19.1(Paterson)

En Blacasset, bon prez e gran largesa [Alexandre]
aves ab joi, a cui qe plassa o·n pes,
qar ieu o sai qe no·us plaz escaseza,
q’a mi aves donat dos palefres,
enaissi con ieu vei Suria.
Pero be·m plaz, s’a vos plazia,
qe ja null temps no·m dones vostr’aver
ab sol qe·l mieu non vueilhatz retener.

II.

Alexandres, s’anc mi prestiestz ni·us peza [Blacasset]
qar no·us pagei, ieu sai con o fares:
so q’aves dig q’ie·us dei ab gran largesa
er totz vostres, sol de l’altre·m sostes;
e qar le dons trop mais valia
qe·l prestz, en mon chauzimen sia,
o, si.·m rendes so q’aves dich per ver
q’ieu vos donei, rendrai vos vostr’aver.

III.

Si ab vos salvar mi podia, [Alexandre]
ja mais ab autre non perdria,
qar ieu non vueilh, s’estiers puesc retener,
mon bon amic perdre per mon aver.

IV.

Ab mi vos salveres tot dia [Blacasset]
qe no·n perdres, s’ieu no·n perdia;
e podes mi per amic retener,
sol non vulhaz so qe·m prestiestz aver!

Text

Edition and notes: Linda Paterson. – Rialto 3.xii.2011.

Mss.

E 226, M 260v-261r.

Critical Editions / Other Editions

Critical editions: François-Just-Marie Raynouard, Choix de poésies originales des troubadours, 6 vols., Paris 1816-1821, vol. V, p. 18 (lines 1-4 and 6-16); Ludwig Selbach, Das Streitgedicht in der Altprovenzalischen Lyrik und sein verhältniss zu ähnlichen dichtungen anderer litteraturen, Marburg 1886, p. 117; Otto Klein, Der Troubadour Blacassetz, Wiesbaden, 1887, p. 9; Linda Paterson, Rialto 3.xii.2011.

Other editions: Carl August Friedrich Mahn, Die Werke der Troubadours, in provenzalischer Sprache, 4 vols., Berlin 1886, vol. III, p. 349 (from Raynouard); Bernard Bonnarel, Las 194 cançons dialogadas dels trobadors, 1981, p. 150 (modern Occitan version on Klein).

Metrics and music

Versification: a10’ b10 a10’ b10 c8’ c8’ d10 d10 (Frank 382:55). Two coblas unissonans with two tornadas of four lines; the verse-form and rhyme-endings reveal it to be one of the numerous contrafacta whose model was a famous canso of Peirol (BdT 366.20).

General info

If Blacasset is the troubadour otherwise attested in 1229-39 (see Martin Aurell, La Vielle et l’épée. Troubadours et politique en Provence au XIIIe siècle, Paris 1989, p. 80) this gives some indication of the piece’s date. Nothing is known of Blacasset’s interlocutor, who would seem to have been a money-lender (whether real or fictive), nor of the date of the piece. – Line 5, which might appear to suggest that it was written in Outremer, is probably a case of antiphrastic sarcasm. – The dialogue turns on Blacasset’s indigence: he is in a position neither to make handsome gifts (two palfreys) nor to pay off his debts.

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