds significantly.</p> + +<p>There were held at that time certain gay assemblies +at Puy Sainte Marie, where the noble ladies +and gentlemen of many miles round met for a season +to enjoy courteous pastimes. The knights measured +their strength in the lists, the troubadours sang their +sweetest <i>canzos</i> for prizes, made more valuable by +the beautiful hands which distributed them. At this +gay court the Monk of Montaudon was now created +master of the revels, and in this capacity had to +hold the celebrated sparrow-hawk, a time-honoured +ceremony, performed by him with portly dignity, we +may imagine. At the beginning of each of these +annual feasts the ‘Master of the Court of Puy’ stood +in the midst of the noble guests, took a sparrow-hawk +on his fist, and calmly waited till one of the +great barons relieved him of his burden. The acceptance +of the bird involved the obligation of +bearing the not inconsiderable expenses of the whole +feast, and was therefore the exclusive privilege of +the richest and most liberal nobles. Perhaps it was +owing to this pretty but frequently ruinous custom +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span>that the Court of Puy itself came to an untimely end. +After its expiration the Monk of Montaudon went +to Spain, where his abbot conferred upon him the +dignity of Prior of Villafranca, in acknowledgment, +most likely, of his exemplary life. This monastery, +also, the monk enriched with the gifts of his literary +patrons. He lived to an advanced age, and died +much esteemed and loved by his brethren. He +flourished about the end of the twelfth century.</p> + +<p>From this short sketch of the monk’s life some +anticipatory notion of his poetry may be formed. +There is in his works a spirit of freshness and +animal vigour which ought somewhat to atone for a +considerable admixture of grossness in thought and +expression. Whatever the poet’s faults may be, +hypocrisy is not amongst them; and, to leave no +doubt whatever as to his tastes, he has dedicated +three entire songs of moderate size to the enumeration +of all the things in the world which excite his +just displeasure. A fourth and supplementary poem +describes the more agreeable aspects of life by way +of contrast. This <i>catalogue raisonné</i> of lights and +shadows is exceedingly curious, and outspoken +beyond the imagination and endurance of polite +minds and ears.</p> + +<p>Amongst the most detestable things, the monk +ranks quarrelsome and arrogant people, a halting +horse, a young knight without a rent in his shield, +a monk with a long beard, a proud though poor +lady, and finally, an over-affectionate husband. +This last point is again highly characteristic of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span>Provençal conception of marriage already referred +to. Our poet also abhors a small piece of meat in a +large dish; and that a little wine with a great +quantity of water is not to his taste, we would +willingly believe without the testimony of St. Martin, +solemnly invoked. His culinary principles being +thus established, the monk proceeds to take us into +his confidence with regard to the tender secrets of +his heart. We conclude, from his confessions, that +he has met with some ill-treatment at the hands of +those members of the fair sex who, although of +maturer beauty, have not yet abandoned their +claims to admiration. Only personal experience +can account for the poet’s bitter resentment. Three +times he returns to the point, growing more venomous +with every new attack. In one instance he +goes so far as to use the ungallant expression, +‘Vielha caserna’—old barracks.</p> + +<p>In this manner he goes on grumbling and complaining +of contrary winds when he wants to start on +a voyage, of badly-lined fur caps, false friends, bad +fiddlers, and other miscellaneous evils of this wicked +world. A whole litany of saints is called to witness +frequently on such precarious points, as to remind +one of the Italian brigand, who prays to his +Madonna previously to cutting purses or throats, as +the case may be.</p> + +<p>But the monk is not an entire pessimist. His +praise is as eloquent as his vituperation. He likes +gaiety and carousals, courteous knights and noble +ladies. A powerful man, he wishes to be friendly +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span>to his friends, hostile to his foes. The same un-Christian +sentiment is repeated still more emphatically +in the further course of the poem.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The hated foeman’s death I cherish,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The more, if by my hand he perish.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Milder impulses, however, are not wanting. In +two charming, melodious stanzas the poet depicts +the delights of a summer’s day passed with his love +by the side of the murmuring brook, while the air is +sweet with the fragrance of blossoms and the song +of the nightingale. Truth compels me to confess, +that in close juxtaposition to this charming idyl, the +very material wish is expressed of having a ‘<i>grans +salmos ad hora nona</i>’—that is, a large salmon for +supper.</p> + +<p>The Monk of Montaudon, as the reader will +perceive, was little given to sentimentality, and the +love-songs which he wrote, in compliance with the +custom of the time, show accordingly more cleverness +than true feeling. They are, however, full of +happy turns of expression, and particularly abound +with well-chosen similes—a proof that the poet was +by no means wanting in imagination. Nevertheless, +it must be confessed that satire was his true field of +action, and we are not surprised at seeing a man of +his keen sense of ridicule turn this weapon against +those objects of superlative romantic adoration—women. +The weaknesses of the fair sex are indeed +the theme of two remarkable <i>sirventeses</i> by our +troubadour, which we now must consider a little +more closely. They deserve attention, both by the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span>original boldness of their satire and by the quaint +disguise in which this main purpose is clad. The +form adopted by the monk is that of a vision, +familiar to the reader from those two great monuments +of mediæval literature, the ‘Divina Commedia’ +and ‘Piers the Ploughman.’ Heaven itself, indeed, +is the scene of the troubadour’s poem, but a +heaven how different from the celestial abode to +which the inspired Italian singer was welcomed by +Beatrice!</p> + +<p>The Monk of Montaudon introduces us into the +midst of a legal action, the cause of which is, I am +almost ashamed to say, that immemorial privilege of +the fair sex to counteract the ravages of time by the +rosy bloom of artificial colour. The scene of the +action, as has been seen before, is heaven; the +Judge, the Deity itself; the monks act as accusers; +the ladies are defendants. The painted cheeks of +the latter are alleged to outshine the votive pictures +in the monasteries. Painting, and the mixing of +colours, the monks assert to be their own inventions, +to the use of which the ladies have no claim or title. +This monstrous allegation the ladies, of course, +deny indignantly. Colouring, they say, is their +natural birthright, and has been practised by them +long before either monks or votive pictures were +thought of.</p> + +<p>At this juncture a compromise is proposed by +the bench, to the effect that ladies on the right side +of twenty-five shall be allowed to retain the bloom +of youth by what means they please for a further +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span>term of twenty years. But the vicious monks refuse +to grant more than ten years; and it is only by the +intercession of those accomplished diplomats, SS. +Peter and Lawrence, that a medium time of fifteen +years is at last agreed upon by the contending +parties. Forty years, then, is the limit up to which, +to judge from this decision, a Provençal lady might, +without incurring ridicule, play youthful parts in +life’s comedy. ‘But,’ the monk adds, ‘I see that +the ladies have broken their promise, which is unfair +and wicked; few only have been faithful to their +vow.’ He further enters upon a detailed enumeration +of the various ingredients of paint which, by the way, +seems to throw some new light on that interesting +question in the history of mediæval art, the composition +of colours previous to the introduction of the +oil-medium. ‘The old monks,’ we hear, ‘are deprived +of their beans, the only thing which they can eat; +and they are therefore left without any food. The +price of saffron also, which ought to be used for the +sauces of <i>ragoûts</i>, has been driven up by the ladies +to such a degree, that people over the sea begin to +complain, as pilgrims tell us. Let the ladies take +the cross, and go themselves to Palestine, to fetch +the saffron of which they stand in such need.’</p> + +<p>In the second poem the ladies have been charged +with the breach of the former treaty, and it seems +that the monk has been summoned to heaven for a +preparatory consultation. The Supreme Judge is +indignant at such audacity. ‘Monk,’ he says, ‘I +hear the ladies have broken their promise; go down, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span>for the love of me, to tell them that if they again +use colour, I shall take dire revenge.’ But the poet +has evidently been under gentle pressure since the +last trial. He now takes the part of the ladies in +the warmest terms. ‘Gently, gently, my lord!’ he +interposes; ‘you must have patience with the ladies, +for it is their nature to sweetly adorn their countenance.’ +To this opinion he adheres with obstinacy. +In vain it is alleged against him that the ladies, by +trying to perpetuate their youth, infringe the unalterable +laws of Nature. The monk is not to be +shaken. There is only one alternative, he thinks—either +to grant unfading beauty to the ladies, or else +to deprive the whole human race of the art of +painting.</p> + +<p>This is, in brief outline, the argument of two of +the quaintest productions mediæval literature can +show. The bold cynicism with which the delicate +secrets of the dressing-room are revealed justly +surprises us in a troubadour of noble family and +liberal education; but much more are we astonished +at the familiarity with which the Deity itself is +mixed up with these worldly matters. It is true +that, in the old Mysteries and Miracle-plays, tolerated +and even countenanced by the Church, sacred topics +are treated with a naïve simplicity strange to modern +religious feeling. But the experienced eye can +almost always discern the under-current of sacred +awe at the bottom of the wildest outburst of popular +imagination. Even the ‘Wanton Wife of Bath,’ +whose tongue is a match for all the saints in heaven, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span>‘trembles at his sight,’ when the Saviour himself +appears in his glory. This sacred tremor is entirely +unknown to the Monk of Montaudon, who, moreover, +as an artistic poet addressing a refined audience, +is without the excuse of popular rudeness and +ignorance. Yet I think we should be unjust in +ascribing to him any conscious intention of blasphemy, +or even irreverence. Supposing even he +had been a sceptic, he was at the same time too +much attached to life and its pleasures to parade his +heresies at the risk of his neck. The only way of +solving the psychological puzzle is to follow the +ancient example of the monk’s superiors, and to +make ample allowance for the reckless buoyancy of +a poet’s fancy, difficult to check at a certain point +when once let loose. To give an idea of the ease +with which he moves in the celestial regions, I will +quote the opening stanza of another poem, the tone +of which reminds one somewhat of the ‘Prelude in +Heaven’ of Goethe’s ‘Faust.’ It seems to have +been written at a time when, after a prolonged stay +at his monastery, the author was fain to set out on +another expedition.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Up to heaven I found my way</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lately: you may trust my word,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Welcome sweet bade me the Lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He whose all-command obey</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Land and sea, and hill and dell.’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Monk, why do you seek my throne?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tell me how fares Montaudon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where thy pious brethren dwell?</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The drift of the poem is easily discernible. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span>Some of his monastic brethren had evidently +remarked upon the poet’s worldly ways; and to +silence these, the very highest authority is now +brought to bear on the subject. This is the reassuring +answer the monk receives to his pretended +conscientious scruples: ‘I like you to laugh and +sing, for the world grows merrier, and Montaudon +gains through it.’ By such an argument, coming +from such a quarter, the sourest of ascetics was +reduced to acquiescence.</p> + +<p>A troubadour who, as we have seen, wholly +disregarded the rules of courteous gallantry could +not be expected to use much consideration where +his own sex and his rivals in art were concerned. +Accordingly, we find that one of the most venomous +literary satires of that libel-loving age owes its +existence to our author. It ought, however, to be +mentioned, in justice to him, that another troubadour +had set the example of wholesale abuse. +The Monk of Montaudon’s <i>sirventes</i> is, indeed, +avowedly founded on a similar production by Peire +of Alvernhe, in which that distinguished poet gives +vent to his affectionate feelings towards no less than +twelve contemporary troubadours, some of them celebrated +poets, others entirely unknown to us, but +evidently men of considerable reputation at the +time. One of his victims, the sweet singer of love, +Bernart of Ventadorn, has been mentioned before. +Of another no less renowned troubadour, Guiraut de +Bornelh, it is said that ‘he resembles a dry blanket +in the sun, with his thin, miserable voice, which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span>sounds like that of an old woman crying out water +in the street. If he saw himself in a mirror [meaning, +“as others see him”], he would not think himself +worth a roseberry.’ In this manner Peire of Alvernhe +goes on through twelve stanzas, battering down +reputations in order to erect on their ruins the +column of his own glory. ‘Peire of Alvernhe,’ he +winds up, ‘has a fine voice, and can sing high and +low, filling the air with sweetest sound. His would +be the highest praise, but for the obscurity of his +words, which hardly any one can understand.’ The +candid reader who would see in this last qualification +a remnant of modesty would be vastly mistaken; +for a dark, involved style was considered by connoisseurs +as the sign of highest genius, and it was +chiefly to his <i>motz oscurs</i> (dark words) and <i>rims +cars</i> (rare rhymes) that Arnaut Daniel owed that +place of honour awarded to him in Petrarch’s beautiful +lines—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Fra tutti il primo Arnaldo Daniello</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gran maestro d’amor; ch’ alla sua terra</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ancor fa onor col suo dir nuovo e bello.⁠<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>It is satisfactory to notice that in Peire of +Alvernhe’s case exceeding pride has met with due +castigation. For in some of the manuscripts the +opening lines of the self-laudatory stanza have been +travestied by a witty copyist into a very differing +meaning. ‘Peire of Alvernhe,’ this altered version +reads, ‘sings like a frog in a pond, although he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span>praises himself above all the world.’ The remainder +of the stanza, however, has been left unaltered, for +Peire’s high literary position was an undeniable fact. +The manuscripts call him ‘the best troubadour in +the world till Guiraut de Bornelh (his “dry blanket”) +came,’ and Nostradamus relates that Peire found +such favour with the ladies as to enjoy the privilege +of kissing the fairest amongst his audience after +each <i>canzo</i> he had sung.</p> + +<p>Such is the model the Monk of Montaudon has +chosen, and it must be owned that the disciple is +worthy of the master. The monk’s acquaintance with +the most intimate details of his rivals’ biographies +would do credit to a modern interviewer. ‘As +Peire of Alvernhe,’ he begins, ‘has sung about the +troubadours of past days, I am going to do the same +for those that have come since, and I hope they +won’t be angry with me for exposing their evil +doings.’ And then he sallies forth on his crusade +of abuse, devoting with laudible equality the space +of six verses to each victim, ‘a character dead at +every stanza,’ as Sir Peter Teazle would say. The +reader will be glad to hear that no mercy is shown +to Peire of Alvernhe. ‘He wears his coat these +thirty years,’ we are told. ‘He is as lean as firewood, +and his singing is getting worse and worse. Since +he has joined company with a lewd woman at +Clermont, he has not made a single good song.’ +‘Arnaut Daniel (Petrarch’s “great master of love”) +has never in his life written anything tolerable, but +only composed stuff which nobody can understand.’ +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span>Folquet of Marseilles, whose conversion from a gay +troubadour to a religious zealot has been briefly +mentioned before, is reminded that his father was a +pedlar. ‘He swore a foolish oath when he said he +would write no more songs, and it has been said that +he consciously perjured himself.’</p> + +<p>But the most piercing darts of his quiver the +monk reserves for a troubadour whose immeasurable +vanity, almost bordering on madness, was indeed a +tempting mark for the satirist. I am speaking of +Peire Vidal, of whose life and works and follies the +reader has had a full account. Only a few leading +points need here be recapitulated.</p> + +<p>He was the son of a furrier, but had forgotten +and made others forget his low origin. He believed +himself to be an irresistible breaker of hearts, and +had to pay dearly for his vain boasting of favours +never granted. For a jealous husband, whose wife +the Peire counted amongst his victims, had the poet’s +tongue pierced, which, however, did not prevent the +incorrigible braggart from continuing to call himself +the dread of husbands, ‘who fear me worse than +fire or pointed iron, God be thanked.’ At one time +he took part in a crusade, and married a Greek lady +at Cyprus, with whom he returned home. For +some reason or other he imagined his wife to be the +niece of the Greek Emperor, and, as her husband, +claimed a right to the imperial throne. In the +meantime he adopted the style and title of an +Emperor, and even thought of equipping a fleet to +enforce his right to the throne. His follies naturally +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span>excited universal merriment, and we need not +wonder at finding the Monk amongst the foremost of +the scoffers. ‘Peire Vidal,’ he exclaims, ‘is one of +the very last of poets. He has not got all his limbs, +and a tongue of silver would be desirable for him. +Once he was a miserable furrier, but since he has +dubbed himself a knight he has lost his last remnant +of wits.’</p> + +<p>In this strain the monk continues through fifteen +stanzas, scattering abuse broadcast, and if his wit +sometimes seems to desert him, it must, at least, be +owned that his spite is genuine and unflagging. +But in his case also the manuscripts contain an +additional stanza of retributive justice, most likely +by a later copyist. ‘With the sixteenth stanza,’ it +says, ‘the false Monk of Montaudon will be satisfied, +he who quarrels and fights with every one. He +has deserted God for a flitch of bacon, and for his +ever attempting to write <i>canzos</i> and verses he ought +to be hung up in the wind.’</p> + +<p>Such was literary criticism amongst the troubadours—a +not very edifying spectacle, upon which, +the reader perhaps may think, too many words have +been wasted already. So we will drop the curtain +on the Monk of Montaudon, not without a good-natured +smile at his weaknesses, nor without wonderment +at an age which burnt and quartered thousands +of virtuous Albigeois, and tolerated, or even approved +of, such doings and such utterances in a +monk.</p> + +<p>But, before leaving the subject finally, I must +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span>warn the reader not to judge the general tone of the +Provençal <i>sirventes</i> by the few examples of personal +satire here specified. The troubadours grow, as +Schiller says, with their greater purpose. In reproving +the moral evils of their time, the decay of +piety, the avarice of the great, the outrages of clerical +pride, they frequently attain to an almost Dantesque +power of conception and imagery. I know of few +grander ideas in poetry than Marcabrun’s picture of +the enormous tree, whose branches mingle with the +clouds, whose roots spread down to mid-earth. To +it are tied innumerable multitudes of all classes, +from king to beggar. For the tree is the eternal +evil of the world, and avarice and covetousness are +the bonds which fetter mankind.</p> + +<p>But such objective depth of idea must not be +expected from the Monk of Montaudon. He is a +broadly humorous figure, and although characteristic +in many ways of his time and country, he must not +blind us to the serious currents of thought moving +the age in which he lived, and the literature of which +he represents one feature. We must look at him as +one of those burlesque types by which the terrible +seriousness of man’s life and thoughts is fortunately +relieved at intervals—a product of nature’s creative +humour in one of her most whimsical moods.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE REFORMATION OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The great struggle for religious liberty, which +began with Huss and Wycliffe, culminated in the +age of Luther, Calvin, and Cranmer, and continues to +pervade modern thought and feeling, is apt to blind +us to earlier movements in the same direction. +The sixteenth century is so inseparably linked with +our ideas of the Reformation, that to connect the +word with a previous epoch seems almost like a +paradox. But the intellectual night of the middle +ages was not quite as dark as modern Protestant +pride is apt to fancy, neither did nations and individuals +bow without resistance to the yoke of Rome. +The thirteenth century especially may be justly +described as an epoch of religious revolution. +Heresy raised its multifarious heads in all countries +of Europe, from the Danubian principalities to the +English shores of the Atlantic. Everywhere the +vices of the clergy were laid bare with merciless +satire, in many places the cry for liberty of thought +and doctrine was raised, and the translation of the +Bible into the language of the people is frequently +found amongst the demands of heterodox theologians. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span>And whatever the dissensions amongst the various +sects might be, they were united in their hatred and +opposition to the Church of Rome.</p> + +<p>This alarming circumstance was fully realised by +the man to whose energy the resistance and final +victory of Papal supremacy were in a great measure +due, Pope Innocent III. Speaking of the various +classes of heretics, he says: ‘Species quidem +habentes diversas, sed caudas ad invicem colligatas.... +Magisterium Ecclesiae Romanae refugiunt.’ +As to the extraordinary knowledge of the Bible +amongst some of the sects, another unimpeachable +witness may be cited,—Reinerius, a Catholic convert +and violent assailant of the Waldenses, who +professes to have known a common peasant able to +recite the whole of the book of Job, and several +others who knew the New Testament by heart. It +was not without reason, the reader will perceive, +that about this time the Church became more and +more anxious to wrench such a dangerous source of +dissent and argumentation from the hands of the +common people. Hence the notion, frequently +insisted upon in ecclesiastical writings of the period, +of the Bible being a book of unfathomable depth, all +but incomprehensible to the greatest scholars, and +useless, if not dangerous, to the vulgar.</p> + +<p>No country in those days offered a more favourable +soil to the growth of heresy than the south of +France. Its wealth, its practical independence from +the central power of the French kings, and the +natural spirit of its inhabitants, had fostered a degree +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span>of local freedom all but unequalled in other parts +of feudal Europe. Particularly the citizens of +the large towns showed a remarkable spirit of +pride and political ambition. As early as the +thirteenth century, we hear of a legally constituted +‘<i>tiers état</i>,’ consisting of delegates of the towns, at +the provincial assemblies of the county of Toulouse. +A population of this kind was not likely to bow in +silent awe to a priesthood, the vices and weaknesses +of which were notorious, and formed a favourite +butt for the satire of the troubadours. The step from +antagonism to the representatives of the Roman +Church to the rejection of its doctrine was easy, +and hence we are not surprised to see the south of +France described as the brood-nest of foulest heresy; +nay, even the Provençal language, or <i>langue d’oc</i>, +was harsh and repulsive to orthodox ears, and, as +was mentioned before, Pope Innocent IV., in a bull +dated 1245, forbade its use to the students.</p> + +<p>The chief sect existing in the county of Toulouse +and its dependencies derived its name from the +town or diocese of Albi. But it must be remembered +that Albigenses, or, in its French form, +Albigeois, is a collective name used by the Catholics +almost synonymously with heretics, and without +regard to the most important doctrinal and moral +variations. The Vaudois or Waldenses, for instance, +although frequently mixed up with the Albigenses, +seem to have had little in common with them beyond +their opposition to Roman supremacy.⁠<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> My task +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span>being a purely literary consideration of the subject, +I must deal with the Albigeois doctrine in the briefest +fashion. Our knowledge of that doctrine is, moreover, +anything but satisfactory or complete, being +mainly derived from the statements of Catholic +controversialists, the confessions of heretics preserved +amongst the documents of the Inquisition, and the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span>decrees of councils and provincial synods. The +fanaticism of mediæval monks seems to have +been fatal to the utterances of their adversaries. +We do not indeed possess a single authentic document +from an Albigeois source, and the celebrated +embodiment of the Vaudois creed, called ‘The +Noble Lesson.’ which Raynouard dated from the +eleventh century, is now generally acknowledged to +belong to a much later period, when the sect was +cooped up in its Alpine recesses, and had lost its +real importance and vitality. It seems at any rate +doubtful whether this curious document contains the +pure doctrine of the original ‘Poor Men of Lyons.’</p> + +<p>From such sources as those indicated above, it +may be concluded with tolerable certainty that the +Albigenses were part of that great new-Manichean +heresy, which, taking its rise amongst the Slav +populations of the Balkan peninsula, gradually spread +over almost every part of Western Europe, leaving +traces of its name and aspirations in more than one +modern language. The self-laudatory term of +Cathari (from the Greek word καθαρός, pure) assumed +by some of the heretics, was converted by the +Germans into the generic term of ‘Ketzer,’ or +heretic; and the Italian word ‘bugiardo,’ liar, is a +lasting testimony of the repute in which Bulgarian +veracity, deservedly or undeservedly, was held; not +to mention other still more opprobrious epithets +derived from the same root.</p> + +<p>In common with other new-Manichean sects, the +Albigenses seem to have rejected a Trinity, and to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span>have placed in its stead a dualism of creative principles: +one good, the other evil; one representing +the invisible and spiritual, the other the physical and +tangible. More obnoxious perhaps than this merely +speculative attempt at the solution of an old +metaphysical problem must have been, in the eyes +of Romish priests, those doctrines which more +immediately clashed with Papal dogmas and rites. +To these belong the abolishment of mass and sacraments, +and of the veneration of the saints. The +idea of transubstantiation the Albigenses treated +with scorn, and, moreover, they founded this and +other heterodox opinions on the exclusive authority +of the Bible, or rather of the New Testament, for +against the Hebrew books they had a strange prejudice. +The spiritual tinge of their doctrine made +them adverse to marriage or any form of sexual +intercourse, from which indeed the initiated abstained +totally. From a similar point of view we have to +explain another of their moral precepts, viz., vegetarianism, +founded not on the nature-worship of +Buddhism, or on Shelley s humanitarian enthusiasm, +but on the abhorrence of the flesh and everything +procreated by the flesh. For the same reason the +prohibition did not extend to fish.</p> + +<p>It is less apparent on what grounds they insisted +upon another demand of modern philanthropists, the +abolition of capital punishment. And it is not +unlikely that our admiration of this almost unique +instance of humanity in those cruel times would be +considerably diminished by our knowledge of its +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span>motive. Most probably some absurd theological +crotchet was at the bottom of it. For in that +respect mediæval heretics were by no means in +advance of their Catholic contemporaries. One of +the questions, for instance, hotly discussed by Pope +Innocent III. and the heretics, was, whether the +number of nails used at the Crucifixion was three or +four. The heretics inclined to the lower figure, and +were soundly rated for that reason by a learned +controversialist, who denounces their doctrine as +unworthy of Catholics and Christians.</p> + +<p>The charges of all manner of vices raised against +the Albigeois by monkish chroniclers ought naturally +to be received with great caution. Sometimes even +these bear unwilling testimony to the general purity +of their manners. It is said that on one occasion +Folquet, the fanatical Bishop of Toulouse, asked +a knight recently converted to Catholicism, why +he and his friends did not drive the heretics from +the country. ‘It is impossible,’ was the answer; +‘we have grown up amongst them, our friends +and relations are of them, and we know that they +lead honest lives.’ It is, however, by no means +improbable that the exaggerated asceticism of +their moral code frequently led to secret vice and +hypocrisy.</p> + +<p>The anecdote just related may at the same time +give the reader an idea of the power and extension +of the Provençal heresy, about the beginning of the +thirteenth century, the period which chiefly concerns +us here. It proves, and we know from other sources, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span>that the sect was by no means limited to the lower +orders. We hear, for instance, of a great teacher of +the Albigeois, by name Guillabert de Castres, who +had many followers amongst the highest nobility of +Southern France. At one of his religious meetings, +in 1204, he received amongst his flock five high-born +ladies, one of them the sister of Count Raimon +Roger of Foix, one of the most powerful lords of +the country, of whom we shall hear again. The +ladies, the old account runs, surrendered themselves +to God and the Gospel. They consented to abstain +from flesh, eggs, and cheese; the use of oil and fish, +on the other hand, was conceded to them. They also +promised never to take an oath nor to speak an +untruth. Vows of perfect chastity, and of adherence +to their creed at the risk of their lives, were further +conditions of their reception amongst the faithful. The +Count of Foix, and many knights and citizens, are said +to have witnessed this conversion, and there is little +doubt that the former himself followed, or perhaps +had preceded, his sister’s example. But the same is +not by any means certain of Raimon VI., Count of +Toulouse, the champion of the national and religious +freedom of Southern France. There is little evidence +with regard to him of even an inclination +towards the doctrinal views of the heretics, and he +died a faithful son of the Catholic Church, although +she refused him her comfortings in his last hours, +and a grave after death. But it is just this orthodoxy +of his dogmatical opinions which makes his +position in the struggle so interesting. He is an +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span>almost unique instance in the middle ages of a strict +adherent, nay a martyr, to religious toleration.</p> + +<p>Raimon VI. was not, like his friend the Count of +Foix, a fighting baron in the ordinary sense. His +personal courage on the battle-field was unimpeachable, +but he did not love the fight for the fight’s sake. +When the spreading of the heresy in his territories, +fostered by his leniency, first began to alarm the +watchfulness of Rome, he did everything in his +power to avoid the thunders of the Church. Many +were the penances and humiliations and promises of +amendment to which he submitted without much +personal reluctance, it would seem. But all attempts +at a final reconciliation were frustrated by his one +unalterable resolve, not to give over his subjects to +the tender mercies of the Inquisition. Their safety +and freedom were to him dearer than his lands and +castles, more sacred even than the vows extracted +from him under compulsion. Much fault may be +found with Raimon’s general conduct in these transactions; +even in his noble principle of toleration he +may have been influenced by the ties of relationship +and other personal motives. But the fact remains, +that at a time when heretics were treated worse than +robbers and murderers, a great prince struggled and +fought, at the risk of his life and property, for the +religious freedom of his subjects, whose belief he did +<i>not</i> share.</p> + +<p>Raimon’s great antagonist—intellectually, and +perhaps morally, infinitely his superior—was Pope +Innocent III. He is one of those characters in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span>history which leave their impress on periods of +which they at the same time represent the highest +development in one direction or another. Without +him the Church of Rome might have succumbed to +the aggressions of temporal and spiritual enemies, +but neither would he have been possible except as +the representative of a great spiritual power, full of +latent vitality, and with a strong hold on the minds +of the people. The one great idea of his life was +the consolidation and enlargement of the Church, +with regard to its dogma, its discipline, and its political +power. To this aim he devoted the energy of his +mind and the great stores of his acquired knowledge; +to it he sacrificed his personal interests, perhaps his +conscience. For, even accepting his own standard +of duty, it is difficult to justify at least the one act +of his reign which concerns us most immediately. +This is, the diverting of the enthusiasm which found +its tangible result in the Crusades, from the Turk, +the common enemy of Christianity, to a comparatively +harmless sect in his more immediate neighbourhood. +I am alluding to the celebrated crusade +preached by him against the Provençal heretics, +fatal alike to the political freedom and to the independent +literature of Southern France.</p> + +<p>When Innocent, in 1198, at the early age of +thirty-seven, ascended the chair of St. Peter, one of +his first desires was to impart new life to the hitherto +somewhat sluggish action against the Albigenses. +The bishops of the threatened dioceses were admonished +to take immediate and energetic measures, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span>and a number of Papal legates were successively +despatched to stem the current of heresy by preaching, +personal persuasion, and, if need be, severe +repression. Amongst the priests most devoted to +the cause of Rome, and most fanatical in their +orthodox zeal, two names stand out prominently—that +of Folquet, Bishop of Toulouse, once a gay +troubadour, now an ascetic; and that of St. Dominic, +branded by history as the originator of the Inquisition.</p> + +<p>Count Raimon’s attitude in the meantime seems +to have been one of diplomatic evasion. When +taken to task for his notorious connivance at the +heretical movement, he meekly confessed his guilt, +and promised the immediate expulsion of the culprits +from his dominions. But no result followed; +not even after the severest punishment of the +Church, the Interdict, had been twice inflicted on +him and his subjects. The instrument of the Papal +wrath on the second occasion was Pierre de Castelnau, +the legate; and his death at the hands of two +unknown assassins, with which Count Raimon was +charged, is the tragic close of the first scene of the +Albigeois drama.</p> + +<p>This event gave new zest to the extreme +measure resolved upon by the Pope shortly before—the +preaching of a crusade against the heretics and +their protector. The political wisdom of such a +measure is at once apparent, and fully accounts +for its ultimate success. The fertile valleys and +wealthy cities of Provence offered a tempting bait to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span>pious plunderers, who at the same time avoided a +wearisome and dangerous journey to the far East +without losing any of the spiritual privileges connected +with the more onerous task. Moreover, the +Papal mandate was chiefly addressed to the ruler and +the nobles of the French kingdom, who for a long +time had looked with a covetous eye on the broad +acres and rich vineyards of their southern neighbours.</p> + +<p>The year 1209 marks the opening of the first +crusade. The legates of the Pope guided the sacred +army. Amongst the worldly leaders, the name of +Simon de Montfort, father of the celebrated Earl of +Leicester, is the most prominent. The incidents of +this war, which lasted over twenty years, and laid +waste the most flourishing provinces of France, are +matter of history. Suffice it here to allude briefly to +the revolting cruelties of the crusaders, and to such +memorable events as the sieges of Lavaur and +Beziers, and the decisive battle of Muret, at which +Peter II. of Aragon, the brother-in-law and ally of +Count Raimon, perished with the flower of his +chivalry. It was at the sack of Beziers that that +man of God, Arnaud, Abbot of Citeaux, when +asked by the soldiers how to distinguish Catholics +and heretics, spoke the pious words: ‘Kill them all; +the Lord will know his own!’</p> + +<p>In the end, the Church remained triumphant. +Raimon died with a broken heart and a broken +fortune. His valour in the field of battle had been +in vain; even his most humiliating attempts at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span>reconciliation with the Roman See had come to +naught, owing, in great part, to the personal hatred +of the legates and local clergy, who, out-heroding +Herod, frustrated the milder intentions of the Pope. +It ought to be added, in alleviation of the guilt of the +priests, that religious intolerance was supported in this +case by worldly ambition and covetousness. The crusade +soon took the form of a political war between the +North and the South of France; it was a struggle of +provincial autonomy against centralisation. This +issue also was gained by the invaders. As early as +1215, the lands of the Count of Toulouse were by +the Pope given to his champion, Simon de Montfort, +who, it is true, never enjoyed their quiet possession, +and died in the defence of his ill-gotten title. By +his eldest son, Amaury, these claims were ceded to +the King of France, who in the meantime had taken +a prominent part in the crusade. In the final peace +concluded with the crown of France at Paris, in 1229, +Count Raimon VII., son of Raimon VI., barely succeeded +in retaining possession of the scanty remains +of his heritage during his own lifetime. His daughter +and heiress was married to the brother of the King +of France. This marriage sealed the doom of +southern independence; its customs, its traditions, +and its literature were rapidly merged in the overpowering +influence of northern centralisation. The +<i>langue d’oc</i> descended to the level of a local patois.</p> + +<p>It is sad to relate that the last recorded action of +Raimon VII. was his personal attendance at the conviction +and burning alive of eighty heretics. With +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span>the Treaty of Paris, the last hope of the Albigeois +movement had vanished, and its remnants were +gradually hunted down by the bloodhounds of the +Inquisition, now an established institution in beautiful +Provence.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE EPIC OF THE CRUSADE.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>On the tombstone of Count Raimon VI. the following +two lines, in Provençal, were engraved:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Non y a homes sus terra, per gran senhor que fos,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quem gites de ma terra, si la glieza non fos;</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">that is—‘No man on earth, how great a lord he +may be, can drive me from my land but for the +Church.’ These lines are taken from a narrative of +the crusade against the Albigenses, in the <i>langue +d’oc</i>—a work equally interesting as a contemporary +source of history, and as a literary document. In +the latter respect alone it concerns us here, and the +reader is asked to consider the preceding historic +remarks mainly as a necessary elucidation of the following +extracts. A few dates as to the genesis and +character of the poem itself may perhaps be welcome.</p> + +<p>The ‘Song of the Crusade against the Albigeois’ +is evidently written by an eye-witness of many of +the events described, and was, no doubt, at its first +appearance, what we should call a most successful +book. Its popularity is proved by the quotation +already alluded to, as also by the fact that at an early +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span>date an abridgment of its contents in prose, for more +popular use, was found necessary. In spite of this, +only one manuscript⁠<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> of the poem has reached our +time. It was edited amongst the ‘Documents +inédits sur l’histoire de France,’ by the well-known +scholar, M. Fauriel, in 1837. The author of the +poem is by no means reticent as to his identity or +merits. ‘In the name of the Father, the Son, and +the Holy Ghost,’ he opens his poem, after the manner +of his time, ‘here begins the song which Master +W(illiam) made; a clerk who was brought up at +Tudela, in Navarra. He is wise and valorous, as +the story says, and he was much cherished by clerks +and laymen. Counts and viscounts loved him, and +trusted his advice, owing to the destruction which he +knew and foresaw by means of geomancy, which he +had studied long. And he knew that the country +would be burnt and laid waste, because of the foolish +belief it had adopted.’</p> + +<p>But in spite of this emphatic declaration, M. +Fauriel saw reason to call in question not only the +authorship, but the very existence of the wise clerk +of Tudela. The pretension of proficiency in the +black art boldly put forward, seemed to him a suspicious +circumstance, and his doubt was confirmed +by linguistic difficulties, into which we cannot enter +here. These latter, however, have been conclusively +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span>solved by more recent scholars, and William’s posthumous +fame would be securely established, but for +another circumstance fatal to at least part of his +claim. Fauriel already had pointed out that after +about the first third of the poem—at verse 2769 +later scholars have determined—a sudden change +takes place in the author’s opinions. Hitherto he +has been a warm defender of the crusaders; the +French invaders are called ‘our French barons,’ and +the author would be thankful to any one ‘who would +hang those robbers and villains who kill the crusaders.’ +Folquet, the zealous Bishop of Toulouse, +seems to him to have ‘no equal in kindness’ +(‘degus de bontat ab el no s’aparelha’); and Simon +de Montfort, the great enemy of Provence, is described +as a ‘good cavalier, liberal and brave and +kindly, sweet-tempered and open-hearted, and of +good understanding.’ The heretical creed the author +calls, as has been said, a ‘fola crezensa,’ and the full +measure of his wrath is emptied on its adherents. +He complacently relates the cruelties committed +against them, and objects only to the indiscriminate +slaughter of innocent and guilty.</p> + +<p>But all this is changed in the second portion of +the poem. The French have now become ‘homicides’ +and ‘men of the sword;’ sometimes even the +uncomplimentary epithet of ‘taverners,’ or pothouse-keepers, +is applied to them. Folquet is summarily +alluded to as the ‘avesque felon,’ or ‘wicked +bishop;’ and the Pope himself is reproached with +his cruelty to Raimon. But the most striking contrast +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span>between the two portions of the poem becomes +apparent in the judgment of Simon de Montfort’s +character. The author’s hatred against him in the +second part vents itself in bitterest invective, and is +not appeased by death itself. The description of +the great leader’s fall in our poem is extremely +vivid; it is painted with the colours of hatred. At +the same time the triumph at the enemy’s fall bears +involuntary witness to his greatness. Simon is +besieging Toulouse, the rebellious capital of the +dominions lately granted to him by the Pope, and the +author describes an assault made by the crusaders, +and valiantly repelled by the inhabitants. Montfort, +incensed at the little progress made by his troops, is +complaining to his brother, who has just been hit by +an arrow. There was in the city, the author continues, +a machine for throwing stones, worked by +women, both girls and matrons. A stone is thrown, +and goes ‘straight where it ought to go.’ This +‘ought to go’ is an admirable trait of the fatalism of +hatred. ‘It hits,’ the author continues, evidently +gloating over the details, ‘Count Simon on his +helmet, with such force that his eyes and brain, and +the top of his head, and his forehead, and his jaws, +are knocked to pieces. And the Count falls to the +ground, dead, and bleeding, and black.’</p> + +<p>The terror and grief caused by this sudden +event amongst the crusaders are then briefly alluded +to, but the author is again in his element when he +describes the unbounded joy of the besieged, fully +shared by himself. The suggestions of making a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span>martyr and saint of Simon, in his epitaph, the author +treats with the utmost scorn. ‘If by killing men,’ +he says, ‘and shedding blood, by destroying souls and +consenting to murder, by trusting in false counsels +and by incendiarism, by ruining the barons and +shaming nobility, by fostering evil and crushing good, +by the massacre of women and children, one can +gain Jesus Christ in this world, then Simon must +wear a crown and shine in heaven.’</p> + +<p>It is difficult to believe that the same hand which +thus heaped shame on Simon’s grave should have +penned the eulogistic lines of the first part of the +poem, particularly if one considers that the change of +opinion from the particular point formerly alluded to +coincides with certain metrical and dialectical variations +totally overlooked by Fauriel, but since pointed +out by M. Paul Meyer. The theory of there being +only one author, however, has by no means been +totally abandoned. Its champions explain the revolution +in the poet’s feeling partly from the impression +made on him by the cruelties of the invaders, partly +from a change in his situation during the interval +of several years, which undoubtedly lies between the +end of the first and the commencement of the second +part of his work. Into the philological details of +this interesting controversy this is not the place to +enter. Suffice it to say that, all things considered, +the dualistic supposition seems to be decidedly the +more probable of the two, both on external and internal +grounds.</p> + +<p>One or two specimens from the interesting poem +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span>must serve the reader to judge of the poetic gift of +William, or whoever the author or authors may have +been. It has already been said that in his dealings +with Count Raimon the conduct of Innocent III. +himself was marked by greater leniency than that of +his legates. This feature in the Pope’s character +has suggested to our author a most curious scene, +which he introduces into his elaborate account of the +Council of the Lateran in 1215. Raimon of Toulouse, +the Count of Foix, and several others of the +threatened nobles of Provence, attended personally +to plead their cause before the Holy Father. The +legates and many of the local clergy of the south of +France—the implacable Folquet, Bishop of Toulouse, +foremost amongst them—upheld the claims of +Simon de Montfort. A long and passionate dispute +on the subject between the Count of Foix and the +Bishop of Toulouse is given verbatim. The Pope +tries to quiet them. ‘Friends, justice shall be done,’ +he exclaims. At last he retires for a few minutes to +his orchard. But the zealous prelates will not let +him rest. The Pope asks for a few minutes of reflection. +He opens a book, and concludes from the +passage that first meets his eye that the Count of +Toulouse may yet hold his own. ‘My lords,’ he +says to the prelates, ‘I cannot agree with you. +How can I disinherit the Count, who is a true +Catholic?’ But the prelates do not, it appears, +believe in book messages. They clamour against +the sentence, and Folquet, the most dangerous of all, +unites his sweet persuasion with their violent remonstrance. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span>The Archbishop of Auch and—awful to +relate—three hundred cardinals follow suit. No +wonder that the poor Pope at last grants the decree +in Simon’s favour. ‘My lords,’ he finally exclaims, +‘the cause is decided. The Count (Raimon) is +a Catholic, and of loyal conduct; but let Simon hold +the lands.’</p> + +<p>These speeches cannot be accepted in their literal +meaning, any more than those found in the pages of +Xenophon or Thucydides. The circumstance also +of the Pope deciding clearly and confessedly against +his own conscience is evidently the high-coloured +statement of a partisan of the oppressed Count. +(The scene, it must be remembered, occurs in the +second and anti-clerical division of the poem.) But +the incidents are related with so much freshness of +individual characterisation that the author’s intimate +acquaintance with the persons and events described +cannot be doubted for a moment. At any rate it is +a quaint picture, and not without historic significance, +to see the great Pontiff, the breaker of thrones and +the umpire of nations, quailing under the storm of +fanaticism raised by himself. Moreover, the idea +which suggested the situation to the poet is not without +its grain of sober truth. For, as has already +been said, it is an historic fact that Innocent III. on +several occasions showed an unfortunately abortive +desire to protect Raimon against the unfettered rage +of legates and monks.</p> + +<p>From the council-chamber we follow our author +to the battle-field. Here, also, he is perfectly at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span>home, and his descriptions, although naturally less +attractive as regards psychological observation, are +none the less vigorous and interesting. There is the +true ring of the ‘chanson de geste,’ the genuine +popular epic, in his lines. A few historic remarks +must precede our quotation. The reader will remember +the name of Peter II., the valiant king of +Aragon, whose sister was the wife of Raimon of +Toulouse. Although by no means favourably inclined +towards the heretics, Peter could not calmly +look on while his brother-in-law was despoiled of +his heritage. His attempts at mediation between +Raimon and Simon de Montfort were many. He +appealed to the Pope and the King of France. At +last, when his peaceful efforts proved in vain, he resolved +to brave temporal and eternal perils rather +than forsake his friend. He assembled a large army, +and in September 1213 joined his forces with those +of the Count of Toulouse. The immediate object +of the allies was the siege of Muret, a small fortified +town, not far from Toulouse, into which Simon had +thrown himself. I now leave the word to the old +chronicler.</p> + +<p>‘The good King of Aragon, on his good charger, +is come to Muret, and has raised his banner and laid +siege to the town with many rich vassals whom he +has called from their fiefs. He has brought with +him the flower of Catalonia, and many great knights +from Aragon. They think that no one will offer +resistance to them, or dare to attack them. He +sends a message to the husband of his sister at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span>Toulouse to join him with his barons and his army +and his warlike men. He (the king) is ready to restore +their fiefs to the Count of Cominges and all his relations; +after that he will go to Beziers, and from +Montpelier to Rocamador he will not leave a single +crusader in castle or tower. All shall die a miserable +death. The brave Count, when he hears the message, +is well pleased, and goes straight to the +Capitol.’</p> + +<p>The next tirade⁠<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> relates to the deliberations of the +Count of Toulouse with the chief magistrates of his +city, whom, in accordance with the freedom enjoyed +by the burgesses of Provence, he has to consult on +this important occasion. It further describes the +departure of the army, and winds up with a truly +epical prognostication of their tragic fate. ‘They +arrive before Muret, where they were to lose all +their own; so much beautiful armour and so many +valiant men. Great pity it was, so help me God, +and the whole world felt the loss.’</p> + +<p>‘The whole world felt the loss, believe me I +speak truth. Paradise itself was shaken and damaged +and all Christendom shamed and downcast. But +listen, sirs, how the thing came to pass. Assembled +are at Muret the good King of Aragon and the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span>Count of St. Giles, with his barons, and all the +citizens and commonalty of Toulouse. They mount +their stone-throwing machines, and batter the walls +of Muret on all sides. They enter the new town all +together, and the French who are there are so hard +pressed that they have all to seek shelter in the +castle. At once a messenger is sent to the king. +“Sir King of Aragon, know for true that the men of +Toulouse have done so well that, by your leave, they +have taken the city. They have destroyed the +houses, and driven the French into the castle.” +When the king hears this he is not well pleased. +He goes to the consuls of Toulouse and admonishes +them to leave the men of Muret in peace. “We +should be foolish,” he says, “in taking the town, for +I have had a letter—a sealed message—to say that +Simon de Montfort will to-morrow enter the town, +and when he is once enclosed in it, and when my +cousin Nunos has arrived, we will attack the town +on all sides, and take all the French and crusaders +captive.”’</p> + +<p>The troops vacate Muret accordingly, and retire +to their tents. They have hardly sat down to dinner +when Simon, with a band of chosen knights, appears +and at once enters the city. ‘The river was shining +with their helmets and their blades as if it were made +of crystal. Never, by St. Martial, were so many +brave vassals seen among so small a band.’</p> + +<p>The night is passed by the two armies in +preparations for the morrow’s combat. Disagreement +reigns in the camp of the allies. In the council +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span>of war the Count of Toulouse, who does not wish to +risk a pitched battle with his army of citizens, and +advises the fortification of the camp, is cried down +by hot-headed fools, and no plan is finally agreed +upon. The confusion of the leaders naturally grows +worse confounded amongst the motley crowd of +soldiers and ill-trained citizens. Simon de Montfort’s +scheme, on the other hand, is devised with masterly +skill. He desires what Count Raimon tries to avoid—a +pitched battle in the open country. Bishop +Folquet gives his blessing to the departing army. +The catastrophe foreshadowed in the manner alluded +to is told briefly, in accordance with the rapidity of +the actual disaster.</p> + +<p>‘They (the French) march straight to the tents +across the fens, their banners floating in the air. +The whole meadow is resplendent with their gilt +armour. When the good King of Aragon sees them +he awaits them with a small number of followers. +But the people of Toulouse come running by. They +listen neither to king nor count. They never hear a +word till the French are come, who all rush to where +they know the king to be. He cries out, “I am the +king,” but they hear him not, and so cruelly is he +wounded, that his blood is shed over the land, and +there he fell down, at full length, dead. The others +who behold him give themselves over for lost. +Every one flies. No one defends himself. The +French follow at their heels and kill them all. And +so roughly have they handled them that those who +escape with their lives think themselves delivered +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span>indeed.’ A general stampede of the men of Toulouse, +who had remained in the camp, and many of whom +are now drowned in the swollen waves of the +Garonne, forms the closing scene of this wild battle +piece. ‘All their goods,’ the poet once more complains, +‘remained in the camp, and the loss was +greatly felt all the world over. For many a man +there remained lying on the ground quite dead. +Great is the pity!’</p> + +<p>Such is the description of the battle of Muret by +a contemporary, most likely an eye-witness. For +here again the characters of the different leaders, +their speeches, and their demeanour, are sketched +with a boldness of individualisation which can have +been derived from personal knowledge alone. As +a historic source, the work under discussion is +absolutely invaluable. English students especially +ought to give it every attention. For the struggle +which it describes involved questions of the utmost +importance to the continental dependencies of the +English crown.</p> + +<p>It ought to be added, that the battle of Muret +was a fatal blow to Raimon’s cause, from which it +never recovered. For years he continued the fight; +but it was a struggle against fate, a hope against +hope. A different issue of that day might have +changed the development of France. It might +also have given new and lasting vitality to the Reformation +of the thirteenth century.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.<br> +<span class="smaller">FOLQUET OF MARSEILLES.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The question remains to be asked,—which side did +the troubadours take in this struggle? Did they +prove themselves to be men of mettle in a contest in +which their own literary existence was at stake no +less than the freedom of their country? Both these +questions can, with a very few exceptions, be answered +in their favour; as a class, they stood to the +cause of their natural friend and protector; and it +must be remembered that that cause at the time was +identical with religious toleration and opposition to +the tyranny of Rome. With the theological side of +the contest the troubadours, however, did not +concern themselves much; it was their duty and joy +to lash the vices of the priests with their satire, and +to defend their country and their beautiful language +against French intrusion; the subtleties of dualism +and doketism they wisely avoided. It is true that +the great Peire Cardinal once ventured to speak on +the mooted point of purgatory and eternal punishment; +but we shall presently see how untheological, +or, which is the same, how purely human, was his +interest in the subject. It seems, indeed, doubtful +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span>whether many of the troubadours espoused the +opinions of their Albigeois countrymen. Of some +of the fiercest antagonists of the priests we know +the contrary, and of one troubadour only, Aimeric +de Pegulhan, we are told parenthetically that he +died in Italy, ‘en eretgia segon c’om ditz’—‘a +heretic, as people say.’</p> + +<p>Of the few troubadours prominently mentioned on +the side of the Pope, one, Uc de St. Cyr, lived +chiefly in Italy; another, Perdigon, had to pay +dearly for his apostasy. When, after the battle of +Muret, he rejoiced in the misfortune of his benefactor, +the noble Peter of Aragon, society seems to +have laid its interdict on him, and he had to hide +his shame in a convent, where he died. Of much +greater importance than either is the celebrated +Folquet of Marseilles, whose name, as Bishop of +Toulouse, and as one of the most zealous persecutors +of his heretical countrymen, has more than once been +mentioned in these pages. The life and character +of this man are a psychological problem of deepest +interest; his career was varied and inconsistent in +itself—so inconsistent that the identity of troubadour +and bishop has been doubted. But there is no +reason for such a doubt, historical or psychological, +as we shall presently see.</p> + +<p>The birthplace of Folquet cannot be ascertained +with absolute certainty. Most likely he +was a native of Marseilles, where his father possessed +a large amount of property. It had been +acquired by mercantile pursuits, continued for a time +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span>by the poet himself after his father’s death, if we may +believe an allusion in the Monk of Montaudon’s satire. +Folquet, however, did not follow his father’s calling +for long. He lived amongst the gay and fashionable +at the courts of the great nobles, where his graceful +bearing and his poetical gift made him a welcome +guest. One of his protectors was Barral, Viscount of +Marseilles, and it was his wife, Azalais, who became +the poet’s idol, and may be regarded as the final +aim and cause of all his further thoughts and deeds; +including his ultimate conversion, I do not hesitate +to add. Their intercourse was not one of the conventional +flirtations so common between troubadours +and high-born ladies. Neither was it a mutual and +guilty passion, such as existed between Guillem de +Cabestanh and Margarida. The old biographer +lays particular stress on the fact, that ‘neither by +his prayers nor by his songs could he ever move her +to show him favour by right of love; and for that +reason he always complains of love in his songs.’</p> + +<p>These songs fully bear out the statement of the +manuscript. Their one almost incessant theme +is love’s disappointment. But this theme Folquet +treats like an artist. He avoids monotony by an +ever new array of striking similes and allegories in +which he clothes his longing. What, for instance, +can indicate the hesitation of a timorous though +passionate lover better than the image of a man who +has reached the middle of a tree, and does not ascend +further or regain the earth, for fear of losing his +chance or his life? Two stanzas of the poem in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span>which it occurs may follow here in the original. +They are full of sweetness, and will not offer +serious difficulties to the reader, if he will consult the +subjoined translation, which I have tried to make as +literal as possible. The graceful intertwining of +the rhymes bears witness to Folquet’s consummate +workmanship, and deserves the attention of modern +poets.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">CANZOS.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">S’al cor plagues ben for’ ueimais sazos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De far canson per joia mantener;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mas tan mi fai m’aventura doler,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quan bem cossir los bes els mals qu’ieu ai—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que tug dizon que ricx sui e bem vai.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mas cel qu’o ditz non sap ges ben lo ver:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Benenansa non pot negus aver</div> + <div class="verse indent0">D’aquela re, mas d’aquo qu’al cor plai.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per que n’a mais us paubres s’es joyos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’us ricx ses joy, qu’es tot l’an cossiros.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">E s’ieu anc jorn fui gays ni amoros,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Er non ai joy d’amor ni non l’esper;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ni autres bes nom pot al cor plazer,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ans mi semblan tug autre joy esmai.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pero d’amor lo ver vos en dirai:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nom lais del tot ni no m’en puesc mover</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ni sus no vau, ni no puesc remaner;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Aissi cum sel qu’en mieg de l’arbr’estai,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’es tan poiatz que non pot tornar jos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ni sus no vai, tan li par temeros.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><i>Translation.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But for my heart, this would the season be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To sing of love and joy a joyous song;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But grievously I suffer from the wrong,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seeing the good and evil of my case—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which all men do me when my fate they praise;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who speaks suchwise is of the foolish throng,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who know not that the joys of life belong</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span> <div class="verse indent0">To none but who receives them with good grace.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wherefore a joyous heart in poverty</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is better far than wealth and misery.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Maybe I once was happy for a space,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But joy and hope of love have passed away;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No other good can make me blithe and gay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For all the world I hold in dire disdain.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of love the full truth let me now explain:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I cannot leave it, nor yet on my way</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pass back or forward, neither can I stay;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like one who mounts a tree mid-high, and fain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would mount still higher, or downward move apace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But fear and tremor bind him in his place.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>His father’s wealth, it is evident, was of little use +to poor Folquet, and we can quite understand his +chafing at the folly of men who would insist on +envying his brilliant misery. For all his early +dreams of happiness had been dispelled by the stern +virtue of a woman.</p> + +<p>It seems, however, that although unwilling to +grant him any favour, the fair Azalais was extremely +jealous of the poet’s praise. This, at least, would +appear from an anecdote in the manuscript. Count +Barral had two sisters residing at his court, with +whom Folquet lived on terms of intimate friendship. +But his mistress did not believe in Platonic relations +between troubadours and young ladies at +court. Her jealousy fixed on one of her sisters-in-law, +the lady Laura, of whom she declared Folquet +to be enamoured. She refused to see her lover again, +‘and would have no more of his prayers and fine +words,’ as the biographer naïvely adds. Folquet +was in despair; ‘he left off singing and laughing, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span>for he had lost the lady whom he loved more than +the whole world for one with whom he had no +connection beyond courtesy.’ This assertion of the +manuscript deserves our belief. It is quite possible, +and indeed seems indicated by a passage in one of +his songs, that Folquet affected a tender feeling for +Laura in order to divert the attention of spies, but +his real passion was all for Azalais. His songs and +his conduct leave no doubt on the subject. It is +an open question whether the intercession of a noble +lady sought by Folquet obtained him the full pardon +of his mistress. But certain it is that he remained +invariably attached to her through good and evil +report. For misfortune was in store for the countess. +Barral, for some reason or other, got tired of his +wife, obtained an invalidation of his marriage, and +wedded another lady. Folquet’s position was +difficult. The count was his oldest friend and protector, +whom he loved sincerely, as is proved by the +beautiful elegy on his death, which ensued soon +afterwards. But no considerations of worldly prospects +or friendship could shake his allegiance to the +lady of his love. We possess songs dedicated to +her subsequent to the separation, in one of which, +written the year after Barral’s decease, the praise of +the count is, curiously enough, addressed to his +divorced widow. Perhaps the great peacemaker +Death had taken the sting from her resentment, and +the pair loved to linger over the memory of the +departed.</p> + +<p>From one of Folquet’s songs it has been concluded +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span>that, tired of his purposeless endeavours, he at +last broke off his relation with Azalais. The poem is +one of Folquet’s finest and most characteristic efforts, +containing a violent impeachment of Love himself. +‘Too late,’ the poet says, ‘I have discovered Love’s +falsehood. I am like one who swears never to +gamble again after he has lost his whole fortune.’ He +further complains that for more than ten years Love +has been his bad debtor, promising payment and +never keeping the promise, and at last he solemnly +renounces his allegiance to the faithless god. The +protest is forcible and well expressed; but it is by +no means proved that the poet acted upon his wise +resolution. On several previous occasions he had expressed +similar resolutions, but always with little or +no effect either on himself or on his cruel lady; and +we find, indeed, not without a smile at the incongruity +of the poetic mind, that the identical song in question +is dedicated to Azalais.</p> + +<p>At last the lady’s death relieved him from his +thraldom, but only to deliver him over to another +still more fateful passion. The manuscript relates +how this event, together with the loss of some of his +dearest friends, preyed on the poet’s mind, and how +in a fit of melancholy he renounced the world, together +with his wife and two sons, who are mentioned +for the first time on this occasion. Folquet joined +the order of Citeaux, and soon became abbot of a rich +monastery, from which position he not long afterwards +was raised to the still more important one of +Bishop of Toulouse. To his new vocation he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span>brought the same zeal, the same perseverance, which +marked his wooing of Azalais. It was the same +flood of passion turned into a different channel. So +far there is nothing to reproach in Folquet’s conduct, +and we even can sympathise with a man in whom all +worldly desire dies with the one object of his passion. +But his zeal against the heretics, carried to the pitch +of cruel persecution, forms an unjustifiable complement +to his asceticism. Neither can we excuse Folquet’s +violent hatred against Raimon VI. of Toulouse, +at whose father’s hands the troubadour had received +much kindness. Considered in this light, the scene +at the Council of the Lateran, where the glib-tongued +poet is employed to compass the Count’s ruin, gains +a new and sinister meaning. Poetry itself Folquet +seems to have abandoned on his entering the +monastery. We possess of him only one religious +song, a passionate expression of remorse and of +terror at an impending eternal punishment, which +most likely belongs to the time of his conversion. It +is pleasant to think that his art at least remained undefiled +by fanaticism.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.<br> +<span class="smaller">GUILLEM FIGUEIRA AND PEIRE CARDINAL.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>Against Folquet of Marseilles scores of troubadours +might be named, who boldly espoused the cause of +their country and of liberty against Frenchmen and +priests. The opposition to the encroachments of the +latter was of course not confined to Provence. The +weaknesses of the clergy were known equally well +to trouvères and troubadours, to Walther von der +Vogelweide and the German minnesingers, and to +Chaucer, and the author of ‘Piers the Ploughman.’ +But nowhere was the conflict between clerical and +temporal powers more bitter, nowhere were the questions +at stake more important and more universally +felt to be such, than in the South of France. Moreover, +the satire of many of the troubadours received +additional sting from personal injury. The prolonged +siege which Guy of Cavaillon had to sustain +in his castle was not likely to incline him favourably +towards his oppressors, and the furious onslaught on +the avarice of the French conquerors from the pen +of Boniface de Castellane is evidently founded on +bitterest and most immediate experience. Neither +is there cause for wonder that the gentry in black +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span>gowns and white hoods, mentioned by Guillem de +Montanhagol in his powerful <i>sirventes</i> against the +cruelties and folly of the Inquisition, were not an altogether +lovely sight in the eyes of that poet.</p> + +<p>Amongst the troubadours prominently engaged +in the great struggle of their time, two distinct types +may be recognised. One is the poetic freelance impatient +of all restraint, and therefore doubly incensed +at the oppression of both moral and religious liberties, +the word ‘liberty,’ in his parlance, being not unfrequently +a synonym of ‘licence.’ A man of this +stamp was Guillem Figueira, the hater of priests. +‘He was,’ the manuscript says, ‘of Toulouse, the son +of a tailor, and a tailor himself. When the French +took Toulouse, he went to live in Lombardy, and +he knew well how to make songs and how to sing +them; and he became a joglar among the citizens. +He was not a man to get on with barons or gentle-folks, +but he made himself most agreeable to loose +women and landlords and pothouse-keepers; and +whenever he saw a good courtier come near him +he grew wroth and melancholy, and at once he set +about humiliating him.’</p> + +<p>This by no means flattering portrait ought to be +received with caution; maybe it was drawn by one +of the ‘good courtiers’ who had experienced the +poet’s cynical humour. A cynic Guillem no doubt +was, a lover of low-life realism, defying polite society +among his boon companions of the tavern, a genius +akin to Rutebœuf, and Villon, and Rabelais. But +there is nothing debased or debauched in his poetry, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span>as far as we can judge by the specimens remaining +to us, although the unreserved violence of his invective +is remarkable even amongst the works of those +keenest of satirists, the troubadours. One of his +<i>sirventeses</i> is noticeable by the word ‘Rome,’ uttered +with the emphasis of hatred at the beginning of +every stanza. In it the Church is held responsible +for an infinitude of political and moral crimes, and +the climax of invective is reached in the final outburst +of angry passion.</p> + +<p>‘Rome, with wily prudence thou layest thy snares, +and many a vile morsel thou devourest in spite of +the hungry. Thou hast the semblance of the lamb, +thy countenance is so innocent, but in thy heart thou +art a rabid wolf, a crowned snake engendered by a +viper, wherefore the devil greets thee as the friend +of his heart.’</p> + +<p>It is a curious fact that the Church on this occasion +was valiantly defended by a lady, Gomonde of +Montpelier, who pays the furious poet in his own +coin, and threatens him with the death of the +heretic.</p> + +<p>Another <i>sirventes</i> by Guillem directed against +the vices of the clergy is marked by the same immoderate +language, but a foundation of truth is unmistakably +at the bottom of his extravagant structure +of abuse. The following stanza, for instance, is +eminently characteristic of orthodox tactics:—</p> + +<p>‘If you say a word against them (the priests), +they accuse you, and you find yourself excommunicated. +If you refuse to pay, there is no peace or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span>friendship to be hoped from them. Holy Virgin, +Lady Mary, let me see the day when I need no +longer go in fear of them.’</p> + +<p>A man of a very different stamp from the well-meaning +but somewhat inconsiderate and irresponsible +Guillem Figueira, was the great Peire Cardinal, +who may represent the second and much +higher type of the anti-clerical troubadour. A biographical +notice of about twenty lines, signed by one +Michael de la Tor, is all the information we possess +of the poet’s life. According to this sketch, Peire +Cardinal was born at Puy Notre Dame, in the province +of Velay, or Veillac, as the old manuscript calls +it. He was of good parentage, ‘the son of a knight +and a lady,’ and was in his childhood destined for the +Church. ‘And when he came to man’s estate he +was attracted by the vanity of the world, for he found +himself gay and handsome and young. And he +made many beautiful poems and songs; few <i>canzos</i>, +but many <i>sirventeses</i> fine and excellent. And in these +<i>sirventeses</i> he gave many good reasons and examples +for those who rightly understand them; and he +greatly reproached the false clergy, as is shown by +his <i>sirventeses</i>. And he went to the courts of kings +and gentle barons with his joglar, who sang his +<i>sirventeses</i>.’ According to the same account, Peire +Cardinal lived up to nearly a hundred years. Another +remarkable circumstance told of him is his knowledge +of reading and writing—an accomplishment by no +means common amongst troubadours—which he +owed to his early training for the Church.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span></p> + +<p>Peire Cardinal is the unrivalled master of the +<i>sirventes</i>, in its most important forms—the personal, +the political, the moral, and the religious. +The last two only concern us here more immediately. +But a few remarks are necessary to indicate +the poet’s manner and his general conception of +the world. This conception is melancholy to a +degree. Like most great masters of satire and +humour, Peire Cardinal is a confirmed pessimist. +The world appears to him as one vast conglomeration +of selfishness and vice—a madhouse, inhabited +by fools, whose remaining sense is just sufficient for +them to recognise and hate a man of genius. This +moody philosophy he has embodied in the original +and striking treatment of a well-known story, which +deserves our particular attention as one of the very +few instances of narrative illustration in the poems of +the troubadours.</p> + +<p>‘There was a city,’ Peire Cardinal says, ‘I +don’t know where, in which rain fell one day of such +a kind, that all the inhabitants who were touched +by it lost their reason. All went mad but one, who +happened to be asleep in his house at the time. +This one, when he woke, rose, and, as the rain had +ceased, went out amongst the people, who were all +raving mad. One had his clothes on, the other was +naked; one was spitting up to the sky, another +threw stones, another logs of wood, another tore his +gown.... One thought he was a king, and put on +noble airs; another jumped over benches. Some +threatened, others cursed; some were crying, some +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span>laughing, others talking they knew not what about, +others making grimaces. He who had kept his +sense was much astonished, for he saw they were +mad; and he looked up and down to see if he could +discover any one reasonable, but in vain: there was +none. And he was greatly surprised at them, but +much more were they at him when they saw he +remained reasonable. They were sure he must be +mad, as he failed to do as they did.’</p> + +<p>The surprise of the fools soon is converted into +rage. They knock him down, and trample on him; +they push him, and pull him, and beat him; at last, +he is glad to escape into his house, thrashed, covered +with mud, and more dead than alive.</p> + +<p>‘This fable,’ the poet exclaims, ‘depicts the +world and all who inhabit it; and our age is the city +chokeful of madmen. The highest wisdom is to +love and fear God, and to obey his commandments. +But now that wisdom is lost, the rain has fallen: +covetousness has come, and pride and viciousness, +which have attacked all the people. And if God +honours one amongst them, the others think him +mad, and revile him, for God’s wisdom appears +to them folly. But the friend of God, wherever +he be, knows them to be the fools, for they have +lost the wisdom of God; and they think him mad, +because he has abandoned the wisdom of the +world.’</p> + +<p>These are words of a man of genius, who has +experienced the buffetings of adverse fortune, and +the scorn of a world incapable or unwilling to fathom +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span>his depth. Morbid words, if the reader likes, but +forcibly uttered, and instinct with a noble disdain of +the fashions and follies of the day. But Peire +Cardinal’s grievances were not of a narrow, egotistic +kind. His poems reflect the sad time in which he +lived, and the national disaster which he witnessed +with deepest indignation. The avarice and selfishness +of clergy and laity, the want of patriotic feeling, +the barbarism prevailing amongst the nobles, and +other evils fostered by those troublous times of +internal and external warfare, are the favourite +subjects of the poet’s satire. It need hardly be added +that his sympathies were all with the South against +the North. Raimon VI. is his chosen hero, whom he +encourages with his songs, and in whose temporary +success he rejoices. ‘At Toulouse,’ he sings, +‘there is Raimon the Count; may God protect him! +As water flows from the fountain, so chivalry comes +from him. Against the worst of men—nay, against +the whole world—he defends himself. Frenchmen +and priests cannot resist him. To the good he is +humble and condescending; the wicked he destroys.’</p> + +<p>In his accusations of the clergy, Peire is violent +and sweeping; almost as violent as Guillem Figueira +himself. But his censure almost always proceeds from +a general motive; the difference between the two is +that between a scholar and politician and a pamphleteer. +Peire’s language, when he speaks of the +domineering propensities of the priests, is as bitter +as can be imagined, but his anger is founded on +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span>historic considerations of deepest import. It is +the decay of the temporal power he deplores. ‘Formerly, +kings and emperors, dukes, counts and +comtors⁠<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> and knights used to govern the world; +but now priests have usurped its dominion with +rapine and treachery and hypocrisy, with force and +persuasion. They are incensed if everything is not +conceded to them, and it must be done sooner or +later.’ In another <i>sirventes</i>, Peire Cardinal alludes +to the amiable habit of the priests—also mentioned +by Guillem Figueira—of calling everyone a Vaudois +or heretic who dares to resist their encroachments.</p> + +<p>One of the most forcible of Peire’s songs is +directed against the avarice and covetousness of the +priests, whom he compares to vultures scenting a +dead body. In the same <i>sirventes</i> we meet with one +of those grand reflections which raise Peire Cardinal +from the level of the mere satirist to that of the +great moral poet. ‘Do you know,’ he says, ‘what +becomes of the riches of those who have unjustly +acquired them? A mighty robber will come, who +will leave them nothing. His name is Death; he will +prostrate them, and entangle them in a net four yards +in length, and they will be sent to a house of misery.’</p> + +<p>It remains to point out one more feature of +Peire’s works, which distinguishes them from those +of all his brother poets. The troubadours, it has +been said, had a wise and beneficial horror of +theology. There is, as far as the present writer is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span>aware, not a trace in their works of the slightest +interest taken by any of them in the scholastic controversies +of Catholics and heretics. The only exception +to this rule is a <i>sirventes</i> by Peire Cardinal, +to which short reference has previously been made. +Peire, as has been mentioned before, had received +a learned education; he could read and write, +and was evidently not without considerable claims +to scholarship, according to the standard of his +age. He was no doubt well versed in the absurd +and hideously realistic conceptions of hell and +purgatory with which mediæval theologians and +preachers loved to fill the imagination of their +audiences. His poem reads like a gentle satire, +from the poet’s point of view, on their barren discussions. +The boldness of his conception and language +is at the same time astonishing in a writer of the +thirteenth century,</p> + +<p>‘I will begin a new <i>sirventes</i>,’ he says, ‘which I +shall repeat on the day of judgment to Him who +made and fashioned me out of nothing. If He +reproaches me of anything, and wishes to give me +over to damnation, I shall say: ‘Lord, have mercy on +me, for I have struggled with the wicked world all +my life; now save me by your grace from torment.’</p> + +<p>‘And His whole court shall wonder when they +hear my plea. For I say that He is unjust towards +His own if He delivers them to eternal punishment. +For he who loses what he might gain cannot complain +of his loss. Therefore He ought to be gentle +and indulgent so as to retain the souls of sinners.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span></p> + +<p>‘His gate ought not to be guarded, and St. +Peter has little honour through being the porter. +Every soul that wishes ought to be allowed to enter +smiling. For that court is little to my liking where +one laughs while others cry; and however great the +king may be we shall find fault with him if he refuses +us entrance.</p> + +<p>‘I will not despair, and on you, O Lord, my +good hope is founded. Therefore you must save my +soul and body, and comfort me in the hour of death. +And I will propose to you a good alternative. +Either send me back to where I came from on the +day of my birth, or forgive me my faults. For I +should not have committed them if I had not been +born.’</p> + +<p>And with this poem, which teaches a deep truth +in a half-playful manner, we must take leave of +Peire Cardinal. His character is of an elevated +type, and his gifts would do honour to any literature. +He is undoubtedly the foremost representative of +moral poetry amongst the troubadours.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV.<br> +<span class="smaller">LADIES AND LADY TROUBADOURS.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>In a poetry so thoroughly imbued with one prevailing +passion as is that of the troubadours, and in the +civilisation of which this poetry is the utterance, +woman naturally occupied a most important place. +But to define this place is a matter of some difficulty. +The poems of the troubadours themselves give us +but scanty information in this respect. We there +hear a great deal of the incomparable charms of +Provençal ladies; their loving-kindness is extolled, +or their cruelty complained of. But in few cases +only are we enabled to realise from generalities of +this kind an individual human being with individual +passions or caprices. It would, indeed, be impossible +even to decipher the numerous <i>senhals</i> or nicknames +under which the poets were obliged to hide the real +names of their lady-loves from the watchfulness of +evil tongues and cruel husbands, but for the aid of +the Provençal biographies of the old troubadours, +which in most cases offer a welcome clue to the +identity of these pseudonymous flames.</p> + +<p>It is by this means that we gain cognisance of the +beautiful ladies of Provence—such as the three sisters, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span>Maenz of Montignac, Elise of Montfort, and Maria of +Ventadour—praised in impassioned song by Bertran +de Born, Gaucelm Faidit, and other troubadours; +and of that lovely lady with an unlovely name, Loba +(she-wolf) of Penautier, who turned the fantastic +brain of Peire Vidal, and sent him into the wilderness +clad in a wolf’s skin—a practical pun on the +name of his mistress. From such hints as are +found in these biographies and other contemporary +sources, one may form a tangible idea of a Provençal +lady of the twelfth or thirteenth century; of her +position in society; and, most of all, of her decisive +influence on the poetry of the troubadours.</p> + +<p>What was the type of the lady of Provence of +whom so much has been said in verse and prose? +Was she a demure, well-conducted person clad in +sober colours, mending stockings and cutting bread +and butter for the children; a model housewife, in +fact, such as might be found in a best-possible world +of Mrs. Lynn Linton’s devising? Or was she, on +the other hand, a progressively minded female, despising +the frivolities of society, and thirsting for +medical degrees and the franchise, or whatever may +have been the mediæval equivalents of these much-desired +prerogatives? I fear that even Margarida +de Rossilho, ‘the lady most praised of her time for +all that is praiseworthy, and noble, and courteous,’ +would have fallen far short of these divergent ideals +of our latter days. Her main purpose of existence +was—shocking though it may sound—altogether not +practical, but ornamental. It was her choice and her +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span>duty to wield in a society, only just emerging from +barbarism, the softening influence to which we owe +the phenomenon of a highly finished literature and of +an astonishing degree of social refinement at the very +outset of the mediæval epoch. Whether this result +was altogether unworthy of woman’s mission in the +history of civilisation graver judges must decide.</p> + +<p>There is extant, dating from about the middle of +the thirteenth century, a curious poem in rhymed +couplets entitled ‘L’essenhamen de la donzela que +fe Amanieus des Escas com apela dieu d’amors;’ +<i>Anglicè</i>: ‘Instruction to a young lady, composed by +Sir Amanieu des Escas, called God of Love.’ In +this treatise we are supplied with a minute account +of the accomplishments expected from a well-educated +young lady, and of the bad habits most prejudicial to +her character. The poet is supposed to be addressing +a noble damsel living at the court of some great +baron, as a sort of ‘lady-help’ to his wife; this being +a not unusual, and undoubtedly a most efficient, +method of polite education in Provence. The young +lady has accosted Amanieu on a lonely walk, asking +for his advice in matters fashionable. This the poet +at first refuses to tender, alleging that ‘you (the +damsel) have ten times as much sense as I, and that +is the truth.’ But, after his modest scruples are once +overcome, he launches forth into a flood of good +counsel. He systematically begins with enforcing +the good old doctrine of ‘early to rise;’ touches +delicately on the mysteries of the early toilet, such +as lacing, washing of arms, hands, and head, which, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span>he sententiously adds, ought to go before the first-mentioned +process; and, after briefly referring to the +especial care required by teeth and nails, he leaves +the dressing-room for the church, where a quiet, undemonstrative +attitude is recommended; the illicit +use of eyes and tongue being mentioned amongst +the temptations peculiarly to be avoided. Directions +of similar minuteness assist the young lady at +the dinner table; the cases in which it would be +good taste, and those in which it would be the reverse, +to invite persons to a share of the dishes +within her reach are specified; and the rules as to +carving, washing one’s hands before and after +dinner, and similar matters, leave nothing to be desired. +‘Always temper your wine with water, so +that it cannot do you harm,’ is another maxim of undeniable +wisdom.</p> + +<p>After dinner follows the time of polite conversation +in the <i>sala</i> (drawing-room), the arbour, or on +the battlements of the castle; and now the teachings +of Amanieu become more and more animated, and +are enlivened occasionally by practical illustrations +of great interest. ‘And if at this season,’ he says, +‘a gentleman takes you aside, and wishes to talk of +courtship to you, do not show a strange or sullen +behaviour, but defend yourself with pleasant and +pretty repartees. And if his talk annoys you, and +makes you uneasy, I advise you to ask him questions, +for instance: “Which ladies do you think +are more handsome, those of Gascony or England; +and which are more courteous, and faithful, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span>good?” And if he says those of Gascony, answer +without hesitation: “Sir, by your leave, English +ladies are more courteous than those of any other +country.” But if he prefers those of England, +tell him Gascon ladies are much better behaved; +and thus carry on the discussion, and call your companions +to you to decide the questions.’ I defy +any modern professor of deportment to indicate +a more graceful and appropriate way of giving a +harmless turn to a conversation, or cutting short an +awkward <i>tête-à-tête</i>.</p> + +<p>And the same sense of tact and social ease pervades +the remainder of the poem, which consists +chiefly of valuable hints how to accept and how to +refuse an offer of marriage without giving more encouragement +or more offence than necessary. Upon +the whole, it must be admitted that ‘Amanieu des +Escas, called God of Love,’ although undoubtedly a +pedant, is the least objectionable and tedious pedant +that ever preached ‘the graces’ from the days of +Thomasin of Zerclaere to those of Lord Chesterfield. +But the important point for us is the enormous +weight attached to these rules of etiquette in the +education of the Provençal lady. Again and again +the advantages of <i>cortesia</i>, <i>avinensa</i>, and whatever the +numerous other terms for a graceful, courteous behaviour +may be, are emphasised: ‘even the enemy +of all your friends ought to find you civil-spoken,’ +the poet exclaims in a fit of polite enthusiasm. +However exaggerated and one-sided this point of +view may appear to the reader, he ought to remember +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span>that in primitive societies the code of ethics +can be enforced alone by the power of custom; the +derivation, indeed, of our word morality from the +Latin <i>mores</i> is by no means a mere etymological +coincidence.</p> + +<p>Prepared by an education such as I have tried +to sketch, the lady generally contracted a marriage +at an early age, the choice of a husband being +in most cases determined by her parents or her +feudal overlord. In the higher classes of society—and +these alone concern us here—her own inclination +was taken into little account. Her position at +the head of a great baron’s family was by no means +an easy one. She had to soften the coarse habits +and words of the warlike nobles; and, on the other +hand, to curb the amorous boldness of the gay troubadours +who thronged the courts of the great barons. +The difficulties and temptations of such a situation +were great, and further increased by the perfect +liberty which, in ancient as in modern France, +married ladies seem to have enjoyed. Indirect, but +none the less conclusive, evidence establishes this +point beyond doubt. We hear, for instance, of ladies +travelling about the country without attendance; +like the pretty wives of Sir Guari and Sir Bernart, +whom Count William of Poitiers deceived by acting +a deaf-and-dumb pilgrim. Even the dueña, as a +regular institution at least, seems to have been unknown +in Provence. There certainly were jealous +husbands who tried to protect their wives from gallant +intrusion by watchfulness and strict confinement. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span>The husband of the lovely Flamenca is an example +of such fruitless care. But his fate could not invite +imitation; and the universal horror expressed by all +gallant knights and ladies at this fictitious and at +some real instances of similar cruelty, sufficiently +proves the high degree of personal freedom enjoyed +by the ladies of Southern France.</p> + +<p>That this freedom was frequently abused is, unfortunately, +no matter of doubt. France is not, and +never has been, a prosperous climate for the growth +of wedded happiness. The heroines of all the love-stories +connected with the history of the troubadours +are, indeed, with not a single exception that I am +aware of, married ladies. This fact is certainly of +deep significance, but its importance ought not to be +overrated. We must remember that the troubadours +and their biographers were by nature and profession +inclined to magnify the force and extension of the +great passion. Frequently they may, and in some +cases we positively know that they did, mistake +gracious condescension for responsive love; and to +accept all their statements <i>au pied de la lettre</i> would +be about as advisable as to judge the institution of +marriage in modern France solely by the works of +Flaubert and Ernest Feydeau. In many cases, +however, the perfect innocence of the relations between +the troubadour and the lady he celebrates is +fully acknowledged by all parties. It was the privilege +of high-born and high-minded women to protect +and favour poetry, and to receive in return the +troubadours’ homage. It is in this beautiful character +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span>as admirer and patroness of the literature of her +country, that I wish first to consider the lady of +Provence. In the choice of an individual instance +of the relation alluded to, I have been guided by a +feeling of historic, not to say poetic, justice.</p> + +<p>History and fiction have vied with each other +in painting the picture of Eleanor, wife of Henry II. +of England, in the darkest colours. The former +convicts her of faithlessness to two husbands, and of +conspiracy with her own sons against their father; +the latter charges her with the murder of Rosamond +Clifford. Any redeeming feature in such a character +ought to be welcome to the believer in human +nature. Her connection with Bernart de Ventadorn, +one of the sweetest and purest of troubadours, +is such a feature. The poet came to her court in +sorrow. The lady he loved had been torn from him, +and it was by her own desire that he left her and +the country where she dwelt. He now turned to +Eleanor for comfort and sympathy, and his hope +was not disappointed. The old Provençal biography +of Bernart is provokingly laconic with regard to the +subject. ‘He went to the Duchess of Normandy,’ +it says, ‘who was young and of great worth, and +knew how to appreciate worth and honour, and he +said much in her praise. And she admired the +<i>canzos</i> and verses of Bernart. And she received +him very well, and bade him welcome. And he +stayed at her court a long time, and became +enamoured of her, and she of him, and he composed +many beautiful songs of her. And while he was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span>with her King Henry of England made her his wife, +and took her away from Normandy with him. And +from that time Bernart remained sad and woful.’</p> + +<p>This statement is incorrect in more than one +respect, and may be cited as another instance of the +desire on the part of the ancient biographers to give +a dramatic, and at the same time an erotic, turn to +the stories of their heroes. The allegation of the poet’s +prolonged courtship of the Duchess of Normandy +having been interrupted by the lady’s marriage +with Henry is self-contradictory, for the simple +reason that she became Duchess of Normandy and +took up her residence in that country in consequence +of this identical marriage, which took place in the +same year with her separation from Louis VII. of +France. Moreover, all the songs known to us as +having been addressed by the poet to Eleanor are +written after Henry’s accession to the English throne. +One of these songs, in which Bernart calls himself +‘a Norman or Englishman for the king’s sake,’ was +most likely composed in England, whither Bernart +had followed the court of his supposed rival.</p> + +<p>The same songs tend also to throw grave doubts +on another statement of the old manuscript—that +with regard to the mutual passion between lady and +troubadour. It is true that his devotion frequently +adopts the language of love; but there is no evidence +to show that this love was returned by anything +but friendship and kindness. He never boasts of +favours granted, as troubadours were but too prone +to do, and the joyful expectation expressed in one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span>of his poems is evidently and confessedly a hope +against hope. One somewhat obscure remark of +the poet seems to indicate that King Henry did not +regard the matter in an altogether innocent light. +The line reads thus in the original Provençal: ‘Per +vos me sui del rei partiz;’ which means, ‘For your +sake I have parted from the king,’ and seems to +indicate some sort of disagreement between the poet +and the lady’s husband. But, supposing even that +Henry’s jealousy were proved by this vague hint, +we are not for that reason obliged to adopt his +suspicions. Internal evidence points strongly towards +a different relation—a relation much more +common between the ladies and poets of Provence +than is generally believed, and which is marked by +fervent admiration on the one side, and by helpful +and gentle, but irreproachable, kindness on the +other.</p> + +<p>Frequently, however, the case was different. +Not all ladies were inexorable: not all troubadours +contented with a purely ideal worship. Ardent +wooings led to passionate attachments, and lovers’ +bliss was frequently followed by lovers’ quarrels. +Such quarrels—or, it might be, differences of opinion +on abstract points of love and gallantry—were, as +we know, discussed in a poetic form: the ‘<i>tenso</i>,’ or +‘song of contention,’ being especially reserved for +that purpose. It was mostly on occasions of this +kind that ladies took up the lute and mingled their +voices with the chorus of Provençal singers. The +names of fourteen gifted women have in this manner +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span>been transmitted to us—a very modest figure, +seeing that the entire number of the troubadours is +close upon four hundred. But even of these fourteen +lady-troubadours few, if any, seem to have been +professional or even amateur poets. The works of +most of them are exceedingly few in number, consisting, +in several cases, of a single song or part of a +<i>tenso</i>. This reticence on the part of the ladies +cannot be praised too highly; it explains to us at the +same time their position in the literary movement of +their time. Literature in the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries was a lucrative and honourable calling, +followed by many members of the poorer nobility +and of the lower classes. Professional singers of +this kind naturally depended on their productions +for a livelihood. Hence the number, and hence also +the occasional coldness and formality, of their songs.</p> + +<p>But this was different with women. With them +poetry was not an employment, but an inward +necessity. They poured forth their mirth or their +grief, and after that relapsed into silence. Even +Clara of Anduse, the brilliant and beautiful lady +who conquered the obstinate indifference of Uc de +St. Cyr, the celebrated troubadour, and who is described +as ambitious of literary fame, does not seem +to have sinned by over-production. Only one of +her songs remains to us, and there is no reason to +believe that time has been more than usually destructive +to her works.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI.<br> +<span class="smaller">BEATRICE DE DIE.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The only lady-troubadour of whose poems we +possess a sufficient number to allow of a fair judgment +of her capability is the Countess Beatrice de +Die. She may also serve to illustrate the essentially +subjective conception of the art of poetry which +marks the phase in literature alluded to. The unvarying +subject of her songs is the story of her love; +without this passion she would have remained mute. +Her first song is the embodiment of new-awakened +happiness; her last a dirge over hopes dead and +lost.</p> + +<p>‘The Countess de Die,’ says the old manuscript, +‘was the wife of Guillem de Poitou and a good and +beautiful lady; she became enamoured of Rambaut +of Orange, and wrote many fine poems of him.’ +This Rambaut was the third ruler of that name of +the country of Aurenga or Orange, in the south of +France, from which the Dutch line of the house of +Nassau derived its name. The English cavaliers, by +the way, were considerably out in their etymological +reckoning when they derisively squeezed the +orange.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span></p> + +<p>Rambaut is well known as the author of numerous +poems, some of them rather coarse in character. +One of his songs is metrically curious by the poet +relapsing at the end of every stanza into a few lines +of prose, in which admirers of Walt Whitman will +perhaps discover rhythm. In another poem he +gives an elaborate prescription for gaining the hearts +and bending the minds of women, quite in the spirit +of the coarsest scenes of the <i>Taming of the Shrew</i>. +The apparent disagreement of the poet with his own +rules expressed in one stanza does not much alter +the case in his favour, neither can we consider his +calling one of his lady-loves by the nickname ‘my +Devil’ a sign of refinement on his part. The exaggerated +and boldly uttered opinion of his own +poetic power is an additional unpleasant feature of +Rambaut’s character. His songs to Beatrice de +Die, of which several remain, are marked by extravagant +gallantry rather than by true feeling. It may, +for instance, be doubted whether the lady had much +reason to be pleased with compliments of this kind: +‘The joy you give me is such that a thousand doleful +people would be made merry by my joy. And on +my joy my whole family could live with joy without +eating.’</p> + +<p>The reader will notice the frequent repetition +of the word ‘joy,’ which occurs once in every line of +the stanza. This is an instance of the artificialities +in which many troubadours, Rambaut of Orange +foremost amongst the number, took pride. A +similar metrical contrivance is found in another +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span>song by the same poet, most likely also addressed to +the Countess de Die. It is called the ‘<i>rim dictional</i>,’ +and consists of the combination, in the rhyming +syllables, of two words which can be derived from +each other by either adding or deducting one or +more syllables. Thus, for instance, the feminine +and masculine forms of the adjective and participle; +<i>at-ada</i>, <i>ut-uda</i> stand in the relation of ‘dictional +rhymes.’ It is sadly significant to see that this silly +contrivance has been adopted by Beatrice de Die in +the song which expresses the fulness of her loving +bliss. Perhaps it would be too bold to conjecture +without additional evidence that, in this as in so +many cases, the teacher had developed into the +lover; but this sign of intellectual dependence is at +any rate highly characteristic. To give the reader +an idea of the sweetness of Beatrice’s metre and +diction, I will quote one stanza of the poem alluded +to in the original.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ab joi et ab joven m’apais</div> + <div class="verse indent2">E jois e jovens m’apaia;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qar mos amics es lo plus gais</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Per q’ieu sui coindet’ e gaia.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E pois ieu li sui veraia</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Bes tanh q’el me sia verais.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qanc de lui amar nom estrais</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ni ai en cor quem n’estraia.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">‘With joy and youth I am content; may joy and +youth give me contentment! For my friend is most +joyous, therefore I am amiable and gay. And as I +am true to him, true he must be to me. For I do +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span>not withhold my love from him, so neither can I +think that he should withhold his from me.’</p> + +<p>Unfortunately the serene sky of this happiness +was soon to be overclouded. We can distinctly +recognise the mutual position of the lovers. Count +Rambaut, if he had at any time felt a serious passion +for Beatrice, soon got over that weakness. In +vain he tries to hide his apathy from the keen +glance of the loving woman. She is appeased for +the moment by his grandiloquent vows of eternal +devotion; but soon her suspicion awakes again with +renewed strength. Such are the feelings which +have inspired the admirable <i>tenso</i> respectively ascribed +to Rambaut and Beatrice, but most likely +composed by both of them in alternate stanzas of +reproach and excuse. The poet, taxed with indifference +and fickleness, explains that the rareness +of his visits is caused by his fear of the evil tongues +and spies ‘who have taken my sense and breath +away.’ But the lady is little impressed with this +tender care for her reputation. ‘No thanks do I +owe you,’ she says, ‘for refusing to see me when +I send for you, because of the harm I might suffer +through it. And if you take greater care of my welfare +than I do myself, you must forsooth be over-loyal; +more so than the Knights of the Hospital.’ Only +by the most extravagant promises of amendment is +the poet able to gain from the lady the qualified +concession: ‘Friend, I will trust you so far, so that +I find you true and loyal to me at all times.’</p> + +<p>A second song of the countess marks a further +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span>stage of this unfortunate amour. The poet now +has dropped the mask; the lady is deserted—deserted +for another love. The sight of her misery is +pathetic, although, perhaps, less dignified than would +be the silent pride of a noble-hearted woman. But +pride is strange to the heart of poor Beatrice. Her +desire is not to upbraid, but, if possible, to regain, +her truant lover; and nothing she considers beneath +her dignity that may accomplish this sole desire of +her heart. Abject flattery of her lover and even the +praise of her own beauty are resorted to by her with +a naïve openness which, somehow, makes us forget +her utter want of dignity. There is about her poem +the true ring of simple pathos, which I have tried to +retain as far as possible in the subjoined rendering +of three of the stanzas:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">CANZO.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A chantar m’er de so qu’eu no volria</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tant me rancur de lui cui sui amia;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Car eu l’am mais que nuilla ren que sia:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vas lui nom val merces ni cortezia,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ni ma beltatz ni mos pretz ni mos sens;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">C’atressim sui enganad’ e trahia</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Com degr’esser, s’eu fos dezavinens.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Meraveill me cum vostre cors s’argoilla</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Amics vas me per qu’ai razon quem doilla.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Non es ges dreitz c’autr’amors vos mi toilla,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per nuilla ren queus diga nius acoilla.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E membre vos cals fol comensamens</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De nostr’amor; ja dompnedeus non voilla</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’en ma colpa sial departimens.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Proeza grans, qu’el vostre cors s’aizina,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E lo rics pretz qu’avetz m’en ataina.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">C’una non sai, loindana ni vezina,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Si vol amar vas vos no si’ aclina:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mas vos, amics es ben tant conoissens,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que ben devetz conoisser la plus fina;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E membre vos de nostres partimens.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><i>Translation.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">It is in vain, this silence I must break;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fault of him I love moves me to speak.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dearer than all the world he is to me;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But he regards not love nor courtesy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor wisdom, nor my worth, nor all my beauty—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He has deceived me. Such my fate should be,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If I had failed to him in loving duty.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh, strange and past belief that in disdain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your heart, oh friend, should look upon my pain;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That now another love should conquer you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For all that I may say, that I may do!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have you forgotten the sweet first communion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of our two hearts? Now sorely would I rue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If by my guilt were caused this last disunion.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The noble worth, the valour you possess,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your fame and beauty add to my distress.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For far and near the noble ladies all,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If love can move them, listen to your call.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But you, my friend, whose soul is keenest-sighted,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must know who loves you, and is true withal.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ah! remember now the troth we plighted.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The reader need hardly be told that this touching +appeal proved in vain. We have another song +of Beatrice, in which she deplores the final loss of +her friend. It is remarkable that even now no word +of anger escapes her lips. She blames herself for a +reticence of feeling which, if she had possessed it, +might have averted her fate. This is the first +stanza of the plaintive ditty:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah, sadly, sadly do I miss</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A knight of valour once mine own!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To all at all times be it known,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My heart was his—was only his.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Foolishly my secret keeping,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I hid my love when he was near;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But in my heart I held him dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Day and night, awake and sleeping.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">And here we must take leave of the beautiful Beatrice +de Die. She is not without interest from a psychological +point of view, and represents the literary +capabilities of her class by the intensely subjective +character of her work, which is the immediate outgrowth +of her feeling.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE COURTS OF LOVE.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>There is yet one other important character in which +I should wish to introduce the lady of Provence to +the gentle reader. It has already been pointed out +that to her influence the refinement of manners and the +high conception of the duties of gallantry in the early +middle ages are mainly due. But nowhere did her +gentle sway exercise a more irresistible power than +in that truest domain of womanhood—love. This +love was little restrained in Provence by the legitimate +bounds of marriage, but it was not altogether +lawless for that reason. There were certain rules of +conduct instinctively felt rather than definitely formulated, +but which, nevertheless, no lady or gallant +cavalier could transgress with impunity. Discretion, +for instance, was a demand most strictly enforced by +these self-imposed laws of the loving community. +No lady of good feeling would have accepted the +services of a knight who had failed in this respect to +a former mistress. Neither was it thought compatible +with correct principles for a lady to deprive +another lady of her lover. Inquiries into the antecedents +of intended <i>cicisbeos</i> were of frequent occurrence, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span>and only when a troubadour could prove his ‘being +off with the old love’ could he hope for a favourable +reception of his vows. We indeed know of one case +at least where a lady, although herself desirous of the +services of a poet, effected his reconciliation with a +rival beauty. But this loyal feeling did not extend to +that bugbear and scapegoat of gallant society in +Provence—the husband. No amount of verbal +falsehood or hypocrisy was thought unjustifiable in +the endeavour to dupe his well-founded suspicion. +His resentment of injuries received was, on the other +hand, punished by the general interdict of polite +society. Such, at least, is the no doubt somewhat +high-coloured picture drawn by Provençal poets and +romancers.</p> + +<p>To the great influence of noble ladies on public +opinion, and to the <i>esprit de corps</i> evinced by their +recorded words and doings, we have to trace back +the general and time-honoured idea of the ladies’ +tribunal, or ‘court of love.’ To us in England +Chaucer’s poem of that title has sanctioned the name.⁠<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[292]</span>A prettier picture moreover can hardly be imagined +than that drawn by many old and modern writers +of an assembly of beautiful women sitting in judgment +on guilty lovers, and gravely deciding knotty +points of the amorous code. The slight tinge of +pedantry in such a picture only adds to its mediæval +quaintness. The only drawback is that, like so +many other pretty and quaint pictures, it has no +counterpart in the reality of things; not as far, at +least, as the south of France and the times of the +troubadours are concerned. Friederich Diez, the +lately deceased great philologist to whom the history +of Romance literature and languages owes so much, +has once and for ever destroyed the fable of the +‘courts of love’ in connection with the troubadours. +This was done in 1825; but ever since the uprooted +notion has gone on producing fresh and powerful +shoots in the fertile soil of periodical and generally +unscientific literature. It is, indeed, one of the few +dainties of genuine or pseudo-Provençal composition +which have been frequently and <i>ad nauseam</i> dished +up to the general reader of this country.</p> + +<p>The state of the case is briefly this:—</p> + +<p>In 1817 the well-known French scholar, M. +Raynouard, published his large collection of Provençal +poems, entitled ‘Choix des Poésies originales des +Troubadours.’ In the second volume of this work he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[293]</span>has inserted a long and elaborate inquiry of his own +into the subject of the ‘courts of love.’ He determines +the period of their duration as the time from the +middle of the twelfth to the end of the fourteenth +century or thereabouts, and gives a somewhat minute +description of the legal and polite customs observed +at these extraordinary tribunals. According to him +the members of the court were noble ladies guided +by a written code of love, their decisions again making +precedent. An appeal to a different tribunal +was admissible. The parties had, as a rule, to plead +their cause in person; at other times, however, +written documents—affidavits, as we should say—were +accepted, the latter frequently taking the form +of <i>tensos</i>. To these <i>tensos</i>, therefore, we ought to +look for some confirmation of these statements; +and, according to Raynouard, such confirmation is +forthcoming in more than sufficient abundance. It is, +as we know, the custom in these songs of contention for +the two disputants to refer their case to the arbitration +of third parties. ‘This <i>tenso</i> will last for ever,’ says +one troubadour, after having exhausted his arguments. +‘Let us take our cause to the Dauphin; he +will decide and conclude it in peace.’ But here is +the rub. The umpires mentioned on this and many +other occasions are always one or two, more rarely +three, individuals, generally friends of the contending +parties, or else well-meaning and courteous persons, +men or women, who decide according to the rules of +common sense, or quote the opinions of celebrated +troubadours by way of rule and guidance. Not once +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span>is a ‘court of love’ mentioned in these <i>tensos</i>, nor +indeed in any other poem, by a genuine troubadour, +The expression as well as the thing was unknown to +them. Both belong to a much later time.</p> + +<p>The period of spontaneous production in the +literature of most nations is followed by that of +classification. Byzantine scholarship and Athenian +tragedy belong to different phases of intellectual life. +When the poetry of the troubadours began to decay, +grammarians and metrical scholars sprang up, and +artificial poetry flourished at the <i>Jeux Floraux</i>. In +the same sense it may be said that ‘courts of love’ +could not exist while love itself was alive. The +laws of gallantry were inscribed in the hearts of +ladies and troubadours while the brilliant, buoyant +life of Southern France was in its acme. When +this civilisation was crushed, when these beautiful +times lived but in the remembrance of a few, it might +become necessary to preserve in dead formulas and +codes the remnants of a better past. But even in +the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the south of +France seems not to have been a favourable soil for +the ‘courts of love,’ as certain amateur societies of +gallant and literary ladies and gentlemen then began +to be called. The chief witness on the subject, +Andreas Capellanus, who quotes several sentences +delivered by these <i>curiæ dominarum</i>, seems to refer +chiefly to the north of France.⁠<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Another Frenchman, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span>Martial d’Auvergne, an advocate in Paris, +has introduced the technical language of the law into +these amorous discussions; much to the edification +of his contemporaries (he lived in the fifteenth century), +to judge from the number of editions published +of his work.</p> + +<p>The sober truth arrived at by these and many +other considerations too long to mention may be +summed up thus: ‘Courts of love,’ as established +tribunals with written codes, are altogether fictitious. +Amateur societies of that name occur in the late +middle ages, but chiefly in the north of France. To +the troubadours the name and essence of ‘courts of +love’ were entirely unknown.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PART_III"><i>PART III.</i><br> +<span class="smaller">TECHNICAL</span></h2> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[298]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE ORIGIN OF RHYME.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The foundation of poetry, that is of the expression +of human feelings in verse, is rhythm. According +to Aristoxenus, the greatest metrical scholar of +Greece, rhythm is the division of time into equally +recurring shorter and longer parts; but it becomes perceptible +only by being applied to certain movements +performed in this time (τὸ ῥυθμιζόμενον). This object +of rhythm is, of course, different in the different +arts. In music, it is the notes of a melody (μέλος); +in dance, the movements of hands and feet (σωματικὴ +κίνησις); and in poetry, the words (λέξις). In +ancient, and especially in Greek, poetry, rhythm +was the first and chief principle of verse; and Greek +poets observed this principle with the greatest consistency, +measuring their lines exclusively according +to the length or shortness of the syllables, without +taking any notice of the rhetorical accent of each +word, which depends, of course, greatly on its meaning. +This metrical system, founded entirely on the +beauty of sound, agrees perfectly with what we +know of the plastic art of the Greeks, where also the +graceful and harmonious form predominates over the +emotional expression of the features. There is something +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span>analogous to be found in the primitive poetry of +the Teutonic nations. The aim of their poets was to +impress the audience by the strong and heroic sound +of their verses; and in consequence the principle of +their metrical system was purely rhythmical. In +<i>Beowulf</i>, as well as in the <i>Hildebrandliet</i>, or the +<i>Wessobrunner Gebet</i>, each line contains a certain +number of long and highly-accented (<i>hochbetont</i>) +syllables, which are further emphasised by alliteration. +The rhetorical importance of these syllables +does not in the least influence their metrical value.</p> + +<p>Latin poetry was not at first equally strict. The +earlier Roman poets always tried to make the +rhetorical and the metrical accent coincide. This +was the more easy for them, as their rules of +quantity were not yet clearly defined. Only the +later Roman poets, and among them especially +Horace, who were under the influence of Greek +literature, introduced the accurate rules of Hellenic +prosody into their own language, and at the +same time made the metrical accent quite independent +of the rhetorical. A remarkable sign of the +difference between the Roman and Greek metrical +systems is the way in which the two nations used +the most important terms of rhythmical art, arsis +and thesis. Aristoxenus, founding his metrical +system entirely on the rhythms of dance and music, +called arsis the weak part of the metre, because there +the dancer raised his foot (αἴρω), and thesis the +strong part, when the dancer trod the ground +(τίθημι)—exactly contrary to the modern use of +these words made familiar by Bentley. The best +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[301]</span>Roman metrical scholars, such as Atilius Fortunatianus +and Terentianus Maurus, on the other +hand, led by the rhetorical accent of their language, +called arsis the first, and thesis the second, part +of the metre, whether weak or strong, following, +however, in this the metrical ἐγχειρίδιον of an unknown +late-Greek author.⁠<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The only exception +is Martianus Capella, the author of ‘De Nuptiis +Philologiæ et Mercurii,’ a work considered, during +the middle ages, as a standard authority for all +the branches of human knowledge. In his translation +of Aristides Quintilianus, he adopted from him +the use of arsis and thesis, although it was in direct +contradiction to his own definition: ‘Arsis est +elevatio, thesis depositio vocis ac remissio.’ The +introduction of Greek prosody into the Latin +language was simply a matter of art; and its reign +could last only so long as the great poets of the +classic period kept down the influence of popular +poetry. As soon as the unlimited sway of these +grand traditions ceased, the original tendencies of +the Roman language began to oppose the Greek-Augustan +orthodoxy; and this struggle, which lasted +for many centuries, ended in the complete overthrow +of the ancient prosody. It would lead too far to +follow the traces of this process through its different +phases; it is enough to say that, at the beginning of +the middle ages, the rhetorical as against the metrical +accent had more than reconquered its original +rights in Latin poetry. In the grand religious songs +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[302]</span>of mediæval monkish poetry, such as ‘Dies iræ, dies +illa’ or ‘Stabat mater dolorosa,’ the verses are +measured entirely according to the modern principle +of rhetorical accent. Even where the mediæval poets +tried to keep up the appearance of ancient versification +they could not abstain from yielding to the +powerful influence of rising mediæval art. The +best example of this fact is the favourite metre of +monkish scholars, the Leonine hexameter. The +poems written in this metre—as may be seen by the +following two lines from the poem ‘De contemptu +mundi,’ of the eleventh century,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cumque laborum | cumque dolorum | sit sitabundus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nos irritans | nos invitans | ad mala mundus—</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">utterly neglect the fundamental rules of ancient +prosody. The same might be said, even in a higher +degree, of Godfrid of Viterbo. He goes so far as +to join two leonine hexameters and one pentameter +in a stanza; for example:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Imperii sidus | plaudunt tibi mensis et idus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Metra tibi fidus | regalia dat Gotefridus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quæ tibi sæpe legas | ut bene regna regas.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The principle of dividing the stanza into three parts +which is the basis of Italian and German strophes, +can be easily recognised here; and the mediæval +poet might have written his sham hexameters much +more properly in this way:—</p> + +<table class="stanzas"> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Pedes</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ Imperii sidus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ Plaudunt tibi mensis et idus.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ Metra tibi fidus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ Regalia dat Gotefridus.</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Cauda</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ Quæ tibi sæpe legas</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ Ut bene regna regas.</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[303]</span></p> + +<p class="noindent">One of the most striking features of this rising +poetry is the rhyme—an element quite independent +of the metrical principle, and founded entirely +on the sound and rhetorical accent of the words. +This rhyme is used no longer as an occasional +effect, in different places of the verse, but defined by the +strictest rules of art. It has been a favourite subject +of investigation with literary scholars, to determine +who first used the rhyme. Monkish mediæval poets +and Provençal troubadours have found enthusiastic +defenders of their claims to this great invention. It +appears however that the question itself was a mistake. +Nobody invented the rhyme: it has existed as long +as poetry itself. Horace and Homer knew it as well +as Byron and Goethe; but the rhythmical principle +prevailed too largely in the Latin and Greek languages +to allow the rhyme, as a rhetorical element, +to attain that influence which it gained by a natural +process, when verses began to be measured according +to the modern principle of rhetorical accent. +Wilhelm Grimm, in his monograph ‘Zur Geschichte +des Reims,’ has collected with great care the +numerous instances of rhyme in the classic Roman +period. The rule is, as Grimm shows, that the chief +cæsura in the third foot of the hexameter rhymes +with the end of the verse; but in other places also +the rhyming words may be found. Grimm, however, +decidedly goes too far when he sees an intentional +rhyme in all these cases. The Latin language, owing +to its consonant final syllables in declensions and +conjugations, possessed an immense quantity of rhyming +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[304]</span>material, and moreover each adjective had to +agree with its noun, if it followed the same declension. +It is therefore difficult to see how the poet +could have avoided bringing into the same verse +very often two or even more words ending in the +same way. In a verse, for instance, like that quoted +by Grimm from Virgil’s ‘Bucolics,’</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Vare tuas cupiant et tristia condere bella,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">no Roman poet could have intended, nor a Roman +ear have noticed, a rhyme between ‘tristia’ +and ‘bella;’ especially as the different metrical value +of the two syllables modified the sound of the +two <i>a</i>’s. Grimm seems not to have been able to +free himself altogether from the propensity of biographers +to overrate the importance of their heroes. +However, in innumerable other cases rhyme has +decidedly been used of set purpose by the Roman +poets, especially where the corresponding words +are found either in the chief cæsura and the end of +the same verse, or at the end of two verses following +each other. Of both cases an example may be +cited from Horace, whose fine ear and ability to +avail himself of beauties of rhythm and sound make +him an important witness for the intentional use of +rhyme.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ille gravem du<i>ro</i> terram qui vertit arat<i>ro</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">affords an excellent instance of rhyme in the chief +cæsura; while the lines</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Non satis est pulchra esse poemata, dulcia sunto</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Et quocumque volent animum auditoris agunto,⁠<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[305]</span></p> + +<p class="noindent">prove even the existence of a sort of feminine rhyme +in Latin poetry. Horace also shows how the +Roman poets used the rhyme for onomatopoetic +purposes. In the celebrated line,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus,⁠<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">the quick jump of the little animal could not have +been better illustrated than by the rhyme of the +two words immediately following each other—‘Schlagreim,’ +as the German meistersingers appropriately +call it. Though there can be no doubt that +the Latin poets of the classic period knew and +occasionally used rhyme, it never was to them of +the same vital importance that it is to modern +poets; and in fact it never could be, so long as the +rhythmical accent preserved its unlimited power; for +this is decidedly unfavourable to rhyme. In all those +cases, for instance, where the chief cæsura of the +hexameter rhymed with the end of the same verse, +which, as we have seen, was the usual way, the two +corresponding syllables had different metrical accents. +In the line already cited,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Īllĕ grăvēm dūr<i>ō</i> tērrām quī vērtĭt ărātr<i>ŏ</i>,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">the <i>o</i> of <i>duro</i> stands in the arsis, and therefore has +quite a different sound from the <i>o</i> in <i>aratro</i>, which +stands in the thesis. This becomes the more evident +in those very rare cases where the rhyme in this +position contains two syllables, or is, as we should +say, feminine. In Horace there is only one instance +of this; and indeed what could be the use of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[306]</span>a rhyme which, if the verse were read according +to rhythmical principles, would be scarcely +audible?—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Frātrēm mœ̄<i>rēntīs’</i> rāptō dē frātrĕ dŏ<i>lēn’tĭs</i>.⁠<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">But by the same fact the destructive influence of +rhyme on the rhythmical principle becomes evident. +The line, for instance, already quoted from Godfrey +of Viterbo, would, if properly scanned, have sounded +thus:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mētră tĭbē <i>fīdūs’</i> rēgālĭă dāt Gŏtĕf<i>rī’dŭs</i>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">But this way of destroying the feminine rhyme by +the rhythmical accent certainly did not tally with +the feeling of the mediæval poet; and it may be +assumed that he accentuated <i>fídus</i> exactly like +Gotef<i>rídus</i>, as if it were a trochee. This at the +same time agreed perfectly with the rhetorical accent +of the word. Reading the whole verse according +to the same principle, the first part of it,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Métra tíbi fídus,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">became quite trochaic in character, and the idea of +the hexameter is utterly destroyed. This destruction +of the rhythmical principle in mediæval Latin +poetry was almost contemporary with the same +phenomenon in Teutonic literature. Here also the +dominion of purely rhythmical measurement and +alliteration was victoriously contested by rhyme and +rhetorical accent. At the beginning of the middle-high-German +period, alliteration as a principle of art +disappeared; and by the great minnesingers of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[307]</span>twelfth and thirteenth centuries it was used only +occasionally, and without any strict rule, just as +rhyme was by the old Roman poets. It was chiefly +preserved in old alliterative formulæ, such as ‘Haus +und Hof,’ or our ‘Kith and Kin.’ A beautiful example +of this is found in the last stanza but one of the +‘Nibelunge Nôt’:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mit leide was verendet des künges hochgezît</div> + <div class="verse indent0">als ie diu <i>l</i>îbe <i>l</i>eide z’aller jungeste gît.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Rhythmical accent, however, existed side by side +with rhetorical accent much longer in German than +in any of the Romance languages; and traces of its +influence may be found almost till the beginning of +the modern high-German epoch.</p> + +<p>In the Romance languages the decline of the +rhythmical principle was even more complete than +in the mediæval Latin or in any of the Teutonic +idioms. The feeling for rhythm in those languages +was so entirely lost that they were not able even to +preserve the rhetorical accent in sufficient strength +to make it of any avail for metrical purposes. Although +in most of the poems written in the Romance +languages there is a certain resemblance to the iambic +or trochaic fall, yet the scanning of a whole stanza +according to these metres would in most cases prove +impossible. In modern French, which has gone +farthest in neglecting the rhythmical difference +between the syllables within the same word, there +is scarcely a single line of the most finished poets +which could be read metrically without altering even +that remnant of rhetorical accent which has been +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[308]</span>preserved. In the following verse, taken from +Boileau’s sixth Satire,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Căr à peĭ<i>nē</i> lĕs cōqs cŏm<i>m</i>ēnçănt leūr rămāgĕ,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">there are two striking examples of this fact; for the +accent of the (if anything) iambic metre in the word +<i>peine</i> is on a syllable which in prose is scarcely pronounced +at all, and in <i>commençant</i> the last syllable +is at least as long as the last but one. Where +modern French poets try to introduce something +resembling rhythm, they generally do so less by +means of the rhetorical accent in words of several +syllables than by putting the more or less important +parts of the sentence, such as article and noun or +personal pronoun and verb, in thesis and arsis respectively. +In the main it may fairly be said that in +Romance poetry metre is entirely founded on counting +the syllables of the verse, and rhythm, properly +speaking, has disappeared, except so far as it shows +its influence in the combination of verses of different +lengths in a stanza.</p> + +<p>This leads us to another consideration, which is of +the highest importance in studying Provençal versification. +Rhythm showed its influence on the poetry of +the troubadours, not only in the single verses, but also +in the composition of several verses of different sizes +and cadences into an organic whole—the strophe. +The harmonious beauty and impulsive lyrical pathos +of Pindar’s odes excite the same admiration as does +the steady epical flow of Homer’s hexameters; and +to the inheritance of the strophe, and its development +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[309]</span>into the stanza, mediæval poems, and especially the +canzos of the troubadours, owe their greatest charm. +To the relics of ancient literature already mentioned +was added the rhyme, defined by strict rules and +made obligatory; and this new principle contributed +not a little to give variety and harmonious beauty +to the mediæval stanza. In investigating Provençal +versification, it will therefore be necessary to consider +(1) rhythm, as shown in the manifold measures +of verse, (2) rhyme, and (3) the mode in which by +these two elements combined the stanza of the troubadours +was formed.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[310]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX.<br> +<span class="smaller">RHYTHM.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>In no other language of Western Europe has the +artistic development of poetical forms ever reached +so high a degree of perfection as that to which it +was raised by the troubadours. The craftsmanship +of the poets and singers, the refinement of the +audiences in appreciating beauties of rhyme and +metre which the modern ear can scarcely realise, +are the more astonishing, since the period of the +poetry of the troubadours is comparatively a very +early one, and since their civilisation in other +respects shows the characteristics of the early middle +ages. Through various favourable circumstances, +the <i>langue d’oc</i> succeeded, first of all Romance +idioms, in forming itself into a distinct and +regular language, with strictly defined grammatical +rules. The great number of final syllables of the +same sound, which existed in the comparatively well +preserved forms of declensions and conjugations, +offered an immense quantity of rhymes; and this +ease of rhyming, combined with the liveliness and +sanguine temperament of southern Frenchmen, +naturally gave rise to an early poetry. The primitive +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[311]</span>stages of this poetry have, as we know, disappeared; +and we have lost in these popular songs, which +undoubtedly existed, the most valuable material +for the history of Provençal metrical art. The +first troubadour, Count Guillem IX. of Poitou +(1071-1127), appears as a finished poet, in full +possession of all the refinements of Provençal metre, +without any predecessor or previous document of +lyrical poetry to account for his great accomplishments +and experience. In fact, after him there is no +important progress of metrical art; and, although +several troubadours formed new stanzas and used +difficult rhymes of their own, it may be said that, in +the main, the first troubadour knew as much of +the harmonious beauties of stanza and rhyme as the +last—Guiraut Riquier, who died about two hundred +years after the birth of Guillem.</p> + +<p>This great stability of the metrical rules soon led +to a desire of fixing them by a theoretical system; +and we know of several attempts to perform this +difficult task. The most important and voluminous +work of this kind must be our guide in the maze of +Provençal subtlety; though in many cases it is more +difficult to follow the mediæval scholar through +his confused definitions than to abstract the rules +from the poems themselves. The author of ‘Las +Leys d’Amors,’ as he calls his compilation, considered, +in accordance with the notions of his time, +that it was a sign of highest scholarship to accumulate +the greatest possible amount of undigested +knowledge, without taking the trouble of grouping +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[312]</span>his heterogeneous materials. He desires to show +his familiarity with almost all the branches of human +knowledge. Grammar and rhetoric, prosody and dialectics, +the trivium and quadrivium, have been objects +of his study; and his work is undoubtedly one of the +most valuable exponents of mediæval scholarship. +In fact, it may be called the aggregate expression +of the literary ideas of his time and country, the +more so as it can scarcely be said to have been +written by one author only. In the middle of the +fourteenth century (1356 is the exact date of the +work), the time of the great troubadours had long +passed away; and their pure language was yielding +more and more to the influences of southern patois +and the northern <i>langue d’oïl</i>. To oppose the further +decline of the language and poetry, several institutions +were founded by patriotic and cultivated men, +who, however, being scholars rather than poets, +could not revive the spirit of the troubadours. One +of the most renowned of these societies, which resembled +modern academies, named the ‘Seven +Poets of Toulouse,’ commissioned their chancellor +for the time being, Guillaume Molinier, to write, or +rather to compile from the works of other scholars, +and under their own supervision, a compendium of +the rules of poetry. The result was ‘Las Leys +d’Amors,’ which, founded entirely on the traditions +of the troubadours, although written after their time, +is of the greatest importance for the metrical +analysis of their works. M. Gatien-Arnoult, keeper +of the manuscripts of the Académie des Jeux Floraux +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[313]</span>at Toulouse, has published an accurate edition of +the work from the manuscript belonging to that +Academy.</p> + +<p>Another mediæval work, which it will often be +necessary to refer to, is Dante’s treatise ‘De Vulgari +Eloquentia.’ His remarks on the measurement +of verse and the construction of stanzas were +originally meant to apply to poems written in his +own language. But the affinity between the poets +of the <i>lingua di sì</i> and those of the <i>langue d’oc</i>, +and especially the great influence of the troubadours +on Dante’s own metrical system,⁠<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> make it +permissible to apply the rules laid down by the +great Italian to the works of the Provençal poets.</p> + +<p>In the fifth chapter of his treatise Dante defines +the limits of the length of a verse in this way: ‘Nullum +adhuc invenimus carmen in syllabicando endecasyllabum +transcendisse nec a trisyllabo descendisse.’⁠<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> +By trisyllabus and endecasyllabus he means lines, or +carmina, as he calls them, which in reality may consist +of no more than two and ten syllables. For in +Italian poetry feminine rhymes are so predominant +in number that Dante does not think it necessary to +take into consideration the small minority of masculine +rhymes, and counts the last short syllable of the +feminine rhyme even in those few cases where in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[314]</span>reality it does not exist. The ‘Leys d’Amors,’ according +to its national view, follows a totally different +principle of measuring verse. It first states the difference +between masculine and feminine rhymes, calling +the former accen agut, and the latter accen greu. +Then it counts the syllables of each verse really existing, +neglecting, however, the last short syllable if +the verse ends with a feminine rhyme. An example +will best show the difference of the two systems. +Of the two following lines,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">anz li mal trag mi son joi e plazer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">sol per aiso, car sai q’amors autreja,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">the first consists actually of ten syllables, the last of +which has the metrical accent. This, therefore, the +‘Leys d’Amors’ would call a ‘bordo de x. syllabas con +accen agut.’ The second line, though actually containing +eleven syllables, it would call a ‘bordo de x. +syllabas con accen greu.’ Dante, on the other hand, +would call both verses endecasyllabi, not taking any +notice of the rime tronco in the first. The ‘Leys +d’Amors,’ therefore, differs widely, and even more than +might at first appear, from Dante, in saying that the +shortest verse possible is that of four, and the longest +possible that of twelve, syllables. For what Dante +calls a trisyllabus may be, as we have seen, in reality +a line of two syllables; and the ‘bordo de quatro +syllabas’ of the ‘Leys d’Amors’ may consist actually +of five syllables. Verses shorter than four syllables, +according to the ‘Leys d’Amors’ are permissible only +in the form of bordos empeutatz or biocatz. By bordos +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[315]</span>empeutatz are meant the different parts of a verse +divided by a middle rhyme, such as</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Perdut ai—e cobrarai.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Bordos biocatz are short verses which are mixed with +others of greater length, and form, if rhyming, a sort +of echo; for instance:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">El contrari far vol</div> + <div class="verse indent6">E col.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">These limits, however, are too narrow, at least in one +direction. In one of the poems of Guillem IX. of +Poitiers there is a line consisting of no less than fifteen +syllables, and therefore by far exceeding the number +allowed by Dante or the ‘Leys d’Amors.’ This verse +displays, notwithstanding its great length, a certain +rhythmical beauty, which, considering the rarity of +effects of that sort, makes it all the more remarkable. +In the first stanza of the poem it runs thus:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">q’una domna s’es clamada de sos gardadors a me.⁠<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The extreme in the other direction is reached by the +troubadour Marcabrun, who has verses of one syllable +only, such as Ay, and Oc.</p> + +<p>Between these extremes, verses of all lengths may +be found now and then in the poetry of the troubadours; +but nevertheless a preference for certain forms +is visible. Dante’s views on the subject, which, on the +whole, may fairly be applied to Provençal verse, are +contained in the following sentence: ‘Pentasyllabum +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[316]</span>[viz., carmen, <i>i.e.</i> line] et eptasyllabum et endecasyllabum +in usu frequentiori habentur, et post hæc trisyllabum +ante alia: quorum omnium endecasyllabum +videtur esse superbius tam temporis occupatione +quam capacitate sententiæ, constructionis et vocabulorum.’ +This, rendered by Provençal terms, means +that verses of four, six, and ten syllables (con accen +agut), and next to them those of two syllables, are +most in use, but that the finest of all is the decasyllabic +line. It may be useful to illustrate this rule by a +few examples. The bordo of two syllables, as has +been shown, is allowed only in bordos biocatz or empeutatz, +and cannot form an independent foundation +for a stanza. Of much greater importance is the verse +of four syllables. The troubadours appreciated its +graceful and easy fall, and used it with predilection. +The beautiful poem of Guillem de Cabestanh, ‘Li +douz cossire,’ the finest of his, perhaps of all, Provençal +canzos, is founded on this verse. Here it occurs +with feminine rhyme only, in connection with the +verse of six syllables, <i>e.g.</i>:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>En sovinensa</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2">tenc la car’el dous ris</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>vostra valensa</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2">el bel cors blanc e lis.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The ‘Leys d’Amors’ quotes a poem, very likely invented +for the occasion, where the stanza consists +entirely of this verse. Here it occurs in both forms, +with accen agut and accen greu. Notwithstanding a +certain monotony, it is impossible to deny the merits +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[317]</span>of harmonious beauty and lyrical pathos to a stanza +like the following:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Que fers de lansa</div> + <div class="verse indent0">mays no m’acora;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">que mi transfora</div> + <div class="verse indent0">lo cor el cors</div> + <div class="verse indent0">l’enveios mors</div> + <div class="verse indent0">e verenos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">coma poyzos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">dels vilas motz,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">quem fan jos votz</div> + <div class="verse indent0">per maestria.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The verse of six syllables has been used by Bernard +de Ventadorn for the stanza of one of his best canzos, +where it occurs alternately with accen greu and +agut:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">De domnas m’es vejaire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">que gran falhimen fan;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">per so quar no son gaire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">amat li fin aman.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">However well suited in this case to the sentimental +purposes of the troubadour, this verse is hardly fit to +be used by itself in longer stanzas. There is a +certain ‘entre deux’ about it, which deprives it of +the graceful ease of shorter metres, without giving +as an equivalent the grandeur of, for instance, the +decasyllabic line. Its effect is much finer where it occurs +combined with other verses in a stanza, as, for +instance, in another poem of Bernard de Ventadorn, +where it is found in connection with the verse of +eight syllables, both showing accen greu:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tant ai mon cor plen de joja</div> + <div class="verse indent0">tot me desnatura;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">flors blanca vermelh’e bloja</div> + <div class="verse indent0">m sembla la freidura.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">[318]</span></p> + +<p class="noindent">This is at the same time one of the few examples +where the octosyllabic verse is used in lyrical Provençal +poetry. Dante, in consequence of its rarity, +does not even mention it. But it is nevertheless +of great importance, being the favourite metre of +the romance. The two most important Provençal +romances, ‘Flamenca’ and the ‘Roman de Giaufre,’ +are written in it, as is also a novelette by Raimon +Vidal, the author of a Provençal grammar. The +first lines exhibit him as a ‘laudator temporis acti,’ +after the manner of the later troubadours:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">En aquel temps c’om era jais</div> + <div class="verse indent0">e per amor fis e verais</div> + <div class="verse indent0">cuendes e d’avinen escuelh.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The octosyllabic verse with accen agut is more often +found in lyrics than that with accen greu. In epic +poetry both occur promiscuously.</p> + +<p>Of all the different verses the most important +both in lyrical and in epical poetry, in Italian, French, +and Provençal, is the endecasyllabus, or verse of +ten syllables. The variety of different forms in +which it occurs, and of purposes for which it is used, +make a short account of its origin and development +almost necessary. This variety is effected by the +manifold ways in which the cæsura, one of the few +relics of ancient metrical art, is used. The ‘Leys +d’Amors’ says: ‘E devetz saber que en aitals bordos +la pauza es la pauza en la quarta syllaba; e ges no +deu hom transmudar lo compas del bordo, so es que +la pausa sia de <span class="allsmcap">VI.</span> syllabas el remanen de quatre, +quar non ha bella cazensa.’ The pauza here spoken +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[319]</span>of is the cæsura, effected by a stronger accent being +given to a certain syllable of the verse, and by a short +rest which the voice naturally takes afterwards. This +rest or pause may also be filled up by a short unaccentuated +syllable which is not counted. In this +case the pauza is feminine, or with accen greu: +otherwise it has accen agut. As has been seen, +the ‘Leys d’Amors’ lays down that the cæsura must +be after the fourth syllable; and this indeed is the +rule in lyrical poetry, from which that work takes all +its examples. But the endecasyllabus occurs in much +older documents in the <i>langue d’oc</i> and <i>langue d’oïl</i>, +namely, in the old popular epic; and to this it is +necessary to refer in order to give a full account +of its development. The oldest poetic monument +in the Provençal language is a fragment of what seems +a long didactic poem, and is commonly called ‘Boethius,’ +because the parts of it which remain treat of +an episode in the life of that author. Boethius, we +may here recapitulate, a Coms de Roma, and one of +the wisest and most religious men of his age, has +been thrown into prison, on a false pretence, by his +enemy the Pagan emperor Teirix. In his misery, +Philosophy, the heroine of Boethius’s work ‘De Consolatione +Philosophiæ,’ comes to comfort him. She +appears to him under the form of a beautiful maiden, +the daughter of a mighty king. In the hem of her +raiment are wrought the Greek characters Π and Θ +as symbols of ‘la vita qui enter es’ and ‘la dreita lei.’ +In the middle of this description the manuscript +breaks off, and leaves no indication of what was to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[320]</span>follow. The time of this interesting document is, as +Diez has shown by linguistic reasons, not later than +about 960; and its great age adds to its value for +metrical purposes. The metre is essentially the same +as in all French poems of the Charlemagne cycle, viz., +the decasyllabic; and it is used in very nearly the +same way. In both languages it was the rule to give +the fourth syllable of each verse the strongest metrical +accent, and thus to effect after this syllable the cæsura +or ‘pauza de bordo’ which has been explained above. +‘Boethius’ has only verses con accen agut; and therefore +to avoid monotony most of the pauzas are with +accen greu, so that generally each line has eleven +syllables, <i>e.g.</i>:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Nos jove <i>ó</i>mne | quandiu que nos estam</div> + <div class="verse indent0">de gran follía | per folledat parllam.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The following lines afford examples of the masculine +cæsura:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">E qui nos pais | que no murem de fam</div> + <div class="verse indent0">cui tan amet | Torquator Mallios.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In a few cases, the second part of the verse contained +one syllable less than usual, generally after a +feminine pauza, which, as it were, covered this want, +for instance:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">donz fo Boécis | corps ag bo e pro.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In these cases it might almost be supposed that the +cæsura had been left out by neglect. But this supposition +is disproved by the fact that also after a pauza con +accen agut the second half of the verse is shortened +in the same manner, a phenomenon which can be explained +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[321]</span>only from the effect of the interval after the +accent on the fourth syllable. An instance of this is +the line:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Qu’el era cóms | molt onraz e rix.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Here the verse consists of only nine syllables. The +metre in ‘Boethius’ could therefore vary from nine +to ten or eleven syllables. This variety was even +greater in other poems, where the feminine rhyme +occurs together with the feminine pauza, so as to +bring the length of the verse to twelve syllables, <i>e.g.</i>:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">En autra térra | irai penre linhatge.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The hiatus in the cæsura, as is evident from this and +many other examples, was not considered a fault; +and the first vowel was certainly pronounced. This +seems to mark the transition to the more modern +French heroic verse, the Alexandrine, which was not +used in the old chanson de geste. In epic poetry also +the position of the cæsura after the fourth syllable is +almost universal. But there are some exceptions to +this rule. In ‘Girartz de Rossilhon,’ the most important +popular epic of the <i>langue d’oc</i>, the pauza del +bordo occurs always after the sixth syllable, <i>e.g.</i>:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Vecvòs per miei l’estorn | lo vilh Draugo</div> + <div class="verse indent0">lo paire don Girárt | l’oncle Folco,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">or with feminine pauza and masculine ending of the +verse:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tan vos vei entrels vóstres | queus an cobrit,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">or with both feminine:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">E fan lor cavals córre | per la varena.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The same form of the decasyllabic verse is also found +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[322]</span>in some northern French epics, as in ‘Audigier,’ a +later parody of the old heroic chanson de geste. +The equal flow of this verse did not make it +adaptable for the formation of stanzas; and there +was the less occasion for such formation in the older +epic poetry, as the rhyme or assonance remained +unchanged through a great number of verses. This +explains the tirade monorime which is the characteristic +of the popular in contrast to the artificial epic. +To break the monotony of this metre, however, +many of the popular joglars introduced after a certain +number of decasyllabic verses a shorter line, a +bordo biocatz according to the expression of the ‘Leys +d’Amors,’ which at the same time by its rhyme formed +a transition to the following tirade. An instance +occurs in the first part of the chronicle of the +Albigeois, while in the second the shorter line is +without any rhyme—one reason more for believing +that the two parts were not both written by the +same author, Guillem de Tudela. Moreover, lyric +poets used a kind of tirade monorime intermixed +with shorter verses, such as is found in the song by +which Richard Cœur de Lion beguiled the hours of +his imprisonment in Germany. The first stanza of +this song may be quoted as an example of this form:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ja nus homs pres non dira sa razon</div> + <div class="verse indent0">adrechament, si com homs dolens non;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">mas per conort deu hom faire canson:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">pro n’ay d’amics, mas paubre son li don.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ancta lur es, se per ma rezenson</div> + <div class="verse indent0">soi sai dos ivers pres.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The word ‘pres’ recurs at the end of each of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">[323]</span>shorter verses, and forms a sort of burden. The +same song also exists in French, and the latter seems +indeed to be the original version.</p> + +<p>It would lead us too far to follow the traces of the +decasyllabic verse through the Italian, Spanish, and +Portuguese languages. In Italy the position of the +cæsura was not fixed by strict rules as in the <i>langue +d’oc</i> and <i>langue d’oïl</i>; sometimes there are two +accents and corresponding pauzas on the fourth and +seventh or eighth syllables, and sometimes only one +on the sixth. The cæsura in the decasyllabic metre +which occurs in the canzos and sirventeses of the +troubadours, is different from that in the tirade +monorime of the popular epic. It has been seen +that here in case of a pauza con accen greu the first +part of the verse, and therefore the whole verse, +became one syllable too long. The stricter metrical +rules of lyric poetry did not admit of such liberties. +Hence, if the lyrical cæsura is masculine, the chief +accent is on the fourth syllable; if it is feminine the +chief metrical accent goes back to the third syllable, +and the fourth, which in epic poetry is always +strongly accentuated, becomes weak. The masculine +lyrical cæsura, which shows no difference from +the epical, is found, for instance, in the beginning of +Bertrand de Born’s sirventes:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Pos als barós | enoja e lor peza</div> + <div class="verse indent0">d’aquesta pátz | qu’an faita li dui rei;</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">while the lyrical pauza con accen greu occurs in the +third stanza of the same poem:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cum aquésta | ni autra c’om li grei.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[324]</span></p> + +<p>The epical cæsura in its feminine form is found very +seldom in the poetry of the troubadours. Two of +the rare instances occur in a canzo of Guillem de +Cabestanh; and there the case is the more remarkable, +as the epical and lyrical pauzas appear intermixed. +The two verses are:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Don mi remémbra | douza terra el pais,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">and</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">En autra térra | irai penre lenhatge.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In both cases the epical pauza might be got rid of +by a slight alteration, which, however, is not confirmed +by the authority of any manuscript. In the first +case, ‘membra’ might easily be written instead of +‘remembra,’ by which means the epical cæsura would +become lyrical; and in the second case the <i>a</i> of ‘terra’ +might be supplied by an apostrophe, by means of +which the pauza would altogether disappear. In the +last stanza of the same poem, as preserved in several +manuscripts, is found the only example in lyrical +poetry of the second hemistich being shortened after +the feminine pauza, which, as has been seen above, +occurs several times in ‘Boethius.’ The line is this:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’ieu non vólgra | qe fos ma cusina.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">But the difficulty is not serious; for this and other +reasons, metrical and philological, prove that the +stanza is a spurious addition of a later ignorant +scribe. This instance shows how important a +knowledge of metrical rules is for the critical editing +of a Provençal author.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[325]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX.<br> +<span class="smaller">RHYME.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>The immense number of rhyming words in the +Provençal language has been already referred to. +Of the fifty-four forms of the verb of the first conjugation, +only nine have the accent on the root, while +forty-five have it on one of the final syllables; hence +all the verbs of this conjugation rhyme with each other +in these forms. Again, all the derivative syllables +of the adjectives and nouns, like at-ada, ut-uda, or +atge, ansa, ensa, and many others, have the accent +on these syllables, and offer great choice of material +to the poet in search of rhymes. Consequently, in +all Provençal poetry, the rhyme plays a principal part, +and metrical scholars considered it their most important +task to introduce the student into the minutest +subtleties of its beauty. Dante intended to speak of +rhyme ‘secundum se’ in one of the later parts of his +book, which he never wrote; in the existing parts +he speaks of it only in connection with the stanza. +In accordance, however, with the ‘Leys d’Amors,’ +it will be necessary to consider the essence of rhyme +in itself, before proceeding to its influence on the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">[326]</span>combination of verses in a stanza, and of stanzas in +a poem.</p> + +<p>The ‘Leys d’Amors’ uses the word rim or rima +in a perfectly different sense from the modern rhyme. +Its definition is this: ‘Rims es certz nombres de +syllabas, ajustat a lui autre bordo per pario d’aquela +meteysha accordansa e paritat de syllabas, o de +diversas am bela cazensa.’ Rim exists therefore not +only if the accordansa is the same, which constitutes +approximately what is now called rhyme, but also +though the ends of the two verses concerned sound +quite differently, provided that a certain harmony +or cazensa is effected simply by their lengths or +accents. This must be borne in mind while we consider +the division of rims into four classes as given by +the ‘Leys d’Amors,’ viz., rims estramps, accordans, +ordinals, and dictionals. The division is not very +logical; for some of the rims enumerated have nothing +to do with the essence of rhyme. Rim estramp +in its exact meaning is nothing but the absence of +rhyme or even assonance between two verses. In +the poetry of the troubadours there is scarcely a line +which has not its corresponding rhyme, either in +its own or in another stanza, so that rims estramps +are of no importance for the present purpose. +Everything that is now called rhyme and was used +by the troubadours is contained under the second +head, rims accordans. This accordansa may be +sonan, consonan, or leonisme; and the rims sonans +and consonans must be again subdivided into bords +(French, bâtard) and lejals. Rim sonan bord is what +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">[327]</span>is now called assonance, and is very frequently +found in Spanish poetry. The ‘Leys d’Amors’ +gives examples of it con accen agut,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Encarcerat tenetz mon cor am<i>or</i>s,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E delivrar nol pot autra mas v<i>o</i>s;</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">and con accen greu,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">La mors quieu port a mi dons es tan g<i>randa</i>,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quieu lo thezaur del realme de F<i>ranza</i>, etc.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In the poems of the troubadours this assonance was +not permissible. Accordingly, the ‘Leys d’Amors’ +does not approve of it, though admitting that it +was daily used in the mandelas, or popular chansons. +‘For these,’ says the author, with all a scholar’s contempt +for popular poetry, ‘I do not care, because I +do not see nor can I find a known author for them.’ +Rim sonan lejal, which exists only with accen agut, +is what is now called masculine rhyme; that is to +say, the last syllable in the rhyming lines must +contain the same vowel with identical consonants +(if any) after, but different ones before, it. The examples +of this are of course innumerable. The +second kind of rims accordans is called consonan. +This also is subdivided into bord and lejal. The +rim consonan bord is always con accen greu, so that +only the second and unaccentuated syllable agrees +with the corresponding one in the other verse, <i>e.g.</i>:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Sino de liei que del sieu foc m’abran<i>d</i>a</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quar ela sab la maniera quos tu<i>d</i>a.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The modern ear would not discern this kind of +rhyme; and the troubadours also never used it. Perhaps +the author of the ‘Leys d’Amors’ introduced it +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[328]</span>merely in order to give completeness to his system. +Rim consonan lejal has always accen agut, and is +found where the last and accentuated syllable in two +verses is exactly the same in spelling, but different +in meaning. Examples of this class are numerous +in the poetry of the troubadours: the following is +from a canzo of Serveri de Gironne:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">E costumatz tanh que sia tan gen (adj. gentilis)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que governar se puesca tota gen (noun, gentem).</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The same rhyme is also found in mediæval and +modern French poetry, where it is called ‘rime riche.’ +The chief characteristic of an accordansa consonan +is the identity of vowels and consonants in the last +syllable, but in the last syllable only. On the other +hand, in the third division of accordansa, the +leonisme, the last syllable but one, also must to a +certain extent agree in the corresponding verses. +Leonismetat is again subdivided into rims leonismes +simples, and parfaitz. In the former the consonants +before the vowel in the last syllable but one must +differ: in the latter they must be identical. Rim +leonisme simple con accen greu is what is now +called feminine rhyme, as in</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">tot autra dona d’esser bella</div> + <div class="verse indent0">lai on es cesta damaisella.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Con accen agut, it is again one of those cases +where, as in the rim consonan bord, the rhyme is +extended to an unaccentuated syllable, which in this +case appears before the rhyming syllables. The +‘Leys d’Amors’ gives the following example:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">[329]</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tan prozamens feric G<i>ă</i>st<i>ó</i>s</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De lansa massas e b<i>ă</i>st<i>ó</i>s.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The following is rim leonisme parfait con accen +greu:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">l’autrui beautat tein es ef<i>fassa</i>.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">li viva colors de sa <i>fassa</i>;</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">con accen agut:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Al arma dona s<i>anĕ</i>t<i>á</i>t</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qui fug a tota v<i>anĕ</i>t<i>á</i>t.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The former would be called in German ‘weiblicher +rührender Reim;’ and of the latter the same may be +said as of the leonisme simple con accen agut. In +this case the rhyme is extended backwards as far as +the last syllable but two; sometimes even the last +four or five syllables are included in the accordansa +leonisme. The ‘Leys d’Amors’ gives an instance +of what it calls rim mays perfait leonisme, in which +the last five syllables are intended to rhyme in two +different verses:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So don le cors p<i>ren noyridura</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lo fai tornar <i>en poyridura</i>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In case the leonismetat is effected by two separate +words, these words of course must always differ +in their meaning. It may also be mentioned that +rims consonans as well as leonismes are called contrafaitz, +if the syllables or letters forming the rhyme +are divided by the end of a word; as, for instance:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">a celz que la vezo ni l’auzon</div> + <div class="verse indent0">quan las donas sa beutat lauzon.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Such is the division which the ‘Leys d’Amors’ +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[330]</span>gives of rhymes in general. The system shows a +certain scholastic consistency; but the real essence +and origin of rhyme are entirely overlooked, or even +wrongly defined. Entirely different things are +brought under the same head, as, for instance, assonance +and masculine rhyme (rim sonan); while, on the +other hand, things which decidedly belong together +are separated. Thus the simple rhyme is called rim +lejal sonan, while the simple feminine rhyme, which +is obviously derived from it, is classed together with +the rim leonisme, from which it differs essentially. +The same is the case with the rims consonan lejal and +leonisme parfait con accen greu. In subsequent +chapters the work gives a complete list of the different +artificial rhymes. They are too numerous to be discussed +here; besides which, many of them are nothing +but subtleties of the author, and are hardly ever used +by the better troubadours. It is only necessary to +consider those which are of real importance in studying +the relics of Provençal poetry. The order also +in which the different kinds are enumerated need not +be followed: it is sometimes arbitrary, and sometimes +utterly confused.</p> + +<p>After expounding what rhyme is, the ‘Leys +d’Amors’ very properly proceeds to ask where rhyme +is to be found. Every possible combination in +this respect is brought under a new head, viz., rims +ordinals. This expression is exceedingly ill chosen; +for the words rims ordinals suggest some new kind +of rhyme essentially different from rims consonans +or sonans, while in reality they indicate only the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[331]</span>different positions which these same rhymes can +have in verse or stanza. The author avoids giving +a definition of rims ordinals, but begins at once to +explain how ‘aytals ordes se fai.’</p> + +<p>Rhyme, it is explained, may connect the different +parts of one and the same line with each other, +or with the end of this line. The middle rhyme is +called, in correspondence with the bordos empeutatz, +rim empeutat or multiplicatiu. An example of +the former mode occurs in one of Peire Cardinal’s +sirventeses:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Car los—garzos—vezon en patz sezer.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In the following line both kinds are combined, the +rhyme being the same in the middle parts of the +verse and at the end of it:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mon port—conort—e mon cofort.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In some cases, as for instance between the cæsura +of the decasyllabic verse and its end, the middle +rhyme was strictly prohibited. But this middle rhyme +is found very often between the same sections of +different verses, as for instance in the above-mentioned +sirventes of Peire Cardinal:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">que fan—l’efan—d’aquela gent engleza</div> + <div class="verse indent0">qu’avan—no van—guerrejar ab Frances;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">mal an—talan—de la terr’ engolmeza</div> + <div class="verse indent0">tiran—iran—conquistar Gastines.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In order to display his art, the poet moreover +made each pair of rhymes in the same line a rim consonan +lejal. This kind of rhyme was sometimes +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">[332]</span>carried to such an extent that each syllable of a whole +verse agreed with the corresponding syllable of +another. This was called a rim serpenti. Of such +exaggeration there is probably no instance in the good +troubadours; the ‘Leys d’Amors’ gives the following:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Bos—dieus—clarratz⁠<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a>—cara</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Los—mieus—gardatz—ara.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Next come the rhymes between the ends of the +verses of one and the same stanza. The simplest +form possible in this case was that all the verses of a +stanza should have but one rhyme, which suggests +the tirade monorime in the popular epic. The +‘Leys d’Amors’ calls this rim continuat. Although +very simple, this rhyme was used by the most +finished troubadours, such as Marcabrun and +Aimeric de Peguilhan. Sordello bewailed in it the +death of his friend Blacatz; and in the last-named +poem combined with the long verse of twelve +syllables, it has an excellent effect owing to its dreary +monotonous sound.</p> + +<p>When there are two or more rhymes in a stanza, +their order is varied in many different ways. +The most simple mode is what the ‘Leys d’Amors’ +calls rims encadenatz; and next to this the rims +crozatz. Rims encadenatz are crossed rhymes, viz., +<i>a b: a b</i>. This position of the rhymes, continued +through a whole stanza, is not often to be found in +the better, or at least more artistic, troubadours. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[333]</span>Johan de Pena, one of the less celebrated, has used +it in a stanza of charming simplicity:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Un guerrier per alegrar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">vuelh comensar, car m’agensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0">que non lo dey plus celar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">trop l’auray tengut en pensa;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">e guerrejaray d’amor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">endomens que ma guerrieira</div> + <div class="verse indent0">a trobat guerrejador</div> + <div class="verse indent0">que guerreja volontieira.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Rims crozatz are found, to quote but one instance, in +the two quatrains of a sonnet.</p> + +<p>These are the principal divisions of rhyme in its +relations to a single stanza. But the troubadours +employed it also to keep up a certain connection between +several, sometimes all, the different stanzas of a +poem; and in this respect it must now be considered.</p> + +<p>A change of rhyme from strophe to strophe—rims +singulars—is rare, and, as a rule, found only +where the stanza is very long and artificially composed. +An example occurs in a song by Peire Cardinal, +each stanza of which consists of no less than fifteen +lines. Gaucelm Faidit and the Monk of Montaudon +have used rims singulars also in shorter and +simpler stanzas. The ‘Leys d’Amors’ gives no rule +as to their use, but confirms indirectly what has +been said, by giving as an example a very long +and complicated stanza. Directly opposed to the +rims singulars are the rims or coblas unisonans, +where all the stanzas of a poem have the same +rhymes in the corresponding lines. Sometimes +poems of this kind are very long, so that the poet +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[334]</span>had to find a great number of consonant words, +which however, in the <i>langue d’oc</i>, was not as +difficult as it would have been in one of the Teutonic +languages. But in spite of this some of the German +minnesingers, such as Count Rudolf of Neuenburg +and Friedrich von Hausen, who were under +the influence of the troubadours, tried to compete +with them in the richness of their rhymes and the +variety of their stanzas. Of Friedrich von Hausen +a song remains, which is an exact imitation, in one +stanza even a translation, of one of Folquet de +Marseilles’ canzos, which the German poet probably +learned during the crusade of 1190, on which he +accompanied the Emperor Frederick I. Sometimes +the stanzas of a poem are grouped together in twos, +threes, or fours, by means of equal rhymes. Such +cases are described by the ‘Leys d’Amors’ as coblas +doblas, triplas, &c. The better to display their skill, +the greatest artists among the troubadours liked to +choose for their rhymes rare and unusual words, +the meaning of which, at the same time, was not +easy to discover. The greatest master in these ‘rims +cars,’ and ‘motz oscurs,’ was Arnaut Daniel, whom +Dante, very likely for that reason, calls the first of +all troubadours. But Peire d’Alvernhe also says of +his poems, as a proof of their high art, ‘qu’apenas +nulhs hom las enten.’ To give an idea of this obscurity, +which, however, did not increase by any +means the beauty of a canzo, it will suffice to quote +a stanza from one of Arnaut Daniel’s poems, entirely +written in rims cars:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">[335]</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">En breu brizaral temps braus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">el bizel brunel e brancs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">qui s’entresenhon trastug,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">desobre claus rams de folha,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">car no chant’ auzels ni piula</div> + <div class="verse indent0">m’ensenh amors, que fassa donc</div> + <div class="verse indent0">tal chan qui n’er segons ni tertz,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">ans prims d’afrancar cor agre.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>It is worthy of notice that in the first lines the troubadour +has used alliteration to increase the strange +sound of his words. The lines serve at the same +time as an example of another way of connecting +stanzas with each other. All the different verses +are without a rhyme in their own stanza, but find it +in the corresponding verse of another, or of all the +other stanzas. Rhyme of this kind is called by +the ‘Leys d’Amors’ rim espar, while Dante uses +the expression clavis. When the clavis runs through +all the verses of each stanza, the case is described as +rimas dissolutas. Arnaut Daniel seems to have +been particularly fond of this form; for the sestina +also, which he invented, and which Dante praised +and imitated, is founded on the same principle. +Other poets preferred generally to introduce only one +clavis or, at most, two, interrupting in this way, sometimes +with great effect, the equal flow of the rhymes. +A modification of the rims espars is the rims capcaudatz. +This takes place if the clavis is the last +verse of the first stanza, and is introduced into the +following, not in its corresponding place, but by way of +first rhyme. Of the two stanzas, for instance, quoted +by the ‘Leys d’Amors,’ the first ends with the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[336]</span>line, ‘Li fizel de mortal pena,’ and the first line of the +second accordingly shows the same rhyme in ‘verges +eratz e vergena,’ and continues the scheme exactly in +the same way as the first stanza. The various combinations +of stanzas by means of the rhyme are one of +the most interesting parts of Provençal versification, +and show a great refinement of taste in the mediæval +poets. To convey an idea of the skill manifested in +this way, it will be useful to give a short sketch of +a canzo which, in this as in all other respects, may +be considered as the standard piece of Provençal +poetry. This is Guillem de Cabestanh’s celebrated +song, ‘Li douz cossire,’ through which, it is said, the +poet lost his life, while making his name immortal. +The poem consists of six stanzas, divided by means +of corresponding rhymes into three groups of coblas +doblas. But these three groups are again connected +with each other; for the third stanza resumes the last +feminine rhyme of the second, and uses it as first +rhyme, introducing, however, new additional rhymes. +The fifth stanza stands in exactly the same relation +to the fourth. The four last lines of the second +stanza show the following rhyming words—parvensa, +temensa; fei, vei. The first rhyme of the third +stanza must be feminine; and therefore the penultimate +couple of rhymes is used, with some irregularity, +as a kind of rims capcaudatz, and the beginning +is</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">En sovinensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0">tenc la car’el dous ris,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">vostra valensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0">el bel cors blanc e lis, &c.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[337]</span></p> + +<p>The highest principle of art, variety in unity, seems +to be here attained. In many cases this principle of +connecting the different stanzas led to the most +childish and trifling artificialities, as, for instance, in +what the ‘Leys d’Amors’ calls rims retrogradatz, +where the second stanza begins with the last rhyme +of the first, and reproduces all the subsequent rhymes +in reversed order.</p> + +<p>This becomes yet more absurd if applied, as it +sometimes is, to a single stanza, or even a single +verse. In this case the stanza or verse has to be +constructed in such a way that, without altering their +meaning, the lines or words can change their places. +The following lines, for instance,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Vengutz es lo senhor d’amon</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Salutz grans portar en lo mon,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">could equally well be read the last first; or even the +words could change their position, in this way:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Le senhor d’amon es vengutz</div> + <div class="verse indent0">portar en lo mon grans salutz.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The ‘Leys d’Amors’ adds, that he who likes to +‘despendre son temps’ with such trifles may even +find words like papa, tafata, in which the different +syllables can be changed ad libitum. The fourth +and last class of rhymes, as given by the ‘Leys +d’Amors,’ the rims dictionals, contains, for the greater +part, unimportant trifles of this kind. Rim dictional +itself means the combination of two words in the +rhyming syllables, which can be derived from each +other, by either taking away or adding a syllable. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[338]</span>Thus the feminine and masculine forms of the +adjective and past participle, at-ada, ut-uda, stand +in the relation of rims dictionals. An example of +another kind of derivation is given in the following +lines:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mayres de Dieu prega to filh humil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">quem denhe dar, sil platz humilitat;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">per miels tener lo dreg sendier util</div> + <div class="verse indent0">que menals bos al port d’utilitat.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">This is an arbitrary invention, without any intrinsic +value for the uses of genuine poetry. But some of +the subdivisions given show how much the decline +of the poetry of the troubadours was the consequence +of their relying too much on the formal side of their +art. Some poets seem to have particularly delighted +in introducing rims leonismes parfaitz, or, as they +are also called, rims equivocs, which, besides being +different as regards the meaning of the words, show +also a slight difference in sound of the vowels. In +the following lines, for instance,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Sias tempratz e gent apres</div> + <div class="verse indent0">En tas paraulas et apres,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">the first apres, being the participle of apprendre, +sounds the <i>e</i> a little more open than the second apres, +afterwards. It was considered a great proof of +poetical finish to introduce different vowels in combination +with the same consonants into a stanza. +The elder Gavaudan seems to have written the +following verses entirely for this purpose:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mos sens es cl<i>a</i>rs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">als bos entended<i>o</i>rs;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">trop es osc<i>u</i>rs</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">[339]</span> <div class="verse indent0">a selh que no sap gaire;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">per que cuj<i>a</i>rs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">lai on no val val<i>o</i>rs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">non es sab<i>e</i>rs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">ni sens a mo vejaire.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In a poem attributed by different manuscripts to +Bernard de Ventadorn and Daude de Pradas, the +poet has introduced all the five vowels in this way. +This fact seems not to have been known to the +author of the ‘Leys d’Amors:’ he would probably +otherwise have mentioned a practice so much to +his liking.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">[340]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI.<br> +<span class="smaller">THE STANZA.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<p>We now come to the third division of the subject—the +formation of the stanza. The consideration +of metre and rhyme has shown the skill of the +troubadours, but also the danger into which their +marvellous finish led them, viz., to forget the real +poetical value of their work over the beauty of +form. This danger was not equally imminent in +forming the stanza, seeing that its rules were too +securely founded on the national sense of harmony, +and too difficult to comply with, to afford an +occasion for easy trifling. The stanza, accordingly, +we have to consider as the highest development of +art reached by the troubadours. It is therefore +surprising that the ‘Leys d’Amors’ says nothing of +any importance regarding its composition. The +author of the work had evidently a very vague idea +of the real essence of the stanza. The only guide, +therefore, in our investigation must be Dante’s work, +‘De Vulgari Eloquentia,’ in which he draws a full +and logical account from his own deep knowledge +and experience. But many of his expressions will +be obscure until the musical system of the middle +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">[341]</span>ages is better understood. The rules of musical +rhythm are indeed inseparably connected with all +forms of Provençal poetry. But the way at least +may be partially cleared, and the words of the great +Italian poet illustrated by examples from the works +of the best troubadours.</p> + +<p>The definition which the ‘Leys d’Amors’ gives of +a stanza, or, as it calls it, cobla, is very unsatisfactory, +or rather is no definition at all. It is expressed in +a long poem of the author’s own manufacturing, the +meaning of which is simply that a cobla may consist +at least of five, and at most of sixteen verses, not +including the shorter lines known under the name +of bordos biocatz. Nothing more is said on this +important subject. Of a division of stanzas according +to their metrical and musical composition +the author seemingly knows nothing. Dante, on +the other hand, begins his long and careful investigation +by stating first that ‘omnis stantia ad quandam +odam recipiendam armonizata est.’ The word +‘odam’ in this connection must be understood in a +double sense—a musical and a metrical: in the +former it means simply melody, in the latter the +metrical scheme of the stanza. But this oda is very +different in different cases: ‘quia quædam [stantiæ] +sunt sub una oda continua, usque ad ultimum progressive, +hoc est sine iteratione modulationis cujusquam +et sine dieresi;⁠<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> et dieresim dicimus deductionem +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">[342]</span>vergentem de una oda in aliam; hanc voltam +vocamus cum vulgus alloquimur.’ In the cases here +referred to, therefore, the flow of melody or verse must +not be interrupted by a marked rest or pause, but +must go on in an equal strain to the end of the stanza. +This kind of stanza, Dante continues, was used +chiefly by the great Arnaut Daniel, and especially in +the sestina invented by that troubadour, and imitated +by Dante himself. A stanza of one of Arnaut’s +sestine will at once make the meaning of Dante’s +words clear:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Lo ferm voler qu’el cor m’intra,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">nom pot ges becs escoissendre ni ongla</div> + <div class="verse indent0">de lauzengier, sitot de maldir s’arma;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">e per no l’aus batr’ ab ram ni ab verga</div> + <div class="verse indent0">sivals a frau, lai on non aurai oncle</div> + <div class="verse indent0">jauzirai joi en vergier o dins cambra.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">It would be impossible to find a point where to +divide this stanza on any principle. There are no +groups of verses marked by rhyme, seeing that +there is no rhyme; there is no change between accen +agut and accen greu; there is not even a strong +grammatical pause. Accordingly it may be concluded +that the musical accompaniment of the words was +not interrupted by any striking harmonious modulation +such as would have made a rest necessary. +Exactly the same may be said of Dante’s own sestina,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Al poco giorno, ed al gran cerchio d’ombra,⁠<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">which is constructed on the same principle. In +many other cases also where there are rhymes a +division of the stanza according to Dante’s system is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">[343]</span>utterly impossible, because the different parts allow +of no forming into groups by the recurrence of the +same order of rhymes. For instance, the following +stanza of Jaufre Rudel must have been sung to a +continued oda without any interruption:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Quan lo rius de la fontana</div> + <div class="verse indent0">s’esclarzis, si cum far sol;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">e per la flors aiglentina</div> + <div class="verse indent0">el rossignoletz el ram</div> + <div class="verse indent0">volf e refraing et aplana</div> + <div class="verse indent0">son dous chantar et afina,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">dreitz es queu lo meu refranha.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Stanzas, however, ‘sub una oda continua,’ are +not the rule. ‘Quædam vero sunt,’ Dante continues, +‘dieresim patientes, et dieresis esse non +potest, secundum quod eam appellamus, nisi reiteratio +unius odæ fiat vel ante dieresim vel post vel utrimque.’ +The criterion, therefore, of the possibility of +a dieresis or volta is, first of all, that in the poem +there should be certain groups defined musically +by the repetition of the same melody, and +metrically by the recurrence of the same rhymes +and of verses of the same length. The volta can, +as has been seen, be either before or after such +a group, or between two different groups if both +parts of a stanza are divided in this way. Dante +gives the terms for all these combinations in the +following words: ‘Si ante dieresim repetitio fiat, +stantiam dicimus habere pedes, et duos habere +decet, licet quandoque tres fiant, rarissime tamen. +Si repetitio fiat post dieresim, tunc dicimus stantiam +habere versus; si ante non fiat repetitio, stantiam +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">[344]</span>dicimus habere frontem; si post non fiat, dicimus +habere syrma sive caudam.’ These few words contain +in a nutshell the whole theory of Italian, and, +with some slight changes, also of Provençal, stanzas. +It remains to enter into the special cases referred to +by this rule. The first alternative Dante mentions +is that of a division effected by the repetition of +certain melodic and rhythmic phrases in the first +part of a stanza. After these groups, which in this +case are called pedes, a rest or volta becomes +necessary; and after this a new melody begins, +which lasts to the end of the stanza, and is called +a cauda.⁠<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> The following is one of the very numerous +examples of a stanza consisting of two pedes and +a cauda:</p> + +<table class="stanzas"> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Pedes 1.</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ Ai deus, ar sembles ironda,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ que voles per l’aire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ qu’eu vengues de noit prionda</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ lai al seu repaire!</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">2.</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ bona domna jauzionda</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ mortz es vostr’ amaire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ paor ai quel cors mi fonda,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ s’aissom dura gaire.</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Cauda</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ domna, vas vostr’ amor</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ jonh mas mas et ador</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ bel cors ab fresca color,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ gran mal me fatz traire.</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="noindent">In this case the cauda is as long as one pes, consisting, +as it does, of four verses. Very seldom, says +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">[345]</span>Dante, are there more than two pedes to a cauda. +This, however, applies only to the Italian literature +of his time. In Provençal poetry there are many +instances of three pedes in a stanza; and the favourite +form of the Italian poets of the cinquecento, the +ottava rima, must also be defined as a stanza consisting +of three pedes and a cauda. The most +important form of lyrical Italian poetry, the sonnet, +consists of pedes and cauda. The two quatrains +show the required repetitio unius odæ, and the two +terzine form the cauda. If the repetition of a +melodic and metrical phrase takes place after the +volta, and only there, the two groups in the second +part of the stanza are called versus, while the first +undivided part assumes the name of frons. The +number of versus scarcely ever exceeds two. This +form is also very common in Provençal poetry. +In the following stanza of Guillem IX. of Poitiers, +the first three lines form the frons, and the last four +are divided into two versus of two lines each:</p> + +<table class="stanzas"> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Frons</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ Eu conosc ben cel qui bem di</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ e cel quim vol mal atressi,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ e conosc ben celui quem ri,</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Versus 1.</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ e sil pro s’azautan de mi,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ conosc assaz;</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Versus 2.</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ qu’atressi dei voler lor fi</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ e lor solaz.</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="noindent">These two principles of division in a stanza, viz., +pedes and cauda, or frons and versus, Dante seems to +consider as the most important. In both cases the +stanza is actually divided into three parts; and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">[346]</span>this, indeed, was the fundamental principle of the +Italian lyrical stanza, which in this respect, in conformity +with the middle-high-German strophe, differs +from the <i>langue d’oc</i>. Into old Italian poetry this +tripartite division was perhaps introduced from the +leonine hexameter, which, as has been stated before, +sometimes took a similar form. In the Teutonic +languages it seems much older; and indeed it is to +be found in the old Icelandic ljôđahâttr, where the +first two lines are of equal length and belong to one +another, while the third one, longer than each, stands +by itself. In the German popular epic this principle +is not visible; but it appears again unmistakeably +in the mediæval ‘minneliet.’ The usual form in +the latter is pedes and cauda, which here are called +Stollen and Abgesang. It is impossible here to +consider the interesting phenomena arising from the +conflict of this principle with the Provençal bias in +those cases where the German minnesinger tried to +imitate the stanzas of the troubadours. The prevalent +principle in Provençal poetry seems to have been +the division of a stanza into two corresponding +parts; and, accordingly, to the above-mentioned +combinations two more of great importance must be +added. The first of these, which Dante also is +acquainted with, is the division of a stanza into +pedes and versus. In this case the stanza is divided +into four parts; but each pair of these is so closely +connected that the Provençal principle of a division +into two halves is fully borne out—the more so, as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">[347]</span>there were evidently only two different melodies, each +of them being repeated. The instances are again +very numerous. In the following stanza of Peire +d’Alvernhe’s, the pedes and versus consist of two +lines each:</p> + +<table class="stanzas"> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Pes 1.</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ Rossinhol, en son repaire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ m’iras ma domna vezer,</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Pes 2.</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ e digas lil meu afaire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ et ill diguat del seu ver,</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Versus 1.</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ quem man sai—com lestai;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ mas de mill sovenha,</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Versus 2.</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ qui ges lai—per nuill plai</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ ab ri not retenha.</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class="noindent">The fourth and last combination occurs when the +stanza consists of a frons and a cauda, that is to say, +when the two parts are undivided in themselves, but +when a new melodic and metrical period begins after a +certain number of verses. This form shows the Provençal +principle of a division into two parts more +clearly than any of the others; but Dante, from +his point of view, is also right in not approving of it, +or rather in not acknowledging it as a division at all, +seeing that there is no ‘repetitio unius odæ.’ One +out of many examples of this phenomenon is a stanza +of Bertrand de Born’s, where the frons and cauda +consist of three lines each:</p> + +<table class="stanzas"> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Frons</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ Autr’ escondig vos farai plus sobrier</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ e no mi posc orar plus d’encombrier:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ seu anc failli vas vos neis del pensar,</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">Cauda</td> + <td> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">{ quant serem sol en chambr’o dins vergier,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ faillam poder deves mon compaignier,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">{ de tal guiza que nom posc’ ajudar.</div> + </div> + </div> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">[348]</span></p> + +<p class="noindent">The end of the first and the beginning of the +second musical and metrical phrase, as marked by +the diesis or volta, was generally further strengthened +by the conclusion of the grammatical sentence. +In most of the numerous stanzas already quoted, the +volta contains either a full stop or a semicolon, or at +least a comma. The sentence is seldom carried on +through the volta, though even the best troubadours +were not always careful in applying this rule.</p> + +<p>By these various methods, the stanza was strictly +divided into different parts. But, on the other +hand, the feeling of the troubadours for unity and +harmony was too keen not to make it desirable to +bridge over somehow the gap made by the volta, +and to preserve the connection between the two +sides. This was done by means of the rhyme, +which, as has been seen, was used for a similar +purpose between the different stanzas of a poem. +This process is called by Dante concatenatio; and +this concatenatio might be effected in two different +ways. The first and simpler mode consists in the +cauda or versus adopting one or several rhymes of the +frons or pedes. This is the course usually followed; +and almost all the stanzas above quoted may serve +as examples. So in Bertrand de Born’s poem the +cauda repeats both the rhymes of the frons. In +Guillem IX.’s stanza the versus take up the only +rhyme of the frons, adding a new one of their own. +This concatenatio, however, was not considered +absolutely necessary; and Peire d’Alvernhe, for +instance, one of the most finished troubadours, introduces +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">[349]</span>into the versus of his stanza rhymes entirely +different from those found in the pedes. Another +kind of concatenatio is effected by adding, either +before or after the volta, a line which contains +the rhyme of the other part of the stanza. How +the troubadours contrived not to disturb the flow of +their melody by this new and seemingly inharmonious +element it is difficult to say. Perhaps it was +sung to a sort of recitative or arioso of its own, +which served as a prelude to the new melody of the +second part. The meaning of this will be clearly +shown by the following stanza by Raimbaut de +Vaqueiras:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Era pot hom conoisser e proar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que de bos faitz ren deus bon gazardo,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">qu’al pro Marques n’a fait esmend’e do,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">quel fai son pretz sobrels melhors pojar;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">si quel crozat de Frans e de Campanha</div> + <div class="verse indent0">l’an quist a deu per lo melhor de totz,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">e per cobrar lo sepulcr’e la crotz</div> + <div class="verse indent0">on fon Ihesus, qu’el vol en sa companha</div> + <div class="verse indent0">l’onrat marques, et al deus dat poder</div> + <div class="verse indent0">de bos vassalhs e de terr’e d’aver</div> + <div class="verse indent0">e de ric cor per melhs far so quel tanha.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">This stanza consists of a frons and two versus of three +lines each. The first four lines are a whole in themselves; +and after them the frons ought to be concluded +by the volta, as is indicated by the punctuation +after ‘pojar.’ But the poet adds a fifth line, in +order to introduce a rhyme from the versus, and in +this way effects the concatenatio he needs. There +was yet another way of connecting the two parts +of the stanza which might in a certain sense also +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">[350]</span>be called concatenatio, but which was seemingly +unknown to Dante. The following stanza of Cercalmont’s,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Senhors e dompnas gerpira</div> + <div class="verse indent0">s’a lei plagues queu li servis,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">e quem diria m’en partis,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">fariam morir des era,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">qu’en autra non ai mon esper</div> + <div class="verse indent0">noit ni jorn ni matin ni ser,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">ni d’als mos cors no consira,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">consists evidently of a frons and a cauda, of three +lines each. The fourth verse does not belong to +either, and its rhyme is not to be found in the same +stanza; therefore it is to be called a clavis. But +nevertheless it is of use for the purpose of connecting +the frons with the cauda; for, by considering it +as a kind of centre, and going from it to the beginning +and to the end of the stanza, the reader will see +that the two parts exactly agree as regards the length +of the verses, and even their feminine rhyme.</p> + +<p>In the eleventh chapter of his ‘De Vulgari +Eloquentia’ Dante speaks of the relations between +the parts of a stanza so far as the number and length +of the lines are concerned. He enumerates and +explains no less than nine different cases. For the +present purpose, however, these are scarcely of any +importance; for the rules given by him cannot be +traced to the poems of the troubadours. In this +respect the Provençal poets seem to have exercised +great liberty, being protected against choosing bad +proportions by their refined sense of harmony.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">[351]</span></p> + +<p>It still remains to mention a form of Provençal +poetry, of which the essence cannot be explained +nor the rules defined without the aid of Dante’s +statements. This is the tornada, a kind of postlude or +envoi to the stanza, in which the poem is dedicated to +the lady-love or the protector of the troubadour, who +is generally introduced under a senhal or pseudonym +to keep the real name secret. Peire Vidal always +calls the beautiful Azalais ‘Vierna,’ while the senhal +‘Bels Castiatz’ designates his noble protector Sir +Aimeric de Monrial. The ‘Leys d’Amors’ says +that, as a rule, there ought to be two tornadas, the +first of them containing the senhal. This, however, +is not confirmed by the majority of Provençal poems, +which contain many examples of a single tornada. In +another respect also the ‘Leys d’Amors’ is very inaccurate. +It says that the tornada must be identical +in form with the latter half of the stanza, if this +consists of an even number of lines, adding or leaving +out one line where the number of the verses cannot +be divided by two. But this applies only to those +stanzas where no division is to be found. Where +there is a diesis the rule is quite different, and can +be learned only from Dante, who speaks of the +tornada in the ‘Convito,’ where he derives the word +from tornar, owing to a part of the oda returning +in it. Accordingly the rule in the divided stanza is +that the first tornada repeats the metrical form and +rhyme of that part of the stanza—cauda or versus—which +stands after the volta. Where there is a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">[352]</span>second tornada it generally agrees with the first, +being, however, always the shorter of the two. All +this, of course, the author of the ‘Leys d’Amors’ +could not know, because he was ignorant of the +metrical and musical formation of the stanza; but it +is of the highest importance for the study of Provençal +versification, and shows again the great value of +Dante’s work in that respect. The above-stated rule +is confirmed by so many examples from the canzos of +the troubadours that it is scarcely necessary to bring +new evidence for it. It will be more useful to mention +some of the more important exceptions, which in +this, as in other cases, ‘firmant regulam.’ If the +last stanza of a poem ends with two versus, the +tornada sometimes repeats only one of them. Sometimes +also part of the cauda remains unrepeated. +In other cases the tornada repeats exactly the metre +of the cauda, but differs slightly from its rhymes. +In a sirventes of Marti de Mons, which was written +in the fifteenth century (1436), and by which the +poet gained the ‘englantina’ in the competition +of the Academy of Toulouse, the cauda of the last +stanza consists of the following four verses:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">doranavant no cal plus dart ny lansa</div> + <div class="verse indent0">depus que dieus s’es mes de nostra part;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">qu’a tout l’erguelh al verenos leupart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">que ta lonc temptz nos ha donat dampnatge.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The first of these lines serves as concatenatio; and +for that reason its rhyme agrees with the first part +of the poem. In the tornada this reason of course +did not exist; and therefore the poet very skilfully +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">[353]</span>rhymes the first line with the last line of the tornada +instead of making it like the first verse of the cauda. +The tornada, therefore, is this:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Confort d’amors, fons he cap de paratge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">vostre car filh faytz que prim ho de tart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">nos velha dar totz ensemps bona part</div> + <div class="verse indent0">de paradis, le sobrier heretatge.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In many cases also there is no tornada at all, or it +may be said to consist of the last stanza of the poem, +if in this the senhal and dedication are introduced.</p> + +<p>The principles insisted upon in the foregoing remarks +may perhaps best be illustrated by an accurate +metrical analysis of the subjoined canzo of Bernard +de Ventadorn. For the purpose in question this +poem has the double advantage of presenting a +great complication of metrical rules, and of showing at +the same time how the troubadours succeeded in +combining such a complicated structure with the +beauty of genuine poetry.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>a.</i> Be m’an perdut lai enves Ventadorn</div> + <div class="verse indent2">tuit mei amic, pos ma domna nom ama,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">et es be dreitz que jamais lai no torn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">qu’ades estai vas mi salvatg’ e grama.</div> + <div class="verse indent2">veus per quem fai semblan irat e morn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">quar en s’amor mi deleit em sojorn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">ni de ren al nos rancura nis clama.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>b.</i> Aissi col peis qui s’eslaiss’ el cadorn</div> + <div class="verse indent2">e no sap re tro que s’es pres en l’ama,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">m’eslaissei eu vas trop amar un jorn;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">qu’anc no saup mot tro fui en mei la flama</div> + <div class="verse indent2">que m’art plus fort que no fai focs de forn;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">e ges per so nom posc partir un dorn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">aissim te pres s’amors que m’aliama.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_354">[354]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>c.</i> Nom meravilh si s’amors mi te pres,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">que genser cors no cre qu’el mon se mire;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">bels es e blancs e frescs e gais e les,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">e totz aitals cum eu volh e dezire;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">no posc dir mal de leis, que non i es;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">qu’el n’agra dig de joi, seu l’i saubes,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">mas no l’i sai: per so m’en lais de dire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>d.</i> Totz temps volrai sa honor e sos bes</div> + <div class="verse indent2">elh serai hom et amics e servire,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">e l’amarai, be li plass’o belh pes,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">qu’om no pot cor destrenher ses aucire.</div> + <div class="verse indent2">no sai domna, volgues o non volgues,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">sim volia, qu’amar no la pogues;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">mas totas res pot hom en mal escrire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>e.</i> A las autras sui aissi escasutz:</div> + <div class="verse indent2">laquals si vol mi pot vas si atraire,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">per tal coven que nom sia vendutz</div> + <div class="verse indent2">l’onors nil bes que m’a en cor a faire;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">qu’enojos es prejars, pos es perdutz:</div> + <div class="verse indent2">per mius o dic, que mals m’en es vengutz,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">qu’enganat m’a la bela de mal aire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>f.</i> En Proensa tramet mans e salutz,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">e mais de bes qu’om no lor sap retraire,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">e fatz esfortz, miraclas e vertutz,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">car eu lor man de so don non ai gaire;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">qu’eu non ai joi mas tan com m’en adutz</div> + <div class="verse indent2">mos Bels Vezers en Faituratz sos drutz</div> + <div class="verse indent2">en Alvergnatz lo senher de Belcaire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>g.</i> Mos Bels Vezers per vos fai deus vertutz</div> + <div class="verse indent2">tals c’om nous ve que no si’ ereubutz</div> + <div class="verse indent2">dels bels plazers que sabetz dir e faire.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>This poem consists of six stanzas and a tornada. +The length of each stanza is seven verses, that of +the tornada three. In each stanza there is, according +to Dante’s expression, a diesis or volta, for there +is the required reiteratio unius odæ. This reiteratio +takes place before the volta, while after the volta +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_355">[355]</span>no division is possible. The stanza therefore +must be divided into two pedes of two lines each +and a cauda of three lines. According to rule, the +metrical division is marked by a strong grammatical +break (at least a semicolon), the only exception +being stanza <i>b</i>, where a punctuation in the volta +is not possible. The tornada repeats as usual the +form and rhymes of the cauda; and in it the poem +is dedicated to the poet’s lady-love, who is addressed +by a senhal. Bel Vezer was in this case Agnes +de Montluçon, wife of the troubadour’s lord and +protector, who raised him from the state of a common +servant and gave him the first lessons ‘del gay +saber.’ The verse of the stanza is decasyllabic; +it occurs with masculine and feminine rhyme. The +stanza may be formulated metrically by using capital +letters for the decasyllabic line, and adding to them +the sign ~ for the accen greu; the volta may be +marked by a semicolon, and the division of the +pedes from each other by a colon:</p> + +<p class="center">A B~: A B~; A A B~.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Hence it appears that in each stanza there are only +two different rhymes, the cauda repeating those of +the pedes, which is the simplest form of concatenatio. +Moreover, each couple of stanzas have the same +rhyme, or are coblas doblas; the poet in consequence +had to find, three different times, eight masculine and +six feminine rhyming words, which, though not a very +difficult task in the <i>langue d’oc</i>, required a certain +amount of skill. In the last group of stanzas this +number was increased by the tornada to ten and seven +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_356">[356]</span>respectively. Nevertheless there are only two cases +of the same words with the same meaning occurring in +the rhymes, or of motz tornatz en rim as the ‘Leys +d’Amors’ calls them. Both these cases, <i>f</i> 3 = <i>g</i> 1 +and <i>e</i> 4 = <i>g</i> 3, occur in the tornada, where they were +not as strictly forbidden as in other positions. On +the other hand there are many examples of ‘rime +riche’ in its masculine as well as feminine form. +The former or rims consonans lejals are <i>a</i> 1 = <i>b</i> 1 += <i>b</i> 6, <i>c</i> 6 = <i>d</i> 1, <i>d</i> 5 = <i>d</i> 6, <i>e</i> 3 = <i>e</i> 5 = <i>f</i> 5. +The latter or rims leonismes parfaitz are <i>e</i> 2 = <i>f</i> 2. +But in all these cases it is very doubtful whether +these rhymes were intentional, since they exhibit no +system or order. A remarkable sense of the effects +of sound is shown in the alliterative use of the letter +<i>f</i> in <i>b</i> 4 and 5, by means of which the pains of the +unhappy lover are onomatopoetically expressed.</p> + +<p>In the verse of ten syllables the cæsura is always +of importance: it therefore remains to take note +of it. The cæsura, where it appears feminine, has +been divided into the epical and the lyrical, the +difference being that in the epical pauza del bordo +the accent always remains on the fourth syllable, +after which another unaccentuated syllable is added +to the first hemistich, while in lyrical poetry the +accent itself is removed from the fourth to the third +syllable. In the present poem the pauza con accen +agut is by far the more common; where it occurs +with accen greu it always takes the lyrical form. +These cases are <i>d</i> 5 and 6, <i>e</i> 1, and <i>f</i> 1.</p> + +<p>It may be worth while to notice that once, <i>d</i> 5, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_357">[357]</span>the word domna is placed in the lyrical pauza. The +troubadours, in addressing their lady-loves, seem to +have liked this particular position of the word, by +means of which it received a certain emphasis. In +many canzos of different troubadours there are +instances of this device; in one of Guillem de +Cabestanh’s songs it occurs twice, or, according +to a Parisian manuscript in which the poem is also +preserved, even three times.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_358">[358]</span></p> + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII.<br> +<span class="smaller">SOME INTERLINEAR VERSIONS.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<h4>I.<br> +<i>CANZO BY GUILLEM DE CABESTANH.</i></h4> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="interlinear"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Li</li> + <li class="english">The</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">douz</li> + <li class="english">sweet</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cossire</li> + <li class="english">thoughts</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Qem</li> + <li class="english">Which to me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">don</li> + <li class="english">gives</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">amors</li> + <li class="english">love</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">soven,</li> + <li class="english">often,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Domnam</li> + <li class="english">Lady, me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fan</li> + <li class="english">make</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">dire</li> + <li class="english">say</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">De</li> + <li class="english">Of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">maint</li> + <li class="english">many a</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vers</li> + <li class="english">poem</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">plazen;</li> + <li class="english">pleasant;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Pessan</li> + <li class="english">Thinking</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">remire</li> + <li class="english">I gaze (on)</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Vostre</li> + <li class="english">Your</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cors</li> + <li class="english">body</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">car</li> + <li class="english">dear</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">e</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">gen,</li> + <li class="english">comely,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Cui</li> + <li class="english">Which</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">eu</li> + <li class="english">I</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">dezire</li> + <li class="english">desire</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Mas</li> + <li class="english">More</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">qe</li> + <li class="english">than</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">non</li> + <li class="english">(not)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">faz</li> + <li class="english">I make</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">parven;</li> + <li class="english">appearance;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">E</li> + <li class="english">And</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sitot</li> + <li class="english">although</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">me</li> + <li class="english">myself</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">deslei</li> + <li class="english">I make (appear) disloyal</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Per</li> + <li class="english">For</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos,</li> + <li class="english">you(r sake),</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ges</li> + <li class="english">scarcely</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">nous</li> + <li class="english">(not) you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">abnei,</li> + <li class="english">I deny;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_359">[359]</span> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’ades</li> + <li class="english">For soon</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vas</li> + <li class="english">towards</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">soplei</li> + <li class="english">I pray</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">De</li> + <li class="english">With</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">francha</li> + <li class="english">genuine</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">benvolensa.</li> + <li class="english">love.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Domna,</li> + <li class="english">Lady,</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">on</li> + <li class="english">where (in whom)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">beutaz</li> + <li class="english">beauty</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">gensa,</li> + <li class="english">is an ornament,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Maintas</li> + <li class="english">Many</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vez</li> + <li class="english">times</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">oblit</li> + <li class="english">I forget</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mei</li> + <li class="english">myself</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’eu</li> + <li class="english">That I</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">lau</li> + <li class="english">may praise</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">e</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mercei.</li> + <li class="english">implore mercy.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Toz</li> + <li class="english">All</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">temps</li> + <li class="english">times</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">m’azire</li> + <li class="english">me may hate</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">L’amors</li> + <li class="english">The Love</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">qeus</li> + <li class="english">which you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mi</li> + <li class="english">(from) me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">defen,</li> + <li class="english">withholds</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">S’eu</li> + <li class="english">If I</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">jal</li> + <li class="english">ever</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cor</li> + <li class="english">the heart</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vire</li> + <li class="english">turn</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Ad</li> + <li class="english">To</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">autr’</li> + <li class="english">another</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">entendemen;</li> + <li class="english">(loving) understanding;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Tolt</li> + <li class="english">Taken away</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">m’</li> + <li class="english">(from) me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">avez</li> + <li class="english">you have</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">rire</li> + <li class="english">laughter</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">E</li> + <li class="english">And</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">donat</li> + <li class="english">given</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">pessamen.</li> + <li class="english">thought.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Plus</li> + <li class="english">More</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">greu</li> + <li class="english">severe</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">martire</li> + <li class="english">martyrdom</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Nuls</li> + <li class="english">No</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">homs</li> + <li class="english">man</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">de</li> + <li class="english">of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">me</li> + <li class="english">me (than I)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">no sen;</li> + <li class="english">not feels;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Qar</li> + <li class="english">For</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">que</li> + <li class="english">whom</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">plus</li> + <li class="english">more</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">envei</li> + <li class="english">I desire</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">De</li> + <li class="english">Of (than a)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">re</li> + <li class="english">thing</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">q’el</li> + <li class="english">which in the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mon</li> + <li class="english">world</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">estei,</li> + <li class="english">is</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_360">[360]</span> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Desautorc</li> + <li class="english">I disavow</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">e</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mescrei</li> + <li class="english">deny</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">E</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">desam</li> + <li class="english">un-love</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">en</li> + <li class="english">in</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">parvensa;</li> + <li class="english">appearance;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Tot</li> + <li class="english">All</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">qant</li> + <li class="english">how much</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">faz</li> + <li class="english">I do</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">per</li> + <li class="english">through</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">temensa</li> + <li class="english">fear</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Devez</li> + <li class="english">You must</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">en</li> + <li class="english">in</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">bona</li> + <li class="english">good</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fei</li> + <li class="english">faith</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Prendre,</li> + <li class="english">Take,</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">neis</li> + <li class="english">even</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">qan</li> + <li class="english">when</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">nous</li> + <li class="english">not you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vei.</li> + <li class="english">I see.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">En</li> + <li class="english">In</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sovinensa</li> + <li class="english">memory</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Tenc</li> + <li class="english">I hold</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">la</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">car’</li> + <li class="english">face</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">el</li> + <li class="english">and the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">dous</li> + <li class="english">sweet</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ris,</li> + <li class="english">smile,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Vostra</li> + <li class="english">Your</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">valensa</li> + <li class="english">worth</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">El</li> + <li class="english">And the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">bel</li> + <li class="english">beautiful</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cors</li> + <li class="english">body</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">blanc</li> + <li class="english">white</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">e</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">lis;</li> + <li class="english">lithe;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Si</li> + <li class="english">If</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">per</li> + <li class="english">through</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">crezensa</li> + <li class="english">faith</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Estes</li> + <li class="english">I were</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ves</li> + <li class="english">towards</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">deu</li> + <li class="english">God</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">tan</li> + <li class="english">as</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fis,</li> + <li class="english">faithful,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Vius</li> + <li class="english">Alive</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ses</li> + <li class="english">without</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">falhensa</li> + <li class="english">failure</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Intrer’</li> + <li class="english">I should enter</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">en</li> + <li class="english">into</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">paradis;</li> + <li class="english">paradise.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’</li> + <li class="english">For</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">aissim</li> + <li class="english">so myself</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sui</li> + <li class="english">I am (have)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ses</li> + <li class="english">without</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">toz</li> + <li class="english">all (any)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cuz</li> + <li class="english">hesitation</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">De</li> + <li class="english">Of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cor</li> + <li class="english">the heart</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">a</li> + <li class="english">to</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">renduz</li> + <li class="english">given</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_361">[361]</span> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’autra</li> + <li class="english">That another</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">jois</li> + <li class="english">joys</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">nom</li> + <li class="english">not to me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">aduz;</li> + <li class="english">gives;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’una</li> + <li class="english">For one</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">no</li> + <li class="english">not</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">porta</li> + <li class="english">wears</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">benda,</li> + <li class="english">a band</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’en</li> + <li class="english">That I of her</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">prezes</li> + <li class="english">should prize</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">per</li> + <li class="english">as</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">esmenda</li> + <li class="english">compensation</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Jaser</li> + <li class="english">To lie (with her)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ne</li> + <li class="english">nor that</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fos</li> + <li class="english">I were</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sos</li> + <li class="english">her</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">druz</li> + <li class="english">lover</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Per</li> + <li class="english">(In exchange) for</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">las</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vostras</li> + <li class="english">your</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">saluz.</li> + <li class="english">greetings.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Toz</li> + <li class="english">All</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">jorns</li> + <li class="english">the days</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">m’agensa</li> + <li class="english">me stirs</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Desirs,</li> + <li class="english">Desire,</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">tan</li> + <li class="english">so much</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">m’abelis</li> + <li class="english">me attracts</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">La</li> + <li class="english">The</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">captenensa</li> + <li class="english">bearing</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">De</li> + <li class="english">Of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">per</li> + <li class="english">for</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cui</li> + <li class="english">whom</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">languis;</li> + <li class="english">I languish;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Bem</li> + <li class="english">Good to me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">par</li> + <li class="english">it seems</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">qem</li> + <li class="english">that me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vensa</li> + <li class="english">should conquer</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Vostr’</li> + <li class="english">Your</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">amors,</li> + <li class="english">love,</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">q’ans</li> + <li class="english">for before</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">qeus</li> + <li class="english">that you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vis</li> + <li class="english">I saw</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Fo</li> + <li class="english">It was</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">m’</li> + <li class="english">to me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">entendensa,</li> + <li class="english">a knowledge</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Qeus</li> + <li class="english">That you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ames</li> + <li class="english">I should love</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">eus</li> + <li class="english">and you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">servis;</li> + <li class="english">I should serve;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’</li> + <li class="english">For</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">aissim</li> + <li class="english">thus myself</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sui</li> + <li class="english">I am (have)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">remansuz</li> + <li class="english">remained</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Sols</li> + <li class="english">Alone</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ses</li> + <li class="english">without</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">autres</li> + <li class="english">other</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ajuz</li> + <li class="english">helps</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_362">[362]</span> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’</li> + <li class="english">But</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ab</li> + <li class="english">(from)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos,</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">e</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">n’</li> + <li class="english">therefrom</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ai</li> + <li class="english">I have</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">perduz</li> + <li class="english">lost</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Mans</li> + <li class="english">Many</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">bes,</li> + <li class="english">boons;</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">quis</li> + <li class="english">he who for himself</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vuelhals</li> + <li class="english">will (have) them</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">prenda;</li> + <li class="english">take (them);</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’a</li> + <li class="english">For to</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mi</li> + <li class="english">me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">plaz</li> + <li class="english">it pleases</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mais</li> + <li class="english">more</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">q’atenda</li> + <li class="english">that I should wait</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Ses</li> + <li class="english">Without</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">toz</li> + <li class="english">all</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">covenz</li> + <li class="english">covenants</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">saubuz</li> + <li class="english">known</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Vas</li> + <li class="english">(With) towards (her)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">don</li> + <li class="english">from whom</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">m’</li> + <li class="english">to me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">es</li> + <li class="english">(has) is</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">jois</li> + <li class="english">joy</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">creguz.</li> + <li class="english">grown.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Ans</li> + <li class="english">Before</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">qe</li> + <li class="english">that</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">s’encenda</li> + <li class="english">itself may inflame</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Inz</li> + <li class="english">Inside</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">el</li> + <li class="english">in the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cor</li> + <li class="english">heart</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">la</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">dolors,</li> + <li class="english">pain,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Merces</li> + <li class="english">Mercy</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">desenda</li> + <li class="english">may descend,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Domn’</li> + <li class="english">Lady,</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">en</li> + <li class="english">into</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">et</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">amors,</li> + <li class="english">love,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Qe</li> + <li class="english">Which</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">joi</li> + <li class="english">joy</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mi</li> + <li class="english">to me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">renda</li> + <li class="english">may give</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">En</li> + <li class="english">Amidst</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">lonhs</li> + <li class="english">long</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sospirs</li> + <li class="english">sighs</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">e</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">plors.</li> + <li class="english">tears.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Nous</li> + <li class="english">Not ou</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">o</li> + <li class="english">this</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">defenda</li> + <li class="english">may forbid</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Paratges</li> + <li class="english">Parentage</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ni</li> + <li class="english">nor</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ricors;</li> + <li class="english">wealth;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’oblidaz</li> + <li class="english">For forgotten</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">m’es</li> + <li class="english">(by) me is</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">toz</li> + <li class="english">every</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">bes,</li> + <li class="english">boon,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">S’ab</li> + <li class="english">If with</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">nom</li> + <li class="english">not me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">val</li> + <li class="english">helps</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">merces;</li> + <li class="english">mercy;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_363">[363]</span> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Ai!</li> + <li class="english">Oh!</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">bella</li> + <li class="english">beautiful</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">dousa</li> + <li class="english">sweet</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">res,</li> + <li class="english">thing,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Molt</li> + <li class="english">Much</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">feraz</li> + <li class="english">will you do</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">gran</li> + <li class="english">great</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">franqesa</li> + <li class="english">frankness</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">M’amessez</li> + <li class="english">(If) me you would love</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">o</li> + <li class="english">or</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">non</li> + <li class="english">not</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ges;</li> + <li class="english">(scarcely)</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’eras</li> + <li class="english">For now</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">no</li> + <li class="english">not</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sai</li> + <li class="english">I know</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">qe</li> + <li class="english">which</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">s’es.</li> + <li class="english">(itself) it is.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Non</li> + <li class="english">Not</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">trop</li> + <li class="english">I find</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">contenda</li> + <li class="english">resistance</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Contra</li> + <li class="english">Against</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vostras</li> + <li class="english">your</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">valors;</li> + <li class="english">worth(s);</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Merces</li> + <li class="english">Mercy</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">von</li> + <li class="english">you thereof</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">prenda</li> + <li class="english">may take</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Tals</li> + <li class="english">Such</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">q’a</li> + <li class="english">as to</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">si’</li> + <li class="english">would be</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">onors;</li> + <li class="english">an honour;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Ja</li> + <li class="english">Ever</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">nom</li> + <li class="english">not me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">entenda</li> + <li class="english">may hear</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Dieus</li> + <li class="english">God</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mest</li> + <li class="english">amongst</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sos</li> + <li class="english">his</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">prejadors,</li> + <li class="english">worshippers,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Si</li> + <li class="english">If</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">volh</li> + <li class="english">I will (take)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">la</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">renda</li> + <li class="english">income</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Dels</li> + <li class="english">Of the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">qatre</li> + <li class="english">four</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">reis</li> + <li class="english">kings</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">majors</li> + <li class="english">greatest</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Qe</li> + <li class="english">So that</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ab</li> + <li class="english">with</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">nom</li> + <li class="english">not to me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">valgues</li> + <li class="english">should be of use</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Dieus</li> + <li class="english">God</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">e</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ma</li> + <li class="english">my</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">bona</li> + <li class="english">good</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fes;</li> + <li class="english">faith;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Qe</li> + <li class="english">For</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">partir</li> + <li class="english">part (from you)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">nom</li> + <li class="english">not (me)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">posc</li> + <li class="english">I can</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ges</li> + <li class="english">scarcely</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_364">[364]</span> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Tant</li> + <li class="english">So</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fort</li> + <li class="english">strongly</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">si</li> + <li class="english">itself</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">es</li> + <li class="english">is (has)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">empresa</li> + <li class="english">inflamed</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">M’</li> + <li class="english">My</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">amors,</li> + <li class="english">love,</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">e</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">si</li> + <li class="english">if</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fos</li> + <li class="english">it were</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">presa</li> + <li class="english">found</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">En</li> + <li class="english">(In)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">baisan</li> + <li class="english">kissing</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">nius</li> + <li class="english">and if you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">plagues,</li> + <li class="english">it pleased</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Ja</li> + <li class="english">Ever</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">no</li> + <li class="english">not</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">volgram</li> + <li class="english">should I wish myself</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">solves.</li> + <li class="english">that I severed.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Anc</li> + <li class="english">Ever</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">res</li> + <li class="english">a thing</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">q’a</li> + <li class="english">that (to)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">plagues</li> + <li class="english">pleased</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Bona</li> + <li class="english">Good</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">domna</li> + <li class="english">lady</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cortesa</li> + <li class="english">courteous</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Tan</li> + <li class="english">So much</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">no</li> + <li class="english">not</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">m’</li> + <li class="english">to me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">estet</li> + <li class="english">was</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">defesa,</li> + <li class="english">forbidden</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Q’eu</li> + <li class="english">that I</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ans</li> + <li class="english">sooner</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">no</li> + <li class="english">not</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">la</li> + <li class="english">it</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fezes,</li> + <li class="english">should do</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Qe</li> + <li class="english">Than</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">d’als</li> + <li class="english">of another thing</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mi</li> + <li class="english">(myself)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sovengues.</li> + <li class="english">I should think.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<h4>II.<br> +<i>IDYLL BY MARCABRUN.</i></h4> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="interlinear"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">A</li> + <li class="english">At</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">la</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fontana</li> + <li class="english">fountain</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">del</li> + <li class="english">of the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vergier,</li> + <li class="english">orchard</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">On</li> + <li class="english">Where</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">l’</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">erb’</li> + <li class="english">grass</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">es</li> + <li class="english">is</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vertz</li> + <li class="english">green</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">jostal</li> + <li class="english">near the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">gravier,</li> + <li class="english">gravel</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">A</li> + <li class="english">In</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">l’</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ombra</li> + <li class="english">shade</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">d’</li> + <li class="english">of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">un</li> + <li class="english">a</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fust</li> + <li class="english">tree</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">domesgier,</li> + <li class="english">indigenous</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">En</li> + <li class="english">In</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">aizement</li> + <li class="english">the beauty</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">de</li> + <li class="english">of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">blancas</li> + <li class="english">white</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">flors</li> + <li class="english">flowers</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_365">[365]</span> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">E</li> + <li class="english">And</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">de</li> + <li class="english">of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">novel</li> + <li class="english">new</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">chant</li> + <li class="english">song</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">costumier,</li> + <li class="english">familiar</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Trobei</li> + <li class="english">I found</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sola</li> + <li class="english">alone</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ses</li> + <li class="english">without</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">companhier</li> + <li class="english">companion</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Cela</li> + <li class="english">Her</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">que</li> + <li class="english">who</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">no</li> + <li class="english">not</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">volc</li> + <li class="english">relished</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mon</li> + <li class="english">my</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">solatz.</li> + <li class="english">conversation.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">So</li> + <li class="english">This</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fon</li> + <li class="english">was</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">donzel’</li> + <li class="english">a girl</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ab</li> + <li class="english">with</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">son</li> + <li class="english">her</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cor</li> + <li class="english">body</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">bel,</li> + <li class="english">beautiful</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Filha</li> + <li class="english">The daughter</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">d’un</li> + <li class="english">of one</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">senhor</li> + <li class="english">lord</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">de</li> + <li class="english">of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">castel;</li> + <li class="english">a castle;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">E</li> + <li class="english">And</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">quant</li> + <li class="english">when</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">eu</li> + <li class="english">I</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cugei</li> + <li class="english">thought</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">que</li> + <li class="english">that</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">l’</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">auzel</li> + <li class="english">birds</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Li</li> + <li class="english">Her</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fesson</li> + <li class="english">made (gave)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">joi</li> + <li class="english">joy</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">e</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">la</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">verdors,</li> + <li class="english">greenery</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">E</li> + <li class="english">And</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">pel</li> + <li class="english">(because of) the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">dous</li> + <li class="english">sweet</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">termini</li> + <li class="english">season</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">novel,</li> + <li class="english">new</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">E</li> + <li class="english">And</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">que</li> + <li class="english">that</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">entendes</li> + <li class="english">she would listen (to)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mon</li> + <li class="english">my</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">favel,</li> + <li class="english">address,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Tost</li> + <li class="english">Soon</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">li</li> + <li class="english">(the)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fon</li> + <li class="english">were</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sos</li> + <li class="english">her</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">afors</li> + <li class="english">manners</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">camjatz.</li> + <li class="english">changed.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Dels</li> + <li class="english">From her</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">olhs</li> + <li class="english">eyes</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ploret</li> + <li class="english">she cried</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">josta</li> + <li class="english">by</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">la</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fon</li> + <li class="english">fountain</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">E</li> + <li class="english">And</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">del</li> + <li class="english">from the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cor</li> + <li class="english">heart</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sospiret</li> + <li class="english">she sighed</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">preon.</li> + <li class="english">deeply.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">‘Jhesus,’</li> + <li class="english">‘Jesus,’</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">dis</li> + <li class="english">said</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ela,</li> + <li class="english">she,</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">‘reis</li> + <li class="english">‘king</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">del</li> + <li class="english">of the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mon,</li> + <li class="english">world,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Per</li> + <li class="english">Through</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mi</li> + <li class="english">me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">creis</li> + <li class="english">grows</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ma</li> + <li class="english">my</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">grans</li> + <li class="english">great</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">dolors,</li> + <li class="english">grief</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Quar</li> + <li class="english">For</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vostra</li> + <li class="english">your</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">anta</li> + <li class="english">disgrace</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mi</li> + <li class="english">me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cofon,</li> + <li class="english">injures,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_366">[366]</span> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Quar</li> + <li class="english">For</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">li</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">melhor</li> + <li class="english">best</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">de</li> + <li class="english">of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">tot</li> + <li class="english">all</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">est</li> + <li class="english">this</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mon</li> + <li class="english">world</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Vos</li> + <li class="english">You</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">van</li> + <li class="english">go</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">servir,</li> + <li class="english">to serve,</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mas</li> + <li class="english">but</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">a</li> + <li class="english">to</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">platz.</li> + <li class="english">it pleases.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Ab</li> + <li class="english">With</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">s’en</li> + <li class="english">(himself) away)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vai</li> + <li class="english">goes</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">lo</li> + <li class="english">(the) </li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">meus</li> + <li class="english">my</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">amics,</li> + <li class="english">friend</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Lo</li> + <li class="english">The</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">bels</li> + <li class="english">beautiful</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">el</li> + <li class="english">and the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">gens</li> + <li class="english">gentle</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">el</li> + <li class="english">and the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">pros</li> + <li class="english">brave</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">el</li> + <li class="english">and the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">rics,</li> + <li class="english">worthy</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Sai</li> + <li class="english">Here</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">m’en</li> + <li class="english">to me therefrom</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">reman</li> + <li class="english">remains</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">lo</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">grans</li> + <li class="english">great</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">destrics,</li> + <li class="english">grief</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Lo</li> + <li class="english">The</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">deziriers</li> + <li class="english">longing</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">soven</li> + <li class="english">often</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">el</li> + <li class="english">and the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">plors.</li> + <li class="english">tear.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Ai!</li> + <li class="english">Alas!</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mala</li> + <li class="english">evil</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fos</li> + <li class="english">be (befal)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">reis</li> + <li class="english">king</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Lozoics</li> + <li class="english">Louis.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Que</li> + <li class="english">Who</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fai</li> + <li class="english">makes</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">los</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mans</li> + <li class="english">commands</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">e</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">los</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">prezics</li> + <li class="english">preachings,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Per</li> + <li class="english">Through</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">quel</li> + <li class="english">which</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">dols</li> + <li class="english">the pain</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">m’es</li> + <li class="english">to me is</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">el</li> + <li class="english">into the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cor</li> + <li class="english">heart</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">intratz.’</li> + <li class="english">entered.’</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Quant</li> + <li class="english">When</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">eu</li> + <li class="english">I</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">l’auzi</li> + <li class="english">her heard</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">desconortar,</li> + <li class="english">lament</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Ves</li> + <li class="english">To</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">leis</li> + <li class="english">her</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vengui</li> + <li class="english">I came</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">jostal</li> + <li class="english">near the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">riu</li> + <li class="english">brook</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">clar.</li> + <li class="english">clear.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">‘Bela,’</li> + <li class="english">‘Beautiful one,’</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fi</li> + <li class="english">said</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">m’eu,</li> + <li class="english">(myself) I,</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">‘per</li> + <li class="english">‘by</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">trop</li> + <li class="english">too much</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">plorar</li> + <li class="english">crying</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Afola</li> + <li class="english">Degenerates</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cara</li> + <li class="english">face</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">e</li> + <li class="english">and</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">colors:</li> + <li class="english">colour:</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">E</li> + <li class="english">And</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">no</li> + <li class="english">not</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">vos</li> + <li class="english">you</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">qual</li> + <li class="english">it beseems</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">dezesperar,</li> + <li class="english">to despair,</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Que</li> + <li class="english">For</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cel</li> + <li class="english">he</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">que</li> + <li class="english">who</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">fai</li> + <li class="english">makes</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">lo</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">bosc</li> + <li class="english">bush</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">folhar</li> + <li class="english">bring forth leaves</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_367">[367]</span> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Vos</li> + <li class="english">You</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">pot</li> + <li class="english">can</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">donar</li> + <li class="english">give</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">de</li> + <li class="english">of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">joi</li> + <li class="english">joys</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">assatz.’</li> + <li class="english">enough.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">‘Senher,’</li> + <li class="english">‘Sir,’</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">dis</li> + <li class="english">said</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">ela,</li> + <li class="english">she,</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">‘ben</li> + <li class="english">‘well</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">o</li> + <li class="english">this</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">cre,</li> + <li class="english">I believe</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Que</li> + <li class="english">That</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Deus</li> + <li class="english">God</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">aja</li> + <li class="english">may have</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">de</li> + <li class="english">of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mi</li> + <li class="english">me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">merce</li> + <li class="english">mercy</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">En</li> + <li class="english">In</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">l’</li> + <li class="english">the</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">autre</li> + <li class="english">other</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">segle</li> + <li class="english">world</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">per</li> + <li class="english">for</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">jasse,</li> + <li class="english">ever</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Quon</li> + <li class="english">As</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">assatz</li> + <li class="english">enough</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">d’</li> + <li class="english">of</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">autres</li> + <li class="english">other</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">peccadors;</li> + <li class="english">sinners;</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Mas</li> + <li class="english">But</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">sai</li> + <li class="english">here</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mi</li> + <li class="english">me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">tol</li> + <li class="english">he takes</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">aquela</li> + <li class="english">that</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">re</li> + <li class="english">thing</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Don</li> + <li class="english">Of which</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">jois</li> + <li class="english">joy</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mi</li> + <li class="english">me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">crec;</li> + <li class="english">grew;</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mas</li> + <li class="english">but</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">pauc</li> + <li class="english">little</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mi</li> + <li class="english">me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">te</li> + <li class="english">he holds worth</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + <div class="verse-pair"> + <ol class="sentence"> + <li> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">Que</li> + <li class="english">As</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">trop</li> + <li class="english">too (far)</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">s’es</li> + <li class="english">(himself) he is</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">de</li> + <li class="english">from</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">mi</li> + <li class="english">me</li> + </ol> + <ol class="phrase"> + <li class="provencal">alonhatz.</li> + <li class="english">gone.</li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<!-- In this comment, the poems are included as printed, in case +someone will find it more useful to have them laid out this way. + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Li douz cossire</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">The sweet thoughts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qem don amors soven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Which to me gives love often,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Domnam fan dire</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Lady, me make say</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De vos maint vers plazen;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Of you many a poem pleasant;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pessan remire</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Thinking I gaze (on)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vostre cors car e gen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Your body dear and comely,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cui eu dezire</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Which I desire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mas qe non faz parven;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">More than (not) I make appearance;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E sitot me deslei</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">And although myself I make (appear) disloyal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per vos, ges nous abnei,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For you(r sake), scarcely (not) you I deny;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_359">[359]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Q’ades vas vos soplei</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For soon towards you I pray</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De francha benvolensa.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">With genuine love.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Domna, on beutaz gensa,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Lady, where (in whom) beauty is an ornament,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Maintas vez oblit mei</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Many times I forget myself</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’eu lau vos e mercei.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">That I may praise you and implore mercy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Toz temps m’azire</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">All times me may hate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">L’amors qeus mi defen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">The Love which you (from) me withholds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">S’eu jal cor vire</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">If I ever the heart turn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ad autr’ entendemen;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">To another (loving) understanding;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tolt m’ avez rire</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Taken away (from) me you have laughter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E donat pessamen.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">And given thought.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Plus greu martire</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">More severe martyrdom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nuls homs de me no sen;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">No man of me (than I) not feels;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qar vos qe plus envei</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For you whom more I desire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De re q’el mon estei,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Of (than a) thing which in the world is</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_360">[360]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Desautorc e mescrei</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">I disavow and deny</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E desam en parvensa;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">And un-love in appearance;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tot qant faz per temensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">All how much I do through fear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Devez en bona fei</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">You must in good faith</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Prendre, neis qan nous vei.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Take, even when not you I see.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">En sovinensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">In memory</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tenc la car’ el dous ris,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">I hold the face and the sweet smile,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vostra valensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Your worth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">El bel cors blanc e lis;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">And the beautiful body white and lithe;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Si per crezensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">If through faith</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Estes ves deu tan fis,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">I were towards God as faithful,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vius ses falhensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Alive without failure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Intrer’ en paradis;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">I should enter into paradise.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’ aissim sui ses toz cuz</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For so myself I am (have) without all (any) hesitation</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De cor a vos renduz</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Of the heart to you given</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_361">[361]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Q’autra jois nom aduz;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">That another joys not to me gives;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’una no porta benda,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For one not wears a band</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’en prezes per esmenda</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">That I of her should prize as compensation</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Jaser ne fos sos druz</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">To lie (with her) nor that I were her lover</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per las vostras saluz.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">(In exchange) for the your greetings.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Toz jorns m’agensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">All the days me stirs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Desirs, tan m’abelis</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Desire, so much me attracts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">La captenensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">The bearing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">De vos per cui languis;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Of you for whom I languish;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bem par qem vensa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Good to me it seems that me should conquer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vostr’ amors, q’ans qeus vis</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Your love, for before that you I saw</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fo m’ entendensa,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">It was to me a knowledge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qeus ames eus servis;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">That you I should love and you I should serve;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’ aissim sui remansuz</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For thus myself I am (have) remained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sols ses autres ajuz</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Alone without other helps</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_362">[362]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Q’ ab vos, e n’ ai perduz</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">But (from) you and therefrom I have lost</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mans bes, quis vuelhals prenda;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Many boons; he who for himself will (have) them take (them);</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’a mi plaz mais q’atenda</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For to me it pleases more that I should wait</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ses toz covenz saubuz</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Without all covenants known</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vas don m’ es jois creguz.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">(With) towards (her) from whom to me (has) is joy grown.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ans qe s’encenda</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Before that itself may inflame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inz el cor la dolors,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Inside in the heart the pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Merces desenda</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Mercy may descend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Domn’ en vos et amors,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Lady, into you and love,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qe joi mi renda</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Which joy to me may give</div> + <div class="verse indent0">En lonhs sospirs e plors.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Amidst long sighs and tears.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nous o defenda</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Not you this may forbid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Paratges ni ricors;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Parentage nor wealth;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’oblidaz m’es toz bes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For forgotten (by) me is every boon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">S’ab vos nom val merces;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">If with you not me helps mercy;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_363">[363]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Ai! bella dousa res,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Oh! beautiful sweet thing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Molt feraz gran franqesa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Much will you do great frankness</div> + <div class="verse indent0">M’amessez o non ges;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">(If) me you would love or not (scarcely)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’eras no sai qe s’es.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For now not I know which (itself) it is.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Non trop contenda</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Not I find resistance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Contra vostras valors;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Against your worth(s);</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Merces von prenda</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Mercy you thereof may take</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tals q’a vos si’ onors;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Such as to you would be an honour;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ja nom entenda</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Ever not me may hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dieus mest sos prejadors,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">God amongst his worshippers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Si volh la renda</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">If I will (take) the income</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dels qatre reis majors</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Of the four kings greatest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qe ab vos nom valgues</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">So that with you not to me should be of use</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dieus e ma bona fes;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">God and my good faith;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qe partir nom posc ges</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For part (from you) not (me) I can scarcely</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_364">[364]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Tant fort si es empresa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">So strongly itself is (has) inflamed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">M’ amors, e si fos presa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">My love, and if it were found</div> + <div class="verse indent0">En baisan nius plagues,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">(In) kissing and if you it pleased</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ja no volgram solves.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Ever not should I wish myself that I severed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Anc res q’a vos plagues</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Ever a thing that (to) you pleased</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bona domna cortesa</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Good lady courteous</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tan no m’ estet defesa,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">So much not to me was forbidden</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’ eu ans no la fezes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">That I sooner not it should do</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qe d’als mi sovengues.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Than of another thing (myself) I should think.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<h4>II.<br> +<i>IDYLL BY MARCABRUN.</i></h4> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A la fontana del vergier,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">At the fountain of the orchard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On l’ erb’ es vertz jostal gravier,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Where the grass is green near the gravel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A l’ ombra d’ un fust domesgier,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">In the shade of a tree indigenous</div> + <div class="verse indent0">En aizement de blancas flors</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">In the beauty of white flowers</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_365">[365]</span> <div class="verse indent0">E de novel chant costumier,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">And of new song familiar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Trobei sola ses companhier</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">I found alone without companion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cela que no volc mon solatz.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Her who not relished my conversation.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So fon donzel’ ab son cor bel,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">This was a girl with her body beautiful</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Filha d’un senhor de castel;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">The daughter of one lord of a castle;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E quant eu cugei que l’ auzel</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">And when I thought that the birds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Li fesson joi e la verdors,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Her made (gave) joy and the greenery</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E pel dous termini novel,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">And (because of) the sweet season new</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E que entendes mon favel,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">And that she would listen (to) my address</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tost li fon sos afors camjatz.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Soon (the) were her manners changed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Dels olhs ploret josta la fon</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">From her eyes she cried by the fountain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E del cor sospiret preon.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">And from the heart she sighed deeply.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Jhesus,’ dis ela, ‘reis del mon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">‘Jesus,’ said she, ‘king of the world,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per vos mi creis ma grans dolors,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Through you me grows my great grief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quar vostra anta mi cofon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For your disgrace me injures,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_366">[366]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Quar li melhor de tot est mon</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For the best of all this world</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vos van servir, mas a vos platz.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">You go to serve, but to you it pleases.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ab vos s’en vai lo meus amics,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">With you (himself) away goes (the) my friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lo bels el gens el pros el rics,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">The beautiful and the gentle and the brave and the worthy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sai m’en reman lo grans destrics,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Here to me therefrom remains the great grief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lo deziriers soven el plors.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">The longing often and the tear.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ai! mala fos reis Lozoics</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Alas! evil be (befal) king Louis.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que fai los mans e los prezics</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Who makes the commands and the preachings,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per quel dols m’es el cor intratz.’</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Through which the pain to me is into the heart entered.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Quant eu l’auzi desconortar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">When I her heard lament</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ves leis vengui jostal riu clar.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">To her I came near the brook clear.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Bela,’ fi m’eu, ‘per trop plorar</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">‘Beautiful one,’ said (myself) I, ‘by too much crying</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Afola cara e colors:</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Degenerates face and colour:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E no vos qual dezesperar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">And not you it beseems to despair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que cel que fai lo bosc folhar</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">For he who makes the bush bring forth leaves</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_367">[367]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Vos pot donar de joi assatz.’</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">You can give of joys enough.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Senher,’ dis ela, ‘ben o cre,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">‘Sir,’ said she, ‘well this I believe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que Deus aja de mi merce</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">That God may have of me mercy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">En l’ autre segle per jasse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">In the other world for ever</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quon assatz d’ autres peccadors;</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">As enough of other sinners;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mas sai mi tol aquela re</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">But here me he takes that thing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Don jois mi crec; mas pauc mi te</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">Of which joy me grew; but little me he holds worth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Que trop s’es de mi alonhatz.</div> + <div class="verse indent0 interlinear">As too (far) (himself) he is from me gone.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +--> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</h2> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Even the oldest Provençal poem of importance known to +us, a popular version of the story of Boethius, belonging, according +to Raynouard, to the tenth century, shows in most essential +points the same grammatical structure as the language of the +Troubadours, barring such irregularities and archaisms as are fully +accounted for by the age and origin of the work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> The religious poems of the Vaudois, especially the celebrated +‘Noble Lesson,’ a medley of moral and dogmatic precepts, do not +concern us, they being both by language and tendency entirely removed +from the sphere of artistic literature.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> A curious collection of all imaginable law cases, called +‘Albres de Batalhas,’ or ‘Tree of Contention,’ and written most +likely originally in French, may be mentioned as throwing a +curious though faint light on a recent controversy. One of the +fictitious actions is between a Frenchman and a licentiate of +London who has come to Paris to take his degree in the celebrated +university of that city, a case of frequent occurrence, although +‘as every one knows the Kings of France and England are +always at war with each other.’ In answer to some argument of +the Englishman his antagonist exclaims in his boisterous way: +‘We Frenchmen don’t care about your laws or the <i>emperor</i> who +made them.’ What better precedent could the advocates of +Queen Victoria’s new title demand than this testimony of an +enemy, who curiously enough speaks of his own monarch as the +king?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> In one passage, it is true, he uses the words, ‘que ay escrichas +questas razos,’ ‘I who have written these things,’ but that may +be a shorter way for saying ‘dictated,’ which the expression in +the text evidently indicates.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> In the second-mentioned poem the instruction takes the +whimsical form of a reproof to a joglar for <i>not</i> knowing the various +subjects mentioned in the text. ‘I will tell you the truth without +a lie,’ the ingenuous poet opens his diatribe; ‘you are a bad fiddler +and worse singer from beginning to end.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> Pulci says that Angelo Poliziano called his attention to +Arnaut’s work, in acknowledgment evidently of what he considered +a remarkable antiquarian achievement.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> ‘Galahalt’ was the go-between of the Queen and her lover. +The word became nationalised in Italian as equivalent to ‘Pandar.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> This kind of personal apprenticeship to a renowned troubadour, +be it here parenthetically stated, was, in the good times, the +common way of acquiring the complicated and difficult art of +poetry. Other poets taught themselves with the assistance of the +great models preserved in writing, or transmitted by word of +mouth and sound of voice or fiddle. Jaufre Rudel says prettily, +that meadows and orchards, trees and flowers, and the cries and +songs of wild birds have been his teachers. The ‘Academies,’ +<i>i.e.</i> teaching and examining bodies, were, like the schools of the +German master singers, creations of a late epoch.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> M. Damase Arbaud some time ago published a charming +collection of popular ditties (‘Chants Populaires de Provence,’ +Aix, 1862), containing amongst other pieces some beautiful +Christmas songs or <i>noëls</i> evidently of great antiquity, although +still sung in Provence. Some of these poems, the editor believes, +date back from the times of the Troubadours. But the oral +tradition to which they owe their preservation has unfortunately +changed their linguistic character beyond recognition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> The <i>senhal</i> or pseudonym of his lady-love.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> Songs of dispute or contention.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> ‘The other day by the roadside I heard a shepherd sing a +song, which said: “False traitors have killed me.” And when he +saw me approach, he jumped to his feet to do me honour and +said, ‘God be with you, sir; for now I have found a friend, leal +and discreet and without falsehood to whom I may complain +of love.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> A curious exception to this rule occurs in a <i>balada</i> published +by Professor Bartsch from a Paris manuscript. It is evidently +written in imitation of a popular model, and differs <i>in toto</i> from +the spirit and diction of the poetry of the Troubadours, with which +it has nothing in common but the language. Here we have a +refrain of purely musical significance at the end of some of the +lines, and also the exclamation of the dancers referred to in the +text. Here also, curiously enough, the words take a narrative turn, +thus seeming to foreshadow the gradual transition of the term +ballad from its old to its modern meaning. A stanza may follow +here:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A l’entrada del tems clar, eya,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per joya recomençar, eya,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E per jelos irritar, eya,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vol la regina mostrar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Q’el’est est si amoroza.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alavi’, alavia, jelos,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Laissaz nos, laissaz nos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ballar entre nos, entre nos.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>(‘At the beginning of the bright season, eya, in order to begin +again joy, eya, and to irritate the jealous, eya, the queen resolves +to show how amorous she is. Away, away, ye jealous, let us, let +us, dance by ourselves, by ourselves’).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> An article in the <i>Cornhill Magazine</i> (July 1877), called a +‘Plea for certain Exotic Forms of Verse,’ may be consulted +with advantage, as regards the adoption of these French metres +by some modern English poets. For modern French poetry, +that charming volume ‘Petit Traité de Poésie,’ by Théodore de +Banville, is the chief source. Of the mediæval development of +his own language and the <i>langue d’oc</i> M. de Banville unfortunately +says little or nothing. Villon seems the earliest author +known to him. Rutebœuf he ignores.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> According to the <i>Leys d’amors</i>, this choice of one of two +arguments proposed by one troubadour to another, is the characteristic +feature of the <i>partimen</i> in distinction from the <i>tenso</i> +generally.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> A notorious freebooter of the time.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> Attacks on the morals of the clergy are frequent in Provençal +literature; but of poems containing heretical opinions in matters +of dogma I know only one, by Peire Cardinal. It is a passionate +plea against the eternity of punishment, and might have been +quoted with advantage in a recent ecclesiastical trial. It is, +however, by no means unlikely that other poems of heterodox +import may have been accidentally or wilfully destroyed in the +course of ages. The fact that a bull of Pope Innocent IV., dated +1245, prohibits to students the use of Provençal, as a language +of heretics, tends to confirm this surmise.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> This poem may be found in Bartsch’s ‘Chrestomathie Provençale,’ +2nd edition, p. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> The exact meaning of the word <i>sirventes</i> is not easy to +define. It is evidently derived from the Latin verb <i>servire</i>, and +may therefore loosely be rendered as the ‘song of a serving-man +in praise or in the interest of his master.’ The <i>Leys d’amors</i> calls +the <i>sirventes</i> ‘a song which contains censure and vituperation, +and castigates wicked and malignant people.’ This tolerably +meets the case. The use of the word by later grammarians for +a song in praise of the Virgin is a manifest corruption of its +original meaning.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> The characteristic change between plural and singular in the +lady’s address to Guillem adds greatly to the impressiveness of +the original. Here, for instance, she says, ‘Eram digaz (Tell <i>you</i> +me), t’es tu anquera (hast <i>thou</i> found out),’ etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> See the interlinear version of it; Index, ii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> Another biographer adds with ghastly accuracy, ‘<i>a pebrada</i>,’ +with pepper—‘devilled,’ as we should say.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> Some readers may care to know the whole passage referring +to our troubadour, one of the most weird and impressive of the +‘Inferno.’ It occurs in the 28th Canto towards the close, and runs +thus:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ma io rimasi a riguardar lo stuolo,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E vidi cosa ch’io avrei paura</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Senza più pruova di contarla solo;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Se non che conscienzia m’assicura,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">La buona compagnia che l’uom francheggia</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sotto l’usbergo del sentirsi pura.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Io vidi certo ed ancor par ch’io ’l veggia,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Un busto senza capo andar, si come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Andavan gli altri della trista greggia.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E ‘l capo tronco tenea per le chiome</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pesol con mano, a guisa di lanterna:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E quei mirava noi, e dicea: O me!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Di sè faceva a sè stesso lucerna;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ed eran due in uno ed uno in due:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Com’ esser puo, Quei sa che sì governa.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quando diritto appiè del ponte fue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Levò ‘l braccio alto con tutta la testa</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Per appressarne le parole sue,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Che furo: Or vedi la pena molesta</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tu che, spirando vai veggendo i morti:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vedi s’alcuna è grave come questa.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E perchè tu di me novella porti,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sappi ch’io son Bertram dal Bornio, quelli</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Che al rè giovane diedi i mai conforti;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Io feci ’l padre e ‘l figlio in sè ribelli:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Achitofel non fè più d’Absalone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E di David, coi malvagi pungelli.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perch’io partii così giunte persone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Partito porto il mio cerebro lasso!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dal suo principio chè ’n questo troncone;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Così s’osserva in me lo contrappasso.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But I remained to look upon the troop,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And saw a thing which I should be in fear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without more proof of telling, I alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But that my conscience reassureth me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The good companion which emboldens man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Under the hauberk of its feeling pure.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I certes saw, and seems I see it still,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A trunk without a head proceeding, so</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As went the others of the sorry flock.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And by the hair he held his truncate head</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In guise of lantern, pendulous in hand:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that gazed on us, and it said, ‘Oh me!’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He of himself made light unto himself,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And they were two in one, and one in two:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How it can be He knows who governs thus.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When he was right against the bridge’s foot,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He raised, with all the head, his arm on high</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So to approach to us the words thereof,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which were: ‘See now the troublous penalty</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou who go’st breathing, looking at the dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">See whether any is so great as this.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, for that thou mayst carry of me news,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I, know thou, am Bertran de Born, the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who gave the young king ill encouragements.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I mutually made rebels son and sire:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ahithophel made Absalom no more</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And David with his wicked goadings on.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because I parted persons thus conjoined,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My brain, alas! I carry parted from</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Its principle which is in this my trunk.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So retribution is in me observed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">W. M. Rossetti’s</span> <i>translation</i>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> I must warn the reader not to mistake the above lines for +an attempt at rendering a somewhat similar war-song generally +ascribed to Bertran de Born, and translated into English as one +of his poems. It is the magnificent <i>sirventes</i> beginning ‘Bem +platz lo gais temps de pascor’ (Well I love the gay time of spring), +and so much is it in the spirit of our troubadour that even one +of the old manuscripts has his name affixed to it. Unfortunately, +however, the evidence of numerous other and better manuscripts +is against this plausible surmise, and by their authority the poem +must be ascribed to William de St. Gregory, a troubadour comparatively +little known.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> ‘First among all, Arnaut Daniel, the great master of love, +who still does honour to his country by his new and beautiful +parlance.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> Owing to the noble protection granted to the remnants of +the old Waldenses in the valleys of the Cottonian Alps by Cromwell, +and continued by subsequent English governments, till the +full emancipation of the sect by King Charles Albert in 1848, +their history and doctrines have excited a great deal of interest +in this country. A rich and valuable literature on the subject +exists in our language, disfigured only by the desire, on the part +of theologians, to absolutely identify the original doctrine of the +Vaudois with that of the Protestant reformers. This kind of +retrospective propagandism may have been useful in the days of +the Commonwealth to raise Puritan sympathy for oppressed fellow +Protestants, but surely is out of place in our critical times. The +works by Blair, Faber, Gilly, Allix, and others are well known. +The reader’s attention is called to an interesting volume by Dr. +Todd, containing a description of the Waldensian manuscripts in +the library of Trinity College, Dublin, also reprints of articles by +the late Hon. Algernon Herbert, Dr. Gilly, and other authors, on +the Waldenses and their representative poem, the ‘Noble Lesson.’ +Here also will be found a curious account of the re-discovery of +certain interesting MSS., brought over to England by Morland, +Cromwell’s envoy to the Duke of Savoy, and deposited by him in +the library of Cambridge University. They were long supposed to +have disappeared, but were ultimately found by Mr. H. Bradshaw, +the accomplished scholar, in 1862, on the identical shelf where +Morland had deposited them. The possibility of this strange +neglect Mr. Bradshaw explains from the fact that ‘the history of +the MSS. was lost sight of, and they had come to be regarded as +miscellaneous pieces, <i>apparently in Spanish</i>.’ The italicised suggestion +reveals a beautiful development of modern philology +at Cambridge. Does that state of things continue at the +present day? What reason is there to believe the contrary, or +what chance of improvement?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> The great value of this MS., which is on parchment, and in +perfect condition, is proved by a curious endorsement on the last +page, dated 1336, to the effect that one Jordan Capella obtained +on it a loan of fifteen ‘<i>livres tournois</i>,’ by no means an inconsiderable +sum in those days.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> The poem is written in tirades, or paragraphs of varying +lengths, bound together by the same rhyme. At the end of each +tirade there is a short line which, in the second portion of the +poem, is, as a rule, literally repeated in the first line of the following +tirade, while in the first part it only anticipates its rhyme. +This difference is the chief metrical evidence against the one-author +theory.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> The degree of nobility between the Viscount and the simple +Baron.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> Grave doubts have recently been thrown on the authenticity +of this poem. Into these I cannot enter here. But it seems strange +that the bearing of the reality or fictitiousness of the ‘courts of +love’ on the mooted point should have been entirely overlooked. +Chaucer’s visit to France (1359) coincides with the time when +amateur judges and juries deciding questions of gallantry were all +the rage, and these might very well have suggested to him the symbolical +machinery of the poem. But of course the intrinsic probability +of Chaucer having written <i>a</i> poem on the ‘Court of Love’ +does not amount to much compared with the philological arguments +of Mr. Skeat (see ‘Athenæum,’ November 4, 1876). At the same +time it seems surprising that neither he nor Mr. Furnivall is apparently +acquainted with the historical controversy on the point, in +spite of Diez’s admirable work, and of the paper I wrote on the +subject in a monthly periodical. If this is true of scholars, what +can be expected of the general reader? At this rate the ‘courts +of love’ may protract their spurious existence for another +century or so—in England at least.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> The reader interested in these matters may find some +account of Andreas’ book in the pretty little edition of Chaucer +for which Mr. Robert Bell is responsible (vol. iv. pp. 116 <i>et passim</i>). +All the absurd stories of the Chaplain the ingenuous editor accepts +as gospel truth. Queen Eleanor, Richard Cœur de Lion, and +other worthies are named as the presidents of these amorous +parliaments, of which the world knew nothing till hundreds of +years after their deaths. Several of the <i>arrêts d’amour</i> are quoted, +and the power of the court is said to have extended even to the +assessing of pecuniary damages and the inflicting of corporal +punishment. This <i>naïveté</i> is the more touching on Mr. Bell’s +part, as, unlike Mr. Furnivall and Mr. Skeat, he is acquainted with +Diez’s pamphlet. But his faith is proof against the most trenchant +criticism.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> Westphal, <i>Fragmente und Lehrsätze der griechischen Rhythmiker</i>, +pp. 14, 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> <i>Sat.</i> 1. i. 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> <i>Ars Poet.</i> 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> <i>Ars Poet.</i> 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> <i>Epist.</i> 1. xiv. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> The stanza of the Sestina, as we know, both Dante and +Petrarch took from Arnaut Daniel, whom the latter calls—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Fra tutti il primo Arnaldo Daniello</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gran maestro d’amor.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> <i>Opere Minori</i>, ed. Fraticelli, ii. 212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> In this, as in all other cases, the expression of the ‘Leys +d’Amors’ has been used in measuring verses, which, besides being +more appropriate for the <i>langue d’oc</i>, seems also the more logical.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> Clarratz is evidently a mistake; very likely it should be +read clartatz = clarté.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> Dieresis probably, where it occurs in this treatise, is always +a misreading for diesis, which is the proper term for what Dante +means.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> <i>Canzoniere</i>, ed. Giuliani, p. 227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> The meaning of the word coda in modern music is not +exactly the same as the one here given by Dante, but might well +be derived from it.</p></div> + +</div> + +<p class="titlepage">LONDON: PRINTED BY<br> +SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE<br> +AND PARLIAMENT STREET</p> + +<figure class="figcenter titlepage illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/cover-deco.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77644 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/77644-h/images/cover-deco.jpg b/77644-h/images/cover-deco.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..887e898 --- /dev/null +++ b/77644-h/images/cover-deco.jpg diff --git a/77644-h/images/cover.jpg b/77644-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d50fb8a --- /dev/null +++ b/77644-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/77644-h/images/tp-deco.jpg b/77644-h/images/tp-deco.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e84d3f --- /dev/null +++ b/77644-h/images/tp-deco.jpg |
