English translation [LP]

I. Now that the leaf is falling from the oak I will compose a merry new little tune which I shall send beyond Mombello to the marquis who is renouncing the surname «of Monferrat» and taking his mother’s, and has abandoned what his father conquered: little does he emulate the son of Robert Guiscard, who conquered Antioch and Mon Gizart.
II. Marquis, what I want is for the monks of Cluny to make you their superior or for you to be abbot of Cîteaux, since you have such a niggardly heart that you prefer two oxen and a plough in Monferrat to being emperor elsewhere. People can surely say of this that a leopard’s son never hid in his lair like a fox.
III. Your friends will all feel great joy when you give up the fur with which you line your hat and cloak, for all those who have been exposed to ill-treatment on your account will expect to be rich. They have [already] been sheared and are afraid of being shaved clean; each one is waiting for your assistance. If you fail to come here, who will be fleecing that flock?
IV. Marquis, the faithless, fickle barons have fired a quarrel into the sky which will fall back on their heads; and of the emperor Henry I say this much to you, that he is like King Darius who ejected his barons from their fortresses, and then was in great danger of death – but people often get burned when they try to warm themselves.
V. You could have the kingdom of Salonika without [recourse to] petrary or mangonel, as well as many other castles I do not name or mention. For God’s sake, Marquis! Roland and his brother, and their associates Marquis Guy and Ravano, the Flemish, French, Burgundians and Lombards are all saying you seem to be a bastard!
VI. That day when I see my lady Isabel can have no pain: just like the emerald in the ring which gives joy to the saddest, she is the loveliest of all, and the one who best knows how to do and say agreeable things. Many knights who would be cowards are brave and valiant and spirited because of her.
VII. Your ancestors, so I hear it said over and over again, were all brave, but you rarely call this to mind. If you do not draw on your hereditary skill and talent, you will lose a third and a quarter of your lands.

Italian translation [GL]

I. Adesso che cade la foglia dalla quercia farò un’allegra musichetta nuova che manderò là dalle parti di Mombello, al marchese che lascia il cognome di Monferrato per prendere quello di sua madre, e ha abbandonato ciò che conquistò suo padre: imita poco il figlio di Roberto Guiscardo, che conquistò Antiochia e Mon Gizart.
II. Marchese, i monaci di Cluny voglio che facciano di voi il loro superiore, o che siate abate di Cîteaux, poiché avete l’animo così meschino da preferire due buoi e un aratro in Monferrato, all’essere altrove imperatore: se ne può ben dire che mai un figlio di leopardo si nascose al modo di un volpino.
III. Grande gioia avrebbero tutti i vostri amici se aveste abbandonata la pelliccia di cui foderaste cappa e mantello, perché si erano illusi tutti di essere ricchi, quelli che da voi sono esposti alle angherie, che sono stati tosati ma temono di venir spellati: tutti sperano che gli portiate soccorso, se non ci venite, chi toserà quel gregge?
IV. Marchese, i baroni infidi e voltagabbana hanno tirato contro il cielo un dardo che ricadrà loro sulla testa; e dell’imperatore Enrico vi dico tanto, che rassomiglia proprio al re Dario, che cacciò i suoi baroni dai loro castelli, per cui corse dopo gran pericolo di morte: perché spesso chi vuole scaldarsi si brucia.
V. Il regno di Salonicco senza petriera e senza mangano potreste avere, e numerosi castelli, altri che non nomino né dico. Perdio, marchese, Rolandino e suo fratello e Guido marchese e Ravano loro compari, Fiamminghi Francesi Borgognoni e Italiani van tutti dicendo che voi sembrate bastardo!
VI. Quel giorno non può aver pena, colui che può vedere madonna Isabella: come lo smeraldo incastonato nell’anello, che dà gioia al più triste, è anche la più bella di tutte, e quella che meglio sa dire e fare begli omaggi; molti cavalieri che sarebbero codardi sono per merito suo gagliardi e valorosi.
VII. I vostri antenati, lo sento dire e ripetere, furono tutti prodi, ma voi non ve ne rammentate: se dalla vostra schiatta non prendete ingegno e capacità perderete un terzo e un quarto dei vostri feudi.

Text: Lachin 2004 (IV). – Rialto 27.iii.2014.

Notes: The sirventes was composed after the death of Marquis Boniface of Monferrat, ruler of the kingdom of Salonika (v. 33) or Thessaly, on 4 September 1207, when the political future of the kingdom and its relationship with the Latin empire under the emperor Henry of Hainaut was in doubt. One party supported the claim to the throne of Salonika of Demetrius, son of Boniface and of Boniface’s widow Margaret of Hungary, who was ruling the Latin empire for her son. Stirred up by the Greeks who identified themselves with Demetrius and the former empress Margaret, this party proposed to submit to Henry’s authority in order to retain some internal autonomy within the kingdom. Lombards in Thessalonika formed a conspiracy against the regent Margaret, fearing that Henry and the French would enter Thessaly to take up the reins of power and redistribute fiefs, and were hoping for the intervention of the new marquis of Monferrat, William VI, whom they considered Boniface’s heir. Lachin argues persuasively that Elias, the spokesman for the rebel leaders, composed the song in period after Boniface’s death when Henry had not yet perceived the gravity of the rebellion, finally intervening in considerable haste and danger, given the winter conditions, on about 15 December 1208; and that if the opening line is taken seriously, it would appear to date from the autumn of that year. – Line 3, Monbel: Mombello Monferrato, a town in Piedmont. For further details see Lachin, Il trovatore, p. 191, n. 29. – Line 5: William’s mother was Eleanor of Savoy, whose family was reluctant to take part directly in the conquest of Outremer and was more interested in establishing diplomatic relations with the East and the Mediterranean region: see Lachin, Il trovatore, p. 191. – Lines 7-8: Robert Guiscard’s son was Bohemond I, who conquered Antioch in the summer of 1098, and a castle near Ascalon named Mon Gizart, virtually unknown in the chronicles, where Saladin was defeated in 1177 (Lachin, Il trovatore, pp. 190-191). – Lines 18-19: in other words, they will be overjoyed when he gives up cossetting himself in Italy while his friends are suffering acute deprivation in Greece. – Line 25: the Emperor’s supporters (see 28). – Lines 37-38: the Lombard rebels Rolandino and Albertino of Canossa, Guido Pelavicino Marchesopulo of Parma and Ravano dalle Carceri of Verona: for further details see Lachin, Il trovatore, pp. 188-189. – Line 42, ma dona Izabel: a married woman who was the lover of Ravano dalle Carceri, whom she married in 1212 after the death of her unidentified husband. After Ravano’s death in 1216 she and her daughter Berta inherited a third of the island of Euboea; Berta married Geoffrey of Villehardouin, nephew of the historian of that name and prince of Achaea, whose independent principality survived until 1277 when it passed to the control of Charles of Anjou. A trobairitz celebrated by Elias, she and the troubadour exchanged a playful tenso while in Greece (Ruth Harvey and Linda Paterson, The Troubadour Tensos and Partimens: A Critical Edition, 3 voll., Cambridge 2010, vol. II, p. 841).

[LP, lb]

BdT    Elias Cairel    133.9

Songs referring to the crusades