English translation [LP]

I. Anxious, as one separated from love, I sing in a mixture of joy and weeping: for I feel grief and tears and pity for the count, my lord, who has taken the cross to serve God; and I feel joy because God exalts him and wishes that Christendom should return to gladness through him, and may He be thanked and praised for it.
II. And since God in his great kindness grants us such a leader, anyone who stays behind is most cowardly and wicked, and separated from honour, and anyone who goes there is loved and honoured: for to go means hope of advantage and joy and gifts and thanks, merit in courts, and honour, and deliverance from sins.
III. For we are losing the conquest won by our ancestors in the Holy Land, if no-one goes quickly to its aid, and [we are losing] the holy cross where God suffered pain and death – and was placed there for our sake! And whoever stays here hesitating, if he has the ability to go, and considers it madness to go to his deliverance, ...
IV. ... if it please God, and whoever does not hasten towards the deliverance [of the Holy Land] will hardly receive deliverance from Him, and God is unlikely to remember those by whom He is forgotten, who stay behind, to His displeasure, to do evil and certainly not for the sake of peace.
V. For just as princes are more important and God has given them more prestige, one who stays behind is more guilty; and if someone stays to increase his riches when he hears the others have gone overseas, and does them damage, he has decided against God, and God will take such revenge that he will be checkmated in the corner of the chessboard.
VI. Those who go should be most fearless, confident and warlike, for St George will be on their side, and God who has absolved and sent them will be with them. And whoever dies will undoubtedly be crowned as a martyr in heaven, for the Lord who is called God and King and Man guarantees this.
VII. He to whom God gave intelligence and strength and who possesses all excellent qualities, who is count and will be [or is now] called king, is the first to help and aid the sepulchre where God was laid. And may God in his great compassion, as He is the true Trinity, guide him and grant him protection against the false pagan Turks.

Italian translation [CM]

I. Inquieto, come [colui che è] separato da amore canto, avendo in me gioia e pianto: perché dolore e pianto e tristezza mi viene dal conte, mio signore, che è crociato per servire Dio; ed ho gioia perché Dio l’innalza e vuole che la cristianità torni, grazie a lui, alla felicità, ed esserne [Dio] lodato e ringraziato.
II. E giacché Dio, per la sua grande bontà, ci concede una tal guida, è ben codardo e malvagio colui che rimane qui, e separato da onore, e colui che parte [è] amato e onorato: perché l’andare è speranza di bene e gioia e doni e ringraziamenti, valore nella corte e onore e liberazione dai peccati.
III. Che i possedimenti che i nostri predecessori conquistarono in Terra Santa, perdiamo, se non c’è chi vi porti in fretta soccorso, e [perdiamo] la croce su cui Gesù ricevette dolore e morte – e vi fu innalzato per noi! – E chi rimane qui nell’irrisolutezza, pur avendo la possibilità, e follia lo trattiene, di andare alla sua liberazione ...
IV. ... se a Dio piace, e chi non corre alla liberazione [della Terra Santa] difficilmente sarà da lui [Dio] liberato e difficilmente Dio si ricorderà di coloro da cui è stato dimenticato, [coloro] i quali restano contro il suo volere per far male e non certo per la pace.
V. Che così come sono i principi più in alto e Dio ha dato loro più valore, [così] chi rimane qui è maggiormente colpevole; e chi, per accrescere la sua ricchezza, quando udirà che gli altri sono partiti, rimane e reca loro danno, [costui] ha deliberato contro Dio e Dio ne prenderà vendetta tale che sarà messo in matto nell’angolo della scacchiera.
VI. Molto devono essere impavidi, sicuri e valenti in armi coloro che partiranno, che sempre gli sarà a fianco San Giorgio e Dio sarà con loro, che li ha assolti e inviati. E chi morrà, senza dubbio, sarà incoronato martire in cielo, che ne dà garanzia il Signore che è chiamato Dio e re e uomo.
VII. Colui cui Dio diede intelligenza e forza e ha l’onore di tutte le virtù che è conte e sarà chiamato re (o che è conte ed ora è chiamato re) presta per primo aiuto e soccorso al sepolcro in cui Dio fu deposto. E Dio per la sua grande pietà, così come è vera Trinità, lo guidi e gli fornisca protezione dai falsi turchi pagani.

Text: Caterina Menichetti, Rialto 23.xii.2013.

Mss.: C 148v (Aymeric de belhen), E 89r (Aimeric de belenuei).

Critical editions: Kurt Lewent, «Das altprovenzalische Kreuzlied», Romanische Forschungen, 21, 1908, p. 421; Stanislav Stroński, Le troubadour Folquet de Marseille, Cracovie 1910, p. 106; Maria Dumitrescu, Poésies du troubadour Aimeric de Belenoi, Paris 1935, p. 153; Andrea Poli, Aimeric de Belenoi. Saggio di edizione critica (BdT 9.5, 9.9, 9.10, 9.21 e 16.13), Napoli 1992, p. 1; Aimeric de Belenoi, Poesie, ed. Andrea Poli, Firenze 1997, p. 113.

Other editions: François Juste Marie Raynouard, Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, 6 voll., Paris 1816-1821, vol. V, p. 5; Carl August Friedrich Mahn, Die Werke der Troubadours, in provenzalischer Sprache, 4 voll., Berlin 1846-1886, vol. III, p. 86.

Versification: 8a 8a 8b 8a 8b 7c’ 8b 7c’ 8b (Frank 126:1), -or, -atz, -ansa; seven coblas unissonans.

Note: The leader «who is count and will be [or is now] called king» (v. 57) is unlikely to be Richard the Lionheart, as was previously thought, but is most probably Thibaut IV, count of Champagne and king of Navarre. The song dates from after 1230, when Thibaut first publicly declared his intention to go on crusade in anticipation of the end of the truce arranged by Frederick II and the sultan al-Kamil in 1229. Thibaut became king of Navarre in 1234 and set out on crusade in 1239. If v. 57 is interpreted as «who is count and will be called king» the song would date more specifically from 1230-1234, or if it means «who is count and is now called king», then from 1234-1239. As Menichetti states in her notes, purely syntactic considerations make the former interpretation more likely as it is hard to accept the use of the adverb er in the absence of a verb; on the other hand it has been argued that the emphatic allusion to the recrezens, and particularly the arguments presented in vv. 37-42 – the moral and religious responsibility of non-participation in the crusade being much more serious in those of higher social status, and those who remain behind do so to increase their wealth – make a date closer to 1239 more likely. For further discussion see Menichetti’s notes.

[CM, LP, lb]

BdT    Aimeric de Belenoi

Critical apparatus and textual notes    Dating and historical circumstances

Songs referring to the crusades