NOTES
Six coblas unissonans of eleven lines, with two tornadas, each of six lines: a b b a c’ d d c’ e e c’ (ar, o, aigna, otz, er), lines of ten syllables; refrain-word, l. 7: crotz. Frank 636:3. —This metrical scheme is the model for a partimen of Guiraut Riquier (MW IV, 248) and a planh of Matieu de Quercy (Appel, Prov. Ined., p. 193).
Subject and date. This Crusade Song celebrates the election of Boniface of Montferrat in 1201, at Soissons, as leader of the Fourth Crusade (end of August or beginning of September, according to Faral, Villehardouin, I, p. 43, Aug. 8th according to De Bartholomaeis, loc. cit.) The warmth of the poet’s feelings led De Bartholomaeis to conclude that it was composed at Soissons, but the evidence shows that in all probability Raimbaut did not accompany his patron to France (cf. Epic Letter II, 26–30, notes). In style and sentiment, the poem differs from other examples of the genre only in its lavish praise of the leader of the Crusade.
2. Cnyrim, Sprichwörter, 120.
6. Cf. P. Vidal’s encomium of the Marquis, XLI, st. 5 (ed. Anglade), and particularly l. 46: E per melhor lo pot hom ben eslire, and also the greeting of G. Faidit (De Bartholomaeis, op. cit., I, p. 100, st. 6): A Mon Thesaur, qu’es lai en Lombardia, Don Dieus salut, car de totz nos es guitz E dels crozatz los cors els esperitz.
7. e per cobrar. B.-K.: per recobrar (A).
8. qu’el. B.-K. read que·l, but the object of vol is undoubtedly l’onrat marques of the following line.
vol. With the previous editors, we adopt this reading in preference to volc of A.
11. ric cor. B.-K.: ricor (R).
12. onor, honratz. The idea of honour forms the leit-motiv of this stanza, devoted entirely to the glorification of Boniface.
13. mession. B.-K.’s rendering “mission” is incorrect, as the poet is here praising his patron’s moral qualities (cf. Stronski, Folquet de Marseille, p. 176).
16. B.-K. erroneously places a full stop at the end of the line.
17. l’autre. Bartsch and B.-K., following C, omit the article.
18. Berry mistranslates: “il a élevé la Croix à un si haut degré d’honneur”; he also gives faulty renderings of ll. 22, 61–3, 78.
22. ai’ amdos. B.-K.: aian dos (N2).
24. ploi’ e vent. A alone omits the conjunction here.
26. Melchion e Gaspar. The inclusion of the third Magus, Baltasar, would have disturbed the versification.
33. er. The reading es of A has little support.
soutz. Bartsch, in earlier editions: sals (CGLRa1).
34. Bartsch and B.-K., following CR, transpose stanzas 4 and 5.
38. levatz. Bartsch and B.-K: per nos (CGLRa1).
et trau. B.-K.: el tormen (R).
q’er’ en la f. B.-K.: et en f. (R), Ugolini: et en la f. (GLa1); but querem of C confirms the reading of ADIKNN2.
39. correjatz. Bartsch, in earlier editions: marturiatz (CGLRa1).
45. fai nostre pechatz. Ugolini: fan nostres p. (CR).
48. si a un gauch: B.-K.: qu’a (s’a R) un plazer (CR).
51. B.-K. alter the MSS. reading Dieus to Deu and Berry renders: “Mais Dieu aime que l’on prenne la Croix.”
52. Cf. Levy SW n, 188: gazanhar Deu “die ewige Seligkeit gewinnen”.
56. St. Nicholas, protector of seafarers, was the object of special veneration in the Adriatic port of Bari, whither his relics had been transported from Lycia in the 11th century.
57. Count Thibaud III of Champagne, one of the principal organisers of the Fourth Crusade, had died in May 1201, but his followers (among whom was the diplomat and historian Geoffrey of Villehardouin) played a leading part in the Crusade under Boniface of Montferrat; for a list of their names, cf. Villehardouin § 5.
58. e·l leo. Bartsch and B.-K. read e Leo, but there can be no question of any allusion here to Spain, and one must assume (with De Bartholomaeis and Ugolini) that the lion figured in the emblem of Montferrat at this time. According to Zenker (cf. XX, 56, note), the lion was the characteristic emblem of the Counts of Flanders, and the line means “Montferrat in league with Flanders”; but there is no foundation for this interpretation.
59. The Count of Flanders was Baldwin IX, brother-in-law of Thibaud III of Champagne. He had taken the cross in 1200, and in 1204 became the first Emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople (in which capacity Raimbaut addressed to him his celebrated sirventes XX).
60. d’espaz’. Bartsch and B.-K.: qu’espaz’ (CR).
61. totz mortz. Bartsch and B.-K.: sobratz (C).
63–4. The kings referred to are Pedro II of Aragon (1196–1213) and Alfonso VIII of Castile (1158–1214). After defeating them at Alarcos in 1195, the Moors were making repeated incursions into their territories. Folquet de Marseille had earlier addressed to them a moving exhortation (ed. Stronski, XIX). — Bergin (erroneously): “che grandi armate aiutino il valoroso re di Spagna ... “
65–6. These lines hardly justify Schultz-Gora’s inference (Briefe, p. 84) that the poem was written shortly before Boniface set out for Venice (the point of assembly and departure of the Crusaders), in Aug. 1202.
66. sohre·l soudan. The decision to attack Egypt as the seat of Islamic power, made by the leaders of the Crusade during the Franco-Venetian negotiations of April 1201, was kept secret from the general body of the Crusaders, who understood the attack was to be directed against Syria; it was revealed only in Jan. 1203. at Zara, when it caused serious dissension (cf. Villehardouin §§ 30, 93–9, 113–7, 197–9, Faral, Villehardouin, I, p. 31, n. 2, and XX, 49–50, and note).
Romaigna. This is the Italian province of Romagna. Though the route Boniface would follow to reach Venice did not in fact run through this province, the poet’s statement must not be interpreted too literally, as the term is undoubtedly used for the sake of the rhyme (cf. Schultz-Gora, Literaturbl. 1906, c. 287; Lewent, Altprov. Kreuzlied, p. 23, n. 4). De Bartholomaeis (following Crescini, Rambaldo di Vaqueiras, p. 905, n. 2) interprets Romaigna as Romania. i.e. the Byzantine Empire (cf. Epic Letter I, 38). But the traditional land-route across the Balkans and Anatolia was no longer safe at this time (cf. Runciman, p. 110), and moreover the tonic accent in Romania is shown by rhymes to have been on the penultimate vowel i.
73. Bels Cavalliers. Bartsch and B.-K.: Francs C. (ADIKNR).
74. Raimbaut’s hesitation to take the cross strikingly contradicts his earlier statement in ll. 53–5; but similar reservations are to be found in the Crusade Songs of G. Faidit (ed. Bartsch, Chrest. Prov., 158, written in 1203) and Bertran de Born (ed. Stimming, 20, written in 1189); cf. also Conon de Béthune (ed. Wallensköld), IV, st. 1. While such hesitation may be no more than a traditional concession to the conventions of courtly love (and in Raimbaut’s case it is reserved for the dedicatory tornada), it may be argued (cf. Lewent, Altprov. Kreuzlied, p. 73) that troubadours were not expected to take part in the Crusades, with which they associated themselves in spirit only (of the twenty or more writers of Crusade Songs, only three —Giraut de Borneil, G. Faidit and our author— are definitely known to have participated in them). In fact, however, Raimbaut’s reluctance to take the cross at this time is confirmed by a passage in the Epic Letter (II, 26–31) which affords clear evidence that he did not finally decide to join his patron overseas until the spring of 1203.
75. ni sai comen. We adopt the reading of DIK; the copyist of A appears to have been confused by the succession coman-comen. Bartsch and B.-K.:consi·m (CR). |
