I
Rainaut de Pons and Jaufre de Pons
Seigner Jaufre, respondetz mi, si·us platz (414,1) (
1)
Attributions and Authorship: A, Rainautz depon en Iaufres depon; D, Rainauz de pon; G, d’Rambaud et de Iaufre; I, Rainautz de pon e seīgner iaufre; K, no heading, but follows the vida; L, Partim¯ ab tēchō dē rainaut ab zofre; M, Tenson; N, no heading; Q, tēçō; a1, La tenzo den iaufre e de rainaut; also the index of B, Iaufres de pon en Rainautz de pon, but the poem was never copied. The vida (2) tells us only that Rainaut was lord of the castle of Pon (Pons, Charente-Maritime, arr. Saintes) and that he composed tensos with Jaufre, a knight of the castle. Chabaneau (see below, Previous Edition) finds Rainaut’s name in docs. from 1206 on; like his compatriot Savary de Mauléon, he sided with John of England against Philip Augustus, doing homage to Louis IX for several fiefs in 1226, but continuing to serve England. After the surrender of Saintes (1242), he was faithful to Louis and accompanied him to the Holy Land, where he died 11 June 1252. About Jaufre we know only that Rainaut had an uncle named Jaufre, who died before 1235 and who may have been our poet. Of the tensos between the two mentioned in the vida, this one partimen has been preserved.
Versification: A partimen consisting of six coblas doblas (rimes changing every two stanzas) of ten decasyllables and two tornadas of three. The rime scheme (Frank, (3) 366:1) is ababccbccb, with these rimes: (1-2) atz, aire, er; (3-4) or, ensa, ir; (5-6 and tornadas) ieu, ia, ar. This pattern is unique in troubadour verse.
Text: That of K, very similar to I, Chabaneau’s main source; but none of the mss offers a really satisfactory text, and any critical edition must be somewhat eclectic.
Rainaut offers Jaufre a choice between loving a lady of high rank and “worth”, with slight hope of winning her favours, or loving a lady of easier virtue willing to grant everything, but whose love brings little honor. Jaufre chooses the earthly alternative, leaving Rainaut with the other, more in accord with the tenets of courtly love.
Notes:
1) The numbers applied to poems and the designations of mss are those found in Alfred Pillet-Henry Carstens, Bibliographie der Troubadours (Halle, 1933). (↑)
2) J. Boutière et A. H. Schutz, Biographies des Troubadours 2 (P., 1964), p. 219. (↑)
3) István Frank, Répertoire métrique de la poésie des troubadours (P., 1953-57); 2 vols. Metrical patterns will be identified by references to Vol. I. (↑)
