(Anonymous?)
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I. Farò un nuovo sirventese piacevole come non ne ho mai fatti prima: la paura non mi tratterrà dal parlare di quello che sento dire tra di noi del nostro re, che sta perdendo malamente laggiù a Millau quello che aveva, poiché il conte glielo sta prendendo ingiustamente e molto scorrettamente; e gli sta sottraendo Marsiglia con arroganza, e prima ha già tentato di prendergli Montpellier.
II. Conte di Tolosa, chi vi serve deve aspettarsi una ben misera ricompensa, e mi sembra una gran tristezza, perché il servizio merita una qualche ricompensa; così il valoroso re Pietro vi ha servito bene, quando è accorso ad aiutarvi con il suo esercito ed è morto laggiù, con [nostro] grande sconforto; però approfittando di coloro che furono presenti alla sua caduta voi prosperate e indebolite il re Giacomo.
III. Al conte di Provenza dico di non allarmarsi, perché presto riceverà il soccorso del nostro re, che è molto desideroso di aiutarlo, una volta che avrà la situazione in pugno qui a Chiva, ma sappia (il conte di Provenza) che messer Berengario gli ha preso il castello (al re), e va dicendo che un re che dona le sue proprietà e poi cambia idea si comporta da bambino.
IV. Conte d’Urgel, avete grano e avena in abbondanza, e castelli fortificati con torri, perciò non siate pavido! Esigete dal re le terre oltre Urgel che erano vostre e non risparmiate né campi, né vigne né giardini, e se non lo fate, vi auguro di non vedere la prossima festa di san Giovanni, se nel frattempo non li rivendicate.
V. Cara Signora, vi amo così lealmente che quando non vi vedo penso che l’amore mi uccida, e quando vi vedo sono così intimidito che non oso aprirvi il mio cuore, tale è la mia paura di contrariarvi. Che farò dunque, signora, che presto sarò morto secondo la legge d’amore? Non desidero né corteggio altra che voi, ma quando vi vedo non oso mostrarvelo.
VI. Il nostro re ha un notevole potere fra i saraceni, ma d’ora in poi vorrei vedere il suo stendardo là verso Montfort, contro tutti quelli che stanno umiliando le sue terre e il suo onore.
[Translation l b]
I. I will compose a new, pleasing sirventes such as I never made before: fear will not hold me back from speaking out about what I hear said among us about our king, who is losing so badly over there at Millau what he used to hold, which the count is unjustly and most wrongly stealing from him; and he is contemptuously robbing him of Marseille, and previously tried to take Montpellier from him.
II. Count of Toulouse, anyone who serves you can expect a poor reward, and I see this as a great cause for grief, for some reward is due for service; hence the valiant King Pere served you well when he went to support you with his army and died over there, which was deeply distressing, yet from those who were there at his downfall you are prospering and making King Jaume weaker.
III. To the Count of Provence I say, let him not be alarmed, for shortly he will receive assistance from our king, for he is very keen to support him, once he is in control here in Chiva, but I inform him (the Count of Provence) that Sir Berenguer has wrested the castle from him (the King), and has said that a king who donates his property and goes back on this is acting like a child.
IV. Count of Urgel, you have plenty of wheat and oats and strong castles with towers so as not to be faint-hearted! Demand from the King all the territory beyond Urgel which you used to hold, and spare neither field nor vineyard nor garden, and if you fail to do this, you will not see the next St John’s day, if you don’t make your claim in the meantime.
V. Good Lady, I love you so faithfully that when I do not see you I think love will kill me, and when I do see you I am so timid that I dare not speak my heart to you, I am so afraid that it would displease you; so what shall I do, lady, since shortly I shall be dead according to the rule of love? I do not desire or woo another, but when I see you, I do not dare to show any of this.
VI. Our king has considerable power among the Saracens, but henceforth I should like to see his banner over there near Montfort against all those who are reducing his territory and honour.
[Translation L P]
4. malamen: Milá ‘injustamente’.
5-6. Stimming notes that tener is used absolutely, as in 26, 38, but that the sense there does not fit here: he suggests perhaps reading que instead of on as in v. 29. I take que in 6 to be a neuter predicate without antecedent: see Jensen, Syntaxe, § 312.
8. antan could be translated as ‘a year ago’.
15-16. Stimming prints el reis Jacmes, giving rei iacme as the variant for CR. In fact all mss. have el rey iacme, and the syntax clearly shows this to be the direct object of merman. Milá translates «apesar de esto vais dando creces á los que fueron en su daño y mermando al rey Jaime» (also Tourtoulon, «Mais à ceux qui lui firent du tort vous allez donnant des forces, et affaiblissant le roi Jacme»); however, d’aisselhs means ‘from those’, not ‘to those’. The Count of Toulouse is profiting from those who used to be the King of Aragon’s Occitan subjects because he is now ruling them and exploiting their resources.
19. Stimming understands el of ms. R as e lo (CE quel nostre reys): see his note to this line, which refers to his note to 26, 4, which however is unhelpful. Milá’s «pues en breve será ausiliado y nuestro rey que harto lo desea, irá á valerle, cuando aquí habrá logrado mandar en Chiva» does not match the syntax of the original. He was surely right to consider emending el to del: I have found no information about, or other examples of, en + a person. It looks as if a previous exemplar may have had the initial d missing or unclear and the source of CE rewrote, taking el nostre rei as nominative but not making sense of what follows.
20. I take n’ to be used pleonastically in anticipation of the complement mandamen: see Jensen, Syntaxe, § 266.
27. For ab que introducing a final-consecutive clause see Jensen, Syntaxe, § 762.
44. Onor means both honour in the abstract sense, and land, territory. Aurell (p. 141) takes it in the first sense, understanding the text to mean that the King has never sought to avenge the death of his father at the hands of Simon de Montfort’s men.
Edition: Albert Stimming 1879, with modifications; english translation and notes: Linda Paterson; italian translation: Luca Barbieri. – Rialto 16.iii.2014.
C 141r (Bertrans de born), E 97r (Bertran de born), R 20v (Bertran del born).
Critical edition: Albert Stimming, Bertran de Born, sein Leben und seine Werke, mit Anmerkung und Glossar, Halle 1879, p. 213 (notes p. 297).
Other editions: François-Juste-Marie Raynouard, Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, 6 voll., Paris 1816-1821, vol. IV, p. 181; Carl August Friedrich Mahn, Die Werke der Troubadours, in provenzalischer Sprache, 4 voll., Berlin 1846-1886, vol. I, p. 305; Manuel Milá y Fontanals, De los trovadores en España, Barcelona 1861, p. 171 (stanzas I-IV and VI only; Spanish translation p. 170); Lluís Nicolau d’Olwer, «Jaume I i los trovadors provensals», Congrés d’Història de la Corona d’Aragó dedicat al Rey en Jaume I y a la seua época, 2 voll., Barcelona 1909, vol. I, pp. 389-407, on p. 393 (stanzas I-III and VI only).
Versification: a10 b10 c10 a10 d10 e10 e10 f10 (Frank 782:1), -en, ors, -os, -ortz, -an; five coblas unissonans and one four-line tornada. Two other pieces have identical versification and rhymes, a canso by Lanfranc Cigala (BdT 282.1) and a canso by Raimon Jordan (BdT 404.6), which has the same word esfortz at v. 6 of each stanza, probably its ultimate model.
The sirventes was composed in Spain and postdates the end of 1230, when the citizens of the independent city of Marseille were at war with Count Raimon Berenguer V of Provence. Scholarly opinion has been divided as to whether the textual details indicate a date of c. 1231, 1238-39 or 1240; some details not hitherto considered point to 1240. The composer of this song cannot be the famous Bertran de Born since the events to which it refers fall beyond his lifetime, and is likely to be a Catalan.