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Title: The Troubadours
Author: H.J. Chaytor
Release Date: May 27, 2004 [EBook #12456]
Language: English and French
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THE TROUBADOURS
BY
REV. H.J. CHAYTOR, M.A.
AUTHOR OF
"THE TROUBADOURS OF DANTE"
ETC.
Cambridge:
at the University Press
1912
_With the exception of the coat of arms at
the foot, the design on the title page is a
reproduction of one used by the earliest known
Cambridge printer, John Siberch, 1521_
PREFACE
This book, it is hoped, may serve as an introduction to the literature
of the Troubadours for readers who have no detailed or scientific
knowledge of the subject. I have, therefore, chosen for treatment the
Troubadours who are most famous or who display characteristics useful
for the purpose of this book. Students who desire to pursue the subject
will find further help in the works mentioned in the bibliography. The
latter does not profess to be exhaustive, but I hope nothing of real
importance has been omitted.
H.J. CHAYTOR.
THE COLLEGE,
PLYMOUTH, March 1912.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
CHAP.
I. INTRODUCTORY
II. THE THEORY OF COURTLY LOVE
III. TECHNIQUE
IV. THE EARLY TROUBADOURS
V. THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
VI. THE ALBIGEOIS CRUSADE
VII. THE TROUBADOURS IN ITALY
VIII. THE TROUBADOURS IN SPAIN
IX. PROVENCAL INFLUENCE IN GERMANY, FRANCE, AND ENGLAND
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTES
INDEX
[Transcriptor's note: Page numbers from the original document have
been posted in the right margin to maintain the relevance of the
index references.}
THE TROUBADOURS [1]
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
Few literatures have exerted so profound an influence upon the literary
history of other peoples as the poetry of the troubadours. Attaining the
highest point of technical perfection in the last half of the twelfth
and the early years of the thirteenth century, Provençal poetry was
already popular in Italy and Spain when the Albigeois crusade devastated
the south of France and scattered the troubadours abroad or forced them
to seek other means of livelihood. The earliest lyric poetry of Italy is
Provençal in all but language; almost as much may be said of Portugal
and Galicia; Catalonian troubadours continued to write in Provençal
until the fourteenth century. The lyric poetry of the "trouvères" in
Northern France was deeply influenced both in form and spirit by
troubadour poetry, and traces of this influence are perceptible even in [2]
early middle-English lyrics. Finally, the German minnesingers knew and
appreciated troubadour lyrics, and imitations or even translations of
Provençal poems may be found in Heinrich von Morungen, Friedrich von
Hausen, and many others. Hence the poetry of the troubadours is a
subject of first-rate importance to the student of comparative
literature.
The northern limit of the Provençal language formed a line starting from
the Pointe de Grave at the mouth of the Gironde, passing through
Lesparre, Bordeaux, Libourne, Périgueux, rising northward to Nontron, la
Rochefoucauld, Confolens, Bellac, then turning eastward to Guéret and
Montluçon; it then went south-east to Clermont-Ferrand, Boën, Saint
Georges, Saint Sauveur near Annonay. The Dauphiné above Grenoble, most
of the Franche-Comté, French Switzerland and Savoy, are regarded as a
separate linguistic group known as Franco-Provençal, for the reason that
the dialects of that district display characteristics common to both
French and Provençal.[1] On the south-west, Catalonia, Valencia and the
Balearic Isles must also be included in the Provençal region. As
concerns the Northern limit, it must not be regarded as a definite line
of demarcation between the langue d'oil or the Northern French dialects
and the langue d'oc or Provençal. The boundary is, of course, determined
by noting the points at which certain linguistic features peculiar to
Provençal cease and are replaced by the characteristics of Northern [3]
French. Such a characteristic, for instance, is the Latin tonic _a_
before a single consonant, and not preceded by a palatal consonant,
which remains in Provençal but becomes _e_ in French; Latin cant_a_re
becomes chant_a_r in Provençal but chant_e_r in French. But north and
south of the boundary thus determined there was, in the absence of any
great mountain range or definite geographical line of demarcation, an
indeterminate zone, in which one dialect probably shaded off by easy
gradations into the other.
Within the region thus described as Provençal, several separate dialects
existed, as at the present day. Apart from the Franco-Provençal on the
north-east, which we have excluded, there was Gascon in the south-west
and the modern _départements_ of the Basses and Hautes Pyrénées;
Catalonian, the dialect of Roussillon, which was brought into Spain in
the seventh century and still survives in Catalonia, Valencia and the
Balearic Islands. The rest of the country may be subdivided by a line to
the north of which _c_ before _a_ becomes _ch_ as in French, cant_a_re
producing chant_a_r, while southwards we find _c(k)_ remaining. The
Southern dialects are those of Languedoc and Provence; north of the line
were the Limousin and Auvergne dialects. At the present day these
dialects have diverged very widely. In the early middle ages the
difference between them was by no means so great. Moreover, a literary [4]
language grew up by degrees, owing to the wide circulation of poems and
the necessity of using a dialect which could be universally
intelligible. It was the Limousin dialect which became, so to speak, the
backbone of this literary language, now generally known as Provençal,
just as the Tuscan became predominant for literary purposes among the
Italian dialects. It was in Limousin that the earliest troubadour lyrics
known to us were composed, and this district with the adjacent Poitou
and Saintonge may therefore be reasonably regarded as the birthplace of
Provençal lyric poetry.
Hence the term "Provençal" is not entirely appropriate to describe the
literary language of the troubadours, as it may also be restricted to
denote the dialects spoken in the "Provincia". This difficulty was felt
at an early date. The first troubadours spoke of their language as
_roman_ or _lingua romana,_ a term equally applicable to any other
romance language. _Lemosin_ was also used, which was too restricted a
term, and was also appropriated by the Catalonians to denote their own
dialect. A third term in use was the _lingua d'oc,_ which has the
authority of Dante [2] and was used by some of the later troubadours;
however, the term "Provençal" has been generally accepted, and must
henceforward be understood to denote the literary language common to the [5]
south of France and not the dialect of Provence properly so-called.
For obvious reasons Southern France during the early middle ages had far
outstripped the Northern provinces in art, learning, and the refinements
of civilisation. Roman culture had made its way into Southern Gaul at an
early date and had been readily accepted by the inhabitants, while
Marseilles and Narbonne had also known something of Greek civilisation.
Bordeaux, Toulouse, Arles, Lyons and other towns were flourishing and
brilliant centres of civilisation at a time when Northern France was
struggling with foreign invaders. It was in Southern Gaul, again, that
Christianity first obtained a footing; here the barbarian invasions of
the fifth and sixth centuries proved less destructive to civilisation
than in Northern France, and the Visigoths seem to have been more
amenable to the influences of culture than the Northern Franks. Thus the
towns of Southern Gaul apparently remained centres in which artistic and
literary traditions were preserved more or less successfully until the
revival of classical studies during the age of Charlemagne. The climate,
again, of Southern France is milder and warmer than that of the North,
and these influences produced a difference which may almost be termed
racial. It is a difference visible even to-day and is well expressed by [6]
the chronicler Raoul de Caen, who speaks of the Provençal Crusaders,
saying that the French were prouder in bearing and more war-like in
action than the Provençals, who especially contrasted with them by their
skill in procuring food in times of famine: "inde est, quod adhuc
puerorum decantat naenia, Franci ad bella, Provinciales ad victualia".[3]
Only a century and a half later than Charlemagne appeared the first
poetical productions in Provençal which are known to us, a fragment of a
commentary upon the De Consolatione of Boethius[4] and a poem upon St
Foy of Agen. The first troubadour, William, Count of Poitiers, belongs
to the close of the eleventh century.
Though the Count of Poitiers is the first troubadour known to us, the
relatively high excellence of his technique, as regards stanza
construction and rime, and the capacity of his language for expressing
lofty and refined ideas in poetical form (in spite of his occasional
lapses into coarseness), entirely preclude the supposition that he was
the first troubadour in point of time. The artistic conventions apparent
in his poetry and his obviously careful respect for fixed rules oblige
us to regard his poetry as the outcome of a considerable stage of
previous development. At what point this development began and what
influences stimulated its progress are questions which still remain in [7]
dispute. Three theories have been proposed. It is, in the first place,
obviously tempting to explain the origin of Provençal poetry as being a
continuation of Latin poetry in its decadence. When the Romans settled
in Gaul they brought with them their amusements as well as their laws
and institutions. Their _scurrae_, _thymelici_ and _joculatores_, the
tumblers, clowns and mountebanks, who amused the common people by day
and the nobles after their banquets by night and travelled from town to
town in pursuit of their livelihood, were accustomed to accompany their
performances by some sort of rude song and music. In the uncivilised
North they remained buffoons; but in the South, where the greater
refinement of life demanded more artistic performance, the musical part
of their entertainment became predominant and the _joculator_ became the
_joglar_ (Northern French, _jongleur_), a wandering musician and
eventually a troubadour, a composer of his own poems. These latter were
no longer the gross and coarse songs of the earlier mountebank age,
which Alcuin characterised as _turpissima_ and _vanissima_, but the
grave and artificially wrought stanzas of the troubadour _chanso_.
Secondly, it has been felt that some explanation is required to account
for the extreme complexity and artificiality of troubadour poetry in its
most highly developed stage. Some nine hundred different forms of stanza [8]
construction are to be found in the body of troubadour poetry,[5] and
few, if any schools of lyric poetry in the world, can show a higher
degree of technical perfection in point of metrical diversity, complex
stanza construction and accuracy in the use of rime. This result has
been ascribed to Arabic influence during the eighth century; but no
sufficient proof has ever been produced that the complexities of Arabic
and Provençal poetry have sufficient in common to make this hypothesis
anything more than an ingenious conjecture.
One important fact stands in contradiction to these theories. All
indications go to prove that the origin of troubadour poetry can be
definitely localised in a particular part of Southern France. We have
seen that the Limousin dialect became the basis of the literary
language, and that the first troubadour known to us belonged to Poitou.
It is also apparent that in the Poitou district, upon the border line of
the French and Provençal languages, popular songs existed and were
current among the country people; these were songs in honour of spring,
pastorals or dialogues between a knight and a shepherdess (our "Where
are you going, my pretty maid?" is of the same type), _albas_ or dawn
songs which represent a friend as watching near the meeting-place of a
lover and his lady and giving him due warning of the approach of dawn or [9]
of any other danger; there are also _ballatas_ or dance songs of an
obviously popular type.[6] Whatever influence may have been exercised by
the Latin poetry of the decadence or by Arab poetry, it is in these
popular and native productions that we must look for the origins of the
troubadour lyrics. This popular poetry with its simple themes and homely
treatment of them is to be found in many countries, and diversity of
race is often no bar to strange coincidence in the matter of this
poetry. It is thus useless to attempt to fix any date for the beginnings
of troubadour poetry; its primitive form doubtless existed as soon as
the language was sufficiently advanced to become a medium of poetical
expression.
Some of these popular themes were retained by the troubadours, the
_alba_ and _pastorela_ for instance, and were often treated by them in a
direct and simple manner. The Gascon troubadour Cercamon is said to have
composed pastorals in "the old style." But in general, between
troubadour poetry and the popular poetry of folk-lore, a great gulf is
fixed, the gulf of artificiality. The very name "troubadour" points to
this characteristic. _Trobador_ is the oblique case of the nominative
_trobaire_, a substantive from the verb _trobar_, in modern French
_trouver_. The Northern French _trouvère_ is a nominative form, and
_trouveor_ should more properly correspond with _trobador_. The
accusative form, which should have persisted, was superseded by the [10]
nominative _trouvère_, which grammarians brought into fashion at the end
of the eighteenth century. The verb _trobar_ is said to be derived from
the low Latin _tropus_ [Greek: tropus], an air or melody: hence the
primitive meaning of _trobador_ is the "composer" or "inventor," in the
first instance, of new melodies. As such, he differs from the _vates_,
the inspired bard of the Romans and the [Greek: poeta], poeta, the
creative poet of the Greeks, the "maker" of Germanic literature. Skilful
variation upon a given theme, rather than inspired or creative power, is
generally characteristic of the troubadour.
Thus, whatever may have been the origin of troubadour poetry, it appears
at the outset of the twelfth century as a poetry essentially
aristocratic, intended for nobles and for courts, appealing but rarely
to the middle classes and to the common people not at all. The
environment which enabled this poetry to exist was provided by the
feudal society of Southern France. Kings, princes and nobles themselves
pursued the art and also became the patrons of troubadours who had risen
from the lower classes. Occasionally troubadours existed with sufficient
resources of their own to remain independent; Folquet of Marseilles
seems to have been a merchant of wealth, above the necessity of seeking
patronage. But troubadours such as Bernart de Ventadour, the son of the [11]
stoker in the castle of Ventadour, Perdigon the son of a fisherman, and
many others of like origin depended for their livelihood and advancement
upon the favour of patrons. Thus the troubadour ranks included all sorts
and conditions of men; monks and churchmen were to be found among them,
such as the monk of Montaudon and Peire Cardenal, though the Church
looked somewhat askance upon the profession. Women are also numbered
among the troubadours; Beatrice, the Countess of Die, is the most famous
of these.
A famous troubadour usually circulated his poems by the mouth of a
_joglar_ (Northern French, _jongleur_), who recited them at different
courts and was often sent long distances by his master for this purpose.
A joglar of originality might rise to the position of a troubadour, and
a troubadour who fell upon evil days might sink to the profession of
joglar. Hence there was naturally some confusion between the troubadour
and the joglar, and poets sometimes combined the two functions. In
course of time the joglar was regarded with some contempt, and like his
forbear, the Roman joculator, was classed with the jugglers, acrobats,
animal tamers and clowns who amused the nobles after their feasts. Nor,
under certain conditions, was the troubadour's position one of dignity; [12]
when he was dependent upon his patron's bounty, he would stoop to
threats or to adulation in order to obtain the horse or the garments or
the money of his desire; such largesse, in fact, came to be denoted by a
special term, _messio_. Jealousy between rival troubadours, accusations
of slander in their poems and quarrels with their patrons were of
constant occurrence. These naturally affected the joglars in their
service, who received a share of any gifts that the troubadour might
obtain.
The troubadours who were established more or less permanently as court
poets under a patron lord were few; a wandering life and a desire for
change of scene is characteristic of the class. They travelled far and
wide, not only to France, Spain and Italy, but to the Balkan peninsula,
Hungary, Cyprus, Malta and England; Elias Cairel is said to have visited
most of the then known world, and the biographer of Albertet Calha
relates, as an unusual fact, that this troubadour never left his native
district. Not only love, but all social and political questions of the
age attracted their attention. They satirised political and religious
opponents, preached crusades, sang funeral laments upon the death of
famous patrons, and the support of their poetical powers was often in
demand by princes and nobles involved in a struggle. Noteworthy also is
the fact that a considerable number retired to some monastery or [13]
religious house to end their days (_se rendet_, was the technical
phrase). So Bertran of Born, Bernart of Ventadour, Peire Rogier, Cadenet
and many others retired from the disappointments of the world to end
their days in peace; Folquet of Marseilles, who similarly entered the
Cistercian order, became abbot of his monastery of Torondet, Bishop of
Toulouse, a leader of the Albigeois crusade and a founder of the
Inquisition.
CHAPTER II [14]
THE THEORY OF COURTLY LOVE
Troubador poetry dealt with war, politics, personal satire and other
subjects: but the theme which is predominant and in which real
originality was shown, is love. The troubadours were the first lyric
poets in mediaeval Europe to deal exhaustively with this subject, and as
their attitude was imitated with certain modifications by French,
Italian, Portuguese and German poets, the nature of its treatment is a
matter of considerable importance.
Of the many ladies whose praises were sung or whose favours were desired
by troubadours, the majority were married. Troubadours who made their
songs to a maiden, as did Gui d'Ussel or Gausbert de Puegsibot, are
quite exceptional. Love in troubadour poetry was essentially a
conventional relationship, and marriage was not its object. This
conventional character was derived from the fact that troubadour love
was constituted upon the analogy of feudal relationship. If chivalry was
the outcome of the Germanic theory of knighthood as modified by the
influence of Christianity, it may be said that troubadour love is the [15]
outcome of the same theory under the influence of mariolatry. In the
eleventh century the worship of the Virgin Mary became widely popular;
the reverence bestowed upon the Virgin was extended to the female sex in
general, and as a vassal owed obedience to his feudal overlord, so did
he owe service and devotion to his lady. Moreover, under the feudal
system, the lady might often be called upon to represent her husband's
suzerainty to his vassals, when she was left in charge of affairs during
his absence in time of war. Unmarried women were inconspicuous figures
in the society of the age.
Thus there was a service of love as there was a service of vassalage,
and the lover stood to his lady in a position analogous to that of the
vassal to his overlord. He attained this position only by stages; "there
are four stages in love: the first is that of aspirant (_fegnedor_), the
second that of suppliant (_precador_), the third that of recognised
suitor (_entendedor_) and the fourth that of accepted lover (_drut_)."
The lover was formally installed as such by the lady, took an oath of
fidelity to her and received a kiss to seal it, a ring or some other
personal possession. For practical purposes the contract merely implied
that the lady was prepared to receive the troubadour's homage in poetry
and to be the subject of his song. As secrecy was a duty incumbent upon [16]
the troubadour, he usually referred to the lady by a pseudonym
(_senhal_); naturally, the lady's reputation was increased if her
attraction for a famous troubadour was known, and the _senhal_ was no
doubt an open secret at times. How far or how often the bounds of his
formal and conventional relationship were transgressed is impossible to
say; "en somme, assez immoral" is the judgment of Gaston Paris upon the
society of the age, and is confirmed by expressions of desire occurring
from time to time in various troubadours, which cannot be interpreted as
the outcome of a merely conventional or "platonic" devotion. In the
troubadour biographies the substratum of historical truth is so overlaid
by fiction, that little reliable evidence upon the point can be drawn
from this source.
However, transgression was probably exceptional. The idea of troubadour
love was intellectual rather than emotional; love was an art,
restricted, like poetry, by formal rules; the terms "love" and "poetry"
were identified, and the fourteenth century treatise which summarises
the principles of grammar and metre bore the title _Leys d'Amors_, the
Laws of Love. The pathology of the emotion was studied; it was treated
from a psychological standpoint and a technical vocabulary came into
use, for which it is often impossible to find English equivalents. The
first effect of love is to produce a mental exaltation, a desire to live [17]
a life worthy of the beloved lady and redounding to her praise, an
inspiring stimulus known as _joi_ or _joi d'amor_ (_amor_ in Provençal
is usually feminine).[7] Other virtues are produced by the influence of
this affection: the lover must have _valor_, that is, he must be worthy
of his lady; this worth implies the possession of _cortesia_, pleasure
in the pleasure of another and the desire to please; this quality is
acquired by the observance of _mesura_, wisdom and self-restraint in
word and deed.
The poetry which expresses such a state of mind is usually idealised and
pictures the relationship rather as it might have been than as it was.
The troubadour who knew his business would begin with praises of his
beloved; she is physically and morally perfect, her beauty illuminates
the night, her presence heals the sick, cheers the sad, makes the boor
courteous and so forth. For her the singer's love and devotion is
infinite: separation from her would be worse than death; her death would
leave the world cheerless, and to her he owes any thoughts of good or
beauty that he may have. It is only because he loves her that he can
sing. Hence he would rather suffer any pain or punishment at her hands
than receive the highest favours from another. The effects of this love
are obvious in his person. His voice quavers with supreme delight or [18]
breaks in dark despair; he sighs and weeps and wakes at night to think
of the one subject of contemplation. Waves of heat and cold pass over
him, and even when he prays, her image is before his eyes. This passion
has transformed his nature: he is a better and stronger man than ever
before, ready to forgive his enemies and to undergo any physical
privations; winter is to him as the cheerful spring, ice and snow as
soft lawns and flowery meads. Yet, if unrequited, his passion may
destroy him; he loses his self-control, does not hear when he is
addressed, cannot eat or sleep, grows thin and feeble, and is sinking
slowly to an early tomb. Even so, he does not regret his love, though it
lead to suffering and death; his passion grows ever stronger, for it is
ever supported by hope. But if his hopes are realised, he will owe
everything to the gracious favour of his lady, for his own merits can
avail nothing. Sometimes he is not prepared for such complete
self-renunciation; he reproaches his lady for her coldness, complains
that she has led him on by a show of kindness, has deceived him and will
be the cause of his death; or his patience is at an end, he will live in
spite of her and try his fortune elsewhere.[8]
Such, in very general terms, is the course that might be followed in
developing a well-worn theme, on which many variations are possible. The [19]
most common form of introduction is a reference to the spring or winter,
and to the influence of the seasons upon the poet's frame of mind or the
desire of the lady or of his patron for a song. In song the poet seeks
consolation for his miseries or hopes to increase the renown of his
lady. As will be seen in the following chapter, manner was even more
important than matter in troubadour lyrics, and commonplaces were
revivified by intricate rime-schemes and stanza construction accompanied
by new melodies. The conventional nature of the whole business may be
partly attested by the fact that no undoubted instance of death or
suicide for love has been handed down to us.
Reference should here be made to a legendary institution which seems to
have gripped the imagination of almost every tourist who writes a book
of travels in Southern France, the so-called _Courts of Love_.[9] In
modern times the famous Provençal scholar, Raynouard, attempted to
demonstrate the existence of these institutions, relying upon the
evidence of the _Art d'Aimer_ by André le Chapelain, a work written in
the thirteenth century and upon the statements of Nostradamus (_Vies des
plus célèbres et anciens poètes provençaux_, Lyons 1575). The latter
writer, the younger brother of the famous prophet, was obviously well
acquainted with Provençal literature and had access to sources of [20]
information which are now lost to us. But instead of attempting to write
history, he embellished the lives of the troubadours by drawing upon his
own extremely fertile imagination when the actual facts seemed too dull
or prosaic to arouse interest. He professed to have derived his
information from a manuscript left by a learned monk, the _Moine des
Iles d'Or_, of the monastery of St Honorat in the Ile de Lerins. The
late M. Camille Chabaneau has shown that the story is a pure fiction,
and that the monk's pretended name was an anagram upon the name of a
friend of Nostradamus.[10] Hence it is almost impossible to separate the
truth from the fiction in this book and any statements made by
Nostradamus must be received with the utmost caution. André le Chapelain
seems to have had no intention to deceive, but his knowledge of
Provençal society was entirely second-hand, and his statements
concerning the Courts of Love are no more worthy of credence than those
of Nostradamus. According to these two unreliable authorities, courts
for the decision of lovers' perplexities existed in Gascony, Provence,
Avignon and elsewhere; the seat of justice was held by some famous lady,
and the courts decided such questions as whether a lover could love two
ladies at the same time, whether lovers or married couples were the more
affectionate, whether love was compatible with avarice, and the like. [21]
A special poetical form which was popular among the troubadours may have
given rise to the legend. This was the _tenso_,[11] in which one
troubadour propounded a problem of love in an opening stanza and his
opponent or interlocutor gave his view in a second stanza, which
preserved the metre and rime-scheme of the first. The propounder then
replied, and if, as generally, neither would give way, a proposal was
made to send the problem to a troubadour-patron or to a lady for
settlement, a proposal which came to be a regular formula for concluding
the contest. Raynouard quotes the conclusion of a _tenso_ given by
Nostradamus in which one of the interlocutors says, "I shall overcome
you if the court is loyal: I will send the _tenso_ to Pierrefeu, where
the fair lady holds her court of instruction." The "court" here in
question was a social and not a judicial court. Had any such institution
as a judicial "court of love" ever been an integral part of Provençal
custom, it is scarcely conceivable that we should be informed of its
existence only by a few vague and scattered allusions in the large body
of Provençal literature. For these reasons the theory that such an
institution existed has been generally rejected by all scholars of
repute.
CHAPTER III [22]
TECHNIQUE
Provençal literature contains examples of almost every poetical _genre_.
Epic poetry is represented by Girart of Roussillon,[12] a story of long
struggles between Charles Martel and one of his barons, by the Roman de
Jaufre, the adventures of a knight of the Round Table, by Flamenca, a
love story which provides an admirable picture of the manners and
customs of the time, and by other fragments and _novelas_ or shorter
stories in the same style. Didactic poetry includes historical works
such as the poem of the Albigeois crusade, ethical or moralising
_ensenhamens_ and religious poetry. But the dominating element in
Provençal literature is lyrical, and during the short classical age of
this literature lyric poetry was supreme. Nearly five hundred different
troubadours are known to us at least by name and almost a thousand
different stanza forms have been enumerated. While examples of the fine
careless rapture of inspiration are by no means wanting, artificiality
reigns supreme in the majority of cases. Questions of technique receive
the most sedulous attention, and the principles of stanza construction,
rime correspondence and rime distribution, as evolved by the [23]
troubadours, exerted so wide an influence upon other European literature
that they deserve a chapter to themselves.
There was no formal school for poetical training during the best period
of Provençal lyric. When, for instance, Giraut de Bornelli is said to
have gone to "school" during the winter seasons, nothing more is meant
than the pursuit of the trivium and quadrivium, the seven arts, which
formed the usual subjects of instruction. A troubadour learned the
principles of his art from other poets who were well acquainted with the
conventions that had been formulated in course of time, conventions
which were collected and systematised in such treatises as the Leys
d'Amors during the period of the decadence.
The love song or _chanso_ was composed of five, six or seven stanzas
(_coblas_) with, one or two _tornadas_ or _envois_. The stanza varied in
length from two to forty-two lines, though these limits are, of course,
exceptional. An earlier form of the _chanso_ was known as the _vers_; it
seems to have been in closer relation to the popular poetry than the
more artificial _chanso_, and to have had shorter stanzas and lines; but
the distinction is not clear. As all poems were intended to be sung, the
poet was also a composer; the biography of Jaufre Rudel, for instance,
says that this troubadour "made many poems with good tunes but poor [24]
words." The tune known as _son_ (diminutive sonnet) was as much the
property of a troubadour as his poem, for it implied and would only suit
a special form of stanza; hence if another poet borrowed it,
acknowledgment was generally made. Dante, in his _De Vulgari
Eloquentia_, informs us concerning the structure of this musical
setting: it might be continuous without repetition or division; or it
might be in two parts, one repeating the other, in which case the stanza
was also divided into two parts, the division being termed by Dante the
_diesis_ or _volta_; of these two parts one might be subdivided into two
or even more parts, which parts, in the stanza, corresponded both in
rimes and in the arrangement of the lines. If the first part of the
stanza was thus divisible, the parts were called _pedes_, and the
musical theme or _oda_ of the first _pes_ was repeated for the second;
the rest of the stanza was known as the _syrma_ or _coda_, and had a
musical theme of its own. Again the first part of the stanza might be
indivisible, when it was called the _frons_, the divided parts of the
second half being the _versus_; in this case the _frons_ had its own
musical theme, as did the first _versus_, the theme of the first
_versus_ being repeated for the second. Or, lastly, a stanza might [25]
consist of _pedes_ and _versus_, one theme being used for the first
_pes_ and repeated for the second and similarly with the _versus_.
Thus the general principle upon which the stanza was constructed was that of
tripartition in the following three forms:--
I
1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }
1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }
Diesis or Volta
1st line } Syrma
2nd " } or Coda
3rd " etc. }
II
1st line }
2nd " } Frons
3rd " etc. }
Diesis or Volta
1st line }
2nd " } Versus
3rd " etc. }
1st line }
2nd. " } Versus
3rd " etc. }
III
1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }
1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }
Diesis or Volta
1st line }
2nd " } Versus
3rd " etc. }
1st line }
2nd. " } Versus
3rd " etc. }
These forms were rather typical than stringently binding as Dante
himself notes (_De Vulg. El._, ii, 11); many variations were [26]
possible. The first seems to have been the most popular type. The poem might also
conclude with a half stanza or _tornada_, (French _envoi_). Here, as in
the last couplet of the Arabic _gazul_, were placed the personal
allusions, and when these were unintelligible to the audience the
_joglar_ usually explained the poem before singing it; the explanations,
which in some cases remain prefixed to the poem, were known as the
_razos_.
Troubadour poems were composed for singing, not for recitation, and the
music of a poem was an element of no less importance than the words.
Troubadours are described as composing "good" tunes and "poor" words, or
vice versa; the tune was a piece of literary property, and, as we have
said, if a troubadour borrowed a tune he was expected to acknowledge its
origin. Consequently music and words were regarded as forming a unity,
and the structure of the one should be a guide to the structure of the
other. Troubadour music is a subject still beset with difficulties[13]:
we possess 244 tunes written in Gregorian notation, and as in certain
cases the same poem appears in different MSS. with the tune in
substantial agreement in each one, we may reasonably assume that we have
an authentic record, as far as this could be expressed in Gregorian
notation. The chief difference between Troubadour and Gregorian music
lies in the fact that the former was syllabic in character; in other [27]
words, one note was not held over several syllables, though several
notes might be sung upon one syllable. The system of musical time in the
age of the troubadours was based upon the so-called "modes," rhythmical
formulae combining short and long notes in various sequences. Three of
these concern us here. The first mode consists of a long followed by a
short note, the long being equivalent to two short, or in 3/4 time
[Illustration: musical notation.]. The second mode is the reverse of
the first [Illustration: musical notation.]. The third mode in modern
6/8 time appears as [Illustration: musical notation.]. The principle of
sub-division is thus ternary; "common" time or 2/4 time is a later
modification. So much being admitted, the problem of transposing a tune
written in Gregorian notation without bars, time signature, marks of
expression or other modern devices is obviously a difficult matter. J.
Beck, who has written most recently upon the subject, formulates the
following rules; the musical accent falls upon the tonic syllables of
the words; should the accent fall upon an atonic syllable, the duration
of the note to which the tonic syllable is sung may be increased, to
avoid the apparent discordance between the musical accent and the tonic
syllable. The musical accent must fall upon the rime and the rhythm [28]
adopted at the outset will persist throughout the poem.
Hence a study of the words will give the key to the interpretation of
the tune. If, for instance, the poem shows accented followed by
unaccented syllables or trochees as the prevalent foot, the first "mode"
is indicated as providing the principle to be followed in transposing
the Gregorian to modern notation. When these conditions are reversed the
iambic foot will prevail and the melody will be in the second mode. It
is not possible here to treat this complicated question in full detail
for which reference must be made to the works of J. Beck. But it is
clear that the system above outlined is an improvement upon that
proposed by such earlier students of the subject as Riemann, who assumed
that each syllable was sung to a note or group of notes of equal time
value. There is no evidence that such a rhythm was ever employed in the
middle ages, and the fact that words and music were inseparable in
Provençal lyrics shows that to infer the nature of the musical rhythm
from the rhythm of the words is a perfectly legitimate method of
inquiry.
A further question arises: how far do the tunes correspond with the
structure of the stanza as given by Dante? In some cases both tune and
stanza correspond in symmetrical form; but in others we find stanzas [29]
which may be divided according to rule conjoined with tunes which
present no melodic repetition of any kind; similarly, tunes which may be
divided into pedes and coda are written upon stanzas which have no
relation to that form. On the whole, it seems that the number of tunes
known to us are too few, in comparison with the large body of lyric
poetry existing, to permit any generalisation upon the question. The
singer accompanied himself upon a stringed instrument (_viula_) or was
accompanied by other performers; various forms of wind instruments were
also in use. Apparently the accompaniment was in unison with the singer;
part writing or contrapuntal music was unknown at the troubadour period.
As has been said, the stanza (_cobla_) might vary in length. No poetical
literature has made more use of rime than Provençal lyric poetry. There
were three typical methods of rime disposition: firstly, the rimes might
all find their answer within the stanza, which was thus a self-contained
whole; secondly, the rimes might find their answer within the stanza and
be again repeated in the same order in all following stanzas; and
thirdly, the rimes might find no answer within the stanza, but be
repeated in following stanzas. In this case the rimes were known as
_dissolutas_, and the stanza as a _cobla estrampa_. This last
arrangement tended to make the poem a more organic whole than was
possible in the first two cases; in these, stanzas might be omitted
without necessarily impairing the general effect, but, when _coblas
estrampas_ were employed, the ear of the auditor, attentive for the [30]
answering rimes, would not be satisfied before the conclusion of the
second stanza. A further step towards the provision of closer unity
between the separate stanzas was the _chanso redonda_, which was
composed of _coblas estrampas_, the rime order of the second stanza
being an inversion of the rime order of the first; the tendency reaches
its highest point in the _sestina_, which retained the characteristic of
the _chanso redonda_, namely, that the last rime of one stanza should
correspond with the first rime of the following stanza, but with the
additional improvement that every rime started a stanza in turn,
whereas, in the _chanso redonda_ the same rime continually recurred at
the beginning of every other stanza.
Reference has already been made to the _chanso_. A poetical form of much
importance was the _sirventes_, which outwardly was indistinguishable
from the _chanso_. The meaning of the term is unknown; some say that it
originally implied a poem composed by "servants," poets in the service
of an overlord; others, that it was a poem composed to the tune of a [31]
_chanso_ which it thus imitated in a "servile" manner. From the _chanso_
the _sirventes_ is distinguished by its subject matter; it was the
vehicle for satire, moral reproof or political lampooning. The
troubadours were often keenly interested in the political events of
their time; they filled, to some extent, the place of the modern
journalist and were naturally the partisans of the overlord in whose
service or pay they happened to be. They were ready to foment a war, to
lampoon a stingy patron, to ridicule one another, to abuse the morality
of the age as circumstances might dictate. The crusade _sirventes_[14]
are important in this connection, and there were often eloquent
exhortations to the leaders of Christianity to come to the rescue of
Palestine and the Holy Sepulchre. Under this heading also falls the
_planh_, a funeral song lamenting the death of a patron, and here again,
beneath the mask of conventionality, real emotion is often apparent, as
in the famous lament upon Richard Coeur de Lion composed by Gaucelm
Faidit.
Reference has been already made to the _tenso_, one of the most
characteristic of Provençal lyric forms. The name (Lat. _tentionem_)
implies a contention or strife, which was conducted in the form of a
dialogue and possibly owed its origin to the custom in early vogue among
many different peoples of holding poetical tournaments, in which one [32]
poet challenged another by uttering a poetical phrase to which the
opponent replied in similar metrical form. Such, at any rate, is the
form of the _tenso_; a poet propounds a theme in the first stanza and
his interlocutor replies in a stanza of identical metrical form; the
dispute usually continues for some half dozen stanzas. One class of
tenso was obviously fictitious, as the dialogue is carried on with
animals or even lifeless objects, such as a lady's cloak, and it is
possible that some at least of the discussions ostensibly conducted
between two poets may have emanated from the brain of one sole author.
Sometimes three or four interlocutors take part; the subject of
discussion was then known as a _joc partit_, a divided game, or
_partimen_, a title eventually transferred to the poem itself. The most
varied questions were discussed in the _tenso_, but casuistical problems
concerning love are the most frequent: Is the death or the treachery of
a loved one easier to bear? Is a lover's feeling for his lady stronger
before she has accepted him or afterwards? Is a bad noble or a poor but
upright man more worthy to find favour? The discussion of such questions
provided an opportunity of displaying both poetical dexterity and also
dialectical acumen. But rarely did either of the disputants declare
himself convinced or vanquished by his opponents' arguments the question [33]
was left undecided or was referred by agreement to an arbitrator.
A poetical form which preserves some trace of its popular origin is the
_pastorela_[15] or pastoral which takes its name from the fact that the
heroine of the piece was always a shepherdess. The conventional opening
is a description by a knight of his meeting with a shepherdess, "the
other day" (_l'autrier_, the word with which the poem usually begins). A
dialogue then follows between the knight and the shepherdess, in which
the former sues for her favours successfully or otherwise. The irony or
sarcasm which enables the shepherdess to hold her own in the encounter
is far removed from the simplicity of popular poetry. The _Leys d'Amors_
mentions other forms of the same genre such as _vaqueira_ (cowherd),
_auqueira_ (goose girl), of which a specimen of the first-named alone
has survived. Of equal interest is the _alba_ or dawn-song, in which the
word _alba_ reappeared as a refrain in each verse; the subject of the
poem is the parting of the lovers at the dawn, the approach of which is
announced by a watchman or by some faithful friend who has undertaken to
guard their meeting-place throughout the night. The counterpart of this
form, the _serena_, does not appear until late in the history of
Provençal lyric poetry; in the _serena_ the lover longs for the [34]
approach of evening, which is to unite him with his beloved.
Other forms of minor importance were the _comjat_ in which a troubadour
bids a lady a final farewell, and the _escondig_ or justification in
which the lover attempts to excuse his behaviour to a lady whose anger
he had aroused. The troubled state of his feelings might find expression
in the _descort_ (discord), in which each stanza showed a change of
metre and melody. The _descort_ of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras is written in
five dialects, one for each stanza, and the last and sixth stanza of the
poem gives two lines to each dialect, which Babel of strange sounds is
intended, he says, to show how entirely his lady's heart has changed
towards him. The _ballata_ and the _estampida_ were dance-songs, but
very few examples survive. Certain love letters also remain to us, but
as these are written in rimed couplets and in narrative style, they can
hardly be classified as lyric poetry.
In conclusion, a word must be said concerning the dispute between two
schools of stylists, which is one of the most interesting points in the
literary history of the troubadours.[16] From the earliest times we find
two poetical schools in opposition, the _trobar clus_ (also known as
_car, ric, oscur, sotil, cobert_), the obscure, or close, subtle style
of composition, and the _trobar clar (leu, leugier, plan), the clear,
light, easy, straightforward style. Two or three causes may have [35]
combined to favour the development of obscure writing. The theme of love
with which the _chanso_ dealt is a subject by no means inexhaustible;
there was a continual struggle to revivify the well-worn tale by means
of strange turns of expression, by the use of unusual adjectives and
forced metaphor, by the discovery of difficult rimes (_rimes cars_) and
stanza schemes of extraordinary complexity. Marcabrun asserts, possibly
in jest, that he could not always understand his own poems. A further
and possibly an earlier cause of obscurity in expression was the fact
that the _chanso_ was a love song addressed to a married lady; and
though in many cases it was the fact that the poem embodied compliments
purely conventional, however exaggerated to our ideas, yet the further
fact remains that the sentiments expressed might as easily be those of
veritable passion, and, in view of a husband's existence, obscurity had
a utility of its own. This point Guiraut de Bornelh advances as an
objection to the use of the easy style: "I should like to send my song
to my lady, if I should find a messenger; but if I made another my
spokesman, I fear she would blame me. For there is no sense in making
another speak out what one wishes to conceal and keep to oneself." The [36]
habit of alluding to the lady addressed under a _senhal_, or pseudonym,
in the course of the poem, is evidence for a need of privacy, though
this custom was also conventionalised, and we find men as well as women
alluded to under a _senhal_. It was not always the fact that the
_senhal_ was an open secret, although in many cases, where a high-born
dame desired to boast of the accomplished troubadour in her service, his
poems would naturally secure the widest publication which she could
procure. A further reason for complexity of composition is given by the
troubadour Peire d'Auvergne: "He is pleasing and agreeable to me who
proceeds to sing with words shut up and obscure, to which a man is
afraid to do violence." The "violence" apprehended is that of the
_joglar_, who might garble a song in the performance of it, if he had
not the memory or industry to learn it perfectly, and Peire d'Alvernhe
(1158-80) commends compositions so constructed that the disposition of
the rimes will prevent the interpolation of topical allusions or
careless altercation. The similar safeguard of Dante's _terza rima_ will
occur to every student.
The social conditions again under which troubadour poetry was produced,
apart from the limitations of its subject matter, tended to foster an
obscure and highly artificial diction. This obscurity was attained, as
we have said, by elevation and preciosity of style, and was not the
result of confusion of thought. Guiraut de Bornelh tells us his method [37]
in a passage worth quoting in the original--
Mas per melhs assire
mon chan,
vau cercan
bos motz en fre
que son tuit cargat e ple
d'us estranhs sens naturals;
mas no sabon tuich de cals.
"But for the better foundation of my song I keep on the watch for words
good on the rein (_i.e._ tractable like horses), which are all loaded
(like pack horses) and full of a meaning which is unusual, and yet is
wholly theirs (naturals); but it is not everyone that knows what that
meaning is".[17]
Difficulty was thus intentional; in the case of several troubadours it
affected the whole of their writing, no matter what the subject matter.
They desired not to be understood of the people. Dean Gaisford's reputed
address to his divinity lecture illustrates the attitude of those
troubadours who affected the _trobar clus_: "Gentlemen, a knowledge of
Greek will enable you to read the oracles of God in the original and to
look down from the heights of scholarship upon the vulgar herd." The
inevitable reaction occurred, and a movement in the opposite direction
was begun; of this movement the most distinguished supporter was the
troubadour, Guiraut de Bornelh. He had been one of the most successful [38]
exponents of the _trobar clus_, and afterwards supported the cause of
the _trobar clar_. Current arguments for either cause are set forth in
the _tenso_ between Guiraut de Bornelh and Linhaure (pseudonym for the
troubadour Raimbaut d'Aurenga).
(1) I should like to know, G. de Bornelh, why, and for what reason, you
keep blaming the obscure style. Tell me if you prize so highly that
which is common to all? For then would all be equal.
(2) Sir Linhaure, I do not take it to heart if each man composes as he
pleases; but judge that song is more loved and prized which is made easy
and simple, and do not be vexed at my opinion.
(3) Guiraut, I do not like my songs to be so confused, that the base and
good, the small and great be appraised alike; my poetry will never be
praised by fools, for they have no understanding nor care for what is
more precious and valuable.
(4) Linhaure, if I work late and turn my rest into weariness for that
reason (to make my songs simple), does it seem that I am afraid of work?
Why compose if you do not want all to understand? Song brings no other
advantage.
(5) Guiraut, provided that I produce what is best at all times, I care
not if it be not so widespread; commonplaces are no good for the
appreciative--that is why gold is more valued than salt, and with song [39]
it is even the same.
It is obvious that the disputants are at cross purposes; the object of
writing poetry, according to the one, is to please a small circle of
highly trained admirers by the display of technical skill. Guiraut de
Bornelh, on the other hand, believes that the poet should have a message
for the people, and that even the fools should be able to understand its
purport. He adds the further statement that composition in the easy
style demands no less skill and power than is required for the
production of obscurity. This latter is a point upon which he repeatedly
insists: "The troubadour who makes his meaning clear is just as clever
as he who cunningly conjoins words." "My opinion is that it is not in
obscure but in clear composition that toil is involved." Later
troubadours of renown supported his arguments; Raimon de Miraval
(1168-1180) declares: "Never should obscure poetry be praised, for it is
composed only for a price, compared with sweet festal songs, easy to
learn, such as I sing." So, too, pronounces the Italian Lanfranc Cigala
(1241-1257): "I could easily compose an obscure, subtle poem if I
wished; but no poem should be so concealed beneath subtlety as not to be
clear as day. For knowledge is of small value if clearness does not
bring light; obscurity has ever been regarded as death, and brightness [40]
as life." The fact is thus sufficiently demonstrated that these two
styles existed in opposition, and that any one troubadour might practise
both.
Enough has now been said to show that troubadour lyric poetry, regarded
as literature, would soon produce a surfeit, if read in bulk. It is
essentially a literature of artificiality and polish. Its importance
consists in the fact that it was the first literature to emphasise the
value of form in poetry, to formulate rules, and, in short, to show that
art must be based upon scientific knowledge. The work of the troubadours
in these respects left an indelible impression upon the general course
of European literature.
CHAPTER IV [41]
THE EARLY TROUBADOURS
The earliest troubadour known to us is William IX, Count of Poitiers
(1071-1127) who led an army of thirty thousand men to the unfortunate
crusade of 1101. He lived an adventurous and often an unedifying life,
and seems to have been a jovial sensualist caring little what kind of
reputation he might obtain in the eyes of the world about him. William
of Malmesbury gives an account of him which is the reverse of
respectable. His poems, of which twelve survive, are, to some extent, a
reflection of this character, and present a mixture of coarseness and
delicate sentiment which are in strangely discordant contrast. His
versification is of an early type; the principle of tripartition, which
became predominant in troubadour poetry at a later date, is hardly
perceptible in his poems. The chief point of interest in them is the
fact that their comparative perfection of form implies a long anterior
course of development for troubadour poetry, while we also find him
employing, though in undeveloped form, the chief ideas which afterwards
became commonplaces among the troubadours. The half mystical exaltation
inspired by love is already known to William IX. as _joi_, and he is [42]
acquainted with the service of love under feudal conditions. The
conventional attitudes of the lady and the lover are also taken for
granted, the lady disdainful and unbending, the lover timid and relying
upon his patience. The lady is praised for her outward qualities, her
"kindly welcome, her gracious and pleasing look" and love for her is
considered to be the inspiration of nobility in the lover. But these
ideas are not carried to the extravagant lengths to which later poets
pushed them; William's sensual leanings are enough to counterbalance any
tendency to such exaggeration. The conventional opening of a love poem
by a description of spring is also in evidence; in short, the
commonplaces, the technical language and formulae of later Provençal
lyrics were in existence during the age of this first troubadour.
Next in point of time is the troubadour Cercamon, of whom we know very
little; his poems, as we have them, seem to fall between the years 1137
and 1152; one of them is a lament upon the death of William X. of
Aquitaine, the son of the notorious Count of Poitiers, and another
alludes to the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the daughter of William
X. According to the Provençal biography he was the instructor of a more
interesting and original troubadour Marcabrun, whose active life [43]
extended from 1150 to 1195. Many of his poems are extremely obscure; he
was one of the first to affect the _trobar clus_. He was also the author
of violent invectives against the passion of love--
Que anc non amet neguna
Ni d'autra no fon amatz--
"Who never loved any woman nor was loved of any." This aversion to the
main theme of troubadour poetry is Marcabrun's most striking
characteristic.
Amors es mout de mal avi;
Mil homes a mortz ses glavi;
Dieus non fetz tant fort gramavi.
"Love is of a detestable lineage; he has killed thousands of men without
a sword. God has created no more terrible enchanter." These invectives
may have been the outcome of personal disappointment; the theory has
also been advanced that the troubadour idea of love had not yet secured
universal recognition, and that Marcabrun is one who strove to prevent
it from becoming the dominant theme of lyric poetry. His best known poem
was the "Starling," which consists of two parts, an unusual form of
composition. In the first part the troubadour sends the starling to his
love to reproach her for unfaithfulness, and to recommend himself to her
favour; the bird returns, and in the second part offers excuses from the [44]
lady and brings an invitation from her to a meeting the next day.
Marcabrun knows the technical terms _cortesia_ and _mesura_, which he
defines: _mesura_, self-control or moderation, "consists in nicety of
speech, courtesy in loving. He may boast of courtesy who can maintain
moderation." The poem concludes with a dedication to Jaufre Rudel--
Lo vers e·l son vueill envier
A'n Jaufre Rudel outra mar.
"The words and the tune I wish to send to Jaufre Rudel beyond the sea."
This was the troubadour whom Petrarch has made famous--
Jaufre Rudel che usò la vela e'l remo
A cercar la sua morte.
His romantic story is as follows in the words of the Provençal
biography: "Jaufre Rudel of Blaya was a very noble man, the Prince of
Blaya; he fell in love with the Countess of Tripoli, though he had never
seen her, for the good report that he had of her from the pilgrims who
came from Antioch, and he made many poems concerning her with good tunes
but poor words.[18] And from desire to see her, he took the cross and
went to sea. And in the ship great illness came upon him so that those
who were with him thought that he was dead in the ship; but they [45]
succeeded in bringing him to Tripoli, to an inn, as one dead. And it was
told to the countess, and she came to him, to his bed, and took him in
her arms; and he knew that she was the countess, and recovering his
senses, he praised God and gave thanks that his life had been sustained
until he had seen her; and then he died in the lady's arms. And she gave
him honourable burial in the house of the Temple, and then, on that day,
she took the veil for the grief that she had for him and for his death."
Jaufre's poems contain many references to a "distant love" which he will
never see, "for his destiny is to love without being loved." Those
critics who accept the truth of the story regard Melisanda, daughter of
Raimon I., Count of Tripoli, as the heroine; but the biography must be
used with great caution as a historical source, and the mention of the
house of the order of Templars in which Jaufre is said to have been
buried raises a difficulty; it was erected in 1118, and in the year 1200
the County of Tripoli was merged in that of Antioch; of the Rudels of
Blaya, historically known to us, there is none who falls reasonably
within these dates. The probability is that the constant references in
Jaufre's poems to an unknown distant love, and the fact of his crusading
expedition to the Holy Land, formed in conjunction the nucleus of the [46]
legend which grew round his name, and which is known to all readers of
Carducci, Uhland and Heine.
Contemporary with Jaufre Rudel was Bernard de Ventadour, one of the
greatest names in Provençal poetry. According to the biography, which
betrays its untrustworthiness by contradicting the facts of history,
Bernard was the son of the furnace stoker at the castle of Ventadour,
under the Viscount Ebles II., himself a troubadour and a patron of
troubadours. It was from the viscount that Bernard received instruction
in the troubadours' art, and to his patron's interest in his talents he
doubtless owed the opportunities which he enjoyed of learning to read
and write, and of making acquaintance with such Latin authors as were
currently read, or with the anthologies and books of "sentences" then
used for instruction in Latin. He soon outstripped his patron, to whose
wife, Agnes de Montluçon, his early poems were addressed. His relations
with the lady and with his patron were disturbed by the _lauzengiers_,
the slanderers, the envious, and the backbiters of whom troubadours
constantly complain, and he was obliged to leave Ventadour. He went to
the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the granddaughter of the first
troubadour, Guillaume IX. of Poitiers, who by tradition and temperament
was a patroness of troubadours, many of whom sang her praises. She had [47]
been divorced from Louis VII. of France in 1152, and married Henry, Duke
of Normandy, afterwards King of England in the same year. There Bernard
may have remained until 1154, in which year Eleanor went to England as
Queen. Whether Bernard followed her to England is uncertain; the
personal allusions in his poems are generally scanty, and the details of
his life are correspondingly obscure. But one poem seems to indicate
that he may have crossed the Channel. He says that he has kept silence
for two years, but that the autumn season impels him to sing; in spite
of his love, his lady will not deign to reply to him: but his devotion
is unchanged and she may sell him or give him away if she pleases. She
does him wrong in failing to call him to her chamber that he may remove
her shoes humbly upon his knees, when she deigns to stretch forth her
foot. He then continues[19]
Faitz es lo vers totz a randa,
Si que motz no y descapduelha.
outra la terra normanda
part la fera mar prionda;
e si·m suy de midons lunhans.
ves si·m tira cum diamans,
la belha cui dieus defenda.
Si·l reys engles el dux normans
o vol, ieu la veirai, abans
que l'iverns nos sobreprenda.
[48]
"The _vers_ has been composed fully so that not a word is wanting,
beyond the Norman land and the deep wild sea; and though I am far from
my lady, she attracts me like a magnet, the fair one whom may God
protect. If the English king and Norman duke will, I shall see her
before the winter surprise us."
How long Bernard remained in Normandy, we cannot conjecture. He is said
to have gone to the court of Raimon V., Count of Toulouse, a well-known
patron of the troubadours. On Raimon's death in 1194, Bernard, who must
himself have been growing old, retired to the abbey of Dalon in his
native province of Limousin, where he died. He is perhaps more deeply
inspired by the true spirit of lyric poetry than any other troubadour;
he insists that love is the only source of song; poetry to be real, must
be lived.
Non es meravelha s'ieu chan
mielhs de nulh autre chantador;
que plus mi tra·l cors ves amor
e mielhs sui faitz a son coman.
"It is no wonder if I sing better than any other singer; for my heart
draws me more than others towards love, and I am better made for his
commandments." Hence Bernard gave fuller expression than any other
troubadour to the ennobling power of love, as the only source of real
worth and nobility.
The subject speedily became exhausted, and ingenuity did but increase [49]
the conventionality of its treatment. But in Bernard's hands it retains
its early freshness and sincerity. The description of the seasons of the
year as impelling the troubadour to song was, or became, an entirely
conventional and expected opening to a _chanso_; but in Bernard's case
these descriptions were marked by the observation and feeling of one who
had a real love for the country and for nature, and the contrast or
comparison between the season of the year and his own feelings is of
real lyrical value. The opening with the description of the lark is
famous--
Quant vey la lauzeta mover
De joi sas alas contral rai,
que s'oblida e·s laissa cazer
per la doussor qu'al cor li vai,
ai! tan grans enveia m'en ve
de cui qu'eu veya jauzion!
meravilhas ai, quar desse
lo cor de dezirier no·m fon.
"When I see the lark flutter with joy towards the sun, and forget
himself and sing for the sweetness that comes to his heart; alas, such
envy comes upon me of all that I see rejoicing, I wonder that my heart
does not melt forthwith with desire".[20]
At the same time Bernard's style is simple and clear, though he shows
full mastery of the complex stanza form; to call him the Wordsworth of
the troubadour world is to exaggerate a single point of coincidence; but
he remains the greatest of troubadour poets, as modern taste regards [50]
poetry.
Arnaut de Mareuil (1170-1200 _circa_) displays many of the
characteristics which distinguished the poetry of Bernard of Ventadour;
there is the same simplicity of style and often no less reality of
feeling: conventionalism had not yet become typical. Arnaut was born in
Périgord of poor parents, and was brought up to the profession of a
scribe or notary. This profession he soon abandoned, and his "good
star," to quote the Provençal biography, led him to the court of
Adelaide, daughter of Raimon V. of Toulouse, who had married in 1171
Roger II., Viscount of Béziers. There he soon rose into high repute: at
first he is said to have denied his authorship of the songs which he
composed in honour of his mistress, but eventually he betrayed himself
and was recognised as a troubadour of high merit, and definitely
installed as the singer of Adelaide. The story is improbable, as the
troubadour's rewards naturally depended upon the favour of his patrons
to him personally; it is probably an instance of the manner in which the
biographies founded fictions upon a very meagre substratum of fact, the
fact in this instance being a passage in which Arnaut declares his
timidity in singing the praise of so great a beauty as Adelaide.
Mas grans paors m'o tol e grans temensa, [51]
Qu'ieu non aus dir, dona, qu'ieu chant de vos.
"But great fear and great apprehension comes upon me, so that I dare not
tell you, lady, that it is I who sing of you."
Arnaut seems to have introduced a new poetical _genre_ into Provençal
literature, the love-letter. He says that the difficulty of finding a
trustworthy messenger induced him to send a letter sealed with his own
ring; the letter is interesting for the description of feminine beauty
which it contains: "my heart, that is your constant companion, comes to
me as your messenger and portrays for me your noble, graceful form, your
fair light-brown hair, your brow whiter than the lily, your gay laughing
eyes, your straight well-formed nose, your fresh complexion, whiter and
redder than any flower, your little mouth, your fair teeth, whiter than
pure silver,... your fair white hands with the smooth and slender
fingers"; in short, a picture which shows that troubadour ideas of
beauty were much the same as those of any other age. Arnaut was
eventually obliged to leave Béziers, owing, it is said, to the rivalry
of Alfonso II. of Aragon, who may have come forward as a suitor for
Adelaide after Roger's death in 1194. The troubadour betook himself to
the court of William VIII., Count of Montpelier, where he probably spent
the rest of his life. The various allusions in his poems cannot always [52]
be identified, and his career is only known to us in vague outline.
Apart from the love-letter, he was, if not the initiator, one of the
earliest writers of the type of didactic poem known as _ensenhamen_, an
"instruction" containing observations upon the manners and customs of
his age, with precepts for the observance of morality and right conduct
such as should be practised by the ideal character. Arnaut, after a
lengthy and would-be learned introduction, explains that each of the
three estates, the knights, the clergy and the citizens, have their
special and appropriate virtues. The emphasis with which he describes
the good qualities of the citizen class, a compliment unusual in the
aristocratic poetry of the troubadours, may be taken as confirmation of
the statement concerning his own parentage which we find in his
biography.
[53]
CHAPTER V
THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
We now reach a group of three troubadours whom Dante[21] selected as
typical of certain characteristics: "Bertran de Born sung of arms,
Arnaut Daniel of love, and Guiraut de Bornelh of uprightness, honour and
virtue." The last named, who was a contemporary (1175-1220 _circa_) and
compatriot of Arnaut de Marueil, is said in his biography to have
enjoyed so great a reputation that he was known as the "Master of the
Troubadours." This title is not awarded to him by any other troubadour;
the jealousy constantly prevailing between the troubadours is enough to
account for their silence on this point. But his reputation is fairly
attested by the number of his poems which have survived and by the
numerous MSS. in which they are preserved; when troubadours were studied
as classics in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Guiraut's poems
were so far in harmony with the moralising tendency of that age that his
posthumous reputation was certainly as great as any that he enjoyed in
his life-time.
Practically nothing is known of his life; allusions in his poems lead us [54]
to suppose that he spent some time in Spain at the courts of Navarre,
Castile and Aragon. The real interests of his work are literary and
ethical. To his share in the controversy concerning the _trobar clus_,
the obscure and difficult style of composition, we have already alluded.
Though in the _tenso_ with Linhaure, Guiraut expresses his preference
for the simple and intelligible style, it must be said that the majority
of his poems are far from attaining this ideal. Their obscurity,
however, is often due rather to the difficulty of the subject matter
than to any intentional attempt at preciosity of style. He was one of
the first troubadours who attempted to analyse the effects of love from
a psychological standpoint; his analysis often proceeds in the form of a
dialogue with himself, an attempt to show the hearer by what methods he
arrived at his conclusions. "How is it, in the name of God, that when I
wish to sing, I weep? Can the reason be that love has conquered me? And
does love bring me no delight? Yes, delight is mine. Then why am I sad
and melancholy? I cannot tell. I have lost my lady's favour and the
delight of love has no more sweetness for me. Had ever a lover such
misfortune? But am I a lover? No! Have I ceased to love passionately?
No! Am I then a lover? Yes, if my lady would suffer my love." Guiraut's [55]
moral _sirventes_ are reprobations of the decadence of his age. He saw a
gradual decline of the true spirit of chivalry. The great lords were
fonder of war and pillage than of poetry and courtly state. He had
himself suffered from the change, if his biographer is to be believed;
the Viscount of Limoges had plundered and burnt his house. He compares
the evils of his own day with the splendours of the past, and asks
whether the accident of birth is the real source of nobility; a man must
be judged by himself and his acts and not by the rank of his
forefathers; these were the sentiments that gained him a mention in the
Fourth Book of Dante's _Convivio_.[22]
The question why Dante should have preferred Arnaut Daniel to Guiraut de
Bornelh[23] has given rise to much discussion. The solution turns upon
Dante's conception of style, which is too large a problem for
consideration here. Dante preferred the difficult and artificial style
of Arnaut to the simple style of the opposition school; from Arnaut he
borrowed the sestina form; and at the end of the canto he puts the
well-known lines, "Ieu sui Arnaut, que plor e vau cantan," into the
troubadour's mouth. We know little of Arnaut's life; he was a noble of
Riberac in Périgord. The biography relates an incident in his life which
is said to have taken place at the court of Richard Coeur de Lion.
A certain troubadour had boasted before the king that he could compose a [56]
better poem than Arnaut. The latter accepted the challenge and the king
confined the poets to their rooms for a certain time at the end of which
they were to recite their composition before him. Arnaut's inspiration
totally failed him, but from his room he could hear his rival singing as
he rehearsed his own composition. Arnaut was able to learn his rival's
poem by heart, and when the time of trial came he asked to be allowed to
sing first, and performed his opponent's song, to the wrath of the
latter, who protested vigorously. Arnaut acknowledged the trick, to the
great amusement of the king.
Preciosity and artificiality reach their height in Arnaut's poems, which
are, for that reason, excessively difficult. Enigmatic constructions,
word-plays, words used in forced senses, continual alliteration and
difficult rimes produced elaborate form and great obscurity of meaning.
The following stanza may serve as an example--
L'aur' amara fa·ls bruels brancutz
clarzir que·l dons espeys' ab fuelhs,
e·ls letz becxs dels auzels ramencx
te balbs e mutz pars e non pars.
per qu'ieu m'esfortz de far e dir plazers
A manhs? per ley qui m'a virat has d'aut,
don tern morir si·ls afans no·m asoma.
"The bitter breeze makes light the bosky boughs which the gentle breeze [57]
makes thick with leaves, and the joyous beaks of the birds in the
branches it keeps silent and dumb, paired and not paired. Wherefore do I
strive to say and do what is pleasing to many? For her, who has cast me
down from on high, for which I fear to die, if she does not end the
sorrow for me."
The answers to the seventeen rime-words which occur in this stanza do
not appear till the following stanza, the same rimes being kept
throughout the six stanzas of the poem. To rest the listener's ear,
while he waited for the answering rimes, Arnaut used light assonances
which almost amount to rime in some cases. The Monk of Montaudon in his
satirical _sirventes_ says of Arnaut: "He has sung nothing all his life,
except a few foolish verses which no one understands"; and we may
reasonably suppose that Arnaut's poetry was as obscure to many of his
contemporaries as it is to us.
Dante placed Bertran de Born in hell, as a sower of strife between
father and son, and there is no need to describe his picture of the
troubadour--
"Who held the severed member lanternwise
And said, Ah me!" (_Inf._ xxviii. 119-142.)
The genius of Dante, and the poetical fame of Bertran himself, have
given him a more important position in history than is, perhaps, [58]
entirely his due. Jaufré, the prior of Vigeois, an abbey of
Saint-Martial of Limoges, is the only chronicler during the reigns of
Henry II. and Richard Coeur de Lion who mentions Bertran's name. The
_razos_ prefixed to some of his poems by way of explanation are the work
of an anonymous troubadour (possibly Uc de Saint-Círe); they constantly
misinterpret the poems they attempt to explain, confuse names and
events, and rather exaggerate the part played by Bertran himself.
Besides these sources we have the cartulary of Dalon, or rather the
extracts made from it by Guignières in 1680 (the original has been
lost), which give us information about Bertran's family and possessions.
From these materials, and from forty-four or forty-five poems which have
come down to us, the poet's life can be reconstructed.
Bertran de Bern's estates were situated on the borders of Limousin and
Périgord. The family was ancient and honourable; from the cartulary
Bertran appears to have been born about 1140; we find him, with his
brother Constantin, in possession of the castle of Hautefort, which
seems to have been a strong fortress; the lands belonging to the family
were of no great extent, and the income accruing from them was but
scanty. In 1179 Bertran married one Raimonde, of whom nothing is known,
except that she bore him at least two sons. In 1192 he lost this first [59]
wife, and again married a certain Philippe. His warlike and turbulent
character was the natural outcome of the conditions under which he
lived; the feudal system divided the country into a number of fiefs, the
boundaries of which were ill defined, while the lords were constantly at
war with one another. All owed allegiance to the Duke of Aquitaine, the
Count of Poitou, but his suzerainty was, in the majority of cases,
rather a name than a reality. These divisions were further accentuated
by political events; in 1152 Henry II., Count of Anjou and Maine,
married Eleanor, the divorced wife of Louis VII. of France, and mistress
of Aquitaine. Henry became king of England two years later, and his rule
over the barons of Aquitaine, which had never been strict, became the
more relaxed owing to his continual absence in England.
South of Aquitaine proper the dominions of the Count of Toulouse
stretched from the Garonne to the Alps; this potentate was also called
the Duke of Narbonne, and was not disposed to recognise the suzerainty
of the Duke of Aquitaine. But in 1167 Alfonso II., King of Aragon and
Count of Barcelona, had inherited Provence, to which the Duke of
Toulouse laid claim. Henry and Alfonso thus became natural allies, and
the power of Alfonso in Aragon and Catalonia, was able to keep in check
any serious attempt that the Count of Toulouse might have meditated on [60]
Aquitaine. On the other hand, Henry had also to deal with a formidable
adversary in the person of the French king, his lawful suzerain in
France. Louis VII. (or Philippe Auguste) was able to turn the constant
revolts that broke out in Aquitaine to his own ends. These circumstances
are sufficient to account for the warlike nature of Bertran de Born's
poetry. The first _sirventes_ which can be dated with certainty belongs
to 1181, and is a call to the allies of Raimon V, Count of Toulouse, to
aid their master against the King of Aragon. What Bertran's personal
share in the campaign was, we do not know. He was soon involved in a
quarrel with his brother Constantin, with whom he held the castle of
Hautefort in common. Constantin was driven out and succeeded in
persuading the Count of Limoges and Richard, Duke of Aquitaine, to help
him. Richard, however, was occupied elsewhere, and Bertran survived all
attacks upon the castle. In 1182 he went to the court of Henry II.,
during a temporary lull in the wars around him; there he proceeded to
pay court to the Princess Matilda, daughter of Henry II., whose husband,
Henry of Saxony, was then on a pilgrimage. He also took part in the
political affairs of the time. Henry II.'s eldest son, Henry "the young
king," had been crowned in 1170 at Westminster, and was anxious to have [61]
something more than the title, seeing that his brother Richard was Duke
of Aquitaine, Count of Poitou, and practically an independent sovereign.
Bertran had not forgotten Richard's action against him on behalf of his
brother Constantin, and was, moreover, powerfully attracted by the open
and generous nature of the young king. He therefore took his side, and
on his return to Limousin became the central point of the league which
was formed against Richard. Henry II. succeeded in reconciling his two
sons, the young Henry receiving pecuniary compensation in lieu of
political power. But the young Henry seems to have been really moved by
Bertran's reproaches, and at length revolted against his father and
attacked his brother Richard. While he was in Turenne, the young king
fell sick and died on June 11, 1183. Bertran lamented his loss in two
famous poems, and soon felt the material effects of it. On June 29,
Richard and the King of Aragon arrived before Hautefort, which
surrendered after a week's resistance. Richard restored the castle to
Constantin, but Bertran regained possession, as is related in the second
biography.
Henceforward, Bertran remained faithful to Richard, and directed his
animosity chiefly against the King of Aragon. At the same time it
appears that he would have been equally pleased with any war, which [62]
would have brought profit to himself, and attempted to excite Richard
against his father, Henry II. This project came to nothing, but war
broke out between Richard and the French king; a truce of two years was
concluded, and again broken by Richard. The Church, however, interfered
with its efforts to organise the Third Crusade, which called from
Bertran two _sirventes_ in honour of Conrad, son of the Marquis of
Montferrat, who was defending Tyre against Saladin. Bertran remained at
home in Limousin during this Crusade; his means were obviously
insufficient to enable him to share in so distant a campaign; other, and
for him, equally cogent reasons for remaining at home may be gathered
from his poems. There followed the quarrels between Richard and the
French king, the return to France of the latter, and finally Richard's
capture on the Illyrian coast and his imprisonment by Henry VI. of
Austria, which terminated in 1194. Richard then came into Aquitaine, his
return being celebrated by two poems from Bertran.
The Provençal biography informs us that Bertran finally became a monk in
the Order of Citeaux. The convent where he spent his last years was the
abbey of Dalon, near Hautefort. The cartulary mentions his name at
various intervals from 1197 to 1202. In 1215 we have the entry "_octavo,[63]
candela in sepulcro ponitur pro Bernardo de Born: cera tres solidos
empta est_." This is the only notice of the poet's death.
Dante perhaps exaggerated the part he played in stirring up strife
between Henry II. and his sons; modern writers go to the other extreme.
Bertran is especially famous for his political _sirventes_ and for the
martial note which rings through much of his poetry. He loved war both
for itself and for the profits which it brought: "The powerful are more
generous and open-handed when they have war than when they have peace."
The troubadour's two _planhs_ upon the "young king's" death are inspired
by real feeling, and the story of his reconciliation with Henry after
the capture of his castle can hardly have been known to Dante, who would
surely have modified his judgment upon the troubadour if he had
remembered that scene as related by the biography. Sir Bertran was
summoned with all his people to King Henry's tent, who received him very
harshly and said, "Bertran, you declared that you never needed more than
half your senses; it seems that to-day you will want the whole of them."
"Sire", said Bertran, "it is true that I said so and I said nothing but
the truth." The king replied, "Then you seem to me to have lost your
senses entirely". "I have indeed lost them", said Bertran. "And how?" [64]
asked the king. "Sire, on the day that the noble king, your son, died, I
lost sense, knowledge and understanding." When the king heard Bertran
speak of his son with tears, he was deeply moved and overcome with
grief. On recovering himself he cried, weeping, "Ah, Bertran, rightly
did you lose your senses for my son, for there was no one in the world
whom he loved as you. And for love of him, not only do I give you your
life, but also your castle and your goods, and I add with my love five
hundred silver marks to repair the loss which you have suffered."
The narrative is unhistorical; Henry II. was not present in person at
the siege of Hautefort; but the fact is certain that he regarded Bertran
as the chief sower of discord in his family.
Mention must now be made of certain troubadours who were less important
than the three last mentioned, but are of interest for various reasons.
Raimbaut d'Aurenga, Count of Orange from 1150-1173, is interesting
rather by reason of his relations with other troubadours than for his
own achievements in the troubadours' art. He was a follower of the
precious, artificial and obscure style, and prided himself upon his
skill in the combination of difficult rimes and the repetition of
equivocal rimes (the same word used in different senses or grammatical
forms). "Since Adam ate the apple," he says, "there is no poet, loud as [65]
he may proclaim himself, whose art is worth a turnip compared with
mine." Apart from these mountebank tricks and certain mild "conceits"
(his lady's smile, for instance, makes him happier than the smile of
four hundred angels could do), the chief characteristic of his poetry is
his constant complaints of slanderers who attempt to undermine his
credit with his lady. But he seems to have aroused a passion in the
heart of a poetess, who expressed her feelings in words which contrast
strongly with Raimbaut's vapid sentimentalities.
This was Beatrice, Countess of Die and the wife of Count William of
Poitiers. The names, at least, of seventeen poetesses are known to us
and of these the Countess of Die is the most famous. Like the rest of
her sex who essayed the troubadour's art, the Countess knows nothing of
difficult rhymes or obscurity of style. Simplicity and sincerity are the
keynotes of her poetry. The troubadour sang because he was a
professional poet, but the lady who composed poetry did so from love of
the art or from the inspiration of feeling and therefore felt no need of
meretricious adornment for her song. The five poems of the Countess
which remain to us show that her sentiment for Raimbaut was real and
deep. "I am glad to know that the man I love is the worthiest in the
world; may God give great joy to the one who first brought me to him: [66]
may he trust only in me, whatever slanders be reported to him: for often
a man plucks the rod with which he beats himself. The woman who values
her good name should set her love upon a noble and valiant knight: when
she knows his worth, let her not hide her love. When a woman loves thus
openly, the noble and worthy speak of her love only with sympathy."
Raimbaut, however, did not reciprocate these feelings: in a _tenso_ with
the countess he shows his real sentiments while excusing his conduct. He
assures her that he has avoided her only because he did not wish to
provide slanderers with matter for gossip; to which the Countess replies
that his care for her reputation is excessive. Peire Rogier whose
poetical career lies between the years 1160 and 1180, also spent some
time at Raimbaut's court. He belonged to Auvergne by birth and was
attached to the court of Ermengarde of Narbonne for some years: here
there is no doubt that we have a case of a troubadour in an official
position and nothing more: possibly Peire Rogier's tendency to
preaching--he had been educated for the church--was enough to stifle any
sentiment on the lady's side. On leaving Narbonne, he visited Raimbaut
at Orange and afterwards travelled to Spain and Toulouse, finally
entering a monastery where he ended his life.
Auvergne produced a far more important troubadour in the person of Peire [67]
d'Auvergne, whose work extended from about 1158 to 1180; he was thus
more or less contemporary with Guiraut de Bornelh and Bernart de
Ventadour. He was, according to the biography, the son of a citizen of
Clermont-Ferrand, and "the first troubadour, who lived beyond the
mountains (i.e. the Pyrenees, which, however, Marcabrun had previously
crossed)... he was regarded as the best troubadour until Guiraut de
Bornelh appeared.... He was very proud of his talents and despised other
troubadours." Other notices state that he was educated for an
ecclesiastical career and was at one time a canon. He had no small idea
of his own powers: "Peire d'Auvergne," he says in his satire upon other
troubadours "has such a voice that he can sing in all tones and his
melodies are sweet and pleasant: he is master of his art, if he would
but put a little clarity into his poems, which are difficult to
understand." The last observation is entirely correct: his poems are
often very obscure. Peire travelled, in the pursuit of his profession,
to the court of Sancho III. of Castile and made some stay in Spain: he
is also found at the courts of Raimon V. of Toulouse and, like Peire
Rogier, at Narbonne. Among his poems, two are especially well known. In
a love poem he makes the nightingale his messenger, as Marcabrun had [68]
used the starling and as others used the swallow or parrot. But in
comparison with Marcabrun, Peire d'Auvergne worked out the idea with a
far more delicate poetical touch. The other poem is a _sirventes_ which
is of interest as being the first attempt at literary satire among the
troubadours; the satire is often rather of a personal than of a literary
character; the following quotations referring to troubadours already
named will show Peire's ideas of literary criticism. "Peire Rogier sings
of love without restraint and it would befit him better to carry the
psalter in the church or to bear the lights with the great burning
candles. Guiraut de Bornelh is like a sun-bleached cloth with his thin
miserable song which might suit an old Norman water-carrier. Bernart de
Ventadour is even smaller than Guiraut de Bornelh by a thumb's length;
but he had a servant for his father who shot well with the long bow
while his mother tended the furnace." The satiric _sirventes_ soon found
imitators: the Monk of Montaudon produced a similar composition. Like
many other troubadours, Peire ended his life in a monastery. To this
period of his career probably, belong his religious poems of which we
shall have occasion to speak later.
We have already observed that the Church contributed members, though
with some reluctance, to the ranks of the troubadours. One of the most [69]
striking figures of the kind is the Monk of Montaudon (1180-1200): the
satirical power of his _sirventes_ attracted attention, and he gained
much wealth at the various courts which he visited; this he used for the
benefit of his priory. He enjoyed the favour of Philippe Auguste II. of
France, of Richard Coeur de Lion and of Alfonso II. of Aragon, with that
of many smaller nobles. The biography says of him, "E fo faitz seigner
de la cort del Puoi Santa Maria e de dar l'esparvier. Lone temps ac la
seignoria de la cort del Puoi, tro que la cortz se perdet." "He was made
president of the court of Puy Sainte Marie and of awarding the
sparrow-hawk. For a long time he held the presidency of the court of
Puy, until the court was dissolved." The troubadour Richard de
Barbezieux refers to this court, which seems to have been a periodical
meeting attended by the nobles and troubadours of Southern Prance.
Tournaments and poetical contests were held; the sparrow-hawk or falcon
placed on a pole is often mentioned as the prize awarded to the
tournament victor. Tennyson's version of the incident in his "Geraint
and Enid" will occur to every reader. The monk's reputation must have
been considerable to gain him this position. His love poems are of
little importance; his satire deals with the petty failings of mankind,
for which he had a keen eye and an unsparing and sometimes cynical [70]
tongue.
Be·m enoia, s'o auzes dire,
Parliers quant es avols servire;
Et hom qui trop vol aut assire
M'enoia, e cavals que tire.
Et enoia·m, si Dieus m'aiut
Joves hom quan trop port' escut,
Que negun colp no i a agut,
Capela et mongue barbut,
E lauzengier bee esmolut.
"These vex me greatly, if I may say so, language when it is base
servility, and a man who wishes too high a place (at table) and a
charger which is put to drawing carts. And, by my hope of salvation, I
am vexed by a young man who bears too openly a shield which has never
received a blow, by a chaplain and monk wearing beards and by the sharp
beak of the slanderer." The monk's satire upon other troubadours is
stated by himself to be a continuation of that by Peire d'Auvergne; the
criticism is, as might be expected, personal. Two _tensos_ deal with the
vanities of women, especially the habit of painting the face: in one of
them the dispute proceeds before God as judge, between the poet and the
women: the scene of the other is laid in Paradise and the interlocutors
are the Almighty and the poet, who, represents that self-adornment is a
habit inherent in female nature. In neither poem is reverence a [71]
prominent feature.
One of the most extraordinary figures in the whole gallery of troubadour
portraits is Peire Vidal, whose career extended, roughly speaking, from
1175 to 1215. He was one of those characters who naturally become the
nucleus of apocryphal stories, and how much truth there may be in some
of the fantastic incidents, in which he figures as the hero, will
probably never be discovered. He was undoubtedly an attractive
character, for he enjoyed the favour of the most distinguished men and
women of his time. He was also a poet of real power: ease and facility
are characteristics of his poems as compared with the ingenious
obscurity of Arnaut Daniel or Peire d'Auvergne. But there was a
whimsical and fantastic strain in his character, which led him often to
conjoin the functions of court-fool with those of court poet: "he was
the most foolish man in the world" says his biographer. His
"foolishness" also induced him to fall in love with every woman he met,
and to believe that his personal attractions made him invincible.
Peire Vidal was the son of a Toulouse merchant. He began his troubadour
wanderings early and at the outset of his career we find him in
Catalonia, Aragon and Castile. He is then found in the service of Raimon
Gaufridi Barral,[24] Viscount of Marseilles, a bluff, genial tournament [72]
warrior and the husband of Azalais de Porcellet whose praises were sung
by Folquet of Marseilles. It was Barral who was attracted by Peire's
peculiar talents: his wife seems to have tolerated the troubadour from
deference to her husband. Peire, however, says in one of his poems that
husbands feared him more than fire or sword, and believing himself
irresistible interpreted Azalais' favours as seriously meant. When he
stole a kiss from her as she slept, she insisted upon Peire's departure,
though her husband seems to have regarded the matter as a jest and the
troubadour took refuge in Genoa. Eventually, Azalais pardoned him and he
was able to return to Marseilles. Peire is said to have followed Richard
Coeur de Lion on his crusade; it was in 1190 that Richard embarked at
Marseilles for the Holy Land, and as a patron of troubadours, he was no
doubt personally acquainted with Peire. The troubadour, however, is said
to have gone no farther than Cyprus. There he married a Greek woman and
was somehow persuaded that his wife was a daughter of the Emperor of
Constantinople, and that he, therefore, had a claim to the throne of
Greece. He assumed royal state, added a throne to his personal
possessions and began to raise a fleet for the conquest of his kingdom.
How long this farce continued is unknown. Barral died in 1192 and Peire
transferred his affections to a lady of Carcassonne, Loba de Pennautier. [73]
The biography relates that her name Loba (wolf) induced the troubadour
to approach her in a wolf's skin, which disguise was so successful that
he was attacked by a pack of dogs and seriously mauled. Probably the
story that an outraged husband had the troubadour's tongue cut out at an
earlier period of his life contains an equal substratum of truth. The
last period of his career was spent in Hungary and Lombardy. His
political _sirventes_ show an insight into the affairs of his age, which
is in strong contrast to the whimsicality which seems to have misguided
his own life.
Guillem de Cabestanh (between 1181 and 1196) deserves mention for the
story which the Provençal biography has attached to his name, a
Provençal variation of the thirteenth century romance of the _Châtelaine
de Coucy_.[25] He belonged to the Roussillon district, on the borders of
Catalonia and fell in love with the wife of his overlord, Raimon of
Roussillon. Margarida or Seremonda, as she is respectively named in the
two versions of the story, was attracted by Guillem's songs, with the
result that Raimon's jealousy was aroused and meeting the troubadour one
day, when he was out hunting, he killed him. The Provençal version
proceeds as follows: he then took out the heart and sent it by a squire
to the castle. He caused it to be roasted with pepper and gave it to his [74]
wife to eat. And when she had eaten it, her lord told her what it was
and she lost the power of sight and hearing. And when she came to
herself, she said, "my lord, you have given me such good meat that never
will I eat such meat again." He made at her to strike her but she threw
herself from the window and was killed. Thereupon the barons of
Catalonia and Aragon, led by King Alfonso, are said to have made a
combined attack upon Raimon and to have ravaged his lands, in
indignation at his barbarity.
The Provençal biography, like the romance of the _Châtelain de Coucy_,
belongs to the thirteenth century, and the story cannot be accepted as
authentic. But the period of decadence had begun. By the close of the
twelfth century the golden age of troubadour poetry was over. Guiraut de
Bornelh's complaints that refinement was vanishing and that nobles were
growing hard-hearted and avaricious soon became common-places in
troubadour poetry. The extravagances of the previous age and the rise of
a strong middle and commercial class diminished both the wealth and the
influence of the nobles, while the peace of the country was further
disturbed by theological disputes and by the rise of the Albigeois
heresy.
CHAPTER VI [75]
THE ALBIGEOIS CRUSADE
The feudal society in which troubadour poetry had flourished, and by
which alone it could be maintained, was already showing signs of
decadence. Its downfall was precipitated by the religious and political
movement, the Albigeois Crusade, which was the first step towards the
unification of France, but which also broke up the local fiefs,
destroyed the conditions under which the troubadours had flourished and
scattered them abroad in other lands or forced them to seek other means
of livelihood. This is not the place to discuss the origin and the
nature of the Albigeois heresy.[26] The general opinion has almost
invariably considered the heretics as dualists and their belief as a
variation of Manicheism: but a plausible case has been made out for
regarding the heresy as a variant of the Adoptionism which is found
successively in Armenia, in the Balkan peninsula and in Spain, and
perhaps sporadically in Italy and Germany. Whatever its real nature was,
the following facts are clear: it was not an isolated movement, but was
in continuity with beliefs prevalent in many other parts of Europe. It [76]
was largely a poor man's heresy and therefore emerges into the light of
history only when it happens to attract aristocratic adherents or large
masses of people. It was also a pre-Reformation movement and essentially
in opposition to Roman Catholicism. Albi was the first head-quarters of
the heresy, though Toulouse speedily rivalled its importance in this
respect. The Vaudois heresy which became notorious at Lyons about the
same time was a schismatic, not a heretic movement. The Vaudois objected
to the profligacy and worldliness of the Roman Catholic clergy, but did
not quarrel with church doctrine. The Albigenses were no less zealous
than the Vaudois in reproving the church clergy and setting an example
of purity and unselfishness of life. But they also differed profoundly
from the church in matters of doctrine.
Upon the election of Otho as Emperor, in 1208, Germany and Rome were at
peace, and Pope Innocent III. found himself at liberty to devote some
attention to affairs in Southern France. He had already made some
efforts to oppose the growth of heresy: his first emissaries were unable
to produce the least effect and in 1208 he had sent Arnaut of Citeaux
and two Cistercian monks into Southern France with full powers to act.
Their efforts proved fruitless, because Philippe Auguste was no less
indifferent than the provincial lords, who actually favoured the [77]
heretics in many cases; the Roman Catholic bishops also were jealous of
the pope's legates and refused to support them. Not only the laity but
many of the clergy had been seduced: the heretics had translated large
portions of scripture (translations which still remain to us) and
constantly appealed to the scriptures in opposition to the canon laws
and the immorality of Rome. They had a full parochial and diocesan
organisation and were in regular communication with the heretics of
other countries. It was clear that the authority of Southern France was
doomed, unless some vigorous steps to assert her authority were speedily
taken. "Ita per omnes terras multiplicati sunt ut grande periculum
patiatur ecclesia Dei." [27] The efforts of St Dominic were followed by
the murder of the papal legate, Pierre de Castelnau, in 1208, which
created an excitement comparable with that aroused by the murder of
Thomas à Becket, thirty-eight years before, and gave Innocent III. his
opportunity. In the summer of 1209 a great army of crusaders assembled
at Lyons, and Southern France was invaded by a horde composed partly of
religious fanatics, of men who were anxious to gain the indulgences
awarded to crusaders without the danger of a journey overseas, and of
men who were simply bent on plunder. The last stage in the development
of the crusade movement was thereby reached: originally begun to recover [78]
the Holy Sepulchre, it had been extended to other countries against the
avowed enemies of Christianity. Now the movement was to be turned
against erring members of the Christian Church and in the terms of a
metaphor much abused at that period, the Crusader was not only to
destroy the wolf, but to drive the vagrant sheep back into the fold.[28]
Beziers and Carcassonne were captured with massacre; Toulouse was spared
upon the humiliating submission of Raimon VI., and little organised
opposition was offered to the crusading forces under Simon de Montfort.
The following years saw the revolt of Toulouse and the excommunication
of Raimon VI. (1211), the battle of Muret in which Raimon was defeated
and his supporter Pedro of Aragon, was killed (1213), the Lateran
Council (1215), the siege of Toulouse and the death of Simon de Montfort
(1218). The foundation of the Dominican order and of the Inquisition
marked the close of the struggle.
Folquet of Marseilles is a troubadour whose life belongs to these years
of turmoil. He was the son of a Genoese merchant by name Anfos, who
apparently settled in Marseilles for business reasons: Genoa was in
close commercial relations with the South of France during the twelfth
century, as is attested by treaties concluded with Marseilles in 1138
and with Raimon of Toulouse in 1174. Folquet (or Fulco in Latin form) [79]
seems to have carried on his father's business and to have amused his
leisure hours by poetical composition. The Monk of Montandon refers to
him as a merchant in his _sirventes_ upon other troubadours. He is
placed in Paradise by Dante and is the only troubadour who there
appears, no doubt because of his services to the Church. His earliest
poems, written after 1180, were composed in honour of Azalais, the lady
whose favour was sought by Peire Vidal, and to whom Folquet refers by
the _senhal_ of Aimant (magnet). His poems are ingenious dissertations
upon love and we catch little trace of real feeling in them. The stories
of the jealousy of Azalais' sister which drove Folquet to leave
Marseilles are probably apocryphal. Folquet also addressed poems to the
wife of the Count of Montpelier, the daughter of the Emperor of
Constantinople. He wrote a fine _planh_ on the death of Barral of
Marseilles in 1192 and it was about this time that he resolved to enter
the church. His last poem belongs to the year 1195. No doubt the wealth
which he may have brought to the Church as a successful merchant
contributed to his advancement, but Folquet was also an indomitably
energetic character.
Unlike so many of his fellow poets, who retired to monasteries and there
lived out their lives in seclusion, Folquet displayed special talents or [80]
special enthusiasm for the order which he joined. Of the Cistercian
abbey of Toronet in the diocese of Fréjus he became abbot, and in 1205
was made Bishop of Toulouse. He then, in company with St Dominic,
becomes one of the great figures of the Albigeois crusade: in 1209 he
was acting with Simon de Montfort against Raimon VI., the son of his old
patron and benefactor, and persuaded the count to surrender the citadel
of Toulouse to de Montfort and the papal legate. He travelled in
Northern France in order to stir up enthusiasm for the crusade. The
legend is related that, hearing one of his love songs sung by a minstrel
at Paris, he imposed penance upon himself. He helped to establish the
Inquisition in Languedoc, and at the Lateran council of 1215 was the
most violent opponent of Count Raimon. To enter into his history in
detail during this period would be to recount a large portion of the
somewhat intricate history of the crusade. Of his fanaticism, and of the
cruelty with which he waged war upon the heretics, the Count Raimon
Roger of Foix speaks at the Lateran council, when defending himself
against the accusation of heresy.
E die vos de l'avesque, que tant n'es afortitz,
qu'en la sua semblansa es Dieus e nos trazitz,
que ab cansos messongeiras e ab motz coladitz,
dont totz horn es perdutz qui·ls canta ni los ditz, [81]
ez ab sos reproverbis afilatz e forbitz
ez ab los nostres dos, don fo eniotglaritz,
ez ab mala doctrina es tant fort enriquitz
c'om non auza ren dire a so qu'el contraditz.
Pero cant el fo abas ni monges revestitz
en la sua abadia fo si·l lums eseurzitz
qu'anc no i ac be ni pauza, tro qu'el ne fo ichitz;
e cant fo de Tholosa avesques elegitz
per trastota la terra es tals focs espanditz
que ia mais per nulha aiga no sira escantitz;
que plus de D.M., que de grans que petitz,
i fe perdre las vidas e·ls cors e·ls esperitz.
Per la fe qu'icu vos deg, als sous faitz e als ditz
ez a la captenensa sembla mielhs Antecritz
que messatges de Roma.
"And of the bishop, who is so zealous, I tell you that in him both God
and we ourselves are betrayed; for with lying songs and insinuating
words, which are the damnation of any who sings or speaks them, and by
his keen polished admonitions, and by our presents wherewith he
maintained himself as _joglar_, and by his evil doctrine, he has risen
so high, that one dare say nothing to that which he opposes. So when he
was vested as abbot and monk, was the light in his abbey put out in such
wise that therein was no comfort or rest, until that he was gone forth
from thence; and when he was chosen bishop of Toulouse such a fire was
spread throughout the land that never for any water will it be quenched;
for there did he bring destruction of life and body and soul upon more [82]
than fifteen hundred of high and low. By the faith which I owe to you,
by his deeds and his words and his dealings, more like is he to
Anti-Christ than to an envoy of Rome." (_Chanson de la croisade contre
les Albigeois_, v. 3309.)
Folquet died on December 25, 1231, and was buried at the Cistercian
Abbey of Grandselve, some thirty miles north-west of Toulouse. Such
troubadours as Guilhem Figueira and Peire Cardenal, who inveighed
against the action of the Church during the crusade, say nothing of him,
and upon their silence and that of the biography as regards his
ecclesiastical life the argument has been founded that Folquet the
troubadour and Folquet the bishop were two different persons. There is
no evidence to support this theory. Folquet's poems enjoyed a high
reputation. The minnesinger, Rudolf, Count of Neuenberg (end of the
twelfth century) imitated him, as also did the Italians Rinaldo d'Aquino
and Jacopo da Lentino.
The troubadours as a rule stood aloof from the religious quarrels of the
age. But few seem to have joined the crusaders, as Perdigon did. Most of
their patrons were struggling for their existence: when the invaders
succeeded in establishing themselves, they had no desire for court
poetry. The troubadour's occupation was gone, and those who wished for
an audience were obliged to seek beyond the borders of France. Hence it [83]
is somewhat remarkable to find the troubadour Raimon de Miraval, of
Carcassonne, continuing to sing, as though perfect tranquillity
prevailed. His wife, Gaudairenca, was a poetess, and Paul Heyse has made
her the central figure of one of his charming _Troubadour Novellen_.
Raimon's poems betray no forebodings of the coming storm; when it broke,
he lost his estate and fled to Raimon of Toulouse for shelter. The
arrival of Pedro II. of Aragon at Toulouse in 1213 and his alliance with
the Count of Toulouse cheered the troubadour's spirits: he thought there
was a chance that he might recover his estate. He compliments Pedro on
his determination in one poem and in another tells his lady, "the king
has promised me that in a short time, I shall have Miraval again and my
Audiart shall recover his Beaucaire; then ladies and their lovers will
regain their lost delights." Such was the attitude of many troubadours
towards the crusade and they seem to represent the views of a certain
section of society. There is no trace on this side of any sense of
patriotism; they hated the crusade because it destroyed the comforts of
their happy existence. But the South of France had never as a whole
acquired any real sense of nationalism: there was consequently no
attempt at general or organised resistance and no leader to inspire such [84]
attempts was forth-coming.
On the other hand, special districts such as Toulouse, showed real
courage and devotion. The crusaders often found much difficulty in
maintaining a force adequate to conduct their operations after the first
energy of the invasion had spent itself, and had the Count of Toulouse
been an energetic and vigorous character, he might have been able to
reverse the ultimate issue of the crusade. But, like many other petty
lords his chief desire was to be left alone and he was at heart as
little interested in the claims of Rome as in the attractions of heresy.
His townspeople thought otherwise and the latter half of the _Chanson de
la Croisade_ reflects their hopes and fears and describes their
struggles with a sympathy that often reaches the height of epic
splendour. Similarly, certain troubadours were by no means absorbed in
the practice of their art or the pursuit of their intrigues. Bernard
Sicart de Marvejols has left us a vigorous satire against the crusaders
who came for plunder, and the clergy who drove them on. The greatest
poet of this calamitous time is Peire Cardenal. His work falls within
the years 1210 and 1230. The short notice that we have of him says that
he belonged to Puy Notre Dame in Velay, that he was the son of a noble
and was intended for an ecclesiastical career: when he was of age, he
was attracted by the pleasures of the world, became a troubadour and [85]
went from court to court, accompanied by a _joglar_: he was especially
favoured by King Jaime I. of Aragon and died at the age of nearly a
hundred years. He was no singer of love and the three of his _chansos_
that remain are inspired by the misogyny that we have noted in the case
of Marcabrun. Peire Cardenal's strength lay in the moral _sirventes_: he
was a fiery soul, aroused to wrath by the sight of injustice and
immorality and the special objects of his animosity are the Roman
Catholic clergy and the high nobles. "The clergy call themselves
shepherds and are murderers under a show of saintliness: when I look
upon their dress I remember Isengrin (the wolf in the romance of
Reynard, the Fox) who wished one day to break into the sheep-fold: but
for fear of the dogs he dressed himself in a sheepskin and then devoured
as many as he would. Kings and emperors, dukes, counts and knights used
to rule the world; now the priests have the power which they have gained
by robbery and treachery, by hypocrisy, force and preaching." "Eagles
and vultures smell not the carrion so readily as priests and preachers
smell out the rich: a rich man is their friend and should a sickness
strike him down, he must make them presents to the loss of his
relations. Frenchmen and priests are reputed bad and rightly so: usurers [86]
and traitors possess the whole world, for with deceit have they so
confounded the world that there is no class to whom their doctrine is
unknown." Peire inveighs against the disgraces of particular orders; the
Preaching Friars or Jacobin monks who discuss the relative merits of
special wines after their feasts, whose lives are spent in disputes and
who declare all who differ from them to be Vaudois heretics, who worm
men's private affairs out of them, that they may make themselves feared:
some of his charges against the monastic orders are quite unprintable.
No less vigorous are his invectives against the rich and the social
evils of his time. The tone of regret that underlies Guiraut de
Bornelh's satires in this theme is replaced in Peire Cardenal's
_sirventes_ by a burning sense of injustice. Covetousness, the love of
pleasure, injustice to the poor, treachery and deceit and moral laxity
are among his favourite themes. "He who abhors truth and hates the
right, careers to hell and directs his course to the abyss: for many a
man builds walls and palaces with the goods of others and yet the
witless world says that he is on the right path, because he is clever
and prosperous. As silver is refined in the fire, so the patient poor
are purified under grievous oppression: and with what splendour the
shameless rich man may feed and clothe himself, his riches bring him
nought but pain, grief and vexation of spirit. But that affrights him [87]
not: capons and game, good wine and the dainties of the earth console
him and cheer his heart. Then he prays to God and says 'I am poor and in
misery.' Were God to answer him He would say, 'thou liest!'" To
illustrate the degeneracy of the age, Peire relates a fable, perhaps the
only instance of this literary form among the troubadours, upon the
theme that if all the world were mad, the one sane man would be in a
lunatic asylum: "there was a certain town, I know not where, upon which
a rain fell of such a nature that all the inhabitants upon whom it fell,
lost their reason. All lost their reason except one, who escaped because
he was asleep in his house when the rain came. When he awoke, he rose:
the rain had ceased, and he went out among the people who were all
committing follies. One was clothed, another naked, another was spitting
at the sky: some were throwing sticks and stones, tearing their coats,
striking and pushing... The sane man was deeply surprised and saw that
they were mad; nor could he find a single man in his senses. Yet greater
was their surprise at him, and as they saw that he did not follow their
example, they concluded that he had lost his senses.... So one strikes
him in front, another behind; he is dashed to the ground and trampled
under foot... at length he flees to his house covered with mud, bruised [88]
and half dead and thankful for his escape": The mad town, says Peire
Cardenal, is the present world: the highest form of intelligence is the
love and fear of God, but this has been replaced by greed, pride and
malice; consequently the "sense of God" seems madness to the world and
he who refuses to follow the "sense of the world" is treated as a
madman.
Peire Cardenal is thus by temperament a moral preacher; he is not merely
critical of errors, but has also a positive faith to propound. He is not
an opponent of the papacy as an institution: the confession of faith
which he utters in one of his _sirventes_ shows that he would have been
perfectly satisfied with the Roman ecclesiastical and doctrinal system,
had it been properly worked. In this respect he differs from a
contemporary troubadour, Guillem Figueira, whose violent satire against
Rome shows him as opposed to the whole system from the papacy downwards.
He was a native of Toulouse and migrated to Lombardy and to the court of
Frederick II. when the crusade drove him from his home. "I wonder not,
Rome, that men go astray, for thou hast cast the world into strife and
misery; virtue and good works die and are buried because of thee,
treacherous Rome, thou guiding-star, thou root and branch of all
iniquity... Greed blindeth thy eyes, and too close dost thou shear thy [89]
sheep... thou forgivest sins for money, thou loadest thyself with a
shameful burden. Rome, we know of a truth that with the bait of false
forgiveness, thou hast snared in misery the nobility of France, the
people of Paris and the noble King Louis (VIII., who died in the course
of the Albigeois crusade); thou didst bring him to his death, for thy
false preaching enticed him from his land. Rome, thou has the outward
semblance of a lamb, so innocent is thy countenance, but within thou are
a ravening wolf, a crowned snake begotten of a viper and therefore the
devil greeteth thee as the friend of his bosom." This sirventes was
answered by a _trobairitz_, Germonde of Montpelier, but her reply lacks
the vigour and eloquence of the attack.
It is not to be supposed that the troubadours turned to religious poetry
simply because the Albigeois crusade had raised the religious question.
Purely devotional poetry is found at an earlier period.[29] It appears
at first only sporadically, and some of the greatest troubadours have
left no religious poems that have reached us. The fact is, that the
nature of troubadour poetry and its homage to the married woman were
incompatible with the highest standard of religious devotion. The famous
_alba_ of Guiraut de Bornelh invokes the "glorious king, true light and
splendour, Lord Almighty," for the purpose of praying that the lovers [90]
for whom the speaker is keeping watch may be undisturbed in interchange
of their affections. Prayer for the success of attempted adultery is a
contradiction in terms. For a theory of religion which could regard the
Deity as a possible accomplice in crime, the Church of Southern France
in the twelfth century is to blame: we cannot expect that the
troubadours in general should be more religious than the professional
exponents of religion. On the other hand, poems of real devotional
feeling are found, even from the earliest times: the sensual Count of
Poitiers, the first troubadour known to us, concludes his career with a
poem of resignation bidding farewell to the world, "leaving all that I
love, the brilliant life of chivalry, but since it pleases God, I resign
myself and pray Him to keep me among His own." Many troubadours, as has
been said, ended their lives in monasteries and the disappointments or
griefs which drove them to this course often aroused religious feelings,
regrets for past follies and resolutions of repentance, which found
expression in poetry. Peire d'Auvergne wrote several religious hymns
after his retirement from the world; these are largely composed of
reiterated articles of the Christian faith in metrical form and are as
unpoetical as they are orthodox, Crusade poems and _planhs_ upon the [91]
deaths of famous nobles or patrons are religious only in a secondary
sense. A fine religious _alba_ is ascribed to Folquet of Marseilles--
Vers Dieus, e·l vostre nom e de sancta Maria
m'esvelherai hueimais, pus l'estela del dia
ven daus Jerusalem que' m'ensenha qu'ien dia:
estatz sus e levatz,
senhor, que Dieu amatz!
que·l jorns es aprosmatz
e la nuech ten sa via;
e sia·n Dieus lauzatz
per nos e adoratz,
e·l preguem que·ens don patz
a tota nostra via.
La nuech vai e·l jorns ve
ab elar eel e sere,
e l'alba no's rete
ans ven belh' e complia.
"True God, in Thy name and in the name of Saint Mary will I awake
henceforth, since the star of day rises from o'er Jerusalem, bidding me
say, 'Up and arise, sirs, who love God! For the day is nigh, and the
night departs; and let God be praised and adored by us and let us pray
Him that He give us peace for all our lives. Night goes and day comes
with clear serene sky, and the dawn delays not but comes fair and
perfect.'"
At the close of the Albigeois crusade the Virgin Mary becomes the theme
of an increasing number of lyric poems. These are not like the farewells [92]
to the world, uttered by weary troubadours, and dictated by individual
circumstances, but are inspired by an increase of religious feeling in
the public to whom the troubadours appealed. Peire Cardenal began the
series and a similar poem is attributed to Perdigon, a troubadour who
joined the crusaders and fought against his old patrons; though the poem
is probably not his, it belongs to a time but little posterior to the
crusade. The cult of the Virgin had obvious attractions as a subject for
troubadours whose profane songs would not have been countenanced by St
Dominic and his preachers and religious poetry dealing with the subject
could easily borrow not only the metrical forms but also many technical
expressions which troubadours had used in singing of worldly love. They
could be the servants of a heavenly mistress and attribute to her all
the graces and beauty of form and character. It has been supposed that
the Virgin was the mysterious love sung by Jaufre Rudel and the
supposition is not inconsistent with the language of his poems. Guiraut
Riquier, the last of the troubadours, provides examples of this new
_genre_: from the fourteenth century it was the only kind of poem
admitted by the school of Toulouse and the Jeux Floraux crowned many
poems of this nature. These, however, have little in common with
classical troubadour poetry except language. The following stanzas from [93]
the well-known hymn to the Virgin by Peire de Corbiac, will give an idea
of the character of this poetry.
Domna, rosa ses espina,
sobre totas flors olens,
verga seca frug fazens,
terra que ses labor grana,
estela, del solelh maire,
noirissa del vostre paire,
el mon nulha no·us semelha
ni londana ni vezina.
Domna, verge pura e fina,
ans que fos l'enfantamens,
et apres tot eissamens,
receup en vos carn humana
Jesu Crist, nostre salvaire,
si com ses trencamen faire
intra·l bels rais, quan solelha,
per la fenestra veirina.
Domna, estela marina
de las autras plus luzens,
la mars nos combat e·l vens;
mostra nos via certana;
car si·ns vols a bon port traire
non tem nau ni governaire
ni tempest que·ns destorbelha
ni·l sobern de la marina.
"Lady, rose without thorn, sweet above all flowers, dry rod bearing
fruit, earth bringing forth fruit without toil, star, mother of the sun,
nurse of thine own Father, in the world no woman is like to thee, [94]
neither far nor near.
Lady, virgin pure and fair before the birth was and afterwards the same,
Jesus Christ our Saviour received human flesh in thee, just as without
causing flaw, the fair ray enters through the window-pane when the sun
shines.
Lady, star of the sea, brighter than the other stars, the sea and the
wind buffet us; show thou us the right way: for if thou wilt bring us to
a fair haven, ship nor helmsman fears not tempest nor tide lest it
trouble us."
CHAPTER VII [95]
THE TROUBADOURS IN ITALY
To study the development of troubadour literature only in the country of
its origin would be to gain a very incomplete idea of its influence. The
movement, as we have already said, crossed the Pyrenees, the Alps and
the Rhine, and Italy at least owed the very existence of its lyric
poetry to the impulse first given by the troubadours. Close relations
between Southern France and Northern Italy had existed from an early
period: commercial intercourse between the towns on the Mediterranean
was in some cases strengthened by treaties; the local nobles were
connected by feudal ties resulting from the suzerainty of the Holy Roman
Empire. Hence it was natural for troubadours and _joglars_ to visit the
Italian towns. Their own language was not so remote from the Italian
dialects as to raise any great obstacle to the circulation of their
poetry and the petty princes of Northern Italy lent as ready an ear to
troubadour songs as the local lords in the South of France. Peire Vidal
was at the court of the Marquis of Montferrat so early as 1195; the
Marquis of Este, the Count of San Bonifacio at Verona, the Count of [96]
Savoy at Turin, the Emperor Frederick II. and other lords of less
importance offered a welcome to Provençal poets. More than twenty
troubadours are thus known to have visited Italy and in some cases to
have made a stay of considerable length. The result was that their
poetry soon attracted Italian disciples and imitators. Provençal became
the literary language of the noble classes and an Italian school of
troubadours arose, of whom Sordello is the most remarkable figure.
Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, who spent a considerable part of his career
(1180-1207) with the Marquis of Montferrat, belongs as a troubadour
quite as much to Italy as to Southern France. He was the son of a poor
noble of Orange and became a troubadour at the court of William IV. of
Orange; he exchanged _tensos_ with his patron with whom he seems to have
been on very friendly terms and to whom he refers by the pseudonym
Engles (English), the reason for which is as yet unknown. Some time
later than 1189, he left the court of Orange, apparently in consequence
of a dispute with his patron and made his way to Italy, where he led a
wandering life until he was admitted to the court of the Marquis of
Montferrat. To this period of his career belongs the well-known poem in
which he pays his addresses to a Genoese lady.
"Lady, I have prayed you long to love me of your kindliness... my heart [97]
is more drawn to you than to any lady of Genoa. I shall be well rewarded
if you will love me and shall be better recompensed for my trouble than
if Genoa belonged to me with all the wealth that is there heaped up."
The lady then replies in her own Genoese dialect: she knows nothing of
the conventions of courtly love, and informs the troubadour that her
husband is a better man than he and that she will have nothing to do
with him. The poem is nothing but a _jeu d'esprit_ based upon the
contrast between troubadour sentiments and the honest but unpoetical
views of the middle class; it is interesting to philologists as
containing one of the earliest known specimens of Italian dialect. An
example of the Tuscan dialect is also found in the _descort_ by
Raimbaut. This is a poem in irregular metre, intended to show the
perturbation of the poet's mind. Raimbaut increased this effect by
writing in five different languages. He found a ready welcome from
Bonifacio II. at the court of Montferrat which Peire Vidal also visited.
The marquis dubbed him knight and made him his brother in arms. Raimbaut
fell in love with Beatrice, the sister of the marquis, an intimacy which
proceeded upon the regular lines of courtly love. He soon found an
opportunity of showing his devotion to the marquis. In 1194 Henry VI. [98]
made an expedition to Sicily to secure the claims of his wife,
Constance, to that kingdom: the Marquis Boniface as a vassal of the
imperial house followed the Emperor and Raimbaut accompanied his
contingent. He refers to his share in the campaign in a later letter to
the marquis.[30]
Et ai per vos estat en greu preyzo
Per vostra guerra e n'ai a vostro pro
Fag maynt assaut et ars maynta maiso
Et a Messina vos cobri del blizo;
En la batalha vos vinc en tal sazo
Que·us ferion pel pietz e pel mento
Dartz e cairels, sagetas e trenso.
"For your sake I have been in hard captivity in your war, and to do you
service I have made many an assault and burned many a house. At Messina
I covered you with the shield; I came to you in the battle at the moment
when they hurled at your breast and chin darts and quarrels, arrows and
lance-shafts." The captivity was endured in the course of the marquis's
wars in Italy, and the troubadour refers to a seafight between the
forces of Genoa and Pisa in the Sicilian campaign. In 1202 he followed
his master upon the crusade which practically ended at Constantinople.
He had composed a vigorous _sirventes_ urging Christian men to join the
movement, but he does not himself show any great enthusiasm to take the [99]
cross. "I would rather, if it please you, die in that land than live and
remain here. For us God was raised upon the cross, received death,
suffered the passion, was scourged and loaded with chains and crowned
with thorns upon the cross.... Fair Cavalier (i.e. Beatrice) I know not
whether I shall stay for your sake or take the cross; I know not whether
I shall go or remain, for I die with grief if I see you and I am like to
die if I am far from you." So also in the letter quoted above.
E cant anetz per crozar a Saysso,
Ieu non avia cor--Dieus m'o perdo--
Que passes mar, mas per vostre resso
Levey la crotz e pris confessio.
"And when you went to Soissons to take the cross, I did not intend--may
God forgive me--to cross the sea, but to increase your fame I took the
cross and made confession." The count lost his life, as Villehardouin
relates, in a skirmish with the Bulgarians in 1207. Raimbaut de
Vaqueiras probably fell at the same time.
This is enough to show that troubadours who came to Italy could make the
country a second home, and find as much occupation in love, war and
politics as they had ever found in Southern France. Aimeric de Pegulhan,
Gaucelm Faidit, Uc de Saint-Circ,[31] the author of some troubadour [100]
biographies, were among the best known of those who visited Italy. The
last named is known to have visited Pisa and another troubadour of minor
importance, Guillem de la Tor, was in Florence. Thus the visits of the
troubadours were by no means confined to the north.
It was, therefore, natural that Italians should imitate the troubadours
whose art proved so successful at Italian courts and some thirty Italian
troubadours are known to us. Count Manfred II. and Albert, the Marquis
of Malaspina, engaged in _tensos_ with Peire Vidal and Raimbaut de
Vaqueiras respectively and are the first Italians known to have written
in Provençal. Genoa produced a number of Italian troubadours of whom the
best were Lanfranc Cigala and Bonifacio Calvo. The latter was a wanderer
and spent some time in Castile at the court of Alfonso X. Lanfranc
Cigala was a judge in his native town: from him survive a _sirventes_
against Bonifacio III. of Montferrat who had abandoned the cause of
Frederick II., crusade poems and a _sirventes_ against the obscure
style. The Venetian Bartolomeo Zorzi was a prisoner at Genoa from 1266
to 1273, having been captured by the Genoese. The troubadour of Genoa,
Bonifacio Calvo, had written a vigorous invective against Venice, to
which the captive troubadour composed an equally strong reply addressed [101]
to Bonifacio Calvo; the latter sought him out and the two troubadours
became friends. The most famous, however, of the Italian troubadours is
certainly Sordello.
There is much uncertainty concerning the facts of Sordello's life; he
was born at Goito, near Mantua, and was of noble family. His name is not
to be derived from _sordidus_, but from _Surdus_, a not uncommon
patronymic in North Italy during the thirteenth century. Of his early
years nothing is known: at some period of his youth he entered the court
of Count Ricciardo di san Bonifazio, the lord of Verona, where he fell
in love with his master's wife, Cunizza da Romano (Dante, _Par._ ix.
32), and eloped with her. The details of this affair are entirely
obscure; according to some commentators, it was the final outcome of a
family feud, while others assert that the elopement took place with the
connivance of Cunizza's brother, the notorious Ezzelino III. (_Inf_.
xii. 110): the date is approximately 1225. At any rate, Sordello and
Cunizza betook themselves to Ezzelino's court. Then, according to the
Provençal biography, follows his secret marriage with Otta, and his
flight from Treviso, to escape the vengeance of her angry relatives. He
thus left Italy about the year 1229, and retired to the South of France,
where he visited the courts of Provence, Toulouse, Roussillon, [102]
penetrating also into Castile. A chief authority for these wanderings is
the troubadour Peire Bremen Ricas Novas, whose _sirventes_ speaks of him
as being in Spain at the court of the king of Leon: this was Alfonso
IX., who died in the year 1230. He also visited Portugal, but for this
no date can be assigned. Allusions in his poems show that he was in
Provence before 1235: about ten years later we find him at the court of
the Countess Beatrice (_Par._ vi. 133), daughter of Raimon Berengar,
Count of Provence, and wife of Charles I. of Anjou. Beatrice may have
been the subject of several of his love poems: but the "senhal" Restaur
and Agradiva, which conceal the names possibly of more than one lady
cannot be identified. From 1252-1265 his name appears in several Angevin
treaties and records, coupled with the names of other well-known nobles,
and he would appear to have held a high place in Charles' esteem. It is
uncertain whether he took part in the first crusade of St Louis, in
1248-1251, at which Charles was present: but he followed Charles on his
Italian expedition against Manfred in 1265, and seems to have been
captured by the Ghibellines before reaching Naples. At any rate, he was
a prisoner at Novara in September 1266; Pope Clement IV. induced Charles
to ransom him, and in 1269, as a recompense for his services, he
received five castles in the Abruzzi, near the river Pescara: shortly [103]
afterwards he died. The circumstances of his death are unknown, but from
the fact that he is placed by Dante among those who were cut off before
they could repent it has been conjectured that he came to a violent end.
Sordello's restless life and his intrigues could be exemplified from the
history of many another troubadour and neither his career nor his
poetry, which with two exceptions, is of no special originality, seems
to justify the portrait drawn of him by Dante; while Browning's famous
poem has nothing in common with the troubadour except the name. These
exceptions, however, are notable. The first is a _sirventes_ composed by
Sordello on the death of his patron Blacatz in 1237. He invites to the
funeral feast the Roman emperor, Frederick II., the kings of France,
England and Aragon, the counts of Champagne, Toulouse and Provence. They
are urged to eat of the dead man's heart, that they may gain some
tincture of his courage and nobility. Each is invited in a separate
stanza in which the poet reprehends the failings of the several
potentates.
Del rey engles me platz, quar es paue coratjos,
Que manje pro del cor, pueys er valens e bos,
E cobrara la terra, per que viu de pretz blos,
Que·l tol lo reys de Fransa, quar lo sap nualhos;
E lo reys castelas tanh qu'en manje per dos, [104]
Quar dos regismes ten, e per l'un non es pros;
Mas, s'elh en vol manjar, tanh qu'en manj'a rescos,
Que, si·l mair'o sabra, batria·l ab bastos.
"As concerns the English King (Henry III.) it pleases me, for he is
little courageous, that he should eat well of the heart; then he will be
valiant and good and will recover the land (for loss of which he lives
bereft of worth), which the King of France took from him, for he knows
him to be of no account. And the King of Castile (Ferdinand III. of
Castile and Leon), it is fitting that he eat of it for two, for he holds
two realms and he is not sufficient for one; but if he will eat of it,
'twere well that he eat in secret: for if his mother were to know it,
she would beat him with staves."
This idea, which is a commonplace in the folklore of many countries,
attracted attention. Two contemporary troubadours attempted to improve
upon it. Bertran d'Alamanon said that the heart should not be divided
among the cowards, enumerated by Sordello, but given to the noble ladies
of the age: Peire Bremen proposed a division of the body. The point is
that Dante in the Purgatorio represents Sordello as showing to Virgil
the souls of those who, while singing _Salve Regina_, ask to be pardoned
for their neglect of duty and among them appear the rulers whom Sordello
had satirised in his _sirventes_. Hence it seems that it was this [105]
composition which attracted Dante's attention to Sordello. The other
important poem is the _Ensenhamen_, a didactic work of instruction upon
the manner and conduct proper to a courtier and a lover. Here, and also
in some of his lyric poems, Sordello represents the transition to a new
idea of love which was more fully developed by the school of Guido
Guinicelli and found its highest expression in Dante's lyrics and Vita
Nuova. Love is now rather a mystical idea than a direct affection for a
particular lady: the lover is swayed by a spiritual and intellectual
ideal, and the motive of physical attraction recedes to the background.
The cause of love, however, remains unchanged: love enters through the
eyes; sight is delight.
We must now turn southwards. A school of poetry had grown up in Sicily
at the court of Frederick II. No doubt he favoured those troubadours
whose animosity to the papacy had been aroused by the Albigeois crusade:
such invective as that which Guillem Figueira could pour forth would be
useful to him in his struggle against the popes. But the emperor was
himself a man of unusual culture, with a keen interest in literary and
scientific pursuits: he founded a university at Naples, collected
manuscripts and did much to make Arabic learning known to the West. He
was a poet and the importance of the Sicilian school consists in the [106]
fact that while the subject matter of their songs was lifted from
troubadour poetry, the language which they used belonged to the Italian
peninsula. The dialect of these _provenzaleggianti_ was not pure
Sicilian but was probably a literary language containing elements drawn
from other dialects, as happened long before in the case of the
troubadours themselves. The best known representatives of this school,
Pier delle Vigne, Jacopo da Lentini and Guido delle Colonne are familiar
to students of Dante. After their time no one questioned the fact that
lyric poetry written in Italian was a possible achievement. The
influence of the Sicilian school extended to Central Italy and Tuscany;
Dante tells us that all Italian poetry preceding his own age was known
as Sicilian. The early Tuscan poets were, mediately or immediately,
strongly influenced by Provençal. The first examples of the sonnet, by
Dante da Majano, were written in that language. But such poetry was
little more than a rhetorical exercise. It was the revival of learning
and the Universities, in particular that of Bologna, which inspired the
_dolce stil nuovo_, of which the first exponent was Guido Giunicelli.
Love was now treated from a philosophical point of view: hitherto, the
Provençal school had maintained the thesis that "sight is delight," that
love originated from seeing and pleasing, penetrated to the heart and [107]
occupied the thoughts, after passing through the eyes. So Aimeric de
Pegulhan.
Perque tuit li fin aman
Sapchan qu'amors es fina bevolenza
Que nais del cor e dels huelh, ses duptar.
"Wherefore let all pure lovers know that love is pure unselfishness
which is born undoubtedly from the heart and from the eyes," a sentiment
thus repeated by Guido delle Colonne of the Sicilian school.
Dal cor si move un spirito in vedere
D'in ochi'n ochi, di femina e d'omo
Per lo quel si concria uno piacere.
The philosophical school entirely transformed this conception. Love
seeks the noble heart by affinity, as the bird seeks the tree: the noble
heart cannot but love, and love inflames and purifies its nobility, as
the power of the Deity is transmitted to the heavenly beings. When this
idea had been once evolved, Provençal poetry could no longer be a moving
force; it was studied but was not imitated. Its influence had lasted
some 150 years, and as far as Italy is concerned it was Arabic learning,
Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas who slew the troubadours more certainly
than Simon de Montfort and his crusaders. The day of superficial [108]
prettiness and of the cult of form had passed; love conjoined with
learning, a desire to pierce to the roots of things, a greater depth of
thought and earnestness were the characteristics of the new school.
Dante's debt to the troubadours, with whose literature he was well
acquainted, is therefore the debt of Italian literature as a whole. Had
not the troubadours developed their theory of courtly love, with its
influence upon human nature, we cannot say what course early Italian
literature might have run. Moreover, the troubadours provided Italy and
other countries also with perfect models of poetical form. The sonnet,
the terza rima and any other form used by Dante are of Provençal origin.
And what is true of Dante and his Beatrice is no less true of Petrarch
and his Laura and of many another who may be sought in histories
specially devoted to this subject.
CHAPTER VIII [109]
THE TROUBADOURS IN SPAIN
The South of France had been connected with the North of Spain from a
period long antecedent to the first appearance of troubadour poetry. As
early as the Visigoth period, Catalonia had been united to Southern
France; in the case of this province the tie was further strengthened by
community of language. On the western side of the Pyrenees a steady
stream of pilgrims entered the Spanish peninsula on their way to the
shrine of St James of Compostella in Galicia; this road was, indeed,
known in Spain as the "French road." Catalonia was again united with
Provence by the marriage of Raimon Berengar III. with a Provençal
heiress in 1112. As the counts of Barcelona and the kings of Aragon held
possessions in Southern France, communications between the two countries
were naturally frequent.
We have already had occasion to refer to the visits of various
troubadours to the courts of Spain. The "reconquista," the reconquest of
Spain from the Moors, was in progress during the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, and various crusade poems were written by troubadours [110]
summoning help to the Spaniards in their struggles. Marcabrun was the
author of one of the earliest of these, composed for the benefit of
Alfonso VIII. of Castile and possibly referring to his expedition
against the Moors in 1147, which was undertaken in conjunction with the
kings of Navarre and Aragon. The poem is interesting for its repetition
of the word _lavador_ or piscina, used as an emblem of the crusade in
which the participants would be cleansed of their sins.[32]
Pax in nomine Domini!
Fetz Marcabrus los motz e·l so.
Aujatz que di:
Cum nos a fait per sa doussor,
Lo Seignorius celestiaus
Probet de nos un lavador
C'ane, fors outramar, no·n' fon taus,
En de lai deves Josaphas:
E d'aquest de sai vos conort.
"Pax, etc.,---Marcabrun composed the words and the air. Hear what he
says. How, by his goodness, the Lord of Heaven, has made near us a
piscina, such as there never was, except beyond the sea, there by
Josaphat, and for this one near here do I exhort you."
Alfonso II. of Aragon (1162-1196) was a constant patron of the
troubadours, and himself an exponent of their art. He belonged to the
family of the counts of Barcelona which became in his time one of the [111]
most powerful royal houses in the West of Europe. He was the grandson of
Raimon Berengar III. and united to Barcelona by marriage and diplomacy,
the kingdom of Aragon, Provence and Roussillon. His continual visits to
the French part of his dominions gave every opportunity to the
troubadours to gain his favour: several were continually about him and
there were few who did not praise his liberality. A discordant note is
raised by Bertran de Born, who composed some violent _sirventes_ against
Alfonso; he was actuated by political motives: Alfonso had joined the
King of England in his operations against Raimon V. of Toulouse and
Bertran's other allies and had been present at the capture of Bertran's
castle of Hautefort in 1183. The biography relates that in the course of
the siege, the King of Aragon, who had formerly been in friendly
relations with Bertran, sent a messenger into the fortress asking for
provisions. These Bertran supplied with the request that the king would
secure the removal of the siege engines from a particular piece of wall,
which was on the point of destruction and would keep the information
secret. Alfonso, however, betrayed the message and the fortress was
captured. The _razo_ further relates the touching scene to which we have
already referred when Bertran moved Henry II. to clemency by a reference [112]
to the death of the "young king." The account of Alfonso's supposed
treachery is probably no less unhistorical: the siege lasted only a week
and it is unlikely that the besiegers would have been reduced to want in
so short a time. It was probably invented to explain the hostility on
Bertran's part which dated from the wars between Alfonso and Raimon V.
of Toulouse. This animosity was trumpeted forth in two lampooning
_sirventes_ criticising the public policy and the private life of the
Spanish King. His accusations of meanness and trickery seem to be based
on nothing more reliable than current gossip.
Peire Vidal, with the majority of the troubadours, shows himself a
vigorous supporter of Alfonso. Referring to this same expedition of 1183
he asserted "Had I but a speedy horse, the king might sleep in peace at
Balaguer: I would keep Provence and Montpelier in such order that
robbers and freebooters should no longer plunder Venaissin and Crau.
When I have put on my shining cuirass and girded on the sword that Guigo
lately gave me, the earth trembles beneath my feet; no enemy so mighty
who does not forthwith avoid out of my path, so great is their fear of
me when they hear my steps." These boasts in the style of Captain
Matamoros are, of course, not serious: the poet's personal appearance
seems to have been enough to preclude any suppositions of the kind. In [113]
another poem he sings the praises of Sancha, daughter of Alfonso VIII.
of Castile, who married Alfonso II. of Aragon in 1174. With the common
sense in political matters which is so strangely conjoined with the
whimsicality of his actions, he puts his finger upon the weak spot in
Spanish politics when he refers to the disunion between the four kings,
Alfonso II. of Aragon, Alfonso IX. of Leon, Alfonso VIII. of Castile and
Sancho Garcés of Navarre: "little honour is due to the four kings of
Spain for that they cannot keep peace with one another; since in other
respects they are of great worth, dexterous, open, courteous and loyal,
so that they should direct their efforts to better purpose and wage war
elsewhere against the people who do not believe our law, until the whole
of Spain professes one and the same faith."
The Monk of Montaudon, Peire Raimon of Toulouse, Uc de San Circ, Uc
Brunet and other troubadours of less importance also enjoyed Alfonso's
patronage. Guiraut de Bornelh sent a poem to the Catalonian court in
terms which seemed to show that the simple style of poetry was there
preferred to complicated obscurities. The same troubadour was
sufficiently familiar with Alfonso's successor, Pedro II., to take part
in a _tenso_ with him.
Pedro II. (1196-1213) was no less popular with the troubadours than his [114]
father. Aimeric de Pegulhan, though more closely connected with the
court of Castile, is loud in his praises of Pedro, "the flower of
courtesy, the green leaf of delight, the fruit of noble deeds." Pedro
supported his brother-in-law, Raimon VI. of Toulouse, against the
crusaders and Simon de Montfort during the Albigeois crusade and was
killed near Toulouse in the battle of Muret. The Chanson de la Croisade
does not underestimate the impression made by his death.
Mot fo grans lo dampnatges e·l dols e·l perdementz
Cant lo reis d'Arago remas mort e sagnens,
E mot d'autres baros, don fo grans l'aunimens
A tot crestianesme et a trastotas gens.
"Great was the damage and the grief and the loss when the King of Aragon
remained dead and bleeding with many other barons, whence was great
shame to all Christendom and to all people."
The Court of Castile attracted the attention and the visits of the
troubadours, chiefly during the reign of Alfonso VIII. (or III.;
1158-1214) the hero of Las Navas de Tolosa, the most decisive defeat
which the Arab power in the West had sustained since the days of Charles
Martel. The preceding defeat of Alfonso's forces at Alarcos in 1195 had
called forth a fine crusade _sirventes_ from Folquet of Marseilles
appealing to Christians in general and the King of Aragon in particular [115]
to join forces against the infidels. The death of Alfonso's son,
Fernando, in 1211 from an illness contracted in the course of a campaign
against the infidels was lamented by Guiraut de Calanso, a Gascon
troubadour.
Lo larc e·l franc, lo valen e·l grazitz,
Don cuiavon qu'en fos esmendatz
Lo jove reys, e·n Richartz lo prezatz
E·l coms Jaufres, tug li trey valen fraire.
"The generous and frank, the worthy and attractive of whom men thought
that in him were increased the qualities of the young king, of Richard
the high renowned, and of the Count Godfrey, all the three valiant
brothers." Peire Vidal in one of the poems which he addressed to Alfonso
VIII., speaks of the attractions of Spain. "Spain is a good country; its
kings and lords are kindly and loving, generous and noble, of courteous
company; other barons there are, noble and hospitable, men of sense and
knowledge, valiant and renowned." Raimon Vidal of Bezaudun, a Catalonian
troubadour has given a description of Alfonso's court in one of his
_novelas_. "I wish to relate a story which I heard a joglar tell at the
court of the wisest king that ever was, King Alfonso of Castile, where
were presents and gifts, judgment, worth and courtesy, spirit and
chivalry, though he was not anointed or sacred, but crowned with praise, [116]
sense, worth and prowess. The king gathered many knights to his court,
many _joglars_ and rich barons and when the court was filled Queen
Eleanor came in dressed so that no one saw her body. She came wrapped
closely in a cloak of silken fabric fine and fair called sisclaton; it
was red with a border of silver and had a golden lion broidered on it.
She bowed to the king and took her seat on one side at some distance.
Then, behold, a _joglar_ come before the king, frank and debonair, who
said 'King, noble emperor, I have come to you thus and I pray you of
your goodness that my tale may be heard,'" The scene concludes, "Joglar,
I hold the story which you have related as good, amusing and fair and
you also the teller of it and I will order such reward to be given to
you that you shall know that the story has indeed pleased me."
The crown of Castile was united with that of Leon by Fernando III.
(1230-1262) the son of Alfonso IX. of Leon. Lanfranc Cigala, the
troubadour of Genoa, excuses the Spaniards at this time for their
abstention from the Crusades to Jerusalem on the ground that they were
fully occupied in their struggles with the Moors. Fernando is one of the
kings to whom Sordello refers in the famous _sirventes_ of the divided
heart, as also is Jaime I. of Aragon (1213-1276), the "Conquistador," of
whom much is heard in the poetry of the troubadours. He was born at [117]
Montpelier and was fond of revisiting his birthplace; troubadours whom
he there met accompanied him to Spain, joined in his expeditions and
enjoyed his generosity. His court became a place of refuge for those who
had been driven out of Southern France by the Albigeois crusade; Peire
Cardenal, Bernard Sicart de Marvejols and N'At de Mons of Toulouse
visited him. His popularity with the troubadours was considerably shaken
by his policy in 1242, when a final attempt was made to throw off the
yoke imposed upon Southern France as the result of the Albigeois
crusade. Isabella of Angoulême, the widow of John of England, had
married the Count de la Marche; she urged him to rise against the French
and induced her son, Henry III. of England, to support him. Henry hoped
to regain his hold of Poitou and was further informed that the Count of
Toulouse and the Spanish kings would join the alliance. There seems to
have been a general belief that Jaime would take the opportunity of
avenging his father's death at Muret. However, no Spanish help was
forthcoming; the allies were defeated at Saintes and at Taillebourg and
this abortive rising ended in 1243. Guillem de Montanhagol says in a
_sirventes_ upon this event, "If King Jaime, with whom we have never
broken faith, had kept the agreement which is said to have been made [118]
between him and us, the French would certainly have had cause to grieve
and lament." Bernard de Rovenhac shows greater bitterness: "the king of
Aragon is undoubtedly well named Jacme (jac from jazer, to lie down) for
he is too fond of lying down and when anyone despoils him of his land,
he is so feeble that he does not offer the least opposition." Bernard
Sicart de Marvejols voices the grief of his class at the failure of the
rising: "In the day I am full of wrath and in the night I sigh betwixt
sleeping and waking; wherever I turn, I hear the courteous people crying
humbly 'Sire' to the French." These outbursts do not seem to have roused
Jaime to any great animosity against the troubadour class. Aimeric de
Belenoi belauds him, Peire Cardenal is said to have enjoyed his favour,
and other minor troubadours refer to him in flattering terms.
The greatest Spanish patron of the troubadours was undoubtedly Alfonso
X. of Castile (1254-1284). El Sabio earned his title by reason of his
enlightened interest in matters intellectual; he was himself a poet,
procured the translation of many scientific books and provided Castile
with a famous code of laws. The Italian troubadours Bonifaci Calvo and
Bartolomeo Zorzi were welcomed to his court, to which many others came
from Provence. One of his favourites was the troubadour who was the last [119]
representative of the old school, Guiraut Riquier of Narbonne. He was
born between 1230 and 1235, when the Albigeois crusade was practically
over and when troubadour poetry was dying, as much from its own inherent
lack of vitality as from the change of social and political environment
which the upheaval of the previous twenty years had produced. Guiraut
Riquier applied to a Northern patron for protection, a proceeding
unexampled in troubadour history and the patron he selected was the King
of France himself. Neither Saint Louis nor his wife were in the least
likely to provide a market for Guiraut's wares and the Paris of that day
was by no means a centre of literary culture. The troubadour, therefore,
tried his fortune with Alfonso X. whose liberality had become almost
proverbial. There he seems to have remained for some years and to have
been well content, in spite of occasional friction with other suitors
for the king's favour. His description of Catalonia is interesting.
Pus astres no m'es donatz
Que de mi dons bes m'eschaia,
Ni nulho nos plazers no·l platz,
Ni ay poder que·m n'estraia,
Ops m'es qu'ieu sia fondatz
En via d'amor veraia,
E puesc n'apenre assatz
En Cataluenha la gaia, [120]
Entrels Catalas valens
E las donas avinens.
Quar dompneys, pretz e valors,
Joys e gratz e cortesia,
Sens e sabers et honors,
Bels parlars, bella paria,
E largueza et amors,
Conoyssensa e cundia,
Troban manten e socors
En Cataluenha a tria,
Entrels, etc.
"Since my star has not granted me that from my lady happiness should
fall to me, since no pleasure that I can give pleases her and I have no
power to forget her, I must needs enter upon the road of true love and I
can learn it well enough in gay Catalonia among the Catalonians, men of
worth, and their kindly ladies. For courtesy, worth, joy, gratitude and
gallantry, sense, knowledge, honour, fair speech, fair company,
liberality and love, learning and grace find maintenance and support in
Catalonia entirely."
Between thirty and forty poets of Spanish extraction are known to have
written Provençal poetry. Guillem de Tudela of Navarre wrote the first
part of the _Chanson de la Croisade albigeoise_; Serveri de Gerona wrote
didactic and devotional poetry, showing at least ingenuity of technique;
Amanieu des Escas has left love letters and didactic works for the [121]
instruction of young people in the rules of polite behaviour. But the
influence of Provençal upon the native poetry of Spain proper was but
small, in spite of the welcome which the troubadours found at the courts
of Castile, Aragon, Leon and Navarre. Troubadour poetry required a
peaceful and an aristocratic environment, and the former at least of
these conditions was not provided by the later years of Alfonso X.
Northern French influence was also strong: numerous French immigrants
were able to settle in towns newly founded or taken from the Moors. The
warlike and adventurous spirit of Northern and Central Spain preferred
epic to lyric poetry: and the outcome was the _cantar de gesta_ and the
_romance_, the lyrico-narrative or ballad poem.
This was not the course of development followed either in the Eastern or
Western coasts of the peninsula. Catalonia was as much a part of the
Provençal district as of Spain. To the end of the thirteenth century
Catalonian poets continued to write in the language of the troubadours,
often breaking the strict rules of rime correspondence and of grammar,
but refusing to use their native dialect. Religious poems of popular and
native origin appear to have existed, but even the growth of a native
prose was unable to overcome the preference for Provençal in the [122]
composition of lyrics. Guiraut de Cabreira is remembered for the 213
lines which he wrote to instruct his _joglar_ Cabra; Guiraut upbraids
this performer for his ignorance, and details a long series of legends
and poems which a competent _joglar_ ought to know. Guiraut de Calanso
wrote an imitation of this diatribe. The best known of the Catalonian
troubadours is Raimon Vidal of Besadun, both for his _novelas_ and also
for his work on Provençal grammar and metre, _Las rasos de trobar_,[33]
which was written for the benefit of his compatriots who desired to
avoid solecisms or mistakes when composing. "For as much as I, Raimon
Vidal, have seen and known that few men know or have known the right
manner of composing poetry (trobar) I desire to make this book that men
may know and understand which of the troubadours have composed best and
given the best instruction to those who wish to learn how they should
follow the right manner of composing.... All Christian people, Jews,
Saracens, emperors, princes, kings, dukes, counts, viscounts, vavassors
and all other nobles with clergy, citizens and villeins, small and
great, daily give their minds to composing and singing.... In this
science of composing the troubadours are gone astray and I will tell you
wherefore. The hearers who do not understand anything when they hear a
fine poem will pretend that they understand perfectly... because they [123]
think that men would consider it a fault in them if they said that they
did not understand.... And if when they hear a bad troubadour, they do
understand, they will praise his singing because they understand it; or
if they will not praise, at least they will not blame him; and thus the
troubadours are deceived and the hearers are to blame for it." Raimon
Vidal proceeds to say that the pure language is that of Provence or of
Limousin or of Saintonge or Auvergne or Quercy: "wherefore I tell you,
that when I use the term Limousin, I mean all those lands and those
which border them or are between them." He was apparently the first to
use the term Limousin to describe classical Provençal, and when it
became applied to literary Catalonian, as distinguished from _plá
Catalá_, the vulgar tongue, the result was some confusion. Provençal
influence was more permanent in Catalonia than in any other part of
Spain; in 1393, the Consistorium of the _Gay saber_ was founded in
imitation of the similar association at Toulouse. Most of the troubadour
poetical forms and the doctrines of the Toulouse _Leys d'Amors_ were
retained, until Italian influence began to oust Provençal towards the
close of the fifteenth century.
On the western side of Spain, Provençal influence evoked a brief and
brilliant literature in the Galician or Portuguese school. Its most [124]
brilliant period was the age of Alfonso X. of Castile, one of its most
illustrious exponents, and that of Denis of Portugal (1280-1325). The
dates generally accepted for the duration of this literature are
1200-1385; it has left to us some 2000 lyric poems, the work of more
than 150 poets, including four kings and a number of nobles of high
rank. French and Provençal culture had made its way gradually and by
various routes to the western side of the Spanish peninsula.
We have already referred to the pilgrim route to the shrine of
Compostella, by which a steady stream of foreign influence entered the
country. The same effect was produced by crusaders who came to help the
Spaniards in their struggle against the Moors, and by foreign colonists
who helped to Christianise the territories conquered from the
Mohammedans. The capture of Lisbon in 1147 increased maritime
intercourse with the North. Individuals from Portugal also visited
Northern and Southern France, after the example of their Spanish
neighbours. References to Portugal in the poetry of the troubadours are
very scarce, nor is there any definite evidence that any troubadour
visited the country. This fact is in striking contrast with the loud
praises of the Spanish courts. None the less, such visits must have
taken place: Sancho I. had French _jongleurs_ in his pay during [125]
the twelfth century and the Portuguese element in the five-language
_descort_ of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras shows that communication between
Provençal poets and Portuguese or Galician districts must have existed.
The general silence of the troubadours may be due to the fact that
communication began at a comparatively late period and was maintained
between Portugal and Spanish courts, and not directly between Portugal
and Southern France.
Alfonso X. of Castile himself wrote many poems in the Galician or
Portuguese dialect; perhaps his choice was dictated by reasons analogous
to those which impelled Italian and Catalonian poets to write in
Provençal. The general body of Portuguese poetry declares itself by form
and content to be directly borrowed from the troubadours: it appeals to
an aristocratic audience; the idea of love as a feudal relation is
preserved with the accompanying ideas of _amour courtois_, and the lyric
forms developed in Southern France are imitated. The Provençal manner
took root in Portugal as it failed to do in Spain, because it found the
ground to some extent prepared by the existence of a popular lyric
poetry which was remodelled under Provençal influence. The most popular
of the types thus developed were _Cantigas de amor e de amigo_ and
_Cantigas de_ _escarnho e de maldizer_; the former were love
songs: when the poet speaks the song was one _de amor_; when the lady
speaks (and she is unmarried, in contrast to Provençal usage) the song was
_de amigo_. This latter is a type developed independently by the
Portuguese school. _Cantigas de escarnho_ correspond in intention [126]
to the Provençal _sirventes_; if their satire was open and unrestrained
they were _cantigas de maldizer_. They dealt for the most part with
trivial court and personal affairs and not with questions of national policy
upon which the troubadours so often expressed their opinions. Changes in
taste and political upheavals brought this literature to an end about
1385 and the progress of Portuguese poetry then ceases for some fifty
years.
CHAPTER IX [127]
PROVENÇAL INFLUENCE IN GERMANY, FRANCE AND ENGLAND
Provençal influence in Germany is apparent in the lyric poetry of the
minnesingers. Of these, two schools existed, connected geographically
with two great rivers. The earlier, the Austro-Bavarian school,
flourished in the valley of the Danube: the later minnesingers form the
Rhine school. In the latter case, Provençal influence is not disputed;
but the question whether the Austro-Bavarian school was exempt from it,
has given rise to considerable discussion. The truth seems to be, that
the earliest existing texts representing this school do show traces of
Provençal influence; but there was certainly a primitive native poetry
in these Danube districts which had reached an advanced stage of
development before Provençal influence affected it. Austria undoubtedly
came into touch with this influence at an early date. The Danube valley
was a high road for the armies of crusaders; another route led from
Northern Italy to Vienna, by which Peire Vidal probably found his way to
Hungary. At the same time, though Provençal influence was strong, the [128]
Middle High German lyric rarely relapsed into mere imitation or
translation of troubadour productions. Dietmar von Aist, one of the
earliest minnesingers, who flourished in the latter half of the twelfth
century has, for instance, the Provençal _alba_ theme. Two lovers part
at daybreak, when awakened by a bird on the linden: if the theme is
Provençal, the simplicity of the poet's treatment is extremely fresh and
natural. This difference is further apparent in the attitude of
minnesingers and troubadours towards the conception of "love." The
minnesong is the literary expression of the social convention known as
"Frauendienst," the term "minne" connoting the code which prescribed the
nature of the relation existing between the lover and his lady; the
dominant principle was a reverence for womanhood as such, and in this
respect the German minnesang is inspired by a less selfish spirit than
the Provençal troubadour poetry. Typical of the difference is Walter von
der Vogelweide's--
Swer guotes wîbes minne hât,
der schamt sich aller missetât.
("He who has a good woman's love is ashamed of every ill deed"),
compared with Bernart de Ventadour's--
Non es meravilha s'ieu chan [129]
Melhs de nul autre chantador
Car plus trai mos cors ves Amor
E melhs sui faitz a son coman.
("It is no wonder if I sing better than any other singer, for my heart
draws nearer to love and I am better made for love's command.") The
troubadour _amor_, especially in its Italian development, eventually
attained the moral power of the _minne_; but in its early stages, it was
a personal and selfish influence. The stanza form and rime distribution
of the minnesinger poems continually betray Provençal influence: the
principle of tripartition is constantly followed and the arrangement of
rimes is often a repetition of that adopted in troubadour stanzas.
Friedrich von Hausen, the Count Rudolf von Fenis, Heinrich von Morungen
and others sometimes translate almost literally from troubadour poetry,
though these imitations do not justify the lines of Uhland.
In den Thälern der Provence ist der Minnesang entsprossen,
Kind des Frühlings und der Minne, holder, inniger Genossen.
Northern France, the home of epic poetry, also possessed an indigenous
lyric poetry, including spring and dance songs, pastorals, romances, and
"chansons de toile." Provençal influence here was inevitable. It is
apparent in the form and content of poems, in the attempt to remodel [130]
Provençal poems by altering the words to French forms, and by the fact
that Provençal poems are found in MS. collections of French lyrics.
Provençal poetry first became known in Northern France from the East, by
means of the crusaders and not, as might be expected, by
intercommunication in the centre of the country. The centre of Provençal
influence in Northern France seems to have been the court of Eleanor of
Poitiers the wife of Henry II. of England and the court of her daughter,
Marie of Champagne. Here knights and ladies attempted to form a legal
code governing love affairs, of which a Latin edition exists in the _De
arte honeste amandi_ of André le Chapelain, written at the outset of the
thirteenth century. Well-known troubadours such as Bertran de Born and
Bernart de Ventadour visited Eleanor's court and the theory of courtly
love found its way into epic poetry in the hands of Chrétien de Troyes.
The Provençal school in Northern France began during the latter half of
the twelfth century. The _chanson_ properly so called is naturally most
strongly represented: but the Provençal forms, the _tençon_ (Prov.
_tenso_) and a variant of it, the _jeu-parti_ (Prov. _jocs partitz_ or
_partimens_) are also found, especially the latter. This was so called,
because the opener of the debate proposed two alternatives to his
interlocutor, of which the latter could choose for support either that [131]
he preferred, the proposer taking the other contrary proposition: the
contestants often left the decision in an _envoi_ to one or more
arbitrators by common consent. Misinterpretation of the language of
these _envois_ gave rise to the legend concerning the "courts of love,"
as we have stated in a previous chapter. One of the earliest
representatives of this school was Conon de Bethune, born in 1155; he
took part in the Crusades of 1189 and 1199. Blondel de Nesles, Gace
Brulé and the Châtelain de Coucy are also well-known names belonging to
the twelfth century. Thibaut IV., Count of Champagne and King of Navarre
(1201-1253), shared in the Albigeois crusade and thus helped in the
destruction of the poetry which he imitated. One of the poems attributed
to him by Dante (_De Vulg. El._) belongs to Gace Brulé; his love affair
with Blanche of Castile is probably legendary. Several crusade songs are
attributed to Thibaut among some thirty poems of the kind that remain to
us from the output of this school. These crusade poems exhibit the
characteristics of their Provençal models: there are exhortations to
take the cross in the form of versified sermons; there are also love
poems which depict the poet's mind divided between his duty as a
crusader and his reluctance to leave his lady; or we find the lady [132]
bewailing her lover's departure, or again, lady and lover lament their
approaching separation in alternate stanzas. There is more real feeling
in some of these poems than is apparent in the ordinary chanson of the
Northern French courtly school: the following stanzas are from a poem by
Guiot de Dijon,[34] the lament of a lady for her absent lover--
Chanterai por mon corage
Que je vueill reconforter
Car avec mon grant damage
Ne quier morir n'afoler,
Quant de la terra sauvage
Ne voi nului retorner
Ou cil est qui m'assoage
Le cuer, quant j'en oi parler
Dex, quant crieront outree,
Sire, aidiés au pelerin
Por cui sui espoentee,
Car felon sunt Sarrazin.
De ce sui bone atente
Que je son homage pris,
E quant la douce ore vente
Qui vient de cel douz païs
Ou cil est qui m'atalente,
Volontiers i tor mon vis:
Adont m'est vis que jel sente
Par desoz mon mantel gris.
Dex, etc.
"I will sing for my heart which I will comfort, for in spite of my great
loss I do not wish to die, and yet I see no one return from the wild [133]
land where he is who calms my heart when I hear mention of him. God!
when they cry Outre (a pilgrim marching cry), Lord help the pilgrim for
whom I tremble, for wicked are the Saracens.
"From this fact have I confidence, that I have received his vows and
when the gentle breeze blows which comes from the sweet country where he
is whom I desire, readily do I turn my face thither: then I think I feel
him beneath my grey mantle."
The idea in the second stanza quoted is borrowed from Bernard de
Ventadour--
Quant la douss' aura venta
Deves vostre païs.
Vejaire m'es qu'eu senta
Un ven de Paradis.
The greater part of this poetry repeats, in another language, the
well-worn mannerisms of the troubadours: we find the usual introductory
references to the spring or winter seasons, the wounding glances of
ladies' eyes, the tyranny of love, the reluctance to be released from
his chains and so forth, decked out with complications of stanza form
and rime-distribution. Dialectical subtlety is not absent, and
occasionally some glow of natural feeling may be perceived; but that
school in general was careful to avoid the vulgarity of unpremeditated
emotion and appealed only to a restricted class of the initiated.
Changes in the constitution and customs of society brought this school [134]
to an end at the close of the thirteenth century, and a new period of
lyric poetry was introduced by Guillaume de Machaut and Eustache
Deschamps.
Of the troubadours in England there is little to be said. The subject
has hitherto received but scanty attention. Richard Coeur de Lion was as
much French as English; his mother, Queen Eleanor, as we have seen, was
Southern French by birth and a patroness of troubadours. Richard
followed her example; his praises are repeated by many troubadours. What
truth there may be in Roger of Hovenden's statement concerning his
motives cannot be said; "Hic ad augmentum et famam sui nominis
emendicata carmina et rhythmos adulatorios comparabat et de regno
Francorum cantores et joculatores muneribus allexerat ut de illo
canerent in plateis, et jam dicebatur ubique, quod non erat talis in
orbe." The manuscripts have preserved two poems attributed to him, one
referring to a difference with the Dauphin of Auvergne, Robert I.
(1169-1234), the other a lament describing his feelings during his
imprisonment in Germany (1192-1194). Both are in French though a
Provençal verson is extant of the latter. The story of Richard's
discovery by Blondel is pure fiction.[35]
From the time of Henry II. to that of Edward I. England was in constant [135]
communication with Central and Southern France and a considerable number
of Provençals visited England at different times and especially in the
reign of Henry III.; Bernard de Ventadour, Marcabrun and Savaric de
Mauleon are mentioned among them. Though opportunity was thus provided
for the entry of Provençal influence during the period when a general
stimulus was given to lyric poetry throughout Western Europe, Norman
French was the literary language of England during the earlier part of
that age and it was not until the second half of the thirteenth century
that English lyric poetry appeared. Nevertheless, traces of Provençal
influence are unmistakably apparent in this Middle English lyric poetry.
But even before this time Anglo-Latin and Anglo-Norman literature was
similarly affected. William of Malmesbury says that the Norman Thomas,
Archbishop of York, the opponent of Anselm wrote religious songs in
imitation of those performed by jongleurs; "si quis in auditu ejus arte
joculatoria aliquid vocale sonaret, statim illud in divinas laudes
effigiabat." These were possibly hymns to the Virgin. There remain also
political poems written against John and Henry III. which may be fairly
called _sirventes_, Latin disputes, such as those Inter Aquam et Vinum,
Inter Cor et Oculum, De Phillide et Flora, are constructed upon the [136]
principles of the _tenso_ or _partimen_. The use of equivocal and
"derivative" rimes as they are called in the Leys d'Amors is seen in the
following Anglo-Norman stanzas. A poem with similar rimes and grouped in
the same order is attributed to the Countess of Die, the Provençal
_trobairitz_; but this, as M. Paul Meyer points out, may be pure
coincidence.[36]
En lo sesoun qe l'erbe poynt
E reverdist la matinée
E sil oysel chauntent a poynt
En temps d'avril en la ramée,
Lores est ma dolur dublée
Que jeo sui en si dure poynt
Que jeo n'en ai de joie poynt,
Tant me greve la destinée.
Murnes et pensif m'en depart,
Que trop me greve la partie;
Si n'en puis aler cele part,
Que ele n'eyt a sa partie
Mon quor tot enter saunz partie.
E puis qu'el ad le men saunz part,
E jeo n'oy unkes del soen part
A moi est dure la partie.
"In the season when the grass springs and the morn is green and the
birds sing exultantly in April time in the branches, then is my grief
doubled, for I am in so hard a case that I have no joy at all, so heavy
is my fate upon me.
"Sad and thoughtful I depart, for the case is too grievous for me: yet [137]
I cannot go thither, for she has in her power my heart whole and
undivided. And since she has mine undivided and I never have any part of
hers, the division is a hard one to me."
This influence was continued in Middle English lyric poetry. These
lyrics are often lacking in polish; the tendency to use alliteration as
an ornament has nothing to do with such occasional troubadour examples
of the trick as may be found in Peire d'Auvergne. Sometimes a refrain of
distinctly popular origin is added to a stanza of courtly and artificial
character. Generally, however, there is a freshness and vigour in these
poems which may be vainly sought in the products of continental
decadence. But Provençal influence, whether exerted directly or
indirectly through the Northern French lyric school, is plainly visible
in many cases. Of the lyrics found in the important MS. Harleian
2253,[37] "Alysoun" has the same rime scheme as a poem by Gaucelm
Faidit: it opens with the conventional appeal to spring; the poet's
feelings deprive him of sleep. The Fair Maid of Ribbesdale has a
rime-scheme almost identical with that shown by one of Raimbaut
d'Aurenga's poems; the description of the lady's beauty recalls many
troubadour formulae: the concluding lines--
He myhte sayen pat crist hym seze, [138]
pat myhte nyhtes neh hyre leze,
heuene he hevede here.
are a troubadour commonplace. Many other cases might be quoted. Hymns
and songs to the Virgin exhibit the same characteristics of form. The
few Provençal words which became English are interesting;[38] colander
or cullender (now a vegetable strainer; Prov. colador), funnel,
puncheon, rack, spigot, league, noose are directly derived from
Provençal and not through Northern French and are words connected with
shipping and the wine trade, the port for which was Bordeaux.
In the year 1323 a society was formed in Toulouse of seven troubadours,
the "sobregaya companhia," for the purpose of preserving and encouraging
lyric poetry (lo gay saber). The middle class of Toulouse seems at all
times to have felt an interest in poetry and had already produced such
well-known troubadours as Aimeric de Pegulhan, Peire Vidal and Guillem
Figueira. The society offered an annual prize of a golden violet for the
best _chanso_; other prizes were added at a later date for the best
dance song and the best _sirventes_. Competitors found that songs to the
Virgin were given the preference and she eventually became the one
subject of these prize competitions. The society produced a grammatical [139]
work, the Leys d'Amors, under the name of its president, Guillem
Molinier, in 1356,[39] no doubt for the reference and instruction of
intending competitors. The competition produced a few admirable poems,
but anxiety to preserve the old troubadour style resulted generally in
dry and stilted compositions. The _Academie des jeux floraux_[40]
altered the character of the competition by admitting French poems after
1694. At the end of the sixteenth century, Provençal poetry underwent a
revival; in our own time, poets such as Jasmin, Aubanel, Roumanille and
above all, Mistral, have raised their language from a patois to a
literary power. The work of the félibres has been to synthetise the best
elements of the various local dialects and to create a literary language
by a process not wholly dissimilar to that described at the outset of
this book. But the old troubadour spirit had died long before; it had
accomplished its share in the history of European literature and had
given an impulse to the development of lyric poetry, the effects of
which are perceptible even at the present day.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTES
LITERARY HISTORY
F. Diez, _Leben und Werke der Troubadours_, 2nd edit., re-edited by K.
Bartsch, Leipsic, 1882. _Die Poesie der Troubadours_, 2nd edit.,
re-edited by K. Bartsch, Leipsic, 1883.
K. Bartsch, _Grundriss zur Geschichte der provenzalischen Literatur_,
Elberfeld, 1872. A new edition of this indispensable work is in
preparation by Prof. A. Pillet of Breslau. The first part of the book
contains a sketch of Provençal literature, and a list of manuscripts.
The second part gives a list of the troubadours in alphabetical order,
with the lyric poems attributed to each troubadour. The first line of
each poem is quoted and followed by a list of the MSS. in which it is
found. Modern editors have generally agreed to follow these lists in
referring to troubadour lyrics: e.g. B. Gr., 202, 4 refers to the fourth
lyric (in alphabetical order) of Guillem Ademar, who is no. 202 in
Bartsch's list.
A list of corrections to this list is given by Gröber in Böhmer's
_Romanische Studien_, vol. ii. 1875-77, Strassburg. In vol. ix. of the
same is Gröbers' study of troubadour MSS. and the relations between
them.
A. Stimming, _Provenzaliscke Literatur in Gröber's Grundriss der
Romanischen Philologie_, Strassburg, 1888, vol. ii. part ii. contains
useful bibliographical notices.
A. Restori, _Letteratura provenzale_, Milan, 1891 (_Manuali Hoepli_), an
excellent little work.
A. Jeanroy, _Les origines de la poésie lyrique en France_, 2nd edit.,
Paris, 1904.
J. Anglade, _Les troubadours_, Paris, 1908, an excellent and trustworthy
work, in popular style, with a good bibliography.
J. H. Smith, _The troubadours at Home_, 2 vols., New York, 1899;
popularises scientific knowledge by impressions of travel in Southern
France, photographs, and historical imagination: generally stimulating
and suggestive, Most histories of French literature devote some space to
Provençal; e.g. Suchier & Birch-Hirschfeld, _Geschichte der
französischen Litteratur_, Leipsic, 1900. The works of Millot and
Fauriel are now somewhat antiquated. _Trobador Poets_, Barbara Smythe,
London, 1911, contains an introduction and translations from various
troubadours.
DICTIONARIES AND GRAMMARS
F. Raynouard, _Lexique roman_, 6 vols., Paris, 1838-1844,
supplemented by.
E. Levy, _Provenzalisches supplement-Wörterbuch_, Leipsic, 1894, not
yet completed, but indispensable.
E. Levy, _Petit dictionnaire provençal-français_, Heidelberg, 1908.
J. B. Roquefort, _Glossaire de la langue romane_, 3 vols., Paris, 1820.
W. Meyer-Lübke, _Grammaire des langues romanes_, French translation of
the German, Paris, 1905.
C. H. Grandgent, _An outline of the phonology and morphology of old
Provençal_, Boston, 1905.
H. Suchier, _Die französiche und provenzalische Sprache_ in Gröber's
_Grundriss_. A French translation, _Le Français et le Provençal_, Paris,
1891.
TEXTS
The following chrestomathies contain tables of grammatical forms (except
in the case of Bartsch) texts and vocabularies.
_Altprovenzalisches Elementarbuch_, O. Schultz-Gora, Heidelberg, 1906,
an excellent work for beginners.
_Provenzalische Chrestomathie_, C. Appel, Leipsic, 1907, 3rd edit.
_Manualetto provenzale_, V. Crescini, Padua, 1905, 2nd edit.
_Chrestomathie provençal_, K. Bartsch, re-edited by Koschwitz, Marburg,
1904.
The following editions of individual troubadours have been published.
Alegret. _Annales du Midi_, no. 74.
Arnaut Daniel. U. A. Canello, Halle, 1883.
Bernart de Rovenac. G. Borsdorff, Erlangen, 1907.
Bartolomeo Zorzi. E. Levy, Halle, 1883.
Bertran d'Alamanon. J. Salverda de Grave, Toulouse, 1902 (_Bibliothèque
Méridionale_).
Bertran de Born. A. Thomas, Toulouse, 1888 (_Bibliothèque Méridionale_).
Bertran de Born. A. Stimming, Halle, 1892 (and in the _Romanischz
Bibliothek_, Leipsic).
Blacatz. O. Soltau, Leipsic, 1890.
Cercamon. Dr Dejeanne, Toulouse, 1905 (_Annales du Midi_, vol. xvii.).
Elias de Barjols. Stronski, Paris, 1906 (_Bibliothèque Méridionale_
vi.).
Folquet de Marselha. Stronski, Cracow, 1911.
Folquet de Romans. Zenker (_Romanische Bibliothek_).
Gavaudan. A. Jeanroy, _Romania_, xxxiv., p. 497.
Guillaume IX. Comte de Poitiers. A. Jeanroy, Toulouse, 1905.
Guillem Anelier de Toulouse. M. Gisi, Solothurn, 1877.
Guillem de Cabestanh. F. Hüffer, Berlin, 1869.
Guillem Figueira. E. Levy, Berlin, 1880.
Guillem de Montanhagol. J. Coulet, _Bibliothèque Méridionale_, iv.,
Toulouse.
Guiraut de Bornelh. A. Kolsen, Berlin, 1894 and 1911.
Guiraut d'Espanha. P. Savi-Lopez. _Studj mediaevali_, Fasc. 3, Turin,
1905.
Guiraut Riquier, Étude sur, etc. J. Anglade, Paris, 1905.
Jaufre Rudel. A Stimming, Kiel, 1873.
Marcabrun. Dr Dejeanne. _Bibliothèque Méridionale_, 1910.
Marcoat. Dr Dejeanne, Toulouse, 1903 (_Annales du Midi_, xv.).
Monk of Montaudon. E. Philippson, Halle, 1873; O. Klein, Marburg, 1885.
N' At de Mons. Bernhard. _Altfranzösische Bibliothek, Heilbronn_.
Paulet de Marselha. E. Levy, Paris, 1882.
Peire d'Alvernhe (d'Auvergne). R. Zenker, Rostock, 1900.
Peire Vidal. K. Bartsch, Berlin, 1857 (an edition by J. Anglade is about
to appear).
Peire Rogier. C. Appel, Berlin, 1892.
Perdigon. H.J. Chaytor, _Annales du Midi_, xxi.
Pons de Capdoill. M. Napolski, Halle, 1879.
Raimbaut de Vaqueiras. O. Schultz, Halle, 1893.
Raimon de Miraval, Etude sur, etc. P. Andraud, Paris, 1902.
Sordel. De Lollis, Halle, 1896 (_Romanische Bibliothek_).
Numerous separate pieces have been published in the various periodicals
concerned with Romance philology, as also have diplomatic copies of
several MSS. Of these periodicals, the most important for Provençal are
_Romania, les Annales du Midi, Zeitschrift der Romanischen Philologie,
Archiv fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen, Romanische Studien, Studj
di filologia romanza, Revue des langues romanes_. Mahn's _Gedichte der
Troubadours_, 4 vols., Berlin, 1856-71, contains diplomatic copies of
MSS.; his _Werke der Troubadours_, Berlin, 1846-55, contains reprints
from Raynouard, _Choix des poésies originales des Troubadours_, Paris,
1816. Suchier, _Denkmäler provenzalischer Sprache_, Halle, 1883; Appel,
_Provenzalische Inedita_, Leipsic, 1890; Chabaneau, _Poesies inédites
des Troubadours du Perigord_, Paris, 1885; P. Meyer, _Les derniers
troubadours de Provence_, Paris, 1871, should be mentioned. Most of the
pieces in the _Parnasse Occitanien_, Toulouse, 1819, are to be found
better edited elsewhere. Other pieces are to be found in various
_Festschriften_ and occasional or private publications, too numerous to
be detailed here. C. Chabaneau, _Les biographies des Troubadours_,
Toulouse, 1885 (part of the _Histoire générale de Languedoc_) is full of
valuable information. The biographies have been translated by I.
Farnell, _Lives of the Troubadours_, London, 1896.
NOTES
CHAPTER I
1. See maps at the end of Gröber's _Grundriss_, vol. i.
2. _De Vulg. El._ I., 8: alii oc, alii oïl, alii si affirmando
loquuntur, and _Vita Nuova_, xxv. Dante also knew the term provincialis.
3. Boethius. F. Hündgen, Oppeln, 1884. For Sainte Foy d'Agen, see
_Romania_ xxxi., p, 177 ff.
4. P. Meyer in _Romania_ v., p. 257. Bédier, _Les chansons de Croisade_,
Paris, 1909, p. 16.
5. See P. Maus, _Peire Cardenals Strophenbau_, Marburg, 1884.
6. See Jeanroy, Origines, etc.
CHAPTER II
7. Provençal has also the feminine _joia_ with the general meaning of
"delight."
8. See Stimming's article in Gröber's _Grundriss_.
9. Raynouard, _Les Troubadours et les Cours d'Amour_, Paris, 1817; see
also Diez, _Über die Minnehöfe_, Berlin, 1825. Pio Rajna, _Le Corti
d'Amore_, Milan, 1890.
10. _Annales du Midi_, xix. p. 364.
11. _Die provenzalische Tenzone_, R. Zenker, Leipsic, 1888.
CHAPTER III
12. Girart de Roussillon, translation by P. Meyer, Paris, 1884: see also
_Romania_, vii. Diplomatic copies of the MSS. in _Romanische Studien_ V.
_Le Roman de Flamenca_, P. Meyer, Paris, 1901.
13. J. B. Beck, _Die Melodien der Troubadours_, Strasburg, 1908. _La
Musique des Troubadours_, Paris, 1910, by the same author, who there
promised a selection of songs harmonized for performance: this has not
yet appeared. See also _Quatre poésies de Marcabrun_, Jeanroy, Dejeanne
and Aubry, Paris, 1904, with texts, music, and translations.
14. Schindler, _Die Kreuzzüge in der altprovenzalischen und
mittelhochdeutschen lyrik._, Dresden, 1889. K. Lewent, _Das
altprovenzalische Kreuzlied_, Berlin, 1905.
15. A. Pillet, _Studien zur Pastourelle_, Breslau, 1902. Römer, _Die
volkstümlichen Dichtungsarten der altprovenzalischen Lyrik_, Marburg,
1884.
16. _Quae judicia de litteris fecerint Provinciales_. P. Andraud, Paris,
1902.
17. From _Si'm sentis fizels amics_, quoted by Dante, _De Vulg. El._ i. 9.
CHAPTER IV
18. "Paubre motz"; also interpreted as "scanty words," i.e. poems with
short lines. On Jaufre Rudel in literature, see a lecture by Carducci,
Bologna 1888. The latest theory of his mysterious love is that she was
the Virgin Mary; see C. Appel, _Archiv für das Studium der neueren
Sprachen_, cvii. 3-4.
19. Mahn, _Gedichte_, no. 707. An edition of Bernard de Ventadour's
poems is in preparation by Prof. Appel.
20. _Cp._ Dante, _Par._ xx. 73.
CHAPTER V
21. Dante, _De Vulg. El._ ii. 2.
22. "Il Provenzale," _Conv._ iv. 11.
23. _Purg._ xxvi.
24. On his family see Stronski, _Folquet de Marseille_, p. 15 and
159-172.
25. See G. Paris, _La Littérature française au moyen âge_, § 128.
CHAPTER VI
26. The best short account of the Albigenses is to be found in vol. i.
of H.C. Lea's _Histoire de L'Inquisition au moyen âge_, Paris, 1903.
This, the French translation, is superior to the English edition as it
contains the author's last corrections, and a number of bibliographical
notes. The Adoptionist theory is stated in the introduction to F.C.
Conybeare's _Key of Truth_, Oxford, 1908. The _Chanson de la Croisade
Albigeoise_, P. Meyer, Paris, 1875, 2 vols., is indispensable to
students of the subject. In these works will be found much of the
extensive bibliography of the heresy and crusade.
27. Eckbertus, _Serm. adv. Catharos, Migne, Patr. Lat._, tom. 193. p.
73.
28. _Cf._ Milman, _Latin Christianity_, Book IX. chap. viii. p. 85.
29. On religious lyric poetry, see Lowinsky, _Zeitschrift für
französische Sprache und Litteratur_, xx. p. 163 ff., and the
bibliographical note to Stimming's article in Gröber's _Grundriss_, vol.
ii. part ii. § 32.
CHAPTER VII
Most histories of Italian literature deal with this subject. See
Gaspary's _Italian Literature to the death of Dante_: H. Oelsner, Bohn's
Libraries. See also the chapter, _La poésie française en Italie_ in
Jeanroy's _Origines_. For Dante, see _Storia letteraria d'Italia,
scritta di una società di professori_, Milan, vol. iii., Dante, by
Zingarelli. _The Troubadours of Dante_, Chaytor, Oxford, 1902. Useful
are A. Thomas, _Francesco da Barberino et la littérature provençale en
Italie au moyen âge_, Paris, 1883. O. Schultz, _Die Lebensverhältnisse
der Italienischen Trobadors_, Berlin, 1883.
30. Schultz, _Die Briefe des Trobadors Raimbaut de Vaqueiras an Bonifaz
I._, Halle, 1883.
31. Zingarelli, _Intorno a due Trovatori in Italia_, Florence, 1899.
CHAPTER VIII
Milà y Fontañals, _Los trovadores en España_, Barcelona, 1861, remains
the best work on the subject. On Portugal, the article in Gröber's
_Grundriss_, ii. 2, p. 129, by C. Michaelis de Vasconcellos and Th.
Braga is admirable: see the bibliographical references there given and
the introduction to R. Lang, _Das Liederbuch des Königs Denis von
Portugal_, Halle, 1894.
32. The date of this poem is disputed, see Dr Dejeanne's edition of
Marcabrun, p. 235.
33. F. Guessard, _Grammaires Provençales_, Paris, 1858; E. Stengel, _Die
beiden ältesten prov. Gram._, Marburg, 1878.
CHAPTER IX
Troubadour influence in Germany is discussed at greater or less length
in most histories of German literature. See Jeanroy, _Origines_, p. 270
ff. A. Lüderitz, _Die Liebestheorien der Provenzalen bei den
Minnesingern der Slauferzeit_, Literarhistorische Forschungen, Berlin,
1904.
For France. A. Jeanroy, _De nostratibus medii aevi poetis qui primum
Aquitaniae carmina imitati sint_, Paris, 1889.
For England. Schofield, _English Literature from the Norman Conquest to
Chaucer_, London, 1906. O. Heider, _Untersuchungen zur mittelenglischen
erotischen Lyrik_, Halle, 1905. A. Brandl, _Spielmann's verhältnisse in
frühmittelenglischer Zeit_, Sitzungs-berichte der Königl. preuss.,
Akademie, 1910.
34. Bédier, _Chansons de Croisade_, Paris, 1909, p. 112.
35. See introduction to Leo Wiese, _Die Lieder des Blondel de Nesle_,
Dresden, 1904, p. 19 ff.
36. _Romania_, viii. p. 370.
37. K. Böddeker, _Altenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl._ 2253, Berlin,
1878.
38. Modern Language Review, vol. 1. p. 285; vol. ii. p. 60, articles by
Prof. Skeat.
39. P. Leinig, _Grammatik der provenzalischen Leys d'amors verglichen
mit der Sprache der Troubadours_, Breslau, 1890. M. Gatien. Arnoult,
_Monuments de la littérature romane_, Toulouse, 1841.
40. _Histoire critique de l'Académie des Jeux Floraux_, by F. de Gélis
from the origin to the 17th century will appear shortly in the
Bibliothèque meridionale, Toulouse. Useful anthologies of modern
Provençal are _Flourilège prouvençau_, Toulon, 1909: _Antologia
provenzale_, E Portal, Milan, Hoepli, 1911 (Manuali Hoepli).
INDEX.
Alamanon, Bertran d', 104
_Alba_, 33, 128
Albigeois, 13, 23, 75, ff.
Alcuin, 7
Alfonso II. of Aragon, 51, 59, 69, 74, 110, 113
Alfonso VIII. of Castile, 110, 113, 114
Alfonso X. of Castile, 118, 124
André le Chapelain, 19, 130
Aquino, Rinaldo d', 82
Aquitaine, 42
Arabs, 8, 105
Aragon, 54, 71, 110
---- Pedro II. of, 78, 83, 113
Arles, 5
Aurenga, Raimbaut d', 35, 85, 64
Auvergne, 3
---- Dauphin of, 134
---- Peire d', 36, 67, 70, 135
Azalais, 71, 79
_Ballata_, 33
Barral, 71, 79
Belenoi, Aimeric de, 118
Bethune, Conon de, 131
Bezaudun, Raimon Vidal of, 115, 122
Béziers, 50, 78
Blacatz, 103
Born, Bertran de, 13, 57, 111, 130
Bornelh, Giraut de, 23, 35, 37, 53, 68, 86, 113
Brunei, Uc, 113
Cabestanh, Guillem de, 73
Cabreira, Guiraut de, 122
Caen, Raoul de, 6
Cairel, Elias, 12
Calanso, Guiraut de, 115, 122
Calha, Albertet, 12
Calvo, Bonifacio, 100, 118
Carcassonne, 78
Cardenal, Peire, 11, 82, 84, 92, 117, 118
Castile, 54, 71
---- Sancho III. of, 67
Catalonia, 3, 5, 71, 109, 121 ff.
Cercamon, 9, 42
Chabaneau, 20
_Chanso_, 23
Cigala, Lanfranc, 39, 100, 116
Circ, Uc de San, 100, 113
Corbiac, Peire de, 93
_Comjat_, 23
Compostella, 109, 124
Courts of Love, 19
Cunizza, 101
Daniel, Arnaut, 55
Dante, 24, 53, 55, 57, 63, 104, 108, 131
Denis, 124
_Descort_, 33, 97
Die, Countess of, 11, 65
Dietmar von Aist, 128
Dominic, 77, 80
Ebles II., 46
Eleanor of Aquitaine, 42, 46, 59, 130
Escas Amanieu des, 121
_Escondig_, 33
Estampida, 33
Este, 95
Ezzelino III., 101
Faidit, Gaucelm, 99, 135
Ferdinand III. of Castile, 104, 116
Figueira, Guillem, 82, 138
Flamenca, 23
Florence, 100
Frederick II. of Sicily, 88, 105
Friedrich von Hausen, 129
Galicia, 123
_Gasson_, 3, 9, 115
Genoa, 78, 100
Gerona, Serveri de, 120
Guido delle Colonne, 106, 107
Guido Guinicelli, 106
Guiot de Dijon, 132
Hautefort, 60, 111
Henry II. of England, 47, 59, 63
Henry III. of England, 104, 117
Innocent III., 76, 77
Inquisition, 80
Isabella of Angoulême, 117
Jaime I. of Aragon, 85
Jaufre, Roman de, 23
Languedoc, 3
Lemosin, 5
Lentino, Jacopo da, 82
Leys d'Amors, 16, 23, 33, 138
Limousin, 3, 4, 8, 123
Louis VII. of France, 60, 69
Louis VIII. of France, 89
Lyons, 5, 77
Malaspina, Marquis of, 100
Malmesbury, William of, 41
Manfred II., 100, 102
Mantua, 101
Marcabrun, 35, 43, 68, 85, 110, 135
Mareuil, Arnaut de, 50, 53
Marseilles, 5, 10
---- Barral of 71, 79
---- Folquet of, 10, 13, 72, 78, 91
Marie of Champagne, 130
Marvejols, Bernard Sicart de, 84, 117, 118
Mauleon, Savaric de, 135
Minnesingers, 128
Miraval, Raímon de, 39, 83
Montanhagol, Guillem de, 117
Montaudon, Monk of, 11, 69, 79, 113
---- Beatrice of, 97
Montpelier, Germonde de, 89
---- William VII. of, 51, 79
Muret 78, 114
Music, 26 ff.
Narbonne, 5, 59, 67
Navarre, 54, 110
---- Guillem de Tudela of, 120
Nesles, Blondel de, 131, 134
Nostradamus, 19
Novara, 102
Orange, William IV. of, 96
_Partimen_, 130
_Pastorela_, 33
Pegulhan, Aimeric de, 99, 107, 114, 138
Perdigon, 11
Pisa, 100
_Planh_, 30
Poitou, 4
Poitiers, 6, 8
---- William of, 6, 41, 65, 90
Portugal, Denis of, 124
Provence, 3
---- Beatrice of, 102
Puegsibot, Gausbert de, 14
Puy, 69
Raynouard, 19
Richard Coeur de Lion, 55, 58, 69, 72, 134
Riquier, Guiraut, 92, 118
Rogier, Peire, 66
Rovenhac, Bernart de, 118
Roussillon, 3
---- Girart de, 22
Rudel, Jaufre, 23, 44
Rudolf, Count of Neuenberg, 82
Savoy, 96
_Serena_, 33
Simon de Montfort, 78
_Sirventes_, 30, 135
Sordello, 96, 101, 116
_Stanza_, 24, ff.
_Tenso_, 21, 31, 130
Thibaut IV. of Champagne, 131
Tor, Guillem de la, 100
Toronet, 79
Toulouse, 5, 13, 78, 80, 84, 138
---- N'At de Mons of, 117
---- Peire Raimon of, 113
---- Raimon V. of, 49, 50, 60, 67, 111
---- Raimon VI. of, 78, 80, 114
Tripoli, Countess of, 44
_Trobar clus_, 34
Turin, 96
Ussel, Gui d', 14
Vaqueiras, Raimbaut de, 96, 100
Vaudois, 76
Venice, 100
Ventadour, 11
---- Bernart of, 11, 13, 46, 68, 128, 130, 133, 135
Verona, 96
_Vers_, 23
Vidal, Peire, 71, 95, 97, 100, 112, 115, 127, 138
Virgin Mary, 15, 91
Zorzi, Bartolomeo, 100, 118
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