293.5(Gaunt-Harvey-Paterson)

El son d’esviat chantaire,
veirai si pusc un vers faire
de fals’amistat menuda,
c’aissi leu pren e refuda,
puois sai ven e lai mercada,
e morrai si no·m n’esclaire.

II.

Cest’amors sap engan faire,
ab engan ses aigua raire,
puois qan l’a ras se remuda
e qier autrui cui saluda,
a cui es doussa e privada,
tant qe·l fols deven musaire.

III.

Non puosc dompnas trobar gaire
que blancha amistatz no·i vair’e
a presen o a saubuda
n’aia vergoigna perduda,
si que la meins afrontada
n’a laissat cazer un caire.

IV.

Moillerat, per saint Ylaire,
son d’una foldat confraire,
q’entr’els es gerra moguda,
tals que cornutz s’acornuda,
e cogotz copatz-copaire:
puois eis la coa de[u] braire.

Tals cuid’esser ben gardaire
de la soa e de l’autrui laire,
c’atretals es de venguda
d’aicel de sai, que la cuida:
si l’us musa l’autre bada
et ieu sui del dich pechaire.

VI.

De nien sui chastiaire,
e de foudat sermonaire,
car puois la flam’es nascuda
del fol drut e de la druda
si·l fols art per l’abrasada,
no·n sui mal merens ni laire.

VII.

Tant cant bos jovens fon paire
del segle e fin’amors maire,
fon proeza mantenguda
a celat et a saubuda,
mas er l’ant avilanada
duc e rei et emperaire.

VIII.

Q’ieu sui assatz esprovaire,
deffendens et enqistaire,
e vei cum jovens se tuda,
per que amors es perduda
e de joi deseretada,
e cum amars es cuiaire.

IX.

L’amors don ieu sui mostraire
nasquet en un gentil aire
el luoc on ill es creguda:
es claus de rama branchuda
e de chaut e de gelada,
q’estrains no l’en puosca traire.

Desirat per desiraire
a nom qui·n vol amor traire.

Text

Edition: Simon Gaunt, Ruth Harvey and Linda Paterson 2000; notes: Simon Gaunt. – Rialto 14.xii.2004.

Mss.

A 32v-33r (Marcabruns), I (120r) Marcabrus, K (106r) Marcabrus, a1 (307-308) Marchabrus, d (307r) Marcabrus.

Critical Editions / Other Editions

Critical editions: Jean-Marie-Lucien Dejeanne, Poésies complètes du troubadour Marcabru, Toulouse 1909, p. 57; Simon Gaunt, Ruth Harvey and Linda Paterson, Marcabru: A Critical Edition, Cambridge, D. S. Brewer, 2000, p. 90.

Philological note

Base of the text:A. The Mss. are relatively uniform. In some respects a1 would be an interesting base Ms. as it appears to be a careless copy of a superior text: it is the only Ms. to preserve line 52 and several points of detail either are or suggest better readings that those preserved in the other Mss.. On the other hand, the frequent errors in a1 would require a large number of corrections. A’s text is more or less error-free, yet without obvious facilior readings, so A is the obvious choice for base.

Metrics and music

Versification: a7’ a7’ b7’ b7’ c7’ a7’ (Frank 157:1 unicum). Nine coblas unissonans, with a two-line tornada. However, as the poem survives in the manuscripts, its versification is not regular: in lines 23, 28 and 55 all the Mss. agree on readings that make the rhyme sounds technically ‘incorrect’. In addition rhyme words are repeated in lines 15/40, 16/46, 26/36 and 54/56 (this last in the tornada). The agreement of all the Mss. on these points suggests Marcabru was less than rigorous about form in this poem and that the readings at the rhyme in these lines are therefore acceptable despite evidence for archetype errors in this poem’s transmission.

General info

The identification of Desirat with Sancho III of Castile leads Roncaglia (Aurelio Roncaglia, «Trobar clus: discussione aperta», Cultura neolatina 29, 1969, pp. 1-55, on pp. 21-26) to suggest this poem was composed to celebrate the engagement of Sancho (still a child) to the similarly juvenile Blanca of Navarre; according to Roncaglia’s sources, the engagement took place on 25 October 1140. Compare, however, Reilly (B. F. Reilly, The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VII, 1126-1157, Philadelphia, 1998, p. 67) on the betrothal of Garcia IV Ramirez to Alfonso VII’s illegitimate daughter, Urraca, on 25 October 1140; pp. 110 and 112 on the betrothal negotiations of Sancho to Blanca between Easter 1150 and January 1151. Roncaglia’s dating, which is accepted by Alvar (Carlos Alvar, La poesía trovadoresca en España y Portugal Barcelona 1977, pp. 32-35), is at best merely plausible, since the evidence is circumstantial and since Sancho may not have been his parents’ only child (see B. F. Reilly,The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain (1031-1157), Oxford–Cambridge MA., 1992, pp. 197 and 199 and Reilly, Kingdom, p. 27). Alvar’s discussion includes an exposition of Menendez Pidal’s view that El poema de mío Cid was composed for the same engagement celebrations, which would indicate a connection between the author of the Cid and Marcabru. However, this hypothesis is now widely discredited. – Interest has focused on the meaning and interpretation of the last stanza and tornada, deemed by many scholars to be resonant with Biblical and Christian imagery: the gentil aire and luoc of lines 50-51 are taken to represent the hortus conclusus of the Song of Songs, and Desirat Christ. Roncaglia, however, questions this interpretation, identifying Desirat with Sancho III of Castile who was referred to in Latin texts as desiderabilis Sancius because he was born (not before 1133) so long after his parents’ wedding in 1128.

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