Note al Testo critico

Analysis of manuscripts: C 364r (P. bermon lo tort), D 82v (Peire Bermons lo tort .i.), G 15v (no rubric; empty staves above stanza I), I 141v (Peire bremonz lo tortz .xxviiij.), K 127v (Peire bremonz xxxiij.), O 66 (no rubric, but Peire Bremon in index), R 57v (deuen | tador in red in margin; empty staves above stanza I), Sg 48v (Riambaut de uaqueyras), T 211v (Peire raimon), a (text reconstructed by Bertoni from del Nero’s variants; attributed in ca to Peire Breumon, in table to Peire Raimon de Toloza), c 84v (Peire breumon). − The MSS divide into three broad groups according to the amount and organisation of the material they transmit: DGIK(Oc) - CRSg - Ta, the last two ultimately deriving from a copy in which our stanza VII was defective, only 43-44 being preserved. In addition, a and c share a number of distinctive readings (see 3, 5, 7, 13, 31, 33, 43), presumably the result of some earlier collation. – CRSg preserve no superior readings, lack 45-46 altogether and preserve 47-49 as a tornada. Moreover, CRSg lack 29-30, and an earlier source for CR must have been defective at 33, leading to the confection of a plausible filler-line. – The last five lines of stanza III in Ta similarly have every appearance of being confected. These MSS also lack altogether stanzas IV and VI as well as lines 45-49. The effect of this is to edit out any reference to Syria, to activity which could be construed as crusading – unless you count 43 –, and to a historically identifiable crusader, William Longsword. – While D is the only MS in the DGIKOc group to preserve the correct reading in 42, its numerous isolated readings and errors (3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25 and so on) exclude it from consideration as base-MS. O is lacunary and occasionally idiosyncratic (see for example 38-39). Of the remaining full versions, GIK, K has the fewest errors, all minor scribal slips and I have accordingly chosen that as base-MS. The tornada is taken from c, a MS which in other respects has a number of individual readings (22-28, 35, 37, 39, 44, 47) and which lacks stanza III. De Bartholomaeis 1930 (p. 60) rejected the tornada as spurious because of its infraction of the norms of versification in 50. These are insufficient grounds to doubt its authenticity, however. Like Boutière and Marshall (John H. Marshall, «Le troubadour Peire Bremon Lo Tort et deux chansons d’attribution douteuse», Le Moyen Age, 1, 1980, pp. 67-91, on pp. 74-75), I retain VIII as authentic (see the General Note on dating below). (Sg’s tornada, with its reference to ‘Bels Cavalers’, reflects an implausible attempt to attach the song to the corpus of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, as De Bartholomaeis 1930 demonstrated, pp. 62-63.) – My text differs little from that of Boutière.

	I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	VIII
GIK	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	-
D	1	2	3	4	6	5	7	-
O	1	2	3	-	4	5	-	-
c	1	2	-	4	3	5	6	4 lines (unique)
Sg	1	2	4	-	-	3	5^*	3 lines (unique)
C	1	2	3	4	-	5	6^**	-
R	1	2	3	-	-	4	5^**	-
T	1	2	3^#	-	4	-	5^##	-
a	1	2	4^#	-	3	-	5^##	-

^** In CR this stanza is composed of lines 43-44 + 31-32 + x + 34-35 (where ‘x’ is an apparently confected line), while a version of lines 47-49 is preserved as a 3-line tornada.

^# In Ta this stanza is composed of lines 15-16 + 5 lines which are very probably scribal confections.

I. 1 uerdoiar O 2 lo IKTac; prat OT; uert T; els (el a) uergiers CORa; boys e pratz e uergies f. Sg 3 E | ui c; esclarar D, el clarçir G, esclarir ac; e las fontanas esclardir Sg 4 autd D; li Sg; auzels CDGOac; alegrar Cc, demorar a; e. a. lo rossinlhol c. R, eueill peisons conortar T 5 lodor CIR, los dors D, lolor O, elodor Sg, eloror T, lolors ca; dunærba C, dun erba Oac; floiria ac 6 lodolz G, el dos R; chant DORSgac; cels T; auzelh CSgac, auzelet O, auzelo R; crian T 7 at beginning of lines 7, 14, 21, 35, 42 and 53, Sg adds ay; men D; fan CTac; en goi T, m. iois ac.

II. 8 En cest t.] Adoncx C, A las donc D, En e t. the second ‘e’ with a titulus G, En aiqels (aqel R) t. OR, En cel t. Sg, En acest t. T, En qest t. a, En qel t. c; soli DGTac, soi O, suelh R; eu] en Dc; passar IK, pesar Sg 9 cum mi C, com sin IK, cum si O, comme Sg, com ieu Ta, com sim c; damors R 10 grazir D, bordir Ta 11 et ab servir om. D, ab gen s. Sgac, iamb serur T; onrar DGSgT, doniar O 12 e qui tals C, q. aquels D, q. aqest GIK, q. daital O, e q. cest R, etots a. Sg, q. aitals Ta, cui aqes c; mestres D, mester G, mestes Sg; auia RSgT ; mestier sauria O 13 dasso C, per el D, pels G, p. sestz R, eperso T, per ço ac; ens D; mors IK; lauzira G, seruida R, gausia T, seruia c; A dedos uers la morseruia O, ab que bo | na mor seruia Sg 14 deu] pot CRSgTa, pol c; la·n] lam IK, lon T, tan a, on c; myls Sg; conortar T ; E poirian conqistar O.

III. om. c 15 qi] que CDRT; d. mielhs R, degra T 16 dira CRTa, qiera D, qirara the second ‘a’ perhaps corrected over an ‘r’ I, dir e Sg; damors R; quem f. CORTa, quim f. Sg; lenguir Sg 17-21 In Ta lines 17-21 appear as the last five lines of stanza VII and are replaced in III in T and IV in a by the following: can (tan a) mi remebran (remembron a) li sospir . cum (qem a) fai la nuoc elgior peysar (pensar a) . mals damor caisim (caissi a) laghuia (languia a) . ce (qi a) nom laisa nuot ni dia . qels (qel a) giorn mi fan cent ues trenblar . 17 quab CTa, mas ab O; chant O, achantar T; cuich] deg T, dei a; esbaudr G; et anc mais non o auzim dir R, e anchom | mais non ausi dir Sg 18 canc O, esanc T; non mai a; auziç D, auzi GTa, lauzi O; cumdar O; enon auzis anc mais p. C, ni per me | rauilhar comtar R, necom per meraueyllas comtar Sg 19 Qen D; chantes COSg, chantans a; quan C, que RT 20 nonz R; desconort ges m. O, desconort m. Ta; pero nomen desconort m. C 21 quen quer C, canquor D, quanc car IK, qen cor O, qenqer R, queus quar Sg, can car T; luec CDORTa, lench Sg.

IV. om. ORSgTa 22 Non D; per ço non dei d. c 23 q. auqer D, qanqera c; midons CG; nom D, non or nom IKc; remire I 24 acel D, cel G, celui c; qim la fei c; çequir c, cauft or caufr (for ‘causir’?) D; quis selh que men a fag . partir C 25 deretornar D; Lam pot far ben cobrar c 26 seu son e. c 27 si iamais eræn C, era mais | torn en c; suria CGc 28 lais mais t. c.

V. om. CRSg 29 Mout me saup (sab O, sap ac) gen (om. O) DOac, B. g. m. sap GT, Benegent me sap (saup K) IK 30 Quanc IK, cam a; pres OT; cugei O; cam pres con iadei sa uenir c In CR lines 31-32 and 34-35 appear in stanza VII, as lines 45-46 and 48-49 respectively; in Sg lines 31-35 appear as the last 5 lines of stanza VII 31 que om. T; iorn DGT; q’eu] que D; Ja mais ner ior aucunen s. O, greus er mais iorn qeus non s. ac 32 bel] dous CR; ques u. f. C, quella u. f. D, q. vir f. G, cieu liuifar T; Per lo s. qeu lam f. O 33 q’ella·m] qella IK, can me Sg, cil me T, car ellam ac; dis om. and added in margin K; tuta smaria Oac, tota esmaria Sg; quan mi (me R) dis ont (on R) anaria CR 34 ques DSg; fera O; nostramia or uostramia K, uostraymia Sg 35 amic T, ami c; nols or uols K; p. q. uoles D, p. q. uol O, com podetz Sg, cui uoletç (uoles a) Ta, cosim pois c; amicx cum la uoletz laissar CR.

VI. om. Ta 36 Mot R, Molt c; sen CSgc; det DIK, deu O, poc R, dech Sg, de c; Deus] deu IK, don Sg, om O 37 quan CR, caras G, com Sgc; sim c; pot DG, fes R, puch Sg, pois c; lei] midons CRSg, midon c; sofrir c; Qant eu la poc per re zeqir O 38 dec] de D, deu R, dech Sg; e be mo d. C; Cil me deu mout agradir O, e de | gral molt a g. t. c 39 por O; Lui] lei D, leis O; otorn adrezar O; quar | lan u. p. luy l. C, car || per el laissar R, com per ellam uolgues laxar Sg, qar anc p. l. la pois l. c 40 quelh C, qe G, qieu O, qil c; sa b. Dc, sai b. O; la] lan C; car be sab que seu l. p. Sg 41 que] quieu C, om. Sg; iois DGc, ioya Sg 42 ni hom ORc; no la·m] nol me C, no mo R, no la c; poyriemendar C, pogues mendar GIK, poiria dar O, pot e. R, poiria mendar c; neyllam poiria e. Sg.

VII. om. O 43 Chanson CDRTac; tu niras GT, tu miras R, tu irai ac; otra R; Xançonet lay oltra la m. Sg 44 e per Deu] per deu G, adonc T, adonc e a, fe qem dei c; uam c; a] ma CR; midon Dac; dire D; Vay per amor a m. d. Sg 45 Qen DG; que non es iorns (iorn Sg) quieu no sospir CRSg, qe greus afan et a martir c 47 an CR, du | nan D, dimon IK, a c; guillelme C, guilem D, guillelmes R, guigelme c; delespia C, longespia D, longa spia G, deserpia R, daitam pria c 48 chanzos] domna chançon c; qill G; li] lit D, te c; chanso uai quet chans (chant R) et lj (lj om. R) dia CR 49 e que man (mans R) CR, e uama c; per lei] plei D; midons CR, mi don c; conortar CRc.

Tornada in Sg: Sil uostre bel cors uesia . bels cauales gint miria . ay deus com men | pogui tan luynar.

Peire Bremon lo Tort was from the Dauphiné, according to his vida (Boutière and Schutz, p. 497) and may be the same man as the Petrus Bermundi who witnessed donations to the Templars of Roaix between 1163 and 1168, and in two acts in 1176 (Boutière, p. 427; Marshall, p. 75). − In this song, the poet/lover has been obliged to leave his lady overseas (43) in Syria (stanza IV) and he sends an injunction to Guillem Longaespia to go her to comfort her (stanza VII). This was thought (Marshall, p. 73) to place the composition in the period between October 1176, when William Longsword, son of the marquis of Montferrat, landed in Sidon to marry Princess Sibilla of Jersusalem, and June 1177, when he died at Ascalon (see now Jonathan Phillips, Defenders of the Holy Land. Relations between the Latin East and the West, 1119-1187, Oxford 1996, pp. 228-229 and Walter Haberstumpf, «Guglielmo Lungaspada di Monferrato, conte di Ascalone e di Giaffa (1176-77)», Studi piemontesi, 18, 1989, pp. 601-608). Marshall also argues that if stanza I is to be taken literally, the song would have been composed in April 1177. − The identification of Filippe de Monreal in the tornada preserved only in c is, however, not secure. Following a suggestion by De Bartholomaeis, Marshall saw here Philip de Milly, also known as Philip of Nablus, lord of Krak de Montréal (1161), lord of the Transjordan until late 1165 and Master of the Templars in 1169, an office he had resigned, according to William of Tyre (Willelmi Tyrensis archiepiscopi Chronicon, ed. Robert B. C. Huygens, Corpus Christianorum, Cont. Mediaevalis, t. LXIII-LXIII A, Turnhout 1986, XX, 22), by March 1171 when he led an advance party of King Amalric’s personal mission to Constantinople to seek the help of Manual Comnenus (see now Phillips, pp. 208-213; Bernard Hamilton, The Leper-King and his Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Cambridge 2000, pp. 37, 79 n. 70, 91-92; Marie Louise Bulst-Thiele, Sacrae Domus Militiae Templi Hierosolymitani Magistri. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Tempelordens 1118/19 – 1314, Göttingen 1974, pp. 87-105, on pp. 80-83). Philip died on 2 or 3 April (Bulst-Thiele, p. 83), place and year unknown. Marshall argued that there is no proof Philip was not alive in 1177 and on some other mission in the service of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (on God’s business: compare stanza VI), somewhere across the sea (outra mar 43) from Syria, and accompanied by Peire Bremon. − Recent work on Philip of Nablus strongly suggests this interpretation is flawed (see Malcolm Barber, «The Career of Philip of Nablus in the Kingdom of Jerusalem», in The Experience of Crusading. II: Defining the Crusader Kingdom, ed. Peter Edbury and Jonathan Phillips, Cambridge 2003, pp. 60-75, p. 75). The biggest problem is the complete absence of Philip from the records after 1171. A member of one of the most important baronial families of the kingdom, an experienced warrior closely associated with King Amalric, Philip is referred to on several occasions by William of Tyre until 1171 and he appears in charters in the East first in 1138 and then often from 1144 onwards. Malcolm Barber has suggested (personal communication) that it is unlikely that Philip went to the West after 1171, and improbable that, if still alive, he would not have returned then to Syria. To these arguments may be added one concerning his name. If he is referred to in one grant made by King Amalric in 1165 as de Monte Regali (see Barber, p. 71 for details), he is most frequently designated in documentary sources as Philip of Nablus. Although vernacular usage in matters of names and titles may have differed from that employed in Latin charters, by the time of his last appearance (in William of Tyre’s account of 1171), Philip had not been lord of Monreal for some time, so it would be an odd way for a troubadour to refer to him in 1176-1177. It is most probable that this Philip died during the 1171 embassy to Constantinople and could not have been the man evoked as alive in the tornada of 331.1. These lines most likely refer to another Philip of Monreal, who is still to be identified. − While lines 45-49 show significant traces of disturbance in the MS transmission, and while the precise syntactical context of 47 diverges (compare the variants in CRc – D+ GIK), the reference here to William Longsword both seems secure and supplies the most reliable dating element for the piece. The interpretation of the period of composition may be refined a little more if we take the poet’s declaration that he needs to send his song outra mar to his lady (43-44) in the most straightforward way and place Peire in the West (compare Marshall, p. 75). Lines 47-49 indicate that William is either already overseas and able to go to the lady, or that it is known that he is about to leave for Syria. William’s marriage arrangements were settled in summer 1175 (the year prior to his arrival, according to William of Tyre XXI.13), when the invitation was made by the nobility of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and would then have become public knowledge in the West. Similarly, news of William’s death in June 1177 can be assumed to have first reached the West only some two months later, if the sailing season is taken into account, and this constitutes a terminus ante quem for Peire’s words.

2. As praz vertz points to the pl., I have adopted the reading los (see CDGORSg).

5. On the forms in ia at the rhyme (past part. 5, 13, 33 and verb forms cria 6 and dia 48), possible indications of the poet’s Franco-Provençal dialect, see Boutière, p. 435.

8. It is tempting to connect IK’s error passar with the crusade (‘to make the crossing [to Syria]’).

10. garnir: Appel ‘sich rüsten’. I take this, coupled with cavalgar, as a loose evocation of ‘the practice of arms’.

18. Bertoni chooses to print auzi, with G(OTa). There seems insufficient reason to emend K’s auzis (= auzitz).

24. I follow Marshall (p. 73) in seeing aicel as Philip of Montréal, not God.

29. Boutière prints sap (with GI(O)Tac, but without a note), but this is surely wrong: 29 must be taken with 30 (pris, majority reading) and this precludes a pres. sap. The readings in DK may represent interventions to restore a correct reading, although D’s numerous minor errors makes this unlikely in the case of this MS.

33. Although correction is not indispensable, since all MSS except IK indicate me in one way or another, I emend. It is likely that IK’s omission goes back to a missed diacritic.

35. Carapezza prints ‘Dun(im)an’, which must be an error as the MS clearly has ‘D’ followed by four minims (with no titulus).

36. IK show simple scribal slips of ‘t’ for ‘c’ (compare also D and see DG in 37) which led to apparently garbled syntax. In the light of CDGRc dieus, I also correct the inflexion.

42. All MSS except D seem in error here. If 42 is the second of two result-clauses dependent on the si-clause in 40, then the verb mood should be the same in 42 as it is in 41, that is, Cond II, but only D has pogr’. GIK’s pogues mendar is an error, in which es seems to have induced by anticipation a change from ‘r’ to ‘u’, to produce a plausible imperfect subjunctive verb form here.

47. While IK’s Di mon (‘Tell my ...’) is not impossible, it is facilior in the light of (D)G and, like Boutière, I correct.

On the Occitanised form (Longaespia) of the OF name Longespée, compare Boutière, p. 436, De Bartholomaeis 1930, pp. 55-56, and the Latin chronicle cited by the latter, p. 57: Willelmus cognomento Longaespea.

48. Boutière punctuates with a full stop after 48 and, needing an object for dia, glosses (note): ‘qu’il lui dise ce qui précède (vv. 46-48)’, but this takes no account of the initial qe of 50, which he passes over in silence (did he perhaps see this as a general, all-purpose ‘For’?).

51. I follow previous commentators who have seen this as meaning that Peire is being detained in or by Philip’s service; see the General note above and compare Marshall (p. 74): Peire ‘nous dit simplement qu’il était en sa bailia et qu’il aimait sa compagnie, ce qui fait penser que Philippe, chargé d’une mission dont nous ne savons rien, avait amené le poète dans son entourage’. Pres could be taken either literally (‘Philip retains me / keeps me close in his administration’) or metaphorically (Philip, whoever this might be, is keeping him ‘prisoner’ as a lady might).