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I. Passerò all’attacco cantando, perché il tempo scorre e la promessa non è mantenuta, e Dio è una pronta difesa contro le grandi avversità: stiamo saldi, signori, certi di un aiuto potente.
II. Avremo un aiuto potente – ho fiducia in Dio su questo – che ci darà la vittoria sui francesi; Dio prende presto vendetta su un esercito che non teme Dio. Stiamo saldi, signori, certi di un aiuto potente.
III. Vi è chi pensa di poter venire qui con una falsa crociata, ma dovranno fuggire prima di accendere un fuoco da campo, perché è facile sconfiggere una truppa se si colpisce bene. Stiamo saldi, signori, certi di un aiuto potente.
IV. Ho sprecato i miei sforzi e i miei sirventesi tra gli Aragonesi e in Catalogna; e il re, che è giovane, non trova nessuno che lo sproni. Stiamo saldi, signori, certi di un aiuto potente.
V. Ma se Federico, che è re di Germania, lascia che Luigi spezzi il suo impero, il re al di là della Bretagna sarà furioso. Stiamo saldi, signori, certi di un aiuto potente.
VI. Coloro che hanno voltato la croce [contro i cristiani] hanno tolto aiuto e sostegno al Sepolcro, e questo è contrario alla fede; i falsi folli assolti non vedranno mai Argence. Stiamo saldi, signori, certi di un aiuto potente.
VII. I vescovi traditori si curano poco della perdita della santa tomba dove fu nostro Padre quando lasciò il deserto; preferiscono Beaucaire. Stiamo saldi, signori, certi di un aiuto potente.
VIII. Il nostro cardinale si riposa, fa i suoi affari e si appropria di belle dimore – che Dio lo abbatta! – ma si cura poco delle disgrazie di Damietta. Stiamo saldi, signori, certi di un aiuto potente.
IX. Mi pare che Avignone non cederà mai, tanto vediamo fortificarsi la sua splendida prodezza e tutte le sue gesta; male incolga chi se ne dispiace. Stiamo saldi, signori, certi di un aiuto potente.
I. I shall spring to the attack in song, for time passes and promise is unfulfilled, and God is a prompt defence against great adversity: let us stand firm, lords, sure of powerful aid.
II. Powerful aid we shall have – I trust God in this – which will give us victory over the French; God takes swift vengeance on an army that does not fear God. Let us stand firm, lords, sure of powerful aid.
III. Some think they can come here on a false crusade, but they will have to flee before lighting a camp fire, for it is easy to defeat troops by striking well. Let us stand firm, lords, sure of powerful aid.
IV. I have wasted my efforts and my sirventes among the Aragonese and in Catalonia; and the king who is young can find no-one to spur him on. Let us stand firm, lords, sure of powerful aid.
V. But if Frederick, who is king of Germany, allows Louis to break up his empire, the king beyond Brittany will furious. Let us stand firm, lords, sure of powerful aid.
VI. Those who have turned the cross [against Christians] have withdrawn aid and support from the Sepulchre, and this is contrary to faith; the false absolved fools will never see Argence. Let us stand firm, lords, sure of powerful aid.
VII. The treacherous bishops care little for the loss of the holy tomb where our Father was when he left the desert; they prefer Beaucaire. Let us stand firm, lords, sure of powerful aid.
VIII. Our cardinal takes his ease and trades and takes over fine estates – God bring him low! – but feels little for Damietta’s sufferings. Let us stand firm, lords, sure of powerful aid.
IX. It seems to me that Avignon will never be recreant, so much do we see its splendid prowess and all its actions grow more resolute; a curse on anyone who resents this. Let us stand firm, lords, sure of powerful aid.
2. [es]demessa: the suppletion is Frank’s. He translates «Je ferai un effort pour chanter», but in his note 4-5 (p. 83) suggests there is a parallel between 4-5 and 1-2 which should then be understood as «De mon chant je ferai une attaque, une invective». PD endemesa, es- ‘élan, bond’, endemetre, v. réfl. ‘se précipiter, s’attaquer’.
25-28. The sirventes sent to the Aragonese and Catalans is likely to be BdT 231.1a, no. I in Frank’s edition (p. 70, translation p. 50; for the attribution see pp. 48-50). The «young king», James I of Aragon, aged 18, was a Catholic brought up by the Templars and had no interest in the Occitan cause.
33. Frederick II was the suzerain of Arles; his interests were affected to the extent that Louis, his generals and the legate in turn felt obliged to explain themselves to him over their dealings with Avignon. Frank (p. 66) states that his suzerainty had long been simply a question of form and the fall of Avignon obliterated all basis for it once and for all. The troubadours addressed him as a possible ally against the King of France, but were disappointed.
38. On hearing news of the crusade, Henry III of England planned an attack on Louis VIII in revenge for his defeat at La Rochelle in 1225, but this was prevented by the papal interdiction on bearing arms against a crusader (Frank, p. 66).
45. The «false absolved fools» are no doubt the crusaders, absolved of their sins before a crusade.
46. Argence, in other words the region of Beaucaire, was the subject of negotiations between the Avignon ambassadors and the King of France: when he was passing through Montélimar it was offered to him in exchange for discharging the debt owed by Raymond VII. Frank (p. 67) suggests that this confirms the hypothesis that the breakdown of negotiations was the consequence of a trick on the crusaders’ part, or rather a misunderstanding that the Avignonnais understood as such. Tomier and Palaizi seem to be saying to the crusaders, «Since you have tricked us you won’t see Argence that we were ready to cede to you».
52. For the medieval designation of both the Father and Son by Dieu, see Frank’s note on p. 84.
53. Frank: «Allusion aux quarante jours de jeûne et à la triple tentation du Christ au désert (Matt. IV, 1-11, Marc I, 12-13, Luc IV, 1-13)?». It is indeed puzzling to see how Jesus being in the tomb is supposed to follow directly upon these events. – Line 57: the cardinal is Romain de Saint-Ange who is accompanying Louis and taking an active part in negotiations (Frank, p. 67).
Edition: István Frank 1957; english translation and notes: Linda Paterson; italian translation: Luca Barbieri. – Rialto 22.viii.2014.
Da 198r.
Critical editions: Carl Appel, Provenzalische Chrestomathie mit Abriss der Formenlehre und Glossar, Leipzig 1895, p. 107; István Frank, «Tomier et Palaizi, troubadours tarasconnais (1199-1226)», Romania, 78, 1957, pp. 46-85, on p. 74.
Other editions: François-Juste-Marie Raynouard, Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, 6 voll., Paris 1816-1821, vol. V, p. 447; Carl August Friedrich Mahn, Die Werke der Troubadours, in provenzalischer Sprache, 4 voll., Berlin 1846-1886, vol. III, p. 341; Vincenzo De Bartholomaeis, Poesie provenzali storiche relative all’Italia, 2 voll., Roma 1931, vol. II, p. 54 (text Appel); Martín Aurell, La Vielle et l’épée. Troubadours et politique en Provence au XIIIe siècle, Paris 1989, p. 257 (text Frank); Francesco Zambon, Paratge. Els trobadors i la croada contra els catars, Barcelona 1998, p. 84 (text Frank); Francesco Zambon, I trovatori e la Crociata contro gli Albigesi, Milano-Trento 1999, p. 64 (id.).
Versification: a5 b5’ a5 b5’ a5 b5’ c6 c6 (Frank 269:2); ‘a’ rhyme -ai, -em, -ir, -es, -ics, -out, -èrt, -als, -ar, ‘b’ rhyme -essa, -ansa, -ada, -onha, -anha, -ensa, -aire, -ata, -eza; ‘c’ rhyme -ors. Nine coblas singulars. One other song, a canso of Gaucelm Faidit, has the same rhyme-scheme but octosyllabic lines, coblas doblas with refrain, and different rhymes.
Frank (pp. 63-65) argues convincingly that the sirventes was composed during the Albigensian crusade at the time of the siege of Avignon by Louis VIII of France in 1226. After the council of Bourges Raymond VII of Toulouse was excommunicated; Louis took the cross on 30 January 1226 and marched down the Rhône valley at the head of a powerful army, accompanied by the papal legate Romain de Saint-Ange, and reached Avignon after encountering no resistance on the way. At the time of composition the King appears not yet to have arrived at the city walls (vv. 17-20). From 7 June the army was camping at Pont-de-Sorgue, to the north of Avignon. Negotiations had been taking place through various Avignon ambassadors sent to the King in Montélimar, Orange and Pont-de-Sorgue, and were only broken off after 7 or 8 June, so that it is only after that that the troubadours can speak of resistance, since before that the question was simply under what conditions Avignon would allow the royal army to enter the city. Frank concludes that a dating of 8 June 1226 for the song is not far from the truth. For possible objections, which might extend the time-frame to between 26 May and the beginning of September, and his response, see pp. 64-65; «En tout état de cause, il nous semble plus probable que le sirventès soit adressé aux assiégés, donc composé à Avignon même, par conséquent le 8 juin». – Avignon was never to receive the ric socors so hoped for in the refrain to each stanza of the sirventes. «Il a toujours été, avec Toulouse, l’une des deux tours maîtresses de la résistance méridional. Sa défaite sera suivie, en 1229, par celle de Toulouse et, par là, la Croisade albigeoise aura pris fin» (Frank, p. 67).