I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
I. Ora si può sapere con certezza che Dio dà una buona ricompensa per le buone azioni perché Egli (stesso) ha dato una ricompensa e un dono al nobile marchese, facendogli superare i migliori in quanto a valore, così che i crociati di Francia e di Champagne lo hanno richiesto a Dio, in quanto migliore di tutti, per recuperare il Santo Sepolcro e la croce dove Gesù fu crocifisso; perché Egli vuole l’onorato marchese nella Sua compagnia, e Dio gli ha dato forza, buoni vassalli, terra e ricchezze e un cuore forte, per meglio portare a compimento ciò che deve fare.
II. Ha un tale onore, e vuole così tanto essere onorato, che onora Dio e il valore e la munificenza e se stesso, e se ci fossero con lui mille baroni, saprebbe come farsi onorare da tutti, perché egli onora i suoi uomini e onora gli estranei così che è esaltato, mentre gli altri sono abbassati. Egli ha preso la croce con tale onore che mi pare che non potrebbe averne di più, perché con onore egli desidera avere questo e l’altro mondo, e Dio gli ha dato la forza e il discernimento e la saggezza per avere entrambi, ed egli vi si dedica con tutto il suo impegno.
III. Colui che ha fatto l’aria e il cielo, la terra e il mare, e il caldo e il freddo, e la pioggia e il vento e il tuono vuole che tutti gli uomini di buona volontà attraversino il mare sotto la Sua guida, come Egli guidò Melchiorre e Gaspare a Betlemme, perché i turchi ci portano via montagna e pianura e Dio non vuole dire una (sola) parola su questo. Ma spetta a noi, per i quali fu crocifisso, di andare laggiù, e chiunque resti qui avrà la prospettiva di una vita ignobile e di una morte atroce, perché ci troviamo in un orribile e spaventoso peccato dal quale ognuno sarà purificato se si bagna nel fiume Giordano.
IV. Dio si lasciò vendere per salvarci, e ha patito la morte e accettato la Passione, e gli ebrei malvagi l’hanno infamato per noi; Egli fu legato a una colonna e picchiato, e innalzato sulla trave che stava nel fango, e flagellato con una sferza di nodi, e coronato di spine sulla Croce: quindi è davvero duro di cuore chi non piange il torto che ci fanno i turchi che vogliono tenere la terra dove Dio ha voluto dimorare morto e vivo, e per questo dobbiamo intraprendere una grande guerra e una grande battaglia.
V. Ma il nostro peccato ci sconvolge tanto che viviamo come se fossimo morti e non so come, perché anche il più coraggioso e valoroso ha un dolore per ogni gioia, né vi è onore che non si volga a sua onta, perché (anche) l’uomo più potente ha mille crucci per ogni gioia. Ma Dio, per il quale gli uomini fanno il segno della croce, è gioia, per cui chi guadagna Lui non può perdere; ecco perché, se così piace a Lui, preferisco morire laggiù che restare qui vivo, ma in pericolo / in balia della sorte, anche se tutta la Germania fosse mia.
VI. Possa San Nicola di Bari guidare la nostra flotta, e quelli della Champagne innalzino il loro vessillo, e il marchese gridi «per il Monferrato e il leone!», e il conte fiammingo «per le Fiandre!» menando grandi colpi; e ognuno colpisca con la spada e spezzi la sua lancia e avremo presto sconfitto e ucciso tutti i turchi e sul campo di battaglia riconquisteremo la Vera Croce che abbiamo perso. E i valorosi re di Spagna sbaraglino i Mori con un grande esercito, perché il marchese sta per raccogliere il suo esercito e assediare il Sultano e passerà presto attraverso l’impero d’Oriente.
VII. Nostro Signore ci chiama a raccolta e dice a tutti noi di andare a riconquistare il Santo Sepolcro e la Croce; e chi vuole far parte della sua compagnia muoia per Lui, se vuole essere ammesso alla vita in Paradiso, e faccia tutto ciò che può per attraversare il mare e uccidere la razza di cani.
VIII. Bel Cavaliere, per cui compongo melodie e versi, non so se restare a causa vostra o prendere la croce; né so come fare per andare o per restare, perché la vostra bella persona mi piace così tanto che io muoio se vi vedo, eppure quando non posso vedervi mi sembra di morire in ogni altra compagnia che non sia la vostra.
I. Now people can know and be certain that God gives a good reward for good deeds because He has made a recompense and gift to the noble marquess, making him surpass the best in worth so that the crusaders of France and Champagne have asked God for him, as the best of all men, to recover the Holy Sepulchre and the cross where Jesus was crucified; for He wants the honoured marquess in His company, and God has given him might, good fighters, and land and riches and a strong heart, the better to fulfil what he must do.
II. He has such great honour and so wants to be honoured that he honours God and worth and munificence and himself, and if there were a thousand barons with him, he would know how to make himself honoured by all, for he honours his own men and honours strangers to the point where he is exalted while the others are abased. He has taken the cross with such honour that it seems to me that no honour will be wanting, for with honour he wishes to have this world and the next, and God has given him the strength and insight and wisdom to have both, and he puts all his efforts into this.
III. He who made the air and the sky, earth and sea, and heat and cold, and rain and wind and thunder wants all good men to cross over the sea under His guidance, as He guided Melchior and Gaspar to Bethlehem, for the Turks take mountain and plain away from us and God does not wish to say a word about it. But it is fitting for us, for whom He was crucified, to go there, and whoever stays here will have the prospect of a base life and a hard death, for we stand in horrible and fearful sin from which each will be cleansed if he bathes in the river Jordan.
IV. God let Himself be sold to save us, and He suffered death and accepted the Passion, and for us the wicked Jews dishonoured Him; He was tied to a pilar and beaten, and raised on the stake which stood in the ditch, and scourged with a whip - a knotted one, and crowned with thorns on the Cross: so he is hard-hearted indeed whoever does not lament the wrong the Turks do us by wanting to keep the land where God wished to dwell, dead and alive, and so we must wage great war and great combat because of this.
V. But our sin plunges us into such turmoil that we live as if we were dead and I don’t know how, for even the bravest and most valiant man also has a sorrow for every joy, nor is there any honour which does not turn to his shame, for (even) the most powerful man has a thousand vexations for every joy. But God, for whom men make the sign of the cross, is joy, which is why anyone who wins Him cannot lose; which is why, if it please Him, I prefer to die over there than stay here alive but in peril / danger, even if all Germany were mine.
VI. May St Nicholas of Bari guide our fleet, and let the men of Champagne raise their standard, and the Marquess cry «Montferrat and the lion!», and the Flemish count «Flanders!» as they strike great blows; and let every man there strike with his sword and break his lance and we shall easily have smashed and killed all the Turks and on the battlefield we’ll recover the True Cross which we have lost. And may the valiant kings of Spain conquer the Moors with a great army, for the Marquess is going to summon his army and lay siege to the Sultan and will shortly pass through the Eastern Empire.
VII. Our Lord summons us and tells all of us to go and recover the Holy Sepulchre and the Cross; and let whoever wishes to be in His army die for Him if he wants to remain alive in Paradise, and let him do all in his power to cross over the sea and kill the race of dogs.
VIII. Fair Knight, for whom I compose melodies and words, I don’t know if I should not go for your sake, or whether I should take the cross; nor do I know how to go or how to refrain from going, for your fair person pleases me so much that I die if I see you and yet when I can’t see you, I imagine I’m dying in every other company save yours.
Deviations from base. 8 uolc 12 ia 13 honra added above the line 29 tain 34 p. n. uendre s. 42 queu 49 Mes h. 56 guiz 67-72 om. 73 Francs 74 o·m] non or nom 75 coman, comen 78 tout.
I. 1 podetz A; preiar a1 2 bon Na1; faich LNRa1 3 pros CR; esmeud G; dom D 4 eil GLa1, el N2, que R; fa R; me ior G 5 si quels CR, t. qels G, t. quel NN2; crozatz CGR, crezat I; capagna G 7 p. recobrar A; sepuchre D; croiz N2 8 on uenc C, on fo GLNRa1; qe G, qi L, quil N2; uolc ADIKN2a1, uolg G; qen G 9 lo pros m. R; a·l D.] el al R, d. al CGLNN2a1 10 om. G, in place of 10-11 G repeats line 22: qeil | la iainbdos e tan qant pot sen lagna; bon D; uassailz N 11 om. AG; e dardit cor C, e de ricor R; mielhs far CNR; so om. L.
II. 12 Cant N; ai I, ia K 13 dien N2, don a1 14 s’eran mil] sis fan.m. R 15 en semps | ablor G, En sens a. l. L, elsemblan sieu R; tot R 16 qu’el] et C; honra·ls] honral GLNa1, honrars I 17 P. qe G; q. autres C, q. liautre G, els autres R; sou deios G 18 que tal CG, Caital I, Qental L, cap tal R; a] sa GLNa1; leuat GR; ala c. G - 19 non or nom ADIK, nom CNN2; pes mais que C; li ACN; Don no (nom a1) me (mi La1) p. qonor (qonors La1) m. li. s. GLa1; per qe non || cugconors m. linli s. R 20 ca NN2, cap R; Qa qest (Qaiqest L) s. elautre (e a lautre the ‘a’ expunctuated L) u. a. GL; qel vol aqest s. e l. a. a1 21 d. la d. A, ail deu d. G, hal d. d. La1; forssa g. esauer A, g. forsa e poder C, sen e forza epoder (forze p. a1) GLa1, g. eforce | poder NN2, sen e forsedeuer R 22 Qels ACR, Qeil G; aian d. N2, aia nibdos G; e tant] quar t. C; po N; san l. D, si l. L; per qe | pretz la companha R.
III. 23 Ses D; foz G; laiyr C; e sel] cel G 24 f. e c.] c. e f. CN2Ra1; p. e v.] ploia u. A, u. e p. CGLRa1 25 qua son g. C, qi segni G, qen son g. L, qe s. g. a1, q. s. gut N; passemmar R; pro GLNa1 26 cum om. G, comz or conz R 27 dreit em beslem C; que·l p.] lo p. R; a la m. a1 28 nos to || lels C, tollo nos L, quens t. R; turcx CLRa1; e] mas R; no GIR, nol L; mortz I 29 amos G; tain K, staing L; cu G; in c. G; mas eras tanhcar el fos m. e. c. R 30 passem de la e | quals C, Qel (Qe li L, qeil a1) aiudem eqi GLa1; sen r. G; qel aiudem e salqesne r. R 31 Per (pot a1) sa auol u. GL, pot sa gran uida R; e sa] per sa G; greu om. R 32 que grans peccatz C; uiuen GLa1, estaim N; cassatz uezem | peccatcom d. t. R 33 doncs C, car R; er] es AL, om. R; sortz s. A, fals quil (qen R) CR, salu sem G, sotz s. I, sals qen (sel a1) La1.
IV. 34 Deu se lanet G; vendre om. AC, uender L; per nos en crotz leuar C, per nos uendre (uendra N) saluar DIKN 35 sofrin A; sufret N, suferc N2; en (e R) receup m. en (e R) sufri p. CLRa1, En sofri p. (–4) G 36 Elauiuro L; iudeus G; en fo aunitz per | fals i. f. C, elaussiron per nos i. f. R 37 e·n] e AR; elliat I, elaiz G 38 en (e GLR) fo per nos CGLRa1; al t. D, enl t. N2; tauqier e. l. f. A, fust querem l. f. C, t. et e. l. f. GLa1, tormen | et en f. R 39 marturiatz CGLRa1; de correias AC, e corteziaz G, e correiatz LRa1, ab coreiet N, ab correia et N2; per nos G, per totz L, ab nos a1 40 coronan or coronam G 41 homs N; p. c. fel cor totsel qestmal n. p. R; p. ques ben fols chascun q. d. n. p. N2 42 om. GLa1; q. cuion r. C, qeuz (queu IK, qui N, quens N2) u. r. DIKNN2, q. sans u. toler R 43 om. GLa1; uius e m. AR 44 om. GLa1; nos chai I, nos e. N, non n. N2, sen e. R; gran CNR; gran m. CNR.
V. 45 om. GLa1; fan nostres CR; pecchat DIN2; trobar INN2 46 om. GLa1; mortz CR; uezem R; e re (uieus R) no sabem quo CR 47 om. GLa1; i a] ma N; gaillart] feuz C; ni] e N2; bo CN2; car . car . non | ya un galhart ni tan bo R 48 om. GLa1; Sil A, qua C, sa R; plazer CR 49 om. GLa1; Mes IK, e sa R; ca ancca N, gauz caira N2, que a. R; non] nol R 50 om. GLa1; quar per un C, Qen c. N2; ioy R; nal C; ric .m. R 51 om. GLa1; e d. es gaisqe fon mezes en c. R 52 om. GLN2a1; e re | n. C; qiel R 53 om. N2; am] uoil GLa1; lui] dieu CGLa1; u. per p. CGLNa1, denha | p. R 54 om. N2; morir de lai C, morir per lui GLRa1; uiu LNR - 55 om. N2; ad a. C; Ama uentur GL; que fos A, efos GLNR; miua N; e | mauenture fos m. a. a1.
VI. 56 Nostre col L, Nostrestols N; guiz DIK, gui N, ghi G; sanh CGNR; mico | laus N 57 els CG; chanpames L, companhas R; tendan R; lor ACGLa1, li R; confanon GN2 58 cde G; elion Ga1, elyo L, e leion N2 59 cons GL; framencs D, flamench GN, rayniers R; crit flandres CLRa1, cde flandres G; grans om. CGLRa1; colps durs d. D 60 fera GLRa1, fieri N, feiran C; qers N2; quespaze CR, des | pa e N, despaza G; lansai ACDN2R, lansi N, lanchas La1 61 q. tost C, Qen breu GLa1; haurons L; totz morz] sobratz C, uencuz GLa1; qelsturcx aurem leu descofitz e r. R 62 cobrarez G, trobarem C; el CGLRa1; cam N2; ab la v. a1, lauerais G; cruz G 63 c’avem] ques C, om. G; perduda CR; el u. r. CNa1, els ualenz r. G, el rey ualen R 64 ponha de sai los moros c. C, Pognon de zai sobre morz c. G, Poi | gnan de chaj sobrels mors (moros a1) c. La1; ponhe de lai mort sobrels c. R 65 fay R; osz LN; setges GRa1, sieges L, setis N, siege N2 66 saudan N; e] est C; remanha CR.
VII. 67 nos mand e·ns] somone R 70 p. elsabel uolremaner R 72 de luj seruir e R.
VIII. 73 Francs ADIK, Bel GL, Franc NR, Bei N2; caualer GLNN2; fan C; sois e m. G, motz esos N 74 lai G, leu R; non or nom DIK, o L, non N, nim N2; lays R 75 om. GL; cum an C, coman DIKNN2, comau R; ni non s. A; com m’en] cum A, cossim CR, comen DIK, comi N 76 om. GL; quar CR; mius A; bels ADN, gen R; doler C 77 qu’eu om. R; sous G, can uos R; eqenc no G, eqar n. L 78 cug esser C; sol N; e ses C, sens GL; tot’autra] tota C, toutautra K.
5-8. Compare Robert de Clari’s reported praise of Boniface as «le plus preudomme que nous saviemes», Robert de Clari. La conquête de Constantinople, éd. Philippe Lauer, Paris 1956, IV, 6-7 (p. 5). – I take ADIKN2a1 uolc as a minor scribal slip in the common ancestor (avoided in N); the perfect (‘God wanted’) would have little sense in this context and I correct.
12. K ia (and I ai) are isolated by minor errors.
26. Melchior and Gaspar, two of the three Magi.
34. DIKN misplace vendre, A omits it, suggesting that in their common source this word may have been added as a marginal correction.
39. Linskill: e correjatz de correjas ab notz ‘and was scourged with knotted scourges’. It is tempting to see DIK correie as a common error and emend to eliminate the hiatus with following ab (compare AC), but N (coreiet) and N2 correia et) suggest the text had the noun + conjunction (+ ab). Is the force of e here ‘and what’s more’, giving perhaps ‘with a whip - a knotted one’?
49. IK scribal error: mes misread from nies.
56. A misreading in a common source may have meant tol was understood as a verb and guit then inflected as its subject (DIK; A corrects?).
57-60. It was principally the people of Flanders and Champagne who were committed to the crusade before the assembly at Cîteaux on 13 September 1201, when many Burgundians joined (Jonathan Phillips, The Fourth Crusade and the sack of Constantinople, London 2005, p. 89).
58. As Linskill (following De Batholomaeis) suggests, a lion probably featured on the coat of arms of Montferrat at this time.
59. The count of Flanders referred to here is Baldwin IX who later became emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople (see edition of BdT 392.9a on Rialto).
62. The relic of the True Cross had been captured by Saladin in the defeat at Hattin in 1187.
63. As Linskill shows, the kings of Spain referred to here are Pere II of Aragon (1196-1213) and Alfonso VIII of Castile (1158-1214).
66. The poet envisages Boniface attacking the sultan of Egypt, as was agreed at the Treaty of Venice in April 1201 but, according to Villehardouin (Chronicles of the Crusades, trans M. R. B. Shaw, Harmondsworth 1963, p. 35), kept secret from the general public (Phillips, Fourth Crusade, pp. 68-72). – Romaingna: pace Linskill, this is most probably not the Italian province: this was not on Boniface’s route to embarcation in Venice, nor is there any suggestion Boniface intended to travel through the Italian peninsula on his way to the East. Rather, Romania was a term frequently used in vernacular texts to refer to the Byzantine Empire and the lands in the near East which had once belonged to Rome: see Guida, p. 354; Arié Serper, «Romania, Byzance et l’épopée», in Miscellanea di studi in onore di Aurelio Roncaglia a cinquant’anni dalle sua laurea, 4 voll, Modena 1989, IV, pp. 1297-1303.
72. Bartsch and then Hill and Bergin print consi·m.
73. Bels cavalliers is a minority reading but the senhal designates the lady whom Raimbaut addresses ten other songs.
75. Like Guida, I follow Marshall (review of Linskill, Medium Aevum, 34, 1965, pp. 245-247, p. 247) who suggests printing «com m’an» (with A) and «ni sai com m’en», with N2 (difficilior). See remaner de ‘ne pas aller à’ (PD), and Wallace S. Lipton, ‘Imposed verb pronominalisation in medieval French and Provençal’, Romance Philology, 14, 1960-1961, pp. 111-137.
78. K tout (isolated): a minor scribal error.
Edition, english translation and notes: Ruth Harvey; italian translation: Luca Barbieri. – Rialto 22.viii.2014.
A 163v (Raembautz deuaqeiras), C 129v (Raymbaut deuaq(ui)eiras), Da 181r, G 115 (space left in the first stanza for staves to be added), I 77v (Raembautz de uaqueras), K 61v (Raembautz de uaqueras), L 63v (Ra(m)baut deuachera, the first name written over an erasure where earlier was found a name beginning with ‘F’), N 160v (naimeric depe gulan), N2 11v (Raembautz de Vaqueiras), R 61v (Raymbaut de vaq(ue)yras; musical notation in staves above stanza I), a1 p. 332 (rembautz de vacheiras), ρ 19r.
Critical edition: The Poems of the troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, ed. Joseph Linskill, The Hague 1964, p. 216 (on A).
Other editions: François-Juste-Marie Raynouard, Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, 6 voll., Paris 1816-1821, vol. IV, p. 112 (C-type text); Carl August Friedrich Mahn, Die Werke der Troubadours, in provenzalischer Sprache, 4 voll., Berlin 1846-1886, vol. I, p. 375 (= Raynouard); Karl Bartsch, Provenzalisches Lesebuch, mit einer literarischen Einleitung und Wörterbuch, Elberfeld 1855, col. 125 (on CLR); 6th ed. revised by Eduard Koschwitz, Marburg 1904; reprint Geneva and Marseille 1973, col. 137 (on ACIN2R); Vincenzo de Bartholomaeis, Poesie provenzali storiche relative all’Italia, 2 voll., Rome 1931, vol. I, p. 92 (text Bartsch, Chrestomathie, Italian translation); André Berry, Florilège des troubadours, Paris 1930, p. 303 (text Bartsch-Koschwitz, French translation); Francesco Ugolini, La poesia provenzale e l’Italia, second edition, Modena 1949 (text Bartsch-Koschwitz, with DGLa1); Anthology of the Provençal Troubadours, ed. Raymond T. Hill and Thomas G. Bergin, New Haven 1941, p. 123 (text Bartsch); second edition, 2 voll., New Haven and London 1973, I, p. 158 (text Ugolini with some modifications); Rambaldo di Vaqueiras, Liriche, ed. Thomas G. Bergin, Florence 1956, p. 110 (text Bartsch-Koschwitz with some modifications); Saverio Guida, Canzoni di crociata, Parma 1992, p. 202 (text Linskill with some modifications; Italian translation).
Analysis of manuscripts: By the amount and order of material they contain, the mss fall into 3 broad groups: ADIKNN2 - CR - GLa1. A common ancestor of GLa1 skipped the first part of stanza IV and the last three lines of V, while GL are further united by their additional omission of 75-76. CR alone preserve stanza VII; they occasionally share readings with GLa1 (see for example 35, 38, 39, 59) but none is demonstrably superior. Both C and R have a great many individual readings (see respectively 8, 11, 16, 19, 22, 23, 25, 27, 30, 32, 34 and so on, and 4, 14, 15, 17, 18 (–1), 19, 22, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32 and so on), which makes either unsuitable for use as base ms. Missing material aside, no common error unites all members of the ADIKNN2 group; N seems to have escaped (or corrected) the error in 8 (see the note). Of this group, A is excluded by its errors in 11 (with G), 34 (with C), isolated errors in 38, 55, 76 and isolated readings in 1, 7, 21, 24, 33, 35, 48 and 75; a number of the latter are very probably the results of scribal interventions to clarify the text. Of the remaining mss, K has by far the smallest number of isolated errors (12, 29) and overall requires the least intervention. (Compare D: minor individual errors in 3, 7, 22, 42, 59 and individual in 38; N has minor isolated errors in 10, 22, 25, 32, 34, 41?, 47, 49, 55, 56, 60, 65, 66, 73 (at the rhyme), 75, and is individual in 42; N2 has isolated errors in 4, 13, 38, 44, 49, 55, 60, 62, 73, 74 and individual readings in 41, 50, and 75; I has isolated errors in 5, 16, 18, 28, 33, 37, 44). I have therefore adopted K as base except for the first tornada, whose authenticity there is no reason to doubt, which is based on C. My text differs in only a few details from Linksill’s.
Order and amount of material:
|
|
|
I |
II |
III |
IV |
V |
VI |
VII |
VIII |
|
|
ADIKNN2 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
- |
7 |
|
|
C |
1 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
|
|
R |
1 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
8 |
7 |
|
|
GL |
1 |
2 |
3 |
434-41* |
+53-55 |
5 |
- |
6 |
|
|
a1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
434-41* |
+53-55 |
5 |
- |
- |
* GLa1 omit lines 42-52.
Versification: a10 b10 b10 a10 c10’ d10 d10 c10’ e10 e10 c10’ (Frank 636:3), -ar, -o, -anha, -otz, -er the refrain-word crotz appears in the seventh line of every stanza. Six coblas unissonans and two six-line tornadas. The versification and rhyme-sounds were imitated in two later pieces: a three-handed partimen between Guiraut Riquier, Enric II of Rodez and the Seigner d’Alest, Peire Pelet (BdT 248.76 = 140.2 = 18.1; see Troubadour tensos and partimens, ed. Ruth Harvey and Linda Paterson, 3 voll., Cambridge 2010, vol. II, p. 801) and a planh by Matieu de Quercy (BdT 299.1; see Patersonʼs edition on Rialto).
The piece dates from shortly after the election of Boniface de Montferrat as leader of the crusaders at Soissons in early August 1201 (see stanza I). It was probably not composed in France, however. The dedication to Bel Cavallier may support a place of composition in Italy (at the court of Montferrat?).