English translation [LP]

I. Neither winter nor spring delights me, nor cloudless days nor leaf of oak, for to me my advancement seems loss, and all my greatest joy but sorrow, and sufferings are all my pleasures, and my hopes transformed to despair; yet love and courting used to keep me merrier than a fish in water! And since I have parted from love, like one ruined and sent to exile, every other life seems death to me, and every other joy desolation.
II. Since the flower of love is denied me, and the sweet fruit and the grain and the ear, in which I rejoiced with pleasant discourse, and by which I had fame and honour in abundance, and could take my place among the excellent, it now brings me crashing down to earth; and even if it might not have seemed to me a foolish cooling off, no flame was ever extinguished faster than I had been snuffed out and forlorn and lost in words and deeds, the day there came to me the desolation that does not fade, however much I strive.
III. Fine armed warriors and stout fighters, sieges, catapults and pickaxes, and holes being smashed through walls old and new, and fortifications and towers being won, I can see and hear; but I can have nothing to avail me in love! And, clad in rich armour, I seek out wars and frays and mêlées where I am enriched by conquest; yet since the joy of love is denied me, the whole world [if I had it] would seem to me [less than] one garden, and my song no more consoles me.
IV. So of what avail to me are conquest and riches? For indeed I used to hold myself richer when I was loved and a faithful lover, and along with my lord Engles was nourished with love; I loved a single pleasure from this more than here great lands and great possessions; for now the more my power grows, the more I am accompanied by sorrow, since my delightful Fair Knight and joy have withdrawn and fled from me, and consolation will never come to me, which makes the sorrow greater and more powerful.
V. Yet, even if I am troubled and sad, valour does not command me so to gladden my enemies as to lose my reputation and honour, for I can still do harm and good, and I know how to seem merry even in sadness, here among the Latins and the Greeks; and the Marquis, who girded me with the sword, is warring against the Vlachs and Drogobites, and never since the world was made has any people accomplished such exploits as we, whom God has graciously delivered.
VI. The Marquis is thereby honoured and exalted, so too the man of Champagne and Count Henry, and Sicar, Modon, Salonika and Constantinople relieved, for [these men] well know how to be masters of the field, and this indeed can easily be shown: it is manifest that no people ever attained such great glory. By fine warriors, valiant and intrepid, has our empire been won, and may God send us reinforcements so that our destiny may be fulfilled!
VII. Never did Alexander or Charlemagne or King Louis make such a glorious invasion, nor were the valiant lord Aimeri or Roland with his warriors able to conquer by force, in such noble fashion, such a powerful empire as we have won, whereby our Faith is in the ascendant; for we have created emperors and dukes and kings, and have garrisoned fortresses near the Turks and Arabs, and opened up the roads and ports from Brindisi to St. George’s Straits (the Bosphorus).
VIII. By us Damascus will be attacked, and Jerusalem conquered, and the realm of Syria liberated, for the Turks find this in their prophecies.
IX. Whoever maintains in courts those perjured, treacherous pilgrims who have deserted us here on the battlefield is a crook, for each one of them is worth less alive than dead.
X. Fair, gentle Engles, noble and bold, courteous, well-bred and distinguished, you are the inspiration of all my joys, and in living without you I perform a miracle.

Italian translation [lb]

I. Non mi rallegrano né l’inverno né la primavera, né il tempo sereno, né la foglia di quercia, perché il mio successo mi sembra una perdita, e tutta la mia gioia più grande [nient’altro che] dolore, e tutti i miei piaceri sono mutati in sofferenze e le mie speranze in disperazione; eppure l’amore e il corteggiamento mi rendevano più allegro di un pesce nell’acqua! Ma da quando mi sono separato dall’amore, come chi è rovinato e esiliato, ogni altra vita mi sembra morte, ed ogni altra gioia desolazione.
II. Poiché il fiore dell’amore mi è venuto meno, e il dolce frutto e il grano e la spiga, di cui ho goduto con discorsi piacevoli, e per cui ho avuto fama e onore in abbondanza, e potevo avere il mio posto tra i prodi, ora sono ricaduto rovinosamente in basso; e anche se poteva essermi sembrato un raffreddamento tutt’altro che folle, nessuna fiamma è mai stata spenta più velocemente di quanto io sia stato spento e abbandonato e confuso in parole e in atti, il giorno in cui mi è piovuta addosso la desolazione che non si estingue, per quanto mi sforzi.
III. Vedo e sento guerrieri ben armati e forti combattenti, assedi, catapulte e picconi, e aprire brecce in muri vecchi e nuovi, e conquistare fortificazioni e torri, ma non posso avere nulla che mi sia utile in amore! E, rivestito di una ricca armatura, cerco guerre e scontri e mischie dove possa arricchirmi di conquiste; ma dal momento che la gioia d’amore mi è negata, il mondo intero [se lo avessi] mi sembra [meno di] un giardino, e neppure il mio canto mi consola più.
IV. A cosa mi valgono dunque le conquiste e le ricchezze? Perché davvero mi ritenevo più ricco quand’ero amato e amante fedele, e amore mi nutriva insieme al mio signor Inglese; amavo più un solo piacere in quello che qui grandi terre e grandi ricchezze; perché ora più il mio potere cresce, più mi è compagno il dolore, dal momento che il mio incantevole Bel Cavaliere e la gioia si sono allontanati e sono fuggiti da me, per cui non potrò mai avere consolazione, il che rende il dolore più grande e più forte.
V. Eppure, anche se sono turbato e triste, il valore non mi comanda di far felici i miei nemici così da perdere la mia reputazione e l’onore; infatti posso ancora fare del male e del bene, e so come apparire allegro anche nella tristezza, qui tra i Latini e i Greci; e il marchese, che mi cinse la spada, combatte contro Valacchi e Dragoviti, e da quando il mondo è stato fatto mai nessun popolo ha compiuto tante imprese quanto noi, che Dio ha graziosamente salvato.
VI. In tal modo il marchese viene onorato ed esaltato, e così pure quello della Champagne e il conte Enrico, e Sicar, Metone, Salonicco e Costantinopoli [sono] soccorse, perché [questi uomini] sanno bene come essere padroni del campo, e lo si può ben facilmente dimostrare: è evidente che nessun popolo ha mai ottenuto tanta gloria. Il nostro impero è stato conquistato da ottimi guerrieri, valorosi e intrepidi, e che Dio ci mandi rinforzi in modo che il nostro destino si compia!
VII. Alessandro non ha mai fatto un’incursione così gloriosa, né Carlo Magno né il re Luigi, e neppure il valoroso messer Aimerico o Rolando con i suoi guerrieri sono stati capaci di conquistare con la forza, in modo tanto nobile, un così potente impero come noi [abbiamo fatto], per cui la nostra fede è in ascesa; perché abbiamo stabilito imperatori e duchi e re, e abbiamo fortificato castelli vicino ai turchi e agli arabi, e abbiamo aperto le strade e i porti da Brindisi allo stretto di San Giorgio (il Bosforo).
VIII. Da noi Damasco sarà attaccata, e Gerusalemme conquistata, e il regno di Siria liberato, perché i turchi trovano questo nelle loro profezie.
IX. Chiunque mantenga nelle corti quei pellegrini spergiuri e traditori che ci hanno abbandonato qui sul campo di battaglia è un truffatore, perché ognuno di loro vale meno vivo che morto.
X. Buon gentile Inglese, nobile e audace, cortese, istruito e raffinato, voi siete l’ispirazione di tutte le mie gioie, e vivendo senza di voi io compio un’impresa.

Text: Linskill 1964. – Rialto, 30.iv.2014.

Mss.: A 163r (Raembaud deuaqueiras), B 100v (Raembautz deuaqueiras), C 124r (Raymbaut de uaqieyras), Da 181r (no rubric), Dc 252v (vv. 1 and 48-51 only; Rambautz), I 77r (Raembautz de uaqueras), K 61r (Raembautz de uaqueras), M 105v (Raimbaud deuaqras), N2 10v (Raembautz de Vaqueiras), P 44r (incipit and st. IV cited in razo), R (mel) 61v (Raymbaut de vaqieiras), S 133 (Ranbaut de uaqera), Sg 38v (Rambaut de uaqeyras), T 188r (Rambaut de uaceras), U 78r (Raembaut deuacquera), a1 338; razo P 443v.

Critical editions: Alfred Jeanroy, «Sur une pièce de Rambaut de Vaqueiras», Studi dedicati a Francesco Torraca nel XXXVI anniversario della sua laurea, Naples 1912, pp. 475-494, on p. 483 (text of K); Vincenzo De Bartholomaeis, Poesie provenzali storiche relative all’Italia, 2 voll., Rome 1931, vol. I, p. 148 (Italian translation); Joseph Linskill, The Poems of the Troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, The Hague 1964, 22, p. 242 (English translation).

Other editions: Henri Pascal de Rochegude, Le Parnasse occitanien, Toulouse 1819, p. 81; François-Juste-Marie Raynouard, Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, 6 voll., Paris 1816-1821, vol. IV, p. 275; Carl August Friedrich Mahn, Die Werke der Troubadours, in provenzalischer Sprache, 4 voll., Berlin 1846-1886, vol. I, p. 377; Prosper Tarbé, Les oeuvres de Blondel de Néele, Reims 1862, Reprint Geneva 1978, p. 139 (text of Sg); André Berry, Florilège des troubadours, Paris 1930, p. 308 (on Raynouard; French translation); Alfons Serra Baldó, Els trobadors. Text provençal i versió catalana, Barcelona 1934, reprint 1998, 30, p. 180 (text Raynouard, Catalan translation); Raymond T. Hill and Thomas G. Bergin, Anthology of the provençal troubadours, New Haven 1941, p. 131 (on Raynouard); Thomas G. Bergin, Rambaldo di Vaqueiras, Liriche, Firenze 1956, p. 136 (mainly on De Bartholomaeis; Italian translation).

Versification: a8 b8 b8 a8 c8 c8 d8 d8 e8 e8 f8 f8 (Frank 598:9), -ors, -ics, -er, -eis, -itz, -ortz. Seven coblas unissonans and three four-line tornadas, unicum.

Music: ABC A’ DB’E A’ ABC” A”.

Notes: The song was composed in Salonika in June or July 1205. Following the conquest of Constantinople and the establishment of the Latin Empire in May 1204, the emperor Baldwin suffered a disastrous defeat at Adrianople on 14 April 1205 and the Latin empire was invaded by Johannitz, Tsar of the Wallacho-Bulgarians (v. 57). Raimbaut’s patron Boniface of Montferrat rushed north from the Peleponnese at the end of May to meet the serious threat to Salonika (see vv. 61-64); Raimbaut seems not to have taken part in this campaign (see v. 96 and Linskill’s note). Boniface was to die shortly afterwards on this campaign. – Line 2, garrics: the kermès oak. – Lines 19-21: these are difficult lines. Linkskill translates 19 as «and did it not seem to me a foolish fear», which does not really make sense in the context; Levy, SW, III, 221, under ‘Beunruhigung, Furcht’, was unsure of the meaning. I take esfreis to be the cooling-off which came from the abandonment of love (cf. PD esfredezir ‘se refroidir’, esfrezir ‘refroidir; v. refl. faire froid’), an image continued in 20-21. In 21 Linskill translates «than I would have failed», though the force is surely not conditional. This seems to be a rare case of conditional II functioning as a pluperfect indicative: see Frede Jensen, Syntaxe de l’ancien occitan, Tübingen 1994, § 563. I understand the lines to mean «even if it might have been a good thing to cool off (because I was going off to war, so there would be no point in continuing to think about love), the sudden shock of its loss was utterly bleak». – Lines 26-28: Linskill translates pics and bataillas as ‘pikes’ and ‘batallions’, but I suspect we are dealing with siege warfare here. For bataillas, compare batalhat ‘fortifié’ and batalhiera, ‘fortification, retranchement’. – Line 40, Engles: a senhal (pseudonym) for Boniface of Monferrat. – Line 45, Bels Cavalliers: a senhal for the troubadour’s lady. – Line 57, Drogoïz: the Drogobites, a people of Slavic origin: see Vladimir Agrigoroeaei, «The Vlachs and the Troubadour. Brief analysis of three poems by Raimbaut de Vaquieras», Studia Patzinaka, 6, 2008, pp. 37-57, on pp. 39-40. Linskill places them as coming from Macedonia to the west of Salonika. – Line 62: the «man of Champagne» is probably William of Champlitte, a councillor of Boniface, who conquered the Peleponnese in the winter of 1205 along with the Marshal’s nephew. Count Henry is the emperor Baldwin’s brother Henry of Flanders, who had saved the army and the capital after the disaster of Adrianople. «Appointed Regent in April, he was elected the second Latin Emperor in August [...]. The title coms thus provides a terminus date for the poem» (see Linskill, p. 250). – Line 63: the place-name Sicar cannot be identified with any certainty. Montos is Modon, an important post in the south-western Peleponnese (Linskill, pp. 250-251). – Line 74: King Louis: Charlemagne’s son. –  Line 75: Aimeric: Aimery of Narbonne, a chanson de geste hero, like Roland (76). – Lines 89-92: these lines are directed at «the body of armed men (7000 according to Villehardouin) lying in the harbour of Constantinople who, panic-stricken by the news of the Adrianople disaster, abandoned the almost defenceless capital, and despite the entreaties of the military and religious leaders sailed for home on April 17th» (Linskill, p. 252).

[LP, lb]

BdT    Raimbaut de Vaqueiras

Songs referring to the crusades