I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
I. Nel mese di aprile, quando vedo verdeggiare i prati verdi e fiorire il frutteto, e vedo le acque scorrere limpide e sento gli uccellini cantare, il profumo dei prati in fiore e il dolce canto che gli uccelli lanciano, il mio sentimento di gioia si rinnova.
II. In questo tempo ero solito pensare a come potessi ottenere l’amore con la pratica delle armi, col servizio e la generosità. Chiunque abbia queste occupazioni può possedere l’amore grazie a esse, e un uomo può ottenerlo meglio attraverso di esse.
III. Io canto, mentre dovrei piangere per la pena d’amore che mi fa languire; mi illudo di poter essere felice cantando, benché non si sia mai sentito parlare di un uomo che canta mentre in realtà dovrebbe piangere. Tuttavia, non dispero affatto, perché avrò ancora una ragione per cantare.
IV. Non dovrei disperare del tutto perché ancora non contemplo la mia signora, perché chi me l’ha fatta lasciare ha certamente il potere di restituirmela; e se fossi in suo potere, se mai ritornassi in Siria, possa Dio non farmela più lasciare.
V. Quando ho preso congedo per venire qui, lei ha rubato il mio cuore molto dolcemente, perché non passa giorno senza che io sospiri per un bello sguardo che le vidi fare; perché mi ha detto, tutta triste: “Che farà la vostra amata, dolce amico? Perché mi vuoi lasciare?”
VI. Dio deve proprio essersi meravigliato che io sia stato davvero in grado di separarmi da lei, e deve essere stato molto grato che io abbia voluto lasciarla per amor Suo; perché Egli sa bene che se la perdessi, non avrei mai più gioia, né Egli potrebbe mai risarcirmi per lei.
VII. Canzone, te ne andrai al di là del mare e per l’amor di Dio di’ alla mia signora che giorno e notte mi trovo in uno stato di grande dolore e angoscia. Bella canzone, di’ da parte mia al Signor Guglielmo Lungaspada che dovrebbe andare da lei per consolarla e dirle
VIII. che Filippo di Montreal mi tiene vicino (a sé) nei suoi uffici, e mi piace così tanto la sua compagnia che non posso tornare senza di lui.
I. In April, when I see the green meadows grow green and the orchard flower, and I see the waters run clear and hear the little birds sing, the scent of the flower-filled grass and the sweet song that the birds call out renew my feeling of joy.
II. At this time, I used to think about how I could enjoy love by the practice of arms, by service and generosity. Anyone who has these occupations can enjoy (possess) love thanks to them, and a man can better win it through them.
III. I sing, who should be weeping, for the pain of love makes me languish; I imagine I can make myself happy by singing and yet you never heard talk of a man singing who really should weep. However, I do not despair at all, for I will still have reason to sing.
IV. I should not despair completely that I still do not gaze on my lady, for the one who made me leave her certainly has the power to restore her to me; and if I were in her power, if ever I returned to Syria, may God never let me leave her again.
V. When I took my leave to come here, she stole my heart away very softly, for not a day passes without me sighing for a beautiful glance I saw her give; for she said to me, so saddened: ‘What shall your beloved do, sweet friend? Why do you want to leave me?’
VI. God must indeed have been amazed that I was ever able to separate from her, and He must really have been grateful that I wanted to leave her for His sake; for He knows well enough that if I lost her, I would never again have joy, nor could He ever compensate me for her.
VII. Song, you will go away over the sea and for God’s sake tell my lady that day and night I am in great pain and anguish. Good song, tell Lord William Longsword for me that he should go to her to comfort her and tell her
VIII. that Philip of Montreal keeps me close in his administration, and I so love his company that I cannot return without him.
I. 1 uerdoiar O 2 lo IKTac; prat OT; uert T; els (el a) uergiers CORa; boys e pratz e uergies f. Sg 3 E | ui c; esclarar D, el clarçir G, esclarir ac; e las fontanas esclardir Sg 4 autd D; li Sg; auzels CDGOac; alegrar Cc, demorar a; e. a. lo rossinlhol c. R, eueill peisons conortar T 5 lodor CIR, los dors D, lolor O, elodor Sg, eloror T, lolors ca; dunærba C, dun erba Oac; floiria ac 6 lodolz G, el dos R; chant DORSgac; cels T; auzelh CSgac, auzelet O, auzelo R; crian T 7 at beginning of lines 7, 14, 21, 35, 42 and 53, Sg adds ay; men D; fan CTac; en goi T, m. iois ac.
II. 8 En cest t.] Adoncx C, A las donc D, En e t. the second ‘e’ with a titulus G, En aiqels (aqel R) t. OR, En cel t. Sg, En acest t. T, En qest t. a, En qel t. c; soli DGTac, soi O, suelh R; eu] en Dc; passar IK, pesar Sg 9 cum mi C, com sin IK, cum si O, comme Sg, com ieu Ta, com sim c; damors R 10 grazir D, bordir Ta 11 et ab servir om. D, ab gen s. Sgac, iamb serur T; onrar DGSgT, doniar O 12 e qui tals C, q. aquels D, q. aqest GIK, q. daital O, e q. cest R, etots a. Sg, q. aitals Ta, cui aqes c; mestres D, mester G, mestes Sg; auia RSgT ; mestier sauria O 13 dasso C, per el D, pels G, p. sestz R, eperso T, per ço ac; ens D; mors IK; lauzira G, seruida R, gausia T, seruia c; A dedos uers la morseruia O, ab que bo | na mor seruia Sg 14 deu] pot CRSgTa, pol c; la·n] lam IK, lon T, tan a, on c; myls Sg; conortar T ; E poirian conqistar O.
III. om. c 15 qi] que CDRT; d. mielhs R, degra T 16 dira CRTa, qiera D, qirara the second ‘a’ perhaps corrected over an ‘r’ I, dir e Sg; damors R; quem f. CORTa, quim f. Sg; lenguir Sg 17-21 In Ta lines 17-21 appear as the last five lines of stanza VII and are replaced in III in T and IV in a by the following: can (tan a) mi remebran (remembron a) li sospir . cum (qem a) fai la nuoc elgior peysar (pensar a) . mals damor caisim (caissi a) laghuia (languia a) . ce (qi a) nom laisa nuot ni dia . qels (qel a) giorn mi fan cent ues trenblar . 17 quab CTa, mas ab O; chant O, achantar T; cuich] deg T, dei a; esbaudr G; et anc mais non o auzim dir R, e anchom | mais non ausi dir Sg 18 canc O, esanc T; non mai a; auziç D, auzi GTa, lauzi O; cumdar O; enon auzis anc mais p. C, ni per me | rauilhar comtar R, necom per meraueyllas comtar Sg 19 Qen D; chantes COSg, chantans a; quan C, que RT 20 nonz R; desconort ges m. O, desconort m. Ta; pero nomen desconort m. C 21 quen quer C, canquor D, quanc car IK, qen cor O, qenqer R, queus quar Sg, can car T; luec CDORTa, lench Sg.
IV. om. ORSgTa 22 Non D; per ço non dei d. c 23 q. auqer D, qanqera c; midons CG; nom D, non or nom IKc; remire I 24 acel D, cel G, celui c; qim la fei c; çequir c, cauft or caufr (for ‘causir’?) D; quis selh que men a fag . partir C 25 deretornar D; Lam pot far ben cobrar c 26 seu son e. c 27 si iamais eræn C, era mais | torn en c; suria CGc 28 lais mais t. c.
V. om. CRSg 29 Mout me saup (sab O, sap ac) gen (om. O) DOac, B. g. m. sap GT, Benegent me sap (saup K) IK 30 Quanc IK, cam a; pres OT; cugei O; cam pres con iadei sa uenir c In CR lines 31-32 and 34-35 appear in stanza VII, as lines 45-46 and 48-49 respectively; in Sg lines 31-35 appear as the last 5 lines of stanza VII 31 que om. T; iorn DGT; q’eu] que D; Ja mais ner ior aucunen s. O, greus er mais iorn qeus non s. ac 32 bel] dous CR; ques u. f. C, quella u. f. D, q. vir f. G, cieu liuifar T; Per lo s. qeu lam f. O 33 q’ella·m] qella IK, can me Sg, cil me T, car ellam ac; dis om. and added in margin K; tuta smaria Oac, tota esmaria Sg; quan mi (me R) dis ont (on R) anaria CR 34 ques DSg; fera O; nostramia or uostramia K, uostraymia Sg 35 amic T, ami c; nols or uols K; p. q. uoles D, p. q. uol O, com podetz Sg, cui uoletç (uoles a) Ta, cosim pois c; amicx cum la uoletz laissar CR.
VI. om. Ta 36 Mot R, Molt c; sen CSgc; det DIK, deu O, poc R, dech Sg, de c; Deus] deu IK, don Sg, om O 37 quan CR, caras G, com Sgc; sim c; pot DG, fes R, puch Sg, pois c; lei] midons CRSg, midon c; sofrir c; Qant eu la poc per re zeqir O 38 dec] de D, deu R, dech Sg; e be mo d. C; Cil me deu mout agradir O, e de | gral molt a g. t. c 39 por O; Lui] lei D, leis O; otorn adrezar O; quar | lan u. p. luy l. C, car || per el laissar R, com per ellam uolgues laxar Sg, qar anc p. l. la pois l. c 40 quelh C, qe G, qieu O, qil c; sa b. Dc, sai b. O; la] lan C; car be sab que seu l. p. Sg 41 que] quieu C, om. Sg; iois DGc, ioya Sg 42 ni hom ORc; no la·m] nol me C, no mo R, no la c; poyriemendar C, pogues mendar GIK, poiria dar O, pot e. R, poiria mendar c; neyllam poiria e. Sg.
VII. om. O 43 Chanson CDRTac; tu niras GT, tu miras R, tu irai ac; otra R; Xançonet lay oltra la m. Sg 44 e per Deu] per deu G, adonc T, adonc e a, fe qem dei c; uam c; a] ma CR; midon Dac; dire D; Vay per amor a m. d. Sg 45 Qen DG; que non es iorns (iorn Sg) quieu no sospir CRSg, qe greus afan et a martir c 47 an CR, du | nan D, dimon IK, a c; guillelme C, guilem D, guillelmes R, guigelme c; delespia C, longespia D, longa spia G, deserpia R, daitam pria c 48 chanzos] domna chançon c; qill G; li] lit D, te c; chanso uai quet chans (chant R) et lj (lj om. R) dia CR 49 e que man (mans R) CR, e uama c; per lei] plei D; midons CR, mi don c; conortar CRc.
VIII. in c only.
Tornada in Sg: Sil uostre bel cors uesia . bels cauales gint miria . ay deus com men | pogui tan luynar.
2. As praz vertz points to the pl., I have adopted the reading los (see CDGORSg).
5. On the forms in ia at the rhyme (past part. 5, 13, 33 and verb forms cria 6 and dia 48), possible indications of the poet’s Franco-Provençal dialect, see Boutière, p. 435.
6. Lit. ‘the bird calls out’.
8. It is tempting to connect IK’s error passar with the crusade (‘to make the crossing [to Syria]’).
10. garnir: Appel ‘sich rüsten’. I take this, coupled with cavalgar, as a loose evocation of ‘the practice of arms’.
18. Bertoni chooses to print auzi, with G(OTa). There seems insufficient reason to emend K’s auzis (= auzitz).
24. I follow Marshall (p. 73) in seeing aicel as Philip of Montréal, not God.
26. era en: scan as 2 syllables.
29. Boutière prints sap (with GI(O)Tac, but without a note), but this is surely wrong: 29 must be taken with 30 (pris, majority reading) and this precludes a pres. sap. The readings in DK may represent interventions to restore a correct reading, although D’s numerous minor errors makes this unlikely in the case of this MS.
33. Although correction is not indispensable, since all MSS except IK indicate me in one way or another, I emend. It is likely that IK’s omission goes back to a missed diacritic.
35. Carapezza prints ‘Dun(im)an’, which must be an error as the MS clearly has ‘D’ followed by four minims (with no titulus).
36-42. A bantering tone and blasphemous hyperbole.
36. IK show simple scribal slips of ‘t’ for ‘c’ (compare also D and see DG in 37) which led to apparently garbled syntax. In the light of CDGRc dieus, I also correct the inflexion.
42. All MSS except D seem in error here. If 42 is the second of two result-clauses dependent on the si-clause in 40, then the verb mood should be the same in 42 as it is in 41, that is, Cond II, but only D has pogr’. GIK’s pogues mendar is an error, in which es seems to have induced by anticipation a change from ‘r’ to ‘u’, to produce a plausible imperfect subjunctive verb form here.
45. q’e: e = en.
47. While IK’s Di mon (‘Tell my ...’) is not impossible, it is facilior in the light of (D)G and, like Boutière, I correct.
On the Occitanised form (Longaespia) of the OF name Longespée, compare Boutière, p. 436, De Bartholomaeis 1930, pp. 55-56, and the Latin chronicle cited by the latter, p. 57: Willelmus cognomento Longaespea.
48. Boutière punctuates with a full stop after 48 and, needing an object for dia, glosses (note): ‘qu’il lui dise ce qui précède (vv. 46-48)’, but this takes no account of the initial qe of 50, which he passes over in silence (did he perhaps see this as a general, all-purpose ‘For’?).
50. The rhyme-scheme strictly speaking requires a rhyme in -ar.
51. I follow previous commentators who have seen this as meaning that Peire is being detained in or by Philip’s service; see the General note above and compare Marshall (p. 74): Peire ‘nous dit simplement qu’il était en sa bailia et qu’il aimait sa compagnie, ce qui fait penser que Philippe, chargé d’une mission dont nous ne savons rien, avait amené le poète dans son entourage’. Pres could be taken either literally (‘Philip retains me / keeps me close in his administration’) or metaphorically (Philip, whoever this might be, is keeping him ‘prisoner’ as a lady might).
Edition and english translation: Ruth Harvey; italian translation and notes: Luca Barbieri. – Rialto 9.i.2013.
C 364r (P. bermon lo tort), D 82v (Peire Bermons lo tort .i.), G 15v (no rubric; empty staves above stanza I), I 141v (Peire bremonz lo tortz .xxviiij.), K 127v (Peire bremonz xxxiij.), O 66 (no rubric, but Peire Bremon in index), R 57v (deuen | tador in red in margin; empty staves above stanza I), Sg 48v (Riambaut de uaqueyras), T 211v (Peire raimon), a (text reconstructed by Bertoni from del Nero’s variants; attributed in ca to Peire Breumon, in table to Peire Raimon de Toloza), c 84v (Peire breumon). Analysis of manuscripts: C 364r (P. bermon lo tort), D 82v (Peire Bermons lo tort .i.), G 15v (no rubric; empty staves above stanza I), I 141v (Peire bremonz lo tortz .xxviiij.), K 127v (Peire bremonz xxxiij.), O 66 (no rubric, but Peire Bremon in index), R 57v (deuen | tador in red in margin; empty staves above stanza I), Sg 48v (Riambaut de uaqueyras), T 211v (Peire raimon), a (text reconstructed by Bertoni from del Nero’s variants; attributed in ca to Peire Breumon, in table to Peire Raimon de Toloza), c 84v (Peire breumon). − The MSS divide into three broad groups according to the amount and organisation of the material they transmit: DGIK(Oc) - CRSg - Ta, the last two ultimately deriving from a copy in which our stanza VII was defective, only 43-44 being preserved. In addition, a and c share a number of distinctive readings (see 3, 5, 7, 13, 31, 33, 43), presumably the result of some earlier collation. – CRSg preserve no superior readings, lack 45-46 altogether and preserve 47-49 as a tornada. Moreover, CRSg lack 29-30, and an earlier source for CR must have been defective at 33, leading to the confection of a plausible filler-line. – The last five lines of stanza III in Ta similarly have every appearance of being confected. These MSS also lack altogether stanzas IV and VI as well as lines 45-49. The effect of this is to edit out any reference to Syria, to activity which could be construed as crusading – unless you count 43 –, and to a historically identifiable crusader, William Longsword. – While D is the only MS in the DGIKOc group to preserve the correct reading in 42, its numerous isolated readings and errors (3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25 and so on) exclude it from consideration as base-MS. O is lacunary and occasionally idiosyncratic (see for example 38-39). Of the remaining full versions, GIK, K has the fewest errors, all minor scribal slips and I have accordingly chosen that as base-MS. The tornada is taken from c, a MS which in other respects has a number of individual readings (22-28, 35, 37, 39, 44, 47) and which lacks stanza III. De Bartholomaeis 1930 (p. 60) rejected the tornada as spurious because of its infraction of the norms of versification in 50. These are insufficient grounds to doubt its authenticity, however. Like Boutière and Marshall (John H. Marshall, «Le troubadour Peire Bremon Lo Tort et deux chansons d’attribution douteuse», Le Moyen Age, 1, 1980, pp. 67-91, on pp. 74-75), I retain VIII as authentic (see the General Note on dating below). (Sg’s tornada, with its reference to ‘Bels Cavalers’, reflects an implausible attempt to attach the song to the corpus of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, as De Bartholomaeis 1930 demonstrated, pp. 62-63.) – My text differs little from that of Boutière.
Critical editions: Carl Appel, Provenzalische Chrestomathie mit Abriss der Formenlehre und Glossar, Leipzig 1895, p. 62 (without KT), whence De Bartholomaeis; Jean Boutière, «Peire Bremon lo Tort», Romania, 54, 1928, pp. 427-452, on p. 442 (on IK).
Other editions: François-Juste-Marie Raynouard, Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, 6 voll., Paris 1816-1821, vol. III, p. 82 (= C); Carl August Friedrich Mahn, Die Werke der Troubadours, in provenzalischer Sprache, 4 voll., Berlin 1846-1886, vol. I, p. 46 (= C); Cesare De Lollis, «Il canzoniere provenzale O (codice Vaticano 3208)», Atti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, s. 4, 2 (1885-1886), pp. 4-112, on p. 74 (= O); Mario Pelaez, «Il canzoniere provenzale c (Laurenziano Pl. 90 Inf. 26)», Studj di filologia romanza, 7, 1899, pp. 244-401, on p. 386 (= c); Giulio Bertoni, Il Canzoniere provenzale di Bernart Amoros (Sezione Riccardiana), Fribourg 1911, p. 152 (= reconstruction of a on the basis of the variants recorded by Del Nero); Giulio Bertoni, Il Canzoniere provenzale della Biblioteca Ambrosiana R. 71 sup., Dresden 1912, p. 45 (= G); Vincenzo De Bartholomaeis, «Il trovadore Peire Bremon lo Tort», Studi medievali, n.s. 3, 1930, pp. 53-71, on p. 61; Vincenzo De Bartholomaeis, Poesie provenzali storiche relative all’Italia, 2 voll., Roma 1931, vol. II, p. 6 (text Appel, with modifications); Francesco Carapezza, Il canzoniere occitano G (Ambrosiano R 71 sup.), Napoli 2004, p. 330 (= G); Dan O. Cepraga and Zeno Verlato, Poesie d’amore dei trovatori, Roma 2007, p. 304 (text Boutière).
Versification: a8 b8 b8 a8 c7’ c7’ a8 (Frank 548:8), -ar, -ir, -ia. Seven coblas unissonans of seven lines and one four-line tornada.
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I |
II |
III |
IV |
V |
VI |
VII |
VIII |
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GIK |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
- |
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D |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
5 |
7 |
- |
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O |
1 |
2 |
3 |
- |
4 |
5 |
- |
- |
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c |
1 |
2 |
- |
4 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
4 lines (unique) |
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Sg |
1 |
2 |
4 |
- |
- |
3 |
5* |
3 lines (unique) |
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C |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
- |
5 |
6** |
- |
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R |
1 |
2 |
3 |
- |
- |
4 |
5** |
- |
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T |
1 |
2 |
3# |
- |
4 |
- |
5## |
- |
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a |
1 |
2 |
4# |
- |
3 |
- |
5## |
- |
* In Sg this stanza is composed of lines 43-44 + 31-35.
** In CR this stanza is composed of lines 43-44 + 31-32 + x + 34-35 (where ‘x’ is an apparently confected line), while a version of lines 47-49 is preserved as a 3-line tornada.
# In Ta this stanza is composed of lines 15-16 + 5 lines which are very probably scribal confections.
## In Ta this stanza is composed of lines 43-44 + 17-21.
Stanza VII indicates that the piece was composed sometime between summer 1175, when the nobility of the Kingdom of Jerusalem offered the crown to William Longsword of Montferrat, and the late summer of 1177 when news of his death in Sidon in June probably first reached western Europe.