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I. Chiunque comincia e finisce bene allontana il biasimo e trattiene la lode, perché Dio dà un valido aiuto a chi comincia bene in modo che anche la fine sia buona; e senza Dio non abbiamo mai visto una fine o un inizio portare frutto di buona semente; ma chi finisce e comincia bene in Dio produce frutto di valore e frutto di salvezza.
II. Questo buon frutto nasce e fiorisce dalla giusta fede, prima di tutto, e poi, quando è in fiore, le buone opere lo nutrono di dolcezza, perché è nato con la fede e si nutre con l’opera; e chiunque mangia davvero di questo frutto desidererà di morire nel nome della penitenza, per la quale la sua morte coinciderà con la vera nascita, poiché il giorno in cui muore per Dio, egli nasce veramente nella rettitudine.
III. Nato nella rettitudine è l’uomo in grazia di Dio, in quanto egli vive in modo retto per sempre senza pena quando, rettamente e piacevolmente, ha mangiato il frutto da cui la sua anima è salvata; e perciò andiamo tutti insieme a mangiare di questo frutto che è la nostra salvezza; e lo troveremo senza fallo in Terra Santa, dove Dio è morto e vive.
IV. La sua morte è stata la retta via che tutti noi peccatori dovremmo percorrere, e chiunque muore per Dio creatore vivrà gioioso in Paradiso per sempre, perché una tale morte è vita senza tormenti, e vero frutto di Cristo a cui è gradito; così ciascuno deve pensare a questa morte per avere una lunga vita.
V. Dio ha procurato un tale frutto imperituro e esorta il valoroso re Federico, mio signore, e tutti coloro che sono disposti a morire e vivere per amor Suo ad andare a mangiarne, a spese degli infedeli che rifiutano di riconoscere Cristo e ciò che sappiamo di Lui e la Vera Croce nella quale non hanno alcuna fede; e denigrano perfidamente il Sepolcro (la verità della Risurrezione).
VI. Vero Signore Gesù, davanti al quale mi inchino, luce virtuosa di vero splendore, Cristo Salvatore, date forza e vigore e buon consiglio ai vostri pellegrini, e proteggeteli dal male e dal vento cattivo in modo che possano fare la traversata senza paura, con il vostro aiuto, laggiù per recuperare la santa croce e il vero Sepolcro.
VII. Re Federico, voi siete il frutto della giovinezza (delle qualità cortesi), e frutto di merito, e frutto di sapienza, e se mangerete del frutto della penitenza voi finirete bene ciò che avete ben cominciato.
I. Every man who begins and ends well distances blame and retains praise, for God gives good assistance to a good beginner so that the end is good; and without God we have never seen an end or a beginning bear fruit of good seed; but the man who ends and begins well in God yields fruit of worth and fruit of salvation.
II. This good fruit is born and blossoms from good faith first of all, and then, when it is in flower, good works nourish it with sweetness, for it is born with faith and nourishes itself with action; and whoever truly eats of this fruit will wish to die in the name of penitence, from which his death will be correspond to true birth, since the day he dies for God he is truly born into righteousness.
III. Born into righteousness is the man in God’s grace, since he lives righteously for ever without pain when, righteously and delectably, he has eaten the fruit by which his soul is saved; and therefore let us go together, every one of us, to eat of this fruit that is our salvation; and we shall find it without fail in the Holy Land, where God both died and is living.
IV. His death was the righteous path along which all we sinners ought to go, and whoever dies for God the creator will live joyfully in Paradise for ever, for such death is life without torment, and true fruit of Christ to Whom it is pleasing; so each should call this death to mind in order to have long life.
V. God has provided such a fruit that does not perish. He exhorts the valiant King Frederick, my lord, and all those who are willing to die and live for love of Him to go and eat of it at the expense of the infidels who refuse to recognise Christ and what we know of Him and the True Cross in which they have no belief; and they wickedly denigrate the Sepulchre (the truth of the Resurrection).
VI. True Lord Jesus before Whom I bow down, righteous light of true radiance, Saviour Christ, give strength and vigour and good counsel to your pilgrims, and protect them from pain and ill wind so that they may make the crossing without fear, with your assistance, there to recover the holy Cross and the true Sepulchre.
VII. King Frederick, you are the fruit of youth (courtly qualities), and fruit of merit, and fruit of learning, and if you eat of the fruit of penitence you will end well the good beginning.
I. 1 tot f; qe (qi a1) bem Daa1, que b. RT; comensa b. T 2 blasme crete O, blasme e ten f 3 dieu Ta1; donna T; bona c. Da 4 bonna T; qel O; la] sa Daa1f; cebones lafins T; b. f. qant bona es li f. M 5 ni] et R; qe a. nulls temps fin ses c. M 6 uiu O, ui T, uitz a1; fruchar] portar M; frucic or frueic T; line underlined with Di bon seme mal frutto melo written in the upper margin, the last word uncertain M 7 qu’en] qe M, qi O, qem a1; Dieu f.] ben f. M, dieus f. f; ben e c. DaR, ben c. a1, en dieu c. f 8 ten Ta1.
II. 9 aicest T; bon (bo R) ORTa1f; fruich DaORTa1f; primiers MR, permier f 10 de] en R; q. en f. Da, q. e enfror T 11 noirison DaR, noirissol noirissol f, noris T; ab sa d. M, al d. a1 12 censenais T; et] y f; ab lobrais DaOT, ab las obras f; qar ab fe nais cobra lo n. M; car ab la fe e obran se n. R 13 des O, daqest a1; e q. d’e. f.] cidades frucc T; ma(n)gera DaMTa1 14 e nom de uera p. a1 15 dossa mortz er R, donc est samort with something before donc that could be an a, apparently rubbed out (Levy adonc), and the e of est actually a Tironian sign for et T; ueira iusta M, iusta eueira O, uista u. a1, anoi u. T 16 qem mor O, que mor R, comor T; p. d. n.] per n. Da, hom crey n. R 15-16 don | er sa mortz iustab d. iustamen C, don er | samor iusta per dieu nais iustamen f.
III. 17 es] ex O; celle M; qui] ca R, que f; nais aisel qedic (or possibly qedie) g. T 18 pus] e MR, missing a1; ha uiscut M, vieu or vien t. t. R, sera T; ses] sene f; dolors T 19 q. doussamen M; ni a.] e a. MR, nia a1, uiu ni a. f; tan de s. T 20 ha f. MT; manjat] man with titulus above T, mamar a1, maniar f 21 docs O, dunc T, donc a1; auem Cf, anem or auem Da, anam T; strestot O, trastotz R; e dons tratut deuon c. M 22 maniat Da; del MRT, daqest O; ce Tf, quest Da, que f; la] li M 23 qe trobarem M, atrobar lem T, e troba lon a1 24 o. dieu R, odieu or adieu T; fo] es a1; m. e. v.] uius e mortz Mf, m. e uieu R, mort euiu T.
IV. 25 lj seua with i written above the e M, lasoi O; fol DaO, fonl a1; dreiturer DaT, dreiturietz f 26 per on] per ço i M, perso T; d. amar O, deuen amar a1; tutç T 27 e] qe M; lo creator missing Da; quel | la sufri ab pene ab suzor R 28 u. t. t. i. missing Da; per nos leuar e metren p. R, u. t. tep giauseç eparadis T 29 aitals Ma1; turmentç T; mortz nos fo vida senes turmen (–1) R 30 veray RT; fruc MORT 31 cascun T 32 daquesta mort M.
V. 33 somost] trames M; fruitz f; qi a1 34 lo v.] al u. O, louan T; federic O; seinhor with a titulus above the o f 35 tot OT; aquels R, aisell T; que] qi Ma1f; lo sieu amor T 36 voldra O, uoran T; mourir correcting something else a1; e] o MT, en with n unsure a1; somonis] so mes uis M 37 qu’anon] qua no Da, anem M, canen T, amo f, qanem a1; maiar Da, mangar f 38 que] qi M; descrezon underlined with discrede written beside it in the central space, the last letter unsure M 39 et en la crotz vera n. a. c. R, e. l. u. c. onon c. T.
VI. 40 el with e represented as the Tironian sign for et T; seplulcre f 41 c. sui Ma1, c. soy R, cusui with an i perhaps overlapping the vertical stroke of s T 42 loms O, lux T; dreturiera T; resplandors DaR 43 saluaire underlined with salvator written beside in the margin, last letters unclear M; donas M, donam R, dona T, donanz a1 44 conseilhs M; a. nostres M, auostre T; e. b. cosselham n. p. R 45 els defen R, el d. T; uentç T 46 q. y.] si que R; puscam Ra1; sança t. T 47 lais (lay R) recobrar DaR, e lai c. M, l. acobrar Ta1; a la mia u. R, la u. ualentç T, a l. u. u. a1 48 lo sepulcre e lo san m. with munimen underlined and munimento written in the lower margin M.
VII. 49 frederic T, federics a1; frug RT; de] e C; iouens CDa; beside iouen in the margin is apparently written di meza stanza | il combiato M 50 fruiz DaMa1; efruitz DaMa1; coniscenza a1 51 maiaz Da; del] lo M, de T 52 fineres or feneres T.
15-16. C is the only ms. to spell out ab = ‘with’, though DaMR(a1) can, and no doubt should, be interpreted in the same way (just’a); O is individual with iusta eueira, T garbled, and f incomplete. The missing syllables in C have been suppleted using a1. For just’ as a preposition / adverb, see SW, IV, 275,2 ‘entsprechend, gemäss’, though Guillem is also playing with ideas of justice / righteousness introduced in the following lines (justamen). – Levy cites Conon de Béthune, Que celle mors est douce et saveurouse, / Dont on conquiert le regne precious; / Ne ja de mort nen i morra .I. sous, / Ains naisteront en vie gloriouse.
23. Split future.
33. All previous editors accept Tobler’s conjectural emendation of tal to al, but this seems unnecessary.
37. Levy (et al) qu’anon; for ano.n I follow a private suggestion of Stefano Asperti. For the translation of sobre here, compare SW, VII, 698, 12 ‘auf Kosten von’ (or perhaps understand ‘overcoming the opposition of’?). De Bartholomaeis translates as «mangiare di sopra», Guida «schiacciare».
38. For my interpretation of sa conoyssensa compare Frede Jensen, Syntaxe de l’ancien occitan, Tübingen 1994, § 286: «Le génitif que sert à exprimer le possessif peut être subjectif ou objectif: la nostr’amor vai enaissi (Guillaume IX 10.13), c’est-à-dire l’amour que nous éprouvons pour quelqu’un, lo sant paes on venc per nostr’ amor morir (P. Vidal 42.4), c’est-à-dire l’amour que quelqu’un éprouve pour nous».
40. While it may make sense to see failure to ‘believe in’ the Holy Sepulchre and hence the truth of the Resurrection as something wicked, it is tempting to wonder whether descrezon in this line is a form of descreisser, ‘to abase, diminish’. Compare PD descreisemen, descreiser v. dec-, decreiser, des- ‘diminuer, abaisser’.
Edition, english translation and notes: Linda Paterson; italian translation: Luca Barbieri. – Rialto 13.ix.2013.
C 248r (aissi comesa G(uillems) figueira), Da 178v, M 133v (En gui figera), O 56r (a continuation of BdT 194.3), R 32r (G. figuieyra; blank staves above stanza I), T 184r (Asimar lonegre), a1 505 (en Guilliem figuiera), f 17r (en cadenet), κ Gui Figera.
Critical edition: Emil Levy, Guillem Figueira, ein provenzalischer Troubadour, Berlin 1880, p. 49.
Other editions: François-Juste-Marie Raynouard, Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, 6 voll., Paris 1816-1821, vol. IV, p. 124; Carl August Friedrich Mahn, Die Werke der Troubadours, in provenzalischer Sprache, 4 voll., Berlin 1846-1886, vol. III, p. 114; Vincenzo De Bartholomaeis, Poesie provenzali storiche relative all’Italia, 2 voll., Roma 1931, vol. I, p. 209 (text Levy, Italian translation); Saverio Guida, Canzoni di crociata, Parma 1992, p. 232 (text Levy, Italian translation).
Analysis of manuscripts: C 248r (aissi comesa G(uillems) figueira), Da 178v, M 133v (En gui figera), O 56r (a continuation of BdT 194.3), R 32r (G. figuieyra; blank staves above stanza I), T 184r (Asimar lonegre), a1 505 (en Guilliem figuiera), f 17r (en cadenet), κ Gui Figera. − Levy, who did not know of a1, sees the main division of the mss. as M ~ CDaORTf. He finds the relationship between those of the large group hard to determine but comes to tentative conclusions on the basis of common inflexions (revealing, he considers, some errors) and by common variants, so grouping CDa ~ RTOf, then RT ~ Of. He follows C’s graphy though regularises spellings. – Inflexions are hardly conclusive. Although there are many minor individual variants and errors there is little to assist in further classification, auem (21) in Cf(Da) being very possibly coincidental, though the missing syllables in Cf 15-16 suggest illegibility in a common source. Despite these missing syllables I have chosen C as base, since they are easy to supply from elsewhere and the ms. needs only two other corrections (21 and 49). Other mss. have more errors: Da 3, 10 (−1), 16 (−1), 22, 27 (−3), 28 (−6), 37, 42, 51; R 15, 18, 43, 44, 45 (−1), 47, re-writing 27-29 (also individual in 12, 17); T 1, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18 (−1) and a great many others; f 11, 18 (+1), 19, 20, 21, 25, 30, 37 (amo) with 41-52 missing; a1 11, 13 (+1), 14 (+2), 18 (−1), 20, 25 and so on, together with a number of isolated readings (6, 24, 26). M is virtually error-free (17?, 21?) but has many isolated readings (6, 7, 11, 12, 15, 18, 20, 23, 33, 36 and so on), while O, with many errors, in 2, 4, 6, 7, 13, 16, 21, 22 (+1), 25 (−1) and so on, lacks the last 10 lines. My edition differs little from Levy’s.
Versification: a10 b10 b10 a10 c10 d10’ d10’ c10 (Frank 624:11), -is, -or, -en, -ensa. Six coblas unissonans and one five-line tornada. The versification is of a very common type, with three other pieces having the same rhyme-scheme but different rhyme-endings; two of these are cansos, BdT 213.4 (Guillem de Cabestaing) and 304.3 (Jaufre de Foixà). Sergio Vatteroni, «Le poesie di Peire Cardenal - III», Studi Mediolatini e Volgari, 40, 1994, pp. 119-202, on pp.120-121, indicates close links between vv. 13-16 and Peire Cardenal’s BdT 335,15, 29-30; he concludes that this shows more than thematic coincidence. Although it is hard to establish their relative chronology he suggests Cardenal’s piece is perhaps likely to have been composed in the same period as Figuera’s, after July 1215.
The piece was composed after 25 July 1215, when Frederick II received the crown of king of the Romans in Aachen and took the cross for the first time, and before his coronation as emperor on 22 November 1220, probably in Italy, either at Frederick’s request or in the hope of his favour.