English translation [LP] I. Sorrow and grief have lodged themselves in my heart so that I am tempted to kill myself forthwith, or lay down the cross I had taken up in the honour of Him who was set upon the Cross; for neither cross nor religion are any help or guide to me against the evil Turks, God curse them! Rather it seems, from the way things appear, that God wishes to support them at our expense. II. They have immediately conquered Caesaria and taken the stronghold of Arsuf by force. Ah, my God, to what a road have they taken all the knights, all the sergeants, all the townspeople who were inside the walls of Arsuf! Alas! the kingdom of Syria has lost so many that if truth be told it will be permanently diminished in power. III. So anyone who puts up a fight against the Turks is mad, because Jesus Christ opposes them with nothing; for they have defeated, and are [still] defeating – to my grief – Franks and Tartars, Armenians and Persians, and us they defeat every day, as God who used to keep watch is sleeping, and Bafomet works away with all his power and uses it to make the Melicadefer (Baibars) do his work. IV. In view of this I do not think he will give up. On the contrary, he has sworn and declared quite openly that if he can help it no-one who believes in Jesus Christ will remain in this land. Rather, he will make a mosque out of St Mary’s church; and her dear Son, who ought to grieve at this, wishes and likes this. We must like it too. V. The Pope is granting a very liberal indulgence to Charles and to the French against the Lombards, and over here he shows great avarice towards us, by commuting our crosses for coins; and if anyone wants to exchange a pilgrimage to the Holy Land for the liberality of Lombardy, our legates will grant them the power to do so, for they sell God and the indulgence [also: they sell God and lose Him] for money. VI. French lords, Alexandria has treated us worse than Lombardy, for over here the Turks have overcome us in force, captured and defeated us and given us away for money.
Italian translation [lb] I. La pena e l’afflizione si sono insediate nel mio cuore in modo che io sono tentato di uccidermi senza indugio, o di deporre la croce che avevo preso in onore di Colui che è stato messo in croce; perché né la croce né la religione mi sono di aiuto o guida contro i Turchi malvagi, Dio li maledica! Sembra piuttosto, per come le cose appaiono, che Dio voglia sostenerli a nostre spese. II. Hanno subito conquistato Cesarea al primo tentativo e preso la roccaforte di Arsuf con la forza. Ah, mio Dio, a qual via hanno portato tutti i cavalieri, tutti i sergenti, tutti gli abitanti della città che erano dentro le mura di Arsuf! Ahimè! il regno di Siria ha perso così tanta gente che in verità sarà per sempre ridimensionata in potere. III. Quindi, chiunque ingaggi una lotta contro i Turchi è pazzo, perché Gesù Cristo non si oppone loro per nulla, infatti hanno sconfitto, e stanno [ancora] sconfiggendo – con mia gran pena – Franchi e Tartari, Armeni e Persiani, e anche noi ci sconfiggono ogni giorno, poiché Dio che era solito vegliare ora dorme, e Bafomet agisce con tutto il suo potere e lo usa per far fare al Melicadefer (Baibars) il suo lavoro. IV. Alla luce di questo io non credo che si fermerà. Al contrario, egli ha giurato e dichiarato apertamente che, se potrà farlo, nessuno che crede in Gesù Cristo rimarrà in questa terra. Piuttosto, egli farà una moschea fuori dalla chiesa di Santa Maria; e il suo amato Figlio, che dovrebbe dolersene, lo vuole e lo apprezza. Deve ben piacere anche noi. V. Il Papa concede un’indulgenza molto liberale a Carlo e ai Francesi contro i Lombardi, e quaggiù fa mostra di una grande cupidigia nei nostri confronti, cambiando le nostre croci per soldi; e se qualcuno vuole scambiare un pellegrinaggio in Terra Santa per la liberalità della Lombardia, i nostri legati concederanno loro il potere di farlo, perché vendono Dio e l’indulgenza [oppure: vendono Dio e Lo perdono] per denaro. VI. Signori francesi, Alessandria ci ha trattati peggio della Lombardia, poiché quaggiù i Turchi ci hanno superati in vigore, ci hanno catturati e sconfitti e ci hanno dati via per denaro.
Text: Linda Paterson, Rialto 29.x.2012. Mss.: C 367r (Vs caualiers del | temple fe est siruentes, Reg. Vs caualliers del temple), a1 516 (en ricatz honomel fraire del temple ). Diplomatic edition: Giulio Bertoni, «Nuove rime provenzali tratte dal codice Càmpori», Studj romanzi, 2, 1904, pp. 63-95, p. 87. Critical editions: Césaire Fabre, «Austorc d’Orlac, troubadour du Velay, au XIIIe siècle», Société agricole et scientifique de la Haute-Loire: Mémoires et procès-verbaux, 13, 1904-1905, pp. 61-78, p. 72; Giulio Bertoni, «Il serventese di Ricaut Bonomel (1265)», Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, 34, 1910, pp. 701-707 (CR Mario Roques, Romania, 41, 1912, p. 313); Antoine De Bastard, «La colère et la douleur d’un templier en Terre Sainte: “I’re [sic] dolors s’es dins mon cor asseza”», Revue des langues romanes, 81, 1974, pp. 334-373. Other editions: François-Juste-Marie Raynouard, Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, 6 voll, Paris 1816-1821, IV, p. 131; Carl August Friedrich Mahn, Die Werke der Troubadours, in provenzalischer Sprache, 4 voll, Berlin, 1846-1886, III, p. 158; Paul Meyer, Recueil d’anciens textes bas-latins, provençaux et français, Paris 1877, p. 95; Vincenzo De Bartholomaeis, Poesie provenzali storiche relative all’Italia, 2 voll, Rome 1931, II, p. 222 (text Bertoni); Alfred Jeanroy, Anthologie des troubadours XIIe-XIIIe siècles, édition refondue, textes, notes, traductions par Jürgen Boelcke, Paris 1974, p. 296, with a modified version of the translation of Alfred Jeanroy, Anthologie des troubadours des XIIe et XIIIe siècles, Paris 1927, p. 120, of Raynouard’s edition; René Nelli, Troubadours anticonformistes du moyen-âge occitan, 2 voll, Paris 1977, II, p. 194 (text Raynouard, French translation); Saverio Guida, Canzoni di crociata, Parma 1992, p. 258 (text De Bastard). Versification: a10’ b10 a10’ b10 c8’ c8’ d10 d10 (Frank 382:69), -eza, -es, -ia, -er (erroneously given as -en in Frank). Five coblas unissonans and one four-line tornada. The versification is similar in all respects (apart from the number of stanzas and presence of a tornada) to thirteen other pieces and probably derives ultimately from a canso of Peirol (BdT 366.20). One of the pieces using the same form is an earlier sirventes of Bernart de Rovenac (BdT 66.2; see my edition on Rialto). Another is a sirventes by the Genoese Luquet Gatelus (BdT 290.1a), starting with the same line as Bernart de Rovenac’s, and addressed to Charles of Anjou after his investiture as King of Sicily in June-July 1265, and probably in April or May 1267: see Luchetto Gattilusio, Liriche, ed. Marco Boni, Bologna 1957, pp. XXXIII-XXXVII. Note: This bitter sirventes by a Templar knight was composed in Palestine and dates from after the Mameluk sultan Baibars’ capture of the Hospitaller fortress of Arsuf on 29 April 1265 and before Louis IX’s second crusade of 1269-1270. The troubadour refers polemically to the conflict between Guelfs and Ghibellines, and particularly the faculty granted by Clement IV in May 1264 to his legate Simon of Brie to commute the crusading vows of all those in the kingdom of France and elsewhere, on condition they instead participate in Charles of Anjou’s Sicilian campaign against Manfred: a source of particular grievance to the beleaguered military orders. [LP, lb]
Critical apparatus and textual notes Dating and historical circumstances |
