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I. Ah Dio, perché hai trattato così male il nostro generoso, cortese re francese permettendo che patisse una tale vergogna? Egli ha fatto ogni sforzo per servirti, mettendoci il cuore e la mente, servendoti notte e giorno, e pensando a come avrebbe potuto agire e parlare secondo il tuo piacere. Una ben misera ricompensa gli hai concesso.
II. Aimè, bella gente, gentile e cortese, voi che siete salpati verso la Terra Santa! Un così splendido armamento! Non vi vedremo mai più tornare indietro, cosa che mi addolora e getta il mondo intero in un profondo lutto. Sia maledetta Alessandria, e sia maledetto tutto il clero, e siano maledetti i Turchi che vi hanno tenuti lì! Ha fatto male Dio a dar loro il potere di farlo.
III. Vedo la cristianità completamente distrutta; non credo che abbia mai sofferto una perdita così enorme. Quindi è logico che la gente smetta di credere in Dio, e che noi adoriamo Maometto, Tervagan e la sua compagnia nel loro paese, dato che Dio e Maria Santissima vogliono che siamo ingiustamente conquistati, e fanno sì che i miscredenti continuino ad essere onorati.
IV. Vorrei che l’Imperatore avesse preso la croce e che l'Impero restasse nelle mani di suo figlio, e che i francesi si alleassero con lui contro il falso clero, nei quali regna la miscredenza; poiché hanno ucciso il valore e la cavalleria, e ucciso ogni cortesia, e si curano poco delle sventure altrui fintanto che possono oziare e dormire.
V. Ah, valoroso re, [se avessi la] generosità di Alessandro che ha conquistato il mondo intero, [vendicheresti] la grande onta [che hai subito: ricordati] di Carlo, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . di Girart, come . . . . . . . . . . . . ; se ti ricordassi bene di questo, [vedremmo presto] i Turchi malvagi . . . . . . . . . , perché Dio dà grande aiuto al cuore saldo.
VI. San Pietro ha imboccato la via diritta, ma il papa la rende storta a causa del falso clero sotto la sua autorità che, per soldi, fa molti . . . . . . . . .
I. Ah God, why have you treated our generous, courtly French king so badly in allowing him to suffer such shame? For he made every effort to serve you, putting heart and mind into this, serving you night and day, and thinking of how he might act and speak according to your pleasure. A poor reward have you granted him.
II. Alas fair people, gracious and courtly, who sailed to the Holy Land! Such splendid armour! Nevermore shall we see you return again, which grieves me and throws the whole world into deep mourning. A curse on Alexandria, and a curse on all clergy, and a curse on the Turks who have kept you there! God has done ill for he gave them the power to do it.
III. I see Christendom utterly destroyed; I do not think it ever suffered such an enormous loss. So it makes sense for people to stop believing in God, and for us to worship Mahomet, Tervagan and his company where they are, given that God and Holy Mary want us to be unjustly conquered, and cause the misbelievers to continue to be honoured.
IV. I wish the Emperor had taken the cross and that the Empire remained in the hands of his son, and that the French people allied themselves with him against the false clergy in whom reigns non-faith; for they have killed worth and chivalry, and killed all courtliness, and care little for others’ misfortunes as long as they can enjoy resting and sleeping.
V. Ah, valiant king, [if you had the] generosity of Alexander who conquered the whole world, [you would avenge] the great shame [you have suffered: remember] Charles, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Girart, how he . . . . . . . . . . . . ; if you recalled this well, we should [soon see] the wicked Turks . . . . . . . . . , for God brings strong help to the firm of heart.
VI. St Peter took the straight path, but the pope makes it crooked because of the false clergy under his authority who, for money, make many a . . . . . . . . .
1 [...] dieus p. q. fa|[...]a t. g. male|[...], gaps in the line rectified from Register, f° 15v 2 fra(n)|[...]s 3 q(uan)| [...]s sufert 4 quelh | [...] seruir 12 empre 33 reys [...] largueza (−3) 34 alex[...] lo mon (−4) 35 [...] la g. a. qu[...] (−6) 36 [...]bre te (−2) 37 [...] de g. c. u[...] (−4) 38 [...] so b. s. (−3) 39 [...]ram t. f. [...] (−6) 40 [...] bon (−1) 44 manh [...] (−4).
3-4. Fabre does not attempt to patch the gaps here; I have followed Jeanroy (also Lavaud).
13. Alexandria = Egypt.
15. Jeanroy translates «qui ont fait échouer votre entreprise», giving alternatively in a note, «qui vous ont fait rester là-bas», the latter followed by Lavaud, which is surely right: see 9-11. Louis has by now been ransomed, since Austorc is appealing to him to set out again (33-40), but huge numbers of French were either dead or imprisoned. «The Egyptians were at first embarrassed by the numbers of their prisoners. Finding it impossible to guard them all, those that were too feeble to march were executed at once, and on every evening for a week three hundred were taken out and decapitated, by the Sultan’s own orders». The many wounded soldiers who were left behind at Damietta after the king’s departure were all massacred, with others awaiting release until 1252 (Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, 3 voll., Harmondsworth 1971 (first published Cambridge 1951-1954), vol. III, pp. 270-271, 274-276).
17. a mal meza: Fabre «malheureuse».
20-21. It was commonly supposed that the Saracens worshipped four idols: Mahomet (Bafomet), Tervagan, Jupiter and Apolin (Apollo). Servagan is not recorded on COM; Jeanroy and Lavaud correct to Tervagan, common in Old French (see Louis-Fernand Flutre, Tables des noms propres avec toutes leurs variantes figurant dans les romans du moyen âge, Poitiers 1962, p. 179), though COM records only Tarvagan, in Guilhem de la Barra by Arnaut Vidal de Castelnaudary, text re-edited for COM from the manuscript, 420, 424, 646, 704, 742, and so on. – Fabre translates lai on es as «à sa place», wrongly; Jeanroy «là où il est»; Lavaud «là où Dieu se trouve», possibly but not convincingly (why would God be located exclusively in the Holy Land?). I take it to mean that since all these Moslem «idols» are clearly present, and firmly established, in the Holy Land, we might as well be worshipping them there.
22-24. For the single verbs (vol, fai) with the plural subject Dieus [...] e Sancta Maria, see Frede Jensen, Syntaxe de l’ancien occitan, Tübingen 1994, § 478 («Si [...] le sujet se compose de deux ou de plusieurs substantifs singuliers coordonnés, le verbe se met normalement au singulier»).
31. As Fabre I take son to refer to qui.
33-40. Fabre omitted this damaged stanza. Jeanroy (followed by Lavaud) patched it extensively:
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Ai, valens reys, [s’avias la] largueza |
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d’Alex[andre, que tot] lo mon conques, |
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[vengarias] la gran anta qu[’as preza: |
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Ai! mem]bre te de Karle, [del marques |
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Guillem], de Girart cum v[encia. |
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Ai francx reys,] s’o be·t sovenia, |
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[leu fo]ran Turcx fello [en ton poder, |
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40 |
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quar] bon secors fai Dieus a ferm voler. |
It is hard to quarrel with his repair of 33-35: Alex... cannot be anyone but Alexander, and prendre anta is a fixed phrase. But the threefold repetition of Ai! seems a gratuitous invention, the insertion of a reference to marques Guillem even more so, and the assumption that Karle refers to Charlemagne rather than, say, Charles Martel (compare Girart de Roussillon) questionable; neither does the absolute use of vencia ring entirely true (perhaps better valia?); moreover the word preceding Turcx in 39 ends in -ram, not -ran. I have accepted Jeanroy’s relatively uncontentious emendations, made a simple suppletion to the first part of 39, but judge it preferable to leave 36-38 (and 44) unrestored. But it is clear that Austorc is using the traditional device of citing legendary heroes as a spur to valour.
42-43. The nuance of the ethical dative ·lh seems to be possessive: literally «for him (St Peter)» (compare Jensen, Syntaxe, 1994, §§ 244-248). The function of the preposition de appears to be causal: compare LR, III, 15, «à cause de, par l’effet de». Fabre: «s’en éloigne (et l’encombre) / De faux clercs soumis à son autorité», and Jeanroy «mais le pape dévie, lui et les clercs perfides qu’il tient en son pouvoir», both wrongly; Lavaud «la lui rend tortueuse, A l’aide de faux clercs», better.
44. Fabre (also Lavaud) patches the missing syllables with [rey descazer], suggesting that this could refer to the deposition of Frederick II by the Council of Lyon in 1245; this speculation cannot be accepted in the absence of any other textual support. Jeanroy emends blandly to manh[s lo mal voler], a feeble ending which seems unlikely for that reason. The text is best left unamended.
Edition, english translation and notes: Linda Paterson; italian translation: Luca Barbieri. – Rialto 29.x.2012.
C 362 (Austorc daorlhac, Register, 15v).
Critical editions: Alfred Jeanroy, «Le troubadour Austorc d’Aurillac et son sirventés sur la septième Croisade», in Mélanges Chabaneau: Festschrift Camille Chabaneau zur Vollendung seines 75. Lebensjahres 4. märz 1906, dargebracht von seinen Schülern, Freunden und Verehrern, Romanische Forschungen, 23, 1907, pp. 81-87, p. 82 (with French translation); René Lavaud, Les troubadours cantaliens, éd. La Salle de Rochemaure, revised by René Lavaud, 2 voll., Aurillac 1910; repr. Geneva 1977, vol. II, p. 562 (with French translation).
Other editions: François-Juste-Marie Raynouard, Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, 6 voll., Paris 1816-1821, vol. V, p. 54 (lines 1-2, 9-23, 25-32, 41-42); Carl August Friederich Mahn, Gedichte der Troubadours, in provenzalischer Sprache, 4 voll., Berlin 1856-1873, no. 9 (I, p. 5); Césaire A. Fabre, «Austorc d’Orlac troubadour du Vélay, au XIIIe siècle», Societé agricole et scientifique de la Haute-Loire. Mémoires et procès-verbaux, 13, 1904-1905, p. 64 (on Mahn, with French translation).
Versification: a10’ b10 a10’ b10 c8’ c8’ d10 d10 (Frank 382:56), -eza, -es, -ia, -er; five coblas unissonans and one four-line tornada. The versification is identical in all respects to that of a canso of Peirol, BdT 366.20 and, among others, a sirventes of Bernart de Rovenac, BdT 66.2, which dates from 1252-1254, and Ricaut Bonomel’s crusading song BdT 439.1, date 1265.
The sirventes was composed between May 1250, when Louis IX of France was released from captivity after his defeat at the battle of Mansurah on 5 April, and 13 December of that year, date of the death of Frederick II Hohenstaufen referred to in v. 25.