Analysis of manuscripts: A 166v (immediately follows vida), D 82v (Jdem Peire .ii.), I 141v (immediately follows vida), K 127r (immediately follows vida), c 84r (Peire Breumon). − The order of stanzas is the same in all MSS. While ADIK lack VI and c lacks III, there is no reason to doubt the authenticity of either stanza and, like Boutière, I accept both. – c is further differentiated from the ADIK family by several isolated readings, some erroneous (see 6, 11, 25, 34, 37); it shares two readings with D (5 and 11), which may point to collation further back in the D tradition. D itself contains a fair number of individual readings and errors (3, 4, 7, 12, 17,18, and so on). Among A’s isolated readings are an indifferent alternative form (5 er for ar), an example of intelligent scribal reworking (17), a likely ‘improvement’ to the text (27) and three more cases which might be viewed as the preservation (or possibly restoration) of more precise readings (23, 29, 37). – IK are free of such scribal interventions and since K is faded and illegible in parts of stanza II, I follow Boutière in basing the text on I. My text differs little from his.
I. 3 qer uirei D 4 Qem D 5 Er A, Anz Dc 6 nol parai c 7 Elaisseramen m. D 8 deo D.
II. 9 remamh c 10 teing D 11 Eu K; la terra Dc; nasqes c 12 midon D 14 lieis Ac; manen affar D 15 nuoch om. (−1) I; pos D 16 El io.... auei | llar K several letters illegible.
III. om c 17 Aquist A; non es mia AD 18 ne s’eschai] illegible K; neno taing ges | qella sia D 19 first few and last couple of letters of line barely legible K 20 peus ia rei I, p....sia rei K several letters illegible 23 eu temin A, en tem eu (or en) I; et aten | i t. f. D 24 Que re D.
IV. 25 sen] preç c 27 Aquesta D; d. a cui A 29 semblan D, senblan I, semblan Kc 30 mon | non non K; son p. D 31 tot lo IK 32 porriom I; dels seus D, del seus c.
V. 33 gram merse D 34 Dun seu c; gargez D, guarso c 36 parlez D 37 serial D, seria IKc; gessir D, ia ser c 39 nom AD, enon or enom IKc 40 Cautrons D; des | cauchar D.
VI. om. ADIK 42 En c.
Dating and historical circumstances:
While the piece itself contains no datable allusions, it is reasonable to assume it was composed in the 1170s, in the same period as the other song securely attributable to Peire Bremon lo Tort, BdT 331.1 (see the General Note to that piece), and which, like the present composition, appears in DIKc. Lines 9-11 make it clear that it was composed in the Holy Land.
5. I understand del tot ‘completely; at all’ (PSW, VIII, 334, 16) and m’en ... giquir in the light of se giquir de ‘s’abstenir, cesser’ (PD; PSW, IV, 114, 8).
6. c no·l ‘I will never get it (joy) back again’.
15. Mahn prints la nueit non but I omits nuoch altogether, most likely as the result of haplography.
17. Boutière notes that n’ as an elided form of no is exceptional in Occitan, but compare Marcabru: a Critical Edition, ed. Simon Gaunt, Ruth Harvey and Linda Paterson, with John Marshall as philological adviser, Cambridge 2000, XV, 36 and the note and see the other examples in PSW, V, 413, 1. The original reading may have been Cesta domna non es mia.
20. For pronominal pensar when the verb is used intransitively, see Frede Jensen, Syntaxe de l’ancien occitan, Tübingen 1994, § 446.
29. Corrected from A. The personal pronoun may have disappeared originally behind an abbreviation (compare D) and then been independently restored by A.
31. Boutière: tot lo be, justified by the sg. del seu in 32. But if this had been the original reading, it is less easy to see how that of IK should have arisen.
37. A alone has s’iria; all other MSS erroneously read seria (D serial), no doubt anticipating line 38, as Boutière suggested (p. 451).
39. IKc no(n) or no(m); AD nom.
41. aia: on the unusual form (3 syllables; constructed on the basis of OF aïe? Occitan usually has ajuda), see ‘Versification’ and Boutière, p. 435. – seit: a Gallicism or Franco-Provençal borrowing (Boutière, p. 435).
42. MS En torn en: the correction is Boutière’s, followed also by Riquer. Boutière has torn eu in the notes, surely a misprint. For tornar en ‘to return someone to a condition or situation’, see PSW, VIII, 302, 9; God’s help would consist in leading or returning him ‘there’ straight away (dreita via PSW, VIII, 741, 1), with lai glossed in 43, a line in apposition (Riquer’s correction to la is unnecessary: see John H. Marshall, «Le troubadour Peire Bremon lo Tort et deux chansons d’attribution douteuse», Le Moyen Age, 86, 1980, pp. 67-91, p. 71 n.13).
45. Like Boutière, I accept the irregular scansion. For impersonal venir a denoting obligation or an event which is bound to happen, see Frede Jensen, The Syntax of Medieval Occitan, Tübingen 1986, § 665.
[RH, lb]
