8. gitatz sobre garnizos. The garments of peace are cast aside, piled on top of other gear not needed in war.
9. M’azauta el frims. Raynouard’s emendation for the hypermetric mazauta el refrims of the MSS is E·m plai refrims. I prefer to stay closer to the MS readings and simply replace refrims by the synonym frims, recorded in the dictionaries. Read the a e of azauta el as one syllable (cf. 10, guerra e·m, and 15, sojorna e·is).
13. daran. This emendation of MS donaran is by Raynouard.
14. Menz de. Well attested in the sense ‘without, except for.’ — For this expression of the advantages of war over peace, see the following poem, Er can li rozier, vv. 31-39.
20. blezo. For the meaning ‘shields’ see Levy, Supplement-Wörterbuch, 1:150. ( 1)
24. Lo reis. Peter II of Aragon.
27. Feiren. A variant spelling for feren (ferir); I have found no other examples. — arsos. Raynouard’s emendation of MS arcos seems required by the sense.
30. ni fai deman. Milá translates ‘toma.’ Perhaps ‘claims’ is closer to the meaning.
32. en Guillem. Presumably William IX, the young son of William VIII.
33. d’Albais. Previous editions read del Bais, which Milá translates ‘of Baux.’ Both MSS, however, have dalbais; and Bais (supported by the rime) is not found elsewhere as a variant of Baus or Bautz (‘Baux’). The reference is surely to the little town of Aubais, a few km east of Montpellier (Gard, cant. Sommières). Aubais is listed in 1179 among the dépendances of Nîmes, which Viscount Aton Bernard (or Bernard Atho) of that city gave to Alfonso of Aragon and took back from him in fief. In 1198, Elzéar d’Aubais appears as viguier of Raymond VI of Toulouse at the election of the consuls of Nîmes. In 1205, Raymond assigns Aubais and other castles to Peter of Aragon as security for the dower he promises to give Peter’s infant daughter, betrothed to Raymond’s son; at that time, Elzéar is still in charge of the castle (De Vic et Vaissète, Histoire de Languedoc, 6:88, 189, 240-241). M. René Trial, the librarian and former schoolmaster of Aubais, kindly showed me, underneath the present castle, the foundations which probably date back to Elzéar’s time.
34. This line lacks three syllables. Raynouard, followed by the other editors, fills it out (without comment): Ans eu (Milá en) mov contr’el tal ais. Since this reading is purely conjectural, it would be risky to base upon it the interipretation of mou and ais, which must therefore remain somewhat uncertain.
Note:
1) Emil Levy, Provenzalisches Supplement-Wörterbuch, 8 vols. (Leipzig, 1894-1928); this will be referred to hereafter as Levy SW. (↑) |
