5. Malvestatz: “Evil” and “Wickedness” are too strong to convey the sense of this word. First used by Cercamon and Marcabru, it denotes the good-for-nothing, cowardly, bad nature of powerful barons, who are morally degenerate, and can hardly be interesting enough to be really evil.
6. William X of Aquitaine, who died April 9, 1137.
9. li Barrau: Jeanroy suggests that the Barrau are the people of Bar-sur-Seine, and by extension the Burgundians. By the marriage of William VIII, grandfather of William X, to a daughter of Robert of Burgundy, the dukes of Aquitaine possessed several fiefs in Burgundy. These fiefs went to William X’s second daughter, Petronilla (see quote from William’s will, note to line 38). Cercamon’s mention of Poitou in line 8 may be meant to go with his mention of the Barrau, or Burgundians, in line 9, since just as Petronilla had been given the Burgundian fiefs, so Eleanor had been given Poitou, as well as the rest of Aquitaine. So these allusions may be meant to suggest the inheritance of the two daughters. Jeanroy refers to two mentions of the Barrau, both times associated with Frances (on whom see note to line 37) in the Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise (1415, 3926, ed. Meyer); see also the edition of Martin-Chabot, I, 152. Thus, it should be remembered that Cercamon’s allusion is formulaic, and may not be meant as a precise historical statement.
10. [peza·m] was suggested by Dejeanne on the basis of line 16; longa[s] is Jeanroy’s emendation; a longas is formulaic and invariable.
11. Jeanroy dropped the s of Segners, but the nominative form is not consistently used in the vocative case in Old Prov.; cf. 7.43.
12. metet[z]: The form -et of the 2nd person plural is found in some MSS, and dates back to the 12th century; see Anglade, Grammaire, p. 270.
13. Pitieu: Jeanroy prints Peitieu; also, the MS reads plaing, although an inkblot has obscured the i, pace Jeanroy’s variant.
15. soffraing: A complex subject governing a singular verb is not uncommon in Old Prov.; cf. 7.11, and Jaufre Rudel, 1.17-18: Luenh es lo castelhs e la tors. The dual subjects are formulaic.
22. Jeanroy suggests correcting defendetz to defendretz or defendatz, but there is no reason to suspect that defendetz is not properly imperative, although Jeanroy translates it as a future.
26. paubre: Jeanroy’s emendation of paubres; the scribe most likely thought that paubres was the subject of aten.
29. ver afic: Cf. Marcabru, Lo vers comenssa, 16, and Guilhem de Saint-Leidier, Estat aurai, 48, for the meaning “Last Judgment”; see De Lollis in Studj, 9, 154. The phrase is found neither in Raynouard, III, 321, or Levy, SW, I, 26.
32. aves: Jeanroy prints avez.
35. un non troba: Jeanroy’s emendation of us non troba; the scribe most likely thought that us was the subject of troba; as for s’aiziu, Levy, PD, p. 13, lists the meanings of aizivar as “to welcome, accomodate,” and of s’aizivar as “to approach”; Jeanroy translates here “s’abrite”; for the forms aizi, (s’)aizinar, aizir, aizina in William IX and in Jaufre Rudel, see Sources and Influences.
36. Probably Alfonso VII of Castille, who reigned from 1126 to 1157; see Life of the Author. Possibly also Alphonse-Jourdain of Toulouse.
37. Norman e Frances: That Cercamon’s mention of the Normans does not reflect recent history is suggested by the fact that the last major campaign in which William X took part was Geoffrey of Anjou’s invasion of Normandy in September of 1136. For an account of the invasion from a Norman point of view see Orderic Vitalis, Hist. Eccl., 13.26, ed. Chibnall, VI, 466-74. It is true that Orderic credits the invasion to the Angevins and not to the Poitevins. Orderic further recounts, 13.30, that it was to alleviate the remorse which he felt for the barbarous acts committed during the Norman expedition that William decided to go on pilgrimage to St. James. See also A. Richard, Histoire des comtes de Poitou, II, 50-51. It should also be noted that the Normans had supported, as had William, the cause of Anacletus in the papal schism of 1130. As for Frances, these are the inhabitants of the royal domain strictly speaking; cf. 2.33 and note. Jeanroy prints Franceis to conform visually with the rhyme words, but this need not affect pronunciation.
38. De Lollis corrected dieu to deu. In reference to lo reis, in his will William X entrusted the marrying of his daughter and heiress Eleanor to Louis VI, who named his son, who became Louis VII in the same year, as her husband. Louis VII, upon the death of his father, became Duke of Aquitaine. He abandoned this title when he divorced Eleanor in 1152. William’s will is copied in Bouquet, Histoire des Gaules, XII, 409: Filias meas Regis domini mei protectioni relinquo, Leonoram collocandam cum domino Ludovico Regis filio, si baronibus meis placuerit, cui Aquitaniam et Pictaviam relinquo, Petronellae vero filiae meae, possessiones meas et castella quae in Burgundia, ut proles Gerardi ducis Burgundiae, possideo ...
39. Jeanroy added [el] before laisset, which retains the quasi-iambic rhythm of the line, and fills out the meter, terra eliding with e·l; ·l creis here refers to Eleanor of Aquitaine; see previous note.
40. Jeanroy emended tan to aitan for the meter; honor means “lands, territory, fief,” and refers to the immense fief of Aquitaine which William X had left to his suzerain Louis VI.
41. mal estara: Jeanroy emends this to mal l’estara.
42. Jeanroy emends chivauge (he prints chivauje) to chivauchan.
43. Jeanroy emends pez to pes.
44. Limozi: Since William had no male heir by his wife, Aenor of Châtellerault, on her death in 1136 he became engaged to Emma, daughter of Aymar of Limoges. This potential union alarmed the Limousins, who felt that the Count would be too powerful for comfort under such circumstances. They thus counseled William VI Taillefer of Angoulême to take her away and marry her, which he did. They might have suffered the consequences of this insult if William of Poitou had not died on pilgrimage.
48. Aunis: See Richard, Histoire, II, 15-17, for an account of how William gained control of the fief of Aunis from Isembert of Châtelaillon. Jeanroy emends dos to dols.
Though one may also translate “mourning has entered in — to Aunis,” Levy, PD, p. 215, lists “commencer” as a meaning of intrar. This sense is more satisfying here
49. Jeanroy does not print raggo as a’s reading.
50. Probably Ebles II of Ventadorn, the Singer; see Life of the Author.
52. De Lollis emends de pain to d’Espain’; Jeanroy adds [cil] for the meter.
53. William died in Santiago de Compostela, the shrine of St. James, while on pilgrimage. |
