$60 
 
THE LIVES OF THE TROUBADOURS 
 
All rights reserved. 
 
THE LIVES OF 
 
 THE TROUBADOURS 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE MEDIAEVAL 
 PROVENCAL, WITH INTRODUCTORY MATTER 
 AND NOTES, AND WITH SPECIMENS OF 
 THEIR POETRY RENDERED INTO ENGLISH 
 
 BY 
 
 IDA FARNELL 
 
 FORMERLY SCHOLAR AT LADY MARGARET HALL 
 OXFORD 
 
 London 
 
 Published by David Nutt 
 
 In The Strand 
 1896 
 

 GLASGOW ; PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. 
 
the Jfatwrrg ot 
 
 MY BROTHER, 
 GEORGE STANLEY FARNELL. 
 
 " Mortz trahiritz, ben vos pose en ver dire 
 Que non poguetz el mon meillor aucire." 
 
 O ' 
 
Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION, ... ...... i 
 
 THE COUNT OF POITIERS, ....... J 7 
 
 CERCAMON, . . ........ 20 
 
 MARCABRUN, .......... 21 
 
 PEIRE OF VALERIA, ........ 25 
 
 GUIRAUDON THE RED,' ........ 25 
 
 BERNART OF VENTADORN, ....... 26 
 
 JAUFRE RUDEL OF BLAIA, ....... 32 
 
 THE COUNTESS OF DIA, ....... 36 
 
 PEIRE OF AUVERGNE, ........ 38 
 
 GUILLEM OF CABESTAING, ....... 41 
 
 PEIRE ROGIER, ......... 52 
 
 ALPHONSO II. OF ARAGON, ....... 54 
 
 RICHARD COEUR-DE-LION, ....... 55 
 
 THE DAUPHIN OF AUVERGNE, ...... 61 
 
 PEIRE RAYMOND, ......... 64 
 
 ARNAUT OF MARVOIL, ........ 66 
 
 GlRAUT OF BORNEIL, ... ..... 76 
 
 . PEIRE VIDAL, ......... 80 
 
Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 .BERTRAN OF BORN, 89 
 
 FOLQUET OF MARSEILLES, . . . . . . .124 
 
 PONS OF CAPDUOIL, 131 
 
 RAEMBAUT OF VAQUEIRAS, *37 
 
 PEIROL, 150 
 
 GUILLEM OF SAINT LEIDIER, 155 
 
 THE MONK OF MONTALDON 157 
 
 ARNAUT DANIEL, 162 
 
 GAUCELM FAIDIT, 167 
 
 RAYMOND OF MIRAVAL, 178 
 
 BLACATZ, 196 
 
 SAVARIC OF MAULEON, . . 198 
 
 HUGH OF SAINT CIRC, . . . . . . . . . 206 
 
 AIMERIC OF PEGUILLAN, 212 
 
 PEIRE CARDINAL, 216 
 
 SORDELLO, . 225 
 
 BERTOLOME CORGI, 231 
 
 GUIRAUT OF CALANSO, 235 
 
 RICHARD OF BERBESIU, 237 
 
 GUILLEM OF BALAUN, 240 
 
 GUY OF UISEL, 245 
 
 ELIAS OF BARJOL, 246 
 
 CADENET, 247 
 
 PERDIGON, 249 
 
 GUY OF CAVAILLON, 252 
 
 ALBERTET, 253 
 
 AIMERIC OF BELENOI, 254 
 
Contents ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ELIAS CAIREL, 255 
 
 FOLQUET OF ROTMAN 256 
 
 GUILLEM FlGIEIRA, . . . , 257 
 
 LANFRANC CIGALLA, 261 
 
 GUILLEM OF MONTAGNAGOUT, 261 
 
 BERTRAN OF LAMANON, 262 
 
 BERTRAN OF BORN, THE YOUNGER, 262 
 
 DAUDE OF PRADAS, 267 
 
 THE LADIES CASTELLOZA, TIBORS, LOMBARDA, MARIA OF 
 
 VENTADORN, AND AZALAIS OF PORCAIRAGUES, . . 268 
 
 PEIRE OF MAENSAC, 272 
 
 GUILLEM ADEMAR, 273 
 
 HUGH BRUNET, 273 
 
 BLACASSET, 274 
 
 HUGH DE LA BACALAIRIA, 274 
 
 WILLIAM OF THE BAUX, . . . . . . . 274 
 
 GUILLEM OF BERGUEDAN, 276 
 
 PEIRE PELISSIER, 278 
 
 PEIRE OF BARJAC, 279 
 
 GUILLEM DE LA TOR, 281 
 
 FERRARI, 283 
 
 THE VISCOUNT OF SAINT ANTONIN, 285 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
LIVES OF THE TROUBADOURS 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE Lives of the Troubadours, though more than 
 once published in their original form, have never, 
 I think, hitherto been wholly translated. It seemed 
 to me, therefore, that an English version of them 
 might be acceptable to those readers who, while 
 not Provencal students, take a keen interest in the 
 life and thought of the best ages of chivalry. 
 
 The literary activity of the troubadours extended, 
 roughly speaking, from 1100-1250. Their poetry 
 was at its best during the last thirty years of the 
 twelfth century, and the early part of the thirteenth ; 
 and it was during the latter period that the desire 
 of knowing something of the troubadours' lives 
 seems to have made itself felt. About that time 
 it became customary to head the collection of a 
 troubadour's poems with the story of his life, 
 which often served to explain otherwise obscure 
 allusions in the poems. The writers of these Lives 
 
2 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 were either contemporaries of the greatest trouba- 
 dours or belonged to the succeeding generation, 
 and, judging from internal evidence, were not more 
 than two, or, at the most, three in number. Hugh 
 of Saint Circ, who claims to have written two of 
 the Lives, probably wrote many more besides. 
 
 Of several of them there are two versions, of 
 which the longer and more romantic often seems an 
 imaginative expansion of the older and more trust- 
 worthy account. As a whole the Lives may be 
 regarded as fairly authentic ; the writers of them ob- 
 tained their information from allusions in the trouba- 
 dours' poems, from well-established tradition in the 
 case of the earlier troubadours, or from their own 
 personal knowledge in the case of contemporaries. 
 Scattered as they originally were in various MSS., 
 the Lives have been in modern times collected and 
 edited, though not as yet critically. A complete 
 collection of them is to be found in Raynouard's 
 Choix des poesies provengales, and in 1878 appeared 
 a revised edition of Prof. A. Mahn's Die Bio- 
 graphieen der Troubadours, which is that from 
 which I have made my translations, and to which I 
 have referred in the course of them. 
 
 The collection of Lives in question is of great 
 value in many ways. It is, to begin with, the chief 
 monument of Provencal prose that we possess, and 
 there is often a peculiar charm in the naive 
 
Introduction 3 
 
 simplicity of its style, in spite of its loosely-strung 
 sentences, want of logical sequence, and occasional 
 incoherence, faults common to all prose in its 
 youth. Apart, however, from its style, the collection 
 is the best, and sometimes almost the only source 
 of information left us of the troubadours, and the 
 manner of lives they led. It introduces us into 
 a strangely interesting country and age ; a country 
 that was the home of chivalry, and for a hundred 
 years, at least, the centre of such refinement and 
 culture as then existed in Western Europe ; an age 
 when men were first shaking off the fetters of 
 many centuries of barbarism, and finding new delight 
 in form and beauty. From it too we learn some- 
 thing of those who played great parts in mediaeval 
 history : Henry II. of England, his wife and sons, 
 Philip Augustus of France, the kings of Aragon 
 and Castile, the unhappy Raymond of Toulouse, 
 Boniface and Conrad of Montferrat, and many 
 knights and barons who were less prominent and 
 yet important figures in the mediaeval world. The 
 collection shows us likewise, with more or less 
 distinctness, the struggles of the English and French 
 kings, and the final overthrow of the Angevin rule 
 in France ; it speaks to us of the crusades, of the 
 contests between the Christian kings of the north 
 of Spain and the Arabs of the south ; of the rise 
 of the north Italian towns, with their feuds and 
 
4 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 jealousies ; and, lastly, reveals to us, only too clearly, 
 the desolation and misery produced by the Albi- 
 gensian War, and the establishment of the supremacy 
 of France in Provence. 
 
 All this is in itself enough to make the trouba- 
 dours' Lives of high interest, but their chief value 
 consists in the insight they give us into the 
 manners and morals of Languedoc during the 
 twelfth and thirteenth centuries. And here it may 
 be well to try to discover what was the essential 
 character of the troubadour world, as represented 
 to us by Provencal poetry and the book before us. 
 In opposition to the wide-spread enthusiasm for 
 things mediaeval, which Scott and the Romantic 
 School generally did so much to awaken, there is 
 a certain tendency now, owing to a wider know- 
 ledge of the evils of the Middle Ages, to pass 
 severe judgment upon them, to doubt that chivalry 
 exercised a potent influence on conduct, and that 
 those nobler qualities, which we are accustomed to 
 associate with the twelfth, thirteenth, and four- 
 teenth centuries, existed to any extent in the men 
 of those times. 
 
 Now, in the world of Provencal poetry and of 
 the Lives, the elements of good and evil are 
 strangely interwoven; it is not such a world as Scott 
 delighted in, but neither is it entirely one of barbar- 
 ous, unbridled passions and unmitigated corruption. 
 
Introduction 5 
 
 In the beautiful country where the Langue d'Oc 
 was spoken, memories of the old Roman civilization 
 and institutions were still fresh, and Roman, or 
 Graeco-Roman cities, such as Marseilles, Aries, 
 Nimes, and Toulouse, early became centres of 
 wealth and refinement. The three greatest sover- 
 eignties of the south of France were those of the 
 County of Provence, the County of Toulouse, and 
 the Duchy of Aquitaine, to which the County of 
 Poitou was united. The most powerful ruler of 
 Provence in troubadour times was the famous 
 Alphonso II., who reigned over Aragon, Barcelona, 
 Provence, Carlat, and Millau, etc. (see infra}. 
 Toulouse was at the height of her glory in the 
 reign of the heroic Raymond of St. Giles, one of 
 the chief leaders of the first crusade ; her power 
 was later on, under Raymond VI., broken by the 
 Albigensian War. The most renowned lord of 
 Aquitaine and Poitou was the troubadour, William 
 IX. (see infra). His grand-daughter, Eleanor, 
 by her marriage with our Henry II., brought 
 Aquitaine under the Angevin rule, her son, Richard 
 Plantagenet, becoming, later, Duke of Aquitaine. 
 
 The lords of these three States were the staunch 
 friends and patrons of troubadours, and in this 
 their example was followed by the rulers of the 
 multitude of small fiefs that were under them or 
 independent of them. These small fiefs, in the 
 
6 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 south, indeed, fostered rather than retarded in- 
 tellectual growth, for each little court bade the 
 troubadour welcome, and cultivated poetry with 
 enthusiasm; and each, by the splendour of its 
 hospitality, promoted a social intercourse that the 
 less genial climates of northern countries did not 
 admit of. 
 
 The feudalism of Languedoc was obviously more 
 democratic than that of the north, and the 
 distinction of knighthood was at times conferred 
 on burghers and even peasants. The wealth and 
 importance indeed of the former class prevented 
 there being any impassable barrier between them 
 and the nobles ; and the extreme violence of 
 Bertran of Born's attack upon the arrogance and 
 presumption of the peasants, speaks well also for 
 the prosperity of these as compared with the 
 peasants of Europe at large. In any case, and 
 whatever the separation of classes, poetry was a 
 common ground on which princes, burghers, and 
 even peasants might be found together ; the lords 
 of Toulouse and Marseilles, for instance, were both 
 of them the friends of the merchants' sons, Peire 
 Vidal and Folquet, as also the Viscount of Venta- 
 dorn of the peasant Bernart. 
 
 In a country then, where these favourable con- 
 ditions existed, and which, though certainly not 
 remarkable for its piety, was peculiarly open to the 
 
Introduction 7 
 
 refining influences of Christianity, there flourished 
 certain lofty and deep-rooted principles, such as 
 are the essence of what we call chivalry : the 
 protection, namely, of the weak and oppressed, the 
 devotion to truth and loyalty, and to constant and 
 noble action, and, above all, the reverence and 
 worship of woman. A society in which such 
 standards of life existed could not be altogether 
 corrupt, and though it may be said that realities 
 are one thing and ideals another, it is impossible 
 that the general recognition of certain ideals should 
 be wholly without influence on every-day life. The 
 collection of Lives is by no means without instances 
 of a lofty and spiritual connection between knight 
 and lady, of the devotion of man to man, and of 
 romantic generosity ; and indeed there is hardly a 
 page either in the Lives of the troubadours, or 
 in their poetry, that does not bear witness, not 
 only to their minds being saturated with ideas of 
 chivalry, but to the direct influence of these ideas 
 on their conduct. 
 
 But though it would be unjust to deny the ex- 
 istence of certain noble elements in the Languedoc 
 of this period, the barbarity and corruption that 
 ran side by side with better things is sufficiently 
 manifest in the book before us. That which 
 chivalry inculcated was impossible for the average 
 man to carry out. It might prompt the Dauphin 
 
8 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 of Auvergne, for example, to maintain the cause of 
 the troubadour, Peire of Maensac, who with his 
 lady appealed to him for protection ; it might 
 prompt him also to a profuse and reckless hospi- 
 tality, but it did not withhold him from a gross 
 breach of faith towards the honest burgher, Peire 
 Pelissier. In fact, a spirit of lawless violence is 
 found together with one of absolute Quixotism, a 
 spirit of self-seeking with that of self-abandonment, 
 treachery with loyalty, a pure and ethereal love 
 with its opposite. 
 
 For the degeneration of mediaeval love chivalry 
 itself is largely responsible, both by ignoring the 
 accepted Christian marriage tie and by substituting 
 for it an essentially unnatural relation between men 
 and women. By way of compensating for all that 
 the sordid and business-like marriages of the age 
 failed to give, chivalry, in fact, encouraged a con- 
 nection between knight and lady into which love 
 and love alone entered ; in it the lady's mission 
 was to incite her lover to noble deeds, the lover's 
 to strive to the uttermost to win her praise ; and, 
 while glorying, at a distance that nothing could 
 bridge over, in the perfections of his lady, his 
 greatest reward was the joy of service and of 
 loving. Now, that such a relationship could be 
 lasting or general was not in human nature, and 
 the tie often, therefore, degenerated into one of 
 
Introduction 9 
 
 sensuality or of self-interest, the lady, in this latter 
 case, desiring a knight to win her fame, and the 
 knight a lady to advance him in the world. 
 
 We must then be content to take the troubadour 
 age as it was, and be prepared to find a standard 
 of morals wholly different from our own. We must 
 regard it as a time of lofty principles, and a time 
 when a great, and, on the whole, a noble effort 
 was made towards the dispersion of intellectual 
 darkness ; but, on the other hand, one in which 
 the savage instincts of centuries were but ill- 
 suppressed, and the ideals but very imperfectly 
 realized. It is, however, of the highest importance 
 to us that such aspirations existed. The influence 
 of the Provencal poets, childish, narrow, ill-dis- 
 ciplined as they were, has lasted on through 
 centuries, and some of the noblest sides of human 
 life are still those that owe their origin to Provencal 
 chivalry. The study, too, of the troubadours' Lives 
 is a moral lesson of no small significance, as must 
 always be conveyed by the spectacle of the struggles, 
 failures, or partial victories of those who are reach- 
 ing out, however feebly, after truth and beauty ; and 
 they and their poetry certainly teach us, if nothing 
 else, that a want of self-control and grasp on the 
 realities of life bears within it the early-ripening 
 seeds of moral and intellectual decay. 
 
 Some few of the Lives given here are nothing 
 
io Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 more than short notices of little or no intrinsic 
 interest. I have, however, inserted them, partly for 
 the sake of completeness, and partly because they 
 are in most cases the only mention we possess of 
 men of some literary importance. From the more 
 detailed Lives it will be seen that the career of a 
 troubadour of ability was, as a rule, a prosperous 
 and also a varied one. If he began life poor and 
 socially insignificant, he might, it is true, pass 
 through an apprenticeship of poverty and of long 
 wanderings on foot ; but sooner or later he was 
 sure to win the favour of lords and princes. 
 Wherever he went it would be part of his pro- 
 fession to sing the valour of the lord and the 
 beauty of the lady beneath whose roof he found 
 himself. His canzones to the chatelaines who thus 
 protected him might often mean nothing more 
 than the homage of a dependent to a lady far 
 above him; but, on the other hand, they might be 
 the love poems of one in whose inflammable 
 southern nature a respectful admiration had de- 
 veloped into a real passion. 
 
 To the translation of the Lives of the troubadours 
 I have, though well aware of the difficulty of 
 rendering Provencal verse into English, added some 
 few specimens of their poems. -Much of the effect 
 produced on us by Provencal poetry is owing to 
 the softness and beauty of the language itself, with 
 
Introduction n 
 
 its full vowel sounds, musical completeness, and 
 the ease with which it lends itself to a complicated 
 system of rhymes and metre. / Over and above 
 this, however, the poetry, when at its best, has a 
 beauty that can make itself felt, I think, even in 
 translations ; it is then for the roughness and 
 imperfection of these that I now apologize, rather 
 than for the attempt itself. 
 
 A very slight acquaintance with the troubadours^ 
 impresses one with the plausibility of the remark 
 which has been made, that the chief part of their 
 lyric poetry might pass for the work of one man 
 alone, so great is the uniformity of their ideas.. 
 True, however, as it is, that there was a common 
 store of ideas, and of set expressions, from which 
 the troubadours drew largely, several of them at 
 least have an individuality of the most pronounced 
 kind, and no one, for example, could fail to dis- 
 tinguish from one another Bernart of Ventadorn's 
 passionate tenderness, Peire Cardinal's lofty scorn, 
 the Monk of Montaldon's shrewd wit, and Bertran 
 of Born's war-like intensity. 
 
 The influence of the literature of Provence on\ 
 other countries will be seen to some extent in the 
 course of this book. It was felt in the greater part 
 of Europe, in France (that is, the northern half of 
 modern France), England, Germany, Spain, Portugal, 
 and, above all, in Italy. It was Provence that 
 
12 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 taught the poets of the Middle Ages the use and 
 the beauty of rhyme; it was in Provence, as there is 
 every reason to believe, that there arose the tenzon, 
 the alba, the serena, and probably the pastourelU> 
 all the chief forms of mediaeval lyric poetry in fact. 
 As to the influence of Provence on Italy, it will be 
 seen how, before Italy had any literature of her 
 own, her northern states cultivated the language and 
 literature of Provence, and gave a willing shelter to 
 many a troubadour, while Sicily also looked to 
 Languedoc for its models and inspiration. We have 
 sufficient evidence of the admiration of Dante and 
 also of Petrarch for poets such as Bertran of Born, 
 Folquet, Arnault Daniel, and Sordello, an admira- 
 tion shown both by the Italian poets' words of 
 praise, and by their imitation of form and ex- 
 pression. Who could fail to recognize Provencal 
 love, ennobled and glorified, in the adoration of 
 Dante for Beatrice ? In fact, the great Italian 
 school of poetry, to which the Guidos, Dante, and 
 Petrarch equally belong, is the legitimate successor 
 and offspring of the troubadours' poetry and ethical 
 idea. 
 
 The troubadours have left us a remarkable num- 
 ber of fine ' Complaints ' or elegies on the death 
 of their patrons and mistresses; they have also 
 left us satires of striking power and boldness, but 
 nevertheless their chief theme was love, and it is 
 
Introduction 13 
 
 pre-eminently as writers of canzones or love-songs 
 that they take a place in literature. The extra- 
 ordinary sameness of their themes has already been 
 
 / touched on. The return, for instance, of Spring ; the 
 joy of all things living, in contrast to the sadness 
 
 /of the poet; the thousand graces of his lady, and his 
 despair of ever winning her such ideas form the 
 basis of poem upon poem ; equally extraordinary, 
 however, is the variety of treatment that these ideas 
 receive, as well as the variety of form and metre 
 of the poems in which they appear. 
 
 The rapid development of Provencal poetry is a 
 well-known phenomenon in the history of literature. 
 It burst into life like a tropical plant, but only too 
 soon began to show the faults not of youth but 
 of a premature old age. Indeed, confronted by 
 these faults, one is inclined to think, that even 
 if the Albigensian War had not crushed out its 
 strength, its decay could only have been arrested 
 by a poet of greater genius than the troubadours 
 could boast of among their ranks. With some 
 notable exceptions there is in them a lack of 
 manly vigour and of the "high seriousness" that 
 is an essential element of the best poetry. Too 
 often the troubadours merely play with their gift, 
 absorbed rather in the intricacies of their own 
 treatment of a theme than in the theme itself. Of 
 religious enthusiasm they had little or none. The 
 
14 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 crusades which stirred the rest of Christendom to 
 its very depths made little impression on Provence; 
 and in the few crusading songs I have translated, 
 it will be easily seen that the troubadour in his 
 heart of hearts would rather kneel at his lady's 
 shrine than at the Holy Sepulchre. For a time, 
 however, something of the strength and sweetness 
 that religion gives was inspired in them by their 
 passionate worship of love, of a mistress ever perfect, 
 and ever unattainable; and it is the strength and 
 sincerity of their passion, together with a certain 
 ethereal delicacy and child-like grace, that, apart 
 from the beauty of their form, give a charm to 
 the troubadours which amply atones for their lack 
 of knowledge and profundity. A further interest 
 is lent to the reading of their poems by a certain 
 pathetic consciousness on our part of the relentless 
 cruelty with which the crusaders of the Albigensian 
 War were to silence for ever the voices of so many 
 sweet, child-like, and inconsequent singers who, all 
 unforeboding of evil, rhyme on as though life were 
 never to give them other grounds for sadness than 
 the fading of Spring, the silence of the nightingale, 
 and the coldness of their lady's heart. 
 
 It is undeniable, however, that Provence has given 
 us no poet of the first order ; but the same remark 
 applies to the mediaeval literature of most countries, 
 and the really great poets are not so many in 
 
Introduction 15 
 
 number that we can afford to altogether neglect 
 those of the second rank, who, though they cannot 
 show us life in all its many-sidedness, may not- 
 withstanding present to us certain aspects of it 
 with no small truth and beauty. 
 
 We cannot afford to neglect altogether men 
 whom Dante was pleased to look on as his 
 teachers, men whose influence on the literature of 
 France and indirectly of England has not been 
 inconsiderable ; and whose disciple, Petrarch, the 
 teacher of Ronsard, and Spenser, and Shakspear, 
 ruled in Italy for centuries supreme as the poet of 
 Love. Those marvellous translations of Dante 
 Rossetti, which give English readers so much of 
 the grace and beauty of the early Italian poets, 
 will show how closely these latter are connected 
 with their Provencal masters and models. 
 
 Mr. Swinburne has been, I think, the first English 
 poet to appreciate the exquisite form and sweet 
 lyrical tone of the troubadours themselves. Mr. 
 Browning has chosen the story of Sordello, one of 
 the noblest figures in the Divine Comedy, for his 
 philosophic poem. 
 
 h H These examples may surely serve as my justifica- 
 tion. 
 
 The chief books that I have found helpful in 
 the study of Provencal literature, and to which I 
 can refer the reader are 
 
16 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Chrestomathie proven$ale. K. Bartsch. 
 Gedichte der Troubadours. 4 vols. Edited by 
 A. Mahn. 
 
 La Pofaie des Troubadours. Raynouard. 
 
 Bertran de Born. Edit. A. Thomas. 
 
 Der Mb'nch von Montaudon. Edit. E. Philippson. 
 
 1873- 
 
 Peire Vidal. Edit. K. Bartsch. 1857. 
 Leben und Werke der Troubadours. F. Diez. 
 Histoire de la poesie provengale. Fauriel. 
 Jaufre Rudel. Edit. A. Stimming. 1873. 
 Guillem de Cabestanh. Edit. F. Hiiffer. 1869. 
 Ponz de Capduoill. Edit. M. Napolski. 1880. 
 Folquet de Romans. Edit. R. Zenker. 1896. 
 Sordello. Edit. C. de Lollis. 1896. 
 Arnaldo Daniello. Edit. U. A. Canello. 1883. 
 
THE COUNT OF POITIERS 
 Reigned from 1086-1127. ' 
 
 THE Count of Poitiers, who is the earliest troubadour mentioned, 
 was, at the age of fifteen, one of the most powerful princes of 
 his time a man of great valour, personal charm, and wit, but 
 also of notorious profligacy and impiety.* He bore no part in 
 the Crusade of 1094, on which started nearly all the great lords 
 of Languedoc under Raymond of St. Giles. In noi, however, 
 he yielded to the influence of the times, and, heading a large 
 army, proceeded to the Holy Land. This army was scattered 
 and destroyed by the Turks, William, almost alone, escaping 
 on foot. The eight poems of his still existing are graceful 
 but superficial ; they are nearly all similar in their form, which 
 is one of archaic simplicity. The poem translated below is 
 of great historic interest from the fact of its being one of the 
 earliest of Provence (and, indeed, the only one on the First 
 Crusade), as also from its naive confirmation of what we know 
 of the Count of Poitiers from other sources. 
 
 OF WILLIAM IX., COUNT OF POITIERS AND 
 DUKE OF AQUITAINE.\ 
 
 Now the Count of Poitiers was one of the most 
 courteous men in the world, and one of the greatest 
 
 *Willi-im of Malmesbury speaks of his taking pride in denying the 
 existence of God ; he speaks also of his witticisms, which roused shouts 
 of laughter from those who sat at table with him. 
 
 fSee Mahn's Biographieen der Troubadours, i. 
 
 B 
 
i8 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 deceivers of ladies a valiant knight in warfare, and 
 bounteous in love and gallantry. And he knew 
 well to sing and to make poetry, and long time 
 went through the world beguiling ladies. And his 
 son had to wife the Duchess of Normandy, by 
 whom he had a daughter, the which was wife of 
 King Henry [II.] of England, and mother of the 
 Young King, and of Lord Richard, and of Count 
 Geoffrey of Brittany. 
 
 v/ 
 
 CRUSADING SONG* 
 
 SINCE that to sing 1 I have a mind, 
 I'll make a song of dol'rous kind ; 
 I'll no more give obedience 2 blind 
 In Limousin or in Poitou. 
 
 I wander forth to exile drear, 
 And leave behind my son so dear, 
 In grievous peril and in fear, 
 
 For great the ill his foes will do. 
 
 And many a heavy sigh I heave, 
 To lose fair Poitou sore I grieve, 
 To Fulc of Anjou's care I leave 
 
 My goodly lands and well-loved son. 
 
 For original, see Chrestomathie Provenfale, p. 32 (K. Bartsch). 
 
The Count of Poitiers 19 
 
 If Fulc to succour him disdain, 
 And eke my royal suzerain, 3 
 The base to spite him will be fain, 
 And no ill deed will leave undone. 
 
 If wise and brave he should not be, 
 When I have passed beyond the sea, 
 The Angevins he needs must flee, 
 And yield to Gascon miscreants. 
 
 If 'gainst my fellows any way 
 I've done amiss, so pardon they, 
 And unto Jesus for me pray, 
 
 In Latin speech and in Romaunce. 
 
 Valour and joy I loved full well, 
 But now to these I bid farewell, 
 And wander forth with Him to dwell, 
 That giveth weary sinners peace. 
 
 -Gracious and gay I was of yore, 
 But this our Lord doth will no more, 
 From life's sad fardel I implore 
 Full urgently a swift release. 
 
 My dear delights to God I bring, 
 Tnese may He take for offering: 
 Pride, knighthood, many a well-loved thing, 
 So He my soul with pardon cheer. 
 
20 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 When by the pangs of death opprest 
 May I with many a friend be blest ; 
 Too well I loved disport and jest, 
 And ever sought them far and near. 
 
 Now must I leave disport and jest, 
 Sable, gris, and minevere. 
 
 1 Since that to sing. The form of the original poem is a a a b, 
 
 cccbdddb, etc., 12 stanzas + stanza. 
 
 2 Obedience. By obedience he probably means that which he 
 
 has given to love. 
 
 3 Suzerain. His suzerain was Philip I. of France. 
 
 CERCAMON v 
 Date of his birth from iioo-mo. 
 
 CERCAMON, or Search the World, the protector of Marcabrun, 
 stands chronologically next to William IX., Count of Poitiers. 
 His four or five extant poems are insignificant, and his 
 'pastoretas' have perished. The allusion to his having 
 composed these latter is important, inasmuch as it proves 
 this form of poetry to have existed in Provence at a very 
 early period. 
 
 OF CERCAMON* 
 
 Now Cercamon was a jongleur of Gascony, and 
 made 'vers' and 'pastoretas' 1 after the ancient 
 manner, and sought the wide world over, as far 
 as man can go, wherefore he was called Cercamon. 
 
 *See Mahn, Ixxxi. 
 
Marcabrun 21 
 
 ^astoretas. The 'pastoreta,' or pastourelle , a species of 
 poetry that, as there seems little doubt, originated in 
 Provence, tells of a poet of noble birth, who riding alone 
 in the country meets a shepherdess. Her rustic beauty 
 causes him to alight from his horse and offer her his love ; 
 which after a resistance that is generally little more than 
 coquetry, she in most pastourelles accepts. See M. 
 Jeanroy's interesting account of the origin and nature of 
 the pastourelle, in his Origines de la poesie lyrique en 
 France. 
 
 MARCABRUN $ 
 1140-1185.* < 
 
 MARCABRUN, probably the third poet in chronological order, 
 was a man of great originality, who stood aloof from his 
 contemporaries, setting the ordinary laws of chivalry at 
 defiance and despising love and women. The majority of 
 the poems left us of him are satirical and censorious in 
 nature. His two most interesting ones are a pastourelle of 
 great piquancy and sprightliness, with an original treatment 
 of the usual theme, and the poem here translated a romance, 
 namely, relating to the Crusade of 1147, possessing charming 
 grace and simplicity, but also the childishness and want of 
 depth of the typical troubadour. The heroic and religious 
 spirit is altogether wanting in it, and the promises of 
 heavenly bliss are held light in comparison with the enjoyment 
 of the present. Marcabrun was the first poet to introduce 
 the theme of the maid forsaken by her lover for the Cross, 
 a theme that afterwards became a favourite one. 
 
 *The exact years of the birth and death of most of the troubadours 
 cannot be fixed, so that the dates given here and elsewhere are with 
 some few exceptions those between which arose the poems of each 
 troubadour respectively. 
 
22 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 OF MARCABRUN.* 
 
 NOW Marcabrun was found cast before a great 
 man's door, nor knew men ever who he was or 
 whence he came. Lord Aldric of Vilar nurtured 
 him, and afterwards he dwelt long time with one 
 Cercamon, a troubadour, until that he too fell to 
 making poetry. And at that time he was called 
 Panperdut, 1 but thereafter Marcabrun. And, in 
 those days, all that was sung was called 'vers' 
 and not ' canzone.' 2 And much was his name 
 noised abroad in the world, and much was he 
 feared for his tongue ; for so slanderous was he 
 that, at the last, he was done to death by the 
 Castellans of Guienne, of whom he had spoken 
 great ill. 
 
 A DAMSEL DESERTED BY HER LOVER.^ 
 
 BESIDE a fountain fair and bright, 3 
 
 Within a garden that was dight 
 
 With greenest grass and flowers of white, 
 
 Seated beneath a spreading tree, 
 Where glad birds sang of Spring's delight, 
 I found alone in piteous plight 
 
 The maid that doth my true love scorn. 
 
 *See Mahn, iv. 
 
 fFor original see Chrestomathie proven f ale, p. 49 (K. Bartsch). 
 
Marcabrun 23 
 
 A damsel she most wondrous fair, 
 And to high rank and riches heir, 
 But when I deemed this lady rare 
 
 By the bird's song would gladdened be, 
 And the green garment Spring doth wear, 
 And graciously would hear my prayer, 
 
 Anon she weepeth all forlorn. 
 
 Sore by the fountain did she grieve, 
 
 And many a heavy sigh did heave : 
 
 " My heart Thou dost of joy bereave, 
 
 O Jesu, heavenly king ! " she cried ; 
 " And through Thy shame none can conceive 
 My sorrow, for the bravest leave 
 
 Our country, e'en as Thou hast willed. 
 
 "To Thee my love his way doth wend 
 My gentle, fair, and gracious friend 
 With me fierce woes without an end, 
 
 Weeping, and longings vain abide : 
 Curs'd be King Louis 4 that did send 
 To bid all men Christ's tomb defend 
 
 Whereby my breast with grief is filled." 
 
 In pity of her grievous teen 
 I nearer drew, " Fair maid, I ween," 
 I said, "such sadness ne'er hath been, 
 Why dim the beauty of thy face ? 
 
24 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 What doth avail thee grief so keen, 
 Since He that giveth woods their green 
 Can give thee gladness as of yore ? " 
 
 "My lord," quoth she, "full well I know,' 
 God will to me great mercy show ; 
 In heaven is endless joy I trow, 
 
 For me and other sinners base : 
 But here of that whence joy doth flow 
 He giveth nought yet why this woe, 
 
 For small to me the love he bore." 5 
 
 1 Panperdut. Pannum perditum (" Lost clout," according to 
 Suchier). 
 
 2 Vers and not canzone. These words are one of several 
 proofs of Marcabrun's antiquity. After his time, 'vers' 
 was an expression used vaguely of a poem that was sung 
 or recited, and which, if in stanzas, generally consisted of 
 seven of them. 'Canzone' was a name given to poems 
 that were mainly on love, that consisted of five or six 
 stanzas, and that had to be sung. 
 
 3 Beside a fountain fair and bright. The rhyming system of 
 
 the original isaaabaacdddbddc, eeebeec, etc. 
 
 4 King Louis. Louis VII. of France. 
 
 5 He bore. The original is here obscurely expressed. The 
 
 second "he" refers to the lover who, at the best of 
 times, had shown his lady nothing but indifference. 
 
Peire of Valeria 25 
 
 PEIRE OF VALERIA 
 Born about 1120, composed till beyond 1150. 
 
 LIKE Cercamon and Marcabrun, Peire of Valeria was a Gascon, r" 
 and like them too was one of the earliest of troubadours. 
 The two poems he has left us are of no literary merit. 
 
 OF PEIRE OF VALERIA* 
 
 PEIRE OF VALERIA was of Gascony, of the country 
 of Sir Arnaut Guillem of Marsan, and he was a 
 jongleur at the same time and season as Marca- 
 brun; and he made 'vers' of little worth, of flowers, 
 of leaves, and of the songs of birds, even as men 
 were wont to make at that time. His singing was 
 of no great worth nor was he. 
 
 GUIRAUDON THE RED - 
 1120-1147. 
 
 THE refinement and delicacy of Guiraudon's canzones, seven 
 of which are extant, are a considerable advance upon the 
 archaic poems of Cercamon and Peire of Valeria. His lady, 
 the daughter of the Count of Toulouse, went with her father 
 to the Crusade of 1147. She was taken prisoner by the 
 famous Monreddin, Prince of Aleppo, whom she afterwards 
 married, and at his death ruled over Aleppo during her sons' 
 minority. 
 
 *See Mahn, Ixxxii. 
 
26 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 OF GUIRAUDON THE RED* 
 
 NOW Guiraudon the Red was of Toulouse, the son 
 of a poor knight. And he came to the court of 
 his lord, Count Alphonso, for to serve him. And 
 he was courteous and well skilled in singing, and 
 he became enamoured of the Countess, the daughter 
 of his lord, and the love he had for her taught him 
 to make poetry, and he made many canzones. 
 
 BERNART OF VENTADORN 
 v 1148-1195. 
 
 LITTLE is known of Bernart beyond that which his biographer 
 gives us. He is undoubtedly the first great Provencal poet, 
 and indeed one of the greatest mediaeval love-poets in all 
 Europe. In him are found the best characteristics of Provengal 
 lyric poetry, complete self-abandonment and humility, alter- 
 nations of rapture and despair, perfect freshness and sincerity, 
 a great joy in spring and nature united to a great joy in 
 love. Love is conceived of by him as a religion exalting and 
 purifying, and his refinement and spirituality form a strange 
 contrast to the barbarous Europe of his day. Bernart also 
 is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, masters of form 
 and versification of Provence. His poems have a subtle 
 and untranslatable sweetness, and an oriental languor and 
 luxuriance of expression, which his power and freshness, 
 however, prevent from palling upon us. His originality is 
 incontestable ; he bears no resemblance to the classics, nor 
 to any poets more immediately preceding him. 
 
 *See Mahn, Ixxxiii. 
 
Bernart of Ventadorn 27 
 
 Fifty of his poems have remained to us, but in only a few 
 of these can the lady to whom they were addressed be 
 guessed at, for Bernart took more pains than most poets to \y 
 conceal the object of his love. Some of his best lyrics are 
 in honour of "Bel Vezer" (Fair Sight), and to Eleanor, wife of 
 Henry II. of England. 
 
 Translations of one or two of his poems have been here 
 attempted, but Bernart "is par excellence a troubadour who, 
 to be appreciated, must be read in the original. 
 
 OF BERNART OF VENTADORN* 
 
 NOW Bernart of Ventadorn was of Limousin of the 
 Castle of Ventadorn, and was one of low degree, son 
 to wit of a serving man, who gathered brushwood 
 for the heating of the oven wherein was baked the 
 castle bread. And he became a fair man and a 
 skilled, and knew well to make poetry and to sing, 
 and was both courteous and learned. And the 
 Viscount of Ventadorn, his liege lord, delighted much 
 in him, and in his singing and poetry, and ever 
 did him . great honour. And ye must know that 
 the Viscount of Ventadorn had a wife, who was 
 fair, and gay, and noble, and who delighted much 
 in Sir Bernart and in his songs. And she became 
 enamoured of him, and he of her, so that he made 
 his vers and canzones 1 of her for the love that he 
 bore her, and for her great worth's sake. 
 
 Long time lasted their love ere the Viscount and 
 
 *See Mahn, ii. 
 
28 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 other men marked it. And lo ! when the Viscoun 
 became ware of it, he withdrew his love from hin 
 and set watch upon his wife, and imprisoned her 
 Then the lady sent unto Sir Bernart dismissing 
 him from her service, and bidding him depart th< 
 land. And thereat he departed, and got him t( 
 the Duchess of Normandy, 2 who was young and o 
 great worth, and who loved virtue, and honour 
 and the singing of her praise. And the vers anc 
 canzones of Sir Bernart did greatly please her, anc 
 she received him at her court and gave him heart) 
 welcome. Long did he dwell there, singing man) 
 a good song of her. And he loved her and sh< 
 him likewise. But King Henry of England tool 
 her to wife, and withdrew her from Normandy, anc 
 brought her into England, while Sir Bernart re- 
 mained behind in grief and heaviness. Then h( 
 departed and went unto the good Count Raymond : 
 of Toulouse. And with him he dwelt until the 
 Count died ; and when the Count was dead, Sii 
 Bernart entered the monastery of Dalon, and then 
 ended his days. And this that I, Hugh of Sainl 
 Circ, have written 4 of him did the Viscount Eble* 
 of Ventadorn relate unto me, son of the Viscountess 
 that Sir Bernart of Ventadorn loved. 
 
Bernart of Ventadorn 29 
 
 TO BEL VEZER, VISCOUNTESS OF VENTADORN* 
 
 WHENE'ER green leaves and grass appear, 
 
 And budding flowers from branches spring, 
 And nightingales do strong and clear 
 
 Uplift their voice and 'gin to sing 
 Joy do they bring me, joy the flowers' sweet grace, 
 Joy my own heart, but most my lady's face ; 
 And I am girt with joy on every side, 
 But she is joy who doth all else o'er-ride. 
 
 It marvels me that I can be, 
 
 And ne'er my love to her reveal, 
 For when my lady's eyes I see, 
 
 Their beauty all my senses steal; 
 Almost to her from very love I run, 
 And but for fear already were it done ; 
 Ne'er was one seen of form and hue so fair, 
 Thus slow her faithful vassal's love to share. 
 
 To find her all alone, what bliss ! 
 
 Asleep, or else but seeming so, 
 Then would I steal of her a kiss, 
 
 Since ne'er could ask it one so low ; 
 Betwixt us few the deeds of love pardy ! 
 Time speedeth onwards, all our best days flee ; 
 By secret signs could we sweet converse hold, 
 And cunning use, instead of action bold. 5 
 
 * For original see Mahn's Gedichte der Troubadours ', No. 927. 
 
30 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 CANZONE TO BEL VEZER ON HER DISMISSAL OF 
 THE POET.* 
 
 IN vain at Ventadorn full many a friend 
 Will seek me, for my lady doth refuse me, 
 
 And thither small my wish my way to wend, 
 If ever thus despitefully she use me. 
 
 On me she frowningly her brow doth bend, 
 
 For why ? My love to her hath ne'er an end, 
 But of no other crime can she accuse me. 
 
 The fish full heedless falleth on the prey, 
 
 And by the hook is caught ; e'en so I found me 
 
 Falling full heedless upon love one day, 
 
 Nor knew my plight till flames raged high 
 around me, 
 
 That fiercer burn than furnace by my fay; 
 
 Yet ne'er an inch from them can I away, 
 
 So fast the fetters of her love have bound me. 
 
 I marvel not her love should fetter me, 
 Unto such beauty none hath e'er attained ; 
 
 So courteous, gay, and fair, and good, is she, 
 
 That for her worth all other worth hath waned ; 
 
 I cannot blame her, she of blame is free, 
 
 Yet I would gladly speak if blame there be, 
 But finding none, from speaking have refrained. 
 
 * For original see Chrestomathie proven f ale, p. 59 (K. Bartsch). 
 
Bernart of Ventadorn 3 1 
 
 I send unto Provence great love and joy, 
 And greater joy than ever tongue expresseth, 
 
 Great wonders work thereby, strange arts employ, 
 Since that I give my heart no whit possesseth. 6 
 
 FRAGMENT OF A POEM IN WHICH BERNART 
 TAKES LEA VE OF BEL VEZER* 
 
 WHENE'ER the joyous lark I see, 
 
 That higher soars, and higher yet, 
 Till drunk with love's sweet ecstasy 
 
 Her sun-ward course she doth forget, 
 And lower sinks, with jealous fire 
 
 I burn at seeing all things gay ; 
 And marvel 'tis that fierce desire, 
 
 Breaks not my aching heart straightway. 7 
 
 1 Vers and canzones. See note ( 2 ) on Marcabrun. 
 
 2 The Duchess of Normandy. Grand-daughter of William IX. 
 
 of Poitiers and Aquitaine. Upon her divorce from the 
 King of France she became the wife of Henry II. of 
 England. 
 
 3 Raymond of Toulouse. The Fifth. 
 
 4 1 have written. For Hugh of Saint Circ (see infra). 
 
 6 And cunning use, etc. This poem to Bel Vezer (Fair Sight), 
 for so Bernart called the Viscountess of Ventadorn, is 
 among the most beautiful of his earliest canzones. The 
 original is composed of seven stanzas of eight lines and 
 an Envoi of two lines. The rhymes, ababccdd, 
 run throughout the poem. 
 
 *See Chrestomathie, p. 64. 
 
32 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 6 My heart no whit possesseth. The original consists of six 
 
 stanzas of seven lines, and a half stanza of three lines. 
 The rhymes, a b a b a a b, run throughout the poem. 
 
 7 My aching heart straightway. The poem, of which the 
 
 above stanza is the first, is one of Bernart's best, but 
 also most untranslatable canzones. The lines are an 
 allusion to the old superstition that the lark, being in 
 love with the sun, flies always towards it as far as it 
 can, till drunk with joy it loses consciousness and falls 
 down to earth. 
 
 JAUFRE RUDEL OF BLAIA (BLAYE) > 
 1140-1170. V 
 
 THE following is one of the most beautiful of the Lives, but 
 also, it is to be feared, one of the least authentic ; it has in 
 it all the extravagance and the delicate unearthliness that is 
 the essence of the ideal Provengal chivalry : 
 
 " The desire of the moth for the star, 
 
 Of the night for the morrow, 
 The devotion to something afar 
 From the sphere of his sorrow." 
 
 See Mr. Swinburne's verses on Rudel in The Triumph of Time. 
 
 " THERE lived a singer in France of old, 
 By the tideless, dolorous, midland sea, 
 
 In a land of sand, and ruin, and gold, 
 
 There shone one woman and none but she ; 
 
 And, finding life for her love's sake fail, 
 
 Being fain to see her, he bade set sail, 
 
 Touched land, and saw her as life grew cold, 
 And praised God, seeing ; and so died he. 
 
Jaufre Rudel 33 
 
 " Died, praising God for His gift and grace ; 
 
 For she bowed down to him weeping and said, 
 'Live,' and her tears were shed on his face, 
 
 Or ever the life in his face was shed; 
 The sharp tears fell through her hair and stung 
 Once, and her close lips touched him and clung 
 Once, and grew one with his lips for a space, 
 
 And so drew back, and the man was dead. 
 
 " O brother, the gods were good to you, 
 
 Sleep and be glad while the world endures, 
 Be well content as the years wear through, 
 
 Give thanks for life and the loves and lures ; 
 Give thanks for life, O brother, and death, 
 For the sweet last sound of her feet, her breath, 
 For gifts she gave you gracious and few, 
 Tears and kisses that lady of yours." 
 
 Few poems are left us of Rudel's, and of these the one 
 translated is the most interesting, whether really addressed 
 to the Lady of Tripoli, or merely one of those that gave rise 
 to the pretty story concerning him. 
 
 OF JAUFRE RUDEL* 
 
 Now Jaufre Rudel of Blaia 1 was a right noble 
 prince of Blaia, 2 and it chanced that, though he 
 had not seen, he loved the Countess of Tripoli 8 for 
 her great excellence and virtue, whereof the pilgrims 
 who came from Antioch spread abroad the report. 
 And lie made of her fair songs, with fair melodies, 
 and with short verses, 4 till he longed so greatly to 
 
 *See Mahn, vi. 
 C 
 
34 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 see her, that he took the Cross and embarked upon 
 the sea to gain sight of her. And lo ! in the ship 
 there fell upon him such great sickness, that they 
 who were with him weened he was dead therein ; 
 nathless they brought him as one dead to a hostelry 
 in Tripoli. And the thing was made known to the 
 Countess, so that she came unto his bedside, and 
 took him into her arms. Then he knew that it 
 was she, and sight and speech returned unto him, 
 and he gave praise and thanks unto God who had 
 preserved his life until his seeing her. And so he 
 died in the arms of the Countess, and she gave him 
 honourable burial in the Temple-house of Tripoli ; 
 and on that self-same day she gave herself to God, 
 and became a nun, for loss of him, and for grief 
 at his death. And lo, here are some of his songs. 
 
 JAUFRE RUDEL TO HIS FAR-OFF LADY. 
 
 WHEN May-days come, full tunefully 
 
 The birds do carol from afar, 
 Yet when I needs from there must be, 
 
 Where dwelleth my sweet love afar, 
 AS drear to me as winter's snow 
 Are songs, or fairest flowers that blow, 
 So sad the heart within my breast. 
 
 No happiness I hope to see, 
 Fail I to win that love afar ; 
 
Jaufre Rudel 35 
 
 I know of none so fair as she 
 
 In any country near or far. 
 Her worth above all worth doth stand, 
 And captive in the Paynim's land 
 
 I'd gladly dwell at her behest. 
 
 Ah me ! What joy, what ecstasy 5 
 
 To seek of her a refuge far ! 
 Mayhap too she will shelter me 
 
 Beneath her roof, thus come from far ; 
 Then there will be full many a kiss, 
 When far-off love in perfect bliss 
 
 Doth gaily reach the long-sought rest. 
 
 The God that made all things that be, 
 And formed for me this love afar, 
 
 Give me ere long the power to see 
 With such great joy my love afar, 
 
 That the gay bower or garden sweet, 
 
 Where first my Lady I may greet, 
 For aye may seem a palace blest. 
 
 1 Blaia. Blaye, in Saintonge, on the Garonne. 
 
 2 Prince of Blaia. The title ' prince ' was often given then to 
 
 nobles of small importance. Marcabrun, but not history, 
 makes mention of Rudel. 
 
 2 Countess of Tripoli. There were many wives and daughters 
 of Counts of Tripoli bearing the above title, but history 
 makes no allusion to any of these entering a convent. 
 
36 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 4 Short verses. The original has Paubres motz (poor words), 
 
 which Diez interprets as ' Short verses.' 
 
 5 Ah me ! What joy, what ecstasy. The rhymes are in the 
 
 original, ababccd, ababccd, etc. 
 
 THE COUNTESS OF DIA ^ 
 Second half of twelfth century. ^ 
 
 POETESSES, rare in North France, were common enough in 
 Languedoc, specially in the second half of the twelfth century, 
 ladies, such as the Countesses of Dia (Die) and of Provence, 
 Claire of Anduze and Maria of Ventadorn, stepping off the 
 pedestals that the chivalry of the age erected for them, tell 
 in passionate words of their despair and of their love, a love 
 that is pure and all-absorbing, and, with most of them, of a 
 far greater intensity and headlong recklessness than that of 
 the men. 
 
 Such a love was the Countess of Die's for the cold and 
 indifferent Raembaut of Orange, and the grace, sweetness, 
 and sincerity of her song to him, make it one of the most 
 remarkable poems in Provengal literature; its subtle charm, 
 however, has, I fear, been but ill-rendered by the translation 
 attempted. 
 
 OF THE COUNTESS OF DIA* 
 
 Now the Countess of Dia, wife of Lord Guillem 
 of Poitiers, was a fair and excellent lady. And she 
 loved Lord Raembaut of Orange, 1 and made many 
 a good poem of him ; and behold here written some 
 of her canzones. 
 
 *See Mahn, vii. 
 
The Countess of Dia 37 
 
 THE COUNTESS OF DIA TO RAEMBAUT OF 
 ORANGE* 
 
 NEEDS must I sing of one that o'er me reigneth, 
 E'en of my love, of whom my heart complaineth, 
 Whom I do prize 'bove all the world containeth, 
 Alas ! from him kind mercy little gaineth, 
 
 Little my beauty, wit, and far-spread fame, 
 For he beguileth me, my love disdaineth, 
 
 As though I had done aught that were to blame. 
 
 "Pis strange to me that thou, my friend, dost scorn 
 
 me, 
 
 I deem I have good reason loud to mourn me ; 
 It is unmeet another should have shorn me 
 Of thy dear love, how harsh so e'er I'd borne me ! 
 
 Alas ! bethink thee of that golden time 
 Of our first rapture may that mem'ry warn me 
 
 Never to lose such joy by wanton crime. 
 
 Fair virtues ever have in thee abounded, 
 But thy great merits leave me all confounded ; 
 To ladies far and near thy fame hath sounded, 
 That none resist thee, by thy worth astounded ; 
 
 Yet thou, fair friend, I deem art passing wise, 
 And thou shouldst know my love is love unbounded, 
 
 And 'fore thy memory should our parting rise. 
 
 * See Chrestomathie, p. 71. 
 
38 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 My noble lineage and my faith unfailing, 
 My beauty eke can ne'er be unavailing, 
 Wherefore with these thy stubbornness assailing, 
 I send this song, thee, cruel lover, hailing, 
 
 And I would know, fair friend, whate'er betide, 
 Why thou dost spurn me, at my sorrow railing, 
 
 Whether it be from Wrath or else from Pride. 
 
 Eke warn him, song, his cruelty bewailing, 
 That oft great ill doth with the proud abide. 2 
 
 1 Orange. A small State dependent on Provence, and claiming 
 
 as its founder the legendary hero St. William. The 
 Count here alluded to was Raembaut III., who shared 
 with his brother the rulership of Orange. Of his life 
 we know little, and his poems are of small merit. 
 
 2 With the proud abide. The original poem is composed 
 
 of 5 stanzas + I stanza of 2 lines (a b). The rhyming 
 system isaaaabab, ccccbcb, ddddbdb, 
 etc. 
 
 PEIRE OF AUVERGNE 
 1155-1215. 
 
 THE high esteem in which Peire of Auvergne was held, both 
 by himself and others, must have been owing to his great skill 
 in form and versification (compare the monotonous metre of 
 the Count of Poitiers' crusading song with the ease, richness, 
 and variety of Peire's " Rossinhol en son repaire," Chresto- 
 mathie, p. 77). Apart from their form, however, the twenty-five 
 to thirty poems he has left us have little interest. The one 
 
Peire of Auvergne 39 
 
 most often quoted is his satire on his contemporary poets, in 
 which all are held up to public scorn and derision, and in 
 which an interesting illustration is given us of the rough-and- 
 ready criticism of the time. Of his love poems, the best is 
 undoubtedly the one given on page 77 of the Chrestomathie ; 
 in it a nightingale plays the part of confidante and messenger 
 to the lover of the piece. The bird messenger is a common 
 figure in mediaeval poetry. Similarly, a sparrow is introduced 
 in Arnaut of Carcasses, and a parrot in Marcabrun. The 
 above-mentioned poem of Peire's begins somewhat in this 
 fashion. "Nightingale, get thee to my lady's dwelling, tell 
 her in what sad case I am, and bring word to me how it 
 stands with her, and look to it that she in nowise keep thee 
 with her." And the merry bird flies forth, seeking diligently 
 till she espies her to whom she is sent. And anon when 
 she sees her in her beauty, the bird begins the song where- 
 with she is wont to greet the night, then holds her still and 
 bethinks her how best to tell her tale of woe : "He that is 
 your loyal and faithful lover has sent me hither to pleasure 
 you, and if you will give me a message of comfort for him 
 you will have good reason to rejoice, for there is no mother's 
 son that loves you better. Wherefore if ye love, make no 
 tarriance, but enjoy it while ye may, for full soon passes it 
 away from you," etc. 
 
 OF PEIRE OF AUVERGNE* 
 
 PEIRE of Auvergne was of the diocese of Clair- 
 mont; a wise man he was and a well lettered, and 
 was the son of a burgher; fair and comely he was 
 of person, and well could sing and rhyme. And he 
 was the first good troubadour in the world, and he 
 
 * Mahn viii. 
 
40 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 who made the fairest melodies 1 ever yet made, in 
 the ' vers ' that runs : 
 
 " De iostals breus iorns els loncs sers 
 Qan la blanca aura brunezis." 
 
 (In dark days and long nights 
 When the clear air is darkened.) 
 
 No canzone did he make, for in those days no 
 poem hight 'canzone,' but 'vers.' 2 And he was 
 greatly loved and honoured of all excellent men, 
 and excellent barons and ladies of that time, and 
 accounted of them the greatest troubadour in all 
 the world, until there rose up Giraut of Borneil. 
 Greatly did he praise himself in his songs, 3 and 
 blame all other troubadours, saying of himself: 
 
 " Peire d'Auvergne a tal votz, 
 Qel chanta de sobre e de sotz, 
 
 E il so sunt doutz e plazen ; 
 E poes es maestre de totz, 
 Ab qun pauc esclarzis sos motz 
 
 Qua penas nulls horn los enten." 
 
 (Peire d'Auvergne has such a voice that he can sing both 
 high and low. His melodies are sweet and pleasant. He is 
 master of all things, yet were it well that he should make 
 clear his verses, the which are hardly understood of any.) 
 
 Long did he dwell with the good folk in the 
 world, even as the Dauphin of Auvergne, 4 in whose 
 land he was born, has told me, and thereafter he 
 entered a monastery and died therein. 
 
Guillem of Cabestaing 41 
 
 1 Melodies. The original has 'son' = air, song, the diminutive 
 
 of which is the Prov. sonet. 'Son' also means a lyric 
 poem, accompanied by the sound (son) of the instrument. 
 
 2 No poem hight canzone. See Marcabrun's life for the same 
 
 remark ; it points to his being among the earliest of the 
 Provengal court poets. Dante names him among the elder 
 poets, while Petrarch calls him "The Old." 
 
 3 Greatly did he praise himself. Boasting was a common char- 
 
 acteristic of the troubadours (see the poems of P. Vidal 
 and others). "Touching the new and the old poetry," 
 says Peire d'Auvergne on one occasion, "I will here 
 make manifest my wisdom and my understanding, for 
 mark well, all ye that are yet for to come, never before 
 me was perfect verse composed." 
 
 4 The Dauphin of Auvergne. The troubadour who quarrelled 
 
 with Richard, and who composed poetry. 
 
 GUILLEM OF CABESTAING. 
 1181-1196. 
 
 IT is hardly necessary to dwell upon the reasons existing for 
 disbelieving the romantic details of the following life. (See 
 G. Paris (Romania, viii.), O. Beschnitt, and others for the 
 discussion of this question.) 
 
 Cabestaing, Roussillon, and Tarascon are names found more 
 than once in Languedoc. The names of Raymond and 
 Soremonda appear in the documents of the time, and Guillem 
 of Cabestaing himself is twice mentioned. The number of 
 MSS. that are left us of his poem, " Li dous consire," do 
 much to prove that he was a favourite character, and one 
 whom popular imagination would readily transform into a 
 hero of romance. The story of his love and death is entirely 
 characteristic of the age ; the husband is held up to general 
 
42 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 detestation, and the sympathies of the writer are wholly with 
 the lover and his lady. 
 
 As to the manner of his death, similar stories are to be 
 found in various parts of the world, all probably having their 
 source in an old Indian "Beast fable." In Guillem's case, 
 his songs, dwelling, as they repeatedly do, on death by love, 
 may have suggested the connection of the fiction with him. 
 
 In his songs, only eight of which have remained to us, 
 Guillem is the true love poet all tenderness and submission 
 to one far above him, and whom he has little hope to win. 
 When driven away by slanderers from his Lady's presence, 
 he takes, he says, perforce the pilgrim's staff, serving Love, 
 and Love only, all the days of his life. "Very sweet to me," 
 he cries, " is the pain she gives me, sweeter still would be 
 the joy ; one thread of her cloak of minever, if it pleased 
 her to grant it me, would make me happier than the greatest 
 of favours from any other." 
 
 OF GUILLEM OF CABESTAING* 
 
 Now Guillem of Cabestaing was a knight of the 
 country of Roussillon, which bordered on Catalonia 
 and on Narbonne. And he was right goodly to 
 look upon, renowned withal in arms and chivalry 
 and knightly service. And, in his country, there 
 dwelt a lady my Lady Soremonda by name 
 wife of Sir Raymond of Castel-Roussillon, a knight 
 of high descent, puissant, and proud, and cruel, and 
 base, and hard of heart. Now Sir Guillem of 
 Cabestaing greatly loved the lady, and made his 
 songs of her, 1 and the lady, who was young, and 
 
 *Mahn, ix. 
 
Guillem of Cabestaing 43 
 
 fair, and gay, and noble, bore him greater love than 
 to any soul on earth ; and the thing was told to Sir 
 Raymond of Castel-Roussillon, and he, as one 
 jealous and full of wrath, made inquiry into it, 
 and when he knew that it was true, set watch upon 
 his wife. And it fell upon a day, that Sir Raymond 
 of Castel-Roussillon found Sir Guillem of Cabestaing 
 hawking without great company, and he slew him, 
 and caused his heart to be taken from out his body 
 and his head to be cut off. Then he caused both 
 head and heart to be brought unto his dwelling, 
 and the heart he caused to be roasted and seasoned 
 with pepper, and to be set before his wife to eat 
 of it. And when the lady had eaten of it, Raymond 
 of Castel-Roussillon said unto her: "Know you of 
 what you have eaten?" And she said, "I know not, 
 save that the taste thereof is good and savoury." 
 Then he said to her that that she had eaten of 
 was in very truth the heart of Sir Guillem of 
 Cabestaing, and caused the head to be brought 
 before her, that she might the more readily believe 
 it. And when the lady had seen and heard this, 
 she straightway fell into a swoon, and when she 
 was recovered of it, she spake and said : " Of a 
 truth, my Lord, such good meat have you given me 
 that never more will I eat of other." Then he, 
 hearing this, ran upon her with his sword and would 
 have struck at her head, but the lady ran to a 
 
44 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 balcony, and cast herself down, and so died. And 
 the news spread through Roussillon and through 
 all Catalonia, how that Sir Guillem of Cabestaing 
 and the lady were thus foully done to death, and 
 how that Sir Raymond of Castel-Roussillon had set 
 before the lady the heart of Sir Guillem. Then 
 there arose sore weeping and lamentation in all 
 the countries round about. And the outcry that 
 was made of it came to the ears of the King of 
 Aragon, 2 who was liege lord of Sir Raymond of 
 Castel-Roussillon and of Sir Guillem of Cabestaing. 
 And the king came to Perpignan in Roussillon, and 
 commanded that Sir Raymond of Castel-Roussillon 
 should be brought before him And when he was 
 come, he caused him to be bound, and took from 
 him all his castles, and had them razed to the 
 ground ; and took from him likewise all that he 
 had, and cast him into prison, and he caused 
 Guillem of Cabestaing and the lady to be taken, 
 and brought unto Perpignan, and to be laid together 
 in a tomb before the church door ; and he bade 
 men inscribe upon the tomb the manner of their 
 death, and likewise bade he all the knights and 
 ladies throughout all the County of Roussillon to 
 come thither each year and hold a solemn festival 
 to their memories. And Sir Raymond of Castel- 
 Roussillon died miserably in the prison of the King 
 of Aragon. 
 
Guillem of Cabestaing 45 
 
 (The following is a free and somewhat abridged 
 translation of the longest of the three versions of 
 Guillem's Life.)* 
 
 My Lord Raymond of Roussillon, a valiant baron, 
 even as ye know, had for wife my Lady Margarida, 
 the fairest lady known of in that day, and the most 
 renowned for excellence, and worth, and courtesy. 
 Now it happened that Guillem of Cabestaing came 
 unto the court of my Lord Raymond of Roussillon, 
 and offered himself to him for squire. My Lord 
 Raymond seeing him to be fair, and gracious, and 
 noble, bade him welcome to his court. And Guillem 
 abode with him, and demeaned himself so that 
 great and small loved him, and so that my Lord 
 Raymond made him page to my Lady Margarida 
 his wife, and then all the more did Guillem strive 
 after worth in word and deed. Now it befell that 
 Love, even as is his wont, assailed my Lady 
 Margarida and fired her heart. And so greatly 
 pleased her Guillem's speech and bearing that, 
 upon a day, she must needs say to him : " Now 
 tell me, Guillem, if a lady showed thee signs of 
 love, wouldst dare to love her?" Guillem, who 
 perceived her meaning, answered unabashed : " Yea, 
 Lady, did I but know that the signs were true 
 ones." "By St. John," quoth the lady, "thou hast 
 answered bravely ; but now I will try thee, and see 
 
 *See Mahn, xi. 
 
46 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 if thou canst dissever the false signs from the true." 
 Then when Guillem had heard these words, he 
 made answer : " May it be even as ye shall please, 
 my Lady." Then he fell to thinking, and anon Love 
 moved him, and there entered into his innermost 
 heart those thoughts Love sends his own ; and from 
 that hour he became Love's servant, and began to 
 make fair songs to honour her he loved. And Love, 
 who, when he wills, gives guerdon to his servants, 
 so sorely beset the lady with thoughts of love, that 
 she rested not day or night with thinking of the 
 excellent virtues that abounded in him. And it 
 happened upon a day, that the lady took Guillem 
 apart, and said to him : " Now tell me, Guillem, 
 hast thou yet discovered whether my signs of love 
 be true or false?" Quoth Guillem : "Lady, so help 
 me God, from that same hour that first I served 
 you, none other thought could enter into my heart, 
 but that you were the best and truest lady ever 
 born so think I, and shall think all my life." And 
 the lady answered : " Guillem, I tell thee that never, 
 so speed me God, shalt thou be beguiled by me, 
 nor shalt thou pine in vain." And she stretched 
 forth her arms, and embraced him sweetly in that 
 chamber where they were, and so they became lovers. 
 And ere long slanderers the which may God con- 
 found began to make mention of their love, and 
 to guess of it from the songs that Guillem made. 
 
Guillem of Cabestaing 47 
 
 And hither and thither went their talk until it 
 reached the ears of my Lord Raymond. And full 
 woe was Lord Raymond for losing the companion 
 that he loved, but more for the shame of his wife. 
 Now it chanced upon a day, when Guillem was 
 gone a-hawking with one squire only, that my Lord 
 Raymond asked where he was, and a varlet told 
 him Guillem was gone a-hawking 5 and one that 
 knew told him where Guillem was ; and forthwith 
 he dight his harness secretly, and let bring his war- 
 horse, and rode after Guillem. And when Guillem 
 saw him come, he marvelled greatly and boded ill 
 thereof, and came to meet him and said : " Welcome, 
 my Lord, but why then thus alone ? " And Raymond 
 answered : " I have sought you thus to disport me 
 with you, and have ye taken nought ?" "I, my Lord, 
 not much, for I have little found; ye wot of the 
 proverb that says, ' He that finds little takes little/ " 
 ''Let this talk be awhile," said my Lord Raymond, 
 "and tell me truly by the faith that ye owe me 
 whatsoever thing I shall ask of you." " Pardy ! my 
 Lord," said Guillem, "if it is to be said I will say 
 it." " But mark ye, I will have no shifts," said 
 Raymond, " but require you to tell me the whole 
 truth of that which I shall ask." " My Lord, since 
 so ye will," said Guillem, " ask me, and I shall 
 speak you true." Then my Lord Raymond said, 
 " Tell me, so God help you, if ye have a lady whom 
 
48 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 ye sing and love?" "My Lord," said Guillem, "how 
 should I sing if I did not love ? Know of a truth, 
 my Lord, that Love has me wholly in his power." 
 " I trow well that ye love or else ye could not 
 sing so sweetly ; tell me, I pray you, who is your 
 lady ? " " Ah ! my Lord, for God's sake beware of 
 what ye ask me is it good that a man reveal his 
 love? Ye know that Sir Bernart of Ventadorn 
 says, 
 
 "Duna ren maonda mos senz," etc. 
 
 (Lines in which Bernart of Ventadorn rejoices 
 that he has never had the weakness to reveal the 
 object of his love.) 
 
 Then my Lord Raymond said, " I plight you my 
 word, that I will avail you as best I may," and 
 likewise said so much to him, that Guillem spake 
 and said, "Know then, my Lord, that I love the 
 sister of my Lady Margarida, your wife, and ween I 
 have her love in exchange and now, I pray you, 
 avail me, or leastways do me no harm." " Take my 
 hand and plighted word that I will avail you to 
 the uttermost," said Raymond. . . . "Let us go to 
 her dwelling for it is nigh unto here." "So be it, 
 I pray you," said Guillem. So they took their way 
 to the castle of Liet, and there they were full well 
 received of Sir Robert of Tarascon, and of my 
 Lady Agnes his wife, sister of my Lady Margarida. 
 
Guillem of Cabestaing 49 
 
 And my Lord Raymond took my Lady Agnes by 
 the hand and led her into a chamber, and they 
 sat them down together on a bed and my Lord 
 Raymond said, " Now tell me, sister-in-law, by the 
 faith ye owe me love ye, par amour 1 and she 
 said: "Yea, Lord." "And whom, quoth he?" 
 " That will I nowise tell you," answered she, " for 
 in what does it concern you?" Nathless he besought 
 her so earnestly that she told him she loved Guillem 
 of Cabestaing. And this she said because she saw 
 Guillem sore troubled, and knowing that he loved 
 her sister, she feared lest Raymond should think 
 ill of him. And thereat Raymond had great glad- 
 ness, and the lady told the matter to her husband, 
 the which said it was well done, and gave her 
 his troth that she might say or do aught that could 
 compass Guillem's escape. This did the lady, for she 
 called Guillem to her chamber, and abode so long 
 alone with him, that Raymond weened she must 
 needs have granted him her love, whereat he was 
 right well pleased and fell to thinking, that that 
 they told him was not true. . . . 
 
 And on the morrow, they took meat at the 
 castle amidst great merriment ; and after dinner they 
 departed and came to Roussillon. And Raymond, 
 as soon as he might, separated him from Guillem 
 and came to his wife and told her of that which 
 he had seen pass betwixt Guillem and her sister. 
 
50 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Whereat all that night the lady was full woe. 
 And on the morrow she let send for Guillem, and 
 greeted him full ill, calling him false and traitorous. 
 And Guillem cried her mercy, even as one that 
 was guiltless of that whereof she accused him, and 
 told her word for word all that had passed. And 
 the lady let fetch her sister, and learnt of her 
 that Guillem was without blame, wherefore the lady 
 commanded him to make a song wherein he should 
 show that he loved none other lady but her ; where- 
 fore he made this song, which says : 
 
 "Li doutz consire 
 Qem don amors soven," etc. 
 (Those sweet reveries 
 That Love doth ofttimes give.) 
 
 And when Raymond of Roussillon heard the song 
 that Guillem had made of his wife, he caused him 
 to come for to have speech with him without 
 the castle ; then cut off his head and put it into 
 a flesh pot. [What now follows is almost the same 
 as the biography translated.] 
 
 GUILLEM OF CABESTA1NG TO HIS LADY* 
 
 THAT day, my lady, when I saw thee first, 
 
 When thou didst deign to grant me such fair sight, 
 
 Anon all other longings were dispersed, 
 
 And thou wast from that hour my sole delight; 
 
 *See Mahn's Gedichte der troubadours, Vol. iv., p. 140. 
 
Guillem of Cabestaing 5 1 
 
 But one sweet smile and glance my heart was 
 
 needing, 
 
 Such constant love upon it to impress, 
 That of all else I had forgetfulness. 
 
 Thy rarest beauty, and thy merry cheer, 
 
 Thy gracious discourse, and thy loving mind 
 Have wholly reft me of my reason clear, 
 
 Which since that hour I vainly strive to find ; 
 Thine be it then, so thou do hear my pleading, 
 Thine to advance thy fame and wondrous worth, 
 Thine too my life, thou fairest dame on earth. 
 
 No dread of sufFring 'tis that makes me sigh, 
 But I do hope that thou mayst once bestow 
 
 Some favour sweet upon me ere I die ; 
 And highest joy were then my bitter woe, 
 
 If once I saw thee my long sorrow heeding; 
 
 For faithful lovers must endure great pain, 
 
 Pardon all wrongs and guerdon thereby gain. 
 
 Ah, lady! would that hour were onward speeding 
 When in thy mercy thou wouldst not disdain 
 To call me lover and to ease my pain ! 
 
 J And made his songs of her. The poem that, according to 
 the longest account of Guillem's life, revealed the secret 
 of his love to the jealous husband was that beginning : 
 " Li dous consire 
 Qem don amors soven." 
 
 (See Chrestomathie, p. 73.) 
 
52 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 It is difficult, however, to see how this can have be- 
 trayed him, containing, as it does, nothing but the vaguest 
 allusions to his lady. It is one of his most beautiful 
 canzones, composed of short, fast-flowing lines, that well 
 express the agitations of an ardent and all-absorbing 
 passion. 
 
 2 The King of Aragon. Alphonso II. 
 
 PEIRE ROGIER. 
 1160-1170. 
 
 IN the few poems of Peire Rogier preserved to us, there is 
 no special interest. Almost all of them are relating to 
 Ermengarde (see Life), but are frigid and didactic in style. 
 
 OF PEIRE ROGIER* 
 
 NOW Peire Rogier was of Auvergne, and was 
 canon of Clairmont And he was a man of gentle 
 birth, goodly and debonair, rich in all book-lore 
 and in natural wit, and well could sing and rhyme. 
 And he forsook his canonry 1 and became a jongleur, 
 passing from court to court, and his singing won 
 favour of all. And he came to Narbonne, to the 
 court of my Lady Ermengarde, 2 who was in those 
 days much honoured and prized of men. And she 
 welcomed him full well, and greatly honoured and 
 advanced him. And he loved her, and praised her 
 
 *See Mahn, xii. 
 
Peire Rogier 53 
 
 in his ' vers ' and canzones ; and she received them, 
 and looked favourably on them, and he was wont 
 to call her, " You who wrong me." Long time did 
 he dwell at her court, until men deemed him her 
 lover. Whence blame came to her from the people 
 of that region ; and fearing that they spake of her, 
 she dismissed him and sent him from her. Then 
 he went his way, full sad and sorrowful, to Raembaut 
 of Orange, even as he has said in the sirvente that 
 he made of him, the which runs : 
 
 " Seignen Raembaut per vezer 
 De vos lo conort el solatz, 
 Sui sai vengutz tost e viatz 
 Mai que non sui per vostraver. 
 Que saber voill qan men irai 
 Sestals lo gabs cum horn lo fai, 
 Si ni a tant, o meins, o mai 
 Cum aug dir ni comtar de vos." 
 
 (Lord Raembaut, to see if there be in you comfort and joy, 
 rather than to know your bounty, have I come hither in all 
 speed ; for I would know, ere I go forth from you, whether 
 there be as much, or more, or less of all that good, that men 
 speak of, in you.) 
 
 And he dwelt long with Lord Raembaut of Orange, 
 and afterwards departed from him, and journeyed 
 into Spain to abide with the good King Alphonso 
 of Aragon ; eke did he abide with the good Count 
 Raymond of Toulouse, even as long as he willed. 
 Great honour did he have of the world, while that 
 
54 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 he dwelt therein ; and in the end he entered the 
 order of Granmon, and there did die. 
 
 1 And he forsook his canonry. Peire Rogier was by no means 
 
 the only troubadour who forsook the church for poetry. 
 See Peire of Auvergne's satire on his contemporary poets, 
 where he says of Rogier : 
 
 " Chanta d'amor a prezen ; 
 E covengral melhs us sautiers 
 En la gleiz, o us candeliers 
 Portar ab gran candel' arden." 
 
 (He sings openly of Love, but it would better behove him 
 to bear a psalter in the church, or a candlestick with 
 a great burning candle.) 
 
 2 Ermengarde. One of the most distinguished women of the 
 
 age, combining feminine grace and beauty with a strong 
 masculine nature and intellect. She is spoken of as being 
 foremost in the judgment-hall, and even as going to the 
 field of battle ; and also as priding herself on the severity 
 of her virtue. 
 
 ALPHONSO II. OF ARAGON. 
 Reigned from 1162-1196. 
 
 ALPHONSO II. was one of the most powerful rulers of his age, 
 being, in Spain, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, and 
 in Languedoc, ruler over Provence, Gavaudan, Rhodez, and 
 Roussillon. It was his policy to maintain a close alliance 
 with the Angevin house, the better to combat his great enemy, 
 the Count of Toulouse, who had claims on Provence. Like 
 his contemporary, Richard Coeur de Lion, he was the steady 
 friend of troubadours ; and his generosity was celebrated far 
 and wide by them. (See, however, Bertran of Born's violent 
 assertions about him, but these history in no way confirms.) 
 
Alphonso II. of Aragon 55 
 
 Like Richard, too, Alphonso made poetry the amusement ot 
 his leisure hours, the making of verses having, indeed, become 
 almost a necessary accomplishment for those of high rank, an 
 accomplishment in which the above-mentioned princes, together 
 with Frederic II. of Germany, the Marquis of Montferrat, the 
 Dauphin of Auvergne, and others, showed great proficiency. 
 Two poems of Alphonso's are left us : a tenzon of no special 
 merit between him and Guiraut of Borneil, and a canzone. 
 The latter has the slender matter of the average troubadour, 
 but also the grace and harmony with which even the average 
 troubadour could give expression to conventional ideas. 
 
 OF THE KING OF ARAGON* 
 
 NOW the King of Aragon, the troubadour, hight 
 Alphonso, and was the first king ever known in 
 Aragon. And he was the son of Lord Raymond 
 Berengar, Count of Barcelona, the which vanquished 
 the Saracens and despoiled them of Aragon, and 
 went unto Rome to be crowned, and returning from 
 thence, died in Poimon, in the borough of St. Dalmas. 
 Thereon his son Alphonso was made king, who 
 was father of King Peter, who was father of King 
 
 RICHARD COEUR-DE-LION. 
 
 Reigned from 1189-1199. 
 
 RICHARD and his elder brother Henry were both generous 
 lovers and patrons of Provencal poetry, and great favourites 
 with the troubadours. Whether Richard composed the only 
 
 *Mahn, xiii. f See Bertran of Born note 12. 
 
56 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 two songs left us of him in French or Provengal can hardly 
 be decided. . His mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was a friend 
 and protector of troubadours; and Richard, as her son, and 
 as Lord of Poitiers and Aquitaine, must have been as familiar 
 with the one language as with the other. 
 
 Of the two above-mentioned poems, that translated by Pro- 
 fessor York Powell, and inserted here by his kind permission, 
 is perhaps the more interesting. It was probably composed by 
 Richard while in his German prison, shortly before his release. 
 The second poem is the sirvente referred to in the biography, 
 the title sirvente being given somewhat vaguely to all poems 
 not on love. Often, but not always, the sirvente was satirical 
 in nature, and in Provence was much used as a weapon of 
 attack and defence. 
 
 DISPUTE BETWEEN RICHARD AND THE 
 DAUPHIN OF AUVERGNE.* 
 
 NOW when peace 1 was established between the 
 King of France and King Richard, there was made 
 the exchange of Auvergne and of Quercy ; for 
 Auvergne, that ere this was King Richard's, was 
 given over to the King of France ; and Quercy, 
 that was held by the King of France, was given 
 over to King Richard. Now the Dauphin was 
 Lord of Auvergne, and his cousin, Count Guy, was 
 Count thereof; and they two were sore vexed and 
 disquieted, in that the King of France was too 
 nigh unto them : for they knew that he was one 
 of evil rule, and of great greed and niggardliness. 
 
 *See Mahn, xiv. 
 
Richard Coeur-de-Lion 57 
 
 Aud it was so that as soon as the King of France 
 had rule over Auvergne, he bought him a strong 
 castle therein, Novedre by name, and despoiled 
 the Dauphin of Usoire, 2 a rich town. Now Lord 
 Richard, when he made war anew upon the King 
 of France, held speech with the Dauphin and his 
 cousin, Count Guy, and recalled to them the wrongs 
 the King of France had done them, and promised 
 that he would uphold them, and give them knights, 
 and crossbowmen, and gold, if they would aid him 
 in warring upon the King of France. And they, 
 for the great wrongs the King of France had done 
 them, gave ear unto Lord Richard, and sallied forth 
 to war against the King of France. And, as soon 
 as Lord Richard knew that the two Counts of 
 Auvergne the Dauphin and Count Guy, his cousin, 
 had risen up against the King of France, behold, 
 he made truce with him, and, passing over into 
 England, forsook the Dauphin and Count Guy. 
 Then the King of France gathered together a 
 great host, and came into Auvergne ; and burnt all 
 the land of the Dauphin, and of Count Guy, and 
 despoiled them of their boroughs and towns and 
 castles. And they, seeing that they could in no 
 wise withstand him, made a truce of five months 
 with him, and accorded with one another, that 
 Count Guy should go to England, to learn if Lord 
 Richard would aid them, even as he had sworn 
 
58 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 and promised them. So Count Guy passed over 
 into England with ten knights ; but his coming 
 pleased not Lord Richard, the which gave him a 
 rough and discourteous greeting, and bestowed on 
 him neither knights, nor serving men, nor crossbow- 
 men, nor gold ; whereat the Count got him home 
 again, poor, and sad, and shamed. And when he 
 was returned to Auvergne, the Dauphin and he went 
 unto the King of France and made peace with him. 
 And lo! when they were thus at peace, the truce 
 between the King of France and Lord Richard 
 came to an end. And the French King gathered 
 together his great host, and entered into the land 
 of King Richard, and took towns, and burnt both 
 boroughs and castles. And Lord Richard, when 
 he had tidings of this, came straightway from over 
 the sea, and as soon as he was come, he sent to the 
 Dauphin and Count Guy to come to aid him, telling 
 them that the truce was at an end, and that they 
 should sally forth to war against the King of France. 
 And they they would do nought of that he bade 
 them. Then King Richard, hearing that they would 
 not aid him in the war made a sirvente, in the which 
 he called to remembrance the oath that the Dauphin 
 and Count Guy had made him, and their forsaking 
 him at his need, because they had learnt that the 
 treasure of Chinon 3 was spent, and eke because 
 they had learnt that the French King was good in 
 
Richard Coeur-de-Lion 59 
 
 arms, and Lord Richard bad. 4 Likewise he said 
 that the Dauphin was wont of old freely to give 
 and spend, but that now he was grown niggardly 
 for to raise strong castles, and he would fain know 
 (he said), if it pleased the Dauphin to be despoiled 
 of Usoire by the King of France, and that without 
 avenging himself of it, nor bringing men-at-arms 
 against him. And the sirvente begins thus : 
 
 " Dalfin ieus voill deraisner." 
 (Dauphin, I will denounce thee.) 
 
 And the Dauphin made answer in another sirvente 
 to all King Richard's sayings, and showed how he 
 was right and Lord Richard wrong, and accused 
 Lord Richard of the evil that he had done to him 
 and to Count Guy, and likewise of all the evil that 
 he had done to others. And the Dauphin's sirvente 
 begins thus: 
 
 " Reis, pois de mi chantatz." 
 (King, since that you sing of me.) 
 
 LAMENT* COMPOSED BY RICHARD WHILE CAPTIVE* 
 
 NEVER can captive make a song so fair 
 As he can make that has no cause for care, 
 Yet may he strive by song his grief to cheer. 
 I lack not friends, but sadly lack their gold ! 
 Shamed are they, if unransomed I lie here, 
 A second Yule in hold. 
 
 * See Professor York Powell's History oj England, page 116. 
 
60 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 My men and barons all, full well they know, 
 Poitevins, English, Normans, Gascons too, 
 That I have not one friend, however poor, 
 Whom I would leave in chains to save my gold, 
 I tell them this, but blame them not therefor 
 Though I lie yet in hold. 
 
 True is the saying, as I have proved herein, 
 Dead men and prisoners have no friends, no kin ; 
 But if they leave me here to save their gold, 
 'Tis ill for me, but worse for them, I fear, 
 That when I die, reproach and blame shall hear 
 If I be left in hold. 
 
 Small marvel if my heart knows heaviness, 
 When my Lord 6 puts my land to such distress. 
 If he remembered what we swore of old, 
 The oath we took at Sens between us twain, 
 I know full well that I should not remain 
 Many days here in hold. 
 
 Sister and Countess, 7 God give you good cheer! 
 And keep my Lady, whom I love so dear; 
 For whom I lie in hold. 
 
 1 Now when peace. Diez places the following events at aboui 
 
 the year 1196. 
 2 Usoire = Issoire. 
 3 Chinon in Turenne, where was Henry the Second's treasure 
 
 then exhausted. Richard had in 1187 taken possession b> 
 
 force of Chinon and its treasures. 
 
The Dauphin of Auvergne 61 
 
 4 The French King good in arms, and Richard bad. Richard 
 
 can only in mockery have called himself ill- versed in arms, 
 as, only a few years before, he had performed his brilliant 
 exploits in Palestine. 
 
 5 Lament composed by Richard. This poem was probably 
 
 composed about the year 1193 in the Austrian prison 
 into which Richard, on his return from Palestine, was 
 cast by the Emperor. 
 
 6 My Lord. Philip, King of France. 
 
 7 Sister and Countess. Richard sent the poem to his favourite 
 
 sister, Joan. 
 
 THE DAUPHIN OF AUVERGNE ROBERT I. 
 Reigned from 1169-1234. 
 
 ALLUSION has already been made to the brilliancy and luxury 
 of the small courts of Languedoc, and, amongst these courts, 
 that of Auvergne, in spite of the Dauphin's poverty, takes a 
 prominent place. The Dauphin's generosity was far-famed, 
 and for this, as well as for his knowledge of poetry, his name 
 is often quoted by troubadours. His only poems seem to have 
 been a few satires and tenzons. 
 
 OF THE DAUPHIN OF AUVERGNE* 
 
 Now the Dauphin of Auvergne 1 was Count of 
 Auvergne ; and there was no knight in all the 
 world so wise and courteous, so bountiful and warlike 
 as he, and none so versed in love, and gallantry, 
 and deeds of chivalry, and none his like in learning, 
 and understanding, and in the making of coblas, 2 
 
 *Mahn, xv. 
 
62 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 and sirventes, sons, 3 and tenzons, 4 and none his 
 like in grave and gay discourse. And by his bounti- 
 ful gifts he lost the half and more of his county ; 
 but by his prudence and thrift he knew thereafter 
 to win unto himself all that he had lost, yea, and 
 eke much more. 
 
 Now the Dauphin of Auvergne * loved the Lady 
 of one of his castles the Lady Maurina by name. 
 And it chanced upon a day that the Lady sent 
 unto the Dauphin's steward, praying him for bacon, 
 which she would fain cook with eggs, and the 
 Dauphin sent her half a flitch of bacon. And the 
 bishop 5 came to know of it, and made thereon this 
 'cobla/ blaming the steward that he gave her 
 not the whole flitch, and blaming the Dauphin 
 that he caused but half to be given her : 
 
 " Per Crist, sil servens fos meus, 
 Dun cotel li dari al cor, 
 Can fez del bacon partida 
 A lei que lil queri tan gen. 
 Ben saup del dalphin lo talen 
 Que sel plus ni men no i meses, 
 A la ganta li dera tres ; 
 Mas pose en ver dire 
 Petit ac lart Maurina als ous frire." 
 
 (By Christ, this steward, if he were mine, 
 Right through his heart a knife I'd thrust, 
 Because he gave not all the flitch 
 
 *Mahn, xvi. 
 
The Dauphin of Auvergne 63 
 
 To one that asked so courteously. 
 
 But well the Dauphin's mind knew he, 
 
 For if he gave an undue part, 
 
 His master's hand would make him smart : 
 
 Yet this I say, and tell no lie, 
 
 Maurina had scant lard her eggs to fry.) 
 
 Now the Bishop was lover of a right fair lady 
 wife of Lord Chantart of Caulec, the which dwelt 
 at Pescadoiras, and the Dauphin made this answer 
 to the 'cobla': 
 
 " Li evesque troban en sos breus 
 Mais volon chaulet que por, 
 E pesca, que li covida 
 A Pescadoiras fort soven, 
 Per un bel peisson que lai pren ; 
 El peissos es gais e cortes, 
 Mas duna re les trop mal pres, 
 Car ses laissatz ausire 
 Al preveire que no fais mas lo rire." 
 
 (These lines with one or two plays upon words, 
 difficult to render into English, scoff at the Bishop's 
 love of the Lady of Pescadoiras.) 
 
 1 Dauphin. A title borne on account of their armorial bearings 
 
 by the Lords of Viennois, and one which, on the last of 
 them giving up the Dauphine to France in 1343, was 
 given to the eldest son of the King of France. About 
 1155 the Counts of Auvergne also assumed the title, 
 claiming to be descended from the Dauphins of Viennois. 
 
 2 Coblas. A word used vaguely, sometimes having the meaning 
 
 of 'couplet,' sometimes that of satiric poetry, or again 
 sometimes having the special sense of a love-poem set to 
 some known air. 
 
64 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 3 Sons. See note (i) on Peire of Auvergne. 
 
 4 Tenzon. This form of poetry was a dispute between two, 
 or sometimes three poets, each of whom composed his 
 share of the poem, though, indeed, tenzons exist that 
 were evidently written by one man only. Some tenzons, 
 as that between Hugh of Saint Circ and the Count of 
 Rhodez, are extremely bitter altercations on material 
 matters ; but, as a rule, they bear on subtle questions in 
 gallantry. A similar poem is the 'Partimen,' in which 
 a poet starts a question, and offers the choice of sides 
 to his opponent, supporting himself the side that is 
 rejected. After disputing through a certain number of 
 stanzas, the poets agree to appeal to the decision of 
 certain judges, generally ladies, and two or three in 
 number. The following are good examples of the subjects 
 discussed : " Is it better to love a damsel, young, fair 
 and courteous, or a fair dame, already experienced in 
 love?" "Twenty knights errant were riding in foul weather, 
 and complaining among themselves because they could 
 not find a refuge. They were overheard by two barons, 
 who were riding in all haste to visit their ladies ; one 
 of them returned to succour the knights, the other went 
 on his way to his lady, which of them did best?" 
 
 6 The Bishop. The name of this Bishop was Robert, and he 
 was related to the Counts of Auvergne. His disposition 
 was a notoriously turbulent one. 
 
 PEIRE RAYMOND. 
 1170-1200. 
 
 LITTLE is known of Peire Raymond beyond the few details 
 given us in his life. His career, like that of most troubadours, 
 was one of many wanderings, and probably of many loves. 
 He has left us about twenty songs which, though not without 
 
Peire Raymond 65 
 
 merit, do not place him among the more prominent troub- 
 adours. He was one of the many poets, protected by 
 Alphonso II. of Aragon, whose glory he sings somewhat 
 after this fashion : " Journey, Canzone to Aragon, to the 
 King whom God maintain, for he it is that upholds all 
 things noble, above all other kings born of woman. Even 
 as the white blossom is above the green foliage, so is his 
 fame uplifted and spread abroad above that of any other ; 
 therefore, whithersoever I go his watchword is within my 
 mouth. I proclaim his fame and do homage beside to no, 
 Duke, King, nor Admiral." 1 
 
 OF PEIRE RAYMOND* 
 
 PEIRE RAYMOND the Old 2 of Toulouse 3 was the 
 son of a burgher, and, becoming a jongleur, went 
 unto the court of King Alphonso 4 of Aragon. 
 And the King welcomed him, and did him great 
 honour. (And he was subtle, and wise, and knew 
 well to sing and rhyme, making good 'vers' and 
 good canzones and good anthems. And he dwelt 
 at the court of the King, and at that of the good 
 Count Raymond of Toulouse, 5 his lord likewise at 
 that of Lord Guillem of Saint Lidier a long time, 
 and then he married a wife at Pomias, and there also 
 did he die. 
 
 1 Admiral. The Arabian title, Emir, which the Crusaders intro- 
 duced into Europe. In mediaeval poetry it has a higher 
 dif ;nity than nowadays ; and we see it, as here, ranked 
 with King and Duke. 
 
 *Mahn, xvii. 
 E 
 
66 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 * 2 The Old. We are not told the reason of this surname, and 
 no Peire the Young is mentioned by the MSS. 
 
 * Toulouse. One of the most important of Proven9al cities, 
 its Counts ruling from the Garonne to the Alps ; it was 
 among the first cities to foster the new mediaeval poetry. 
 
 4 King Alphonso. The II. 
 
 5 Raymond of Toulouse. Raymond V. 
 
 ARNAUT OF MARVOIL. 
 1170-1200. 
 
 THE circumstance in the life of Arnaut of Marvoil (or 
 Marveil) most dwelt on by his biographer is his unhappy 
 love for the Countess of Burlatz. There seems no reason to 
 doubt that this love was a very real and very tender one. 
 He is almost the only troubadour whom we know to have 
 served but one lady. He died young, and, to judge by his 
 songs, never consoled himself for his misfortunes. 
 
 His poems, of which we have over twenty, entitle him to 
 a high place among the troubadours. Petrarch calls him the 
 less famous Arnold, but notwithstanding this epithet, he is far 
 more often quoted by his contemporaries than Arnaut (or 
 Arnold) Daniel, and rightly so if we were to judge only by what 
 is left us of the two poets. After Bernart of Ventadorn there 
 is, to the modern mind, indeed, no greater love-poet among the 
 Provengals than Arnaut Marvoil. Warmth, tenderness, grace, 
 and sincerity are to be found in both, together with the oriental 
 extravagance, the complete subjugation to Love, and the peculiar 
 unearthly exaltation of the typical troubadour ; it is of such and 
 their loves, that Mr. Pater well says : "As in some medicated air 
 exotic flowers of sentiment expand among people of a remote, 
 unaccustomed beauty, somnambulistic, frail, androgynous, the 
 light almost shining through them. Surely such loves were 
 too fragile and adventurous to last more than for a moment."* 
 
 *See Mr. Pater's essay "On Aesthetic Poetry," in Appreciations. 
 
Arnaut of Marvoil 67 
 
 OF ARNAUT OF MARVOIL* 
 
 AJRNAUT of Marvoil l was of the diocese of Perigord, 
 >f a castle named Marvoil. And he was a clerk 
 >f low degree, who, because he could not earn his 
 >read by letters, took to wandering through the 
 
 rld; and well knew to sing and rhyme. And he 
 oved the Countess of Burlatz, 2 daughter of the 
 ^aliant Count Raymond, and wife of the Viscount of 
 teziers, 3 surnamed Taillefer. Now this Arnaut was of 
 goodly face and form, and sang right well, and could 
 ead romances, and the Countess greatly honoured 
 md advanced him. And he, loving her full well, 
 ang her praises in his songs, but dared tell neither 
 ler nor other wight that it was he who made them, 
 >ut said they were the songs of others ; yet after 
 
 time, so mighty was his love, that he must needs 
 -nake a song of her the which begins : 
 
 " That frank and noble bearing, that I can ne'er forget," 
 
 ind in this song he first made manifest his love to 
 ler. And the Countess ^shunned not his love, but 
 icarkened to his prayers and favourably received 
 hem. And she furnished him with goodly apparel 
 md other gear, and greatly honoured and pleasured 
 lim, and spoke him fair, so that he became em- 
 boldened to sing and rhyme of her. And, favoured 
 
 * Mahn, xviii. 
 
68 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 by her, he dwelt at her court, esteemed and honoured 
 of men, making many a good song on the Countess, 
 in the which he showed forth the great good, and 
 likewise the great ill he had of her. 
 
 Now you have heard 4 who Arnaut of Marvoil was, 
 and how he loved the Countess of Beziers, daughter 
 of the valiant Count Raymond of Toulouse, and 
 mother of the Viscount of Beziers, the which was 
 done to death by the Frenchmen, after being taken 
 by them at Carcassone. This Countess was sur- 
 named of Burlatz, because she was born in the 
 castle of Burlatz ; and greatly did Arnaut love her, 
 and many a fair song did he make on her, and 
 many a heartfelt prayer did he in all fear offer her. 
 And she, too, bore him such great goodwill that 
 King Alphonso, 5 who loved her, came to know ofj 
 it. Then the king, marking how lovingly she boi 
 her to Arnaut, and hearing the fair songs he mad< 
 of her, became sorely grieved and jealous, so that 
 he accused her of too great love to Arnaut ; an< 
 so much did he say, and cause to be said of her, 
 that she sent Arnaut from her, and forbade him t< 
 appear again before her, and to sing of her and 
 his love of her. Grief beyond all other griefs fille< 
 Arnaut's heart when he heard this, and, as on< 
 distraught, 6 he departed from her and from her coui 
 and got him to Guillem of Montpellier, the whi< 
 was his trusty friend and lord. And with him die 
 
Arnaut of Marvoil 69 
 
 he abide long in tears and sadness, and with him 
 he made the song, which says : 
 
 " Molt eran dous miei cossir." 
 
 (How sweet to me was e'en my sorrow.) 
 
 TO THE VISCOUNTESS OF BURLATZ* 
 
 LADY, 7 whom weeping I obey, 
 More lovely far than tongue can say, 
 Thy lover true, thy staunchest friend, 
 His greeting unto thee does send ; 
 From thee, too, craves the like, and well 
 Thou know'st of whom I hereby tell, 
 For never joy on earth I know, 
 Unless from thy sweet self it flow. 
 Longtime, oh ! Lady, I do ponder, 
 How best convey my meaning yonder 
 Where thou dost tarry Were it best 
 By messenger, or me exprest ? 
 But messenger I dare not send, 
 Lest that thy wrath on me descend ; 
 By my own lips 'twere best then told 
 But love o'er heart and mind has hold 
 So firm, when I thy presence seek, 
 I straight forget what I would speak; 
 True message then my thoughts reveal, 
 A letter sealed with my seal ; 
 
 * See for original, Chrestomathie provenfale p. 94. 
 
70 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 A more discreet I might not find, 
 
 Nor one more courteous, true and kind. 
 
 Love's counsel I do herein heed, 
 
 Who daily succours me at need, 
 
 Love bids me writing to implore thee 
 
 Whate'er I fear to ask before thee ; 
 
 I dare not Love's command despise 
 
 He serves him best who straight complies. 
 
 Hear what the letter does contain, 
 
 And do not thou my prayers disdain. 
 
 Oh! gracious Lady, rarely wise, 
 
 Who look'st on all with kindly eyes, 
 
 In thought, and word, and deed high bred, 
 
 In arts of courtesy the head ; 
 
 Thy wondrous loveliness, thy grace, 
 
 Thy slender form, and bright-hued face, 
 
 Thy glance that with sweet love is lit, 
 
 Thy silvery laugh, and merry wit, 
 
 The goodness that in thee is seen, 
 
 Thy pleasant speech and gladsome mien, 
 
 And all thy words and actions kind 
 
 These day and night possess my mind ; 
 
 And joy and gladness flee from me, 
 
 Because thy face I may not see ; 
 
 Gladness and joy from me have fled, 
 
 And wrecked my life if not bestead. 
 
 Long suffering, long anxious care, 
 
 Much wakefulness and slumber rare, 
 
Arnaut of Marvoil 7* 
 
 Unsated yearning, hope forlorn 
 
 Have my sad heart well-nigh outworn, 
 
 That day and night to God on high 
 
 I pray to win thee or to die. 
 
 If God thy love to me do give, 
 
 Thine ten times more than mine I live ; 
 
 For thine, oh ! Lady, by my fay, 
 
 Is all the good I do or say. 
 
 That self-same day I saw thee first 
 
 Love filled my heart with raging thirst ; 
 
 And put me in so fierce a fire, 
 
 Since first it flamed it ne'er does tire ; 
 
 Has ne'er since first it flamed abated, 
 
 But grows the more in rage unsated, 
 
 As, when afar I needs must be, 
 
 Still grows the more my love to thee. 
 
 All day I groan in this fell fight, 
 But bitterer far my woe by night; 
 For when at night to sleep I'm fain, 
 And think to find me eased of pain, 
 Alack ! I toss, and turn, and start, 
 And think and think with heavy heart. 
 Thereon, to sit awhile I rise, 
 Then lay me down in restless wise ; 
 And first upon the right arm throw me, 
 Then straight upon the left bestow me ; 
 
7 2 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Then suddenly do lay me bare ; 
 
 Then wrap me round with anxious care ; 
 
 And, after such exertion vain, 
 
 Both arms I outside fling again ; 
 
 And therewith, clasping hand in hand, 
 
 Turn thoughts and eyes toward that dear land, 
 
 Where thou, my Lady fair, dost dwell, 
 
 Not leaving aught that tongue can tell. 
 
 Ah ! sweetest Lady, might it chance, 
 Whate'er the hour or circumstance, 
 That, once in life thy faithful slave 
 That rapture know, he long does crave, 
 Of clasping thee within his arms, 
 And gazing on thy peerless charms, 
 Kissing thine eyes, thy red lips sweet, 
 That mine in one long kiss should meet, 
 Till that I swoon with great delight 
 Too much I've spoke, yet, such my plight, 
 Once, only once I needs must say, 
 What long upon my heart does weigh. 
 
 And speaking thus all speech I leave, 
 With drowsy lids one sigh I heave, 
 And sighing sink into repose. 
 Then wandering my spirit goes, 
 Makes, Lady, eager search for thee, 
 With whom it ever fain would be ; 
 
Arnaut of Marvoil 73 
 
 Quick finds the joy, for which I yearn, 
 
 When day and night for thee I burn, 
 
 And freely thy dear love possesses, 
 
 And freely thy dear self caresses. 
 
 Ah ! might I ever sleep like this, 
 
 No kingly lot were such rare bliss. 
 
 Tis better thus sleep life away 
 
 Than waking grieve the live-long day ; 
 
 And Rodocesta, nor Biblis, 
 
 Blancaflor, nor Semiramis, 
 
 Tibes, nor Seida, nor Elena, 
 
 Antigone, nor else Ismena, 
 
 Nor Isold, 8 with the hair of gold, 
 
 Did never know such joy untold, 
 
 When with their lovers they have been, 
 
 As mine is then with thee I ween. 
 
 Whereon my lips a sigh does part, 
 
 And I do waken with a start, 
 
 Open my eyes and gaze around, 
 
 To see if thou perchance be found 
 
 Hard by ; but, Lady, woe is me ! 
 
 For nowhere thy loved form I see. 
 
 Turn then my face, and close my eyes, 
 
 With hands tight clasped in such wise 
 
 That slumber sweet might soothe my mind ; 
 
 Bat slumber sweet I cannot find, 
 
 And once more fight the battle dreary 
 
 With Love, who leaves me faint and weary. 
 
74 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Lady, the hundredth part, I ween, 
 
 Can ne'er be told of all the teen, 
 
 The sore travail, the torments dire 
 
 I ever suffer from Love's fire. 
 
 Through thee Love's fire alive does burn me, 
 
 And now to thee for grace I turn me ; 
 
 Forgive me, if I too much dare, 
 
 And hearken, Lady, to my prayer. 
 
 Lady, of all that live the fairest, 
 
 Of all that Nature formed the rarest, 
 
 Better than I can know or say, 
 
 And sweeter than the sweet May day ; 
 
 Summer shade, March sun outbreaking, 
 
 April rain the flowers awaking, 
 
 Love's fair Mirror, Rose of Beauty, 
 
 Key to honour, shrine of Duty, 
 
 House of Largesse, Queen of Youth, 
 
 Root of Wisdom, head of Truth, 
 
 Love's fair dwelling, home of Gladness, 
 
 Oh ! Lady bid me leave all sadness, 
 
 Grant that thy servant I may live, 
 
 And promise me thy love to give. 
 
 Unmeet it were to ask thee more, 
 
 Thy mercy only I implore ; 
 
 And, since I fealty to thee vow, 
 
 The hope to win thee give me now. 
 
 That hope to me will courage lend, 
 
 Till, with good hope, I reach life's end. 
 
Arnaut of Marvoil 75 
 
 Better to die, so hope be mine, 
 Than without hope alive to pine. 
 
 I'll pray no more God yield thee grace, 
 And never turn from thee His face. 
 So please thee, give me health to know, 
 Since love for thee has laid me low. 
 May Love, who conquers everything, 
 Eke thee a captive to me bring, 
 Lady! 
 
 1 Arnaut of Marvoil. Arnaut was a member of the famous 
 
 Toulousain school of poetry. 
 
 2 The Countess of Burlatz. The Countess was Adelaide, 
 
 daughter of Raymond V. of Toulouse. She had the title 
 of ' Countess,' as in Languedoc a daughter took the 
 feminine form of her father's title and preserved it, if 
 her husband were of a lower rank than she. 
 
 3 Beziers. Bezier. 
 
 4 Now you have heard. These words often form a preamble to 
 
 the more romantic and unauthentic parts of the biography ; 
 for, if the first account had few details, the writer would 
 naturally be tempted to invent more to please the popular, 
 and more especially the Italian taste. In this case, 
 however, we know of nothing to disprove what is related. 
 
 5 Alphonso. Diez considers this Alphonso to be Alphonso II. 
 of Aragon, while Millot declares him to be Alphonso IV. 
 of Castile. 
 
 6 As one distraught. See the Satire of the Monk of Montaldon 
 on the poets of his day, where Arnaut is spoken of: "Ever 
 of a sorry demeanour because his Lady shows him no 
 mercy. And ill it is that she bids him not welcome, for 
 
76 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 ever do his eyes cry her mercy. The better he sings 
 the more do flow the tears." 
 
 7 To the Viscountess of Burlatz. The Letter here translated is 
 
 among the best of Arnaut's productions ; full of passionate 
 eloquence, sincerity, and life-like touches. Such Letters 
 formed a special class of Provensal poetry. They were 
 for the most part composed of octosyllabic rhyming 
 couplets, and began and ended with the name or title of 
 the person to whom they were addressed. 
 
 8 Isold. The heroines of mediaeval romance whom Arnaut here 
 
 cites on account of their love adventures, are Isold, Tris- 
 tram's hapless lady, and Blanchefleur, the beautiful child, 
 who after many trials and many wanderings is united to 
 her lover Flore. The Greeks are Helen of Troy, Ismene 
 and Antigone, who with the Eastern Biblis, Semiramis, and 
 Thisbe, were known through Ovid and other Latin sources. 
 Rodocesta is perhaps "quella Rodopeia che delusa fu da 
 Demofoonte," and Seida possibly Criseida. 
 
 Whether or not Languedoc could once boast of a 
 more or less extensive epic literature now lost, it is 
 certain from the endless allusions in Provencal poetry 
 that the troubadours were well acquainted with all the 
 works of an epical character current in the north of 
 France and elsewhere. Such works were derived from 
 national sources, or borrowed from Greek or Latin, 
 Oriental or Keltic literature. 
 
 GIRAUT OF BORNEIL. 
 1175-1220. 
 
 LITTLE can be said of Giraut personally, since his poems 
 treat almost entirely of generalities. As a poet he takes one 
 of the highest places in Provengal literature. In every respect 
 he was the thorough troubadour, devoted to his art, and 
 
Giraut of Borneil 77 
 
 compensating by his earnestness, sincerity, and manliness for a 
 certain lack of spontaneity and naivete 1 . His poems are mainly 
 didactic, and those on his favourite theme the general decay 
 of chivalry and poetry of great elevation and beauty. Among 
 his productions, however, there is none more beautiful than 
 the famous "Alba," or Morning Song, translated below. The 
 alba, of which this is one of the finest specimens, is, as is 
 well known, the leave-taking of two lovers who are warned 
 of the approach of Dawn. Stationed on the towers of mediaeval 
 castles there was, in fact, a watchman who, either by a cry or 
 by a horn, announced the break of day, and certain hours of 
 the night.* In the most primitive 'albas' the lovers are warned 
 by the songs of birds, in later ones by a friend, although 
 in some of the oldest, as this is, only the friend appears. 
 There is little doubt that this form of poetry had its rise in 
 Provence, from whence it passed into other countries. In 
 German literature specially, there are many and beautiful 
 varieties of it (see the Wachterlieder of Walther von der 
 Vogelweide, Wolfram von Eschenbach, and others. In the 
 dialogue between Romeo and Juliet beginning, 
 
 Wilt thou be gone, it is not yet near day, 
 It was the nightingale and not the lark, 
 
 Act in., Scene ii. 
 
 we find the old lovers' dialogue of the albas in its most ideal 
 form. 
 
 G. de Borneil has also written fine crusading songs, but 
 in these, even with him, the chivalrous element, as Fauriel 
 points out, overrules the religious one. 
 
 OF GIRAUT OF BORNEIL.^ 
 
 GlRAUT of Borneil was of Limousin of the region 
 of Essiduoill, a rich castle belonging to the Viscount 
 
 *See Chrestomathie provenfale, page 101, "Alba," line 3, and else- 
 where. fSee Mahn, xx. 
 
78 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 of Limoges. And he was a man of low degree, 
 but of great learning and mother-wit, who, because 
 he was a better troubadour than any that had been 
 before him, or that came after him, was named the 
 " Master of Troubadours," and still is by all such as 
 understand words of love and wisdom right cunningly 
 set down. And greatly was he honoured by all 
 excellent and wise men and women, who could 
 understand the worth of his canzones. And he was 
 wont to pass the winter in school 1 in the study of 
 letters, and the summer in journeying from court 
 to court, taking with him two singers 2 who sang 
 his songs. A wife he would not, but all that he 
 gained he gave to his poor kindred and to the 
 church of his native town, the which was, and still is, 
 called the church of Saint Gervais. 
 
 ALBA* 
 
 " Oh ! glorious King, who art 3 the world's true 
 
 Light, 
 
 All powerful God, if pleasing in Thy sight 
 Avail my comrade nor disdain my pleading; 
 Him night from me has ta'en, Thy help he's 
 
 needing, 
 For soon the morn will waken. 
 
 *See Chrestomathie provetifale, page 101, for original. 
 
Giraut of Borneil 79 
 
 41 Fair comrade, if thou'rt lost in slumber bright, 
 Slumber no more, shake off the dreams of night. 
 For in the east upon its way is speeding 
 That star, which in its train the day is leading, 
 Full soon the morn will waken. 
 
 " Fair comrade mine, singing to thee I cry : 
 'Slumber no more/ the bird through woods does 
 
 fly, 
 
 Who by her morning song would hence impel us, 
 O'erta'en I fear to see thee by the jealous, 
 For soon the morn will waken! 
 
 " Fair comrade, haste thee to the casement high, 
 Day's harbingers do show them in the sky, 
 And these will tell thee I am true and zealous, 
 If not, thy loss 'twill be, for they foretell us, 
 That soon the morn will waken." 
 
 1 School One of the many schools of learning that were 
 
 then attached to monasteries and cathedrals. 
 
 2 Two singers. This fact does much to prove Giraut's import- 
 
 ance and affluence. The more powerful troubadours, 
 especially if they had not the gift of song, took with 
 them one, or, as in Giraut's case, two jongleurs to sing 
 and recite their poems. 
 
 3 " Oh ! glorious King, who art." The rhymes are : a, a, b, b, c ; 
 aabbc; ddeec; ddeec; etc. The poem is 
 composed of seven stanzas of five lines. 
 
8o Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 PEIRE VIDAL. 
 
 1175-1215. 
 
 PEIRE VIDAL was an extraordinary mixture of sense and 
 folly the fool par excellence of the Provengals, as also one 
 of their most distinguished poets. He seems to have spent 
 his long life in many wanderings, and to have known, more 
 or less intimately, the chief princes of the age. Whether he 
 started on the third Crusade is uncertain ; but, if so, he at 
 any rate did not get further than Cyprus. Brave, restless, 
 impressionable, boastful, with a background of wisdom and 
 penetration, he had all the qualities commonly attributed to 
 the Keltic race, together with others peculiarly his own. 
 
 Vidal is one of the most prolific of the troubadours and 
 about fifty of his poems have been preserved to us, the 
 greater part of which form interesting reading. His canzones 
 are simple and graceful, and devoid of the metaphysical 
 subtleties and hard rhymes that were the snare of the style. 
 Frequently, however, Vidal's lyrics treat not only of love 
 but of political and other subjects, this lack of unity being a 
 common fault in Provencal poetry, and in him more than 
 usually conspicuous. 
 
 The first of the poems translated will give an idea of 
 Vidal's prodigious sense of his own importance, and naive 
 manner of expressing that sense ; the second is a version 
 of one of his many canzones, while for Vidal's more serious 
 and elevated work the reader is referred to the crusading song 
 of the Chrestomathie proventjale (page 109), which, owing 
 to its digressions, has not been here rendered. 
 
 OF PEIRE VIDAL* 
 
 Now Peire Vidal was of Toulouse, and was the 
 son of a furrier. And he sang better than any 
 
 * See Mahn, xxi. and xxii. 
 
Peire Vidal 81 
 
 man alive, and was a good troubadour. And he 
 was one of the maddest of men, for he weened 
 that all he willed came verily to pass. And no 
 man in the world was so apt as he in the making 
 of poems and of sweet melodies ; and none so mad 
 as he in his talk of arms, and love, and in the 
 slandering of others. And in good sooth did a 
 knight of Saint Giles cause his tongue to be cut 
 out, because he made believe that he was his wife's 
 lover; but Sir Hugh of Baux caused him to be 
 healed of his hurt, and doctored, and, when he was 
 healed, he passed beyond the sea, and brought 
 home with him a Grecian woman, who was given 
 him to wife in Cyprus. 
 
 And they had made believe to him that she 
 was the niece of the Emperor of Constantinople ; 
 and that, through her, he should of right have the 
 empire. Wherefore, in the making of ships, he 
 spent all he could gain, for he weened he could 
 win him the empire. And he bore the Imperial 
 arms, and styled himself Emperor and his wife 
 Empress. 
 
 And he was wont to love whatsoever good ladies 
 he set eyes on, and to seek their love ; and all 
 made assent unto his prayers, wherefore, though 
 one and all beguiled him, he weened he was each 
 lady's lover, and that each one was dying for 
 his love. And whither he went he brought with 
 
82 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 him rich chargers and rich armour, and a throne 
 and a royal tent, and deemed himself one of the 
 doughtiest knights in the world and the most 
 beloved of ladies. 
 
 Now Peire Vidal, even as I have told you, loved 
 all good ladies, and weened they loved him likewise. 
 And it chanced that he loved Azalais, wife of Lord 
 Barral of Marseilles, the which lord bore Peire Vidal 
 greater good will than any man alive, for his fair 
 poems, and for the great drolleries that he spoke and 
 did. Moreover, they named one another " Rainier," 
 and Peire Vidal had ever free access to him at all 
 hours and beyond all other men. And Lord Barral 
 knew full well that Peire Vidal loved his wife, and 
 made merry over it, and over all the follies that 
 he spoke and did. And all men did as much ; 
 the lady also made jest of it, as did all other ladies 
 whom he loved, each one speaking him fair, and 
 promising all that it pleased him to ask of them. 
 And he, so wise he was, gave ear to all they said. 
 And, when Peire Vidal and the lady fell out 
 together, Lord Barral it was that made peace 
 betwixt them, and made her promise all that was 
 asked of her. 
 
 Now it happed upon a day that Peire Vidal 
 knew that Lord Barral had arisen from his bed, 
 and that the lady was alone in the chamber ; so 
 he entered into the chamber, and drew near unto 
 
Peire Vidal 83 
 
 my Lady Azalais' bed, and finding her asleep, 
 knelt down before her, and kissed her on the 
 mouth. And she felt the kiss, and weened it was 
 her lord, and laughing uplifted herself. And when 
 she beheld Peire Vidal the fool, she began to cry 
 out, and to raise great uproar. And hearing this, 
 her maidens hastened unto her from within, saying 
 "What ails you?" And Peire Vidal went out in 
 haste, and the lady bade call Lord Barral, and made 
 her plaint unto him, because that Peire Vidal had 
 kissed her, and weeping prayed him to avenge her. 
 Then Lord Barral, even as a man of worth and sense, 
 made light of the matter, and fell to laughing and to 
 chiding his wife, for that she had noised abroad 
 what the fool had done. Nathless his rebukes did 
 not so avail him as to hinder his wife from noising 
 abroad the matter, and from striving to bring ill 
 upon Peire Vidal, and from making great threats 
 against him. Then Peire Vidal, from fear thereof, 
 entered into a ship and went to Genoa ; and there 
 he tarried until he passed beyond the seas with 
 King Richard, for he was in sore fear lest my 
 Lady Azalais should seek to compass his death. 
 There he abode long time, and there he made 
 many a good song, in the which he minded 
 him of the kiss he had stolen of her. And in 
 the one song which begins, " Aiostar e lassar," he 
 said : 
 
84 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 "Assatz par que loingnar me vole de sa reio," etc. 
 (It well appears that she would drive me from her kingdom.) 
 
 And in another he says, " Pus onratz etz " ; and in an- 
 other song, which begins, "Si col paubres que iay 
 el ric ostal," he says, " Bern bat amors ab las vergas 
 quieu cuelh," etc. 
 
 Thus did he long dwell beyond the seas, not 
 daring to come back again into Provence ; but Lord 
 Barral, who loved him right well, even as ye have 
 heard say, made such great prayers unto his wife 
 that she forgave Peire Vidal the kiss and made 
 him gift of it. So Lord Barral sent forth his 
 messengers unto Peire Vidal to tell him that the 
 good-will and favour of the lady were restored to 
 him, and to bid him come to her. And he came 
 full joyfully to Marseilles, and full joyfully was he 
 welcomed by Lord Barral and by my Lady Azalais. 
 And she granted him the kiss that he had stolen 
 of her and all was pardoned him, whereof Peire 
 Vidal made this song which runs : " Pos tornatz sui 
 en Proensa." (Since I am back again in Provence.) 
 
 Now* Peire Vidal, for the death of the good 
 Count Raymond of Toulouse, was sore stricken 
 with grief, and in his sadness clothed himself in 
 black, and cut off the tails and ears of all his 
 horses, and caused the hair to be shaven from his 
 own head, and from his servants ; yet did they not 
 
 *See Mahn, xxiii. 
 
Peire Vidal 85 
 
 cut off their beards, or moustaches, or nails. Long 
 time did he demean himself after the manner of 
 a sad and foolish man. And it befell that in the 
 time that he went thus sorrowfully, King Alphonso 
 of Aragon came into Provence, and with him came 
 all the honourable men of his country. Lord Blascol 
 Romieus, Lord Garsia Romieus, Lord Martin of 
 Canet, Lord Miquel of Luzia, Lord Sas of Antilon, 
 Lord Guillem of Alcalla, Lord Albert of Castelveil, 
 Lord Raimon Gausseran of Pinos, Lord Guillem 
 Raimon of Moncada, Lord Arnaut of Castelbon, 
 Lord Raimon of Caveira, and these all found 
 Peire Vidal sad, and sorrowful, and arrayed as one 
 distraught. And the king, and all the barons, who 
 were his especial friends, began to pray him to cease 
 from grieving, and to be of good cheer, and to 
 make a song that they might bear back with them 
 into Aragon. And so earnestly did the king and 
 his barons entreat him, that he said he would take 
 heart again, and would cease to grieve, and would 
 make a song or do aught else that they required 
 of him. 
 
 And he fell to loving the Loba [She- Wolf] of 
 Penautier, and my Lady Estafania of Sardinia, and 
 also he fell anew to loving my Lady Raimbauda 
 of Biol, wife of Guillem Rostan Lord of Biol, the 
 which Biol is in the mountains of Provence on this 
 side Lombardy. Now the Loba was of Carcassonne 
 
86 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 and Peire Vidal made himself to be called Lop 
 [Wolf] for love of her, bearing a wolf in his coat of 
 arms. And in the mountains of Cabaret he made 
 men hunt him forsooth with dogs, and with mastiffs, 
 and with greyhounds, even as men hunt a wolf. 
 And he donned the skin of a wolf to make the 
 shepherds and dogs believe him one. Then the 
 shepherds with their dogs hunted him and so evilly 
 dealt with him, that he was brought as one dead 
 to the dwelling of the She-Wolf of Penautier. And 
 when she saw that it was even Peire Vidal, she 
 made right merry over his folly, and laughed greatly, 
 and also her husband ; and she welcomed him 
 joyfully, and her husband bade his servants take 
 him and lay him in a privy chamber, and give him 
 gentle usage, and bade a leech be sent for, and had 
 him tended till he was healed of his wounds. 
 
 And, even as I began to tell you, Peire Vidal 
 promised the king and his barons to sing and to 
 make songs ; and when he was healed of his 
 wounds the king caused arms to be made for 
 himself and Peire Vidal, and delighted much in 
 him ; and it was even at this time that Peire Vidal 
 made this song which runs : " De chantar mera 
 laissatz. Per ira e per dolor. (I had withheld me 
 from singing for sorrow and woefulness.) 
 
Peire Vidal 87 
 
 POEM BY VIDAL ON HIMSELF.* 
 
 SIR DRAGOMAN, had I a goodly steed, 2 
 
 Soon would my enemies for mercy plead ; 
 For even when they hear of men my name, 
 
 They fear me more than quail doth fear hawk's 
 greed ; 
 
 Nor prize their life a doit, so fierce of deed, 
 So stern they know me, and so great my fame. 
 
 When donned my glitt'ring, steel-lined coat of 
 
 mail, 
 
 And girt my sword, Hugh's gift that cannot fail, 
 Whither I go, the earth doth shake with fear; 
 No foes I meet that do not 'fore me pale, 
 And yield me place; nought doth their pride 
 
 avail, 
 So great their terror when my step they hear. 
 
 Roland and Oliver in one am I, 
 With Montdidier l in courtesy I vie ; 
 
 Full often messengers do bear to me 
 
 For my great worth and for my valour high, 
 Gold rings and bands of white and sable dye, 
 
 And greetings that fill all my heart with glee. 
 
 *See Chrestomathie provenfale, page in. 
 
88 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 When vanquished Tore me jealous mockers kneel, 
 Who by false semblance would their craft conceal, 
 
 And by fair means or foul would joy condemn 
 These verily shall learn what blows I deal, 
 For, be their bodies made of iron or steel, 
 
 No peacock's feather shall it profit them. 
 
 Of chivalry and love I am the flower, 
 
 Bravest among the brave in lady's bower 
 Is none more courteous and more debonair, 
 
 Nor in the battle-field of greater power, 
 
 So that my enemies in terror cower 
 At thought of me, nor to confront me dare. 
 
 CANZONE* 
 
 GREAT joy 8 have I to greet the season bright, 
 And joy to greet the blessed summer days, 
 And joy when birds do carol songs of praise, 
 
 And joy to mark the woods with flowerets dight, 
 And joy at all whereat to joy were meet, 
 And joy unending at the pleasaunce sweet 
 
 That yonder in my joy I think to gain, 
 
 There where in joy my soul and sense remain. 
 
 'Tis Love that keeps me in such dear delight, 
 'Tis Love's clear fire that keeps my breast ablaze, 
 
 * For original see Mahn's Gedichle der Troubadours, Vol. i. , page 134. 
 
Peire Vidal 89 
 
 'Tis Love that can my sinking courage raise, 
 Even for Love am I in grievous plight ; 
 
 With tender thoughts Love makes my heart to 
 beat, 
 
 And o'er my every wish has rule complete 
 Virtue I cherish since began his reign, 
 And to do deeds of Love am ever fain. 4 
 
 1 Montdidier. A hero of mediaeval romance of renowned 
 
 courtesy. 
 3 Had I a goodly steed. The original poem is of 7 stanzas 
 
 of 6 lines, with the rhymes a, a b a a b running through 
 
 them. 
 
 3 Joy. The troubadours were fond of the effect produced by the 
 
 repetition of one word throughout a stanza. 
 
 4 Am ever fain. The original is of 6 stanzas of 8 lines, which 
 
 have the rhymes a, b, b, a, c, c, d, d. 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 BERTRAN OF BORN. 
 Poems date from 1180. Died 1195? 
 
 BERTRAN OF BORN, both as man and poet, is one of the 
 most remarkable representatives of the second half of the 
 twelfth century, the period in which Provencal poetry reached 
 its fullest development. 
 
 Little is known of his domestic life beyond his long strife 
 with his brother Constantine over the possession of Autafort, of 
 which Bertran finally became sole owner. The most important 
 circumstance in bis career, therefore, is his close connection 
 with the three elder sons of Henry II. of England, and the part 
 he took in the politics of the day, which part, whether ex- 
 aggerated or not, is perhaps greater than that taken by any 
 
90 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 other troubadour. The affection that he had for the " young king," 
 Henry's eldest son, seems to have been a very strong one, and 
 there is the ring of true sorrow in his two beautiful 'Complaints* 
 composed at young Henry's death, that here translated being 
 among the finest poems in Provencal literature. Bertran was 
 a zealous partisan, adhering steadily to the cause of the " young 
 king," and after the latter's early death to Richard's. Bertran 
 was also as zealous a promoter of strife. "Ever," says the 
 biographer, " was he fain to set strife betwixt father and son, 
 and betwixt brother and brother," and it was this characteristic 
 of his that gave him a place in Dante's Inferno, where he figures 
 as a headless trunk, holding the severed member by the hair, a 
 symbolical punishment, awarded as the head explains : 
 
 " Perch 1 io partii cosi giunte persone 
 Partito porto il mio cerebro lasso ! 
 Dal suo principio, ch'e in questo troncone; 
 Cosi s'osserva in me lo contrapasso."* 
 
 Inferno, Canto xxviii. 
 
 Space will not allow me to treat of Bertran and his poems in 
 detail. The translations below will give some idea, however 
 imperfect, of the most striking of them, and readers of Provengal 
 may refer to Professors Stimming's and Thomas's editions of 
 Bertran's poems. To speak of him generally, his life and work 
 are for various reasons of peculiar interest and profit to the 
 student of mediaeval literature. He was, to begin with, essenti- 
 ally .a type of the undisciplined Provengal knight, and in him are 
 to be found the faults and virtues, the aspirations and prejudices 
 of his race and age. War was the very breath of his nostrils, and 
 his passion for it was entirely independent of its ends. Warfare 
 was of all-absorbing interest to him, and in spite of his one 
 
 * See Longfellow's translation : 
 
 " Because I parted persons so united, 
 Parted do I now bear my brain, alas ! 
 From its beginning, which is in this trunk, 
 Thus is observed in me the counterpoise." 
 
Bertran of Born 91 
 
 really fine Crusading song, religion plays but a small part in 
 his poems. Hatred of effeminacy, sloth, irresolution, and 
 avarice, and strong " class " prejudice, all marked features 
 of feudalism, are to be found in Bertran in an intensified 
 form, with other characteristics of his own. Bertran is be- 
 yond question one of the most powerful and unconventional 
 of the troubadours. Too untutored to come under the 
 influence of the Greeks and Romans, and too much in 
 earnest to deal with the platitudes and subtleties of many of 
 the Provencal poets, he speaks from the abundance of his heart 
 of things of vital interest to him ; hence the freshness, the 
 spontaneity and unfailing vigour of his poems, qualities that, 
 together with his great satiric force, made him feared and 
 respected by friend and foe. 
 
 Lastly, and apart from his intrinsic merits, Bertran has a 
 special importance resulting from the impression he produced 
 on the mind of Dante whose high opinion of his poetic 
 power is conveyed to us in his Treatise on Vulgar Eloquence 
 (Lib. II., c. 2), in which he speaks of him as " The great singer 
 of arms." To his opinion of Bertran the man allusion has 
 already been made. 
 
 OF BERTRAN OF BORN* 
 
 Now Bertran of Born was a castellan of the diocese 
 of Perigord, lord of a castle called Autafort. 1 Ever 
 was he at war with all his neighbours with the Count 
 of Perigord, and with the Viscount of Limoges, 2 and 
 with his brother Constantine, and with Richard, while 
 he was yet Count of Poitou ; and he was a valiant 
 knight and warrior, a good lover, and a good trou- 
 badour, and wise and fair-spoken, and knew to work 
 
 * See Mahn, xxiv. 
 
9 2 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 both good and ill. And ever, when he would, was 
 he lord over King Henry of England, and over his 
 sons ; and ever did he delight in setting strife 
 betwixt father and son, and betwixt brother and 
 brother ; and likewise did he ever bestir himself to 
 set strife betwixt the King of England and the King 
 of France, and, if there were perchance a peace or 
 truce between them, then would he, with his sirventes, 
 strive after the undoing of that peace, and set forth 
 how that each side was dishonoured by the making 
 of it. And in that he set strife between them, there 
 arose great good and likewise great ill. And he 
 made many good sirventes, whereof great plenty are 
 here set down, even as ye can see and hear.* Right 
 good sirventes did he make, and never but two 
 canzones. And the King of Aragon 3 gave for wife 
 the songs of Giraut of Borneil to the sirventes of 
 Bertran of Born. And he who sung for him was 
 surnamed Papiol. 4 And Sir Bertran was courteous 
 and debonair, and named the Count of Brittany 
 " Rassa," and the King of England " Yea and Nay," 
 and the young king, his son, " Sailor." 5 
 
 Nowf" Bertran of Born was the lover of a lady 
 young and noble, and of good report, the which was 
 named my Lady Maent 6 of Montaignac, and was 
 wife of Lord Talairan (brother of the Count of Peri- 
 gord) and daughter of the Viscount of Turenne, and 
 
 * See Mahn, xxv. f See Mahn, portion of xxvi. 
 
Bertran of Born 93 
 
 sister of Lady Maria of Ventadorn and Lady Elis of 
 Montfort, and she was surnamed by him " Dauphin '* 
 in his songs ; and even as he has therein told us, she 
 sent him from her, saying she would have nought 
 of his service ; whereat he was full sad and sorrowful, 
 and declared that he could never win her love 
 again, nor find one so fair, so good, so gracious, and 
 so wise, nor any one her peer. Then his lady 
 counselled him to make unto himself a mistress by 
 borrowing of each fair dame a gift, beauty, fair sem- 
 blance, kind greeting, gracious speech, courteous 
 bearing, goodly proportions, a fair form, or the like. 
 Thus went he seeking of all fair dames one of the gifts 
 ye have heard named, to restore to him the lady he 
 had lost, and in the sirvente that he made thereon 
 ye will hear named all those of whom he sought 
 help in the making of the borrowed lady, the which 
 runs : 
 
 " Dmpna, pois de mi nous cal." t 
 (Lady, since you care not for me.) 
 
 Now Bertran of Born had been sent away by his 
 lady, Lady Maent of Montaignac, and naught availed 
 him the oaths and denials that he made, both by his 
 songs and by plain speech, in making her believe 
 that he loved not Lady Guiscarda. 7 Therefore went 
 he into Saintonge to see Lady Tibors of Montausier, 
 
 * See translation below, and for original Stimming's edition of Bertran 
 of Born, Song 12. 
 
94 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 than whom was none of better report in all the world 
 for beauty and for virtue, and for learning and courtesy. 
 And this lady was the wife of the Lord of Chalais, 
 and of Berbesil, and of Montausier. And Sir Bertran 
 made complaint unto her of Lady Maent, who had 
 sent him from her, and would believe, neither for oath 
 nor for denial that he could make, that he loved not 
 Lady Guiscarda, and therefore did he pray her to 
 take him for her knight and servitor. Then Lady 
 Tibors, like the wise woman she was, made this 
 answer unto him : " Bertran, forasmuch as you have 
 come hither unto me, I am in great joy and gladness, 
 and hold myself greatly thereby honoured ; but, on 
 the other hand, it ill pleaseth me that you do me 
 honour, and offer yourself to me for knight and 
 servitor; and ill it pleaseth me that you have said 
 and done aught for which Lady Maent should in 
 justice bid you leave her service, and should wax 
 wroth against you. But I am one of those who know 
 how quickly change the hearts of lovers and their 
 mistresses, and if you have nowise sinned against 
 Lady Maent, soon shall I know the truth of it, and, 
 if thus it be, will cause her favour to return to you ; 
 but if the fault lie in you, nor I, nor any other lady, 
 ought again to receive and welcome you as knight 
 and servitor ; yet this good shall be done you, that 
 I will maintain your cause, and will strive to set you 
 at one." 
 
Bertran of Born 95 
 
 Then Bertran was mighty well satisfied with the 
 answer of Lady Tibors, and promised her that he 
 would love and serve no other lady than Lady 
 Tibors if it befell that he could not win back the 
 love of Lady Maent. Likewise did Lady Tibors 
 promise Sir Bertran that, if she failed to make his 
 peace with Lady Maent, she would take him for 
 her knight and servitor. 
 
 And it was so that ere long Lady Maent came to 
 know that there was no fault in Sir Bertran, so she 
 gave ear to the prayers that were made to her by 
 Sir Bertran, and granted him permission to appear 
 before her, and to plead his cause. And he told her 
 how that Lady Tibors had upheld him, and all that 
 she had promised him, whereat Lady Maent bade 
 him take leave of Lady Tibors, and pray her to 
 release him from the promises he had made unto her. 
 Wherefore Bertran of Born made the sirvente, 
 "Sabrils e foillas e flors." And he tells of the 
 succour he went to seek of Lady Tibors, and the 
 reception she gave him in the cobla that runs : 
 "Domna sieu quezi socors." 
 
 Bertran of Born, even as I have told you, had 
 a brother, Constantine of Born by name ; and this 
 same was a valiant knight of arms, but not of those 
 that labour after fame and honour, but ever wished 
 he ill to Bertran of Born, and good to all that 
 wished Bertran ill. And upon a time he despoiled 
 
9 6 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Bertran of the Castle of Autafort, the which they 
 held in common, but Sir Bertran won it of him 
 again, and bereft him of all share therein. Then 
 Constantine went to the Viscount of Limoges that 
 he might maintain him against his brother ; and 
 he did maintain him, and likewise King Richard. 
 And Richard was warring upon Ademar, Viscount 
 of Limoges, and my Lord Richard and Ademar 
 warred with Sir Bertran, and laid waste his land 
 and burnt it. ... 
 
 Now * it came to pass at the time when the young 
 king made peace with his brother Richard, and 
 ceased to make claim upon his inheritance, even as 
 King Henry their father had willed, that his father 
 gave him fixed sums for meat and drink, and for all 
 his needs, yet no whit of land did he hold, and no 
 man came to him for maintenance, nor for his aid 
 in battle. Then Sir Bertran of Born, and all those 
 barons that had aided him against Lord Richard, 
 were sorely grieved. And the young king de- 
 parted and went into Lombardy, and gave his days 
 to tourneys and vain pleasures, leaving all these 
 barons at war with Lord Richard. And Lord 
 Richard laid siege to castles and to towns, and 
 destroyed them, and took lands and burnt and laid 
 them waste ; and the young king held tourneys, 
 and lived at ease, and slept and disported himself, 
 
 * See Mahn, xxvi. 
 
Bertran of Born 97 
 
 whereat Sir Bertran made the sirvente that begins, 
 "Dun sirventes nom cal far longer ganda." (To 
 make sirventes I'll no longer stay.) Now the com- 
 plaint that Sir Bertran of Born made herein of the 
 young king sprang from no other cause than that 
 the young king was the bravest and best of all the 
 world. And Sir Bertran loved him more than any 
 man in the world, and so likewise the young king 
 loved and trusted him, wherefore King Henry, his 
 father, and Count Richard, his brother, bore great 
 ill-will to Sir Bertran. And because of the young 
 king's most excellent worth, and because of the 
 grief that fell on all men at his death, Sir Bertran 
 made over him the complaint that runs, "Mon chan 
 fenis ab dol et ab mal traire." (My singing ends in 
 misery forlorn.) 
 
 Now in the time that Lord Richard was Count of 
 Poitiers, ere he was yet king, Bertran of Born was 
 his enemy, because Sir Bertran bore great good-will 
 to the young king, the which warred at that time 
 against his brother Richard. And the good Viscount 
 of Limoges Sir Ademar by name and the Viscount 
 of Ventadorn, and the Viscount of Gumel, and the 
 Count of Perigord and his brother, and the Count 
 of Angoulesme and his two brothers, and Count 
 Raymond of Toulouse, and the Count of Flanders, 
 and the Count of Barcelona, Sir Contoil of Estarac, 
 a Count of Gascony, Sir Gaston of Beam, Count 
 
98 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 of Bigorre, and the Count of Dijon, these all had Sir 
 Bertran made to forswear my Lord Richard, and to 
 rise against him. And lo ! all these forsook him, and 
 made peace without him, and perjured themselves to 
 him. Likewise Ademar, Viscount of Limoges, that 
 most was bound to him by love and oath, even he 
 also forsook him and made peace without him. Then 
 Lord Richard, when he knew that all these had for- 
 saken him, came before Autafort with his host and 
 sware, saying, that never more would he go thence 
 if Bertran gave him not Autafort, nor yielded him to 
 his will and pleasure. And Bertran, hearing of that 
 my Lord Richard had sworn, and knowing that he 
 was abandoned of these ye have heard tell of, 
 delivered to him the castle, and yielded him to his 
 will and pleasure. And Count Richard met him with 
 pardon and kissed him ; and ye are to know by a 
 verse that he made in the sirventes that begins, " Sil- 
 coms mes avinens e non avars," (If the Count be 
 gracious and not churlish to me,) that the Count 
 ceased to be wroth against him, and restored to him his 
 Castle Autafort and became his true friend. Then Sir 
 Bertran went forth and fell to warring on the Viscount 
 Ademar and the Viscount of Perigord, the which had 
 forsaken him, whence great evil came to Bertran, 
 and great evil to them likewise. . . . 
 
 Now it befell that Bertran of Born went for to see 
 a sister of King Richard's, the mother of the Emperor 
 
Bertran of Born 99 
 
 Otho, the which hight my Lady Elena, 8 and was wife 
 of the Duke of Saxony. And the lady was fair and 
 right courteous, and well taught, doing honour 
 unto all by fair speech and greeting. And my Lord 
 Richard, the which was at that time Count of Poitiers, 
 interceded with his sister for him, and bade her speak 
 Sir Bertran fair, and pleasure and honour him. Then 
 she, for as much as she was right wishful of fame and 
 praise, and knew that Sir Bertran was of high fame 
 and excellence, and might greatly exalt her, did 
 him such great honour that he was well content 
 thereat, and fell to loving her, and to offering her 
 praise and thanks. And at that season it came to 
 pass that he was with Count Richard in his host, 9 
 and it was winter and the host was in grievous straits. 
 And it was so that upon a Sunday, though the hour 
 of noon was well-nigh past, they had neither eaten 
 nor drunk ; and being thus pressed by hunger he 
 made the sirventes that thus begins, " Ges de diznar 
 non fora oimais matis." (Never henceforth shall I 
 hasten to take dinner.) 
 
 Now King Henry 10 held Sir Bertran of Born be- 
 sieged within Autafort, and warred against him with 
 his engines ; for greatly did he mislike him, because 
 he believed it was Sir Bertran that had been the 
 move?" of all the strife betwixt him and his son ; and 
 therefore was he come before Autafort to despoil 
 him of all his heritage. 
 
100 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 And it was so that the King of Aragon was in the 
 host of King Henry before Autafort. And when 
 Bertran had knowledge of it his heart was glad 
 within him, for as much as he was his own especial 
 friend. And it came to pass that the King of Aragon 
 sent messengers into the castle, asking bread and 
 meat and wine of Sir Bertran. And he gave him 
 great plenty of them; and by the messenger that 
 bore his gifts Bertran sent word unto the King, 
 praying him instantly that he should cause the war- 
 engines to be moved to another part, because the 
 walls they bore upon were well-nigh shattered. And 
 he, by reason of the great wealth of King Henry, told 
 him all Sir Bertran had imparted unto him. Then 
 King Henry bade his men to bring the engines to 
 bear upon such parts of the walls as he knew to be 
 well-nigh shattered, and behold ! incontinently the 
 walls were laid low, and the castle was taken, and Sir 
 Bertran, with all his following, was led into King 
 Henry's tent, whereat the King greeted him full ill, 
 and spake unto him and said : " Bertran, Bertran, lo ! 
 ye have said aforetime that never yet have ye had 
 need of half the wits ye possess, but know ye that 
 now ye will have need of all of them." Quoth Sir 
 Bertran : " My lord, true it is that thus I spake, and 
 my words were words of truth." Quoth the King : 
 " Full well I ween your wits are now to seek."" " My 
 lord," answered Sir Bertran, "you speak true." "And 
 
Bertran of Born 101 
 
 wherefore ? " quoth the King. " My lord," answered 
 Sir Bertran, " on that same day that the most excel- 
 lent young king, your son, died, I lost all sense and 
 wisdom and understanding." Now when the King 
 heard that which Sir Bertran, weeping, spake unto 
 him, there arose within him great grief for pity of 
 his son, and tears stood in his eyes, insomuch as he 
 must needs swoon with sorrow. And when he had 
 recovered from his swoon, he cried with a loud 
 voice and said, weeping : " Bertran, Bertran, ye are 
 very right, and meet it is that by my son's death ye 
 lose your wits, for he loved you better than any man 
 alive ; and I, for love of him, do set you free, and do 
 deliver unto you your castle and your goods, and 
 restore you to my love and favour, and give you five 
 hundred silver marks for the harm ye have received." 
 And Sir Bertran fell on his knees before him, offering 
 him thanks, and the King departed with all his host 
 Then Sir Bertran, when he knew what great felony 
 the King of Aragon had done unto him, was full 
 wroth against him. 11 And he knew how King 
 Alphonso had served King Henry in war as his 
 hireling ; likewise was it known to him how that the 
 King of Aragon was come of a poor family 12 of 
 Carlades, of a castle named Carlat, the which is in 
 Rouergne, in the lordship of the Count of Rhodey. 
 And Sir Peire Carlat, who was lord of that castle by 
 his great excellence and prowess, took to wife the 
 
jo 2 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Countess of Millau, the which was fallen from her 
 
 inheritance ; and by her he had a son of great valour 
 
 and excellence, who gained dominion over the County 
 
 of Provence ; and one of his sons, called Raymond 
 
 Berenger, acquired the County of Barcelona and the 
 
 Kingdom of Aragon, and was the first King that ever 
 
 was in Aragon. And he went to Rome to be crowned, 
 
 and returning homewards died at the town of Saint 
 
 Dalmas ; and he left behind him three sons Al- 
 
 phonso, King of Aragon, even he that had wronged 
 
 Sir Bertran of Born, and Don Sancho, and Berenger 
 
 of Besandun. Likewise was it known to Sir Bertran 
 
 how that King Alphonso had dealt treacherously 
 
 with the daughter of the Emperor Manuel, 13 the 
 
 which the Emperor had sent unto him for wife with 
 
 great treasure and wealth, and with a full honourable 
 
 company. And he seized upon all the treasure of 
 
 the lady, and of all the Greeks that were with her, 
 
 and sent them back by sea, sad and sorrowful and 
 
 discomfited. And Bertran knew how Alphonso's 
 
 brother Don Sancho had dispossessed him of Provence, 
 
 and how he forswore himself by fighting against the 
 
 Count of Toulouse for the gold which King Henry 
 
 gave him. And on all these matters Sir Bertran of 
 
 Born made the sirvente that begins thus : " Pois lo 
 
 gens terminis floris sespandis," etc. (Since the fair 
 
 flowering season begins.) 
 
 Now ye have heard that Sir Bertran of Born 
 
Bertran of Born I0 3 
 
 minded him of the evil that the King of Aragon had 
 done to him and others. And at the end of a great 
 space of time, when he had heard tell of other ill 
 deeds of the King's, he was wishful to recount them 
 in a sirvente. And it was told Sir Bertran that there 
 was a certain knight in Aragon, Sir Espanhol by 
 name, that had a right strong castle named Castellot, 
 the which he held of none ; and it was in the 
 Saracen's stronghold, from whence he made great 
 war upon them. And the King's heart was greatly 
 set upon this castle. And Sir Espanhol came one 
 day into that country to do him service, and to invite 
 him to his castle, and brought him thither in great 
 state, both him and his men ; and lo ! the King, when 
 he was within the castle, caused him to be taken, and 
 to be cast out of it, and despoiled him of the castle. 
 And it is verily true that, when the King entered 
 the service of the King of England, the Count of 
 Toulouse put him to flight in Gascony, taking from 
 him full fifty knights. And King Henry gave unto 
 him all the treasure wherewith the knights should pay 
 their ransom, and he nowise gave this treasure to the 
 knights, but carried it into Aragon ; and the knights, 
 coming forth from prison, paid their own ransom. 
 Likewise of a truth was there a jongleur, named 
 Artuset, who lent him two hundred marabotins. 
 And the King took him whithersoever he went for 
 the space of a year, but gave him never a penny. 
 
I0 4 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 And it happened upon a day that Artuset, the jon- 
 gleur, came to strife with a Jew ; and the Jews fell 
 upon him and wounded him sorely, him and one of 
 his fellows. And Artuset and his fellow killed one 
 of the Jews, whereat the Jews went to the King and 
 besought him to avenge them, and to deliver up to 
 them Artuset and his fellow to be slain, for the which 
 they would give him two hundred marabotins. And 
 the King delivered them both up to them, and re- 
 ceived of them the two hundred marabotins. And 
 the Jews burned them on the day of Christ's Nativity, 
 even as Guillem of Berguedan has said in the King's 
 despite in one of his sirventes, the which says : 
 
 " E fetz una mespreison 
 
 Don om nol deu razonar, 
 Quel iorn de la naision, 
 
 Fetz dos crestias brusar 
 Artus ab autre son par ; 
 E non degra aici iutgar 
 A mort, ni a passion 
 Dos per un iuzieu fellon." 
 
 (And he commited a sin, in the which none should seek 
 to justify him, for on the day of the Nativity he let burn two 
 Christians, Arthur with one, his fellow ; and unmeet it is that 
 for one base Jew two should thus be condemned to death and 
 torments.) 
 
 Now another that hight Peire the jongleur lent 
 him monies and horses, and that same Peire, jon- 
 gleur, had spoken great ill of the old Queen of 
 
Bertran of Born 
 
 England, 14 the which held Fontebrau, an Abbey 
 wherein enter all noble ladies in old age ; and, at the 
 word of the King of Aragon, she caused him to be 
 slain. And all these ugly deeds did Sir Bertran of 
 Born call to the remembrance of the King of Aragon 
 in the sirvente that says : 
 
 " Quant vei per vergiers despleiar 
 Los cendaus grocs indis," etc. 
 
 (When I see unfurled in the orchards the yellow and blue 
 standards, etc.) 
 
 Now in the time and in the season that King 
 Richard of England warred upon King Philip of 
 France, 15 it befell that the two kings were both in 
 the field of battle with all their men. The King of 
 France had in his company the men of France, 
 Burgundy, and Champagne, and Flanders and Berry; 
 and King Richard the men of England, and Nor- 
 mandy, and Brittany, and Poitou, and those of 
 Anjou, and Touraine, and Maine, and Saintonge, 
 and Limousin. And he was upon the bank of a 
 river called Gaura, 16 the which floweth at the foot 
 of Niort and one host was upon the one bank, 
 and the other upon the other bank ; and thus abode 
 they fifteen days, each day arming them and making 
 them ready for battle. But the archbishops and 
 bishops, and abbots and monks were in the midst of 
 them, and forbade the battle. And upon a certain 
 
*o6 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 day all King Richard's men were armed and arrayed 
 for battle, and for passing the Gaura; and the 
 Frenchmen armed them likewise, and arrayed them 
 for battle. And the good men of religion came forth 
 bearing crosses, and praying Richard and Philip to 
 withhold them from battle. And the King of France 
 said that he would not withhold him from battle 
 until King Richard did him homage for all his 
 lands on this side the sea the Duchy of Nor- 
 mandy, and the Duchy of Aquitaine, and the County 
 of Poitou ; and until he restored to him Guiort, 
 whereof King Richard had spoiled him. And King 
 Richard, hearing that which King Philip required 
 of him, had great gladness, inasmuch as the men of 
 Champagne, for the great plenty of sterlings that he 
 had scattered among them, had sworn to him that 
 they would not be at the battle ; and he mounted 
 his war-horse, and set his helmet on his head, and 
 let sound the trumpets and unfurl the banners for 
 to pass over the water, and let order the squadrons 
 of the barons and of his men to pass over to the 
 battle. And King Philip, when he saw him coming, 
 mounted his war-horse, and set his helmet on his 
 head, and likewise all his men mounted their war- 
 horses and armed them for the battle, save only 
 the men of Champagne, the which set not on their 
 helmets. And lo ! King Philip, when he saw King 
 Richard and his men coming towards him with such 
 
Bertran of Born 107 
 
 great lustiness, and saw that the men of Champagne 
 came not to the fight, was cast down and afraid, 
 and let bring forward the archbishops, and bishops, 
 and men of religion, all such as had prayed him 
 to make peace and concord ; and he prayed them 
 to go to Richard to ask peace and concord of 
 him, and he promised them to accept the peace and 
 concord that Richard required, namely, the giving up 
 to him of Guisort, and his claim of homage from 
 Richard. And the holy men came to meet King 
 Richard with crosses in their arms, beseeching him with 
 tears that he would have pity on all the goodly men 
 of that field that were presently to die, and promising 
 him that if he would make peace they would cause 
 Guisort to be given up to him, and the King to 
 depart from his land. And the barons, when they 
 heard of the great honour that King Philip did him, 
 gathered around King Richard and counselled him 
 to accept the peace and concord. And he, for the 
 prayers of the good men of religion, and for the 
 counsel of his barons, made peace and concord, by 
 the which King Philip gave up Guisort unto him, 
 and the matter of paying homage remained pending 
 as it was before. And he forsook the field, and King 
 Richard remained, and the two kings swore peace for 
 ten years. And they disbanded their hosts, and sent 
 away their hirelings. And the two kings became 
 niggardly and covetous, and would neither call to- 
 
108 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 gether their hosts nor spend aught, save on falcons 
 and hawks, and dogs, and greyhounds, and buying 
 lands and possessions, and on doing evil to their 
 barons. And full woe were the barons of the King 
 of France and of King Richard that they had brought 
 about the peace, for that it had made the two kings 
 churlish and niggardly. And Sir Bertran of Born 
 was more angry than any other of the barons, for 
 that he could no more delight himself in wars of 
 his own nor of others, nor in the warfare of the two 
 kings ; for when the two kings had war together 
 he had of King Richard what wealth and honour he 
 listed, and was held in fear by the two kings for the 
 sharpness of his tongue, whence he, for the wish 
 that he had himself, and had marked in the other 
 barons, that the two kings should return to war, made 
 this sirvente that begins : 
 
 "Pois li baron son irat e lor pesa." 
 (Since the barons are wroth and sad.) 
 
 Now when King Richard had passed beyond the 
 sea, all the barons of Limousin and of Perigord 
 bound themselves against him by oath, and gathered 
 together a great power, and came before the castles 
 and boroughs whereof King Richard had despoiled 
 them, and fought against and took all such as 
 defended themselves, and thus did they recover a 
 great part of that whereof King Richard had 
 
Bertran of Born 109 
 
 despoiled them. Now when my Lord Richard was 
 returned from over the sea, and was come out of 
 prison, full wroth and sorrowful was he for the castles 
 and boroughs whereof the barons had despoiled him. 
 And he began to threaten them greatly, and to 
 disherit them, and lay them low. And the Vis- 
 count of Limoges and the Count of Perigord, for 
 the maintenance which the King of France had 
 given and was yet giving them, set his threats at 
 naught, and sent word to him that he was become 
 too fierce and proud, and that they, in his own 
 despite, would make him gracious and courteous, 
 and condescending, and that they would, moreover, 
 chastise him in battle. Whereat Sir Bertran of Born, 
 as one whose only joy is in the raising of strife 
 amongst the barons, was right glad at heart when 
 he heard that the King threatened the barons, and 
 that they lightly regarded him, and set his words 
 at naught, and had sent unto him saying that they 
 would chastise him, and would make him in his own 
 despite gracious and courteous. And knowing that 
 the King was sorely grieved and angered at that 
 they said to him, and at the loss of the castles 
 Montron and Azgen, he made one of his sirventes 
 to cause King Richard to sally to war. . . . And 
 the sirvente begins thus: 
 
 "Quant la novella flors par el vergan." 
 (When fresh flowers are seen in the gardens.) 
 
no Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Now when Richard had made peace with Sir 
 Bertran of Born, and had restored to him his Castle 
 Autafort, he took the cross and passed beyond the 
 sea ; and Bertran remained warring upon Ademar, 
 the Viscount of Limoges, and upon the Count of Peri- 
 gord, and upon all the barons round about. And, 
 even as ye have heard, when Richard returned, he 
 was captured in Germany, and dwelt in prison two 
 years, and was redeemed by gold. And when Sir 
 Bertran of Born knew that the King was to come 
 forth from prison, he was right glad for the great 
 good that he knew he should have of the King, and 
 for the harm that should come to his enemies. And, 
 wit ye well, that Sir Bertran had written in his heart 
 all the evil that those promoters of strife had done 
 in Limousin, and in the lands of King Richard. 
 And thereof he made his sirvente : 
 
 " Bern platz quar treua ni fis." 
 (It well pleaseth me that neither truce nor peace.) 
 
 * ON THE DEATH OF PRINCE HENRY v 1183. 
 
 IF all the pain, and misery, and woe, 
 
 The tears, the losses with misfortune fraught, 
 
 That in this dark life man can ever know, 
 
 Were heap'd together all would seem as naught 
 
 * For original see Stimming's edition of Bertran of Born, page 212. 
 
Bertran of Born IIX 
 
 Against the death of the young English king ; 
 For by it youth and worth are sunk in gloom, 
 And the world dark and dreary as a tomb, 
 
 Reft of all joy, and full of grief and sadness. 
 
 In dire distress, and full of bitter woe, 
 
 Forsaken mourn the warriors renown'd, 
 Trouveres and jongleurs debonair, I trow, 
 
 Too fierce an enemy in death have found, 
 Who bore off from them the young English king. 
 
 To him the bountiful but niggards were; 
 
 Nor deem that there has been or shall be e'er 
 On earth a loss so full of pain and sadness. 18 
 
 Bloodthirsty Death, that bring'st us bitter woe! 
 
 Well may'st thou boast, since that earth's noblest 
 
 peer 
 To thy dark realm a prisoner must go ; 
 
 Nor was there anything to Virtue dear 
 That was not found in our young English king. 
 
 More meet it were he lived, if God loved right, 
 
 Than that should prosper many an evil wight, 
 Who to the just bring naught but pain and sadness. 
 
 If from this base world full of bitter woe 
 
 Love do take wings, false are all earthly joys, 
 
 All turns to ill and sorrow here below, 
 
 Worse follows bad, and once-loved pleasure cloys. 
 
H2 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Be mirror to us each, young English king, 
 Who wert in life of chivalry the Head ; 
 Oh ! fair and loved one, whither hast thou fled ? 
 
 Why hast thou left us in our gloom and sadness ? 
 
 The Lord, who chose by reason of our woe, 
 To live on earth and break sin's heavy chain, 
 
 And Death received to trample down our foe 
 That righteous Lord implore we that He deign 
 
 To pardon this our dear young English king ; 
 As He true pardon is may Henry rest 
 Among the holy numbers of the blest, 
 
 There where has never been nor will be sadness. 
 
 WRITTEN BY BERTRAN OF BORN AFTER RECEIVING 
 KING HENRYS PARDON* 1184. 
 
 IN making songs I little dally, 19 
 And all my toil I little heed; 
 My arts and wiles I round me rally, 
 These ever serve me at my need ; 
 For by happy fate, 
 Saved from grievous strait 
 I 'fore Count and King 
 All unscathed may sing. 
 
 * For original see Stimming's edition of Bertran of Born, page 162. 
 
Bertran of Born 113 
 
 Since King and Count do grant me pardon, 
 
 And cease against me to make war, 
 For evermore my heart I'll harden 
 'Gainst Amblart, Tal'ran, Ademar. 20 
 Me as lord alone 
 Autafort shall own, 
 Fight for it who will 
 I will rule it still. 
 
 Somewhat of war let there be left me, 
 
 When naught but peace I see around ; 
 Plague in his eyes that thus bereft me, 
 E'en if first fault in me were found ! 
 Peace small joy doth give, 
 One with strife I'll live, 
 And none other law 
 Will I hold in awe. 
 
 Little regard I time and season, 
 
 Alike to me month, week, or day ; 
 Nor March nor April give me reason, 
 For seeking not to bring to bay 
 Such as 'gainst me plot, 
 Nor by force I wot, 
 Three could from me gain 
 Aught that's worth a grain. 
 
 While he who wills takes spade and harrow, 
 And ploughs his land, I toil alone, 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Lances and quarrels, darts and arrows, 
 Hauberks, and helms, and steeds to own. 
 Onset, tournament, 
 Love with valour blent 
 Joy in these I take, 
 These all cravings slake. 
 
 My castles' co-heir, ill contented, 
 
 My children's land has boldly claimed, 
 Had I in part thereto consented, 
 
 E'en then I had been churlish named, 
 Did I aught retain ; 
 E'er he'll me constrain 
 111 with him 'twill fare, 
 This I hereby swear. 
 
 Solely will I reign 
 Or Autafort disdain, 
 To kingly judgment e'er 
 Faith entire will bear. 21 
 
 BERTRAN TO THE LADY MAENT* 
 
 LADY, who dost lightly prize 22 
 
 This true heart, that thou hast rent 
 By thy doom of banishment, 
 
 For original, see Stimming's Bertran of Born, page 148. 
 
Bertran of Born 
 
 Whither shall I wander now? 
 
 Plunged in sadness, 
 
 Ne'er again shall I know gladness ; 
 And, if I no lady find 
 Of a face that's to my mind, 
 
 Fair as she that does forsake me, 
 
 Ne'er to Love will I betake me. 
 
 Since, where'er I cast my eyes, 
 None I see so full of grace, 
 ~ None so wise nor fair of face, 
 
 'Fore whose worth all men must bow, 
 Whose excelling 
 Graciousness is past all telling, 
 
 Then will I go borrowing 
 
 Of each lady some fair thing, 
 Borrowed mistress thus creating, 
 While her pardon I am waiting. 
 
 White and red, that nature dyes, 
 Gives me Sembeline 23 perchance, 
 And her gentle loving glance; 
 
 Boldness great I then avow, 
 Naught omitting, 
 So there lack no grace befitting, 
 
 Lady Elis 24 I beseech 
 
 For her frank and witty speech, 
 If in this Dame Elis fail me, 
 Little would all gifts avail me. 
 
116 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Chalais' Viscountess 25 so wise 
 I would ask the favour rare 
 Of her neck and hands most fair; 
 
 This allowed me onward go, 
 Ever speeding, 
 And at Rochecouard make pleading, 
 
 Crave from Agnes 26 locks of gold, 
 
 Brighter ones e'en fair Isold, 27 
 She of loveliness so vaunted, 
 Had not this I say undaunted. 
 
 From Dame Fai'did 28 likewise, 
 
 Would I have her teeth pearl-white, 
 Gracious mien and welcome bright, 
 
 Which she does on all bestow; 
 Further wending, 
 My " Fair Mirror " 28 condescending 
 
 I do ask for joyous mind, 
 
 For her courteous ways and kind, 
 Which have never any waning 
 Love and honour for her gaining. 
 
 "Belz-Senher,"* full free of sighs 
 Were I, if my love could be 
 E'en as great for her as thee ; 
 
 But within me there does grow 
 
 * His Lady's pseudonym. 
 
Bertran of Born 11 
 
 Longing tender, 
 
 And to thee I'd liefer render 
 Service, though thou ne'er requite me 
 Than in others' charms delight me. 
 
 Lady, why no love bestowest, 
 
 Since my faith full long thou knowest ? 
 
 * SOME STANZAS OF THE POEM IN WHICH BERTRAN 
 JUSTIFIES HIMSELF TO LADY MAENT. 
 
 LOSE I my hawk in its first upward flight, 
 And falcon lannerets kill it in fierce fight, 
 
 And bear it hence, and pluck it 'fore my eyes 
 If I not better love in grievous plight 
 To pine for thee, than on aught other wight 
 
 To work my will, and win an easy prize. 
 
 Be I joint-owner of a castle gay, 
 
 Wherein three other lords my will gainsay, 
 
 And be we each with jealous hate on fire, 
 And ever need cross-bowmen in array, 
 Leeches and men-at-arms our call t'obey, 
 
 If e'er to others' love I did aspire. 
 
 Shield on my breast may I through tempest hie, 
 Bearing upon my head my helm awry, 
 
 Holding short reins, that lengthened cannot be, 
 
 * See Stimming's Bertran of Born, page 155. 
 
us Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Feet in long stirrups, and small horse trotting high, 
 Then to an inn with surly host draw nigh, 
 If lied not those that bore thee tales of me. 
 
 False jealous recreants, since that ye lie, 
 And to set strife betwixt us ever try, 
 I counsel you that now you let me be! 
 
 TO CONRAD OF MONTFERRAT ON HIS GALLANT 
 DEFENCE OF TYRE AGAINST SALADIN IN 1187.* 
 
 I WOT whose deeds 30 do mankind most amaze, 
 'Mongst those that early rise fair fame to win, 
 
 It is Lord Conrad that on high we raise, 
 Who yonder succours Tyre 'gainst Saladin, 
 
 All his recreant host affrighting ; 
 
 God grant him help, for other help delays, 
 
 Alone the toil is his, alone the praise. 
 
 Conrad, two faltering kings right well I know, 
 Who aid thee not, would'st thou their titles hear, 
 
 The one, King Philip, dreading sore his foe, 
 Richard the last, who him doth likewise fear. 
 
 May King Saladin fast hold them ! 
 
 Since that for God they will not strike a blow, 
 
 Have ta'en the Cross yet onwards will not go. 
 
 * For original, see Stimming's Bertran of Born, page 133. 
 
Bertran of Born 11 9 
 
 Alone for thee, Lord Conrad, by my troth 
 
 I sing, of others little care I take, 
 Were't not to chide crusaders false to oath, 
 
 Who thus their holy journey do forsake, 
 Reckless of our Lord's displeasure, 
 Battening on lux'ry and living lives of sloth, 
 While thou dost toil, lo ! they to go are loth. 
 
 Good Papiol, speed with all thy might, 
 Thee to Savoy and Brindisi I send, 
 Then o'er the seas to royal Conrad wend ; 
 
 When there let nothing thee affright; 
 
 Say that, though yet for him I've struck no blow, 
 
 If kings do not deceive right soon I'll go ; 
 
 Yet truly if my Lady bid me stay, 
 So fair she is that I must needs obey. 
 
 1 Autafort. A castle on the borders of Perigord and Limousin. 
 
 The castle originally held by the family, was probably, 
 however, Castle Born, situated a few miles from Autafort ; 
 its ruins are still to be seen. 
 
 2 The Viscount of Limoges. Feudalism was nowhere more 
 
 developed than in Limousin, where were many lords 
 within narrow limits, and with ill-defined territories, who 
 all vaguely recognized the suzerainty of the Duke of 
 Aquitaine. Chief among these lords were the Counts 
 of Angouleme, Marche and Perigord, and the Viscounts 
 of Limoges, Turenne, Comborn and Ventadorn. 
 
120 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 3 The King of Aragon. Alphonso II., whose critical ability 
 
 is well shown by the fact that he made the sweet and 
 tender love-songs of Giraut of Borneil play the wife to 
 the strong and essentially masculine sirventes of Bertran. 
 
 4 Papiol. Bertran's jongleur. 
 
 6 " Rassa," " Yea and Nay," " Sailor." The origin of these nick- 
 names is obscure. " Rassa," the Count of Brittany, was 
 Geoffrey, Henry the Second's third son ; " Yea and Nay " 
 was Richard, and not Henry II.; "Sailor" was "The 
 Young King," Henry's eldest son, crowned during his 
 father's lifetime in 1170. 
 
 6 Maent. A corrupted form of Mathilda. She with her sisters, 
 
 Maria of Ventadorn, and Elise of Montfort, to all of whom 
 constant allusions are made in the troubadour poems, 
 were the three most renowned beauties of Languedoc. 
 
 7 Guiscarda. The beautiful and then the newly-married wife of 
 
 the Viscount of Comborn. (See Bertran's charming song 
 to her in Thomas's edition of Bertran of Born, page 117). 
 
 8 Elena. Her real name was Mathilda ; her husband, Henry 
 
 the Lion of Saxony, was for three years banished Germany 
 by Frederick Barbarossa, during which time Mathilda 
 (Henry being absent on a pilgrimage) lived at the Court 
 in Normandy, under the protection of her brother Richard. 
 The following episode must have taken place in the 
 winter of 1182, when Richard, who was then on friendly 
 terms with Bertran, summoned him to the Court then 
 held at Argentan in Normandy. Before 1182 Bertran 
 had known and loved the fair Maent, who probably 
 remained ignorant of the tribute he paid to another. 
 There is no reason, however, for supposing that his 
 affection for the Norman Princess was a very strong one, 
 or that it outlived the few months spent in her society. 
 Love held a second place in Bertran's thoughts, and 
 was little more than the amusement of his leisure hours. 
 8 In his host. Probably Bertran was engaged with Richard 
 in some military inspection of the troops. 
 
Bertran of Born 121 
 
 10 Henry. As a matter of fact Henry was not himself present 
 
 at the siege of Autafort. It was Richard, aided by the 
 King of Aragon, who, after a few days, succeeded in 
 taking the castle in 1183. This year was the most 
 eventful in Bertran's life. In it broke out a fierce war 
 between Prince Henry and his brother Richard, Bertran 
 espousing the cause of "The Young King," together 
 with all the chief Aquitaine lords. 
 
 Richard their suzerain, sore-pressed, sought help from 
 his father, who, on coming to his aid, made vain efforts 
 to bring about a peace, as also to enter Limoges, the 
 stronghold of the rebels. The " Young King " found 
 himself in the possession of all the country round about 
 this city, and at the head of a strong party, when Death 
 cut him off in the moment of his prosperity, and in the 
 flower of his age. A terrible blow was thus dealt Bertran, 
 who, bereft of his friend and master, and abandoned by 
 his confederates, fled to his castle, there to await the 
 vengeance that he knew must overtake him. The passage 
 that now follows in the ' Lives ' is for simple grace and 
 pathos one of the most interesting in the book. 
 
 11 Full wroth against him. The chroniclers judge Alphonso 
 
 more lightly than Bertran, and praise his generosity, yet 
 the story of Artuset and of the victim of Eleanor were 
 not mere inventions of our poet. 
 
 12 " The King of Aragon was come of a poor family." The 
 genealogy here given is false, as Monsieur Thomas points 
 out, and Alphonso's descent is as follows : Gilbert, Lord 
 of Carlat and Millau married Gerberge, sister of the 
 Count of Provence, which latter dying without issue, left 
 Provence to Douce, daughter of Gilbert and Gerberge. 
 Douce by her marriage with Raymond Berengar, Count 
 of Barcelona, united Barcelona and Provence ; her eldest 
 son, father of Alphonso, had for his share the county of 
 Barcelona, which by marriage he united to Aragon. 
 The younger son inherited Provence, Carlat and Millau. 
 
122 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Finally, however, Alphonso II. succeeded his cousin in 
 the rulership of Provence, Carlat and Millau, uniting 
 them to Barcelona and Aragon. 
 
 13 Had dealt treacherously with the daughter of the Emperor 
 
 Manuel. Alphonso did, as a matter of fact, seek an 
 alliance with Eudoxia, daughter of Manuel, the Emperor 
 of the Eastern Empire ; but, as there was a long delay 
 before Eudoxia appeared, Alphonso married Sancha of 
 Castile, and Eudoxia, on arriving in his dominions, had 
 to content herself with the hand of William of Montpellier. 
 
 14 The old Queen of England. Eleanor of Aquitaine, who 
 
 died at Fontevrault in 1204. 
 
 15 King Richard of England warred upon King Philip of France- 
 
 In all probability Bertran bore no part in the events here 
 related. 
 
 16 Gaura. In another edition this river is called the Gevra. 
 
 17 On the death of Prince Henry. The rhymes of the poem 
 
 are ababcdde, which rhymes run throughout the 
 whole of the original poem. 
 
 18 A loss so full of pain and sadness. The " young king," bad 
 
 son and bad brother as he was, possessed, as all the 
 chroniclers agree in stating, singular charms of mind and 
 person, and also a singular power of winning men's hearts. 
 
 19 In making songs I little dally. The rhymes of the poem of 
 
 six and a half stanzas are ababccdd, and these 
 are continued throughout the poem. 
 
 20 Amblart, Talaran, Ademar. The barons who had played 
 him false. 
 
 21 Faith entire will bear. This poem, with its tone of dogged 
 defiance and fierce joy in strife, is one of the most char- 
 acteristic that we have of Bertran. There is, however, 
 a still more famous war-song, the most powerful, indeed, 
 in Provengal literature, but which I have not here trans- 
 lated, because, though commonly ascribed to Bertran, its 
 authorship is somewhat uncertain. In it the author sings 
 his joy when, on the approach of spring, the barons come 
 
Bertran of Born I2 3 
 
 sallying forth to war upon each other ; when all but 
 cowards give and take many a hard blow ; when heads 
 and arms are hewn from their trunks, and great and small 
 lie together on the grass ; when the brain is on fire at the 
 war-shouts of " Aidatz, aidatz, a lor ! " and at the shrill 
 neighs of the riderless horses rushing madly through the 
 field, etc. 
 
 22 Lady, who dost lightly prize. The original poem is com- 
 
 posed of seven stanzas and an envoi of four lines ; its 
 rhymes, running throughout the poem, are abbcddee 
 f f. Bertran's love songs have not, as M. Thomas remarks, 
 the depth and sincerity that characterize those of Bernard 
 of Ventadorn or Giraut of Borneil. A few of them are 
 inferior to none, however, in originality and charm, and of 
 such the poem here translated affords a good example. 
 
 23 Sembeline. The pseudonym of some unknown lady of 
 
 Limousin. 
 
 24 Elis, or "Alice" of Montfort, sister of Maent 
 
 25 Chalais' Viscountess. Tibors of Montausier. 
 
 26 Agnes. Beyond this mention of her name nothing is known 
 
 of her. 
 
 27 Isold. The golden locks of Isold, Tristram's Lady, are often 
 
 alluded to by the troubadours. 
 
 28 "Faidida" and "Fair Mirror." Both of them are unknown 
 
 ladies. 
 
 29 Stanzas to Maent. The original poem is composed of seven 
 
 stanzas and a half; its rhymes which run throughout it 
 are aabaab. In this poem Bertran, in the most emphatic 
 and original fashion, justifies himself to Maent, who be- 
 lieved that Bertran had abandoned her for the fair young 
 bride, Lady Guiscarda. 
 
 30 I wot whose deeds. The original is composed of six stanzas, 
 
 having all of them the rhymes a b a b c a a, and an envoi 
 of three half stanzas with the rhymes c a a c a a a a. 
 
 This poem, the only Crusading song of Bertran's that 
 we possess, was called forth by the stirring events of 1187. 
 
I2 4 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 It was then that the report reached Europe of Saladin's 
 victory over the King of Jerusalem, and triumphant entry 
 into the Holy City. All Christendom answered to the 
 Church's call to a new Crusade, and Richard and Philip 
 Augustus, forgetting awhile their jealousies, swore to fight 
 in defence of the Cross. While, however, the two kings 
 lingered on at home, each fearing to leave the other 
 behind him, Conrad, son of the Marquis of Montferrat, 
 entered Tyre, roused the sinking courage of its inhabit- 
 ants, and compelled Saladin to retire from before it. 
 This brilliant feat excited universal admiration, and Ber- 
 tran amongst others sang Conrad's prowess. The ending 
 of the song is graceful, but naively unheroic, one, in fact, 
 in which speaks the true troubadour. No lady of Ber- 
 tran's at that time existed to withhold him from the 
 Crusade, in which, as one could easily foresee, he bore 
 no part. 
 
 FOLQUET OF MARSEILLES. 
 Flourished from 1180. Died 1231. 
 
 FOLQUET, who, according to Dante, was born in Marseilles, 
 and according to Petrarch, in Genoa, won the favour of some 
 of the chief princes of the age Richard of England, Ray- 
 mond V. of Toulouse, Barral of Marseilles, and others. It 
 is to Barral's wife Adelaide (Azalais) that most of his canzones 
 are addressed, and he seems to have served her more or less 
 steadily till the outbreak of the war against the Arabs in 
 1195. From that time onwards the fanatic absorbs the poet, 
 and it is hard to recognize the Folquet of younger days in 
 the ecclesiastic who so fiercely persecuted the Albigensian 
 heretics, helped to establish the Inquisition in Languedoc, 
 and heaped insults on Raymond VI. of Toulouse, the son 
 
Folquet of Marseilles 125 
 
 of his former friend and patron. He is placed by Dante, 
 however, in Paradise (Paradiso^ Canto IX.), where he tells 
 the Italian poet his name and birthplace. 
 
 Folquet has left us some twenty-five poems, all of which 
 (with the exception of one written in the cloister) were com- 
 posed in the early part of his life. His canzones have the 
 love-sick despair common in troubadours. They are always 
 graceful and harmonious, but by no means free from the 
 metaphysical subtleties and affectations that mark the decad- 
 ence of Provencal poetry. One of his finest is his ' Complaint ' 
 on the death of his master, Barral of Marseilles, two or three 
 stanzas of which are translated below. 
 
 FOLQUET OF MARSEILLES* 
 
 Now Folquet of Marseilles was the son of a merchant 
 of Genoa, Master Alphonso by name, who, dying, 
 left him passing rich. And he strove after fame and 
 excellence, and entered the service of honourable men, 
 having intercourse with them, and going to and fro 
 to pleasure them; and he was held in great esteem by 
 King Richard, and by the good Count Raymond of 
 Toulouse, and by Lord Barral of Marseilles, 1 his liege 
 lord. And a right good poet was he, and, withal, 
 right goodly to look upon. Now he loved the 
 wife of Lord Barral, his lord, and sought her love 
 and made his songs of her, yet never by his own 
 worth nor by his songs could he find such favour 
 in her sight as that she made him her lover, where- 
 
 * See Mahn, xxviii. 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 fore he was wont to make complaint of love in his 
 songs. 
 
 Now when the good King Alphonso of Castile 
 had been discomfited by the King of Morocco, 
 Miramamoli 2 by name, and had been reft by him 
 of Calatrava, and of Salvaterra, and of the Castle of 
 Toninas, behold ! there was made great mourning 
 and lamentation throughout all Spain, and amongst 
 all such as heard thereof, because of the dishonour 
 done to Christendom, and because of the harm that 
 had come unto the good King in the discomfiture 
 of his army, and in the loss of his lands. And full 
 oft did the men of Miramamoli enter into the realm 
 of King Alphonso, working therein great evil ; so 
 the good King Alphonso sent his messengers to 
 the Pope, praying him to summon to his aid the 
 barons of France, and of England, the King of 
 Aragon, and the Count of Toulouse. Now Lord 
 Folquet of Marseilles was greatly affectionate to 
 the King of Castile, and had not yet entered into 
 the Cistercian Order, so he made an exhortation to 
 the barons, and to all the good people, urging them 
 to succour the good King of Castile, showing them 
 the honour that this succour would be to them, 
 and the pardon it would bring them of God. And 
 the exhortation begins thus : 
 
 " Hueimais no i conosc razo." 
 (Henceforth I know not a reason, etc.) 
 
Folquet of Marseilles I2 7 
 
 Now Folquet of Marseilles, even as you have 
 heard, loved the wife of his lord, Barral, my Lady 
 Azalais of Rocamartina, and sang of her, and made 
 his canzones of her, but took heed that the matter 
 was not noised abroad, forasmuch as she was his 
 lord's wife, and that it would have been held for 
 great baseness in him. And his lady suffered his 
 prayers and his songs for the great praise he made 
 of her. Now Lord Barral had two sisters of great 
 beauty and excellence, and of these the one was 
 named the Lady Laura of San Jorlan, and the 
 other the Lady Mabilia of Ponteves. These both 
 dwelt with Lord Barral, and Sir Folquet had such 
 great liking for them that men might well ween he 
 sought their love. Now my Lady Azalais deemed 
 that he loved my Lady Laura, so she accused him 
 thereof, and made many others to accuse him, till 
 she no longer wished for his prayers and his talk, 
 and sent him from her service, bidding him hence- 
 forth hope no further favour from her, and bidding 
 him likewise separate himself from the Lady Laura. 
 Then Folquet, after that his lady had sent him from 
 her, was full sad and sorrowful, and forsook all 
 singing, and laughter, and merriment, and long- 
 time dwelt in great sorrow and heaviness, bewailing 
 the mischance that had befallen him in the loss of 
 his lady, whom he loved better than all things 
 else, and this through one whom he nowise regarded 
 
128 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 but by courtesy. And after sorrowing in this fashion 
 he went forth to see the Empress, the head and chief 
 of all excellence, and of all courtesy, and of all 
 knowledge, the which lady was wife of Lord William 
 of Montpellier, and daughter of the Emperor Manuel. 3 
 And he made lamentation to her of the mischance 
 that had befallen him, and she comforted him as 
 best she might, and besought him not to grieve 
 nor to despair, but for love of her to sing and to 
 make canzones. Wherefore he, for the prayers of 
 the Empress, made this song which runs : 
 
 "Tan mou de corteza razo." 
 (It (the song) arises from such a courteous motive.) 
 
 And it came to pass that my Lady Azalais died, 
 and Lord Barral, her husband and his lord, died, and 
 likewise died the good King Richard, and the good 
 Count Raymond of Toulouse, and the King Al- 
 phonso of Aragon, wherefore Folquet, from sorrow 
 for his lady, and for the Princes that were dead, 
 forsook the world, and entered the Cistercian Order 
 with his wife and with his two sons. And he was 
 made Abbot of a noble Abbey in Provence called 
 Torondet, and thereafter was made Bishop of Tou- 
 louse, where he died. 
 
Folquet of Marseilles I2 9 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF BARRAL OF MARSEILLES. 1192. 
 
 E'EN as when some grievous blow 4 
 Deadeneth the heart and brain, 
 And unfelt are grief and pain, 
 
 Stunned am I by bitter woe 
 
 For my loss surpassing great 
 Nowise can my heart conceive, 
 None its bitterness believe 
 
 Till they meet like piteous fate. 
 For Barral by cruel death is slain, 
 And I to weep or laugh am fain, 
 
 Since reft of reason is my state. 
 
 Am I bound by wizard's spell, 
 
 That all sense from me hath fled? 
 No, 'tis that my lord is dead, 
 
 He that prized us passing well. 
 
 Even as the loadstone bright, 
 Draweth upward iron and steel, 
 So did Barral ever deal 
 
 Unto many a lowly wight ; 
 And he that spoiled us of thejhead 
 Of joy, and fame to virtue wed, 
 
 Regardeth not our hapless plight. 
 
 *See Mahn's Gedichte der Troubadours, Vol. iv., page 136. 
 
 I 
 
 CFTHE 
 I I 1 IM I 
 
 I lIMlWrr r^es ..*.. 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Needs must I resemble thee 
 
 - To the flowers, whose fate thou sharest, 
 That when sweetest are and fairest, 
 
 Soonest fade and cease to be ; 
 
 Then because our Lord hath died, 
 Let us lift to God our eyes, 
 And the wretched world despise, 
 
 Where as pilgrims we abide : 
 
 For fame and wisdom of the rarest 
 Thou God all-righteous no-wise sparest 
 
 Of those that scorn Thee in their pride. 
 
 1 Barral of Marseilles. Barral of Baux, Viscount of Marseilles 
 and Adelaide (Azalais) his wife, have already played a 
 prominent part in the life of Peire Vidal, the first, as 
 his generous protector, the second, as his angry lady. 
 This Adelaide is hardly mentioned by history ; in all 
 probability she was Barral's first wife, whom he put away 
 from him, shortly before his death, to marry a daughter 
 of the house of Montpellier. 
 
 2 Miramamoli by name. The name of the Arabian despot 
 was Jacob Almansor, and he bore the title of Miramolin. 
 In 1195 he had gained the important battle of Alarcos 
 over the Christians, and followed up his victory by 
 seizing Calatrava and other strong places. 
 
 3 Daughter of the Emperor Manuel. This lady was Eudoxia, 
 daughter of Manuel Comnenus ; betrothed to Alphonso II. 
 of Aragon, she had on reaching Spain found him already 
 married to Sancha of Castile. Thereupon Eudoxia retired 
 to Montpellier, to await her father's orders, but on tidings 
 of his death reaching her, she accepted the hand of the 
 
Pons of Capduoil I 3 l 
 
 Count of Montpellier (in 1181). The marriage was an 
 unhappy one and some years after it Eudoxia, put away 
 by her husband, entered a convent, where she died. 
 4 E'en as when some grievous blow. This * complaint ' is 
 composed of six stanzas of eleven lines, and two final 
 stanzas of three and four lines respectively. The rhymes 
 of the six first stanzas are : abbacddcbbc; of the 
 seventh stanza : c d d, and of the eighth : c b b c. 
 
 PONS OF CAPDUOIL. 
 1170 or 1180-1190. 
 
 HANDSOME, noble, gay, courteous, and refined, Pons was, in 
 many respects, the ideal Court troubadour, and he and his 
 poems seem to have been deservedly popular. Most of these 
 latter are those of a polished man of the world, the majority 
 of them canzones of remarkable beauty and refinement of 
 form, but of little depth and originality. His three finest 
 poems owed their origin to some deeply-felt sorrow (undoubt- 
 edly the loss of Azalais), a sorrow, indeed, that entirely changed 
 the current of his thoughts. The poet of the canzones is one 
 who skimmed lightly over the surface of life, and never lost 
 his tone of airy grace and ease, while that of the beautiful 
 lament over Azalais, and of the spiritual Crusading songs, is 
 a man who has felt passionate grief, and whose only con- 
 solations are those of religion. There is no doubt that he 
 kept the resolution announced in the 'Complaint,' and forsook 
 love at the death of his lady, dying, indeed, not long after- 
 wards in the Holy Land. 
 
 The poem, of which I have attempted a translation, is 
 amongst the best that Provence has given us. The love that 
 inspires it is a delicate and ethereal sentiment, and the poet's 
 tone of absolute humility and holy awe towards his lady is 
 akin to that of Dante towards Beatrice. 
 
132 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 OF PONS OF CAPDUOIL* 
 
 Now Pons of Capduoil was a noble baron of the 
 diocese of Puy Ste. Marie, 1 who made poetry and 
 sang and violed full well. And he was valiant in 
 battle, and learned, and courteous, and chivalrous, 
 and fair-spoken, and of great stature and comeliness. 
 And therewithal he was right niggardly, yet this 
 he hid by fair demeanour and deeds of courtesy. 
 And he loved my Lady Azalais of Mercuer, wife of 
 Lord Ozil of Mercuer (a great Count of Auvergne), 
 and daughter of Lord Bernart of Andusa, an honour- 
 able baron of the March of Provence. Much did 
 he love and praise her, and many a fair song did 
 he make of her, and loved none other while she 
 lived ; and when she was dead he took the Cross 
 and passed over into Syria, and there died. 2 
 
 Now Pons of Capduoil loved that lady, even as 
 ye have heard, and was also loved by her ; and all 
 good people took pleasure in their love, 3 and many 
 fair feasts, and jousts, and merry-makings were held 
 because of it, and many a fair song was made on it. 
 Then he, dwelling with her in such great joy and 
 gladness, was minded to make trial of her love, like 
 a foolish lover who neither knows great blessedness 
 nor can bear it. For he would not believe in his own 
 
 * See Mahn, xxx. 
 
Pons of Capduoil J 33 
 
 eyes, nor in the gracious favours and honours she 
 heaped upon him by word and deed ; so he resolved 
 within his foolish heart to make believe he loved my 
 Lady Audiart, wife of the Lord of Marseilles, think- 
 ing that, if it grieved his lady that he held aloof from 
 her, he might know she loved him, and if it pleased 
 her, then his comfort would be that she had no 
 whit loved him. He then, as a fool who does not 
 cease from folly till evil comes of it, began to hold 
 aloof from Lady Azalais, and to draw near and 
 to speak well of Lady Audiart. And he said of 
 her : " No uelh aver lemperi dalamanha, Si Naudiartz 
 no uezian miei uelh." (I would not the Empire of 
 Germany, if my eyes looked not on Lady Audiart.) 
 The Lady Azalais seeing that Pons of Capduoil, 
 whom she had loved and honoured so greatly, had 
 withdrawn himself from her, and drawn nearer to 
 Lady Audiart, held him in such high disdain that 
 she never spoke or made inquiry of him to any 
 wight soever. And if one spoke to her of him, she 
 would answer nothing, and went on living long in 
 right courteous fashion, and held high court and 
 festivals. Now during this while Pons of Capduoil 
 went wandering through Provence, fleeing from the 
 love of the Lady Azalais ; howbeit, when he saw 
 that she showed no sorrow thereat, and sent him 
 neither message nor letter, he fell to thinking that 
 he had done amiss, and turned his steps towards 
 
J 34 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 his own country, and desisted from this foolish trial 
 of her love. Then grief and heaviness came upon 
 him, and he sent humble letters and poems unto 
 her, in the which he besought her to suffer him to 
 appear before her, that he might plead his cause 
 and obtain mercy of her, saying also that she should 
 avenge herself on him, if he had in aught sinned 
 against her. But the lady would neither listen to 
 his prayers for mercy nor to his defence of himself 
 wherefore he made this song of her which runs : 
 "Aissi com eel qua pro de ualedors." (Even as one 
 that hath many a protector.) But the song availed 
 him nothing, so he made this other : " Qui per nesci 
 cuidar, fai trop gran fallimen." (He who by folly doth 
 full great ill.) This likewise did not so avail him, 
 as that the Lady Azalais would restore her favour 
 unto him, or would believe that he had but separated 
 himself from her to prove whether she would be 
 glad thereat or no ; wherefore he went to my Lady 
 Maria of Ventadorn, and the Countess of Montfer- 
 rand, and to the Viscountess of Aubusson. And he 
 brought them unto Mercuer to my Lady Azalais to 
 ask her pardon, deeming that she would look favour- 
 ably on him for the prayers of the ladies. Then 
 Lady Azalais, for the prayers of the ladies, restored 
 him to her favour, whereat no man in all the world 
 was so happy as Pons of Capduoil, who said that 
 never more would he dissemble to try his lady's love. 
 
Pons of Capduoil 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF AZALAIS, ADDRESSED TO HIS 
 FRIEND ANDREW* 4 ' 
 
 AMONGST all hapless mortals I am he, 
 Most deeply sunk in bitter endless pain ; 
 Ah! sweet were Death to me, and I were fain 
 
 Cut short these days of endless misery! 
 For from my life all happiness has fled, 
 Since that my Lady Azalais is dead ; 
 
 Borne down am I with weeping and with woe 
 Thou traitor Death ! Full truly can I say, 
 A better lady thou couldst never slay. 
 
 How from my grief should I uplifted be, 
 
 If God had will'd that me Death first had slain ! 
 Ah woe is me ! But now, not long in pain 
 
 Shall I outlive my love I crave from thee, 
 O Jesus, mighty One, of Truth the Head 
 Her pardon, Lord, her soul unblemished 
 
 Give Thou unto St. Peter and St. John ; 
 For therein heavenly grace does ever stay, 
 Guileless it is, and this can none gainsay. 
 
 For her should all men weep right bitterly, 
 For goodlier lady earth did ne'er contain; 
 Like gracious bearing ne'er will be again, 
 
 * See Chrestomathie provenfale, page 123. 
 
136 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 And now what worth in beauty do we see ? 
 
 What worth in wit, and wisdom, fame far spread, 
 
 Frank speech, kind greeting, courtesy high-bred ? 
 Of what avail the fairest things on earth ? 
 
 Thou, wretched World, no more o'er me hast 
 sway, 
 
 Most vile thou art, since she has gone her way. 
 
 Now know we angels pure on high with glee 
 Do welcome her, who from our midst is ta'en ; 
 For oft I hear, and oft wise books maintain, 
 
 "Who praised of men is, praised of God will be." 
 Then well I know to Heaven's high hall she's 
 
 sped, 
 There roses and fair lilies crown her head, 
 
 And there glad choirs of angels sing her praise. 
 Rightly to her, who ne'er from Truth did stray, 
 In Paradise all creatures homage pay. 
 
 Oh ! Lady Adelaide, since thou art dead, 
 All gladness from my life is vanished ; 
 
 Henceforth I bid a sad farewell to song. 
 And many a groan, a tear, a well-a-day, 
 My bitter anguish nowise do allay. 
 
 Friend Andrew, all my wishes flee away, 
 Now nevermore Love's call will I obey. 
 
Pons of Capduoil J 37 
 
 1 Puy Ste. Marie. Here was held a great annual festival, to 
 
 which flocked all the chivalry of Languedoc. Tourna- 
 ments and contests in poetry were the chief amusements, 
 and one of the four judges who awarded the prize for 
 poetry was the Monk of Montaldon. (See his life.) 
 
 2 And there died. From here begins the traditional part of 
 
 the story. 
 
 3 And all good people took pleasure in their love. The love 
 
 of Pons for Azalais, with its delicate moderation and 
 immaterialism, was entirely in accordance with the laws 
 of chivalry, and as such was generally known and 
 approved of. As there was no law in Provence excluding 
 women from the possession of land, marriage there, speci- 
 ally, was a thoroughly business-like arrangement. Pretexts 
 also were readily found for repudiating a wife if a richer 
 heiress presented herself, and love and marriage were for 
 these reasons universally regarded as incompatible. Love, 
 apart from marriage, provided it remained Platonic, was, 
 therefore, generally recognized and sanctioned. 
 
 4 On the death of Azalais. The rhymes of the original, run- 
 
 ning throughout the poem, are abbaccdee; in the 
 last stanza the first four lines are omitted. In the envoi 
 the poet addresses a friend of the name of Andrew. Of 
 this friend, mentioned in several of Pons of Capduoil's 
 poems, we have no information. 
 
 RAEMBAUT OF VAQUEIRAS. 
 1180-1207. 
 
 OF Raembaut of Vaqueiras, one of the most distinguished 
 of Piovengal poets, we have no lack of details, for apart 
 from the biographies, Raembaut himself, in his poems and 
 letters, dwells with great fulness on his own life and thoughts. 
 
J 38 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 The connection, alluded to in the biography, between him 
 and William of Baux, Prince of Orange, seems to have been 
 a very friendly one, until a dispute arose between them, 
 caused by Raembaut's mocking William, who was attacked 
 by fishermen, while sailing down the Rhone. Soon after this, 
 Raembaut, though on fairly friendly terms with the Prince, 
 left his court, and at the end of various wanderings came 
 to that of the Marquis of Montferrat. Here, as we learn 
 from his canzones, he loved a lady, wooed by the dissolute 
 and turbulent Albert of Malaspina. This latter won the lady's 
 good graces, and gave vent to his triumph in a mocking 
 sirvente directed against Raembaut who, however, as is shown 
 by the poem translated below, bore his defeat with sufficient 
 independence. It was probably shortly after this episode 
 that his connection with Beatrice began, a romantic account 
 of which is given in the biography. His amour was put 
 an end to by Raembaut's starting on the Crusade of 1202, 
 and in this year, indeed, occurred Beatrice's death, which 
 Raembaut celebrated in the * complaint ' translated below. 
 When the poet himself died cannot be said. There is no 
 mention of him after the death of his patron the Marquis, 
 who was slain in a skirmish against the Bulgarians. Possibly 
 therefore Raembaut fell fighting by his side. 
 
 Raembaut has written poems on matters relating to his 
 patron William of Baux ; poems in honour of his first love 
 the Lady of Tortona, of his " Fair Knight " (Beatrice), and 
 of the Marquis of Montferrat ; poems on the fourth Crusade, 
 and lastly, some few poems in the form of letters. The 
 sweetness and artistic finish of his canzones to Beatrice, 
 make them pre-eminent amongst his works, and of these 
 the most remarkable is the famous * Carrussel,' three verses 
 of which are given below. No more graceful compliment 
 could be paid to his lady than thus representing her as 
 having robbed other ladies of their youth, beauty, and all 
 noble virtues, and as repulsing single-handed her assembled 
 foes. The splendour, originality, and elaborate metre of this 
 
Raembaut of Vaqueiras J 39 
 
 poem, place it, indeed, amongst the finest ornaments of 
 Provencal literature. As for his verses on the Crusades in 
 them, as in those of other troubadours the elements of 
 chivalry and worldly glory are curiously mingled with reli- 
 gious zeal. In one of them he begins by exulting in his 
 Marquis being leader of the French and Champanois ; then 
 after invoking all Christendom to the Crusade : " Rather," 
 he says, "would I die yonder than live here, even were all 
 Christendom mine ; yet, noble Knight (Beatrice) for whom 
 I make my song, I know not if for you I will renounce the 
 Cross or take it up. I know not how to go nor how to stay 
 for, such joy your beauty gives me, that when I see you I 
 am like to die, and when I may not see you, I think to die 
 in others' company." 
 
 His letters throw great light upon the man himself and 
 the times in which he lived, and exhibit remarkable dexterity 
 and boldness in the soliciting of rewards : " Noble Marquis, 
 lord of Montferrat," runs one, " I thank God that He has 
 brought you to great honour, for more than any crowned 
 head in Christendom have ye spent and conquered. I praise 
 God for having advanced me also a kind lord have I found 
 in you ye have nourished and equipped me, and made me 
 from nothing into an honourable knight, so that courtiers 
 smile on me, and women praise me. Moreover, I have 
 served you ever with a right good will, and have dedicated 
 to you all my powers, and have done in your company many 
 a courtly deed ; have wooed in many a fair place, and with 
 arms in my hand both lost and won. I have ridden with 
 you through all Greece, have given and taken many a hard 
 blow, have fallen and made others to fall, have fled and 
 pursued with you, have fought on water and on bridges, . . . 
 have broken through serried ranks, and helped you to take 
 prisoners . . . kings and princes. . . . With you I 
 hav;; pursued the Emperor from Roumania to Philopas, him 
 that ye dethroned to crown another ; and, if through you I 
 become not rich, it will no longer seem to men that I have 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 fought and served you as I have here shown ye know that 
 I speak but true, noble Marquis." 
 
 There is further a curious fragment from one of Raembaut's 
 letters to Boniface, translated by Roscoe,* which I insert 
 here, as being a good illustration of the chivalrous adventures 
 of the age : 
 
 " Do you remember the jongleur Aimonet, who brought you 
 news of Jacobina, when she was on the point of being 
 carried into Sardinia, and married to a man she disliked? 
 Do you also remember how, on bidding you farewell, she 
 threw herself into your arms, and besought you, in such 
 moving terms to protect her against the injustice of her 
 uncle ? You immediately ordered five of your bravest esquires 
 to mount. We rode all night, after supper. With my own 
 hand I bore her from the domain, amidst an universal outcry. 
 They pursued us horse and foot ; we fled, at full speed ; 
 and we already thought ourselves out of danger, when we 
 were attacked by the knights of Pisa. With so many cavaliers 
 pressing close upon us, so many shields glittering around us, 
 and so many banners waving in the wind, you need not ask 
 us whether we were afraid. We concealed ourselves between 
 Albenga and Final, and, from the place of our retreat, we 
 heard on all sides the sound of horn and clarion, and the 
 signal-cries of pursuit. Two days we remained without meat 
 or drink, and when, on the third day, we recommenced our 
 journey, we encountered twelve banditti, and we knew not 
 how to conduct ourselves ; for to attack them on horseback 
 was impossible. I dismounted, and advanced against them 
 on foot. I was wounded by a lance ; but I disabled three 
 or four of my opponents, and put the rest to flight. My 
 companions then came to my assistance ; we drove the 
 robbers from the defile, and you passed in safety. You, no 
 doubt, recollect how merrily we dined together, although we 
 had only a single loaf to eat and nothing to drink. In the 
 
 * See Roscoe's translation of Sismondi's Literature of the South of 
 Europe. 
 
Raembaut of Vaqueiras HI 
 
 evening we arrived at Nice, and were received by our friend 
 Piuclair with transports of joy. 
 
 "The next day you gave Jacobina in marriage to Anselmo, 
 and recovered for him his county of Vintimiglia, in spite of 
 his uncle, who endeavoured to despoil him of it." 
 
 RAEMBAUT OF VAQUEIRAS* 
 
 RAEMBAUT 1 of Vaqueiras was the son of a poor 
 knight of Provence, of the Castle of Vaquieras, 
 one named Peirors, who passed for mad. And 
 Raembaut became a jongleur, and abode full long 
 with the Prince of Orange, William of Baux. Well 
 did he know to sing and to make coblas and 
 sirventes ; and the Prince of Orange did him great 
 good, and great honour, and advanced him, and 
 made him to be known and prized of all good 
 folk. And afterwards, Raembaut departed from him, 
 and gat him to Montferrat to the court of my 
 Lord the Marquis Boniface, 2 and therein dwelt full 
 long, growing in wisdom, in knowledge, and in 
 prowess. And he became enamoured of the sister 
 of the Marquis, the which hight my Lady Beatrice, 
 wife of Lord Henry of Garret, and he made of 
 her many fair songs, calling her therein, " Fair 
 Knight," 3 and men weened she loved him well. Now 
 well have ye heard who was Raembaut of Vaqueiras, 
 and how he came to honour, and by whom ; but 
 
 * See Mahn, xxxii. 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 now I will tell you how that when the Marquis 
 had dubbed him knight, Raembaut became enam- 
 oured of my Lady Beatrice, sister of the Marquis 
 and my Lady Azalais of Salutz. Greatly did he 
 love her and desire her, having care that none 
 should know of it, and much did he spread abroad 
 her fame, and many a friend did he win for her. 
 And she was wont to bear herself full graciously 
 towards him, yet he the while was dying for desire 
 and fearfulness, for he durst neither beseech her for 
 her love nor show that he strove thereafter, until, as 
 one sore pressed, he told her that he loved a lady 
 of great excellence, yet durst not make known the 
 goodwill and love that he bore her nor seek for 
 hers in exchange, in such fear was he of her great 
 excellence; and he besought her for God's sake 
 to tell him whether she held it meet, that he should 
 speak his mind, or should die loving the lady thus 
 privily. Then that noble lady my Lady Beatrice 
 when she heard this and knew the goodwill that 
 he bore her, having also ere now full well perceived 
 that he was, from great yearning for her, nigh unto 
 death, was moved by love and pity, and spake 
 and said : " Raembaut, full meet it is that the true 
 lover of a gentle lady should fear to show his 
 love, but or ever he die, I read him to tell it to 
 her, and pray her to take him for servant and for 
 lover ; and I will warrant, that if she be wise and 
 
Raembaut of Vaqueiras H3 
 
 courteous she will in nowise hold it for an ill and 
 shameful thing in him ; rather will she prize him 
 the more, and hold him the better man for it. 
 Likewise I read you to speak your mind and will 
 to her you love, and to bid her take you for her 
 knight, since you are such as no lady in the world 
 should scorn for knight and servant ; for my Lady 
 Azalais, Countess of Saluza, suffered Peire Vidal, 
 and the Countess of Burlatz, Arnaut de Marvoil, 
 and my Lady Maria, Gaucelm Faidit, and the 
 Lady of Marseilles, Folquet ; wherefore I give you 
 counsel and license that you, by my word and 
 surety, may beseech her for her love." Then 
 Raembaut, hearing the counsel and assurance that 
 she gave, and the license, that she promised him, 
 told her that she was verily the lady that he so 
 much loved, even she of whom he had sought 
 counsel ; whereat my Lady Beatrice told him that 
 he was come in a happy hour, and that if he 
 strove after worth, and after the doing and speaking 
 of good things, she would indeed choose him for 
 knight and servant. So Raembaut strove to his 
 uttermost to increase her fame, and it was then 
 that he made the canzone which says: 
 
 "Eram requier sa costum eson us." 
 'Now demand of me her bearing and demeanour.) 
 
 After this it befell that the Marquis, with his host, 
 
J 44 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 passed over into Romania, 4 and with great help 
 from the Church conquered the kingdom of Salonica, 
 and then it was that Raembaut, for his valorous 
 deeds, was made knight ; and there the Marquis 
 gave him rich lands and revenues, and there also 
 did he die. 
 
 4 POEM PROBABLY RELATING TO RAEMBAUTS UN- 
 
 FORTUNATE LOVE FOR A LADY, WHO FORSOOK 
 
 HIM FOR ALBERT MALASPINA* 
 
 IN fierce unrest 5 to race and ride, 
 To watch, to labour and to grieve, 
 'Tis well ! for these all joy I leave, 
 
 And calmly heat or frost abide. 
 
 In iron and steel arrayed will pass my days, 
 And dwell in tangled groves and bosky ways ; 
 
 Sirventes and Descortz 6 shall be my song, 
 
 And still the weak I'll aid against the strong. 
 
 What though my Lady's scorn and pride 
 Should my fond heart full long deceive, 
 Deem not the less to fame I cleave, 
 
 Or sing the less whate'er betide ; 
 
 Nor deem I shun the deeds that win me praise, 
 For virtue's call the good knight e'er obeys ; 
 
 Nor will I die that death of shame and wrong 
 
 I feared when in the pass, 7 time was not long. 
 
 * For original, see Mahn's Gedichte der Troubadours, Vol. II., page 166. 
 
Raembaut of Vaqueiras 145 
 
 THE " CARUSSEL" (WAR CHARIOT)* 
 
 FIERCE to battle sally 8 
 
 The dames of all the land, 
 Round their leaders rally, 
 
 And like the churls make stand ; 
 In the pass or valley 
 
 To build a town they plann'd, 
 And tower; 
 
 Yet, such the fair foe's power, 
 She doth no wise dally 
 
 To bring to shame the band. 
 The flower 
 
 Of beauty for her dower 
 
 Hath Beatrice, 'gainst whom their flag unfurling, 
 And at her worth full many a foul threat hurling, 
 They war, while smoke and dust are round them 
 whirling. 
 
 And the town united 
 
 Dig moats, and ramparts raise ; 
 
 Dames, all uninvited, 
 
 Pour in through many ways, 
 
 Though thereby be slighted 
 
 Their beauty, youth, and praise. 
 
 I ween, 
 
 To fighting will be seen, 
 
 * For original, see Chrestomathie provenfale, page 128. 
 K 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Beatrice incited, 
 
 Whose virtues all amaze; 
 
 Who queen 
 
 Of beauty e'er hath been, 
 And, for her worth all other worth excelleth, 
 E'en as her sire his enemies repelleth, 
 So she short time, I ween, all unresisting dwelleth. 
 
 Fast Beatrice fareth, 
 
 Her goodly virtues dight, 
 Armour none she weareth 
 
 Strong goeth to the fight ; 
 Those 'gainst whom she beareth 
 
 Are in an evil plight; 
 Small fear 
 
 Hath she of far or near, 
 And the few she spareth, 
 
 Betake them soon to flight, 
 Severe, 
 
 She hath reft them of their gear, 
 Their chariot of war asunder riven, 
 And to the commons such defeat hath given, 
 That they full helpless back to Troy are driven. 
 
Raembaut of Vaqueiras 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF BEATRICE* 
 
 (Composed while taking part under the Marquis of Montferrat in the 
 Conquest of the Eastern Empire.) 
 
 NOR Spring nor 9 Winter gives me joy, 
 Nor groves of oak, nor days serene, 
 Prosperity is grievous teen, 
 
 My greatest pleasures breed annoy ; 
 My solace now is weary Care, 
 My Hopes are turned into Despair ; 
 
 Yet once Love filled my every wish, 
 
 Quickening me more than water fish. 
 Alas! that ere from Love I went, 
 For bitter is my banishment ! 
 
 Like death me seems all other life, 
 
 All other comfort toil and strife. 
 
 Brave warriors, the army's flower, 
 
 Strong battering-rams and sieges bold, 
 The fall of ramparts new and old, 
 
 The battle won, the scaled tower 
 
 Such sights and sounds are mine, but these 
 To love-sick hearts bring little ease ; 
 
 Though where the fight does fiercest rage 
 
 Stern war against the foe I wage, 
 And win me many a goodly prize, 
 Since love has vanished from my eyes, 
 
 * See Mahn's Gedichte der Troubadours, Vol. iv. , page 193. 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 This fair world seems but desolate, 
 And song can ne'er my grief abate. 
 
 Riches full ill my pains requite, 
 Methinks more riches I did gain 
 When o'er my heart Love held his reign, 
 
 And gave me rapturous delight; 
 More precious far such happiness 
 Than here great wealth and power possess. 
 
 Ever the more my power does grow, 
 
 The more of sorrow I do know, 
 For from my life all joy has flown, 
 Since my Fair Knight has left me lone, 
 
 And nought can bring to me relief, 
 
 For aye the fiercer grows my grief. 9 
 
 1 Raembaut. The chief poet of Provence proper. Vaqueiras 
 
 was in the neighbourhood of Orange. 
 
 2 Boniface. The Second of that name. He became Marquis 
 
 and King of Jerusalem in 1192 at the death of his father, 
 the famous Conrad of Montferrat, who was murdered on 
 the same day that he was proclaimed King of Jerusalem. 
 
 3 Fair Knight. Beatrice, as the story goes, received this name 
 
 in the following manner : One day her brother, the 
 Marquis, after visiting her, left his sword behind him in 
 her bower. Thereupon Beatrice, throwing aside her upper 
 garment, took the sword from its scabbard and tossed it 
 in the air, deftly catching it in its fall, and trying to 
 wield it in knightly fashion. All this the poet saw 
 through a cleft of the door, and hence arose the name. 
 
Raembaut of Vaqueiras 
 
 t 
 
 4 Romania. Jerusalem, having remained in the hands of the 
 Turks ever since it had been taken by Saladin, a new 
 Crusade was in 1198 preached by Pope Innocent III. 
 Thibaut IV. of Champagne was chosen as leader of the 
 Christian Army, but as his death followed shortly after 
 the election, Boniface took his place. In 1202, therefore, 
 Raembaut unwillingly made ready to follow his master 
 to the Holy Land. As is well known, the conquest of 
 the Greek Empire, and the establishment there of a 
 Latin dynasty diverted the Crusaders from their original 
 design of marching on Jerusalem. Baldwin of Flanders 
 became Emperor of the great Eastern Empire, while 
 Boniface obtained the Kingdom of Thessalonica. 
 
 6 In fierce unrest. The original poem is composed of five 
 and a half stanzas of eight lines, the rhyming system 
 being, abbaccdd. The same lines are carried through- 
 out the poem. 
 
 6 Descortz. The descort was a poem made up of stanzas of 
 varied metres and rhymes ; it was used to express the 
 want of harmony in the poet's mind when his love was 
 unreturned. 
 
 7 1 feared when in the Pass. An allusion to the adventure 
 related in the letter above where the poet and his friends 
 hid from their foes' pursuit. 
 
 8 Fierce to battle sally. Whether Raembaut conceived the 
 
 idea of this poem himself, or whether it was suggested 
 to him by some mock contest of ladies that actually 
 took place, is uncertain. 
 
 The canzone is of unusual length being composed of 
 nine stanzas of fifteen lines of varied length. The rhyming 
 system is: abababccabccddd. 
 
 9 Nor Spring nor Winter. The original poem is composed 
 
 of six stanzas of twelve lines. The rhymes are : a b b a c 
 c d d e e f f, and these are unchanged throughout the 
 poem. 
 
X 5o Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 PEIROL. 
 1180-1225. 
 
 PEIROL'S love for Saill plays an important part in this 
 biography, and, though her name hardly appears in any of 
 his canzones, a large proportion of them are doubtless in her 
 honour. Their love seems for some time to have kept within 
 the bounds laid down by mediaeval chivalry. These, however, 
 having been finally overstepped, the Dauphin, Saill's brother, 
 interfered and brought about the poet's banishment. After 
 this time we hear little further concerning him, though a 
 farewell canzone to Saill exists, in which Peirol speaks of 
 having chosen another lady. Probably things went ill with 
 him, for the Monk of Montaldon makes a mocking mention 
 of him, for having during thirty years worn the same garment. 
 The biography alludes to his marriage at Montpellier, and 
 his poems prove him to have passed some time at Montferrat. 
 During the period of his connection with Saill the third 
 Crusade was set on foot. The Dauphin bore no part in it, 
 though possibly Peirol did, for in a later poem he congratulates 
 himself on having seen the Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 About thirty of his canzones are preserved to us, together 
 with his share in a few tenzons. His love-poems are full of 
 tenderness and grace, with the alternations of despair and 
 hope, and the tone of absolute subjection to love, characteristic 
 of troubadours. "My lady slays me," he cries, "for such 
 misdoing as would be little to her credit, if I dared to say it 
 she does the sin, and I the penance thereof/ 3 ..." What 
 shall I do then?" (he cries, speaking of the hopelessness of 
 his love,) "I will depart from this folly and yet not I for 
 I shall even bring thereby ruin upon myself, as he that has 
 fallen to gambling, and that loses and loses in the hope to 
 win. . . . Right high was I that now am fallen so low, 
 for it has chanced with me, as with one that dreams of 
 joy, and waking finds nothing. Where can I find truth? In 
 nought that has a fair semblance, since in her I find 
 
Peirol 151 
 
 deceit." . . . "In great heaviness am I day and night, 
 and small is my comfort, yet, if so it might be, full fain were 
 I to steal of her a kiss, and if she were angry thereat, how 
 gladly would I give it her again." 
 
 In Peirol's "Contention with Love" (the poem translated) 
 one sees in a quaintly graceful and original fashion the 
 struggle between Love and Religion, that is so marked a 
 feature of Provencal Crusading songs ; and at the end of it 
 is a bold satire on Richard of England and Philip of France, 
 two of the most powerful sovereigns of the age. 
 
 PEIROL* 
 
 Now Peirol was a poor knight of Auvergne, of a 
 castle named Peirol, the which lies in the Dauphin's 
 land, at the foot of Roquefort. And he was a man 
 right courteous and goodly ; and the Dauphin of 
 Auvergne arrayed him, and retained him in his 
 service. 
 
 Now the Dauphin of Auvergne had a sister, wife 
 of a great baron of Auvergne, Lord Beraut 1 of 
 Mercuer, and she was named Saill 2 of Claustra, and 
 was fair, and good, and far renowned. And Sir 
 Peirol became enamoured of her, and the Dauphin 
 interceded with her for Peirol, and delighted greatly 
 in the canzones that Sir Peirol made of his sister, 
 and greatly also did they pleasure the lady, inso- 
 much that she loved him, and granted him his 
 desires to the knowledge of the Dauphin. Nathless 
 
 *See Mahn, xxxiii. 
 
*5 2 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 the love of Sir Peirol and the lady was brought to 
 such a pass that the Dauphin waxed jealous thereof, 
 for he weened she gave him more than beseemed 
 her, so he dismissed Sir Peirol and bade him go 
 thence, and gave him neither raiment nor arms. 
 Then Peirol could no longer maintain himself as 
 knight, and so became a jongleur, and passed from 
 court to court, receiving of the barons raiment and 
 money and horses ; and at Montpellier he got him 
 a wife, and there brought his days to an end. 
 
 PEIROL S TENZON WITH LOVE* 
 
 WHEN from weary sorrow free 3 
 
 Love did once my heart discern, 
 He to tenzon challenged me, 
 
 Even as ye now shall learn. 
 "Peirol, ill it is to turn 
 Thus thy face from me so long, 
 Prithee, tell me, since from Song 
 And from me thou dost refrain, 
 How dost Honour hope to gain ? " 
 
 "Love, that I have long obeyed, 
 
 Thou dost little heed my woe, 
 And full long hast thou delayed, 
 Promised pleasure to bestow; 
 See, no wrath thereat I show, 
 
 *See Mahn's Gedichte der Troubadours, Vol. IV., page 123. 
 
Peirol 153 
 
 Only this I ask of thee, 
 Unmolested let me be ; 
 Henceforth nothing else I crave, 
 Better gift I might not have." 
 
 "Peirol, dost thou then forget 
 
 That fair lady, that erewhile 
 Thee with gracious welcome met ? 
 
 I it was that bade her smile, 
 
 And by many a cunning wile 
 Thou did'st hide thy wayward mind, 
 So I held thee true and kind ; 
 But thine am'rous songs and mien 
 Were but to deceive I ween." 
 
 " Love, when first she met my eyes, 
 
 I did love my lady well, 
 Loved e'er since such sweet surprise, 
 
 Such sweet rapture o'er me fell; 
 
 Now I needs must break the spell, 
 And like me, howe'er they grieve, 
 Many knights their dames must leave, 
 These if Saladin were slain 
 Here in gladness would remain." 
 
 " Peirol, how so great the power 
 
 Wherewith 'gainst the Turks ye start, 
 They'll not give you David's tower, 
 Choose thou 4 then the wiser part, 
 Sing and love with all thy heart. 
 
i54 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Wilt thou go if kings delay ? 
 See, they think but of the fray; 
 Do but mark the barons' strife, 
 'Tis on such they spend their life." 
 
 "Love, full long I've sin defied, 
 
 Now I must 'gainst sin contend 
 May sweet Jesus be my guide, 
 And His peace amongst us send, 
 That the kings' fierce strife may end ! 
 They their succour still withhold, 
 And the Marquis brave and bold, 
 Sore in need of help doth stand, 
 Close beset in Paynim's land." 
 
 1 Beraut of Mercuer was one of the greatest lords of Languedoc. 
 
 Azalais, Pons of Capduoill's lady, married an Oisil of 
 Mercuer. 
 
 2 Saill. A contraction of Assalide. There is no mention of 
 
 Claustra in the Chronicles. 
 
 3 When from weary sorrow free. The original poem is com- 
 
 posed of six stanzas (rhymes ababbccdd running 
 
 throughout the poem followed by a half stanza (c c d d). 
 
 4 "Choose thou." The first three lines are addressed to the 
 
 Crusaders in general, the line following to Peirol himself. 
 
Guillem of Saint Leidier i55 
 
 GUILLEM OF SAINT LEIDIER. 1 
 1180-1200. 
 
 LITTLE is known of Guillem of Saint Leidier beyond the 
 details given us in the version of his Life, translated below, 
 and in a somewhat longer account of him, in which it is 
 related how, upon Guillem's paying court to a beautiful 
 Countess the Marchioness, his lady, revenged herself on him 
 by giving herself to Hugo Marescalc the consequence of 
 which was Guillem's complete estrangement from her. 
 
 Guillem of Saint Leidier is no prominent figure in Provencal 
 literature. His canzones, however, express with considerable 
 grace and elegance the love-sick despair of the typical 
 troubadour, and are also free from the affectations and the 
 straining after effect of some of the other poets of Provence. 
 
 GUILLEM OF SAINT LEIDIER* 
 
 GUILLEM of Saint Leidier 1 was a puissant castellan 
 of Veillac, of the diocese of Puy Sainte Marie, and 
 he was an honourable and stout knight of arms, 
 and a bountiful giver of goods, and a right true 
 lover, and right learned, and courteous, and right 
 well loved of men. And he paid court to the 
 Marchioness of Polomiac, 2 sister of the Dauphin 
 of Auvergne and of the Lady Saill of Claustra, 
 and wife of the Viscount of Polomiac; and Lord 
 Guillem of Saint Leidier being thus enamoured 
 of her, praised her in his canzones and called 
 her " Bertran " and likewise called her "Bertran," 
 
 * See Mahn, xxxiv. 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Lord Hugo Marescalc, his fellow, the which was 
 privy to all the words and deeds that passed 
 betwixt them. And all three called each othei 
 "Bertran," 3 and all three knew great gladness. Yel 
 was Lord Guillem's gladness turned to sorrow, foi 
 the two Bertrans full wrongfully and discourteously 
 entreated him. 
 
 CANZONE TO BERTRAN* 
 
 FAIR friend with joy I gin my song, 
 And eke on joy I set my heart; 
 Please God great joy will be my part, 
 
 Since mine will be the prize ere long. 
 Though sore my fear, I will be bold, 
 And hope to dwell in joy untold ; 
 
 I'll not despair, whate'er betide, 
 
 But ever in such love abide. 
 
 And this my love doth make me think, 
 No man of worth hath e'er been found, 
 Who is not under Love's yoke bound ; 
 
 Yet who from service least would shrink 
 Wins for one good a dozen cares, 
 One joy a thousand griefs prepares ; 
 
 Sad he by others' joy must sit, 
 
 And hold his foolishness for wit. 
 
 *See Mahn's Gedichte der Troubadours, Vol. II., page 49. 
 
The Monk of Montaldon '57 
 
 1 Guillem of Saint Leidier. A Guillem of Saint Leidier is 
 
 mentioned in the History of Languedoc. There are 
 several small places named St. Leidier (or St. Didier) 
 in the south of France. One of these is in Velay, 
 somewhat north of Le Puy, and it is to this Saint Leidier 
 that Guillem probably belonged. 
 
 2 The Marchioness of Polomiac. Wife of Heraclius of Polomiac 
 
 (Polignac), a powerful baron whose castle lay near Le Puy. 
 3 " Bertran." It was common for very intimate friends in 
 Languedoc to take the same pseudonym. 
 
 THE MONK OF MONTALDON. 
 1180-1200. 
 
 THE Monk of Montaldon is decidedly one of the most 
 interesting of the troubadours, as much on account of his 
 strong personality, as from the fact that his life throws a 
 most curious light on the manners and morals of the age. 
 Of a noble family, of which he was probably a younger member, 
 it was natural enough that he should have been "made a 
 Monk" ; it was natural also being, as his poems show, endowed 
 with a strong taste for the good things of life, and a keen 
 interest in men and their follies, that he should crave a wider 
 sphere of action than the monastic career afforded. The 
 general laxity of the age, and the hope of pecuniary advantage 
 to the Order, induced his Superior to allow him to wander 
 at large, and have his full share of the pleasures and gaieties 
 of the southern European courts. At these courts his wit 
 and talents made him a conspicuous figure. He seems to 
 have known intimately three of the greatest sovereigns of 
 the age Richard I., Philip Augustus, and Alphonso II. of 
 Aragon ; he was the friend and boon companion of the barons, 
 and held a high office at the great court festivals of Puy 
 Sainte Marie. 
 
!58 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 As a poet the monk occupies a peculiar position. As with 
 his predecessor, Marcabrun, love was with the Monk by no 
 means an all-absorbing passion, and, though he turned off 
 canzones skilfully, they were composed from necessity rather 
 than from choice. In this he was unlike the great mass of 
 the troubadours ; he was unlike them too in an indifference 
 to form, curious in an age when form was everything. With 
 little then to recommend them as regards style, versification, 
 and depth of feeling, his poems, however, stand out among 
 those of the time for their originality, sense, reason, power of 
 satire, and interest of matter generally. 
 
 The Monk has left us about twenty poems, and of these 
 one of the most interesting is that here partly translated, 
 in which he represents himself holding converse in heaven 
 with God the Father, who treats him with marked favour, 
 justifies him in leaving the cloister, and declares that singing 
 and laughter win divine approbation. The naive irreverence 
 of the poem is, of course, not peculiar to the Monk, but 
 characteristic of the whole Middle Ages. 
 
 Another of the Monk's most striking poems is an imitation 
 of Peire of Auvergne's satire on his contemporary poets. The 
 form of both is similar, and the Monk lashes his own 
 contemporaries no less thoroughly than Peire of Auvergne 
 the poets of his day. Herr E. Philippson, who has edited 
 the Monk's works, is of the opinion that the satire, like Peire's, 
 was composed for the table, and sung or recited (amidst 
 shouts of laughter probably) to men inflamed by feasting 
 and drinking ; it is specially valuable for the hints it gives 
 about many noted troubadours. 
 
 Much of the Monk's satire is directed against the follies 
 and artificialities of women, specially of the old women of 
 his time, whom he described as laying paint upon their faces 
 to such an extent as to be rapidly exhausting its supply. 
 
The Monk of Montaldon 
 
 OF THE MONK OF MONTALDON* 
 
 Now the Monk of Montaldon 1 was of Auvergne, 
 of a castle named Vic, 2 that is nigh unto Orllac, 3 
 and he was of gentle blood, and was made a Monk 
 of the Abbey of Orllac, and the Abbot gave him 
 the priory of Montaldon, and there he in all things 
 demeaned him so as best to profit the priory. And 
 while yet he abode in the monastery, he made 
 coblas and sirventes on all such matters as 
 were noised abroad in that region. And the knights 
 and barons drew him forth from the monastery, 
 and greatly honoured him, and whatsoever it pleased 
 him to ask of them, that gave they, and he brought 
 all to Montaldon his priory. Much did he increase 
 and enrich his church, wearing ever the habit of a 
 Monk. And thereafter he gat him back to Orllac 
 and to his Abbot, showing him how he had 
 advantaged the priory of Montaldon, and beseeching 
 him to graciously empower him to order his life 
 after the good pleasure of King Alphonso of 
 Aragon. 4 And the Abbot granted it to him, and 
 the King bade him to eat flesh, and pay court to 
 ladies, and sing songs, and make poetry. And 
 behold, all this he did ; and he was made Lord 
 of the Court of Puy Sainte Marie, 5 and had the 
 giving of the Sparrow-hawk. Long time had he 
 
 *See Mahn, xxxvi. 
 
160 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 rule over the Court, even until it broke up. Then 
 he departed, and gat him into Spain ; and great 
 honour and pleasance was done him therein by all 
 the kings, and lords, and honourable men. Now 
 there is a certain priory in Spain called Vilafranca, 6 
 appertaining to the Abbey of Orllac, and he 
 improved, and increased, and enriched it, and there 
 brought his days to an end. 
 
 THE MONK OF MONTALDON'S VISION OF HEAVEN** 
 
 WHILOM I did Heaven see, 
 
 Whence I'm glad and free of care ; 
 Loving greeting gave me there 
 
 God, who rules all things that be. 
 Earth and ocean, mountain, valley : 
 
 "Monk, why cam'st thou here?" spake he, 
 " How does my Montaldon fare, 
 Where thy friends around thee rally?" 
 
 "Lord, for well-nigh two years' space 8 
 
 'Neath the cloisters' yoke I've lain, 
 
 Whence the barons me disdain, 
 And will turn from me their face, 
 
 E'en that here I sing thy praises; 
 Randon, 9 who was never base, 
 
 Who o'er Paris has his reign 
 
 Lamentation for me raises." 
 
 * See Chrestomathie provenfale, page 131. 
 
The Monk of Montaldon 
 
 Monk, 'tis evil in my sight, 
 That 'twixt convent walls thou art, 
 And on strife dost set thy heart, 
 
 Eager for dispute and fight, 
 
 For thy rule 'gainst neighbours striving; 
 
 Songs I love and laughter bright, 
 These great worth to life impart, 
 
 Montaldon through them is thriving. 
 
 " Lord, I feared to go astray 
 If to singing I inclined : 
 Who delight in lies does find, 
 
 In thy favour cannot stay, 
 Singing then I have forsaken, 
 
 From the world have turned away, 
 On the lessons set my mind, 
 Nor the path to Spain have taken." 
 
 1 Montaldon. Or Montaudon was probably an insignificant 
 
 priory, of which no traces were left after the Albigensian 
 War. It is uncertain where it was situated. 
 
 2 Vic. Near Aurillac in Auvergne ; it is now called Vic-en- 
 
 Carlades, or Vic-sur-Cere. 
 
 3 Orllac. Aurillac. 
 
 4 King Alphonso. Alphonso the Second. 
 
 5 The Court of Puy Sainte Marie. The splendour of the 
 
 festivals at Puy Sainte Marie, has been alluded to in 
 note i on Pons of Capduoil. It is said that in the 
 
162 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 middle of the lists a sparrow-hawk was fastened to a pole, 
 and whatever knight undertook to defray the expenses of 
 the year's festival, took down the said sparrow-hawk, 
 and fastened it to his wrist. This bird was also the 
 prize given to the best knight, and in the Cento Novelle 
 Antiche, the Monk is spoken of as being one of the four 
 judges appointed to award it. Herr E. Phillipson thinks 
 that it was Robert I., the Dauphin of Auvergne, who 
 founded the festivities, and gave the Monk his office. 
 
 6 Villafranca. It is uncertain where this monastery was situated. 
 
 7 The Vision of Heaven. The original is of six stanzas, all 
 
 of which have the rhymes : abbacabc. 
 
 8 For well-nigh two years' space. The Monk, at the com- 
 
 position of this poem, had returned to the monastic life 
 at Montaldon, after having for some time lived in the 
 world. He now complains that the barons, his friends, 
 and patrons, had, since his retirement, forsaken him. 
 
 9 Randon. This can be none other than Philip Augustus of 
 
 France. 
 
 ARNAUT DANIEL. 
 1180-1200. 
 
 OF Arnaut or Arnold Daniel nothing is known beyond the 
 few details given us in the life ; and the anecdote there 
 related of his dispute with the jongleur, is the only circum- 
 stance by which we can in any way decide as to the period 
 in which he lived. 
 
 The importance of Arnaut Daniel is perhaps less from the 
 intrinsic merit of the poems preserved to us of him, than from 
 the fact that Dante considered him chief among Provencal 
 poets. This opinion is expressed in the following lines from 
 the Purgatorio, where the Italian Guinicelli, after pointing 
 
Arnaut Daniel l6 3 
 
 out Arnaut to Dante, and speaking of him as cleansing himself 
 from the sin of voluptuousness, continues : 
 
 '"O frate,' disse, 'questi ch'io ti scerno 
 Col dito' ed addito uno spirto innanzi, 
 ' Fu miglior fabbro del parlar materno, 
 Versi d'amore, e prose di romanzi 
 Soverchio tutti ; e lascia dirgli stolti, 
 Che quel di Lemosi credon ch'avanzi."' 
 
 Piirgatorio, Canto xxvi.* 
 
 These lines sufficiently show that Dante admired the obscure 
 subtleties of Daniel's style, and considered him greater than 
 the Limousin, Borneil, whom the troubadours, for their part 
 owned as " Master." 
 
 Again, in the treatise on Vulgar Eloquence (De Vulgari 
 Eloquio], Dante speaks of Arnaut as the Singer of Love par 
 excellence (LlB. n., c. ii.) : "Circa quae sola (armorum probi- 
 tatem amoris ascensionem et directionem voluntatis), si bene 
 recolimus, illustres invenimus vulgariter poetasse, scilicet Bertra- 
 mum de Bornio arma, Arnaldum Danielem amorem, Gerardum 
 de Bornello rectitudinem." He also cites several of his canzones 
 as models, and confesses himself his imitator in the ' Sextine.' 
 Petrarch also considers Arnaut "The great Master of Love, 
 who still does his country honour by his novel and fair speech." 
 It is hard for us to conceive how the eighteen existing poems 
 
 * See Longfellow's translation (emended) : 
 
 " 'O brother,' said he, 'he whom I point out,' 
 
 And here he pointed at a spirit in front, 
 
 ' Was of the mother tongue a better smith. 
 
 Verses of love and proses of romance, 
 
 He passed them all ; and let the idiots talk, 
 
 Who think the Lemosin surpasses him.' " 
 
l6 4 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 can alone have awakened such admiration. The most marked 
 feature of these is their so-called " Hard Style," which, though 
 not of Arnaut's invention, is more faithfully adhered to by 
 him, than by any other troubadour. Its chief characteristics 
 were : enigmatical expressions, strange plays on words, hard 
 constructions, alliterations, and above all, unusual and difficult 
 rhymes. This manner of writing Arnaut seems to have 
 adopted on the principle that, as the style must suit the 
 subject, a simple and easy one should be adopted for the 
 expression of happy love, and the " Hard Style " for that 
 of unhappy love. But there is a classic polish about his work 
 and a firm logic and complete presentment of subject that 
 bespeak a true master ; and Dante, who knew the difficulties of 
 the style, could better appreciate its beauties than those to 
 whom it may at first appear strange and artificial. 
 
 OF ARNAUT DANIEL* 
 
 Now Arnaut Daniel was of the same country as 
 Arnaut of Marveil, of the diocese of Perigord to 
 wit, and of a castle named Ribeyrac. And he was 
 gentle and learned, and delighting himself greatly 
 in poetry, forsook his learning and became a 
 jongleur. And he learnt a manner of making 
 poetry with " scarce rhymes," wherefore these rhymes 
 are difficult to understand and to learn. 
 
 Now Arnaut loved a great lady of Gascony, wife 
 of Lord Guillem of Buovila, 1 but men deemed not 
 that the lady ever so much loved him, as that she 
 hearkened to his prayers, wherefore he says : 
 
 *See Mahn, xxxviii. 
 
Arnaut Daniel 165 
 
 "leu sui Arnautz quamas Laura 2 
 E cas la lebre ab lo bou. 
 E nadi contra suberna." 
 
 (I am Arnaut, who love Laura, and hunt the hare with 
 the ox, and swim against the tide.) 
 
 Long time did he bear her this great love, making 
 many a good song of her, and a man right courteous 
 and debonair he was. 
 
 Now it chanced upon a time, that he was in the 
 court of King Richard of England, and there, like- 
 wise, was a jongleur, the which bade him defiance 
 in the making of "scarce rhymes." Then Arnaut 
 held himself scorned thereby, and either defied the 
 other, and both gave their palfreys in pawn thereof 
 unto the King. And the King shut up each man 
 in a separate chamber, and Sir Arnaut, in so great 
 dudgeon was he, could in no wise link one word 
 to another, but the jongleur rhymed on lightly, and 
 made his songs speedily. 
 
 Now they had but ten days ordained them, and lo, 
 in five more they must needs joust before the King, 
 when the jongleur asked of Arnaut if he had finished, 
 and Arnaut answered, "Yea, three days agone," 
 while verily of never a word had he bethought 
 him. And all night long the jongleur sang his 
 song, for to know it the better; and Arnaut bethought 
 him the while how he might set the jongleur at 
 naught, till it fell out one night as the jongleur 
 
166 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 sang his song that Arnaut learnt it of him, and 
 also the melody. And when they were come before 
 the King, Arnaut said that he would rehearse him 
 his song, and began full lustily that which the 
 jongleur had made. And straightway on hearing 
 it, the jongleur looked him in the face, and said, 
 it was he that had made it. Then the King asked 
 how that might be, and the jongleur besought the 
 King to learn of him the truth. Then the King asked 
 of Sir Arnaut how this thing had happened, and 
 Sir Arnaut told him all that had happened, and 
 the King delighted much in it, and made great 
 jest of it. And he held them quit of their pledges, 
 and unto each he gave fair gifts. And it was 
 given to Arnaut to sing thereof, the which sang : 
 
 "Anc ieu non lac, mas ella ma." 
 (Never did I have it, but she has, etc.) 
 
 1 Wife of Lord Guillem of Buovila. A William of Bouville, 
 possibly the son of this lady, is mentioned in the History 
 of Languedoc. Arnaut's canzones are addressed to several 
 ladies, and it is not possible to distinguish from the 
 rest those to the Lady of Bouville. 
 
 2 1 am Arnaut who loves Laura. These lines are alluded to 
 in no flattering way by the Monk of Montaldon, who, 
 with the troubadours in general, thought far less highly 
 of Arnaut than did Dante. "Arnaut Daniel," says the 
 Monk, "has sung nothing all his life but a few foolish 
 verses that none understand, since he 'Hunted the hare 
 with the ox, and swam against the stream' his singing 
 is not worth a berry." Petrarch, however, evidently 
 
Gaucelm Faidit l6 7 
 
 admired the figure, since in his I77th Sonnet he borrowed 
 it. The meaning of the obscure passage seems to be, 
 that it is as difficult for the ox to hunt the hare, or for 
 a man to swim up stream, as for Arnaut to win his lady's 
 love. 
 
 GAUCELM FAIDIT. 
 1190-1240. 
 
 GAUCELM FAIDIT'S poems, containing as they do few personal 
 allusions, do little to confirm the details given us in the Life. 
 Among his fellow troubadours Gaucelm's reputation seems to 
 have been anything but high ; Elias of Uisel mentions him 
 scornfully, and the Monk of Montaldon said that his singing 
 was never heard but from Uzerche (in Limousin) to Agen (in 
 Guienne). Most of his poems are addressed to the famous 
 Maria, wife of Ebles IV. of Ventadorn. Probably in the last 
 years of the twelfth century is to be placed a poem, in which, 
 after leaving her, he craves her forgiveness. If we are to 
 believe his canzones, he remained during this time at the 
 Court of Boniface of Montferrat until drawn back to Limousin 
 by his love for Maria, who, as he says, in opposition to the 
 Life, granted him full forgiveness, and again accepted him as 
 lover. 
 
 The Crusade of 1202 seems to have found him still faithful 
 to Maria. It is then that he must have composed the Crusading- 
 song of which a portion is translated. Probably he him- 
 self took part in the expedition, as in one canzone he speaks 
 of himself as absent on it, but longing to be back again with 
 his lady, and taking comfort in the thought of the grief she 
 showed at their parting.* Gaucelm had later other love adven- 
 tures, and among the last poems he composed is one in which 
 
 * See Mahn's Gedichte der Troubadours, Vol. I., page 40. 
 
168 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 he compares the fickleness of the lady he then served to the 
 steadfastness of Maria. 
 
 Some sixty of Faidit's poems are left us, most of them of 
 great charm, tenderness, and fine finish. "And you, Love," 
 he cries in one of them, "you that have made me such fair 
 promises, remember now to succour me. Go to her, and go 
 Mercy likewise with you, and I, beneath your protection will 
 go thither also. And, if she show me love, and advance me, 
 you and Mercy shall alone have the thanks. . . . 
 
 "Great love groweth within me for a fair flower surpassing 
 white ; she with her bright colour of crimson and ruby, and 
 with her fair face and loving eyes, hath so sweetly pierced and 
 wounded me, that I have given me once more to hopes of love. 
 Ah ! white, vermeil and sweet-smelling flower, I cry you 
 mercy, and if Mercy prevail over you, yours will be the 
 praise, and with ioy and gladness ye will put me into 
 Paradise. . . ." 
 
 In another canzone he exclaims rapturously on his lady 
 granting him her love : " Ah ! how sweetly did she whom I 
 adore make me hers ; when kissing me upon the mouth her 
 sweet breath robbed me of my heart. So fair she is that the 
 birds in the meadows rejoice over her, and make their songs 
 of her. . . ." 
 
 Of the two poems, portions of which are translated below, 
 that on the Death of King Richard shows Faidit to have been 
 one of the many troubadours who tasted Cceur de Lion's 
 bounty, and whose poems represent him as the ideal hero of 
 chivalry. In his Crusading song Faidit, also like other trouba- 
 dours, blames Philip of France for the unknightly qualities of 
 caution, sloth, and cowardice. 
 
 OF GAUCELM FAIDIT* 
 
 Now Gaucelm Faidit was of a town named Uzerche 
 of the diocese of Limousin, and he was the son of a 
 
 * See Mahn, xl. 
 
Gaucelm Faidit l6 9 
 
 burgher, and sang worse than any man in the world, 
 yet made many a good melody, and many a good 
 canzone. And he became a jongleur, because at dice 
 he had lost all that he had. And he was a man of open 
 hand, and a full gluttonous eater, and a wine-bibber, 
 wherefore he grew beyond measure fat. And for a 
 right long time was he ill-fortuned in the getting of 
 gifts and fame, for it was even twenty years and 
 upwards that he journeyed through the world, and 
 he and his songs received the while small favour of 
 any. 
 
 And he took to wife a wanton, who long time 
 went with him from court to court, the which hight 
 Guillelma Monia, and was passing fair and skilled, 
 but became even as big and fat as he. And 
 she was of a rich town named Alest, in the 
 march of Provence, and of the lordship of Lord 
 Bernart of Andusa. And my lord, the Marquis 
 Boniface of Montferrat, gave him goods, and raiment 
 and equipment, and set him in great fame, both him 
 and his songs. 
 
 Now you have heard who was Gaucelm Faidit, and 
 how he came and stood ; and of such great hardi- 
 hood was he that he became enamoured of my 
 Lady Maria of Ventadorn, the best and loveliest lady 
 then alive. And he made his songs of her, and in 
 his songs he sought her grace, and sang her excel- 
 lence. And she suffered him for the great praise he 
 
X 7 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 gave her, and thus their love endured for nigh upon 
 seven years. And all that while she had not granted 
 him his desires. 
 
 And it fell upon a day that Sir Gaucelm came 
 before his lady, and told her that if she granted him 
 not his desires, she should lose him, and he would 
 go seek a lady from whose love he should win 
 great favours, whereat full wrothfully he took his 
 leave. Then my Lady Maria sent for one named my 
 Lady Audiart of Malamort, who was both fair and 
 gently born, and told her what had passed betwixt 
 Sir Gaucelm and herself, and besought her to give 
 counsel how best to answer Sir Gaucelm, and how to 
 keep him in her service without granting him his 
 desires. Then my Lady Audiart said that she would 
 counsel her neither to keep him nor to dismiss him, 
 but rather would she make him separate himself 
 from her without rancour or enmity. 
 
 And hearing this my Lady Maria was passing 
 glad, and besought her instantly that she would 
 bring this to pass. And right so my Lady Audiart 
 departed, and made choice of a courteous messenger, 
 and sent word unto Sir Gaucelm, saying that he 
 should better prize a little bird in the hand than a 
 crane flying in the sky. And Sir Gaucelm, when 
 he had heard this message, got him to horse, and 
 went unto my Lady Audiart. And she made 
 countenance of great love unto him. And he asked 
 
Gaucelm Faidit J 7* 
 
 er why she had sent word to him of the little bird 
 nd the crane, and she told him that she had great 
 jpity of him, knowing that he loved, yet was not loved 
 iagain. "Know then," quoth she, "that she whose 
 Ifame you have increased is the crane, and I am the 
 (little bird that you hold in your hand, to do unto 
 |me as you list." And wit you well that I am of 
 'gentle birth, and of great riches, and young of years, 
 and men call me passing fair ; likewise have I never 
 yet given nor promised, and never yet beguiled nor 
 been beguiled of others ; and right wishful am I of 
 honour, and for the love of one that may win me 
 praise and renown. I wot you are he, of whom I 
 may have all this, and I am she that can well reward 
 all. I would have you then for lover, and do make 
 you gift of myself and of my love, if so be that you 
 will take leave of my Lady Maria, making in a 
 canzone courteous complaint of her, and saying 
 that since she will even follow no other way, you have 
 found an honourable and gentle lady that will cherish 
 you. And behold, when Gaucelm had heard the fair 
 words that she spake to him, and the prayers that 
 she made to him, and had seen the loving counten- 
 ance that she showed to him, and her great fairness 
 withal, he was so overtaken by love that he wist 
 not where he was. And when he was come to 
 remembrance, he thanked her as best he might, 
 saying how that he would do all her behests, and 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 would depart from loving my Lady Maria, and would 
 wholly set his mind on her. And either made other 
 this promise : and Gaucelm departed full of joy, and 
 he bethought him of a song, by the which men 
 might understand that he had separated himself 
 from my Lady Maria, and had entered the service 
 of another. And the song runs : 
 
 "Tant ai sufert longamen greu afan." 
 (Such grievous sorrow have I suffered long.) 
 
 And my Lady Maria knew of the song, and 
 rejoiced much at it, and likewise my Lady Audiart, 
 for she thereby perceived that he had believed her 
 false promises, and had withholden his love and 
 praise from my Lady Maria. 
 
 Now after a space, it befell that Gaucelm Faidit 
 came with great gladness for to see my Lady 
 Audiart as one who hoped to enter straightway 
 into her chamber. And she greeted him full well, 
 and Sir Gaucelm knelt at her feet, telling her that 
 he had done her behest, and had turned towards her 
 his love, and that she should now give him that 
 she had promised him, and should amend him all 
 he had done for her. Then said my Lady Audiart : 
 " Great is your excellence and your renown, and no 
 lady is there in the world who should not deem 
 herself happy in winning your love, for you are 
 indeed father of all excellence; but that which I 
 
Gaucelm Faidit J 73 
 
 promised you I did, not because I minded to love 
 you par amour, but rather to draw you forth from 
 the prison wherein you dwelt, and from that foolish 
 hope wherein for more than seven years you have 
 been kept ; for I knew the mind of my Lady Maria, 
 and I knew that your desires would be in nowise 
 accorded you, and I will be your friend and well- 
 wisher, and all you list that it were not unseemly 
 to be. Then Gaucelm, hearing this, was full sad and 
 sorrowful, and fell to crying the lady mercy, that 
 she should not slay him, nor beguile him, nor deceive 
 him. Thereon she told him that she would neither 
 slay him nor deceive him, but rather save him from 
 deceit and death. And when he saw that it nothing 
 availed him to cry her mercy, he went forth from 
 her as one distraught, for he saw that he had been 
 beguiled, in that he had separated himself from my 
 Lady Maria, and that she had made him promises 
 but with the intent to beguile him. And he was 
 minded to return to my Lady Maria and to cry 
 her mercy, and he made the song that runs : 
 
 "No malegra chans ni critz 
 Dauzelh mon felh cor engres." 
 
 (Neither songs nor cry of birds gladden my wretched, eager 
 heart.) 
 
 But neither for his song nor for aught else in the 
 world would she pardon him, nor hearken to his 
 prayers. Now when Gaucelm, even as ye have 
 
*74 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 heard, had separated himself from my Lady Maria 
 by reason of my Lady Audiart, he dwelt long ir 
 grievous woe for the deceit he had suffered, unti.' 
 my Lady Maria Garida of Albusso, wife of Lord 
 Raynaut, Viscount of Albusso, caused him to sing 
 and to rejoice; for so fair did she speak him, and such 
 semblance of love did she make him, that he became 
 enamoured of her, and besought her love. And she 
 for to win of him fame and honour, hearkened to his 
 prayers, and promised to accord him that which ht 
 sought of her. And long endured Sir Gaucelm'j 
 prayers, and long did he praise her as best he might 
 And she, even as though she took no pleasure in 
 the praise he made of her, neither loved him noi 
 made semblance of love to him. 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF KING RICHARD I. OF ENGLAND** 
 
 ALAS ! the greatest ill that I have known, 
 
 The bitterest woe that time can ever bring, 
 Woe that I needs must endlessly bemoan, 
 
 Must e'en by me be sung, by me proclaimed; 
 
 For Valour's sire and chief, of deeds far-famed 
 The mighty Richard, England's noble king, 
 Js dead. Ah, God! that death what voice can sing! 
 
 How terrible that word ! how cruel its sound ! 
 
 How cold were he whom all unmoved it found! 
 
 * See Mahn's Gedichte der Troubadours, Vol. IV., page 139. 
 
Gaucelm Faidit 1 7S 
 
 Dead is the king. A thousand years and more 
 Have passed since e'er his like on earth was seen; 
 
 Yet such a man there never lived before, 
 Of bounty and of bravery so vaunted, 
 E'en Alexander, who Darius daunted, 
 
 Ne'er gave so freely as my lord, I ween ; 
 
 Nor Charles nor Arthur braver knights have been ; 
 And of a truth, in half the world he waked 
 A mighty love the rest in terror quaked. 
 
 Alas, Sir King! how will without thee fare 
 Tourneys and arms, and many a noble fight, 
 
 Many a rich feast, and gallant gift and rare, 
 
 Since thou, their founder, desolate dost leave us ? 
 And how will all they fare of fortune grievous, 
 
 Who, serving thee, were raised from hapless plight, 
 
 And hoped that thou their toils wouldst rich 
 
 requite ? 
 
 How will those fare, to whom thou ere did'st give 
 Great wealth and power ? Such now should scorn 
 to live. 
 
 Such now will suffer grievous want and woe, 
 And endless tears for thee will dim their eyes. 
 
 Pagans and Turks for death of their dread foe, 
 Whom more than any mother's son they feared, 
 Down-trodden erst, their haughty heads have 
 reared, 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 That hard it were to win the Tomb for prize. 
 
 So God doth will, but willed He otherwise, 
 
 And thou, my lord, did'st live, I nothing doubt 
 That soon from Syria thou would'st drive them 
 out. 
 
 That kings and princes Syria regain, 
 
 Thereof, alack ! all hope is long since dead ; 
 But those that now do in thy place remain, 
 
 Should mind them of the fame thou hadst be- 
 fore them, 
 
 And of thy brothers, who full stoutly bore them, 
 (The young king and Earl Geoffrey, Bretagne's head), 
 And certes he that ruleth in their stead, 2 
 
 A constant heart should bear, and turn his face 
 From all things ill, and do the deeds of grace. 
 
 Great Lord and God, to whom belongeth pardon, 
 Thou that art God, and Man, and Life indeed, 
 Grant him that pardon that his sins do need ; 
 His faults and failings mercifully o'erlook, 
 Remember that for Thee the Cross he took. 
 
 SONG ON THE FOURTH CRUSADE** 
 
 NOW be to us a guide 
 The Lord, who for us died, 
 
 * See Chrestomathie provenfale, page 145. 
 
Gaucelm Faidit 1 77 
 
 For whom the noble-hearted, 
 'Mongst whom I long abide, 
 I leave, and much beside 
 Love, honour, wealth, and pride ; 
 
 If sad from these I've parted, 
 I pray He may not chide. 
 
 Farewell, sweet Limousin, 
 
 And those that dwell therein : 
 
 Fair dames of gentle bearing, 
 
 Stout knights that honour win, 
 
 Neighbours and next of kin ! 
 
 Sad on my way I'm faring, 
 
 And bitter tears begin 
 
 To shed, with groans despairing. 
 
 Now anti-Christ doth haste 
 Fair countries to lay waste, 
 
 And Vice, her foes dismaying, 
 Sweet Virtue hath abased ; 
 Her hand on princes placed, 
 Good from their hearts hath chased, 
 
 And avarice on them preying, 
 Foully their names disgraced 
 
 He, who o'er France doth reign, 4 
 Base gold had liefer gain, 
 
 Norman or Frenchman plunder, 
 Than Seifeddin constrain 5 
 
 M 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 To yield up what hath lain 
 
 Too long his foul yoke under 
 Such kings full long in pain 
 Will groan, or great the wonder. 
 
 1 On the Death of King Richard. The rhyming system is 
 
 abaccbbdd, the same rhymes in the original being 
 continued throughout the poem, which consists of six and 
 a half stanzas. 
 
 2 He that ruleth in their stead. King John of England. 
 
 3 Song on the Fourth Crusade. The original poem consists of 
 
 five and a half stanzas of sixteen -lines with the following 
 rhymes continued through the poem, aabaaaba, cc 
 deeded. 
 
 4 He who o'er France doth reign. Philip Augustus. 
 
 5 Than Seifeddin constrain. Al Adel Seifeddin, who, after the 
 
 death of his brother Saladin, extended his rule over Egypt 
 and Syria. 
 
 RAYMOND OF MIRAVAL. 
 1190-1220. 
 
 THE following biography is, for the most part, the account of 
 a series of love intrigues that disagreeably bring into relief 
 the baser side of an age that is generally regarded as the 
 palmy one of mediaeval chivalry. The lives of the troubadours 
 are, in more cases than one, beautified and ennobled by a 
 spirit of romantic generosity, and by a passionate, though 
 extravagant, devotion to the service of love. But the spiritual 
 connection between lover and lady that chivalry permitted, 
 and indeed encouraged, has here degenerated into mere 
 
Raymond of Miraval J 79 
 
 licence. The lady, whom Dante conceived of as a miracle 
 of faith and purity, is here one who, for the renown the poet 
 can give her, leads him on to love her, and then basely betrays 
 him and mocks him, while the lover on his side shames his 
 knighthood by paying her back in the same coin. It is true 
 that the absolute correctness of the details given us in Miraval's 
 life cannot be vouched for, but they are, no doubt, sufficiently 
 typical to illustrate the fact that, while perfect obedience to 
 the laws of chivalry was a hard matter, even to the noblest, 
 the average man or woman fell grievously short of the self- 
 mastery and self-renunciation that such obedience involved. 
 
 Miraval had many friends and patrons, and of these, the 
 one with whom he was most intimately connected was his 
 suzerain, the luckless Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse. Mira- 
 val, indeed, shared his master's misfortunes, when in 1211 the 
 Count was excommunicated by the Pope as a harbourer of 
 heretics, and when Simon of Montfort brought ruin and 
 desolation into his fertile territories. With his master, also, 
 Miraval rejoiced in the prospect of succour from Peter II. of 
 Aragon, and with him lamented over the brave and gallant Peter, 
 slain while contending against Simon of Montfort, at the great 
 battle of Muret, 1213. After this year Miraval sinks into 
 obscurity, and beyond the fact that he was still living in 1218, 
 nothing more is known of him. The forty-eight poems he has 
 left us, popular as they were in his time, can have but little 
 interest to us. Though they have a unity that much of the 
 troubadour poetry lacks, there is in them none of the truth, 
 warmth, and tenderness that might have given them enduring 
 value. 
 
 OF RAYMOND OF MIRAVAL* 
 
 Now Raymond of Miraval was a poor knight of 
 Carcassez, who owned but the fourth part of the 
 
 * See Mahn, xlii. 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Castle l of Miraval, in the which there were not even 
 forty men ; but for his poetry, and for his fair speech, 
 and for all he knew of love, gallantry, and of the 
 courteous deeds and words that pass between lovers, 
 he was much loved and prized by Count Raymond 
 of Toulouse, who called him Audiart, as likewise he 
 the Count. And the Count gave him horses, and 
 arms, and raiment, and all he lacked. And Miraval 
 was lord of his house, and lord of King Peter of 
 Aragon, and of the Viscount of Beziers, and of Lord 
 Bertran of Saissac, and of all the great lords of 
 the country round about. And there was no great 
 and honourable lady who did not desire his love, 
 and did not bestir her to win it, or to win of him 
 good-will by familiarity with her ; for he was better 
 skilled in making them loved and honoured of others 
 than any man on earth, and none weened herself 
 prized of men if Raymond of Miraval were not her 
 friend. And Raymond of Miraval loved many ladies, 
 and made many good songs of them, but it is not 
 thought that any returned his love, but rather did 
 one and all beguile him. 
 
 Now well have ye heard of Raymond of Miraval, 
 and who and whence he was ; wherefore I will 
 presently tell you more of his deeds. Know then 
 that he loved a lady of Carcassez, Lady Loba 2 
 [She- Wolf] by name, of Penautier, daughter of 
 Lord Raymond of Penautier, and wife of a rich 
 
Raymond of Miraval l81 
 
 and powerful knight of Cabaret, joint-owner of 
 the castle. Now the Loba was exceeding lovely 
 and gracious, and wishful of worth and honour, 
 and all the barons of that region, and all the 
 strangers that looked upon her, loved her the 
 Count of Foix, Sir Oliver of Saissac, Sir Peire 
 Roger of Mirepoix, Sir Aimeric of Montreal, and 
 Sir Peire Vidal, who made many good songs of 
 her. But Sir Raymond of Miraval loved her more 
 than all, and by song and speech advanced her fame 
 as best he might, even as one who could better do 
 it than any knight alive. Then the Loba, for the 
 great fame he had gotten her in the world, and for 
 the knowledge she had that he could both make or 
 mar her fortunes, suffered his prayers, and pledged to 
 him her love, and bound him to her with a kiss. 
 But in all this she meant but to beguile him, for she 
 loved the Count of Foix so greatly that she had 
 made of him her lover ; and throughout the region 
 of Carcassez their love became known to all, whence 
 ruin came to her, and the loss of honour and of 
 friends, for there they held as dead all those who 
 made lovers of noble lords ; and news of the evil 
 she had done came to the ears of Sir Raymond 
 of Miraval, and he heard likewise how that Peire 
 Vidal had spoken ill of her in a song which begins : 
 " Estat ai una gran sazo," (I have been long time, 
 etc.,) in the which he says : " Mot ai mon cor felo 
 
182 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 per lieis que mala fo." (My heart is very sore for her 
 that was evil.) Then Miraval was above all others 
 sorrowful, and he was at first minded to speak ill 
 of her, and to further her ruin, but he bethought him 
 afterwards that it were better to beguile her, even 
 as she had beguiled him. So he began to defend, 
 and shield, and justify her in her love of the Count. 
 The Loba heard how that Miraval, after his great 
 sorrow, upheld her in the evil she had done, and 
 greatly rejoiced at it, for she feared him more than 
 any man besides. And she bade him come to her, 
 and thanked him weeping for his maintenance and 
 defence of her, and spoke to him, and said: "Miraval, 
 if ever I had fame, and honour, and lovers, and 
 friends, and if ever I had skill, and understanding, 
 and courtesy, through you has it come to me, and 
 of you I hold it ; and whatsoever it be that has 
 withheld me from granting you all your desires, it 
 was in nowise the love of any other man, but rather 
 that which you yourself have said in one of your 
 canzones, the which runs : 
 
 "'Amors me fai cantar et esbaudir . . . 
 Bona domna nos deu damor gequir, 
 Epus tan fai quad amor sabandona 
 No sen coch trop ni massa non o tir, 
 Que mens en val tot fag que dessazona." 3 
 
 (Love makes me sing and rejoice ; a good lady should not 
 forsake Love, and when once she abandons herself to Love, 
 
Raymond of Miraval 
 
 she should neither hurry too much nor much delay, for all 
 things are better than unseasonableness.) 
 
 " I therefore was minded to grant you such great 
 joy in all wisdom and prudence, and, that you might 
 hold it the dearer, would not be over hasty in the 
 matter ; for it is but two years and six months that 
 I bound you to me with a kiss, 3 even as you have 
 said in your song : 
 
 " ' Passatz so cinq mes e dui ans 
 Quieu vos retengui a mos comans.' " 
 
 (Two years and five months have passed since I retained 
 you in my service.) 
 
 " And now I see full well that you will not forsake 
 me for the blame that has fallen upon me through 
 the slanderous lies that my enemies have spread 
 abroad concerning me ; wherefore I tell you that, 
 since you thus maintain me against all, behold 
 for your sake I divest myself of all other love, and 
 give myself to you, soul and body, wholly putting 
 myself in your hands, and praying you to defend 
 me to your uttermost." 
 
 Then Miraval received her gift with gladness, and 
 long had of her all he would, but ere this he had 
 become enamoured of the Viscountess of Minerba, 4 
 a noble lady, young and fair, who had not lied, nor 
 deceived, nor herself known deceit and treachery. 
 Wherefore Miraval, for this lady's love, separated 
 
l8 4 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 himself from the Loba, making this song, which 
 says : 
 
 " Sieu en cantar souen 
 No matur ni maten, 
 Nons cuietz que sabers 
 Men falha, ni razos." 
 
 (If I not often apply myself to singing, deem not that the 
 knowledge and matter thereto are lacking.) 
 
 Now ye have heard how Sir Raymond of Miraval 
 could beguile Loba, and yet dwell with her in peace, 
 but now I will tell you of the Lady Azalais of 
 Boissazon, and of how she beguiled him, and after- 
 wards of another, his neighbour, the Lady Ermen- 
 garda of Castras, whom men called "The fair one 
 of Albi." And both were of the diocese of Albi. 
 Lady Azalais 5 was of a castle named Lombes, wife 
 of Sir Bernart of Boissazon, and Lady Ermengarda 
 of a town named Castras, wife of a rich vavassour 
 right full of years. 
 
 Now Miraval fell to loving Lady Azalais, who 
 was young, and fair, and noble, and wishful of 
 excellence, and praise, and honour. And when she 
 marked his love of her, she rejoiced greatly, knowing 
 he would make her of more worth in men's eyes 
 than any one alive. And she demeaned herself full 
 graciously towards him, omitting naught that can 
 be done by woman to show her love of him. And 
 he, to his utmost power, advanced her by speech 
 
Raymond of Miraval l8 5 
 
 and song, and so sounded her praise throughout 
 that region that all the barons therein fell to loving 
 her the Viscount of Beziers, the Count of Toulouse, 
 and King Peter of Aragon, to the which Miraval 
 had so vaunted her that the King, though he had 
 not seen her, greatly loved her, and sent her his 
 messengers and rich jewels. And he had a mind 
 to see her, and Miraval bestirred himself to bring 
 it to pass. . . . 
 
 So the King came to Lombes in Albi to see Lady 
 Azalais, and thither came also Miraval, praying the 
 King to speak well of him to her. And the King 
 was right well received, and greatly honoured, and 
 full favourably looked on by Lady Azalais. And 
 no sooner had the King sat him down beside her 
 than he besought her to give him her love, and 
 she promised him all that he would of her. . . . 
 
 And on the morrow the thing became known 
 through all the castle, and all the King's court, 
 and Sir Miraval, who thought to become rich in 
 joy by the King's intercession for him, heard tidings 
 of it, and, sore stricken with grief, departed from 
 the castle, leaving behind him the King and the 
 lady. And long did he bewail the ill-doing of the 
 lady, and the baseness of the King, making thereon 
 this song, which says : " Entre dos uolers soi pessiu." 
 (Between two desires I am in heaviness.) 
 
 Now when the Count of Toulouse 6 was disherited 
 
1 86 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 by warfare, and by the Frenchmen, and had lost 
 Argensa and Belcaire, and when the Frenchmen 
 had taken St. Giles and Albi and Carcassez, and 
 when Bederres was destroyed, and the Viscount of 
 Beziers dead, and when likewise all the good people 
 of that region were either dead or had fled to 
 the Count, with whom he called himself Audiart, 
 lo! Miraval lived in great sorrow and heaviness, 
 because all the good people, both knights and ladies, 
 of whom the Count was lord and master, were dead 
 and disherited ; likewise had he lost his wife, even 
 as ye shall hear, and his lady had betrayed him, 
 and his castle had been taken from him. 
 
 And it came to pass that the King of Aragon 
 came to Toulouse to speak with the Count, and to see 
 his sister, my Lady Eleanor, 7 and my Lady Sancha. 
 And he gave great comfort to his sister, and the 
 Count, and his sons, and the good people of 
 Toulouse. And to the Count he promised that he 
 would restore to him Belcaire and Carcassonne, 
 and to Miraval he promised his castle, and to all 
 the good people the joy they had lost. Now Sir 
 Miraval had purposed to sing no song until his 
 winning back the Castle of Miraval that he had 
 lost ; but in his gladness at the promise that the 
 King made to the Count and him, to restore that 
 they had lost, and because of the summer time 
 which was come, and of his love of Lady Eleanor, 
 
Raymond of Miraval l8 7 
 
 the Count's wife the best and fairest lady in the 
 world to whom he had not yet made show of love, 
 he made this song, which says : 
 
 " Bel mes quieu chan e condei 
 Pos laures dossa el temps iai." 
 
 (It is meet that I sing and rejoice, etc.) 
 
 And when he had made this song, he sent it into 
 Aragon, that the King, for his oath's sake, should 
 come with a thousand knights to aid the Count ; 
 wherefore the King was slain by the Frenchmen 
 before Muret, with the thousand knights that he 
 had with him, nor was there one who escaped with 
 his life. 
 
 Now I have told you above of Sir Raymond of 
 Miraval, and ye have heard who and whence he 
 was, and how greatly he was intent on all the 
 best and most excellent ladies of that region, . . . 
 making them to be full greatly esteemed and 
 praised by all the good people. Truly there were 
 some who did naught but good to him, but there 
 were others, also, who evilly entreated him, even as 
 he says. . . . And truly he was [beguiled by 
 those whom he afterwards knew to beguile still 
 worse himself, . . . and it misliked him much 
 if one said that he had not won favours of dames, 
 and he ever gave the lie to him who spoke thus. 
 
 Now it chanced that he became enamoured of a 
 
188 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 young and well-born lady of Albi, Lady Ermengarda 
 of Castras, who was fair and courteous and debonair, 
 and of good customs and pleasant speech. Now I 
 have told you of Lady Azalais of Boissazon, and 
 how she deceived Sir Miraval, and herself also, and 
 now I will tell you how Lady Ermengarda knew 
 that Miraval had been mocked by Lady Azalais, 
 and sent for him to come to her. And when he 
 was come she said that she grieved greatly at 
 that which was rumoured concerning Lady Azalais, 
 and was minded to make amends to him for it 
 with her own love, for the wrong that had been 
 done him. And he was easily beguiled on seeing 
 the gracious demeanour, and hearing the gracious 
 words, with which she offered him amends for the 
 loss he had borne. So he said he would right 
 gladly receive amends of her, and she took him 
 for her knight and servitor ; and Miraval began 
 to praise and love her, and to spread abroad her 
 fame and worth. Now the lady had understanding 
 and wisdom and courtesy, and knew to win the 
 hearts of men and women ; and Lord Oliver of 
 Saissac, who was a great baron in that country, 
 loved her, and besought her to take him for her 
 husband. Meantime Sir Miraval, seeing how greatly 
 he had increased her fame, sought guerdon of her, 
 and prayed her to take him as her lover. And 
 she answered him she would liefer he should become 
 
Raymond of Miraval l8 9 
 
 her husband, that nothing might sever them from 
 each other, and that, for that end, he should put 
 away his wife from him Lady Gaudairenca by 
 name. Sir Miraval was right glad at heart when 
 he heard that she would take him for her husband ; 
 and he straightway went to his castle, and said to 
 his wife, that he would not a wife that could make 
 poetry ; that in one house one poet was enough, and 
 that she must make ready to return to her father's 
 house, for he would no longer hold her his wife. 
 Now his wife looked favourably upon a certain 
 knight, Sir Guillem Bremon by name, on whom she 
 made her dancing songs ; so when she heard Sir 
 Miraval's words she feigned great sadness, and said 
 she would send for her relations, but sent, instead 
 thereof, for Sir Guillem Bremon, telling him that 
 she would take him for her husband, and leave 
 her dwelling with him. 
 
 Sir Guillem Bremon, hearing this, was right joy- 
 ful, and took with him knights, and came to Sir 
 Miraval's castle, and alighted at the gateway. Then 
 Lady Gaudairenca told Sir Miraval that her relations 
 were come for her, and that she would go forth 
 with them. At this Miraval was right glad, but 
 the lady yet more so. And the lady, being in 
 readiness to depart, was brought by Sir Miraval 
 to the gateway, and finding Sir Guillem Bremon and 
 his company awaiting her, she greeted him full well. 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 And as the lady was mounting her horse, she 
 said to Sir Miraval, that since he had put her away 
 from him, he should give her as wife to Sir Bremen ; 
 whereat Miraval said that he would gladly do it, 
 if so she willed. Sir Bremon drew forth a ring, 
 wherewith to espouse her, and Sir Miraval gave 
 her to him for wife, 8 and he rode away with her. 
 
 Now when Sir Miraval put away his wife he 
 went to Lady Ermengarda, telling her that he had 
 done with his wife as she commanded, and beseech- 
 ing her graciously to keep her promise to him. 
 And the lady said that he had done well, and 
 must return to the castle to make ready for the 
 wedding festival and for her reception, for she 
 would soon send for him. Then Miraval departed, 
 and made great preparations for the wedding 
 festival; and the lady meanwhile sent for Lord 
 Oliver of Saissac, who came full speedily to her. 
 And she said to him that she would do all he 
 listed, and would take him for her husband, whereat 
 he became the happiest man in all the world. And 
 the matter was so arranged between them that that 
 self-same evening he brought her to his castle, and 
 on the morrow espoused her, amidst great feasting 
 and rejoicing. 
 
 And news reached Sir Miraval that the lady 
 had taken Lord Oliver of Saissac for her husband. 
 Thereat, because she had made him abandon his 
 
Raymond of Miraval I 9 l 
 
 wife, and had promised to take him for her husband, 
 and had likewise caused him to make all things 
 ready for the marriage, he fell into great grief and 
 heaviness, both for all these matters, and also for 
 Lady Azalais and the evil that she and the King 
 of Aragon had done. He lost then all joy and 
 merriment, and all pleasure in song and poetry, and 
 lived two years as one distraught. And tidings 
 thereof went sounding throughout all the country far 
 and near, and it came to the ears of an honourable 
 baron of Catalonia, Sir Hugh Mataplan by name, a 
 trusty friend of Sir Miraval's, and he made of it 
 this sirvente, which runs : " Dun sirventes mes pres 
 talens." (The desire to make a sirvente has seized 
 me.) And many a knightly troubadour mocked 
 him for the scorn shown him. Howbeit, a noble 
 lady, Lady Brunessa by name, wife of Sir Peire 
 Rogier of Cabaret, and wishful of praise and honour, 
 sent greetings to Sir Miraval, and comforted him, 
 praying him to take heart again for love of her ; and 
 she bade him know that she would verily come to 
 see him, if he would not come to her, and would 
 give her love to him in such wise that he should 
 indeed know that she would not beguile him. And 
 thereon he made this song, which says : " Ben aial 
 messatgier." (Blessed be the messenger.) 
 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 RAYMOND OF MIR AVAL TO HIS LADY* 
 
 LADY, if Mercy help me not, I ween 9 
 That I to be thy slave am all too mean, 
 
 For thy great worth small hope to me has given 
 Aught to accomplish meet for dame so rare 
 Yet this I would, and nowise will despair; 
 
 For I have heard, the brave, when backward 
 
 driven, 
 
 Strive ever till the conquering blow they deal, 
 So strive I for thy love by service leal. 
 
 Though to such excellence I come not near, 
 Nor eke of one so noble am the peer, 
 
 I sing my best, bear meekly Love's hard burden, 
 Serve thee and love thee more than all beside, 
 Shun ill, seek after good whate'er betide; 
 
 Wherefore, methinks, fair dame should liefer 
 
 guerdon 
 
 With her dear self a valiant knight and true, 
 Than the first lord that haughtily may woo. 
 
 Against cruel Love I ever fight amain, 
 As wars a vassal 'gainst his suzerain, 
 
 That him with scanty justice would disherit ; 
 Such vassal, seeing warlike enterprise 
 Avails him not, perforce for mercy cries, 
 
 So I, the better Love's sweet joys to merit, 
 
 * See Malm's Gedichte der Troubadours, Vol. I., page 32. 
 
Raymond of Miraval 193 
 
 Seek pardon for what faults in him I find, 
 And pray his pride may turn to pity kind. 
 
 Her eyes so lovely yet so full of guile, 
 At that which makes me weep and sigh do smile, 
 That graceful form, that frank and noble bearing, 
 Slay me with longing yet the dear delight 
 Of calling mine that lady fair and bright 
 I ne'er may know, nathless as her true knight 
 E'en unto life's last hour my faith I plight. 
 
 1 Owned but the fourth part of the Castle. This part- 
 
 ownership of a castle was by no means uncommon in the 
 mediaeval life of Languedoc. Bertran of Born owned 
 Autafort, together with his brother Constantine, and Guy 
 of Uisel shared a castle with his brothers and cousin. 
 
 2 Lady Loba. It will be remembered that this lady has 
 
 already been mentioned in connection with Peire Vidal, 
 who for love of her caused himself to be hunted as a wolf. 
 
 3 I bound you to me with a kiss. As Fauriel has pointed 
 
 out, the ceremonial that took place on a lady's definitely 
 accepting a man for lover was modelled on that of a 
 vassal pledging himself to his lord. The lover, kneeling 
 down with clasped hands before his lady, vowed fidelity 
 to her; she then lifted him up, gave him a ring, and 
 kissed him, as a token that she " retained " him, as it was 
 called. Such an union was indeed so solemn a matter as 
 to be often blessed by a priest, or dissolved by him. 
 
 4 Minerba. Minerve, in the diocese of Narbonne. According to 
 
 Miraval's canzones the poet remained faithful to the Loba, 
 and was only for a short time drawn away from her by 
 the beauty of the Viscountess of Minerve. 
 
 N 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 5 Azalais. Adelaide, wife of Bernart of Boisseson, whose 
 
 castle was in Albi. Azalais, like Loba, only accepted 
 Miraval's homage in the hope that his praises of her would 
 spread abroad her fame. Miraval, however, had no doubt 
 of her sincerity, judging from a canzone in which he sings 
 of his rapture at having won her love, and says that for 
 her sake he loves the brooks, forests, gardens, and plains, 
 the men and women, and all those that dwell near her, 
 good or bad, wise or foolish. 
 
 6 Now when the Count of Toulouse, etc. Familiar as most 
 
 readers are with the main facts of the Albigensian War, 
 allusions to them occur so frequently in the Lives of the 
 Troubadours, that a brief recapitulation of them will not, 
 perhaps, be out of place here. 
 
 The prosperity and civilized institutions of the South of 
 France encouraged a freedom of thought that led to the rise 
 of sects, which denied the fundamental doctrines of the 
 Church of Rome. The virtuous lives of the Albigensian 
 heretics secured them the protection of Raymond VI., Count 
 of Toulouse, and of his nephew, the Viscount of Beziers ; 
 and all went well with them till Innocent III. became Pope 
 in 1198, and sent his legates to crush out heresy among 
 them. The violent conduct towards Raymond VI. of the 
 legate, Peire of Castelnau, led to his assassination by one 
 of the Count's followers, upon which Innocent induced 
 France (or what is now the northern half of France) to 
 make war upon the Count of Toulouse and his nephew. 
 In 1209 the French army, under the elder Simon of 
 Montfort, entered their lands. Raymond, in great terror, 
 abandoned his Albigensian subjects to the mercy of the 
 Crusaders ; but the young Viscount of Beziers, though of 
 the orthodox faith, refused to abandon any of his subjects, 
 and in spite of the seizure of Beziers, and the wholesale 
 slaughter of its inhabitants, prepared for a vigorous defence 
 of Carcassonne. His heroism, however, could not save 
 
Raymond of Miraval J 95 
 
 either himself or his people from destruction ; Carcassonne 
 was taken, and the Viscount cast by Simon of Montfort 
 into prison, where, as was commonly believed, he was 
 poisoned. 
 
 Simon now turned against Raymond, who, after the 
 fatal Battle of Muret (1213), found himself deprived of 
 the greater portion of his inheritance. Raymond died 
 in 1222, and seven years later a peace was at last 
 
 Jmade, by which a remnant of the County of Toulouse 
 was left to his son, Raymond VII. 
 
 7 Lady Eleanor. The wife of the Count of Toulouse. 
 
 s And Sir Miraval gave her to him for wife. It is difficult 
 to believe that the very casual manner in which Miraval 
 handed over his wife to Bremen's keeping can, even 
 in those days, have been considered equivalent to a 
 betrothal or wedding. Miraval's act of putting away his 
 wife, and the subsequent fraud practised on him by 
 Ermengarda, roused the mockery and also scorn of the 
 troubadours. The situation was one that would naturally 
 expose him to this, and, moreover, as chivalry counten- 
 anced a wife in addressing poems to a lover, it was felt 
 to be an unknightly proceeding on Miraval's part to object 
 to her doing so. One poet (Peire Duran), in particular, 
 besides the Hugh Mataplan mentioned in the Life, com- 
 posed a sirvente, in which he chides Miraval severely 
 for his behaviour in the matter. 
 
 9 Lady, if Mercy help me not, I ween. The original poem 
 is composed of three stanzas of eight lines, with the 
 rhymes aabccbdd, and a fourth stanza of seven lines, 
 with the rhymes a a b c c c c. 
 
1 9& Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 BLACATZ. 
 1200-1236. 
 
 AT no period in the Middle Ages was the taste for poetry 
 more wide-spread in Languedoc than in that immediately 
 preceding the Albigensian War. This being the case, and 
 generosity being with valour the most dearly esteemed of 
 virtues, 1 it is not surprising that princes and barons should 
 have vied with one another in their munificence towards 
 troubadours. The best troubadours were mostly poor knights 
 or burghers, but the nobles also cultivated their poetic gifts 
 enough to compose more or less elegant and pleasing verses ; 
 and, for the rest, contented themselves with a generous en- 
 couragement of the gift in those beneath them. Royal patrons 
 of poetry, such as Cceur de Lion and Alphonso of Aragon, 
 have already been mentioned ; amongst the barons those 
 most highly praised by troubadours for liberality and chivalry 
 were Blacatz and Savaric of Mauleon. 
 
 Strangely enough, of Blacatz, in spite of his high renown, 
 we know hardly anything. In the account of him given below 
 we have nothing but a long list of his virtues. Cadenet, 
 Peguillan, Sordel, and many other poets who speak of him, 
 sing his praises in much the same strain, without touching 
 on the incidents of his life. The famous ' Complaint ' of 
 Sordel (Sordello), however, over the death of Blacatz enables 
 us to fix with tolerable certainty the date of his death, while 
 in a later ' Complaint ' over him, mention is made of the many 
 ladies whom he loved. The few poems of his left to us are 
 tenzons treating nearly all of love, and having little beyond 
 a certain skill and finish to recommend them. 
 
Blacatz iQ7 
 
 OF BLACATZ* 
 
 Now Lord Blacatz was of Provence, a noble baron, 
 high and great, bountiful and just. And he de- 
 lighted in ladies, and love, and war, and spending, 
 and feasting, and tumult, and music, and song, and 
 play, and all such things as give a good man worth 
 and fame. Never was there a man who loved better 
 to take than he to give ; and he was one that 
 helped the helpless, and defended the defenceless. 
 And the more he grew in years the more he grew 
 in bounty, in courtesy, in valour, in land, in riches, 
 and in honour; and the more did his friends cherish 
 him, and his enemies contend against him ; and the 
 better grew his wisdom, his knowledge, his poetry, 
 his hardihood, and his gallantry. 
 
 1 The most dearly esteemed of virtues. The much-vaunted 
 liberality of the age often degenerated into a wild and 
 reckless extravagance. Diez, in his Leben und Werke, 
 gives us, among other instances of lavishness, that of a 
 baron who, on receiving an enormous sum of money as 
 a gift from the Count of Toulouse, at once distributed 
 it amongst ten thousand knights. Another, Diez tells 
 us also, causing a large field to be ploughed, sowed it 
 with small coins, while a third ordered thirty of his 
 horses to be led before him and burnt alive, by way 
 of emphasizing a resolution that he had taken. 
 
 * See Mahn, xliii. 
 
J 98 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 SAVARIC OF MAULEON. 
 1200-1230. 
 
 OF Savaric, a knight no less renowned than Blacatz, a full 
 account is given both in the The Lives of the Troubadours 
 and elsewhere. As one of the most powerful barons of Aqui- 
 taine, he took a prominent part in political events, fought on 
 the side of young Arthur against King John of England, and 
 with him was taken prisoner at Mirabel, in 1202. Won over 
 to John's cause by being made Seneschal of Aquitaine, Savaric, 
 in this capacity, supported the Count of Toulouse against Simon 
 of Montfort (1211), and fought in the war, waged by John 
 against the French King. On the accession of Henry III. to 
 the English throne, Savaric, who stood by William Marshal, 
 and appears next to Hubert de Burgh in the great charter 
 of 1215, vigorously defended Niort and Rochelle against 
 Louis VIII. of France, until finding himself unsupported 
 by the English, he was at length obliged to give them 
 up to the enemy. Seeing that his services were not likely 
 ever to be requited by the English King, and that the French 
 were steadily gaining ground, Savaric tendered his allegiance 
 to Louis, who welcomed him gladly, and restored to him all 
 the possessions that he had lost during the war. As Louis' 
 vassal he marched out, willingly or not, against the Albigensian 
 heretics, but two years later, on the French King's death (1226), 
 he again fought in Aquitaine on the English side, without, 
 however, achieving any great success. After the year 1227 
 we hear nothing more concerning him, and the date of his 
 death is therefore uncertain. 
 
 Savaric of Mauleon has left us nothing but an insignificant 
 fragment of a canzone, and his share in two tenzons, both of 
 which bear on the love- intrigues related in his Life. 
 
Savaric of Mauleon J 99 
 
 SAVARIC OF MAULEON* 
 
 Now Savaric of Mauleon was a mighty lord of 
 Poitou, son of Lord Reol of Mauleon. And he was 
 lord of Mauleon, and of Talarnom, and of Fontenai 
 and of Castelaillon, and of Boet and of Benaon, 
 and of Saint Miquel in Lertz, and of the island of 
 Riers, and of the island of Nives and of Nestrine, 
 and of Engollius, and of many another good place. 
 And a fair knight he was, and a courteous, and well 
 nurtured, and the most bountiful of the bountiful. 
 Above all men did he delight in bounty, and gallan- 
 try, and love, and jousts, and singing, and playing, and 
 poetry, and feasting, and spending. And above all 
 other knights was he the faithful friend of ladies and 
 of lovers, and wishful of seeing good men and of 
 pleasuring them. Likewise was he in warfare the 
 most valorous man of the world, and now it fared 
 well with him therein, and now ill ; and all the war 
 that he made was with the King of France, 1 and 
 with his men. And a great book might be made of 
 his good deeds by him that would write it ; for he 
 was one that had greater condescension, and mercy, 
 and open-heartedness, and one that did better deeds, 
 and was more set on doing them, than any man I 
 ever saw or heard tell of. 
 
 Now Lord Savaric of Mauleon came one day to 
 Benagues, for to see the Viscountess my Lady 
 
 *See Mahn, xliv. 
 
200 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Guillelma, 2 the which he loved and sought. And he 
 brought with him Sir Elias Rudel, lord of Bragairac, 
 and Jaufre Rudel of Blaia. 3 Now all they three 
 sought her love, and ere this each had been taken 
 by her for knight, yet neither knew it of the others. 
 And all three sat them down near her, that one 
 on her right hand, that other on her left, and the 
 third in front of her. And each in amorous fashion 
 looked on her ; and she, as one who had not her like 
 in hardihood, fell to looking amorously on Sir Jaufre 
 Rudel of Blaia, for he it was that sat in front of her ; 
 the while she took the hand of Sir Elias Rudel of 
 Bragayrac, and pressed it full lovingly, and pressed 
 likewise, with a smile and a sigh, the foot of my Lord 
 Savaric. And none wist of the favour done his fellow 
 until they had departed from the castle, whereon Sir 
 Jaufre Rudel told Lord Savaric how the lady had 
 looked upon him, and Sir Elias told him the matter 
 of the hand. And full woe was Lord Savaric when 
 he heard what pleasure had been done them both, 
 and he spake naught of that he had himself received, 
 but let call Gaucelm Faidit, and Sir Hugh de la 
 Bacalairia, and asked of them in a ' cobla ' who had 
 won the greatest favour of her. And the ' cobla/ in 
 the which he asked him begins : " Gaucelm tres ioc 
 enamorat." 
 
 Now in good sooth do I say unto you how 
 Lord Savaric was the root of all the courtesy of 
 
Savaric of Mauleon 201 
 
 the world, and how he was master of all the good 
 deeds that can ever be thought of. Now he had long 
 time loved and honoured a gentle lady of Gascony, 
 my Lady Guillelma of Benagues, wife of Lord P. of 
 Gavaret, the which was Viscount of Beraumes and 
 lord of San Macari and of Lengo, and full truly can 
 I say that never did a man serve lady better; and 
 long did she requite him with naught but foolish 
 promises, and with fair messages, and with the giving 
 of jewels ; and many a time did she cause him to 
 come from Poitiers to Gascony by sea and by land, 
 and when he was come she knew full well to beguile 
 him with false reasons for not granting him his 
 desires of her ; and he loved her the while so truly 
 that he marked not her deceit, until his friends made 
 him ware of it. And they showed him a lady of 
 Gascony, who was of Manchac, and wife of Lord 
 Guiraut of Manchac, and who was young, and fair, 
 and gracious, and desirous of fame, and of seeing Lord 
 Savaric for the good that she heard speak of him. 
 And Lord Savaric, when he saw the lady, liked her 
 marvellous well, and besought her love; and the lady, 
 for the great worth that she saw in him, retained 
 him for her knight, and appointed a day for him to 
 come to her, and receive that he asked of her; and 
 he left her full glad, and taking leave of her returned 
 to Poitiers, and ere long my Lady Guillelma of 
 Benagues got knowledge of the matter, and knew 
 
202 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 that the lady had appointed a day for him to come 
 to her, and receive that he asked of her. Then Lady 
 Guillelma was right jealous and sad, for that she had 
 not retained him to her service, and she sent him as 
 loving a letter, and message, and greeting as she best 
 might ; and she sent word to Lord Savaric, that on 
 that self-same day, that the Countess of Manchac 
 had given him, he should come secretly to her at 
 Benagues, and should have of her all he would. And 
 know of a truth that I, Hugh of Saint Circ, who 
 have written this matter, was the messenger that 
 went thither, and bore the message and the writing. 
 And at Lord Savaric's court abode the Provost of 
 Limoges, who was a worthy man and a well-taught, 
 and a good troubadour. And Lord Savaric, to do 
 him honour, laid before him the whole matter, and 
 that which each lady had said and promised to him. 
 And Lord Savaric besought of the Provost to ask 
 him in song which lady he would go see on the 
 day appointed by them, and in tenzon to give him 
 his choice therein. And the Provost challenged him, 
 and said : En Savaric ieu vos deman quern diatz 
 en chantan. (" Lord Savaric, I ask of you to tell me 
 in song," etc.) 
 
 The following is the substance of the tenzon alluded to above, 
 in which Savaric took part ; his opponents are Gaucelm Faidit, 
 and Hugh de la Bacalairia, and the tenzon is a good example of 
 the many ones that bore on subtle questions in the science of 
 
Savaric of Mauleon 2 3 
 
 Love. It consists of six stanzas of 13 lines, the rhymes of which 
 are : abbaccddeeeff, and three half-stanzas of 5 lines 
 with the rhymes e e e f f. 
 
 Savaric of Mauleon* Gaucelm, three parts in a 
 love-game do I lay before you, that you and Hugh 
 may each choose the best, and leave me that ye will : 
 behold, a lady has three suitors, and their love has 
 such great power over her that, when all three are 
 before her, to each she must needs make semblance 
 of love ; the one she looks at lovingly, the other's 
 hand she softly takes in hers, and smiling presses 
 the foot of the third. Tell me now, since thus it is, 
 to whom she owes the greatest love. 
 
 Gaucelm Faidit. Lord Savaric, well ye know 
 that the richest gift is received by that lover upon 
 whom those fair eyes fix their faithful gaze ; it is 
 from the heart alone such sweetness can proceed, 
 and therefore it is a hundred times the dearest to 
 me. As for the giving of the hand, I hold it neither 
 favour nor disfavour, for a like joy is bestowed by 
 ladies on all those they greet. And to him, whose 
 foot was pressed, I deem no love was shown, nor 
 for such should it be taken. 
 
 Hugh de la Bacalairia. Gaucelm, ye speak what 
 seems good to you, but know that ye argue amiss, 
 for in the glance I see not that favour to the lover 
 whereof ye speak, and a fool is he who holds it one ; 
 
 * For original, see Chrestomathie provenfale, page 155. 
 
2 4 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 for the eyes look upon him and others, and have no 
 power besides; but when the white and ungloved 
 hand softly presses that of its lover, then truly does 
 love proceed from the ground of the heart. And 
 now Lord Savaric, who so well does find us parts, 
 may maintain the cause of the foot, for no whit will 
 / maintain it. 
 
 Savaric. Hugh, since the best ye leave to me, I 
 will maintain it without gainsaying you. Wherefore I 
 protest that the pressing of the foot proceeded from 
 pure love, hidden from slanderers; and well it 
 appears, since such favour was granted with a smile, 
 that the love it betokened was free from all deceit. 
 And he that holds the taking of the hand for greater 
 love, is nothing wise ; nor methinks should Gaucelm 
 hold the glance for better, if he indeed knows as 
 much of love as he maintains he does. 
 
 Gaucelm. My lord, ye who hold light the glance 
 from those eyes and all their sweetness, know not that 
 they are messengers of the heart, sent by the heart 
 to you ; for the eyes reveal to lovers that which 
 fear would keep within the heart, wherefore they 
 are bringers of all love's joys. But often in mere 
 mockery a lady presses full many a man's foot, and 
 without other intent ; eke Hugh maintains what is 
 not, for the taking of the hand has no import 
 soever, and I deem not that it came from Love. 
 
 Hugh. Gaucelm, you and the Lord of Mauleon, 
 
Savaric of Mauleon 2 5 
 
 ye speak great ill of Love, even as will appear in 
 this tenzon; for the eyes that ye have chosen, and 
 that ye uphold for best, have betrayed full many a 
 lover, and if a false lady would press my foot a 
 year still would my heart remain heavy. Truly ye 
 cannot gainsay me, that the taking of the hand has 
 a hundred times more worth, for never, if the heart 
 were not filled with Love, would it have sent forth 
 the hand. 
 
 Savaric. Gaucelm and Hugh, truly ye are van- 
 quished in this tenzon, and thereon I would have 
 pass sentence my "Heart's Guardian"* who rules 
 me, and Lady Maria f in whom dwell all good 
 virtues. 
 
 Gaucelm. My Lord, no whit am I vanquished, 
 as the sentence will show, wherefore I would also 
 have Lady Guillelma of Benagues with her fair and 
 courteous speech pass judgment. 
 
 Hugh. Gaucelm, my cause is the best, and I can 
 well defend me against both of you ; and one I 
 know right sweet and fair, whom I would fain make 
 likewise judge, but that in three we have already 
 enough. 
 
 !And all the war that he made was with the King of France. 
 Savaric did not, in all probability, serve the King of France 
 
 * Pseudonym of a lady whom Savaric served apparently at the same 
 time that he served Guillelma of Benagues. 
 f Maria of Ventadorn. 
 
2 6 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 for more than two years, and then apparently only from a 
 sense of expediency. 
 
 2 Guillelma of Benagues. A Gascon lady, wife of a baron of 
 
 Gavaret. 
 
 3 Rudel of Blaia. This Rudel is not of course Rudel of Blaia, 
 
 the troubadour, who died about 1170. 
 
 HUGH OF SAINT CIRC. 
 1200-1240. 
 
 HUGH of Saint Circ was, as a younger member of a large 
 family, sent to the School, or as we should say, University 
 of Montpellier, to prepare himself for the religious life, and 
 like other troubadours, he forsook the religious for the 
 poetic profession. After becoming the protegt of Guillelma 
 of Benagues, it was easy for him to win the good favour of 
 her lover, Savaric of Mauleon ; later on he also won that 
 of a Count of Rhodez, and of a Count of Turenne, with both 
 of whom (whether from his own quarrelsome disposition or 
 under provocation) he entered into fierce strife. After spending 
 some time at the Courts of Aragon, Leon, and Castile, he 
 settled down in Provence, where, although the life asserts 
 that he knew little of love, he paid court to Claire of Andusa, 
 a trouveresse, who like the Countess of Die composed canzones 
 of great tenderness and passion. A story is told of a certain 
 Ponsa,* who, bitterly jealous of Claire, induced the poet to 
 forsake his lady for herself. Hugh then, for some time, 
 served Ponsa and scorned Claire, until his eyes becoming 
 opened to the fact, that it was his praises and not his love 
 that his new mistress wanted, he sought forgiveness of Claire, 
 which, by means of a lady who interceded for him, he finally 
 obtained. We last hear of Hugh of Saint Circ as dwelling 
 
 * See Diez, Leben und IVerke der Troubadours, page 339. 
 
Hugh of Saint Circ 207 
 
 at the Court of Treviso, under the protection of Alberico, 
 Marquis of Treviso, and of his brother Ezzelin of Romano, 
 despot of Verona. As to his work, Hugh himself states 
 that he was the author of the Lives of Bernart of Ventadorn 
 and Savaric of Mauleon ; it is, as stated in the introduction, 
 by no means improbable that he also wrote many more of 
 the lives collected. His extant poems are forty-two in number, 
 the majority of those published being canzones of more or 
 less merit. The one translated below is probably dedicated 
 to Claire, though in none of them is the name of his lady 
 mentioned ; in another pretty canzone he seems to be rejoicing 
 at having won her forgiveness.* In it he delights in the 
 thought of renouncing an evil love, and returning to her, 
 " In whom all virtues are to be found. It grieves him not, 
 nor need it her that he left her, because he has learnt thereby 
 to love her a thousand times better. A sinful man, on 
 humbling himself, ought to find mercy, for it is the penitent 
 sinners that cause the greatest joy in Heaven." 
 
 In his tenzons, as the example given below will show, his 
 tone is that of bold defiance, and one indeed that only some 
 heavy wrong would justify his adopting towards former friends 
 and benefactors. In his political poems he is no less out- 
 spoken, and in them proves himself both a Guelph and a 
 staunch upholder of the orthodox faith. In one sirvente he 
 sternly rebukes and threatens Raymond of Toulouse for 
 protecting a Toulousain baron whom he accuses of heresy, 
 after which he no less sternly denounces Frederick II. of 
 Germany, summoning the Pope and King of France to a 
 Crusade against him. In another poem that is among the 
 last we have of him, he exclaims against the atrocious crimes 
 of Ezzelin of Romano and rejoices at his loss of power. 
 
 *See Mahn's Gedichte der Troubadours, Vol. II., No. vi. 
 
208 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 OF HUGH OF SAINT CIRC* 
 
 Now Sir Hugh of Saint Circ was of Quercy, of a 
 town named Tegra, son of a poor vavasour, 
 named Sir Arman of Saint Circ, by reason that the 
 castle whence he was, is named Saint Circ, the 
 which lies at the foot of Santa Maria of Rocamador, 
 and was destroyed and overthrown in war. Now 
 this Sir Hugh had many brothers older than him- 
 self, who would fain have made a clerk of him, and 
 who sent him to the School at Montpellier, and lo, 
 while they weened that he was learning wise books, 
 he was learning canzones and vers, and sirventes 
 and tenzons, and coblas, and the deeds and say- 
 ings of all the honourable men and women, who 
 were then in the world or ever had been. And with 
 this knowledge of his he became a jongleur; and the 
 Count of Rhodez, and the Viscount of Turenne, and 
 likewise the good Dauphin of Auvergne advanced 
 him greatly by the vers, and the coblas, and the 
 tenzons that they made with him. And he dwelt 
 long in Gascony, poor, and journeying now on 
 foot, and now on horse. And long did he abide 
 with the Countess of Benagues, and through her 
 he won the goodwill of Lord Savaric of Mauleon, 
 the which gave him raiment and equipment. And 
 long did he dwell with him in Poitou and in his 
 
 * See Mahn, xlv. 
 
Hugh of Saint Circ 209 
 
 lands, and thereafter he dwelt in Catalonia, and in 
 Aragon, and in Spain with the good King Alphonso 
 of Aragon, and with King Peter, and thereafter he 
 went into Provence and dwelt with the barons there, 
 and then into Lombardy and into the March of 
 Tervisana (Treviso), and in Tervisana he espoused 
 a fair and noble lady. Much did he learn of others, 
 and willingly did he teach that he learnt to others. 
 And right many songs, vers, coblas, and melodies 
 did he make ; howbeit his canzones were few, for 
 he never knew love, though with his fair words he 
 could feign it, and could tell in his canzones how 
 he had sped with ladies. And well he knew with 
 his vers and with his sayings to make or mar 
 their fortunes, yet after he had taken a wife he left 
 the making of these canzones. 
 
 HUGH OF SAINT CIRC TO HIS LADY* 
 
 THREE foes and two right cruel lords oppress me, 1 
 Who day and night strive how they best may slay 
 me; 
 
 The foes my eyes and heart, which sore distress me 
 With love of one who ever will gainsay me; 
 One lord is Love, beneath whose yoke I lay me, 
 
 Who claims from heart and soul obedience meek ; 
 
 The other thou, whose love full long I seek, 
 
 * See Chrestomathie provenfale, page 157. 
 O 
 
210 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 To whom, though I should die, I nowise dare 
 My love reveal, and my fond heart lay bare. 
 
 What help have I, for bootless 'tis to borrow 
 Some joy from others, if thou mock my pleading ? 
 
 What help have I, to whom a bitter sorrow 
 Is joy, from any other source proceeding ? 
 What help have I? Thy love my heart is leading, 
 
 While now it follows me, and now it flees; 
 
 What help have I, for nowhere find I ease ? 
 What help have I how can I freedom gain, 
 If thou, sweet Lady, wilt not me retain ? 
 
 How can I bear this life of bitter anguish ? 
 
 And yet I cannot win me rest by dying; 
 How can I bear through love of thee to languish, 
 
 One little hope my hopelessness belying ? 
 
 How can I bear for ever to be sighing, 
 Of joy bereft, if joy thou wilt not give ? 
 How can I bear in jealousy to live 
 
 Of those, who freely in thy presence dwell, 
 
 And eke of those of whom all men speak well? 
 
 How can I live for ever broken-hearted, 
 
 Sighing both day and night with hopes unsated? 
 
 How can I live, for when I'm from thee parted 
 My words and deeds as nought by men are rated ? 
 How can I live, who nothing else am fated 
 
Hugh of Saint Circ 211 
 
 To heed but thee, but thee and thy fair face, 
 Thy pleasant speech, and bearing full of grace ? 
 How can I live? to God my prayers rise 
 That I may soon find favour in thy eyes. 
 
 TENZON BETWEEN HUGH OF SAINT CIRC AND THE 
 COUNT OF RHODE Z* 
 
 "SIR COUNT, 'twere good that ye no more 2 
 Should dwell through me in doubt and fear, 
 For nowise deem that I am here 
 
 Aught of your mercy to implore : 
 Of others need I nothing gain, 
 Whilst lack of gold does you constrain ; 
 
 I have to beg of you small wish or need 
 
 Rather great kindness 'twere your wants to feed." 
 
 "Hugh of Saint Circ, it grieves me sore 
 To see you, who were e'en this year 
 Naked, and poor, and sad of cheer, 
 
 Till plenteous gifts from me ye bore ; 
 Much more ye cost me to maintain 
 Than noble knights or archers twain ; 
 
 Yet if perchance I offered you a steed 
 
 This well I know ye'd take, so God me speed." 
 
 * See Chrestomathie provenfale, page 160. 
 
212 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 1 Three foes and two right cruel lords oppress me. The 
 
 original poem is composed of 5$ stanzas. At every third 
 stanza, consequently here at the third and fifth ones, 
 new rhymes, though in the same order, ababbccdd, 
 are introduced. The half-stanza forms the Envoi (b c c 
 d d), and the poem is directed to the Countess of Provence, 
 to whom, as the poet says, he is commanded to send it 
 by his Lady. 
 
 2 Sir Count, 'twere good that ye no more. The tenzon is 
 
 composed of two stanzas, having each the rhymes, abba 
 ccdd. 
 
 AIMERIC OF PEGUILLAN. 
 1205-1270. 
 
 Two accounts of Aimeric are to be found in the Lives^ the 
 second, in addition to the details given in the first, containing 
 a further expansion of the love episode, and a mention of the 
 report that the poet died a " Heretic." Aimeric has left us 
 over fifty poems, and these, together with the Lives, enable 
 us to form a fairly complete idea of his career. His long life 
 was one of singular brilliancy and prosperity, and the most 
 splendid courts of France, Spain, and Northern Italy gave 
 him a ready welcome. For several years he was the favoured 
 guest of Alphonso (III.?) of Castile, whom he only left to 
 enter under the protection of the Marquis of Montferrat ; he 
 also tasted the bounty of Raymond VI. of Toulouse, ot 
 Guillem of Berguedan, of the Marquises of Malaspina and 
 Este, and other princes. Wandering thus from court to 
 court, he naturally had various love intrigues ; many ladies, in 
 fact, are celebrated in Aimeric's canzones, but more especially 
 one whom he speaks of as winning him by nothing more than 
 allowing him to kiss her ungloved hand, and whom he after- 
 wards lost, he says, by his own folly. These canzones are, 
 
Aimeric of Peguillan 213 
 
 for the most part, very pleasing and graceful, Aimeric's love 
 of simile being in none of them carried to excess. 
 
 Aimeric of Peguillan, besides canzones, composed many 
 poems in praise of some of the greatest princes of his age, 
 as also 'complaints' over their deaths. Among the former 
 the most interesting is perhaps one on the Emperor Frederick II., 
 for whom the poet's enthusiastic admiration is expressed 
 after this fashion : " Whilom * when died King Alphonso of 
 Castile, and his fair and gracious son, and good King Peter 
 of Aragon, and the Marquis of Este, I thought that Fame 
 and Bounty had also died, until a physician sent by God 
 came to heal men of their hurts. That physician physics 
 us according to our needs, and does not take, but rather 
 gives rewards. Never was physician like to him so wise, 
 so fair, so valorous, and good. . . . Henceforth, although 
 before I doubted, I will now believe all they tell us of Alex- 
 ander and his brave deeds. 
 
 "That wise physician whereof I speak to you is the son of 
 the good Emperor Henry, and has the name of Emperor 
 Frederick, and the heart, and understanding, and wisdom, 
 and brave deeds, and well will he physic his friends, and 
 good counsel and shelter will they find in him. Rightly is 
 he named Frederick, for his words are good, and his deeds 
 great and mighty." . . . 
 
 Another 'complaint' is one over the death of Raymond 
 Berenger, the last Count of Provence of the Barcelona House. 
 His youngest daughter and heiress, Beatrice, had been forced 
 into marrying Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX. of France 
 a marriage that established the French rule in Provence, and 
 at which Aimeric laments somewhat as follows : " Alas,t men 
 of Provence, how great is your misery and shame ; ye have 
 lost your merriment and joy, your laughter and your fame, and 
 have fallen into the hands of those of France; better had it 
 
 * See Chrestomathie provertfale, page 162. 
 
 ) See Mahn's Gedichte der Troubadours, Vol. II., page 183. 
 
2I 4 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 been for you if ye had died. . . . Ah ! wretched and 
 dishonoured ones, what will now avail you your towns and 
 fortresses, if ye belong to France, and dare neither for right 
 or wrong bear shield and lance ! " . . . Dante cites a 
 poem of Aimeric's (De Viilg. Eloq. ii. 6) among other illustres 
 cantiones. 
 
 y ...:V'r OF AIM ERIC OF PEGU ILL AN.* 
 
 SIR AlMERic of Peguillan was of Toulouse, and 
 was the son of a burgher, who was a merchant and 
 sold stuffs. And Aimeric learnt canzones and 
 sirventes, but ever sang right ill. And he became 
 enamoured of one of his neighbours, the wife of a 
 burgher, and this love taught him to make poetry, 
 so that he made many a fair song of her. And 
 strife arose betwixt Sir Aimeric and her husband, 
 the which did him dishonour. And Sir Aimeric 
 avenged himself of it by striking him on his head 
 with a sword, wherefore it behoved Sir Aimeric to 
 depart from Toulouse, and enter into banishment. 
 And he passed into Catalonia, and Sir Guillem of 
 Berguedan gave him welcome ; and upon the first 
 song that Sir Aimeric made, advanced him and his 
 poetry so much that he gave him his palfrey and 
 his raiment, and made him known to King Alphonso 
 of Castile, the which did him honour, and gave 
 him gold and raiment. And he abode long in 
 those countries, and after came into Lombardy, 
 
 * See Mahn, xlvi. 
 
Aimeric of Peguillan 2I 5 
 
 where all good people greatly honoured him, and 
 in Lombardy also he died. 
 
 CANZONE* 
 
 Lady, for thee I dwell in grievous pain. 
 
 "Sir, thou'rt unwise, small thanks from me thou'lt 
 
 gain." 
 
 Lady, pardy, let me not love in vain. 
 " Sir, all thy prayers unheeded will remain." 
 Good lady, mine is love that cannot wane. 
 " Sir, more than all men else I thee disdain." 
 Lady, for this, grief o'er my heart doth reign. 
 " I, sir, am merry nor from joy refrain." 
 
 Lady sans mercy, I must go my way. 
 " Sir, prithee go, it boots not to delay." 
 Lady, not I, Love holds me 'neath his sway. 
 "Against my will, good sir, he bids thee stay." 
 Lady, cruel answers my fond words repay. 
 " Sir, worse than all I hate thee, by my fay." 
 Then, lady, wilt thou ne'er my grief allay ? 
 "Sir, verily 'twill be as thou dost say." 
 
 Love, thou hast heap'd on me indignity. 
 
 "Friend, there is naught else I can do for thee." 
 Love, thou requitest ill my loyalty. 
 
 "Friend, by such means thou best mayst healed be." 
 
 * Chrestomathie proven$ale t page 159. 
 
216 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Love, wherefore such a lady givest thou me ? 
 "Friend, one of better worth I made thee see." 
 Love, from my sorrow I would fain be free. 
 " Friend, to some other refuge thou must flee." 
 
 Love, verily small kindness dost thou show. 
 
 " Friend, thou dost wrong to treat me as thy foe." 
 
 Love, why would'st part us, why would'st lay me 
 
 low ? 
 
 " Friend, I do grieve to see thee die of woe." 
 Love, do not deem that elsewhere I can go. 
 " Friend, then thou needs must bear full many a 
 
 blow." 
 
 Love, dost thou think some favour she'll bestow ? 
 "Yea, friend, serve, suffer, and great joy thou'lt 
 
 know." 
 
 PEIRE CARDINAL. 
 1210-1230. 
 
 As a great moral satirist Peire Cardinal's place in Provencal 
 literature is unique. A deep-seated scorn for corrupt human 
 nature, an intense religious earnestness and loftiness of purpose, 
 an originality and variety in the treatment of his favourite 
 theme the general perversion of mankind make him one 
 of the most powerful and impressive, if not the most attractive, 
 of troubadours. The contrast between him and the generality 
 of his contemporaries is complete. Towards love and women 
 his attitude is indifferent, if not contemptuous ; his carelessness 
 also with regard to form, and the frequency with which he 
 
Peire Cardinal 2I 7 
 
 imitated the verse of others, is all the more remarkable, in 
 that perfection of style and originality of metre were what 
 other troubadours esteemed most highly. In his poems he not 
 unfrequently shows a consciousness of composing for those 
 who can but ill understand him ; he seems, in fact, to have had 
 as little in common with the world around him as Dante 
 himself, but unlike Dante he had not for any man or woman 
 that overpowering reverence or love which might have softened 
 for him the stern realities of life, and inspired him with faith 
 in humanity. 
 
 We have little information concerning Peire Cardinal's life 
 beyond that given us in the following account of him. His 
 poems treat mostly of generalities, but fix the period in which 
 he lived, and prove him to have been a staunch friend of 
 Raymond VI. of Toulouse, and, in consequence, steadily 
 opposed to the French. The satire of Peire's forty to fifty 
 extant poems is almost exclusively directed against the Church 
 and Aristocracy ; and as he for the most part attacks these two 
 great bodies in the mass, there is in his poems an absence 
 of local colouring and allusion that lessens their historical 
 value, and also at times a want of vividness that lessens their 
 literary tone. The poems may be divided into those against 
 (i)the Church; (2) the Nobles; (3) Vice in general, especially 
 lying, treachery, religious hypocrisy, avarice, and luxury; (4) 
 Exhortations to Virtue; (5) a few invectives against private 
 persons ; (6) three poems on love, which finish by attacking 
 rather than defending it. 
 
 OF PEIRE CARDINAL* 
 
 NOW Peire Cardinal was of Velley, of the city of 
 Puy Notre Dame of an honourable and gentle 
 stock, and the son of a knight and a lady. And 
 
 *See Mahn, xlviii. 
 
218 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 being yet little he was sent by his father to the 
 Canonry of Puy, for to make of him a canon ; and he 
 learnt letters, and knew well to read and to sing. 
 And when he was full grown he became enticed 
 by the vanities of this world, for he felt himself gay, 
 and young, and handsome. And many a fair discourse 
 and fair song did he make, albeit his canzones were 
 few; and he also made many a cunningly devised 
 sirvente, in the which were many goodly sayings, 
 and fair ensamples for him that would heed them, 
 for greatly did he rebuke the foolishness of this 
 world, and chide all false clerks, even as his sirventes 
 do testify. And he came to courts of kings and 
 noble barons, bringing with him his jongleur for to 
 sing his sirventes. And he was much honoured and 
 cherished by my lord the good King James of 
 Aragon, and by honourable barons ; and I, master 
 Miquel of la Tor, scribe, do declare that Sir Peire 
 Cardinal when he passed from this life was nigh 
 upon a hundred years old; and I, the aforesaid 
 Miquel, have written these sirventes in the city of 
 Nismes. 
 
 A SIRVENTE AGAINST THE CLERGY* 1 
 
 VULTURES fierce and kites, I ween, 
 Scent not rotting flesh so well 
 
 * See Chrestomathie provenfale, page 173. 
 
Peire Cardinal 2I 9 
 
 As the priests and friars keen 
 
 Scent the rich where'er they dwell ; 
 
 Soon the rich man's love they gain, 
 
 Then if sickness, grief, 'or pain 
 Fall on him, great gifts they win, 
 Robbing thus his kith and kin. 
 
 Priests and Frenchmen ever seek 
 All ill to praise for love of gold ; 
 
 By usurers and traitors eke 
 
 Is this world of ours controll'd ; 
 
 Lies and fraud to men they've taught, 
 
 And confusion 'mongst them brought ; 
 Order 2 none can be discerned 
 That this lesson has not learned. 
 
 Know ye what on them will fall, 
 Unto whom great goods belong? 
 
 One will spoil them of their all, 
 Death, a robber fierce and strong, 
 
 Fells them, strips them, thrusts them down, 
 
 In four poor ells of linen brown, 
 To a dwelling dark and low, 
 Where great misery they'll know. 
 
 Man, great folly thou dost do, 
 
 God's commandment why transgress ? 
 
220 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 He, thy righteous Lord and true 
 Brought thee out of nothingness. 
 
 He that 'gainst the Lord would strive 
 
 Thereby does but little thrive ; 
 And will win the same reward 
 As Judas that betrayed our Lord. 
 
 God of Mercy and of Truth, 
 
 Saviour, Thou our footsteps lead, 
 May poor sinners by Thy ruth 
 
 Be from Hell's fierce torments freed ; 
 Break from them sin's heavy chain, 
 'Neath the which they groan in pain, 
 
 And if they their faults confess 
 
 Grant them Thy forgiveness. 
 
 AGAINST A BARON, WHO HAD COMMITTED ROBBERY 
 ON CHRISTMAS DAY** 
 
 GREAT is the Feast, but that man keeps it ill 
 
 Who lifts men's cattle, and at will does slay; 
 And one I will not name, his pot does fill 
 
 With flesh ill-gotten, e'en on Christmas day. 
 Such flesh, I say, is no wise sweet and sound, 
 
 Unlawful too, since law it does gainsay; 
 Less wit than in a suckling may be found 
 
 Has he that honours Christmas in such way. 
 
 * See Mahn's Gedichte der Troubadours, Vol. n., page 209. 
 
Peire Cardinal 221 
 
 If but a sheet he steal, with head bent low 
 
 The poor man crouches, and a thief is named, 
 While through the world full haughtily may go 
 
 The robber baron, robbing all unshamed. 
 The churl for nothing swings, a grievous fate, 
 
 As if another's stallion he had claimed ; 
 The rich thief hangs the poor, for nowise straight 
 
 As is an arrow is their course ill-famed. 
 
 At will I sing and fiddle, none give heed, 
 
 And none but I my singing reads aright; 
 As well may men the subtle meaning read 
 
 Of nightingales' sweet songs, poured forth at night. 
 Yet mine is not the language of Anjou, 
 
 Breton or Norman it is no wise hight ; 
 But they no more can 'twixt the false and true 
 
 Distinguish, such through sin their grievous plight. 
 
 The following are a few prose versions of passages 
 taken from Peire Cardinal's Sirventes: 
 
 " Priors I see that are fighters and jousters, and ill 
 it seemeth to Saint Denis that he and other saints 
 should be shamed by them. . . . The Church 
 in her greed would fain be shod and clothed in the 
 best ; if ye hold an honourable fief of her prelates, 
 they will take it of you, nor readily restore it till 
 
222 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 ye give them a sum of gold or make a harder 
 bond with them. ... If Black Friars may 
 win salvation of God by much eating, and by the 
 keeping of women ; White Friars by fraudulent 
 encroachments, Templars and Hospitallers by pride, 
 canons by lending money at usury if these come 
 thus to salvation, for fools I hold Saint Peter and 
 Saint Andrew, who suffered for God such grievous 
 torments. . . . Kings, emperors, dukes, counts, 
 and knights were wont to rule the world; but now 
 I see clerks holding dominion over it by robbery, 
 deceit, hypocrisy, force, and exhortation; greatly it 
 vexeth them if men give them not their all, and 
 this men must needs do howsoever they delay. In 
 the refectory it misliketh me to see rogues sitting 
 at the high table ; an ill thing it is that they venture 
 thither, and that men do not chase them forth, yet 
 of one thing I must absolve them [the clerks], never 
 have I seen the poor rogue sitting beside the rich 
 man. The Alcaydes and Almansors need not fear 
 that abbots and priors will come to assail them, and 
 seize upon their lands, for this it would sorely vex 
 them to do. Nay, they are intent only on possessing 
 them of the world, and on overthrowing Frederick 
 [Frederick II. of Germany], yet till now they have 
 gained little in their strife with him." " The priests 
 call themselves shepherds, but are in truth murderers; 
 by their clothing they have the semblance of holiness, 
 
Peire Cardinal 223 
 
 yet therein they mind me of Sir Isengrim, 4 who 
 upon a day would enter into a sheepfold, but for 
 fear of the dogs put on sheep's clothing wherewith 
 he beguiled the sheep, and thereon swallowed up 
 all such as pleased him." 
 
 On women and love Peire Cardinal thus expresses 
 himself: "I trust not in woman's vows, nor would I 
 have her oath, for if ye put in her hands a marabotin 
 for speaking the truth, and a barbarin for lying, it 
 is the barbarin that will win. . . . Love taketh 
 not from me food or drink, causeth me not to feel 
 heat or cold, to gape or sigh, to rage at night-time, 
 or to be downcast and sore pressed ; never did I 
 hire messenger for it, nor have been betrayed by it, 
 for I have separated myself from it as I have done 
 from dice." 
 
 The only fable existing in Provengal literature 
 proper is one by Peire Cardinal on the general vice 
 and folly of mankind,* in which he tells us how a 
 storm of rain fell upon a certain city, which storm 
 caused madness to those who were exposed to it. All 
 the inhabitants of the city felt its effects but one man, 
 who was sleeping within doors at the time. This 
 latter awoke when it was no longer raining, and on 
 going forth amongst men found them all seized 
 with madness. Some of these, Peire tells us, the 
 sane man finds tearing their clothes, some throwing 
 
 * See Chrestomathie pronenfale t page 175. 
 
22 4 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 stones ; one man deems himself a king and goes 
 richly clad, another springs over benches, some 
 threaten, others curse, weep, laugh, rave, and such 
 like. The sane man looks around him bewildered, 
 marvelling greatly at their folly. They, however, 
 marvel still more at him, thinking him out of his 
 wits in that he does not demean himself like them, 
 concluding thus that they are sound of mind, and 
 that he is unsound. They straightway lay fast hold 
 upon him ; one strikes him on the cheek, and one 
 on the neck, so that he falls overcome to the ground. 
 Pushed and trampled on he seeks to escape, and at 
 last after much righting reaches his dwelling beaten, 
 covered with mire, half dead, and in great joy at 
 his escape. Peire Cardinal then himself explains 
 the fable: "This world is the city that is full of 
 madmen ; for the best wisdom is that of loving and 
 fearing God, and keeping His commandments, and 
 such wisdom is now nowhere to be found. The rain 
 that fell upon them is covetousness, which with 
 Pride and Evil hath encompassed all men. . . . 
 The friend of God, wherever he be, observeth that 
 all are mad, in that they have lost the wisdom of 
 God ; while they likewise deem him mad, because he 
 hath forsaken the wisdom of the world." 
 
 1 Sirvente against the clergy. Peire Cardinal, in the sur- 
 prising audacity of his attacks on the Church and her 
 
Peire Cardinal 225 
 
 institutions, may be compared with his great German 
 contemporary, Walther von der Vogelweide ; like Vogel- 
 weide also, he is the friend of the poor, and a staunch 
 adherent of Frederick the Second in his struggle against 
 the Pope. The poem is of five stanzas, and in the metre 
 of the translation. 
 
 2 Order. Religious order. 
 
 3 Against a baron. The poem is composed of five stanzas of 
 
 eight lines, and concluded by a couplet (rhymes, a b a b 
 c b c b). 
 
 4 Isengrim. The name given to the Wolf in the Roman de 
 
 Renard. Isengrim is the embodiment of strength and 
 ferocity, as the Fox of cunning. 
 
 SORDELLO. 
 
 1225-1250. 
 
 THE name of Sordel, or Sordello, is a household word among 
 us, and the noble lines in Dante's Purgatorio, with the profound 
 and complex character in Browning's poem, cannot but inspire 
 one with a wish to know something of the Sordello of actual 
 life. Yet, on turning to the scanty records, and to the poems 
 left us of him, we are at first somewhat disconcerted. One 
 of the biographies 1 represents him as a false-hearted traitor, 
 false both to the husband who gave him shelter, and to the 
 wife whom he seduced. Some of his canzones are those of a 
 skilful, but somewhat ironic and cynical rhymer, whose chief 
 merit, as has been remarked, is that of saying agreeably what 
 everyone already knows, and whose chief source of pride is the 
 exceeding number of ladies whom he has won and betrayed. 
 Nor should we greatly esteem his valour if we are to 
 regard as a true expression of his sentiments a poem, in 
 which he begs his lord, the Count of Provence, to excuse him 
 
 P 
 
226 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 from accompanying him on the Crusade (of 1248), and con- 
 fesses his fear of the perils to which the expedition would 
 expose him. 
 
 Yet this same Bordello is the noble poet, whom Virgil and 
 Dante find sitting in majestic solitude, and the recognition 
 of whom causes them such joy. That his nobility of soul 
 was a mere conception of Dante's we can in no way suppose, 
 and one is therefore brought to the conclusion, that the sins 
 and follies recorded of him were in after years atoned for, and 
 also that the poems of his preserved to us were only a portion, 
 perhaps the least worthy portion, of the work he accomplished. 
 This latter conclusion is, indeed, borne out by Dante's declaring 
 in his De Vulgari Eloquio, that Sordello was of great 
 eloquence, in poetry as well as in speech. 
 
 There are three poems, however, that even without Dante's 
 praise of Sordello, would sufficiently testify to his power. The 
 first, which Dante obviously refers to in the Purgatorio, where 
 he makes Sordello the guide to the Dale of Kings is a 'com- 
 plaint.' The second is a long didactic poem, the Ensegnamen 
 d^Onor, or Lesson of Honour, a work of considerable interest, 
 some learning, and at times much pithy vigour. It is full of 
 the sentiment of noble pride and reason that inspired Dante 
 in the Convito, and especially in the canzone that treats of true 
 nobility. A third poem is on the death of his friend and rival 
 Blacatz, and its originality and force are in the most striking 
 contrast to the elegant insipidity of some of the canzones, 
 while the splendid audacity of its attack upon the great 
 sovereigns of the age, is without parallel even among the 
 troubadours. Sordello has also left us various very bitter 
 sirventes against individual contemporaries, amongst others, a 
 series of poems against a rival troubadour, who, in his turn, 
 speaks of Sordello as a man who "for his misdeeds had needs 
 flee from Lombardy ... a false, wanton jongleur, living 
 on his jongleur tricks." We know Sordello on unimpeachable 
 evidence as the friend and counsellor of Charles of Anjou, as 
 a person of sufficient consequence for the Pope to insist upon 
 
Sordello 227 
 
 his being promptly released from captivity. Of his death by 
 violence tradition speaks ; and Dante seems to confirm the 
 report by the position he allots him in Purgatory. The Lady 
 Cunizza (sister of Eccelin da Romano, the Ghibelline tyrant), 
 whom Sordello carried off, is also noticed by Dante, and given 
 a place in the Heaven of Venus (Paradiso, IX. 13). 
 
 "O anima lombarda, 
 
 Come ti stavi altera e disdegnosa, 
 
 E nel muover degli occhi onesta e tarda ! 
 Ella non ci diceva alcuna cosa; 
 
 Ma lasciavane gir, solo guardando 
 
 A guisa di leon, quando si posa. 
 Pur Virgilio si trasse a lei pregando 
 
 Che ne mostrasse la miglior salita: 
 
 E quella non rispose al suo dimando ; 
 Ma di nostro paese, e della vita 
 
 Ci chiese. E'l dolce Duca incominciava : 
 
 Mantova. E 1'ombra, tutta in se romita, 
 Surse ver lui del luogo ove pria stava, 
 
 Dicendo: O raantovano, io son Sordello 
 
 Della tua terra. E 1'un 1'altro abbracciava." 
 
 Purgatorioi VI. 61-75. 
 
 ( "O Lombard soul, 
 
 How lofty and disdainful thou didst bear thee, 
 And grand and slow in moving of thine eyes, 
 
 Nothing whatever did it say to us, 
 But let us go our way, eyeing us only 
 After the manner of a couchant lion ; 
 
 Still near to it Virgilius drew, entreating 
 That it would point us out the best ascent ; 
 And it replied not unto his demand, 
 
 But of our native land and of our life 
 It questioned us ; and the sweet guide began : 
 ' Mantua,' and the shade all in itself recluse, 
 
 Rose tow'rds him from the place where first it was, 
 Saying, 'O Mantuan, I am Sordello 
 Of thine own land,' and one embraced the other.") 
 
 Longfellow's translation. 
 
228 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 SORDELLO* 
 
 Now Sordello was of Sirier in Mantua, son of a 
 poor knight, named Sier El Cort. And he de- 
 lighted in the learning of canzones, and the making 
 of poetry. And he had intercourse with the good 
 people at court, and learnt all he could, and 
 made coblas and sirventes. Then he came into 
 the court of the Count of Saint Boniface, the 
 which honoured him full well. And in manner of 
 pastime, he fell to loving the Count's wife, and she 
 loved him likewise. And it happened that strife 
 arose betwixt her brothers and the Count, who 
 became estranged from her ; wherefore her brothers, 
 Sir Icellis and Sir Albric, 2 caused her to flee from 
 the Count with Sir Sordello ; the which dwelt with 
 them in great bliss, and afterwards departed into 
 Provence, where he had great honour of all good 
 people, and of the Count and Countess, who gave 
 him a good castle, and a noble wife. 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF BLACATZ. 3 -^ 
 
 I SING Sir Blacatz' death, by sorrow sore con- 
 
 strain'd, 
 And meet it is I mourn with sighs and tears un- 
 
 feign'd, 
 
 *See Mahn, xlix. 
 
 f See Chrestomathie provenfale, page 205. 
 
Sordello 229 
 
 For lord and friend I've lost ; no better earth 
 contain'd. 
 
 Since by his death we lose all fame and worth 
 unstain'd, 
 
 So foul the ill, that I have needs from hope re- 
 frain 'd, 
 
 Yet hope would come if, ere his heart of blood 
 be drain'd, 
 
 The cowardly barons ate of it, and thereby gain'd 
 
 That courage high and firm that ever in it reign'd. 
 
 First let there eat of it, for sore I deem his need, 
 The Emperor of Rome, 4 if he in very deed 
 Would rule the Milanese, who, full of hate and greed, 
 Seek to rule him, and all his Germans little heed ; 
 And then, if he would win Castile's fair realm, I 
 
 read 
 
 The King of France 5 upon that noble heart to feed ; 
 Yet eat he will not if his Mother 'gainst it plead, 
 For his poor fame well shows, that she his heart 
 
 does lead. 
 
 Fain would I see the English King 6 upon it fare, 
 Who then a stouter heart within his breast would 
 
 bear, 
 
 To win the land, whose loss his honour does impair, 
 The land that for his sloth the French as theirs 
 
 declare ; 
 
230 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Then I would give the Castile King 7 a double 
 
 share, 
 Who, though he hold two kingdoms, one does merit 
 
 ne'er ; 
 
 Yet, if he eat, to tell thereof he must not dare, 
 Since, if his mother knew't, the rod she'd nowise 
 
 spare. 
 
 Likewise, 'twere well the Count of Toulouse 8 on it 
 
 fed, 
 
 To mind him of that land that he abandoned ; 
 If by another's heart he be not strengthened, 
 That land he'll ne'er regain, for his own heart is 
 
 dead ; 
 Then the Provengal Count 9 should taste that heart 
 
 blood red, 
 
 For small the worth methinks of peer disherited, 
 Full valiantly he fights and sorely is bestead, 
 Yet eat he must, or 'neath his burdens bow his head. 
 
 Ill will the barons brook the honest words I've said, 
 Know they like scorn to theirs, within my heart 
 is laid. 
 
 of the biographies. The other biography tells how 
 Sordello forsook Cunizza, and secretly married the Lady 
 Otha of Strasso, sister of his friends, Sir Henry, Sir William, 
 
Bertolome Corgi 231 
 
 and Sir Walpertin of Strasso. This so offended them that, 
 
 fearing their vengeance, he went to the Court of Provence. 
 
 Sir Icellis and Sir Albric. Eccelin and Alberico of Romano. 
 
 3 On the death of Blacatz. The original sirvente is composed 
 
 of five stanzas of eight lines, and two final couplets, the 
 latter of which is addressed to his lady. The rhyming 
 system is that of the translation. 
 
 4 The Emperor of Rome. Frederick II. 
 
 5 The King of France. Louis IX., who had in fact legitimate 
 
 claims on Castile, but who, acting probably on the advice 
 of his mother Blanche of Castile, did not enforce claims 
 that he knew would be most unwelcome to the Castilians. 
 6 The English King. Henry III., who during Louis' minority 
 did not attempt to recover the Angevin inheritance that 
 his father had lost. 
 
 7 The Castile King. We do not know the story that Sordello 
 
 is referring to, nor his reasons for reproaching the King. 
 
 8 The Count of Toulouse. Raymond VII., who only made 
 
 peace with the Crusaders, at the sacrifice of a large portion 
 of his inheritance. 
 
 9 The Provencal Count. Raymond Berengar of Provence, the 
 
 last Count of the Barcelona House, who was at that time 
 at war with several of his towns. 
 
 BERTOLOME (JORGI. 
 1250-1270. 
 
 THE northern states of Italy had, ever since the development 
 of Provengal poetry, given the most hospitable welcome to 
 troubadours, and paid full homage to their genius ; and 
 when this poetry was crushed out in Languedoc itself, by the 
 Albigensian War, it was in Northern Italy that it found a 
 
232 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 last refuge, being there fostered by men such as Sordello, 
 Boniface Calvo, and (^orgi (or Giorgi), who, though natives 
 of Italy, composed in the Langue d'Oc. 
 
 ^orgi himself was a Venetian, and perhaps a merchant, 
 who, during the long strife between Venice and Genoa, was 
 seized, while on a journey, by some Genoese, and imprisoned 
 in Genoa for seven years. Of his extant poems (about 
 twenty-five in number) several were composed during this 
 imprisonment. One of these, alluded to in his Life, was in 
 defence of his native city against the Genoese poet, Boniface 
 Calvo, a sirvente which, far from alienating the two poets, led 
 to a close bond of friendship between them. Another of his 
 more remarkable works, composed while in prison, is full of 
 bitter indignation at the deaths of Conradin and Frederick 
 of Baden, who were executed in 1268 by orders of their 
 adversary, Charles of Anjou. 
 
 Hopes of freedom came to (^orgi when Saint Louis started 
 on his second crusade against the Turks. Requiring, as he 
 did, to be provided with ships by Venice and Genoa, Louis 
 sought to bring about a peace between the two towns a 
 peace which, as Corgi thought, would lead to the release of all 
 prisoners on both sides. He therefore hailed the approaching 
 crusade with a song of rejoicing, congratulating the King of 
 Navarre and the Count of Toulouse on bearing Louis company. 
 Only a short time afterwards, however, he wrote a bitter poem 
 of complaint against Louis, who, in the treaty of temporary 
 peace that he caused to be made, had omitted to provide for 
 the freedom of the captive poet, though this was done in a 
 later treaty. (Corgi's poems are perhaps better in form than 
 matter. A southern lusciousness of style and metre characterize 
 the original of the one translated below, the soft double rhymes, 
 of which there are so many in Provengal, giving it a musical 
 sweetness, impossible to render in another language. The 
 same also may be said of an ' Invocation to Saint Margaret ' 
 to be found in the Chrestomathie proven$ale. 
 
Bertolome orgi 233 
 
 OF BERTOLOME fORGI* 
 
 Now Sir Bertolome orgi was a gentleman of the 
 city of Venice, and was one of wisdom and of 
 natural wit, knowing well to sing and to make 
 poetry. And there came a time when he took to 
 wandering through the world, and the Genoese, 1 
 who were warring with the Venetians, laid hands 
 on him, and brought him captive to their land. 
 And while he abode thus in prison, Sir Boniface 
 Calvo made the sirvente written here above, the 
 which begins : 
 
 " Ges no mes greu sieu non sui ren prezatz," 
 (I care not if I am but little praised,) 
 
 wherein he blamed the Genoese that they let them- 
 selves be subdued by the Venetians, and spake great 
 villainy of them ; whereat Sir Bertolome orgi made 
 another sirvente, written below, the which begins : 
 
 " Molt me sui fort dun chant meraveillatz," 
 (Greatly have I marvelled at a song,) 
 
 wherein he excused the Venetians, and blamed the 
 Genoese, so that Sir Boniface held himself put to 
 rebuke for that he had said, and lo, through this they 
 turned one to the other, and became fast friends ; and 
 for about the space of seven years Sir Bertolome 
 abode in prison ; and when he was let loose he gat 
 
 * See Mahn, 1. 
 
234 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 him to Venice, and the Commons there sent him as 
 castellan to a castle named Coron, and there also 
 did he bring his days to an end. 
 
 PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN** 
 
 SANCTA MARIA, all maidens exceeding, 
 God's own beloved, mankind to him leading, 
 Look down in pity, give ear to my pleading, 
 Mercy, sweet lady! 
 
 Mother, most holy oh ! do not disdain me, 
 God's gracious pardon I pray thee to gain me, 
 Fruit and eke fruit-tree of virtue, maintain me, 
 Mercy, sweet lady! 
 
 With thy sweet pity, I pray thee, befriend me, 
 Free me from evil, thy happiness send me, 
 And from Hell's torments I pray thee defend me, 
 Mercy, sweet lady! 
 
 Mother of Jesus, by doubt sore distressed, 
 May I have guidance of thee ever blessed, 
 Who God's high favour hast ever possessed, 
 Mercy, sweet lady ! 
 
 * For original, see Chrestomathie provenfale, page 277. 
 
Bertolome orgi 235 
 
 Toward thee I turn me, in prayer persevering, 
 What may befall me, thee ever revering, 
 If but thy grace do avail, nothing fearing, 
 Mercy, sweet lady! 
 
 O, gentle Virgin, thou life of perfection, 
 Thee do I long for with heartfelt affection, 
 On the sea grant me thy gracious protection, 
 Mercy, sweet lady ! 
 
 Maiden most holy, thy grace we are craving, 
 Star of the ocean, our souls from death saving, 
 Man's -ail and oar art thou, life's tempest braving, 
 Mercy, sweet lady ! 
 
 1 The Genoese and Venetians. The war between Venice and 
 
 Genoa had broken out in Palestine in 1256 over the 
 possession of a church there. The strife between them 
 grew very fierce, and on one occasion the whole Genoese 
 fleet was destroyed by the Venetians. 
 
 2 Prayer to the Virgin. The original is composed of eight 
 
 stanzas of four lines. The rhymes (a a a b) vary in each 
 stanza. 
 
 GUIRAUT OF CALANSO. 
 First half of I3th Century. 
 
 GUIRAUT of Calanso's poems prove him to be a troubadour 
 of merit, in spite of the somewhat contemptuous allusion to 
 him in the Life. Among his most interesting canzones is that 
 
236 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 of which two stanzas are translated below ; in it is an allegorical 
 description of the lower or third part of love, love being 
 divided by the poets of the day into three parts the divine, 
 the natural, and the sensual ; which latter is represented as a 
 beautiful woman of irresistible power. The poem was probably 
 very well known since Guiraut Riquier, one of the most 
 distinguished of the later troubadours, has given a detailed 
 explanation of it. 
 
 OF GUIRAUT OF CALANSO** 
 
 GUIRAUT of Calanso was a jongleur of Gascony, 
 and a right learned man he was, and subtle in the 
 making of poetry. And of the days in which he 
 lived he made canzones of great cunning, but ill- 
 pleasing and discourteous. And he and his canzones 
 were ill liked in Provence, and small fame had he 
 among the courteous. 
 
 A CANZONE ON LOVE.\ 
 
 So slight her form, that she may ne'er be seen, 
 So fast she runs that bootless 'tis to fly, 
 So hard she strikes that none her power abye ; 
 
 Her steely dart deals thrusts full sweet and keen, 
 The which no coat of mail can e'er withstand, 
 So true her aim then straightway with strong hand 
 
 She bends her bow, lets fly a shaft of gold, 
 
 Thereon a head of steel full sharp and cold. 
 
 *See Mahn, li. 
 
 fSee Chrestomathie provenfale, page 165, stanzas two and three. 
 
Guiraut of Calanso 237 
 
 A golden crown she bears upon her head; 
 Sees nought but him at whom she aims her dart, 
 Nor ever shoots amiss, so great her art, 
 
 And lightly moves and fear around does spread ; 
 And she was born of joy and of delight, 
 And all the wrong she does, will pass for right; 
 
 She feeds on gladness, deals and parries blows, 
 
 To great and small alike no mercy shows. 
 
 1 Canzone on Love. The original poem is composed of six 
 stanzas, with the rhymes abbaccdd running through 
 them, followed by two stanzas of three lines each, with the 
 rhymes c d d, c d d. 
 
 RICHARD OF BERBESIU. 
 First half of I3th Century. 
 
 RICHARD of Berbesiu is one of the later and less important 
 troubadours, the most remarkable feature about his poems 
 being a striving after effect, which led him, as his biographer 
 tells us, to introduce far-fetched similes, taken from the Natural 
 History of the time, talking as Lyly, the Euphuist in a 
 
 later age : 
 
 " Of stones, stars, plants, of fishes, flies, 
 Playing with words and idle similes." 
 
 RICHARD OF BERBESIU* 
 
 NOW Richard of Berbesiu was a knight of the 
 Castle of Berbesiu of Saintonge, of the diocese of 
 Saintas, and came of a race of poor vavasours, and 
 
 *See Mahn, lii. 
 
238 iJ ves of the Troubadours 
 
 a good knight of arms he was, and fair of person 
 withaL And he was better skilled in the making 
 of poetry than in the expounding or rehearsing of 
 it. Full ill did he speak before men, and the more 
 good folk he saw, the more did his wits go astray, 
 and the less did he know. And ever he needed that 
 another should lead him forth ; yet well could he 
 sing, and make good poetry, and fair melodies. And 
 he became enamoured of an honourable lady, 1 wife 
 of Lord Jaufre of Taunai, an honourable baron of 
 that region. And the lady was gentle, and fair, and 
 gay, and pleasant, and right wishful of fame and 
 honour the daughter of Lord Jaufre Rudel, Prince 
 of Blaia, and when she knew he was enamoured of 
 her, she made him fair semblance of love, so that 
 he was emboldened to make his prayers to her 
 and she, with fair semblance of love, and as one 
 who greatly desired a troubadour that should sing 
 of her, received his prayers, and hearkened to them ; 
 and he fell to making his canzones of her, and in 
 all his songs he called her " Better than lady." And 
 Sir Richard was ever wont in his canzones to delight 
 greatly in similitudes of beasts and birds, and of 
 the sun and of the stars, that the matter of them 
 might be more novel than aught conceived or spoken 
 by other poets. Long did he sing and rhyme of 
 her, yet never was it thought that she granted him 
 his desires. 
 
Richard of Berbesiu 239 
 
 lu And he became enamoured of an honourable lady." In 
 
 the Leben und Werke der Troubadours Diez gives us an 
 account of a romantic old Italian story, which he considers 
 to be taken from a Provencal original, and the hero of 
 which is a certain Alamanno. Now, by Alamanno is 
 meant Bertran de la Manon, but as a canzone is attributed 
 to this latter, which is undoubtedly composed by Richard 
 of Berbesiu, Alamanno seems here to be put by mistake for 
 Richard himself, and the details of the story are as follows : 
 The poet is known to be in love, but has, so far, not 
 revealed the name of the lady he serves. Certain knights, 
 anxious to extract the secret from him, make use of the 
 opportunity afforded them of doing so at a great feast, 
 held at Puy Notre Dame. As was often done of evenings 
 as men sat feasting together, they fell to boasting of their 
 successes in love, and this, as they hoped, led on the poet 
 to boast of his lady, and finally to speak her name. 
 Secrecy being one of the first laws of chivalry, the offence 
 is of the gravest, and his lady therefore dismisses him 
 in anger. In his despair the poet becomes a hermit, and 
 for a long time lives in the depths of a forest. At length, 
 however, he hears from some knights, who chance to pass 
 by his dwelling, that a great festival is to be held at 
 Puy. Seized with a longing to take part in it, he borrows 
 a suit of armour, appears as one of the champions, and 
 wins the chief prize. On 'raising his helmet he is at 
 once recognized, and all knights press round him, clamour- 
 ing for a song. " I may in no wise sing," answers 
 the poet, "till my Lady grant me her pardon." To this 
 the lady, however, answers : " I will not pardon him until 
 he has caused a hundred barons, a hundred knights, a 
 hundred dames, and a hundred damsels to cry for mercy 
 to be shown him, without knowing the reason thereof." 
 Thereupon the poet, who was a man of resources, forth- 
 with composes a fine canzone, which he sings before a 
 
240 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 great assemblage of lords and ladies. " Even as an 
 elephant," runs the canzone, " when he falleth cannot rise 
 till other elephants uplift him by their voices, so is it 
 with me. Deign then to cry me mercy, and to lift me 
 up." The song, of course, has the effect of inducing the 
 required number of knights and ladies to pray for his 
 forgiveness, and the story ends happily with the recon- 
 ciliation of the two lovers. 
 
 GUILLEM OF BALAUN. 
 First half of I3th Century. 
 
 GUILLEM of Balaun is a poet of lesser fame, and the only 
 really remarkable thing in connection with him is the follow- 
 ing romantic tale, of his attempt to prove his lady's love. 
 A somewhat similar story is told, as we have seen, about 
 Pons of Capduoil, and we have also more than once 
 found a reconciliation brought about by the intercession of 
 friends. The story is interesting, inasmuch as it throws a 
 curious light on the age in which it was written ; but the 
 barbarity of some of its details is unpleasant to modern taste. 
 
 GUILLEM OF BALAUN* 
 
 Now Guillem of Balaun was a noble castellan of 
 the country of Montpellier a right excellent knight 
 he was, and a good poet withal, and he became enam- 
 oured of a noble lady of the diocese of Gavaudan, 
 named my Lady Guilhelma of Javiac, wife of 
 Peire, lord of Javiac. Much did he love her, and 
 
 * Mahn, liii. 
 
Guillem of Balaun 241 
 
 serve her in song and speech ; and she too loved 
 him so well that she granted him all he would of 
 her. Now Sir Guillem had a comrade, named Sir 
 Peire of Barjac, valorous and good and handsome. 
 And in the castle of Javiac he loved a gracious lady, 
 named Viernetta, who took him for her knight and 
 accorded him all he would of her. And it happened 
 that Sir Peire fell out with his lady, insomuch that 
 she roughly dismissed him, whereat he went away 
 more sad and dolorous than ever in his life before. 
 And Sir Guillem gave him great comfort and bade 
 him not despair, promising to make them at one 
 so soon as he should return to Javiac. And a long 
 and weary time did it seem to Sir Peire, ere his 
 return thither. And so soon as Sir Guillem was 
 come to Javiac he made them at one, whereat Sir 
 Peire was 'even gladder than when first he won his 
 lady : and this he himself told to Sir Guillem. 
 Then Sir Guillem said he would fain know whether 
 the joy of recovering a lady's love were indeed as 
 great as that of first winning it ; so he feigned him- 
 self sore vext with my Lady Guilhelma, and withheld 
 from sending her message or greeting, neither would 
 he dwell in her neighbourhood. Then the lady sent 
 him a messenger bearing full loving letters, wherein 
 she said she marvelled that he withheld himself 
 from her, and sent her no message; and he, like a 
 foolish lover, would not hearken to the letters, and 
 
 Q 
 
242 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 sent away the messenger full churlishly. Then the 
 messenger, making great dole, returned unto his 
 lady, to tell that which had happened. Then the 
 lady was full sorrowful, and she charged a knight 
 of the castle, the which knew of all that had passed 
 betwixt them, to go to Sir Guillem of Balaun, to 
 inquire of him why he was thus wroth with her, 
 and to tell him that, if she had done aught amiss, 
 he should avenge it on her, and she would amend 
 it according to his desire. The knight went to Sir 
 Guillem and was ill received, and when he had said 
 his say, Sir Guillem told him he would not speak 
 the cause of his wrath, for he knew well it was such 
 that it might not be amended nor forgiven. The 
 knight returned and told my Lady Guilhelma that 
 which Sir Guillem had said, whereat she fell into 
 despair, and said that never more would she send 
 him messenger nor prayer, nor justification, and from 
 henceforth she held everything for naught, and long 
 remained of this mind. 
 
 Now it chanced upon a day that Sir Guillem fell 
 to thinking of the great joy and blessedness which 
 he was losing by his folly, so he mounted his horse 
 and came to Javiac, and lodged with a burgher, for 
 he would not come to court, and said that he was 
 making a pilgrimage. My Lady Guilhelma came to 
 know that he was in the town, and at nightfall, when 
 all men were abed, she came forth from the castle 
 
Guillem of Balaun 243 
 
 with a dame and a damsel, and went unto his 
 lodging, and bade them show her where he was, 
 and she came into the chamber where he was 
 lying, and fell upon her knees before him, and 
 lowered her wimple for to kiss him, and besought 
 him pardon for the wrong she had not done ; and 
 he would neither receive nor pardon her, but with 
 blows and buffets drove her from before him. And 
 the lady went back, passing sad and heavy to her 
 lodging, and was minded never more to see him 
 nor to speak with him; and repented her of that 
 which Love had made her do. And he also made 
 great dole at the folly he had committed, and he 
 arose betimes, and came to the castle and said, that 
 he would speak with my Lady Guilhelma to ask her 
 pardon. And the Lady Guilhelma when she heard 
 of it refused herself to him, and bade them cast 
 him roughly from the castle. Then Sir Guillem 
 went forth sad and tearful, while the lady abode in 
 grief and repentance at the dishonour that had been 
 done her. Thus did Guillem of Balaun endure a 
 full year, and in all that while the lady would neither 
 see him nor hear talk of him, wherefore he made 
 the despairing song that begins : 
 
 "Mon vers mou merceian." 
 (My song begins with prayer for grace.) 
 
 Now Sir Bernart of Andusa, the most excellent 
 knight of that country, came to know how it stood 
 
244 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 with them, and he gat him to horse, and came to 
 Balaun, and asked Sir Guillem how it might be 
 that he had so long withheld from seeing his lady. 
 And Sir Guillem told him of all the matter, and of 
 the folly that had seized upon him; and Sir Bernart, 
 when he heard it, held it for sport and jest, and 
 said he would make peace betwixt them; and great 
 joy came to Sir Guillem on hearing that Sir Bernart 
 would be their go-between. Sir Bernart departed 
 and went to Javiac, and told the lady how it stood 
 with Sir Guillem, and how he was sad and sorowful 
 for the folly he had imagined within himself, and 
 told her that the scorn he had made of her was but 
 to prove her. And the lady made answer that she 
 was greatly at fault for so humbling herself before 
 him. And Sir Bernart told her that it would the 
 more beseem her to be the first to pardon, in that she 
 was right and Sir Guillem wrong ; and as instantly 
 as he could, did he beseech her to pardon him for 
 the sake of God's Mercy, and avenge herself there- 
 after as she would. And the lady answered that 
 since he willed it she would grant pardon, if so be 
 that Sir Guillem, for the fault he had committed, 
 would tear away the nail from his little finger, and 
 would bring it her with a song, blaming himself for 
 the folly he had done. 
 
 Sir Bernart of Andusa, seeing that he could do 
 naught else, took leave of her, and went unto Sir 
 
Guillem of Balaun 245 
 
 Guillem and delivered him the lady's answer. Then 
 Sir Guillem, hearing of the pardon that was assured 
 him, made right merry, and gave thanks to him 
 that he had thus wrought upon his lady. Right so 
 forth he let bring a learned leech, and caused him 
 to tear away the nail, suffering the while great 
 pain ; and he made his song and came to Javiac, 
 he and Sir Bernart with him. My Lady Guilhelma 
 came forth to meet them, and Sir Guillem knelt 
 down before her, seeking mercy and pardon of her, 
 and presenting her the nail. And she took pity on 
 him and made him rise, and they three entered 
 together into a chamber, and there she pardoned 
 him, and kissed and embraced him. And he re- 
 hearsed to her his song, and she heard it gladly ; 
 and henceforth either loved other more than ever 
 before. 
 
 GUY OF UISEL. 
 First half of i3th Century. 
 
 GUY of Uisel, his brothers and cousin, though owning, as 
 we are told, many castles, dwelt peacefully in one of them. 
 Three of them were troubadours, while the fourth sang that 
 which the others composed. A few graceful 'pastoretas' of 
 Guy of Uisel's are preserved to us, and also a few tenzons, 
 written by his cousin and one of his brothers. 
 
246 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 GUY OF UISEL* 
 
 GUY of Uisel was a noble castellan of Limousin, 
 and he and his brothers, and his cousin Sir Elias, 
 were lords of Uisel, a mighty castle, and many 
 others had they likewise. And one of his brothers 
 hight Ebles, and the other Peire, and the cousin 
 Elias. And all they four were poets ; and Guy 
 made good canzones, and Elias good tenzons, and 
 Ebles badf tenzons, and Peire sang all that they 
 made. Sir Guy was canon of Montferran and of 
 Briude, and long loved the Countess of Montferran 
 and the Lady Margarida of Albusson, wife of Sir 
 Rainaut, Viscount of Albusson ; and of these he 
 made many good canzones, until the Pope's legate 
 bound him by oath to make no more of them, 
 wherefore he forsook both singing and poetry. 
 
 ELIAS OF BARJOL. 
 First half of I3th Century. 
 
 AMONG the twelve canzones Elias of Barjol has left us, one 
 is worthy of mention as being evidently in imitation of that 
 by Bertran of Born, in which the latter creates a lady for 
 himself out of the graces and virtues borrowed from many 
 ladies. Elias in the same manner creates a knight for his 
 mistress by borrowing virtues from the most famous knights 
 of Provence, amongst whom appear the names of the Dauphin 
 of Auvergne, Pons of Capduoil, and Raymond of Miraval. 
 
 * See Mahn, liv. f Bad satirical, malicious. 
 
Elias of Barjol 247 
 
 ELI AS OF BARJOL* 
 
 Now Sir Elias of Barjol was of the Agenois, of a 
 castle named Perol. The son of a merchant was he, 
 and sang better than any man that was at that 
 season. And he became a jongleur, and joined the 
 company of another jongleur that hight Oliver, and 
 they two roamed long time from court to court. The 
 Count Alphonso of Provence caused them to abide 
 with him, and gave them at Barjol wives and land, 
 wherefore men called them Elias and Oliver of 
 Barjol. And after the Count was dead in Sicily, 
 Sir Elias became enamoured of the Countess Gar- 
 senda,f the Count's wife, and while she lived he 
 made of her many a fair and good song, and 
 afterwards entered the hospital of St. Benedict at 
 Avignon, and there also did he die. 
 
 CADENET. 
 First half of isth Century. 
 
 CADENET, judging by the number of his extant poems, was 
 one of the most productive of the lesser troubadours. He 
 composed a few 'pastoretas' (pastourelles), but the majority 
 of his poems are canzones, and the lady whose praises he 
 chiefly sang in them, was Eleanor, wife of Raymond VI. of 
 
 * See Mahn, Iv. 
 
 fGarsenda was a princess of great virtue who after her husband's 
 death became Regent of Provence. 
 
248 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Toulouse, and daughter of the famous Alphonso II. of Aragon. 
 This lady inherited her father's taste for poetry, and was, like 
 him, a friend and protector of poets, who, of course, in return 
 for her bounty, united in praise of her beauty and many 
 virtues. Besides canzones and pastourelles, we have a re- 
 markably bitter so-called ' Half-sirvente,' by Cadenet, directed 
 against a Count of Burlatz, who, irritated by the blame of one 
 of the troubadours, banished them all from his court. One 
 of his latest poems is a religious one, in which he bids 
 farewell to the world, and exhorts his patron Blacatz to do 
 likewise. 
 
 OF CADENET* 
 
 Now Cadenet was of Provence, of a castle named 
 Cadenet, which is on the banks of the Durance, in 
 the county of Forcalquier, and he was the son of 
 a poor knight. And when he was yet a child, the 
 castle of Cadenet was destroyed and plundered by 
 the people of the Count of Toulouse, and the men 
 of that land were killed or captured. And Cadenet 
 was led bound into Toulouse, by a knight named 
 Guillem of Lantar, 1 who nurtured him and kept 
 him in his house. And he became brave, and fair, 
 and courteous, and could sing and discourse right 
 well, and learnt to make coblas and sirventes. 
 Then he departed from the lord that had nurtured 
 him, and went from court to court, and became 
 a jongleur, calling himself Baguas? Long time did 
 he go through the world, with but little good 
 
 *See Mahn, Ivi. 
 
Cadenet 249 
 
 fortune, until he came into Provence where none 
 knew him, and there he took the name of Cadenet, 
 and began to make canzones good and fair. And 
 Raymond Leugier of Dosfraires [Deux freres] in 
 the diocese of Nice gave him harness and advanced 
 him ; likewise Lord Blacatz honoured him and did 
 him much good. And long time did he live in 
 passing great fame and happiness, and afterwards 
 he entered the Order of the Hospitallers, wherein 
 also he died. And all these his deeds do I know 
 by hearsay and^by eyewitness. 
 
 1 Guillem of Lantar. A baron of that name is several times 
 
 mentioned in the chronicles. 
 
 2 Baguas. Scoundrel or debauchee. 
 
 PERDIGON. 
 First half of I3th Century. 
 
 THE Albigensian War, in its political aspect, may be regarded 
 as a struggle between the great feudal lords on the one side, 
 and the clergy supported by France on the other. As might 
 easily be supposed, the troubadours were, throughout, the steady 
 friends of the barons, at whose courts they had ever found a 
 generous welcome : and they therefore directed the full violence 
 of their hatred against the Church, and their national enemies 
 the French. The one notable exception among them was 
 Perd'gon, for Folquet, at the time of the war, had long ceased 
 to be numbered with the troubadours. Perdigon, the son of a 
 poor fisherman, had previously won the favour of King Peter 
 
250 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 of Aragon, the Dauphin of Auvergne, William of the Baux 
 Prince of Orange, and other great Provencal rulers, and had, 
 under their protection, long enjoyed great honour and prosperity. 
 At the beginning of the war, William of the Baux, eager for the 
 ruin of his great suzerain, the Count of Toulouse, espoused 
 the cause of the orthodox, and in this, whether from a 
 spirit of religious fanaticism, or from a base hope of personal 
 gain, Perdigon followed him with enthusiasm. He accompanied 
 Folquet in his expedition to Rome, and, when, permission had 
 been obtained from the Pope to preach a crusade against 
 Raymond, urged on the Crusaders by his fiery songs to their 
 work of slaughter ; he was present at the terrible massacre at 
 Beziers, and also at the Battle of Muret, at which was slain 
 his former benefactor, Peter of Aragon. It is satisfactory, 
 however, to know that Perdigon's ingratitude met its just 
 reward. His last years were full of bitterness ; his old friends 
 shrank from him, and upon the death, in the year 1218, of his 
 patrons Simon of Montfort and William of the Baux, he found 
 himself utterly alone, and glad to take shelter from the general 
 hatred in a Cistercian monastery. 
 
 Perdigon's political poems have been lost, and his canzones, 
 which have been preserved to us, are of no special merit. 
 
 OF PERDIGON* 
 
 Now Perdigon was a jongleur, and knew right well 
 to viol, and to make poetry and to sing ; and he 
 was of the diocese of Gavaudon, of a village named 
 Esperon, and was the son of a fisherman. And by 
 his poetry, and by his sure wit he rose to such 
 fame and honour, that the Dauphin of Auvergne 
 
 *See Mahn, Iviii. 
 
Perdigon 251 
 
 made him one of his knights, and gave him land 
 and revenues. All good folk did him honour, and 
 long did he dwell in great joy and happiness; but 
 great changes came to him, for death despoiled him 
 of his good days, and gave him evil ones, and he 
 lost friends, and mistresses, and praise, and honour, 
 and wealth. After this he went to Rome with the 
 Prince of Orange, the Lord William of the Baux, and 
 Folquet of Marseilles Bishop of Toulouse, and the 
 Abbot of Cistel, to bring evil on the Count of 
 Toulouse, and to ordain a crusade, and to disinherit 
 the good Count Raymond. And Raymond's nephew 
 the Count of Beziers died, and Carcassez 1 and the 
 Albigeois were destroyed; and King Peter of Aragon, 
 with one thousand knights and twenty thousand 
 other men, were slain before Muret. And in all 
 these deeds Perdigon bore his part ; and in his 
 songs he exhorted all men to take the Cross, and 
 gave praise to God because that the Frenchmen had 
 slain and discomfited King Peter of Aragon, the which 
 had arrayed him, and made him gifts, wherefore he 
 lost fame, and honour, and wealth, and those that had 
 enriched him and were yet alive would neither see 
 him, nor hear of him. And all those of his fellow- 
 ship were slain in war, the Count of Montfort, 
 Lord William of the Baux, and those that had joined 
 the Crusade ; and Count Raymond recovered his 
 inheritance, and Perdigon dared not go or come, 
 
252 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 and the Dauphin of Auvergne stript him of the 
 land and revenues that he had given him. Then 
 he got him to Lord Lambert 2 of Montel, son-in-law 
 of Lord William of the Baux, and besought him 
 to gain him entrance into a House of Cistel, named 
 Silvabela, and he gained him entrance into it, and 
 there he died. 
 
 1 Carcassez. The old county, of which Carcasonne was the 
 
 capital. 
 
 2 Lambert of Montel. A baron, who had allied himself by 
 
 marriage with the House of Montfort. 
 
 GUY OF CAVAILLON. 
 First half of I3th Century. 
 
 GUY of Cavaillon was a faithful friend to Raymond VII. of 
 Toulouse, in defence of whose cause he wrote a very bitter 
 poem against William IV. of the Baux, who had gone over to 
 the side of the French in their attacks on Raymond, and 
 been made King of Aries. In mocking allusion to William's 
 falling into the hands of the burgher whom he had robbed, 
 and to his capture by some fishermen, Guy bids this "Half 
 prince, who got himself crowned King" to have a care 
 to leave his state well protected, since he is so often taken 
 prisoner. In another poem he speaks of himself as being 
 besieged by the French in a castle called Castelnou (New 
 Castle), and reproaches one of his brothers-in-arms for not 
 coming to his aid. 
 
Guy of Cavaillon 253 
 
 GUY OF CAVAILLON* 
 
 Now Guy of Cavaillon was a noble baron of 
 Provence, lord of Cavaillon. And he was a bounti- 
 ful, courteous and gracious knight, and well loved 
 of ladies, and of all folk soever, and a good knight 
 of arms, and a good warrior, and he made good 
 tenzons and coblas of love and of merriment. 
 And men weened that he was the lover of the 
 Countess Garsenda,f wife of the Count of Provence, 
 the which was brother of the King of Aragon. 
 
 ALBERTET. 
 First half of I3th Century. 
 
 AMONG Albertet's poems is a sirvente of singular originality, 
 in which he declaims against Love, and professes himself 
 proof against the charms of the fairest women of his day, 
 some of whom he mentions by name. He also bore part in 
 a tenzon, the subject of which was the rival merits of the 
 Catalans (amongst whom are included those whose language 
 was the Langue d'Oc), 1 and the French, or those who spoke 
 the Langue d'Oil. Albertet's opponent declares himself for 
 the French, and boasts of their valour, generosity, and good 
 cheer, while the Catalans, he says, feast strangers on nothing 
 but songs. Albertet defends his countrymen, the Catalans, 
 with whom, he says, chivalry had its rise, and at whose tables 
 is that merriment without which all dishes are tasteless. 
 
 * See Mahn, lix. 
 
 fThe Countess that Elias Barjol also loved. 
 
254 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 ALBERTET* 
 
 Now Albertet was of Gapensois, the son of a jongleur 
 named Asar, the which made good canzonets. And 
 Albertet made many canzones with good melodies, 
 but words of little worth, and greatly was he liked 
 both far and near for the good melodies he made. 
 And a good jongleur was he at court, and merry 
 and debonair amongst all men, and he dwelt long 
 at Orange, and thereafter went to Sisteron, where 
 he died. 
 
 1 Langue d'Oc. A geographical line, running at the northern 
 border of Dauphine, Auvergne, Limousin, and Perigord, 
 divided in the Middle Ages the people who spoke the 
 Langue d'Oil, or French language, from those who spoke 
 the Langue d'Oc or Provencal. Languedoc included also 
 Catalonia and Savoy, and a small portion of the south- 
 west of Switzerland. The troubadours called their language 
 * Romans,' * Limousin] and, later on, ' Provencal.' 
 
 AIMERIC OF BELENOI. 
 
 AIMERIC of Belenoi, though not to be placed among the 
 greater troubadours, nevertheless won the praise of Dante, 1 
 who quotes a line from him. His most interesting poems are 
 a fine ' complaint ' over the death of a Count of Roussillon ; a 
 Crusading song, though on which crusade is uncertain ; and 
 a sirvente in which he takes up the cause of Love against its 
 enemy, Albertet. 
 
 * See Mahn, Ix. 
 
Aimeric of Belenoi 255 
 
 AIMER 1C, OF BELENOI* 
 
 SIR AIMERIC of Belenoi was of Bourdelois, of a 
 castle named Lesparra nephew of Master Peire of 
 Corbiac, 2 and first he was a clerk, but afterwards he 
 became a jongleur, and made songs good, and fair 
 and pleasant of a lady of Gascony, named Gentil of 
 Ruis, and for her sake he remained long in that 
 country, and thereafter he went into Catalonia, where 
 he dwelt till he died and behold here written 
 some of his songs. 
 
 1 The Praise of Dante See De Vulgari Eloquio^ Lib. n., cap. 6. 
 
 12. 
 
 2 Peire of Corbiac A troubadour of little importance. 
 
 ELIAS CAIREL. 
 First half of isth Century. 
 
 THE most interesting of the poems of Elias Cairel is one 
 addressed to William IV. of Montferrat about the year 1224, 
 urging upon the Marquis to attempt the recovery of Thessa- 
 lonica, which had been taken from his younger brother. 
 
 OF ELIAS CAIREL* 
 
 Now Elias Cairel was of Sarlat, of a town of Peri- 
 gord, and was a worker in gold and silver, and a 
 
 *See Mahn, Ixi. fSee Mahn, xii. 
 
256 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 designer of arms, but became a jongleur. Ill did 
 he sing, and ill did he make poetry, and ill did he 
 viol, and yet worse did he speak, but well wrote 
 both words and melodies. Long did he abide in 
 Romania, and when he departed from thence he 
 returned to Sarlat and their died. 
 
 Another manuscript. Elias Cairel was of great 
 learning and of great subtlety in the making of 
 poetry, and in all that he would do or say. And 
 he roamed over the greater part of the habited 
 world, but because of his scorn of the barons, and 
 of the age, he was not favoured as his work merited. 
 
 FOLQUET OF ROTMAN. 
 First half of isth Century. 
 
 FOLQUET of Rotman, as his poems prove, spent the greater 
 part of his life in Italy, where he sought the protection of the 
 Emperor Frederick II. and William IV. of Montferrat. He 
 wrote two Crusading songs, one of which is an exhortation to 
 Frederick II. to lead his army to Palestine without delay. 
 
 OF FOLQUET OF ROTMAN* 
 
 FOLQUET of Rotman was of Viennois, of a borough 
 named Rotman, a good jongleur he was, and accom- 
 plished at court and of great merriment. And 
 greatly was he honoured of all good folk, and he 
 
 * See Mahn, Ixiii. 
 
Folquet of Rotman 2 57 
 
 made sirventes after the manner of a jongleur, 
 wherein he praised the stout and blamed the 
 cowardly; and he made many good coblas. 
 
 GUILLEM FIGIEIRA. 
 First half of I3th Century. 
 
 THE importance of Guillem Figieira consists chiefly in the 
 long and passionate sirvente, in which he denounces Rome 
 and her iniquities. A native of Toulouse, in which he dwelt 
 during the Albigensian war, his sympathy in the misfortunes 
 of his lord and country filled him with a deadly hatred of 
 the Church that had smiled on the atrocities practised by 
 the Crusaders ; and it is this hatred, or rather this righteous 
 indignation of his, that inspires the sirvente in question, the 
 sustained strength and artistic finish of which make it one 
 of the most remarkable productions of Provengal literature. 
 
 Amongst Figieira's other poems is to be mentioned a very 
 forcible denunciation of the immorality of the priests, and also 
 two sirventes in praise of Frederick II., of whom, as might be 
 expected, he was an ardent admirer. 
 
 OF GUILLEM FIGIEIRA* 
 
 GUILLEM FIGIEIRA was of Toulouse, and was the 
 son of a tailor, and eke himself a tailor. And when 
 the French had taken Toulouse he came to dwell 
 in Lombardy. And he knew right well to sing, 
 and to make poetry, and became the jongleur of 
 citizens. He was not one that might dwell among 
 
 *See Mahn, Ixiv. 
 R 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 barons and among gentlefolk, but made himself 
 cherished of the riotous and wantons, and of inn- 
 keepers and tavern-keepers. And ever when he 
 saw a good man from the court coming to where 
 he abode, he was vexed and grieved, and ever strove 
 to abase him, and to lift up the dissolute. 
 
 THREE STANZAS OF THE SIRVENTE ON ROME.** 
 
 Lo, a song I sing 
 
 With melody that pleases, 
 Hence vain dallying, 
 
 Since speech my bosom eases. 
 Him that thus would sing 
 
 I wot swift vengeance seizes ; 
 Nathless I will rise 
 'Gainst that Head of lies, 
 Rome, whom all despise, 
 
 Foul source of all diseases 
 Whereof virtue dies. 
 
 Rome, deceiver dread, 
 Who gold alone reverest, 
 
 From thy sheep unfed 
 
 Full close the wool thou shearest. 
 
 * See Chrestomathie provenfale, page 199. 
 
Guillem Figieira 2 59 
 
 He, whose blood was shed, 
 And to mankind is dearest, 
 
 He whom now I seek 
 
 Break thy rav'nous beak. 
 
 Rome, as traitress sleek 
 And liar thou appearest 
 
 To Latin and to Greek. 
 
 Rome, on flesh of weak 2 
 
 And foolish men thou feedest, 
 Blind ones guidance seek, 
 
 Whom in the ditch thou leadest ; 
 God's commandment eke 
 
 Methinks thou little heedest ; 
 Since by lust of gold 
 Pardons thou hast sold 
 Unto sinners bold ; 
 
 Rome, great strength thou needest 
 Sin's burden to uphold. 
 
 1 The sirvente on Rome. The sirvente of which these verses 
 form part is of unusual length, twenty-three stanzas in 
 all ; each one is of eleven lines with the rhymes 
 abababcccbc. Throughout the poem the rhyme c 
 of a stanza is introduced as a, into the following one, 
 but otherwise each stanza has its own rhymes. 
 
 2 Rome, on flesh of weak. The literal translation of the 
 opening lines of this stanza is : " Rome, thou gnawest 
 the flesh and bones of foolish men," a sentence not easy 
 to render in verse. The above stanzas are perhaps those 
 
260 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 that best admit of verse translation, the substance of 
 some of the others is as follows : 
 
 "Rome, verily thou wast too eager in promoting vile 
 exhortations against Toulouse, like one in raging madness 
 didst thou gnaw the hands of great and small, yet if 
 the noble Count live but two more years, France shall 
 sorely rue thy arts and wiles. . . . Rome, I comfort 
 me in that ere long great ruin shall seize thee, if the 
 righteous Emperor [Frederick II.] does that he should. 
 Rome, may the true Redeemer soon let me see it come 
 to pass. . . . Rome, so fast is thy grip, that what 
 thou clutchest may hardly escape thee : yet if thou lose 
 not soon thy power, soon will the world be in an evil 
 pass, and slain and vanquished. Rome, it is thy Pope 
 that works this wonder. . . . Rome, I am passing 
 sad to see thy power increase, for therein great misfortune 
 threatens us all, for thou art the refuge and source of 
 deceit and shame ; thy shepherds are false traitors, 
 and they that prize them do great folly. 
 
 Rome, from the foul heart thou bearest in thy bosom 
 springs up the sycamore, that strangles the whole world 
 with its sweetness ; the wise man trembles on seeing 
 the deadly venom thou bearest in thy breast. Rome, 
 it is from thy heart that there flows that whereof most 
 men are full. . . . Rome, with hypocrisy thou layest 
 thy net, and many an evil morsel thou devourest, reckless 
 of the sore need of others. Thou hast the semblance of 
 an innocent lamb, but within thou art a ravenous wolf, 
 a crowned serpent, begotten of a viper ; therefore does 
 the devil give thee succour as to his familiar friend. 
 
Lanfranc Cigalla 26t 
 
 LANFRANC CIGALLA. 
 First half of I3th Century. 
 
 A LANFRANC CIGALLA, probably the troubadour, is mentioned 
 in the Annals of Genoa as being judge there in the year 1243. 
 Amongst his poems are three sirventes of interest : one in 
 condemnation of Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, for having 
 deserted Frederick II., another in praise of Saint Louis, and 
 a third against the obscene poetry then in vogue. 
 
 OF LANFRANC CIGALLA* 
 
 LORD LANFRANC CIGALLA was of the city of Genoa. 
 And he was a gentle man and wise, and was both 
 judge and knight, but lived rather the life of a 
 judge than of a knight. And he was a great lover 
 of ladies and of poetry ; and he was a good poet, and 
 made many good canzones, and sang full readily 
 of God, and behold here written some of his 
 canzones. 
 
 GUILLEM OF MONTAGNAGOUT. 
 Died 1270 ? 
 
 ANOTHER manuscript than that translated below speaks of 
 Guillem as belonging to Toulouse, and not Provence, and 
 this is the more likely to be the case, in that his poems 
 treat of subjects bearing on Toulouse, one, namely, in praise 
 of the efforts that Raymond VII. made to regain the lands 
 lost in the Albigensian War, and another against the Inquisi- 
 tion then established in Toulouse and other places. 
 
 * See Mahn, Ixv. 
 
262 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 OF GUILLEM OF MONTAGNAGOUT* 
 
 GUILLEM OF MONTAGNAGOUT was a knight of 
 Provence, and was a good troubadour, and a great 
 lover ; and he loved my Lady Jauseranda, of the 
 Castle of Lunel, and made for her many good songs. 
 
 BERTRAN OF LAMANON. 
 Second Third of I3th Century. 
 
 BERTRAN OF LAMANON was a powerful baron of Provence, 
 who lived in the reign of Raymond Berengar IV. of Provence, 
 and appears as the hero of a tale in the Cento Novelle. 
 Bertran wrote a poem on Sordello's dirge over Blacatz, in 
 which he says that he wonders at Sordello's folly in dividing 
 the heart of Blacatz among people unworthy of it ; Bertran, 
 for his part, would divide it among the women whom Blacatz 
 loved. 
 
 OF BERTRAN OF LAMANON.\ 
 
 Now Bertran of Lamanon was of Provence, the 
 son of Sir Pons of Brugeiras. A courteous knight 
 he was, and fair of speech, and made many a good 
 and merry cobla and sirvente. 
 
 BERTRAN OF BORN, THE YOUNGER. 
 First half of I3th Century. 
 
 THE story of John's marriage to Isabel of Angouleme, and 
 the subsequent rebellion of his barons, is here given, as will 
 
 * See Mahn, Ixvi. fSee Mahn, Ixvii. 
 

 Bertran of Born, the Younger 26 3 
 
 be seen, merely in explanation of a sirvente composed, as the 
 biographer says, by the younger Bertran of Born, son of the 
 greater poet of that name. History bears witness to the veracity 
 of the following account in all its essential points. John's 
 marriage, the year after his accession to the throne, with 
 the bride of Hugh the Brown, Earl of Marche, led, in fact, 
 to a rebellion on the part of Hugh and a large number of 
 Poitevin barons, who straightway appealed to the King of 
 France for aid. In answer to this appeal Philip sent them 
 young Arthur of Brittany ; he and the barons of Poitou, 
 however, while besieging Queen Eleanor, who was in the 
 Castle of Mirabel, were surprised and defeated by John. 
 In the spring of the following year (1203) Arthur, who had 
 been sent by John to a prison in Rouen, died put to death, 
 as was the general belief, by his uncle's orders. The rebellion 
 now became of a most wide-spread nature. Philip in 1204 
 invaded, and finally conquered Normandy, and in the follow- 
 ing year Anjou, Maine and Touraine also fell into his hands. 
 
 The sirvente* in question was probably composed in the 
 spring of 1205, some months before Philip had possessed 
 himself of all the great Angevin inheritance ; its author was 
 bitterly opposed to French rule, and enraged at the supine- 
 ness of John ; and the substance of some of his stanzas is 
 as follows : 
 
 "When I see the year growing young again, and leaves 
 and flowers showing themselves, Love gives me the mind 
 and courage to sing, and I will therefore make a biting 
 sirvente, which I will send as a gift to King John, that he 
 may be shamed by it. And good cause had he for shame, 
 would he but mind him of his forefathers, for without resist- 
 ance he has given up Poitiers and Tours to King Philip ; 
 wherefore all Guienne weeps for King Richard, who spent 
 much gold and silver to defend that land, whereof King John 
 recks nothing ; he the while thinks but of the tourney, and 
 
 * See Stimming's Bertran of Born, page 221. 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 the chase, and hounds, and hawks, and ease ; wherefore 
 Honour forsakes him, and he is despoiled while yet alive of 
 his inheritance. . . . Barons, towards you I turn now in 
 rebuke ; I blame the folly that ye have, and full woe am I 
 that I must needs speak thus. Ye have let your fame be 
 trampled in the mire, and ye have learnt a sort of folly that 
 makes you fear no chastisement." 
 
 OF KING JOHN OF ENGLAND* 
 
 Now this is the purport of this sirvente. When 
 King Richard was dead there remained behind him 
 one of his brothers, John, surnamed Lackland, be- 
 cause there was no land apportioned unto him. 
 And he was made King of England, and Duke 
 of Aquitaine, and Count of Poitou. And so soon 
 as he was made King and Lord of Aquitaine and 
 Poitou, he betook him to the Count of Angouleme, 
 who had a right fair daughter a maid of some 
 fifteen years. And the maid had been affianced by 
 Lord Richard to Hugh the Brown, Count of Marche, 
 the which was nephew and vassal of Lord Geoffrey 
 de la Seingna. And the Count of Angouleme had 
 promised him his daughter, and he received him 
 for his son, for no other son nor daughter had he. 
 Now King John said to the Count of Angouleme 
 that he would have his daughter for wife, and 
 caused her to be given him, and straightway 
 espoused her, and gat him to horse, and went with 
 
 * See Mahn, Ixviii. 
 
Bertran of Born, the Younger 26 5 
 
 his wife into Normandy. And full woe was the 
 Count of Marche when he knew that the King had 
 robbed him of his wife, and he made complaint 
 of it to all his kinsmen and friends. And all were 
 sore wroth because of it, and took counsel together 
 over the going to Brittany to possess them of 
 Arthur, Count Geoffrey's son, whom they would 
 make their lord. And of right could they do this, 
 seeing that he was son of Count Geoffrey that was 
 born before King John. So they made Arthur their 
 liege lord, and swore him fealty, and brought him 
 into Poitou, and took from the King all Poitou, but 
 it were a few castles and strongholds he had therein. 
 And he the while abode with his wife in Nor- 
 mandy, and went not from her day or night, neither 
 eating, nor drinking, nor sleeping, nor waking, and 
 took her with him as he hawked and hunted. 
 And the barons went on taking all his land; yet 
 truly it happened that a great misadventure over- 
 took them, for they had besieged his mother in a 
 castle named Mirabel, and he, confirmed therein 
 by others, brought secret succour to her, and came 
 so stealthily that none had tidings of it until he 
 was with them in the fort ; and he found them 
 sleeping, and took all captive Arthur, and his 
 barons, and those that held with him. And for 
 jealous love of his wife (for he might not live 
 without her) he gave up Poitiers, and returned into 
 
266 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 Normandy, and left his prisoners bound to him by 
 oath, and by the giving of hostages. And he passed 
 into England, taking with him Arthur, and Lord 
 Savaric of Mauleon, and the Viscount of Castel 
 Airaut. And he let drown his nephew Arthur,* 
 and Lord Savaric of Mauleon and the Viscount of 
 Castel Airaut he put into the Tower Corp, where 
 never man ate nor drank. 
 
 And when the King of France knew that King 
 John had passed into England with his wife, he 
 straightway entered into Normandy with a great 
 host of men, and despoiled him of all the land. 
 And the barons of Poitou rose against him, and 
 took from him all Poitou, save only La Rochelle. 
 Then Lord Savaric of Mauleon, like a man valiant 
 and wise and noble, achieved by subtle devices 
 his escape out of his prison, and took the castle, 
 in the which he was captive. And King John 
 made peace with him, and let him go free, and 
 gave into his keeping all such parts of Poitou and 
 Gascony as had not been taken from him. And 
 thither betook himself Lord Savaric, and fell to 
 making war upon all King John's enemies, and took 
 from them all Poitou and Gascony, while the King 
 dwelt at ease with his wife in England, and gave 
 no aid to Lord Savaric of Mauleon, either with men 
 or money ; wherefore Bertran of Born the Young 
 
 * Arthur was in reality imprisoned at Rouen, and not taken to England. 
 
Bertran of Born, the Younger 26 7 
 
 son of the Sir Bertran of Born that made those 
 other sirventes because of Lord Savaric's sore need, 
 and for the outcry that the men of Aquitaine and 
 of the county of Poitou made of it, made this 
 
 sirvente : 
 
 "Cant vei lo temps renovelar." 
 
 (When I see the season growing young again.) 
 
 DAUDE OF PRADAS. 
 1 3th Century. 
 
 DAUDE of Pradas, a troubadour of little importance, has left 
 behind him about twenty canzones, a poem on the right 
 treatment of birds of prey, and a didactic poem on the 
 cardinal virtues. 
 
 OF DAUDE OF PRADAS* 
 
 Now Daude of Pradas was of Rouergue, of a town 
 named Pradas, that lies four leagues from the city 
 of Rhodez. And he was a canon of Magalona 
 [Maguelonne], and a wise man of learning, and of 
 native wit withal. And he knew full well the 
 nature of birds of prey. And he made canzones 
 because he had a mind to make poetry, and not 
 because Love moved him to it, wherefore they 
 found no welcome amongst men, and were not sung 
 nor liked. 
 
 *See Mahn, Ixxi. 
 
268 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 THE LADIES CASTELLOZA, TIBORS, LOMBARDA, 
 
 MARIA OF VENTADORN, AND AZALAIS 
 
 OF PORCAIRAGUES. 
 
 OF these five ladies Maria of Ventadorn is by far the most 
 celebrated. She lived in a neighbourhood fertile in poets, 
 and at a court renowned for its splendour and hospitality, 
 and had therefore ample opportunity for displaying her charms 
 of mind and person. These must have been very great, for 
 no other lady's name occurs as frequently as hers in Provencal 
 poetry. While, however, the canzones of trouveresses such as 
 the Countess of Die, and Claire of Andusa vie with those of 
 the troubadours in grace and tenderness, other ladies, as, for 
 example, Maria, seem to have betaken themselves to the 
 composition of verses merely as an occasional recreation. 
 
 OF LADY CASTELLOZA* 
 
 MY Lady Castelloza was of Auvergne, a noble 
 lady, wife of True of Mairona ; and she loved Sir 
 Arman of Breon, and made of him her canzones. 
 And she was a lady right fair, right gay, and right 
 well taught. 
 
 OF LADY TIBORS.^ 
 
 MY Lady Tibors was of Provence, of a castle held 
 of Lord Blacatz and named Sarrenom. Courteous 
 she was, and gracious, and well taught, and withal 
 full learned and skilled in the making of poetry. 
 And she was amorous and full well loved of others, 
 
 *See Mahn, Ixxvi. fSee Mahn, Ixxvii. 
 
Lady Castelloza and Others 26 9 
 
 and full honoured by all the good men of that 
 country, and by all excellent ladies full greatly 
 striven for, and full well obeyed. And she made 
 these coblas and sent them to her lover : 
 
 "Bels dous amics, ben vos puesc en ver dir." 
 (Fair, sweet friend, 2 full truly can I say to you). 
 
 OF LADY LOMBARD A* 
 
 Now my Lady Lombarda was of Toulouse, gentle, 
 fair, and gracious, and well taught. And she knew 
 well to make poetry, and made coblas, and 
 amorous ones, wherefore Lord Bernart Arnaut, 
 brother of the Count of Armaias, heard tell of her 
 goodness and excellence, and came unto Toulouse 
 for to see her. And he dwelt with her in great 
 intimacy, and sought her in love, and was greatly 
 her friend. And he made these coblas of her, 
 and straightway sent them to where she lodged, 
 and gat him to horse, and without seeing her, 
 departed into his own land. And greatly marvelled 
 my lady Lombarda when she heard tell that Bernart 
 Arnaut was gone without seeing her, and she sent 
 him these coblas. 
 
 OF LADY MARIA OF VENTADORN.\ 
 
 Now well have ye heard how that my lady Maria 
 of Ventadorn was the most famous lady that ever 
 
 *See Mahn, Ixxviii. -f-See Mahn, Ixxix. 
 
2 7 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 was in Limousin, and she that most did good, and 
 most did keep her from evil ; and never did her 
 wit forsake her, or folly gain hold over her. And 
 God favoured her with a fair and goodly person, 
 and with grace unmarred by pride. Now Sir Guy 
 of Uisel had lost his lady, even as ye have heard 
 in his song that runs : 
 
 "Si bem partetz mala dompna de vos," 
 (Although I depart from you, cruel lady,) 
 
 wherefore he lived in great dole and sadness, and 
 for longtime had neither sung nor made poetry; 
 whence great heaviness came upon all the ladies of 
 that country, and upon my lady Maria more than 
 any, because that Sir Guy of Uisel was wont to 
 sing her praise in all his songs. Now the Count 
 of Marche, the which was called Lord Hugh the 
 Brown, was her knight, and as much honour as 
 lady can show to knight had she even shown to him. 
 And it fell upon a day, that while he was paying 
 court to her, there arose a debate between them, 
 for the Count of Marche said that a faithful lover, 
 when that his lady had given him her love, and 
 taken him for knight and friend, should, while he 
 remained faithful and true to her, have the same 
 dominion and lordship over her as she over him ; 
 and my lady Maria maintained that the friend 
 should have neither dominion nor lordship over her. 
 
Lady Castelloza and Others 2 7 l 
 
 And Gui of Uisel was in the court of my lady 
 Maria, and she, to turn the matter to song and to 
 sport, made of it a cobla, in the which she 
 inquired of him, if it were meet that a lover should 
 have as much dominion over his lady, as his lady 
 over him. And on this matter my lady Maria 
 challenged him to a tenzon, saying : 
 
 "Gui d'Uissel, bem peza de vos." 
 (Gui of Uisel, I am full sorry for you.) 
 
 OF AZALAIS OF PORCAIRAGUES* 
 
 MY lady Azalais of Porcairague was of the country 
 of Montpellier a noble lady and well taught. And 
 she became enamoured of Sir Guy Guerreiat, the 
 which was brother of Lord William of Montpellier. 
 And the lady knew to make poetry, and made 
 many a good canzone of him. 
 
 1 Lady Tibors. This Lady Tibors, being of Provence, must 
 
 not be confused with the Lady Tibors who brought 
 about a reconciliation between Bertran of Born and his 
 Lady. 
 
 2 Fair sweet friend. The substance of the poem is as follows : 
 
 " Fair sweet friend, full truly can I say that never am I 
 without desire of thee, . . . and never am I without 
 a mind, fair sweet friend, to see thee often, and never 
 was there a time that I have repented me, and never 
 when thou hast left me in sadness have I known joy till 
 thy return. 
 
 *See Mahn, xci. 
 
2 / 2 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 PEIRE OF MAENSAC AND OTHERS. 
 End of I2th Century, and first half of 
 
 THE following five Lives, being those of troubadours of little 
 significance, call for no special comment. 
 
 OF PEIRE OF MAENSAC.* 
 
 Now Peire of Maensac was a poor knight of 
 Auvergne, the Dauphin's land. And he had a 
 brother named Austor of Maensac, and both were 
 troubadours. And they accorded with one another, 
 that one should have the castle and the other the 
 poetry ; and Austor had the castle, and Peire the 
 poetry. And he sang of the wife of Sir Bernart 
 of Tierci ; and so much did he sing of her, and so 
 much did he honour and serve her, that the lady 
 let herself be stolen away by him. And he brought 
 her to one of the Dauphin of Auvergne's Castles, 
 and the husband made urgent demand of her, aided 
 therein by the Church, and made great war upon 
 him ; howbeit the Dauphin so upheld him that he 
 never restored her unto her husband. And Peire 
 was a right excellent man and a merry, and he 
 made canzones that had fair words and melodies, 
 and coblas of great merriment. 
 
 *See Mahn, Ixxxvi. 
 
Peire of Maensac and Others 2 73 
 
 OF GUILLEM ADEMAR* 
 
 GuiLLEM Ademar was of Gavaudan, of a castle 
 named Merueis a gentleman he was, the son of a 
 knight that was neither mighty nor rich. And the 
 lord of Merueis made him knight. And he was 
 brave, and good, and pleasant of speech, and a good 
 troubadour; but could not maintain the knightly 
 estate, so became a jongleur. And he was much 
 honoured, and later entered the monastery of 
 Granmont, and there died. 
 
 OF HUGH BRUNET.^ 
 
 SIR HUGH BRUNET was of the city of Rhodez, 
 which is of the lordship of the Count of Toulouse. 
 And he was a clerk that well did uphold learning, 
 and was a subtle man of learning and of native 
 wit. And he became a jongleur, and made good 
 songs, but no melodies, and consorted with the 
 Count of Rhodez, his liege lord, and with Sir Bernart 
 of Andusa, and with the Dauphin of Auvergne. 
 And he loved the wife of a burgher of Aurillac 
 named dame Galiana ; but she would neither love 
 him nor retain him, nor do him any pleasure of 
 love, but took the Count of Rhodez for her lover, 
 and gave dismissal to Sir Hugh Brunet ; and Sir 
 Hugh Brunet, for grief thereat, entered the order of 
 the Carthusians, and there died. 
 
 *See Mahn, Ixix. fSee Mahn, Ixx. 
 
2 74 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 OF BLACASSET* 
 
 LORD BLACASSET was the son of Lord Blacatz, 
 who was verily the best gentleman of Provence, and 
 the most honourable baron, and the most excellent, 
 and the most upright, and the most bountiful, and 
 the most courteous, and the most debonair. And 
 in good sooth was Lord Blacasset his son in all 
 excellence, and in all valour, and in all bountiful 
 deeds. And he was a great lover of ladies, and 
 much given to poetry, and he was a good troubadour 
 and the maker of many good canzones. 
 
 OF HUGH DE LA BACALAIRIA.^ 
 
 SIR HUGH de la Bacalairia was of Limousin, 
 whence was Gaucelm Faidit. A jongleur he was 
 of little worth, and little went abroad, and little 
 was known of men ; yet made he good canzones 
 and made also a good ' Descort/ and good tenzons 
 And he was a courteous man, right excellent, and 
 right well taught. 
 
 WILLIAM OF THE BAUX, PRINCE OF ORANGE. 
 Reigned from 1182-1219. 
 
 THIS Guillem, or William of the Baux, is the same prince that 
 has already been mentioned as the protector of Raembaut 
 of Vaqueiras and of Perdigon. He was the fourth Prince of 
 
 * See Mahn, xcv. fSee Mahn, cvi. 
 
William of the Baux 275 
 
 Orange of that name, his father, Bertran I. of the Baux, having 
 acquired the little State of Orange by his marriage with a 
 sister of the troubadour, Raembaut of Orange. 
 
 Allusion has already been made to the intimacy between 
 William IV. of Orange and Raembaut of Vaqueiras, who 
 exchanged tenzons with him, and gave him, though why is 
 not known, the pseudonym of "Englishman." The Ademar, 
 mentioned in the account given below, was a certain Count 
 of Valentinois and Diois, one of whose estates had been 
 plundered by William. Ademar avenged himself, as we see, 
 by causing his fishermen to set on the Prince as he was 
 journeying down the Rhone. Over this misfortune Raembaut 
 of Vaqueiras made merry at William's expense ; the Prince 
 therefore replied to him by a tenzon, in which he tells him, 
 that people will now think him even madder than his father 
 Peirol : " Go," he finishes by saying, " Go to the King of 
 Barcelona, and to the others on whom you are casting your 
 eyes ; for nothing do you like better than gold, and your 
 wretched raiment. 
 
 OF GUILLEM OF THE BAUX* 
 
 NOW Guillem of the Baux, Prince of Orange, robbed 
 a merchant of France upon his own high-road, and 
 despoiled him of rich goods ; and the merchant 
 went and made complaint of it to the King of France. 
 And the King said to him : " I might not amend that 
 which happens in a land so far off from me, howbeit, 
 I plight thee my word that thou shalt have license to 
 help thyself in whatsoever manner thou wilt." And 
 the burgher went and let counterfeit the King's ring, 
 and wrote to my lord Guillem of the Baux a letter, 
 
 *See Mahn, cii. 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 that should be the King's, bidding him come to the 
 King, and promising him great goods, and great 
 honours, and great gifts. And when Guillem of the 
 Baux had the letter he rejoiced full much, and made 
 great preparations for to go to the King ; and he 
 departed and entered into the city, where dwelt the 
 merchant whom he had robbed, for he knew not 
 whence the merchant was. And this burgher, when 
 he knew my lord Guillem of the Baux was in the 
 city, caused him and all his fellows to be taken, and 
 he had perforce to restore that he had stolen, and 
 amend that he had misdone. And he went forth 
 poor and despoiled, and went to take an estate 
 named 1'Osteilla, held of Ademar of Poitiers. And 
 as he was journeying on the Rhone in a bark, the 
 fishers of Sir Ademar seized on him, and Sir Raem- 
 baut of Vaqueiras, who called himself " English- 
 man,"* made these coblas thereof: 
 
 "Tuit me pregon, Engles, qeu vos don saut." 
 (All men pray me, Englishman, to make attack on you.) 
 
 GUILLEM OF BERGUEDAN. 
 1 3th Century. 
 
 GUILLEM of Berguedan's chief or perhaps sole claim to 
 attention is that of having been in his earlier and prosperous 
 
 * The custom of friends calling each other by the same name has been 
 already remarked on. 
 
Guillem of Berguedan 277 
 
 days the friend of troubadours, and more especially, as we 
 have seen, that of Aimeric of Peguillan. His poems, twenty- 
 five in number, have little to recommend them. 
 
 OF GUILLEM OF BERGUEDAN* 
 
 Now Guillem of Berguedan was a noble lord of 
 Catalonia, Viscount of Berguedan, lord of Madorna 
 and of Riechs, a good knight and a good warrior. 
 And there was sore strife betwixt him and Sir 
 Raymond Folc of Cardona, who was richer and 
 mightier than he. And it chanced that one day 
 he came upon Sir Raymond Folc, and foully slew 
 him. And for the death of Sir Raymond Folc he 
 was disinherited. Long time his kindred and friends 
 maintained him, until one and all forsook him, 
 because he enticed from them their wives, or their 
 daughters, or their sisters. And in the end none 
 maintained him but Sir Arnaut of Castelbon, the 
 which was an excellent and great gentleman of that 
 country. Good sirventes he made, wherein he spake 
 ill of some and good of others. And he boasted him 
 of all the ladies that suffered his love. And great 
 good fortune did he have of arms and of ladies, 
 and great ill-fortune likewise; and thereafter he was 
 slain by a soldier. 
 
 *See Mahn, ciii. 
 
2 7 8 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 PEIRE PELISSIER. 
 I2th and I3th Centuries. 
 
 As was characteristic of an age of curious contrasts and 
 inconsistencies, the much praised generosity and chivalry of 
 the Dauphin of Auvergne did not withhold him from gross 
 injustice towards Peire Pelissier, who, therefore, in the manner 
 of his day vented his wrath in verse, bitterly complaining of 
 the Dauphin's having broken his promise of paying back the 
 money he had borrowed. "Churl courtier," retorted the 
 Dauphin, "ye have squandered what your father left you, 
 and now think to enrich yourself by me. By rny faith ye 
 shall have nothing from me. Go and beg like a blind man 
 for alms, and sing if ye will against him who refuses you 
 them." 
 
 OF PEIRE PELISSIER* 
 
 Now Peire Pelissier was of Marcel, the which is a 
 town held of the Viscount of Turenne, and he was 
 an honourable burgher of great excellence and 
 courtesy. And by his excellence and by his wisdom 
 he rose to so great honour that the Viscount made 
 him bailiff over all his land. Now the Dauphin of 
 Auvergne was in that season the lover of the Lady 
 Comtor, the Viscount's daughter, the which was of 
 great fame for her beauty and excellence. And Sir 
 Peire Pelissier did him what service he would, 
 whenever he came to him, and lent him money. 
 And when Sir Peire Pelissier would recover the 
 money, the Dauphin would not pay him, and 
 refrained from guerdoning him for the services he 
 
 *See Mahn, cxii. 
 
Peire of Pelissier 2 79 
 
 had done. And the Dauphin left seeing the lady, 
 and from coming to that country wherein she dwelt ; 
 neither did he send her message nor letter ; wherefore 
 Sir Peire Pelissier made this cobla : 
 
 "Al Dalfin man questei dinz son hostal." 
 (I bid the Dauphin dwell within his house.) 
 
 And the Dauphin made unto him a churlish and 
 unjust answer : 
 
 "Vilan cortes lavetz tot mes a mal." 
 (Courtier churl, ye have squandered all.) 
 
 PEIRE OF BARJAC. 
 I3th Century. 
 
 PEIRE of Barjac, a knight, who, gratuitously insulted and 
 dismissed by his lady, bade her farewell in courteous and 
 forbearing terms, is, as Fauriel remarks, a good illustration 
 of the firm hold that the institutions of chivalry had taken 
 in his time upon the mediaeval mind. While letting her 
 understand that in losing her he has found another lady who 
 will compensate him for the loss, he thanks her for having 
 for a time deigned to accept his love, assures her that though 
 sent away, he will be as zealous as before in promoting her 
 welfare, and that with all his heart he pardons her the sorrow 
 she has caused him. 
 
 OF PEIRE OF BARJAC* 
 
 Now Peire of Barjac was a knight, companion of 
 Sir Guillem of Balaun ; and was right skilful, and 
 courteous, and even such a knight as was meet for 
 Guillem of Balaun. And he became enamoured 
 of a lady of the castle of Javiac, the wife of a 
 
 *See Mahn, cxiii. 
 
Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 vavasour, and likewise she of him, and he had of 
 her all that pleased him. And Guillem of Balaun 
 knew of their love. And it chanced that upon an 
 evening Peire of Barjac came to the castle with 
 Guillem of Balaun, and held speech with his lady. 
 And it befell that Peire of Barjac parted with her 
 in evil fashion, receiving from her full angry words 
 and a rough dismissal. And on the morrow Guillem 
 departed and Peire with him, sad and sorrowful. 
 And Guillem asked him why he was so sad, and 
 Peire told him the reason thereof. And Guillem 
 comforted him, saying that he would make peace. 
 And ere long they returned to Javiac, and the 
 peace was made. And Peire left her with great joy 
 that the lady had given him. 
 
 PEIRE OF BARJACS FAREWELL TO HIS LADY* 
 
 GOOD lady, I am come without disguise 
 To take my leave of thee for evermore. 
 Gramercy then, that in the days of yore 
 It pleased thee to fill my heart with gladness, 
 Which now it pleaseth thee to change to sadness. 
 'Tis well thou findest, since our love is o'er, 
 A knight on whom thou settest greater store, 
 I'll not complain, nor chide in angry madness ; 
 Hereafter we will meet in friendly wise, 
 Nor bitter memories between us rise. 
 
 * Chresiomathie prevent; ale, page 197. 
 
Peire of Barjac 2Sl 
 
 And since of plighted vows thou tak'st no heed, 
 
 True love thus scorned well may bring us woe, 
 
 Then let us to a priest together go, 
 
 That each the other from the bond releasing, 
 
 May serve new Love with ardour all unceasing, 
 
 And greater fealty in service show ; 
 
 And if by any wrong thou hast brought me low, 
 
 I pardon thee, and wish thee joy increasing, 
 
 And this full truly, for 'tis shame indeed 
 
 When pardon doth not from the heart proceed. 
 
 Cruel lady, who didst rouse this jealous ire, 
 To pleasure thee I once was ever fain, 
 But folly o'er the jealous man hath reign ; 
 He, both in words and deeds all undiscerning, 
 Endureth pangs untold and heartfelt yearning ; 
 From morn till eve he dwelleth in sore pain, 
 Nor eke in one place may he long remain. 
 Behold me from thy once dear presence turning, 
 E'en so the leper 'midst his torments dire 
 Would gladly from the haunts of men retire. 
 
 GUILLEM DE LA TOR. 
 1 3th Century. 
 
 THERE is little that is noteworthy in Guillem de La Tor, 
 excepting the pathetic story of his passionate fondness for his 
 
282 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 beautiful wife. His canzones are graceful enough, but of 
 absolutely no originality, and indeed, to judge by the " Life," 
 he was known in his own day rather as a singer of the 
 canzones of others, than as a maker of poems of his own. 
 
 OF GUILLEM DE LA TOR* 
 
 Now Guillem de La Tor was a jongleur. He was of 
 Perigord, of a castle named La Tor; and he came 
 into Lombardy, and knew right many canzones, and 
 loved, and sang full pleasantly. Eke did he make 
 poetry, but when he would rehearse his canzones he 
 was wont to make thereon a discourse longer than 
 were the canzones themselves. And he took a wife 
 at Milan, a barber's wife, full fair and young, the 
 which fled away and was brought by him to Com. 
 And he bare to her greater goodwill than to all the 
 world besides. And it came to pass that she died, 
 whereat he made such great dole that he became 
 mad, and weened that she feigned her dead to rid 
 herself of him ; wherefore for ten days and ten 
 nights he left her lying on her tomb. And each 
 evening he went unto the tomb, and uplifted her, 
 and looked upon her visage, kissing and embracing 
 her, and praying her to speak to him, and to tell 
 him whether she were alive or dead ; and if she 
 were alive he would have her return to him, and 
 if dead he would have her tell him what were her 
 
 *See Mahn, cxvii. 
 
Guillem de La Tor 28 3 
 
 pains ; for then he would have so many masses 
 said for her, and would make such alms, that he 
 would draw her forth from those pains. And the 
 good men of the city came to know of the matter, 
 and made him depart the land. And he went 
 forth seeking everywhere soothsayers, be they men 
 or women, who should tell him whether she might 
 ever come to life again. And a certain scoffer gave 
 him to believe that if, for the space of one year, 
 he should, without fail, read daily the psalter, and 
 say one hundred and fifty paternosters, and give 
 alms to seven poor men or ever he brake fast, 
 she would come to life again, but would not eat, 
 nor drink, nor speak. And hearing this he was 
 right glad, and anon began to do that which had 
 been counselled him, and this he did the livelong 
 year, not one day failing therein. But when he 
 marked that what had been counselled him nothing 
 availed him, he was stricken with despair and slew 
 himself. 
 
 FERRARI. 
 1 3th Century. 
 
 FERRARI, to judge by the following account of him, must 
 have been well thought of in his day, though only one poem 
 of his, a tenzon, has been preserved to us. 
 
28 4 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 OF FERRARI* 
 
 Now Master Ferrari was a jongleur of Ferrara, 
 and he understood the Provengal tongue, and the 
 making of Provengal poetry better than any man 
 that ever was in Lombardy. Withal he was of 
 great learning, and wrote better than any man in 
 the world, and ever did willing service to barons 
 and to knights, and ever abode with the family of 
 Este. And when it befell that the marquises held 
 high court and festival, and that the jongleurs that 
 knew the Provencal tongue came unto them, these 
 all consorted with him, and called him their master. 
 And if any one of them, that was of greater under- 
 standing than the rest, questioned him on his poetry 
 or on aught else, anon would Master Ferrari make 
 answer to him, so that he dwelt as a champion at 
 the Court of the Marquis of Este. Howbeit he 
 made but two canzones and one Retroensa ; l but 
 made right many of the best sirventes and coblas 
 in the world. And he made an extract of all the 
 canzones of the world's good troubadours ; and 
 from each canzone or sirvente he took one verse, 
 or two, or three, even those that contained in them 
 the chief matter of the canzones and had the best 
 chosen words. And this extract lies here before 
 me, and in it he would put none of his own verses ; 
 
 *See Mahn, cxviii. 
 
Ferrari 285 
 
 but he, whose book it is, has written some therein, 
 that it may stand for a memorial of him. 
 
 Now Master Ferrari, when he was young, loved 
 a lady named my lady Turcha ; and for this lady's 
 sake he made many right good canzones. And 
 when he was grown old he went little abroad, save 
 only that he went to Trevis, to my lord Giraut of 
 Achamin, and to his son. And these did him great 
 honour, and saw him gladly, and gave him hearty 
 welcome and dealt bountifully towards him out of 
 goodwill to him and love of the Marquis of Este. 
 
 1 Retroensa. A poem with a refrain, and generally of five 
 couplets, which all had different rhymes. 
 
 THE VISCOUNT OF SAINT ANTONIN. 
 I3th Century. 
 
 RAYMOND JORDAN, Viscount of Saint Antonin, was a trouba- 
 dour of little literary merit, hardly indeed deserving mention, 
 but for the following romantic love-story connected with him. 
 
 OF THE VISCOUNT OF SAINT ANTONIN* 
 
 Now the Viscount of Saint Antonin was of the 
 diocese of Cahors, lord and Viscount of Saint 
 Antonin. And he loved a noble lady, the which 
 wa:; wife of the lord of Pena of Albigeois, a castle 
 
 *See Mahn, cxix. 
 
286 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 mighty and strong. The lady was gently born, and 
 fair, and excellent, and much praised and honoured ; 
 and he full valorous, and learned, and bountiful, and 
 courteous, and good at arms, and seemly, and de- 
 bonair, and a good poet withal, and men called 
 him Raymond Jordan, and the lady the Viscountess 
 of Pena. Now the love they bare one another was 
 out of measure great ; and it chanced upon a time 
 that the Viscount had made ready his harness, and 
 there was a great combat, wherein he was wounded 
 to the death, so that his enemies said he was dead. 
 And tidings of his death reached the lady, and she, 
 for the great grief she had of it, straightway entered 
 into the order of the Heretics. And God so willed 
 that the Viscount recovered of his wound, and no 
 man would tell him that she had entered therein. 
 And when he was whole he gat him unto Saint 
 Antonin ; and it was told him how the lady had 
 become a nun for the sorrow she had on hearing 
 of his death ; and at this he left all gladness, and 
 merriment, and joy, and was given over to tears, 
 and lamentation, and woe. And he neither rode 
 forth nor went among men, and in this wise did 
 he endure for a year and more, so that all the 
 good people of that country made great moan. 
 Then my lady Elis of Montfort, who was wife of 
 William of Gordon, and the daughter of the Viscount 
 of Turenne, and in whom dwelt youth, and beauty, 
 
The Viscount of Saint Antonin 
 
 and courtesy, sent her messenger to him, bidding 
 him full graciously take comfort for love of her. 
 " For I give you " quoth she, " myself, and eke my 
 love to amend you of the misfortune that has come 
 to you, and pray you of your mercy to come to see 
 me." Now when the Viscount heard the honourable 
 and pleasant words of the lady, the sweetness of 
 love began to enter into his heart, and he began 
 to be of good cheer, and to rejoice, and to go 
 abroad again amongst men, and clothe himself and 
 his fellows. And he put on goodly and honourable 
 apparel, and went unto my lady Elis of Montfort 
 And she made him good cheer, and did him great 
 pleasure and honour. And he was right glad and 
 merry at the honour and pleasure he received of 
 her by word and act, and she right glad for the 
 valour and excellence she found in him, and no- 
 wise repented her of the loving message she had 
 sent him. And well he knew to thank her for it ; 
 and he besought her that she should show him 
 so much love, that he might know it was in all 
 sincerity that she had sent him such fair and loving 
 words of greeting, the which he ever bare written 
 upon his heart. And well did the lady show him 
 her love, for she took him for her knight, and 
 received his homage, and gave herself to him with 
 an embrace and a kiss; and for seal and pledge of 
 his faith he gave her the ring from off his finger. 
 
288 Lives of the Troubadours 
 
 And with this, in great gladness, he left the lady, 
 and returned home, singing and rejoicing. And it 
 was then that he made the canzone which runs : 
 
 "Vas vos soplei en cui ai mes mentenssa." 
 (Towards you, to whom I have given my love, 
 I turn my prayer.) 
 
 And ere he made the canzone, sleeping one night, 
 him seemed that Love assailed him in a cobla 
 which says : 
 
 " Raimon Jordan, de vos eis voill aprendre 
 Cous etz laissatz de solatz ni de chan : 
 Ja soliatz en dompneiar entendre 
 Mout leialmen, so faziatz semblan; 
 Eus feigniatz, eus en faziatz gais ; 
 Mas aras vei qavetz fenit lo lais, 
 Encolpatz etz si non es qei responda." 
 
 (Raymond Jordan, of yourself I would learn wherefore ye have 
 refrained from mirth and song : of old ye were wont to set 
 full faithfully your mind on love-making, or made semblance 
 of i* : and ye bestirred yourself about it, and made merry over 
 .it now I see that the game is up Ye will be held guilty 
 if ye answer not.) 
 
 SGOW : PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. 
 

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