The South of France had been connected with the North of Spain from a period long antecedent to the first appearance of troubadour poetry. As early as the Visigoth period, Catalonia had been united to Southern France; in the case of this province the tie was further strengthened by community of language. On the western side of the Pyrenees a steady stream of pilgrims entered the Spanish peninsula on their way to the shrine of St James of Compostella in Galicia; this road was, indeed, known in Spain as the "French road." Catalonia was again united with Provence by the marriage of Raimon Berengar III. with a Provençal heiress in 1112. As the counts of Barcelona and the kings of Aragon held possessions in Southern France, communications between the two countries were naturally frequent.
We have already had occasion to refer to the visits of various troubadours to the courts of Spain. The "reconquista," the reconquest of Spain from the Moors, was in progress during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and various crusade poems were written by troubadourssummoning help to the Spaniards in their struggles. Marcabrun was the author of one of the earliest of these, composed for the benefit of Alfonso VIII. of Castile and possibly referring to his expedition against the Moors in 1147, which was undertaken in conjunction with the kings of Navarre and Aragon. The poem is interesting for its repetition of the wordlavadoror piscina, used as an emblem of the crusade in which the participants would be cleansed of their sins.32
Pax in nomine Domini!Fetz Marcabrus los motz e·l so.Aujatz que di:Cum nos a fait per sa doussor,Lo Seignorius celestiausProbet de nos un lavadorC'ane, fors outramar, no·n' fon taus,En de lai deves Josaphas:E d'aquest de sai vos conort.
Pax in nomine Domini!Fetz Marcabrus los motz e·l so.Aujatz que di:Cum nos a fait per sa doussor,Lo Seignorius celestiausProbet de nos un lavadorC'ane, fors outramar, no·n' fon taus,En de lai deves Josaphas:E d'aquest de sai vos conort.
Pax in nomine Domini!
Fetz Marcabrus los motz e·l so.
Aujatz que di:
Cum nos a fait per sa doussor,
Lo Seignorius celestiaus
Probet de nos un lavador
C'ane, fors outramar, no·n' fon taus,
En de lai deves Josaphas:
E d'aquest de sai vos conort.
"Pax, etc.,—-Marcabrun composed the words and the air. Hear what he says. How, by his goodness, the Lord of Heaven, has made near us a piscina, such as there never was, except beyond the sea, there by Josaphat, and for this one near here do I exhort you."
Alfonso II. of Aragon (1162-1196) was a constant patron of the troubadours, and himself an exponent of their art. He belonged to the family of the counts of Barcelona which became in his time one of themost powerful royal houses in the West of Europe. He was the grandson of Raimon Berengar III. and united to Barcelona by marriage and diplomacy, the kingdom of Aragon, Provence and Roussillon. His continual visits to the French part of his dominions gave every opportunity to the troubadours to gain his favour: several were continually about him and there were few who did not praise his liberality. A discordant note is raised by Bertran de Born, who composed some violentsirventesagainst Alfonso; he was actuated by political motives: Alfonso had joined the King of England in his operations against Raimon V. of Toulouse and Bertran's other allies and had been present at the capture of Bertran's castle of Hautefort in 1183. The biography relates that in the course of the siege, the King of Aragon, who had formerly been in friendly relations with Bertran, sent a messenger into the fortress asking for provisions. These Bertran supplied with the request that the king would secure the removal of the siege engines from a particular piece of wall, which was on the point of destruction and would keep the information secret. Alfonso, however, betrayed the message and the fortress was captured. Therazofurther relates the touching scene to which we have already referred when Bertran moved Henry II. to clemency by a referenceto the death of the "young king." The account of Alfonso's supposed treachery is probably no less unhistorical: the siege lasted only a week and it is unlikely that the besiegers would have been reduced to want in so short a time. It was probably invented to explain the hostility on Bertran's part which dated from the wars between Alfonso and Raimon V. of Toulouse. This animosity was trumpeted forth in two lampooningsirventescriticising the public policy and the private life of the Spanish King. His accusations of meanness and trickery seem to be based on nothing more reliable than current gossip.
Peire Vidal, with the majority of the troubadours, shows himself a vigorous supporter of Alfonso. Referring to this same expedition of 1183 he asserted "Had I but a speedy horse, the king might sleep in peace at Balaguer: I would keep Provence and Montpelier in such order that robbers and freebooters should no longer plunder Venaissin and Crau. When I have put on my shining cuirass and girded on the sword that Guigo lately gave me, the earth trembles beneath my feet; no enemy so mighty who does not forthwith avoid out of my path, so great is their fear of me when they hear my steps." These boasts in the style of Captain Matamoros are, of course, not serious: the poet's personal appearance seems to have been enough to preclude any suppositions of the kind. Inanother poem he sings the praises of Sancha, daughter of Alfonso VIII. of Castile, who married Alfonso II. of Aragon in 1174. With the common sense in political matters which is so strangely conjoined with the whimsicality of his actions, he puts his finger upon the weak spot in Spanish politics when he refers to the disunion between the four kings, Alfonso II. of Aragon, Alfonso IX. of Leon, Alfonso VIII. of Castile and Sancho Garcés of Navarre: "little honour is due to the four kings of Spain for that they cannot keep peace with one another; since in other respects they are of great worth, dexterous, open, courteous and loyal, so that they should direct their efforts to better purpose and wage war elsewhere against the people who do not believe our law, until the whole of Spain professes one and the same faith."
The Monk of Montaudon, Peire Raimon of Toulouse, Uc de San Circ, Uc Brunet and other troubadours of less importance also enjoyed Alfonso's patronage. Guiraut de Bornelh sent a poem to the Catalonian court in terms which seemed to show that the simple style of poetry was there preferred to complicated obscurities. The same troubadour was sufficiently familiar with Alfonso's successor, Pedro II., to take part in atensowith him.
Pedro II. (1196-1213) was no less popular with the troubadours than hisfather. Aimeric de Pegulhan, though more closely connected with the court of Castile, is loud in his praises of Pedro, "the flower of courtesy, the green leaf of delight, the fruit of noble deeds." Pedro supported his brother-in-law, Raimon VI. of Toulouse, against the crusaders and Simon de Montfort during the Albigeois crusade and was killed near Toulouse in the battle of Muret. The Chanson de la Croisade does not underestimate the impression made by his death.
Mot fo grans lo dampnatges e·l dols e·l perdementzCant lo reis d'Arago remas mort e sagnens,E mot d'autres baros, don fo grans l'aunimensA tot crestianesme et a trastotas gens.
Mot fo grans lo dampnatges e·l dols e·l perdementzCant lo reis d'Arago remas mort e sagnens,E mot d'autres baros, don fo grans l'aunimensA tot crestianesme et a trastotas gens.
Mot fo grans lo dampnatges e·l dols e·l perdementz
Cant lo reis d'Arago remas mort e sagnens,
E mot d'autres baros, don fo grans l'aunimens
A tot crestianesme et a trastotas gens.
"Great was the damage and the grief and the loss when the King of Aragon remained dead and bleeding with many other barons, whence was great shame to all Christendom and to all people."
The Court of Castile attracted the attention and the visits of the troubadours, chiefly during the reign of Alfonso VIII. (or III.; 1158-1214) the hero of Las Navas de Tolosa, the most decisive defeat which the Arab power in the West had sustained since the days of Charles Martel. The preceding defeat of Alfonso's forces at Alarcos in 1195 had called forth a fine crusadesirventesfrom Folquet of Marseilles appealing to Christians in general and the King of Aragon in particularto join forces against the infidels. The death of Alfonso's son, Fernando, in 1211 from an illness contracted in the course of a campaign against the infidels was lamented by Guiraut de Calanso, a Gascon troubadour.
Lo larc e·l franc, lo valen e·l grazitz,Don cuiavon qu'en fos esmendatzLo jove reys, e·n Richartz lo prezatzE·l coms Jaufres, tug li trey valen fraire.
Lo larc e·l franc, lo valen e·l grazitz,Don cuiavon qu'en fos esmendatzLo jove reys, e·n Richartz lo prezatzE·l coms Jaufres, tug li trey valen fraire.
Lo larc e·l franc, lo valen e·l grazitz,
Don cuiavon qu'en fos esmendatz
Lo jove reys, e·n Richartz lo prezatz
E·l coms Jaufres, tug li trey valen fraire.
"The generous and frank, the worthy and attractive of whom men thought that in him were increased the qualities of the young king, of Richard the high renowned, and of the Count Godfrey, all the three valiant brothers." Peire Vidal in one of the poems which he addressed to Alfonso VIII., speaks of the attractions of Spain. "Spain is a good country; its kings and lords are kindly and loving, generous and noble, of courteous company; other barons there are, noble and hospitable, men of sense and knowledge, valiant and renowned." Raimon Vidal of Bezaudun, a Catalonian troubadour has given a description of Alfonso's court in one of hisnovelas. "I wish to relate a story which I heard a joglar tell at the court of the wisest king that ever was, King Alfonso of Castile, where were presents and gifts, judgment, worth and courtesy, spirit and chivalry, though he was not anointed or sacred, but crowned with praise,sense, worth and prowess. The king gathered many knights to his court, manyjoglarsand rich barons and when the court was filled Queen Eleanor came in dressed so that no one saw her body. She came wrapped closely in a cloak of silken fabric fine and fair called sisclaton; it was red with a border of silver and had a golden lion broidered on it. She bowed to the king and took her seat on one side at some distance. Then, behold, ajoglarcome before the king, frank and debonair, who said 'King, noble emperor, I have come to you thus and I pray you of your goodness that my tale may be heard,'" The scene concludes, "Joglar, I hold the story which you have related as good, amusing and fair and you also the teller of it and I will order such reward to be given to you that you shall know that the story has indeed pleased me."
The crown of Castile was united with that of Leon by Fernando III. (1230-1262) the son of Alfonso IX. of Leon. Lanfranc Cigala, the troubadour of Genoa, excuses the Spaniards at this time for their abstention from the Crusades to Jerusalem on the ground that they were fully occupied in their struggles with the Moors. Fernando is one of the kings to whom Sordello refers in the famoussirventesof the divided heart, as also is Jaime I. of Aragon (1213-1276), the "Conquistador," of whom much is heard in the poetry of the troubadours. He was born atMontpelier and was fond of revisiting his birthplace; troubadours whom he there met accompanied him to Spain, joined in his expeditions and enjoyed his generosity. His court became a place of refuge for those who had been driven out of Southern France by the Albigeois crusade; Peire Cardenal, Bernard Sicart de Marvejols and N'At de Mons of Toulouse visited him. His popularity with the troubadours was considerably shaken by his policy in 1242, when a final attempt was made to throw off the yoke imposed upon Southern France as the result of the Albigeois crusade. Isabella of Angoulême, the widow of John of England, had married the Count de la Marche; she urged him to rise against the French and induced her son, Henry III. of England, to support him. Henry hoped to regain his hold of Poitou and was further informed that the Count of Toulouse and the Spanish kings would join the alliance. There seems to have been a general belief that Jaime would take the opportunity of avenging his father's death at Muret. However, no Spanish help was forthcoming; the allies were defeated at Saintes and at Taillebourg and this abortive rising ended in 1243. Guillem de Montanhagol says in asirventesupon this event, "If King Jaime, with whom we have never broken faith, had kept the agreement which is said to have been madebetween him and us, the French would certainly have had cause to grieve and lament." Bernard de Rovenhac shows greater bitterness: "the king of Aragon is undoubtedly well named Jacme (jac from jazer, to lie down) for he is too fond of lying down and when anyone despoils him of his land, he is so feeble that he does not offer the least opposition." Bernard Sicart de Marvejols voices the grief of his class at the failure of the rising: "In the day I am full of wrath and in the night I sigh betwixt sleeping and waking; wherever I turn, I hear the courteous people crying humbly 'Sire' to the French." These outbursts do not seem to have roused Jaime to any great animosity against the troubadour class. Aimeric de Belenoi belauds him, Peire Cardenal is said to have enjoyed his favour, and other minor troubadours refer to him in flattering terms.
The greatest Spanish patron of the troubadours was undoubtedly Alfonso X. of Castile (1254-1284). El Sabio earned his title by reason of his enlightened interest in matters intellectual; he was himself a poet, procured the translation of many scientific books and provided Castile with a famous code of laws. The Italian troubadours Bonifaci Calvo and Bartolomeo Zorzi were welcomed to his court, to which many others came from Provence. One of his favourites was the troubadour who was the lastrepresentative of the old school, Guiraut Riquier of Narbonne. He was born between 1230 and 1235, when the Albigeois crusade was practically over and when troubadour poetry was dying, as much from its own inherent lack of vitality as from the change of social and political environment which the upheaval of the previous twenty years had produced. Guiraut Riquier applied to a Northern patron for protection, a proceeding unexampled in troubadour history and the patron he selected was the King of France himself. Neither Saint Louis nor his wife were in the least likely to provide a market for Guiraut's wares and the Paris of that day was by no means a centre of literary culture. The troubadour, therefore, tried his fortune with Alfonso X. whose liberality had become almost proverbial. There he seems to have remained for some years and to have been well content, in spite of occasional friction with other suitors for the king's favour. His description of Catalonia is interesting.
Pus astres no m'es donatzQue de mi dons bes m'eschaia,Ni nulho nos plazers no·l platz,Ni ay poder que·m n'estraia,Ops m'es qu'ieu sia fondatzEn via d'amor veraia,E puesc n'apenre assatzEn Cataluenha la gaia,Entrels Catalas valensE las donas avinens.Quar dompneys, pretz e valors,Joys e gratz e cortesia,Sens e sabers et honors,Bels parlars, bella paria,E largueza et amors,Conoyssensa e cundia,Troban manten e socorsEn Cataluenha a tria,Entrels, etc.
Pus astres no m'es donatzQue de mi dons bes m'eschaia,Ni nulho nos plazers no·l platz,Ni ay poder que·m n'estraia,Ops m'es qu'ieu sia fondatzEn via d'amor veraia,E puesc n'apenre assatz
Pus astres no m'es donatz
Que de mi dons bes m'eschaia,
Ni nulho nos plazers no·l platz,
Ni ay poder que·m n'estraia,
Ops m'es qu'ieu sia fondatz
En via d'amor veraia,
E puesc n'apenre assatz
En Cataluenha la gaia,Entrels Catalas valensE las donas avinens.
En Cataluenha la gaia,
Entrels Catalas valens
E las donas avinens.
Quar dompneys, pretz e valors,Joys e gratz e cortesia,Sens e sabers et honors,Bels parlars, bella paria,E largueza et amors,Conoyssensa e cundia,Troban manten e socors
Quar dompneys, pretz e valors,
Joys e gratz e cortesia,
Sens e sabers et honors,
Bels parlars, bella paria,
E largueza et amors,
Conoyssensa e cundia,
Troban manten e socors
En Cataluenha a tria,Entrels, etc.
En Cataluenha a tria,
Entrels, etc.
"Since my star has not granted me that from my lady happiness should fall to me, since no pleasure that I can give pleases her and I have no power to forget her, I must needs enter upon the road of true love and I can learn it well enough in gay Catalonia among the Catalonians, men of worth, and their kindly ladies. For courtesy, worth, joy, gratitude and gallantry, sense, knowledge, honour, fair speech, fair company, liberality and love, learning and grace find maintenance and support in Catalonia entirely."
Between thirty and forty poets of Spanish extraction are known to have written Provençal poetry. Guillem de Tudela of Navarre wrote the first part of theChanson de la Croisade albigeoise; Serveri de Gerona wrote didactic and devotional poetry, showing at least ingenuity of technique; Amanieu des Escas has left love letters and didactic works for theinstruction of young people in the rules of polite behaviour. But the influence of Provençal upon the native poetry of Spain proper was but small, in spite of the welcome which the troubadours found at the courts of Castile, Aragon, Leon and Navarre. Troubadour poetry required a peaceful and an aristocratic environment, and the former at least of these conditions was not provided by the later years of Alfonso X. Northern French influence was also strong: numerous French immigrants were able to settle in towns newly founded or taken from the Moors. The warlike and adventurous spirit of Northern and Central Spain preferred epic to lyric poetry: and the outcome was thecantar de gestaand theromance, the lyrico-narrative or ballad poem.
This was not the course of development followed either in the Eastern or Western coasts of the peninsula. Catalonia was as much a part of the Provençal district as of Spain. To the end of the thirteenth century Catalonian poets continued to write in the language of the troubadours, often breaking the strict rules of rime correspondence and of grammar, but refusing to use their native dialect. Religious poems of popular and native origin appear to have existed, but even the growth of a native prose was unable to overcome the preference for Provençal in thecomposition of lyrics. Guiraut de Cabreira is remembered for the 213 lines which he wrote to instruct hisjoglarCabra; Guiraut upbraids this performer for his ignorance, and details a long series of legends and poems which a competentjoglarought to know. Guiraut de Calanso wrote an imitation of this diatribe. The best known of the Catalonian troubadours is Raimon Vidal of Besadun, both for hisnovelasand also for his work on Provençal grammar and metre,Las rasos de trobar,33which was written for the benefit of his compatriots who desired to avoid solecisms or mistakes when composing. "For as much as I, Raimon Vidal, have seen and known that few men know or have known the right manner of composing poetry (trobar) I desire to make this book that men may know and understand which of the troubadours have composed best and given the best instruction to those who wish to learn how they should follow the right manner of composing.... All Christian people, Jews, Saracens, emperors, princes, kings, dukes, counts, viscounts, vavassors and all other nobles with clergy, citizens and villeins, small and great, daily give their minds to composing and singing.... In this science of composing the troubadours are gone astray and I will tell you wherefore. The hearers who do not understand anything when they hear a fine poem will pretend that they understand perfectly... because theythink that men would consider it a fault in them if they said that they did not understand.... And if when they hear a bad troubadour, they do understand, they will praise his singing because they understand it; or if they will not praise, at least they will not blame him; and thus the troubadours are deceived and the hearers are to blame for it." Raimon Vidal proceeds to say that the pure language is that of Provence or of Limousin or of Saintonge or Auvergne or Quercy: "wherefore I tell you, that when I use the term Limousin, I mean all those lands and those which border them or are between them." He was apparently the first to use the term Limousin to describe classical Provençal, and when it became applied to literary Catalonian, as distinguished fromplá Catalá, the vulgar tongue, the result was some confusion. Provençal influence was more permanent in Catalonia than in any other part of Spain; in 1393, the Consistorium of theGay saberwas founded in imitation of the similar association at Toulouse. Most of the troubadour poetical forms and the doctrines of the ToulouseLeys d'Amorswere retained, until Italian influence began to oust Provençal towards the close of the fifteenth century.
On the western side of Spain, Provençal influence evoked a brief and brilliant literature in the Galician or Portuguese school. Its mostbrilliant period was the age of Alfonso X. of Castile, one of its most illustrious exponents, and that of Denis of Portugal (1280-1325). The dates generally accepted for the duration of this literature are 1200-1385; it has left to us some 2000 lyric poems, the work of more than 150 poets, including four kings and a number of nobles of high rank. French and Provençal culture had made its way gradually and by various routes to the western side of the Spanish peninsula.
We have already referred to the pilgrim route to the shrine of Compostella, by which a steady stream of foreign influence entered the country. The same effect was produced by crusaders who came to help the Spaniards in their struggle against the Moors, and by foreign colonists who helped to Christianise the territories conquered from the Mohammedans. The capture of Lisbon in 1147 increased maritime intercourse with the North. Individuals from Portugal also visited Northern and Southern France, after the example of their Spanish neighbours. References to Portugal in the poetry of the troubadours are very scarce, nor is there any definite evidence that any troubadour visited the country. This fact is in striking contrast with the loud praises of the Spanish courts. None the less, such visits must have taken place: Sancho I. had Frenchjongleursin his pay duringthe twelfth century and the Portuguese element in the five-languagedescortof Raimbaut de Vaqueiras shows that communication between Provençal poets and Portuguese or Galician districts must have existed. The general silence of the troubadours may be due to the fact that communication began at a comparatively late period and was maintained between Portugal and Spanish courts, and not directly between Portugal and Southern France.
Alfonso X. of Castile himself wrote many poems in the Galician or Portuguese dialect; perhaps his choice was dictated by reasons analogous to those which impelled Italian and Catalonian poets to write in Provençal. The general body of Portuguese poetry declares itself by form and content to be directly borrowed from the troubadours: it appeals to an aristocratic audience; the idea of love as a feudal relation is preserved with the accompanying ideas ofamour courtois, and the lyric forms developed in Southern France are imitated. The Provençal manner took root in Portugal as it failed to do in Spain, because it found the ground to some extent prepared by the existence of a popular lyric poetry which was remodelled under Provençal influence. The most popular of the types thus developed wereCantigas de amor e de amigoandCantigas deescarnho e de maldizer; the former were love songs: when the poet speaks the song was onede amor; when the lady speaks (and she is unmarried, in contrast to Provençal usage) the song wasde amigo. This latter is a type developed independently by the Portuguese school.Cantigas de escarnhocorrespond in intentionto the Provençalsirventes; if their satire was open and unrestrained they werecantigas de maldizer. They dealt for the most part with trivial court and personal affairs and not with questions of national policy upon which the troubadours so often expressed their opinions. Changes in taste and political upheavals brought this literature to an end about 1385 and the progress of Portuguese poetry then ceases for some fifty years.
Provençal influence in Germany is apparent in the lyric poetry of the minnesingers. Of these, two schools existed, connected geographically with two great rivers. The earlier, the Austro-Bavarian school, flourished in the valley of the Danube: the later minnesingers form the Rhine school. In the latter case, Provençal influence is not disputed; but the question whether the Austro-Bavarian school was exempt from it, has given rise to considerable discussion. The truth seems to be, that the earliest existing texts representing this school do show traces of Provençal influence; but there was certainly a primitive native poetry in these Danube districts which had reached an advanced stage of development before Provençal influence affected it. Austria undoubtedly came into touch with this influence at an early date. The Danube valley was a high road for the armies of crusaders; another route led from Northern Italy to Vienna, by which Peire Vidal probably found his way to Hungary. At the same time, though Provençal influence was strong, theMiddle High German lyric rarely relapsed into mere imitation or translation of troubadour productions. Dietmar von Aist, one of the earliest minnesingers, who flourished in the latter half of the twelfth century has, for instance, the Provençalalbatheme. Two lovers part at daybreak, when awakened by a bird on the linden: if the theme is Provençal, the simplicity of the poet's treatment is extremely fresh and natural. This difference is further apparent in the attitude of minnesingers and troubadours towards the conception of "love." The minnesong is the literary expression of the social convention known as "Frauendienst," the term "minne" connoting the code which prescribed the nature of the relation existing between the lover and his lady; the dominant principle was a reverence for womanhood as such, and in this respect the German minnesang is inspired by a less selfish spirit than the Provençal troubadour poetry. Typical of the difference is Walter von der Vogelweide's—
Swer guotes wîbes minne hât,der schamt sich aller missetât.
Swer guotes wîbes minne hât,der schamt sich aller missetât.
Swer guotes wîbes minne hât,
der schamt sich aller missetât.
("He who has a good woman's love is ashamed of every ill deed"), compared with Bernart de Ventadour's—
Non es meravilha s'ieu chanMelhs de nul autre chantadorCar plus trai mos cors ves AmorE melhs sui faitz a son coman.
Non es meravilha s'ieu chanMelhs de nul autre chantadorCar plus trai mos cors ves AmorE melhs sui faitz a son coman.
Non es meravilha s'ieu chan
Melhs de nul autre chantador
Car plus trai mos cors ves Amor
E melhs sui faitz a son coman.
("It is no wonder if I sing better than any other singer, for my heart draws nearer to love and I am better made for love's command.") The troubadouramor, especially in its Italian development, eventually attained the moral power of theminne; but in its early stages, it was a personal and selfish influence. The stanza form and rime distribution of the minnesinger poems continually betray Provençal influence: the principle of tripartition is constantly followed and the arrangement of rimes is often a repetition of that adopted in troubadour stanzas. Friedrich von Hausen, the Count Rudolf von Fenis, Heinrich von Morungen and others sometimes translate almost literally from troubadour poetry, though these imitations do not justify the lines of Uhland.
In den Thälern der Provence ist der Minnesang entsprossen,Kind des Frühlings und der Minne, holder, inniger Genossen.
In den Thälern der Provence ist der Minnesang entsprossen,Kind des Frühlings und der Minne, holder, inniger Genossen.
In den Thälern der Provence ist der Minnesang entsprossen,
Kind des Frühlings und der Minne, holder, inniger Genossen.
Northern France, the home of epic poetry, also possessed an indigenous lyric poetry, including spring and dance songs, pastorals, romances, and "chansons de toile." Provençal influence here was inevitable. It is apparent in the form and content of poems, in the attempt to remodelProvençal poems by altering the words to French forms, and by the fact that Provençal poems are found in MS. collections of French lyrics. Provençal poetry first became known in Northern France from the East, by means of the crusaders and not, as might be expected, by intercommunication in the centre of the country. The centre of Provençal influence in Northern France seems to have been the court of Eleanor of Poitiers the wife of Henry II. of England and the court of her daughter, Marie of Champagne. Here knights and ladies attempted to form a legal code governing love affairs, of which a Latin edition exists in theDe arte honeste amandiof André le Chapelain, written at the outset of the thirteenth century. Well-known troubadours such as Bertran de Born and Bernart de Ventadour visited Eleanor's court and the theory of courtly love found its way into epic poetry in the hands of Chrétien de Troyes.
The Provençal school in Northern France began during the latter half of the twelfth century. Thechansonproperly so called is naturally most strongly represented: but the Provençal forms, thetençon(Prov.tenso) and a variant of it, thejeu-parti(Prov.jocs partitzorpartimens) are also found, especially the latter. This was so called, because the opener of the debate proposed two alternatives to his interlocutor, of which the latter could choose for support either thathe preferred, the proposer taking the other contrary proposition: the contestants often left the decision in anenvoito one or more arbitrators by common consent. Misinterpretation of the language of theseenvoisgave rise to the legend concerning the "courts of love," as we have stated in a previous chapter. One of the earliest representatives of this school was Conon de Bethune, born in 1155; he took part in the Crusades of 1189 and 1199. Blondel de Nesles, Gace Brulé and the Châtelain de Coucy are also well-known names belonging to the twelfth century. Thibaut IV., Count of Champagne and King of Navarre (1201-1253), shared in the Albigeois crusade and thus helped in the destruction of the poetry which he imitated. One of the poems attributed to him by Dante (De Vulg. El.) belongs to Gace Brulé; his love affair with Blanche of Castile is probably legendary. Several crusade songs are attributed to Thibaut among some thirty poems of the kind that remain to us from the output of this school. These crusade poems exhibit the characteristics of their Provençal models: there are exhortations to take the cross in the form of versified sermons; there are also love poems which depict the poet's mind divided between his duty as a crusader and his reluctance to leave his lady; or we find the ladybewailing her lover's departure, or again, lady and lover lament their approaching separation in alternate stanzas. There is more real feeling in some of these poems than is apparent in the ordinary chanson of the Northern French courtly school: the following stanzas are from a poem by Guiot de Dijon,34the lament of a lady for her absent lover—
Chanterai por mon corageQue je vueill reconforterCar avec mon grant damageNe quier morir n'afoler,Quant de la terra sauvageNe voi nului retornerOu cil est qui m'assoageLe cuer, quant j'en oi parlerDex, quant crieront outree,Sire, aidiés au pelerinPor cui sui espoentee,Car felon sunt Sarrazin.De ce sui bone atenteQue je son homage pris,E quant la douce ore venteQui vient de cel douz païsOu cil est qui m'atalente,Volontiers i tor mon vis:Adont m'est vis que jel sentePar desoz mon mantel gris.Dex, etc.
Chanterai por mon corageQue je vueill reconforterCar avec mon grant damageNe quier morir n'afoler,Quant de la terra sauvageNe voi nului retornerOu cil est qui m'assoageLe cuer, quant j'en oi parlerDex, quant crieront outree,Sire, aidiés au pelerinPor cui sui espoentee,Car felon sunt Sarrazin.
Chanterai por mon corage
Que je vueill reconforter
Car avec mon grant damage
Ne quier morir n'afoler,
Quant de la terra sauvage
Ne voi nului retorner
Ou cil est qui m'assoage
Le cuer, quant j'en oi parler
Dex, quant crieront outree,
Sire, aidiés au pelerin
Por cui sui espoentee,
Car felon sunt Sarrazin.
De ce sui bone atenteQue je son homage pris,E quant la douce ore venteQui vient de cel douz païsOu cil est qui m'atalente,Volontiers i tor mon vis:Adont m'est vis que jel sentePar desoz mon mantel gris.Dex, etc.
De ce sui bone atente
Que je son homage pris,
E quant la douce ore vente
Qui vient de cel douz païs
Ou cil est qui m'atalente,
Volontiers i tor mon vis:
Adont m'est vis que jel sente
Par desoz mon mantel gris.
Dex, etc.
"I will sing for my heart which I will comfort, for in spite of my great loss I do not wish to die, and yet I see no one return from the wildland where he is who calms my heart when I hear mention of him. God! when they cry Outre (a pilgrim marching cry), Lord help the pilgrim for whom I tremble, for wicked are the Saracens.
"From this fact have I confidence, that I have received his vows and when the gentle breeze blows which comes from the sweet country where he is whom I desire, readily do I turn my face thither: then I think I feel him beneath my grey mantle."
The idea in the second stanza quoted is borrowed from Bernard de Ventadour—
Quant la douss' aura ventaDeves vostre païs.Vejaire m'es qu'eu sentaUn ven de Paradis.
Quant la douss' aura ventaDeves vostre païs.Vejaire m'es qu'eu sentaUn ven de Paradis.
Quant la douss' aura venta
Deves vostre païs.
Vejaire m'es qu'eu senta
Un ven de Paradis.
The greater part of this poetry repeats, in another language, the well-worn mannerisms of the troubadours: we find the usual introductory references to the spring or winter seasons, the wounding glances of ladies' eyes, the tyranny of love, the reluctance to be released from his chains and so forth, decked out with complications of stanza form and rime-distribution. Dialectical subtlety is not absent, and occasionally some glow of natural feeling may be perceived; but that school in general was careful to avoid the vulgarity of unpremeditated emotion and appealed only to a restricted class of the initiated. Changes in the constitution and customs of society brought this schoolto an end at the close of the thirteenth century, and a new period of lyric poetry was introduced by Guillaume de Machaut and Eustache Deschamps.
Of the troubadours in England there is little to be said. The subject has hitherto received but scanty attention. Richard Coeur de Lion was as much French as English; his mother, Queen Eleanor, as we have seen, was Southern French by birth and a patroness of troubadours. Richard followed her example; his praises are repeated by many troubadours. What truth there may be in Roger of Hovenden's statement concerning his motives cannot be said; "Hic ad augmentum et famam sui nominis emendicata carmina et rhythmos adulatorios comparabat et de regno Francorum cantores et joculatores muneribus allexerat ut de illo canerent in plateis, et jam dicebatur ubique, quod non erat talis in orbe." The manuscripts have preserved two poems attributed to him, one referring to a difference with the Dauphin of Auvergne, Robert I. (1169-1234), the other a lament describing his feelings during his imprisonment in Germany (1192-1194). Both are in French though a Provençal verson is extant of the latter. The story of Richard's discovery by Blondel is pure fiction.35
From the time of Henry II. to that of Edward I. England was in constantcommunication with Central and Southern France and a considerable number of Provençals visited England at different times and especially in the reign of Henry III.; Bernard de Ventadour, Marcabrun and Savaric de Mauleon are mentioned among them. Though opportunity was thus provided for the entry of Provençal influence during the period when a general stimulus was given to lyric poetry throughout Western Europe, Norman French was the literary language of England during the earlier part of that age and it was not until the second half of the thirteenth century that English lyric poetry appeared. Nevertheless, traces of Provençal influence are unmistakably apparent in this Middle English lyric poetry. But even before this time Anglo-Latin and Anglo-Norman literature was similarly affected. William of Malmesbury says that the Norman Thomas, Archbishop of York, the opponent of Anselm wrote religious songs in imitation of those performed by jongleurs; "si quis in auditu ejus arte joculatoria aliquid vocale sonaret, statim illud in divinas laudes effigiabat." These were possibly hymns to the Virgin. There remain also political poems written against John and Henry III. which may be fairly calledsirventes, Latin disputes, such as those Inter Aquam et Vinum, Inter Cor et Oculum, De Phillide et Flora, are constructed upon theprinciples of thetensoorpartimen. The use of equivocal and "derivative" rimes as they are called in the Leys d'Amors is seen in the following Anglo-Norman stanzas. A poem with similar rimes and grouped in the same order is attributed to the Countess of Die, the Provençaltrobairitz; but this, as M. Paul Meyer points out, may be pure coincidence.36
En lo sesoun qe l'erbe poyntE reverdist la matinéeE sil oysel chauntent a poyntEn temps d'avril en la ramée,Lores est ma dolur dubléeQue jeo sui en si dure poyntQue jeo n'en ai de joie poynt,Tant me greve la destinée.Murnes et pensif m'en depart,Que trop me greve la partie;Si n'en puis aler cele part,Que ele n'eyt a sa partieMon quor tot enter saunz partie.E puis qu'el ad le men saunz part,E jeo n'oy unkes del soen partA moi est dure la partie.
En lo sesoun qe l'erbe poyntE reverdist la matinéeE sil oysel chauntent a poyntEn temps d'avril en la ramée,Lores est ma dolur dubléeQue jeo sui en si dure poyntQue jeo n'en ai de joie poynt,Tant me greve la destinée.
En lo sesoun qe l'erbe poynt
E reverdist la matinée
E sil oysel chauntent a poynt
En temps d'avril en la ramée,
Lores est ma dolur dublée
Que jeo sui en si dure poynt
Que jeo n'en ai de joie poynt,
Tant me greve la destinée.
Murnes et pensif m'en depart,Que trop me greve la partie;Si n'en puis aler cele part,Que ele n'eyt a sa partieMon quor tot enter saunz partie.E puis qu'el ad le men saunz part,E jeo n'oy unkes del soen partA moi est dure la partie.
Murnes et pensif m'en depart,
Que trop me greve la partie;
Si n'en puis aler cele part,
Que ele n'eyt a sa partie
Mon quor tot enter saunz partie.
E puis qu'el ad le men saunz part,
E jeo n'oy unkes del soen part
A moi est dure la partie.
"In the season when the grass springs and the morn is green and the birds sing exultantly in April time in the branches, then is my grief doubled, for I am in so hard a case that I have no joy at all, so heavy is my fate upon me.
"Sad and thoughtful I depart, for the case is too grievous for me: yetI cannot go thither, for she has in her power my heart whole and undivided. And since she has mine undivided and I never have any part of hers, the division is a hard one to me."
This influence was continued in Middle English lyric poetry. These lyrics are often lacking in polish; the tendency to use alliteration as an ornament has nothing to do with such occasional troubadour examples of the trick as may be found in Peire d'Auvergne. Sometimes a refrain of distinctly popular origin is added to a stanza of courtly and artificial character. Generally, however, there is a freshness and vigour in these poems which may be vainly sought in the products of continental decadence. But Provençal influence, whether exerted directly or indirectly through the Northern French lyric school, is plainly visible in many cases. Of the lyrics found in the important MS. Harleian 2253,37"Alysoun" has the same rime scheme as a poem by Gaucelm Faidit: it opens with the conventional appeal to spring; the poet's feelings deprive him of sleep. The Fair Maid of Ribbesdale has a rime-scheme almost identical with that shown by one of Raimbaut d'Aurenga's poems; the description of the lady's beauty recalls many troubadour formulae: the concluding lines—
He myhte sayen pat crist hym seze,pat myhte nyhtes neh hyre leze,heuene he hevede here.
He myhte sayen pat crist hym seze,pat myhte nyhtes neh hyre leze,heuene he hevede here.
He myhte sayen pat crist hym seze,
pat myhte nyhtes neh hyre leze,
heuene he hevede here.
are a troubadour commonplace. Many other cases might be quoted. Hymns and songs to the Virgin exhibit the same characteristics of form. The few Provençal words which became English are interesting;38colander or cullender (now a vegetable strainer; Prov. colador), funnel, puncheon, rack, spigot, league, noose are directly derived from Provençal and not through Northern French and are words connected with shipping and the wine trade, the port for which was Bordeaux.
In the year 1323 a society was formed in Toulouse of seven troubadours, the "sobregaya companhia," for the purpose of preserving and encouraging lyric poetry (lo gay saber). The middle class of Toulouse seems at all times to have felt an interest in poetry and had already produced such well-known troubadours as Aimeric de Pegulhan, Peire Vidal and Guillem Figueira. The society offered an annual prize of a golden violet for the bestchanso; other prizes were added at a later date for the best dance song and the bestsirventes. Competitors found that songs to the Virgin were given the preference and she eventually became the one subject of these prize competitions. The society produced a grammaticalwork, the Leys d'Amors, under the name of its president, Guillem Molinier, in 1356,39no doubt for the reference and instruction of intending competitors. The competition produced a few admirable poems, but anxiety to preserve the old troubadour style resulted generally in dry and stilted compositions. TheAcademie des jeux floraux40altered the character of the competition by admitting French poems after 1694. At the end of the sixteenth century, Provençal poetry underwent a revival; in our own time, poets such as Jasmin, Aubanel, Roumanille and above all, Mistral, have raised their language from a patois to a literary power. The work of the félibres has been to synthetise the best elements of the various local dialects and to create a literary language by a process not wholly dissimilar to that described at the outset of this book. But the old troubadour spirit had died long before; it had accomplished its share in the history of European literature and had given an impulse to the development of lyric poetry, the effects of which are perceptible even at the present day.
F. Diez,Leben und Werke der Troubadours, 2nd edit., re-edited by K. Bartsch, Leipsic, 1882.Die Poesie der Troubadours, 2nd edit., re-edited by K. Bartsch, Leipsic, 1883.
K. Bartsch,Grundriss zur Geschichte der provenzalischen Literatur, Elberfeld, 1872. A new edition of this indispensable work is in preparation by Prof. A. Pillet of Breslau. The first part of the book contains a sketch of Provençal literature, and a list of manuscripts. The second part gives a list of the troubadours in alphabetical order, with the lyric poems attributed to each troubadour. The first line of each poem is quoted and followed by a list of the MSS. in which it is found. Modern editors have generally agreed to follow these lists in referring to troubadour lyrics: e.g. B. Gr., 202, 4 refers to the fourth lyric (in alphabetical order) of Guillem Ademar, who is no. 202 in Bartsch's list.
A list of corrections to this list is given by Gröber in Böhmer'sRomanische Studien, vol. ii. 1875-77, Strassburg. In vol. ix. of the same is Gröbers' study of troubadour MSS. and the relations between them.
A. Stimming,Provenzaliscke Literatur in Gröber's Grundriss der Romanischen Philologie, Strassburg, 1888, vol. ii. part ii. contains useful bibliographical notices.
A. Restori,Letteratura provenzale, Milan, 1891 (Manuali Hoepli), an excellent little work.
A. Jeanroy,Les origines de la poésie lyrique en France, 2nd edit., Paris, 1904.
J. Anglade,Les troubadours, Paris, 1908, an excellent and trustworthy work, in popular style, with a good bibliography.
J. H. Smith,The troubadours at Home, 2 vols., New York, 1899; popularises scientific knowledge by impressions of travel in Southern France, photographs, and historical imagination: generally stimulating and suggestive, Most histories of French literature devote some space to Provençal; e.g. Suchier & Birch-Hirschfeld,Geschichte der französischen Litteratur, Leipsic, 1900. The works of Millot and Fauriel are now somewhat antiquated.Trobador Poets, Barbara Smythe, London, 1911, contains an introduction and translations from various troubadours.
F. Raynouard,Lexique roman, 6 vols., Paris, 1838-1844, supplemented by.
E. Levy,Provenzalisches supplement-Wörterbuch, Leipsic, 1894, not yet completed, but indispensable.
E. Levy,Petit dictionnaire provençal-français, Heidelberg, 1908.
J. B. Roquefort,Glossaire de la langue romane, 3 vols., Paris, 1820.
W. Meyer-Lübke,Grammaire des langues romanes, French translation of the German, Paris, 1905.
C. H. Grandgent,An outline of the phonology and morphology of old Provençal, Boston, 1905.
H. Suchier,Die französiche und provenzalische Sprachein Gröber'sGrundriss. A French translation,Le Français et le Provençal, Paris, 1891.
The following chrestomathies contain tables of grammatical forms (except in the case of Bartsch) texts and vocabularies.
Altprovenzalisches Elementarbuch, O. Schultz-Gora, Heidelberg, 1906, an excellent work for beginners.
Provenzalische Chrestomathie, C. Appel, Leipsic, 1907, 3rd edit.
Manualetto provenzale, V. Crescini, Padua, 1905, 2nd edit.
Chrestomathie provençal, K. Bartsch, re-edited by Koschwitz, Marburg, 1904.
The following editions of individual troubadours have been published.
Alegret.Annales du Midi, no. 74.
Arnaut Daniel. U. A. Canello, Halle, 1883.
Bernart de Rovenac. G. Borsdorff, Erlangen, 1907.
Bartolomeo Zorzi. E. Levy, Halle, 1883.
Bertran d'Alamanon. J. Salverda de Grave, Toulouse, 1902 (Bibliothèque Méridionale).
Bertran de Born. A. Thomas, Toulouse, 1888 (Bibliothèque Méridionale).
Bertran de Born. A. Stimming, Halle, 1892 (and in theRomanischz Bibliothek, Leipsic).
Blacatz. O. Soltau, Leipsic, 1890.
Cercamon. Dr Dejeanne, Toulouse, 1905 (Annales du Midi, vol. xvii.).
Elias de Barjols. Stronski, Paris, 1906 (Bibliothèque Méridionalevi.).
Folquet de Marselha. Stronski, Cracow, 1911.
Folquet de Romans. Zenker (Romanische Bibliothek).
Gavaudan. A. Jeanroy,Romania, xxxiv., p. 497.
Guillaume IX. Comte de Poitiers. A. Jeanroy, Toulouse, 1905.
Guillem Anelier de Toulouse. M. Gisi, Solothurn, 1877.
Guillem de Cabestanh. F. Hüffer, Berlin, 1869.
Guillem Figueira. E. Levy, Berlin, 1880.
Guillem de Montanhagol. J. Coulet,Bibliothèque Méridionale, iv., Toulouse.
Guiraut de Bornelh. A. Kolsen, Berlin, 1894 and 1911.
Guiraut d'Espanha. P. Savi-Lopez.Studj mediaevali, Fasc. 3, Turin, 1905.
Guiraut Riquier, Étude sur, etc. J. Anglade, Paris, 1905.
Jaufre Rudel. A Stimming, Kiel, 1873.
Marcabrun. Dr Dejeanne.Bibliothèque Méridionale, 1910.
Marcoat. Dr Dejeanne, Toulouse, 1903 (Annales du Midi, xv.).
Monk of Montaudon. E. Philippson, Halle, 1873; O. Klein, Marburg, 1885.
N' At de Mons. Bernhard.Altfranzösische Bibliothek, Heilbronn.
Paulet de Marselha. E. Levy, Paris, 1882.
Peire d'Alvernhe (d'Auvergne). R. Zenker, Rostock, 1900.
Peire Vidal. K. Bartsch, Berlin, 1857 (an edition by J. Anglade is about to appear).
Peire Rogier. C. Appel, Berlin, 1892.
Perdigon. H.J. Chaytor,Annales du Midi, xxi.
Pons de Capdoill. M. Napolski, Halle, 1879.
Raimbaut de Vaqueiras. O. Schultz, Halle, 1893.
Raimon de Miraval, Etude sur, etc. P. Andraud, Paris, 1902.
Sordel. De Lollis, Halle, 1896 (Romanische Bibliothek).
Numerous separate pieces have been published in the various periodicals concerned with Romance philology, as also have diplomatic copies of several MSS. Of these periodicals, the most important for Provençal areRomania, les Annales du Midi, Zeitschrift der Romanischen Philologie, Archiv fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen, Romanische Studien, Studj di filologia romanza, Revue des langues romanes. Mahn'sGedichte der Troubadours, 4 vols., Berlin, 1856-71, contains diplomatic copies of MSS.; hisWerke der Troubadours, Berlin, 1846-55, contains reprints from Raynouard,Choix des poésies originales des Troubadours, Paris, 1816. Suchier,Denkmäler provenzalischer Sprache, Halle, 1883; Appel,Provenzalische Inedita, Leipsic, 1890; Chabaneau,Poesies inédites des Troubadours du Perigord, Paris, 1885; P. Meyer,Les derniers troubadours de Provence, Paris, 1871, should be mentioned. Most of the pieces in theParnasse Occitanien, Toulouse, 1819, are to be found better edited elsewhere. Other pieces are to be found in variousFestschriftenand occasional or private publications, too numerous to be detailed here. C. Chabaneau,Les biographies des Troubadours, Toulouse, 1885 (part of theHistoire générale de Languedoc) is full of valuable information. The biographies have been translated by I. Farnell,Lives of the Troubadours, London, 1896.