FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[35]Golias de Conjuge non ducenda, Wright'sMapes, p. 77.

[35]Golias de Conjuge non ducenda, Wright'sMapes, p. 77.

See Section vii. pp.16-23, above.

It seems desirable that I should enlarge upon some topics which I treated somewhat summarily in Section vii. I assumed that the Wandering Scholars regarded themselves as a kind of Guild or Order; and for this assumption the Songs Nos. 1, 2, 3, translated in Section xiii. are a sufficient warrant. Yet the case might be considerably strengthened. In theSequentia falsi evangelii secundum marcam argenti[36]we read of theGens Lusorumor Tribe of Gamesters, which corresponds to theSecta Decii,[37]theOrdo Vagorum, and theFamilia Goliae. Again, in Wright'sWalter Mapes[38]there is an epistle written from England by one Richardus Goliardus toOmnibus in Gallia Goliae discipulis, introducing a friend, asking for informationordo vester qualis est, and giving for the reason of this requestne magis in ordine indiscrete vivam. He addresses his French comrades aspueri Goliae, and winds up with good wishes for thesocios sanctae confratriae. Proofs might be multipliedthat the Wandering Students in Germany also regarded themselves as a confraternity, with special rules and ordinances. Of this, the curious parody of an episcopal letter, issued in 1209 bySurianus, Praesul et Archiprimas, to thevagi clericiof Austria, Styria, Bavaria, and Moravia is a notable example.[39]

I have treated Golias as the eponymous hero of this tribe, the chief of this confraternity. But it ought to be said that the name Golias occurs principally in English MSS., where the Goliardic poems are ascribed toGolias Episcopus.Elsewhere the same personage is spoken of asPrimas, which is a title of dignity applying to a prelate with jurisdiction superior even to that of an archbishop. Grimm[40]quotes this phrase from a German chronicle:Primas vagus multos versus edidit magistrates. In theSequentia falsi evangelii[41]we find twice repeatedPrimas autem qui dicitur vilissimus. The Venetian codex from which Grimm drew some of his texts[42]attributes theDispute of Thetis and Lyaeusand theAdvice against Matrimony, both of which passed in England under the name of Golias and afterwards of Walter Map, toPrimas Presbyter.

With regard to this Primas, it is important to mention that Fra Salimbene in his Chronicle[43]gives a succinct account of him under the date 1233. It runs as follows:Fuit his temporibus Primas canonicus eoloniensis, magnus trutannus et magnus trufator, et maximus versificator et velox, qui, si dedisset cor suum ad diligendum Deum, magnus in litteratura divina fuisset, et utilis valdeEcclesiae Dei. Cujus Apocalypsim, quam fecerat, vidi, et alia scripta plura. After this passage follow some anecdotes, with quotations of verses extemporised by Primas, and lastly the whole of the Confession, translated by me at p. 55 above. Thus Salimbene, who was almost a contemporary author, attributes to Primas two of the most important poems which passed in England under the name of Golias, while the Venetian MS. ascribes two others of the same class to Primas Presbyter. It is also very noteworthy that Salimbene expressly calls this Primas a Canon of Cologne.

That this poet, whoever he was, had attained to celebrity in Italy (as well as in Germany) under the title of Primas, appears also from the following passage of a treatise by Thomas of Capua[44]on the Art of Writing:Dictaminum vero tria sunt genera auctoribus diffinita, prosaicum scilicet, metricum et rithmicum; prosaicum ut Cassiodori, metricum ut Virgilii, rithmicum ut Primatis. Boccaccio was in all probability referring to the same Primas in the tale he told aboutPrimasso,[45]who is described as a man of European reputation, and a great and rapid versifier. It is curious that just as Giraldus seems to have acceptedGoliasas the real name of this poet,[46]so Fra Salimbene, Thomas of Capua, and Boccaccio appear to usePrimasas a Christian name.

The matter becomes still more complicated when we find, as we do, some of the same poems attributed in France to Walter of Lille, in England to Walter Map, and further current under yet another title of dignity, that ofArchipoeta.[47]

We can hardly avoid the conclusion that by Golias Episcopus, Primas, and Archipoeta one and the same person, occupying a prominent post in the Order, was denoted. He was the head of the Goliardic family, the Primate of the Wandering Students' Order, the Archpoet of these lettered minstrels. The rare excellence of the compositions ascribed to him caused them to be spread abroad, multiplied, and imitated in such fashion that it is now impossible to feel any certainty about the personality which underlay these titles.

Though we seem frequently upon the point of touching the real man, he constantly eludes our grasp. Who he was, whether he was one or many, remains a mystery. Whether the poems which bear one or other of his changing titles were really the work of a single writer, is also a matter for fruitless conjecture. We may take it for granted that he was not Walter Map; for Map was not a Canon of Cologne, not a follower of Reinald von Dassel, not a mark for the severe scorn of Giraldus. Similar reasoning renders it more than improbable that the Golias of Giraldus, the Primas of Salimbene, and the petitioner to Reinald should have been Walter of Lille.[48]

At the same time it is singular that the name of Walter should twice occur in Goliardic poems of a good period. One of these is the famous and beautiful lament:—

"Versa est in luctum—eithara Waltheri."

This exists in the MS. of theCarmina Burana, but not in the Paris MS. of Walter's poems edited by Müldner.

It contains allusions to the poet's ejection from his place in the Church—a misfortune which actually befell Walter of Lille. Grimm has printed another poem,Saepe de miseria,in which the name of Walter occurs.[49]It is introduced thus:

"Hoc Gualtherus sub-priorJubet in decretis."

Are we to infer from the designationSub-priorthat the Walter of this poem held a post in the Order inferior to that of the Primas?

It is of importance in this connection to bear in mind that five of the poems attributed in English MSS. to Golias and Walter Map, namely,Missus sum in vineam,Multiformis hominum,Fallax est et mobilis,A tauro torrida,Heliconis rivulo,Tanto viro locuturi, among which is the famous Apocalypse ascribed by Salimbene to Primas, are given to Walter of Lille in the Paris MS. edited by Müldner.[50]They are distinguished by a marked unity of style; and what is also significant, a lyric in this Paris MS.,Dum Gualterus aegrotaret, introduces the poet's name in the same way as theVersa est in luctumof theCarmina Burana. Therefore, without identifying Walter of Lille with the Primas, Archipoeta, and Golias, we must allow that his place in Goliardic literature is very considerable. But I am inclined to think that the weight of evidence favours chiefly the ascription of serious and satiric pieces to his pen. It is probable that the Archipoeta, the follower of Reinald von Dassel, the man who composed the most vigorousGoliardic poem we possess, and gave the impulse of his genius to that style of writing, was not the Walter of theVersa est in luctumor ofDum Gualterus aegrotaret. That Walter must have been somewhat his junior; and it is not unreasonable to assume that he was Walter of Lille, who may perhaps be further identified with theGualtherus sub-priorof the poem on the author's poverty. This Walter's Latin designation,Gualtherus de Insula, helps, as I have observed above,[51]to explain the attribution of the Goliardic poems in general to Walter Map by English scribes of the fifteenth century.

After all, it is safer to indulge in no constructive speculations where the matter of inquiry is both vague and meagre. One thing appears tolerably manifest; that many hands of very various dexterity contributed to form the whole body of songs which we call Goliardic. It is also clear that the Clerici Vagi considered themselves a confraternity, and that they burlesqued the institutions of a religious order, pretending to honour and obey a primate or bishop, to whom the nickname of Golias was given at the period in which they flourished most. Viewed in his literary capacity, this chief was further designated as the Archpoet. Of his personality we know as little as we do of that of Homer.

FOOTNOTES:[36]Grimm'sGedichte des Mittelalters, p. 232.[37]Carm. Bur., p. 254.[38]Page69.[39]Giesebrecht inAllg. Monatschrift. Jan. 1853. p. 35.[40]Op. cit., p. 182.[41]Ib., p. 232.[42]Ib., pp. 238, 239.[43]Published at Parma, 1857.[44]See Novati,Carmina Medii Aevi, p. 8, note.[45]Decameron, i, 7.[46]See above, p.21.[47]Grimm, op. cit., p. 189 et seq.[48]Giesebrecht identifies Walter of Lille with the Archipoeta. But he seems to be unacquainted with Salimbene's Chronicle, and I agree with Hubatsch that he has not made out his point.[49]Op. cit., p. 235, also inCarm. Bur., p. 74.[50]Hannover, 1859.[51]Page23.

[36]Grimm'sGedichte des Mittelalters, p. 232.

[37]Carm. Bur., p. 254.

[38]Page69.

[39]Giesebrecht inAllg. Monatschrift. Jan. 1853. p. 35.

[40]Op. cit., p. 182.

[41]Ib., p. 232.

[42]Ib., pp. 238, 239.

[43]Published at Parma, 1857.

[44]See Novati,Carmina Medii Aevi, p. 8, note.

[45]Decameron, i, 7.

[46]See above, p.21.

[47]Grimm, op. cit., p. 189 et seq.

[48]Giesebrecht identifies Walter of Lille with the Archipoeta. But he seems to be unacquainted with Salimbene's Chronicle, and I agree with Hubatsch that he has not made out his point.

[49]Op. cit., p. 235, also inCarm. Bur., p. 74.

[50]Hannover, 1859.

[51]Page23.

Carmina Burana. Stuttgart. 1847.Thomas Wright. The Latin Poems commonly attributed to Walter Mapes. Camden Society. 1841.—— Anecdota Literaria. London. 1844.—— Early Mysteries, etc. London. 1844.Edelstand du Méril. Poésies Populaires Latines Antérieures au Douzième Siècle. Paris. 1843.—— Poésies Populaires Latines du Moyen Age. Paris. 1847.—— Poésies Inédites du Moyen Age. Paris. 1854.Jacob Grimm. Gedichte des Mittelalters auf König Friedrich I., den Staufer. Berlin. 1843.H. Hagen. Carmina Medii Aevi Max. Part. Inedita. Bern. 1877.F. Novati. Carmina Medii Aevi. Firenze. 1883.Mone. Anzeiger, vii.W. Müldener. Die Zehn Gedichte von Walther von Lille. Hannover. 1859,Champollion-Figeac. Hilarii Versus et Ludi. Paris. 1838.Gaudeamus. Leipzig. 1879.Carmina Clericorum. Heilbronn. 1880.A.P. Von Bärnstein. Carmina Burana Selecta. 1880.—— Ubi sunt qui ante nos? Würtzburg. 1881.Giesebrecht. Die Vaganten. Allg. Monatscrift für W. und K. 1853.O. Hubatsch. Die Lateinischen Vagantenlieder. Görlitz. 1870.A. Bartoli. I Precursori del Rinascimento, Firenze. 1876.Allgemeines Deutsches Commersbuch.

N.B.—In order to facilitate the comparison between my translations and the originals, I have made the following table. The first column gives the number of the song and the second the page in this book; the third column gives the beginning of each song in English; the fourth gives the beginning of each song in Latin. The references in the fifth column are to the little anthology calledGaudeamus(Leipzig, Teubner, 1879); those in the sixth column are to the printed edition of the Benedictbeuern Codex, which goes by the title ofCarmina Burana(Stuttgart, auf Kosten das Literarischen Vereins, Hering & Co. printers, 1847).

FOOTNOTES:[52]The original of this song will be found in Geiger,Humanismus und Renaissance, p. 414.[53]The original will be found in Moll,Hymnarium, p. 138.

[52]The original of this song will be found in Geiger,Humanismus und Renaissance, p. 414.

[53]The original will be found in Moll,Hymnarium, p. 138.

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