The Troubadours
by
H.J. Chaytor
Part 2 out of 2
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 Provencal 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. Provencal 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 Provencal. 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
Provencal 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 Provencal. 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
Provencal 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, Provencal 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 Provencal 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 Provencal
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 Garces 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 Angouleme, 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 Provencal 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 Provencal 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
Provencal 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 Provencal 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 Provencal 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 Provencal, and when it
became applied to literary Catalonian, as distinguished from _pla
Catala_, the vulgar tongue, the result was some confusion. Provencal
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 Provencal towards the
close of the fifteenth century.
On the western side of Spain, Provencal 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 Provencal 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
Provencal 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
Provencal. 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 Provencal 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 Provencal 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 Provencal 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 Provencal _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]
PROVENCAL INFLUENCE IN GERMANY, FRANCE AND ENGLAND
Provencal 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, Provencal 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
Provencal influence; but there was certainly a primitive native poetry
in these Danube districts which had reached an advanced stage of
development before Provencal 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 Provencal 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 Provencal _alba_ theme. Two lovers part
at daybreak, when awakened by a bird on the linden: if the theme is
Provencal, 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 Provencal troubadour poetry. Typical of the difference is Walter von
der Vogelweide's--
Swer guotes wibes minne hat,
der schamt sich aller missetat.
("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 Provencal 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 Thaelern der Provence ist der Minnesang entsprossen,
Kind des Fruehlings 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." Provencal influence here was inevitable. It is
apparent in the form and content of poems, in the attempt to remodel [130]
Provencal poems by altering the words to French forms, and by the fact
that Provencal poems are found in MS. collections of French lyrics.
Provencal 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 Provencal
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 Andre 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 Chretien de Troyes.
The Provencal 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 Provencal forms, the _tencon_ (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
Brule and the Chatelain 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 Brule; 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 Provencal 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, aidies 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 pais
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 pais.
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
Provencal 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 Provencals 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 Provencal 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 Provencal
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 Provencal
_trobairitz_; but this, as M. Paul Meyer points out, may be pure
coincidence.[36]
En lo sesoun qe l'erbe poynt
E reverdist la matinee
E sil oysel chauntent a poynt
En temps d'avril en la ramee,
Lores est ma dolur dublee
Que jeo sui en si dure poynt
Que jeo n'en ai de joie poynt,
Tant me greve la destinee.
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 Provencal 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 Provencal 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
Provencal 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, Provencal 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 felibres 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 Provencal 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 Groeber in Boehmer's
_Romanische Studien_, vol. ii. 1875-77, Strassburg. In vol. ix. of the
same is Groebers' study of troubadour MSS. and the relations between
them.
A. Stimming, _Provenzaliscke Literatur in Groeber'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 poesie 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
Provencal; e.g. Suchier & Birch-Hirschfeld, _Geschichte der
franzoesischen 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-Woerterbuch_, Leipsic, 1894, not
yet completed, but indispensable.
E. Levy, _Petit dictionnaire provencal-francais_, Heidelberg, 1908.
J. B. Roquefort, _Glossaire de la langue romane_, 3 vols., Paris, 1820.
W. Meyer-Luebke, _Grammaire des langues romanes_, French translation of
the German, Paris, 1905.
C. H. Grandgent, _An outline of the phonology and morphology of old
Provencal_, Boston, 1905.
H. Suchier, _Die franzoesiche und provenzalische Sprache_ in Groeber's
_Grundriss_. A French translation, _Le Francais et le Provencal_, 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 provencal_, 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 (_Bibliotheque
Meridionale_).
Bertran de Born. A. Thomas, Toulouse, 1888 (_Bibliotheque Meridionale_).
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 (_Bibliotheque Meridionale_
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. Hueffer, Berlin, 1869.
Guillem Figueira. E. Levy, Berlin, 1880.
Guillem de Montanhagol. J. Coulet, _Bibliotheque Meridionale_, 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, Etude sur, etc. J. Anglade, Paris, 1905.
Jaufre Rudel. A Stimming, Kiel, 1873.
Marcabrun. Dr Dejeanne. _Bibliotheque Meridionale_, 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. _Altfranzoesische 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 Provencal 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 poesies originales des Troubadours_, Paris,
1816. Suchier, _Denkmaeler provenzalischer Sprache_, Halle, 1883; Appel,
_Provenzalische Inedita_, Leipsic, 1890; Chabaneau, _Poesies inedites
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 generale 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 Groeber's _Grundriss_, vol. i.
2. _De Vulg. El._ I., 8: alii oc, alii oil, alii si affirmando
loquuntur, and _Vita Nuova_, xxv. Dante also knew the term provincialis.
3. Boethius. F. Huendgen, Oppeln, 1884. For Sainte Foy d'Agen, see
_Romania_ xxxi., p, 177 ff.
4. P. Meyer in _Romania_ v., p. 257. Bedier, _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. Provencal has also the feminine _joia_ with the general meaning of
"delight."
8. See Stimming's article in Groeber's _Grundriss_.
9. Raynouard, _Les Troubadours et les Cours d'Amour_, Paris, 1817; see
also Diez, _Ueber die Minnehoefe_, 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 poesies de Marcabrun_, Jeanroy, Dejeanne
and Aubry, Paris, 1904, with texts, music, and translations.
14. Schindler, _Die Kreuzzuege in der altprovenzalischen und
mittelhochdeutschen lyrik._, Dresden, 1889. K. Lewent, _Das
altprovenzalische Kreuzlied_, Berlin, 1905.
15. A. Pillet, _Studien zur Pastourelle_, Breslau, 1902. Roemer, _Die
volkstuemlichen 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 fuer 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 Litterature francaise au moyen age_, Sec. 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 age_, 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 fuer
franzoesische Sprache und Litteratur_, xx. p. 163 ff., and the
bibliographical note to Stimming's article in Groeber's _Grundriss_, vol.
ii. part ii. Sec. 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 poesie francaise en Italie_ in
Jeanroy's _Origines_. For Dante, see _Storia letteraria d'Italia,
scritta di una societa di professori_, Milan, vol. iii., Dante, by
Zingarelli. _The Troubadours of Dante_, Chaytor, Oxford, 1902. Useful
are A. Thomas, _Francesco da Barberino et la litterature provencale en
Italie au moyen age_, Paris, 1883. O. Schultz, _Die Lebensverhaeltnisse
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
Mila y Fontanals, _Los trovadores en Espana_, Barcelona, 1861, remains
the best work on the subject. On Portugal, the article in Groeber'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 Koenigs 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 Provencales_, Paris, 1858; E. Stengel, _Die
beiden aeltesten 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. Luederitz, _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 verhaeltnisse in
fruehmittelenglischer Zeit_, Sitzungs-berichte der Koenigl. preuss.,
Akademie, 1910.
34. Bedier, _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. Boeddeker, _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 litterature romane_, Toulouse, 1841.
40. _Histoire critique de l'Academie des Jeux Floraux_, by F. de Gelis
from the origin to the 17th century will appear shortly in the
Bibliotheque meridionale, Toulouse. Useful anthologies of modern
Provencal are _Flourilege prouvencau_, 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
Andre 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
Beziers, 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 Angouleme, 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, Raimon 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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